Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 11:19 pm Post subject: WIZARDS -at- LAKERS - 3/30 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings
Bleeding Stopped... Perhaps overtime is just what this tired team needed. We know how to slug it out in overtime. Heavy legs? Winded? Beat up? Forget that...a dose of overtime and a W makes it all go away. It helps when your bench comes to play. Sasha and Luke not only combined for 39 points in this game, both came up with big plays in overtime.
A lot of people will focus on Kobe's season high in assists. A change up from the prior game where he was gun slinging early and often. Apparently, Kobe and Phil had a talk. Kobe also addressed teammates and they went out and balled.
Phil was killing me by taking out Sasha for a smaller guard defensively against Nick Young in the fourth. Young had torched Farmar, was quieted down by Sasha, then went back to work against Fisher in the last few minutes of regulation. The Wizards abused us until Phil finally went back to Sasha for one stop late in overtime. Sasha came up big on the D end with a good challenge to force a miss, then he hit a couple FTs after a big offensive rebound by Luke off a missed freethrow. That play iced the game. Sasha was a +20, DFish a -14.
"Young had a great game, but we were able to shut him down and get the stop there at the end," Phil said. Good sub, but we shouldn't have gone away from it to begin with.
We could have taken care of business in regulation, but Caron Butler hit a three to tie it and DFish missed one of the best looks on an end-of-game shot we have had all season.
Seven Lakers scored in double digits (Kobe led in both points and assists with 26 and 13). Props to Mbenga for some spirited play on the defensive end and some key makes in the fourth.
The win was our 50th of the season. There was a time earlier in the year (pre-trade) that Phil wasn't sure we could get there. Kobe said, "It was a hump for us to get over in the last several years, and it feels good to get there."
Kobe -- -- He was drawing a near instant double early on and it led to several open shots for others. The assist numbers were a result of all the defensive attention. "Kobe got everybody involved," Phil said. "It obviously made a difference, because his teammates stepped up and made some big shots. A lot of players contributed tonight for the victory." Kobe did have a few poor looks and just as many shots where you wondered how an official didn't blow a whistle for a foul. Still, he did get to the line and those makes down the stretch were big. (Props to Luke for getting the one he missed.) Defensively, he had some very poor decisions dealing with Stevenson, but eventually the Wizards went elsewhere for their points. The Stats: He scored 26 points on 7-24 shooting (0-3 from three, 12-15 from the line) to go with 13 assists with 1 turnover, 4 boards, 1 steal, 1 block and 3 fouls in 47 minutes. The Action: He drew a double and it led to a Vlad three. He attacked and kicked to Ronny for the open jumper. He missed a wing jumper. He attacked and kicked out to Fish for three. He attacked in early offense and drew FTs, he made one. He drew another double and kicked to Vlad for the three. He had 1 point on 0-1 shooting and 4 assists in the first quarter. He missed a long three, forced it a bit. He missed a turnaround from the midpost. He missed a pull-up jumper from 19 feet with a man on. He drew the D on a drive, kicked it out, the team worked it to Vlad for three. He attacked again next time down and kicked out to Vlad for another three. He posted up Caron and back-rimmed a good look in the paint on a short jumper. He attacked off the Mbenga screen and drew FTs, he made both. He attacked again off the Mbenga screen and scored an And-1 reverse with 2 seconds left in the half, he made the FT. He had 6 points on 1-6 shooting, but had 5 assists. Second Half: He pulled up after getting penetration and hit the short jumper. He missed a three. He attacked from the wing, drew the D and hit Ronny for the dunk. He drew a double off the high screen with Ronny, got pushed out by the trap, hit Lamar with the pass and it led to a Ronny dunk again. Poor D off the high screen and he gave up a three to Stevenson. On the other end, he was called for an offensive foul trying to post up. Quick first step on a swing through and he attacked past Stevenson for a dunk. He dropped Stevenson with an elbow to the chest, didn't look like much but Stevenson was in pain, Kobe attacked and was fouled for FTs, he made one. He left Stevenson to sag, gave up another three. He missed a jumper on the other end. He set up in the midpost, attacked past Stevenson with ease and scored a layup. He missed a wing three. He hit Mbenga cutting for a jumphook off the glass. He got fouled with no call on a turnaround. He missed a layup off the post-up. He threw a skip pass to Sasha for a three. He was mugged off a spin move, but no call and it went as a miss. He swung a pass to Sasha for the three. He attacked in early offense and hit a fade in the lane. Forced jumper, spinning and jumping off the wrong foot, and chucking it up when he couldn't pass and he missed. He posted up Stevenson, stepped past him with ease again and drew the whistle this time, he made both. He missed a tough step-back jumper, not a good look. He missed a wing jumper off the high screen. He dunked, filling the lane on the push out with Fisher with a minute and half left. He iso'd, spun and was hit for FTs with 33 seconds left and a 1-point lead, he made both. He set up Fish for a good look to win the game, but Fisher missed. Overtime: He spun and missed a difficult fading floater. He sank a top-of-the-key jumper. He missed a step-back jumper. He attacked, hung with all kinds of contact, no call. He earned FTs on a hold at the three line, down by 1 with 37.8 left and he made both. He was fouled with 13.3 left up by 1, he made one, but Luke got it back to Sasha for FTs.
Lamar -- -- Mr. Near Triple-Double made an appearance today. Lamar, just 3 assists shy of the stat. Nice to see some more aggression on the offensive end. He must be feeling a bit better than the last one. He and Kobe combined for 20 assists. He had a switch on Young late in the game that produced a big turnover in the final minute of OT. When we are healthy, it will be interesting to see what kind of lineups Phil goes with when we need a stop. Lamar's length causes problems for a lot of athletic, smaller players. Fact of the day: According to Luke, Lamar doesn't know how to swim. Did not know that. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 3-8 shooting (4-6 from the line) to go with 13 boards, 7 assists, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 46 minutes. The Action: He posted up and kicked out to Fish for the open three. He swished a step-back elbow jumper. He missed a sideline jumper. He got blocked in the post (should have been FTs). He blocked Jamison in the post. He posted up and hit his money lefty jumphook. He powered into Caron trying to finish a layup and drew FT, he made one. He missed a face-up jumper. He scooped up a loose ball, attacked the lane and dunked. He ball-watched on the other end to give it right back up. He had 7 points on 3-6 shooting, 5 boards and 2 assists. Second Half: He missed a jumper, pulling up after given space on the left side. He hit Vlad on the break for a dunk. He posted up and kicked to Ronny for the open jumper. Nice hustle coming to meet a pass from Kobe and he quickly hit Ronny for the dunk. He pulled down a long offensive board and no-looked to Ronny for FTs. He overpowered Jamison in the lane and drew FTs, he made both. He overpassed in the lane and was picked off, should have shot it. Great challenge on Stevenson after Kobe ball-watched and got backscreened (Lamar should have yelled that out, but they recovered). He got stripped after pulling down an offensive board. Overtime: He attacked off the two-man game with Ronny and drew FTs at the rim, he made one. He fumbled a defensive board out of bounds (Young scored on that possession). He switched on Young and his length forced Young to throw it away after getting caught in the air with 50 seconds left.
Fisher -- -- Defensively, he and Farmar couldn't handle Nick Young. Tough match up for their size. Fish was getting scored on down the stretch in regulation and was even had Caron hit the three over him to tie. Eventually, Phil pulled Fisher late in OT for Sasha. Offensively, good game from Fish...but, dang, wish he would have nailed that game winner in regulation. Again, however, DFish came up big with a couple of key makes in OT. His three with 1:40 left in OT and down by 4 changed the game. Glad he was able to get some back for us. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 6-12 shooting (3-6 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 33 minutes. The Action: He drained a three on a kickout from Lamar. He swished an elbow jumper, curling off the Tri. He swished a sideline three on a kickout from Kobe. He missed a runner off the glass. Horrible pass into the lane and it was easily picked off. He had 8 points on 3-4 shooting (2-2 from three). Second Half: He attacked in transition, got stripped by one man, but fouled by a helper and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a baseline jumper. He faked a three, moved in and hit the jumper. He got backdoored for a layup and Phil called a timeout. He forced up a long jumper and missed. No rotation on the other end and he gave up a three. He yanked down a defensive board, pushed it out and hit Kobe filling the lane for a dunk. He missed a 16-footer on our next possession, but Luke cleaned it up. He left Young to sag on Butler, got back screened and gave up a three, uggh. Caron sank a three over him to tie it up. Fish had a chance to hit the game winner, wide open corner jumper and he missed at the buzzer. Overtime: Young posted him up and hit the easy turnaround. He missed a three. He sank a wing three with 1:40 left to cut the lead to 1. He swished a long corner two, standing on the three line while trying to take contact.
Radmanovic -- -- Given a little space and some inside-out sequences, Vlad was knocking down threes. Most of his offensive damage was done in the first half. Difficult match up against Caron, but he held is own better than you might imagine. Luke took over for him in the fourth and OT. On the two different games from Kobe, Vlad said: "I think we all like him better this way, than the Kobe we saw last game," he said. "We all know he can score a lot of points but sometimes the team's not in rhythm. As far as I'm concerned, if everbody's involved in the game we've got a better chance." The Stats: He scored 18 points on 7-11 shooting (4-7 from three) to go with 3 boards, 3 assists, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 27 minutes. The Action: He swished a wing three after we worked Kobe in the post. He blew a layup working the corner sequence well, but not able to finish. Good angle to push Caron baseline for a turnover. He swatted dribble penetration. He airballed a rushed three. He hit a jumper from the corner with his toe on the three line. He swished a wing three on a kickout from Kobe. He airballed a corner three. He traveled, attacking from the three line. He swished an open wing three, again initiated off Kobedribble penetration. Kobe drew the D on a drive and kicked it to Vlad next time down for a sideline three. He had 14 points on 5-8 shooting (4-6 from three). Second Half: Great catch with his left hand on the break, he carried it in for the dunk. Nice timing on a tip in of a Kobe missed three. He missed a corner three.
Turiaf -- -- We didn't get abused in the paint in this game like the last one. The Lakers clogged the lane a little more and our C spot challenged a lot of shots well. Ronny came up with a number of swats. Offensively, no post play, but he hit his jumper and got some feeds from others for scores. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-7 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 2 assists, 4 blocks and 4 fouls in 40 minutes. The Action: He got blocked on an attack down the lane. He swished an open top-of-the key jumper off a kickout from Kobe. He blocked Blatche's drive. He had 2 points on 1-3 shooting, 4 boards, 1 assist, 2 blocks and 3 fouls. Second Half: He swished an elbow jumper off the pitch out from Lamar. Monster dunk when he dive cut off Kobe's attack, took the feed and jammed. He dunked again, setting the screen for Kobe, cutting and getting the quick pass from Lamar. He drew FTs when Lamar found him off the no-looker, he made both. He swatted Jamison's drive to ignite a break. He missed a baseline jumper. He blocked Blatche under the hoop.
Luke -- -- Offensively, since that fourth quarter breakout that I hoped would be his slump buster, Luke has played much better (hard not to, but he's definitely improved his play). Tonight, he put together his best game of the year. He came up with huge plays on both ends. He nearly iced the game in regulation, but couldn't get the handle on a steal that would have resulted in a bust-out score. In overtime, that offensive board off a Kobe miss was the blow that took out the Wizards. Luke also had a huge offensive putback with a minute to go in regulation. Great game, very few flaws. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 7-8 shooting (1-2 from three, 4-5 from the line) to go with 6 rebounds (3 offensive), 3 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover and no fouls in 19 minutes. The Action: He drained a corner three on a kickout. Good help D to block a big from behind. He attacked from the wing and hit the teardrop. He took Blatche off the dribble and drew FTs, he made both. He dunked when Farmar drew the D on a drive and bounced to him. Excellent two-way stint (more of that please). He had 9 points on 3-3 shooting, 2 boards, 2 assists and 1 block. Second Half: He posted up Young, turned, popped Young with an elbow and Luke drew a foul, he made one FT. He tried to create off the dribble for our last rush down the floor at the end of the third...ugly, he was blocked (that will teach Jordan to in-bounds to Luke instead of vice versa, ha, ha...). He got fouled on the break, but still scored the layup wtih his left, he made the FT. Excellent challenge on Songaila to force a miss on the turnaround. He dunked on the bust-out after Mbenga blocked a shot. He got tapped on a corner three. Huge crash on the offensive glass to score a putback layup with 1:17 left. Arrrgh, he nearly iced the game with a steal, but kicked the ball out of bounds with 16 seconds left, that would have been huge. Overtime: Great crash on the missed FT by Kobe and he tipped it back in bounds ot Sasha with 10 seconds left for FTs. That one did ice the game. After an excellent challenge on Butler to force a bad brick on a three, he then dunked on the other end and he Kobe celebrated the defensive play.
Farmar -- -- "It was a tough match up for Jordan tonight," Phil said of Nick Young working him over. Farmar's biggest weakness defensively is against bigger, stronger guards. Young had his way with him. Offensively, it looked like he was making more of an effort to not settle for threes and to create for others. The more he can do that or get in close for the mid-range shots, the better off we'll be. With his three ball suffering, he's got to find other ways to be effective. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-2 shooting (0-1 from three), but had 4 assists, 1 board and 1 steal to go with 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 15 minutes. The Action: He hit Sasha for a corner three. He attacked and kicked to Luke for three. He had a pass picked off in the lane. He got swatted on a drive next possession. He attacked instead of settling on the three, got into the lane and bounced to Luke for a dunk (more please). He didn't score on 0-1 shooting, but had 4 assists in that stint. Second Half: He stole a pass, then settled for the three and clanked. Young worked him over on several possessions before Phil finally went to Sasha.
Vujacic -- -- Oh, yeah, got to bring a double tomato. Great game by Sasha. He was killing the Wizards from downtown and also matched up with Young better than our other guards. We went with Sasha at PG because of that. When you get two-way play like that, it's trouble for the opponent. The Sick Jumpers of Death were raining...20 points off the bench in 18 minutes. He was in on the key stop in overtime and sank two clutch FTs to take control of the game. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 6-9 shooting (6-8 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists and 2 fouls in 18 minutes. The Action: He drained a corner three off a swing pass from Farmar. He missed a wing three in early offense. He swished a wide open three straight away. He swished a wing three, working well off the ball to get free. On fire, he drained another sideline three off good ball movement. He missed a wing jumper trying to beat the clock. He sat with 12 points on 4-6 shooting. Second Half: He missed a three. He drained a sideline three when Kobe spotted him cross court. He drained a top-of-the-key three on an inside-out possession. Overtime: Finally, Phil went back to Sasha against Young late in OT for a key defensive stand. They tried to attack Sasha, but his length challenged Young well for a miss on iso. He was fouled after Luke saved the ball and Sasha made both FTs to ice the game.
Mbenga -- -- Great minutes from Mbenga and Phil gave him some longer run. He was Mballing on both ends and sparked the crowd a number of times. He seemed to get the ball in his hands quite a bit with the shotclock low, but usually good things happened. He showed some nice range on his jumper. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-5 shooting to go with 3 boards, 1 block and just 1 foul in 10 minutes. The Action: He came in for the final minute of the half. Nice high screen that freed Kobe up and Washington was forced to foul. Kobe worked off Mbenga again for an And-1. Second Half: He swished a 16-footer from the wing with the shotclock low. He sank a high-arching bank shot from the left side. He cut to the ball, took the pass and finished the jumphook off the glass. He missed a one-hander, should have dunked it instead of going glass. He saved a defensive board back in to Kobe. He swatted a Haywood shot in the paint and it led to a dunk for Luke on the bust-out and a Wizard timeout. He missed a jumphook to just beat the shotclock.
Mihm -- -- He started the second quarter and got a short stint. His minutes will probably be very limited as he gets back into the flow and gets the explosion back in his legs. When Gasol and Bynum both get on the floor, I'm not sure Mihm will get any time. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting, he had 2 boards and 2 fouls in 3 minutes. The Action: He got a piece of Songaila's drive. He was called for a push-off foul trying to grab a long offensive board. Nice corner sequence seal to get the entry pass, but he missed the layup in traffic.
Phil -- -- Defensively, Phil got burned with Farmar and Fisher on Young. When Sasha was there, he stopped the bleeding. But Phil went back to Fisher late in regulation and for most of the overtime and paid the price. Down by 1 with 37 seconds left, he went to Sasha over Fish. Finally. The Wizards went to Young in the post, Sasha challenged well on the turnaround and we got the miss... In the middle of the first quarer, the Wizards went on a 15-1 run. We pushed back and went on an 11-3 run and led 27-25 after one. The teams combined for 11-13 from three range in that quarter... The second-unit built up a 10-point lead in the second quarter, some good play from Sasha and Luke (they combined for 21 points in the first half). The first unit gave the right back. We started working inside-out again and built the lead back up. (We were giving up a lot of FTs, however)... A lot of nice inside-out play on the offensive end and we led 58-47. Defensively, we started holding the Wizards to one and out possessions, but we gave up 18 FTs. Thankfully, the Wizards only hit 11. We had 17 assists off our 20 makes in the half... The Lakers led by as much as 17 in the third, but played some weak D (Kobe on Stevenson hurt, but we gave up 39 total points in the quarter) and the Wizards tied it up... Farmar was getting worked by Young, so Phil went to Sasha at point in the fourth... The Mbenga, Lamar, Luke, Kobe, Sasha lineup pushed out to 9-point lead... We had a 6-point lead when Phil subbed in Ronny for Mbenga and Fish for Sasha... With the lead at 3 with 3:10 left, he called a timeout to set up the offense. Kobe missed a jumper off the high screen-roll... The Wizards tied the game with 10 seconds left after Caron's three over Fisher. Phil said they debated going for the foul, but thought there was too much time left in the game... So, we go back to our nemesis, the end- of-game shot. At least with 10 seconds we have time to simply spread the floor for Kobe, if we want. That's what we did. We took it in backcourt to set that up and give Kobe a little speed heading into the offensive zone. Kobe drew the D and passed it to Fish for the wide open corner jumper, best look on a buzzer beater all year. Fish missed... We got some better defensive anchoring by Mbenga and Ronny tonight. Good to have some size making a difference. Mbenga also came through with some big offensive plays, so Phil gave him some extended run, unlike a previous game where he pulled him after some good play... The Lakers had 35 assists on 43 makes. We shot 14-27 from three. The Wizards shot 17-30. Both teams shot under 50 percent overall. According to the Times, that's the first time two teams shot above 50 percent from behind the arc, but lower the 50 percent from the floor overall when taking more than 27 threes each. Odd stat...
