We can all agree that the Clippers looked good against the Lakers the other night. But the other half of that is the Lakers picked up their defense from right where they left off in Game 4 against Dallas last playoffs. The Lakers were slow and soft, particularly on the perimeter.
After the game, new coach Mike Brown called them out on it. Everyone. Including Kobe Bryant, saying he “was as guilty as everyone else” in not contesting Clippers shots on the perimeter.
Cue the ominous music.
How did Kobe react to the new coach naming him to the media? He’s good. Here are his quotes, via the Daily News.“We’re here to be coached. I’m here to be coached just like everybody else, you know what I mean? It’s important for everybody to understand that. If I make a mistake, it’s the coach’s job to correct that. You can’t be sensitive or a baby. You’re here to win. That’s his job. I would upset if he was just letting me skate through things. You make mistakes, it’s the coach’s job to point that out. If he can’t point that out to me, he has no chance of pointing it out to anybody else….
“What I heard about him was he was a pushover, doesn’t say what he’s thinking,” Bryant said. “I haven’t seen that at all. He’s been the complete opposite. He’s been detail oriented. He’s been up front and open and honest. He praises guys when they do well. He jumps on them when they’re messing up right away. He does that me. He does that with Pau (Gasol). He does that with (Devin) Ebanks. There’s no difference. I’ve been extremely, extremely surprised and very, very pleased about that.”
Mike Brown’s reputation for not being willing to criticize stars is more a Dan Gilbert phenomenon than Brown. The orders in Cleveland came from the top down not to antagonize LeBron James, not to do anything that might have him leaving the team. So from letting his friends hang around to not criticizing him in film sessions, LeBron got to skate. That wasn’t Brown, that was the owner.
Brown is not bound by such restraints in Los Angeles. And he’s going to need to be honest and up front with everyone if the Lakers are to have any chance this year (and even that may well not be enough).