LAKERS -at- SUNS - 12/28 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Missing In Action... You woke up the day after Christmas with a lump on your head and in need of some stitches. Tru Warier needed them, too. Someone jumped you in the night and left you wanting your mamma. The Horsemen couldn't wait for either of you and took to the road in search of enemies.

Despite the injury, you stagger to your car and follow the tracks. They lead you up north where the battle was intense and lasted well into the night. Here the Horsemen were victorious. Their defenses were strong when it mattered most.

The prints in that cow town turned back south and headed into the wide open spaces of the desert. Here, the fresh tracks tell a different story.

Their opponent used these spaces open well. They confused the Horsemen in the flatlands. They drew their attention in one direction and attacked with ease from the other. They were focused and prepared. The Horsemen were not and the route was on.

A tumbleweed rolls past you and bumps up against a cactus. Rippling in the desert wind, a spot torn purple fabric is snagged on the needles of the cactus. There is something written on it. DancingBarry:

The Horsemen were here. They weren't prepared for the onslaught. Having met this opponent and taken the battle to them twice already, the Horsemen had the tables turned. Tru Warier wasn't the only one missing in action. Their biggest of warriors no longer dominated. The opponent picked them apart.

They will regroup. I will continue to track them.

The Lakers were 21-0 when getting to the 100-point mark. They got there tonight with the 103 points. Unfortunately, their defense failed them badly, giving up a season-high 118 points to the Phoenix Suns.

The Lakers weren't ready to play the kind of defense needed to win a road game. It's questionable whether they could have even taken this one at home.
Maybe they were tired from their third game in four nights. Maybe the double overtime wore them down in the previous game. Maybe they missed Ron Artest's consistent effort on the defensive end. Whatever the reason, they looked slow to react and flat-footed defensively.

"Between not stopping the ball and giving up the three ... very irritating. Very irritating," Phil said afterwards. He described the defense as confused and not talking.

He also didn't like the foul-prone play the Lakers had against a jumpshooting Suns team. "This is a team that averages 20 foul shots a night, not 20 in a half," he said. When the Lakers foul a lot, it tends to be because they aren't hustling. They are a second late on rotations and are out of position. Being confused on rotations also makes you a second late and out of position.

Amare Stoudemire led the Suns with 26 points, mostly off of wide open midrange jumpers. The Lakers didn't close on him (or other shooters) like they should have.

"Got to play better D," Bynum said afterward.

The Lakers missed Ron's hustle and motor on the defensive end. Although with as many Lakers standing around on every possession, perhaps it may seem like it wouldn't have helped much. Phil said it would have allowed them to have more impact from the bench. He ran all 12 players in the first half trying to deal with both the foul issues and the back-to-back situation. The real difference, however, came in the second half.

Just 4 minutes into the third, the Lakers were down 6 points and had the ball. After a miss on one end, Andrew Bynum picked up his fourth foul trying to deny dribble penetration on the other and had to sit. This slid LO up to PF and brought in Morrison at SF -- well, here's where we missed Ron Artest. There were team D situations where the team didn't trust Morrison to take a bigman on a switch, or that Morrison couldn't get a good challenge on a perimeter bigman. They were out of sync all night, but it came to a head in a short stretch of confused ball on both ends.

In one such play on the defensive end, Lamar sagged to a cutter that Morrison had rotated to and this left Lamar's man, Frye, wide open for a three. Perhaps, he would have seen Artest in the paint and trusted that the cutter would have been dealt with. The lead went from 5-6 points up to 19 points during this stretch. Although the Lakers chipped away at that lead, they would never recover.

The Suns bench scored 52 points and brought much more energy to the floor the Laker squad. They'll need another bounce-back effort on a back-to-back situation tomorrow against the speedy Warriors. Hopefully, Artest will be ready to return.


