LAKERS -at- CAVS - 12/20 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Second-Chance Points... The Lakers gave up way too many second and third chances all night. Gone were the one-and-out defensive stands of the last game. And when it came down to the last few seconds and we got our own second and third chances to tie the game...we failed to convert. The Lakers fell to the Cavs 94-90.

Three key stats: The Lakers scored just 12 points in the fourth quarter. Their bench scored only 7 points all night. The Cavs had a 25-11 advantage on second chance points.

Just about every Laker, Kobe included, was shooting blanks down the stretch. If anyone wants to fingerpoint in this loss, they can point to themselves first. No one stepped up.



Kobe -- -- Poor shooting night from Kobe, even at the line, where he decided to bank one in early on because he was missing so badly. He had just 2 points on 1-6 shooting in the fourth. No one else stepped up in the fourth this time, either. Kobe nearly stole the game when he grabbed an freethrow miss by Bynum and called timeout with 10 seconds left. Unfortunately, he missed a three out of the timeout. The Stats: He scored 21 points on a poor 8-22 shooting (0-3 from three, 5-8 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 40 minutes. The Action: He picked up a foul on the first defensive stand of the game. He then missed a three on the other end. He tried to draw a foul and bricked over the backboard. No boxout and his man scored a putback. He took the handoff, attacked with speed and drew FTs, he made one. He missed an elbow jumper. He attacked the lane, took contact on Z, hung and banked in the And-1, he missed the FT. He took Pavlovic off the dribble on iso and scored a reverse. He iso'd again and drew a foul on the jumper, he made just one FT again...this time purposely banking it after missing the first one. He kicked out to LO for a jumper. He iso'd, gave it up, got it back and hit a midrange jumper. He missed a layup in semi-transition. He lost the dribble in traffic for a turnover. He earned FTs on the perimeter with a quick first step, he made both. Choppy first quarter from Kobe. He missed a jumper. He got stripped on a double team. He attacked in semi-transition past LeBron and scored the And-1 layup, he made the FT. He whipped a bullet pass to Bynum and it drew FTs. He missed a step-through off the glass. He had 13 points on 4-10 shooting at the half. He got to his spot on the wing and hit the pull-up jumper. He missed a wing jumper. He missed a very, tough fade when the offense stalled. He spotted Drew from the three line for a lob dunk. Quick outlet down court to Luke busting out for the layup. He hit a frozen rope elbow jumper. Good hustle to save a loose ball back in bounds to Lamar. He flashed to the ball, took the pass, pivoted to lose his man and scored the layup. He missed a three short. After a short 3-minute rest, he had to come back in the fourth to try to restore order (we trailed by 5, but went on an 8-1 run when he returned). He missed a drive off the glass, but Bynum eventually cleaned it up. He dribbled to his right and sank the jumper from the left side. He missed a tough wing jumper, forcing it. He missed a wing jumper with under 2 minutes. Brilliant play, he curled around Bynum who took the FT, Bynum missed and Kobe was under the hoop to grab the ball and call timeout, trailing by 2 points with 10 seconds left. Out of the timeout, Kobe went for a wing three and missed. He missed another jumper at the buzzer.

Lamar -- -- Good game from Lamar...but again, like everyone else, he had a chance to step up late and he failed to connect on a critical jumper with the game on the line. Prior to that he was doing his thing on the offensive end and on the glass. I thought he as getting fouled a bit rebounding under the hoop with no call on the defensive end on several possessions and that affected some things. Still, I liked the aggression (especially in the first quarter). When he saw an opportunity, he generally took it. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 9-12 shooting (0-2 from three, 1-1 from the line), he had 11 boards, 2 steals, 1 assist and 2 turnovers in 41 minutes. The Action: He attacked to his right and scored a layup on his first attempt. Quick pushout and he scores a layup against Z with ease. He finished the break with his right when Kobe hit him in stride. He hit an elbow jumper on a Kobe kickout. He hit a 6-footer, pulling up. He gave up an And-1 to LeBron on the break. He swiped the pass under the hoop, pushed out the dribble, powered it past LeBron and scored the layup. Good first quarter from Lamar with 12 points. He missed a layup, short. He faced up and swished a 12-foot stepback over Gooden. He finished the half with 14 points on 7-8 shooting to go with 5 boards. Not close on a three to start the second half. LeBron blew past him with ease for a throwdown. He followed a Fish drive, grabbed the miss and banked in the And-1 in semi-transition, he made the FT. He picked up his fourth foul on a charge at the end of the third. He dunked when Fish threaded a pass to him under the hoop.

