Crucifido's Corner (By Request)

crucifido · Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:58 pm Post subject:

We get along well puffy. I completely agree with everything you pointed out.

If only I could be as succinct.

freak2

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"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." - Winston Churchill

crucifido · Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 6:25 pm Post subject:

Oh man this injury thing is a downer to say the least. I've had enough. Its not even depressing to me as much as it is annoying, laughable and ridiculous by now.

Anyway...

Lakers vs. Hornets (Game 65 3/14/08)

Not The Best Way To Start a Road Trip

The unbelievably relentless injury bug hit the Lakers again tonight with Gasol going down for the game. What we have to hope now is that it’s just a surface sprain and it can be gotten back on soon. It goes without saying that the slack has to yet again be taken up by everyone. The Lakers know fully well what has to happen to make up for the ground lost by losing a valuable teammate to injury. Just a big pained sigh from everyone, at some point the injuries have got to stop – right?

Once Gasol hobbled his way to the locker room, the Lakers did very well in getting their heads back in the game and getting down to taking care of business. It goes 2 ways with injuries to major players, teams can crumble or they can suck it up and play tougher. The Lakers played tougher – to start, but once the game turned into a running / shooting contest, it became evident the Lakers would have a mountain that would be more than hard to climb.

The sporadic press was really good to see. Throwing a sudden press on a quick-footed guard, let alone any guard is a good idea when you’re fighting a fast moving team like the Hornets. The danger in the press is if the press is broken quickly, you’re automatically compromised. The Lakers did well though putting the press on unpredictably then recovering faster than normal on defense.

Better team rebounding on the defensive end tonight. There wasn’t any leaving others alone underneath the boards to contend with 3 or 4 offenders. Release time off of missed shots was moving a bit back to where it should be at all times.

Aside from injuries, the Lakers’ other bane of existence this year, unforced turnovers were hot and heavy.

Missed easy chances are always tough to see, but when they get contagious, as they often do, it’s twice as painful. Missed lay-ups from Bryant, Turiaf, Radmanovic and others are difficult to take when points in the paint against most teams, but especially against the Hornets weak inside game are so precious.

The help and recovery defense from the bench was solid. Especially in the second quarter, the Laker bench was scrambling to keep up with the Hornets, but losing no ground in the process. Sasha was spearheading the effort on the perimeter, doing a great job splitting space from the outside top the high post with a slight reach.

Radmanovic was spry tonight. He showed much more than the usual amount of activity off the ball and on boards from him. Without Gasol, it’s much needed not only tonight but also for as long as the Lakers are once again hampered by an injury to a key player. Along with Odom, Vladi’s decision making off of rebounds was good. There were less forced shots and more looking for clean opportunities.

Its’ just a bad defensive match-up for most point guards coming into any Hornets game, but for Derek its particularly rough. Chris Paul destroys Derek on defense, making Fisher’s time difficult and sparse when the Hornets are on the docket. Speed is / always has been Fisher’s arch rival on defense and when you couple speed with the superb decision making and talent of Paul, it becomes a needed team effort to try to contain Paul. The only chance for Fisher is to push Paul out of moving across the court and make him more of a shooter than a slasher (of course this doesn’t mean leaving Paul wide open like he was all too often in the second half. Give him a step or two of extra space and keep an eye out for screen sets. Other than that, the Lakers will always have a difficult time containing guards like Paul.

With that in mind Farmar had an early entrance. As Pargo played opposite of Farmar, Jordan did well keeping the Pargo a passer instead of letting him get on a roll from distance. Unfortunately for the Lakers Paul came back in and continued to give the Lakers’ defense fits, headaches and any other kind of pain you can think of. Jordan had a great attack to the hoop in the 3rd along the baseline among the trees. That kind of offensive aggression does well to freeze Paul on the perimeter. If Paul has a weakness on defense it’s driving around him to the low post then along the base for a hard lay-up. Paul gets stuck on screens as players go to the baseline and Jordan played to that very well.

Defensively the Lakers can hope to keep Paul in check, but to completely take him out of the game is a tall, tall order.

Lamar’s rebounds on the offensive end were impressive. Though using two hands to secure most boards is ideal, Lamar did a good job using his reach to get through defenders without fouling to grab long rebounds. He had good decisions with the ball once the ball was secured to. Most were passed back out to reset the offense, but the shots he took back up to the hoop were well-advised and done with enough strength to either draw the foul or get a decently open shot. What I liked seeing was Lamar holding off from the arc. He had success in the game against the Raptors from 3, but didn’t let that make him 3 happy.

Odom had great movement off the ball. He was hitting his spots on both pass option and moving from weak to strong with assertion. That movement kept the inside defense of the Hornets from being able to just pack it in and ignore the Laker perimeter.

Lamar looks like he’s now scared to move laterally when he’s deep under the hoop. He’s been getting called for a lot of blocking calls and tonight the result of those calls showed in his defense along the baseline in particular. He can’t let past history with questionable calls put a clamp on his defensive aggressiveness.

The Lakers have a terrible habit of playing opponents to their strength. The two biggest instances tonight were the Lakers playing Stojakovic to give room to shoot and they stayed tight out high on Chandler when he won’t shoot from distance.

What I thought the absolute key to the game was - there was no inside game for the Lakers – at all.

Once Gasol went out you figured the Lakers will struggle to get anything going from the posts, but with Turiaf and Lamar in the game there was on reason to absolutely abandon the inside game the way the Lakers did. There has to be some effort, especially when the shots aren’t falling for anyone from outside, to get the ball working from inside. If the shot can’t be had inside then work it inside out. Make the Hornets defense have to move. As it was the Hornets were able to find position, settle in and do nothing to keep up with the Lakers. It killed movement and it most of all it deterred the Lakers from getting any kind of rhythm.

To that end the Hornets were able to collapse onto Kobe, keeping him outside of the paint mostly and making him pass the ball off or shoot the 3 out of multiple doubles. Once Kobe was taken out of the paint, the Lakers looked like a team that had no recourse for anything the Hornets threw their way. As much drive as Kobe has (and despite the 36 point effort), he can’t do anything if the rest of the team doesn’t do much or anything to get their selves fired up or involved in the game.

WTF Of The Game: Is offensive interference been stricken from the rulebook? Countless times the last 4 games both against and on the Lakers there has been no calls for what have been obvious violations within the cylinder. I’m cool with it not being a main focus, but man its brutal to see guys put shots back in the rim as they hang off the edge.

Overall, this was not what you’d call an awesome game. From the injury to Gasol, to the lack of transition play, to the absence of inside play, to the turnovers from no pressure, to the disjointed play on both ends, this was a disappointment. It wasn’t all terrible, Lamar had a good game and Farmar played with some serious focus, but every loss is a team loss.

The health of the Lakers is, for the billionth time, the hitch the Lakers’ get along. It was aggravating and maddening to see another Laker go down even if it’s for one game to the dreaded ankle sprain. Hopefully, its not a major deal and the Lakers can bounce back after this disheartening loss. Get better Pau, Andrew, and Trevor - and for the love of Laker fans everywhere – NOBODY ELSE IS ALLOWED TO GET HURT!
_________________
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." - Winston Churchill

puffyusaf#2 · Joined: 02 Apr 2006 Posts: 4830 Location: Temecula

As usual Cruc your recaps are one of my favorite parts of post game. Keeping with tradition-

I was actually impressed and encouraged by the way the Lakers played after Pau went down. As you noted the team could have given up but instead the fought it out that shows the confidence that they have in each other. I thought the defensive efforts by LO, Luke and Vlad was a real big positive especially against the likes of David West and Tyson.

