SUNS -at- LAKERS - 11/14 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

The Sun and the Rain... The clouds parted, the Sun came out and it still rained all over the Lakers.

The Suns might have seen more defensive challenges in the pregame shootaround than against the Lakers tonight. They set a franchise record with 22 threes (one shy of the NBA record) as the Lakers fell 121-116.

"We put guys in the gym by themselves," Kobe said of the Lakers perimeter defense. Yep...and they caught fire.

Lazy defense and poor Laker shot selection on the other end led to the wide open looks the Suns got all game. Whenever the Lakers would miss from long range, the Suns would quickly counterstrike on the other end, often for open threes. Phil barked at his team throughout the night for the poor shot selection.

Despite all that, the Lakers had a chance to cut the lead to 1-point in the final minute when Lamar scored what looked like an And-1 at the rim. He didn't get the call and reacted with surprise, getting a tech. No freethrow for Lamar, a freethrow for the Suns and they would hit another long three. In just a few seconds the lead went from potentially 1 point to 6 points. Game over.

Kobe said the whistle was "disgusting." Phil said he expected better judgment from the officials. Even Alvin Gentry agreed. The Lakers shouldn't have put themselves into the bad position before that, but it was a tough blow all the same.

"I don't think the NBA wants that type of thing to happen...it changed the context of the ballgame," Phil said. He made the same point in the preseason after the Lakers saw a similar tech in crunch time. He restated the directions that the refs have been given and how they don't seem to be interpreting them well.

Credit the Suns for the ridiculous 22-40 three shooting. They were able to settle in early from behind the line and play their game. When better challenges came later in the game, they were in the zone as a unit. Everything was falling.

"Our philosophy is those things even out over time, but they didn't tonight," Phil said of the Suns living by the three. He then checked off a list of other problems, including turnovers and a lack of boxing out -- both of which plagued Kobe, who nearly had a quadruple-double with 25 points, 9 boards, 14 assists and 8 turnovers.


Kobe -- -- The 8 turnovers did him in tonight. He was trying to set up teammates but wasn't making clean passes. On the other end, he had some poor defensive rotations and poor boxing out. Phil highlighted the turnovers and the inability to box out Childress late in the game as both issues during his post-game presser. He's been on Kobe lately and his comments were again pointed in Kobe's direction. The Lakers have a target on their backs. Other teams are looking to measure themselves and make statements. That means the Lakers are going to have to lock in with some extra effort defensively. It hasn't been there yet. Keep an eye out on Kobe's defensive effort in the next game to see how he reacts. It seems as though Phil is trying to get a rise from him to give the team an edge in the early leg of this marathon. The Stats: He scored 25 points on 11-20 shooting (1-4 from three, 2-2 from the line) The Action: He missed a baseline jumper. He lobbed to Lamar for a layup. He hit Lamar trailing for a layup. He got Hill into the air with a step through, then threw the pass off the backboard to himself and put it in. He drained an open elbow jumper. Bad pass into a crowd trying to get it Pau being fronted. He threw another one away trying to find Pau. He spun and swished a fade from the elbow. He had 6 points on 3-4 shooting and 3 assists in the first. He was called for a push off, didn't look like any advantage was gained. He threw another pass away trying to hit a bigman. Poor outlet, another turnover. He dunked off the bounce pass from Shannon on the break. He drew the D and hit Pau for the layup. He hit Lamar off the two-man sequence for a score. He drained a rise-up wing three. He stripped Hill on a drive on the other end. He missed a wing three on the next offensive trip down. He attacked and couldn't hit a runner. Sweet bounce pass to Lamar for a layup off the slip screen. He attacked to his right, spun to his left and banked in an And-1 jumper on a two-for-one situation, he made the FT. Second Half: He spotted Artest sealing a help defender and hit him for a layup. He swished a pull-up wing jumper. He charged on a pass off. Low pass to a cutting Lamar for a turnover. He missed a baseline jumper. He wheeled away from a crowd, attacked and scored a layup. He had 18 points, 10 assists, 6 boards and 7 turnovers after three quarters. He attacked, spun and threw up a bad chuck, looked like he wanted to pass it. He gave up a putback to Childress. He kicked out to Shannon for three. Another offensive board for Childress. Way short on a step-back fade from the elbow. Hedo drained a wing three on him to lead by 6 with 34 seconds left. He missed a 38-foot three off an inbounds, not good shot selection. He missed another sideline three. He scored a quick layup. He sliced his way to an And-1 layup with 11 seconds left down 5, he made the FT (his second of the game).

