BULLS -at- LAKERS - 11/18 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Interior Attack... After a perimeter-heavy offensive game against Detroit, the Lakers went to the interior. The trio of Bynum, Pau and Lamar combined for 62 points on 24-40 shooting from our PF/C spot. The interior attack help power the Lakers to a 116-109 win over the Bulls.

"We wanted to go inside and we did. We just kept rolling," Phil said in the Times.

Offensively, the Lakers did a much better job integrating their bigmen into the flow. The team worked the offense deeper into the triangle options by making the extra pass and not settling for quick jumpers. Pau Gasol got the ball in the post with a lot more purpose. He also got out on the break, resulting in a number of transition scores. He had 34 points to lead the team.

The Lakers length caused a lot of problems for the Bulls -- 16 steals and 11 blocks for the purple and gold. So why wasn't this game a huge blowout?

A lot of sloppy little plays by the team: Guys thinking another player was going to grab a rebound and neither getting it; not finishing a number of dunks; several misfires on open alley-oops; missing point-blank tip-ins; defensive breakdowns after 20 seconds of good D; hitting a three on one end, then playing soft D and quickly giving up three on the other... The team was too loose and didn't control the boards as well as they should have. Anytime they went on a run, they let the Bulls answer with a run of their own.

A lot to take away from this game on both ends for the Lakers. Much better ball movement on one end...and a need to get back to playing every possession tough on the defensive end.


Kobe -- -- This was a much more well-rounded game from Kobe. He did a little of everything and wasn't relied upon to do as much heavy lifting offensively. His outside shot was also there. It looked like he had better legs under his attempts. He didn't get to the line in the game (should have), but he didn't attack the rim, letting the bigmen take out the interior. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 9-18 shooting (3-6 from three) to go with 5 boards, 6 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 30 minutes. The Action: He forced a shot from the elbow against Deng (trying to draw the foul) and missed. He missed a wing jumper. He swiped the ball on the perimeter, pushed it up, let his guys fill the lane and hit Pau for FTs. Great help D on Gooden when Fish had him on a switch and Kobe rejected him badly from behind. Late pass to Pau on the break and it resulted in a turnover. Virtuoso in action: Kobe went between his legs on the dribble, worked off the Lamar screen, split the double team, attacked the lane and went behind his back with the pass to Pau for a dunk (just destroyed multiple defenders in that sequence). He was off the mark on a lob to Ariza on the break and it cost us an easy deuce. Back in and he hit the long wing jumper. He worked off the high screen and finger rolled the layup down the middle of the lane. He swiped a pass on the wing to ignite the break. He swished an elbow catch and shoot. He swiped another pass a few seconds later and scored a layup around two Bulls. Great help D to block a shot and causing a shotclock violation. He took the long outlet, immediately threw it behind his back to himself then froze the D with a behind-the-back pass to a trailing Pau for the slam. He missed a three. He missed a reverse layup and wanted the foul. He gave Deng two points on an obvious goaltend that he swatted out of bounds. He had 8 points on 4-8 shooting, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks. Second Half: He sank an open wing jumper to start the half. He sank a three a few feet behind that mark just seconds later. He kept an offensive board alive to Drew who scored an And-1. He swished a step-back wing jumper. He got tapped on a three. He missed a long three with the shotclock low. He picked up his second and third fouls with holds. He missed a layup. He totally biffed a breakaway, throwing a pass back to Ariza instead of taking it in for the uncontested dunk, Ariza fumbled and recovered, sent it back to Kobe so he just launched and drained the corner three (not textbook, but you'll take it. Kobe had a sheepish grin going into the timeout). Back off the bench and he sank a three wtih the shotclock low. He missed a turnaround.

