HORNETS -at- LAKERS - 11-9-14 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

The Win Column… Play a little D and you can go on a run in this game. The Lakers locked down the Hornets for a 34-13 third quarter, going on a 16-1 run during part of that third.

They finally held a team to reasonable scoring output, beating the Hornets 107-92. The Lakers rotated well on D, gave the Hornets some different looks with a zone and kept the points in transition to single digits. We saw multiple shotclock violations and some pride in that strong team D.

Meanwhile, they had a balanced attack with Kobe and Lin each scoring 21 points, while the trio of Boozer, Hill and Davis all had double figures, as well.

“If we can get four more days off to keep working on stuff that might help,” Scott said. The 4 games in 5 nights to start the season certainly put the Lakers on their heels.

“I know we’re better than our record is,” Scott said.

Beating the Hornets is one thing, taking it up a notch to play with the better teams in the league is another. But you’ve got to start somewhere. Good to see them crack the win column…finally.


Kobe -- -- Strong defensive game from Kobe in this one. He was hitting the boards hard, rotating and communicating. You could see the collective importance the team put on that end of the court. They had to. It’s just been awful. This was really one of the first games that he and Lin showed some chemistry. “Guys weren’t looking to just get the ball to Kobe and step out the way,” Scott said. Kobe helped get Lin some easier shots by drawing attention and seeking him out. “I think we did a much better job spacing the floor for them,” Kobe said. He said it’s just been figuring out the puzzle a bit offensively. He said they’ve also got to do a much better job playing off the ball. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 7-20 shooting (1-5 from three, 6-7 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 4 turnovers and 1 foul in 34 minutes. He was a +7. The Action: He missed a 19-footer in early offense. Nice help D to challenge a layup and force a miss. He missed a three in early offense. He sank a long two off the split play. He missed a wing three. He crossed over, attacked and couldn’t cram it down after getting hit on the dunk, he made both FTs. He was stripped in transition, turnover. He missed a wing jumper. He missed a forced 18-footer (had Lin open). He missed a leaning bank. He drew FTs pulling up at the elbow, he made both. He sank a pull-up 17-footer working off the screen. He missed a three off the two-man game. He probed off the screen, got around the help D and reversed nicely. He blew a tech FT. He sank a turnaround from the wing after getting some separation. He led the Lakers with 12 points. Second Half: He attacked and kicked to Lin for the three. He got a soft bounce on a long wing jumper. He threw a pass away trying to hit Boozer in early offense with a long outlet. He grabbed a board, pushed it out and hit Lin for the reverse. He missed a pull-up probing off the split play. He lost the handle under the hoop. Early post position and he drew FTs splitting a double team and taking a knee to his left leg, he made both. Nice pressure D and rotations to force a turnover on a big. He found Lin on the weakside for the three. He pulled up and swished a wing three next time down as Staples got to its feet. He forced up a turnaround that he should have kicked out. He swished a long wing jumper, his feet on the line. He missed a baseline turnaround. He missed a quick-fire wing three. He attacked and just missed the layup, but Hill tipped it in. He missed a long pull-up jumper with the shotclock low.

Lin -- -- “We were talking, we were engaged, we were moving,” Lin said the Laker D. The offense has scored, but we finally held a team below a hundred points. That was the real difference maker in this game, but it was nice to see Lin play like the Lakers want him to. He was hitting threes both off the dribble and off the ball. He attacked the lane for scores and remained a threat that collapsed the D to help others. Very nice one-two punch between him and Kobe. Again, they ran a lot of those split plays where both are involved. He and Kobe need to string together some more games like this. “I talked to Jeremy before the game about being a little bit more assertive,” Scott said. Seems like that has been the talk before and after a lot of games. It was a very nice, comfortable offensive balance, much less indecision by Lin and team. Good job avoiding turnovers in this one as they had more of a sense of what they wanted to do. With shotclocks low, he’d look for his own shot (instead of deferring). Kobe also found him open for some good looks. “We were doing it right on the defensive end,” Lin said of the difference in this game. “You start smelling blood and at that point it’s just you are riding moment, moving the ball.” He said Kobe did a great job drawing attention and finding guys. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 8-12 shooting (3-6 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 7 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 33 minutes. He was a +17. The Action: He pushed up the break, slowed it down and let Hill fill the lane for a layup. He missed a three in early offense. He blew past his man and took it to the rim for a layup. He attacked aggressively off the high handoff and scored a layup. He missed a runner, got it back and kicked it to Hill for the jumper. He missed a wide open three. He set up Hill for the jumper off the two-man game. He attacked and fed Hill for the jumper. He attacked and was stripped, then gave up an And-1 layup the other way. Second Half: He sank a long three on a Kobe kickout. He reversed on the break with Kobe. He missed a three from behind the screen. Sweet past to Boozer who spun to backdoor his man out of the post and Lin hit him perfectly for the layup. He sank a sideline three on the cross-court feed from Kobe. He attacked off the three line across the lane and hit the turnaround bank. He attacked baseline and drew FTs, he made both. He found Hill open for the 18-footer. Nice variation on the split, instead of setting the cross screen, he cut back over top of the big for the handoff, attacked the lane and hit the step-back jumper. He rained down a three behind the Hill screen with the shotclock low.

Hill -- -- Lakers gave up 8 offensive boards in the first half. They tightened up the D in that third quarter, got one and out possessions and the rally followed. Offensively, Hill did his thing hitting jumpers and getting scores in the paint, but he also helped lead the team with Price and Lin in assists. It wasn’t exactly a Pau Gasol type of 7 assists, but Hill was still the trigger man in the high post on a lot of sequences for our guys working off ball. Very similar sets to when Pau was here, nothing new that we haven’t been running this season, but the bigs are getting more comfortable with working the guards. Got to have strong, sticky picks by the bigmen. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 6-12 shooting to go with 6 boards, 7 assists, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He scored a layup filling the lane on the break. He missed a top-of-the-key jumper. He missed a jumphook in the middle of the lane. He rattled in a baseline jumper off the Lin kickout. He missed a putback jumphook. He swished the elbow jumper off the two-man game with Lin. He sank an 18-footer off the Lin kickout. Second Half: He missed an off-balance 18-footer (had time to square up better). He missed an 18-footer short. He ball-faked and swished the open top-of-the-key jumper. He airballed a forced jumper next time down. He crashed the glass and tipped in the Kobe miss.

Boozer -- -- The game started to change after the Lakers looked to take advantage of Boozer’s mismatch in the post. He was getting killed early by Marvin Williams who was setting up for jumpers that Boozer couldn’t rotate quickly to. We needed to consistently attack Williams in the post on the other end, so Scott called a timeout and the team went to Boozer for several possessions in a row. This turned Boozer from liability to asset as we sought out and pressed the advantage. You could see the light bulb go on after that. Boozer was whistled for a number of fouls shoving guys in the back on the offensive boards in this one. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 7-11 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 5 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He had his post-up poked away for a turnover and that resulted in a transition score the other way. He hit a jumphook in the post out of a timeout. He missed a 17-footer straight away. He sank a high arching turnaround jumper on his third straight possession with a shot. He choked a layup on a drive down the paint. He got tapped on an open 16-footer. Second Half: He sank a turnaround from the midpost. He faced up at the elbow, attacked the middle and hit the pull-up jumper. He drew FTs on a turnaround on iso, he made both. He spun backdoor on the sideline triangle post and Lin found him for the layup. He faced up next time down and swished the wing jumper. He missed a wing jumper. He shoved a man in the back on the offensive glass to give up FTs. He lost his man on an up-and-under in the post for the easy layup.

Johnson -- -- “Keep that same mindset on defense and the offense will flow off of that,” Wes said. Loved seeing the team truly have that mindset in this game. Hopefully, they can bring it on that end of the floor with more frequency. Stephensen went 3-12 in this game for 6 points. Offensively, not much of a game from him. The Lakers seemed to look for him early each half for a couple of shots to get him engaged. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-6 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 3 boards, 1 steal and 1 foul in 35 minutes. He was a +7. The Action: He missed a long jumper off the high split play. He clanked a wing pull-up jumper. Nice D on Stephenson after a series of fakes and he forced a miss. He missed a three at the buzzer. Second Half: He missed a pull-up elbow jumper to start the half. He swished a pull-up jumper after crossing over. He swished a quick-fire sideline three on the weakside.