Gasol -- -- Pau's scoring average was up to 22.7 prior to this game. That's about 2 points more than his previous high for a season and 4.4 more points than last year. When Bynum returns, the numbers will likely come down as the team varies its low post options, but he dropped the team-high 28 tonight to edge up those numbers further. The Lakers had a tough time going to some of their counters against the Suns when they fronted the post. Kobe had a few turnovers trying to find Pau. Eventually, they started to dial it in a little on some good Tri sequences that moved the defense and the ball. Robin Lopez didn't play in the second half. Not that it would matter. Early in the season, these kinds of overplays defensively will give the Lakers issues. When they couldn't get it into the post and didn't turn over the ball, you would often see a three go up. Pau positioned himself nicely for a few offensive boards off those and generally owned the glass. The two Laker bigmen combined for 50 points on 22-35 shooting, 18 boards and 6 assists. The Stats: He scored 28 points on 12-17 shooting (4-6 from the line) to go with 17 boards (9 offensive), 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 4 turnovers and 1 foul in 40 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He had to force a pull-up jumper off the dribble with the shotclock low and missed. He drew FTs when the D tried to front the post, he missed both. He fumbled a dribble away and then fouled Nash. He was called for 3 seconds, getting fronted. He battled for an Artest miss and scored the putback. He was pushed on a fade with no call and missed. He bricked an open 15-footer, way short. He dunked on the leak out. He grabbed a miss by Shannon and hit a short jumphook. He tipped a rebound over a defender then tipped it in. He scored a layup on the feed from Kobe at the front of the rim. He was left open under the hoop and Lamar found him for a layup. Another open layup for him when a teammate found him. Despite the slow start he had 14 points on 7-10 shooting and 10 boards. Second Half: He swished an open elbow jumper. He missed a long wing jumper. He scored an And-1 on the high-low from Lamar, he made the FT. He was mugged in the paint for FTs, he made both. He cleaned up a Luke drive and miss with an And-1 putback, he made the FT. He had 10 points on 3-4 shooting and 5 boards in the third. He cleaned up a missed layup by Barnes. He hit Barnes for a dunk out of a timeout. He hit a short jumphook off the Kobe feed. He was blocked by Frye in the post.

Lamar -- -- He will have an MRI on right foot before the Lakers travel tomorrow (Ratliff will have one on his knee, as well). "I've got some pain...sharp dull pain," he said. He added that "hopefully, it will be the last time we talk about it." It's hard to believe the Lakers can lose a game when Lamar drops 22 and 11 on an opponent. LO had one of those quietly deadly 15-point first two quarters. A lot of his work was around the rim, which is what you like against the Suns. But offense is only half the story. Lamar, like others, wasn't sharp on defense. He was late to rotate and against the perimeter shooting players like Frye, that can be trouble. You've really got to challenge Frye from the start. Getting into his confidence early on usually pays dividends. Frye would score 20 on 12 shots. Lamar was just a step slow on a lot of challenges, not sure if the injury had any impact on that because he looked pretty lively on the foor. Lamar was gracious about the tech afterward, but it clearly still bothered him. The Stats: He scored 22 points on 10-18 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 11 boards (4 offensive), 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 42 minutes. He was a -8. The Action: He scored a layup when his man was back screened and Kobe lobbed to him. He trailed the break and Kobe found him for a layup. He attacked and missed a layup to his left. Low post position against Hedo and he powered in an And-1, he made the FT. He missed a long pull-up jumper. He scored a layup off the pinch-post handoff. No hand up on a close out and he gave up a Frye three. He had 9 points on 4-6 shooting but no boards in the first. He changed paces on Frye and scored the layup. Poor close out on the defensive end again. He stepped on the sideline trying to push off. He hit easily over Hill on the two-man sequence with Kobe. Nice crash on the glass to keep a Kobe miss alive. He slipped a screen and Kobe found him for the layup. He had 6 points on 3-5 shooting and 4 boards in the second quarter. Second Half: He blocked Hill's drive. He missed a three, we got it back, and he couldn't handle a low pass as he cut, turnover. He threw down a putback jam on a Fisher miss. He hit Pau on the high-low for an And-1 layup. He missed a turnaround. He swished a pull-up straight away. He missed on a drive left to start the fourth. He drew FTs with low position in early offense, he made one. He was hit on a dunk attempt with a minute left and was out-raged at the no call and got a tech.

