BLAZERS -at- LAKERS - 4/11 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Vet Guard Choke... The Lakers lost this game at the freethrow line in the final seconds. On one end, Kobe and DFish missed three of four attempts with just seconds left. On the other, Fisher made a horrible decision to reach on a running three attempt by Webster, giving up three FTs with 3.1 left. The Lakers fell 91-88 in a game that could help determine their first-round match-up.

Sure was a sour note after Kobe had just made back-to-back three-point plays to take a 1-point lead with 31 seconds left. The Lakers gave up a putback score when Lamar didn't box out his man -- a problem all game long.

"It was the ghost of Bill Walton tugging at my shorts," Kobe said of his missed freethrows.

Despite the rest, Kobe still struggled with his production. Phil didn't like his shot selection, but thought he got into the game better near the end. Before the missed FTs, that is.

"The rest did me good, but you can rest too much," Kobe said.

With two more games remaining in the regular season, the Lakers are staggering to the finish line. No one said defending a championship is easy.

"It's about being strong minded, having the will and desire of winning," Pau said. "I think we have it...Or, otherwise, we are going to suffer."


Kobe -- -- Despite the rest, Kobe still struggled with his efficiency and his legs, apparently. Some of it seemed to be his own doing with poor shot selection, Phil mentioned this during the in-game interview. Some of it was no love from the refs, he didn't get to the line at all until 31 seconds left. Some was him missing shots he normally hits. Kobe nearly pulled the Lakers out of a 5-point hole in the final minute with a couple of three-point plays. Then he got to the line to take a 1-point lead with a few seconds left and he promptly missed both. Wow. "I'll shake it off. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it," Kobe said. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 8-23 shooting (3-6 from three, 1-3 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 40 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He missed a turnaround from the wing. He was blocked on a turnaround jumper. Sweet cross-over to lose his man and score a layup. He up-faked then attacked right to score a layup. He posted up and hit a lefty jumphook (then pointed at Van Gundy who had told him a few games back that he was shooting in practice the worst left handed jumphook he had ever seen). He missed a pull-up jumper in the lane. He was tripped on a drive with no call, then picked up a tech. He drained an open three off a nice ball reversal. He attacked and lobbed to Pau for a score (Pau loved the play and was grinning). He fell, got up, and missed heave from the corner against the shotclock. He airballed a forced lefy one-hander from the three line against the clock (too much dribbling on that sequence). He had 9 points on 4-10 shooting. Second Half: He missed a wing jumper. He missed another wing jumper. He hit Ron trailing the offense for a layup. He iso'd and missed a bank. He drained an open three from about 30 feet out with the shotclock low. He missed a pull-up three next time down. He swished a turnaround elbow jumper out of a timeout. He missed a pull-up jumper. Bogus offensive foul coming weak to strong. He had 5 points on 2-7 shooting. He missed a runner, taking contact with no call. He posted up, missed in the paint. He missed a face-up baseline jumper. Completely tapped on a pull-up three, circled the rim twice before finally coming out. He swished a 30-footer out of a timeout to cut the lead to 2. Next time down, he attacked off the high screen, got into the paint and earned his first FT of the game with an And-1 lefty layup with 31 seconds left, he made the FT. He was fouled with 6.9 seconds left down 2 points, he missed both short.

Gasol -- -- Pau's offensive game seems to be rounding into form. It wouldn't be a bad thing if the team leaned up him more because of their struggles. Getting him the ball more is almost always a good thing. Getting him the ball to shoot a three to tie the game up? Well, hopefully, that's just a regular season gimmick. The final play to tie the game at the buzzer was run for Pau. His shot was right on line, just long. I'm glad both he and the team are getting confidence in Pau's high post game, anyway. Pau doesn't want to rest. He said they will be able to get their rest with the brief time off between the regular season and playoffs. "I'm a little concerned because I want to win," Pau said of their sputtering play of late. The Stats: He scored 23 points on 9-13 shooting (0-1 from three, 5-6 from the line) to go with 12 boards (5 offensive), 4 assists, 3 blocks, 1 steal and 3 fouls in 39:47. He was a +2. The Action: He swished an 18-footer for the Lakers first score. He was fouled in transition trailing the break, he made both FTs. He cleaned up an Artest drive with an easy putback. He tipped in a missed Fisher drive. He missed a pull-up off the dribble. He picked up two fouls and had to sit after 8 minutes. He sank a lefty jumphook. Poor perimeter D and it led to an open three as the D collapsed. Kobe created off the dribble and lobbed to Pau for the easy score. He missed a hook in the lane. He had 12 points on 5-7 shooting and 7 boards. Second Half: He swatted a jumper on help D. Finally a post up after several minutes and he drew FTs, he made one. He scored a layup off the high entry from Lamar. He blocked Aldridge in the paint. He drew more FTs and made both. Great effort to take an offensive board away from his man and put it in. He had 7 points on 2-2 shooting. He took a pass down low and flipped in a layup on the move. He missed a face-up wing jumper. He spun on the post entry and scored a layup with over a minute left. He missed a three at the buzzer to tie it up, dead straight, just long on the attempt.

Artest -- -- Brandon Roy had just 2 points in the first half and limited minutes after banging knees with Ron and tweaking something. He didn't return for the second half. Ron then moved over to Fernandez. Late in the game, Phil opted sub Ron out. "Ron had a tough night," Phil said. He thought Sasha was better at getting through the picks against Fernandez and went with him down the stretch. He ended up with the team low -13. Offensively, he was called for a couple of fouls trying to get into post position. Not a lot of physical play from the Lakers, but Ron seemed to be knocking guys around with some consistency. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-10 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 3 boards, 6 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in 31:36. The Action: He missed a sideline three to start. He attacked and kicked to Pau for the jumper. He swiped a pass, but was blocked on the break. He flipped up a shot after being tripped in the lane, Pau cleaned it up. He hit a cutting Lamar for a dunk. He missed a wing three. He was called for a foul trying to post up. He sealed his man but couldn't finish around the help D. He swished a wing three on a kickout from Pau. He bricked a wide open three at the end of the half. He had 3 points on 1-7 shooting, but 6 assists. Second Half: He attacked with speed on the secondary break and scored a layup off the Kobe pass. He was called for another foul posting up. He was called for a charge after grabbing an offensive board. He attacked off the dribble but missed the drive. He drained a sideline jumper off the two-man game with Pau.

Lamar -- -- If you erase his fourth quarter, he was having a good game. Very active off the ball today, which made a big difference in his offensive production. We also saw him pushing out boards for transition scores. That's what you want from him. Defensively, he was off his game. His rotations were sloppy, his box outs were spotty. He gave up a key putback score to his man in the final seconds. You've got to get one-and-out stops in crunch time or you're toast. He was also in on a key 5-point switch with 3 minutes left when he missed as layup on one end and undercut a three shooter on the other. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 8-15 shooting (0-3 from three) to go with 15 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 3 fouls in 42:39. He had a +/- of 0. The Action: Good effort to keep a possession alive. He missed a wing jumper, bad possession not running the offense. He grabbed a Fisher miss and scored the layup. He dunked off the cut when Artest found him. He missed a wing jumper. No help on Shannon's backscreen and they gave up an alley oop dunk. He worked the low post with a couple pivots and hit the jumphook. He swished a wing jumper. No challenge on Howard, easy jumper. He slammed off the Fisher pass trailing the break. He grabbed a miss off the Fisher drive and scored the easy putback. He had 12 points on 6-8 shooting and 7 boards. Second Half: He bricked a wing three. He crossed over in transition and scored with his right before going to the floor. He missed another wing three. He hit Pau over the top of the D for a layup. He grabbed the board, pushed it up, stepped on the gas and scored a layup at full speed. He had 4 points on 2-5 shooting. He missed a three. He missed a layup on a drive. On the other end, he was called for a foul, undercutting Webster on a three -- big 5-point switch with 3:34 left. Late help D reaction and he gave up a layup to Miller. No box out on Camby giving up a key putback in the final seconds.

