KNICKS -at- LAKERS - 12/16 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Missing The Spaniard... "They're under siege," she says into your phone. "If you hurry you can catch them in action." You hop into the Yenko Nova and floor it. Minutes later you pull up outside a wooded area. You hear screams from somewhere inside.

You charge into the darkness, stumbling and tripping over roots, branches and slipping on mud. You're confused, disoriented, but you push on ahead. Finally, you see a clearing. The Four Horsemen are no where in sight, several victims lay sprawled out in the mud.

Someting arcs out of the darkness. You don't see it until it plunks you in the head -- an empty Pringles can. You open it up. DancingBarry again:

Their opponents had them cornered, inflicting wounds with horrific ease. There came a pause in the battle, and they regrouped.

Lined up on one side, the Death Riders parted -- only Three of the Four Horsemen approached. The one called Death led the way into the battleground. Every few seconds, steam billowed from the nostrils of his pale horse. It's hooves sloshed and splattered in the mud as it slowly moved forward. Someone said something to him. Death turned his head in the direction of the voice. You couldn't see eyes beneath the hood, but you could feel them. Tonight, he would collect another soul.

The pale horse charged into battle. The other horsemen followed. The beating turned fierce.

I will continue to track them...

Without Pau Gasol, the Lakers trailed by 15 points to the Knicks, giving up a season-high 65 points in the first half. Their defense was confused and scrambled, and the Knicks capitalized with 11 threes in the half. The Laker offense misfired in the paint and missed Gasol giving them a balanced attack.

But after giving up that 65, they regrouped, and the Lakers did the Knicks one better -- scoring 66 points in the second half, out-scoring them by 17 for the 116-114 win. The Knicks ran a small rotation on their second-game in a row, maybe that hurt, but the Lakers definitely tightened their game up.

Kobe led the attack in the final quarter, but Lamar, DFish, Bynum and Ariza all came up with big plays. Fisher had the balance of the game in his hands as he made 3-4 freethrows in the final 6 seconds. He also executed a rare intentional foul by Phil Jackson with a 3-point lead. Without any timeouts, the Knicks were forced to chuck up a 50-footer and missed.


Kobe -- -- "We missed the Spaniard," Kobe said. Without Pau, Kobe said it took them out of their rhythm on both ends. At halftime, he wanted the team to play harder and "get back to the basics and discuss what we were going to do defensively." Chris Rock apparently said something that ticked Kobe off. Kobe was giving him the death stare after several makes. So, after a rough half on both ends, Kobe came out and went 8-11 in the second half. The defense, both individual and team, tightened up. He imposed his will down the stretch, setting up others and making his own shots. He was a +9 in the final 8:30 of action. During that time he went 4-5 with 2 assists and 2 steals. He helped key a 15-4 run that happened right after he returned in the final quarter. The Stats: He scored 28 points on 12-22 shooting (1-3 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 6 assists, 4 steals, 1 turnover and no fouls in 41 minutes. The Action: He hit Luke for an open three. He missed a long three as the ball stopped in his hands. He posted up and hit a short turnaround in the lane next time down. He had Bynum open, but hit Luke instead for a bricked jumper. He posted up and fed Bynum on the dive cut. He pulled up to drain the elbow jumper (21st on the all-time scoring list with that shot). He attacked the lane and drew FTs for Lamar with the pass off. He scooped up a loose ball and blew past Duhon for the layup. He zoned, but didn't help when Fish funneled his man. He swiped a ball and missed a bank. He got swatted by his man on a drive. He missed a turnaround in the post. He drew FTs, made one. He missed a two-footer. He attacked and banked over Lee. He drew FTs, he made both. He missed a three. He had 11 points on 4-11 shooting. Second Half: He swished an 18-footer to start the half. He put the breaks on and hit the elbow jumper. He dribbled out of a double, then traveled instead of passing (Phil looked irked). He found Fish for an open three on the weakside skip pass. He gambled for a steal and it led to an And-1 layup. He swished a step-back jumper from the midpost. He forced a fade and missed. He crossed over next time down and hit the floater to cut the lead to 3. He missed a wing jumper. He missed Powell wide open on a screen-roll. He jab-stepped and hit a 20-footer from the right wing. He cut the lead to 1 with a steal and dunk off an errant Knick pass. He swished a sideline three to tie it up with 5:41. He missed a step-through. He sank a pull-up jumper from 18 feet out.