Artest -- -- Against the Suns, you don't want to settle for threes. This will result in quick counterstrikes. They were leaving Ron open and he was settling too often. The Lakers then tried to put Ron in the post more and this resulted in some excellent triangle sequences and good scoring opportunities. He's a load down there when he has space. When he vacated the post and chucked a three after that, Phil called a timeout and yapped at him. Phil then went to Barnes a little earlier than usual in the third and didn't look back in this one. The problem really presented itself off the ball for our post players. They were able to easily front and zone behind Pau and always knew Ron would be out behind the arc where he could shoot away or they could recover to him without any surprises. Normally, you'd think that 116 points is plenty and the offense wasn't the problem, but the zoning and fronting against Pau caused turnovers And the Suns team thrives off not allowing the opponent's defense to set, by pushing up those turnovers or grabbing rebounds off long shots. Phil will have some very interesting decisions to make against certain teams, especially when Bynum gets back and we don't have the room in the paint for Ron. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-12 shooting (3-7 from three) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists and 2 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He stepped back and drained a sideline three off the Fish kickout. He swished another sideline three (trading them with JRich right now). He got completely tapped on a three, got it back and missed from the same spot, fading a little on this one. He missed another three, open in the corner. He just missed a layup trying to work the post. Second Half: He drained a sideline three on the Fisher kickout. He sealed a help defender, took the post entry from Kobe and scored the layup. He backed Hill under the hoop and scored the layup. He missed an open wing three, transition score the other way. He posted up and got tapped on a layup off a good move, got to finish those. He missed a corner three with the shotclock low (had to take that one).

Fisher -- -- With Nash, you like to attack his poor D. Unfortunately, the Lakers didn't have Blake available to help do that. Normally, Fish gets pretty aggressive from the start against Nash, but he was fairly quiet all game. The Lakers were digging their way out of a hole in the fourth quarter with Shannon out there. They left him in at point (what they should have done in the last game to get Lamar out there in the fourth). They were edging their way back in the game and Phil went to Fish with 3 minutes left. Nash quickly got a layup on him. Momentum took a speed bump at a critical time. DFish would hit a big three, but that's a tough juncture to make a switch for the team and DFish without a hiccup. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-6 shooting (2-4 from three) to go with 3 assists and 3 fouls in 27 minutes. He was a -10. The Action: He attacked and kicked to Artest for three. Not close on a wing three (it led to a Suns three the other way). Second Half: He attacked and kicked out to Ron for another three. Way short on another long corner jumper, transition points the other way. He hit a three from the sideline. He missed a corner jumper. He gave up a layup to Nash. He sank a three. He missed a wing jumper.

Barnes -- -- When teams sag off Ron and dare us to shoot from three, it has caused the Lakers problems. It's worse when they can exploit that to their advantage with early offense opportunities on the other end. Barnes, however, changes the picture. He doesn't have to settle for threes. He attacks, cuts off the ball and finishes strong at the rim. He generally occupies defenders better in those situations and that's important as they are trying to help on Pau or Kobe. Ron was able to cause some problems in the post, but this will become more of an issue when Bynum returns and clogs up the paint, forcing the SF from the post. Some foul issues and a bad inbounds pass from Barnes, but the team played better with him on the floor. Phil went to him sooner in the second half, but might be even quicker to pull the trigger down the line in these types of situations. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-8 shooting (0-2 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 7 boards (2 offensive), 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He fumbled a pass away on the curl cut. He swiped a kickout pass. He just missed a tip in at the first-quarter buzzer. He spun in the paint and missed the jumphook, but drew FTs, he made both. Second Half: He took a kickout, didn't settle for three and drew FTs on the drive, he made one. He pushed out a loose ball and scored a layup around a defender. Sasha-esque backcourt foul to start the fourth. He spun and missed a bank in the paint. He missed a layup off a Pau pass. He dunked off the Pau feed out of a timeout. His inbounds pass was picked off with 24 seconds left.

