LAKERS -at- GRIZZLIES - 2/1 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

44 To Pass 44... Kobe Bryant scored 44 points to overtake the another No. 44, Jerry West, as the Lakers all-time leading scorer. Some day Kobe's jersey will hang in the rafters next to West's. Until then, there's much more history to be written.

"He taught me so much when I was 17 years old," Kobe said of West in the Times, "showed me a lot about the game -- pull-up jump shot and spin moves and on and on."

Scoring is great, but rings and wins are better. The Lakers weren't happy with how they finished their road trip.

"It was so-so," Kobe said of the eight-game trip. "It could have been a lot worse the way we were playing at the start. We got a couple of big wins. We found out a lot about ourselves in Boston. There were some positive things that happened on this trip, as well."

Tonight, Ron Artest couldn't connect on a three at the buzzer that would have given the Lakers a dramatic victory and an exclamation point to a solid road trip. Instead, he missed, the Lakers fell 95-93 and this road trip fizzled to its finish.

"Great look to win the game," Artest said. "It was definitely a good pass. It was good to be in a situation like that. Next time I know what to expect. Next time, next one will go in."

The Lakers gave away so many easy points that it was bound to come back and bite them. You just can't leave that many missed freethrows, layups and wide open short jumpers without paying the price.

It wasn't just one person, it was several. Lamar Odom clanked all fourth quarter, and Phil pointed out a key layup he missed in crunch time. Kobe left 5 points at the line, Pau 3 points as the team shot a collective 63 percent (17-27) from the freethrow line. Bynum missed a dunk with no one guarding him.

All of that put a damper on a night when Kobe became the all-time leading Laker scorer.

Pau Gasol wasn't very happy about it, nor about the Lakers inability to feed the post. "Obviously, we were not making a conscious effort to pound the ball inside," he said in the Daily News. "So, we settled a little bit too much."

When asked if they were a better team when they went inside, he said "A hundred percent." Asked if everyone on the team knows that, "I'm not sure," he replied.


Kobe -- -- Congrats to Kobe Bryant for taking the Laker scoring lead from Logo. Let's go back down memory lane, to the summer the Lakers picked up Kobe. They were struggling as a franchise without anyone on the team who was a consistent force on any given night. The man Kobe passed tonight changed all that with some deft moves to sign Shaq and trade Vlade Divac for a high pick so he could take Kobe. Years later and with four rings along the way, Kobe has passed West as the all-time Laker scorer. Some beautiful symmetry that is not only a compliment to Kobe's greatness, but to West's, as well. Now...on to the game. As great as Kobe played at times tonight, he missed many easy shots he normally would have hit (wide open short jumpers and just 8-13 from the line). Damn, that finger. That finger, no doubt, made the routine an adventure. Kobe came out extremely aggressive with his jumper to start the game. Perhaps, he was too aggressive, but taking out Mayo from the start may have been part of that strategy. He drew a number of fouls and the Memphis crowd grew more incensed. Kobe, however, struggled from the line. So, the refs didn't send him there any more in the second half. He would break West's Laker scoring record with consecutive dunks in the third quarter. Phil on Kobe's new Laker record: "That is remarkable because you think of all the scorers they've had," he said. The Stats: He scored 44 points on 16-28 shooting (4-7 from three, 8-13 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 3 assists, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 40 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He clanked a 10-footer left alone in the lane. He missed an elbow turnaround. He chucked a jumper next time down very quick into the possession. He swung through on Randolph from the corner to draw FTs, he missed both, uh oh. He made a turnaround jumper from the right wing. He faced up and hit a wing jumper. He missed a corner jumper in early offense. He missed a baseline jumper. Finally, he attacked the rim, hung and scooped in the lefty layup. He pumped Mayo into the air on a jumper, leaned in and drew FTs, he missed his third straight before hitting his first FT of the night. He was stripped on a drive to the hoop. Rudy Gay threw a half court shot up thinking the quarter was about to end, it hit backboard, the Lakers quickly outlet to Kobe who swished a three to end the first quarter. He clanked a wide open 15-footer. He kicked to Artest for a three. He missed an early offense three. He pounded the dribble to muscle in a layup past his man. He sank a fallaway jumper. He was fouled on a fallaway over Mayo, who picked up a tech (Kobe made that), then he made both FTs. He took a pull-up 19-footer. He attacked, worked the pivot side to side and drew FTs on the fallaway, he made both. He was hit on pull-up three for more FTs (then he hit a tech called on Randolph), he made only one of the three (ouch) and went to the locker room steamed. He had 23 points on 7-14 shooting (8-13 from the line) and 3 assists. Second Half: He missed a short 6-foot turnaround. He missed a wide open FT jumper, argh. He missed an open pull-up elbow jumper. He posted up and went glass on a short turnaround. He was called for three seconds. He pushed out a steal, saw an open lane, attacked it and threw down. To take the all-time leading Laker scorer mark, Kobe took a pass from Farmar who could have dunked it himself and he threw down on the break with just over 4 minutes left in the third. He banked in a three for his next make, sticking his tongue out on the way back down on D. He faced up, attacked right and pulled up to swish the baseline jumper. He sealed Mayo under the hoop in transition, took a pass and scored the layup. He swished a sideline three over Mayo with the shotclock low. He missed a pull-up wing jumper. He missed a three. He attacked with speed and scored a layup. He hit a long three next time down with 24 seconds left. He kicked out to Artest for a three (Phil wanted more penetration on the final play).

