BLAZERS -at- LAKERS -- 2/26 -- Thoughts and :-)) ratings

[DancingBarry]

Lockdown and Win Ugly... Trailing at the half, strapped with foul trouble and a couple starters not getting the job done, the Lakers came out in the second half and locked down, holding the Blazers to 12-42 shooting in the half. The Lakers pulled out a rare win where they didn't score over 100 points, taking the Blazers 96-83.

Jordan Farmar sparked the team with one of his better games of the season, scoring 21 points off the bench. "We started off slow. We just wanted to bring some energy and enthusiasm to the building," Farmar said. He and Sasha allowed Phil to sit Fisher and Walton and dial up a combination that matched the Blazers athleticism. That was the difference.

Several Lakers had to deal with foul issues at points in the game. Our offense resorted to a lot of iso, instead of some of the smooth two-man passing sequences we've been seeing. With the physical nature and chippy play, techs were flying from the refs. It all made for a choppy game.

Kobe throttled up the offense in the second half and put together 30 points, 9 boards and 7 assists to go with Gasol's 15 and 10. With no Brandon Roy in the lineup, this is a game you have to take. The Blazers also shot just 2-20 from three, compared to the Lakers 9-19. We held them to 36 percent shooting as a team.

A 12-1 record so far in February was not something you were expecting when the league first passed out the schedule this year. Great run.


Kobe -- -- According to BShaw, Kobe lit into the team at halftime, telling them this is what it was going be like in the playoffs. With the calf-high socks and a struggling offense, Kobe and the guys went to work. They tightened up the D and Kobe throttled up the O. That was a grind out win and a character builder. A nice change of pace to the high-octane offensive outings. Kobe and the team imposed their will in the second half. The Stats: He scored 30 points on 11-25 shooting (1-4 from three, 7-8 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 7 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers and 5 fouls in 45 minutes. The Action: He sank a turnaround at the elbow on his first touch. He set up Gasol with an interior feed for a score. He took an outlet from Fish on the break and was fouled, he made both FTs. He missed an elbow jumper. He missed a corner three. He picked up his second foul with 3:18 left in the first and had to sit. Back in to start the second quarter, he kicked out to Farmar off the high screen for a three. He hit Farmar busting out after a shot challenge for a layup on the other end. He deflected a pass, pushed out the break and hit Ronny trailing for the And-1 throwdown. He swished a three from the sideline. He posted up, backed down his man and finger rolled a layup with a quick step-through. He missed a pull-up 19-footer. He got tapped when a three spun around and out of the hoop. He missed a runner in a crowd. He had 9 points and 5 assists at the half. He missed a wing jumper. He hit a pull-up on the baseline. He missed a top-of-the-key jumper, got it back and traveled. He attacked the paint and fed Pau for the dunk. He faced up and hit the 12-footer from the wing. He picked up his third when Kobe started getting aggressive on D and Outlaw went into some theatrics on a drive. He jumped to pass as Gasol thought he was shooting, turnover. He bricked a jumper trying to draw a foul. He threw down a one-handed alley-oop from Fisher on the break, then picked up a tech because he got pushed with no call (weak tech...great play). He pulled up from 18-feet and hit a jumper (hit on the arm, no call). He missed another pull-up from a similar spot. Finally some more FTs off an attack on a two-for-one sequence, he made both FTs. At the end of the quarter, he attacked down the lane and hit Ronny dive cutting for the And-1. He had 10 points in the third. He was blocked on a wing jumper. He swished a face-up 17-footer from the right wing. He missed a long jumper after losing his man. He swished a 20-footer over his man who was worried about the dribble drive. He attacked in transition on the next trip down, hesitated, then exploded to the rim for the layup. He back-rimmed a two-footer on the next break. He drew a foul pulling up off the dribble from 19 feet out, he made one FT. He got picked for a reverse jam the other way. He then missed a three. He poked a ball loose from Outlaw under the hoop and he and Lamar recovered it. He hit a couple techs and then a 21-footer for a 4-point sequence with 3 minutes left in the game. That iced it.

Gasol -- -- A lot more iso in this game for Gasol versus two-man sequences. That made his numbers a bit more difficult to come by. Aldridge also game him some fits in the post. In the final minutes, however, Gasol ended up turning the tables on both ends. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 7-12 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 3 blocks, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 43 minutes. The Action: He got tapped on a baseline 10-footer. He went up high, hung and banked a one-hander over the defender. He missed a lefty hook on iso in the post. He missed another hook with his left on iso. He was more aggressive backing his mand down and got in close for a short lefty bank, this time from the left block instead of the right. He crashed the glass when a Kobe jumper bounced several times on the rim and he tipped it in while in traffic. He pulled down an offensive board and scored from a couple feet out. He lost a dribble out of bounds taking a return pass on the two-man game. He got blocked under the hoop trying to reach back under the basket and score (looked like he got bumped with no call). He had 8 points on 4-8 shooting and 8 rebounds at the half, good board numbers despite the difficulties we were having. He missed a FT jumper. He dunked off the drive and dish from Kobe. He took the return feed on the two-man game, he went to work against a help defender and hit a jumper in the paint. He blocked a long jumper to get a shotclock violation. Out of the timeout, we went to Gasol who iso'd in the post, this time setting up a jumphook with his right which he made. He finally got to the line, posting up again on iso, he made one FT. He swatted Aldridge's post up attempt out of a timeout.

Odom -- -- This is the kind of game where you see how well Lamar has been capitalizing off all the attention drawn by Gasol and Kobe. The Blazers didn't send a lot of doubles to open up off-the-ball cuts. The lanes were clogged quite a bit, making it difficult to drive. The foul trouble also limited his ability to be aggressive. In a grind out playoff series, we'd probably like to see him working in the post a bit at the SF, if possible. We might get that inside-out offense that we struggled with. Keep an eye out on any adjustments next time we play them. Despite all those issues, Lamar was battling on the boards and in several scrums where he ended up on the floor. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-6 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 11 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in just 32 minutes. The Action: He dunked off the drive and dish from Luke. He missed a reverse layup and he wanted the foul. He missed a bank from the left side. He tried to take a charge in the post and then was stepped on for his second foul, he had to sit with 4:22 left in the first. Nice D to deflect a pass, we didn't get it, but Lamar crashed the defensive glass and tipped out a board from behind a Blazer...he then charged off the dribble against Przybilla and had to sit with 9:27 left in the half. He had just 2 points at the half. On the first defensive rebound of the second half, Lamar pushed it out and was called for a charge, picking up his fourth foul. He managed to not pick up another foul the entire quarter, but had to play cautious. Credit him for playing smart when Phil gambled. He deflected a pass for a steal. He airballed trying to avoid a travel after pulling down a high offensive board in traffic. He posted up his man and kicked to Farmar for three (might have been the only post up for Lamar). He hit the floor to help us get a loose ball under the hoop. He did it again, calling timeout after recovering a Pau blocked shot. Out of a timeout, he couldn't finish an alley-oop in some traffic (I liked the idea, though). He scooped up a loose ball hustling and trailing the break and scored a layup. He drew FTs on a quick attack in semi-transition, he made both.

DFish -- -- One of those games where you couldn't wait for Fish to sit for Farmar. Credit Jordan for a good game, but Fish didn't bring it, either. Phil said usually Fish has a sense of the end of game, but "tonight Jordan had the feel." Fish scored just 2 points and didn't connect on any of his shots. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 0-4 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 24 minutes. The Action: He drew a charge on Outlaw on the edge of the paint. He missed a jumper short. He had a pass picked off trying to thread the needle through the lane. He missed a long corner jumper. He posted up Blake and drew FTs, he made both. He got blocked from behind to start the second half. He bricked on a long pull-up on the break.

Walton -- -- Ugggh! Luke was killing us. To Phil's credit, he went with one of the quickest hooks we've seen all season to start the second half. Shifting Kobe to the SF and bringing in Sasha gave us much better D and also allowed Sasha to help spread the floor. They were sagging off Luke and he wasn't a threat. This is easily the kind of team where you would see Ariza out there to match the athleticism on both ends. The Stats: He scored just 2 points on 1-4 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 21 minutes. The Action: He faced up and hit a 17-footer on the baseline. He blew past Blake, got into the paint and fed Lamar for a dunk. He traveled on a pass off. He missed a corner three on a kickout from Fish. He was called for a tech. He had his pass picked off on the two-man game. He missed a wing jumper. He was getting lit by Outlaw on jumpers. He couldn't get a shot off at the Buzzer on a kickout from Kobe (Kobe wanted him to drop to the corner) instead of stay out top. He missed a wide open wing jumper to start the second half. Phil immediately yanked him for Sasha. Back in to start the fourth at PF and he quickly gives up FTs on a jumpshot..sigh. Phil subbed him back out after getting a minute of rest for others.