Bynum -- -- Defensively, Bynum got in for the final few minutes. He had blocks and good challenges down the stretch. "He did a good job on a number of occasions on the screen-roll," Phil said. One of his bigger stops came when he had to switch on Nate in the final minute. He challenged the shot (and got some help from DFish) to get the key stop. Very soft game from Drew in the first half. He needs to overpower smaller men and go to the power game. Unfortunately, he's still mostly going to finesse. There were several occasions when he should have tried to dunk instead of go for the layup. As a result, he missed multiple chippies. Our offensive balance had some issues without Pau in there beating up on the smaller lineup with his offensive skills. He and Kobe ran a lot of two-man game in the second half and that caused the Knick D to scramble. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 6-12 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 11 boards (4 offensive), 2 assists, 4 blocks, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 32 minutes. The Action: He trailed the offense, took a pass from Luke in the lane and dunked. He scored a layup on a dive cut off Kobe's post-up. He missed a two-footer. He missed a short one in the left block. He was stripped, not going up aggressively off the Kobe pass. He hit a jumphook in the middle of the lane. He didn't see a lob to Robinson and ended up screening DFish. He missed a layup off the glass working on the left block (should have had that one). He didn't power up and try to dunk, instead pivoted around defenders, was fouled and missed the flat-footed layup, he made one FT. He missed a jumphook in the middle of the lane. He had 7 points on 3-7 shooting and 4 boards. Second Half: He threw down a lob from Luke working the two-man game. He pulled down a Luke miss, missed it, grabbed it back and scored the layup. Nice challenge on the Lee drive to get a miss. He roofed Lee again to get a stop. He sagged off Lee and gave up a jumper. He fumbled away a pass with 2:30 left. He roofed Lee again but was called for a foul when another Knick collided with Lee. He blocked Harrington with under a minute left and recovered it. Great challenge again, switched on Robinson with some help from Fish to get a stop with a few seconds left.

Lamar -- -- Pau was sent home, Lamar was sent to the starting spot. Lamar was sick, too, (someone said he threw up during the second quarter) but he played an impressive game. "Football mentality," LO said. His value is probably never bigger than when we see one of our bigmen go down. A small-ball team also plays to his strengths. "It's a perfect match up for him with Harrington," Phil said. Lamar battled on both ends and put together one of his best games of the season. He had defensive breakdowns like everyone else, but he also came up with several big plays down the stretch. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 7-15 shooting (0-2 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 12 boards (4 offensive), 4 assists, 4 turnovers and no fouls in 38 minutes. The Action: He missed a layup on an attack off the pinch post. He missed a short jumphook, but tapped it right back in. He drew FTs off the drive and dish from Kobe, he made one. He missed a pull-up jumper. He hit a short jumphook. He battled on the glass and scored a layup. Poor D on the zone, his man scored a layup (others need to communicate when a man slips ducks right behind you in our scheme). He threw a pass away trying to hit Kobe. He scored a layup on a quick outlet from Sasha. He missed a layup in early offense. He missed an open corner three. He had 9 points on 4-10 shooting and 6 boards. Second Half: He hit the short jumphook from the right block. Lee scored a layup around him on the other end. He started running down court before a rebound was secured, the Knicks got it and drew a foul. He missed an open three. He cut, took a pass, then didn't try to finish and threw it away. He missed a face-up jumper. He attacked from the right wing and clanked in a jumper. He attacked Harrington to the left and scored a layup. He drew FTs on a dive cut off a Kobe double, he made both. He tried pushing up a break, then got caught in the air passing to Fisher who wasn't paying attention (both players were at fault on that one). He reached and gave up a dunk. Kobe hit him off the Bynum screen-roll, he paused, saw he had a step, attacked and banged in the layup from the right side. He pushed out a deflection by Ariza then fed him for the layup on the next score. He pulled down a high in-bounds pass nearly at midcourt, his man gambled for the steal and fell, LO attacked and lobbed to Ariza for the score.

Luke -- -- The Knicks were leaving him open to start the game. After a flurry of shots and several misses, he finally settled in. The Lakers did a good job going to him on various possessions when he had a smaller man on him in the post, and Luke overpowered them for scores. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 5-11 shooting (1-3 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 22 minutes. The Action: He ball-watched and gave up a putback dunk. He swished an open corner three on the other end. He missed a turnaround trying to back down Q. He missed another short turnaround. Nice find of Bynum coming down the court late for the dunk. He airballed an open three from the same spot he made the first one. He missed an open wing jumper. All of that took place in the first few minutes. He over-powered Robinson and scored a layup. He backed Q under the hoop and scored the layup. He drew FTs, cutting off Bynum in the post and taking the pass, he made both. He missed a rushed baseline jumper trying to hit off an offense board before the half. He had 9 points on 3-8 shooting. Second Half: He swiped a pass, poushed out the dribble on the slowest one-man break ever and scored the And-1 layup, he made the FT. Great lob working the two-man game with Bynum. He missed an open corner three. He posted up Robinson and scored the layup.

Fisher -- -- DFish was all over the final few possessions. The game was in his hands. He's been so clutch at the line, you just felt the miss coming. He made 5-6 in the last 2 minutes, 3-4 in the final 6 seconds. Defensively, covering Nate wasn't going to be easy. Our screen-roll D improved as the game went along, but Nate was on fire. DFish did get in a couple key defensive plays at the end. He had to switch off Nate on one last-minute possession, leaving Bynum on him, but DFish helped out at the end of the drive and we got the stop. Great job taking that foul at the right time before Nate could take the three (which he hit after the whistle). All of those plays were key to closing the game, all of DFish's points came in the second half. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 4-7 shooting (2-4 from three, 5-6 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 7 assists, 1 steal and 3 fouls in 33 minutes. The Action: He missed a wing three with the shotclock low. He missed an early offense three. Second Half: He hit a pull-up jumper at the FT line on the break. He swished an open sideline three on a skip pass from Kobe. He got back-doored for a layup. He stepped back behind the three line and drained the corner triple. He up-faked, let his man fly by as he attacked and hit the short wing jumper. He swiped the ball from Nate on one end, attacked the paint on the other, created contact and drew FTs, he made both with 2:14 left. He was fouled with 6 seconds left after he and Bynum teamed up for a stop, he made both FTs to lead by 3. He was fouled with 2.7 seconds left, up by 1, he missed the first short and made the second.

Ariza -- -- "They hit 10 threes in the first half and that's what was killing us," Ariza said. It was 11, but who's counting. Yeah, those were open, open looks with the Laker D totally out of sync. Ariza had a few miscues himself in the first half. In the second half, he stayed on men better. Offensively, the stat that stands out is that 1-6 from three. If you take away the couple of hot shooting games from three to start the season, Ariza has been clanking badly from three. Teams are going to continue to make him try to beat us from there. "I think he was very disappointed in his shooting," Phil said. Phil added that Trevor was told if he wasn't feeling it to just reset the offense, but they do want him to take those open looks. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-13 shooting (1-6 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 26 minutes. The Action: He gave up an open three and a layup. He drew FTs with a step-through move to start the second quarter, he made both. He missed a short one, got it back and missed a point-blank layup. He sank the top-of-the-key jumper. He missed a baseline jumper. Second Half: He challenged a shot and forced an airball on one end, but clanked a three on the other. He stepped on the line attacking instead of shooting the open jumper. Same play and he swished a three on the next one. He swiped the ball from Q, pushed it out and scored a layup. He missed a heave at the third quarter buzzer. He missed a three from the top of the key. He missed a corner three. Nice reach to force a turnover, he then busted out and finished the layup off the LO feed. He and Fish got crossed up for a turnover on a pass. He nearly threw away an in-bounds, Lamar pulled it down, attacked and lobbed to Trevor with a minute left for the score. He missed a corner three with 30 seconds left.

Farmar -- -- Uggh. Shortly after he entered the game, he got taken to school by Nate. Someone needs to put out a Be-On-the-Look-Out for Impact Farmar. He's been missing in action for some time. DFish went another 33 minutes tonight. Farmar has been slumping badly and we will need him on the road. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-6 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 2 assists and 3 fouls in 9 minutes. The Action: He gave up an And-1 to Nate on his first defensive stand. He gave up three FTs on the next defensive stand with a reach on Nate at the three line. He missed a pull-up jumper. He bricked an awkward fading jumper at the end of the quarter. Second Half: Layup for Nate. He missed an open wing three badly. He canned a tough baseline turnaround after receiving the ball with a second on the clock. He missed a sideline three. He tripped with a clear path to the hoop and had his shot blocked (FTs the other way in a hurry).

Vujacic -- -- He looked more like the Sasha of last year. We even set him up off the double screen for a jumper. Nice to see him stick those, especially when we are missing one of our key offensive weapons in Pau and need some extra help from the bench. Sasha finally played some PG with Farmar in foul trouble. Hard to really say how well he did at it defensively since our team D in general was completely messed up, and we never really settled in during that first half. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-5 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 1 steal and 3 fouls in 13 minutes. The Action: He took the ball to an open space on the left side and hit the short jumper. He missed a three. He hit a three straight away. He up-faked his man, stepped in and hit the short baseline jumper. He hit Lamar with a long outlet for a layup. He had 7 points on 3-4 shooting. Second Half: He swished a 21-footer on the catch and shoot off the double team. He challenged Harrington on help D and was sent to the floor hard. Lame perimeter challenge, slapping the body of a three shooter after the ball was released (Knicks led by 4 with 8 minutes left, it was extended to 7).

Radmanovic -- -- He was used at PF tonight, but seemed very much an afterthought in everything going on. Even though we scored well, we certainly missed his shooting. The Knicks sagged off both Luke and Ariza quite a bit. Since the Knicks can't crowd the lane with a lot of size, we were still able to get into the paint without issues. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-2 shooting (0-1 from three), had 2 offensive boards and 1 assist in 10 minutes. The Action: He missed a layup after gathering a blocked shot. He missed a wide open corner three. Second Half: In at PF again, nothing to report.

Powell -- -- I thought we'd see Powell at back-up PF, but Phil went with him as our back-up C. He ended up with "0" on his +/-, which is probably more of a statement about the Knicks small ball than Powell's impact. He played steady, and the effort was always there. Some of his hustle on rotations was superb. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 1-2 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 4 boards (2 offensive), 2 assists and 2 fouls in 16 minutes. The Action: He sank a short elbow jumper with a quick turnaround on the post entry. He drew FTs working the offensive glass, he made one. Second Half: He spun baseline to lose Lee and then draw FTs, he made both. Excellent hustle to challenge a perimeter jumper.

Phil -- -- Pau was sent home with strep throat. Phil hinted others were sick, as well. (Turns out one was Lamar.)... The Laker defense was sick and confused midway through the first quarter and started giving up open threes. The Knicks went on an 11-0 run. Phil then went to his bench with Powell at C. Didn't matter. Farmar gave up 6 points on two defensive stands with two fouls. The Lakers trailed 37-26 after the first... Phil started the second quarter with a Powell, Vlad, Ariza, Kobe, Sasha lineup. Sasha at PG... Phil called a quick timeout to start the second quarter with the defense confused again, leaving open shooters... We trailed 65-50 at the half. We shot 36.5 percent, the Knicks 51 percent. The Knicks shot 11-23 from three in the first half. The Lakers missed about 10 layups/chippies in the half, missing Pau's smooth game around the rim... The Lakers won the first 5 minutes of the half to cut into the Knicks lead... The Lakers cut the lead to 80-77 off a runner by Kobe and some rare stingy defense on several possessions. The Knicks went on a small run and the lead was back up to 7 a minute later and Phil called a timeout... Phil closed the quarter with a Powell, Vlad, Ariza, Sasha, Farmar lineup. With a late push, they trailed 88-84 going into the fourth... The Lakers took the lead of a series of Kobe scores. The Lakers led 103-101 when Lee and Bynum returned with 5 minutes left... Tied at 107-107 and Phil called a timeout with 2:41... After Robinson hit a corner three to take a 112-111 lead, Phil called a timeout. We got lucky when Ariza nearly threw the in-bounds away, Lamar recovered it and lobbed to Ariza for a score... We took an intentional foul up by 3 and with 3.8 seconds left to give up two FTs, rare move by Phil. It paid off as the Knicks didn't have any timeouts and were forced to chucking up a long shot on their next possession... The Knicks were 2-8 from three in the second half... All five Laker starters were in double digits... "We anticipated that kind of a game as a staff," Phil said. "I don't our players anticipated that kind of a ball game."... The Lakers are 21-3, "and they're not even in rhythm," CWebb said...

Game Flow -- LINK -- The Knicks had a key 11-0 run we never recovered from in the first half. We opened the third quarter with an 11-2 run, chipped away and finally took the lead in the fourth with a 15-4 run.

[Critical Beatdown]

Inspiring 2nd half defense of the home court.

[waterman40]

Hell Ya!

Second


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LAKERS 2019-2020: NBA World Champions!

[KoPauChicken]

first the worst

second the best

third the.....nurse?
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[Jeffs]

[lakersfreak]

DB
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Forget carbon, reduce your government footprint

[Mation]

Thanks DB!

What was Chris Rock thinking? You don't unleash the mamba!

