LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 3/9 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Lit Up... Seven straight losses in Portland. It doesn't matter the circumstances, the Lakers will find a way to struggle in the Rose Garden. Tonight, they were handed their worst loss of the season, trailing by as many as 30 points, to a team they had destroyed earlier in the year.

It's amazing the difference a home court can make.

"The reality is that they are up for this game, the town is up for the game, they point to these games and we don't meet the energy," Phil said in the L.A. Times.

There may be something to that. The crowd was buzzing from the tip off and throughout. The Blazers played with spark and energy, for sure. But the Lakers simply got out-played in all facets of the game.

The Blazers shot better from inside and out. They out-rebounded the Lakers. They had fewer turnovers, fewer fouls and shot more from the line.

Not a good start to the road trip. The Lakers need to bounce back as their margin over the Eastern teams has been erased.


Kobe -- -- Not an efficient offensive game from Kobe. This was one of those games where the offense was struggling to flow and Kobe tried to throttle it up to pick up some slack. We weren't clicking and we weren't cracking the Portland D and just fell back even further. He should have been to the line more than twice in this game. He seemed frustrated by some of the non-calls and his finishing around the rim (and efficiency) suffered because of it. On the good side of the game, when we go to the high screens on the wings, good things usually happen. We did that a little with Kobe in the fourth and were able to chip away at the lead. Kobe has also worked well with Mbenga in the past couple games. It's good seeing some chemistry start to develop there. They may start to milk that a little more. The Stats: He scored 26 points on 11-29 shooting (2-9 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 3 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover and 5 fouls in 39 minutes. He was a -20. The Action: He scored a layup on the long bullet pass from Luke. He drained a wing jumper with a man all over him. He missed a tricky baseline jumper trying to get it over the corner of the backboard. He backdoored his man for an easy oop score (he then gambled and lost on the other end to give up a dunk). He missed a wing jumper. He swatted a Przybilla dunk. He missed a wing jumper. He sank a step-back over Blake from the right wing. He missed a wild shot off the glass, looking for the foul. He missed a three on iso. He hit Luke for a layup. He attacked and missed a layup with his left. He was called for a walk on the next trip. He faced up at the wing and hit over his man. He missed a three on the next trip. He hit a lefty runner off the high screen with Pau. He missed a runner on the next trip. He missed off the glass taking contact and no call (should have been to the line). He had 12 points. Second Half: He swished a face-up elbow jumper to start. He missed a fade from 16-feet out. He picked up his second and third fouls in a couple of seconds. He ran the two-man with Lamar, layup for Pau. He swished an 18-footer off the high screen from Lamar. He missed a forced wing jumper. He missed a 28-footer. He attacked and missed after taking contact. He sank a toe-on-the-three-line jumper. He sank a wing three, pulling up in transition on the next trip down. He missed a three, forcing it a bit on the next possession. He swished a deep three on the kickout from Sasha. He missed two threes on the next possession (big sequence there where if we hit one, the lead is down to 13). He set up Mbenga for a dunk on a drive and dish. He sank a couple FTs. He missed a wing three.

Gasol -- -- Our interior D was pretty sad in this game. The Blazers pulled out to a lead by scoring in the paint, then started hitting from the perimeter after the D had to collapse and help. They got whatever they wanted, but it started with a weak interior. There was just no resistance. Even though Pau had a decent night on the baords, we also failed to control those. He's got a host of difficult bigmen to deal with on this road trip. They aren't going to get any easier. We need some big games from Pau to survive this road trip. The Stats: He scored 18 point on 7-12 shooting (4-4 from the line) to go with 13 boards (4 offensive), 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block and no fouls. He was a -24. The Action: He swished a wing jumper on the kickout from Luke. He missed a short jumper. He missed a jumper over his man with the shotclock going off. He missed an easy one over Przybilla. He missed a short hook. He hit Lamar with the lob as he cut down the middle of the lane off the Kobe screen. He tipped in a Powell miss. He hit a turnaround from the elbow on the next trip. He worked a series of moves in the post on his next touch and drew FTs in a crowd of Blazers, he made both. He lost the handle on a pass from Fish, turnover. He cleaned up a Kobe runner. He had 10 points at the half. Second Half: He slapped a ball from his man. He scored a layup off the Kobe/Lamar two-man game. He putback in a missed jumper by Kobe. He missed a baseline jumper. He sank a FT jumper. He drew a foul off the Kobe pass at the elbow, he made both FTs.

