LAKERS -at- JAZZ - 12/12 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

The Dull Tip of the Spear... Your little friend wanted to join you on the trip up the river. You refused and left her back in the city. What kind of place is this for a child? What kind of place is this for you?

As the boat winds its way down the river, the shrubs and vegetation along the banks get more dense by the mile. You come across a mangrove canopy that fingers across the river from both sides to form a tunnel. You push through the tunnel slowly. The engine protests as the captain throttles it up against the strong currents. Your head begins to spin, your stomach begins to lurch. You hear whispers from the river banks. You brush up against the mangroves and notice the leaves are covered in salt crystals.

Upstream, a short ways further, the vegetation dies off completely, the temperature begins to dip rapidly and the river opens into a great lake with salt encrusted beaches. Here, the boat finally bottoms out.

On shore you spot a lone, broken spear sticking out of the salt. You hop out and wade toward it. You see more broken spears in floating in the water. There was a battle here, no doubt. You pick one up and examine it. The spearhead is dull; same with the others.

Eventually, you reach the shore and pull the lone standing spear from the salt beach. It has pinned a note to the ground. DancingBarry:

The Horsemen were here. Injured, sick and out of sync, they had to beat a retreat. They suffered their first setback since the return of the one called Pestilence. They will rest and regroup.

I will continue to track them.

The streak had to end sometime. All streaks do.

It's been nearly a month since the Lakers last defeat. The fact that the 102-94 loss to the Jazz coincided with the Lakers finally hitting the road will probably be made into more of a story than it actually was.

The last time the Lakers lost, they had Pau out of the lineup. Tonight, Kobe was fighting off the fractured finger and a stomach illness -- one hurt his accuracy, the other his energy. The combined problems made him highly ineffective.

"He just wasn't right," Phil said. Kobe scored 16 points on 7-24 shooting. His defense was worse.

"We didn't pay attention to Matthews and Brewer. Our guys were wandering," Phil said. Both players had 19 points a piece. Kobe didn't defend Brewer at all despite that being his primary assignment (nor did he cover Matthews for that matter on the odd possession against each other). Matthews' damage was mostly done off the ball against Artest or in transition.

The Lakers sharp tip of the spear was too dull to be effective. With Kobe one of the weakest links on both ends of the floor, the team struggled. When they tried to mount a fight, they missed having that pointed edge that leads the way.

"We never got in sync as a unit out there," Luke said after finishing his second broadcast on ESPN radio. They'll need to find that rhythm soon as they continue to do battle in hostile environments.


Kobe -- -- Kobe added a stomach ailment to his index finger fracture. A splint and an IV later, he was willing to push through. Unfortunately, he had little to offer the Lakers on both ends. The bandage and splint didn't allow him to bend his finger. His shot was ineffective until the final minutes. He couldn't create off the dribble, thus no freethrows until 3:05 left in the game. For all the worry about the shot, however, it was probably his defense that looked the worse. The back-to-back and stomach problems were probably too much. Just a lot of standing around, ballwatching and we paid the price. He didn't take the shootaround at halftime, resting instead and getting fluids. Just another sign of the issues. Luke was pointing out a ton of little things Kobe was avoiding because of his finger, screens on his injury side, not reaching with his right, letting others initiate plays that he would normally be handling. He and the Lakers are going to have their work cut out for them on this roadie. Kobe is going to have to either get used to shooting with the finger or dial back the attempts a lot more. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 7-24 shooting (1-9 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 37 minutes. He was a +6. The Action: He missed a three, wide right on his first attempt midway through the quarter. He clanked a lefty bank attempt. His baseline jumper on the inbounds rattled in and out. He threw a pass into Pau's feet, turnover. He hit a hanging 12-footer in transition. He drilled a 20-foot pull-up jumper. He missed a pumping pull-up jumper from the left wing. He gave up a dunk, ballwatching on a poor defensive stand. He had 4 points on 2-6 shooting. He sagged off Okur, giving up a three (got to close out on that, he's not going to take Kobe off the dribble). He missed a pull-up jumper from 20 feet badly. He drew a double in the post, split them and hit the floater. He posted up and hit the lefty jumphook. He missed a turnaround fade from 15 feet. He had 8 points on 4-10 shooting and 4 assists. Second Half: He missed a three on the Lakers first attempt of the half. No close out on his man, giving up an easy jumper. Brewer was wide open again, another easy jumper. He ballwatched and Brewer went around him for an offensive board. No challenge on his man again, and he gave up a three. He missed badly on a forced shot from the elbow. He bricked a three next time down, not close. He was 0-3 in the third. He missed a long three, way short. Not close on a wide open wing three. He missed a step-back fallaway under heavy coverage. He hit a hanging pull-up from the elbow out of a timeout. He was backdoored on the other end and fouled Brewer. He sank a three off the Pau screen. He got totally tapped on a three. He attacked, spun, missed badly off the glass, got it back and hit a short And-1 jumper, he made the FT. He missed a long heave at a three. He spun around his man in the post and missed a reverse, he wanted the FTs. He missed another three.

Gasol -- -- Pau just pulled down a combined 40 boards in back-to-back games. Tremendous effort on the glass. The 9 offensive boards were more than the entire Jazz team was able to grab. Excellent effort, too bad it didn't make a difference. The Lakers are going to have to run more offense through Pau. If Kobe may have some lingering issues for a while, Pau will need to be our first option on offense. He should have been that tonight, but we didn't go after it as much as we should have. Particularly in the second half when the offense stagnated. No way Kobe should have 9 threes and Pau just 11 attempts total. Not in this game. We did a good job trying to get the ball to Ron more. But we needed to bleed the Jazz more with Pau, too. Interestingly, the lack of offense running through Pau sure seems to have him working for garbage points more. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 6-11 shooting (4-5 from the line) to go with 20 boards (9 offensive), 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 43 minutes. He had a +/- of 0. The Action: He swished a turnaround from the right block. He swiped a pass on the perimeter. He hit the short jumper in the lane. His lob pass was knocked away. He got hit in the body on a turnaround, missed, got it back and sank a short jumper before having words for the ref. They whistled Pau for a foul a few seconds later. He worked across the middle with his back to the basket, then drop-stepped for a short leftly layup. He biffed an alley-oop in transition, then was called for the loose ball foul. He missed an open baseline jumper. He blocked Deron's jumper on a good close out. He had 8 points on 4-7 shooting and 7 boards. Second Half: He grabbed an Artest missed FT, then back-rimmed a jumphook. He hit a turnaround jumper over Boozer in the middle of the lane. He grabbed a rebound, then threw it away. He was tapped on a short jumper. He kncocked a post entry away. He had 2 points on 1-3 shooting in the the third. He muscled up Boozer and was hacked, he made both FTs. He grabbed a missed Kobe three and powered in an And-1, he made the FT. He followed up a Kobe missed reverse and drew FTs, he made one.

Bynum -- -- I'm not sure we saw Boozer put the ball down once off the dribble. Andrew sagged off him quite a bit and Boozer was able to shoot over his challenges. Andrew is tough to score on in the post, but when he faces anyone with range of 15 feet and out, he tends to give up some good looks. Not enough post touches for Drew in the first half. He was scoring easily and drawing fouls anytime he'd get the ball, especially against Boozer. Give it to him more on that end and maybe he has to deal with Boozer's perimeter game less on the other end. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-9 shooting (3-3 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -18. The Action: He was stripped in the post. He threw down a strong dunk off the interior lob pass from Ron. He gave an interior feed to Pau for a jumper. He blocked Brewer's drive. Flat jumphook from two feet out and he missed. He drop-stepped quickly and banked off the glass with his left. He posted up Boozer, instant foul, he made both Fts. Nice help D behind Lamar to swat a drive. Post up and he easily scored the lefty jumphook. Another post touch, he quickly attacked and banked in the And-1, he made the FT. He picked up his third foul with 4 minutes left, a moving pick and he had to sit. Second Half: Layup for Brewer when Kobe switched, no communication and the D broke down. He scored on a lob. He missed a baseline jumphook. He was short on a turnaround and wanted the foul. He tried to attack from the elbow and bricked.

