LAKERS -at- MAGIC - 2/8 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

L.A.'s New One-Two Punch... "We made them pay," Kobe said afterward about the two-man game with Gasol. His shooting hand unwrapped, Kobe finally got to play a more normal game with his new teammate, and Laker fans got to see a more potent one-two combo.

Kobe scored 36 points and Pau dropped 30 on an efficient 12-15 shooting. The rest of the team continued to feed off the scrambling D, our shooters sinking 10-20 from beyond the arc.

Defensively, we had issues on the perimeter. The Lakers got drilled for 44 points by the Magic in the first quarter, but fought back to lead at the half. "They busted us pretty good in that quarter for eight threes," Kobe said.

Heading into the fourth with an 11-point lead, the Lakers gave it up and trailed late. Lamar Odom, the forgotten third man, came up huge with a score on one end and a blocked three on the other. But the story of the night was the Lakers duo of 30-point scorers.


Kobe -- -- So good to see No. 24 back to himself. He struggled with that injury over the last two games, but bounced back tonight. Kobe did a great job hitting the boards, leading the team in that category, too, with 10. He did have a few offensive sequences where he forced up a shot, but he played a very good team game, pitching out to open men or working the ball to Gasol off the two-man game. As I mentioned when we made the trade, having a guy who can pick and pop or roll to the hoop with kobe will open up the floor and make the offense click. The Stats: Kobe scored 36 points on 11-26 shooting (0-2 from three, 14-16 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 6 assists, 1 block, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 46 minutes. The Action: He missed a tough step-back chuck from the elbow on his first attempt. He swished a 20-footer on the next trip down. He drained a baseline jumper on a kickout from DFish. He got hit on the arm with no call and missed a jumper. He attacked the lane on a curl and no-looked to Vlad for the dunk. He forced up a turnaround and missed badly. He missed a layup off a nice feed from Gasol. He attacked the lane in semi-transition and scored a layup. He ballwatched and Mo cut behind him for a dunk. He pumpfaked Mo into air and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a short turnaround. He curled weak to strong behind Gasol, took the pass and scored a layup. He turned the ball over trying to split a double and it turned into a dunk on the other end. He swished a turnaround from the wing. He worked off the high Mbenga screen, elevated and threw down. He had 14 points on 6-11 shooting in the first quarter. He missed a turnaround, taking some contact. He missed a short bank at a tough angle, we got the ball back and he drew FTs, he made both. He dunked when he fed Ronny on the break and got it back. He earned FTs on a spin move, he made one. He missed a three, got it back, then had it swiped and compounded his error by fouling Rashard for FTs. He drew FTs in transition, he made one. He got Mo in the air and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a 15-footer. He collapsed the D and kicked to Sasha for three. He cut behind his man, taking a bounce pass from Fish, attacked and then dished to Pau for the dunk. He had 22 points on 7-16 shooting (8-10 FTs) in the first half. He missed a three. He threw a pass away and it led to a dunk on the other end. He missed a wing jumper against the shotclock. He was involved in three straight And-1s: He attacked the lane, elevated high and took a push from Howard (to pick up Howard's fifth foul midway through the third), he bobbled it, hung and banked the And-1, he made the FT. He posted up Mo, pounded the dribble twice and scored an And-1 over the help defender, he made the FT. He attacked in semi-transition off the Gasol screen, gave Pau the return pass for an And-1 and then bumped chests. He had 28 points on 9-20 shooting after three. He sank a baseline turnaround in the post. Poor idea, spinning for a long fading bank, which he nearly made. He missed a fading jumper from the corner with the shotclock low. He posted up and hit another baseline turnaround (looked money on both of those in the quarter). He collapsed the D and kicked to Fish for a three. He missed a three short. He worked the two-man game with Pau and hit him for an easy bank shot. Out of a timeout, he missed a tough fallaway with 1:22 left, trailing by 1. He saw some space in transition, attacked and drew FTs with 1 minute left, he made both to give us a 1-point lead. He was fouled with 14.7 seconds left ahead by 3, he made both FTs.

