CAVS -at- LAKERS - 1/11 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Mothers Hide Your Daughters... The poor Cleveland Cavaliers walked straight into the middle of a Hollywood horror flick. They played the role of the curious coeds, who met their demise in gruesome, bloody fashion.

As Chick used to say, mothers hide your daughters.

It was a couple of back-to-back blowouts that set a Laker franchise record not too long ago. From that, the Lakers retooled their defense...and then this. The Lakers set another franchise record tonight by holding an opponent to 57 points in a game.

It was brutal. Savage. Unrelenting.

The Lakers nearly doubled the Cavs up, winning by 55 points. Cleveland shot 29.9 percent in the 112-57 beatdown. Asked if he felt sympathy for them, Kobe replied, "None. You forget who you're talking to, man. I feel for Byron. As far as the game goes, you beat them by as many points as you can beat them."

There was little empathy for the opponent. Phil said sometimes roles are reversed, and it could be the Lakers on the end. "Everybody has their day," he said. That line would have been so much cooler coming from Clint Eastwood.

Divorced by Lebron and left helpless in the interior by key injuries, the Cavs couldn't crack the Lakers defenses. They failed to collapse the Laker D, and when they did the L.A. swarmed like a pack of wild dogs.

The Cavs trailed by 15 after the first, 32 at the half, and 48 points when the first timeout in the third quarter came.

It was brutal. Savage. Unrelenting.

You could see there was a certain bloodlust that the Lakers played with. Once they shut down the Cavs, they wanted to tighen the screws on them even more. Sometimes a "W" is more than a "W"... Perhaps, this will be the game the Lakers try to define themselves with.


Kobe -- -- The good news for the Cavs at halftime was that they held Kobe to just 2 points. The bad news was they trailed by 32. Kobe seemed very content to set up his teammates. In the third, he had a flurry of scores to make sure he kept the usual flow of things. Phil could have sat him earlier than he did, but perhaps he wanted the team starters to work the game like a scrimmage or practice session. Kobe would end with a ridiculous +46. "This is what hard work does," Kobe said. "We've really been focused on the defensive end and we've been getting better game by game." The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-10 shooting (1-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 8 assists, 2 steals and 2 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a +46. The Action: He lobbed to Drew in early offense for the dunk. He scored a layup at half speed, probing a gap in early offense. He stripped a big under the hoop. He picked the pocket of a bigman to save Bynum from giving up a layup. He had 2 points, 2 assists and 2 steals in the first. He kicked out to Lamar for a three. He kicked out to Artest for a three. He hounded his man out of a timeout and forced a turnover. He attacked down the lane and fed Pau for the And-1. He missed a tough, double clutching bank. He had 2 points on 1-2 shooting and 5 assists. Second Half: He missed a layup on the drive, Pau stole it back and Kobe threw it off the backboard to Bynum for the slam. He missed a three. He iso'd on Hickson and was fouled on the reverse dunk attempt, he made both FTs. He hit a pull-up jumper in the lane. He swished the turnaround from the elbow. He missed a turnaround. He sank a wing three behind a screen. He kicked out to Ron for an open jumper. He missed a turnaround bank. Sweet behind-the-back bounce pass to a cutting Lamar for an And-1. He attacked easily to the hoop and scored the layup.

Gasol -- -- This was like the Godzilla and his big brother vs. a carboard model of Tokyo. Without Varajao out there, the Lakers bigmen had their way with the Cavs. But that had little to do with what happened on the defensive end. Varajao isn't much of a threat there. The Cavs could not collapse the Laker D or penetrate the interior. They had no post game. When they did get into the paint, they were met with two seven-footers and some swarming help defense. "Our size was a dominant factor in that game," Phil said. No penetration meant nothing came easy...all game long. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 6-12 shooting (1-1 from the line) to go with 14 boards, 3 assists, 3 steal, 1 block and 2 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a +41. The Action: He missed a 17-footer. He couldn't finish a layup off the low pass from Fish on the break. He hit Bynum with an interior feed for a layup. Next time down, Bynum returned the favor with a bounce pass to Pau on the interior for a dunk. He fed Bynum, crashed the glass and cleaned up the miss. He tapped out an offensive board, got the post feed and handed off to Blake for the layup. He bobbled a pass and bricked the rushed jumphook. He attacked early on the post feed and hit the jumphook. He faked one way, missed the jumphook, got it back and hit with his left. He missed a baseline jumper. He beat everyone down court and was rewarded with a long outlet for a dunk. He scored an And-1 off the Kobe drive and dish, he made the FT. He led both teams in points and boards with 13 and 10 respectively at the half. Second Half: He stole a pass in the back court and it led to a Bynum slam. He missed a turnaround jumper.

