SUNS -at- LAKERS - 12/25 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Merry Christmas, Suns... Christmas hasn't been particularly kind to the Lakers of late. And when they finally have their easiest chance to get over on the Heat, the league dumps the tired rivalry and pits us against the Suns. Instead of settling for a well-fought, close game...only to lose, the Lakers went out and sent a message.

Bynum dropped a new career high with 28 points. Kobe made multiple spectacular shots and even threw down impressively. And the newest Laker, Trevor Ariza, stuffed Grant Hill's stockings with a jaw-dropping poster job.

When the dust settled, the Lakers took home the 122-115 victory and are now a game behind the Suns for the Pacific Division lead. In the two matches against the Lakers, the Suns have given up 119 and 122 points. Ouch. Hard to outscore that.

D'Antoni on the difference between the Lakers team this year and last: "Bynum and Derek Fisher." Throw Ariza into the starting lineup and all five Laker starters scored in double figures. The bench, which has been one of our biggest strengths, got outscored 28-8. Of course, when Bynum and Ariza give you a combined 42 points in the starting unit because our various injuries, the so-called bench is still showing its depth.

After the game, someone asked D'Antoni if he thought Bynum was an up and coming player. "I don't know if he's up-and-coming -- he's there," D'Antoni said, then he looked at the stat sheet. "I hope he's not up-and-coming."

I was planning on taking the game off...but the team's impressive win made it easy to do a little Thoughts and Ratings Lite version:


Kobe -- -- Some well-rounded ball from Kobe. He had his perimeter shot going well again, but he also continued mix in getting teammates involved and got to the line. Since New York, he seems to have his full game and mobility back. Nice to see him engaged in the attack against the Suns vs. overly deferring as he has sometimes in the past (although he was a bit turnover prone). Among the highlights were a huge reverse jam (about a three-quarter turn in the air) to throwdown at the end of the quarter...he also had a spin away bank shot from the deep wing. He finished with a game-high 38 points on an efficient 12-20 shooting (1-3 from three, 13-14 from the line), 5 boards and 7 assists with 8 turnovers in 41 minutes. He had 26 of his points in the second half.

Lamar -- -- I liked the aggression and activity, but a bit too perimeter-oriented offensively. What you liked were the post-ups and Lamar's hard work on the defensive glass. Lamar had 15 points on 6-18 shooting to go wtih 14 boards in 42 minutes. Defensively, I wish he did a better job in transition and on some rotations. He seemed to give up too much space.

DFish -- -- It couldn't be more obvious one of our biggest weaknesses against the Suns was at the PG spot. We missed someone who could take advantage of Nash, make him work, as well as give us some on-court leadership. The two games against the Suns Fish has given us that. Defensively, we aren't getting lockdown, but we at least erase some of the damage. Fish's perimeter game was effective, scoring 19 points on 7-15 shooting. He also had 6 assists...again showing some nice chemistry with Bynum, and not always deferring to Kobe, keeping some balance in our attack. Defensively, Fish went under the screen and our bigman stayed back in the paint for the most part...this gave up Nash some open looks he had to take. That's not a problem, but you want to get a better challenge in on Nash's shot then we were getting. Late in the game, you could see a few possessions of our bigmen finally stepping out in order to protect from the three to help maintain the lead.

Bynum -- -- Career-high 28 points on 11-13 shooting (6-8 from the line) to go with 12 boards (8 offensive), 4 assists and 2 blocks in 42 minutes. The Suns interior is notably weak, but Bynum's play forced the Suns to go bigger than they wanted at times to match up with us. Defensively, he had his hands full, only thing I wish he did better was in transition and was coming out a little better on Skinner instead of giving him all day to hit the open jumper. "He was a real force out there for us," Phil said. Bynum pretty much did his thing. He worked for garbage points, finished the lobs and interior feeds strong, and had the rare iso play. We saw Bynum knock his man down for a charge trying to overpower him. Also saw a confident, quick post move for a jumphook. Those are some of the "development" things. He's coming out as a player and guys are making more of an effort to take advantage of him. Bynum added: "I feel like I could play another game right now," he said. "I put in all the hard work just for this. It's paying off. This definitely was one of my better games. Made a pretty big impact, teammates looking for me, wide open a lot of the times and they found me today." The result: He outplayed Amare. We got to see some post-play celebration from Bynum off an And-1 dunk over Amare. He did kind of an awkward hop thing. Some suggestions for his post highlight celebrations...how about bringing back the Nick Van Exel shadow boxer? Or maybe a bicep flex? How about a morph of Deke's no-no finger, like maybe a Caesar thumbsdown to the crowd for your opponent's D? Maybe mime a mushroom cloud to go with the A-Bomb nickname? Okay, maybe not...but surely there's a trademark exclamation point move he can go to.

