SUNS -at- LAKERS - 5/4 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

[DancingBarry]

Hoop IQ... I hate to title a report with these words at this stage of the season...and in this kind of match up, but the Lakers had the game in hand. You could pick out a variety of Hoop IQ mistakes in this game, but the last minute of basketball is always under the magnifying glass. And, in this final stretch of regulation, the Lakers went on the fly with a Smush-Kwame two-man sequence and Smush got blocked. A careless possession -- completely contrary to everything we had been doing -- and at a critical juncture. With the lead at three, we couldn't come up with a defensive board and Tim Thomas hit a three with 6 seconds left. Kobe couldn't hit a buzzer beater over Marion in regulation to win the series. We had multiple opportunities to take the W in regulation, to take the series, and we let it slip through our fingers.

The Lakers had a variety of unforced errors and sloppy possessions...even from their leader, who had 7 turnovers. You can't beat the Suns with 20 turnovers and then compound that with bad shot selection. Yet, we had the lead in the last minute and furthered our problems by running the Smush-Kwame sequence out of the blue. Apparently, we couldn't shake those regular season composure problems.

In the first half, the Lakers had three of their starters in foul trouble and had to rely on the bench quite a bit. We were getting whistled for offensive fouls and the Suns were converting turnovers into points and getting to the line. Late in the game, the Suns milked the Laker pick and roll switches and cruised in overtime. Both teams shot the ball at a high clip: the Suns 56.8% for the game and the Lakers 55.3%.

As I mentioned a couple games back, only four No. 7 seeds have beaten No. 2 seeds. Only seven teams have rallied from being behind 3-1 in a series. One of these stats will change.


Kobe -- -- It's hard to criticize a 50-point 20-35 shooting game with 8 boards and 5 assists. Very hard. Especially, when he should have had the ball instead of Smush on that vital sequence with a minute left. Perhaps, he scores there and also on our next possession as he did and we lead by 5 instead of 3. Then, maybe you overlook some of the sloppy passes and forced drives that led to 7 turnovers or some of the poor shot selection. In the end, we lose because our other guards aren't pulling their weight and Kobe has to carry a huge burden. Once again, you can possibly chalk this loss up to the Lakers not getting a key piece with the MLE this past summer. Kobe played a game-high 52 minutes, facing Marion and Barbosa, both of whom somehow managed to avoid fouling out. To start the game, he missed a pull-up jumper. He found a seam, attacked and scored at the rim. He attacked the lane and kicked to Luke for a layup. He sagged under a pick and gave up a three to Barbosa. He attacked and found Lamar who drew FTs. He attacked the baseline and whipped it out to Luke for an open jumper. He attacked Marion, found some space and hit a short baseline jumper. He attacked the lane and turned it over. He posted up and hit George off the baseline Tri cut for a dunk. With 1.8 seconds left in the first quarter, Kobe brought Staples to its feet banking in a rainbow three at the buzzer. He attacked down the lane and scored a layup. He faced up and knocked down an 18-footer from the wing over Marion. He attacked and pitched it to Lamar for a three. He drew a whistle on an attack and got his first FTs of the game with a couple minutes in the half, he made one. Kobe was called for a weak foul on a shotblock on Barbosa after he threw the ball away and tracked him down in open court. He was then called for a charge on the next drive in the lane to get another foul at the end of the half. To start the second half, he flashed to the low post, got the ball and powered in a layup. He swished a face up jumper from the wing. He hit a couple more wing jumpers. With the clock running down, he knocked down a three. He stole a pass, pushed up the break and Smush drew FTs. He threw a long outlet pass away, unforced turnover and not smart ball. He missed a three. He attacked off the dribble, spun and drew Thomas's fourth foul, he made the two FTs with a couple minutes left in the third. Kobe took a silly long jumper early in the shotclock and missed, but luckily Smush hustled for an offensive board. He tried to force the dribble through a trap and had it stolen. He missed a baseline jumper while all four other Lakers stood on the perimeter (another poor sequence as we didn't even set up the offense or have players in position to rebound). He swung through on Barbosa to pick up his fourth foul and FTs. He attacked Marion off the dribble, sliced through the D and twisted for a layup. He posted up, attacked, we got it back and then Kobe heaved up a wild three from the sideline for a miss (not a good attempt with a reset shotclock). He stole a Nash pass on the other end. With the score tied at 100, Kobe settled for a long jumper at one end and Nash attacked and drew FTs at the other. With just under two minutes, Kobe knocked down a tough corner three with the shotclock going off to give the Lakers a 1-point lead...this was the potential shot of the game before Thomas's three. He attacked Marion off the dribble and hit a layup to go up by three on a final two-for-one possession of regulation. He missed a fading wing jumper badly at the regulation buzzer. He attacked the lane and finger rolled in a layup for the first basket of overtime. He swished an impossible, double pumping, spin rainbow with the shotclock low from about 18 feet at the wing. He attacked and drew foul on Marion, but they said it was on the ground. He attacked, got contact on Marion but no whistle and missed. He attacked and scored a layup in the lane. He hit a wing three. He banked it a three from the other side.

