HAWKS -at- LAKERS - 2/17 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Working the Glass... Even though you had a much-needed few days of rest, the hunt for Little Larry O'Brien never stopped. You hold the glass up to your mouth, the final swig of whiskey burns on the way down. Maybe the rest did you well. Maybe you got your second wind. You aren't sure, but you feel like you're ready to move heaven and earth. You're ready for whatever it takes. "Where is the little man?" you ask the rocks in the bottom of your glass.

"You looking for the little man?" whispers the patron next to you at the bar. You're startled. You didn't notice him sit down. He's got a nose like the beak of a hawk and a single eyebrow to match. "Yeah. You've got some info?" you ask. The man looks around the room, then nods his beak in the direction of a back room. You follow him.

"We're all looking for little men these days, aren't we?" he says, closing the door. "I'll tell you where to look. Kosmos 2251. Iridium 33," he says with a knowing smile, which slowly fades to disappointment the longer you stare dumbly back at him. "You think satellites just collide in space!!?" he raises his voice. "You think sonic booms and fireballs falling from the skies over Texas are just a coincidence? How about the UFO spotted during the inauguration?"

You sigh. "Bro, are you talking about little green men? I think you need Mulder, Scully and the Cigarette Smoking Man. I'm looking for Little Larry...Little Larry O'Brien."

"Who?" he asks, now he's the dumbfounded one staring back at you with those confused unibrow-covered hawkeyes and pointed beak nose. You shake your head. He doesn't know Larry.

You return to your barstool. A trumpeter plays "La Vie En Rose"...for some reason it makes you think of her. You stare down at the ice cubes in your glass. You see oddly twisted letters, magnified and stretched through the prism of the cubes and written in purple ink. You lift up the glass and look at your cocktail napkin. For a moment, you hoped it was a message from her. Freakin' DancingBarry:

Three of the Four Horsemen were here. Pestilence plagued their foe. Famine starved them out. The Death Riders rolled over their opponent with little mercy. It was...impressive.

I will continue to track them...

Rarely will you see rebounding statistics like the Lakers put up tonight. They dominated the glass on both ends on their way to a 96-83 win that wasn't even that close.

The Lakers had more offensive boards than the Hawks had defensive boards. We beat them on their own glass 28-24. That is a ridiculous stat.

They were led by their bigmen. Pau Gasol dropped a triple-double. Lamar Odom set a goal for 20 boards...and achieved it. At the end of the night, the Lakers out-rebounded the Hawks 67-39, while holding them to just 37 percent shooting. The Lakers were 2 rebounds from tying a team record on the offensive boards -- just a superb effort to work the glass by the Lakers.

The Lakers started slowly, trailing in the first quarter. The bench, however, turned the game on its head. The moment Farmar and Ariza took the court, the Lakers went on a run and never looked back.

They held the Hawks to just 12 points in the last 15 minutes of the first half. To start the second half, the Lakers dropped a 40-point third quarter. Yes, they can do it on both ends.



Kobe -- -- Iced down in the fourth and scoring just 10 points, that's a pretty sight in the first game of a back-to-back. This is yet another example of why those stats about how well we do when Kobe shoots a lower number of shots are bogus. Blowouts like these haven't been something we've seen a whole lot of lately, but it's good to see once again. We need them for Kobe, but also Pau and DFish, who have played some extended minutes. Kobe drew a lot of attention on the offensive end and while that made things tough for Kobe, it also caused the Hawks some problems, too. He hit a couple key threes, but really, with the way everyone else played in this game, you didn't need a great game from Kobe. I'd love to see a few more of these sprinkled in these remaining 30 games. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-12 shooting (2-4 from three) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 4 turnovers and no fouls in 29 minutes. He was a +18. The Action: He threw a pass away, break for the Hawks. He missed a short jumper. He missed a turnaround. He posted up and hit a cutting LO for the layup. He missed a wing jumper. He hit Pau with a lob for an easy score. He forced a dribble between defenders and was picked for a layup the other way. He scored off the glass coming weak to strong. He missed an early offense three. He was 1-5 in the first quarter. He blocked a bigman under the hoop on help D. He got caught in the air trying to pass, points the other way. He iso'd on Johnson and hit the long pull-up jumper. He had 4 points on 2-6 shooting, 2 blocks and 3 turnovers. Second Half: He drained a pull-up three straight away out of a timeout. Turnover trying to split another set of defenders. He missed a couple wing jumpers from the right side (we got both misses back). He missed a wing jumper from the left side. He swished a three on a kickout from Pau. He stalled the offense and missed a heave at a three, but we got it back.

