JAZZ -at- LAKERS - 1/2 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Flirting With Trouble... You see Little Larry O'Brien standing amid a raging battle, the wounded falling at his feet as chaos seems on the verge of engulfing him. There is a serene peace about him, however, and it puzzles you. Hands reach for him and are struck down. Bold rushes are made toward him and collapse just short. There is something peculiar about him. He doesn't seem to flinch or fear the raging fight around him. It's in this moment that it dawns on you -- he's different. He is the Golden Child.

You climb to your feet and hear ringing in your ears. You feel an ache in your gut and notice blood on your hands. More ringing. Still, you stagger forward and reach for him.

This time the ringing wakes you from the dream. Damn! He was there ... within your grasp. You fumble for the phone and check the caller ID. You haven't heard from her in days and now she interrupts a dream you were hoping to fall back into. You love her voice in your head, so you answer.

"Your timing is impeccable," you say. "I just saw him ... Larry. He was in front of me. I almost had him before you woke me up."

"Let me guess. It was both ugly and beautiful at the same time, wasn't it? He's communicating with you. Larry does that," she says. You close your eyes and pretend she is lying next to you as she talks. "Sometimes he gets me through the nights. Sometimes I can't sleep at all."

"So, are we ever going to meet?" you ask.

A pause on the phone makes you open your eyes. "It's not safe," she finally says. You hear what sounds like the front door closing, and you get up while she's continues. "They're watching you," she says. "If they find out we're working together on this, they'll quit messing around and take you out."

She's the kind of woman who makes you think twice about things, and then makes you promptly ignore whatever sound advice you have just given yourself. "I don't care," you say as you walk to the front door. No one there. "They need to worry about me coming after them."

You head over the fridge, open it up and look for the leftover Jack in the Box tacos. Nothing but empty wrappers and a note. Damn you, DancingBarry. The note reads:

The Four Horsemen were here. They took command of the battle early, but they got bored with their opponent and began to toy with them. In the end, there was much Death and much Pestilence heaped upon their foe. When victory was on the line, the Death Riders charged in and took it.

I will continue to track them...

P.S. Happy New Year!

The Lakers locked down to start the game, quickly pulling out to a big lead. The Jazz attacked into our strong-side zone and paid the price. Offensively, the team was clicking as they built a 37-20 first quarter lead.

"That was the kind of basketball that wins you championships," Rick Fox said. "They played with effort and energy." Seeing both DFish and Gasol dive for a loose ball on one defensive sequence was certainly inspiring basketball.

From there, they flirted with Trouble. They let the Jazz trim a 20-point lead to just 3. The Lakers flexed their muscle again to extend it, then cruised once again.

"Only thing I'm disappointed about is that we didn't get tacos for the fans. Bothers me," Phil said with a straight face. He added it wasn't about the tacos, but the defense. He didn't like the inconsistent effort on that end. "We lost energy a bit at the end of the second quarter," he said.

With Kobe filling it up with a smooth but deadly 40 points and Gasol causing all kinds of trouble in the post, it turned out to be Trevor Ariza who seemed to slam the door shut. Late in the fourth, he came up with back-to-back steals and scores to help finish off the Jazz with a 113-100 win.


Kobe -- -- Ariza was shocked when he looked up at the scoreboard after the game when someone mentioned Kobe had 40 points. "It didn't even seem like it because he was passing the ball so much," he said. "He got his points in the rhythm of the game." It's true. The offense was clicking, guys were getting touches, Kobe was scoring on and off the ball. He was setting up others when drawing defenders. He set up screens that had both defenders staying with him while teammates continued on with the ball. Just a very effective offensive game. Defensively, he was covering Deron when Fish sat. If we face the Jazz again in the playoffs, I much prefer seeing the Kobe, Sasha, Ariza trio out there versus having Farmar get man-handled by Deron. The Stats: He scored 40 points on 13-23 shooting (2-3 from three, 12-14 from the line) to go with 7 boards (3 offensive), 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 38 minutes. The Action: He posted up Deron in transition and scored a short jumper. He threw down, taking an outlet on the fly when he got ahead of defenders. He set up Drew for FTs on the screen-roll. He pushed out the break, ball-faked to clear a lane and then drew FTs, he made both. He blocked a perimeter jumper. He got cracked on the back of the neck by Milsap when Kobe tried to power up under the hoop, he made both FTs. He set up Pau off the two-man game for FTs. He backdoored AK and Sasha hit him for the layup. He missed a left-handed floater (didn't seem like he needed to go to the left). He had 10 points in the first quarter. He lost Korver badly on a hesitation move at the elbow and stretched out for the jam. He swiped a pass, pushed out the break and flipped to LO for the And-1. Great awareness after Pau couldn't get an interior feed, Kobe jumped back in bounds, tip-toeing under the hoop to slap the ball back to Pau, he then took a return pass and knocked down the corner three. He missed a wing three on his next attempt. He had the ball swiped trying to do too much off the dribble. He grabbed an offensive board, ball-faked in air, then hit the short one-hander. He had 17 points on 6-8 shooting. Second Half: He hit a floater in the lane. He wanted the call on the missed floater next time down (looked like he was hit on the arm). He hit the fade in the lane. He was stripped in the paint. He missed a drop-step bank from close. He swished an iso pull-up jumper. He missed a tech FT. He attacked his man, spun, missed, got it back and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a baseline turnaround. He busted out and scored a layup off the Sasha steal and outlet (he wanted the foul). He attacked Korver off the dribble, hung and drew FTs, he made both. Back in and he swished a 16-footer. He spun to lose his man, hung and missed the short And-1 bank shot, he made both FTs. He missed a layup trying to power up under the hoop, he wanted the foul. He drew FTs on a post entry, he made one. He cut down the lane and Pau found him with a no-looker for the And-1 dunk, Kobe made the FT. He missed a 17-footer. He missed a layup in early offense. He buried an open wing three.

Gasol -- -- I love watching him handle the ball on the break. Late in the game when the Lakers finally put the Jazz away, Gasol pulled down a rebound, pushed out the break, went between his legs off the dribble with his right hand, caught it with his right, then faked a behind-the-back pass and no-looked an underhander to Ariza for the dunk. Great way to cap off the game. Again, he was putting up triple-double-ish numbers. Pau was a +17 (Bynum was a -3). Just a very big difference offensively when Pau was out there. The Jazz had to collapse or pay the price against him. They did both. Defensively, not great, but he was too much to handle on the other end. Pau scored his 10,000th career point this game. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 6-13 shooting (9-11 from the line) to go with 11 boards (4 offensive) to go with 6 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover and 3 fouls. The Action: He missed an elbow jumper, falling away just slightly. He cut off Luke in the post, took a lob and finished it. He missed a layup, should have dunked it. DFish dove for a loose ball, then Gasol dove a second later to help recover the possession on the D end. He iso'd on Okur and drew FTs attacking, he made both. He dunked when he and Kobe transitioned into the strong-side two-man game out of the triangle, he was fouled, too, and made the FT. He hustled to tap a Sasha miss out, he got it back, attacked and kicked to Ariza for three. He missed a face-up jumper. He drew FTs trailing the break with Kobe and Ariza, he made both. He scored a putback layup when Lamar broke down Okur off the dribble. He had 11 points and 7 boards in the first quarter. He spotted Vlad cutting from the weakside and hit him for the layup. He missed a layup on a drive, he was then called for offensive interference. He bricked a short jumper in the lane. Second Half: He let Okur tip in a miss behind him. He missed a jumphook. He hit an iso wing jumper. He attacked the offensive glass, missed as he got hit with no call, bounced back up and tipped it in. He hit an 8-foot guided hookshot. He no-looked to Kobe from the post for an And-1 dunk. He drew FTs on a double in the post, he made both. He drew more FTs off the Kobe dish, he missed the first (24 consecutive makes up until that one), he then missed the second one. He pulled down the defensive rebound, went to the trickeration mentioned above off the dribble, pushing out the break and setting up Ariza for the dunk with the no-looker. He was fouled with 13 seconds left and scored his 10,000th career point on his first FT make, he also made the second.

Bynum -- -- We seemed to just match up much better with Pau out there. Our offense clicked. With Bynum trying to attack in the post, it was clunky and out of sync. Defensively, he had several swats, a few great challenges and even some good hustle plays. Still, just 2 boards in his minutes, and the Lakers gave up 19 offensive boards. All in all, a so-so game. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-6 shooting (2-6 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 3 blocks, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 25 minutes. The Action: First possession is for him to go to work in the post and he walked before dribbling. He blocked a jumper. Nice help on Luke's man to force a missed layup. On the other end, he was tapped on an And-1 screen-roll from Kobe, he made one FT. He rattled in a 16-footer off the Kobe kickout. He stretched out for the DFish lob and threw it down (no one else on the court could get to that one). He picked up his second foul bodying up too much as Collins was making a move. He tried to go for a steal on an in-bounds and his man cut behind him for a score (LO wasn't in position on the entry pass, either). He posted up and drew FTs, he made one. Great effort hustling to the sideline to save the ball back in bounds to a teammate. Good help D challenge on Deron to force a miss. He had 6 points and 1 board. Second Half: He missed a turnaround in the post. He clanked another rushed turnaround. He powered in a layup off the Luke pass. He swatted Deron badly to the floor. He faced up, attacked to his right and drew FTs, he missed both. He bricked off the glass, trying to attack.

Luke -- -- The team came out to a strong start. Their D locked down and their offense clicked. The Jazz played into our strengths defensively and that allowed our wing spots to get some extra help on D. Luke didn't stick out with issues on either end. Of course, Ariza was the man at SF, but serviceable minutes from Luke. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-4 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 4 boards, 3 assists and no fouls in 16 minutes. The Action: Nice lob pass to a cutting Pau when Luke posted up his man, easy score. He attacked off the three line along the baseline and powered up a layup. He missed a layup with his left. Second Half: He hit Bynum for a layup. He missed a sideline three.

Fisher -- -- In the playoffs, DFish was huge against the Jazz. Anytime he came out of the game, the Jazz chewed the team up (Farmar in particular). The defense on Deron tonight helped keep him to 4-18 shooting. Both players led their teams in minutes with 42. Credit DFish, credit his bigmen and credit Kobe helping cover him when Fisher sat. Having Fish's strength at the point makes a big difference in this match-up. He also knows how Deron likes to floor general a game. We got a little sloppy late in the game, but a lot of that was the team's attention span. Offensively, a few too many forays into the lane for DFish. More than usual. The Jazz know DFish's weaknesses, too. Some poor work on the break, also. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-12 shooting (0-2 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 4 turnovers and 2 fouls in 42 minutes. The Action: He hit Kobe on the fly for a dunk. He drained the corner jumper on a kickout. Great dive to hit the floor before a Jazz player could get to the loose ball. He sank a short baseline jumper off a ton of passes in the set. He missed an early offense three next time down. He attacked baseline and threw it up high for Drew to dunk. He was swatted under the rim on a drive. He stripped a big on the perimeter. He missed a 17-footer from the right side. Second Half: He missed an elbow jumper. He tucked the ball under his arm on the attack, then banked in the runner. He threw a pass away in transition, layup the other way. He threw another fastbreak outlet away. Great anticipation from the weakside to draw a charge and help LO. He gave it back on the other end trying to attack with his shoulder first in the lane, charge DFish. His jumper was blocked, looked like a foul. He threw a pass away attacking in traffic. He up-faked to lose his man, attacked baseline and scored the And-1 layup over Milsap, he made the FT. He was tied up by the Jazz center trying to attack the paint in transition (amazingly, he drew a foul on the jumpball to get the possession back). He missed a pull-up jumper in transition. He attacked off the Kobe screen and drew FTs, he made both.

Lamar -- -- Very good two-way game from Lamar. He was aggressive offensively and got to the rim a few times. He was challenging shots on the other end and helping clog the lane up. Once again, he came up with a huge +17 for his minutes out there. He causes a lot of problems for the Jazz. He can take AK in the post if he wants to, and he's too quick for the other Jazz bigmen. They tried to throw Harpring on him again, but LO quickly got a couple fouls on him. Kobe, Pau and Lamar all cause the Jazz too many issues. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 5-10 shooting (0-1 from three, 4-6 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 2 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 31 minutes. The Action: He attacked Harpring with speed to his left and drew FTs, he made both. He slipped a screen and drew Harpring's second foul a minute later, he made both FTs. He had Okur going one direction while LO went the other, he missed the layup, but the penetration gave Pau an easy putback. He missed a short one under the hoop. He attacked in transition, sliced to his left and flipped in the And-1 layup, he missed the FT. He missed a wing three. He filled the lane next to Kobe on the break and scored the And-1, he missed the FT. Great help D rotation to swat Pau's man behind Kobe. He had 8 points on 2-5 shooting. Second Half: He attacked to his left from the wing and overpowered his man for a layup. He scored a layup when Ariza tapped a pass back to him (horrible lob pass by Lamar to begin with). He was blocked easily going up with defenders on him, layup the other way. He curled around a Kobe screen with the ball and went in for the uncontested dunk. He was stripped trying to push out a break in a crowd with a couple minutes left.

Ariza -- -- "Two plays in a row Trevor changed the game,” Phil said. “He anticipates well. He’s a cobra out there and he just strikes.” Stu said during the game: "He's like a stealth bomber," after Ariza came up with back-to-back steals and scores in crunch time. C.J. Miles made the mistake of trying to cross-over Ariza. Trevor's length can make you pay on that move. He reached, swiped it and scored the big And-1 late in the game. Next play, he deflected a pass to AK and the Lakers were out in transition again. Big plays in crunch time. That's why he's our closer at SF. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-8 shooting (1-3 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 9 boards (3 offensive), 2 assists, 5 steals and 3 fouls in 32 minutes. The Action: In the game and he quickly helped create a steal on the weakside. He swished a wing three on the drive and kick from Pau. He scooped up a loose ball and pushed out the break. He missed a wing three. He took the pass from Lamar, used his body to draw contact and powered in the layup. He bricked a three after breaking rhythm. Second Half: He saved a fastbreak when LO threw a lob too late, and Ariza tapped it back to Lamar who scored easily. Miles tried to cross-over on him at the top of the key...nope...Ariza swiped it and took it for the And-1 layup, he made the FT with just over 2 minutes left. He deflected a pass on the wing on the next defensive stand to get a stop. In transition, DFish then bricked a jumper, but Trevor grabbed the miss under the hoop and scored the layup. He threw down off the no-looker from Pau on the break.

Vujacic -- -- The Korver stopper returns. Sasha dominated him in the playoffs and he continues to keep him from being an x-factor for the Jazz. Korver had just 4 points on 1-4 shooting. Unfortunately, Sasha was also the Sasha-stopper. He seemed to rush most of his shots and never got in a comfort zone. He would have been better off faking a couple of those threes and moving in for the open mid-range jumper after his man did the "mosquito bite" fly-by's. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-6 shooting (0-5 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 2 stals and no fouls in 16 minutes. The Action: He missed a corner three on his first attempt. Sweet pass by Sasha to Kobe cutting backdoor in traffic and Sasha threaded the needle like Magic (hey, it's true, okay) to Kobe for the layup. Quick catch-and-shoot miss from three off the screens. He sank a quick catch-and-shoot wing jumper with his feet on the three line. Second Half: He winged an in-bounds pass (rare you see that), he recovered it and hit Kobe on the bustout for the layup. He missed a wing three. He missed a pull-up three on the break at the buzzer. He made a tech FT. He missed another corner three.

Radmanovic -- -- He came in for LO with a 20-point lead and 3 minutes in the half. Again, Phil put him in at PF. These are not the minutes I want to see Vlad get. I'd much rather have Powell out there at PF. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-3 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 1 offensive board in 3 minutes. He was a -6. The Action: Nice dive cut from the weakside and Pau hit him for the reverse layup. He missed a corner three with the shotclock low. Second Half: Did not play.

