LAKERS -at- HORNETS - 3/14 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

What Are You Gonna Do?... Pau Gasol went down within minutes of the opening tip. The Lakers played a scrappy game, but with no Gasol and no Bynum...forget about it. The Lakers fell 108-98 despite a spirited effort.

You look at a team like the Hornets who have had great health all season and you wonder what kind of record the Lakers would have with similar fortune. Our center spot has been one long, never ending episode of ER. Kwame, Mihm, Bynum and now Gasol all coming up injured throughout the season. (Some of that Laker mojo nearly rubbed off on the Hornets as West blew a wheel, then Paul had a minor twist.)

That's the way it goes. The Lakers took a serious blow to the prospects of this four-game road trip -- one of the toughest trips you will see. Gasol will go with the team to Houston, but it seems doubtful that he will be playing (or playing with any effectiveness) anytime soon.

Arrrrrrrggggggghhhhh!

"I would be ecstatic if he would only be out the next three," Phil said of Gasol's injury afterward. It's doubtful we will be so lucky. Gasol had a similar injury earier this season that took 10 days. (See the comments below from him.)

Asked by a young reporter if he felt the Lakers had a target on their backs coming into this game as the No. 1 seed, DFish responded after a long pause, "How old are you?"

"Anytime you have a purple and gold uniform on, the target comes with it," Fisher explained.

Like any predator, our opponents are going to jump on the wounded animal. The Lakers need to find a way to survive.


Kobe -- -- We just lose too much of our offensive dynamic without Kobe able to work with either Gasol or Bynum. We revert back to the kind of game we've had to play in the last couple years to stay afloat. You can get some wins, but you aren't elite. Kobe will try to hoist the team onto his shoulders for as long as it takes Gasol to get back, but it's going to have to take some serious heroics by him and his teammates. He had a stretch in the third quarter where the Hornets were threatening to pull away and Kobe managed to get several three-point plays of varying kinds to pull us back even. The Stats: Kobe scored 36 points on 10-23 shooting (4-7 from three, 12-13 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 6 fouls. The Action: He missed a turnaround. He blew past his man and missed a good look at an And-1, he made both FTs. He swished a wing jumper over Peja on iso. He drained a wing jumper on the face up. He missed an off-balance jumper. He took the pinch post entry pass from LO, Lamar came over to set a screen, slipped it and Kobe went behind his back to Lamar for a dunk. He threw a return pass into Ronny's legs for a turnover. He swiped an entry pass with a burst of speed. He left Paul lost and running in a circle when he faked a cut, stepped back behind the three line and took the kickout from Ronny for a three. He missed a wing jumper. Trailing by 1 point, he sat for a good 7 minutes to start the second quarter and came back in with a 1-point lead. He attacked in semi-transition, tucked the ball under his arm and scored the And-1 layup to his right, he made the FT. He drew FTs moving weak to strong without the ball, he made both. He missed a three. Great defensive board, tapping it away from behind a Hornet to save a sure hoop. He attacked and kicked out to Fish for three. He had 14 points on 4-8 shooting and 5 boards at the half. Second Half: He posted up and missed a layup in traffic. He got Peterson in the air with a pumpfake and drew contact, he made one FT. He threw a pass away for points the other way, he quickly drained a three on his next touch. He drew three FTs when Wells hit him on his next attempt, he made all three. He back-doored Bonzi on the next offensive set and he dunked in the And-1, he made the FT. Out on the break on the next offensive sequence and Kobe hit the wing three. He airballed a tough baseline fallaway. He picked up a perimeter foul on Wells (his fourth) for more FTs, he made both. He missed a three. He missed a fade. He had 29 points (scoring 15 in that third). He gave up a three to Wright not challenging it. He missed a jumper after drawing contact without a call. He missed a jumper, we got it back and he was stripped attacking into a crowd. He swished a short baseline jumper. He forced up a jumper when the offense stalled. He drained a wing three. He missed a three out of the timeout. He missed a running bank. He found Vlad going backdoor for a layup. He blew past Wright with ease and dunked. He took a meaningless foul with 15 seconds left and fouled out.

