LAKERS -at- SPURS - 1/14 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Shootout at the Alamo... It took a lot of breaks for the Spurs to beat the Lakers tonight. The Lakers nearly weathered the storm...nearly.

Kobe Bryant had just drained a huge three with 12 seconds left to take a 2-point lead (so what else is new, right?). On the defensive stand, DFish got caught missing a pass deflection and giving up an And-1 to his man. Down by 1, the Lakers in-bounded the ball to Kobe after the freethrow make. He brought the ball up, drew a double and kicked it to Ariza who attacked. Ariza was bumped by Manu with no call, then called for a travel that never happened. Spurs win, 112-111.

On the second night of a back-to-back, with so many calls going against them or not coming at all, this was a good effort by the Lakers. It took a lot to beat them, despite the injuries and extended minutes guys had to play last night. Sure, they could have done a lot of things better, but they played a strong game.

Both teams were on fire for the first three quarters. But prior to that foul by DFish, the Lakers had locked down the Spurs for just 14 points in the final quarter. This, while coming back from a an 11-point hole by milking the Kobe high-screen plays, which the Spurs had no answer for (and which we should have set up on the final sequence).

The Spurs have two consistent mismatches: Parker and Duncan. In the fourth quarter we took those mismatches away. Trevor Ariza moved onto Parker defensively and Bynum manned up on Duncan, playing him one on one and making life difficult. Since Kobe can check Manu with some consistency, the Lakers have some reasonable answers for the Spurs big three. Perhaps Phil will go to Ariza on Parker sooner next time and make life just a bit tougher for the speedy guard.

What answers did the Spurs show for the Lakers? Kobe had a near triple-double, collapsing the D badly all fourth quarter. Pau scored 21 on 10-14 shooting, creating for himself or getting set up by others for open jumpers (pulling the Spurs defensive anchor away from the hoop). Bynum went iso on whomever was checking him and scored 18. They barely even explored Lamar who has speed advantages against his defenders or size advantages when moved to SF, as we did again.

This still looks like a playoff series that is heavily favoring the Lakers...especially if they secure the home court advantage. Sorry, Spurs fans.

Frustrating night for Trevor Ariza. He was called for fouls at the end of the quarters on three-pointers (one with 0.1 seconds left). He was body slammed on a drive, going down to the floor hard with no call. And, the cherry on top, he was given the travel (and no FTs) on that final play. Just who did he tick off?

"That was a big game for us. We won it in everything but the free-throw line," Phil said.


Kobe -- -- Despite the advantages the Lakers had over the Spurs, we actually didn't do an effective job of abusing them. Some possessions, the offense didn't know what it wanted to do. That wasn't the case when Kobe was the focal point. Like the previous night, we again went to the high screen, the bread and butter, in the fourth for Kobe. The Spurs had no answer and we reeled them back in and took a lead as Kobe set the table for shooters. Then, he looked to press his advantage on iso for a couple huge scores (again, a huge three from the same spot as the night before in the final minute). Frustrating to see us go away from the screen-roll on the final attack with 10 seconds left. Should have seen if we could have run that one more time for a game winner. The Stats: He scored 29 points on 11-19 shooting (2-3 from three, 5-6 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 10 assists, 1 block, 4 turnovers and 1 foul in 42 minutes. The Action: He missed a wing jumper. He swiped the ball from Parker. He posted up, drew a double and hit Pau for the open look. He attacked to the right, hung and banked. He drew a charge on Parker's spin move on the break. He set up LO for the open corner three. He was picked by Manu for the dunk the other way. He missed a three from the top of the key. He posted up Manu, easy score in the paint. He had the chair pulled and lost the ball for a score the other way. He hit a wing jumper on iso. He stalled the offense and missed a step-back jumper up against the shotclock. He attacked across the lane, took contact, hung and swished the fading And-1 elbow jumper, he made the FT. Another And-1 next time down as he got hit on the wing jumper, he made the FT. He attacked to his right and hit the hook over Manu. He swished a face-up 21-footer. He was stripped at the end of the half. He had 16 points on 7-10 shooting and 3 assists. Second Half: He blocked Mason's drive. He went under a screen and gave up the three to Mason. He missed in the paint, attacked again after getting it back and missed with his left. Quick first step baseline past Bowen and he drew FTs, he made both. He went between his legs, attacked and hit the baseline runner. He missed a long three. He missed a short bank. He drew FTs on a turnaround over Mason, he made one. With 4 on the shotclock, he took an in-bounds pass and swished the corner three (big make). He hit Powell off the pick and pop for several jumpers. He had the D scrambling, then jump-passed to LO for the dunk. He hit Pau off the pick and pop for the jumper. Kobe didn't call for the screen, attacked from that left wing area past Mason and went glass with 1:30 left. With the clock down to 12 seconds and trailing by 1, Kobe rose up from the same spot the night before and drained the wing three, then did his Sam Cassell "big balls" dance on the way back to the bench. Final possession, he brought the ball up, drew a double team and dished it off to Ariza for that ugly sequence (that should have resulted in two FTs for Trevor). "I could have rose up and shot it myself, but I felt like if one of my teammates, particularly Trevor, to get that opportunity just to drain a shot or something like that, he just takes his game to a whole 'nother level," the Mamba said in the Times.

Gasol -- -- Pau lit up the Spurs to start the game. The Lakers went to him early and often (unlike the previous night) and Pau got into a rhythm. His ability to spread the floor against Duncan will pull out the Spurs anchor and there's goes their D. Put a lesser defender (like Bonner) on Pau and he'll collapse the D in the post. Just another problem for the Spurs down the line to try to overcome. Late in the game, Duncan made a couple hoops over Pau, one was a total prayer. Sometimes, those go in. Too bad this was a close one. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 10-14 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 5 turnovers and 3 fouls in 32 minutes. The Action: He came weak to strong, got the entry pass and scored on a turnaround for the Lakers first score. He swished a fallaway taking a lot of contact on Bonner with no call. He posted up Duncan, spun and hit the jumper. He swished a 12-footer off the Kobe post kickout. Excellent help challenge on Duncan to force a miss. He sank a wide open wing jumper off the drive and kick from LO. He was hit on a jumphook with no call and missed. He fumbled away a sure dunk on the fastbreak (layup the other way). He faced up, attacked to his right across the lane, hung and scored off the glass. Duncan hooked Pau, then Pau swatted him from behind, foul Pau (weak, weak, weak). He swished a 17-footer on the other end. Wow, he earned a rare shove call from Duncan when Pau posted him up, he made one FT. He scored 17 points on 8-9 shooting and had 3 boards in the first half. Second Half: He crashed the glass and threw down a putback dunk. He missed a face-up jumper. He threw a high-low to Bynum away. He got shoved and airballed a jumphook. Weak pass to Bynum, not getting it over a fronting Parker, turnover (come on, Pau). He swished a jumper from the left wing off the Kobe pick and pop to take a 1-point lead with 2 minutes left.

Bynum -- -- They did a poor job taking advantage of the smaller Bonner in the post in the first half. Drew should have fought for better position...and they should have looked for him more. That's a mismatch that they should have abused quite a bit. Drew has been especially effective against smaller players like that in recent games. Fighting for that position might be a little more tiring after going up against Yao in the previous night. In the second half, he played some very good D on Duncan on iso at times. If you can force Duncan into difficult shots without any help D, that takes a lot away from the Spurs. Not much anchoring defensively from Drew again. None of Bynum's turnaround jumpers were dropping tonight. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 9-15 shooting to go with 3 boards, 1 steal, 1 block and 2 fouls in 35 minutes. The Action: He missed a long jumphook on his first attempt. He scored a layup off the interior feed from Vlad. He drop-stepped Duncan and scored with his left. Excellent center sprint, beating everyone down court, taking the long outlet and dunking. He had low position, easy reverse layup on the corner sequence. He faked right, turned left and hit the jumphook. He posted up Duncan and hit the jumphook. He settled for a long fallaway and missed. He missed a short one over Bonner. He grabbed an offensive board in a crowd, but clanked the putback jumper. Second Half: He missed an easy one after drop-stepping Bonner on the first possession of the half. He swatted Duncan's drive out of bounds. He dribbled once to the middle, spun back to the baseline, rose up and hit the 2-footer. He denied Parker's drive. Duncan scored on iso over him, Bynum went back at him with a jumphook the other way. He iso'd on Duncan, faced up, power spun and hit the two-foot jumper over him (he had Duncan dislodged and moving back). He missed a fallaway over Thomas on the next possession. He hit a short jumphook after snagging a loose ball. He slapped a pass away from Duncan for a turnover. Great iso D on Duncan again, forcing a bad miss in the post.

