LAKERS -at- HAWKS - 3/29 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

No Penetration... There are a few reasons why no team has gone 7-0 on a road trip. Despite the Lakers holding the Hawks to 86 points, they couldn't push through sluggishness and lack of offensive focus. They stuggled to score and managed just 76 points, their lowest point total for the season.

If the Lakers keep a team to 39 percent shooting and 86, they will win that game. Today, however, the Lakers managed to shoot just 35 percent from the floor and 69.6 percent from the line. Their vaunted offense fell apart. Why?

The problem was related to ball penetration. With Atlanta sending help to keep Kobe from dribble penetration as much as possible, the Lakers didn't seek that penetration of the D in other manners. They seemed unwilling to feed Pau Gasol in the low post or to even put Kobe there to go to work.

The tone was set early on when the Lakers heaved up 8 threes in the first quarter, missing all but 1 attempt. The offense stagnated, playing to weaknesses, not strengths...making life easy for the Hawks.

"Most of it comes down to the reality of one the basics of basketball, that's getting penetration," Phil said afterward, "and getting the kind of shots on penetration that you want."

With Kobe trying to push through a series of health issues and struggling, the team really needed to explore some of its other options. Lamar tried to play aggressive, but turned into a negative force on the offensive end in the fourth. We fed guys like Powell in the paint instead of Pau.

"We should have gotten him the ball more," Ariza said of Pau. Seems to be a common quote after some Laker losses.

With the Cavs winning their 12th game in a row just before tip off of this game, the Lakers now fall two games back in the race for guaranteed home court advantage throughout the playoffs. It seems unlikely that the Lakers will win out and the Cavs will lose two games, but Phil said the Lakers will keep the pressure on.


Kobe -- -- They said his ankle injuy was more of a jammed joint than a sprain. Combine that with intestinal flu-like symptoms. He's also been getting banged up, taking extra massage time before games to loosen up. All of this may conspire against some of his effectiveness. Our one-two punch in Pau and Kobe was fairly weak. Pau was strong, but didn't get the ball where he should and Kobe didn't put the ball in like he usually does. He had misses from the line and wide open three misses that he's usually money on. Combine that with his marginal perimeter shooting of late when trying to create for himself and you get the poor numbers from today. He also saw quite a few doubles and help defenders. When this happens, you may want to put him on the block a little more or work the ball into Pau to help get that inside-out penetration to get the offense flowing. Defensively, he seemed to be dragging a little at times. He picked up a couple transition D fouls at midcourt and had to sit early in the first. The entire team's energy seemed to be reflective of Kobe's (except for Lamar's wild fourth quarter). The Stats: He scored 17 points on 7-19 shooting (1-6 from three, 2-4 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 37 minutes. He had a +/- of 0. The Action: He blew past Bibby who was nailed to the floor and Kobe dunked. He missed a baseline jumper. He picked up two fouls in the mid and backcourt in transition D and sat midway through the first. He missed a challenged wing jumper. He got hacked on a baseline jumper after scrambling for a loose ball, he made one of the FTs. He sank a turnaround from 19 feet with a man all over him (the crowd started buzzing on that sequence). He missed a fade in the lane expecting a foul. He drew a double out of a timeout and hit Ariza for a dunk. He drew FTs on an elbow turnaround, he made just one again. He drained a transition three next time down. He hit Pau on the screen-roll for a dunk. He had 9 points on 3-7 shooting and was a +9. Second Half: He missed an off-balance three. He left a couple shooters open for three. He missed a fallaway. He grabbed the Ariza brick and scored a layup. He curled off the screens and Lamar hit him for a layup. He missed a 21-footer. He missed a tough wing fallaway (no one cutting off ball). He missed a long heave from the corner. He was picked trying to create (probably a foul), dunk the other way for Mo. He attacked baseline and scored a reverse with 0.2 left on the clock. He missed a wing three, short. He attacked the paint and whipped a pass to Pau for FTs. He threw a pass away. He attacked quickly to his left, cut back right and scored a layup. He missed a wide open three, short. He missed another open three in transition.

Gasol -- -- Pau was you leading scorer, but the Lakers only used half of his game. They rarely went to him in the post. When the team is struggling for points and they are not exploring Pau's post game, that is just some low hoop IQ at work. They fired from downtown early and often. Then, when the second unit came in and looked to dump the ball into the post, it was to Powell not Pau. Pau shot 70 percent, the rest of the team shot 30 percent. You need to let him go to work more. When they did look for him it was typically off others trying to create for him (instead of Pau creating in the post and setting the table for others). Just seemed like we neglected our entire post game, and we paid the price badly with just 76 points. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 7-10 shooting (7-10 from the line) to go with 11 boards, 2 blocks and 2 fouls in 39 minutes. He was a -10. The Action: He was knocked to the floor on a dunk attempt, he made both FTs. He dunked off the Lamar drive and dish. He cleaned up a miss by Lamar on the other side of the hoop. He missed a baseline jumper. He missed a tip of a Lamar miss. He drew FTs taking a pass from LO on the break (a little too far from the hoop, but Pau avoided a charge), he made one FT. He dunked after working the high screen-roll with Kobe. He had 9 points on 3-5 shooting. Second Half: He sank a catch and shoot in the lane. A rare post-up attempt, he attacked across the lane and hit the jumphook with his right. He attacked baseline and was hammered by Smith for FTs, he made one. He missed an attack across the lane taking contact without a call. Low position and he scores an easy jumphook with his left. He drew FTs when Kobe found him in the lane (nice catch on a speedy pass), he made both. He attacked off the two-man with Luke and hit the pull-up jumper. He was fouled after pulling down a missed three by DFish, he made one FT.

Lamar -- -- He was a one-man rally killer in the fourth quarter. It started with a missed three from the corner and snowballed into missed drives and bricks around the rim. There was no way to dig out of a hole with all those misses. I think he may have felt that he had to pick it up for Kobe who has been hurting in a variety of ways. Outside of Pau, the rest of the starters shot 16-55. Very poor offensive execution. Phil has been trying to keep his minutes down because of tendinitis. We may see more of this as we run out of games to gain home court advantage. Today was another low-minute game. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-14 shooting (0-3 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 33 minutes. He had a +/- of 0. The Action: He filled the lane to the left of Ariza and took the no-looker for a layup. He got dribble penetration to his left and set up Pau for the dunk. He missed an open three trailing the break. He missed a layup after a good hustle for an offensive board. He blocked Zaza a couple times under the hoop. He traveled before putting the ball down to dribble. He kicked out to Farmar for a three. He missed a jumphook. The mustard came off the hotdog when he tried to whip a no-look interior feed over his shoulder to Pau and it went out of bounds. He missed a drive to his left and a tip. He had 2 points on 1-6 shooting and 5 boards. Second Half: He scored a layup when Trevor drew his man with a great post move and fed Lamar. He grabbed an offensive board and was knocked out of bounds with no call. He missed a wide open corner three. He bricked a corner three (three the other way on the break...rally killer sequence). He bricked a layup. He was blocked on another drive. He drew FTs when Luke tried to drive and create for him, he made both. He didn't draw iron on another drive, total brick and he was looking for the foul. He missed another jumphook, not using glass. He was fouled on a DFish airball, he made one FT. He finally got a goaltend call on a drive.

Ariza -- -- Even though his shot looks a lot better, he's 2 of his last 13 threes in the past four games. He started the game with a miss from three. That was a sign of things to come. The team shot 8 threes in that quarter (Trevor missed all of his threes during that stretch). That seemed to set the tone for our settling for jumpers and not feeding Pau. The more I see Trevor in the post, the more I like it. Good things seem to happen when he takes his man there. He no longer settles for the turnaround and has shown a good step through and some ability to get around his men. We should explore this a little more. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-11 shooting (1-5 from three) to go with 6 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He missed an open wing three on our first attempt. He no-looked to Lamar behind his back for a layup in transition. He choked a layup, then interfered on his putback tip in. He missed an open wing three. He missed a two-footer in the paint. He airballed a three. He dunked as Kobe drew attention and he cut down the lane. He used a foul to give at the end of the half on Johnson, this is noteable. He had 2 points on 1-7 shooting. Second Half: He attacked with speed to his left and scored a layup with his left against Smith. He poked a ball loose and it allowed LO to tie up Smith. He posted up Mo, stepped through to draw a help defender and set up LO for a layup. He grazed part of the backboard on a long bricked jumper, wide left. He squared up and drained the wide open wing three. He swiped a pass and pushed it out. He airballed a three.

Fisher -- -- DFish got into some rare early foul trouble and had to site for Farmar midway through the first quarter. He later came back and hit a series of shots near the end of the half. Unfortunately, he got lit a bit during that stretch. A bunch of his misses came late when we were trying to catch up in the last couple minutes. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-11 shooting (1-3 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 3 boards and 3 fouls. He was a -1. The Action: He missed a wing jumper. He missed a floater with his right. He picked up his second foul after 7 minutes and had to sit. He got trapped on the baseline, but somehow spun and flipped in a layup. He drew a moving screen foul on the other end. He sank an elbow jumper after letting defenders fly by. He swished a three out of a timeout. He didn't box out and gave up a putback tip. Second Half: He made a tech FT. He missed a wing three. He missed a long pull-up jumper. He airballed a sideline three. He missed a step-back jumper. He missed a long three in transition.

Luke -- -- I think the first unit actually missed him tonight. Trevor (and others) seemed to come out with three shooting on their mind. We didn't work the ball to the post and Luke probably would have facilitated more of that. I still like where both guys are right now because the bench clearly needs someone to play ball and Luke is the only one providing that with some regularity. Again, he made more than he missed and tried to get into the paint. Defensively, he actually had some very good sequences against some tough covers. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-4 shooting to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 16 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: He sank a runner off the glass. He got a FT miss on the offensive glass. He missed a one-hander off a spin move. Second Half: He was stripped on a drive. He attacked Zaza and hit the two-footer over him. He attacked to his left, cut back to his right and hit the jumper in the lane. He drew a foul on a good effort on the offensive glass.

Farmar -- -- Is there really any use in trying to prop up Farmar's confidence anymore? He led the team again with a -12. His decision making and point guard skills (no matter what situation: break, two-man game, Triangle) are killing the team. I don't think he's the reason we lost this game. We've survived his bad play with frequency, and Phil ended up benching Farmar to get that Sasha/Bibby match up. We may want to do it more to make a point or two. When the second unit comes in and starts dumping the ball to Powell in the post when Pau is the guy who needs it, they just aren't getting it. Powell can't post up, yet we run the offense through him? Some of these bad habits need to be broken. Farmar is shooting .351 for March, his worst month of the year. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-2 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 10 minutes. He was a -12. The Action: He sank a wing three off the kickout from Lamar. He got knocked to the floor getting swatted at the rim. He got caught in the air trying to shoot a challenged three and threw it out bounds. He threw a pass into the backcourt, shotclock violation. His next pass was deflected out of bounds. Second Half: He was blocked at the rim on a layup, looked like a foul. He tried to lob to Powell on the break, instead of giving it up to Kobe in the middle of the break to make the easier pass, turnover.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha the three chucker hurt the Lakers in the first half. He couldn't hit anything from outside and continues to struggle. His shots look too fast, too long, like he's rushing them. Again, we should probably try to set him up for some kind of midrange shot to see if we can get him an easier attempt to start the game. Sasha has made 3 of his last 19 on this road trip. He's shooting .324 on the road versus .414 at home. The bench guards continue to kill that second unit. At least he had Bibby to guard in this game. Phil gave him some run at the PG spot in place of Farmar. He may want to think about doing that more simply because Farmar's confidence and game can't get much worse. Something needs to be shaken up. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-4 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 steal and no fouls in 20 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He missed a three from the top of the key. Another wing three miss, long again. Horrible position D allowing Murray to drive right to the hoop and set up a layup for a big. He missed a baseline jumper. Second Half: He missed a wing jumper. Good D slapping a ball off Zaza in the corner.

Powell -- -- The Lakers gave him the ball way too much in the post. I really don't understand how you can ignore Pau so much, then feed Powell like he's an all star post player. That's not his game. I say this again and again, but only because we keep doing this sort of things. He's a pick and pop type of offensive player. He's not the guy you drop the ball into to run your offense through. You create for him. Our second-unit guards don't seem to comprehend this and no one seems to be taking them to task for not playing to our strengths in this regard. Powell needs to also give up the ball and post position and come out and set picks. That will set up the pick and pop for him. Powell doesn't seem to get it sometimes. Defensively, Powell was fine. He had some good challenges and boards in the second half. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 0-4 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 6 boards (2 offensive), 2 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 16 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He got swatted badly on a post move, but luckily drew a foul, he made one FT. He got another post feed and missed a turnaround. He missed another turnaround on a post up. He was fouled in transition for FTs, he made both. He missed another post-up jumphook. He missed a 19-footer. Second Half: He fumbled a lob pass from Farmar on the break. He swatted dribble penetration. He couldn't handle the post entry from Luke, turnover.

Mbenga -- -- Reasonable minutes from Mbenga. He wasn't quite the chucker he has been of late. The one shot he made was an attempt he had to take, left all alone at the FT line. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-1 shooting, had 1 board, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 5 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He lost the ball in the post. He sank a FT jumper. Second Half: Did not play.

Phil -- -- The Lakers led 10-8 after 7 minutes, both teams missing a ton of shots. The Lakers didn't hit anything from the perimeter and Kobe sat with two fouls. Both Farmar and Sasha had to come in for Fish and Kobe. The team was neglecting the post... I don't recall a back-to-the-basket touch for Pau in the entire first quarter. The Lakers went 2 of their last 17, taking 8 threes in the first quarter and they trailed 20-13... Phil went with a Mbenga, Powell, Luke, Sasha, Farmar lineup down 8... Josh Powell got three low post passes to go to work as soon as he entered the game (this is not playing to his strength), yet Pau never saw the ball down low... Fish hit a series of shots, but the Lakers then couldn't get stops. Down 11, Phil called a timeout. He brought back in Pau and Lamar for Mbenga and Powell and ran the starters... Phil brought in Sasha to cover Bibby for a couple minutes near the end of the half to save Fish from picking up his third foul... The Lakers trailed 40-39 at the half with a strong close. They shot 33 percent to the Hawks 38 percent. The Hawks were just 2-2 from the line, the Lakers 8-12... The coaches wanted the Lakers to increase their energy and hit the boards... The Hawks drained a number of threes to start the quarter and the Lakers quickly trailed by 10... Down by 9 with 3 minutes left in the quarter, Phil bought in Powell, Sasha and Farmar. The Lakers quickly fell by their biggest margin... The Lakers lost the third quarter 32-19 and trailed 72-58 heading into the fourth quarter... Phil sat Farmar for Sasha to defend Bibby... He went with the starters and Luke instead of Ariza midway through the quarter down 11. He'd later bring Trevor back in. Lamar turned into a one-man rally killer, Kobe couldn't hit open threes and Pau never saw the ball... Not sure why we neglected the post as often as we did...

[dcarter4kobe]

nobody had a good game
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"He's a Zen master, so he can speak to you, and he doesn't need a microphone; you can hear him in your head, 'Ron, don't shoot, don't shoot.' Whatever, pow, three. I love the Zen, though."

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

[MedRomLaker]

I don't know what to say, just a bad game overall, this game is a perfect example of the team beating themselves, yet another game we should have had.
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11/9/12 the day the brown was flushed down!!!!!!

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

[big E]

this was a tough one to watch
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[mhan00]

pau had a good game. luke had a good game. i would be hard pressed to make an argument for anyone else.

[Laker7]

fugly
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Darvin Ham is an idiot!

[Arizona]

This is another one of those that you just flush instead of trying to analyze what's floating around in the toilet. it was just one of those games where everything that could possibly go wrong did.
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“I’m just a basketball player, you know? Just put me where you need me.” -Lamar Odom

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

[-Yo-]

Will someone on the Lakers' staff please duct-tape Sasha to a chair, beeatch-slap him and force him to realize that his shot form is wrong. The ball is leaving his hands way out ahead of his body (like a shot-putter). The ball is traveling flat and very fast. The velocity of the ball means when he misses long or short, its a hard clank and deep rebound.

Force the guy to watch tape of Bird, Hornacek, Reggie, Ray Allen -- and other great shooters. They have a high release, nice, consistent arch, and a soft touch so they often get the "shooters roll". Sasha always seems to be rushing his shot (and rushing his whole game--he's usually on the ragged edge of control.)

Honestly, I'm stupified at Sasha's regression, and don't understand why his bad habits get worse with every game. Somebody with authority needs to slap him upside the head.

Typical Sasha stat line: 0 for 4, 1 for 7, 1 for 5 etc.

This is from our "designated marksman"??!!

[adtz]

it just poor game for everyone so let dont blame any particular player. anyway this is loss might had some good effect. at least the chance of getting best record is almost gone so PJ might just willing to let our first team ha more rest and hope that with more min gain our bench player will play better.

[prisma8slg]

thanks DB. I missed the second half of the game...they had some momentum going into the half. I thought they'd be able to get the W.
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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."

[BornAndBredLakersFan]

se la vie. nice work db

[Klone_dd]

An ugly one to watch. An even uglier one to write up. Props to you DB.

You had to figure that this was the one game of the 7 that the Lakers would lose. I hoped they would have seen this too and come out with some purpose, but they looked completely lost. The one player they could've used to set the table was Pau and they seemingly ignored him. When Luke is your 2nd best player on the floor, you know things were bad.

LO, Sasha and JoFar = yuck, yuckier and yuckiest.

[Shaber]

I did not see the game, so I just ask - did Mo just outplayed Ariza? Based on statline he was clearly better.
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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

[Shaber]

[A Mad Chinaman]

As Stu Lantz stated during the broadcast, the Lakers haven't had very many games where they really stunk. As long as there aren't many of these type of games, Lakers should be OK.

DB Questions
Is Kobe's problems with his hands part of his physical ailments - along with his jammed ankle, etc.?

Luke had some strategic turnovers where he was in the paint and made a pass with a bad angle or to somebody going baseline (maybe the player who was supposed to receive the pass - don't know who that player is - wasn't ready. Hard to imagine that if Luke has the ball.

Farmar - well, he definitely played very well (for the Hawks) - especially his pass to Josh Powell on the fastbreak.

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB.

I missed the game.

Question; was Atlanta's defense a factor in the lack of feeds to Pau down low? Or was this purely an example of our bench guards simply not looking for him?

[Addicus]

Well that was really ugly. I'm pissed they even came back and made it a game because that compelled me to sit there and watch that trash. This team was not ready to play. May be the 12:30 start time is why the Clippers lose on Sundays so much?
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I'm expecting losses at Charlotte and at Portland.
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Thanks for the write up DB.
_________________
Stop crying and start doing.

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/addicusbrown

[mefor3]

horrible

[Burgundy]

Lakers aren't going to catch Cleveland.

I think they would be better served by sitting Kobe for a week and letting him try to heal up a little bit.

[jmark]

[DancingBarry]

[-Yo-]