THUNDER -at- LAKERS - 2/10 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Distant Thunder... You see Little Larry O'Brien again standing on yellow bricks amid a raging battle, the wounded falling at his feet. You think you understand what he's telling you now. To get him back, the Four Horsemen have to defeat opponents on the road.

Hands reach for Larry and are struck down. Bold rushes are made toward him and collapse just short. You think about this, too. Maybe he's telling you that they have to defend to win the battles...and the war.

Your ears ring. Behind Larry, a large number "16" is etched in the stone of an archway. You contemplate this as you look down and see the blood on your hands. The ringing wakes you. Weary from your travels, you stare blankly at your ceiling. Your phone rings again. Rain pelts the roof like BBs on a tin can. You reach over and answer, knowing already that it's her.

"You've been gone for a while," she says. "I missed you." This wakes you up. You think of something to say, "Yeah, I, uh, missed you, too," you spit out lamely.

"You like thunder storms?" she asks. You sit up in bed. "Sure," you reply, "as much as the next person, I suppose."

"Look out your window," she says. You stand up and go to the window. In the distance you see lightning strike. Clouds move quickly over the city like time-lapsed photography. You count the seconds, but the thunder never comes. The storm gets closer to your home, but its silence is eerie. "Thunderless storm," she says as if that's normal. "Just wanted to warn you not to go outside."

What's the catch here? It looks so benign, almost inviting you outside to play in the rain. Suddenly, you see a tree next door light up like a matchstick and smolder in the rain. The catch is lightning can still strike even in a thunderless storm.

Your call waiting beeps and you put her on hold. It's a prerecorded message from a telemarketer named DancingBarry. He tries to sell you some lightning insurance before giving you the real scoop:

Three of the Four Horsemen were here. They toyed with a lesser opponent almost as if they were looking ahead to another battle. They went easy. Sometimes that comes back to bite you, but not tonight.

I will continue to track them...

The Lakers took their seventh straight game with relative ease. They weren't clean. They weren't precise, but they handled their business and took the 105-98 win over the Thunder.

"I thought our play was just a little sloppy tonight. It wasn't as crisp as on the road," Phil said.

The Lakers worked the interior, but weren't as focused on it as they could have been (perhaps, playing too loose at times), and they couldn't hit their freethrows or threes. It did not matter.

Kobe scored 34 on his way to setting another scoring milestone. Lamar and Pau combined for 32 rebounds as each tallied double-doubles. And, three bench players scored 9 points each.

"We took care of business tonight," Luke said in the Times. "It wasn't the prettiest win, but it's all about getting the Ws."


Kobe -- -- Kobe became the youngest player to reach 23,000 points. He did it by a few days. With the All Star break coming up, it might have been close had he not gotten the 61 points in New York. He drops 30+ points on teams like it's no big thing...which it's not for him. That's why he set that record. Health-wise, he looked like he bounced back from the illness in the last game. He and Pau did the one-two punch action again. Both went after the interior of the Thunder. Kobe worked from the post throughout the game decently. He had some sweet plays to close out the first half. The Stats: He scored 34 points on 13-26 shooting (0-3 from three, 8-8 from the line) to go with 7 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 36 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He missed a scoop shot off the elbow spin move like he made in New York. He missed a turnaround from the post. He over-passed to Luke instead of taking the three-footer, miss by Luke. He put Durant to sleep, attacked and powered in a layup. He missed a turnaround from 8 feet out. He attacked down the lane and flipped in an easy layup. He airballed a jumper after pumping several times. He one-handed back in a miss by Lamar. He backed down Watson in transition and scored the And-1 from 4 feet out, he made the FT. He sealed his man, took the 80-foot outlet and dunked with both hands at the end of the quarter. He had 11 points on 5-10 shooting in the quarter. Farmar lobbed to him for the hanging layup. He pounded the dribble, drop-stepped and drew FTs, he made both. He posted up and missed an easy bank. He went up strong to pull down the missed jumper by Luke with one hand, then powered up the And-1 layup, he made the FT. He missed a short one off the glass but Pau tapped it in. He tried to iso and was stripped or fouled on the dribble to lose it (dunk the other way). The Mamba strikes in the next three plays: You reach, I teach...Kobe dunked past Westbrook who gambled for a steal and lost. He worked the give-and-go for a huge throwdown by Lamar. Another brilliant play on the next trip: he reached out to flag down the long outlet, then went behind his back to lose a defender, and finally, he stretched out and flipped in the twisting reverse...all of that last sequence happened in about a second. He had 22 points on 9-16 shooting. Second Half: He missed a wing three. He hit an 14-footer in a crowd. He got hammered by Collison on the head after sealing his man, he made both FTs. He posted up and overpowered his man to go off the glass with ease. He bricked a wing jumper badly off the glass. He missed a lefty jumphook. He drained a jumper with his heels on the three line. He spun quickly off the post entry, wheeled around his man and reversed. He was hit or blocked on a three attempt and airballed. He drew FTs working the post, he made both.

