LAKERS -at- KNICKS - 1/22 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Looking for Intelligent Effort... As you continue down the river, the current picks up. The boat moves quickly through white-water rapids. It careens wildly off jagged rocks and suddenly it springs a leak that spouts water like a geyser.

You stare at it dumbfounded for a moment before getting to your feet. You bail out water as fast as it comes in. It's ridiculous. The quicker you try to bail, the more it pours back in. This is getting no where fast.

Ankle deep in murky brown water, you pause to assess the situation. The only solution is teamwork. You tell the captain to slow down the pace and find a safe place to dock. You get your little friend the street urchin to bail water. Meanwhile, you finally focus on plugging up the damn leak.

With a little focus and intelligent effort, you make progress. The boat glides into a sandy beach where you jump out and drag it ashore. Exhausted, you plant yourself on the sand. Next to you, someone has scratched out a message with a stick. DancingBarry:

The Horsemen were here. They attacked with ease, too big and too talented. They didn't bother to defend, however, until their backs were against the wall. They dug in, focused on the task and claimed a victory that should have come a little easier.

I will continue to follow them...

The Lakers trailed by a point heading into the fourth. Not exactly where they wanted to be against the New York Knicks.

In the first half, neither team could get a stop. The Knicks were overplaying with instant doubles. The Lakers were under-playing with poor help D and very flat-footed defense.

"We weren't playing hard enough," Pau said. "We weren't covering for each other."

The Lakers were able to score over the Knick bigmen with ease. They didn't know what to do with them on the defensive end. David Lee hit open jumpers or attacked past them for layups. Poor communication defensively all game by L.A. seemed to have them leaving wide open spaces for the Knicks to exploit. The Knicks didn't even have a turnover until 3 minutes into the second half.

The Lakers finally buckled down on D in that half. Rather than tiring on the second night of the back to back, they got their second wind and brought some focus.

"We had to fight through the fatigue," Pau said, "but once we did that and we started playing hard and playing good defense the fourth quarter was a lot better game for us."

Down the stretch, the Kobe/Pau combo took it to the Knicks. Kobe reeled in some of his perimeter shooting in order to run the offense inside-out. The Knicks bogged down when the Lakers became more methodical. That's where they finally got separation and eventually took the 115-105 win.

Better game from Pau. He got called out in the last game for not playing physical enough. The Lakers will have to find their physicality at some point this season.

"I can build on this and move on from the mess that happened [Thursday]," said Pau in the Times. He donated a $1,000 for every point in this game to help the relief effort in Haiti.


Kobe -- -- It seemed like he had a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. The coaches wanted the Lakers to feed the post and slow down the tempo in the second half. In the third, the devil was in his ear and he neglected the post, hoisting up jumpers. Bynum and Pau had just one touch in the first 6 minutes. At some point in the fourth quarter, he listened to the angel and ran the ball inside first. This resulted in numerous scores for Pau and some kickouts and scores for him. They worked that one-two punch into 10 more points than the previous quarter. In the first half, Kobe was an instant double. The moment he touched the ball, the double came. He was carving up the the Knicks D with the pass. Unfortunately, he and his teammates were soft defensively. Wilson Chandler was lighting him up (he finished with 28 points). Kobe had a smaller, black finger protection on in this game. Not sure how much that really helped. His FTs were good, but he did have problems holding the ball at times (once nearly missing an uncontested dunk). His accuracy was again off. "I have a break in two places," Kobe said of the finger. "It's not going to go anywhere if I sit out. If I hit it, it's not going to break any more. It's just going to be sore. But the healing is still the same as if I sat out." Kobe finished with just 6 assists, but he must have had just as many passes that led to FTs for teammates. The Stats: He scored 27 points on 8-24 of shooting (3-9 from three, 8-8 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 6 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in 42 minutes. He was a +8. The Action: He posted up Duhon and banked easily. He was stripped on a double when no one cut for him. He gave up a layup on the other end, then he dribbled the ball inbounds instead of passing, turnover. He missed a jumper over a double. He hit Fish for a three when he drew a double. He hit Pau cutting for a layup. He hit Bynum for an And-1 on a slip screen. He sank a three when they sagged off him to cover the Bynum cut. He hit Bynum off the dribble for FTs. He dribbled the clock down and missed a three. He missed a fade, flashing weak to strong. He missed a leaner in the paint. He drew an instant double and found Shannon who was fouled. He was lost on D and gave up a lob dunk. He bricked a 17-footer. He drew a double and hit Ron for three. He missed a layup on a drive. He pushed off for a rebound to give up FTs after Fish missed a two-for-one (worst thing to do in that situation as now the Knicks own the two-for-one). He had 5 points on 2-8 shooting and 5 assists. Second Half: He missed a three on the first attempt of the half. He was called for a travel on the second possession. He poked a ball loose and then scored an uncontested layup on the outlet (nearly lost the ball on his way up for the dunk). He sank a step-back wing jumper. He drew FTs on a swing through, he made both. He sank a deep wing three on iso. He clanked a three next time down. He was blocked by Hughes on a drive at the end of third. He hit Pau cutting for FTs, and Pau then hit him cutting for more FTs on the next trip, Kobe made both. He kicked out to Lamar for a jumper. He swished a 16-footer on iso. He missed an iso jumper, then a baseline jumper on the same possession. He missed a long wing jumper instead of feeding the post. He charged trying to create off the dribble next time down. Finally, he went inside-out, Pau kicked it back to him, Kobe ball-faked the D away, attacked and drew FTs, he made both. Inside-out with Pau again and he hit the three. No post feed and he bricked a three instead, layup the other way and timeout by Phil. Out of the timeout, he hit Pau for FTs under the hoop. Looked like he gave up on a defensive set to bark at the refs and gave up a layup. He iso'd next time down and drew FTs, he made both. He sank a face-up 16-footer. He forced up a jumper too early in the shotclock and missed. He missed a layup on an inbounds. Nice tight D on his man helping to force a shotclock violation. He airballed a long three on a kickout.

