PACERS -at- LAKERS - 11/28 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Sunday Sleepwalking... Perhaps the Lakers thought they were starring in an episode of The Walking Dead tonight.

The Lakers played a sluggish first half. The perimeter shooting from the guards picked up where it left off in Utah. They trailed by 6 heading into the half. Instead of coming out of the gates strong to start the second half, they picked up where they left off again. The Pacers won the first two minutes with an 8-0 run and the Lakers dug themselves a hole that they wouldn't recover from.

Phil blamed the effort on Sunday.

"It's just one of those things, those enigmas about playing on Sunday," he said. "It seems to be one of those things where we can't get going quickly."

Lamar wasn't settling for excuses, saying even if they won tonight it would have been "fool's gold."

"As a unit our collective energy wasn't there. It's not on one guy," Lamar said.

The Pacers beat them to loose balls, offensive boards and had better defensive rotations. As a result, they took their first ever win in Staples, 95-92.

The absence of Andrew Bynum is certainly costing the team games right now, and Phil is getting more vocal about it in the press.

"We're playing Pau too many minutes [and we] don't have a backup for either he or Lamar right now, so that's a real problem," Phil said. "We put all our eggs in the basket of Andrew coming back and we hoped he be back by this time, by Nov. 15, by Thanksgiving time, by [our last] road trip, etc. We don't know when Andrew is coming back."

In the past two fourth quarters, Pau has had nothing. He played with no rest in the second half tonight. He also played cautiously on defense as the team only has a few fouls at the center spot ... and he had already used most of them. Phil said the fatigue is definitely affecting him.

Maybe it was mental fatigue, maybe just an error in judgment, but Pau also got caught playing too aggressive on a screen-roll with T.J. Ford on the key defensive stand in the final minute. Pau's man went in for an uncontested dunk. That's been two key errors in the final minute in the past two games.

The team will have to wait another three weeks it appears before help comes from Andrew Bynum. Until then, Pau will have to suck it up and others will have to pick up the slack for any tired Laker bigmen.

As a team, they can't afford to play without the sense of urgency right now or more games will surely slip away.


Kobe -- -- Kobe seemed to be the barometer of the team's energy tonight. He was sluggish to start the game in the effort category, even standing there waiting for an offensive rebound that Hibbert beat him to and then took the distance for a dunk while Kobe still stood there. In the second half, when Kobe sensed no one was picking up the intensity, he tried to take over. He willed the team back in the game. The crowd seemed to come to life, but the hole was too deep to ultimately climb out of. Kobe had a chance to tie the game up in the final seconds with a wide open three and missed it. Probably one of his best looks of the night. This is one of those Three-peat-itis type of losses. Effort and energy just wasn't there from the start even from Kobe. Despite the 13 trips to the line, Kobe probably should have been there more often than he was given tonight. He didn't let it get to him and stayed aggressive to get the Lakers some penetration of the D that they were lacking. The Stats: He scored 41 points on 14-33 shooting (3-8 from three, 10-13 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 4 assists, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 40 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He drained a step-back elbow jumper for the Lakers first score. He missed a baseline jumper on the next possession (should have attacked off the handoff instead of fading). He missed a baseline turnaround on the third possession. He scored an And-1 layup in transition, he made the FT. He stood as a rebound came to him, Hibbert beat him to it and took it the distance for a dunk, wow. He attacked the paint and drew FTs, he made one. He missed an easy lob in transition. He airballed a leaner by a foot, ouch. He posted up and hit the lefty jumphook. He missed a 21-footer. He was stripped in the post, got it back, was blocked, got it back and hammered from behind for FTs, he made both. He blocked a man from behind on the other end. He up-faked Rush, took contact and hit the And-1 jumper from the mid post, he made the FT. He had 13 points on 4-11 shooting in the first quarter. He set up Lamar for a layup in transition. This time he sank the leaner from the elbow off the Pau screen. He missed a long pull-up from the wing on the next trip down. He drained a three behind a screen. He had 18 points on 6-14 shooting at the half. Second Half: He missed a turnaround from the elbow. He was called for a travel getting knocked in the post with no call. He attacked, drew the D and hit Pau for the And-1 layup. He airballed a reverse in transition. He drew FTs and made both. He drained a long three off the screen next time down (looks like he's trying to lift the team, body language changed). He missed a tough step-back three next time down. He didn't run back in transition D after a Barnes turnover. More FTs off a drive, he made both. He drained a three a step behind the line again. He swished a step-back baseline jumper next time down. He drew FTs on the perimeter on the next possession, he made one. He missed a baseline turnaround. He attacked, spun to lose his man, got hit and flipped in an And-1 reverse as he went down (sensational shot), he missed the FT. He made 4-8 shots for 15 points in the third. He missed a step-back wing jumper. He lost the dribble, tripping on a move. He missed a wing fade with the shotclock low. He sank a floater off the Pau screen. He missed a corner three, got it back and missed again. He scored a layup off the Blake feed (and wanted a foul). He attacked, was hit but still finished the tough runner. He drained a step-back jumper on iso with a minute left. He took contact on a drive with no call, but Pau drew FTs off the penetration. He missed a wide open three to tie the game up with a few seconds left. We got it back and he airballed a long three.

Gasol -- -- Very poor defensive game from Pau. A lot of this goes straight to the Bynum situation, which is getting more painful now that the delays continue to drag on. Our defense can't be as aggressive when there's no safety net. Pau had foul troubles and played conservatively when the Lakers needed anchoring. The Lakers just can't aggressively challenge like they need to in order to erase mistakes. And, again, the other Bynum factor: Pau ran huge minutes, which drains his effectiveness on both ends down the stretch. Phil ran him the entire second half. Again, Pau was a non-factor offensively in the fourth quarter for the second game in a row. "We really saw it tonight," Phil said of the fatigue factor. In the end, Hibbert out-played him and Bynum's big body was sorely missed. The Lakers were just getting pushed around too much and Pau did little pushing back as our C. "We've got to give Pau as much help as possible," Barnes said of the situation. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-15 shooting (3-3 from the line) to go with 12 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocks, 5 turnovers and 5 fouls in 45 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He was stripped in the post and fell to the ground, while the action moved the other way, Ron found him for a cherry picking dunk off a turnover at midcourt. He deflected a pass. He drained a top-of-the-key jumper. He gathered a missed Fish layup and dunked it in. He was called for a travel in the post. He blocked Rush's drive. He got tapped on a lefty jumphook. He missed again on a lefty jumphook. He was called for an illegal screen on the next possession. He missed a wing jumper. He hit Lamar cutting for a layup. Horrible outlet to no one, turnover. He missed a face-up jumper. He missed a jumphook screaming for the foul call that didn't come. After making his first three shots, he missed his next five to finish with 6 points on 3-8 shooting at the half. Second Half: Bad lob pass to Lamar, turnover. He missed an elbow jumper. He missed a turnaround, got it back and was swatted. He muscled in an And-1 layup off the drive and dish from Kobe, he made the FT. He sank an open baseline jumper off the drive and dish from Fish. He blocked a jumper to close the third. He had 5 points on 2-5 shooting in the third. He missed an elbow jumper. No challenge on a reverse layup when a perimeter player got beat. No challenge again on a drive, layup for the Pacers while he held his hands straight up. He was hammered on an offensive board with 34 seconds left down 3, he made both (high bounce on the second one and it fell in). Hibbert dunked on a slip screen on the key defensive stand.

