ROCKETS -at- LAKERS - 11/15 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Inquiring Minds Want to Know... The Lakers hoop IQ seems to drop considerably against the Rockets at times. Yes, the Rockets are a scrappy bunch. We all know that. However, when you have the size advantage the Lakers have at several positions, why do you ignore it? When the Rockets have a hot hand, why do you leave him open and double someone else?

This isn't an isolated incident. This is the same reason they were taken to 7 games by the Rockets in the playoffs. It many aspects, it's a failure of leadership.

That doesn't mean the Lakers don't have leaders. They do, and good ones. But there are games like this where you scratch your head and wonder what is going on?

In the first half, the shot selection started to head into trouble waters. The guards were shot happy. The Lakers stayed with the Rockets despite that. So, let's take a look at the third quarter where the Lakers lost control of the game.

To start the second half, the team looked to milk the interior on the first several possessions. The coaches clearly said something and the Lakers went after it for a short stint. Two touches for Artest for scores. Kobe down low. Lamar a rare post touch (but no repost). Bynum a triple team. Kobe a post up.

The doubles and triples started coming to the post, forcing kickouts to open shooters. The Lakers shot blanks and kept firing with the same weapons. Derek Fisher was 3-13, Kobe shot 5-20.

There was a stretch where Brooks was nailing three after three on Fisher that killed the Lakers. After he nailed a couple of them, Fish decided to double the post and leave Brooks to give up another three. Ugly. Andrew Bynum touched the ball twice in the third quarter. We stopped running the low post plays that allowed the team to work the post quickly before doubles could come. The Lakers scored just 19 points in the third.

To start the fourth, the reserves didn't learn anything from the bench. They came out firing, ignoring Bynum to shoot multiple jumpers in the first couple minutes. Farmar passed up the post entries to shoot. Sasha, the same, but with higher volume. Quickly, it was over. Instead of chipping a few points off the lead, the bench poured gas on the fire. Kobe, Fisher, Sasha and Farmar combined for 10-42 shooting. Meanwhile, Andrew Bynum was 8-12 and Lamar Odom was MIA.

When asked if shot selection was a problem, Phil replied, "You think so?"

As for the Artest v. Ariza match up, Trevor struggled against Ron when matched up, shooting just 2-12 for the game. Ron led the Lakers with 22 points on 8-16 shooting. Some good D by Trevor on Kobe for some stretches, but Kobe just played horribly all around (missing layups and jumpers he usually hits).

Rockets 101, Lakers 91. Awful game from the Lakers and the fans let them know, raining down "boo's" more than once. The combination of poor perimeter shooting with the willingness to keep firing away at the expense of the post just killed them.

Kobe -- -- Kobe left the game with a couple minutes left, a strained right groin injury from the last game starting to bother him midway through the fourth. Hard to say how much that really affected him. He just was off all night. He missed several layups and looks he's been knocking down. He didn't orchestrate a great attack. And, there were times when he forced something against Trevor after Trevor made a great play against him. This ended up compounding the errors. Kobe had 3 shots blocked tonight. Some of Kobe's shots were flat and short, this could be a result of the injury. Kobe said he's going to be okay in regards to the injury. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 5-20 shooting (0-3 from three, 8-9 from the line) to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 3 steals and 4 turnovers in 39 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He swished a wing jumper in transition. He bricked a reverse off the bottom of the rim or backboard. He dunked on the steal and outlet from Ron. He bounced it to Bynum on the screen-roll for a layup. He missed a turnaround, getting undercut on the post entry pass with no call. He drew FTs on a quick step-back from the elbow, he made both (Battier's second foul in 6 minutes). He was blocked by Ariza, then stripped. He airballed trying to force another turnaround over Ariza. He attacked, taking body contact with no call, missing the layup and getting a tech. He swiped a ball, gave it up, got it back and dunked. He had 8 points on 3-8 shooting. He bricked a turnaround on the baseline. He tried to power up on the baseline and was blocked. Trevor swiped an entry pass to Kobe. He missed another layup, getting past Ariza in the post. He missed an easy bank. He swished a 12-footer, cutting weak to strong. Poor first half, scoring 10 points on 4-13 shooting with 2 assists. Second Half: He attacked Battier from the wing and drew FTs, he made one. He up-faked to lose his man, then missed the easy reverse. He backed Ariza down and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a flat three. He slashed from the wing past Ariza and banked an And-1 while colliding with Scola, he made the FT. He didn't lob to Lamar on a play out of a timeout, then was picked easily from behind by Trevor for a dunk when he didn't pay attention. He then traveled on the next possession. He missed a wing jumper. He bricked a three, way short. He airballed a three. He missed a runner.

Bynum -- -- Andrew Bynum has a size advantage. Give him the ball. Seems simple, yet the Laker guards swung the ball away from him again and again, jacking up shot after shot while their post advantage got ignored. Getting just two touches in the third quarter is a recipe for disaster when your guards can't hit anything. Bynum looked like he started to get frustrated early in the fourth when Farmar and Sasha came in and did the same thing. Defensively, he had to deal with penetration and was blocking a number of shots. Some of the two-man D struggled with the perimeter shooting Rocket bigmen. Best recourse is abusing them at the other end and getting them out of the game. Didn't happen. "We lost when we came out soft in the third quarter," Bynum said. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 8-12 shooting (5-7 from the line) to go with 11 boards, 1 assist, 5 blocks, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 42 minutes. He was a -6. The Action: He hit a jumphook with his left, going up quick on his first touch. He swatted Brooks on the perimeter. He rolled off the screen, took the bounce pass and rode it in for a layup. Early offense low position, he spun and easily hit the short turnaround. He swatted Budinger's drive. He got lucky drawing a foul on the break before he traveled (good job leading the break), he made both. He had 8 points on 3-5 shooting. He spun baseline and hit a hanging, short jumper. He missed a face-up jumper. He overpowered Andersen for a layup. Finally another post touch and he hit the jumphook. He led the Lakers with 14 points on 6-9 shooting and 6 boards. Not enough touches. Second Half: He got undercut while shooting his jumper and missed, he wanted the foul. That was it for his third quarter, one shot. Finally, another shot after several guard jumpers and he easily powers in a layup. He grabbed a bricked jumper from one of his guards and drew FTs, he made one. He rejected a drive by Landry. On the other end, another post feed and he overpowered for an And-1 with some good concentration on the finish, he missed the FT. He went up and under to draw FTs at the front of the rim, he made both.

Lamar -- -- Paging Lamar Odom, please pick up the courtesy appearance phone. Battier on Lamar? Let's not post that up. LO has got to have more than 4 shots attempts. And he's got to get a few more down low when the Rockets cross match like they do. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-4 shooting (0-2 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 6 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 5 turnovers and 4 fouls in 37 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He forced Scola into a bad shot on a drive. He missed a three, way short (he seemed to be fading backwards on it). He posted up Budinger, spun, stepped through and scored a layup. He was fouled on the defensive glass for FTs, he made one. He sealed Battier in the post, lost him and reversed nicely around the help D. Second Half: He tried to thread a needle and it was picked off. He was called for a charge in traffic. He was stripped holding the ball behind his head and not paying attention.

Artest -- -- He was draining threes in the pregame shootaround and looked aggressive to start the game. He seemed to be feeling it and took it to the Rockets early. He and Drew seemed to be the only players making an impact for the Lakers tonight. It's amazing to see Ron overpowering Scola on both ends. He's just built like a tank. Whomever he was guarding, he seemed to hold down. Some struggles by Ron finishing around the rim, but he was still effective inside and out. Some odd rotations by Phil, tonight. Ron didn't finish the first half with the starters. He ran quite a bit at backup PF. The Stats: He scored 22 points on 8-16 shooting (3-5 from three, 3-6 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 38 minutes. He was a -9. The Action: He missed a strong drive to his left, looked like he was going to throw down and wanted a foul. He scored a layup with his left in transtion a few seconds later. He drained a wing three in transition. He got tapped on a three, but stole the ball back in transition, hitting Kobe for the dunk. He scored an And-1 layup in transition, he made the FT. He missed a sideline three. He hit Kobe trailing the break for the slam. He swished a pull-up jumper from 18 feet out. Bad lob pass and it was easily picked off. He missed a turnaround jumper. Nice recovery on Ariza to force a brick from three. He bricked a layup with his left after a great post move. He missed a drive left at the end of the quarter. Artest had 10 points on 4-9 shooting. Ariza was 0-8 in the first quarter. He posted up Battier and drew his third foul, but passed off. He sank a quick-fire wing three. Second Half: He attacked Scola quickly in the post to start the second half and drew FTs, he made one. He sealed Scola under the post and reversed over his head. He bricked a layup leading with his knee. He drew FTs under the hoop, he missed both of them. He attacked Scola, missed at the front of the rim, pulled it back down and scored the And-1, flexing to the crowd, he made the FT. He stripped Scola in the post. He forced Scola into an airball on his next post touch. He missed a wing three. He sank a wing three over his man.

Fisher -- -- Horrible game from Fisher. Not only was he missing and being left open...he was leaving his man open on the other end, who had the hot hand. The Rockets would double off DFish, he would brick. DFish would sometimes double off Brooks, he wouldn't miss. In the third quarter, the back and forth between these two was ridiculously one sided. Worst of all might have beens some of the post entry passing. He would jack up a jumper instead of giving it to the mismatch in the post. Poor leadership, poor running of the game plan. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-13 shooting (1-4 from three) to go with 6 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 5 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: He missed a wing jumper to start the game. He stripped Ariza and saved it back in bounds to ignite a break. He missed a jumper, short. He missed a long jumper instead of reposting. He was blocked by help D trying to post up Brooks. He swished a jumper when he couldn't make the post entry. He clanked a jumper next time down on poor execution of a two-man game with Bynum. He missed a sideline three, short. He was 1-7 with 2 points, but 5 boards and 5 assists. Second Half: He got tapped on a wide open three (at least this was an inside-out possession). He somehow hit a toe-on-the-three-line jumper with the shotclock low next time down (how he got the toe in there, don't know, but he managed to slip it in). He missed a jumper next time down, uggh. He clanked another jumper, Rockets just leaving him now. He swished the open three on his next attempt, but gave up And-1 three on the other end (he was tripped by Scola and hit Brooks). Brooks hit a long three, Fish doubles off him next time down and gives up another three (horrible sequence, killed us). He missed another three.

Brown -- -- Fish should have gotten the hook quickly. He wasn't hitting his jumper, and the Rockets were leaving him. Give him the hook, get in another shooter who might make them pay, or who will seek other options in the offense before calling his own. Shannon typically does that with the starters. Again, Brown was the only guard doing anything tonight. Defensively, neither Farmar or Fish were doing anything against the speedy guards, either. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 4-6 shooting (1-3 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 3 assists and 1 foul in 15 minutes. The Action: He jammed back in a missed jumper by Bynum. He missed a sideline jumper. He sank a toe-on-the-three-line jumper. He was fouled on a three next time down, he made all three FTs. He had 7 points on 2-3 shooting and closed out the half on the floor instead of Artest. Second Half: He sank a wing three. He scored a layup taking a long outlet.

Vujacic -- -- He killed the team in the fourth quarter. Horrible, horrible, horrible first few minutes of the fourth and the game got out of reach. Forget the Machine. He was the Machine Gun. Sasha was unloading shot after shot to start that fourth quarter. These weren't inside-out sequences, either. Just jacking. Exactly what the Lakers didn't need at a time when they needed proper execution to stay in the game. The Stats: The Action: He squared up nicely and swished the sideline three in front of the Laker bench. He got tapped on a baseline jumper. Second Half: He missed a three. He bricked a wing jumper. He missed a three.

Farmar -- -- He was the first guard off the bench. When DFish isn't playing the brightest of games, you could have gone to Farmar sooner. Again, he had some success against this team. Farmar, however, didn't provide any boost in hoop IQ. That doesn't seem to be his strength. His fourth quarter execution was horrible. Not as bad as Sasha, but the combined suckage of those two sucked any of the life the team had. The Stats: The Action: He hit Sasha for a three. He threw a pass away. He missed a pull-up from the right side. He bricked an open three. Second Half: He sagged off Brooks, then gave up penetration to him on his first defensive stand. He swung the ball away from the post. He missed a pull-up jumper, not feeding the post. He sank a wing three in transition.

Powell -- -- The Lakers opted to go small in this game, limiting Powell's minutes. The Lakers bench got thumped 48-18. Still, the day Pau and Bynum are both available, these second units are going to start tearing things up. Not because of sliding Lamar to the bench, just added Pau allows more impact players more minutes. Powell just doesn't play big enough defensively and when he's not hitting his shot, he gives the Lakers little. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-3 shooting, didn't have a board, blocked 1 shot and had 2 fouls in 7 minutes. He was a -1.The Action: Nice D on Lowry to force a brick. He missed a baseline jumper. Second Half: He couldn't finish a layup. He missed an elbow jumper.

Morrison -- -- With Luke out with a sore lower back, Ammo got some brief run at a key moment of the game -- the start of the fourth. Not much action from him, but it was an ominous sign. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting in 3:10. He was a -4. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He bricked a 30-footer trying to beat the shotclock.

Phil -- -- The Lakers are "hopeful" that Pau will be practicing this week. Seems like we've been in a suspended state of hope for a couple weeks now... The Lakers got off to a 9-2 start after 3 minutes. They pushed it to 16-2... Some bad offensive sequences by Kobe helped the Rockets go on an 11-2 run... The Lakers led 29-23 after the first quarter. Artest led with 10 points... Phil ran Artest at the PF spot some in the second... Laker guards doing a horrible job getting the ball in the post... Phil closed the half with a Bynum, Lamar, Kobe, Brown, Fisher unit. Not putting Ron back in despite the strong first half... The Lakers led 54-52 despite 5-20 shooting from Fisher and Kobe. Lakers shot 41 percent (21-51), Rockets 38.5 percent (20-52)... The Rockets were leaving Fisher to double Kobe and Fish was clanking... The Lakers looked to post up cutters early on, but then went away from the post game completely... Down by 5, Phil went with a Powell, Artest, Kobe, Sasha, Farmar lineup... The Lakers trailed 80-73 going into the fourth... Phil started a Bynum, Artest, Morrison, Sasha, Farmar unit. Sasha and Farmar killed them with misses from the perimeter... The Lakers shot 38 percent, the Rockets 42 percent. The Rockets outrebounded the Lakers 60-38...

Game Flow -- LINK -- An early run from the Lakers, but a series of unanswered runs by the Rockets in the second half.

[OscarWang]

FIRST...

Because everybody is to depressed to post
_________________
"Everything negative - pressure, challenges - is all an opportunity for me to rise."

- Kobe Bryant

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB. Agree with this take. Not a fun game.

[Ray_Gonzoles]

Two losses in a row. Not good.

Now the LG forum is going to be crazy for the next two days.

Thanks for the recap DB.
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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.

[smiles]

I hope SB can play at least 20 minutes...

[lakergreenmachine]

Good job as always DB, it's a long season, still very early. Nothing to be too down about, it'll be alright. Here's to a win over Detroit!
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"Moment of Silence For the Champions."

[Kobe_Bryant]

72-10 bye bye

[lounger]

Thanks DB. What a bummer...

I hope the team wakes up.

[City_Dawg]

Thanks DB.

Flush this mofo'
_________________
*sighs*

!...

[George W Buss]

DB is very angry
You won't like when DB is angry

[DancingBarry]

[calistrtballr]

[adtz]

[JUST-MING]

[mhan00]

[Rek]

[lakerboy]

thanks db

never thought we would be 7-3 after 10 games or lose 2 games at home. but (bleep) happens.

[prisma8slg]

thanks DB
_________________
"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."

[BigE32]

Thanks, DB. Two things I still can't believe as I watched the game.

1. The fact that we didn't pound the ball inside.

2. Given our size advantage, we were outrebounded by 22. They had 60 rebounds for the game. Unreal.

[DaMuleRules]

[Burgundy]

The team needs a a Brian Shaw type (a pass first point guard who only shoots when it's within the offense, his feet are set, and he's open).

Fish CAN play that way in spurts - and usually during the playoffs, he plays that way most of the time, but it seems like he's rather jack up shots.

But yeah, swinging a trade for a pass first point guard to run the second unit (even it it's one who can't shoot) would be a good idea.

[DrewBynum#17]

[Klone_dd]

Glad I missed the game. However, my Tivo threw up.

[LakerSanity]

I am done with Fisher. Thanks for the memories and the clutch shots, but, right now, he's being selfish. He's a man who's skills have declined to the point that he should be nothing more than an 8 to 10 minute a game player, yet he acts like just because of who he is he deserves more than that and lets such a mentality get to his head to the point that he neglects teammates and becomes an offensive black hole. Phil has to take a lot of responsibility for that. The dude has an ego.

Kobe also played selfishly and I hated it, but he's more than earned a pass for such nights. He's Kobe.

I don't think Bynum is ready to put up 20 field goal attempts per game - he's still not explosive enough, savvy enough (especially as to scoring in traffic as he begins to see those double/triple teams more and more), or well-conditioned enough (he seems to hit a conditioning wall around 30-35 minutes). That said, he definitely needed to be fed the ball more last night.

Lastly, it was our D that was the largest problem... again, I'll point to Fisher on that. He's killing us on both sides of the ball. I called for Brown to start and get 25+ minutes a night a week or so ago, I still stand by that. It's time.
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[Rick12322]

Thanks, DB.

Can't say the team was tired this time. I didn't realize Kobe had a groin injury when we played NOH. And LO's back has been out since we last faced dirty Houston. As for Fish, he's old. I don't know if he's nursing any injuries.

But inspite of all those things, we had an advantage as you said and failed to use it. I blame Kobe, Fish and Farmar for failing to use our mismatch in the post. Even with Farmar's typical blunders, we could have won this with Kobe and Fish swallowing their pride and using our advantage so this loss rests squarely on their shoulders.