LAKERS -at- RAPTORS - 2/4 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

The Road Warriors... You followed the tracks in the road to another set of animals knocked out cold -- grizzly bears. Their hot breath reeked of garbage. The sight wasn't pretty.

As you moved away from the scene you found droplets of blood also moving with the Four Horsemen. One of them was wounded. His path leads off the yellow bricks. To where? You aren't sure. You stick with the pack.

Rounding a bend in the road, you are confronted with a singed can of Pringles. The mustachioed pusher of addictive potato chip snacks has his eyes crossed out in comical fashion. Someone tried the rope-a-dope and got K.O.'d.

The earth here is scorched by hell fire. A speed limit sign has a crossed out 55, and someone mockingly painted a "61" instead. You pass through some kind of a border. The signs change from miles to kilometers. In the road slumps what looks like a prehistoric beast, breathing...but again, out cold.

The Horsemen have left a path of destruction and fallen opponents in their wake. One by one, they've knocked them out.

A crisp breeze whips around you, bringing the stench of garbage and sewage. A war is about to go down. Some newspaper pages blow up against your leg. You pick them up. DancingBarry has taken out a full-page ad in the Toronto Star:

Three of the Four Horsemen were here. Their offensive fury has been impossible to stop. They continue to march through opponents with little regard for themselves or others. Though they limp with injury, they head into the heart of a bigger battle. The stench of the green menace hangs thick in the air.

I will continue to follow them...

After a soft first half giving up 63 points, the Lakers tightened up their game. They held the Raptors to 44 points in the second half to take the 115-107 road win.

The Lakers missed Bynum's length, particularly against JO, whom Bynum defends well. In an unfortunate way, things evened up for the Lakers when Bosh sprained his right knee in the second half.

Hard to say whether it was really the Lakers picking up their defense in the second half or just the injury. They did buckle down on the second-chance opportunities in the fourth and finally got some stops on JO.

No one has been able to stop the Kobe/Pau one-two punch. The two combined for 67 points, 24 boards, 9 dimes and 4 steals. They will need to bring strong games to take a "W" in the final two road games.

"We got to get a little tougher down there," Kobe said in reference to the defending the paint and missing Bynum's presence.


Kobe -- -- Oh, no! Kobe has been taking more than 21 shots! Aren't the Lakers supposed to lose when he does this? Sorry. Just tired of the stupid stat the people keep bringing up. (Kobe shoots less in wins because he plays 5 minutes less and games aren't as close. Yet, we keep seeing the stats being abused to prove someone's agenda.) Offensively, the Lakers are obviously still highly potent without Bynum. Kobe and Pau are killing opponents. We'll need their "A" games in the next two. Defensively, as Kobe mentioned, that's where our issues are at times. Kobe helped hit the boards tonight. He will have to do the same against the Celtics tomorrow. We need to set a better tone on that end to start games, Kobe included. The Stats: He scored 36 points on 13-28 shooting (4-8 from three, 6-8 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals and no fouls in 38 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He missed a baseline jumper. He swished an elbow turnaround. He missed a baseline turnaround. He drew the D and hit Pau for the open jumper. He swished a wing three off the Pau handoff. He swished a three trailing the break. Next time down, he flashed to the ball and drained the three at the top of the key. Quick first step to blow past his man, he then hung in the air and spun in a difficult reverse, jackknifing on his way down (he wanted the And-1...and that was also your NBA TV Play of the Night). He missed a tough runner off the glass, too hard. He drew FTs on iso, attacking at the end of the first quarter, he made one of the FTs. He came down on a Raptor when he got undercut on a jumper, no injury, he made one FT. He missed a short baseline jumper. He missed a long jumper. He missed a wing jumper. He missed a swing-through jumper from the right side. He drew FTs, stepping past Parker on the perimeter, he made both. He had 17 points on 5-13 shooting and 5 boards. Second Half: He cut from the weakside and took the pass from Pau for the reverse over his head. He got tapped on an open three. He was wide open for a corner three next time down and sank it. He missed a tough turnaround from the elbow and wanted the foul. He missed a three from up top. He jump-passed to Pau, threading it through defenders for the score. He was blocked on a drive with no call, he stared at the refs. He set up Pau with a no-look bounce pass off the two-man game. He swished the 21-footer on iso. He shoveled a pass around a defender on the break to Lamar for the dunk. He swished a 21-footer, pulling up from the top of the key. He couldn't get a shot off at the end of the third. He swished a long jumper on a step-back with the shotclock low to give the Lakers a lead midway through the fourth. He swished a toe-on-the-three-line jumper from the wing. He missed a three out of a timeout. He swished a wing pull-up jumper to give the Lakers a 106-100 lead. He missed a fade over JO. He pushed out the break and hit Pau for FTs. He missed a tough turnaround with the shotclock low. He iso'd next time down, pulled up at the FT line and hit the jumper with 23 seconds left to give the Lakers a 4-point lead. He pulled down a high rebound on the other end and was fouled with 18 seconds left, he made both FTs to give the Lakers a 6-point lead. Ballgame...then he walked to the bench with a certain level pissivity about him.

