LAKERS -at- CLIPPERS - 10/24 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Winless... The Lakers have one more chance to avoid a winless preseason after their 97-91 loss to the Clippers tonight.

"We're gonna worry about our record when it really counts," Nash said.

No Dwight. No Kobe. The Lakers started the game with a potential bench rotation lineup that gave them more floor time to improve. The bench needs it. For the Clippers, they sat CP3 and Crawford.

The Lakers played even with Clippers until a stretch of turnover-prone ball to close the half on a 10-0 Clipper run. They rallied back, opening the second half with their own 11-0 run to take the lead. Once Nash sat in the second half, they lost their lead and faded.

Jordan Hill returned to the lineup to help shore up the bench with his offensive rebounding off their many misses. They need that. Their bench has some nice puzzle pieces, but they need to fit properly to work.

The Lakers will miss Kobe again in the next game and D12 is questionable. Without their thunder and lightning, they played a bit like a soft drizzle.


Nash -- -- There is one sequence of offense that seems to work consistently well for Nash. We set up in our typical 4-out-1-in Princeton formation and we end up running basically a screen-roll from the wing. This led to some of our easier scores tonight and some open jumpers. Last game, as well. It's not the Princeton, though. We just aren't getting Nash into his sweet spots yet. Next game, we really ought to switch into a higer percentage of Nash-centric offense to gear up for the regular season. It would be wise to depend on this more early this season as we slowly build our Princeton skills. Right now, you just don't have to game plan for Nash. The Lakers might have had a chance to bring this one home if Nash played his usual rotation, but Brown went with Blake in the stretch run. Nash looked a bit frustrated after one turnover in this game that came off a scrambled offensive set. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-4 shooting (0-2 from three to go with 1 board, 7 assists, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He missed a wing three on a kickout. He lost a dribble to Bledsoe and had to take a foul. The offense stalled, Nash worked the two-man game and set up Sacre for the Lakers first score. He scored next time down taking a high screen from Sacre and pulling up at the elbow. Extra pass to Meeks for the three. His bounced pass was deflected, turnover. He had 3 assists in the first quarter. He found Hill for an open jumper. He took a pass at the elbow and buried the open jumper. He was stripped for a dunk the other way, looking frustrated on that one. He had 4 points, 4 assists and 3 turnovers in the half. Second Half: He hit Pau for the open jumper. He probed off a high screen and wrapped a pass around a defender to Sacre for a dunk. He missed an open wing three. He had 7 assists after three quarters.

Gasol -- -- He showed up in the third quarter where he scored 13 of his points. Too many stretches of ball where he is MIA. The offense will be good for him, but we are far from mastering it to take advantage of some of Pau's skills. He's also not rebounding at the level he needs to be. Maybe he's pacing himself. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 7-13 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He missed a turnaround in the post. He forced a pass to a cutting Sacre, turnover. He hit Sacre cutting of the Nash two-man game for a dunk. He spun to the baseline and hit the jumper. He missed a lefty hook. He missed a high arching turnaround. He had 2 points on 1-4 shooting. He missed a turnaround in the middle of the lane. Just 2 points on 1-5 shooting in the half. Second Half: He sank a 19-footer off the Nash/Sacre two-man game. His jumphook was goaltended off the glass. He missed a long baseline jumper. We got it back and he swished a 20-footer. He whipped a pass to Sacre for a jumphook in the paint. He swished a wing jumper. He drew FTs off ball, he made one. He drew more FTs in the post next time down as Ronny tried to pull the chair, he made both. He dunked off the feed from Blake. He had 13 points in the third quarter. Way short on a 20-footer. He fell asleep out of a timeout to give up an oop. He scored an oop from Blake in early offense.

Peace -- -- It was either feast or famine with Metta tonight. He'd have stretches of completely stalling the offense or bricking or a period of carrying the offense to help get the Lakers out of a hole. Unfortunately, it was mostly the bad. Metta put up the most shots of any Laker and went a poor 2-8 from three. He had some moments to help keep the team in the mix, but was not efficient. The weave across the top with Artest kills the offense. Brown wants the ball to move side to side to shift the D, but we don't get the inside-out or penetration we need. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 4-14 shooting (2-8 from three, 3-6 from the line) to go with 5 boards (2 offensive), 3 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers and no fouls in 32 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He threw a pass away trying to thread the needle to Nash. He bricked a jumper, not running the offense. He attacked the paint, stretched out and scored a layup. He missed a pull-up wing jumper. He bricked a wing three next time down, then gambled poorly to give up a breakaway (Brown called a timeout on that one). He bricked an open three. Nice pass deflection to get a stop. Second Half: He pushed out a rebound, spun and manufactured FTs (first time his probe in early offense has paid off), he made both. He drained a three straight away next time down. He drained an open wing three, squared up well. He grabbed an offensive board and was hacked hard by Griffin for FTs, he missed both. He got tapped on a wing three. He stripped Barnes and took it the distance for a dunk. He was forced into a percentage-buster three, a flat-footed chuck to beat the clock. He attacked and was stripped for a layup the other way. He had 10 points in the third. He missed a top-of-the-key jumper. He attacked from the wing in early offense and drew FTs, he made one. He was called for the rare 5-second back-down rule with 2:52 left. He missed a wing three, it bounced back to him, so he missed it again. He stripped a man from behind. He bricked a chuck from three in the final seconds.

Meeks -- -- when he can step into a shot, he's looked pretty solid. When he's had to come off screens or pull up off the dribble, he struggled. I'd love to see him more with the starters, sliding Kobe to SF. Who knows when this will happen? Outside of MWP, the Lakers made 6-13 from three this game. That's strong. If we can lessen some of Metta's perimeter suckage, that will make the offense more efficient. Defensively, Meeks puts in the effort. It's not always making a difference, however. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 2-6 shooting (2-4 from three, 5-6 from the line) to go with 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 25:38. He was a -21. The Action: He attacked down the lane and missed a short hanging jumper. He swiped a backdoor pass. He drained a three straight away on the other end. He missed a wing three. He set up and buried the kickout three from Pau when his man left him. Second Half: He spun and missed a short jumper trying to create. Nice anticipation to draw a charge on the perimeter. He attacked a seam in the D and drew FTs, he made one. He scooped up a loose ball in transition and drew FTs on a reverse, he made both. He busted out in transition again and drew FTs (looked like a good strip), he made both. He bailed out the Clippers on a foul on a jumper as the shotclock went off. His perimeter pass to Blake was picked off for a score.

Sacre -- -- Howard out and Sacre back in. Props to him for keeping the Lakers competitive. He probably outplayed DeAndre Jordan, who has been putting up double-doubles. Even with Nash and Pau making some nice passes to him, Sacre still showed a lot on his own, hitting jumpers, showing some post moves and playing some smart D. The Lakers have drafted some nice second round bigmen with Marc Gasol and Ronny Turiaf. Most teams don't find bigs that stick with their second rounders, let alone at the end of the draft. He's still got a lot to learn (see the turnovers) and could still do some better work on the glass. He's also almost an automatic 1 of 2 from the FT line. Needs to improve that as he missed a couple of FTs in the final minute tonight. People have a lot of complaints about our bench, but our bigmen shouldn't be one of them. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 6-9 shooting (1-4 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 5 turnovers and 6 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He was whistled for a push off on the offensive glass. He missed a baseline jumper on a kickout. He sank a baseline jumper off the two-man game with Nash. He dunked off the screen-roll on a three-man sequence (Nash/Sacre/Pau). He swished a jumphook in the post next time down. He was tied up when the offense busted and he had no one to pass to and no dribble. He led the team with 6 points after the first quarter. He missed a short one in the paint, but Hill dunked it back down. He was hacked on a dunk when Jamison set him up for FTs, he made one. Second Half: He lost Jordan on an up and under for a score to start the half. Nash served him up a perfect pass around a defender for an uncontested dunk. He hit a jumphook off a bullet pass from Pau in the paint. Great rotation (for the second straight sequence on Griffin) to force turnovers. He was blocked on a jumper with the shotclock low. He had to sit with foul issues. He was tied up from behind by Hollins, then swung an arm at Hollins to pick up a tech. Great D to get a stop on a Bledsoe drive. He drew a push-off foul on Jordan with a minute left, he missed both clutch ones.

Jamison -- -- We saw Jamison slide back to the SF tonight. He needs to be a little more aggressive with the offense. It would help if we ran some more simplified stuff to free him up. He knows the offense, but no one else shows much dynamic in it, so the bench as a whole suffers. At the SF spot instead of PF, we don't have to worry about Jamison's lack of size getting out-rebounded under the hoop. He'll be slower to defend and will need a good anchor like Howard to help against bench SFs. If Brown is savvy with this, we can make it work and carve out minutes at both SF or PF depending on the opponent. Brown hasn't shown a ton of savvy in a lot of other areas. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-3 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists and 2 fouls in 16 minutes. He was a -8. The Action: He drained a corner three off a Blake kickout in transition. He missed a three in transition. He gave up an And-1 to Barnes getting caught on a backscreen with no help from Blake. He attacked the lane and hit Sacre for FTs. He missed one of his scoop hooks from the post. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Hill -- -- Good to have him back. If there is one thing our second units need is good offensive rebounding. We're going to miss a lot of shots and a hustling big like Hill can be a glue guy. He was our best bench player last season in his brief stretch of games. Hill led the team with 4 offensive boards tonight, cleaning up the glass and getting second chance points. He also hit a few jumpers. When we stagger rotations and he's playing with a combination of our big four, our second units will look much better. We have yet to get that combination of players on the court. On the bad side, Hill gave up multiple soft And-1 fouls in transition. Perhaps, he was in preseason "friendly" mode, but he didn't get his money's worth on his fouls. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-8 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 8 boards (4 offensive), 1 block, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 26 minutes. He was a -14. The Action: He bricked a challenged 16-footer. He swatted Hollins. He grabbed an offensive board and wanted the foul, falling as he threw it back up. He attacked and hit a pull-up in the lane. He ripped the rim on a putback slam. He drained a 17-footer on a catch and shoot. He had 6 points and 5 boards at the half. Second Half: Nice hustle on the offensive glass to manufacture FTs on a putback attempt, he made both. He gave up a couple of weak And-1s in transition. Make that another to start the fourth. He somehow threw in a leaning wing jumper to just beat the shotclock. He missed a step-back 17-footer straight away. He skied for a Metta miss, gathered it and powered it back in.

Blake -- -- On any given night, it may not be a battle of who wins the backup PG position, but rather who loses it. At times, Blake made a strong case for himself and then for Duhon tonight. He pretty much sandwiched some crappy play around some threes. If the offense was clicking at a higher level, his perimeter scoring would have been great. The Princeton is no where ready for primetime, however, and this puts more emphasis on our floor generals. Perhaps Duhon will make a case for Blake if he gets a chance next. Either way, it's not going to be pretty most nights. Just hope Duhon can find himself again this season. Or Blake can hit his threes like tonight without all the bonehead turnovers. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-8 shooting (3-4 from three) to go with 1 board, 4 assists, 1 block, 4 turnovers and 1 foul in 23 minutes. He was a -11. The Action: Tough three from the top of the arc, somewhat fading, but he swished it. He attacked in transition and hit Jamison for three. Busted offensive sequence, running nothing the whole time, he then fumbled the ball but got it back and swished a jumper. He missed a quick-fire sideline three. He was picked by Bledsoe. He missed a 20-footer trying to beat the shotclock. No help when his man backscreened Jamison for a score. He missed a runner in the lane. Second Half: Weak post entry pass, stolen for an And-1 the other way. Nice jump pass to Pau from the three line for a dunk instead of taking the three. He was stripped in the paint. He missed a corner three. He stepped into a three straight away and nailed it. Nice D tying up Bledsoe on a drive to get a jumpball. He hit a three on a catch-and-shoot straight away. He picked up his dribble in transition, then threw a bad perimeter pass to Sacre 35 feet from the hoop and right out of bounds with 1:12 left down by 6 (that killed any chance).

Ebanks -- -- Ebanks started the second half at SG. He ended up leading the team with a +15 because of that. Pau and Metta were scoring and the team dug themselves out of a hole during this stretch. Ebanks did a good job getting some FTs at attacking the rim when the opportunities presented themselves. Another steady performance. I'd like to see either him, Jamison or Meeks (depending on the opponent) come in at SF after about 6 minutes as the first subs of the halves. This will give Metta more of a chance to contribute offensively to the second units and even get into the post. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 1-3 shooting (0-1 from three, 5-5 from the line) to go with 3 boards and 1 foul in 22 minutes. He was a +15. The Action: He took a pass cutting from the right wing and drew FTs at the rim, he made both. His man gambled, missed, Ebanks attacked from the wing and scored the And-1 layup taking hard contact, he made the FT. He attacked and missed a drive, but got it back. Second Half: He was hacked on a defensive board, he made both FTs. He missed a corner three.

Brown -- -- The Lakers opened the game with a series of turnovers in the first few minutes. It took 4 minutes for the Lakers to scratch their first points... We started to transition into some slightly more Nash-centric offense for a stretch and the Lakers started to score. They tied it 11-11 after 7 minutes... Still tied, he sat Nash, Sacre and Meeks for Blake, Hill and Ebanks... The Lakers led 23-22 after the first quarter... He ran a Sacre, Hill, Jamison, Ebanks, Blake unit... He brought back in Nash for Blake after 5 minutes, up by 1 still... He brought back in Meeks for Ebanks... Brown called a timeout after a horrible bit of transition D by Metta... The Lakers were doing fine until a 10-0 Clipper run to close the half. Lakers playing turnover-prone ball the final couple minutes. Plus, they always seem on the verge of giving up a huge run this preseason... The Lakers trailed 49-40 at the half. They shot 43% (16-37, 4-10 3Pt, 4-5 FT). The Clippers shot 45% (18-40, 1-4 3Pt, 12-17 FT). The Lakers had 11 turnovers (Bledsoe with 6 steals)... As planned Brown switched up the Lakers lineup slightly in the second half, going with Sacre, Pau, MWP, Ebanks and Nash... The Lakers quickly took the lead back with an 11-0 run... Metta started to heat up during this stretch and they built an 8-point lead... He sat Nash and Ebanks for Blake and Meeks up 6. Nash would not return... Up 2, he went with Pau, Hill, Jamison, Meeks, Blake... The Lakers led 73-72 heading into the fourth quarter... He started a Sacre, Hill, Jamison, Meeks, Blake unit... They struggled to manufacture points with Gasol, Nash and Metta out... The Lakers trailed by 8 after 3 minutes... He brought back in Gasol for Sacre and Metta for Jamison down by 3... He sat Hill for Sacre... Blake down the stretch instead of Nash. Lakers bench couldn't pull it off... The Lakers had 21 turnovers, and Bledsoe finished with 9 steals...

[Mr. Zero]

_________________
Phil Luke

[12]

Amazing as always DB. I wouldn't know what to do without these write ups. Thanks.

[dino]

thanks db...great energy from hill and aggression from meeks...

[Mation]

[busym]

Not a bad game. Wish the team had another month to work together. Great writeup DB. Thank you.

[George the Greek]

SACRE BLEU!!!
_________________

[mhan00]

Mike Brown still hasn't done anything to make me like him for our coach. He talks a great game, but the results have been very poor, even for preseason.

[Laker's Fan]

If only the Lakers had their game as tight as your write-ups. Thanks DB.
_________________
Austin Reaves keeps his game tight, like Kobe Bryant on game night.

[LakerEric]

Isn't the point of practice to "look" at players and preseason to set "rotations" ? I do understand that we are running the Princeton sets and this will only be used when the Pick N Roll is not an option during a particular set. I understand that we are not running PnRs during preseason to "practice" the Princeton. What I cannot understand for my life is Brown's random set of players playing together. Does he have rotations set during practices and knows this and won't showcase it until the regular season? Why? After the opener (Dallas), teams can begin to scout the team. What is up with all the secrecy in sports nowadays? Or is this even the case? I'm a bit nervous that Coach Brown is a bit stupid.

I'm seriously not trying to be mean but isn't "results" the point and not a bunch of talk? I'm really sick of listening to his rhetoric and not seeing results or his rhetoric "not" translating on the court with the players.

[thurloly]

This game confused the hell out of me.

The only thing I could see clearly is the positive from Hill.

[Arbitrary]

Thanks DB!

[Qsmiff]

".....if we can lessen some of Metta's perimeter suckage..." DB, stop it with all the technical terminology

[moonwalker8701]

For a guy that doesn't have to create that much, why is Steve Blake so turnover prone??? At this rate, I might actually prefer Morris. Yeesh!

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB.

Positives - Hill for sure; but I thought Sacre did a pretty good job too considering he's supposed to be the backup insurance big who sits at the end of the bench.

I'm surprised Sacre went 1-4 from the ft line; I thought he was closer to 80% at Gonzaga.

Another pleasant surprise is how efficient the Laker scoring was if you total everyone up who's not Metta World Peace and his 4 for 14. The rest of the team was over 50%.

I'm surprised the game was as close as it was without D12 and Kobe in the lineup.

[bc24]

I really like what I'm seeing from Sacre!! Great find!

[mhan00]

Only knock in Sacre is that he's looked pretty bad without Nash in there helping him. Makes me salivate all the more thinking how well Dwight is gonna do in his place.

[wolfpaclaker]

Thanks, DB.

[_JuauM__]

Thanks DB!

[SilverBullet]

Thanks DancingBerry.

It seems like we never have an happy emoticon for MB part.

[yinoma2001]

So DB, what emoticon will we use if: 1) Lakers win the first preseason game; (I suggest a raising of the banner emoticon) or 2) if we go winless?
_________________
From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals

[LakersRGolden]

[Klone_dd]

The good thing was that I was finally able to watch a Lakers game in HD on the big screen!

Nash was making Sacre look Gortat-like. Not a bad thing. To his credit, Sacre can actually contribute.

I like Nash controlling the offense with the high P&R, but I can see how stagnant the other 3 uninvolved players can get. Metta, when he did get a kickout, felt like it was his turn to make a play and forced a lot of bad stuff.

Quick PGs will continue to haunt the team.

[yinoma2001]

[valvader]

Pre-season or not.. we should have at least won a game or two. Mike Brown has too many excuses. It clearly reflects on his coaching abilities. and being as a defensive coach.. I don't even see any improvement on the defensive mentality approach of the team... I just hope and pray that He is hiding all the plays for the regular season. I just don't see the Lakers winning a Championship under Mike Brown..