Gasol -- -- Fresh off the All Star Game, Pau tallied his first triple-double as a Laker and third of his career. He is just so skilled and can make opponents pay in so many ways. "A lot of our offense is generated by getting him the ball because he passes well off the post," Phil said. If you know how to cut within the offense, Pau will find you. If he can go to work on his man and start drawing the doubles, he will find you. With Bynum out, you should continue to see some of these big numbers Pau has been dropping as he gets to be more of a focal point. He's much more comfortable in the offense than he was last year. That's why he's an All Star. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 6-10 shooting, grabbed 13 boards (4 offensive), dished 10 assists, blocked 2 shots and had 2 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a +24. The Action: He grabbed a Kobe miss and missed a 9-footer. He missed a lob and tip in. He swished a baseline jumper. He tipped in an LO miss. He posted up and hit a leaning fade in the middle of the lane. He scored a layup off the lob entry from Kobe. He swatted Zaza to get a shotclock violation. He missed an elbow jumper. He had 8 points on 4-8 shooting, 8 boards and 5 assists. Second Half: He set up Luke for a layup with a bounce pass in the lane. He was fronted and scored what should have been an And-1 layup on the post entry. He threaded another bounce pass to Luke on a give-and-go for a layup (so pretty...triple-double for Pau with that assist, I believe). Quick attack in the post and he hit the short jumphook with his left.

Lamar -- -- After games of 17, 18 and 19 rebounds, LO wanted to get 20. If the game were close, he could have gone for 25. Of course, that wouldn't have been as numerically pretty. So, we'll have to see if he wants to push for 21 in the next game (Shaw wants him to go for 30). Lamar has averaged 19-19 in the past 4 games. "It's coming easy right now. I'm just finding the ball," LO said. Bynum was playing greedy and hungry. When he went down, you needed our two bigs to step up. Lamar is now getting greedy and hungry. That's not what opponents want to see. Watch out. When he's doing the Rodman routine on the glass, and slashing and cutting on the offensive end, the Lakers are very, very tough. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-11 shooting (1-3 from three, 2-4 from the line) to go with 20 boards (7 offensive), 5 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 34 minutes. The Action: He deflected a pass on the first defensive stand, pushed it up court and drew FTs, he made one. He missed a jumphook. He missed a putback on a Kobe miss. He threw a pass away on the break, points the other way. He cut off the Kobe post-up and powered in a layup. He was picked for a layup the other way. He posted up and kicked to Sasha for three. Great rebound, tapping it around a defender twice, then pushing out the break and getting fouled on a return feed (Rodman-esque board on that one), he made one FT. He missed a jumphook, quickly bounced up to put it back in. He had 6 points on 2-5 shooting and 11 boards (5 offensive). Second Half: He attacked to his left to start the half and went high off the glass for the score. Excellent swat using his length on transition D against Williams, he controlled it and started the break. He tipped in a board that Luke kept alive. He swished a step-back three off the Pau handoff. He got a kind rim on an elbow jumper and hit the shot. He threaded a no-look bullet to Ariza on the break for FTs. He one-handed a pass to Mihm for a dunk. He missed a three. He got his 20th board, then signalled the bench to get subbed out with more than 7 minutes left. He then missed the long wing jumper.

