LAKERS -at- THUNDER - 3/24 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

No Contest... You continue the journey along this winding narrow road. You meet few strangers, but the ones you do meet are strange, indeed. You seem to be traveling through time. After meeting a young MJ, you now approach what appears to be older man wearing the initial's "KD" and the words "Flight 35" on the front of a silver jumpsuit. For a second you wonder if you are in the future, but you sense his gray beard is glued on and the silver jumpsuit was inspired by a bad science fiction flick.

"Stop! Or my robot will laser blast you," he says as he whips out a very large remote control, and very small R2-D2 rolls unsteadily toward you.

"Hey, man, I'm just looking for the Horsemen. Have you seen them?" you ask.

"You are in the year 2017. No such Horsemen exist. I rule alone," he says. The dialogue in this flick is as bad as the costuming.

"I'll just be on my way, if you don't mind," you say.

"First, you must defeat my robot, then you may pass." You look down at the tiny R2-D2...and then you punt it 50 feet down the road. "Good enough?" you ask.

"Yeah, you're good." He slumps and let's you pass. Not quite the bad ass that a young MJ was.

As you head down the road, you approach the smashed up R2-D2. Its light flickers on and a holograph appears. Maybe you are in the future? You see a woman. She's the same woman you saw in that field almost exactly three months ago. She speaks, "Help me, DancingBarry. You're my only hope." She crouches and then the message repeats one more time before ending.

"Hey, what's up? Is there any more of that message?" You shake the sadly dented R2. Somewhere within the tin can audio starts play. Slow at first, then in a normal voice:

Three ... of ... the Four Horsemen ... were here. They faced little ... resistance. They jumped all over their opponent from the start, and this time, they did not fade. They appear to be on a mission, but the real tests are still ahead of them.

I will continue to track them...

The Lakers blew past the Thunder from the start of the game and they never looked back. They held the Thunder to just 38 points in the first half as they built a 24-point.

The coaches reminded them at the half of their history of making things all too interesting. There was no such choke job this one. They defeated the Thunder with ease, 107-89.

"We didn't take crazy shots and we tuned in on defense," Pau said of their ability to hold on to the lead.

Phil likes the improvement the second unit has shown, but wants the improvement to continue. "They're getting close," he said. "I'm not sure they're right exactly where I want them to be." He likes that Farmar is aggressive, Luke is in a rhythm and that Powell is playing steady.


Kobe -- -- Thabo Sefolosha has had some of the better defensive games against Kobe. His combination of length and athleticism allows him to challenge shots well. As a result, Kobe saw several shots tightly contested and blocked. He didn't settle for jumpers, though. Kobe looked to attack and get to the rim quite often...more than usual. Again, he got to the line more than he had that entire last homestand. On the road, Kobe is getting to the line 11.5 times per 48 minutes. At home, he gets to the line 7.6 trips per 48 minutes. He takes about 3 more FGAs per 48 on the road than at home. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 6-18 shooting (1-4 from three, 6-6 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 5 assists, 4 steals, 2 blocks and 3 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a +22. The Action: He attacked in early offense and drew FTs at the rim. He missed a drive, but LO tipped it in. He hesitated, attacked, then hit the baseline floater over Green. He was swatted by Thabo on the reverse attempt. He missed a hanging jumper in the lane. He missed a wing three. He drew FTs cutting off the ball and getting hit under the hoop, he made both. He lobbed to Pau over the strong-side zone. He attacked hard to the hoop, took a ton of contact, but still muscled it in. He blocked Durant at the rim. He missed a pull-up from 16 feet out. He slashed through a lane to his right and finger rolled. He was blocked again by Thabo on a turnaround. He airballed a 20-footer on the next trip down. He sank a wing three. He missed a two-for-one three attempt. He had 13 points on 4-12 shooting. Second Half: He missed a long wing jumper to start the half. He blocked Green on the sideline jumper. He was blocked on a drive. He drained the elbow jumper off the screen. He kicked to DFish for the three. He took an outlet from Fish and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a wing jumper. He hit a turnaround in the lane. He took the outlet from Pau and went behind his back to a trailing Ariza for the dunk. He sat out the fourth.

Gasol -- -- Pau was on a quiet triple-double pace tonight. If this were a close game, he might have had it. But his minutes were kept to 34, which is where you like to see it. Very good all-around game, imposing his size on the Thunder in the first half. He had 9 of his boards in the second half, but the Lakers struggled to controlthe glass in that half. The second units held their leads, but Pau had a couple sloppy turnovers. One of which he was ticked at teammates for their lack of movement off the ball. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 7-13 shooting (0-1 from the line) to go with 14 boards (3 offensive), 7 assists, 5 turnovers and 1 foul in 34 minutes. He was a +8. The Action: He sank a 12-footer off the two-man with DFish. Lamar tapped in a teardrop by Pau. He missed a wing jumper. He kicked out to DFish for a jumper and handed off to him for another layup. He scored an And-1 when Lamar kept a board alive, he missed the FT. He attacked to his right and hit a tough jumphook a little behind the glass. He dunked in the lob from Kobe when his man left him. He tipped an offensive board to himself, then hit Luke for the layup. He spun into a help defender and coughed the ball up. He missed a layup getting hit in the face with no call (he was bleeding). He had 8 points on 4-7 shooting, 5 boards and 5 assists...triple-double pace. Second Half: He short-armed a jumper, but tapped it back in off the glass. He faced up, jab-stepped and swished the jumper. He touch passed to Lamar on a tight give-and-go passing sequence for a layup. He pushed out the loose ball, went behind his back to lose a defender, kept attacking off the dribble through traffic and missed the near highlight layup. Great outlet over a defender to Kobe, who dropped it behind his back to a trailing Ariza for the dunk. He missed a sweeping hook with his left. He swished a 17-footer.

Lamar -- -- Lamar was a marked man in the second half. The zebras had him in the crosshairs. After an impressive first half, he picked up 5 fouls in about 7 minutes of play to foul out. It seemed like Phil was trying to let Lamar get a little practice in playing with fouls. He gambled and lost in that regard. In the first half, Lamar ws beasting it up. He was the aggressive, board-dominating Lamar that teams fear. He was hitting perimeter shots, working off the ball, crashing the glass and scoring off tips. That's the LO that puts up big numbers. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 7-10 shooting (2-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards (3 offensive), 1 turnover and 6 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a +21. The Action: He missed a layup after curling to his left off the ball. He tapped in a miss by Pau. He had the ball stolen from him, then didn't box out, giving up a tip in. He swished a three on the other end to get it back. He took the interior feed from Fish and scored the layup. He crashed the glass off the Kobe miss and tipped it in. He swatted dribble penetration. He missed a tip in, but Pau cleaned it up. He took the ball to the right side, faced up and sank the baseline jumper. He up-faked and drew FTs on the perimeter next time down, he made both. He had 13 points in the first half. Second Half: He airballed a floater, expecting to get the And-1 call. He scored the layup off the two-man game, which turned into a give and go with Pau in tight quarters. He forced Green into a travel with a good recovery. He didn't draw iron on a layup with his right. He drained a wing three, stepping into the kickout and posing. He then picked up his fourth foul (three in the quarter) and Phil left him in the game with 6:11 left in the third...50 seconds later, Lamar picked up his fifth foul. Back in for just a second in the fourth and he fouled out (another phantom whistle). He was looking for the tech from the bench, going after the officials.

Ariza -- -- Durant still managed 24 points, but his 8-20 shooting and 0-6 from three pretty much kept him a tamed beast. Trevor said his focus was to "just not let him get the ball where he's comfortable at, trying to make everything tough for him...we did a good job as a team guarding him." The team had a jump in their step on the defensive end. Having that spark to start the game seemed to help them take control early and keep it. Trevor was back to the garbage man role of the beginning of the season -- quick strikes off steals and putback scores off hustle. He seemed a little reluctant to take the perimeter shot, and certainly didn't force anything.The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-5 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 5 boards (2 offensive), 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 28 minutes. He was +16. The Action: He jumped a passing lane and took it the distance for the dunk. He tapped a Kobe miss to himself, powered up and dunked. Second Half: He crashed the glass to get a Kobe miss, then missed a wing three. He missed a wing jumper. Ariza flushed the two-handed dunk off a sweet combination of passes from Pau to Kobe to Trevor on the break. Bad pass to Pau on the drive and it went out of bounds.

Fisher -- -- You take some of his money perimeter shooting for granted, but his passing in this game was equally as effective. He set up several bigmen for easy scores. DFish is 4th in the NBA in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.51). Tonight he had 5 without a miscue. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-5 shooting (1-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 5 assists, 1 steal and 1 foul in 21 minutes. He was a +16. The Action: He set up Pau for an open jumper off the two-man game. He attacked baseline and hit LO for a layup. He swished a step-back baseline jumper over a bigger man. He swished a wing jumper on the Pau kickout. He took the handoff on the baseline from Pau and scored the layup. He drew FTs diving to the floor trying to get a defensive board, he made both. Second Half: He took the Kobe kickout and drained the sideline three. He swiped a ball in transition and outlet to Kobe for FTs. He ran the two-man with Powell, bouncing it to him for the dunk.