DFish -- -- For most of the game, good things generally happened when Fish was on the floor. In fact, he led the Lakers with a +10. But in crunch time, the wheels came off for him and others, spoiling an otherwise good game. We settled for perimeter jumpers and Fish clanked a couple key ones. He got tapped on a big three with under a minute left. The Stats: He finished with 18 points on 6-11 shooting (1-2 from three, 5-7 from the line) to go with 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and 4 fouls in 33 minutes. The Action: He stuck a pull-up jumper from the wing on his first attempt. He swished a wing three with the shotclock low. He was fouled to save a hoop on the breakaway, he made one FT. He missed a jumper, short. He sank the corner jumper off a Luke kickout. He drew FTs with a strong attack in transition, he made both. He drew more FTs getting Gooden rushing at him on the perimeter, he made both. He had 12 points at the half. He drained a wing jumper off the dribble. He attacked in transition, drew the D and bounced a pass to Bynum who dunked. He swiped a pass on the next play, pushed it out and missed, but LO cleaned it up. He worked the two-man game with Bynum and set him up for FTs. He got into the paint, powered up an And-1 jumper and it bounced in, he missed the FT. Back in early for Farmar, he attacked off the Bynum screen, then threaded a pass under the hoop to Lamar for the dunk. Coming off a screen, but his man still on him and Fish hits a 17-footer from the left side. He got blocked from behind, not getting enough separation from LeBron on the fly by. He missed a pull-up from the top of the key. He got tapped on a long three with under a minute left. He was called for a loose-ball foul trying to pull down the Kobe missed three (looked like Fish got to the ball first, weak call - LINK) and it led to FTs on the other end to ice it.

Bynum -- -- Bynum was putting together a decent game and nearly saved the Lakers when he kept an offensive board alive and was fouled with 11 seconds. He went to the line with a chance to tie the game, but missed both freethrows. Ouch. What might have been. Bynum again led the Lakers in minutes...he even had a few more post possessions as Phil has been hammering his team to try to get them to feed the post. Getting him about 10-12 attempts in starter minutes is probably about right. He needs some of those back-to-the-basket possessions to learn from and improve his game. He wasn't gobbling up defensive boards like we needed in this one. The Stats: He scored 17 points 6-12 shooting, pulled down 11 boards (5 offensive), blocked 2 shots and had just 2 fouls in his 42 minutes. The Action: He missed a two-footer in the lane. He got caught in the air and fouled Z. He lost the ball getting into his post move. He missed a turnaround (should have used the glass.) He missed a face-up jumper on the next possession. He slipped the screen and dunked in the alley-oop from Farmar. He swooped in to gather a missed drive by Ariza, pivoted under the hoop and threwdown the reverse. He took contact in the post with no call and missed (he should have powered it up stronger). He took a bullet feed from Kobe under the hoop and drew FTs. He grabbed a Kobe miss and was tied up. He set a screen for Luke on one side of the court, rolled to the hoop and took a lob from Kobe on the other side and threw it down. He got good position, dribbled to the middle of the lane and hit the jumphook. Fish attacked in transition on the next play and bounced to Bynum for the dunk. He rolled off the screen, took the return feed from Fish and drew FTs, he made both. Great help D, zoning up on LeBron, but watching his man flash to the ball a couple of times and jumping in to take that away, then LeBron finally attacked and Bynum jumped out on him to challenge the shot and we got the miss. He fought for a Sasha miss and drew FTs trying to finish, he made both. He grabbed a Kobe miss, missed his first putback attempt, went after it, got it back and scored. Nice help on LeBron to swat his shot after he got past Vlad. Another big crunch-time block to erase Brown's penetration and we got the stop. Excellent hustle to keep an offensive board alive, he got it back and was fouled with 11 seconds left, but he then missed both FTs that could have tied the game.

