LAKERS -at- WARRIORS - 11/28 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Through the Tall Buildings... As you start to pull the Yenko Nova out of the city gates, the little girl who is always on the perimeter walls runs next to the car. You roll down the window. "Take me with you," she pleads.

"Out there? Are you crazy? Stay here with your family," you tell her.

"I don't have a dad," she says, then hesitates, "and mom went out with the scavengers ... and she never came back."

"What? How long ago?" From the sounds of it, weeks ago. Although as she explains it, there's no telling how long. You groan. It's only a short road trip.

"Alright, kid. Get in." You unlock the passenger side door and unbuckle the lawn gnome. As she gets in, you hand her the gnome. "Here. Hold on to him for me." She smirks and buckles herself in.

She doesn't speak much, which is fine by you since the radio is on scan and you're hoping to pick up a signal...something, anything. The drive, however, becomes too quiet. It's your surroundings -- endless miles and stretches of rolling suburban sprawl, abandoned vehicles and dead highways. There's no life anywhere. Your passenger keeps a constant eye out, searching for movement where there isn't any. Finally, she spots someone in the road ahead and points.

A bearded man with lengthy dreads flags you down. The Nova slows to a crawl as you approach him. The street is flanked by tall buildings and urban decay. Something about this doesn't feel right. You crack the window.

He's a fast talker, constantly moving his mouth and scratching the palms of his hands with equal rapidity. He seems to be firing off questions and answering them himself with assumptions about where you're from and what you're probably doing. It dawns on you that he doesn't want information, he just wants to distract you.

He starts to back away from the car. "Now!" he yells. Nothing happens. "Do it now!" he screams again. You look around. From the gaping blackness of shattered windows and the dark recesses of the buildings around you, the Horsemen appear. The man sheepishly holds his hands up. The kid next to you says. "How about now?"

The man scrambles away as fast as his feet can carry him, but one of the Horsemen runs him down. The same fate must have happened to his friends. You realize the Horsemen used you as bait to distract and slow down their opponent. Moments later, your radio crackles to life. It's DancingBarry:

The Horsemen were here. These Warriors were little match for them, no matter how crafty their tactics. They were simply too small. They were trampled and dispatched. It was a massacre.

I will continue to track them.

How futile must it seem for an opponent when they have Kobe scoreless and out of the game early...and still trail by 14 points after the first quarter? With Pau Gasol and the other Laker impact players imposing their will, some opponents just don't stand a chance. That was the case tonight as the Lakers destroyed the Warriors, 130-97.

Even a healthy Warrior team would have trouble with the Lakers size. Take out Biedrins and throw Vlad Radmanovic up against Pau at the PF spot -- that's just asking for a beating. The Lakers milked their interior advantage, worked the ball through the post, and everything fell into place as it should. Seven Lakers scored in double digits, including Shannon Brown with 17 off the bench.

On the other end of the court, the Warriors must attack in transition or off screens from the perimeter. The Lakers equaled them in transition, each team scoring 26 points on the break. The Lakers dominated the points in the paint 62-38.

The Warriors average 110 points per game. They were clamped down on the defensive end. "We put work in it," Pau said. "We emphasize it a lot and we understand that's what's going to take us ultimately to the championship."

The mobile Laker bigmen patrolled the paint, kept the tempo in their favor and held the Warriors to 39 percent shooting.


Kobe -- -- Kobe found himself in early foul trouble, with his fifth tech of the season, and on the bench midway through the first quarter. That seemed to throw him off rhythm. Every time he came off the bench or started a quarter for the rest of the game, he'd get aggressive and try to find that rhythm. After a 1-6 start, he made 7 of his next 14. The Lakers had a lot of mismatches in this game. Monte Ellis vs. Kobe was one of those. They shared the wealth and exploited a variety of defensive soft spots. If the team didn't score in the paint, the Lakers had shooters like Artest who set up camp and waited for Kobe to collapse the D and kick it out. Because of all the attention, Kobe led the team in assists. Defensively, Kobe handled the match up well and finished with 5 steals. Ellis has been putting up some big numbers. Not tonight. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 8-20 shooting (1-3 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 6 assists, 5 steals, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a +18. The Action: He hit Pau off the screen-roll for the dunk. He was called for an offensive foul trying to post up and he picked up a tech (5th of the season). He picked up his second foul at the 6-minute mark, reaching on help D. He sat without scoring in the first quarter. He missed a hanging bank, trying to post over Maggette. He was tapped on a 16-footer. He reached and gave up a dunk when he came up empty. He airballed a step-back jumper. He was blocked from behind, stuck with it and scored a layup. He attacked, spun and set up Drew in the paint for the layup. He missed a three. He posted up Morrow, spun and banked an And-1 over him, he made the FT. He had 5 points on 2-7 shooting. Second Half: He worked the post to start the second half, setting up Fish for three and then going to the line himself on the next attempt, he made both FTs. He swished an elbow turnaround. He missed a layup on his next post up. He got tapped on a turnaround as the ball circled around and out. He was called for a charge on a drive. He swished an elbow pull-up jumper. He missed a long turnaround, layup the other way. He cut weak to strong right under the hoop and scored a layup on the post up. He was blocked in the post. He was 3-8 in the third for 6 points. He missed a 12-footer, pulling up in the lane. He backed down Ellis and scored easily off the glass. He drained a wing three in early offense next time down. He airballed a turnaround jumper. He swished a pull-up jumper.

Gasol -- -- Pau's eyes must have gotten big when he realized he was going to defended by Vlad Rad in the post. That was a mismatch that couldn't be exploited enough. It quickly became an instant double team. Pau led the Lakers in scoring and did it about as efficiently as possible, missing just 2 shots. Defensively, he anchored the paint early and often with several first quarter blocks. Pau didn't have to play in the fourth. The Stats: He scored 22 points on 9-11 shooting (4-5 from the line) to go with 12 boards, 3 assists, 3 blocks, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 32:27. He was a +17. The Action: He hooked easily over his man for the Lakers first score. He hit an And-1 hook over Vlad, he made the FT. He dunked off the screen-roll with Kobe. He missed a turnaround and was looking for the foul. He swatted Moore on help D. He took a corner entry after sealing his man and scored the And-1 layup, he made the FT. He pulled down his second offensive rebound from the FT line already and scored a putback. He swatted Maggette's drive. He had 12 points on 5-6 shooting and 3 blocks in the quarter. He dunked off the drive and dish from Fish. He posted up Vlad and drew FTs on the double team, he made both. Maggette nailed him right in the chest as Pau was back-pedalling, blocking foul on Pau, horrible call. He led the team with 16 points on 6-7 shooting. Second Half: He scored a jumphook over Vlad with his left. He scored an And-1 layup off the tapped lob pass from LO, he missed the FT. He threw down an oop from Farmar on the break. He had 10 points on 4-4 shooting in the third.

Bynum -- -- The Lakers aren't going to have to deal with any post threats against this team, so it's up to Bynum and Pau to stifle the two-man sequences and run the floor in transition D. Having Pau behind him to rotate on those two-man sequences improves Drew's defense. Pau had his back early (one sweet rejection on Moore rolling to the hoop). Drew needs to continue to improve his help D reads behind Pau. He had some good close outs on shooters, but the rotations are sometimes hit and miss behind others. Offensively, Bynum has become a threat that has to be honored. His mere presence forces an opponent like the Warriors to throw a Vlad vs. Pau (instead of a Vlad vs. LO match up). That just makes things so much easier for Pau. Bynum probably needed to do a little more work to get lower position on some of his attempts. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-11 shooting (2-4 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and 5 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a +17. The Action: He missed a backdoor lob to start the game. He hit a jumphook on his second touch. His kickout was stolen for a dunk the other way. Ronny tried to front, but Artest gave Bynum the perfect entry pass and Drew scored the easy layup. He was hit by Ronny on the post move, he made one FT. He missed a jumphook in the middle of the lane. He scored a layup when Kobe spun and sliced through the D to set him up. He spun away from a double and hit the baseline jumphook. He missed a short bank with his left. Bad recognition of the Lakers moving the ball and he was called for 3 seconds. Nice low position and he scored a short one at the front of the rim. He was called for another 3 second violation. He had 11 points on 5-9 shooting and 5 boards. Second Half: He missed a long jumphook, then unwisely picked up his fourth foul going over the back. He drew FTs trying to dunk a no-looker from LO, he made one. He got tapped on a lefty jumphook.

Artest -- -- Ron was another of the efficient Laker weapons tonight. He did it from all over the court, too. Some of his most impressive sequences, however, were when he was moving the ball: post feeds, bounce passes to cutters, swing passes. Again, this is the kind of game that the rest of the league doesn't want to see. Ron never dominated the ball. He didn't stop the offensive flow, he created it. Ron is now shooting 39 percent from three. That part of his game has settled in and Kobe and the bigs need that to space the floor. Now, he just needs to get the FTs to follow. He's 51 percent from the line. Well below his 72 percent career average. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 7-11 shooting (2-4 from three, 3-5 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 4 assists and 2 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a +25. The Action: He swished a sideline three working off the Kobe post sequence. He stripped Curry at midcourt. He missed a wing three on the kickout. He posted up Maggette and drew FTs, he missed both. He sealed Maggette, took the pass and missed a layup expecting a whistle that didn't come. He attacked a seam off the three line and drew FTs, he made both. He sank his step-back from the post (he may be 3-3 on that move this season, doesn't take it often). He airballed a rushed three after scooping up a loose ball late in the shotclock. He took the handoff, missed the layup, got it back and scored. He had 9 points on 3-7 shooting and was a +12 in the first half to lead the team. Second Half: He attacked from the wing and scored an And-1 with his left, he made the FT. He hit Fish in stride with a long bounce pass for a layup. He filled the lane with speed and scored a layup when Fish hit him. He sank a sideline three. He grabbed a defensive board a few seconds later, pushed up the dribble past a couple defenders and scored a layup over a third. He had 10 points in the third on 4-4 shooting.

Fisher -- -- With as much attention as the Laker bigs and Kobe were getting, it was Artest and DFish in the third that ended up forcing the Warriors to call a couple of timeouts. You've got to have complementary weapons to keep the defense honest. Post players need their outside threats, and the Laker guards gave them that balance. DFish also was able to take advantage of the weak Warrior D and cause some problems in the paint. That's not his strength, but he was successful tonight when he got in there. Defensively, got to love having two 7-footers behind you...or a mobile Pau/LO combo. They kept Curry out of the paint and inefficient. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-9 shooting (1-3 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a +18. The Action: He swished a sideline jumper. He missed a three from the top of the arc. He missed a three, short. He attacked down the lane and hit Pau for the dunk. He swished a pull-up jumper from the wing after creating between the legs. He missed a chuck from the wing on a bad offensive sequence. Second Half: He sank a three on the kickout from the Kobe post. He missed a layup on the break, looked fouled. He scored a layup off the Artest bounce pass. He was fouled on the next cut and pass, he made both FTs. He stripped Ellis, pushed it up and hit Artest for the layup. He swished a one-dribble baseline jumper on a kickout.

Lamar -- -- Lamar seemed to be gobbling up the defensive boards with ease. That's what you love to see. A lot of one-and-out possessions with him out there. Powell had struggled in that back-up PF role providing that aspect to the D. Meanwhile, his mobility gave the team some blocks and steals on rotations. Offensively, we saw Phil steal some very brief action for LO at the small forward spot with Pau and Bynum on the floor. There's no reason you can't slip those minutes in there against teams (and the Lakers did it against a speed team, too). Lamar is basically playing guard most of the time when he is out there anyway. Good to see Phil run that briefly. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-8 shooting (2-5 from three, 0-1 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 27 minutes. The Action: He airballed a three after entering the game. Next time down, he dribbled past his man for And-1 layup in early offense, he missed the FT. He was swatted trying to shield Ronny with his body. He sank a corner three out of a timeout. He swiped a pass under the hoop and hit Shannon for the dunk. He threw a pass away instead of working Vlad in the post for his own shot. He had 5 points and 6 boards in 12 minutes. Second Half: He tapped a lob from Farmar to Pau for an And-1. He missed an elbow turnaround. He swished an open wing three on a swing pass from Farmar. He missed a three short. He hit Bynum with a no-looker off the dribble for FTs. He missed a long three against the shotclock.

Brown -- -- He came off the bench early when Kobe picked up two fouls in the first quarter. Later, it looked like he was going to get to ice up early, but Phil put him back in for the final minute. Shannon filled the backup SG job real well tonight. He led the bench with 17 points, the kind of spark the Lakers love to see from our backup SG position when No. 24 has some early foul trouble. ShanWow, TNT, UPS...whatever you want to call him, he brought the complete game tonight. He was stroking the jumpers, dunking, getting to the line and playing some feisty D. It's clear that Shannon, Farmar and LO are the second unit right now in Phil's mind. Everyone else is third unit. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 6-8 shooting (2-2 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 1 assist and 1 foul in 23 minutes. He was a +17. The Action: He scored a layup, cutting off the Pau double. He missed a wing jumper. He drew FTs slicing through defenders in transition, he made one. He drew FTs posting up Ellis, he made both. He took the outlet from LO and soared in for the dunk. He sank a wing three on the kickout from Pau. He had 10 points on 3-4 shooting in that 12-minute stint. Second Half: He missed a baseline catch-and-shoot on an inbounds. He hung in the air, palming the ball and banked. He pushed out the loose ball and double-clutch jammed. He sank a pull-up three from the wing.

Farmar -- -- As a fan yelled, "This is a massacre," Farmar swished a wing three to go up 35. Massacre was right. Very good game by Farmar. In his first stint, he didn't force a thing and played some spirited D. In the second half, he got more aggressive, but was always very conscious to run the Lakers game plan. That's what you want to see from him. Eventually, the game started to flow around him smoothly. Got to love seeing him with no turnovers on the road. Defensively, he hustled in transition and got the Lakers some of their better stops of the night, preventing a dunk on one and a 4-on-1 break on another. Quality minutes from Farmar. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-7 shooting (2-4 from three) to go with 1 board, 3 assists and 1 foul in 20:30 of action. He was a +16. The Action: Great challenge in transition, sizing up his man and contesting the throwdown to get a miss. He missed a three. Second Half: He lobbed to LO, who tapped it to Pau for the And-1. He scored a layup getting out with Kobe on the break. He scooped up a loose ball and quickly lobbed to Pau in transition for a dunk. He missed a step-back three with the shotclock low. Taking a play out of DFish's book, he stopped a 4-on-1 break by stepping in for a charge (well done, Jordan). Nice swing pass to LO for the open three. He blew a wide open lob dunk that looked like it was going to be a highlight play of the night. He sank a wing three. He reversed off the post handoff. He attacked baseline and hit Sasha for the three. He swished a wing three.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha got in the game for garbage time. He needs to practice good habits and make the most of his minutes. That means run the game plan and make sure he's taking good shots (squared up vs. fading jumpers). The Stats: He had 5 points on 2-3 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 1 board in 5 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He swished a corner three off the Farmar kickout (squared up nicely). He missed a fading wing jumper. He curled off the pinch post and hit the lefty layup.

Powell -- -- He came in with the Lakers up 30. Powell is one of the Laker leaders on shots per 48 minutes. He and Sasha have some of the quickest guns on the team. Powell came off the bench firing in his brief stint tonight. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-4 shooting and had 1 assist in 5 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He clanked a lefty jumphook over Vlad in the post. (Really, Josh? That's the best you could get on that?) He missed a pull-up, high arching wing jumper. He hit a face-up 5-footer off the pass from Morrison. He missed a sideline jumper next time down.

Mbenga -- -- Last man off the bench tonight and the only Laker not to score. The Stats: He didn't score or shoot and had 1 assist in 2:26 of action. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: Nice position D and Watson bounced off him to the ground for a charge.

Morrison -- -- With a 26-point lead, Ammo was the first of the deep bench players to enter the game. Of those, he seems most likely to run the game plan. Not a lot of action, but the Lakers extended their lead while he was out there. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-2 shooting, had 1 board, 2 assists and no fouls in 8:35 of action. He was a +7. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He missed a corner three. He scored a floater on the step-through from the FT line.

Phil -- -- Phil took the team to the University of San Francisco where Bill Russell, K.C. Jones and Bill Cartwright played and Pete Newell coached. He spent an extra 20 minutes talking about hoop history there to focus the team's attention after the Thanksgiving holiday... So many choices in the post for the Lakers. Pau against VladRad, Bynum against Moore, Kobe vs. Ellis. Lakers got off to an early 14-7 lead... Kobe picked up two fouls midway through the first quarter and Phil sat him for Shannon. He also sat Drew for LO... The Lakers extended their lead to 36-22 after the first quarter. Good job by the bench during that stretch, and Pau had 12 in the first... Phil started a Bynum, LO, Kobe, Brown, Farmar lineup... He brought in Pau and Fish for LO and Farmar. Then at the midpoint of the quarter he went with the complete starters up by 14... He subbed out Kobe and Artest with a minute left to save the third fouls on each... The Lakers led 60-50 at halftime. The Warriors shot just 35 percent, but made 15-16 from the line. The Lakers shot 52 percent, despite making just 3-10 from three. Warriors had a 14-7 advantage on the break... The coaches were irked with the Lakers for going away from their bigs too much... The Lakers extended to a 78-62 lead, forcing a Warrior timeout (DFish and Artest getting to the rim for a few scores)... 8-0 and 11-0 runs for the Lakers (5 more from Artest during one stretch), forcing another timeout... Farmar came in for DFish with 3 minutes left... The Lakers won the third 38-25 to lead 98-75... Phil started a Pau, LO, Kobe, Shannon, Farmar lineup. He was not going to hand off to the big lead to the deep bench unit too early... Ammo came in with 8 minutes left, the rest of the bench with 5 minutes... The Lakers had 30 assists on 54 percent shooting. The Warriors shot 39 percent... The Lakers had just 8 turnovers...

Game Flow -- LINK -- So many Laker runs in this game. The 8-0 and 11-0 runs in the third blew the game open.

[KoPauChicken]

FIRST!
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[Cutheon]

Second

[Ray_Gonzoles]

Thanks again for the recaps DB!

Lakers win in a blowout. Great statement game. Ron Artest is looking really comfortable in the offense, finding spots

for open looks and easy baskets. On to Sunday.
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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.

[caseycandi]

7 players in double figures, great balance!

[City_Dawg]

Thanks DB
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*sighs*

!...

[sonimala]

Thanks to the Dancing Man!
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Miami police will not arrest Dirk for stealing LeBron's ring. The victim never witnessed the crime since he left 12 mins before the theft. As tweeted by: The Bill Walton Trip

[LALdynasty!]

Dang! That was quite a detailed recap. Nice stuff DB!

[Texas_Pete]

Thank you DB.

Shaq/Kobe aside, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol may enter the "best duo ever" conversation if they keep their level of play up and win a few more rings. They make the game look so easy that it is not even funny. We are witnessing two basketballologists putting in work without peers right now and it is beautiful to watch as a fan.

[lounger]

Thanks DB. Farmar did a good job today or at least what he's supposed to do. He had a pass first attitude that has been lacking lately. He looked to create the offense which I think he deserves credit for.

[AceFresh]

Exploited every matchup


thanks for the writeup DB

[limchrc]

thanks

[Annihilator]

[JM]

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks again DB!! Excellent writeup. Hope the lawn gnome didn't mind sharing a seat.

Annihilator -- my understanding is that there's a suspension after the 16th technical, however there is also a suspension for every other technical thereafter (18th, 20th, etc.) so I really hope Kobe keeps a lid on it.

This game was fun to watch. I don't care that it wasn't close, I just like seeing every Laker on the floor play basketball right, even in the 4th quarter. What a great night for the Lakers!

[h2omike]

I agree the second unit as it stands now is Odom, Shannon, Farmar

Kobe needs to slow down on the techs, he needs to go 10 games or more without getting one.

Artest is doing great, save for the free throw shooting. He and Odom need to step it up.

[DancingBarry]