LAKERS -at- MAVS - 3/18 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Vlad the Impaler... With the Lakers on the ropes and taking punch after punch from the Mavs, Vlad Radmanovic started punching back. He drained a series of threes in the fourth quarter to keep the Mavs from overtaking us. The once 25-point lead was chipped away until the Mavs had a chance to win it on the final possession. Dirk missed wide right and the Lakers survived with the 102-100 road win.

Vlad had 10 points in the fourth on his way to a 21-point, 10-rebound night. He led the team with a +14. "Vlad obviously came in and gave us a really big boost," Kobe said afterward.

After a strong first half, the Lakers troubles really started to pick up with just 3 minutes left in the third quarter. Kobe sat with his fourth foul and the Mavs quickly seized momentum.

In the final minute of the game, Sasha came up with a huge jumper, just beating the shotclock. Lamar, who went for 17 and 17, also, came up with a couple big freethrows. (If we lose this game, the focus might be on a missed freethrow by both Sasha and Fisher in the last few seconds.)

Great first half. We survived the second half and got the much-needed W.


Kobe -- -- Kobe was able to suck defenders into him much easier in this game, and the rest of the team was able to feed off that. He started off showing a slightly higher arching shot, looked good, too, as he hit his first four attempts. Much better mix in this game than the last. He looked every bit like the MVP for the first three quarters. In the fourth, the Mavs were determined to make others beat them and sent doubles quickly. The Stats: He scored 29 points on 12-23 shooting (2-4 from three, just 3-6 from the line) to go with 7 assists, 2 boards, 3 steals, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 44 minutes. The Action: He hit Vlad on a kickout for three. He hit a baseline jumper off the inbounds play. He swished a jumper from the high elbow over Howard. He swished a pretty-looking pull-up from the right side. He drained an open wing three on a kickout. His first miss was a pull-up from 18 feet out, but Vlad tipped it in. He posted up, drew a quick double leaving Ronny open and Kobe hit him for the dunk. He attacked from the wing, drew a crowd and FTs, he made both. He got all ball on a reach and was whistled for a foul. He hit a one-dribble pull-up from 19 feet out. He missed a face-up three from the left side, rushed it a bit. He missed another three. He drew an illegal D call on iso. He kicked out to Fish for the sideline jumper. He wheeled around on the dribble with his left, used his body well and flipped in the layup. He drew a double team and hit Lamar cutting for the jumphook. He leaked out, then flipped on the nitrous oxide to catch up with a long outlet, gathered it and quickly reversed. He drained a two-for-one three with a man on him. He was hearing "M-V-P" chants from the Laker fans at this point. He had 20 points on 8-12 shooting at the half. Second Half: He nailed Dirk in the head trying to block his shot. Poor decision on a twisting jumper on the baseline and he missed. He worked off the high screen, got in the lane, hung and hit the short jumper. He drew FTs on a similar play on the next trip down, he missed both FTs. He missed a 19-footer out of a timeout. The next three plays were outstanding: He whipped a no-looker to Vlad on the break for a layup (sweet pass). He stripped Stackhouse from behind, just picked his pocket along the baseline. Next trip down the floor he hit one of those sensational high-light plays: he took the pass from Fish on the break, left his feet a little early instead of maybe taking a dribble, spun away from the defender in air and flipped it blindly over his head and in. He missed a turnaround with the shotclock low. He dove at midcourt trying to deflect a pass. He picked up his fourth foul with a 76-54 lead and 3 minutes left in the quarter and had to sit. Phil had to bring him back in to start the fourth when the Mavs chopped 10 points off that lead in that short stint. Kobe hit a tough turnaround from the wing to start the fourth. He missed a difficult chuck at a three with the shotclock low. He lost his man and gave up a dunk. He missed a reverse on the other end. He attacked with a quick first step to his right and hit the floater. He stepped through trying to bank a shot and was fouled, he came up limping (said he jammed his hip), he made one FT and hobbled down court. He airballed a jumper with over a minute left, but Lamar saved it.