Luke -- -- He was a weak point defensively wherever he was at...that included a lot of time against LeBron. Not a matchup in anyone's favor usually. Luke wasn't much of a threat on the other end, although he did take it to LeBron on a couple possessions. Still, we weren't going to win this matchup. We needed to contain the other guys and control the glass. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-10 shooting, had 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 fouls in 30 minutes. The Action: He missed a bank. He posted up LeBron, collapsed the D and kicked out to Fish for a jumper. He worked LeBron off the dribble and scored a jumper over him in the paint. He missed a three, shooting too early in the clock at the end of the quarter. Way short on an elbow jumper. Quick passing sequence off the defensive rebound to go from Fish to Kobe to Luke for a layup. He missed a wing jumper. He swished a baseline jumper on the next possession. He worked off the Bynum screen, forced up a leaner, but bounced back after it and scored the putback layup.

Turiaf -- -- Another long stint for Bynum, meant no minutes for Ronny as Phil is running him exclusively at backup C these days. Ronny did manage to grab some boards in the little time he got. Seemed like this is the kind of game when the bigger Bynum/Turiaf/LO trio on the floor at the same time might have helped secure the glass. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting, had 3 rebounds and 1 turnover in 6 minutes. The Action: He was stripped in the post, but got back on D and drew a charge on LeBron. He missed at the front of the rim.

Farmar -- -- He was about the only one off the bench that did anything. Unfortunately, that wasn't much. He had a few good sequences, but it wasn't the kind of impact ball that we need. Farmar led a second unit to start the fourth that got shelled. You win and lose a lot of games in the first 6 minutes of the fourth. We lost momentum in the last minute of the third and trailed after a couple minutes into the fourth. The so-called Bench Mob looked like Bench Punks. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-4 shooting (1-3 from three) and had 1 assist and 2 turnovers in 15 minutes. The Action: Bad pass out of a timeout, then he gave up a soft foul to let an And-1 in (what was that?). He worked the two-man game with Bynum, throwing him a lob for the throwdown. He missed a quick corner three attempt. He hesitated on the dribble, blew past his man and scored the reverse. He swished a catch-and-shoot sideline three. Bad decision to not bounce a pass to Drew and it resulted in a turnover.

Radmanovic -- -- Since spraining his wrists, Vlad hasn't given the Lakers anything. Tonight, he was non-existant. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting, he had 3 boards and 3 fouls in just 10 minutes. The Action: He gave up an And-1 to LeBron. Bynum saved him, block LeBron on another.

Ariza -- -- Not much in this game. LeBron's size dwarfed Ariza when they matched up. Trevor did about as well as anyone else we threw at LeBron tonight. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-3 shooting, had 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 13 minutes. The Action: In to cover LeBron at the end of the first quarter. Good hustle tracking down an offensive board and going to the floor to retain possession. He attacked off the dribble and missed, but Bynum cleaned it up. He was left wide open under the hoop and Sasha found him for a dunk. He missed a runner on a drive. He blocked Hughes on the defensive end. He lost the dribble for a dunk the other way.

Vujacic -- -- The Machine is unplugged. Someone plug it back in. The Lakers second unit missed Sasha's shooting as no one else was stepping up. He was bricking and his minutes were shortened. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-4 shooting (0-3 from three), he had 2 boards and 2 assists in 10 minutes. The Action: He missed a three on his first attempt. He whipped a pass under the hoop to a wide open Ariza for the dunk. He hit Farmar for the three. Switched on LeBron and he was nailed to the floor on a spin move, giving up a layup (LBJ made him look silly). He missed an open three. He bricked another open three. He bricked a turnaround.