Odom -- -- Great effort from Lamar on both ends of the floor and he nearly had a triple-double in 51:23 of action. We could have fed him some more, but in the end you've got to like a 22-point, 11-rebound, 9-assist game. He shot 8-14 (going 1-5 from three and 5-8 from the line). He had 5 turnovers, hard to say whether a couple of those weren't Kwame's fault. He attacked and kicked it out to Luke for a jumper. He got called for a charge trying to get into position. He posted up, drew a double and found Kwame underneath for a dunk. He drew a double, hit Luke cutting, who missed but Kwame tapped it in. He attacked the baseline and drew FTs, making both. He drew a foul off a Kobe feed and made one FT. He attacked off the dribble and scored a layup. Nice shovel pass to Kwame in transition for a dunk. He cut down the lane, took the Cook pass and scored an And-1 under the hoop. He stepped on the baseline for a turnover. He threw a soft perimeter pass that Marion picked off for a dunk the other way. He picked up Marion's second and third foul on two possessions late in the second. He drained a three from the corner on a Kobe kickout. Finally back in the post again, he faked left, spun right and hit a little jumphook. He attacked off the pinch post and drew FTs on Diaw, his fourth foul late in the third. He attacked from the top of the key, spun on Thomas and hit a little jumphook. To start the fourth, he posted up Marion and missed. He got whistled for a three-second call as Smush made an extra pass to Sasha who hit a three. He posted up and scored over Marion next time down. In the post, he wheeled across the lane and scored an And-1 around Marion. He posted up, drew the D and dished to Kwame for a layup. He attacked and hit another little jumphook in the lane. Great D contesting Marion after a scrambling stand and he got the board. Good to contest a Marion layup in OT and get the miss.

Smush -- -- Why do we run a Kwame-Smush two man game with a minute left? That wasn't our bread and butter. It wasn't even close. Smush got blocked as we treated the possession as a throw away. It came back to bite us. Smush had another horrible offensive game. Defensively, he was a little better, but we keep leaving him on the island on switches. We can't expect too much success on that. Smush finished with 2 points on 0-5 shooting, 2 assists, 3 turnovers and 3 steals in 41 minutes. He tried to attack and threw a pass away, which led to a three the other way. He attacked again, got contact but no whistle and missed, it led to a three the other way. He double teamed Nash with Lamar to get a steal, but threw it away on the other end. He missed a three from the corner. He picked up his third foul with 4 minutes left in the second quarter. He missed a three. He was called for a charge trying to attack off the dribble. Smush finally got on the board when Kobe stole a pass and Smush drew a foul on the break, he made both FTs. Great hustle for an offensive board off a bad Kobe jumper. He missed an open baseline jumper. Then came the stupid play with a minute left. Ugggh.

Kwame -- 8) -- Much better game from Kwame. In fact, it was good enough to get a win, if it wasn't for our carelessness. He hit the boards, pulling down 5 on the offensive end and 9 total. He scored 17 points on 8-9 shooting in 40 minutes. He was strapped with some early foul trouble in the first half and the third quarter. He managed to play foul-free when Phil gambled to leave him out there in that third quarter (that was nice to see in a big game). On to the highlights: He cleaned up an airball in the lane by Luke with a putback. He took a Lamar feed off a double and dunked. He cleaned up another Luke miss initiated off the Lamar double. He missed a lob, but got his own rebound back and dunked. Lamar fed him a shovel pass in transition and Kwame threw down. He picked up his second foul early in the second quarter when it looked like he beat Barbosa to the spot on the floor. He picked up his third foul trying to seal a man in the post with 4 minutes left in the half. He picked up his fourth foul just 2 minutes into the second half. He couldn't handle a close-range interior pass and we turned it over. Finally, Kwame got another touch in the post, he spun and scored off the glass. He couldn't handle another interior feed from Lamar that had a little speed. Lamar drew a double and hit Kwame for the easy layup. Huge And-1 with just under 4 minutes left and the shotclock low, he faced up, spun and banked it in. He then made the FT.

Walton -- -- Luke suffered from some foul trouble in the first half and this threw off our game a bit. He scored 10 points on 5-11 shooting, had 5 boards, 1 assist and 2 turnovers. He made a couple mental mistakes in this game that surprised me since he had been playing smarter than that in previous games. He did hustle for 3 offensive boards to give us some extra possessions. He hit an 18-footer from the wing off a kickout from Lamar. He posted up Jones, backed him down easily and scored a layup. He attacked the lane and airballed, but Kwame cleaned it up. Kobe found him on a drive and Luke powered in a layup. Kobe found him on the wing and Luke hit the 15-footer. He cleaned up a Smush missed three when Nash was on him, scoring with a nice reverse. He picked up a foul on the other end and had to sit with a few minutes left in the first. Luke stole the ball on a post reach, pushed up the dribble, looked like he pulled-up to avoid the charge on his shot, but still got whistled for the charge and had to sit for the rest of the half. He drew a charge away from the ball on Jones to start the second half. Luke had a very stupid possession when Lamar drew the double, instead of cutting like he has been, he waited at the three line and bricked a three. What was that? Normally, he had been cutting and making an extra pass to another player for an easy score. Instead, he settles for a three? Yikes. Luke picked up his fourth foul on a Barbosa drive with 4 minutes left in the third and he had to sit. He missed a couple of turnarounds in the lane.

Cook -- -- Phil played Cook just 5:32 and Cook gave a couple fouls and dished one assist without taking a shot. Barbosa blew past him on a switch for a layup. He was called for a moving pick. He found Lamar cutting for an And-1. He fouled Barbosa on the perimeter.

George -- -- DG stepped up off the bench and gave the team some big spark. He scored 14 points on 5-8 shooting, including 3-5 from three. The game changes a bit for us with Devean in there because he doesn't have the post skills to take advantage of his man. So, the Suns were able to hide Barbosa on him for a bit and switch Marion onto Kobe. It is vital for Devean to hit his jumpers. He came in for Luke who picked up his second foul. He lobbed to Kwame who missed, got it back and dunked. He knocked down a three from the side on his first attempt. Good D contesting a Diaw drive and he drew a clear out foul. On the other end, he cut baseline off the Kobe post, took a bouncepass and jammed. He posted up Barbosa, missed a jumper badly but got his own rebound. He posted him up lower next time and powered in a layup. He drained a big catch-and-shoot three when the Suns left him open and we worked the ball to him out of a timeout. Another huge-ass three from the corner quick in the offense to tie the game up near the end of the third (perhaps, the Suns may take note come free agency). Overall, good job from Devean.

Vujacic -- -- In to start the second, Sasha missed an open three. He messed up a matchup on D and gave up a layup to Diaw. He passed up on the three, attacked the paint and scored a layup with his left. He got called for a hold on Nash going back door and gave up FTs. He nearly banked in a 35-footer at the halftime buzzer. He gave up an And-1 to Nash on a touch foul in the lane at the end of the third. He finished with 2 points on 1-3 shooting. He did have a three erased by a three-second violation.

Turiaf -- -- Ronny came in for Kwame with 4 minutes left in the first half. A big stretch with Suns in the bonus and the Lakers with Kwame, Smush and Luke all with 3 fouls. He grabbed 3 boards, scored 1 point and was whistled for a weak foul. He drew Thomas's third foul with some hustle for an offensive board, he made one FT. Nice defensive recovery on Grant to block a shot, but they called Turiaf for a foul with the body. These are good minutes for Ronny. It is nice to see him step up a little in the playoffs. It would be a better experience if he had to go up against some bigger bodies. It will be fun to see how he progresses by the end of next season.

Phil -- -- I don't get a couple of things. You can't let the team go to a Smush-Kwame sequence in the last minute, or let them play, or let them figure it out, or even call that play. That was a total throw away possession. Next, we let the Suns beat us to death on the Smush defensive switches in late regulation and overtime. Why not stick Kobe on Nash in those situations? He didn't have foul trouble. Costly mistakes, IMHO... The Lakers weren't controlling the tempo early and the Suns were hitting threes. They got out to a quick 20-10 lead. The Lakers started to attack the paint and set up teammates and bounced back to take a 37-30 lead at the end of the first... Phil sat Kobe briefly to start the second quarter... The Lakers put the Suns in the bonus with 7 minutes left in the second quarter. They shot 8-12 FTs in the quarter... We stopped going to Lamar in the post for a portion of the second quarter. We went their once near the end and he scored a layup... The Lakers couldn't keep their starters in the game and out of foul trouble in the first half... We gave up 21 points off 14 Laker turnovers and 13-17 FTs to the Suns at the half. Yikes... Kwame picked up his fourth foul early in the third and Phil left him out there. He eventually subbed in Cook with 2 minutes left in the third, gambling and winning. Walton picked up his fourth with 4 minutes left and he sat him for George... After the hideous possession with 1 minute left allowing Smush to run a two-man game with Kwame, Phil calls a timeout when we get the stop with 42 seconds left. Kobe attacked off the dribble and hit a layup to give us a 3-point lead. The Suns hit a three and we had the ball back with 6 seconds left and called timeout. We ran an iso sequence of Kobe against Marion and Marion won that match up... Defensively, Phil stuck with the Smush on Nash and the Suns milked the mismatch and killed us... The Suns aren't just cranking up the fastbreak or transition. They have fine-tuned their half court game and are exposing our weaknesses. The Lakers have to continue to expose the Suns weaknesses and cut down on the careless possessions... If Phil is going to get a Game 7 win on a road with this young squad, it will take one hell of an effort...

[8750]

thanks, DB...
lack of hoop IQ, it's true... and lack of character... i don't want to blame phil -i still think that we have a poor team- but with his nine rings he's still one of the worst coaches in clutch... i remember at least eight games this season where we had very bad decisions in the last seconds...

[jwbrown77]

Hoop IQ is the perfect title.

Now that I think about it, it was beyond stupid. It was mindnumbing.

We should have lost this game by 20.

[Alpha]

Thanks Deeb! Really appreciate your dedication and service... looking forward to a ")" on Saturday.

[PopcornMachine]

I've been meaning to tell you how much I enjoy doing my little write ups and then comparing it to yours. We usually hit on the same idea about each game, but not always.

Sorry to say that we both hit the nail on the head tonight. That was just awful. I felt confident all day. I thought sure they would make up for last game and play some D, take care of the ball, improve their ball movement. None of it happened.

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

thanks DB
_________________
"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[DancingBarry]

You're welcome guys. This one was very hard to do. Sigh.

[KOBE 2.0]

DB, is there any reason why we didn't try to defend the 3-pt line in the last 8 seconds? just a bone-headed play i'm gonna find myself not sleeping well tonight.

[- Sean -]

What was up w/ Kwame not even getting a hand up to contest shots...It's one thing to play safe in order to avoid picking up fouls...but the guy refused to even put a hand up on the majority of shots he helped/switched on. The guy is huge...if he gets his arms up...it's a deterrant...normally he does it...and does a decent job of intimidating...not tonight..

[DancingBarry]

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

anyone else notice Sasha get "chippy" with Lamar when he tried to give him advice?
_________________
"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[angrypuppy]

I had a creepy feeling this game would be tightly called, with Phoenix benefitting. That's why I feel that Bell's clothesline was premeditated, in that the ensuing game would feature quick whistles. That's the kind of game that Phoenix wants; La Dulce Vita in the penalty.

Only two Kobe possesions (other than obvious turnovers) really irked me. The final shot in regulation was pathetic, though I'm sure Phil called that uninspired play. The other was his missed 20 foot jumper when the score was tied at 100. We had just scored on Lamar and Kwame on the previous possesions by pounding the ball inside. The Suns were seemingly on their heals... it was like a mini-version of Game 1, where we abandoned what was working for us, for no particularly good reason.

Smush has been a disaster since being the high scorer in Game 3. He started playing outside of his abilities, taking questionable shots. Now he's lost confidence, and can't even score when his feet are set. Dead weight... he's a combined 3 for 24 shooting for Games 4, 5 and 6.

[angrypuppy]

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

[Klone_dd]

[rscogold]

guess Kobe didn't watch LeBron drive to the hoop with the game on the line.
_________________
'04-'07: Kobe's prime, Lakers decline.

[Chrome Hearts]

Wow, after the game, I noticed a zit surfacing on my face. Awesome, eh?

One thing I never understood is why the Lakers won't run more screen rolls with Bryant and Odom. It's not like the Lakers are doing such a good job at swinging the ball to the weak side when Kobe comes off the screen.
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RIP mamba

[A Mad Chinaman]

DB - Great Job on a Game We Should Have Won!

Re: Smush
We should stop Smush from watching the "Wizard of Oz" because he is playiing like the bad witch's words of "I'm Melting, I'm Melting, I'm Melting?!?!?!?!"

Cuz Smush's head is not in the game, he caused a 3 point violation when he didn't shoot the ball, he made Kobe's last minute shot in regulation harder because they knew that Smush wasn't going to do ANYTHING - screen, go to the paint to rebound, shoot a layup, etc. that allowed Nash to place more pressure on Kobe.

Never mind the useless playground stupidity that does not work in the playoffs that he's been (I hope) has been told if he wants even be in the game to actually win!

Smush's defense (we call this "defense?!?!":
End of regulation defense of "P&R" had Kobe defensively rotate over to take Smush's defender while Smush rotated out. Hey, Smush actually made it out to the Suns player without having his head between his legs doing nothing - again.

Re: Kwame
Kobe stated correctly that Kwame has to active - we need Kwame to play strong. Even with his lact of consistency of producing, he was still helpful by the sheer fact of his height and presence.

Re: Turiaff
WHEN the Lakers go to the second round, his play will be greated needed.

Questions for DB and others:
If Smush is not producing and doing stupid plays while causing 3 second turnovers because of his hesistancy - will Sasha play more, will Jim Jackson/McKie get some playing time and will there be a line-up where Smush is not in the game (i.e. Kwame, LO, Luke, DGeorge & Kobe - I'm surprised that PJ didn't try this line-up, though I recognize that Luke was in minor foul trouble) during crunch time of a 7th game?!?!?!

What can PJ do to instill the needed confidence and level of play from Smush/Sasha/Kwame that allows for the Lakers to play 5 on 5, as oppose to 4 (no Smush) on 5?

[KobeButler]

to think....had we just protect the 3 point line we'd be celebrating about going to the next round right now. Deja vu anyone? Didnt the samething happen in Sacramento early this season? Talk about not learning from mistakes.

Ever since game 4, ive always hinted about how the pace has gradually increased. Suns are finally figuring us out now. Their doubling our post players quicker now, specifically Lamar Odom. Their frocing him to make tough passes. Their trapping Kobe on top of the key. Their anticipating Kobe's passing. Whoever said D'Antoni couldnt make adjustments?

