Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 12:11 am Post subject: MAGIC -at- LAKERS - 1/16 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings
The Magic Act... You see Little Larry O'Brien again standing on yellow stones amid a raging battle, the wounded falling at his feet. Hands reach for him and are struck down. Bold rushes are made toward him and collapse just short. Behind him, a large number "16" is etched in the stone of an archway. You never noticed that before. You look down and see the blood on your hands. The dream fades...and fades...and fade...
You blink and wake up to a kaleidoscope of blue sky fighting its way through leaves of green, red and yellow from the trees above you. You wake up to another lump on the back of your head. You reach back to see if there is any blood, but there is none. Someone must have snuck up on you. Pulling your hand back, you notice words scribbled on it -- a message in someone else's handwriting: "Too many questions can be unhealthy." It's signed by "The Association."
She tried to warn you. Sitting up too quickly makes your head pound. You brush the leaves off and stagger through the grass of some kind of run down amusement park. No, it's a traveling carnival, but it's all but dead. Across the street you see grown men trapped inside glass boxes like prisoners in cells. As you approach, they scream at you, but you can't hear a word through the thick glass.
A scantily clad woman with the vacant eyes of a weathered carny worker pulls black silk over each of the glass boxes. She gestures with her hands for you to pull the fabric away. You oblige. One by one each of the men in the glass boxes has disappeared. You grab the cloth for the last box and pull it free. Nothing but an empty glass. Impressive.
There's a note taped to the glass that wasn't there before the cloth covered it. DancingBarry again. How'd he do that?
The Four Horsemen were here. They couldn't contain their opponent in the second half of the battle. And in the final minute, they fell at the hands of the littlest warrior. They retreated to regroup. For the first time, a single opponent has beaten them twice.
I will continue to follow them...
Jameer Nelson has killed the Lakers twice. He torched the Lakers in crunch time once again as the team failed to contain the Magic, giving up 65 second-half points. Nelson's 28 points led the Magic to a 109-103 victory over the Lakers.
Despite a triple-double from Kobe, he missed a number of shots down the stretch.
"He had good looks," Phil Jackson said in the Times. "Some nights they're not going to go in. The message is, defense has to be the thing that carries you night in and night out. When shots don't go in, you play defense and stop a team, and we didn't do that tonight."
The Laker D was certainly having it's issues, but Phil never changed up his defensive assignments on Nelson. No Ariza or Kobe on him. That length and athleticism might have made the difference on some of the key possessions. The Lakers freethrow shooting also hurt them down the stretch.
The win allowed the Magic to improve their record to 32-8, jumping above the Lakers now at 31-8 as we close in on the midway point of the season. If the teams manage to meet up again, it will be in the Finals.
Kobe -- -- Kobe has been flirting with some triple-double-ish games of late. He finally popped one. Too bad it will go down as nothing more than a loss. After a series of good fourth quarters from Kobe, the wheels fell off this time. Kobe made just 1 of his last 10 attempts of the game. The Lakers were able to recover a couple of those misses and turn them into points, but couldn't overcome the others. We missed his efficiency and fourth quarter scoring. He also had a few too many turnovers. The Lakers shot 39.8 percent as a team. Kobe and DFish combined for 13-37 shooting. The Stats: He scored 28 points on 10-26 shooting (1-5 from three, 7-8 from the line) to go with 13 boards, 11 assists, 2 steals, 6 turnovers and 3 fouls in 41 minutes. The Action: He hit Bynum trailing for a dunk on the Lakers first hoop. Not many make this next one: he pumpfaked at the elbow a couple times, spun and hit the left-hander from 15 feet out. He was called for a carry (no advantage gained). He sank a 17-footer getting the soft bounce. He stalled the offense and missed a forced 21-footer. He drew the D and hit Vlad for a couple threes. He sank a face-up jumper over Reddick. He lobbed to Bynum for the score after drawing Howard over. He powered a layup over Howard. He missed a turnaround in the lane. He telegraphed a pass, turnover. He hit a jab-step wing jumper. He kicked out to Fish for the three. He had 7 assists in the half. Second Half: Poor transition D, not getting back and it gave up a layup. He attacked down the lane and scooped in a layup. He went behind his back to Bynum for the open jumper. He missed a wing jumper off the screen. He dove for a ball, but then threw it away (sounded and looked like he scraped himself on that). He posted up Nelson and drew FTs, he made both. He missed an open wing jumper. He missed an easy FT jumper, Lamar dug it out and kicked it to him for a three. He hit Vlad trailing the play for a wide open three. He pushed out a break, spotted Vlad and hit him for the three. He missed a jumphook. Good battling on the glass to retain a possession. He telegraphed a return pass to Pau, turnover. He attacked and missed at the end of the third, but Pau cleaned it up. He had 17 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds after the third. Weak transition D and Reddick hit a three over him. He swished a wing jumper over Reddick. He drew FTs on Reddick on the next possession on an elbow jumper, he made both. He drained a wing jumper. He airballed a pull-up three. He missed a jumper over Howard, but got the rebound back and drew FTs, he made one. He drew FTs tracking down a loose ball, he made both. He swung through with contact, attacked, was drilled to the floor on the layup with no call. He worked off the high screen, changed speeds and scored a layup. He missed an open elbow jumper and a three. He attacked past Howard, took contact with no call, chucked it up and missed, but Pau easily cleaned it up. He missed a pull-up wing jumper with 15 seconds left. He was 1-8 at this point. He pulled up for a three and missed with 8 seconds left. He missed a corner three. So, make that 1-10 to close the game.
Gasol -- -- I would have liked to see us go to Pau more in the post. He's too crafty for whatever defenders the Magic throw at him not to run a lot more offense through him. There were times when we struggled to get good looks. Pau usually makes the offense click. He did a good job crashing the glass on that end to help the Lakers, especially down the stretch. Defensively, he had to defend some shooters and Howard, tricky assignment. He still managed to out-board Bynum. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-13 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 9 boards (5 offensive), 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 33 minutes. The Action: Excellent challenge on rotation to get a piece of a corner three. He missed a turnaround, but Drew put it back in. He missed another turnaround, but Drew grabbed it again. He got completely hacked with no call. He drew an offensive foul on Howard. He iso'd on Howard and drew another foul, he made one FT. He missed a baseline jumper. He got into Howard's body and hit the shot in the lane. He swished a FT jumper off the Kobe pass. He drew FTs on Gortat in the post, he made both. Second Half: He posted up and swished over Lewis (more please). He threw a pass away, it led to a three in transition. He was stripped, hit on the arm and knocked it out of bounds, turnover. He set a screen at midcourt for Kobe, crashed the glass and tipped once, twice and the third time it went in just before the third-quarter buzzer. He was called for a tech with 1:51 for giving Howard a shove after he took an elbow to the head. He tapped out a rebound to LO off a missed FT. He did it again, but they called a foul on him this time, FTs for Howard on the other end. He put back in a Kobe miss with 52 seconds left.
Bynum -- -- Well, there was no foul trouble to take him out of the game this time. Bynum put together a good offensive game, but his rebounding of late has been ridiculous. Bynum had just 3 boards all game. Howard had 20, including 8 on the offensive glass. Bynum has simply got to do a better job rebounding and boxing out. Our defense has softened up and Drew has been a big part of that. He did get a couple swats tonight, but he's got to get that defensive presence back. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 6-13 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards (2 offensive), 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 33 minutes. The Action: He dunked on the first hoop of the game when Kobe drew a crowd and hit him. Another early offense score next time down and he powered the hoop over Howard. He missed an elbow jumper on the next trip. He took an offensive board and scored the Lakers third hoop. Another offensive board off a Pau miss. His jumphook was blocked by Howard. He missed a jumphook, got it back and somehow missed an easy one in front of the rim. He drop-stepped and swished the baseline turnaround next time down. He picked up a phantom foul disrupting a drive. He drew FTs on an oop attempt from Fish, he made both. He swatted a Nelson drive. He scored a layup off the screen-roll lob from Kobe. He had 12 points on 5-9 shooting and 3 boards. Second Half: He missed an oop over Howard and was upset with himself. He missed a turnaround in the post. He sank a 13-footer of the kickout from Kobe. He blocked a Nelson drive. No box out and he gave up a putback dunk. He missed a jumper over Howard in the lane. No box out, gave up a board, didn't body up with Howard, lob dunk.
