Crucifido’s Corner: Knicks vs. Lakers (Game 43 1/29/2008)

Near Disaster, But Maybe Something Clicked

Alright let me get this out before I forget. Aside from the usual never let a team, no matter how bad or good get a look at a possible win (especially on your home court), there was an important thing to be taken away from this game.

“The importance of unpredictability.”

Now sure, teams come in knowing your plays, knowing the style of game you like to play on both ends, but there’s never a static line to any game. In this game tonight the Lakers did a good job taking what the Knicks were giving them defensively. They were daring the Lakers to shoot from outside, so the Lakers exploited the open shots and kept themselves in the game despite radically poor defense throughout most of the game. But the problem with that was when the Knicks decided to vary their defense up. When the Knicks did that, the Lakers failed to adjust. They sank into a pattern that the Knicks wanted them to be in.

What the Lakers saw tonight was that when they leaned on their skill set and the variances in the offense things opened up. It never hurts to actually play defense for two or three plays in a row either. Anyway, it’s important for these Lakers to utilize every weapon in their personal and team arsenal they can muster. The luxury of being able to lean on one skill flitters by with every fallen teammates. As the injuries keep piling up, the Lakers have got to realize that each of them need to more. It’s not as simple as just being a rebounder, or just being a three point shooter, just being a passer. Every player has now – as in right now – have to find it within their selves to pull out all the stops.

Sure it’s not playoff time, and the regular season isn’t where you want to play your best ball. However, with the West being as competitive and tight as it is, the Lakers can ill afford to rely on what has gotten them there. They now have to rely on putting as much of themselves into every game as they can, even if it falls outside of their previously defined role.

I’m not saying that players have got to ignore what they do best, but they have can’t let that predictable role style of play be the norm right now.

With the middle being as soft as it is, and the bench becoming shallower by the game, the Lakers can’t afford to be the predictable post first team they were becoming. With no overtly strong presence in the middle the Lakers have to adjust their game. There were times in this game when the pass into an uber-high post was seen coming miles away.

With Andrew you can pass to the mid or low post and use his skill as the pivot to run the offense around. There just seems to be times when the Lakers don’t realize that running the offense the way they have for most of the season isn’t available right now. They’re forcing action in the post when there’s no action there to be had.

It’s not just one player but it looks to be the whole team has yet to adjust the game around the thinning roster. Sure it’s not easy and it does take time, but when you see defensive collapses happening on the same fronts over and over in different games, it has to be shored up sooner rather than later. Sometimes it looks like they’re all standing, waiting for the presence of Bynum to magically appear.

As the game wore on (and in sparse moments), the guys started seeing it though. That’s when the game turned. When the front court decided to block out the weak side rebounder, help was coming quick to the low post, and perimeter players were being shadowed the Lakers saw that adjustment, that not being predictably relying on a middle that wasn’t there was working.

I think I got my point out, let me know if it was confusing. I knew I should’ve written it down when it first ran through my head – dang it.

Anyhoo…

The help came quick in the paint thanks hugely to Ronny Turiaf – again. The guy continues to broaden his effect on games. Granted the Knicks were hampered inside by Curry’s nutty foul-fest and the fact that it’s the Knicks, but that aside, Ronny played like an All-Star tonight. It was another game where his impact was felt instantly. The first defensive set resulted in Ronny’s first block and then the paint help just kept coming. With Andrew out, play like what Ronny threw out there tonight is needed every night.

The best part is that it’s starting to look like the Lakers can not only count on game changing energy from Ronny, but now they can begin o look to Ronny as that weak side help man in the paint that the Lakers have so long been without. It was hard to find a flaw in Ronny’s performance. He’s still flirting with foul disaster by swinging down with his arm from too high, but it’s hard to complain about that tonight. Ronny keeps bringing the energy and the passion like this, it’s hard to see how his minutes won’t be skyrocketing on this road trip.

Another player of the game, Sasha, played his guts out tonight. After being clocked by Balkman, Sasha clamped down on the Knicks. I love when a player takes their anger (though there was a little bumping on the foul he gave to Balkman soon after) out in their game rather than fighting. The shadow job he pulled on Crawford in the 4th quarter was outstanding. It was a Rip Hamilton type of all footwork defense from Sasha. There was rarely a time that Crawford was open enough to get a pass let alone find a lane to get into to even be seen. Once Sasha locked Crawford down from roaming the top of the key arc like he loves to do, the Knicks became a one trick pony show through Robinson.

