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NBA News | April 9, 2010
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Lakers fumbling into playoffs
By Marc J. Spears
April 9, 2010
Denver, CO — After watching yet another late season loss by his Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant sped out of the Pepsi Center’s visitors locker room late Thursday in what he described as a “bad mood.”
With the Lakers these days, bad moods seem to be the only moods. The playoffs begin in a little more than a week, and there’s no denying the Lakers hardly resemble the dominant team than ended last season – or even the one that ended January. Andrew Bynum still hasn’t returned and Bryant has his own injury issues after sitting out Thursday’s loss to the Denver Nuggets to rest his sore legs and broken finger.
Bryant admits his health and the team’s struggles are major concerns. But he also thinks they could be forgotten once the playoffs begin.
“Everything is judged in June anyway,” Bryant said. “You’re not even going to remember this [stuff]. At the end of the day, we win the championship and every decision made was the right one.”
The Lakers entered the weekend having lost four of their past five games and they didn’t crack 100 points in any of the defeats. When was the last time they played up to their potential? Coach Phil Jackson chewed on the question before finally answering, “Phoenix.”
Jackson was referring to the Lakers’ 102-96 victory over the Suns on March 12 – a big win, but one that came 13 games ago. Since then, the Lakers have gone 7-5. They haven’t had Bynum, who is recovering from an Achilles’ strain, for most of the stretch, but their problems run deeper than the absence of their starting center.
“It’s tough for us right now,” Bryant said. “It’s been an uphill battle for us. But we’re not really frightened over it or overly concerned over it, but we are concerned.”
Bryant’s health is among the worries. He has played most of the season with a broken right index finger. Jackson said he gave his All-Star guard Thursday’s game off because he had tired legs, but Bryant said it had more to do with his finger. He has missed 34 of his past 47 shots (including all but two of his 3-pointers) over the previous two games. He hasn’t been able to get his usual elevation on his jump shot and said the hurt finger is affecting him defensively “more than anything.” Sitting out some games now – Bryant said he’ll play again before the playoffs – affords him some much-needed rest.
“It gives me a chance to take care of my finger a little bit,” Bryant said. “I’m doing the small things, playing the big-picture stuff. I think everyone’s legs are tired right now, but most of it for me is my finger.”
Considering the miles Bryant has put on his legs in recent years, the rest is well-earned. He played in all 82 regular season games in each of the previous two years and a total of 44 playoff games. He also played for Team USA in the 2007 FIBA Americas tournament and in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“We’ve had two long years here,” Bryant said. “That’s why it’s really hard to win back-to-back championships let alone the three-peat. Obviously, we came up short against Boston [in 2008], but we still played late into June. We played late into June last year. Hopefully, we can do the same thing this year. But it takes its toll on you a little bit physically, a little bit mentally. You got to play through that.”
Bynum also made it clear he doesn’t plan to return until the Lakers’ first playoff game, hoping that the three or four practices leading into the postseason will help him regain some of his rhythm. Bryant, however, won’t use Bynum’s absence as an excuse.
“We played well when he was down,” Bryant said. “We’ve played well when Pau [Gasol] was down. We played well when I was down. Injuries are something that we play through. We are pretty good at doing that because of our depth. Even before he went out we were playing kind of inconsistent.
The Lakers’ bench has taken a hit with Lamar Odom starting in place of Bynum. Reserve forward Luke Walton is rusty after recently returning from a back injury. But there are other issues, too, namely focus.
“For us, it’s mentally being in tune of what we’re doing at this point and understanding how we are going to execute offensively and defensively,” Bryant said. “That’s the most important thing for us right now.
“I think because it’s a veteran group [the focus] hasn’t been there. I’ve been on teams where we’ve had a great deal of veterans. Myself, Brian [Shaw], Rick Fox, Shaq, Robert Horry. It was worse than this group. You have so much experience. You’ve been through so many wars. You’ve been through so many battles. You know what the pressure cooker is really like. When you look at young teams, Oklahoma and all these teams, these boys are up and ready to go every single day. The older you get, the more you slip in and out of that zone more often.”
That’s why the Lakers hope to regain some of their consistency before the playoffs begin. None of their possible first-round opponents – the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs or Portland Trail Blazers – appear to be pushovers.
“I expected us to have the best record in the league. That didn’t happen,” Bryant said. “From that standpoint, we’ve been disappointing so far.
“At the end of the day, winning in June is something we really judge our season by. And if we don’t do that, it’s a failure.”
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