Kobe -- -- Well, JRich didn't go off against us. That's one situation defensively that we haven't had to worry about against the Suns. He's only scored a combined 19 points in three games against L.A. despite his 16 ppg average. Kobe also wasn't involved in the foul fest as he didn't get whistled for a single foul. That's only the third time all season (including preseason) that Kobe's gone without a foul called against him. Like Phil, Kobe said that the defense was confused. "If you have a second of doubt, not being that sure about where you're going, they're going to make you pay, and that's what they did," he said in the Times. That extra moment can also be exploited when our PGs and bigs are a hair slow to recover on the two-man D. We'll get into that in other players write-ups below. Offensively, Kobe struggled in th efirst quarter, but went 13-19 the rest of the game. He took a hit on the finger at one point and was in obvious pain. The elbow didn't seem to be an issue, unless that first quarter was a problem of getting loose. Kobe wore a black sleeve on the elbow. The Stats: Kobe scored 34 points on 14-26 shooting (1-5 from three, 5-6 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 2 assists, 1 turnover and no fouls in 36 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He missed a short fade from the elbow. He sank a 22-footer from the wing. He missed a jumper from the other side. He cut off Pau and was hacked on his injured finger in the middle of the paint, he made both FTs. He missed a wing three. He missed a short step-back in the lane. He had 4 points on 1-5 shooting in the first quarter. He missed a long wing jumper. He ball-faked on the break and scored a layup. He took Hill off the dribble and hit a short one at the front of the rim. He barely hit rim on a three-pointer. He swished a wing jumper. He swished a three from the wing on the next trip down. He froze his man with a rock-back dribble, then hit the elbow jumper. He attacked across the lane and hit the floater. He airballed a quick turnaround chuck from three at the buzzer. After a slow start, he finished the half with 17 points on 7-14 shooting. Second Half: He missed a tech FT. He missed a wing jumper. He blew past his man and scored a layup along the baseline. He was fouled on a baseline turnaround, he made both FTs. He attacked right and hit the floater. He missed a baseline jumper. He missed a lefty floater. He changed directions and scored a layup off the glass. He attacked off the three line and scored an And-1 layup while getting hit in the head, he made the FT. He split a double team and hit a short lefty floater. He drew a moving pick on Amare. He hit a toe-on-the-three-line jumper in a two-for-one situation. He was swatted while pushing out a break at the end of the third, he wanted a whistle. He had 15 points on 6-10 shooting in the third. He missed a wing three. He hit a turnaround from the wing. Phil sat him when the game was out of reach.

Gasol -- -- Pau managed to get the team worst -21 while he was on the floor tonight (he also led the team with 4 turnovers). His rebounding has been trailing off the last several games on both ends. He's no longer pursuing boards like he had during his rebounding binge. He didn't block any shots and only had a few quality challenges. Some sloppy post play at times, too. Offensively, in the third quarter, he had a number of poor sequences and turnovers. This was when the game was within hand. He was drawing attention, no doubt, and did a good job hitting teammates for passes. Pau had a team-high 5 assists despite the team seeming to be content standing and watching a lot. The Lakers won the battle in the paint 38-34.The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-10 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 5 assits, 1 steal, 4 turnovers and 2 fouls in 35:26. The Action: He swished a turnaround in the post on the first possession. He missed a baseline turnaround. He was hacked on a jumper with no call. He grabbed a missed Bynum FT and banked. He missed a short jumphook. He had 4 points on 2-5 shooting. Pau picked up his second foul on a total flop by Frye in the post. He scored a layup off the two-man game with Kobe (should have been an And-1). He drop-stepped baseline and hit a short jumphook. He missed a short pumping jumper in the paint. He faced up and drew FTs with a quick first step, he made one. He had 9 points on 4-8 shooting. Second Half: He hit Lamar and Morrison for layups while drawing attention at the post. He missed a short face-up jumper. He was called for a travel and Pau tried to tell the official he was looking at the wrong pivot foot (looked like he might have shuffled his feet before that). He iso'd, spun to the middle and hit the lefty jumphook. He was stripped when Kobe's man left to double him. He faced up and drew FTs trying to power up, he made both.

Bynum -- -- Bynum seemed to be caught in no-man's land quite a bit. That's what often happens when he has to defend a perimeter shooting bigman. Amare was just dropping those 15-foot jumpers at will against both him and Pau. That killed the Lakers. Sometimes, the best defense there is a good offense. Try to get Amare in foul trouble on the other end. Bynum got off to a good start offensively. He was drawing fouls and the Lakers were taking advantage of his size. He wasn't able to get back to the line later in the game and his only makes were from the perimeter. Good job getting on the offensive glass. He has to do that against this team. Despite the loss, this seemed like a better effort from Bynum, but the D against Amare by our bigs was very soft. Somehow, Bynum still managed to not crack a double-double. He hasn't done that since Pau's return. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 4-10 shooting (6-8 shooting) to go with 9 boards (5 offensive), 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He missed a short baseline jumphook. He took a board from behind Amare and was hacked, he made one. He muscled his way past Frye for a short bank. Great low position on Frye early and he was hacked from behind to save a dunk, he made both FTs. He took a high-low from Pau and hit the short jumphook. He was fouled on a lob throwdown, he made both FTs. He had 9 points (2-5 FG, 5-6 FTs) and 6 boards in the first quarter. He was fouled on a lob attempt, he made one FT. He was called for his third foul with 5 minutes left (a cheapie where he got a little contact on a layup). Second Half: He faced up and hit a jumper over his man. He had to sit with his fourth foul after Richardson got into the paint. He grabbed a Kobe miss but couldn't finish. He swatted Amare's drive, then he got dunked on after the inbounds and a drive by Amare. He was "blocked" from behind for a jumpball, looked like all wrist. He didn't hit rim on a turnaround bank attempt. He sank a FT line jumper, shooting it just like a FT.

Lamar -- -- The triple-tower lineup was only a -1 tonight in this blowout. Whether he is at the 3 or the 4 spots, Lamar needs to play to his strengths. He is not doing that with any kind of consistency. Perfect examples of what Lamar should do offensively: In the first possession of the second half, he fed Kobe in the high post, then cut weakside to stand and watch at the elbow instead of immediately sealing Hill in the low post and taking a return pass from Kobe about 5 feet from the hoop. He and Kobe used to run that sequence all the time, but Lamar seems to have forgotten half of the Tri sequences that play to his strength. There was a rare good play where LO did use his size advantage at the SF and at the same time not allowing his inconsistent perimeter game to disrupt the offense. He cut off Pau to allow Kobe to make the post entry pass in the sideline triangle. He flushed his man to the weakside, pass came to Pau, when Hill went to double, Lamar flashed to the ball in the middle of the paint, took a pass and scored easily. Lamar has struggled with his off-the-ball movement in the offense. He's now got a chance to work the paint and he's not taking it. When he stands around (whether it's him at the 3 or 4 spot), he gives the defense a break. When he's got a clear size advantage, there is no reason not to become more involved. If the team can find Kobe and Artest consistently posting up when those two play the wing spot, there is no reason they can't get Lamar some very good looks where he can use his size. Phil needs to micromanage this from time to time instead of letting him coast. Defensively, Lamar started on Hill. Hill wasn't a factor in this game. Some of the team's bigger defensive problems came when Lamar slid back to the PF during that third quarter stretch. Lamar sprained his index finger and middle finger on his right hand. His hand got squashed as Barbosa jumped back into him and LO had to sit for a bit while he was in pain. They were swollen but it didn't seem to affect things since it's his off-hand. "Gonna need to ice them," he said in the Times. "If Kobe doesn't miss games because of a broken finger, I'm not going to miss any." The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-13 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 13 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 30:12. He was a -12. The Action: He picked up his first foul trying to challenge Frye on a layup on the first defensive stand. He missed a wide open wing three. He drained a three on his next attempt from the same spot. He missed a runner off the glass. He took contact off a pinch-post attack with no call and missed the layup. He clanked a baseline jumper. He pushed the ball up and then fed Mbenga for a jumper as the first pass, clank. He picked up his third foul trying to prevent a big from a layup and had to sit. He scored 3 points on 1-5 shooting. Second Half: He set a screen, popped out and hit the wing jumper. He finally cut into the paint off ball and hit the easy jumphook over Hill. He leaked out after a challenge and his man got the offensive board, uggh. He attacked to his left and decided to jump pass across court, turnover, three the other way...more ugggh. He tipped once, twice and cleaned up a Kobe miss. He bricked on an open wing jumper. He airballed a 19-footer. He missed a righty jumphook. He missed a wing jumper.

Fisher -- -- DFish couldn't hit a shot all night. And, he was right in the middle of some of the defensive problems when the Suns made their run. He was called for a tech after fouling and also fouled away from the ball as the Suns hit the three. That was some of that foul-prone ball that Phil was taking about. It's tough to defend the Nash screen-roll, and it will take a team effort, for sure. This was a game where you wished Shannon might have been more of a factor defensively to start with. He could have given the team an edge on that screen-roll D and be more of a threat on the offensive end. Once again, DFish didn't have an assist. Not a good trend lately. Got to move that ball, especially if you aren't hitting your J's. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-7 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 2 steals and 3 fouls in 24:46. He was a -10. The Action: He missed a quick-fire turnaround from the wing. He stole a pass, didn't wait for numbers and airballed a floater. He missed a sideline three. He missed a pull-up jumper in transition. He choked a layup and then gave up FTs with a hack. He hit a patented foot-on-the-three-line jumper. He had 2 points on 1-6 shooting. Second Half: He missed a wide open three in transition. He drew a moving screen on Amare with a good fight through. He was called for a tech after giving Nash a little push a hair after a foul was called. He fouled a man under the hoop when Frye hit a three.

Brown -- -- It might have made a big difference in this game had Shannnon played some strong defense in the first half. Instead, he seemed flat-footed like everyone else and had a couple of bad plays on that end. This kept his minutes down and the minutes of others up. Shannon put together some better minutes in the second half, but by then the game was already out of hand. Shannon's ability to recover to Nash quicker will allow our D that split second and few feet of distance that they don't have to recover. Makes a world of difference when you are getting pick and rolled over and over again. Plus, DFish couldn't hit a shot on the other end. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-5 shooting (1-2 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 14:41. He was a -4. The Action: He ball-watched and gave up an offensive putback to Dudley. He attacked from the corner and hit a hanging wing jumper. Dragic held his arm so he couldn't leak out, Shannon took exception and was called for a foul, then was called with Frye for a double tech (should have been a whistle earlier, but they missed the first call). He gave up a layup to Dragic with some poor D. Second Half: He didn't hit iron on a wing three. He attacked baseline and scored a layup. Another attack from the same corner and he drew FTs. He swished a sideline three. He swished a pull-up jumper on iso.

Farmar -- -- Farmar's mental game on the road has been an issue in the past. Tonight, he had a few sequences where that came to play. In one of the defensive sequences that would typify this game, Farmar gave up straight-line penetration with a stupid defensive angle at the three line after recovering to his man. His man easily attacked the hoop, pulled Gasol over who managed to get the stop. But Pau, Sasha and Farmar all stood around while another Sun player grabbed the offensive board after it hit the ground and scored a layup. No effort by the team and a really poor decision by Farmar. Offensively, he hit a couple jumpers and biffed a fastbreak. On the break, it looked he could have gone in for the finish, but instead opted to pass and threw it way off target. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-7 shooting (1-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 19:40 of action. He was a -7. The Action: He missed a wing jumper. He bricked a short floater in the paint. He stole a ball, then threw the pass away instead of going up strong (thought for sure he was going to score that instead). Next time down, he attacked the lane and drew FTs, he made both. Second Half: He iso'd, attacked left and hit a step-back jumper on the baseline. He swished a three on a Pau kickout. He missed an elbow jumper. He jumped out of the way of a charge he could have tried to take. He missed a wing jumper. He dunked off a long outlet.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha seemed to be one of the few guys who brought a decent effort. I'm not sure whether it would have made any difference when Phil brought in Morrison in the third instead of going with Sasha and sliding Kobe to the SF. The real problem there was not having Artest when we needed to sit Bynum. Offensively, Sasha sank a couple of jumpers. In the past couple of games, he's looked good flashing from the weakside to the top of the key area to take a pass and quickly hit a jumper. Perhaps, this is something they can set up more for him to get a good look at the midrange. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-3 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 assist and 2 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a -12. The Action: He flashed to the FT line, took the pass and hit the turnaround. Second Half: He drained an open three from the top of the arc. He missed a quick three of a screen. He wanted to protest about getting hooked on a play, but realized it wasn't worth the fuss.

Powell -- -- Powell was a foul waiting to happen tonight. Combine that with his inability to get a defensive rebound and the team spins its wheels when he's on the floor. Actually, Powell did combine those two on one play when he didn't box out and then had to take a foul after the Suns missed and got the offensive board. If you aren't getting minutes, you better hustle when you do get your chance. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting to go with 1 assist, 1 steal and 3 fouls in 5:48. He as a +3. The Action: He missed a wing jumper, stepping back as he shot. Bad position on the defensive glass and he had to foul. Soft foul under the paint to give up an And-1. He had to sit with three fouls in 4 minutes. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Mbenga -- -- Phil had to bring in DJ in the first half with Bynum, Powell and Lamar in in foul trouble. The Lakers had just 4 blocks in this game and DJ had 2 of them in garbage time. Just a sign of how few good challenges the team got on the Suns. Note to DJ, just because Lamar makes the mistake to pass to you early in the shotclock, doesn't mean you have to take the jumper. If it's not a dunk or layup, let the team work the clock more before you take that 15-footer. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-2 shooting to go with 1 board, 1 steal, 2 blocks and 1 foul in 11 minutes. He was a +7. The Action: He missed a wing jumper in early offense. He stole a pass from Amare. He got suckered into a foul by Nash on the baseline to give up FTs. Second Half: He bricked a FT jumper. He spiked a slow moving drive out of bounds. He rejected Barbosa out of bounds.

Morrison -- -- As mentioned above, the Lakers clearly missed Artest. It's not that Adam played a bad game despite the big run the Suns went on a few minutes after he came in during the third. It's just with Artest out there at the SF, the team probably would have held the line better. Ammo had to come in for Bynum. Normally, this is where LO comes off the bench and the team doesn't skip a beat. Chemistry is a funny thing sometimes. You could see the confusion on a few plays defensively where Morrison was switching or helping. The Suns just got on a run and the Lakers provided no resistance as a team. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-8 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 4 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 13 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He sank a wing three when his man sagged off to stop a post entry. He missed a three late in the shotclock. Second Half: He sealed Nash and scored a layup. He threw a behind-the-back pass in the paint to a Sun. He fought for an offensive board, then missed a three. He choked a layup, got it back and scored. He was blocked on a short baseline jumper in a crowd.

Phil -- -- He was doing a lot of coaching for tomorrow night's game in this one by running every Laker in the first half. He had 11 of them in before the foul trouble really hit... Phil started Lamar again at SF, despite some suggestions that he would go smaller. That didn't seem to have much affect on either end. No one exploited any mismatch. The offense was still scoring despite Kobe and Fish not hitting... Phil's first subs were Morrison and Powell for Pau and Lamar... He then brought in Farmar and Sasha. So, the Lakers had a Bynum, Powell, Ammo, Sasha, Farmar unit for a minute. That's not a good thing, but he got through it... The Suns led 25-23 after the first. The Lakers shot just 7-25 in the quarter... He started a Pau, Lamar, Sasha, Brown, Farmar unit in the second quarter. He had to bring back in Powell when Lamar got hurt. They quickly trailed by 10 points... After a timeout he had a Bynum, Powell, Kobe, Sasha, Brown unit... When Bynum picked up his third foul, Phil went with the rare Mbenga, Pau, Lamar, Kobe, Fisher lineup... Lamar picked up his third foul and Phil brought in Sasha for LO... The Lakers trailed 56-50 after shooting 39 percent (18-46, 3-9 from three) and giving up 8 offensive boards. The Suns made 43 percent (only 3-15 from three)... Role reversal: The Suns won the points in the paint 18-16 in the half. The Lakers won the break 8-6... The coaches were fine with the offense, didn't like all the open looks for the Suns on the screen-roll... Bynum picked up an early fourth foul and Phil had to sit him and slide LO back to the PF for most of the third. Midway through that change, the Lakers fell apart. The Suns had an 11-0 run and trailed by as many as 19... Phil started a Bynum, Pau, Kobe, Sasha, Farmar lineup in the fourth, down by 12... The Lakers started getting drilled on the threes, almost all of them were wide open... Phil let the bench finish out the game... The Lakers scored 103 points despite having just 13 assists. They've got enough talent to score points no matter how the offense is run, but I'm sure Phil would rather see double the assists and the same number of points... The Suns shot 49 percent from the floor, 36 percent from three (12-33). They had 52 points off the bench... Hopefully, the Warriors tired themselves out beating the Celtics tonight. Lakers will need a better effort tomorrow...

Game Flow -- LINK -- The 11-0 run by the Suns in the third took control of the game. The Suns bench seemed to give them some spark every time they entered the game. Better energy.

[Ray_Gonzoles]

1st
_________________
"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.

[Mandry14]

Missing Ariza anyone?

[A Mad Chinaman]

"They confused the Horsemen in the flatlands" accurately assessed the ball game.

DB -Again, thanks for the recap

Do you forsee that Farmar will acquire the mental toughness to make the right decisions for the elite team of the NBA during this season? He can play in the NBA, but probably for a team where the pressure/demands/expectations are not as intense

Is Kareem (with his cancer issues) still daily/weekly coaching Bynum because his disappearing acts against small teams like the Suns (though he did have better stats) where he should be dominating/punishing in the paint?

Is Pau a little fatique or still adjusting to Bynum's inconsistencies?

[City_Dawg]

Thanks DB.

Boys are in a rough patch.
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*sighs*

!...

[A Mad Chinaman]

[Ray_Gonzoles]

[DancingBarry]

[mike_dee23]

Not to sound like a broken record, but Farmar is killing the second unit. He KILLS ball movement and forces the Lakers to become a perimeter team.

