NETS -at- LAKERS - 11/25 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Gone in 60 Seconds... Another victim has been found. This time, it's Netville. It happened so fast.

You slip past the crime scene tape and look at the chalk outline as it's drawn around the victim. They toyed with this one. Took their time.

You reach down and pry a wrinkled piece of paper from the victim's hand. Again, that hack DancingBarry has left some notes:

"The Nets came to town and were feeling pretty good about themselves. The score was tied 66-66 in the third quarter. Like anyone coming to Hollywood, they had hopes...they had dreams.

Then the Fourth Horseman, Lamar Odom, brought famine with him off the bench. The Death Riders from the bench swarmed. The Nets scored just 15 points over the next 10 minutes, while the Lakers crammed 41 through the Nets defense. It was over before they knew it.

The savagery of it all...The savagery...

I will continue to track them."

Look at the bench with several guys putting together +20s in their time on the court, led by Lamar with a team-high +29. The starters held their own, the bench finished them off, winning 120-93.

In the second half, the Lakers progressively locked down the Nets, keeping them 39 points over the final two quarters. The Nets shooting percentage by quarter: 54%, 38%, 26%, 16%.

"We came out of the locker room with a lot more focus," Pau Gasol said of the second half. "We were much more aggressive."

You could see the intensity raise in that quarter. They are playing that way with bursts lately. The key to a championship will be to sustain it throughout the game.

"If they win a championship, this is going to be a beginning of a dynasty," Chris Webber said on NBA TV before the game.


Kobe -- -- The Lakers showed they can kill teams with Kobe having a horrible game. He struggled badly from the perimeter, yet the team put together three straight quarters of 30+ points. That's some potent offense, and also a good job playing to our strengths in the post. Kobe had one of the lower +/- stats of the night with a +2. Just wasn't his night. Kobe didn't crack the 30-minute mark with his playing time. The Stats: He had 12 points on 5-17 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 28 minutes. The Action: He missed a wing jumper on his first attempt. He missed a turnaround next time down. He hit Pau with a bounce pass in early offense and Pau dunked. He didn't draw iron a reverse. He clanked a long jumper. He missed a layup on a long outlet. He kicked out to Vlad for a wing three. He attacked the zone from the wing and elevated for a massive throwdown. He clanked another pull-up jumper from 16 feet out. Back in, he bricked another long jumper. He forced up a three, clank. Finally back in the post and he earned FTs, he made both. He had 4 points on 1-9 shooting and 4 assists. Second Half: He started the second half by swishing a face-up wing jumper. He swished a 21-footer next time down. He missed a wing three on the third trip down. He missed a jumper instead of hitting Drew for the easy dunk off the two-man game (Carter then hit a three on Kobe in transition). He missed a wing jumper trying to draw a foul. He jumped on Yi on the perimeter, swiped the ball and took it for a dunk. He bricked and awkward scoop instead of going to the floater. He was about to throw down a dunk and got hit in the chops with no call, he still scored the layup.

Gasol -- -- As well as Pau played in this game offensively, he still had some issues on D. Phil chewed him out at one point for a soft challenge on dribble penetration. The drop off between Bynum and Pau in the anchoring department has been much wider of late, and I think Phil was letting him know it. Offensively, he was just too much for the young Nets bigmen. Combine that with his perimeter stroke and it was some very efficient offensive for Gasol. The Stats: He scored 26 points on 9-12 shooting (8-8 from the line) to go with 8 boards (3 offensive), 3 assists, 1 block, 4 turnovers and 2 fouls in 31 minutes. The Action: He dunked in early offense off the bounce pass from Kobe. He grabbed a missed jumper, spun quickly and hit the short hook. He jumphook was goaltended with no call. He hit the rim on a bad pass to Bynum. He sealed Yi on a corner sequence and scored easily with his left. He swished a wing jumper in early offense. He got swatted on a jumphook. He drew FTs when he was being fronted in the post, he made both. He posted up, then threw a pass away. He swished an 18-footer off the handoff from Kobe. He got lectured by Phil after we gave up dribble penetration and Pau gave a weak challenge to Carter's layup. He held the ball high as he stepped through a double team and scored the layup from the post. He curled weak to strong and drew the foul on the layup, he made both FTs. He had 16 points on 6-8 shooting. Second Half: He got caught by Yi slipping the screen and fouled, on the in-bounds, same play and a dunk for Yi. He posted up Carter and drew a foul, he made both FTs. He swished a 16-footer off the pass from Bynum with the clock low. He faced up, stepped around Lopez and reverse dunked in his face. He scored a putback jumphook after getting a Vlad missed three. He missed a top-of-the-key jumper. He was pushed on the defensive boards and given FTs, he made both.

