Lakers Biweekly Report
Bill Plaschke
11/11/04
Weeks 1 and 2
Lakers have finished their daunting schedule on a 3 game winning streak after a dreadful 1-5 stretch to start the season. There was a lot of hype going into the season, and a lot of fans are a bit taken back.. again by the Lakers lack of success. The silver lining is the Lakers completed that stretch with only 40 minutes and 22 points from their star A.I.. the bad news is they only got 40 minutes and 22 points from their star A.I. due to an injury. Now A.I. is back to 100% and we hopefully will get to see what this team has to offer.
What did we get to see while A.I. was out?
1. Quentin Richardson is a force to be reckoned with and is a clear starter in this league. Richardson has been a career backup but had his coming out party these last 2 weeks only averaging 16 points 8 rebounds 2 assist and a steal. This begs the question: Should Q be starting over Donyell Marshall who is putting up putrid scoring numbers for a team who could use a few more points.
2. Othella Harrington is as good as advertised. The Lakers are forced with a tough decision. Ben Wallace is grabbing rebounds at a 13 rebound per 36 minutes. which is good for 4th in the league (per 36). But Othella Harrington is putting up massive bench numbers. He's averaging 13/6/2 in only 21 mpg. What would that look like as a starter getting 36 per game? I'll do the math for you: 21/10/3.5. That's hard to ignore.
3. This Defense is not all hype. Let's start with the foot note here. Their best wing defender and the guy who creates the most turnovers was out (Allen Iverson)! Let's look at some rankings after the first two weeks:
- 4th least PPG
- 1st in opposing team rebounds
- 5th in opposing team assist
- 2nd in opponents shot attempts per game.
- (t) 4th in opposing teams FG%
- 4th in opposing teams 3 point %
- Have not allowed anyone to score 100 points on them.
That's all without factoring in that the Lakers force the least turnovers per game? If don't realize what that means, i'll break it down for you. The Lakers are putting this with pretty much having to stop an opponents shot every time down the court. Simply put when the game slows down the Lakers can get stops. The hope is when Iverson comes back they can limit shot attempts even more.
With this i'll tell you, fans, do not sleep on the Lakers. They have the opportunity to be scary good this season. Please feel free to send comments below. Till next week!
Edit: AD Can you move this into Articles please?