Gasol -- -- For every point that Pau scored in this game, he was going to give $1,000 for Haiti relief. Feed the post! The team seemed to lose focus on getting the ball inside, but when they did Pau and Bynum chewed up the Knicks. Down the stretch in the fourth quarter, Kobe and Pau were taking care of business. Pau worked for post scores. He fed the ball when doubles came. Meanwhile on the defensive end, the team started getting stops. Pau stopped Lee several times in the fourth. Lee was having his way with the team for most of the game until that point. Pau's donation for the night: $20,000. "We have to acknowledge how lucky we are, how fortunate we are and contribute as much as we can," Pau said afterward. Pau left a little change on the table with more struggles at the FT line. He made just 6-11 tonight. He looked better on his last few attempts. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 7-10 shooting (6-11 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 5 assists, 4 blocks, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 40:40. He was a +7. The Action: He sank a wide open baseline jumper off an inside-out sequence. He took a high-low pass and was hit on an And-1 that just rolled out, he then missed both FTs (four straight now). He bricked a short jumphook in the lane. He scored a layup cutting off of Kobe. He scored a layup off the tapped rebound from Lamar. He missed a jumphook on the right block. He faced up, spun and banked in one motion with his left (so nice). Second Half: He was hit on the arm on a double team in the post and drew FTs (first real post touch of the quarter with only 2 minutes left in the third), he made one FT. He was fouled posting up Chandler, he made just one FT again. He kicked out to Farmar for an open three. He was fouled on a bounce pass from Kobe, he made just one FT again. He bounced to Kobe on the next possession to send Kobe to the line. He spotted Lamar flashing to the elbow for a jumper. He worked the post, no double came and he hit the jumphook. On the other end, he drew a charge on Lee. He scored a putback when Lamar got an offensive board and missed a short one. He fumbled a pass, turning over a sure layup. He swatted Lee's drive. He kicked out to Kobe for FTs and a three in two straight possessions. He faced up, attacked Jeffries baseline and flipped in an And-1 layup, he made the FT. Out of a timeout, the Lakers set a back screen for LO, it confused the D and Pau was left open for FTs, he made both.

Bynum -- -- From the start, the Knicks had no answer for his size. Lee was clearly getting overpowered. Drew scored 17 points on 6-8 shooting in the first half. So what do the Lakers do to start the second half? Ignore the post. He got just one touch and attempt in the first 6 minutes. How do you do that? Give him the ball, please. Sometimes the team makes things too hard for themselves. Bynum's minutes were limited as Phil found a unit that was playing strong D in the fourth: Pau, LO, Kobe, Brown and one of Farmar/DFish. That's a very mobile defensive unit and helped neutralize the Knicks speed. Frankly, it just looked more like a team that decided to dig in defensively. Some better D on the screens, though. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 7-11 shooting (5-5 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 block, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 26 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He backed Lee down and made a 2-foot jumphook. He missed a short jumper on the next possession, sandwiched between defenders. Early low position and he scored a layup at the front of the rim. He blew a point-blank layup. He swatted Lee's jumper, then challenged another drive to get a miss. He scored an And-1 on a screen-roll pass from Kobe, he made the FT. Great pass from Kobe over a defender (Drew shuffled his feet, but he got the foul anyway), he made both FTs. He took a post entry, attacked and dunked. He backed down Lee and scored easily off the glass. He spun and somehow fumble-guided in a lob pass from Lamar. Flat-footed defensively and Lee went right past him for a layup. He had 17 point on 6-8 shooting. Second Half: He was hit on a jumper with no call, seemed obvious. He fouled a three shooter. He picked up his third foul on a Lee drive (pretty weak). He scored a layup with low position out of a timeout. He missed a lefty jumphook from three feet away.

