NUGGETS -at- LAKERS - 2/28 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

The Firemen... Little Larry O'Brien attracts a constant presence of upstarts, all confident they can claim him. Some even celebrate small victories as if the Golden Child is already in their possession.

That irks The Horsemen, who still rule the Post Apocalypse...who still hold Little Larry.

One of these upstarts has returned to the city. They had turned a rusting iron gate near the old Fish market into a glowing pool of hot liquid metal last time they were here.

Once again, you see flames arching over the perimeter defenses. Before you can scramble to help, a massive explosion knocks you off your feet. A shower of debris rains down around you.

"What the hell?" You stagger back up and the flames are gone. You climb to the top of a city wall and see scorched earth. The one called Tru Warier is standing at ground zero. He is surrounded by the Horsemen and other Death Riders.

He scratches his head and nods at you. "Think I used a little too much TNT. Worked well, though."

You knew he was a crazy bastard. He tosses you an old VHS tape labeled "Hellfighters." You've seen it. John Wayne putting out oil fires. On the label, DancingBarry has scribbled a note:

The Horsemen were here. They've been waiting for these marauders to return. Their response wasn't pretty at times, but it was effective.

I will continue to track them...

When the Lakers lost to the Nuggets in their last meeting, they were collectively seething. You could see it in their eyes and hear it in their comments. They were disappointed with themselves, to say the least.

Since then, this game was circled on the calendar.

So how do you pull out a win against the Nuggets when Kobe goes 3-17? For starters, have the rest of the team shoot 53 percent (12 assists from Kobe, who drew constant doubles). But this team has shown they can win games without Kobe's highly versatile offensive game. Just hold teams under 90 points.

They did it with D when Kobe was healing. They did it again tonight in their 95-89 win over Denver. The Nuggets were shutdown in the second half, held to just 37 points.

The Lakers eliminated the turnovers and the defense was able to set up. Ron Artest pretty much did the rest. If that's not totally true, it sure seemed like it. He didn't just slow down Carmelo Anthony, he took him apart. Anthony had a season-high 8 turnovers.

Ron's quick feet and quick hands kept popping balls loose. His strength kept Melo from getting where he wanted to. Ron's been serving up some All-NBA defensive team ball of late, but this was Young Ron -- Defensive Player of the Year level stuff.

"I feel like I'm doing a good job getting my body weight down and I'm feeling quicker," Ron said afterward. His goal is to get under 250, dropping 20 pounds.

There were a lot of subplots in this game in addition to the Ron/Melo match up. DFish vs. Billups, who had scorched the Lakers. Kobe and J.R. Smith's big mouth. Pau vs. the soft label. Lamar and himself.

In early February when the Lakers were scorched by the Nuggets, some people were complaining about the Lakers offense. L.A. scored 113 points. It was never about that end of the court.


Kobe -- -- The Nuggets shade Kobe and send help very much like the Lakers own defensive schemes. If Kobe gets into a pissing match with J.R. Smith, this will work in the Nuggets favor with these defensive schemes. If he abuses the doubles with the passing game, this leads to open threes or easy scores to cutters. Kobe started off very slowly, then moved into the post to beast up the Nuggets defenders. He overpowered them again and again and set up open teammates on his way to a game-high 12 assists. The versatility of his game always provides for multiple options when something isn't working. The versatility of the Triangle always provides for way to hurt an opponent when they overplay to take something away. Often, guys like Fish and Ron will generally have to take and hit the threes. Guys like Shannon, Lamar and Pau should cut and attack the spaces in the paint. The offense didn't start to flow until the Lakers played with more purpose and design by going to Kobe in the paint and working off those doubles. They fine tuned what they wanted to do as a unit when he was working that. When he wasn't, it was messy. Kobe's shot was off. The Laker bigs had a couple of three second calls with the ball in Kobe's hands not sure what was going to happen. Defensively, he was ball watching a bit too much at times, but started to dial it in better as the game went along. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 3-17 shooting (0-2 from three, 8-8 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 12 assists, 2 blocks, 3 steals, 5 turnovers and 1 foul in 43 minutes. He was a +11. The Action: He got caught in the air and threw a pass away. He ball watched and his man hit an open three. He attacked off the three line, changed hands and scored a layup. He spun in traffic and missed a forced turnaround. He missed a wing jumper. He picked up a tech when Smith knocked a post entry after grabbing Kobe with his other hand. He bricked a three. He missed a pull-up elbow jumper. He got it back, attacked and drew FTs, he made both. Horrible outlet, forcing a long pass and throwing it out of bounds at the other end of the court. He overpowered his man in the post and somehow didn't draw a shooting foul. He overpowered his man again, this time kicking it out to Ron for a three. Ball watching again and his man got the offensive board and it drew a foul on Pau. He attacked, drew a crowd and hit Powell for the dunk. He was picked by Smith for a dunk the other way. He threw a pass right out of bounds, sloppy bounce pass. He had 4 points on 1-5 shooting and 4 assists. Second Half: He bricked a long early offense jumper. He was stripped for a dunk the other way and was outraged at the no call. He blocked a jumper on a close out. He missed a wing three. He posted up and drew FTs, he made both. He hit a cutting LO for a layup. He posted up, drew the double and dished to Pau for the dunk. He was blocked and wanted the foul. He swatted Smith's shot. He posted up and swished the baseline turnaround. He hit Farmar for a layup on the break. He swiped a pass on a kickout. He was way short on an elbow jumper, those are usually money. He overpowered his man and scored a layup. He hit Artest on a skip pass for three. He missed a pull-up jumper over Melo (who briefly switched). He swiped a pass and drew FTs in transition, he made both. He missed three straight shots to close the game before making two FTs with 12 seconds left.

Gasol -- -- The Denver Nuggets were in Pau's ear, yapping like they always seem to do. Give them an inch and they'll take it and tell the whole world. It's nothing Pau hasn't heard...or responded to with a ring of his own now. "They did talk too much," Gasol said in the Register. "Way too much." The Lakers got pushed around in the first half but turned the tables in the second half. It seemed Pau got more physical and aggressive as the game went along. Phil and Kobe can try to push and prod him, but there's nothing like an opponent to really push the buttons. Defending champions have to find that motivational edge. Hopefully, the Nuggets have given it to Pau. "That’s how I talk – by my play,” Gasol said. “And other players can’t do that.” The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-14 shooting (3-6 from the line) to go with 14 boards (6 offensive), 1 assist, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 37 minutes. He was a +3 The Action: He hit a lefty hook on the first touch of the game. He missed a wide open baseline jumper. He swished a 17-footer on the third possession. He drew FTs attacking and made one. He spun and was stripped. He missed an 18-footer left open. He cleaned up a Kobe missed jumper crashing the glass. He was hacked with no call, layup the other way. Bogus foul call on a Nene shot and he had to sit with foul trouble. Second Half: He went to work against Kenyon in the post and drew FTs on a shove, he made one. He missed a lefty jumphook. Flat-footed on a defensive board and Melo tipped in his own miss. He backed down Andersen aggressively and drew FTs, he made one. He dunked off the Kobe post up and dish. He got the ball in early offense, attacked and hit a lefty jumphook in the paint. He biffed a layup when the chair was pulled. He took contact and missed a turnaround with no call. He was blocked from behind and Phil subbed him out for Bynum with 4:30 left. Back in shortly later, he banked off the Kobe double team (looked like it should have been an And-1). He swatted Afflalo.

