TWOLVES -at- LAKERS - 12-20-13 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Sense of Urgency… Last time the Lakers saw the Wolves, they got drilled for 47 points in the first quarter. Tonight, with Kobe’s knee injury sidelining him for several weeks and no point guards in the mix, the Lakers dug in deep in front of Staples. That sense of urgency kicked in.

They shut down Kevin Love and the TWolves in the fourth quarter, holding the visitors to just 15 points on their way to the 104-91 victory.

Huge turnaround from that previous game. How did the Lakers do it?

Defensively, they had length on the floor and switched frequently to scramble the Wolves offense. On the other end of the floor they tried to keep it simple. They got a near triple-double from Pau, four threes from Nick Young on his way to 25 points and a 21-point, 42-minute game from Xavier Henry. The Lakers had 27 assists without point guards. Pau led the team with 8.

They closed the Wolves with a 14-2 run, holding them without a field goal in the final 5 minutes. They may not have playmaking PGs, but that shouldn’t – and didn’t – stop them from playing spirited D.


Gasol -- -- Pau, for three…bam! That was a huge sideline three with the clock low late in the game and then he showed some Swaggy Pau, grinning and showing the low threes on his way back down court. “That’s how you should play. It should be fun,” D’Antoni said of how animated Pau was tonight, adding that you have to put your heart and soul into it. “You see Pau doing the Swaggy P out there…that was big time,” Young said. Pau is looking a lot better lately on both ends. He nearly had a triple-double tonight, playing more physical, getting to the offensive boards and also challenging shots. A bit of a turnover-prone second half (some just straight-up unforced on his way to 7 TOs on the night), but we need him to playmake from the post without our point guards. “I’m trying to establish myself, be aggressive and make things happen for myself and my teammates,” Pau said. “That’s what I’m going to try to do from now on every single game.” Got to keep it up consistently. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 10-15 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 13 boards (6 offensive), 8 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 7 turnovers and 3 fouls in 33 minutes. He was a +10. The Action: He blocked Love’s attempt from three to start the game (led to a layup the other way). He sank a wing jumper on his first touch. He missed an elbow jumper, short. He swished a 12-footer just inside the right elbow. He hit Henry cutting for a layup when Rubio left him to double Pau. He lobbed to Wes in transition for the throwdown. He sank the step-back, one-legged fade in the lane. He took contact with no call and missed the jumphook. Nice challenge on a drive and he recovered the rebound. He faced up and fumbled a ball out of bounds, unforced error. He outmuscled Love for an offensive board and scored the putback layup. He had 8 points on 4-6 shooting, 4 boards and 6 assists at the half. Second Half: He faced up and knocked down the wing jumper getting hit with no call. Really poor pass to Johnson cutting to the hoop, turnover, wasn’t even close. His bounce pass to a cutter was picked off. He attacked left with speed, brought it back to the middle and scored the jumphook around Love with ease. He missed an open 18-footer next time down, then gave up a layup in the post on the other end. He forced a lob out of a timeout that wasn’t there, turnover. He got tapped on the wing bank shot. He wanted a foul on a putback attempt that sent him to the floor with no call. He fumbled the ball away on the perimeter, completely unforced error, dunk the other way. He dunked back in a missed jam attempt by Xavier. He scooped up a loose ball that Young bobbled to him and Pau drained the sideline three, doing the Swaggy P low threes while running back on D. He got lucky on a bank post up that he shot too long trying to get it over Pekovic. He tied up Pekovic on a jumpball block. He swished an open FT jumper off the two-man game with Young.

Hill -- -- He wasn’t getting the boards early on as the TWolves did a pretty good job putting a body on him. The Lakers got outrebounded on the offensive glass 9-1 in the first half and Pau had our only offensive board. By the end of the night the only one other Laker beside Pau got an offensive board. When we don’t have a lot of dribble penetration and guards getting to the rim, it makes it tougher to get those. But we got better outings tonight from Kaman and Williams, so they took some of Hill’s time. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-2 shooting to go with 1 board, 1 block and 3 fouls in 14 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He blocked Brewer’s layup attempt. He got a kind bounce to drop in off a jumphook in the middle of the lane. He had just 1 board in 10 minutes. Second Half: He opened up, took the post entry and swished the easy jumphook.

Johnson -- -- He also had a soaring breakaway dunk in the second half that reminded me of the way James Worthy used to finish. Show me that again. Excellent energy out there. Sometimes he disappears for long stretches. With his energy and athleticism that shouldn’t happen. It didn’t tonight. Seemed like he was in on a lot of action, especially on those plays where we change ends of the floor quickly. We put him on Rubio defensively to start the game and then Barea when he entered. Then to close the half we slid Wes over to PF to cover Love. Defensive versatility is a huge asset. Some nice passes by Wes in this game and he tallied a bunch of assists as a result. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-8 shooting (0-3 from three) to go with 4 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He missed an early offense chuck from three. He missed a corner jumper on the inbounds. He threw down a massive lob from Pau on the break off a Kaman block on the defensive end. He skied for a lob, pulled it down and bounced back up for the layup. He missed a wing three, long. He blocked a shot in transition on the other end. He had 4 points on 2-5 shooting, 4 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. Second Half: He missed a three straight away. He stripped Pekovic with a reach on help D. He hit Henry on the give-and-go with a nice pass over the defender for the layup. He missed a sideline chuck from three. He finished the break like Worthy, soaring in for the dunk off the quick outlet and one dribble. Great hard foul on D to prevent a layup (wish we had more of that from others, saved a point, too).

Meeks -- -- You wouldn’t have known he still struggled a bit with the three ball in this game, making just one of five attempts. He was effective in other ways. He got a couple of dunks in this game, not sure I recall the last time he had two of those in one game. Some really bad ball watching by Meeks that also gave up uncontested baseline dunks in both halves. He got sucked into the same plays that we used to run with Blake when he’d draw the attention of the corner defender and Meeks would be the guy cutting baseline. Great job scratching out points. Both he and Xavier played huge minutes. When Xavier would sit, Young would be in the game to help with the playmaking. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 6-10 shooting (1-5 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 42 minutes. The Action: Wide open on a baseline jumper off an inbounds pass and he nailed it. He leaked out and Xavier found him for the two-handed dunk. He lost his man ball watching and gave up a dunk. He drained the two-for-one wing three coming off a screen. He attacked and kicked to Sacre for the sideline jumper. He missed a pull-up three. He had 7 points on 3-4 shooting. Second Half: He attacked from the wing, took contact and scored the And-1 layup over Love, he made the FT. He ball watched again and gave up a baseline dunk. He attacked baseline and nearly hit the behind-the-backboard floater after taking a foul, he made both FTs. He took a bounce pass in transition and windmill reversed in an And-1, he made the FT. He attacked baseline in transition and threw down with one hand. He missed a corner three. He missed a wing three. Great switch with Williams on Love on the perimeter out of a timeout, he tipped a ball loose, then was held as he tracked down the steal. He missed an open corner three.

