LAKERS -at- BULLS - 3/21 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

[Note: This is another multimedia event. Click on the link a few paragraphs below when you get to it for some background audio as you read from that point on.]

Punching Back... "What would you do to save Little Larry? Would you move heaven and earth?" This is the voice mail you get half an hour past midnight. It is followed shortly by a knock on the door where you find instructions to pack your bags, a location to go to, and a reminder that you have nothing better to do, anyway. Such is your life.

You travel through the night, through city lights, desert wastelands, rolling prairies. Gas, food, lodging...let the good times roll. It's one endless stream until you finally step from the car when you arrive at your destination. Once again you see an iron gate flanked by a man and a woman with white face paint and top hats. "The road awaits, my friend," the man says. "Be careful," he adds with a wink.

The woman gestures to the road with an open palm, "Beware, it changes. Not in place, but in time," she says cryptically and once again invites you to take a closer look. As you pass through the gates, you hear a gong and a voice echoes out, "Enter the Dragon." A long, narrow road of limitless possibilities stretches before you. You wonder if you will return from this trek.

As you walk the road in silence you eventually come to a lone figure sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed. As you approach, he opens his eyes and stands. You recognize this man, it's His Airness -- a young MJ, in his prime decades ago.

The young MJ circles you, he wears vintage black and red hightops. "Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen,” he says. He takes a swipe at you and follows with a flying back kick, you dodge both just in time.

He circles. You stare him down. "I'd be careful if I were you," you say. "You might just piss me off."

He speaks in riddles. "If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome." This time he throws a right, then a left and sweeps the legs. You duck both and jump before getting taken out by the leg sweep. He smiles slyly. "Very good," he says. "Very good. You have passed this test. I believe this is for you." He hands you a scroll.

You take it with your left hand and drop him with an overhand right to the jaw. He crumbles to the ground, out cold. "I did warn you," you mumble as you unroll the scroll, DancingBarry:

Three of the Four Horsemen were here. The Death Riders were, too. They were backed into a corner, but the Death Riders led the charge out. They overwhelmed their opponent with a continuous barrage. It was their attack that won this fight. A welcome sight on the first days of what will be a long journey.

I will continue to follow them...

P.S. Beware of the road ahead, there are some Bad Boys waiting.

The Lakers were under attack and on their heels. The Bulls had won the first half by 14 points and had momentum well in hand. Little did they realize, the Lakers had the Bulls where they wanted them. Or, at least that's the way it seems with how well the Lakers play when they are behind versus when they are ahead.

They chipped away at the lead and won the third, but it was the first two minutes of the fourth while Kobe and Pau sat where the game was won. The second unit -- Farmar, Sasha, Luke, Lamar and Powell -- took the game to the Bulls with an 8-0 run. They would later help tack on a crushing 17-1 run.

The Lakers outscored the Bulls by 22 in the second half to take the 117-109 win. Jordan Farmar led the Lakers with 8 points in the fourth quarter. "For us to really gut up on the road and get this win was big," Farmar said.

Excellent comeback win to start the road trip. The Lakers need to clean up their FT shooting. Hard to survive too many road games when you go 16-28 from the line. Great to see that second unit step up big.


Kobe -- -- Kobe was on the prowl from the start, but a couple steals late in the game helped slam the door shut. He didn't shoot particularly well in this game, but he was finally able to get back to the line. Kobe had 10 attempts tonight (he missed quite a few). But after three games where he had just 2 freethrow attempts that he was able to create (he had 2 more, but they were late-game intentional types), this was good to see. It would be hard not to get more love than he had in the past three games, but we need those types of points on this road trip. The Stats: He scored 28 points on 10-25 shooting (2-6 from three, 6-10 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 7 assists, 5 steals, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 37 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He swiped a pass and set up Pau for FTs. He flashed to the ball and went glass over a help defender. He posted up and hit the turnaround over Gordon. He missed a flat-footed jumper. He missed a three, not getting his legs into it out of a timeout. He sank a top-of-the-arc three. He missed a jumper, we got it back, he attacked, drew contact and the rare FTs, he made one. He swished a turnaround from 15 feet out. He knocked a ball loose, took the outlet, attacked and drew FTs, he made just one again. He missed a long turnaround on the baseline. He hit Mbenga off the two-man game for a dunk. He spun away from a trap, attacked and hit the floating bank shot. Horrible lob pass to Ariza on a two-on-one break, blown opportunity. He attacked the lane on a two-for-one and missed. He hit the side of the glass on a three. He had 13 points on 5-12 shooting (1-4 from three, 2-4 FTs), 3 steals and 3 turnovers. Second Half: He stepped to his right and hit the 20-footer. He hit LO flying down the court for a layup. He swished a wing jumper over Gordon. He flipped a pass behind him to Fish trailing for a three. He hit Pau ahead of the pack for a layup. He exploded past his man and threw down. He missed a turnaround in the lane. He bricked a jumper after blowing the pick and roll by not giving it up and having to pull it back out. He was hit twice on jumpers with no call. He attacked at the end of the third and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a chuck from three trying to beat the buzzer. He had 8 points on 3-8 shooting in the third. He couldn't get a shot off after trying to create for about 8 seconds, shotclock violation. He posted up and missed, but Powell kept it alive and the Bulls tried to save it back inbounds, Kobe stole it and hit the open wing three. He missed a baseline turnaround. He took a long outlet a few seconds later and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a floater, but then instantly gave up FTs on a reach (poor idea when you just want to run clock). LO forced Salmons to a spin, Kobe was right there waiting to take it away and dunk. He attacked to his right, took contact and a whistle and crammed down a jam (should have been and And-1, but they didn't call continuation), he missed both FTs.

Gasol -- -- Defensively, he was getting caught in no-man's land quite a bit. Guards would either get past him or his own men would. He was a team low -10 as a result. The defense seemed more stable when we went with either Mbenga or the Powell/Odom combo. Offensively, he missed more chippies than he has of late, but put together a scrappy game, including some excellent work on the offensive glass. The Stats: He scored 23 points on 9-17 shooting (5-8 from the line) to go with 10 boards (5 offensive), 3 assists, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 37 minutes. The Action: He drew FTs trailing the break, he made one. He sank a 15-footer from the wing after grabbing the offensive board. He hit Ariza with a long outlet for a dunk after he scooped up a loose ball Ariza caused. His layup was blocked. He was fouled with no call on a jumphook. He hit a baseline face-up jumper. He backed his man down and scored with his left. He missed a short jumphook. He missed a jumper in the lane. He hit a short jumphook under the hoop. He was blocked not using his off hand. He had 9 points on 4-10 shooting and was a -15. Second Half: Good job running the floor and Kobe found him ahead of the pack for a layup. He got tapped on a finger roll. He missed a short jumphook, but drew the shove foul, he made just one FT. He tipped twice and got the Farmar miss to go. He posted up, ball-faked and spun the other way to draw a foul, he made both FTs. He was called for a phantom foul, his fourth, FTs for the Bulls. He was fronted, took the pass and drew FTs, he made one. He had 8 points in the third. He swished an elbow jumper. A rare second half post up, he faked one way, went the other and hit the hook. He powered up a layup (foul, no call) off the Sasha drive and dish.

