SUNS -at- LAKERS - 4/28 - Thoughts and :-)) ratings

[DancingBarry]

A Battle of Wills... From the opening tip, this game was a tug of war physically and mentally to control the pace of the game. The playoff intensity resulted in a couple skirmishes to start each half.

In the first quarter, the Lakers played looser than they wanted and the Suns had some stretches of open threes and breakaway scores. Each half, however, eventually came grinding to our tempo. The Lakers held the Suns to under 80 shots once again in this game on their way to the 99-92 victory.

Offensively, the Lakers had a balanced attack...the difference for Kobe in this game was the number of times he attacked to set up others. He led the team with 7 assists, but set up guys for a number of trips to the FT line, too. "These guys are playing great basketball. They are hitting shots. They are making the proper reads," Kobe said. Three of Kobe's teammates had double-doubles.

Same thing next game. Tighten up the execution on both ends a bit more. The Suns haven't proven that they can make the adjustment. Defend the home court again, guys...

Kobe -- -- Kobe had fewer shot attempts and fewer points in this game than the first one, but he was more aggressive. That made the difference when it came to getting the W. Just go back and watch the two games if you want to see the difference in him being "passive" and him being "aggressive". He used himself much better to draw the D than in that first game. Whether it was post ups or attacks in the paint, he was making the D collapse and scramble. He did a great job dictating the offense and leading the team to their second straight win. He led the team wtih 7 assists, but as I mentioned, he set guys up for FTs or was the guy who collapsed the D as his teammates then quickly whipped the ball around for scores. Kobe finished with just 17 points on 6-18 shooting (0-3 from three). He had 5 boards and 4 steals in 45:40 of action. He attacked the lane, found a seam and scored a layup. He hit a tech FT. Great behind-the-back bounce pass to Kwame cutting for a score. He posted up and drew an illegal D, he made the FT. Nice steal anticipating a Nash kickout. He found Luke with a quick post entry feed under the hoop for an easy score. He missed an open three. Nice D on Barbosa on the break to force a miss. He was ticked that he didn't get a foul call at the end of the first quarter on a shot attempt. He posted up, missed, went up high, got it back and hit the short shot in front of the rim. He missed his next post up. He got caught under the basket, hung in the air and somehow found Lamar behind him for FTs. He missed a two-for-one three. He had 6 points, 5 assists and 4 boards at the half. He attacked through the lane and scored a layup at the rim. He attacked the paint and kicked it out, it eventually led to a score as the Suns scrambled. He attacked the paint and went behind his back to Lamar who drew FTs and Marion's fourth foul. He spiked a blocked shot on Barbosa in transition and was called for a foul (he covered his head with his jersey, not liking the call). He attacked and kicked to LO for a three. He attacked, went behind his back to Kwame who was fouled on a dunk attempt. He had 8 points on 3-10 shooting and 7 assists after three quarters. He pumped Marion in the air and swished a baseline jumper. He attacked the paint and hit a short jumper over his man. He threw a turnover, but then intercepted the outlet pass (great recovery). He swished a 19-footer over Bell. Kobe hit two FTs after we got the shotclock down 2 and Bell reached on him...clock management and manufacturing points in the last minute. "He's made them a better team by believing in his teammates," Steve Nash said afterward. He's just executing the game plan and trying to carve up your team, Steve. If we force the ball down low or in the paint, we make it a halfcourt game...on both ends. One thing Kobe might be able to improve on is attacking quicker when he gets the ball on a ball reverse in the midpost. Get the ball and go, and hopefully his teammates will cut and move to open spots, if needed. A little change of pace while still executing our game plan could get the Suns on their heels.

