LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 1/8 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Bad Juju... You take a short trip up the river to a place where the water turns stagnant and the air stale. The Horsemen aren't fond of coming here, and you want to know why. It's not until come around a bend and start picking up the vibe that permeates the darkness when you realize you're simply unprepared.

At the edge of a river is a pale gray house with weather-worn window coverings and a decaying roof. Its walls are stained by creeping mold and the effects of time. It looks cursed.

The boat stops at the bank and you ponder whether you should get out or move on. As you are about to step on land, a flame flickers to life inside the house. Through the rotting window, a woman appears near the fire. Her eyes are chalk white and rolled back in her head as she chants. She laughs and sticks a pin into a purple and gold doll. Somewhere in the distance you hear a scream. It's mimicked and mocked by other screams. She binds up several of the dolls with tight rope and chants more.

You see movement in the jungle. Faces flash in and out of the darkness, white paint and darkened eyes. They look like skulls. You're not sure what kind of black magic is at play here, but it's out of your league right now. Worst of all, you've left your good luck charm back home. Maybe it's for the best.

As you quietly climb back aboard the boat and pull away from the bank, something splashes in the water and disappears. A moment later, it bobs at the surface -- a brown bottle. You reach down and grab it. When you do, you see a face just beneath the surface. You jump back, bottle in hand and tell the captain to "Go!" Opening up the bottle as you make speed, you pull out a message from DancingBarry:

The Horsemen were here. It's no surprise that they were easily dispatched. This place, this building ... it's cursed ... it's all cursed. Leave now before someone gets hurt.

I will continue to track them.

Going into the game, the Lakers were 6-27 in Portland the past 17 years, sporting an impressive 8-game losing streak at the Rose Garden. If it wasn't on their minds, they were continually reminded of it by everyone.

Although the Lakers were without Pau and Luke, the Blazers spotted them Oden, Przybilla, Outlaw, Fernandez, Batum, Blake and probably a few ball boys and ushers. None of that would matter as the Rose Garden continues to befuddle the Lakers no matter what the situation is. They fell for the ninth straight time, 107-98.

The Lakers seemingly pencil in a couple losses in Portland. Not even Phil Jackson sitting out last year could spark their focus.

It's hard to say which side of the floor looked more confused. The defensive rotations and communication were poor. The offensive execution very predictable, allowing the Blazers to collapse or gear up for iso plays and let the Lakers try to beat them from three.

When that was going against them, the Lakers also struggled to get a call. Meanwhile, the whistles came free and easy for the Blazers. Portland had a 39-10 advantage from the freethrow line. Needless to say, the Lakers were playing some very frustrated ball.

Dropping two straight, they need to regroup and get their focus back. Thankfully, most of their main competition lost tonight, as well.


Kobe -- -- The Blazers pretty much locked in on his iso's trying to keep those limited while Kobe's perimeter touch was MIA. It's been that way the last few games, but tonight he seemed to miss a number of shots he normally makes. He had a couple unforced errors handling the ball, and he even went 2-4 from the line. No doubt the finger was an issue on some of those. The offense flowed better when he was making the extra pass, which he did off and on. But with the Blazers able to key in on him and Kobe unable to be a consistent perimeter threat, it got real ugly and stagnant offensively. With his shooting issues, he should not have taken 8 threes. When he attacked, there were certainly a few plays he should have gotten a call. Thankfully, some of the bigmen cleaned up several of those misses. Defensively, he overplayed at times when he shouldn't have getting in some early foul trouble in the first half. He and Artest weren't able to hold Roy down. While Kobe took 37 shots for 32 points, Roy had his 32 on just 11 shots...and a whole lot of freethrows. Kobe was very frustrated at the end of the game. With him out of sync, the whole team seemed out of rhythm, as well. The Stats: He scored 32 points on 14-37 (2-8 from three, 2-4 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 7 assists, 1 block, 5 turnovers and 4 fouls in 41 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He hit a step-back wing jumper. He missed a wing jumper next time down. He missed a short runner in the lane. He was stripped on a drive. He lost his man and gave up a layup. He sank a wing three. He missed a corner three out of a timeout. He sank a step-back wing jumper on iso. He kicked out to Fish for a three. He sank a baseline jumper over Miller. Same spot next time down and he swished again. He missed a long jumper at the first-quarter buzzer. He had 11 points on 5-9 shooting. He missed a long jumper out of a timeout. He missed a fallaway. He was fouled on a putback attempt, he made one FT. He attacked left and banked on the drive. He missed a return feed to Drew, instead opting for a missed elbow jumper. He missed a wing three. He sank a short shot off the corner entry from Fish after sealing his man in the post. He fumbled a ball out of bounds off the dribble. He picked up his third foul of the first half trying to D-up Roy on the perimeter, he had to sit with 2 minutes left. He had 16 points on 7-15 shooting. Second Half: He airballed an open three to start the second half. He missed another three next time down. He kicked out to Artest for the open three. He hit Artest again for another wide open three. He sank a wing jumper, standing on the three line. He backed up, attacked Webster and scored the And-1 layup, he missed the FT. He got tripped up on a drive and missed. He was called for a pass to himself (looked blocked). He missed a three. He had 4 points on 2-6 shooting. He attacked and tried to flip the ball up over his head while looking for a whistle that didn't come. He missed a baseline jumper. He missed a good look at a 15-footer. He missed a drive, got it back and hit the lefty one-hander. He missed a one-hander in the lane, obvious foul with no call on that one. He swished a corner And-1 three, he made the FT. He attacked from the elbow, hung and scored the layup. He missed a runner, but Bynum tipped it in. He missed a short one in the lane. He bricked a corner three. He sank a short baseline pull-up jumper. He spun and missed a tough one-hander. He attacked, missed, got it back and scored the layup, then yelled at the refs for the no call. He missed a long three.

Bynum -- -- The Lakers post play was out of sync. Bynum started off by not fighting for very low position. Later when he would get it, the team wasn't ready to make the post entry passes. When he got the ball and tried to back his men down, the doubles came quick and led to a lot of kickouts for three shooters. No one ever really cut off him for passes. The result of all that was simply a scattered, ineffective post attack. Again, however, with Pau out and Bynum getting the minutes, he did tally a double-double. Some good work on the offensive glass. That's really the only spot where his presence was felt. The Lakers never really explored any two-man game. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 6-13 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 12 boards (7 offensive), 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 41 minutes. He was a -9. The Action: He missed a jumphook badly (need to get better position than that). He spun, took the long lob from LO and dunked. He was way short on a turnaround jumper. He picked up a perimeter foul and then a loose-ball foul on the offensive end. He dunked off the LO pass. He swatted Webster at the rim. He was stripped while going up in the post. He had 4 points on 2-5 shooting and 4 boards. Second Half: He missed a jumphook taking some contact. He swatted a shot on the other end. He dunked off the LO offensive board and lob. He pivoted around Aldridge and finally scored a short jumphook. He missed a turnaround jumper. He missed a short jumphook off an offensive board. He tipped in a Kobe miss. He tipped in another Kobe miss. He was pushed in the back on a defensive board for FTs, he made one.

Artest -- -- Ron helped spread the floor, knocking down some threes. When the Lakers went on a run, he was in on some key plays. He hit a couple threes on kickouts, biffed a couple layups he should have had and had some hit or miss sequences in the post. With Roy on him, he did do a good job using his size to grab a couple offensive boards and get a foul. The Lakers didn't explore it much. Defensively, Ron and LO got caught on a couple key makes for Roy that helped stop a Laker run. Out of a timeout, the Blazers set a simple screen under the hoop where LO and Ron switched. This got LO covering Ron and led to consecutive makes out of the timeout on the same exact play. Phil called a timeout of his own after this breakdown. The Blazers continually looked to shed Ron on screens to free up Roy. Phil eventually went with Kobe on him and that didn't seem to make any difference. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-9 shooting (3-4 from three) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists and no fouls in 35 minutes. The Action: He missed a three on a Kobe kickout. He sank a corner three on the swing pass. He blew a layup on the break, uggh. He missed a wing jumper. He sealed Webster and scored an easy layup. Second Half: Nice drive past Roy, but he blew the layup again. He swished an open sideline three on a Kobe kickout. He posted up Roy and powered in the layup. He sank a wide open corner three off the Kobe kickout.

Lamar -- -- Only one Laker had a positive in the +/- tonight. That was LO with the +1. He's really the only one who deserved it, too. Some great effort by Lamar. He was clearly frustrated with the refs and some of the whistles they were and weren't blowing, but he battled. That's the LO the team needs to see when things aren't going right with the refs. He did a great job crashing the glass. There were a couple of times where teammates should have found him cutting and didn't. We never saw LO in the post, which was a mistake. Some nice passing sequences to Drew to get him a few dunks. Defensively, he led the team in steals. He had a few breakdowns there with others on switches and lack of communication, but he always seemed to be active. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 7-9 shooting (1-2 from three, 0-1 from the line) to go with 13 boards (5 offensive), 5 assists, 4 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 43 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He jammed back down a Kobe miss. He faced up and banked a short jumper, rare to see him do that. Superb lob to Drew for the dunk. He missed an elbow jumper. He threw a pass out of bounds, unforced error. Quick pass to Bynum off a loose ball and he dunked. He had 4 points and 4 boards. Second Half: Nice D to swipe a lob. He then cleaned up a Kobe miss with a putback layup. He stuck a wing three on the Kobe kickout. He took an offensive board and hit Bynum for the dunk. He grabbed a Kobe missed FT and banked it in. He was called for a push-off on an offensive board (didn't need to do it). Quick jumpball call when LO got "tied up" on a defensive board, very weak, it led to more Blazer points. He crashed the glass, tipped a board off the glass to himself and scored the And-1 layup, he missed the FT. He iso'd at the top of the key, attacked and scored a layup.

Fisher -- -- The Blazers were packing it in to force L.A. to beat them from the outside. This left a lot of open threes. Nine of DFish's 11 attempts were from three. Thankfully, he sank 4 of them. Defensively, we struggled with Miller early on. He seemed to be most of the Blazers offense in the first few minutes. The Blazer guards just killed the Lakers. Miller had 17 points, Bayless 21, Roy 32. No post game, yet the Blazers were able to feast. Phil on the growing DFish controversy: "We function so much better with Derek on the floor as an offensive team that it's very important for him to be out there," he said in the Times before the game. "He has all the knowledge that's necessary for a lead guard. He knows how to keep our guys in what we want to get done out there on the floor. It's very important, and we actually talked a little bit [Thursday] about that, in supporting him in situations where defensively he may be playing back-to-back games or may be overmatched in a certain situation." He certainly struggled defensively in the last game, but he sure wasn't doing a whole lot for the offense, either. Tonight, he did a better job in that regard. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-11 shooting (4-9 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He gave up a layup on a backdoor cut to start the game. He missed a three on the other end. He gave up FTs to Miller in the post. He hit an And-1 three on Roy (Roy's second foul midway through the quarter), he made the FT. He drained another three off the Kobe kickout. He missed an open three on the next trip down. Nice corner entry to Kobe for the score. He bricked a wide open sideline three. He missed another three on a kickout. Another wide open three, another clank. He had 7 points on 2-7 shooting, took 6 threes in the first half. Second Half: He swished a sideline three on a swing pass. He drew a clear-out foul on Miller. He missed a three. He sank a pull-up jumper in the lane off the Lamar screen. He passed the ball back to LO who was still in the back court. He swished a corner three.

Brown -- -- The Blazer bench played as many minutes as the Lakers bench. Despite their short rotation, they still outplayed our bench. Shannon gave the Lakers a brief spark in the first half. And, really, that was it for the bench. With the Lakers getting ready for a huge stretch of road games, this will be a big early test for the subs and PG spot. It's a whole lot easier to produce at Staples than it is on the road. Shannon actually shoots better on the road than at home. He's making .461 of his shots and .375 from three vesus .455 and .333 at home. He also averages more rebounds and steals on the road. DFish and Farmar shoot worse than Shannon in both categories on the road. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-8 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 steal and 5 fouls in 17 minutes. He had a +/- of 0. The Action: He was left open on the wing, moved in closer and swished the 19-footer. He swiped a pass on the D end, then hit a pull-up jumper from the same spot in transition. He made an extra pass to Ron in the corner for the three. He missed a three with the shotclock low. He missed a wing three. He airballed a drive. Second Half: He sank a baseline jumper. He missed on a drive down the lane. He missed a baseline jumper.

Farmar -- -- Farmar's one make in this game was one of his better looking shots all season...just a very controlled, measured three-pointer that looked like the kind you take in warm-ups. After that, he couldn't hit a thing. How about Portland's third string PG tonight? Bayless scored 21 points on 5-9 shooting and 10-12 from the line. He just dominated at times and tallied those numbers in only 21 minutes. Bayless outscored the Lakers bench 21-10 himself. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-6 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 1 foul in 13 minutes. He was a -8. The Action: He got dribble penetration, kicked out and it led to a three. Smooth looking three from the top of the arc, very good body control. He attacked and missed a tough, hanging layup trying to spin it in. He missed a long wing pull-up, didn't go straight up. He tried to take a charge on the break and managed to get a missed layup out of it. Second Half: He missed a wing three on a kickout. He found Powell under the hoop for FTs. He missed a long wing jumper.

Vujacic -- -- Phil gave him the hook for a bonehead play. He came in for Kobe with 2 minutes left in the half, the Lakers down 10 and then again in the fourth for Artest. Phil promptly benched him on that second stint when Sasha took one of his fouls shortly after the inbounds pass on the other end of the court. We should come up with a name for those. Right now, only "the Sasha" comes to mind. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-2 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 1 foul in 3 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He missed an early offense wing three. Second Half: He missed a wing jumper. Sasha with his patented 90-feet-from-the-hoop-reach foul. Can you say benched?

Powell -- -- He played a little PF and C tonight. It's always sketchy to see one of Powell or Mbenga in the game. Phil briefly had both of them out there in one stretch. Again, the offense still looked like it didn't know what it wanted to do with Powell out there on the floor. The Stats: He had 1 point on 1-2 FT shooting in 4 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: Nice hustle to keep an offensive board alive and regain possession. Second Half: He drew FTs sealing his man on the weakside and taking the pass, he made one FT.

Mbenga -- -- He was a foul magnet tonight. At least he got his money's worth on a couple against Bayless. That second quarter where the Blazers got a number of trips to the line, DJ had 3 fouls on Bayless penetration. Just a bad combination of perimeter D and no one able to anchor. He had no other stats than fouls tonight. The Stats: He had 4 fouls in 6 minutes. He had a +/- of 0. The Action: He was called for a phantom foul trying to challenge penetration. He got his money's worth next time, sending Bayless to the floor. He was called for his third foul, hitting Bayless again after a block. Second Half: Fourth foul, flat-footed on an Aldridge drive. Phil sat him.

Phil -- -- The Rose Garden continues to befuddle Phil... The Lakers trailed 16-11 midway through the first quarter... Phil's first sub was Farmar with 1:45 left in the quarter... The Lakers trailed 30-24 after the first. The Lakers gave up 60 percent shooting (12-20), while making 50 percent (10-20) themselves... Phil started a Mbenga, LO, Artest, Brown, Farmar unit... The tied teh game up a couple minutes later... Phil subbed out LO and brought back in Powell. So, we had the Mbenga/Powell front court before DJ picked up his third foul (all on Bayless drives)... Down with 43-37 under 6 minutes left in the half, Phil went back to the starters... Phil had to sit Kobe with 2 minutes left. He brought in Sasha.... The Lakers trailed 55-43. Portland shot 54 percent (19-35, 3-5 from three, 14-17 from the line). The Lakers shot 41 percent (18-44, 5-14 from three, 2-3 from the line)... Coaches didn't like the Lakers defensive rotations and wanted more aggression on offense to get some calls... After a run by the Lakers, the Blazers ran the same screen sequence twice to get Roy against Lamar and two made jumpers. Phil called a timeout... The Lakers went to Kobe iso ball. The offense died, combine that with no stops and the Blazers extended the lead back to 81-71... Phil started a Mbenga, Lamar, Kobe, Brown, Farmar unit... Between the third and fourth, the Blazers had an 11-0 run... He sat Mbenga for Powell... He went with a Bynum, Powell, Artest, Brown, Farmar unit... They fell behind by 18. Phil brought in the Lamar, Sasha and Fish... Sasha got benched for Brown on one of his stupid reach fouls in the back court... The Lakers had just 2 points on the break. They won the points in the paint battle 38-26...

[LakerLanny]

first
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Love, Laker Lanny

[LakerLanny]

If Sasha never played another minute for the Lakers, would the team be better or worse off?

I think we all know the answer to that.

When he plays, we are far more likely to lose....even in limited minutes.
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Love, Laker Lanny

[Killakobe81]

3rd Bad game ...

[lounger]

thanks DB...

lol "the Sasha"

[City_Dawg]

Thanks DB.

What the hell they got in the water up there?
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*sighs*

!...

[jack13]

6th
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"These young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess." Kobe Bryant

[Ray_Gonzoles]

Thanks again DB.

Just flush this game down the toilet and get ready for Sunday.
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"Just show up ready to work, ready to play, Have your big boy pants on, leave your diaper at home." Kobe Bryant
Anything less than a championship is a failure. Period.

[limchrc]

Hope we win the next one.

[mhan00]

in a slump. fortunately all the other top teams dropped games tonight too.

[Rick12322]

Phil said at the beginning of the year he marks all games in Portland as losses. If we don't know why by now then shame on us. Next game in Portland, he should start all the bench and bench the starters for the entire game. What's the point in knocking ourselves out when we already know the fix is on?

[Christopher C]

One thing i've noticed about Bynum is that he loves the jump hook. It's great when he's being gaurded by a smaller guy with no double team and little resistance, say, against the suns or knicks or raptors. But i've noticed when the game gets intense and physical, guys walk up to him chest to chest on his shot with their arms extended upwards, often time getting contact with Bynum's shooting arm with no call. Am I crazy, or would a fluid sweeping hook be way more effective than the jump hook? The kind that Pau frequently uses. It is quicker and it doesn't bring the shooting arm & ball into the defender. I'm sure Bynum has heard this from Kareem, but Andrew needs to let success be his guide. When you are getting hit on the arm with no calls, throw up the fluid sweeping hook!

[Rick12322]

[ssiknick833]

Thanks DB.





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[PopcornMachine]

The good news is that the Kobangle offense was working well.

Kobe got 37 shots! What more could you ask for?


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I'm with COCO!

[SweetP]

[City_Dawg]

[A Mad Chinaman]

Acknowledging that Drew won't be in the All-Star Game (he doesn't deserve it this season), it is a good time to looked specifically on developing skills that he will need to be a strong influence and factor in the Laker's run.

As a young and inexperienced player (still), he is still just a person who get rebounds by mistake and not a rebounder (one who has a nose for the ball). It is no coincedence that the Lakers with Pau is better than the Lakers with Drew - though it is great if both were in the games.

When I ISO my obervations on Drew's activities, he is definitely not a presence - therefore not a dependable part of the offense or defense. When he had the angle and the ball was being funneled to him, shots were made. He doesn't make himself consistently available to receive passes (albeit, some of the problems are the entry passes) hence they are not looking consistently for him - plus he is not finishing. He seems stationary, as oppose to going strong to weak to strong to make himself available. At this time, he is not a force - at least at the elite level where all the meaningful games are played.

If he is getting outplayed by the Blazers/Rockets who have NO LEGIMATE centers, imagine what KG/TD/Superman/Shaq will do to him during crunch time. Until Drew can be a presence, his complaints on his PT is just a young kid who hasn't yet understood what the Lakers stand for and what they really play for.

Still, his just a young player who hasn't played many games and still has a lot of learning and growing to do. btw: Since Rambo was the coach working with him on a daily basis, who has taken his place in the coaching staff?

[mhan00]

i have to say it was also more than a little sad to see drew not be able to dominate aldridge of all people, a guy maybe 75 percent of his mass. sure, there were some doubles, but even when he had single coverage he couldn't really do much.

[gk3465]

Is it Bynum's fault that Roy scored 32 on just 11 shots, and had 8 assists? He was guarding a pretty good player himself(in fact, a guy that gives Pau a lot of trouble), so you can't just expect him to sag off him.

Bynum could have played better, but if we're talking both sides, then he was not nearly the worst player.

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks again DB.

To follow up on this loss; is it just me or do about 11 Lakers need to either get healthy or find their games again? It appears to me LO's playing some consistently good ball lately, and Ammo is sitting on the bench with some pretty good consistency as well.

Other than that; Kobe's broken finger is throwing his game off, and the more we have to rely on our deep bench, especially when Farmar/Brown are out to pasture, the more we get in trouble. Josh plays great if you ignore what he does on offense and defense, Mbenga can't mbang without a whistle, and Sasha plays 90 feet of stupid basketball. I think getting both Pau and Luke back and in rhythm again will help.

So, with that said I'm gonna make a ridiculous prediction: I think the Lakers are going to win the rematch in the Rose Garden in about 4 weeks.

[City_Dawg]

[Nobody]

[Deakc]

I see a lot of manufactures going to 2" Blazers on crossbow bolts. I have not tried this yet, but when my next bolt needs refletched I might give it a go. Anyone have any first hand insight on this, and the effectiveness of 2" VS 4" on bolts?

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