Gasol -- -- The Western Conference Player of the Week is about to be heading to the All Star game after a strong 7-0 run of games. Make it 8-0 and Pau will be very happy. He is playing some strong ball and was in good spirits after the game. It looked like he was fading just a bit when Bynum was going a couple weeks ago, but Pau has stepped it up on both ends. He and Lamar have done an especially nice job anchoring the defense. Pau got the double-double, working hard on both ends. We should have gone to him more down the stretch in this game, but the team seemed to lose its focus a little. There was little resistence in the Thunder interior. The Stats: He scored 22 points on 10-17 shooting (2-4 from the line) to go with 14 boards (4 offensive), 4 assists, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 42 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He missed a short turnaround to start the game. He tipped in a missed scoop shot by Kobe. He missed a jumphook. He grabbed a Luke miss and hit the short jumphook. He dunked in the sweet while-still-in-the-air lob pass from Luke in transition. Weak outlet and it was easily picked off for points. He posted up and powered in a 2-foot jumphook with his left. Again next time down, he worked the post for a layup over Collison. He had 10 of the Lakers first 14 points. He missed a turnaround, taking contact with no call. He drew FTs on the bounce pass from Ariza in the lane, he missed both. He back-rimmed a short jumphook. He scored a layup off the two-man game with Sasha. He blocked Collison under the hoop. Superb follow up on Kobe's miss to deftly tap it in off the glass. He had 14 points on 7-11 shooting and 7 boards. Second Half: He posted up and hit a jumphook to start the half, taking contact with no call. He missed a turnaround. He missed a jumphook. He worked the post and hit the lefty jumphook. He was fouled on the attack, he made both FTs. He missed a face-up jumper. He scored a layup off the jumpball tip from Lamar (unfortunately, the quick score led to a heave at the buzzer that almost cost the tacos).

Lamar -- -- "He's just beating everybody to the ball," Phil said. Lamar was owning the glass, pulling down 11 boards in the first half and keeping the Thunder to one-and-out defensively. He continued to hit the boards in the second half and came away with a season-high 18 rebounds. Good job in that regard. Poor shooting game from Lamar. He missed a ton of easy ones around the rim. He makes a few more of those and he's close to a 20-20 game again. "That aggressive aspect is something he have been waiting for from him for a long time," Rambis said at halftime. Before the game, LO said, "I'm maturing every day and trying to do what it takes to be a man." He said te Cavs game was his best as a pro. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 6-17 shooting (0-3 from three, 0-1 from the line) to go with 18 boards (5 offensive), 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 36 minutes. He was a +8. The Action: Bad shot selection, missing a running fade from about 12 feet out. He saved a ball under his own hoop, but bounced back in bounds to block and control the miss. He threw an outlet away. He tipped an offensive board to himself and scored a layup. He missed a layup going to his right. He was tied up trying to power up in the post. He attacked with speed to his left for the easy layup. He missed a corner three. He pulled up and hit the And-1 freethrow jumper, he missed the FT (so badly it went off Krstic, Laker ball). Soaring dunk down the lane off the give-and-go with Kobe. He had 8 points and 11 boards. Second Half: He blew a layup off the Luke feed. He took an offensive board and put it in off the glass. He missed a three next time down. He choked another layup when Kobe hit him under the hoop (come on, LO). He was blocked on a throwdown, bounced up quickly and scored the reverse. He biffed another layup on a drive. He was called for an offensive foul trying to seal Westbrook in the post. He was blocked on a dive and layup. He missed a three when left alone. He tied up a man with 6 seconds left, then he tipped the jumpball to Pau, who scored.

