LAKERS -at- PISTONS - 11/17 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Storming the Palace... It's a sad state of affairs for Piston fans when "M-V-P" chants for Kobe are louder than the annoying "Deee-troit Basketball" that their PA Announcer has made famous.

Right now Piston players appear as if they are doing a tour of duty in some sort of unfortunate part of the world. Perhaps, that's just the problem.

"It looks like some of the guys aren't playing hard right now," Phil said of the team the Lakers just beat like a dusty rug. Harsh words in many ways from an opposing coach, but it was true.

They improved to 10-2 with the 103-90 win...and it wasn't even that close, as the cliche goes.

The Lakers led by as many as 25 points. Kobe led the house cleaning with 33 points in 32 minutes.

"Kobe was full business tonight," Phil said afterward.

Pau and Lamar added double-doubles. Only three Lakers scored in double figures, which shows that blowouts can happen by locking down.

The real scare for the Lakers took place before the game as their plane had a nasty landing Wednesday morning.

"The way we came down, it was like they didn't have control of the plane," Lamar said in the Times. "It hit the ground and it was like, 'Boom!' I heard some screaming, 'Oh!' The plane was fishtailing. It felt like the wheels didn't hit the ground. It felt like we smacked...It just lets you know how blessed you are."


Kobe -- -- "M-V-P" chants in the Palace and he certainly looked like it. Strong game from Kobe on both ends. He was draining the midrange, the three ball and working the post. The Piston defenders didn't have a chance. Defensively, he's stepped it up the past couple of games. The Pistons look very challenged offensively (even more so when they don't have Hamilton who was tossed early). Kobe has averaged 33 against the Pistons in his last five games. Asked why he steps it up against Detroit, Kobe mentioned that '04 banner hanging in the rafters there. "Never forget," he said. Great to see reduced minutes for Kobe in both back-to-back games. The Stats: He scored 33 points on 11-20 shooting (3-6 from three, 8-8 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 32 minutes. He was a +24. The Action: He scored a layup cutting off Pau right as the post entry came. He drained a pull-up three in transition next time down. Of course, he'd drain a pull-up wing three from the other side on his next touch. He missed a three on his next attempt. He gave Hamilton a head-and-shoulder fake on a turnaround and drew FTs, Hamilton then barked at the refs twice and was ejected, Kobe made all four FTs. He missed a step-back three. He spotted Ron across court in transition for a three. He scooped up a loose ball and hit the high arching jumper on the baseline. He missed a turnaround from the post. He posted up Gordon, blew past him, hung at the rim and scored the layup. He attacked off the three line, slid past a defender, hung and banked the short one. With the offense busted, he swished baseline fallaway. Spin from the post and he hit the baseline floater. He drew FTs getting set in the post, he heard the "M-V-P" chants as he sank both FTs. He was blocked from behind (looked close to already being off the glass). He missed a long three at the end of the half. He scored 24 points on 8-13 shooting to go with 6 boards at the half. Second Half: He drained a three off the high pinch post. He missed the three next time down. He drained an 18-foot fallaway in the post (after drawing two straight fouls posting up). He deflected a pass and flung it back inbounds to Lamar to ignite a break. He split a double on the spin but couldn't hit the hanging bank. He froze his man in the post with a subtle jab step immediately after facing up and he hit the baseline jumper. He missed a long sideline jumper next time down. He attacked the zone and drew FTs, making both with more "M-V-P" chants. He missed a three in transition.

Gasol -- -- He was practically head and shoulders above the opposing Piston bigmen. They can't deal with the size in this Laker lineup, let alone the talent. The Lakers seemed to toy with the Pistons. Pau would be left open when others would collapse the D. Then Pau would go to work and do the same for his teammates. Some nice Tri sequences when the Pistons tried to front or overplay. The vets instantly went to their counters. Great to see the minutes down to 33. If the team doesn't pick up another bigman to backup Pau, they need games like this. Bynum is just a couple weeks away. The Stats: He scored 25 points on 10-17 shooting (5-5 from the line) to go with 12 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 33 minutes. He was a +21. The Action: He bounced to Kobe cutting for a layup (a counter initiated by DFish when the defender overplays the passing lane to Kobe). He missed a turnaround (should have gone glass). He scored a layup off the drive and dish from DFish. His kickout was stolen for a layup the other way. He missed a turnaround. He hit a short lefty hook across the middle of the lane. He swatted TMac out of bounds. His short jumphook was goaltended by TMac. He faced up from the right side, attacked across the lane and hit the jumphook over the smaller man. He missed a step-through getting shoved with no call. He drew FTs on the extra pass from Lamar in the paint, he made both. He spun baseline and scored a reverse. He couldn't handle the Kobe pass, right through his hands for a turnover. He was yanked down from behind on a layup attempt off a high-low to draw a flagrant-1, he made both FTs. He scored 14 points on 5-8 shooting to go with 6 boards at the half. Second Half: He got tapped on a short turnaround. He swished a 19-footer trailing the action next time down. Wallace left him to double Kobe in transition and Pau hit the open 17-footer. He scored an And-1 layup off the behind-the-back pass from Lamar, he made the FT. He missed a couple point-blank bank shots on one possession. He was blocked in the post, got it back and hit the short jumphook. He ducked a defender, attacked and scored the layup.

