LAKERS -at- SONICS - 1/14 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

One Final Stop. Heart Pumping Time.... In the our first overtime game of the season, the under-manned Lakers trailed with a couple minutes left when the team finally clamped down on the defensive end. They got stops, one after another, and they got scores, one after another by No. 24 to fight back. Kobe hit a wing jumper with 4.3 seconds to take the lead. They clamped down one final time on D and took the win 123-121.

This was Kobe's second chance at pulling off the game winner. The Lakers had the ball with 5.8 seconds left regulation and the game tied. Out of the timeout, Kobe got stripped before we could get shot off and we headed to overtime tied 115-115.

In OT, they had a chance to go down by 6 and were about to get buried, but Kurt Thomas missed both FTs. We locked down on D, and a couple possessions later we tied them up after back-to-back scores by Kobe. With 20 seconds left and the score tied, Kobe then worked the clock down, attacked to his left, pulled up and drained a wing jumper with 4.3 seconds left for his 48th point.

The Sonics were killing the Lakers in transition all game long. And when the game slowed down, they killed us on the high pick and roll, running Fish and Kwame/Lamar into the grinder again and again. Nick Collison was looking like an All Star against our feeble interior D...thankfully he missed that baseline jumper to tie it at the buzzer.

Did we miss our big anchor in the middle? You bet. However, some of that pick and roll D (by LO and Fish especially) was pretty sad. They can tighten it up better than that.



Kobe -- -- Thank you. Thank you. Thank. You. After a day of bad news and sad D, Kobe gave us one of those MVP overtime performances to carry the team to victory. Clutch D, clutch shooting by No 24 and somehow we escaped from Seattle with our seventh straight win. I'll be the first to say you never want him to shoot that many shots. We can't live off him going 21-44. He hit on a high percentage, but we've got to get more balance. We had plenty of offense in this game, too. Just absolutely no D for most of the night. The Stats: Kobe scored 48 points on a crazy 21-44 (hitting 2-8 from three, just 4-7 from the line) to go with 2 boards (need more), 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 42 minutes. The Action: He got Durant to bite after several pumpfakes, then drew the foul on the jumper, he made one FT. He swished a pull-up wing jumper. He swished a jumper with his heels on the three line on the other side of the court. He missed a three short. He got swatted from behind in the lane. He attacked baseline, passed off, but the refs still gave him FTs, he made both. He missed from the top of the key. He posted up, stepped to the middle and hit with left. He attacked and missed the layup with his left and wanted the foul. He faded on a FT jumper, didn't need to and missed short. He missed a three against the zone. He pulled up in the middle of the lane and hit the jumper. He attacked baseline and missed the layup, he wanted the foul. He was wrapped up when Ariza stole a pass and outlet to him, he made one FT. He sank a top-of-the-key jumper. After Luke caused the Sonics to commit a turnover on the inbounds, we got the ball to Kobe and he drained a corner three. He swished a 17-footer straight away on his next touch. He airballed a tough fade on his next look, a heatcheck wing jumper. He attacked on the baseline and hit Kwame for the dunk. He missed a jumper short. He drained a long sideline jumper with his toe on the line. He missed a fade short. He had 21 points on 8-18 shooting in the first half...a lot of shots, more to come. He hit a top-of-the-key pull-up jumper. He jammed with authority out on the break after a turnover seconds later. He missed a three. He went behind his back, got his hip past the defender, sliced to the rim and reversed. He missed a layup with his right, he should have had that one. He banked in a left-hander off an inbounds pass (showing the skills). He missed a long jumper with his foot on the three line. He tied up Green and won the jumpball. He hit a wing jumper over Durant. He attacked next time down and no-looked a shovel pass to Luke for a dunk. He then swiped a pass from Green, pushed it out and scored the And-1 on him, he missed the FT. He missed a pull-up over Wally (should have attacked instead). He drained a pull-up from the elbow. He missed a three. He airballed a fade on the baseline. He missed a hurried three at the third quarter buzzer. He missed a pull-up jumper from the wing. He hit a short jumper in the lane. He hit a stepback at the freethrow line. He missed a fade with 2 minutes left. Out of a timeout, he stepped out behind a Kwame screen, took the pass from Luke and swished the wing three with 1:25 left to give the Lakers a 1-point lead. He missed a three. Good pressure D on Durant, forcing him to miss with 5.8 seconds left and we got the ball back with the game tied. He missed a reverse in OT. Crazy, hanging shot working against Green and he banked just before touching down. Next time down, he stepped back and swished a wing jumper to tie the game with 1:40 left in OT. With the game tied again, Kobe dribbled down the clock, attacked to his left and drained the wing jumper with 4.3 seconds left.

