SUNS -at- LAKERS - 10-21-14 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly… The Lakers simply couldn’t overcome Wes Johnson tonight. He single handedly killed the Lakers with 8 turnovers and two missed FTs in the final seconds of regulation.

“It was a little bit of the good, the bad and the ugly,” Scott said of Wes. The Bad and the Ugly left the corpse of the Good smoking in the dust.

Wes tried to make up for it with a couple of threes in OT (nice to see him not hang his head), but that was just too much suckage in regulation.

That negated a great stretch of Jeremy Lin in the fourth and Kobe taking the baton in the final couple of minutes with a series of Kobe-esque scores trying to close the door. After Wes missed a couple of FTs that could have given the Lakers the 4-point lead, the Suns tied it up and the Lakers eventually fell 114-108 to the Suns in overtime.

Carried over from the last game, the Lakers at least had a taste, a mere glimpse, of the kind of defensive intensity they need to bring to the floor. They have been killed in first quarters of games all preseason. So with the second half of the Jazz game still in their short-term memory, they took the floor tonight and played much better D from the opening tip. That was a first for this preseason.

The bright spots in this one were certainly Lin’s ability to lift the team, Kobe’s ability to still close, and the Lakers defense making a little progress.

“We played more of a complete game,” Ronnie Price said. “I don’t think we were playing catch up as much today, but there are still other areas we’ve got to improve in.”


Kobe -- -- The Lakers struggled to go to counters early when Kobe was being fronted in the post. That really mucked off the offense and took us out of any flow. Later in the game, they were much improved on freeing up Kobe off screens to get the ball in the post. Or coming off screens for catch-and-shoot jumpers. With a couple minutes left, we put the ball in his hands and let him go to work. He came up with points on four straight possessions, working it for three jumpers and a foul on another. He worked from that left wing area. Later in OT, we got him the ball coming off screens for a couple of nice scores. Scott eventually sat him in OT because of the minutes. The Lakers have a lot of games this week and he needs to think about the big picture. Kobe started out 5-13 in this game, then caught fire hitting 5-7 the rest of the way. Kobe on the hatchet job article on him being a bad teammate. “It’s a cycle. Things are never as good or as bad as they seem at the time,” Kobe said. The Stats: He scored 27 points on 10-20 shooting (0-1 from three, 7-8 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 5 turnovers and 1 foul in 34 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He forced a pass into a crowd, turnover on our first possession. He missed an elbow pull-up jumper coming off the triangle screens. Nice screen on the weakside to free up Price for the wide open three. He blindsided a big but his breakaway score was erased by Wes’s illegal moving screen. He was blocked from behind in the post. He missed an elbow fade creating against the shotclock. He hit Davis in transition for FTs. He threw a pass away out of a timeout. He faced up with space and hit the wing jumper. He was trapped on the baseline and was hacked for FTs, he made both. He missed an elbow turnaround. He made a tech FT. He overpassed in the lane for a turnover instead of trying to finish. He missed an open sideline jumper. He missed a wing jumper on iso. He had 5 points on 1-7 shooting and 3 turnovers. Second Half: He got doubled and found Hill open under the hoop for the dunk. He posted up, spun away from a double and swished the baseline turnaround. He slowed up on the break instead of attacking and hit the And-1 turnaround from about 9 feet out, he missed the FT. He probed off the high screen and hit the top-of-the-key jumper. He lost his man turning the corner and was fouled on a reverse (elevation not looking great around the rim), he made both FTs. He was stripped in the paint, not trying to elevate and score, not sure what he was looking to do. He busted out in transition and scored a crafty layup past a defender. He airballed a long three up against the shotclock, no legs, all arms. He was tied up on a double team. He got the ball late in the shotclock on the left wing, dribbled left and swished a fade over his man to tie it up with 2 minutes left. He tried working the two-man game next time down, that busted, so he iso’d and drained the huge wing turnaround to take a 2-point lead. Pushed out farther with the Suns sending help and recovering to their men, he sank a tough wing 20-footer, turning the other way on this one with 45 seconds left. He iso’d up by 1, worked the clock down to 12.8 and drew FTs on the reach, he made both, rattling them in. Overtime: He missed a wing jumper to start the OT. He came off a quick screen and swished the elbow jumper on the catch. He came off the weakside screen, took the pass and swished the jumper straight away. He was subbed out by Scott to limit the minutes.

