PACERS -at- LAKERS - 1/9 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Deja Vu?... You reach into your pocket and pull out a balled-up cocktail napkin. It's the will you wrote up many nights ago. Taking a final swig of your drink, you read it over. An '80s synthpop ballad starts up that gets you off the bar stool and pushes you out of the door quickly.

As you merge with the crowds on the street, something is bothering you. In the distance you see flashing lights. An Ambulence. Police cars. You start walking faster and soon break into a trot.

Then you stop in your tracks. You've been here before. You've done this exact same thing, haven't you? Slowly, you push past onlookers and, again, there's that beat cop you recognize. You nod at him and he lets you through.

You see skidmarks, an upside down sport car, white and yellow with tinted windows and a "PACERS" plate. A piece of purple and gold paper pokes out from the tailpipe. Deja vu. As you grab it, you also pull out your phone waiting for the call. Like clockwork, it rings, and it's her. This time, you speak first. "I met a man who mentioned something about The Association?" you say. "What is it? Who are they?"

"The Association?" She sounds nervous. "You might as well ask what the Illuminati is or who the Bonesmen are or what the DHARMA Initiative really is. The Association? They're the puppetmasters of the puppetmasters. I'm telling you now, don't go poking your nose in their business. Don't go looking for answers they don't want you to hear."

"I don't understand," you say as you walk from the wreckage. "What's their role in all this?"

"They're why we fight," she says. "They're why we battle for Little Larry O'Brien year after year." Maybe the world's gone crazy. Maybe this sounds normal to her. But to you, it's madness. "What do you mean?" you ask. "Why would they do that?"

"Why?!!" she laughs. "Why? They're in it for the money. We're talking billions. Billions. That's what they use Larry for. That's what the Golden Child means to them. They don't care about greatness. They don't care about anything else. I'm telling you, don't go poking around their business."

You unfold the purple and gold paper already knowing it's from that DancingBarry. You read:

Three of the Four Horsemen were here. Each of the three took their turn in fighting an opponent who had surprised them in the battlefield weeks ago. Like last time, the fight came down to the final moments. Word to the wise: If you try to go one-on-one against Death, you better have some life insurance. Death claimed another victim.

I will continue to follow them...

Kobe Bryant eyed the clock as he pounded the dribble. He had Jarrett Jack on single coverage and a tie game in the balance. The Pacers could double him as they had all night and Kobe could add on to his season-high 13 assists. Or, they could hope ... pray ... Jack could get the stop. As the clock ticked away, Kobe backed Jack down, rose up on a turnaround and shot over him from 16 feet out. Money...with 3 seconds left.

On the other end, there would be no last-second heroics for the Pacers. No Troy Murphy tip-in plays. The ball died in Jeff Foster's hands when he couldn't find an open three shooter. Ball game. Lakers win, 121-119.

There's a reason these two teams cannot defend each other. The Pacers can't defend anyone. Only two teams give up more points. The Lakers, on the other hand, have a hard time with some specific issues.

"They keep us away from the strengths of our defensive group," Phil said of the Pacers. "Their offense is geared to put pressure through high-post ball and running screen-rolls and actions at the middle of the court."

Sound familiar? This is a specific area of weakness that teams like the Kings have exposed again and again. Bigmen who can shoot and play in the high post. Attacks off screen-rolls from the top of the key. And, if the Lakers overplay their men, look out for the backdoors with no one down low to protect the paint.