Odom -- -- Lamar wasn't quite as efficient on the offensive end as he had been in the last couple of games. He drew doubles and on occasion had some difficulty with that. He still, however, out sized, out muscled and out hustled his opponents at times. He did a sensational job on the boards, pulling down 17 rebounds (4 offensive). He shot just 5-14 (1-6 from three and 4-8 from the line) for 15 points. He needs to clean up those FTs again, missing a few when we had the Suns in the bonus and on the ropes at one stretch. I thought we might have our hands full with Marion in this game, but we kept him under control for 20 points on 8-19 shooting, eventually fouling out when the game was iced. Marion missed a critical wide open three in crunch time that could have changed the flavor of the game. Got to think all those battles under the hoop may have had some effect on that. On to Lamar's play by play: He posted up and found Luke cutting baseline for a layup. He pulled down an offensive board off a missed three (big for us, since that could lead to a Sun breakaway). He posted up Diaw, missed, got it back and put it back in. He tapped in a miss in the post by Luke. He scored a layup over the defenders. He took the Kwame feed and attacked the rim to score a finger roll. He kicked out a pass to Sasha for a three. He kept a Kwame miss alive and Kwame got it back and scored. He missed a long three. He had 8 points and 11 boards at the half. He posted up and threw away a pass into the double team. Nice dish in the lane to Kwame when Lamar drew a double and Kwame scored an And-1 (second foul on Marion). He posted up Marion and drew a foul (Marion's third). He got an interior feed next time down and picked up Marion's fourth foul and Marion had to sit at the end of the third...Lamar made just one of the four FTs in that stretch. He posted up, drew a foul and made one of two FTs. He sank a Kobe kickout for three the next time down. He overpassed and had a shotclock violation midway through the fourth (got to watch the clock, LO). He swatted a shot on the other end on good help D rotation. Off one of our inbounds sequences, he curled around Kwame going to his left and scored off the glass at the 5 minute mark. Great job on the boards. I'm hoping he has a better offensive game in the next one.

Kwame -- -- If you know Kwame's story from his rough childhood to the troubled times he had with the Wizards, then you know how much it must mean to him and those who have watched him grow to hear Staples Center chanting "Kwame...Kwame..." in the third quarter of a playoff game. Kwame gave the Lakers a double-double with 13 points on 5-8 and 11 boards. He may have earned more props from the fans, however, for the 5 assists and 3 blocked shots. The swats and extra passes were what made this game a little extra special for Kwame. On to the highlights: He posted up Thomas, took his time and hit an And-1 jumphook (he missed the FT long). He scored a left-hand layup on a nice bounce pass from Kobe. He tipped in a Luke miss with some hustle. Kwame didn't hang tight on Thomas in the first quarter and gave up a number of threes (but Thomas was shut down after that). Nice D on House contesting a layup to get a miss. He posted up, drew a double and kicked it to Sasha for a three. He got the ball in the post again, attacked and drew a foul. He posted up again, collapsed the D and kicked it to Lamar who finger rolled down the lane. Sensational iso D sequence against Nash, who tried to take him off the dribble and draw a foul but Kwame swatted the ball out of bounds. On the inbounds play, he contested a jumper well and we got a miss. He posted up, missed the jumphook, Lamar kept it alive and Kwame got it back and scored the layup. He posted up weak to strong and drew a foul on Thomas (his second, moments later Lamar drew Thomas's third with a couple minutes left in the half). He picked up a couple fouls to start the third. He got a post entry, drew the D and fed Smush under the hoop for a layup. Diaw tried to post Kwame up, Kwame packed his shot while it was still in Diaw's hands, then Diaw fouled Kwame. As Kwame shed him to the floor, he stood over him and had a couple words, the refs called a taunting tech. After a great passing sequence to get the ball into Kwame's hands, he then made the extra pass to Luke under the hoop for an open layup. He took the interior feed from Lamar off another great passing sequence and scored the And-1 layup, making the FT. He took a Kobe feed and tried to throwdown, but was fouled by Thomas (his fourth), he made both FTs. Kwame got his fourth foul while George hit a three near the end of the third and he had to sit.

