KINGS -at- LAKERS - 11/23 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

A win is a Win... The Lakers have opened this season in a manner that leaves fans discussing whether a win was a "good win" or a "bad win." Nice problems to have.

When the Lakers had given up big quarters this year, one of the things you saw was transition D issues -- turnovers on one end allowing their opponents to get good looks on the other. The Kings capitalized on Laker mistakes to the tune of 30 points off 18 turnovers. That's going to hurt.

It wasn't just off turnovers. The Kings were able to get layups off our made baskets, too. They pushed the tempo like the Phoenix Suns of old, taking quick shots and open looks whenever they could. So, there's your transition D problems coming to the front again.

The Lakers also had breakdowns in the half court. You rarely saw them able to set up their help-D zone. They overplayed on the Kings split plays, giving up layups on backdoors. Did you see any low-post play from the Kings? No. Their bigs play on the perimeter. Again, this pulls the Laker bigs away from the hoop and opens up our D.

The result of all this was that the Kings capitalized on our weaknesses and throttled up the score. Not that it mattered, the Lakers still won 118-108.

"I thought our guys' effort was okay," Phil said, "it was just our understanding of some of their techniques." He's right. A lot of tonight's issues can be fixed with some intelligent effort. I suspect, they will work out some of these problems in the next few weeks.



Kobe -- -- Decent all-around game from Kobe. He was aggressively setting up teammates and looking for his bigmen with some regularity, while mixing in his own scoring. Defensively, he had issues like everyone else. He got beat off the ball on a few plays as the Kings cut behind him. With the Kings chipping back into the game in the fourth, Kobe came back in and restored order with a 9-0 run. He led all Lakers with a +21. The Stats: He scored 24 points on 10-20 shooting (0-1 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 6 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 34 minutes. The Action: He posted up, back Salmons down and hit the short turnaround. He sank a pull-up wing jumper in transition. He rattled in a baseline fade on the in-bounds pass. He iso'd on the left side, attacked and drew FTs, he made both. He posted up in transition, spun and swished the 13-footer. He missed a reverse off the baseline attack, but Bynum cleaned it up). He got caught in the air and threw the ball away. He forced up and missed a tough alley-oop that he should have brought down. He up-faked to lose his man, attacked and no-looked to LO to his right for the And-1 dunk. Late recognition on Bynum open under the hoop and it allowed a defender to recover and steal the pass. Wild pass, way off the mark on a kickout and it led to a score the other way. He missed a fade against the shotclock. He backed his man down and lobbed to Bynum for the dunk. He missed a bank. He missed a running hook that had Kareem smiling from the sideline. Second Half: He hit a pull-up jumper at the FT line. He spun in the lane and bricked badly expecting a whistle. He tried to draw contact on a jumper and didn't draw iron. He swatted Thompson from behind. He attacked a lane from the wing and scored a layup. He hit Fish on kickouts for a couple of threes. He swiped a pass and outlet to Farmar who drew FTs. He attacked the lane to his right, drop-stepped and scored the layup. His man shaded him baseline, Kobe took it and hammered the dunk (nice seal by Lamar on the help D). He outworked his man under the hoop to pull down a Fish miss and he drew FTs, he made both. He took contact in transition and missed, but Gasol followed it up and scored. He stepped past his man, attacked, hung in the air around a defender and spun in a pretty reverse. His man hedged on a screen, Kobe went the other way and swished the wing jumper. He missed a reverse. He missed a three.

Gasol -- -- Pau uses the ball-fake exceptionally well. It's often a subtle move before he goes into his attack and it freezes opponents or gets them off balance. He did that several times in this game. He probably could have used a few more post touches, but the Lakers spread the wealth around tonight. Defensively, the Kings pull our bigs from the hoop with their perimeter-oriented bigmen and that makes it tough to anchor. Our no-fly zone on the interior opens wide when we face teams like that. At some point in this season, we may also want to work on some regular zones to allow our bigmen to patrol the paint against teams like that. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 7-14 shooting (2-3 from the line) to go with 7 boards (3 offensive) and no assists or fouls in 34 minutes. The Action: He ball-faked his man off him and hit the FT jumper. He didn't box out his man and gave up a putback dunk. He missed the jumphook short. He missed a long baseline jumper. He got blocked in the post. Great job filling the lane on the break and Sasha hit him for the layup. Again, as the Lakers went defense to offense, he was out ahead of the pack an dunked. He missed a 12-footer in the lane. Second Half: He attacked off the dribble from the wing, foul on Hawes, he made one FT. He yanked down a DFish miss and threw it back down. Out of a timeout, he took the post feed, ball-faked to his left and hit the And-1 fade going to his right, he made the FT. Superb footwork, a subtle fake to his left as he planted his right foot past the defender's right leg, he then pivoted on him (instant seal) and he scored the layup. Great job in transition, getting out quick and tapping back in a missed layup from Kobe. He missed trying to work the post. He missed a layup.

