ROCKETS -at- LAKERS - 3/30 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

[DancingBarry]

Not for the Faint of Heart, Part 3... The Lakers and Rockets have mixed it up for some insane basketball this season. The first was Dec. 12, the 26-1 Rockets fourth-quarter run where the Lakers dodged bullets and held on to win. The second was the double OT game two days later that the Lakers also took. Tonight, a third dose of insanity, which included a late fourth-quarter frenzy by Kobe topped off with a sick sideline three to take it to overtime.

The Lakers had a four-point lead in overtime before a controversial call sending TMac to the line for three FTs. Not only is a reach fighting through a screen usually a non-shooting foul, the Lakers had a case that Yao actually set a moving pick which is why the foul happened. Those are the breaks. Throw in a missed rebound and a bizarre travel by Kobe, and this time the Lakers wouldn't survive, losing 107-104.

It was looking like a somewhat similar game for Kobe as his last one, where he was on early then faded late. With the Lakers trailing in the fourth, they locked down defensively and Kobe went on a personal 9-0 run. He would score 17 points in the quarter, none more ridiculous than a three to tie the game with his heels hovering over the out-of-bounds line next to the Rockets bench...and this came after a scramble to get a missed Kwame freethrow.

Great efforts by the Lakers frontline -- Kwame, Ronny and Lamar all took their games to playoff level. Each had to contend with some serious foul issues, and Ronny had to be the last line of defense with LO, Kwame and Bynum all sitting on the bench with foul trouble during one stretch. He answered the call and then some. Despite the loss, great bounce back effort by the team after the lazy game against the Grizzlies. Could have gone either way.


Kobe -- -- Rollercoaster ride from Kobe. The overtime was all about Kobe...big shots and big mistakes. Heartbreaking after the amazing, stunning, sensational finish to the fourth quarter. He scored 53 points on 19-44 shooting (half of the Lakers 88 shots, which is a mark Phil doesn't want Kobe to go over). For a decent chunk of the game Kobe struggled with his jumper. He had made just 1-10 of his second half shots. He fought through it and put the team on his shoulders bringing them back offensively with a flourish, scoring 17 points in the final 4:07 of regulation. "He's tough," Shane Battier said. "That's probably the understatement of the year." If you are an opponent, seeing Kobe track you down like that, scoring at will...you feel a little lucky when you can escape with the W. On to the action... First Quarter:He sank a frozen rope 17-footer over a couple defenders. He swished a wing 21-footer. He pulled up in transition and knocked down the FT jumper. He drew a foul on Battier on a turnaround three and made two of three FTs. He missed back-to-back jumpers from the top of the key. He missed a face-up wing jumper. Instead of taking an open jumper, he waited until Battier caught up, pumped twice and bricked. He hit a pull-up from 10 feet out. Second Quarter: He drained a corner jumper with a toe on the three line and a man right on him. He sank a step-back 17-footer. He pumpfaked Snyder in the air and drew FTs, he made both. He swished a baseline turnaround fallaway. He missed a turnaround. He took the pass in the paint, spun away from Yao's double and banked. He pulled up off a Turiaf pick and drained an And-1 18-footer, he made the FT. He missed a drive and wanted the foul. He missed a couple more jumpers. He worked off a screen by Ronny and hit a short baseline jumper. He had 25 points on 10-19 shooting in the first half. Third Quarter: He missed an 18-footer. He got TMac in the popcorn machine and drew FTs, he made one. He came off a pick, drew the D and whipped a pass to LO for a dunk. He missed a three. He busted out for an uncontested dunk after Lamar stole the ball (this was his only make until the late frenzy). Poor end to the third, he had the ball stolen by Battier. He missed a difficult left-handed jumphook from a few feet farther out than normal. And, he missed a double-clutching jumper in which he wanted the foul. Fourth Quarter: He missed a step-back jumper. He missed a runner. He missed a baseline jumper. Phil then rested him after the Rockets doubled their lead, he came back. He missed a jumper wide right. He drained a three. He attacked and scored again on a drive the next time down. He missed a three, LO got it back, Kobe attacked off the dribble and drew FTs under the hoop. Next time down, he called for the Kwame screen, pulled up off it from the wing and drained a wing jumper over Yao. After Rafer hit a three to end that 9-0 run by Kobe, Kobe came down court and answered with a three of his own to cut the lead down to three again with 1:47 left (huge answer). After we got a stop, he missed his next two shots, but we got both rebounds, Ronny laying the second one to cut the lead to one. He missed a two-for-one three attempt out of a timeout. After we stole the ball, we pushed it up without a timeout and Kobe drew FTs with 17 seconds left, he cut the lead to one. Kwame was fouled intentionally, missed both, the second miss Kobe gathered up, he got DB to his feet as he rose up from the left side, the sweet jumper arcing in the air and buried the clutch three with 11 seconds left to tie the game. On the other end, he got the stop on TMac to go to overtime. He had 17 points in the fourth.

Overtime: He hit a fading 19-footer to start OT. He missed a baseline turnaround. He sank a long two with his toe on the three line on his next attempt. He drew FTs, getting hit by Hayes on an elbow jumper, he made both. He worked off the screen by Kwame, pulled up with Battier chasing and Yao in front and knocked down the wing jumper and wanted the foul. He got called for the foul on a three reaching on a screen (kind of plays Kobe usually tries to get the whistle for on continuation, but never seems to, and as mentioned those screen reaches are almost always called non-shooting fouls). He let Howard get in front of him on the defensive glass on a rotation and we gave up an offensive board and score after a miss. Down by one with 22 seconds left, bringing the ball up court, he was called for a travel shuffling his feet as he came to a jumpstop. He then missed a long three to tie a possession later. Kobe scored 25 of the Lakers last 28 points.

Lamar -- -- I loved the game from Lamar except for one thing...those freethrows. The good thing about LO's game was his ability to get to the line. He put up 16 attempts. Unfortunately, the bad thing, he hit just 10. Ouch. A couple more of those makes could have made a huge difference. Still, superb effort by Lamar, injury and all. He was mixing it up on both ends, getting to the floor, rotating defensively, attacking. A lot of nice movement off the ball in this game. He scored 16 points on 3-9 shooting (0-2 from three, now 0-17 in his past several games), 10-16 from the line, 17 boards, 4 assists and 4 steals in 48 minutes. Those are warrior numbers. Great job. Early on, he attacked the rim to his right and drew FTs, he made both. He hit Kwame under the hoop for a layup. He hustled to get in front of Yao and yank away a defensive board. He cut with speed off the ball to get past Howard and Luke found him for a reverse. He attacked with speed off the dribble and was fouled by Howard, but he missed both FTs. He grabbed a miss by Ronny and jumphooked it in over Yao. He picked up his third foul, after getting hit by Yao with no call, then Yao tripped over him as LO ended up on the floor. He drew a foul in the paint and made one FT. He had 7 points and 8 boards in the first half. He attacked baseline and missed an And-1 at the rim, he made one of two FTs. Kobe found him under the hoop and Lamar jammed as the D collapsed. He made a dive cut down the lane, took the pass and drew FTs, making both. He slapped down a Rocket pass then hit Kobe for an uncontested dunk. He faked like was going to double the post, then stole Yao's pass. He attacked and drew FTs, he bricked the first and made the second. He attacked in transition and drew FTs, he made both. Great hustle, outworking several Rockets for an offensive board and it led to a score by Kobe. Clutch steal after Kwame and Smush pressured their men to throw bad passes. Great job defending the pick and roll in OT as the lone man zoning under the hoop and he stole the TMac pass. He got tapped on a jumphook. He cut from the weakside, took the pass and drew FTs, he made just one.

Luke -- -- Pretty much an off game from Luke. He could never get on track and had a number of careless turnovers. He finished with 4 points on just 2-6 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists and 4 turnovers in 36:31 of action. He was called for a walk on the perimeter. He got called for another carry in the corner. He posted up Battier and scored off the glass. Nice pass off the pinch post to a cutting LO for a layup. He traveled after faking a pass and shooting. He missed a layup off the glass. Great job to yank away an offensive board, spin and power up a layup. He won a couple of jumpballs after getting tied up twice. He missed a corner three in transition. Lost in that Kobe tying three with 11.8 was a battle between Luke and Hayes with Luke locking him up as the rebound came their direction and Kobe tracked it. He got tapped on a turnaround in OT, could have used that one.

Kwame -- -- Man, he has had some genuine moments of lockdown, crunch-time team and individual defense in a couple of games since his return. While Kobe was taking it to the Rockets on the offensive end in that late-game run, Kwame was D-ing up for a number of stops. He also, apparently, borrowed someones hands for the night because he was catching passes and showing some touch around the rim. He finished with 15 points on 5-8 shooting (5-8 from the line), 7 boards, 3 steals and 2 blocks in 40 minutes. This Kwame...this one can be a key player on a championship team. Problem is, he needs to play like this consistently. He poked a ball loose from Yao to ignite a break. He scored a layup with his left when Lamar found him. He skied for a putback one-handed throwdown of a Kobe miss. He posted up Yao, attacked off the dribble, pivoted and drew a foul, dishing a little bit out to Yao in the process, he made both FTs. He took a bullet feed from Smush, somehow hung on, pivoted and scored a layup with his left. Bad call when Kwame had all ball on a reach on Yao and he picked up his second foul. He picked up his third shortly later and had to sit with just under 8 minutes left in the half. He had 8 points in the first half. He swatted Hayes badly off the backboard. He got blocked by Yao trying to finish at the rim. He attacked and was blocked at the rim, but got a cheap whistle, he made one FT. He took a feed from Shammond and scored a layup over Deke. He drew a foul off dribble drive, he made both FTs. He grabbed a Kobe miss and scored easily. He swatted Yao's post-up attempt. Great D again next time down, stripping the ball away from Yao as he turned around to shoot. Another great challenge, this time on TMac to force a brick. Good pressure D with Smush and we forced a key turnover. Grumpy chose to foul Kwame, Hack-a-Shaq style, when we inbounded to him (smart play really, but it nearly backfired horribly had Kwame hit that first FT...it still burned him when Kobe hit the three). Great read in OT, knocking a lob to TMac away. Another good help D play, rotating on Howard and helping force a travel.

Smush -- -- Rafer may have one-upped Smush this time with 19 points, but it took 18 shots. Seems like Smush had been serving it up to Skip in a few of the past matches. Smush had some crazy defensive breakdowns on a couple of plays, allowing easy layups. We got some nice help by Ronny, though, on some other penetration. Smush finished with 10 points on 4-7 shooting (2-2 from three), 8 boards and 4 assists. Nice job helping out on the glass. Smush airballed a double-clutch jumper on his first attempt. He missed an open 15-footer. Horrible transition D, giving up penetration with ease and then a dunk for Yao. He hit Kwame with a pass in the lane that was miraculously caught and scored. He attacked the paint, picked up the dribble then threw a lob to Ronny for a dunk. He got into the paint and sliced his way past Yao for a quick-hit layup. Horrible D out of a timeout and he gave up an uncontested layup. He sank a three off the high pinch post to start the second half. Nice challenge on Rafer and he forced an airball from three. He had a ball slapped off his leg for a turnover, not protecting the dribble while bringing it up. He drained a corner three off a kickout from Kobe. He faked the three, moved in a few feet and swished the midrange jumper. Nice pressure D with Kwame and he forced a bad pass that Odom stole.

Bynum -- -- Ugly game from Bynum, he was little more than a warm body in this one. It's funny seeing Yao playing physical with Bynum since Yao really had to learn how to play like that after a few years in the league -- same thing Bynum needs to learn. (Of course, instant gratification Laker fans want it yesterday). Bynum picked up 5 fouls in 6 minutes and hoisted up three bricks in that time. He did block 2 shots, though. He had a defensive board taken from him, he stayed with it and swatted Howard from behind to get it back. He picked up a couple of fouls and had to sit (the second foul was bogus). He airballed a jumper. He lasted under 40 seconds against Yao before picking up his third foul of the half and had to sit. He bricked a jumphook over Yao badly. He airballed another jumphook. He picked up a couple more fouls and had to sit again. Deke and Yao have really taken Bynum to school this year.

Turiaf -- -- The Mad Man from Martinique. Turiaf had to run some extended minutes at both C and PF with our injury and foul issues in this one. He was the last line of defense against Yao after the refs were calling cheapies against our other bigmen in the first half. He held the line and energized the team with some big plays. He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, pulled down 6 boards and swatted 4 shots in 22 minutes. He swished a long baseline jumper. He missed an elbow jumper. He was called for a cheap foul on what looked like a decent block from behind on Yao. The next one he left no doubt about, swatting Yao badly off the glass. He dunked in the lob from Smush who drew Yao to him with penetration. He took contact on an attack from Yao with no call and missed. He got blocked after more contact, but LO cleaned it up. He rejected Howard badly on help D. He slapped a ball off of Yao's leg for a turnover. He destroyed Alston's drive attempt with a massive rejection out of bounds (Your No. 8 play of the night on NBA TV). He picked up his third and fourth fouls in the last minute of the half (one a cheapie against TMac, the other a moving pick). He swatted Alston on the baseline. He tracked a Kobe airball and laid it in to cut the lead to one with a minute left.

Shammond -- -- Shammond's shooting slump continues. He's shot 4-19 in the last 4 games after tonight's 0-4 performance in 11 minutes. He missed a baseline jumper. He missed an easy floater, got his rebound back and missed an easier bank. He missed a three way short. He found Kwame under the hoop for a layup.

Vujacic -- -- He picked up a double tech and missed his only shot. Not much else to say.

Phil -- -- Well, that yelling and going ape (bleep) at practice seemed to have gotten their attention. Of course, it could have just been the Lakers getting up for a big game, as they seem to do. "They can go in the showers and know they did what they had to do," Phil said afterward. "Sometimes it doesn't work out."... The Lakers went on a 7-0 run in the middle of the second quarter that was ignited by some tough D and Staples got to its feet in appreciation as the Rockets called a timeout... Lamar picked up his third foul with 1:51 left in the second half and Phil left him in for a minute and got away with it. He left Ronny in because he had no choice and Ronny picked up his fourth foul... Houston shot 34 percent in the first half, but led 53-48. The Rockets feasted from the foul line, making 22-23 and getting quite a few generous, one-sided whistles (Yao 12-13, TMac 10-10)... The Lakers got the Rockets into the penalty with 9:23 left in the third. They did a poor job taking advantage of it, only getting to the line a few times... Phil went to a Kwame, Turiaf, Lamar, Sasha, Shammond lineup down by 6 early in the fourth to give Kobe a rest. We were down by 11 before Kobe touched the ball again... Then Kobe went off... The Rockets hit 88 percent (36-41) from the line, the Lakers 71 percent (27-38). The Lakers held the Rockets to 38 percent shooting and forced 17 turnovers...

[Siguy]

Important Question.

Why the hell did Phil have Turiaf in the game for the last play?
Rafer is taking two free throws. We know we're gonna need a three to win. Yet he subs in Turiaf for Odom? [after Odom fouled out]

When we went down court, Turiaf was stuck at the three point line unguarded. Stupid, stupid substitution. Not like you can blame the loss on it, but it was worth mentioning.

Thanks for the recap DB.

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

we should have ran more hard doubles at yao. we either gave him easy buckets or put him to the line. when we beat them earlier in the season, the hard double forced 6 turnovers from yao. great games from kobe, lamar, and kwame. its too bad they didnt call the moving screen on yao. i wont blame this on the refs though, once again...missed free throws (except the one that led to kobe's 3 of course)

thanks DB
_________________
"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[DancingBarry]

[DancingBarry]

[Klone_dd]

[A Mad Chinaman]

[Hades]

Kobe almost became a hero again like the Portland game
Too bad we gave up a four pt lead with a min remaining

[Sage_10]

Tough loss but they got to learn to heat their freebies.
_________________
"You Must Be Willing To Give Up That Which Can Be Lost In Order To Gain That Which Cannot Be Lost." - FORTUNE COOKIE

[knicklove]

you say kwame showed some good stuff but when yao has 39 and 11 on 11-18 shooting and 17-21 from the line i can't really see how kwame played well. did he force yao into like 3 misses in a row? what exactly did he do and for about how long?

[ProjectAB]

I was wondering too why Cook wasn't in on that last play. However, Cook hasn't played all night. We would have needed to call a timeout to tell him to be ready, otherwise, he'd probably choked it anyway.

[kobe_somebody_odom]

[postandpivot]

[ElginBaylor]

Thanks for the recap DB even though on this one I didn't need it. Although extremely disappointing and sleep depraving to stay up 'til two a.m. only to watch the team lose in o.t., there were quite a few postives that can taken from this. Kwame's and Turiaf's defense, LO aggresiveness (how many times was that guy being helped up off the floor?) and of course the Mamba lighting it up. A couple of tough breaks going the other way and it would have been a W.

Anyway, I appreciate your hard work as most of the time your the next best option when I can't actually watch the team play.
_________________
Not a legend

[CorkyTomjanovich]

What really hurt was getting all the bigs in foul trouble early. It might have been a little different if they let turiaf/bynum/kwame get near Yao, but they didn't.

Kobe never makes mistakes like that in crunch time....those are plays Smush would make. I think he was toast because he was playing so hard on both sides of the ball last night and nobody else really got it going offensively.

Kwame made some huge plays on defense in the 4th.

[postandpivot]

[Mike@LG]

At least the team played with some heart on the floor for a change.

It was good to see why Kwame was a considered a #1 pick once.
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Resident Car Nut.

https://lakersdraft.substack.com/

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

[NestT]

[PopcornMachine]

[DancingBarry]

[Mike@LG]

[dcarter4kobe]

try 7-7
_________________
"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."

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks for this recap DB.

My main man Kwame played alright last night. I have one beef: before LO fouled out, LO was shooting his second FT and missed. For some reason Kwame didn't box out - he just ran down the court like he knew LO made it. (Considering Kwame is an excellent offensive rebounder it is conceivable that he would have gotten that board and given us 24 more seconds to run off the clock). Never give up on any play Kwame! Well, LO missed and Houston got the ball. Not saying that play lost the game, but bone-headed plays like this happen all too often leading to losses we cannot afford.

37 FTA from Yao/McGrady aside, much better defense from the Lakers. Talk about superstar calls...

[LakersSpirit]

I was prepared to post MAMBA, MAMBA, MAMBA, and agree that Kobe was really god, in disguise... Kobe looked like he was about to pull out one of his greatest comeback victories. The impression I'm left with, is that Kobe CAN pull a lot of games out of the fire, but I question whether he can always keep his composure, to the end of the game.

As a team, we were actually showing some good creativity. We had the ball movement, at times... We were even making some good decisions [at times]. We had some really good ideas... The only thing, is that we just weren't finishing... Check it out... What deductions can we arrive at??... Perhaps, the Lakers are doing too much basic "shoot-around", or walking through the gameplan, in practice, and not enough actual skrimage. It looks like some of that attempted execution has not been tried, under actual full playing conditions. Sometimes, it looks like we need just more focus on the basket... The coaching staff should see this, as a sign, of something they may not be doing, in practice.
_________________
"Teamwork is a nebulous thing. It is as ephemeral as love, disappearing at the latest insult.".... Phil Jackson

[A Mad Chinaman]