The best way to defend Carter is to play him at a length of an arm and a half, and allow him to shoot the jumper with the hope that he misses a few. But he s hitting those shots now. He saw it quite a bit last year and, after Saturday night s 48-point explosion, will see more of it this season. The word around here in LA is a lot of people are concerned with where the Lakers are. But let s not forget the Lakers were playing mediocre ball around last December as well before turning it around en route to the NBA title.
Slow starts happen quite often with veteran teams.
There s a trap there, waiting for that surge. Then the talent takes over. When you look at center Shaquille O Neal and shooting guard Kobe Bryant, you expect it to happen at any time. Also, there are a few teams in the Western Conference that have gotten better. It must be unnerving to play like the sixth best team in your own conference a season after winning the NBA championship.