LAKERS -at- NUGGETS - 11/1 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Winning Ugly... Sometimes you're going to have to do that on the road. With an entire rotation in foul trouble and the team shooting 38 percent from the floor, the Lakers explored new dimensions of ugly in their 104-97 win against the Nuggets.

This Nugget team still had us in their collective heads from our playoff beatdown -- the sweep where Kobe warned them not to shake the tree or a leopard might fall out. The trash talking was down from their side, they still had to deal with the leopard.

With Kobe, Bynum, Lamar, Vlad and Sasha all with three first half fouls, the Lakers went to the half trailing by 6 points.

"We weren't able to be as physical as we like to be defensively," Kobe said.

So, they adjusted. They were whistled for just 3 fouls in the third. They out-worked the Nuggets on the boards, dominating the offensive glass 15-3. And down the stretch in the fourth, they gave the ball to the leopard and he closed the game marvelously. Kobe had 14 fourth-quarter points.

The Lakers would have had an impossible task trying to pull-off the win in this game without the effort from Pau Gasol. When seemingly everyone was down with fouls, he was battling. He's the first Laker to crack the 40-minute mark this season on his way to 16 points and 16 boards.


Kobe -- -- "We just had to be patient. Keep our poise," Kobe said. "We understood at halftime that the calls weren't necessarily going our way. We just had to relax, come out and control the tempo." They certainly adjusted well in the second half. Kobe throttled it up, scoring 22 of his 33. He did a good job playing with fouls in the second half. His fourth quarter gave the otherwise ugly game some aesthetics. The Stats: He scored 33 points on 11-24 shooting (1-2 from three, 10-12 from the line) to go with 4 boards (3 offensive), 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 33 minutes. The Action: He drew a charge on Kenyon who tried to push out the break. He hit Pau for a jumper. He attacked the paint and scored an easy layup. He took a bump from his man, faded and hit the And-1 elbow jumper, he made the FT. He missed a baseline turnaround. He airballed a pumpfaking jumper trying to beat the shotclock. Quick first step past Smith and he drew the foul, he made both FTs. He pushed off to get a lob and drew his second foul. Melo gambled for a steal and Kobe scored a layup off Gasol's pass. He missed a wing jumper. He sank an elbow, curling around screens. He missed a step-through, then was called for his third foul of the first half and had to sit. He had 11 points on 4-10 shooting. Second Half: He blew past Martin with a quick first step and scored the layup. He missed a fading jumper on iso against Nene (need to get a better shot than that). He hit an And-1 runner, taking contact and hitting while fading from the hoop, he made the FT. He took contact, kicked to Vlad who hit the three. He pumpfaked and hit a long baseline jumper. He missed a face-up jumper. He tip-toed the baseline and drew FTs on a reverse attempt, he made one FT. He missed a three. He had 8 in the third. He missed a tough reverse, (he had Bynum if he wanted to dump it to him). He swished a three out of a timeout. He iso'd on Melo and hit a jumper over him on the next time down. He swiped Melo's pass on the other end. He missed a turnaround short on his third attempt in a row. Quick first step and he drew FTs against Melo, he made one. He missed another jumper. He pulled down a big miss by Lamar with 3 minutes left, faced up, attacked to his left and scored the layup. He didn't move his feet and fouled AI for FTs on the other end (AI missed both). With under 2 minutes, he attacked to his right, put the breaks on, stepped through the other direction and scored a layup (what a nightmare to cover). After draining the clock, he attacked and missed a pumping jumper and wanted the foul. He was fouled in the backcourt and made both FTs. He attacked to his right with speed and drew FTs, he made both.

