MAVS -at- LAKERS - 5/2 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

The Margin of Error... You almost wish the Lakers would start these series on the road, especially if they are going to give away first games like this.

The Lakers had a 16-point lead early in the second half and a 7-point lead to start the fourth. In the final minute, they coughed up the lead on a perimeter foul by Pau on an inbounds pass to lose 96-94. They bookended that with two turnovers on the other end.

"The players felt like they gave it away," Phil said, while giving some praise to the Mavs for their play.

Let's get one thing straight here. The Mavs are too good of a team to let a game slip away with miscues and mental mistakes. The Lakers need to bring their "A" game.

Offensively, the post players need to fight for lower position. Guards need to feed their bigmen. Perimeter players need to cut instead of settling for long jumpers. Mismatches need to be exploited.

The second unit, especially, has to play with considerable purpose on both ends. Unlike the last two playoff games, the Lakers bench gave up their fourth quarter lead instead of extending it.

The margin for error in this series is very, very slim. In previous second-round series the Lakers have played, they've controlled their opponents when they have wanted to. That will be much harder to do against the Mavs. Believe it. They can get bumped off here.

"I'm concerned," Kobe said. "This team can beat us. It's clear. We've just got to come in ready to play Game 2."

Staples needs to bring it, too.


Kobe -- -- He back-rimmed a good look at a three at the buzzer to win it. Two possessions prior to that, however, were where the Lakers lost the game. Kobe threw the ball away on a drive, then was tripped up on a handoff with Pau and they coughed it up again. He played a perimeter-oriented game. He wasn't getting into the paint via the drive or the post. Usually, that's not the case against the Mavs. Some rest between games for the tweaked ankle. How did his mobility look? Seemed decent enough, but you wonder if that was the reason. Barkley has dubbed Dirk as the best player in this series and the reason they will win the series. Dirk got the call late in the game on the perimeter, Kobe did not. “Kobe was really on fire all night,” Dirk said. "What he was doing was sizing us up and shooting right over our defense.” The Stats: He scored 36 points on 14-29 shooting (4-9 from three, 4-5 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a +6. The Action: He moved in a step off a kickout and hit a jumper for the Lakers first score. He swished a wing three on a kickout from Fish on the next possession. He missed a wing three on the pull-up, we got it back, he cut and hit the jumphook. He missed an open sideline three on a kickout (had a lane to attack). He missed a tough turnaround from the high post. He sank a turnaround from the post. He was stripped on a drive. He attacked and drew FTs at the rim, he made one. He missed a jumper over Marion. He was called for a carry. He threw a pass away on his next possession (third straight miscue). He had 10 points on 4-9 shooting, but 2 turnovers in the first quarter. He hit a fade in the lane off the screen from Pau. He settled for a long jumper out of a timeout with plenty of time on the clock, wasted possession. He missed another jumper trying to go glass on the next possession (looked a little indecisive on which way he wanted to go). He was hit on a reach from behind by Kidd while attacking off the screen, he made both FTs. He made a tech FT at the end of the half. He had 15 points on 5-12 shooting and 4 boards. Second Half: He drained a wing three in transition off a Fisher steal. He sank a wing turnaround. He missed a fading baseline jumper on iso, stalling the offense, dunk the other way. He sank a wing face-up jumper out of a timeout. He sank a top-of-the-key jumper off the jab step. He swished a jab-step wing three. He forced up a bad jumper over Marion and bricked. He blocked Marion on iso on the other end. He was then stripped for a dunk the other way on the next possession. He swished a deep three on the next possession. He missed a wing three on the next possession, but hustled back to help get a stop. He had 15 points on 6-9 shooting in the third. He drained a long jumper over Terry after returning. He missed a wing three. He was blocked on a step through. He drained a wing three over Terry. Not close, settling for a long jumper on Kidd (post him up). He iso'd and hit a wing jumper over Kidd on the pull-up. Horrible turnover (this one killed them), he pounded out the dribble, attacked, then threw it away with 20 seconds left (should have tried to finish at the rim). Kobe was tripped trying to take a handoff with 6 seconds left and we coughed it up and had to foul. He missed a three on an inbounds at the buzzer.