Brown -- -- Shannon grabbed the paddles and shocked the Lakers to life in the second half. He led the team with a +9 and his perimeter shot looked as steady as ever. He also showed off his improved handles again on one play where he broke down Dragic and hit a floater with the shotclock low. His improved ability to create for the team against the shotclock is a welcome addition. Especially when you consider that a good chunk of Shannon's minutes are when Kobe sits. With Blake out, we saw more minutes with Shannon and Kobe on the floor together. That unit looke very strong and looked as if they were going to take the game. Phil then subbed in DFish and the D quickly went south again. "We just got to regroup, get back in the lab and go to work," Shannon said. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 4-8 shooting (2-3 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a +9. The Action: He was left alone for an easy reverse (thought he'd throw that one down). He was stripped on the baseline handoff. Horrible pass to initiate the offense, turnover 40 feet from the hoop. He missed a jumper, followed it up and missed the putback. He hit Kobe with a bounce pass on the break for a dunk. He had 2 points on 1-4 shooting. Second Half: He was hit on a pull-up baseline jumper, he made both FTs. He swished a corner three off some good Laker ball movement. He faked Dragic out of his shoes as he made like he was about to pull up, attacked instead and swished the floater in traffic. He swished an open corner three off the Kobe kickout. He missed a wing three.

Vujacic -- -- He got the back-up point assignment against Nash/Dragic with Blake's illness sidelining him. Phil said the assortment of fouls weren't good, but he highlighted that Sasha helped the team in their comeback during the start of the fourth. That pretty much sums it up. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-3 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 11 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He missed an open corner three. Second Half: He was stripped on a drive. He swiped the ball at midcourt, pushed it up against Dragic, missed the layup, but we got it back and he drained a quick-fire three to force a timeout. He was called for a travel off a sloppy jump step.

Walton -- -- Phil opted for the youngins in the first half, then Luke in the second half. He's had some very strong games against the Suns small ball units in the past. He also has the experience to help the Lakers go to their counters when a team starts pulling a gimmick defense that takes away the first options in the triangle. The only problem is that the Suns can continue to sag off him on the perimeter like they can Artest, causing issues for the interior. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 steal and no fouls in 5 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He blew past his man (somehow) and missed the layup, but Pau cleaned up the dribble penetration.

Caracter -- -- He came in at the center position for Pau after Phil gave Gasol a 15-minute stint. Phil made sure he had Lamar out there with him for the 3 minutes. Better rotation than the ones we've seen recently where the Phil goes to the deep bench with no impact players on the floor for whatever reason. In the second half, Phil went to Lamar at the C spot. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 foul in 3 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He gave up an And-1 to Warrick in the post. He got mugged with no call in the paint. Second Half: He did not play in the second half.

Ebanks -- -- A brief stint from Ebanks in the first half at power forward as Phil tried to sneak in rests for Pau and Lamar by using the rookies tonight in the first half. He'd go to Luke at PF in the second half. He missed a couple shots in his few minutes and had one great defensive stop in the paint. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-2 shooting in 3 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He found himself with the ball to create a final shot at the first quarter buzzer, he just missed a fading 12-footer straight away. Great defensive play to tie up Childress on a drive for a jumpball. Caught flatfooted, he gave up a putback dunk. He couldn't finish a layup on the break. Second Half: He did not play in the second half.

Phil -- -- Phil didn't have his backup PG as Blake came down with intestinal flu. This allowed Phil to activate both rookies and he would use both... The Lakers switched a lot defensively against the multiple SFs in the Suns lineups... Phil brought in Barnes for Artest and Sasha for Fisher with the Lakers up 23-18... With 1:30 left he brought in Brown for Kobe. Later he brought in Ebanks for Lamar for a final possession... The Lakers led 25-23 after the first quarter. The Lakers had 6 turnovers in the quarter... Phil started the Pau, Ebanks, Barnes, Brown, Vujacic unit... Phil sat Sasha for Kobe after 3 minutes. He gave Pau his first rest after 15 minutes for Caracter. So Caracter, Lamar, Barnes, Kobe, Shannon... During one Suns flurry, the Lakers chucked a few threes, missed and the Suns buried them in transition on the other end from behind the arc. The Lakers gave up an 11-0 run to trail by 5. Playing clueless offensively, they allowed the Suns to capitalize and play their game... Phil brought in Sasha for Ron for a final possession. Sasha missed an open corner three... The Lakers trailed 56-53 at the half. The Lakers shot 49 percent (23-47, 3-9 from three, 4-6 from the line). The Suns shot 50 percent (21-41, 12-20 from three, 2-3 from the line). The Lakers had an 11-5 advantage on the offensive glass, but also had 12 turnovers in the first half... The Lakers were in the penalty after 4 minutes... After a missed Artest three, Phil called timeout when the Suns capitalized again in transition off the miss. He barked at Artest (who had been doing a good job of posting up earlier). This is when Phil should go to Barnes whose off-the-ball cuts and offensive board work would make a difference when teams are daring Ron to shoot. They went to Ron in the post out of the timeout... Lakers defensive rotations were horrible, easy three shooting for the Suns, they stretched the lead to 13... With 1:46, Phil went to a Pau, Luke, Barnes, Brown, Sasha unit... The Lakers trailed 92-84 heading into the fourth. The Suns made 18-29 threes to this point... Phil started a Lamar, Luke, Barnes, Brown, Sasha lineup. They cut the lead to 6 to force a timeout... Phil sat Sasha for Kobe with 8:27 left, down 8... Phil sat Luke for Pau with 7:35 left down by 5... They cut the lead to 4 with 5 minutes left and Phil called a timeout. He was ticked, probably at no one boxing out Childress defensively. Great execution for a dunk out of the timeout... The Lakers cut it to 3 with 3 minutes left and Phil brought in DFish for Shannon, who was killing the Suns. Fish immediately gave up a layup to Nash and they trailed by 7 a minute later... They cut it to 2, but a tech on Lamar (who should have been given an And-1 to cut it to 1) and a three by the Suns on the other end and just like that it was a 6-point lead. They went from a potential 1-point lead to a 6-point lead in one possession... The Lakers had 30 assists, but 18 turnovers in the game... The Lakers usually make a stand to avoid falling for a third straight game...

[mhan00]

ugly game.

[jopay]

First!!!!

[mhan00]

glad to see kobe looking to involve his teammates more this game; he had great shot selection tonight, imo, outside of a couple of percentage busters in the final minute out of desperation. a lot of his passes left a lot to be desired, however. almost made me wish he was jacking up every shot again, lol. just needs to clean up his passes, and we will roll again. overall, great game on the offensive end with too many miscues.

defensively kobe was awful, along with just about every other laker today. he was trying his patented free safety defense in the first half, and the man he was guarding too often was just burying three after three. he tried to do a better job in the second half, but the suns were already rolling, and his box outs were terrible.

the laker perimeter defenders were all a step slow tonight, and it got uuuuuuugggggggllllllly. good job by the suns to take advantage of our poor rotations to bury three after three at a near record breaking rate. of course, they play the kind of ball that wins you ball games in the regular season, but tends to lose against more methodical teams like the lakers in the post season.

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks DB. It took them damn near setting an NBA record from 3pt land to defeat us. Still in the end we had our chances. Against teams like this I would rather see Matty B start over Ron although I don't think PJ would do that.

[Rodman28]

Thanx.
_________________
*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

[angrypuppy]

[prisma8slg]

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB. I missed this game. Sounds like, had the Suns hit 50% from three-point range, they'd have lost. Also, it's uncharacteristic for a ref to determine the outcome of a game on a judgment call. I saw the replay; it's ridiculous to see a zebra swallow the whistle on that foul, yet issue a T the other way.

Laker defense might have been weak, but moreso Phoenix got lucky. If that's what it takes for them to beat us, they'd never beat us in a 7-game series. What a strange and awful game.

More importantly, here's hoping Lamar's foot is OK.

[Lakersneuron]

Lamar' has "sharp dull pain". What does this oxymoron even describe? Regardless, I hope it isn't anything serious.

Thanks as always DB. Bad defense and a hot phoenix team is a bad combo.

[limchrc]

thanks

[RVCdesigns]

Thanks DB. GREAT GAME LAKERS, keep it up! I love watching your closing out on shooters display!

[dirka dirka]

Points in the paint:
Suns 28, Lakers 68
Free thows: Suns 19, Lakers 17

I'd like to see this explained. Combine this with the terrible traveling call on Sasha costing us 2 points, the no call on Odom compounding with the T call, then the Refs allowing the Suns to do the exact same complaining without reciprocating shortly afterward, well...

I don't want to believe the officiating in the NBA is crooked but after watching Miami get to the line 40+ times in their home games I really have to question what the heck is going on here.

-oh and btw, I've watched many Miami games this season and Lebron jaws at the officials all game long and doesn't get T'ed up, especially against Boston where he was demonstrative several times during the game. He also hacked Boston players several times at the rim and didn't get called for it. Superstar treatment indeed. I wish the Lakers had a superstar.
_________________

[Fleur-de-Lis]

[angrypuppy]

A "sharp dull pain" reminds me of an MIT grad I used to date.
_________________
We are stardust
Billion year old carbon
We are golden
Caught in the devil's bargain
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

-Joni Mitchell

[All Net]

great effort as always, shame Lakers didn't bring the same.

[thurloly]