LAKERS -at- MAVS - 2/7 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings
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A Mad Chinaman
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 12:25 pm    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- MAVS - 2/7 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

DancingBarry wrote:

Some pretty crazy officiating on the night, dishing out bogus techs and flagrants to the Lakers as well as ignoring a lot of the clutching and grabbing on Kobe by the Mavs. For his part, Kobe played a poor game, missing from the perimeter and still firing away. Brian Cook made our offensive game respectable by going for a career high 28. And, Lamar gutted out the injury and played a strong game. Good to see him out there.

Phil struggled with trying to find the right mix of players out of the gates. The guys tonight with the bad +/- rating were Sasha (-25), Kwame (-19) and Luke (-17). The Mavs went on a 19-2 run that stretched the end of the third and start of the fourth that lost all the Lakers momentum. With Kobe having an off-game, we couldn't pull out of the tail spin.

Phil -- -- Phil, obviously annoyed with the officials at the end of the game, kept the Lakers in the huddle after a delay of game warning. The officials then called a tech on him... Mavs got out to a 9-0 lead and Phil called a timeout. Smush hit a three off a Kobe kickout out of the timeout. Their only score for nearly first 6 minutes of the game. Lakers had a season-low tying 10-point first quarter on 3-17 shooting... Lakers doing a poor job countering the overplaying of the passing lanes to Kobe... Cook and Lamar getting the offense going in the second quarter... Phil benched Kwame to start the second half, opting for George... The Lakers tied the game up midway through the third quarter... Shortly after that when the bench unit came in, they trailed again by 15 a couple minutes into the fourth... The Lakers shot .388 on the game and went 7-29 from three. They have been doing a poor job with getting the ball in the post or getting any kind of dribble penetration. They clearly miss Mihm on both ends of the floor...


DB - Your analysis brings a great reality to our discussion on the plight/status of the Lakers - as oppose to rumors, etc.

Questions:
Considering that this team is very young, how much do you think that the many bogus calls/non-calls were affecting the players outside of Kobe - especially the so-called "flagrant" fouls that provided extra possessions for the Mavs?

What else could Kobe do during the game? Kobe's low percentages didn't bothered me that much because he was taking the shots in the flow of the offense, attacking the basket and/or forced to shoot "prayer" (for any other player) shots - plus he was trying to get the other players involved. So Kobe was definitely not a ball-hog or a detriment - he was just lacking being outrageously great to pull this game out.

Cookie got the ball a lot, generally, does his offensive game provide enough positives to compensate for his defensive defficiencies?

Why do you think that Bynum didn't play in the 2nd half? It appeared that his length was causing problems in the paint and he brought energy to the game? Since he could run the court with the Mavs and they had only one true center, it could have worked well.

Anybody know what is happening inside of KBrown's head?!?!?! Does he have a head?

I think that Luke will be good for this team during the playoffs when they get their defensive rotations down, does anybody else think so? Since Luke is not a good "one on one" defender, he will always be exposed when there is no good team defense being played. When the rotations are not there and/or KBrown is in the game, he definitely gets exposed. When there are no shooters in the game, outside of Kobe, his lack of scoring gets magnified.

Wow - we might see a Bynum vs. Yao confrontation?!?!?! Who would have thunk?!?!?!
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 1:19 pm    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- MAVS - 2/7 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

A Mad Chinaman wrote:


Questions:
Considering that this team is very young, how much do you think that the many bogus calls/non-calls were affecting the players outside of Kobe - especially the so-called "flagrant" fouls that provided extra possessions for the Mavs?

Hard to say how much. I know Smush tends to give up a little at times and after one drive he was very slow to get back, complaining to the refs. Lamar, who sometimes has issues, seemed solid. George was clearly frustrated, but seemed to stay with it. Bynum just seemed in disbelief at the flagrant.
Quote:

What else could Kobe do during the game? Kobe's low percentages didn't bothered me that much because he was taking the shots in the flow of the offense, attacking the basket and/or forced to shoot "prayer" (for any other player) shots - plus he was trying to get the other players involved. So Kobe was definitely not a ball-hog or a detriment - he was just lacking being outrageously great to pull this game out.

A real simple thing would have been running just a two-man game with Cook. If they want to double Kobe off the ball in that situation, fine. I suspect they would have had some difficulty trying to figure out who to stop. It probably would have allowed Kobe to get speed heading into the lane or pull-ing up for mid-rangers if they stuck with Cook. As I've said before, when Cook has a hot hand, the game becomes real simple. Didn't seem that way last night.
Quote:

Cookie got the ball a lot, generally, does his offensive game provide enough positives to compensate for his defensive defficiencies?

Yeah, sometimes. It depends on the opponent, too. I think especially off the bench he can be an effective player. Give you some offense when Kobe or Lamar is resting. Defensively, I think you need to watch if teams start attacking the rim with him in there and the defensive glass. So, you may often need to keep a swatting/rebounding big in there.
Quote:

Why do you think that Bynum didn't play in the 2nd half? It appeared that his length was causing problems in the paint and he brought energy to the game? Since he could run the court with the Mavs and they had only one true center, it could have worked well.

Phil was matching up small with the Mavs. I think once Bynum becomes more automatic offensively, you will see Phil make other teams match up with us.
Quote:

Anybody know what is happening inside of KBrown's head?!?!?! Does he have a head?


He needs to sack up and work his butt off on the glass and defensive end. If he can carve out some kind of a niche there, maybe he gets a little more confident on the other end. But, I swear, that touch around the glass is amazingly bad.

Quote:

I think that Luke will be good for this team during the playoffs when they get their defensive rotations down, does anybody else think so? Since Luke is not a good "one on one" defender, he will always be exposed when there is no good team defense being played. When the rotations are not there and/or KBrown is in the game, he definitely gets exposed. When there are no shooters in the game, outside of Kobe, his lack of scoring gets magnified.


I suppose he is one of the few on this team with big game playoff experience. Perhaps, he, McKie and George will help in that regard. But... I wouldn't get your hopes up too high. Yes, without some quality scorers (particularly big men he can set up), Luke game becomes more exposed.
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 1:49 pm    Post subject:

Cook earned a few more fans.
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A Mad Chinaman
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 08, 2006 3:48 pm    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- MAVS - 2/7 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

DancingBarry wrote:
A Mad Chinaman wrote:
Questions:
Considering that this team is very young, how much do you think that the many bogus calls/non-calls were affecting the players outside of Kobe - especially the so-called "flagrant" fouls that provided extra possessions for the Mavs?
Hard to say how much. I know Smush tends to give up a little at times and after one drive he was very slow to get back, complaining to the refs. Lamar, who sometimes has issues, seemed solid. George was clearly frustrated, but seemed to stay with it. Bynum just seemed in disbelief at the flagrant.
I agree with your comments. In addition, it appear that the team (collectively) seemed befuddled at how the refs were calling the game since it was very evident that it was one-sided. It might have been the reason why Luke didn't drive towards the paint when he attempted the short range jumper. Somehow, the team has to learn how to overcome this kind of garbage - even Kobe didn't seemed as intense (though, even at his relatively lower level of intensity was way higher than the rest of the players.
DancingBarry wrote:
Quote:
What else could Kobe do during the game? Kobe's low percentages didn't bothered me that much because he was taking the shots in the flow of the offense, attacking the basket and/or forced to shoot "prayer" (for any other player) shots - plus he was trying to get the other players involved. So Kobe was definitely not a ball-hog or a detriment - he was just lacking being outrageously great to pull this game out.
A real simple thing would have been running just a two-man game with Cook. If they want to double Kobe off the ball in that situation, fine. I suspect they would have had some difficulty trying to figure out who to stop. It probably would have allowed Kobe to get speed heading into the lane or pull-ing up for mid-rangers if they stuck with Cook. As I've said before, when Cook has a hot hand, the game becomes real simple. Didn't seem that way last night.
Makes sense, except one would suspect that opposing teams would just sag off all the other players (hence double-teaming Kobe while forcing Cookie to drive) that are reluctant and/or couldn't score that night - though LO did attacked the paint sporadically.

Why didn't the team (as suggested by Stu that they "back door" Kobe's man? Since the Princeton offense sets are similar to "The Triangle" - it was odd.

It was good to see LO set-up near/in the paint to be in the position that Magic often had in running the offensive sets. With his height, he was able to see over his defender to set up his teammates? Wondering why this didn't happened more often since it was working well and it controlled the tempo for the Lakers.
DancingBarry wrote:
Quote:
Cookie got the ball a lot, generally, does his offensive game provide enough positives to compensate for his defensive defficiencies?
Yeah, sometimes. It depends on the opponent, too. I think especially off the bench he can be an effective player. Give you some offense when Kobe or Lamar is resting. Defensively, I think you need to watch if teams start attacking the rim with him in there and the defensive glass. So, you may often need to keep a swatting/rebounding big in there.
That makes sense. It appears that having Kwame & Cook in at the same time is definitely not the way to go. Could Bynum (Mihm when he is healthy) and Cook in at the same time provide better results - couldn't get any worse
DancingBarry wrote:
Quote:
Why do you think that Bynum didn't play in the 2nd half? It appeared that his length was causing problems in the paint and he brought energy to the game? Since he could run the court with the Mavs and they had only one true center, it could have worked well.
Phil was matching up small with the Mavs. I think once Bynum becomes more automatic offensively, you will see Phil make other teams match up with us.
Good point. Maybe when Phil starts calling Bynum's number on offense and/or they actually put him at the Low Block that would instantly identify if he is getting single or double coverage. I understand that PJ wants to limit his minutes, but with Kwame definitely going "SOUTH" - Bynum has shown that he has the passion to mix it up and the length to change shots and actually hustling on the court - as oppose to Kwame's "ball-watching."
DancingBarry wrote:
Quote:
Anybody know what is happening inside of KBrown's head?!?!?! Does he have a head?
He needs to sack up and work his butt off on the glass and defensive end. If he can carve out some kind of a niche there, maybe he gets a little more confident on the other end. But, I swear, that touch around the glass is amazingly bad.
PJ needs him to reread "The Art of War" and/or a Tom Robbins book?!?!?! If he is injuried and/or "tired" - he should just sit
DancingBarry wrote:
Quote:
I think that Luke will be good for this team during the playoffs when they get their defensive rotations down, does anybody else think so? Since Luke is not a good "one on one" defender, he will always be exposed when there is no good team defense being played. When the rotations are not there and/or KBrown is in the game, he definitely gets exposed. When there are no shooters in the game, outside of Kobe, his lack of scoring gets magnified.

I suppose he is one of the few on this team with big game playoff experience. Perhaps, he, McKie and George will help in that regard. But... I wouldn't get your hopes up too high. Yes, without some quality scorers (particularly big men he can set up), Luke game becomes more exposed.
Agreed, but he could be valuable during playoff time since PJ (as stated in the L.A. Times) has plans to go beyond one round - which is still definitely very realistic and possible - despite the many nay-sayers. Thoughts?
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