Gasol -- -- Pau started this game by getting into quick foul trouble after just a couple of minutes. He had to sit for extended minutes. After an efficient first half with 8 points, he wouldn't make a field goal in the second half and scratched just a couple of FTs in four attempts. That's not acceptable. The Lakers have got to run more offense through him. If we're not running it through Bynum, it's got to be established by Pau. The Lakers gave Memphis a break and they happily took it. Glad to hear Pau speak up again. Something he can control is his touch from the line. Pau's freethrow shooting sure seemed to go south in a few of these road games. He started the trip with a 3-6 in Cleveland, a 6-11 in New York and ended by going 5-10 in the last two games. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-7 shooting (2-5 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal,1 turnover and 4 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He swished a jumper from the top of the key. He picked up two fouls in 2 minutes and had to sit. He was shoved on an And-1 turnaround, he missed the FT. He backed his man down with ease and hit the lefty hook. Bad angle post feed, turnover. He backed his man down and hit the baseline lefty jumphook. He had 8 points on 4-5 shooting. Second Half: He choked a two-footer. After fouling his brother on one end, Pau went at him at the other to earn FTs, he made one. He faced up, attacked his man and drew FTs, he made one. He spotted Ron sealing Gay under the hoop for an And-1. He missed a face-up wing jumper.

Bynum -- -- At least he made it out of January and out of Memphis in one piece. After his excellent Boston game, he put up a dud tonight, which included a missed dunk and a number of fouls in the third quarter. It looked like he was flat-footed to start the second half and paid the price. The Lakers never established the post, nor did the bigmen work for it. All of the Laker bigmen were flat. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 1-3 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 5 fouls in 26 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He shed Marc Gasol on a lob, then drew a foul on the help D, he made one FT. He cut down the lane and Fish found him for FTs, he made both. He had too much on a layup after a great power spin and he missed. He was stripped in the post. Second Half: He picked up two fouls on the first two defensive stands. He choked an easy dunk, wide open, argh! Another foul, just flat-footed coming out of the half. He sat after 4 minutes. He dunked off the Farmar interior feed, his first field goal coming 2 minutes into the fourth.

Artest -- -- Ron was one of the few guys to show up offensively in this game. He was efficient and accurate from distance until given the final shot of the game to win it. Kobe dished to him on the right sideline and Ron missed the three. It was straight, but just a hair too long. The Lakers shouldn't have been in that position to begin with. Offensively, Ron's real problem was the turnovers. While the team was busy giving away easy points, Ron gave away possessions. Some unwise decisions, some careless plays. On the road, those hurt. Defensively, Rudy Gay was able to get into open areas a bit too easily. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 6-9 shooting (2-3 from three, 4-5 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 5 turnovers and 5 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He swished a wing jumper with a toe on the three line. His pass was picked off for points the other way. He sank a wing jumper. He fumbled a pass away. He was tripped by Gasol for FTs, he made one. He sank a wing three on a Kobe kickout. He charged over his man not running the offense. Second Half: He traveled on a face up and drive. He was called for an offensive foul in transition. He swished a wing three. He posted up, stepped past Gay and drew FTs, he made both. He drained a corner jumper. He fouled Gay to pick up his fourth and sit with 2:26 left in the third. He missed a leaner with the shotclock low (looked like he could have drawn FTs if he took the contact). He cut off Pau, took the feed under the hoop and powered in an And-1 layup, he made the FT. He was blocked in traffic. He missed a sideline three at the buzzer to try to win it, dead straight, just too long.

Fisher -- -- DFish led the team with a -12 and took in knee to the midsection for his efforts. This wasn't much of a PG battle on either side of the floor. The Lakers two point guards combined for a poor 1-8 from three. A couple of those would have been nice. Fish scored his first hoop of the game in crunch time. He then missed another jumper on the next trip down. You've got to always be concerned with his minutes when he gets no rest between games. With one day of rest, he shoots .414 from the floor and .400 from three in the 23 games that has happened. More or less than that, he's abysmal. With no rest like tonight, he shoots .337 from the floor and .266 from three. Horrible numbers. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-6 shooting (0-3 from three) to go with no assists 2 steals and 1 foul in 28 minutes. The Action: He missed a corner three. Nice read of a cutting Bynum to hit him for FTs. Too low on a bounce pass to Drew for FTs. He missed a runner in the lane. His lob to Pau was off target. He missed a three. He swiped a kickout. Second Half: He missed a wing three. He let his man fly by, moved in closer and rattled a jumper in. He missed a step-back sideline jumper with a minute and a half next time down.

Lamar -- -- What a horrific fourth quarter from Lamar Odom. He killed the Lakers with a brick fest, missing all quarter long. He went 0-4, not including a charge. That's five offensive possessions coming up empty. The critical one was a driving layup with a minute left. Defensively, he was brought in early when Pau got into foul trouble. Randolph always seems to give him a hard time. That was the case again as Zack delivered a 22 and 17 game. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-9 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 8 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 5 fouls in 37 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He attacked across the lane and hit the runner. He followed a Shannon cut and miss and tipped back in the layup. He deflected a pass and recovered it. Second Half: He was wide right on a three. He missed a jumphook. He tied up a man on an offensive board (hurt his right fingers again on that). He missed a sideline jumper on the handoff. He missed a flat baseline jumper. He was called for a charge on a drive and dish. He was blocked on a jumphook with under three minutes left. He missed a drive and layup with a minute left, then he fouled from behind to give up FTs. Sigh.

Brown -- -- Shannon shot. 500 from the floor in January, averaging 9 points in 20 minutes. Very good month for him. He started of February without much impact. He shoots .358 on the second night of back to backs, including a poor .192 from three. He sank his only three tonight, a big make in the fourth. However, that would be his only make. He had a couple miscues in transition (again these are point skills and why he doesn't fit for a lot of teams around the league). Those miscues in transition turn opportunity for you into opportunity for your opponent. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-3 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 14 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He cut with speed down the lane, but missed the layup (LO tipped it in). He missed a wing pull-up jumper. He pushed out the break and threw it away, points the other way. He then fouled a three shooter and got benched. Second Half: He fumbled an outlet out of bounds trying to move before securing the ball, arggggh. He drained an open corner three.

Farmar -- -- DFish was a -12, Farmar a +10. That's a big gap between your two PGs. On the second night of back to backs, Farmar has shot .415 from the floor and .326 from three. Those are much better than DFish's numbers above. In January, Farmar shot .475 from the floor and .404 from three, averaging 8.7 points per game. He also shot .938 from the line which straightened out his freethrow shooting troubles. It's been a good month for him. Phil has started to let him close more games and given him extended run. He could have stolen another 10 minutes, at the least, from DFish's time tonight. Farmar wasn't hitting from downtown, but he was making some things happen. He was also careful with his possessions. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-7 shooting (1-5 from three) to go with 3 boards, 5 assists, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 19:41. He was a +10. The Action: He attacked with speed in transition, hung with contact and banked the layup. He missed a wing three. He missed an open three straight away. He attacked the lane, then threw a horrible pass out of bounds, wasn't even close to Pau. Second Half: Farmar could have taken the outlet and dunked himself, but he assisted instead on Kobe's dunk as he became the all-time leading Laker scorer. He missed a drive in early offense. He missed another three. He swished a wing three when his man sagged. He found Bynum with an interior feed for a dunk. He missed a wide open wing three next time down. He spotted Kobe in transition sealing Mayo for a layup.

Luke -- -- Phil again seemed to get burned by the one-starter unit on the floor during the second quarter. In the playoffs, I imagine the team will keep a minumum of three impact players on the floor at all times. Phil does that more in the second halves than the first halves. Not much action from Luke. He probably should have gotten the ball more to see if he could create for others. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-1 shooting to go with 1 steal and 1 foul in 6:25. He was a -7. The Action: Left open and he swished a wing jumper. Second Half: He did not play.

Powell -- -- Brief stint for Powell in the second half. Not enough time for much to happen. The Stats: He was a +1 in 1:37. The Action: He did not play in the half. Second Half: Nice job moving his feet to challenge his man's drive and force a miss.

Mbenga -- -- He came in for Bynum with a minute left in the first. The Stats: He didn't score and was a +2 in 1:10. The Action: Brief stint in the first quarter. Second Half: He did not play.

Phil -- -- With one victory, Phil would have become the all-time Laker coaching leader in wins. He and Kobe on the same night? Perhaps, that would have been too much for sportswriters keen on symbolism, irony and all things great when milestones are reached. It would not happen tonight... Pau quickly picked up two fouls after 2 minutes. LO came in for him... The Lakers got into the bonus with 7:48 left in the first quarter... The Lakers fell behind 17-9 after 6 minutes... Phil brought Farmar in with more than 5 minutes left in the first... Despite a number of missed FTs (5-10), the Lakers ended up tied 24-24 after one... Phil started the quarter with a Pau, Lamar, Luke, Shannon, Farmar unit... Phil brought back Fisher with this unit with just under 3 minutes into the quarter. (By the way, this is what it would look like with Fish coming off the bench)... Phil called a timeout with the team trailing 41-34 midway through the quarter. He went back to the starters... The Lakers trailed 52-50 at the half. The Lakers shot 51 percent to the Grizzlies 44 percent. THe Lakers made just 12-20 from the line. They also had 9 turnovers to 5 from Memphis... The Lakers didn't like how Kobe-centric the team was and wanted more ball movement early in the clock... Phil called a timeout as the offense couldn't score in the first few minutes. Just ridiculous how many easy misses the team was giving away at times... They finally got their first score of the half at the 7:30 mark. Kobe, of course... The Lakers were in the penalty early thanks to three fouls from Bynum to start the half... They trailed by 11, but rallied to tie it up with a minute and half left in the third... Somehow, the Lakers led 71-70 going into the fourth. Ugly!... Phil started a Bynum, Lamar, Kobe, Shannon, Farmar unit... Phil rested Kobe up 75-74 for Ron... The score was tied at 78 when Bynum sat for Pau... Phil brought in Kobe with the 81-80 lead midway through the quarter... Fisher for Farmar a minute later... The Lakers were up by 4 before a 6-0 Memphis run... No timeout after two missed FTs by the Grizzlies. The Lakers had plenty of time. "I would have liked to seen more activity on that play," Phil said. He wanted more penetration. Ron lined up a three on a Kobe pass, but could no connect... The Lakers were out-rebounded 12-5 on the offensive glass. Memphis won the points in the paint 42-26...

Game Flow -- LINK -- A lot of runs by Memphis tonight. The 13-4 run to close the game was the killer. Kobe had 12 points on 5-7 shooting in the fourth. Lamar was 0-4 with a turnover.

[jack13]

1st
_________________
"These young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess." Kobe Bryant

[CannonBrown]

2nd ugh

[chilake24]

second. no more injury to kobe and the team. is it me that pau didn't want to showup when facing his yonger brother

[Vishnu]

Thanks DB

[mhan00]

i'll be honest, i hated kobe's game tonight from the opening tip. i thought he clearly came out determined to pass jerry west tonight at any cost, and it cost the team. he certainly wasn't the biggest reason why we lost, but he was one of them, despite the awesome individual stats.

kobe is by far our best play maker and the guy who does the best job at setting up our bigs for the score, when he comes out like he did tonight looking to call his own number every time down the court, our entire team suffers since almost nobody else is capable of throwing in a decent entry pass.

the two guys who killed us tonight though were lamar and fish. ugly, ugly games from both. shannon brown didn't help either with his brain dead defense, dumb decisions on fast breaks, and idiotic foul of a guy shooting a 3. one of the rare times i would have preferred to see sasha instead of brown out there.

[tw-lakbfan]

Not a good road trip.

Losses to good teams, wins over mediocre teams.

[Ray_Gonzoles]

[lakerboy]

thanks db

somehow right now every game we play is a potential loss. not a good sign

[angrypuppy]

Count me in as someone who wasn't thrilled with Kobe's game last night. He took the team out of rhythm in the first half, which laid the seeds for the rather tepid performance the second half. Bynum needed some of those shots as it's more important that he start building momentum, instead of risking continued inconsistency. Pau on the other hand has just lost his mojo, and that disjointed offense last night was not going to let him get it back.

Lamar killed us in the fourth quarter, but that's more of a symptom of our bigs being lost (Bynum with foul trouble, Pau out of the flow of the game). When Lamar has an active big, good things happen, but that wasn't the case last night.

[prisma8slg]

_________________
"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."

[rpadma12]

Kobe's 1st half was an issue.. no rhythm to it, just trying to get himself going in any way possible. This loss was mostly on that.

but, it was interesting that lakers were going to Odom and Fisher late in the game. If Pau wanted more opportunities, wouldn't that be the time to demand with all the attention on Kobe? Then he goes and sets a screen for Kobe on the last play crowding him. This team simply doesn't have chemistry and again, like the old days, it's back to the "leaders". Hopefully there isn't a Pau/Kobe thing now.

[JUST-MING]

[RVCdesigns]

Thanks DB.

[Arizona]

[Arizona]

[Drifts]

if Odom practiced making left-handed layups before suiting up in this game, this would have been a win.
_________________
"Now, if life is coffee, then the jobs, money & position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold & contain life, but the quality of life doesn't change. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

[Klone_dd]

All the Lakers bigs were dragging which made it easier for the guards not to throw the ball to them, not that they wanted to anyway. Marc Gasol with 12 FTAs means the bigs were slow to react and reaching.

Props to Kobe for reaching the top of the Lakers scorers.

[StuLantz#1]

I am so down on Odom this year. The guy seems like a lost cause and he's been so much of a ghost out there I think we're going to have to find someone else to significantly raise their game in the playoffs (especially since Odom's contribution to the championship were significant). It's not just a question of whether Artest can hit the big shots Ariza was last year anymore, now this year's and last year's Odom are two different people. The guy has once again mentally checked out and unlike the regular season in 08 I hardly ever even notice him out there. I wish the team could force him to down meds because his head is just somewhere else. I know he has picked it up in the 2nd half of the season in the past, but he has so much more ground to make up than before considering how bad he's looked.

And I was hoping Artest and Odom could keep Gay and Rudolph in check, but that wasn't even close to the case.

[JUST-MING]

[StuLantz#1]

[Killakobe81]

I will say this I was at the game. (in memphis on biz trip)
I was Not happy with the ball movement or the way we ran the offense.
But in Kobe's defense ...Pau got plenty of touches (Like in Boston) and many times he failed to make a decisive move or re-post on offense.
Kobe forced some shots especially some early that were not even good looks ...but in the 2nd half he was making some good shots against defense but not riduiculously tough. (for him)

the bootom line to me was the Lakers looked tired which led to early foul trouble ...no way we were gonna win that game with a super-human effort from kobe and he almost gave it to us ...except for the open 3 he missed and the last pass to artest he let fisher and Odom take shots neither could hit. Odom had his chances he sucked ass last night.

Kobe was the reason I felt i hadnt wasted $ even though we lost. OF COURSE i would of rather had the win ...but Kobe put on a show.

whomever said we bat the mediocre teams but lost to the good ones is underestimating Boston and us ...

[slippy]

[A Mad Chinaman]

I agree with Mychal's comments on the radio, Bynum and Pau need to demand the ball, establish position and produce (the bottom line that Kobe looks for).

As Sir Charles kept on mentioning during the telecast, a post player should get his position and not be bumped out. Then the responsibility is on the post player to get the ball and produce. Often, Pau and Drew are not able to do that or willing to do that. If Drew is not active, his defender is able to effectively double-team Pau hence eliminating many of the passing lanes. If Drew would roll to the hole, he would be getting lobs for dunks