Crucifido’s Corner: Lakers vs. Hornets (Game 41)

The 10 Step Program

Well, another disappointing loss to be sure. Albeit not incredibly shocking, the Lakers dropped another game to a less than average team. Halfway through the season I would’ve hoped this trend would’ve changed. There’s still plenty of time, but these losses sting.

They need to kick themselves out of the program they’ve gotten themselves into. What do I mean? Well, here ya go…

Take tonight’s game - the Hornets are depleted with injuries, they’re not doing well, yet the Lakers drop the second of the year to them with little to no surprise from most of us. Why? It’s a simple 10 step process…

1) The Lakers come into this game with a lax attitude.
2) The opposition gets plenty of second chances and easy scores due to the Lakers soft defense.
3) An early lead by the Hornets (insert any bad team really) ensues.
4) The opponent then gets confidence and momentum.
5) The Lakers get frustrated from the deficit and begin to play out of the offense
6) Conversely, the defense becomes more harried in an effort to get back on offense quickly to try and catch up.
7) Fouls start rolling in, leading to more easy scores for the opposition.
8) The Lakers get caught up in a desperate situation against a team they’ve given momentum and confidence too.
9) The Lakers expend all their energy on offense trying to catch up with silly shots (mostly the dreaded 3’s to catch up theory).
10) The Lakers lose.

I bring this whole 10 step thing up because this is exactly what has happened yet again in this loss to the Hornets. You can boil it down even further to an even easier to understand 2 step ordeal. Look above, at step 1 and jump directly to step 10. Skipping all of the other phases of a Laker loss leads to one conclusion:

If the Lakers come into a game with a lax attitude – they lose.

There you go, plain, simple and to the point. Sure an occasional comeback win may happen, but for the most part these games all wind up in the L column far too often. The worst thing about these loses (5 this season that shouldn’t have happened at last count) is that the Lakers have done it to themselves. The other team has done nothing out of the ordinary except take what the Lakers gave them, a chance to get a look at a win. Lower tier teams will take this chance without a hiccup. Leading us to see that this is what is currently separating the Lakers from a top flight team – giving the bad teams a chance to win and letting them cash in on it.

You won’t see the Dallas, Phoenix or San Antonios of the world doing this as often as you do the Lakers. For that reason alone, the Lakers, even though the improvement this year is downright remarkable, encouraging, exciting and awesome are still a couple steps away from joining the elite of the NBA.

Let me get through the rest of my negative part of the article real quick here. I promise I won’t keep you and make you wallow in this disheartening loss any longer than is necessary.

Defensively:

* Everyone must stop either flying at shooters or playing defense halfway on them. Nearly every Laker this year has fallen into a bad habit of running halfway to a man when they’re open only to draw back down into the high post for no reason. This is giving wide open mid-range to 3 point looks left and right. If you commit yourself to helping out on the perimeter, then commit yourself. Going halfway only compromises the defense on two fronts, where before it may have only been one.

* Boxing out can be done by everyone on the team. This is obviously one of the most basic of defensive (and offensive) fundamentals. Get position on your man, whether you’re a small or big, it won’t matter. Good position will lead to a rebound or a foul called on your opponent. There’s no reason to shy away from boxing out once a shot has been committed by the other team. Get in there and secure the ball before you worry about releasing to the offensive end.

* When you find something that works exploit it until the other team does something about it. Tonight the Lakers were making great time by getting the ball inside relentlessly. It was opening up outside shots for everyone and getting the Hornets back on their heels early. Then inexplicably, the Lakers decided to start hoisting up 3’s and standing still on the perimeter. The stand around aside, you have to take advantage when a defense is giving you the inside with little to no contest. You see other teams do this against the Lakers, yet it’s rare when the Lakers return the favor.

* The defense must be aware when someone is doubling off of someone, especially if that someone is the cutter. Ultimately I would love to see the Lakers never double off the cutter, but with the perimeter defense being a bit of a sieve some nights, it’s a necessary evil. When the double or trap goes out, you must be fully aware of where and who the open man is.

