JAZZ -at- LAKERS - 4/21 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Two Down, 14 Mo... Two Horsemen take the center of the battlefield: Death -- the Mamba -- with the hood hung low, and Pestilence -- The Spaniard -- towering on his mount.

"Where are the rest?" you ask. She nods behind you. Quietly, several Death Riders make their way through the trees and shadows. You also spot movement in the darkness on the opposite side of the field. "The two in the middle will cut them down, draw their fire," she says. "The others in the flanks will run them down."

You see the two Horsemen disappear over the ridge. "I can't just stand here," you tell her. She shakes her head and once again urges patience. "It's not your time yet," she says. A rumble, the ground shakes, and then you hear the screams. The Horsemen have them reeling right from the start. The fight seems to fade in the distance, but slowly, gradually, it becomes louder and louder as if it's nearing.

You turn to Angel and she's gone. "Where--" you hear a roar over the ridge, louder than anything you've encountered. Another roar. And then silence.

Atop the ridge you see the silhouettes of returning Horsemen. The bells ring, one by one...they stop at fourteen. The Horsemen won.

She taps you on the shoulder and hands you a piece of purple and gold paper. You look at her dumbstruck and ask where she took off to. She just smiles and lights up a cigarette. "They needed a little help."

You read the chicken scratch on the paper she handed you. DancingBarry:

The Four Horsemen were here. They attacked the middle, drawing their opponent's attention, then picked them apart from the outside. As the fight dragged on, the Horsemen neglected that soft middle and started to pay the price. It did not matter, it just made the battle harder than it had to be.

They will fight again. I will continue to track them...

Once again, the Lakers opened up an early can of Jazz domination, only to see their 20-point lead reduced to a single possession late in the game. Despite shooting 60 percent for the game, they couldn't put the Jazz away until the final minute.

They ignored the post too much -- a familiar theme when they struggle. Pau had 21 points on 9-11 shooting in the 119-109 win, but went long stretches without the ball.

"We need to continue to put the ball inside and commit to our bigs," Pau said.

Shannon Brown and Lamar Odom brought some punch off the bench, while others struggled. Phil blamed himself for rotations that allowed the Jazz back into the game. He also was irked with the number of turnovers the Lakers had. While the Lakers scored 28 points off 20 Jazz turnovers, they gave back 19 points off 21 turnovers.

"There's not a whole lot of defense for turnovers," Phil said.

On the whiteboard in the Lakers locker room after the game were the words "14 mo". That's the bottom line. At the end of the night, the Lakers did what they had to -- they defended homecourt and lead the series 2-0 heading into a hostile environment. Utah plays well at home in front of their loud crowds.

"It's just noise. That's all. It's no different," Kobe said.


Kobe -- -- He and Pau led the team with +17. They were the one-two punch, both delivering some tremendous shots (Kobe with a few big ones late). Unfortunately, we struggled with meshing that one-two punch together. To start the game, he was feeding the post again and again. The Lakers built a big lead, scored 41 in the first quarter. "Our bigs did a great job," Kobe said. "They really punished them on the inside and we just kept going to them." Gradually, however, we went away from that and our lead fell the more we ignored it. Then we went into some iso ball. He made shots, but some of them weren't the best shot selection. It's like we couldn't strike the right balance of feeding the post and attacking from Kobe. He needs to draw a lot of attention from the Jazz D and set up others. We can't ignore that and he was doing a great job for stretches, but he also needs to orchestrate that inside-out game better, make sure we don't ignore it. We didn't have to make things as hard for ourselves as we did. Defensively, he sagged off Brewer even more than last game to start. I don't think he got a hand up on a shot in the first half. Brewer was hitting some of these and it kind of became the Chucky Atkins defensive strategy, turn and watch. Kobe continually turned and watched as the shot went up, he didn't box out, didn't crash the glass, didn't really participate defensively in some of those sequences. The Stats: He scored 26 points on 8-17 shooting (1-3 from three, 9-10 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 9 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 38 minutes. He was a +17. The Action: He hit a cutting Bynum with a jump pass for the throwdown. He eyed Gasol running the floor then hit him for the score when a man left Gasol to match up elsewhere. He swished a three after given a hair of space. He missed a corner three over Williams (should have cleared out and backed him down). He blew past his man and dished to Lamar for the layup. He swiped the ball from Deron at midcourt, then drew a foul attacking, he made both FTs. He blew past Miles from the wing and scored the easy And-1 layup, he made the FT after it nearly hit the top of the glass on the bounce. He was called for a 5-second call trying to back his man down and run the two-man game. He had 8 points on 2-3 shooting and 7 assists. Second Half: He missed an elbow turnaround. He swished a sideline jumper behind a screen. He missed an iso pull-up jumper. Bad pass trying to thread the needle in transition to a trailing bigman, dunk the other way. He missed a runner on iso. He missed on a post-up turnaround. He went glass after working off the high screen. He missed a pull-up from the FT line. He attacked off the dribble to his right and took contact for FTs, he made both. He stalled the offense, pumped several times and hit the crazy turnaround (horrible shot and offensive sequence, but he somehow made it). He attacked off the high screen and hit a jumphook in the lane. He got AK on his hip, attacked a seam between two defenders and hit the And-1 one-hander with three defenders on him, he made the FT. He missed a long jumper over AK. He missed a long wing jumper, setting up way outside the three line. He was smothered on a drive and rejected. He threw an outlet away with 1:40 left (what the heck was that?). He drained a 19-footer from the left side working the two-man game with a minute left. He drew the D and kicked to Trevor for the clutch three with 34 seconds left. He picked up a tech when he was mugged on a foul and tried to shed defenders with an elbow, he made both FTs. He was fouled again and made one. "Guys want to hold and grab us, they need to get up off us because we aren't going for it," Kobe said afterward.

