LAKERS -at- TWOLVES - 3/6 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

[DancingBarry]

Meltdown in Minny... The Lakers blew several golden opportunities to take the W in regulation and overtime. Then, they completely collapsed in the double overtime to take a 117-107 loss. They had it and let it slip from their grasp.

After the agonizing loss, they get to lace them up again tomorrow. There's little to say about this one. They missed key freethrows, they blew defensive assignments, and they couldn't make an inbounds passes or set up good looks for themselves out of timeouts. They also continued to struggle against the zone.

Along the way, we lost Ronny early on with back spasms. Those basketball Gods have a sick sense of humor.

Next.

Kobe -- -- First off, there's a good chance Kobe gets suspended. He had a similar play to the one that got him sidelined on our last roadtrip. Jaric was bleeding. We'll see. Well, what are you gonna do? 40 points, 13 boards, 8 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks in 53:27. Statwise, Kwame single-handedly blew Kobe's triple double not able to finish a couple easy ones. Not that it matters. Kwame getting blocked by Jaric when Kobe set him up for a game-icing dunk...that really hurts. Kobe saw a lot of zone in this one, which we didn't deal with well. Let's just get to the action: Kobe missed a wing jumper. He posted up, drew the D and kicked to Smush for a three. He missed a turnaround. He hit a short runner in the lane. He posted up Jaric, backed him down with ease and hit a jumphook. He hit Cook on the pick and pop for a three. He had back-to-back turnovers and a missed jumper to end the first quarter. He drew contact and was about to pass, then threw it to the hoop when he heard the whistle to draw FTs, he made both. He found Ronny against the zone for a dunk. He took the pass from Shammond on the break, blew past his man and scored a layup. He swatted a shot from behind a Laker (looked like a goaltend). He drew an And-1, hitting a wing jumper and making the FT. He hit Smush on the break for a two-hand throwdown. He rocked Jaric back with a bump and change of direction, took a couple of steps to draw the D, then fed behind his back to Bynum for the score (sweeeeet play). He hit a tough fade from the elbow, releasing on his way down. He scooped up a loose ball, wanted to feed Kwame who wasn't getting down court fast enough, so he took it the distance for a soft dunk. His was pissed as the Lakers made a couple of turnovers at the end of the half. He had 15 points, 7 boards and 6 assists at the half. To start the second half, he pulled up and hit a hanging jumper from the FT line. He drained a sideline three on his next attempt. He drew FTs after cutting off the two-man game with Cook. On his fourth straight possession, he pulled up quickly into the set and hit a wing jumper. He swatted KG from behind, sending him to the floor. He missed a three. He swished a three over KG, scoring the Lakers first 12 points of the third. He missed a couple of jumpers and wanted fouls. He blew past Davis and drew FTs, making both. He took an inbounds with 2 seconds on the shotclock and drew FTs, again making both. He put on a burst of speed to turn the corner, drew the foul and was tapped on a layup, he made one FT. He had 17 points in the third quarter. He busted out in transition and drew FTs, he made one. He put the D to sleep, then hit a cutting Bynum for a layup. He hit a tough, balance-correcting wing jumper. He missed a three trying to beat the shotclock. With the offense completely stalled with under 2 minutes left he swished a 19-foot fallaway. He got blocked on a jumper, flailed his arm out and caught Jaric on the beak...look for another suspension. He missed a corner jumper. He gambled for a steal, missed, Davis attacked and drew a foul with 3 seconds left and tied the game.

Overtime: Nice challenge on Davis attacking and Kobe forced him into a brick. Trailing by one with 44 seconds left and Kobe swished a wing three to give the Lakers a two-point lead. He attacked, fell and called a timeout with 5 on the shotclock, 14 on the game clock. Double Overtime: Few touches. He missed a long wing three.

Bynum -- -- The Lakers got caught late in the game with Blount hanging out at the three point line, draining triples. Drew also had another breakdown trying to help and losing track of Blount and he got dunked on. The pressure minutes are good for him. He showed some nice poise at times, but was still prone to the 19-year-old type of mistakes. Bynum finished with 10 points on 4-7 shooting, 6 boards and didn't get a blocked shot (snapping a string of 14 straight games with a block). He dunked off the two-man game with Smush. He kept a couple of offensive boards alive for the Lakers using that long reach. He missed a jumphook with his left. Good footwork, spinning to the middle of the lane, but he missed the turnaround jumper. Nice pass deflection to force a turnover. He cut to the hoop with a smaller man on him, took the pass and scored a layup over him. He finished a brilliant Kobe drive and dish with a soft layup (throw those down, Drew). He picked up his fourth foul less than 4 minutes into the second half and had to sit. He scored a layup when Kobe hit him cutting down the lane. He drew a foul on KG trying to score under the hoop, he hit both FTs. Big offensive board after a Kobe miss and he hit Mo under the hoop for FTs. Great baseline bouncepass to Smush to draw FTs with 1:31 left (that's some of the poise). He was called for a travel in OT, taking an extra step trailing the break (that's some of that 19-year-old in him). He missed a jumphook on our first possession of double OT. He was fouled and missed both FT when the game was all but over.

Smush -- -- If he could have hit some of his freethrows, this game was iced. He also had a key defensive lapse in double overtime, watching a shot go up as his man then crashed the boards and tipped in the miss to take a four-point lead. Those huge problems aside, Smush was one of the few remaining Lakers to show up. He scored 24 points on 8-14 (2-4 from three, 6-10 from FT), 4 boards, 3 assists, 4 steals and 3 turnovers in 42:39. On to the action: He hit a three on a kickout from Kobe. He set Bynum up for a dunk off the two-man game. He hit Cook on the pick and pop for a jumper. He attacked off the dribble, drew a foul and made both. He tracked down a deflected pass, pushed it up and scored a layup. He ballfaked and hit a runner off the glass. He headfaked Jaric in the air and hit an easy layup. He missed a three. He missed a wing jumper. Out on the break, he took the pass from Kobe and threw down with both hands, he was then called for a tech for hanging on the rim (with his speed and trying to avoid kicking an opponent, it made that look like a bogus whistle). He had 13 points on 5-7 shooting at the half. He double dribbled in transition. He missed a wild foray in the lane. He hit a runner on his next attempt. He reached on the screen-roll to poke a ball loose, hit the floor to recover it then outlet while on the floor to ignite the break. He sank two FTs with 1:31 left when Bynum found him cutting baseline. He tried to putback in a Kobe miss (was fouled with no call), but the Lakers got the ball back with 27 seconds left. Huge steal with 6 seconds left on the TWolves inbounds. He was fouled and made one FT with 5 seconds on the clock to give the Lakers a 2-point lead, could have used that extra point. Huge steal, huge FT miss. He swished a wing three for the Lakers first overtime score. He drew FTs in transition, he made one. He drew a foul with some nice hustle tracking down an errant pass, but then he bricked both FTs with 1:21 left up by two. Ouch again. He attacked the paint and hit a tough runner in the second overtime for our first score. He missed a three. He threw an outlet pass away. He ballwatched as a shot went up and his man tipped in the miss, that was a killer.

Evans -- -- He's hot. He's cold. He's hot. He's cold. Cold Mo showed up and it was ugly. He was especially hideous in the double OT. He finished with 5 points on 2-11 shooting, 7 boards and 4 steals in 45 minutes of action. He pumpfaked and missed a short jumper. He changed directions off the dribble in transition, exploded and dunked with both hands. He hustled to recover on his man and swiped the ball from him under the hoop. He grabbed a loose ball, elevated and finished off the glass. He missed a corner jumper. He missed a bank on his turnaround. Bynum set him up under the hoop and he was fouled, only making one FT with 2:35 left. Nice job contesting the inbounds passer and Smush stole the ball with 6 seconds left. Horrible clock awareness in OT, he passed up on an open jumper and it resulted in a 24-second violation. He jacked up a three early in the set and missed, but he swiped a pass on the other end to get it back. He missed a baseline jumper in double OT. He couldn't inbounds a pass, we call a timeout, out of the timeout, he threw it away. He ballwatched, his man cut under the hoop, took a pass and scored the easy layup. Ballgame.

Cook -- -- Cook couldn't give us the offensive lift we needed, although he played a spirited defensive game. Still wish he would have gotten an inbounds pass from McKie with 3 seconds left when he was wide open...even if he was cold, it was a better look than we have seen all year in those situations. Cook finished with 14 points on 4-15 shooting (2-7 from three), he pulled down 8 boards and had 4 blocked shots (tied his career high) and 2 steals. He missed a three on his first attempt. He hit a sideline jumper off the two-man game with Smush. He ripped the ball from Blount on a block from behind. He missed a turnaround. He hit a three on the pick and pop with Kobe. He missed back-to-back jumpers. He missed an open three. He was lucky he wasn't called for a charge trying to finish on the break, he drew FTs and made both. He blocked another man from behind. He threw the ball away to start the third. He then airballed a three on the next possession. He trailed the break and dunked. He swished a long three straight away over the zone. He slapped the ball loose from KG and it ignited the break. He drew a foul trying to throw down, he made both FTs. In double OT, with one second left on the shotclock he takes the inbounds, turns away from the hoop and lets it run out, sheesh. He airballed a three. Nice fizzle out with the rest of the Lakers.

Kwame -- -- Finish with some authority. Damn. That's all I have to say. He scored just 2 points on 1-5 shooting, grabbed 3 boards and had 1 steal in just 21 minutes of action. It looked like he was going to elevate and dunk, nope, soft layup attempt and brick on his first attempt. He knocked a ball loose on a pick and roll and it led to a Kobe dunk the other end. He got another pass under the rim and this time rattled in the layup (sigh...dunk that). He missed a jumphook in the lane. He missed another jumphook. Nice hands, poking the ball from a smaller player trying to take him off the dribble and it ignited the break. The soft finishes really bit the Lakers when Kwame got the ball in the paint, went up and was blocked by Jaric with 6 seconds left. That was painful.

Turiaf -- -- Speaking of painful. Back spasms. Out early in this one, leaving us another man short. Ronny played just 6 minutes and scored 8 points on 3-4 shooting and he grabbed 3 boards. Nice production in a short time. He took a feed from Kobe in the paint and drew a foul, making both. He fought for an offensive board, went back up and banked in a shot in the middle of the lane to beat the first quarter buzzer. He dunked off a feed by Kobe against the zone. He was blocked, got it back, and scored an And-1 layup, but tweaked his back...he missed the FT, then headed into the locker room.

Shammond -- -- Pretty serviceable minutes from Shammond. He scored 4 points on 2-4 shooting and had 3 steals in just 15:21 of action. He jumped the passing lane, stole the ball and took it the other way for a layup. He worked the two-man game, his defender sagged off so Shammond knocked down the open wing jumper. He stole a poor pass, pushed up the break, and gave it to Kobe for a score. He missed a three.

McKie -- :roll: -- We had McKie come in to make an inbounds with 3.3 second left, he had Cook wide open with a double on Kobe but gave it to Smush with a man on him instead. Stupid. We didn't get a shot off. McKie played 11 minutes and disnt score on two attempts. He traveled with no call, then threw a bad angled pass that was deflected off Kobe. He missed an open wing jumper. He missed a short jumper.

Vujacic -- -- Another person who couldn't make an appropriate inbounds pass. Sasha did little in this game in just 7:32 of action. He had 2 assists and didn't score on one attempt. Quick extra pass to Kwame under the hoop for the layup. He gave up the ball to Kwame too early at the end of the third, but he deflected a pass on the other end to negate the TWolves chances at a score. He hit Cook trailing the break for a dunk. He missed a three. He forced a pass into Kobe on the inbounds and it was picked off. Overtime.

Phil -- -- Our inbounds plays at the ends of games are getting worse as the season goes on. And that's hard to do... Early on, the TWolves went on a 9-0 run late in the first quarter to reel the Lakers back in from a large lead. The Lakers had 4 turnovers in the last few minutes of that quarter... The Shammond/McKie lineup pushed the Laker lead back to 42-29. The TWolves then went on a 12-0 run to reel the Lakers back again... The Lakers pulled out to another lead to start the third quarter off some Kobe scores, then lost it again and Phil called a timeout... Phil had Kobe at PF for about 30 seconds at the end of the third as he sat Cook to give him a brief rest... Up by 7, he sat Kobe to start the fourth and the TWolves went to a zone again. We had Kwame, Cook, McKie, Sasha and Shammond in. We trailed by 1 when Kobe touched the ball again a few minutes later... The Lakers led by 1 point and had the ball with 27 seconds and a full 24. Out of a timeout, Kwame got blocked when Kobe set him up... With 3.1 seconds left and a tie score, we tried to force the ball into Kobe and turned it over. Then, we nearly lost it on a buzzer-beater heave... With 5 seconds on the shotclock (14 seconds in the first OT), Kobe fell and called a timeout. We set up a ridiculous attempt as Kobe got a handoff heading away from the hoop and airballed a 38 footer just trying to beat the clock. TWolves get it back down by 2 with 9.3 left. Davis tied the game with a putback... We got the ball again with 3.3 left in the first OT, and again couldn't get a shot off, even though we had Cook wide open for a catch and shoot off the inbounds...

[A Mad Chinaman]

DB - Another excellent effort during hard times created by the series of bonehead plays during crunch time/end of game situations. Despite the good stats of Cook/Smush with the inability to produce during crucial times - which would be good the majority of teams in the NBA, it is not acceptable for an elite team with attentions of winning championships!

Ouch Meter
** Kwame being blocked by Jaric?!?!
** Smush's FT% of 60% - a guard and missing FTs at the end of the game
** Cook's defense
** Evan's inability to inbound

[Mation]

[jmark]

Brown DUNK THE BALL! Kobe played his heart out..... Smush one good play & two bad ones. We miss Luke. The out of bound plays sucked. I have seen middle school teams run better plays.
_________________
"I appreciate all those who have supported me. Thank you for believing in me. My family and I are going to need your support and prayers now more than ever." Kobe

[dcarter4kobe]

what a waste.....the best coach and best player on the same team
_________________
"He's a Zen master, so he can speak to you, and he doesn't need a microphone; you can hear him in your head, 'Ron, don't shoot, don't shoot.' Whatever, pow, three. I love the Zen, though."

[dewit8]

Ouch Meter
** Kwame being blocked by Jaric?!?!
** Smush's FT% of 60% - a guard and missing FTs at the end of the game
** Cook's defense
** Evan's inability to inbound

Mad Chinaman, I don't think you watched the same game I did. I saw a lot of positives in this one. With the injury issues and the tough loss at Phoenix, I'm surprised we stayed in this one.

Cook did a great job guarding KG, that's why PJ played him for 40 minutes. 8 boards, 4 blocks, 2 steals, and was in KG's face on almost every shot. What more do you people want? If he was Charles Barkley, they wouldn't get to re-sign him for $3 M. I believe that's also why he struggled from the offensive end. He was just tired.

Smush played well except for the FTs at the end, but why do we put the ball in his hands? Shouldn't Farmar or Shamu be in instead? That's PJ's fault for keeping him in.

Kobe played well, while still getting people involved.


I blame Evans for this loss. He threw this game away at the end with three straight mistakes: a hurried shot fading toward the baseline, a poor inbounds pass, and losing his man down low for a easy layup.

[prisma8slg]

I think my only consolation was that this was an early game so I wasn't up 'til 1:30-2ish.

thanks DB.

so I cringe whenever Smush is at the line. I really don't expect him to make his free throws. I didn't expect Shaq to make them either, but I knew Shaq would still put up the points somehow. Smush doesn't. he's a guard, he should make his free throws. especially late in the game.
_________________
"I define success by championships, by winning..." Kobe Bryant

"I've seen it all. Sasha dunked on somebody," Kobe Bryant said. "I'm ready to retire now."

[Laker7]

Missed layups by Kwame and Cook early on killed me.

Great laker teams in the past did the little things (make layups, make free throws, etc) that the poor teams did not. Right now we are a poor team.
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Darvin Ham is an idiot!

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

Blounts foot was on the line on his 2nd 3. Im not the blaming the refs though, we had alot of favorable calls. i blame Phil. his lineup to start the 4th was atrocious. we had no one that that drive against the zone. if Kobe was gonna rest, Mo should have been out there. but i also blame Smush's missed free throws. Props to Cook, even in the loss. He has played with a chip on his shoulder and purpose ever since he threw his warmups at Phillip.

p.s. i also blame Kwame for not finishing strong.... MJ was right!
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"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[angrypuppy]

Thanks DB

[20,000]

Can someone tell me if Smush practices free throws at all, or is he all about practicing three pointers and dunks?

It is painful to watch him at the free throw line. If he could just hit one more, the game is over. Seriously, as bad as Shaq was with free throws, he could at least hit the important ones at the end of the game.

And they play a double overtime game and head to Milwaukee for the second of a back-to-back. I smell four game losing streak.

Why do these Lakers have to break my heart? I had complete faith in you and thought you could be a contender.

Did this team learn anything from the past two seasons about closing teams out or how to play sound basketball?
_________________
Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying...'I will try again tomorrow.'

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

[Rick12322]

DB, thanks again for your colorful recaps. Re: Smush, I knew he was going to choke on those freethrows when he started taking those abnormally deep breaths at the line.

I cannot understand why our offense is so predictable the last 4-5 minutes of games. Everyone and their mother knows Kobe is going to get the ball. How stupid is that? On one of our stupid inbounds plays, I saw Bynum wide open at the elbow. This was before the play that Cook was open and McKie missed him. I'd take Bynum's uncontested soft touch from the elbow any day over the failed attempts to forcefeed Kobe.

I also can't understand why we absolutely stop running the offense whenever we are at the end of quarters or games. Honestly if we don't run the offense in these situations, then we make it easy for other teams. We need to be less predictable.

[LakerLanny]

I just hope the Sasha Vujacic experiment is ended before the lab blows up.
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Love, Laker Lanny

[Klone_dd]

Smushie - Hero or goat? Feast or famine? Man or mouse? We got a little of the former, but ended up mostly with the latter. Play with all the attitude you want, but with the game in the balance and you alone at the FT line, there is no one else to blame but yourself.

What more can Kobe do? It'd be nice if he could inbound the ball to himself cutting off a pick that he sets. Instead of the Sasha/Smush/Shamu experiment, the Lakers should really consider cloning Kobe.

[CorkyTomjanovich]

1. Kobe will get suspended, it's the same play, there is no way they let it go, otherwise they look even more foolish. It should not be a suspension by any means, that movement is a basically programmed into the head of several players. It's a reaction they naturally make when getting blocked or picked. Not intentional by any means.

2. Kwame has to take a real good look in the mirror. I know he is coming back, but to miss those wide open layups, no excuse, then to get his stuff swatted back in his face by Jaric, I couldn't believe it.


3. Cook- Not only is his defense absolutely awful, but his passing is out of this world. The worst passer on the team, maybe in the league. No focus, no touch, just awful pass after awful pass. Unbelievable.


4. Smush- Loved all the dribbling that lead to nothing. That was great. Then all the missed ft's. Way to go.


5. Bynum- What is with the team when they say they want to get it into him a lot and then come out and ignore him in the post all night? He is not going to work for position all the time and then never see the ball. They had NO matchup for him down there and the Lakers didnt even try to get the ball in there. Remember, Bynum KILLED the wolves in LA earlier this season.


6. Mo. He is warm/cold on offense a lot but his defense is truly bad. How many times does his man back cut him for an easy score? How many times have we seen that in the last few weeks?

[DancingBarry]

[Prometheus8]

[angrypuppy]

[A Mad Chinaman]