Smush -- -- Who was the Lakers leading scorer on the night? Smush Parker. Great game from Smush...on both ends. He hurt Nash a few times attacking him in the post or on a drive. He finished with 18 points on 9-16 shooting (0-4 from three) in 39:40 of action. Nice effort tonight on both ends, including a few throw downs that had Staples jumping. He got pushed from behind tyring to play peacemaker early on and it looked like he tackled Thomas. He knocked a ball loose to Kwame in the backcourt, got it back and reverse jammed. He took a pinch post handoff, crossed over Nash, got contact with no whistle and scored a layup. He missed a turnaround trying to iso against Nash. He saved a tough pass to Lamar, got back in bounds and Lamar hit him cutting on the baseline for a two-hand dunk. He blew past his man down the lane and threw down a huge one-handed dunk. He took the feed off the two-man game, went up, pulled it down and went back up to score the layup. He stole the ball as the Suns were about to charge down the other end for another end-of-quarter score and he just missed the long three at the buzzer. He led the Lakers with 10 points on 5-10 shooting at the half. He attacked Nash, spun to lose him and went high off the glass for the score. Next time down, he got Nash in the post, banged and banked over him. He took the interior feed from Kwame and scored an easy layup. He switched on Diaw defensively a few times, once drawing a clear out foul on the post up. He passed up a corner three, the crowd groaned because they smelled blood, the ball went in the post to Luke, Smush cut and scored a reverse layup off Luke's feed. Nice bounceback game from Smush. Great to see the young guy get some playoff experience and get some success. Now, stay hungry for more.

Walton -- -- Luke is simply playing some tremendous ball on both ends. He scored 17 points on 8-19 shooting and had 10 boards. Even though that shot amount looks large, he had a couple of post ups over Barbosa that drew the D and we eventually tipped in. Luke also had a missed putback jam in there, too. We are using him against mismatches and also as a hub player and distributor. He played 40 minutes tonight, the second most on the squad. He missed a turnaround in the post on his first shot. He took a hard foul on Thomas to prevent a basket and was given a flagrant. Nice baseline cut with Lamar in the post and he hit a reverse layup. He took Marion off the dribble and hit a high arching jumper in the lane. He drew a foul on Barbosa posting him. On the next sequence, he ran right to the post, got the entry and scored a layup over him. He missed a couple of post ups, but Kwame and Lamar tipped them in. He missed another easy look over Barbosa. He had 8 points at the half. He missed an open jumper. He missed a layup with some contact and no call. He attacked off a Kwame pick to his left and powered up an And-1 layup over Diaw, he made the FT. He got a Kwame interior feed underneath the hoop and scored a layup. He attacked the baseline, drop stepped and faded on a short jumper. Late in the game, he had one of those demoralizing putback layups off a missed jumper. "Kobe and Lamar keep drawing all these double teams, and they make it easy and fun for the rest of us," Luke said in the Times. "We all had a great time out there."

Cook -- -- Hustle and spark off the bench. Cook brought it tonight late in the third when Kwame had to sit and Staples roared with approval. Cook led the bench with 9 points in 11 minutes off 3-11 shooting and 7 boards...6 of which were offensive, several tip attempts which inflated his shot attempts. In his first stint, he took a kickout from Kobe and swished a long three. He missed a couple of jumpers and the Suns pushed it up court. Stupid push in the back foul, not even close to the ball and the coaches got on him. He couldn't finish a dunk, wanted the foul and lost his shoe as he came down the other end of the court where he fouled his man trying to defend him with one shoe on. In his second stint, he drew a foul away from the ball and sank both FTs. Great hustle to tap back in a miss by Luke. He battled some more on the offensive boards, pulling a ball back out and then tipping it a couple times until he scored on one sequence. On the other end, he stepped in front of Nash and drew a huge charge that got the crowd to its feet.

George -- -- Again, a pretty quiet game from Devean even though he played 13 minutes. He scored 4 points on 1-4 shooting (1-3 from three) and he grabbed 1 board, but had 2 steals. He clanked his first jumper. He committed a foul with a couple seconds left in the first quarter to give up FTs. He hit a three from the corner on a kickout. Nice takeaway on one of our last defensive stands.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha dropped a couple more three's in this one, shooting 2-2 from behind the arc and 2-4 overall for his 6 points. He also had a couple of boards in 14 minutes. He fumbled away the ball in transition. He missed an open midrange jumper. His man left him to double Kwame in the post, Sasha should have cut to the rim, but he hung on the three line, Kwame found him and he hit the three. He hit another three on a kickout from Lamar. Nash beat him once off the dribble and no one helped. Other than that, he didn't have as rough a defensive outting as last time out.

Phil -- -- The angry tirades during the game and stunned look in the last few seconds of Phil's counterpart on the Suns bench says it all. Phil's team is winning the battle of wills. Phil is getting "A" games out of his role players. They are exposing the Suns weaknesses while limiting their own... The Lakers were not matching up quite as well as they had been in the first quarter. Thomas got loose again for a number of jumpers and we didn't go back at him in the post on the other end. Phil said he was a little worried about that going into the game as guys play looser on their home floor... We missed another long jumper in the middle of the second from the corner and gave up a three-on-one the other way. Phil called a timeout. Those corner jumpers are the most dangerous shots against the Sun team... The Lakers missed a series of threes in the last-minute of the first half instead of continuing to pound it. It didn't cost them on the other end, however... The first half, as mentioned, was a real tug of war on the tempo. We did very well when we pounded the ball into Kwame late in the second quarter... The Lakers out scored the Suns 34-10 at the half in the paint. We finished 58-30 in that stat... The Lakers had back-to-back turnovers that the Suns scored on in the third and Phil called a timeout... Out of another timeout in the fourth, we blew our play, missed a desperation jumper and gave up an uncontested layup on the rebound. Next time down we went to a similar Lamar-Kwame sequence, turned it over and gave up another crunch-time layup. That could have been costly. No doubt they will review that tomorrow in practice... Some solid clock management in the final minute, grinding down the seconds before Kobe drew a trip to the line. The Lakers shot 16-23 from the stripe (need to hit a few more) and kept the Suns to 14-17 FTs again... Phil on Kobe: "There are times and moments, and there will be more probably in this playoffs before it's over, where he's going to do the offensive work," he said. "He's going to be on fire and feeling the ability to go out there and shoot any time and any place. Right now, I think he's just moving the ball and doing the right thing for us and keeping everybody involved in the offense."... Kwame on Phil: "We're just doing everything that coach Jackson is telling us to do," Brown said in the Daily News. "It's like we know what they're going to do because he's throwing everything at us in practice. We knew they were going to double-team Kobe a little more. We knew they were going to double in the post. We worked on that in practice. So guys weren't rushing. We were just moving the ball."...

[magic_bryant]

I just wanted to give Smush some props. His defense and scoring have picked back up a lot.

And as always, "thanks and good stuff DB!!"
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Stephon Marbury on Kobe: "He's the only person on 'dis earth that can do 'dat. He guards people, like shuts 'em down. Then, to do 'dat on 'da offensive end. It's like 'Damn, I can't score on him AND he about to bust my ass."

[JuiceMonkey]

[A Mad Chinaman]

Great DB Analysis of a Great Game!

Questions:
Several offensive trips had Kobe and LO dribbling the ball then shooting long 3-point shots?!?! Does anybody know why this happened? Was it because nobody was moving, was LO tired (he was "sucking wind" a couple times out there), etc.?

What would make the Lakers' 2nd team better when both LO and Kwame on the bench? They don't seem to run the offense as well when Cook and DGeorge are on the court?

[DancingBarry]

As far as the three shots...sometimes our offense was stalling out. LO on some of those probably hoped he'd hit like he had in the last game. Those were some big threes. I don't know what we were doing with that flurry of threes at the end of the first half, other than Kobe's two-for-one.

As far as the second units, I think when Tim Thomas goes to the bench...the Suns are in trouble. They go to even smaller ball and I think we're able to take advantage of that on both ends.

[osj]

your point about kobe setting up others for FTs is a really good one. if they gave assists for passes that led to made FTs, Kobe would easily have had 10-15 assists.

[osj]

another important point is phil's willingness to call timeouts when things are threatening to get out of hand...i guess he really does save it for the playoffs!

[magic_bryant]

Is it just me, or isn't it amazing at how, outside of JJ and McKie, we have an average age of 24 years old, and yet, they look like 10 year vets?