Lamar -- -- LO needs to grab some game tapes and look at his off-the-ball work in those games where he put up big numbers. He was active, greedy and had his motor going on both ends in those games. Lately, he has been foul prone and passive. When Kobe and Pau elevate their games and cause problems for the opponent, he can feed off that. When he doesn't, it just means others have to do more heavy lifting. I'm glad we saw some Kobe/Lamar two-man action. Anytime we run the two-man game with Kobe and one of Pau or Lamar, that will usually result in high percentage shots. Those are the types of sequences we will see in crunch time in the playoffs. The more they can perfect it, the better. Phil had Lamar playing with four fouls early in the fourth, he did a good job avoiding further foul trouble (something he needs to work on). There is some question whether Lamar came off the bench in the shoving matching after Ariza's foul. The bench looked very much in control and didn't step on the court or get involved. "I stood up," Lamar said, "but I stood right there. I didn't go nowhere. They'll see it and see I didn't go anywhere." The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-5 shooting (0-1 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 1 assist, 1 block, 4 turnovers and 4 fouls in 26 minutes. He was a -19. The Action: He challenged a shot, took the outlet and missed an easy chance at an And-1 layup, he made both FTs. He fumbled a handoff from Pau in the backcourt and it resulted in an And-1 for the Blazers. He sank a wing jumper on iso out of a timeout (maybe Phil wanted Lamar to create or attack for himself). He threw a pass over Gasol's head in transition. He finished a lob from Pau getting a backscreen from Kobe. He picked up his second foul at the end of the first quarter on an offensive board. Finally in the post, he overpowered Outlaw easily for FTs, he made one. He was called for his third foul with 1 second on the shotclock, 4 seconds in the half. Second Half: He missed a corner three (bad read, Pau was open at the FT line). He attacked baseline and charged, his fourth foul 3 minutes into the third. He was blocked under the hoop. He threw a kickout away.

Luke -- -- Luke spent a lot of minutes defending Roy in this game. On the cross-match on the other end, we didn't do a good job taking advantage of it. Luke tried to do some work on the offensive boards but was consistently getting held or pushed without calls. When he was left open, Luke never made the Blazers pay...that will hurt the team's spacing. Defensively, the speed and athleticism at the 2 and 3 spots on the Blazers was too much to handle. Our defensive schemes took the Blazers out of their game in our previous match ups. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-4 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with no boards, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 foul in 25 minutes. He was -15. The Action: He posted up and hit Pau for the open jumper. He hit Kobe with a long pass on the break for a layup. He missed a baseline jumper. He finally drew a foul on Roy on the offensive glass (he was fouled three or four straight possessions without a call). He got backdoored for a dunk. He missed a wide open baseline jumper in transition. He swiped a bounce pass. He scored a layup getting freed under the hoop and taking a pass. Second Half: He bricked a corner three.

Fisher -- -- You got to get DFish more shots than what he had. The only guys who shot less were Morrison and Brown...and just barely, even though they played only 3 minutes. Fish is one of those guys who can be reflective of how well the offense is run. Unless it's in a two-man game, he's not going to create a lot of shots for himself. He has to get them out of the system. That just never happened tonight. His one make looked like he was pissed and pulled for the quick three. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 1-3 shooting (1-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with no boards, 1 assist and 4 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a -15. The Action: He hit Kobe with a backdoor lob for a score. He erased a fastbreak, taking the charge on Aldridge. He missed a wing jumper. He missed on a three at the end of the half. Second Half: He attacked baseline with speed and drew FTs on the layup, he made both. He hit a ticked-off wing three in early offense.