Farmar -- -- Farmar was the difference-maker in this one. The game changed whenever he got on the floor. He gave us a bit of everything...energy, perimeter shooting, drives, up-tempo scores, great recoveries on the D end to shooters. Nice to see him back out there finishing a ball game. That was two-way impact ball at the PG spot. We are a tough, tough team whenever Farmar brings that. Nice to see a little of that defensive presence again. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 8-10 shooting (4-5 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 2 assists, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in just 24 minutes. The Action: He hit a corner three over the zone. Good challenge on the other end to force Blake into a brick. He sank a wing three when Kobe kicked to him off the high screen. He somehow airballed a wide open three from the same spot next time down. Nice challenge as he recovered to his man, he then took the long outlet off the miss and scored a layup. He drained a three on a kickout from Ronny against the zone. He pushed out the break, stopped at the elbow when there was no room to attack and he drained the jumper. Impact stint of ball, scoring 13 points on 5-6 shooting in his first 10 minutes. Back in late in the third. He quickly turned the corner with speed off the Lamar pinch post, took contact and hit the And-1, he made the FT. He missed a fade from the FT line. He drained a three from the top of the arc on a kickout from Lamar in the post. Nice recovery again on his man to challenge a jumper and we got the miss. He then weaved his way into the lane, elevated and finger rolled the layup to force a Blazer timeout. He killed 'em tonight.

Turiaf -- -- With Lamar in foul trouble and the team needing some energy, Ronny stepped up to the challenge. He was in on several big plays that helped ignite the crowd. It seemed like most of his noteworthy plays in this game were of that type of variety. You still wish he could pile up a few more boards. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-4 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 3 assists, 2 blocks and 2 fouls in 19 minutes. The Action: He crashed the boards to pull down a Sasha miss and score a layup at the end of the first. He trailed the break, took the pass from Kobe and threw down with both hands on Frye for the And-1, he made the FT. Sensational jump off his man to challenge another Blazer and destroy the layup attempt with a rejection. He then kicked out to Sasha on the other end for a three. He missed a 19-footer. He cut behind Kobe's attack, took the pass and scored the And-1 layup to get the Lakers the lead, he made the FT. He over passed under the hoop, but Sasha hit the corner three for him.

Vujacic -- -- "We went down 15, but not even for a second in the game we didn't doubt that we would win the game," the Machine said. He added, "I think the key to our win tonight was great defense and we played a little bit physical with them." Great job on D by Sasha tonight, just bringing the energy and never letting his man get going. Being able to D-up allowed Kobe to move over to the SF and sit Luke. Sasha struggled a little with his shot early, but made the Blazers pay on multiple threes. A lot of minutes for Sasha tonight. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 4-11 shooting (4-8 from three) to go with 5 boards, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 32 minutes. The Action: He swiped the ball away from a rebounder, pushed it out and missed the pull-up jumper. He missed a wing three. He missed another jumper. He missed a three over the zone from the top of the arc. He drained a sideline three on a kickout from Ronny. He worked off the double screen, took the pass, got a moment of daylight and drained the wing three. He swiped a ball from Aldridge on the perimeter. He missed an 18-footer out of a timeout. He swished a corner three on a kickout from Ronny. He missed a wide open three. He missed a three from the top of the arc. He swished a corner three.

Phil -- -- The Blazers led 19-10, collapsing the Laker D and getting good looks, while we did not on the other end. The Lakers ran iso offense and no two-man action to start the game. We were looking to draw doubles and the Blazers didn't bite... Both Kobe and Lamar had to sit down in the first with two fouls each. The Blazers extended the lead to 15 points before we scored the last 5 of the first to trail 27-17. I think we worked the two-man game just 3 times in that quarter... We started the second quarter with Kobe working the high screen to Farmar for a three. A 13-2 run forced the Blazers into a timeout as we trailed just 29-25... Phil picked up a tech yapping at one of the refs, for what I'm not sure... The Lakers tied the score up 35-35 despite being unable to secure the defensive glass on multiple sequences. The Gasol, Turiaf, Kobe, Sasha, Farmar unit was in the thick of the run... Phil called a timeout and sat Sasha and Farmar for Fish and Luke. We lost our lead a couple minutes later... "They played with a lot more intensity than we did," said BShaw at halftime... He benched Luke after the Blazers were leaving him. Barely a minute into the second half when you saw Phil call for Sasha... We trailed 64-59 when Farmar came in for Fish late in the third. We led 67-65 a minute and a half later, winning the quarter 23-14... After a brief minute of Luke at the PF to get Lamar some rest, Phil went with the Gasol, Odom, Kobe, Sasha, Farmar lineup early in the fourth. He rode that to the end... Nate McMillan gave back the techs we drew with 3:05 left in the game, getting two T's and tossed when we were up by just 6. Stupid, stupid techs by the opposing coach. Kobe hit both and a jumper for a 4-point sequence. Ballgame...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Look at the series of runs by the Lakers in the second half. Also, note the -19s for Luke and Fish and the +34 and +31 for Sasha and Farmar, respectively.

[AndrewBynum17]

that was a great win

[Hyena]

2nd!

[AndrewBynum17]

When will (puke) filter go away?

[DancingBarry]

Dang, forgot to include some

[Andre2K]

great win... thought it was goin to be a loss, but this team wasn't going to be denied, eventho it seemed like the refs were out to get them, this team kept fighting
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My Dream Starting 5 next Season

Pg Lonzo
Sg Kawhi
Sf Ingram
Pf Lebron
C Dedmon

Bench: Caruso, Hart, Bullock, Kuzma, McGee etc

[kobester]

Thanks dancingtaco, oh no, dancingbarry, I can go to bed now.

[KOBE 2.0]

Sniper are you serious? you really thought we would loss?

[KOBE 2.0]

DB, you might be surprised but I love these kind of games. I love winning ugly it makes me appreciate this team more.

[Kobe2Clark]

[1hu2ren3dui4]

a great ugly win. farmar was huge. many props to the game that he played.
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-Most people learn by saying mother, numb, horse, angry... I learned mine by saying Lakers, add gas. - HRD.

[DancingBarry]

[Annihilator]

In my opinion, Kobe's tech was a residual from the previous game. The refs were mad that he showed up a ref in the previous game so they decided to put him in his place this game.

Sasha was a +35. Farmer was a +32. Fisher and Walton were a -19.
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“When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.”

--Anonymous

[KOBE 2.0]

For sure, but its gonna depend on Oden injuries like the ones he suffered puts a major step-back on a players career. It might take him 2-3 seasons before he becomes a force or at least a good center because of the bad fractured legs of his.

[DancingBarry]

[A Mad Chinaman]

Great that basketball is a team game where others can give the starters a lift - like this game.

DB
The word is that Bynum will be back in the first week of April and could play about 8 games before the playoffs - is this true?

The word on Ariza is that his injuries are healing much slower than anticipated - so much so that it is doubtful that he will return prior to the playoffs, how accurate is this?

[DancingBarry]

A Mad Chinaman - I think they are going to be very cautious with Bynum. More so than they were planning originally because of the way the team is playing without him. That projection you have seems very likely from what I've heard.

Originally, Ariza's injury was the one that was going to take longer. I personally wasn't holding out hope for his return at all.

I think we'll have a better idea on both in a couple weeks.

[KOBE 2.0]

DB, I heard Bynum was due back around late March. so 1 month from now.

[Siguy]

Yeah it seems unlikely now that Ariza is coming back, which is a problem because Luke is playing like crud and VladRad gets hurt every time he sneezes.

We really need another swing man if we're gonna beat the good teams.

Great recap. I love how confident this team is. I still don't think it's our year because of all the injuries, but next year ... man, we're gonna win 65+ games and roll over the league, maybe rattle off a couple championships in a row. Should be a fun ride.

[8750]

thanks, DB
in order to build confidence and attitude, winning ugly games is more important than winning when everything shines...

[venicebeach]

Great recap and great W- Thanks DB

[AllorNothing]

Well , the one thing is that Vlade is going to be a very important integral player in the playoffs. We know how teams are going to pack the middle in the playoffs.
We do the same thing also. So hopefully, we have enough healthy shooters come playoff time.

[TooCool]

Thanks again as usual

Portland will definitely be looking for some revenge on Friday night on their home floor... and it's a back-to-back game for us too. But hopefully the Lakers won't play down to their competition like they did tonight.
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[Laker7]

All we can do is hope the great Pee-you-k has a season ending injury like Yao.
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Darvin Ham is an idiot!

[A Mad Chinaman]