Davis -- -- Great job off the bench on both ends. The team had a little more of that two-man game chemistry with him and they also looked for him under the hoop for easy scores. They really need to make him more of a post player. He finds ways to score. Some of those second unit lineups could certainly use the option to just dump it to him and let him go to work. Defensively, he was active and rotating. The Lakers had shotclock violations and turnovers based on their rotations and help D. Davis was key in some of those. Great to see our bigs aggressively helping our guards on the perimeter. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 5-5 shooting (0-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 block, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a +12. The Action: He fumbled away a post entry pass to start the quarter. He took a pass from Ellington in the lane and crammed hard over the D. He blocked a corner jumper on a close out. He challenged a shot on one end and scored a layup off the two-man game on the other. Second Half: He scored an And-1 off the two-man game with Price at the end of the quarter, he missed the FT. Low position and he scored a layup around his man (more post up opportunities for him, please). He scored an And-1 layup with good body control on the break to avoid the charge, he missed the FT.

Price -- -- Probably his best game of the regular season. He was disruptive defensively (3 steals) and led the team in assists offensively. Great job working the two-man game and using his bigs. They need to see that with more consistency. The second unit did an excellent job to start the fourth by keeping the Lakers lead while the starters got rest. Those first 5 minutes of the fourth are key to getting wins. They kept momentum in the Lakers corner and the Hornets in check. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-6 shooting (0-2 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 8 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 18 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He missed a wing three behind a screen. He jumped a passing lane for a steal, choked a layup, but Ellington cleaned it up. He missed a wing three. He attacked with speed around his man and scored an And-1 layup, he made the FT. He found Davis on the two-man game for a layup. Second Half: He missed a jumper off a nice cross over. He worked the two-man game at the end of the quarter and hit Davis for the And-1. He jumped the lane over the top of the screen to swipe a pass and save it back to a teammate. Nice rotations and switches to force a shotclock violation. He sank a 20-footer off the handoff with the shotclock low. He pushed up the break and went to the trailer between his legs on the drop off for the And-1. Great anticipation, dropping to the level of the ball and swiping a pass. He drew FTs on a loose ball foul, he made both.

Ellington -- -- Efficient game offensively with 9 points on just 4 shots. A month ago, he couldn't hit anything. Now, he’s looking more and more automatic. He’s not exactly Meeks off the bench, but he’s becoming serviceable. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-4 shooting (1-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist and 1 foul in 19 minutes. He was a +10. The Action: He followed in a Price missed layup on the breakaway. He swished a wing jumper coming off a screen. He hustled for a corner rebound off a missed FT, attacked and fed Davis for the dunk. He attacked the paint off the screen and drew contact from behind for FTs, he made both. Second Half: He swished a wing three a few seconds after entering the game. He crossed over and missed the sideline three. XXX

Henry -- -- He’s still struggling to be himself out there. No Clarkson in this game as we let X have the run. He didn’t exactly show much, but he usually give a strong enough defensive effort. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-2 shooting to go with 1 steal and 1 turnover in 7 minutes. He was a +7. The Action: He attacked the lane and missed at the rim off a couple long strides. He missed a long wing jumper. Second Half: He knocked a ball loose and swiped it.

Sacre -- -- Some quality minutes from Sacre. He hit a couple of jumpers and played some pretty good position D at times. The Lakers didn’t have Kelly out there because of the hammy issues again. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-4 shooting (2-4 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 block and 1 foul in 11 minutes. He was a +7. The Action: He up-faked, attacked baseline and drew FTs at the rim, he made one. He missed an open 16-footer off the two-man game. He missed a baseline jumper. He blocked a dunk attempt to get a shotclock violation. Second Half: He drew FTs in early offense under the rim, he made one. He swished the long turnaround from the left side. He sank a high-arching rainbow jumper with a man all over him and the shotclock low.

Scott -- -- Kobe deferring early and the Lakers not scoring… The Lakers fell back 15-6 midway through the quarter. Boozer a defensive liability. Lakers settling for long jumpers… They went into the post and attacked the rim out of the timeout and forced a timeout trailing 17-14… He brought in Davis and Price out of that timeout… Ellington in for Johnson down 7… The Lakers trailed 25-18 after the first quarter… He went with a Sacre, Davis, Henry, Ellington, Price lineup… Zone D and they got a shotclock violation... He brought back in Hill, Johnson and Kobe down 5… Lin in a few seconds later. So Ellington with the starters instead of Boozer… They forced another turnover with the zone… Boozer in for Ellington… Lakers trapping at midcourt on a stand… A 14-6 run for the Hornets… The Lakers trailed 51-42 at the half. The Lakers gave up 9 offensive boards… More zone D… Down 2 when he brought in Davis for Hill… Going to Boozer some in the post against Williams and the Lakers tied it up 59-59 to force a timeout… A 16-1 Laker run… The Lakers led 69-63 when Kobe sat for Price with 3 minutes left in the quarter. Boozer also sat for Sacre… The Lakers led 76-64 heading into the fourth… He started a Sacre, Davis, Johnson, Ellington, Price unit… Another shotclock violation for the Hornets… The Lakers were in the penalty early in the quarter… The lead was trimmed to 8 after 3 minutes and Scott called a timeout… Up 12 and Kobe and Lin returned for Price and Ellington… So the starters and Davis instead of Boozer… Up 15, he sat his starters with a couple minutes left. Finally on the right side of garbage time… Congrats to Scott on his first win as Laker coach…

[cmonkee]

woohoo first win! thanks DB

[AceFresh]

Thanks DB!
Nice to see the smiley face again
Lets start a winning streak now!

[DrumR]

[dino]

finally!

thanks db!

[Shaber]

Improvement still? Sounds kind of optimistic. Still so many lapses in what at times looked like it should be an easy win.

Or was the opponent simply too weak to capitalize on Lakers mistakes? Good defense at times by Lakers.

The team is obviously still learning how to play together. It takes long, though.
_________________
.

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

[Shaber]

DB, I even love your typos
On Ellington: "A month ago, he could hit anything. Now, he’s looking more and more automatic."
_________________
.

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

[jorkerjork]

Charlotte looked positively awful on offense. Also, they are definitely not a three point shooting team--they looked hesitant to take them, and I suspect that's why Clifford made once-starter Gerald Henderson into a garbage time player--that guy doesn't have range. Even Gary Neal was settling for runners rather than scoring from the outside.

Also, they haven't really found a way to mesh Walker and Stephenson yet. Both are ball dominant guys, and while Stephenson isn't much of a shooter, he just didn't seem overly aggressive either. The Lakers did well using the zone against a team that simply can't shoot from outside. Stephenson and Kidd-Gilchrist are guys I want taking jumpers all day. We also rotated well at spurts, primarily because we had Davis, Price and Lin there, and those guys really, really compete. That helps the cause a ton.

Man, Boozer was god-awful at defense. Marvin Williams knew that, and it's almost like Steve Clifford knew that and wanted to feed the ball to Marvin more. Marvin isn't a great shooter, but when your guy is Boozer, you shoot with all the confidence in the world knowing that a hand will never fly in your face.

Price with 8 dimes in 18 minutes and great D and some near drawn charges. I've always liked the guy defensively, but even offensively there's that interesting wrinkle. He's shown far more control with the ball than I remember. To put this in perspective, Derek Fisher under the Triangle would struggle to put up a dime every 2 minutes. He had an excellent game, and I can see it continuing.

I'm not sure if Charlotte's vaunted D from this year is carrying over either. Sure, they have Kidd-Gilchrist, but Stephenson is on-and-off, Kemba is slight and Al Jefferson, hidden well last year, has always been a slow-footed negative defender. Their team isn't quite cohesive enough there, and Jeremy's dribble penetration was able to break both their front and back lines. Great game by Jeremy, and I expected that--he's always been one of those guys who can bring it on both ends.

Ed Davis is amazing, but I already knew that. He just changes the complexion of the game, and today he did an excellent job of avoiding fouls and staying on the floor. We went with the Jordan Hill-Ed Davis lineup I prefer over the ones that attempt to mix and match Boozer and Sacre, and we saw our sustained run with that midway through the 3rd. Davis just has a knack of carving angles to get layups in the basket, and his first step and athleticism are hard to stop on top of that. He reminds me of Brandan Wright, but more activity on the defensive end, and that's a good thing. He might very well lead the league in field goal percentage and put upwards of 100 dunks this season. I like that.

I didn't see much different from Kobe. Everything involves isolation dribbles that take 5-6 seconds leading to a fallaway jumper, oftentimes contested. That's why he's always shooting like 7-20 from the field, or 15-37, or whatever. When they are all jumpers, under duress with multiple defenders draped over you, it's tough for anyone. It's just poor that he just doesn't have that second gear to that step on the defender to get to the rim like he used to. He's adjusted very well, but he's not making the huge difference like he sometimes could with scoring binges. It's tough to feast on a diet of the same shots--makes defending predictable. As for defense, I like Stephenson just didn't have his head in the game tonight offensively, but then again, I've always thought Stephenson's personal offense overrated (average jumper, slashing without drawing many fouls).

ETA: Forgot to mention--Wes Johnson saying that he was going to play like a wild man tonight? Haha. He played the same way he always does. Super invisible. How does anyone only get up six shots in 35 minutes? Not only is he not proactive, he just isn't reactive. He doesn't make himself available offensively. No cuts, no curls, etc. What a slacker on offense. Defensively he's the same and had a few moments, but nothing lockdown-ish and it's clear the Hornets' O sucks way more than Wes was putting pressure on them.

[TheBlackMamba]

We gotta find a way to keep Davis beyond this year. What a steal he was on that contract, but it won't mean anything if we can't keep him on the roster when we're relevant again. I guess it's good that Boozer's here limiting his minutes, because if Davis ever got meaningful playing time, there's a good chance his value would shoot up and he'd price himself out of our range.

[EddieJonesss]

Thanks DB.

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

It's been a while since we've seen the smiley version of T&R. Good to see a win finally.

Thanks DB! I'm gonna guess this was a bit more fun than the last 5!

[sonic the laker]

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!

The Lakers first win of the season! Long awaited, and richly deserved!

Made a promise to myself, that I wouldn't watch another Laker game, until they won one. Funny enough, it started (and ended) with the Hornets game.

I thought that maybe I was jixing the team's first win, by watching them. Superstitious, I know, but....

Disappointed that I couldn't see the win, myself. But, small price to pay to get a win.

Thanks for the post game analysis, as always, DB!


ZOOM!

[OregonLakerGuy]

Whew! Thanks DB

[mhan00]

Very nice to get a win. It would be very nice if we could build on this, but it's going to be very tough with the games we have coming up. If we can scratch out two or three more wins in our next five, it would be a hugely positive sign.

[Lakerbull]

Nice thanks

[jlinfan]

DB thank you and thank you to the Lakers. Was a fun game to watch.

jorkerjork I think Wes was playing mind games to throw opponents off their game

[ADA32]

Great write up as usual.

It is wonderful to have a Lakers Win (with a capital W).

The server is also well behaved without any problem. Overall a great night for Lakers fan.

[angrypuppy]

Thanks DB.

Buzz Kill Alert: While our defense was slightly better, I thought the Hornets were just going through the motions last night on offense. The Lakers packed the paint and the Hornets couldn't take advantage from the perimeter as they are one of the worst three point shooting teams in the league.

[yinoma2001]

A win!!! Seems like the team defended better and distributed the ball around more (I didn't catch the game).
_________________
From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals

[fafan]

Thanks, DB. Hope this is just a beginning!

[yinoma2001]

Marvin Williams was repeatedly getting owned by bigger PFs in Boozer/Ed Davis. They have to reconsider playing him there so much since Big Al isn't exactly an eraser either.
_________________
From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals

[Lakers#1Team]

Thanks DB! Improved defense and sharing the ball on offense catapulted us to the win, especially in that 3rd qtr. Hope to see them succeed in our next immediate challenge; getting a road win!

[isph]

Finally a win... Thanks DB!
_________________
Regardless of what happens, I'm proud to be a Lakers fan...

[LakerLanny]

[laserboy]

Thanks DB!

I love how Kobe is so vocal and active in developing team chemistry. This team is beginning to gel and it looks like we're better than a lot of people give us credit for. Maybe that will work in our favor if teams underestimate us.