Maybe it's just me, maybe it's just them being naive to the situation, but whatever it is, they honestly look like 10 year vets for most of this series.

By the way, Sasha is absolutely KILLING the Suns momentum the past 2 games. Everytime they've began to make a run and the game's tempo looks to be moving to their style, Sasha has hit a homerun 3. Gotta give him his props people.
_________________
Stephon Marbury on Kobe: "He's the only person on 'dis earth that can do 'dat. He guards people, like shuts 'em down. Then, to do 'dat on 'da offensive end. It's like 'Damn, I can't score on him AND he about to bust my ass."

[magic_bryant]

[DancingBarry]

[magic_bryant]

Exactly DB. Smush, moreso than any Laker all year, has been VERY unlikely to pass up open threes or make extra swing passes. I saw him pass up an open three attempt in an effort to keep the swing pass going to the corner where Luke recieved the ball. That corner three that he passed up, I was actually glad he did it.

Beautiful. Love this band of old, slow veteran guys that Mitch has put on the team.




Oh...wait.


_________________
Stephon Marbury on Kobe: "He's the only person on 'dis earth that can do 'dat. He guards people, like shuts 'em down. Then, to do 'dat on 'da offensive end. It's like 'Damn, I can't score on him AND he about to bust my ass."

[limchrc]

Thanks for the recap

[critical_beatdown]

Good recap as always, but is there some reason you left out Kobe's poor play and wild shots down the stretch? It's like you left out the end of the game. Kobe was 3-9, unacceptable, in the 4th quarter, and took a couple wild shots. Lamar similarly f'd up down the stretch. We have to do better, and we can't leave anything out there, and we did tonight.

[DancingBarry]

Which wild shot? The one he took from the corner with 1 second left on the shotclock to bail out the offense? Or the jumper he took with 2 seconds on the clock again to bail out the offense? Definitely, not the drives to the hoop where he drew the tech on the foul or the FTs when we needed to manufacture some points in the last minute.

Maybe you mean the one drive, where he missed in the lane after drawing several defenders that Luke missed the putback jam on and we got the ball back. When he can draw defenders getting into the paint so other guys can crash the boards for putback scores...that's not a bad thing.

The two tough shots were up against the shot clock and the team fed him the ball to bail us out. That wasn't his fault he was put in that position.

[critical_beatdown]

[DancingBarry]

I already checked the last 6 minutes. The "bad" shots by Kobe were up against the shotclock. Those were team breakdowns, 4 other guys and a coach to involve in the critique of those plays.

[DancingBarry]

One thing I forgot to mention in the above was the Suns 3 offensive rebounds in the game. Talk about one and out.

[- Sean -]

Excellent job as always DB.

Well, they did it again. I think this series will be good for them no matter how things end up...it's a lesson in discipline...because if you give Phoenix an inch, they will take a mile...no room for error...and it's making these guys conscious of how important it is to adhere to a gameplan....it's about rising above the emotion...above the crowd (home or away) that revs that emotion up...and simply making the right choices out there.

The game got a little too fast at times...but overall - It was Laker speed.

A thing that you have to admire about what the Lakers are doing is that they are not above doing the dirty work. If there was a category for hustle points, LA would be demolishing Phoenix. Tips, dives, etc. etc....it's all LA. When you're doing the dirty work...that's a great basis for the rest of your game....lots of good springs from that sort of play. For example, w/ roughly 3 minutes left in the game...LA is up 2...missed a 3...and Kwame jumps up...in between several Suns...only to barely graze the ball over towards Luke Walton, who proceeded to lay the ball in. Up 4 instead of Phoenix w/ possession to tie or take the lead. It happened because of effort.

Luke once again played a fantastic game...I'm starting to expect this out of him. The 10 boards matches a season high.

Kwame was a force in a lot of ways. We are used to him putting points on the board, the solid man D, and ability to grab a few rebounds. He does all that on a regular basis. What he doesn't...but has showed glimpses of, is the ability to find the open man for the assist. Tonight he tied a season high w/ 5 assists...many off impressively quick decisions. The blocked shots were the other pleasant surprise...he had 3, which was the most he has had in a game all season. I hope Stu Jackson doesn't suspend him a game. He definitely doesn't deserve it...but Jackson has made some questionable calls since he took over.