Luke -- -- He struggled from the perimeter, missing everying he took from outside. Some good passes, especially one to Pau in transition. Defensively, solid game. Serviceable minutes. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-6 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 5 boards, 3 assists and 2 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a +6. The Action: He missed a turnaround from the post. He missed a wide open three from the corner. He took a long outlet and lobbed while still in the air to Pau for the dunk (very nice). He missed a 20-footer in early offense. He deflected an in-bounds to force a shotclock violation. He missed a 17-footer. Second Half: He back-rimmed a three. He posted up a smaller man, spun on him and scored the layup.

Fisher -- -- Fish couldn't hit anything beyond the arc in this game. That was probably one of the factors in why the Lakers didn't pull away on the force of their offense alone. DFish's string of five-straight turnover-free games was broken with a couple of bad plays in transition tonight (again, transition ball not his strong point). He led the Lakers with steals, however, to get it back. This was his third straight game with 3 steals. Deron has scored 30 points in four straight games. He will be a tough cover for Fish and Co. tomorrow. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-9 shooting (0-5 from three, 0-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 3 steals, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 29 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He missed a three in early offense. He missed an open three from the wing. He threw a bounce pass away in transition (should have went up high). He worked off the Pau screen and hit the elbow pull-up. He let his man fly by, moved in and swished the 17-footer. Second Half: He missed a three on the Luke kickout. He missed a 19-footer. He drew a charge on Durant in transition. He threw an outlet away. He missed a wide open three on a kickout. He missed a corner three. He hit the floor for a loose ball and called timeout. He was intentionally fouled, he missed both FTs with a few seconds left.

Ariza -- -- Strange game for Trevor. He could only hit from beyond the arc. Anything closer, he bricked...including freethrows. So, while Luke couldn't hit from the perimeter at SF, Trevor was able to. Hopefully, he can put together some more of those impact two-way minutes in Utah. It's been a while since we've seen it. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-7 shooting (3-4 from three, 0-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and no fouls in 24 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He hit Pau with a bounce pass in the paint for FTs. He missed a pull-up 18-footer in transition. He swished a corner three in early offense. Next time down, he swished another from the top of the arc. Second Half: He picked Durant, then missed a corner three (should have attacked on the 4-on-2). He missed a wing jumper at the end of the third. Overplay defensively, then he lost sight of Durant and gave up an And-1. He deflected a pass, pushed it out, then bricked another pull-up jumper (points again the other way). He didn't box out the shooter on a FT miss and gave up the putback score. He hit a corner three on his next touch. With a teammate yelling "shoot it!" Ariza pumpfaked and drew a foul with a toe on the three line with 1 second on the shotclock, he missed both FTs. He couldn't in-bounds a pass cleanly, had it tapped back to him while he was out of bounds.