Luke -- -- Excellent first stint to help the second unit with several scores. Luke has now played more good games than bad off the bench. He's strung together several quality games now. You can't ask for much more than the statline he gave tonight. It was both efficient and effective. Defensively, he went up against some athletic players, but had no issues. I'm still hoping to see more chemistry from Luke and Farmar on that unit. Farmar needs to work off the ball and cut when it's in Luke's hands. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 5-6 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 foul in 18 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He attacked baseline, got a couple defenders out of position and hit the short jumper. He missed a three, got it back from Pau and scored the layup. He cut backdoor and hit a jumphook over his man. He posted up and swished his step-back fade in the lane (nice to see one of those finally drop). Second Half: He attacked and set up Powell for FTs. He swiped a pass, kept his man on his hip to take him out of the play, then hit the trailing Farmar for the score. He drained the corner three. He lobbed to Brown off the set play for a dunk.

Farmar -- -- Once again, Phil brought him in with 4 minutes left in the quarters to run with the starters. He played a cautious game, but a clean one, which is what you want on the road. The second unit was able to maintain the leads. He had some good sequences running the two-man games. Farmar led the second unit in minutes and rebounding. Phil sat him a little early and let others close the garbage time minutes out. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-5 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists and 1 foul in 23 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He couldn't hold on to a lob pass to finish it. He hesitated, then missed the three. Second Half: He set up Powell on the pick and pop. He bricked a three from the wing. He trailed the Luke breakway and scored the layup. Nice controlled pull-up jumper from the wing off the two-man game. Good post D on Westbrook to deny him a score. He swished a 19-footer off the high screen.

Vujacic -- -- The Machine was in drive mode tonight, scoring on one of his four attempts in the paint off the dribble. As a result, he was one of the few who didn't have a good game. Defensively, no major issues despite a couple breakdowns. He at least didn't commit a foul, which has been a goal of the team on this roadie. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-6 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 1 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 turnover in 15 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He got backdoored for a layup. He ran off the three line and scored the layup. He drew a clear-out foul on Westbrook getting shoved to the floor. He missed a wing jumper. Second Half: He missed a runner off one foot in the lane. He attacked the lane and bricked the layup badly. He was blocked on a forced jumper. He swiped it back on the other end. He tried attacking baseline and was swatted. He missed an open wing three. He dove to the floor for a loose ball on the defensive end up by 20 with a few seconds remaining.

Powell -- -- Powell led the bench in scoring, getting some good run with the big lead and Lamar in foul trouble. He was 5-6 shooting until missing his last 5 shots. It would have been nice to see him pull down a few more boards, but otherwise a very good game. The guards ran some pick and rolls/pops with him throughout the game. That seemed to be done with some better purpose. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 5-11 shooting (4-4 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 21 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He faced up and missed a wing jumper. He hit the turnaround in the post. He got hacked from behind as he was getting ready to power up, he made both of the FTs. Second Half: He threw down off the two-man game with DFish. He swished the baseline jumper off the two-man game with Farmar. Great clock recognition taking the Ariza pass and hitting the turnaround to beat the buzzer. He lost Thabo on a step-through move in the post for a layup. He missed a layup trying to power up off the offensive board. He missed a baseline jumper off the Kobe drive and kick. He drew FTs on the drive and dish from Luke, he made both. He missed a wing jumper. He missed the 20 footer. He missed an 18-footer.

Mbenga -- -- Excellent first stint, anchoring the D and helping the starters to extend their lead from 13 to 24 in the last half of the second quarter. That first unit with Pau out and Mbenga in seems to play some steady ball. Mbenga is causing the opponent a lot of problems with his anchor abilities. It seems like either he or Lamar are always back their challenging...sometimes they are. These are quality minutes that Phil can build some trust from come playoff time. His garbage-time minutes were a little looser. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 0-4 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and no fouls in 14 minutes. He was a +10. The Action: He missed a quick-fire wing jumper off the glass. He drew FTs on a near And-1 under the hoop, he made both. He was called for a quick three second violation. Nice challengs with Lamar to force a brick on a drive. Nice challenge to anchor the full-court pressure and he forced a miss. He rejected Chucky's drive. Second Half: He choked a layup. He rejected Weaver's drive. He missed an 18-footer off the high pinch post. He bricked an awkward jumphook on iso.

Brown -- -- He came in with 7 minutes left and up by 17. The Lakers ran the lob play to him and he threw down. He also dunked on the breakaway. Just some serious hops on Shannon, and the bench always seems to get a kick out of it. I like that they set him up out of the timeout. The more you can run some of these sequences during a game, the more he'll get used to the flow of the Triangle. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-2 shooting to go with 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 7 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: Did not play in the first half. Second Half: Showing another weapon off the lob play, Phil called his number and Luke hit him out of the timeout for the soaring throwdown. He charged in transition. He was called for a carry. He stripped a ball off Thabo to force a turnover. He rose up and threw down the soaring dunk in transition.

Morrison -- -- He came in with under 5 minutes left and didn't do much. Luke and Trevor's play really have Adam nailed to the bench. I think Phil is content to just try to work in Brown and not both of them, which is what you expect with all the depth we have at SF. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting in 5 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: Did not play in the first half. Second Half: He missed a floating baseline jumper.

Phil -- -- The Lakers led 15-6. LO working the interior well with tip-ins as well as hitting a three. Active rotations and help D on the other end... Phil again went with Farmar earlier than usual, 4 minutes left in the first, to run with the starters. This will likely be his new rotation as it seems to be working out... The Lakers led 37-20 after the first quarter, scoring 26 points in the paint... Phil started the Pau, Powell, Luke, Sasha, Farmar lineup for the second quarter... The lead was 13 when the starters returned with Mbenga. They stretched the lead to 24 points. Mbenga did a superb job anchoring the D... They led 62-38 with excellent activity on both ends of the court. The Lakers shot 57 percent to the Thunder's 39 percent. The Lakers had 36 points in the paint and shot 12-13 from the line... Lamar picked up his second, third and fourth foul in the first 6 minutes of the third. Phil left him in and 50 seconds later, Lamar picked up his fifth... The Lakers were outscored 34-28 in the third, but still led 90-72... Heavy garbage time in the fourth quarter. Phil got some run for Brown and Morrison... The Lakers scored 22 points off of 19 Thunder turnovers. They shot 50 percent, while keeping the Thunder to 41.5 percent...

Game Flow -- LINK -- The Lakers had a series of runs in the first half to push out big. They did it with strong play on both ends of the court.

[Vishnu]

1st

Thanks DB

[Dr. Laker]

first.

(damn. missed it by that much!)
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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".

[Vanquish]

third!

[999]

4th

[Mation]

Thanks DB!

Great to see our second unit hold the lead and limit the starters' minutes. Man, Ariza with some of his footwork in the paint and now his quotes on defense; you can tell who he's learning from. Wouldn't want it any other way.

Jeez refs. Seems like they've been targeting LO these past couple games. Lay off already.

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[Ray_Gonzoles]

Thanks for the recap DB!
This is the type of total team play that is needed for the rest of the season.
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"Just show up ready to work, ready to play, Have your big boy pants on, leave your diaper at home." Kobe Bryant
Anything less than a championship is a failure. Period.

[adtz]

it nice to see our first team get much needed rest as well as a win in the bag. thanks DB

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

9th! Number 9.... number 9....


Enjoyed your recap DB! At this stage, KD and the Thunder are definitely more "Spaceballs" than "Star Wars." I have a feeling that won't be the case in a few years.

I liked what I saw out of Luke and Powell from the bench, and none of the rest screwed up either. Nice to see a solid victory margin for once!

Next comes the REAL test.

[Downunder]

Thanks DB

Looks like will Phil will have to fine tune LO's meditation before the playoffs. He just can't seem to have a complete game. Work you're MAGIC Phil!!

[PushingtheLimit]

Thanks DB!

So I'm wondering... do people just sit there and refresh the lounge until they see your ratings up and quickly race to type first? Sure seems like it.

[Laker7]

Good to seee DJ continueing to play well with the rest of the first unit.
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Darvin Ham is an idiot!

[dot3]

DB, does it seem to you like Farmar is benefiting from having a couple minutes early with the starters and then having to play with the second unit. It seems to me since D-fish has been having his minutes limited, Farmar has been performing like he was at the start of the year.

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks DB! You're already in playoff mode!

[MedRomLaker]

Thanks DB good to see the bench get some extending playing time, should help increase their confidence.
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11/9/12 the day the brown was flushed down!!!!!!

4/30/14 the day the ant left the building!!!!!!

[prisma8slg]

[limchrc]

Nice win. Thanks for the recap.

[Sage_10]

Good game. Thanks DB!
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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

[maddprophet]

not only is fish running the offense efficiently w/o turnovers and hitting his outside shots, but he really understands the TEAM defensive philosophy.

he was always in the right place and making the right reads defensively. rotating and covering up other pleayers' men. he doesn't get enough recognition for this.

one on one he will have issues with certain pg's, but as far as the overall team defense, a big plus. very smart player.
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Spark the ism, my expertism, is lyracism, my flow will take you over like I was hypnotism...so where's the lighter, to start the cypher....

[DancingBarry]

[DancingBarry]

[BornAndBredLakersFan]

solid all around games from everyone, except a couple plays where sasha looked like a chicken with its head cut off. this is our year! nice work db!