Bynum -- -- Defensive mobility is especially key against the Nuggets, and Phil seemed to have some specific ideas in mind tonight. With the way the Lakers were playing the screen-roll D (which seemed to depend on the bigman to provide a perimeter challenge on the opposing guard while our PG went under the screens), Phil limited Bynum's minutes. He's not as fast at the recovery and typically hangs back on screens to patrol the paint. You saw Phil talking to Bynum on the bench after one two-man D breakdown. Foul trouble (but also the above issue) seem to be what limited Bynum's time in this game. Also, if the offense is turning the ball over, the team can get hurt in transition with the slower twin tower units. However, that didn't seem to be the issue with Phil as much as the two-man D schemes. Bynum ended up with the fewest minutes of all starters (22). Offensively, Bynum needs to be aggressive with the Nuggets and working the power game. From the start, it looked like the Lakers were more focused on getting Pau going. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-7 shooting to go with 6 boards, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a -8. The Action: He choked a dunk off a pass from Pau. He rejected Billups out of bounds. He missed a short jumphook. He missed on a drive, got it back and scored. He threw an outlet away. Second Half: He stepped around Nene in the post and scored with his left. He overpowered Nene in the post, missed, got it back and scored the layup. Horrible zone help when Martin was in the corner against Pau and Bynum got caught for 3 seconds on D. Why zone that? (He blocked a Billups shot to get it back later in that stand.)

Artest -- -- Ron was in Melo's jersey all game. He was following him like a shadow. He was Alcatraz. The SHU. Leavenworth. That was some serious lockdown D. On second thought, maybe Ron should be the one in lockdown. He took Melo's keys, wallet, jewelry, credit card numbers and Social. He had 6 steals and forced Melo into 8 turnovers (he deflected a few more dribbles out of bounds and also tied him up on a jumpball). When you combine Ron's speed, strength and hands with the Lakers help D sequences, that was a frustrating combo for Melo. In the first meeting it was Ron who was hit with fouls and handcuffed. Late in the game, it was Melo who ended up fouling out in crunch time while trying to post up. And, please, ABC, Melo, Nuggets in general, Kobe has been called for those same clear-out fouls (many even less obvious) trying to post up all season long. Heck, Ron has been called for those same fouls. It seems like a fact of life that he'll get whistled for those every few games. Melo ended up with 21 points on 7-19 shooting to go with his 8 turnovers (and a -7). On the other end of the floor, Ron helped space the floor with 4 threes. This was vital with all the doubles the Nuggets send. Just an excellent two-way game. I would say this was the kind of game the Lakers envisioned from him, but it was better than that. "He did a great job. He earned his money today," Kobe said with a grin. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 6-13 shooting (4-7 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 4 assists, 6 steals, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 40:30. He was a +4. The Action: He missed a fading jumper. He missed a sideline three, but got it back and sank the open three after hesitating. He missed an open sideline three. He swiped a pass to Melo at the wing then took it for a dunk the other way. He sank an open sideline three on a kickout from LO. He choked a reverse in transition. He sank a three off the Kobe kickout. He choked a layup (that one was too easy). He attacked and set up Powell for the easy score. Second Half: He stripped the ball from Melo on the sideline and dunked on the other end again. He tied up Melo on a drive for a jumpball on the next stand (he tapped it too hard out of bounds). He missed a 15-footer. Great hands again on Melo on iso and he stripped him. On the other end, he airballed a three on a kickout. He poked a Melo drive out of bounds twice on the same stand. He passed up a three, attacked and drew FTs (Kobe told him to shoot those), he made one FT. Melo worked behind a screen multiple times to shake Ron, but Ron still stripped him for another turnover (just awesome). He poked the ball loose on Melo again on another drive to end the quarter. Sensational D in that quarter. He sank a corner three off the Kobe cross-court feed. He got Melo to finally foul out with a clear out in a post up.

Fisher -- -- Last time these teams met up, DFish starred in the basketball version of Groundhog Day. Billups repeatedly hit threes on him non-stop until the Lakers were thoroughly scorched. Just a couple minutes into this game, Fish was on the bench with fouls. He held his own later in the game until Billups decided it was winning time. Billups began torching him for a series of scores. Seen this act before. They can slide Kobe on Fish's man, but the better option might be for Shannon to close in either case. Offensively, Fisher sank both of his shots behind the arc. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-5 shooting (2-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 2 steals and 4 fouls in 28:28. He was a +8. The Action: He clanked an open 18-footer. He picked up two quick fouls and had to sit after two minutes. Second Half: He grabbed a board on one end, then hit the three on the other. He cut down the lane with the ball in the post, took the pass and choked the layup (this is the right play, but wrong person doing it). He swished a three from the top of the arc next time down. He stripped Billups and took it the distance for a layup (don't see that often). Touch foul on Billups, giving up three FTs. Billups hit a three on him next time down (he went under, but Lamar didn't stay high long enough and Fish didn't recover fast enough). Billups drained a step-back jumper on him.

Lamar -- -- When Lamar brings it on both ends, the Lakers are very hard to beat. "We answered the call tonight," Lamar said. He led the Lakers with a +15. He said he wanted to let the game come to him, but still be aggressive. Some very good action in the paint, whether working off the attention Kobe drew, posting up himself or working off the ball for others to find him. He had a few brief defensive stands against Melo, one resulted in a steal. Good job as usual at controlling the glass and getting the Lakers to go from defense to offense with speed. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 8-13 shooting (1-4 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 12 boards, 1 assist, 4 steals, 1 block, 4 turnovers and 2 fouls in 31 minutes. The Action: He missed a corner three a second after entering. He posted up and kicked to Ron for a three. He grabbed a loose ball, up-faked and scored a layup. He lost a sure dunk when he fumbled away a pass on the break. He stripped Melo on iso D. He missed a wing three. He missed a wing jumper in early offense. Finally an attack and he scored an easy layup around Martin. He scored a layup off a touch pass from Powell. Second Half: He cut off Kobe and scored a layup. He attacked off the Artest pass and drew FTs, he made one. He sank a corner three to start the fourth (off that Lakers wing lob play, he spreads the floor if his man is going to help off him). He attacked to his right and banked in fade expecting an And-1 call that didn't come. He hit a jumphook in the middle of the lane. He swatted Carter's shot and it ignited a break. He missed a wing three. He missed a jumphook attempt after grabbing a Kobe miss. He hit a jumphook working the post.

Brown -- -- Shannon got to run with the starters for most of the first quarter. This is something, of course, many Laker fans have been wanting. He gave up a couple of threes to Billups going under the screen. This appears how the Lakers want to defend this, with the bigs showing and then recovering. You could see Billups wait for the bigman to recover to his man and exploit that moment. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-5 shooting to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 19 minutes. He was a -10. The Action: He sank a sideline jumper on his first touch. He went under a screen and gave up a Billups three. He threw a pass out of bounds when Kobe curled and Shannon expected him to fade. He missed a flip in attempt over a defender in transition, but regained possession. Under a screen again, three for Billups. He sank a pull-up jumper. He dunked on the break with Farmar. He missed a turnaround in the paint. Second Half: After the long minutes in the first half, he got a brief 2 minutes in the second half.

Farmar -- -- Decent minutes from Farmar offensively. He was one of the few Lakers to come away without a turnover. He never forced the action and took shots he needed to take. Defensively, he had a couple of miscues, fouling a jumpshooter and giving up a straight line layup to Carter. There's no reason to shade him for our zone sequences. That's a match-up you play straight up. And when you do shade, you've got to make sure it's not an easy straight line to the hoop. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-2 shooting (1-1 from three, 0-1 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist and 1 foul in 13 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He hit Shannon on the break for a dunk. He swished an open sideline three. Second Half: Carter (yes, Carter) blew past him for a layup. He scored an And-1 layup off the break with Kobe, he missed the FT.

Powell -- -- With the Laker bigmen in foul trouble, the deep bench had to step up to the challenge in a playoff atmosphere. Powell, however, filled in for Lamar who wasn't in foul trouble. He played that scrappy bench player role the way you want to see. He was fighting for boards, making the extra pass and good things happened. Maybe this helped fire up some of the others. Great effort. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-3 shooting to go with 1 board and 1 assist in 5 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He hit a short baseline shot off the drive and dish from Ron. He dunked off the Kobe drive and dish. He hit Lamar with a touch pass for a dunk. He jammed off the inbounds pass when Kobe drew a double team as a decoy. He jumped inbounds in time to save a loose ball. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Mbenga -- -- Mbrief action for Mbenga to close the first half. He managed to get tagged for a foul in his minute, but held down the fort. The Stats: He didn't score, had 1 board and 1 foul in 1:17. He had a +/- of 0. The Action: Brief stint to close the half with the other bigs in foul trouble. Second Half: He did not play.

Phil -- -- He quickly sat Fish for Shannon after a couple minutes when Fish picked up two early fouls.... The Lakers trailed 17-10 after 6 minutes... Bynum fouled Nene on a screen-roll. Phil sat him, but was in his ear with advice at the bench... The Lakers trailed 29-21 after the first quarter. Phil actually got on the Lakers for their intensity and aggressiveness in a timeout. Shouldn't have to do that in this game... Kobe, Pau and Artest played the entire first quarter. Phil started a Bynum, Lamar, Kobe, Shannon, Farmar unit... Phil sat Kobe to go with a Farmar, Fisher, Shannon trio. Don't see that much... Both Pau and Bynum picked up three fouls and Phil had to go with deep bench. Powell came in for Lamar briefly to help prod LO's game... The Lakers trailed 52-43 at the half. The Lakers had 14 turnovers... Good run to start the second half, the Lakers locking down on D (especially Ron) and the Lakers pulled back within a point after just 4 minutes... The Nuggets went on a 10-0 run to counter and the Lakers called a timeout again... "Ron's starting to play Anthony quite well," Phil said after the third. The Lakers forced the Nuggets into 7 turnovers that quarter (it was mostly Ron). Phil said the team had a little more definition on what they were trying to get accomplished... The Lakers trailed 70-67 to start the fourth... Phil started a Pau, Lamar, Ron, Kobe, Farmar unit. The Lakers tied it up on the first possession... The Lakers pulled ahead by 4 when Melo and Ron sat... They led by 8 when Kobe sat and by just 3 when he returned with Melo after a very short break... An 8-0 run and the Nuggets tied it up... Phil sat Pau briefly and brought him back in after a short rest... The Nuggets didn't score a field goal in the final 4:10... Phil on Kobe: "He's just out of rhythm right now," Phil said. Despite that, Kobe carved up the defense with his pass... The Nuggets had 20 turnovers to the Lakers 18. Tough keeping a team under 90 points with that many turnovers, but the Lakers did. Nuggets didn't... The Nuggets shot 36 percent, the Lakers 45.6 percent...

[JTS1]

hey db! glad you're back!
_________________
'How many kids can say growing up that they'll turn pro and play for their favorite team in the world and spend your entire career there? IT'S BEEN A DREAM!'-Kobe Bryant 11.29.15

[67ShelbyGT]

1st?

Good to have the best recap-er in the business back!

Welcome back, DB!


Edit: not 1st. damn you jts .
_________________
Alltime lineup: Magic | Kobe | MJ | Hakeem | KAJ

[JTS1]

[City_Dawg]

Thanks DB

Back to the road we go!
_________________
*sighs*

!...

[tw-lakbfan]

Nice to read your masterpiece again, esp. after a W.

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB! Great to see you, the T&R and the Horsemen back.


Soo good to see the Lakers shut the nuggets up.

[OregonLakerGuy]

thx again

[night89]

Hmm, hard to say what was wrong with Bynum today. If it's the hip, then he should seriously considered sitting down. We CANNOT afford this kind of inconsistency from him in the postseason. He needs to perform at a very high level, to make up for the lack of spacing, and right now, he's not even close.

This road trip will be very unforgiving, if he performs like tonight. Dwight will embarrass him, again, if he moved like tonight.

Seriously, right now, he's not proving anything except to provide fodder for the fans, with his inconsistencies. He can prove his "toughness" by averaging 18 and 9 in the postseason. No one will care how many games he played, as long as he makes an impact in the postseason, and we win the championship.

Sit out, get healthy, and get A LOT stronger. Otherwise, I don't see the purpose of having him out there.

[davidse]

thx DB.

artest and odom were fantastic tonight, and perhaps the most encouraging part in all of this was that other than powell in limited minutes - no other laker had a very good game - and we still won...

and a key move was phil realizing that he can't afford to sit artest down when melo is still in the game.

phil tried it at the start of the second quarter - going with his "usuall" substitution pattern, and that was when melo started getting comfortable.
phil learned his lesson, and melo was never again on the court without his "new" 37# jersey attached to him.


one thing that phil keeps missing and doesn't use enough is artest in the post.
we "tried" to post him up twice last night.
that's it - twice. and he didn't even get the ball once.

the result ?

2 fouls on melo.

i don't know how a coach can see that and not go to it again and again.
i would sacrafice some of my normal offense to go there - specificaly in the first half, and get the other team's star sf in foul trouble.
maybe phil is saving it for the playoffs or something - that's the only excuse i can find for him.

but if he can't see this, if he doesn't take advantage of the opportunity to get the other team's best scorer out of the game - then i have a real issue with phil.

[Johnny Quid]

[THE_TWELFTH]

(Sigh) First, let me say... I can't tell you how much I've appreciated these post game reports over the years... But really... You're killin' me with the intro's. I know, I know you just tried to spice it up this season... but, it's a,lot of sometimes incoherent reading to get to your take on the game. Like I said I appreciate you efforts and dedication. But I miss the days of a quick general summary to set it up, followed by just the facts. Becoming a little too comic booky and Sci-Fi.
_________________
Blood, sweat, tears,
We dripped all three just to get here.
No longer will I wake up and my dreams just vanished.
It’s staring right at me, I must take advantage.

Juelz Santana - "The Second Coming"

[8750]

thanks, DB
we won their game, and that's good... but i don't understand why this season every time we have to play a crucial game, we are so soft, so sloppy, not ready... first half was embarassing, especially because our big men are mentally weak, and bynum is always out of position, out of rhythm
then we won with a great defensive effort (bynum on the bench), but it seems to me that sometimes we are too rigid with our offensive formula... i really don't understand why we never played against their doubles any p&r with kobe and gasol..

[IPK]

Glad to have you back DB. I told you we'd need ya!

[IPK]

[Gallofa]

[tw-lakbfan]

[Texas_Pete]

Thank you for your championship efforts DB. Great stuff as always.

Artest and LO got it done tonight. LO seems like he is in a zone. His game looks really potent right now on both sides of the ball. Rebounding, scoring and steals - he filled up the stat sheet tonight big time. Artest... what can I say about this dude? If he can get down to 252 like he said and get his feet right - it's on. Kobe's leadership was stellar tonight. Kobe had a bad shooting night, but he did the little things to get the W. This was one of the most enjoyable wins of the year in my book.

[IPK]

[Rodman28]

Ron and Odom saved us, plain and simple.

I thought the refs were screwing us the majority of the game, but that doesn't excuse all the missed shots and lay ups.

At first, I was pretty disgusted with the game. I mean, 13 Denver free throws in the first quarter alone? Kobe was getting man handled and no calls came...it was a joke. The Nuggets were playing Bad Boy Detroit style basketball, and we just weren't responding.

If we're going to beat this guys, we need to toughen up and respond. Pau can't just suddenly go invisible. I think Artest was smart to not start hitting back when that smiling jerk off Carmello kept jackin him. We need to start fighting back though when it starts to happen on every play.

I think Bynum completely outplayed Pau...and I don't compliment him often.

Kobe was clearly frustrated, and as predicted, he started jacking up stupid quick shots...luckily he started to pass more than jack up, and that helped us big time.

Odom and Artest played fantastic!
_________________
*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

[tw-lakbfan]

[BigE32]

Thanks as always, DB. Ron and LO were just superb. Ron's D on Melo, especially in the 3rd quarter, was just outstanding. LO is the barometer of our team. When he's bringing it on both ends of the floor, we're a tough team to beat. I liked seeing Kobe be more of a facilitator yesterday b/c his shot wasn't falling. Having said that, I didn't like the last few shots he took in the final 2 minutes. I'm glad it didn't cost us.

[lounger]

Nice write-up DB! Thanks again.

I missed the game but you laid it out well enough for me to savor the win.

[prisma8slg]

thanks DB.

great to see everyone step up (especially Artest and Odom) and be aggressive when Kobe was getting smothered.

[THE_TWELFTH]