Lamar -- -- Lamar was non-stop hustle on the glass tonight. Just a superb job at keeping the Mavs to one and out, or getting us extra possessions. The save to Sasha with over a minute left and the two clutch FTs with 28 seconds left were big plays. We gave up a couple big threes to Dirk, but Lamar was able to challenge Dirk and avoid a foul on the last one to help secure the win. Nice to see LO hitting the freethrows. We needed every one of those. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 5-15 shooting (0-1 from three, 7-8 from the line) to go with 17 boards (6 offensive), 2 assists, 2 steal, 1 block, no turnovers and 3 fouls in 40 minutes. The Action: He blocked Dirk on his first attempt. He drew a foul on Dampier on an attack down the lane, getting into his body for the FTs, he made both. He had his dunk blocked after a nice baseline attack. He missed a tough turnaround in the lane. He iso'd on his man, stepped around him along the baseline, twisted and flipped in the layup. Nice rebound and push out, but he missed the easy layup under the hoop. He sank a 20-footer from the wing. Good hustle to throw an offensive board off Dirk. He airballed a step-back jumper. He pulled down a long board, attacked baseline, but couldn't finish. He hit a short jumphook off the dive cut. He missed a layup, attacking to his right. He had 8 points on 3-10 shooting and 9 boards at the half. Solid D on Dirk who had 12 points on 5-9 shooting in the first half (we didn't need to send doubles). Second Half: He didn't box out Dampier and he gave him a tip-in on a missed FT. He drew FTs under the hoop and rightly argued it should have been goaltending as the defender hung on the rim (he didn't get the call) and made one FT. He swished a quick catch and shoot from the sideline. Good D again on Dirk and he forced a miss. He settled for a three and missed badly. He missed a pull-up from 11 feet out. He went too early on the last play of the third quarter, we missed and the Mavs banked in a three at the other end. Great job moving his feet to get around the defender and swipe the offensive board for an easy putback. He was fouled working the two-man game with Kobe, he made both. Great hustle to track down an airball by Kobe and throw it back in to Sasha, who then hit a jumper with 1:12 left. Lamar didn't crowd Dirk enough and gave up back-to-back threes to cut the lead to 1 with 48 seconds left. He was fouled on the offensive glass with 28 seconds left and up by 1, he stepped up and knocked down both clutch FTs.

Fisher -- -- Not a fan of some of the late-game decisions by Fish in this one, and he threw a cherry on top of it with a missed freethrow with 4 seconds left. Between Fish and Sasha, JKidd had little in this game. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-10 shooting (0-4 from threes, 2-3 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 31 minutes. The Action: He got swatted under the hoop but got it back. He hit the top of the glass on a short baseline jumper. He hit a tech FT. He hit a sideline jumper with his toes on the three line when Kobe kicked out. He bricked a three badly. He missed another three. Second Half: He drew an offensive foul on Stackhouse who tried to post him up. He then swished a top-of-the-key jumper working off the high screen. He swished a long wing jumper on an outlet from Kobe. He missed a wide open three. He drove into a crowd instead of pulling up and was tied up for a jumpball with 1:45 left, he tipped it to Howard and it led to breakaway points. For some reason we had Fish attacking again with under a minute left off the dribble and Fish, of course, missed the layup. Up by 1, he had two FTs with 4.1 seconds left, he missed the first and made the second to give us a 2-point lead.

Radmanovic -- -- Vlad couldn't have picked a better time to go off. The road trip had disaster written all over it unless someone else brings that third impact player. It's very hard to survive against good teams on the road without that...and there is no way we win without those huge fourth-quarter bombs. Absolutely, key to the W. Defensively, he had issues with penetration throughout the game. Still, we were helping him well and the team was clicking with him out there. Phil gave Vlad the hook pretty early in the second half at one point after he gave up a layup. His replacement, Luke, was a train wreck. When Vlad returned, he started dropping those threes like he was in the zone. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 8-13 shooting (4-7 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 31 minutes. The Action: He stepped on the baseline on a cut to erase a basket. He drained a corner three on a kickout from Kobe. He ballfaked Howard out of his shoes, then marched in for a layup with the Mavs backs turned. He dribbled the ball off his leg in transition for a turnover. He gave up penetration on back-to-back plays but Ronny saved him with blocks. He missed a three in transition. He gave Ronny a quick return pass in the lane for a dunk. He tipped in a Kobe missed jumper. He bricked a reverse badly, instead of going up strong. He stripped Dampier to regain a possession after we missed a shot. Second Half: He swished a pull-up jumper at the FT line. He deflected a pass to force a turnover and it led to a transition score. He gave up a layup on one end, then was way short on a hurried three on the other. He scored a layup when Kobe whipped a no-looker to him. Back in for Luke, he swished a long wing three. He was ticked after getting pushed under the hoop and giving up an offensive board and score, so on the other end he took the skip pass and quickly drained another three. With the shotclock low, he got the ball on the inbounds, stepped to his left and swished the high-arching three over Dirk. He took Kidd off the dribble to his left and drew a foul, he made one FT. Out of a timeout in the last minute, he missed a fade on the baseline (a long time since he had a touch).

