SONICS -at- LAKERS -- 11/3 -- Thoughts and :-)) ratings
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 1:54 am    Post subject: SONICS -at- LAKERS -- 11/3 -- Thoughts and :-)) ratings

24/7... Kobe Bryant may have made his long-awaited debut of No. 24 and LO may have had another sensational game, but Ronny Turiaf stole the show at Staples. That cat also gives his best 24-7.

The Lakers were under fire in the paint with Bynum and Turiaf trying to anchor the defense at our C spot from a ton of dribble penetration. With under a minute left in the game, Turiaf stepped out high to show on a screen, the Sonics then threw a high entry that Lamar just missed. Turiaf ran back down the lane and rejected Wilcox as he was about to throwdown. The ball found its way to Lewis in front of the rim. Turiaf bounced up again and rejected him point blank, then tipped the ball to Smush as Ronny fell to the floor. The Laker bench was on their feet going nuts along with the rest of Staples. Sensational defensive stand with the game on the line.

How good was Turiaf in tonight's 118-112 win? Just prior to this play he had secured a huge defensive board, drew a foul and with the crowd chanting "Ronny...Ronny..." he swished two clutch freethrows. He hadn't even shown them the two blocks yet.

The Lakers had three players over 20 points: Lamar with 28, Kobe with 23 and Luke, filling in as third scorer again, with a career-high 20 points. The scoring was fine, the execution was sloppy which had some ramifications defensively. We ignored the post way too much and had far too many turnovers that had us scrambling. If we ran the offense with a little more poise and purpose, we might have cut down on some of that.

After the Lakers led by as much as 20 in the first quarter, the Sonics came back. The high screen rolls by the Sonics were hurting us. It seemed when we started to switch more late in the game, we got a few more stops in crunch time. Neither Sasha nor Shammond got any PT as Phil went with Farmar and Smush. Kobe wasn't himself defensively, but he did manage a huge stop on Allen in the lane. Sketchy moments after the thunderous start, but the Lakers survived.


Kobe -- -- Kobe, clearly, didn't have that extra gear in his game. The real question may not be how much he was able to give tonight, but how well can he bounce back for the next game? I tried to note the many instances where his explosiveness was missing. Often, he was looking to set others up versus making an aggressive finish. Phil said he considered some of Kobe's turnovers "good turnovers" because he was looking to do the right thing. I think I can agree with that. His timing and reads were just a bit off, as one might expect. Kobe also didn't look for his shot from the perimeter, as you might expect. The lowlights of his physical limitations were getting rejected by the rim on a dunk and airballing a reverse. The highlights were a throwdown in the middle of the lane and a lateral stop on Ray Allen and challenging him to force a miss. Kobe scored 23 points on 8-15 shooting (7-10 FTs, 0-0 3PT). He grabbed 4 boards and dished 6 assists with 6 turnovers in 41 minutes. He knocked a ball loose from Sene, Luke chased it down and gave a blind no-looker right back to Kobe under the hoop for the layup. A couple of poorly timed passes in a row, one to Bynum in a crowd, the other to LO on the break. He attacked off the dribble, got into the lane and kicked it to Lamar for a three. He got whistled for a carry on a cross-over attempt (he's going to have to be careful on that). He sank a long two from the sideline. He attacked a lane (normally he might have elevated to finish), but he kicked it to an open Lamar in the corner for a three. He filled a lane on the break, again he went for a return feed to Lamar instead of possibly attempting to finish, and LO scored. He backhanded a pass to Luke at the top of the key and Luke hit a heat-check three. Kobe showed some nice ups on a throwdown right down the middle of the lane (probably the easiest kind of explosion for him right now). He forced up a left-hander in the post and missed. He lost the ball on his next post up attempt. He spun in transition and missed a short bank. He spotted Luke getting left alone in the paint for a brief moment and he hit him with a bouncepass for a score. He blew past his man, got into the paint and flipped in a reverse layup over the front of the rim. He telegraphed a bouncepass and it was picked off. Kobe-esque looking attack off the dribble, moving side to side, cutting to his right and banking in an And-1, he made the FT. He botched a two-on-one, front-rimming the layup on a bit of an indecisive and non-explosive breakaway. He had 11 points with 5 of his 6 turnovers in the first half. He drew a reach foul, attacking in transition and made both FTs. He took a baseline feed, hung in the air and managed to draw a foul over the outstretched arms of a defender, he made one FT. He slowed down the break, worked his way around the lane, spun and banked in a layup. He passed up another layup attempt in a crowd and kicked it out for a three that we missed. He airballed a reverse layup attempt in the paint. He gave up an And-1 touching Allen on the legs on a jumper and Seattle tied the score in the third. He sliced through the D from the wing and finished a layup with his left. He missed a wing jumper. He attacked off the dribble from the top of the key, drew a foul and made one FT. He was nailed to the floor defensively on a quick baseline attack by his man and gave up a dunk. Nice job attacking off the dribble, not forcing a shot in the lane and finding Vlad for an open three. A bad decision on the break on a pass attempt and it resulted in a dunk the other way. He attacked baseline, took a slap and powered in an And-1 layup, he made the FT. He couldn't create a good shot for himself on one sequence, passed it out, by the time he got it back it was with a second left and he rushed a short jumper and missed. Great D on Allen who tried to take him off the dribble and change directions on a spin and Kobe got him to miss with a minute left. He drew a foul on a breakout after Ronny's blocks when he challenged the D, he only made one FT, though, and the Lakers led by 5 with 42 seconds left. A bit of a sketchy game at times for Kobe, but there were also flashes of his old self. Hopefully, his knee responds well after the 41 minutes Phil gave him tonight. "It was there in moments," Kobe said in the Times. "I haven't played since Game 7, so the rhythm was a little off, the timing was a little off, but that will come back the more I play. My wind was good for some reason — I felt like I was OK. The biggest thing was just the timing. I felt a little choppy."

