LAKERS -at- BULLS - 12-18 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Sasha-tized... Your Lakers leading scorer -- Sasha Vujacic. When he has it going, teams look like they don't know what hit them. Back-to-back big games from Sasha, this time delivering 19 points in the Lakers 103-91 win over the Bulls.

Sasha said that with Phil and the team showing confidence in him, it has made a difference. "Now I am having fun with basketball and I am enjoying it," Sasha said after the game. "Everybody's saying they've been waiting for my breakout year. We will see what happens. I'm here to do my best."

The Lakers kept a lead between 3 to 5 points throughout the game. They never got any distance and never went on any runs until we entered crunch time. One push was all it took.

Although, Kobe stuggled at times offensively, he came up with a couple of steals that helped in that run. Both Bynum and Lamar had double-doubles. Drew continues to anchor the D extremely well and had 4 swats and pieces of a couple others.


Kobe -- -- No "Kobe" chants tonight ... in Chicago. He started the game shooting just 1-6, then finally dialed it in a little against Hinrich in the third quarter. He did a lot of athletic things out there that seem to point to his health being good, yet he also looked a bit conservative on driving and some defensive stands. He said he tweaked his groin a little trying to make a move late in the game and needed to be careful. With Kobe playing a below average game, his young supporting cast outplayed those Bulls (once again) who Kobe openly coveted playing with prior to the season. Defensively, the Lakers were switching a lot with Kobe (and in general). Some of that left mismatches elsewhere. Late in the game, Kobe had a few steals that helped send the Bulls to another loss. The Stats: He scored just 18 points on 7-19 shooting (0-3 from three, 4-4 from the line), he had 6 boards, 3 steals, 2 assists, 1 block and 2 turnovers in 36 minutes. The Action: He cut backdoor and one-handed down an oop from Luke for the Lakers first score (nice way to start). He missed a three. He missed a top-of-the-key jumper. He got blocked by Hinrich. He found Luke open cross court for a three. He drew FTs on an elbow turnaround, he made both. Turnover throwing a behind-the-back pass in the lane. He missed a stepback jumper. He picked up his second foul with 4 minutes left in the first trying to get around Deng in the post, cheap, cheap call. He passed up a drive and airballed after several pump fakes from three. He got tapped on a stepback from the right side. He drew FTs cutting backdoor for the lob, he made both. He missed a wing jumper. He finally hit on a top-of-the-key jumper. He dunked softly, getting out on the break with Lamar. He had 10 points on 3-10 shooting at the half. He looked pretty healthy getting out on the break and throwing down a reverse dunk with authority. He swished a turnaround over Hinrich. He stepped back and swished the elbow jumper. Bad stretch of D where he was caught standing around on the perimeter and his men (or men he was supposed to rotate to) were scoring. He posted up and sank a tough-angled baseline turnaround. He missed an open three. He missed a jumper, long. He missed a long wing jumper. He rejected his man then outlet to Farmar to ignite the break. He split a double team and took contact, looked in pain (could be where he tweaked himself). He pumpfaked and missed the jumper. Good strip, but horrible outlet too long for Sasha. A couple steals from Kobe late in the game that resulted in breakaways. He ran the clock down and was blocked by Deng.

Lamar -- -- Nice activity from LO tonight. He was gobbling up boards early and was aggressive and productive on the other end. Defensively, he had some issues, especially with Deng during one stretch, but Lamar was a key factor in the Bulls going one and out with frequency. Having him anchor the defensive glass with Drew allowed us to outrebound the Bulls by 11. No small factor in our success. This was one of those rare games this year where Lamar didn't look like he was swimming against the current offensively. Glad to see it. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 6-11 shooting (0-1 from three, 5-6 from the line), to go with 16 boards, 2 assists and 1 steal in 40 minutes. He was a +18. The Action: He posted up and hit a quick turnaround. Aggressive attack in transition and he drew FTs, he made both. He missed a pull-up jumper. Total choke of a layup with no one around him, should have thown it down...how on earth he misses some of these is crazy (should have had 19 points tonight). He dunked off of a bustout with Ariza (good job by LO running the floor and beating his man down court, he needs to do that more often with his speed at the PF). He dominated the defensive glass in the first quarter, pulling down 9 boards and keeping the Bulls to consistent one and out. He hit a baseline jumper with good form. He missed another baseline jumper, not getting his momentum forward like the last one. He pushed out the break and fed Kobe at the last second for the dunk. He pulled down a Bynum FT miss and it led to a score by Luke. Aggressive attack in transition and he drew FTs, he made one FT. He got backdoored for a dunk. He started to get torched by Deng midway through the third (so Lamar moved over to Nocioni with Ariza coming in). He gathered a lob on the break that was too far ahead of him, didn't force it up, but worked back around in the paint and hit the short jumphook in traffic. Good job turning the corner off the weakside handoff then using that length to score a layup. He missed a corner three. He scored the easy uncontested layup when Kobe swiped the ball and underhanded to him all alone heading down court. He got swatted on an attack. He drew FTs on a defensive board, he made both.

DFish -- -- Fish struggled with his shot for most of the night, coming up short on a number of jumpers. With both he and Kobe off, the Bulls were able to stay within striking distance most of the night. Farmar eventually finished the game. The Stats: He had 10 points on 3-10 shooting (1-4 from three, 3-3 from the line), 2 offensive boards, 5 assists wtih 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 23 minutes. The Action: He missed an open wing jumper. Out of control drive and he threw it out of bounds. Nice D on Nocioni, smothering him when he couldn't dribble, then drawing the charge. He missed a long wing jumper, followed up his shot, got it back drew FTs on the next jumper, he made both. Short on a three. Looked like he lost balance on a pinch post drive, he recovered and scored the And-1, he made the FT. He charged on the next drive, Gordon giving him a flop of his own, then DFish was called for a tech when he complained. He bricked a wide open jumper, short again from the top of the key. Finally, he connected, swishing a sideline three on a kickout from Luke. He attacked, missed, got it back and banked over Wallace.

Bynum -- -- Phil wanted the Lakers to feed Bynum in the post. Not because Bynum was dominating anyone, but because the Bulls were so worried about it, they'd send help defenders. This collapsed the D on a few occasions when Drew got it. So, despite telling the team this at halftime and another timeout, we did a poor, poor job of executing. Bynum got a few post touches, but it all seemed much like an afterthought, as it usually does. On the other end of the court, Drew continues to anchor well. The Bulls were very conscious of him and Bynum erased and challenged a number of shots. "Defensively, he's really being a force for us down low," kobe said afterward. Guess who led all Lakers in minutes? Bynum did with a season-high 40:15 of run, which included almost all of the second half, after scoring just a point in the first half. The Stats: Bynum had 12 points on 5-9 shooting, 10 boards (4 offensive), 4 blocks, 3 assists and 4 fouls in his 40 minutes. He was a +18. The Action: Wallace bricked trying to score around Bynum on his first attempt. On his first post attempt, Bynum attacked, spun and tried to throw down a two-hand dunk over Wallace, just ate him up, but couldn't finish the massive dunk. He hit Ariza for a reverse dunk with a quick-timed bounce pass. He couldn't finish a lob with Tyrus Thomas challenging weakside. He changed Duhon's drive, sizing him up and challenging from behind to force the miss. He drew the double and kicked out to Sasha for three. He sized up Gordon and blocked him from behind. Long stint, he finally sat after 15 minutes. He was called for a foul when Hinrich tripped over Bynum's foot. He drew FTs on a lob from Farmar when Wallace undercut him, he made one. We got his miss back, went to Bynum in the post and he no-looked to a cutting Luke for the layup (great pass). Nice seal on Wallace to set up the corner entry, and he drew a foul on Wallace. He challenged the shot then recovered a board. He missed a baseline jumphook. He traveled trying to iso against Wallace. He gathered a Walton lob and banked. He grabbed a Kobe miss in a crowd and drew FTs, he made one. He stripped a ball off Hinrich in transition. He picked up a foul contesting penetration and another foul on a moving pick. He swatted Gray from behind. He scored a layup when Ariza found him off dribble penetration. He couldn't handle an interior pass from Kobe. He rejected Gray's turnaround attempt with his forearm, Gray looked ridiculous. He picked up his fourth foul trying to contest and recover to his man to start the fourth quarter. He took the ball in the mid post, sold like he was going to the middle of the lane, then went up and under to lose Gray and score the layup (Drew sure covers a lot of ground with those long strides). He set the pick for Farmar, who attacked and missed a teardrop, but Bynum followed it up and jammed it back in with both hands, sending Nocioni flying when the two went chest to chest (Nocioni must have thought a truck just ran him over). Farmar drew the D on an attack and threw it up high for Bynum who jammed it in easily. With 2 minutes left in the game and a commanding lead, he finally sat...long stint and he handled it well.

Luke -- -- Another good game for Luke. He looked more decisive and again was able to connect from the perimeter. He also had some pretty good challenges defensively early in the game, too. Luke played both SF and PF. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-8 shooting (2-4 from three, 0-2 from the line) to go with 5 assists without a turnover in 21 minutes. The Action: He missed a corner three. He curled into the lane and threw a great pass to Kobe who backdoored his man and threw down the short alley-oop. Good D on Hinrich to force a miss. He swished a wing three on a kickout from Kobe. Excellent challenge on Deng's shot, forcing a miss. He then worked the post on the other end against Deng and hit a turnaround. He picked up his second foul and had to sit after five minutes, otherwise a good stint. Back in at PF and he quickly hit a 12-footer from the right side in semi-transition. He missed a corner three. He cut from the weakside when Bynum had the ball, took the pass and scored the reverse. He up-faked, attacked the paint and drew FTs, he missed both. He sank a three from the top of the key. He kicked out to Fish for a three. He missed a sideline jumper. He attacked and lobbed to Bynum for the score.

Turiaf -- -- With Bynum going 40 minutes, that left Ronny just 8 at the C spot. Not much time. Ronny couldn't anchor like Drew and probably can't wait for Kwame to get back so he can get more time at the PF spot. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-4 shooting, 2-2 from the line, 2 boards and 1 steal in 8 minutes. The Action: Gray posted him up and scored on Ronny's first defensive stand. Ronny drew FTs on the other end, he made both. He missed the open top-of-the-key jumper. He missed another open jumper. He stepped around his man to steal the post entry. He missed a turnaround. He swished a wing 18-footer.

Farmar -- -- Farmar struggled in this game and the Lakers seemed to pay the price until he could make an impact. Probably because Fish was giving them less. Late in the game, when Farmar finally got going the Lakers pulled away from the Bulls. It took a while, but when he finally delivered, we ended up icing the Bulls. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-8 shooting (1-5 from three), pulled down 6 boards (3 offensive) and had 6 assists and 1 steal in 25 minutes. The Action: He missed a teardrop. He missed a wing three. He swiped a pass and chucked it down court to Sasha for the uncontested dunk. He kicked out to Sasha for a three. He pulled down an offensive board then lobbed to Bynum and drew FTs. He missed a heave off the glass at the buzzer. He missed a sideline three. He attacked the paint off the Bynum screen and missed a teardrop, but Drew had a monster putback finish to clean it up. Finally, a clean attack from Farmar, he exploded off the weakside screen, drew the D and lobbed to Bynum for the easy dunk. Great cut from the weakside on the baseline, Sasha spotted him and Farmar reversed. He worked the two-man game with Kobe and swished a huge three next time down with 4:25 left to give the Lakers their biggest lead. He missed a long three running down the clock.

Vujacic -- -- Bring out the dancing tomato again. Sasha dropped another difference-maker game, including 9 points in the fourth. He was looking automatic from the perimeter...perhaps, that's the genesis of "The Machine" nickname the players gave him in practice. Teammates were looking for him, plays were ran for him and Sasha smoked the Bulls. We'll have to see how many of these dancing tomato games Sasha can rack. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 6-10 shooting (2-3 from three, 5-5 from the line) to go with 2 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 foul in 21 minutes. The Action: He attacked baseline and hit Lamar for the open jumper. He forced another baseline attack in traffic and lost it. He sank a three straight away on a kickout from Bynum. He missed an elbow stepback jumper. He dunked on a bustout when Farmar found him down court. He sank the long wing jumper in transition. He swished the open three when the Lakers kicked out to him, it forced a timeout. After the timeout, it looked like the Bulls tried to go at Sasha a bit more with Gordon. He had 10 points in 4-5 shooting after his first stint (Gordon had just 8 points, total non-factor). Back in and Vlad found him on the break for the 18-foot layup. He curled around a screen to lose his man, was challenged from the other direction, but still swished the wing jumper. He drew three FTs, spotting up in the corner and getting tapped on the jumper, he swished all three. He missed a wing three. Sweet pass from Sasha, throwing a bullet bounce pass from the wing to Farmar cutting weakside baseline for the reverse layup. He hustled for a loose ball and drew the foul in a crowd of Bulls, he made both FTs. He missed a baseline jumper. Good hustle to draw a moving pick call.

Ariza -- -- Some subtle, but key minutes from Ariza. There was a stretch in the game when Deng was taking it to Lamar in the third quarter. Prior to the trade, consider what our options were to put out a fire on a player like that when LO was having trouble. We would struggle. Phil brought in Ariza, moved Lamar onto another player and that cooled a potential run from the Bulls. Deng was on a run making 8 of his last 9 shots at that point. The Stats: Ariza scored 6 points on 2-4 shooting (2-2 from the line), grabbed 5 boards, had 1 assist and 1 block in 16 minutes. The Action: In early in the first for Luke. He took a bounce pass from Bynum, exploded down the baseline and posterized Nocioni with a reverse dunk. He grabbed the board, pushed it out and hit Lamar in stride up court for a dunk. He posted up and hit a tough 15-foot turnaround on the baseline. He missed a corner three attempt trying to beat the shotclock. He attacked from the wing and found Bynum for the score. He swatted Nocioni from behind to ignite the break. He didn't know the clock and it resulted in a shotclock violation as he passed off too late. He attacked the paint and drew a foul, he made both FTs.

Radmanovic -- -- Seemed like one of those games where Vlad was just out of sync. Phil wanted to work some inside-out to get Vlad some good looks, but we never worked the "inside" part of that equation. The Stats: Vlad didn't score on 3 attempts, he had 2 boards and two assists. The Action: He missed a corner three and was rejected in the paint on the same offensive trip. He bricked in the paint forcing one up. Ugly push out on the break, but he eventually found Sasha for the open jumper. Good help D in the backcourt to force a turnover. He had to sit when Deng drew a foul with ease and Phil didn't want Deng to get going again.

Phil -- -- Kobe had two fouls with 4 minutes left in the first quarter. Phil left him in. He pulled him out a couple minutes later for Vlad, sliding Ariza to the 2... The Lakers led 21-15 despite shooting 7-24 (29 percent). The Bulls shot 6-23 for 26 percent... Phil ran a Fisher, Sasha, Kobe, Luke, Ronny lineup midway through the second quarter. So shooters (although Kobe and Fish were stone cold), our best two post bigs on the bench and no D at the guard spots, with no real anchor behind them. He swapped out Sasha for Ariza and brought back in Bynum with a 3-point lead... We didn't inbounds the ball and Phil let Lamar (the passer have it) in the timeout... The Lakers led 49-45 at the half, despite Kobe and Fish shooting horrible (4-15 combined in the first half). The Lakers shot 17-47 (36 percent in the half), while the Bulls shot 19-41 (46 percent). We had 10 offensive boards and just 5 turnovers in the half... The Lakers wanted to get the ball to Bynum more in the post to get some inside-out play. That was the message coming out at halftime... Defensively, the Lakers are switching off on everything up top. Sometimes leaving mismatches the Bulls were purposely looking for. The Lakers led 73-68 to start the fourth... Farmar, Sasha, Ariza, Vlad, Bynum lineup to start the fourth... Phil again wanted the Lakers to go into Bynum in the post in the early fourth corner. Still, little inside-out action... A late surge by the Lakers with some tough D and we finally got a comfortable lead... The Lakers ended up shooting 43 percent and had 17 offensive boards and only 11 turnovers. We also had 29 assists... The Lakers are now 4th in the West...

TACH's Video Highlights -- LINK -- Bynum's nasty finish that sent Nocioni flying is at the 2:10 mark, his up and under follows that. Look how high in the post Bynum starts his move at on that up and under.

Sasha's Postgame Interview -- LINK

[michaelg]

ha! first post! Great job DB.