Gasol -- -- How nice must it be for him to be able to pick his spots in the offense instead of having to be the go-to guy? His efficient scoring and ability to get Howard into foul trouble was the difference. Howard still managed 19 and 11 while not missing on 8 attempts, but he was only able to play 29 minutes and had to be careful in the fourth quarter. Gasol managed to get a couple offensive fouls on Howard as well as go at him on the other end for more. Defensively, he was also able disrupt a lot of shots around the rim with that long wingspan of his. "This is an amazing opportunity for me and I want to make the most of it," Gasol said. "I want to do my very best every single night. I always dreamed I would be in a situation like I am today. I'm putting my heart and mind 100 percent into it." The Stats: He scored 30 points on 12-15 shooting (6-8 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 1 block, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 5 fouls in 37 minutes. The Action: He drew a charge on Howard in the post early on. He flashed to the ball off a Fish screen and hit the 10-footer in the lane (that's going to be there a lot). He missed a baseline jumper off the pick and pop with Lamar. He challenged guard penetration and forced a brick. He stepped past Howard on the baseline and hit the reverse. Bad job moving his feet and Howard grabbed the offensive board and scored. He hit a face-up wing jumper. He ball faked and then hit the 17-footer. Great help D to draw a charge on Hedo after Kobe fronted. He drew another charge on Howard in the post (Howard thought Gasol flopped, but he plowed him over). Gasol then faced up against Howard on the other end and drew Howard's third foul midway through the second quarter, he made both FTs. He missed under the hoop, not going up strong. Great job tapping an offensive board to himself in a crowd and drawing FTs, he made both. Quick spin on Foyle and then he powered up the And-1 layup, he missed the FT. He cut as Kobe attacked back door, took the pass from him and threw down. He slipped a screen as he and Kobe worked the two-man game at the end of the quarter, he was held for FTs, he made one. He had 17 points on 6-8 shooting (5-7 FTs) and 6 boards in the first half. Using that long reach of his, he tapped a rebound over Howard to himself and then dunked. He iso'd on Howard and drew his fourth midway through the third (the Magic gambled and left Howard in and Kobe made them pay a play later drawing Howard's fifth). He set the quick screen for Kobe in semi-transition, cut to the hoop, took the pass and scored the And-1, he made the FT. He faced up and swished a jumper over Foyle. He drained an 18-footer on the next trip when Vlad found him. Out of a timeout, we let Pau go to work against Cook and he hit a soft bank. He hit Farmar for the open three. He had 28 points on 11-13 shooting and 8 boards after three. Nice recovery on Cook to make him miss a dunk. He missed a step-back baseline jumper over Cook. After a rest in which we gave up the lead in the fourth, he came back in. He and Kobe worked the two-man game and Pau hit the easy bank over a much smaller help defender. Nice challenge on penetration, but he couldn't come up with the board with 17.9 seconds left.

Lamar -- -- Lamar came up big in the final minute with a score on a goaltend and then the block on a three attempt. With Gasol and Kobe doing all the heavy lifting on the offensive end, Lamar picked his spots and did his thing. Not having to rely on him for big production makes life easier. Nice to see a few more sequences of the Gasol/Lamar two-man game. I'd like to see more. It keeps Lamar active and engaged in the offense. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-5 shooting (2-2 from three) to go with 6 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in 41 minutes. The Action: He took his first shot of the game after 10 minutes, nailing the three from the top of the arc. He had back-to-back turnovers after entering the game in the second quarter. He deflected a pass to cause a turnover. He worked the two-man game with Pau again, this time getting a clear lane for takeoff off the poor Cook D and Lamar slammed. He kicked out to Sasha for a three. He set up at the three line at the top of the arc, took the pass on the secondary break, measured it and drilled the three. He let his man fly by, attacked past another defender and scored the layup over a third. He was called for an illegal screen with 4 minutes left on a handoff. Big score with 30 seconds left when Lamar lost Rashard on an up-and-under and Howard goaltended the shot. Then Lamar came up with the huge defensive stop on the other end, getting a piece of Rashard's three with 14 seconds left.

