JAZZ -at- LAKERS - 11/4 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

targetman · Star Player Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Posts: 5503

I replayed the fourth quarter to watch Bynum one more time. After two years of highlight plays coming primarily from one player it is nice to watch the new kids get their own. I must say that AB is a man long of limb.
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Laker_Leo · Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:45 am Post subject:

Thanks DB. Always a pleasure reading your posts.

TACH · Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 5:08 am Post subject:

Farmar's 4th Takeover

Kobe blocks AK47s Dunk

Game Highlights

Lakers are playing like it's last November.... NICE!!!!! I so wish we could revisit that Houston....

Sage_10 · Star Player Joined: 24 Dec 2005 Posts: 6668

Really impressive win, I'm proud of our guys.
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prisma8slg · Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 6:49 am Post subject:

thanks DB

Rick12322 · Franchise Player Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 19164

Dr. Laker · Franchise Player Joined: 12 Apr 2002 Posts: 17131

Good job, DB.
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Rick12322 · Franchise Player Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 19164

BTW, thanks for the colorful write up DB! I don't ever remember seeing Kobe play within the team so well from the wing position before. That was a perfect game from Kobe. It's just amazing when the guy gets 33 pts. and not once during the game did I find myself saying, "run the offense!"

Bringing LO back and into the wing scares me now, Kobe's playing great from there. I think most of the time we're gonna be better playing Kobe at the wing and bringing LO off the bench at PF. Of course there are going to be times when LO is clearly a better defensive match up at SF.

Another thing that concerns me about LO, he's had some real stinkers coming back from injuries before, I hope Phil doesn't allow him to stay on the floor too long when he's rusty and clearly hurting the team.

Bottom line is I want LO to be used judiciously.

wolfpaclaker · Retired Number Joined: 29 May 2002 Posts: 58391

Part of the reason I think they are holding LO out so long is just that, Rick. They want him as close to 100% as possible, and himself the same.

Now I'm not saying it will happen, but the feeling I get is LO is on a mission to continue what he started last season pre-knee injury. That is make the all-star team and have an all-star impact when he plays.

We'll see what happens, one of the things I know for sure we'll be better at is defense with him. Luke is playing well, but in the last 2 wins we didn't face a great swingman. I really believe had Lamar been in there against Houston, T-Mac and Battier don't have the games they did and we beat them. Odom is our best matchup to make the elite/all-star caliber SF's work.

But I agree that Phil needs to bring him in slowly. I'd speculate that Lamar is going to practice the whole week with this team before he plays.

Rigged4fun · Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 8:03 am Post subject:

Good post DB...
One point must be brought to light...Andrew Bynum's attitude. He has spent the last two seasons flashing some offensive prowess but little or no attitude towards his defensive and rebounding role. Last night's game he showed he really wanted to get rebounds and played defense with attitude. Can this be the emergence of a budding star the Lakers have been waiting? If Bynum can continue to consistently play defense with that same attitude, the Lakers will finally reap some of the benefits for not trading him. We all know that rebounding starts with desire, and Andrew flashed that also last night. I hope for our sake (Laker supporters) he continues this trend. There's no reason with a few trades we can regain our rightful championship level.

20,000 · Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 8:18 am Post subject:

Damn, I forgot all about the game. I am sad I missed it. But thanks for the recap, DB. Makes me feel like I saw it myself.

Sounds like the team overall played well. Great defensive play by Kobe on AK.

But the play of Farmar and Bynum is very impressive. Sometimes the best trade is the one a team doesn't make.
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BigE32 · Star Player Joined: 25 Jun 2005 Posts: 8518

Thanks as always, DB. Farmar and Bynum were the catalysts in that deciding fourth quarter. Very nice win.

hi_ma · Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 8:48 am Post subject:

excellent play by all against an excellent team

W
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postandpivot · Retired Number Joined: 16 Sep 2003 Posts: 36822

RCS926 · Franchise Player Joined: 05 Nov 2003 Posts: 16824

DB, Great write-up as usual. I haven’t commented on the Lakers for a while, so here’s my contribution:

Kobe - There are 2 things that I loved about Kobe’s game last night – his movement off the ball and his unrelenting effort (especially on the defensive end). Kobe has had numerous stretches during his career where he’s throttled back the offense in order to get the team involved. However, during those stretches, he has usually resorted to being a playmaker. Even though he wasn’t actively looking to score, he would still control the ball a lot and try to rack up assists. The Kobe I’ve seen in the past 2 games has throttled his offense back a bit, but he has also relinquished control of the offense to Fish and Luke for large stretches of the game. However, he hasn’t been spectating as he has in the past when he doesn’t control the offense. Kobe has been working hard to rub his man off of screens to get to his sweet spots, which has resulted in more catch and shoot jumpers that we’re used to seeing from Kobe. He’s also been consistently backdooring his man, which has resulted in numerous off-the-ball lay-up opportunities. For years, we’ve asked the question, “Can Kobe play off the ball?” We now know definitively that he can.

Regarding his effort on the court, Kobe is really leading by example out there. It’s one thing to see Kobe D-up tightly on TMac, but when you see if lock in on guys like Giricek and Brewer, you know his defensive focus is as high as it can be. Both aspects of Kobe’s defense – man-to-man and team – were excellent last night. We all know about Kobe’s ability to be a Doberman. However, his team defense was excellent. The block on AK was spectacular, but Kobe has been doing the little things as well such as rotating to open shooters. He’s not getting stuck in no-man’s land as he often does when he gets lax on defense.

Fish – I don’t think anyone can argue anymore that Fish is a HUGE upgrade over Smush. He doesn’t have the defensive potential that Smush has (Smush could’ve been a lockdown defender if he put his mind to it), but Fish more than makes up for it with his tenacity and smarts. Physically, he’s not as good a defender as he was prior to his foot surgeries, but he LOOKS like a more effective defender because he now has support from his big guys (Kwame, Ronnie and Drew). It looks like Fish is starting to recognize this, and as a result, he’s been going over more screens than he usually does. One thing I love about Fish’s D is that even if he gets picked off, he hustles his butt off to recover back to his man. This is a sharp contrast to what we saw from Smush, who basically gave up playing D as soon as he got picked off. On a final defensive note, even though Nash and Williams have put up decent numbers against him, Fish has made them work for every point they scored. That’s all you can ask.

Offensively, this Fish we’re seeing is light years ahead of the old Fish. The old Fish was basically just a spot-up shooter. However, the new Fish makes thing happen in the triangle offense for others as well as himself. When you have 3 wings (Kobe, Fish and Luke) who know the offense and move the ball with a purpose, only good things can happen. Last year, we saw glimpses of this type of ball movement when Luke, Lamar and Kobe were healthy, but Smush was always a flow killer. In Fish, we have a guy who knows where everyone is supposed to be, and with the activity that bigs like Drew, Kwame, Ronnie and Vlad provide, Fish is reading the floor well and delivering some beautiful passes. As far as scoring goes, I love the fact that Fish is attacking the rim when he sees the opportunity, and as a result, he’s getting to the line a lot. When you add these new offensive elements to perimeter shooting that we expect from Fish, you can see how much of an upgrade Fish has been on the offensive end.

I’ve got more thoughts regarding the other guys, but this is what I’ve seen out of the Lakers backcourt…

LakerFan1972 · Star Player Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 3257

Great job DB. Keep the writeups coming.

It will be interesting to see how Phil works Odom into the mix.

Lakers 71-72 · Star Player Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 5059

Thanks, DB!

hi_ma · Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 9:21 am Post subject:

"Jordan's always had that chip on his shoulder, and I've liked him from day one because of that,'' Bryant said. "He did a fantastic job, and that's what we need him to do. He did it well for us last year and he continues to get better.''
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maddprophet · Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 9:36 am Post subject:

winning the battle of the boards has been nig for us, especially against utah. if we control the glass, good things will continue to happen
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Lakers 71-72 · Star Player Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 5059

LakerJam

Klone_dd · Star Player Joined: 11 Mar 2002 Posts: 7330

Sweet game from the youngsters - Bynum & JoFar. They are both playing with a lot of confidence. JoFar was especially impressive because his unit played poorly at the start of the 2nd Q and relinquished the lead the starters built, then really turned it around in the 4th. I really enjoyed him and Bynum yelling at Cookie to get out of the way at the end of the 3rd so that they could p&r and JoFar nailed the three ball. Cookie's the vet, but he wasn't where he should've been.

When Kobe's as efficient as he was last night, the Lakers are hard to beat. His points were effortless, not forced. I was suprised he even had 30+. His tenacity on the D is starting to carry over from his summer stint with the USA team.

Kobe is starting to look for Bynum more and more. Kobe set a nice post screen for Bynum to score and pitched in some good post passes that were just a little off. Perhaps he's starting to trust the kid. Seems like only a matter of time before the two start clicking in the corner set.

The energy so far has been excellent. This is the quickest I've seen a Lakers team help and recover in a long time. Plus they are challenging almost every shot.

Muad'Dib · Star Player Joined: 19 Sep 2004 Posts: 3903

DB--good stuff

TACH--thanks for the links

Rick12322 · Franchise Player Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 19164

ryuvienco · Starting Rotation Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 566

Nice recap DB. Great game last night. I hope they can keep it up and be solid everynight. They don't have to be spectacular.