LAKERS -at- NUGGETS - 2/27 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Heavy Legs... The Lakers arrived in Denver at 6 a.m. They pressed the snooze alarm for the first two quarters. Woke up briefly in the third, then went back to sleep in the fourth and fell 90-79 while shooting just 29.8 percent for the game.
The Lakers never had their legs. Jumpers were coming up way short, sometimes not hitting the rim at all. Offensively, they looked like they were stuck in the mud all night long.

It's tricky enough to play in Denver on the second night of a back-to-back situation, but arriving that early in the morning is trouble. Everyone had their issues, but the Lakers had to dig out of some big holes dug by the second unit once again. They second unit failed to run their offense with purpose. To start the fourth, they also gave up several layups on the other end.

If you put aside the obvious fatigue issues and that the team clearly missed Bynum (his size is too much for the Nuggets, but also our bench problems suddenly have fewer issues), you can focus on that second unit's execution. Ariza, Farmar, Sasha, Powell gave the Lakers nothing. They were outscored 47-7 by the Denver bench. Ouch.

The Lakers shot their worst all season and were just half a percent off a franchise low record for shooting percentage (29.4). Last night, they shot a scorching 57 percent and season-high 54 field goals. Guess they didn't save anything for this one.

The Nuggets needed this win after getting owned by the Lakers for so many games in a row. For the Lakers, no big deal ... rest up and start another streak.


Kobe -- -- Kobe was struggling with his shot, but you could see him trying to carry the team on his back. It was one of those nights where everyone was floundering and Kobe would try to impose himself to help overcome it. There were a couple stints where he lifted the team, but he also suffered from some of the fatigue. A number of his shots came up short and he shot blanks from three. Defensively, he seemed to dare people to shoot at times and got away with it mostly. The Stats: He scored 29 points on 10-31 shooting (0-6 from three, 9-12 from the line) to go with 8 boards (5 offensive), 2 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 40 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He missed a turnaround from the elbow. He and Jones drew a double tech in the post. He missed a baseline turnaround. He hit a 10-footer, pulling up in transition. He hit Pau for the open jumper. He missed a point-blank layup after going up high for the board. Held up by Jones again in the post, this time FTs for Kobe, he made one. He missed an early offense three. He missed a wing jumper. He missed a bad turnaround on the baseline (just reset the offense). He got it back and hit a wing jumper. He was called for a push-off foul. He missed a two-footer off an offensive board. He swished a pull-up 18-footer. He sank a sideline jumper working off the screens out of the timeout. He swished a wing jumper from the other side. Some great cuts off the ball and he picked up FTs on the entry pass, he made one. He swished a wing jumper after losing his man on another cut. He grabbed an Ariza airball and drew FTs (Laker fans giving him the "M-V-P" chants), he made one. He airballed a three. He missed a jumper, short. He missed a fallaway. He had 15 points on 6-16 shooting. Second Half: He didn't hit the rim on a chuck from three trying to beat the shotclock. He swished a pull-up 12-footer in transition. He drew FTs on a quick step-back jumper from the wing, he made both. He backed Jones down, powered into the lane and drew FTs, getting hit on the elbow and falling to the floor, he made both FTs. He missed a hanging wing jumper. He missed a pull-up jumper on the next trip. He blew past Andersen and scored a layup. He missed a short one that was cleaned up by LO and Pau. He missed a wild turnaround jumper. He hit a quick step-back wing jumper. He airablled a three next time down and wanted the foul. He swished a 22-footer. He scooped up a loose ball, pushed it down court and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a 3-footer on the baseline. He missed a wing three, short. He missed a runner off the glass. He got tapped on a deep wing three, down by 11. He came up short on a one-hander.