Game Flow -- LINK -- As mentioned, Sasha led the Lakers in the +/-, Fish had the team worst. The entire bench was in the positive in that stat.
Last edited by DancingBarry on Mon Mar 31, 2008 1:13 pm; edited 3 times in total
This is the second time(@GS) the Lakers blew a big lead late and went to OT, fell behind by 4 in OT, with Fisher hitting huge 3s to cut the lead from 4 to 1, and finished the game on a nice run. Dish it to DFisher if we are down 4 late in the game. . .he will come through.
Great outcome. Great recap!
Last edited by KBryantisclutch on Sun Mar 30, 2008 11:25 pm; edited 1 time in total
I think we all like him better this way, than the Kobe we saw last game. We all know he can score a lot of points but sometimes the team's not in rhythm. As far as I'm concerned, if everbody's involved in the game we've got a better chance."
After all the discussion the past couple days of just that, here we get it from one of his teammates. We are a better team when Kobe plays unselfishly.
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 11:40 pm Post subject: Re: WIZARDS -at- LAKERS - 3/30 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings
DancingBarry wrote:
Fact of the day: According to Luke, Lamar doesn't know how to swim. Did not know that.
Wow ... it's really funny for me to imagine a 6'10" who can't swim ... but I suppose if you grew up on a basketball court, it's not completely ridiculous ... and it's more common in East-coasters like Lamar since swimming isn't quite as appealing as it is here in sunny SoCal. Fortunately, he's tall enough not to drown if he falls in a pool.
Oh yeah ... and great game and write-up. I particularly appreciated the Mbenga and Sasha comments (and play). Props to Luke, too—he earned 'em! _________________ "I like looking at a guy's face when he realizes that even his best moves aren't going to work on me all night. They look depressed." - Ron Artest
I think we all like him better this way, than the Kobe we saw last game. We all know he can score a lot of points but sometimes the team's not in rhythm. As far as I'm concerned, if everbody's involved in the game we've got a better chance."
After all the discussion the past couple days of just that, here we get it from one of his teammates. We are a better team when Kobe plays unselfishly.
I'm sure it will bring up more discussion. Had to throw that quote in there, though, since it's a hot button topic.
Joined: 14 Mar 2004 Posts: 15287 Location: Los Angeles, California
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 11:59 pm Post subject:
DB, how surprised are you on how good DJ's shot looks? is that just hard work and being teached by Kareem? I don't think I have seen him take jumpers in a game until he came here.
I think we all like him better this way, than the Kobe we saw last game. We all know he can score a lot of points but sometimes the team's not in rhythm. As far as I'm concerned, if everbody's involved in the game we've got a better chance."
After all the discussion the past couple days of just that, here we get it from one of his teammates. We are a better team when Kobe plays unselfishly.
Who here denied this? No one did. Any one who understands the game of basketball knows that you need a team game to win. However, on certain nights like the game against memphis then it is better to ride the hot hand.
We are a better team when we play defense also. We however only play defense when we play a team game which is sad. The role players are primadonnas and Kobe has to keep them happy or else they won't try. _________________
DB, how surprised are you on how good DJ's shot looks? is that just hard work and being teached by Kareem? I don't think I have seen him take jumpers in a game until he came here.
He wasn't shy to put up the jumper in his first game or two here. It's part of something he can do a little of. Having the shotclock low on those probably helped keep him from second guessing them.
thanks for the excellent recap. we finally got 50 w's, hope we could build some sort of momentum entering the PO's _________________ #2 Lonzo
#28 Derrick White, Jordan Bell, Deonte Burton
Thanks for the write up db now I can go to sleep , I love the two taco's for mbenga have to give props to my boy, have always supported him since he was signed he just gives 100% effort every time he plays and that's all I ask of every laker when they step on the court give 100 percent. Even though people bashed him I hope he can stick with the Lake show. _________________ 11/9/12 the day the brown was flushed down!!!!!!
Who here denied this? No one did. Any one who understands the game of basketball knows that you need a team game to win. However, on certain nights like the game against memphis then it is better to ride the hot hand.
Plenty of people denied it after the last game, insisting that Kobe needed to launch all of those shots last game because his team was so depleted that if he hadn't they wouldn't have been in the game. Considering he took 61% of the possesions in the first quarter, and over 50% of the shots when he was on the floor through three quarters, he obviously didn't give his teammates much chance to get involved early on. The justification is that his teammtes can't get it done without him scoring big. A few quick quotes from yesterday:
LakersFanAlways wrote:
Kobe did everything he could to win this game, he scored what, 50 points, and they still couldn't win, what else could Kobe do, he does get tired, he is surrounded by crap..yeah, without Andrew and Pau they are a garbage team, a D league team is more like it..they will be 6th seed by Sunday when they lose to the Wizards, because the Wizards are a damn good team, and the Lakers, I just don't get it..I thought this team could win a championship, I don't see that happening at all, even when Andrew and Pau come back, this team has issues, major issues..Kobe can't win games by himself, he has TEAMMATES, yet none of them step up
AliG wrote:
He scored over 50 points tonight....his teammates cannot score and they cannot even helped up on defense...what did you expect him to do?
AndrewBynum17 wrote:
so what is the right approach? Feed it to the others who are playing like garbage, shooting horribly to start off the game?
drzuchinni wrote:
Never, ever stifle your superstar. It makes absolutely no sense. The supporting cast is supposed to fill in the holes.
JD wrote:
Run the offense my ass. Those guys couldn't score and no matter how you slice or dice it... they would have been blown out of the building had Bryant not taken the shots (and made them, btw).
GasolBynumKobe wrote:
Kobe isn't an MVP because if he was, he would have punched Farmar in the gut or mouth in front of the crowd. I'm dead serious. Farmar is a disgrace to this franchise and basketball in general.
DuncanIdaho wrote:
Ok. Plain and simple. The "other guys" are losing Kobe the MVP. Farmar suddenly is playing like a d-leaguer since we traded Critt, Pau is out, Bynum is out, we're playing an undersized 6'9" foul-prone guy at center, and half the time Lamar passes it around the arc and takes under 10 shots a game. Kobe's playing out of his mind with a torn pinky ligament, you simply can't ask more of him. Subtract Kobe from this team and they're worse than the Heat.
KOBEhastheMAGIC wrote:
without Bynum, Gasol, and Ariza, it's a bunch of pathetic, mentally weak, incompetent, arrogant, selfish scrubs.
Those aren't exactly ringing endorsements for sharing the ball with his teammates. If Kobe came out tonight and shared the ball and everyone clanked the way Sasha did in the 4th last night, then he would have had every right to bombs away. You have to give them a chance though, and when you do, more often than not the result is a win. Tonight definitely wasn't one of Kobe's stronger games. He struggled with his shot, he got torched by Stevenson in the third. He seemed a little out of sorts at times. But we still got a win, and he was still a major contributor down the stretch.
It sounds like we'll have Pau back on Wednesday. Bynum could be back next week. It may not really matter. But it has to be good for both team chemistry and for the role players confidence that they were given the opportunities to contribute, and were able to deliver.
Find me someone who believes that Kobe consistently shooting the ball at a high rate is better than Kobe sharing the ball. I'm talking generally. On specific nights though, Kobe scoring big is needed. On specific nights, Kobe might have to play selfish to win the game. However, on other nights Kobe play making is the better option.
Kobe was getting doubled hard today. He had to give up the ball. His teammates were knocking down good looks, the same looks they missed last game.
Simple fact is that Kobe's teammates were missing good looks today, the same looks they made today. His teammates simply had an off night offensively.
So again, on certain nights when Kobe is shooting well and is feeling it ( 5 3's in a quarter is feeeeeeeeeeling it) then he should shoot it. Especially when he is getting single coverage. Kobe should continue to Jack untill he cools off. Kobe however never cooled off against Memphis until late in the 4th where he started to get some doubles.
I mean, Kobe's teammates like that he passes. How about the fact that Kobe has been sacrificing his game all year long for them and the one night where he is feeling it, his teammates REFUSE to help him out by playing some (bleep) defense.
Vlad rad as well as the other role players are selfish prima donnas. Period. The only guys who appreciate Kobe on this team and play hard regardless are LO and Rony. The rest need their "TOUCHES" to play hard.
j.c. smith, when kobe in his career so far scored at least 40 point, the team is 63-29... so maybe the "kobe needs to involve his teammates" is right on paper but on the court in order to win the team sometimes/ often needs kobe shooting and scoring so much... it's not about kobe's stats, it's about team and wins...
btw, thanks as always, DB
Last edited by 8750 on Mon Mar 31, 2008 4:30 am; edited 1 time in total
I think we all like him better this way, than the Kobe we saw last game. We all know he can score a lot of points but sometimes the team's not in rhythm. As far as I'm concerned, if everbody's involved in the game we've got a better chance."
After all the discussion the past couple days of just that, here we get it from one of his teammates. We are a better team when Kobe plays unselfishly.
Quote:
"We had a discussion yesterday," Jackson said. "He's played such great basketball and he's been such a good team leader, I just said, 'Just don't destroy the relationship that you've built with the players this year.'
"And he said, 'Nah, it's not going to affect what we do. I just had to get out and vent what was irritating about the game. . . .'
"So he was obviously irritated by the game prior to that, Charlotte."
Or as Bryant put if after Sunday night's game, "I needed a game to blow it off. Too bad we didn't play any damn defense. . . .
Phil was talking about 57 wins to secure an ideal playoff spot. A tall order for the crew, but this is a good way to start. Our unbeaten record in overtime play will help tremendously in the playoffs. We will probably see this same type of game from Kobe on Wednesday as Portland likes to do the same swarming schemes on defense. Good to hear that the guys will rest tomorrow and practice with Gasol on Tuesday. Can't believe the playoffs are so close. Have the speediest and full recoveries Bynum, Gasol, Ariza and anyone else with lingering issues.
Thanks, DB. It's great to get to 50 wins and hopefully more. Few observations.
1. Luke played a great game. Too bad he couldn't get that steal in regulation b/c that would have sealed it right there. Nice rebound on Kobe's miss.
2. Sasha was feeling it. I couldn't understand why he wasn't covering Young earlier. He was torching Fish and Farmar. Nice D at the end of OT. He should have been in earlier.
3. Mbenga provided a great spark. Nice bank shot as the shot clock was about to expire.
4. DB- How do we continue to sag off red hot shooters? They were 17 of 30 from beyond the arc; yet I still saw Young and Stevenson have wide open looks. We need to stay home on them. For example, up four with a little less than a minute in regulation, Fish was sagging off Young looking to give help in case there was a drive to the hoop. The result was a pass over to Young for a wide open three and a one point lead which caused us to go to OT. I'm happy and relieved that we won, but we do a poor job of defending the three point shot, especially when we're up three. Also, have you seen a team in the NBA who fouls more three point attempts than us?
5. We did show some resiliency tonight. Down four with 1:40 left in OT and we found a way to win. I believed we outscored them 10-0 to end the game.
Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 29999 Location: Likely nowhere near you
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 6:36 am Post subject:
I was actually surprised Phil kept Mbenga in there as long as he did when he was providing us a spark. In past games, Phil has had a short leash for Mbenga even when he was scoring and playing well. Glad to see Phil finally kept him in there. _________________ Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying...'I will try again tomorrow.'
great win...glad to see us out of our slump. love the double dancing tomato for Sasha, it's well-deserved. it's great to see Luke drive aggressively and dunk. as our starters return, our bench keeps getting deeper and deeper. _________________ "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."
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-- He was drawing a near instant double early on and it led to several open shots for others. The assist numbers were a result of all the defensive attention. "Kobe got everybody involved," Phil said. "It obviously made a difference, because his teammates stepped up and made some big shots. A lot of players contributed tonight for the victory." Kobe did have a few poor looks and just as many shots where you wondered how an official didn't blow a whistle for a foul. Still, he did get to the line and those makes down the stretch were big. (Props to Luke for getting the one he missed.) Defensively, he had some very poor decisions dealing with Stevenson, but eventually the Wizards went elsewhere for their points. 
-- Mr. Near Triple-Double made an appearance today. Lamar, just 3 assists shy of the stat. Nice to see some more aggression on the offensive end. He must be feeling a bit better than the last one. He and Kobe combined for 20 assists. He had a switch on Young late in the game that produced a big turnover in the final minute of OT. When we are healthy, it will be interesting to see what kind of lineups Phil goes with when we need a stop. Lamar's length causes problems for a lot of athletic, smaller players. Fact of the day: According to Luke, Lamar doesn't know how to swim. Did not know that. 
