LAKERS -vs- SONICS - 10/18 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Strange Times to be a Laker Fan... As we prepare to embark on another season, our suitcases are heavier than ever. The prevailing destination seems to be somewhere in the neighborhood of Doom and Uncertainty -- not exactly where championship trophies are handed out.

What happened to Jerry Buss? He used to be the personality that held the Lakers together. I don't doubt he still craves championships like 20-year-old playmates, but he never was the guy who threw gas on the flames and ran for cover.

What happened to Kobe? He used to be the guy talking about strapping on the golden armor -- and meaning it. Now, he sounds like a guy who came down with Shaq-itis of the knee or the diva whose freshly sliced melon wasn't chilled properly.

Strange times to be a Laker fan.

Hopefully, they can somehow push through this and play some ball. With that baggage setting the stage in Bakersfield, the Lakers took on the Sonics, whose two key stars from last year were shipped off to their own destinations. They're a young team with a little fight in them, but aren't ready for prime time. The Lakers promptly crushed them 126-106 with Lamar Odom still in his civilians.

The Lakers centers combined for 31 points (on 13-16 shooting) and 16 boards, a good chunk of that was from Drew's 19 and 10. The Lakers had 90 points off the bench, which included Bynum's 19, Cook's 19, Hot Mo's 14, Mihm's 11 and 10 from both Sasha and Farmar.

The Lakers held their turnovers to 19, semi reasonable for the preseason, and they shot the lights out, going for 56.1 percent on the night.



Kobe -- -- Kobe, Kobe, Kobe. Let's hope the only Kobe news we hear will be on the court with the Lakers and not off of it. This was, again, one of those games where he went on a scoring flury in the third after a first stint of setting up others. Kobe played just 18 minutes and still managed 20 on 6-11 shooting. He also pulled down 5 boards and dished 4 assists with 4 turnovers. He busted out and fed Ronny for the dunk. He missed a layup that Ronny interferred on. He nearly lost the handle, but hit a short jumper in the lane. He passed up a layup to hit Ronny for a long jumper (which he missed). He kicked it to Fish, who missed a jumper. Poor decision forcing a pass in the lane and it led to a breakaway dunk. He missed a 26-footer next time down. Wilkins was scoring early against Kobe on some semi soft D. Kobe missed a step-through, got it back, missed again. He flipped the ball to Ronny for a dunk. He drew a foul off a dive cut and ball fake, he made both FTs. He hit Fish in the corner and it led to FTs. He had 4 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists in his first quarter stint. Nice reach to swipe the ball from Wilcox in the post. He passed up a wide open corner three and we got a three-second violation. Someone must have told him to shoot because he then took and made the next several attempts starting at the 7:55 mark. He sank a long wing jumper quickly next time down. He drained a three from a little to the left of that one on the next trip. He pulled up and hit another long two from that wing spot on the next time down, forcing a Sonic timeout. Setting up at the other wing, he drained another three on his next attempt. He put Wilkins to sleep, waiting until the last second like a wide receiver before going up for the long alley-oop and hammering it down hard. He missed a long three, we got it back, he attacked the baseline, power drop-stepped and drew FTs, he made both. He was called for a travel, slipping after spinning. He attacked from the top of the key, took contact in air, spun, missing the flip over the head but drew the FTs, he made both. Better game from Kobe than his first two. He was aggressive and looking for his teammates early, then went on that scoring spree. I think his intensity will pick up as we close in on the regular season.

DFish -- -- Not much from Fish in this one. He scored 2 points on a couple of FTs, missing all three attempts from the field in 9 minutes. Farmar replaced him in the second half and Phil gave DFish just one stint to start. He missed a pull-up on the break on his first attempt. He bricked badly on a layup (guys need to crash the boards when DFish is attacking because of his poor percentage finishing those plays). He was fouled on a corner jumper attempt, he made both.

