LAKERS -at- SUNS - 4/13 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

[DancingBarry]

Rapid Descent... After scoring 110 points the night before, the Lakers offense failed to produce against the Suns. The Lakers kept the tempo in their favor, got decent D at the PG spot by Sasha, but once again couldn't overcome an opponent down the stretch, losing 93-85.

The Lakers offense only managed 35 points in the second half against the Suns. This, after going for 38 points in the third quarter of last night's game. The big difference, of course, was Kobe. The opportunity was there to take the game, but once again Kobe was cold down the stretch and that's a death blow to this current squad.

They have dropped 8 of their last 10 and are now 40-40. They've got two games left and can go to the playoffs if they win both. "We've been a good do-or-die team all year," Kobe said. "We don't have much of a choice but to come out and win these games. It should be interesting."


Kobe -- -- Yuck. (For Kobe.) Second night of the back to back after going 48 minutes the night before...and he looked it. He was attacking early and not getting any whistles. He only went 2-2 from the line, which was a bit absurd. We didn't get to see him in the post with consistency like the last time we played the Suns. He finished with just 17 points on 7-26 shooting (1-6 from three) in 42 minutes. He sank a turnaround 18-footer from the wing. He attacked, took contact and no call on the miss. He attacked again next time down and drew FTs, he made both. He attacked, took a little contact and powered in a runner. Again, off the attack, again more contact with no call and he scored a runner. He missed a three. He missed a finger roll and wanted the foul. He posted up, attacked the lane to collapse the D, then hit Lamar for the layup. He drained a 29-footer from the wing. He missed a runner from midcourt at the buzzer. He missed a jumper. He attacked and kicked to LO for a three. He attacked on the iso, missed the reverse, got it back and scored. He drew a double team and no-looked to Lamar who was fouled trying to throwdown. He missed a three. He missed a jumper out of a timeout. He bricked badly on a runner. While he got a rest in the fourth the Lakers went on an 8-0 run to get back in striking distance. He came back in and missed a wide open 15-footer that could have cut the lead to three. He hit a face-up baseline jumper out of a timeout. He missed a ridiculous (even for him on a hot night) fallaway turnaround from about 19 feet. He powered up a jumper in the lane and rattled it in. He missed a three with 36 seconds left and looked defeated. He airballed another three after a timeout. He missed a 15-footer.

Lamar -- -- He struggled from beyond the arc and from the freethrow line, going 1-4 from each. He finished the game 7-19 for 16 points to go with 13 boards and 0 assists. Defensively, good effort throughout the game. He blocked Amare from behind. He was left alone under the hoop, missed, got it back and scored. He missed a baseline jumper, falling back a little. He sank a long wing jumper with his toes on the three line. He took an interior feed from Kobe and scored. He threw a bad lob pass to Mo who was wide open on the backdoor spin. He missed a jumphook. He airballed a three. He hit a three on a kickout from Kobe. He scored a layup on an interior feed from Luke. He missed a three. He powered in a layup between two defenders, very nice. He got hit on a throwdown attempt and made one FT. He picked up his third foul on a flop job by Bell as LO was spinning around him (weak, weak call). He drew a foul on an attack, then promptly bricked both FTs. He missed a wide open three. He missed an open three. He scored when Turiaf found him alone under the hoop.

Luke -- -- And your leading Laker scorer for the night...Luke Walton. Wow. That must be a first in his career, right? Excellent job by Luke tonight after getting torched in the previous game. I actually thought they should have gotten the ball to him more in the post earlier in the game. Anytime he's got a smaller man on him, we need to milk it against the Suns. He scored 19 points on 8-17 shooting (2-4 from three, 1-2 from the line), he pulled down 8 boards (4 offensive), and dished 5 assists in 39 minutes. Early on, he missed a layup, got it back and missed again. He sank a three on his next attempt. He took a Kobe missed three and hit the elbow jumper. He curled from the weakside, took the pass and got a basket after his layup was goaltended. He shot an 8-footer like a hot potato, just beating the shotclock after taking a peak at it. They finally put Luke on the block against Barbosa and he collapsed the D and hit LO for a layup. Good work on the offensive boards at the end of the half, scoring after a battle. He got fouled trying to power in a layup, he made one FT. He faked the three, got into the lane and fed Ronny for the dunk. He missed a three. He sank his next attempt from beyond the arc. He missed an easy one with his left and he missed a three at the end of the third quarter. He posted up Marion and hit a turnaround. He missed a runner to beat the shotclock. He overpowered Barbosa in the post for a layup. We went back to it again and the refs make a horrible call, going for Barbosa's flop on the Luke's dropstep. How many times did Suns players hit the ground in the post tonight? Sheesh.

Smush -- -- Wow. I have virtually no notes. He tried to post up Nash and got blocked from behind. He missed a jumper trying to create on his own. That's all I had tallied. He went 0-4, so he missed a couple more shots in there and he played 16 minutes.

Turiaf -- -- He got the start instead of Bynum to match up with Amare. Honestly, with all he's been doing for the team, I'm surprised he hasn't gotten the nod sooner. Both he and Bynum did a solid job in their respective roles. Ronny scored 10 points on 4-6 shooting, grabbed 6 boards and blocked 2 shots in 28:34. He posted up and powered in a layup. He missed a baseline jumper. He was called for a foul on what looked like a good block on Amare. He stole an inbounds and missed a jumper trying to beat the buzzer. He lost the ball, got it back from Amare who was on the floor and it led to FTs for Luke. He dunked off an interior feed from Luke. He hit a baseline jumper on a kickout. He drew a foul on a throwdown attempt, made both FTs. He found LO under the hoop for a score. He dunked late in the game.

Bynum -- -- Some very active minutes from Bynum on both ends. He was challenging shots and fighting for position on the other end throughout. He played just 19:26 as Phil went more with Turiaf and blocked 4 shots while scoring 8 points on 3-5 shooting. He airballed a jumphook, looked like the defender got away with getting into his body. He swatted Marion with some nice help D (after contesting a Marion lob the play before). He swatted Nash in the lane. He faced up and shot a jumper from about 8 feet over Diaw. Aggressive attack on Thomas, who tried to take away the jumphook, Bynum spun back the other way and hit the 10-footer (if he masters a jumper, which the coaches think he can, that is tough to defend, especially when he gets his power game to counter it). He sealed Amare, took the entry and dunked. He posted up aggressively again and drew a non-shooting foul on Amare. He drew FTs off a pass from Sasha and made both. He swatted Amare on help D. He grabbed an offensive board but missed a jumphook on the baseline.

Evans -- -- Average game from Mo, which is rare. He missed on a drive around Amare. He posted up Barbosa and hit a turnaround. He drained a corner three with a man on him and the shotclock going off (key shot in the fourth). He kept an offensive board alive and it led to Bynum FTs. Mo finished with 5 points on 2-5 shooting in 17 minutes.

Cook -- -- He hit a pull-up jumper in transition for his only score on his only attempt in 5 minutes. He also grabbed a rebound.

Farmar -- -- Bleh. He had some rookie triangle mistakes that he should have known better since the summer league. He missed his only attempt in 5:48. Horrible entry pass, bad angle trying to get it to Bynum from the top of the arc as he was trying to seal, ball went right out of bounds (Tri 101 mistake, should have swung the ball around and/or filled the corner to get it back and make the entry). Soft D, going under the pick to give up a three to Barbosa at the end of the quarter. Another poor pass, telegraphing it for a turnover. He swiped the ball back in the backcourt. He missed a three, long.

Vujacic -- -- Some quality D on Nash by Sasha and Phil let him close out the game. He did a very good job playing the pick and roll with the rest of the team against Nash and he never stopped and watched...unlike other Laker guards. Offensively, he controlled the pace, slowing it down purposely on a few occasions. He scored 8 points on 3-5 shooting, grabbed 8 boards and dished 2 assists in 30 minutes of action. He drained a three from the top of the arc on his first attempt. He faked the three, took a step in and hit a 20-footer. Nice entry to Bynum who sealed his man and it resulted in a dunk. He picked up a loose ball and hit Bynum in the lane for FTs. He missed a three. He swished a three, trailing the play to cut the Suns lead to five.

Phil -- -- He started Turiaf, then brought Bynum, Farmar and Evans off the bench late in the first... At the half, they wanted the Lakers to do a better job taking away the easy transition scores the Suns got... Midway through the third, the Suns started to pull away when the Laker offense started to sputter. (Our defense seemingly can't stop teams, so if our offense goes quiet for a stretch, we get into big, big trouble)... After Phil picked up a tech for a horrible non-call when a Sun went over Sasha's back, the Lakers went on a 7-0 run before the Suns called a timeout. That was the end of that Laker run, as the offense once again stalled... The Lakers cut the Suns lead to 5 behind a Bynum, Odom, Walton, Evans, Sasha lineup early in the fourth, going on a 8-0 run with Kobe on the bench... With just over a minute left in the game, the Lakers get a 24-second violation. That's how you choke down the stretch as a team... "I challenged them today by telling them that if they're going to finish games like they've finished the last three, four games, where we can't produce in the fourth quarter, why should we go in the playoffs?" Phil said. "We're just going to be four and out in that situation. We have to start doing things that produce wins in the fourth quarter."...

[mike_dee23]

[A Mad Chinaman]

DB - Maybe they should start planning for the playoffs - a very good possibility since they have the tie-breakers against the Clippers & Warriors - that if they win just one game (Seattle), they are in.

Could this provide them the opportunity to:

1) Rest Kwame
2) Figure out how to limit Smush's minutes/mistakes/inconsistencies
3) Integrate Vlad into the lineup and finding out how to use Cook
4) Give Kobe some rest
5) Give LO some rest
6) Give Bynum some rest

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

props to DB and sasha, THATS IT!
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"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[hoopschick29]

People, it's time to embrace the horror. Everyone wants the cry whywhywhy.... at the end of the day, this team is not very good. Kobe has covered up a lot of the stench. But everybody's seeing it -- the guy is spent.

And if we do get Phx again (that's if we even make the playoffs), we'll be lucky to win a game.
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So glad we gave you your flowers while you were here, Kobe.

[Sage_10]

[Laker7]

[LakerLanny]

Maybe Kobe will put up 75+ in a playoff game to keep things interesting.
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Love, Laker Lanny

[ProjectAB]

While Bynum played well in stretches last night, it seemed to me that he doesn't have that knack to grab the offensive rebound to keep the momentum going like Kwame does. Too often, he is being well boxed out.

From what I saw, I think he needs to be a little more physical under the hoop, walk the defender, so to speak, a little closer to the basket(but be careful about where he places the hands, and they can't resemble a pushing motion after the ball is shot and the refs are looking in his direction, foul before the refs anticipate things is always the key), before his length will have any effect.

[A Mad Chinaman]

[Magics80sLakersGOAT]

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