Radmanovic -- -- Despite playing a lot of minutes, he seemed to have a very quiet game. I mention that because with him it's usually either hitting a ton of shots or making bonehead plays. He didn't do either. Seems like you can usually tell what kind of shooting night it will be with his first couple attempts. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-5 shooting (0-4 from three) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists and no fouls in 28 minutes. The Action: He missed a wide open three. He cut off the high post, posted up his man down low, took the high-low, drew the D, then hit Pau with an interior feed for a layup. He missed a wing three badly. Second Half: He missed a wing three. He flashed to the ball and splashed the 18-footer. He missed another three.

Fisher -- -- Not sure what to start with here. Let's go to the injury since that could have a significant impact with upcoming games and even the roster. With 8 minutes left in the fourth, DFish was put back in. Shortly later, after putting up a shot, he called to be pulled out and headed right to the locker room. He tweaked his groin, exactly the thing you get worried about with all the minutes he's been clocking. He returned with 3:27 left down by 3. Honestly, if Sasha is here...I'd be surprised if Phil puts him back in. But Phil wanted a shooter to spread the floor as we worked the Kobe two-man on the other side. In the final minute, he missed a jumper and had the major no-no, giving up the And-1 jumper and the lead with 10 seconds left. Props to Fish for draining all his threes, but we didn't have that kind of room for error in the final minute. Come playoff time, if we face the Spurs, Phil should consider putting Ariza on Parker a lot more. Our two-man D was ridiculous tonight against Parker prior to that. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 5-10 shooting (4-4 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal and 3 fouls in 36 minutes. The Action: He attacked off the double screen and scored the layup. Wild spinning attack and he missed the layup. He drew FTs on the perimeter, he made both. He drained a three when the D collapsed on Lamar. He swished a wing three in early offense. Second Half: He swished the wing three after the D collapsed on Bynum. He drained another three on a quick swing pass to him. He missed a sideline pull-up jumper. He missed a jumper from 18 feet out. he missed a baseline jumper with under a minute left. He fouled Mason from behind after missing a pass deflection with 10 seconds left, the Spurs took a 1-point lead.

Lamar -- -- If we pressed it, the Spurs had no answer for Lamar. We never looked for it and that's scary considering how many points we already put up. Down the line, if Pau or Bynum has a poor night against the Spurs, you can set up LO to go to work. They were very leery of him any time he got the ball in some sort of post position. I'm really liking the Powell at the 4 and Lamar at the 3 combo. Powell spreads the floor with his jumper and we get more impact from Lamar than the Vlad/Luke duo. If you wanted to throw Pau out there, too, (instead of Bynum) then you've got two bigs who can hit from the perimeter. This would allow LO to work the block with proper floor spacing. Or, you can still work LO into the post with Powell and Bynum on the weakside. There's a lot to explore here. Again, you don't have to run LO a lot here, but a few minutes a game can be an advantage in your favor to get more impact minutes from the big four. I think with some more consistent play with these lineups, we can/will press our advantages more. In the past 48 hours that they've ran it, we barely scratched the surface of what we can do. The Stats: Lamar scored 9 points on 4-7 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 5 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 foul in 29 minutes. The Action: He curled to his left on his first touch, collapsed the D and dished to Pau for the open jumper. Excellent blindside help D on a pass to Duncan to knock it loose. He missed an open jumper. He sagged off Mason and gave up a three. He scored a layup off an offensive board on the other end. He drained a corner three on the drive and dish from Kobe. Weak foul on a swat in transition D (looked clean). He posted up, drew a double and kicked to Ariza for the three. He posted up and this time it led to a Fish three. Second Half: He attacked Bonner with speed, missed, but tipped it back in. He dunked off the jump pass from Kobe to cut the lead to 1.

Ariza -- -- Ariza on Parker down the stretch was great to see. Glad we went to it. We had no choice with DFish out, but perhaps it will continue to remind Phil that Ariza's length and athleticism gives a lot of these speedy guards trouble (see A.I.). Tough break for Trevor on the last play. He attacked off the three line, took contact from Manu, but still made a good effort to take just two steps and was called for a travel. "Everybody wants at least a chance. To get a call like that, that's kind of a tough one. But that's the call he made and you can't argue with him," the Cobra said in the Times. The ends of quarters were not kind to him. He was called for a foul on a heave of a three in the first half for three FTs. Then called for a foul on a Manu three at the end of the third. Then, he got no love, himself, on the drive at the end of the fourth. Those were Ariza's only two fouls, too. Not only that, he got completely decked on one drive, knocked to the floor with no call. Frustrating. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-8 shooting (2-4 from three, 0-1 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 24 minutes. The Action: The in-bounds pass to him came slowly and was stolen, then he was called for a foul on the interception and heave, three FTs with 0.1 left in the quarter. He drained an open three off the kickout from LO. Second Half: Good effort to tap out an offensive board, he was then blocked on a throwdown attempt. He attacked with speed in transition and scored the twisting And-1 layup, he missed the FT. He blocked Manu's three but was called for another three FTs (looked like a Manu flop/flail) with 11 seconds left in the third. He drained a three at the other end, but Manu again hit a three at the buzzer. He missed a 21-footer. He missed a wing three. He got hammered to the floor, practically tackled, and no call on a drive...wow....WOW. He missed a sideline three when we went away from the pick and pop with Powell. He scored a putback layup off the miss by Kobe. He had Parker out of control on a drive and throwing a pass away with under 2 minutes left. He got contact with no call on an attack and was called for a travel (wasn't a travel, should have been a foul on Manu) on the final play.

Powell -- -- Again, we went to Powell as part of a big unit with Bynum, LO, Vlad and Ariza to start the fourth quarter. That unit seemed a bit confused offensively, despite our mismatches. More time together and they could look good. When Kobe came in, however, and we started working the high screens for pick and pops, Powell killed them. Killed them. And, defensively, again he showed some good footspeed on the other end. Those clutch shots build trust with his teammates and with his coaches. Despite the loss, this was a growth game for the team in that regard. Powell led the team with a +6. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-5 shooting to go with 2 boards, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 2 fouls in 14 minutes. The Action: He missed a 15-footer when the Lakers botched another breakaway and had to kick it to him. Second Half: He gave up an And-1 trying to iso against Finley on D. He missed a 20-footer. He sank a pick-and-pop jumper working with Kobe. He sank a 17-footer off the pick and pop again with Kobe. Nice lateral speed against Parker, cutting him off on the baseline on iso and forcing a bad pass. He and Kobe back to work, bang, another clutch pick-and-pop jumper. Good contest on Manu's three (Manu again trying flail like he did with Ariza to draw FTs, no call).

Sun Yue -- -- He came in with 1:33 left in the third. Phil is trying to buy his guards just a bit of rest before that fourth quarter. Good experience for Sun. He wasn't involved in much, but did seem to cause a steal. The Stats: He didn't score, had 1 steal and was a -1 in his brief stint. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: His man dribbled the ball off Sun's feet for a turnover.

Phil -- -- The Lakers trailed 13-10 and Phil called a timeout to bark at Bynum for not challenging a Parker layup... The Lakers led 20-15 after a 10-2 run that forced the Spurs to call a timeout... The Lakers gave up a layup and freethrows in the final 2 seconds of the first quarter. They trailed 30-29 after that... The shootout continued straight through the second quarter. The Lakers trailed 63-61 at the half. They shot 63 percent to the Spurs 58 percent. The Lakers hit 4-6 from three, the Spurs 7-14. Whoever adjusts first defensively, may win... The Spurs out-scored the Lakers 7-2 in the first 3 minutes as the Lakers tried to feed the post. Phil called a timeout and Kobe got aggressive.... The Lakers trailed 82-79 when Ariza and LO came in with a couple minutes left in the third. The Spurs pulled out to an 8-point, 95-87, to close the quarter... The Lakers started a Bynum, Powell, Vlad, Ariza, Lamar lineup to open the fourth. Trevor, LO bringing up the ball. We didn't really know what we wanted to do with that lineup offensively. We tried to attack Duncan or we settled for jumpers. We never explored the clear mismatches... Phil brought in Fish for Vlad, then had to sit Fish with an injury and brought in Kobe, down 100-89... With Pau on the bench, Kobe and Powell started working the pick and pops. They cut the lead to 102-100... Phil went back to Pau with 3:27 left down by 3. The Lakers pulled out to a lead... A couple key scores by Duncan down the stretch. Bynum had been playing good D, but the Spurs weren't allowing the Lakers to make any offense-defense subs because the ball didn't stop after Laker scores... Phil wanted Kobe to bring the ball up and go to work with 10 seconds left. This isn't a bad idea. Kobe has drained game-winners in this situation before. I would have liked to see us work the high screen once again. Instead, the Spurs doubled Kobe and we ended up with the call going against us... Both teams shot 57 percent. Pretty crazy. More crazy that we did it on the road...

Game Flow -- LINK -- The Lakers dominated the game in crunch time. Too bad they couldn't D-up a little smarter earlier in the game.

[TheBlackMamba]

first...

I'm calling it now...the Lakers will sweep the Spurs 4-0 in the WCF this year.

[City_Dawg]

Thanks DB, crazy game, especially in the third. There was a sequence of a few mins where neither team could miss.

Ariza got freaking robbed. Can't believe the call they made on that. But the kids played hard though. Could have easily given up down 11 but they fought and even could have won.
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*sighs*

!...

[LakerSanity]

Thanks DB... like you said, we should be heavily favored against this team come playoffs. Everything went against us this game (from our lethargic play on D to being on a back2back after a tough game to some home cooking to injuries catching up with us), yet it was a game we probably should have won but for two circus shots (one from Duncan and the other from Mason, after an idiotic play by Fisher).

In a 7 game series there are a zillion matchups we could exploit that we barely tapped into. The Spurs saving grace used to be that Bowen could make life hard on Kobe while allowing Duncan to play centerfield/anchor a bit. That's no longer the case... Kobe now has nearly the same advantage against the Spurs as he has against Utah. Kobe wasn't ready for Mason, but if the Spurs plan to keep with that in the playoffs, Kobe's eyes will light up.
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[mhan00]

dumb ass foul of the game goes to fisher for that idiotic gamble.

ariza is a close second with those fouls on 3 pt shooters, though. we must lead the league in fouling long perimeter jumpers.

great defense in the 4th, where was that effort in the first 3? the lakers have shown they can play great defense when they want to, but they seem to be trying to get away with only doing it for one quarter per game. we need to really get some consistency on that end.

[DancingBarry]

[Master)v(ind]

I don't know if I would give the Lakers the nod over the Spurs, thats what I thought coming into the game. Spurs were playing Laker ball, yet we ended up losing

[DD20045]

how does drew have only 1 blocks... i remember him blocking parkers shot when he tried to go with one hand and then he blocked a duncan shot out of bounds

[DancingBarry]

[LAkers 4 Life]

Well... They can always flop as a defensive scheme. They seem to have that down pretty well.

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks DB.

The Spurs cannot deal with us. It took a brain fart and a lucky shot for them to put up 17 points on their floor in the 4th after we played last night minus some key reserves. If they feel good about that win their in big trouble.

KGB alone shot 30/48 for 68 points. Talk about efficient. I'll take that 24/7. With our size advantage we should have out rebounded them by a large margin. I take issue with Kobe having 1 less rebound than Pau and Drew!

In closing, Pau needs to be more selfish. He should have gone for at least 35 tonight. Loving that silky jumper of his...

[dawglaker]

Powell should play 5 with the bench mob that is when everyone is healthy

Farmar
Vujacic
Ariza
Odom
Powell
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"I didn't mean to walk in the shower with him. Yeah, I walked in the shower. I'm not a homosexual, but Kobe - he had no clothes on." - Ron Artest

[dyNastY-]

Great game but unfortunately we lost.

Kobe is clutch.
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"Offensive rebounding? Bynum at 19 has passed Duncan at 31." - parsons777

[Trip_aka_Ace]

i cant even sleep... this game was traumatizing

its one thing to witness it from a tv set... but in person... to see how 2 whistles in 12secs can dictate the outcome of what took 47min48secs to build

[limchrc]

Thanks, we nearly got the win.

[Rick12322]

Thanks for the excellent write up, love the intro. I feel like we were robbed. This game is a good example of how much power the officials have.

Regarding Phil barking at Bynum for not leaving the boxout on Duncan to challenge Parker, he was probably thinking, I'm not gonna give Duncan and easy dunk off a Parker pass. who knows, it's a reaction, and they're not always the right ones. Anyways, I saw the exact same play unfold with Pau in Bynum's shoes, and Pau did the same thing only this time Phil did nothing. I like a lot of things Phil does as a coach but hypocrisy such as this isn't one of them. And there isn't a soul on this earth that can convince me this aspect of PJ had anything to do with his past success.(that one's for you Wolf.)

[Vishnu]

Thanks. It was really nice to see us execute the Pick & Roll/Pop to perfection with Powell and Kobe.

[jsi106]

something sasha did well against the warriors game was he play aginst the man instead of the ball, to deny dunlevy from getting the ball for last shot. i noticed thats exactly what fisher did not do on mason, instead he was playing the inbounder and even trying to get a steal from the pass. now this will not be a topic if fisher did got the steal or mason missed the shot, but since that play costed us the game, i think it was just too risky for a steal, and should have play the man to deny the ball next time

[TerryTeagle]

Great write-up DB, but I'm surprised you didn't mention in your write up that Mason kicked his leg out on that final shot to draw the foul on Fish.

This is important because LITERALLY THE NIGHT BEFORE Jason Terry did the same thing on a game ending play, only Terry was called for the foul. The league made a statement that the referrees were instructed to watch for offensive players kicking their leg out on shots, and that it should be a foul every time.

So how come THE VERY NEXT NIGHT it wasn't a foul on Mason?

Yes, Fish shouldn't have gambled for the steal, but he didn't foul Mason. Mason kicked his leg out to draw contact, which THAT VERY SAME MORNING the league indicated was an offensive foul.

Ultimately:

1) The Spurs received RIDICULOUS home-cooked officiating
2) The Lakers were playing through injuries
3) Mason committed an offensive foul to get a three point play
4) Ariza was clearly fouled on his last play and got called for travelling (the worst part being IT WASN'T EVEN A TRAVEL!!! HE TOOK TWO FREAKING STEPS!!!! LEBRON'S CRAB DRIBBLE IS THREE STEPS!!!)

And the Lakers still only lost by one.

[mefor3]

this was one of the most frustrating losses that i've ever witnessed as a laker fan...

I can't believe they called a foul on Fisher so late in the game and not call anything when Ariza got tripped

missed free throws

stupid shooting fouls at the three point line

....


....

[Rick12322]

[Klone_dd]

Fish 2, SA 1. SA received favorable calls in the last 10 seconds. No doubt that all the hoopla about the last game in SA (Fish's non-foul on Barry in game 4 of WCF) was a factor in the ref's minds. That said, it was still a bonehead play by Fish and combined with Ariza's bonehead fouls on 3 pt shooters at the end of the 1st and 3rd Q, the Lakers just didn't close quarters with any intelligence.

Loved Kobe's play in the 4th. He didn't play at an MVP level. He played at a 2-time MVP level. His approach was surgeon-like.

Liked how the bigs were involved. Pau, blazing in the 1st half. Bynum, in the 2nd. Powell -- what a find -- in the 4th. When the Lakers call out for other teams to pick their poison, we've added another weapon and still have some in reserve.

I certainly am disappointed at losing, but not at the effort and resolve of the team.

[Killakobe81]

[Alpha]

thanks db! crappy end but still a heck of a game.

[DancingBarry]