Some problems I had was with "randomness" as in random shots by Fish, random passes by everybody early and randomly leaving shooters open. Even so it has been tightening up these past couple of games.

Speaking of Fish, he needs to let the game come to him instead of trying to always answer the other guys offensive output. Jordan too! Our PG's have taken to much interest in the offensive game lately which is killing the flow of the game.

I am suprised you hadn't spoken about "Puke" (as he is called by many here man8

). The guy is just doing the dirty work. I wish people would watch Luke and LO without the ball and watch the work they do to get the offensive and defensive rebounds. While both Luke and LO made some bonehead passess early on these two guys have been playing fabulous ball lately. I actually have to disagree with you on the Lamar one-handed rebounding problem. Lamar doesn't do it all the time but he has learned to use it in traffic when most people would have to reach and commit a foul LO just uses his length. I wish there was a stat showing how many rebounds he actually gets that he should of had no business getting.

The last thing I am going to mention (even though I could type all day about this team and this game) is that NO really had to play a great game to beat us tonight. Look at it from this point we lost our 2nd option and only true center. We shot 38%(35-92) from the field, 30% (9-30) from 3, 79% from the stripe and commited 10 TO albeit pretty early in the game not to mention being out rebounded by 12 boards (2 more offensively). All that and NO had to sramble to beat us.

I want to mention why I think PJax sat Kobe and LO in the 4th but I promised that ^ would be my last point (damn me bang

)
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crucifido · Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 10:32 pm Post subject:

Thanks puffy and yeah the Hornets did have to play a pretty strong game to overcome the Lakers even short-handed.

The effort the Lakers showed in that game made this one today even more frustrating for me. I mean this game was there for the taking, but for some reason or another the Lakers played one of the worst perimeter defensive sets I've ever seen them do. Its always been a problem anyway, the outside D, but today was ridiculous. The way they were getting softer on the outside as the Rockets kept making shots had me screaming at home today.

The Lakers can get through this center-less spell, but only if they play with the intelligence they've shown they have. It still baffles me as to why this team is so Jekyll & Hyde sometimes with their D. Before it was the inside getting soft. Pau goes down, leaving the Lakers without a big man (sans Mbenga, but that's not much of a fill) but the outside D is what takes a hit for it with the Lakers overplaying the non-existent inside game of the Rockets.

Astoundingly maddening to say the least.

Lakers vs. Rockets (Game 66 3/16/08)

Disappointment On More Than One Level

Before I get into this game, let me let everyone know that there is a positive side to this injury plague. Once Bynum, Gasol and Mihm come back fully healthy from their bumps and bruises, the Lakers will have a team of guys that up to 13 deep know how to play in the meat of a game. That is to say that once the team is all on their feet again, the Lakers will be a team that has experience in meaningful game time down to the last guy off the bench. That will come in huge handy once the playoffs arrive.

Now onto my tirade that I had to step away from before in order to formulate it rationally.

First off, it was a waste of a real good defensive performance on McGrady. Team-wise Tracy was held to far below what his average and/or what he can normally get in a big game. The Lakers did so well in pressuring every single move he made and keeping right up on him on every outside shot. There were a couple instances of McGrady working around the Lakers in the mid-range, but overall they kept him out of rhythm the whole way. But that wasn’t enough…

While they played decently on McGrady, they (for some reason) let the 3 point shooting go practically unabated. While the Lakers packed it in on the inside because of the lack of a big man, they chose to ignore the fact that Houston drains 3’s with the best of ‘em. Every Laker was splitting space on the outside, keeping a step to the inside for no good reason. Meanwhile that step or often 2 steps allowed every Rocket with any kind of shot to slide to any spot they wanted without obstruction. Essentially the Lakers were defending open, possibly used space in favor of defending the actual threat.

It’s the umpteenth time the Lakers have done this. For some unknown reason, the Lakers enjoy letting shooters do what they do best. There was no effort to make anyone play outside of their comfort zone. Once McGrady was taken care of, it’s almost as if they figured nobody else would dare to contribute. So again, the Lakers get burned from outside, not because the other team was running efficient plays to get the shots, but because they simply let the Rockets go wherever they wanted. Once that 1st quarter 4 3’s from Alston thing was done, you’d hope the Lakers would get together and clamp down on it happening again. However, they not only let the Rockets continue to hit 3’s, they let Alston keep getting open for any shot he wanted. That’s maddening.

The Lakers also let 6 minutes of Rocket ineptitude on offense got to waste. Yes, they climbed back into the game, but they were making it as tough on themselves as they possibly could. There was little to no use of Odom on the inside. The entire game Lamar was playing aggressive and looking to cause havoc in the paint. Yet while Lamar played on like that, the Lakers were running mid-post plays for Mbenga. Now I like Mbenga, but running plays for him (even without the big man core intact) is something that just shouldn’t happen. At best he should be a passing pivot point, not an offensive option.

Without the exploitation of Odom in the middle, the Lakers relied solely on a shooting contest. Once again, they got caught up in a game that is both out of their realm and a style of game that utterly destroys the methodical passing offense the triangle is. The Toronto game saw a little preview of the Lakers doing the same thing. Today you saw the fully fleshed out version of that same thing.

The Rockets, surprisingly, weren’t using the middle offensively whatsoever. Even with Mutombo in the game (and Scola as well) they weren’t using the post for anything but a rebound jumping off point. So when the Lakers saw that they should have been going right into the paint immediately to push the apparently soft Rocket inside game on its heels. Alas, that didn’t happen.

Meanwhile, the Lakers have got a big hill to climb without Gasol on the road. That hill led to Houston today as the Lakers limped into the Rockets crazy winning streak looking to do what no other team could do in the last 21 games versus the Rockets.

Without any legit center (outside of Mbenga) rebounds are obviously the story coming into this game. The Lakers had to look to have a team rebounding kind of mentality on both ends. But there’s no reason to send everyone into the paint on a drive to help, leaving the outside ridiculously open for Alston to drain 3’s. You cannot let the outside suffer the consequences of the lack of size in the middle.

Also again, there was no rotation to help on drives. Even Kobe, the team’s best defender had 2 times in particular (one on a drive by Battier in the 4th) where he stood within help distance watching Battier waltz to the hoop without contest. It can’t be that tough to send one help guy (not off of a shooter) to seal up at least a little space in the middle. It doesn’t have to be a shot blocker, but it has to be somebody. You can’t stand and hope they miss a lay-up.

The real problem today came with the point guard core of the Lakers again. They’ve had a recent bad run on the defensive end in particular and today was no different. With Derek letting Alston run free on the outside, it got Alston off to that quick start that usually proves deadly with him. The foot speed just isn’t there with Derek and in game like this against big outside screen sets like Houston sets that can really hurt the Lakers perimeter D. Farmar did slightly better, but got caught on screens over and over due to an all to familiar lack of communication.

The Lakers played horrible defense on the high pick and roll. Once the roll came off of the pick, the Lakers got stuck where the pick was set., There was no movement to drop down with the roll and like mentioned above, if the roll was contested but still open, help was nowhere to be found.

The Lakers had a deplorable habit of obstructive flash defense on 3-point shooters today. The flashing is fine but you can’t flash by getting in the way of your teammate defending the shot, ultimately screening him out, then running off of the flash leaving the shooter wide open. That happened way too many times today against Alston.

Lastly, a little point about the way the Laker injuries are happening. They’re coming off of guys stepping on each other’s feet. To me this smacks of a communication problem. Even when the Lakers were rolling there was little talking going on. If the Lakers would open up their communication more and let each other know what’s going, call each other off of rebounds and also move to open space, maybe all of this slipping off of each other’s feet thing will take a step aside. I’m not saying it solves all injury problems, but maybe it plays a small role – who knows.

O.K., enough of that rant. Let me bookend my whining with some positives from today.

Like I said before, Odom played a real strong game. Aggressive from the start and looking to be a factor in this one, Lamar had an impact from end to end. He played real well in the post with ball. He was showing the full range of his arsenal today, often freezing the Rocket interior D without problem. His rebounding was outstanding. Even without the pad of Gasol in the low block, Lamar has developed a real knack for grabbing boards. His rebounds in heavy traffic were beautiful. He was reaching above 2 and sometimes 3 defenders to get boards and even better was kicking back out to reset the offense instead of jacking up low percentage contested shots.

Defensively he was a little slow on the help, but when shots were coming off the glass, Lamar was in perfect position more times than not to either get the board or clear space for a teammate to grab it. Particularly, Odom was getting the long rebounds off of long shots with great accuracy.

Radmanovic did an admirable job on McGrady early on. In particular he did real well no biting on the multiple head fakes that McGrady threw at him. He played with solid footing and didn’t really let McGrady get any breathing room around or in front of him. Of all people to set a defensive pace it was Vladi in the 1st quarter that showed that McGrady can be contained.

Ronny played really, really well active off the ball. Hat activity from mid-range into the paint was invaluable in making the Lakers a bit more threatening inside than they would’ve been without Ronny playing so alertly. He cleared space on the defensive end good too. If he wasn’t moving people around to create space for himself in the paint, he was constantly in the mix, not letting easy offensive or defensive boards go off without him having a say in it.

I loved the blocks today. Usually Ronny goes in with way too much swipe in his motion but today he was a bit more under control. The blocks were timed well and he was going up when the at the height of their jump rather than crashing down his swing on them when they were almost back down.

Luke did some quality work in the high post. He’s still slowly moving away from his low post forcing offense, but today he was vital in the mid to high post, delivering some tough passes and keeping his shot under control well.

Kobe did alright, but without any movement off the ball, it was real rough for Kobe to find any room to move. The Rockets were free to send double teams at him because the rest of the Lakers weren’t getting to their pass option spots whatsoever. It’s hard to gauge Kobe’s game today, he never really got a chance to get going. The Lakers allowed the Rockets to pay heavy attention to him, without making them pay for overplaying Kobe.

Like I said, to me, this was one of the more disappointing losses of the year. It’s not because 1st place has been surrendered (although yeah, that does suck) but moreover because this game was easily winnable.

The Lakers failed to cash in on the Rockets almost handing to them by playing intolerable defense on the arc. I don’t like losing, but I don’t mind it as much when the Lakers give their full focus and effort. Today, they just looked disinterested, almost glum. They looked like a team that was giving up the ship before it even left the harbor. That’s what angered me the most about this game.

First place is a hot potato in the West right now. As of this moment the Rockets have it, but with more focus, common sense on the defensive end and a continued aggression on the boards (along with other things, but you get the point), it can once again be the Lakers’ place to have.
_________________
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." - Winston Churchill

crucifido · Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2008 7:23 pm Post subject:

Now that I've calmed down and my heart isn't in convulsions, here's the article for this one...

Man, that was crazy...

Lakers vs. Mavericks (Game 67 3/18/08)

The Lakers Win With A Big Ol’ But

After the loss in Houston there has to be a sense of urgency on the Lakers to not let this little losing streak turn into a big one. That urgency can’t turn to panic it has to go into focused determination. Dallas hasn’t been a kind arena to the Lakers recently, but even despite the shortage of personnel, the Lakers have more than a chance to beat the Mavericks on their home court with communication, defense and smart play on both ends.

Now I don’t know if it’s the tight race in the west, the 2 game skid, playing the Mavericks at their arena or just general game time jitters, but I wanted this game badly. A 3 game losing streak (as seen by the Spurs) can be deadly to your positioning in the West. Yes, there’s a ways to go, but with a higher seeding the Lakers can fall into an easier second round match-up if they advance. Anyway, suffice to say, I hoped the Lakers wanted this win as much as us fans did tonight.

The Lakers can ill afford getting down early to teams on this road trip. They’ve got to come into games looking to take the upper hand by dictating pace. The Lakers have for the most part been a victim to pacing the first two games. This game saw the Lakers making the pace. Bringing the ball up quickly on open breaks, but showing good patience in the half court sets.

Getting the ball into the mid-post to Ronny was smart. As Ronny started to take the ball into Dampier without fear, it took Dampier out of the game early and right there the Lakers should know that the inside is compromised and the playing field on the inside evened out. Ronny’s pushes into Dampier, even getting knocked down a couple times in the process, got the Lakers the inside presence that they sorely needed/ignored in Houston. Those knockdowns didn’t deter Ronny at all. In fact, it looked like the early contact fired his game up offensively and defensively. Ronny’s movement off the ball has usually been spot on, and tonight it was no different. Ronny was moving off the pass into pass option spots with crisp steps.

When Dampier did come back in the game Ronny had good shot selection stepping out of the paint and draining the 15 footer he’s adopted into his arsenal.

The Lakers moved to the inside via passing or via driving with smarts tonight. Without a legit center stepping in after Ronny took Dampier out of the game, the Lakers had a wide-open chance to exploit the softer than usual belly of the Mavericks. Kobe did fantastic passing the ball to the cutter and the patient movement around the horn pulled the Mavs out of defensive comfort spots the way the Lakers were doing earlier in the year. There are typically wide gaps in the mavericks mid range defense, but the Lakers forced an even bigger gap in the middle tonight with aggressive and forthright movement to the hoop.

Defensively, how can you complain about Ronny tonight? His blocking has become much better timed and the over-eager swiping has taken a backseat to controlled movement. Without a legit 7 footer in the middle, Ronny has done a more than admirable job holding down the center spot. Ronny (along with Lamar) absolutely owned the paint tonight. There was not one shot that came within the reach of Ronny that wasn’t contested. The guy just played like an 8 footer tonight, not letting anyone get into any kind of rhythm in any post.

Luke did better using the post. He used it to set up the play, instead of setting up a highly contested shot in traffic. He is put in the post to be used as a passing pivot and the more Luke plays the paint to that end, the better the Laker offense moves. Very smart transition defense tonight from Luke. He got back on defense but more importantly he wasn’t losing sight of where the ball was. His defense outside was a bout 2 steps slow, but he did well in getting into rebound position when he did get beat.

Farmar has fallen in love with the long shot recently, and I was screaming my head off last game for him to get back to the probing dribble in the paint and right around the key that he was doing before. In this one, Farmar looked to make amore concerted effort to just that. There were open jumpers here and there, but Jordan did well in taking the ball into mid-range gaps, moving the Mavericks defense with him, instead of moving his game around their defense.

Farmar however has got to make his post passes sharper and not as telegraphed. He’s holding the ball too far out before he makes the pass, letting his defender and the others around him where the ball is going to go.

Sasha officially freaks me out on breaks. I don’t know if its his hair bouncing everywhere that’s making him look out of control or the bullish head down dribbling style into the front court, but either way Sasha has got to start giving the ball up about 2 seconds earlier on breaks.

Kobe was pure genius in the first half of this game. He made Dallas pay for doubling him at every turn. Of course being Kobe, you can’t help but double, so you take that passing look from Kobe and the good movement from the Lakers and there’s no mystery as to why the Lakers played the way they did early on. The key was Kobe’s amazing vision on the court. The confidence in his teammates was there in full effect. Kobe’s hustle to loose balls and everywhere at once defensive mentality was spectacular. There was no ball that was with in 3 feet of Kobe that wasn’t either gathered or gone after.

Alright, Derek’s offense has got to be more varied than strictly spotting up on the arc. The driving game he had earlier this year has disappeared and because of that defenses are not being forced to move from the outside. With Derek standing only on the line not moving his feet, he’s keeping the offense from moving, as it should. Derek’s smarter than this and this addiction to the long distance jumper has to stop - now.

Radmanovic has now strung together two quality defensive games. His job on McGrady set the pace for the team and tonight he was locked in on the perimeter. He gambled a bit too much on post passes or players swinging the ball from down to up, but all in all, Vladi has played really good defense on whoever has been thrown his way. Offensively there’s no streakier shooter on the Lakers other than Vladi. I’ve said it a lot, if there’s one wild card that can swing a game in the Lakers favor, its Vladi. If that shot gets going and he moves to the option spots he should be in (as he was in the 4th) the guy can truly swing a game.

Real good takes by Odom into Dampier and Nowitzki in the 1st quarter. Plays like that are something that has risen to the surface since Gasol’s arrival. The best part of that game is that right now the same aggression is still there even with Gasol out injured. The diving effort off of the bad shot from Lamar in the 4th goes to show just how much hustle has worked its way into Lamar’s game.

The help defense Lamar played in this one was much better than in Houston. Odom set the pace by keeping a hold of the baseline, avoiding the 3-second call but always watching when to slide over to cut the drive off. His timing on the slide and on help was on the money. The strength Lamar held the ground in the paint also helped his growing rebound numbers. He had complete control of the area directly under the boards and about 1 to feet around it. The Mavericks were throwing 2 to 3 guys into the paint on shots and often holding one right outside the block to swoop in, but Lamar held ground superbly.

By the way, missed free throws make me crazy. I don’t expect 100% but the Lakers are shooting without following through most of the time and are letting too many points escape them from the line.

The Lakers have a bad habit/awful/terrible/horrible/deplorable of playing prevent defense. Whether Kobe is in or not, or there is a viable offensive option in the game, the Lakers seem to settle back on their heels offensively when they get a big lead. They can’t do this. They still have to learn that when you have a lead, it’s never big enough. There can be no sluggish play or getting away from running successful plays simply because you have a lead.

You simply cannot let a team (home or away) get a look at the game when you have a lead the size of what the Lakers had (25). The killer instinct that everyone begs for is still escaping the Lakers. There’s no tired excuse, there’s no back-to-back excuse, in fact, there’s no excuse to let the good game you played in the first 3 half.

How in the world do the Lakers continuously give up threes in crunch time, especially against the team you recently went to overtime against from the same thing? I will forever not understand how every single Laker doesn’t understand how to push the out soothe ball has to be either passed away from a shooter, turn a shooter into a passer or have the ball put on the floor. There’s just no reason, aside from lazy play this should happen as much as it does.

I’ve harped on it before too – tonight saw another end of the period 3 that swung the momentum Dallas’ way going into the 4th. Along with the prevent defense mentality they show, the Lakers have got to keep alive until the buzzer sounds. There is no relaxing simply because a quarter is winding down. I rip on fans leaving games early, and this is right along the same lines. You have to play sharp until the game is over.

The ball movement in the 1st quarter was real good. What facilitated that movement were the Lakers getting to the spots of the offense before the ball fell dead in a post or in an iso set. Its real good to see the Lakers realizing that movement off the ball, rotating with the play gets the ball better passing angles. The ball’s been falling dead quite often on this road trip due to 3 or 4 Lakers watching a play develop rather than making the play develop.

The whole Kobe and company coming to the arena fresh off a flight after a loss to practice shooting is something that is simply beautiful to hear happening. That kind of dedication is contagious, beyond helpful and shows a drive the Lakers haven’t had in a long, long time.

WTF of The Game: The mics on the nets in Dallas are hilarious. It makes every basket sound like a punch in an Indiana Jones movie.

Despite the wacky play in the second half, the Lakers won – in essence that’s what matters. They showed good composure in holding on when the pressure was really clamping down on them. I can point out other things, but I’m going to take this win and run away to the Utah game looking for our guy to come home 2-2 and hopefully getting healthy.
_________________
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." - Winston Churchill

puffyusaf#2 · Joined: 02 Apr 2006 Posts: 4830 Location: Temecula

Great read.

I only have a couple things to add to this game:

1. The first half was a thing of beauty. We played with energy, we moved the ball, we attacked the paint and we didn't turn the ball over.

2. The 3rd qtr was strictly ruined by the officials. One of my coworkers is abig Knick fan and all he kept saying was "Wow, the Lakers are getting raped with no calls and Dallas is getting touched softly and getting all the calls". Truthfuly that is the only reason Dallas got back in this game IMO.

3. Speaking of that 3rd qtr I was estatic to see (over the last few as well) that the Lakers are keeping thier composure even with horrible officiating. Can Kobe get a foul call?

4. Fish and Luke played the worse 4th qtr ever IMO they really hurt the team in the 4th. Luke atleast was big for us early in the game.

5. I have been talking about LO for awhile now and he has continued to prove his worth. Lets not forger Sasha, Vlad, RT and Kobe to boot.

Lastly,

6. I know I am healthy because my heart didn't stop beating during this game. Whew... Great win jam2

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Well, I find you offensive for finding me offensive!!!

crucifido · Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 9:39 pm Post subject:

All good points puffy, but I always have trouble blaming anything on refs. the aggressive team usually gets the calls. If you come into any game or even quarters at times playing passive, you trend to not get calls.

Lakers vs. Jazz (Game 68 3/20/08)

A Streak Broken, A Place Kept And A Road Trip Finished The Right Way

From the second best home team to the best, that’s the way the Lakers’ road trip and the West in general goes. There’s no night off that’s for sure. And so the Lakers roll into Utah to try and snap another crazy winning streak.

On the first defensive set the Lakers looked crouched down and dug in to play the same defense that got them the big lead in Dallas. Solid footing on the perimeter at the opening kept the Jazz from working inside out. They relegated the Jazz to a jump shooting team, taking away any drives and probes to the paint.

What they have to watch with mobile teams like Utah is the movement from mid-range along the baseline looking to pop out on the other side for a pass or to swoop in for a rebound. The Lakers had it happen once to them, but quickly sealed it up in the 1st quarter.

Speaking of that 1st quarter, what a great performance it was. I mean scoring 38 on your own home floor in a period is great, but pulling it off on the road against the league’s best home team, that’s something amazing. The best part of that run was that the Lakers got it off of defense first play and controlled play on the offensive end working inside out.

Lamar did well making Okur play moving defense early. The take from the side along the baseline was a good way to establish his offensive game before the Jazz got settled into their spots. Odom’s move to the middle to get the wrap-around pass from Ronny was one of the more aware pieces of footwork he’s pulled off this year. The effects of Gasol’s arrival are still alive and well though Gasol is out. You’d think with Lamar being pushed into the 2nd option again that his game would fade back into unsure play, but it was quite the opposite.

Odom was stepping into shots, taking the open chances he had and even better, knocking them down. Defensively what Lamar had huge success with (and its something I complain about every game – to myself) is playing grounded defense in traffic. When the cutter came in, or the drive came into him, he didn’t jump with the shot. His arms went up, he kept his feet turning with the direction and often came up with forced missed shots or the board. That kind of controlled, non-pogo defense can save a lot of fouls for all Laker big men. Couple that with Lamar’s crisp transition defense (the block on Brewer in the 3rd quarter) and you have a spectacular performance from Odom.

Lamar’s confidence is even coming out in his interviews. The halftime interview with Cheryl Miller saw Odom with his head up, him looking at her while he talked and saying assured positive things. Before he was often head-down and mumbling cliché’ speak with no energy.

That steal on the 2-on1 break from Derek (and the block / recovery from Lamar and Farmar) is the reason that everyone has got to get back on defense every single time. That was beautiful hustle from him (and Radmanovic). Riding on that Radmanovic kept up his defensive run. He has been playing incredibly solid defense moving from the mid-rang to the inside lately. This game was no different as Vladi had his feet moving before his hands and arms reached. A lot of times Vladi is guilty of playing hands first D, getting himself into foul trouble for no reason. Something seems to have clicked though because Vladi is now playing focused foot-first D.

Now from the defensive improvement, Vladi looks like he may have found his shot again. Just like Lamar, consistency is the tough thing for Radmanovic. So seeing him have two good games from distance in a row isn’t the end of the inconsistency, but it’s certainly the beginning of a waking up of Vladi.

Back to Derek – he really played some bodied up defense on Williams in the first half. He didn’t give Deron any room to move up and down. He let some lateral movement go, but Fish did real well in taking away the quick straight in drive away from him.

Ronny, once again (and yes I’m biased) made his presence known. He has played a strong combo game of power forward and center in this injury run. Snagging a board between two Jazz players more than once. When he did get the rebound, the key to his success is that he’s kicked it back out to reset the offense, instead of taking it up in traffic. But he does real well worming his way into the paint, getting set and not giving up ground.

It got to one point this game that the Jazz began sending two players to defend Ronny even when he was out of the post. That is an unexpected dividend to Ronny’s play. Any pressure taken off of the main offensive options through unexpected sources is huge. The beginning of the game had Ronny establishing position so early the Jazz looked lost on how to recover the space.

Ronny had to be more careful of pushing Boozer too much physically. Boozer wants to feel the defender push up on him so he can pound the ball into the low post. When Ronny started getting into Boozer on the high post, he gave up too much room to the inside, giving him a tough time to recover and block the shot or play D without fouling.

Farmar finally started ditching the long shot when he had a drive. There’s been a huge lack of probing, cutting, slashing and even empty drives to pull defense off the perimeter. Jordan changed that a tiny bit tonight, taking the ball in for a nice, strong drive in the 2nd quarter. However, his passes in general on offense have been slow and flat, making them candidates for steals almost every time. He has to start moving to better pass position if the angle isn’t there. Don’t pass it just because someone seems open.

Sasha found his groove. Mainly he found it through getting to the pass option spots early, without hesitating off of screens. He got back to his movement right to his spots after the first pass in the play. Once he got the sides (where he thrives from) the shots were both more open and coming in rhythm with the offense, instead of forced out of desperation.

About Kobe: simply amazing – again. I love the “this game is personal comment” about the Jazz fans booing Derek. That and the drive he showed tonight after the foul on Williams 3 is without a doubt the most incredible thing to watch (and have on your side) in the NBA. I’ve run out of superlatives for him actually. The no-look pass on the break, the help rebounding in the second half, the mobile perimeter to mid-range defense, the ice cold shooting from 12 to 14 feet when the Lakers needed it the most – it was all again, amazing.

Points in transition and turnover numbers were good this game. The unforced errors weren’t falling into bunches like they can sometimes. Controlled play came in at the start and only had two instances of faltering, but it was shored right back up.

2 massive keys to the game:

1) The Laker bench running the lead back up to 19 without Kobe on the floor. That run (even though it was from shooting against the zone) played really big in a game that, 4even though the lead was there, felt precarious at times.

2) Keeping Kirilenko outside and completely away from any post or inside play. There was no weak side domination that Kirilenko can do. They kept him out of the post and off of the baseline and that was vital in killing second chances.

Why does the zone defense confound the Lakers so much? They insist on shooting 3’s against the zone, playing right into their hands. If we know how to beat the zone, there’s no reason the Lakers shouldn’t know. Attack the middle – attack the middle – attack the middle!!

Flash defense from Luke on the arc killed the Lakers a couple of times. One game it was Lamar and this one it was Luke jumping out to defend the 3, pushing his teammate off of his man, then fading away from it. There’s enough open 3’s going up on the Lakers as it is, that team-wide theory has got to stop.

One thing the Lakers did in Dallas and in this one in Utah, is getting caught up in the atmosphere of the game. Event though the crowd is anti-Laker, they have a habit of playing along with the energy of the crowd, often hurrying their offense or taking ill-advised / early in the clock shots. It wasn’t as apparent this game, but it was there. They have got to play methodically at all times. It’s decidedly tough to not get caught up, but the Lakers need to learn that lesson if they are to have any success in the quickly approaching playoffs.

Well they didn’t break the Houston streak, but at least they broke this one. Coming home 2-2 on this road trip at this time of the year after losing Gasol, is totally acceptable. The strength of the bench is getting thicker (the good side of the injuries) and it is impressive that the Lakers have held their head above water with everything that’s been thrown their way and in this crazy Western race.

Now, they can’t let this win and coming home to play a weak Seattle team take them out of the focused play they’ve shown these last 2 games.
_________________
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." - Winston Churchill

crucifido · Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:53 pm Post subject:

A good piece of home cookin' and a bit of a tune-up kind of game for the home and away with the Warriors.

Lakers vs. Sonics (Game 69 3/21/08)

Back Home Again

Without Gasol going 2-2 on that road trip is nothing to scoff at. The Lakers hung tough pulled out two wins that were needed, important, impressive and inspiring. Now they get to come back home and play a not-so-hot Seattle team that’s playing nothing but the spoiler for the rest of the year.

The team ball movement was right on the money in the 1st quarter. They showed a quickness to get in the frontcourt and more importantly, the paint that was a pleasant surprise. Often coming off of a rough road trip teams tend to relax and let game like this slide a bit, but the Lakers showed some really sharp hustle as soon as the ball was jumped up.

Once again Radmanovic looked locked in on defense. You can see it in his posture – hunched over eyes focused on his assignment and moving really well laterally. These are all things that at one time Vladi looked completely incapable of. The forced turnover from jumping into the p[assign lane in the 1st was a jaw dropping play for Vladi.

Radmanovic’s curl to the hoop for the lay-in in the 1st quarter off of the high post pass from Lamar was gorgeous. There’s an assertion in the movement of Vladi on offense that shows that he looks to have finally clicked into where he needs to be offensively. All of this sudden success from Vladi is stemming from one thing – active feet. He’s not planting himself in a spot waiting for a pass or waiting for a drive any more. There’s a bounce in his step that’s having an effect on both ends for Radmanovic.

An unexpected element in Radman’s game tonight was the passing on the give and go’s. His dimes were perfectly timed and placed. Oh yeah, and how ‘bout that put back dunk off of Mbenga’s miss in the 2nd? This is a Vladi that was nowhere to be found before, but has luckily found his game within the system – finally.