Farmar -- -- Some poor passes, but other than that a pretty decent two-way effort from Farmar. The two-man D is looking much improved as he and the bigmen seem to be on the same page and Farmar isn't getting beat on his side of the screen like he was before. All good signs. It would be nice if he could carry this game through to Utah to give him a little confidence against that team. He struggled badly against them last year in the playoffs. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-5 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 1 board, 5 assists, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 19 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He missed a step-back from 20 feet after hesitating with the shotclock low. He attacked in transition and hooked a layup over a defender after taking a little contact. He threw a drive and dish away for a dunk at the other end. He scored a layup in semi-transition. He lobbed to Kobe from 30 feet out for a layup. Second Half: Horrible pass, getting deflected when Sasha was wide open on the weakside, he then blocked the layup attempt...but on the other end, he charged, giving it right back. He hit a leaner along the baseline on the next set. He swished a wing three on a kickout.

Vujacic -- -- Good job by the bench in the fourth quarter tonight. They helped give the team a little boost in an otherwise sloppy second half. The Machine had the shot dropping and made the most of his limited minutes. The Vlad trade may end up giving Sasha more minutes as that will likely be our method of stretching the floor as we slide Kobe to the SF at times. Until/if Stache gets in gear. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-6 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist and 1 foul in 12 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He sank a baseline jumper curling toward Mihm to take the pitch out. Excellent weakside zone D on our defensive scheme to cover two players and nearly get a steal under the hoop with a deflection. He missed a corner three. He set up Pau for a layup off the two-man game. Second Half: He missed on a slowly developing drive in transition. He drained the in-bounds pass off that last play, hitting from 18 feet out. He backed into the corner, took the pass and hit the three. He worked off the pick and hit the wing three.

Mihm -- -- He started the second quarter for Pau, but later came in for some run in the fourth quarter. That unit actually did a good job. Wish we could have gotten more rest for Pau, but they just need to push through one more game. Mihm still looks very rusty in the offense, but he was active around the glass. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-2 shooting to go with 2 boards, 1 assist and 3 fouls in 6 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He missed a jumphook with his left badly. A couple good efforts on the offensive glass. Second Half: He fumbled away a jumphook or was stripped on the way up. He was called for a push off on the offensive boards.

Powell -- -- Serviceable minutes from Josh. He still seems to make the odd pass in the triangle once or twice a game. You hope that will clear up with time in the offense. There should be a lot of action in the paint with Powell against the Jazz. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-4 shooting to go with 3 boards, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 12 minutes. The Action: He missed an open elbow jumper. He fouled Smith on an And-1 jumper. Second Half: He hit a FT jumper. He missed a tip. He forced a pass into Kobe who spun and never saw it. He sank the baseline jumper off the pitch out from Pau.

Phil -- -- Phil said that we won't see Adam Morrison or Shannon Brown suited up until after the All Star break. They could be putting in some extra sessions on Triangle 101 (not to mention our defensive schemes) to get themselves ready to contribute. This break could be their training camp, except the Laker staff will be at the All Star game. So, who knows how much time will be put in?... The Lakers shot 4-15 to start and trailed 12-8... They were tied 25-25 after the first quarter. The Thunder went 3-6 from three... Phil started a Mihm, Lamar, Ariza, Sasha, Farmar lineup. We brought in Powell and Pau to trade out bigs and always keep one impact player in... With the starters back in, the Lakers went on a 7-0 run to lead by 5 and force a timeout... They closed out the half on a 19-4 run... The Lakers led 60-47 at the half... The Thunder cut the lead to 70-63 at the midpoint of the third. It was extended to a 14-4 run... The Lakers led 80-73 heading into the fourth. Weak effort... The second unit pushed the lead into double figures. The Lakers kept it in cruise control to close out the game... The Thunder shot 39 percent and fans got the tacos. The Lakers shot 45.5 percent, but were poor from three going just 5-20 and from the line with 10-17 shooting... They out-rebounded the Thunder 56-46... After a long road trip this was a tough game to keep the team's focus. The final game before the break in Utah will be another tough one in that regard, too...

Game Flow -- LINK -- The bench scored 17 points in the fourth quarter.

[dna.]

Thanks as always, DB!

