TWOLVES -at- LAKERS - 12/14 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Back Under 90... They trashed your everyday car. Damn shame, but in the back of your mind you're glad. You open up the gargage door and pull the cover off the black 1970 Chevy Nova. You converted it into a '69 Chevy Yenko Nova a few years ago.

You get nervous taking her out, but minutes later, you accelerate recklessly down side streets on the way to the latest incident. This one sounding more like an anomaly -- someone said something about wolves running free downtown. What this has to do with finding little Larry O'Brien, you aren't sure.

The streets are empty as you come over a hill and slow down. Taking a left, you spot them. They don't look like wolves, more like a pack of feral dogs. Scabs and skin lesions fester where tufts of fur have been scratched away. They scatter, mostly limping away as you pull up. One remains. There's a piece of paper in his mouth.

An icy breeze slaps your face as hop out of the car. "I'm not gonna hurt you, boy," you say as you cautiously approach. The dog puts the paper down and backs away. This may be easier than you thought. As you reach down and grab the paper, the beast growls, bares its teeth. It lunges and snaps -- dog saliva and your limbs fly in all directions as you leap back. You underestimated the fight in him.

"Alright. Alright, boy," you say backing to your car. "Go on. Shoo... Go away... Uh. Be gone with you." The dog just stares back at you. You get back into your car and blast the horn. The dog finally takes off. You unroll the paper he had in his mouth. DancingBarry again:

The Four Horsemen were here. It wasn't aesthetic. It wasn't dominant nor filled with a lot of emotion. They simply had too much talent for their opponent -- a recurring theme in many of these victories. At the end of the night, they took care of business.

They have been defeating their opponents, but they are not happy. The Four Horsemen want to get back to crushing all foes. I will continue to track them..."

The offense sputtered, but the half-court defense held strong as the Lakers finished the Timberwolves off, 98-86. The Lakers limited their turnovers to 10 and kept the TWolves below that 90-point mark. Nice to see, regardless of the opponent. They also hit their freethrows, making 17-19.

The TWolves got easy buckets in transition and whenever the Lakers made ill-advised double teams and had to scramble. When the Lakers didn't do that, Minnesota couldn't get their post game on track against the taller Laker defenders...and their offense bogged down. The Lakers didn't have to face an endless number of high screen plays.

Their transition defense will be put to the test in the next game. They better come prepared.


Kobe -- -- Offensively, he settled for a lot of perimeter jumpers, but not to the extent of some previous games. Poor shooting night and our offense suffered from it. He had some aggressively slashes to the hoop in the fourth and that helped the Lakers get some distance. A couple things I would have liked to see: Better effort in transition D. Everybody needs to get back, including Kobe. Secondly, wish we could have had more help from him on the defensive glass. When our bigs our out of position at times, challenging or rotating, we need some more help from others. The Stats: He scored 26 points on 9-24 shooting (2-6 from three, 6-6 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 37 minutes. The Action: He missed a long wing jumper. He swished a shorter wing jumper on his next attempt. He up-faked Gomes and drew FTs stanging on the three line, he made both FTs. He swished a DFish foot-on-the-three-line jumper straight away. He missed a short one-hander. He gambled for a steal and it led to a layup. He settled for a long jumper, missed and his man scored a layup on the leak out. He missed a layup and didn't get back in transition. He was blocked on a turnaround. He gave up a three when he sagged off his man to help Bynum in the post (no reason to do that, Bynum blocked his man on iso D on the next sequence to prove the point). He scooped up a loose ball and hit Pau for the dunk. He swung through and hit a 19-footer from the wing. He forced up a three and missed (layup the other way with poor transition D). He posted up and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a runner with his left at the buzzer. He had 10 points on a poor 3-10 shooting. Second Half: He swished a good look from the elbow out of the split play on the first possession. He missed a pull-up jumper with his toe on the three line in early offense. He made the wide open three on the kickout from Pau. He forced and missed a tough baseline turnaround. He sank a sideline three. He missed a long wing jumper out of a timeout. He attacked and kicked out to Farmar for three. He blew a three-on-one break, somehow got it back and clanked the three. He was stripped in the post and late getting back in transition. He missed a step-back wing jumper. He attacked off the screen and drew FTs at the rim, he made both FTs. He sliced through the D in transition and banked in the runner. He slithered through defenders, hung and hit a jumper from 10 feet out on his way down. He missed a three. He slipped a pass to Ariza under the hoop for a dunk.

Gasol -- -- Another all-around strong game from Pau, finishing with a double-double and helping lead the team in assists. We attacked inside-out quite a bit in this game. The coaches were irked with some of the weak first-half off-the-ball movement when we did get the ball in the post. In the triangle, you need quick cuts and good screens away from the ball. Defensively our bigmen got to stay near the hoop and the TWolves paid the price. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 7-12 shooting (4-4 from the line) to go with 11 boards, 6 assists, 3 blocks and 1 foul in 34 minutes. The Action: He missed a wing jumper. He sealed the fronting defender, took the entry pass from Fish and dunked. He attacked to the middle of the lane and hit the 5-footer. He posted up, turned to the middle and hit the short jumper, he wanted the foul. He drew the double and hit a cutting Bynum for a layup. He tied up Jefferson on a blocked shot. He held on to the ball too long on the last possession of the quarter and we couldn't get a shot off in time. He swished an open 16-footer. He ran the floor when Kobe scooped up a loose ball and was rewarded with a dunk. He had 10 points on 5-6 shooting, 5 boards, 3 assists and 2 blocks. Second Half: He hit Kobe for a jumper, Fish for a jumper and Kobe for a three on post kickouts. Soft And-1 foul in transition D. He missed a fallaway. He drew FTs and made both. He got blocked. He posted up and hit the jumphook with his left. He got blocked again. He took an in-bounds pass under the hoop, up-faked and drew FTs, he made both. He slipped a screen, was blocked, got it back and dunked.

Bynum -- -- I don't know why we see players doubling Bynum's man in the post. He doesn't need the help. Let him go solo and stay with your men. Jefferson struggled to get anything going against Bynum. "It was tough for him to shoot over," Phil said. With Bynum defending the post and sticking around under the hoop, he was able to anchor better. (So, you get 6 blocks between him and Pau.) Offensively, not a lot of power in Bynum's game. The usual jumphooks and lob dunks. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 6-11 shooting (2-4 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 3 assists, 3 blocks, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 35 minutes. The Action: He went up high to pull down an offensive board and hit a short one with his left over the defender. He hopped a couple times and was called for the travel in the lane. He dunked the lob from Fish on the pick and roll. He blew a layup in transition. He drew a clear out foul on a penetrating guard with a good challenge. He scored a layup cutting down the lane when Pau was doubled. Jefferson traveled trying to score in the post around Bynum. He missed a jumphook on the right block. He threw down the lob from DFish on the break. He swatted Jefferson's post up. He had 8 points on 4-6 shooting, 4 boards and 2 blocks. Second Half: He missed a jumphook off the glass from the right block (he needs to master that specific shot). Next time down, Bynum drew FTs on Jefferson posting up, he made one. He gave a head and shoulder fake with his back to the basket, spun to his right and hit the jumphook with his left. He drew a double and found Kobe for a layup. He missed a layup off an offensive board. He was blocked by Jefferson. Good help to recover back under the hoop after a trap and he blocked and controlled a shot by Love. He tried to create from the high post, turnover. He reposted, took the pass and drew FTs on the jumphook, he made one. He took the entry pass, spun and scored at the front of the rim with his left.

Luke -- -- We didn't have quite the offensive flow tonight. Luke still played a quality game. Again, though, I think you could have still gotten similar minutes from Lamar at the SF tonight. Not that it was needed, but just something to consider. With all the post action, Vlad and Sasha might have helped the inside-out offense more, however. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-6 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 19 minutes. The Action: He missed a corner three. He tried to force a return pass to Bynum in traffic and it was picked off. He missed a bank, falling away on a play set up out of a timeout. He posted up Miller and hit the one-hander over him. Second Half: Awkward looking jumphook off the split play, looked like a shotput. He hit a runner in early offense. He drained a wide open sideline three on the kickout from Fish.

Fisher -- -- He did a good job moving the ball and setting others up for scores. Poor shooting first half, but he reeled in the attempts in the second half. Some extended minutes for Fish. I don't like seeing him over 30 minutes a night. That will add up over the course of the season. Farmar hasn't been pulling his weight (although he played better tonight). The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-7 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 6 assists, 2 turnovers and 1 fouls in 32 minutes. The Action: He missed a reverse layup. He stepped in and took a charge on Miller in transition. He missed an open wing three. He set up Bynum on the screen roll for the alley-oop. He biffed a layup (should have hit Bynum trailing the break). He missed a pull-up with the shotclock low. He hit Bynum in transition for the slam. He probed the lane and hit the short jumper. He had 2 points on 1-5 shooting. Second Half: He threw the ball away on a kickout out, layup the other way. He sank the wide open sideline jumper on the kickout from Pau. He got to the front of the rim and kicked it out to Luke for a three. He missed a runner. He drew FTs off the weakside drop pass from Lamar, he made both. He doubled the post, leaving Miller and gave up a three.

Lamar -- -- He's trying to be the vocal leader of the second unit. He told the guys to stop worrying about shots and play the right way. For his part, he went out and battled on the glass and scratched a few scores. His best was probably an iso against Love where he blew past him and reversed. It was good to see the team clear out and try to let him work in that regard. Lamar missed from the perimeter several times, often having to hoist up a shot with the clock low. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-8 shooting to go with 10 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 24 minutes. The Action: He missed a baseline jumper. He missed a wing jumper with the shotclock low. He set up Ariza for the And-1 on the breakaway. He swatted dribble penetration. Second Half: He faced up Love, attacked past him on teh baseline and scored the reverse. He missed a pull-up fom 19 feet out with the shotclock low. He missed a tough floater on the baseline. He swished a turnaround from the same spot a few seconds later. He missed a jumphook with his left, but went to the floor to get it back when Pau tipped it out. He battled for a board, grabbed it, gave it back falling out of bounds, then challenged the shot to get the miss. He grabbed teh blocked shot and hit a layup attacking to his left. He trapped Foye with Fisher and tied him up at midcourt.

Ariza -- -- Even though Luke may have started, when Ariza got in, Phil didn't take him out. Ariza had a 10-point second quarter (nearly half of our scoring that quarter). So, Phil wasn't going to mess with that. Phil specifically mentioned Ariza's cut off Bynum for a dunk as one of the better plays of the game. That's how you use a first step when you don't have the ball. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 5-8 shooting (1-1 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 3 steals and 2 fouls in 29 minutes. The Action: He passed up an open three for a contested jumper a couple feet in and missed. He forced a tough leaner over a defender on the break and missed. He stole a pass, gave it up to LO, got it back and scored the And-1 around a defender, he made the FT. He scored a layup off the lob from Sasha on the break. Great help on the screen to swipe a pass under the hoop, it led to a Bynum dunk the other way. He took a bounce pass from Kobe and drew contact on the baseline for FTs, he made both. He swished a wing three when his man sagged off him to double Pau. He had 10 points on 3-6 shooting and 3 steals. Second Half: He cut quickly off the entry to Bynum, got it back and dunked. He left Miller and gave up a three. He dunked when Kobe threaded a pass to him under the hoop.

Farmar -- -- Better minutes from Farmar. I actually saw some effort with his lateral footwork on defense. That's how he needs to use his speed. Cut your men off, keep them moving east/west vs. north/south and challenge their shots. Offensively, he was a fraction of a second from double digits (his three at the end of a quarter came a hair to late when Pau kicked out to him). The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-7 shooting (1-4 from three) to go with 3 boards, no assists, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 16 minutes. The Action: Good job staying in front of his man with lateral speed (more please) and we got a miss. He took his eye off a pass from LO and dropped it right out of bounds. He missed a pull-up three in transition. He missed a wing three, way short. Second Half: He swished an open sideline three off the kickout from Kobe. Another good job of moving his feet and he challenged the shot well in the paint to get a miss. He missed a long bank from the left wing. He blew past his man off the high screen and scored the layup with his left. He attacked in transition and drew a goaltend call. He missed a three with the offense stalled (resulted in FTs the other way).

Vujacic -- -- He never got to settle into any shots. Last year, we relied on Sasha to manufacture more points for the bench. We often ran plays for him. I think with all the weapons we have, those opportunities and play calls have reduced. Still, there are a variety of split plays or double screens that we could arrange for him, if needed. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-2 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 11 minutes. The Action: He dribbled into the D and had the ball knocked off him. Bad reach on the perimeter, foul Sasha. He rushed a quick jumper and missed badly from the corner. He swiped the ball, pushed it out and lobbed to Ariza who finished. Second Half: He missed a quick sideline jumper in transition.

Radmanovic -- -- He came in late in the first half at the PF spot. "I thought that we were so bad that anything could give us a jumpstart," Phil said of bringing him in. Oddly worded, but I think he meant Vlad's shooting could have helped. The Stats: He didn't score in 2 minutes. The Action: Nothing to report. Second Half: He did not play.

Phil -- -- "We spent a lot of time yesterday on the defense," Phil said. Apparently not in the transition aspects. They better get that sorted out real quick... Phil believes their defensive scheme will work for them because of their length, but says a lot of teams are solely using the screen-roll against them right now. It's true, of course. It would be interesting to see Lamar's length out there with the other bigs sometime, too... The Lakers had a 20-13 lead when the second unit came in. They ended the first quarter leading 20-18... Midway through the second quarter, Phil went back to the starters with Ariza, the score 25-23... The Lakers led 36-31 when Phil subbed Vlad in at PF for Bynum. So, we had a Pau, Vlad, Ariza, Kobe, Fish lineup... The Lakers led 42-37 at the half. The TWolves shot 33 percent, the Lakers 42 percent. The Lakers were out-rebounded 31-18, giving up 11 offensive boards... BShaw wanted post feeding and harder cuts... More soft play from the Lakers to start the second half. The TWolves led 57-54. The TWolves were just running the floor (guys like Jefferson grabbing a rebound and pushing the dribble coast to coast -- that should never happen)... Tied up 57-57 out of a timeout, the Lakers went on a small run to lead by 5 and force a TWolves' timeout. The second unit came in at this point... The Lakers were 4-4 from three in the third and led 69-62 heading into the fourth quarter... The Lakers were out of fouls with 6:51 left in the fourth... The Lakers led 78-70 going to a timeout midway through the quarter. They extended the lead slightly and held it there to close with ease... "We're not going on those spurts or runs that we had," Phil said. He mentioned poor shot selection on the break. "Those little things can snowball into runs, and we're somehow shooting ourselves in the foot in that regard," he said... The Lakers got out-rebounded 53-46, giving up 16 offensive boards. The bulk of that was in the first half...

Game Flow -- LINK -- A lot of little runs, but no knock-out blows.

[Achilles]

first?

[George W Buss]

second?

Thanks, DB.
Not a fun game to watch, but hey, the Lakers got the win!

[10scott10]

with the vlad thing, i think he meant olur shooting. right after what you said, he talked about using vlad to improve the spacing on the court.

[DancingBarry]

[10scott10]

[Critical Beatdown]

I had a dream similar to this, only it was a Ford Pinto.
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!
Per 100 possessions, we're winning 118-102 with LO on the floor, and losing 109-111 without him. (updated: 4/1/09; source: 82games.com)

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks DB. 2 minutes for Vlad... in the last 3 games?

[Critical Beatdown]

I have little doubt that we would blow out half our opponents with LO in the starting lineup, half of those by the end of the 1st quarter, but maybe this is more interesting the way Phil is doing it, and possibly more enabling in terms of Drew and Pau learning to play together, not just on the offensive end but defensive end, before LO also enters the mix.

For the time being, it may also be more efficient, as LO gets all the other PF/C minutes and consistently makes a very positive impact on the scoreboard for us, though I would like to see him close out games at the 3 once Phil feels Drew is ready (this is probably a carrot for Drew to focus on defense and rebounding), and eventually get some time at the 3 so Josh Powell can be thrown into the rotating mix of players alongside Rad and Luke.
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!
Per 100 possessions, we're winning 118-102 with LO on the floor, and losing 109-111 without him. (updated: 4/1/09; source: 82games.com)

[DancingBarry]

I don't think it will hurt us in short stints. Ariza and Walton aren't killing anyone from outside. I wouldn't trust him to close out games at the 3, though.

Phil has so many tweaks he can throw at other teams. He will probably save some things for the end of the season rather than show all his cards.

[DancingBarry]

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

1969 Yenko... with a 427.... oooooohhhh

That's a lot for a '70 nova to aspire to.

Thanks for the recap DB! I too thought Kobe settled for too many outside jumpers, and I really sensed a difference when Kobe started driving inside the last part of Q4. He should just maybe think of doing that more often. Trev and Pau were awesome!

I was doubtful about LO at the 3 before the season started, but I'm starting to feel like that Drew/Pau/LO combo could use a test drive.

[Addicus]

We won! The horseman continue.
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Stop crying and start doing.

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/addicusbrown

[Mation]

Thanks DB!

Great to see the under 90 mark for our opponents and a high percentage for our free throws. Yup, our transition defense better be in order come Tuesday. No gambling for steals or full court pressure, just run down the court as fast as you can. Love the board numbers for Lamar tonight and his defensive activity around the paint. Keep it up!

[limchrc]

Thanks.

[KingKobe]

Although the numbers look better on D in this game, the wolves don't play the pick and roll/pop nearly as well as some other teams. I think its pretty clear we have the size to negate most low post oriented teams, its the 7' 3 point shooters and speed demon point guards I want to see us improve against.
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*Warning: The preceding post may have contained sarcasm and/or irony.

"We're all surrounded by idiots." - Kobe Bryant

[Magic'sSon]

DB, I personally appreciate your game breakdowns man.

[targetman]

Maybe Phil is bringing Vlad off the bench so he can use him as a secret weapon in the Christmas game. The Celts will forget about him and neglect to account for him when they practice their defense. Yea, that's the ticket...it's all a secret plan...
_________________
Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.

[king255]

Sorry DB, but Bynum does need the help. If you don't help, you allow his man to maneuver to his comfort spot, and Bynum can't "buy that much time." If Bynum's man has spent 3 or 4 sec twisting and turning to get into rhythm, then you need to double down to take him out of rhythm.

There's a difference between Bynum needing help as opposed to a guy like Fisher, or even Kobe(when he guards a guy like Lebron) needing help, however. When Bynum needs help, it's only after he has forced his man into doing something already, so now his options are limited, so now if you double down, your chances of success are much greater, as that guy has been putting all his focus on Bynum, to avoid getting blocked(a similar analogy would be Kobe able to force the ball-handler to a wide angle, so now if say Bynum comes over, he can easily block the shot. Or forcing the ball-handler to jump to actually "beat" him, as opposed to having his full dribble on the ground left, etc.)

To put it simply, Bynum's man D is good enough where he only needs an occasional soft-double help, whereas Fisher needs a constant hard-double, with the hard-double giving a much greater possibility for an offensive rebound for the opponent.

[king255]

[A Mad Chinaman]

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

LUKE WALTON IS A LIABILITY
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"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu