LAKERS -at- KNICKS - 2/10 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Stop the Linsanity... I guess the Lakers didn't know what to expect.

The Knicks have been winning games behind the Jeremy Lin's impact ball at the PG spot -- a far cry from what the Lakers are getting from their own. It only took a few minutes to find themselves on their heels.

Lin scored a series of hoops to start the game and kept bleeding the Lakers on his way to 38 points in 39 minutes.

"He was the difference in the ball game," Brown said after the 92-85 loss. The Knicks were without their two stars - Amare and Melo.

Defensively, the Knicks doubled and collapsed on the Lakers threats.

"I can't tell you how many open looks we had that we missed," Brown said as the Lakers moved the ball to open men.

Playing DFish and World Peace certainly increased the chances of those misses, but even Steve Blake went 2-11. The Laker bigmen struggled to impose their size and will against the small ball. Brown struggled with his rotations to find a combination that would work. And the Lakers fell again with another low production outing from their offense.


Kobe -- -- It took him a while to dial it in. After hitting a baseline jumper from practically behind the backboard in the third quarter, he got it on track. Unfortunately, the Lakers struggled to get any flow or rhythm to their attack all night. The defense was swarming our main threats, and open teammates weren't making the Knicks pay. Kobe played big minutes again as the only one able to get anything going in the second half. Second night off an OT game and Kobe goes 42 minutes. We are driving him hard and these are city miles, not highway. Kobe remains confident that the front office will make some changes to bring in help. In the meantime, he's trying to make up for the lack of production from other sources. The Stats: He scored 34 points on 11-29 shooting (1-5 from three, 11-13 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and no fouls in 42 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He missed a baseline pull-up jumper. He drew FTs getting Fields to bite on the up-fake in the corner, he made both. He missed a turnaround from the midpost. He lost the ball in the paint. He missed a pull-up three in transition. He cut off the Pau post, took the pass and drew FTs at the rim, he made both. He spun from the wing post, attacked and reversed. He spun away from a double team and missed a jumper. He was fouled on a long jumper on iso, he made one FT. He faked one way, spun the other and drew FTs on a layup attempt, he made both. He missed a face-up jumper. He made a tech FT. Second Half: He missed an open jumper coming off a screen. He drew an illegal D but missed the tech. Not close on a long wing jumper. He forced up and bricked a long jumper over a double team. He bricked a wing jumper. He airballed a three on the next trip down when he had to beat the shotclock. He somehow made a tough turnaround from nearly behind the backboard after he couldn't pass to anyone (this seemed to get him going). He sank an iso pull-up jumper going to his left out of a timeout. He missed a three on the next trip down. He spun away from the double team and hit the turnaround. He iso'd and spun away from the double team again to swish the jumper. He faced up and hit a wing jumper on a two-for-one sequence next time down. He missed a long wing jumper. He split a double with a spin, hung around a third defender, but couldn't finish with the left. He threw a pass away off an inbounds after that. He backed his man down, spun through a double and powered in a layup. He attacked through a swarm of defenders, spun and drew FTs in the lane, he made both. He missed a pull up from 17 feet out. He was trapped at the top of the key without his dribble, he split the D on a step-through, chucked it hard off the backboard to himself in the lane and quick-passed it to Pau for the jumper, wow. He spun away from a double and hit the baseline jumper. He jab-stepped and hit a jumper. He sank a pull-up jumper from the right side, getting hit on the arm, he made the FT. He missed a three. He attacked and missed a lefty layup and Bynum choked the putback. He attacked and hit a baseline pull-up jumper. He missed a fading wing jumper, but Pau slammed it back in. He sank a pull-up three in transition.

Gasol -- -- The Lakers played small tonight. They didn't impose their size and with the Knicks running small ball, that killed us. Neither Drew nor Pau could effectively impose their will on their opponents. Perhaps the overtime and all the work Pau did last night caught up with him. Still, he managed to be our second scorer...but a far cry from the previous game. Our weak post play was made worse tonight when our perimeter guys were giving nothing and the D could collapse futher on our bigs. But when you have Novak on you in the post and you come away with a turnover, that's trouble. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 6-10 shooting (4-4 from the line) to go with 10 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers and 5 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He faked a pass to clear some space, then hit the turnaround. He missed an open elbow jumper. He threw a wild pass over his shoulder right to a Knick. He missed a short jumphook. He blocked a jumper. He missed an open 18-footer. He took all kinds of contact in the paint, but still hit the short jumper in the lane. He attacked off the drive and dish from Kobe and drew FTs, he made both. He swished an open 16-footer straight away. He slammed of the pushout and lob from Barnes. Second Half: He faked Jeffries in the air and drew FTs with the shotclock low, he made both. He blocked a reverse layup on help. He swished a jumper off the Kobe-pass-to-himself-backboard sequence. He was stripped by Novak in the post, yikes. He slammed a putback off the Kobe miss.

Bynum -- -- He was borderline useless tonight. Not only was he inept at scoring in the post against Chandler, he couldn't finish easy putbacks or hold on to defensive rebounds. Even Jeffries was able to keep him from scoring at times. Anything that could go wrong for him, did. A lot of that was on Drew. Still, how many plays were created for him? We never saw any of the passing sequences that set up easy scores. We don't have a point creating for him, of course. It was either go iso or get your own boards and score. The small ball beat the big ball. Defensively, he struggled with holding onto some defensive boards to get one and out possessions. We missed Lamar's mobility tonight, which allowed us to keep our size but play with any small ball team without issues. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-8 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 13 boards (3 offensive), 2 assists, 3 blocks, 2 turnovers and 5 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a -8. The Action: He missed a FT jumper. He drew a double and hit the cutting Barnes for a layup. He bricked a forced turnaround in the post (didn't get good position). He traveled in the post on the next possession. He missed a short turnaround in the lane. He hit a lefty jumphook over Jeffries, finally. He dribbled a ball off his foot. He blocked Lin's drive. No help when his man screened Blake and he gave up a layup. He missed a layup in the paint. Second Half: He was blocked on a drop-step layup attempt. He couldn't secure a couple defensive boards. He drew FTs after getting low position on a ball reverse, he made one. He grabbed an offensive board but couldn't put it in. He erased a drive with a swat. He couldn't secure another rebound. He missed a point-blank putback layup practically gifted to him. He blocked Chandler's drive without leaving the ground and controlled it.

Peace -- -- The offense was on life support with the DFish/Metta starting lineups. Brown kept Metta to a short 12 minutes. He slid Kobe over to SF quite a bit. Most Laker fans wish DFish's minutes would be cut down like that. It may take until March before we see any changes, even though the team does have an open roster spot now. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-2 shooting from three to go with 2 boards, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 12 minutes. He was a -9. The Action: He couldn't handle a post entry pass when our spacing was too crowded, turnover and foul as he knocked Lin down. He missed an open three. He had the ball stolen at midcourt for a layup. Second Half: He was called for back-to-back fouls (one kind of bogus call erased a break, the other gave Chandler FTs...they later took those away, saying the Knicks weren't in the bonus yet). He missed a forced three.

Fisher -- -- At some point, Mike Brown will need to cover his own butt and will have to sit Fisher. It is just inevitable. You knew with Lin lighting things up against other teams, he'd have a field day against our PG. Lin may have had more layups in one game than DFish has had all season. That probably says it all. DFish was scorched in the first few minutes and the Lakers were behind by double digits and spent the rest of the game trying to dig their way out of it. It reminded you of watching Fish trying to cover Westbrook. No chance. "I don't remember anybody getting to the rim for that many layups against us with another body being there," Brown said of the team D. The Fisher/Metta combo in the starting lineup is miserable. Teams that decide to make Fish/Metta beat them will have a lot of success. Teams that don't, do us a favor. Offensively, Fisher followed up his 0-7 last night with a 2-7 tonight. I think most of these shots were with his feet on the three line. One he fired hit the side of the backboard. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-7 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 assists and 1 foul in 23 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He missed a long sideline jumper. He gave up several open jumpers to Lin early on. He attacked the paint and was hit from behind on the layup attempt, he made both FTs. He sank the patented foot-on-the-three-line jumper. Lin spun right around him for a layup that forced Brown to call a timeout. He missed an open three out of that timeout. He missed a foot-on-the-line jumper again, got it back and hit the side of the backboard on a three attempt. Second Half: He swished his patented jumper, left wide open on the sideline (just move an inch or two back before the pass comes, please). He missed an open jumper, again standing on the three line.

Blake -- -- The 1-8 from three was almost a game changer. If he hit just two more of those, this would have been an entirely different game. Even though he had a poor game, the difference on D and the more active dynamic on offense from how DFish is playing is a pretty wide gap. The Lakers are thirsting for point production. Any bit of water in our PG desert is a game changer for us. Tonight we struggled to squeeze just a few drops from that spot. Meanwhile, massive production from Lin on the other end. The Laker PG spot was simply destroyed. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-11 shooting (1-8 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: He missed a line drive three on a kickout. He fouled Lin before an inbounds pass, giving up FTs. He missed a corner three. He swiped a pass in the paint on a switch. He attacked and threw a pass away. He blew past his man and choked a reverse layup he should have had (his weak finishing skills on full display). He missed an open wing three (layup the other way). Nice feed to Barnes curling in the lane for the dunk. He swished a step-back baseline jumper. Second Half: He cut from the strong side (where Kobe posted up) to the weakside corner to take the ball reverse pass and drained the open three. He attacked off the two-man with Kobe and was fouled in the paint for FTs, he made one. He missed a baseline jumper next time down. He missed an open corner three. He missed an open corner three. He swiped a pass on the two-man game to get it back. He overpassed at the buzzer and we didn't get a shot off. He missed a wide open three that could have cut it to 3 with over a minute left. He barely hit rim on another three.

Murphy -- -- I try not to bring up Lamar too much, but this is another of those losses where his presence was missed. He excelled at small ball (which we haven't seen a lot of this year). He could stick with any small team with his mobility, yet still use his length to cause problems on both ends. They missed that. Troy's hesitation to pull the trigger cost the Lakers on a few possessions. He's shooting .434 from the field and .406 from three. Look around, Troy. We need some offense. You are our best three shooter. Be aggressive when they give you room. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-3 shooting from three to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 26 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He missed a three in early offense. He drained an open three in early offense. Second Half: He didn't shoot an open three, instead giving it to Kobe for the forced airball three with the shotclock low. Hard foul on help D to save a hoop. Not close on an open three.

Barnes -- -- He led the team with a +5 and was our third scorer with 11 points. He should never be the third scorer with 11 points. A game like this from him should amount to a win if Bynum can get his average. Barnes ran into foul problems and had a few turnovers, but he managed to be productive. He had some defensive miscues, but later got the assignment on Lin in the final couple minutes. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 5-6 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 6 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 6 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He went under a screen and gave up a three to Novak. He swished a corner three. He gave up a baseline dunk getting caught flat footed on a potential screen. He cut from the weakside and took the pass from Bynum and scored the layup. He curled around the Bynum screen and dunked off the Blake feed. He missed an open corner three. Great push out off the miss and he lobbed to Pau for the dunk in transition. Second Half: He attacked and hit a floater in the lane. He was stripped in the lane. His jumphook in the lane was goaltended. He fouled out on a charge in the lane.

Goudelock -- -- In a game where we needed offense badly, running Goudelock as a 7-minute afterthought while Fish is going for 23 minutes and Blake is going 1-8 from three, was simply a mistake. Blake should be the steady starter and closer for this team. Goudelock should be the game-changer off the bench. There were so many open jumpers available, why are we not getting looks for one of our best shooting guards? Goudelock got his lone score tonight on the only play where he brought the ball up court. He called his number to run the Murphy pick and pop and drained the three. Murphy is shooting .406 from three, followed by Goudelock's .400 from three. We run that play once in this game? The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-3 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 7 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He was picked in the backcourt. He missed a long chuck from three on a rush up court at the buzzer. He called his own number after bringing the ball up court and drained a three off the Murphy screen (first time we ran that in the game). He crossed over Lin, but missed the 20-footer. Second Half: He did not play in the second half.

McRoberts -- -- He came in briefly to cover for Pau who had four fouls in the third quarter. That was it. He looked a little out of the swing of things. Without enough offensive threats on the roster or a playmaking point, his time is being limited. The Stats: He didn't score or shoot and had 1 board and 2 fouls in his 4 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Kapono -- -- we ran him out there in the second half at the backup SG. He sank his only shot, a three. He spaced the floor to help Kobe work on the opposite side of the floor. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-1 shooting from three to go with 2 fouls in 7 minutes. He was had a +/- of 0. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He set up in the corner, Kobe drew a double on the opposite side and Kapono hit a three as the ball worked around the perimeter to him.

Brown -- -- His bigs dominated the previous game. Tonight, they were barely factors... The Lakers trailed 13-4 with Fish unable to stay close to Lin. Brown called a timeout. He sat Metta for Blake at that break, but left Fish... Down 16-7, they brought in Murphy for Bynum and Barnes for Fisher... They were 1-13 before Barnes hit a three... Down 9, he brought in Goudelock for Kobe with 1:18 left... The Lakers trailed 22-15 after the first quarter... Brown started the same Bynum, Murphy, Barnes, Goudelock, Blake unit he ended the quarter with... They were outscored 9-4 when a timeout came... He sat Blake for Kobe and Bynum for Gasol down by 12. Then Goudelock for Fisher a few seconds later... The Lakers trailed 49-41 at the half. The Lakers shot a miserable 34 percent (13-38, 3-12 from three, 12-13 from the line). The Knicks shot 45.5 percent (20-44, 3-12 from three, 6-9 from the line). The Lakers had 9 turnovers, Knicks just 5... With Kobe and Bynum still non-factors, the Lakers trailed by 8 when he sat Pau for Murphy. It took a while for Kobe to warm up in this game... He finally sat Fisher for Blake and Metta for Barnes down by 8 with 5 minutes left in the third... They cut it to 4 a minute later, but being in the penalty was killing them... He went to Kapono and McRoberts for Bynum and Barnes down by 8 with 2:38 left... With Kobe starting to heat up finally, the Lakers trailed 66-60 heading into the fourth... Brown started the Murphy, McRoberts, Kobe, Kapono, Blake unit. No Goudelock... The Lakers started off the first defensive stand with two quick fouls... They sat McRoberts for Pau and cut the lead to 3 with a Kapono three. Timeout Knicks... A 6-0 Knicks run out of that and Brown called a timeout. He went back to the starters with Blake instead of Metta... Brown went to Barnes on Lin after we got torched again, Fish back to the bench as the crowd went nuts on some Lin scores off defensive scrambles... The Lakers shot 37.5 percent (6-24 from three) and had 17 turnovers...

[Omar Little]

1st

Just because i knew none of you would want it...
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“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” ― Elie Wiesel

[Arbitrary]

Thanks DB!

[tw-lakbfan]

Thanks for the writeups, even after ugly losses.

[wolfpaclaker]

[busym]

An ugly game and a loss. Another great writeup DB . Thank you. Your writeup was the only bright spot tonight.

[Sister Golden Hair]

Blake's hesitation on offense drives me crazy. He has mastered the Luke Walton tactic of foregoing his own wide open shot in favor of passing to a fellow Laker farther from the rim, with a less open look, with time running out on the shot clock.

Good times.

SGH

P.S. The team was tired, yes, but they also look discombobulated. MB is even worse than I thought.

Maybe as Blake gets healthier, and Goudelock given more burn, Fish will finally be put out to pasture. They need another scorer/creator. It doesn't have to be a superstar. A J.R. Smith or a John Salmons-type could help. They need to move Kobe to the 3, start Blake, and start a J.R. Smith-level player -- not a star, but a guy who can score, get to the foul-line, spell Kobe, and be another creator out there -- at the 2.

I'm very disappointed at Metta. His loss of focus has been very, very sad to see. He can play D at times, but on offense he's worthless. Brown's offense has no structure within which MWP or anyone other than Kobe can thrive. Even Pau, with his manifold gifts, is being criminally mis-used.

What a disaster in the making. Even with the chaff on the team, when you have Kobe, Pau and Bynum, you should not be hovering above .500.

[dirka dirka]

The Lakers essentially traded Lamar Odom for Troy Murphy and stood pat at the PG and SF positions after being swept out of the 2nd round of the playoffs last year.

I know they tried to get Chris Paul, but once that fell through...to come up with this as a solution is just mind boggling.

Murphy gets way way too many minutes, he rarely has an on game scoring wise to justify so much run. Starting Fish and MWP and sticking with them so much when there ARE better options on the bench is just bad coaching.

15-12, that's simply not even close enough to being good enough. I fear they want to trade the wrong guy however, thinking that somehow once Kobe retires we won't have to completely rebuild and hope and pray we get another super star. (aka what happened to the Lakers after Magic retired is going to happen again, Bynum or not) Senseless to build for any future, we need to win now and for the next 2-3 years.

So beyond frustrated with the direction this franchise has chosen to take.
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[dirka dirka]

I'm not terribly down on Blake for tonight's game, I think this is another fault of Brown. He ran Blake ragged last night in Boston in his FIRST game back from an injury that for certain affects conditioning.

To come back the next night and play some of these veterans long minutes instead of switching it up is again, bad coaching.

Goudelock getting 7 minutes in a back to back style game after an overtime win is just unconscionable.
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[Sister Golden Hair]

[jonnybravo]

[playground]

[mhan00]

Blake gets a pass for last night since he's coming off a month long injury and he was forced to play heavy minutes the night before to save us from Fisher's ineptitude.

Kobe woke up in the second half and almost carried us to victory.

Pau played a pretty decent game; he was just derailed by a couple of very questionable foul calls and was forced to sit.

'Drew . . . SMH. Terrible game from him last night; we need him to shake it off and bounce back Sunday.

Fisher, step down man, you're done and now you're embarrassing yourself. He deserves respect from every Laker fan for all that he has done for our team over the years, but father time has caught up and erased his already limited basketball talent and skill. Time for him to sit and be our third string PG behind Blake and Goudelock. He's doing nothing but hurting us on both sides of the floor virtually every minute he's out there.

MWP, please sit him unless we need him to play defense against big SFs who lack quickness. I would have been laughing when we went to MWP to bring up the ball in the second quarter if I wasn't so upset that we were dumb enough to think that would work.

[limchrc]

Thanks, let's win next game.

[Tick]

That was a hard game to watch. I expected a lot more out of Bynum because at his age, he shouldn't have "tired" legs. But he looked slow and sluggish under the lid. His moves in the low post looked like they were in slow motion. Chandler was pushing him around too.

That offense needs serious attention, because it is not working. Nobody knows what to do out there. Even when Kobe gets doubled, the rest of the team isn't cutting to the basket or making any attempt to get open . . . and that can't be by design.

Okay, so we don't have a point guard, then common sense and prudence would dictate we quit running an offense that's PG dependent! Go back to a halfcourt motion offense like the Triangle or try the Princeston offense.

[Rick12322]

The team was tired. I knew Bynum would be tired. his stamina hasn't yet attained a level needed for a schedule like this with multiple b2b games. The good news is, there aren't going to be anymore schedules like this until the next lockout/strike.

But in the meantime, he shot 1-8. Kobe went 1-9 before he heated up. The difference is Kobe got more attempts so he could figure it out and get in a rhythm. Drew had 2 assists, hauled down 13 rebounds and had 3 blocked shots. He still altered numerous shots as he always does. He had an impact and he wasn't the reason for the loss.

Fisher is DONE, over and out. What was he doing in the game? Is Brown out of his mind?

Ebanks supposedly was good at defending PG's in college, I'd put him out there before I tried Fisher. What the heck, maybe that's the one thing he can do.

Last of all, Jeremy Linn shot over his head, he's not known to be a good shooter, it was just one of those nights where he got hot.

[Shaber]

Everybody tired. Including Mike Brown (obviously sleeping and missing on the PG rotation).

[LALtripleOcho]

[yinoma2001]

Seems like last night was a perfect storm for the Lakers. Coming off an emotional OT win against Boston; NBA's thirst to market Lin in NYC, nationally televised game featuring said Lin, chance to kick the Lakers' nuts on national TV after beating the Celts (by Mr. Stern).

BTW, was Stern at the game?
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From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB for enduring another awful game and putting together another great analysis.

Awful game, awful rotation. Barnes played well. Throw Fish out on the court for too long and the stench gets overpowering. MWP embarrassed himself badly too when he proved to the world live on ESPN that, after all these years in the NBA, he can't take a ball up court because he lacks a high school proficiency in dribbling a basketball.

Spot on observations with Goudelock. Why when this is an old team having come off a tough OT win in Boston the prior night does Brown yank him off the floor just as he was starting to warm up? Because he had a turnover? 4 other Lakers had 3 turnovers each! I've seen brief spells where Murphy, Goudelock and Bynum turn into a very dangerous combination. These are VERY brief spells though. Not because they're inconsistent, but because Brown obviously doesn't see the value in playing them together. Instead, we see lineups that result in league-worst outside shooting. I'm completely baffled why Brown yanked G-Lock.

In the meantime, Kobe, Drew and Pau get to enjoy another night of dragging anchors around the court with them and getting swarmed, and it proved just too much this time.

[LakersMD]

This is the worst shooting team I think I have ever seen. It's just demoralizing when you miss open shot after open shot. And I love what Fisher has done for the Lakers in the past, but if he is starting and getting more than 15 minutes a game by the end of the season, as a former PG I might have to stop watching. It's just unbearable at this point.

[PLATNUM]

OTHER rookies throughout the League are allowed time to develop and learn from their mistakes. G-Lock is no Kyrie Irving, but let the kid play a bit. Used to think it was PJ that was too hard on therooks but maybe it's a management thing? The rooks have a very short leash... yet Fish and Ron are given way too much leeway. Awful.
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"Dread it, run from it... destiny arrives all the same."

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

^Even Luke doesn't embarrass himself as badly as MWP did last night. I can't picture Morris, Ebanks or especially GLock hurting this team any more than Fish does. MWP can play tough defense against a big 3 like Pierce, but against smaller teams I don't see any use for him at all.

Give old, bad players more playing time and they just get tired. Give a rookie playing time and you develop a better player.

[RVCdesigns]

Thanks DB.

[WestwoodOne]