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Is there a **** in the Lakers' armor? It appears that poor Kobe cannot shoot well when his body is banged up. The Pistons and Knicks used to bang up Jordan, but he was incredibly strong and was able to shoot well even when his back or body was sore.
On those occasional nights when Jordan was not shooting well, Pippen stepped up to the plate. Who is going to be the Pippen for LA? Pau Gasol? Lamar Odom?
Arejaydub - is it still "Lovely in Lakerland" ??
- JL

Kobe may be the MVP of the league right now, but he's obviously no Superman. He's looking awfully human right now.
- JL

Comon Jay - it's one thing to be banged up with bumps and bruises, it's another to have a legitimate injury hampering you. It's a big difference. It's obvious that Kobe can block out allot of pain and discomfort. He's been playing over half the season with torn ligaments in his finger, he played through food poisoning in the playoffs against the Kings back during the 3-peat and so on.

It was clear this was more being a little banged up. And it's not like Jordan never lost a game in the course of the playoffs.

If there's anything to blame for the loss, it's the awful foul shooting.

banged up is not the same as injured..it's up to the lakers to show the heart, if they dont they dont deserve to be champions..its still lovely in lakerland cause 2 bad games and with kobe injured the jazz just barely won and the lakers can learn more from defeat than wins, hopefully they will pull series out..Go lakers

It's not even like they were horrible games. LA could have won them both, and they SHOULD have won yesterday. Shooting 50% from the stripe in regulation cost them that game. Utah did what they had to and won two scrappy games at home. They still have to win in LA.

Kobe was hurt and it wasn't one of the best games we played as a team,however even with all those missed FT and turnovers we managed to extend the game 5 more mins,at that point JAZZ was playing better and they won that critical game.I don't feel discouraged,we just didn't execute the plays that we normally do,we still have court advantage and we will try to win that game 5...and yes,still lovely in Lakerland!!

Looks as if the Lakers are having a little trouble with the Jazz.
Arejaydub - is it still "Lovely in Lakerland" ??
- JL

Like Barkley said last night, either you win a game or you don't. "Could've won" or "had a chance to win" don't mean jack in the playoffs. Either you did or you didn't and they didn't. Now it's best 2 out of 3.

bigdog - that's true, and that's why I blamed the loss mostly on their terrible foul shooting.

And in the end all the Jazz did was win on their home floor, just like the Lakers. It's best 2 of 3, but the Jazz have yet to show they can win on the road, so the fact the Lakers hold home court advantage in this mini-series is BIG.

2 out of 3 is fine with me as long as those 2 games are at staples

You guys aren't worried in lakerland? What about Kobe's back?

You have to take the good and bad. Kobe struggles with team play. He is a great player but needs to trust his team more when he struggles.

Its gotten shakey in Lakerland.........

When Jackson said, ""I was angry at his teammates for dropping the ball in his lap," he was talking to Kobe without alienating him. I'm sure he got the message.

listen to all the laker haters jump on this story.. its a non story lakers lost a road game to the best home side in the league... lakers will win the series because they have home advantage because they earnt it... kobe had a bad game wopty do! i think kobe has proved hundreds of times before that he bounces back bigger and better... again this is a non story because the lakers will be in the western conference finals soon enough! and to that guy that says it.... ITS LOVELY IN LAKERLAND

I'm not worried until we get some news on how bad it's hurt, and how much it impacts him in Game 5.

No Shack no titles for this selfish man -- Kobe is nothing, he is not accostumed to pressure and/or coming from behind he gets deperate and overlooks his temans...

For Franken-Jackson to put the blame of EVERYONE but Kobe is lame -- I hope all his teammates DONT give a full effort on the next game to show that selfish **** kibo they value of EVERYONE in a team

KObes never seen a shot he wouldnt take, not matter how lousy a shot attempt it is