JAZZ -at- LAKERS - 12/28 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Returning the Favor... The Lakers lost by 24 points against an undermanned Jazz team in Utah the last time these two teams went at it. In case they somehow forgot, they were reminded in various ways by Phil. They responded by staggering the Jazz out of the gates tonight.

The Lakers scored a season-high 75 points in the first half, beating their old mark of 71 that they got against this same Jazz team earlier in the year. They were playing unselfish ball offensively. Some of the passing sequences in this game were among the best we've seen this season.

All of the Lakers starters scored in double figures in the 123-109 win, including Trevor Ariza who had his second start of the season. Kwame Brown returned from his annual injury, giving us more depth in our frontline. Both LO and Kobe put up good numbers in three quarters.

It's hard to say how much the Jazz miss DFish. While they play strong at home, the Jazz fell to just 6-13 on the road. Although that is the most road games of any Western Conference team, it's also the second-most road losses.


Kobe -- -- Excellent, well-rounded game from Kobe. He really mixed in the passing and scoring smoothly. He was looking for Drew, Kwame and Ariza around the paint when he'd get dribble penetration. That set the tone and the Lakers cruised. He was also active defensively, getting his hand on a few balls for steal. His roaming left his man open for scores, however. Not that it mattered. Kobe didn't play in the fourth. The Stats: He scored 31 points on 11-18 shooting (6-9 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 7 assists, 4 steals and 5 turnovers in 31 minutes. The Action: He lobbed to Bynum from the elbow for the dunk when Kobe's man switched and fronted Drew. Wow, all kinds of contact on the break and no call for Kobe. He spun around Okur on the baseline to break the double team and he scored a layup. He attacked down the middle of the lane, then tossed a short lob pass to Bynum who scored the layup. He overthrew Fish on the outlet, Fish saved it, Kobe got it, attacked and fed Ariza for the dunk. He missed a pull-up jumper, we got it back, swung it to him and he hit a three. Out on the break, he took the pass from Fish, drew the D and gave it right back to DFish for the open jumper. He popped out from the weakside, took the pass and hit the three. He swished a wing three on his next attempt. He faked the three in transition, attacked and banked the runner. Bullet-quick underhand flick to Kwame under the hoop and it drew FTs. He had 13 points on 5-8 shooting and 6 assists in the first quarter. He missed an easy reverse. He picked up a tech yelling at the ref for the no call on his teammates. He popped out and hit the top-of-the-key three. Next possession from the same spot with a man on him...money. He missed a heat-check three. Too high on the lob pass to Ariza on the break and it went out of bounds. He was fouled on the perimeter, finally getting to the line, he made both. He missed a fading three trying to get one at the halftime buzzer. He had 21 points and 6 assists at the half. He drew FTs on the swing-through move to start the second half, he made one. He swished a high arching jumper from behind the corner of the backboard. He attacked in transition and set up Ariza for FTs. He rattled in a three from the wing when Fish saved the ball to him. He drained a corner jumper with his foot on the three line. He missed a corner three. He took the kickout at the top of the three line, attacked straight down the lane, jumped, pulled the ball down and back up while in the air and dunked. He hit Kwame under the hoop for a dunk.

Lamar -- -- Aggressive night from Lamar. He did a good job attacking from the wing on a number of sequences in the game. He was also passing the ball extremely well and finished with a season-high 7 assists. Good to see that part of his game come alive. Defensively on Okur, while Bynum took on Boozer. Both he and Kobe got to watch the game from the bench in the fourth. The Stats: He scored 17 points on an efficient 5-8 shooting (1-2 from three, 6-8 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 7 assists and 2 blocks in 30 minutes. He led the Lakers with a +26. The Action: He missed a layup on the drive. He pushed out the break and fed Ariza for the And-1. He attacked from the wing with speed and threw down with both hands. He attacked hard off the weakside, drew a blocking foul and scored the And-1 layup, he missed the FT. He attacked from the wing, slashed to his right to avoid a charge and drew FTs, he made both. He attacked from the wing and drew FTs, he made both. He threw down with emphasis and screamed to the crowd after a mad scramble up and down the court that we finally took care of. He swished a wing three (stepping into it nicely). He missed the next one from the other side. He tapped a lob to Kwame who dunked. He had 13 points on 4-7 shooting in the first half. He attacked and kicked out to Kobe who went down the middle of the lane for the dunk. He fought for a pass, spun and drew FTs, he made one. He scored an And-1 layup cutting off Fish and finishing just before the shotclock went off, he made the FT.