Turiaf -- -- We got some great anchoring from Ronny tonight...four swats and a few more challenges. We had to have that (especially having Vlad's back against some of those more athletic wing players). Dampier was pushing us all over the court the last time we met up. There was none of that tonight. Offensively, very good first half. Maybe some overpassing, but it never cost us. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-12 shooting (3-4 freethrows) to go with 5 boards, 3 assists, 4 blocks, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 34 minutes. The Action: He missed a jumphook over Dampier. He got blocked, went back up and drew Dampier's second foul after just 4:30 of action. He saved a sure dunk when Vlad gave up penetration, blocking Howard's throwdown attempt on help D. Vlad gave up penetration to Stackhouse and again Ronny saved him with a block. He took a long outlet, overpassed to Vlad, who gave it right back to him and Ronny dunked. He drained an 18-footer on a pass from Lamar. He kicked out to Kobe for a wide open three. Nice job running the floor, beating his man down court, then drawing a foul on the mismatch under the basket, he made both FTs. He dunked when Kobe drew the double in the post. Good stint by Ronny and he sat after 14 minutes. He sank an 18-footer from the high elbow. He rejected Howard, controlled the ball and outlet to Kobe for the reverse. He missed a nice attempt after a scramble for a loose ball at the buzzer. He had 10 points in the first half. Second Half: He picked up his third foul trying to contest penetration from Stackhouse. Another good challenge on Howard and we controlled the missed drive. He overpassed to Luke for a jumper, but Luke knocked it down. Another challenge on Dirk to force a miss, Dirk tried everything to draw the foul. He missed a FT jumper. He was expecting a foul call and went up weakly on the break and lost the ball out of bounds. He drew a hard foul on Dirk on the next offensive sequence, he made one FT. He got blocked going up weakly under the hoop.

Luke -- -- He was killing us. It showed in the +/-, too, as he had a team-worst -12. He was stripped a number of times under the hoop and missed a variety of short shots. He even stalled the offense a few times. Luke actually knocked down a couple perimeter shots in this one, but it was his play in the paint in the second half that was horrid. He ran at PF with Mbenga at C and had to defend Dirk for a short stint, that went okay. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 2-8 shooting (0-1 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 blocks, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 17 minutes. The Action: He airballed a wide open 17-footer. Poor seal and Kidd tipped away the post entry. He was blocked under the hoop, got it back and drew FTs, he made both. He drew more FTs under the hoop of an interior feed from Ronny, he made both. He hit Sasha on the kickout for a three. Hey, he hit a jumper, pulling up on the baseline from about 16 feet out. Second Half: He drained a sideline jumper on a kickout from Kobe. He missed a short post up. He stalled the offense and drew a three-second violation on Ronny passing late. He missed a short one over George in the post. He then got called for a tech (not needed). He got stipped in the post for a turnover. He missed an open three when Lamar kicked to him early on what should have been our last shot of the third, the Mavs scored on the other end. He got stripped yet again under the hoop on a cut when Kobe got doubled.

Farmar -- -- Nothing game from Farmar. Our PGs are giving us too little. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-3 shooting, 1 board, 3 assists and 1 foul in 17 minutes. The Action: It seemed like he was looking to pass on dribble penetration, but had to fling a shot up, he used the glass wisely and got it to drop. Second Half: He missed a baseline pull-up jumper. He missed a layup attacking off the pinch post.

Vujacic -- -- Can give Sasha enough props for that huge jumper, just beating the shotclock with a minute left. That was a critical make late in the game that we had to have. It might have even gotten him the dancing tomato, but he missed one of his freethrows with 14 seconds left. Can't have that. Again, Sasha looked very good defensively whenever he and JKidd got matched up. He looked good in general on D. A lot of notes for him on that end of the court. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-4 shooting (1-2 from three, 1-2 from the stripe) to go with 4 boards, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 22 minutes. The Action: Nice defensive rotation after giving up penetration and he forced a shooter to pass late in the shotclock and another shooter had to hurry the jumper. He swiped a pass on one end, then canned the wing three on the other. He missed a baseline jumper. Great D, tipping the ball away, then holding his arms straight up when his man had to force up a jumper and we got a shotclock violation. He drew a forearm to the face from Howard and an offensive foul. Second Half: He bricked a corner three, but somehow took the ball away from three Mavs in the back court. Clutch...clutch...clutch shot by Sasha after Lamar saved an airball back to Sasha with just a few ticks on the shotclock, Sasha worked to his left, pulled up and swished the baseline jumper with 1:12 left in the game, getting the shot off just before the clock expired. Sasha pulled down the clutch rebound and was fouled with 14 seconds left and up by 3, he made only one FT.

Mbenga -- -- Good minutes from Mbenga tonight. He had a block on Dampier that had Mav fans buzzing. I'm surprised we didn't see him a little more, but with the offense sputtering Phil probably didn't think it wise to put him back in the game in the second half. We still haven't seen him matched up against Dirk since that great performance earlier in the season. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting, had 1 assist and 1 block in 5 minutes. The Action: He got blocked trying to force up a reverse. He challenged a high entry on the break, couldn't get it, as Dampier gathered himself to throw down, Mbenga bounced back under the hoop and rejected him (great play). Mismatched against Howard on the next sequence and Howard double dribbled.

Phil -- -- There were two stints when Kobe sat tonight. The first, we extended our lead. The second, we gave up all the mo. Phil is definitely missing the ability to have Bynum or Gasol out there in those moments. Just not a lot of options and the Tri doesn't even seem to be running all that well in some of those minutes... He sat Kobe with 1:32 left in the first with a 24-21 lead. We held tight on D and finished the quarter with a 28-21 lead. Kobe returned to start the second quarter... Lockdown by the Lakers in the second quarter. They held the Mavs to just 17 second-quarter points, while we scored 31. A lot of one-and-out possessions for the Mavs and some good anchoring by Ronny in the half. The Mavs shot 33 percent to our 45 percent and we had a 13-4 advantage on second-chance points... Leading 59-38 to start the second half, the coaches warned the team that the Mavs would go on a run. Nine minutes later, they did... Kobe sat at the end of the third and the Mavs went on a 9-0 run. The Lakers let the Mavericks get to the line 18 times in the third quarter... When Kobe left the game with 3 minutes left in the third we had a 22-point lead, he came back in to start the fourth with a 12-point lead... Out of a timeout, we went to Vlad who hit the three... With 3 minutes left and up by 9 with the shotclock low, our play busted out of the timeout and Lamar attacked, he missed but he dove to keep it alive. We then turned it over and gave up an uncontested dunk. Ouch... Up by 3 points after giving up back-to-back threes, Dallas tried to suck the D in and kick out to three shooters, we got Kidd to miss with a good challenge and Sasha got the board and was fouled... Terry hit a three on our next defensive stand with 4.9 left and we got the ball into DFish for more FTs, up by 1. He made just one FT and we had a 2-point lead... Next possession, Dirk fumbled the ball and then missed a heave at a three... The Lakers were out-scored 62-43 in the second half, but still hung on for the W... We had a 13-8 advantage on the offensive glass...

Game Flow -- LINK -- The third-quarter Mavs run started the moment we subbed out Vlad. However, it didn't seem to really go south until Kobe sat. We didn't end the skid until Vlad checks back in during the fourth.

[Dr. Laker]

First!
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On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".

[Dr. Laker]

And good job, DB.
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On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".

[Booby]

Vlad The Impaler!

[mike_dee23]

With Gasol and Bynum out, the Lakers should run tons of picks and pops with Vlad and Kobe. That worked tonight. It will continue to work with opponents not being able to double off of Rad.

