LAKERS -at- KINGS - 12/9 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Same Song and Dance... They Lakers made absolutely no adjustments after their previous high-scoring affair against the Kings. The result, a 113-101 loss.

Last time we played, the Kings scored 108 points. Let's go over this again. It's the same exact stuff. First, speed kills the Lakers. The most consistent way to score against L.A. has been to run against them. You knew going into this game that the Kings were going to do just that. They want to push the tempo and take quick shots -- not necessarily fastbreak scores, but early offense shots. The Lakers seemed content to run with them, instead of slowing the game down and take advantage of the Kings weak interior. This wasn't the biggest problem, however.

This was bigger: Second, when we did get into the halfcourt set, we maintained our same defensive scheme against a team with perimeter shooting/playmaking bigmen. So, what happens? We funnel the guards off screens to our bigman in no-man's land -- away from the hoop and away from his own man, who is open for a jumper. The Kings guard can get past our bigman with the dribble, forcing the D to collapse. It's either open jumpers or open layups. They got both. Kings shooters camped out in the corners and waited for the kickouts.

Third, we like to overplay the passing lanes. You can't do that when you have your anchors away from the hoop. Again, they end up in no-man's land and the Kings have easy scores.

The Lakers need to play more straight man defense or go to a more traditional zone against a team like this so that you can keep your bigmen in the paint. There were no adjustments from the Lakers from their previous game against the Kings where the Kings scored at will, thus they snapped their 8-game losing streak.

This time last year, the Lakers were barely over .500. They've improved, but still have some issues to iron out. Hopefully, the Lakers can take out their frustration on the Suns tomorrow.


Kobe -- -- He was totally overplaying his man all game, giving up penetration throughout the game. Salmons would get Kobe on his hip as Kobe reached and overplayed, and the D would break down. Very poor shot selection on one end and some weak effort on D on the other in the first half. Offensively, the ball died in his hands a number of times and he settled for jumpers. We also missed him trying to control the defensive glass. Poor mental game from Kobe. The Stats: He scored 28 points on 9-25 shooting (3-8 from three, 7-7 from line) to go with 4 boards, 3 assists, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 38 minutes. The Action: He attacked to the middle of the lane, spun and hit the short jumper. He forced a turnaround jumper, looked like he got blocked. He missed a hanging layup on an attack down the middle of the lane. He sank an early offense wing jumper. He missed short on the same exact shot next time down. He missed a jab-step wing jumper. He worked the two-man game with Pau, bouncing it to him for the dunk. He didn't rotate to a three shooter to give up the three, then his man dunked in transition on the next trip down. He drew a foul on the perimeter, he made both FTs. Poor shot selection, forcing up a wing three early in the clock and he missed. He missed a three at the end of the half. He had 6 points on 2-9 shooting, no rebounds and 1 assist in the first half. Second Half: He went right to the wing and clanked a jumper to start the half. Another ball-stopping sequence next time down, another bricked wing jumper. He attacked, was slapped and missed, missed the tip attempt. He banked when Fish hit him on the break. He backdoored his man and was fouled on the lob pass from Fish, he made both FTs. He drew defenders in the post, hung and hit Bynum at the last second for the And-1. He faced up, jab stepped and hit the elbow jumper. He sank a wide open three off a kickout from Ariza. He drained a three from the other wing next time down. He missed a baseline jumper. He missed a long three. He was called for a travel on a drive. He missed another long three. He got Salmons in the air, drew contact and hit the And-1 FT jumper, he made the FT. He lost the handle out of bounds. He missed a three. He made a couple FTs. He attacked the lane and threw down, asking the ref for a foul that didn't come. He swished a long pull-up three. He missed another three.

Gasol -- -- Our bigmen should have their way in the interior against the Kings. You need to milk that again and again. Slow down the game, work the post and run your offense inside-out. A slower game helps you on the defensive end against an uptempo team. Pau put up good numbers offensively, even had 7 offensive boards. Defensively, he got stuck in no-man's land a lot with the perimeter shooting King bigmen and the continual funneling and gambling by our guards. With Bynum in foul trouble, Pau had to run some extra long minutes tonight. That may hurt tomorrow. The Stats: He scored 25 points on 9-15 shooting (7-9 from the line) to go with 12 boards (7 offensive), 3 assists, 3 blocks, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 43 minutes. The Action: He bricked a 17-footer on our first attempt. He missed a face-up jumper. He posted up, missed, got it back, missed again, got it back once more and drew the foul, he made both FTs. He took the post entry and hit a short jumpbook. He hit a wing fade. He scored an And-1 on the break with LO, he missed the FT. He missed a 10-footer, forcing it a bit in traffic. He drew a crowd and hit Lamar with an interior feed for a layup. He dunked off the Kobe bounce pass. He dunked when Vlad grabbed a loose ball and found him. He slammed off the interior feed from Lamar. He had 14 points on 6-11 shooting and 6 boards (4 offensive). Second Half: He faked left, went right to lose his man and swished the lefty jumphook. He missed a point-blank tip in. He scored off the drive and dish from Fish. He hit Bynum with a high-low feed for a dunk. He gave Miller a facial on a throwdown at the front of the rim. He threw a pass away trying to hit Bynum in the interior. He swatted Hawes under the hoop. He was called for a three-second violation under the hoop with the ball. He posted up, spun quickly and drew FTs against Moore. He made a FT. More FTs in garbage time.

Bynum -- -- Bynum got into early foul trouble and never got on track (a couple fouls on the offensive end, then later a cheapy on guard penetration). He should dominate against the Kings weak interior. Lakers need to try to exploit that to help slow the game down. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-7 shooting, had 4 boards, 1 assist, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 21 minutes. The Action: He was called for a moving screen foul. He over-powered his man on his first touch, missed a layup, but tipped it back in. He picked up his second foul, drop-stepping as Miller flopped and Bynum had to sit after 6 minutes. He completely lost Moore on a spin move and threw down. He forced a pass after trying to make a post move, turnover. Another brush foul and had to sit with 8:42 left in the half with his third. He had 4 points, 3 boards and 3 turnovers in 9 minutes. Second Half: He missed a jumphook. He back-rimmed a two-footer. He dunked on the high-low from Pau. He powered in the And-1 layup off the Kobe feed, he missed the FT badly.

Radmanovic -- -- He seemed very out of sync on the offensive end, a lot of second-guessing. Defensively, he's not athletic enough for the Kings players and it is harder to help him when you don't have a traditional offensive team with a post player to defend. Our scheme gets totally out of sync. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 2-7 shooting (2-5 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 22 minutes. The Action: He posted up and missed the turnaround. He drained a wing three. Horrible perimeter pass, layup the other way. He was blocked and his man quickly scored a layup the other way. (Garcia had 9 early points on 4-6 shooting to start.) He traveled in the corner against Miller. He missed an And-1 layup (thought he was going to dunk it on the break), he made both FTs. Bad gamble for the second time and his man scored a layup. He drained a three on the pitch out from Mihm. Good hustle for a loose ball, he tracked it down, then found Pau for the dunk. He bricked a wing jumper. He had 8 points on 2-5 shooting, 2 assists and 2 turnover. Second Half: He swatted Miller's post attempt on help D. He double dribbled under the hoop. He missed a long three.

Fisher -- -- Uggh. How many times did we see Fish funnel his man to someone like Pau who is 15 feet from the hoop on that high screen, pick and pop? Once they dribble past Pau, we are completely toast. Happened again and again. Poor defensive game-planning. Offensively, Fish got caught up too much in playing up-tempo ball. Not needed. We need to go back to those old Phoenix Suns defense rules...no quick transition jumpers, carefully choose our threes and work our interior first. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-8 shooting (2-3 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal and 3 fouls in 32 minutes. The Action: He passed up an open three for a contested jumper and missed. He missed a 15-footer on the break. He drained a wide open wing three on an extra pass from Vlad. He attacked in transition and banked off the glass. He missed a three in transition (not the kind of shots you want to take against the Kings). Second Half: Down by 9, he swished an And-1 corner three, he made the FT to cut it to 5 (that's his 5th career 4-point play). He hit Kobe on the break for the bank. He drew a charge on Garcia in transition. He attacked and hit Pau in the lane for the jumphook. He got backdoored on the other end for a layup. The offense stalled and he missed a jumper trying ot create. He missed a corner three.

