LAKERS -at- CLIPPERS - 1/21 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Destruction... You slow the Chevy Nova to a stop. The road you are on has disappeared right into a lake. Poking from the water, two rusted signs mark the entrance. One reads "Clipperville" and the other "Dead End." You double check the map. This seems to be the right place and would explain the instructions you received, "Swim to the island in the middle."

You hop out of the car, look at the small island some distance away, kick off your shoes and step into the water. There's some kind of movement underwater ahead, and you edge out a little to look. Your blood goes icy cold as bodies float or swim beneath the surface -- you aren't sure which. They seem to be moving, which is kind of freaking you out. You'll do anything for Larry, however ... maybe that's why you're here.

You wade out slowly and find yourself quickly up to your waist. Something brushes up against your legs. Two more steps and the water is up to your neck. You inhale and dive in. The water tastes of vinegar, and the pale bodies that swim around you look...well...pickled. It's like you're swimming in a giant jar of pickled sea monkeys. "Fix your thoughts, keep going for the middle," you tell yourself.

Some of the bodies seem beaten down and try to avoid you. Some seem to despise your mere existence. They've fled the surface world because of people like you. They grumble and swim by. There's an entire city down here, another world. Not pretty, but another world. Clipperville -- The permanently embalmed city.

You've come to a lot of strange places in the hunt for Lil' Larry O'Brien. Sometimes you don't know the purpose of your visits. Sometimes it feels like wasted energy. Sometimes it feels like a test. As you make your way to the middle of the lake and the island, it feels like you're at the middle of your journey and your search for Larry.

You reach the island and wade ashore. Clipperville is soft in the middle right now, squishy under your feet. The island starts to sink into the waters with your added weight. You move to the middle, but it sinks even faster, water closing in on you until it's up to your knees. A corked bottle floats by, and there's message inside. You grab it. DancingBarry again:

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were here. Once again, their names: Famine, Pestilence, Destruction and Death ... or Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Kobe Bryant.

The night will be remembered for Destruction ... Destruction everywhere. He went to the heart of their opponent and imposed his game on their weakened warriors. It was beastly.

I will continue to follow them...

Without Camby or Kaman or Randolph, the Clippers interior was wide open. The Lakers abused it, scoring 70 points in the paint and led by young Andrew Bynum, who dropped 42 points and pulled down 15 boards.

On their way to the 108-97 win, Bynum had career highs in points, makes, attempts and freethrows taken. He was two boards shy of his career mark, as well. Kobe Bryant added a triple-double. Lamar Odom added a season-high 19 points.

Bynum recognized that the Clippers had a weakened interior. His teammates did, too, and got him the ball. While recognizing that the Clippers weren't all there, he also mentioned he's been doing a lot off the court. "I'm just putting in more work...and it's paying off," Drew said. You don't get 42 points and 15 boards without putting in work.

The Lakers have improved their record to 33-8 at the halfway point of the regular season. They've weathered some injuries, made some adjustments and have traveled miles. But as Robert Frost once wrote, they have miles to go before they sleep.


Kobe -- -- Another triple-double from your MVP. (That's how you do it, Ricky Davis.) This has been quite a stretch of games with high assist numbers for Kobe. He's keeping it simple by drawing doubles and looking for open teammates. He started to key in on Bynum abusing the Clippers and was making sure his bigman got the ball to get to that 40-point mark late in the game. Even though he had the triple-double, he didn't have to work too hard. Half of his shots were from three. So, although he played 41 minutes, it didn't seem like a very heavy lifting job. At the halfway mark, Kobe is ranked 3rd in points per game (27.0), 8th in efficiency and 6th in freethrows per minute. He is shooting a career high .476 from the floor. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 5-15 shooting (2-7 from three, 6-6 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 12 assists, 1 steal, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 41 minutes. The Action: He posted up, drew the D and set up Bynum for the dunk. He poked a ball loose on one end, and missed a three in transition. He drew a double team and hit Luke for the easy score in the paint. He was hit on a 21-footer, he made both FTs. He threw an outlet away. He drained a wing three after coming back in midway through the second. He sank a three from the other side next time down, about a foot further back. He was grabbed after he stepped past Davis on the baseline, he made both FTs. He missed a three. He hit Sasha for a three in transition, then he tried to pump up Sasha, who had been struggling. He had 10 points on 2-4 shooting and 7 assists in the first half. Second Half: He hit Luke for the open three. He set up Bynum for FTs on the screen-roll. He attacked, whipped it back to Bynum who finished with a dunk. He missed a long three. He missed a short baseline jumper. He hit Luke off the screen for a jumper. He found Drew trailing the break for the layup. He probed baseline and reversed. He attacked down the lane, ball-faked to his right and scored the layup with his left. He missed a pull-up three. He spun to lose his man, was hit with no call an airballed, but LO treated it as a lob and dunked it. He set up LO for FTs when he drew a double in the post. He was yanked down on a drive and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a three. He threw a pass away. He missed a tough fallaway. He swished a floater out of a timeout when the Clippers cut the lead down late.