Ariza -- -- Ariza with the start and extended minutes. Result: 14 points on 7-12 shooting (0-3 from three) to go with 7 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals and a superb block. Clearly, the one highlight everyone will remember is the nasty...or Nashty...throwdown he had over Grant Hill. That reminded me of Kobe's poster job on Nash in the playoffs -- a guy trying to take a charge vs. a guy trying to destroy the rim. But sometimes there are also little things that can impress you. I saw Ariza throw a kick into a passing lane to disrupt it...love that extra effort. I think at some point we will see Ariza add three-point range to his game. His outside shot isn't his strength, but with a lot of work, there's no reason he can't get a little more impact from out there. That will only open up his slashing game...of which he had a couple nice plays tonight. He and Kobe also connected for a lob on the break.

Farmar -- -- Nothing spectacular from Farmar, just steady, aggressive, confident play. He had 6 points on 3-5 shooting and 2 assists in 18 minutes. Look at the combined impact from Fish and Farmar: 25 points on 10-20 shooting and 8 assists without a turnover. Nash had 24 points on 8-18 and 14 assists. I've read a lot of silly talk on this board about Farmar and Fisher freezing out Kobe. Phil wants players that won't always defer to Kobe. He wants guys who will keep the offense clicking on all cylinders, not just one. That's what they are doing. It's by design. Seems like they are damned if they do and damned if they don't by some people on LG.

Radmanovic -- -- He was pretty worthless out there. A non-factor offensively, and a foul or score waiting to happen on the other end. He didn't score on only one attempt...big difference from the 19 points on the 6-8 shooting in the first game against the Suns.

Turiaf -- -- Bynum was a +14 when in there and Turiaf was a -7. If anything, I think those numbers show how much a difference maker Bynum was vs. anything negative done on Ronny's part. Ronny didn't score on two attempts and played just 6 minutes.

Vujacic -- -- Not much from Sasha today. He somehow managed to get to the line again shooting a three. He does that well. Defensively, he gave his normal effort, got his hands on a couple of balls.

Phil -- -- I don't know what's going on with the style choices on the bench, but it's becoming sooo bad, it's turning good. Phil, today, with the Colonel Sanders bow tie. Wow. Just missing the white suit and a bucket of the original recipe to dip into while watching the game... I like the start of Ariza. We may have to be careful, though, of both Odom and Ariza out there being ineffective from long range. Vlad should mix that up a bit whenever the wrist injury heals and his shot returns... Phil has been pounding it into his team's head to pound the ball inside to Bynum. Bynum is now our No. 2 option against a lot of teams. Our No. 1 problem against the Suns was not having a big who could kill their interior... On the heated talk after the last game from D'Antoni, Phil said: "I'm not one of the coaches that does that. But I did wave down there at their end of the bench." Was that a "two" he waved?...

GameFlow -- LINK -- The Suns never got on any big runs. The Lakers had a key 12-5 run in the middle of the fourth.

[Laker7]

Finally got the first post after a DB analysis. Thanks for all your hard work on these. I get off work at 3AM MTN time and it is the first thing I look for when I get on the net.

Great game by the team as a whole and especially Bynum, Ariza and Fisher.

Ariza should be our starting SF if he can continue to play within the offense like this.

Bynum is becoming the inside offense we need to keep teams honest against Kobe.

Fish was shooting like days of old. Looked really good!

Laker7
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Darvin Ham is an idiot!

[Great One]

Game of the Year

Dunk over Nash-check

Dunk over Hill-check

Dunk over Stoudemire-check
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"Nobody hates the good ones. They hate the great ones." - KB

[DK]

Awesome Christmas surprise, totally thought you weren't doing a recap DB. Excellent thoughts, we finally beat two birds with one stone (Christmas games, Suns at full strength).

[drive_and1]

thanks db
thanks for doing this on Christmas. man i've been waiting for this alllll day

[lakersfreak]

Yep, been waiting, now the perfect day is complete, thx to DB
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[Annihilator]

[Orestes]

[Jeffs]

Couldn't go to bed until the DB analysis was up. Thanks, DB!

Great game tonight. Kobe and Bynum were brilliant, but it was really a team effort out there. Fisher got hot for a while, and Odom was a beast on the boards. Ariza made a really good case for him getting the starting job later on this season, if not keeping it outright when Luke returns.

Merry Christmas indeed!
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Jeffs

I feel like I just watched someone TRULY give 100%. Not the BS I'm-gonna-give-a-110%-just-like-everyone-else-says platitudes, but someone that went until he just....broke. - GT

[Klone_dd]

Best present I received today (well, ok, after the PS3). All around impressive game - the intensity, the focus, the aggression - all very apparent today.

Superb monster game from Bynum, played as big as one can. I don't know about a signature move, DB. I saw the enthusiasm on his face and the bounce in his step after that great throwdown, but then he was so hyped up, he clanked the FT. Just be Kareem-like and the Lakers will be just fine.