Hill -- -- He took an elbow to his chops and was kissing a towel on the sideline at times. Nice game from the perimeter in this one. Only 1 offensive board. I’m not sure how much those two go hand in hand, but we really could have used more second chances from our bigs. Our offense is clunky at best. We didn’t get much garbage-man points by anyone. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 7-12 shooting to go with 7 boards, 2 assists and 3 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a -16. The Action: Quick first step around his man, but he lost balance and bricked the layup. He up-faked, dribbled to the middle and hit the jumphook. He hit a jumphook in the lane up against the shotclock. He faced up, spun and hit the jumphook on iso. He took the pass from Lin on the two-man game, eventually dribbled around a defender and scored at the front of the rim. He sank a top-of-the-key jumper out of a messed up set. He had 10 points on 5-6 shooting. Second Half: He slammed when his man left to double Kobe and Kobe made him pay. He swished an 18-foot wing jumper off a busted play. Poor shot selection trying to hit the one-foot fade after getting cut off. He missed a 17-footer. He regained a possession getting fouled on the offensive glass. He attacked baseline and missed the jumphook. He was blocked on a slow developing shot off the weakside triangle cut.

Boozer -- -- We won’t see many games as defensively active as Boozer was in the last one, but at the very least, I’d like to see him consistently controlling the defensive glass. He’s had lapses this preseason where guys just go around him for second chances. He had some matador defense in the first quarter with the guards going by. I think that’s going to be a recurring theme and why we need someone who can block shots next to him. Offensively, I’d really like to see him integrated into our closing schemes when he’s out there. You’ve got a two-man game waiting to happen. He had a couple of OT scores, hitting that jumper of his. Those were off random offensive flow. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 6-9 shooting to go with 4 boards, 4 assists, 1 block and 3 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He bricked a layup on a drive. Iso, challenged wing jumper and he missed. Low position in early offense and he scored with ease on a spin to the front of the rim. No challenge on Dragic’s drive right next to him. Davis swiped an ill-advised save under the hoop and fed it to Boozer for the layup. He scored a layup off the Lin feed in the lane after making a nice dive cut. Second Half: He missed a turnaround bank on iso. He swished a pull-up 10-footer off the drive. Overtime: He was stripped in the post. He drained a baseline turnaround jumper. He took a pass and pulled up above the FT line next time down and swished.

Johnson -- -- Killing me. Just killing me. He had several brain cramps on the floor tonight: a foul trailing Kobe on the break to erase a hoop; a perimeter pass right out of bounds, just sloppy; a weak And-1 foul to give up three points after another bad pass to start that breakaway seconds earlier; he fumbled a pass right of bounds in transition, unforced, just taking his eyes off it; he telegraphed an inbounds pass and threw it away in crunch time. He pretty much gave up anything he got on the offensive end. The killer was missing the two FTs with 9.5 seconds left up by 2. That kind of thing can happen, but it was just the cherry on top of a suck sundae. Nearly a triple-double with the 15 points, 8 boards and 8 turnovers. With as little has he is asked to playmake or do anything with the ball, that 8 turnovers is really worse than it looks. He did sink a couple of threes in OT to cut the lead down. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-10 shooting (3-3 from three, 0-2 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks, 8 turnovers and 5 fouls in 40 minutes. He was a -10. The Action: He swished a baseline jumper off the pinch post. Brain cramp foul in transition to erase a Kobe breakaway. Horrible perimeter pass right out of bounds, completely unforced, uggh. He sank a wing jumper off the two-man game. He iso’d and missed a baseline turnaround. He took a swing pass from Kobe and buried the wing three. Horrible bounce pass in the lane and he gave up an And-1 dunk on the other end with a weak foul, sigh. Second Half: Wild turnaround and he missed, asking for the foul. Horrible forced bounce pass not even close to Hill who was trying to vacate the area, turnover. He swished a long wing pull-up jumper. He crossed over to lose his man but missed the wide open sideline jumper. He missed a pull-up wing jumper. He took his eyes off a pass and fumbled it out of bounds, unforced error. He grabbed a FT miss with 9.5 seconds left up by 2 and was fouled, he promptly missed both, killing me, Wes, killing me (frankly, Boozer should have been subbed back in anyway to board that). Overtime: He fouled Green taking a turnaround fade against the shotclock, uggh. He telegraphed an inbounds pass, turnover, O.M.G. He drained a wing three to cut the lead to 2 with over a minute left. He sank another with 45 seconds left at the top of the arc (it was reviewed and it was good to cut the lead to 1).