Kobe played w/ the mentality we've come to expect from him in this series. He played better than game 1 in that he created nicer shots for his teammates...and his defense was a lot more effective. It's taking a bit for him to get used to finding his rhythm while getting guys involved. Hopefully he finds that balance Sunday. In spite of that, he is doing a great job of leading the team w/ his control. It's infectious when it starts w/ him. One balance he has found.. is maintaining an energy out there that is independent of how many points he scores.

LO is playing wonderful basketball. He's working his ass off. It's impressive. The guy is making Shawn Marion look lackadaisical. I've had fewer complaints regarding his game through 3 games than any other Laker. I will say that I didn't like the stretch he had to close out the game tonight. He made a couple passes that I thought were highly questionable...they let Phoenix get dangerously close....it's a part of the learning process though...I say that because LA won...there have been a few games where his decisions have cost LA the game...and that's been unfortunate because a lot of the good a player does in a given game can be lost in a defeat....a player has gotta win some games where he overcame some bad decisions....if he doesn't, the negativity can infest that players mindset....and resurface in similarly important junctures in ballgames....when I see the Lakers win a game in spite of a bad play by LO..or Smush...or whoever, I see it as a point where some of their demons were excorcized.

Guitar-Kid is shooting 3's at a 75% clip during the postseason. I don't care what he shot during the regular season if he's going to convert at that (or anywhere within 35% of that) percentage during the playoffs.

Cook was playing pretty terribly during his first stretch out there...but redeemed himself w/ the 7 boards....6 of which were offensive. He had more offensive rebounds than anyone in the game - And he only played 11 minutes. The shot wasn't falling, but Cook didn't stop asserting an influence on the game in another manner.

Before the game, I was checking the stats - And it was strange to see so many of the key players on this team shoot considerably worse from downtown at Staples as opposed to away. Luke shoots it at 36% away....29% at Staples. LO shoots it at 41% away.....and 34% at Staples. Smush is at 42% away....31% at Staples. Cook is at 47% away....39% at home. I was hoping the tide would turn tonight...it didn't - But LA still got the win. Usually role players shoot it from long range a lot better at home....it's odd how that doesn't apply to so many of LA's shooters. Maybe it can start Sunday.

[DancingBarry]

[- Sean -]

[NY_LakerFan]

[A Mad Chinaman]

[coop-a-loop]

This Suns team is dangerous. But if we stick to our game plan, the lakers will surely advance to the second round. I highly doubt if D'Antoni has a plan B up his sleeve. I just hope the lakers do not relax..give the suns an inch or slightly move away from the game plan Jackson has devised. Everytime we deviated from the game plan, the Suns went on scoring runsto get back into the game.

I love Walton. He is starting to transform into one of those key role players we used to have in Fox and Horry. He is really comfortable in this offense, and his court sense makes us a much better team. His defense has also improved alot.

Vujacic suprises me with his psychological makeup. The kid is fearless and has a very competitive streak in him. Nash blew by him on one play, but overall, I loved his defense on the Suns PG. The desire is there...and it looks like the big stage of the playoffs is not intimidating him at all. He will be a special role player in the future.

[Flight]

Thanks for the analysis.

I think everyone will agree with me when I say that Luke Walton is a completely different player than the one we saw in the regular season

This guy is playing awesome. Again, Props to Mitch for drafting him. I'm happy.

[LongtimeLakerLover]

Thanks for the recap DB. This is always the first place I look after a game!

I loved the intensity with which our guys played. They're playing together like they've been playing together for years. Luke Walton is outstanding, and to hear the Staples crowd chanting Kwame's name - not once, but a couple of times was so great. Kobe - seems like he's matured so much this last part of the season. It's just a different looking team. The flashes of potential we saw during the regular season are just now coming to fruition. It's a great time tobe a Laker fan and I'm so proud of them all.
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I love LA........WE LOVE IT!