Fisher -- -- It sure seemed like DFish was about to save Kobe's rear by drawing a foul on a kickout of Kobe's missed FT. Fish couldn't knock both of them down, then on the other end he made a bad reach to foul Webster on a running three. If Webster makes that shot over Kobe, give him the credit. That would have been tough. But giving him three freebies at the line instead? Not smart. Almost a good game from Fish until the final seconds. Good first half hitting his perimeter shots and even his drives in the lane were cleaned up by teammates. So, he was effective even just drawing attention with the dribble penetration. Miller scored 15 points, but on 7-20 shooting. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 6-11 shooting (1-2 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 30:22. He was a -1. The Action: He drained a wing three. He was tapped on a corner three. He swished a long baseline jumper. He got dribble penetration, missed the floater, but Pau tipped it in. He sank a wing pull-up jumper. He hit Lamar trailing the break for a dunk. He missed a floater on a drive, but Lamar cleaned up off the dribble penetration. He had 7 points on 3-6 shooting. Second Half: He swished a toe-on-the-three-line corner jumper. He missed a sideline three. He missed a corner jumper. He swished an 18-footer off the screen out of a timeout. He attacked baseline and scored a layup. He drew FTs in the final seconds when the kickout from Pau's offensive board came and he was drilled to the floor, he missed the first, made the second. He then slapped Webster on a running three off one foot with 3 seconds left, giving up three FTs with 3.1 left.

Brown -- -- The mental game of our guards continually hurts this team. For Shannon, it usually comes in shot selection. "Repost" seems to be a concept that he hasn't grasped yet. It's unfortunate because he comes up with some of the more spectacular defensive plays from our guards. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-6 shooting (0-2 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 1 board and 1 block in 14:10. He was a -5. The Action: He sank a top-of-the-key jumper. He gave up a putback to Webster not boxing out. He sank a tech FT. He missed a three with the shotclock low. Second Half: He attacked to his left off the dribble, sliced right and scored a layup. He missed a fading jumper. He missed a bad wing three (had Lamar posting up a smaller man right in front of him). He swatted Howard from behind on help.

Farmar -- -- Farmar put up a donut. He couldn't hit anything. Phil put a lot on his shoulders in some key stretches of this game when we had a trio of impact players resting. That lack of production certainly hurt. Defensively, he got a lecture from Phil on one soft two-man sequence, then he seemed to play better after that with a couple nice challenges and a steal. The bench was outscored 35-8. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-5 shooting (0-3 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 foul in 14:10. He was a +3. The Action: He missed a wing three. Phil called a 20-second timeout to yell at Farmar for some weak D on a two-man sequence. Second Half: Nice recovery to his man to force a brick on the jumper. He missed a heave at the third quarter buzzer. He swiped the ball and drew a foul pushing it up. He attacked and missed a tough drive with the shotclock low. He missed a wing three. He missed another three off a kickout.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha led the team with a +6 and had a couple of huge plays in the second half. One was drawing a charge on the sideline against Miller in the final minute. A huge stop when we were trailing. Excellent D. The second play was a ball-fake and slam over two players. He curled off an inbounds pass and handoff, attacked the lane and flushed it down over two Blazers. Well done. Phil ran him as the first PG off the bench tonight and later let him finish while Ron sat. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-3 shooting (0-2 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 19 minutes. The Action: He smothered Fernandez, then knocked the pass off him. He tipped an offensive board from behind Fernandez to keep the possession alive. He missed a sideline three. He attacked off the three line in transition and charged. Second Half: The "Reverse Sasha": he got Miller to commit a foul 90-feet from the hoop and Sasha hit one of the FTs. Best play of the year from Sasha: he inbounded the ball, took the handoff and curled into the lane, ball-faked to lose a defender, then slammed with both hands over two players. He drew a moving screen call on D to start the fourth. He got tapped on a wide open wing three with 2 minutes left, Lakers got the ball back. He drew a charge on Miller with 41 seconds left, great D on the sideline.