Gasol -- -- He was done for the game after just a couple minutes, spraining his left ankle just a few plays into the game. He stepped on Vlad's foot. "I saw an opening and I was going to go for a lob," he said. The x-rays were negative. Apparently, he said this felt similar to the sprain of the same ankle earlier this season in training camp that took 10 days. Who knows how long this one will take. "It swelled up pretty good," Pau said. He described it as "similar pain, similar reaction." The Stats: He played 3 minutes and went 0-1 and didn't score. Take that, Hornets! The Action: He missed a lefty hook. He sprained his left ankle just a couple minutes into the game and had to be carried to the locker room at the first deadball.

Lamar -- -- Kobe told Lamar that the Hornets couldn't guard him. In Lamar's first stint, that certainly seemed to be the case. Lamar gave an excellent effort on both ends tonight. He got after boards, steals and other hustle plays. He played some very good D on West and did his best to help try to control our defensive glass without our bigs. Lamar played a few stints at the C spot as Phil never opted for Mbenga. If he has take on more minutes at C, we have absolutely no defensive anchor. It's going to be rough. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-12 shooting (0-3 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 13 boards (4 offensive), 3 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 42 minutes. The Action: He lost the handle on the break for a turnover. He deflected a pass in the backcourt, got it back and scored a layup. It looked like he winged a piece of a jumper. He swiped a pass under the hoop. He grabbed an offensive board and powered it in off the glass. He slipped the screen off the Kobe pinch post, got it back and dunked easily. He missed a layup trying to power up under the hoop. Out of a timeout, he faced up in the mid post and hit a jumper. He missed a three, short. He flagged down an offensive board and drew FTs, he made both. Good first stint of about 17 minutes, scoring 10 points and pulling down 6 boards. He drained a wing jumper over Chandler. Pathetic call by the refs as Paul straight-armed Lamar to score a layup and Lamar was called for the foul, his second of the first half (on the sideline Lamar said "they're testing me," about the refs). Second Half: He missed a three. He threw an outlet away and it led to a Peja three. He drew FTs on an up-and-under move after attacking from the perimeter, he made one. Good hustle to track down a long miss from Vlad and it led to a Farmar layup. He missed in the low post. He kept an offensive board alive off a missed FT, he then got it back, attacked baseline and scored a layup. He missed a corner three. He was blocked on a drive.

Fisher -- -- Some of his layup misses are brutal. Fish had one of those poor shooting nights again. At times, he was a one-man offensive wrecking crew...in the bad way. We survived a poor first-half stint of his, but we can't have him dominating the offense for stretches like that where he has several possessions in a row of bricks and turnovers. That was the kind of thing that got Sasha benched the other day. Defensively, I thought he did a decent job against Paul when the game was still in doubt. But without an anchor behind him, you're going to have trouble. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-13 shooting (2-5 from three) to go with 1 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in 26 minutes. The Action: He blew a point-blank layup on the break, (how he misses that I don't know). He lost the ball out of bounds, unforced error. He sank a pull-up wing jumper in early offense. He missed a baseline jumper. He attacked off the dribble and bricked another layup. He drew a moving pick on Chandler on the other end. He clanked a pull-up on the break. He missed a three short on the next trip down. He clanked another open corner jumper. He was killing us in that stretch. Another bad sequence, throwing a pass away on the break and then fouling Paul twice on the defensive possession, giving up the And-1 and the lead (potential 5-point switch). On our final sequence a few seconds later, Fish swished a corner three to get some back. Second Half: He missed as wide open three to start the second half. He hit an open wing jumper, his toe on the three line. He got stripped on a defensive board, then fouled Wells on iso for FTs. He picked up his fourth foul had had to sit midway through the third. He sank a wide open three. He missed a three. He hit the backboard on a corner three chuck.

Radmanovic -- -- Decent game from Vlad. I appreciated the hard foul late on Paul, who had been using his off arm anytime he could on those who challenged him. Vlad struggled from three, but still managed to do some nice things out there. He played both SF and PF. I imagine that will be the case in the next few games. He worked the offensive boards well tonight. Nice to see Vlad do some other things for us when his three-ball isn't dropping. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-10 shooting (1-5 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 6 boards (4 offensive), 1 assist, 2 steals and 3 fouls in 33 minutes. The Action: He swished a wing jumper with his toe on the three line. He went under a screen and gave up the three to Peja. He headfaked Chandler into an And-1 layup on the break, he made the FT. He made like Robert Horry, pulling down the offensive board, then quickly taking it out to the three line and draining the three. He clanked a quick-fire jumper from the corner. He blew a point-blank layup under the hoop, uggh. He curled from the weakside with speed, took the pass from Luke and dunked his next one (superb Tri sequence as the ball moved from strong to weak and then hit the cutter coming off a double screen). He missed a wing three. Second Half: He and Lamar kept an offensive board alive and it led to a Fish jumper. He missed a three. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, he made one. He missed a three. Vlad complained about a clear-out from Paul on a layup. Next time down, Paul threw an arm into Vlad's face on the drive as Vlad dumped Paul to the floor on the foul. He cut behind the play and Kobe found him for a layup.

Luke -- -- Good game from Luke. He avoided getting caught on the perimeter for bricks. He set up teammates throughout the night and led the team with assists. He also hustled on the offensive glass. Defensively, he was solid against his men and had several good plays to strip for steals or prevent hoops. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-7 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 6 boards (4 offensive), 7 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 20 minutes. The Action: He posted up Paul and scored easily. He telegraphed a pass for a turnover. He scored a layup off a wing-to-baseline cut when Farmar hit him. He hit nothing but backboard on a post up attempt. He hit an awkward long-stepping runner from about 12 feet out. He swiped a pass jumping the lane. He blocked Pargo's jumper. He pulled down an offensive board around Bowen, then took him off the dribble for a foul. He hit Vlad curling from the weakside for the dunk. Second Half: Good hustle to pull down an offensive board against the zone and we scored off it. Great D on West, stripping him on the drive. He then hit Farmar for a 10-footer. Nice strip under the hoop to save a layup. He kicked out to Farmar for a three. He missed a short jumper.

Turiaf -- -- He came in the game after Gasol sprained his ankle and got the start in the second half. His perimeter game was missing in action and he never connected on a field goal. (Not exactly picking up for Pau's 19 and 9.) He did manage to hold the fouls down, which is now vital...but he didn't get a block, which is where his aggressiveness and fouls usually show up. He was getting pushed around a lot under the defensive boards and will have his work cut out for him. If we get 10 points from him and Fish hits a few more shots, we actually stick with the Hornets. He needs to find a way to manufacture points when the jumper isn't dropping. Get out with speed in transition once those defensive boards are secured so we can take advantage of speed when he goes up against slower centers. Chandler plays quick, so we don't have an advantage there, but Deke won't win any track races. (Phil said he would play Mbenga some against Deke.) The Stats: He scored 1 point on 0-7 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 4 assists and 2 fouls in 33 minutes. The Action: He hit Kobe on a kickout for three. He missed a 19-footer. He hit Luke under the hoop on a mismatch with Paul for a score. He missed a face-up jumper over Wells (should have tried backing him down). He got tapped on a reverse layup around Chandler trying to beat the shotclock. He bricked a 15-footer. Second Half: Chandler shoved Ronny, got the offensive board and dunked, Ronny gave him a shot back and they both picked up T's. He hit Kobe on the backdoor cut for an And-1 dunk. Chandler got away with another push for an offensive board. Nice challenge on Paul, we got the miss and fed Ronny who leaked out and he drew FTs, he made one FT. He missed a face-up jumper from the wing.