Bynum -- -- Drew suffered from a little foul trouble having to deal with guard penetration. And when he was helping, he wasn't getting a lot of help defensively on his man. Offensively, we saw the power game starting to come alive. He went to work with some power drop steps and a few dunks...moving bodies in the post and finishing strong. That's what his game has really lacked so far this season. Signs of life tonight. No turnovers, either. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-9 shooting (3-6 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 2 assists, 1 block and 5 fouls in 28 minutes. The Action: He missed a lefty jumphook in the lane. He posted up, stepped around Lopez and scored thelayup. He was ticked about a late whistle on a throw down attempt over Lopez, he made one FT. He got down court in transition, Fisher drew his man and then dished to Bynum for the dunk. To start the second quarter, he posted up Williams and drew a quick foul, he made both FTs. He drop-stepped and missed a jumphook with his left. He dunked off the drive and behind-the-back feed from Ariza. He posted up, pivoted arounnd Lopez and reversed. He had 11 points on 4-7 shooting and 3 boards. Second Half: He blocked Harris's jumper. With Yi on him, he overpowered him, drop-stepped and threw down the And-1 dunk, he missed the FT. Weak call as he swatted Harris's penetration and was whistled for the foul (he had to sit with his fourth). Back in and he picked up his fifth challenging Harris's penetration again. Power drop-stepped on Lopez and hammered down the And-1 dunk, he missed the FT.

Radmanovic -- -- When the Lakers are good on D, they are covering for each other, jumping the lanes, rotating, recovering...all the hustle work. When they aren't, they are late to shooters, ball watch, and don't help the helpers. Vlad was a big part of our tough D early in the season. Right now, he doesn't seem as sharp. He and Gasol aren't defending quite as well as they had been. Tonight, he had a few of those issues. Offensively, he was a threat, sinking a couple threes. I was wishing, however, that we would see LO at the SF because there was a difference in intensity. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-6 shooting (2-4 from three) to go with 4 boards The Action: Vlad lost the ball after getting the tip, he then swiped it back in the backcourt. He bricked a runner badly, got it back and missed the jumper. He swished the wing three off the kickout from Kobe. He missed a corner three. Second Half: He ballwatched and Simmons dunked in a miss. He drained a three in early offense from the right side, this forced a Net timeout. He missed a wide open corner three.

Fisher -- -- DFish said they heard Rick Fox call them out at halftime, saying they were soft. "I guess Rick Fox is right, we're not mentally tough enough to stop teams...I can't believe Rick put us under the bus like that," Fish said. He winked at Rick after talking about holding the Nets to 39 points. Prior to the game, Phil said, "Devin Harris is a one-man fastbreak." He stressed the need for the Lakers to get back in transition. The dribble penetration in the halfcourt is what caused some problems for our bigmen tonight, but they did a better job defending it in the second half (even if Bynum got into foul trouble because of it). Offensively, a much more controlled game from DFish and we milked the post. That's what you want to see. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-4 shooting, grabbed 4 boards, dished 3 assists, had 2 steals and 2 fouls in 24 minutes. The Action: He sank a three on a kickout from Pau. He missed a short jumper in the lane. He recognized the seal by Pau and quickly passed to Vlad in the corner to get a score for Pau off the corner sequence of the Tri. He drew Bynum's man in early offense and dished to Drew for the dunk. He stepped passed Harris on a kickout and hit the baseline jumper. Second Half: Nothing to report. That's rare.

Lamar -- -- He beasts it up against some of these second-unit lightweights. A +29 in 20 minutes...that is sick. I wanted him in at the SF just to get him on the court tonight. Pau and Lamar kill teams a thousand different ways at the power forward spot. Aggressive Lamar causes so many problems for an opponent. He did it inside, outside and on the break. Before he became a Laker, I'd always worry about whenever Lamar got aggressive against you. He's just very difficult to deal with. But he would drift through games. There's no drifting this season off the bench. No time to drift. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-8 shooting (1-2 from three, 2-5 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 fouls. The Action: His man stepped past him for an easy score. He busted out in transition off the Ariza steal and drew FTs, he made one. He posted up, stepped past Anderson and score the layup with a scream. He attacked from the left wing and scored a layup off two big strides. Second Half: He bricked a long three, having to force it up with the shotclock about to expire. He wheeled around the lane, missed, jumped back after the ball and scored the layup. He drew FTs in the post (Lakers went too early to Lamar at the end of the quarter), he made one. He knocked a rebound away from a Net, pushed out the break, changed directions and hung around the defender, flipping in the And-1 finger roll, he missed the FT. Great challenge on the defensive end to force a miss, he then tied up a Net rebounder on the other end to force a jumpball. He missed a layup from the post. He swished a three from the top of the arc.

Ariza -- -- The Lakers had 24 assists tonight and no Laker had more than 4. That's the Triangle offense at work. Trevor was one of those with 4 assists, including setting up Bynum for a dunk on one of the prettiest sequences of the night. He also led the Lakers with 4 offensive boards. You better put a body on him because when a shot is up, he's going to the rack. Phil on Ariza: "He's really done things without having to have plays called for him or special attention. He just gets his points hustling, offensive rebounding, stealing the ball and running the lanes." The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-5 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 7 boards (4 offensive), 4 assists, 1 steal and 4 fouls in 20 minutes. The Action: He drew FTs on a throw down attempt over Williams, he made one FT. He elevated, hung and threw down the putback dunk. On the other end, he gambled and left his man for an easy score (second time in the half). He flagged down a slow developing pass and instantly outlet to Lamar for FTs. He blew past his man from the left wing three line, drew Lopez and then went behind his back to Bynum for the dunk. He kicked out from the middle of the zone to Farmar for a three. He missed a corner three. Second Half: He busted out off the Farmar steal and dunked the long oop. He missed a layup in traffic. He attacked, stopped at the FT line to lose his man, then hit the turnaround (he then took a hard shoulder-bump from Bynum).

Farmar -- -- Impact Farmar. He had the Nets on their heels. Whether it was using his explosive bursts of speed to get into the lane or his quick hands on D, he was causing all kinds of problems. So while Trevor Ariza was killing the Nets on the offensive glass, Farmar was leading the team with 4 steals. That laying down the Law. Both Trevor and Jordan have got to work on the freethrows, however. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 6-11 shooting (2-4 from three, 4-8 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 3 assists, 4 steals, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 24 minutes. He was a +24. The Action: He missed an open three. He intercepted a pass to Pau on the break, fumbled it and and erased a sure score. He split a double team, working the two-man with Drew and earned FTs, he made one. He surveyed the floor on the break, spotted an open Sasha and it led to a three. He telegraphed a pass for a turnover, then got caught in no-man's land in transition D and gave up an easy dunk. He pushed out the break, took it to Lopez and scored a layup over him (excellent job getting contact and finishing with his off hand). He drained a wing three over the zone. He had a heel on the restricted circle trying to take a charge and was called for the block. He had 6 points on 2-3 shooting. Second Half: Burst of speed into the lane, took contact and flipped in a pretty And-1 layup (he had to stretch out to sink it), he missed the FT. He attacked with speed to his right, stopped and drilled the short jumper. He swiped the ball on the D end next time down then lobbed to Ariza for the dunk. He missed a pull-up jumper in transition. He missed a pull-up 16-footer. He took the in-bounds pass with teh shotclock low and swished the corner three. He attacked with speed to his left with the shotclock low and he earned FTs, he made one. He was swatted by Yi on the break. He swiped a ball and drew FTs, he made one. He swiped another ball with good hands, scooped it up, another burst of speed and he was in the lane for the And-1, flipping it over his head, he made the FT.

Vujacic -- -- The Machine did his thing and managed to get into double digit scoring. I don't think we have had a Sick Jumpers of Death sighting yet this season, but it may happen soon. And Phil seems to be going to him a little more when our perimeter shooting is struggling. He worked the perimeter for a few points. Defensively, he stayed out of foul trouble. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 3-7 shooting (2-6 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 21 minutes. The Action: He drained an open wing three on the break. He missed a three on our final offensive possession of the half. Second Half: Poor position D, giving up baseline and a layup. He drew FTs on the other end off the pinch post, he made both. He helped keep an offensive board alive to Drew, got it back in the corner and swished the three. He stripped Lopez on the blindside. The mustard came off the hotdog as he tried to go behind the back with a pass on the break and it went out of bounds. He missed a corner three. Same possession, he took the high pinch-post handoff and hit the wing jumper. He got tapped on a wing three. He missed a three.

Mihm -- -- He came in with a 27-point lead early in the fourth. He was instantly tagged with a couple fouls. Seems like he takes a few minutes to warm up. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-2 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists and 2 fouls in 8 minutes. The Action: Did not play in the first half. Second Half: He got swatted by Yi on a jumphook at the front of the rim. He found Luke open in the lane for the layup. He scored a layup when Luke set him up next time down. Good crash on the glass and he drew a foul, he made one FT.

Luke -- -- Nothing like a blowout and tacos. In with a 27-point lead with more than 8 minutes left, Luke seemed to get into the flow of things. Both he and Powell don't need a lot of time to get going, which doesn't quite appear to be the case with Mihm. Just one of those little things that seems to be a trend early on and may play a bigger role later. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-4 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and no fouls in 8 minutes. The Action: Did not play in the first half. Second Half: He scored a layup when Mihm spotted him alone on the other side of the rim. Luke returned the favor with an interior bounce pass to Mihm for the layup. His man sagged off him and he drained an early offense wing jumper. He missed a wing three. He swiped a kickout and ignited the break. He missed a runner.

Powell -- -- Last off the bench, Josh got a few minutes of late garbage time run. Again, he got in on some swat action under the hoop. The Stats: He scored 1 points on 0-2 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 blocks and 1 foul in 4 minutes. The Action: Did not play in the first half. Second Half: He missed a turnaround. He pulled down an offensive board off the Farmar missed FT. He missed the baseline jumper. He was held on the post entry and drew FTs, he made one.

Phil -- -- Asked about the lack of drama this year, Phil said: "There is always drama with the team. On the inside, there's always something going on. We had a little bit with Sasha and Trevor coming off the court a week ago." He added, "We want to keep it in house and don't want to put it out there for display." At 12-1 with blowouts and minutes spread out, hard to see the team having too many issues... The Lakers trailed 24-21 when Phil went to their bench. the Nets made 11-20 in the first 9 minutes... Kobe was 1-7 in the first quarter, and the Lakers trailed 28-24 after the first quarter... The second unit with Bynum pushed out to a 39-34 lead, forcing a Net timeout... The Lakers led by as many as 9, but after a weak last couple of minutes had the lead cut to 56-54. The Lakers made 20-40 shots in the half and had just 6 turnovers. The Nets hit 47 percent of their shots and had just 5 turnovers. Bynum and Pau combined for 27 points on 10-15 shooting... "As long as the rest of the guys step up and make their shots, we can live with Kobe having a bad night," Cleamons said at the half. He also mentioned that the Laker players seemed surprised by the Nets speed despite being prepped for it... Slow start to the third and the Nets evened things up... Late in the third after Lamar came in for Bynum, the Lakers went on a run to pull out to a 9-point, 77-68 lead... The Lakers closed the third quarter with a strong push from the second unit and led 90-76 going into the fourth... A quick burst to start the fourth and the Lakers forced a quick timeout from the Nets after extending to a 95-76 lead. The game was soon over... The Lakers held the Nets to 34.5 percent shooting for the game, while dropping a 120 points on them making 50.6 of their own shots... With the low field goal shooting, the Lakers were back on the glass, out-rebounding the Nets 51-45...

Game Flow -- LINK -- The Lakers had one of those choke-the-life-out-of-you stretches of ball that Rick Fox had talked about a couple weeks back. The started to pull away from the Nets in the middle of that third quarter. It happened right when LO entered the game. The rest of the second unit followed a few minutes later and soon, that was all she wrote.

[Vishnu]

First

thank you. I went to the game and got some tacos

[resgraph27]

Oh-so-close.

Thanks, DB.

[lakersfreak]

DB
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Forget carbon, reduce your government footprint

[kups]

glad to see andrew's post game slowly coming along.

thanks DB!
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#2 Lonzo
#28 Derrick White, Jordan Bell, Deonte Burton

[Laker_Leo]

Great Read DB!
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And always remember my brother, one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish, knick knack, paddy whack, give a dog a bone, two thousand, zero, zero, party, oops out of time. My bacon smellin' fine.

[City_Dawg]

Dropped it like its hot DB, props
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*sighs*

!...

[Mation]

Thanks DB! And that's why you have the title of Editor-in-Chief.

This is the type of game from Fish I want to see throughout this season. No turnovers for Bynum and some exceptional power moves for and-1 opportunities.

[Laker_Leo]

If anyone is interested, here is an article on tonight's game from the New Jersey Star Ledger entitled- New Jersey Nets can't keep pace with L.A. Lakers, fall 120-93

Here's the
Link
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And always remember my brother, one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish, knick knack, paddy whack, give a dog a bone, two thousand, zero, zero, party, oops out of time. My bacon smellin' fine.

[BLP711]

Always outstanding DB!!

Thank You.

[cpxconfuciousboi]

get those tacos son

[Exick]

The Death Riders. I like the sound of that.
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Game recognize game, Granddad. - Riley Freeman, The Boondocks

[Arizona]

[Addicus]

Great job DB. I can't express how impressed I am with Pau, Lamar, Farmar and Ariza. Incredible energy and poise displayed by all.

Kobe shot terribly tonight and we got a near 30 point victory. That's called great team building by the front office. Kobe really started moving the ball mid way through the 3rd and the offense clicked for everyone. The blowout would have started 4 minutes earlier if Yi wasn't able to get to the line so often.

Vlad did a great job of closing out on shooters and always moving on defense tonight. He made a few mistakes, but I like the energy. What amazes me is a guy who shoots so well always making the extra pass. He needs to teach Sasha that.

Fish must have watched the film and noticed those masonary blocks he's been shooting only help the other team.

Phil is doing a great job of using his personnel. I'm enjoying him fighting the urge to just throw a guy in to see how he'll do when the team on the court has good chemistry. This is not the season for experimentation like that.

Bynum is putting up really good numbers and playing with great energy and focus.

I really hope we keep blowing teams out because Mihm, Powell and Luke need to get the rust off.

After being wowed by Yi's size and mobility tonight I'm also anxious to see Sun get some run.

We need an Mbenga siting to occur during this homestand. He looks sad on the bench in street clothes.
You're the best DB.
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Stop crying and start doing.

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/addicusbrown

[MedRomLaker]

Great intro man you had me cracking up, its like something straight out of resident evil or some novel,

As for the game was amazed at how we buckled down in the 2nd on the Defensive end, loved Lo's activity he was allover the place. And seeing GB dominate without K was a thing of beauty.
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11/9/12 the day the brown was flushed down!!!!!!

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

[KingKobe20]

I thought it was cool when D. Harris crashed into the Lakergirls and decided to chill there for a minute.

[Tanlentueux]

great report and allusion to the crime scene is magnificent!

[dot3]

[limchrc]

Thanks.

[yanyon]

i like the sound of the 4 horsemen... together with the death riders....

i also liked that shot with all 4 (gasol, kobe, bynum, fish or lamar) sitting on the bench with ice packs on their knees..

[RCS926]

I love the fact that Drew has been trying to throw down power dunks over the last few games. I don't think he's too far from becoming the offensive beast he was last year...

[Rick12322]

It always sounds good to say we held a team to a low percentage, but last night as is often the case, the other team had many open looks they simply missed.

LO is playing great this year, and I hope we can find a way to keep him. Can you spell "dynasty?" LO is letting his shots fly without any concern of whether they should be taken or not and it's making all the difference. He plays so much better in the free for all offense of the second unit.

Radmanovic's passing is underrated.

[Rick12322]

Thanks for the recap DB.

[Alpha]

[LA1969]

Last night as I was watching the game, it occured to me that the Lake show was in fact toying with them. One minute we are all tied up at 66, then poof! we are up by 14 or whatever it was. That second half was so firken awsome to behold, go Jordan! Go LO! Kobe has a terrible night but we still kick arse. I LOVE this team!
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"Time wounds all heels". -John Lennon