Turiaf -- -- Ronny was the driving force early in the game. Everyone else was a little slow out of the gates. He scored all 13 of his points in his opening run. He dunked a Kobe fastbreak feed. He got poor position on Wilcox on the other end and picked up a quick foul. Excellent interior feed off the two-man game with Kobe and it drew FTs for Kwame. He dropped a Kobe pass on the break. He missed a couple of jumpers. He cleaned up a Kobe miss, banking in an And-1, he made the FT. He missed an And-1 layup, but made both FTs. He attacked a lane off a Kobe handoff and dunked. He swished a tough baseline turnaround from about 10 feet away. He drained a top-of-the-key jumper. He got tapped on an oop. Good first stint, scoring 13 on 5-8 shooting in the first quarter before sitting. He airballed a jumper from the wing. He missed a runner. Long oop feed to Kobe over the top of the D for a dunk. He bricked a turnaround and wanted the foul. He rejected Durant's drive attempt. He faked the jumper, attacked the lane, drew the D and dished to Mihm for the dunk (great play at the PF spot in the offense).

Kwame -- -- After a couple of full-court contact practices, Kwame got a short run in this game. He blew a good interior deed from Fish. Great help D to alter Wilcox's shot and force a miss. He drew a FTs on an interior feed from Ronny, he made one. He played 9 minutes, had 4 boards and 1 point. He didn't get a shot attempt tallied.

Radmanovic -- -- A bit of a dud from Vlad after his solid first two outings. He played 19 minutes and didn't score, taking one shot. He matched up with Durant to start and did a decent job, using his length and reasonable speed to stick with him. Vlad missed a quick three in his only attempt. He gave up backdoor to Wally for a score. He gave up penetration shortly later and Phil sat him.

Bynum -- -- Excellent game against the trio of young bigs on Seattle. Bynum finished strongly on occasion and generally took contact well in this game. He had a couple of beastly finishes, which is what you want to see. Despite Seattle having some long players, Bynum's wingspan and standing reach gave them trouble (6 of his 10 boards were on the offensive end). If he plays starter minutes in this game, he might have gone for 30. His conditioning and foul situation made that certainly seem possible. As it was, he went for 19 points on 8-11 shooting in 26:43. He also dished 2 assists, stole a ball and blocked a shot. He drew a foul on a post entry feed on his first trip down, he missed both FTs, however. He gathered a pass, spun to the middle and hit a short jumphook with his left (looked very confident with that move). He fought for an offensive rebound, then powered in a jam over a couple bigs (very, very nice). He dunked a feed from Luke, cutting to the rim to meet the pass. He cut, gathered himself after getting the feed and hit a short jumphook over Sene (hitting his funny bone, it looked like). Strong offensive board, but he couldn't hit the jumphook. He took an interior feed from Critt and finished high over Swift. He blew an oop throwdown from Luke, turning in air to dunk but misjudging how far from the hoop he was. Pretty good stint from Bynum, should have come away with a few more points, though. He finished with 10 points on 5-7 shooting and 6 boards in his 13-minute stint. Good defensive stand, challenging several shots underneath, blocking one, then securing the board (you'd like to see a little more of that from him). Bynum set up for the high-low Tri sequences twice on one set, but teammates didn't read it, he hustled and pulled down the offensive board to reset the offense. Still on the same set, he used his wingspan to pull down another board, then hammered it over Swift (me like...me like a lot). Critt attacked and fed an interior pass to Bynum, who then took a lot of contact and still powered in the And-1 (he probably doesn't finish that one last year), he made the FT. He sealed Green, took the pass and drew the foul, he made both. He missed a short jumphook. Smart tap ahead of a loose ball to Sasha who scored an And-1 on the breakaway. He tipped an offensive board to Sasha for a score. He tracked down a high lob from Karl, gathered himself in traffic and scored a reverse. Hopefully, he can drop a few more of these games this preseason.

Mihm -- -- After not playing in the first half, he started in the second half for Kwame. He played a lively 12 minutes, scoring 11 points on 5-5 shooting and grabbing 2 boards. He made one FT after getting fouled on an offensive board. He lost the handle on a post attack. Quick attack after getting the entry and he hit a jumphook in the lane. He dunked off a drive and dish by Ronny. He swished a long jumphook on the baseline with the shotclock low. Great Tri play faking the pass to the cutter, then attacking the other direction and banking on the next trip down. Next time down, he hit an 18-footer from the wing. He had 11 points in the quarter, before sitting to start the fourth.

Luke -- -- Somehow the guy coming off the hamstring strain plays the most minutes tonight. Luke didn't do much in his 30 minutes, scoring 5 points on 2-8 shooting, grabbing 3 boards and dishing 3 assists with 4 turnovers. He was generally the first pass to start the offense. This bench role may be what Phil has in mind if he has a healthy roster, loaded with bigs that could push Lamar to some SF minutes. Luke came off the bench for Vlad late in the first quarter. He hit a 20-footer from the wing. He missed a baseline jumper. He missed a short jumper. He charged off a baseline attack, erasing a Bynum dunk he set up. He whipped a pass off the dribble to Bynum for a dunk. He missed a three. He missed a heave at the buzzer. Weak pass in transition and it resulted in an And-1 the other way. He drew FTs attacking Wally off the dribble, he made one. He powered in a jumper over Wally in the lane. He bricked a short one with his left hand. He swished a long wing jumper.

Farmar -- -- Excellent two-way game from Farmar. He played some strong D, jumping passing lanes well. He scored 10 points on 4-5 shooting, had 7 assists, 2 steals and 2 offensive boards in 17 minutes. He attacked hard to his right, took contact and banked in an And-1 over help D for his first score, he missed the FT. Great jump of a passing lane to ignite a breakaway and set Mo up for FTs. He swished a wing three off a kickout from Evans. He kicked out to Cook for a three. He stepped back and hit a wing three. He gave Cook a backhand pass in the middle of the lane on the break for the And-1. He missed an illegal D FT. He had 8 points on 3-3 shooting and 5 assists in that 7-minute stint. His strong run got him the second half start. He faked and hit an 18-footer from the wing. Good D out of a timeout to help force a 5-second violation. He then swiped another pass on the next defensive stand. He slapped a ball off Wilcox for a turnover on the next trip down. Great hesitation move to lose his man, but he got blocked at the glass. He sat for Critt after that 9-minute stint.

Crittenton -- -- Critt just looks like he fits out there. He has been very poised, mixing it up, setting up others within the offense. Steady minutes. He didn't score well in his 18 minutes, going 0-3 for 2 points, but he had 4 assists, 1 steal and a couple of boards (nice to see him in on the defensive glass). He stole the ball from Watson, pushed out the break, had a pass deflected, stayed with it and tapped it to Cook for the layup. He attacked, drew the D and missed, but it led to a Laker score on the offensive glass. He posted up, spun to the baseline, drew the D and hit Bynum for a score (his work in the post could really be an asset in the Tri). He missed a jumphook in the lane. He hit Sasha with a swing pass for a three. He had 3 assists and no points on two attempts in that 6-minute stint. He missed the 18-footer set up for him off the Tri double screen (this play should become a bread and butter one for him). He had a pass picked off in transition and it resulted in points the other way. He blew past his man and hit Bynum for the And-1. He exploded past Ridnour with his first step and drew FTs, he made both.

Evans -- -- Hot Mo. There's no middle ground with him. Tonight, it was 14 points on 6-8 shooting in 18:40 of action. He got backed down by Wally and gave up an easy score. He drew FTs on a breakout with Farmar, he made both with 1 second left in the quarter. He swished a stepback wing jumper and got the foul, he missed the FT. He kicked out to Farmar for a three after getting into the middle of the zone. He hit the 15-foot pull-up off the dribble. Good hustle play in transition D to knock a ball loose and stop the break. He missed a bank, trying to power it up in traffic. He dunked on a bustout ahead of the pack. He picked up a loose ball and hit a 10-footer. He swished another mid-ranger off a Bynum screen.

Cook -- -- Cook had his offense going, and despite some lousy defensive plays, he was finally an asset for the team in his third game. He scored 19 points on 7-9 shooting off the bench and grabbed 6 defensive boards in 23:27. He had a stupid goaltend off the glass to give up an And-1. Then he gave up an offensive board on the FT miss. Green scored right over him. Poor box out and he was called for a foul. He gave up penetration and it resulted in a dunk. He finally started punching back on the other end. He drained an open wing three off a kickout from Farmar. He got hammered stepping in for a charge against Sene, good job. Cook swiped the pass, gave it to Farmar, busted out and took a tricky feed from Farmar, and scooped in a tough And-1 on the break, he made the FT. He hit a wing three out of a timeout. He swished a stepback from 15 feet out. Out on the break again, he took a tap pass from Critt and scored a layup. He missed a tough-angled baseline jumper. He cleaned up a miss by Critt, grabbing the board, pivoting and scoring. He missed a tough fade. Cook went 6-8 in that stint for 15 points to lead the Lakers at the half. Good effort going after a defensive board and he drew a foul. Green scored another easy one over Cook. Green did it again on the next trip. Nice spin move on the break to avoid a charge and draw a foul (Critt shouldn't have given him the ball there, but Cook saved it), he made both FTs. He faced up and banked over Green on the next trip. He airballed a FT jumper, might have been blocked.

Vujacic -- 8) -- Decent minutes from Sasha. He needs to keep providing that scoring punch off the bench. Consistency will be key for him this season. He scored 10 points on 3-5 shooting and grabbed 4 boards in 11 minutes. He crashed the offensive glass and got tapped on an And-1, he made both FTs. He sank a three off a swing pass from Critt. He missed a baseline jumper after throwing a bad interior feed. He used his body well to shield Durant and hit the And-1 over him on the break, he made the FT. Bynum tipped an offensive board to him and Sasha scored the layup.

Karl -- -- He got in with 5 minutes left. He forced a tough runner off the pinch post. He missed a wing three. Working the two-man game, he tossed a nice high lob to Bynum who gathered it and scored the reverse. That was it.

Phil -- -- Phil decided to tighten the rotation a bit, likely to the guys who will be on the roster. Even though it's just a preseason "W", I think he wanted to tighten up on some of the loose play from the last couple of games... No real identity for the team early on, unless you count turnovers and offensive boards an identity (which was certainly the case in the last game). They buckled down later in the first quarter and caught the Sonics, who built an early lead. The Lakers led 28-24 after the first... The Lakers played a strong second quarter, outscoring the Sonics 36-23... The Lakers shot .548 in the first half (including 5-8 from three) and had 8 turnovers (just 4 in the last 20 minutes) to lead 64-47. Some nice passing led to 17 assists in the half... The Lakers had 44 points off the bench in the half (46 in the second half). Neither Mihm nor Karl got any run in the first half... They started off slow again and gave up 38 points in the third quarter, the only quarter they lost on the night... Glad we got the W. They needed something positive this week. Hopefully, we will get a few more of those in this flurry of upcoming games...

[LakerSanity]

As soon as the game was over, I was soooo looking forward to this thread, thanks DB!!!!!
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[Socks]

I was loving watching farmar play tonight. Just a very mature looking all-around game from the kid. You guys see Turiaf pull on his ears after the game?

That fumble by Critt where he stuck with it and poked it to Cook for the lay in was awesome. It'll be a fun battle at the PG slot this year. Got a feeling each guy will be fighting for PT the entire year. Competition is a great thing.

Socks is hugely improved from last year - can't wait to see if he can do this consistently.

[Siguy]

A really fun win. Great to see the young guys coming along. This year, with Kobe or without, is going to be a breakout year for many of our young guys. Even if we lost Kobe (fingers-crossed we don't), I think there's enough talent here now to be a very watchable, very enjoyable team. Of course, we're still not built for post season success.

Kobe's play was all over the place though. I really wish he could balance initiating and scoring better. The all or nothing approach is just so weird and difficult to deal with. Today we got lucky and he made his passes, but on other nights those are turnovers.

The Lesson From This Game:
So what's the big lesson? Simple. The Seattle Supersonics are awful. They're terrible and will be really lucky to win 25 games this year. Durant is great, and they've got some promising guys, but they're weak at really key positions and young everywhere. This team is gonna be B-A-D bad. That's the main lesson, not really something our team can use though.

[All_Star_Laker]

[All_Star_Laker]

I'm not a huge Bynum guy, but his attitude was impressive today. I am waiting to see how he does against Charlotte next game.

[KOBE 2.0]

Thanks, always a pleasant scene looking at these

[OregonLakerGuy]

Great analysis. Thanks DB.

[cheetos82]

[DancingBarry]

[Annihilator]

[All_Star_Laker]

[Mation]

Thank you DB! Great read!

I can't wait till Odom is in the starting lineup, especially alongside
Turiaf.

Is Elton Brown, Andre Patterson, and Larry Turner pretty much cut
from the team? Good to see Coby get some minutes at least.

[Sage_10]

They played well. 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

[ElginBaylor]

Yeah. Lakers win. DB recap to read when I get into the office. The universe is back in balance at least for today.
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Not a legend

[Tony Montana]

Thanks DB; if the guys can put a game like that together early in the season, there will be a lot of around here (amidst so much lately)...
This game was a bit of hope, but it's still preseason, so I try not to get too excited.

[prisma8slg]

thanks DB
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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."

[20,000]

So is this the Kobe we expect to see now? Facilitator for the first half, three quarters, then gun slinger at the end? Or gun slinger when the Lakers go into a funk?

As for Bynum, yes he was more aggressive, but I would like to have seen him be more aggressive from the get go. On many occasions, he just lulled around on offense. His points came on monster put backs after an offensive rebound. That is awesome! Superb! I like seeing that, but Bynum is supposed to be more than just the garbage man. He is supposed to set himself up on offense, demand the ball, and be the passer.

I may be very picky, but if he really put in all that work this off-season, and he wants to start, he needs to show it on the floor.
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Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying...'I will try again tomorrow.'

[LakerJam]

[LakerLanny]

What is that sound? Can you hear it?

I think an ABomb is about to go off.

Andrew Bynum is coming on, despite little or no support from his own teammates.

Bynum stays, deal with it.
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Love, Laker Lanny

[hi_ma]

Thanks as always. Fun game to watch. I know it was the sonics in pre-season but if we get effort like this for the season life will be interesting.
Love our PG's. I agree Critt just looks right #'s or not. he has some very good habits. Once he gets a consistent Jumper he will be gold.
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The lakers will get prince.

[Dr. Funkbot]

BYNUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well that performance ought to keep the Bynum haters at bay for a day at least! A double double in 26 minutes! That is why Bynum was is a great prospect. Look at what he does to legit young 7 footers. Petro, Sene & Swift were all lotto pick centers and he just carved them up. He is much bigger and strong than them. He was dunking it and rebounding well, fighting for loose balls.

The Warriors are a terrible match up for Bynum due to there run and gun game, using a 6'9" PF on him. I doubt that Bynum will play much versus them and the Suns during the regular season. But Bynum feasted on the slower team with the more traditional center.

We will see how he does against Emeka in the next one.

Go Lakers!!
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R.I.P. Doc Buss

[BigE32]

Thanks as always, DB.

[hi_ma]

BTW- LO sounded baked for his interview.
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The lakers will get prince.

[TACH]