After a disappointing weekend, the question came up in a few discussions in my group of friends regarding why the Lakers have lost 2 in a row to teams they could have/should have beaten if they truly were a championship caliber team.

On Friday, the Lakers lost to a young Miami team that is still working to find it’s identity. Then Saturday, on the tail end of a back-to-back, they lost to a strong Orlando team.  2 losses by a combined 5 points. All throughout history, championship teams found a way to win these close games.

Many basketball fans will put a lot of the blame on Andrew Bynum and his previously injured knee. Others will put the blame on a soft as toilet paper defense. Many will put the blame on Kobe for one reason or another.

After watching these recent losses, one thing stuck out in my mind. Phil Jackson is getting out coached by the youngsters. One Friday, Spoelstra managed a young team to victory by firing up his team and making the right moves at the right time. Then came Van Gundy and the Magic. Jackson, on the other hand, stood by and watched teacher’s pet Luke Walton get manhandled while putting up 4pts on 2-6 shooting, 6 rebounds, and 1 assist in 25 minutes in those 2 games. Yet Jackson continues to go with him in the starting lineup, even though Odom has been outplaying him this year… and will continue to do so for the rest of his career.

Then you have Bynum. I’m not sure if Jackson is trying to teach Bynum a lesson in humility or if he’s just being stubborn, but Drew needs to be in at the end of games. Teams are marching to the basket like pre-game layup lines when Drew isn’t there to alter their shots. Yes, Bynum is still getting his timing back, but just simply having a 2nd 7 footer in the paint is scary. I don’t care who you are. You never want to take it in against 2 towering players, especially when one of them (or both) can send your shot into the 3rd row.

Phil Jackson has always been stubborn with his player rotations and timeouts blah blah blah. It used to work. It doesn’t anymore. It’s about time something changes. Phil had started Vlad Radmanovic for the majority of this season, but suddenly decided to switch it up and start Luke. Now the premiere outside threat for the Lakers is barely getting any minutes. The guy is shooting 46% from beyond the arc and you bench him? Yeah some people might say that he’s not playing solid defense. Is ANYONE on the Lakers really playing defense? If that’s the case, pretty much all the players need to ride the bench for a while, with the exception of Trevor Ariza. Rad can at least stretch out the defense and force other teams to stay honest and not double off of him. That’s exactly what made Sasha Vujacic so valuable last year. Great job benching him, Phil. Notice the slip since you started playing Walton?

The offense will continue to be there, but Jackson needs to stop talking about his team playing defense, and get them to actually do it. He left Kurt Rambis in charge of the defense, and apparently it’s not working right now. It’s time for the Zen Master to get off that huge chair of his and actually preach defense. You have an athletic and talented team. Maybe you should use their skills rather than force them into your style. The Lakers were clicking on all cylinders at the beginning of the year when Jackson allowed the bench to run up and down the court and tire out the opponent. Now they’ve struggled since Jackson put the reins on Farmar. Ariza isn’t getting as many steals and breakaway dunks because of this either. And the rest of the bench is simply stagnant as the ball keeps getting passed around the perimeter until there are 3 seconds left on the 24 and someone is force to throw up some garbage.

Woo hoo great coaching. I’m so glad the Lakers have the greatest coach of all time on the bench. Needless to say, something has to change. And that change is Phil’s coaching philosophy. The times have changed, Phil. Now it’s your turn to adjust to the new NBA.

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