LAKERS -at- KNICKS - 1-26-14 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

The Tank Commander… Mike D’Antoni helped assure the 110-103 loss to the Knicks with a poorly coached game. As if the team didn’t have enough obstacles to overcome.

Manny Harris went off for 11 of his 18 points in the first part of the fourth quarter, before D’Antoni had seen enough and sat him.

And just to secure the loss, D’Antoni put Kelly on Melo to close the game. That went as you, I and anyone else would have expected, and the Knicks got the separation they needed. Well done, coach.

“He’s smart and he knows how to play,” he said of the Kelly decision. He’s a smart team defender, but a poor man defender. In what world, though, does it make sense to put your second-round rookie on Carmelo Anthony to get stops in a close game?

“They are playing hard and they are playing pretty well,” D’Antoni said of the depleted roster.

“I think they are playing hard but not well coached,” said Lisa Leslie afterward on the postgame show. Blunt, but one of the few post-game analysts not to pull any punches.

This team has too little room for error to begin with, doesn't help the win column when the coaches muck things up, as well.

The Lakers road trip went about as expected. A couple more losses and the Lakers would have to play .800 ball to get enough wins to have a chance at the playoffs.


Gasol -- -- As good as Pau can be offensively, he really needs to play with a shot blocking/rebounding bigman. Teams just get whatever they want around the rim. Small ball isn’t going to work with him unless you’ve got a tremendous frontline around him. Right now teams get too much space on shots inside and out of the paint. When was the last time you saw a sustained ability to alter shots by the Lakers? Offensively, he did his thing in this one. He and Marshall worked together to get some easy ones. Pau iso’d for a few scores and hit some jumpers. Pau missed a couple of clutch FTs. The Knicks had a 16-5 advantage on the offensive glass. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 8-15 shooting (4-6 from the line) to go with 13 boards, 4 assists, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and no fouls in 39 minutes. He was a -9. The Action: Soft touch on a lefty hook in the middle of the lane to get the Lakers scoring started. He faced up and hit a baseline jumper. He choked a layup off a nice drive and dish from Marshall. Great catch off a tricky pass from Marshall in the middle of the lane and he hit the short runner. He faced up and swished a long wing jumper. He hit Harris backdoor on a split play for a layup. He was blocked on a reverse. He scored a layup off the two-man game with Marshall. He was blocked on a reverse. He faced up and powered in a layup around his man with ease. He had 12 points on 6-9 shooting. Second Half: He airballed a turnaround iso, Chandler all over him. He drew FTs on an offensive board in semi transition, he made both. He hit a short one on the baseline on the drive and dish from Nick. He airballed another turnaround. He attacked and missed the bank hook. He missed a long baseline jumper. He drew FTs on iso in the paint against Chandler, he made one. Bad cross-court pass, turnover. Good position on Chandler and he drew FTs on the short one, he made one. He swished an 18-footer.

Meeks -- -- Meeks was on fire. In the third quarter, he sank a number of threes and made sure nothing crazy happened to the team like it seems to in the third. He knocked down six threes in the game. Very efficient scoring night. Defensively, we threw him on Melo a little too late and he got a couple of stops. The Knicks probably would have abused that eventually, but he gave a good effort with the assignment. Meeks and the other perimeter defenders give a pretty good effort at times, but they are not on the same page far too much. And when we aren’t on the same page, we don’t have the guys in the middle who will erase mistakes. It’s a bad combination. The team should just be practicing D all the time until they move as one and communicate well. The Stats: He scored 24 points on 8-13 shooting (6-8 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 43 minutes. He was a -8. The Action: He missed a three straight away off the dribble. He was swatted by Melo in transition. He swiped the ball, pushed out the break and hit Wes for the dunk. He hit a runner in the paint. He got a little separation on a step-back and wished the wing three. He attacked and was swatted badly. He missed a three, but sank the three next time down straight away. Second Half: He sank a three on an inside-out sequence from Pau while others set a screen for him to start the half, well designed play. He was fouled before the ball was inbounded for FTs, he made both. He sank a wing three out of a timeout as the ball moved from one side of the floor to the other to set him up. Heat check wing three in early offense next time down and he sank it. Great read and rotation on the weakside to swipe a ball, he outlet to Kelly who dunked. He sank a step-back 21-footer, another heat check. He lost his man behind a pinch post and drained the wing three. He curled into the lane and couldn’t handle a pass, dunk the other way. Unforced error, throwing a swing pass out of bounds. He lost control on a breakaway drive, turnover. Good effort against Melo on a couple of defensive stands late in the game.