Match the good hustle defense by Sasha with dead eye shooting he had going on in the second half and you have a heck of a game, if not his best game. The best part of his shooting tonight was that he was getting to his spots with that Turiaf like certainty and second, he was not shying away from any shot that was given to him. The one thing I was writing down as the first half came to a close was that I’d like to see Sasha take the in along the baseline or just probe the middle a bit on the dribble about every 3rd time he gets the ball. Come the second half and Sasha did just that. It was in line with my point of not being predictable. He alleviated his outside shot for the 4th quarter by showing the Knicks that he wasn’t just playing robotic out there. He showed that he could be threat off the dribble for a pass too. That right there gave him at least 3 open looks immediately in the 4th.

Not much to say about Kobe, but it was another great game in a string of games that has got to be getting him more and more looks for the MVP. Though an individual award is never the main goal of Kobe, it’s tough to ignore that the balance in his game tonight was incredible to watch. His trust in his teammates, even after most of them fell into a slum pat one point or another was admirable. Of course when he needs to score Kobe pulls out some amazing shots, like the 2 turns through the paint for a finger roll or the 360 step through 3 defenders thingamajig he pulled off in the 3rd. Either way, Kobe played a fantastic brand of leadership quality ball.

Lastly as far as the most outstanding players go, it’s good to write Odom’s name in here. After his leg got twisted a bit, it was good to see him suck it up and actually begin to play tougher with it. Though he was clearly not walking, or running right, he gutted it out and it made all the difference. The most encouraging thing for Lamar tonight was that he was taking his first open looks to the rack. Lately, he’s been turning down the first open lane in favor of dribbling outside of it or passing it off. Tonight though, he was stepping into the seams and as a result his skill was parting the Knicks defense with serious ease. His unusual tapping rebounding style was paying off too. Though ideally you’d like to see guys secure boards with two hands, Lamar used his length (and has been for the bulk of this year) very well. With Lamar taking his first looks aggressively and him getting involved in the offensive paint more, it left Kwame to play at his speed a little more. Odom played like a warrior tonight. I’m sure the usual, “Yeah but will he just fade away gain?” thoughts are there, as they are with me. But for now, in this tough stretch of injuries and road games, I have to take it one game at a time. Tonight it was good to see Lamar play like we all know he can.

Kwame played real well tonight. There were the usual slow movements in the paint to recover defensively, but all in all Kwame came into form a bit tonight. His hands were in the ready position more on offense and because of that he wasn’t bobbling passes as much as he has in the past. There were a couple good strong finishes in there and one real good play when he missed the lay-up (which, no isn’t awesome) but stuck with it and got it back in from the other side of the hoop.

Kwame is an enigma right now. I’m sure a lot of it is about confidence, but with more involved games like this one I hope we’re seeing Kwame pull himself out of the mire he’s been in recently. Defensively,. He needs to be more active, especially laterally or once a move has been made on him in the low post. Offensively, I like to see him try the baby hook, but in his haste to get a shot up (sometimes I think because the lift isn’t there in his permanently swollen ankle) he isn’t looking at the hoop. If he slows down by a half second and lifts his head before tossing up the little hook, he’ll have more success.

The last stand out player for me was Farmar. Though he was relatively quiet tonight, he played a real good defensive game on Robinson in spurts. At his best Farmar was closing Robinson out on the perimeter really well. Any picked up dribble or stutter in his motion and Farmar would use it as a time to jump out on him and make him give the ball up. At his worst, Jordan was having trouble fighting through the mid range to get out to Robinson. The Knicks used screens inside well in the 3rd in particular to get Robinson free and Farmar struggled with it. But the worst part of Jordan’s game tonight was still better than 90% of the backup points in the NBA.

Alright, so no, most of the game wasn’t pretty. But it seemed like the Lakers may have had something click. Maybe they realized that Andrew isn’t there and the extra effort it’s going to take from everybody to survive this big trip above 500 will be there in full force.

Keep altering your game on the fly Lakers, use the flexibility in the altered triangle to vary your attacks, stop passing the ball to the other team so dang much, communicate on perimeter help, come with energy every night, box out the weak side, box out and then box out again and I can guarantee this road trip won’t be so bad.