LAKERS -at- CLIPPERS - 12/8 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

The Buzzer Beaters... When the inbounds pass went to Derek Fisher some 40 feet from the hoop with 3 seconds left in the game, most Laker fans buckled up for one of two outcomes -- complete disaster or sweet victory with a clutch make. You know you're only getting one or the other with him in that situation.

No oh-so-close rim outs. No "good look, but it didn't drop." It's either all or absolutely nothing -- I'm talking an airball by three feet or a flailing, rumbling chuck off the side of the backboard that goes out of bounds. That, or a miracle make at the buzzer for the win.

Fisher took the ball, attacked left to his strong side and just got off the running layup attempt with barely a blink of an eye remaining on the clock. Over the out-stretched arm of DeAndre Jordan with the buzzer going off, Fish banked in the game winner and the Lakers took the come-from-behind 87-86 win.

Asked why he didn't pull up for a deep shot like he's known for, Fisher said, "because they were expecting a deep shot."

DFish's buzzer beater overshadowed some sensational defense by Ron Artest, some clutch makes by Kobe, and three minutes of third-quarter fireworks by Shannon Brown.

Shannon sank all four of his three-pointers in the game. The highlight was the last of his threes, a 65-foot chuck with a second on the clock that went straight in. Watch Shannon on that heave. He's holding up his hand and walking back like he knows it's money. He was in that kind of a zone.

"The momentum that Shannon Brown's shot provided us at the end of the third quarter was kind of an energy boost that we needed," Phil said afterward. The Clippers had built a 12-point lead before Shannon's 11 points in 3:21 of that third quarter.

The Lakers lived dangerously in the fourth, trailing by 5 points with about a minute left. Some great D by Ron with a couple of steals and some offense by Kobe turned that around quick.

The buzzer beaters to close the third and fourth quarter left the Clippers wondering what happened. Only the Clippers can blow a game that spectacularly.


Kobe -- -- Kobe had already hit two clutch jumpers and set up Pau for another in the final minute when he brought the ball up with 15 seconds left. He was "fouled" by Gordon with 3 on the clock just before he rose up and sank a jumper. Gordon started to complain to the refs wondering what he did before being told they had a foul to give. The refs appeared to determined to give it whether he had fouled him or not. In any event, that's the sequence that set up the DFish heroics out of a timeout when Kobe didn't get the ball on the inbounds. Kobe was like "What? Wait, pass me the ball." Laker fans were like, "What? Wait, pass Kobe the ball." Kobe was having his way with Gordon. He went at him early in the post for easy scores and went away from it, possibly because he knew he could get it later when they needed it. Sure enough, he turned it on when the team needed it. Again, he only played 31 minutes in this one. He looked fresh down the stretch unlike Pau. The Lakers got 40 points on 14-24 shooting from the SG spot in 48 minutes tonight. The Stats: He scored 24 points on 9-15 shooting (1-2 from three, 5-7 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 4 turnovers and no fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He missed a 16-footer. He overpowered Gordon and banked in an easy And-1 from the left block, he made the FT. He missed a pumping jumper from the midpost. He threw down the backdoor lob from Lamar when his man fronted him. He posted up and swished the turnaround from the midpost. He hit a pull-up at the FT line working off ball well. He interfered on a Pau jumphook that was obviously falling in (not smart and he knew it). He missed a reverse on the next possession. He had 9 points on 4-7 shooting in the first. He missed a short leaner off the two-man game. He missed a tech FT. He was fouled on the break and the poor FT shooting continued as he made just one. He attacked and his pass was picked off. Just 1 point in the second quarter. Second Half: He made a tech FT on an illegal D he caused. He attacked the lane and finger rolled a layup. Easy bank in the post on the next possession. Poor close to give up a three to Gordon. He collapsed the D on a step through and fed Pau for the score. He lost the ball, dunk the other way. He posted up and was bumped out of bounds for FTs, he made both. He swished a long wing three on his next attempt. He missed a three next time down. He forced a pass on the break, turnover and dunk the other way (Phil would sit him for Shannon on this). He bricked a turnaround from the high post just off the bench. He created off the dribble and set up Lamar for the dunk. He attacked and set up Pau for an open jumper. He swished from 14 feet out in transition to cut the lead to 1 with 42 seconds left. He took the Ron steal down court and swished the wing step-back jumper to take a 1-point lead with 22 seconds left.

