L.A. Lakers Win While Old Problems Resurface

Fifteen more games. Perhaps that is how an optimistic Lakers fan would look at the playoff process. The L.A. Lakers won their first playoff game against the Utah Jazz and fifteen more victories in the post season play would mean celebrating the NBA championship.

Although the Lakers won, old problems continue to plague them. Here are some glaring issues that continue to reappear:

• The Lakers guards continue to have difficulty in stopping guard penetration. Deron Williams, the Utah guard, was able to go wherever he wanted and, often, that was deep into the paint. Not being able to contain opposing guards has been a problem all season for the Lakers.
• The troubles initiated by Deron Williams placed Pau Gasol, Derek Fisher, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom in foul trouble. Pau Gasol collected six personal fouls and fouled out in the fourth quarter.
• The foul troubles may account for some of the rebounding disparity. The Utah Jazz were much more efficient in the rebounding category and had forty six (46) compared to the Lakers thirty eight (38) boards. There are two things that were noticeable. The first is that the Jazz had second chances with twenty (20) offensive rebounds. The Lakers managed seven (7) rebounds at the offensive end. - The Lakers have the height advantage but that does not show in the rebounds collected. An example is Andrew Bynum who played over twenty minutes. In that time, he collected three rebounds. That was his total - three defensive rebounds. Andrew Bynum is a seven foot center.
• And finally, the season long problem surfaced again. The Lakers cannot maintain a huge lead. This time, it was a twenty two (22) point lead at half time. Again, the Lakers allowed an opponent to whittle away the lead to single digits. The reason that this was not more problematic is that the Lakers may have the best closer in basketball in Kobe Bryant. The lead was pushed back to double figures but the game could have been decided much much earlier.

The road to a championship still depends on the defense and rebounding. The Lakers have focused their efforts throughout the season on the NBA championship. However, it seems that it is still a work in progress on the fundamentals.

Catherine Forsythe