Price -- -- It didn’t really feel like a 10-assist game from him, but glad to see those numbers. They at least played to Ronnie’s game by allowing him to be the trigger man instead of the guy breaking down the D. The nail in the coffin for the Lakers in OT was when he did try to create off the dribble and just lost the handle. Just 1 steal in this game, but he had some moments defensively. His clock management at the end of quarters has left something to be desired the past couple of games. We’ve given up points when we should have been orchestrating the last shot. It’ll be interesting to see if or how long he starts. It would have been much easier on the second unit when Nick is back to move him there. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-7 shooting (1-4 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 10 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 29 minutes. He was a -19. The Action: He drained a baseline jumper off a defensive scramble. He missed an open pull-up on the FT line, way short. Horrible cross-court pass out of a triangle, dunk the other way. He drained a three on a skip pass (nice screen by Kobe to free him up). He missed an open corner three in transition. Great D on Bledsoe’s multiple moves forcing him to run clock and give it up. Poor clock management again and we gave up more points at the end of the quarter. Second Half: He missed a pull-up off a screen (he could have moved in closer for a bank. He missed a wide open wing three. He scooped up a loose ball, took it the distance and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a three on a stalled offensive possession. Overtime: He fumbled away a dribble trying to create something on iso, uggh, that was the nail in the coffin with 24 seconds left down by 4.

Lin -- -- Back in after missing three games and the chemistry with Davis was there from their first possession together. Glad they had him on the floor tonight because the offense was pretty clueless at times. He was the only one able to organize anything semi-consistently. I’m sure he will work his way into the starting lineup. I’d prefer to see them iron out wrinkles now versus when the regular season comes. Lin eventually fouled out in this game on a phantom foul in the final seconds, so no overtime for him. Which is a bummer…with Kobe sitting to close that, Lin would have been taking over from there. That would have been fun. “Jeremy Lin makes a big difference,” Kobe said. Jeremy’s dealing with the bad wheels. He looked mobile and generally active. Considering that, his D was pretty respectable. He gave up a late drive, but he battled pretty well all things considered. It seemed like a lot more than 5 assists in this game, one or two of those passes led to FTs. “I thought he looked good. A little rusty in the first half,” Scott said. Lin did an excellent job drawing fouls and getting to the line 10 times in just 24 minutes. The combo of Kobe and Lin drawing fouls will help the team as a whole. He led the team with a +12. “I feel like I feel great and will be ready to go tomorrow,” he said. He said he thinks maybe the refs aren’t use to him being an attacking defender and playing that style. I think if the team develops that rep as a whole (which is what they look like they want to do), then that will help him in that regard. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 3-5 shooting (1-3 from three, 8-10 from the line to go with 4 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals and 6 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a +12. The Action: First possession and he set up Davis for FTs on the bounce pass. Great reach from behind to strip his man and it led to a Laker breakaway. With the shotclock low, he backed it out, attacked off the Davis screen and fed him for a layup. He was nearly stripped, recovered the ball, attacked and drew FTs in the paint, he made both. He drew FTs after tracking down a rebound and trying to turn it up court, he missed both, however. He attacked the lane with speed and drew FTs getting tripped up, he made both this time. He swiped a pass in transition to prevent a breakaway. He worked the ball to Hill in some traffic off the two-man game for a score. He zipped a pass to Boozer cutting into the lane for an easy score. He ran into Thomas’s legs on a challenge at the end of the half to give up FTs. He missed a long heave 60 feet out. He had 4 points, 3 assists and 2 steals at the half. Second Half: He sank a pull-up 18-footer from the wing. He worked the two-man game and lobbed it to Davis for the dunk. He curled into the lane with speed and took it into the heart of the D under the hoop to earn FTs, he made both. Sweet no-look read to his main man, Davis, in transition for a dunk (the D was totally caught off guard). He swished a long three up against the shotclock. Out of a timeout, he blew past Thomas and finger rolled in a layup down the middle of the D. He drew two fouls on one possession to put the Suns in the penalty, he made both FTs. He missed a long three behind Boozer. Wow, phantom foul with 11.5 seconds left, fouling Lin out and giving up two FTs up by 3.

Randle -- -- Kind of a letdown game. They really don’t seem to have any clue on how they want to consistently use him. His best moments are when he can grab a defensive board and take it coast to coast. Other than that, it’s just garbage ball for him. With Nick Young out, we should be experimenting more with him offensively with our challenged second unit. If Lin moves to the starter role, we’ll need to lean on that even more. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-5 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 18 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He missed a face-up wing jumper on his first touch. He missed a fade in the middle of the lane. He grabbed an offensive board, pushed it up, slowed down, then attacked for the score. He got another board next time down, weaved his way through several defenders and drew FTs in the restricted circle, he made one. He missed a long jumper with his foot on the three line just beating the shotclock (good clock recognition when he got the ball). Second Half: He attacked the paint, drew the D and found Davis for the score. Way short on an open 18-footer. He attacked the paint, got his man in the air but threw it away instead of trying to score or draw FTs.

Davis -- -- He must be happy to see a playmaking PG back on the floor with him. We missed the two-man game with Davis and it was back again with Lin’s return. Those two have great chemistry and need minutes together in Scott’s rotations. Defensively, he was a presence blocking shots and even coming up with a couple of steals. Glad to see Scott kept Sacre out of the rotations. Davis needs to be on the floor if we’re going to be consistently hanging our hat on the defensive end. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-5 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a +10. The Action: He shot a 10-footer about 9 feet. He worked with Lin at the elbow and drew FTs, he made one. Great job erasing a baseline drive. He tracked Thomas down on the drive and rejected him badly. He scored a layup off the two-man game with Lin, getting set up right under the hoop. He took a feed in transition from Kobe and drew FTs, he made both. He swiped a pass under the hoop and fed Boozer for the layup. Second Half: He scored a layup off the Randle drive and dish. He slammed off the lob pass from Lin, working the two-man game. Good job trotting the floor and Lin no-looked to him for the slam when the defense fell asleep.

Smith -- -- He survived the first round of cuts. We’ve still got to make a couple more cuts. Brown will be one. Seems like Smith will be the other judging by how many minutes we run with Ellington. Not much in this game by Roscoe to stand out, unfortunately. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-2 shooting to go with 1 board in 9 minutes. He had a +/- of 0. The Action: He missed a face-up baseline jumper from about 16 feet out. Second Half: He attacked and missed a leaning one-hander.

Ellington -- -- The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-5 shooting (0-3 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists and 1 foul in 23 minutes. He had a +/- of 0. The Action: He missed a wing three on a kickout. He scooped up a loose ball Lin knocked away and took it the distance for FTs, he made both. Second Half: He swished a pull-up 18-footer. He chucked up a long jumper (after Lin was getting the Lakers on a roll), then tried to crash the glass and that gave up odd numbers on the other end and a layup, uggh. He missed a good look at a wing three. He airballed or was blocked on a wing three.