Kelly -- -- Ryan Kelly against Carmelo Anthony? Really? Knicks just went after that down the stretch. What’s puzzling is why we went to that to begin with, then again, and then back to that to close the game. Just a head scratcher by D’Antoni. The game was there for the taking, but D’Antoni secured the loss with the decision making. Seriously…you can’t be thinking about defense at all if you put your rookie second-rounder on Melo and expect to shut him down in a close game. The game after Melo drops 62, as well. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-2 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a -11. The Action: He picked up a foul against Melo, then a moving screen call and had to sit early on. He gave Melo a hard foul in the lane, his third. Second Half: He drained a wing three on a kickout from Pau. No one picked him up at mid court and he took it in all the way for the dunk. He got a good challenge in on Melo to force a miss.

Marshall -- -- He did a good job early on getting into the lane and causing problems. A number of times in this one, you could see how well having a floater would have worked for him. Without that in-between game you see what could be an open runner turn into a touch challenged layup. He turns the corner off those screens well and gets into the paint with some separation. He just needs to make his game more complete. I’d be surprised if that’s something he doesn’t add to his game in the next year or two. Defensively, the team is a mess and not playing on a string. “We can’t give up straight line drives and wide open corner threes,” Marshall said. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-11 (2-5 from three) to go with 2 boards, 5 assists, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 38 minutes. He was a -15. The Action: He missed an elbow jumper left alone, got to hit those. He forced a bounce pass that wasn’t there on a cut, turnover. He worked the two-man game and threaded a pass to Pau for the runner. Sweet ball-fake to freeze the D and he scored a layup at the front of the rim. He missed a three behind a screen. Sweet feed working off the screen and re-screen with Pau to set Pau for the layup. He had 2 points and just 2 assists at the half. Second Half: With the clock low, he sank a long pull-up three. He was stripped out of bounds on a drive next time down. He attacked again, bumped off his man on the drive and scored the easy layup. He missed a drive, but Pau got it back. His man fell down, but Marshall couldn’t knock down the open three. He attacked hot a layup around Chandler like Nash might. His lack of floater showed on a drive to start the fourth, he took it too far in and wasn’t close when a big challenged him on the layup. He got into trouble in the paint, pulled up the dribble but found Harris open for the three. He sank a wing three when Young drew his man and hit him. He missed a big three with 44 seconds left down 6.

Young -- -- We slid him back into the starting lineup, which traditionally hasn’t worked as well as when coming off the bench. Not a great game from Nick. He didn’t hit a three and his D was poor. Manny Harris seemed to take over Nick’s role as bench sparkplug. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-11 shooting (0-2 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a -11. The Action: Too hard on a running bank and he missed. He sank an elbow jumper coming off a Pau screen. He faced up and drained a wing jumper, very controlled on that one. He missed a wing three trying to draw the foul. He sank a pull-up jumper at the top of the key. He attacked baseline hard and drew FTs at the rim, he made one. He missed a corner three. Second Half: He cut off Marshall, took the pass and hammered it down, then gave up a layup on the other end. He was called for a hook on a spin on a smaller defender. He missed a pull-up three in transition. He attacked and dumped it off to Pau for the score. He swished a baseline pull-up jumper. XXX He missed a quick-fire pull-up jumper. He missed a chuck from the top of the key. Bad foul on the perimeter with 30 seconds left, JR Smith returned the bad foul to Young in the backcourt to give Nick two FTs, he made both to cut it to 5 with 27 seconds left (battle of hoop IQ going on here). He fumbled a ball out of bounds with 21 seconds left.

Johnson -- -- Some chucking from Wes today. He did end up against the clock or maybe was thinking two-for-one on another shot, but really poor shot selection. He needs to slash and cut off ball more and be less stagnant. When the ball comes to him and he doesn’t have a shot, move it, don’t force it. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-8 shooting (0-4 from three) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He threw down a soaring two-handed dunk trailing Meeks on the break. He missed a chuck from three at the wing. He missed a wing chuck from three on a swing pass, we’ll give him the benefit of a two-for-one shot. He had a windmill dunk on the other end when we forced a turnover. Not close on a corner three, but a better look on an inside-out sequence. He grabbed an offensive board with Hill and put it back in. He missed a forced jumper with the shotclock at 5 seconds, kind of panicked there. He missed a chuck at the buzzer after our play busted on the final offensive set. He had 6 points on 3-8 shooting. Second Half: Bad angle defensively and his man blew past him for the layup (D’Antoni called a timeout and barked at him).

Hill -- -- He got the Melo assignment off the bench along with Johnson. He did a good job with it in the first half when we sat that matchup the most. He kept him to the perimeter and challenged shots. Not an easy assignment considering Hill is used to playing the bigger PF/Cs. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-3 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 6 board, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 17 minutes. He was a +6. The Action: He hit a jumphook in the middle of the lane. He swiped the ball from Melo on the drive. Great D to force Melo into no shot at the end of the quarter on iso. He hit a short turnaround in the lane, using his full three seconds. He drew FTs on a jumphook in the post, he made one. He was called for three seconds trying to post up. He had 5 points on 2-2 shooting and 5 boards in 11 minutes. Second Half: He missed a long jumphook (needed to be in a closer by a couple of feet).

Harris -- -- As I mentioned in my last write-up, it felt like Harris was due for a breakout game. You could see it coming with the confidence increasing and the athleticism and skills already there. He had a steady first half and then an explosive fourth quarter with 11 points. He also did it on D with a steal for a dunk and shotblock of Melo’s layup attempt on help D. On the big stage at MSG, he stepped up. The Knicks were probably very pleased with D’Antoni took Harris out in the middle of the fourth after that stretch of great ball. Bad coaching was the best defense. The Lakers gave Manny a second 10-day contract prior to the game and he gave them some bang for their buck today. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 6-9 shooting (2-3 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 2 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: Nice cut off the split play and Pau found him him for the backdoor layup. Change of direction and taking contact on the break, he scored an And-1 at the rim that got the bench up, he made the FT. He swiped the ball from his man, attacked the paint in transition and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a long one from the sideline on iso. He attacked and was called for a charge, Kobe was in his ear teaching on the timeout after that play. He had 7 points on 2-3 shooting. Second Half: Explosive jump of the passing lane to swipe a pass and blow past the D for a breakaway dunk. He missed a step-back wing jumper next time down. He drained a wing three on a kickout. Out of a timeout he just took it right to the rim around Smith and scored the And-1 layup, he made the FT. He saw a little daylight working off a Pau screen and swished the three straight away. He missed a heat-check fade at the elbow. He blocked Melo’s drive on help D to save a layup.

Sacre -- -- He missed some shots in his first half stint and didn’t bring much to the table for the team, so D’Antoni excluded him from the rotation in the second half. Kaman didn’t see daylight. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-3 shooting to go with 2 boards and 1 foul in 6 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: Not close on a lefty jumphook. He missed a turnaround in the lane next time down. He missed a short jumper. Second Half: He did not play in the second half.

D’Antoni -- -- He had to sit Kelly for Johnson after 3-plus minutes trying to cover Melo when Kelly picked up a couple fouls… The Lakers trailed by 4 when the timeout came with under 5 minutes left. He brought in Harris for Meeks… He sat Young for Hill, sliding Johnson to SF and having Hill go against Melo. We won that battle to close the quarter with a 9-0 run… The Lakers led 25-22 after the first… He started a Sacre, Hill, Johnson, Harris, Meeks unit… He brought back in Pau and Marshall, up 5… Starters with Hill instead of Kelly now in… Hill picked up his second foul and we brought back in Kelly up 2… He sat Kelly for Johnson shortly later. Kelly can’t guard Melo, should have been obvious before tipoff… The Lakers trailed 51-47 at the half. The Lakers shot 49% (20-41, 2-12 3PT, 5-7 FT). The Knicks shot 46.3% (19-41, 6-14 3PT, 7-9 FT). Lakers had a 9-0 advantage on the break, but the Knicks hit 4 more threes… Interesting watching Kobe and Rambis talking on the sidelines about the game. Rambis actually going to Kobe at one point, Kobe coming to him at another. It seemed like defensive discussions. Once they were even standing at the sidelines as the play was going. Rambis probably knows that if the Lakers want Melo, it would probably be with another coach other than MDA here… Tied up, D’Antoni brought in Hill and Harris for Young and Kelly. Meeks on fire right now… They trailed by 5 shortly later and D’Antoni called a timeout… The Lakers trailed 83-81 heading into the fourth. At least the opponent didn’t have the usual 90+ points by this time… D’Antoni called a timeout after a couple of bad angles by the perimeter defenders with no help behind them to give up layups… Down 1, he brought back in Pau for Hill to go with Johnson, Young, Harris and Meeks… Down 3, he went back with his starters, sitting Harris who was playing too well, I guess (11 points in the fourth). And, really, Kelly back in to close against Melo. Really? That’s how you earn the stripes to be Tank Commander... Of course, the Knicks just chewed that up to take a 7-point lead in crunch time. That was seriously dumb… He called a timeout and switched Meeks onto Melo. Jodie gave a more spirited effort, but the damage was done…

[TDRock]

Ok I guess I'll be first, LOL! Thanks DB. Now I can move on with my Sunday.

On to the next...

(Oh and I was SUPER glad when Lisa said that. Our guys can't because they are too close to the Lakers situation/on the payroll/etc., but its an obvious truth to see at this point....)

[ReaListik]

Lisa Leslie was right on the money.
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"We are the goodest." - Shaq ESPN interview

[Lakersneuron]

MDA

I have no explanation other than a tank job. Frustration is what remains.
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"I don’t give a [expletive] what you say. If I go out there and miss game winners, and people say, 'Kobe choked, or Kobe is seven for whatever in pressure situations.' Well, [expletive] you. Because I don’t play for your [expletive] approval."

[angrypuppy]

[LGTownDrunk]

Field marshall MDA is well known for making defensive sacrifices for offensive reasons.

But Kelly on Melo at the most critical point of the game? Yikes.

Great analysis DB, thanks.
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We want Soon now....we want Soon now....we want Soon now!

[999]

Can't believe a rookie had the chance to guard a hall of famer. I'm sorry but I'm on the fire d and dummy bandwagon.


Thanks db

[Laker_Jocker]

Now THAT's the way to tank.... Entertaining, tantalizing, I would dare say....

Showcase your D-Leaguers until they start playing well, then boom throw your slow footed rookie at the leagues best scorer for a few minutes, tell Young and Gasol to go ISO at which they both EXCEL for a while and....... VIOLA! join Utah in the cellar!

MDA, I salute you! I take back all the things I said about you, you are the PERFECT coach.....
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to get the Lakers a great pick in this year's draft.

[waterman40]

Tanks very much!

[OregonLakerGuy]

Tanks DB

[mhan00]

Ryan Kelly is useless on rebounds, useless.

[wolfpaclaker]

We lost this one mainly because we can't rebound and our coach thinks that rebounding is overrated as are guys with size who can give you just that. We have been overachieving many nights on O, but doing just as much damage to ourselves with poor D and rebounding.

Regardless as DB says, tank commander take a bow ! No complaints from me. June draft day can't get here soon enough !

Thanks again, DB.

[LakersMDGurl]

The first time this year i did not even bother watching the game. I am getting tired of watching our players get beat our there because we have a sorry excuse of a coach. I just needed a Sunday to myself where I wasn't yelling and screaming at the TV. A lady can only take so much!!!!

FIRE MDA FOR THE SANITY OF LAKERS FANS MITCH!!! DO IT!!!!
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New Beginings

[yinoma2001]

My goodness, the unnecessary help defense from our perimeter players is so ridiculous. I saw one play where 3 perimeter players were 1 step away from Tyson Chandler (but 3-4 steps away from knock down 3 point shooters). What is going on ??
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From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals

[LakersMDGurl]

[ForrestHump]

MDA: The Tank Master
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[RVCdesigns]

[Romano338]

((DELETED - Please express yourself clearly and without the use of profanity. Something like" I think it was a bad decision to put Kelly on Melo." Simple, to the point and without those bad words that will get you in trouble. - JMK))

[Chronicle]

((EDIT TO REMOVE ABOVE QUOTE - JMK))
Mike D'Antoni is the tank commander
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Kobe

[1hu2ren3dui4]

Team tank is lead by dantoni. C'mon guys.

[Who Takes The Blame]

Why don't we waive Sacre?

[Romano338]

Is it bothering the board to say bad things like that Kelly got destroyed or MDA is to blame?
Appparently yes because I used NO profanity. I censured myself of the only profanity.
Hypocrites.

F that (and no, you don't know what's "F" so stop right there)

[EldenCampbell]

[Shaber]

[LakersMDGurl]