'13-'14 P&G Game 6: vs. Houston Rockets

After getting creamed by the Dallas Mavericks on the road, the Lakers found themselves facing a familiar face in a familiar foe: Dwight Howard wearing the red and white of Houston. Luckily, the purple and gold jumped to an early lead, which was vanquished after several Houston runs in the second quarter. Fortunately, a last-minute play that ended with a swished triple by Steve Blake gave them their third win of the season, 99-98.

Yay of the Game:

11 of the 14 triples in the first half went in for the Lakers, giving them a 14-point lead entering the second half. Unfortunately, the Lakers ended the game with only 16 of 35 triples made total, which means that they only made 5 out of 21 in the second half (the biggest of them all was Blake's triple). Jodie Meeks and Blake shot the lights out as they ended with a combined 9 of 13 triples; Wesley Johnson, however, only went 3 of 8.

Nay of the Game: 

36-17 was the number of fouls between the Lakers and the Rockets respectively. The referees had their whistles locked on the Lakers, as they called even on touch fouls. While the Lakers had a decent 11 of 15 clip from the charity stripe, the Rockets had 52 free throw attempts, and James Harden who ended up with 35 big points, got 14 of his 16. However, the Hack-A-Dwight strategy worked as Howard only got 5 of his 16 charities.

Play of the Game:

Blake Mamba came just in time to make that triple, giving the Lakers the win. It's actually a good play considering that Gasol is ready for the rebound in case the shot misses.




The Lakers are now at...

3-3 (3rd Pacific, 8th West). After this, they have a chance to go above .500 for the second time this season as they face the New Orleans Pelicans, who are hungry for a home win against the Lakers.

Highlights:

'13-'14 P&G Game 4: vs. Atlanta Hawks

After two consecutive losses, the Lakers came back with a 105-103 win against the Atlanta Hawks; however, it was a game that was nearly lost after the Lakers blew a 21-point lead in the second half.

Yay of the Game:

13-4-4 was Nick "Swaggy P" Young's statline of the game after coming off from the bench for the first time this season (Wesley Johnson starts for the first time. In 21 minutes of play, he made 5 of 9 field goal attempts, with one of four triples. It seems that it would be more beneficial for the Lakers to relegate him as an energy provider, although it would

Nay of the Game:

100% of Atlanta G Kyle Korver's triples splashed into the net, which allowed the Hawks to bounce back in the fourth quarter and almost had the chance to snag the win away from the Lakers. Judging from the four games that the Purple & Gold has played, it is obvious that they still can't properly close games out and play tough defense. This is something that Coach... oh wait, it's Mike _'Antoni out there who's handling the reins. Somebody page the assistant coach for defense.

Play of the Game:

Here's Pau Gasol showing for the nth time that his critics were wrong in labeling him as soft.


The Lakers are now at:

2-2, coming off from last season's attempt at just being at .500. This might change when they hit the road and face Monta Ellis, Dirk Nowitzki, and the Dallas Mavericks.

Highlights:

'13-'14 P&G Game 3: vs. San Antonio Spurs

Despite building a huge lead in the first half, the Lakers realized that it's all about sustaining the lead as they failed to do so against the San Antonio Spurs, as the purple and gold suffered a measly 85-91 loss against the 2013 Finals runners-up.

Yay of the Game:

26 combined points for bench hitters Wesley Johnson and Jodie Meeks, who kept the ball rolling in terms of scoring despite this second straight loss. The difficulty that the Lakers have to face is not a matter of sustaining scoring streaks among individuals, but making sure that everyone gets at their right spots and enjoys scoring sprees. They have done that during the first half, but it seems that most of them have lost steam and gave up on defending the ball once the Spurs had the advantage.

Nay of the Game: 

8-27 from triples. This is not really the bad point against the Lakers this day (the Spurs had a late 9-1 run that put them up big in the waning minutes of the game); however, it's worth looking at the way they execute offensively, especially in terms of choosing their shots from beyond the arc. Considering that the first two games, they reached 40%, this isn't a good day for the Lakers offense. Again, consistency on the O is a must for everything to fit, especially now that without Kobe, the team is more oriented and set to work well on offense before defense.

Play of the Game:
Check out the huge Jodie Meeks slam that kept the Lakers up by 13 in the first half.



The Lakers are now at:

1-2 (5th Pacific, 12th West), and up next is an Atlanta Hawks team trying to build itself up after the departure of Josh Smith, trusting solely on Al Horford and Paul Millsap.

Highlights:



Credits to Yahoo! Sports and YouTube for the pics and videos respectively.

'13-'14 P&G Game 2: vs. Golden State Warriors

During the second day of the Lakers' back-to-back games, reality hit them as a torching hot Golden State held them down on the ropes, handing the Purple and Gold a 125-94 loss.

Yay of the Game:

8 out of 18 triples kept the Lakers at bay, and it could have gotten worse if they did not shoot their triples. Ironically, the best shooter of the day was Wesley "Mr. One of Eleven" Johnson, who sank 3 of his 6 three-point attempts

Nay of the Game:

-16 was the difference between the Lakers and the Golden State Warriors in terms of assists. Clearly, the Lakers had problems as well with handling the ball and finding the right guy to take the shot (the Lakers also had 16 turnovers, 8 of them coming from steals). Steve Blake and Jordan Farmar shot at a combined 8 of 26 from the clip, and most of those shots could have been given to Pau Gasol (5 of 10) and Chris Kaman (5 of 9)

Play of the Game:

There's virtually nothing worth seeing here, except Klay Thompson hammering the Lakers down with 38 points.


The Lakers are now at:
1-1, tied with the Clippers and the Warriors. Up next is the San Antonio Spurs, who is a relatively old team that has not lost much but gained a few pieces like Jeff Ayres and Marco Bellinelli. Hopefully the Lakers bounce back from this win and realize that even when the odds are against them, they can still snag a few wins.
Highlights: