CLIPPERS -at- LAKERS - 2/25 - DIY Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Looks like I missed a good one. Crazy assist numbers across the board.

[lounger]

[Vicky T]

Kobe:
_________________
Macho Men:
http://tinyurl.com/2ajhhov

[celticsblow]

DB, you're not secretly J in the B, are ya?

[babyskyhook]

[dmlakerfan01]

Kobe:

Kobe let Foye get off a bit by disrespecting him, then a horrible foul called on him, and then his funny bone gets whacked in the process. Flush the first half. Went Mamba on 'em in the 3rd!

[Tony Almeida]

Both teams started on fire, little defense being played. 31 points in the first for the Clippers, 30 for the Lakers. One team upped their defense, the other got struck by the lethal Black SwaMamba combination. Good to have #24 on our side, even if he has to have one arm tied behind his back.

Kobe -- -- Tale of two halves for Kobe. It's always a good thing when the better of the two comes in the second, though. Defensively, after a couple games of better effort, first half saw Kobe playing weak defense, daring Foye to hit from the perimeter. Foye took the challenge and was on fire from three. 4 three's in the first quarter alone. When Kobe did come out to challenge, Foye got a cheap bailout call on a pseudo swing through. Offensively up to that point Kobe was playing within the flow of the game, setting others up and also content riding the hot streak Pau was on. Important part of the game as after the bailout call, Kobe went to the bench in pain. Seemed like something with the hand or elbow. Held a towel over his face for awhile, and ended up heading to the locker room before halftime. Reason to be concerned right? Please. This is Kobe we are talking about. Turns out it was the funny bone, and he owned the third quarter like only he can. Started off looking to go almost exclusively with the left. After a couple assists and a missed lefty shot, it was time to get serious. The destruction was on. Jumpers, midrange and three. Man D? Please. Zone? Come on. Clippers had no answer, and before you knew it, the damage was done.

Pau -- -- Carried the team on offense in the first half. He was in a great rhythm from the start of the game. He was the steadying force on offense and had an impact throughout. Breakdown at the end of the first half as Jordan went through the Laker defense for a layup, including a crossover on Pau. However, solid defense on Griffin. Don't let the boxscore fool you, when the game mattered and was still up for grabs, Griffin was contained. Griffin was able to score off jumpers during that time period, but the Lakers will live with that. Great assist to Kobe in the 3rd which led to an and-1 and mutual appreciation.

Bynum -- -- Excluding garbage time, aka the 4th quarter, Bynum played well in spurts. Was able to convert on a couple of lobs and dunks, making his presence felt on that end even with athletes lurking. Also had a couple of nice defense plays as he made an impact by imposing his size, highlight was good timing on stuffing DeAndre Jordan who was looking to smash home a dunk. Had some trouble with his offensive moves when looking to score early on, though he made some nice reads throughout the game and found the open man either cutting or open on the perimeter.

Artest -- -- Seemingly quiet game from Artest. Started off well in the first half looking for others and created well. There are times when you definitely see Artest's impact on the offense, one way or the other. Tonight he seemed to fit in well enough. Hit the only three he attempted, which he took with confidence. Good to see. Defensively, he got hit with some foul trouble, as a couple of those he refused to give up the layups / dunks, which in addition to the route, led to reduced minutes.

Fisher -- -- A little bit of everything tonight from Fish...except a three, strange. Similar to Artest, did well enough, starting off aggressive in the first half. Seems like the past couple of games Fish has been more involved to start games off.

Lamar -- -- Not one of Lamar's higher impact games, but let's just say Blake Griffin didn't exactly punk the Lakers this time around. The first half Lamar played his part in the Lakers being outrebounded as the Clippers had 9 offensive boards, and Lamar was one of the players caught flat footed or out of position. Second half he, along with the rest of the Lakers, picked the intensity up.

Blake -- -- Fans seem to want him to be more aggressive and look to drive, but even when he gets into the paint it seems obvious the defenses know he's not looking to score. Still, liked his three ball tonight, shot it with confidence, putting a little extra arc on his shot. Also, had some nice plays on the fast break, including a lob to Ebanks which was a bit off, but still resulted in the oop.

Brown -- -- For a couple of the Laker players I wrote they fit in well enough, and sometimes that's what you like to see from your role players. You don't want them to be too passive, but you also don't want OC play. Well, Shannon Brown was all over the place tonight. Aggression is good, but aggression leading to the most shot attempts on the team in the first half despite Pau having a hot hand isn't a good thing. To his credit, he wasn't simply gunning, he did look to feed the post and passed on shots that he could have taken. A couple of nice plays in the second half, including one off a steal leading to a dunk. But, the highlight was the "How the heck did he make THAT" reverse layup for an and-1, where he ended up on the floor. His athleticism never ceases to amaze.

Walton -- -- Luke sure knows how to score high on the unintentional comedy scale. He didn't have a particularly bad game, especially when you consider most of it was during garbage time, but what will stick out was a couple of bad attempts. One of which, even before he shot, I felt was going to be...interesting. An airballed jumper from 15 followed.

Ebanks -- -- I'm sure he meant well, and he's a rookie, but he did need to slow down a bit on offense. One play that sticks out is when the Clippers were on a run and the Lakers could have used some clock, Ebanks opted to launch a three. Not a good shot. However, seeing some energy and youth on this team is always great, and we saw a couple nice fastbreaks with him and Blake, leading to two dunks. Length on defense is an asset. Free Ebanks? Apparently Phil mentioned to a Lakers reporter he'd like to find more minutes for him.

Caracter -- -- Not too much to note here, did hit a jumper with confidence, blew a layup after a great move to the basket.

[lounger]

Thanks TA!!! what about Phil though???

[dmlakerfan01]

Nice Tony!

But.. no short story? Bah.

[Tony Almeida]

[Tony Almeida]

[lounger]

[babyskyhook]

I really liked how physical Pau was with Blake G in the second half.


Fish quietly played a very nice game except for those two early ill-advised drives to the hoop.


BYnum turned it around after a slow start.



And that Kobe guy is pretty good.

[babyskyhook]

[thurloly]

[babyskyhook]

[Shaber]

Thanks, Tony! Much appreciated.

Seems like Lamar is developing to just second-half player.

Lakers are playing with fire though - still having those bad habits of letting opponents get into the rythm and relying on their second half "switch". Hope they will play all four quarters strong in the next game and blow OKC away.
_________________
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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

[babyskyhook]

[babyskyhook]

I liked how much the guys were looking for Drew on lobs- KB, Brown, Fish and LO all found him.


Seems like Drew's hops are coming back more and more.



Forcing the Clips to shoot jumpers throughout the second half and not letting them get out in transition was fantastic as well.

[Rick12322]

[limchrc]

thanks

[Burgundy]

[babyskyhook]

[mhan00]

When our perimeter players knock down their threes, we're very tough to beat.