Lamar -- -- Lamar and the second unit were throwing punches left and right. He had his perimeter shot going on one end and some active D on the other. If you want to give the Lakers some trouble, just call some cheap or phantom fouls on Lamar and get him out of the game. He gets called on some of the weaker fouls you will see. His foul trouble in this game, however, came at the end of long stints, so it didn't affect his minutes as much. After a good freethrow shooting game, Lamar pitched another bad one from the line. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 6-11 shooting (2-3 from three, 2-5 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 39 minutes. He was a +15. The Action: He swished a wing pull-up jumper with the shotclock low (with the clock low, I think that's always a decent option since defenders sag off, he can get a clean look). He sank a wing three-pointer. He choked a layup, got it back, went up soft and was blocked (three the other way in transition). He picked up his second foul trying to go after a steal in the backcourt and had to sit at the end of the first (looked like a phantom call). He bricked a layup. He blocked a Gordon three on a close out. Bad three-second turnover, watching Ariza work the post while standing in the lane. He attacked the lane and scored a layup. He picked up his third foul with 41 seconds in the half on a clean block of Rose (no love for LO). He scored 7 points on 3-6 shooting and had 3 boards. Second Half: Good bustout and Kobe hit him in stride for the layup. He iso'd on Thomas and drew FTs, he made one. He couldn't finish a throwdown attempt over Thomas. He iso'd on Thomas with the shotclock, low, spun and hit the And-1 in the lane, he made the FT. He sank a wing three to tie the game up. He attacked baseline, slid past a help defender and drew FTs, he missed both, however. Great hustle back in transition D to swat a layup, it led to FTs the other way for Kobe.

Ariza -- -- Trevor continues to shine with the starters. He had been floundering on the bench for quite a while, but he is taking it to opponents from that starting spot. Tonight, the Bulls would try to hide a weaker defender on him (concerned with defending Kobe). So, there was a lot of work in the post against smaller players for Ariza. This is something that our SF spot hasn't been able to take advantage of at times, but he was causing the Bulls problems. Excellent, efficient game in just three quarters of action. When he gets squared up from three and leans into his shot, it looks like money these days. Trevor also made a strong effort on the glass. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 7-9 shooting (2-2 from three, 2-4 from the line) to go with 8 boards (3 offensive), 2 steals, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: He scored in the post in semi-transition, going glass with his left. He missed an 18-footer. He poked a ball loose to Pau, busted out and dunked off the outlet pass. He drew a moving screen on the next defensive stand. He backed Gordon under the hoop and scored the easy layup. He sealed Gordon in the post and drew FTs on the help defenders, he made one. He drew FTs hustling for a loose ball, he made one. He cleaned up a Kobe miss with a layup just beating the shotclock. He had 10 points on 4-5 shooting and 5 boards. Second Half: He swished a three on a kickout from DFish. He drained a corner three off the kickout from Pau. He posted up, got blocked, got it back and scored the layup. He had 18 points after three quarters.

Fisher -- -- With Farmar playing well in the second half, Fisher got to watch the game from the bench for the fourth quarter. Nice way to start the road trip for him. The Lakers had their hands full with the Bulls guards. Combine that with Salmons who always seems to have our number and we had trouble from all over the perimeter. We did better when we keep them in front of us, but you could see when we got beat, Fisher was telling his teammates to communicate more on the defensive end. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-7 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal and 3 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a +9. The Action: He missed a three stepping back behind the line. He was blocked by Hinrich on a pull-up jumper. He sank a pull-up on the baseline in transition. Second Half: He missed a jumper to start the half. He missed a 30-footer, just getting it off before the shotclock expired (we got the board). He swished a wing three trailing the break.

Luke -- -- Luke was one of the keys to this win. He played short minutes, but was especially effective in his second stint where he worked the post. Make this now his third good game with the bench unit and second in a row. Hopefully, he keeps it up. The Lakers got a combined 30 points from Ariza, Luke and Kobe at the SF spot. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-4 shooting (1-1 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal and no fouls in 9 minutes. He was a +11. The Action: He missed a quick attack in the paint. He was way short on a jumper. Second Half: He drop-stepped Hinrich and scored the layup. He went right at Salmons in the post in early offense, spun and scored the And-1, he made the FT. He set Powell up for a jumper with a drive and dish.

Farmar -- -- Phil brought Farmar in a couple minutes sooner than he has been rotating in. That didn't seem to really make a difference as Farmar was a -15 until the fourth quarter. It all changed when the second unit caught fire. The entire unit was rolling, and Farmar, finally, rolled with them, too. He hit some threes and played effective D (including an excellent charge with good foot movement). He punctuated the quarter with a two-hand dunk along the baseline. "PJ talked to me a couple days ago," Farmar said. "He told me he wanted me to be a little more aggressive." There was still some very poor decisions and execution, but hopefully Farmar can somehow build off this and rediscover the better parts of his game on the road. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-10 shooting (3-6 from three) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: Looked like blocked Noah from behind in transition D. He faked the transition three shot and hit Pau under the hoop for a jumphook. He missed a three at the end of the first quarter. He attacked around the screen, hung on Hinrich and banked. He swiped the ball from Hinrich on the other end, pushed it out and threw the pass out of bounds, OC turnover (lack of PG polish on that play). He dumped the ball into Powell to create with the shotclock low (why?), turnover Powell. He swished a three from the top of the arc. He missed a three on the next trip. He gave up a soft And-1 foul on the D end. He was a -12 in 8 minutes. Second Half: He missed a layup, but Pau cleaned it up. Great job moving his feet when Gordon tried to attack to his left and Farmar drew the charge (well done). Not sure why he gave the ball back to Powell on the break when he's at the FT line with a couple defenders in his way. He swished a three trailing the break. Feeling it, he pulled up off the Luke screen and hit the early offense three. He missed a three out of a timeout. He took the pass from Kobe, didn't settle, attacked the baseline and dunked with both hands.

Vujacic -- -- Aside from a series of fouls in the fourth quarter and the tech, he played some steady minutes. He got to several loose balls and somehow always seems to look like the quickest guy on the floor when there is a loose ball. The defense was foul-prone, but at least he hit his shots again. Two games in a row with some shooting. Keep it up. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-3 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal and 4 fouls in 18 minutes. He was a +6. The Action: Nothing to report. Second Half: He missed a sideline jumper off the two-man game. He picked up two fouls to start the fourth and was called for a tech (for what, who knows? He knew he fouled). He tracked down a couple loose balls...on the second one, he pulled up and drained a three. Another foul on Gordon on the drive. He swished a catch and shoot from the wing, coming off the screens. He forced Gordon into a travel at midcourt. He attacked and dumped it off to Pau for the layup.

Powell -- -- Serviceable game from Powell. He missed a couple jumpers and continued to look weak anytime he had to create or work in the interior. Powell is a jumphooting big, that's how we need to use him. The difference with Powell and, say, a shooting big like Brian Cook, is that Powell is active on the boards and mobile on D. He also has enough bulk to run at the C spot, which is what we saw when the team took over in the fourth. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-4 shooting to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 14 minutes. He was a +13. The Action: He swatted a shot under the hoop. He traveled trying to create with the clock low. Second Half: Soft attempt off the interior feed trying to flip it in over his head instead of powering up, he missed. He missed back-to-back jumpers on one set. He swished a baseline jumper off the Luke kickout. Nice effort on the offensive glass forcing the Bulls to have to save it back in and Kobe drained a three off it.

Brown -- -- He came in for the final seconds when we had the game well in hand.The Stats: He had no stats in 1 minute, but had a meaningless -5. The Action: Did not play in the first half. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Mbenga -- -- He seemed to help stop the first half bleeding when he came in the game. We weren't getting any kind of defensive anchoring as the Bulls rattled off a series of runs to take a lead. Just getting some kind of anchoring in the paint and quicker feet helped. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-1 shooting to go with 3 boards in 5 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He drew a foul on Noah while crashing the offensive glass after a missed FT. He was wide open for several seconds before Kobe finally found him for the dunk. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Phil -- -- The Lakers led 9-4 after getting several steals in the first few minutes... The Lakers had a 9-point lead, but it was quickly erased with a 11-0 Bulls run, several turnovers and missed shots by L.A... The Lakers trailed 21-18 when Phil called a timeout with under 4 minutes left... They trailed 34-24, getting out-scored 13-6 after that timeout. The Bulls shots 64 percent in the quarter, getting a lot of easy ones throughout their run... The Lakers trailed 47-32 with under 8 minutes left when they went with Mbenga and the starters. They stopped the bleeding... After giving up a three at the halftime buzzer, the Lakers trailed 62-48. The Bulls had 10 turnovers, but shot 59 percent. The Lakers shot 46 percent with 7 turnovers. They went 5-10 from the line. The Bulls had a 20-7 advantage on the break... The coaches were ticked at the transition D... The Lakers cut the lead to 8 with a 7-1 start to the half. The run ended up being 12-0...
The Lakers were in the penalty with 7:18 left in the third. This allowed the Bulls to maintain their lead... The Lakers were up 75-72 when Farmar entered (Phil bringing him in a couple minutes sooner that usual again)... The Lakers won the quarter 33-25, but trailed 87-81 going into the fourth... Phil started the fourth with a Powell, LO, Luke, Sasha, Farmar lineup. They tied the game up 89-89. The starters were giving them some props from the bench during the timeout... Phil milked the hot lineup. They led 102-93 when Kobe and Pau returned... The Lakers won the second half 69-47, despite missing a ton of FTs... The Lakers had 16 steals, the Bulls 2. L.A. scored 27 points off of 23 Bull turnovers. The Lakers kept their turnovers to 11...

Game Flow -- LINK -- An 8-0 Laker run to start the fourth, followed up by a 17-1 run. That will kill most teams. Excellent work by the second unit.

[Vishnu]

1st

Thanks DB.

I'm glad that at least one Bruin played well today.

[Ray_Gonzoles]

Thanks for the recap DB.
_________________
"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.

[ecksor]

lol love the Audio track.

thanks, DB!
_________________
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

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks DB!

LO with the 2nd unit was awesome to see. It returned Sasha's sick jumpers of death and lit a fire under Farmar. And what can I say about Trevor? Looking great with the starters. Best part: Fish had limited minutes tonight in a great win. Way to start off the roadie!

[10scott10]

with Bynum injured, Lamar is our most important defender. he knows how to make our strategy work and I feel that he need more run with the second unit, instead of pau.

[Dr. Laker]

[big E]

Nice multimedia event!
_________________

[fsc401]

LAMAR

[DancingBarry]

[MedRomLaker]

[Klone_dd]

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB; Great recap and great intro story!

It's absolutely fantastic to see the bench unit come back to life. Not only did they refrain from blowing the starting units' lead; they blew the bulls out.

[IPK]

DB has a bestseller on his hands...

[A Mad Chinaman]

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

im glad we won so i can vent about the refs.......
horrible officiated game. salvatore and crew should be ashamed of themselves.

how many ticky tack fouls did they call on us, only to swallow their whistles at the other end? we were in the penalty early on every quarter. look at the amount of off the ball ticky tack fouls. again, twice kobe attacked in the air with contact but no call. that call on ariza in the 3rd where he jumped for the rebound on the defensive end and rose jumped into him was the worst call of all. (should have been a no call) gordon was dropping his shoulder and pushing off, yet they kept blowing the whistle on sasha. the refs were also waiting to see if our shot went in before they awarded a foul, instead of blowing the whistle early for an and-1. (happened to LO a couple of times) anyone ever notice when pau comes close to getting an and-1 but the ball rims out, he usually misses 1 of the free throws?


-loved that LO's jumper was falling even though he kept missing "bunnies" how can a 6'10 player miss the rim completely on mutiple layups?
-luke played a great game IMO even though the chicago announcers said "he had no business on salmons"
-if pau wants the ball more, he needs to be more physical in the post. i hate when he gets stripped in the post all the time. there was a stretch in the 1st qtr were 3 straight times he blew the shot and let noah and thomas bully him. he also let rose muscle a rebound away from him
-solid game from trev
-welcome back farmar

- i loved the way we closed the game out. ran all the clock down and still got quality shots


thanks DB
_________________
"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[limchrc]

Nice win. Thanks.

[prisma8slg]

thanks DB. it's great to see signs of life from our bench.
_________________
"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."

[DancingBarry]

[nicofanlakers]

the team , the first half , play bad, but in 2nd half kobe,pau, and lamar , play very good, with dunks, pass, and rebounds by lamar, kobe is a greatest game with 28 points

[HungryBear]

thanks for the recap, always read after the games. Nice audio, really sets the mood.