Also, I think Phil should start fining players for not hitting Pau or Bynum in the post when they have position, or when the perimeter players dribble the ball for more than 10 seconds. Yes, even Kobe.
_________________
MTFBWYA

[mike_dee23]

[DancingBarry]

[mike_dee23]

^ there was a moment in the first quarter than Bynum looked like he was going to pass out. I wonder if this respiratory infection is affecting him in a really bad way. Anyone who has had those infections knows that they are tough and limit many ordinary activities.
_________________
MTFBWYA

[Mandry14]

[8750]

thanks, DB
last season we had exactly the same problems: good old derek being a huge liability, bynum not knowing the game, a very poor bench, too much complaisance... now it seems that every problem is worse: at pg we are maybe the weakest team in the league, bynum is always out of position, lack of motivation is sometimes frustrating, especially from lamar... i think that we still have somethinng more than boston, san antonio, cleveland, orlando, denver... but our problems can't be undervalued

[JUST-MING]

I missed this one, unfortunately. Thank you, DB.

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks DB. We really could have used Artest tonight. Our perimeter D went to hell without him out there. The 2nd unit will be stabilized once Luke returns.

[limchrc]

thanks

[davidse]

i don't get jackson at all.

first - he uses the big line up which is a mistake in the first place imo, but ok - his call.

but THEN, WITH the big line up - we try to run ???
we don't move the ball, we don't make sure we get into our half court offense every time down the floor, we take quick shots...

sure, some players our totaly out of it - especially bynum and odom, but phil was (again) a huge disappointment for me tonight.

[Luca Brasi]

3rd game in 4 days, after coming off a long road trip, playing a suns team (a very good home record) who we handily defeated twice earlier this season,they were rested and coming off their worst game of the season, according to their coach. the result is not much of a surprise given the circumstances.

however, there is no reason to set the alarm bells, we're still the team to beat. look for the team to begin to gain momentum again on the their long east coast trip at the end of january.
_________________
"i was born down in the valley where the sun refused to shine, but i'm climbin' up to the highlands, goin' to make that mountain mine" ~ Lakers, 2011

[Rick12322]

[Whiskey Bird]

I'm not aware if this has been asked about before, but would the Lakers be able to protest the jump ball call? What would the outcome be? I understand that that specific call may not have made a huge difference of a win or loss, but I think it underscores a bigger issue; using instant replay.

[Rick12322]

The Laker bigs have been doubled off the ball ever since our loss to Utah. Teams have scouted us and found a weakness, our game works best with our bigs getting the ball inside so teams are taking that away. Right now the team is struggling with figuring out how to make other teams pay for this extra attention. one of the problems is the Triangle 3 man game, it's become very difficult to make post entry passes from this formation, Pau backed all the way out beyond the corner 3 to draw his defender away from also fronting Bynum, but the defender did not come out.

One possible solution to this problem is to use Pau's excellent 3 pt. shooting skills, make teams pay for sagging off him in this sequence.

So the result of this attention on our Center post options is causing us to commit stupid turnovers and take bad perimeter shots. Our perimeter shooting has also been exposed as the "lesser of all evils." So teams are doing a good job of forcing us to our weakness.

We still have to figure out how to make teams pay for messing with our inside out game. When teams overcommit, we need to counter and we're not doing that well now.

These struggles are encouraging Kobe to take on more of the offense. Teams will gladly live with only having to deal with Kobe, because they all know how to defend Kobe ball. If it costs us homecourt advantage, or even WC advantage, but we spend the time learning how to counter this tactic then we will be good enough to win without it. If we don't get the team involved and learn to counter it, we might end up with HC but won't win in the end.

That's my opinion., because most of our counters lead to perimeter shots(our weakness).

Defensively, we double guys that shouldn't be doubled, leave the best 3 pt. shooters in the league WIDE OPEN, and when two guys are on a PNR, the wrong one stays and the wrong guy leaves to cover his man. They need to communicate. Also they get caught ball watching, and teams are taking advantage of us every time. I don't know if the players ARE following their defensive schemes and it's a not working anymore(needs an adjustment) or if they simply aren't executing it.

Last point brings us around to the first one, our post game. Running our post game is part of our defense when you consider our bigs are wearing down and getting their bigs in FT. So, to get back to that we need counters to the Post being doubled on and off the ball, and they need to be good ones.

[Rick12322]

BTW, thanx for the recap, DB, even if it was a loss.

[Heyvoon24]

I hope this Pau Gasol isn't going to be the real post - contract extension Pau Gasol.

[DancingBarry]