Bynum -- -- Offensively, he had more opportunities to go to work and use his size in the post. He had some pretty good success with it except for one major area -- turnovers. He coughed the ball up a number of times. So, while he had a good shooting percentage, he wasn't quite as efficient as the numbers might seem. Late in the game, the Kings capitalized on this and forced Phil to pull Bynum for Gasol. Defensively, Bynum ranks No. 2 in the league in blocks, but couldn't anchor with Miller pulling him outside. He ended up with a -10. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-8 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 10 boards (3 offensive), 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 blocks, 6 turnovers and 3 fouls in 28 minutes. The Action: He didn't power up under the hoop and was stripped. He missed a jumphook. He flushed down a missed reverse by Kobe. He posted up Miller, went up and under and scored with his left. He backed down his man and tried to throw down the dunk, missing it (great attempt, more please, even if Kareem looked like he just tasted something bad after the miss). He out-reached his man for an offensive board, surveyed the floor, then backed Miller down and hit the jumphook. He took the lob from Kobe and flushed it. Second Half: He traveled in the post after backing Miller down on the dribble. He posted up Miller, got hit as he turned, but still muscled up the And-1, he missed the FT. Excellent job not to force a lob that wasn't there, he gathered it in, attacked the middle and hit the And-1 with his left, he made the FT. He got hit in the post, coughed it up and it led to a layup on the other end. He coughed it up again the next time down and another transition score. He took Miller off the dribble and drew FTs on the throwdown attempt, he made both. He knocked Miller over, lowering his shoulder on a spin, turnover.

Radmanovic -- -- Vlad had a lot of color going on in his face. He had the shooter's glasses on to protect his black, blue and red eye from further irritation. The yellowish-orange lenses he wore didn't affect his sniper's touch, however. He drained several threes to start the game. He's not even hitting rim on his threes right now. The Impaler stringing some quality games together again. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 4-6 shooting (4-5 from three) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 19 minutes. The Action: He forced his man into a clear-out foul with the tight post D. He was swatted, not being decisive with a shot under the hoop. He swished the wing three on his first attempt from distance. He curled of the weakside screen and swished another three. Back in, he swished a corner three with a man on him. Second Half: Same play coming from the weaskide and he swished a three. He missed his next three.

Fisher -- -- Let's do one of those the Good, the Bad and the Ugly breakdowns. The Good: catching and shooting the open threes when we go inside-out. The Bad: not going inside-out and forcing up early offense jumpers (especially against a running team when our bigs aren't set to get offensive boards and still in no-man's land). The Ugly: Anything going into the paint off the dribble. Defensively, not having our bigmen behind our guards sure let in a ridiculous number of layups. Not just Fish here, it happened to a number of Lakers. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 3-12 shooting (2-4 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 rebound, 5 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 28 minutes. The Action: He swished an early offense wing jumper from the right side. He bricked a layup badly. He missed a baseline jumper. He bricked a pull-up fade in the lane. Horrible pass to Kobe, hitting him in the foot on what would have been a sure score. He crossed over, attacked and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a baseline jumper. Second Half: He clanked a pull-up jumper in early offense, then gave up dribble pentration on the other end. He was swatted on another drive. He swished a three off the kickout from Kobe. He missed a jumper trying to create with the shotclock low. He drained another three off the kickout from Kobe. He missed an elbow jumper. He missed a three on a kickout from Pau. He attacked the lane and hit the runner, but it was erased with the charge call.

Lamar -- -- Lamar had some Mr. Hustle sequences in this game that makes you love the identity he seems to have embraced off the bench. At the end of the night, he had starter's minutes but he looked like he was in a different gear compared to a lot of people on the floor. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 7-9 shooting (0-1 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 34 minutes. The Action: He pulled down an offensive board, but was stripped a second later. He hammered down an And-1 dunk off the no-looker from Kobe, he missed the FT. He posted up on the right block, spun baseline and scored the layup. He faced up Miller, crossed over, blew past him and scored the easy layup. He swiped the outlet pass and hit Vlad for a three. He cut off a screen for Farmar, took the return feed and scored the layup. Second Half: Great sequence here: He missed a layup on a hard attack to his left, hustled back on D, swatted a shot in transition, hustled back the other way and scored a layup -- great two-way hustle, love it. He swished a baseline jumper off the kickout from Farmar. He crossed-over, attacked and drew contact with no call. He attacked to his left off the handoff and scooped in the layup.

