click this to see the nba lakers site

Organization News

Lakers still struggling with new defensive schemeSunday's 108-105 victory over Miami makes 36 encounters and 30 escapes, so the Lakers' official position is still, "What's the problem?"

If the Los Angeles Lakers have a problem, it's on defense, although Coach Phil Jackson insists it's not a problem. According to Jackson, they give up a lot of points, they score more, so what's the problem?

As he put it early December in Philadelphia, when the 76ers became the latest team to wipe out a large deficit before the Lakers eked out the win, "I guess we are what we are, a good offensive team."

The Lakers have a new defensive scheme they haven't mastered, possibly because they don't put a lot of effort into it, unless they feel challenged and, you could check the standings, it takes a lot to challenge them.

They pulled out of their funk in December, eyeing the Celtics' arrival. Since the Christmas game, they've given up 106 points a game; of course, they've also gone 6-1.

Sunday night, their best defender, Kobe Bryant, went on a seek-and-destroy mission against Miami's Dwyane Wade, one of the few players in the world who could stand up to it.

1 2 3 4 Total

Miami 21 30 22 32 105 Final

LA Lakers 26 24 27 31 108


Los Angeles Lakers
Lamar Odom F Jan 7, 2009 Bone bruise, right knee
Luke Walton SF Jan 4, 2009 Right toe inflammation - out 2-4 weeks
Jordan Farmar G Dec 20, 2008 Knee surgery - out 8-10 weeks

Team Stats FG 3PT FT Rebounds Misc
Player G Min M A Pct M A Pct M A Pct Off Def Tot Ast TO Stl Blk PF PPG
Kobe Bryant 36 35:53 9.7 20.1 48.1 1.3 3.5 36.8 6.4 7.3 87.1 1.1 4.1 5.3 4.6 2.8 1.4 0.4 2.3 27.0
Pau Gasol 35 35:30 6.7 12.1 55.2 0.0 0.1 50.0 4.5 5.6 80.1 3.1 6.3 9.4 3.7 1.9 0.4 1.0 1.8 17.8
Andrew Bynum 36 29:11 4.9 9.1 54.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.7 3.9 67.6 2.7 5.4 8.2 1.6 1.7 0.4 1.8 3.1 12.5
Derek Fisher 36 31:06 3.9 9.4 41.3 1.6 3.7 44.0 1.9 2.1 88.2 0.5 2.3 2.8 3.9 1.3 1.3 0.1 2.4 11.3
Trevor Ariza 36 24:41 3.3 7.0 47.0 0.5 1.9 27.9 1.9 2.8 69.0 1.7 3.4 5.2 2.1 1.1 1.8 0.4 2.0 9.1
Lamar Odom 33 26:11 3.3 7.2 46.4 0.4 1.1 37.1 1.8 2.9 61.1 1.4 4.7 6.1 2.3 1.9 1.2 0.9 2.9 8.8
Jordan Farmar 25 19:36 3.0 7.4 40.5 0.8 2.4 35.0 1.1 1.7 64.3 0.4 1.9 2.2 2.4 1.4 1.1 0.2 1.7 7.9
Vladimir Radmanovic 34 17:53 2.2 5.1 43.7 1.4 3.2 44.6 0.7 0.8 84.6 0.4 2.4 2.9 0.9 1.2 0.7 0.2 1.2 6.6
Sasha Vujacic 36 16:11 2.0 5.2 38.8 1.1 2.9 36.2 0.9 1.1 86.8 0.2 1.5 1.7 1.6 0.4 0.9 0.1 2.0 6.0
Luke Walton 23 12:11 1.4 3.8 37.9 0.2 0.9 25.0 0.4 0.4 100.0 0.7 1.1 1.9 1.8 0.7 0.3 0.2 1.4 3.4
Josh Powell 20 07:24 1.3 2.5 52.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.7 1.2 56.5 0.9 1.1 2.0 0.2 0.5 0.1 0.4 1.1 3.3
Chris Mihm 10 05:00 0.9 1.5 60.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.6 83.3 0.5 0.8 1.3 0.7 0.3 0.0 0.1 0.8 2.3
Sun Yue 5 03:17 0.6 1.4 42.9 0.0 0.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.6 0.0 0.2 1.2 1.2
DJ Mbenga 1 03:06 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.0 1.0 0.0
Total 39.5 83.6 47.3 7.0 18.4 37.9 21.8 28.2 77.2 12.3 32.4 44.7 23.3 13.8 8.9 5.2 20.4 107.8