Artest -- -- Ron passed the 10,000-point mark in this game. The Jazz switched Matthews onto Artest and put Brewer on Kobe (they did the opposite the last game). This is one of those switches we saw with regularity last year. We threw Artest in the post and started to milk it early on. The Lakers worked it for a bunch of points in the paint from Ron tonight as a result. There was a stretch in the third where Ron tried to carry the load for Kobe (and Kobe tried to orchestrate that throughout the game). Defensively, he had some issues with Matthews. He seemed a step slow on some of the off-the-ball cuts the Jazz made. Just not his usual stifling self on D. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 6-10 shooting (0-2 from three, 4-7 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 32:21. He was a -16. The Action: He attacked from the elbow and powered his way in for a layup. He was called for a charge trying to post up. He deflected a pass off his man to force a turnover and get it back. He posted up and lobbed to Bynum over the help D for a dunk. He posted up, his man went for the steal, came up empty and Ron scored easily. He picked up his second foul standing straight up under the hoop when Matthews attacked, he had to sit with 4 minutes left in the first. He missed a corner three. He posted up down low, coming weak to strong and scored easily around his man. He missed a three on a kickout. He had 6 points on 3-5 shooting. Second Half: He swished a wing jumper fading left. He missed an And-1 layup, getting shoved from behind, he then missed both FTs. He cut off the Gasol post, took the feed and scored easily over his man. He attacked to his left and muscled in a tough lefty layup. He posted up Matthews, muscled past him and drew FTs, he made one, lane violation on the second to erase a make. He stripped Miles and pushed up the one-man break to draw more FTs, he made both. He missed a fade from the top of the lane. His lob pass was way short for steal and then a dunk the other way for his man who leaked out. He posted up Brewer, muscled around him and drew FTs, he made one. He had 10 points on 3-4 shooting in the third. He missed on a drive across the lane, then was called for a loose ball foul. He posted up and was mugged as he was getting ready to go up.

Fisher -- -- With Kobe's injury, the Lakers needed others to step up. DFish had a strong first half with 13 points on 5-6 shooting in 16 minutes. That number tied his season high. In the second half, he was immediately sent to the bench after a couple of quick whistles. Phil mentioned the second foul after the game as one of the bigger calls of the night. DFish got to sit on the bench with a hot hand. Luke said Derek had an illness, as well (DFish told him it felt like he was swallowing nails). Good job on the second night of the back-to-back. After last night's poor shooting, that was a much needed bounceback. Too bad we couldn't take advantage of it. Defensively, none of our PGs could handle Deron when he got aggressive. Fish played him reasonably. The real mistakes came when he got lost and didn't close out on Deron. That happened a couple of times and was par for the course defensively for the team. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-8 shooting (1-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 5 fouls in 30:23 of action. He was a +5. The Action: He sank an elbow jumper curling off the screen to start the game. He got lost on D and Williams hit a wide open three. He missed a 19-footer with the shotclock low. He banked a pull-up in transition from 13-feet out. He sank a 19-footer off the screen. He drained a wing three. He tracked down a loose ball, pushed it up and drew a foul at the rim, he made both FTs. He swished a step-back 17-footer with Deron on him. Second Half: He quickly picked up his third and fourth fouls and had to sit. He missed a three. He sank a toe-on-the-three-line jumper from the right sideline.

Lamar -- -- A weak first half from LO once again. He was turnover-prone and soft defensively. This time, he didn't dial it in during the second half like he has been. Just very little impact throughout the game. He was one of the guys who needed to step up and failed to do so. Lamar played some SF tonight, including across Artest who had a brief stint at the SG. Interesting lineups. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-8s hooting (1-3 from three, 0-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 assist, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: Horrible inbounds to Kobe and it was picked off easily. He was fouled on a drive left, he bricked both FTs. Nice feed to Farmar cutting behind him for a layup. He posted up Miles and scored the easy jumphook. He dribbled the ball off his foot trying to create, turnover. He missed a short jumphook. Second Half: He tried to power up in the lane and had the shot roll off the rim. He attacked with speed to his left, missed but tipped it in. He missed an open three. He sank a late three.

Brown -- -- Shannon got the back-up SG minutes tonight, despite Sasha's previous good game. Defensively, against the Jazz he really seems to get lost in their motion offense. In the last game, he gave up a couple of easy layups on poor reads. He got caught again in a similar situation. None of our guards were very disruptive, but Shannon did manage to come up with 3 steals on the night. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-6 shooting (0-3 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 3 steals and 2 fouls in 23:38. He was a -4. The Action: He pushed up the break and drew FTs, he made one. He didn't feed the post, attacked left and hit the pull-up jumper from 18 feet out. Second Half: He missed a three on a kickout. He stripped Boozer on help D. He was fouled trying to power up under the hoop, he made both FTs. He attacked and didn't hit rim on the drive. He then gave up a layup to Williams. He drained a jumper off the two-man with Pau. He had to force up a corner three with the shotclock low.

Farmar -- -- A few too many miscues in this game. A couple offensive fouls, some very soft defensive stands and he wasn't a positive force out there. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-4 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 13:31. He was a -14. The Action: Nice challenge on Deron's post-up attempt to get a miss. He was called for a moving pick after trying to free up Kobe at the end of the first. He cut behind his man, took the quick pass from LO in stride and scored the layup. He was whistled for a hook in the post, weak call. Second Half: He pushed out a rebound, bodied up one defender on his left, then cut to his right, took contact and flipped in the layup over his head (could have been an And-1). He missed a three. He missed another three. Williams blew past him for an And-1, Farmar just nailed to the floor.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha should have gotten more minutes than he was given. Our defense was lazy, we could have used his hustle. Our SG spot was not a perimeter threat. Kobe and Shannon were a combined 1-12 from three at the SG position. Ouch. We needed someone to stretch the floor. After coming off a good shooting night and with what was happening on the court, it seemed like he could have gotten more that 2 minutes. The Lakers went 3-21 from three. The Stats: He had no stats and was a +6 in 2 minutes. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: Nice hustle to keep an offensive board alive.

Phil -- -- Phil brought in LO for Bynum as usual, but then had to sub in Brown for Artest when Ron got whistled for a weak foul (his second) and had to sit... The Lakers and Jazz were tied 25-25 after the first. The Lakers shot 12-20 (60 percent in that quarter)... With Artest in foul trouble, Phil went with a Bynum, Pau, LO, Brown, Farmar lineup. He then ran Ron at SG for Brown. Biggest Laker lineup we've seen: Bynum, Pau, Lamar, Artest and Farmar... The Lakers gave up 34 points in the second quarter and trailed 59-53. The Lakers shot 59 percent (23-39), but had 10 turnovers. The Jazz shot 55 percent (23-42)... Laker coaches were irked with that second-quarter defense... Kobe's defense was horrible to start the third quarter. His man was obliterating the Lakers after being left open so much... Phil had to go to Brown for Fisher when he got tagged with two quick fouls in the third quarter... The Lakers trailed 80-71 after scoring just 18 points in the third... Phil started Bynum, LO, Artest, Brown and Farmar. The Jazz opened the quarter on an 8-0 run forcing a timeout... Phil brought back in Pau and Kobe out of the timeout... The team didn't have its edge (Kobe) with them to mount a comeback in this one... The Jazz shot 52 percent. The Lakers 46 percent (a horrible 3-21 from three)...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Phil went with some tall lineups to start the second, even briefly with a Bynum, Pau, LO, Artest unit that was a -2. Artest had 10 points in that third, trying to provide a lift for Kobe who didn't score in that quarter.

[usa]

First
I didn't watch the full game but looking from the stats and couple of quarters of play, we just couldn't get stops.
Thanks DB

[10scott10]

we played dumb basketball tonight, very unlike what we have seen from the lakers since pau returned

Hopefully tonight's loss was just a fluke and that the lakers can start a new winning streak with their next game

[Ray_Gonzoles]

Lakers lacked energy and focus especially on defense.
May have been the issue with Kobe's health.
Hope this does not continue the rest of this road trip.
_________________
"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.

[kemi4kobes]

that stretch where kobe left brewer time and time again and he went off killed us. its on phil to recognize that he needed to take kobe out. should have gone to sasha or brown way quicker. sometimes i wonder wtf he's doing.
_________________
"I wish I could draw a picture of the look on their faces..... For a time, it was like he was on the court by himself. It's like God put Kobe here for us to watch him play basketball." - LO On KB8's Performance Against the Clips 07/01/06

[DancingBarry]

[revgen]

[limchrc]

thanks

[japanesebeef1]

I hope this illness doesn't go all the way through the team. There will be days like this . . . hopefully not too many.

Thanks again . . . DB.

[Shaber]

[Shaber]

[mhan00]

ugly game all around. i knew we were in trouble when i saw ron and kobe get burned repeatedly for easy shots. kobe normally gives up a few open jumpers a game to no-name guys, but giving up easy backdoors and layups is normally not his mo. and ron just got shredded; very unlike his normal performance for us this year.

[lakerboy]

thanks db

well, the streak is over. too bad you cant play 82 games at home

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

I missed the game, stepped out for just one second. What happens??? They're grounded dammit. End of story.

Seriously I hope Kobe finds a way to deal with the pain and be effective next game. No easy task. Eleven straight was a nice win streak. Now time to start another one.

Oh, and also thanks for the recap DB!

[fakethefunk]

I dont know if anyone noticed but there where times when Kobe merely walked across both ends of the floor and didn't even make an attempt to run. Then Kobe would stand out at the three point line breathing heavy, not making any attempt to get involved in the offense.Dude was sick.

Kobe is a warrior though I am glad he at least suited up considering the situation
_________________
" 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

[ChefLinda]

Thanks, DB.

This game had "loss" written all over it. Second night of back-to-back, Kobe injury/illness, Utah playing at home with their usual whistle-edge, Utah wanting revenge for that 6-pt quarter in L.A... So all in all, I wasn't hugely surprised. I agree with DB that this game is no barometer for our road play but I'm sure BSPN will make much ado about it and Kobe's injury and turn it into a sky-is-falling scenario for the Lakers. Anyway, maybe a little adversity will be good for us in the long run.

[davidse]

kobe hurt the team - period.

he should have sat this one out, or phil should have made him sit once he saw the kind of shape he was in.

a healthy sasha or more brown minutes at sg would have resulted in a better outcome for us tonight than having kobe play.

[Rick12322]

[Rick12322]

n e way, thanks for the recap, DB. We had a good run and you can't win them all. Regarding Kobe playing, when you're that hurt and sick to the point you bring a huge negative, you're only hurting yourself and the team by playing. Kobe's too proud to sit out so Phil should have given him a chance to show he can compete, then given him the big ole hook. I put that on Phil.

The Jazz were smoking hot for most of the night, on a night when we were very cold from the perimeter. Other than Fisher, no one was hitting. That causes teams to shrink into the paint and mess with our spacing. Even though our bigs got quick doubles, they could still receive post entry passes and shoot over the top of Boozer. Boozer would have been a mismatch all night long had the perimeter chucking happy players recognized that.

Lastly, after it was evident Kobe wasn't going to make an impact, Phil should have put Sasha in. The guy was on a roll, and should have been given the opportunity to extend it.

Shannon Brown should hire Farmar's shooting trainer.

[lakerican]

Kobe should not have played the second half. It was an easy call for Phil.

[Teamof2000]

wow, kobe had an awful game. sorry bout that finger.