TWOLVES -at- LAKERS - 11/9 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Appetite For The Game... After eight games in, the Chicago Bulls began the season of their second three-peat with a 4-4 record. They were coming apart at the seams, and Phil Jackson was doing everything he could to keep them together. Pippen was injured, disgruntled and didn't want to come back, asking for a trade. GM Jerry Krause didn't want Phil back. Michael wasn't going to return without both of them. The media was eating it up.

"We have been working on the physical, mental, and spiritual side of these players," Phil said at the time, "to increase their appetite for the game, their hunger for playing, making basketball fun."

The problem with three-peating is losing that edge -- the "hunger" or "appetite for the game." Phil has used a similar approach this season with the Lakers. On more than a few occasions, he stressed the importance of making the game "fun."

So it shouldn't be any surprise when you see the Lakers play to the level of their competition as they did tonight in their 99-94 win over the 1-7 Timberwovles. It will happen.

In the Lakers first eight games, they have seemed a picture of harmony -- an 8-0 start, massive margins of victory, and a roster that enjoys playing together. There have been hiccups, letdowns and speed bumps in that perfect record. Tonight, was one of those.

The Lakers played some of their ugliest ball of the season. They lacked the smooth inside-out play of previous games. They got killed on the offensive glass as Kevin Love had 24 boards to go with 23 points.

"They had an intensity that I thought should have woken us up in the first half with 15 offensive rebounds," Phil said, "but they came out in the third quarter and got 9 on top of that."

With 27 turnovers, the TWolves needed every one of their 26 offensive boards to stay alive in this one. The Lakers managed 18 turnovers, themselves.

"We made some passes that were astounding -- remarkable for their idea let alone their execution," Phil deadpanned.

At the end of the night, the Lakers just fell back on their superior talent and ground out a victory. "Every game isn't pretty, just find a way to win it," said Lamar, who led the team with 7 points in the fourth.


Kobe -- -- The offense was choppy with very little rhythm or flow to it. Kobe's shot selection was the same. Give some credit to the TWolves, but Kobe and company didn't execute very well. There were certainly stretches where he didn't get calls after getting contact, but the flow wasn't there prior to that. The Lakers had very few inside-out sequences compared to previous games. Kobe was perimeter oriented early, but did try to attack in the second half and that's when those no calls seemed to mount for him (which also made his FGA attempts look a little higher than they might be normally). It's a little surprising Kobe avoided a tech tonight with as many calls as he was looking for that never came, but he didn't do anything over the top to give the officials cause. The Stats: He scored 33 points on 12-28 shooting (2-5 from three, 7-8 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 4 turnovers and 2 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He missed a wing three to start the game again. He attacked across the lane and drew FTs, he made both. He scooped up a loose ball and hit the short jumper. He banked from the right side next time down. He crossed-over, spun and missed the jumper. He missed a long three with plenty of time on the clock after getting it back. He made a tech FT. He sank a toe-on-the-three-line wing jumper. He sank a 19-footer. He was called for 3 seconds on the weakside. He swished a face-up wing jumper. he was called for push-off foul for another turnover. He attacked and fed Lamar for a layup. Bad force of a fading wing jumper. He missed a tough baseline fallaway. He drained a step-back jumper from the left side. He sank a long wing jumper off a swing-through. He drained a two-for-one three on the next possession. You knew he was taking a three next time down, he pumped his man in the air, drew a little contact and hit the And-1 toe-on-the-three-line leaner with 2.1 in the half, he made the FT. He had 23 points on 9-15 shooting. Second Half: He swished a wing three to start the third. He missed another three from the same spot. He ball-watched and gave up an easy score. He sank a top-of-the-key jumper. He missed a three from the right wing. He missed a long baseline jumper. Tough, challenged jumper from the corner against two defenders and he missed. He attacked a crowd and missed. He attacked in transition and missed a layup looking for a foul. He was caught in the air and could finish a tough reverse. He missed a bank trying to weave through traffic. Better spacing, he attacked down the lane and drew FTs on the pull-up, he made both. He scooped up a loose ball, attacked in transition drawing contact but no call on a missed layup. He attacked again looking for a whistle that never came. Finally, he scored a short jumper after running the ball through Pau strong side, Kobe had cut weakside to take the pass in the lane. He was intentionally fouled with 5.8 seconds, he made one FT.

