HORNETS -at- LAKERS - 4/17 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

LO was the guy initiating the offense a ton. He can dictate his own plays if he wants. What's worse, though, is this notion that he has to get his shots to be effective in other areas. That has never...ever...been his thing. In fact, that's been one of his strengths. When he and Pau don't play aggressive -- with and without the ball, especially -- that is when they play small. They let teams off the hook. One offensive board among our three impact bigs is all on them.

[mhan00]

terrible game. pau and lamar with a fat donut today. need to get pau in the post against landry; absolutely shameful that pau and the lakers wasted that matchup today.

lamar was GOD AWFUL.

there were other players who were bad, but those two really stick out as being the worst on the floor today. fisher gave them a run strictly from a defensive standpoint, but since those two were in on a lot of the breakdowns, they edge fish out.

[Klone_dd]

Kobe and Ron certainly got the 'flip the switch to playoff mode' memo; Bynum and Shannon to some extent, but the two PF's did not.

Shameful game by Pau. All the rebuttals to playing soft and he plays Super Charmin-soft.

Bad habits practiced during the regular season are hard to break. Phil does seem to gloss over them, feeling that when crunch time comes, this veteran team will rise to the occasion. Memo to team - crunch time has begun.

[Laker's Fan]

You could read this one with braille. Some of the Lakers got caught expecting an easy series. Orleans took it to their chin and dominated (classic tell of a dominant performance: when one team makes a run to tie or take a small lead only to see the opponent reassert themselves by building the lead up again. It's like a tennis match that the games weren't too far offf but all the big points were won by the better player; not really that close).

This smells a lot like the Houston 7 game series with the Rockets.
_________________
Austin Reaves keeps his game tight, like Kobe Bryant on game night.

[Big]

The Lakers Line guys pointed out that at one point, Trey Johnson and Gasol had the same number of shot attempts, is that true? If so, that is very shameful to hear

[limchrc]

Let's learn from this and win game 2.

[wolfpaclaker]

[hoopschick29]

I can live with a bad game. Even when Kobe shoots us out of games, he's always present and accounted for. But when you don't even bother to show up, that's just unacceptable.
_________________
So glad we gave you your flowers while you were here, Kobe.

[wolfpaclaker]

I do agree that having a poor effort in the playoffs is 10 times worse than a few games in the regular season.

I wonder what was the reason for the lack of effort. Maybe they just weren't ready or didn't realize that they needed to put in more effort once things weren't working.

It should be accepted. I don't expect it to continue.

[Scherm]

Thanks DB. I recorded the game. Erased it before watching. Reading your summary was quite good enough. And I didn't lose 3-1/2 hours that I'll never get back.

[revgen]

[DancingBarry]

[The_Joker]

Tough loss. The problem with these "easy series" is that the moment things don't go your way, you tense up. The refs slant the calls a bit and you have a battle.

First, let's talk about the switching defense. To me, in order for this strategy to be effective, you have to understand your personnel very well.
In order to switch with Pau, you have to make sure that someone is back there to back him up, because Pau has to play up to prevent the shot,
which will inevitably result in him getting beat, perhaps half way to the basket.
Preferably, Bynum is in there, and he can help out by blocking or altering the shot, when Paul gets by Pau. If Odom is in there, then I think
he has to try to take the charge, although, I'm not sure if Odom can rotate fast enough, if they station the PF close to the three-point line, on the opposite side.

Should we double/trap Paul? Well, to me, if they run P&R against Odom and Pau is in there, then we should. That worked very well against the Celtics in the 4th quarter of game 7 last year.
Odom was able to hedge Pierce and force him to drive away from the basket, which is really the key to the trap. The problem is that the Hornets kept running it against Pau, and as we've seen a lot in this regular season, if you try to trap with Pau, they split through him without problems.

Only Bynum MAY be able to switch on Chris Paul without help. He's slightly longer than Pau and is more athletic, so he can stay at the same distance as Pau does, and can still block the shot.

So to summarize, if the Bynum and Pau combo is in there, then we should switch, OR defend it the conventional(hedge-and-recover) way. If Pau and Odom are in there, then trap with Odom, and switch with Pau. If Bynum and Odom are in there, then same as the 2nd combination.

This is assuming that Fisher is defending Paul. If Kobe is checking Paul, then I think you can afford to play the P&R the conventional, i.e hedge and recover, way, regardless of the combination of bigs. Can't say that for sure though.

