LAKERS -at- MAVS - 1/25 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Texas Toast... The Lakers came out flat to start the second half again, this time giving the Mavs an 11-0 run before we woke up. Once again, we found ourselves trying to dig out of a hole on the road.

This, of course, is even harder to do when you are missing freethrows right and left. Throw in a couple of careless possessions down the stretch, a sequence of ballwatching to give up a putback...and we couldn't crack a 5-point Mav lead. The Lakers fell 112-105.

Props to the Mbenga, Turiaf, Kobe, Sasha and Farmar lineup for trying to pull us back in striking distance. Note the absense of Lamar. Mbenga played Dirk well defensively, his combination of athleticism and length (more than LO, anyway) seemed to cause Dirk problems in the fourth.

Stat of the night: The Lakers shot 56.3 percent for the game. Since the 91-92 season, the Lakers have an 81-2 record when shooting 55 percent or better in a game ... Some soft D, giving up offensive boards, missing those free throws and a 16-8 turnover differential all conspired to make that the Lakers third loss in a decade and half while shooting over 55 percent.

The Lakers didn't get any favors from Western Conference teams tonight as most won.


Kobe -- -- Kobe put up the numbers ... and in an efficient manner, getting to the line 21 times. He and Farmar again showed their refusal to go down without a fight. Both, however, made a couple of key errors when we didn't have any room to do so. Kobe's was a defensive stand where he ballwatched instead of boxing out and gave up a putback to Howard. Huge play in crunch time, and Kobe knew it, too. It would have been the difference between a 5-point lead and a 3-point lead for the Mavs -- one possession against a team that cracks under pressure. Wish we had it. But let's look at those numbers... The Stats: He scored 40 points on 11-19 shooting (1-3 from three and 17-21 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in 45 minutes. The Action: He hit Kwame in the middle of the lane for a layup. He froze Harris with a hesitation move, made him twist both ankles (seriously, he went to the locker room after the play) and then Kobe dunked. Another hesitation move on Eddie, then he drew the foul on an elbow jumper, he made both FTs. He got separation with a head fake, then hit the wing jumper. He worked off the screens from LO and drew a foul, he made both FTs. He was fouled hustling for a loose ball, he made one FT. He missed a runner. He took contact with no call on a drive and threw the ball away. He drew the perimeter reach foul on Howard, who got a piece of Kobe's arm for his second foul, Kobe made both FTs. He attacked from the elbow, got hit and banked in the And-1, he made the FT. He worked off the dribble, changed directions, headed across the lane, hung and banked while falling away as the quarter ended. Kobe had 16 points in the first quarter and went 8-9 from the line. He was fouled on an alley-oop from Luke, he made one FT. He drained a corner three with Eddie all over him and the shotclock low. He backed out Howard, pounded the dribble with speed between his legs five times, then attacked, drew the D and dished to LO for the layup. He threw down getting out on the break with Sasha. He missed a wing jumper at the halftime buzzer. He had 22 points on an efficient 6-8 shooting in the first half. He missed a wing jumper expecting a whistle that never came. He missed a floater from the right side. With the Lakers offense finally getting out of the locker room, Kobe hit a floater with his left to end a Mav's 11-0 run. He missed a wing three. He blocked Howard with an excellent recovery. He got his leg rolled on and went down for a while. He lost the ball on jumper, then went down again trying to contest the shot at the other end. He attacked down the middle of the lane and drew FTs, he missed both. He missed a pull-up on his first attempt of the fourth. He cut when his man over played, took the pass and drew FTs on the reverse attempt, he made both. He hit Ronny under the hoop for a dunk. He missed an easy one in the middle of the lane. He plowed right through Eddie in semi transition for a charge. He made up for it, swiping a pass on the other end and drawing the clear-path foul on Eddie, he made both. On the inbounds, he worked along the right side, hung and banked to cut the lead to 5 with 4:36 left (his first hoop of the second half). The horrible ball watch came with 3 minutes left as a shot went up, Howard walked around him and put back in the miss...killer with a 5-point lead at the time. He drew FTs on the other end with, made both to cut it to 5 again (that would have been the 3-point lead had we boarded that). He missed a three down by 9 again. He attacked and drew a foul on a kickout, he went to the line and made both. He sliced through the D in semi-transition and scored a layup to cut it back to 5. He swished a fade in the lane. He scored a layup with a quick strike again.

Lamar -- -- He was benched for most of the fourth quarter when the Mbenga/Turiaf line was doing a much better job defensively. Another stinker on the road from Lamar...reminded me of his Bucks game. Defensively, he was mostly a warm body out there. Offensively, a liability at times with his poor play from the perimeter again. Not exactly rising to the occasion. Not even rebounding in this one. The Stats: He scored just 4 points on 2-9 shooting (0-3 from three, no FTs) to go with just 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 32 minutes. The Action: He missed a mid-range jumper. He missed an open three. He just beat the clock, going glass after Kwame hit him with an interior pass. He got blocked on a turnaround. He clanked a top-of-the-key jumper. He took the great pass of the Kobe drive and dish and scored a layup. He overpassed from the post instead of trying to power up over the help defender and threw the ball away. He couldn't power an easy one over Dirk next time down. Bad D with 4 on the shotclock on an inbounds pass, he fouled Dirk when the entry pass went right past Lamar. He bricked back-to-back chucks from three early in the third. He iso'd on Dirk from the right side, attacked, spun to draw a double, then dished to Kwame for the dunk. He gave up a soft And-1 foul on the break. He had 4 points on 2-9 shooting and sat. Back in late in the fourth and he gave up penetration to Harris twice on switches.

DFish -- -- Decent game from Fish on the offensive end. His minutes were reduced when he got into foul trouble and then as Farmar/Sasha combo was getting the job done. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 3-4 shooting (0-1 from three, 5-5 from the line) to go with 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 19 minutes. The Action: He sank a sideline jumper on his first attempt. He sank a top-of-the-key jumper on a kickout from Luke. He attacked baseline and powered up a layup. He was working hard off the screens and drew a foul on Howard when they ran into each other, he made both. He missed a long jumper trying to beat the clock. He made a tech FT. He over powered the smaller Barea on a drive and drew FTs, he made both. He set up his man for the charge in the post, hitting the deck as soon as he made his power move. He charged off the high post hand off. He picked up two fouls and had to sit just 2 minutes into the second half.

Luke -- -- Luke had all kinds of trouble with Howard's athleticism. We missed Ariza and our PF depth that allowed Lamar to move to SF. Both of those are better options defensively. Too much Howard put Luke into foul trouble. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-1 shooting, 2-2 from the line, 4 boards, 3 assists, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 23 minutes. The Action: He posted up and kicked out to Fisher for a jumper. He traveled, 30 feet from the hoop. Nice oop to Kobe to draw a foul. He yanked down the offensive board in traffic and powered it up over a bigman. He ball-faked against the zone, attacked the seam and fed Kwame for a dunk. He cut off the ball, took the feed from Kwame and drew FTs, he made both. He gave up an And-1 to Howard on the drive. He traveled again trying to dribble drive. Another foul on Howard and Luke had to sit midway through the third quarter.

Kwame -- -- He was having trouble working against the Dallas bigmen under the defensive glass. I was looking forward to seeing Bynum in this match up because Dallas gave us similar trouble last year, but Drew's improvement might have changed things quite a bit. Some good passing from Kwame in this game, but also his usual freethrow problems. Mbenga and Turiaf our played our starting bigs defensively. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-6 shooting (2-6 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 23 minutes. The Action: He took a Kobe pass and finished while still in air. He got to the line working the post, he was too long on the first, airballed the second. He missed on a rushed bank shot. He blew an easy layup on the next possession. He dunked when Luke got penetration against the zone and fed him. He hit Luke cutting off his man and it drew FTs. He snatched the quick pass from Kobe and just missed the And-1 layup, he made both FTs, swishing them this time. He poked the ball from behind Dirk and it ignited the fastbreak. He dunked when LO drew the D and set him up. He gave it right back on the other end, fronting Dampier for some reason and getting lost. He hit Farmar for a couple of layups with some good court vision. He took a pass at the FT line, no one came to him so he swished the jumper. He threw an outlet away on the other end to give it back. He attacked from the FT line on the next possession and drew a foul, he missed both.

