Lakers vs. Timberwolves -- 12-21 -- Game Notes

[Mike@LG]

Not doing the smile ratings. That's DB's job on his perspective.

Effort goes a long way.

After what seemed like another mundane road game, the Lakers were able to pull a high tempo, energetic 4th quarter to blow out the Timberwolves from a 12 point deficit.

Starters
Kobe had a good game. He's incorporating playmaking, attacking, and perimeter play well offensively. His shot selection hasn't changed from the last game against the Bulls, but, they were dropping tonight. It was clear to me he didn't look completely rested. Defensively he didn't display much effort. He got beat on a series of backcuts by Trenton Hassell, which accounted for 6 points in easy layups given up.

Smush Parker played a solid game as well. He did a strong job defensively in terms of pick and roll defense, changing angles, and displaying more effort. Most of his damage was done from midrange, but Mike James was essentially shut out for the game. Foye and Jaric didn't really put any kind of damage while being on the floor.

Brian Cook got the start tonight and showed good hustle. His shot selection is has no conscious, but he did hit effectively from midrange and from behind the arc as well. He got burned by Mark Blount repeatedly, giving up at least 4 layups in transition or in divecuts. KG was too far difficult a defensive matchup.

Luke Walton played a sub-average game. He was defended by more athletic players and couldn't really find good looks at the basket. He doesn't force the issue, and that led to a quiet 9 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 assist.

Kwame Brown started the game playing active but got discouraged after missing a couple of easy opportunities underneath the basket. He couldn't get himself established early, considering how easy he was able to knock Mark Blount out of position for good shot opportunities. He did a strong job on KG as well. KG was able to hit a couple of midrange jumpshots over Brown, but in the paint, was rendered ineffective due to Kwame's presence. He was continuously bumped out of position.

Bench
Vladimir Radmanovic didn't really spark up until the 4th quarter. He played within his game, attacking the basket and floating to the perimeter hitting the St. Louis Arch bombs from distance. He was key in a 25-2 spurt in the 4th quarter to eradicate a 12 point lead and take the game into Laker control. He absolutely abused Craig Smith on offense, blowing by him a couple times for a layup and an And 1 opportunity. Strong game from him as well.

Jordan Farmar played the best quarter of his career. He did an excellent job of setting the table for Evans, Bynum, and Radmanovic. The defense was picked apart by his ball-distribution, drive and dish abilities, and the varying ways the Lakers were scoring. It was well balanced. Bynum did well in the paint. Evans hit everything from 7'-19'. Radmanovic bombed from the outside. Defensively he had some trouble against the stronger Foye and Mike James. It's clear that his upper body strength and basic defensive footwork along the perimeter in mid-transition is lacking. His decision-making was great tonight, and evidence of the point guard he'll be in the future.

Andrew Bynum was part of the dominance in the 4th quarter. By far, it was the best display of man and help defense of the year. He accumulated 4 blocked shots, most against layup attempts, in 25 minutes. He ran the floor effectively and was the biggest key into the huge scoring run late. There were long stretches of one-and-out defensive sequences, on a series of missed jumpshots by Davis, Foye, Hassell, and Blount. KG was continuously double teamed and any of the role players that attacked the basket were met by the outstanding length of Bynum's outstretched arms.

Maurice Evans also played an outstanding 4th quarter. By far he had some of the best shot selection on the team, upfaking 3pt. shots and taking high percentage shots from 7'-16'. All of them dropped. In the paint he was able to finish on a fast break opportunity after a spin move and had a 2 hand flush on an Oboard. His D was solid as well, but nothing Ricky Davis or Randy Foye stood out to make Evans a liability. He's no microwave, but by far, the best combination of hoop IQ, athleticism, triangle execution, and aggressive play in limited minutes.

Sasha Vujacic played a solid game. He came out with energy and looked a bit more relaxed with his jumpshot. He was able to hit from deep and hit another 16' jumpshot after an upfake. By far, it was the best job of him being aggressive without overstepping the context of the triangle or his own talent. Really, if he wanted, he could be a deadly sniper, but it's all up to him.

Team Summary
Depth is a big key to winning on the road, especially extended road trips. Even greatly conditioned superstars lose their energy levels. The Lakers took advantage by having a 34-7 run in the 4th quarter alone. What separated the game from being close to a blowout, was the energy level, execution, and decision-making of the bench. Bynum, Radmanovic, Evans, Farmar, and Sasha are all complementary talents. Each of them pick up after each other's own strengths and weaknesses. They accumulated over 48 total bench points, with a unit that looked like they should've started all season long.

What the bench was able to do that the starters weren't, was provide consistent high energy level offense and defense on both ends of the floor. All jumpshots were contested. Dribble-penetration was met with strong team help. Shots in the paint were altered or swatted by Bynum. Double-teaming KG was well executed with the weakside "zoning", leading to a lot of forced turnovers and transition points.

Most impressive was the offense. The defensive energy was high, but Farmar did an excellent job of playmaking and hitting the open man within the context of the triangle offense. Bynum, Evans, and Radmanovic countered the Wolves with an unpredictable but balanced scoring attack. The Wolves looked lost and defeated, while the Lakers were taking a vast majority shots away from the Wolves's best defender, Kevin Garnett.

So far the marathon is boding well for the Lakers. They're off to a hot, unpredictable start. Team chemistry and individual development have grown exponentially, usually a rare occurance. Few are the times where a young team can mesh their individual talents so well and effectively in such a limited amount of time, despite the learning curve of the triangle, new personnel, and new coaching staff.

No doubt the Lakers are playing at an elite level. Just one thing seems missing from the championship picture.
_________________
Resident Car Nut.

https://lakersdraft.substack.com/

I am not an economic advisor nor do I advise economic strategies or plans.

[insidepresence]

[Mike@LG]

[RYZ]

Mike, what's your take on Turiaf's two consecutive DNPCDs following a conspicuous lack of PT over the last couple weeks? I was sure in Lamar's absence he would see a surge in minutes, but it's been the opposite.

Matchups aside, he's the only legit rebounding/swatting 4 on the team right now, and as evidenced by the atrocious FG% allowed over the last 5 games, Ronny needs to see time on the floor. I mean, it took a 2-19 4th quarter from the Wolves to bring Minny down to 49.4%, literally a tenth of a point below another 50% evening out of a Laker opponent.

I'm perplexed.

[Mike@LG]

I do think it's about matchups on both ends of the floor. If Bynum had issues last night, then Turiaf would've been playing against Craig Smith.

However, Smith didn't really do much, even against Radmanovic, and was dominated by Bynum. Since both of them were able to shutout their matchup and are better offensive skilled players than Turiaf, they stayed in.

Against the Bulls, I do think Turiaf should've been able to do something against Sweetney, but Bynum was making basic fundamental pick and roll mistakes that cost them the game.

When games are more physical and dirty, I wouldn't be surprised to see Turiaf out there.

None of the past two games have really gotten to that point.
_________________
Resident Car Nut.

https://lakersdraft.substack.com/

I am not an economic advisor nor do I advise economic strategies or plans.

[RYZ]

But what about at PF? He can hit from 15-18', he crashes the boards, and has a decent post game: he's not an offensive liability. Furthermore, with the desperate lack of energy the team has displayed for a week now, I'm sure he would help remedy that. In Lamar's absence, Phil needs to consider starting him at the 4, or at the very least, find him some time between Cook and Rad.

[DancingBarry]

Good job, Mike.

I thought Evans going up against Davis was a key match up. Luke couldn't guard him, Evans locked him up. Kind of reminds me of the Fox/George days when there would be an athletic SF (like a TMac) that you knew was going to work Fox and you'd just wish PJ would start George for those.

Bynum anchored the D and controlled the paint. That was the other key difference in the fourth. No more layups. Finally. Nice to see Drew completely own the TWolves on both ends of the court in their two games. Last night was the defensive side. Offensively...he probably could have gone for triple the points if we had any kind of post entry going on. Seems like once a defender starts to slightly front Drew, we don't know how to run our corner sequences or high-lows to take advantage. We need to work on that, and we need our "DFish" who used to whip those corner bounce passes into Shaq with speed when he sealed his man whenever they would front or get on his shoulder.

The +/- in this game was ridiculous. The bench with +30s and the starters with -20s. Wow. Kobe's energy defensively definitely seemed off to me. But I think those other match up issues just hurt us.

RYZ - I don't think Ronny was as big a threat offensively from the perimeter as PJ wanted. Remember a couple games back against Houston, they just left Ronny again and again to double and clog the lane. PJ was most likely worried the KG would be able to leave him to patrol the lane and cause havoc. With Cook, KG had to stay on the perimeter. And, defensively, Cook had the size to match up at the C spot (whereas Phil probably thought Radman couldn't do it). That's what I think Phil is doing with those match ups. Clearly...we could have used Ronny's D and shotblocking. Last year, we got torched a few times when Kwame was our C and we had no shotblocking, this was reminicent of that kind of thing. (I would have loved to see a Ronny/Madsen match up...just for fun )

[Mike@LG]

[Mike@LG]

[Mr. LakeShow]

Mike, is it also possible Phil is saving Shammond for the playoffs aswell?
_________________
~~~ "If I read a Utah paper that says Kirilenko stopped me, the next time I see him I'm going right at him," said Bryant ~~~

The next meeting: 52 points 19-26 shooting.

[Mike@LG]

^I don't think so. There's no reason for Shammond to get so little PT.

I think he's stuck on the pine, because he's really a SG in a PG position, but doesn't share any kind of real PG mentality.

He has trouble asserting himself within the offense, and playmaking is an afterthought.

Even Sasha has experiene over that.
_________________
Resident Car Nut.

https://lakersdraft.substack.com/

I am not an economic advisor nor do I advise economic strategies or plans.

[Dr. Funkbot]

Madsen is still Madsen- he knocked over Vlade for a rebound than threw Evans to the ground. What a dork- learn how to play Madsen!
_________________
R.I.P. Doc Buss

[A Mad Chinaman]

[Flight]

[Mike@LG]