Henry -- -- With Kobe out, Xavier slid into the point guard role for the starters. The offense was clunky and turnover prone (especially in that second quarter), but Xavier tried to play his game. He’s not going to complain about the role, that’s for sure. A few injured point guards and one Kobe return ago, Xavier was looking the like the guy who might be the odd man out. Now he’s playing 42 minutes. Defensively, he did a good job getting after it, especially on help D. He even got a clear-out foul on a bigman as he challenged. Loved his activity on that end of the floor. “We communicated on defense tonight. We had a solid game plan and it worked out for us tonight.” With the bigger lineups we’re running, we can switch on everything and that’s what you saw when the Lakers had the Wolves scrambling. Now bring it on the road. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 8-19 shooting (1-3 from three, 4-6 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 42 minutes. He was a +11. The Action: He missed a baseline jumper on a kickout. He took the outlet and scored a layup in transition. He missed a long early offense sideline jumper, layup the other way (he needs to probe or run a little of the offense first, that shot is always there). Next time down, he curled off the handoff and scored the layup down the middle of the lane. Nice challenge on a jumper to get an airball and shotclock violation. He swished a wing three off the Pau handoff. He found Meeks leaking out for the dunk. He drew FTs on a pull-up jumper, he made both. He swiped an interior feed dropping into the lane to help, pushed out the dribble and outlet to ignite the breakaway score. He missed a corner three. He scored a layup cutting of the Pau double team. He biffed a layup on the break that he should have finished. He stepped backed, up-faked and drew a foul on the wing jumper, he made one FT. He fumbled a dribble out of bounds, unforced error. Great challenge on help D on Pekovic and he drew a clear-out foul (got to love when it’s your PG drawing a clear-out foul on a big). He tried to go high to Pau but it looked like Pau was expecting a bounce pass and the pass went out of bounds. His pass was picked off for a score the other way. He missed a long jumper on a kickout. He missed a long jumper from the wing. He attacked from the corner and took contact for FTs, he made one. He led the starters with 13 points on 4-10 shooting and 2 assists with 3 turnovers. Second Half: He scored a layup off the give-and-go with Wes. He pulled up for the open top-of-the-key jumper and hit it. He missed a long wing jumper up against the shotclock. He was blocked on a wing jumper. He attacked and missed a hanging one-hander in the lane. He took a pass in the lane, up-faked and blew past his man for a layup. He drained a tough baseline fade off the dribble. He was strip-blocked on a layup in transition but we got it back. He couldn’t finish a dunk after losing control while getting blocked, but Pau dunked it in.

Young -- -- “I felt good from shoot around today,” Young said. Damn, he’s playing some great ball even before this one. Heck of a sixth man on a team that runs 12 deep. Nick was creating offense and draining threes (including a 4-point play). Very efficient shooting half to start the game with 13 points on just 6 shots, but he also led the team with 5 turnovers trying to be a point guard. “It’s tough,” Nick said of the PG role. On some, he was trying to make the right play, but threw it away. On others, he just lost control of the ball. Just one of those games in that regard on some of those (some credit also to Brewer as a defender), but the Lakers were unable to extend and early double-digit lead because of how many times they coughed up the ball. Nick’s court vision wasn’t the best tonight. He had Sacre wide open asking for the ball with both hands on an inbounds in front of him and Nick called timeout. Once he stopped thinking about being a PG and started shooting more, things smoothed out. He killed the Wolves with those three balls. His gun slinging and playing to the crowd had Staples going. Defensively, he played strong, taking a huge charge on the break (paid the price), but got the stop. He never stopped moving on D, very good job on that end, as well. “Hopefully, I’m going to have the most charges on the team at the end of the year,” Nick said, saying he and Sacre are having a contest. Love hearing that. The Stats: He scored 25 points on 9-14 shooting (4-6 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 4 assists, 5 turnovers and 2 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a +12. The Action: He scored a layup around a defender in transition. He hit Kaman on the break for a layup. He swished a three working behind a Pau screen. Way late to recognize a wide open lob and his pass was picked off in transition. He pumpfaked a defender in the air and drew FTs on the long sideline jumper, he made both. He bobbled a pass right out of bounds, unforced error. His pass in the lane was picked off. He backed down the smaller man in the post and hit the short fade from the elbow. He got picked trying to go behind his back on the dribble. He missed a corner three on a kickout. He went between the legs, stepped back and sank the wing jumper. He threw a cross-court pass between two Lakers and out of bounds. He attacked quickly off an outlet after a made basket and he scored the layup. He had 13 points on 5-6 shooting, 2 assists and 5 turnovers. Second Half: He squared up and swished a wing And-1 three, twisting his body to take contact after the miss, he made the FT. He curled into the lane, took the pass at the FT line and hit the jumper. He missed the baseline pull-up fade, not quite Kobe-like on the finish. Great read, standing in in transition and taking a hard charge sacrificing the body, Swaggy D! He missed a tough running jumper in the lane (had a shooter wide open on the wing). He was partially blocked on a layup he wanted a foul call on. He drained a wing three on a swing pass. Huge wing three with 2 minutes left behind what looked like a double screen from Pau and Xavier. He pulled the ball out on the break to run clock, then worked the two-man game to Pau for a score. He ran clock down and missed a wing three, then slipped on the sideline as he back pedaled. He hobbled off the court, but looked okay.

