LAKERS -at- SIXERS - 12/21 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

DancingBarry · Last edited by DancingBarry on Sat Dec 22, 2007 2:37 am; edited 1 time in total

Bynumite... Andrew Bynum: 24 points on 10-11 shooting with 11 boards (8 offensive) on the second night of the back-to-back. This may have been the first time Bynum led the Lakers in scoring, but it won't be the last. It was a dominant performance at times and Bynum's new career high led the Lakers to the 106-101 bounceback win over the Sixers.

The Lakers lost seven straight games in Philly before this one. It was a team effort as three Lakers not named "Kobe" scored over 20 points. Lamar added 21 points on 8-11 shooting with 11 boards, and DFish scored 21 points to go with 7 assists.

With Kobe's injury setting him back, guys need to step up and can't afford to look for him to carry the team. ""We're trying to patch him together without having to extend the injury," Phil said of Kobe.

Kobe --

-- The injury is affecting his performances, but he really needs to think the game a little better at times. He's making some mental errors that we can't afford while his game is already limited. I'm not sure what was going through his head on a couple sequences. Defensively, he's sometimes struggling to stay with his man, which is to be expected for a while. When asked about the infamous video on Bynum, Kobe said: "It seemed to have lit a fire under [him]," Bryant said according to the L.A. Times without a trace of rancor. "It's awesome." Yes, it is. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 6-20 shooting (2-5 from three, 5-5 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 3 assists with 4 turnovers, 2 steals, 1 block and 2 fouls in 39 minutes. The Action: He rattled down a fading elbow jumper on his first attempt. He missed a 19-footer, short. He stripped Young from behind, pushed it up, passed and got it back for the layup. He missed a wing jumper. He got his shot blocked, and the Sixers busted out and missed, Kobe was still down court, got the ball and swished a wide open corner three. He missed a wing jumper. He swished a wing pull-up with the shotclock low. He missed a wing jumper at the end of the quarter. He turned the ball over on the wing and it led to points the other way. He bricked a sideline jumper. He then took a three and missed. Poor pass and it led to a dunk the other way...he's playing horrible. He had 9 points on 4-12 shooting and didn't score the second quarter. He sank a wing three on his first attempt of the second half. He forced up a pull-up jumper and missed badly. He lost the ball out of bounds off the dribble. He upfaked to lose his man, attacked and scored the layup. He swatted Korver under the hoop. Back in after a short rest in the fourth. He bricked a layup. He threw the ball away and it resulted in points the other way. Wow, he got bailed out on a pumping three-point attempt in transition, horrible shot selection, but he drew the foul, he made all three. Another horrible offensive sequence, he dribbled the ball down for about 20 seconds before hoisting up the long three (what the heck was that?). Quick first step to get past his man, he attacked, drew contact and FTs, he made both. He missed a fading wing jumper. He attacked and kicked out to Fish for the jumper.

Lamar --

-- Excellent game from Lamar, stepping up to help lead the team with Kobe's issues. What I like is that he got inside and did damage with some consistency. He only took one three and made it. Defensively, he battled on the boards as he usually does at the PF spot to get another double-double. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 8-11 shooting (1-1 from three, 4-6 from the line), he had 11 boards (10 defensive) to go with 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and 3 turnovers in 40 minutes. The Action: Nice crash of the offensive glass to draw a foul, he made both FTs. He posted up and had his shot goaltended. He took the kickout from Bynum, attacked and drew the foul, he made one FT. He left Korver wide open instead of switching and it cost us a three. He posted up, drew the D and hit Ronny cutting for the layup. Good help D, swatting Korver under the hoop. He worked the weakside pinch post and scored a layup. He then gave it up on the other end with some poor D. He swished a corner three. He faced up at the elbow, took a quick first step to get past Evans and drew FTs, he made one. He faced up off the pinch post and hit the elbow jumper. He bobbled a pass, unforced error at the top of the arc, he then compounded the unforced error with a clear-path foul, giving the Sixers the lead. He had a layup goaltended after attacking off the pinch post. He lost the ball off the dribble. Bynum found him on an interior feed for a layup. He posted up Carney and hit the easy jumphook. He got down low again in transition and scored the easy layup. He missed a face-up midrange jumper.

DFish --

-- Miller gave Fish a lot of problems in this game, but Fish returned the favor. Excellent offensive game. The last two games have been good, except for going dry with the rest of the team in the final few minutes last night. With Kobe hurting we need Fish to give us some scoring punch and perimeter shooting. And without Sasha's shooting, Fish is the only one giving us some consistent perimeter play. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 9-16 shooting (1-3 from three, 2-3 from the line), he added 7 assists with 1 turnover and 3 boards in 32 minutes. The Action: Gave up an easy layup on the first possession. He sank a quick wing jumper on his first attempt. Miller had 8 of the Sixers first 10. He hit Bynum for the alley-oop down the middle of the lane. He threw a long oop to Bynum and he guided it in. He missed a corner jumper. He swished an open baseline jumper, meanwhile Miller continued lighting him up on the other end. He got into the lane, used his body well and finished the layup. He charged on his first step. Miller had 16 points on 8-11 shooting in the first half. He hit the wide open wing three. He switched to help Kobe and drew the charge. He scored an easy layup down the lane as the Sixers were worried about the lob. He swished a pull-up wing jumper on the break on the next trip down. He missed a corner three. He got into the lane off the Bynum screen and hit the pull-up 10-footer. He sank a pull-up 17-footer in transition. He hit a tech FT. He missed an elbow jumper. He forced a drive down the lane and missed. He missed an open three. He swished a baseline jumper off a Kobe kickout. He was purposely fouled late in the game for a couple token FTs, he made one.

Bynum --

-- The Lakers started out the game looking for Bynum early...and often. Bynum destroyed the Sixers. The 8 offensive boards, the lobs, the post moves and finishes, the passing...it was an impressive performance and deserving of his career high. He could have gone for more, too, but we settled back into not feeding the post for stretches. And, the Sixers also didn't want to leave him for the lob passes, giving up some layups and easy looks in the lane to others. He only got one block in the game, but he anchored. He was challenging shots and penetration decently. The minutes don't seem to have had a major effect on him. He never seemed winded. We aren't getting as many as those defensive boards from him, although LO is gobbling up a bunch. "I thought Andrew played exceptional for us," Kobe said. "I think [his] poise comes from good work ethic and having the confidence to be able to do something and be able to perform. He's been working extremely hard. The key for him is to keep it up." The Stats: He scored 24 points on 10-11 shooting (4-4 from the line) to go with 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers and...0 fouls. The Action: Wow...his first score of the game is off the lob from Fish, Bynum took off from the bottom of the circled, stretched out and threw down...crazy length on that one (your No. 9 NBA TV play of the night). He got tapped on a two-footer after pulling down the offensive board (this would be his only miss). He guided in a long lob pass from Fisher in transition. Nice challenge to save a sure layup from Miller. He threw down an And-1 dunk after every Laker worked the ball around to him on one sequence, he made the FT. Good challenge and then he ripped the board away from a Sixer to control it. He threw the putback down off a Fish missed jumper. Another post feed to Bynum, he went up and under losing his man and scoring the And-1, he made the FT. He swiped an offensive board away from a player from behind then fed Ariza who attacked for the layup. That was a dominating first quarter from Bynum with 12 points on 5-6 shooting. He put back an Ariza missed tip with a dunk. They went back to Bynum in the post again next time down, he faked the pass, dribble to the middle and hit the 7-foot jumphook. Back to Bynum again on the next trip, this time he rolled off the screen, took the Farmar lob and dunked, staring at his bench after the play. He took the ball at the elbow on the next trip and hit Sasha flashing to the FT line for the open jumper. He had 18 points on 8-9 shooting in that first 15-minute stint, just dominant the whole time with his teammates looking for him. He rejected Green trying to throwdown. Finally he gets the ball again in the post (6 minutes now into the third) and Bynum tied his career high, scoring in the lane with his left hand. He hit LO on the interior for a layup. Back in after a 6-minute rest to start the fourth and he drew FTs on the offensive glass, getting to a Kobe miss, he sank both. He cleaned up a Kobe missed shot that bounced around the rim a few times before coming out for Bynum. Bynum on his relationship with Kobe: "I think it's just that he respects more how I worked this summer, and during the season, he sees me going into the weight room," he said. "He just doesn't like if he doesn't see people working hard."

Luke --

-- Offensively...yuck. He missed open jumpers and easy attempts in the post. He was second guessing himself and making poor decisions in the process. Defensively, he went up against Iguodala and played him pretty well. Andre scored 20, but on a poor 7-21 shooting. Having Bynum clogging the paint sure helps a lot. The Stats: He scored 4 points on a poor 2-9 shooting (0-3 from three, 0-2 from the line), he had 5 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals and 3 turnovers in 30 minutes. The Action: He got swatted on his first attempt, but got it back. He finished a layup with his left after releasing down court and then getting the outlet. He missed a quick three in transition. He hit Bynum under the hoop for an And-1 dunk (after Kobe collapsed the D on the other side of the court). He turned the ball over trying to find Bynum again. He drew FTs tripping in the lane, he missed both. He scored a layup working off the ball. He missed a short one trying to power over a man in the post. He missed a short turnaround. He hit LO with a between-the-legs pass from the pinch post to get a score. He missed an open three. He missed another open three. He didn't want to shoot twice on a sequence, overpassed in the lane for a turnover and then went to the bench where Vitti worked on him.

Turiaf --

-- A little more time in this one for Ronny, but were still seeing him exclusively at the backup C minutes. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-4 shooting, grabbed 2 boards and had 2 assists in 12 minutes. The Action: He sank the wing jumper off the pick and pop. He hit Ariza cutting baseline for the layup. He scored a layup, cutting off LO in the post. He missed an 18-footer on one end, but got it back drawing the charge on the other. He missed a jumphook out of a timeout.

Farmar --

-- Finally a small dose of impact ball again from Farmar. He helped inject some life in the bench after their miserable outing in the previous game. It wasn't a big game, but it was definitely something that we had missed lately. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-6 shooting and had 4 assists and 4 rebounds on 16 minutes. The Action: He hit Bynum on the lob off the two-man game at the elbow area. He beat his man in the backcourt, kept the foot on the gas and scored the layup. He missed a three, got it back and charged on the behind the back pass to Ariza that erased a throwdown. He sank an open three at the top of the key. He attacked from the corner, got into the lane and reversed. He missed a pull-up jumper.

Radmanovic --

-- Vlad's still struggling to score after that injury. He's been borderline useless. He at least had a couple sequences of decent D in this game to make up for the other things he's not doing. Still, limited action for him. The Stats: He went 0-4 and didn't score, he had 1 block and 2 fouls in 10 minutes. The Action: He missed a midrange jumper. He tried to leak out early before we secured a board and his man got his own miss, it led to FTs. Wow, rare block on his man who was driving, Vlad is usually a foul waiting to happen on those. He deflected a pass out of bounds. He fouled Green from behind going for the help D block. He missed a rainbow turnaround on the baseline. He missed a corner three.

Ariza --

-- Some more of those utility man minutes. Phil seems to be bringing him into the rotation in the late first quarter now. He's picking up more of the basics of the offense, although he still needs to be a little careful with some of those standard Tri passing sequences as defenders are reading him a little. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-3 shooting, had 2 boards and 3 fouls in 11 minutes. The Action: In late in the first, Bynum pulled down an offensive board, kicked out and Ariza attacked the rim on the baseline for the layup. Active on the offensive glass keeping balls alive. Nice pick to free Sasha within the Tri for the open jumper. Strong cut baseline and Ronny found him from the post for the layup. He came in late for Luke who was floundering...we might see more of that.

Vujacic --

-- The Machine needs calibrating. The Stats: Sasha scored 2 points on 1-4 shooting, had 2 boards and an assist in 12 minutes. The Action: The offense stalled, so he dribbled into a crowd and lost it. He attacked baseline and tried to sneak an interior pass through traffic to Bynum and had it deflected (just throw it up, Sasha...has he thrown a lob to Bynum yet?). He missed a baseline jumper. He sank an open FT jumper flashing to the ball off the weakside of the Tri and Bynum hit him. He barely drew rim on a long jumper. Another brick from Sasha from the wing.

Phil --

-- Phil has been hammering on the team to feed the post. He's been doing this for several games now and we're starting to see some results as the guys are looking for Drew more. With Kobe not himself, the inside-out play is even more vital... The Lakers had 18 points in the paint in the first quarter, going to Bynum early and often. He finally sat Drew after a 15-minute stint and an 11-point lead. Bynum had 18 points on 8-9 shooting... The starters without Bynum floundered. Kobe was bricking and our lead started to slip away with 3 minutes left in the half... The Lakers had 7 second-quarter turnovers. Kobe played horrible and their 11-point lead went to just a 56-53 advantage at halftime... The coaches were ticked when the guys stopped going inside-out and preached that at the halftime (as they've been doing for several games now). Bynum didn't see the ball for several minutes to start the third. Figures... Poor third quarters from Luke and Kobe, but we maintained the 3-point lead, 84-81... Phil started a Turiaf, Lamar, Kobe, Sasha, Farmar lineup to begin the fourth. Not your typical unit with both LO and Kobe out there, but it shows the importance of winning that first half of the fourth quarter. The bench has been losing that of late... Phil took a timeout with over 8 minutes left when the Sixers got a couple layups in a row. No playing through it. The offense stagnated for the next couple of minutes. Phil then brought back Fish and Bynum with Kobe and that restored things... Phil on Bynum: "He's such a long, lanky guy that if you show off with him, he's got the ability to go get the ball at any height," Phil said. "It was a really good game for him."...

GameFlow -- LINK-- Check out Bynum's first long stretch of the game. Dominating.

Video Highlights -- LINK -- TACH coming up big with some pregame Around the Horn shoot around with Farmar, Shaw and Crit. Bynum gives you a glimpse of moves that will be more automatic and more frequent in the future. Fun to watch him breaking out before your eyes these days.

Muad'Dib · Star Player Joined: 19 Sep 2004 Posts: 3903

DancingBarry · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 2:06 am Post subject:

Sorry for the delay. Had some holiday festivities tonight.

AndrewBynum17 · Star Player Joined: 27 Oct 2007 Posts: 2609

thanks DB.
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MedRomLaker · Star Player Joined: 20 Sep 2007 Posts: 8817

LOL I thought it took so long cus you were celebrating the lakers win ;p, thanks for your review can't go to sleep with out reading it after a game hehe, keep up the good work.

KOBE 2.0 · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 2:13 am Post subject:

How isn't Bynum in the all-star ballot seriously?

Tanlentueux · Star Player Joined: 20 Jul 2005 Posts: 7169

thanks DB

DancingBarry · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 2:15 am Post subject:

lakerjoshua · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 2:19 am Post subject:

Thanx DB.

KOBE 2.0 · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 2:20 am Post subject:

If you're not doing the Thoughts and Ratings after the Christmas game I won't mind if you gave that job to Wolf or Trey.

KOBE 2.0 · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 2:25 am Post subject:

How long until Bynum is known to be a star quality DB?

Dr. Laker · Franchise Player Joined: 12 Apr 2002 Posts: 17109

Shaber · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 2:26 am Post subject:

On Bynum:

Vadorojo · Star Player Joined: 17 Nov 2007 Posts: 1507

Cardom · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 2:42 am Post subject:

Bynum should DOMINATE Phoenix. Have you seen Amare's defense lately? It sucks ass. I fully expect the Lakers to win that game.

DancingBarry · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 2:45 am Post subject:

MedRomLaker · Star Player Joined: 20 Sep 2007 Posts: 8817

DancingBarry · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 2:50 am Post subject:

limchrc · Franchise Player Joined: 29 Jun 2005 Posts: 11477

Thanks for the recap. Bynum

- Sean - · Star Player Joined: 23 Apr 2002 Posts: 7339 Location: L.A.

Al-Mbarak8 · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 3:57 am Post subject:

Hahayyyyyyyyyyy! I knew from the first quarter that he will be getting a new career high that game..way to go..

Keep it up , big boy!

Thanks for the recap DB

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twoface723 · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 5:06 am Post subject:

Good rebound win after terrible loss to CLE. But Kobe looks hurt out there...

Sage_10 · Star Player Joined: 24 Dec 2005 Posts: 6668

Thanks for the recap DB! Good stuff.
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jmark · Star Player Joined: 26 Jan 2002 Posts: 2586

We miss Kobe's D more than anything. You can tell his groin is limiting him there.
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Texas_Pete · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 6:02 am Post subject:

Thanks DB!

We had 3 players score 20+ and none of them were Kobe!

Two of them went 20/10.

Bynum is playing big for us. I keep thinking about that left handed hook shot he made on Dalembert - a legit swatter. That footwork is improving every game. That's an unstoppable move. And I can't wait till the Lakers play the Heat. No Mourning (

) to back up Shaq. Bynum will eat his lunch!

I was pleased to see PJ put Ariza in during the last 3+ minutes of the game for defensive purposes. Him and Kobe will be tough to deal with once Kobe heals up.

Great bounce back win!