Ariza -- -- "I want that second unit to be together," Phil said before the game. Trevor agrees. He likes his role with that change-of-pace second unit. Plus, you can't break the Law. Trevor put up some numbers tonight, going for a double-double and a number of assists and steals. He's 13th in the league in steals per game, third in steals per 48 minutes of action. He's got to work on those freethrows, though. He's shooting slightly below his career average of 64 percent right now. It seems like he's very streaky from the line. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-9 shooting (0-1 from three, 3-6 from the line) to go with 11 boards (5 offensive), 5 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 25 minutes. The Action: Quick first step on the baseline and he drew FTs, he made one. He missed a tough fade. Good hands on help D, deflecting and stripping a number of players. He pushed out the break after a steal and hit Pau for the score. He busted out, took the pass from Farmar, took contact but still finished a layup. He stretched his arm back to snag and guide in a missed jumper by Pau. He beat everyone down court and Kobe found him for the dunk. He got knocked down from behind by Miller (clubbed on the head), blowing past him under the hoop, he made one FT. He missed a baseline jumper. Second Half: He missed an 18-footer. He missed an up and under, but got it back and reset the offense. He was called for a clear out after spinning to lose his man. He missed an early offense three, poor shot selection. Next time down, he trailed the break, took the pass, showed the ball up high, brought it down low and scored in the layup with some spin off the glass. He drew FTs, trailing the break when Kobe hit him with a behind-the-back pass, he made one FT. He stretched out and poked a pass loose for a steal.

Farmar -- -- "We were just a step slow," Farmar said. He said they needed to continue to focus on working the ball inside and getting inside-out possessions. I agree. Wonder why DFish seems to be doing the opposite sometimes. Farmar was as soft as everyone else on D. His man got a number of layups. Bobby Brown had 21 points and 7 assists off the bench. Just torched us. Jordan was able to get to the line when he tried to take it back at the Kings. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 2-4 shooting (0-1 from three, 6-8 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 20 minutes. The Action: He missed a pull-up baseline jumper. He missed an early offense three. He swished a wing pull-up jumper against the shotclock. He gave up a layup to Brown, Farmar then attacked him back at the other end to get to the line, he made both FTs. He attacked off the LO screen, hung in the air and hit Lamar for the layup. He pushed it out in transition and drew FTs, he made one. Second Half: He attacked with speed on the break, took contact and drew FTs, he made one. He drew more FTs, he made both this time. He attacked off the Bynum hand off, used his body well to power up against the bigmen and scored the layup.

Vujacic -- -- The Machine was the only Laker who didn't manage to get to double digits. Too bad. That would have been cool to see. Good effort from Sasha, tallying a couple more steals this game. Phil even got him out there along side Kobe (at the SF) which is what I'd like to see a little more of. The Stats: he scored 6 points on 2-5 shooting (2-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 19 minutes. The Action: Great clock recognition, scooping up a loose ball and pulling up at the top of the three line to hit a three just before the first quarter buzzer went off. He got blocked on a layup attempt with the shotclock low. Second Half: He dribbled to the corner and drained the three. He forced up and missed a jumper off a bad pass (should have reset the offense). He missed a pull-up jumper in transition.

Phil -- -- Looks like Phil can hammer the guys on their transition D after this one... The Lakers had 7 first-quarter turnovers, but still led 32-27 after the first quarter. Turnovers leading to early offense opportunities fot the Kings... They gave up a 9-0 run to start the second quarter... They countered with an 8-0 run... The Lakers led 61-52 at the half. The Lakers had 12 turnovers. Both teams shot above 50 percent... "We threw the ball all over the gym in the first half. They're 24th in the league in steals and they had 9 steals in the first half," Hamblen said. (The Kings had 2 steals in the second half.)... Phil went with a Pau, Lamar, Kobe, Sasha, Fisher lineup on his first round of subs in the third quarter... The Lakers immediately had 12-0 run... The Lakers led 96-80 heading into the fourth... The Kings cut the lead to 5 and Phil called timeout. 11-2 Kings run... He brought back in Kobe, Fisher and Pau and the team went on a 9-0 run... Phil gave the Kings credit for running their offense well. The Kings shot 53 percent from the floor...

Game Flow -- LINK -- The Lakers looked like they took the game over late in the third with a 12-0 run. The Kings chipped back in to start the third. Once Kobe and Co. came back in they put an end to that.

[japanesebeef1]

First.

I'm curious about your feelings about Bynum's defense tonight. It seemed as though Miller and the rookie were getting a lot of back door easy layups. Was this Bynum not paying attention, or the result of poor perimeter defense and Bynum over reacting. I noticed he's the only starter with a negative +/-. What do you think DB?

