LAKERS -at- ROCKETS - 11/14 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Some Kind of Strange Yin and Yang... The Lakers knew they could have won the first meeting with the Rockets had Kobe just hit his freethrows. Well, Yao decided to return the favor. Shooting 90 percent for the season, he missed multiple FTs tonight. Now, it was Yao's turn to miss a freethrow intentionally, get the ball back with a second left and somehow get the Rockets a three. Believe it or not, they hit the rim on a three attempt. Call us even. The Lakers held on to win 93-90.

Whatever it is with these two teams, they make some of the most bizarre, entertaining basketball to watch.

With LO available to cover TMac tonight, the Lakers had a more athletic option besides Kobe to throw at him. Enter LO, exit TMac. Lamar was doing a decent job defensively before TMac strained his elbow at the end of the half and had to go to the hospital for an MRI.

Sometimes when you lose a star like that, the team rallies. The Rockets played inspired ball. They stormed back from an 18-point Laker lead, helped again by a flood of Laker turnovers (14 in the second half).

Our strategies were more focussed on both ends. Offensively, we pulled Yao out on the high screen-rolls and attacked. We ran the ball as much as we could to also negate Yao. Defensively, we did a better job going single coverage on Yao with our bigmen. You need to double him if he gets low position, but not until then with our guys. The Lakers stuck to that for the most part, and both Kwame and Bynum did a good job in keeping Yao out of the paint. With no speedy guard dribble penetration to deal with, the Lakers rotations were much better. The Luke-Bonzi match up was ugly, but we survived.


Kobe -- -- Better game from Kobe than last night, but also better than his shot-heavy first game against the Rockets. He still forced some things, but the mix was better and he hit his freethrows. He worked over the Rockets on the high pick and roll during the first half. They had to adjust and collapse more in the second half, and that gave Kobe a little trouble. He was getting into the soft spots much better. He still didn't get to the line like he should have, but the refs let a lot go and Kobe was generally aggressive. Defensively, he was the same active, roaming player (sometimes to a fault again). He swatted Yao at the front of the rim and got a roar from the crowd. What he needs to be careful about is going for those blocks behind the defender if it leaves his man open under the hoop for an offensive board (he hasn't been burned year, but in previous years it would happen a lot). He also needs to not double off the cutter unless it's a clear blindside steal on the post player. That's a sure layup most of the time. Kobe scored 30 points on 11-23 shooting (2-5 from three, 6-6 from the line), he yanked down 8 boards and dished 5 assists with 4 turnovers in 38:27. He missed a jumper off the inbounds play. He penetrated and missed a floater, but collapsing the D allowed LO to tip it in. He kicked out to Turiaf for a jumper. He got caught in the air and threw it away. He attacked again, missed, but the Lakers crashed the glass and drew a foul. He drew FTs getting into Yao's body on the fastbreak (Battier was called for the foul), he made both. He got blocked getting caught in the air again. He didn't hit rim rushing a jumper. He made a wing three for his first hoop with under a minute left in the first quarter. He missed a three at the end of the quarter. Wow, quick strike off a Rockets make, Kobe pushed it up and fed LO for the dunk.

Then, Kobe started to bleed the Rockets. He hit an 18-footer off the screen. Same play with Kwame next time down and same result. Third straight time and he hit a jumper a little closer in. Next time down, he probed off a couple passes, then found Fish on the opposite side for a three. Back to the high screen-roll again with Kwame on the next possession and Kobe drained another wing jumper. He hit a wing jumper with the clock low on his next shot. He rejected Yao at the rim on help D. He missed a long three from the wing next time down (heat check not in the offense). Turnover flipping a pass to Luke no-look and over-the-shoulder. With Fish yelling at him to look at the clock, Kobe did, then decided to shoot and hit the three anyway with 15 seconds left in the half (he had a big smile on his face heading down to the other end). Snyder erased it over him on the other end with a three of his own. Kobe missed a three to beat the buzzer. He had 18 points on 7-15 shooting in the first half (making 7 of his last 10).

He missed a reverse, got it back and banked easily. He attacked the paint and kicked it back to Ronny for the wide open jumper. Major force job by Kobe going up against multiple defenders (maybe four) and still chucking the shot and getting blocked. He missed a wing jumper. He ballwatched and gave up a three to Battier. Kobe returned to the game with under 8 minutes left and the score tied. Tough 18-foot fallaway on his first touch (he got hit on the arm, too). He organized the screen roll then hit a jumper in front of Yao. He missed a jumper off the screen, he wanted the foul (he was both pulled on the arm and hit on the leg). He worked off the screen and finally got back to the line again, getting mugged, he made both FTs. He drained a tough fading wing jumper off the screen and over Yao. He lost the handle in traffic with under a minute left, ouch. He was fouled in the backcourt with 18 seconds left and made both FTs. Afterward, Kobe gave Bynum some props for two big FTs he hit in crunch time.

Lamar -- -- He was briefly aggressive offensively to start, which put TMac on his heels, but he didn't sustain it. He didn't look comfortable within the system and even forced the issue to a fault on some sequences. He has several bread-and-butter type of plays in the offense, but we haven't seen them yet. Lamar eventually fouled out with 10 points on 4-10 shooting (0-3 from three), 7 boards and 4 turnovers (some offensive fouls in there) in 34:25 of action. He tipped in a Kobe miss when Kobe got penetration. He posted up, sealed TMac and drew a foul. He then took TMac off the dribble and scored. He pushed up the break and scored a layup. He missed a three. He dunked off the quick transition push out and feed from Kobe. He missed a hook in the post to start the half. He posted up Bonzi and drew the hard foul, he made both FTs. He clanked a flat three. He missed on a spin move. He missed a three, we got it back, then he charged. He deflected a pass and recovered it. He charged again next time down with Yao getting in front of him (yikes). Good help D on Yao, blocking the shot but he got called for the foul (pretty weak call). He fouled out with 2 minutes left.

DFish -- -- This is a much better match up for Fish since he doesn't have to deal with all the dribble penetration and PG point of attack. He played so-so. We depend on his decision making down the stretch, but he had a bonehead pass tonight that hurt. Off the Kwame screen with just over two minutes left, he threw it way late and forced it for an easy turnover. He scored 13 points on 4-7 shooting and had 2 assists wtih 3 turnovers in 30:34. He swished a 20-footer having to create with the clock low. He got knocked down by Yao while going for a loose ball, he made both FTs. He hit a sideline three off a kickout from Kobe. Out of the timeout, Fish curled to his left working with Kwame, then lobbed back to him for a dunk. He hit a runner over Yao. He missed a long wing jumper. He missed a turnaround from the corner off the top of the backboard trying to beat the clock. He got contact on Yao and no call, he missed. He swished an elbow jumper. He drew FTs working off the Kwame screen, he made both.

Turiaf -- 8) -- Kind of an average game from Ronny (actually right on his averages), which isn't bad. Ronny scored 9 points on 3-5 shooting, pulled down 6 boards, had 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 24 minutes. He drained an open wing jumper off a Kobe kickout. Good help D on McGrady's drive and it forced a turnover. He missed an open look from the top of the key. He worked the two-man game and drew a foul on Yao trying to throwdown over him, he made one FT. He drew FTs getting a post entry feed, he made both. He iso'd on Scola and banked. He took a flip pass from Kobe and drained the wide open 18-footer. He missed an open jumper. He bobbled away a pass from Fish for a turnover with over a minute left. Looked like he got a piece of a Bonzi layup attempt on the other end to get a stop, but he wasn't credited with a block. He let his man tip out a missed freethrow with 41 seconds left. That hurt.

Kwame -- -- He got the start to give us the muscle to keep Yao out of the paint. Excellent D pushing Yao out, contesting, stealing the ball and all on single coverage. Not counting his screen setting...on the other end, yikes. He needs to get some pine tar like Don Nelson used to play with for those hands. Something. Just horrible. He scored 2 points in 29 minutes on 1-3 shooting, grabbed 5 boards, had 2 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls. He missed a hook getting hit with no call. He blew a layup. He lost a post entry feed. Some great work setting screens for Kobe off the two-man game and it led to several consecutive baskets. Out of a timeout, he then worked with Fish and nearly yanked the rim off with an alley-oop throwdown down the lane. He knocked a post entry feed to Yao away to start the second half. He dropped the return feed off the two-man game, but got it back on the other end poking a ball from Yao. He coughed up a pass from the post, then got benched (some talk that he was actually hurt, he got hit on a rebound and they were working on him). Great D drawing a charge on Yao on iso.

Bynum -- -- Second night of a back to back and Bynum handled it well, although he had some limited minutes. Still, this is one of his toughest matchups. Phil prefers Kwame on D against Yao and made a couple offense-defense subs late in the game (possibly worried about Kwame's FT shooting, which paid off as Bynum made two clutch ones). Bynum still played Yao about as good as he has to date when they've matched up. Some good challenges and Bynum was also really pushing on Yao in the post to keep him out of the paint. That added strength helped there a lot. Bynum scored 6 points on 1-3 shooting (4-6 from the line), grabbed 9 boards and dished 2 assists in just 18 minutes. His rebounding numbers per minute are still dominating. Greast to see. He popped out behind Deke to block Luther Head's drive. He backed down Mutombo, but missed the hook. He dunked in the missed shot by Farmar off dribble penetration. He challenged Yao, then pulled down a board from behind Scola. He got fouled from behind off a long outlet, he made both FTs. At the half Jim Hill says of Bynum, "If he can't learn from Kareem, nobody can." (I think he meant to reverse that. lol.) Phil brought Bynum in with 6 minutes in the third. Bynum pulled down an offensive board, got fouled and missed both FTs. Good challenge to force an airball and shotclock violation off guard penetration. He airballed a turnaround jumper, not getting good position and having to take an odd angle on the shot. After the Lakers dodged several bullets on one possession, Bynum finally pulled down a defensive board and was fouled, he went to the line with 24 seconds left up by three and made both clutch ones.

Mihm -- -- He got his first look with 9:32 in the fourth, up by 2 points. He sat a minute and half later for Kwame.

Luke -- -- More crap minutes from Luke. Hard to believe he just played 15 minutes in this game. All 15 of them were noticeable. He scored 2 points on 1-4 shooting, had 3 assists with 2 turnovers and 1 block. Bonzi enjoyed playing against him. Luke airballed a layup somehow. He didn't cut when Kobe was no-looking and the pass went out of bounds. Flukish injury to TMac when Luke grabbed a loose ball and TMac reached, hurting his shooting arm. He missed a jumper in the lane. He was stripped on a sure layup. Good D on the other end, blocking Bonzi to get it back...then he gave it right back throwing a bad lob to Bynum on the break. Sigh. He finally hit one his stepback baseline jumpers. Bonzi blew past him off the dribble and drew FTs. He got torched by Bonzi again off the dribble. Another turnover trying to pass. The play off the bench has left much to be desired.

Farmar -- -- Not sure what Farmar was thinking trying to contest a Yao layup, up by five with a second left...he gave up an And-1 and an opportunity for the Rockets to hit the rim on a three with the buzzer going off when they got the missed FT. That would have tied the game. Farmar played an excellent first half and was one of the keys to pulling out to our big first-half lead. He also did a heck of a job on the boards. He pulled down 9 rebounds to go with his 8 points on 3-7 shooting (2-3 from three, 0-2 from the line). He hit Vlad off the two-man game for a three. He missed a drive off the pick and roll, but Bynum followed and dunked it in. He drained a wing three. He sank another three in transition next time down the court. He had a lob passed tapped away, but he got it back doing the same at the other end. Mike James fell down off a Farmar attack, so he banked over him. He tapped a board away from a bigger player to save a sure hoop, pushed it up and missed the three. He had all 8 points at the half. The Lakers led by just 3 when Farmar got in with a couple minutes left in the third. He stalled the ball at the end of the third, then got blocked having to force up a three. He drew a foul then missed both FTs, arrgh. He lost the ball off his knee off a strip.

Radmanovic -- -- Vlad scored 6 points on 2-6 shooting (2-4 from three) in 21 minutes. He drained a corner three on his first attempt. He swished another three from the same spot running the two-man with Farmar. He missed a heat-check three in transition. Nice steal, blindsiding the entry pass to Yao. He missed a corner three on his first touch in the third. He tied up Mutombo on a loose ball. Nice backdoor feed to Mo for a dunk. He missed a hook in the post.

Evans -- -- Cold Mo? Wait. He hit a three. But he also missed two freethrows. Maybe it was a rare Warm Mo. He finished with 7 points on 2-4 shooting (2-4 from the line) and had 1 rebound in 10 minutes. He got body slammed by Vlad who was pushed from behind by Battier and he drew FTs, he made one. He missed a pull-up jumper from the wing. He was fouled on a long outlet pass, he made one FT. He swished a corner three on the next trip down. He was blocked by Mutombo (or the rim) on a throwdown on the break. He dunked, cutting backdoor on James, then gave Mutombo the no-no finger.

Phil -- -- The lakers split on the back to back roadtrip against a couple good teams. We'll take it. We looked a lot more familiar and comfortable against the Rockets than the Spurs for a few of the reason mentioned above. The most obvious of which was not having to deal with a speedy PG... The Lakers went 8-20 in the first quarter and led 25-22... They went to a series of high screen-rolls with Kwame and Kobe for scores in the second quarter. Then, they drew up a Fish-to-Kwame alley-oop working the high screen-roll on the left side of the floor out of a timeout. The shot 67 percent to the Rockets 32 percent in the quarter... The Lakers held the Rockets to 37 percent shooting in the first half, while shooting 54 percent (going 7-12 from three). They won the break 12-4 in the half. We gave up 10 offensive boards to the Rockets, but had just 7 turnovers. TMac hurt himself at the end of the half and didn't play after that... The coaches liked the defensive rotations in the first half, and said they were much better than last night... With the TMac injury, the Rockets came out with more intensity than the Lakers and chipped at our lead. Phil sat zazen for most of the Rocket run, not calling a timeout. The turnovers kept coming and the Rockets evened things up... Phil put Bynum on the bench for Mihm with 9:32 in the fourth up by two. He took him out a minute later for Kwame, still tied. Odd... Up by 4 with 2:30 left and Yao on the line, Phil called a timeout. Offensively, we went to Fish/Kwame screen roll and for some reason Fish threw a horrible pass after the play was already over and Yao picked it off easily... With 2 minutes left, Phil subbed in Bynum for Kwame. We ran the screen-roll and Kobe hit. The Bynum sub paid off when Bynum hit two clutch freethrows in the final minute. Glad that wasn't Kwame... The Lakers held the Rockets to 35 percent shooting, while hitting on 44 percent of their looks... Phil on his Brokeback comment: "When you take it out of context, it wasn't funny. It was a poor attempt at humor and I deserved to be reprimanded by the NBA," he said...

Game Flow -- LINK

[lakersfreak]

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[KOBE 2.0]

It was a nerve wrecking game.

[AllorNothing]

Unbelievable that Farmar can get 9 rebounds in this game considering all the supposed "big" men we have.

[LakerSanity]

We currently are the best team in the league in rebounding (have the highest rebounding differential in the league - the rockets are second).
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[oldschool32]

They tried their hardest to give the game away.

[venicebeach]

Thanks DB great job!

[Tony Montana]

As usual, a fine job by DB!

[DzLaker]

[LakerSanity]

[Siguy]

Odom was really screwed up in this game. The good thing with him, is that even in his worst games, he gets big rebounds and gets his hands on some steals.

But jeez, he couldn't shoot, he couldn't post up, he charged a lot. He needs to get his post game back and fast.

[Annihilator]

Computer ranking by Sagarin, at USA Today, has the Lakers ranked as the number 5 team in the league. Link. The Lakers only losses have come against teams ranked 2, 3 and 4: NO, SA and Houston. The Lakers are not winning pretty, but they have beat some good teams: Houston, Utah and Phoenix. I do not think the Lakers really are the number 5 team in the NBA right now but way too many people are being over dramatic about how the Lakers have played so far this season. The Lakers win against Houston yesterday is a game that last year's team loses.
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[jbjb]

[rscogold]

when Odom fouled out, Andrew came in and for a brief moment it looked like we would have a frontline of Kwame, Andrew and Ronny. that would have been great to see.
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'04-'07: Kobe's prime, Lakers decline.