Kobe -- -- Kobe did a ton of heavy lifting tonight. That was a difficult 42 minutes. He set the table again and again in the offense, hitting open teammates after drawing the D. The Pacers had no answer but to pack it in and swarm him. All that work seemed to catch up with him a little bit in the middle of the fourth. Then, the final minutes came and he answered the call with a series of scores. Defensively, he started on Granger in a cross-match. He did a better job than anyone else. He still had issues with the overplaying. "This team plays us tough because of their system and they way they operate," Kobe said. The best defense, however, appeared to be a good offense. Because of the cross-match, Granger would often end up on Kobe. As a result, he battled foul trouble all game until finally fouling out on a poor reach on Kobe. The Stats: He scored 36 points on 10-20 shooting (1-4 from three, 15-17 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 13 assists, 1 steal, 5 turnovers and 3 fouls in 42 minutes. The Action: He swished a stepback three from the sideline. He attacked, drew the D and set up Vlad for the open three. He missed a step-back wing jumper. He got backdoored for a dunk. He swished a long jumper from the left side. He attacked with speed into the offensive zone and drew FTs, he made both. He spun, lost the ball after contact and stared at the ref right next to him. He missed a three. Overly aggressive D and he picked up another foul defending Granger (overplaying him quite a bit). He swung through on a three and drew Granger's third foul, he made all three FTs. He took contact and lost the ball with no call. He threw his second pass away trying to go over the top of a fronting defender. He deflected a pass, dove to the floor and helped regain possession. He split a double and hit the fading wing pull-up. He posted up Jack and drew FTs on the turnaround, he made both. He set up Bynum for FTs. He had 14 points on 3-6 shooting (7-7 from the line) to go with 7 assists with 4 turnovers. Second Half: He attacked and kicked to Fish and Pau for open jumpers. He attacked, wrapped a pass around Murphy to Bynum for the dunk. He hit a trailing Bynum for the And-1 on the break. In traffic, he took contact (with no call) and some how scooped in a layup over a defender with his left. He drew FTs off the ball, he made one. He hit a floater in the lane. He pulled up on the wing in transition next time down and hit the jumper with his toes on the three line. He missed a tough fade. He missed a three. He crossed over, changed directions, hung and banked with one-hand. He went behind his back to Powell for the open jumper. He missed a jumper. He worked the clock down, attacked to his right and drew FTs, he made both. He set up Bynum for more FTs. He threw a jump pass away. He got undercut on a drive to his right and drew FTs, he made one. He missed a fade off the glass trying to iso on his man. He bricked a 30-footer with the shotclock low next time. He swished a baseline pull-up jumper. He missed an elbow jumper. He drew FTs when Dunleavy tried to slide under him on a drive to take a charge, he made both with 2 minutes left. He stepped back and made the elbow jumper with a minute left. Granger fouled out on Kobe reaching and yelled at the refs with 47 seconds left, Kobe made both to give the Lakers a 3-point lead. With Jack on him Kobe let the clock wind down, he backed him down, then hit the turnaround near the right elbow with 3 seconds left to take a 2-point lead.

Gasol -- -- Pau had a lot of opportunities to just catch and shoot or quickly attack from various spots on the floor. Easy offense for him. Defensively, their bigs pull us away from the paint. Or, try to at least. With guys like Murphy hitting 6 threes, almost always open looks, our bigmen struggled to defend. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 9-13 shooting (3-6 from the line) to go with 11 boards (3 offensive), 4 assists, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 37 minutes. The Action: He tipped in the miss by Bynum. He swished an elbow jumper. He up-faked to get past his man, then drew a foul on the drive, he made one FT. He hit a short jumphook off the Kobe feed. He swished an elbow jumper off the two-man game. He swished an open 16-footer. He up-faked, attacked to his left and scored the layup. He posted up, curled around Murphy and scored the layup. He swished a 10-footer in early offense next time down. He scored 17 points on 8-9 shooting to go with 4 boards and 4 assists. Second Half: His telegraphed lob was picked off. He sank the 16-footer off the Kobe kickout. He blew past Murphy and drew a foul on the help defender, he made one again. He was stripped twice in the post. He missed a layup off the offensive board. He missed a 16-footer. Quick step to get by his man and he drew FTs, he made one. He was hammered from behind trying to get an offensive board and they called the ball off him.

Bynum -- -- Unlike the Warriors, the Pacers have some average to above average-sized bigmen for Bynum to deal with. He had his jumper going from 15-feet and in. That's trouble for opponents. You have to worry about a pick and roll with Bynum, but when that jumper is dropping, there's now the pick and pop. We saw that on a couple of sequences. The Triangle has open spots on the floor for that shot (Pau makes a living off it). When those two swap spots in various offensive sequences, that shot can be a weapon if it becomes consistent. Bynum also mixed in a couple post scores and a few dunks off great passes from others. Good, well-rounded offensive effort. I'm not going to get on him for the low rebound numbers since there simply weren't a lot of available boards, and some of the bigs will pull him from the paint. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 8-10 shooting (4-7 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 29 minutes. The Action: He attacked from the elbow and drew FTs on our first possession, he made one. He posted up, took a few dribbles and hit the jumphook. He swatted Jack's drive to ignite a break. He missed a short one, but Pau cleaned it up. He hit an elbow jumper getting a bounce with the soft touch. He threw down the oop from Fish in early offense. He drew FTs on the interior feed from Kobe, he made one. He had 8 points on 3-5 shooting. Second Half: He hit a turnaround jumper. Granger flopped and drew a charge on Bynum. He sank a 10-footer in the lane. He took the interior feed from Kobe and threw down a huge dunk. Out on the break, Kobe hit him trailing and Bynum took contact, but concentrated on the finish for the And-1, he made the FT. He drained the elbow jumper working the pick and pop with Ariza. He hit Ariza with a feed in the lane for a layup. He drew FTs off the Kobe drive and dish, he made one. He blocked a shot to save an offensive board he gave up.

Radmanovic -- -- Vlad got caught ball-watching several times this game. The backdoor cuts for easy layups came early and often for the Pacers. Late in the game, Vlad came up with a key steal on a sloppy pass. That was good. But when he and Sasha ended up covering the same man and left an open three shooter to tie the game...not good. Vlad also got tagged for a tech in the final minute. Very weak by the zebras. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-5 shooting (2-4 from three) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 foul in 21 minutes. The Action: He got backdoored for a layup. He swished a 6-footer in transition. He swished a corner three on the kickout from Kobe. He knocked a pass off a Pacer for a turnover. He got backdoored again for another layup. He drained a sideline three. Second Half: He missed a wide open three when Kobe drew the double. He swiped the backdoor pass (yay). Telegraphed pass at the top of the arc and Vlad picked it off to ignite a break. He missed a corner three. He and Foster got tangled up going for a board and Vlad was given a T, but not Fister with 59 seconds left up by 3. Vlad and Sasha didn't switch leaving Dunleavy open for three to tie the game.

Fisher -- -- Without T.J. Ford in the mix, Fish didn't have his hands as full as he might have on the defensive end. Offensively, he seemed to avoid the lane a little bit more than usual. Hopefully, someone is on him about some of his wild forays into the paint. Another game with extended minutes. We need a few blowouts to get our guys some rest. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-6 shooting (1-2 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 40 minutes. The Action: He threw a pass away telegraphing it. He missed a sideline three. He swished a DFish Special from the corner (his foot on the three line). He missed a floater in the lane. Very nice attack in transition (I'm serious), he put on the gas to draw the bigman to him, peeled outside a little, turned and quickly threw a pass up to the rim for Bynum to dunk. He let his man fly by, stepped in a few feet and hit. Second Half: He drained a sideline three on the kickout from Kobe. He took contact on the perimeter with no call and lost the ball. He forced a jumper over his man and missed. Bad pass on the high screen-roll, turnover. He attacked and kicked to Ariza for the open jumper. He stripped Rasho from behind cleanly and was called for the phantom foul. He drew FTs pushing out the break and trying to finish (he had Kobe to his right), he made one.

Ariza -- -- A rare foul-prone game from Trevor. He got sidelined with a series of fouls early in the second quarter on Granger and couldn't stay in the game, eventually fouling out. He still managed to get into double digits in short minutes. When we've got 3 guys out with injuries, foul trouble really gets magnified. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 3-5 shooting (4-4 from the line) to go with 1 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 6 fouls in 16 minutes. The Action: He missed an 18-footer when the offense died in his hands. He attacked to his right and scored a layup. He picked up two quick fouls to start the second quarter, using his hands to grab and hold. He forced a travel in the backcourt with some pressure. He picked up his third foul at the 9:35 mark and was done for the half. Second Half: He drew FTs attacking off the three line in early offense, he made both FTs. He swished the baseline 15-footer on the kickout from Fish. He attacked down the middle of the lane off the Bynum feed and scored the layup. He picked up his fifth foul going for a blindside steal and hammering Granger. He missed a baseline jumper. He swiped a bad pass from Dunleavy and was fouled for FTs with 3:26, he made both. He was called for a foul when Dunleavy jumped into him as Trevor rushed out...weak foul and Trevor was gone for the final 2:46.

