LAKERS -at- MAGIC - 12/20 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Second Helpings... Two nights, two shots rattling in and out in the last seconds. Once again the Lakers fell, this time 106-103 to the Magic. The road has been unkind with a big game looming later this week.

For the second night, the Lakers had issues in the third quarter. This time, the Magic were able to pour on 36 points and erase a halftime lead. The Lakers were able to hold the line defensively in the fourth, but then the offense died, scoring just 19 points. The team had problems on both ends.

The second night of a back-to-back wasn't going to be easy with the number of ill players the Lakers had. Now, throw in Jordan Farmar with a serious injury and that makes things tougher. Farmar will head home with the torn lateral meniscus. Going into the season, this was the one position the Lakers didn't have a lot of depth on. For now, Phil appears as if he will use Sasha as the back up point.

The Lakers had their perimeter game going with Kobe and DFish. Unfortuntely, Sasha, Lamar and Ariza were firing blanks. We rarely looked into the post. Bynum was foul-prone from the tip and an invisible man in his few minutes.

Joey Crawford had a short fuse and the techs were flying. How critical were the techs given to Luke, Pau, Bynum and LO?


Kobe -- -- A season-high 41 points in 43 minutes. Another game, another loss on a final shot, however. This time Kobe set it up for a teammate. Kobe attacked off the dribble, drew three defenders to him under the hoop and kicked to Sasha, who got tapped from the corner. Kobe had been drawing all kinds of crowds in that fourth quarter after taking it to the Magic. "They had three guys over at me every time (in the second half)," Bryant said. "When I get going, they send everybody." Early on, he got his shots without stopping the ball. Essentially, he attacked as soon as he got it, which keeps doubles at bay and the offense humming instead of snoring. However, he slowed down in the second half. The doubles were swarming and pushing him out on the perimeter. Phil reminded about it late in the fourth as the doubles were taking him out. Nice effort from Kobe tonight. He had his perimeter shot falling, but didn't stall the offensive flow like the last game. We need to keep working the ball for good looks whenever he draws a swarm of defenders. The Stats: He scored 41 points on 14-31 shooting (2-3 from three, 11-11 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 3 assists, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 43 minutes. The Action: He sank a 20-footer, pulling up at the wing. Very slow rotation to his man and he gave up a three. He missed a forced 21-footer. Better look from the midpost, hitting a turnaround off the glass. He missed a reverse, fought for it in a crowd, spun, took contact and drew FTs, he made both. He airballed a 20-foot fallaway at the shotclock buzzer (no choice there). Quick attack and he missed a layup around a bigman, but the penetration allowed Pau to draw FTs. He missed a runner. He probed the lane, got pushed from behind and banked in an And-1, he made the FT. He missed a one-hander off the glass, getting hit on the arm with no call. He posted up Pietrus on the next set and drew FTs, he made both. He attacked on the fly for a quick two-for-one and scored the layup. He didn't rotate to Pau's man and gave up a dunk on the other end. He hit the top of the backboard trying to beat the buzzer at the end of the quarter on a tough heave from the corner (again no choice there). Quick attack from the right side, he used his body to shield a help defender and powered in a layup over him. He took an entry at the high post, quickly turned and swished the jumper. He swished an elbow step-back jumper with the shotclock low. He missed a forced jumper in traffic. He drew a double and kicked to Fish for the three. He soared to pull down a long lob pass, gathered himself and scored the layup. He sank a 22-footer in early offense. He spun around the screen, weaved his way side to side on the dribble then hit the 15-foot one-hander straight away, tough shot made easy. He missed off the glass on the next trip down. He had 25 points on 10-19 shooting (5-5 from the line) to go with 6 boards and 1 assist. Second Half: He missed a pull-up short. He drew FTs battling Pietrus in the paint, he made both. Quick step to get past Pietrus and he banked in the easy one from the right side. He drained a wing three over his man, but gave it up on the other end. He stepped back a couple feet further from the same spot and swished the three on the next trip down. He missed a pull-up jumper on the next trip. He swung through past his man, attacked, took contact from Howard while hanging and drew FTs, he made both. Nice challenge on Pietrus and it forced an airball. He missed a wing jumper. He hit Pau on the jump pass for a layup (more please). He missed a pull-up jumper from the top of the key. He missed a pull-up after splitting a double team. He missed off the glass over Howard (but Pau drew a foul). He blew past his man and stretched out past Howard for the layup. He drew a double and bricked over it. He drew FTs getting fouled 40 feet from the hoop with 36 seconds left down by 3, he made both. Final possession of the game, he hit rim on a 35-foot three attempt.

Gasol -- -- Dealing with an illness and having to go 42 minutes on the second night of a roadie...ouch. Pau didn't get a lot of action with the ball. Clearly he was a little concerned about Howard, but with Kobe getting doubled off of screens it sure seemed like the Lakers could have worked the ball around quickly to Pau under the hoop while Howard tried to recover. We also missed seeing him run the floor and get transition hoops. A few more easy buckets and it could have been a different outcome. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-9 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 42 minutes. The Action: He picked up a foul on Howard on Pau's first attempt, he made both FTs. He swiped a pass to Howard. He missed a lefty hook in the post and wanted the foul. He followed a Kobe miss and was fouled on a putback, he made one FT. He showed the ball in front of the rim and had it knocked loose. He missed a hook with his right, but Ariza put it back in nicely. He and Howard exchanged fouls in the post under the hoop (Howard picked up his third). He sank an elbow jumper on good Laker ball movement. He had 5 points on 1-4 shooting and 4 boards. Second Half: He scored a layup over a fronting Lewis. He rattled in an elbow jumper. He was stripped by Howard for a layup the other way. He picked up a tech running down the floor on the offensive end. He scored off a jump pass from Kobe on the screen-roll. He missed a layup over Nelson in transiton, uggh. He was blocked from behind by Howard. He was sealed and had to foul Howard for FTs.

Bynum -- -- Horrible. Horrible. Horrible defensive game, he was a total non-factor unless you count fouling the opponent as something. Two defensive possessions to start the game, two fouls and Bynum sat after a minute. That was the story of his game. He and Lamar aren't holding up their "impact player" status on the road so far. Underachieving, big time. Howard moved Bynum out of rebounding position with ease several times while he was out there. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-4 shooting (1-1 from the line) to go with 1 board, 2 turnovers and 5 fouls. The Action: He missed a jumphook on the first attempt of the game, then he picked up a cheap foul on the other end when we didn't secure the board. He picked up his second foul on the second defensive stand of the game, not moving laterally fast enough. He bricked badly trying to power around his man. He took the post entry, took a dribble and knocked down the And-1 jumphook, he made the FT. He picked up a tech arguing with Crawford about a travel call (bad call, too). Second Half: He was stripped in the post. He missed a long jumphook. He got shoved out of the way by Howard and fouled him to prevent a putback dunk. Howard again with inside position on an offensive board, foul again by Bynum. He had to sit with 7:16 left in the third with 4 fouls. Back in and he quickly picked up his fifth foul after a minute, back to the bench.

Luke -- -- Foul trouble throughout the night, too. Vlad got minutes and easily outplayed him. Keep an eye out on whether Vlad defers to Kobe more than Luke or not. Phil doesn't like the offense to be too dominated by Kobe. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-2 shooting to go with 2 offensive boards, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 9 minutes. The Action: Hedo hit a three on him, but Luke attacked him on the other end for a layup. He swatted a corner three on great rotation (he nearly threw it off the player, bit stepped on the line). He missed a wing jumper. He picked up a tech yelling at Crawdford (Luke had jumped straight up, kept his arm straight up, that's not supposed to be a foul). Second Half: He stopped in the lane, then threw a pass away.

Fisher -- -- Can't believe we let a good offensive game like this from Fish go down with a loss. The problem was that while Fish scored 27 points, so did Jameer Nelson. Uggh. DFish did get an offensive foul on Nelson in the final minute when we needed a stop badly. Fish may be asked to pick up a lot of PG slack for the time being. The 41-minute action can't last too long. Thankfully, it didn't affect his shot tonight. The Stats: He scored 27 points on 9-16 shooting (3-7 from three, 6-6 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 4 assists and 3 fouls in 41 minutes. The Action: He up-faked, attacked the lane, jumped into Howard to draw contact and FTs (nicely done, Howard had to sit midway through the first), Fish made both FTs. He drew a charge, helping on dribble penetration. He missed an early offense three, never looked squared up. He attacked from the right side and banked over Howard wtih the runner. He pulled up at the elbow next time down and hit the jumper. He funneled to no one and it resulted in an And-1 layup (you've got to level off defenders better than that to give your guys time to set up behind you). He swished a three on the kickout. Next time down, he pulled up and swished a 21-footer in early offense. He missed a heat-check three on his next attempt. He blew past Nelson on the baseline and powered up an And-1 layup past him, he made the FT. He had 14 points on 5-7 shooting. Second Half: He missed a three on the kickout. He faked the jumper, attacked into the lane and hit an And-1 layup in traffic, he made the FT. He missed a jumper over Howard. Nelson hit a series of threes on him. He drew FTs on a cut, he made both. He worked off the screen and drained a 20-footer, taking contact with no call on a two-for-one. He backed out the dribble and nailed the wing three over his man with the shotclock low. Nelson hit a runner off the screen past Fish. He missed a floater. He missed an early offense three, Vlad got it back and Fish didn't hesitate while burying his next attempt to tie up the game with 1:23 left. He missed an open wing jumper with 45 seconds left (ouch). Huge stop getting an offensive foul by Nelson, who slapped him with an off hand with 22 seconds left (make no mistake, DFish brought attention to it, too).

Lamar -- -- Lamar was an offensive liability. He was hanging out on the perimeter and had few looks in the post. With Pau able to hit jumpers and pull Howard, LO should go to work against his men. Instead, he missed jumpers and drives. He spent a lot of time last season along side Pau and getting good numbers. Seems like he's forgotten how to do that in his bench role, even if he's inserted in the game after a couples minutes. He, like others, had some foul issues and eventually Lamar fouled out in the last minute. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-7 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, 2 turnovers and 6 fouls in 36 minutes. The Action: He missed a turnaround off the glass. Sweet move to his right with two big steps and he finished with his right, too. He missed a floater on the baseline with his right next time down. He took an offensive board from the middle of four Magic players. He tied up a man and won the tip. Second Half: He missed a baseline turnaround. He took a pass and charged right into a bigman. He missed a pull-up wing jumper. He attacked, took contact and was blocked, he got it back and drew FTs, he made both. Weak pass in the lane, turnover. He bricked a wide open corner three with 2 minutes left. He knocked a rebound away from Gasol with a minute left. He went over the back to give up FTs with 45 seconds left, down by 2.

Ariza -- -- No payback against his former team. Foul trouble in the first half along with Luke and Bynum. Aside from a putback jam, he didn't get any easy hoops and the Magic left him alone on the perimeter a lot. When the Magic were building a lead, they had Trevor shooting threes for us out of the offense. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-6 shooting (1-4 from three) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist and 3 fouls in 24 minutes. The Action: He hammered down a putback jam with one hand. He missed a short runner on the drive. He missed a sideline three. He picked up his third foul late in the second quarter. Second Half: He swished a wide open corner three. He missed a corner three on a kickout. He missed another open three to start the fourth.

Vujacic -- -- With the game on the line, Sasha had the ball in his hands with an open look at a corner three. Like Kobe in the previous game, it rattled in and out. Bad time for the Machine to go wonky. With Farmar out, he came in for DFish to run with Kobe. He also ran across DFish who had extended minutes. That may be our guard situation until further notice. The Lakers options for an additional guard will open up more in early January. Sasha needs to play to his strengths and not get too caught up trying to run a team like a PG. The Stats: He scored 1 point on 0-6 shooting (0-3 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 1 board and 1 foul in 13 minutes. The Action: He attacked and was swatted out of bounds. He took an in-bounds pass, up-faked to lose a bigman, but then avoided the contact and threw away a pass. He missed a corner three. He missed a wing jumper off the dribble. He sank a tech FT. He was blocked on a drive. He missed a quick jumper against the shotclock. Second Half: He missed a wide open three from the top of the arc. He got tapped on an open corner three with 3.5 seconds left, in and out.

Radmanovic -- -- Very good game from Vlad. A lot of hustle and effective work on both ends. He led the team with steals and provided some much needed bench scoring. Is it too much to hope that this will help carve out a few more minutes again? Vlad came in at PF against Cook and he quickly showed why Cook was shipped out. Just took the game from him in a matter of seconds. With Luke and Ariza also in foul trouble, Vlad got more minutes at SF. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-6 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 4 steals and 1 foul in 20 minutes. The Action: He swiped an entry pass. He cut off Pau and lost Cook for the layup on the return pass. He jumped the lane on an in-bounds pass and swiped the ball going to Cook, then he took it the distance and threw down on him. He missed a wing three at the end of the half. Second Half: He swiped the ball on the perimeter with a nice reach when his man showed the ball. He swished a corner three out of a timeout. Good rotation on Pietrus to force a miss. He swished a floater curling to his left down the lane. He missed a wing three. Great effort to come out with a missed shot by Fish and it led to a three by DFish to tie the game with 1:23.

Phil -- -- Not the kind of start to the roadtrip Phil was hoping for. But this has been building for quite some time... Bynum picked up two quick fouls in the first minute. Phil quickly went to Odom. The Lakers led 10-6 when the Magic called a timeout... Sasha came in at the point for for Fish with 1:36 left in the first... The Lakers led 24-23 after one. The Magic shot 4-9 from three in the quarter... We started the second quarter with Fish back in at point and Sasha over at the SG for Kobe... The Lakers had a 10-point lead midway through the second quarter. It was cut to 6 and Phil went to Gasol for Bynum... With Luke and Ariza in foul trouble, Phil put Vlad in at SF... The Lakers extended the lead back to 10... With a 9-point lead Phil called a 20-second timeout to set up a play with 11.8 left (Kobe wanted the iso from the top). Looked like we set up the exact thing we had. Maybe he wanted to make sure we went at the right time... The Lakers led 58-49 at the half. The Lakers made 13-14 FTs and had just 1 turnover in the first half. Complete opposite of the previous night... The Magic cut the lead to 68-64 midway through the third when the timeout came... The Lakers trailed 85-84 heading into the third quarter. They got nothing from the post, nor did they explore it offensively. Howard was able to stay in the game without foul issues. They were outscored 36-26 in that third... The Magic won the first few minutes of the fourth to lead 91-86... The game was tied up 96-96 with over 4 minutes... Down 104-103, we ran the clock down, Kobe attacked and kicked out and Sasha's open corner three rattled in and out... With 3.5 seconds left, down by three we called a timeout to advance the ball and set up a play. Kobe missed a heave from 35 feet, not a great look. Anything with 3 seconds is when we typically see these bad kind of shot opportunities drawn up...

[JUST-MING]

Do you think Phil will focus more on Kobe getting off early, so he draws more attention to set up the second and third options?

[DancingBarry]

[City_Dawg]

Thanks DB.
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*sighs*

!...

[Tony Almeida]

Thanks, DB.

I thought I saw some signs of life from the team on the defensive end in the first half.

Then the third quarter happened. It seemed like the Magic scored on nearly every possession.

And yes, still waiting to see Bynum get that fire back and also regaining some focus on the court. Right now he looks out of place and a step slow on the court.

[Qsmiff]

I think Kobe and Fish definitely showed some big time leadership tonight. Also I think Vlade manned up. Andrew seemed mentally defeated from the start tonight I guess we have to realize it's a growing process. Hardly any help from anybody else. I do think Phil is coming around a little in calling time-outs and realizing this is overall a young team that needs help sometime--I do think Powell has earned more minutes than he's getting--but oh well baby steps lol though I would like to blow up the defensive strategy of leaving 3-point shooters WIDE open--its killing us...

[BigE32]

Thanks, DB. The three guys I felt earned their gamecheck tonight were Kobe, DFish, and Vlad. The guy I'm really concerned with for many reasons is AB. I'll be curious to see if we decide to make a move to get another PG.

[RMurphy_22]

I dont think the D was that bad tonight, at one point the Magic were 17 for 24 from 3pt range. Being on a back to back and as bad as we have been playing, we did fine. Bottom line, LO's time with the Lakers needs to expire, we need a perimeter creator to help Kobe. Also the staff needs to find a way to get AB back to his old ways, he seems totally lost. We fix those things and this team is ready to win the championship.

Go Lakers

[barrowboy]

thanks for the complete rundown db i happened to miss this game due to work (i hate that) aw well needs must thanx again though dude.

[king255]

[X56]

The Lakers that I see play or have been playing for quite some time are not the same Lakers I've seen during maybe the first 10 games of the season. No purpose, No spirit, No effort, No Soul! You can see it in the players faces.

More than the losses, the disappointment really is in how they are playing. Maybe that's the reason why the Basketball Gods have not been kind to us as well.

While our record still accords us as Best in the West, I truly hope that this team can get out of the funk that they are in. I miss the Lakers that I know can win the championship this year.
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Game 7 2010 NBA Finals - Lakers 83, Boston 79

[Mamba_24]

Kobe and Fish were awesome today but Lakers need to go back to playing man on man D and stop double teaming when it is unnecessary!