Man, If Ariza or LO ever get a consistent jumper... They did well when they attacked, but every jumper made me say "Nooooooo."

Gotta love DFish and what he's bringing to the team. He's having his best offensive season ever.

Kobe is as Kobe does. I still would like to see another elbow to the Butcher's chin though.

[limchrc]

Thanks for recap. Great win.

[cmonkee]

[Alpha]

thanks from me as well Deeb! Merry Christmas to you and your family!!!

[Vadorojo]

A Christmas gift indeed! Thanks for the unexpected recap—I suppose you couldn't resist after such a great victory, eh?

What impressed me most about the game was the Lakers' ability to hang tough—the Suns hit some threes and got some transition buckets, but the Lakers always hung tough—we didn't give up and we kept fighting hard. In the end, we EARNED this victory—Phoenix didn't give it away.

I loved when Kobe drove in for the dunk at the end of the 3rd quarter—he didn't just settle for the jump shot and it gave us some nice momentum.

[MedRomLaker]

Woot thanks for the recap DB, I remember you stating that you wouldn't do a recap for this game in your last recap because of holiday festivities, but I knew after a game like this you would be very tempted to post a review , thank you for steping out of your way to post this up makes my day.

[Arizona]

Thanks for taking the time to do this on Christmas, DB. It wouldn't have been the same without it!

Colonel Sanders and the bucket of original recipe!!!! Hilarious!
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[Heir]

http://kb24.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=17547
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[iceberg01]

Of course, I was impressed with Bynum--his rolling to the hole, activity & length are proving EXTREMELY difficult for teams to stop. It'll be interesting to see how teams try to counter him the 2nd & 3rd time they play him. What's especially interesting today is that Phoenix KNEW what the Lakers were going to do, & STILL couldn't stop Bynum. Impressive, indeed. Once he has a couple of post moves & counters... the sky is indeed the limit. His ceiling is just as high, from a skill standpoint, as Dwight Howard, or Yao. It's amazing.

Anyway...

They say that defense earns you minutes. If that's the case, Trevor Ariza should be the starting 3. Period. Sure, the Lakers' starting unit wasn't the outside shooting team that they have been, but they were MUCH better defensively, MUCH better at creating turnovers, MUCH better as a running team, and needless to say, a team full of DEADLY finishers. Sounds like a better starting unit OVERALL, to me.

I also think that Ariza as a starter allows Radmanovic & Luke to be on the floor at the same time, as well as Turiaf, and could make it a potentially even better bench than we have now, when we're at full strength.

But, either way, tonight was a statement game, just as it was versus Cleveland, Boston, Orlando, Detroit, and game 1 vs. Phoenix. So far, we're 2-0 vs. Phoenix, 1-1 vs. San Antonio (last one almost doesn't count because they were down Parker & Duncan), 1-0 vs. Detroit, & 0-3 vs. Cleveland, Boston & Orlando. It'd be nice to get wins vs. all three of the Eastern Conference teams that we've lost to. Plus, there's still Dallas, and my personal favorite showdown to look forward to: MIAMI. Even though their record isn't great, you can be sure that D-Wade & Shaq are taking notice---and they won't go down easy. Plus, they're another great matchup for us--D-Wade vs. Kobe & Shaq vs. Bynum. It'll be interesting.

SO... there's plenty of tests yet ahead. Portland is another team that comes to mind, having won 11 straight.

But, tonight, I'm enjoying the victory. Can't wait until the next big showdown, & I'm anxious to see how the Lakers will come out next game--will there be a letdown for such a young team after such a big win?

Plenty of tests yet ahead.... but today, was one of the biggest regular season wins in recent memory. Go Lakers.

[KOBE 2.0]

[DancingBarry]

Ice - I'm glad you expanded on Ariza a bit. One thing I didn't miss in this game was that Walton/Barbosa matchup. Where the Suns try to hide Barbosa on Luke defensively and attack the hell out of us on the other end. Barbosa tonight had 10 points on 3-9 shooting. Nice to see him not in the mid 20s. And that recovery block by Ariza on Barbosa was something

[Mation]

Huge thanks DB. Really appreciate this write-up after such an eventful day.

[TooCool]

[Tanlentueux]

Bynum added: "I feel like I could play another game right now",... This kid is really something !!!!

[20,000]

Phil has mentioned going back to Kwame when he returns, what has he said about Luke? Will Ariza see the bench again once Luke is healthy?

When can we expect to see Kwame back? At this point, do we go with Bynum and Mihm as our Cs, and trade Kwame, or bring Kwame back for the big D he gives us in the playoffs? How much can we expect Bynum to shoulder at this stage in his career?
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Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying...'I will try again tomorrow.'

[G_DawgLA]

As always, excellent job DB.

Look forward to reading your recaps during the playoff run,
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