Bynum -- -- That bigman in the middle that the Lakers were missing earlier this season...he's making his presence felt, isn't he? If you got past a guard or tried to score in the post, Drew was there. He overwhelmed the Cavs, blocking 5 shots and challenging many others. The Laker schemes are letting him hang back and anchor, and he's doing that quite well. He erases mistakes. We've said it several times when we missed him, but that's the bottom line. And while we may be giving some credit to the Lakers defensive schemes, you also need to give Drew his props. He has elevated his defensive game and matured into that beastly two-way bigman we're seeing now. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 7-9 shooting (1-3 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 assist, 5 blocks, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a +46. The Action: He missed a short jumphook backing his man down. He dunked a lob in early offense when Kobe spotted him. He powered in a layup off the feed from Ron. He scored a layup off the bounce pass Pau. He flashed to the ball, took the pass in the middle of the lane and quickly bounced to Pau for the dunk. He missed a short one that Pau cleaned up. He was stripped while attacking across the lane. He swatted a shot on iso D. He had 6 points on 3-5 shooting in the first. He rejected dribble penetration. In between that, he had two three-second violations. He tipped an offensive board to himself and scored the And-1 layup, he missed the FT. Second Half: He rejected his man at rim. Kobe went off the backboard to him for a slam on the other end. He spun backdoor and scored the oop off the Artest pass. After a couple good challenges, he stuffed his man and ripped the ball away from him. He tapped a Kobe miss to himself and scored the putback. He was all over his man to force an airball. He bullied his way to a couple FTs, he made one.

Artest -- -- When it rains, it pours. Ron has strung together some nice games lately on the offensive end. This was one of his better ones to date. He did what was needed from him and then some. He sank the threes, he attacked and set up teammates with frequency, and he got in on the offensive glass. The Lakers perimeter players were hounding their men. Having two big defenders behind you allows Ron and others to aggressively go after it. That 1-14 from three by the Cavs had a lot to do with the team challenging everything. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-11 shooting (3-5 from three) to go with 5 boards (3 offensive), 6 assists, 1 steal and 1 foul in 27 minuts. He was +44. The Action: He swished a catch-and-shoot corner three. He didn't hit rim on a three from the other corner. He attacked and whipped a pass to Bynum for a layup. He jumped a passing lane, pushed it up and missed a layup (Fish put it in). He missed a layup with his right, got it back and finished with his left on the other side. He sank a sideline three on the kickout from Kobe. Keeping his head up as he pushed out the break, he found a streaking Pau for the dunk. He had 8 points on 3-7 shooting and 3 assists. Second Half: He drained a wing jumper to start the half. He hit Bynum spinning backdoor for the lob out of a timeout. He swished a wide open corner three off the swing pass from Fish. He swished a toe-on-the-three-line jumper off a kickout. He knocked a ball off his man. He missed a wing jumper.

Fisher -- -- Last year, there was a noticeable difference in how well DFish looked defensively with Bynum on the floor and with him off it. This season, the same has held true. But give Fish some credit, he's not giving up a ton of straight line penetration. He was aggressively hounding guys tonight. He had a nose for the ball. He was the guy back in transition when you needed a stop, and one of the guys in the passing lanes making life difficult. The better our big guys anchor, the more aggressively our perimeter players can do these things. And that made life very difficult on the Cavs all night. Throw in DFish and Artest hitting on the other end you're definitely going to have a blowout. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-6 shooting (2-3 from three) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 25 minutes. He was a +46. The Action: He swished a sideline three after a defender fly-by. He drew a charge away from the ball on the break to get a stop. He swished another three from the other side a couple plays later. He tried to no-look to Pau on the break, threw it too low and we couldn't score off DFish's steal and push out. He missed a wing three on a kickout. He followed an Artest steal and breakaway to clean up the missed layup. He missed a long wing jumper. He fumbled away a sure steal. He had 8 points on 3-5 shooting. Second Half: He made the extra pass to Ron for the corner three. He swiped a pass and pushed out an ugly break. He drained a long foot-on-the-three-line jumper in early offense.

Lamar -- -- With the Bynum and Pau unit playing well on both ends, it might be interesting to see what happens when the Lakers get into a close game. Phil usually opts for the Lamar/Pau combo. Bynum is making a case to change that right now. As for this game, Lamar showed his perimeter touch, sinking a few from behind the arc and midrange. Just pouring more salt in the Cavs wounds. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-8 shooting (2-2 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 24 minutes. He was a +13. The Action: He missed a jumper. He pulled up and missed a FT jumper on the break, rare we see him do that. He swished a face-up jumper from the left side. He cut off baseline on help D, recovered to his man and drew the charge. He swished an open wing three on a Kobe kickout. Second Half: He scored an And-1 layup off the Kobe behind-the-back bounce pass. He got blocked by the rim on a reverse. He sank a long lefty jumphook in the lane. He drained a wing three next time down.

