HORNETS -at- LAKERS - 12/1 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Don't Mess with Tacos... The scent of tortillas and seasoned meat wafts down the street. You hone in on the street vendor like a heat-seeking missile to its target. The words of the Doors' Jim Morrison hit you, "Hey, let's go get some tacos." Moments later, you barter a fair exchange rate, trading a couple AA batteries. It's been a while since you've had a hot meal.

Your young friend comes up along side you and tugs at your pant leg, "Can I get you one?" you ask. "These are pretty tasty." You take another bite. She shakes her head in disgust.

"We have a lot less wild dogs around here than we used to, you know," she says, wrinkling her nose. You freeze for a moment with a bite of mystery meat in your mouth. Nah.

A lone Hornet buzzes around your face, seemingly intent on going after your taco. You wave it off once, but it comes back. You duck it, but it's maniacal in its single-minded pursuit of your taco. Maybe it's Jim Morrison reincarnated. As it buzzes in for one last attempt, it's swatted out of the air with a rolled up magazine by the little girl. She crushes it with her shoe. Sorry, Jim.

"I'm supposed to give you this," she says, handing you the magazine. You gulp down the last of your taco and take it. DancingBarry is on the cover. You flip to his article. It's brief as usual:

The Horsemen were here. Their opponent wanted to take food from the mouths of their followers, but they failed. The Horsemen toyed with them before eventually dispatching them. Another day, another victory.

I will continue to track them.

The Lakers faced their second team in a row that has blown through a coach already this season. Any chance the Hornets had was sitting on the sideline in an injured Chris Paul and Peja Stojakovic. L.A. led by as many as 23 and coasted to the 110-99 victory.

"Good win. Could be better," Phil said, summing it up concisely afterward. The defense played loose at times and the deep bench went through the motions to make the game look closer than it was.

"We played good defense in the second quarter and that's what kind of separated the game," Bynum said. The Lakers won that second quarter 31-15 and had a 10-0 run during the middle of it.

The real tension in this game came late when the Hornets decided to start fouling to stop the clock. The deep bench didn't play much defense and the Hornets came within a point and a last-second drive of taking free tacos from the mouths of Laker fans. They might have had a riot on their hands.

The Lakers took their seventh straight game and improved their record to 14-3. This home-court heavy schedule has more benefits than a good record. Phil mentioned it allowed them to rest injured players more, but it also gives him opportunity for a lot of early season teaching. Travel days turn into teaching days, and that should pay off when they do hit the road.


Kobe -- -- Despite the low scoring, it was a well-rounded game from Kobe offensively. He hit some jumpers, attacked the lane and worked the post briefly. It's good to see his range warming back up. He collapsed the D and set off passing sequences that led to hoops. Defensively is where he seemed to have some issues tonight. He was in poor position a lot. He usually got there by over-playing with aggressive perimeter D or just sagging off and not recovering. The moment he sat in the first half, the Lakers went +13. (Fish sat at the same time, but both had issues.) Kobe doubled off of cutters and gave up layups. He ball-watched on the defensive glass. He dared Devin Brown to shoot, which was what you want to see since he couldn't hit anything being left open (1-9, 0-4 from three). But Brown was still able to lead his team in assists as the D had to collapse on him quite a bit off some of the bad angles, gambles and crowding Kobe had on that end. When Kobe doesn't respect a player or a team, he typically has some of his poorer defensive outings. His disrepect turned into over-playing (doubling the post or trying to crowd and steal from his man), which led to an easier time for the Hornets when they exposed it. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 5-11 shooting (2-5 from three, 6-6 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover, 3 fouls in 32:31 of action. He was a +16. The Action: He drained a three off the high pinch post to start the game. He swished a wing jumper behind the screens. He crossed over, got in the paint and swished the floater with his left. He missed a pull-up three. He attacked down the paint, but bricked on the finish. He sank a long wing jumper popping out behind the screen. He picked up his second foul with a minute left in the first and had to sit. He had 9 points on 4-6 shooting. He attacked and kicked out to Farmar for three. He missed a pull-up jumper, way short. He curled around a trap, attacked the lane and fed Pau for a layup. He gambled on a reach on the perimeter, got out of position and gave up a layup. He spun baseline and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a three. He kicked out to Fish for a corner three. He missed a three short. Second Half: He sank a three from the top of the arc. He threw a kickout away. He iso'd at the top of the key, attacked and drew FTs, he made both. He attacked down the lane and took exception with a foul by Brown and let him know it, he made both FTs. He blew a layup on the break and wanted the foul after getting hit on the arm.