I was dissapointed by how Kobe played tonight. Was hoping he was gonna resist the Suns temptations of giving him good looks from the perimeter, but he bought in. You can bring up the 50 points and all that..but he forced up alot of quick shots. Fell right into the Sun's system, doh. He also tunred the ball quite alot and went into his hissy fits with refs. Didnt like that. He needed to hold his composure in such a crucual game like this and it didnt happen. He also got worked by Barbosa which shouldnt happen. 24 points by him, oh no!

Its hard to imagine we can win game 7 right now.
_________________
Pain is temporary, at the end of pain is success...

[RYZ]

Thanks, DB.

If ever I saw a bunch of scared children play a professional basketball game, it was the Lakers tonight. With the exception of Kobe and maybe Gump (and Turiaf in his limited play), these dudes are looking for any rock they can find to climb under. The first glimpse I got of this was the Miami game on Christmas day when everyone on the team but Kobe played terrified and it translated to stiff, unsure play, which leads to turnovers, defense gaffes, and ultimately failure. To think as the second quarter came to a close that the Suns were without the services of Stoudemire, K. Thomas, T. Thomas, Marion, and Raja Bell and the Lakers could make no headway is telling.

The problem is, these aren't problems that necessarily go away with experience, which is to say, you can't just chalk this one up to youth and say, "We'll get 'em next year." Games like these reveal character, and freezing under pressure isn't something that a competitor usually shakes off because he's endured it once. More likely, it gives a glimpse of what is yet to come.

Smush's absolute disintegration doesn't suggest that it won't happen again, it suggests that it will happen again. Making mistakes of execution can be rectified, lack of courage usually can't. When Kobe shot those airballs in Utah, you knew: "This kid's got stones." His ability to execute in those situations has grown exponentially, but he always had the makeup. Outside of him, however, this team has zero principle performers in possession of it.

The Suns gave the Lakers every opportunity they could've asked for tonight, and if the death gripping Lakers could just have torn their hands away from their own throats for a minute, they would have moved on.

Six seconds away from the next round. I suddenly feel like a Chicago Cubs fan. And I never, ever thought I would miss Kareem Rush.

Here's to Kobe going for 64 and hoisting these buggers on his back one more time. Lakers in seven.

[KobeButler]

Smush did seem scared out out his mind. The dude has made no impact on the last 2 games(would of been 3 had he not made the steal and 3 pointer in game 4.) The pressure is really getting to him. Kind of strange to see considering hes always looked confident and cocky guy in the regualr season.
_________________
Pain is temporary, at the end of pain is success...

[pask]

I really think that we´ve could have dona much better in the last possesion. The Suns were expecting some Kobe thing. Enter Sasha and George. With 7 seconds, Kobe puts in the ball to Odom in the low post. Sasha on top of the key, George and Kwame in the weak side for the offensive rebound. At least , you can take some attention off Kobe. Plus they were in the bonus. Take the ball to the basket, just not settle for a jumper against two defenders.

[pask]

Besides that, our role players are having a diminished role each day (Walton,Smush, Cook have nearly dissapeared the last 3 games).

I´ll take a chance with Turiaf who seems completely unafraid and give more minutes to George

[CorkyTomjanovich]

Good job DB. Excruciating loss.

I can not believe Smush played 41 minutes. HE WAS absolutely killing us. KILLING US. I really wanted Sasha in there at the end.


One big problem I have noticed-

Nash is getting too much attention from us. We are not talking on defense.
I rather let Nash score then him pick us apart, confuse our defense, and get the rest of them rolling.

WAY TOO much attention TO NASH. One play had 3 guys sinking, Jones backs up, Nash finds him on the baseline, and Jones sticks the open jumper.

Kwame's D out on the perimeter and his help D leaving A LOT TO BE DESIRED.
_________________
JVG FOR LAKERS HEAD COACH

[CorkyTomjanovich]

Can we get someone in there to protect the friggen rim. Turiaf can do that.
_________________
JVG FOR LAKERS HEAD COACH