Despite a big W for the Lakers Wednesday night, Golden State came a little too close for comfort. The California based teams battled it out in an uptempo game at the Staples center, a game fraught with bad turn-overs and iffy ball-handling. Surprised? Most fans aren’t.

The Lakers have been struggling lately to establish a rhythm as soon as they step foot on the court. Example? Kobe rushing to get a shot off three seconds into the first quarter. 0-0 is probably the best score to practice running your offense, not immediately resorting to Operation Kobe (Who, by the way, did not get his first points until hitting a three-pointer almost 5 minutes into the first quarter). Without a steady rhythm, it is difficult for even the greatest of teams to overcome those who are not, and a lot of the Lakers’ current struggles could swiftly be resolved if that issue was addressed. Lately, we have been having a difficult time starting games off on the right foot. Our first quarter was riddled with missed baskets and bad looks, which enabled Golden State to retain the lead for the majority of the quarter. This deficit could have easily been avoided if we simply slowed it down, ran our offense, gained some momentum, and maintained a steady rhythm.
Golden State’s speed and youth took advantage of the Lakers’ sloth-like zone defense throughout the first half, resulting in a cutthroat, fast-break, battle to the boards between the two teams. Our lack of steady rhythm in the first half also contributed to the irritation of our second unit. Jordan Farmar missed his first 2 field goals, and in his frustration, committed an obvious goal-tend and a turn-over after telegraphing his passes. All instances that can be diminished by simply running a play and getting a good look at the basket. After missing an easy lay-in, Luke Walton made an appearance with an excellent assist to Gasol, as well as a 3-pointer, giving us a surge of hope towards the middle of the second quarter.

Our defense in the key drastically improved with the entrance of DJ Mbenga (who has been phenomenal on the defensive side of the court in previous games), Shannon Brown, and Josh Powell. Pau Gasol dominated the paint with 21 points and 14 rebounds (despite pulling a Shaq and missing an inordinate amount of free-throws) and was followed closely by Lamar Odom, who also had a double-double with 16 points and 12 boards. With figures like that, the Lakers should have won this game by a landslide, but in our haste to play offense, we were slacking on the defensive end. Laker’s coach Phil Jackson commented before the game that the Lakers needed to work on defending direct line penetration, that issue was emphasized further throughout the game.

In many instances, Golden State got some easy baskets and uncontested shots due to a crumbling Laker zone defense, but their luck would not last long. Although leading by a measly free-throw at the half, Los Angeles buckled down in the third quarter, as usual, to slowly pull away from the Warriors. Despite a shaky first half, Trevor Ariza executed a perfect reverse dunk after taking full advantage of a wide-open baseline. Those are the kind of opportunities the Lakers should be taking more often rather than throwing up shots all game. Walton also had an excellent power play in the 3rd quarter when he dunked over ex-Laker Ronny Turiaf (which I personally enjoyed…I mean, if Walton played with less hesitation, he’d be a consistent asset for the Lakers, rather than an on and off asset similar in nature to a frequently used light switch). Kobe started to heat up as well, after having only contributed 9 points in the first half, he scored 12 points combined in the 3rd and 4th quarters. Which only goes to show you that all of us Lakers’ fans cannot just rely on Mr. Bryant, regardless of where he is on the all-time scoring list. In spite of a double figure lead in the 3rd quarter, the Lakers received quite a scare after the Warriors had a 16-4 run in the 4th, bringing their score within 3 points leaving only 2 and a half minutes to play. That, at least in my opinion, is intolerable. If we are going to be the team to beat in the play-offs, we need to tighten the loose screws and fast, especially if we are not getting Andrew Bynum back for another month.