Radmanovic -- -- Pretty good effort from Vlad. He was draining threes when the Magic collapsed and packed the paint. A number of Kobe's assists were to an open Impaler behind the arc. He was never abused on the defensive end. He was part of the problem on that last three by Nelson, but that seemed more like confusion by others. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-9 shooting (5-8 from three) to go with 1 board and 2 fouls. The Action: He swished a wing three on his first attempt. He missed a step-back three. He swished a sideline three next time down when Kobe drew his man and kicked. He missed an open corner three on the next possession. Fourth straight trip with a three attempt from Vlad, he swished this one from the right side. He wasn't ready for a pass from Lamar and it bounced off his hands. Second Half: He missed a three off the kickout from Pau. He swished a wide open three to force a Magic timeout. He swished a three in transition out of the timeout.
Fisher -- -- After the groin injury, DFish logged 41 minutes. Phil thought Fish would be good physically, but wasn't sure about the mental toll the mistake in the last game would take. He might want to think about the mental toll that Jameer Nelson has taken. He has owned us in this match-up. Nelson scored another 28 points on us, goign 9-18, while dishing 8 assists. He has just torched us. At least in the last game, DFish was able to get some of that back on the offensive end. Not this time. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-11 shooting (2-6 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 41 minutes. The Action: He deflected a pass on the screen roll and stole it. He missed a floater badly off the glass (just pull up and shoot). He missed an early offense three. He airballed a three with the shotclock low. He swiped a pass and was fouled. He drew a moving screen call. He curled into the lane off a Kobe screen and drew FTs, he made one. He attacked baseline and suddenly reversed on everyone. He missed a wing three. He swished his next one on our last shot of the half. Second Half: He got caught on a swing through move 30 feet away from the hoop, giving up three. Ugggh. He missed a three, rattling in and out. He funneled his man to an open hoop for a dunk. He missed a baseline jumper. He either missed horribly or he was fouled on a three attempt, no call. He swished an open sideline three off the Kobe/Pau two-man with 2 minutes left.
Lamar -- -- Lamar Odom once again with a team-high +10. He played a great game. Excellent job attacking his men off the dribble. Excellent aggression and recognition in that regard. The freethrows, though...arggggh. Defensively, he was rotating and contesting well. We got burned, however, on a key play that he was involved in. He tried to help on a Hedo drive (probably didn't need to), the defense got scrambled and that left Nelson open with Lamar too late to rotate. Nelson hit the clutch three with 35 seconds to take the lead and eventually the game. That was the dagger. He's looking good, however, and it seems that the knee scare is now just a speed bump in the road. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 6-11 shooting (1-3 from three, 4-8 from the line) to go with 9 boards (3 offensive), 3 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 30 minutes. The Action: He posted up and bricked a fade in the lane. He drained a three trailing the break at the end of the first quarter. He crowded Lewis and made him throw a pass away on a drive. He missed an elbow fade. Second Half: He attacked the middle of the lane off the Kobe pass and scored the And-1 layup, he made the FT. He dug out a miss and kicked it to Kobe for the three. Great help D swat to save Kobe and ignite a break. He iso'd on Battie, blew past him to his left and drew FTs, he made one. He attacked Howard to his left, took contact with no call and scored the layup. He iso'd on Battie, attacked to his right and scored with his right. Quick first step past Battie from the elbow and he drew a goaltend on his layup. He cut off Hedo's drive and forced a travel. He airballed an early offense three. He pushed out the break and set up Ariza for FTs. He drew FTs on Lewis, he made one. He grabbed a miss by Kobe and powered up an And-1 over Howard to tie the game. He missed the FT, Pau tapped it back out to him and LO attacked drawing two FTs with 1:04 left, he made one. He missed a three at the buzzer.
Ariza -- -- I was hoping we would go to Ariza on Nelson down the stretch. He has been playing some great D on point guards and Nelson has been having his way with us. We never saw it. The Cobra struck early with a huge throwdown in this game and then a jumper, but he missed the rest of his shots. Phil eventually ended up with some offensive-defensive subs with Vlad. That huge three by Nelson down the stretch was initiated by the Magic attacking Vlad on the drive. Phil didn't have a deadball to bring Ariza back in. I'm still happy to see Brian Cook in a Magic jersey getting a DNP for them. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-7 shooting (0-2 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 steal and 3 fouls in 21 minutes. The Action: Quick first step to blow past his man and he threw down an And-1 dunk over Gortat, he made the FT. He swished an 18-footer behind a Bynum screen. He missed an open three. He missed on an attack in transition. He missed a layup off the great feed with the left from Kobe. Second Half: He missed a sideline jumper. He drew FTs on a throwdown attempt in transition, he made both. Great read to intercept a pass and draw a foul. He missed a wing three.
Vujacic -- -- He entered the game with 2 minutes left in the first. Good to have him back, but he essentially played like the broken Machine. Clanked his threes and gave up silly perimeter fouls. Not a good game from him, but hopefully he can bounce back soon to where he left off before the back spasms. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-3 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 1 board and 3 fouls in 13 minutes. The Action: First defensive stand he was called for a handcheck foul. He missed a wide open three. He missed a wing three, not getting squared up. Second Half: Dumb perimeter foul with the shotclock low and the Magic in trouble.
Phil -- -- Phil revealed that in the last game Kobe wanted to go right after the FT make, instead of taking a timeout in the last game. He said they could have still taken the timeout and given Kobe the opportunity to bring it full court, if he wanted. Perhaps, Phil will call the timeout next time... A lot of three shooting by the Lakers in the first quarter. Mostly inside-out possessions off Kobe drives and kicks. The Lakers led 23-20... Kobe was setting the table for others with ease and the Lakers led 52-44 at the half... The Lakers had a 10 point lead, then the Magic went on a 9-0 run to catch them... Very poor offensive execution by the Lakers. The Magic pulled out to a big lead, but the Lakers reeled them back in near the end of the third... The Lakers were out-scored 30-23 in the third. They led 75-74 to start the fourth... Both teams got a number of second-chance points in the fourth. But the Lakers couldn't get stops late in the game... He brought in Vlad for Ariza with 2:35 left down by 2. And made a couple subs with the two of them... Up 96-95, the officials called a tech on Pau when Howard elbowed him (the Magic missed). They also gave the the Magic two FTs with a late whistle on a questionable call when Lewis had to chuck up a prayer... With 15 seconds left down by three, Phil called a timeout. We went for a Kobe three and missed... No Powell in this game despite the impressive effort last time out. No Lamar at SF, either...
Game Flow -- LINK -- The Magic turned the game around in the third until LO came off the bench and help turn it back.
Alot of people angry at Drew and Fish (including me) but npt enough blame is going towards Phil. His rotations were terrible.
Why didnt we see more of Ariza at the 1 to defend Nelson?
DNP for Powell when we were getting killed on the glass? _________________ DancingBarry wrote:
Note to LeBron: You block Machine's shot, Machine hit three on you instead. Machine not witness...
damn it phil why no powell. only kobe and lo brought some energy today, powell would have helped bring more. , man this game pissed me off, this was ANOTHER close game we should have won. stunted.
ps great intro man, got me to laugh, makes me feel a bit better after this frustrating loss. _________________ 11/9/12 the day the brown was flushed down!!!!!!
Why do you think PJ didn't put "Cobra" on Jameer, could it be because he wanted to keep DFish in the game?
Wassup with Drew wating for the ball to go to him for rebounds> There were plays where Bynum got caught flat-footed or mentallould y lost where potential rebounds were available for him to get?
Why are Pau/Bynum being greatly "outrebounded" by opposing teams? If we have two 7-footers in the lineup, how can the Lakers be beaten in this stat. Howard will get many rebounds, but are the Magic's forwards known for rebounding - NO. Bynum/Pau should be able to get any misses from shooters such as Kobe at the end of games - shouldn't they!?!?!
I kinda agree with Stormin' Norman that DFish is particlally limited physically and Sasha is working through his injuries>
Why do you think PJ didn't put "Cobra" on Jameer, could it be because he wanted to keep DFish in the game?
If I'm guessing it's because he was worried about spacing on the other end. But maybe he was hoping Fish would redeem himself from the prior game. I do think Trevor would have caused Nelson some problems.
Quote:
Wassup with Drew wating for the ball to go to him for rebounds> There were plays where Bynum got caught flat-footed or mentallould y lost where potential rebounds were available for him to get?
Not sure. It's a big problem. I think Phil may need to rock Bynum's world a little to send a message. I'm glad Drew is developing his offensive game because that will be important down the line. But there has been far too much standing around defensively.
Joined: 30 Nov 2006 Posts: 33474 Location: Long Beach, California
Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 1:53 am Post subject:
DancingBarry wrote:
Quote:
Wassup with Drew wating for the ball to go to him for rebounds> There were plays where Bynum got caught flat-footed or mentallould y lost where potential rebounds were available for him to get?
Not sure. It's a big problem. I think Phil may need to rock Bynum's world a little to send a message. I'm glad Drew is developing his offensive game because that will be important down the line. But there has been far too much standing around defensively.
It's disgusting how easy it has been for opposing big men to literally "walk" Bynum out of boxing out position. He barely puts any effort into getting position to get a rebound. _________________ LakersGround's Terms of Service
About Bynum´s rebounding, sometimes he´s out of position because he get to three point line to check a PG. He also is sometimes boxing-out the other team big man, and the rebound goes to other players (Pau, Lamar, Kobe). Is out there any stat showing the +/- rebounds with Andrew in or out of the game? Has anybody checked statiscally if/how Andrew´s presence help the others rebounds/minute stats ?
thanks, DB
this game emphasized all the problems we have:
-our huge liability at pg position... with all our affection for him, fish is embarassing
-our defensive strategy: you can't always let their three point shooters wide open, that's our coach's philosophy and it's a tremendous mistake
-bad defensive rotations
-gasol and bynum don't work together... when in preseason tex winter expressed his doubts, he was as always more than right... can you imagine what this team would be if we selected danny granger instead of bynum?... that's also why we can't trade odom: he's the only chance we have at pf especially on the defensive side...
About Bynum´s rebounding, sometimes he´s out of position because he get to three point line to check a PG. He also is sometimes boxing-out the other team big man, and the rebound goes to other players (Pau, Lamar, Kobe). Is out there any stat showing the +/- rebounds with Andrew in or out of the game? Has anybody checked statiscally if/how Andrew´s presence help the others rebounds/minute stats ?
Honestly man, we're way pass the point of making excuses for the kid.
3.5 average in the last 5 games is nothing short of absurd. There's just no excuse for it but lack of effort and intensity on that end of the floor.
Someone mentioned in another threat about one particular play that I also noted with disgust. The ball bounced up and Andrew had but to jump and reach for it and it was his. His feet were planted squarely to the floor and he was starting at the rim with a half ass reach towards the ball. Orlando naturally got the ball back and to exacerbate the problem, he looked away from Dwight who backdoored his ass on a dunk.
That play basically illustrates Andrew's play as of late. Zero to no hustle.
I'm curious as to why PJ didn't put Ariza on Nelson? Trevor seems to have a knack for shutting these smaller guys down. _________________ "You Must Be Willing To Give Up That Which Can Be Lost In Order To Gain That Which Cannot Be Lost." - FORTUNE COOKIE
Joined: 23 Jul 2004 Posts: 12898 Location: Los Angeles
Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 6:02 am Post subject:
Our PG problems are what they are.
Fish is slow. Can't do anything about that. Sure we can try Trevor here or there, and maybe Phil will do that more.
Sometimes, your shot is off. You push through it until it gets better.
But what do you do about someone who absolutely refuses to chase a rebound?
What do you do about someone who is so clearly and almost deliberately ignoring the basic big man defensive fundamentals?
Drew has still not accepted the role we need him to play. He has drifted further and further away from it with every game. And it's starting to cost us.
It may be time to send Drew back to the bench for awhile. _________________ So glad we gave you your flowers while you were here, Kobe.
Joined: 03 Nov 2004 Posts: 8272 Location: San Diego, CA
Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 6:16 am Post subject:
-I'm not as mad about this loss as i was the spurs game. hate losing at home though.
-Phil needs to realize he cant let this team "just play thru it." a timeout or 2 would have been nice during orlandos 25-6 run in the 3rd.
-We need to sign pargo, fish is killing us with these extending minutes
-Bynum needs to grab some damn rebounds!
-Why does this laker team always give up the open 3 in crunch time?
-dont like the trend of Ariza settling for jumpers
-Kobe's triple double was ruined with this loss
-How does kobe not get the foul called on D.howard?