Gasol -- -- The Lakers went to Bynum early and often. Later, they ran some second unit offense through Pau. A one-two punch from our bigs. It seems like those two are playing together quite well. Defensively, we were better team-wise with Lamar's mobility in there. Phil felt confident enough, however, to throw the three bigman lineup out there with LO at the SF. That lineup did fine. Pau didn't have a lot of shots in the stat sheet, but he got to the line quite a bit and managed to scrape together some points. West was in foul trouble early and never got engaged in this game. He finished with 8 points on 4-9 shooting. The Hornets didn't stand much of a chance without him coming up big. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 3-6 shooting (8-9 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 28:33 of action. He was a +12. The Action: He got tapped on a baseline jumper, his first touch after 4-plus minutes. He was blocked from behind under the hoop. He missed a hook short. He choked off the baseline with good footwork and made a smaller man lose the dribble out of bounds. He was pushed in the back on the offensive glass and drew FTs, he made both. He faced up, attacked across the lane and drew FTs, he made both. He was called for a hook in the post as he attacked. He scored a layup off the drive and dish from Kobe. He was grabbed on a cut for FTs, he made both. He sank a lefty hook in transition over a smaller man. he had 10 points on 2-5 shooting and 5 boards. Second Half: He rejected West easily out of bounds. He one-timed a no-looker over his shoulder to Bynum for the score. He was undercut on a pass from Kobe in the lane, he made one FT. He sank an And-1 on a fallaway from the midpost, he made the FT.

Bynum -- -- The Lakers went to Bynum early and often to establish the post. He was too big for Okafor and made the most of his opportunities. Got to love how automatic he looks on some of those jumphooks. That is just a load to deal with on iso D. When you combine that with his jumper that extends out to 16 feet, you can see the future when teammates show more and more reliance and trust in those weapons. Defensively, our two-man D was getting broken down quite a bit. The team had the good second quarter of D as Bynum mentioned, but struggled at other times. The rotations seemed a step slow behind our screen-roll defenders. "Big thing is getting the weakside over so that when they get a little penetration off the screen-roll we're able to close the gap," Bynum said. When the weakside is there and mobile, it looks like defenders have to go through three Lakers to get to the hoop. When it's not on time, easy layups. Glad Drew didn't get hurt on that opening sequence where he slipped on the wet floor. He looked like a giraffe on ice for a second there. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 9-10 shooting (3-4 from the line) The Action: He attacked the middle of the lane and hit the jumphook. Low position next time down and he banked off the right block. He scored the And-1 in front of the rim (sending West out early with his second foul), he made the FT. He missed a jumphook short. He froze his man with a couple shoulder fakes and swished a 10-foot turnaround. He had 9 points on 4-5 shooting in 10 minutes. Early low position and he hit the short turnaround. He took the post feed, quickly bumped his man backward then hit the jumphook. Second Half: Good hands to take a quick-timed, no-look pass from Pau, and he scored a layup. He collided with Okafor on a drive and drew FTs, he made both. He kicked out to Artest for the open three. He drained an elbow jumper trailing Kobe in semi-transition. He took the post entry, muscled Okafor and hit the And-1 jumphook, he missed the FT.

Artest -- -- A very efficient game from Ron. He fumbled the ball away a couple of times, and didn't set up teammates at his usual pace, but he still caused the Hornets issues. Some nice baseline cuts and drives as well as his usual long-range shooting. Despite how smoothly he has fit in, you can still see a lot of communication from others about certain offensive sequences. Asked whether he gets more satisfaction in locking someone down or scoring 20 or so points, he said, "Both. I get satisfaction out of both. That's the fun thing about basketball, but I'm really not looking to score. I'm just trying to run the offense." The Stats: He scored 16 points on 6-8 shooting (2-3 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 3 turnovers, 1 block and 2 fouls in 27 minutes. He was a +9. The Action: He picked up a loose ball, pushed it out and lost the handle. He dunked off the baseline Tri cut when Fisher hit him. He drained a wing three. He posted up, backed his man down with ease and drew FTs, he made both. He threw an inbounds pass away. He missed a three. He scored a layup off the hanging pass from Farmar. He attacked off the three line in transition, Pau shielded a defender and Artest scored the layup. He had 11 points on 4-5 shooting. Second Half: He drained an open three on the kickout from Bynum. He bulldozed to his left, Posey flopped, Ron swished the midrange jumper. He airballed on a drive down the lane. He blocked Thornton in the paint.

Fisher -- -- Phil said DFish spoke to the bench after practice about their focus and effort. Not sure it sank in. Some good court vision by DFish in the game. He is probably the best on the team on the Triangle corner entry sequences and made some quick passes from there (a couple to Bynum and one to Artest). In the middle of the court, not so much ... unless it's swinging the ball to a shooter. The screen-roll D suffered at times with some poor rotations. Phil tried to change up how they defended it a few times. DFish made up for that soft spot in the D by coming up with 5 steals. He had some great strips under the hoop to save baskets. That strength of his really comes in to play on those Karl Malone-like strips. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-5 shooting (1-3 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 7 assists, 5 steals, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a +9. The Action: He pushed out the break, attacked right, flipped the ball in over his shoulder and in with his left as he took contact for the And-1, he missed the FT. Quick entry into the middle of the paint to Bynum who had West on him and it led to an And-1. He missed a wing three on a kickout. He hit Artest baseline for the dunk. He had the bounce pass from Artest stripped off him for a turnover. He missed an 18-footer. He attacked the paint and drew FTs, he made both. He sank a corner three on the Kobe kickout. He dropped to the level of the ball and swiped a baseline kickout, excellent rotation. Second Half: Horrible entry pass forcing it to Kobe for a turnover, he deflected it at midcourt to get it right back. He missed a three. He stripped Okafor to help Kobe under the hoop. He had the ball knocked off him as he attacked on the pinch post. He stripped another man under the hoop.

Lamar -- -- He took a dribble at the three line, threw on the extra speed and threw down on Hilton Armstrong for the play of the game. We saw Phil go to Lamar at the SF for a stretch to close out the first half. This is the second time he's done that. This time, however, he didn't have any foul issues forcing his hand. The Lakers did fine during that stretch. It's a myth that you can't run Lamar at SF for short stretches at a time. Hopefully, Phil will go to it again a few more times. Lamar is usually running as one of team's two-guard front for a majority of his time out there anyway. LO was on his near triple-double pace and played limited minutes. Good job on the boards, making the extra pass and pushing the ball up in transition. That's his game. Lamar led the team with a +20. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-8 shooting (0-2 from three, 0-1 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 6 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 24:31 of action. The Action: Open in the corner, but he made a quick swing pass to Artest for the three instead. He attacked straight down the lane with speed, rose up and soared in for the throwdown over Armstrong. Late outlet pass and it was easily picked off. He missed a wing pull-up jumper. He missed a pull-up jumper. He pulled down a rebound, pushed it out and scored a layup near the end of the half. Second Half: He cut down the lane, took the pass from Pau and banked. He missed a corner three after hesitating. He missed a three. He filled the lane, took the bounce pass from Brown and scored the And-1 layup with his right, he missed the FT.