Huge props to LO for battling out there despite his cold. He looked pretty sick talking to the reporter after the game.

Nice games from Sasha and Powell as well. Liked how Sasha fouled Harrington on that one attempt at the rim. No easy layups!

Please, please will impact Farmar show himself on this upcoming road trip.

[Dr. Laker]

Great, but:

KOBE: It looked like he got into a grove and started to

DFISH: 3-4 for in the final 6 seconds
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On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".

[yanyon]

65 points in the 1st half only means that we need to focus more on the defense. that way we dont have to work double time on the offense. they need to stop playing this scramble defense coz it always burns them no matter what. nevertheless, exciting game in the end.

[Qsmiff]

Great recap and loving the intros.....As I wrote in another thread this is the first game I remember this group of Lakers coming back from a big deficit and winning the game. this type of win builds GRIT within a team- which is whats needed to make that championship run...Phil actually did some in-game coaching ....I was dumbfounded!! LOL ...all in all a good building block of a game.

[DancingBarry]

[MedRomLaker]

[prisma8slg]

[8_IZ_ENUF]

Thanks DB!! And, why aren't we playing more man-to-man defense?!? I likey
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....and a new dynasty begins?

[limchrc]

Pretty nice comeback in the 2nd half. Thanks.

[Rick12322]

It was a good game for the Lakers, to actually have a come from behind nail biting victory.

Drew's legs looked like rubber on a few too many occasions, I don't think his conditioning is back to pre-injury status yet. And at that time he was still IMO a couple of years away from getting even close to peak conditioning. That injury was a huge setback on that end. It will help a lot if we understand this, that he might not even reach last years pre-injury level this year. That's probably why Phil has carefully monitored his minutes.

I think we all forget too easily this kids first 16 years of life were practically spent in a chair with the only exercise being his fingers on a video controller.

[20,000]

[Sleepy]

I am so NOT impressed with Mr. Bynum. This is not the dominant guy we saw last year. Every time he touches the ball I expect a travel or horrid 2-foot brick. Defensively, he looks completely clueless. He's had plenty of time to get his game back together, and I have a strange feeling this is as good as he's going to get.

[Laker_Behemoth]

[Dr. Funkbot]

[Sage_10]

Thanks DB! Disappointing D but nice W
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"You Must Be Willing To Give Up That Which Can Be Lost In Order To Gain That Which Cannot Be Lost." - FORTUNE COOKIE

[Canuck]

Anyone know what Chris Rock said?

[Freakout]

[Addicus]

I love the writeup brother. I must say Bynum looks lost and weak like a nursing fawn. He is going to have a gigantic test vs D. Howard down low. I know a lot of people around here are dissappointed we don't run our offense through him, but it's clear his teammates don't have a tremendous amount of confidence in his offensive abilities, yet.
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Personally I'm more worried about young Drew playing defense with his hands by his knees. He needs to get them above his waist to be a better threat to block shots and deflect passes.
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Conversely they have all the confidence in Pau whom they feed like a trough pig.
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Chris Rock should learn which players not to anger. I know D'Antoni would fine him if he was able to.
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Marbury had a great interview with Michael Eaves last night. He was smiling, coherent and clearly enjoying himself at the game. His point in not playing was he is staying in shape. He did say 'we' when commenting on the Knicks style of play.
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Marbury is doing his own website which will sell his clothing line, shoes and apparel. This is great news for those looking for good clothes for cheap since Steve & Barry's is going out of business. I truly believe he would love living & playing in L.A. It would allow him the media exposure he would like without the intense scrutiny since he would be just another star glimmering in Kobe's light. He would also have his first crack of being on a great team since Georgia Tech. Personal opinion.
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I really enjoyed watching the players implement the coaches strategy changes in the 2nd half.
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Am I the only person who would simply love to trade Luke and Farmar for Nate and David Lee?
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Stop crying and start doing.

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

[najim]

D at the 1 is becoming ridiculous... it breaks the whole defense down. so much random double-teaming and half-hearted trapping going on in this game.

Also, Radmanovic had a classic space cadet moment out there playing with the 2nd unit. Lakers have ball at the top of the key, and Radmanovic, instead of cutting to the pinch post to form a triangle with Sasha at the wing and Trevor at the baseline, flashes out to Sasha's wing spot. Seeing both guys confused as hell at being on the same spot was hilarious. Radmanovic tried to set some kind of random screen for Sasha, which failed miserably. Luckily, Farmar snagged the ball with the shot clock dropping and launched a prayer that went in...