Farmar -- -- Better minutes on both ends, but still leaving a lot to be desired. With DFish struggling and with foul issues, Farmar had a chance to fill the void. He never took it to that next level. We need some impact ball from him when we are undermanned. He's given us about 10-15 of those games this year. Now would be a good time to bring it. We just have too little of it as a team without Gasol or Bynum. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-12 shooting (1-4 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 4 assists, 3 steals and 2 fouls in 27 minutes. The Action: He picked up where Fish left off, clanking his first jumper from the left side. He missed a pull-up from the elbow on the breakaway. He swished a baseline jumper working with Luke on the left side. He hit Luke cutting from the wing for a layup. He missed a 19-footer. Second Half: He took the handoff from Ronny with speed and scored the layup. He attacked from the perimeter and swished a pretty teardrop. He missed an open three. He hit a 10-footer off the handoff by Luke. He swiped the ball from West with a nice reach on the double, he then hit Sasha for the wing jumper. He swished a three on a kickout from Luke. He attacked and found Sasha in the corner for three. He missed on an attack off the dribble. He drew FTs and made one. He airballed a three.

Vujacic -- -- No batteries in The Machine. Someone find them and quick. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-7 shooting (1-5 from three) to go with 1 turnover and no fouls in 18 minutes. The Action: His return pass to Ronny was picked off for a transition score. That got Phil in his ear. Second Half: He airballed a three and it led to transition FTs for the Hornets. He missed another good look at a three. He swished a wing jumper when Farmar hit him on the break out. He drained an open corner three. He missed a three with the shotclock low. He missed a wide open three. He missed a quick corner pull-up.

Phil -- -- "We have to play a different style. We don't have an interior game," Phil said of Gasol going down... The Hornets went on a late 11-3 run in the first quarter to take the lead 23-21... We missed a lot of layups. Phil said we should have been up by 10... Phil sat Kobe to start the second and went with a Turiaf, Lamar, Luke, Sasha, Farmar lineup which played even with the Hornets... He got a long rest for Kobe, bringing him back with 4:40 left in the second quarter... Phil ran Lamar at C and Vlad at PF to close the first half... We led 49-46 at the half. The Lakers shot 42.2 percent to the Hornets 43.5 percent. We had a 9-4 steal advantage. The Hornets shot 4-14 from three, the Lakers 3-9 (we would shoot 21 more in the second half, making 6). Our bench, what's left of it, was outscored 15-8 in the first half... The Hornets started the second half on an 8-0 run... Kobe scored 13-straight points, on a series of three-point plays (And-1s, threes, fouled on a three.) and we tied it up... The Hornets led 80-72 going into the fourth after a run at the end of the quarter. They went to a zone and we settled for several threes during that stretch... The Lakers looked a little sluggish and winded to start the fourth, not getting to loose balls and the Hornets pushed out to a 12-point lead... Without our bigs, we gave up 17 offensive boards. With some nice effort from Lamar, Luke and Vlad (who each had 4 a piece), we got 15 offensive boards ourselves... The Lakers ended up shooting 38 percent for the game to the Hornets 49 percent... After a good defensive first half, we gave up 62 points in the second half... "We won't know anything until tomorrow," Phil said of the sprain. "He's had a tough sprain."...

Game Flow -- LINK -- A late third quarter run and that 17-6 Hornet run in the early fourth was all she wrote. We hung in there until then.

[KBryantisclutch]

FIRST

It was nice to see a decent game from VladRad at least.
We're good. This loss will be more than forgotten if we end Houston's TWO-ONE streak they have going.

[DancingBarry]

I had to add the DFish answer about the "target on our back" question to the intro. That was Evel Knievel-esque.

EDIT - Here's a link to an mp3 to download, if you are interested - LINK

[Mike D]

Thanks DB.

[Klone_dd]

Heartbreak... as Chick would say.

Hopefully, Pau's not out for long. Like DB said, now we're back to Kobe and someone, anyone to take up the slack.

Good spurts by Vlad, Luke & JoFar kept us close for a while. LO was pretty fearless in the first half. MIA in the 2nd. On the whole, the team came out with no energy in the 2nd half. High P&R continues to kill us.

If Kobe leads the team to wins in the next 3 games, he should get the MVP trophy right then and there.

[Theseus]

FIFTH!

I hope rony didnt lose confidence, we need his shooting touch. I'm confident in his jump shot, I hope he is as well

[Flight#24]

[DancingBarry]

Well, probably a couple tihngs. I think we're going to need more dribble penetration. Kobe, Farmar, LO are going to have to get into the paint off the dribble to give us the consistent inside-out. We're also going to need Kobe and LO to get down in the post a lot more, I would think.

The other option is possibly as you allude to. He might be talking about more of a pressing D that helps create turnovers and an uptempo game. Trying to get us into early offense and easy scores.

We will have to wait and see. He was happy he had a day of practice.

[rchanou]

Does Chris Paul use his off arm that much? He seems to have pushed off everybody and he gets the call. Now I know why Bruce Bowen kicked him.

[limchrc]

Hope we avoid further injuries. Go Lakers, let's shoot for a 3-1 trip.

[jmark]

CP3 is the new D Wade it seems. Gets every call.
_________________
"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

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

-why did phil rest kobe for 7 1/2 minutes to start the 2nd qtr after he was hot in the first qtr? especially with pau out. while the score stayed close, we could have grabbed the lead and had some momentum.

-its a shame D-fish shoots a higher % on jumpers than he does on layups

-Lamar had a great first half but seemed to disappear in the 2nd half

-what happened to Turiaf? he's not just undersized, he's not playing typical Ronny bball. he needs to step up if Pau is out for an extended time.

-why sign M'benga if we arent going to use him? he could have kept Chandler away from some of those boards.

-Pau

-SIGN A DEFENSIVE WING PLAYER IMMEDIATELY (one quick enough to guard point guards from time to time)

-all and all, it wasnt that bad of a loss. but it defintely was a winnable game, even with Pau going down.
_________________
"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[Sage_10]

Well, if Kobe wants to make a case for MVP, here is the perfect opportunity for him to do so.
_________________
"You Must Be Willing To Give Up That Which Can Be Lost In Order To Gain That Which Cannot Be Lost." - FORTUNE COOKIE

[tw-lakbfan]

[prisma8slg]

Pau's going to be sidelined for who knows how long, we're gonna have to find a way to win without him.
_________________
"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."

[oldschool32]

[LakerLanny]

[Freakout]

Ronny has disappointed me. I honestly thought that by now he would be a little more consistent.

[hi_ma]

[mad dog]

Sasha has made huge strides this season...but he just doesnt seem tough enough, mentally, to be deserving of a big contract this summer...

i've always suspected that Sasha is at his best when the team's at home, and already up by 20 in the 4th...he seems to shine when the pressure is off (much like a 11:00 practice)...but as we saw last night, when the game got tight, he was a complete mess, scrambling around helplessly, and unable to simply take care of the basketball, much less knock down some key 3-point shots...

[hi_ma]

[vida24]

ronny .ronny,ronny he had a terrbile game .we need him the next three games more than ever ...and looked out of sync this game hope fully he will bounce back on sunday !

[A Mad Chinaman]

Thanks DB!

Could UCLA provide a possible option for the current Lakers' situation?
Have the bigs out in the perimeter providing space for Kobe/LO to work in the paint
Utilize Farmar/Sasha/Turiaff/Vlad/Kobe-LO to put more defensive pressure to speed up the game

[mad dog]

[A Mad Chinaman]