Gasol -- -- A lot of minutes for Pau tonight. With all the size the Raptors had, we needed him out there. No one else seemed to play big for us. He had a good first half offensively, but throttled it up in the second half with 19 points and 10 boards. Just another huge statline with him at our starting C spot. He worked the post, the two-man game, ran the floor and cleaned the glass for scores. Defensively, we've got to help him on the boards. Guards, forwards, everyone needs to secure those boards to prevent the second chances. Pau was grabbing the rebounds, but there were a few instances where it looked like no one was trying to control the glass. Pau played 45 minutes and will have his work cut out for him in the next one. Last time we played the Celts he struggled with his shot in the first half, but pulled it together down the stretch when we worked the two-man sequences. The Stats: He scored 31 points on 12-17 shooting (7-8 form the line) to go with 15 boards (5 offensive), 4 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks and 3 fouls in 45 minutes. He was a +12. The Action: He missed an 18-footer (first touch after about 4 minutes). He missed a jumphook next time down. He swished a short elbow jumper off the Kobe pass. He missed a turnaround in the paint. He faced up on Bargnani, attacked and overpowered him for a score off the glass. He up-faked, attacked, ball-faked and hit the runner with his left (so skilled). He deflected a post entry and the Lakers scored at the other end. He cleaned up a Lamar miss with a layup. He scored a short jumper on a pass from Sasha. Weak finish on a layup, blowing it (should have dunked). He drew Bosh's third foul of the half on the post entry pass, he made both FTs. He had 12 points on 5-9 shooting and 5 boards. Second Half: He missed a reverse. He swished a face-up 15-footer. Quick spin on the post and he went glass for the score around JO. He threw down a reverse jam off the interior feed from Luke. He scored a layup when Kobe threaded a pass to him in the middle of the lane. He cleaned up a Kobe miss. He dunked off the two-man game with Kobe. He knocked a post entry pass away to ignite a break. He was fouled on a dunk attempt after we executed the high screen-roll, he made both. He cleaned up the drive and miss by Lamar. He blocked JO on iso, big stop late in the game. He drew FTs on the break with Kobe with 1:23 left, he made one. He was fouled in the final seconds, he made both FTs.

Lamar -- -- Lamar got into early foul trouble and struggled a bit with some of the Raptor size out there. Whether it was on the offensive end trying to shoot over them in the paint or on the defensive end, trying to challenge, things didn't come easy. He still managed to stay aggressive and get some points. Pau and Kobe have gone off in the past two games. Lamar need to bring that third impact baller and play off them. During crunch time, we tried working the Kobe/Pau two-man game which would then turn Lamar into a playmaker. With a man advantage in the paint. These are some of our best sequences with him. He also did a pretty good job trying to seal in the post on a few possessions. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 6-13 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 assist, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He threw a tap to DFish for a backcourt violation off the tip. He scored the long oop from the wing to start our scoring. He threw an alley-oop out of bounds trying to hit Kobe. Good challenge on a jumper to force an airball. He missed a jumphook. He fouled a jumpshooter on a close out of a three, giving up a 4-point play and picking up his second foul with 6:33 left in the first quarter. He stepped around Bosh along the baseline, hung under the hoop and flipped in the reverse. He took a pass at the FT line in semi-transition, attacked and scored the layup. He was swatted at the rim. He missed a jumphook from two feet out. He attacked on the kickout from Luke and scored the layup. Nice attack on the baseline to lose his man, but he missed the layup. He missed an And-1 layup in transition, he made one FT. He had 9 points in the first half. Second Half: He sealed Bosh and picked up Bosh's fourth foul on the post entry, Bosh had to sit. Wild attack trying to go back at Bargnani and he bricked badly off the glass. He sank a wing jumper when Bargnani sagged off him. He gave up a layup to Graham. He threw down a huge dunk on the break when Kobe hit him trailing. Weak reach foul on the double team, picking up his fourth and having to sit late in the fourth. He attacked down the lane and missed the layup, but Pau cleaned it up. He swatted Graham who had a mismatch on Farmar. Nice challenge on Parker's drive to force a miss. He gave up a three to Parker on the next trip down.

Luke -- -- Not much of a game from Luke. He struggled with his shot. He did tally a few assists, including a few that created hoops for others, but he looked like a weak link in most of his minutes. He got into foul trouble quickly and had his hands full with the Raptor SFs. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-5 shooting to go with 3 boards, 5 assists and 3 fouls in 18 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He hit Lamar with a long alley oop from the wing for our first score. He gave up a dunk to Graham giving up baseline. He bricked an open 18-footer on the other end. He then picked up two fouls on one defensive stand and sat after 2:30 of action. He missed a runner in the lane. Second Half: He forced a layup in transition and missed. Good hustle to keep an offensive board alive, he then fed Gasol on the in-bounds and it led to a dunk. He missed a short fade in the post. He sank a baseline jumper off the Kobe kickout.

Fisher -- -- Strong scoring first half from DFish, very quiet second half. He made a couple layups, one on a breakaway that was a gimmie, another a controlled drive in the paint. Defensively, we had to deal with bigger guards. They tried to take advantage inside on occasion, but we got bled more in other areas. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-7 shooting (2-4 from three) to go with 2 assists and no fouls in 30 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He canned a three from the top of the arc on his first attempt. He missed a long wing three, short by a foot. He swished an open three from the top of the arc again. He scored a layup on a bustout. He missed a wing three short. He attacked off the Powell screen and scored the layup. He attacked at the end of the half, pulled up and drained the elbow jumper at the buzzer. He had 12 points at the half. Second Half: Poor box out and they gave up FTs to Parker.

Ariza -- -- Not a lot to Ariza's game tonight. Hopefully, he's saving it for the Celtics. Without Bynum behind him, he'll have to be careful on his gambles in the passing lanes. He needs to really study his opponents and elevate his man D during this stretch. He'll be put to the test in the next two games. The Stats: He scored 1 points on 0-2 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 foul in 15 minutes. He was a +7. The Action: He up-faked from the corner, attacked, took contact from Bosh and drew FTs, he made one. He swiped a pass, pushed it out and fed Jordan for the dunk. He gave up an And-1 to Bosh on a 20-footer, poor reach. Second Half: He attacked from the wing, showed the ball and was swatted by JO. He missed a sideline three badly.

Farmar -- -- When it is all said and done, this was a good game from Farmar. He had some risky plays and tough makes, but he got them to go. He also had some key passes for scores. Defensively, he was mostly good, but there were some breakdowns with his bigmen. Not an easy game for him at that end because of the size of the Raptor guards. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-4 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 3 boards, 4 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 18 minutes. He was a +12. The Action: He swatted JO from behind with some nice help D. He dunked on the breakaway with Ariza. Second Half: He attacked and traveled on the drive (early fourth quarter turnover). He gave up a layup on the other end. He missed a three from the wing, got his rebound, attacked, took all kinds of contact with no call, but he scored the shot with his left (should have been an And-1). He gave up a layup on the other end with poor two-man D between him and Pau. He attacked to his right and muscled in a 4-footer on his way down (tough, tough shot). He pushed out the break, surveyed the floor and hit Sasha for the open corner three.

Vujacic -- -- "We've got to play smart basketball, road basketball," Sasha said as the key to a win over the Celtics tomorrow. Sasha was a team-high +16 tonight. That number reflects how well the second-unit played in the second half, but also that Sasha got to close out the game with the starters instead of Luke. He drained a big three in the fourth, but later he also gave up a not-so-smart And-1 foul in the final minute. Thankfully, his man missed the FT. "We didn't let them get second-chance baskets and that led to the win," Sasha said. Sasha's fake off the three line and pass to a teammate was what ended up spraining Bosh's knee as he tried to close and put the breaks on. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-3 shooting (1-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 foul in 18 minutes. The Action: He got caught in the middle of the lane undecided on whether to double or not, illegal D tech. He swished a wing jumper out of a timeout when we ran a play ofr him. He attacked the basleine and bounced to Pau for the short jumper. Second Half: He missed an open corner three, but stole it back at midcourt. Nice defensive board in a crowd to pull it down and then draw a foul on the push out. He drained a corner three in transition off the Farmar kickout (this forced a Raptor timeout). Soft D in transition, giving up an And-1 layup up by 4, stupid foul. He was fouled in the final seconds up by 6, he made both FTs.

Radmanovic -- -- He came in early for Luke when Luke got into foul trouble in the first half. Not a lot of action for him as we ran Luke, Ariza and Kobe at the SF and Phil couldn't survive with Vlad at PF against this team. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 8 minutes. The Action: He missed a corner three. He attacked off the dribble and charged on the pass. Second Half: He did not play in the second half.

Powell -- -- There was a stretch in this game when Powell and JO were swatting each other on three straight sequences. Unfortunately, Powell got the short end of that, getting rejected twice. An early appearance for Powell tonight when Lamar picked up his second foul midway through the first. With the Raptors size, we needed to play both Mihm and Powell. Defensively, some very tricky match-ups for Powell with Bargnani's mobility and jumper and the length of the other bigs. He got in on some good stops at times. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-6 shooting to go with 1 board, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 14 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: Good D on Bosh, blocking his post attempt. He missed a wing jumper. He fouled Bargnani on a jumpshot with 4 seconds left in the half. Second Half: He drained a FT jumper to tie the game at 87-87 to start the fourth. Nice challenge on Bargnani to force a miss. Too much space to Bargnani, giving up a three. On the other end, he overpowered him for a layup. He missed a jumphook with his left in early offense (Pau should be the one working that in early offense to set the table). He got rejected by JO at the rim. He blocked JO's dunk attempt at the other end. He was blocked again by JO in transition, trying to score off a pass trailing the action.

Mihm -- -- He came in for Pau in the middle of the second quarter. Not a good stint for Chris. He missed some chippies and was foul-prone on the other end. The Lakers have to get better production from him than that. Help is not likely going to come until Bynum gets back. Lisa Leslie may be available. (I kid. I kid.) The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-3 shooting (1-1 from the line) to go with 2 offensive boards and 3 fouls in 3 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He bricked a layup, costing Kobe an assist, he got it back and put back in the And-1, he made the FT. He gave up an And-1 to JO on the other end, too easily giving up low position. He missed a point-blank layup worried about the defender. He picked up another foul on JO, who attacked him off the dribble. Second Half: He did not play in the second half.

Phil -- -- It wasn't pretty, but you take those road wins any way you can get them... The Raptors went on an 11-2 early run to get some separation. After trailing by 12, Kobe buried a few threes and brought them back to within 23-21 and forcing a timeout... The Lakers trailed 31-26 after the end of the first... The coaches were irked by the number of fouls the Lakers committed on jumpshooters. They did if four times in the first quarter and a half... The Lakers tied it up 47-47. Then a couple makes by JO stretched the lead out. The Lakers really seemed to miss Bynum's length against JO. Too many easy hoops for JO... The Lakers trailed 63-58 after the first half. Poor defensive half, giving up easy hoops and 16 points to JO. They also missed a lot of chippies. The Raptors shot 51 percent... Some poor boxing out and team rebounding by the Lakers. Too many second chances, too many extra points at the line... After a few minutes of the third, Phil called a timeout. The defense was giving up too many easy second chances and easy shots. Not enough communication defensively. Still, they pecked away at the lead. No FTs for the Lakers in the third... The Lakers trailed 87-85 going into the fourth. Anyone's ballgame at this point with as soft as the Lakers have been playing... Trailing 94-93 Kobe and Lamar returned to run with Pau, Sasha and Farmar. A 7-0 run forced a Raptor timeout... The Lakers led 104-100 when Fish came in for Farmar... Phil called a timeout on the offensive end. Kobe missed a three when the play busted (Lamar couldn't get the screen down)... The Lakers gave up back-to-back three-point opportunities in the final minute. Thankfully, a FT was missed. The Lakers then went to a timeout with 23.6 seconds left with a 4-point lead. You know not to give up a three again, right? The Raptors took a baseline jumper instead and missed... "We were out of sync right off the bat," Phil said, highlighting the tip turnover and early foul trouble... Phil said the second unit did a good job making a difference in the second half...

Game Flow -- LINK -- The Lakers took control in the fourth quarter. Pau played the entire second half.

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB!

First

[BLP711]

Thanks DB!

[waterman40]

Lisa Leslie may be available.............. Classic.
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LAKERS 2019-2020: NBA World Champions!

[wolfpaclaker]

Gasol is so much better at Center, its not even funny. I love his offensive game here, his defense is better in regards to man to man but the anchoring is really the main difference. We miss Drew's defense inside, alot. O'Neal wouldn't go off on Bynum, thats been proven - and some of the layups/insie shots we give up not good. Major ups to Gasol though, he carried us on O, especially when Kobe went cold for a big stretch of the game. Pau !!!!

Late in the game (and to start) Kobe was fantastic. I am not a big fan of him taking that many shots when he's cold, but he closed extremely well. Props to Kobe. I read that Kobe's MSG record is safe too, Lebron finished with 52.

The D. Don't even get me started.

I only pray that the Lakers use more of Odom, Powell and Ariza as a 2nd unit tomorrow, and that they decide to play the defense they tend to play for about 5 minutes in most games, for about 36-40 minutes tomorrow.

[mike_dee23]

Farmar played the best he has all season during a stretch after a timeout at the beginning of the fourth. He had gone out of control on the previous 3 or 4 times down the court. Then there was a timeout and he came back in and was great. He seemed to tear down that barrier that prevented him from passing out to an open Sasha.
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MTFBWYA

[Dr. Laker]

As usual, 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".

[J.C. Smith]

[SladeRider]

The problem I'm having with the team is on rebounding, the number of times I've seen the ball come out for a rebound and ever Laker is just standing there. I think there was one occassion tonight where the ball rebounded, 4 Lakers stood there while Andrea Bargnani, moved and got the rebound and put it in for an easy layup before any of the Lakers knew what had happened.

They need to put in alot more effort on the defensive rebounding end, they need to be alot more active and look to get the ball when it comes off the rim or the backboard or if it's an airball because some of the things I've seen, you shouldn't even see from a high school team.
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"This is a comptitive city. We're used to winning titles, not just winning games and being in the first round. We want to win championships. Now's the time.", "do something, and do it now."
- Kobe Bryant

[DancingBarry]

SladeRider - I agree. Some of those boards you just didn't like the mentality. I'd rather see two guys fighting for the same board than everyone looking for everyone else to grab it or box out.

[IPK]

Three things. First...

[melo061]

[MedRomLaker]

The Pauder Keg(famine?) and the Bynumite(destruction?) will be united once more, thanks for the cap chief!
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11/9/12 the day the brown was flushed down!!!!!!

4/30/14 the day the ant left the building!!!!!!

[Nobody]

Not the prettiest of wins, but you take the road wins in every shape or form. 4-0 so far, hopefully our guys can go at least 1-1 in the remaining 2 games.

[20,000]

[limchrc]

Nice win. Thanks.

[prisma8slg]

thanks DB

[Sage_10]

Thanks 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

[ElginBaylor]

[J.C. Smith]

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

happy for the win and happy to be 4-0 thus far on the road trip, BUT im sick of this team talking about playing better defense and then going out and letting a sub-par team drop 60 in the first half.
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"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[Klone_dd]

The Lakers D on this roadie has been horrible in the 1st halves. Phil straighens things out and the team does respond better in the 2nd halves.

Kobe and Pau have amped up their output, getting 30+ from each consistently is HUGE. We'll still need someone else to step up from time to time.

The SF spot was largely silent. Hopefully, they won't get run over vs the Celts.

Now comes the rough spot in the roadie. 0-2 would be understandable, but not a good sign; 1-1 would make the trip a success; 2-0 would be a ginormous statement. Without AB, the frontcourt is going to be pushed and tested.

[Addicus]

Nice tie in of all the games and great use of words.
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Stop crying and start doing.

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/addicusbrown

[Rick12322]

Not having Bynum may turn out to be a blessing in that our defensive shortcomings are magnified. That should hopefully cause the team to improve those weaknesses so that when he comes back we are better than before. Hopefully!

[Theseus]

Sasha took out bosh?