... by the way, Farmar, Fisher and Luke are killing Sasha's +/- numbers. Sasha a -10? No way!
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MTFBWYA

[Magic'sSon]

TOP TEN

[Trajan]

Winning is the cure to everything, Lamar's words. Hopefully the Lakers come into that Utah game with the same passion, determination, and will to win. It's only way we'll have a chance to win at Utah without at least Gasol.

[Drifts]

I think Kobe lost his legs in the 4th...he's probably fatigued at this point. he needs to rest a little bit...if i'm not mistaken, I think after the houston game he was shooting jumpers.
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"Now, if life is coffee, then the jobs, money & position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold & contain life, but the quality of life doesn't change. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

[SweetP]

OK, how long have you been waiting to use that Vlad the Impaler intro DB?

Glad the guys pulled it out, they scared me a bit in the 4th but a win is a win.
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“There is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it.” --Amanda Gorman

[FredG]

Walton and that damn BBQ joint he opened this summer. Didn't work on his game/get into shape.

[Thedo]

Cool game and intense finish. Too bad we didn't close out well, but a W is a W.

Player of the game - definitely Vlad and his clutch 3's in the 4th
Play of the game - Kobe's no look reverse lay up
Defensive player of the game - Ronny with the huge 4 blocks!
Best moment of the game - Clock running out and a close up shot of Mark Cuban covering his face with his hands

[DancingBarry]

[Mation]

Thanks DB!

Vlad and Odom both with the double-double. Huge presence from those two in the fourth quarter. Lamar's rebounding and nose for the ball is impressive. Also props to Turiaf for manning up at the C-spot.

Even though we weren't able to stop Houston's streak, at least we stopped this 5-game-streak of the Mavs. I was thanking the lords that Kidd took that three pointer instead of anyone else on the court. Also good to see Dampier disappear for this game.

Hopefully we can go into Utah and repeat our first half offense and defensive execution, except do it for the entire game. May health be on our side Bynum, Pau, Ariza and Mihm.

[DancingBarry]

[A Mad Chinaman]

Interesting that the Lakers (out of necessity) had a lineup of

5 - LO
4 - Vlad
3 - Kobe
2 - Sasha
1 - DFish


And it worked against the Mavs

[DancingBarry]

We ran that Vlad/LO bigman combo briefly in the last game, too. It's even easier to go small against the Mavs these days.

[jsi106]

DB, can you add feedback on the refs as part of the rating. it seems they are getting worse each game

[DancingBarry]

I'll usually point out the bonehead calls or non calls...but I might have to use the smilie every game if I rated them

Maybe a handful of games a season I will give them a special call out when they really deserve it.

[KingKobe]

You gotta know Vlad is sitting there on the bench looking at Luke Walton and wondering what the hell is going on. I mean he's gotta be like "I'm losing my minutes to this guy? WTF?" Come on Phil.
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*Warning: The preceding post may have contained sarcasm and/or irony.

"We're all surrounded by idiots." - Kobe Bryant

[jmark]

Gusty win. Vlad, Kobe, LO & Ronny were huge.
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"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

[20,000]

DB, why can't the Lakers hit layups? Did someone threaten them with a gun to a puppy's head if they do hit layups? It's gotta be the only reason.
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Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying...'I will try again tomorrow.'

[Sage_10]

Good stuff DB!
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"You Must Be Willing To Give Up That Which Can Be Lost In Order To Gain That Which Cannot Be Lost." - FORTUNE COOKIE

[prisma8slg]

vladi's my hero
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"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]

Love the win... even if we allowed Mavs to nearly overtook the big lead.

[LongtimeLakerLover]

Thanks DB. Truly, you really give us a feast after these games. Dude, you totally rock. BIG THANKS!


The game was great. I loved the lead, loved the intensity and the offensive output. I didn't like the lead slipping away, but it never felt close to me. It was, but for some reason I just knew they'd win. Called it with 6 minutes left. Even when Dirk hit the threes.

Vlad was a maniac. The guys in general were very active. Sasha's D in the 4th was great! LO in general. Man he frustrated Dirk! Just a great win for our very short handed team. Right on.
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