LAKERS -at- CAVS - 2/8 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Statements on the Road... This yellow brick road you've been following leads up to a large palace where it abrubtly ends. In gold lettering, the words "LePalace" shimmer in the daylight. The ground begins to rumble like a freight train. Beams of bright light blast through the windows, shattering them. Stained glass rains around you like a jeweled hail storm.

After a moment of silence, there's a scream from inside. "The King!" someone yells. "King James!" You rush up the steps of LePalace and through an open front door. Several men pick up a stretcher, carrying away an unconscious man with a crown bent painfully around his head. Another man wearing a black t-shirt that reads "Witness" on it rushes up to you with his hands raised. You recognize him from the church weeks ago. "What's going on?" you ask.

"Nothing," he says, panic stricken. "You witnessed nothing. Got it?"

"Not this again," you groan. "I just witnessed a man with a broken-ass crown being led out on a stretcher."

"No you didn't," he tries to convince you. You tell the weasel to shut up and step around him. Everywhere you look, servants walk around stunned. They haven't seen anything like this. The interior of LePalace was thrashed, scorched and still smoking. A butler approaches with a silver platter. On it is an envelope, sealed in purple and gold wax with a "DB" monogram. You open it and read:

Three of the Four Horsemen were here. Famine sailed in on a white horse, a change in horses for this battle. He devastated the opponent with a relentless attack. Their opponent was starved into submission in the second half of the battle, and there was no mercy for the King.

I was a witness. I will continue to follow them...

One by one, the Lakers knocked out their opponents on this road trip. After snapping another Celtic streak, the Lakers marched into Cleveland holding the best road record against this, the best home team. Down went the Cavs 23-0 home record.

The Cavs scored 30 points in the second half of the Lakers 101-91 win, and LeBron James was held to just 16 points on 5-20 shooting. Lamar Odom beasted it up for the Lakers with an overwhelming third quarter on his way to 28 points and 17 boards. He abused the Cavs interior, piling up points in the paint off some excellent passing by others.

The Lakers once again played LeBron to shoot and packed the paint. This resulted in good looks for the Cavs on the perimeter, but nothing for LeBron and nothing in the paint. They tightened their perimeter D in the second half and did a superb job challenging anything that came in the paint.

They won the battle of the paint 62-24. Domination. They won the road trip 6-0. Statement made.


Kobe -- -- He was under the weather, throwing up and didn't come out to warm up in the second half as he got an IV. He said the IV fluid made him cold and he tried to warm up on the bench with towels. He looked drained throughout, and eventually left with 12 seconds to go to get an early start on treatment in the locker room. Good effort by Kobe defensively and his teammates did a lot more heavy lifting on the other end. He and the team took LeBron out. The Lakers made a concerted effort to pack the paint and keep LeBron on the perimeter. LeBron, despite supposedly working on his post game, never went into the post in this game against Kobe. A great job by the Lakers second unit allowed Kobe to run just 35 minutes. Sick, defending LeBron and he still out-scored him on the head-to-head match up. LeBron's lack of a well-rounded game is being taken advantage of. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 8-17 shooting (0-2 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He missed a wing jumper on our first attempt. Overly aggressive D and he fouled LeBron on the second defensive stand. He swiped a pass. He posted up and hit the 7-footer in the lane. He cut down the lane, took the pass and hit the short one (looked like he was hit, too). He curled from the weakside, took the pass from Pau and scored the And-1 layup, he made the FT. He missed a turnaround on the baseline. He didn't close out in transition and gave up a three. He missed a hanging shot in early offense. He hit a pull-up wing jumper and wanted the foul. He was fouled on a drive with 4.9 seconds in the quarter, he made both. He let Pavlovic take a 70-foot pass and score at the end of the quarter. He had 11 points on 4-7 shooting in the quarter. He missed a long, early offense turnaround (not good shot selection). He sealed LeBron under the hoop in transition and quickly scored a layup over him (very nice). He missed a pull-up jumper. He was stripped at the half and gave up a layup on the final possession (second time Kobe was in on some kind of last-second, quarter closing score for the Cavs). He scored 13 points on 5-10 shooting and was a -9. LeBron had 8 points on 3-7 shooting and 6 assists. Second Half: He drained a 21-footer over LeBron. He hit a wing jumper over a double team. He got tapped on an elbow fade. He didn't challenge LeBron's jumper and gave him a push late (looked like a very tired defensive sequence). He missed a three. Not a lot of action from Kobe in the third as Lamar and Pau picked it up. After a long 6-minute rest, he came back in. He drained a rainbow fallaway over LeBron with under 3 minutes left after posting him up (did that same thing in L.A.) "That's not fair," said Mark Jackson. "That wrong on so many accounts, but so right for L.A." Van Gundy said. He missed a floater off the two-man with Pau (Pau cleaned it up). He missed a long three after running down the clock.

Gasol -- -- Pau led the team in assists. The chemistry with Lamar in this game was sensational. He set up Lamar a number of times for layups and led the team with 6 assists. Defensively, we allowed Z to hit jumpers while we packed the paint. Pau had some great challenges on LeBron and Williams anytime they tried to attack the paint. He struggled a little with his jumper at times and missed several chippies, but his post up game and his attacking off the dribble caused all kinds of issues. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 6-15 shooting (6-8 from the line) to go with 12 boards, 6 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 1 foul in 44 minutes. He was +11. The Action: He dunked a lob off a back screen. He set up Kobe for an And-1 layup with a pass under the hoop. He iso'd on Z and hit a lefty hook over him. He got tapped on a 3-footer he should have had. He scored easily over Z on iso. He was blocked trying to pump-fake on Z. He spun on Sideshow and drew FTs, he made both. He dunked off the pass from Sasha. He hit a short jumper in the lane. He missed a short jumper. He had 12 points on 5-9 shooting. Second Half: He missed a wing jumper. Good challenge on LeBron's drive to force a miss. He hit Lamar with a high entry in early offense to score a layup on a mismatch. Another good challenge on Williams to force a miss. He found Lamar in the paint for an And-1. He missed a jumphook. He pulled down an offensive board and quickly hit a cutting Lamar for a layup. He missed a short jumphook he should have had, but Lamar threw it back down. Good job working with Lamar in that third quarter. Great challenge again on LeBron's drive to force a miss. He missed a FT jumper. He was fouled with 2:27 left and made one FT. He missed a floater. He drew FTs on the offensive glass when Sideshow held him, he made both with 1:34. He threw down a putback jam off the two-man with Kobe. He was fouled again in the last few seconds, he made one FT.

Lamar -- -- He imposed his will in the third quarter -- one of his most impressive quarters of ball as a Laker. He scored 15 points on 7-8 shooting and pulled down 10 boards in the third. Odomination is right. That wasn't just the Lamar that teams fear when he shows up...he was twice that. His second halves in the past two games have been simply outstanding. Guys were looking for him anytime he had a mismatch. Pau was hitting him on cuts down the lane. A lot of good off-the-ball work by Lamar to get in position to score those. He locked down our defensive glass in the second half and even had a couple great challenges on dunk attempts to force misses. The look in Lamar's eyes in the past couple games remind of the locked-in look he had in the game he got injured a while back. Great job, excellent end of the road trip. "I'm just ready to go and put my feet in the sand," he said. Or, perhaps, he put it best a couple days ago when he mentioned something about "sailing off to the sunset on my white horse." The Stats: He scored 28 points on 13-19 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 17 boards (7 offensive), 2 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 2 foul in 38 minutes. The Action: He threw an in-bounds pass away. He attacked off the dribble and scored a layup. Poor seal and he let his man swipe the post entry. He took the post feed and jumphooked over Ben. He curled to around a screen scored a layup over Z. He choked a layup on a drive. He missed a step-back baseline jumper. He dunked off the bounce pass from Farmar. He tied up his man with a rejection. He missed a pull-up jumper on iso. He attacked baseline with a quick first step and drew FTs, he made one. He threw a pass away, points the other way. Good low position and he scored the easy jumphook. He didn't secure a freethrow miss and LeBron hit a three. He had 11 points on 5-10 shooting and was a -9. Second Half: He scored a layup off a great bounce pass from Luke. Nice challenge on Ben's dunk attempt to get a miss. Another challenge on Wallace to get a dunk miss. He was blocked by Wallace on a drive. He scored a layup off the interior feed from Luke. He sealed Williams in transition and scored the layup easily when Pau gave him a high pass. He took a pass in traffic from Pau and scored a tough And-1 off the glass, he made the FT. He cut off Gasol's offensive board, took the pass and scored the layup. He tipped an offensive board over a defender's head to himself and scored the layup. He closed the quarter with a putback jam off a Gasol miss and screamed. Brilliant, third quarter from LO with 15 points and 10 boards. Back in after a decent rest, he pulled down a board over his man and powered back up with both hands for the putback score.

Luke -- -- Quality game from Luke. He didn't have to go up against LeBron defensively. Although, I think with our defensive help scheme he probably could have done a better job than Ariza was giving at times. Offensively, he made some nice to feeds to LO for scores and ran the offense well. He attacked Wally decently when we went to that. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-6 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 2 boards, 4 assists, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a +13. The Action: He missed an open elbow jumper. Good challenge on LeBron in transition to force a miss. He made a 5-footer in the lane when Pau found him. Second Half: He threaded a bounce pass to Lamar for a layup. He swished a fade over Wally. He missed a point-blank reverse, should have had that with ease. He tried to force a bounce pass to Fish cutting down the lane (rarely a good idea to hit DFish on that) and it was picked off. He set up Lamar for a layup off an interior feed. He drained a corner three off the kickout from Farmar. He missed a corner three.

Fisher -- -- Mo Williams had a good first half as we were leaving him open while we sagged. In the second half, that all changed. The Lakers closed out much better despite still playing our same schemes. Fish had his hands on a few steals, including a nice one stripping LeBron as he attacked him off the dribble. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-9 shooting (2-6 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 2 steals and no fouls. He was a +10. The Action: He missed a three. He drained a corner three in early offense. He missed a three in early offense. He sank an early offense baseline jumper. He swiped the ball and was fouled. Second Half: He sank a sideline three on our first attempt. He missed a three. He attacked the lane and hit a short layup with his left. He swished a floater working off the weakside two-man with Lamar. He missed a three (Kobe was irked we didn't feed Lamar against Wally on that possession). He was hammered by Wally in transition trying to score a layup, he made just one FT with 3:33. He switched on LeBron, then stripped him on the drive (great D).

Ariza -- -- Some poor man D on three shooters. In fact, he was generally poor on D throughout the game...one of our weaker defenders in our schemes. He needs to be careful about understanding what we are trying to do against certain players. With Wally you want to crowd him. With LeBron you want to keep him in front of you, no gambling. He ended up finally getting a nice block on a LeBron three late in the game with a good recovery. Offensively, he needs to make sure he stays squared up those jumpers. When he did, he was knocking them down. Not a great road trip for Trevor, individually. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-7 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 2 blocks and 2 fouls in 18 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He swatted Williams drive. He missed a corner three. He dunked off the great lob pass from Sasha in transition. He hit an 18-footer off the screen. Mo Williams hit a three without a good challenge from Ariza. He didn't stay tight on Wally, giving up a three. A little closer on the next one, but still room to shoot and hit a three. Second Half: He missed a wing jumper. Nice bounce pass to Powell in semi-transition to score a layup. He was called for two straight fouls on screens. He missed a sideline three badly, fading. He swished a 20-footer off the pinch post, this time squaring up. No rotation on the defensive end and James hit an open three (Ariza could have been there, but was the only Laker not moving for some reason). He closed out next time and blocked LeBron's three. He was blocked by Z on a dunk attempt (should have tried to use his body). He got back-doored by LeBron (trying to play the passing lane, mistake). He was then subbed out for Luke.

Farmar -- -- Farmar needs to watch settling for those threes when they aren't going down. He had a lot of good looks, but if he's not hitting them, he should consider trying to probe after the close out and see if he can get into mid-range territory. His second half D was much better than the first. He probably had the statement defensive play of the game with a rejection into the stands after recovering on a three-shooter. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-7 shooting (0-5 from three) to go with 2 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 3 fouls in 20 minutes. The Action: He turned the corner on a screen, pulled up and hit the 19-footer. Great bounce pass to Lamar from the three line under the hoop for a dunk. He attacked down the lane and missed a scoop. He missed a wing three. He gave up an And-1 to Gibson on a drive. Good foul on LeBron in transition (it would have saved a point, but we didn't get the rebound off the FT miss and LeBron then hit a three). Second Half: He missed a wing three. He missed another open three. He missed a sideline three (come on, Jordan). Great close out on Gibson to reject his three into the stands. Cheap foul call on some good baseline D. He hit Powell down court with a 70-foot chest pass over a defender for a score. He missed a three straight away.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha had a good first-half stint and generally helped the second unit to some good minutes. A couple of his passes set up others for dunks. His three ball wasn't falling but he did manage to scratch a couple other scores. Good to see him have success not just hitting threes. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-4 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 2 assists and 1 foul in 13 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He hit Pau under the hoop for a dunk. He attacked off the three line and scored a layup with his left. He stole a tip to Wally on a jumpball, pushed it up and quickly threw a 30-foot lob to a streaking Ariza for the dunk. He was a +6 in that stint. Second Half: He missed a wide open wing three. He clanked another three next time down (uggh). (Phil had some words of advice for him after that one.) He swished a baseline jumper. He drew an offensive foul on Williams pushing off.

Mihm -- -- He came in for Pau in the second quarter. Serviceable minutes, but he wasn't an option offensively. These minutes are where we miss Bynum's presence. Being able to keep a post presence in the game and continuing to pound the interior are like shots to the body in a heavy weight fight -- eventually they pay off if you consistently attack it. Short stint. Hopefully, we can get him some extended run...and Pau some extended rest. The Stats: He didn't score or shoot, he had 1 board, 1 steal and 1 foul in 4 minutes. The Action: Nothing to report. Second Half: Did not play.

Powell -- -- Again, another of our bench players who held the fort down for the team while starters rested. Nothing spectacular, but he did have a couple scores by hustling down court. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-4 shooting to go with 2 boards, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 10 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He missed a putback layup. He was called for an offensive foul trying to power up off a pass. Second Half: He missed a baseline jumper. He powered up a layup in transition off the bounce pass from Ariza (should have been an And-1 as Williams came down on his back). He powered up a layup off the long outlet pass from Farmar.

Phil -- -- The Lakers had one of those poor defensive first halves, but like they have been able to do on this trip, they clamped down in the second half. The defensive scheme tightened its rotations and help and took the Cavs out of their games... The tone of how the teams would score was set from the start. The Lakers were getting easy scores in the paint early, while making the Cavs hit jumpers. Unfortunately, those were mostly open jumpers... The Lakers trailed 32-30 after the first quarter... Phil liked the pace to the game. He said he didn't mind Z's shooting right now and hoped to wear him out... Phil went with a Mihm, Lamar, Ariza, Sasha, Farmar lineup. They trailed 47-42 after giving up some threes to Wally. Phil called a timeout and brought back in the starters. The starters fell behind further... The Lakers trailed 61-51 at the half, getting out-scored 29-21 in the second quarter. The Cavs shot 8-12 from three, the Lakers 1-6. They out-rebounded the Lakers 23-18... The Lakers started the half with an 11-0 run. (They would follow that up with an 11-2 run shortly later.) The Lakers took the lead 70-69 with 3:41 left in the third... Phil called a timeout with the 73-72 lead after we gave up an open three to Wally. Our offensive sequence out of the timeout busted when Farmar couldn't get the ball to Kobe... The Lakers led 82-77 after a 31-16 third quarter. Lamar was killing the Cavs on the glass and scoring layups (15 points, 10 boards). "You got to give Lamar credit. He was very active that quarter," the Cavs coach said... Phil started the fourth with a Pau, Powell, Ariza, Sasha, Farmar lineup. That unit extended the lead to 86-77... Good stint by that second unit and they maintained the lead for the first 6 minutes of the fourth quarter... The Lakers led 96-89 out of a timeout. They clamped down for the next few minutes, allowing just one hoop... The Cavs were held to 39 percent shooting. They shot an excellent 11-23 from three, but were kept out of the paint... While the Lakers shot just 3-20 from three (Cleveland lucky in that regard), the Lakers had just 6 turnovers for the entire game. Superb job. Can't expect to see that lack of turnovers too often...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Dominating second half by the Lakers. Several runs with few answers.

[japanesebeef1]

What a great game. Odom, Pau, Wow!

[Doja]

go lakers

[SweetP]

Great game by the guys.

Little Larry O'Brian is coming home soon...
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“There is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it.” --Amanda Gorman

[Addicus]

Great read DB. I love your writing style and imagination. This will make for a great book of how things went down in years to come.

You realize you have to do this for now on right. I expect next year to be no different.
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Stop crying and start doing.

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

[Magic'sSon]

TOP TEN!!

Hi Mom...and thx DB

[lakerjoshua]

If Lamar can bring it like this every night we will be the unstopable. Great recap DB!

[IPK]

[Luca Brasi]

the lakers destroyed the cavs in points in the paint.

plus our assist to turnover ratio was off the charts.

huge win
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"i was born down in the valley where the sun refused to shine, but i'm climbin' up to the highlands, goin' to make that mountain mine" ~ Lakers, 2011

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

L.O. HAS FINALLY REDEEMED HIMSELF FOR LEAVING BORIS DIAW WIDE OPEN FOR 3.

6-0
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"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[Freakout]

Odom was amazing.

Farmar's shooting was off but I thought his penetration was huge to start the 4th. Mo really couldn't keep him out of the lane and he setup some easy scores at a much needed time to keep the momentum in our favor.

I have to say the fade away from Kobe in the 4th just summed up how far this team has come. He didn't try forcing it while being sick. His teammates picked up the load and ran with it. Still when the lead started to get close he hit a impossible shot and then gladly gave up the reins to let his teammates finish the job.

People pretend that hes already washed up but he is just getting started.

[Lateralus]

Excellent writing DB.

[City_Dawg]

The bench deserves mad props for their work in the fourth. Excellent stuff.

Thanks DB.
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*sighs*

!...

[LakerSanity]

I will call this a "confidence" win. There was an article from Forum B&G talking about the psychology of the Celtics v. the Lakers. This win epitomizes that concept. The Lakers simple knew they were going to win and made it happen.

For the first time this season, even more than the other win against Cleveland or the Boston win the other night, this team looks like a championship team. They have picked up that aura, that swagger. Love it.
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[Marty]

Statement indeed! Thanks, DB!

[hoopschick29]

I've said this about Lamar for years - it's okay to want to be great. When you're as talented as he, it's okay to strive for the top of the mountain. He always seemed to be more concerned with being a good teammate and blending in and IMO has shortchanged himself in the process. When you're hit with adversity (as was the case with losing Drew), there's an opportunity to stand up and be counted. And that's what Lamar has done.
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So glad we gave you your flowers while you were here, Kobe.

[mefor3]

Kobe's high arch fade away jumper over Lebron in the closing minutes was simply ridiculous.

Lamar !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[20,000]

[Lakers For Life]

Kobe and LeBron first players to face off after each scoring 50+ in previous game since Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain in 1962, according to ESPN.

[Wolverine]

The white horse belongs to Famine now.... at least until the sun sets.

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks DB!

Props to LO, Pau, and Fish. They played great. Especially Fish. He was getting torched in the 1st half by Mo "I'm not an All Star" Williams. Held him to 2 pts in the 2nd half. LO - what can we say about him? Ever since Drew went down he's been balling. He looks like LO 2008/Post ASB/2.0

My Laker hating Celtic loving cousing isn't even speaking to me!

[jodeke]

[Klone_dd]

Ultra-impressive win on many counts. A get away game, Kobe under the weather, an unbeaten team at home. The Lakers didn't give in to their travel-weary legs and executed with surgeon-like precision on offense.

Did we just drop 100+ on the 2 top defensive teams?

Offensively, everything clicked. With Kobe ailing, everything went through the post. Beautiful cuts by LO. You gotta love games where he primarily shot from 8 ft and in. The Cavs went really small for long stretches and that gave LO the freedom to dominate inside. 15/10 in 1 quarter? Woo-hoo!

Fish was HUGE, even in the paint. Luke did what he's supposed to - keep the ball moving. However, he was outdone by Pau. The interior passing was exceptional.

Another tale of 2 halves for the D. Mo Williams had 17 in the 1st half and 2 in the 2nd. The Lakers attacked Wally like other teams attacked Vlad. They exposed Big Ben and Sideshow Bob as offensive liabilities. Phil employed the Pringles defense on Z (let him shoot all he wants and he'll burn out by the 4th -Pringles strategy against Kobe) and was able to clog the lane for LBJ. I'm not sure, but I don't think LBJ had a single dunk today.

Memo to the management: We've faced an opponent nicknamed Big Baby and another named Boobie. Never, I repeat, never sign any player with such wimpy, sissy-fied nicknames. Mamba, Cobra, Machine - are at least manly.

[DancingBarry]

[RealityCheck]

Game worthy of the excellent recap. One of the Lakers great six game road trips in beating two key challengers for that best season records.