Blake -- -- Blake was one of the few players not to have a decent offensive game, continuing his struggles there. Defensively, the entire team played well, Blake included. He may have given up one of the few drives and layups all game. They were few and far between tonight. Blake does a good job of rotating within the schemes, never taking a play off. That was also something you didn't see too often from this team until late. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-5 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and no fouls in 23 minutes. He was a +9. The Action: He cut baseline off the Pau post, took the handoff and reversed. He fed Shannon curling off a screen for an And-1. He missed an early offense wing jumper. Second Half: He missed a wing three. He missed a baseline jumper, then gave up a layup on the other end. He missed a corner three.

Brown -- -- Shannon had his perimeter game on again, which included sinking another halfcourt shot to end the third. He's pretty deadly in those situations, eh? Nice to see latley more of the Shannon we saw earlier this year. Just shows it wasn't some single hot streak. Asked afterward if they felt bad for the Cavs, he said, "They wouldn't feel sorry for us if they were beating us that bad." Shannon probably also didn't mind doing that to his former franchise. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 4-8 shooting (1-3 from three, 4-5 from the line) to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 21 minutes. He was +9. The Action: He missed a long three to beat the shotclock. He attacked baseline and drew FTs, he made both. Nice help D to force a big into a travel. He scored an And-1 layup curling off the screens but missed the FT. He missed a pull-up wing jumper off the pinch post. He swished a wing jumper on iso. He was tapped on a jumper in transition but drew the foul, he made both FTs. He had 8 points on 2-4 shooting (4-5 from the line). Second Half: He swished a baseline pull-up jumper. He swished a halfcourt pull-up jumper, really measured that one and swished it to end the quarter. He missed a jumper to start the fourth. He threw the ball away, then climbed a man's back for a foul. He probed the lane and no-looked a bounce pass to Caracter for a layup.

Walton -- -- Some major run for Luke tonight, and I know most Laker fans were waiting patiently for Phil to bring in Ebanks. Luke came in for Ron with a minute left in the first quarter, the butt kicking well under way. He finished the night with just a +6, which is still better than the Cav's best Jamario Moon's -4. Consider Cavs guard Manny Harris's -57 for a moment. I don't know what the record low for +/- in a single game is, but that's impressive. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-8 shooting (0-2 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 1 turnover and no fouls in 17 minutes. He was a +6. The Action: He missed a wing jumper. He drew FTs in the paint and got one to drop after it circled the rim for several seconds. Great effort to grab an offensive board and pass it out to a teammate while falling to the floor. He faked a handoff, made the inside pivot and sank the 18-footer (that's some nice triangle-specific footwork). Second Half: He posted up and shot the turnaround over the backboard, umm, wow. He sank a wing jumper on iso. He missed a corner three. He forced a pass in traffic and missed. He missed a 20-footer next time down.

Smith -- -- The Lakers are up big, destroying the Cavs and Joe Smith is out there boarding and taking charges. How can you not like that? He hasn't had too many minutes, but he's looked solid, especially on that defensive end. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting to go with 4 boards and 2 fouls in 6 minutes. He was +5. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He missed a 19-footer. He took a charge up 52 by, I like it.

Caracter -- -- I think maybe the Cavs bigmen were finally hoping to make some noise when DC came in the game. Nope. The beating continued. He manned the post D and held ground. He worked them over on the other end for a few hoops. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-3 shooting to go with 1 turnover in 6 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He posted up and swished the baseline turnaround. He scored a layup off the bounce pass from Shannon. He was stripped in the post. Nice D on iso to force a brick. On the other end, he went up and under in the post for a score.

Ebanks -- -- Glad we got an Ebanks sighting, but come on, Phil. I know you think rookies are whale (bleep), but surely we could have found a few more minutes for the youngin? Loved seeing his energy out there. He played like he belonged. Ebanks needs to get more PT. What could be more valuable than some extended minutes in this one? The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-5 shooting (1-1 from three, 0-1 from the line) to go with 1 board, 2 steals, 1 turnover and no fouls in 6 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He crashed the glass, battled for the board and powered up for the And-1 layup, he missed the FT. He crossed over, went back across the defenders body and missed a layup, nice try. He scored a layup on the break when Shannon set him up him. He had a pass stripped from him. He was blocked on one end and swiped it back on the other. He swished a corner three (probably should have ran the clock).