Scott -- -- The Lakers waived Appling and Tyler. Too big of a numbers game for Tyler with all the bodies the Lakers have and Price took away any chance Appling had. The Lakers have at least 2 more cuts coming… The Lakers led 11-10 when the timeout came midway through the quarter… Lakers down 8 when Kobe sat for Ellington. Offense clueless as to how to deal with Kobe being fronted in the post… The Lakers trailed 21-17 when Scott called a timeout. Interior D giving up some easy ones… He brought in Davis and Randolph for Boozer and Hill… The Lakers trailed 24-17 after the first quarter. No flow at all to the offense. Much better D to start a game than we’ve seen this preseason (hard not to be better)… He started a Davis, Randle, Smith, Ellington, Lin lineup… He sat Smith for Kobe, Lakers down 31-25… Wes back in for Ellington, Lakers down 6… The starting bigs back in with Lin with over 5 minutes left… The Lakers took a 2-point lead on an 18-5 run… Some clunky ball to end the half by the Lakers on both ends… The Lakers trailed 50-47 at the half. The Suns had a 22-3 advantage on the break… He sat Hill for Davis with 5 minutes left… Then Kobe and Boozer for Randle and Ellington… Offense sooo choppy… The Lakers trailed 77-71 heading into the fourth… He started a Davis, Randle, Smith, Ellington, Lin unit… Lin getting the Lakers back on track… He sat Smith for Kobe at the 7 minute mark… He sat Randle for Boozer with 6 to go, Lakers down 4… He brought in Wes for Ellington… Hill in for Davis with 3 minutes to go down 2… After four Kobe scores in a row, the Lakers led with 12.8 left. Scott subbed out Boozer for Price… With Lin fouling out, he didn’t bring a big back in when the Suns were shooting FTs on the other end, thankfully Wes pulled that board down and was fouled. Wes missed both, however, and the Lakers watched as the Suns tied it up off a miss and jumper on the other end. That should have been Boozer back in to rebound and shoot FTs… Down 3 with 2:38 left, he sat Kobe in OT to rest for tomorrow… The Lakers lost the fastbreak 30-11. They shot 5-14 from three…

[Jeffs]

Thanks DB. Mostly because it is preseason and W/L doesn't matter, but I felt more :-)) than :-(( about the game tonight.
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Jeffs

I feel like I just watched someone TRULY give 100%. Not the BS I'm-gonna-give-a-110%-just-like-everyone-else-says platitudes, but someone that went until he just....broke. - GT

[RI Laker]

Thanks DB. Another great job. Appreciate the time especially since I am not able to watch.

[lakersfreak]

Thx DB

[markjay]

[EddieJonesss]

Thanks DB.

I know this game doesn't count and all.

But damn, this game toyed with my emotions.

[busym]

Great write up DB. The Lakers played good.

[Hard_Butter]

Your take on Wes is spot on. If Johnson continues with this low IQ play and X remains hobbled, then I think it would be time for the FO to go find themselves a legitimate SF from whatever is left of the open market.
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The butter's hard and the eggs are chillin' in the dark.

Kiss my Converse.

[Kobeskillz]

Anyone have the highlights?

[summerly]

Thanks DB.
Kobe, Price, Lin, Hill and Davis have a good game toaday.
Riding roller coaster on Johnson's performance.

[mhan00]

Even though we lost this one, I actually found this game more encouraging than the Jazz game. You can definitely see flashes of what we are trying to work towards.

[LaxT]

[DJ Slik]

great job DB. very encouraging game. Lin and Davis need to start.

[cheesysapien]

[fiendishoc]

Injuries or not, it doesn't make sense that Randle has such a tight leash and Wes has such a long one. They should be experimenting with Ellington, Lin, and even Randle next to Kobe on the wing while it's still preseason. Wes is showing that he's not even a short term solution in the starting lineup.

What Randle needs now is game time and confidence. He's not one of those guys with overblown expectations of himself that needs to be brought back down to earth with minutes restrictions, but Byron is treating him as such.

[Giordano]

Jeremy is a system, big stage and fourth quarter player. LA suit him.

[13th Man]

,,,

[cheesysapien]

[fiendishoc]

[13th Man]

Thanks, hopefully he can start tomorrow.

Thought it was an encouraging game for the Lakers. Kobe looked flat early on then came to life later, which means that his in game conditioning is getting better and that his legs are still there as well. Lin is a more well-rounded player now, great to see 0 turnovers! Price had a quiet but effective 10 assists! Hill is gaining confidence with the mid-range J and Davis is establishing himself as a solid defender. Boozer showing some leadership in the clutch as well while Kobe was out.

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[hopandskip]

That third-in-a-row turnaround jumper by Kobe in the 4th was sick.

[jlinfan]

Thanks DB great insight as always.

[ricardoJPC]

them kobe fadeaways. Glad he's back

[yinoma2001]

I couldn't catch the game, but looks like our starting 5 played starter's minutes at close to regular season levels, while Suns main players (Dragic/Bledsoe played under 25 mpg) were out the bench played most of the game?
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