[souriafutbol]

maiami heat played fair
but then orlando magic cheated against the lakers
andrew bynum got 5 fouls and was fouled out but then howard got 5 fouls and he didn't get fouled out


christmas is with the lakers


go lakers

[souriafutbol]

damit bynum should of killed howard

[AllorNothing]

[Thugnomoe]

thanks for the recap DB.. good takes..

I'm with ya on Bynum.. terrible game.. I don't know if it's laziness or what with this kid.. maybe his lack of b-ball experience... sure he's tall.. long limbs.. but I don't see the fire.. the passion.. defensively, he's not what will get us over the hump...

he needs to utilize his size in the post.. back down.. create space.. then hook shot..

Defensively.. needs to stay at home more.. desperately needs to learn how to box out..

hopefully he'll get there..

LO.. jeez.. where do you start with this guy.. can we somehow package LO and Luke?? 1-7 is unacceptable..

we need help defensively.. we have too many weak defensive players..
LO, Bynum, Luke

[Addicus]

Thanks DB. I have said many times over I wonder if Andrew was only playing for the money/security. I see a man with no fire or desire to compete. I can handle bad performances. I have a hard time dealing with the lack of effort. I will say the person who has suffered the most with Vlad going to the bench is Bynum. His game fell apart with the loss of spacing that occurs when Luke is on the floor with him.
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Stop crying and start doing.

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

[king255]

DB, do you know if Bynum is training with Sean Tarzana at all? Here's my explanation for Bynum's rapid decline. So far, he's spending a lot of time getting into "game condition." However, when you do that, you lose muscle mass, due to lots of running. So in order to do that and still maintain the same weight, you have to run, but then you also have to CONTINUOUSLY EAT AND WORK OUT(the Orlando trainer used to tell Dwight that eating is a chore.) Basketball, after all, is a VERY hard job.

Bynum does appear to be in fairly good shape, however, he also appears A LOT weaker(it may seem like a dichotomy that Bynum can't be in good shape without losing strength. However, I think it's possible to have both. The most important thing is that he must try to replace the lost weight with PURE muscles, which means eating lots and lots of protein, and then train). This theory, to me, is the only one consistent to what I've seen in 06-07, last year, and then this year. Basically, if Bynum doesn't train by "lifting weight,"(and not just run), his game suffers.

[king255]

In the end, you have to wonder what good is getting into "game condition" if it causes him to lose so much muscles. Running builds up your stamina(which is what I guess people mean by game condition). But that doesn't do any good if you're getting pushed around by Tony Battie. IF I had to have only one(though there's no rule that says he can't have both), then I'd much rather him keep his strength. At least, he was still good for something, when he had it.

[moonriver24]

Good recap DB. should have given Bynum and Lamar two thumbs down.

I'd love to hear Bynum's fans to scream for more touches for him. Total disappointment.

Odom: when will this guy practice shooting from 18 - 20 feet away? Instead of taking wide open shots, he kept driving straight to the basket regardless of what lied in front of him. To make things worse, 90% of his drives to the basket was SOOOO predictable.
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Kobe's Top 5 Dunks, 81 points, MJ last gm @Staples

[Laker7]

I watched the game on NBA League Pass with the Magic announcers and their comment was that Drew did not look confident, was unsure of what do to and that he was forcing shots. I think the quick fouls at the beginning of the game left him unsure of what to do on the defensive end. No excuse on the offensive end though. Should have had a better game.
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Darvin Ham is an idiot!

[limchrc]

Thanks. Hope we get the next game.

[SladeRider]

I still find it hard to understand how people were saying Bynum was as good, if not better, then Dwight at the beginnin of the season.

Hopefully, this game goes to show that Bynum has a long way to go before he can even be compared to Dwight. I mean, 2 possession and 2 fouls, that kind of shows that Bynum has alot of work to do.
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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

[wthai]

this is getting ugly quick. I'm not even sure if the Laker are even a top 10 team in the NBA right now. Blown out by Sac, barely beat the lowly Knicks, lose to a .500 team like Miami, lose again to the Magic.

Like Kurt Rambis said, they're not playing as a team right now.

Locker room issues...

Lamar not happy about not starting
Farmar confused about his role
Bynum lashing out at Phil

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB. Missed the game, your recap gives me a pretty good feel for what I missed.

I hate seeing the Lakers waste a good offensive game from Fish.

It's encouraging that Vlad came out fighting though.

Now... How to get Drew back to the level he played at last year. Or at least more of an asset than a liability.