LAKERS -at- SUNS - 11/20 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

Road Crew… How do you measure success in the NBA? There are, of course, many ways — a team’s record on the road is one of them. The Lakers extended their road record to 5-0 with a 105-92 win over the Phoenix Suns. Not exactly the gunslinging, high-octane shootout we might have seen in the past.

The Lakers opened up with a perimeter-oriented attack that was very similar to the poor execution against Detroit. Kobe and DFish combined for 1-10 shooting in that first stint, not working the ball around in the offense. Once we tightened that up and got better ball movement, the Lakers turned the tables on the Suns. They kept a very steady, measured attack going, while locking down on the Suns defensively.

One Vlad the Impaler showed up tonight. He killed the Suns from behind the three line, hitting all five threes he took.

Another key stat: just 7 turnovers for the Lakers. Meanwhile, the Lakers caused 15 Suns turnovers from which they scored 21 points. They kept Amare as a perimeter threat and made Shaq into the Big Whatever.

“We just concentrated on defense,” Lamar said. “Defense is the key for our team. As long as we do it defensively we will get the job done.”

Props to the AZ Syndicate for representing tonight. A lot of noise from Laker fans in Phoenix.

Kobe — — Kobe was clanking the jumper throughout the game. Unlike the game against Detroit, however, he was able to get into the heart of the D in a variety of ways. His success was completely in the paint. Outside of the paint, he was 1-11, inside 7-12. He saw a variety of defenders, but it wasn’t anything the Suns were doing on the perimeter, just Kobe off. The Stats: He scored 24 points on 8-23 shooting (1-5 from three, 7-9 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 3 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 33 minutes. The Action: He got tapped on a three to start the game. He was fouled on a lob pass from Vlad in transition, he made both FTs. He spun in the post and missed, going down with no call. He lost the ball on a baseline attack, taking more contact. He missed a 19-footer. He missed a tech FT. He missed another 18-footer, no ball movement. He hit a short turnaround in the lane. He crossed-over Diaw, then lost Amare and scored a layup. He dunked off the pass from Ariza. He missed a long jumper out of a timeout. He attacked Hill, earning a trip to the line, he made both FTs. He missed off the glass over a couple defenders. He got hit on a FT jumper with no call. He missed a layup after losing Hill. He attacked off the high screen, slipped past Shaq and scored a layup. He scored 12 points on 4-12 shooting (4-5 from the line). Second Half: He dunked after we stole the ball and he busted out. He swished a three with the shotclock low. He was short on a three on his next attempt. He missed off the glass trying to work the post. He grabbed a rebound from two players, pushed it up, avoided Nash trying to take a charge and hit the floater. He got into the middle of the lane, spun on Nash and was swallowed up by white jerseys for a foul, he made both FTs. He forced a tough jumper over a couple defenders in the post. He missed a three. He crossed-over Bell and hit the floater in the lane. He worked from the high wing, the clock running down, he spotted Lamar cutting baseline toward him, so he zipped a pass under the hoop for a layup. He drew FTs shooting over Amare, he made one (Suns fans trying to quiet the MVP chants). He missed a three. He missed a hanging 4-footer with a man all over him. He missed a turnaround jumper.

Gasol — — Pau, apparently, was trying to balance out the high-scoring game he had last time out. Actually, we didn’t get the ball to him early. In fact, he had just 3 post touches in the first half. That’s ridiculous. Our guards came out pumping jumpers and ignored the bigmen in the post. He had a couple nice post scores, but that was it. In the second half, his jumper wasn’t there. You could see him pass up normally good looks. Still, having Pau as a known perimeter threat caused the Suns problems. They had to pull out one of their bigmen on D and that helped open up the interior. Because of the ease he scored in the post over Amare, the Suns also had to send help. The result: Pau led the team in assists with 9. That…was some very effective Triangle work. Okay, the behind-the-back feed to Fisher on the break was impressive, too. He led the Lakers with a +21. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-8 shooting, had 9 boards (3 offensive), 9 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 2 fouls in 34 minutes. The Action: He missed a turnaround in the post. He missed an elbow jumper (second attempt in first 9 minutes). He posted up and hit a short jumphook with his left. He posted Amare up again and hit the short hook on the baseline. He took an elbow into his chest from Shaq for an offensive foul. He missed an elbow jumper. He had 4 points on 2-5 shooting. He had just 3 post touches in the half. Second Half: He swiped a pass and hit Kobe for the dunk. He posted up Shaq, drew Vlad’s man and found Vlad for the three. He pushed out the break, went behind his back to Fish who hit the three. He airballed a jumper trying to beat the shotclock. He missed an open jumper short. From the high post, he bounced to Farmar backdoor for the layup.