Phil -- -- Phil ran the guys after two days off with no practice. Just trying to keep them in shape and hope the timing and execution doesn't suffer from the schedule break... "This team is going to be physical, physical, physical," Phil said of the Jazz before the game... The Lakers came out strong on the defensive end. Blocks, dives and rotations. The Jazz were attacking from the wings right into our help D scheme. The Lakers led 17-6 early... As the subs came in, the Lakers extended the lead to 27-10. They finished the quarter with that lead, closing out the first 37-20... Phil went to Vlad at PF for Lamar. The Lakers faded in the last minute and allowed the Jazz to cut the lead from 20 to 14. The Lakers scored just 20 points in the second quarter (very loose offensively, going for a few too many highlight plays). They led 57-43 at the half. They held the Jazz to 38 percent shooting (17-45) in the first half. Not good three shooting by either team. The Jazz were 0-5, the Lakers 2-11... A minute into the third quarter and the Jazz had the lead down to 9. The Lakers just cruised on defense... The lead was cut down to 3 points at the midway mark of the third as the Lakers once again showed their inability to stay focused when they have a big lead... Phil brought Lamar back in. The Lakers bounced back to extend the lead back to 15, 81-66. We saw both Kobe and Ariza on Deron defensively when the DFish sat (Sasha is the designated Korver stopper)... The lights went out for a moment early in the fourth. Someone must have tripped on the plug. Kobe seemed to be joking with a ref about that on the bench... The Laker lead was trimmed to 8 and Phil put Kobe and Gasol back in. They let them get a little closer before finishing the game on a 14-4 run... The Lakers shot a poor 3-17 from three. The Jazz finished 2-14. The Lakers made 32-42 from the line (the Jazz shot 20-25). The Jazz again going to their foul ball action. Believe it or not, there were still a lot of calls on both side that went without a whistle...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Check out the extended run by the Jazz from the late second quarter through the third. It started when Lamar left the court and ended when he returned.

[Texas_Pete]

Hey DB, how much did Trevor lock down DWill? 4-18?!??! That's a trend IMO. The following perimeter players have not "gotten off" on us this year:

Rondo
DWill
CP3
Nash
Melo

I sure hope he is re-signed. Go Lakers!

[LoneWolf47]

Awesome like always

[DancingBarry]

[fsc401]

Thanks man. Great effort from the team

[DD20045]

i love the 4 horsemen, but now we got a steal bomber hovering on top of them db!

[Texas_Pete]

[DancingBarry]

[DD20045]

sounds great db, fabulous work as usual! u should log each one of them and publish them as a book at the end of a season

[usa]

Great Job DB... I must add Kobe 40points were the quitest I ever seen. Like Trevor, I was surprised and had to double check on yahoo's box score. Great game just like Phil said I didn't like that let down in the defense.

[DancingBarry]

[DancingBarry]

[IPK]

[LakerJam]

[DancingBarry]

[LAkers 4 Life]

Cannot believe that the Jazz are whining about last season's playoffs, saying if it weren't for the refs they would be in the WCF. I'm sure there will be more whining after the huge free-throw differential in this game. Do they not realize their style of play leads to a lot of free-throws?

[Addicus]

You da man and I'm just the man nest to the man next to the man and very proud of it!

A quiet 40. Games like this show why Kobe is still head and shoulders above everyone else in the league.
_________________
Stop crying and start doing.

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

[Teamof2000]

DB, love the noir + recap.

Like I said, I'm gonna make this a movie when all is said and done.

[JUST-MING]

Odom is 560 points away from 10,000. Its sad, but I don't think he's going to reach that mark this season.

[IPK]

[D Nice]

[BLP711]

Thanks DB. Pau is tearing it up on the break....love to see it happen in LA...

[SladeRider]

I have to say I'm not a fan of these story like beginnings, kind of makes these ratings a bit less special to read because now I just skip over the beginning.
_________________
"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

[IPK]

[OregonLakerGuy]

I don't always say it DB, but I never miss a recap and I appreciate the considerable effort.