Kobe Bryant made headlines once again this week by claiming his Lakers are an “old damn team” and that they could not muster up the energy needed to dispatch a younger Sixers team.
Well Kobe, the age issue seems to only be affecting your team, not the other, older squads who have managed to become elite despite having one foot in the retirement home.
If you look at the six oldest teams in the NBA, Lakers included, they have a combined record of 127-64, impressive, yes, but let’s delve a little bit deeper.
What if we take out the Lakers, who are currently the NBA’s fourth-oldest team, and look at the combined records of the Knicks, Heat, Spurs, Clippers and Bulls. Minus Kobe’s squad, those teams have a 112-48 record, a much more impressive winning percentage.
The issue at hand here, and as it has been with teams coached by Mike D’Antoni, is the defense.
The Lakers are actually scoring at a higher clip than the Knicks, Clippers and Bulls, but are the only team of the six that is allowing 100 points per game.
Now before you bring up how the older Lakers cannot be expected to hang with the Thunder, Warriors or Rockets because of their age obviously, look at this.
The Knicks, Heat and Clippers all have an average age higher than the Lakers this season and are all performing better defensively, and in turn are a combined 31-games over .500 compared to one game under, like the Lakers are.
(Games through Jan. 3)
1. Clippers (25-8) (Previous Ranking: 1) – After not losing for the entire month of December, the Clippers have promptly dropped their first two games of 2013 by double-digits. Some concern, but not much considering both losses came on the road against playoff teams.
2. Heat (22-8) (4) – Miami needed a near triple-double from LeBron James to oust the Mavericks at home. James has been stellar once again this season but is not getting the MVP chatter that Carmelo is, probably because we are used to seeing him play at an ungodly level every time he steps on the floor.
3. Thunder (24-7) (2) – Took a beating at home against the Nets, thanks to a combined 11 turnovers from Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.
4. Knicks (22-10) (3) – Amar’e Stoudemire’s return is the biggest story right now for the Knicks, who have struggled to close out games and on defense as of late.
5. Spurs (26-9) (5) – Nothing rolled San Antonio’s way on Thursday night against the Knicks, including Stephen Jackson’s ankle.
6. Hawks (20-10) (7) – Had their four-game winning streak snapped by Houston, but was still 3-1 over the past week.
7. Grizzlies (20-9) (6) – Memphis has not scored 100 points since Dec. 4, when it dropped 108 against the Suns and have gone 7-6 over that span. The Grizzlies are the lowest scoring playoff team in the Western Conference.
8. Warriors (22-10) (8) – Stephen Curry and David Lee combine to make the best guard-forward duo you didn’t realize was as good as it actually is.
9. Bulls (17-13) (10) – Derrick Rose joined the team on its road trip to Florida this week. Rose is still a good ways away from playing a game, but his presence has to be a positive sign for Chicago.
10. Bucks (16-14) (9) – Brandon Jennings dazzled in the Bucks’ win against Miami, but his 3-point shooting in their past two losses has been awful (2-of-9).
11. Pacers (19-13) (12) – Has managed to win their past two games despite scoring an average of 88.5 points thanks to stifling defense.
12. Rockets (18-14) (13) – Rebounded nicely with back-to-back double-digit wins after getting gutted by San Antonio and Oklahoma City.
13. Lakers (15-16) (11) – Could pull off a big win against the Clippers tonight.
14. Nuggets (18-16) (15) – Ended the Clippers’ 17-game losing streak while holding the NBA’s second-highest scoring team to 78 points.
15. Nets (17-14) (19) – 3-1 under P.J. Carlesimo, and it does not seem to be a fluke considering one of those wins was a 17-point road victory over Oklahoma City.
16. Timberwolves (15-14) (16) – Have won two of their three games this week despite Kevin Love’s shooting woes (16-of-47)
17. Celtics (14-17) (14) – The exception to my points made above about how older teams are having great success this season.
18. Trail Blazers (16-15) (18) – Still cannot figure this team out. One night Portland beats the Knicks on the road and the next it loses to Toronto by 23 points.
19. Jazz (16-17) (17) – Utah hasn’t had a player lead the game in rebounding since Dec. 22 against Miami and not surprisingly is 2-3 over that span.
20. Sixers (15-18) (20) – Nice road win against the Lakers which sparked the Kobe “old damn team” comments, but otherwise have had an unimpressive road trip.
21. Pistons (12-22) (24) – Picked up its first three-game winning streak of the season, including a victory against Miami. Detroit has improved to 9-8 at home but is still a pitiful 3-14 on the road.
22. Raptors (12-20) (25) – Toronto is 8-2 over its past 10 games, all without Andrea Bargnani…Coincidence? I don’t think so. Luckily for the Raptors the former first-round pick could be out another month.
23. Kings (12-20) (26) – James Johnson’s buzzer-beating trey prevented Sacramento from completing one of the all-time great collapses against the Knicks.
24. Cavaliers (7-26) (21) – Have lost three straight but by a combined 14 points and are still clearly missing the presence of Anderson Varejao.
25. Mavericks (13-20) (23) – Vince Carter dialed back the clock with a few jaw-dropping dunks against the Wizards, but the Mavs are still a bad team without Dirk Nowitzki.
26. Magic (12-20) (22) – Seven straight losses include two against Toronto, one against the Hornets and one against the Wizards. Brutal.
27. Suns (12-21) (27) – Luis Scola has been playing well as of late, scoring 21 or more points in each of his past three games, but it is his passing (nine assists) that helped the Suns snap a six-game skid.
28. Hornets (7-25) (28) – Beat Charlotte last Friday, which is about the only team the Hornets can beat at this point in the season.
29. Bobcats (8-23) (30) – Ending an 18-game losing streak has to earn you something right?
30. Wizards (4-26) (29) – Lowest scoring team in the NBA, have not won back-to-back games all season and have not scored 100 points in a month. Only the Wizards could possess the kind of magic needed to bounce the Bobcats from the bottom spot.