Originally Posted by
sando
Kobe tried way to hard to fit into the "system" constantly passing up shots he would normally take, and the result was way too many turnovers, although he did have some very nice assists to go with it and some great contested rebounds. His first real play of the game he trapped DeRozan in the corner and just smothered him and took the ball away and reminded everyone that he used to be the best on ball defender in the league. Was a poor return all up and the Lakers looked really out of cohesion as everyone tried to hard to adjust to Kobe, while he (Kobe) tried to hard to adjust to them. Kobe didn't lose the game however, it was Gasol mainly - who was just horrible, I mean really bad and it was so sad to see (as a Lakers fan). Amir Johnson had a career night against Pau as well. Also Sacre starting over Hill (or even Williams is just not on). I expect the Lakers to be more relaxed today, after the hype surrounding game 1 (Kobe's return). Lakers starters were all in the - and Lakers bench were all in the + (never seen anything like it). Also I like Nick Young a lot more than most, however the Lakers (or any team for that matter) will never be good if he is their leading scorer. Last observation on the game was that Xavier Henry was probably the Lakers best and yet he only played 14 minutes. In my humble opinion, he has to be the #1 option behind Kobe off the bench.