Gasol -- -- After Pau dropped a triple-double in the last one, the Lakers seemed to ignore the post for stretches tonight. In fact, this was really one of the first games that reminded one of last season's lack of focus in this regard. Without the smooth inside-out play, the game became a struggle. The offensive execution was ridiculously bad with players going iso. It seemed Pau started to defer to this iso play later, not aggressive battling for low position and calling for the ball. Pau got to the double-double, but the Lakers were abused in the interior on both ends. Having Lamar for just 27 minutes didn't help as the smaller replacements, Artest and Walton, combined for just 2 defensive boards. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 8-13 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and no fouls in 38 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He found Lamar under the hoop for a layup. He missed a face-up wing jumper. He ball-faked middle, lost his man as he then spun baseline and scored the reverse layup. He sank an open 12-footer. He missed a lefty jumphook. He swished a baseline jumper. He missed a lefty jumphook. He was fouled on the perimeter, he made both FTs. He had 8 points on 3-6 shooting and 3 boards. Second Half: He was hit on a dunk with no call and missed. He scored a reverse on the break a second later. He blocked Love at the rim. He attacked and hit Ron for a layup. He was mugged in the paint with no call. He sank a 16-footer off the screen by Luke. He attacked baseline and reversed. A rare crunch time post touch and he fed Kobe cutting for the short jumper.

Lamar -- -- For every good thing Lamar seemed to do in this game, he somehow negated that with a miscue of some type. Lamar's foul troubles in this game left them down a bigman for some lengthy chunks of ball. Phil went with Luke or Artest at the PF spot, no Caracter. Love owned Lamar and the Lakers on the offensive glass. "You guys should be interviewing Kevin Love," Lamar said afterward, propping Love's excellent 20-20 game with the 11 offensive boards. Despite 3 turnovers in the fourth, Lamar had some key moments, leading the team with 7 points in the quarter. Some very good off-the-ball action from Lamar as has been the case this season. Those cuts and board crashes are what you need in one of those "win ugly" kind of games. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 7-12 shooting (1-2 from three, 0-1 from the line) to go with 8 boards (5 offensive), 3 assists, 1 block, 4 turnovers and 5 fouls in 27 minutes. He was a -9. The Action: He reversed off the Pau feed to start the scoring. He was blocked at the rim on a layup. He tipped a couple offensive boards from behind and eventually regained the possession. He missed a three, way short. He missed an early offense wing jumper. He flashed to the ball and hit a short jumphook out of the timeout. He picked up his second foul trying to cram an offensive board down behind a defender. He scored a layup off the drive and dish from Kobe. He picked up this third foul and had to sit with 3:40 left. He had 6 points on 3-8 shooting and 5 boards. Second Half: He tipped in a missed Artest layup. He picked up his fourth foul and had to sit after 3 minutes. He traveled on his first possession 12 minutes later. He picked up his fifth foul shortly later. He attacked on iso and scored a layup. Out of a timeout, he threw a pass away for a breakaway dunk. He sank a three from the top of the arc to get it back a possession later (he smirked with frustration on the way back down court). He took a long outlet, attacked the baseline and scored an And-1 with 2:39 left, he missed the FT. He attacked and threw a pass away in traffic, layup on the other end.

