NETS -at- LAKERS - 11/29 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

The Death March... Returning to the city after a short and sweet road trip, you drop your passenger off just behind the gates. She seems reluctant to part. "Do me a favor," you say. "Can you take care of my lawn gnome for me? I don't have a patch of grass for him." She nods, cracks a smile and holds him tightly. Behind you, there's some commotion at the gates.

Several sentries run to reinforce the perimeter defenses. You park the car and climb atop one of the walls. A line of beaten down warriors limps single file to the city gates with their hands in the air. They want to speak to the Horsemen. It was a sad sight.

"We're just passing through. Please, we want nothing from you," one yells. Another says, "It's true. Take our general if you like." They look for him, but he's already gone.

"We don't want him!" one of the sentries yells back. "Move on!"

"We're supposed to deliver this," one of them says, waving a piece of paper above his head. A basket is lowered and they place it inside. The gate guards quickly jerk up the rope. Moments later, they call your name. It's a note from DancingBarry:

The Horsemen were here. Their presence was all that it took to claim this victory.

I will continue to track them.

When a team is struggling, it's always best to take their "heart and will" from them early in the game. The now 0-17 Nets pretty much handed that over to the Lakers upon tipoff. Maybe sooner.

The Lakers ushered in the Post Lawrence Frank Era for the Nets with a dominating 27-12 opening first quarter and cruised to a 106-87 blowout. The Nets have tied the Clippers and Heat for the worst start ever in the NBA. They need to fight like mad to fight off history.

The Lakers had leads as high as 34-points. Two-thirds of the first quarter consisted of a Laker 22-2 run. Frankly, this game could have been one giant can of lockdown had the Lakers not run extended garbage time.

They've been holding teams to a league low 41.9 percent shooting. To their credit, the Nets made 43 percent of their shots after the defense loosened up -- still shooting below the average of the next teams behind L.A. on that stat. (Behind them are Charlotte and Portland at 43.3 percent.)

“The defense is getting better and better,” Kobe said. “We’re working really, really hard at it. Energy has been consistent.”

While the Nets have dropped 17 straight, the Lakers have put together 6 consecutive wins.

Kobe -- -- Looking at his numbers you wouldn't know he sat in the third quarter with 5 fouls and didn't return. He was torching the Nets from beyond the arc and setting up teammates for easy scores. The Nets actually left him open on a few possessions. Defensively, very active hands again, but too aggressive when he was in foul trouble. Prior to the game, Kobe was averaging 2.3 steals per game, a career high. Having two 7-footers behind him and Artest hounding his man with aggressive D is opening up a lot of opportunities for Kobe to gamble. The Stats: He scored 30 points on 11-17 shooting (5-8 from three, 3-5 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 7 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 4 turnovers and 5 fouls in 28:40 of action. He was a +25. The Action: He missed an elbow turnaround. He swished a pull-up wing jumper. He hit a wing three in transition. He missed a wing three on an Artest kickout. He drained a pull-up wing jumper in transition. He missed a pull-up in the lane. He sank a three when the D sagged off him. He hit a one-hander on the right block. He spun, attacked and was mugged, but they said he was blocked. He was fouled on the perimeter for FTs, he made one. He missed a long challenged jumper. He hit a left-handed jumphook working the right block. He sank an open three when the D collapsed on Pau (got to love wide open catch-and-shoot's for Kobe). He missed a long three. Another wide open catch-and-shoot three and he sank it. He was fouled while pulling up for a three, he made two FTs. He had 23 points on 8-14 shooting (4-7 from three). Second Half: He swished a fallaway after pounding the dribble in the post. He swiped a backdoor pass on the other end. He hit a lefty 12-footer in the lane, smiling as he went back down court. He charged over Harris after a spin move. He gambled for a steal and picked up his fourth foul just a couple minutes into the third. Kobe found Pau off the two-man game and on an oop for back-to-back layups. He drilled a pull-up three off the Pau screen. He picked up his fifth foul had had to sit.

Gasol -- -- Another efficient scoring night from Pau. The team didn't even run a lot of offense through him. He'll usually find his way to 17-20 points in some manner. It's only been a few games, but he's pulling down boards at a rate of 12 per game. Well above his 8.7 career averages. He didn't get the double-double tonight, however. He and Kobe are an inside-outside nightmare in the Triangle. Teams have to send doubles, and when they do, both can still score or hit the open man. He and Kobe combined for 14 assists tonight. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 8-13 shooting (4-5 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 7 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 37 minutes. He was a +15. The Action: He missed a lefty jumphook. The refs said a ball was stripped off him when it went off a Net. He sealed his man, took the corner sequence and drew FTs on the layup attempt, he made both. He was fouled on a runner across the lane after some sensational team passing, he made one FT. He scored an And-1 layup off the interior feed from LO, he made the FT. He missed a face-up jumper. He hit a short hook in front of the rim. He posted up in transition and hit the quick jumphook. His shot was blocked right to Bynum for a score. He had 10 points on 3-6 shooting, 5 boards and 5 assists. Second Half: He short-armed a baseline jumper. He scored a layup off the two-man game with Kobe. Kobe found him for an oop in transition. He scored a layup off the high entry. He dunked off the drive and dish from Ammo. He backed his man down, missed, got it back and scored easily.

Bynum -- -- Drew didn't put up huge numbers tonight, but he was a huge factor on the defensive end. There was a stretch in the first quarter where he stopped the Nets on four straight possessions as the Lakers went on a run. He had 5 blocks, but a number of disruptive challenges, as well. The Nets had to get through a couple of defenders and then Drew was back there lurking. Some excellent challenges while jumping off his man at the last moment. That's really been a weak spot on his game, but he looked natural with it tonight. Offensively, only a few touches tonight. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 2-5 shooting (4-6 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 5 blocks, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a +18. The Action: He missed a jumphook in the middle of the lane. He rejected a shot out of bounds. He swatted a guard who tried to spin past him. He hit a jumphook, posting up in transition in the middle of the lane. Kobe hit him leading the break for FTs, he made both. Nice challenge on the two-man to force a miss, he was then hit trailing the break and pulling up for a 16-footer, he missed both FTs. He missed an off-balance reverse looking for a whistle. He grabbed a shot of Pau's that was blocked and threw it in. He missed a turnaround. He had 6 points on 2-5 shooting and 2 swats. Second Half: He swatted a drive out of bounds. Another great challenge on Roberts to force a brick on the drive. He swatted another shot on help D, but it went right to his man for a score. He worked the post for FTs and made both. He pushed off when his man was fronting him.

Artest -- -- A lot more midrange shooting from Artest in this game. I don't know if that was done purposely or not, but it's the one part of Ron's game that has been slow to integrate so far. Prior to the game, Ron was averaging 4.1 assists per game, his second best number of his career. (In Sac he averaged 4.2 as he ball handled and ran the offense a lot when Adelman was there.) Phil wants him to start passing a little less and shooting a little more. Ron has heard that since the preseason, but seems to be coming along quite well. Defensively, he wasn't going to get much of a challenge this game. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-9 shooting (2-3 from three) to go with 2 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal and 3 turnovers in 30 minutes. he was a +26. The Action: He hit DFish cutting with a bounce pass for the layup. He was blocked on a high-low layup attempt. No one guarded him after he made an inbounds pass, he stepped in, got it back and hit the open three. He kicked out to Farmar for an open three. He missed a 15-footer. Horrible post entry pass that hit the rim. He sank a baseline jumper off the Pau handoff. He missed an 18-footer, working the two-man game. He led the team with a +25 in the first half. He had 5 points and 4 assists. Second Half: He missed an open three. He was called for a travel in the post. He sank an open wing three on the kickout. He got backdoored for a dunk. He missed an 18-footer, then stole it back. He missed a step-back 20-footer.

Fisher -- -- Quiet game from DFish. The back-to-back situation didn't seem to come into play as we had a couple of blowouts. Phil said he couldn't have scripted it better as far as minutes were concerned for the team. Again, this is another example of where getting Pau back and blowing out teams helps everyone in the long run. When the team was playing serious in this game, the Nets couldn't score with the starters out there. The Nets were continually walled off by second and third defenders as they tried to get into the paint. Offensively, DFish and Artest teamed up for another bounce pass/layup for Fish to start this game. That seems to be a little chemistry in the making. Frankly, any play that can make a layup for DFish look easy is pretty amazing. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-4 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 1 board and 3 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a +16. The Action: He scored a layup when Artest hit him with the bounce pass from the wing on the opening play (the two seem to have perfected this play). He missed a layup, taking contact in the air with no call. Second Half: He missed a corner three. He gave up back-to-back threes going under the screen while Bynum was hanging back behind him. He swished a sideline three.

Lamar -- -- We talk a lot about Lamar's defensive mobility. It's really not anything that you can quantify in a stat. Sure you have +/- numbers or team D numbers, but you can really pinpoint a stat to show what that means for the team. There were several sequences tonight where LO was helping to build that wall behind our initial point of attack and keep the Nets chucking from the perimeter. The showing and recovering and the zoning up on the strong side just plugged the lanes. "I was really talking to everyone about defense and we got the job done really early," Lamar said. Offensively, it's not easy to stuff the stat sheet when you're playing half the minutes you were before. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-5 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 6 boards, 2 assists, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 19 minutes. He was a +7. The Action: He hit a wing three off the high pinch post to start the second quarter. His next three from the top of the arc rattled in and out. He missed a layup, got it back and hit Pau for the And-1. He was called for a travel in the post. Second Half: He missed a three. He sank an elbow fade, coming from weak to strong.

Brown -- -- Happy Birthday to Shannon Brown. He seemed to be playing loosely out there. Our guards were feeling it from the perimeter and stroking shots at a high rate. Shannon seemed to get into some of that. Maybe shooting too quickly on a few possessions, but the team was having fun after they quickly built the lead. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-5 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 23 minuets. He was a -8. The Action: After skying for a high defensive board, he pushed it up and hit a long wing jumper. He up-faked, took a dribble in after the fly by and hit the wing jumper. Poor corner entry read and the help D swiped his pass. He missed a step-back jumper trying to create. Second Half: He missed a sideline three with the shotclock low. He threw a bounce pass to Powell at high speed and Powell never saw it. He hit Powell for the alley-oop on the break. He missed a wing jumper. He was fouled on a corner three, he made two FTs.

Farmar -- -- He was reposting and running the offense through others early in the game. And like the last one, the game started to come to him as it went along. Eventually, he got hot in the fourth quarter and throttled up his offense. He started lighting it up, but after a couple of heat-checks and throwing a pass away, the coaches had some words with him to reel it in. Still, some nice production off the bench and a season high for Farmar. Had he hit his FTs, a reverse and a dunk, he could have had 20. For the second game in a row, Farmar showed some great transition D. He helped set the tone of that first half with a rejection off the glass after tracking down Alston. No easy hoops. I like it. Asked what felt better, the threes or the swat, Farmar said, "Making the hustle play." The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-9 shooting (3-4 from three, 0-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 steal, 1 block and 2 turnovers in 18 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He rattled in an open three at the top of the key when Artest kicked out. Sensational hustle to reject a shot off the backboard, tracking down on an Alston breakaway. Second Half: He traveled on a drive with the shotclock low. He drained the kickout from Pau behind the wing three line. He threw a pass away in the backcourt, but swiped it right back. He sank an And-1 step-back jumper on the baseline, he missed the FT. He blew an easy reverse off the Pau hand off. He swished a wing jumper off the Pau screen. He cut across the lane, drew a whistle, threw up a shot, banking it in as he faded away from the hoop, he missed the FT again. He sank a heat-check three on the next possession. He missed another three. He was trapped in the corner at midcourt and threw the pass away. He couldn't finish a dunk on the break.

Vujacic -- -- He got some late second quarter run at PG when DFish picked up his third foul, then a healthy dose of garbage time. I'm not going to say that Sasha and Mbenga have a little chemistry, but Sasha does seem to understand how you use DJ. You let him set picks and if you want him to score, you dump it off to Mbenga for the short midrange jumpers on the pick and pop or rolling for a dunk. When the Lakers go to the third string bigmen, the guards can't just dump it into the post and run their standard sideline Triangle. That's one of the places where that unit bogs down offensively. Nice job on the boards in his limited time. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-3 shooting (all threes) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists and no fouls in 8 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He sank a wide open three off the Kobe kickout. Second Half: He pulled down an offensive board in a crowd. He hit DJ for a couple of jumpers. He missed a three, got it back and missed another three.

Powell -- -- Some better hustle moments from Powell, both running the floor, running after loose balls and going for offensive boards. He's got to try to outwork others and show that jumper. Anything else -- particularly post-ups, creating off the dribble -- he needs to limit. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-4 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 2 offensive boards, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 9 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He missed a long wing jumper. He threw down an oop in transition. He missed a wing jumper in early offense. He chucked a loose ball off a Net before going into the crowd.

Mbenga -- -- The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-3 shooting and 1 foul in 5:49 of action. He was a -2. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He swished a baseline jumper off the two-man game with Sasha. He fumbled away a repost. (A repost to Mbenga? Blame Ammo.) He missed a turnaround. He sank a 12-footer off the pass from Sasha.

Morrison -- -- Adam got the most run of the deep bench. I've got to think that about 10 of these minutes would have gone to Luke had he been here. Morrison needs to be productive in his minutes, but he's also balancing that by playing a smart, complementary role. He may be earning Phil's trust by not doing anything stupid. He only jacked up shots when he had to. Defensively, he played serviceable minutes. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-3 shooting to go with 1 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 14 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He took a skip pass, attacked and fed Pau for the dunk. He missed a long turnaround from the wing. He was swatted after trying to score a loose ball. He hit rim on a chuck to beat the shot clock from the left wing.

Phil -- -- Opponents are shooting a league low .293 from three. The Lakers also lead the league in rebounding with 46.5 per game. (Next team is the Bucks at 44.4 per game.) With Pau back, the Lakers are quickly rising on point differential, now third with a +7.13... The Lakers went on a 9-0 run and forced a timeout leading 14-8. Bynum had 4 straight stops during that stretch... Phil subbed in LO for Pau with 3 minutes left... The Nets scored just 4 points after that early timeout and the Lakers led 27-12 after the first... Phil ran Kobe at the SF with Farmar and Brown, then subbed in Artest for Kobe... Too many impact players for the Nets. They didn't know who to double off of. They often even left Kobe... The Lakers led 59-34 at the half. Total domination. The Nets shot 34 percent, the Lakers 53 percent (including 8-12 from three)... Kobe picked up his third and fourth fouls after just two minutes into the half. Phil left him in. He picked up his fifth foul about 6 minutes later and Phil sat him for the rest of the night... The Lakers led 87-60 heading into the fourth. Phil already had Morrison in late in the third quarter... Much garbage time in the fourth... Phil didn't like that the team faded after a strong start, but was happy he was able to get a lot of minutes for everyone...

Game Flow -- LINK -- The Lakers dialed in the Nets early on with a 22-2 run in the first quarter.

[lounger]

first!

thanks as usual DB!

[JTS1]

my post was slow to load...i didn't think i could be first.

now i'll ACTUALLY read what dancing barry had to say about tonight's game.
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'How many kids can say growing up that they'll turn pro and play for their favorite team in the world and spend your entire career there? IT'S BEEN A DREAM!'-Kobe Bryant 11.29.15

[Paillard]

Third.

DB, thanks for continuing to provide the best reviews in the business.

[NYLakerFan]

4th?


Hey! I'm in New York. Staying up to even land fourth should give me extra brownie points


NOW I can go to bed. I'll save reading DB's great recaps for the morning when I have my first cup of java at work.

[LakerLanny]

Nice write up DB.

The Nets are really an atrocious team and not just because of their record. They really mailed it in tonight, with the exception of Lopez and maybe Harris.

The rest of their guys should hang their heads in shame, they didn't play well and even worse didn't play hard.

The Nets have a very real chance to have the worst record in NBA history this year if their effort doesn't improve.
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Love, Laker Lanny

[Ray_Gonzoles]

Thanks again for the recaps DB!

Lakers win in another massacre. Great to see the team staying focused when playing inferior teams and not letting up.
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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.

[Bryant-Bynum Lakers]

Lucky #7! Thanks DB!
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1,2,3 RING.

[City_Dawg]

Thanks DB.

A boring and at times disturbing game to watch. I can't remember the last time I saw a team so lifeless like the Nets. Geez.
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*sighs*

!...

[yanyon]

thanks again senor DB

[limchrc]

Nice win

[j-dawg]

Thanks DB as always!

I’ve been watching Lopez on this west coast swing.

Despite some of the all star numbers that he’s been able to put up, its been a little disappointing after looking at his fantasy stats, and then watching him play actual games.

This game is a good example of that. You would have thought that with his 26 points 12 boards, he dominated and it sent shivers through Pau and Andrew. That was far from the case. But box score watchers will certainly see that and only that. He and Douglas-Roberts have the green light to do whatever they want. Haven’t been too impressed with his defense either, despite a decent number of blocked shots.

Solid player? Without a doubt
Top 10 center? Sure.

I don’t think I’d put him ahead of Kaman or Bogut yet thought. Although he is still young. I will admit that I haven’t seen him play that much, but from the small sample space gathered, it seems to be more of a good stats on a bad team type of guy.

[BigEvil]

I kinda' felt bad for the Nets... I mean a little... as much as my purple and gold heart would allow...

Loving the defense. I was happy to see Ron brought in, now I'm even happier. Not only has he proven to be a very complete player, he's also raised the defensive intensity of the team. When you're as long and agile as this team is, and finally have the intensity to match... well thats just scary.

[Luca Brasi]

43% FG for the nets, looks the like the guys took the night off defensively

i still think if we weren't blowing teams out and played the regulars a bit longer we could hold our opponents one tick under 40%.

an average of 27 assists over the last five games isn't too shabby either.
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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

[Dr. Laker]

Good job, as usual.
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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".

[thejellosjiggling]

I was not impressed with Farmar's performance. He did improve his shooting and aggressiveness, but his decision making continues to be very poor. The Lakers don't necessarily need Farmar to be a scorer, they need him to be able to run the offense and play good defense against smaller, quick point guards. He did have a very impressive block at the end of the first half, but overall he was terrible on one-on-one defense. He was also often out of control on offense and was damn lucky that he hit some of those long jumpers with less than 10 seconds off the 24 second clock in a game where they were trying to run off the clock with a big lead.

Lots of athletic potential with Jordan, but his basketball IQ is still in the toilet.

[HeiaGene]

awesome

[A Mad Chinaman]

DB - What role(s) do you thank Ammo has the potential of auditioning for - Sasha (for his shooting) and Luke (with his admittedly less than stellar passing when compared to Luke)?

Is Luke a key to the 2nd team's success since LO's "basketball IQ" is unable to bring a focus or dependability when the starters are off the court?

[Vishnu]

thanks DB

[bryants2hot2handle]

thanks

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB! Another fine blowout! I'd love to see a couple more blowouts the next few games but I think Phoenix is going to be a real battle.

[DancingBarry]