Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 11:57 pm Post subject: HAWKS -at- LAKERS - 2/19 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings
Ball-Hawking... The Lakers destroyed the Hawks in the first half, forcing them into 19 turnovers on which we scored 27 points. The team tied a season high with 16 steals on their way to the 122-93 win in Pau Gasol's Staples debut.
"We wanted to come back and get some revenge tonight," BShaw said at halftime, addressing the recent road loss. Yeah, the game was over by then at the Lakers had a 73-37 lead at the half.
Gasol was once again efficient and effective, scoring 23 in three quarters of play. Kobe picked up where he left off prior to the All Star game, that is scoring, playing tough D and grinning like a kid in a candy store. Lamar was beastly, dropping 17 points and 15 boards in three quarters.
The starters got some quality rest as they head into the much anticipated Shaq debut with the Suns. Gasol, Odom and Turiaf will have their work cut out for them without Andrew Bynum available to slide everyone down one position on the roster.
Kobe's thoughts on Shaq joining the Suns: "Don't have any." Going to make them a better team? "Doesn't matter who we play, we're ready to go."
Kobe -- -- Problems? What problems? The Stats: He scored 23 points on 8-16 shooting (1-4 from three, 6-6 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 5 steals, 3 assists, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 30 minutes. The Action: He missed an open baseline jumper. He posted up, drew the double and hit a cutting Lamar for the dunk. He drew FTs on the break, he made both. He drew a loose ball foul after dogging Joe Johnson on D and causing a turnover. He hit Vlad cutting down the lane for the layup. He missed a wing three. He attacked to his right, spun to his left and went glass for the score. He dunked when a loose ball bounced to him under the hoop. He had a reverse blocked. He then picked Johnson on iso D at the top of the key, pushed it up and scored the layup with a second left in the first quarter. He pounded the dribble with a jump in his step, then drilled the three over a defender. He then stole the pass on the other end, pushed it out, sliced around defenders and scored the layup. He drew FTs when Fish curled into the lane and fed him, he made both. Sequence of the night: He worked the two-man game with Pau, going behind his back with return pass to Gasol, who hung in the air to finish a reverse. He attacked from the wing, got into the defender's chest and drew FTs, he made both (49 straight now). He ballfaked to open up a lane, then threw down. Kobe had 19 points on 6-11 shooting at the half. He missed a three after deflecting a pass on the D end. He fumbled a pass on the sideline, gathered it and hit the chuck at the shotclock buzzer in front of the bench, grinning as he returned to the other end. He missed a reverse, trying to reach back and flip it in off a baseline attack. He attacked and airballed, wanting the foul. He attacked on the next possession and scored an easy layup.
Gasol -- -- Staples was alive with anticipation of Gasol's debut in the golden armor. He delivered. You aren't going to see many blowouts like we saw tonight, but he and the team were clicking at a high rate. Phil admits they are still just doing some very basic things in the offense, and it's true. The two-man game is about as simple as it gets...yet it was one of the things our team was weak at. The game gets real simple and real easy when we add that weapon in our mix. Gasol worked a lot of slip screens with success. He gave us some iso post play when the ball was dumped into him. He faced up and attacked. The opposing bigs were in foul trouble and hardly a factor. Has he lost an opening tip for us yet? The Stats: He scored 23 points on 7-11 shooting (9-10 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 30 minutes. The Action: He forced a pass to Kobe and turned it over on the first possession. Out on the break, he finished the lob from Fish for his first score at Staples. He faced up from the wing, attacked and drew FTs, he made one. He cleaned up a Fish miss with a putback And-1, he made the FT. He felt his man lean, spun baseline, reached and threw down an And-1 dunk, he made the FT. He drew a double and kicked to Vlad for the open three. He faced up on the right side and quickly attacked to his right and earned FTs, he made both (both Hawk bigmen were now in foul trouble with 2 minutes left in the first quarter...also note the efficiency in those sequences). Back in after a lengthy rest, he drew Horford's third foul on another post up, he made both FTs. He worked the two-man game with Kobe, attacked and hit a hanging reverse around a defender. He was held on a slip screen and drew FTs at the end of the half, he made both. He had 17 points on 4-5 shooting at the half. He posted up, drop stepped and banked a jumphook. He worked the two-man game with Kobe, slipped the screen, took the pass and drew the help defender, then bounced to LO for the uncontested dunk (if you're going to double Kobe off those screens, you'll pay the price). He screened for Vlad, took the return pass and used his length to score under the hoop. He got blocked from behind trying to finish under the hoop. He couldn't finish a lob from Vlad. He missed a baseline jumper. He posted up in the middle of the lane, turned and hit the short jumper. He erased Law's dribble drive.
Lamar -- -- Lamar is balling. He looks like a different player lately. He's doing a lot of little things, but at a higher rate. He's hitting the boards, pushing the tempo (a few too many errors on that tonight), and he's looking for his opportunities. Not needing to conserve energy, he has increasingly brought the ball up court since we've added Gasol. Tonight, that's the most we've seen of that all season. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 7-9 shooting (1-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 15 boards (4 offensive), 2 assists, 1 steal, 5 turnovers and 3 fouls in 34 minutes. The Action: He put on a burst of speed to his right to get past Smith and he got the goaltend call on a layup. He threw an outlet away. Superb cut off Kobe, with speed, LO then threw down the monster dunk. He deflected a pass to save a layup. He charged, lowering his shoulder while trying to go up strong. He worked the ball over to the right side of the floor, then attacked a big lane to his left and scored over Smith. He stripped a ball off Zaza's foot to save a hoop. More good D, contesting a shot well and forcing a brick. He scored a layup off a Sasha airball. He drew FTs and bounced both in, he had a double-double at the half with 10 points and 12 boards. He airballed a step-back jumper. He dunked after Kobe and Gasol worked the two-man game to perfection and Pau found LO alone under the hoop. He took the offensive board, ballfaked and quickly stepped around Horford for the dunk. He missed a sure score off a lob when Kobe erased his man with a back screen, he got it back, then threw it away. He drained a three on a kickout from Farmar, then contested the layup at the other end for a miss at the end of the quarter. He sat at the end of the third.
Fisher -- -- He was taking it to Bibby off and on in this game and had him on his heels. Fish was bullying him well, although not always successfully. In the end, Bibby sat with fouls and a hurt foot. I'd like to see some of that tomorrow. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-11 shooting (1-2 from three, 1-2 from the line), 2 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals and 3 fouls in 25 minutes. The Action: He pushed up in transition, drew the D and lobbed at the rim for Gasol to finish it. He banged Bibby in the paint and hit the jumphook over him. He missed a three on a kickout from Gasol. He missed a layup drawing a crowd, but Gasol cleaned it up. He missed a bank working off the ball to get open on the right side. After some pressure D caused a turnover, DFish pushed the ball up and scored a layup. He drew FTs, pushing out the break, he made one. He missed a pull-up jumper at the FT line. He sank a 15-footer over Bibby. He overpowered Bibby but missed the easy layup. He attacked Bibby again and sent him to the bench with his fourth foul. He swished a sideline three on a kickout. He dropped to the level of the ball and picked off a return pass.
Radmanovic -- -- Another strong all around effort on both ends from Vlad. He and Lamar have been playing some very good ball since the arrival of Gasol. Vlad is not just setting up from behind the arc, he's cutting, he's faking the jumpers and attacking. On the D end, he continues to get into passing lanes and has been disruptive. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 5-9 shooting (1-3 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 31 minutes. The Action: He cut down the lane from the weakside and scored a layup off a Kobe pass. He swished a three off the Gasol kickout. He got rejected trying to throwdown over Smith. He missed an open wing three. A few seconds later, he had a monster throwdown on the break when Luke stole the ball from Bibby. Vlad then stole a ball in the back court and fed Luke for the dunk. He blocked Childress under the hoop. He faked the pass, then hit the top-of-the-key jumper. He swiped another pass, jumping the lane. He drew FTs when he and Kobe forced a turnover in the backcourt, he made both. He had 12 points on 5-7 shooting at the half. He missed a three. He missed a one-hander in the lane. He was fouled trying to throwdown on the baseline attack, he swished both FTs.
Luke -- -- Luke led the team with 5 assists in limited time. Decent all around game, but there was a lot of garbage time in this one. Vlad has been outplaying him consistently lately. The Stats: He had 6 points on 3-6 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 4 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 23 minutes. The Action: He had an over-the-shoulder pass picked off trying to hit Gasol for the dunk. He ballfaked and hit the wing jumper. He beat Williams to the spot on the other end and drew the charge (very nice). He got blocked trying to beat the shotclock. He swiped the ball from Bibby who was trying to push out the break, Luke then set up Vlad for the huge dunk pushing out the break. He missed a gimmie layup, but Vlad then returned the favor by stealing a ball in the backcourt and feeding Luke for the dunk. He spun and hit the jumper in the lane. He missed a three.
Turiaf -- -- Not a great night from Ronny. He was a bit foul prone and had a couple airballs offensively. Hopefully, he'll rise to the challenge in tomorrow's game. He seems to do that when the odds are stacked against him. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-7 shooting to go with 5 boards, 1 block and 5 fouls in 18 minutes. The Action: In to start the second quarter and he gave up an And-1 to Childress. He then got blocked on the other end and reached to pick up his second foul just seconds into the quarter. He missed a 19-footer. He airballed trying to hit a long baseline fade to beat the shotclock. He dunked in the lob pass, rolling off the high screen. He then fouled Law on the other end. He airballed an open 15-footer, then fouled Smith who tried to throw down at the other end. He put back in a missed three by Farmar. He swatted Law's drive.
Farmar -- -- Farmar looked like he had a little jump in his step. Perhaps that game on All Star weekend got his RPMs back into the redline a little more. He played more like we saw at the beginning of the season. The confidence was flowing and he led the bench in scoring. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-9 shooting (2-4 from three) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 1 foul in just 17 minutes. The Action: He went to the floor on the D end to pull out a loose ball. He missed a fade in the lane. He missed a three. He attacked baseline to his right and hit the reverse. He swiped the pass in the backcourt, then threw down with both hands. He missed a baseline jumper. He hit a high arching baseline jumper a little behind the backboard. He attacked and kicked out to Lamar for a three near the end of the quarter. He lost the ball trying to split the double and it led to points the other way. He lobbed to Ronny for the dunk off the high screen. He overpassed at the front of the rim, got it back and swished the 29-footer instead. He missed a layup off a cut down the middle of the lane. He swished an early offense three when his man sagged off him. He missed a three on his next attempt.
Vujacic -- -- After a short first half stint, he came in for Kobe with 28 seconds left in the third and finished out the game. A little weak defensively in the game, but he was effective from anywhere on the perimeter with his shot. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-7 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 block and 2 fouls in 18 minutes. The Action: He airballed a baseline jumper, but Lamar cleaned it up. He drained an ultra-quick catch-and-release coming off the screen at the wing. He missed a corner three. He sank a sideline jumper. He sank a baseline jumper. He swished another quick baseline catch and fade.
Karl -- -- He came into the game with 6 minutes left to pull off the day-night NBA/NBDL double header like Farmar did last year. The crowd went into the "Coby...Coby...Coby..." chant for him after a score late in the game. Hey, why not when he once again threw down a nice dunk in this one. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-4 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 1 assist in 6 minutes. The Action: He missed on a tough shot after a spin in the lane. He busted out ahead of the pack, took the long outlet as Staples began to anticipate a score, and threw down a huge two-hand jam to get on the scoreboard. He missed a wing three. He attacked, took contact, gathered the ball and flipped in the And-1, he made the FT.
Mbenga -- -- He came in with 8 minutes left in the fourth to help secure the tacos. He didn't score despite a few decent looks. The Stats: He had 0 points on 0-3 shooting, 1 board, 1 assist and 2 fouls in 8 minutes. The Action: He missed a jumphook. He hit Sasha for the jumper. He got tapped on a 16-footer. Zaza spun on him and drew the foul for FTs. He missed another FT jumper.
Phil -- -- The news from multiple places appears that Bynum won't be back at his original estimated timeline. Uggh. Hopefully, it's not too much longer... The Lakers pulled out to a 26-14 lead off an 11-2 run... After a timeout, the Lakers scored the next 6 to finish the first quarter with a dominating 32-14 opening 12 minutes. They dominated the boards on both ends. LO was strong on the glass, Gasol got the other bigs in foul trouble. They had 22-6 advantage on points in the paint in that quarter... The Lakers continued to demolish the Hawks, pulling out to a 46-23 lead after steals and dunks in the backcourt by Farmar, Luke and Vlad... The Lakers scored 41 in that second quarter and led 73-37 at half. Atlanta had 19 turnovers from which the Lakers scored 27 points... The rest of the game was in cruise control with extended garbage time... Phil said the team played with will, energy and purpose. That's what I like to hear...
Game Flow -- LINK -- The Lakers had 19-2 and 22-1 runs in the first half. That's insane.
LO seems to work better without the pressure of being one of the main "alpha dogs" expected to produce and to be in the role of making everybody else better. In the present system, with a multiple number of varied weaons, all LO has to do is to pick the option and triggered the respective weapons (i.e. Kobe, Pau, DFish, Vlad, etc.)
Do you have an approximate recovery timeline of when Ariza (recovery time already longer than expected - L.A. Times) and Bynum?
Could this be one additional reason why Kobe is playing through his injury?
Great way to start off after the all-star break. Good to see everyone on their home turf at last. Mighty welcome for Pau!
Kobe leading the defensive charge in steals. Liked when he pushed Acie Law to the floor and snatched that ball. Vlad finished the steal with an and-1. Love it.
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He and Lamar have been playing some very good ball since the arrival of Gasol.
Yes, out of the entire team, those two have become complete players on both ends of the court. Amazingly quick for those two to improve. Now let's see who else will transform because of Pau's presence.
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He hit a high arching baseline jumper a little behind the backboard.
Also, the breakaway steal for the dunk was some light speed and high energy hops.
Turiaf still looks like he's recovering from something. Wonder if it's his big toe?
The Lakers played the type of defense in the 1st qtr. that makes me think eventually they will rise to a championship level, because clearly when Kobe leads by example at that end of the floor and the other guys bring their intensity, LA can defend very well.
Interesting to note. Pau's FG% with the Lakers is higher than AB's and would be #1 in the league (64.4) if you only considered the 7 games he's played for LA. I am loving his offensive play at Center. The only reason I want AB starting ahead of him when he comes back is defensive/rebounding purposes. Pau has really ignited this team's post game again, something that was missing since AB went down. It is so great to have a player you can throw the ball to inside. And we play so well off him. It all goes back to trust and belief, the Lakers have that with Pau, immediately. Immediately they bought into his abilities and trusted him.
We just can't ignore how well PG, LO and Vlad are playing upfront. I'm not sure how Phil can justify moving any of them to bench, chemistry wise. The only problem seems to be TO's, LO and Vlad can stack up the TO's when handling the ball. One thing Phil said that's so true - Vlad is a very willing passer but he often passes it to the other team. Still, as a starter, Vlad has done very well playing off KB, LO and PG.
Also LOVED LO handling the ball this much. The way the team is using LO now, is superb. Atlanta was playing him straight up many times, and he made them pay. Superb 1 on 1 battle won against Josh Smith, won by LO. Proud to see LO playing at his best again, in complete fluidity with the rest of the team.
Kobe seems fine. Many have made a muck about his injury, doesn't seem to be bothering him too much. He's playing extremely smart right now. Just like he would in the 3 peat era. He paces himself on offense, and really brings that intensity on defense. Just love this balanced Kobe. Keep this up, and I think he should win DPOTY too - not just MVP.
Good team win. It was against a team that was clearly off, but nice to see us come out and blow them out right away. From the end of the 1st, game looked in the bag. That's how the best teams do things against the weaker competition.
Now hopefully we're not too tired and bring another good effort against the Suns. Wouldn't be too upset if we lost, considering all things being what they are, 2 wins on B2B's would be great.
As usual, DB - great job. _________________ On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".
Great game to watch. I thought we were getting away with some contact that would have certainly earned us whistles in years past, but now that we are the chosen team we get the star calls. Gasol continues to impress me with his understanding of angles, both passing and shooting. No wonder he and Kobe make a good pair, both can make shots that 90% of the players would miss.
Hugely impressed with Lamar. If he played with that much energy and strength more often we would all be discussing who we would trade on our roster to GET a player like him, not trade away one. _________________ Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.
was glad to see that the second unit did not let the lead slip away during the fourth quarter. _________________ "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."
Great game to watch. I thought we were getting away with some contact that would have certainly earned us whistles in years past, but now that we are the chosen team we get the star calls. Gasol continues to impress me with his understanding of angles, both passing and shooting. No wonder he and Kobe make a good pair, both can make shots that 90% of the players would miss.
Hugely impressed with Lamar. If he played with that much energy and strength more often we would all be discussing who we would trade on our roster to GET a player like him, not trade away one.
Yup. And, I wanted to underscore how well Radman is playing (as others have.) Even without Bynum this is a tall front line with some versatility. Please FO, no more trades. The bench squad is interesting as hell - maybe Bynum will play with them when he comes back like happened to start the season when they were amazingly potent for a young group?