* Playing out of control and shooting long range shots to catch up, especially when those shots aren’t falling is doing nothing to get you back into the game. How many times in the last couple losses have the Lakers had the chance for an easier basket inside only to settle for a long range shot. With the rebounding woes such as they are right now, long range shots are also not helping get the Lakers second chances whatsoever.

Alright enough team whining, now for some good stuff.

How luck were the Lakers that they decided to bring Mr. Mo (get it for Maurice and momentum, huh, huh, anything…) Maurice Evans along? The guy was both fun and astounding to watch tonight. He was energy incarnate, getting after every loose ball whether he had a chance at it or not, crashing boards taking the ball inside, helping in the post defensively and just playing his heart out. I wouldn’t be so pleased with Maurice if this was a once in a while thing, but this season the guy has brought incredible energy to every minute he’s out on the floor. I can only hope that the rest of the team sees the success (both personal and team wise) you can have by leaving everything you have out on the floor each game. Fantastic effort by Maurice!

Ronny was another guy out there tonight that was using his time on the floor to the utmost. When most every Laker was looking to get out on the break, Ronny was inside doing everything he could to give contest to the Hornets’ rebounders. The box score may not show it, but Ronny did an admirable job spelling Andrew out there. A tad more control and patience (a head fake now and then won’t hurt) underneath the boards once he gets the rebound would make Ronny more of an offensive threat too.

Andrew has one major lesson to learn and its something I’ve harped on before. He has got to play straight up and down defense. He is relying far too much on leaping to change or block shots. When he’s at his most effective, he plays grounded defense using his length to alter the inside play of the other team. Once Andrew gets into his pogo act, the fouls (some anticipation fouls too) come rolling in. Offensively he has to start stepping into the contact. He has a great little step to the inside keeping the ball high, but sometimes draws himself back on his heel’s to shoot. If he takes that one step into his man initiating contact, the baskets will fall and he’ll get 3 point opportunities everywhere.

There’s a major hitch in Kobe’s game this year. His frustration over not getting calls (whether they’re missed or perceived fouls) is starting to adversely affect his play. Once Kobe gets in the frustrated mindset, the Lakers’ game plan goes by the way side. Instead Kobe begins to take the game as more of a demonstration to the refs on just how fouled he’s getting. He’ll take into ridiculously difficult situations, take ill-advised distance shots or simply turn the ball over without it ever being moved anywhere around the horn. This has happened in years past, but with Kobe being the facilitator of the entire team this year (much to the success of the team) when he goes off on tirades of play like he did tonight, the whole team breaks down. It becomes more of a vendetta of Kobe vs. the refs than the Lakers getting out there and doing what makes them successful. Now this does happen against both the strong and weak teams, but rest assured that every time Kobe sinks into this angry type of game, all of the Lakers suffer for it.

Sure there were some missed calls, there always will be, but the refs are admittedly far from perfect so it’s not looking like its going to be cleaned up immediately. Thus there’s no reason to take one negative and let it destroy a winning formula. Absorb the calls, dispute some, I have no problem with that, but when it comes down to it stick to what you need to do to make the team win. Kobe is the hub of this team, as he goes so goes the rest of the team. If he remains under control and playing within the system, the rest of the team will follow.

A little more attacking Chandler inside would’ve done the Lakers some good. Chandler swings down on every block attempt. All you have to do is lean and jump into that swing and he’ll take himself out of the game real quick like.

When it comes down to it, the Lakers are plain ol’ giving up too many points – to everyone. When they play as poorly defensively as they did tonight they have to stop bolstering the mistakes by having terrible shot selection. They need to stop playing to other teams’ strengths and play to their own. I’m not saying these guys can become a defensive giant yet, but certainly with a little more defensive effort from the get-go to the last buzzer,

Come with effort = win the game.

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

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