Fisher -- -- Fish had his hands full on the defensive end with all the screens and dribble penetration which attempt to collapse the D. Offensively, he played his usual solid ball, hitting jumpers, getting to the line and making an occasional drive. Early on, he did a great job setting up teammates for scores and he ended up leading the team in assists. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 5-11 shooting (2-5 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 7 assists without a turnover, 2 boards and 1 foul in 33 minutes. The Action: He attacked baseline and kicked to an open Kobe for the jumper (rare to see that). He bricked badly, pulling up from the wing. He worked off the dribble and drew FTs in the paint, he made both. He hit Vlad on a kickout for three. He hit Kobe curling weak to strong for a layup. Nice bounce pass to Kobe going backdoor and it led to a dunk for Pau. He swished a three on a kickout from Vlad to start the second half. He pulled-up from the wing the next time down and hit. He fouled Howard in the paint with his face on Howard's elbow. He missed a three. He missed a wing jumper. He attacked off the dribble to his right and powered in a layup. He missed a jumper coming off the screens. He missed a three out of a timeout. He sank a 17-footer from the left side. He hit a big three off a Kobe kickout with 3:34 left to give the Lakers a 1-point lead. He missed a long three on a kickout (should have move closer in before the swing pass came).

Radmanovic -- -- In the first half, he got sucked into the paint on D a bit too much or sagged off shooters too far. He tightened it up in the second half and Phil gave him some extended run and crunch time minutes. Offensively, another good mix of hitting from downtown and setting up others. Vlad does a good job of never stalling the offense and staying within his game. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 3-5 shooting (2-4 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and 2 fouls in 32 minutes. The Action: He dunked when Kobe attacked and fed him. He drained a three on a Fish kickout after giving up an open three to his man on the other end. After Hedo took him off the dribble on one end to set up a three, Vlad again countered on the offensive end with another three. He missed a three after stealing the inbounds pass. He didn't crowd Cook enough and gave up another three. Poor perimeter D in that first quarter by Vlad. He missed an open three on a kickout. He kicked out to Fish for a three. He drew FTs on a putback attempt, he made both. Nice job keeping a Ronny miss alive and Ronny grabbed it and scored.

Luke -- -- Pretty much a nothing game from Luke. Vlad is outplaying him and Phil is looking more interested in having a shooter at SF to help spread the floor. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-2 shooting and had 1 steal in 9 minutes. The Action: He flagged a kickout on the defensive end for a steal, then quickly outlet to Kobe for a breakaway dunk. He somehow managed to get blocked by Cook (probably should have been a foul). He airballed a long jumper.

Turiaf -- -- Ronny's minutes were again reserved for backup center. He and Gasol never spent any time on the court together. He swatted a couple of shots and made a late hoop. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-4 shooting, grabbed 2 boards, dished 1 assist, blocked 2 shots, had 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 9 minutes. The Action: He chased down an offensive board and it led to Kobe FTs. He swatted Foyle under the hoop. He missed an elbow jumper. He attacked baseline with the shotclock low, missed the layup, Vlad kept it alive and Ronny grabbed it and scored.

Farmar -- -- We got nothing from Farmar offensively, one three, no assists. Defensively, he wasn't stopping a thing. We missed his game in that early fourth quarter when the Magic started to chip back in it. Those are vital minutes that he needs to own. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-5 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 4 boards and 1 foul in 15 minutes. The Action: He missed a wing three on his first attempt. Nice recovery to challenge Dooling's jumper from behind and force a miss. He gave up a layup off the dribble. He drained a three on a kickout from Gasol. He missed a three on his next attempt. He missed a pull-up jumper at the top of the key. He gave up dribble penetration and an And-1.

Vujacic -- -- Good first half stint from Sasha. The way he was shooting, it just looked like he was going to hit everything. All of his notes here are from the first half. He wasn't a factor in the second half. He was the only player on the bench with a positive +/-. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 3-4 shooting, all from three (1-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards and 2 fouls in 16 minutes. He had a +7. The Action: He drained a wing three in early offense on his first attempt. Nice change of directions off the dribble in transition and he drew FTs on Hedo, he made one. He sank an open three off the Lamar drive and kick. He missed a three on the next kickout. He buried a three on a Kobe kickout, it looked like money as soon as it left. He then picked up a double-tech with Redick. He had all 10 points in the first half.

Mbenga -- -- He played just one minute. Took a bad angle defensively and he gave up a dunk to Howard. That was it.

Phil -- -- The Lakers gave up 44 points to the Magic who shot 18-24 in the first quarter, including 8-11 from three. Ridiculous number and some soft perimeter D by the Lakers. We trailed by only 11, able to get 33 on the other end... Phil got off the bench to argue a shotclock that got reset and he managed to negotiate it from 24 to 14 and then the 4 it was supposed to be. We got the miss on the possession... The Lakers went on a 10-1 run midway through the second quarter to cut the lead to 1... After giving up the 44 points, the Lakers went to the halftime with a 64-63 lead. Nice recovery... The Magic shot 56 percent to the Lakers 53 percent in the first half. The coaches wanted the team to get out on the three shooters and stay home more... Three trips in a row midway through the third the Lakers came away with And-1 scores. We couldn't get stops on the other end and the Magic went on a run. Phil called a timeout and went to Gasol over Cook in the post for a score. Nice call. The Lakers shot 68 percent in that quarter and led 98-87 heading into the fourth... Magic went on an 8-0 run midway through the fourth forcing a timeout. With Gasol out of the line up, we struggled... Down by 1 with 1:37 left, Phil called a timeout and set up a two-man sequence with Pau, Kobe kept it and then chucked up a tough fallaway and missed... The Lakers dug in and held the line on the defensive end to close out the game... Excellent road win, coming through in the final minute...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Gasol led the Lakers with a +12. The Lakers had a series of runs after that first quarter to pull out ahead. Magic went on an extended run in the fourth.

[10scott10]

first

I've been waiting for this so i can sleep

[Trajan]

Ever since I found this site 2 months ago, I always look forward to DancingBarry's game review. Always a nice read from start to finish.

[Laker_Leo]

Thanks again for a great read DB.

You da man!

[Dr. Laker]

Good job, DB!
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[pawn]

Thanks as always, DB.

Vlad is looking much more comfortable playing within the system now. He's getting burned on occasion still. But, I think he's helping alot more than hurting us lately. That's good to see. I was starting to think we would never see the productive Vlad again.

I hope Ronnie gets some more PT soon.

[LakerFan1972]

DB great as always!

I really wish Phil would give Ronny more consistent minutes and Luke no minutes. Also, Farmar has been missing in action lately. He needs to shake out of this funk of his.

Great game. I can not wait to see AB and Ariza in the mix. Lakers defense will dramatically improve once they are available.

[BLP711]

Great as always DB.

[lakefan24]

Good win. Felt good seing Cook an Evans playing and contributing for their new team too. Thanx DB.

[Mation]

Thanks DB!

Great, great road win. Fifty-percent from three-point territory is quite a feat. Kobe and Pau provided the main entree to this win and Lamar added the final dessert on both ends of the court. Love it! I give Kobe huge props for the treatment of his injury. Probably ran through a 24 hour period doing electro-shock therapy. It definitely paid off tonight. Hopefully in the upcoming road trip we can work on some of our defensive issues.

Come on Farmar...

[AndrewBynum17]

[uberzev]

[LakerFan1972]

[8750]

thanks, DB
at the end our great offense prevailed over our ugly defense...

[LakerSanity]

Thanks DB... it is clear this team is going to be on a whole other level offensively from now on AND THEN a whole new level again once Bynum comes back. Just wait everyone until Gasol really figures out the finer points of the tri offense, we haven't seen anything yet (particularly from his passing skills which require him having an understanding of where everyone is going like a good qb does).

That said... what I will be looking for, as I usually am, is defensive improvement. With Ronny getting less minutes lately, there has been a defensive drop with him out of the game... Pau is still learning when and where to rotate from, defensive schemes for some players being even more difficult to pick up than offensive philosophies. It surely doesn't help that Farmar has been stinking it up on D (as well as O) lately, and Fish is giving up more penetration that he should. I'd like Phil to make better use of Ronny before he gets lost in the shuffle. Before Bynum comes back, it would be nice to see some Fish or Farm/Kobe/LO/Ronny/Gasol minutes together - I also think that might be a more potent defensive line-up. We surely miss Ariza and Bynum for their defensive contributions, but still we should be a much better defensive team than we showed on Wednesday and tonight. Some of that is on Pau getting used to our defensive strategies, but a lot of it is on Kobe not sagging off his man, Farmar/Fish staying in front of their man, getting Ronny the minutes he deserves, limiting TOs, and getting Luke off the floor as long as possible until his ankle heals (or he finds his game again...whichever happens first).
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[ishi331]

Ah, the day is at last fulfilled. Thanks db.