Turiaf -- -- Ronny picked up a tech in the middle of crunch time, yapping at the refs after a no-call under the hoop. We were giving a lot of points away and that one wasn't among the smartest. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-5 shooting (1-2 from the line) with 4 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 26 minutes. The Action: He drained a catch-and-shoot 20-footer on his first attempt. He hit a turnaround from the mid post. He missed an easy And-1 layup, he made one. He stripped Howard's drive. He swatted Dirk's shot and it ignited a break. He stole a lob on the next stand. He dunked when Kobe spotted him under the hoop. Then, with 3:48 left in the game, Ronny missed a couple shots under the hoop with guys hacking on him, he said something to refs and picked up a tech.

Farmar -- -- He showed some fight in the fourth quarter...but didn't value some possession late in the game and that cost us big. Still, Farmar refuses to go down without a fight. He and Kobe give us a couple of strong-willed guards. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 8-13 shooting (2-3 from three) to go with 4 boards, 5 assists with 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 33 minutes. The Action: He took and interior feed, elevated and hit the short fade. He missed a FT jumper on the break. He was called for a foul using his off arm on the drive. He missed a layup in the lane. He swished a corner jumper with a man challenging. He fed Kwame, cut and got it back for a layup. He missed a three. He cut under the hoop as Kwame was making his move, took the pass and had his layup goaltended. He ballwatched and lost his man on the other end for a layup. Terry worked him over on the post-up for a score. He then threw a poor post feed away. He kicked out to Sasha for the three. He lost the ball on the dribble and it led to an And-1 on the other end. He scored a layup on the break off a Turiaf block. He then drained an early offense three on the wing. He sank a sideline three on the next possession out of a timeout. After not shooting for a few minutes, he worked off the screen to his left and swished a baseline jumper. He missed a mid-ranger on the next possession. Too long of a pass out on the break with 2:30 left and it went out of bounds. He then forced the action on the next possession, going against several Mavs and missed.

Vujacic -- -- Decent game from Sasha. He was a little soft on the defensive end, and was careless with a couple offensive possessions. Still, he played solid enough that we could keep Kobe at the SF spot. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-5 shooting (2-4 from three) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 24 minutes. The Action: He missed a three, getting tapped from the corner. Nice cut down the lane, but then he choked a wide open layup (uggh!). Good effort behind a big man to secure keep a defensive board from him. He threw the ball away on an attack, an unforced error. He swished a wing three on a Farmar kickout. He pulled up like he was Kobe feeling it on the next possession and drained another three. Wild outlet pass, too long and it went out of bounds. He bricked an early offense three.

Mbenga -- -- Big night for DJ. He came in for Kwame midway through the first quarter in his first stint. So, Phil went to him early and stuck with him in the fourth. Mbenga's D on Dirk was nice to see. That little match up could actually lead to a longer contract for him. Mbenga gave Dirk more problems than any other defender we've thrown on him. Interesting. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-2 shooting (just 1-4 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 16 minutes. The Action: He was fouled going up for a lob from Kobe. He worked the two-man game with Fish, took the return feed and was fouled by Dirk on the throwdown, he missed both FTs. (Those couple fouls helped the Lakers get to the line early.) He switched on Dirk and forced him to pass off the iso. He kept an offensive board alive, got it back and was fouled as he scored, he missed the FT. He picked up a phantom foul defending Dirk who was attacking. Good D on Dirk on iso to get a miss. Another good stand, this time winging a shot of Dirk's in the lane and recovering it. Another good challenge on help D penetration and it forced a miss. He caught a bullet feed from Kobe under the hoop and scored the And-1 layup, he made the FT to cut the lead to 5 with 3:23.

