Alright so welcome in to the full recap as the day of the NBA opener ends. The Lakers remind the Clippers that the city of LA is not theirs yet and man am I proud how much the Lakers shut up all critics picking the Clippers to beat us in a painful and embarrassing blowout and how LA is shifting towards Clipper town. No LA still belongs to the Lakers.
Let's start off with the positives. I am crying right now because we finally have a bench. Thank you bench mob for showing up to play your hearts out. In one night, this Laker bench has scored more points has than our their previous predecessors the last two seasons. 76 points, that's right 76 points all coming from the bench. There's a reason why our duo of Steve Nash and Pau Gasol have played sparingly in the 2nd half because our bench dominated the night. I mean, they just flat out beat the living heck out of the Clippers starters and they didn't have an answer.
I should stop about raving about our bench and talk about the stars: Jordan Farmar and Xavier Henry. Farmar, 16 points, 6 assists, 6-10 from the field, 2-3 from beyond the arc, Henry, season-high 22 points, 6 rebounds, 8-13 from the field, 3-4 from beyond the arc. These two lead the charge for our bench, I mean both of them were splitting the Clippers' defense like crazy, the Clippers just couldn't hang around with them. I mean they were completely gassed, they had no idea how to contain these two. Not to mention they have guys like Jodie Meeks and Wesley Johnson spreading the floor and Jordan Hill coming off of pick n roll. Even though Johnson is a negative (which I'll elaborate later), Meeks big time, stepped up to make plays scoring 13 points, as one dimensional as Meeks is, he stepped up when we needed it the most and especially when Farmar and Henry were playing their hearts out. As usual, Jordan Hill, Mr. All-Out Hustle, his hustle on both ends was the difference maker that 2nd half, he was fighting like crazy against guys like a Blake Griffin, a DeAndre Jordan, Hill brings out that spark and when he hustles, the team gets into it to try and make a play.
Another positive, Pau Gasol's double-double: 15 points, 13 rebounds. I mean Gasol didn't do much, but he put the team on his shoulders. Credit to him, he did not play soft against DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin's physicality, although he did move out of the way to avoid another poster dunk. Gasol held his own, minus a Bynum, minus a Howard, I tip my hat to him he stepped up big time as the team's alpha dog in Kobe's absence.
Onto the negatives, Wesley Johnson, Shawne Williams, Steve Nash, and Nick Young. I understand most players have off nights in a game. Both Johnson and Williams scored on whopping 3 points, both only made one field goal out of many attempts and that happens all the time and I expect their game to get better as the season rolls on. Steve Nash, I hate putting him in this category and I understand that he's playing injured. He was basically a non-factor in this game although he dished out some nice assists and an off balance 3, I think he should continue drawing defenses, even though age is catching on to him and the players should continue to help spread the floor. If Nash can't step up with his shooting, continue to be that play maker setting the offense and calling the picks and the plays. Nick Young 13 points, but 3-10 shooting, credit to the Clipper defense because they know Young's game in and out considering he played there before, which is why he didn't drive to the lane very often. Other than that, not too mad on the negatives, but it shouldn't happen on a consistent basis.
It's only one game, this is not "WE'RE GOING TO WIN IT ALL" sign of victory. But this game proves that this Laker team, as long as their players on, will compete their hearts out. We got a back to back game tomorrow against Golden State, another team that is projected as the team to beat in the west. It's gonna be difficult to contain the back court of Curry and Thompson, not to mention the addition of Iguodala, puts this team in another dimension. As long as we played like we played tonight, the game could be close.
Announcement: If you guys looked at my announcements that first announced the changes to my blog, you'll notice that I won't do Wednesday or Friday games, I have Computer Science and Programming night classes on those days. So no Q-by-Q or halftime for tomorrow's game or Friday against the San Antonio Spurs. I will still recap the game in my old format, just reading off the stat sheets, the full article from lakers.com, and post up the highlights if they're ever up on YouTube. If you're new to my blog and don't know what old format I'm talking about here's a sample: http://trueraiderlaker.blogspot.com/2013/04/lakers-outlast-rockets-claim-7th-seed.html
I'll see you guys back on the November 7th Thursday showdown against the Houston Rockets. For Laker Nation who are also a part of the Raider Nation like myself, I'll see you guys on Sunday when the Raiders take on the Philadelphia Eagles.
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