Gasol -- -- "Pau had his head down tonight," Phil said afterward. Whether it was the long minutes the night before (seems likely) or just the Clippers D keeping him off balance, Pau found nothing easy offensively. Down the stretch, he played soft. No other word to describe it, unfortunately. He was swatted on a soft layup instead of trying to cram. He got shoved under the hoop to give up an offensive board. He fumbled away a pass. Finally, he swished a wide open FT jumper. Aside from Shannon and Kobe, he was the only other Laker to get to double digits and he barely did that with just 10 points. He was off-balance again all night, even on jumpers and that left the Lakers one-two punch lacking power. The big difference in this game was the complete lack of interior presence for the Lakers. Pau was trying to finese everything and settled for jumpers. Bynum is warming up in the wings. The team needs him...or really any warm body...right now. What should be a relatively easy, but long roadtrip is looking sketchy. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-13 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 5 assists, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 40 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He threw a pass away when Kobe flashed to him on the first possession. He dunked off the drive and dish from Ron. He spun baseline and drew FTs on the layup, he made both. He missed a baseline turnaround. He had 4 points on 1-2 shooting and 5 boards in the first. He missed a lefty hook. He found Luke cutting for a layup. He airballed a wing jumper (low pass from Kobe allowed the defense to catch up). He stuffed back in a Kobe miss off the two-man game. Just 2 points in the second quarter. He had 6 points and 7 boards at the half. Second Half: He missed a long hook. He missed a 17-footer. He scored a layup off the Kobe penetration and pass. He missed a fallaway in the paint. He kicked out to Blake for a three. He missed a high arching wing jumper. He missed an open 12 footer. Bad pass into a crowd, turnover and three the other way. He was swatted trying to finish softly with his left when Kobe set him up. He then got shoved under the hoop on the other end to give up an offensive board. He fumbled away a Kobe pass on the next sequence. He sank an open FT jumper when Kobe set him up with a minute left.

Lamar -- -- He played like a wet noodle, a Lamarguini or a Lanoodle. His D fell apart in the third when he picked up his third foul and had to play cautiously. That meant little resistance on D. The Lakers starting bigs have no safety net. When one of them gets in foul trouble right now, it's a disaster. With Caracter going down in the first quarter, Lamar got some minutes as the backup C making the situation even more precarious. He eventually fouled out. Offensively, he was a bit prone to settling for a quick jumper in early offense. Those are wasted possessions since he can get that shot pretty much at anytime in the shotclock. Clock management hasn't been his strength in the past couple games. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-8 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-5 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 6 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: He attacked in transition to his right and scored the And-1 layup, he missed the FT. He blew a short one from the left block. He saw Gordon overplaying Kobe and hit him with the perfect backdoor lob for a dunk. He missed a jumphook over a smaller man. He posted up Griffin and drew his second foul on the post entry, he made one FT. He airballed an early offense sideline jumper (run the offense first, please. Those shots are available any time). He dunked when Luke found him over the fronting defender. He had 5 points on 2-5 shooting. Second Half: He drew FTs working the post, he made one. He missed another quick-fire long jumper, this one a three. He picked up his fourth foul on a shove in the back on the offensive glass at the end of the third (a bit of an acting job by Griffin, but LO can't have his arm on someone's back in that kind of situation). He missed a wide open corner three on a kickout. He dunked off the Kobe drive and dish. He picked up his fifth foul with 2 minutes left away from the ball. He fouled out on a bump on Gordon with 1:14 left.