Gasol -- -- Pau is very good about staying out of foul trouble and somehow he avoided the first-half carnage. This was vital to our staying in the game. Pau even had the biggest highlight of the game, a poster job on the Birdman that had the bench on their feet. That was the DVR rewind play of the game. Had to watch that several times. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 7-15 shooting (2-4 from the line) to go with 16 boards (4 offensive), 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 1 foul. The Action: He missed a good look at a jumphook. He made a FT jumper when Kobe drew a crowd and found him. He posted up Kenyon, drop-stepped and hit the shot hook with his left. He rattled in an elbow jumper off the two-man game with Fish. He missed a layup on a drive. He one-handed in a missed Kobe jumper. He missed a turnaround jumper. He hit a quick shot off the interior feed from LO. He iso'd against Anderson, got bumped several times and finally drew the foul, he made one FT. He missed a 6-footer off a pass from Sasha. He faced up on the Birdman who had been blocking a number of shots, he attacked quickly to his left and threw down a massive wind-up dunk with his left, posterized him. He missed a 17-footer short. He out-reached his man for an offensive board and it led to a Fish three. He had 13 points on 6-12 shooting and 7 boards. Second Half: He hit Lamar with a bounce pass for a layup. He airballed a jumper trying to beat the clock. He beat AI to the spot and was called for the block (he then swiped the entry pass on the perimeter and drew a foul pushing it up), he made one FT. Good hustle for an offensive board, he went to the floor and called timeout. He scored a layup on a no-look, behind-the-back return feed from Farmar. He forced a travel on Kleiza in the backcourt defending a passing lane. He missed a jumphook.

Bynum -- -- Frustrating game for Bynum, having to deal with the foul trouble. He did show, however, the ability to play several minutes with 5 fouls in the fourth. The Lakers never got in sync with him on the offensive end. Offensively, he may not have played like a beast (or had the chance), but defensively in these first three games he has shown some very positive signs. He's one of the bigger reasons the team is locking down. He's erasing mistakes and he has no problem with trapping on screen rolls or rushing out to shooters if need be. The more he grows into that role, the more he will become the heart and soul of the Laker D for years to come. He's only going to improve. "We know what kind of kid he is. We know what his work ethic is," Mitch Kupchak said in the press conference. "We know it better than anybody what his upside is." The Stats: He scored 4 points on 0-1 shooting (4-6 from the line) to go with 8 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 5 fouls in 21 minutes. The Action: He pulled down an offensive board, spun around Nene and drew a foul for the Lakers first points, he made one FT. He dropped to the level of the ball to swipe a baseline pass. He picked up an offensive foul, pushing off for a board. He took a post entry and was fouled hard to prevent a hoop, he made one FT. He picked up his third foul in the first half on a post move (weak call as he turned with power and shed Nene, Shaq would foul out in the first half if they called that all the time). Second Half: He picked up his fourth foul in the first minute of the half and had to sit. He posted up, spun, pumpfaked and drew a trip to the line, he made both FTs. He picked up his fifth foul contesting a shot and Phil left him in with 10 minutes left. He swatted Nene's dribble drive. Nice challenge on Martin's drive and he forced a brick.

Radmanovic -- -- Good two-way game from Vlad. Again, he was making some nice plays on the defensive end. Nothing that showed up in the stat sheet, but good challenges forcing misses. Melo struggled until late in the game. After a good third quarter, Phil brought him back for some crunch-time run. He closed out the game with a unit that went +7. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 2-7 shooting (2-6 from three, 5-7 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 1 assist, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 31 minutes. The Action: He missed a corner three left open. He missed another open three. He missed a layup at the front of the rim. Nice challenge on Melo, staying on his shoulder and forcing a miss. He drew FTs on cut down the lane from the weakside, he made both. He missed a three and had to foul Melo in transition D. He picked up his third foul and had to sit near the end of the half. Second Half: He was fouled on a three-pointer by Melo, he made two of the FTs. He drained a corner three in transition. He missed a wing jumper. He drained a wing three on a kickout from Kobe. He was fouled on a defensive board for FTs, he made one.