Artest -- -- With the Nuggets getting rolled by the Pacers, including giving up a 54-point third quarter, and the Lakers playing poor ball tonight, Ron hyped up the next game at Denver. "Tickets range from $500 to $75. Both teams played pretty bad tonight, so we're going to be coming out," he said. "Get off work early, get your popcorn, sit down and enjoy the game." Ron wasn't pleased with his performance. Offensively, he was fine except for one ill-advised post sequence that had Phil steaming. It was the D end where he really struggled just a game after locking down Brandon Roy. He had to cover Beasley and Love at different points in the game. He didn't provide much resistance and struggled with foul trouble at times. Beasley seems to have had his way with Ron in the two meetings they've had this season. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-12 shooting (0-2 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover and 5 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He missed an elbow jumper on iso. He got tapped on a baseline jumper. He then scored a cherry-picking layup when we got a stop on transition off that miss. He got tapped on a wing three when his man sagged off him. His perimeter pass was picked off. He drained a fading baseline jumper. He stripped Telfair and took it the distance for a layup. He drew FTs on a pull-up from the wing with the shotclock low, he made both. He had 8 points on 3-6 shooting. Second Half: He tried to post up Beasley and was blocked, it led to a Beasley breakaway and putback by a bigman (Phil called a timeout just a minute into the half and lecture him). He missed a layup off the cut. He grabbed an offensive board with one hand while being held with the other as he tried to put it in, he made one FT. He picked up a loose ball and hit the elbow jumper. He scored a layup off the interior feed from Pau. He missed a wing three with the shotclock low. He missed an elbow fade seconds later. He gave up an And-1 to Beasley with 36 seconds left up 7 (trimmed to 4).

Fisher -- -- Very soft defense on Telfair throughout the game, but when the Lakers needed to clamp down late in crunch time, DFish came up big again. He swiped the ball on a post double team and also drew a charge on iso D. It looked like he tried to continue the heroics on the other end, forcing an airball after trying to create. Not a good offensive night. Perhaps not having that rhythm and flow affected some of his possessions. He had a couple awkward ones out there like everyone else. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-6 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 4 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 34 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He probed, found a seam and scored a layup in transition. Second Half: He was tapped on a wide op three. He missed a short one in the paint. He attacked baseline and was blocked easily. He swiped a pass on the perimeter. Back in and Telfair is immediately open for a three. He missed a three from the top of the arc. Back-to-back stops, the first stripping the post on a double team, the second drawing a charge in the post, clapping as it happened. He airballed trying to iso and pull-up at the FT line.

Blake -- -- Very sloppy passing in the game. Phil had some words for him as he sat him in the fourth about some of it. The TWolves familiarity with the passing lanes of the triangle may have had something to do with that, but it just seemed like as Phil suggested, bad ideas and bad execution. You look at the +/- in this one, though, and it's the bench that leads the way. And that wasn't easy with some of the lineups Phil threw out there. Some credit for that should go to Barnes. Blake led the team with 5 turnovers and probably his most forgettable outing as a Laker. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-2 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 5 turnovers and no fouls in 14 minutes. He was a +6. The Action: His kickout pass was picked off. He drained a three off the high pinch post with Luke. He missed a three from the same spot. His lob to Lamar was picked off. Second Half: Poor post entry to Luke, picked off. He threw another one away trying to get it to Ratliff who seemed to be coming over to set a pick.

Barnes -- -- He led the team with the +8 and for good reason. He came in and played much better defense on Beasley than Ron did. When Lamar had to sit with fouls in the second half, Phil brought Matt in. So a good chunk of his minutes were in some of those awkward small-ball units. He got the team some easy hoops in transition (really the only guy making things happen on the break), he hit a three and played some disruptive D. His length and athleticism is probably a better match against Beasley than Ron's good hands and strength, but lack of ups. "Some games are going to be ugly," Barnes said. "We run the offense on both sides so everybody knows each other's plays...we grinded it out and got some stops when we needed to." He also added his usual "defense and rebounding" comments that are a mantra of every post game interview. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-5 shooting (1-1 from three, 0-1 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a +8. The Action: He attacked and kicked to Shannon for a three. He made a tricky layup right at the rim while gathering a lob at full speed in transition. He rattled in a three from the top of the arc. Second Half: Full speed out on the break and he scored a layup when Fish spotted him. He couldn't finish another tricky lob right at the rim on the break. He pushed out the break and fed Pau for the layup. He stripped Telfair, then scored an And-1 layup on the breakaway, he missed the FT. He was called for two offensive fouls to start the fourth.

