LAKERS -at- HEAT - 3/4 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Freethrows... You want them when you don't get them. You gotta hit 'em when you do...especially on the road. Both teams went to the line 25 times, the Heat made 21 while the Lakers just 15. Make one more of those in regulation and the team takes this game.

It's the two they never saw that irked some on the Laker side. The refs will miss some calls, but the obvious one that happened in a critical juncture of the game left Phil scratching his head.

Kobe Bryant was hit on the arm on a jumper by DWade, airballing by several feet in one of the final possessions in regulation. It was a very obvious foul but the refs swallowed the whistle.

"That's unconscionable that call can't be made at that point in the game," Phil said afterward.

Regardless, the Lakers would fight back and Kobe would send the game to overtime on a jumper with 3 seconds left. He took that hot hand into OT and proceeded to hit several shots. He was in a zone and drawing instant doubles.

Unfortunately, the Lakers gave up 15 points in the extra 5 minutes. They couldn't get a stop. Phil said the team was too focused on Wade, often losing track of others. That mistake allowed a couple of Heat players to go for season highs, and the Lakers fell for the first time in OT this season, 114-111.

Despite the big minutes the Lakers put in tonight, they will have to bounce back tomorrow with a better effort.


Kobe -- -- Pretty amazing that a player like Kobe can be so obviously fouled on a jumper and not get a call. It's mind boggling. Kobe was hit in the arm on a jumper on a key offensive possession in regulation in the final half minute. Wade should have been called for the foul and two FTs for Kobe. Instead, it was an airball by several feet. It's puzzling. Unconscionable, as Phil said. Kobe came out early and shot jumper after jumper before the game. His shot looked much improved as a result and he put together one of his better offensive games of late. With the pressure on late in the game and in OT he was hitting everything until the Lakers stopped giving him the ball. You've got to milk your hot hand (ahem, Farmar). At the very least, you use it to draw instant doubles and make life easy for everyone else. Defensively, Phil had Artest on Wade and Kobe on Q. Kobe was too focused on Wade's penetration and sagged off more than they should, Phil said. Too many open threes for Richardson and that hurt a ton. A lot of minutes for Kobe tonight. He'll have to push through tomorrow. "I want to see that sense of urgency — consistently," Kobe said. He needs to show it, too, on the defensive end. At least he looked a lot more like himself on the offensive side. The Stats: He scored 39 points on 15-28 shooting (2-7 from three, 7-10 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 45:46. He was a +3. The Action: He didn't cover Q and gave up a three (that's what he wants to shoot). He sank a top-of-the-key jumper on the other end. He missed a baseline turnaround. His post entry pass was swiped. He drew a double in the post and hit Fish for three. He blocked JO from behind to save a layup. He spun to lose his man and missed a layup, but LO cleaned it up. He was fouled on a turnaround, he made one FT. He up-faked Wade to get him in the air (should have taken the contact to draw Wade's second foul of the quarter), Kobe then missed the step-through, but Pau tipped it in. He drew FTs off a hesitation move in the lane, he made one. Quick step around his man on the baseline for a layup. He attacked, turned his back on his man, stepped around him, hung as a help defender challenged and then he banked in the paint. He had 8 points on 3-6 shooting in the first. He lost his man at the top of the key and scored a layup. He missed a behind-the-backboard attempt as he was expecting a call on a drive. He sagged too far off his man and gave up another three. He missed a pull-up three. He had 10 points on 4-9 shooting. Second Half: He faced up, swung past Wade and scored a layup. He made a tech FT. He swished a baseline fallaway. He made a tech FT. He swished a deep wing three from the left side (4-point trip for him). He gave up a three to Q on the other end. He missed a three over the zone. He swished a pumping fallaway from 19 feet out over Wade as the shotclock went off. He missed a three. He sagged too far off his man and gave up an easy three. He was swatted badly on a drive that led to points the other way. He missed an elbow fallaway, off balance. He attacked the zone from the wing and sliced his way to a layup. He attacked and was swarmed in the paint to draw FTs, he made one. He answered a Wade three with a three of his own with 3 minutes left. He missed a sideline three. He drained an 18-footer from the wing. He drew FTs on a drive right with 42 seconds left down 1, he made both. He was "blocked" on a 2-for-1 pull-up jumper by Wade, hit on the arm, couldn't be any more obvious but no call. Unbelievable. Q hit a three over him with 11 seconds left. He took the inbounds out the timeout, attacked the offensive zone with speed, elevated and swished the wing jumper with 3 seconds left to tie it up. Overtime: He missed a wing three. He iso'd on Wade and hit a baseline jumper. He iso'd and hit a long wing jumper next time down. The Heat tried to send a double, but he attacked left and pulled up to swish a corner jumper before it came. He charged on a drive left with 19 seconds left, blocking foul to JO who was moving into it, but probably there. He missed a three from the top of the arc.

Gasol -- -- Paging Pau Gasol. Please pick up the phone at the Token Appearance Desk. Poor start to the road trip from Pau. He didn't do much of anything in the fourth quarter or OT. The zone seemed to take away the Lakers interior. Pau's midrange game could have helped exploit that, but no one (including himself) seemed very confident in it. Prior to that, the Lakers didn't exploit his advantage against Beasley very well. Pau did get on the offensive boards a bit to help the Lakers use their size advantage. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-11 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-4 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 1 assist, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 34 minutes. He had a +/- of 0. The Action: He sank a turnaround on the baseline on his first attempt. His high-low was swiped, then he was called for a bogus foul on Wade in transition. He missed a lefty hook after taking a shove with no call. He tipped in a Kobe miss. He missed a jumper. Horrible pass trying to thread the needle to Fish in traffic (why?) and it led to a layup the other way. He drew FTs with an attack on the baseline, he missed both. He was hammered trying to finish and coughed it up, but Bynum dunked it in. Phil sat him for Lamar. Back in, he sank a lefty jumphook on the baseline. Second Half: No box out and Beasley hammered a putback dunk on him. He hit a quick jumphook over Beasley on the other end. He missed a bank after grabbing a Bynum miss. He missed a 14-footer, short. He missed a three at the third-quarter buzzer. Overtime: He was stripped, maybe fouled with no call, on an offensive board and lost it. He was fouled and made both FTs.

Bynum -- -- Bynum led the Lakers with 5 turnovers. Just a very sloppy game from him. The Lakers had some confusion with the zone, but Bynum's issues didn't seem related to that. He did a good job going after boards and seemed a little more active in that regard. His iso game against JO never seemed to get on track, but Drew scrapped for some garbage points which is what you like to see. Whenever they don't get the ball, they need to keep the pressure on that offensive glass. Bynum, Pau and Lamar combined for 13 offensive boards. Well done, in that regard. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-9 shooting (2-4 from the line) to go with 10 boards (4 offensive), 1 assist, 5 turnovers and 4 fouls in 33 minutes. He was a -10. The Action: He missed a turnaround in the lane. He got JO to airball on the other end. He missed a jumphook. He finished an interior lob from Fish. He picked up two fouls against Wade and sat midway through the quarter (second one looked like a phantom foul). He missed a banked jumphook with low position. He swished a lefty jumphook working the left block. Nice hands on a tricky feed from Farmar and he scored a layup. He missed a turnaround. He drew FTs on a Kobe miss as he tried to cram it back in, he made one. He grabbed a loose ball and jammed. He grabbed a Kobe missed three and drew FTs, he made one. Second Half: He picked up his third foul on Wade's first drive of the half. He missed a 15-footer. He was stripped under the hoop. Bad pass trying to hit someone out of a double team, turnover. He dunked the baseline lob from Farmar. Overtime: He won the jumpball. He couldn't handle a Kobe feed that hit him in the hands, turnover. Phil sat him.

Artest -- -- Phil put Ron on Wade all game long. This probably allowed Wade to get a little too much speed on his attack at times. The Lakers D was getting collapsed as Wade shed Artest on screens and penetrated. They might have considered playing Wade to shoot more off those screens, keeping the ball from his teammates and letting him beat the Lakers from the perimeter more. Ron still had 5 steals in the game (16 in the last three games), including a swipe at midcourt with 2 minutes left. Unfortunately, he was fouled and bricked both FTs -- a problem that hurt the team tonight. When he's missing FTs this season, Artest seems like he's sitting back on his heels too much and flinging. You can tell when he's going to miss them before they're even released. Ron also had another key stop, getting a moving screen whistle on an inbounds pass with 42 seconds left in regulation. A lot of minutes for Ron tonight. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-9 shooting (1-4 from three, 1-4 from the line) to go with 2 assists, 5 steals, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 45 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He coughed up the ball on the first possession. He attacked from the wing to his left and scored a layup. His pass to Kobe flashing to him was picked off. He deflected a pass that the Lakers recovered. Pressure D to help force another turnover. He swiped a Wade pass. He posted up and banked a fallaway. Wade was 2-9 in the first half. Second Half: He was blocked from behind on a layup attempt. He hit a wing three that tried to come out before finally falling. He didn't stay tight on Q and gave up a three. He missed a three over the zone. He hit a toe-on-the-three line jumper from the wing after faking his man to get some space. He posted up Q and drew FTs on the post entry, he made one. He missed a three behind a screen. He bricked a three on a Kobe kickout. Wade drilled a three over to him to push the lead to 8 with under 4 minutes left. He swiped the ball from Wade at midcourt with 2:20 left and drew a foul on him for FTs, he missed both, however, could have cut the lead to 2. He drew a moving screen on JO with 42 seconds left on an inbounds pass as he went down to the floor to get the stop (nice job going down after the contact). Overtime: He deflected Wade's pass to get a turnover.

Fisher -- -- Good offensive game from Fish (including a clutch three), but his counterpart happened to score 17 points on 6-7 shooting. Talk about efficient. The 42 points between Arroyo and Richardson killed the Lakers. Obviously, that's too much for those two. Both ended up with season highs. The Laker perimeter D struggled with the screens or got lost on shooters. DFish seemed to have his hands in the air half the night after getting whistled. Eventually, he fouled out in OT. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 5-8 shooting (2-4 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 6 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He drained a wing three on a kickout from the Kobe post. He got into the paint and lobbed to Bynum for a score. He attacked off the three line and banked in a runner. He swished a baseline jumper in early offense. Sloppy interior feed and he turned it over. He drew FTs in the lane, he made both. He missed a pull-up three at the halftime buzzer. Second Half: He missed a three. Nice D to deny penetration to a bigger man and help get a 3-second violation. He sank a sideline jumper in early offense. He missed an elbow jumper, off balance. He swished a corner three with 2 minutes left to cut the lead to 1. Overtime: Horrible D, completely lost on a screen and giving up a wide open jumper. He fouled out on a Wade drive.

Lamar -- -- Aside from taking his first three of the game in overtime, Lamar put together pretty good game. He had made all but one shot at that point and got tapped on the three, but typically that's not a good call in early offense. Lamar was active, made some clutch plays and generally did his thing. It looked like he tweaked his shoulder at one point when a man went over his back, but it didn't seem to effect Lamar longer than a few seconds. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 6-8 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 11 boards (4 offensive), 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 36 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He cleaned up a missed layup by Kobe. He flashed to the ball and hit an elbow jumper. He attacked around his man and was blocked, got it back and hit a jumper after taking contact. Too high on the lob to Bynum and he couldn't come up with it. Second Half: He sank a baseline jumper off the Farmar pass. He grabbed a rebound, told Farmar to wait as LO pushed it up then he lobbed to Brown on the other side of the court for the dunk. Low pass to Bynum instead of going high and it was picked off. He tipped an offensive board to himself, attacked and scored an And-1 over JO, he made the FT. Great help D to force Wade into an airball at the buzzer. Overtime: He attacked, took contact and banked in the layup with no call. He got tapped on a wing three next time down. He deflected a pass and it led to a Farmar bust out.

Brown -- -- Some nice finishes around the rim for Shannon. Not a lot of action for him, despite him being the first guard off the bench in the first half tonight. Kobe went extra minutes and that limited Shannon's action. Defensively, he had 3 steals but also got caught ball watching as Wade attacked. All that attention Wade drew was causing serious issues, even when it didn't need to. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-5 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 3 steals and 1 turnover in 16 minutes. He was a -6. The Action: He hesitated, stepped on the gas and scored a reverse layup. He missed a runner. He missed a wing three. Second Half: He ball watched and let Wade hit his man for a dunk. He attacked off the three line, pumped under a defender and threw down with both hands. He threw down a reverse dunk off the Lamar lob in transition.

Farmar -- -- Phil didn't like Farmar's floor general skills in OT, not giving the ball to a hot Kobe. Really, that's rule number one as a PG. Feed the hot hand. "I question why we went away from him when he was hot like that. That was a guard decision," Phil said. He then mentioned the missed three by Lamar we took instead. Farmar also missed a short bank in overtime that he should have had -- a key miss that the Lakers never recovered from. Prior to that, he had some good minutes against the zone. The Lakers needed another guard who could help expose it and Farmar did a good job there. He also did a better job on D tonight, not giving up easy layups like the previous game. The Stats: The Action: He missed a wing three. He found Bynum under the hoop with a pass for a layup. He missed a kickout three. He blew past Arroyo but couldn't finish around help D. Second Half: He clanked a flat corner three. He hit Bynum with a lob on the baseline for a dunk. He kicked out to Lamar for a jumper. He sank a three over the zone. He missed a wing jumper off the two-man game. He hung in the air off the Brown push out and banked in a tough layup. He got pumped into the air and gave up FTs. Overtime: He came in for Fisher who got D-Whistled and fouled out. He attacked in transition and had his layup goaltended. He looked off a hot Kobe for Lamar who missed a three. He got tapped on a short bank to tie the game up. He missed a wing three.

Powell -- -- With Wade getting the Laker bigmen in early foul trouble in the first quarter, Phil went to Powell briefly. Not a lot of time, but he played with some fire which was needed. The Stats: He didn't shoot or score, but had 2 boards and 1 turnover in 3 minutes. He was a +/- of 0. The Action: Horrible outlet pass after securing the board, turnover. Second Half: He did not play in the second half.