Mbenga -- -- Early action for DJ when Pau picked up a couple fouls. He also got in to start the fourth and that lineup was doomed. He ran with Lamar, Sasha, Shannon and Farmar. Mbenga isn't a post threat. The only one who is in that unit is Lamar, but he wasn't pursuing it. Unfortunate unit to open the fourth quarter with and the team started chucking threes. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting, didn't grab a board and had 1 foul in 8:07. He was a -5. The Action: His jumphook was swatted by Camby. He let Camby get an offensive board. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Phil -- -- Phil gave his starters some long minutes tonight. That still resulted in some odd lineups, particularly to start the fourth... Strong D and good ball movement, the Lakers opened up an 11-2 lead forcing a Portland timeout... Pau picked up two fouls and had to sit with 4 minutes left in the first quarter for Mbenga... Phil brought in Sasha for DFish... The Lakers led 23-20 after the first quarter... The Lakers pulled out to a couple leads, then lost them. The last one on a 7-0 run for the Blazers to close the half... The Blazers had 8 offensive board, 5 from Camby... The Lakers led 46-45, shooting 45.5 percent (20-44, 3-9 from three, just 3-3 from the line). The Blazers shot 44.2 percent (19-43, 3-11 from three, 4-5 from the line). Low turnovers: Blazers 4, Lakers 2... The Blazers pulled out to a 6-point lead. Phil brought in Sasha for Artest after Ron picked up a couple offensive fouls... The Lakers led 71-69 after the third... Phil started a Mbenga, Lamar, Sasha, Shannon, Farmar unit. No Pau, no Kobe, no Artest... They started chucking threes... He brought his three impact players off the bench and rested Lamar, down by 1 after 3 minutes... The Lakers were outscored 15-8 in the first 9 minutes... Phil sat Artest for Sasha... Down 5 with 54 seconds left, back-to-back three-point plays by Kobe sandwiched a stop from Sasha and the Lakers led by 1 with 31.5 seconds left... After Kobe and Fisher missed 3 of 4 from the line, the score was tied 88-88 with 4.7 seconds left... Fisher reached with 3.1 seconds left to give up three FTs on a bad shot attempt, too. L.A. was now down by 3... Phil drew up a final play to set up Pau for a straight away three. He was dead straight, but long. Hopefully, we got that out of our system...

[AceFresh]

thanks DB, despite this tumultuous patch we're going through, your work is still greatly appreciated by all!

[ODotSoHot]

2nd? Thanks DB

[Klone_dd]

Not much to say when Sasha leads the team in +/-.

Are the dog days over? Or are they just beginning? **sigh**

[Laker's Fan]

Same old story. LA asking Fisher to do more than he's capable of. Fisher tries hard to rise to the occasion but doesn't have it in the tank and as he said "athletes are the last to know". Jackson is trying to squeeze more out of Brown, Farmar and Sasha but D league play doesn't cut it in the NBA.

Outworked and outplayed man 4 through 10. LA has a 5 man team and one of those guys won't have it on any given night. With Bynum's injury we're down to 4 players hoping everyone is on.
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Austin Reaves keeps his game tight, like Kobe Bryant on game night.

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks DB.

The advantages our front line poses over most teams are negated and/or surpassed by the donut hole we have at PG. It doesn't matter if we are playing the Nets or the Cavs, until we solve our PG issue, we will struggle to win winnable games and lose games against playoff contenders. Most teams' strategy is to go at Fisher and school him - this will get our bigs in FT. Or... out run us before we can set up our defense. But even when we do set up, it's like we are playing 4 on 6 given the stupid decisions Fisher makes (like going iso against a player that is bigger, faster and stronger than you instead of running the offense that has hid your putrid game for a decade). It also doesn't help that our best player is playing hurt, our second best player is gassed, and our third best player is hurt (again).

I haven't loss hope per se, but we should not lose against an 8th seed at home this late in the year.

[lounger]

At least Pau is consistent in the closing. If Kobe, LO, Andrew and Ron get back in the groove, the only other thing to worry about is the bench.

Thanks DB!

[City_Dawg]

Thanks DB.
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*sighs*

!...

[MIMLaker]

Do our guys even care?