Artest -- -- Ron got some of the better, wide-open looks from three than he has seen in a while. He was able to measure them and make the Knicks pay for doubling others. That's what you want to see. He looked automatic from behind the arc, hitting all three attempts he took. He still had some bonehead offensive sequences trying to force things that weren't there. Defensively, he wasn't getting any help on the screens, which meant for most of the time, it was one man against two defending on those perimeter shots. Phil sat Ron to start the fourth and had Kobe as the back-up SF. That unit played well and Ron sat for the quarter. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-7 shooting (3-3 from three) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 28 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He swished a wide open three on the skip pass from Fish. He sank another open sideline three on a pass from Fish. Great hustle to close out on a man on help D and block a three. He then got dunked on after the inbounds. He was called for a travel, forcing the dribble into a crowd (bad read). He sank an open three from the top of the key. He swished a wide open corner three on a swing pass from Fish. He had 11 points on 4-4 shooting (one of those three's was ruled a two). Second Half: His drive was promptly rejected out of bounds. He missed a drive. He bricked a layup on an interior feed from Pau.

Fisher -- -- Decent all-around game for DFish. I still wish our guards wouldn't go into those long stretches of chucking from the perimeter. The team was supposed to slow down the pace and feed the post to start the second half and, again, the post was ignored. I'd also like to see our leaders getting everyone to communicate better on the defensive end. In the first half, Fish moved the ball well, making the extra pass. Ron got some wide open threes off of that. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-8 shooting (1-3 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 5 assists and 1 foul in 28:49. He was a -1. The Action: He picked up an errant pass, stepped on the three line and hit the long jumper. He found Ron open with a skip pass for a three. He sank a three off the Kobe double. He missed a three from the wing. He missed another three. Second Half: He missed a long jumper. He attacked off the three line and scored an And-1 layup over a defender, he made the FT. He sank a baseline jumper on a Pau kickout. He missed a long wing chuck, uggh. Back in, he drew a moving screen call. He was called for fouling a shooter (total leg kick to draw the whistle).

Lamar -- -- He was a rebounding machine again, causing the Knicks all kinds of problems on the offensive glass. He and Gasol combined for 8 offensive boards. Lamar's are half hustle, half length -- a tough combo for opponents when he's aggressive. If the Lakers are going to make a dent against some of the better teams on the road, Lamar has to bring that impact to the game. He is fading again offensively. When he was running at the SF/PF he seemed to move within the offense much better. Phil might want to try to sneak in a few minutes at the SF again to see if that can help jumpstart Lamar's off-the-ball game. When he's clicking off the ball, the Lakers are, too. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-6 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 14 boards (5 offensive), 3 assists, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 29:23. He was a +11. The Action: He got tapped on a wing jumper. He tapped over a missed three rebound to Pau for the score. He cut with speed down the lane and Luke hit him for FTs, he made one. He missed a wing jumper (feed the post). He grabbed a Kobe miss, pulled it out and lobbed to Bynum (there you go). Second Half: He was stripped, then didn't match the speed of Lee in transition and gave up a dunk. He missed a wing jumper. He swished an open baseline jumper on a Kobe kickout. He flashed to the elbow and hit the jumper. He out-reached the Knicks for a missed jumper, missed the putback but Pau scored it.

Brown -- -- Like everyone else, Shannon seemed to play better D in the second half. He finally even managed to cause Chandler some problems. Offensively, he was sinking his jumper and getting to the line. He led the bench in scoring. Phil left him in at SG all fourth with Kobe running at the SF. Phil is gaining a lot more trust in Shannon as the season goes along. That Kobe/Shannon SF/SG combo may see a good chunk of time together in the post season, making the team a little quicker when it's needed. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 3-5 shooting (1-2 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 turnover in 22 minutes. He was a +8. The Action: He was called for a carry. He somehow missed a point-blank And-1 layup when Kobe found him, he made both FTs. No challenge on a lob pass to Jeffries in transition. He swished a three on the other end. He sank a pull-up 20-footer. He was blocked on a jumper next time down. Second Half: He swished a wing three, they reviewed it and said a two...still looked like it was a three. He missed a wing three. Nice D on Chandler to stay in front of him and force a miss. He swiped a perimeter pass and drew FTs, he made both.

