SUNS -at- LAKERS - 12/10 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Suns and Shadows... You blink as water sprinkles in through the broken driver-side window. Your car is upside down. Your head must have hit the roof and knocked you out briefly. You're disoriented, but reach the door handle and pop it open. The car chirps at you and you realize the engine is still on. The song on the radio, "Riders on the Storm" by the Doors plays...

Like a dog without a bone
An actor out on loan
Riders on the storm
Theres a killer on the road
His brain is squirmin like a...

It sparks a memory. You remember being in a haze, city lights streaming past your car windows. You remember seeing your exit, but being stuck in the fast lane. You deftly negotiated a series of lane changes and another car was behind you trying to keep pace -- a white-and-blue sports car with tinted windows. The license plate read, "KINGS"... That's all you recall.

As you turn off the engine and climb out, you see the sports car waiting farther down the road. It takes off the moment you emerge. A sprinkler sprays you with water and you try to figure out where you are.

Pine trees, picnic tables, grass -- you're in a park...but where, you don't know. You walk over to a group of people gathered along a pathway. You call out to them, but they don't answer. It's then you realize that they are shadows. You shudder involuntarily. You're chasing ghosts.

At your feet, a message is scribbled in chalk on the sidewalk. It's that DancingBarry:

The Four Horsemen were here. The one called Death looked like a dead man walking. Someone stirred him awake in the final few minutes. A handful of others kept their opponent at bay. They looked fatigued and sluggish, but were carried to victory on the backs of their 7-footers. This opponent used to get the better of them...now they have fallen into transitional realm and are but shadows of their former selves.

I will continue to track them..."

With Kobe going through the motions for most of the game, the Lakers relied on Pau, Bynum, Lamar and some Sick Jumpers of Death off the bench. Aside from some late-game steals from DFish, everyone else's game was forgettable.

Lots of zone from the short-handed Suns, lots of snoozing from the Lakers. Grant Hill and Matt Barnes combined for 48 points, 17 rebounds and 8 assists. They got far too many easy looks. Offensively, the Lakers got the ball into their bigmen with much more determination. Pau efficiently killed the Suns zones as the Lakers won, 115-110.


Kobe -- -- Swing pass Kobe. Haven't seen that for a while, but it was definitely there for most of the game. He seemed to be going through the motions quite a bit. A lot of settling for jumpers, nothing to the rim. His first freethrows came with 4:24 left in the game. Defensively, he looked just as slow. He looked fatigued or played like it, anyway. It almost looked like Phil cautioned him about careless turnovers and Kobe went to conservative mode. He still had 5 turnovers, however. He was a team-worst -7. It's time for Kobe to start setting the tone for the team on the defensive end. Smart, intense defensive effort has been lacking from him and the team lately. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 6-16 shooting (2-5 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 5 turnovers and 2 fouls in 34 minutes. The Action: He missed a wing jumper in early offense. He missed the pull-up jumper from 21 feet next time down. He missed another long-jumper, settling. He posted up out of a timeout and missed the step-back jumper. He finally hit on a sideline jumper, pulling up off the dribble. He swished a baseline jumper on the in-bounds next time down. He missed a three on the next trip. He threw a pass away in the lane. He gambled on the perimeter on iso D, it resulted in FTs for his man on penetration. He had just 4 points on 2-7 shooting, 4 boards and 1 assist in the half. Second Half: He gave up a layup to Hill. He sank a three on his first attempt. Finally a drive to his left and he hit the layup. He missed an elbow jumper. He missed a three, settling again. He sank a 10-footer in transition. He let Barnes cut under the hoop for a wide open layup. He bricked a long three. He spun and charged. He missed a short baseline jumper. He sank an early offense three that forced a timeout. He threw a pass away trying to force it to Bynum in transition. He missed a top-of-the-key jumper in early offense. He saw a gap, attacked, took a bump and a slap and drew FTs (first trip to the line with 4:24 in the game), he made both. He spotted Bynum on the slip screen for an And-1 dunk. Horrible forced dribble trying to squeeze between two defenders when there was no room, it resulted in a layup the other way and an angry timeout from Phil. Quick swing-through and attack as soon as he got the ball and he drew a foul, he made the FTs. Barbosa scored a layup on an outlet over Kobe's head off a made FT.

Gasol -- -- Pau killed the Suns. He was extremely efficient and a lot of it was off his jumper, too. "He took what was available to him...he was the most effective zone buster we had," Phil said. The Laker bigmen did a better job anchoring. Pau had some strong challenges in crunch time. (They were able to stay in much better defensive positioning because of the Suns centers.) Amare was also made into perimeter threat all night. Teams can't go through us easily in the post. Still, lots of work to be done on that end. "We should definitely focus more on the defensive end," Pau said. It's on the players' minds as well as the fans. The Stats: He scored 28 points on 11-14 shooting (6-7 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 38 minutes. The Action: He set up Bynum for a high-low dunk. He hit a 10-footer in the lane. Good job running the floor, Luke hit him with the long outlet and Pau scored the And-1 dunk, he made the FT. Nice touch pass in the interior to Drew, who was fouled on the layup attempt. He picked up his second foul on a reach on Nash (poor call, poor decision by Pau, too). He swished a running hook going to his right. He scored a layup beating everone down court. He got hacked under the hoop, he made both FTs. He sank a FT jumper trailing the play. He couldn't finish a lob-like pass. He showed the ball and was blocked trying to dunk. He had 13 points on 5-7 shooting, 2 boards and 3 assists. Second Half: He scored an easy jumphook with his left over Amare. He hit the short jumper in the middle of the lane. He sealed Amare on the corner sequence and Luke found him for the dunk. He missed a short hook. He swished a 12-footer. He swished a quick turnaround from 8 feet out. He swished a wing 18-footer. He whipped a pass under the hoop to LO for the throwdown. Great challenge on Amare under the hoop to force an airball. Out on the break with DFish and he was fouled, he made one FT. Superb effort from Pau to get to an offensive board on a Fish miss, his jersey was being pulled, but he still battled for it and was fouled, he made both FTs. He was stripped in the lane trying to create. He swatted Barbosa's corner three.

Bynum -- -- He's too big, too strong for the Suns without Shaq. The Lakers did a good job getting the ball to their bigmen. Frankly, the only thing we were really missing was some of that dribble penetration to set them up. (Against the zone, that isn't always easy to do.) So, the Lakers did it with the pass quite a bit. Bynum had a number of opportunities to score with very low position. Defensively, Phil mentioned before the game that Bynum hasn't anchored the D well lately. His shot blocks have been down and he still lets too many defensive boards get away from him. He was better tonight, aside from a couple missed rebounds. After a string of excellent FT shooting games, Bynum had a weak one. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 7-11 shooting (3-7 from the line) to go with 11 boards (4 offensive), 3 assists, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 30 minutes. The Action: He dunked off the two-man game with Luke. He drew the D and kicked out to Fish for three. He took the high-low from Gasol, gathered himself and dunked. He forced a high-low to Gasol, turnover. He was blocked, got it back and scored the reverse. He missed an And-1 layup attempt off the interior feed from Pau, he made one FT. He dunked off the post entry from Luke. He missed a jumphook. He missed a turnaround jumper. Low position, he pivoted around Amare and drew FTs, he made one. He pivoted around no one, missed the uncontested dunk, got it back and scored the layup. He blocked Nash's layup and controlled it. Shotclock violation as he tried to dunk, just a hair late. He had 12 points on 5-9 shooting, 6 boards and 1 block in the half. Second Half: He faked right, went left, stepped through and scored the short one. He roofed Amare to get the stop. He was fouled on a layup attempt, he made one FT. He threw down an And-1 dunk off the slip screen and lob from Kobe, he missed the FT.

Luke -- -- Phil dusted off Luke and threw him into the starting lineup. He wanted to get better ball movement on the offensive end. I think he achieved that with Luke, who had 6 assists. Of course, the perimeter shooting will lack a bit...not to mention the D. Props to Luke for being able to come off the bench and give a decent contribution despite not having played much recently. That isn't easy to do. Yeah, he had issues, but all things considered, that wasn't a bad game from him. (I'm sure Lamar could also do the 0-4 thing from three and pass the ball around, too, at the SF spot.) "One thing I love doing is passing the ball and getting other people involved," Luke said. He mentioned other teams have scouted our defense, and we are in the process of making some adjustments. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-10 shooting (0-4 from three) to go with 1 board, 6 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 22 minutes. The Action: He swatted Hill's jumper on the first stand of the game. He set up Bynum off the two-man game for a dunk. He missed an open three. He hit Gasol with a long outlet for an And-1 dunk. He missed a runner in transition. He leaked out off a steal and dunked. He hit Bynum in the middle of the lane for the dunk. He swished an open sideline jumper and held the pose. He overpassed to Pau for a jumper instead of powering up a layup. He missed an open three. He scored a layup on the break with Pau. He had 6 points on 3-6 shooting, 4 assists and 2 steals. Second Half: He reached and picked up his fourth foul on the first defensive stand of the half. He missed a corner jumper off the split play. He hit Pau on the corner sequence for a dunk. He missed a corner three, cut straight to the hoop and took a pass from Bynum for a dunk. No ball movement, he bricked a corner three.

Fisher -- -- "He made some steals that were important. I liked that," Phil said. Those were huge steals from DFish in crunch time. Finally some stops when we needed them the most. Pretty good defensive game overall from DFish. Nash had 7 points on 2-9 shooting, 9 assists and 4 turnovers. I'll take that everytime. Offensively, he had maybe one or two forces, but nothing ridiculous. Considering he completely tapped on one three, pretty good stats. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 3-8 shooting, (2-5 from three, 5-5 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals and 2 fouls in 31 minutes. The Action: He attacked the lane and hit an And-1 floater on the first shot of the game, he made the FT. He sank a sideline three on the kickout from Bynum. He got completely tapped on a wing three. He missed an open corner three on the kickout. He had 6 points on 2-4 shooting. Second Half: He sank a pull-up three in early offense. He shoved Amare on a deadball and Amare went to the floor with a soccer flop that would make Vlade Divac proud. Great reach on Amare to strip him, then Fish pushed up the break and fed Pau for FTs. He swiped the ball from Nash, great D again and pushed up the break, he missed a floater, though (I think Phil wanted him to hold it up). He swiped an in-bounds pass and was fouled, he made both FTs. He was fouled again, he made both again. Kobe fell asleep on an outlet, now DFish did and he gave a layup off a made Laker FT.

Lamar -- -- Lamar had some of the crowd-sparking sequences in the second half. His dunks along the baseline were an infusion of much needed energy into Staples. If Phil wanted good ballmovement, Lamar answered that call. The ball rarely stopped in his hands. He didn't settle for the jumper and led the team in assists. Not a high scoring game from him, but a better one. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-3 shooting (2-3 from the line) to go with 9 boards (3 offensive), 7 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 26 minutes. The Action: He choked a layup after stealing the ball from Amare (no Lakers were trailing, everyone knew there was a high chance of Lamar bricking that). He kicked out to Sasha for the three. He set up Pau for FTs with an interior feed. Second Half: Careless backcourt dribbling and he lost the ball to a Sun bigman. He threw down an And-1 dunk on the drive and dish from Farmar, he missed the FT. Out of the timeout, he took the whip pass from Pau and slammed again. He drew FTs getting into the sweet spot on the baseline against the zone, he made both.

Ariza -- -- "I hope he recovers back to his normal self," Phil said. L.A. Law has sadly faded from the radar lately. We can't have that. Both he and Farmar have to get their edge and impact back. I'm more confident in Trevor doing that because he works so hard on both ends. Phil and Ariza both think it's better for him to play with that second unit because of its speed and ability to bring energy off the bench. That's why you saw Luke starting instead of Trevor. It wouldn't surprise me if Phil started to draw up a couple "Ariza" plays -- lobs, quick cuts off screens or something specifically for him -- to help spark that second unit. Maybe getting a few of those might elevate his confidence in the jumper. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-9 shooting (1-3 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 steal and 3 fouls in 19 minutes. The Action: He airballed a wide open corner three at the first quarter buzzer. He choked a layup he should have dunked, yikes. He missed a one-hander in the lane. He was 0-4 and didn't score. Second Half: He missed and early offense jumper. He swiped the ball from Nash, pushed it out and scored a layup with no call despite lot of contact. He attacked off the three line (finally) and drew FTs at the rim, he made both. He swished an open three, good square up and leaning into it. He missed his next three, not leaning into it. He missed a layup off a spin.

Farmar -- -- Farmar needs to pick it up. He's fading after a strong start, very similar to last year. Defensively, he needs to study hard because he is providing little resistance. He was getting after it early in the season. Now, he's getting it taken to him. Offensively, some of the missed layups should have been pull-up short range jumpers. He was also better at that early in the season. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-6 shooting (0-3 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 16 minutes. The Action: He missed an open three over the zone. He traveled on the attack, looked like he was tripped. He took contact and banked in a frozen rope, he made the FT. He ballwatched on transition D, wow. Second Half: He barely hit rim on a wide open 18-footer. He attacked the paint against the zone and fed LO for the And-1 dunk. He missed a wide open corner three. He missed a short one off the glass. Cruddy pass, stolen for a layup. He missed another three.

Vujacic -- -- Return of the Sick Jumpers of Death. With Phil changing his rotations, we finally saw some extended run of Sasha at the SG for Sasha with Kobe at the SF. This is the type of rotation we've been mentioning that hasn't been used a lot to shore up the SF without compromising the shooting. His first make was on a very good look on an inside-out sequence. That might be important for him to jumpstart the confidence for the game. Sasha was active, efficient and back in the game during crunch time. (Need to hit those freethrows, though, Sash.) He also avoided the over-aggressive perimeter fouls. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 4-5 shooting (3-4 from three, 4-6 from the line) to go with 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, no turnovers and just 1 foul. The Action: Good look on the sideline three when Lamar kicked out and Sasha knocked it down. He flashed from the weakside to steal a pass. Great help D switch on Amare on the perimeter, he forced him into an airball. He drained a corner three off the pass back from Pau (Sasha initiated the play with a drive along the baseline). He no-looked to Pau in transition for the layup. He missed an open three. He swished a wing three from the right side. He scored 9 points on 3-4 shooting. Second Half: He swatted Barbosa's three attempt at the buzzer. He swiped a pass on the weakside zone. Nice reach to slap the ball from Amare who was about to power up. He didn't steal it, but it prevented a hoop. He put the nail in the coffin on the other end with a baseline midrange jumper, stepping in after a mosquito fly-by. He was fouled intentionally with 29 seconds left, he made only one. He was fouled again with 18 seconds left, he made just one FT. He was fouled once again on the in-bounds pass, he made both this time.

Phil -- -- Phil went to Luke at the starting SF. Laker fans everywhere went into mass confusion and collective denial... The Lakers did move the ball decently with Luke out there (although Kobe settled for several jumpers without ball movement). Defensively, they were still soft. The Lakers led 29-25 after the first quarter... A 10-0 run for the Lakers in the second quarter... Phil brought in Kobe at SF and kept Sasha out there... With Barbosa hitting open threes and the Lakers giving up a dunk with weak transition D, Phil called a timeout leading 46-41. He went back to the starting five. Barbosa cooled down after that... The Lakers led 53-48 at the half. Both teams stats were nearly identical at the half. Both shot 48 percent; both made 4 threes; the Suns had 22 rebounds, the Lakers 20; Suns had 6 turnovers, the Lakers 5; the Suns had 14 assists, the Lakers 16... The Lakers had a 14-2 advantage on the break... Rambis: "Overall our defense isn't where it needs to be. Our aggression level, our intensity is not where it needs to be."... The Lakers trailed 75-74 when we went to Pau and the second unit with 2:22 left in the third... The Lakers led 82-81 at the end of three... The second unit led 91-88, when Bynum and Kobe returned... Bynum sat with a 100-92 lead. Good stint. Sasha came in for Ariza... After Kobe coughed it up for a layup the other way, Phil took a timeout, clearly disgusted... The Lakers had 30 assists and shot 49 percent. The Suns shot 50.6 percent... He hesitated when asked if there was a specific reason Vlad Rad didn't play at all. Then, he mentioned the depth. "Nothing against Vlade. He's given us some really good games," Phil said...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Not a lot of runs from the Lakers. They never really imposed their will. Kobe's -7 was a big part of that.

[farkas]

a bad win. this supposed to be a blow out!

[Critical Beatdown]

_________________
!
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)

[tlim]

What a horribly played game. The Lakers need to regroup.

I wonder if we miss Turiaf's attitude and intensity this year. Even though he is being overpayed in Golden State, his attitude is much better than some of the guys we currently have on this team.

[lakerjoshua]

[BLP711]

Thanks DB

[Sister Golden Hair]

PJ is a jerk. I thoutght the benching of Vlad seemed arbitrary and punitive. Frankly, Kobe and Fish have been bigger problems in the recent run of games.

As for Luke: whatever he brings he takes wasy with porous D and non-existent shooting. Vlad was moving the ball plenty well. In fact, the team's offense HAS NOT been a problem. I think Vlad is being made a scapegoat for the team's collective lack of will to play defense, and it stinks.

I wish PJ would look in the mirror and ask himself why this team never practices defense (if ESPN is to be believed).

SGH

[10scott10]

[10scott10]

On a lighter note, a few game comments

I loved sasha to close out the game, he played very well

ariza is trying to be far too cute. stop shooting threes and when you get near the basket, just dunk the ball. leave the fancy lay-ups to kobe

bynum got set-up for a lot very easy baskets tonight. I liked how he got himself in position to set himself up

Vlad must have really, really pissed off phil to get a DNP

[Critical Beatdown]

[n9c]

I think we need to start adding the ( to the thread title instead of ) on some of these wins. I certainly don't think anyone was happy at the end of this game. At least in the early stages of the season, we could have used the "Oh well we're playing bad and still winning" but now it's more or less "Holy crap, we're still playing bad and still somehow winning. When will they learn?"

[Dre]

8 players - 110 points , they gotta tighten up.

[Amara D'Antona]

And here I was thinking we lost judging by the topics.

So I'm assuming we again played sub-par defense since everyone seems to be in a relatively bad mood?

Edit: got through reading all of your recap...

WTF @ Walton starting and Vlad getting a DNP. That's the most bizarre thing ever. Someone fill me in on why Phil did this, because it sure is strange.

Surprised that Luke did well, though.

[LakersInFour]

[Doggy Dogg]

[limchrc]

Glad we still won.

[targetman]

"Luke mentioned other teams have scouted our defense, and we are in the process of making some adjustments."

That must have been a short scouting trip. Probably went something like this: they like to steal the ball, so protect it.

Maybe I am reading too much into it, but the Lakers don't look like a happy team lately, winning or not. Kobe spent more time consoling the Suns after the game than high-fiving his teammates, the players on the bench look surly, and there is none of the chemistry that was evident in the early games. It just doesn't feel right. I wouldn't be surprised if the reason Vlad is on the bench is because he spoke up about something that rattled a few cages.
_________________
Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.

[Sage_10]

At least they showed they could kind of close out the 4th quarter.
_________________
"You Must Be Willing To Give Up That Which Can Be Lost In Order To Gain That Which Cannot Be Lost." - FORTUNE COOKIE

[LongtimeLakerLover]

[prisma8slg]

thanks DB. glad to see Sasha got the dancing tomato
_________________
"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."

[Rick12322]

Thanks DB. Gasol was a great zone buster tonight. Of course, there wasn't any resistance from Phoenix players to keep him out of there either and his jumper was sweet money.

Phil wants to keep Rad happy, after all, he is shooting very well right now, he's working hard on Defense, he just doesn't have good instincts out there.

What this team lacks on both sides of the ball is a cog that actually "knows" the game. Luke got two steals because he understands how to play team defense. He did a lot of good things out there because he was born with good basketball instincts. I don't think that's something you can teach to the degree that one is born with it. Unfortunately, Vlad does not seem to be "born" with it. Sometimes he makes good instinctive passes, but almost as often he makes bad ones.

Today marks the first time I can recall the team in closing the half and game, while not overly relying on Kobe. I think they are finally getting it.

Pau's really hustling out there, doing a better job showing on the PnR and recovering, running the floor fast. Sometimes I think in situations when he's in the paint guarding his man that he should rotate quicker to guys attacking the basket, but other than that he's been playing sensational ball.

Every year we've had Farmar so far, he's started strong and then faded. Is this a trend?

I noticed one sequence on the baseline left block where Bynum was defending against a PnR, where he hunched down and was really quick laterally, cutting off the path to the basket. I want to see more of that kind of intensity. I also want to see him run the floor as hard and fast as Pau.

I'd be remiss if I didn't add that his shot blocking has been lacking, what's up with that, come on let's get it going! I'm thinking if he's hustling like the sequence I described above he'd be getting more blocked shots?

Fisher did a great job, he played within him self and played smart.

Kobe's lost on an island, caught in his mind between his old superman mano a mano game, and how to play simple basic basketball. As he said about the team, he needs to get back to the fundamentals both on D and in this offense.

Those are my thoughts on the team summed up to this game. Hope you don't mind, it seems a good place to share thoughts on a game, unless you'd rather I made my own topic?

[VujacicFan]

Good old Sasha. Nice job as usual DB.

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

we should have a =| ratings emoticon for victories we didnt deserve
_________________
"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[Sister Golden Hair]

[Dr. Funkbot]