From what I saw, our 1st unit wasn't doing too well and it was nice to see our 2nd unit come in (both in the first and second half) and take control of the game.

Some of our starters still got their stats filled, but while the 1st unit as a whole was on the floor, that was when we looked our worst tonight.

[Killakobe81]

[JUST-MING]

Ming -- -- Started the "taco" chant in the game thread.

[dna.]

[City_Dawg]

Thanks DB.

Transition D in this game was a thumbs down but you can tell the sharpness overall wasn't there for the team.
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*sighs*

!...

[DancingBarry]

[DancingBarry]

[LakersFTW]

Anybody think we should run the play with vujacic running off the pick and shooting more often? (Ray allen has perfected it)

I thought it was very successful and is a great play to use with the 2nd unit as they don't run the triangle as well

[dna.]

Thanks for the reply, it would be great if Bynum can get back a couple weeks before playoffs, here's hoping.

I guess I just get a bit concerned when I see 7-footers playing these kind of minutes (I'm sure it's at least partially to do with Bynum getting injured in each of the last two seasons) especially when we only have one decent center left. I think I'm one of Mihm's bigger supporters, judging from the posts I'm reading about him on these boards, but the fact is that as of now he's certainly in no position to take over if (GOD FORBID!) we lost Pau

[Shaber]

Thanks, DB!

Lakers starters were 0-13 from behind the 3pt line... Quite an achievement....
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Lakers depth chart

PG Johnson / Goodrich
SG Bryant / West / Scott
SF Baylor / Worthy / Cooper
PF Mikkelsen / Hairston / McAdoo / Gasol
C Chamberlain / Abdul-Jabbar / O'Neal / Mikan

[Mation]

Thanks DB!

Kobe sure was demonstrative tonight! He probably wanted to send a message after the Bobcats loss. Wish we could limit Gasol's minutes. Good to hear that Gasol does have an exceptional endurance for big men. Lamar peaking at his usual time. His body and rhythm really takes another step right around the all-star break. Love his consistency so far and I hope he keeps it up. LA Law with some nice contribution, plus a side of the Euro Machine!

Hmm can we break out of the 7 game win streak? Would be perfect to go into the all-star break riding an 8 gamer. Then let us take it to a double-digit streak!

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB! Great recap as always!

I too was disappointed to see Gasol rack up 40+ minutes against the Thunder with the Jazz, Milsap and Co. looming tomorrow. Hope "Famine" continues his reign of terror tomorrow.

[jkwang]

Thanks DB!

[prisma8slg]

[limchrc]

Thanks, nice win.

[Sage_10]

Thanks DB. Good stuff.
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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

[Dr. Laker]

[Rick12322]

[Rick12322]

Thanks for the writeup DB, as always it goes great with my morning coffee.

[Jeffs]

Thanks DB!

[BigE32]

Thanks as always, DB! I always worry about the first game at home after a long road trip. You knew a letdown was inevitable after playing the top teams in the East. It wasn't pretty at times, but it's a W. The Thunder have been playing better lately over their last 20 games and I like Westbrooke, Green, and obviously Durant. That's a nice core of young players. Hopefully we can finish up strong tonight in Utah and end on an eight game winning streak.

[Krispy Kreme]

weak effort, but the lakers usually play better against good teams


this team is starting to remind me of the "cruise control" lakers in 2001 and 2002. but those teams did win a ring so i hope that is a trend too


the most important thing is, we're playing good defense against the cavs, celtics and spurs(except that 1 game in san antonio)..
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Dominating every day.

[RCS926]

I'll take the win considering that our perimeter game was pretty much non-existent last night. It was great that we dominated the paint again. If our guys had hit from the perimeter like they normally do, then this game would've been a rout.

[ecksor]

Thanks, DB

Your recaps are especially appreciated when I can't watch the game.
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We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire... Give us the tools and we will finish the job.
- Winston Churchill

Who is my avatar? Kharunisia