Gasol -- -- Not a great game from Pau. His defensive effort and intensity wasn't there. Hopefully, he was pacing himself for the game tomorrow. Offensively, he wasn't the go-to bigman, but he still managed to scratch a few points. Pau is ranked 7th in FG percentage (.556), 8th in offensive boards per game (3.2) and 11th in efficiency. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 5-9 shooting (0-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards (3 offensive), 3 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a +6. The Action: He hit Luke cutting off the jumpball for a dunk. He iso'd on his man and hit a short jumphook. He hit a 12-footer in the lane. He rebounded the brick by Luke for a putback score. He missed a long wing jumper. He drained a face-up wing jumper. He had 8 points on 4-5 shooting. Second Half: He missed a 17-footer. Good work running the floor to clean up a missed Luke layup on the break. He missed a corner jumper. He short-armed a baseline one-hander and missed. He was held on an offensive board and drew FTs, he missed both. He gave up an offensive board and then a dunk. He gave up a lob dunk next time down.

Bynum -- -- Big Drew. A-Bomb. Beastly Bynum. He's just 21 years old and just dropped 42 points on a team. Bynum destroyed the weakened Clipper interior right out of the gates. He just dominated their frontline. Much credit also to his teammates for feeding him continually. He scored in the post, he scored off the passes, he scored in transition, he attacked the offensive glass...it was a well-rounded effort. "All it takes is guys looking for you," Bynum said. "Once you score early, they look for you throughout the whole game and I got lucky." It wasn't long ago, a couple years, when Bynum playing above the rim and trying to power up was not in his game. He's put in a lot of work and continues to work. Things are starting to click for him on the offensive end. This was also a pretty good two-way game. He outplayed Pau on the defensive end, and Phil went with Bynum to close the game. Well done, Drew. Bynum is ranked 12th in blocks per game (1.7) and 12th in field goal percentage (.528). The Stats: He scored 42 points on 17-24 shooting (8-11 from the line) to go with 15 boards, 3 blocks, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls. He was a +17. The Action: He took the post entry and shot easily over Thornton for a score. He grabbed the Luke missed three and scored the uncontested layup. Next time down Kobe drew his man and set him up for a dunk. Great recovery to reject a layup out of bounds (really got off the floor quick that time). Good low position and he got the ball for the easy layup. He fumbled a lob pass and was looking for a call. He was stripped in early offense. He missed a tough turnaround (should have reposted for better position). He was hit on a lob attempt, he made one FT. Late rotation, giving up a dunk. He dunked over Skinner on the other end off an interior feed from Pau. He rejected another shot out of bounds. He took the high pass, spun and scored at the front of the rim. He tipped in a rebound from behind his man. He was fouled after grabbing a missed layup by Ariza, he made both FTs. He hammered down a huge slam off the screen-roll with DFish. He posted up, got his man in the air and hit the short one in the paint. He challenged Thornton's drive and recovered the miss. He missed a 14-footer short. He took the pass at the midpost, went up and under and hit from 8 feet out. He dunked in a lob from Sasha. He missed a jumphook. He had 25 points on 11-14 shooting, 10 boards (5 offensive) and 2 blocks in 18 first half minutes. And he made it look easy. Second Half: He missed an elbow jumper with the shotclock low. He drew FTs on the screen-roll with Kobe, he made both. Kobe attacked, whipped a pass back out and Bynum finished with the soaring dunk (new career high on that one). He fought for a Kobe missed jumper, got it and scored the layup. Beastly move, he backed his man down, power dropstep and he powered up an And-1 layup, he made the FT. He trailed the break and Kobe rewarded him with a back pass for a layup. He challenged Collins to force a miss. He blocked Gordon, who let out a scream as he was smothered. He had 36 points on 15-19 shooting and 12 boards after three quarters. Great hands on a quick pass from Kobe and he was grabbed before he could score, he made one FT. He was hit trying to hammer a dunk in transition, he made one FT. He missed a layup, got it back and was blocked. He missed an elbow jumper. After LO blocked a laup in transition, Kobe outlet to Drew all alone for his 40th point, another dunk. He grabbed a Kobe miss, powered up and dunked.

