“We just didn’t have any energy,” assistant coach Brian Shaw said at halftime of the Laker game against the 76ers at Staples Center on Friday night. What’s with that? The Lakers have been flat a lot recently. Here are some possible explanations for the recent energy shortage:
- The Lakers are satisfied with their championship last season. Former Laker Rick Fox told John Ireland that some teams don’t like being “the hunted.” And this may be what ails the Lakers. Last year they rose to the challenge because they had been humiliated in the Finals; this year, they know they are the champs no matter what the result on the floor is.
- The Lakers are burned out. Being the defending champion is no easy thing. That’s why it’s so hard to repeat. This Laker group has played a lot of games and maybe when they reach deep inside, there’s nothing there right now.
- These are the “as usual” Lakers. After all, last season even in the Playoffs against Houston, fans were panicking and the media was heaping abuse on the team for its lack of effort, focus, etc. Then, suddenly, everything clicked.
- The weak point is Pau, who has played too many games. Pau seemed to answer the questions about being “soft,” last season, but seems to be back to playing “soft” again. Two weeks before the Lakers played Boston on the road, Gasol was griping about not getting enough touches. So late in the game, when he gets the ball, what does he do? He tries to pass to Shannon Brown. Turnover. Game. He did the same thing against the Sixers, passing in the paint to someone else in the paint – only this time he got away with it. “Fatigue makes cowards of us all,” Vince Lombardi said. Hmmmm.
- The weak point is …Kobe. The Lakers looked pretty energetic in the five games that Kobe missed. On offense, they played the triangle offense perfectly, spacing themselves well and passing to the open man. On defense, the rotations were crisp. Kobe comes back and all of a sudden they look flat again. Could it be that they are tiring of Kobe pushing them so hard?
- It’s that time of year: everyone is tired and injured, and everyone is trying to conserve energy for the Playoffs.
- There’s nothing wrong. The fans and the media are just too impatient, too focused on perfection, too, well, fanatical. The Lakers have, after all, the best record in the East, second-best record in the league, the best closer in the league and a team that won it last year…
One Comment
Jorge,
Great analysis. Another category is all of the above. I think you did a perfect rundown of all the Lakers’ factors. Question is, can they overcome these?
RL