Odom -- -- Lamar seemed to be the only guy who could give Ray Allen trouble defensively tonight. On a few switches he played some tough D that will probably go unnoticed with how well he played offensively. LO was hitting his jumper and scored a very efficient 28 points, shooting 7-12, an impressive 4-5 from three, and 10-12 from the line. He only had 4 boards, but had 6 assists in his 41:42 of action. I would have liked to see a few more aggressive plays in crunch time, but we were looking to take advantage of Luke's mismatches in the post, which is not a bad way to go. From the start, Lamar attacked off the tip and drew FTs, making one. He attacked the baseline and kicked it to Luke in the corner for a three. He sank a three from the sideline off a kickout from Kobe. He knocked down a corner three off another drive and kick from Kobe. He finished a break on a return feed from Kobe. He found Kobe on the break for a throwdown. Strong wing attack, drawing FTs and making both. He took a shoulder to the chops when he was late trying to draw a charge. He drained a smooth looking wing three on a kickout from Radmanovic. Working off the weakside, he cut strong, took a feed from Evans, drew Evans man and went behind his back to Evans who hit a short jumper. Out of a timeout, he got Rashard on his hip while attacking to his left and scored a layup. He led all Lakers with 16 points and 5 assists in the first half. He buried a wide open three off the high pinch post to start the second half. Good D on Allen, jumping out on him and staying tight to force a bad pass and turnover. Good D in transition to flag down a pass and recover it under the hoop. He missed an open corner three. He drew a foul after grabbing an offensive board. He faced up out of the wing post position, surveyed the floor, then knocked down the jumper. He got fouled on a two-handed dunk attempt off the dribble, he thought he was going to finish that with ease, he made both. He drew a ill-advised backcourt foul made by the Sonics with 35.9 left when they were trailing by three, he made one FT, however, to only lead by four. He was fouled again in the corner, he made both with 26.5 seconds left. He was fouled again with 15.5 after Allen missed a good look at a three over LO, he made both to lead by five. LO should be a leading candidate for player of the week honors.