Phil -- -- Despite how many times the coaches yapped at their players, they couldn't control their defensive glass. It was killing Phil from the sidelines with every one of those late in the game... Lakers left points at the line in the first quarter with Kobe and Fish missing four FTs. The Cavs pulled out to a lead, but Phil had them weather the storm and they climbed right back. The score was tied 28-28... Some Bynum post attempts in the second quarter as it looked like they wanted him to work a bit more in the post. The team gave up a couple late scores and led by 2, 53-51. The Lakers won the break 13-9, but lost the second-chance points 11-2 in the first half... The coaches highlighted those second-chance points and getting out-hustled... Phil took a timeout with 3:27 in the third after we gave up another second-chance hoop, despite us having a 7-point lead. Out of the timeout, the play was busted but Fish scored an And-1... The Lakers again didn't finish a quarter strong (three turnovers and let Cavs cut their 11-point lead in half 78-73. The Cavs had the lead a minute later in the fourth, 15-0 run... The Lakers gave up 8 more second-chance points in that third.... The Bynum, Vlad, Ariza, Sasha, Farmar lineup was getting smoked to start the fourth... With over 2 minutes left and the game tied, out of a timeout, we busted another play and it resulted in an airball by Luke trying to beat the shotclock... With 28.7 left, trailing 92-90, out of another timeout the Lakers set up a baseline jumper to LO, who missed, Bynum kept it alive, got it back and was fouled with 11 seconds left. Bynum missed both FTs, but Kobe got the ball back with 10 seconds left and called the timeout... Down by 2. Kobe went for the three and the lead and missed. Ball game... Throughout the game, Phil threw Luke, Lamar, Ariza, Vlad and Kobe on LeBron at different times without much success. Some of the help D seemed to be the most effective way to slow him down...

GameFlow -- LINK -- Check out the run between the third and fourth quarters that the Cavs went on. We could have buried them, but they came back. Also, note the 8-1 run we went on when Kobe and Fish came back in during the fourth to restore order. The Last third of the quarter, we couldn't score.

[lakersfreak]

Thx DB, these have to be tough
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[ocho]

that's two games this season (this and GSW) we had no business losing. we better make up for it with two that we come back from.
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[Klone_dd]

Very disappointing finish. Guys chucking up 3's shows a lack of focus and stamina. The 2nd unit stint to end the 3rd and start the 4th really killed all momentum.

No real positives. Only more proof that the team has to learn to gut these kind of games out. LO had a great start, but like usual, not much in the 4th. Bynum's gotta knock down FTs in the clutch. No energy from the bench. No Kobe the closer. **sigh**

4th Q execution has been poor throughout the season. This has to be rock bottom in that respect.

[Bas]

Good recap DB.

Another one that was thrown away. Oh well..

[Shaber]

Where did bench go...? Does Vlads injury really matter that much?

Drew, Kobe and Fish combined to miss 8 FT-s...

Phil needs to rethink his rotations. Ronny needs to get back in the game. Keep Ariza on LeBron - he is still the best on him and his speed on offense helps too. In a game like that, there should be more Trevor and less Luke despite coach attractions.

Bad loss.

[Shaber]

[DrumR]

DB weird as it is to say watching Bynum miss those FTs I think is going to be a good thing. I got tingly at the end of the game I was thinking about those misses and the bull calls when I noticed Bynum seemed to be slow leaving the court after the loss. I think he felt this one and understands he makes those 2 we're in a position to win or go into overtime. This kids gonna finish off the roadtrip in style. I've got this funky feeling...

What effect do you think the return of Ole D em up Cakey Browns gonna be? I think Bynum has claimed the 5 spot. I want us to put Turiaf or Kwame at the 4 and FINALLY get rid of our revolving doors at the 3.

[Thedo]

Thanks again, DB.

Another tough game we let slip away . I agree that the team as a whole should take responsibility for the end result, rather than any single player.

Hopefully, these signs of 4th quarter breakdowns don't continue any longer.

Would you say these acts are simple brainfarts that can be fixed as the year goes along, say, by playoff time?

Or are these mistakes going to plague us until next season, when we'll be mature enough to compete on an elite level?

[TooCool]

Totally lost a winnable game tonight.

That 2nd unit that started off the 4th quarter sucked BADLY. I kept yelling at the TV and at Phil for not calling a timeout. I hate these "let them play it out" type of crap. Especially with the 2nd unit.

Not only that, be we kept getting out rebounded... WAY too many 2nd, 3rd, 4th chances for the Cavs. They were just so much hungrier in that aspect.

