Just when Laker fans worked up enough courage to poke their heads out of the door, game 4 came along. It was one of those games that I’m sure all Laker fans are used to by now. The kind of game where they think to themselves, “just get it down to single digits before the next quarter”. The kind of game where every time the Lakers get into a defensive stance or tussle, you knew the whistle is going to blow for the other team. The kind of game that, quite frankly, makes it hard to be a Laker fan. It wasn’t pretty but it seemed like on memorial day the Lakers paid memorial to the Lakers of the Houston series. Knowing that game 4 was a chance to ut some meaningful distance between them and the Nuggets, the Lakers feel into the Nuggets trap.

So what went wrong? I think the main three things were:

Rebounding

We got out rebounded 58-40. The Nuggets attacked the glass, especially on the offensive end where they had what seemed to be at least 2 shots every time they went down the floor. They had 20 Offensive rebounds to our 9. Looks like instead of getting offensive boards we got offensive “bored”. Looking at the way the Nuggets played, these 2nd chance points ignited the crowd/players and took away our easy transition hoops on the other end.

A lot of this comes back to our bigs. A box out is basic and instead of looking for touches on the offensive end, maybe they need to create their own touches off the glass. Basketball is a game of fundamentals: rebounding, defense, and free throws (we were 24-35). If the Lakers do those three, they have a shot at winning.

The Mob

The bench mob combined for 24 points while the Nuggets combined for 42 (24 by JR Smith). Offensively, you can live with 24 points, but defensively we cannot give up 42 points to their bench and expect to win. The bench needs to come into the game and play with a sense of desperation and with tenacity.

On a side note, what’s up with Sasha? I mean Derek went through a drought and still got plenty of playing time (he still sorta is in a slump). But that’s Derek. He’s got a resume. Sasha, on the other hand, has been nothing short of awful. I don’t see the logic in him shooting his way out of his slump in such close games…games where we need those clutch shots. In this series he is 4 of 17 (23%), which is actually even lower than the 18 for 64 (28%) he was coming into this series. The playoffs are not a time to find your game Sasha. I’m seeing a long off season of “tradesasha” websites on the horizon if he doesn’t stop complaining and missing shots.

Refs

The officiating has been questionable, to say the least. This postseason, more than any other I can recall, has been defined by the referees. It seems that with every game instead of getting it right, they just get it more wrong. Granted, I’m a Lakers fan, but regardless there has been an air of uncertainty blowing through their whistles. I think Phil said it best post-game,

“Basketball is a game where the aggressor gets the advantage, and tonight we didn’t know what a foul was and what wasn’t a foul. Start of the game, we got guys knocked around going to the basket, they said, ‘We’re going to let those things go.’ By the end of the ballgame, little fouls were being called all over the place.”

This was apparent by the 31 team fouls the Lakers accumulated. It’s not just Phil either, each coach in the final four has made their own case. For the refs to choke on their whistles at the beginning but then to go whistle crazy at the end (or vice versa) is, not only inconsistent, but detrimental to the integrity of the game.

Eerily resembling the 7 game fiasco in Houston, the Lakers circus is headed back to LA with a tied series. Essentially a best of 3 now, anything is possible and with what appears to be an inability to put together back-to-back solid efforts, you have to think that this series goes to 7. The Nuggets are pushing us around and hopefully the Lakers will find a way to channel their frustration into two more victories. Hearing Kobe and Pau after the game, I think it’s safe to say that game 5 will be the Lakers to lose…but then again, so have all the others this postseason.

We’ve seen the Lakers play like champs and have seen them play like a Deer lost in the headlights. If it’s one thing the Lakers have proven it’s that they are good enough to win but not great enough to be counted on.