LAKERS -at- WARRIORS -- 11/1 -- Thoughts and :-)) ratings

[DancingBarry]

Surviving and Thriving... Ronny Turiaf took the baton from Bynum in this game, leading the team with a career-high 23 points. He and Lamar propelled the Lakers to a 110-98 road win over the Warriors.

Lamar brought it again, with 22 points, 9 boards and 9 assists. After the game, Ronny said, "I keep telling him, Kobe is not here, so put the cape on and we're going to follow you."

What is especially nice about this Laker team is that when something isn't working you can look over to the bench and find a number of options...even with the major injuries. The coaches are gaining more and more trust in their youngsters with each passing game. That will payoff down the line.

So far, so good.

Odom -- -- Mr. Near Triple Double was at it again. Just a great back-to-back effort to start the season. Lamar played 32 minutes and scored 22 points on 8-14 shooting (5-7 FTs, 1-2 3PT), he pulled down 9 boards and dished 9 assists. Again, he had a very aggressive mindset, and when Rambis called him off the bench to close out the game, he did just that. He started the game quickly with an attack off the jumpball and he scored a one hander on the baseline. He sealed Pietrus and drew FTs at the rim, he made both. Massive jam off a weakside cut and feed from Luke (originated by Bynum drawing a triple team). He scored a putback after Bynum kept a miss alive. Good fight for an offensive board, but he couldn't score the putback. He drew Pietrus's third foul, missed both FTs. Nice creation off the dribble to collapse the D, then he spotted Luke cutting baseline for the dunk. He sank a pull-up jumper from the baseline. Bad outlet pass throwing it way over Smush's head. He missed a long heave at the buzzer. LO had 10 points and 6 boards at the half. He attacked the baseline and hit Ronny diving to the hoop for an And-1. After we got back the FT miss, LO then attacked and found Evans under the hoop for a reverse. He found Luke on the other side of the court for a baseline three. He stepped up and drained a wing three with good form. On the next possession, he worked off the dribble across the lane and to hit a leaner with his left. He attacked in transition and drew FTs, he made both. Late in the fourth, he attacked to his left out of a timeout and scored a layup. He attacked Diogu shortly later and hit an And-1 runner with his left, he made the FT. He missed a three, not going up straight. He crossed over Barnes badly at the top of the key, got into the paint and flipped a pass to a cutting Turiaf for the huge throwdown. "There's so many things he can do when he is aggressive, when he is attacking the basket," Rambis said in the Times. "We need him to have an aggressive mind-set in the very beginning of the ballgame."


Bynum -- -- The Lakers didn't look for Bynum early in this game, and eventually foul trouble set in and sidelined Andrew. Still, when he got the ball, he continued to collapse the defense. Despite the injured foot, he looked like he could get up and down the court fine. He played just 11 minutes and shot only 1-4 for 5 points. He had 4 boards, 2 assiss and 1 block in that time, but he also had the 4 fouls...some of the cheap variety. He missed a jumphook off the glass on his first touch. He didn't box out Murphy and gave up a putback tip. He kept a Walton miss alive and Lamar scored it. Murphy drew a handcheck foul on Bynum attacking off the dribble. He took an offensive board above the crowd and drew a foul on a putback attempt, he made both FTs. He picked up his second foul on Baron's penetration and had to sit midway through the first quarter. He fronted Diogu and gave up a dunk (no need to front him). He got blocked by Biedrins on the other end trying to dunk. He hit Luke under the rim with a bounce pass that drew FTs. He got low position on a center sprint, took the feed, quickly turned to his right and hit a little jumphook at the front of the rim. He drew FTs, pumpfaking under the hoop after Smush found him, he made one FT. He picked up his third foul on penetration by JRich and had to sit. Wow, he quickly picked up his fourth foul to start the second half on a cheap, cheap call as he crossed the lane to try to post up and made some contact, that usually goes the other way. Good contest on Baron on the other end and it looked like he got a piece of the shot. With the foul trouble, we didn't get a chance to really test Bynum's energy on the second night of the back to back.

Smush -- -- A serviceable game from Smush. He had a nice stretch in the third when the Warriors were in the zone and our offense was stagnating. He scored 6 points on 2-7 shooting (0-3 3PT), had 4 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 turnovers in 23 minutes. He anticipated a pass nicely for the steal, then he fed Luke busting out for the dunk. He picked up a reach foul underneath and a handcheck foul on Baron's attack. Baron beat him on the post and it drew a foul on Bynum. He then sat midway through the first with the two fouls. Bad decision trying to force a pass under the hoop, wasn't even close. Good hustle for a loose ball and he fed Bynum for FTs. He missed a three from the corner. He passed up on the three, attacked the paint and spun up an And-1 bank shot, he missed the FT. He attacked the middle of the zone, took a little contact with no call and hit a floater. He attacked the zone again, took contact and drew FTs, he made both. He forced up a tough midrange jumper with a man on him early in the shotclock, not a good shot.

Walton -- -- He got off to an aggressive start, and even though he couldn't knock down his jumper early, he still was effective. Luke scored 15 points on 6-11 shooting, pulled down 6 boards and dished 2 assists in 29 minutes. Good find of LO cutting weakside for a dunk. He scored a breakaway dunk off a steal by Smush. He missed an open baseline jumper. He missed a three. He scored on an easy post up, getting good position after making the inbounds pass. He missed an open jumper again. He scored an And-1 layup on a nice setup from Vlad Rad, he missed the FT. Then, he pressured Ellis in the corner to force a turnover. He dunked on a backdoor cut when LO found him. He had 8 points on 4-8 shooting in the first quarter. He got an entry pass picked off. He drew FTs under the hoop off a Bynum pass, he made both FTs. Sweet And-1 by Luke, attacking the zone, getting contact and flipping the shot up over his head for the score, he missed the FT. Horrible bouncepass to a Warrior under the hoop, wasn't a Laker around it. He swished a baseline three of a kickout from LO. Luke was the third scorer tonight.

Evans -- -- His energy was still there on the second night of the back to back, mixing things up on both ends. He scored 8 points on 3-7 shooting in 16 minutes of action. He also pulled down 4 boards and had 3 fouls in that time. He missed a midrange jumper on his first attempt. He worked his way off a Bynum pick into the lane and hit a 6-footer (love the midrange and short game). He missed a layup and wanted the foul. He plowed over Baron in transition, easy call. He had to sit after five minutes with two fouls. He missed a pull-up jumper from the top of the key. He threwdown on an uncontested breakaway, getting up high on the power jam. He finished a reverse nicely when Lamar spotted him under the hoop. He got blocked under the hoop by Biedrins. He crashed the offensive glass and drew FTs, making both.

Radmanovic -- 8) -- Pretty nice game by Vlad Rad. I can't believe he actually stayed on JRich on a number of defensive possessions (with a little help, but still effective at times). He seems to be picking up the Tri well, building on his previous experiences in the offense. Tonight, he scored 11 points on 3-9 shooting (4-4 FT), grabbed 5 boards, setup 3 teammates for scores and added 2 steals in 24 minutes. He airballed his first jumper. He blew past Murphy from the elbow for a layup. He missed a left-handed hook. Nice extra pass in the interior to set up Luke for an And-1. Good hustle to dig out a loose ball, he then ran the floor to draw a foul, he made the FTs. He swished a corner three on a kickout from Farmar. He missed his next three attempt. He left Dunleavy absolutely nailed to the floor, faking a pinch post jumper and attacking baseline for the two-hand throwdown. He drew a foul next time down posting up on Dunleavy. He tipped a pass to force a turnover. He trapped JRich with the shotclock low to force a miss. Very nice weakside curl off the Tri, he got the pass and drew FTs, making both. Beautiful two-man game with Ronny, he worked off the low pinch post, took the pass, drew the double and hit Turiaf with a bounce pass for the layup. He later missed a turnaround.

Turiaf -- -- When you get a player from the second round that puts up numbers like Ronny did tonight (see Monta Ellis) and plays tough on both ends, that's a complete steal. When that player is a bigman who can play the PF/C spots, that is grand theft. Ronny was a force tonight. He scored 23 points on 8-10 shooting (7-12 FT), grabbed 9 boards, dished 3 assists and added 2 steals and 2 blocks in 31:31 of action -- career highs across the board, except for blocks. Ronny missed a putback at the rim. Great D on Diogu forcing a bricked hook shot. Excellent contest on Baron's drive to force a miss. Wow, sensational perimeter D, swiping the ball from JRich then pushing up the break to find Farmar for a layup. He got whistled for a charge posting up JRich. He got beat down the court by Diogu on a missed FT and gave up a dunk. Nice dive cut when LO attacked the baseline and Ronny scored an And-1, he missed the FT. He crashed the boards on a Luke miss and tipped it in. He cleaned up a fast break with an And-1 putback, he made the FT. He posted up Biedrins and drew FTs away from the ball, he made one. He boxed out on a miss, drew a foul and FTs, he made both. He attacked off the elbow pinch post and scored a layup with his left off the dribble (very nice). After blocking a shot, he busted out on the breakaway and threw down an uncontested dunk to the cheers of NoCal Laker fans. He drew FTs on the weakside curl, he made one. He scored a layup working the two-man game with Radmanovic to perfection. He deflected a pass to force a turnover. Nice block at the rim and he controlled the ball. He got fouled in transition, he made one FT. He posted up and drew more FTs, he made one. With the shotclock low, he drilled a 21-footer straight away on the next possession. He exploded after a loose ball to push out the break, he unselfishly gave it up to Cook, who choked it (just dunk those Ronny). Nice contest of Ellis on the other end. Huge throwdown along the baseline when Lamar set him up with a pretty drive and dish. A lot of action on both ends, outplaying all the Warrior bigmen (which several lottery picks).

Cook -- -- He mixed it up a bit on both ends once again, especially on the boards where he pulled down 8 to go with 8 points on 4-11 shooting in 17 minutes. He sank a wing jumper standing on the three line with a man on him. He missed a wing jumper. He missed a three from the sideline. He hit a jumper over a smaller man after working the two-man game at the end of the third. He got beat off the dribble by Murphy and had to hack him (Murphy was hearing boos after clanking yet another FT). Nice crash on the defensive glass to take a board away from Murphy. He sank a long sideline two off a kickout from Farmar. He didn't set himself up for a good shot off the pick and pop, missing from about four feet behind the three line. He attacked off the dribble, missed once and missed a tip in. He cleaned up an attack by Farmar with a tip in. He swatted Dunleavy who tried to attack him off the dribble. He blew a layup in transition as it looked like he wanted to give it back to Ronny instead of finish it.

Sasha -- -- Well, the first two games have not been kind to Sasha. He got benched tonight after a poor stint in the first quarter and never saw daylight again. He got hit on an 18-footer and drew FTs, but he missed both FTs. He missed a three, then got called for a loose ball foul on a reach, giving up FTs. He missed another three. He didn't score in his 3 attempts or 2 FTs, but did manage 3 rebounds in his 7 minutes of action.

Farmar -- -- Jordan got some extended run (the most for any of our PGs) and he handled himself well, providing some serviceable minutes on both ends. Nice to see the Lakers giving him the PT early this season as Farmar clocked 25 minutes. He scored 9 points off 3-6 shooting and dished 4 assists with 2 turnovers. Baron looked a bit strong for Farmar, but Jordan did a decent job staying in front of his man for most of the night. He came in midway through the first for Smush who had foul problems. He got a lateral stop on Davis forcing a pass. He poked away a crossover. Bad entry pass to Vlad and it went out of bounds. He worked off the high screen, attacked to his right, took contact and swished a sweet And-1 floater over defenders, he missed the FT. He attacked the lane on the next possession and kicked it out to Vlad for a three. He scored a reverse layup on the break off a set up from Turiaf. He charged on the pass off on the break. He got tapped on a wing three. He attacked off the screen and kicked it to the corner for an open jumper by Cook. He missed a pull-up jumper off the two-man game. He attacked the lane and missed a jumper in traffic, but the crowd he drew on dribble penetration left an easy tip in for Cook. He drew FTs with a strong cut out of the Tri, he made both. He swished an open three on a pass from LO.

Shammond -- -- Shammond made an appearance and again, gave us serviceable minutes at the guard spot, which seemed to be the trend tonight. Nothing flashy by any guard, just decent. Good to see him get some time in. He scored 3 points on 1-4 shooting and dished 3 assists in 22 minutes. He started the second quarter. He missed on a tough drive attempt. He found a hair of daylight and sank a wing three. Nice push out and outlet to Ronny for a breakaway dunk. Good rotation and he forced a travel on the Warriors. He missed a pull-up jumper going to his left.

Rambis -- -- Rambis went up and down the roster tonight, giving a variety of players not named Sasha extended minutes. I think he handled himself decently. He took some timeouts at the end of quarters to have the Lakers work on plays... I thought we did a poor job in a couple of areas. The first was establishing Bynum in the post early. We let the Warriors be the aggressors on the offensive end against Bynum instead of Bynum being the aggressor for us. The foul trouble went against us in that regard. The second area was letting JRich play extended minutes with early foul trouble without trying to expose it. Riley used to go after that when Rambis was a player... Kurt ran a Farmar/Shammond backcourt to start the second quarter, which matched up with some of the Warriors small ball... The Lakers shot 9-17 from the freethrow line at the half (the Warriors were equally good at 12-21). The Lakers had 11 offensive boards to the Warriors' 5, but also had 11 turnovers to the Warriors' 5 at the half... Rambis told the Lakers to clog the paint more on D. He also wanted them to execute the Tri better, instead of playing as much iso ball. The assist total by the Lakers attested to some quality minutes of team ball. We tallied 29 assists tonight... Rambis called timeout at the end of the third. They overloaded one side and worked the two-man game, getting a post mismatch for Cook, which he scored on... He subbed back in Lamar with a 17-point lead and just over 4 minutes left. The Lakers had their lead cut to 9 about a minute later, but Lamar took over and closed the Warriors out... Both teams shot poorly from the line in the game, the Lakers 27-41 and the Warriors 27-42. We saw a ton of trips to the line in the third quarter... It sounds like Phil should be back the rest of the way for the Lakers...

[ocho]

i think this time off for kobe is a blessing in disguise.

let the kids get confident.
let the kids get playing time.
let the coaches see what the kids can do.

who's next to have a career night?!
_________________
14-5-3-12

[Dorray]

[TooCool]

Great post as usual. Time for some Lights out action on the Sonics.
_________________

[- Sean -]

[Alpha]

thanks as usual deeb! been anxiously waiting for your report

[jmark]

2-0. Great job Lakers!
_________________
"I appreciate all those who have supported me. Thank you for believing in me. My family and I are going to need your support and prayers now more than ever." Kobe

[PakaLOLO]

Thanks!!!
_________________
I speak Emoji

[limchrc]

Thanks for the recap.

[Laker7]

Outstanding!

Great to see the youngsters playing so well.

Write it down now. Next years starting lineup!

PG Farmar
SG Kobe
C Bynum
SF Odom
PF Turaif

Bench Radman, Cook, Evans and Walton.

You heard it from Laker7 first!
_________________
Darvin Ham is an idiot!

[twoface723]

Thanks.
Good game by the Lakers.

[Sage_10]

Rony Ronny Ronny.
_________________
"You Must Be Willing To Give Up That Which Can Be Lost In Order To Gain That Which Cannot Be Lost." - FORTUNE COOKIE

[ElginBaylor]

Teams around the league need to sit up and take notice. We're deep and are getting all of our injuries out of the way early. In another month we'll be unstoppable.
_________________
Not a legend

[kups]

Thanks for the recap DB! 52 bench pts.. & I thought yesterday's production was a fluke. I hope this becomes a habit. Things are looking bright
_________________
#2 Lonzo
#28 Derrick White, Jordan Bell, Deonte Burton

[prisma8slg]

thanks DB

I didn't expect Bynum to be able to produce the same numbers he did last night, but was very glad to see Turiaf step it up
_________________
"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."

[limchrc]

I agree. I like the depth of our team this year... contributing much more than I thought.

[dadamookie]

I was really impressed with the Lakers tonight. They ran the triangle almost everytime down and they limited their quick shots which helped out their defense on the other end. Great execution and patience.

[h2omike]

2-0

Who would have thunk it?

[SoCalHoopsFan]

[Flight]

I wonder how Kobe's going to fit and blend in when he returns.

I pray that he has the mentality that he had during the Suns playoff series.

If that happens, things are going to get deadly.

[CrimsonLaker]

Good job, DB.

Regarding Sasha: I really think he's trying to play outside his game. Yeah, he's buffed up, but he still doesn't have that kind of strength to play inside. He needs to stick with getting open on the perimeter and knocking down shots. I think he's lost without Kobe guiding him.

[la45]

I think they've gotta put Bynum on Kobe's conditioning program, pronto. He's still too weak out there.

[LongtimeLakerLover]

Thanks DB.

Patience by our guys. I love it!

I don't know how many times I screamed at the TV last year "RUN THE OFFENSE!"

Great job.
_________________
I love LA........WE LOVE IT!

[Addicus]

[ryuvienco]