-Phil needs to find more minutes for L.O.
-do you guys think Kobe's thumb was bothering him from diving on the floor? he missed a couple of FT and missed that 1 three BADLY.
-orlando lucked out to have our shot rim out in both games against them
Cant wait til Monday. the only positive I took from this game was that I know for a fact that we will beat the Cavs now. Theres no way this team loses 3 straight. _________________ "When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu
About Bynum´s rebounding, sometimes he´s out of position because he get to three point line to check a PG. He also is sometimes boxing-out the other team big man, and the rebound goes to other players (Pau, Lamar, Kobe). Is out there any stat showing the +/- rebounds with Andrew in or out of the game? Has anybody checked statiscally if/how Andrew´s presence help the others rebounds/minute stats ?
I watched the entire game against SA in slow motion just to look for this. There were no more than two times when Drew either failed to react correctly or didn't react at all toward getting a rebound. All the rest were clearly going toward teammates and he's not fighting for them over his own teammates. That's how he got the injury last year fighting LO over a rebound. Indeed, most of the time he's either got a body on the big he's covering and the ball bounces the other way toward a teammate or he's out checking a guard on the PnR.
But I still feel he conserves energy too much picking his spots, because he hasn't reached peak conditioning. After playing against Howard, maybe now he realizes he's got to work a lot harder to hit his maximum level. He should be more like an uncoiled spring out there as long as he's on the floor, but we rarely see bursts of that kind of energy.
One solution would be to give him shorter stints, requiring maximum energy or going to the bench. But as it stands now Pau is logging too many minutes, the last month has shown how fatigue has set in because of it. And we can hardly afford to bring in foul magnets Mbenga and Mihm.
Joined: 23 Jul 2004 Posts: 12898 Location: Los Angeles
Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 8:01 am Post subject:
Quote:
I watched the entire game against SA in slow motion just to look for this. There were no more than two times when Drew either failed to react correctly or didn't react at all toward getting a rebound. All the rest were clearly going toward teammates and he's not fighting for them over his own teammates. That's how he got the injury last year fighting LO over a rebound. Indeed, most of the time he's either got a body on the big he's covering and the ball bounces the other way toward a teammate or he's out checking a guard on the PnR.
Rick,
I applaud your attempts at excusing Drew's inexcusable play. I really do. But a few things:
1. The ball wasn't just going toward other teammates. His teammates positioned themselves to get those rebounds once they figured out that Drew wasn't chasing anything off the glass. They compensated for his lack of activity.
2. You don't have to fight your teammates for rebounds when you establish yourself as an anchor. The reason why they're there going for rebounds is because he's not.
3. Drew didn't hurt himself fighting Lamar for that rebound last year. That injury was Lamar's fault. Drew had the inside position and the rebound. Lamar was standing up under him. _________________ So glad we gave you your flowers while you were here, Kobe.
Don't think DB would agree with me, but it seems the Lakers just can not defend well for consistent stretches with AB + Pau. Something is wrong there, I just feel it. There's not enough cohesion and chemistry. Andrew's rebounding is horrible, but even when he was rebounding well earlier in the season, the starters were not playing well enough. The main thing about last night that got to me is that the Lakers had a 10 point lead in the 3rd Q. The starters allowed that to be lost, and even go down all the way to a 9 point deficit. At home. Simply unacceptable. Personally, I have seen enough of that.
I still think this is the most talented team in the NBA, but right now guys aren't being maximized. IMO the chemistry, balance and all around cohesion would be best served with starting Lamar or Powell. This forces the Lakers to become more consistent in who they want to feed inside (the Center and primary post option is well defined). What we're missing so much of this year is Pau finding guys from the highpost. He was such a good set up man last year for players cutting into the paint. At C, teams have to respect Pau's game from the highpost and he tends to draw his man out of the lowpost. From there he can attack off the dribble. Considering he's a similar caliber man defender at C, with Lamar or Powell at the 4, LA's pick and roll defense would be improved. Our rotations would be quicker. Our transition defense is better because of better mobility in the back. With the way Lamar and Powell usually rebound, our rebounding is better. The only thing we lose is a quality post player and post position. However, as we're seeing Andrew's extra talent in those areas is not helping our starters.
In regards to Andrew, he has become a guy that loves to score and put up numbers there. I actually think a 6th man role suits him most of the big 3. He can come in and be the aggressive offensive player he is right now. With less minutes to play, he can be more active in defense, not worried about FT. Andrew needs some fire being lit under him again. He has to take pride in his all around game again. Considering it comes down to Pau vs AB, you go with Pau because he's the veteran to start. That doesn't mean AB can't be huge, he can be. Only in a different role.
My take after 39 games is that the Lakers are best of going back to a quicker lineup, especially since Phil already has abandoned the "possession basketball" strategy. There's very little point in starting two Centers when you are a top 5 team in terms of pace. Yes, the Lakers are a top 5 team in terms of pace and how quickly we play.
Go with Lamar and Powell at the 4. Go with AB as 6th man. We can feature 3 main lineups that way.
When Farmar's back - we'll have a strong 2nd unit of Bynum/Powell/Ariza/Vujacic/Farmar. I think that 2nd unit can score just as much as the current one is. Especially with AB's post game. Against 2nd string C's, AB will dominate more.
The defense improves a whole lot as does the cohesion. A change is needed, otherwise I worry we are heading in that direction many other deep, greatly talented offensive teams went during their championship window. #1 offense. Great RS record. No ring in June because of lack of defense and cohesion.
I watched the entire game against SA in slow motion just to look for this. There were no more than two times when Drew either failed to react correctly or didn't react at all toward getting a rebound. All the rest were clearly going toward teammates and he's not fighting for them over his own teammates. That's how he got the injury last year fighting LO over a rebound. Indeed, most of the time he's either got a body on the big he's covering and the ball bounces the other way toward a teammate or he's out checking a guard on the PnR.
Rick,
I applaud your attempts at excusing Drew's inexcusable play. I really do. But a few things:
1. The ball wasn't just going toward other teammates. His teammates positioned themselves to get those rebounds once they figured out that Drew wasn't chasing anything off the glass. They compensated for his lack of activity.
2. You don't have to fight your teammates for rebounds when you establish yourself as an anchor. The reason why they're there going for rebounds is because he's not.
3. Drew didn't hurt himself fighting Lamar for that rebound last year. That injury was Lamar's fault. Drew had the inside position and the rebound. Lamar was standing up under him.
Thanks, I agree he needs to show more energy, i said that, didn't I? In fact, energy is the basis of most of his problems, he's measuring it out. On those offensive sequences where he doesn't go after a rebound but could, he's thinking he needs to get back on transition, and what if I don't get it?
But on many plays, he's concerned about leaving his man, or he's out top setting high screens, or he gets frozen while trying to decide to leave his man to go after a guard on the SR, knowing fully well that if he isn't able to disrupt the guards play the ball will end up a dunk by his guy. We've seen this dozens of times before when other Lakers don't rotate to his guy. It happened last night.
You have to acknowledge those thing also. These are not "excuses," they are reasons. "Excuses" are when you do something wrong and try to explain it away to avoid responsibility. I'm just analyzing what' I see happening with his game and trying to come up with solutions. That's part of the fun of being fan.
Joined: 23 Jul 2004 Posts: 12898 Location: Los Angeles
Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 10:08 am Post subject:
The solution is simple - WORK or SIT DOWN.
I get the screen roll issues. But you can't leave the gate open. Phil has spelled out time and again what he wants from Drew - defense and rebounding. We're getting neither. You still have to do what big man do, which is defend the other man and clean the glass. 3 things should've occured to Drew at some point during this week of games:
1. Damn, I'm getting pwned.
2. Damn, I'm getting pwned.
and
3. Damn, I'm really getting pwned.
But he doesn't seem to care, and that's what's disturbing. _________________ So glad we gave you your flowers while you were here, Kobe.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
-- Kobe has been flirting with some triple-double-ish games of late. He finally popped one. Too bad it will go down as nothing more than a loss. After a series of good fourth quarters from Kobe, the wheels fell off this time. Kobe made just 1 of his last 10 attempts of the game. The Lakers were able to recover a couple of those misses and turn them into points, but couldn't overcome the others. We missed his efficiency and fourth quarter scoring. He also had a few too many turnovers. The Lakers shot 39.8 percent as a team. Kobe and DFish combined for 13-37 shooting. 
-- I would have liked to see us go to Pau more in the post. He's too crafty for whatever defenders the Magic throw at him not to run a lot more offense through him. There were times when we struggled to get good looks. Pau usually makes the offense click. He did a good job crashing the glass on that end to help the Lakers, especially down the stretch. Defensively, he had to defend some shooters and Howard, tricky assignment. He still managed to out-board Bynum. 
-- Well, there was no foul trouble to take him out of the game this time. Bynum put together a good offensive game, but his rebounding of late has been ridiculous. Bynum had just 3 boards all game. Howard had 20, including 8 on the offensive glass. Bynum has simply got to do a better job rebounding and boxing out. Our defense has softened up and Drew has been a big part of that. He did get a couple swats tonight, but he's got to get that defensive presence back. 
-- Pretty good effort from Vlad. He was draining threes when the Magic collapsed and packed the paint. A number of Kobe's assists were to an open Impaler behind the arc. He was never abused on the defensive end. He was part of the problem on that last three by Nelson, but that seemed more like confusion by others. 
-- After the groin injury, DFish logged 41 minutes. Phil thought Fish would be good physically, but wasn't sure about the mental toll the mistake in the last game would take. He might want to think about the mental toll that Jameer Nelson has taken. He has owned us in this match-up. Nelson scored another 28 points on us, goign 9-18, while dishing 8 assists. He has just torched us. At least in the last game, DFish was able to get some of that back on the offensive end. Not this time. 
-- Lamar Odom once again with a team-high +10. He played a great game. Excellent job attacking his men off the dribble. Excellent aggression and recognition in that regard. The freethrows, though...arggggh. Defensively, he was rotating and contesting well. We got burned, however, on a key play that he was involved in. He tried to help on a Hedo drive (probably didn't need to), the defense got scrambled and that left Nelson open with Lamar too late to rotate. Nelson hit the clutch three with 35 seconds to take the lead and eventually the game. That was the dagger. He's looking good, however, and it seems that the knee scare is now just a speed bump in the road. 
-- I was hoping we would go to Ariza on Nelson down the stretch. He has been playing some great D on point guards and Nelson has been having his way with us. We never saw it. The Cobra struck early with a huge throwdown in this game and then a jumper, but he missed the rest of his shots. Phil eventually ended up with some offensive-defensive subs with Vlad. That huge three by Nelson down the stretch was initiated by the Magic attacking Vlad on the drive. Phil didn't have a deadball to bring Ariza back in. I'm still happy to see Brian Cook in a Magic jersey getting a DNP for them. 
-- He entered the game with 2 minutes left in the first. Good to have him back, but he essentially played like the broken Machine. Clanked his threes and gave up silly perimeter fouls. Not a good game from him, but hopefully he can bounce back soon to where he left off before the back spasms. 
-- Phil revealed that in the last game Kobe wanted to go right after the FT make, instead of taking a timeout in the last game. He said they could have still taken the timeout and given Kobe the opportunity to bring it full court, if he wanted. Perhaps, Phil will call the timeout next time... A lot of three shooting by the Lakers in the first quarter. Mostly inside-out possessions off Kobe drives and kicks. The Lakers led 23-20... Kobe was setting the table for others with ease and the Lakers led 52-44 at the half... The Lakers had a 10 point lead, then the Magic went on a 9-0 run to catch them... Very poor offensive execution by the Lakers. The Magic pulled out to a big lead, but the Lakers reeled them back in near the end of the third... The Lakers were out-scored 30-23 in the third. They led 75-74 to start the fourth... Both teams got a number of second-chance points in the fourth. But the Lakers couldn't get stops late in the game... He brought in Vlad for Ariza with 2:35 left down by 2. And made a couple subs with the two of them... Up 96-95, the officials called a tech on Pau when Howard elbowed him (the Magic missed). They also gave the the Magic two FTs with a late whistle on a questionable call when Lewis had to chuck up a prayer... With 15 seconds left down by three, Phil called a timeout. We went for a Kobe three and missed... No Powell in this game despite the impressive effort last time out. No Lamar at SF, either...
damn it phil why no powell. only kobe and lo brought some energy today, powell would have helped bring more. 
, man this game pissed me off, this was ANOTHER close game we should have won. stunted.
