LAKERS -at- SUNS - 10-29-14 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Sun Burnt… Shotclock violations, three second calls, passes out of bounds – there was little fluidity offensively for the Lakers tonight. On the other end of the floor, the Suns were raining threes and scoring with ease around the rim.

The Lakers were simply not competitive in the 119-99 blowout. The Suns sank 16-32 from three, the Lakers 4-13.

“We got to guard the three point shot or shoot more and make more ourselves,” Kobe said of the three-point game.

“We just don’t have an abundance of three-point shooters to throw out there,” Scott said.

Kobe was one of the lone bright spots in this game, scoring 31 points in 28 minutes of action. Aside from some garbage work from Ed Davis and the appearance of Wayne Ellington’s shot, just too few Lakers brought their A games.

Kobe -- -- Probably the lone bright spot in this one was Kobe’s ability to put up 31 points in just three quarters. This, despite our horrible spacing and struggles to make anything easy offensively. A variety of skills on display. He’s getting a little more herky-jerky to his game since it looks like he can’t quite explode how he wants (the spacing is also keeping him from being able to do that, as well). They really need to get some flow into their game and figure out what they should run. You could see Kobe discussing the sets out on the court quite a bit. He was later going over them on the board with an assistant while resting during the fourth. Defensively, he and the Lakers were very soft on the perimeter. Kobe tried to get more aggressive and gamble at times and that only worked out once. I think he was trying to change things up by that point because the Lakers were getting throttled. No pop to their D. The Stats: He scored 31 points on 11-25 shooting (2-4 from three, 7-7 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a -26. The Action: He missed an elbow jumper on our first attempt. He sank an elbow jumper coming off the weakside to take the pass. He missed a wing jumper. He pushed up an outlet and was fouled on the layup attempt, he made both FTs. He missed a wing jumper and wanted a foul. He got up and Hill found him for the And-1 layup, he made the FT. He clanked a fallaway in the paint. He iso’d, herky-jerky move and he sank the 12-foot pull-up. He took a high screen, attacked left and hit the And-1 pull-up from the wing, he made the FT. He worked the dribble on iso, pulled up and drained the 21-footer. He missed a baseline fade. He grabbed an offensive board and missed the fade. He sank a wing three with the shotclock low. He drew a double team and hit Wes for the open jumper. He lost track of time and had to chuck up a brick. He deflected a pass, Wes deflected the save, Kobe scooped it up, attacked, shielded the defender and scored a layup. He attacked off the Davis screen, missed, but Ed cleaned it up easily. He had 19 points on 7-15 shooting. Second Half: He missed a baseline jumper. He swished a wing pull-up jumper off a screen. He missed a long one, looking frustrated as the Suns push the lead up. He worked off the screen, took the pass and hit Hill with a jump pass for the slam. He plowed over a Sun off ball, foul. He took a post entry over the fronting D and scored a layup over the help. He didn’t hit rim getting backed out of the offensive zone. He gambled and lost, his man hit the jumper on the other end. He drained a wing three off a jumpball. He attacked the paint and kicked out to no one. He missed a jumper, got it back and was fouled on a turnaround in the lane with no call and picked up a tech. He made a tech shortly later off a ticked off Bledsoe. He spun around his man, attacked and scored an And-1 over the help that looked like it should have been a charge, he made the FT. He missed a baseline shot, then tied up Bledsoe, who then picked up his second tech, so Kobe made the next tech.

Hill -- -- He was active on the offensive glass, pulling down 5 of his 11 boards on that end of the floor. Nothing was crisp with our screens and bigman movement in this game. Our guard penetration was limited. Just awful to look at. Hill just battled for garbage and wasn’t able to score much off of odd-sequences…nothing set up or run with much purpose. Defensively, our bigs were terrible. Hill had the best -24 of all the starters. All of them got their butts kicked. The bench actually all had positives on the +/-. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-7 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 11 boards (5 offensive), 2 assists and 4 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a -24. The Action: He grabbed a Kobe miss and hit Kobe cutting for the And-1. He missed an 18-footer coming off the screen, poor idea to begin with. He rejected a drive out of bounds. He drained a 20-footer off the two-man game. He missed a top-of-the-key jumper. He missed a layup off the Kobe jump pass. Second Half: He grabbed a Kobe miss and was fouled on the putback attempt, he made both FTs. He missed a long jumper. He slammed off the Kobe jump pass. He stopped a guard drive, then gave up the And-1 on the putback attempt.

