JAZZ -at- LAKERS - 2-11-14 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

 
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:18 pm    Post subject: JAZZ -at- LAKERS - 2-11-14 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

Tank You Very Much?… Well, if you are into tank battles, this was a big loss for the Lakers, who are neck and neck with the Jazz. If you’re not, what can you say? The injury-depleted Lakers lost their sixth home game in a row, matching a franchise record – a record they will likely break in the next one against OKC. They lost 96-79 to the Jazz … the Jazz … and Chris Kaman elaborated on that.

“It’s just frustrating,” Kaman said. “Everyone knows we want to win. It’s not like we’re out here trying to chase picks. That’s not what we’re doing at all, I promise. I don’t think anybody thinks that way. But it’s just frustrating, you know. The team that’s trying to go for picks and when they beat us by 20, it’s frustrating.”

The Lakers made their first four attempt from beyond the arc, pulled out to an 18-point lead, then missed their next 16 threes in the game. They didn’t really die by the three, they just died. They had that large first quarter lead and then D’Antoni subbed in Sacre and company off the bench and the lead went with it.

“The second quarter obviously killed us,” D’Antoni said of that 10-point quarter. There’s not a lot to analyze in these games. We just don’t have enough talent to expect consistently good performances.

“I’ve never been a part of team [with as many injuries], especially such a great franchise like the Lakers and the longevity they have with winning and the championships, I think it’s tough to swallow for a lot of people,” Kaman said of the season.


Nash -- -- He didn’t return in the second half with his nerve issues. This has got to be frustrating to him now and making him question himself. The mind and skills are still there, the body just doesn’t want to cooperate. “He didn’t want to sit out, but he couldn’t go,” D’Antoni said. He helped orchestrate a strong start to the game and then sat. When he returned for his second stint, our lead was lost and he couldn’t help stop the bleeding. They probably ought to sit him in the next one and let him get some more rest during the break. No use pushing it. “I’m pretty concerned,” Blake said. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-4 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 2 assists and no fouls in 17 minutes. He was a -6. The Action: He attacked the lane, drew the D and hit Kaman for the layup. He missed a hook in the lane. He attacked across the lane, reversed directions back across the other way and flipped in a layup. He missed a wing three behind a screen in early offense. He probed and kicked to Kaman for the baseline jumper.

Blake -- -- Marshall and Blake combined for 5-24 shooting. That hurt badly. They did a good job setting up teammates, Blake especially with just the one turnover. But neither could make a shot. Blake was pulled out briefly in the second half when he got his elbow tweaked in a screen, but he came back in a minute later. It was said that Blake stayed on the bench for a long while after the rest of the Lakers left the court. “I don’t like to lose. It doesn’t matter who’s out there and who’s not,” Blake said. He said the hardest part for him is he needs to practice and it’s difficult for him to do that with the injury rehab. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-11 shooting (1-4 from three) to go with 5 boards, 8 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 36 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He hit Williams for the corner three after attacking baseline. He drew an offensive foul on Haywood. He missed a layup on a drive. He sank a wing three behind a screen in early offense. He hit Kaman for the FT jumper. He hit Williams cutting backdoor for the reverse dunk. He missed a three when his man went under the screen. He missed a wing jumper behind a screen next time down. He hit Kaman with the pocket bounce pass for a layup. He attacked and set up Hill for the And-1. He was stripped at the half, giving the Jazz a breakaway for FTs. Second Half: He attacked and was blocked out of bounds. He hit the corner of the backboard on an inbounds up against the shotclock. Way short on a floater in the lane. He missed an open wing three. He lobbed to Wes backdoor for the tricky finish over his head. He sank a three straight away to cut it to 5 (looks like they changed that to a long two). He swiped a ball to ignite a break. He missed a wing three. He bounced it to Kaman in the lane for the layup. He missed a midrange sideline jumper.