Brown -- -- I don't think it's any coincidence that the team's lack of inside-out play and general flow also went along with Shannon having one of his poorer games of the year shooting-wise. It's not just a matter of having that smooth rhythm, but good ball movement and proper execution will breed scoring. Scoring breeds confidence. If the players adhere to the principles, they will reap the benefits. These 48 minutes were very similar to those all-too-often games last year where the Lakers didn't get that inside-out action that helps the second unit click. Some of that was the result of running the Ratliff/Walton lineups, for sure. Shannon actually helped get a little bit of that inside-out game for the team and although he wasn't scoring, he had 3 assists. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-5 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 1 board, 3 assists and 1 foul in 13 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He swished a wing three on a kickout. He missed a runner at the buzzer. He found Barnes streaking for a layup. He missed a three. Second Half: He kept an offensive board alive and Pau dunked it in. Nice extra pass to Pau on the break for a layup. He attacked, spun, kicked out and Luke swished the three. He missed a wing three. He blocked Beasley after the whistle to prevent an And-1.

Ratliff -- -- Pretty surprising that the team was able to go +2 while Ratliff was on the floor. There were some lineups tonight were we had no impact ballers for long stretches. Maybe you can do that against the TWolves and survive. Somehow those guys managed to stay afloat. The team kept Pau's minutes to 38 and survived Lamar going just 27. Not sure why Caracter didn't get any run in this game but the Darko Milicic/Kevin Love duo has some length. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting to go with 3 boards (2 offensive) and 2 fouls in 10 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He got tapped on a short one in the paint, then fouled trying to get it back. He regained a possession on the offensive glass and drew a foul. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Walton -- -- With Lamar getting into foul trouble and Ron, too, Luke got some extra time at the PF. Phil could have gone to Caracter and that might have helped the boards. Luke didn't get a single one. Luke struggled with his shot, until finally hitting a three late in the game. I would have preferred seeing him work the post and finding our cutters off of screens. Just getting the ball in his hands in that type of situation might have helped jumpstart some of the triangle. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-5 shooting (1-4 from three) to go with 1 assist, 1 turnover and no foul in 15 minutes. He was a +6. The Action: He missed a corner three on a two-for-one. He missed a wing jumper. Second Half: He threw a post entry pass right out of bounds, yikes. He missed a three with the shotclock low. He missed a three from the top of the arc. He swished a wing three, finally, on a Brown kickout next time down. He drew a charge to get a stop.

Phil -- -- The Lakers got an early lead on an 8-0 run to pull ahead 17-9 and force a timeout... A 16-4 run out of that timeout and the TWolves led 25-21. Phil called a timeout with 2 minutes left in the quarter to make some substitutions. He brought in the Three B's (and Luke for LO shortly later) to go with Pau... The Lakers trailed 28-26 after the first. The TWolves made all 5 attempts from behind the arc in the quarter... Phil started a Ratliff, Walton, Barnes, Brown, Blake lineup... Phil sat Luke for Ron after 3 minutes, up by 1... He sat Barnes for Lamar... He then went with a Ratliff, Lamar, Artest, Kobe, Fish unit... He finally brought Pau back with 5:44 left and the Lakers up by 1... Lamar picked up his third foul and Phil went with Luke at the PF... The Lakers led 58-52 at the half. The Lakers shot 50 percent (23-46, 4-10 from three). The TWolves shot 44 percent (21-48, 6-10 from three). The Lakers were out-rebounded 15-8 on the offensive glass... He called a quick timeout a minute into the half, annoyed with Ron's offense and the subsequent transition putback score... He brought in Barnes for Lamar who picked up his third (Phil slid Artest to PF)... Up 7, Phil went to the Pau, Luke, Barnes, Brown, Blake lineup... The Lakers had an 11-point lead until a half-court three at the third quarter buzzer by the TWolves.. The Lakers led 82-74 heading into the fourth... Phil started a Ratliff, Walton, Barnes, Brown, Blake unit. Not one of our impact players to open the fourth... The Lakers made just one hoop in the first 3:27 of the quarter... He then went with Pau and Lamar for Ratliff and Luke up 7... Phil went to Kobe for Brown 30 seconds later... Credit to BShaw for getting up and yelling for a three-second call, which Javie then called. Shaw smiled from the bench as Javie had some words for him... The Lakers were out-rebounded 26-14 on the offensive glass. The TWolves won the points in the paint 44-40...