Lamar -- -- Lamar was killing me...killing me late in the game. He was already an awful 3 for something when the game entered crunch time. No better time to finish off that igloo he was building with some more cold shooting perimeter brickwork. Uggh. Offensively, just not a smart game at that point. You've got to play to your strengths, not hope it goes. He played better earlier in the game setting others up. Defensively, he was also getting burned in transition and looked awful at times on the pick and roll D. Some of those pick and roll sequences, he ended up nailed to the floor as both men ran past him and Fish...other times he ended up screening out the guard trying to recover. Just never on the same page. Still we had to have him out there because apparently Turiaf forgot how to rebound and Kwame ain't all that. The Stats: Lamar finished with 6 points on 3-15 shooting (0-3 from three, didn't draw a FT) to go with 14 boards, 7 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 46 minutes. The Action: He missed under the hoop after taking contact, he then tipped in his miss. He attacked in transition and bricked the layup. He sank a baseline jumper behind Luke. He crashed the glass against the zone and putback in the Ariza miss. He hit Ronny with an interior feed for a layup. He overpassed on a kickout from Kobe at we couldn't get a shot off at the end of the quarter. He swiped a pass and ignited the break. He pushed out the break, attacked to his right and kicked out to Farmar for the three. Indecision on a trap and it resulted in LO in no-man's land an And-1 dunk on Ronny. He hit Ronny on the break for FTs. He missed a tough three attempt at the halftime buzzer. He had 6 points, 9 boards and 4 assists in the first half...didn't score the rest of the game. This gets ugly: He kicked out to Fish for a three. He threw away a pass right to a Sonic behind him. He missed a bank. He missed a layup. He fumbled a rebound away with no one around him. He blew a layup on the other end. He clanked a top-of-the-key jumper midway through the fourth. Horrible D on the pick and roll with Fish, he just let a man go around him with ease and it resulted in an And-1. He missed a three. The Sonics went after him and Fish again and scored again. He got swatted on a fallaway (why are we giving him the ball to try to create at this point in the game?) He didn't hit iron on a three attempt with 42 seconds left.

DFish -- -- Having an anchor behind him who Fish can funnel men to is critical. Our interior was a Steven Seagal movie - Under Siege. We can do better than that. We have done better than that. The guard penetration was killing us, though, and resulted in a lot of putbacks as our bigs were out of position and not helping each other enough. Farmar outplayed Fish bigtime in this game and I was surprised that Phil never went back to Jordan after taking him out in the middle of the fourth. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-10 shooting (2-3 from three), he had 1 assist and 2 fouls in 34 minutes. The Action: He missed a layup badly on the break after a nice steal helping Kwame. He missed a 19-footer. He attacked on the break, threw up a teardrop trying to get the foul and it went through. He stripped the ball off Collison, no official saw it and it drew a jumpball. He missed an elbow jumper badly. He sank a long jumper behind the screen. He missed from the wing in transtion. He pulled up behind a screen and swished the open baseline jumper. He drained a high arching wing three. Back in, he and Lamar were getting picked on defensively on screen rolls. He drained a wing three with under 4 minutes left. He missed a wing three in OT.

Luke -- -- Offensively, he couldn't buy a basket. The only hoop he made was when Kobe set him up for an easy dunk. For some reason he ended up with the first two shots of OT and he missed on both. Still, he had a number of assists without a turnover. Defensively, he wasn't that bad. Ariza was having a tough time on his defensive assignments and Luke was doing a better job. Luke made a clutch team D play late in the game that ended up with him getting fouled for FTs. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-6 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-2 from the FT line) to go with 10 boards, 7 assists without a turnover and just 1 foul in 33 minutes. The Action: Green got past him on the break for a dunk. He forced a turnover on Watson in the back court to get the ball right back after a make, it led to a Kobe three. He missed a three from the wing. He posted up and bricked badly, it led to a transition layup the other way. He dunked off a no-looker from Kobe. Great play with 1:05 left, he recognized Fish on a mismatch with Thomas, he screamed at Fish for the switch, got it, then drew FTs on the rebound box out attempt, he made both FTs. He missed a fade in the lane on our first possession of OT. He missed a three on the second possession of OT.

Kwame -- -- It should not go without notice that one Kwame Brown, a 39 percent FT shooter this season, hit two freethrows in the middle of overtime. Perhaps, he makes them when they count? I don't know. But we needed those OT freebies and we needed that one last night. It's funny, he does that practice freethrow stroke and when he misses you can see the difference in speed between his practice stroke and his real one. He goes into hyper speed like a catapult intent on getting through that glass wall. Frankly, anything he does in hyper speed on offense should be avoided. It generally results in cracked glass and bent rims. Kwame had no blocks in this game, I think he was acutely aware of the foul situation and lack of bigs. Normally, he challenges just a bit better. Tonight, he let a lot go. The Stats: He had 10 points on 3-4 shooting (4-6 from the line...he's on fire!) to go with 10 boards, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 39 minutes. The Action: Kwame picked up his first foul midway through the first quarter on a reach. He posted up Thomas, kept the post move simple and scored with his left. He picked up his second foul with 3 minutes left in the first and had to sit. He dunked when Kobe drew the D and dumped it off to him. He went into one of his speed moves and bricked. The offense stalled with no one cutting, Kwame the tried to create and lost the ball off his foot. He drew FTs on an interior feed from Fish, (he somehow fades away from layups sometimes), he bricked the first FT badly, swished the second. He left Wally open on a switch and gave up a three. He drew FTs on a post up, he clanked the first, made the second. He powered in a bank with both hands, working off the two-man game with Farmar. He let Collison pivot around him and score without a challenge. Nice job taking an offensive board away from a man in OT, then he drew the foul, he made both FTs. Great D on Ridnour on a switch but we gave up another putback not getting the board.

Ariza -- 8) -- Although Ariza led all Lakers with a +14, Szczerbiak was lighting him up in the second quarter. I think that second-unit run with Farmar in the fourth helped those numbers. The Stats: He scored 9 points off the bench on 3-6 shooting (1-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 5 fouls. The Action: He missed an open sideline three against the zone. He blew past his man off the handoff and scored the reverse. He stole a pass in transition and quickly outlet to Kobe who drew FTs. With the Lakers trapping, he recovered to his man to snag the cross-court feed. He threw a pass away trying to find Farmar under the hoop. He missed a bank on a drive in the lane. He drew FTs on an attack, he made both. He hit a reverse off a feed from Ronny against the zone. He sank an open three off a Farmar kickout midway through the fourth.

Turiaf -- -- First off, the 14 points off the bench and getting to the line was much needed. Good to see that activity. He gave us 3 blocks, but we certainly lacked that interior presence. Going for the blocks also leaves Ronny out of position for boards and he only grabbed a couple. He needs to do a better job there. One of those non-boards came late in the game when Kwame played some great D on a switch on Ridnour and it led to a putback score when Ronny couldn't control the glass. LO does a better job in a crowd, for sure. The Stats: He scored 14 points on an efficient 3-5 shooting (8-9 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 3 blocks, 2 turnovers and 6 fouls in just 18 minutes. The Action: In for Kwame who had left with foul trouble and Ronny quickly picked up a foul himself. He scored a layup on an interior feed from Lamar. He swatted a man trying to cover two guys at once and saved a hoop. He hit a layup, shooting while still in the air on an extra pass from Farmar against the zone. He got out on the break with speed, took the pass and was fouled, but still hit the reverse layup, he made the FT. He worked the two-man game with Farmar for FTs, he made both. He missed a face-up jumper. He drew more FTs running the floor and trying to dunk, he made both FTs. He drew more FTs on a post entry on the next possession, he made one. He airballed a turnaround jumper in the post. He got stripped on a drive. He found Ariza cutting baseline for a reverse against the zone. Shotclock violation when he stalled the offense and then lost the ball trying to create. He fumbled a pass away and it led to a dunk on the other end. He couldn't get an And-1 to drop off a great feed from Farmar, he made both FTs. He hammered Collison to pick up his fifth foul with 7:40 left in the fourth. He fouled out after a brief stint in OT.

Farmar -- -- Great game by Farmar. I thought he got pulled too early in the fourth. He was putting the Lakers on his shoulders and putting up a fight in that fourth quarter. It didn't make things better seeing us get torched on that pick and roll when Fish came in. But I thought he had it rolling when he got yanked. The Stats: He finished with 12 points on an efficient 5-6 shooting (2-3 from three) to go with 4 assists without a turnover in 19 minutes. The Action: He found Ronny with an extra pass from the corner against the zone to get a layup. He hit a turnaround on the baseline. He hit Ronny on the break for the And-1. He drained a wing three on a kickout from Lamar. Nice bounce pass down the middle of the lane to Ronny off the two-man game to draw more FTs. He hit a one-hander off the glass over a bigman. He missed a three, short, his only miss. He swished an open wing three. He hit Ronny down the middle of the lane for FTs. He worked the two-man game and set up Kwame for a score. He worked off the high screen from Kwame next time down, attacked to his left and hit the layup around a defender with his left. He kicked out to Ariza for an open three next time down. He then sat with a 3-point lead midway through the fourth.

Crittenton -- -- He came in for Kobe to start the second quarter and had some quality minutes later in the heat of the battle. Although he had a rookie mistake out there, he really limited the errors this time out...add to that the scoring punch and you've got a good game for the rook. He had the Tony Parker speed going tonight...more on that in a sec. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-6 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 1 assist, 1 board, 1 steal and no fouls in 11 minutes. The Action: He stripped West and was fouled before he could hit Ariza with the outlet, the refs called a clear-path foul, Crit made both FTs. He missed a jumper standing on the three line on the other part of that possession. He lost West on a quick spin move that had the crowd buzzing, then hit the midrange jumper (he did a Tony Parker travel on that move, but it was so quick the refs missed it...he might get breaks like that in his career because his moves happen so fast). He missed an open 20-footer. He got blocked showing the ball on a throwdown attempt. He scored a layup off the pinch post using a jumpstop (another quick-footed sequence). He then poked the ball loose from West twice on one sequence to steal it and breakaway for the dunk. He then sat. Nice work.

Phil -- -- The Sonics led by a point after the first quarter. Kobe had 12 points on 4-11 shooting in that quarter, he shot better the rest of the way... The Lakers went on a 13-0 run with the second unit to pull out to a 9-point lead... Phil got a good rest for Kobe, but needed to bring him back in midway through the second quarter when things went down hill for the second unit. The Lakers went on a 13-3 run to get their lead back up to 9 again behind Kobe's hot hand... They closed the half poorly and only led 64-62. They scored 36 points that quarter, but gave up 33... The Sonics shot 54 percent in the first half to the Lakers 48 percent. The Lakers only had 2 turnovers to the Sonics 9 and led the points off turnovers battle 15-4...
The Lakers coaches didn't like the transition D which gave up too many good looks... Phil called a timeout with 3 minutes left in the third after yet another layup in transition for the Sonics... The Lakers trailed 91-87. Just no D, especially in transition, even after the coaches got on them. Too many dunks and layups... The Lakers were out of freethrows early in the fourth. The Sonics started shooting with under 6 minutes left... Phil sat Farmar midway through the fourth when we had a 3-point lead. Farmar was carrying the team... The Lakers had a two-for-one opportunity with the game tied up with 45 seconds. No time out, they ran the clock down and missed a three. Poor, poor clock management at a critical juncture. They should have called a timeout. The Sonics got the ball with the game on the line at 21 seconds left in regulation. Thankfully, the Sonics went too early with their own shot and we got the ball back with 5.8 seconds in regulation. Out of the timeout, Kobe got stripped on the play and we headed to overtime... He subbed out both Luke and Lamar after a minute in OT, Ronny gave up an offensive board, then fouled out shortly later. He brought back LO, then Luke a minute later... Just a clear out for Kobe to create at the end of the game. The Lakers talked about a lot of options in the huddle, but the Sonic double was too late before Kobe got into decent scoring position. Ball game...

[Andre2K]

First!!! haha Kobe won the game for us chea!!!
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Bench: Caruso, Hart, Bullock, Kuzma, McGee etc

[marloveslakers24]

good read thanks DB. kobe your the man! i hope you do it for 8 more weeks. I DONT CARE if you take 100000000000 shots, as long as we get the danm W. im good!!!!!!!

[Sister Golden Hair]

Good recap, DB.

Having Kwame play for Andrew is like eating Hamburegr Helper after a steady diet of filet mignon. Yikes. Kwame would not have needed to ne so careful on D if he didn't commit dumb fouls like reaching on a smaller player out on the perimeter. I was shocked he made those free-throws. The nerves are written on his face everytime he goes to the foul line. My big quibble with his this game was his spectating on the court. he plays too passively, never dictating anything. He is almost purely a reactive player, which explains why he's always late to the party. Ball movement tenbds to die when he gets it in the post. He hasn't the skill to complete a play unless its by accident. Well, enough about that.

