LAKERS -at- SUNS - 5/23 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Adjustments... The venues changed and so did the outcome. The Suns made some tweaks, and the Lakers 8-game win streak was snapped with a 118-109 loss.

Two things conspired against the Lakers: Foul trouble and the inability to slice up the zone defense. The Suns had similar offensive output to the last game (before some late fouls to stop the clock and edge up the score). The Lakers just failed to execute their offense with the same ease as in previous games.

Amare Stoudemire set the tone, attacking from the start and getting the Laker bigmen in foul trouble on his way to 42 points. This led to some small-ball Laker lineups. The inability to keep their impact bigmen on the floor cost the Lakers.

None of this should have been a surprise. It was mentioned here that the Suns would likely try to draw fouls on the Laker bigs to take away the size advantage as well as go to that zone. This was an adjustment that they should have been ready for. Instead, the Lakers stuggled to switch gears, scoring just 15 points in the second quarter. They had no penetration against the zone and dug themselves into a hole.

"We've got to be ready for that in game four and understand that's something we've got to face," Gasol said of the zone.

Still, they had a 1-point lead in the fourth. Then the turnovers came. They had 6 in the first 5 minutes with the Suns still in that zone. Very poor execution when it mattered most. They should have been prepared to carve that up with ease. Instead, they hoisted 9-32 from three and fell in the process.

"That's not really what you want to do as a basketball team," Phil said.

The freethrow differential in this game was huge. The Suns made 37-42, the Lakers 16-20. Both Lamar and Bynum were late on rotations behind Pau and those fouls helped get the Suns into the bonus early. "He was hitting those jumpers," Gasol said, "so I'd rather force him into the drive and then expect some kind of help there."

No help came and the Suns held serve. The Lakers will look to make their adjustments and steal a road game next time out.


Kobe -- -- Kobe had a near triple-double, connecting early and often . Taking what the defense gave him as Phil said. His perimeter shot looked good early, but the minutes might have caught up to him a little later. He started the game with 15 points on 7-9 shooting and 4 assists in the first quarter. It was one of his miscues in the fourth, however, that put the Lakers in a huge hole. A simple unforced error, he just took his eyes off the ball, then tried to save it and the Suns quickly hit a three. The Lakers never recovered from that. The Stats: He scored 36 points on 13-24 shooting (2-8 from three, 8-8 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 11 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 5 turnovers and 3 fouls in 43 minutes. He was a -12. The Action: He grabbed an offensive board in a crowd and sank a short turnaround. He hit a long wing jumper off the dribble. He was stripped for points the other way. He scored a layup off the slip screen. He hit Lamar on a lob. He nailed a wing three. He hit a wing jumper on iso. He missed a short lefty bank. He spun away from a double and sank a baseline jumper. He swished a sideline jumper. He then took a quick-fire wing three in early offense (this miss resulted in Lamar's second foul of the quarter in transition D). He took the drop pass from Pau, drew the D and hit Pau for the dunk (one of the better sequences all game). He cleaned up a Lamar missed drive. He attacked across the lane and hit a hanging jumper. He missed a long three against the zone. He found Pau in the lane for a layup. Weak offensive foul as Kobe attacked off the dribble and Nash caught an inadvertant elbow. He missed an iso jumper, quick counter attack for FTs the other way. He lost the ball against the zone with the shotclock low. He missed a long three at the end of the half. He had 19 points at the half. Second Half: He was flat on a three, it led to transition points the other way to start the half. He hit Ron for the open three. No ball movement against the zone, then he threw a pass away. He spotted Pau on the high-low next time down for a layup. He kicked out to Fish for a three. He swished a long three, bailing out the offense after a bad possession against the zone. He attacked the zone and drew FTs, finally, with just a few seconds left in the third, he made both. He drew FTs with 3 seconds left and made both. He probed the lane and hit the short one-hannder. Killer sequence, he took his eyes off a pass, fumbled it and then threw it away, it led to a three the other way with 7 minutes left. He missed a quick-fire three. He missed a step-through in traffic next time down. He drew FTs on the offensive glass, he made both. Quick attack down the middle of the lane and he drew FTs, he made both. He missed a pull-up jumper. He attacked, spun through the D and scored a layup. Down big, he missed a three. He sank a runner. He missed a floater, but Pau tipped it in.

Gasol -- -- Amare attacked the bigmen from the start, drawing several fouls and getting the Laker size advantage on the bench. Pau had some soft D on several occasions when Amare or Lopez was on the attack. He was hoping for help and had to watch his foul trouble (even more so with Bynum and Lamar getting whistled themselves). The team is probably better letting Amare take those jumpers versus letting him get to the rim and draw fouls early on. The bigs can avoid the foul problems and continually take advantage of the Suns at the other end. That is if they can figure out how to take care of the zone. Offensively, Pau was efficient when he got the ball, but the Lakers didn't look very smooth like in previous games. "We really never got to get inside-out," Gasol said. "That's how you hurt the zone really well: make the zone collapse and then kick it out and get a better shot." He anticipated the Lakers would work on that in practice. Hopefully, we'll see more back-screens, ball-fakes, quick passes and cuts. The Stats: He scored 23 points on 11-14 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 45 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He fouled Amare on the first possession when Amare attacked off the dribble. He missed an awkward jumper on the move. He sank a quick jumphook off the corner entry. He swished a wing jumper. He missed a face-up jumper. He worked over Frye in the post and hit a short jumper over him. He threw down off a give and go with Kobe on the weakside. He scored a layup with low position. He picked up his second foul midway through the second quarter. He scored a layup off the feed by Kobe. He had 12 points at the half. Second Half: He sank an elbow jumper. He scored a layup on the high-low from Kobe. His layup was swatted. He sank a turnaround jumper. He scored a layup, cutting off Kobe against the zone and getting the pass under the hoop. He finally got in front of an Amare drive and drew a charge. He was fouled away from the ball, he made one FT. He drew another charge on Amare. He tipped in a Kobe miss.

Bynum -- -- Bynum was very late on a number of rotations. He didn't impose himself on offense except for one play. "I wasn't ready," Drew said afterward. Complete dud of a game. He has got to play impact ball. The zone had its impact, of course, but the foul trouble and lack of general aggression from Drew was of equal importance. Lopez dropped 20 points (obviously not all on Bynum, but just the impact the Suns got from their C vs. the Lakers was way too big a gap). The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-1 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 2 boards and 4 fouls in 8 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He fouled Amare on a slip screen, late to rotate. No box out and Lopez got a putback dunk. He picked up his second foul on another Amare slip screen and he had to sit after 3 minutes. In to start the second, he made an aggressive post move to get to the middle of the lane and hit an And-1 jumphook, he missed the FT. He got lost on D just backing into the midddle of the lane and was called for an illegal zone. He picked up his third foul after 3 minutes trying to challenge penetration and he had to sit. Second Half: Bad angle on Amare and he had to sit after a minute with his fourth foul.

Artest -- -- After a scoreless first half, he had 12 points in the second half. Ron got a lot of minutes at the PF spot tonight. Phil opted to use him there instead of bringing in the deep Laker bench. They missed the size at that spot. Ron looked a little better against the zone as the game went along. He didn't alway settle for the shot, but was moving without the ball or attacking off the three line. Hopefully, we see more of that. The Stats: He scored 12 point on 4-13 shooting (2-7 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 41 minutes. He was a -8. The Action: He missed a three. He missed an early offense pull-up jumper, bad shot selection. He probed the D, got stuck in no man's land and threw a pass away. He missed a step-back elbow jumper. He missed a wide open three. Second Half: He drained a three on a Kobe kickout. He missed a layup against the zone, but Lamar tipped it in. He sank a baseline jumper after probing the lane. He caught the zone sleeping with a cut and scored a layup. He probed off the three line and drew FTs on the drive, he made both. He missed a pumping layup under the hoop against the zone (this is where having your usual bigs instead of Ron at the PF makes a big difference). He missed an open corner three. Quick attack down the lane, he drew the whistle, but it wasn't called a shooting foul. Not close on an open wing three in early offense. Nice hustle to track down a rebound and knock it off the Suns, he then swished a three on the inbounds. He missed a corner three.

Fisher -- -- He broke Nash's nose on one of the final plays in the game. His head collided with Nash inadvertantly. Earlier, he had to be separated from Lopez after getting bumped, then clipped in the head with an elbow himself. DFish can be a bruiser out there sometimes. Offensively, he was hitting his shot and sinking threes. When he's taking a lot of attempts, it generally means the team is a little too perimeter-oriented in their offense. Some of his shot selection played into the Suns hands. He needs to be a little more mindful of just chucking. He got into chuck mode a bit too long in some stretches. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 6-11 shooting (3-6 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 5 fouls in 38 minutes. He was a -9. The Action: He drained a wing three on a Kobe kickout. He missed a wing three. He swished a pull up from the top of the key next time down. He attacked in transition without numbers, he missed a layup, three the other way. He missed a three left open (resulted in another three in transition). He sank a quick-fire wing pull up next time down (really not the shot the team needs to take, he's playing into the Suns hands). Bad pass against the zone, but he managed to make a challenge in transition to get a stop. Second Half: He was fouled on a sideline three attempt, he made all three. He grabbed a loose ball in the lane and scored a leaner. He swished a wide open three off the Kobe kickout. He drained a wing three trailing the break. Not close on a long jumper on a kickout. He missed a long three.

Lamar -- -- Lamar didn't seem locked into this game. It could have been the zone making things funky for him, but he was putting together sequences where he would compound one error with another. Whether it was a late rotation on one end, then a bad chuck on the other, it was just very sloppy possessions on both ends. He'll need to bounce back and play some stronger two-way ball. They've got to be a lot cleaner on both ends to a take a road game. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-14 shooting (0-4 from the three, 2-4 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers and fouls in 35 minutes. He was a -9. The Action: He scored a layup on a lob from Kobe. He missed a runner trying to attack Amare off the dribble. He picked up his second foul of the first quarter trying to prevent a transition bucket (should have just let it go). He missed a wing jumper. Sloppy high-low pass, turnover. He attacked, spun and missed the tough shot on the drive. He traveled off the Pau pass in the paint (challenged by Lopez). He bricked a righty layup attempt. Dumb save under the hoop and it led to an Amare dunk. He then compounded that with a quick-fire miss from the perimeter on the other end. He biffed another layup attempt under the hoop. Nice effort to save a missed three by Ron. He drew FT on a drive down the middle of the lane (lucky because that wasn't looking like a good drive), he bricked both FTs, of course. Second Half: He tipped in a missed drive by Ron. He missed a three, settling when Kobe drew attention instead of cutting or attacking. He scored a layup off the Farmar bounce pass against the zone. He was blocked under the hoop for a jumpball with 5 on the shotclock. No box out after a challenge and the shooter kept the offensive board alive. He drew FTs while cutting off the Farmar drive, he made both. He blew past his man from the wing and scored a layup. He charged on a drive, turnover. He missed a three straight away. After blowing a defensive rotation, he missed a three, then was called for a foul in transition to give up FTs. He fouled out on that play with 6 minutes left.

Brown -- -- Attacking the zone by thinking the game isn't one of Shannon's strengths. He tried to shoot over it and stood around too much. He had a couple of miscues that set the Laker cause back in the early fourth quarter. Despite all that, he was the only Laker with a positive in the +/- stat. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-7 shooting (1-5 from three) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a +7. The Action: His pick and roll pass was swiped, but he blocked a shot in transition to get it back. He missed a heave at the end of the first. He threw down a putback jam off a Bynum missed FT. He missed a three over the zone. He missed a runner trying to attack the zone. He hit Farmar in the corner for a three on the break. Second Half: He missed a three over the zone. He swatted a shot under the hoop on two consecutive defensive stands. Bad backcourt foul for Barbosa with a second left in the third and the score tied. He took his eye off the ball, unforced error. He telegraphed a pass against the zone, picked off. He sank a late corner three.

Farmar -- -- Farmar had some decent moments again on the floor, but the sloppy ball hurt his cause and added more fuel to the Suns fire. Against the zone, his penetration and shooting should allow the team to slice it apart more. They just weren't on the same page. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-3 shooting to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 10 minutes. He was a +/- of 0. The Action: He missed a wing jumper against the zone, not good balance on the shot. He drained a corner three on the Shannon Kickout. Second Half: He attacked baseline against the zone and set up Lamar for a layup. Sloppy push out on the break and the ball was stolen. He missed a three. He stepped out of bounds after gathering a jumpball.

Phil -- -- Amare drew three fouls on the Laker bigmen in 3 minutes, attacking and slipping screens. LO came in for Bynum and quickly picked up a foul on Amare in transition. The Lakers were in the penalty with 8:30 left in the quarter... Lamar had to sit at the end of the first with his second foul. Phil went small with Artest at PF... The Lakers led 32-29 after the first, but had two of their impact bigmen in foul trouble... Phil started a Bynum, Lamar, Artest, Shannon, Farmar unit... Bynum picked up his third foul and had to sit for Pau after 3 minutes... The Lakers struggled to execute against the zone... Phil picked up a tech with the score tied 45-45. He didn't like a non-call on what should have been a Pau And-1. Phil said he didn't swear at the ref. He didn't like that the Suns had shot 20 FTs and the Lakers hadn't made one... The zone held the Lakers to just 15 points in the second quarter. They should have been more prepared then that for the zone... The Lakers trailed 54-47 at the half. They shot 48 percent, but were 0-3 from the line. The Suns shot only 38 percent, but were feasting from the line, making 18-20. The Suns also won the break 13-3... BShaw didn't like the Lakers zone attack and pointed out the seams they needed to exploit instead of settling for jumpers... Fish and Artest were supplying a lot of offense in the third quarter... Phil once again went to the small lineup with his bigmen in foul trouble, putting Artest at the PF... The Suns led 86-84 heading into the fourth... Phil started a Pau, Lamar, Kobe, Shannon, Farmar unit... The Lakers had a 90-89 lead with more than 8:30 left. Anyone's ball game, the Suns still in a zone, however... The Suns went on a 9-2 run to force a Laker timeout. Six Laker turnovers in the first 5 minutes of the fourth... Lakers also settling for several threes during this stretch... The Lakers were whistled for three fouls on one defensive stand with 4 minutes left... Lamar fouled out with 3 minutes left and Phil brought back in Bynum after a long second-half stint... He then went with Ron at PF... The Suns won the break 18-3. They shot just 5-20 from three... The Lakers had 17 turnovers... A gimmick defensive scheme should not hold up. The Suns made their adjustment, Phil's turn...

[DancingBarry]

Sorry for the delays guys. I got stuck on Catalina island today with these winds and our return trip home delayed by about 8 hours. Didn't get in until late and I'm groggy as hell.

I'm sure there's got to be a number of mistakes in here. Must. Get. Sleep.

[8750]

thanks, DB

[koolmo23]

as always thanks db for your effort

[limchrc]

Thanks, let's win the next game.

[Fleur-de-Lis]

Thanks DB.

You gave more effort in putting this together as your day than Lakers did playing. That's a passionate fan.

[ChefLinda]

Thanks for giving the extra effort, DB.

[lakerboy]

thanks db

i wish our players and the coaching staff would stop making comments about the finals and the celtics. just stop please.

that's unprofessional, disrespectful and idiotic to say the least

this series could go easily 2-2 back to la, and we would have no one to blame but ourselves

[angrypuppy]

Thanks DB. You could have "Bynumed" out for the night, but chose to persevere.

[Fleur-de-Lis]

[squidward]

This game was a disappointment because the Lakers could have easily taken it. Too many turnovers. Lazy defense led to free throws for the Suns. Lakers settled on the 3 too much. I think Phil should have rested Kobe at the beginning of the 4th. Bynum sucked. Lamar wasn't into it. Phoenix also blew a lot of easy ones, we should have taken advantage. Rant, rant, rant. We need 6 wins, let's get them.

[Rodman28]

Refs let the Suns have this one, no doubt about it.
_________________
*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

[RVCdesigns]

Thanks DB, what the hell is going on with Drew?

[Rodman28]

[Rodman28]

Thanx by the way.
_________________
*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

[RCS926]

The Lakers got the short end of the stick in terms of free throws, and they didn't do a good job of attacking the zone. With that being said, I put this loss on LO and Drew. Drew was very slow on rotations, and as result, he was sitting on the pine for most of the game. LO simply didn't have his head in the game. He missed chippies and wide open 3s. He didn't attack the glass. He had stupid TOs. I thought the way that he got his 4th foul (just lazily slapping at Amare) showed that he was not mentally in the game. In the end, it's just one game. Still, LO deserves a lot of credit for the Lakers winning 2 games. He deserves as much blame for the Lakers losing game 3.

[prisma8slg]

thanks DB

the zone defense killed us
_________________
"I define success by championships, by winning..." Kobe Bryant

"I've seen it all. Sasha dunked on somebody," Kobe Bryant said. "I'm ready to retire now."

[LA1969]

DB, you are an inspiration!


Too bad we lost, but you are always in the game.
_________________
"Time wounds all heels". -John Lennon

[RVCdesigns]

[MedRomLaker]

Thanks db, what kills me the most is that we had the game within our reach, only down 6 with what 3+ mins left, then for some unexplainable reason the team started getting lazy and started throwing up three's. I was like omg we have plenty of time don't take the easy way out, 1st LO, then ron and even kobe, even times when the lane was wide open, nope shoot three. Its like the machine virus infected the whole team, open look shoot three, WIDE open lane shoot three, ugh! Game could have easily been a win if we played smart down the stretch.
_________________
11/9/12 the day the brown was flushed down!!!!!!

4/30/14 the day the ant left the building!!!!!!

[mhan00]

(bleep) game. we had it; we had the zone figured out and were tearing a hole through it, and then we just stopped doing what was working in the 4th quarter. odom was completely useless. seems like he missed 20 wide open layups (probably only 4, but it seemed like 20). bynum couldn't move, at all. shannon just showed why he's an amazing athlete, but a terrible basketball player who makes dumb ass decisions (seriously, STOP HOLDING THE BALL SO (bleep) MUCH).

[A Mad Chinaman]

Wondered why they didn't use Artest at the high post, like what they did a couple times?

Hmm, since it appears that LO can only drive in a straight line - he isn't able to slash to the hole. When he is playing PF, why isn't he in the high post or the low post?

I guess the Lakers were tired, since they didn't seem to have the energy to throw the ball into the post to force the defense to collapse and open up the lanes behind the zone where Pau is waiting for the ball.

If LO is unable to drive, shoot or pass efficiently - it might be time for Luke to get into the game.

If Drew can't move, maybe it is time for DJ to get some minutes. Could he be our version of Orlando Magic's Brandon Bass?

Let's see what happens tomorrow?