Ariza -- -- I think Ariza probably felt like most Laker fans did at that point in the game. You could see the hard challenge on Fernandez coming. The Lakers were down big, making all kinds of mistakes. The Blazers were pouring it on and Ariza had a good line on the shotblock on Fernandez's breakway. He wasn't going to let a dunk happen without a strong attempt to send it back. He caught part of Fernandez's head and Rudy went flying, landing hard. Those are always going to get a tech from the officials. The league will look at the play further. They will also look at the shoving match after. Ariza could get tagged with a suspension if they spot something (like a punch) in the crowd of Blazers players. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-4 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 11 minutes. He was a -13. The Action: He airballed a baseline jumper trying to beat the clock. Wild attack outside of the offense and he charged. He sank a sideline three off the Sasha kickout. He missed a rushed corner three on the next trip. Mbenga picked up two fouls when Trevor's man tried to dunk on a couple drives. Second Half: He missed a three. He went for a swat on Fernandez from behind and sent him to the floor (there was a scrum afterward as the Blazers went after Ariza)...he was ejected for a flagrant 2, Fernandez was taken off with a stretcher. Really didn't look that bad, but he hit the floor hard.

Farmar -- -- He tried hard. Didn't always make the right decision or the smart one, but he put in a decent effort. That wasn't an issue. His -2 in 24 minutes was mostly a result of he and Kobe attacking or hitting threes in the fourth and then the last three minutes of garbage time where we were a +10. He missed a bunch of drives, but we seemed to find a way to score on those possessions. He's got to clean up some of the little things that he should have mastered at this point in his career. Some of those perimeter passes were too sloppy for a PG. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 4-11 shooting (3-5 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 4 assists, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 24 minutes. The Action: He missed a three on the kickout from Pau. He missed a fading wing jumper at the end of the first quarter. Horrible perimeter pass to Powell, into his shins, turnover. Second Half: Out of a timeout, his jumper was blocked. He clanked an off-balance 21-footer in transition. He made a tech FT. He missed a drive to his left. He swished a wing three off the two-man with Kobe. He attacked with speed to his left and scored the tricky And-1 with his left, he missed the FT. He attacked and missed, but Mbenga slammed it back in. He missed a three. He traveled on a drive. He telegraphed a pass, dunk the other way. He sank a wing three, got it back after the Blazers lost and sank another from the wing.

Vujacic -- -- Pretty worthless minutes from Sasha. He had a couple poor fouls on the perimeter on one end and did little on the perimeter on the other. A couple of those plays took the life out of any potential Laker rally. Sasha, however, isn't going to stop Roy in any way, shape or form. Fernandez wasn't getting stopped either by Sasha. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-3 shooting (0-2 from three, to go with 3 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal and 3 fouls in 15 minutes. He was a -6. The Action: He missed a corner jumper. He gave up an And-1 to Fernandez on a drive. More penetration to Fernandez, it led to an Outlaw three. He swished a wing jumper off a quick catch and shoot, losing his man off the ball. He found Ariza for the sideline three. Second Half: He fouled Roy 40 feet from the hoop for FTs. He reached on Roy at the three line, three FTs. He missed a long three.

Powell -- -- Not much to Powell's game. Our PF position gave us little impact tonight. I do like seeing Powell in the middle of the scrum where he picked up a tech. He's the guy who should be in that enforcer role for our team. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-3 shooting to go with 2 boards (2 offensive), 2 assists, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He missed an elbow jumper. Second Half: He missed a wing jumper. He picked up a tech in the Ariza/Fernandez incident. He was called for a travel after giving his man an up-fake. He sank a short jumper off the offensive board.

Mbenga -- -- I thought we might see some Mbenga/Pau out there with Lamar's foul issues and our need for a bigman to anchor our D, but that didn't happen. Mbenga may be the only guy who played a good game tonight. If there are any positives from this game, I think they are right here. He has looked a lot more comfortable on both ends of the floor with this team than last year. He's playing within himself on the offensive end, taking shots that the defense leaves him and making the right passes. He tied Farmar for the team lead in assists. Good games like this earn more trust from Phil and could see him get more PT during important parts of the games. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-4 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards (2 offensive), 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and 2 fouls in 16 minutes. He was a +7. The Action: He picked up a couple fouls contesting Ariza's man. He drew FTs trying to finish a layup, he made both. He missed a flat jumphook in the lane. Second Half: He swished a 15-footer from the elbow. Monster, one-handed putback jam of a Farmar miss. He threw down another huge dunk off the Kobe drive and dish. He rejected Outlaw at the rim. He swiped a post entry and hit Brown for a dunk. He altered dribble penetration with another nice challenge.

Brown -- -- He came in for Kobe with 3 minutes let, down huge. He should have been in there sooner. We were getting our you-know-what's kicked. He's got to get some time in there. Sasha and Luke on Roy? Uggh. Brown needs those minutes. He came in during garbage time and threw down a huge dunk and drained a corner three. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-2 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 1 board and 1 turnover in 3 minutes. He was a +10. The Action: Did not play in the first half. Second Half: He threw a perimeter pass away. He dunked on a bustout after Mbenga stole the ball. He swished a corner three.

Morrison -- -- He was dusted off with Brown for the final 3 minutes. Not much to report. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-2 shooting, had 1 board and 1 turnover in 3 minutes. He was a +10. The Action: Did not play in the first half. Second Half: He traveled while picking up his dribble to pass on the perimeter. He sank a 16-footer, pulling up off a drive to his right. He scored a layup when Farmar found him alone at the end of the game.

Phil -- -- The Lakers and Phil's nemesis -- the Rose Garden. Whatever the problem is, the Lakers just struggle badly here. Even in years when they have handled the Blazers easily on our home court. It doesn't matter... The Blazers went on an 8-0 run and the Lakers trailed 17-10 midway through the first quarter, giving up several dunks and layups... Of the Blazers first 21 points, 16 were in the paint... The Lakers trailed 25-16 after the first quarter. No one in sync offensively. Defensively, too many easy ones... To start the second quarter, the Lakers get a shotclock violation... Down by 11, we went with a Mbenga, Powell, Ariza, Sasha, Farmar lineup... Down 12, Phil went with the starters and Mbenga. That didn't help. Pau's return didn't help and the Lakers trailed 51-32... The Lakers had two turnovers out of timeouts... They trailed 61-38, their worst offensive production of the year for a half. The Blazers shot 59 percent to the Lakers 39 percent. The Lakers shot 1-7 from three, the Blazers 6-9. The Blazers had 28 points in the paint. They also had 14 points of turnovers, the Lakers just 4... More of the same in the third and the Lakers trailed 84-56 heading into the fourth... They went on an 8-0 run to start the fourth... They cut the lead to 16, but Kobe missed two threes on a possession and the Blazers hit a three on the other end. That ended the rally attempt... The Lakers scored 38 points in the fourth, but the hole was too deep...

Game Flow -- LINK -- The +30 number in the line chart shows the lead the Blazers had at one point. Easily, the most the Lakers have trailed a team all year.

[indestrukt]

Barf. What a horrible game.
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McHale is probably thinking "Fire, bad!!"

[SweetP]

Glad I missed this game.
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“There is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it.” --Amanda Gorman

[fsc401]

Thx. Guess we will have to change the 'rose guarden' to 'lose guarden'

[Mation]

[dna.]

no excuses for this one except for maybe the classic "but they match up well against us..."

[abciximab]

thanks DB

hope this game turns into a 2nd burst of inspiration

[A Mad Chinaman]

[Sage_10]

I believe this is the first time Lakers have been blown out this season.

It's a shame. I don't think either Cleveand or Boston have been blown out by anyone this season.
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"You Must Be Willing To Give Up That Which Can Be Lost In Order To Gain That Which Cannot Be Lost." - FORTUNE COOKIE

[prisma8slg]

thanks DB
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"I define success by championships, by winning..." Kobe Bryant

"I've seen it all. Sasha dunked on somebody," Kobe Bryant said. "I'm ready to retire now."

[targetman]

Sasha keeps proclaiming that a game like they played against Boston in the finals can't happen again because they Lakers are too deep and mentally strong. I hope this game showed them how quickly those things disappear under pressure and there will be this kind of pressure in the playoffs.
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Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.