Gasol -- -- Pau was a beast out of the gates. He had 18 of the Lakers first 22 points as the team looked for him everywhere on the court. It's not just that he's a skilled player, but he also hustles. He's killing teams running the floor. "My teammates looked for a me a lot, through the whole game basically," Pau said, "and we were able to pound them inside and take advantage of that." A season high in scoring for Gasol. Defensively, he didn't anchor very well. Just wasn't altering or disrupting a lot of shots when he was at the C spot. The Stats: He scored 34 points on 14-21 shooting (6-8 from the line) to go with 6 boards (3 offensive), 3 assists, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 34 minutes. The Action: He scored an And-1 layup off the offensive glass, he made the FT. He posted up from the left side, turned to the middle of the lane and hit the short jumper. He swished a jumper off the high pinch post while cutting off Kobe (first time we've seen Pau on that end of a pinch post jumper). He worked Noah over in the post, backing him down and scoring a short And-1 jumphook, he made the FT. He drew FTs trailing the break, he made one. He missed a short fade in the lane. He faked to his left, attacked to his right and hit the lefty jumphook. He drew FTs and made one. Out on the break again, he took the pass from Lamar and dunked. Kobe split the double team, Pau rolled to the hoop, Kobe went behind his back with the pass in the lane and Pau dunked. (He had 18 of the Lakers first 22 points with that shot.) He couldn't finish an oop. He sank an open 7-footer off the interior feed from LO. He backed down Gooden, drop-stepped and went glass on the jumper. He missed a short hook with his left. Again, out on the break and Kobe rewarded him with a behind-the-back pass for dunk. He iso'd, drew the D and dished to Lamar diving for the dunk. He had 24 points on 10-14 shooting. Second Half: He missed a baseline jumper. He somehow pushed in a reverse layup even though it was being blocked at the time. He was called for a travel in the post (looked like he was dribbling the ball at the time). He sank the short wing jumper off the two-man sequence with Sasha. He took one of those Nocioni elbows trying to finish over him and drew FTs, he made both. He turned it over from the post, spinning into a help defender. Good high-low read with Ariza fronted in the post, Pau cut to the ball and made the quick pass to him, it forced the D to foul Ariza. He tipped an offensive board to himself a couple times, then missed a face-up jumper shortly later. Sasha hit him and Pau bumped off a man in the post and hit the short jumper. He missed a turnaround in the lane. He threw down an oop from Ariza in transition.

Bynum -- -- Prior to the game, Bynum mentioned that he wanted to be more aggressive with his back to the basket. That part of his game wasn't there, but he was actively causing problems on both ends for the Bulls bigmen. The Lakers also did a better job taking advantage of his size by looking for him with extra passes. The result was a number of trips to the line and more points from Drew. (Excellent 8-10 from the line.) He did a decent job anchoring the D, changing a lot of shots, but again we had some issues with a perimeter shooting bigmen and that caused us some troubles early on. His defensive positioning was also a mixed bag. When he was there, no one was scoring. When he wasn't, easy layups. "We do great at times and sometimes we relax. You can't do that," Bynum said. Bynum became the eighth youngest player to get 1,000 rebounds. "It was a decent accomplishment, but I wasn't able to get the double-double tonight," he said. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 5-10 shooting (8-10 from the line) to go with 9 boards (3 offensive), 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocks, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 30 minutes. The Action: He got hit with no call and lost the ball as he went up to shoot. He gave up an And-1 trying to recover on Gooden. He was swatted going up softly under the hoop. He took a lob from Kobe against Gooden and drew a foul, he made both. He drew FTs when Kobe set up the high-low sequence, he made one. Poor D and his man dunked off the interior pass. He kept an offensive board alive, got it back, head faked Thomas and scored the layup off the glass. Second Half: He scored an And-1 trying to cram in an offensive board that Kobe kept alive, he made the FT. He blocked a shot and controlled it under the rim. He took the airball or pass from Kobe and scored the And-1 layup over Noah, he missed the FT. He missed a jumphook over Gooden. He took the high entry, pivoted away from the help D and drew FTs, he made both. He blocked Gooden's jumper on one end, trailed the break and tried to throw down on the other, getting back to the line, he made both FTs. He blocked a man, secured a board and hit Ariza with a long outlet. He drained a 16-footer from the middle of the middle of the lane. He somehow beat Noah down the court, took the long outlet and dunked. He couldn't one-hand in a lob from Farmar in traffic.

Radmanovic -- -- Vlad picked up a contusion in practice, but was still good to go for this one. If he has to get pulled from the starting unit, you never know if he will return to that role with the talent available behind him. So, you know he's not going without a fight. Nothing spectacular from Vlad tonight, but he played some decent D and our SF spot kept the Bulls SFs at bay all night. He's due to knock down some threes, but he didn't force the issue on anything tonight (well, there was a horrific post play, but otherwise...) The Stats: He scored 5 points on 1-4 shooting (0-2 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 26 minutes. He was a +16. The Action: He kept a board alive for Pau to score an And-1. He and Pau suffocated Deng forcing him to throw it away instead of shoot. He missed a corner three. He filled the lane, took the pass and was tugged down around the neck by Gooden while scoring the And-1 layup (flagrant on Gooden), he made the FT. He was fouled off the touch pass from Pau under the hoop, he made both FTs. He airballed a three. Second Half: Horrible post attempt, stepping back to brick a fade over a smaller man, yuck (wrong direction, Vlad. Get closer to the hoop with a smaller guy). He blocked Rose's drive. He swiped a pass on the perimeter. Great reach on Gordon and he forced him to throw the ball away.

Fisher -- -- He's still in pain from taking some shots while fighting through the screens, but was good to go tonight. He was back in the pinball machine, bouncing off screens and getting dumped to the floor. Painful minutes. Offensively, this was a much better game from Fish. He didn't force the perimeter shots. He didn't hoist up a host of early offense jumpers. He allowed our post guys to dictate the offense. Complete role reversal. That's much better for the team. Defensively, a tough cover in young Derrick Rose. Rose went for 25 points and 9 dimes...he's going to do that a lot. (Hinrich and Hughes look like castaways on this Bulls team). The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-9 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists and no fouls in 29 minutes. The Action: He attacked the lane and hit a floater. He missed a pull-up FT jumper. No one stopped him so he kept going to the rack and scored the layup. He missed a three. He swished an open wing three in transition. He took another shot on a screen and went down in pain (he was hobbling). He forced a runner and bricked. He swished a wing jumper off the split play with Pau. Second Half: He was rejected out of bounds.

Lamar -- -- Very aggressive minutes from Lamar. Yeah, okay, he fouled out in only 22 minutes, but he stuffed the statsheet in that time. He did pick up a bogus foul or two and that limited his minutes, instead of Phil and his hook. Still, he almost managed a double-double. He also had blocks and steals. He ended up as the only bench player with a positive +/- with a +5. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 5-9 shooting, grabbed 8 boards (3 offensive), dished 5 assists, had 3 steals and 3 blocks to go with 2 turnovers and 6 fouls in 22 minutes. The Action: Good transition D to roof a man. The Bulls threw a pass to him, he pushed out the break and hit Pau for the dunk. He got stripped in the lane. He choked a layup off the two-man sequence with Ariza. He missed a layup, got it back and scored his next one. He took the Ariza FT miss, attacked and used his length to score the layup. He rejected Bynum's man on help D. He cut baseline, took the pass from Kobe and quickly fed Pau for the short jumper. He tied up Deng for a jumpball. He tapped a rebound to himself, pounded the dribble up court, weaved his way into the lane and went glass with his left around the defender. His man sagged on Pau, Lamar dive-cut down the lane and threw down the dunk when Pau hit him. Horrible call on a swat by Lamar, giving Gordon two FTs he didn't deserve. He picked up his third foul, hitting Nocioni on a three-pointer. He had 8 points on 4-6 shooting. Second Half: He missed a point-blank tip-in. He missed a baseline jumper. He picked up his fourth foul on a push-off away from the ball and had to sit. He swished a baseline jumper off the drive and kick from Farmar.

Ariza -- -- Ariza left a lot of points on the table. Missed some easy ones, even freethrows. When it was all said and done, he had a big goose egg. Trevor gets his usual 10 points off his garbage plays and that probably makes the biggest difference in why we didn't have the blowout despite our off-and-on defense. We missed that off-the-ball efficiency. He had some words with Sasha (for more on that, see Sasha's section below). The Stats: He didn't score on 0-5 shooting (0-2 from the line) to go with 2 offensive boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 18 minutes. The Action: He couldn't finish a late lob pass from Kobe when he was left alone. He drew a foul on the break and missed both FTs. Second Half: He stripped his man for a turnover. He somehow missed a give-and-go alley-oop, back-rimming the dunk. He hit Pau on the break with an oop for a slam. He missed a layup.

Farmar -- -- Some foul troubles and telegraphed passes. He also couldn't connect from three. Those areas took the luster off an otherwise good game. The foul issues from him and the bench really took the Lakers out of a the second-quarter. He and Sasha had two fouls each to quickly put the Lakers in the penalty and essentially they picked up where they left off in the fourth quarter of Detroit. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-12 shooting (0-3 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 19 minutes. The Action: He bricked a reverse, got it back and scored the layup. He missed a wide open three at the end of the first quarter. Telegraphed perimeter pass and it was picked off for a dunk the other way. He had three quick fouls and had to sit. Second Half: He probed off the Pau screen and hit he left-handed layup. He worked off the screen and swished the wing jumper. He attacked down the lane and drew FTs, he swished both. He attacked and kicked to Lamar for a short jumper. He telegraphed a pass to Hunter, tracked him down from behind and swatted Hunter off the glass. Farmar, himself, got swatted seconds later on the other end. Nice try again standing in and taking a charge on a baseline drive, looked like he was there but the ref said it was a block (still, I like seeing it). He missed an open three. He missed another wing jumper next time down. He swiped a pass, got it back from Ariza and hit a hanging layup. Rose hit a J on him, Farmar attacked on the other end and scored a layup.