Phil -- -- Phil brought in Shannon at PG for Fish with 3 minutes left in the quarter. He then brought in Farmar for Artest and Powell for Pau... Wade picked up 4 fouls on Laker bigmen in that first quarter.... The Lakers led 27-26 after the first... Phil started a Bynum, Lamar, Artest, Shannon, Farmar unit. They started to go dry midway trough the quarter, no points in 4 minutes... Phil then brought back in starters... Phil subbed out Pau for Lamar, then sat Bynum who had two fouls with 40 seconds left.... The Lakers led 47-44 at the half. The Lakers shot 50 percent (20-40), the Heat shot 31.8 percent (16-42). The Lakers had 10 turnovers to which Miami converted into 13 points. L.A. had a 24-8 advantage in the paint... The coaches wanted the Lakers to ball reverse and then make their post-entry passes... The Lakers fell down by 6 before Phil brought in Lamar with 3 minutes left. A 9-0 run for the Heat... The Lakers lost the third 30-21... The Lakers trailed 74-68 heading into the fourth. They faced a lot of zone and did little to exploit it... Phil started a Bynum, Lamar, Kobe, Shannon, Farmar unit... Miami extended to a 9-point lead and Phil called a quick timeout... Farmar and Shannon helped cut the lead back to 2 points... Down by 6 again, Phil brought in Pau for Bynum, Fisher for Farmar... The Lakers went on a 10-2 run in 2 minutes to take a 97-96 lead with 42 seconds left... Kobe tied the game with 3 seconds left. Phil gave him the ball in the backcourt to attack with speed with 11 on the clock. He likes to get Kobe some speed into the attack zone to hit a jumper. Overtime: Phil started Bynum for Pau to get the jumpball. He brought Pau in after a couple minutes... The then subbed in Farmar for Fisher who fouled out... Phil called timeout down by 2 with 37 left. Farmar attacked to his right and missed a short bank shot... The heat shot 26-38 after the first half. That's 68 percent. Shocking the Lakers nearly pulled off a victory with that kind of shooting...

[Ray_Gonzoles]

Thanks for the recaps DB!

Bad loss, but on to Friday.
_________________
"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.

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks DB.

I may be in the minority here, but I think it is time to start LO over Pau both to send him a message and for defensive purposes. LO looks more aggressive than Pau, rebounds just as good, arguably a better defender, and has more heart. Won't happen, but I would like to see it for at least a few games until Pau gets out of his funk.

[mhan00]

[Qsmiff]

Thanks, DB....but a word of warning criticizing Kobe's defense...some of us that have done that tonight have been labled as biased know-nothing Kobe haters......Oh the pain!!!

[JUST-MING]

[mhan00]

don't blame the refs. that missed call was horrific, but we hit our fts and if our guards could be bothered to challenge jumpers instead of ball watching and we win in regulation. seriously, after the fifth or sixth 3 a guy hits while wide open, why wouldn't you think "maybe, juuuuuuust maybe i should stop sagging off him and daring him to shoot?"

carlos arroyo and q, rich both had season highs tonight. our defense was absolutely shredded by our guards tonight in regulation. in ot, everybody decided to join in on getting it up the ass from the heat offense.

[lakerboy]

oh well, another frustrating loss where the team shoots themselves in the foot with poor execution on either end. nothing new here

but hey, as soon as the playoffs starts everything will change, right?

right?

[prisma8slg]

freethrows

thanks DB
_________________
"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."

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB. Let's hope this team comes back with some resolve tonight.

[Klone_dd]

Missed FTs and nonchalant D stems from lack of concentration. Miami shot 52.5% with no real inside presence as the high P&R killed us consistently.

Wherefore art Pau?

Kobe's perimeter game returned (was there any doubt?). I know when he's hot, you gotta keep feeding him, but I didn't have a problem with LO's 3 and JoFar's teardrop in OT. You want guys to remain aggressive and not afraid of the big moment. The shots just didn't fall. The problem in OT was the D allowing Miami to score on practically every possession.

[Freakout]

We seem to always struggle against Miami.

Pau hasn't been consistent and I agree he looks tired. I'm assuming the summer long playing along with losing conditioning sitting out most of the first half of the season with the hammy injuries has really screwed him up.

Drew was solid in the first half but what goes unmentioned was Miami zoned the (bleep) out of us in the second half and we, like normal, are piss poor at attacking the zone. Hard for the bigs to do anything when the team settles for jumpers or is unable to throw the ball inside. As bad as Jordan is, our best sequence against the zone was when he caught it along the baseline and attacked the zone which lead to the lob inside to Bynum.

Kobe just let Richardson get too comfortable. I could live with taking a gamble on our home court but on the road you just don't constantly leave a good shooter open in HIS arena.

[RVCdesigns]

Thank you DB as always.

[bryantest]

No analysis on Derrick Stafford?? He deserves to be in this tread too.