Kaman -- -- The 25 points and 14 boards look a lot better in the stat sheet than they did in the game. Those are good numbers, for sure, but Kaman was definitely a volume shooter and, at times, probably helped take the Lakers out of the flow with some his rapid-fire stretches. Still, props to Kaman for putting up another decent game after sitting on that bench for so long. He got the start after his strong last game and Sacre fading fast. We set him up for a number of looks on the pick and pop. He also had some iso’s in the post. Some of the better plays were when we could get that extra pass from him to a teammate for a score. The Lakers needed more of that ball movement. Kaman said he’s feeling the aches and pains from having to play big minutes all of a sudden. He definitely has to warm up after those long stretches without minutes, and it seems he has. The Stats: He scored 25 points on 11-24 shooting (3-3 from the line) to go with 14 boards (4 offensive), 4 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocks, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 37 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He was blocked on a turnaround (shooting with the hand nearest the defender). He missed a top-of-the-key jumper. He missed a jumphook. Quick kickout to Williams for the open corner three. He missed a lefty jumphook next time down. He scored an easy one off the Nash drive and dish. He sank the elbow jumper off the Blake drive and dish. He crashed the glass, tipped the board, controlled it and scored the layup. He missed a sideline jumper. He faced up in the post and sank the baseline jumper over his man. He swatted Evans’ shot off the glass. He missed a baseline jumper. He scored a layup off the bounce pass from Blake on the two-man game. He sank the baseline jumper off the two-man sequence with Nash. He missed a wing jumper off the two-man game. He short-armed a lefty jumphook at the front of the rim, should have had that one. He swatted a shot out of bounds on the other end. Second Half: He hit an And-1 off the two-man game with Marshall in the paint, he made the FT. He was stripped in a crowd. He missed a pull-up jumper straight away. He swished a wing jumper. He spun away from a double team and sank the turnaround. He spun in the post, missed and follow tipped it back in. He bricked a step-back elbow jumper. He lost the ball in the lane, layup the other way. He was fouled on a gimmie layup, he made both FTs. He gathered a bounce pass, spun and scored the easy layup. He blocked a jumper at the FT line.

Williams -- -- Back in the starting lineup and he was off to a great start. He sank a couple of threes to get the Lakers going. Any game with double digits from him is a pretty good one. Asked about his possible match up against Durant in the next one, he said, “If I got to guard him, I’ll guard him. I’m going to do the best I can.” Hopefully, Wes stays out of foul trouble. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-8 shooting (2-4 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 2 blocks and 3 fouls in 36 minutes. He was a -10. The Action: He swished an open corner three on a kickout. He drained a three from the opposite corner for the Lakers second score. He changed pace on a backdoor cut and Blake found him for the reverse jam. He got tapped on a pull-up wing jumper. Second Half: Nice touch on a tough scoop high off the glass at full speed. He attacked off the three line and drew FTs, he made one. He missed a wing three. He attacked and missed a drive.

Johnson -- Strong third quarter from Wes, getting to the rim for finishes and out on the break with consistency. He did most of his offensive work in that third quarter. That’s what they need more of with consistency. He probably should have had a couple more hoops in this one. He bricked a layup at the rim and then missed an oop dunk he should have had out of a timeout. Not that it would have mattered, but he should have had 19 with some concentration on those easy ones. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 7-14 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 6 boards, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 37 minutes. He was a -14. The Action: He missed a lob layup at the rim. He drained a wing three. He missed a pull-up jumper at the FT line. Second Half: He slammed on the break with Marshall. He airballed a wing three. He attacked off the three line and banked in a runner with a nice touch. He attacked on the break off the Blake bounce pass and scored at the rim. He dunked on the touch lob from Marshall on the break. He lost his man on a cut back to the ball to take a handoff and sank the wing jumper. He missed the heat-check three. He was stripped trying to dribble through a crowd. He missed a pull-up jumper at the FT line. He finished a lob from Blake over the D. He missed a lob dunk he should have had, uggh.

Kelly -- -- Very quiet night from him again. The Lakers seemed out of rhythm all night and Kelly, too. He couldn’t even hit his freethrows like he’s normally money on. If the team intensity picks up in the next game, it seems like Kelly’s game will probably pick up with some better flow and focus as a team. We’ll see. We’re using him a little more at SF. Hopefully, he doesn’t get thrown to the wolves against Durant in the next one. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-1 shooting to go with 1 board and 1 block in 18 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He blocked a three on a closeout. Second Half: Held badly on his right arm to where he couldn’t lift it to the ball, he one-handed in a score with his left in the post as he drew the And-1 whistle, he missed the FT. He up-faked and attacked the rim with purpose to draw FTs, he made one.

Sacre -- -- D’Antoni sat him for Kaman and limited his minutes. Unfortunately, the momentum seemed to shift when he was out there in the first half. So instead of starting slow and fighting back, we started fast and lost the lead. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-4 shooting to go with 3 boards, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 9 minutes. He was a -10. The Action: Soft finish and it was rejected into the stands. He side stepped around Kanter and scored a layup. He missed a jumphook badly. Second Half: He sank a baseline jumper off the drive and dish from Blake. The offense out of order with the ball in his hands trying to create and he threw it away for a score. He then picked up a tech for slamming the ball down. XXX

Marshall -- -- In the last game, Marshall got to run with the Kaman/Hill lineups which were effective. In this one, we switched rotation and Marshall was out there with Sacre and company in the first half. This was a key stretch in the game after we built and early lead. The Jazz took momentum away from the Lakers during this stretch and we never got it back. Marshall was a -9 during that stretch, but it was again the third-string bigman unit that we just get nothing from. Offensively, Marshall struggled with his shot. He couldn’t hit the three ball and was clanking some wide open midrange pull-up jumpers. Really like his D in this game. He did a much better job anticipating the action and came up with 3 steals as a result. We rarely see that kind of disruption from him, but if he’s going to be a player in this league, he’s got to use his smarts like that on the defensive end. Good to see. “It was one of those nights,” Marshall said of the Lakers shooting struggles. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-13 shooting (0-3 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 7 assists, 3 steals, 4 turnovers and 1 foul in 32 minutes. He was a -13. The Action: He was called for a travel on iso. Great read to rotate in front of a man and swipe a pass. He missed a pull-up jumper in transition on the other end. He threw a pass away in the lane on the next trip down. He missed a leaning pull-up in the lane. He missed a wing jumper on a kickout. Second Half: He hit Kaman in the lane for the And-1. He worked off the wing screen, tucked the ball under his arm, attacked and scored the layup. He anticipated a pass, flagged it down for the steal, pushed it out and hit Wes for the dunk. He missed a three at the top of the arc. He missed a wing three. He attacked with purpose, missed and tried to one-hand the miss back in and was fouled. He attacked off the screen and scored a layup over the help D. He got a hand in to knock a ball loose, pushed out the break and lost it when he twisted an ankle. Sweet touch lob to Wes on the break for the throwdown. He missed a wing three. He missed a baseline jumper up against the clock. He probed and missed the layup. He missed the open pull-up jumper from the elbow (got to hit those). He missed another open midrange jumper off the dribble. He attacked in transition and was blocked. He got his man on his hip, drew contact and hit the Nash-like And-1 jumper, he made the FT.

Hill -- -- Jordan didn’t have his motor going tonight on the glass. Just one board in 17 minutes. He was a -20, which led the team. Again, a lot of the +/- is due to D’Antoni having to run third stringers a lot of minutes. It’s tough. But Hill needs to bring his A game and not take nights off for the Lakers to be competitive. When we’re shooting 38%, there’s a lot of boards to be had. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-6 shooting (3-4 from three) to go with 1 board and 2 fouls in 17 minutes. He was a -20. The Action: He backed his man down and scored the easy And-1 at the front of the rim, he made the FT. He drew FTs working the post, he made one. He missed a jumphook in the middle of the lane. Blake attacked baseline, drew the D to the rim and dumped it to Hill for the easy And-1, he made the FT. He missed an elbow pull-up off the two-man game. Second Half: He choked a layup that Marshall set up for him off the two-man game. He was rejected badly on the jumphook.

D’Antoni -- -- He mixed up the starters again, the 26th different starting lineup this season… The Lakers hit their first four three’s to come back from a slow start. After falling behind 7-0, they went on a 14-4 run to lead by 3 when the timeout came… He sat Wes for Kelly out of that… Up 20-11, D’Antoni brought in Hill for Williams and Marshall for Nash… They pulled out to a 25-11 lead when the next timeout came… He brought in Sacre for Kaman… The Lakers led 27-16 after the first quarter… He started a Sacre, Hill, Kelly, Johnson, Marshall unit… The Lakers were up only 6 when Kaman came back in for Sacre. Momentum lost… D’Antoni called timeout up by just 4 after 3 minutes… He went with the Kaman, Williams, Johnson, Marshall, Nash lineup… He went back to his three guard lineup, bringing in Blake for Johnson. Bet he wishes Farmar were healthy and he could run four PGs… Tied at 32-32, he sat Marshall for Hill… The Lakers continued to flounder offensively… They scored just 10 points in the quarter… The Lakers trailed 48-37 at the half… He started Marshall for Nash who was done with the nerve issues… Blake sat after a couple of minutes to look at his elbow. He returned a minute later after the discussion… He picked up a tech arguing that Marshall should have had FTs on a one-handed tip attempt… The Lakers trailed by 1 when the timeout came midway through the quarter… He sat Blake for Kelly down 4… Down 6 and D’Antoni called a timeout with 1:50 left. He sat Kaman for Hill… The Lakers trailed 68-60 heading to the fourth… He started a Sacre, Hill, Kelly, Johnson, Blake lineup… Down 10, he sat Sacre for Kaman. More ground lost with the Sacre unit… Lakers just not in sync this game offensively, either… The Lakers fell back by 15 when the timeout came with a couple minutes left… After their first four threes, the Lakers missed their next 16…
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TooMuchMajicBuss
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:27 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB

Edit - almost forgot... First!
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Klone_dd
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:35 pm    Post subject:

My 1st game at Staples in over a month and man, the energy outside of Staples was really bad and inside was even worse. No line at the Lawry's Carvery before the game so my son and I were able to immediately find a table and relax up to the start of the game. No line to get into Staples where even the usually late arriving crowd didn't bother coming. Obviously, not the normal Lakers scene, but appropriate for this season.

Nothing positive to say about the game. Utah didn't really want this game either, but someone had to win.
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:45 pm    Post subject:

Jazz didn't want the game but yet they beat us by 17? Gives you an idea of just how bad we are. Sigh.
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 12, 2014 2:28 am    Post subject:

SweetP wrote:
Jazz didn't want the game but yet they beat us by 17? Gives you an idea of just how bad we are. Sigh.


It´s not how bad we are, it´s how few we are.

It´s been a hell of a season. Kobe out the whole year, Nash mostly put, Pau in´n´out, at first we lost all our PG´s to injuries, now we lost all our SG´s.

There´s no way to make a team competitive with so many injuries and the way they have been distributed between positions.

On the positives:

- We can have a great draft
- We found two useful players in Kelly and Marshall
- Young, Henry, Farmar, Meeks , Johnson, Hill and Sacre have demonstrated that they are young players good enough to keep if possible.
- Blake and Kaman too (by the way, I think we signed Kaman as an insurance if trading Pau )
- Cap room next years



Apart from that, if Nash retires and we can trade Gasol AND get a pick, we´ll be in a great position for making a competitve team again and rebuild quickly
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yinoma2001
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 12, 2014 5:41 am    Post subject:

Sure, Kaman was a volume shooter tonight. But IIRC, wasn't Pau shooting the same volume (like 10-25, 25 points) when he was going on that 20/10 streak?
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 12, 2014 8:29 am    Post subject:

yinoma2001 wrote:
Sure, Kaman was a volume shooter tonight. But IIRC, wasn't Pau shooting the same volume (like 10-25, 25 points) when he was going on that 20/10 streak?

Easy enough to look up:

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/996/pau-gasol

A few games over 20 shots. His shooting pct was >50% during that streak so he didn't have consistently bad shooting games. Kaman's sample size of these types of games probably won't be large enough to do a reasonable comparison.

No doubt, though, that he was in total gunner mode last night.
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 12, 2014 9:30 am    Post subject:

It's hard to stay competitive when your energy is just spent. Not having enough players really hurts us a lot; especially with some older guys.

It's obvious that Nash still has superstar skills. But man, seeing him struggle with injury is disheartening. Feel for the guy.
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 12, 2014 10:31 am    Post subject:

Tanks again!

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PostPosted: Wed Feb 12, 2014 10:43 am    Post subject:

LuciusAllen wrote:
yinoma2001 wrote:
Sure, Kaman was a volume shooter tonight. But IIRC, wasn't Pau shooting the same volume (like 10-25, 25 points) when he was going on that 20/10 streak?
Easy enough to look up:

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/996/pau-gasol

A few games over 20 shots. His shooting pct was >50% during that streak so he didn't have consistently bad shooting games. Kaman's sample size of these types of games probably won't be large enough to do a reasonable comparison.

No doubt, though, that he was in total gunner mode last night.
As a veteran, Kaman knew that he had the responsibility to produce given that all the shooters that were available when Pau was playing are injuried (Meeks, Young, etc.)

Totally crazy season
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 12, 2014 5:24 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB.

What surprised me was Kaman saying "The team that’s trying to go for picks and when they beat us by 20, it’s frustrating.” If I read that right he's accusing Utah of tanking.

I'm not that disappointed with this team because of the injuries. We have a roster full of first round picks, that has to mean something. We're in a position to get healthy in 2015, well in 2016.

Though many don't, I'm going to give Jim the benefit of the doubt and believe he's looking at the future not the now.
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 9:18 am    Post subject:

Reflexx wrote:
It's hard to stay competitive when your energy is just spent. Not having enough players really hurts us a lot; especially with some older guys.

It's obvious that Nash still has superstar skills. But man, seeing him struggle with injury is disheartening. Feel for the guy.
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 17, 2014 9:19 am    Post subject:

Reflexx wrote:
It's hard to stay competitive when your energy is just spent. Not having enough players really hurts us a lot; especially with some older guys.

It's obvious that Nash still has superstar skills. But man, seeing him struggle with injury is disheartening. Feel for the guy.
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