Luke -- -- The Hawks were sagging off him and able to send doubles without paying the price early on. Luke just couldn't hit the jumpers. When Luke started cutting off the post in the second half, he and Pau made them pay if Luke got a step on his man. That's working the offense and minimizing your weaknesses. Good job. Defensively, the Lakers team D schemes eliminated a lot of the athleticism of the Hawks that could have caused problems. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-8 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 3 boards, 3 assists, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a +12. The Action: He drew the D and kicked to Pau for the jumper. He missed a wing three. He bricked a three badly. Sweet bounce pass to Fisher cutting baseline for the reverse. He missed a 20-footer, never really getting set up. Second Half: He threw a poor lob to Pau in transition. He hit a floater next time down. He swished a fallaway in the post. He kept a board alive off a Kobe miss and LO tipped it in. Nice cut off Pau and his layup was goaltended for a score. Another layup working the give-and-go with Pau.

Fisher -- -- Slow start for DFish, but he seemed to settle in like the rest of the team. Bibby had 9 points early in the game, then didn't score again, going 4-10 on the night. Farmar was out-playing him, but Fish definitely picked it up and the two PGs combined for 24 points on 11-18 shooting. As Stu might say, that will get it done. They clearly out-played their opponents tonight. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 6-10 shooting (2-5 from three) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 26 minutes. The Action: He missed an open three. He powered up for a putback layup. He pushed out the break and had the ball swiped from him as he surveyed the floor. He missed a three. He scored a reverse off the bounce pass from Luke. He drew an offensive foul on Johnson who stiff-armed him. He swished a wing three with the shotclock low after letting his man fly by. He drew a moving screen on Williams on the other end. Second Half: He swished a wing jumper off a screen. He swished a three in transition straight away. He hit a hanging jumper in the lane. He hit Pau with a good entry over the fronting defender for a layup. He missed a three.

Ariza -- -- "It's our job to come in and change the pace of the game," the Cobra said. That they did. The Hawks didn't know what hit them and never recovered. Trevor had a couple Kobe-esque moves with the footwork in this game. Looks like he may have stolen a little knowledge from his teammate. Obviously, the more he can do that, the more effective his game is going to be. The horrid bricks from three were not Kobe-esque. Trevor winced when someone asked about his shooting from distance after the game. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-10 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards (3 offensive), 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 20 minutes. He was a +19. The Action: He pumpfaked to loose a man, then missed the jumper (nearly tipped in his miss). He threw down a lob from Farmar on the break. He airballed a corner jumper. He curled down the lane, shielded the defender and flipped in the layup with his left. He swished a 21-footer on the weakside. He airballed an open corner three. He missed a reverse layup trying to attack from the corner next time. He stripped Smith under the hoop to save a dunk. He was a +17 in his stint and scored 6 points on 3-8 shooting. Second Half: He took a post entry and did his best Kobe impersonation with a step-through for a layup. He took a bullet from LO in transition and drew FTs, he made both. Great hustle to come up with a loose ball after missing a layup on a drive.

Farmar -- -- Farmar sparked the Lakers to life in his first stint in the late first quarter. He had a number of scores and some good passes to get the team going. They never looked back. Great to see him impose himself on the game and change it in our favor. He started the season this way...needs to string them together. (Also, make your FTs!) The Stats: He scored 10 points on 5-8 shooting (0-1 from three, 0-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards (3 offensive), 2 assists, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 19 minutes. The Action: Good challenge on one end, then he hit the pull-up elbow jumper on the other. He got out ahead of the D and scored a layup next time down. Good hustle to get to a loose ball and he was fouled. He scored the Lakers next hoop with a burst of speed off the Pau handoff and he reversed. He grabbed an offensive board and missed a fade at the buzzer. He pushed out a board and no-looked an underhand lob to Ariza for the throwdown. He airballed a jumper on the baseline. He had 6 points on 3-5 shooting and 2 assists. He was a +10 in that stint. Second Half: He drew FTs on an attack down the lane, he missed the first and yelled, then missed the second. He missed a three. He swished a wing jumper on a mismatch with a bigman. He drained a sideline three.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha led the team in steals. It wasn't against Mini Me, whom Sasha has been known to get under the skin. Still, good defensive minutes from Sasha. Offensively, they also looked to set him up for a few jumpers. To me, this is a key in helping him get consistent on that end. We did that a lot last year, but haven't gone to it much until fairly recently. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-7 shooting (2-4 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 3 steals and 3 fouls in 17 minutes. The Action: Brought in at the end of the first quarter for an offensive set, he missed a wide open corner three. He swished a three on the first set of the next quarter when the Hawks doubled LO. He missed a leaning wing jumper. He missed a wing three working off screens out of a timeout. He swished a catch and shoot three at the wing. Second Half: He knocked a ball of Mo on iso D. He waved off Farmar, then Phil whistled and waved off Sasha, so he gave Farmar the ball...Farmar then attacked and kicked to Sasha who missed the three. He bricked a fade in the lane. He had back-to-back steals.

