Crucifido’s Corner - Lakers vs. Bulls (Game 25)

Snatching Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory

Cool that it’s Christmas time and all but there’s no reason the Lakers need to be gift wrapping games for other teams. They need to start giving themselves a present and finish off games that are their’s when they take them.

In the beginning of the game I was happy to see the guys come out and keep pace with a team, rather than do their typical falling behind by 9 and rallying back to make it a game by halftime. They came into the game with the intention of playing strong from the outset and it definitely showed.

For all intensive purposes they still were dominating the game until they stopped doing the thing that got them the lead in the first place.

As was said a bunch of times in the broadcast by Joe and Stu, the points off turnovers were fantastic – in the first half. Not only were they getting points off of turnovers, they were taking advantage of the Bulls tendency to leave the paint patrolled by one player, Ben Wallace. They were getting the ball into Kwame quickly, making the defense collapse and leaving mid-range and baseline cuts wide open.

Kwame was showing what he can do when given the ball early in the set too. He was being more aggressive than normal (although finishing with two hands seems to elide him every once in a while) and keeping Ben Wallace busy away from others.

That was until the second half started.

The primary thing that bothered me was the Lakers not burying the Bulls when they had the chance. They were up by 9, the Bulls were in a funk, the Lakers had them on the ropes, but they didn’t take the 16 to 17 point lead that was there for the taking. If you add those extra 7 or 8 points onto the lead at that point, you can absorb any run the Bulls may go on. As with all professional teams, they will go on a run eventually and more than likely towards the end of the game when time becomes a factor.

The Bulls went on that run, but the Lakers were back on their heels by that point. It wasn’t that they were caught flat-footed due to excessively great play by the Bulls, they put got stagnant from their own complacency. That complacency is the difference between teams finishing off teams and winning games they should (and shouldn’t) win, and teams that give games away they had under wraps.

Right now, this is what is keeping the Lakers from being true contenders in the NBA. Although they can be considered a tier 2 team at the moment, until they gain the experience of losing these games more often than not (and more importantly taking that lesson to heart and applying it next game) they won’t rise up to the next level.

Anyway, enough waxing philosophic about that…
As the game wore on into the 4th and the Lakers began to appear a bit desperate for momentum, they resorted back to the kiss of death for this Laker team – pass and watch Kobe.

Kobe though doing a good job of using his ability to distract the Bulls into leaving others open on cuts and posts, just simply had an off night. It happens to the best of them in every sport. Some nights you just can’t get it going. In the first half he was doing an exceptional job of keeping everyone involved, but you could see that the exaggerated minutes he’s been playing the last couple of games is catching up to him a bit.

To that effect, there’s not much that can be done about that aside from the rest of the team looking to take the reins when Kobe is out of the game or exhausted. In the first half, they guys were doing just that. In fact, that was a big positive in this game I thought. There was not only skill shown by the bench squad, there was genuine desire to keep the ball rolling without Kobe on the floor. That’s exactly what it’s going to take to survive this run sans Odom.

Everyone is going to have to contribute as adamantly as they did during the Kobe-less run this game.

Another item that happened now for the second game in a row is poor defensive spacing. Packing the middle is well and good versus teams that tend to pound the ball down low for their offense. But the Bulls, as currently configured, tend to run a lot of pick and pops and screens for mid-range shooters. The Lakers were too concentrated in the middle leaving the mid-range open for players to cut from weak to strong and probe the ball in enough to draw people out of post position. When the penetration to the middle of the key came, you could see the Lakers stretch themselves out immediately to cover a mid-range shot, subsequently leaving the sides of the low post wide open for passes, lay-ups or chippies.

Against teams with good shooters like the Bulls this defensive theory only goes so far. Again, it comes down to having confidence in your big men to hold the fort inside. Kwame was doing well with Wallace, there was little reason to double and sometimes triple team Wallace in the box before shots went up or dribbles were discontinued. I’m all for clogging them idle when you play against teams with serious size in the middle, but not versus every team you come up against.

The Lakers have got to learn to stop the ball, and at the very least alter the balls path from coming straight into the lane. When the lane gets busted down as easily as it has been it opens up the entire game. So yet again, it comes down to perimeter defense. I’m not looking for a absolute stops on the outside, I think the Laker coaching staff is simply looking for perimeter defenders to keep their feet moving.

Actually in this game Smush had more lateral movement than he’s had in quite a while. He is, again, a guy that lets his offensive production dictate his defensive performance (and yes that is backwards from what you’d like to see from players, especially point guards), but last night it was working for him. What I did like seeing was his decisive offense. There was little to no hedging in Smush’s all around game last night. He was making positive steps towards what he wanted to do rather than second guessing himself. He had Hinrich on his heels defensively and wound up rendering him moot because of it. Also, he was finally (though not going over them) fighting through screens with determination, where normally he gets screened out and stops in his tracks. It was one of Smush’s more balanced performances of the year.

I also liked what Bynum was doing offensively. He was creating space for shooters in the two man game really well. When he had the ball in the post he was backing his man in enough to draw a slight double from the shooter’s man then kicked it out with crisp passes and good timing, opening up chances that otherwise might not have been there. Yet again though, Andrew has got to learn to use his length to alter/block shots instead of leaving his feet all the time. Often with his size, he doesn’t have to jump whatsoever to change a shot.

I won’t go on for too long, mainly I’d like to see the Lakers play to their opponent’s weaknesses more. Too often they allow other teams to play to their strengths and get in a rhythm. By the time they key into what to do, it winds up being too late to recover the momentum they’ve lost. A big portion of that stumbling can be avoided by, like I said before, burying teams when you have the chance. The last thing you want to do is build a reputation of being a team that will let anyone back into the game, no matter how much you’re down.

Also, do not pass to Kobe and plant yourself on the arc without moving to your next spot. The triangle is a motion offense, not a pass and watch offense. I t can fall apart incredibly fast when everyone stands still. Cut, dive, run off curls, use the plays your given, rather than relying on low percentage shots and/or Kobe to bail you out every game. With Lamar out its imperative everyone plays up to what their potential.

There’s no room to play good one game and disappear the next, its team game and that’s the only way you can win consistently – and more importantly on the road.

Veteran ClubLakers member crucifido writes nightly player analysis for each game of the Laker season.

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