NUGGETS -at- LAKERS - 10-6-14 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Let’s Get It On… In the words of former boxing ref Mills Lane (or singer Marvin Gaye), Let’s Get It On.

The Lakers kicked off the 2014-15 season with a 98-95 preseason win against the Denver Nuggets. So many stories, so little time:

How would Kobe look? Steve Nash? What impact would rookies Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson have? How would Jeremy Lin look in his debut in the purple and gold? Ed Davis? Carlos Boozer?

Not playing tonight was SwaggyP who had thumb surgery today. Nor was Xavier Henry, who is still recovering from his back issues. And Ryan Kelly, whom my daughter reported was “nursing his hamster.”

Scott kept his lineups consistent, giving some good run to first and second units and playing just 11 players. That allowed for Randle and Clarkson to get some quality run and show their skills. It also allowed for the team to start building chemistry on the floor (Lin and Davis seemed to have that).

The Lakers shot just 10 threes, making 5. That’s a change from last year. They also held the Nuggets to just 38.7% shooting (also a change from last year).

As for the biggest question, Kobe? “He just looked like Kobe,” Scott said. “The way he was moving, the way he was able to do that patented fallaway and take advantage of his length and his size against some of the guys they had on him. He just looked like Kobe.”


Kobe -- -- Fourth all time in career points and his 19th season, the miles have added up for Kobe. The video clips from the practice scrimmages gave reason for fans to be positive. This game gave you more reason. Kobe still has some of the best footwork in the post in the league and the offense put him there with consistency. He’s a handful and trouble in single coverage there. “I think it keeps him fresher,” Scott said, mentioning that Kobe said he felt fantastic afterward. Kobe still had plenty of moments working with the ball in his hands with some speed, setting up teammates early and often. When the offense starts to click, you should see a lot more two-man game sequences with Kobe. He’ll have jumpers coming off the flare screens, as well. He’s able to get good elevation on his jumper and fades. The offense clearly has a lot of gravity toward him as the ball makes his way into his hands on the D clears out. I think you’ll see the Princeton busting into a Kobe possession in good attack position quite a bit. He and Nash were able to function fairly seamlessly tonight. You could also see some of the bond Kobe and Wes developed this summer as Kobe was looking for him on occasion. Kobe also looked a little more animated on the defensive end. Very positive start for Kobe. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-12 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 5 assists, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a +7. The Action: He airballed a fade from the elbow on the Lakers first possession. He went to the post on the second one and sank the Dirk-like fade from the left side for the Lakers first bucket. He flared off the Hill screen, took the pass and hit the jumper standing on the three line. He posted up on a busted sequence and missed a turnaround. He set up Boozer for the one-hander in the paint after working the two-man game with him. He swished a baseline turnaround over Foye on iso next time down. He hit Hill for a baseline jumper. He no-looked to Wes in the corner for a transition three. He missed a wing jumper. He probed the lane, ball-faked, drew the D and hit Hill for the dunk. He had 6 points and 4 assists in an impressively active first stint. Second Half: He pressured Foye into a turnover on the perimeter. He forced up a tough jumper, but Hill cleaned up the miss. He sank a corner jumper on the catch and shoot. He attacked, up-faked and drew FTs on the baseline, he made both. He sank a pull-up fade off the handoff from Boozer on the right side. He pumped and missed an off-balance baseline jumper. Bad pass, right out of bounds trying to hit Wes cutting through a crowd. He forced the defense into a tech. Great footwork in the post to draw FTs, he made one. He missed a forced baseline fade. He missed a pumping corner rainbow jumper at the buzzer.

Nash -- -- Nash, when healthy, still has a lot of skills to play the game. It must be frustrating for an aging athlete. The skills are all there, but will the body be? Nash and Kobe played fairly seamlessly together. Kobe worked the post, Nash picked his spots. Neither had to push their body terribly and hard be effective in this game. Nash was fairly aggressive with his own shot and getting to the rim. The Nash/Boozer combo should be milked quite a bit when those two are out there. They are made for each other. They had a couple of sequences together, but they are just scratching the surface. Unfortunately, Nash likely needs some rim protectors out there behind him, so you may want to get minutes with Davis out there in the mix as well to make up for Nash’s deficiencies on that. Scott will try to shore up the dribble penetration with his defensive schemes as best as he can. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-8 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 1 board, 5 assists, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He motored down the lane and scored a layup as defenders looked for the pass. He lobbed to Wes for the layup after getting out on the break. After getting burned by Lawson on one end, he got Lawson on his back, put on the brakes and drew the FTs on a jumper, he made both. He swished an open three on the Boozer kickout to the wing. He missed a jumper off the dribble at the top of the key. He lost a dribble off his foot. He missed a sideline three. He ran the two-man game with Boozer for an easy elbow jumper for Carlos (this should be their bread and butter). Second Half: He missed a scoop on a drive against the shotclock. He curled into the lane from the corner and scored a layup. He missed a layup in transition, wanting to give it up and taking an awkward shot. He probed in early offense and dumped it off to Boozer for the short jumper. He attacked off the Hill screen and scored the layup with his left. He missed a tech FT.

Hill -- -- We alluded to the problems last season, but Jordan Hill came out with it in public on media day…he’s leaving alcohol behind and committing to bettering himself as a person and a player. With a short, but big contract, he’s got a lot to prove. He got the double-double tonight in short minutes. We’ve got several players on this team who need the ball in their hands to be effective. Hill is a perfect sidekick out there, cleaning up misses and resetting the offense with his garbage man work. It will be interesting to see how well he plays when Lin is on the floor. He thrives off guard penetration and Lin’s one of the best in that regard. The key for Hill is to string these double-double games together this season. No nights off. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-5 shooting to go with 11 boards (4 offensive), 1 assist, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a +6. The Action: He missed a baseline jumper. He was fouled on the offensive boards to regain possession. He sank a baseline jumper off the Kobe feed. He grabbed a Kobe miss and reset the offense. He slammed off the Kobe drive and dish. Second Half: He muscled away a rebound and put it back in. He scored an And-1 layup off the interior feed from Boozer, he made the FT. He didn’t protect a defensive board and was stripped, then fouled. Nice challenge by Hill on D and he drew FTs bouncing back up to get the ball, he made one.

Boozer -- -- I love seeing that automatic midrange jumper. The Lakers need to set that up more and will as they get more comfortable in the offense. That Nash/Boozer combo should be a good one. And at some point, you have to consider what the Lakers will lean on as their bread and butter when the game is close in crunch time. Typically, you go to a two-man sequence. Kobe had Pau. Can Boozer be effective enough on both ends to fill that role? That’s going to be a challenge. Defensively, we’re going to have our issues. While Boozer showed good hands out there, we didn’t protect the paint terribly well with that starting unit. Scott will shuffle things around, I’m sure. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-7 shooting to go with 4 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal and 3 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He missed a baseline jumper. He hit the short one-hander off the two-man game with Kobe. He poked a ball lose in the post and ignited a break. He attacked from the elbow and was blocked. He posted up and kicked to a wide open Nash for three. Automatic on the open elbow jumper off the two-man game with Nash. Second Half: He fumbled away a Kobe interior feed. He took contact in transition and missed the short one, probably should have been FTs. He took the pass from Nash rolling to the hoop, then shoveled an interior feed to Hill for the And-1. He sank the short baseline jumper off the Nash drive and dish in semi-transition. He missed a post fade.

Johnson -- -- He strained his left knee. Probably fine as he played on it some afterward before coming out. I said last year that Wes needs to be the defensive stopper. The go throw on anyone in the 1-3 spots that you need to lock up. He needs to embrace that role, but also not forget that he’s usually the most athletic guy on the floor any given night. That’s the part of the game he really struggled to impose on opponents last year. It manifests itself in the little plays – hustling out in transition for easy buckets, crashing the glass, using his speed and length to get into passing lanes. While he was a little quiet tonight, he wasn’t invisible. He scratched out some points efficiently and made some plays on the defensive end. If these are his quiet games this season, that will work. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-6 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He missed a baseline pull up jumper against the shotclock. He drained a corner three off the Kobe feed. He was blocked on a reverse attempt. Second Half: He banked in a short one off a tough transition save/feed from Kobe. He swiped a pass and pushed up a break. He took his eye off the ball on the perimeter pass and fumbled it out of bounds. He faked off the three line, took a dribble and hit the shorter one (with a kind bounce). He lost the handle trying to power up under the hoop.

Lin -- -- Jeremy led the team with 10 assist and just 1 turnover. Lin said afterward that he’ll be looking for opportunities to get his scoring game into the system. You can see some of what the Lakers want to do with Lin out of the Princeton. They’ll want him to give up the ball, come off the screens with speed and then attack when the D is occupied and can’t lock in or load up. Unfortunately, the Lakers barely have grasp of the offense right now. Jeremy showed some nice chemistry with Ed Davis, finding him early for a dunk and a couple of layups. That duo easily had the best chemistry on the floor. “Jeremy didn’t shoot the ball particularly well,” Scott said, “but he did a great job of orchestrating the offense and Ed does a great job at setting screens and rolling to the basket.” The Lakers also will need to do a better job with their counters in the chin sets when the D overplays. You saw the Nuggets deny the passing lanes quite a bit especially to Lin, which messed up our initial passing sequences and bogged things down. The Princeton has a ton of backdoor counters and the team will eventually get to those. The Stats: He scored 1 points on 0-6 shooting (1-3 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 10 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 28 minutes. He had a +/- of 0. The Action: He ran the clock down at the end of the quarter, attacked the lane off the screen and missed his fade after putting on the brakes (Sacre got it and was fouled for FTs). He missed a tech FT. He worked the two-man game with Sacre and hit him for the elbow jumper. He broke down the D and dumped it to Davis for the dunk. He pushed out the break and hit Clarkson for the open three next time down, forcing a timeout. He was blocked in the lane (or his interior pass was deflected). He hit Davis rolling at the elbow for the layup. Again to Davis rolling for another layup next time down. A little late to take the charge, but good to see him sacrifice the body on D. He airballed a wing jumper. Second Half: He found Sacre for the open jumper at the buzzer. He missed the open 18-footer coming off the flare screen for the catch and shoot. He crossed over, attacked a crowd and was blocked out of bounds. He probed and threw it away. He swiped a backdoor pass to get it back on the other end. He turned the corner around the Davis screen, got the defender to ride up his back and drew FTs, he made one. He came off the screen across the top of the lane and threw it for Davis on the oop for the slam, nicely executed.

Randle -- -- Offensively, he looked explosive. Once he gets confidence in the jumper and guys have to stay tight on him, that will be trouble for defenders. Randle nearly had a double-double on the night, getting the bench to its feet with his first score, a two-handed slam over a defender off the screen-roll. Defensively, he was a little foul prone tonight, getting the rookie treatment. “One thing I told him is he’s got to learn to play harder, longer,” Scott said. Randle knows what he needs to work on – his perimeter shot and his offhand…and getting into NBA shape. If you watched closely in college, you might have seen the handles, the passing and the occasional perimeter jumper that were there beyond the post game and double/triple teams. There were instances when he’d go coast to coast or hit the long jumper. If you checked out the high school highlights, you would have seen a bit more of that versatility. He showed off the handles and passing in the summer league, but avoided the perimeter shot like the plague. He wasn’t able to knock down the three or so he took from the perimeter tonight, but he will put it all together. It’s a matter of time, repetition and confidence. Defensively, he has a lot to learn. In college he got better as the season went along, but relied a lot on his fly swatting teammate to a fault. In summer league, he was late to rotate. BScott will make sure he gets better on D. He was leaking out a little tonight when we needed him on the glass. It’s going to be fun watching this kid grow his game as a Laker. Tonight was the first step of that journey. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 5-9 shooting (0-1 from three, 0-1 from the line) to go with 8 boards (1 offensive), 1 assist, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in 27 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He missed a wing jumper on his first attempt. He rolled off the screen with Ellington (Randle set it up with some nice communication and a quick screen), he took the bounce pass in the lane and flushed over a defender with both hands for his first score (that got the bench up). He posted up, lost his man with an up and under and scored between another couple of defenders in the paint. He missed an open wing jumper. He attacked and kicked to Clarkson for the corner three. He was stripped trying to power up off a missed Clarkson drive. He picked up a loose ball at midcourt, attacked the offensive zone with speed and fed Ellington who missed the layup (but Davis easily tipped it in). He up-faked, blew past his man and reversed. Second Half: He was stripped in the paint on a busted offensive sequence. He passed up the jumper, attacked the paint and hit the And-1 jumphook over the help D, he missed the FT. He dribbled into a double team and was stripped. He lost his footing as he attacked and traveled in the paint. He grabbed a board, pushed up a dribble and quickly outlet to Clarkson who was fouled on the throwdown. He missed a wing three trying to beat the shotclock (straight but short). He dunked with 9 seconds left when the defense was scrambled trying to get a loose ball.

Clarkson -- -- Confidence. That’s the first thing you get from his game tonight. He didn’t hesitate to attack and shoot. The speed of the game wasn’t passing him by. His normally reliable floater wasn’t there for him, but it will drop. And that’s a tough shot for the D to defend against considering Clarkson’s size. He sank a couple of threes that got the crowd going in the first half and eventually led the team in both points and shots. I hope he stays aggressive. At Mizzou last year, I thought he would often defer a bit too much to Brown, who’s a great shooter, but I wanted to see Clarkson impose his will more than he did last year. He’s got the right attitude right now in the pro’s. I’ve tried not to be overly homer optimistic with Clarkson since I’m both a Mizzou grad and Laker fan, but I love the potential on both ends of the floor. If he’s got to D up Kobe every practice and now create a little more with Swaggy out, his game will grow simply out of necessity. A lot of time with the ball in his hands tonight, either bringing it up or trying to create with the shotclock low. Great job on the boards. Multiple teammates praised his game after it was over, even if it wasn’t an efficient night. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 3-13 shooting (2-4 from three, 6-6 from the line) to go with 5 boards and 1 foul in 27 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He missed a floater on a drive down the lane. He missed a wing pull-up jumper working the two-man game. He missed a floater trying to create against the shotclock. He missed another floater in the lane in transition. Nice challenge on D to a force a pass on a jumper. He hit the floor for a loose ball. He drained the corner three off the Randle kickout. He missed a pull-up jumper trying to create with the shotclock low. He sank a wing three off the drive and kick from Lin in transition. He attacked in transition and couldn’t finish. He was hit on the perimeter for FTs, he made both. He ran the clock, attacked down the lane and missed the floater. Second Half: He missed a transition three. He airballed a baseline jumper trying to beat the shotclock. He slammed in transition when the Nuggets fell asleep and didn’t match up. He busted out in transition and drew FTs on the throwdown off Randle’s nice outlet, he made both FTs. He missed an open three with 30 seconds left. He was fouled on a rebound with a second left, he made both FTs.

Davis -- -- I felt when we signed him that Davis was going to be the defensive glue guy for this team. We badly need a rim protector and he excels at that. Some excellent two-way minutes in his first stint. He was blocking shots on D and rolling to the hoop to get set up by Lin on the other end. He played that way all night, leading the bigs in scoring and shotblocks. The Lin/Davis chemistry was the highlight of the offensive execution, 12 points in just 12 minutes for Ed. They ran the offense with purpose and found points out of those screen rolls with consistency. Not a lot of that elsewhere on the floor tonight as we seemed to wing it quite a bit. The 4 blocks in just 12 minutes was also impressive, too. If Scott wants this team to lock down, Davis is going to have to be a big part of that. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 6-7 shooting to go with 1 board, 4 blocks, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 12 minutes. The Action: He was tied up on a layup attempt setup by Lin. He slammed off the next drive and dish from Lin. He blocked a post attempt to ignite the break. He rolled off the screen, took the pass from Lin and scored the layup over the help D. They teamed up again next time down for another layup. He tipped in a miss by Ellington. Second Half: He sealed his man as he tried to hedge out on D, he got the pass at the elbow and took it for a layup. Sloppy screen thinking he was KG and called for the moving violation. He threw down the lob off the screen roll with Lin. Out of a timeout, he rejected a drive at the rim. He got the ball on the wing and looked in trouble, turnover on the handoff (you could see that coming as he looked uncomfortable with it in that situation). He blocked a putback attempt. He challenged a drive and forced a miss.

Sacre -- -- Sacre got more minutes than I think he’ll typically get. He hit a couple jumpers and played serviceable minutes, but when Kelly gets healthy and we’re looking to get minutes for all the other bigs, I think ultimately that eats into Sacre’s time more than anyone else. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-5 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 16 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He was fouled after pulling down a Lin miss in the lane, he made one FT. He swished the pull-up 16-footer off the two-man game with Lin. He blew a short jumphook off a great setup from Clarkson. Second Half: He swished an open wing jumper at the buzzer. He was called for a moving screen. He missed an iso fade in the post. He spun and missed a turnaround in the post.

Ellington -- -- Both he and Clarkson will get some extra run and looks while Nick is out with the injury…but Xavier may have something to say about that when he gets healthy. As the game went along, they started to feature Ellington’s shot a little more. They ran a few sequences with a little purpose to get him some open looks. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-9 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 5 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal and 4 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: Nice bounce pass to a rolling Randle for the dunk. He missed a wing three. He missed a jumper, we got it back to him, he attacked and missed, but Davis cleaned it up. He was blocked on a layup from behind. Second Half: He pushed up the break and pulled up at the FT line for the jumper. He worked off the high screen and hit the leaning elbow jumper. He came off the Clarkson screen, took the pass at the three line and nailed it out of a timeout. He missed a wing jumper in transition after a nice change of direction. He missed an open wing three with a minute left.

Scott -- -- Kobe set the tone early with scoring in the post and playmaking. The Lakers struggled to contain the Nuggets but were rotating and hustling. The score was tied 17-17 when the first timeout came… He brought in Sacre for Hill after Jordan picked up a couple fouls… He brought in Clarkson for Kobe at the 3 minute mark, tied at 24-24… With over a minute left, he brought in Lin and Randle to run with Clarkson, Sacre and Wes… The Lakers trailed 29-27 after the first quarter… He started the second quarter with Sacre, Randle, Ellington, Clarkson and Lin… He brought in Davis for Sacre midway through the second, down 2… They pushed out to a 4-point lead to force a timeout, 41-37… Not a lot of cycling of players from Scott. He let the units get some long run on the floor… The screen roll was there. The Princeton was a mess, but often just turned into two-man games or space to attack… Randle and Clarkson played 13 and 15 minutes, respectively… The Lakers trailed 54-51 at the half… He sat Nash with 2:11 left up 3 for Lin. He measured Nash’s minutes carefully tonight… He brought in Randle for Boozer shortly later and let Kobe run the entire quarter… The Lakers led 76-72 heading into the fourth… He started a Sacre, Randle, Ellington, Clarkson, Lin unit… The Lakers led by 7 when the timeout came at the 9 minute mark… He sat Sacre for Davis again… More Lin/Davis chemistry… Priority for tomorrow’s practice will be taking away middle penetration with help D…

[Shaber]

First?


First of the first
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Lakers depth chart

PG Johnson / Goodrich
SG Bryant / West / Scott
SF Baylor / Worthy / Cooper
PF Mikkelsen / Hairston / McAdoo / Gasol
C Chamberlain / Abdul-Jabbar / O'Neal / Mikan

[DancingBarry]

Freakin computer froze up and I lost a good 45 minutes of work tonight that I had to redo. Uggh.

[DancingBarry]

[Marauder]

Great to see these again. Thanks!

[Omar Little]

Thanks db. Starting to see a few combos that work. I can see boozer and nash eventually taking their game to the bench (with davis to clean up defensively, and lin and randle end up in with the starters.
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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

[PPP]

Nice recap. Thanks.

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

T&R's are back!

I liked the Randle and anyone else combination tonight.

[jenopogi]

nice. should I be expecting more of this per game?
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JL#7 in Purple and Gold. Shoutout to my Lakers4Life Buddy Ian M.

[cmonkee]

[DShotMaker1824]

[fiendishoc]

[nikeykid]

these are way more informative than any recap i can read elsewhere, thanks op

[Rawr]

Well the 82games advanced stats showed that Ed Davis was better a C than PF and he certainly played well at C tonight. He was up against legit 7 footers and they didn't punish him down low. He might be the perfect small ball C. Maybe he'll get some run at PF too if Randle ends up getting some SF minutes.
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You are either in or on your way to the NBA Finals.

[Yumyumcha]

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB.
Seeing your recap lets me know it's finally basketball season.
I know it's a ton of work, but I hope you never stop doing these.

[Shaber]

[Shaber]

[ElginBaylor]

I love the smell of DB in the morning...I mean napalm.
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Not a legend

[RI Laker]

Thanks DB. Great Job and I was really looking foward to this one.

[ADA32]

My wife said to me, 'Honey go to sleep and don't wait for DB's Thoughts and Ratings?"

The 2014 basketball season started with DB's first T&R!

[sgtpepper1972]

Thanks DB! Great recap and great start by the Lakers...

[STiG909]

Is it just me or is it refreshing not seeing D'Antoni's name anywhere in the write-up?

I caught a little bit of the game. From what I saw, Ed Davis stood out the most. I'm surprised he only had 1 rebound. If he keeps it up, he'll be starting at some point. I liked what I saw when our 2 bigs on the floor were Randle and Davis.

This team has some depth to it finally, especially when we get Young, Kelly AND X back. Pray that everyone stays healthy!

[13th Man]

Nice write-up!

[yinoma2001]

At times the offense with the starting unit was too predictable with the ball always ending up with Kobe. To Kobe's credit, once they started doubling or shading towards him on the block he found Hill or other open big men.

I hope we can have a bit more creativity with the offense going forward but I think we will see more Lin/Randle/Davis interspersed with the 1st unit guys.

Good start. Clarkson has no conscience. I like how he can get to the rim. Now he has to finish those floaters. Randle, will be a joy watching this kid grow. Once he gets that NBA body/conditioning, sky's the limit with him.
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From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals