Crucifido’s Corner: 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.