Lamar’s board work is becoming instinctive. Not only is he getting himself involved in the mix every time underneath tonight, he’s really learned how to create space underneath. Odom’s early in the shot footwork has been the key. If you watch as Lamar works himself into rebounding position, he’s always on the balls of his feet. He’s keeping his arms up from mid-range to high, allowing himself room to go up for the board without making contact on the opposition. Tonight, against a good rebounding team and a team the Lakers tend to give a lot of second chances to, Lamar was a major factor in getting the Lakers off to the scorching start.

Limiting second chances has been a bane to the Lakers existence at times, but tonight Lamar proved that the dent he’s made in that hitch isn’t a fluke any more. If you’re not seeing or appreciating the amount of work Lamar has put in the last 10 or 11 games, then you’re not watching the same game I am. This hustling determined play looks like it just may stick.

Just like with Vladi, this footwork of Odom is having far reaching effects. Low and behold the confidence he’s getting from controlling the boards is giving him confidence in his shot.

Derek made me a happy guy tonight. Instead of just instantly settling for the 3, there were a couple instances where Fish actually took it to the hoop. Unfortunately it just isn’t as much as it should be from your point guard. There’s nobody on the Sonics in the paint that should be obstructing Fish from getting where he wants to go.

Don’t get me wrong, I like that Derek has added the long range jumper to his game, but in the last 20 games or so, he’s been a one trick pony when in actuality he has more than a 3 point shot offense within him. It should be an element to his game, not his entire game. Also, in the most basic terms, for Derek to keep his shot open from the outside he has to drive or at the least probe the paint with a dribble. He knows it, we know it, but the thing is will Derek do it consistently?

There was one moment in the 1st quarter where Derek played Watson on the perimeter, but when Watson picked up his dribble he stayed back. However, within 2 seconds Derek closed the space and took away the shot that could’ve been there. That closing out of space on perimeter shooters is one of the best things to see right now – especially from the point guard position. It didn’t really happen with Farmar on the court. It seems like Farmar is following Fisher’s lead on both ends, but at some point one of them has got to start putting more pressure on slow moving offense on the perimeter.

As far as Farmar goes, its good to see his shot come alive, but I hope that with every made 3 it doesn’t take away another chunk of Farmar’s driving instinct. For the shot to keep being open and keep falling, Jordan, like Derek, has got to remember to break down the defense as enthusiastically as he shoots the 3.

Ronny had his hands at the ready in this one. That may be one of Ronny’s biggest positives this year (next to getting to his spots quicker than most on the floor). Off of that Ronny’s passing has seen a sudden burst. It started in Dallas really with a couple decent passes out of pressure in the paint. Then it developed even more in Utah, dishing the ball off in traffic sometimes instead of throwing up contested shots. Now in this game Ronny continued his great passing work. The big highlights though come from his readiness. You rarely, if ever, see Ronny caught blind on a pass.

He’s everyone’s favorite whipping boy right now, though I think if everyone knew how hurt Luke’s been this year and the way he’s played through it opinions may change. It was fantastic to see Luke finally knock the lid off the basket. He did well shooting through it tonight, but even more so he dove to the rim on a couple rolls and got some easy buckets that got some confidence and lift back in his shot. He hasn’t a good year to be sure, but he did well staying alive on his feet tonight even when the shot wasn’t falling.

What I didn’t like was the lazy inbounds pass in the 3rd to Ronny. Whether you’re hurt or not you can’t pull off lackadaisical plays like that.

Kobe played some good harassing defense on Durant. When he got the chance to stay with him through screens, Kobe pushed up into him constantly. Whenever there was a tiny bit of breathing room Kobe closed it up. That close made Durant backpedal or give the ball up. There was no room for shot that Durant was trying to get going.

That was a picture perfect trap on Ridnour in the 3rd. That occasional trap defense of Phil was active tonight and it paid off more than not.

With the Sonics being who they are and crippled even further without Wilcox, the Lakers really should be looking to attack the middle on almost every play. At the very least they need to set up every other play or so coming form the post. There was ball movement on the outside, but the problem was it never saw anything but the arc. That makes the Lakers easy to defend and it absolutely stalls the Laker offense.

Run the curl play (mostly with shooters) more often. It worked well tonight with Radmanovic and Sasha and there’s no reason it can’t work to at least move a stagnant offense. Even if it’s used as a decoy play, the dive down the middle (particularly versus the zone) can scramble a defense much better than simply hoisting it up every time there’s any glimpse of an open look. When the defense gets put back on their heels, the long jumpers will be there, but the easy lay-ins will also crop up.

It was spotty energy on defense tonight. The 1st quarter was lively, the 2nd saw the Lakers play slow and lazy at times, especially when the ball moved around the mid-range. The 3rd quarter had the Lakers moving a little better but looking like they had to ramp the energy of the 1st back up to speed. The transition lost some speed there. And the 4th was alright, but still lacked the pop they had in the 1st. Different defensive profiles were evident tonight. That could be fatigue from the road trip, a let down mentality playing Seattle after tough teams or miscommunication. Needless to say consistent hustle defense is what the Lakers have banked more wins on this year. That’s what’s got to show up, no matter who the opponent.

It was a good palette cleanser kind of game. It was the saltine at the Pepsi Challenge. Now that the cobwebs of the late arrival at home are shaken off, its time to get re-focused for Sunday and Monday and the home and away with the Warriors. With or without Gasol, it’s not going to be easy as the Warriors are still fighting for their playoff lives. Above all else, remember that consistent defense will lead to consistent offense and energy begets energy on all fronts.
_________________
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." - Winston Churchill

Vasashi17 · Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 9:03 pm Post subject:

I swear....if I ever miss a game, I just need to read up Cruc's Corner and I'll be in the loop.

These recaps are money Cruc. I just finished reading the Utah one...props bro. You even caught the confidence oozing out of LO's interview. Now that's thorough analysis.

Keep at Cruc. I honestly don't get to read all of them, but the ones I do get to read definitely help fill in the blanks to games that I either partially miss or completely miss.
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puffyusaf#2 · Joined: 02 Apr 2006 Posts: 4830 Location: Temecula

Thanks again Cruc. THat was the way I wanted to see this game played out even though it took a little longer than I wanted for us to get that BIG lead.
_________________
You find me offensive?

Well, I find you offensive for finding me offensive!!!

crucifido · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:18 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the props Vas and puffy!! man12

Unfortunately, this game just spoiled what was a pretty good weekend.

Man that was aggravating

Lakers vs. Warriors (Game 70 3/23/08)

Surprise, Defense Does Matter After All

It was a bright and sunny day here in So Cal. The hybrid summer/spring season felt like it officially kicked in. As the sun began to set and the Lakers took the court against the Warriors, the day would hopefully continue to on its pace with a Laker win.

However, the great day led to a disappointing game from the purple and gold. The game wasn’t without its positives, but overall it was a loss that was laced with aggravation.

The board numbers were there again for Lamar today. He came out working hard (mostly on the defensive boards). He was just vastly underused in the first half. What was good for Lamar was his sudden aggressiveness getting inside while everyone else insisted on shooting long jumpers in the 3rd quarter. The guy was playing rock solid defense in the second half, denying anyone and everyone access to the rim. If the ball came off the rim, Lamar was not only in the mix every time, but usually getting the ball using his length. He’s learned the strong stance defense that has escaped the Laker frontcourt for quite a while. That stance and the determined yet relaxed manner in which Lamar has played the last batch of games is exciting to see develop.

It was a waste of a brilliant, strong performance from Lamar.

Ronny keep his eyes open on the defender coming on his weak side. Ronny holds the ball out from his body too far, allowing easy steals or at the least swipes at the ball that can take him out of rhythm. The outside shot was falling for Ronny tonight. Again, every point Ronny can pull in from the outside helps the entire team too. Not just scoring wise, but also the spacing inside gets relief at the time and for the rest of the game.

There were a lot of good things in Ronny’s game aside from the shot. With a weak inside team like the Warriors, its imperative the Lakers established some kind of inside position and Ronny did a decent job making the Warriors have to collapse from the perimeter defense to the mid-range. Ideally it would’ve been good to have a cutter or two diving in the middle. The Lakers had Ronny filling the post space, but there was a problem inside in that nobody looking to cut off of the post to get an easy bucket. The ball was dying in the post with Ronny and little activity anywhere off of it.

Ronny’s big hitch was his Odom-like sharing of the ball. There were 4 shots that would’ve been easy makes for Ronny but he passed it off, resulting in 3-second violations or lower percentage shots.

Kobe did a good job posting up Baron early in the game. He got into the post as fast as he could once the Lakers pulled the switch for Kobe’s position. Once there Kobe leaned into Baron in the 1st, gathering the foul on Davis, putting the Warriors on their heels a bit. However, once those 2 fouls were riding on Davis’ back the Lakers didn’t post him up, take it into him (or his area) or do much at all to take advantage of the inherently weak defensive spot those fouls created.

Offensively Kobe seemed held back a touch. In the second half he got more aggressive and started to get into the groove. That first half though had Kobe playing far too passive against a team that really has absolutely no answer in the slightest for his game.

Against a high scoring team like the Warriors, I would’ve liked to see Kobe a bit more foot active on offense earl in the game. He had a lot of moments where he passed the ball and fell stagnant (as the rest of the team did). The usual precise off ball movement he shows was a step or two slow in spots.

There was better balance in Jordan’s inside / outside game tonight. He had one drive along the baseline for a dunk in the 2nd that was great to see. Just like Derek there’s been far too much settling for the 3 amongst the Lakers’ point guards. I say it a gazillion times a year, but there has to be some kind of probing dribble into the paint from the points. You can’t expect to hoist long distance shots without taking pressure off of them with a drive or two.

Anyway, Jordan did much better this game looking to at least pull the guards in from the perimeter. It pulled some defense off of long shots and it also made the Warriors scramble like they should against an agile team like the Lakers. It’s dangerous to get caught up in the fast penetration game with the Warriors, but with Jordan playing as spry as he did today, it provided a much-needed element of energy.

Derek played some clutch offense in the 3rd quarter. What you don’t want to see is success from the perimeter isolate Derek to playing strictly the shooting game. When he started sinking the jumpers, you ultimately want Fish to take the ball inside, if only for a play or two. He got his 3’s in that second half from getting to his spot well. There’s no doubt that Derek (aside from Kobe) knows the triangle the best and he exploited the benefit of the system’s spacing. I’m not sure why when Derek was as hot as he was the Lakers decided to go away from him almost entirely in the 4th quarter. He got to the same spots with a foul plagued Ellis on him, but the ball never worked over to him.

The main fault today - playing that manic style of play the Warriors love you to play. There’s no reason that a team with the talent and composure the Lakers have shown have to feel obligated to run crazed from end to end with no plays to speak of.

The Lakers were tentative at the beginning of the game. The quick pace they set in the previous two took a back seat to bit more of a slow paced / though out kind of offense. Its not the worst gambit to play against the speedy Warriors, but the Lakers can set the pace without playing a running game out of their talents. They lacked that spark they showed the last couple of games in trying to bury teams early. Not only did they give the Warriors a good size lead in the first half, they weren’t coming at them with any kind of assertion right away. You can’t delay that controlled sense of urgency.

There was a little reversion tonight to the unforced turnover version of the Lakers. You have to know our opponent. There were too many flat angle passes from the side to the mid-post in slight traffic. You have to know that the Warriors have quick defensive hands, sneaking a pass through minimal space like the Lakers were trying to do is unlikely. That and some sleepy transition defense (even more dangerous against a team as fast as the Warriors) had the Warriors dictating the pace early in the game. Unfortunately the Lakers were playing right into the Warriors’ hands by shooting quick long distance jumpers, virtually ignoring the inside game. The driving, cutting and slashing game of the Laker backcourt was completely absent. In turn the Lakers gave up way too many points in the 1st quarter.

If they happen to meet up with the Warriors in the playoffs, or any team with speed, they should know by now that they have to stay within their game. Once the Lakers try to run, it takes them out of the systematic pace of the triangle. There’s some leeway in the triangle this year, but not enough to make up for the loss of pace as in the 1st half.

There was stretch (from the 3 minutes left in the 1st to 9.43 left in the 2nd) where they didn’t take the ball inside once. Every bit of offense was a jump shot. You saw the Warriors having a parade to the paint the 1st and 2nd, but for some reason the Lakers looked like they were being pushed out of the inside. (Case in point: there were only 4 touches in the paint (via passes or plays) for Lamar the entire first half.) In that 2nd quarter Ronny was forced to sit with 3 fouls, yet both Baron and Jackson were playing comfortable defense from all spots sitting on 2 fouls (to that matter there should’ve been switches pulled on Ellis to get him out of the game when he had 5 fouls with 7 minutes left in the game). That’s unacceptable offense. There is nobody on the Warriors that does, will or should make the Lakers as hesitant from getting inside, as they looked tonight in the first half.

Statistically, the inside game wasn’t tested as much as it should’ve been, however, the second half saw improvement (over a lackluster first half):
3rd quarter: 5 drives, 2 posts, 2 dives/cuts
4th quarter: 8 drives, 4 posts, 2 dives/cuts

Those numbers aren’t overwhelming and tell the story as to why the Lakers struggled tonight.

That 3rd quarter defense was right on the money, as the numbers will attest to (from 38 in the 2nd to holding the Warriors to 15 in the 3rd). Now why that couldn’t have been played without the coaching staff having to drive the point home is a mystery, but lucky for us (and themselves) they cleaned up the defense a bit. The 4th though again saw the Lakers revert to letting guys get far too deep into the defense before they got confronted.

That 2nd half, though played defensively better by the whole team was all about Lamar and Ronny. Their insistence on position and not letting any easy shot inside go uncontested went miles in the Lakers being able to stay viable in this game.

With a sigh I say again, I don’t know why the Lakers can’t defend the 3-point line in crunch time. They let Jackson get two 3’s after Kobe’s shots with no contest. It’s just unforgivable how many times this has happened this season. It’s a no-brainer at that point to push up, play physical tight defense and at the worst give up 2. To give up a 3 in that kind of situation is at best frustrating.

Back to the unforced turnovers – that just has to stop (or at least be cut down to a bare minimum). I know some were from the Lakers were mistakenly trying to keep pace with the Warriors, but that’s still no excuse for wildly errant passes, balls mishandled from all spots and the generally mindless ball handling from everyone. Simply put, the game was wrought with terrible decisions, and even worse focus.

WTF Of The Game: That play by Kobe in the 4th, spinning and passing the no-look to Ronny for the slam and the foul was Magic-esque. That was one of the most amazing plays I’ve seen in a long time. I have no idea exactly how anybody is able to carry that kind of move off – simply astounding.