Lamar -- -- "If we win the game, it would have been like fool's gold because we didn't deserve to win because they beat us throughout the game," Lamar said. He didn't like the energy the team played with. To a man, it seemed like the words "effort" and "sluggish" or "lethargic" was heard in the post game interviews. Even Lamar had a few breakdowns on defensive rotations. His energy level was usually pretty strong, however. Offensively, again, if we need to establish a post and take some of the load off of Pau, we've got to set up Lamar more. They did look to do that early in the fourth. It would have been nice to see it early and even late in the game. In the final seconds Lamar probably should have pulled the trigger on a wing three. Artest pulled out an offensive board and hit Lamar, who brought it back out to the three line, then threw it to Kobe. He should have just rose up and shot. His three ball was looking smooth tonight. At the very least, it would have given him into a big-shot situation, which he doesn't see a lot of. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-10 shooting (2-3 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 11 boards, 2 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 39 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He swished a wing three when his man sagged off him with the shotclock low. He was called for a charge in transition. He scored a layup off a series of passes between him and Kobe on the break. He drained a three straight away on the next possession. Third straight score, this one a layup off the cut when Pau posted up. He had 10 points on 4-4 shooting. Second Half: He was blocked on an attack and was looking for a call. He curled down the lane, took the pass from Fish and scored a layup out of a timeout. He posted up twice and drew two fouls on the first possession of the fourth, he made one FT. He sealed in transition, took the post entry and scored the layup.

Artest -- -- Next time Ron pulls down an offensive board with a few seconds left in the game down by three you might see him take a timeout. Great play to get the Kobe miss, but he knew we had to have a three so he high-tailed it to the three line. The offense fell apart after that and it ended up a long airball from Kobe. It sounded like Phil talked to Ron about this after the game. Excellent coaching and you might see a little more vet savvy thinking from Ron in those situations in the future. Ron hit a big three a couple minutes earlier that helped the team to finally get into striking distance in the second half. That was his only make. His other misses were trying to muscle up in traffic. He was very conservative offensively. Phil played our SFs again as your backup PFs. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-4 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 5 boards (4 offensive), 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 27 minutes. He was a -10. The Action: He and Barnes doubled teamed Posey to force a turnover. Second Half: He got a possession back by knocking a ball off a Pacer. He missed a layup, got it back and was blocked out of bounds. He missed a layup getting tapped on a post up. He bricked a layup in transition taking contact with no call. He lost a dribble out of bounds. Great effort to get a Kobe missed a three. He drained a step-back three with 2:40 left to cut the lead to three. He grabbed another missed Kobe three to give the Lakers a second chance to tie the game.

Fisher -- -- Collison dined on smoked Fish tonight, going for 10 points in the third. He was killing him to start the second half and the Lakers suffered badly. Fish spent the fourth on the bench. Had Blake come in sooner in the third, the team might have survived this one. Just a big difference defensively and we had no one to erase mistakes behind Fish. When DFish isn't containing his and the team has hustle issues around him, it's a bad combination. Offensively, another game of misfiring. The perimeter players seemed to pick up where they left off in Utah. Fish did have a few nice passes.The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-8 shooting (0-3 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 5 assists, 2 steals and 3 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a -6. The Action: He missed a three then stopped a fastbreak on the other end. He missed a baseline jumper. He missed a layup off the bounce pass from Kobe (Pau cleaned it up). He sank a pull-up wing jumper in early offense. He missed a 21-footer in early offense. He probed in transition and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a wide open wing three. He had 4 points on 1-6 shooting. Second Half: He gave up a layup getting caught flatfooted. He found Lamar cutting down the lane for a layup. He attacked, spun and scored a layup in transition. He attacked and kicked to Pau for the open jumper. He missed an open elbow jumper, then gave up a transition layup.

Blake -- -- "We can't come out to a sluggish start like that in the third and expect us to come back," Blake said afterward. Some very good defense by Blake on the Pacer PGs despite not having any kind of anchoring behind him. He shut down the PG spot after Fisher's poor outing. Some good defense on T.J. Ford, too, taking away the lanes as much as possible in the first half. Offensively, he played conservatively. He sank a big three in the fourth for his only make in a couple of attempts. Some very good passes to set up teammates for layups. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-2 from three to go with 2 boards, 4 assists, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 23 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He hit a slashing Barnes for a layup. Second Half: He cut as LO kicked out, ball out of bounds on the miscue, turnover (Blake wanted LO to go iso in the post). Nice post entry to Lamar for a layup in early offense. He drew a charge on Collison. He missed an open wing three on his first attempt of the game. Next time down, he swished the corner three of the Pau kickout.

Barnes -- -- "We can't be a team to turn it on and off. We know that every night other teams are going to give us their best effort, so we have to be able to match that intensity," Barnes said. You've got to have hungry players like this when you want to repeat. Hopefully, Barnes is vocal. Unlike the other bench players, Barnes garbage work will usually get him some points. He's got the length and active nature to manufacture things. Shannon needs to get a little better at that. Blake can usually make things happen with the pass or orchestrating offense. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-6 shooting (0-2 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1steal, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He missed a three, wide right. His perimeter pass was picked off for FTs the other way. He missed a three. He powered up a layup in early offense. He scored an And-1 layup off the pass from Luke, he made the FT. He slashed to the hoop in transition and Blake found him for a layup. Second Half: He attacked and turned the ball over, layup the other way. He choked a layup cutting off the Lamar post.

Brown -- -- "They'll go through a slump. Shooters will do that," Phil said. Shannon has been thriving on the perimeter. It wasn't a matter of if he would go through some struggles, but when and for how long. This seems to be the first bump in the road for him. Offensively, it will be hard for him to change gears to some other aspect of his game to manufacture points. What he can do is make things happen defensively and with effort and energy. He was the Lakers third leading rebounder with 7 boards in just 14 minutes. To that he also had a couple of steals. That's what he needs to do, the offense will come back. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-9 shooting (0-3 from three) to go wtih 7 boards (2 offensive), 2 steals, 1 block and 1 foul in 13 minutes. He was a +7. The Action: He hit the front of the rim on a 60-footer at the buzzer. He airballed a corner three in transition. He missed an open sideline jumper. He missed a one-hander in the lane. He missed a wing jumper (long on several of his shots). Second Half: Inside-out dribble at high speed and he scored as layup in transition. He missed a wing three. He blocked a layup in transition. He took contact on the break on the other end, no call and he missed. With the clock low, he got backdoored and had to foul. He stripped a man on one end and Kobe found him for the layup on the counterstrike on the other.

Walton -- -- Phil can steal minutes for his PFs by subbing in SFs right now. Unfortunately, he can't do that easily with the C spot with his PFs. Luke came in for a brief stint when the offense was struggling in the first half. He set up Barnes for an And-1 layup and missed his only attempt. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting and had 1 assist in 3 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: He hit Barnes with a bounce pass for an And-1. He missed a three from the sideline. Second Half: He did not play in the second half.

Caracter -- -- Phil brought him in late in the first quarter this time to sneak in some rest for Pau. The teams defensive rotations seemed to be off behind DC, allowing his man to get open off the screen rolls when he tried to help the PGs. Phil ran Pau for the entire second half. The only way they can get rest for Pau these days is in a blowout. Some on the team seem to realize that they can't afford to be sluggish with the injuries we have to two 7-footers. The Stats: He didn't shoot or get any other stats in 2 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: Nothing to report. Second Half: He did not play in the second half.

Phil -- -- A perimeter-oriented attack for most of the first quarter, with penetration from Kobe at times. The Lakers led 21-17 with over 3 minutes left when Phil went to Barnes and Blake for Ron and DFish... Phil brought in Caracter for Pau a minute later... The Lakers led 26-23 after the first... Phil started a Pau, Artest, Barnes, Brown, Blake unit. Ugly minutes, the Lakers scoring just a hoop after 4 minutes. (The bench was 1-7 from the floor at this point)... Phil brought in Luke for Ron tied 28-28... Down 2 with 5 minutes left, Phil went to the Pau, Lamar, Barnes, Kobe, Fisher unit... The Fish/Kobe/Blake/Brown combo was a combined 5-22 at this point, very similar to the shooting in Utah... He subbed out Barnes for Artest to get all the starters back in... The Lakers trailed 51-45 at halfime. The Lakers shot 39.5 percent (17-43). The Pacers shot 44 percent (20-45)... The lead quickly stretched to 14 after two minutes, an 8-0 opening to the third for the Pacers... Phil called a timeout just 3 minutes in... Down 68-56, Phil subbed out Fish and Artest for Blake and Barnes with 4:35 left... Phil sat LO for Shannon (Kobe heating up)... Kobe helped to spark the team back to life... The Lakers trailed 77-69 heading into the fourth... Phil sat Kobe to start a Pau, Lamar, Barnes, Brown, Blake unit in the fourth... Several opportunities for the Lakers to trim the lead early in the quarter, but they missed layups and open looks... Phil brought back in Kobe down 80-72 with under 9 minutes left... They cut the lead to 83-79 with 5 minutes left, forcing a Pacer timeout. Phil sat Shannon for Artest at that break. So starters plus Blake instead of Fish, who had been scorched in the third... The Lakers struggled to get one-and-out stops. No interior or a dead tired one... The lead was cut to 3, but the Lakers gave up another second chance score with 2 minutes left to trail by 5 and Phil called a timeout... The Lakers trailed by 1 with 34 seconds left. Phil made some situational subs with Shannon and Artest. He brought Artest back in on D... They couldn't get the stop. Kobe missed a wide open three to tie it... The Lakers shot 38.6 percent, going 7-23 from three... The Pacers had 15 offensive boards...

[Shaber]

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Lakers depth chart

PG Johnson / Goodrich
SG Bryant / West / Scott
SF Baylor / Worthy / Cooper
PF Mikkelsen / Hairston / McAdoo / Gasol
C Chamberlain / Abdul-Jabbar / O'Neal / Mikan

[SweetP]

"Collison dined on smoked Fish tonight..."

...
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“There is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it.” --Amanda Gorman

[lounger]

At least Blake proved he's helped us with the defense against PGs. He was ok out there tonight. But we were beat every time Pau went out to block the lanes or help out. He couldn't recover in time and nobody would rotate on defense.

Hopefully they pick it up.

Thank you as usual DB. I need this fix after every game win or lose.

[Fleur-de-Lis]

Phil sounds pissed about the Bynum situation.
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Winning recipe: Effort, Intensity, Focus, Composure, Patience, Execution, Attention to detail, Discipline & Persistence

[DancingBarry]

[Luca Brasi]

[JUST-MING]

[slaker]

[HeatAreOverrated]

[babyskyhook]

[RVCdesigns]

Thanks DB.

[acadia11]

The let's play lamar and pau move extended minutes just isn't working, we know the lake show is going to make it to the playoffs, I say let the young guns run, and screw it, they mess up, they mess up, maybe even lose a couple of games, but it's better to get Pau fresh, and have Bynum back because the mid-season surge is what's going to be the difference maker, not a few early wins. Clearly, the approach of over playing Pau and Lamar isn't working, and they haven't actually lost a game, playing either Caracter or Ebanks much, they've lost leads, but that's expected, I say build their confidence, let them screw up, if that's what will be. Pau and Lamar will get fresher, and a couple of games can be stolen and Bynum get's back and go on a tear. It's not worth it, to be in the same situation, with a Pau that's been overworked, a Bynum that's been half healed. It makes more sense, to try and have lal the pieces as best ready when Bynum returns to make a strong surge.

Sincerly,
General Petreaus

[LakerLanny]

The whole team played atrocious defense, but clearly Fisher and Pau were the biggest culprits.

Neither did much on offense either.

Regular season Fish is hard to stomach at this point, Pau is already hitting the wall and we aren't even to December.

Pacers game was a case in point why I don't pay to attend regular season games.....lazy effort, subpar execution and one quarter max of hard play is not fun to watch, win or lose.
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Love, Laker Lanny

[prisma8slg]

thanks DB...very disappointing game. we can't expect to win if we only play for 12 minutes.
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"I define success by championships, by winning..." Kobe Bryant

"I've seen it all. Sasha dunked on somebody," Kobe Bryant said. "I'm ready to retire now."