"Fun game" - translate: "like a hot knife thru butter"
Am ashamed to say I like fierce blowouts once in a while (like Magic Era teams could pull off.) I like it when the bench guys come in and just stomp on the opposition. Farmar and Sasha make that unit quite watchable (when they are on.)
Key to moving into/thru playoffs is the defense. Stopping people down the stretch with focused team "D" is the key.
Joined: 03 Nov 2004 Posts: 8272 Location: San Diego, CA
Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:34 am Post subject: Re: HAWKS -at- LAKERS - 2/19 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings
DancingBarry wrote:
Kobe's thoughts on Shaq joining the Suns: "Don't have any." Going to make them a better team? "Doesn't matter who we play, we're ready to go."
Kobe is focused for tonight. not sure why he went back to no comment mode though. i know he is tired of answering shaq questions, but it would have been no different if Patrick had asked him about the J.Kidd trade. He wasn't trying to start Kobe/Shaq beef, just asking a question about one of the top stories in the nba. _________________ "When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu
Joined: 03 Nov 2004 Posts: 8272 Location: San Diego, CA
Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:37 am Post subject:
What a debut for Bibby
hopefully we take care of business tonight and ruin another debut _________________ "When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu
Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 29999 Location: Likely nowhere near you
Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:50 am Post subject:
Woohoo, 23rd!
Now, was Atlanta just not used to playing with Bibby, or just not used to playing basketball?
Those were a lot of careless turnovers in the first half. _________________ Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying...'I will try again tomorrow.'
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-- Problems? What problems? 
-- Staples was alive with anticipation of Gasol's debut in the golden armor. He delivered. You aren't going to see many blowouts like we saw tonight, but he and the team were clicking at a high rate. Phil admits they are still just doing some very basic things in the offense, and it's true. The two-man game is about as simple as it gets...yet it was one of the things our team was weak at. The game gets real simple and real easy when we add that weapon in our mix. Gasol worked a lot of slip screens with success. He gave us some iso post play when the ball was dumped into him. He faced up and attacked. The opposing bigs were in foul trouble and hardly a factor. Has he lost an opening tip for us yet? 
-- He was taking it to Bibby off and on in this game and had him on his heels. Fish was bullying him well, although not always successfully. In the end, Bibby sat with fouls and a hurt foot. I'd like to see some of that tomorrow. 
-- Another strong all around effort on both ends from Vlad. He and Lamar have been playing some very good ball since the arrival of Gasol. Vlad is not just setting up from behind the arc, he's cutting, he's faking the jumpers and attacking. On the D end, he continues to get into passing lanes and has been disruptive. 
-- Luke led the team with 5 assists in limited time. Decent all around game, but there was a lot of garbage time in this one. Vlad has been outplaying him consistently lately. 
-- Not a great night from Ronny. He was a bit foul prone and had a couple airballs offensively. Hopefully, he'll rise to the challenge in tomorrow's game. He seems to do that when the odds are stacked against him. 
-- After a short first half stint, he came in for Kobe with 28 seconds left in the third and finished out the game. A little weak defensively in the game, but he was effective from anywhere on the perimeter with his shot. 
-- He came into the game with 6 minutes left to pull off the day-night NBA/NBDL double header like Farmar did last year. The crowd went into the "Coby...Coby...Coby..." chant for him after a score late in the game. Hey, why not when he once again threw down a nice dunk in this one. 
-- He came in with 8 minutes left in the fourth to help secure the tacos. He didn't score despite a few decent looks. 
-- The news from multiple places appears that Bynum won't be back at his original estimated timeline. Uggh. Hopefully, it's not too much longer... The Lakers pulled out to a 26-14 lead off an 11-2 run... After a timeout, the Lakers scored the next 6 to finish the first quarter with a dominating 32-14 opening 12 minutes. They dominated the boards on both ends. LO was strong on the glass, Gasol got the other bigs in foul trouble. They had 22-6 advantage on points in the paint in that quarter... The Lakers continued to demolish the Hawks, pulling out to a 46-23 lead after steals and dunks in the backcourt by Farmar, Luke and Vlad... The Lakers scored 41 in that second quarter and led 73-37 at half. Atlanta had 19 turnovers from which the Lakers scored 27 points... The rest of the game was in cruise control with extended garbage time... Phil said the team played with will, energy and purpose. That's what I like to hear...