DFish -- -- Thankfully, Deron had more options to go to in this game and decided not to get into attack mode. Mistake by him. So instead of a career high like he had in Utah, Deron finished with just 6 points on 3-9 shooting. On the other end, DFish's jumper was a bit off, he still managed to scrap for some points, and continued to show the chemistry with Bynum. Although neither shot well, I thought he outplayed Deron tonight. The Stats: DFish had 10 points on 2-9 shooting, but a team-high 8 assists without a turnover and 3 boards in 27 minutes. The Action: He missed badly on a jumper from the wing on his first attempt. He missed a jumper from the other side. Bynum dunked when Fish found him on the lob after getting dribble penetration. He drew the charge on Boozer in transition. He got into the lane, they took away the Bynum lob, but Fish went the other direction to Ariza who scored the layup. He tracked down a long outlet from Kobe, saved it back in to Kobe at midcourt and Kobe fed Ariza for the dunk. He swished a baseline jumper off a pass back from Kobe in transition. He pushed out on the break, the defender hung back, so Fish took it in and drew FTs, he made both. He drew FTs on the perimeter, he made one, then made a tech, then missed the last one (should have had Kobe take the tech, hard to do the three in a row from the line). He drew FTs in transition and made one. He saved a pass back inbounds to Kobe who rattled in the three. He drained the wing three in semi-transition. He missed a turnaround in the paint, but Ariza cleaned it up. He got dribble penetration against the zone and fed Bynum for the dunk. He missed a corner three. He missed a long wing jumper. He missed a corner three.

Bynum -- -- He got into a bit of foul trouble that affected his first half minutes. Otherwise, it looked like he was getting off to a big night, scoring 8 of his points in the first 6 minutes of action. Bynum missed a lot of easy ones around the hoop. Phil thought the physical nature of the Jazz caused Bynum some problems. It looked like Drew was causing more problems for them. A couple of fouls Drew picked up were of the cheap variety. Bynum needs to bring it in the next game. He let his man get a few too many easy ones last time the Lakers matched up with the Celts. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 5-11 shooting, had 9 boards (5 offensive) to go with 1 block and 4 fouls in 26 minutes. The Action: He missed a putback layup. He cleaned up an Ariza miss the next time down with a layup. He threw down the lob from Fish. Next time down, he spiked another two-hand lob dunk through the hoop, this time from Kobe when Kobe's man switched on Drew. He scored a layup in a crowd when Kobe fed him up high with a short pass. He picked up his second foul midway through the first when Boozer cut weakside. He had 8 points and 5 boards in half a quarter of action before sitting. He got swatted from behind not decisive on his post move. He couldn't gather a lob from Vlad that was high. He pulled down a missed three and it led to a three by Vlad. He sat midway through the second quarter, playing cautious and not picking up that third foul. He missed a chippie, got it back, missed again. He rejected his man badly. He dunked off the Fish drive and dish. He picked up back-to-back fouls against Boozer in the post, looked like he was clean on the second one, not sure where the foul was. The ball slipped out of his hands as he went up for a score (must have had some Kwame sweat on it). He came up way short on a turnaround jumper.

Ariza -- -- "I've been kidding Luke about being Wally Pipp," Phil said, referring to the man best known for losing his starting job to Lou Gehrig. Excellent energy again from Ariza. He was making some nice hustle plays and continued to be effective slashing to the hoop. He was stone cold from the line, however, leaving a few points he should have had. The Stats: He had 12 points on 5-7 shooting (2-7 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and 1 foul in 35 minutes. The Action: He missed under the hoop after collecting an errant DFish jumper. Good job getting out on the break, he took the pass from LO, attacked the baseline and scored an And-1 on AK, he missed the FT. He missed a baseline jumper. He finger-rolled a layup when Fish found him cutting from the weakside. Nice high board using his length on the D end, I actually thought that as Bynum for a second they way he stole it from behind a player. He dunked when Kobe attacked and fed him in transition. Great hustle back in transition D to tap a ball loose from behind, then track it down in the corner. Good hustle to track a Kobe missed three and reset the offense. He got yanked down from behind after taking a handoff from Bynum on the baseline, he made one FT. He drew more FTs in transition, cutting behind the D and taking the pass from Kobe, he missed both. Sweeeeet weakside read, leaving his man to swipe a pass and take it the distance for the dunk. He cleaned up a Fish miss with a putback. He got hacked and pulled down filling the lane on the break, he made one FT.

Turiaf -- -- With Kwame back, Ronny got run at both the PF and C spots. Good to see him out there with another big. He was much more effective in this game on both ends. His activity was up, he didn't have to worry about foul trouble and he put together a nice stat line in short minutes. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 2-2 shooting (4-6 from the line, grabbed 4 boards, blocked 3 shots, 2 assists and 2 fouls in 11 minutes. The Action: He rejected Hart, then rejected Okur under the hoop and recovered the ball. He hit a FT jumper flashing to the ball. He took contact trying to finish on the break and earned FTs, he made one. He drew FTs away from the ball, he made one. He swished a face up 16-footer from the right side. He drew more FTs away from the ball, he made both. He rejected another shot badly.

Farmar -- -- Some cruddy passes from Farmar which allowed the Jazz to make the game look a lot closer than it actually was. Farmar was effective offensively, however, giving the Lakers some scoring punch. We're going to need his "A" game in the next one. The bench is going to have to be a difference maker. The Stats: Farmar scored 14 points on 5-7 shooting (2-3 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal and 4 turnovers in 25 minutes. The Action: He attacked the lane (missed an easy lob to Bynum) but hit Vlad for the more difficult score. He got caught in the air, gave it up, got it back and hit the jumper. He swiped the entry pass, pushed it out and fed Ronny for FTs. He attacked Williams with speed to his left and finished the And-1 with his left, he made the FT. He missed a sideline three. He drained a pull-up three at the end of the third quarter buzzer. He threw a couple bad passes in a row that allowed the Jazz to get out on the break. He missed a wing jumper. Another poor pass trying to get it into the post and it led to a score the other way. He hit a pull-up jumper from the FT line. He swished a sideline three off a kickout from Ariza.

Radmanovic -- -- Ugly. Vlad has struggled ever since that wrist injury. It doesn't excuse the missed dunks or bad decisions...but he's seriously tanked since then. Can't seem to do anything right. The Stats: He had 7 points on 3-9 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 3 rebounds, 2 assists with 2 turnovers and 1 steal in 21 minutes. The Action: He tossed in a score off an interior pass from Farmar. Good challenge, he then got the board and pushed up the break, leading to Sasha FTs. He missed a three, stayed in the corner when we got it back and hit the next attempt. He missed an ugly drive trying to create. He bricked badly off the corner of the backboard from the wing (tell me you were trying to bank it). He faked the three, attacked and used his length to finish at the rim. He missed a three. He bricked an open wing jumper. He missed a point-blank dunk.

Kwame -- -- After taking that painful double-sprain job against Ben Wallace, Kwame finally got back on the court. His timing looked better than I expected and he was able to give the Lakers some quality minutes. He said his timing felt off, particularly on the offensive end, but it didn't look too different than his usual game. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-4 shooting (1-2 from the line), pulled down 5 boards (3 offensive), swatted 2 shots and had 4 fouls in 17 minutes. The Action: Nice block from behind on Boozer. He dropped a feed from Kobe, got it back and missed the And-1, but went to the line and made one FT. Good first stint...some decent reactions on D considering you'd expect his timing to be off. Nice pass in a crowd to LO who threw down. He dunked when LO tapped the lob pass to him. It will go down as a layup for Kwame, but the Lakers threw 9 passes in and out of the zone with speed before setting Kwame up under the hoop. Five passes on the next sequence and Kwame got a dunk.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha twisted his ankle in a scrum on the defensive end. He walked it off and played the rest of the night. It will probably slow him up a little defensively in the next game. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-3 shooting, 2-2 from the line and had 1 assists in 12 minutes. The Action: He drew FTs on a jumper in transition, he made both. He sank a quick top-of-the-key jumper. He swished a catch-and-shoot wing jumper.

Crittenton -- -- Some garbage minutes from Crit. He needs to step on the gas a little more when he's out there. The Stats: He played 6 minutes and scored 1 points on 1-2 shooting from the line and 0-1 from the floor. The Action: He attacked from the wing and drew FTs, he made one. He got swatted at the rim.

Phil -- -- Phil said there was a critical moment for the team when they lost to Orlando earlier in the season. After that game, things seemed to change for the team. To me, that really seemed to be when Bynum started anchoring the D... Phil said of Utah prior to the game: Keep them off the foul line, make them earn their points and don't give up layups. The Lakers came out and throttled them... They took it to the Jazz on the offensive end, getting dunks off lobs, threes from Kobe and transition scores off steals and boards in the first quarter. They led 38-23... The Lakers continued the domination in the second quarter, leading 75-48 at haltime and shooting 58 percent to the Jazz 38 percent. We had 21 assists in the first half... Sensational passing sequence against the zone with 2:26 in the third, throwing 9 passes with speed, every Laker touching it and we ended up with a layup for Kwame. Staples was in awe. Another 5 passes next time down and Kwame got a dunk. The Lakers led 106-74 at the end of the third... "That was a well played game for three quartesr," Phil said. "We played some exceptional ball."... The Lakers cruised in the final quarter as you might expect. Extended garbage time... We shot 54 percent for the night and had the 34 assists... Phil has a chance to pass Red Auerbach in wins in the next game. He has 938 wins...