In the end it was a case of the Lakers letting a team get into rhythm early and having to fight both the scoreboard and momentum. The Lakers are talented for sure, but you can’t put yourself in this kind of spot this much. It’s happened a lot this year and at some point I hope the Lakers learn that lesson.

The Warriors needed this game and they played hungrier than the Lakers for the majority of it. In this tight race for best in the West its another regrettable loss that didn’t, and shouldn’t have happened. Hopefully, the Lakers turn this loss into motivation and take that out on the Warriors tomorrow.
_________________
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." - Winston Churchill

crucifido · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:33 pm Post subject:

The return of the cardiac kids bring a win from the road, but not without some serious sweating along the way.

The Lakers are back in first where they should be.

Lakers vs. Warriors (Game 71 3/24/08)

The Time The Sequel Surpasses The First

The Lakers had to go up to Oakland looking to redeem themselves against a team that they should beat without having to come back from 26 down.

Luckily, through this hard fought game, the Lakers found the composure they sorely lacked in L.A.. They rode that, along with a concerted effort on the defensive boards and mid-range, to a much needed, heart attack inspiring win.

There was a lot of good and a fair share of bad in this one, so let’s run through it.

Good early offensive post work by Ronny. When he got position in the second half mostly, he wasn’t letting go of it. That hold on position went a long way to giving the Lakers a pass option to the middle inside, easing up movement everywhere else. He has got to stop passing the ball in or out of the paint when he has a shot. He’s right by the basket for a high percentage shot, a foul, or sometimes both. It’s not a bad problem to have (players that pass too much), but it can’t come at the expense of 3-second violations or missed easy chances.

There was determined defensive work from Ronny though. He isn’t letting any shot go without a fight and you’ve got to love that. He had numerous changed shots and played some really well contained jumping defense. The emphatic swat he was doing before has given way to a more controlled type of block.

A most impressive element to the Lakers game tonight (mostly in the second half) was the team effort on the defensive boards. Lamar was heading the effort, but there were few times in the second half that he was alone underneath. Luke, Kobe, Vladi, Sasha and Jordan were crashing the key to get position alongside Lamar. That bolstering of the paint helped almost completely wipe out the second shot chances of the Warriors in the 4th quarter and overtime.

Sasha, overall, is shooting well, but he has really got to settle down from the arc. Making shots is great, but hoisting up a shot early in the clock is doing no good in the long run. He has got to get back to his drives along the baseline that he was doing earlier in the year. At the very least he’s got to put the ball on the floor along the key once in a while to ease pressure off of his shot. Defensively, he has to stop gambling on steals. Once he gets beaten on drives, he reaches for the improbable steal when he should be looking to get into a recovery position to help on the other player rotating onto his man.

Sasha’s 4th quarter help defense on the swing through moves of Davis and Jackson were desperately needed. With the Baron looking to sweep from side to side up high to set up his drive or get space for his jumper, it was really important that the Lakers had someone on him that could take a quick step back or laterally to keep up with him.

So I guess consistency is no longer a problem for Lamar. From the outset the guy was in the groove on the boards. The one board he got away from 2 Warriors underneath, holding it high with one hand then going coast to coast for the 3-point play was fantastic. Even when the rest of the team decided to stop helping on defense and let their man run free into the middle, Lamar was there to contest (with Ronny at his side) the drive. He guy is working harder than anyone on the floor. 7 double-doubles in row, back-to-back 20-20 games, domination of the paint on the defensive end, stepping into shots, taking the drives available to him and standing straight and tall in all circumstances are all impressive.

Like him or not (and if you don’t right now you never will), Odom is playing like a no holds barred stud right now.

The real snag to me in the Lakers’ offensive struggles against the Warriors is why they refuse to run more post plays for Lamar right now. With small teams like this (and with the absolute roll Odom is on) you have got to use him to your advantage in the block. Relegating him to a watchdog on the boards (though he’s done spectacular in that respect) or having him shoot from 10 feet that often is doing nothing but shooting yourself in the foot and out of the game.

Kobe looked like he was running in mud at times. He got stuck on post after post without the ball on the offensive end with limited agility that he usually has. He just didn’t have that cutting power that he normally has. With Kobe being as immobile as he was, its even more imperative that the Lakers get the ball inside to create freer space for Kobe and the perimeter players to move. His shot is being affected by his ankle now as you can see that the lift he gets isn’t quite where it should be.

Despite that, the guy played like a true warrior again. There is nothing that can keep him from being on the floor and that kind of determination got him out from under his hindered movement to put up yet another strong game.

The smartest / most gratifying defense the Lakers played tonight was on broken plays. They closed out on everyone incredibly well, once the Warriors had a play get shut down or altered.

There was still a control issue in this one. Once the ball started running faster by the Warriors, the Lakers started copping out for jumpers on breaks instead of getting to the half court offense they thrive in. Even with the lead the Lakers just weren’t careful enough with the ball or the pace. There should be no reason the Warriors force the Lakers into shooting these one-pass break rhythm shots or the bad passes they had in the 4th.

If I were coaching I would fine every player that shoots a 3 off of one pass, on a break or when there’s tons of clock left. The Warriors have NOBODY – ABSOLUTELY NOBODY inside that should be intimidating the Lakers this way. I can’t believe that I have to write this, but get the ball inside a measly 5 times a quarter, please!

Every single time the Lakers got inside they got a foul called, the shot made or a 3-point opportunity. The 3rd quarter was evidence to that. Patient, though-out ball movement and jabs to the paint got the Lakers the pace they needed. When the Lakers began to not throw a shot up without working the ball in and out things fell into place. The Warriors were scrambled on defense and exposed on the inside.

Make shooters out it on the floor and make slashers shoot or give up the ball. To that end the Lakers have to make Ellis (and speedy guards in general) more of a shooter. Sometimes they push up so close to him it gives him easy runs to anywhere he needs to go. I swear it’s not that hard to do, take 2 steps off of him. If he makes a shot from the space, so be it. It’s not the points, its giving up that many drive and kicks through one player. They did better in the 2nd half containing this, but at times (ala all last game and the first half of this one) the Lakers make this easy type of defensive maneuver look about as hard as taking the SAT in Chinese.

I know it’s hackneyed to read in my rants, but I have to say it - this game brought the 8th (that I can recall right now) buzzer beater against the Lakers. They continue to relax at the end of quarters despite getting burned time and time again. Closing out quarters means playing until the buzzer sounds. This kind of easily contained nonsense is the type of thing that can lose you a series in the playoffs. Not just from the points, but also from the confidence and momentum it gives the other team.

By the way, it’s a zone - a weak in the middle stagnant defense that is seemingly a 20-sided Grand Canyon sized Rubik’s Cube for the Lakers. Stop passing around it and attack it!

WTF Of The Game: A re-jump of a ball because of a “bad toss” and a step into the key on the first free throw called in overtime. Those two calls weren’t just rare; they were flat out preposterous.

Well that was just one complaint laden article for a win, huh? I and we all will take the win, but the Lakers will hopefully be getting healthy soon because the cracks in the armor are starting to show. For now, first place is back where it should be, in the Lakers’ hands and they now have a favorable run of games coming their way.
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"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." - Winston Churchill

puffyusaf#2 · Joined: 02 Apr 2006 Posts: 4830 Location: Temecula

My head hurts to much to read the recap right now but I will tomorrow for sure. Thanks again Cru jam2

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