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jeremysnow
Star Player
Joined: 27 Jun 2002
Posts: 7079
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 Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2006 10:03 am Post subject: |
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| eagles nut wrote: | | I saw that Yao was complaining about being fouled. Ridiculous. Maybe he was fouled but on 2 of his first 3 "blocks" he got away with contact. |
and what about the "block of luke's shot" LATE in the game. luke's shot via replay, touched the glass, THEN Yao blocked the shot. this should have been goal tending. the game would have ended sooner. |
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DzLaker
Star Player
Joined: 13 Jul 2004
Posts: 1598
Location: Sacramento, CA
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| Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2006 10:17 am Post subject: |
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| DancingBarry wrote: | Luke definitely has to have the ball in his hands and running the offense a lot with LO out. Like I said above, he was kind of that second engine in our offense tonight. He knows how to initiate, he knows where and how to attack within the system, when to ball reverse, or where to look when the D takes something away.
I think they want Kobe to get guys going early and then move him to an aggressive scoring role later in the game. We can't get predictable with that and Kobe will certainly need to mix in his scoring/initiating a little smoother than what went down earlier tonight. |
DB, why do you think they don't have Luke being the "default" initiator when LO is out? It's apparent to me that our offense runs much smoother then. When Kobe does it, teams can double our best scorer and the guy who sets up the offense. There's no flow and clogs our offense.
I'm also not sure why Turiaf gets few minutes particularly when our team needs energy.
It seems with Lamar out, Phil is kind of feeling out the team and deliberately trying different things to see what works best. We're winning but there are still things Phil is not doing or not doing soon enough that are very perplexing. |
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Mr. EiGhTy-OnE
Star Player
Joined: 03 Nov 2004
Posts: 8272
Location: San Diego, CA
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| Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2006 10:27 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | For all those guys we see cowering in the presence of a shot-blocker, they should have seen Kobe Bryant last night. Staring down Yao Ming in the lane more than a few times Friday night, Kobe nevertheless went right at the big guy. One of those times resulted in a tough floater with some contact; another saw Kobe split two defenders, go up, and simply hang in the air long enough for Yao to come down while Kobe put in a banker over him; on another, Kobe came off a screen, kept his dribble and gave Yao some head-and-shoulder fakes before blowing past him for a filthy dunk …
KB24 went for 53 points (on five treys), 10 boards and eight dimes in L.A.’s double-OT win. The Lakers were down by about 20 at one point, but came back and pulled away in the second overtime …
Yao put up 35, 15 and eight blocks. E-mail from one of the Dime Crew during the game: “Yao is pummeling in the Lakers. It’s actually frustrating to watch because he’s so slow and predictable.” …
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"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu |
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farmarboys
Sixth Man
Joined: 01 Dec 2006
Posts: 90
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| Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2006 11:09 am Post subject: |
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mad props to Smush. He was stellar in the 4th quarter and beyond. Especially that 3 ball he made... one of those 'oh yea he'll make it' before he even shot the ball.
I don't expect Kwame to make any type of shot now. It's better for me psychologically. That boy needs to dunk the ball and stop being a ballerina. GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Kobe did what Kobe does. |
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Kobe3rings
Rookie
Joined: 13 Nov 2006
Posts: 1
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| Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2006 5:44 pm Post subject: Bad Ball |
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As a STL Lakers fan, I really apreciate the updates and the comments of the fans here.
Did anyone else think that the game last night feature the worst of the new/old bad basketballs?
Get rid of those balls now! |
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A Mad Chinaman
Star Player
Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 6148
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| Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2006 7:36 pm Post subject: |
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The Lakers are acquiring the mental toughness of a winner, with the leadership of Kobe.
With the competition within the team (Smush vs. Jordan, Vlad vs. Cook, Bynum vs. Kwame, etc.), it is driving the team to undreamed heights that is exciting to witness.
One Important Key
Smush showed up and played hard, the question will be if he can consistently produced and hustle. As Stu Lantz stated, once you showed what you can do - I expect to see it every night. The NBA is filled with players that have great games once in a while, the key is consistently. The importance of Jordan is to pushed Smush
fyi: Great work DB |
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DancingBarry
Editor-in-Chief
Joined: 07 Sep 2001
Posts: 40203
Location: O.C.
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| Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2006 3:51 am Post subject: |
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| psydesho wrote: | I hate when Cook is on the floor. He came up with some clutch plays, but I hate him on the floor. He had some steals and rebounds fall into his hands tonight that he got but didn't create or go get. He hit that big 3 and got that great swat on Yao on the end, but the majority of the runs Houston went on were when Cook was on the floor. This seems to always be the case. I'd like to see more hustle on his part.
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| RYZ wrote: |
I'm growing more and more perplexed about Turiaf's minutes by the game. I'll give Cook credit for that three, but other than perimeter shooting, he just doesn't have any reason to be in the game. |
I wrote this for another post on the board, but I will replay it here because it addresses the Cook issue against this team:
We're going to have to find a way to mix and match our Ronny, Vlad, Cook combination while LO is out. Depends on the match up. So some nights Cook will certainly be exposed...but against the Rockets that wasn't the case.
The Lakers did not get hurt at PF by Cook in either of the Rocket games. Rewatch the game and focus just on our PF situation on and off the ball. This isn't to say that Cook won't get abused by other teams and other PFs, just that he was a positive factor on the court against the Rockets...a team with severe issues at the PF spot.
To find out what Phil is thinking against this team regarding the PF spot, let's start at the first Rocket game. In the first half of the first Rocket game, we had Vlad against Howard and the Rockets went to an ice situation to exploit that, which they did. Turiaf came in and shut it down. So, we learn that the Vlad/Howard match up at PF isn't going to work. Turiaf can D that up if need be.
In the third quarter, when we went on that huge run...Cook was in the game against the Rocket PFs. He was spreading the floor offensively, knocking down a couple shots, and defensively he didn't give up squat. Zip. They never went at him, it was never an issue. In fact, he had a couple decent team D plays. He wasn't a liability on D and was an asset on O. You got a solid game from him and his weaknesses weren't exploited. So, of course, you want to go back with that. You were successful.
In that horrendous fourth...which was largely an intensity/effort problem, although there were some strategic things going on...Cook didn't play the first 8+ minutes. Turiaf was out there. When Cook came in, he had some poor rotations like everyone else and he had a bonehead offensive foul going for a rebound that gave up two FTs and he fouled out. Hardly played. One thing the Rockets did do in the quarter was leave Turiaf when he set picks in order to double the ball handler. They did that a couple of times and shut that option down.
So, both teams will look at both the good and the bad of that game and try to carry over the good and correct the bad. They think they've learned something.
Fast forward to this second Rockets game. The team was out of rhythm out of the gates. Some of it may have to do with Vlad in the lineup, because we aren't crisp in the offense, it's herky jerky and he had a number of turnovers and blocked shots in that period. Howard scored 2 points on Cook in that quarter and it was on a play where Cook had to cut off guard penetration or give up a layup, so Howard was wide open for a jumper. Hardly getting lit up. Cook also played with Bynum out there, so it wasn't like we didn't have a shot blocker that you would want to have when Cook is on the floor. So, we trailed by 19 points in that quarter, a good chunk of that was when Vlad was in there. So, Cook's man only scored 2 points and he wasn't a point of attack for the Rockets. This quarter was the main problem in this game and we were digging out way out of that hole.
Second quarter, Cook hits a long wing jumper over Howard to start. He fouls Deke from behind because Bynum blew a box out and was about to give up a dunk. Howard went iso on Cook in the post, Cook was all over him and Howard threw up a hideous jumphook that was an airball. Howard scores in transition when Cook is trailing the play because he was attacking the rim on the other end (clearly this was Bynum's pick up and Cook was yelling to Bynum to stay on him while he took the slower center, but Drew wasn't paying attention). Cook showed and recovered on Howard to force a travel.
Problem plays for Cook were actually on the offensive end (Cook was blocked twice, threw that hideous entry to Kobe out of bounds). But he also helped spread the floor and he worked a two-man game with Kobe and Kobe hit a FT jumper. Cook goes out of the game, Turiaf comes in. Now, you see the Rockets do something different defensively. They leave our PF and roam with Howard. When Cook was in, they never left him. Howard traps Kobe at mid court multiple times, just leaving Ronny. Ronny misses a wide open jumper when Howard doubles Luke. Then Howard beats Ronny down court and scores a layup in transition on the next missed shot. Ronny gets blocked by Yao. (The majority of Yao's blocked shots were against our PFs when they were near the hoop.) So, we don't take advantage of that situation.
Now to our strong third quarter in the second game. Vlad played 9+ minutes, his best stint. (Still had some Tri issues, though) He had a couple of scores, wasn't an issue defensively in either the team or individual aspects. We had a good run. We went to Cook with Bynum for the remainder of the quarter. Finally, a post iso play against Cook that is a problem, Howard spins and hits a jumphook over him. On the other end, though, you see Cook's value...he sets a pick for Kobe, Howard doesn't leave Cook, Kobe gets dribble penetration and a foul. Next defensive possesion, steal by Cook on the pick and roll. Next D sequence he pokes a ball out of bounds. Next one, he snags the high entry pass on help D. So, he's actually a positive factor on the D end in that stint to close out the quarter.
Fourth quarter, Cook sets a back screen that frees Mo for the open three. He doubles Yao, gets a miss, but Howard is there to recover the offensive board and score it (this might be one where Turiaf or LO could have tipped it out or gotten the board). Howard scores a jumper when Cook is in a bad situation as Drew got blocked and fell to the floor, Cook is on the other end dealing with both Yao and Howard in transition, he gives up the Howard jumper instead of a layup to Yao. Offensive end, Cook sets a screen for Smush, Howard stays with him, Smush scores an And-1 layup. Cook helps block or deflect a shot off Bonzi on the other end. Pick and pop with Kobe, Kobe misses a three (should have attacked because he could have had a one-on-one with Yao to throwdown on). Cook posts up in the next possession and hits the fade in the lane. The Lakers did some match up subs in the final couple of possessions when the Rockets went small at PF.
In OT, the Rockets then switched to guarding Cook with a smaller player. We went maybe three or so possessions before we finally took advantage of it and you saw that quick post bank by Cook over the smaller man. Howard then hits that long baseline jumper, but there was a reason Cook sagged off him, he had to cheat over on Yao because the Rockets just exposed us on the high screen roll. On the very next sequence (the Rockets go to zone now because of the Cook issue scoring in the post against the smaller man in the previous possession) and Cook drills that three to tie the game with 1:29. In the second OT, his man never scored on him and Cook had that block on Yao from behind. We then matched up small to stay with the Rockets small unit.
So...very good game by Cook.
The reason Phil is playing him a lot against the Rockets is because their PFs cannot expose him on one end...and they must stick to him like glue on the other end. (Remember, Cook also had a huge game against the Rockets last year.) Watch any screen set by Cook, or any play off the ball...they never leave him. Kobe appreciates this very much. Phil does, too. And when they can't bleed us on the other end by attacking Cook, then it makes a lot of sense to milk it. |
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