[Andre2K]

First! wow I finally got it. Good job DB as alwayz... not happy with our bench tho. Vlad is stinking it up badly hope he gets it together, hope Riza remains our starting SF for the rest of the season, our defense is much more better with him.
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My Dream Starting 5 next Season

Pg Lonzo
Sg Kawhi
Sf Ingram
Pf Lebron
C Dedmon

Bench: Caruso, Hart, Bullock, Kuzma, McGee etc

[limchrc]

Great recap. Nice win.

[LakerFan1972]

great read.

[AllorNothing]

Even with very limited minutes, JC is really just not aggressive out there. Seems like he's not cutting as much in the offense since Farmar was the ball dominant guard.
I wish he could be "unleashed" somehow.

[Dr. Laker]

Thx, DB!
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On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".

[Orestes]

[Vadorojo]

Beautiful game for a Laker fan ... just sit back and enjoy the amazing passing, defense, hustle and scoring. As always, thanks for the recap, DB.

I was really happy to see Kwame out there and surprisingly effective—he got us an extra possession or two with his hustle and anchored the middle decently well considering he's coming off an injury.

Next game: da' big one. Celtics. And who could have guessed? Phil has the chance to pass Red for coaching wins ... let's hope we do to the Celtics what we did to the Jazz. After all, they ARE playing their 4th game in 5 nights in a West coast swing ...

[jd2k]

Kobe's Spin Move.

http://www.vimeo.com/458385

Credit goes to revgen for his capture.

[Magic'sSon]

[Tanlentueux]

DB for President. Bynum for MIP, Kobe for MVP and The Lakers to win it all. So far so good !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[8750]

Thanks, DB
everything flows, even on the defensive side... now let's win some hard, clutch game, when things don't go so smoothly, and then we can consider ourselves a competing team...

[Annihilator]

[bobby]

Anyone else notice Vlade playing shutdown D on Kirilenko in the first half?? Who woulda thunk it?? Maybe D is contagious??

[TooCool]

Thanks again DB. Time to bring on the crummy Celtics.
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[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

BEAT BOSTON!
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"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[Canuck]

DB, I tend to always read your analysis of the game afterwards and I enjoy it. Living in LA, I watch every game, so I am recapping what I actually saw. While I have always appreciated your efforts, I do so more now. I am currently spending my holidays in NY and can't watch any of the games. These updates have been a god send!!!! Thank you so much for your time and effort. I think that for the people that can't watch the games, it's the next best thing!!!!

[Sage_10]

_________________
"You Must Be Willing To Give Up That Which Can Be Lost In Order To Gain That Which Cannot Be Lost." - FORTUNE COOKIE

[Cardom]

LAKERS > BOSTON

What elite team have they defeated? That's right... NONE.

[maddprophet]

in the words of stu lantz, "bang bang bang b-b-b-bang bang b-b-bang bang"

that was a funny moment there, kobe 2 guns........
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Spark the ism, my expertism, is lyracism, my flow will take you over like I was hypnotism...so where's the lighter, to start the cypher....

[ribeye]

[20,000]

What was really nice is that the team last night didn't settle for too many cute jump shots or layups. They went hard to the basket. Bynum with the dunks. Kwame with the dunks. Odom with the hard dunks.

You saw as Kwame tried going softly up, he was rejected.

That's what this team needs to do.

Except for Vlad. Oy vey!
_________________
Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying...'I will try again tomorrow.'

[VujacicFan]

Bittersweet victory as Sasha went down. By the way, did you see who injured Sasha? I would like to put him on my hate list.

[wh03lse]

when sasha got back up you could tell he so wanted to shoot a three like in revenge or something sooo funny haha

ariza gets 3 point plays but basically ends up at the free throw line resting instead of making the 3rd point...he really needs more free throw practice...

kwame prolly needs a bit more time but you could tell how soft he was playing...hopefully bynum's aggressive and energizing play will continue to inspire this guy to work hard like odom has been able to...

[prisma8slg]