[KingKobe20]

Terrible how we had a mental break down towards the end until Moe's three in the corner and two hand backdoor cut dunk on Mutumbo. (MJ caught Mutmbo the same way in Atlanta many years ago . Finger wave in his face )
Pretty cool how Kobe notice that he has been off . The night before more south of Texas he was a bit off. Started this game off in the first then super heated up. His jumper is still the best this game has to offer.
God awful ugly basketball in the end but will take the win

[+44]

i thought the lakers played like crap all together(other than kobe) and only did good in the 2nd quarter....but somehow we found a way to win the game. i think that says something about our team...im not saying we are an elite team but just like the spurs or mavs, we played poorly ON THE ROAD and still found a way to win...and tonite it was lock down D, we shut them down the final 5:30 of the game (if i remember right on espn it said the rockets had 0 FGs in the final 5 minutes of the game). and the best part about this win is we get the W and the next practice the lakers are going to get an earfull about what they need to work on and how poorly they played....i garuantee there were no big heads in the locker room over this win

[8750]

thanks, DB
another wasted effort... they desperately tried to lose this game, but didn't succeed...
rarely in my life i saw someone playing defensively up to kobe in these games...

[Mation]

Thanks DB.

I noticed at the start of every game the Lakers bench stands up until the starters score. I wonder who started that? Wouldn't be surprised if it was Fisher and that routine does look a lot like Houston's.

[A Mad Chinaman]

I'm recognizing the great winning streak that DB has going in providing great game breakdowns - hey, soon you will be approaching the consecutive game record of doing a great job with the great Chickie Baby (God Bless His Soul in Heaven!)

Questions:
The Lakers are slowly getting out of bad habits learned last year - specifically, the "non defense" playing of Smush. Breaking this bad habit consistently and throughout the game has been hard to maintain - though they have been doing this for stretches of time. Do you think that this could be a viable reasoning?

Coaching of PJ - it seems that he is starting to coach like he did during the Kobe/Shaq years, as noted that he is starting to let the players on the court learn how to learn from their mistakes and win. This was noted with stretches of time (almost 9+ minutes) without any subs and by allowing the 2nd team - that lost the lead - have the opportunity to get back the lead, since they have been playing well.

Play of LO - don't you think that it is strange that he doesn't appeared lost in the Triangle?!?!?! On the other hand, it was good to see LO starting to get aggressive - even though he fouled out. I understand LO's comments at the end of the game of "allowing the game" come to him - however, the game will be all over him just by getting the ball in the post with a size mismatch and he needs to take advantage of this all the time or at latest force a double team.

Play of Luke - impact player despite only playing 15 minutes and making some strange passes, key defensive stops and odd defensive game plan - as noted by Jeff Gundy. Confusing, but he is still greatly influencing the game.

Quick PG - Do you think that Farmar will developed into a defender of the Chris Paul/Tony Parker-type guards? These guards cause all teams problems, but Farmar seems to be just as good as the vast majority of the other opposing guards. What do you think PJ can do with DFish to draw these guards under their defensive basket that would force them to drive the entire court, as oppose to on the wing where they can get a "head of stream" into the offensive zone? The Lakers seem to do well against all teams that do not have an especially quick PG - with the opposing being very true, as noted by the performances of Tony Parker/Chris Paul.

[limchrc]

Nice win on the road... even with all that transpired during the last 2 minutes of the ball game.

[Tanlentueux]

thanks sir.

[Sage_10]

Despite everything they got the W. Nice bounce after yesterday's bloodbath.
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[BigE32]

Thanks, DB. I agree that I'll take any "W" on the road against a quality team. That being said, we were trying to give the game away. Alston had two great looks at a three to tie it and I couldn't believe Battier shot an airball as well. I was disappointed with our execution at the end. I don't know what Fish was thinking trying to get the ball to Kwame. He wasn't open. I'm disappointed seeing how Luke's been playing since he's been coming off the bench. What do you think the reason is behind that, DB, in your opinion? In regards to the Rockets playing more inspired after T-Mac was injured, I wasn't really surprised. I've always felt that role players have a tendency to play better at home. I'm very content with a split considering the teams we played.

[Texas_Pete]

Great write up again DB, Thanks!

I saw last night why Farmar, Bynum aren't starting. In that first half prior to T-Mac's injury, they absolutely sparked the team. I believe the lead ballooned to 18 points at one time. But in the 2nd half, their play dropped off a little bit when the Rockets racheted up their defense (with the help from Ms. Palmer and co.). Bynum still got some key rebounds and was a presence. He just didn't seem like he is "there" yet -- although I would still start him.

I think depending on our playoff positioning (record wise), eventually they both will start. The lineup of Bynum/Turiaf/LO/Kobe/Farmar looked great out there at times. This is the lineup that should take us to the playoffs IMO.

Stressful 2nd half!

[prisma8slg]