Vujacic -- -- Phil said he told Sasha exactly what Dunleavy was going to do in that final play. "That was one time when he took direction pretty well," Phil said, smirking. Sasha did a good job denying the ball and that disrupted the play. The Pacers were looking for a three to try to steal a win at the buzzer again. Their shooters never touched the ball. Ugly night on the offensive end. The Machine is either on or off. It needs to serviced so we can get steady production from it. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-12 shooting (1-6 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 fouls in 25 minutes. The Action: Right off the bench, it swished the 17-footer off the pinch post. It missed a three out of a timeout. It missed a three, followed its shot to get the board, attacked, hung in the air (looking to the pass, it seemed), but hit the short jumper instead. Next time down, he spotted up in the corner and swished the three. He missed a baseline jumper. It missed a jumper, it was tipped out and the Machine saved it to the the Pacers who scored a layup. It clanked a pull-up jumper in transition. Second Half: It missed a wide open three. It missed a wing jumper off the screens. It missed a three. It made a tech FT. It missed a three. Weak D playing too tight on Jack (0-6) and the Machine gave up FTs. Nice ball denial on Dunleavy at the end of the game to keep him from the ball.

Powell -- -- He came in late in the first quarter in Lamar's spot in the rotations and went to work. He hit jumpers, powered up some layups and tried like everyone else to find a way to defend the Pacers. Good overall minutes from Powell. "My teammates did a good job hitting me when I was open," he said. You can see Kobe has a lot of trust in him and didn't hesistate to find him. "He played a nice role for us tonight," Phil said. He wants to watch the minutes of his bigmen and needs to get some more good run from Powell. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 5-7 shooting, grabbed 2 boards, had 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 17 minutes. The Action: He missed a 17-footer. He came up with an offensive board/steal and scored the layup. He flashed to the FT line and hit the open jumper. He fouled Granger closing out on a three (should have been just two FTs). He took a power dribble on the baseline and powered up the reverse at the end of the quarter. He took the pass off the two-man with Sasha, spun and hit with his left in the lane. He was called for a travel after taking contact with no call. Second Half: He kept a possession a live on the offensive glass. Kobe drew the D, Powell spotted up and hit the open 18-footer.

Sun Yue -- -- Phil joked with Pau about making an offensive/defensive sub when he brought Sun in for him in the final 6 seconds of the third quarter. Nothing of note for Sun in this one. The Stats: No stats. The Action: No action.

Phil -- -- The Lakers (Vlad twice, Fish once, Kobe once.) got backdoored on passes for layups or fouls in the first quarter. Any kind of defense from the Lakers and the game would be a blowout. They led 41-36 after the first quarter. Pacers shot 76.5 percent to the Lakers 70.8... Pacers were in the bonus with 9:35 in the second... The Pacers took the lead briefly, then the Lakers went on a 7-0 run to get the lead back to 54-48 and force a timeout. The Laker lead was quickly erased... The refs reviewed Kobe's foul he drew on a three, but didn't review Granger's (which as clearly not a three). Phil gave them a few words... The Lakers led 68-66 at halftime. The Pacers shot 61.5 percent to the Lakers 64.3 percent. Both teams had very similar stats across the board... The wheels came off the Pacer car late in the third as they missed a number of jumpers. The Lakers extend to a 96-84 lead heading into the fourth... Phil started the fourth with the normally offensively challenged unit of Bynum, Powell, Ariza, Sasha, Fisher. Against the Pacers, they scrapped for a few hoops. We had a 10-point lead when Kobe returned... Out of a timeout midway through the fourth, the Laker fell asleep. The Pacers took advantage and erased the lead... With Ariza fouling out, Phil went with a Pau, Vlad, Kobe, Sasha, Fisher lineup. They hadbetter score because the D in that lineup looks sketchy... The Pacers finished the night shooting 49 percent, the Lakers held strong with 56.4 percent...

