LAKERS -at- NUGGETS – 3-2-16 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

 
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 9:33 pm    Post subject: LAKERS -at- NUGGETS – 3-2-16 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

Injury Bug… The second night of the back-to-back in Denver, the Lakers looked like they ran out of steam in that fourth quarter. They also ran out of players.

With Williams and Nance out, Kobe only playing one quarter, Clarkson joined them in the third quarter with the patellar tendon strain.

The Russell-Clarkson duo combined for 30 of the Lakers 60 first half points, so losing him took some of the spark out of the lineup.

The tables were turned on the team in the next two quarters. The Lakers were outscored 60-47 in the second half.

Despite Scott having to patchwork together some combinations that hadn’t seen light of day this season, he didn’t think that was a valid excuse.

“Transition defense has nothing to do with lineup changes,” Scott said. The Lakers gave up 27 points on the break.


Kobe -- -- Farewell, Colorado. He played the initial 11-minute stint of the first half, then sat the rest of the game. Brown taking his spot. Not much of a farewell game as he iced the shoulder. “It’s hurting,” Kobe said, mentioning he’s just trying to stay on top of it. He signed autographs the rest of the night. While he was out there, the team didn’t quite know what Kobe’s was going to do in the sets. He didn’t dominate the ball, trying to fit in a little more in the flow. Just more of a token appearance tonight. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 1-2 shooting from three, 2-3 from the line, to go with 2 boards, 1 assist and 1 foul in 11 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He missed a wing three in early offense. He drained a pull-up three from the wing. He drew FTs on the Lou-like reach foul behind the three line, he made two. Second Half: He did not play in the second half.

Clarkson -- -- He strained his patellar tendon on a drive in the third quarter. I’m sure the Lakers will be extremely cautious with him. No word on the severity and it will be examined more tomorrow. He was hobbling down the court off the play, not severely but noticeably, for sure. Nothing seemed really awkward about the play. “It’s just a little sore right now. It’s my first time having something like this happen,” Clarkson said, not seeming to be too concerned. That shortened his night and may have been a big reason for the loss as the rest of the team could have used his energy in the fourth. “It was just adversity that we didn’t handle well,” Russell said. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 4-13 shooting (3-8 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 23 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He knocked down an open wing three on the drive and kickout from Russell. He took his eyes off a pass, score the other way. He missed a deep three. He drained a long three off the kickout from Black. The D sagged off so he sank another three. He flagged down a perimeter pass, pushed it out and scored the layup. Off-balance heat-check three and he missed. He missed another three, way short, on the same possession. He missed a step-back three at the buzzer. He was blocked on a baseline jumper, then fouled. He got tapped on a step-back three in the corner against the shotclock, followed his shot, scooped up the loose ball and was fouled on the reverse, he made both FTs. He spun and missed the short one in the paint. He had 13 points on 4-11 shooting (3-8 from three). Second Half: He attacked the paint and missed the short pull-up. He was stripped on a drive and twisted his ankle a little.

Russell -- -- He led the team again in scoring and did a good job setting up teammates with the 6 assists. He scored 17 of his points in the first half, and like the rest of the team in the second half, slowed down some. Since returning to the starting lineup, he’s elevating his game and getting more opportunity (he didn’t get a lot of closing opportunities last time he was starting). Again, I liked the variety he’s scoring with. You just don’t typically see all that from someone his age. Of course, people are going to raise the bar on his performances now that he knocked down the 39…but 24 and 6 assists with just 1 turnover is strong. They didn’t run their new offense with as much consistency tonight. “You can’t really get too high or too low. I just want to say consistent,” Russell said. Some sluggish moments for him on D. The Stats: He scored 24 points on 9-21 shooting (3-9 from three, 3-5 from the line) to go with 1 board, 6 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 36 minutes. He was a -16. The Action: He swished a pull-up 20-footer working off the high screen out of the motion-weak to start the game. He attacked baseline and whipped it to Clarkson for the three. He posted up and hit the turnaround. Low position backing his man down and he missed the short jumphook. He swiped a pass on the perimeter. He posted up off the first cut on the chin series and drew FTs, he made one. He was called for a travel on a post spin. He missed a wide open three straight away. He was fouled or stripped on a three attempt as he rose up and the ball went flying. He attacked the paint, drew the D and hit Bass for the dunk. He missed an open wing three. He posted up Harris, popped him in the face in the process of getting fouled and went to the line to make a couple FTs. He splashed down a wing three when his man gave him room. Short on a floater (looked like he wanted the foul). He blocked a man from behind on help D. He attacked baseline off a handoff, drew the D and kicked to Hibbert for the jumper. He lost his man on a jab fake and drive, then lost the handle. He scooped up a loose ball, faced up in the corner after getting his lead foot behind the three line and swished the three. He sank a pull-up 18-footer on a two-for-one sequence (great job with the body jerk on that), he missed the FT short. He ran the clock, great cross over to lose his man and he hit the floater on the final possession. He had 17 points on 6-12 shooting (2-5 from three) to go with 3 assists. Second Half: He missed a quick-fire wing jumper behind a screen. He set up Hibbert for FTs on a slow developing screen-roll. He airballed a wing three. He set up Hibbert on the two-man game for a layup with the shotclock winding down. He sank a wing three off the cross-court feed. He missed the midrange pull-up working off the screen. He missed a flat runner at the end of the third. He attacked to his right and scored a layup. He hit Brown for an open three. He missed a wing three on an inbounds. He worked the two-man game and bounced it to Bass for the And-1 layup. He scored a layup backdooring his man. He missed a three at the end of the game.

Randle -- -- “They got out in transition on us,” Randle said. We gave him the ball to start the second half and go to work against Faried. He scored and drew fouls, sending Faried to the bench. Nice aggressive stretch there. He’s just a load when he gets to that spin move with guys backing up. He didn’t get the double-double but still led the team in rebounds with 7. The low number could be that whole back-to-back in Denver scenario, but Randle didn’t want that to be an excuse. Again he got deep into the paint for his scores. The perimeter shot certainly wasn’t falling in this one, but the FTs were, making 7-8. Hopefully, he can crack that 70% mark. Kobe praised the young Laker trio: “You see them in timeouts communicating as a group,” he said, mentioning they weren’t about individual play, but working together. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 5-11 shooting (0-1 form three, 7-8 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 1 assist and 2 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -21. The Action: He badly airballed a turnaround on iso. He backed Faried into the lane, drop-stepped back to his strong hand and scored. He blew around Mudiay and scored a layup over a big. He missed a 20-footer. He lost Faried on a quick spin and scored the easy layup. He created on the wing, attacked baseline and drew FTs trying to power up on the reverse, he made both. He had 8 points and just 3 boards. Second Half: We spread the floor for him, he attacked, spun and flipped in the layup over Faried. He missed the And-1 on an up-and-under he should have had next time down (Russell going right back to him to start the half), he made both FTs. He attacked right and drew Faried’s fourth, putting him on the sideline early, he made both FTs. He attacked straight into his man and was stripped. He attacked, spun and was blocked for a shotclock violation. He bullied his way to a short floater from the right side. He airballed a stepback in the lane. Huertas set him up for FTs, he made one. He missed a chuck from three.

Hibbert -- -- Pretty big gap in that +/- between Hibbert and Black tonight. Hibbert had the -20, Black the +14. I did see some rare chemistry developing a little with Russell out there. It’s rare we can get Hibbert some points of the pick and roll. He’s usually too slow to be super effective on that, but Russell was able to find him in the second half on a couple of those sequences. That’s not easy. I can only imagine a hard rolling big with length who’s able to finish over the top playing with Russell. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-6 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 block, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 18 minutes. He was a -20. The Action: He was called for 3 seconds trying to create in the post. He missed a jumphook on his next touch. He airballed a jumphook. He took a kickout, ballfaked to lose the D and he hit the baseline jumper. He kept an offensive board alive and it led to Clarkson FTs. He grabbed an offensive board but couldn’t put it back in. Second Half: Soft touch on the open baseline jumper and it fell. He drew FTs on the two-man game with Russell, he made both. He scored a layup off the sweet bounce pass from Russell off the two-man game.

Young -- -- He didn’t play in the first half, but with Kobe unable to go in the second half, he was put back in the rotation. He scratched out a few points and again had some moments on D. With Clarkson possibly sidelined for a while, we may see more minutes with Nick and Brown on the floor at the same time. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 2-5 shooting (1-4 form three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 3 boards and 1 foul in 13 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He iso’d on a smaller defender and swished the turnaround. He missed a three at the top of the arc. Wow, wide open and he airballed the three. Wide open three on the wing in transition and this time he knocked it down. He drew a foul on a three, Lakers down 7 midway through the quarter, he made all three. He missed a three in transition next time down.

Bass -- -- He led the bench scoring with 11 points, working off some setups from his guards. Defensively, he had some moments in the passing lanes, including one steal he took the distance to score an And-1 on. Good to see him active for those steals. Our bigs outside of Hibbert are very mobile and we need to be more aggressive like that. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-7 shooting (3-5 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a +7. The Action: He swiped a cross-court pass, took it the distance against multiple defenders and scored the And-1 layup, he missed the FT. He gathered himself and dunked off the drive and dish from Russell. Second Half: He attacked on a face-up and was blocked. He didn’t hit rim on a screen-roll, shotclock turnover. He drew FTs on bustout (the refs in for it after calling that flagrant-1 on Brown, so they reviewed it), he made one FT. He missed the wide open elbow jumper. He jumped in front of an inbounds pass to swipe it. He powered in an And-1 off the Huertas pass, he made the FT. He rejected Mudiay easily out of bounds. He scored an And-1 layup off the two-man game with Russell, he made the FT.

Brown -- -- He got Nick’s minutes as the backup SF behind Kobe early on. With Kobe playing short minutes, Brown got extended run. He sank a couple of threes in the second half for his only highlights on that end of the court. He was one of the few guys to be disruptive in transition D. But that was a rare occasion for anyone. The Lakers were outscored 27-10 on the break. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-6 shooting (2-5 from three) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -15. The Action: He missed a pull-up 20-footer working off the screen. He swiped a backdoor pass on one end, but missed the spot-up three on the other. He was called for a bogus flagrant-1 on a shotblock foul. He missed a wide open corner three. Second Half: He sank the corner three on the kickout. Good hustle back in transition to deflect a pass. He threw a pass away on the break for a dunk the other way. He sank an open spot-up three. He missed a wing three.

Black -- -- He led the team with a +14. He had a couple of slams, including a nice lob from Huertas. Defensively, he also had a great block that he immediately controlled and also an excellent steal off the two-man game, showing some nice recovery speed. I want to see more of that. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-4 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block and 2 fouls in 18 minutes. He was a +14. The Action: He kicked out to Clarkson for the three. He exploded off the floor to block a layup and controlled it all in the same breath. He slammed a lob from Huertas out of the timeout. He missed a point-blank tip-in attempt. Second Half: He up-faked to freeze his man and blew past him for the two-handed jam. He drew FTs on an over-the-back foul on the defensive end. Excellent recovery on the two-man game to steal the return pass. He spun to lose his man but missed the lefty layup.

Huertas -- -- A lot of run for Huertas tonight. He tied his career high of 9 points in the first half and then didn’t score in the second half. Good job setting up others to lead the team with 8 assists in 31 minutes. Some struggles defensively in that fourth quarter that helped the Nuggets get a little separation. "They hit clutch shots in the fourth quarter," Huertas said. The Denver guards were able to consistently beat him to help close the game. “Those guys killed us tonight,” Scott said. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-4 shooting (1-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 8 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 5 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He probed baseline and drew FTs (then did a little coaching of Black on where he should have been), he made both. He swished a running jumper to start the second quarter. He attacked the paint and hit the 14-foot floater. He spotted Black free for the lob dunk. He sank a wing three behind a screen. He had 9 points on 3-3 shooting and 3 assists. Second Half: He hit Russell on a cross-court pass for the three. He found Brown cross court for the open three. His pass on the two-man game was picked off. Another pass picked off on the perimeter. He missed a wing set-shot three. He whipped a pass to Bass under the hoop for an And-1. He attacked off the three line and setup Randle for FTs.

Scott -- -- Hibbert out for Bass midway through the quarter, Lakers down 11… Lakers down 19-12 when the timeout came midway through the quarter. Huertas in for Russell… Black in for Randle with 3:39 left… The Lakers took a 4-point lead on a 19-4 run… Brown in for Kobe, Lakers up 1... The Lakers led 29-27 after the first… He started the Black, Bass, Brown, Russell, Huertas unit… Down 34-33, Scott called a timeout… Randle in for Bass, Lakers down 1… Lakers up 2 when Hibbert returned for Black with 5 minutes left… Clarkson back in… Roy out for the final offensive sequence, Bass in… The Lakers led 60-57 at the half. They had just 3 turnovers, and Russell led with 17 points… Lakers down 3 when Huertas came in at the 6:28 mark for Clarkson, who was limping slightly… Nick in for Brown… Bass in for Hibbert, Lakers down 5… The Lakers fell back by 8, Black in for Randle… The Lakers trailed 83-82 heading into the fourth. No Kobe, JC or Lou available… He went with the Black, Bass, Young, Brown and Huertas unit… The offense went dry and they gave up a number of offensive boards on the other end. Timeout down 7 midway through the quarter… He sat Black for Randle out of that. Where’s Russell?… Finally Russell in for Young with 5:11 left, Lakers down 4… Huertas not looking great on D… They looked a bit lifeless as a team down the stretch…
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LuciusAllen
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 9:35 pm    Post subject:

first
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OregonLakerGuy
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 9:40 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB
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lakersfreak
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 9:48 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB
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TDRock
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 9:50 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB
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H0B0
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 10:17 pm    Post subject:

THX DB. GO LAKERS
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TooMuchMajicBuss
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 10:25 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB. Tough loss
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DD20045
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 10:49 pm    Post subject:

24 & 6 feels like a let down....We have been spoiled as Laker fans. We have a 20 year old putting up crazy numbers right now and making it look easy. Things are finally starting to turn around.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 11:09 pm    Post subject:

THX DB
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SweetP
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 11:13 pm    Post subject:

Thx DB
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A Mad Chinaman
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2016 3:15 am    Post subject:

Great that the young ones are feeling more comfortable

The next stage is seeing ANYONE taking the challenge of stopping ANY opposing player by staying in front of their man
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2016 4:14 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB!
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Klone_dd
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2016 11:26 am    Post subject:

2nd night of a B2B in Denver never works out well for the Lakers.

Thanks DB.
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