Phil -- -- How about that defensive work that Phil and his coaches have been putting in? They've spent quite a bit of time tweaking things and getting the team to follow their rules. Good things have happened as a result... The Lakers hit three threes to start the game and led 11-2, forcing a timeout... A couple timeouts later, the Lakers led 23-6 with 3 minutes left... Phil brought in Blake, Brown and Lamar for Kobe, Fish and Pau... Then sat Bynum a minute later for Pau... The Lakers led 27-12 after the first. The Cavs shot 27 percent, unable to collapse the D or get into the paint... Phil started the Pau, Lamar, Luke, Brown, Blake unit... With 6:32 left, he sat Pau for Bynum... The Lakers led 42-20 at the timeout midway through the quarter... Phil brought in the starters with Lamar for Pau at that break. They extended to 50-22... The Lakers led 57-25 at the half, shooting 51 percent (23-45, 5-10 from three, 6-9 from the line) to go with 14 assists and 6 turnovers. The Cavs shot 26 percent (10-38, 0-6 from three, 5-8 from the line) to go with 4 assists and 10 turnovers... The slaughter continued. The Lakers opened the quarter on a 22-6 run to pull out 79-31 when the timeout came... Up 51, how about some bench, Phil?... He finally went with the Bynum, Lamar, Luke, Brown, Blake unit with under 2 minutes left in the third... The Lakers led 92-41 heading into the fourth... Phil started a Pau, Lamar, Luke, Shannon, Blake lineup... He finally sat them with 6:13 left so we could get some quality garbage time... The Cavs actually had 12 assists on their 29.9 percent shooting. They scored just 6 points off 12 Laker turnovers. Good job in transition by L.A.... None of the Cavs starters scored in double digits... Asked if this was a significant win, Phil said: "I think that's maybe ten thousand games the Lakers maybe had or so. It says something. This is decimated team obviously. The cavs are playing with a lot of their regulars out, so they were hurting tonight." Despite that, no other Laker opponent has been shutdown so thoroughly...

[eihcra]

First!!

[DancingBarry]

Sorry for the delay, guys. 2 hour phone call tonight and some computer issues. Tried to work on it a little during all that and hope I didn't make too many mistakes.

[Arbitrary]

[Bynum4MVP]

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[DancingBarry]

[E=MC²]

Devastating beatdown, Cavaliers hitting rock bottom perhaps in franchise history this year.

[Shaber]

Great to see Ron getting the game back. 6 assists and decent shooting. Can't be MIA anynmore.

Thanks, DB!
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Lakers depth chart

PG Johnson / Goodrich
SG Bryant / West / Scott
SF Baylor / Worthy / Cooper
PF Mikkelsen / Hairston / McAdoo / Gasol
C Chamberlain / Abdul-Jabbar / O'Neal / Mikan

[John Albert]

[T@K3_1T_L1K3_@_F@N]

the sad part is that this is just the beggining for the cavs franchise. they lost a once in a lifetime player. i feel really sorry for the fans. oh, well go lakeshow!!!

[babyskyhook]

[babyskyhook]

[babyskyhook]

I'm still pissed at Phil for needlessly playing Pau and LO in the 4th quarter. They never should have been on the floor.

And on the flip side, Ebanks should have been on the floor for the entire fourth quarter.

[ShadyG]

[prisma8slg]

thanks DB...I didn't feel bad for the Cavs, but like Kobe I felt bad for Byron Scott.
_________________
"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."

[limchrc]

thanks

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB. Great write-up as always. If there was a problem with a phone call conflicting with the T&R writeup it certainly doesn't show in the end product.

What a beatdown on the Cavs.... I do feel for them, but it's good to see a new defensive scheme leading to consecutive teams being rendered ineffective on offense.

Drew - I think he's one of the better centers in the league. Maybe that's homerism, but I don't see too many big men impacting the game on defense like he does.

Thanks again!

[babyskyhook]

[Dr. Laker]

Great job!
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On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".

[Rick12322]

Thanks, DB. Noice !!

[RCS926]

Blow outs are normally boring, but I was completely dialed into this game the whole time because the Lakers were so focused on defense.

[MIMLaker]

"The good news for the Cavs at halftime was that they held Kobe to just 2 points. The bad news was they trailed by 32."



That's my new sig.

MIM
_________________
Keep or Dump Power Rankings (4/12/23):
1 - Bron; 1a - AD; 2 - Reaves; 2a - DLo; 3 - Vando; 4 - Rui; 5 - Shroo; 6 - Christie; 7- Brown; 8 - Gabriel; 9 - Beas; 10 - Bamba; 11- Lonnie

[RVCdesigns]

Thanks DB.

[Klone_dd]

Glad to see the intensity and focus from start to finish last night, but can you really take a lot from the game against such a decimated opponent? The Cavs are a D-League team of the walking (not running, jumping, shooting or defending) dead. That's a team that is hard to play down to.

The great thing about Bynum as anchor is that he looks so involved in the games. He has taken ownership of the role which has made his all around game better.