The Los Angeles Lakers started the season on a positive note with the win over the Clippers at the Staples Center as the away team, but after losing to the Golden State Warriors at ORACLE Arena on Wednesday, Pau Gasol says that Kobe Bryant's return is needed for the team to be successful in 2013-14.
The Lakers lost to the Warriors in a blowout game 125-94 on the road in the second game of the season and the Warriors got a shot in the arm from young star Klay Thompson, who is showing more and more that he is developing into a very solid player in the league, as he scored a career high 38 points in the matchup and showed off some nice shooting touch, just like his teammate Stephen Curry. Thompson missed on just four of his 19 shots from the field and he also hit five threes from long range and now the Warriors are in nice position as they head into their matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night.
The Warriors are looking to be one of the surprise teams in the west this season after pulling off an upset of the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs and now they have some expectations in 2013-14. The bench has depth and David Lee had a solid game with 25 points and eight rebounds and while Curry had just 10 points, he added six assists and the game wasn't very close at the end and even at the halfway mark, setting the Lakers back a bit after winning over the Clippers without Kobe Bryant.
The Warriors looked like a team that the Lakers wished they could be and Pau Gasol led the way, scoring 123 points and adding seven rebounds without Bryant in the lineup. Steve Nash did not play either and that was an issue for the team and now the Lakers realize that they need to get things together even without Kobe, which is what Gasol said to reporters after the game. Gasol said the team needs to play with more energy and that they also have to have better communication.
"We didn't really create any energy for ourselves," Gasol said to ESPN.com. "There was no communication, and on a back-to-back you just got to do that. And we didn't do it. We were stagnant on both ends of the floor, we were not active enough. So, that's what's going to happen when we do those things."