Lamar -- -- He came out with the Smush Parker headband...then eventually pitched it as we played Smush Parker ball. Some sloppy turnovers and miscues. Otherwise, some good hustle and effort out there. But he, like everyone else, had serious defensive issues at times. I'm sure a lot of fans will make him into the scapegoat, but our issues were with X's and O's...not L's and O's. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-7 shooting (0-1 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 27 minutes. The Action: He missed a pull-up jumper in early offense. He pushed out the break at the end of the quarter and fed Pau for And-1 layup. Pretty reverse layup, spinning it off the backboard when Ariza set him up. He traveled after taking a pass while flashing weak to strong. He scored a layup off an interior feed from Pau. He airballed a three. He overpassed after a spin move, he then chucked his Smush Parker headband. He hit Pau with an interior pass for a dunk. He dropped a sure rebound right out of bounds. He had 4 points on 2-4 shooting, 5 boards and 3 turnovers. Second Half: Salmons got the offensive board on a FT miss, then iso'd on Lamar, blew past him and dunked with both hands. He posted up Miller, spun and drew FTs, he made both. He drew a foul on a defensive board, he went to the line at the other end and made one FT. He swatted Thompson from behind. He scored a layup off the Ariza feed. He scored a layup off the DFish missed jumper.


Ariza -- -- He didn't play to his strengths at all offensively. He clanked a number of jumpers. Missed jumpers can result in transition opportunities against a team looking to run. Kings loved seeing him out on the perimeter hoisting up jumpers. Defensively, he might be the only player we have that can gamble and reach and still recover to his man well. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-10 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 6 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 26 minutes. The Action: He was called for a charge when Miller flopped again, Ariza changed directions and brushed him in transition. He was swatted on a layup attempt. He missed a baseline jumper. He scored a breakaway layup on a perfect outlet from Sasha. Great cut off the Bynum handoff and he threw down. He attacked and dished to LO for the reverse. Second Half: He missed a jumper trying to beat the shotclock. He passed up an open three, for a contested 20-footer and missed. Nice reach to cause a turnover, it led to Farmar FTs the other way. He missed a sideline three. He missed a jumper, got it back and fed Lamar for a layup. He threw a pass away.

Farmar -- -- Farmar had a good first stint and helped the Lakers erase an early King lead. He offered little on his next stint. In fact, he sent the Kings to the line for easy points late in the third. Quite foul-prone in his short minutes. Overall, it was a better effort from our second unit of late...but hard not to be. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 2-7 shooting (2-4 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 assist and 5 fouls in 16 minutes. The Action: Nice use of the foul to give with 2.2 seconds left in the first quarter. He ripped the net on a wing three in transition. Nice help D challenge to force a brick by a King bigman. He swished a three on a kickout from Ariza. Udrih iso'd on Farmar, spun to lose him and drew a foul. He attacked and missed a layup. Second Half: In the penalty, Farmar came in and gave up two quick fouls for FTs. He missed an open 18-footer at the end of the third. He drew FTs to start the fourth quarter when Ariza forced a turnover and Farmar got loose in transition, he made both. He settled for a three and bricked. He missed a three in transition.

Vujacic -- -- Not a whole lot to Sasha's game. He missed his only shot badly and didn't shoot again. Defensively, he wasn't our problem. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting, had 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 foul in 10 minutes. The Action: He didn't draw iron on a wing three. He grabbed a board and hit Ariza with a perfect outlet over a defender for a layup. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Mihm -- -- He got minutes opposite Pau in the middle of the second quarter with the score tied at 38-38. The Stats: He had 1 assist in 2 minutes. The Action: He pitched it out to Vlad for a three. Second Half: No action.