Bynum -- -- Feed the post. Feed the post. Feed the post. His touches were few and far between on the offensive end, illustrated by the 2-2 and 0 assists in 23 minutes. He was still able to do some nice things and finished with 9 points, 8 boards and 3 blocks. Defensively, he had some genuine moments of anchoring the paint. He had 5 turnovers, a bit deceptive since he was whistled for some three-second violations caused by unexpected passes, but he did have a couple of miscues on outlet passes. Great start with a nice controlled tip right to Odom to ignite a break off the jumpball. Superb center sprint on his first offensive set, backing Sene under the hoop and forcing a foul to save a dunk. He ate up Sene on the next post up, backing him down, getting contact and nearly losing the ball on the foul but staying with it and finishing the And-1 bank, he missed the FT. He battled for the ball against three players and drew a foul, he made the FTs. He swatted a floater by Ridnour and it ignited the break. Excellent help D swat in the lane, just like you want to see, and it ignited a break again (by the way, Bynum was the first guy down the floor, too). He contested another shot well in the paint on help D, then drew a foul on the other end in semi-transition, he made one FT. He altered another shot for a miss. Good first stint by Drew, playing nearly the entire first quarter. He could have easily had more offense in the post if they ran the ball through him more. He had 5 points, 5 boards and 3 blocks in the first quarter, controlled the paint and anchored the D, and didn't play in the second quarter. He picked up two fouls trying to contest penetration early in the third. He dunked after the Lakers scrambled the D and worked the ball back around to him when he was open under the hoop. He got called for a hook offensive foul, moving a man out of the way with his elbow while holding the ball with both hands (The officials are calling that tight this year. Shaq used to do that all the time). Sloppy outlet pass to Kobe that got picked off and scored on. Bynum could not even get a post touch on one sequence with Ray Allen on him, yikes. A rare post touch, late in the third and he drew FTs on a jumphook, he made both. He was surprised by a post entry pass (it would be funny if it wasn't sadly true that it caught him off guard because he no longer expected the ball), he dropped the ball and was tied up. Overall, pretty solid minutes at times. Very nice to see the block party. Hopefully, we can open up his offensive game a little more in the next one.

Smush -- -- He had his hands full defensively trying to deal with screens and how well Ridnour had been playing this week (his last game he dropped 22 points and 13 assists). On the offensive end, Smush stayed poised for the most part and even helped orchestrate a nice score off the double screen in crunch time. He finished with 11 points on 4-9 shooting, 3 boards, 1 assist and 1 turnover in 33 minutes. He got tapped on a wing three. Nice D, first deflecting a ball from Ridnour, then moving well laterally to draw a clear out foul on the perimeter. Excellent backdoor lob pass to Luke, who shed his man to score the layup. Good hustle to contest a jumper on a rotation. He surprised his man on an attack from the wing, took contact and flipped up a little baseline And-1 runner, he hit the FT. He missed a three. Next time he touched the ball, popping out from the weakside, and he buried the three from the top of the key. He had LO for a lob on the break, instead he tried to thread the needle and it was picked off by Allen. He overplayed defensively in the backcourt and it resulted in an odd man rush and a foul to Bynum. Smush nailed a three over the zone. Late in the game he had a clutch score off a curl in the lane, Smush pointed Turiaf over to set a double screen, he looped around it and scored away from the help D with his left with 1:21 left.

Walton -- -- He has certainly stepped up his game throughout this preseason and early regular season. With a contract year and the Vlad Rad signing, he has plenty of external motivations (not that they were needed). An early season career high should point that Luke's improvement this past month is no fluke. He scored 20 points on 7-10 shooting (2-2 from three), grabbed 8 boards, dished 5 assists and had 2 steals in 33 minutes. Talk about stuffing the stat sheet. Defensively, he had some difficult moments against Rashard, who can be a tough cover with his size and range. Like had a nice putback on a Bynum FT miss for a score. Heady play when Kobe knocked a ball loose under their basket, Luke tracked it down and quickly flipped it back behind him without looking for the easy layup for Kobe under the rim. He canned a corner three of a kickout from Lamar. He cut backdoor on Rashard who overplayed the passing lane and Luke finished the lob from Smush with a lay in. Feeling it on the next possession, he took a backhand feed from Kobe and drilled the early offense three from the top of the key. He missed a fallaway, not in good motion like he normally gets. Nice heads up bounce pass from Kobe and Luke finished an easy layup in semi-transition. He posted up Allen in the paint, drew contact and FTs, he made both. Great first half, he had 14 points and 5 boards. Rashard posted him up and scored easily on the first possesion of the half. He got Rashard on his hip with a change of direction and banked in a shot over a help defender. He passed up on the three, attacked the lane and hit Bynum for the dunk. He traveled trying to attack instead of shooting a three. He drew FTs off an interior feed from Smush, he made one. He drew FTs trying to get post position on Watson, he made one FT. Wow, excellent fight for a post entry feed when it looked like Wilkins had stolent it, Luke kept at it, finally got it and scored a finger roll with 2:46 for his new career high. Great help D when Ronny contested penetration and Luke controlled the defensive glass. On the other end, he threw a no-look post feed to Smush over his head, but Smush made an extra pass and we missed.

Turiaf -- -- Ronny played just 15:45 of action, a mistake by Phil. During that time, however, he dug in and flat out battled. He scored 13 points on 3-3 shooting and 7-8 FTs, grabbed 7 boards and blocked 3 shots...in just 15 minutes. He showed icewater in his veins on the offensive end with some clutch points and he imposed his will in the paint on the defensive end. The two blocks were the play of the game. Nothing like one of the most impressive defensive stands of the early season coming after both teams were racking up the points. Early on, Ronny fed Farmar from the post, cutting baseline, Farmar drew the D and kicked it back to Ronny who knocked down the wing 17-footer. Nice challenge of a dunk attempt to get a miss. He cut across the lane from the post and got a jumphook to bounce in. He got caught on heels off the pick and roll, instead of showing and recovering, he backed up and took guard contact, giving up the And-1. A rare post up, he backed his man down and earned FTs, he made both. Great swat in the middle of the lane to ignite the fastbreak for a Farmar score. Bad-angled pass across court and it resulted in a turnover. Impressive defensive board going up high in a crowd. He pulled down an offensive board off a Luke missed FT and reset the offense. Nice cut when Luke got the post feed and then fed him for FTs, he made both. After gobbling up another defensive board on one end of the court, he set up on the baseline for a kickout and swished a 16-footer with 4 minutes left. Another great contest of a Ray Allen drive to get a miss and Luke secured the board. Again, a superb crash of the defensive glass to take a board away from the Sonics who had went over LO's back, Ronny then drew a loose ball foul, he both made with 55.6 seconds left and the crowd chanting his name. Icewater. Then the Huuuuuuuuuuuge. Huuuuuuge. Huuuge defensive stand. Two rejections on one sequence defensively under the hoop. Turiaf destroyed Wilcox on a help D block at the rim with the first, just sent him crashing to the floor. Then Rashard grabbed the board at the front of the rim, elevated and Ronny rejected him point blank, tapping the ball to Smush as he fell. Another high board with 6.3 seconds left, he was fouled and made one FT to lead by six. Man Law: You block two consecutive shots in crunch time in front of the rim, you automatically get to start the next game.

Radmanovic -- 8) -- I didn't like the way he was used at times tonight, specifically having him out there defensively with Cook when we were giving up penetration again and again. Vlad's perimeter game showed a pulse tonight with his one make from beyond the arc. He had 6 points on 1-2 shooting, 3-4 FTs and grabbed 3 boards and dished 2 assists in 14 minutes. He did have a couple good contests in the paint to try to prevent scores. He attacked from the elbow and drew FTs in a crowd, he made both. He collapsed the D in the post and kicked it out to LO for the open three. He drew FTs when Evans found him in the lane, Vlad hit one. Nice help D on Allen, forcing a miss. He drained an open three from the sideline when Kobe kicked it out off dribble penetration.

Evans -- -- He gave up a 4-point play on a three by Allen. He had a poor offensive possession, he stalled the offense, tried to create off the dribble, then lost it on the sideline. He missed a one-hander, hustled ofr his own board, then found Vlad before he fell to the ground and Vlad drew FTs. He missed an open corner three. He flashed from the weakside, hit LO with a bouncepass, LO drew the double and returned the ball to Evans for the 10-footer in the lane (his only points). He missed a wing three at the third quarter buzzer. Great D on his man, then switching and staying in front of Wilkins and eventually forced a shotclock violation. He scored 2 points on a poor 1-6 shooting, had 2 offensive boards and a turnover in 15 minutes.

Cook -- -- Uggh. Poor usage by Phil of Cook at the C spot for a stretch. He was not anchoring the D at the center spot by any stretch of the imagination and yet Phil left him in as we got drilled. The D went to hell. Cook scored 4 points on 2-3 shooting in his 7:31 of first half playing time. Poor help D and we gave up an offensive putback when Cook should have gotten in the mix on the glass (one of the things Turiaf showed brilliance at tonight). Good follow of a Kobe miss in transition tipping it back in. Cook hit a two-for-one face-up jumper from 19 near the end of the second half for his other score.

Farmar -- -- Phil showed some signs of trust playing Farmar as the second guard, but the short leash was still there. Farmar got beat off the dribble on one play by Ridnour for a layup and Phil called a timeout to bring in Smush during the fourth. Farmar started the second quarter. He attacked the baseline off a feed from Ronny, but then kicked it back to Ronny when the D collapsed and Ronny hit the open jumper. He missed a couple wing threes. Wow, tough score on one breakaway, finger rolling after contact (he traveled, but the refs let everything go on that one). Great recovery over the top of a screen to reject a Ridnour jumper out of bounds (when is the last time we've seen a PG do that?). Farmar had 2 points on 1-2 shooting, 2 boards and 1 assist in 14:32 of action.

Phil -- -- I had a minor problem with some of the rotations by Phil in this one. You have got to leave one of Ronny or Bynum in the game when we are getting torched by dribble penetration. Cook and Vlad as the bigs for one stretch? No. Certainly Phil will have more options when the lineup gets healthy, and he's still probably trying to get in a rhythm of his own from the bench. So, we may be prone to a little of that. I can't wait until we have the depth to be able to play both Turiaf and Bynum on the floor at the same time. Should be interesting... Phil left the starters in nearly the entire first quarter as they were off to a torrid start, but you could see them begin to look a little run down. Phil then subbed out Kobe and Drew for the energy guys, Turiaf and Evans. The Lakers had a 20-point lead in the first, but it was cut to 12 at the end of the quarter... He brought in Farmar at PG to start the second quarter instead of Sasha or Shammond. Similar with the second half... The Sonics went on a 12-0 before Phil finally called a timeout at one point in the second quarter. The Farmar, Kobe, Evans, Radmanovic, Cook lineup wasn't working (surprise, surprise). He brought in Smush, Luke and LO, but still kept Cook at center. He finally subbed in Bynum with 1 second left in the first half. He would learn from the small lineup mistake and had Turiaf anchoring the D late in the game and no minutes for Cook in the second half... The Lakers led 65-56 at the half, shooting 60 percent from the floor to Seattle's 43 percent... Farmar got beat off the dribble midway through the fourth for a layup and Phil called timeout to bring Smush in. Out of the timeout, Smush and Turiaf botched the play and it resulted in a bad pass and turnover... Offensively, I would have liked to see more looks in the post for both Bynum and Turiaf. We needed to be a little more deliberate with our offense in that regard. I would have also liked to see Farmar a little more involved in the Tri's two-man sequences (especially if you are going to have Cook out there with him)... The Sonics ended up shooting 44.9 percent for the game to the Lakers 55.4 percent. We shot a strong 9-16 from beyond the arc. A big difference in this game was the Lakers giving up 15 offensive boards and 8 more turnovers... The Lakers kept the fouls in check, allowing the Sonics just 13-16 from the line, while we scored 37-48 from charity... "We were flirting with letting prosperity go early in the game," Phil said in the Times. "The first couple games we had really good energy and were able to use the energy in the second half to overwhelm opponents. It became kind of a slugfest out there."...
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jbjb
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 2:25 am    Post subject:

Thanks for doing this. It always adds immeasurably to my understanding and appreciation of the game.
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wolfpaclaker
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 2:30 am    Post subject:

Appreciate it, DB.

Monster stat line of the night.

Bynum + Turiaf played 39 minutes at Center combined. They cobined for 22 points, 13 boards, 6 blocks on 5-5 FG's. Yes 5 FG's for them resulted in 22 points and all of that in LESS than 48 minutes.

That ladies and gentlemen is your future top bigs. With the way Turiaf shows that range on his J, it increases the chances of them playing together that much more.

I have two complaints from this game

1) They do not give Bynum or Turiaf the ball enough. FIVE FG attempts? That is just not playing to your strengths enough.

2) The defense without Bynum or Turiaf inside was abysmal and they need to be very careful with these Cook at Center lineups. This works agaisnt teams like the Suns who have Center's like Diaw who are basically forwards but with a team like Seattle who has a guy like Wilcox - you are asking for some abuse.

Other than that, I'm one happy dude. Lakers are 3-0 despite missing 2 starters from last season - one being Kobe for 2 games and he's still not 100%. Offense is pouring in despite the fact that Kobe's not a huge factor and that they have still not maxamized their bigs. Huge props have to go out to the play of Odom and Walton. Right now IMO they are showing ability on O that would make Pippen and Kukoc proud.
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 2:45 am    Post subject:

wolfpaclaker wrote:


Bynum + Turiaf played 39 minutes at Center combined. They cobined for 22 points, 13 boards, 6 blocks on 5-5 FG's. Yes 5 FG's for them resulted in 22 points and all of that in LESS than 48 minutes.


Exactly. Feed the post. 22 points on 5-5 shooting...those guys should get a few more touches...the other part of that stat is the minutes without either player at C. ARggggh. Bring in Ronny a hair sooner for Bynum and also don't have Cook manning the C spot against a team that is getting so much dribble penetration. Check out Pop's Game Flow for the nice -10 we had in a matter of minutes with the Cook/Radmanovic bigman lineup.
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Tanlentueux
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 2:57 am    Post subject:

Thanks mr perfect, DB, the man !!!!
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A Mad Chinaman
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 3:08 am    Post subject:

As always, look forward to your game review.

Question: Phil mentioned that the bench didn't produce as well as they did during the first two games. Was the beginning games a more accurate assessment of what they can do, or does ths game provided the more accurate assessment?

Phil stated that because the bench didn't produce as well, the starters played more minutes that resulted in the lack of the needed energy to play defense. What do you think that Phil will do to address this?
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 3:20 am    Post subject:

I think Phil is partially to blame. Hate to bring up the Radman/Cook bigman lineup, but they got torched. Not a good lineup against dribble penetration. I think Ronny certainly had more minutes in him than what was given. You could have given Bynum a little less at the tail end of his stints, then bring him back to end the half. If you put Bynum or Turiaf out there as a C beside one of Cook/Radman, you might get better minutes from one of those two and the team in general. Mo Evans had a poor game, but you can't expect big numbers from him every game. Farmar was average.
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 3:23 am    Post subject:

Great stuff again DB. That's game #3 down the books. 79 to go! Go Lakers!
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Laker7
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 3:57 am    Post subject:

Feed the post. Feed the post. Feed the post.

Could not have said it better! Especially in this game with Swift out for the year and Petro out with heart issues. Sene is clearly not ready for the NBA and Phil did not take advantage of it on the offense end.
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 4:02 am    Post subject:

jbjb wrote:
Thanks for doing this. It always adds immeasurably to my understanding and appreciation of the game.


ditto... thanks db!
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 4:34 am    Post subject:

wolfpaclaker wrote:
2) The defense without Bynum or Turiaf inside was abysmal and they need to be very careful with these Cook at Center lineups. This works agaisnt teams like the Suns who have Center's like Diaw who are basically forwards but with a team like Seattle who has a guy like Wilcox - you are asking for some abuse.


I agree. With Kwame and Mihm back sometime hopefully that should be less noticeable. Just having that inside presence on defence showed what we lacked last season.
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 5:22 am    Post subject:

Great recap DB. We are scoring points big time, I am still worried about dribble penetration and the Lakers' focus. We are giving up too many points on pick and rolls. Wasn't defense really stressed in camp? As far as focus, we need more of a killer instinct. We were up by 20 and won by 6?

PJ needs to settle on a defensive rotation because we won't average 110 on SA and the other elites.

Only 3 games, but we are even getting props by BSPN:

Legler and Anthony giving us props
We lead ESPNEWS - even before LeBronze and his highlights

Get well soon Kwame and join the party!!

Go Lakers!!
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 5:43 am    Post subject:

Good stuff DB
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 6:16 am    Post subject:

Just a nitpick on the 5 FGA for the centers - R & B went 12-15 from the line, many of them were the result of getting fouled in the act of shooting, so they really did get more than just 5 shots. But even if all of the FTs were shooting fouls, that would translate to 7 FGA, and 12 is still too few from our center spot against a team with no size.

The Non-Kobe Player of the Game was created because Kobe was the consistent performer last season. So far, Lamar & Luke have grown to where they're providing triple threat numbers every game. Props to them.

But the real POG is Ronny. I've wanted an energetic, dirty-work handling big on this team, that I've been chanting for Kwame to "Be Like Ben." And now Ronny emerges. He clearly has Ben's desire for boards, but he's tons better offensively. Ya think Ben could hit a 15 ftr to tie the game late in the 4th? Or hit 7-8 FTs? Ronny is awesome and inspiring.
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2Cleva
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 6:28 am    Post subject:

Please allow me to add one.

Vujacic - - DNP-CD
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twoface723
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 6:37 am    Post subject:

Good Recap.
Kobe's explosiveness wasn't there yesterday, but I think the rust will wear off after a few games. LO had another great game, but I agree that he should be more agressive in Crunch time. Good game overall.
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limchrc
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 7:08 am    Post subject:

Thanks for the recap.
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Mr. EiGhTy-OnE
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 7:42 am    Post subject: Re: SONICS -at- LAKERS -- 11/3 -- Thoughts and :-)) ratings

DancingBarry wrote:
Man Law: You block two consecutive shots in crunch time in front of the rim, you automatically get to start the next game.


thanks DB
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Rick12322
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 7:47 am    Post subject:

The Lakers have been on record saying they were going to try to play some small ball. Phil playing Radman and Cook at C is part of that experiment. Phil is not the kind of coach who is going to try experiments like this half way, he gave them some run to show if they could adjust and they did not. Don't be surprised to see this experiment repeated at times during the next month or so.

That said, I'd say we've found the counter to small running teams by using our size and post play, especially by Bynum and Turiaf. This is the approach that will shake out of this early season "Phil Jackson coaching process."
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Mr. EiGhTy-OnE
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 7:49 am    Post subject:

i would have preferred to have Lamar in the post instead of Luke. that way Lamar could have worn down Rashard in the post and left him with no energy when Seattle was on offense.
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hoopschick29
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 7:51 am    Post subject:

2Cleva wrote:
Please allow me to add one.

Vujacic - - DNP-CD


Hallelujah!!
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Dr. Laker
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 7:52 am    Post subject:

Good Job, DB.
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hoopschick29
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 7:56 am    Post subject:

Thank you DB. Always a fine looking glass into the game.

Allow me to add a post script in regards to Ray Allen:

Fantastic game, 30 points after 3 quarters.

0 Points in the 4th.

This is the story of RayRay's life.

You gotta make them when the team really needs them. He was ghost in crunch time.
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postandpivot
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 8:07 am    Post subject:

hoopschick29 wrote:
Thank you DB. Always a fine looking glass into the game.

Allow me to add a post script in regards to Ray Allen:

Fantastic game, 30 points after 3 quarters.

0 Points in the 4th.

This is the story of RayRay's life.

You gotta make them when the team really needs them. He was ghost in crunch time.


^^ooo, I never really thought about that. you gotta real point there.
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angel
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 8:19 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB!

When this Lakers team gets healthy, it will be competitive with the best teams in the NBA. We are used to Kobe being a stats leader, but this team is more than Kobe alone. There are some positive signs in the stats from other Lakers.

Lamar is third in the NBA in scoring.

Ronny Turiaf is second in field goal percentage. Luke is in the #20 spot.

Ronny Turiaf is #19 in blocks per game.

Andrew Bynum is #14 with 17.4 rebounds per 48 minutes.
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