[mugwump]

That's right. It's difficult to get up for every game, and the Lakers tend to play down to the competition at times. Some very sloppy play, though.

[LakerSanity]

The problems with Fish's shooting continues... however, the larger problem is our defense at PG - Fish looks worse than ever and Farmar is getting burnt by back ups seemingly every game.

It was nice to see Bynum's scoring touch improving, but the TOs were an issue and he hasn't anchored as well the last few games either. I'll be looking for him to put a game together where he looks good on both sides... there are signs its all coming together though.

Kobe looked more in check today as well. His D wasn't really there (nor was it from anyone really today), but he still looked more patient overall... that's key.

I still think we're underutilizing Pau. However, there isn't a lot to take from a game against an opponent as pathetic as the Kings. Winning should pretty much be a given with this team, so the larger issue is how they won. Defense got an F tonight.... both in transition and in the half court.
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[D-Dogg]

Typo bro:

Bynum...a numbers of times.

Great recap..love it. The first thing I'm itching to read after games I can't watch!
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[10scott10]

[LakerSanity]

I was confused as to why we had Pau on Hawes and Bynum on Miller. That made no sense to me, I figured it would have naturally been the opposite. That said, both can shoot the 3 and from midrange, so maybe if that had been the case, they simply would have had Hawes take him outside while Miller worked more often inside.
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[yanyon]

sasha's defense is just plain sucking right now and it really irritates me when he tries so hard to go inside the paint but when stopped goes and passes for a turnover... arrrghhh... he is better off staying behind the key and clanking those 3s....


sorry, i just needed to vent?!!!

[parsons777]

[Mation]

Thanks DB!

[Dr. Laker]

As usual. Great job.
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[billstein]

Unbelievable. Once again our guards allow an average opposing guard to look like a superstar. Brown's career high was a stinking 13 points. Tonight against our front court he's unstoppable!

[20,000]

[Addicus]

Why is Lamar a better player this year? He finishes at the rim with dunks. This eliminates the missed layups. His movement on both ends is impressive.

Fish really needs to realize Vlad is on fire and rotate the ball. So do the other starters.

Vlad needs to stay on fire.

Farmar vs Brown doesn't piss me off because they know each other and have faced each other for years. They couldn't stop one another and they both knew it before the game started. What we saw is what happens at the UCLA courts every off season.

Bynum has nearly no offensive court awareness currently. 6 to's is ridiculous for a big. Most of that was him attempting to do what Pau does and make moves from 10 feet out. The little guards just blitzed him. Reminded me of Tim Duncan in his second year. I enjoyed watching him aggressively rebound with 2 hands and elevate to hit the boards and shoot.

Kobe and Pau play with a lot of grace and patience. They really see the game develop. Beautiful basketball.

I would like to go on record now to say Rondo is going to reap havoc on our defense if Fisher, Farmar or Sasha have to guard him. KG will pull Pau or Drew out the post and Rondo is going to attack. I hope we develop another zone for teams with penetrating guards and distance shooting bigs or we/e in trouble. I trust we will but not actually show it until Christmas Day.

Thanks for the writeup DB.
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[targetman]

Farmar was driving me crazy. He is impressive on offense but his defense is a crime. He hasn't earned the right to take plays off like he does.

Didn't they say that Ariza went to high school with Bobby Brown?
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[limchrc]

Thanks. Glad we still won the game.

[SladeRider]

[mefor3]

good game Lakers!!!

improve on D, and Fish please stop shooting

[Klone_dd]

A win by any other name is still a win, but last night's game still shows room for improvement.

Consistent effort on the D end is probably the hardest thing to do. The Celts were able to do it last year and the Pistons in their title year. The Lakers don't have it yet. Because they've allowed 100+ in 3 of the last 4 home games, it seems like they're relaxing at Staples.

I do like that the starters were able to close out the game by holding Sac to 7 pts in the final 6 minutes.

Bynum's TOs were ugly. Good to see Vlad continue to bomb away. It's good to know when things get ragged, we have Kobe in attack mode.

[_#1_]

The Fish Farm will never be great defenders. We all know that. But Fish's refusal to run the offense in it's context has no excuse. Problem is Farmar as a floor general, he has a way to go. The offense under Farmar just runs sloppy. Being paired with Sasha a lot will do that, but Jordan plays on the edge of control. He needs to focus on execution. Get that second unit focused. Fish can run the offense provided the little "Chuckster" quits jacking shots but we have been waiting weeks for that to happen and he is still trying to shoot his way out of it. ugh.

[Discoflux]

I like/agree with your breakdown on Lamar's play.

[Rick12322]

[DancingBarry]

[japanesebeef1]

[10scott10]