[Shaber]

Vlad, Lamar and Pau seem to fit very well with each other. Kobe and Pau is nothing to speak about, offensively it's just a dream come true.

But Lakers are much softer now defensively. We of course played one of the top teams in the league, but we still should not be giving up 40-point quarters.


Luke's inabilities are exposed more and more. Is he still hurt?

[TooCool]

Thanks DB.

When Cook went 3/3 behind the arc early... i had a feeling he wanted some sort of revenge.

Mo looks weird wearing #1 for some reason.

Always good to see former Lakers! I'm glad we got the W though
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[Klone_dd]

Sweet efficiency. Kobe & Pau look like they've played together for years. Pau's face up game was really key. I can't wait to see him and Bynum play the high/low game.

Fish was especially clutch, hitting timely shots. Great all-around game from LO. A basket and a defensive stop in the final minute? From LO?

[Tanlentueux]

[dawglaker]

you think Jordan is hitting that "sophmore wall" ?
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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

[ElginBaylor]

Feeling kinda isolated on this one as I had no venue to watch this in Indiana. Instead I went and saw Will Smith in "I Am Legend."

Based on DBs recap I think think I would have rather watched the game.

I was a little worried we'd let this get away. We're smack dab in the middle of a tough road trip and Orlado's a tough team. God was I thankful to see that we had won and the Kob and Pau seem to fit, as Forrest Gump says, "like peas and carrots."

Makes me all giddy thinking about how great this teams gonna be.
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Not a legend

[wolfpaclaker]

Our offense is beating other team's offense right now. This is going to work in the regular season, but come playoffs, will need to play better defense.

Gasol is just a stud. Immediately is one of my favs to watch with the ball on the team. So fluid, and just extremely skilled. His jumper was showing in this game, I liked that. Would love to see him playing outside the paint, to prepare himself for once AB is back. Still, even as a C on offense, he is clearly an impact player. 30 points on 15 shots. That right there was the best offensive player on the night IMO. What I loved is that he outplayed the best C in the east, and widely considered the 2nd or 3rd best C in the NBA. Not just 1 on 1, by scoring more. But by taking Howard out of the game. He drew 4 out of the 5 fouls on him, that took him out in that 3rd qtr. That was huge. IMO Gasol was the biggest reason we won this game. Outplayed Howard, took him out of the game with FT and then scored with unbelievable effeciency. If AB can just pick up the boards + swats/defense inside that PG is limited, we'll be the best interior team in the NBA.

Bryant was aggressive, good game overall, thought he overdid the aggression early on, we should have had better balance to start games IMO. Overall though, very nice game + effort by KB. He's not 100% so gotta give him credit for playing at this level. 46 minutes is a lot. The road trip's solid start, is in large part due to Kobe's heavy minutes.

Phil was giving LO a few choice words in some of the timeout/FT sequences. I'm guessing it was because LO wasn't active off the ball as much as Phil would like. LO had a nice finish, is immediately gaining good chemistry with PG, knocked down his 3's BUT I thought this was a very so-so game from him. We were firing on O, so it wasn't needed really, but regardless he needs to be more active in getting inside. Though in his defense, team often misses him when he's posted up. He is starting to get inside to rebound on O - which IMO is the most important thing he can do on offense, at a SF. Create 2nd chance points, by O boards.

Glad we got the win, and 4-2 on this road trip is solid. Just not liking the way we are defending. I really think Phil should consider altering the lineup to Gasol, Turiaf and Odom upfront - to make us better and stronger defensively upfront. Since Turiaf has gone to the bench, he's not been the same player and the Lakers D has been abysmal at times.

Oh, and the closing of games. As usual, I was not happy with that.

[And 1]

[GoldenThroat]