-- Defensively, he and Farmar couldn't handle Nick Young. Tough match up for their size. Fish was getting scored on down the stretch in regulation and was even had Caron hit the three over him to tie. Eventually, Phil pulled Fisher late in OT for Sasha. Offensively, good game from Fish...but, dang, wish he would have nailed that game winner in regulation. Again, however, DFish came up big with a couple of key makes in OT. His three with 1:40 left in OT and down by 4 changed the game. Glad he was able to get some back for us. 
-- Given a little space and some inside-out sequences, Vlad was knocking down threes. Most of his offensive damage was done in the first half. Difficult match up against Caron, but he held is own better than you might imagine. Luke took over for him in the fourth and OT. On the two different games from Kobe, Vlad said: "I think we all like him better this way, than the Kobe we saw last game," he said. "We all know he can score a lot of points but sometimes the team's not in rhythm. As far as I'm concerned, if everbody's involved in the game we've got a better chance." 
-- We didn't get abused in the paint in this game like the last one. The Lakers clogged the lane a little more and our C spot challenged a lot of shots well. Ronny came up with a number of swats. Offensively, no post play, but he hit his jumper and got some feeds from others for scores. 
-- Offensively, since that fourth quarter breakout that I hoped would be his slump buster, Luke has played much better (hard not to, but he's definitely improved his play). Tonight, he put together his best game of the year. He came up with huge plays on both ends. He nearly iced the game in regulation, but couldn't get the handle on a steal that would have resulted in a bust-out score. In overtime, that offensive board off a Kobe miss was the blow that took out the Wizards. Luke also had a huge offensive putback with a minute to go in regulation. Great game, very few flaws. 
-- "It was a tough match up for Jordan tonight," Phil said of Nick Young working him over. Farmar's biggest weakness defensively is against bigger, stronger guards. Young had his way with him. Offensively, it looked like he was making more of an effort to not settle for threes and to create for others. The more he can do that or get in close for the mid-range shots, the better off we'll be. With his three ball suffering, he's got to find other ways to be effective. 
-- He started the second quarter and got a short stint. His minutes will probably be very limited as he gets back into the flow and gets the explosion back in his legs. When Gasol and Bynum both get on the floor, I'm not sure Mihm will get any time. 
-- Defensively, Phil got burned with Farmar and Fisher on Young. When Sasha was there, he stopped the bleeding. But Phil went back to Fisher late in regulation and for most of the overtime and paid the price. Down by 1 with 37 seconds left, he went to Sasha over Fish. Finally. The Wizards went to Young in the post, Sasha challenged well on the turnaround and we got the miss... In the middle of the first quarer, the Wizards went on a 15-1 run. We pushed back and went on an 11-3 run and led 27-25 after one. The teams combined for 11-13 from three range in that quarter... The second-unit built up a 10-point lead in the second quarter, some good play from Sasha and Luke (they combined for 21 points in the first half). The first unit gave the right back. We started working inside-out again and built the lead back up. (We were giving up a lot of FTs, however)... A lot of nice inside-out play on the offensive end and we led 58-47. Defensively, we started holding the Wizards to one and out possessions, but we gave up 18 FTs. Thankfully, the Wizards only hit 11. We had 17 assists off our 20 makes in the half... The Lakers led by as much as 17 in the third, but played some weak D (Kobe on Stevenson hurt, but we gave up 39 total points in the quarter) and the Wizards tied it up... Farmar was getting worked by Young, so Phil went to Sasha at point in the fourth... The Mbenga, Lamar, Luke, Kobe, Sasha lineup pushed out to 9-point lead... We had a 6-point lead when Phil subbed in Ronny for Mbenga and Fish for Sasha... With the lead at 3 with 3:10 left, he called a timeout to set up the offense. Kobe missed a jumper off the high screen-roll... The Wizards tied the game with 10 seconds left after Caron's three over Fisher. Phil said they debated going for the foul, but thought there was too much time left in the game... So, we go back to our nemesis, the end- of-game shot. At least with 10 seconds we have time to simply spread the floor for Kobe, if we want. That's what we did. We took it in backcourt to set that up and give Kobe a little speed heading into the offensive zone. Kobe drew the D and passed it to Fish for the wide open corner jumper, best look on a buzzer beater all year. Fish missed... We got some better defensive anchoring by Mbenga and Ronny tonight. Good to have some size making a difference. Mbenga also came through with some big offensive plays, so Phil gave him some extended run, unlike a previous game where he pulled him after some good play... The Lakers had 35 assists on 43 makes. We shot 14-27 from three. The Wizards shot 17-30. Both teams shot under 50 percent overall. According to the Times, that's the first time two teams shot above 50 percent from behind the arc, but lower the 50 percent from the floor overall when taking more than 27 threes each. Odd stat...
@ The double tomato for Sasha.
