February 2nd: Cold, Cruel Day for Lakers.

 
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Phil
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 6:47 am    Post subject: February 2nd: Cold, Cruel Day for Lakers.

A Cold, Cruel Day for Lakers
# They almost have the worst shooting night in team history, making 30.6% in a 105-79 loss to the Pacers.

By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer

INDIANAPOLIS — Then there are the nights when the Lakers are in a record-setting mood of another kind.

It has been demonstrated that Kobe Bryant can get his points, and his free throws, like few others in team history, but it also has been shown that these Lakers can come whisper close to team records for futility, another example cutting to the front of the line Wednesday at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Looking nothing like the team that drubbed the New York Knicks the night before, the Lakers were seconds away from a team record for worst shooting percentage in a game, needing Von Wafer and Andrew Bynum to bail them out with two late makes in a perplexing 105-79 loss to the injury-ravaged Indiana Pacers.

"I've never seen such a performance from a basketball club from one night to the next in a situation like this," Laker Coach Phil Jackson said. "It was a completely different team."

The Lakers couldn't make shots and also couldn't get rebounds, a bad combination in any league, on the way to collecting another loss symbolic of their rise-fall-rise-fall nature these days.

They made 26 of 85 shots (30.6%), a miss or two away from the team record of 29.4% set against Utah in November 2004. They were shooting 29.3% until Bynum's dunk with 39.4 seconds to play and Wafer's 17-footer with 11.1 seconds left.


Last edited by Phil on Mon Feb 27, 2006 7:09 pm; edited 1 time in total
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 6:49 am    Post subject:


Lakers make a turn for worse

Odom injured in defeat
By Ross Siler, Staff Writer

INDIANAPOLIS - For what it's worth, the Atlanta Hawks followed a 139-point game at the end of last season against the New York Knicks by scoring 71 points fewer two days later against the Detroit Pistons.

The Elias Sports Bureau dug up that number Wednesday night, but it was of little consolation for the Lakers after one of the strangest two-game swings coach Phil Jackson said he could remember for a team.

The Lakers followed their 130-97 blowout victory over the Knicks with one of the worst shooting games in franchise history in a 105-78 loss to the Indiana Pacers at Conseco Fieldhouse, a staggering 51-point swing for one team in just 24 hours.

"I told this team I've never seen such a performance from a basketball club from one night to the next in a situation like this," Jackson said.

To make matters worse, forward Lamar Odom suffered a rib injury in the third quarter, bringing back bad memories of the season-ending shoulder injury he suffered here last season, and was in considerable discomfort after the game.

Jackson said Odom likely would play Friday as the Lakers' seven-game trip continues in Charlotte. Odom suffered what the team said was a cartilage injury on the upper right side of his chest.

Odom was hurt with 7:22 left in the third when he was caught between Jeff Foster and David Harrison trying to get a loose ball. He stayed in the game for a minute, then headed to the bench, and returned later in the quarter.
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 6:50 am    Post subject:

Lakers' offense goes from one extreme to the other

By KEVIN DING
The Orange County Register


Indiana Pacers' Peja Stojakovic gets the shot and the foul against Los Angeles Lakers' Lamar Odom in the first half during the Pacers 105-79 win over the Lakers at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, Wednesday, February 1, 2006.

SAM RICHE, INDIANAPOLIS STAR

INDIANAPOLIS – It was just a few days ago that Phil Jackson mentioned the "volatility" of his young team making this season an "adventure."

So on some level, neither a stock-market crash or cliff-diving bellyflop is surprising from the Lakers, but it is still staggering. After scoring 130 points for the first time in six years in a demolition of the New York Knicks on Tuesday, the Lakers nearly set a club record for worst shooting percentage in a 105-79 setback against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.

What Jackson told his players and then reporters afterward was this: "I've never seen such a performance from a basketball team from one night to the next."

As far as justifications go, there was Indiana's motivation to break a six-game losing streak in Peja Stojakovic's first home game as a Pacer; Stojakovic lighting up Lamar Odom in a 26-point game; and Rick Carlisle's effectively rigid double-teaming of Kobe Bryant, who was held to 26 points to end a run of 15 games with at least 30 points.
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 6:52 am    Post subject:

Up-and-down year hits new low

Pacers 105, Lakers 79: The Lakers suffer their worst defeat a day after blowing out New York.