Luke -- -- Luke was back in the uni, went straight to the starting lineup and looked fluid on the floor. The first play of the game, he dunked at full speed. Defensively, he had a tough cover in Thornton and did well enough. Actually, he had some excellent defensive challenges tonight on a few shots. Thornton was 7-20 on the night. Pretty good game after a couple weeks off. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 5-9 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 1 offensive board, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 21 minutes. He was a +18. The Action: He dunked off the jumpball when Pau hit him in stride. He missed a corner three. He cut baseline, took a pass and hit the short jumphook. He missed a layup off the good, low-post seal. He bricked so badly, he tried to convince Pau it was an off-the-backboard pass on the break. Second Half: He sank an open corner three. Good recovery on Thornton to challenge a jumper. He swiped a pass, pushed it out and missed a layup, Pau cleaned it up. He sank a wing jumper coming off a screen. He swished a top-of-the-key jumper off the dribble. Another great challenge on Thornton forcing the airball jumper.

Fisher -- -- Some poor D by DFish, particularly against Collins, in the first half. The team tightened it up in the third quarter to take control of the game. Fish got to sit back and watch a lot of this game. We were destroying the interior and that's no where he needs to be. Phil went a little more to Sasha at point. So, DFish ran just 31 minutes, and this was some of his easier minutes of late. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-4 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a +24. The Action: He missed a corner three. He tried to attack the paint in transition, turnover. He set up Bynum for a dunk off the screen-roll. He swished a wing three off the Kobe kickout. Second Half: He drew a moving screen on Skinner. He backed it out, attacked the lane and hit the runner.

Lamar -- -- Great start of the fourth quarter by Lamar. He had the Lakers first five hoops. Getting impact ball in those first 5 minutes of the fourth is always a key. He seemed like one of the few guys who was really trying to get after it on the defensive end. Some good hustle showed in his block numbers. Lamar also had 4 dunks in the game. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 8-11 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 2 assists, 3 blocks, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 28 minutes. The Action: He barely hit the rim on a three. He attacked to his right and missed off the glass, but Drew grabbed the board. He stepped past his man and dunked easily. He attacked from the top of the key and scored a layup with his right. He drew FTs after sealing on the corner sequence, he made one. Second Half: He attacked to his left and hit the layup off the glass. Huge throwdown trailing the break behind Ariza. He attacked, spun and overpowered his man for a layup. He tipped in an Ariza miss. He scored the third straight hoop of the fourth, diving down the lane, taking the Pau pass and dunking. He threw down an airball off Kobe's runner for the fourth-straight score of the fourth. Another dive cut next time down, FTs for him, he made both. He was called for a carry. He rejected Thornton. He was blocked under the hoop, hustled back in transition and blocked the layup attempt.

Ariza -- -- Not a Cobra game. I'd like us to see if we could get him going with something around the rim before he gets to the perimeter shots. Not always possible, of course, but a streaky shooter like Trevor could benefit from that. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-6 shooting (0-3 from the three) to go with 1 board, 2 assists and 2 fouls. He was -10. The Action: He missed a corner three. He missed an early offense wing 21-footer. He missed a layup, but Drew got the miss. Second Half: He hit Lamar trailing for the huge throwdown. He missed a tough leaner on the baseline attack. He missed an early offense three. He missed a 16-footer. He missed a lob from Lamar.

Vujacic -- -- Streaky as ever, Sasha came out clanking to start this game and never got it on track. He also had some issues defensively, but did tighten those up late in the game. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-7 shooting (1-5 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 3 fouls in 23 minutes. He was -12. The Action: He missed an open wing three in transition. He missed another wing three. He missed a pull-up 16-footer in transition. He missed an open three, again from the wing. Excellent bullet lob off the dribble to Drew for the dunk. He gave up an And-1 to Collins on the other end. He was swatted on a pull-up in the paint. He finally sank a wing three off the kickout from Kobe in early offense. He had 3 points on 1-6 shooting. Second Half: He swiped a pass in transition D and it led to a breakaway dunk for LO. He missed an open three straight away. He smothered Collins to force a brick in the paint.