Powell -- -- He came in for some garbage time. I would have been interested to see him a little more earlier, but if he had one of his turnover-prone games that would have hurt even more. The Stats: He didn't shoot and had 1 board in 2 minutes. The Action: Did not play in the first half. Second Half: Came in late, nothing to report.

Phil -- -- The team wasn't prepared for the Kings. It was obvious from the first few minutes. The Lakers came out slowly, trailing 11-2 after 3 minutes. That lead was maintained by the Kings through most of the first quarter. The Lakers got a couple stops and baskets at the end of the quarter and trailed 27-22... The Kings had 18 points in the paint in the first quarter, getting layups in transition and halfcourt... The second unit took the lead just after a minute into the second quarter... The starters faded in the final couple minutes and the Lakers trailed 56-51 at the half... The Lakers had 10 turnovers, which turned into 15 points. The Kings had 5 turnovers, which the Lakers turned into 2 points in the first half... The coaches stressed transition D and locking down in general. Hard to do against this team when they are still playing the defensive team they've been conditioned and trained to play... The Lakers continue the second half where they started the game... The Lakers trailed 97-82 with 10 minutes left to go. It's over. They don't know how to adjust... The Kings shot 49 percent, the Lakers 40 percent. The Lakers were out-rebounded 45-43... The Lakers were out-scored 52-42 on points in the paint... The Kings were never out-scored in any quarter. Kevin Martin didn't play...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Starters all in the negative on the +/-. A 10-0 run for the Kings to start the fourth, however, buried the Lakers for good.

[Arizona]

1st! Wow, that was horrible! I wanted to poke my eyes out there for a while. Yikes. I think these boys were thinking of Phoenix tomorrow night and forgot to show up against the Queens... Damn!
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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

[LakerLanny]

in
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Love, Laker Lanny

[Jack Kent Cooke]

Lakers need to hire Tom Thibodeau as head coach.
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The Man who Built the Great Western Forum

MINUTEMEN: http://img412.imageshack.us/my.php?image=minutemenuz1.jpg

Prediction: 64-18 (42-10), NBA title.

"It ain't over. It's 7 game series." - Carmelo after Lakers win 4-0.

[najim]

man every season got its highs and lows, no worries...

[DancingBarry]

[KingKobe20]

Start of the 3rd quarter being down 5 we really lost momentum when Kobe kept on settling for those two stupid congested jumpers.

If Kobe would of drove to the hoop at least 70% of the time we may have pulled this one out.

Sucks that we aren't the best record in the league. Shoot I think we aren't even second.

First in the West but we need to shape up.

We need to really wake up and get our Swagger back
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"Tryin' to get that Kobe number, One Over Jordan"
-Kanye

aka ILLWiLL20

R.I.P PHIL

[L33T kObE8]

[Rek]

[japanesebeef1]

[IPK]

I am not going to lie. I was tempted to lay into the Lakers "lyrically" after watching us get dismantled by the Quasimodo-led Kings. Yes, I said Kings because on this night referring to them as "queens" would be baseless. They played with much more passion and their execution seemed flawless, dissecting the Lakers defense play after play. And to see the Lakers waltz up the court like "no sweat...wait 'til we hit our kill switch...no deficit is to large for us to overcome" was crippling. I may be overreacting to some extent, and I did say before this season began "It Won't Be Easy", but I didn't anticipate complacency playing any type of role in our fight to win back "Little Lawrence". We'll get it together, I'm sure. But only time will tell....


Aside from that, excellent job DB. You always come thru in the clutch. For better or worse. Flame on....
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Our tribute to Phil, the man behind LG

[tw-lakbfan]

Phil too slow to make adjustments during games, nothing new.

Kobe too stubborn to make adjustments during games, anything new?