01:21 AM PST on Thursday, February 2, 2006

By BRODERICK TURNER / The Press-Enterprise

INDIANAPOLIS - Only Lamar Odom's rib injury was more painful than Wednesday's embarrassing loss.

Odom, who is day-to-day, was unable to return from the sprained cartilage he suffered midway through the third quarter, and the Lakers were unable to overcome their dismal shooting performance.

They were puzzled as to how they could score 130 points against the Knicks one night and play such a stinker the next, losing 105-79 to the Pacers on Wednesday at Conseco Fieldhouse before 16,127.

The Lakers shot a season-low 30.6 percent from the field and suffered their worst loss of the season.

Even Kobe Bryant wasn't the same player who dropped 40 points on the Knicks. Bryant had 26 points on 8-for-24 shooting, his fewest points since scoring 21 at Orlando on Dec. 23.

"I told this team I've never seen such a performance from a basketball club from one night to the next in a situation like this," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "It was a completely different team."

By the time Odom got hurt, the Lakers were down 23. He collided with Jeff Foster and David Harrison chasing down a loose ball and immediately grabbed his shoulder in pain.

"I just heard stuff in there move," Odom said. "I got hit hard."

Odom, who strained his left shoulder here last season and was out for the rest of the season, plans on playing Friday night in Charlotte.

"It was tough," said Odom, who played 34 minutes and had 10 points and seven rebounds. "I didn't even want to jump or lift my arms."
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 6:53 am    Post subject:

pacers 105, lakers 79
Pacers stop Kobe, skid

Lakers' star held 10 points below average; Stojakovic scores 26, grabs 13 rebounds


By Mike Wells
mike.wells -at- indystar.com
A voice rang out from about 10 rows behind the Indiana Pacers' bench early in the first quarter.

And one: Indiana's Peja Stojakovic (16) makes the shot and is fouled by Los Angeles' Lamar Odom. - SAM RICHE / The Star
KEY PLAYER
Peja Stojakovic, playing his second game as a Pacer, had a team-high 26 points and 13 rebounds.

KEY TO THE GAME
The Pacers made Kobe Bryant, the league's leading scorer, fight for all 26 points, which is 10 below his season average, on 8-of-24 shooting.

UP NEXT
Pistons (38-6) at Pacers (22-22).
• When: 8 p.m. Saturday.
• TV: FSN Midwest.
• Radio: WIBC-1070 AM.

PEJA vs. KOBE
• Stojakovic: 26 points, 13 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists.
• Bryant: 26 points, 5 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 assists.

"Come on, open up the offense. Quit playing one-on-one!"
It wasn't hard to figure out at whom that comment was directed. Just look at the man pacing the sideline in front of the Pacers' bench, constantly calling out plays, slowing the tempo of the game.
It will be hard for Pacers coach Rick Carlisle to fully let go of his micromanaging tendencies, but he let loose for a while Wednesday and the Pacers moved freely on offense.
On a night when they lost another player to an injury and held Kobe Bryant in check, the Pacers ended their six-game losing streak in fine fashion by blowing out the Los Angeles Lakers 105-79 in the first of seven straight games at Conseco Fieldhouse. The Pacers, who have been in disarray for some time, evened their record at 22-22 and limited Bryant to 26 points, 10 below his season average and more than 17 below his January average.
"It feels good to have that monkey off our back," Pacers point guard Anthony Johnson said. "It's a joyous locker room."
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 6:55 am    Post subject:

Tomjanovich Decision Shook Organization
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer

INDIANAPOLIS — Phil Jackson was vacationing in Australia when he heard the news that would ultimately reunite him with the franchise he left behind eight months earlier.

Closer to home, Kobe Bryant was taking meetings with Laker owner Jerry Buss and General Manager Mitch Kupchak as news started to spread of Rudy Tomjanovich's stunning resignation.

ADVERTISEMENT
A year ago today, Tomjanovich walked away from a five-year, $30-million contract as Laker head coach, citing mental and physical fatigue and acknowledging he had taken anti-depressants in an effort to cope with the lows of losing.

"As tough as it was on us, obviously it was tougher on him," Bryant said Wednesday. "I didn't want to see any man go through that."

Tomjanovich, who now resides mainly in Houston, attends NBA and Development League games as a Laker personnel scout, analyzing players who could be traded before the Feb. 23 deadline or could become free agents in July. He is under contract with the Lakers through the 2006-07 season as part of the $9-million settlement the team gave him.

Tomjanovich, 57, could not be reached for comment, but said he made the right decision to resign in an interview with The Times in November.

"Physically, it was probably too soon for my body," he said. "I was used to being on the front line but, just like the military, the generals don't stay up there all the time."
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 6:56 am    Post subject:

Notebook: Turiaf caught in red tape

01:19 AM PST on Thursday, February 2, 2006

Broderick Turner

INDIANAPOLIS - One of the representatives for Lakers rookie forward Ronny Turiaf said his client hopes to get his work visa from the United States government in the next couple of days.

Keith Moss, one of Turiaf's agents, said Wednesday that they are waiting on Turiaf's immigration status to be approved so he can play.

Turiaf, who grew up on the island of Martinique in the Caribbean, went to high school at Insep in Paris, the National Institute of Physical Education, before enrolling into Gonzaga University.

"That's the only holdup right now," Moss said in a phone interview. "It's nothing basketball-wise, it's nothing health-wise. It's just strictly waiting on the government."

Turiaf has been traveling with the Lakers on their seven-game road trip and practicing with the team.

Shades of Miller

It took only two games for Peja Stojakovic's new teammates to start comparing him to Reggie Miller.

Stojakovic had 26 points with a high-arching shot reminiscent of Miller, the Riversider who retired after last season.

"It kind of reminded me of having Reggie again, with him coming off the screens and looking for the ball," Indiana center Jeff Foster said.

"Some of those rainbows coming out of the clouds were reminiscent of Reggie," said Indiana guard Anthony Johnson, "but Reggie was Reggie. Peja has his own style."
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 6:58 am    Post subject:

Pacers' strategy keeps Bryant within bounds
Double-teamed throughout, Lakers' star scores 26 (10 below average), hitting 8-of-24

This isn't working: Kobe Bryant watches the last minutes of the Pacers' blowout victory over his Lakers. Bryant took just nine shots in the second half before being pulled with 3:31 left. - Sam Riche / The Star

Little did he know then the skills would come in handy when it came time to help defend Kobe Bryant.
Bryant, who took a league-leading 36-point scoring average into Wednesday's game at Conseco Fieldhouse, managed a mortal 26 on 8-of-24 shooting in the Indiana Pacers' 105-79 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Pacers held him in check by double-teaming him throughout the game, a strategy they adopted too late in their loss in L.A. on Jan. 9, when he scored 45.
That game at least provided a template for what works and what doesn't, and proved defending Bryant isn't a job for just one man.
Johnson played free safety most of the game, leaving open Lakers point guard Smush Parker to close in on Bryant and limit his options whenever possible. Parker accommodated the Pacers by hitting just 2-of-6 shots, making it a penalty-free strategy.
"We made an effort from the jump ball to make sure (Bryant) saw two and three defenders every time he had the ball," Johnson said.
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 7:05 pm    Post subject:

Yao Edges Kobe As Top All-Star Votegetter
2006-02-03 10:24:43 CRIENGLISH.com
Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets edged LA Lakers Kobe Bryant as the top votegetter in fan balloting for the 55th NBA All-Star game.

Yao Ming edged Kobe Bryant as the top votegetter in fan balloting for the 55th NBA All-Star game Thursday, and Shaquille O'Neal became the fifth player in league history to earn 13 consecutive selections for the midseason showcase.

Yao and Tracy McGrady give the host Houston Rockets two starters in the Feb. 19 game. They were joined on the Western Conference squad by Bryant, San Antonio's Tim Duncan and reigning MVP Steve Nash of Phoenix — who will be a first-time All-Star starter.

Cleveland's LeBron James was the top Eastern Conference votegetter, edging O'Neal by 15,155 votes. It's the second straight All-Star trip for James, who says he's still drawing motivation from being snubbed during his rookie season.

"What happened two years ago, that really motivated me to come out and play even harder," James said.

Added Cleveland coach Mike Brown: "It's an honor to be around him, it's an honor to work with him and I'm excited for him and his family because he definitely deserves it."

Philadelphia's Allen Iverson, Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal and first-time All-Star starter Dwyane Wade of Miami rounded out the East's starting five.

"Hopefully, I can become a staple, like my teammate Shaq," Wade said. "I'm grateful that NBA fans think so highly of my game."
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