Mihm -- -- He started the second quarter for Pau, continuing to get some of those key first-half minutes. Later, he got some extended run, but never really settled into it. A lot of his mistakes look like rust, but Chris was also never known for his hands. In fact, if you recall, he had rather poor hands before Kwame came along and showed how badly a player can mishandle passes. Nothing looked easy for Chris out there. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-10 shooting to go with 7 boards (5 offensive), 2 blocks, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 17 minutes. The Action: He traveled on a drive. He was swatted on a layup (he had LO open with an extra pass). Second Half: He scored a layup after grabbing the Sasha brick. He rejected Law on one end, then fumbled a dunk on the other, got the pass back, fumbled it again, then finally dunked (he was grinning heading down the court after that hot-potato sequence). He missed a jumphook, got it back and missed the dunk. He was stripped trying to go up off an interior feed. He missed a turnaround in the lane. He threw an outlet away. He airballed a short jumphook after fumbling a pass from Sasha. He was called for a moving pick, which erased a Brown jumper. He was stripped and wondered where the foul was. He got an offensive board and got the call, but no FTs a few seconds later.

Powell -- -- If Powell is to really earn Phil's trust, he has to play a lot cleaner. A lot of the mistakes he's making out there are just some fundamentals within the offense, but tonight he added a couple more turnovers to the mix while trying to create for himself. As a result, he helped lead the Lakers in turnovers in just 11 minutes. Getting these minutes can help straighten out some of these issues, but he's really got to focus on cleaning up those mistakes. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, grabbed 3 boards, had 1 assist, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 11 minutes. The Action: He grabbed the entry pass, spun when his man missed the steal, and then he hit the elbow jumper. He missed a jumphook in the post over a smaller man. He somehow missed a reverse layup at the buzzer, it went in and out. Second Half: He missed a short jumper. He traveled trying to spin on the baseline. He grabbed a miss by Brown and powered up to finish with his left. He was stripped on the perimeter. He picked up a tech. He came weak to strong, took the pass and scored an easy layup. Bad handoff, turnover. He traveled on an iso face-up.

Brown -- -- With under 6 minutes remaining, he got in at the PG spot for Farmar. Then, he ran at the SG in place of Sasha. He had one of the more beastly transition D blocks you will see...unfortunately, he was called for a cheap foul. "His athletic ability is tremendous and he showed you why on that block," Lamar said. Shannon looked like he bounced off a trampoline when he got up for that. "I've never seen nothing like that before," Ariza said. "That was the most exciting play of the night." Pau: "Very impressive. Super athletic." Shannon: "I looked back and they were all off the bench grabbing each other and yelling. I was like 'wow,' it made me feel real good." Welcome to L.A.... Sloppy minutes for everyone in that final stretch of garbage time, but it's good to see our new guys get some extended run. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-2 shooting, had 2 boards, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 6 minutes. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He missed a step-back 17-footer. He fumbled away a handoff on a nice cut. He got the crowd to their feet taking an elevator to the top floor in transition D to completely destroy a Hawk layup attempt (he was called for a foul, weak...the Laker bench was on their feet...looking at it again, I does look like his left hand got contact as he elevated. That's what the ref saw.). He missed a short jumper on the move.

Morrison -- -- With 7 minutes left and a large lead, Phil threw Morrison into the mix. Not an easy stretch of minutes to evaluate anything. The crowd was buzzing when he got the ball and looking for the new Laker to score. He did scratch from the line to feed the Staples Frenzy. Defensively, he had some very good challenges on the perimeter. This will be the issue for him and the team if opponents look to attack it. Thankfully, our defensive schemes will help with some of his weaknesses here. The Stats: He scored 1 points on 0-2 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 7 minutes. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He missed a step-back jumper wide left with the crowd roaring as soon as he touched it. He and Brown got out on the break and he was fouled on the finish, he made one FT to a large cheer. He missed a wide open wing three. Good challenge on a jumper on the other end. He hit Powell coming weak to strong for a score.

Phil -- -- The Lakers trailed by 5 early as Bibby scored 9 points out of the gates and Kobe struggled... A number of turnovers and the Lakers were soon trailing 24-15 when Phil called timeout. Kobe and Lamar had a combined 4 turnovers in the first 9 minutes... Phil went with a Pau, Luke, Ariza, Kobe, Farmar lineup to match up with a smaller Hawks lineup. Farmar ignited that group as the Lakers went on an 8-0 run... The Lakers trailed 24-23 after the first... The second unit pushed out to a 4-point lead before Kobe and Fish returned... The Lakers held the Hawks to just 12 points in the second quarter, but that defensive run went about 15 straight minutes (30-12 run for the Lakers). A lot of good challenges and rotations... The Lakers led 45-36 at the half. The Hawks shot 38 percent, the Lakers 40 percent. The Lakers out-rebounded them 32-23... After a 6-0 run to start the half, the Hawks called a timeout. Good D by the Lakers in that first minute... The Lakers pulled out to a 23-point lead midway through the third... Lamar gave up a layup and yelled at Luke for not getting into position on their zone. Phil called a timeout and it looked like Phil had some words for Lamar's D on that sequence. A big lead and Phil is preaching D. Good sign... After a 40-24 third, the Lakers led 85-60 to open the fourth... Major garbage time in the fourth. Things eventually got very sloppy...

[Omar Little]

[Alpha edit: looks like I'm first now ]




Hey, finally first after a win!!!!!
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[LakerSanity]

^lol, I was tempted to delete your post... but I'll let you revel in it.

Thanks DB... the score definitely doesn't tell the whole story.
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[ecksor]

Thanks, DB! Didn't catch the game so I was waiting for the analysis to explain the box score I found.
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Who is my avatar? Kharunisia

[1hu2ren3dui4]

odomination.
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[limchrc]

Nice win. Pau and Lamar were impressive today.

[abciximab]

thanks! always a great read

[Dr. Laker]

[jeremysnowIII]

hiya Mr. Dancing Barry!

We've moved to Hawaii for a few months, maybe longer.Gramps and gramma have also moved into an active center near a shopping mall. I like it here and people are nice. I miss home but we might return in maybe June.We fly back and forth.

And our intrenet connection havent been too good.Gramps got the nba leege pass and I get to go and watch games with him. Lotsa nice people where he lives.

No lakers here but I'll be seeing a game hopfully soon on our next trip up.

Gramps tell me that he is glad that people are nicer about Mr. Kupchak because Mr. Kupchak really loves LA and his lakers.Mr. Kupchak loves basketball and feels that players needs to feel good about themselves.He did not want Vladi to go but Vladi gave up and Mr. Kupchak wanted Vladi to be succsfful.Gramps says that Shanon Brown and Adam Morison will help our team.Gramps likes that Shanon Brown practiced against Lebron and Booby Gibson in Cleveland and that could help us.

[Mation]

Hey jeremysnowIII. Welcome to Hawaii and I hope you have a good stay! Luckily, FSN West broadcasts down here so you can catch some games (no KCAL though). Good thing you have League Pass to catch our heavy road trip coming up. So, so excited to see the Lakers pre-season games down here at the Stan-Sheriff Stadium. Cannot wait for that!

Thanks DB!

Kobe's minutes and Mihm's stats need to be in.

[LakerSanity]

People will watch this game, look at Brown and Morrison, and come away unimpressed. However, I saw some things in both of them.... more so Morrison than Brown.

Morrison will LOVE this offense.... he barely knows it yet it looked to just fit him out there. He's going to get so many more open shots out there than he ever has in his career and, to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised to see him compete with Luke for key minutes next year. He's a combination of Vlad and Luke - more athleticism than Luke (not as much as Vlad, nor height as Vlad), much of Luke's basketball IQ, Luke's craftiness (but hopefully with the ability to finish his shots), and Vlad's shooting prowess. He also moves faster out there than it looks and could be a defensive upgrade from Luke.

Brown is a different case. Certainly nerves got the best of him tonight as he looked lost... seemed to give up the ball at will. However, he has some potential to play the PG (especially in the triangle and especially as a defender next to Kobe). The main issue with him will be his basketball IQ. The guy has all the talent in the world, but there is a reason he hasn't put it together yet. It's not because he's not motivated, it's simply because it appears (from first glance and some reading up on him), that he's a slow learner. I REALLY hope Fish mentors him... it's his only chance of sticking around past this year. Tons of potential, but it depends on him "getting it."

Yea, I took all that from one game.
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[revgen]

[LakerSanity]

^Then we agree. He's athletic enough to stay in front of his man much more often than Luke is capable of doing. Morrison has this wierd posture... like the kind of posture a kid grows up with when he's embarrassed about being tall (he hunches). However, that makes him look slower than he really is... I saw him move decently well out there.
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[revgen]

^The amount of speed Morrison has over Luke is miniscule if he indeed is faster. On top of that, Luke is stronger than Morrison which helps against strong SF's like Pierce. Morrison could be shoved around like Ariza is at times depending upon the matchup. Ariza at least has speed which makes up for his lack of bulk. Morrison doesn't.
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[LakerSanity]

I don't know about that... he might have a fair advantage over Luke when it comes to quickness. As I said, I think he's deceptively quick... we'll see as time goes on. I agree with you on the strength point. He won't be pushed around like Ariza (he's bigger than Ariza), but he won't be able to work the post (on either side of the court) like Luke either.
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[Sage_10]

Thanks DB good stuff.
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[prisma8slg]

thanks DB
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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."

[Rick12322]

Thanks DB. Sipping my coffee, reading your game recaps is like Red smoking is victory cigar.

[20,000]

Mihm was 2-10? They really did try forcing the ball down to him, didn't they? The scoring will be nice, but I think all that is expected of him is to play decent man defense. The rest right now is too much to ask for.

But if that is the case, why not throw Mbenga in for some minutes? His offense is hit or miss, but he is a big body that should make it tough for the offense to do what they want. He is no stopper, but he is a big body.

And with Odom's great run lately, how many more "trade Odom" threads will we see? Will they go up or down?
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Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying...'I will try again tomorrow.'

[Arizona]

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

-it was nice to get kobe and co rest going into a back to back
-L.O. was another BEAST on the boards
-glad to see morrison and brown get some run
-brown's block
-trevor should have got an and-1 on his alley oop
-props to jordan for coming in and taking over
-i never wanna see an ariza 3 on a fast break
-why wont phil go small and put powell as our backup center and leave mihm on the bench? he and luke are useless. how is luke supposed to improve the flow of the offense if his man is doubling off of him?
-sasha continues to impress me with his passing
-quiet triple double for gasol
-efficient game for d-fish
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"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[Klone_dd]

Great win with Kobe kinda hung over from the AS break. Too much Shaq perhaps.

Odomination. What else can you say? A Rodman with offensive skills? Very impressive stretch by LO.

Pau - Steady as ever. Maybe we should take a poll. How many of us knew he had a 3x2 going before Stu announced it? I had no idea. You just expect him to make the right play at the right time.

JoFar & Ariza changed the momentum of the game the moment they stepped on the court. Imagine Phil pointing to them on the bench and saying in his Capt Kirk voice, "Energize."

Sasha - subtly, he did bother Bibby. Once Sasha got on the court, Bibby went ice cold.

Ammo - I know it was garbage time and he's still unsure of himself in this system, but he looked stiff, especially on the D. Stands too erect with hands down, not a great defensive stance.

Shanny - When the trade was made, I mentioned that he'd be a sleeper. He killed us as a Bobcat in the double OT loss and showed some mad athleticism in this game. He can play, but it's a matter of getting time.

Chris Mihm has Kwame hands.

[PopcornMachine]

[Arizona]

[BLP711]

Great recap as always DB. Thanks bro.