Bynum — — Bynum and Shaq meet again. Kobe on how Bynum should defend Shaq: “Just be fundamentally sound. That’s the key. You can’t be overzealous. The most important part is you’ve got to do your work early.” On the money by Kobe. Bynum had some issues with that and found himself in foul trouble and limited minutes. He and Shaq only went head to head for about 12 minutes. Offensively, he put up reasonable numbers in his short game. The guards started to create for him in the second half. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 5-8 shooting, 7 boards, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 21 minutes. The Action: Shaq spun on him for a dunk. He got blocked from behind by Amare. He fumbled the ball, chased it down and swished a 10-footer over Shaq. He posted up Amare and hit the short jumphook. He was stripped after turning into the paint. He took an offensive rebound from behind Shaq (don’t see Shaq getting out-reached often), this later led to a dunk for Kobe. Shaq drew back-to-back fouls on Bynum on one offensive sequence, getting Drew into foul trouble and forcing him to sit (Drew reached on a drive to the middle and then got caught in the air on another up-fake, Shaq missed his FTs). Second Half: Nash went between Bynum’s legs with a pass to create a dunk for a teammate. Fish countered by drawing Shaq and hitting Bynum the dunk. He got away with a moving screen, rolled to the hoop and took the pass from Kobe for the dunk. He purposely fouled Shaq from behind and had to sit just 3 minutes into the half (Shaq made one). He airballed an awkward looking running jumphook with the left hand (looked like he was fouled). Farmar created off the dribble and found Drew for the dunk.

Radmanovic — — The most threes he has made in a game is 8. He’s done that twice. He might have had the chance to tie that had he gotten any fourth quarter minutes (he still got a lot of run). The Impaler was back and he sucked the life from the Suns with his three ball. We’ve got to have a shooter. Someone has to step up. Kobe wasn’t able to. Fish wasn’t. Thankfully, Vlad was on fire. That helped stretch the floor for the Lakers and make the Suns pay for sagging. If Space Cadet shows up and with a wheelbarrow full of bricks, we might have a close game. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-6 shooting (5-5 from three) to go with 5 boards, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 26 minutes. The Action: He drained a wing three. He sank a sideline three in early offense. Back in, he brought rain with a stepback three. He had 9 points on 3-3 shooting. Second Half: He charged on a pass-off, it looked like Nash moved under him when he was in the air. He tried to pressure Nash by himself in the backcourt, foul on Vlad. He took the Pau kickout and drained another three. He missed a corner jumper next time down in transition. He broke up a lob pass to his man. Left open trailing the break and he sank another three.

Fisher — — He started off the game gunning. Little ball movement and a slew of jumpers or wild attacks in the lane. After the last home game where he had seemed to settle in to moving the ball and not forcing the issue, he started right off like the Detroit loss. The moment he sat after his first stint, the Lakers went on a run by getting into the paint and scoring. Defensively, DFish and the team contained Nash well, just 8 points on 3-9 shooting and 10 assists. Nash didn’t have as many lanes or cutters to effectively cause problems. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-9 shooting (1-3 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 rebound, 4 assists and 3 fouls in 26 minutes. The Action: He missed a floater in the lane. He missed a wing jumper, got it back and immediately bricked a three. He probed the lane and drew contact on Shaq for FTs, he made both. He missed a corner three. He attacked in transition and bricked badly, it led to a three the other way. He was 0-5 in that stint. He fed Lamar in transition for a layup. He hit a patented toe-on-the-three-line/early-offense jumper. He was 1-6 in the first half. (Better second stint, not forcing it.) Second Half: He swished a jumper over Shaq off the two-man game with Pau. Again, early offense, behind a screen, he pulls up for a 22-footer and misses. He pulled up in transition (four Lakers on the break), taking the Gasol behind-the-back pass and he hit a three (yes, I was holding my breath).

Lamar — — When we have a big fella out with foul trouble, Lamar steps in and keeps the ball rolling. After a couple short games with foul trouble and Phil not using him, Lamar got some longer run tonight. Again, another excellent job off the bench. He missed a couple of those lefty layups, but he played a strong game. He was aggressive and even had some off-the-ball work. He and Ariza had a key stretch early in the fourth when they seemed to take the life from the Suns. Both Pau and Lamar kept Amare to a perimeter scorer. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 6-11 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 9 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 32 minutes. The Action: He posted up Diaw, spun and hit across his body off the glass. He scored a layup against the zone off a quick pass from Ariza. He missed a floater (should have waited for a slow moving Drew to throw the lob to). He took a feed from Fish, didn’t know he wasn’t covered under the hoop, hesitated, then scored the easy one when he realized he was open. Second Half: He missed a layup off the pinch post attack (got to ride those in, Lamar). He missed again the next time down. He sank a short elbow jumper when Pau drew his man. Nice baseline cut from the weakside, Kobe found him and he scored a reverse at the end of the third. He posted up and hit Ariza on the dive cut for a dunk. He pulled up off the dribble and swished a three that forced the Suns to call a timeout. Nice hustle to track down a Farmar missed three and he threw it off a defender. He got cracked on the head after a drive he missed, he was down on the floor for a few seconds and later asking teammates to look for a bump.