MIM

[thurloly]

I rather read the FAIR MINDED THOUGHT than those insane bashing outside of this thread.

We still have a long way to go to fix those problem. But playoff is drawing near, can we adjust in time or we will suffer?

Let just hope our 2 best players Kobe and Pau doing well in the playoff. That is my last hope/faith. In this time, I care no more if the bench will show up.

[mhan00]

very positive sign is odom finally coming out of his funk (even though he helped cost us the game with some brain dead plays down the stretch). also positive is gasol looking damn, damn good recently. he's starting to look absolute money on all his shots again, and that's a huge part of our game.

if we can get our backcourt to just play at least average basketball, we could still win it all. just a matter of kobe figuring out how to play through everything he's dealing with right now, fisher staying within his limits and not trying to play the hero, shannonstopshooting.com, and jordan playing under control that'll go a long way for us.

[Laker7]

If Kobe does not break out of his shooting slump, nothing the others do will matter. Shooting less that 35% for a stretch will not get it done this late in the season.
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Darvin Ham is an idiot!

[night89]

It seems like Drew becomes more and more important, as each game goes by. One has to wonder whether he'll really be able to fulfill the expectations that everyone has of him. Heck, we may need to be at 350, to carry ALL of the guards on this team to the championship.

Certainly, I think he'll need to be at least big enough to dominate without much effort. As Phil stated, it will get a lot more intense next weekend. For Drew, that means a higher risk of injury. To me, the risk of a bad landing is much more dangerous than how many lbs he decides to add, so he should never have to go 110%, unless absolutely necessary.

If the injury is still bothering him by next weekend, then I think he should try to compensate "with the right knee." If he can get through the first two games without putting too much pressure on the left Achilles heel, then that would give him another week to heal, and I think it should be healed by then. I would also take the cortisone shots, the only problem is that without the pain, you don't know when it has already healed and so can start pushing fully on it.

Should he continue to wear the brace? IMO, no. It took a real freak accident for that knee to get dislocated, so it's unlikely to happen again. And if you think about it, assuming that he's added as much muscles to his legs as to his arms, then it will actually be even harder for someone to dislocate it, as the muscles will absorb the impact first. In the end, the extra weight is not necessarily bad, as far as knee injuries prevention is concerned.

[night89]

[999]

if i see another in db thoughts and ratings title i think i might just go crazy

[A Mad Chinaman]

The Lakers are starting to show what is needed to win in the playoffs.

On the other hand, they are still doing things to lose games.

[ssiknick833]

Thanks DB.




Another tough loss.
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[RVCdesigns]

Thankd DB as always. I thought we had this.

[Rodman28]

We had every chance to win last night's game....instead, Kobe decided to play, which mean he tooks 687 shots, making only 9....ridiculous. He should have rested.

We got killed on the boards....how is beyond me.

Farmar and Brown decided to chuck every time they had the ball.

After they lose the game, you see Kobe laughing and even heard him say "It doesn't matter" at the end....not the best attitude to have.

We're not going to repeat...bank on it...I already have.
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*On Thin Ice*

I guess I am kind of injury prone.- Andrew Bynum

These young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess.- Kobe Bryant

[limchrc]

Thanks, let's win the next game.

[oaktown_dimond]

why didn't the lakers doctors and management force kobe to six out 6 weeks and get surgery on his broken finger? he would have been fresh for the playoffs and he wouldn't be bricking shots every chance he gets.

not a bright move on management's part IMHO.

kobe wanted to be the warrior he's always been, but his finger (and now knee) might be too big a challenge to overcome this time around.

[fan4life]

[JUST-MING]

Portland made as many layups/dunks as jumpshots.

Layups: 15-23
Dunks: 2-2
Jumpers: 17-53

Andre Miller was 6-10 on layups. LaMarcus Aldridge was 4-7 on layups and 1-1 on dunks. Marcus Camby was 3-4 on layups and 1-1 on dunks. What happened to protecting the rim?

Source: http://www.cbssports.com/nba/gamecenter/shotchart/NBA_20100411_POR@LAL