Fisher -- -- He hit a clutch three in crunch time with the shotclock low. That was his biggest make of the game. Even though he was 1-5 on his forays into the paint, still a decent game from Fish. On a couple of those drives we ended up scoring after getting the board (a benefit of dribble pentration). He also got to the line on another drive. (I think we ended up with 8 points after it was all said and done with his 6 attacks into the paint.) The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-10 shooting (2-4 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 1 rebound, 4 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 33 minutes. The Action: He attacked the paint, tripped and airballed as he fell to the floor. Ill-advised lob to Bynum who hand men between him and the hoop. He swatted AI's jumper on recovery. He attacked baseline and powered up a layup. He hit Pau off the two-man sequence for a jumper. He missed a layup, but Powell cleaned it up. He missed on a drive to his left, Pau got it back, Fish set up in the corner and hit a three. He took contact with no call and airballed the layup. Second Half: He swished an elbow jumper working off the Bynum screens. He attacked the lane, took contact and finally got to the line, he made one FT. He missed a corner three. Huge three with 2:30 left and the clock low, someone had to create, he just stepped up and drained it over his man.

Lamar -- -- I liked his aggressiveness in the paint in this game. He didn't over-think, just attacked. Unfortunately, a lot of his aggressiveness was taken away by foul trouble. I've been wondering what Phil would do during a close game down the stretch. Would Lamar see time? Would Vlad? As it turned out, Bynum had foul issues and Phil had to put him on the bench, so LO was out there for this one. His perimeter shooting issues did come to play briefly, but nothing the team couldn't overcome with him at PF. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 3-9 shooting (4-4 from the line) to go with 6 boards (3 offensive), 3 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 25 minutes. The Action: He missed a layup on a push-out and early-offense attack. Good work on the offensive glass, but missed a couple shots. He posted up, drew a crowd and fed Pau for the score. He picked up 3 quick fouls in his 5 minutes and had to sit. Second Half: He scored a layup off the feed from Gasol. He sealed Kenyon, took the corner entry and scored the layup with ease. Aggressive attack on Martin down the middle of the lane and he scored the layup. His hook was blocked under the hoop. He drew FTs attacking in the paint, he made both. He missed an elbow jumper, fading. He kicked out to Ariza for a three. He drew FTs trying to finish at the rim off the Farmar drive and dish, he made both. Ugggh, he never got set for a 20-footer that was open and bricked it way short during crunch time.

Ariza -- -- We didn't get the up-and-down game that he thrives on (no Farmar/Ariza action), but he still imposed his energy on the opponent. I hate to keep bringing up his three shooting because it's such a small sample size this early in the season, but he drained his only one tonight. He's 5-6 from three thus far this regular season. Pretty impressive. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 1-3 shooting (1-1 from three, 4-6 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals and 1 foul in 16 minutes. The Action: He took the ball away on some good defensive anticipation of a return pass. He got swatted on a drive. He tried to posterize Andersen in transition and drew FTs, he made one. Second Half: He back-rimmed a layup. Good hustle for an offensive board (hmmm, no credit in the stat sheet). He swiped a kickout pass. He attacked baseline and drew FTs on a reverse, he made one. He exploded off the Bynum handoff and drew FTs on the baseline, he made both. He drained a three from the sideline on the kickout from Lamar. Nice challenge on Kleiza to force a miss.

Farmar -- -- Farmar struggled with his shot in this game, often coming up short. He had a couple moments of spark when attacking the hoop, but other than that, probably his most sub-par game of the past month. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-8 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 2 turnovers and three fouls in 15 minutes. The Action: He choked a 5-footer on the baseline. He biffed a layup on a drive at the end of the quarter, should have had it, but apparently didn't think he had enough time to ride it in. He had a layup blocked. He missed a pull-up jumper short. He bricked a baseline jumper short on his next attempt and his man scored in transition. He blew past his man, turning the corner with speed and scored a layup. Second Half: He took the pass from Pau, attacked, drew his man and went behind his back to Pau with a no-looker for a score. He didn't bite on an AI fake and it drew a discontinued dribble call. He got trapped and threw the ball away. He missed a three, way short. He tried to take a charge in transition, but was still moving (nice effort). He attacked with the shotclock low and fed LO for FTs.