Ariza — — There’s our double-digit bench scorer again. In fact, both our L.A. Law duo in Ariza and Farmar showed up tonight. (Getting three players to score in double digits off the bench on the road is trouble for opponents.) He probably had the defensive play of the night with a recovery on Hill to swat his jumper out of bounds. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-8 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 3 assists, 1 block and 1 foul in 22 minutes. The Action: He found Lamar under the hoop against the zone for a layup. He passed up a perimeter shot with the shotclock low, attacked the lane and scored the layup. He missed a wing jumper. He missed a three with the shotclock low. He pulled Kobe’s man toward him and dished to Kobe for a dunk. Second Half: He dunked when he dove down the lane and got the pass from Lamar who was posting up. He pulled up in early offense and hit the 17-footer. Explosive recovery to Hill and he swatted his jumper out of bounds. He missed a hanging layup trying to draw the foul. Good hustle off a Kobe missed FT to tie up Diaw for a jumpball (Sasha stole the ball off the tip and hit a jumper). He hit an 18-footer off the pass from Mihm. He sank a couple FTs. He missed a sideline three.

Farmar — — The moment Farmar and Ariza came in, the Lakers went on a run. Sometimes, I can’t wait for the bench to get in. I’m not so sure it wasn’t what they did in this game, in what they weren’t doing. The offense started to click more. The team quickly looked like the dominant version of the purple and gold. Farmar was steady on the road in both halves. Nice to see. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 5-11 shooting (1-3 from three, 0-1 from the line) to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 22 minutes. The Action: He missed a 19-footer in the lane against the zone. He missed a wing jumper. He swiped the pass from his man on the perimeter and scored a bustout layup. He bricked a three with the shotclock low. He bircked a runner badly and wanted the foul (looked like he got undercut). He sank an open sideline three against the zone. Second Half: Nice attack on Nash, but he bricked the layup. Sweet cut behind his man to lose him and Pau bounced to him for a layup. He iso’d on his man and hit the baseline jumper. He clanked a three on the break. He created off the dribble, drew Bynum’s man and threaded a pass to Bynum for the slam. Nice offensive board, going up high between a couple Suns. He took the pass from Luke off the pinch post and powered up an And-1 jumper, he missed the FT. He hit Luke for a three. He rejected a Suns bigman from behind.

Vujacic — — Good two-way effort. He was aggressive on D, but effective. He hit some midrange jumpers on offense. And he and Ariza seem to be over their little incident. I don’t know how he didn’t get credit for a steal in this game. Looked like he pulled one ball right out of a Suns player’s hands. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-4 shooting and had 3 fouls in 17 minutes. The Action: He drained a wing jumper off the two-man sequence with Lamar. He tried to force a lob to Ariza (it was late, but I’m betting that was a carry over from the prior game. This time Ariza pointed at him to give him props). Ariza gave him the in-bounds after that play and Sasha knocked down the short jumper. Second Half: Pressure D on Bell, forcing him to throw a pass away. Machine steal ball off Suns tip, Machine hit quick baseline jumper in nanosecond.

Mihm — — Phil put him in with under 4 minutes left. Thought he might go to him earlier for a brief stretch but Pau and Lamar took care of business with Bynum out. The Stats: He grabbed a board and had an assist in 4 minutes. The Action: Did not play in the first half. Second Half: He fed Ariza for a jumper.

Luke — — He got in with under 4 minutes minutes left. He and Farmar teamed up for a couple of scores. Those two do seem to have some chemistry. Game was pretty much over, although Phil did take a timeout after a couple Suns scores. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-2 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 1 assist and no fouls in 4 minutes. The Action: Did not play in the first half. Second Half: He hit Farmar cutting off him for an And-1. He posted up a Suns scrub and got soundly rejected. He answered with a corner three a few seconds later.

Phil — — The Lakers started 2-10 with a perimeter oriented attack, back to the style we played against Detroit early on. The Suns pulled out to a 5-point lead shortly later… Fish and Kobe started off 1-10… With Fisher sitting, the Lakers closed out the quarter on an 8-0 run, getting into the lane for a series of scores. The Lakers led 26-24… “We were stumbling around in the quarter,” Phil said… The run was stretched to 14-0, but the Suns answered with a 13-2 run… The Lakers gave up a number of And-1s and threes early on… The Lakers forced a Suns timeout, pulling out to 46-39 lead. They started to lockdown defensively in this stretch… The Lakers led 50-44. They had just 3 turnovers to the Suns 8 turnovers… The Suns went small after the Lakers pulled out to a 14-point lead near the end of the third… We led 80-67 after three quarters… Midway through the fourth, Phil went to a Bynum, Ariza, Kobe, Sasha, Farmar lineup. A lot of ways we can play small ball, too… The Lakers got out-rebounded 46-41, but kept the turnovers to just 7. They went 10-21 from three…

Game Flow — — The Lakers imposed their will with a couple of runs in the second and third quarter that the Suns didn’t answer. Note the trio of Pau, Kobe and Lamar were the highest +/- on the team.