Another thing to considered is whether the other team's PF can hit the three. Fortunately, Carl Landry can't really hit the three, so we won't have to worry about that. There's no telling that they won't try to go small though, especially now that Aaron Gray is out.

What if they go small? If they go small, then IMO, if Bynum and Pau are on the floor, then you have to go to the switching defense immediately.
If Pau and Odom are in there, then we have to make sure that we are as efficient offensively as possible and abuse them on the boards as much as possible.

Judging from the latest game against the Nuggets, I don't think you can really trap even with Odom, if the small can shoot the three,
The "small," in this case, it was Harrington, can release and make the shot, because Odom has to overhelp the small to prevent the pull-up(which is where most of our problems come from, the big has to help the small so much that they can no longer get back to their men in time.)

So basically, there are a ton of combinations that you have to know, to defend this play, and most teams correctly.

Now a lot of people focused on Paul, and rightfully so, but I thought Jack was the guy that turned the momentum of the game in both halves. You can afford to let guys like Paul go off, and sometimes, you don't really
have the personnel to defend him. But to allow a role player like Jack to go off for 15, 4 and 5 in such limited minutes, is inexcusable.

IMO, the biggest difference between why our defense was so good in the 17-game streak, and why it failed in the consequent 5-game losing streak and this one is the pull-up shot. What I mean is that Bynum was able to stay back because the offensive players would "think" of the defenders by their side, if they try to pull up. However, they no longer do that(think of their defenders), and just pull up without hesitation, this means that Bynum can no longer stay back. However, if he shows up too far, then it opens up the passing lane to guys like Aaron Gray.

Remember when Westbrook and Durant would just pull up in the OKC game? You'd think that they would be affected by Bynum jumping at them, but apparently, they didn't. Jarret Jack can also pull-up, which is why defending him is not as simple as it looks.

How to defend the Jarret Jack and Aaron Gray P&R then? Well, it's clear to me that our backup guards are way too small for Jack(usually,
it doesn't really take more than a couple of possessions to see if a plan is good or not.) Unfortunately, Phil didn't put Barnes on him so that we can make a good judgement on how he'd do.

I think he put Brown on him in the 1st half, and Jack still did well, so I don't think that works. Phil finally put Ron on him, but unfortunately, it was too late, and Ron and Bynum had to worry about Paul at that point.

To me, the only "sure" strategy is to switch. This allows Bynum to stay with Jack, without having to worry about his man(and our small can just deny the pass to their big.) While I don't know how Bynum would do in a switch against Paul, I'm pretty sure that he should be able to stay in front of Jack.

In certain situations though, he can still stay with his man and prevent Jack from pulling up. He just has to make sure that Jack will do this every time, if you give him the chance, so never sag too much.

In addition to Jack and Paul, guys like Bellinelli, Willie Green, and Carl Landry can also kill you, if you're not "very" well-prepared against them. This is why IMO, it's so difficult to win these days, it's because the role players are all very dangerous.

Defending Trevor Ariza: I thought Kobe gave him too much respect in the 1st half, by playing him so tight. We adjusted in the 2nd half, so that was good. I mean, there should be no way that Ariza should be able to beat Kobe so easily. At least see if he can take and make the shots without thinking, with Kobe in front of him. And it appears that he can't.

Defending Marco Bellinelli: I'd like to say that Ron should try to play him in front, as opposed to the side, but unfortunately, he can hit the shots if Ron does that. Don't see any way to defend him better here.

Defending Landry: We can put Drew on him, but I think that's a little early. What happens and I think Phil will go with is for Pau to play him tighter. Drew just has to be ready to block him, if he drives by Pau.

Here, we can see the difference in length and athleticism between Pau and Drew again. Like in a switch, Bynum can defend Landry without help, but not the other way around.

Defending Willie Green: like Bellinelli, this guy can run off screens, so we have to make sure to really get into him, to make him think. And our bigs have to make sure to step up, if he gets too much separation.

Offensively, I hate to say that we should go into our bigs because it seems like whenever we try to do that, we fall behind. Simply put, our bigs are just not efficient enough. In order for dumping it to the bigs
to work, you have to play great defense. And I'm not sure if we can do that.

The biggest problem, IMO, is when we look to Bynum and he's denied the entry pass. We end up wasting 7 or 8 sec and consequently a bad shot.

However here, it MAY be a viable strategy, that is, assuming that we plan to conserve energy for Kobe so that he can defend Chris Paul. Still, I'd like to see Kobe come out gunning first.

If we get a comfortable lead, then I think Phil's biggest task will be to get Pau and the rest to stay as aggressive as possible, because IMO,
we will NOT blowout this team.

Rest of the observations that I made:

Bynum: he has to try harder to go around, or even through, just enough without fouling Okafor, and try to block the guards. Now I think it should actually be illegal for Okafor to be able to screen out the shotblocker like that. However, since it's not, and it appears that teams are noticing that Drew will not do his best to go around, they are taking advantage of it.

In addition, we need him to try to seal Okafor as hard as he can, but still be smart enough to not get 3-sec. We need him to push Okafor as hard as he can on the offensive glass, but without getting over the backs.
Also, when Fisher drives, don't just stand there and get discouraged that he'll miss, but rather, be proactive, and assume and jump to the misses. Phil is not going to bench Fisher, so at this point, we have to try to make up for his mistakes, and I think we can do it.

Finally, we need him to run back on defense, as hard as he can.

We haven't had to force him to play his hardest, due to the concerns of the stress on his knees, but at this point, it's time to go all out every game. Same with the rest of the team really.

It'd also help if he can adopt the nasty attitude from Perkins. Not saying that he should knock guys down, as that can get him suspended, but rather, if guys fall down, then don't help them up. The time to be nice is over.

Matt Barnes: he seems to miss an unusual amount of layups under high pressure. Unfortunately, it seems that like Ron, he lacks the clutch mentality. That means that we need to work extra hard to get him into the right frame of mind. Unlike Shannon, you can't just assume that certain guys are going to step up. Some are naturally clutch, others are
not, and the latter group, you have to make sure that they don't play scared.

To me, unless the layup is uncontested, then he should take it back out.
What if he's wide open at the 3-point line? Well, at this point, I'd say it depends on how much "heart" he has.

Fisher - well, the problem with relying on the "clutch" ability is that you never know when it's going to fail you. Sometimes, the pressure is different. IMO, the easiest "clutch" shots to make are when you
know have a bit of margin of error, so you have that nervous energy, as opposed to high pressure.

In this case, the crowd was expecting him to make them now, so now there's a little more pressure on each shot. How to counter that? I'm really not sure, other than to win the next game first and get on the road, so that that expectation is off, because right now, the pressure is very uncomfortable.

My advice for Fisher(and Odom) in this situation, is that if the shot doesn't "feel" right, then drive it in. Even if you're wide open, it's not necessarily a good shot by settling for the jumper, or the three.

Kobe - I thought he gave Ariza too much respect by "thinking" that fatigue was affecting him. I mean, yes, he has to defend Paul, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he's tired and still can't score against Ariza. Just wait till we play the Heat and he has to score and defend Wade, THEN the fatigue will be real. In this situation though, it's just mind over matter.

That said, I think Phil should alter the sub patterns a bit, by having Kobe on Willie Green some more, especially if Bynum and Gasol are still in there. Ariza can't stop Kobe, but he can really make Kobe work.

As far as the jumpball, I knew Drew would lose that. The key in winning the jumpball in such a situation is basically to jump before the other guy does. Of course, you'd risk a stealing the ball call against you, however, with the way the refs were calling the game, which was basically against him all game long, he could have risked it.

You don't want to play "fair" in those situations. Now if the other guy was a midget, then maybe you can play fair, but in this case, the refs were calling the game tight against us all game long, so you have to try to cheat a little bit there.

Needless to say, it's going to take a ton of heart and effort for us to win the championship this year. But hey, it shouldn't be any other way. At this point, we shouldn't expect any blowout(notice no teams blew out the other
in the 1st round so far.)

Even if we have to beat each team 4 times by one-point, I think we can still do it.

[lakerboy]

[LamarOdom]

in my opinion the loss sucked so much because as a lakers fan you wouldnt expect a loss in the playoff begin, especially not against the hornets AND @home

so for me it was a big disappointment watching the lakers play against them ... furthermore pau gasol played as an individual so bad that i thought man whats up with this guy? u dont expect that low vital role of him..

...but to sum up i think we will win the next 4 games in a row..really ok maybe we are going 2 lose on game in louisiana but the loss sent the lakers back to reality and phil,kobe will fire up the team in those 48 hours..THEY HAVE TO...by now the lakers cant take any opponent or game easy as they did in the regular season..by now every single (bleep) is serious!!