Brown -- -- On the final play, Shannon stripped a drive at the final seconds and Farmar swatted it for good measure as the Hornets were trying desperately to destroy the taco hopes and dreams of fans at the game. Nice try, Hornets. Shannon came in for Kobe late in the first quarter when No. 24 picked up his second foul. Not a lot of good action offensively, but he played some solid D in the second quarter when Kobe was sitting. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-6 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 3 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a +7. The Action: Good effort on he defensive glass to save a ball from a Hornet by tapping it to a teammate. Second Half: He missed a sideline three at the third quarter buzzer. He couldn't hold on to a lob pass set up for him to start the third and highlight reels everywhere were disappointed. He pushed out the break and hit LO filling the lane for the And-1. He cut off the post entry to Drew, took the handoff and scored the reverse. He passed up a couple of easier shots to airball a chuck as the shotclock ran out. He scored a putback on a Farmar miss, his only make. He missed an open corner three. He was fouled with 4.8 seconds as the Hornets tried to disappoint Laker fans by getting to the 100-point mark, he made both FTs.

Farmar -- -- The game changed defensively when the Lakers brought in Farmar and Brown for Kobe and Fisher in the first half. The team rotated better, took better angles and closed the gaps a little quicker. When you can make the opponent take a slightly wide angle on the drive or you hustle to recover and get a hand up, it makes a big difference. Farmar had some good stretches of that D during that run. He needs to be careful not to settle for threes when he's got room to move in closer. He mixed it up with some good attacks off the three line, but there were also a couple sequences where he could have increased his percentages by moving in closer. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-9 shooting (1-5 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, 3 turnovers and no fouls in 24 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He settled for an open three when he could have moved in about 5 feet with no one around him, he missed. Backcourt pressure to start the second and he forced a turnover. He attacked off the corner three line, hung and hit Artest for the layup. He sank an 18-footer working off the screen. He pushed out a steal, got past a defender, then no-looked behind him and threw it away. He posted up Collison and drew FTs on the turnaround, he made one. He swished a corner three next time down when Kobe kicked out. He missed a corner three. His pass from the corner to LO hit rim. He had 6 points and 2 steals in that stint. Second Half: He turned and sank a 20-footer after coming out of the post. He changed directions on a behind-the-back dribble and scored a layup. He missed an elbow jumper. He missed a wing three on a kickout. He ball-watched and gave up a dunk. He missed a wing three.

Vujacic -- -- He came in with about 4 minutes left to run at SF in deep garbage time. Some ugly, ugly ball. That unit was chaos. Sasha needed to go back to trying to work the pick and pop with Powell. Defensively, some standing around by Sasha. He can't afford that. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-2 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 1 turnover and 1 foul in 4:16. He was a -7. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He ball-watched and allowed a man to walk past him to tip in a miss. He was about to throw a pass, thought better of it and hoisted up a brick from three. He tried to attack, got poked from behind and charged into a Hornet while trying to recover the loose ball. He faked off the three line, attacked and hit the pull-up jumper.

Powell -- -- Phil had him out there running as center for the last few minutes. That didn't bode well for either end of the court. He can't afford to have minutes like this where he's not aggressively moving his feet and battling on the glass. His game becomes far too one-dimensional. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-2 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with no boards or other stats in 7:50 of action. He was a -8. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He sank a long sideline jumper off the pick and pop. He missed a lefty jumphook. He was fouled as the Hornets tried to steal the taco's and get another offensive possession, he made both FTs.

Morrison -- -- He came in for Kobe at SF a minute into the fourth. Phil said he liked some of the things Morrison did out there. He was much more aggressive as it seemed like they were trying to run some offense through him, but they also dumped it off to him at the end of shotclocks, too. Staples was really pulling for him on just about every shot. Got to love that. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-6 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 assist and 1 turnover in 10:48 of action. He was a -12. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He was called for a travel on an up-and-under move. He attacked to his left off the three line and scored the layup. He attacked to his right and missed a step-back jumper. He was tapped on a fallaway on iso. He drew FTs working the two-man sequence with Shannon, he made both. He missed a corner three. He barely hit rim on an open wing jumper.