Phil -- -- The Lakers came out the second half of this game just like the last one. Not sure what's going on in the locker room, but they are sleep walking to start halves... Phil has got to get more from Lamar. You can't have games like this from him when Bynum is out. He needs to set up some set plays early to get Lamar the ball and force him to be aggressive with it... The Lakers got to the FT line early and often in the first quarter (they made 11-17, the centers missed all four they took). Phil had the Mbenga, Lamar, Kobe, Fish and Farmar lineup running with 3 minutes left in the first. The had a 31-28 advantage... A back and forth second quarter and the Lakers trailed 56-55 at the half. The Lakers shot 56 percent to the Mavs 48 percent... At the half, the coaches wanted the Lakers to play tougher individual defense. That didn't happen until late... Like in the last game, the Lakers came out the second half cold for the first several minutes. Farmar called a timeout getting trapped under the hoop. Out of the timeout, the Lakers set up a play for Kobe, but it got scrambled and we ended up with a chuck from Lamar. The run went 11-0 before Kobe hit at the 8:30 mark... After another disasterous third quarter, the Lakers trailed 91-74 to end the quarter. The Mavs had 35 points while the Lakers scored 19 in the quarter (and shot 1-6 from the line to go with 7 turnovers)... They held the Mavs to 2-13 shooting for the first half of the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 7 points... The Mbenga, Turiaf, Kobe, Sasha, Farmar lineup brought the Lakers back to within 5 points but no closer... Props to Phil for finding a lineup that worked in the fourth and sticking to it. Wish we hadn't gotten buried in the third again...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Check out who led the Lakers +/-...Mbenga. The 11-0 run at the start of the third was killer. The Lakers fought back with a 17-6 through half of the fourth.

[Crazy Like Ron Artest]

Odom
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Crazy yes......Nostrodamus no way because my predictions fail!!!!!

[Sister Golden Hair]

Mbenga was an eye-opener for me. Of course, he is a former Mav, so maybe he just knows Dirk's moves. Or, it could be he's a gamer. I liked seeing him work.

SGH

[Vadorojo]

Thanks for the recap, DB.

That pull-up 3 by Sasha was really something. You're right in saying that he looked as if he wore #24 for that moment ... he swished it, though, so more power to him.
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"I like looking at a guy's face when he realizes that even his best moves aren't going to work on me all night. They look depressed." - Ron Artest

[ChefLinda]

Thanks, DB. That must have been painful.

[Crazy Like Ron Artest]

DB, how can you be such a pro?
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Crazy yes......Nostrodamus no way because my predictions fail!!!!!

[DancingBarry]

[Crazy Like Ron Artest]

I can only imagine how the Odom part would look if I was doing your job here.
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Crazy yes......Nostrodamus no way because my predictions fail!!!!!

[alwayslakers08]

the solution for this team is to trade luke, kwame, lamar. lmao all these worthless (bleeps) are starting for us. shows you how amazing bynum is, to top it all off we lose Ariza too who shlda started ever since we traded for him
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"THIS IS OUR TURN, THIS IS OUR CHANCE, THIS IS OUR SEASON...THIS IS OUR CHAMPIONSHIP!" - Kobe Bean Bryant

GO LAKERS

[baconbish]

better luck sunday.

thanks DB - how do you prepare for these posts? record the game and write down play by plays for each player? looks tough

[StaPles Center]

[KBryantisclutch]

Texas Toast pretty much sums it up. Good read.

[DancingBarry]

[KOBE 2.0]

Was this Odom's worse game as a Laker? I know hes had a lot of em but does this beat the cake?