Artest -- -- While the Lakers were getting clutch offense elsewhere, they were getting clutch D from Ron. He wreaked havoc like only Ron can on the Clippers defensively to get a couple of steals in the final minute (he also had another one with 3 minutes left). Throughout the game, he played some superb D. He got the assignment on Gordon and caused him all kinds of trouble (5 turnovers) when he was able to match up with him. Gordon mostly got his points against others when Ron had to slide to PF. Even when Ron was at PF, he still caused Gordon problems in that final minute. When he matched up with Griffin, I was looking forward to that iso D. It seemed the Lakers too often sent some help for Ron when he was at the PF defensively. The Lakers certainly don't hold the Clips down and to just 86 points without Ron's excellent work on that end. Of course, Ron didn't help the Lakers cause much on the other side. He went 2-10 from the floor. A couple were buzzer beater attempts, but after making the Lakers first shot of the game, he made just one of his next nine. Ouch. Ron is averaging just 0.76 turnovers per game this season. He has a career average of 2.15 (last season 1.57). Ron is also playing a career low 27.6 minutes per game, about 6 minutes less per game than last year. Credit the good play of both Barnes and Brown off the bench for the reduction. Phil has to find minutes for both. Credit the triangle and less reliance on Ron offensively to create for the lower scoring and turnover numbers. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-10 shooting (1-4 from three) to go with 1 offensive board, 2 assists, 4 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a +6. The Action: He poked a ball free to Pau on one end, then hit the Lakers first hoop from three on the other. He stripped Griffin under the hoop to ignite a break. He attacked from the wing and hit Pau for the dunk. He missed a tip. He missed in the low post. He airballed a three at the end of the quarter. He was blocked in the paint off the Blake feed. He took the post entry, inside pivot to face up and he swished the midrange jumper (textbook Tri work). He didn't hit rim on a wide open three next time down. He missed a corner three at the half. He had 5 points on 2-8 shooting. Second Half: He knocked a ball off Gordon on a drive for a turnover. He tied up Gordon to force a jumpball. He missed a long jumper with the clock low. He missed a long baseline jumper. He stripped the ball from Gordon to get a stop. He stripped Gordon on help D, wasn't even guarding him, to get a key stop with 45 seconds left. On the next defensive stand, he swiped the pass to Griffin, stepping around him for another critical stop.

Fisher -- -- The ball was supposed to go to Kobe, of course. Kobe had been leading the charge with a couple of clutch makes. "They were all over him," Fisher said. "Matt Barnes trusted me with it." He took it and attacked, getting off the shot at the last possible moment. Buzzer. Glass. Ball game. Put another one in his resume. Defensively, he didn't have too many problems because the Clippers didn't have a good two-man option. That allowed the bigs to help. Fish had some foul issues in the game. Really, he picked up a flurry of fouls in the last minute of the first half that altered his minutes in the second half. DFish is averaging 27.0 minutes per game, a minute more than his career average (last year he was at 27.2 per game). Perhaps, Phil will throttle that back as the season goes along and Blake gets more experience in the system. Of course, Fish is also shooting a career best .452 from three right now, too. So that helps keep him on the floor. Blake, however, is also shooting a career best .493 from three, as well. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a +8. The Action: He missed a wing jumper. He missed another wing jumper from the other side. Horrible defensive angle and Gordon drew a foul on Pau on the drive. He swiped a perimeter pass. He drew Griffin's third foul on an illegal screen on the next stand. He drained a long wing jumper with the shotclock running down and a man on. Great one-handed board in traffic and he quickly pushed it out to ignite the break. He picked up 3 fouls in the last minute or so of action, all FTs for the Clippers and the Lakers lost the lead. Second Half: He ran into Gordon and had to sit after 4 minutes with his fourth foul. He sank a wing jumper right off the bench. Good help D to try to take a charge and it forced a brick. He missed a long three off a scramble (thought the 24 wasn't reset). He attacked left and hit the running layup at the buzzer.

Blake -- -- Blake got to go up against his other L.A. team, the one that seems miles and years away now that he's playing in the purple and gold. As mentioned in Fish's write-up, Blake is shooting a career best from three. He's currently ranked 6th in the NBA in three percentage. He sank another one as part of a nice stint by the Killer B's in the second half (his other make had his toe on the three line). The importance of the bench is heightened on the second night of a back to back. Those guys need to bring the energy. Not a clean game from him as he had 3 turnovers and started off slowly. The defensive energy by him and the bench was a key factor to the Clippers scoring just 15 points in the third. The starters came back in and picked up where they left off. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-7 shooting (1-3 from three) The Action: He attacked baseline and threw a pass away. He was stripped from behind. He missed a wing three. Second Half: He missed a wing three. He drew a charge on the break. He drained a wing three on a Pau kickout. Sloppy kickout in semi-transition, turnover and FTs the other way. He was blocked or fouled with no call on a drive. He sank a wing jumper with a toe on the three line in transition. He missed a pull-up wing jumper.

Barnes -- -- He was back to the garbage man work that has helped the team all season. He didn't connect on his threes, but he scrapped for other points when he found a brief moment or opportunity to do so. Despite the 0-3 from three, like others, Barnes is also shooting a career high from three (.388) this season. The Lakers dished out a few good fouls tonight, and Barnes dished out a little of the punishment. Barnes made the inbounds pass to Fish on that game winner. Kobe may have been expecting him to show a little more patience, but Barnes spotted Fish and quickly went to him after just a couple seconds of getting the ball from the ref. Fish doesn't work his magic, maybe we're talking about this. He gave Fish a kiss on the back of the head after the game was over for coming up big. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-9 shooting (0-3 from three) to go with 7 boards (2 offensive), 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 25 minutes. He had a +/- of 0. The Action: He missed a wing three. He grabbed a missed three and powered up a layup. He was stripped in the paint. He swished a wing jumper when the D sagged off him to deny passing lanes. Second Half: He missed a three on a kickout. He fumbled a pass away in the paint, layup the other way. He scored a layup on the Brown drive and dish. He attacked the paint and hit the floater. He was blocked on a layup attempt.

Brown -- -- Lost in some of the fireworks, Shannon's end of the third quarter. Not just the sensational heave from 65 feet, but the minutes before that. He was in a zone and lifted the team. That long three with a second left was the icing. ""I'm trying to shoot it as naturally as a I possibly can. I'm aiming for the rim," Shannon said of the make. Another superb outing from him. He came off the bench in the second half throwing punches with his jumper and hit the Clips square in the mouth. He scored 16 in just 17 minutes. Shannon is actually playing slightly less minutes than last season, yet he is averaging 3 more points. He's doing that on just one more attempt per game. That's all he needs, especially from three. He was perfect from beyond the arc tonight. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 5-9 shooting (4-4 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 5 boards (2 offensive), 2 assists, 1 steal and no fouls in 17 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He missed an early offense jumper (it resulted in a transition score the other way). He swiped a pass and was fouled. He drained a wing three on a kickout. He missed a runner in transition. He attacked, spun and drew FTs in transition, he made one. He missed a 17-footer. Second Half: He swished a step-back baseline jumper. He swished a wing three on the next possession. He swished a corner three on the break on his next touch. He then swished a 65-footer with a second left at the end of the quarter (wow, talk about being in the zone). He attacked and somehow found Barnes for a layup. He made a tech FT.

Walton -- -- Rare we see him in at all, but especially at the SF spot like we saw tonight. With Artest, Barnes and Kobe, that's a tough situation to crack. Despite blowing a layup, he had some reasonable minutes. He didn't quite bring back the fluidity to the offense with the passing like Phil was maybe hoping but he had a couple moments. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-3 shooting to go with 1 board and 1 assist in 8 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He found Lamar for a dunk when his man fronted him. He choked a finger roll (more like a skillet roll). He scored a layup, curling weak to strong off the Pau post. He sank a baseline jumper off a kickout from Lamar. Second Half: He did not play in the half.

Caracter -- -- His knee and ankle collapsed when Kobe ran into him, falling down on a drive. Wasn't quite the buckle job that Bynum got on a similar play way back when, more of a side glancing blow. The ankle roll sidelined him for the rest of the game. And just like that, the Lakers were down yet another bigman. Drew may not want to suit up until he gets his conditioning and timing going. If they don't have Caracter, he needs to get out there if he's cleared to play. Doesn't have to be pretty. Just a few minutes. The Stats: He scored 1 points on 1-2 from the line to go with 1 board in 3 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He muscled his way under the hoop off of Pau's post and drew FTs on the feed, he made one. He got run into when Kobe attacked and fell into him and was done.

Phil -- -- The Lakers opened up with an 8-0 start... Phil called a timeout, leading 15-11 with 4 minutes left in the first... Phil brought in Caracter for Lamar. Rare we see the Pau/Caracter duo... A minute and a half later, he brought in Barnes and Blake... Shortly later, Shannon for Kobe. (Much better stagger tonight, but he had to sit Caracter who got injured when Kobe ran into him). That would screw with Phil's rotations all game... The Lakers led 20-18 after the first... Phil started a Lamar, Artest, Barnes, Brown, Blake unit... The lead was still 2 with 4 minutes into the second when Phil brought in Pau for Artest and Luke for Barnes. (Pau, Lamar, Luke, Brown, Blake)... Up 3 with 5 minutes left and Phil brought in the starters with Luke at SF... He sat Lamar for Artest... Poor close to the half with a chance to go up by 8 on an Artest three, they would trail by 1 shortly later after the brick and some break downs... Kobe and Pau had 1 and 2 points, respectively, in the second quarter... The Lakers trailed 43-41 at the half. The Lakers shot 38 percent (16-42, 2-7 from three, 7-13 from the line). The clippers shot 37 percent (16-43, 4-10 from three, 7-9 from the line). The Lakers were beat 14-3 on the break... Hamblen was upset that the Lakers weren't taking teams seriously and were freelancing too much offensively... The Clippers missed three straight dunks to start the half. Only the Clippers can do that... Phil brought in Blake for Fish 4 minutes into the third when Fisher had foul issues. The Lakers trailed by 1. That would quickly stretch to 7... He sat Artest for Barnes... Phil called a timeout with 3:22 down by 9. He sat Kobe for Brown... Shannon sank a number of shots, including a long heave at the buzzer to give the Lakers some spark... The Lakers trailed 71-65 heading into the fourth... Phil started the Pau, Artest, Barnes, Brown, Blake unit. They took a 1-point lead to force a Clipper timeout... Off a turnover and a Clipper score, Phil brought back in the starters with Barnes for Pau midway through the quarter... The Clippers used a foul to give with 3.1 seconds left and Phil called a timeout to set up a play. DFish for the drive and win? Wow. Wasn't the call, but he'll take it...