Phil -- -- Phil would have taken an "L" in this game to make a point to his third unit/deep bench players. "I was going to suffer the consequences tonight," he said... Early on, the Lakers bigmen were shading baseline in the low post for some reason and getting into trouble instead of playing straight up. Not sure why. That was reminiscent of some of the early season mistakes we made last year defensively... The Lakers were gambling and over-playing early on and paid the price defensively. Offensively, they worked the paint for 12 of their first 18. They led 18-16 at the first timeout after 7 minutes... First sub was LO for Pau... With 1:45 left in the first, he brought back Pau for Bynum and Farmar for DFish... The Lakers led 31-28 after the first. Hornets made 12-20, 60 percent, and the Lakers made a similar 12-21 in the quarter... Same players to start the second as ended the first. The second unit pushed to a 39-31 lead forcing a timeout... Kobe/Bynum in, Pau/Artest out. Lakers extend to a 47-33 lead... Phil ran a big lineup again even though he didn't have a player with fouls to force his hand. He had Bynum, Pau, LO, Kobe, Fish to close the first half. They extended the lead... The Hornets made 6-22 in the second quarter and were held to 15 points... The Lakers led 62-42 at the half. After a hot start, the Hornets shot 43 percent (18-42, 1-9 from three). The Lakers made 58 percent (22-38, 4-11 from three)... First sub in the second half was LO for Bynum this time. Okafor sat, so Phil switched it up... Similar quarter to the first. The Lakers won it 28-27 and led 90-69 going into the fourth... After Farmar gave up a layup and a jumper, Phil called a timeout up 19 with 8 minutes left... Phil went with a Powell, Morrison, Sasha, Brown, Farmar unit with 4 minutes left...

Game Flow -- LINK -- The second unit did the job in the first half. That's where the Lakers took control. The 8-man rotation seems to be working fine. It's when we crack into that deep bench where the real issues are.

[DancingBarry]

Sorry for the delays. Some laptop issues tonight.

[Ray_Gonzoles]

Thanks DB!
_________________
"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.

[lounger]

Thank you DB! Keep it coming!

[medic.]

dope intro fam. DB

[lakergreenmachine]

Thanks DB, great job as always
_________________
"Moment of Silence For the Champions."

[lakergreenmachine]

Thanks DB, great job as always
_________________
"Moment of Silence For the Champions."

[NoobyBrown]

[Paillard]

[DancingBarry]

Thanks. Fixed it.

[IPK]

[prisma8slg]

thanks DB...tacos provided the only drama in the game...
_________________
"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."

[fakethefunk]

Ha Ha DBerry was 1st on his own post!

It has become my morning ritual after a game day. A cup of coffee while reading DB's post

thanks DB
_________________
" I have nothing in common with lazy people who blame others for their lack of success. Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses."

KOBE BRYANT

[Dr. Laker]

As usual, great job.
_________________
On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".

[limchrc]

thanks

[Rick12322]

Thanks, DB. Some very insightful stuff.

[20,000]

1st!
_________________
Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying...'I will try again tomorrow.'

[ChefLinda]

Oh, great. Now I'm craving tacos for lunch.

Thanks, DB.

[sia_kb8]

Great recap, man. Look forward to them after every game.
_________________

[Alpha]

noice db!

[Klone_dd]

I'm really loving how the Lakers are playing "big" by punishing teams on the inside, using all that length. No more playing down to the opposition. They either come up to our level or get trounced.

[DancingBarry]

[City_Dawg]

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Great story, great recap. Thanks again DB!

I thought this team would let down a bit after a couple blowouts and play complacent, making for a close game. The starting unit was anything but complacent, even drawing rave reviews from Lurch on NBAHD's coverage for one particular trap in the 3rd quarter up 19 when we forced a turnover. It doesn't look like that complacency happened until the last substitution of the game.

Regarding the bench... Seems Farmar is trying to redeem himself and having at least a little success recently. Not that he doesn't have flaws, but it's an interesting note on how the defense improved with Shannon and Farmar playing together in relief of Kobe/Fish. Also, it was Shannon and Farmar that finally swatted those taco-stealing hornets out of the building.

Ammo surprised me by busting out of his slinking hiding deferring invisible-man mode for a couple nice minutes. Wish he'd do that more often.

Sasha and Powell -- where complacent yet disorganized baskeball happens.