Game Flow -- LINK -- The Pacers had another fourth-quarter turnaround on us with a 13-3 run.

[dukdukgoos]

Man, frustrating game to watch. Good writeup, thx!

[fsc401]

Thanks.

[Vadorojo]

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks DB! That's 2 consecutive games of Josh player double digit minutes. Shot a high %. Me likey.

On Topic: 1.5 games ahead of the Celtics!

[lakersfreak]

DB
_________________
Forget carbon, reduce your government footprint

[dawglaker]

I dont see why we dont switch SF's on outside shooting big men like Troy Murphy or Brad Miller and switch our C's on players that play near the post
_________________
"I didn't mean to walk in the shower with him. Yeah, I walked in the shower. I'm not a homosexual, but Kobe - he had no clothes on." - Ron Artest

[DancingBarry]

[marloveslakers24]

[dawglaker]

[Dr. Laker]

[JUST-MING]

Frustrating game to watch on the defensive end... Offensively, probably the most entertaining game of the year.

[10scott10]

[City_Dawg]

Thanks DB
_________________
*sighs*

!...

[DancingBarry]

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

very discouraged by our lack of defense
_________________
"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[Rick12322]

Thanks, you rock!

That ending was all set up by Pau's recent success in game ending situations, IMO. Why else would they put a midget on Kobe and give him the middle 1 on 1? They were worried about Pau.

If we weren't sizzling on O we would have lost. Lights out shooting big men are our Kryptonite.

When the league wants to implement their "no touch" rules it's impossible to defend players like Granger or Kobe. So the good news is while Granger was able to get Ariza in foul trouble, we were likewise able to get him in trouble with Kobe's aggressive play. Of course none of this works if we have a ref not calling the fouls. Lucky for us we did.

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks again DB!

I also believe Indy was worried about Pau late in the game, thus they allowed Kobe single coverage and payed for it. For Kobe; yet another clutch play with the game on the line.

And finally for once, it's the OTHER team pulling a play that makes them look like complete idiots with three seconds remaining!

[limchrc]

Thanks. Glad we got the W.

[Addicus]

Crazy, crazy game. Does anyone else feel the Association is sending a message to Kobe that he's not LeBron with the lack of calls he gets when driving to the hoop? I'm not saying he's getting hacked all the time, but he is getting hit a lot and right now the refs have swalloed their whistles. May be Stu is right in saying they get caught up and mesmorized by watching Kobe too and forget to call the game. The rest of our team seems to get officated pretty fairly most of the time so it's odd.
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Stop crying and start doing.

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/addicusbrown

[Basketball Fan]

And the Pacers inability to win at Staples Center continues *sigh*

[Addicus]

Oh yeah I'd like to add Vlad and Ariza were angry for a reason. They clearly did fly by's on the side of the shooter when closing out last night and had the offensive player jump into their space drawing the foul. The NBA refs are atrocius at allowing this. Murphy and Granger were doing this all night. It will serve them right when they get separated shoulders.
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Stop crying and start doing.

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/addicusbrown

[magic_bryant]

[golakersgo121]

[Julius1]

DancingBarry,

My man. I heard your words in the other thread. I'll heed them.

As for your suggestion coinciding with the other posters' there about the SF defending the shooting bigs as you suggested in a zone.

THAT my friend would require a coach who ACTUALLY

a) knows what he is doing on defense
b) has a system that can change from time to time depending on the matchup
c) knows how to TEACH a defense what to do
d) making players accountable when they don't do those things

Think....hmm....someone like Gregg Popovich.

Ask yourself THIS question DB, how good would our defense be under Gregg Popovich and how much would we lose on our offense considering that Pop isn't a terrible offensive coach AND we still have Kobe, Pau, Bynum and Odom and when you figure it out and want to join me by putting a bullet to your head, you'll understand just why and how much I hate Phil Jackson.

I have never loathed a coach more in my life in any of the 4 major professional sports. HIs penchant to create conflict amongst his stars. His demeaning of players. His double standards for certain players and above all, his absolutley PATHETIC approach to all things defense whether its scheme, subs, lineups, whatever.