Lakers Trample Over Mavs Again

After a horrendous first quarter, the Lakers quickly rallied back to blow away the Dallas Mavericks, 115-101.

Forward Carlos Powell would lead the way for the Lakers with 18 points in front of 4,211 at the Pyramid in Long Beach.

After being manhandled by the Mavs in the first quarter, giving up penetration and allowing 34 points, the Lakers would lock down on Dallas and find themselves ahead by 11 points at the half. From that point on, the Laker lead was never in jeopardy and was pushed further into double digits.

Ronny Turiaf had the night off, sporting street clothes and cheering his teammates on from the bench.

“We had to get a physical and the results were not in yet,�? Turiaf said. “The results were supposed to be in this morning and they didn’t get [here] in time.�?

Early in the game, the Lakers missed Turiaf’s defensive energy, as the Mavericks recorded 52% shooting during the opening quarter. The Mavs’ David Logan, seemingly driving to the basket at will, had dropped 12 points at that point. Logan would finish with 30 on the night, but was held to just 6 second quarter points, going just 2/6 from the field.

Andrew Bynum racked up a near double-double yet again, contributing 11 points and 9 rebounds.

With just three SPL games remaining, the Lakers will take on the Memphis Grizzlies Saturday afternoon.

The Players

Starting Line-up

PG Smush Parker
SG Sasha Vujacic
SF Carlos Powell
PF Marcus Douthit
C Andrew Bynum

Breakdown

Carlos Powell
While his impact in the game wasn’t truly noticeable, his contributions showed up in the box score.

Powell proved to be a slasher to the basket against the Mavericks, receiving easy opportunities around the basket. He makes strong moves toward the basket whether he has the ball in his hands or is free to roam the court on offense. The rapid Laker ball movement facilitated his cuts to the hoop, providing him with decent scoring position.

On defense, Powell’s one-on-one match-ups need work. On a couple occasions, Carlos did a poor job of denying a road to the basket and let his defender get by him with ease. As if his chances of making the team weren’t slim before this, Carlos will need to play a fully polished game if he wants to become a Laker.

Andrew Bynum
Bynum’s near double-double was another solid performance, but there is still great room for improvement.

In the first half, Bynum was completely off his game on both ends of the floor. Just 1/5 from the floor, Andrew missed several easy buckets underneath the basket. One of Bynum’s problems when attacking the basket is that he shows the ball too early to his defender. He only makes it harder on himself, for his shot will either be blocked or highly contested.

Once again, it is surprising how Bynum can consistently be close to double digits in the rebounding department considering the flaws in his fundamentals. Often his size compromises for poor footwork and timing. However, Bynum most likely will not be able to get away with this at the NBA level and will have an even tougher time making an impact on the glass. While he has nice, soft hands on offense, Bynum has to be more accurate with them when rebounding. Twice during the game, Bynum fumbled rebounds and did not secure them with authority.

He’s still just 17, but these are all things to keep in mind during his coming years.

Von Wafer
The Lakers’ second round pick showed a nice shooting touch once again, heating up in the fourth quarter.

Scoring 14 points, Wafer has a knack for the catch & shoot game. Von uses his speed to free himself from his defender. He has a nice stroke and did not force any shot attempts against the Mavericks.

I asked coach Kurt Rambis on how he feels Von Wafer has performed thus far.

“He’s done a good job for us,�? Rambis acknowledged. “We know he can score. He does a pretty good job defensively, [but] he needs to improve in that area. He needs to show us that he can execute our offense a little bit better. It’s a difficult situation to put a guard like him in, because he’s never been used to bringing the ball up the floor in a two guard front. So we’re asking him to work and do something completely foreign to him.�?

“But he’s done a good job of picking it up. He asks questions, he’s had a terrific attitude [and] he’s a good kid. Every time to tell him something it’s ‘Yes, sir.’ We couldn’t have asked for a better pupil. [He’s] somebody that’s willing to learn and wanting to do the things we want him to do at the guard spot.�?

Defensively, Von Wafer has trouble when picks are thrown at him. His footwork doesn’t allow him to keep up after a big body has been thrown at him.

Nevertheless, it’s great to hear that Rambis thinks highly of Von Wafer and his attitude, especially after there were stories of character issues in the past with Wafer.

Smush Parker
Parker did a great job of distributing the ball while not compromising his own offensive game.

Smush dished out a game-high 7 assists to go along with his 12 points.

Parker’s defense was usually on point, except for the fact that he experienced some trouble when defending David Logan. Foul trouble limited him in the first half, and he was visibly frustrated.

However, he routinely displayed the ability to break down his man off the dribble and find a way to the basket. Parker is a likely invite to training camp at this point and may have a shot at landing a spot on the final Laker roster.

Will Conroy
Another solid defensive game from Conroy.

Will was the primary contributor toward Logan’s second quarter struggle because of the intense defense he brought to the floor. Similar to Turiaf, Conroy is a force of energy when he’s on the floor. It’s contagious and his teammates live off of his energy at times.

An added plus from Conroy is the fact that he’s a floor leader when on the court. Will consistently was calling his teammates over into huddles during breaks in the action. He was able to get the team on the same page during the second quarter and their chemistry allowed them to outscore Dallas by 20 in that period.

Conroy finished with 9 points and 3 assists.

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