It’s the “chicken or the egg” problem with the Lakers that has been going on for years.
Is it Kobe Bryant’s fault he doesn’t get his teammates involved? Or is it his teammates fault for not doing their share, standing around and watching, forcing him to take over if the team is going to win?
After the Lakers offense was stagnant in a 98-96 loss to Orlando — the team the Lakers offense dominated in the NBA Finals last year — the questions are back anew. And there are no easy answers.
Pau Gasol is very frustrated (although it can be hard to tell because he is so polite):
"We haven't been playing with a good flow out there offensively and it takes a lot of people out of their rhythm," Gasol said. "We need to figure out how to move the ball a lot more so there's a flow out there, there's a rhythm."
When Gasol was pointedly asked if the offense was being bogged down by how many shots Bryant has been attempting, he answered, "I don't know" at first, but then …
"Kobe's a great player," Gasol said. "We have to find balance as a team, as a unit out there. Kobe's a great player and he's probably the best offensive player out there. We understand that. ... But at the same time, we need to find that balance and we need to find balance with our interior game developing ... using it a little more and moving the ball and changing sides more, because that's the triangle, that's what it does. ... We need to get focused on that a little more. To find that balance, to find that flow."
Gasol has been the whipping boy of Lakers fans suddenly, they having decided that maybe the best power forward in the game is just too soft. But he has a point — in the fourth quarter against Orlando, Kobe took 16 shots and Gasol just four, three of them off offensive rebounds he got and went back up with.
The answers are not simple, the breakdowns are multiple. It starts with the Lakers guards are not doing a good job making entry passes to the post. Gasol and Andrew Bynum work hard to establish a good position near the basket, and Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmar don’t do a good job getting them the ball (Shannon Brown barely even tries to run the offense.)
If Bynum and Gasol do get the ball, they hold it for a while rather than being decisive. They are doing wrong is that when the double team comes they do not pass out to the right open man, they tend to shoot anyway or wait so long that the defense rotates over to cut off that pass out.
All of that leads to the biggest problem — even if they pass out to an open shooter, the Lakers miss the shot.
Sunday Kobe was 8 of 23 from the outside (34.8%) and 2 of 5 from three (with one toe-on-the-line two). Derek Fisher was 4 of 11. Ron Artest 1 of 7. Jordan Farmar 0-3. Shannon Brown 2 of 5. As a team the Lakers were 5 of 17 from three.
Orlando is smart, they did what a lot of teams are doing against the Lakers — pulling the defense back into the paint and daring Los Angeles to shoot jumpers. It worked. The Lakers will see more of it.
When the Lakers are missing, Kobe feels it's his time to take over. He’s right, and he’s won a lot of games that way, but he can’t win every one. And he can’t win a seven-game playoff series against a good team.
The Lakers can’t just treat the symptoms, they have to treat the disease. They have to start running the offense — and hitting their open shots — like Phil Jackson plans. Or there will be no parade down Figueroa this year.
Kurt Helin lives in Los Angeles and is the lead writer on NBC's NBA blog Pro Basketball Talk (which you can also follow in twitter).