[Addicus]

The Pistons game we shot bad and they shot excellent. The Pacers game we let slip after putting them away. This game we flat out got beat. Pau is the only starter who really brought his A game.
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The coaches have lost these guys because the players aren't doing a damn thing they are being instructed to. They were told to jump on the Kings and came out and laid down. The ball movement was nill and the defensive rotations were slow. It didn't help Bynum was in foul trouble.
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The Kings played well. Theus had them ready to play and they showed up and kept the pressure on.
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Stop crying and start doing.

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/addicusbrown

[Mation]

Thanks DB.

Tomorrow's another game. I hope we make defensive adjustments come Friday though.

[Critical Beatdown]

Look at all 3 of our losses...teams with Bigs who are legit shooting threats from the perimeter, drawing our big men out of the paint and then killing us with the P&R.

We need to develop, practice and master a zone-type defense that will address this, and keep Drew relevant as a defensive presence in these types of games.
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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)

[IPK]

[Critical Beatdown]

We had several chances to still take control of this game at various stages too, we also failed offensively to really convert in these situations consistently, and missed several gimmes that really hurt us momentum wise in that they turned into transition success on the other end for the Kings.
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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)

[DrHouse]

Tonight's loss was different than the DET loss IMHO. In the DET game we actually played decent defense at times, they were just hitting everything from outside.....even contested shots.

Tonight we got murdered defensively. This was a cakewalk for the Kings. Layup after layup after layup. Tonight showed me this team is not ready to contend and won't be until they grow some defensive backbone. Boxing guys out, knocking people around, being physical, these are things that our team just isn't doing.

Who's to blame? The coach, the players, I don't know. Something is dead wrong with this team and I'm honestly surprised the players and coaches themselves aren't freaking out right now.

[DancingBarry]

[Critical Beatdown]

I agree, and am starting to think along the lines of a pitching metaphor in the Major Leagues, the best have at least 3 pitches they can count on, and it looks like we need 3 defenses so we can't make it too predictable to scheme against us, especially a team with Bigs who can play and shoot on the perimeter.
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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)

[DocK36]

[mike_dee23]

^ we can have the greatest scheme in the world, but if the players aren't committed to rotating and contesting shots instead of picking up steals, then it's not going to work.

Last 9 games opponents' scores: 113, 92, 104, 102, 118, 99, 107, 93, 108
- before these 9, the Lakers had been playing decent defense
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MTFBWYA

[Critical Beatdown]

I agree, we have to find the right balance between gambling for steals and playing smart recovery. That said, I'm envisioning the 3rd defense to be a variant of the Amoeba and played primarily by our big lineup, with LO at the 3, and often Trevor at the 1 (otherwise at the 3 when LO is at the 4 or sitting).

Sometimes these seasons seem like forever, even after only 20 games, but I still remember clearly the excitement and enthusiasm in Kobe's voice when he was talking about the Big defensive lineup in preseason practice (Ariza at the 1, Kobe at the 2, LO at the 3, Pau at the 4, Drew at the 5).

You know you're good, and deep, when you're 20 games into the season, 17-3, and you still haven't played your best lineup yet, or if you prefer, your best 5 players together on the floor.

Besides the defense, our rebounding advantage would be straight ridiculous, and the main question mark would be our transition D, which should be fine with Kobe, Ariza and LO.
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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)

[IPK]

[Shaber]

Reading through DBs game analysis time and time again makes me wish he was the Lakers defensive coach....


Right now I actually want Lakers to get into a losing streak. We would lose any chance for home court advantage in the finals, but perhaps, just perhaps that would bring these Laker players and the coaching stuff back to the land and make them realise that they have to work for winning the games. I think Lakers are just overconfident. They seem to think they win no matter what. But they will not. And they need to get back to the intensity level they started the season with. Playing D just for sake of it. Killing the opponents, keeping them at 80 ppg. Current attitude will not work in the finals, it just will not.
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Lakers depth chart

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