[Addicus]

Dropped by to say hi and thanks DB. Great job in a miserable situation.
---
For those asking what happenned to LO - He's at the top of the key keeping the floor balanced with Fish on the wing waiting for the kickout and Luke and Kobe bringing their men into the paint crowding it for Pau. On the other end of the court he's getting touch fouls because the refs have once again changed how he will be officiated and he's playing shotblocker on the first unit.
---
LO does his damage on the boards. For that to happen he has to be near the paint. Luke has to be near the paint because he can't shoot, the whole world knows it and teams have begun to pack it in against us. Without a dead eye shooter we can't have Kobe in the post. He needs to be closer to the perimeter to keep proper spacing and for others to do their jobs. Our length and passing at the 4 & 5 is our advantage but we haven't seen much of that since the Cleveland game.
---
We need Mbebga in the middle to help out Pau. Who would think someone would go -24 with Pau's statline. Our belly is exposed and Mbenga right now is the armor.
---
Lastly - the ball movementwas terrible last night. What's up with everyone holding it for 10 seconds at a time or jacking up shots without a pass 5 or 6 possessions in a row? This team is slipping at the wrong time of the year and it has nothing to do with the road games.
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Stop crying and start doing.

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

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

this team quit last night. it reminded me of phx game 7 and boston game 6. mitch needs to add a vet, this team is worn out waiting on bynum. i wish LO and pau played with DJs heart and toughness. why the hell was luke on b.roy? why leave outlaw WIDE OPEN?

the cavs have the clipps tonight. u can bet they will get #50 and tie us.
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"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[Rek]

Have to agree with you about Mbenga, DB. I was thinking similar in the middle of the 4th. DJ was playing solid ball with plenty of confidence. Ammo and Brown should have seen many more minutes last night. That was foolish on Phil's part.

[tlim]

I'm going to have disagree that Phil's nemesis is the Rose Garden. Phil's nemesis really is Nate McMillan.

As coach, even while in Seattle, he gave Phil and his teams a real run for his money.

[limchrc]

We got beaten badly. Hope we bounce back on the next game.

[AutoShackMotorSports]

It's one game, we can't win them all.

[gumby]

It's not like the Lakers of the 80's or Kobe/Shaq era won every single game too. They had days like this.

Now if the Lakers start playing like the Clippers all the time, then I'll start worrying.

Portland is a tough place to play, that's that.

I'm personally not afraid of Portland, although they are a good team.

I just think the Lakers just need to make sure not to get blown out in such a bad way.

Bye.
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"This trophy removes the most odious sentence in the English Language. It can never be said again that 'the Lakers have never beaten the Celtics.'" -Dr. Jerry Buss (1985) R.I.P., 33 x M.V.O.

[AutoShackMotorSports]

I think that this is the first time this season that the Lakers were blown out (can anyone check that?)

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

i think paul allen pays off the lakers to lose in the rose garden
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"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[big E]

What a bummer. That game sucked bad! It was just big run after big run by them. If a team is just going to knock down everything they throw up on one end and we can't hit anything it's usually going to be a long night.

[Klone_dd]

It's safe to say that LO is consistently inconsistent. He's really got to look at how his foul trouble is affecting his mental approach to the game. Teams will exploit that by going at him early, then he'll take himself out of games.

Funny how the Lakers have such a poor record in towns like P-land, Indy and, to some extent, SA. Maybe it's the lack of night life?

[Freakout]

They constantly put too much pressure defensively on the pick and rolls last night. Portland didn't have to make make jumpers to start the game because defensively we constantly played them too tight. Quick dive screen from Pryzbilla and it was a easy dunk because our bigs were showing too hard. This constantly led to penetration forcing our guys to slide in leaving the corner 3's open all night.

It was flat out stupid coaching. Much rather have the big sag off the screens with our guard fighting over the top. At least then you cut down the freaking drives and can some what challenge the guard if he pulls up. Instead last night Phil invited them to take wide open shots on their home court.

[dawglaker]

im just glad we dont face Portland in the playoffs with them having home court same goes for charlotte
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"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

[A Mad Chinaman]