Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 12:04 am Post subject: LAKERS -at- MAVS - 2/24 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings
Some Nights It's Like That... Traveling through the night, you arrive at your destination precisely as planned. You follow the scent of some tasty home cooking until you reach its source -- the mansion of a billionaire.
You want in, but there's one hitch. A bouncer about three times your width and a full foot taller stands in front of the door you need to get through.
He sucks on a Tootsie Pop while you eye his badge that reads, "The Association." Not these guys.
You double check the map you were given and open your mouth to say something. He pulls a Tootsie Pop from of his, "Nothing to see here, folks. Move on."
To hell with that. You try to step around him. He pulls out the Tootsie Pop and bops you in the forehead. What the hell? "Move on, son," he says.
You're ready to go down swinging. When his twin shows up to your left. Make that triplets. A third shows up on your right. You're walled in by superior genetics with no place to go.
Mr. Tootsie Pop pulls an envelope from his sports coat and hands it to you. DancingBarry:
The Horsemen were here. They were out-numbered and struggled when it mattered most. Death would not come to the rescue.
I will continue to track them...
Down by 3 in the final minute, there would be no Kobe magic to bail out the Lakers tonight. He missed the game-tying shot and the Lakers fell 101-96 to the Butler-less Mavs.
It's very difficult to overlook some things in this game. There were a series of non calls that went in the Mavs favor -- calls that never allowed the Lakers to get any traction when it mattered most.
Andrew Bynum voiced his opinion about it after the game and will likely get fined. Phil bit his tongue but probably summed it up best. "Some nights it's like that," he said after a long pause.
This is why you play for home court advantage. With the Lakers neck and neck with the Cavs in the East, it's fighting through these games with extra effort and the ever elusive sense of urgency so that you don't have to play through the home cooking as much when the playoffs come around.
Despite that, where could the Lakers have tightened the screws? In several spots: more effort on the boards; playing Shannon Brown against Jason Terry more; not leaving Jason Kidd wide open for threes; and cleaner, more focused offensive execution.
"I think we should have done a lot better as far as rebounding the ball so we could have more possessions and limit them to less possessions," Gasol said in the Times. "They had 13 boards on the offensive glass, we only had seven, which is something that we wouldn't anticipate at the beginning of the game."
The second night of a back to back may have hurt them there. Phil believed Kobe was fatigued. "I felt okay," Kobe said. "I tried to pace myself a little bit." When Kobe's pacing himself, he's tired.
Kobe -- -- Kobe sagged off Jason Kidd way too much in this game. He was practically daring him to shoot at times. You can't let him have open threes. He's shooting .420 from three this year. Again, some soft D from Kobe, but this seemed to be more of an ill-conceived strategy. Combine the Kidd threes with Kobe fouling Terry on a three or giving up an And-1 to Dirk on a jumper and you have some very inefficient D. Offensively, Phil thought Kobe did a good job getting guys involved. Kobe started off shooting blanks, but he heated up in the second half. One thing was consistent throughout, no trips to the line for Kobe. He shot his first FTs of the game with 10 seconds left. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 9-23 shooting (0-3 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 39:42. He was a -3. The Action: He forced a bad fallaway and bricked badly. He missed a fallaway with the shotclock low. He missed a fade in the lane. He missed a flat-footed jumper over Terry. He missed a baseline pull-up. He sank a twisting baseline pull-up over Kidd to pass Reggie Miller for 13th on the All-Time scorer's list. He sank a pull-up jumper from the FT line. He missed a pull-up three in transition. He worked off the high screen, lost Marion and attacked for a layup. Not even covering Kidd and he gave up a three. He was blocked on a drive. He fouled Terry on a three. He swiped the ball under the hoop, then missed the layup. Poor close to the half. Second Half: He missed a FT jumper. He was blocked on a leaner from behind. He sank a baseline turnaround on the inbounds play. He sank a pull-up 17-footer. He ripped the net on a baseline step-back jumper. He swished a top-of-the-key jumper over Marion. His pass was kicked with no call for a layup the other way (another non call that hurt). Unforced error, jumping to pass and throwing it away with no pressure. He missed a short jumper from the right side. He gave up an And-1 to Dirk on a jumper. He hit a turnaround in close. He missed a three with Marion sitting on his shot as the clock wound down. He iso'd and missed a baseline fallaway. He blew past Marion with speed and scored a pumping layup to cut the lead to 3 with 57 seconds. He missed a three to tie with 24 seconds left. He drew FTs pumping Marion into the air with 10 seconds left, he made both.
Gasol -- -- Pau had some good passing sequences when the ball went into the post. They probably should have run it through Pau more, especially when Dirk is defending him as the back-up C. That's when both Pau and the team need to get very aggressive and make Dirk work. The Lakers struggled at times to control their glass. Teams are getting away with a lot in the paint and the Lakers will have to try to play through that, Pau especially. Phil should also remember that the Lakers torched the Mavs going with the triple towers. No rebounding problems with that lineup. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 5-9 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 3 assists, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 32:50. He was a -5. The Action: He faced up and swished a wing jumper. He missed a hook in the lane. He hit Lamar cutting for a layup. He found Ron cutting for a layup. He scored a layup off a bullet feed from Shannon in the lane. He missed a jumphook in the lane. Second Half: He dunked off the nice bounce pass off the two-man game with Fish. He couldn't overpower Najera in the post, then missed a tip follow, he was looking for the foul. Next time down, he got the FTs away from the ball, he made one. Great low position on Najera and he scored an easy layup. He posted up and hit a cutting Brown for a layup. He tried to pass off an offensive board while in air and threw it away. He faced up and swished a wing jumper over Haywood. He choked a wide open FT jumper when his man left to double Kobe.
Bynum -- -- "It's hard to play 8 on 5, man," Drew said afterward. He was told by a ref after getting hit hard by Dirk in the paint in crunch time and losing the ball, "I didn't think it was going to mess your shot up." Ridiculous. That does seem to be how refs officiate him, however. A lot of those hits in the arm that mess up his shot never get whistled. Bynum will probably get fined, but he has been getting jobbed by the refs and the frustration is coming out. So, no freethrows for Bynum in this game. I don't blame him at all for the comments, those no calls in crunch time hurt the team badly. Hopefully, he can focus that frustration and take it out on opponents. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 5-8 shooting to go with 11 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 5 turnovers and 2 fouls in 29:23. He was a -2. The Action: He was called for a shuffle in the post. He was called for a three-second violation. He grabbed a Gasol miss and put it back in over a defender. He sank a jumphook in the middle of the lane with his left. He hit a jumphook in Haywood's face. He grabbed a Kobe miss and reverse dunked. He missed a layup on the corner entry looking for a foul. He got beat down the floor for a dunk. Second Half: He missed a face-up jumper with the clock low. Excellent hustle in transition this time to knock a pass to Haywood away. He swatted Marion on help D. He hit Kobe from the high post for a jumper. He didn't communicate with Ron on a switch and it resulted in an And-1 for Marion. He was blocked once in the post, got it back and was stripped. He didn't use his body and fumbled away a defensive board under pressure. He hit a jumphook off the repost. He attacked, took contact and was called for a travel, he was in disbelief there wasn't a foul call. He was hacked by Dirk as he turned to shoot, no call, layup the other way in crunch time. Two big non calls in crunch time, that's how home cooking works.
Artest -- -- The second solid game from Ron against Marion. The first time these two went against each other, Marion scored 18 points and was a key to their victory. In the next game, Lamar had to play SF since Ron was out and LO held him to just 6 points. Tonight, Marion had 10 points on 11 shots, 7 boards and 5 turnovers. Slightly less effective than the 10 points he scored on Ron last time out. Occasionally, his speed hurt the Lakers in transition, but Ron stayed with him much better tonight. Offensively, Artest was able to get into the paint and score. He was very effective there and chose his spots well. You didn't see him charging into the bigs and getting blocked. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-8 shooting (1-3 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 41:44. He was a -5. The Action: He sank an open corner three for the Lakers first hoop of the game. He attacked across the lane and missed a layup. He posted up Marion and scored a layup around him with his left. Bad post entry, turnover. He crossed over Dirk badly and scored a layup. He cut off Pau, took the pass and scored a layup. He scored a layup out on the break with LO. He was blocked on a three at the end of the half. He had 11 points on 5-7 shooting. Second Half: It almost looked like he actually won a jumpball against Marion, Lakers controlled it anyway. He posted up Kidd, took the high low and drew FTs on a hack, he made both.
Fisher -- -- There are a couple big ways where Shannon Brown is vital to the Lakers against the Mavs versus the 35 minutes Fish got. Shannon defends Terry much better than either Fisher or Farmar. The team can't afford to give up 30 to Terry. That will kill you. The other way Shannon helps is he doesn't stay planted on the three line. Fish sank a couple of sideline threes and missed six attempts from other spots behind the arc. Shannon's ability to cut and finish not only keeps the D honest, but is much more effective than DFish hoisting eight threes. Fish had the second most shots on the team tonight...that's not going to get it done. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 3-13 shooting (2-8 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 1 board, 5 assists, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He missed a three on the first attempt of the game. He sank a sideline three. He drew a clear-out foul on Marion who was posting him up. He bricked a runner trying to draw contact, that led to a layup the other way. He missed a corner three. He scored a layup on the baseline when the Mavs D was lost. He missed a long wing jumper. Second Half: He missed an early offense three. He sank a sideline three. He missed a pull-up jumper at the FT line. He missed a long wing jumepr. He pushed out the break, was held and flipped up a shot over his head and it went in (no continuation, however, but he drew a breakaway foul), he made both FTs. He tried to hit Ron with a post up feed before he was set, turnover. He hit Pau with a bounce pass off the two-man game for a dunk. No bounce pass next time and his pass was deflected. He drew a moving screen foul. He drew FTs setting a pick on Haywood in the paint, he made both. He missed an open wing three. He missed a three. After Terry sank a jumper, Fish drew a clear-out foul on him next time down to finally get a stop. He missed a running three at the buzzer.
Lamar -- -- After getting practically shoved out of bounds with no call, which allowed the Mavs to get a key offensive board and FTs, Lamar took a long stroll down the other end of the court. Clearly frustrated, but he kept his head straight. Much better game from Lamar this time. Wish they would have also run him at the SF spot some against Marion. Lamar gives him fits and the team could have done better on the glass. Also, this allows Kobe to stay at the SG more and Shannon can run at PG, which is better defensively. Dirk pretty much did his thing. He's a tough cover and the Lakers couldn't take him out of his game. Offensively, Lamar's jumper was working, which led to good numbers, but he also was attacking. Down the stretch, the Lakers should have gotten him more involved in some of those two-man sequences they were running. Getting the ball in his hands when they are trapping Kobe, he can either attack or make the pass or both. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 8-11 shooting (2-2 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 33:47. He was a -3. The Action: He pushed up a rebound, probed and scored a layup. He missed a turnaround in the lane. He drained a wing three. He took a Pau pass, dodged a defender with a dribble and scored a layup. Nice challenge on Marion on the break to force a miss. He sank a pull-up jumper over Dirk. He swiped the pass from Dirk, pushed up the break and hit Ron for a layup. He swished a short fallaway in the lane over Kidd. He missed a step-back baseline jumper. He had 11 points on 5-7 shooting and 3 boards in the half. Second Half: Horrible three-second call by the refs on LO (several nickel and dime calls going against L.A.) Horrible post entry pass, it went right out of bounds. He tipped a board away from Haywood, pushed it out and scored a layup. He attacked from the elbow with the shotclock low and drew FTs, he made both. He was completely shoved by Haywood, who then grabbed the offensive board and drew FTs, wow. He attacked the rim with aggression to his right and scored an And-1 layup, he made the FT. He stepped back and swished a corner three.
Brown -- -- I much prefer Shannon covering Terry than anyone else. He's played him the best this season and that should be a match up that the Lakers make sure Shannon is covering as much as possible. Maybe you don't want to give all your cards away at this point in the season, but if the Lakers can hold Terry down, they can usually hold the Mavs. Shannon had a few bonehead type plays in the game. A turnover to start the fourth and saving a Mav airball for another turnover were two of those plays. Otherwise, he played some solid D on Terry when they matched up. He's one of the few guys who cut off the post doubles instead of settling for threes. That's something else the Lakers could have used more of instead of settling for threes. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-2 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 14:34. He was a -2. The Action: He jumped a passing lane to steal the ball and quickly hit Farmar to ignite the break. He stripped Terry with a reach and saved it to Pau. He pushed out a break and whipped a pass to Pau for a layup. A couple of bad decisions before he was subbed out: Poor three attempt in transition, rushing the shot without running the offense. On the other end, he tried to save an airball in bounds and it resulted in a Pau's second foul (just let the airball go out of bounds). Second Half: He cut on the Pau post, took the pass and scored a layup (more please). He turned the ball over under pressure trying to bring it up to start the fourth (one of the turnovers Phil was talking about). He attacked after his man gambled and he drew FTs at the rim, he made both.
Farmar -- -- Why he and Kobe are sagging off Kidd at the three line is beyond me. Farmar gave up a key three at the end of the third with an unnecessary double team. The Lakers then started off the fourth with a series of turnovers and were digging their way out of a hole all period. When Farmar fouled a man away from the ball, Phil quickly got the hook. He benched him early in the fourth for Fisher (Shannon was already in the game and Kobe was brought in at SF). There was a feisty battle between Farmar and Beaubois in the first half, but the Mavs clearly ran better without Beaubois in the game. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-4 shooting (1-1 from the line) to go with 1 steal, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 12:46. He had a +/- of 0. The Action: He pushed up a Shannon steal and scored an And-1 layup over Kidd, he made the FT. He gave up a straight line to Terry trying to shade him, then fouled for an And-1. He was blocked out of bounds on a drive. He took the inbounds off that, slithered through the D and banked in a layup. He was challenged on a pull-up jumper and came up way short. Second Half: He was called for a foul off the ball and Phil subbed him out for Fish with 9:35 left in the game.
Phil -- -- He subbed in Lamar for Pau, Farmar for Fisher and Shannon for Artest with 3 minutes left. No staggered subs this time... Kobe didn't score in the first quarter, but the Lakers led 23-20. They gave up a few transition hoops, but were solid in the halfcourt D... Phil started a Pau, Lamar, Artest, Shannon, Farmar unit... With a Bynum, Lamar, Artest, Kobe, Fisher unit, the Lakers went on a 10-0 run... They gave up a 6-0 run late to lose the quarter 29-27... They led 50-49 at the half. The Lakers shot 51 percent (23-45), the Mavs shot 44 percent (19-43). The Lakers shot 1 FT in the half. Terry had 18 points in the first half... The coaches didn't like the Lakers mental focus in the final couple minutes of the half. They also didn't like the Lakers hustle... Phil sat Pau early, then swapped him with Bynum shortly later... The Lakers gave up an open three to Kidd to end the third (Farmar) and trailed 74-72 heading into the fourth... A series of turnovers to start the quarter put the Lakers in a hole... Kobe had a chance to tie the game with a three with 24 seconds left. No magic tonight... The Mavs beat the Lakers 13-7 on the offensive glass. They also shot 10 more FTs than the Lakers... "I thought we made some tactical errors to start the fourth quarter that set us at edge," Phil said afterward, referring to the series of turnovers to start the final quarter... Phil probably didn't show his whole hand tonight, but he sure wish the Mavs had. "I'd loved to have seen Butler out there tonight," he said...
Game Flow -- LINK -- No real runs for the Lakers in the second half. Nice fourth quarter from LO, scoring 10 points.
Thanks DB. Phil is going to have to start and play Brown more if this team is going to win a championship. Fisher is slipping and with the current line up we play his shot selection and defense hurts us a lot. Not a rag on DFish, just an observation. _________________ Stop crying and start doing.
A reminder: I won't be able to cover the next game. It will have to be Do Your Own Thoughts & Ratings Night.
That actually sounds like it will work. Having a mod or admin sticky a *"Do Your Own Thoughts and Ratings" topic where members come in and do their best impression of the gift you giveth after every Lakers game might be epic! I'm wit it.
Oh, and thanks for all you do here sir. Your T&R's are a staple for posters and lurkers alike. We appreciate your work (on and off the board) and look forward to you suiting up again on Sunday versus the thuggets. It will be brutal. Don't worry about us. We'll hold it down homie. Now...go do the family shuffle!
_________________ Our tribute to Phil, the man behind LG
Joined: 06 Nov 2007 Posts: 1890 Location: reppin Garden Grove
Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 1:29 am Post subject:
isnt it our defensive scheme to sag off of Kidd when we play the mavs ? _________________ "I didn't mean to walk in the shower with him. Yeah, I walked in the shower. I'm not a homosexual, but Kobe - he had no clothes on." - Ron Artest
I really think we should considered firing Phil at this point. To me, other than Bynum's improvements, we are at a dead-end, that is, the way Phil is using his rotation, this is pretty much more or less, the team we'll see the rest of the season, and the postseason.
Remember that Dallas didn't even have Butler and Dampier. Washington is waiting for Big-Z's signature on the buyout, so no help there either. Every team has made massive upgrades, whereas Phil thinks we can win with the same rotation. I say get rid of him and Fisher, before they ruin this team altogether.
2 FTs...ewww... _________________ "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."
And the turnover issue seem to be creeping up again, turnovers cost us bigtime yesterday and nearly cost us the game in Memphis, while they cost us down the stretch in the Boston game. Can't turn the ball over like that, especially late. _________________ Need proof NBA is rigged:
I really think we should considered firing Phil at this point. To me, other than Bynum's improvements, we are at a dead-end, that is, the way Phil is using his rotation, this is pretty much more or less, the team we'll see the rest of the season, and the postseason.
Remember that Dallas didn't even have Butler and Dampier. Washington is waiting for Big-Z's signature on the buyout, so no help there either. Every team has made massive upgrades, whereas Phil thinks we can win with the same rotation. I say get rid of him and Fisher, before they ruin this team altogether.
[sarcasm]Absolutely!! It reminds me of last year and how much potential this team had. We could have won it all if only we had a legit head coach steering the ship instead of Phil. I mean, seriously, what has he ever done to prove his worth!!?[/sarcasm]
And the turnover issue seem to be creeping up again, turnovers cost us bigtime yesterday and nearly cost us the game in Memphis, while they cost us down the stretch in the Boston game. Can't turn the ball over like that, especially late.
yep. i think it's 17 in each game. way too many _________________ Spark the ism, my expertism, is lyracism, my flow will take you over like I was hypnotism...so where's the lighter, to start the cypher....
I really think we should considered firing Phil at this point. To me, other than Bynum's improvements, we are at a dead-end, that is, the way Phil is using his rotation, this is pretty much more or less, the team we'll see the rest of the season, and the postseason.
Remember that Dallas didn't even have Butler and Dampier. Washington is waiting for Big-Z's signature on the buyout, so no help there either. Every team has made massive upgrades, whereas Phil thinks we can win with the same rotation. I say get rid of him and Fisher, before they ruin this team altogether.
[sarcasm]Absolutely!! It reminds me of last year and how much potential this team had. We could have won it all if only we had a legit head coach steering the ship instead of Phil. I mean, seriously, what has he ever done to prove his worth!!?[/sarcasm]
/counts blessings that this fella isn't our GM
As always, Thanks for all your work on these, DB.
I'm convinced Phil could pull off another threepeat and along the way people would have fired him a dozen times over each year.
Joined: 02 May 2005 Posts: 90318 Location: Formerly Known As 24
Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2010 4:07 pm Post subject:
DancingBarry wrote:
Rek wrote:
night89 wrote:
I really think we should considered firing Phil at this point. To me, other than Bynum's improvements, we are at a dead-end, that is, the way Phil is using his rotation, this is pretty much more or less, the team we'll see the rest of the season, and the postseason.
Remember that Dallas didn't even have Butler and Dampier. Washington is waiting for Big-Z's signature on the buyout, so no help there either. Every team has made massive upgrades, whereas Phil thinks we can win with the same rotation. I say get rid of him and Fisher, before they ruin this team altogether.
[sarcasm]Absolutely!! It reminds me of last year and how much potential this team had. We could have won it all if only we had a legit head coach steering the ship instead of Phil. I mean, seriously, what has he ever done to prove his worth!!?[/sarcasm]
/counts blessings that this fella isn't our GM
As always, Thanks for all your work on these, DB.
I'm convinced Phil could pull off another threepeat and along the way people would have fired him a dozen times over each year.
You don't get it. We win in spite of buss's cheapness, Mitch being clueless, bynum's laziness, Kobe being selfish, fish being useless, Pau being soft, lo being overpaid and/or inconsistent, farmar being a waste of talent, Shannon being overrated, Luke and ammo destroying the team's finances and in ammo's case, losing games from the bench, and of course, not simultaneously feeding the bigs and having Kobe take all the shots. Not to mention failing to sign (insert recently waived scrub here). Its a miracle really that we win any games. We're just some uber lucky version of the nets really... _________________ “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” ― Elie Wiesel
kobe is back and the same story is beginning again. this team is very frustrating to watch
Absolutely. I really think Kobe was the #1 reason this game was lost. Do you remember when the Lakers were up by 8 (maybe it was seven) in the first half. Then Kobe comes in... and single-handedly blew the lead. First Dallas possession he ignores Kidd altogether and Kidd nails a 3 with nobody within 15 feet. FAULT Kobe. 8 pt lead now 5
Next possession Kobe ignores the post and dribbles into a double team, loses the ball and Dallas dunks on the transition. FAULT Kobe. 8 pt lead now 3.
Next Dallas possession Kobe fouls a three-point shooter who makes a 3 FTs. GAME Tied. Thanks Kobe... PLEASE go back and heal. We don't need this kind of help.
Think I'm hallucinating. Here's how Dancing Barry called this segment of AWFUL Kobe play: "Not even covering Kidd and he gave up a three. He was blocked on a drive. He fouled Terry on a three. He swiped the ball under the hoop, then missed the layup. Poor close to the half."
Consider the stats: Kobe took 23 shots. That's 6 more than Bynum, Pau combined. He shot 39% for the game, while Pau was 5-9 (55%) and Bynum was 5-8 (.625). And Odom was 8-11 and playing GREAT.
Honestly, Kobe gave us a full dose of dumb, selfish, ball hog against Dallas and at the end of the first half I KNEW we were going to lose.
If Kobe continues to be a ball hog I don't this this team will get past the second round of the playoffs.
Phil is obviously the best coach to win rings. As a result, he enjoys the journey that utilizes the regular season to get his teams ready to win.
The team still has to learn to be able to effectively run their offense (even with Kobe in the game) and play defense for 48 minutes. Outside of Kobe (along with DFish), one can not state with any confidence that the other Lakers (all of them are good players) have truly learn how to play as champions like Magic's Showtime Lakers or even the Shaq/Kobe Lakers (a team that if they were in the lead and/or close to the lead, they generally win those games).
As talented as Pau, Drew and LO - they are not the alpha dominant center that can either erase defensive mistakes and/or be the hammer on offense (notice how many times Pau/Drew had TOs when they had the ball).
DFish has problems guarding quick guards, like many other teams, but even when they are funneling the PGs to certain parts of the court - the Bigs are not consistent in playing defense.
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-- Kobe sagged off Jason Kidd way too much in this game. He was practically daring him to shoot at times. You can't let him have open threes. He's shooting .420 from three this year. Again, some soft D from Kobe, but this seemed to be more of an ill-conceived strategy. Combine the Kidd threes with Kobe fouling Terry on a three or giving up an And-1 to Dirk on a jumper and you have some very inefficient D. Offensively, Phil thought Kobe did a good job getting guys involved. Kobe started off shooting blanks, but he heated up in the second half. One thing was consistent throughout, no trips to the line for Kobe. He shot his first FTs of the game with 10 seconds left. 
-- Pau had some good passing sequences when the ball went into the post. They probably should have run it through Pau more, especially when Dirk is defending him as the back-up C. That's when both Pau and the team need to get very aggressive and make Dirk work. The Lakers struggled at times to control their glass. Teams are getting away with a lot in the paint and the Lakers will have to try to play through that, Pau especially. Phil should also remember that the Lakers torched the Mavs going with the triple towers. No rebounding problems with that lineup. 
-- "It's hard to play 8 on 5, man," Drew said afterward. He was told by a ref after getting hit hard by Dirk in the paint in crunch time and losing the ball, "I didn't think it was going to mess your shot up." Ridiculous. That does seem to be how refs officiate him, however. A lot of those hits in the arm that mess up his shot never get whistled. Bynum will probably get fined, but he has been getting jobbed by the refs and the frustration is coming out. So, no freethrows for Bynum in this game. I don't blame him at all for the comments, those no calls in crunch time hurt the team badly. Hopefully, he can focus that frustration and take it out on opponents. 
-- The second solid game from Ron against Marion. The first time these two went against each other, Marion scored 18 points and was a key to their victory. In the next game, Lamar had to play SF since Ron was out and LO held him to just 6 points. Tonight, Marion had 10 points on 11 shots, 7 boards and 5 turnovers. Slightly less effective than the 10 points he scored on Ron last time out. Occasionally, his speed hurt the Lakers in transition, but Ron stayed with him much better tonight. Offensively, Artest was able to get into the paint and score. He was very effective there and chose his spots well. You didn't see him charging into the bigs and getting blocked. 
-- There are a couple big ways where Shannon Brown is vital to the Lakers against the Mavs versus the 35 minutes Fish got. Shannon defends Terry much better than either Fisher or Farmar. The team can't afford to give up 30 to Terry. That will kill you. The other way Shannon helps is he doesn't stay planted on the three line. Fish sank a couple of sideline threes and missed six attempts from other spots behind the arc. Shannon's ability to cut and finish not only keeps the D honest, but is much more effective than DFish hoisting eight threes. Fish had the second most shots on the team tonight...that's not going to get it done. 
-- I much prefer Shannon covering Terry than anyone else. He's played him the best this season and that should be a match up that the Lakers make sure Shannon is covering as much as possible. Maybe you don't want to give all your cards away at this point in the season, but if the Lakers can hold Terry down, they can usually hold the Mavs. Shannon had a few bonehead type plays in the game. A turnover to start the fourth and saving a Mav airball for another turnover were two of those plays. Otherwise, he played some solid D on Terry when they matched up. He's one of the few guys who cut off the post doubles instead of settling for threes. That's something else the Lakers could have used more of instead of settling for threes. 
-- Why he and Kobe are sagging off Kidd at the three line is beyond me. Farmar gave up a key three at the end of the third with an unnecessary double team. The Lakers then started off the fourth with a series of turnovers and were digging their way out of a hole all period. When Farmar fouled a man away from the ball, Phil quickly got the hook. He benched him early in the fourth for Fisher (Shannon was already in the game and Kobe was brought in at SF). There was a feisty battle between Farmar and Beaubois in the first half, but the Mavs clearly ran better without Beaubois in the game. 
-- He subbed in Lamar for Pau, Farmar for Fisher and Shannon for Artest with 3 minutes left. No staggered subs this time... Kobe didn't score in the first quarter, but the Lakers led 23-20. They gave up a few transition hoops, but were solid in the halfcourt D... Phil started a Pau, Lamar, Artest, Shannon, Farmar unit... With a Bynum, Lamar, Artest, Kobe, Fisher unit, the Lakers went on a 10-0 run... They gave up a 6-0 run late to lose the quarter 29-27... They led 50-49 at the half. The Lakers shot 51 percent (23-45), the Mavs shot 44 percent (19-43). The Lakers shot 1 FT in the half. Terry had 18 points in the first half... The coaches didn't like the Lakers mental focus in the final couple minutes of the half. They also didn't like the Lakers hustle... Phil sat Pau early, then swapped him with Bynum shortly later... The Lakers gave up an open three to Kidd to end the third (Farmar) and trailed 74-72 heading into the fourth... A series of turnovers to start the quarter put the Lakers in a hole... Kobe had a chance to tie the game with a three with 24 seconds left. No magic tonight... The Mavs beat the Lakers 13-7 on the offensive glass. They also shot 10 more FTs than the Lakers... "I thought we made some tactical errors to start the fourth quarter that set us at edge," Phil said afterward, referring to the series of turnovers to start the final quarter... Phil probably didn't show his whole hand tonight, but he sure wish the Mavs had. "I'd loved to have seen Butler out there tonight," he said...