Farmar -- -- Pretty good game from Farmar on both ends. He was sinking his shot from behind the arc, so that makes things pretty simple offensively. He had some good stretches defensively. He matched up with Nate in the first half and challenged him well, even blocking a jumper. He was playing solid D in the fourth when the Lakers had their only stretch of lockdown ball. Nate strained a hamstring, so we didn't see that match up in the second half. Farmar went up against Hughes then, which was an easier cover. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-5 shooting (3-5 from three) to go with 1 block, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 19:11. He was +11. The Action: He sank an open three from the top of the arc. He missed a three on the pick and pop for Kobe at the end of the quarter (he went too early with the Miami Heat screen play). We got the ball back and Farmar swished the long three this time at the end of the quarter. He blocked Nate's jumper. He missed a three in early offense. Robinson flopped on him in the post to draw a charge. Second Half: He sank a wing three on a kickout from Pau. Bogus foul on some very good perimeter D. He gave up a transition layup to Hughes with poor D.

Luke -- -- Some brief minutes in place of Kobe/Ron at the SF spot. He got in on the three action, sinking one from the corner. A couple of good passes, but not much time. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-2 shooting (1-1 from three) in 3:30. He was a +1. The Action: He hit a cutting Lamar for FTs. He missed an easy reverse, we got it back and he knocked down the corner thre instead. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Phil -- -- The Lakers were scoring with ease early on, but couldn't get any stops. They lost the lead after Kobe made a series of mistakes on both ends. They trailed 19-15 midway through the first quarter... Phil sat Pau for Lamar and Fisher for Farmar with 3 minutes left... No D in the first quarter and the Lakers led 36-30... Phil started a Pau, Lamar, Kobe, Shannon, Farmar unit. He subbed in Luke for Kobe... With a 51-49 lead, Phil ran with his starters... The score was tied 63-63 at the half. The Lakers shot 56 percent (23-41), the Knicks 48 percent (25-52). The Knicks couldn't handle multiple Lakers and were forced to double all half long. The Lakers just played uninspired D. It was like one team was overplaying on everything defensively and the other team underplaying... The Lakers sank 9-14 from three, the Knicks 6-13. The Lakers were beat on the offensive boards 8-3... The coaches wanted the Lakers to slow down the pace... The Lakers post players got just 1 touch in the first 6 minutes of the quarter. Ridiculous... Out of the timeout midway through the quarter, Bynum got low position, the ball and a layup... Phil sat Pau at the 4:24 mark, then brought him back for Bynum a minute and a half later... The Lakers trailed 85-84 after three. Just a really stupidly executed third quarter offensively... Phil started a Pau, Lamar, Kobe, Shannon, Farmar unit... That unit extended to a 99-91 lead after 5 minutes... Up by 6 with 5:41 left, he brought back in Fish for Farmar. No other subs all quarter... The Lakers shot 50 percent (39-78 shooting, 12-23 from three). The Knicks shot 45 percent (41-91, 6-22 from three)...

[iggyk8]

first

[davidse]

[City_Dawg]

Thanks DB
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*sighs*

!...

[Ray_Gonzoles]

Thanks DB!

Glad to see the Lakers bounce back after the Cleveland disaster.

All will be well in LakerLand with a win on Sunday (and one on 3-31).
_________________
"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.

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks DB.

Another solid outing for SB - the best backup SG we've had in LA, since, well Kobe. I wonder if MLE would be enough to keep him in LA?

Jordan also had another good game. Eat your heart out Luxury Brown!

[DancingBarry]

This is a perfect situation for Shannon. This system covers his weaknesses well and he has a chance to increase his role significantly as Fish ages. He could start here. I don't think that's the case in very many places around the league. If I were a GM elsewhere I'd have to think twice about throwing big money his way.

[limchrc]

Thanks, nice win.

[RVCdesigns]

Thanks DB

[Rick12322]

The key to the 4th quarter D was Shannon and Farmar then Shannon and Fish.

The teams stubborn refusal to work mismatches in the post don't have as much to do with Phil's love of the Triangle as they do Kobe, who still believes he can take 20 shots to warm up his broken shooting hand.

[JTS1]

[smiles]

[A Mad Chinaman]

As the Lakers get better in their spacing that creates passing lanes, it will neutralize more the physical play. However, we need LO and others to challenge EVERY SHOT and not just watch people shoot over them. At the very least, one can do a "fly-by" and keep on going to catch the other team sleeping.

Bynum seems to not bein the physical condition (stamina and strength-wise) to battle centers such as Shaq - even with his shorter minutes and Shaq's skills obviously not where they were at even a couple years ago.

[keale18]

[Rick12322]

[lakerboy]

thanks db

brown finishing a game again for ron artest. i know ron ron is injured, but could it be that we simply need speed and quickness at the end? something trevor provided last year

i think we will see more of that as the season goes on

[LakerLanny]

Pau's FT shooting is making me nervous DB.
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Love, Laker Lanny

[inthepaint]

Thanks DB

I always enjoy reading your ratings and recap. Keep up the good work.