Gasol -- -- Phil put him on Dirk for a final stop. Pau ended up fouling him on the inbounds pass 35 feet from the hoop to give up the lead and game winning points with 19 seconds left. Regardless of whether you agree with the defensive sub of pulling Lamar and putting Pau on him, you simply can't commit that kind of a foul. That's one of those, rookie-like, bonehead mistakes. Offensively, Pau got off to an aggressive start. Shedding the tricky Hornet defenders, Pau should spread his wings a little more against the Mavs. But he gradually disappeared as the game went along. The Mavs sent a lot of doubles to take the ball from him. They can do that if Ron and the guys are just standing around on the perimeter chucking and clanking. You need cutters. That still doesn't excuse the play in the fourth -- turnovers and no points. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-10 shooting (5-6 from the line) to go with 11 boards (5 offensive), 7 assists, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 36 minutes. He was a +9. The Action: He grabbed a Bynum miss and it led to a Kobe score. He tapped out a Kobe miss and it led to another score. He attacked Dirk in transition and scored a layup. He missed a face-up wing jumper. He posted up, drew a double team and kicked to Fish for a three. He sank a turnaround from the midpost. He swished a baseline jumper on a kickout from Ron. He had 6 points on 3-4 shooting in the first quarter. Out of a timeout, he took an inbounds off a Bynum screen that had the D scrambling and touch passed to Bynum for the dunk. He no-looked to Bynum rolling off the high screen for a dunk. He was blocked by Chandler on a step-through in the post. He grabbed a Kobe miss and banked in a putback. He was hit from behind on a loose ball to draw FTs, he made one. He blocked Marion's quick-fire attempt in the paint. He had 9 points on 4-6 shooting, 6 boards (3 offensive) and 5 assists. Second Half: He dunked off the two-man sequence with Ron. He was stripped in the post. He threw a pass away trying to thread it to Ron instead of waiting for him to clear out on the baseline cut. He missed a 17-footer. He was hacked on a layup in transition, he made both FTs. He missed a tip and a follow attempt, but drew FTs, he made both. He had 6 points on 1-3 shooting in the third. He was blocked on a fading post attempt. He fouled Dirk on an inbounds trying to go for a steal with 19 seconds left to give up the lead.

Bynum -- -- He didn't impose his will on the game. One of the things that both he and Pau struggled with was establishing consistent low position. Bynum had some moments in there and the team did a decent job getting him the ball when he did, but both of them were often pushed about 3-5 feet further than we want to see them. Bynum scores well against this team. We need to feature him more and he needs to do a much, much better job of owning the paint offensively. He's got to impose his will on that end and a lot of that work happens off ball (no offensive boards from Drew). Defensively, the Mavs had a very perimeter-oriented attack, which made it difficult for Bynum to put his stamp on that end of the floor. Drew led the team with a team-low -16. I'll be curious to see if he keeps Bynum with those second units to start quarters or switches up with Pau in the next game. The Stats: He had 8 points on 3-8 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 1 block and 1 foul in 29 minutes. He was a -16. The Action: He missed a layup trying to power up over his man. He took all kinds of contact with no call powering up on Chandler and missed the layup. He hit Lamar on the high-low over a fronting Marion for a layup. He dunked off the touch pass from Pau on an inbounds sequence. He missed an off-balance jumphook. He slammed off the high screen-roll with Blake when Pau no-looked to him. He had 4 points on 2-5 shooting and 4 boards in 16 minutes. Second Half: He swatted a shot off the glass. Low position and he hit a quick jumphook. He missed a jumphook. Power dropstep move and he drew FTs on Haywood, he made both. He missed a turnaround bank.

Artest -- -- Unlike the last series, we saw sticking out badly on the offensive end. This was easily Ron's worst game of the playoffs. Phil should have yanked him when he was missing shots right and left. The Mavs are leaving him open and doubling our strengths. That caused all kinds of issues. We didn't see Ron working the post or on the offensive glass as consistently as he had been in the last series. When Marion is on him, that's more understandable. But Peja? Kidd? We need to abuse that. When he's having nights like this and the team isn't on the same page, this is where Barnes off-ball cutting and garbage work would help guys like Pau and Kobe when they draw all kinds of attention. Hopefully, they work out some of the triangle issues before the next game or Ron just starts hitting his threes. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-8 shooting (0-3 from three) to go with 3 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover and no fouls in 31 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He missed an awkward off-balance turnaround on a drive on the first possession. He attacked and kicked to Pau for a jumper. He missed an open wing jumper. He missed a wing jumper. Dirk swung an elbow at him after as Ron bodied up on a Lamar FT and it drew a tech. Second Half: He swiped the ball on a rotation and took it the distance for a layup (should have been an And-1). He worked with Pau on the two-man game and hit him with a pass for a dunk. He turned the ball over trying to create without running the offense, layup the other way. Not close on a wing three off the screen. He blocked Marion's turnaround in the paint. He missed an open three on a kickout. He airballed a wide open corner jumper.

Fisher -- -- When Terry came in for his first minutes, Phil slid Fisher over on him. This is really where Phil needs to go to his bench. Both Shannon and Blake have covered him much better historically. Fish did a better job against him as the night went along and Terry only had 2 points in the second half. Lakers should win the game if that happens. Strong first half offensively from Fish. He was finishing at the rim and setting up teammates. In the second half, he helped get his hands on some bad passes to ignite a run. He missed a long three trying to beat the shotclock out of a timeout late in the game. That was some very poor execution with a couple minutes left. Not his fault, but that was one of those killer possessions you need to manufacture a better look for yourselves as a team. The Stats: The Action: He kicked out to Kobe for a three. He drained a three on the kickout from Pau. He gave up an open three to Terry. He missed a layup in the lane, looking for a foul call. He sagged off Terry and gave up another open jumper. He pushed out a rebound, went inside-out on the dribble and hit the And-1 layup over Terry, he made the FT. He attacked off the three line with a bit of explosion and scored a layup at the front of the rim. He had 8 points on 3-4 shooting. Terry had 13 on 5-6 shooting. Second Half: He had his hands on a couple of Mav miscues to start the second half. He missed a wide open jumper from the top of the key. He missed a long three trying to beat the shotclock out of a timeout.

Lamar -- -- Decent game from Lamar. Dirk is a tough cover and was hitting jumpers over our guys almost at will at times. Phil wanted to try to change it up on that final defensive stand and sat Lamar for Pau's length. Must have been frustrating for LO to watch that foul. I'd like to see a few more blind-side doubles on Dirk when he's trying to iso to help our bigs. Not many, but you need to get him to drive more, turn him and that's when the double causes problems. You got to keep him guessing instead of settling into he wants. Offensively, Lamar needs to attack Dirk more than he did. Make him work, expose some of his weaker D, especially against Lamar's superior speed. Lamar did a decent job taking advantage of mismatches when he had them. But when he's got guys like Marion or Peja on him, we need to post that up. Just go after it as a team (they didn't too often). Speaking up which...if we don't have foul issues for our bigs, I'd love to see Lamar at SF a little against Marion. He owns that match up. Is he going to shoot any worse from three that Ron? Absolutely not. In fact, they may be a little more reluctant to leave Lamar than Ron on the perimeter. Lamar is also much better at cutting off ball. Additionally, we get our size advantage back in the paint on offensive boards and putbacks. Defensively, he can hang with both of those players. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-10 shooting (0-1 from three, 5-5 from the line) to go with 12 boards (3 offensive), 2 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 31 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He attacked, missed, got it back and was stripped. He was fouled trying to go up while under the hoop, he made both FTs. No help on Barnes's man when Matt rotated and he gave up a putback. He scored a layup over Marion on the high-low from Bynum. He was called for three seconds being indecisive in the post. He attacked down the lane and was blocked out of bounds. He attacked Dirk and Peja with speed for an easy layup. He posted up Marion and scored easily off glass. He was hit at midcourt by Terry on the arm as he tried to make a heave at the buzzer, obvious and right in front of the ref, Lamar drew three FTs, he made all three. He scored 11 points on 3-6 shooting (5-5 from the line) and 5 boards. Second Half: He missed a baseline jumper. He hit Barnes in stride on a long leak out for a layup. He missed a wing three, Dirk swished one on him on the other end. He blew past Dirk on the baseline and reversed. He iso'd on Peja and scored a layup easily. Sensational block on Dirk at the rim to somehow prevent what looked like an easy layup.

Blake -- -- I'd really prefer to see him on Terry the moment Terry comes in. Blake can get under his skin and covers him tighter. It's much harder for Terry to get into a rhythm and going than hitting wide open threes as Fish gets lost or is late to recover. The team did a better job in the second half. Offensively, Blake needs to floor general more for the second unit. Run those two-man sequences, get penetration set up others. The team had too few of those. How many times did we set up a bigman on a drive and dish this game or a lob? The Lakers had a 7-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. If the second unit extends that, they get this one. Instead, they lost it. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting from three to go with 1 board, 1 steal and no fouls in 17 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He missed a flat three at the end of the first. He ran the screen-roll with Bynum, made the entry to Pau who no-looked to Drew still rolling for the dunk. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Barnes -- -- With all the doubling of our post, that left a lot of room for the Lakers to move the ball and get easy scores. With cutters out there and quick ball movement, that can cause the Mavs all kinds of issues. There are too many mismatches that the Lakers can continually take advantage of. But if we allow the Mavs to leave Ron Artest continually without paying a price, the offense will get bogged down. If Ron isn't beasting it up in the paint, get Matt in there. Matt played with good activity on both ends. The team needed that. Portland had that kind of activity and it caused Dallas problems. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-6 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 5 boards (2 offensive), 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 16 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He missed a layup, got it back and scored the putback. He attacked and was called for an off-arm clear-out to erase a layup (pretty weak). He swatted a layup and turned it up court quickly. Second Half: He missed a layup cutting in the paint, but Pau was there to get it. He missed a wing three. He scored a layup leaking out and taking a long outlet. He cut, took a pass, attacked and threaded one to Shannon for an And-1 layup.

Brown -- -- Got to win those first 5 minutes of the fourth quarter. One problem was we had three attempts from beyond the arc from Lamar, Barnes and Shannon. Shannon's was to avoid a shotclock violation. But the real issue is the execution out of the gates. The second unit can't settle for that. There was a brief sequence where we saw Barnes attacking and Shannon cutting for a layup. That's more of the dynamic they need. Their ability to cut and finish is important. All of Shannon's points came on layups in this game. Defensively, Shannon did a pretty good job on Barea. Sure, Barea had his moments (including a big three), but he has driven the Mavs offensive engine a lot more than what we saw in this one. They need to keep him contained. Shannon was due for a missed FT...unfortunately it happened in this one. Could have used that single point instead of having to take a foul on Kidd with 3 seconds left down 1. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting (0-2 from three, 0-1 from the line) to go with 1 board, 2 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 14 minutes. He was a -8. The Action: He threw a pass away, it came right back to him, he grabbed it, spun and scored a layup. He split a double team, then threw it away in the paint. He grabbed a rebound, pushed it out, crossed over to lose a man and elevated for a layup. He clanked a three when he noticed he was open (didn't get set properly). Second Half: He missed a 40-footer with the shotclock about to expire on the first possession of the fourth. He swatted Dirk's drive on help D. He missed a wing jumper set up for him. He scored an And-1 layup under the hoop against Barea, he missed the FT, uggh.

Phil -- -- Kobe and Dirk traded punches to get their teams on the scoreboard early... Phil brought in Lamar for Pau with the Lakers leading 16-12. Pau had been scoring with ease, but Dirk sat, too, at this point... Terry came in with the Lakers up by 4 and Phil had Fish slide over to cover him. The lead was quickly erased... Down 2, he sat Fish for Blake, Artest for Shannon, Bynum for Pau... He sat Kobe for Barnes a possession later... The Lakers trailed 25-23 after the first quarter. Both teams had 8 assists... Phil started a Bynum, Lamar, Barnes, Brown, Blake unit... Phil sat Lamar at the 8-minute mark for Pau. Out of a timeout, Pau hit Bynum off an inbounds screen sequence for a dunk... Down by 5, Phil sat Blake and Barnes for Kobe and Artest... He sat Bynum for Lamar and Blake for Fish with 6 minutes left and the Mavs up by 3... Strong close to the half (14-2 by the Lakers), including 4 FTs in the final 0.7 on a mental implosion by the Mavs... The Lakers led 53-44 at the half. They shot 47.6 percent (20-42, 2-6 from three, 11-13 from the line). The Mavs shot 43 percent (18-42, 4-11 from three, 4-4 from the line). The Lakers had a 5-1 advantage on the offensive glass, 26-17 overall on the boards... The Lakers got three steals to start the half and scored 7 points to force a Mav timeout. The Mavs got that back quickly on a 10-2 run (Lakers jumpshot happy when the post got doubled. How about some cuts?)... Phil called a timeout when the 16-point lead was trimmed to just 3 at the 5-minute mark... Ron missing and continuing to fire from distance... Phil sat Bynum for Lamar up by 2 with 4 minutes left... Up by 5 with 2 minutes left, he brought in Barnes and Blake when Terry came in... Kobe with 15 points in the third mostly from the perimeter... The Lakers led 78-71 heading into the fourth... Phil started a Bynum, Lamar, Barnes, Brown, Blake unit.... The lead was quickly cut to 2. The Lakers took 3 three's in the first few shots... The Lakers led by 3 when a timeout came with 6:38 left in the quarter. Long run for that second unit. Phil sat Shannon for Kobe and Bynum for Pau. If Kobe was the hot hand, that was too long... Up 5, he sat Barnes for Artest and Blake for Fish... After a few possession without a score, Phil called a timeout with 2:12 left. We missed a heave three and Pau was blocked on a fading jumper, poor, poor possession in that situation... The Lakers led by 1 with 20 seconds left. Phil sat Lamar for Drew and slid Pau on Dirk. Some confusion. Phil then called a timeout and put Bynum to guard the ball and Kidd (who knows what would have happened if a play was run? Total mess up). Pau fouled on the inbounds pass to give up the lead so we will never know... Timeout down 1 with 19.5 seconds left... Kobe was tripped trying to take a handoff, turnover and we had to foul. Kidd missed one, so the Lakers trailed by 2 with 3 seconds left and called a timeout. Kobe missed a three at the buzzer to win it. Good look on the inbounds play... The Mavs had 30 assists in this game. Some very good passing on their way to 49 percent shooting...

[Big]

happy face?

[DancingBarry]

Forgot to change it. Thanks.

[sonn]

I wish I knew why this team gets so jump shot happy, its so infuriating to watch this team not take advantage of it's strengths.

[Crumbling Dynasty]

Damn Drew was -16

[ssiknick833]

The bench is a HUGE problem. Blake 0-1? Seriously? That's not gonna cut it. We need SOMETHING....
_________________

[Arbitrary]

[Crumbling Dynasty]

[tw-lakbfan]

[ssiknick833]

[lounger]

I am so disheartened... but I know the Lakers will bounce back. The game wasn't lost at the end plays. We should have hanged on the 16 point lead.



Thanks DB.

[ChefLinda]

[limchrc]

Sad we lose. Let's win the next game, please.

[WASP]

The Lakers will win the next one.

[Saikobe24]

I still almost still cant believe we let them steal that game 1 and thats always the most important game of the seris obviously. It sets the tone.

[rst08tierney]

not worried.

lakers played near horrible but controlled the entire game. I still think are boys pull it off in 6.

[richsmith]

The lack of discipline that this team shows, from Kobe on down, is astonishing. You can never count the Lakers out, because they usually show up and do the right thing when they absolutely have to, but they have reminded me all season long of the 2002-3 team, which also had lackadaisical defense, a propensity for playing from outside rather than inside-outside, and a stubborn belief in their ability to get out of any hole. It cost them against a Spurs team they were favored to beat, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it costs them against this year- whether it's against the Mavs, Thunder or Heat.

[Sister Golden Hair]

[Rsxtreme415]

[HBA]

DB,

A couple of key corrections IMO.

1) The Kobe turnover did NOT kill us. Kobe turned it over and Terry was promptly fouled which resulted in exactly nothing. It was a foul to give and the Mavs then took timeout and set up a play. We still had the lead and a chance to get a stop to secure the win.

It would have been akin to Kobe finding Fish all alone, instead of turning it over, and Fish missing the shot and the Mavs getting the rebound. A completely possible and even likely, outcome. The same result would have ensued in that the Mavs would have taken timeout to try and draw up the go ahead play.

Which brings me to our problem, as it has been all season. With a 1 or 2 point lead and one possession to secure the win, we have failed all season long to secure the victory. And thats too bad. Because if you can't get crunchtime stops, you won't win titles in this league.

2) It was the Kidd foul and ensuring Gasol turnover that turned it into a 2 point game instead of a 1 point game. at 1 point, Kobe gets that ball, goes to the FT line extended and rises up. A much easier shot.

3) And finally, Gasol fouling Dirk was about the dumbest thing I have ever seen to give a team the lead in a playoff game with one possession left.

[DancingBarry]

Wish we had that foul to give in Pau's braindead play. But bottom line, we came up empty -- no shots taken -- because of two turnovers. And we committed a dumb foul. All of that combined for a great big suck fest in the final minute.

[^_^]

I hate it when the Lakers prove ol' Chuklehead right

[link]

[igotthepauer]

Getting it to Bynum early and often is the only chance to win. Maybe get Chandler in foul trouble because he puts a halt on anything the Lakers try to do.