Gasol -- -- Pau was your most efficient player tonight. However, we seem to be relying on a gassed Gasol to carry the second unit. That's what it looks like at times. This worked better when we had Bynum and LO to give him some early rest. His impact now seems minimal and the second unit plays without purpose. I wouldn't mind giving Mbenga some first quarter minutes with the starters just to see if this could help that second unit when Pau comes back in. Defensively, Pau had a few breakdowns in our defensive schemes. Phil let him know during one timeout, but there were still times when Pau was MIA back there. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 6-13 shooting (6-6 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 40 minutes. He was a -12. The Action: He posted up Petro, spun and drew FTs, he made both. He swished an open baseline jumper on the Kobe kickout. He weaved back and forth in the post off the dribble and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a wide open elbow jumper. He missed a layup under the hoop. He worked for an offensive board off a missed FF and it led to a hoop for Luke. He had 6 points on 1-4 shooting. Second Half: He worked the post, got into the lane and hit the fade. He sold Petro like was going to attack the middle, the spun back and hit off th glass with his left. weak effort, just watching the Nuggets beat him to a board, then watching dribble penetration for a score. He missed a jumphook with his left. He posted up and hit the jumphook with his right with the hsotclock low. He was swatted after pump-faking a couple times. He cleaned up a save by Lamar after pmup-faking defenders. He was fouled on a double-team reach, he made both FTs. He missed a jumphook. He missed an open 14-footer, short. He scored a putback layup.

Lamar -- -- He was ticked all game long. The whistles came early for Lamar and sent him to the bench. Late, he couldn't buy a call at times. All this seemed to frustrate him. He still put in an aggressive effort. He missed a lot of little chippies because of all that contact. He got his shot blocked several times and would have been better making an extra pass on the interior with Andersen floating around looking for the shotblock. Some sloppy execution from the Lakers in that regard. They really seemed like they were more determined to just out-talent the Nuggets than out think and execute them. Good job on the boards by LO, again with huge numbers with his continual activity. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-17 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-4 from the line) to go with 19 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 5 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He was called for a foul challenging Kenyon's shot in the first minute. He attacked from the wing, wheeled around his man and drew a goaltend. He grabbed an offensive board, attacked around his man and scored the layup. He picked up his second foul while challenging dribble penetration late in the first quarter and had to sit. He was doing a good job dominating the boards. Back in and he picked up his third foul, a cheap one on the defensive glass and had to sit. He had 4 points and 7 boards. Second Half: He posted up Melo and quickly hit an And-1 turnaround over him to start the second half, he missed the FT. He got contact in traffic and went down with no call. He was swatted by Andersen. He attacked again and was swatted by Andersen. He crashed the glass and chucked the ball back inbounds, Pau scored off it. He missed a jumphook in the post. Out of a timeout, he attacked, turned the corner on Anderson and powered up an And-1 layup, he made the FT. He missed a layup, but Pau cleaned it. He missed another layup, taking contact with no call. He missed another layup with contact and no call, he tapped it back in and yelled at the refs. He took some contact and missed a step-back in the lane. He missed a three. He drew FTs on a layup attempt.

Luke -- -- Both he and DFish led the Lakers with a +9. That number wasn't so much about how well they played, but how much worse their bench counterparts played. Like everyone, his shot was a little off. Defensively, however, anytime he can get Melo on iso on the wings, that's trouble for the Nuggets. Our defensive scheme allows Luke to sit on Melo's shot and funnel him to our zone helpers. Melo ended up with 12 points on 4-17 shooting. But even that number is a bit off when considering Luke's D. Kobe allowed Melo two dunks on switches and Ariza allowed a layup with a bad angle. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-7 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 34 minutes. The Action: He swished a wing jumper standing on the three line. He missed an open wing jumper on the break. Nice D on Melo, sitting on his shot and forcing a brick. He missed an 18-footer. He missed an open sideline three. Horrible kickout pass getting caught in the air, turnover. He swiped it back at the other end on a switch and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a three from the top of the arc. He sank a wing jumper. He was dumped to the floor by Kenyon to draw an offensive foul. Second Half: He hit DFish on the break for a three.

Fisher -- -- It took him a few shots before he seemed to get his legs. He eventually, he dialed in the Lakers only two three-pointers of the night. The rest of the team went 0-16 from the three line. That's some fancy shooting. Defensively, he was his usual self, which meant some scrappy plays to cause turnovers, some breakdowns. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-7 shooting (2-5 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal and 5 fouls in 35 minutes. The Action: He drew a moving screen on Petro. He dove to deflect a bounce pass off a Nugget in transition D. He missed a tough 19-footer on the other end. He missed a sideline three. He made a tech FT. He funneled his man to no one and Phil let Pau have it for not covering the lane. He missed a three, way short, got it back and bricked badly again. He set up Mbenga for a layup off the two-man game. He ball-faked and stepped into a three, this time burying it. Second Half: He ripped the net on a wing three when Luke found him on the break. He overthrew an outlet pass that would have been a sure breakaway score for the Lakers. He missed a floater.