[Jeffs]

I don't think one dead banana does Lamar any justice.
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Jeffs

I feel like I just watched someone TRULY give 100%. Not the BS I'm-gonna-give-a-110%-just-like-everyone-else-says platitudes, but someone that went until he just....broke. - GT

[Omar Little]

[Arizona]

[Arizona]

[jd2k]

Great job as always, DB.

That errant pass by Farmar to Mbenga at the 2:30 mark in the 4th really knocked the wind out. Could have been down by only 2 or 3.

Phoenix and Boston were able to come back from behind tonight and I thought Lakers would be able to accomplish it too.

[Omar Little]

[AboveTheRim]

Great job once again.

I don't know if you want to add a section for INJURY UPDATES, but I didn't want to make a new thread just for this:

"Lakers F Vladimir Radmanovic, who has been out with a sprained ankle, is expected to practice Saturday..."

LINK
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"How are you going to tell if he's got the flu?" acting Wolves head coach Jerry Sichting said. "He's a lot like Jordan. It doesn't matter with guys like that. He made ME sick."

[tw-lakbfan]

Vlad, Mihm, no matter how weak you two may be. Come back soon if healthy and give the team a boost.

[A Mad Chinaman]

DB - Thanks for the breakdown

Question: Sonny Vacario(?!?!) stated on the radio that Kwame has lost his love of the game and desire - along with being out of shape. Do you see the same thing and what can be done for this season - especially since DB appears to be less of a liability.

[limchrc]

Thanks for the recap. Hope we play better (and win) on our next game.

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

-another dreadful 3rd being outscored 35-19.
-kwame airballed a free throw.....enough said
-why would d-fish double down on hassell and leave terry wide open for a 3 at the end of the 1st?
-please take luke out of his misery, old yeller style. its becoming more and more painful to watch him struggle out there. we need to start kobe at SF
-we dodged a bullet with kobe not being seriously hurt
-2-3 w/o bynum
-once again, turiaf cannot help us if he isnt in the game
-not sure why d-fish seems to get lost in the rotation too
-sasha,kobe, farmar all had costly turnovers that prevented us from coming back. granted without their 4th qtr effort we would have lost by 20+
-i cant believe sasha left terry alone for that 3 point dagger to seal the game. WHY DONT WE STAY HOME ON THE 3 POINT SHOOTERS?
-i knew LO had a bad game, but i didnt realize it was that bad until i came into DBs thread. i couldnt believe how badly he bricked that WIDE OPEN 3
-for some reason this game had a strange feel. the refs were very inconsistent, they would call ticky tack fouls during some stretches but let them play during others. i think during our 4th qtr comeback we got some favorable calls on the defensive end. but once we got real close they started calling ticky tack fouls again.
-how many flops does devin harris get away with? he bugs me the most of all the floppers because he does it against small guards and gets away with it. its one thing to flop if kwame runs you over, but d-fish and farmar?
-i loved the way kobe attacked the paint, he did take that long 3 in the 4th that burned us. it wasnt quite desperation time yet for that
-missed free throws cost us also(kobe,kwame,dj all had 0-2 trips)
-is vlad's ankles made of glass?
-i liked the intensity of turiafs shove on dirk.(wrong time to give up 1pt though) dirk and dampier were hacking the hell out of him with no call
-i really thought that clear path foul that kobe was rewarded was going to propel us to victory
-im less angry about this loss than the SA loss, but it hurts to have a 0-2 road trip. especially with phx winning 2 games they should have lost. as i said, it was a strange game. for me it was hard to pin point what went wrong.
-notice when we cut the mavericks lead to 9, avery called a timeout? now thats good coaching, and i'll leave it at that.
-we better be ready sunday because the cavs are going to be fired up after giving away that game to PHX.
-I'M SICK OF OUR PLAYERS SAYING THAT THEY ARE PLAYING LIKE A"BUM" AND THEN THEY COME OUT THE NEXT GAME AND PLAY LIKE A "BUM" AGAIN. NO HEART

thanks DB, no thanks lakers
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"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu