LAKERS -at- MAVS - 1/18 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

 
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:26 am    Post subject: LAKERS -at- MAVS - 1/18 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

One and Out... That was a foreign concept for the Lakers tonight. I don't know if I recall us getting beat on the offensive boards that badly in quite some time. Stat of the game: The Mavs had 19 offensive boards to our 18 defensive boards. They out rebounded us on our own glass. Shameful, as Phil might say.

Looking at the numbers: Brian Cook, 1 defensive board in 22 minutes. Vlad Radmanovic, 0 defensive boards in 21 minutes. Ronny Turiaf, 1 defensive board in 13 minutes. Luke Walton, 1 defensive board in 30 minutes. Luke had the Lakers only block in the game. Did we miss our best rebounder in LO and our strongest big man in Kwame? You bet.

This is one of those games that are tough when you look at it on paper, coming after San Antonio. I feel pretty confident that it would have been a much different game if we were healthy. We can role out one of the bigger teams in the league and control the boards. When you give a team as many chances as they want on offense, they are going to beat you...doesn't matter whether they have the best record or the worst.

"Any time you get beat up that bad on the inside like we did tonight," Phil said in the Daily News, "you're not going to have much of a chance of performing in the ballgame."

Classic moment of the game: Dick Bavetta giving Marv Albert a check for $5,000 written to charity, betting that he could beat Charles Barkley in a foot race. They ought to replace the skills competition with the Bavetta vs. Barkley race at the All Star game. Bavetta is giving him a chance, by making it a sprint. If it were any kind of distance, Barkley would pass out.


Kobe -- -- Not much to say about this one. Kobe had 26 points on 8-18 shooting, 5 assists, 3 boards and 6 turnovers...that's 13 turnovers in two games. He had 4 of his assists in the first quarter, but it was choppy after that. Defensively, he went against George but he didn't cover him. He sagged off and tried to help others. George is an easy cover, won't challenge you, but he can make an open shot. With George, you need to get up on him and make him try to beat you off the dribble...we all know this. Again, some more good leadership by Kobe throughout. Whether it was talking to Bynum about both ends of the court or Smush, he was constantly working to help them improve their game. Early on, Kobe got blocked on a drive and missed a baseline jumper. He attacked and scooped a pass to Bynum for an And-1. He attacked again, drew the D and found Cook for an open layup. He hit Smush in the corner for an open three. He attacked off the weakside bounce pass and powered a two-hand throwdown over Dampier. He hit a baseline jumper. He powered in an And-1 attacking from the wing, he made the FT. He had some words for Bynum before taking the FT (I think about in inbounds play where Bynum didn't come to the ball). He missed a half-courter at the buzzer. He sagged off George for some reason when DG had the ball and George knocked down an easy jumper. He swished a 20-footer on the other end. He attacked an banked high off the glass (he wanted the foul). He drained a jumper from the wing. He was called for an odd foul as he got tied up and passed the ball out (bad call). He grabbed an offensive board and was fouled, he made one. He scored 8 straight points from the line on a series of attacks that resulted in fouls. Back in late when we made a small run, he got past George and missed a huge throwdown that resulted in a dunk on the break the other way (he smiled a bit on that one). Just to show Laker fans that George can't D him up, Kobe blew past him again and this time finished power reverse jam.

Walton -- -- Luke looked like he got down on himself for a brief moment after he missed a three in this one. He's struggled a bit from the arc lately. Hopefully, he can hit a few to keep his confidence up. That seems to make a lot of difference for him from the perimeter. Not much of a game from him in this one. The defense was minimal, not a goo dmatch up with some of the athletic Mav players like Howard. He scored 8 points on 3-9 shooting (0-2 from three), had 2 boards and 3 assists with 4 turnovers. He swatted George's attempt at a three with a nice close out. He faded and banked in the middle of the lane. He got swatted by Diop on a layup attempt. He took a feed under the hoop, drew the D and found Bynum behind him with a no-look behind-the-back pass for an And-1. He missed an open baseline jumper. He missed an open three and looked mad at himself. He hit a turnaround in the lane. Good hustle to tip in a miss by Farmar after Jordan had stolen the ball. He attacked off the dribble and hit Evans under the hoop for a score. Nice move to loose Dirk by going behind his back with the dribble, then he was fouled, he made both FTs. He missed a long fade trying to beat the shotclock.

Smush -- -- Smush was a non factor after the first quarter. He scored 5 points on 2-6 shooting, somehow tied for the lead on the boards with 5 and had 1 assist in 21 minutes. With Jordan playing well, Phil gave him the extra clock. Smush attacked off the Kobe handoff and powered in a layup to start the game. He pushed up the break off the rebound, widened the floor and waited as Cook filled the lane and hit him for a foul and FTs. He swished a corner three off a kickout from Kobe. He missed a corner three. Defensively, he was trying to go under the picks most of the night, which wasn't a bad idea with our soft interior.

Cook -- -- Useless defensively, but what are you going to do? He couldn't control the boards at PF or the C when Phil ran him there. He couldn't anchor the D contesting shots. He was late on rotations. And, he'll never be able to D-up Dirk in any fashion. What our injuries do is allow other's weaknesses get more exposed...it's a ripple effect. We had no choice to run some of the match ups right now, so what are you going to do? Nothing. You try to survive. Cook scored 9 points on 4-7 shooting, grabbed just 1 board and had 1 steal in 22 minutes. On to the action: He drained an open catch-and-shoot jumper standing on the three line. He scored a layup off a drive and dish by Kobe. He drew a foul getting out in transition, he made one FT. He dunked off the two-man game with Kobe. He couldn't handle a Kobe pass that bounced off his hands. He gave Kobe a lazy pass instead of trying to finish on the break and it was tipped out of bounds. He scored a layup when Sasha set him up on the break.

Bynum -- -- Like the last game, Dampier was able to body up Bynum, usually moving him out of position just as a shot goes up. Drew's lack of post base, obviously becomes an issue. There's no overnight fix, he's just got to keep getting stronger. It was mentioned by Kerr that Bynum could only bench 135 pounds out of high school. He's improved tremendously and will continue to do so. (Kerr, like many other scouts and coaches have said, "Sky is the limit" is when it comes to him. I remember describing Bynum like that shortly after we drafted him. I think I've seen that now from about have a dozen different people. It's odd, but that seems to the phrase that always comes to mind...that phrase, and he is/or will be a "load".) Bynum had some pretty good action early on when we were in the game. He scored 9 points on 3-4 shooting, grabbed 5 boards and dished 2 assists in 23 minutes. The Mavs did a better job of taking away the first entry pass later in the game and our Tri execution, still fails to capitalize on that with our counters. Bynum traveled on a standard Tri pressure-release play at the top of the FT line. He took the post feed, surveyed the floor, then went to work and hit a short jumphook on the right block. He powered up an And-1 after George hit him on the arms, he made the FT. He took a behind-the-back feed from Luke and put in an And-1, he made the FT. He hit Farmar from the post with a bounce pass for a layup. Nice handoff to Vlad who powered in an And-1 layup. He pulled down an offensive board and was fouled trying to finish, he made one. He got pushed by Dampier as he was going for a rebound and fumbled it out of bounds. Defensively, the Mav bigs can't score on Bynum in the post. In the past couple of games, they're damage has only come by not allowing us to control our own glass.

Radmanovic -- -- Vlad had as many points as turnovers, scoring 3 on 1-5 shooting while mistakes cost him 3 turnovers. His only board work was getting a couple of boards on the offensive end. A lot of standing around on the defensive boards, early. He was tapped on a three working with Kobe and Turiaf on a split play. He missed another three. He powered in an And-1 layup over Diop off a handoff from Bynum, he made the FT. Some sloppy running of the offense leading to Dallas fastbreak scores.

Turiaf -- -- Just not a good game from Turiaf. He scored 2 points on 1-4 shooting, had 2 boards and 3 fouls in 13 minutes. His impact was minimal. Really, this is a team where we are better off having him as a PF, going big and letting him us move LO to Howard for a short stretch or get some bench rest. Look for it, when we are healthy. Ronny's highlights: Nice work for an offensive board, but he then got swatted. He knocked down a jumper from the top of the key off a kickout from Farmar for his only points.

Evans -- -- A bit of a subpar outing for Mo, but he'll always give you an honest effort. He scored 6 points on a poor 3-10 shooting, grabbed 4 boards and had 1 steal. He lost the ball trying to create off the dribble for his only turnover. He missed a jumper. He tipped in a miss by Vlad. Luke set him up for a layup off dribble penetration. He blindsided George, swiped the pass, then scored a breakaway layup on the other end.

Farmar -- -- Good to see him stringing together some more excellent stints of ball. His stat line is amazing for a Laker rookie. He scored a career-high 17 points on 6-10 shooting, grabbed 4 boards, dished 4 assists without a turnover and had a game-high and career-high 5 steals in 26:30 of action. That's balling. How long has it been since a draft pick of ours put up those kinds of numbers in a game in his first season? He was instant impact off the bench to close the first quarter in this one. With the shotclock low, he ballfaked to lose his man, stepped in and drained the midrange jumper (he's money on that type of play). Excellent effort to get to a high inbounds pass, tap it to himself and he was off to the races, fouled trying to throwdown on the other end (he made both FTs). He deflected another ball on the perimeter, chased it down and pushed out for a finger roll layup. He cut strong off Bynum, took the bounce pass and scored a layup (he wanted the foul). He snapped at Vlad for not fighting for a defensive board. With the offense stalled, he attacked from the wing and scooped in a shot high off the glass over the help D (very pretty). He led the Lakers in scoring with 10 at the half. He hit Kobe with a backdoor pass for FTs. He hustled to get a steal on the perimeter and drew a loose ball foul, he made one FT. He quickly pulled up in transition and swished a wing three. Great pick in the backcourt, swiping the ball away from Terry, he then used his body to shield Terry as he went up for the score, took contact with no call and missed but Luke tipped it in. He sank a quick three off a pass, fading a little to his left. Great footwork to step in front of his man and swipe an entry pass, he then pushed up the break and hit Ronny for a jumper. If there was a real positive in this game, it was these minutes from Farmar. Well done.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha is liking the Mavs. He had another efficient offensive game. Unfortunately, he wasn't flinging game-breakers in this one. He scored 10 points on 4-5 shooting (2-3 from behind the arc), he had 3 steals and 2 assists in 23 minutes. He attacked down the lane off the dribble and banked. He swiped a Mavs pass to stop a breakaway. He got overpowered in the post by Stackhouse (not a good matchup in the post). He fouled him on the perimeter and Phil then yanked him for Evans. He stole a pass on a double team. He drained a long three straight away. He pushed out the break and found Cook for a layup. He sank a wing three to cut the lead to 17 midway through the fourth. He sank another wing jumper, this time a few feet closer.

Phil -- -- The Lakers got killed giving up offensive boards and second chances in the first quarter (by Howard especially). They still ended up with the lead. Phil pointed this out to the team in the huddle saying "It's a shame."... The Mavs started to roll with a 34-20 second quarter... "I thought we played pretty well for 14, 15 minutes, but they got going in the second quarter and we couldn't recover," Phil said... The Lakers were out rebounded on the offensive glass 14-4 in the first half. We also shot just 1-9 from three... We were still in the game at that point. Then the second chances and easy scores overwhelmed the team in the third... "It says something about our anticipation," Phil said, "our defensive responsibilities, and just the fact that we were missing some characters that really help us rebound the ball."... I'm sure Phil is more than happy with getting a split on this road trip, but he'll use the loss to squeeze some more execution out of the guys...
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un1bomber
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:31 am    Post subject:

great job keep it up DB!
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:46 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB - I was at the UCLA game and recorded this one. With all the overreaction going on I wasn't sure if I'd actually watch it.

Looks like we need to change up our guard rotation when playing the Mavs, especially if Kwame and Lamar are out. May be we should start Farmar and Sasha in the back court, Kobe at the 3, Walton at the 4 and Bynum at the 5 against them.

Who knows. Those guys are good and truly have the best squad in the league currently. We really need Lamar back to handle the defensive boards and make Dirk's life difficult.

Peace, love and thanks for the always timely, clear and concise report.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:58 am    Post subject:

^ We can't put Luke on Dirk. He will just shoot right over Luke with his lack of length. Luke just can't contest him at all whenever those two wind up against each other. In fact, Dallas isn't a real good match up for Luke in general.

Honestly, we just need our bigmen back. We need to be able to move LO onto Dirk and Howard at times. Let Turiaf play at PF instead of C. And let Kwame show Diop and Dampier what strength is.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 3:34 am    Post subject:

Out of High School he could only bench 135? Comon Big Man
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 5:48 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB. Sorry you had work this game.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 6:49 am    Post subject:

farmar was the only brightspot of the game.

thanks DB
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 7:53 am    Post subject:

Why does Kobe need to rest for 7 minutes in the 2nd Qtr? a hole was dug that we were never able to dig out of. Even though I am happy with the Texas split, you get greedy when you with the first game of a back to back. If we had lost to SA we would have been happy with a split.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 7:58 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB.

Ya think we coulda used Lamar?

While painful to watch, it's the second leg of a back-to-back game, and against one of the two elite teams at that. Without Lamar, you have Cook trying to defend Dirk, which leads to Dirk not having to work on defense, and the Laker team giving up lots of boards. The team was just out-hustled by a more rested and athletic opponent.

Luke is beginning to worry me a bit, as I wonder if he's getting a bit frustrated. His shot beyond the arc isn't falling, and his forays into the painted area have been less successful as well. He was more confident earlier this season... now I see a subtle hesitation when he's open. He may be paying the price of having tried to do too much the past few weeks. I hope the reduced burden of Lamar's return will improve his confidence.


I heard Kerr mention that Bynum could only bench 135 and was shocked. While really tall guys can have trouble benching (distance and angle of the bar due to their limbs), I'm glad the Lakers realized that this wasn't the NFL combine, and that while 135 stinks, he was still growing into his body. But what amazed me is how strong he is right now, relative to draft night. That's pretty important, as it gives us a projection on how much strength and muscle mass his body can take, and how fast he can accumulate it.


Last edited by angrypuppy on Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:08 am; edited 1 time in total
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 8:24 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB! Great job. I went to the premiere of Smokin Aces last night and missed the game. Tivo'd it, but reading this, I don't really feel the need to watch it. Sounds ugly and frustrating. Thanks.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:24 am    Post subject:

DancingBarry wrote:

Honestly, we just need our bigmen back. We need to be able to move LO onto Dirk and Howard at times. Let Turiaf play at PF instead of C. And let Kwame show Diop and Dampier what strength is.


Perfectly and completely stated.

You also can't overstate the importance of Lamar's offense v. the Mavs. Nowitski gets obliterated off the dribble by Lamar, relieving some of Kobe's playmaking duties, which usually leads to fewer turnovers and hopefully fewer transition points for Dallas. Get well soon, Lamar.

Thanks, DB.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:09 am    Post subject:

Thanks for the recap DB. I didn't get to watch it, but looks like I didn't miss much.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:13 am    Post subject:

It seems that if you go back and look every time Andrew has a below average game it coincides with our forwards not showing up. This game was extremely similar to the Memphis game.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:18 am    Post subject:

Props to JoFar - excellent, efficient and energetic game. Too bad it had to be this one.

This game reminded me of Game 7 vs Phx. The opponents had a chip on their shoulders and were out to prove that the Lakers couldn't hang with them, so they just outworked and overwhelmed the team. Our guys didn't realize how intense the Mavs were going to be, couldn't match that intensity and simply got run over. Hopefully, the team will learn from this experience and be grateful that it happened now instead of in the playoffs.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:20 am    Post subject:

Freakout wrote:
It seems that if you go back and look every time Andrew has a below average game it coincides with our forwards not showing up. This game was extremely similar to the Memphis game.

A truly sad stat was that after 15 minutes in the game - Luke (9), Brian (8 ), Vlade (5) and Ronny (5) had 2 defensive rebounds combined ... the number in parantheses indicates minutes. That is 27 minutes played by the four with only 2 defensive boards to show for.

Even Drew wasn't much of a factor rebounding wise - I think he had 3 defensive boards in his first 9 minutes of play .. in a situation like that I would like him to sense that his team sucks rebounding wise and go for more of them.

Despite that, I think we were down only 2-3 points. The Lakers were scoring at 50% and the Mavs 40%. Can you imagine what the score would be if the Lakers had been able to board? The Mavs would be down atleast 10 points with Laker confidence growing.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Lakers can outexecute any team in the NBA. It comes down to the intangibles like defensive rebounding, defensive rotation, offensive rebounding and that is where the Lakers need to improve the most.
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SladeRider
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:17 am    Post subject:

Let's just chalk this game off and move on with the game at the Hornets on Saturday.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:11 pm    Post subject:

Some observations and questions

1) A split in the Texas Triangle is still a good thing. Imagine the expectations and egos (potentially) if they had a sweep?!?!

2) Spirus (?!?!?) - radio broadcast - wondered why Phil didn't call a timeout during the first part of the 3rd quarter. My take is that he's providing opportunities for the team to learn on the court how to deal with various advertisites?

3) The Lakers did make a short comeback in the fourth quarter against one of the two best teams in the NBA that was playing at home and remembered that the Lakers were the last team to defeat them. In the near future, the Lakers will have comparable talent and be able to match up with them - even on the 2nd of a back-to-back.

4) Why didn't the Lakers force the Mavs to defend Cook more (since he was 4-7) that would take Dirk away from the paint? If they weren't going to go to him, maybe they should have played Vlad more?

5) Why didn't Phil use Cook/Vlad in the front court to force the Mavs to defend them on the perimeter - like what the Lakers did in San Antonio?

As noted before, this game provides a lot of ammo for Phil for their next practice!
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:46 pm    Post subject:

MAN, I WISH KOBE HAD BEEN ABLE TO THROW DOWN THAT MONSTER DUNK ON DEVEAN
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 1:10 pm    Post subject:

Bottom Line:

Tip your hat to the Mavs for having and executing the right strategy to beat our depleted squad.

We got beat by the best team in the league, playing at home, and on top of their game. They recognized our weakness inside, and despite being one of the worst teams in the league at points in the paint, made attacking that area a priority.



This game taught me that with a healthy Lamar and Kwame, we can play with these guys. Their offense is not very hard to fugure out. Crowd Dirk with LO (who might be the best in the league guarding dirk), and control the boards, and I think they will have a hard time with us. They made a great effort to crowd and double Kobe, and we didn't have the shots going. Lamar will give them an extra threat to worry about.

No shame in this game. I would have liked to see us play better, but we have to expect that with our injuries, we are not going to beat every elite team at home when they play well.
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lakerskobe247
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 2:19 pm    Post subject:

Last year Sasha was the Jazz killer. This year he's the Mavs killer.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 2:47 pm    Post subject:

angrypuppy wrote:
While painful to watch, it's the second leg of a back-to-back game, and against one of the two elite teams at that. Without Lamar, you have Cook trying to defend Dirk, which leads to Dirk not having to work on defense, and the Laker team giving up lots of boards. The team was just out-hustled by a more rested and athletic opponent.



What will be interesting is to see who the Mavs put Dirk on. Last year, they didn't use him on LO when they could help it. They hid him on George.

Quote:

Luke is beginning to worry me a bit, as I wonder if he's getting a bit frustrated. His shot beyond the arc isn't falling, and his forays into the painted area have been less successful as well. He was more confident earlier this season... now I see a subtle hesitation when he's open. He may be paying the price of having tried to do too much the past few weeks. I hope the reduced burden of Lamar's return will improve his confidence.


Luke needs to have a good shooting game soon. Don't want that confidence to disappear.

Quote:

I heard Kerr mention that Bynum could only bench 135 and was shocked. While really tall guys can have trouble benching (distance and angle of the bar due to their limbs), I'm glad the Lakers realized that this wasn't the NFL combine, and that while 135 stinks, he was still growing into his body. But what amazed me is how strong he is right now, relative to draft night. That's pretty important, as it gives us a projection on how much strength and muscle mass his body can take, and how fast he can accumulate it.


He's got a great frame to put strength on. I think those numbers just go to show how much he got by in high school on his natural size and nothing more.

Like Lester said after they drafted him...great clay.

He's come a ways from where he was...but he's still got a bit to go. When he gets there, look out.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 5:17 pm    Post subject:

IMO the game was lost in the first quarter when the mavs didn't shoot well. The lakers kept giving them the second, third, fourth even the fifth chance. Had we been able to control the glass, we would've been up by 15 by the end of the first. It might've been large enough cushion to overcome the mavs' surge later on. The silver lining is that we saw what farmer and sasha can do to the mavs and kobe's seemingly getting his legs back. The negative part is, besides a fat L on our record, this loss put a lot of pressure on us winning the next one.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 5:33 pm    Post subject:

^ What you are really saying is we pretty much lost this one stepping off the bus...because we didn't control the boards in the first quarter...the second...the third... or the fourth...

Which I agree with. We were fortunate to have a lead in the first. And the Mavs were fortunate we didn't have LO and Kwame because we would have had a sizeable lead and been able to hold down the fort much better throughout the game as they tried to chip away with half the number of second chances.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 12:48 am    Post subject:

^^^Old adage still applies.

No rebounds, no rings.

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