LAKERS -vs- NUGGETS - 10/22 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Numbers... The freeways are empty, except for the metal corpses of cars -- abandoned, overturned or scorched. They are scattered like a trail of dead ants who were on their way somewhere. You flip through the radio dials and are greeted with nothing but static. You put it on scan and the numbers just scroll non stop in an endless cycle. Just as it's about to fade into white noise, the numbers stop dead on 98.0.

The signal is faint, but you hear a word, no, a number... "82". You keep driving and hope the signal gets stronger. Another word, this one makes you shiver, "Die".

As the freeway turns west, the signal fades. You curse and quickly do a u-turn in the middle of the highway and head back to the nearest cross street. You pick up the signal again and it grows stronger by the minute.

It crackles and sputters, but it's louder. "Die...82...to..." It breaks up again. Then finally you hear it.

"82 Ways To Die."

As you lean closer to listen, the Yenko Nova is suddenly blowing through a murder of crows, who explode off it's windshield and bumper like a feathered Fourth of July. Thump! Thump! Thump, thump, thump! Thump, thump!

You slam on the brakes after the hitting the seventh. Where are they all coming from? Up ahead you see them scatter. They were scavenging the carcass of some rotting beast. As you step out of the car, you anxiously wonder if they took the beast down themselves, and if they might not take offense to what just happened to their friends. Out here in the wilds away from Sanctuary, you don't know who is predator and who is prey.

On most nights, however, you will be thankful the Horsemen are on your side. That is apparent as you read some familiar writing in chalk next to the pecked, shapeless beast and the dead crows. It's DancingBarry:

The Horsemen were here. Without their biggest of warriors, they were still more than capable of slaying this opponent. Their momentary lack of size and strength proved to be quite an underestimation...at least on this night.

I will continue to follow them.

It used to be that combining Kobe with one of either Pau or Bynum and this team could compete with anyone. Kobe had neither tonight, but the supporting cast these day is much stronger. You're not going to often get a 7-block performance from DJ Mbenga or Lamar Odom hitting threes like he eats candy, but the Lakers had that tonight. And the Lakers now have Ron Artest who can create for teammates. They've got bench guards putting the pressure on opponents. It makes you wonder just how many ways this team can kill opponents this season.

The last time these two teams met, the Lakers were at the top of their game. They hit their stride against the Nuggets late in that series. Without the full arsenal tonight, they still managed to both lockdown and score as they polished off the Nuggets 106-89.

With Pau and Bynum down, Mbenga got the start at the center spot. He promptly rejected the Nuggets again and again from the paint. The third-string Laker bigmen thoroughly outplayed the Nuggets starters. Lamar Odom added to that with five three-pointers in the first half. Some sensational numbers by those two. As for the opponent, not so pretty.

The Nuggets played sloppy ball with 26 turnovers. The Lakers, however, were active and aggressive defensively. When you combine all the pass deflections, anchoring from Mbenga and the miscues by the Nuggets, this game was destined for the blowout.


Kobe -- -- While DJ was blocking Kenyon Martin right and left, Kobe put him in the highlight play of the night. He put Kenyon in the popcorn machine at the elbow, gave him the Knicks game reverse spin move and hit an And-1 jumper on him. So sweet. No one else in the league does that. Last year, Melo proved to be too much for Trevor at times. That forced Kobe to have to battle with him and Melo took advantage of his size in the paint on occasion. With Artest out there, now it's Melo that will have his hands full trying to play an elevated two-way game. That should equate to a more effective Kobe as the games wear on. The Stats: He scored 23 points on 8-17 shooting (0-1 from three, 7-9 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 30 minutes. The Action: He scored a reverse when Ron found him cutting. He pivoted to lose his man, but then bricked the short jumper. He drew FTs and scored the Lakers third and fourth points of the game after 5 minutes. He missed a long step-back jumper with the shotclock low. He missed a turnaround jumper. He took an interior feed from LO and was fouled, he made one FT. He missed a layup on the break, should have had that one. He lost his man faking one way, turning the other and swishing on the baseline. He posted up, split a double and scored a layup. He left Afflalo for an open three. He missed a wing pull-up and was looking for a foul call. He posted up and drew FTs on his move, he made one. He was mugged in the paint and made both FTs. Second Half: He sank the wing jumper off the Artest screen. He canned another wing jumper standing on the three line. He missed a quick turnaround from the wing. He missed a wing three badly. He worked on Kenyon, put him in the popcorn machine at the elbow, spun the opposite way and hit the And-1 jumper on him, he made the FT. He picked the ball for a breakaway dunk a few seconds later. He drew a moving screen on the next defensive stand trying to fight over Martin's pick. He slammed on a leak out. He was called for a carry trying to create on iso. He didn't play in the fourth.

Lamar -- -- Lamar started clanking from the perimeter on the team's first three shots of the game. He dialed it in and then some. He sank five straight threes in the first half. He really has that jumper going this preseason. With Ron seeing more time in the post than LO, that can be a deadly combo. The two teamed up several times as Ron broke down the D and found Lamar. You could also swap that, too, and have LO create for Ron. Those two are going to cause a lot of trouble for opponents. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 6-13 shooting (5-8 from three, 0-2 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 2 assists, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 28 minutes. The Action: He missed a wing jumper. He missed a wing three on the team's second attempt. He missed an elbow jumper on our third attempt of the game. He went to the post and earned FTs, he missed both. Not a good start, but he heated up. Nice look to Artest for a high-low score. Finally, he sank an open three from the top of the arc. He sank another from the same spot when Artest attacked and kicked. Off the Mbenga pinch post, he sank his third three in a row. He swished another three on a skip pass from Ron. He took a heat-check three and rattled it in. He missed a three off a Kobe kickout. He missed a layup off the pinch post. He had 15 points on 5-9 shooting (5-7 from three) and 6 boards. Second Half: He attacked baseline, missed a wild attempt and then fouled. He missed a pull-up 20-footer. He fell on his rear off the dribble for a travel. He got tapped on a wing three. He finger rolled a layup in transition. He didn't play in the fourth.

Artest -- -- He looked a little slow-footed against Melo at times and speedier at other moments, but it seemed like Melo did most of his damage against others. So, if you're looking at the box score, that's a fairly deceptive 28 points if you are thinking it as Melo over Artest. Melo looked more aggressive when someone else was on him on switches or against the Laker bench. And when Ron was covering him, Melo was very aware of him even after working off the screens. Some decent recoveries on those screens by Artest. What also won't be reflected well is how Ron had his way with Melo on the few offensive sequences he went at him. This should be a real nice chess match in the regular season and playoffs if they face. Phil on coaching Ron: "You have to give him direction, and I think he likes that boundaries that are there." Not sure what is up with Ron's FTs, but he's struggled this preseason. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-7 shooting (3-6 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 30:31. He was a +6. The Action: Low pass to Kobe, turnover. He missed a 21-footer on his first attempt. He spotted Kobe flashing baseline for a reverse layup. He scored a layup off the high-low pass from LO. He missed an open sideline three. He kicked out to LO from the post for an open three. He attacked and kicked to LO again for a three. He blocked Andersen on the perimeter on help D. Back in and he quickly found LO for another three. He attacked, drew a crowd and a foul, he made one FT. He forced Melo into a double dribble with some perimeter pressure. He posted up Melo and drew easy FTs, he made one. He swiped a Billups pass at the end of the half. He had 4 points and 4 assists. Second Half: He posted up Melo and sank a good look at a face-up jumper. He posted up Melo and drew a foul on the entry pass (he seems to get one of those per game), he made one FT. He missed a three on the break. He poked a ball loose from Melo for a turnover. He missed a wing three. He didn't play in the fourth.

Mbenga -- -- Mblock Party Tonight! Mbenga had 7 rejections after three quarters, anchoring the D better than any Laker bigman has this preseason. Even guys with big mouths like Kenyon Martin might second guess their talent when their starters get thoroughly outplayed by the Lakers third-string bigmen. Okay, maybe not, but Martin and Nene combined for 10 points on 3-16 shooting. Mbenga and Powell combined for 23 points on 8-14 shooting...not to mention the blocks. They dominated this game for sure. "What he did tonight is exactly what we need from him," Kobe said. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-5 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 7 blocks, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 26:31 of action. The Action: He rejected Martin at the rim. He missed a baseline jumper. He rejected Nene's shot in the paint. Kobe gave him an extra interior feed for FTs, he made both. Second Half: He missed an 18-footer to start the second half. He backed his man down and hit the jumphook in the lane. He had the chair pulled and traveled. Great block at the rim on Martin, just so quick off the floor on help D, and the Lakers scored on the break. Great hustle to challenge Martin in transition, he was called for a foul, but saved a point. He swished a wing jumper. He rejected Martin again as he was trying to throw down at the rim, wow. That was his 7th block after 3 quarters. He sank a 16-footer in semi-transition.

Fisher -- -- He couldn't knock anything down from the perimeter and seemed to force a couple attempts. I think he may be one of the better defenders in the league when he's the lone man back on a break (Kobe's excellent, also). Fish usually gambles well and has that superb ability to get the charge call. He did that once tonight. Billups seemed confident to take and make whatever he wanted over Fish. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 0-3 shooting (0-2 frmo three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and no fouls in 18 minutes. The Action: He lost the ball on the perimeter, layup the other way. He missed a pull-up jumper in transition. He stopped a break by taking a charge. Second Half: He missed a three despite Artest having a mismatch in front of him. He missed a corner three. He attacked baseline and was held by Billups, he made both FTs. He didn't play in the fourth.

Luke -- -- His lower back has improved enough for a reappearance on the floor. He played his game, which usually means spotty perimeter shooting, but some great passing and smart team D. He and Artest combined for 10 assists. Got to love that passing from our SFs (although, Luke did run more at the PF tonight). He led the team with 4 turnovers, a couple of those seemed to be of the rust variety. Just not quite in the flow of things. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-4 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals and 4 turnovers in 14:37 of action. The Action: He was called for a travel on an up-fake. He set up Powell for layup off the two-man game. He deflected a pass for a turnover. He got swatted badly off the backboard. He posted up a smaller man and drew FTs, he made one. Second Half: He hit Brown cutting baseline for the layup. He missed an 18-footer. Excellent anticipation, coming from the weakside to knock pass loose. He tried to thread a needle and it was picked off. He faced up on the wing next time down and sank the jumper. He hit Farmar with an outlet in stride for a reverse layup. He missed a three. He grabbed a Brown airball and fed Gaffney for a reverse.

Brown -- -- Phil gave Shannon more run in this game at both the PG and SG spots. He knocked down a couple threes, both of them getting his feet set well instead of having to dribble and chuck. He also had a nice cut behind the defense to take a pass. He's one of the better Lakers at doing this and I expect the team will be more used to that this season and take advantage of it. He would have had a decent shooting night if you subtract out the one offensive sequence where he missed three shots while grabbing three boards. Just trying to pad those offensive board numbers, I guess. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-10 shooting (2-4 from three to go with 3 offensive boards, 4 assists, 1 steal and 3 fouls in 21 minutes. The Action: He missed a jumper from the top of the key. He sank a pull-up elbow jumper on the break. Second Half: He was swatted, forcing a corner jumper. He missed a three with the shotclock low. He sank an open corner three. He lost Andersen with an up-fake and scored the layup. Given some space, he squared up and swished a wing three. He missed a floater, had three offensive rebounds, then airballed a three.

Farmar -- -- Phil prefers the bigger guards against Billups, so Farmar's time was reduced. Phil had him go more against the speedier Ty Lawson. Farmar did the most wtih his minutes, hitting all shots he took, stealing the ball a couple times and not committing and error. Even the foul he took saved a transition hoop. Clean minutes. Keep it up. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-3 shooting (1-1 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 foul in 14:34 of action. The Action: He answered a Melo three with an early offense three of his own. Second Half: He made a jumper off the pass from Luke. He hit Ammo for an open three. He reversed when Luke hit him with an outlet. He was fouled on the perimeter trying to run clock, he made one FT.

Powell -- -- With the injuries to our center spot, Powell was thrust into more time at the backup C. That's in addition to backing up LO at the PF. He's done a great job this preseason and once again led the bench in scoring. He's putting together some effective minutes. Because of the lineups he is on, he needs to be more aggressive offensively. I'm not sure if that's helping him get into a rhythm, but he's producing at a high rate. Hopefully, that keeps up in the regular season, but the minutes will be slim. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-9 shooting (5-5 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a +17. The Action: Nice hustle in transition to get a stop. He missed a 19-footer, short. He took an elbow to the face by Melo on a spin and was called for an And-1 (should have gone the other way). He worked off the two-man sequence with Luke and finished the layup in traffic. He drew FTs on a reverse attempt, he made both. He missed an open wing jumper. He picked up a tech. He jammed back in a missed LO layup. He was dumped to the floor on a defensive board and earned FTs and a tech (he made the tech, not sure why he was taking it), he made both of the others. He scored 9 points on 2-5 shooting (5-5 from the line). Second Half: He missed a jumphook from the right block. He scored a layup on the break, somehow avoiding a travel call on an ugly jump step. He sank an 18-footer on the wing. He sank a turnaround baseline jumper over Andersen at the shotclock buzzer. He missed a cutting Luke, throwing the pass out of bounds.

Vujacic -- -- The Nuggets have had a healty dose of Rage Against the Machine in previous games. No J.R. Smith out there to battle with tonight. Melo didn't choke him. So, it was a quiet night from Sasha on that front. He played some feisty D and quietly scored a few points in the process. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-4 shooting (1-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 foul in 12 minutes. The Action: He was hit working off two-man game for a jumper, he made both FTs. He missed a wing jumper. He missed a corner three. He swished a wing jumper from the left side. Second Half: He hit Brown for an open corner three. His corner three bounced high off the rim and in.

Morrison -- -- I don't think it helps him to come off the bench behind Artest. Players are intimidated by one and not by the other. Melo's eyes seemed to light up, and he immediately went after Adam. With Luke back, Phil will pick his spots more for Morrison. Luke ran a lot at PF tonight, so you saw both of them on the floor at the same time. Adam continued to play more aggressively, which is what you want to see as his confidence shows. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-4 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 3 boards, 1 block and 1 foul in 18 minutes. The Action: He missed a corner jumper. Second Half: He missed a wing jumper. He swished an open wing three off the Farmar pass. He missed a baseline jumper.

Gaffney -- -- Kelati got the cut, Gaffney still lives. He had some token minutes at the end of the halves. Might have gotten more but he is nursing that back injury from the last game. Again, he's able to produce out there. Points, hustle plays, he just gets in the mix with some nice spark off the bench. You want that energy off the bench. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-2 shooting and had 1 board in 3 minutes. The Action: He came in for the final minute of the half. Second Half: He missed a three badly from the right wing. He reversed with his left quickly off the pass under the hoop from Luke. He drew FTs getting dumped on the perimeter, he made both. Nice hustle on the perimeter to tip a defensive board to himself.

Phil -- -- The injury bug has the Lakers C spot depleted for the moment. The Lakers are sacrificing preseason cohesiveness for regular season health. No telling whether it will make a difference or not... As a result of missing our bigmen, the Lakers started out hoisting and missing perimeter jumpers... Eventually, the Lakers took a 17-15 lead after 3 straight threes from LO, Artest assisting on 2... The Lakers trailed 27-25 after the first... Phil started the second quarter with a Powell, Luke, Morrison, Sasha, Farmar lineup. Some nice pass deflections and hustle on D... Phil later brought in Lamar and Mbenga followed by Artest when Melo checked in... The Mbenga, Lamar, Artest, Kobe, Brown lineup pulled out to a 39-33 lead... Both teams shot 37 percent at the half. The Nuggets led the turnover department 17-7. The Lakers led 52-46... Mbenga with a block party in the third quarter and the Lakers maintained the lead, 76-67... Phil started a Mbenga, Powell, Morrison, Sasha, Brown lineup to open the fourth... He then sat Mbenga for Luke... Up by 19, Phil went with the Luke, Gaffney, Morrison, Brown, Farmar lineup... The Nuggets had 9 turnovers in the second half, the Lakers 6...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Game Flows are up! The Lakers had fourth quarter runs of 9-1 and 10-2 to finish the Nuggets off.

[10scott10]

First

glad to read this since i missed the game

[KoPauChicken]

damn 2nd

I always wondered, if all our starters got injured (knock on wood), can our bench players beat another team?

Apparently, I got a glimpse of what that would be like from tonight.
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[George W Buss]

3rd!

[Ray_Gonzoles]

Thanks again for the recaps DB!

Thought before the game that this could be a train-wreck without Gasol and Bynum, but the bench players showed they can run with and outperform the other teams starters.

Let's see how things turn out Friday night, then on to the season opener and the raising of the Championship Banner.
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"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.

[Vishnu]

Lakers are the greatest team of all-time

[JTS1]

dancing barry, you multi-task very well.

[DancingBarry]

[JTS1]

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB... I missed this game; good to see a few players really stepped up with Drew and Pau healing.

[andyliao]

Last year Melo really gave Ariza trouble with his strength.
I recall many occasions where Melo just powered his way for rebound and baskets. Its pleasant to see Artest making Melo work and muscling with him while Kobe can focus on his thingy~
Artest signing really shows when we play big and strong 3s.

[Tanlentueux]

thanks for the recap. Good work as usual.

[Laker7]

Excellent recap as usual DB!

I was ROTFLMAO as Laker Hater Kevin Harlin was giving the Nuggets hell. "The Nuggets starters are being outplayed by the Lakers 3rd string center." "No Pau, No Bunum, No Problem!" Mbenga and Powell deserved all the props they got in your post. The rest of the bench mob was outstanding also. There were several dunk attempts that were blown by the Nuggets that DJ either tipped or altered that were not reflected in the stats.

Late in the fourth when all of the starters were on the bench, we have been giving up leads this pre season but tonight the bench guys could not miss late. We actually pulled away the last 4-5 minutes of the game rather than held on for the win. Good to see the end of the bench produce so well.

Ty Lawson was giving us freaking fits when he was in. Lawson at PG with Billups at the 2 and Martin / Melo on the wings during a fast break could be ugly. I want to keep an eye on this cause it could cause us trouble in the playoffs. Lawson still has not fully intergrated with the Nuggets offense yet but give him time.
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Darvin Ham is an idiot!

[limchrc]

Thanks

[GoldenThroat]

That is all.

[Dr. Laker]

Great job!
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On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".

[don ford]

Sixteenth !

[RCS926]

Believe it or not, Melo had a quiet 28. I was actually very surprised to see him with that many points because it didn't seem like he imposed himself on the Lakers at all.

Overall, I'm very impressed with our role players. We're going to get solid to great production just about every night from Kobe, Pau, LO, Drew and Artest. However, if guys like Jordan, Sasha, Shannon and Powell continue to play the way they've been playing this preseason, this team is going to slaughter the league.

[Freakout]

[Arizona]

My favorite things about last night's game and DB's recap:

1. LO with 5 straight 3's. Dude was on fire!

2. Mbenga's 7 blocks and DB's use of

3. How Denver's starters got outplayed by our bench. George Karl really wanted to win that game, leaving his starters out there so long
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“I’m just a basketball player, you know? Just put me where you need me.” -Lamar Odom

“You’ve got to play with pride and guts.” -LO

[wildcat]

DB, what do you think about the sideline traps that Odom, Kobe, and Artest have been springing upon opponents? Are they by design (trapping the sideline pick and roll) or are they spontaneous? Could this be a new wrinkle that Phil added to the defense after Rambis' departure?

[_#1_]

Some of that bench play really bought a smile to my face. Kudo's to the bench for staying within the offense. Made up for Fuentes as usual pitching.

[DancingBarry]

[DancingBarry]

[BeppaJoseph]