LAKERS -at- SIXERS - 2-7-14 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

A Little D?… When you go into the Sixers arena these days, there’s a good chance you’re coming away with the W. The Lakers gave up another 64-point, big scoring first half to an opponent, but as neither of these are lockdown teams, they were only three points behind at half time.

The fast pace the Sixers played with in the first half had allowed them to get into the paint at will. In the fourth quarter, it started to slow. The bigger Kaman/Hill duo helped lock down the lane on D, and on offense they worked off the two-man sequences with Marshall and consistently scored.

They held the Sixers to 13 points in the fourth and took the 112-98 win.

Steve Nash led all Lakers with 19 points, looking more like himself than we’ve seen all season. It was the Lakers D that got the win. After giving up 34 points in the paint in the first half, they held the Sixers to just 8 in the second half. The team can score. They just need to learn how to put the clamps on with consistency.


Nash -- -- Happy Birthday. The 40-years-old has looked more like the Nash we knew. He led the team in scoring and did it with some style. He lost a man badly on one behind-the-back crossover to score an uncontested layup. That got the bench up. Just a very smooth, Nash-like game from him. Hope he’s feeling well after these two games. He’s obviously still got his game, it’s just a matter of whether the body will hold up. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 8-15 shooting (0-2 from three, 3-4 from three) to go with 4 boards, 5 assists, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He missed a short running bank. He worked off the screen and hit the one-footed elbow jumper. His backdoor pass was picked off. He traveled off the three line. He missed a wing three. He swished a sideline three. He probed the lane and found Sacre behind him for the score. He sank a pull-up wing jumper off the screen. He hit the runner inside the FT line working off the two-man game. Wow, Nashty behind-the-back crossover to completely lose a defender and coast in for an uncontested layup (that got Nick Young up off the bench). He pushed it out and hit Blake for three. He had 10 points and 3 assists at the half. Second Half: He missed a wing pull-up jumper off the screen. He drew the D, pivoted and bounced it to Sacre for the dunk. He missed an open wing three. He went behind his back to Wes on a bounce pass for the three. He lost his man and hit the wing jumper. He bumped his man off him and then hit the wing step-back jumper. He probed off the screen, sealed his man and drew the foul on him as he tried to recover, he made one FT. He missed a wing pull-up. He swished a high-arching, pull-up at the elbow working off the two-man game. He attacked the paint and missed the little hook in the lane. He attacked the over-pressuring D and drew FTs and made both.

Blake -- -- Blake had the three ball going. The elbow isn’t keeping him down at all. He was raining the threes and aggressive when he was feeling it in that first half. At times in this game, it looked like he and Nash were tag teaming on similar plays. Nash would run something, then Blake would try it, as well. The mix of those two was much better than we usually see. Good to see some chemistry there and Blake not taking a back seat when both were on the floor. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 5-10 shooting (4-5 from three) to go with 4 boards, 8 assists, 1 block and 2 fouls in 36 minutes. He was a +8. The Action: He missed a wing three. He missed the Nash running jumper in the lane. He found Hill in the lane for the dunk. He swished a quick-fire corner three working the two-man game. He missed a FT jumper, but got his own board. He hit Kelly for the wing three. With a play busted, he rose up and drained the three. He hit a two-for-one heat-check three a few seconds later in transition. Second Half: He swished the corner three when Kelly found him. He missed a forced jumper from the baseline. He reject Carter-Williams from behind to force a jumpball, then he won the jumpball. He attacked the paint, collapsed the D and hit Kendall for the three. He nailed a three behind a screen straight away. He missed a wide open 18-footer. Good rotation to draw a charge on Hawes in the paint.

Kelly -- -- Aggressive first half from Ryan and he was hitting the boards (more of that, please). That’s the kind of player he needs to be. He hit some shots with guys on him, not just the open jumpers off kickouts or fakes, but pull-ups, turnovers and driving layups. That’s a very good sign. Sure, he needs to learn the Dirk fade or have some go-to move with the ball in his hands and time running down, but the versatile scoring is a very good sign. He’s building the confidence. The next step it turning that confidence into imposing your will on an opponent. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 7-12 shooting (1-4 from three) to go with 8 boards, 2 assists, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 31 minutes. He was a +7. The Action: He drained a 21-foot wing jumper for the Lakers first score. He missed a sideline three when Sacre over-passed. He let a man fly by, moved in a dribble and hit the 20-footer. He jumped a passing lane and picked it off, rare we see him do that. He swished a short wing jumper in early offense. He hit Hill flashing weak to strong for a dunk. He attacked, stopped on a dime and sank the elbow jumper with a man on, nice aggression. He missed a step-through but kept it alive on the follow to regain possession. No hesitation and he drained the wing three on the swing pass. He missed a wing three, we got it back and he fumbled it away. He had 11 points and 6 boards at the half. Second Half: He backed his man down on iso and hit the turnaround over him, looked like he wanted the foul, too. He hit Blake for the three. He missed an open wing three. He missed a runner. He went to the rim aggressively in transition and scored the layup before hitting the floor.

Johnson -- -- If we had a consistent and tough defensive anchor, Wes would fill in well next to him. He blocked 3 shots and had 5 steals. Very active game from him again and the results followed. Good job getting out in transition in this game for easy ones. As Stu mentioned, he needs to attack aggressively and try to finish over the top of people. Use that athleticism to his advantage and get the line if he doesn’t get the finish. He’s got a great opportunity here with the minutes he’s got put in his lap. He can’t piss them away. Good job tonight. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 6-13 shooting (2-3 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 5 steals, 3 blocks, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 43 minutes. He was a +11. The Action: He picked his man, pushed it out and slammed an And-1 around a big, he made the FT. He rejected a layup and it led to points on the break. He swished the corner three on the swing pass. He missed a wing jumper. He beat his man down court, took the long pass from Marshall and dunked. He swished a wing jumper in early offense. He couldn’t finish a tough lob. He found Hill with an interior pass for an And-1 layup. He tried to reverse instead of cramming the ball at the buzzer and he missed. He had 10 points and 2 steals at the half. Second Half: He rejected a shot out of the paint. He couldn’t finish a dunk on the break, looked like he lost it on the way up. He blocked a layup from behind his man. He sank the sideline three off the behind-the-back pass from Nash. He missed a pull-up three. Strong attack at the rim and he was fouled on the dunk for FTs (more of that, please), he made both. He missed a wing pull-up jumper. He missed an open corner three. Nice double on Hill’s man to tie him up, he won the jumpball. He scored the oop off the jump pass from Kaman.

Sacre -- -- He struggled with his jumper as well as holding passes. Four turnovers in this game, just way too sloppy. He gave the defense no reason to cover him from the perimeter and was much of a threat in the interior. Defensively, he did a good job with the charges again. He’s making a habit of that lately. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-9 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 4 turnovers and 2 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He missed a wing jumper. He airballed a short one in the lane. He was stripped in the paint. He missed an open wing jumper. He fumbled away a bounce pass. He missed an open 17-footer on an inbounds. He missed another wing jumper. He posted up and drew FTs, he made one. He hit the 7-footer in the lane when Nash found him. Good challenge on a dunk. Second Half: He got tapped on a jumphook. He dunked when Nash drew the D and found him. He attacked, not confident in his jumper and charged. Good job rotating on help to draw a charge after forcing the pass off. He couldn’t hold a pass from Nash. His jumper was blocked out of bounds.

Marshall -- -- He had 10 assists in 20 minutes and orchestrated the fourth quarter stretch where the Lakers dominated. He looked like a vet out there running that offense. Of course, the Sixers let us kill them with the same plays over and over. The trio of Laker PGs combined for 23 assists, Kendall led all of them and only had 1 turnover. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-6 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 10 assists,1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a +11. The Action: Great read, hitting Wes ahead of the pack for the dunk. He couldn’t finish in the lane. He threw a backdoor pass out of bounds. He curled into the lane and we saw him hit a rare floater, more of that please. He missed a wide open wing three. Second Half: He drained the wing three off the Blake kickout. He faked off the three line, attacked and scored a layup next time down. Sweet bounce pass to Hill on the break for the dunk. He set up Kaman off the two-man game for a layup. He got his man on his hip, kept him sealed there as he probed the lane and setup Kaman for the easy one. He attacked the lane and couldn’t finish the layup.

Williams -- -- After the bizarre situation in the last game, Kupchak needed another warm body and brought Shawne back on the 10-day contract. That allowed D’Antoni to throw him in the mix as the first big off the bench. Quiet game for Shawne as he got back into the flow of things. He got his couple of scores by hustling on the break. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-3 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 13 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He drew FTs on the break and made both. He missed a long one from the wing. He attacked the press and threw a pass out of bounds. Second Half: He filled the lane and scored a layup around a defender at high speed. He missed a three straight away.

Hill -- -- He and Kaman shored up the interior D to start that fourth quarter and the Lakers went on a run. He and Kaman were doing a great job challenging and anchoring the D. The Sixers had been living in there in the first half. Once the Lakers shut that down, the game was over. The Sixers couldn’t stop the two-man sequences on the other end (which often led to Hill dunks off the extra pass). The Stats: He scored 14 points on 6-7 shooting (2-5 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a +14. The Action: He flashed weak to strong, took the pass, faked and dunked. He took a pass, faked again and dunked around the defender. He bricked a long sideline jumper as they dared him to shoot. He took an interior pass from Wes, power dribbled than scored the And-1 layup, he missed the FT. Second Half: Marshall put a bounce pass right in his lap for the dunk, good job running the floor by Hill. He was fouled trying to power up off the interior pass from Kaman, he made one FT. He challenged his man’s drive to get a miss, bounced back in bounds to reject another man on help D. He dunked off the interior feed from Kaman. He was fouled on a putback attempt (and held his shoulder after), he made one. He charged in the post. He jammed off the interior feed from Kaman.

Kaman -- -- Some nice passing off the two-man game tonight. When the Lakers got their separation, it was with Kaman and Hill anchoring. And Marshall and Kaman working the two-man game. Kaman would either make the interior feed to Hill or score himself. Very good game on both ends of the floor from him. He’s very much in the flow and did a good job playing that Pau role out of the high post. The Sixers will make a lot of teams look good, they never took this away from L.A., so we bled them with it. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 7-14 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 8 boards (3 offensive), 3 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocks, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a +12. The Action: He sank the elbow jumper in transition. He grabbed a tough pass, spun and banked in the jumphook. Bad read, kicking out to Sixer instead of trying to score the easy one. He missed a chippy in the paint. He up-faked at the elbow, attacked and scored the layup. He picked up a tech. He sank a sideline jumper after grabbing a loose ball. Second Half: He missed a turnaround from the left block. He was fouled on an FT jumper for FTs, he made one. He missed an elbow jumper. He missed a short jumper. He was picked for a dunk the other way. He scored a layup off the two-man game with Marshall. He hit a short hook off the setup from Marshall. He set up Hill with an interior feed for the dunk (working off the Marshall two-man game). He swished the easy jumper off the two-man game with Marshall. He tied up a man a reach to force a jumpball, which he won. He missed a runner in the lane. He was fouled on a defensive board, he made both FTs. He hit Johnson on the jump pass for the layup. He took the pass off the two-man game and bounced it to Hill for the dunk. He short-armed a jumper that looked like he wanted to pass it.

D’Antoni -- -- The Lakers fell behind by 7 points when Williams came in midway through the quarter… D’Antoni brought in Kaman for Sacre… He then went with a tall lineup: Kaman, Kelly, Williams, Johnson and Marshall down 7… The Lakers trailed 35-26 after the first quarter… He started a Kaman, Hill, Kelly, Johnson and Marshall. Better size in this lineup… He brought in Blake for Wes down 9 a minute later… Down 9 he sat Kaman for Sacre. Good stretch for Kaman… Down 6, he brought back in Nash and Wes for Kelly and Marshall… Down 7, he brought back in Kelly for Hill at the PF… They chipped away at the lead… The Lakers trailed 64-61 at the half. Philly had 34 points in the paint, getting in there at will… Coaches didn’t like how easily the Sixers got into the paint and wanted to tighten that up… The teams traded leads through the third quarter… Down 2, he sat Kelly for Williams… Down 2, he brought in Kaman for Sacre… Marshall came in for Nash and instantly gave the Lakers a 4-point lead, forcing a timeout… Up 2, he went with Hill, Kelly, Williams, Johnson and Marshall again… The Lakers led 87-85 after the Sixers hit a 60-footer at the third quarter buzzer… He went with the Kaman, Hill, Kelly, Johnson, Marshall tall lineup unit… They went on a 9-0 run to take a 10-point lead, working the Kaman/Marshall two-man game. They forced a timeout midway through the quarter… He sat Marshall and Kelly for Blake and Nash up by 11 with 5:25 left. Sixers were 0-10 and scoreless for 5 minutes as Kaman and Hill anchored the D well. Marshall orchestrated the offense through Kaman… The Lakers had just 2 turnovers in the last 18 minutes of the game. Got their PGs back… Easy win after that strong fourth…

[dirka dirka]

First! Thanks DB!
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[mhan00]

Sixers looked like us during our huge losing streaks, just unable to stop anyone and huge dry spells. Where is this Wes every night? He's about due to disappear for another half dozen games again; really hope he bucks that trend.

Great to see Nash doing so well, but who we've really missed is Blake. He does so much it's nuts, especially on d. Meeks was always active on that end, but he was also always gambling and he'd never fill in on the boards, which is the exact opposite of Blake, who stays with his man and makes smart rotations and boxes out like a mad man.

[A Mad Chinaman]

Getting the "head" of MDA's offense back (Nash, Blake,
& Marshall) and able to go 100% because they didn't have to play 40+ minutes, stability that leads to better playing is a welcome sight.

Nash/Blake's experience seems to know how to get Johnson going

Kaman/Hill's defense was a welcomed sigjt.

Of course, they played the 76ers - but a win is a win.

DB, you must have enjoyed writing a breakdown that does not include a Laker opponent scoring 1,000 points in the paint!

[lakersfreak]

Thx DB

[RCS926]

I'm on board with the Lakers getting as high a lotto pick as possible, but it gives me pleasure to see this group of guys get a win.

[DancingBarry]

[yinoma2001]

Yay we're winning?
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From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals

[City_Dawg]

[Goldenwest]

Memo to MDA, if you want to win, play Hill and Kaman more over Sacre

If you want to tank......

[LakerEric]

Getting the PGs back was huge. We still have massive holes on the team (Kobe, Gasol, Henry, Young, Farmar) but I can just imagine everyone healthy....DAMN!!!

[A Mad Chinaman]

[E_Wulf420]

I dont know about you guys but in a weird way i miss seeing shawne williams.
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[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks again DB