CLIPPERS -at- LAKERS - 10-31-14 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Progress?… A spirited effort from the Lakers on Halloween night. Ultimately, the Lakers inability to get stops once again killed them.

Given how things have gone, you can take the 118-111 loss and be satisfied that they at least looked improved offensively. The Lakers came back to build a decent lead in this game only to have it chipped away and their fate finally sealed in the final minute.

The nail in the coffin in this one, the play that probably changed the outcome of the final minutes was a no call. The refs swallowed the whistle on what should have been DeAndre Jordan’s sixth foul as Jeremy Lin got body checked to the floor on a drive. That led to FTs on the counter strike for the Clippers on the other end. Just a bogus no call that changed the flavor of the game down the stretch.

There were plenty of other lesser plays that cost them, for sure. Ed Davis giving up a dunk on an inbounds play that he fell asleep on. Robert Sacre was called for a moving screen, giving the Clippers back the ball with a few seconds at the end of the third, which they then turned into a three.

Laker fans at least got a strong all-around game from Kobe, where he showed off some sick finishes on explosive drives. They saw Jeremy Lin rise to the challenge with a 17-point, 9-assist game. And Jordan Hill lead the team with 23 points as his perimeter shot looked automatic in the second half. The offensive spacing was much improved through more use of the triangle and horns sets.

Now, if we could just see some improvement on the defensive end, we might get a W.


Kobe -- -- His old-man game is still pretty good. The talk about him being like MJ on the Wizards was absurd. He’s not quite where he was, but he’s coming along. Down the stretch he couldn’t come up with the late-game magic. He hit one jumper and set up another score, but we had no margin for error so his misses in the final minute hurt. Still, not a bad for the 40th best player in the league. Just ask Matt Barnes, who got Kobetized twice: one a reverse jam by Kobe in his face after blowing by him, another a reverse where Kobe spun away from a double and reversed around a shotblocker. Even though the Lakers lost and he couldn’t keep the Lakers in reach in the final minute, this was still a great game from him. He missed a few FTs, but just seeing him mix up some explosive drives and some nice playmaking with all the other things he’s shown in the past month, great to see him playing at an elite level. Defensively, he got the CP3 assignment and did a pretty good job with it. The team D left a lot to be desired by everyone. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 6-15 shooting (1-5 from three, 8-11 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 7 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers and 5 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a -9. The Action: He was fouled on a baseline pull-up jumper, he made one FT. He threw a pass away trying to hit Hill who was open. He faced up, quick step on the swing through around Barnes and then he hammered down a reverse dunk and stood there to show everyone he’s still got it. He faced up and drained a wing jumper. He missed a three in early offense. He drew FTs on a cut off ball, he made both. He was called for a bogus travel call on iso, wow, what a ref fail. He picked Griffin to save a breakaway, weaved through traffic and dumped it in Boozer’s lap for the layup. He made a tech FT. He took a pass from Lin who was doubled and quickly rose up over Jordan and drained the corner three. He missed a wing three. He poked the ball from Griffin from behind to ignite a break. He attacked around Barnes and windmilled in a layup through the D. He drew Griffin’s third with 5 seconds left at midcourt, he made one. He had 14 points on 4-6 shooting. Second Half: He crossed over, pulled up and missed the short jumper. He posted up CP3, drew the double and hit Hill who was late to react, but it still resulted in a layup. He ran a split with Lin off the Horns and sent it back to Lin for the open three. He spun away from a double team and beat Barnes baseline, then windmilled in a reverse layup with spin off the glass. He spotted Hill open baseline for the open jumper. He iso’d on Barnes, pumped faked him into the air on the jumper and drew FTs, he made one. He missed a step-back, long jumper over CP3. He missed a pull-up at the FT line, that’s not his range tonight. He was tripped working off the Horns and getting into the lane, he made both FTs. He rushed a three with time on the clock and didn’t get off a good one. He missed a turnaround wing jumper over CP3. He drew the D and kicked to Ellington for the three. He iso’d on Paul and hit the baseline turnaround over him. He missed a good look at a sideline jumper with 25 seconds left down 1. Kobe missed a decent look at a three to tie it out of a timeout.

Lin -- -- “You got to put your mark down, man. At some point you got to piss on the fire hydrant,” Kobe said with a grin as he threw out an alpha dog reference while discussing Lin. Asked about that three where Lin told Kobe to get out of the way, Kobe said, “You have to be able to assert yourself. Especially on the team I’m playing on. Because I don’t want chumps and I don’t want pushovers. If you’re a chump and you’re a pushover, I will run over you. So it’s important for him to have that toughness and say, ‘I believe in myself. I can step up. I can make these plays. I can perform.’” If you battle in the foxhole with Kobe, he doesn’t want someone who’s going to run from the fight. He wants someone who will dig in and bring it, shoulder to shoulder, side by side. Don’t go into fetal position, man up. “I wanted to come out and attack,” Lin said, manning up. “It’s just a matter of trying to do this more consistently.” That’s the Lin we need to see. Aggressive with the shot, playmaking and giving the offense the balance and flow it needs. And how sweet was that drive where he fouled out Jordan for the clutch FTs? That was huge. Well, that’s what should have happened, anyway. Total choke job by the refs there. So offensively, what were the Lakers doing? Lin was calling for much more for the Horns and Triangle sets in this game. That improved the spacing tremendously. Seeing Kobe and Lin working off those sideline splits out of the Horns is something where the two of them can build chemistry. This isn’t like handing the baton to the other player and watching, this is both involved as threats in a set and it’s going to work even better with time. “We started trusting each other more and learning what that means. It’s not like we’re ever like, ‘hey, we don’t trust each other.’ We’re growing and figuring out how to trust each other the best way,” Lin said. Basically, Kobe and Scott are pushing him to be a Tony Parker or similar type of impact PG and leader. They’re in his corner and don’t want him playing scared or nervous. He responded tonight as he was trying to put as much pressure on the defense as he could versus the previous games. He said his last couple games were “inexcusable” for him as a point guard and leader of the team. Keep moving forward and working on playing consistently like this. The offense ran much better as a result. “It wasn’t like we shot the lights out or anything,” Kobe said. “We just played good basketball.” The Stats: He scored 17 points on 7-13 shooting (3-6 from three) to go with 4 boards, 9 assists, 1 steal, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a -6. The Action: He swished a three off the high handoff to start the Laker scoring. He got caught in the paint and threw it away, dunk the other way. He missed a wing three. He lost the ball on the sideline, turnover. He was getting lit up by Redick coming off the screens (Kobe on CP3). He blew past Griffin, but choked the layup, uggh, should have had that one. He swiped a pass on the perimeter and took it the distance for a layup. He attacked with the shotclock low and hit the one-footed, slow moving Nash-like jumper. He found Hill open in early offense for a jumper. He was blocked off the glass on a drive in transition. He missed a three in early offense. Two Lakers open under the hoop and his pass was deflected trying to reach them. He drew a perimeter double and hit Kobe for the three. He probed the lane, drew the D over and whipped a pass to Davis under the hoop for a score. He held CP3 right in front of the refs on an inbounds pass 40 feet from the hoop, freethrows for CP3. He waved off a screen to iso on CP3, attacked in the lane, stopped, pumpfaked and hit the high arching jumper over the help D (love seeing that). He had 9 points and 4 assists at the half. Second Half: He attacked off the three line and hit the soft, controlled floater. He pushed it out and hit Wes for the open three. He scrambled the D and it led to a Boozer-Hill, high-low for a dunk (no credit for the hockey assist on this one). Nice orchestration calling for the Horns, running a split with Kobe off them, getting the ball back and draining the open three. He worked off the split to the other side of the floor, came back to the middle off a Hill screen and hit Hill for the jumper. He probed and hit Hill for another jumper. He missed a wing three. It looked like he tried to hit Sacre in a crowd with a bounce pass but it went to Hill for a layup instead. He attacked and threw it away, looked like he took some contact. With the offense busted he didn’t settle for dumping it to Kobe, he worked off the Kobe screen instead and sank a wing three to beat the shotclock. He was hammered by Jordan on a drive down the lane with no call (meanwhile Crawford gets the call on the other end for FTs, wow, big switch there). Griffin shoved him in the back as they matched up in transition D and that erased a Clipper hoop.

Hill -- -- He led the team in scoring with 23. “Jordan stepped up for us bigtime,” Scott said. He was an impact baller offensively in this one. That perimeter shot was money. He was knocking down open jumpers right and left. Having that extra punch out there offensively made a big difference. We won’t get that every night, so we’ll need to defend better. But having a big that can knock down shots from the perimeter makes the offense work so much better. Keep this in mind with Kelly coming back in a couple of games. The guards need that to release the pressure in the paint. The Stats: He scored 23 points on 10-15 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 5 boards (2 offensive), 1 block and 5 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He blew past his man, pump faked and drew FTs, he made both. He missed an open 18-footer. He missed an elbow pull-up jumper. He scored a layup off the Kobe jump pass. He sank a long jumper when Lin found him in early offense. He missed an open jumper from the top of the key. Second Half: He powered in a layup when Kobe drew a double and found him open. He took the high-low from Boozer, pumped a couple times and then jammed over Griffin. He sank a baseline jumper off the Kobe feed. He knocked down a baseline jumper from the other side out of a timeout. He swished a 20-footer left alone off Lin’s probe. He missed a fading jumper. Hill took an interior bounce pass in traffic and scored a layup. He blew past his man baseline for FTs, he made one. He sank a baseline jumper off the Price kickout. They sagged off Hill because Kobe went to the post and he drained the open jumper from the top of the key next time down. He couldn’t get a defensive broad with a minute left, but he spiked a CP3 drive to the ground to get a stop shortly later. He missed a FT jumper.

Boozer -- -- He had some moments offensively in the first half and even had Griffin on his heels for a brief stretch that helped get him into foul trouble. But defensively, we were severely compromised. The D had to help and get burned against Griffin or go solo and get burned. Some nice passes in this game from Boozer, particularly on the high-low sequences. Good seeing our spacing and awareness improved as a team to where we can exploit some overplaying D for once. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-9 shooting (3-5 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 3 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 5 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He missed an elbow jumper out of the triangle. He hit a pull-up jumper from 16 feet out. He was called for a travel in the high post trying to pass the ball. He scored a layup off the drive and dish from Kobe. Quick first step from the elbow and he blew past Griffin for the And-1 layup, he missed the FT. He faced up Griffin from the wing on iso, attacked baseline and drew FTs, he made both. Quick bullet high-low feed to Davis for the dunk. He drew FTs after missing a transition layup and getting it back, he made one. He had 9 points. Second Half: He settled for a wing jumper against Griffin to start the half and missed. Nice high-low to Hill for the slam. He couldn’t finish a layup attacking off the horns. He biffed a layup down the lane. He fumbled away a Kobe pass in the lane.

Johnson -- -- We really need someone else we can throw in the mix. I was glad to see Wes foul out and forcing Scott to sub in Ellington. Wes was just sucking the life from the team with poor shot selection or bonehead plays. The Stats: He had 5 points on 2-8 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 5 boards, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 6 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: Horrible pull-up fading jumper from the sideline, what the heck? Stop that. He swiped a horrible full-court pass. He missed a pull-up wing jumper in early offense. He missed a running three at the buzzer. He fumbled away the ball on the sideline, unforced error. He missed a fading 20-footer coming off a screen, horrible shot selection. Fallaway brick across the lane. Second Half: He sank a wing three trailing the break. He sank a pull-up baseline jumper. Soft finish and he missed a layup under the hoop that he should have tried to easily power in over his man. He gave up three FTs to Crawford after Lin hit a big three on the other end, just killing the Lakers. Thankfully, he fouled out on that.

Davis -- -- Some nice work on the offensive glass and getting some garbage man scores to lead the bench in scoring. Man, we miss Swaggy. Seeing Crawford provide that bench punch and knowing the Lakers would be tough to match that was sad. Swaggy and Randle in this game and the Lakers probably get the W. Defensively, Davis suffered from foul trouble and struggled to stay on the floor. He couldn’t hold the line against Griffin as Blake could overpower him. No blocks, either. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 5-6 shooting to go with 6 boards (3 offensive), 1 turnover and 5 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a -10. The Action: Price attacked the paint and hit him for the score. Lin found him under the hoop for a jumphook. He was called for a moving screen. He gave up an offensive board and then a dunk on one end, but Boozer found him on the other end for a dunk. Second Half: He fell asleep and gave up a dunk to Griffin out of an inbounds pass. Great effort to pull down a missed Ellington three from behind a defender then power it back in for the score. He followed in a missed Ellington three again and cleaned it up.

Price -- -- What Kobe said to Lin and after the game in the last one, Price also seemed to take it to heart. He played with a little less reliance on Kobe and that helped balance the offense out there. Kobe doesn’t want the guys deferring to him. He’ll try to get open and make himself available. That’s his job. But twice in this game, Price and Lin decided to try to create themselves with the shotclock low instead of dumping it off to Kobe an watching (both of them hit their shots). The Lakers had some of their offense working, now they have to make progress on the other end. “We had more flow to our offense. Guys were swinging the ball effortlessly,” Price said. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-4 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 4 boards, 4 assists and 1 foul in 13 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: He attacked the paint and dumped it back to Davis who scored a layup. He hit Sacre off the two-man game for the baseline jumper. He bricked a wing three up against the shotclock. He attacked in early offense, leaned in after turning the corner and hit the bank. He sank the pull-up jumper after looking Kobe off with the shotclock low. He swished an 18-footer when his man sagged off him. He grabbed a board and outlet to Xavier for FTs. Second Half: He attacked and kicked to Hill for the jumper.

Clarkson -- -- Loved some of his energy out there, especially on the defensive end. “They all give us a little something different,” Scott said. Seeing him come up with a big perimeter steal and coming out with the ball on a double team against Griffin, that just bodes well for his future. He gives a great effort on that end for a rookie. With some experience under his belt, that could get interesting. He knocked down a three in the fourth. All of this came when the pressure was on and the game was in balance (versus garbage time minutes like other games). The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-3 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 1 steal and 2 fouls in 6 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He jumped a passing lane to swipe a perimeter pass and draw a foul. He missed a wing three on a kickout. He swiped the ball from Griffin in the corner and pushed out the break, missing the layup but Ellington cleaned it up. He drained a big, long three on the wing on a kickout.

Sacre -- -- Awful minutes at times. Just so sloppy in the execution. He had turnovers to close the fourth, open the fourth and then later traveling after getting great position under the hoop. Those sucked some of the steam out of the Lakers. Man, we miss Randle. Hopefully, the next game will be the last without Kelly. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 2-3 shooting (4-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 14 minutes. He was a +6. The Action: He drained a baseline jumper off the two-man game. He drew FTs on the drive and dish from Xavier. Second Half: He missed three fell into his hands and he dunked. He was fouled rolling to the hoop for FTs, he made both. Sloppy screen with with Price with 7 seconds left in the quarter to give the ball back to the Clippers, and that led to a Clipper three. Another sloppy play turning with the ball in his hands to foul a defender, uggh. He faced up and missed a wing jumper. Great position under the hoop and he traveled, arggh.

Ellington -- -- We’ve reduced the pindown sets to mostly just for Wayne. He’s the only one we purposely call those for, thankfully. You saw the Clippers running similar players for Redick to free him up for perimeter shots. With Wes fouling out, we went with Ellington down the stretch. That was for the best. He sank a big three, as well. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-6 shooting (1-4 from three) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist and 1 foul in 20 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He missed a wing three in early offense. Second Half: He swished the wing jumper off the pindowns. He cleaned up a Clarkson miss on the breakaway. He got tapped on a tough wing three trying to create against the shotclock. He sucked in the D off a drive coming off the pindowns, then kicked to Clarkson for the open three. He missed a sideline three. He swished an open wing three on the Kobe drive and dish with 2 minutes left.

Henry -- -- He’s looking a little more like himself since we saw him attack the hoop a little. He still fumbled away a breakaway layup and wasn’t super decisive or confident, but he looked a little better at least. “Just trying to get him back in the groove,” Scott said of giving him the first half stint. Honestly, I would have loved him in there defensively instead of Wes, who was awful. The Stats: He had 2 points on (2-4 shooting from the line) to go with no other stats. He was a +1. The Action: He attacked in early offense and dumped it off to Sacre under the hoop for FTs. He attacked off the three line into the paint and drew FTs. He fumbled a breakaway layup away but drew FTs, he made one. Second Half: He did not play in the second half.

Scott -- -- A lot of extended sideline triangle sequences for the Lakers in this one to start… Doubled up again out of the gates, the Lakers trailed 20-10 when the timeout came midway through the quarter… Down 10, he brought in Davis for Boozer… He sat Kobe down 11 for Ellington with 3 minutes left... Sacre and Price in for Hill and Lin, Lakers down 11... The Lakers trailed 31-22 after the first quarter... He started a Sacre, Davis, Henry, Ellington, Price unit... Down 12 he brought in Kobe after 3 minutes… Boozer in for Davis… Down 8, he brought back in Hill for Sacre and Wes for Xavier, meh. Not thrilled about Wes returning. Lin back in to complete the starters… Davis back in for Hill… The Lakers trimmed it down to 3 with over 4 minutes left… Davis had to sit with Hill with three fouls, Sacre back in with a minute left… The Lakers trailed 62-56 at the half with the 34-point second quarter… The Lakers took a quick 63-62 lead in the first few minutes of the third… The Lakers pushed it up to a 5-point lead to force a timeout after about 5 minutes… Up 4, he sat Boozer for Davis… Sacre in for Davis after he picked up his fourth foul… Ellington in for Kobe… Clarkson in for Wes. So Sacre, Hill, Ellington, Clarkson, Lin… Up 6 with 1:30 left and Lin sat for Price… The Lakers led 90-86 heading into the fourth… He started a Sacre, Davis, Ellington, Clarkson, Price unit… He brought in Kobe for Clarkson up 4… Hill back in for Sacre… He brought in Boozer, Wes and Lin for Davis, Ellington and Price up by 2 midway through the quarter… Tahnkfully, Wes fouled out and he brought in Ellington for him with 4 minutes left… Lin robbed on fouling out Jordan and a couple of FTs on a drive. That was a big sequence in the fourth… Lakers down 3 with 21 seconds left, timeout. Kobe missed a good look at a three off a handoff… The Lakers were 7-20 from three. They won the fastbreak 11-9…

[Shaber]

Progress indeed... thankfully. How high should we get our hopes before the next embarrasement?
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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

[Drifts]

lots of positives in this game. hope Mitch can sign 1 or 2 shooters
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"Now, if life is coffee, then the jobs, money & position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold & contain life, but the quality of life doesn't change. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

[SweetP]

Some good stuff in this game. Hopefully they can build on it.

I really want to see how the team is playing in another month or two. Randle is out but work on the chemistry between Kobe and Lin, and get some of the other guys clicking on all cylinders...

And "old" Mamba is still quite a sight to see. If Kobe stays healthy I think a lot of people will be eating crow.
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“There is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it.” --Amanda Gorman

[jacky_c]

Was pressing F5 all day long for DB's review and ratings.

a very much improved performance and team efforts out there. More cohesive and organized plays and pace control. Especially the 3Q, down by 6 ended up with a 7,8 point lead. That's a top 3 western conference seed that was outplayed (even a quarter).

many holes in the team though and some obvious biased calls/no call. Kobe said it best, "not shooting lights out, just played good basketball." which means the team can play like it day in, day out. Then with more progress and returns of Young,Kelly, etc. Lakers might be in the zone of fighting that no.7/no.8 seed.

Hill stepped up big time, expecting wes, ellington,boozer to do it sooner rather than later.

Thanks DB again for the consistent high quality reviews.

[OregonLakerGuy]

Great analysis as always. Thanks DB

[Nobody]

Man, was hoping for a W there for a minute. Wes is just horrible, he can't seem to do anything right. Hopefully they play more like this in the future, much more fun than 20 point blowouts.

[sonic the laker]

Very solid game from the Lakers, despite the disappointing loss. Glad to see marked improvement, and hope they continue to build on this. And, it should be noted that the Lakers battled the Clippers, with key players still out with injuries.

Seems like Kobe, and Lin, are starting to understand each other better. Excellent. Cold shooting by Kobe down the stretch, coupled with prayer shots by Crawford, sealed it. Good looks, just cold hands. Happens.

Got unexpected offensive production from Hill. Not expecting him to shoot like he did tonight, every night. But, if he can make a decent number of those mid range shots, then great.

Waiting on Boozer to click with Kobe, and Lin. When that happens, they should be the three guys we look to, to stabilize the offense.

Byron showing he was the right hire, by adapting his plans, to his players. Keep it up, B.Scott!

Hoping for better things to come for the Lakers.


ZOOM!

[mhan00]

Wes and Sacre might be the two worst players in the league. Just infuriating that they both get minutes with us because we have few other options. Like DB, I was jumping for joy when Wes fouled out, and that should never be the case for your own player.

I'm honestly not sure if we looked good today because we are improving, or if the Clippers' defense is so putrid it made us look good. We should get some answers tomorrow in a very tough game.

[sonic the laker]

[Lakerscode]

It seems they found a blueprint on how they can move forward as a team.Even though it's a big disappointment from not winning the game,it's pretty much positive to build the momentum on how this team played last night.

[fiendishoc]

Kobe was offensively brilliant, but the coaches need to hold him accountable on D as well. Too many times he overhelped and gave up a wide open 3 pt attempt. Some possessions, it looked like he wasn't even trying to find his man, and instead was just daring the refs to call illegal D on him, while the guy he's guarding is spotting up with no one within 8 feet.

Wes Johnson, well... I think Momentum Killer has already been institutionalized as his nickname. The only thing he brings is a catch and shoot 3. His D is overrated.

[13th Man]

Excellent write up as usual thanks DB!

Kobe showed that he still has some springs. He went cold late in the game but loved how spirited and amped up he was when the team played well in the 3rd.

Also love the fact that Kobe is pushing Lin to be at his best and BScott is not giving up on him so easily. Lin needs to play with this type of mindset every game, the call-out by Kobe was much needed.

Jordan Hill's midrange game is becoming a lethal weapon, his hard work in the summer is paying off!

Ellington with some clutch shots!

Wes and Sacre

[cthroatgtr]

Maybe time to move Ellington into the starting lineup and Wes to the bench.

[yinoma2001]

7-20 on 3s. Could shoot a better % but that's more like it. Better spacing as players had to contest our 3 point shots.

Was a much more pleasureable game to watch and root for. I hope we can steal a few more minutes of rest for Kobe. He looked gassed at the end and we have another game tonight.
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From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals

[jenopogi]

finally! got to read DB T&R
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JL#7 in Purple and Gold. Shoutout to my Lakers4Life Buddy Ian M.

[Jackthefan]

Glad to see the improvement. Still no W, but at least more fun to watch. Keep it up. Go lakers!

[ADA32]

What I like about last night's game was the team effort!

The ball movement and spacing working with Triangle is self evident.

We are almost there and need a little more fine tuning to bring in the W.

Thanks to BScott and Kobe!

[meows a lot]

great game all around except kobe had to go back into hero mode at the end. could have won it if he passed and didnt force those shots more.

this season he isnt s agood 3pt shooter - not enough lift, plus he never was a deadly 3 pt shooter anyway

impressed with lin's aggresiveness insteasd of being a baby. good to see him be more comfortable out there. boozer and hill played well.
_________________
“We do have a lot in common.
The same air, the same Earth, the same sky.
Maybe if we started looking at
what's the same instead of
always looking at what's different,

...well, who knows?”

- Meowth

[Laker_Town]

I cant help but think that if Randle was playing, we win the game.


Two bad ISO plays by kobe, but I figured scott didnt have a set play for that three.

I was actually hoping for a lin or ellington setup shot, where kobe is the decoy

[hopandskip]

Nice game. Kobe ran out of gas at the end.

Boozer and Hill returned from mummification to come up big.

Lin showed up. Others contributed what they could.

Boozer/Lin/Hill canceled out Griffin's monster game.

It would go a long way if we could stop fouling 3-pt shooters.

The difference was Crawford hitting those ridiculous shots (some for 4-pt plays), and Kobe running out of gas in the 4th.

A victory of sorts, anyways. Showed the team to itself, and offered proof it could play with anyone. Preseason game!

[yinoma2001]

Damn. Warriors tonight.
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From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals

[Goldenwest]

Shouldn't be happy about any loss to the clippers. But we have to learn to crawl before we learn to walk, I suppose.

The 3 is the weak spot on the team offensively. I don't see Wes improving his offensive game. X or young should step up into that role or we need to bring someone in.

[jlinfan]

Rome wasn't built in a day.

BS has been preaching D since day one. Unfortunately we need a lot of work in that area but I still have hope. Could be a matter of a mixing up the lineups and finding a better mix.

Great to see the O is starting to click. This can only get better considering these guys have almost zero game time building chemistry together.

This game gave us a glimpse of the teams internal fortitude. A glimpse of better things to come.

[Lakers#1Team]

Thanks DB, always enjoy your analysis.

Glad to see the Lakers competing and starting to show a little chemistry together on the floor. Definite improvement even though we lost. Kobe looking good and Lin had some good spurts running the offense. Hill was the pleasant surprise of the day. Hope they can build on this and continue to get better.