LAKERS -at- KINGS - 3/16 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

No. 50... The scent of steak sizzling over an open fire catches you off guard. It's rare when you travel from the city and find a food source, especially one so tasty. Surely, it would gather the interest of others.

You follow the scent through the flatlands until you spot a glowing bonfire. Tonight, the Horsemen feast in Cow Town.

They invite all of their purple and gold brethren in the area to the party. The Four Horsemen provide the meat.

As you join in, someone hands you a plate of food, drink and a napkin on which DancingBarry has written you a short note:

"The Horsemen were here. They celebrated their 50th victory over an opponent who is going no where. The biggest of Horsemen were simply too much to handle.

I will continue to track them..."

Sometimes the game can be very simple: feed the post and get out of the way. Unfortunately, the Lakers have a tendency to make the simple a lot harder than it should be.

The Lakers pounded the ball to their bigs, went away from it, lost a double-digit lead and trailed. When they went back to it in the second half, good things happened again, and they controlled the game on their way to the 106-99 win against the Kings.

Kobe, Pau and Bynum attacked the soft interior of the Kings. Kobe had 30 points, Bynum scored 21 and Pau finished with 28 on 12-14 shooting. Lamar Odom was the only other Laker to finish with double digits, scoring 10 to go along with a few highlight plays.

The purple and gold showed up in large numbers in Sacramento to see their Lakers. At one point, the chant of "We Want Tacos" could be heard. It wasn't a home game, but it was very far removed from the cowbell frenzy of years past.

After dropping all three games on their last road trip, the Lakers evened up their March road record with this victory and improved to 50-18 on the season. Kobe continues to repeat the importance of the mental edge: "We're just playing with more of a sense of urgency," he said.


Kobe -- -- Despite the horrible night from the line, getting blocked 4 times in the first half and missing a bit more than he liked, he was a key to the win. His dribble penetration collapsed the D often. He set up teammates with some sweet passes (jump lobs to Bynum, great bounce pass to Pau off the two-man game). In the process of leading the team in assists, he cut down on the turnovers, too. He was looking great there until a couple in the final few possessions. Brutal night from the line. Sometimes when Kobe has had a bad night from line this season, he has switched up his finger guard afterward. Glad to see him get to the line 14 times with that aggressive attack, hopefully, the finger isn't what's hurting the FTs. It appears he's been hit on that hand a couple of times this road trip. The Stats: He scored 30 points on 10-26 shooting (2-5 from three, 8-14 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 7 assists, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 41:18. He was a +15. The Action: He missed a three on a kickout. He hit Bynum under the hoop for a dunk. He was blocked on a cut off the ball. He missed a layup off a drive next time down, but Drew cleaned it up. He missed a pull-up elbow jumper. He missed a spinning one-hander. He attacked in early offense, was blocked, got it back and scored the layup. He froze his man with a hesitation move behind the screen, attacked, took contact and muscled in the And-1 layup, he made the FT. He quickly faked middle, spun baseline and scored a layup around Evans. He didn't hit anything on a turnaround jumper with the shotclock low. Next time down, he attacked Garcia and hit the And-1 on the drive, he made the FT. He sealed Garcia under the hoop, took the post entry and scored easily. He split a double, attacked the rim and drew FTs with 2 seconds left, he made one FT. He had 13 points on 5-12 shooting in the first. His shot or pass was blocked in the middle of the lane. He swished a pull-up wing jumper. He missed a turnaround from the wing. He was blocked on a drive. He took the inbounds under the hoop and scored a layup. He missed a drive, but Drew cleaned it up. He lobbed to Bynum for a dunk. He attacked down the lane and was smacked, he made one FT. He attacked and was hit on the arm with a second left in the half, he clanked both FTs. He had 18 points on 7-18 shooting (4-8 from the line). Second Half: He sank a three from the top of the arc to start the half. He missed an early offense three. Lazy D and he gave up a layup in transition to Pau's man after Pau scored (he and Pau had some discussion about that going into the timeout). He sank a three off the Bynum pinch post. He missed a hanging jumper. Sweet screen-roll bounce pass to Pau for the And-1 layup. He missed a three. He sank a quick pull-up from the wing. His pass to Pau was picked off. He barely hit rim on a fallaway trying to beat the shotclock after they had stalled the offense (Shannon was hesitating on whether to cut or not). He came weak to strong, took the post feed, quickly spun to lose his man and drew FTs, he made just one again. He posted up and drew FTs on the entry pass, he made both. He missed a fallaway from the wing with the shotclock low. He drew FTs on the perimeter, he made just one again. He booted a pass out of bounds (injured hand, possibly). He threw a pass away.

Gasol -- -- Efficiently deadly tonight, missing just two shots on his way to 28 points. Double-doubles from Bynum and Pau. Not just double-doubles, but 20+ point, 12-board jobs. The two of them have been putting up some decent numbers lately. Sometimes, it's a tag-team at the C spot, but we've also seen them doing it with both on the floor at the same time. Pau showed a good mix of his low and high post games. That is vital in his role. There was a stretch in the second quarter when the bench needed to run the offense through him every trip down the court and they neglected it badly and paid the price. Immensely frustrating to watch. The reason he was just a +5 on the night was because he was playing with that bench unit that ignored him for stretches and lost a large lead. Pau missed his first FT tonight and it seemed like he would be in for another bad night, but he hit the rest. He must have given Kobe the FT virus. The Stats: He scored 28 points on 12-14 shooting (4-5 from the line) to go with 12 boards, 4 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 41:26. The Action: He scored a lefty jumphook backing down his man. He posted up, attacked the middle and drew FTs. He lost a dribble out of bounds. He swished an elbow jumper. He scored a layup off the Lamar dish and drive. He missed an early offense 20-footer, poor decision. After a long period of not getting touches, he finally got the ball and hit a wing jumper. He posted up, spun and drew FTs, he made one next time down. He blocked a jumper. He took the post entry, attacked across the lane and scored the layup. He had 11 points on 5-6 shooting. Second Half: Post touch and he hit a jumphook in the middle of the lane with his left. He missed a soft attempt, got it back and powered in a layup (better aggression). He spun baseline and muscled in a reverse layup. He hit a cutting Shannon for a layup. He scored an And-1 layup off the bounce pass from Kobe on the two-man sequence, he made the FT. He pushed out the long rebound and no-looked to Shannon on the break for the throwdown (big grin by Pau on that one, great play). He cut down the lane as Lamar fought for a board, took the bullet feed from him and dunked it in all in one motion. He sank a rainbow turnaround in the lane. He sank an elbow jumper off the quick passing from Kobe and DFish. He was fouled at midcourt, he made both FTs.

Bynum -- -- Drew is playing with an edge, maybe a chip on his shoulder right now, that the Lakers have needed badly. It's that veteran, man's game attitude that has started to knock people around on both ends. In the first half of the game, the only two shots he missed, he got back and dunked. He was attacking the post and the rim with aggression, using his size and strength like he should. He did this despite being tired before the game. He said he thought he was going to have a bad game because of that. There were a couple defensive stands where he looked a little tires, but he was going after it for the most part. What was the key for him? "Just getting the ball low and starting to go to work as soon as I got it," he said. Good job by his teammates, too, hitting him for a few lobs. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 9-14 shooting (3-3 from the line) to go with 12 boards (5 offensive), 2 assists, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 1 foul with 30:10. He was a +17. The Action: He dunked off the Artest pass after Drew kept the offensive board alive. He dunked next time down off the Kobe dish. He cleaned up a Kobe miss with an And-1 under the hoop, he made the FT. He tipped a miss to himself and dunked around the defenders. He missed a jumphook after backing Hawes under the hoop, he got it back and threw down with both hands (so nice, then he stared down Hawes). He blocked Thompson's post up. He kept another offensive board alive so Artest could recover it. He had 11 points on 5-6 shooting and 6 boards in the first quarter. After sitting for 6 minutes, he dunked off a lob from Fish. He grabbed a miss, missed himself, got it back and dunked. He posted up (Pau made the rare post entry) and drew an illegal D. He slammed a lob from Kobe in the lane. He had 17 points on 8-10 shooting (scoring off his two misses) to go with 9 boards (5 offensive). Second Half: He faced up to pass then swished the wing jumper. He was "blocked" from behind on a sure dunk (his arm was hit hard with no call). He drew a double and hit DFish for the open three. He missed a finger roll at the front of the rim after a great post move. He missed a reverse working the post. He blocked Landry while flat-footed. He drew FTs on a corner entry from Fish, he made both.

Artest -- -- Back in Sac. He probably didn't notice considering how many Laker fans showed up. (Way to represent, Laker fans.) Ron didn't stuff the stat sheet nor take a lot of clean shots, but he ended up with a team-high +20. He started defensively on Tyreke. That's a tricky cover with Tyreke's speed, which occasionally caught Ron slow-footed. Evan's lack of perimeter confidence ended up helping Ron in that match up. Ron was active on the offensive glass and helped create second-chance opportunities. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-6 shooting to go with 7 boards (3 offensive), 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 37:23. The Action: He hit Bynum for a dunk after grabbing an offensive board. He missed a wing jumper. He missed an elbow fallaway. Evans spun around him for a layup. He swiped the ball from Green on help D. He blocked an Evans jumper and controlled it. He muscled away another offensive board that Drew kept alive. Second Half: He stripped the ball off Hawes. He kicked out on a drive to LO for a three. He missed a baseline jumper. He bumped Nocioni off his spot on a drive and scored the lefty layup (he then flexed to the crowd). Horrible turnaround fallaway wing jumper, hit glass and bricked badly.

Fisher -- -- Better play from Fish tonight. He wasn't hitting his shot, but he fed the post and took shots he needed to take for the most part. When that wasn't dropping he made some extra passes late in the game that kept the ball moving. Good to see him looking for his bigmen after the failures of last night. The Kings doubled off DFish to help the post quite a bit. That is going to become an issue in playoff time if Fish can't knock down shots. If he can't step up, the team will need to run more Shannon or Farmar. Shannon gives the team off the ball movement that is probably more important with Artest on the floor. We seem to be seeing some different options at the PG spot lately. That's a good sign. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-7 shooting (1-4 from three, 0-1 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 block and 2 fouls in 27:24. He was a +12. The Action: He missed a baseline jumper. He missed a long wing jumper. He blocked Evans under the hoop on help D. He missed a three with the shotclock low. He hustled for a loose ball, got in the lane and lobbed to Drew for the dunk. He missed a tech FT. He sank a wing jumper. Second Half: He missed a wing jumper off the Pau screen. He missed a three when his man doubled Pau. He sank an open three on the Bynum double-team kickout. Quick passes to Pau and Bynum for scores and fouls.

Lamar -- -- This is one of those games where the Lakers lost impact minutes by limiting Lamar's time. Both Pau and Bynum were dominating and needed all the minutes they can get. The rotations, however, allowed Morrison in at SF instead of maybe going big with Lamar there. He was playing some spirited ball at times. You just hate to see 6-12 minutes lost off his time just because our other bigmen are playing great. Using his versatility at other spots would allow for more impact from your bench. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 3-6 shooting (1-2 from three, 3-5 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 3 assists and 3 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a -8. The Action: He missed a wing three. He whipped a pass off the dribble to Pau for a layup. He picked up a tech after a bogus foul call on Evans. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, he made one. He posted up and missed a layup. Second Half: He sank a three on an Artest kickout just after entering the game. He didn't hit rim on a drive down the lane, shotclock violation. He iso'd at the end of the quarter, attacked to his right and muscled in a layup with his left with a second remaining (he wanted an And-1). He tapped an offensive board to himself, then hit a cutting Pau with a bullet for the dunk. He attacked off the pinch post to his right, reached back with his left and scored the And-1 layup, he missed the FT. He was purposely fouled with 57 seconds left, he made both FTs.

Brown -- -- With DFish clanking from three, the Kings sagged off him to double the post at times. Phil went to Shannon at PG late in the third. Instead of settling from the perimeter, he needed to cut and make the D pay for its post doubled. He cut a couple of times, scoring a layup off one (taking his man with him on the other). Too often, he settled and stood on that three line. That doesn't mean he hoisted three, he tried to attack off it, but he need to continue that off-ball movement that the Lakers need from someone other than Kobe. This is part of the game that Ariza brought that Shannon can, as well. The other part, getting out on the break, Shannon does well. (He just needs to know when to pull it back out if he's facing multiple defenders.) The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-6 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 15:16. He was a -9. The Action: He attacked on the break and missed a prayer. He swatted Evans drive badly, but LO was called for a bogus foul. Wild drive and he was blocked. He was called for a pin on a swat in transtion. He reposted to Pau and it led to points. Second Half: He cut off the Pau post, took the pass, spun and scored the layup (that's how you do it...can't rely on Fish settling for threes all the time). Pau scooped up the long rebound, pushed out and hit Shannon ahead of the pack with a no-looker for the throwdown over a defender. He missed a 13-footer. He settled for a three and missed. He lost the ball against pressure D.

Farmar -- -- He helped orchestrate a Kings run to squander a large Laker lead after the first quarter. Just some very poor execution. The bench never fed the post and the Kings reeled the Lakers back in. You've got an All Star in Pau Gasol on the floor, run the offense through him. Recognize your advantage. That's what a floor general does. The three times Pau touched the ball while Farmar was in there, the Lakers got 5 points off it. Why ignore it? Phil sat Farmar in the second half for Shannon at PG after that bad first stint. The Shannon/Jordan units too often don't look good when post feeding is an absolute essential. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-2 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 1 assist and 1 turnover in 8:29. He was a -8. The Action: He missed a wing three over his man, settling for poor execution, points the other way. He barely grazed the rim on an off-balance pull-up on the break. He then traveled next time down on the break. Evans blew past him for an And-1. He was a -8 before Phil yanked him. Second Half: He did not play in the second half.

Vujacic -- -- Phil is trying to get Sasha time to get ready for the playoffs. It's coming at the expense of Farmar's minutes, which have beed reduced (and rather ineffective, as well). After Sasha watched from the bench in the first half, Phil switched things up again and sat Farmar. Sasha got some good run, deep into the fourth quarter, as a result of his solid play. He was hitting his jumper, but also playing with the sense of urgency that the team needs from its bench. Sinking a couple of quick-fire jumpers helps, but the team just played tougher with him on the floor versus the Farmar/Brown units that didn't take advantage of their bigmen. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-4 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 1 board and 3 fouls in 11:39. He was a +1. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He sank a long wing jumper on a kickout. He swished a quick-fire wing jumper in transtion. He nearly swiped a pass in transition, but Shannon collided with him and they lost it. He attacked off a hesitation move and powered in a layup.

Morrison -- -- Phil snuck some minutes in for Morrison, trying to make up some time on the back-to-back situation. It wasn't pretty. Will Luke ever return? The Stats: He didn't score on 0-2 shooting in 2:33 and was a -10 in that time. The Action: His floater was rejected. He attacked and missed a pull-up jumper. Second Half: He did not play in the second half.

Phil -- -- The Laker bigmen put their stamp on the game early, cleaning up for their teammates and imposing their size... Kobe started attacking, Drew continued beasting and they dominated the interior... Phil left Drew in the entire first quarter... The Lakers led 28-17, just 1 turnover in the first quarter... Phil started a Pau, Lamar, Artest, Shannon, Farmar unit. He sat Artest after a minute and a half for Adam. They lost the lead, not running the ball through their All Star, Pau... Finally two touches for Pau, one score and 2 FTs... Phil sat Adam for Kobe... Phil finally benched Farmar after 6 horrible minutes in which the Laker were out-scored 18-3 (Pau with all three)... Down 1, Phil brought back in the starters... Just 8 post touches (not shots, touches) for Pau/Bynum in the second quarter. That led to 11 points and a DFish missed illegal D FT. Extremely effective. How hard is it to get the idea that you need to run the ball through the post?... The Lakers lost the second quarter 31-21... They led 49-48 at the half, making just 7-14 from the line. They shot 43 percent from the floor (21-49). The Kings shot 42 percent (19-45)... The Lakers pulled out to a 10-point lead feeding the post very well in the third... The Lakers were up 69-62 when Kobe sat with 2:39 left in the third (Fish sat too). Pau, Lamar, Artest, Sasha, Shannon in... The Lakers led 77-68 after the third... Phil started a Pau, Lamar, Kobe, Sasha, Shannon unit... They extended the lead to 16... Up by 10, Phil went with Ron for Shannon with over 5 minutes left... Phil sat Pau up 11 for Bynum with 4 minutes left... A "We Want Tacos" chant broke out from Laker fans with a couple minutes left. Ouch... The Lakers shot 48.3 percent (42-87, 18-28 from the line). The Kings shot 43 percent (36-84). The Lakers had just 10 turnovers...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Strong close to the first quarter was followed by the flat bench play. No huge runs in the third, just steady domination.

[JTS1]

first?

in honor of the arco chat...


_________________
'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

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks DB.

Drew needs to dunk on somebody - anybody - and push them down like that dude in my avatar. Seriously though, he is playing like a man out there. We need that.

[Sister Golden Hair]

Agreed about Sasha. I'm starting to see a bit of swagger to his game that's been missing for the better part of two seasons. IF Sasha can play with that kind of confidence off the bench and hist his sick jumpers ofn death .... it would open up the game a lot for the lakers. They've needed better spacing for a while, as well as that quick-strike ability from downtown.

[Cutheon]

Thanks a lot for these man, I like them a lot. Great work as usual

[City_Dawg]

[mhan00]

jordan and shannon have to be two guards with the lowest bball iq in the league. the way they ignore our obvious inside advantage in favor of their own offense can be disgusting at times. shannon at least is a good defender, farmar has had no redeeming qualities recently.

[A Mad Chinaman]

Great to see that Drew is starting to play more like "The Beast"

If Pau's mid-range shots returns, the Twin Towers will cause havoc to every opposing team. If the Lakers don't keep trying to force something and just run the Triangle where it is a "read and react" - the Lakers will be in great shape.

[limchrc]

Thanks. Nice win.

[night89]

Whew, I'm glad we escaped this road trip unscathed, because I was looking towards to what Bynum will look like with these days off. I'm guessing he'll be able to grab 12 boards before every first half(and he'll need every bit of it too, because it looks like Pau is re-establishing himself as the most dominant big on this team.) Don't disappoint me, Drew.

On the other hand, Phil's gotta do a better job of getting the role players to play with a sense of urgency. If Drew's going to put himself at greater risk, in exchange for postseason dominance, then Phil's gotta do a better job of limiting his minutes in these last few games, by getting the role players to play better. I mean, it's like Drew is saying, "I can give you 25 and 15 in the postseason, and possibly going fo-fo-fo-fo, but you need to do a better job of protecting me, before the postseason." If Phil does his job, then there's no need for Drew to even play more than 12 min a game(6 min each half), especially since we have such a cushion for HC.

And I hate to keep harping on this, but I do believe that constant vigilance is the best way for him to avoid these fluke injuries. NEVER take your health for granted Drew. Remember, his two injuries occurred when we were playing some scrub teams and he wasn't aware.

Savor every one of these performances Drew, because it'll make the Finals MVP that much sweeter, if he decides(yes decide, quite frankly, I think he can make a mockery of the league, if he wants to. And I'd love to see it, make it clear to management that trading him for even Lebron will be a mistake) to want the Finals MVP.

[Shaber]

Is it me or is there actually a lovely link developing between Kobe and Drew? I think about 2/3 of Kobes assists are lobs to Bynum. And it has been this way fo several games already.

I only wish other guards would learn that too. And I really want to see more of those sweet pick and rolls between Kobe and Pau. What a mismatch!
_________________
.

Lakers depth chart

PG Johnson / Goodrich
SG Bryant / West / Scott
SF Baylor / Worthy / Cooper
PF Mikkelsen / Hairston / McAdoo / Gasol
C Chamberlain / Abdul-Jabbar / O'Neal / Mikan

[A Mad Chinaman]

PNR rarely occurs with DFish

Farmar/Shannon, for whatever reason, doesn't do it with Pau or Drew

Sasha doesn't have the handles to do it consistently

[Tanlentueux]

Thanks DB.

[Rodman28]

Good game.

Farmar is garbage.
_________________
*On Thin Ice*

I guess I am kind of injury prone.- Andrew Bynum

These young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess.- Kobe Bryant

[BigE32]

Thanks, DB. Pau and Andrew were extremely efficient last night. Pau shot 86% from the field last night and shot 80% from the foul line which was nice to see. Hopefully that'll continue(FT shooting). I thought Andrew was a beast in that first quarter sucking up offensive rebounds and put back dunks. I love the stare he gave Hawes after one of his putback dunks. I was disgusted watching Jordan and Shannon in the second quarter. I'm amazed how they consistently neglect to feed the post. As a result, a 13 point lead wilted away in a little over three game minutes. Pau got 2 touches in a row and he made a basket and then made 2 FT's. Feed the post- what a concept. The last thing that was nice to see was Sasha's nine minute stint in the fourth quarter. He hit some open shots; he even took one to the rack for a layup and made some hustle plays on the defensive end that helped us secure some loose balls on the defensive end which helped us extend our lead to 16 in that fourth quarter. PJ rewarded him by keeping him in the game until the 3 minute mark. One thing about Sasha is that he definitely puts forth an effort on both ends of the floor. Nice road win considering it was a B2B.

[angrypuppy]

I liked what I saw in Sasha, including taking the ball to the hoop. If he can get his confidence back in time for the playoffs, it may end up being decisive for the Laker fortunes. It's isn't just the sick jumpers of death, it's the reduced minutes of Jordan Farmar, who played like an absolute fool last night.

[Bryant-Bynum Lakers]

If Sasha's return is what propels us to the repeat just like Fisher's return back in 2001, this will be one of the most hilarious storylines EVER.

Seriously though, Sasha's return is giving us a swagger and edge that we badly needed. We got this.
_________________
1,2,3 RING.

[RVCdesigns]

Thank DB as always. Great game by Drewand Pau especially

[Klone_dd]

The Machine 2.0? Sasha thankfully added some feistiness back into the Lakers 2nd unit. I'm glad he canned some jumpers because he took them early in the shot clock playing at an uptempo speed. JoFar, on the other hand, took shots early in the clock as well, but didn't make any.

Bynum continues his string of impressive games. Pau is starting to assert himself again as well. Gotta love that. Good point DB about LO's minutes being limited because of Bynum's and Pau's effectiveness. However, LO was still very aggressive and maybe the limited time will make him value his minutes to be aggressive while he's in. It's a nice little competition to have.

If Kobe would've grabbed 1 more board, the Lakers would've had 3 guys with 20/10 games. Magic, Kareem & Worthy were the last trio to do that.

[DancingBarry]

[A Mad Chinaman]

[LakerDynasty6.0]

[A Mad Chinaman]