Boozer -- -- Just invisible to start the third quarter except for a bad turnover. The Lakers fell back big when they should have been making a push to trim the lead in that quarter. That completed a poor night from Boozer. The Lakers have no room for Boozer to have 8 turnovers and just 4 points. That’s just upside down. You can’t be a non-factor defensively, then a negative factor on the other end. Kobe at his age, coming off a back-to-back brought a huge effort. Boozer had nothing. Vets need to bring consistency. Lakers need to do a better job getting him in his spots for scores, too. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-6 shooting to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 8 turnovers and 2 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a -25. The Action: His layup off an inbounds pass was goaltended for the Lakers first score. He missed a wing jumper. He missed a layup set up by Kobe. He attacked and missed at the rim. He missed an elbow jumper. He tripped and fell, throwing it away. He sank a face-up wing jumper. Sloppy kickout, going 90 miles per hour through Kobe’s hands, turnover. Second Half: Moving screen call. Horrible perimeter pass, horrible job by Wes, as well, asking for it at such a flat angle, FTs the other way.

Lin -- -- “He’s just got to go out there and play his game. I think right now he’s just thinking too much,” Scott said. The Lakers need consistent impact ball from Lin. He was deferring too much early in the first quarter with the Lakers settling for long contested jumpers as a result. He didn’t pick it up as the game went along. He and Kobe sat next to each other and talked it over in the fourth. “You got to run the offense,” Kobe said. “Like I’m telling you to run the offense. You got to do it. Me and DFish used to bicker and snipe at each other all the time, and I couldn’t love a teammate more. These guys are young, man, so it takes a little time to understand that. Teams become really great by challenging each other, and I want it to be his role to orchestrate the offense, call the right things, get guys in the right spot.” If you didn’t understand that, Kobe was telling him to take things over and not defer as much (not to run it like Kobe was telling him to…), to assert himself into that leadership role. “I’m frustrated, but I’m going to go home figure out what I need to do, what changes I need to make and make sure I’m going to do my best to do that next game,” Lin said. The offense just looks so clunky out there right now. Kobe knows it’s going to be him and Lin to drive this thing. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-5 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist and 2 turnovers in 21 minutes. He was a -28. The Action: He missed a wing jumper. He pushed out the break and scored a layup. He attacked the paint off the high screen, drew FTs and made both. Horrible post entry as a defender was stepping around the post player and it led to a breakaway score. Too hot a pass to Price coming off the screen, turnover. He attacked with speed off the three line and scored as layup easily past a big. He missed a heave from three at the buzzer. Second Half: Sloppy perimeter pass, nearly picked off. He missed an open wing three. He won a jumpball against a bigger man and it led to a three.

Johnson – -- His shot selection left a lot to be desired. What’s with the quick post turnarounds from 15 to 18 feet? Just ugly, especially in early offense. You can take that crap at the end of shotclocks. The Lakers made just 4 threes tonight. Wes looked like he had one but had his toe on the line and it was taken back. I really wish his personality was to get angry and yell at guys for playing lax D. Can you imagine if he played with intensity, spitting and screaming on that end…leading vocally and by example? He’s just not wired that way and underachieves. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 2-7 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 1 foul in 28 minutes. He was a -30. The Action: Wasted possession, dumping it to Wes in the post far from the hoop to brick a jumper. He drew FTs getting fouled on a pass, he made both. He missed a fade from the wing. He faked a cut and the pass was thrown out of bounds. He bricked a FT jumper. He sank a wide open baseline jumper off the Kobe feed. Second Half: He was hit on a three attempt, coming down on a foot, he made all three FTs. Horrible fallaway chuck in early offense, uggh. He sank a three coming off a screen to take a pass (reviewed later and made a two). He airballed a corner three. He couldn’t secure a FT miss on the other end.

Clarkson -- -- Decent minutes from Clarkson. He always seems to have one or two shots he’s forced to take up against a shotclock. He’s one of the only guys in some of these lineups that can get something off in those situations. With a little more experience, I’m hopeful he’ll figure out how to consistently scratch out some points. He and Ellington led the team with a +11 and +12, respectively. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-6 shooting to go with 2 boards, 2 assists and 1 foul in 15 minutes. He was a +11. The Action: Great drive but he choked the layup. Second Half: He gambled and missed a perimeter steal and his man scored. He attacked from the wing off a screen and scored a layup around a big on the other end. He missed a tough running (almost fading) floater. He crossed over his man and hit the long wing jumper. He hit the side of the board trying to create up against the shotclock. He pulled down a lob that shouldn’t have been thrown but couldn’t finish over a big in the paint. Nice dumpoff to Sacre in transition for the open FTs jumper.

Davis -- -- Your second leading scorer tonight, Ed Davis. He also led all Lakers with 33 minutes, as well. He and Hill combined for 11 of the Lakers 12 offensive boards. They did that even without a lot of guard penetration. The Suns collapsed our D consistently, got open threes and had room to operate. The Lakers worked in crowed and had to scratch and claw for garbage. All night. Defensively, our starting bigs were horrible. That combo was just not working. Keep an eye on Boozer on the second night of back-to-back’s, as well. You may see his minutes reduced in favor of Davis in those situations if he repeats this kind of performance. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 6-10 shooting (2-5 from the line) to go with 9 boards (6 offensive), 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks and 5 fouls in 33 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He cleaned up some Wes garbage with a board and layup. He missed in the paint, got his own board and scored an And-1, he made the FT. Good job running the floor and he took the pass for a layup. He regained a possession drawing a foul on the offensive glass. He missed a short one off the Kobe feed. He set the pick for Kobe, followed the drive and easily tipped in the miss. He had 9 points at the half. Second Half: He was fouled on a reverse layup set up by Kobe, he missed both FTs. He blocked a shot out of bounds. He missed a lefty leaner off the glass. He was blocked on a putback attempt. He faced up and hit a one-hander off the right block. He drew FTs on a defensive board. He attacked from the FT line, spun and scored a layup.

Price -- -- I’m going to miss Nick Young out there with Price whenever I see us struggling to create offense. Some of these lineups we’re putting out there just look awful from a talent standpoint. We might want to stagger our Lin/Price substitution a little more so that Lin gets more run with those second units for the time being. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-7 shooting (1-3 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals and 2 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He missed a three from the wing. He hit Davis on the break for a layup. He attacked and missed a tough one-hander around the D. Second Half: He swished a pull-up in transition. Short on a pull-up three. He swished a corner three of a swing pass. He was fouled on a jumper, he made one FT. He picked the ball from a rookie on the perimeter. He attacked and missed a layup.

Sacre -- -- Garbage time run again. With Randle out and Kelly not in the mix, the Lakers may need to rely on him more when bigs get in foul trouble. They avoided putting him in tonight until the game was out of reach. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-4 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 assist and 1 foul in 12 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: Way short on an open FT jumper. He was fouled on a dunk attempt off an inbounds pass, he made both FTs. He had the ball taken right out of his hands in the post. He sank a fallaway working across the lane from the right block. Not close on a jumphook. He hit an open FT jumper in transition.

Ellington -- -- “That might have been a good thing for me. It knocked me straight,” Ellington said of his concussion. He looked more like a shooter in this game than any of his preseason minutes. He looked automatic, swishing most of his shots. Maybe the Lakers can set him up for some threes…and sit Wes a little more. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 6-9 shooting (1-3 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 steal and 1 foul in 25 minutes. He was a +12. The Action: He sank a long pull-up from the wing off the two-man game. He swished a wing jumper coming off the pindown on the next set. He swished a wing jumper coming off the split sequence out of the Horns. He missed a wing jumper off a slow kickout. Good hands to force a jumpball against a big under the hoop. Second Half: He sank a 20-footer off a handoff. He forced and missed a wing three. He sank a sideline three. He got tapped on a corner three. He swished a step-back baseline jumper when his man went for a steal.

Scott -- -- Two dunks and a three for the Suns to open up the game. Too easy and they had it rolling from there… By the timeout midway in the first, Phoenix had a 17-9 lead over the Lakers making 3-7 threes, Lakers 0-0 from three… Down 9, he sat Kobe for Price… The Suns doubled up the Lakers 30-15, complete suckage on both ends… He brought in Ellington for Lin… The Lakers trailed 33-19 after the first quarter… He started a Davis, Hill, Clarkson, Ellington, Price unit… A 13-1 run by the Lakers to force a timeout. Lakers down 6… Down 8 when Kobe came back in with 8:37 left. Ellington hitting shots, so Clarkson sat… Down 9 now with the starters and Price in… Lin back in Lakers down 8 for the final few minutes… Hill picked up a foul and sat for Davis. This could be a starting unit… Kobe keeping the Lakers alive with some feisty play on both ends… The Lakers trailed 59-50 at the half. The Suns made 9-17 threes, the Lakers 1-3 at that half. That’s the difference… Lakers bleed too easily out of the gates in the second half again. They trailed 70-55 forcing another timeout… Defeat seemed to be settling in with the starters, down 22… Davis in for Boozer who was invisible. Lin out for Price… Lakers down 92-66 when the next timeout came. Kobe just picking up his first tech of the season… The Lakers trailed 98-73 heading into the fourth… He started a Sacre, Davis, Clarkson, Ellington, Price lineup. Garbage time…

[LinOnlyFan]

Thanks DB

[lrrp]

Thanks!

[dino]

Thanks as always DB...I'm sure no one would complain if you decided to skip a few games, watching the team this year is going to be quite trying...appreciate the persistence...

[cheesysapien]

Thanks DB. I was waiting Haha, sun burnt!
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"We have a lot of guys that have been kinda discarded ... Myself with the injury and the age. Jeremy ... a bunch of players who other teams really felt they had no use for. So we have that kind of attitude built into ourselves" -- Kobe Bryant

[Klone_dd]

So for all the talk about more defensive focus, the team still looks lost on that end. No P&R step outs, no contesting 3s, no stopping dribble penetration, no building a wall...

[stoneclearing]

Great work as usual

[stoneclearing]

[jorkerjork]

We are completely misusing Jeremy--without guys to space the floor, he's finding the lane clogged, and of course, we devolve into Kobe ball--Jeremy can't work that well off ball.

Our best player is Ed Davis, and it isn't even close. We were noticeably better on the court with him, and it was a running joke somewhere late in the 2nd that the score would have been 66-38 instead of 56-47 if Davis wasn't playing. Yeah, he was that important.

[A Mad Chinaman]

So what was worse - an invisible Wes Johnson or a Boozer TO machine and they are part of the starting lineup!?!?!,

[jenopogi]

the T&R by DB is the only bright spot this season. I am waiting more the T&R vs. other laker news. Lin is killing my fandom . I still have hope . . . just a little . . . DB is now the only one making me follow the Lakers, and uh, KOBE of course! The one good thing Lin as a Laker gave me was my appreciation for Kobe. He is a rare breed of athlete. I will still not say he is MJ level, but he is near there . .
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JL#7 in Purple and Gold. Shoutout to my Lakers4Life Buddy Ian M.

[fiendishoc]

The defense regressed back to the gambling and leaving shooters open tendencies of the early preseason. I thought that they were decent against Houston other than the fouling, but there was a noticable lack of discipline in this one.

The offense was a mess like always. After seeing us in preaseason, they had an absurdly easy time taking away anything the Lakers wanted to run.

[smoothazsilk]

Byron Scott is not the answer

[Lakerbull]

nice as always...

time for Davis to start? or Lin to go back to the bench to pair with him.

i'd give Scott till Christmas to sort things out. so far he's good for the tank.

[yinoma2001]

So it's Kobe vs. [insert team name] for the season. Yikes. No one else seemed to be willing to fight for a win last night besides him.
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From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals

[Lakersprime]

Lin needs to play more decisively. Now, he got Kobe's full support. Please be a leader, or you will be a loser!
Go Lakers!!

[laserboy]

Thanks DB. And, also thanks for that eye opening transcript of Kobe's pep talk to Lin. I know it's dangerous to read into a few words, but was Kobe saying that Fisher was the kind of leader who pushed him (Kobe) and the team to be better? Is he challenging Lin to do the same, to stake his own claim on the court?

[Jackthefan]

Thanks DB. Lakers are still in preseason mode. Everyone on the team is still figuring things out. Too bad Byron Scott run the players hard in the training camp just to have them stand around on offense and stay one step slow on defense. It's really painful to watch.

[Cutheon]

This is going to be a very, very long season.

[yinoma2001]

[DancingBarry]

[DancingBarry]

[Lakers#1Team]

Thanks DB. Good to see a feisty and productive Kobe. The rest of the team is going to need a lot of patience. Hope to see improvement against the Clips.

[AllorNothing]

[MIMLaker]

The more I see, the more I want Davis playing next to Hill. Defensive length and hustle on the glass are what you want from your bigs if you're trying to pull off a defensive-minded, efficient, grind-it-out game plan. Assuming Lin realizes and embraces his green light and puts his driving foot on the gas, having him and Kobe on the attack, with Davis and Hill on glass clean-up, may not be so bad.

I was probably expecting too much from Boozer in that I wanted him to give us 12 and 7 a night. The guy plays like his hands are coated with Crisco, his feet are drenched in molasses, and his throat has way too many lozenges to bolster his unnecessarily screeching. Too many fumbles and turnovers, too many blow-bys, and way too much volume for the little he's done on the court.

Ugh.
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Keep or Dump Power Rankings (4/12/23):
1 - Bron; 1a - AD; 2 - Reaves; 2a - DLo; 3 - Vando; 4 - Rui; 5 - Shroo; 6 - Christie; 7- Brown; 8 - Gabriel; 9 - Beas; 10 - Bamba; 11- Lonnie