Gasol -- -- Feed the post. Don't stop for long stretches. Feed it methodically. Yes, run some pick and pops, some high screens, but go back down to the post and work inside-out. When you've got a 20-point lead after doing it...keep doing it. The Jazz are struggling to defend our bigs and Pau is too skilled a player to ignore like we sometimes do. Excellent game offensively, although some of his passes weren't clean. He hit nearly everything he took. He did miss a couple late FTS, but had some clutch blocks and challenges down the stretch. "I wanted to redeem myself a little bit," Pau said about missing those. The Lakers did a better job protecting the defensive glass in this game, but we still aren't controlling it. The Stats: He scored 22 points on 9-11 shooting (4-6 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 assist, 2 blocks, 5 turnovers and 1 foul in 36 minutes. He was a +17. The Action: He scored on an oop from Kobe in transition. He left Boozer nailed to the floor after feeling contact, spinning left and dunking. He drew the double and kicked to Fish for the three. He threw a pass away, it led to a three in transition. He swished a wing jumper off the pick and pop with Kobe. He posted up Milsap, turned to his right and swished the And-1 jumper right over him, he made the FT. He swished an 8-footer, flashing to Kobe. He cleaned up a Bynum miss, getting fouled on a near And-1, he made both FTs. He missed an attack in the paint. He had 13 points on 5-7 shooting. He was a +19. Second Half: His first post up of the half and he scored easily with his left. He sealed his man, took the post entry and scored a layup next time down. He scored an And-1 layup when Bynum fed him, he made the FT. He sank the elbow jumper off the two-man with Fish. He got the ball after another long stretch of no action, attacked and was stripped. He deflected a pass to ignite a break. He got shoved to the floor by Boozer on a defensive board and drew FTs with 1:56 left up by 5, he missed both. He swatted Deron's drive, then another shot to force a shotclock violation.

Bynum -- -- He was aggressive to start the game as the Lakers looked to bleed the Jazz from the inside. He scored 10 points early on, but couldn't get another point the rest of the game. The Jazz were able to strip the ball or block him on several plays in the second half. Bynum got some of that back on the D end with 4 swats himself. One thing that might go unnoticed in this game was the number of fouls Bynum drew on the Jazz. He didn't get to the line, but he was helping the team get into the bonus. This was a better game from him. He was getting some good position and imposing his size on some sequences. He did look winded on a few stretches. Defensively, the shotblocks were great to see, but he and the PGs need to get on the same page on some of those two-man sequences. Bynum is going to sag back and protect the paint. The guards have to provide enough resistance on perimeter D to facilitate that. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 5-11 shooting (0-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 4 blocks, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 31 minutes. The Action: He cut, gathered a bullet pass from Kobe and threw down. He hit a jumphook with his left in the middle of the lane. He took the post entry, surveyed the floor and powered up for a jumphook with his right this time. He rejected Deron's drive out of bounds. He overpowered Collins on iso and scored off the glass with his left. He threaded a pass to Ariza cutting for a layup. He trailed the break and scored a layup off the Ariza pass. He was blocked in the post. He missed another shot wondering where the foul was. He then reached on AK to get a foul and sat. He missed a layup, getting blocked while bringing it up. He had 10 points on 5-9 shooting and 2 blocks. Second Half: He couldn't get to an over-the-top pass from Pau that hit the rim. He drew three fouls in the post in the third quarter. He hit Pau under the hoop for an And-1. He swatted Boozer from behind to help Pau. He missed a pick and pop jumper. He was stripped trying to power up on his man right under the hoop. He drew FTs on his next post entry, he missed both. He was called for 3 seconds when he passed out of the post after camping in the lane.

Ariza -- -- How great is it to see Kobe pitching out to Trevor in the final minute of the game and have Trevor drain a big three? He was balling in this game again. The 9 assists were a ridiculous number from him, but just some some great ball movement and executing of the game plan (which includes feeding our post) helped the team push out to big leads. Combine that with hitting his threes, including the killer in crunch time, and you've got some superb production again from Trevor. He and Shannon Brown seem to be handing the baton off to each other for the big plays by role players in these first two games. If it's not one, it's the other delivering a three or throwdown...some kind of spark play. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-6 shooting (3-3 from three) to go with 4 boards, 9 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 5 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a +11. The Action: He was blocked when he tried to measure a pull-up jumper at the FT line. He curled from the weakside, took the pass and banked the runner. He banged down a sideline three off the kickout from DFish. He took the return pass while cutting off Bynum and flipped in a layup. He attacked baseline and hit Lamar for the dunk. He jab stepped to create space and drilled a three. He had 10 points on 4-5 shooting and 5 assists. He was a +18. Second Half: He charged trying to create with the shotclock low. He swiped a loose ball in transition, pushed it up and hit DFish for the three. He set up Pau with a great corner entry for a layup. He pushed out the break and fed Lamar for the layup. He swished a wing three with 34 seconds left on the kickout from Kobe.

Fisher -- -- He had a horrible close to the first half with a series of miscues and the Jazz went on a run to cut the Laker lead by 9 points. To close the game, however, DFish helped disrupt passes and get some stops, as well as get fouled on a three. He also shot well from downtown. This is going to be a long series for our PG spot. Deron is just going at them. Williams dropped 35 points and 9 assists, but at least he had 7 turnovers. Fish caused a few of those, but his own 5 turnovers was not very DFish-esque. Just some very poor decisions on plays. Some were in transition, others were just not vet-savvy. Hopefully, he's got those out of his system because we need a cleaner game on the road. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 3-7 shooting (3-6 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 1 board, 5 assists, 2 steals, 5 turnovers and 3 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a +6. The Action: He bricked a short pull-up jumper. He kicked out to Ariza for a three. He stroked a wing three when Pau kicked out to him. Williams flopped and Staples let him have it after drawing an offensive foul on DFish. He drained a wing three with Staples buzzing after Kobe was dancing with the dribble to draw the D. He threw a pass over his head and back under his own hoop on the sideline trying to save a loose ball, layup Jazz. He was picked on the perimeter by Deron (not protecting the dribble), it led to FTs. He gave Williams a straight line to the hoop and a layup (he was trying to organize the help D, but you have to make your man go a little east and west). He then missed a three on the other end. Second Half: He missed a corner three. He attacked and had his pass swiped. He swished a three in transition. He got creamed by Deron in transition to draw a charge (what is Williams complaining about?). Excellent hustle to save a long outlet back to Kobe. He missed a three in transition. He charged trying to attack baseline in transition (he had Trevor under the hoop). He swiped a pass on a kickout. He was hit on a three by Williams, he made just two FTs. He deflected a pass to force a turnover.

Lamar -- -- A very efficient game from Lamar. His one miss was a crunch-time three, but he was money on everything else he took. He was hitting inside, outside and on the fly. Lamar said the next one was going to be hard fought and would require the team to make second and third efforts. He was in on some of those second and third efforts tonight. Some good hustle on both ends, even going to the floor. The one aspect of his game we are missing is his ability to pull down boards and push out the break. Lamar needs to get after those rebounds, he had just 3 boards tonight. He needs to get that rebounding machine mentality back. He had some brief issues with foul trouble that had Phil sitting him a little early in the first half. You look at the Utah impact players and they are running 40-42 minutes. The Lakers didn't have a single impact player in the 40-minute range. I don't like seeing Lamar with just 28 minutes. Again, can we see a few more minutes cut from Luke at the SF? Just getting LO a couple minutes there won't hurt the team. That would help give us some higher impact minutes at the SF. Phil ran some Kobe there tonight to help this spot. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 8-9 shooting (2-3 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a +6. The Action: He posted up AK and hit the jumphook over him. He scored a layup when Kobe set him up on the drive and dish. He threw down a monster jam, cutting to the hoop when Ariza attacked baseline and found him. He was hit while catching a pass and heaved up the 12-footer as it slipped from his hands and it went right in for an And-1, he made the FT. He drained a wing three with the shotclock low. He picked up his second foul challenging a shot in transition with 4:11 left, he sat. He had 12 points on 5-5 shooting. Second Half: He pulled down an offensive board falling to the floor, but passed it out to Brown to reset the offense. He then swished a corner three when Brown gave it back to him. His handoff was stripped, then Lamar ran up Milsap's back at midcourt for FTs. He iso'd on Milsap and scored a runner over him. He missed a three. He scored a layup on the break with Ariza.

Luke -- -- Not a great game from Luke, but he had some decent production and tried to orchestrate the offense when the team had been going away from what was working. Offensively, some good passing sequences, including a great feed to Brown for a dunk. Obviously, you don't like seeing him try to work the post with AK on him...but Luke also avoided getting caught out on the perimeter as a shooter they could sag off of, so that's why you see him in the paint. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-3 shooting to go wtih 4 boards (2 offensive), 5 assists, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 11 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He fouled AK trying to close out on a jumper. He deflected a ball in the back court to get it back. He was tapped on a turnaround over AK (that's not a post matchup we want to exploit). He put in a missed shot after Pau kept it alive. Second Half: He hustled for a Bynum missed FT and was trapped in the corner and called timeout. He hit Brown on the inbounds pass off that timeout for a reverse dunk. His pass was slapped back to him by Boozer and he hit the floater.

Brown -- -- Offensively, how huge has he been? Threes, throwdowns, shotclock beaters...just some tremendous scoring in limited minutes. There were stretches in this game where he was easily the best PG we had. The mental game from DFish (at times) and Farmar (most times) was not what you want to see in the playoffs. At other times, particularly on D, you could see where Brown's lack of experience shows. He struggled like the rest of our guards to D-up on Deron (but at least he wasn't giving up straight lines to the hoop). "I think we've got to execute better on defense," Brown said. "We let Deron have his way out there a little." In the fourth, Deron was able to get into open spaces off the screens and hit easy looks. Phil went to Fish and Pau instead of Brown and Bynum late to help take some of that away. They did a better job tightening it up. "Shannon's still kind of new to what we are doing team-defense wise," Phil said. "I thought they were attacking us in a way that is difficult for Shannon to recover." Brown said he's going to watch some tapes and work on the defensive game plan in practice. A great pair of games from him at home to start the playoffs. Now the test will move to the road. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 4-6 shooting (2-3 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 assists, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 16 minutes. He was a +9. The Action: He swiped the ball from Miles on help D. He missed a wing three. He swished a corner three on a Kobe kickout next time down. He was blocked on a reverse. Second Half: He drained a kickout three off the Kobe drive. He got dumped to the floor while going up strong off the handoff, he made both FTs. He sank a baseline jumper off the handoff to bail out the offense at the shotclock. Out of a timeout, he took the inbounds pass along the baseline and threw down a reverse jam (he said he couldn't see the rim, but just tried to jump as high as he could. He propped the play call by Phil). He stopped cutting as Luke tried to pass to him, turnover.

Farmar -- -- With DFish getting a long run in his first stint, I thought Phil would let Brown take Farmar's minutes. Instead, Phil matched up Farmar on Knight for a stretch and this seemed to be a momentum killer. Thankfully, Farmar was left on the bench in the second half. His game continues to be a train wreck and it's unfortunate. This should be a period of growth for him as a player, instead, it's been quite the opposite. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-2 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 1 steal and 1 fouls in 4 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: His pick-and-roll pass to Bynum was deflected (telegraphed it). He was out of bounds when taking a pass in the corner. He missed an early offense three (feed the post!). He handchecked AK (use your feet against a bigger player trying to attack, don't reach). He deflected a pass and scored a layup on the outlet. Second Half: He did not play.

Vujacic -- -- Very poor game on both ends from Sasha. His shot has reverted back to the back-rim, long jumpers. He missed a point-blank layup. He and Farmar were feeling themselves on a couple offensive sequences instead of working the ball into the post. Defensively, he hurt the Lakers with fouls at the start of the fourth quarter. Just a mess of a game for Sasha. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-3 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 15 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: Horrible pass in transition, trying to thread a pass where there would have been nothing gained anyway, turnover. He blew a point-blank layup. Second Half: Good weakside D to deflect a pass under the hoop and get a shotclock violation. He blocked Miles from behind. He had a couple perimeter fouls in the fourth quarter, the second one put the Lakers in the penalty a minute and a half into the fourth quarter...worse yet, it was about 70 feet from the hoop. He missed a three, long, out of a timeout. He missed a wing jumper in early offense.

Phil -- -- This wasn't the best coached game, to say the least. Some of the rotations were absolutely puzzling. Phil manned up about it after the game. "I think it was my fault," he said. "Substitutions probably hurt us a little during the course of the game and I think that I maybe tried to play too many players at that time in the game to get us going."... We also didn't feed Pau in the post enough, and we didn't even him bring him back into the fourth quarter until there were 5 minutes remaining. It has been so typical in losses this season that we ignore Pau in the post. Not going to it in this game for stretches caused the Lakers problems... The Lakers fed the post methodically to start the game and led 24-14 after 7 minutes, forcing a Jazz timeout... The Lakers made 14-16 to start the game. Phil called a timeout after we gave up three straight hoops, still leading 32-21... The Lakers played some soft D, but drilled the Jazz with 41 points on 86 percent shooting (18-21) in the first quarter to lead by 12. The Jazz shot 57 percent... Phil started the Bynum, Lamar, Luke, Sasha, Farmar lineup. Could have went with Brown because DFish had a long first run, but Phil wanted to match up Farmar and Knight... Despite some lousy play by Farmar and Sasha, this lineup got the Jazz into the penalty after 3 and half minutes... After the lead was cut to 7, Phil brought back in Brown to match up with Williams... After Brown swished a three, the Lakers led by 11, forcing a Jazz timeout... The Lakers were up 16 when Brown sat for DFish... They extended to a 20-point lead, but a series of poor plays by DFish and the Jazz cut the lead to 11 in a flash... The Lakers led 66-55 at halftime. The Lakers shot 63 percent (26-41), the Jazz 60 percent (21-35). The Lakers had 20 assists, the Jazz had 15... The coaches reminded the team of the last game and how they didn't come out strong... The Lakers didn't get the ball into Pau in the post for long stretches. When they did, the Jazz called a timeout after a couple scores. Once again, we ignored Pau in the post out of that timeout... The Lakers led by 8 when Brown came in for Fish. Phil ran a Pau, Lamar, Kobe, Sasha, Brown lineup... The Lakers led 89-78 heading into the fourth quarter... Phil started a Bynum, Lamar, Kobe, Sasha, Brown lineup to open the fourth. (Kobe talked him into keeping him in the game)... The Jazz were in the bonus a minute and half into the fourth. Some dumb fouls by Sasha helping their cause. The Lakers were in the bonus seconds later... The Lakers led 96-86 with 9:33 and Phil called a timeout after Deron came in and helped manufacture back-to-back scores. Our offense was also just all Kobe... Phil subbed in Luke for Kobe and we set up a three for Sasha out of a timeout, he missed... Phil waited until the 5:13 mark to bring Pau back into the game. The lead was 8 at this point (Jazz ball)... He went with a Pau, Lamar, Ariza, Kobe, Fish lineup. Needless to say, they didn't feed the post... The Lakers shot 60 percent for the game, including 11-20 from three. If you shoot that well, you should win a game with ease. The 21 Laker turnovers conspired against them. The Jazz shooting 49 percent themselves didn't help, either. The game was closer down the stretch than it should have been...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Some early Laker runs. One thing the stat sheet won't show are some of the hard fouls, pushing, shoving and grabbing. The Lakers dished out their share. As Rick Fox said after the game, "You bring a solid mettle that says we will not be tampered with, we will not be bullied. If anything, we are going to hit you first in the mouth. That's what a championship is about. You don't win a championship, you take a championship."

[Tony Almeida]

First...at 4:40 AM.

Don't ask.

[DrumR]

awwwww

[DancingBarry]

[DrumR]

4:40 am. You've earned it I guess

[IPK]

What up DB! Sir, your work is like fine wine. It only gets better-- nvm. You & your readers know the rest.
_________________
Our tribute to Phil, the man behind LG

[Ray_Gonzoles]

As always, great work DB!

2 down, 14 to go!
_________________
"Just show up ready to work, ready to play, Have your big boy pants on, leave your diaper at home." Kobe Bryant
Anything less than a championship is a failure. Period.

[mhan00]

i screamed myself hoarse at the end of the first half at fisher. shockingly, brown has been far steadier at the offensive end than fisher. just ugly.

we seriously need to d up better. i really doubt that our role players hit at that great a clip in utah. and frankly, i've said it before and i'll say it again, i think we have some of the dumbest guards in the league. pau was just destroying utah and we jack up jumpers and pull him from the post to set screens so our guards can jack up even more jumpers. just dumb.

[J.C. Smith]

On the rebounding, at a glance our bigs all were poor on the glass. Odom with 3 rebounds, Bynum with 4, Gasol with 6. I do think a big part of that though is Williams getting into the lane. Our bigs are scrambling and its getting them out of rebounding position.

I loved the way our offense was clicking in the first quarter of the past two games, and through stretches at other points. Wish we could maintain it through the course of the game.

[chilake24]

thanks, my little berry

[MedRomLaker]

thanks db, our key role players our stepping up big time its great to see.
_________________
11/9/12 the day the brown was flushed down!!!!!!

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

[Mation]

Thanks DB!

Hopefully Brown and Ariza can carry their amazing play into Salt Lake. We're definitely going to need them by the way Farmar and Sasha are disappearing.

Good to see Gasol with 36 minutes tonight. Agreed about Odom upping his time on the court.

First game Kobe throws down on Millsap, next one he's jawing with him about a foul. Kobe looked Mamba after the game and I want him to rip out any confidence the Jazz have of making this a series (though I don't think we'll sweep).

Damn, Deron is a beast. With his stats tonight, goes to show just how deep and talented we are.

[lakerboy]

14?

certainly not like that

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks DB!

Strong game for Lamar, Ariza, and Brown. These 3 guys could be the key to our playoff run besides KGB. I hope that they are all re-signed.

What's the likelihood that the second unit Mbangs with Mbenga at least once during the postseason? We sure can use him in Utah when the refs swallow their whistles when they try to "get nasty" with our players.

We have to do a better job rebounding.

[prisma8slg]

thanks DB.

[BigE32]

[limchrc]

Thanks, nice win.

[MagicKobe3224]

Luke, Farmar, Sasha = Momentum killers
_________________
"Better learn not to talk to me," Bryant said of Smith's jabbering. "You shake the tree, a leopard's gonna fall out."

[Dr. Laker]

[lakersfreak]

Bynum Game Face
_________________
Forget carbon, reduce your government footprint

[angrypuppy]

Thanks DB.

This game had all the defense, energy, coaching, and smart play that characterized our regular season games against teams like Charlotte. In short, pass me the vomit bag.

[KINGD]

2 shots in the first half/8 assists
9 in the 3rd quarter alone/1 assist the entire second half
I hate when Kobe is looking to pass at all times and ends up over-passing and then he completely switches it up and does nothing but look to score while ignoring Pau.

[Sister Golden Hair]

Phil's notion to match farmar up with Knight seems like over-coaching to me, and designed more to address farmar's ego than the good of the team. Fact is, Farmar has been a train-wreck for about the last third of the season, at least, regardless of whom he's guarding. ANy PG minutes not manned by Fish need to go to Brown. Farmar will just have to suck it up. No time for pouting. His poor level of play requires that his minutes be cut.

SGH

[ThePageDude]

After watching these last two games I just get the feeling that this team simply isn't exerting itself much. That, or they're not yet in full stride, like a Ferrari engine thats idling. I'm sure the following are part of it:
- Bynum not yet in condition
- Brown not yet acclimated to team defense
- Post-Bynum/Brown rotations not yet gelling
- Sasha/Farmar still in slumps
- Not much respect for Utah
- Kobe still pacing himself
- Fish conserving/coasting?

I just salivate at the potential of this team when/if it does rev. up ..

[Arizona]