[mhan00]

hard fought win.

[E=MC²]

[JUST-MING]

Thanks DB. .

[IPK]

[3peat_pete]

nice as always, db! you put 3-56 on D. Fish's field goal stats though.

[mhan00]

honestly, i'm shocked gasol was even 4-13 tonight. watching the game live, it looked like he was like 4-20 or something. just an awful game offensively from him tonight. we're just running him into the ground now, grinding him down. 'drew needs to get his ass back on the court ASAP, because we can't afford a robert horry like situation where one of our key components kills himself during one of our center's convalescence and just gasses for the rest of the seasons and in particular the playoffs.

ron ron just took the clipper's candy away and beat them with it on defense tonight. more than made up for his inability to throw a pea into the ocean.

kobe was kobe.

fish was playoff fish.

shannon was OMG WTF WAS THAT in the third.

[Dr. Laker]

Thanks, DB!
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On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".

[babyskyhook]

Well done as usual DB.


Perfect description of the all or nothing moment of Fish w/ the ball in his hands.

[IPK]

What happens if we don't have Caracter to back up Pau on the road trip? Was coach K playing Odom at C this past summer an omen?
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Our tribute to Phil, the man behind LG

[dawglaker]

good look by barnes too on that second delay of game on griffin
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"I didn't mean to walk in the shower with him. Yeah, I walked in the shower. I'm not a homosexual, but Kobe - he had no clothes on." - Ron Artest

[prisma8slg]

thanks DB.

I was forced to watch the Clippers broadcast, and at the beginning of the game they put up the average age of the Lakers vs the Clippers, and there was about a 10 year difference. all that veteran savvy paid off for us at the end of the game, because we were able to close out when they couldn't. Ron's defense definitely put us in a position to win.

always great to end a game with a clutch shot by dfish
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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."

[All Net]

That three by Shannon to end the 3rd was bigger than people think.

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB! Also thanks DFish. Hope DC's ankle heals quickly.

[E=MC²]

[Rick12322]

When I saw Fish dribble left, it was de ja vu all over again, Boston Finals. I didn't have that usual feeling of impending doom, and voila! He made it!!

[TooCool]

Many thanks DB!!!
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[Conker]

Thanks for the insight.

It was a good game. Also Griffin and the Clippers played well.
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[RVCdesigns]

"He played like a wet noodle, a Lamarguini or a Lanoodle."

Beautiful DB, thanks as always lol.

[No. 17]

Good piece DB. It's the old saying that goes: The great teams know how to win ugly.
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It's winnin' time!

[LA1969]

Thanks DB! You are spot on as usual!
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"Time wounds all heels". -John Lennon

[Klone_dd]

Another ugly win. We probably lead the league in ugly wins.

Pau was pretty lifeless. Cement shoes, zombie-like - whatever you want to call it. When he's tired, he becomes a TO vendor. Sorry, but he just has to fight the fatigue and gut it out until help arrives. Hopefully, his hammies don't break down in the meantime.

Kobe had a good game stat-wise. I kept wanting him to impose his will on the game earlier when the team was so sluggish, but it seemed like even he was sleepwalking a bit. In the final minute though, Kobe did what Kobe does.

Feast or famine for Fish is absolutely right, DB. Fish winning a game with a layup is like finding Kris Kringle's cane at the house you secretly asked him for.

Same goes for RonRon. His shot is worst than famine, but his D was superb, especially in the last minute.