Vujacic -- -- He struggled a bit with his decision making in this game. Some poor decisions on both ends, whether it was overly aggressive D on the perimeter or an ill-advised drive. He somehow stayed out of the Nuggets' heads unlike last year when the Rage Against the Machine appeared more than once from this opponent. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-6 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 15 minutes. The Action: Poor D, not taking a good angle on Kleiza under the hoop and it led to a layup. He missed an open three. He missed a baseline jumper, not squaring up well. He sank a wing jumper. He was left wide open on an in-bounds pass and sank the baseline jumper. He blew past Carter with a quick first step and drew FTs, he made both. Second Half: He missed a wing three. He missed a baseline jumper. He threw a pass into the backcourt trying to create off the dribble.

Luke -- -- With Lamar picking up three quick fouls, Luke got some first quarter run at the PF spot. It was limited. Phil later went with Powell. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting and had 1 board. The Action: He missed a shotput from a 7 feet away at the end of the half. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Powell -- -- He came in midway through the second for Pau. These are the minutes Ronny would have gotten. With Lamar and Drew in foul trouble, Phil would have gone with some extended time for Turiaf. Powell filled his role nicely. Some board work, a few points. The unit, however, went -8 and he ended up with the lowest +/- score (Bynum, Kobe, Lamar were all on the bench). The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-3 shooting, grabbed 4 boards and had 1 foul in 7 minutes. The Action: He cleaned up a Fish missed drive with a putback. Nice help on Melo to force a missed layup. He swished a 12-footer, flashing from the weakside of the triangle. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Phil -- -- Lakers weren't moving their feet well defensively to start the game. The rotations started out slow, but improved. They also weren't able to get aggressive on the ball... Lamar picked up three quick first quarter fouls and Phil went to Luke at PF... Phil ran a Bynum/Pau lineup to start the second quarter as we led 23-21... Kobe, Lamar, and Bynum all had three first half fouls and had to park it on the bench for extended time. Sasha and Vlad soon joined them... The Lakers trailed 52-46 at the half, shooting 17-52 (33 percent) to the Nuggets 18-37 (49 percent). The Lakers had a 30-19 advantage on the boards (12-2 on the offensive glass). This saved their rears in the first half... Coaches wanted the team to quit fouling and make the Nuggets execute their offense... The Nuggets led by 9 until the Lakers rattled off a 7-0 run to force a timeout... It was all tied up 76-76 at the end of the third. The team had just three fouls in the quarter... Tied at 86-86, Phil went back to the starters. He then finally sat Bynum for Lamar after leaving Drew out there for 5 minutes with 5 fouls... The two teams seemed to switch roles in the assist department. The Nuggets had 30 assists to the Lakers 18... The Lakers shot 32-43 from the line, the Nuggets 21-30... The Nuggets went 6-19 down the stretch...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Check out the 14-4 and 7-0 runs in the fourth quarter. Kobe led all Lakers with a +13.

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks again DB!! Tough win, but a win no less!

I guess there will be competitive games this season. 98-0 isn't a certainty.

I hope Drew can focus on playing in position the next couple days and avoid getting in immediate foul trouble.

In the meantime, it sure is nice to have Kobe around when the team has been misfiring, it's late and the game could go either direction.

[10scott10]

[Critical Beatdown]

Good stuff DB, and lots of those fouls were BS, I've never even heard of a team having 5 guys with 3 fouls at halftime.
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!
Per 100 possessions, we're winning 118-102 with LO on the floor, and losing 109-111 without him. (updated: 4/1/09; source: 82games.com)

[DancingBarry]

[Master)v(ind]

Lakers are just too beastly, shooting 38% and still manage to get 100+ points, half of our team in foul trouble and still manage to hold one of the highest scoring teams to less than 100
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“A story about Kobe is the first time they went to be fitted for their USA uniforms and Kobe starts crying. The equipment person asks him what happened and Kobe was like, man, you don’t understand, I’ve dreamed of playing for my country."

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

[StuLantz#1]

I don't think I once commented on Gasol in the game thread, but it's true he really kept us in that one early and deserves a lot of credit. Not only did their defense look weaker without Bynum, but it didn't seem they were even running that same defensive zone scheme tonight. Maybe it was just me but I never recall seeing any attempt at what we saw the last couple nights.

[Arizona]

No trash talking from Denver? You clearly didn't watch the Denver feed or hear Kmart's comments before the game, then. This was supposed to be 'pay back' with them getting revenge for being embarassed by us last year.
His exact words:

'The revenge factor, the way it ended against those guys and the way the kinda treated us. For me it's revenge, and I'm gonna approach it that way. I'm going out, there ain't gonna be no talkin before the game, it's about business. So this is a revenge factor and we're going out to embarass them the way they embarrassed us. So that's the way it is, it's revenge;

Kmart's mouth making promises his body and his team can't keep, as usual.
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“I’m just a basketball player, you know? Just put me where you need me.” -Lamar Odom

“You’ve got to play with pride and guts.” -LO

[MedRomLaker]

Loving the win bro, great recap, must say I do tend to get frustrated at times when I see a lack of post ups for drew and pau, this team need to work on entry passes to the post, or just give it to pau in the mid-post and let him drop an entry to drew.

[10scott10]

[DancingBarry]

[Michlake]

Love seeing Gasol dominate the boards. Just what we needed with Bynum and Odom in foul trouble.

[SladeRider]

So basically, we can't look too much into the game about the defensive end because of all the foul trouble the team got in, in the first half.

It's nice to see Pau kept us in the game and they let the Mamba finish it off.

Gotta love this Pick your Poison offense, they get Kobe, Bynum, Lamar, Vlad and Sasha all in foul trouble, easly what could be a starting unit, all in the first half and the Lakers still stay close because of Pau.
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"This is a comptitive city. We're used to winning titles, not just winning games and being in the first round. We want to win championships. Now's the time.", "do something, and do it now."
- Kobe Bryant

[DancingBarry]

[KingKobe20]

I'm just glad that we are 3-0 and Boston is 2-1

[japanesebeef1]

All is right with the world. The Lakers played and D.B. commented.

Thanks DB.

I don't remember Pau being that aggressive for rebounds and offensively. The throwdown on Birdman was memorable!

Rare night for both Sasha and Vlad to be a little off, perhaps the lack of air resistance affected their shots.

Bynum's fine. Even Wilt, Jabbar and Shaq had off nights. The kid is 21!

Even though the Lakers looked human for the first time . . . we get the win. That's a great sign against a playoff team.

[limchrc]

Thanks

[usa]

[eagles nut]

Amazing the Lakers can play as poorly as they did in the first half and still only be down 6. That's how good they are. Even when they suck, they're still the best.

[Sage_10]

Thanks DB! Great recap.
_________________
"You Must Be Willing To Give Up That Which Can Be Lost In Order To Gain That Which Cannot Be Lost." - FORTUNE COOKIE

[oldschool32]

Thanks db. Glad Kobe was able to put on his cape in the 4th quarter, that was ugly.
_________________
"It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up."-The Greatest

[John O]

"What know his work ethic is," <- Maybe you would like to correct it.

Apart from that, many, many thanks for this great service you provide to us, Laker fans.

[20,000]

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks DB!

Home opener. Melo's return. The team that swept them in the playoffs are in the building. Despite bogus foul calls they have only one bad quarter defensively and only surrendered 97 points to a high powered Nugget squad that dropped 114 on Boston last year. Things are looking up for this squad.

OT: Boston lost to the Pacers!