SUNS -at- LAKERS - 11/12 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

A Battle of Two Styles... A blood red sun sank into the skyline and darkness swallowed it whole. The air turned bitter cold like thumbtacks poking at your skin. They should have known not to attack the city after dark.

You saw the whole thing. It was savage.

Outside the city gates there was a clash of two styles. Their opponent hoped for quick counterattacks, to weave in and out of the defenses.

The Horsemen simply trampled them.

It was a brutal charge right through the middle of their defenses, no regard for anyone in their way. Death and Destruction followed by the rest.

As you stop at a street merchant to trade water for gasoline (you're going to fire up the Nova for a short road trip), a child tugs at your leg. "This is for you, mister," he says and hands you a purple and gold envelope. You open it up, DancingBarry:

The Horsemen were here. You saw it. You know what happened.

I will continue to track them.

"We dominated them inside," Kobe said after the Lakers 121-102 crushing of the Suns. The Lakers scored 78 points in the paint, the most they've had in about a decade. Yes, that is dominating the interior.

Tempo is key against the Suns. The best way to slow the tempo is to pound the ball in the paint and take advantage of their weak interior. It's hard to run when you're taking the ball out of the hoop...and the Suns did that a lot as the Lakers made 58 percent of their shots. The Lakers resisted temptations to shoot the three unless they were wide open. When they did, they made 8-16.

That combination of inside-outside play is simply deadly. That's how you dismantle a team like the Suns. Because of those dominating numbers, the Lakers easily survived a poor 7-18 from the line and giving up 24 offensive boards.

Andrew Bynum? Oh, yeah, that guy. He picked up where he left off after injuring his elbow in an overtime a week ago. He dropped 26 points, pulled down 15 boards and blocked 3 shots.

Very nice. The Lakers take their sixth consecutive win.


Kobe -- -- "If I see single coverage, if I have opportunities to dominate the game, I'm going to do it," Kobe said before the game. The Suns decided to start the game on single coverage, and Kobe took it to them. The moment the doubles came, he connected with LO for uncontested scores under the hoop. He pretty much dominated JRich on both ends. The wear and tear of having to defend Kobe in the post (combined with playing last night) seemed to drain JRich. A lot of contact and muscling for position in the post all game, Kobe took exception to one hard foul. All the post play is going to make for some chippy games. Phil started Kobe in the fourth for a few minutes to close out the Suns, but still kept the minutes low. The Stats: He scored 29 points on 13-21 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 4 assists, 4 turnovers and 4 fouls in 32:34 of action. He was a +24. The Action: He missed a turnarond jumper in the midpost. He got tapped on a short jumphook. He swished an step-back jumper at the elbow. He sank a 12-footer off good position. Single coverage in the post and he scored a layup over JRich. He spun around Hill, losing him badly for a layup. He got Dudley to crowd him with an up-fake and somehow heaved in a baseline jumper looking for a foul. He drew a double on the spin and whipped the pass to LO cutting for the layup. Another post double, another dunk for LO. His reverse was blocked. He drew FTs when Amare tried to block him on the break, he made both. He missed a turnaround from the elbow. He had 12 points on 5-9 shooting. He swished a turnaround in the paint. He scored a layup on the interior feed from Luke. He was blocked on a fallaway. He missed an open 8-footer. He busted out off the Lamar swat and dunked. He overpowered JRich in the post and took exception to the foul and let him know, he made one FT. He had 19 points on 8-14 shooting and 4 boards. JRich had 2 points on 1-7 shooting. Second Half: He missed a short fallaway on the baseline. He drained a pull-up wing jumper on the break. Soft D on Hill to give up an open jumper. He spun backdoor and dunked off the Lamar lob. He had 4 points on 2-3 shooting in the quarter. He created off the dribble, swung thtough between two defenders and swished a 15-footer while falling to the ground as the shotclock went off. He drained a baseline fallaway. He hit a short pull-up in transition. He got tapped on a baseline jumper.

Bynum -- -- The Lakers had to take advantage of Frye's lack of true center size (Amare wants no part of Bynum). So, they established the interior early on. Bynum easily overpowered the Suns with a series of post moves. When he wasn't working the post, the Lakers found him with high entry passes and lobs. Defensively, Bynum continues to lockdown on Amare. His size and mobility has caused Amare all kinds of issues over the past couple years. Tonight, just ridiculous numbers from Amare. When Drew sat, Amare had 8 points on 2-15 shooting. Ouch. One bigman back in the fold after resting his strained right elbow, another still in the wings. Bynum will need to hold down the fort again tomorrow. The elbow was still a little sore. "I'm going to get some treatment on the plane and I'll be good for tomorrow," Bynum said. The Stats: He scored 26 points on 13-18 shooting (0-3 from the line) to go with 15 boards, 1 assist, 3 blocks, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 36 minutes. He was a +17. The Action: He tapped an offensive board to himself, then no-looked to Ron for an And-1. Too long for Frye, he scored easily in the paint. Power drop-step on Frye, easy layup. He got caught in the air against Amare and was called for a foul, he screamed at the ref. He dunked off the lob from Lamar. He sank a 12-footer when his man sagged to deny the ball to Kobe. He missed a three-footer. He was called for a travel in the post (never saw it). He couldn't flip in a quick layup at the end of the quarter. He had 8 points and 5 boards in the first quarter. He missed a short jumphook. He pulled down a Powell brick and hit the short putback. Too big for the Suns, he dunked in an And-1 lob over two defenders, he missed the FT. Nice challenge on Barbosa to get a miss. Easy layup taking the high pass from Fish on the break. He swatted Nash out of bounds. He attacked across the lane to his right and scored a layup off the two-step (he's money on this move). He had 16 points on 8-12 shooting and 9 boards. Second Half: He missed a jumphook short. He tied up Amare who tried attacking off the dribble. He dunked off the interior feed from Artest. He spun in the lane and hit a turnaround. He drew FTs getting rooted in the post, he missed both. He swished a jumphook from 8 feet out. He pulled down a brick from Brown and hit the 7-footer. Bynum scored 8 points on 4-5 shooting in the third. He reverse dunked on the lob from Farmar. Nice help D swat on dribble penetration. He roofed Dudley and controlled the ball.

Lamar -- -- Lamar put up his near triple-double numbers in just three quarters of play. He was quietly effective all game: pulling down boards, setting up teammates and doing the most with his few shots. A lot better defense and better effort on the glass. That seemed to be more like the Lamar that played with Pau last season. It could just be that he tends to cause the Suns a lot of problems with his combination of mobility, size and unselfish play. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-5 shooting (0-2 from the line) to go with 12 boards, 7 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 29 minutes. He was a +18. The Action: He scored a lob on the wing backscreen play. With Amare on his hip, he drew Bynum's man and lobbed off the dribble to Drew for the dunk. Horrible press and his man dunked on the soft D. He scored a layup cutting off the Kobe post double. Another Kobe post double, another dunk for LO. He missed a wing jumper. Great rejection of a JRich baseline throwdown attempt, then he outlet to Kobe for the breakaway dunk. Second Half: He overthrew Kobe who was free on a backdoor lob. He took the DFish missed FT and dunked (making it into a 5-point sequence). He lobbed to Kobe from about 35 feet out on the backdoor spin for a dunk. He drew FTs under the hoop on an inbounds, he missed both.

Artest -- -- Grant Hill got 4 of his points against Luke in the first half before finally hitting a three when Artest was scrambling on D. That was his only points against Artest all night. Hill has been smoking teams lately and was a non-factor tonight. The Suns main weapons were locked down and Artest did his part. He had some very good help D sequences, as well. Offensively, he didn't force anything or work in the post much, nor did we rely on him for second-unit production. A couple of his threes were in-and-out. He was shooting blanks from the freethrow line like the rest of the team. We let the Suns hide Barbosa on him for a short stretch, but that didn't last. Barkley said that with Ron's weak numbers and Pau sitting out, "the rest of the NBA got a problem." Ron will have his hands full tomorrow. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-6 shooting (0-4 from three, 1-4 from the line) to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a +19. The Action: He missed a three, Drew got it back and no-looked to Ron for the And-1 layup, he missed the FT. He was called for a travel on the post move. He cut baseline and scored an And-1 reverse off the pass from DFish, he missed the FT again. Completely tapped on a three. Second Half: He missed an open wing three. He overpowered Hill in the paint and fed Bynum for the dunk. He stripped Nash on help D, filled the lane and was fouled on the break, he missed the first and finally got the second FT to drop. He missed a baseline three after somehow catching a horrible pass from Sasha. He knocked a FT miss off a Sun to regain possession. He was called for a clear-out trying to take a post pass (Lakers were whistled on that all night). He didn't play the fourth.

Fisher -- -- Steve Nash is the unquestioned engine that drives the Suns. He's had more assists in the first 9 games than anyone in the past 12 years. Tonight, he was held to just 5. Phil said the key was not letting Nash get the ball back once he passed. DFish did a very good job at times denying the return pass to Nash. The two-man D was also solid. Nash did not collapse the D like he's been doing against other teams. Some very good team D as well from DFish, disrupting plays throughout the game. Offensively, Fish was able to nearly match Nash's numbers in his time on the court. Can't ask for a better job from DFish. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-7 shooting (1-3 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 4 assists, 1 board, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a +20. The Action: Great hustle on D, rotating and disrupting on the first defensive stand. He missed an open three. He hit Bynum in early offense with a high pass for a layup. Nice look to a baseline cutting Artest for an And-1. He jumped a passing lane and forced a turnover. He attacked in early offense and powered up an And-1 elbow jumper, he made the FT. DFish 4 assists, Nash 3 at the half. Second Half: Great D on Hill on iso, stripping him in the paint. He let Nash fly by, moved in and swished the baseline jumper. He took the Kobe kickout with the shotclock low and hit the And-1 three from the right corner, he missed the FT. He missed a baseline turnaround from the post. He missed a wing three. He sat after three quarters.

Luke -- -- A bumpy start with some bad decisions on both ends, but Luke then dialed in and played more effective. Not a lot of action for him as Bynum's return allowed Powell to go back to more PF minutes (allowing Artest to stay at SF). Remember those long stretches of ball where the Suns would hide Barbosa on our SF spot without paying the price? Typically, Luke would have to try to post him up. It was never very pretty. We didn't have to worry about that, although the Suns did have Barbosa on Artest once or twice. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-2 shooting to go with 1 board, 4 assists, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 9 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: Bad pass trying to force it in a crowd in the paint. He hit Kobe flashing for a turnaround. He drained a wing three trailing the break. He attacked the lane and handed it off to Kobe for the layup. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Brown -- -- He came in late in the third quarter for the first time and played the rest of the game. Typically, he gave the home town crowd something to go bug-eyed about. He had a brief stretch of two dunks and a three in one sequence of three possessions. He just has some crazy hops. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-6 shooting (1-1 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 2 assists and 2 fouls in 16 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He blew past Barbosa and scored a layup with his left. He drew FTs on a cut, he made one. He leaped off the trampoline on the break and threw down. He dunked off the Farmar dish next time down. Next trip, he drained a wing three with the shotclock low. He missed an elbow pinch-post jumper.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha picked up a tech for looking like an enforcer after Kobe had some words with JRich. He came over to break it up and the refs somehow T'd him up. Really, it was a whole lot of nothing. Nice game from Sasha on the offensive end. He drained a couple of threes and helped bust the Sun zone. He is 4-6 from three so far this season. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-4 shooting (2-3 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 steal, 1 block and 1 foul in 9:37. He was a -4. The Action: He missed a wide open three over the zone. Nice job taking a rebound away from the Suns, then pushing up the break, it led to Kobe FTs. He swished his next three, left wide open off good Laker ball movement. Out of a timeout he missed a jumper trying to create off the dribble (I'm guessing the play was called for him, but fell apart and Sasha took a shot anyway). He set up in the corner on the break and swished the three. He was called for a tech after JRich fouled Kobe hard (weak tech). Second Half: Nothing to report.

Farmar -- -- Farmar led the team with 8 assists (despite DJ missing an uncontested dunk off Farmar's best pass of the night). Jordan didn't shoot well, but he was making things happen and (wasn't making mistakes on top of mistakes). A lot of his passes led to dunks or layups. Defensively, again slow to start, but he picked it up and had some decent moments on the floor. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-6 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 8 assists, 4 boards, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 21 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: First defensive stand and he gave up easy penetration without a screen for Nash (got to be ready, Farmar). He hit Kobe with the interior feed on the breakaway for FTs. Nice skip pass to Sasha against the zone for a three. He bricked an early offense jumper. Excellent D on Barbosa, recovering to force him to double clutch a jumper. He then lobbed to Bynum on the other end for the dunk. He gambled and lost going for a steal. Second Half: He lobbed to Drew for a reverse dunk. He attacked and dished to Brown for the dunk. He got caught in the air and threw a pass away. He missed a runner off the glass. Mbenga just killed a sweet assist by Farmar, who ball-faked, then no-looked over his head to Mbenga for an uncontested dunk. He sank a sideline three. He missed on a drive down the lane but Mbenga cleaned it up for him in style.

Powell -- -- Powell is now 4-7 from three this season. He looks like money from those sideline threes. Got to love the stats he put up tonight off the bench. He led them with scoring and rebounds. The rebounding almost seems misleading, however. We miss Pau or Lamar's defensive boarding when Powell is in. He still gets the stats, but there sure seemed to be more possessions where we just can't get a miss due to lack of size or hustle out there. Phil didn't like the bench's efforts in that regard during the fourth. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 6-10 shooting (1-2 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 7 boards (2 offensive), 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 20:27 of action. He was a +8. The Action: He gave up a putback score not boxing out. He hesitated then bricked a 10-footer. He missed a jumphook in the post. He dunked leaking out on the break. He missed an open three from the top of the key. Second Half: He back-rimmed a short one, got it back and hit an And-1 with his left, he made the FT. Next time down, he swished a top-of-the-key jumper. He tipped in a DFish miss from behind a defender. He swished the open corner three, holding the pose. He sealed, took the post entry and hit the short jumper.

Mbenga -- -- Poor DJ ruined a highlight moment for Farmar by missing an uncontested dunk off a great pass. With Bynum back, Mbenga returns to backup center minutes. Phil stole a few from him by running Powell there against the smaller Suns. DJ did his thing when he got in. He swatted shots at the rim and got the crowd buzzing anytime he touched the ball on the offensive end. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-5 shooting to go with 2 boards, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 7 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: Did not play in the first half. Second Half: He missed a turnaround in the post. He choked a dunk on a brilliant no-look pass from Farmar. He scored a layup when Farmar found him again next time down. He bricked a jumper off the glass. He swatted Tucker at the rim. He flushed back in a Farmar miss at the end of the game.

Morrison -- -- He came in for Kobe with 8 minutes left and hit both shots he took. The Lakers ran a play for him, curling at the elbow. They seem to set this up for him on the rare occasion he gets minutes. Good idea to have something that can get him going. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-2 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 1 board and 3 fouls in 8:24 of action. He was a -3. The Action: Did not play in the first half. Second Half: He hit a floater curling off the elbow. He sank a corner three off a kickout.

Phil -- -- Phil knows how to play the Suns. He has written the book on how to control the pace against them. With this win, Phil is tied for 5th on the all-time win list. Well done... The Lakers worked the ball in the paint and pulled out to an 18-10 lead midway through the first quarter... When the double started coming for Kobe, he was hitting LO cutting for easy scores. That forced a Suns timeout... The Lakers led 31-24, killing the Suns in the paint. Lakers made 14-23 shots, Suns 8-26. Lakers had 10 assists in the first quarter... Phil started a Bynum, Powell, Luke, Sasha, Farmar unit. They had the lead trimmed in half and Phil called a timeout, but kept them in... Shortly later Phil brought in Kobe and the Lakers went back up by 10... The Lakers closed the half with an 8-0 run to lead 59-45. They had 19 assists, the Suns had 5. The Lakers shot 55.3 percent (26-47, 4-8 from the line). The Suns shot 32.7 percent (17-52). The Suns had 7 more offensive boards. Only 2 fastbreak points for the Suns in the first half... The Lakers led 72-55 midway through the third, helped by a 5-point sequence with Fish hitting a three and fouled, missing the FT, but Lamar getting it and dunking... Phil went small with a Lamar, Powell unit... The Lakers were 6-17 from the line at this point of the game... The Lakers led 92-71 heading into the fourth... Bynum, Powell, Kobe, Brown, Farmar lineup... He sat Kobe for Morrison after 4 minutes... Phil wasn't happy with the defensive glass by the bench in garbage time. The Suns finished with 24 offensive boards to 8 offensive boards by the Lakers... The Lakers finished 7-18 from the line, 38.9 percent. They did better behind the three line, making 8-16...

Game Flow -- LINK -- A short, but lethal 15-0 run by the Lakers midway through the third quarter did the Suns in.

[cmonkee]

Thanks DB! Was waiting for this, gotta have my Thoughts and ) Ratings after a Laker win, or else I can't sleep!

[DD20045]

u r so awesome!!!!

[SoCaLjAy]

Great win tonight!

[DD20045]

wow, i missed first comment by seconds

[OregonLakerGuy]

thx DB

[Ray_Gonzoles]

Thanks again for the recaps DB!

Another game without Gasol but Bynnum, Kobe the rest of the starter plus the bench really stepped up to do a smack down on Phoenix. Lakers show the rest of the League who the best team is.
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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.

[lakergreenmachine]

Great job DB as always! Here's to a win over Denver!
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"Moment of Silence For the Champions."

[NoobyBrown]

beautiful DB rofl @ stu lantz when shannon dunk'd
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Yes I freakin hate Kwame Brown with a passion! Stu Lanz @ Shannon Brown Dunk vs Suns 11/12/09 "That is absolutely illegal, you shouldn't be able to do that... unless you are able to do that... and he is."

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB!!!

Awesome win Lakers! Totally spanked the suns. Now, lets have an encore performance against the Nuggets tomorrow!!

[City_Dawg]

Good (bleep) DB.

lol, Suns
GTFO with that run'n gun nonsense
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*sighs*

!...

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks DB! 78 points in the paint is dominant. And this was without Pau.

[isph]

Thanks DB as always
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Regardless of what happens, I'm proud to be a Lakers fan...

[prisma8slg]

thanks DB
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"I define success by championships, by winning..." Kobe Bryant

"I've seen it all. Sasha dunked on somebody," Kobe Bryant said. "I'm ready to retire now."

[limchrc]

nice win, thanks

[Luca Brasi]

it's early in the season, but our opponents FG stands at .422, boston is .426; who says we don't play defense?
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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

[RCS926]

It's ridiculous how Kobe is able to abuse opposing wings in the post. Love what I saw from Drew. He's going to be beast this year.

[Klone_dd]

78 points in the paint is downright punishing. Great to see the Lakers so focused on pounding it inside and not getting into an up-tempo perimeter game.

Memo to MVP voters - do NOT concede the award to LBJ. There's this #24 who has been an efficient, nasty beast. ESPN had a stat that Kobe was the 2nd leading scorer in the paint this year (Bynum #1) and the only non-bigman in the top 5. Once again, Kobe has adapted his game, added another strength to his already formidable game, and transcended everyone in the league.

Bynum has totally psyched out Amare. Drew abused the runts, as he should, but also showed well on the Suns high P&R plays.

LO with his patented Near3x2 game. RonRon was pretty quiet, but was the reason Hill was quiet too. I think he's taking too many 3's. Fish was solid.