Williams -- -- He led the team with a +18. Very good defensive game from Shawne. He helped contain Love in the second half. The Lakers switched a ton to thwart the Wolves offense. Having a mobile big like him can make that work, but he’s got to get back and help contain the boards. We saw some pretty good battles by Shawne on that defensive glass. Good job doing the little things and being the glue guy tonight and D’Antoni gave him the closer role. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 0-1 shooting from three (2-2 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 1 assist, 1 block and 2 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a +18. The Action: He grabbed a board in a crowd and secured it. Second Half: He missed an open corner three. Nice switch with Meeks on Love to force a turnover out of a timeout. He faked a three, attacked the lane and drew FTs with 1:39 left, he made both. He switched off Love, then recovered to block his post up from behind.

Kaman -- -- “I’d rather have one of them hate me than all five of them,” D’Antoni said afterward, meaning that he could either play a bunch of them short minutes or one of them no minutes. Kaman has been that guy. D’Antoni got them all in tonight. He shuffled his rotation a little, pulling in Kaman to help cover the TWolves bigger front line tonight. Kaman responded and gave the Lakers one of the highlights of the night with a huge rejection at the rim as the lone man back on a breakaway (that led to the lob to Wes on the other end). Good minutes from him. “He had a great practice the other day,” D’Antoni said and seemed to mention he’d try to get him more minutes. As I mentioned, without the playmakers, we need bigs like Kaman who can help playmake as a high post threat and passer. We didn’t use him much in that role tonight, but probably need to incorporate more of that. Tough to survive 19 turnovers, but the Lakers can do that home. On the road that may be more difficult, so hopefully we work the ball through Pau and Kaman a little more. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting to go with 3 boards, 2 blocks and 1 foul in 16 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: Out on the break with Young and Pau and Nick found him for the layup. As the only man back on D on a one-on-three, he rejected a layup and tapped it out to get the stop (it led to a lob to Wes and a TWolves timeout). He missed a long jumphook in the post. Second Half: He faced up and swished the elbow jumper. He overpowered Love for an easy jumphook on the right block. He missed an open FT jumper in transition, good look, just got to hit those.

Sacre -- -- We saw the full range of Laker bigmen in this game. Pau, Hill, Sacre, Kaman and Williams all got minutes. “It’s a little bit of a traffic jam and some guys get lost in the shuffle,” D’Antoni said. Really, though, he did a good job rotating them in. Hill wasn’t as strong tonight, so others stepped up. Sacre helped the Lakers again battle in that key early part of the fourth quarter. Those are big minutes and his physical play and defensive challenges helped set the tone. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-3 shooting to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 2 blocks and 2 fouls in 11 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He missed a short jumper on the pick and roll. He drained the baseline jumper off a Meeks kickout. He had 3 boards. Second Half: Nice challenge on Pekovic in the paint. He missed a pretty good look at a jumphook on iso after the play busted. He blocked a drive on the other end, but no one got his man.

D’Antoni -- -- With no Kobe, he slid Xavier into the starting spot… The Lakers led 17-14 midway through the quarter when the first timeout came… He brought in Kaman for Hill out of that timeout and Young for Meeks... Behind some great D by that unit, they got out in transition for several scores and led 30-19, forcing a timeout… He brought back in Meeks for Xavier and Sacre for Pau out of that timeout with 2 minutes left… The Lakers shot 64%, the TWolves 39%. The Lakers led 35-26 after the first quarter… He started the Kaman, Sacre, Young, Meeks, Henry unit… He sat Kaman after a couple of minutes for Williams up by 7… He sat Sacre for Pau with 8 minutes left up by 7… He brought back in Wes for Young and subbed in Hill for Williams up by 8 with 5:38 left… The lead was cut in half shortly later as the Lakers continued to be sloppy with the ball… He sat Hill for Young as the Lakers offense went dry. They trailed by 1 with 2:29 left… So many unforced errors by the Lakers, balls fumbled or passed out of bounds… The TWolves closed the half on a 20-7 run. Lakers had 10 turnovers in the second quarter… The Lakers trailed 53-51 at the half. They shot 58.3% (21-36, 3-7 3PT, 6-8 FT), but had 13 turnovers. The TWolves shot 38.3% (18-47, 4-12 3PT, 13-14 FT). They had 9 offensive boards, the Lakers just 1… Down 1 and he sat Hill for Kaman after 4 minutes… Up 3, he brought in Young for Meeks… With 2:49 left, he sat Pau and Henry for Meeks and Williams down 2… Nice finish to the quarter by this unit on both ends. Some aggressive switching on D everywhere and the Lakers stood their ground by forcing long jumpers after covering for each other… They led 81-76 heading into the fourth… He started a Kaman, Williams, Johnson, Young, Meeks unit… Up 2, he brought in Sacre and Henry for Meeks and Kaman… Up 5, he brought back in Pau for Sacre… D’Antoni nearly blew a fuse after what looked like an obvious deflection out of bounds that they gave to the Wolves. This was about the fifth or sixth bad call that went to the away team and he was sick of it, calling timeout up by 1… The Lakers shut down Love (0-3 in the final quarter)… The Lakers took a 9-point lead off a big defensive stop and a three from Nick to force a timeout with 2 minutes left… The Lakers shut down the Wolves with a 14-2 close of the game. Only two points came from the line… The Lakers had 27 assists and 19 turnovers…

[mhan00]

Great game.

[DancingBarry]

Programming alert: I won't be able to cover the next one. Going to be a DIY night.

[TheLakerWay]

YES!!!!!!!

Thanks, DB

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB. Fun game. Want more

[lakerjoshua]

I read it before I watched the game.

Thanks for the spoiler DB

[mhan00]

Re watching the game on the TWC replay. Man, I was too busy commenting on the game thread to see MDA go crazy on the sidelines after the horrid missed calls. Hilarious.

[Klone_dd]

Really haven't seen Pau laugh and joke around on court before. With Kobe, he has that Gasol growl. With Swaggy P, he becomes Swaggy Pau. Pau, with his 7 TOs, nearly had a quadruple double.

Strange game stats wise. At the half, the Lakers shot 58% to Minny's 38% and they were losing. TO's (and many of them unforced) and giving up offensive boards kinda diluted the D they were playing.

Xavy played well, as did Meeks, but it was Swaggy P to the rescue. The 3's he hit were critical and timely. I wouldn't say he's the coldblooded killer that Kobe is, but he's pretty fearless.

Props to Kaman and Sacre, too. I liked the big lineups MDA played in this game. Although, despite the size, we got killed on the offensive boards.

Clever bit at Staples. After the play that MDA went bonkers on - Barea clearly (to everyone except the refs) tipping the ball out of bounds in the 4th - the Staples organ player played the "Do you see what I see" line from that Christmas song. Gotta give him/her points for slyly mixing in that melody a week before Christmas.

[Omar Little]

Loved seeing pau enjoy himself. I don't know if there is another player whose game is so dependant on mood and attitude.
_________________
“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” ― Elie Wiesel

[Chronicle]

Swaggy P: The P stands for Pau?
_________________
Kobe

[A Mad Chinaman]

[Nobody]

Solid win. The TOs made it seem like we have 5 Kobes out there though.

[City_Dawg]

[wolfpaclaker]

Pau