Vujacic -- -- Trevor was in his face after Sasha was griping about a call, pointing a finger at him as they discussed something. Hard to tell what was said, but it was an interesting bit of emotion from Trevor, regardless. From reports, it sounds like Ariza was upset with Sasha not moving the ball, which the team has not been doing well in prior games. Pau, apparently had to separate the two on the bench. "Trevor let it out, and it was unfortunate to see that on the floor," Phil said in the Times. Ariza added: "It was just a little disagreement. We're all good now." Sasha, again, had some foul-prone minutes, but he also led the team in steals. He probably needs to back off a notch from some of his extended perimeter D. I think that's drawing the ref's attention. Offensively, some nice two-man sequences, especially with Pau later in the game. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-3 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 1 rebound, 4 assists, 4 steals, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 19 minutes. The Action: He swiped a pass, tried to throw down the uncontested dunk and missed. He deflected a pass to ignite the break. He was called for a couple quick fouls and Trevor was in his ear as they went to the bench. Second Half: He set Pau up for a jumper off the two-man game. He was nearly trapped on the sideline but flipped it to Pau who scored over the flopping Thomas. Excellent challenge on Hughes on one end to force a brick, then he pumped in the wing three on the other.

Luke -- -- Luke was dusted off for a series of stints at the end of quarters. Not much to report. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-2 shooting, had 1 board and 1 turnover in 3 minutes. The Action: He came in at the end of the first and second quarters for a single possession, he missed a baseline jumper. Second Half: More token PT, this time coming in with more than 2 minutes left and a 14-point lead. He threw a pass away for a dunk. He missed a turnaround on the baseline.

Powell -- -- He got some PT with Lamar in foul trouble in the second half. In short minutes, he managed to take several shots and hit the boards with his usual activity. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-5 shooting, had 3 boards and 2 fouls in 8 minutes. The Action: No first half action. Second Half: He missed a short jumper wide left. He pulled down an offensive board and his shot was goaltended. He tried to take Simmons off the dribble and was swatted. He flashed to the FT line and hit the jumper. He missed a 17-footer.

Phil -- -- The teams were tied 13-13 at the first timeout. Gooden was nailing jumper after jumper while the bigs tried to protect the paint. We didn't go at him on the offensive end (we did go after Noah who sat with foul trouble). We attacked Gooden on the first couple possession out of the timeout... With the offense clicking, the D kept giving up layups and easy scores. Phil called timeout late in the first with a 27-25 lead... The Lakers led the first quarter 30-29, Pau scoring 18 of those... The Laker second unit got into the penalty with under 2 minutes into the second quarter... The Lakers missing several lobs, dunks and FTs... Lakers pulled out with a 13-0 run... They stretched the lead to 17 points, then gave up a series of easy scores as the Bulls went on a 12-2 run... The Lakers led 61-56 at the half, out-shooting the Bulls 50 percent to 45 percent. The Lakers had 9 steals and 6 blocks in the half... The Lakers had an early 8-0 run to start the half... The team then pulled out to an 82-65 lead... They led 90-74 after playing a strong two-way game for most of third quarter... With a 10-point lead with more than 3 minutes left, Phil brought Kobe back in to make sure nothing crazy happened... The Lakers were out-rebounded 48-43, but had 16 steals and 11 blocks to go with 27 assists...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Some good Laker runs in the second and third quarters, but the Bulls would always bounce back with a run of their own. Lakers simply relaxing and getting too loose after getting leads.

[japanesebeef1]

First!

I knew that DB would know what happened with Ariza and Sasha.

The world is right . . . Laker's win and DB has his analysis up.

As always, great job and thanks DB.

[waterman40]

Second!
_________________
LAKERS 2019-2020: NBA World Champions!

[SoCaLjAy]

Thanks DB...these recaps are the main reason I hit up LG regularly.

[guberchink]

[DancingBarry]

[Sister Golden Hair]

Stellar recap, as usual, DB.

One thing that tonite's game cemented in my mind (that I've been wanting to take note of) is how well Pau runs the floor for a big man. I can't think of another big in the league that runs end to end as well as he does. When he played for memphis, I never really noted that part of his game, but now that he's a lakers he almost catches me by surprise that he gets out so fast and finishes so well on the break. When he extends to dunk it brings back memories of Big Game james.

SGH

[DancingBarry]

[Tony Almeida]

Thanks, DB.

There's been a lot of talk regarding the Laker offense (perimeter vs. inside/out), and the root cause of why the Lakers sometimes settle for perimeter ball.

From what I've seen, and saw once again tonight, there seems to be several issues.

1. Bynum does not seem to consistently get deep post positioning (I saw him drifting rather aimlessly out to mid and high post tonight), and when he does get the ball, he doesn't seem to be confident or decisive with his skill set. Might be a combo of working back into game shape, trusting the knee, and not getting the ball in his sweet spot.

2. Post entry. It's rather frustrating watching so many Laker players unable to throw a proper post entry pass, and rather just swing it around the perimeter. On the occasions that Bynum does get good position, there are times when Vlad or Fish simply swing it around the three point line (at least tonight they didn't force up as many jumpers).

Anyways, it was nice seeing Gasol feeling it tonight, and the Lakers riding the hot hand.

[DancingBarry]

[DancingBarry]

[Sister Golden Hair]

[George W Buss]

My favorite moment is when Kobe laughed like crazy when LO got tossed out. It was hillarious

[LakerSanity]

DB, I don't know if its Bynum being tenative, but honestly, aside from setting screens, how often does he actually move without the ball? Our PFs go weak to strong side all the time when the ball is reversed... LO and Gasol are especially good at following the ball. Bynum instead tends to watch and almost seems like he wants to avoid causing congestion (or he's just lazy or confused). Sometimes, its almost like he doesn't want to be a scoring threat.... this game, for example, there were many instances where he would pass it as soon as he got it.

He has the ability to get deeper position and seal his man. He has the ability to pass out and re-post (he did it often late last year). Maybe it really is just about him getting comfortable and getting his legs back under him (as he says). I always knew it would take time for him to get back after 8 months of not playing ball... but certainly the things you mention could do nothing but help those efforts.

We should be satisfied though that Bynum is legitimately being discussed as a DPOY candidate and 1st team all defense player. For a guy we wanted to focus on defense and rebounding, not much to complain about there (even though the rebounding can still improve a tad).
_________________
LakersGround's Terms of Service

Twitter: @DeleteThisPost

[AllorNothing]

Anybody notices that Bynum takes as long as Shaq in terms of getting to set the offense. By the time he gets in the play, there is only enough time for him to set a high pick for the ballhandler.

[PakaLOLO]

thxs
_________________
I speak Emoji

[chilake24]

any questions,come to see DB;s thought and ratings

[limchrc]

Thanks, nice to get back in the winning column.

[golden1]

Thanks DB, always good to read your game recap.

[king255]

I don't think Sasha is going to be less aggressive with his D, and quite frankly, I'm not sure I want him to. It seems that there are some quarters where we go an entire quarter where we only have 2 or 3 team fouls, so Phil's philosophy is, hey, why not be more aggressive earlier.

And I actually like the way Bynum played D earlier in the year, in which he was willing to sacrifice his own stats by not conceding ANYTHING. Lately, he's been conceding more and I think our D has softened up a bit(his D is still very good, but it's not shutdown anymore.) I mean, it seems like once you've given the opposing center just one dunk, that's enough to get him going.

[oldschool32]

I still say the team's play is very inconsistant and the defense has a ton of work that needs to be done. That said, it sure is nice to be 8-1 while they continue to figure things out.
_________________
"It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up."-The Greatest

[king255]

Thinking back to the Detroit game, I thought Bynum could have fouled Kwame a couple of times and make him hit his free throws, so yeah, our defense is definitely suffering by him being a little softer inside(which is not really that soft by most standards, it's just that if you can afford not to concede anything, then it's better to do that), not just the points that you lost at the time, but also what kind of rhythm you put them in for the rest of the game, by giving them the uncontested dunk.

And sometimes, if you fouled hard enough, even if it's a flaglant, it forces the crowd and entire team to "wake up," i.e play with more effort, and that's definitely something that can't be quantified, yet is worth a hell lot.

[vanexelent]

From LA Times...

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

[king255]

Honestly, the guy that should be more aggressive defensively is Fisher. Right now, he's the most useless member on the team, and is not doing anything to impede the opposing point guards, so why does he "get to play soft" and stay in the game?

I thought it was ironic that PJ pulled Farmar after he fouled someone to prevent a transition basket, which I thought was a smart play. Now before you say we made a run with Fisher, no, we didn't, we made a run with the Gasol and Odom tandem. In fact, it was Fisher who gave up consecutive baskets to Rose that started to put them back into it, right when we were on the verge of blowing it wide open.