Lamar -- -- The Lakers navigated a little foul trouble from Lamar. One of the difficulties of the Laker defense right now is they simply can't afford to get their two starting bigs in foul trouble. Down two 7-footers, it's tough to deal with a third in the game. Lamar did a good job playing with the fouls. He had to be careful on D on a few possessions, but he remained a threat and solid defender for the most part. Lamar hit his season scoring average of 15 with his usual assortment of scoring around the rim and the midrange. But Lamar getting to the line 7 times is also a sign of that increased activity level. He also had one of the highlight plays of the night setting up Pau with a behind-the-pack pass for an And-1. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-8 shooting (5-7 from the line) to go with 14 boards (4 offensive), 4 assists, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a +23. The Action: He attacked from the elbow, spun to his right and drew FTs trying to finish with the off hand, he made one. After pushing out the board, he swished a pull-up 17-footer in transition. Easy blow-by on Daye and he scored an And-1 layup, he made the FT. He cut, took the pass and made an extra pass to Pau for FTs. He scored a layup off the high-low from Ron. Second Half: He sank a little floater to start the half. Quick hands to grab a DFish brick that skimmed the rim, he scored the putback. He picked up his third and fourth fouls in about 5 seconds at the 9:44 mark of the third. He drew FTs when Kobe stole a pass to ignite the break, he made one. He missed a follow up on a Kobe miss. He went behind his back to Pau in transition for an And-1. He missed a layup in traffic. He missed a 17-footer short. He biffed an easy And-1 layup with his right, he made both FTs. Interior no-looker to DC for a score.

Artest -- -- No big numbers in the stat line other than leading the team with the +26. What really stood out in this game were some of Ron's reads within the triangle, particularly two high-low passes to his bigmen that led to scores. When the post is getting fronted, this is the type of pressure-release counter that you go to in the offense to get the ball to them for an easy score. The Lakers have struggled early in the season going to some of these reads. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-3 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 28 minutes. He was a +26. The Action: He missed an elbow jumper on the first possession. He drained a wing three in transition. He was called for 3 seconds in the lane after getting knocked off balance with no call. Excellent Tri read, flashing to the FT line when Lamar was fronted and Ron gave LO the high-low for the layup. Another high-low read, this time hitting Pau who drew a flagrant-1. Second Half: He was blocked trying to flip a layup over his head in the post.

Fisher -- -- Speaking of going to counters when the opponent overplays the passing lane (see Ron above), DFish also had a nice triangle read on his way to leading the team with 7 assists. The Lakers have struggled early this season when teams jump the passing lanes and we don't run our counters. On one of those tonight, Kobe was being denied the pass on the wing, DFish quickly sent the ball into Pau in the post, who dumped it off to an already cutting Kobe for the layup. No hockey assist for Fish, but that's what it was. For every thing a team tries to take away, there is a counter within the triangle. Our bench, as good as they are, don't understand this yet and this is why you need to play DFish as much as Phil does. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-5 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 1 offensive board, 7 assists and no fouls in 27 minutes. The Action: He attacked the lane and fed Pau for the layup. He missed a contested pull-up jumper out of a timeout. He probed in early offense and hit the 10-footer. He swished a corner three off the skip pass from Barnes. Second Half: His shot/pass was blocked, he got it back and missed a high-arching jumper.

Blake -- -- With a big lead, the Lakers got into some heavy garbage time. Unfortunately, like the term usually indicates, it wasn't very pretty. They may seem like meaningless minutes, but as discussed above, the team can benefit greatly when the bench gets to fine tune their triangle execution. Blake's +/- suffered with most of the bench when the team wasn't clicking offensive during that final 6 minutes of the fourth when they couldn't score. Up until that point, they dominated. "I expect us to play this good every night," Blake said, mentioning also that he didn't think they executed as well as they should. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-5 shooting (1-4 from three) to go with with 1 turnover and no fouls in 21 minutes. He was a -21. The Action: His cross-court pass was picked off for an And-1 the other way. Second Half: He attacked and collapsed the D, it led to a Caracter score. He missed a long three. He hit a wing three behind a screen. He missed a three with the shotclock low. He missed a three.

Barnes -- -- Quick hands, nice help D, hitting the glass -- all those little things that make for a good role player. Like Artest, he doesn't need to put up big scoring numbers to influence the game. Just bring the energy and activity. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-3 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He drained a wing three over McGrady a second after entering the game. He was called for back-to-back fouls to start the second. He missed a layup off the Pau pass and asked where the whistle was. He helped cause a turnover on D and found Fish for three on the other end. He deflected a pass under the hoop on D. Second Half: He missed a wing three.

Brown -- -- I remember some fans disappointed that the Lakers didn't sign Tracy McGrady as the backup SG/SF. Still feel that way? Tracy looks like a cast member from The Walking Dead. He's just missing the grunts; he's got the zombie limp walk down. In fact, on one challenge by Shannon defensively tonight at the rim, Tracy twisted his ankle and looked down for the count. The spark and life that Shannon (and Barnes) bring to the bench is just an entirely different level. Shannon got into a little foul trouble shortly after entering the game. When this happened to him previously this season, it seemed to take the wind from his sails for the rest of the game. That happened again tonight. He couldn't get on track. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-5 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 16 minutes. He was a -11. The Action: He picked up two quick fouls after entering the game. He drew FTs on the other end on the perimeter, he made both. He missed a three at the end of the quarter (didn't go up straight). He missed a 19-footer straight away. He picked up his third foul challenging McGrady and he had to sit 2 minutes into the second quarter. Second Half: Taking a pass after coming off a screen, he attacked down the lane for a layup. He missed a drive in early offense, but Ebanks slammed it back. He missed a three straight away.

Vujacic -- -- He got some run in garbage time and made sure the bench looked like hot garbage. If he wants Phil to play him, this wasn't the way to go about it. Help organize the offense, get them running the triangle properly. Be the voice of reason out there instead of the guy taking the team out of its rhythm and chucking. It's a tough position to be in because he wants to hit shots, score points and make Phil think about him as an option, too. But these were the kinds of minutes that used to make Phil yank him back when he was in the rotation. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-6 shooting to go with 1 assist, 1 turnover and no fouls in 6 minutes. He was a -10. The Action: He came in for Lamar with 15 seconds left in the half. Second Half: He missed a short, open, baseline jumper. He was blocked trying to call his own number and work for a long jumper. He back-rimmed a wide open wing jumper. He missed a 19-footer. He traveled on a drive down the middle of the lane. He missed a layup on a drive. Finally, he scored an uncontested layup when he leaked out and waited for a stop.

Walton -- -- Luke had a Farmar-like compounding of errors in his brief stint out there. Make one mistake, come down the court next time and be the reason again the team doesn't come away with anything. I had forgotten how annoying that was. It seems like those first few possessions for him off the bench have been his most troublesome this season. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting to go with 1 turnover in 2 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: His pass was picked off. He missed an early offense pull-up jumper on the next trip. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Caracter -- -- He looked strong again on his defensive rotations. Even though he ran as the backup C, he got to go up against guys more his size so that probably helped on the glass. Just goes to show that he ought to be playing at the PF more, but can't because of the bigman situation. In any event, good work on the glass using his size and activity. Offensively, he scored when the opportunity presented. One on sequence, Kobe couldn't direct him into the spot he wanted on the high screen and there was some confusion. That's just part of knowing where your teammates like to attack from, not a triangle issue. Serviceable minutes, though, from him tonight. "They can step in and contribute," Kobe said of the rookies. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-5 shooting to go with 5 boards (2 offensive) and 3 fouls in 15 minutes. He was a -8. The Action: Nice challenge under the hoop to prevent a basket, but he couldn't control the miss. Excellent rotations from one side of the court to the other on one stand to deny any Piston attacks and we got a stop. Second Half: He scored an easy one off the extra feed from Lamar in the interior. He grabbed an offensive board in traffic, but somehow missed the 2-footer. He grabbed a miss under the hoop and scored the putback. Way short on a 4-footer in the lane. He sank an 18-footer off the two-man game.

Ebanks -- -- "Just getting out there is a good deal," Phil said, who then was asked how he likes his rookies. "We like them as people. It's just that they're inexperienced and they have no purpose on earth. They are our baggage handlers and they are our ball rack guys, and we hope they get experience as possible, and we really like them as kids." Phil ran his two rooks as the Laker bigman combo, Devin getting the PF assignment again. He took a couple of hasty jumpers out there that were percentage busters. But also showed some of his length and athleticism on a putback jam and a block. He and DC make blowouts fun to watch. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-5 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards (3 offensive) and 1 block in 8 minutes. He was a -13. The Action: He did not play in the half. Second Half: He was blocked by Daye trying score on a slash down the lane. He two-hand slammed back in a missed drive from a teammate. He missed a wing jumper that was challenged well. He missed a long wing jumper. Great block in transition D. He wasn't close on a drive heading the other way. He was smacked trying to go in for a dunk on the break, he made both FTs.

Phil -- -- This one looked over early. The Lakers led 11-2 after just 3 minutes, forcing a timeout. Kobe had 8... Phil brought in the Killer B's with 2 minutes left in the quarter... He brought in DC for Pau with 36 seconds left... He brought in Luke for Lamar who had picked up his second foul with 20 seconds left... The Lakers led 34-25 after the first... Phil started a Pau, Luke, Barnes, Brown, Blake unit in the second... Some no calls by the refs that seemed obvious and the Pistons cut the lead to 3... Phil sat Lamar for Artest with 7:23 left... The Lakers were up by 10 a couple minutes later, and the Pistons called a timeout. Phil sat Pau for DC when the action resumed. So the lineup was DC, Artest, Barnes, Kobe, Fish... He brought in Pau/Lamar briefly near the end of the quarter... The Lakers led 59-45 at the half. The Lakers made 57 percent (20-35, 5-7 from three, 14-15 from the line), the Pistons shot 43 percent (18-42, 2-6 from three, 7-9 from the line)... The coaches wanted the Lakers to tighten up the boards to get more one-and-out stops in the second half... Quick timeout for the Pistons as the Lakers opened the third with a 7-0 run, getting the jump on them again... The Lakers had a 73-48 lead after 5 minutes... The starters began to look a little gassed and Phil finally made some subs with 2 minutes left in the third... The Lakers led 84-63 heading into the fourth... Phil started a DC, Lamar, Barnes, Brown, Blake unit... Ebanks for Lamar at the 8-minute mark. The two rooks running the Lakers C/PF spots... At the 6-minute mark Sasha came in for Barnes. The offense went to hell... The Lakers won the first quarter by 9, the second quarter by 5, and the third by 7 before trying to walk it in during the fourth and losing that quarter by 8...

[mhan00]

we've been road warriors so far this year.

[Shaber]

What a poor shooting night for our bench. Led by Sasha, perhaps. Only Caracter was up to it.

Then again, not much was needed either.

Good W.
_________________
.

Lakers depth chart

PG Johnson / Goodrich
SG Bryant / West / Scott
SF Baylor / Worthy / Cooper
PF Mikkelsen / Hairston / McAdoo / Gasol
C Chamberlain / Abdul-Jabbar / O'Neal / Mikan

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB!

Great write-up as always, also great game. That was a nice blowout, and also a good chance for the high-minute guys to get some rest.

I'm happy to see the rooks out there getting some in-game minutes too!

[McAlister]

Thanks DB! Loved the Phil quote about the rooks "having no purpose on earth"

[Fleur-de-Lis]

[hoopschick29]

I'm watching guys like Ben Wallace and TMac and Rip. These guys are Kobe's contemporaries and they are WASHED UP.

And Kobe is still Kobe, in a lot of ways even better.

We are so damn lucky to have this guy.
_________________
So glad we gave you your flowers while you were here, Kobe.

[McAlister]

[mhan00]

[Bynum4MVP]

[All Net]

Great stuff

Kobe was beasting.

[Bynum4MVP]

[NoobyBrown]

[prisma8slg]

[Rick12322]

Thanks, I actually got bored watching that game because Detroit didn't even try to play defense.

Thank God the teams ok after that rough landing.

[ShadyG]

[limchrc]

thanks

[babyskyhook]

DB-


I was listening to the game on the radio, but when I got home my dvr had decided it didn't want to record the game. Thanks for filling in the gaps with your write-up. Gives us all a good feel for the game.

[Burgundy]

[babyskyhook]

[Omar Little]

[fsc401]

[ocho]

[City_Dawg]

[Scarab]