[sgtpepper1972]

first!

[Junriot25]

darn it!

[10scott10]

It was really amazing to see how bad our team, especially the bench, looked without Odom.

Without him out there driving the team, we were getting killed on the boards, and people weren't really running any offense. I knew he wasn important, but you could see the bench improve drastically whenever he was out there.

I was really happy to see him not let foul trouble stop him from playing aggressively out there and still dominating. He was huge in the fourth quarter, even though he was playing with 5 fouls for most it.

[mhan00]

i don't think pau got even half of the touches tonight as he has been getting so far this season. just whole sequences where the ball just stayed on the perimeter before someone jacked up a shot. some of it was probably rambis being familiar with what we like to run, but a lot of those shots came awfully early in the shot clock too. just a badly executed game on the offensive side.

defensive side was even more forgettable as we gave up offensive board after offensive board. you'd think after a certain point that the number priority after a shot goes up would be to get a body on kevin love, but it never happened. i know we try to help our guards a lot, but still no excuse for lamar and ron and walton in the minutes he guarded him to let love have free reign to go after the ball. just ugly.

[AshesToAshes]

during winning stretches like this one i think the team's core will try to experiment.

kind of like a stray shot as a "heat check" these guys will explore what can be done outside of the norm.

Meanwhile the new guys will continue practicing without experimenting to develop that muscle memory within this offense.

Credit to this team to pull out the win anyways.
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KOBE!!!

[circlefong]

Thanks DB.

Sometimes I feel like Phil intends to do so. He does not need the team to be too good so that much attention and attack would be raised everywhere against the Lakers. He also liked the team to learn from bad experience and make them feel like "they are still not that good". More importantly, Kurt is still a good friend to Lakers ... why not ...

Oh by the way, Phil also does not want to the the NBA All Star coach, he would try to make himself looking bad in coaching.

[McSassy]

[DancingBarry]

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB!

What a long, fugly game but a win makes it worthwhile.

Great analysis as always.

[McSassy]

[City_Dawg]

Thanks DB. The road is long, very long.
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*sighs*

!...

[lounger]

Thanks DB.

I can just imagine what this "ugly win" will do to the Lakers' power ranking on BSPN.

[Rodman28]

Thanx.
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*On Thin Ice*

I guess I am kind of injury prone.- Andrew Bynum

These young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess.- Kobe Bryant

[prisma8slg]

definitely an ugly win. twolves played with a lot of energy, they could've stolen a win from us but we found a way to win.
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"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."

[angrypuppy]

Thanks DB.

"I think we were just ice skating tonight," forward Ron Artest said. "It was Ice Capades. We forgot we had a basketball game. We were sleepwalking. We had a dream. Freddy Krueger came in our dreams, scared us and then we woke up and decided to play."

He took the words right out of my mouth.
_________________
We are stardust
Billion year old carbon
We are golden
Caught in the devil's bargain
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

-Joni Mitchell

[limchrc]

thanks

[Dr. Laker]

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

[Kareem's Court]

Thanks DB!
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“You shake the tree, a leopard’s gonna fall out.” - Kobe Bryant on why he dropped 49 points on the Nuggets and taunting guard J.R. Smith

[Klone_dd]

Glad I didn't bother watching the game. Props to DB for having the fortitude to report on the game.

[heatseeker08]

Thanks DB! Never thought that this would be a close one.
_________________
Ron Artest: "SAY QUEENSBRIDGE"

[RVCdesigns]

Thanks DB, quick question for all. Has anyone noticed the low number of turnovers Kobe has displayed so far this season? To me it seems that Kobe is playing much more patiently with Pau and Odom's consistency.

[Laker's Fan]

When Flynn and Ridnour get back, trade Sasha (+ sweeteners) for Telfair. Save money, add quickness at PG and add to NY West.
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Austin Reaves keeps his game tight, like Kobe Bryant on game night.

[RCS926]

As crappy as this win was, I'll take it over a loss any day (particularly the kind of loss that Miami suffered).

[Lakersneuron]