This loss will come back to bite us in the butt, that's for sure.
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[8750]

Thanks, DB
two days ago we saw popovich calling a timeout when is team was losing 4-2, after two minutes.. tonight we saw our coach standing there while the team went for a 0-16... i don't like the control freaks, in basketball and in life, but i also don't like when a coach behaves like a spectator... phil jackson is still a good strategic coach, but when the game begins he becomes totally ineffective, with very slow reflexes...

[Cardom]

[ImmortalD24]

[pask]

Didn´t see the game but.... Ronny has to play more minutes, especially if we have problems controlling our board. Besides that, Bynum has already shown that he isn´t foul prone and usually he isn´t in foul trouble.

If a game is on the line and I want to win it with a three pointer, insert Vujacic and Radmanovic, even if it seems they have a day off.

If the opponent is in bonus, take it to the rack. Always.

That eleven point 3rd qtr. lead.... you have to keep/increase it by quarters end. Then keep it alive the first 3 minutes of the 4th...and the game is probaly yours. In these situations, forget the classical rotations and keep your best players in in order to settle a good cushion going in the final minutes.

On the bright side, Bynum seemed to do a great job with Ilgauskas and the game was ours to take, with Kobe really below his standards.

[George W Buss]

I am particularly impressed with Kobe's rebound after Bynum's missed FT. It's amazing how he can grab that rebound from the Cavs' big man without getting fouled. Shows a lot about his will power ...

[Fracture]

Tough loss

Bynum played a lot of minutes, I wonder how he's gonna perform against Phily

[TooCool]

The crappy thing about Bynum blowing the last 2 freethrows was the thought flowing in my head. I was thinking at the time, "Bynum is going to make it, because he's way better than Shaq now. Especially at the FT Department". Then bam, he blows 2 of em... when it counts.

But hey, it's a good learning experience for the kid.
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[lakerican]

Well, I think our problems starts when we walk the offense. The same thing occurred in the GS game. Also Varejao just killed us. He was crushing the offensive boards, even giving some fouls, with no calls in the process.

Thanks DB; excellent as always...

[BigE32]

Thanks, DB. I totally agree about second chance points. That fourth quarter was horrible to watch. We couldn't put a body on Sideshow Bob. I'm not crazy about how PJ chooses to use TO's at all. By the time we put our starters back in, I really felt that we lost momentum. Our last two road losses were games we should have won, but didn't. Very frustrating. Let's see if we can regroup tonight in Philly.

[lakerboy]

i think cleveland is the only team in the nba, that can shoot the ball in time when there is only .2 seconds left :roll: (end of 3rd q). did anyone else saw this one?


whatever, this was our game. this game shows that we are far away from being elite. they are too mentally weak in the crunch time. 3rd game we let slip away. could be 18-7 now

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks DB for your efforts!

Is Varejao that good? His play last night is Exhibit A why we need to resign Kwame. He was a big body throwing his weight around like it was nothing to him. I believe Drew battled admirably but we could have used Kwame last night for defensive purposes.

Horribly officiated game though. If Kobe got half the calls LeBrawn got, we win going away. And what's up with Kobe's FTs? He trippin'

That lost hurt last night. For real.

[Sage_10]

I was really hoping the Lakers would pull this one out.
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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

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

LUKE HAS NO BUSINESS STARTING,PERIOD.

down by 2, three 3 point attempts? i know you play for the win on the road, but no need to force it. as i have said before and DB will disagree, phil goes for the quickest ending possible.win or LOSE
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"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[AV]

The Lakers lost, but even while playing like crap, they hung in there againts the defending EC champs. It was obvious most of the Lake show was having an off shooting night, Kobe's injury seemed to be bothering him, and I think at the tail end there were some pretty weak calls on the lakers esp when boobie and fish were both going for the rebound....and the team continued to fight we showed some moxey, so at the very least that is a positive

[LakerSanity]

I hate the one's that get away... so far this year, that would be New Jersey, at Golden State, and, now, at Cleveland. Those ones really sting. However, in the larger picture, I expected us to go 3-1 on this road trip with our loss coming at Chicago or Cleveland, so not too disappointed. We just better close things out at Philly and New York.
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