Radmanovic -- -- Back into limbo for Vlad. I thought Phil might have waited a game before putting Luke right back in the starting lineup, but he didn't waste anytime. This was a better match up for Luke instead of Vlad anyway. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting and had 1 assist in 6 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He hit Lamar with a quick entry pass on the corner sequence to get him FTs. He missed a wide open wing three at the end of the half. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Phil -- -- The Lakers made sure they abused the weakened Clipper interior tonight... The Lakers pulled out to a 14-6 lead, all of their points coming in the paint. Everything was coming easy... Then they went soft on both ends. After a poor finish to the quarter, the Lakers blew an 8-point lead to trail 27-25. Poor job... Poor D throughout the second quarter. The D was overplaying and getting burned with ease. The guards were giving up penetration... Phil went ot a Bynum, Pau, Vlad, Kobe Sasha lineup to close the half trying to get some size in there. That didn't help any... The Lakers led 58-55 at the half. The Clippers shot 56 percent, the Lakers 50 percent. The Clippers made 4 threes in 6 attempts, the Lakers made 4 threes in 15 attempts. The Lakers had 20 second-chance points, the Clippers 8... The coaches were furious with the Lakers D giving up so many layups, dunks and open looks... The Lakers opened up a 9-point lead. The Clippers cut it back to 5, then the Lakers responded againt to lead 88-73 going into the fourth... The Lakers extended the lead a little, then started playing loose. It took a few minutes, but it eventually caught up with them. The big lead was reduced to just 7 with 2:10 left. Out of the timeout, Kobe hit a floater... The Lakers shot 50 percent, despite going 5-21 from three. The Clips finished shootin 48.7 percent... The Lakers had 17 offensive boards to the Clips 8. They out-rebounded the Clippers 46-26...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Like clockwork, as soon as the Lakers get a sizeable lead, they let up. Check out the Clipper runs in the fourth coming after the Lakers had their biggest leads.

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB! Edit: First

[JUST-MING]

The water tastes of vinegar, and the pale bodies that swim around you look...well...pickled. It's like you're swimming in a giant jar of pickled sea monkeys.

[dot3]

Thanks. I loved that opening play!

[JUST-MING]

Luke did well tonight.

[waterman40]

Thanks DB
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LAKERS 2019-2020: NBA World Champions!

[LakerSanity]

I'm not going to lie... I went straight to Bynum's summary. Thanks DB.

PS - Your epitaph reminded me of a scene in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
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[SweetP]

at the description of Clipperville.

Great game from Drew and even better one from the injured leader Kobe, IMO. Triple double with a mangled right hand.

Hopefully this kickstarts Drew and gets him playing well consistently. He feasted on a depleted Clipper front court but he did very well and maybe this game will raise his confidence and energy level.
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“There is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it.” --Amanda Gorman

[Downunder]

Bynumite !!

Thanks DB.

[DancingBarry]

[LakerSanity]

^It was great... it made me feel sorry for Clippers fans. Alive, yet dead inside and floating in limbo.
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[City_Dawg]

[IPK]

[lakersfreak]

DB
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Forget carbon, reduce your government footprint

[hoopschick29]

Absolutely magnificent game from Drew and Kobe. Drew is really digging in his heels and picking himself up. As bad as last week was for him, he's really turned it around this week. Good things happen when you put in the work.
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So glad we gave you your flowers while you were here, Kobe.

[limchrc]

Thanks. Bynum with a monster game.

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

ANDREW!

i really think phil should have rested Kobe the entire 4th qtr

not happy with the amount of dunks jordan got though
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"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[20,000]

Interesting, no Powell again.

[prisma8slg]

Bynum was I thought he was gonna get 50.
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"I define success by championships, by winning..." Kobe Bryant

"I've seen it all. Sasha dunked on somebody," Kobe Bryant said. "I'm ready to retire now."

[Dr. Laker]

As usual, DB. great job.
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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".

[Sage_10]

Good win.
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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

[Rick12322]

Thanks DB, Clipperville is a ghost town alright but they still exposed some major holes in our D. What's with this nobody named Jordan having a ridiculous dunk fest on us? Ugggh, that just isn't right.

I've never seen LO look more aggressive, i love it!

Luke was brilliant, he looked good in his first game back. While TNT was serving up excuses for the Cavs being without starters, they failed to mention we were without our starter.

Drew had a great game, it was fun to watch.

I love the Triple double by Kobe, I want to see more of those. It was awesome seeing Kobe feed the big man for his 40th pt. Like a big brother, Kobe's really been a great leader on this team.

Pau has shown many signs of fatigue this month. We've got to cut his minutes back so he can get his feet back under him, but we can't overload Drew. We've got to find a way to either bring in another center off the bench or play Powell.

Cobra's don't like water so he left Clipperville for the next town.
The cobra's hiding in the weeds, waiting to pounce on his next victim.

Sasha, someone ought to lock him up in the gym until he gets his shot back.

[20,000]

[Arizona]

Nice, entertaining game.

Drew:
LO:
Kobe:

Now that's the Kobe I love to watch. More Triple Doubles, less forcing things especially with that hurt finger(s).

Felt bad for Pau, he was really frustrated.

LO and Novak jawing back and forth pissed LO off and made him be aggressive. It was fun to watch.
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“I’m just a basketball player, you know? Just put me where you need me.” -Lamar Odom

“You’ve got to play with pride and guts.” -LO

[wolfpaclaker]