Ariza -- -- Ugly game by Ariza. Again, it was another one of those where I couldn't wait until Luke returned. Even though Luke's been playing well, that's not good. I cringed when the ball was in his hands because you knew it wasn't going to turn into anything good. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-6 shooting (0-3 from three) to go with 2 rebounds, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 18 minutes. He was a -18. The Action: Bad in-bounds pass with 3.5 seconds in the quarter and it was picked off. He threw another pass away, falling on a drive and chucking it out of bounds. He missed a wing three trying to beat the shotclock. He airballed a 20-footer. He didn't draw iron on an attack and scoop. Second Half: He missed a wing three. Horrible pass trying to force it into Pau when his man sagged off him, dunk the other way. He missed another three (ugggh).

Farmar -- -- He did a very poor job of floor generally the second unit. In fact, he played with no purpose out there. In his 14 minutes, he was a -18. That's the second unit getting their collective butts kicked. It's games like this, where the starters are struggling, that a bench player like Farmar needs to step up and assert himself. He did just the opposite. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-4 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 1 assist and 2 turnovers in 14 minutes. The Action: He missed a wing jumper. Second Half: He attacked and had the ball poked free from behind for a layup the other way. He missed a long three, short. He missed a three. He scored a meaningless layup when the game was ticking down...although, had Farmar not made that layup this game would have gone down as the worst shooting game in L.A. Laker history.

Vujacic -- -- The Sasha vs. J.R. Smith match-up seemed to turn the game into the Nuggets favor in the first half. I wouldn't say it was all downhill form there since we were playing horribly anyway. But that's the match-up that really hurt in a few, foul-prone minutes. Sasha played just 13 minutes, but was a team-high -19. All those shots he took yesterday certainly did nothing to fix this broken Machine. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-3 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 5 fouls. The Action: He missed a quick-fire wing three. Second Half: He clanked another wing three. He swiped the ball in the backcourt, but bricked.

Powell -- -- He came in for Lamar with 3 minutes left in the first when LO had foul issues. He did a decent job on the boards, but generally played weak D and his offensive execution was clunky. He's got to continue learning the system and some of the basics. We did a poor job playing to Powell's strengths once again. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-5 shooting to go with 5 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 9 minutes. The Action: He missed an early offense face-up jumper. He kept a Kobe miss alive and reset the offense. He missed a short jumper, but got it back. He was swatted at the front of the rim on another offensive board. He was called for a clear-out foul off the ball in the post. He let a guard split the double on a bad hedge, it led to FTs under the hoop. He was called for an offensive foul, turning while handing the ball off (Tri 101). He swished a 16-footer. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Mbenga -- -- He came in for Pau with 2 minutes in the half, then later with Kobe in the fourth. He seemed to be the only bench player to give the Lakers anything. We probably shouldn't start the offense, however, by dumping the ball to him in the post. The team just seems to be going through the motions when we do this. We're better working the two-man game with him or allowing him to work on the weakside. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-1 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 1 board and 1 foul in 6 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He scored a layup off the two-man game with Fish. He got an offensive board, head faked and drew a foul, he made one FT. Second Half: He came in with Kobe early in the fourth quarter. Nothing to report.

Phil -- -- The Nuggets were into the penalty within 5 minutes. Neither team shot well, but the Lakers got to the line throughout the first quarter. The Lakers led 19-16 after the first quarter. The Lakers made 6-23 in that quarter... The Pau, Powell, Ariza, Sasha, Farmar unit struggled and trailed 24-19 when Phil brought in LO for Powell. That was extended to a 13-0 Denver run... Turnovers and once again the second unit running their offense with no purpose and they trailed 29-19... The Lakers had just 23 points after the first 18 minutes... They ended up shooting 8-22 in the second quarter. Most of the makes seemed like Kobe hitting jumpers... The Lakers trailed 46-40 on a horrible shooting first half. They shot 14-45, 31 percent. They were just 1-10 from three, but they won the offensive glass 14-6. Lowest first half total and shooting percentage for the Lakers... The coaches wanted the Lakers to crash the offensive glass, knowing the shots weren't going to fall... The Lakers pulled out to a 5-point lead, but were reeled back in and trailed 66-63 heading into the fourth... Could the second unit hold down the fort? Phil ran a Pau, Lamar, Ariza, Sasha, Farmar lineup. They gave up three layups to start the fourth and trailed by 9... Phil sat Pau and Lamar after 2 minutes for Kobe and Mbenga... When Phil brought back the starting lineup, they trailed 78-69 with half a quarter left... They never recovered... The two teams shot a combined 5-42 from three. The Nuggets had 11 blocks to the Lakers 1...

[ksmgf]

First after a loss

[Banzai]

I'll sleep fine...the Lakers were clearly tired and it showed. If anyone cares..John Ireland predicted that the Lakers would fall tonight due to late arrival and not enough sleep.

[Arizona]

Flush it and on to the next one. Probably our best and worst games of the seasons back to back. Ironic. We need to get a beatdown in PHX. I'll be at that game.
_________________
“I’m just a basketball player, you know? Just put me where you need me.” -Lamar Odom

“You’ve got to play with pride and guts.” -LO

[DancingBarry]

^ They might just be ticked off enough from this game to dish it out on the road.

[abciximab]

[Burgundy]

This is a game that can be chalked up as a "scheduling loss," HOWEVER:

Something needs to be done about Farmar and Sasha. They're KILLING the team. I was shocked to see that they both only played around 14 minutes, because in those 14 minutes, they had such a profoundly negative impact on the team.

It's getting ridiculous. The two of them have been horrific together for way too long. Phil needs to, at the very least, split them up. You can't have too turnover-prone, shot-happy guards in the back court who can't play any defense at the same time.

Ariza had a bad game, too - but you can call it an off night. With Sasha and Farmar, it's a pattern. They've been consistently attrocious. Even last night, against D-Leaguers, in a blow-out, they could barely maintain the lead.

Phil needs to start experimenting with working Brown and Morrison into the line-up. He needs to shake things up.

[10scott10]

Well I doubt we will shoot a franchise low shooting percentage every game

[mefor3]

awful...lakers were completely out of it today.

With that said, I think it was the first time that we really missed Bynum since he got injured

[parsons777]

[abciximab]

[10scott10]

[limchrc]

Let's win the next one. Thanks for the recap.

[prisma8slg]

thanks DB. the bench was non-existent.
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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."

[Addicus]

Strangely enough this game showed the Lakers do play defense as a unit because they should have been blown out by 25+. No one stopped giving effort and they were within 7 with 3 minutes left. I came away with a lot of respect for them because of that. This team doesn't lay down and take ass whoopins like Game 6 of the Finals anymore. It fights for every victory and that will allow them to win it all.
_________________
Stop crying and start doing.

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

[Rick12322]

Thanks for the recap DB, it must be annoying recapping losses. Anyway, I haven't seen refs come out with this tone in a long time, it was ugly, unusual, and reeks of a fixin to me.

Regarding all those other topics that show up during games, too bad you can't program a master switch that dis-allows creating topics during games.

[soltini]

Lakers played about as horrible as possible and still could have won this game when they were only down 7 with about 4 minutes left in the game. get a couple of stops and get a couple of buckets and we could have got this one. I certainly hope Denver doesn't take anything positive out of the game besides winning it, because for how horrible the Lakers played last night the Nuggets should have won by 40

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Can't win them all. 70 would be nice, though.

Phoenix will be a good test, and hopefully a good opportunity to forget this Denver game.

[lakerfn4lfe]

They were shooting sooo bad, I'm not sure Bynum would have made that much of a difference, but the basket did seem to have a lid on it. If Bynum were there, he would have had a lot of dunks and layups. So, you're probably right, Drew would have made a difference.

[PepsiShine]

teams lose games sometimes, you cant go the season undefeated. no one is worried about the nuggets

[JUST-MING]

All the players looked out of gas. But if I had to blame it on somebody, it would be Sasha. Left JR Smith wide open. He broke the game open in the second quarter.

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

thought the game slipped away when we were up 55-50 and had three possessions to push the lead and kobe settled for 2 bad jumpers and luke led a 4 on 3 break and stopped his dribble. if i remember correctly billups then scored 5 straight.
_________________
"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu