LAKERS -at- SIXERS - 1/29 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

The Game Before The Game... The Sixers have enough talent to make you pay if you sleep on them. Despite the struggles in Philly this season, the Lakers had to keep their eye on the prize. Boston could wait.

The Lakers sputtered out of the gates as if they pounded on a few too many cheesesteaks. If not for Ron Artest providing some offensive punch, they might have trailed big. They reeled the Sixers in at the end of the first and never relinquished the lead from there.

Ron Artest picked tonight to came alive with one his best two-way games. He was turning great defense into counter attacks early on. Late in the battle, he was hitting from three to help the Lakers take a 99-91 win.

Despite seeming to cruise through this game, the Lakers never established more than a 16-point lead, and the moment they did that, the Sixers immediately went on a 10-1 run.

This is when the Class of '96 went off. Allen Iverson fueled a third-quarter Sixer surge against another rookie in '96, Derek Fisher. The best pick in that draft, Kobe Bryant from Lower Merion, fought back. Kobe switched over to AI defensively and cooled him off, while hitting a barrage of shots himself on the other end.

"It was like back in the day," Bryant said in the Times. "It was exciting to see him get hot like that and for me to switch over and guard him. It was like 2001 all over again." Kobe said he got chills when they announced his high school tonight, "...as you get older, you start to become more and more nostalgic," he said.

Ron also seemed to be nostalgic, unearthing his game from earlier this season. He said he's been starting to feel better and get his conditioning. He mentioned that he had been trying to take good care of his body, but didn't think about his feet.

"You take care of everything else but the bottom of your feet. And sometimes I don't take care of my brain," Ron said smiling. Not sure if he was alluding to the concussion or just in general.

The Lakers pushed their record to 4-2 on this extended road trip. The biggest game comes next against the Celtics. "We got to get it. Got to get that win," Ron said.


Kobe -- -- Kobe used 40 tickets for this game. So what happens to start? He promptly gets into foul trouble and has to sit. He would score just 2 points in a dud of a first half. That just meant he'd have to deliver later. Kobe would score 14 points in the third on one end and put the fire out on an AI one-man run on the defensive end. That was a key stretch. Some very disruptive D at times by Kobe and Ron. The two combined for 6 steals. During the second half, Kobe got his ankle and knee twisted on a loose ball. Scary moment. He was limping and Fish had to take a foul. "I was more concerned about the knee," he said. "I thought I might have hurt the ligament structure in there." Kobe said his ankle is hurting him the most right now. Hopefully it stays loose after the game. Kobe has always gotten the cold shoulder in Philly. He said the Philly arena is where he now does the most talking. Ireland told a story about how Kobe's daughter sold Girl Scout cookies to both the President and Vice President in the Oval Office. Kobe said he didn't know she was going to do that. A lot of deals brokered in that office. The Stats: He scored 24 points on 10-22 shooting (0-4 from three, 4-6 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 40 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He flubbed an interior pass for a turnover. His post-up bank was blocked. He stripped Dalembert from behind. He shoveled the ball to Pau on the break for FTs. He threw an off-target behind-the-back pass away. He picked up two fouls on the next defensive stand. He missed a three. He sat after just 6 minutes with the fouls. He missed an open runner in the lane. He dunked when Pau hit him in stride with a bounce pass while Kobe was cutting backdoor. He missed a sideline jumper. He worked the screen-roll to Pau for a layup. He attacked and hit a cutting LO for the dunk. He nailed his man to the floor with a herky-jerky dribble, but missed the scoop (Pau tipped it in). He stripped a man from behind. He missed a sideline three. He had just 2 points on 1-7 shooting in the first half. Second Half: He swished a baseline turnaround to start the second half. Brand got stripped and ended up kicking Kobe's ankle and torquing Kobe's knee on the loose ball. Out of the timeout after that, he stripped Iguodala on one end and hit an elbow turnaround on the other. He knocked another ball loose on the next defensive stand. He pump-faked his man and drew FTs, he made one. He missed a pull-up jumper. He walked his man over to the wing and shot right over him. He drew FTs cutting off Pau in the paint, he made one. He missed a face-up jumper. He spun and hit the elbow jumper. He drew FTs creating at the wing, he made both. He drained a 14-footer off the dribble. He was stripped on a pull-up. He had 14 points on 5-7 shooting in the third. He drained a long wing jumper off the Bynum screen. He iso'd on Iguodala, changed directions and hit a fade falling out of bounds on the baseline. He flashed to the FT line, reversed directions on a pivot and hit the jumper. He attacked, got to the front of the rim and missed. He swatted AI. He went behind the back on the dribble on an Iverson reach, moved in closer and hit the fallaway from 15 feet. He missed a long jumper with the shotclock low. He forced up a three thinking he was going to get a swing through foul and got nothing. He missed a three on a kickout.

Gasol -- -- Named to his second straight All Star game, Pau took the court and showed that versatile game that makes him such a threat in the triangle. He had some great passing sequences in this game that picked apart the Sixer defense. When guys cut off him with some kind of purpose he was setting them up right and left. He also used both right and left in the post for some scores. The team didn't have that Kobe/Gasol/Bynum trio going in this game. Bynum clearly wasn't as much of a focus as the last game. "We both have to continue to be aggressive when we get the ball in the post," Pau said prior to the game about the impact of the bigman combo. They will need to carry that aggression into the next game. Pau's been pushed around a little more this season than you'd like to see. He needs to make sure that doesn't happen against the Celtics. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 6-14 shooting (7-8 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 40 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He somehow airballed a one hander on the edge of the paint. He missed a lefty jumphook. He drew FTs on the break with Kobe, he made one. He missed a short jumper. Lamar cut off him, then sealed his man under the hoop and Pau hit him for a layup. He hit Farmar on the give and go for a layup. Nice cut himself next time down and Lamar hit him for FTs, he made both. He blocked Brand to force a shotclock violation. Backdoor bounce pass from the high post to a cutting Kobe for a dunk. He found Sasha for a jumper. He scored a layup off the screen-roll with Kobe. He tipped in a Kobe missed drive. He scored a short lefty jumphook. He backed down Dalembert and scored easily with his left. He had 11 points, 5 boards and 5 assists. Second Half: Lazy perimeter pass that was picked off, then Pau didn't hustle back. He missed an open FT jumper. He was shoved on a turnaround for FTs, he made both. He dunked after beating the rest of the bigs down the court and taking the pass from Fish. He drew FTs on an interior feed from Lamar, he made both. He was blocked, got it back and missed a tough turnaround. He powered in an interior feed from Ron.

Bynum -- -- Not a lot of action for Bynum or from him. He had a couple of nice power moves against Dalembert, but a few soft possessions as well. The Lakers were giving up too many offensive boards early on. Phil ran more Lamar in this game, probably to help with that. Bynum didn't reach his goal of becoming an All Star this season, despite there being no real centers selected. Too many games like this one for him. "It's just given me the same goal to strive for next year and something else to push for this summer when I'm working on my game," Bynum said. Phil gave him some nice coach-like praise, too: "We're extremely pleased with how Andrew plays. We think he's got a lot of room for improvement, but he's come a long way." The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-6 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 25 minutes. He was a +6. The Action: He blocked a drive to save Kobe's overplay defensively. He traveled on his first post touch. He blocked Brand from behind. He worked the post, missed, got it back and dunked on Dalembert. He reposted (nice to see), backed his man down and scored the layup. He was blocked on a turnaround jumper, turning right into the defender. He rejected a shot to the sideline and Ron saved it. He was hit from behind trailing the break and about ready to dunk, he made both FTs. He missed a jumphook. Second Half: He missed a face-up drive across the lane. He missed a soft lefty attempt in the lane.

Artest -- -- Easily one of his better games on both ends of the court in a while. He was manning up Iguodala all game and locked him down for 8 points and 5 turnovers. On several occasions Ron came up with steals or loose balls to push out like a tank at medium speed and score some layups. He hit key shots when the Lakers were struggling early and some big threes in the final couple minutes. Nice to see Ron respond in this game. Hopefully, he can do it in the next one. Injury-wise, he went back to the locker room to stretch after tightening up after the first quarter. "I feel like I'm getting more conditioned every game," Ron said. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 7-13 shooting (3-5 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 37:29. He had a +/- of 0. The Action: He swiped a pass to start the game, then got his And-1 brick layup goaltended, he made the FT. He was stripped pushing out a rebound. He attacked from the elbow and scored a layup. He took a handoff, changed direction with a between-the-legs dribble and powered in a layup. He was swatted easily by Brand trying to score in the post around him. He sank a wing three. He stripped a ball off Iguodala from behind to get a possession. He had 10 points on 4-5 shooting in the first quarter. He attacked and set up LO for an easy one in the paint. Great hustle to save a ball between his legs to Pau, it led to a breakaway. He pulled "The Sasha" fouling his man at midcourt. Second Half: He picked Brand at the top of the arc, tracked down the ball, blew the layup but got it back and scored easily with no one else around. Looked like he tweaked his groin muscle on D, but he attacked with the ball next time down. He missed a sideline three. He drained a big three with 3 minutes left to give the Lakers some space on their lead. He missed a three next time down. Third trip in a row, he swished a three from the top of the key.

Fisher -- -- Feisty game to start from DFish keeping AI from doing much, but AI eventually got going against him. Surprised it took that long, but late in third AI hit a couple of threes and an And-1 rallying the Sixers and their crowd. Phil let them play for a few minutes until finally making a change. Kobe started to defend AI on one end and keep the offense going on the other. Somehow Fish was able to draw FTs and score a layup off some attacks to the rim. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 2-4 shooting (0-1 from three, 5-6 from the line) to go with 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 32:44. He was a -6. The Action: He bricked an open corner three. He attacked and missed a layup, then got clobbered with no call. He attacked baseline and somehow picked up FTs (make up call), he made both. He attacked to his left off a screen at the end of the half and drew FTs on Iguodala, he made both. Second Half: He was held by AI before the pass was inbounded, he made one FT. He swished a DFish Special long two from the corner. He pushed out the break, let Pau fill a lane, then threaded it to him for the dunk. AI hit two threes and an And-1 to get the Sixers back in the game. He cut with speed off a high screen, took a pass and scored a layup. He swiped a pass and quickly outlet to Lamar for a layup.

Lamar -- -- Some good moments off the ball for Lamar in this one. He played off others drawing attention well by getting into open spaces in the paint. He had one very nice stop and seal under the hoop off of Pau in the post to take a pass and score an easy layup. Caught the defense completely off guard. That kind of off-the-ball savvy is something that can cause opponents a lot of trouble. Defensively, Lamar got in on some nice swattage on a few defensive stands. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-9 shooting (0-2 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 31 minuets. He was a +6. The Action: He missed an early offense three. Next time down he missed a quick attack off the dribble. He swished a baseline pull-up jumper. He sealed his man easily off a cut and scored a layup when Pau hit him. He blocked a shot. He hit a cutting Pau for FTs. He airballed a wing jumper. He cut off the three line as Kobe was attacking, took the pass in the paint and threw down. He hit a short jumphook off the Artest drive. Second Half: He swatted Green's drive at the rim. His outlet pass was picked off. He changed pace on the dribble in transition and drew FTs, he made both. Quick interior feed to Pau for FTs. He scored a layup on the Fish steal and outlet. He was fouled on the next trip down, he made one FT.

Brown -- -- Some rare foul trouble for Shannon that limited his first half run. Before that, he was knocking down a few jumpers when getting into open spaces. He's playing very confident ball on both ends. I'd like to request a poster dunk for the next game, please. It will be interesting to see how Phil integrates Shannon vs. the Celtics. Typically, the Lakers let Kobe guard Rondo and Fish on Ray Allen. Shannon should be able to switch onto either. He'll just need to play them completely differently. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 steal and 4 fouls in 16 minutes. He was a +8. The Action: He swished a wing jumper off a Bynum screen. His shot or pass was blocked. He was blocked on a layup. He drained a 21-footer. He swished a wing jumper off the Pau pinch post. He had to sit with three fouls. Second Half: Nice D on Green to force an airball.

Farmar -- -- Not a great game from Farmar on either end. He didn't do anything horrible, but did have a very weak pass in the fourth that seemed to get under Phil's skin. It looked like Farmar tried to play poised, but had that itchy trigger finger. But you could see some occasions where he made the conservative call, which is what you want to see with a lead on the road. Although he played low minutes and didn't do a whole lot, he managed the team high +12. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-4 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 14 minutes. The Action: He missed a pull-up wing jumper at the end of the quarter. He entered the ball to Pau, cut off him with speed, took a bounce pass and scored a layup. Poor overplay defensively to give up a layup with bad position starting 35 feet from the hoop. He missed a step-back three in early offense. Second Half: Crap perimeter pass and it was picked off by a bigman. He was blocked trying to take on a couple defenders in transition.

Vujacic -- -- With Kobe and Shannon in foul trouble, Sasha got some run in the first half. He sank one of his two jumpers, both quality looks. The Lakers played well when he was out there. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-2 shooting (0-1 from three) in 3:44 of action. He was a +6. The Action: Wide open, he barely hit rim on a three. He drained an 18-footer off a Pau pass next time down. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Phil -- -- The Lakers have little win streak going into the Celtics game. Nice time for that. They need to keep it alive... The Lakers were soft on the defensive glass to start the game, giving up a number of second chances... Ron had 10 of the Lakers first 13. He was the only one really doing much of anything... Phil went with a Bynum, Lamar, Artest, Shannon, Farmar lineup to close the first quarter... No points from Kobe who had foul trouble in the first quarter and the Lakers led 19-18 after one... Phil started Kobe for Ron in the second quarter. Ron went to the locker room... The Lakers led 51-42 at the half. The Lakers shot 46.5 percent (20-43), the Sixers shot 38 percent (14-37). The Lakers had just 5 turnovers to the Sixers 11... The coaches wanted the team to watch their fouls, especially when in the penalty... The Lakers expanded their lead early on, then gave a up a 10-1 run... AI was lighting up Fish. Phil allowed the run to happen and the Philly crowd finally get into the game. This was one of those letting them "play through it" stretches... Kobe restored some order (and in the final minute took AI defensively) and the Lakers led 76-67 going into the fourth... After about 4 minutes, Phil sat Kobe going with a Pau, Lamar, Ron, Shannon, Farmar lineup. The Lakers led by 8 at the time... Phil brought Fish and Kobe back in with 6 minutes left... Up by 8 with 6 seconds on the shotclock and 3:49 left, Phil called timeout to set up a play. Good timeout here and the Lakers set up a play for Ron in the post, who drew a foul. Interesting play call on a key situation... Ron hit a couple of threes shortly later and the Sixers were kept at bay... Both teams shot 45/46 percent. The Sixers had 20 turnovers, the Lakers 10. The Lakers made 7 more FTs than the Sixers...

Game Flow -- LINK -- That little 6-0 run by the Lakers to answer the Sixers 15-5 run was a key moment in the game. AI had 15 in that quarter, Kobe had 14. Both seemed to catch fire.

[DancingBarry]

Had to pound this out between calls with tech support tonight. Please excuse anything that may have gone horribly wrong in this report. lol. I'm dead and have to get up in 5 hours for a father/son thing. Perhaps, a beverage first tonight.

[abciximab]

thanks DB

[Ray_Gonzoles]

Even after the delay, thanks from all of us for the work you do DB.

Onward to Sunday.
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"Just show up ready to work, ready to play, Have your big boy pants on, leave your diaper at home." Kobe Bryant
Anything less than a championship is a failure. Period.

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks DB. Now that this game is out of the way, bring on the Celtic bums!

Lakers Boston

[City_Dawg]

Thanks DB
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*sighs*

!...

[B_Rabbit1212]

db is my hero.
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bonerkillcollective.tumblr.com - peep our art.

[Dr. Laker]

y to tough it out, DB!
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On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".

[IPK]

[Rick12322]

Thanks, you da man, DB!

[JM]

Thanks very much for your sustained effort.

[wolfpaclaker]

Yeah I hate kissing ass to the mods, but in this case it is well earned.

Thanks DB, you are very kind for doing all this work game in + game out.

[limchrc]

thanks, nice win.

[SP_Fever]

best game of the season for Ron Ron.
thanks for the recap!
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Phil Jackson (June 17th, 2009):"What was our model of this team? The Ring, the ring, that was the model. Its not just this band of gold, its the circle that's made a bond between all of these players, a great love for one another, its a great feeling."

[oaktown_dimond]

it was fun to see Kobe and The Answer goin' at it like old times. AI needed to be in a Sixers jersey for it to matter to me

Robby

[RVCdesigns]

Thanks DB

[JTS1]

especially w/dealing w/this site's issues and still writing a quality report, you really need to be commended!

rest up for tomorrow's report, please!
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'How many kids can say growing up that they'll turn pro and play for their favorite team in the world and spend your entire career there? IT'S BEEN A DREAM!'-Kobe Bryant 11.29.15

[night89]

Looks like Bynum took that "get out of January healthy" advice a little too extreme tonight. He failed to recognize that against a guy that averages 10 boards in 25 min like Dalembert, you pretty much have to try your best to keep him off the glass.

Also, despite his numbers, I never had the feeling that Pau was the clear choice tonight. He was getting his numbers through hussle, but his defense is still a little suspect(Brand is no more than a role player at this point, in fact, Bynum defended him better on one leg last year.) If Kobe didn't have this cute idea about wanting to break Jerry West's record at home(his words) and almost looked like he wanted to miss on purpose, we would have blown them out by the half.

We were able to get away with it against the Sixers because this team killed their own spacing with Dalembert and Brand, but we won't be able to do that against Memphis(obviously, he's not going to have this mentality against Boston, at least one would hope not). He needs to go in with the intent to kill or drop 50 on OJ Mayo, which is what he should have done to a midget like Holiday. Otherwise, we won't be able to beat them, as Memphis is a very dangerous scoring team.

Anyway, make sure to get lots of sleep tonight Drew. Don't come down with something like a cold or flu that could weaken your performance tomorrow. In fact, the body releases lots of growth hormones during sleep, so don't ever waste it.

[BigE32]

Thanks, DB. Ron was huge in the first quarter and kept us afloat in the first when we stumbled out of the gate and like you said, hit some huge threes at the end that sealed the W. I thought it was his best game IMO b/c he was very effective on both ends of the floor. I hope you have fun at your father/son event.

[revgen]

[JTS1]

[revgen]

^Once again, Drew has to learn how far to help. If he doesn't go so far, he'd get back to box out Dalembert. It has more to do with experience than effort.
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I Recommend VLC Player: http://www.videolan.org/

[NYLakerFan]

DB ... we appreciate all your efforts. I try and read every one of your write ups. Always adds a little extra to every game.

I'd like to add a little belated info on this game. We drove down to Philly early Friday and stayed the night ... with the game being the main reason for our trip. I wanted my boys to not only get their annual Laker-Kobe fix but to see two sure Hall of Famers in one game. (Plus they hadn't seen Independence Hall or the Liberty Bell)

Just my two cents worth on seeing the game live.

Still amazed that no matter where we go to see the Lakers play ... there is always a HUGE number of Laker fans. I would say at least 1 out of every 4 or 5 fans at the game IN Philadelphia wore purple and gold. And when Kobe went off in the second half ... amazingly loud cheers.

I thought the Lakers played exceptional defense in the first half despite the numbers. They couldn't buy a shot for most of the first quarter but they were contesting shots ... Bynum seemed very active with help defense ... and Fish was absolutely shutting AI down. In fact, at halftime I commented to my wife that it was a shame the kids didn't get to see Iverson in his prime because he clearly is done.

Then came the third and WOW!

Like Kobe said ... 2001 all over again. Very cool watching Kobe and Iverson duel in the second half.

Second half defense was so so as they seemed to go into cruise control. Gasol seemed to be the weak link on defense all game.

A few other feelings I had during the game.

Bynum's teammates seemed to ignore him in the post pretty much all game. I found myself yelling on several ocassions ... pass the ball into Bynum!!!

76er fans were dead. DEAD. My wife asked me in the first half what was wrong with their fans ... why so quiet. I said it was because they were expecting their team to get an a** whupping. Actually, they seem very frustrated with the team and Andre Iguodala in particular. An awful lot of their fans screaming about the "fake AI". Outside of a brief time in the third when AI (the real one) went off ... the Laker fans out cheered 76er fans all game long.

And who the hell is Jason Smith? He was very impressive in his short time on the court. Made me wonder why he doesn't play more.

[KB24=GREATNESS]

Only u DB, thanxz! Lets whoop on those lepercaun's...

[DancingBarry]

[quote="NYLakerFan"

Just my two cents worth on seeing the game live.
[/quote]

Always love reading the comments from those who represent on the road.