Good to see Sasha improving. It seems like he has really good chemistry with the rest of the team.

Go Lakers!!

[zass17]

[LakerSanity]

It amazes me how you do this after EVERY game... that's a lot of work. Great job as usual. I REALLY, REALLY hope that at some point this year we will have the entire team healthy and then see what our team does then.

It seems we are just a step away from becoming elite... I wonder what that final nudge will be. It all starts with coming out of this road trip with at least 3 wins first though.
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[DrumR]

Sweeeeet I can go to sleep now. DB you honestly write the best recaps I've ever read. I've lurked here for so long now, and its your recaps that have finally driven me to start posting. You've been an official part of my post-game activities for a few years now. Keep up the work buddy. It's valued and appreciated! Go Lakers!

[Thedo]

Great team effort with balanced scoring from the starting lineup (all 5 in double digits).

Back-to-back awesome effort by Sasha!!!

Hopefully we can ride this wave and gain some more confidence.

[Al-Mbarak8]

Im a happy fan !!

Thanks for the read DB!Best way to start my vacation~
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It's just life. Everybody goes through it. It doesn't matter whether you're a banker, politician or an athlete. God has a different movie script for all of us.
-Lamar Odom

[Shaber]

Thanks a lot, DB!

at "the Machine". Early in the season Sasha showed a lot of penetration. Going to the glass payed off with lots of FT-s he got. How do you see hes game shifting now? Is he going back to mostly jump shots or is he able to mix it up?

Could Vlades wrist injuries influence his game?

[KingKobe20]

Great Win Nontheless the time we were tied up at 77.

Kobe needs to get his shot in order it is offffffffffff

Lamar with 17 and 16 was pretty cool

Bynum the Monster was awesome once again

Sasha has to be making you guys proud also. He is representing striaght up! Jumpers,tough Defense, two HAND DUNK

Great Win just that we gotta protect our leads a whole lot better towards the last stretch and we should be fine.

Gotta take out Prince James and the Cavs on Thursdays next!!!!

GO LAKERS!!!!!!!!

[DancingBarry]

[Shaber]

[GunShot]

Ariza hitting that contested turn-around fadeaway was surprising to see. Did he ever shoot that before?

[DancingBarry]

[GunShot]

[TooCool]

Thanks a ton again DB! I always hate the Bulls. Good to see us get another win over them.

I gotta get rid of Vlad from my fantasy team, this guy is so inconsistent... it's ridiculous.
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[Siguy]

Love beating the bulls.

One could argue this is the second hardest game on the trip (with the hardest being at Cleveland). I really hope we can be smart, beat Cleveland, and then manage to beat Philly on the back to back. After that, stop playing bad against the Knicks (though Bynum versus both Curry and Randolph may be tricky, we'll need Kobe to shoot well in that game).

A top tier team in the West goes 3-1 minimum on this road trip. I hope we're a top tier team.

[lakerjoshua]

All I can say is

[lakerjoshua]

[Al-Mbarak8]

[Mation]

Thanks DB.

[infidel]

Excellent utilization of Lamar Odom.

Don't make his pea brain think too much.

Throw him down in the low block and have him clean up boards throughout the game.

Have him shoot from inside the paint over smaller sized forwards as much as possible.

Only penetrate on delayed fast breaks when the opportunity presents itself.

DO NOT go one on one or chuck up 3s from the outside.

DO NOT make him "think" or expend any kind of significant brain power.

[Vadorojo]

Sasha is the man!

The White Mamba, the Machine, Booyah-cic — call him what you like but he played a great game of basketball tonight! I was cracking up the entire time because I pictured all the Sasha-haters on these forums being met by another smiling, dancing, tomato.

I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna drop Vlad-Rad as my last bench player and add Sasha for my Fantasy team—he's earned the shot after tonight! XD In Vlad's defense, I think his wrists are buggin' him. =/

Great recap as usual, DB.

[JUST-MING]

It seems that Farmar is starting to play off of Kobe. He is taking advantage of the double that Kobe draws to get open looks for himself.

He seems to be just taking advantage of what the defense gives him. It's good to see.

[limchrc]

Nice road win.

[Sage_10]

Thanks for the Recap DB!
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