Ronny had some nice run, but there was something I noticed yet again that explains why he collects so many fouls. First, he's too aggressive, going up for even the smallest fake. He has to discipline himslef better. Second, even when he makes a good play on the ball, he tends to swat down (and across) an opponents body. He literally swats at the ball, the way you might kill a fly with a fly swatter. If he makes contact, great. if he misses, it's an automatic foul. He needs to discipline himself better in that regard, as well. Still, it's strange that a big can reach the NBA with such bad defensive habits.

SGH

[Laker7]

Under Siege? I was thinking A River Runs Thru It!
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Darvin Ham is an idiot!

[KBryantisclutch]

I agree with everything written. That was a great game by Farmar. Those two free throws by Kwame were indeed critical. Luke bricked those first two shots of OT. . .and the lakers still prevailed. Kobe is clutch!

[KOBEhastheMAGIC]

Kobe did what Kobe do. Thanks for the write-up.
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Kobe Bryant has brought the Lakers three championships, 4 Finals, carried an absolutely pathetic team to the playoffs in a loaded Western Conference and has given us countless thrills and memories. If you are not a Kobe fan, then you are not a Laker fan.

[Cardom]

Lakers need to play zone when they can't stop teams like they couldn't tonight.
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No rebounds.... No rings - Pat Riley

We have to get some players that have that kind of aggressiveness that we need. - Phil Jackson

[TooCool]

Ugly win, but we needed it... and got it.

When the Sonics went to the zone and stuck with it late in the game, we kept settling for outside shots AGAIN. Where's the mastermind coaching by Phil? Unless he has no counter for it.
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[Dr. Laker]

[Michlake]

DB-you thought Wally was lighting Ariza up in the 2nd quarter? Seemed to me that Ariza was playing fine defense, just that Wally was on super fire. Most if not all the shots were with a hand in the face and Wally just hit them. I do remember Wally getting loose for a short jumper in the lane where Ariza was burned, but that was it.

[DancingBarry]

He gave him some space on a couple jumpers...and didn't he split that double team against Ariza? He was looking better than he actually is. He had one where Ariza was on top of him that he made, but the others were so-so D, I thought.

[KOBE 2.0]

DB, do you expect Webber to start if we sign him?

[DancingBarry]

I would hope not. He'd be Cook Part 2 on D.

[Vadorojo]

[GunShot]

[DancingBarry]

[DancingBarry]

[Downunder]

C Webb would be nice with his passing in the tri, but I think his D or lack there of would be a liability. I think PJ's D and baseline J would help us tremendously

[Dorray]

[8750]

thanks, DB
kobe showed once more that with his will power and winning attitude he's a superior entity... but if after bynum's injury the others players didn't step up, that's a very bad sign...
once again i have to notice that we went out from a clutch timeout with a bad play... i still don't understand why we never have some screens for kobe in the final seconds...

[J.C. Smith]

Two disagreements here.... First I thought that although Kobe shot well, he shot way too often. I mean 44 shots, noone else ever had an opportunity to get involved. Then late in the game they start doubling and tripling Kobe and you have these guys who have barely touched the ball all game being expected to make big plays. We got the win tonight, but I can't see us winning more than 50% of our games while Bynum is out if Kobe doesn't share the rock.

Odom was pretty god awful offensively, but he did have 14 rebounds and 7 assists, and got two aggressive rebounds late in the game when the game was in the balance. One where he kept an offensive rebound alive and we maintained possession out of bounds, and another where he wrestled away a tough rebound. Definitely not his best game, certainly not on the offensive end, but thought it should be noted.

The biggest problems I saw tonight without Andrew in the lineup was Kobe's determination to do everything on his own, our inability to get any kind of stops, and our inability to rebound.

[limchrc]

Glad we won. Hope we can get a more balance scoring game on our next games.

[jodeke]

The Sonics are one the weakest teams in the NBA and we had trouble with them. If DFish and LO start to hit we will have somewhat of an eaiser time. Our main problem is defense. Someone has to become a stopper. Kwame has to be more assertive in the hole. It's Deja vu. Same thing same time last season. Are the basketball Gods angry with us?
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[Sage_10]

Kobe was a beast, and Farmar played like a stud.
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