LAKERS -at- MAVS - 11-13-15 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

1-8… “Sometimes in basketball the round thing doesn’t go in the round thing,” said Metta, who went 0-9 during the Lakers 90-82 loss to the Mavs Friday.

It wasn’t a pretty game. People talk about the team being young, but Kobe, Bass and Williams combined for 13 of the Lakers 22 total turnovers.

“That really hurt us,” Scott said, mentioning also their inefficiency on the break tonight (Kobe had two of his turnovers and Bass an offensive foul on the break).

In the end, it was the Mavs who won ugly as the Lakers dropped their fourth game on the roadtrip.

“Despite the 1-4 and I think we made some big time progress,” Scott said. The team has certainly looked better on D (hard not to).

“We’ve had some good games. We just got to get over the hump,” Metta said.


Kobe -- -- After not playing, he got the team high 32 minutes. He started out strong making his several shots to start the game. “I’m not surprised,” Scott said with how Kobe came out looking good. He got a little indulgent again on a few threes, but generally played in a decent flow with the rest of the offense. The turnovers, however, uggh. He got stripped a few times and threw some passes away. Those added up fast with 5 in the first half. He had a couple of those on the break, where we came away empty instead of taking advantage. Those hurt. Defensively, he had a couple very bad breakdowns, one Scott sat him as it was a longer rotation than he should have probably gone. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 7-15 shooting (3-8 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 3 assists, 6 turnovers and 2 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He sank a face-up sideline jumper. He swished an elbow jumper over Williams. He drained a sideline jumper in early offense. His pass in transition was picked off. He was picked on the perimeter. He swished an open wing jumper on a ball reversal. He missed a wing three. He pulled up at the same spot next time down and this time hit the three. He was strip-blocked trying to rise up for a three next time down. Not close on an iso pull-up at the FT line. He drained the elbow turnaround over the smaller defender. He missed a turnaround in the paint. Bad fading three from the wing, way short. Not close on a wing three. He was called for a charge in transition with 5.8 (Randle on the wing that he didn’t pass to…a 4-point swap). He had 14 points on 6-11 shooting (2-5 from three) and 5 turnovers. Second Half: He ball stopped, the play died, he was stripped, shotclock violation. Another turnover on a strip. He missed a turnaround backing his man down next time down. Long outlet to Clarkson for a layup. He probed off the high screen and drew FTs on the pull-up miss, he made both. He swished a sideline three. Wild chuck from three next time down and he missed. Lazy D and his man hit a wide open three in early offense. He missed a wing three out of a timeout.

Clarkson -- -- I can at least enjoy the game a little when some of our young guys have a good night. Clarkson led the team with 21 points and played better defensively (3 steals and wasn’t torched). He sank threes on kickouts, attacked the paint and hit the midrange. He got tapped on a drive late in the game and baseline jumper a little earlier, otherwise he would have had a bigger night. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 9-18 shooting (3-5 from three) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 block and 2 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He nearly gave up a layup off an inbounds (needed help from teammates, but that was too easy). He popped out weakside and swished a wing three when Russell spotted him. He swiped a bad pass and took it the distance. He missed an open wing jumper off the dribble handoff from Randle. He swiped a pass in the paint. He missed a pull-up at the FT line. He swished the three on the drive and kick from Randle. Nice reach to swipe a ball from Williams and ignite the break. He got a nice bounce on the baseline pull-up off the Kobe handoff. He tripped on a drive and was promptly swatted by Dirk. He missed a pull-up jumper. He had 10 points and 3 steals. Second Half: He sank a wing three when Russell threaded a pass to him. He scored a layup off the long outlet from Kobe. He missed a three on a kickout, way short. He airballed a chuck from three, doing a poor job trying to organize the offense. Great help D to block a shot on one end, then he was swatted on the other. He worked off the screen and hit the pull-up at the FT line. He got tapped on a baseline jumper. He split a screen, tripped and hit the off-balance floater at the FT line. He hit a big putback off the Metta drive with a minute left. He got tapped on a drive right, the layup high off the glass just crawled out of the hoop.

Randle -- -- In front of the friends and family, not a great game from Randle. He did get double digits in boards, which is good to see. The Mavs had just 7 offensive boards tonight. Cutting that down makes a huge difference. A lot of that is on Randle and the team battling on the glass while Roy challenges shots. It takes effort. The bad side was the 4 turnovers and ineffective offense. He gets a lot of turnovers attacking when our spacing is horrible. Sometimes it’s not waiting for guys to get into better spots, sometimes it’s just the poorly designed offense. Either way, he needs to learn where and when better. Defensively, we did a good job on Dirk between Randle, Metta and Nance. Dirk finished with just 9 points on 4-13 shooting. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-9 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 4 turnovers and 5 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He missed a wing jumper off the two-man game with Kobe. He was picked on iso. He sank an elbow jumper on the weakside of the triangle. He missed a 21-footer. He hit Lou for a three. He missed a finger roll. Good job getting back in transition to block a layup. He bricked a wing jumper. He collapsed the D on the drive and whipped the pass out to Clarkson for the three. Second Half: He swished a wing jumper, nice arc on that one. He attacked the paint and couldn’t finish the layup. He blew past Zaza baseline and drew FTs on the reverse attempt, he made both. He was stripped as he went for a turnaround in the paint. He missed a putback attempt. Illegal screen on a handoff out of a timeout, uggh. He attacked and lost it out of bounds, another turnover a couple possessions later. He attacked, missed, but Hibbert gave it back to him, he missed again and Hibbert got the board.

Russell -- -- Good all-around game from Russell. Lou was an awful -19 and Russell eventually replaced him to close the game. He hit a big jumper during that stretch to get the game to one possession. He also worked it to Hibbert off the two-man game for a clutch open jumper (what Lou should have worked last game, trusting that if they doubled off the screen that Hibbert would hit his shot). This was the kind of passing, rebounding, scoring combination you want to see more of from Russell. Not quite a triple-double pace per 36, but closer. We need more of that help from him on the defensive glass, good step in that direction tonight. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-7 shooting (2-4 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 3 fouls. He was a +2. The Action: He missed a wing jumper off the two-man game with Randle. He hit Clarkson and Kobe for threes. He sank a wing three off the dribble handoff from Kobe. He missed a quick-fire wing three. He was called for the charge on the pass off. Nice cut and Kobe found him, he drew the D under the hoop and setup Hibbert for FTs. Second Half: He threaded a pass to Clarkson on the wing for a three. He sank a wing three when his man tried to funnel him on a screen. Nice deflection of a pass on the other end off a Mav for a turnover. He missed a wing jumper getting some separation on a bump. Good reach from behind to recover on his man and strip him (use that reach), it led to FTs on the other end for him on the push out, he made one but got it back. He worked off the high screen at the wing and hit the pull-up 15-footer to cut the lead to 3 with just over 2 minutes left. He hit Hibbert for the 17-footer on the wing a possession later. He missed a wing three on the final possession.

Hibbert -- -- Spirited effort from Hibbert anchoring the D. He eventually fouled out in the final minute. Much better job on the boards and with the second and third efforts. Offensively, he missed some chippies around the rim (his hook has been way off so far this season, as well). He got to the line, though, and sank all of those as well as a big jumper late in the game off the two-man game with Russell. If the Eventually, these losses we have while keeping teams under 100 points will turn into W’s. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 1-5 shooting (0-1 form three, 6-6 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and 6 fouls in 30 minutes. He had a +/- of 0. The Action: He swatted a shot on help D in early offense. He drew FTs on an up-and-under on Dirk, he made both. He shoved his man trying to gain post position, turnover. Not close on a hook over Dirk. He missed a short hook. He drew FTs on the nice passing sequence from Kobe to Russell, he made both. He missed a point-blank tip in. He had 4 points and 5 boards. Second Half: He missed a three trying to beat the shotclock. Great recovery to reject a shot out of bounds on the quick bounce up. He drew FTs on a jumphook trying to beat the shotclock, he made both. He hit the 17-footer from the wing on the two-man sequence with Russell. He kept a Metta miss alive and Clarkson scored.

Williams -- -- That -19 sticks out badly as no one else on the team managed a double digits in the +/-. Not a good game with some costly turnovers and generally stealing minutes from other guys who were playing better. That late-game tech with 3:40 left was painful, as well. He had one moment off a steal where he scored a nice And-1 layup against Matthews, but otherwise a forgettable game. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 3-11 shooting (1-2 from three, 3-5 from the line) to go with 4 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a -19. The Action: He sank a three off the Randle pass. He missed a 13-footer. He was fouled and missed both FTs. He was blocked on a layup, probably could have reversed. He set up Bass on a drive and dish for what should have been FTs, but he never got the shot up. He baited his man into a foul on a three. Second Half: He scored a layup off the two-man game. Poor turnaround chuck from the corner and he missed. He threw a pass away next time down for a dunk the other way. Not close on a wing three. He attacked at the end of the corner and couldn’t finish in the paint. He curled into the paint, drew the D and hit Bass for the dunk. He drew FTs on a leaning three in transition, he made two. He missed a wing three. He swiped a pass, pushed it out, changed directions behind his back and scored the And-1 layup on Matthews, he made the FT. He missed a fading wing jumper. He attacked and lost the ball out of bounds, unforced error. He attacked and bricked the layup on contact, then picked up the tech with 3:40 down 4.

Bass -- -- Wow, he had some really good and really bad moments out there. Seemingly no in between. He was either awful…like the back-to-back turnovers trying to create in the post…or the off-ball foul on the break…or the 4 turnovers (someone who doesn’t have the ball very long shouldn’t have 4 TOs). Or he was great with a couple of help D rejections in our small ball units and killing it on the offensive boards. He led the team with 7 offensive boards. It seemed like he and Randle, however, we were messing each other up some on the putback attempts. Still, nice to see the activity and some good impact, for once, on D. He needs to string more of those moments together because they have been few and far between. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-6 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 10 boards (7 offensive), 1 assist, 1 steal, 3 blocks, 4 turnovers and 2 fouls in 18 minutes. He was a -8. The Action: He dunked off a drive. He missed a heave for three at the buzzer. Second Half: Offensive foul off ball on the break, wow. Post up and he fumbles the ball out of bounds. Another post up next time down and he fumbles it out of bounds again. He dunked off the drive and dish from Lou. He rejected Barea’s drive. He leaked out before we got the board and it led to a Mavs three when the ball came back to where Bass had been standing. He blocked another drive. He grabbed a missed three by Young and scored the putback And-1, he made the FT.

Young -- -- Quiet game from Nick as he couldn’t scratch. Our two 6th men just didn’t have it tonight. Any kind of game from either one and we might get the W. He did play solid D, hitting the boards and even coming up with a nice steal. He probably should have scored, but was tapped badly on a three in the second half. Just that kind of night. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-4 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 5 boards, 1 steal and 1 foul in 17 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: Wild chuck from the top off the key, not close. Second Half: He missed a pull-up in early offense. He got tapped on a wide open three on a kickout. Nice reach on help D to strip a man.

Nance -- -- Not a lot of minutes from Nance. I liked when he matched up against Dirk. Our young athletic guys did a better job on him in this one. I still wish we saw some better weakside challenges from Nance with his length and hops. We ran him some at the C spot across Bass, but neither quite have that paint presence that we need. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-4 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 5 boards and no fouls in 11 minutes. He was a -6. The Action: He up-faked to lose Dirk, attacked the paint, missed, but scored the putback. Second Half: He missed a sideline three at the end of the game.

World Peace -- -- Well, awful game offensively. That was the law of averages catching up with him with the 0-9 tonight, including a big miss on a wide open three in the corner in the final minute. Defensively, he was great, moving his feet well, bodying up on Dirk when they matched up at PF and generally always communicating and being active. Good leadership out there. The team made it into an ugly game for the Mavs with their D. That’s a big improvement. “We just got to put it together,” Metta said. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-9 shooting (0-4 from three) to go with 3 boards, 1 steal and 3 fouls in 18 minutes. He was a -9. The Action: He missed a 22-footer. He missed a drive. He missed a sideline three. Second Half: He attacked and missed a lefty layup. He missed a corner three. He posted up and choked the layup. He drew a shoving foul on Dirk. He missed a sideline three. He probed the lane and got tapped on the lefty layup, but Clarkson scored off it. He missed a wide open corner three down 4 after stripping Zaza under the hoop.

Scott -- -- The Lakers led 19-9, knocking down perimeter shots early… Lou in for Clarkson midway through the quarter at the timeout… A 9-0 run by the Mavs out of that timeout. Metta in for Kobe, Lakers up 1… The Lakers made just one FG in the final 3 minutes. A 15-point turnaround during the quarter for the Mavs... The Lakers trailed 29-24 after the first… The Lakers started the Nance, Bass, Young, Kobe, Lou lineup… After a chuck from Nick, he sat him for Clarkson after 3 minutes into the quarter… Kobe out for Metta, Bass out for Hibbert… Randle in for Nance, Lakers down 4… Russell in for Lou, Lakers down 3… Clarkson and Kobe were 10-14, rest of team 5-23… He sat Russell for Lou with a couple minutes left, Lakers down 1. Russell with three fouls… Horrible close. They trailed 48-40 at the half. The Lakers had 10 turnovers. Dirk was just 3-10 with 7 points. Kobe with half the turnovers… More turnovers from Kobe in the third… The Lakers trailed 57-53 when the timeout came midway through the quarter… Bass in for Hibbert, Williams for Russell… Down 4, he sat Kobe for Metta… Nance and Young in for Randle and Clarkson down 6… Bad stretch for that unit, Bass sucked badly… The Lakers trailed 64-55 heading into the fourth… Super small ball to start the fourth: Bass, Metta, Young, Kobe, Lou… Randle in for Metta at the PF, Lakers down 5… They cut it to 1 when Hibbert came in for Bass, some good moments from Bass this time… Kobe didn’t cover his man in early offense and they gave up a three, the lead at 4, Scott called the timeout off that. He sat Kobe for Clarkson off that with 7 minutes left… Down 4 after a series of turnovers and he brought in Russell with 5 minutes left for Young, so Russell at SF on D essentially… He sat Randle for Metta with 3:32 left when Randle picked up his fifth, Lakers down 7… Hibbert fouled out on a challenge on Zaza with 45 seconds left, down 3. He brought in Bass, going small with the Bass/Metta front court… Chuck from Kobe out of timeout… The Lakers scored just 31 points between the second and third quarter. They nearly had that in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t hold the line…

[ibitegirls]

[Dylandogg]

My observations 9 games in to the season:

The biggest issue I see is mis-utilization of players and their talents.
Coach Scott doesn't seem to realize the following:

Lou Williams should be brought off the bench as an offensive spark. Not used as a 30+ minute per game point guard and the go-to-guy at end of quarters/games. He should be a Vinnie Johnson, not an Isaiah Thomas. (And curse you for making me use a Pistons reference)

Brandon Bass should be used as an off the bench energy guy who's total focus should be on rebounds/defense and garbage points. He should not ever be given the ball in the post to try to score.

Russell should run the offense. Set people up. Run the PnR. Not be an off ball shooter, although he can do that.

Kobe. Ah Kobe. He is no longer the Kobe we knew and loved. We still love him, but, he is a 20 minutes per game guy who can score efficiently if he will just accept the fact that he has to play smart and realize he can not use his athleticism to score. He is no longer the guy to go to for an iso play. How many points has he scored in the paint this year? He has stolen moves and methods from other players his entire career. He should be watching Grant Hill videos from his last 2 years. Steal that game.

Nick young is great as a spot up shooter, and as a 'chucker at the buzzer' player. He is mediocre as an iso player. Do not put him in that situation as a first option. I am happy with his defense so far this year. And I cannot believe that some posters have this vendetta against him and want him traded for a bag of chips. This guy is worth twice his salary.

Clarkson - not sure if he is best suited as a 'Michael Cooper' type 6th man role (obviously needs to work on D to obtain that level), or a true starting SG. So, until we can conclusively determine his position, put him at starting SG and leave him there. There is no other player on this team that is better at the SG position (and that includes Kobe).

Randle has 3 major obstacles to overcome. 1) Outside shot. I think this is the easiest to overcome. Put in the work kid, and you will get there. 2) Defense - both 'man on man' and 'team' defense. Again, put in the work and it will come. 3) His hands - here is where I have the most concern with his ability to become an All-Star level player. His hands look awful! He gets stripped on a regular basis. The ball slips out of his hands on drives to the basket at an alarming rate. Sometimes this can be overcome with effort and hard work. But sometimes, it just never happens, and the player never reaches the next level because of it. If Randle fails to become a star, it will because of his inability to hold onto the ball.

Hibbert - Solid Defensive Center. Can hit his free throws and spread the D with his outside shot. I like his attitude. Good solid Center. But he is not a post up player. And neither is Randle. So, one has to hit the bench, or hit the road. This team needs a consistent Post threat.

I would like to see more of Nance, Black and Brown on the court. They show some real potential to become solid role players.

In addition, I do not see this young team learning the basics. How to set a proper screen, how to box out for rebounds, team defense concepts (keep both your man and the guy with the ball in your scope of vision), etc. I do not know if it is due to Coach Scott not emphasizing this, or the kids just taking time to learn it. But we need to teach these kids the fundamentals first.

I see a real solid future core with this current team. As they age and develop, I see a great foundation for a competitive team. But, we are missing a superstar scorer (Durant/Carmelo/etc.) and an all-star post player (Randolph/?). That is what we should be looking for in free agency, as I do not see that in any of the current players we have.

[Yumyumcha]

Thanks DB, hope the Lakers win soon just so these write ups won't be so agonizing.

[Shaber]

Thanks, DB!


You missed the stats for Clarkson...
_________________
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Lakers depth chart

PG Johnson / Goodrich
SG Bryant / West / Scott
SF Baylor / Worthy / Cooper
PF Mikkelsen / Hairston / McAdoo / Gasol
C Chamberlain / Abdul-Jabbar / O'Neal / Mikan

[H0B0]

THX DB. GO LAKERS

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[lakersfreak]

Thx DB

[A Mad Chinaman]

[cdg]

Thanks DB. I thought Williams would be a better performer than this.

[Lakers#1Team]

Thanks DB!

[gumby]

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks again DB. At least the last 2 games were competitive, even if the outcome was an "L" for both. I was a bit encouraged that the Lakers didn't fold early in the 4th quarter but started reeling Dallas in while playing one of the vet lineups I'd least likely pay money to see out there on the court. It looked ugly but they actually made Dallas work for points and it showed on the scoreboard, reeling it back from "here comes the blowout" to a 1 point game.

It's easy to forget how inexperienced so many of our most talented players are right now, particularly on defense. Looking forward to seeing what happens as experience gap closes.

[Shaber]

[Dylandogg]

[Lakersneuron]

[GoldenThroat]