SPURS -at- LAKERS - 11-14-14 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

1-8 and 1-14… Those are the numbers that Laker fans will focus on. For Kobe it was a couple of others.

“Tonight was one of those nights where it makes me really remember the challenge of being 36 and 19 years, and the body just won’t respond, and you’re sick and used to be able to fight through those things,” he said, looking visibly fatigued during and after the game. “It just helps me really remember exactly what I’m facing. It’s tough.”

The Spurs defensive plan was simple: Converge on Kobe or Lin when they were coming off screens and let the bigmen try to beat them. Boozer was able to score 19 points and we should have gone to him more. But Jordan Hill ended up with the ball in his hands, open and unable to make the Spurs pay again and again. The offense stalled out badly, scoring just 13 points in the second quarter.

Despite that, the Lakers were still in the game. Were they able to get any kind of offensive flow, it was winnable.

“We played hard. I don’t think we played particularly smart most of the time,” Scott said. If you want intelligent effort, it was in the other jersey tonight. The Spurs took away the Laker strengths and despite not scoring at a high clip, they moved the ball very well and got good looks as a result. The Lakers fell 93-80.

With Kobe going just 1-14, the team couldn’t keep their head above water.

“It puts us at a huge disadvantage, especially without Nick,” Scott said.


Kobe -- -- He said it was one of those nights where the season just caught up with him. “This is the first I’ve faced this type of challenge,” Kobe said. He was feeling a little under the weather, fatigued and we turned him into a point guard tonight. He struggled to get on track scoring, shots often coming up short. The Spurs were sending the extra man to him forcing him to pass, which he did over and over to lead the team in assists (and probably guys getting FTs off his passes). Anytime there was a screen, the Spurs focused on Kobe with both defenders. This left guys like Hill open to try to make the Spurs pay. Kobe didn’t look for his shot in the first half. Normally, he’d probably still find his spots despite that extra attention, but he didn’t tonight. The Laker offense struggled without him as a threat and guys like Hill not making the Spurs pay. In the second half, more of the same. He was setting up teammates as the D converged on him. The general fatigue, being under the weather and with the PG work he was looking exhausted. So Scott plays him all third and straight into the fourth. Go figure. He told Scott during the game, he wasn’t feeling well. Scott said he wanted to push through it, so he gave him the opportunity. “If you’re around this business long enough, you’re pretty much going to see everything,” Scott said of Kobe’s 1-14. Some great D by Kobe to start the game with a couple of basket-saving blocks. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 1-14 shooting (0-5 from three, 7-9 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 6 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 4 turnovers and 1 foul in 36 minutes. He was a -16. The Action: Awesome recovery on his man block a shot under the hoop, don’t know how he pulled that off. He swiped a pass next time down. Wild shot across the lane over the glass, not sure what that was. Another great recovery on help D to swat a shot at the rim, looked like a sure layup. He was blocked on a reverse layup. He missed an elbow pull-up. He worked the two-man game to Davis for a layup. Herky-jerky move at midcourt and he drew a foul with a second left for three FTs, he made all three. He kicked to Kelly for the three. He missed a forced three on a two-for-one sequence. He had 3 points on 0-4 shooting but led the team with 4 assists. Second Half: He missed a baseline pull-up jumper. He missed a long step-back jumper from the wing. He attacked, drew the D and dumped it to Boozer for the layup. He had Duncan on him, but gave it to Boozer to score over a smaller man. He probed the lane, pump-faked and drew FTs, he made one. He missed a three next time down. He attacked off the high screen and was stripped by Duncan. He missed a pull-up one-hander, short. Short on a wing three. He drew the D and setup Boozer for FTs. He attacked off the handoff down the lane for FTs, he made both. He backed his man down and then whipped a pass to Davis under the hoop for FTs. He hit the side of the backboard on a turnaround (D converged again on him when he iso’d so he picked up the ball). He posted up and hit a turnaround to start the fourth. He missed a wing three. He blew past his man and was smacked on the hand for FTs, he made just one again (he inadvertently hit Leonard with a forearm above the eye on that foul, opening up a cut). He missed a lefty step-through (again the D converging on him off the split play, ignoring Hill). He missed a step-back three, short. He attacked and was stripped.

Lin -- -- Good start to the game being active and aggressive early. Scott staggered the rotations so that one of Kobe or Lin were always on the floor with Price suspended. Lin unfortunately had to run with a Sacre/Davis duo which clogged the paint quite a bit. We also didn’t know what to do with Kelly out there at SF. We should have been running him as a stretch four to help space the floor for Lin and make the Spurs think twice about loading up on our point of attack. He said he felt like the team did a good job defensively for the most part. Lin had some good moments out there against Parker. On Kobe, Lin said he came out of the training room and Kobe was back there and didn’t look good at all. On Kobe’s shooting night: “Ask any great shooter how to get out of a slump, just keep shooting,” Lin said. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-11 shooting (1-3 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 38 minutes. He was a -6. The Action: Sensational cross over on Parker and he scored down the middle of the lane over the D for the Lakers first score. Nice challenge on Parker on the other end to force a brick. Excellent anticipation jumping baseline on a handoff to force a charge. He drained sideline three in transition. He blew past his man off a screen, but missed the layup. Finally, we see the Lakers reverse the split play with Lin coming from the corner, then transitioning into a two-man game with Boozer that Lin setup for a score. He attacked in transition but couldn’t finish. He drew a crowd on a drive and dumped it right to Davis at the front of the rim for the dunk. He was picked on a cross-over, dunk the other way. He was picked again next time down, this time we fouled to prevent a score. He missed a wing three. He missed an open wing three over the zone. He attacked off the three line, hung around the help D and scored the layup. He had 7 points on 3-7 shooting. Second Half: He swished a wing pull-up jumper off a loose ball scramble. He stripped the ball off his man to get a stop. He set up Boozer off the two-man game for a layup (nice attack by Boozer on that one). Uggh, not close on an outlet pass to Hill, went right out of bounds. He airballed a runner against the zone. Quick attack before the help D converged and he scored a layup. He missed a turnaround in the lane. He drew some garbage-time FTs, he made both. He crossed over and drew FTs at the rim (lane open with the Spurs deep bench in), he made both.

Hill -- -- Just killing the Laker offense in the first half. The Spurs sagged off him and let him try to beat them. When he didn’t, the Spurs were able to converge on others like Kobe defensively. The ball eventually just stopped in his hands as he was afraid to shoot. That only just stalled the offense more. In the second half, he tried rolling more, but the Spurs were able to key on the real threats in the offense and they strangled the life out the Lakers. Good job on the boards, but very disappointing game offensively. That pretty much killed the Lakers tonight. Lakers should have had him under the hoop battling all night instead of putting him in those situations when he obviously had no jumper tonight. He had just 1 board in the second half when he probably should have been especially killing it on the glass after the cold shooting first half. Just very low hoop IQ tonight by the Lakers. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-13 shooting (2-4 from the line) to go with 11 boards (5 offensive), 1 turnover and no fouls in 28 minutes. He was a -10. The Action: He choked a reverse layup he should have had. He missed an 18-footer. He sank a baseline jumper off a jab step. He missed a flat turnaround in the middle of the lane. Nice hustle for an offensive board in the corner. He battled for another offensive board on the same set and passed it out from the ground after coming down with it. He was slapped on the arm by Duncan for FTs, he made both. He fumbled away a drive and dish from Kobe that should have been a score. Way short on the open FT jumper. He didn’t want to shoot anymore and so he threw it away trying to thread the needle, killing the offense right now. He was fouled on a putback attempt, he missed both FTs, arggh. He had 4 points on 1-7 shooting but 10 boards. Second Half: He missed a layup after he cut when his man trapped Kobe and Kobe fed him rolling. He sank an open 17-footer finally. He ball-faked and missed the open jumper (the D left him to take away Lin’s drive). He scored a layup off the drive and dish from Wes, but gave up a layup on the other end. He iso’d, spun and hit the jumphook.

Boozer -- -- We went with some extra time for Sacre in the second quarter versus Boozer like we had been to start quarters. The second quarter was a disaster offensively. Boozer was the only effective big out there and we probably could have milked his game even more. He probably could have gone for another 10 more points with a little more focus from the team. He was one of the few positives tonight. “Nobody really believes in us, but us,” Boozer said afterward. Defensively, it was tough for our D with the Spurs spacing the bigmen out and forcing them to be more mobile, but they weren’t killing the Lakers. Had the offense had any life, this game was there for them. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 8-13 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a -10. The Action: He posted up Bonner and scored easily. He got tapped on a FT jumper. He scored a layup working off the split play with Lin setting him up. He faced up and swished a long wing jumper. He stripped Duncan, got it back in transition, crossed over a man and scored a layup through traffic, what the? He missed a putback attempt. He had 8 points on 4-7 shooting. Second Half: He drew FTs to start the half on a little duck in off a Kobe screen in the paint, he made both. He scored an easy putback layup off the Kobe miss. He scored a layup off the Kobe feed. He swished the elbow jumper over a smaller man. He missed a 14-footer off the two-man game with Kobe. He attacked off the two-man game pass from Lin for a layup. He missed a long wing jumper, layup the other way. He missed a layup off the Kobe setup, he made one FT. He hit Clarkson on the give-and-go for FTs.

Johnson -- -- If you can hold most teams to 93 points, you’d probably be getting a lot more W’s. The Lakers offense just wasn’t working with Kobe unable to provide scoring punch. That’s where others need to pick it up. Had Swaggy been here, we lean on him more this game. Wes can’t score like Swaggy unfortunately. We ran Kelly more SF which should have cut down on minutes for Wes, but didn’t really. Fairly well rounded game from Wes, we just needed more. “We just got to leave it all out there, play hard for all 48 minutes,” Wes said. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-4 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 4 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 33 minutes. He was a -16. The Action: He roofed his man baseline and forced him to throw it away. He missed a wing jumper in early offense. He sank a step-back at the top of the key. He was undercut on a pull-up jumper at the top of the key for FTs, he made both. He missed a rushed three at the shotclock buzzer. He slipped trying to push it up, turnover. Second Half: He hustled for an offensive board in the corner, which eventually led to a Laker score. He smothered his man to force a bad pass and transition score from Boozer. He attacked off the three line and hit Hill for the layup. He made a tough, long turnaround from the wing.

Kelly -- -- Running at the SF with some tall lineups tonight. I think we probably slide Kelly up to PF when Swaggy comes back and sit Sacre again. Those lineups were tough on the spacing with both Sacre and Davis on the floor clogging the lane. Tonight was an absolutely perfect time to run him at PF, especially with guys like Bonner out there. If you want to space the floor and make the D pay on pick and pops, Kelly was back and available to do that. We just have a very low IQ offensively right now. (Unlike the Spurs, who know their system inside and out.) “The hammy felt great,” Kelly said, mentioning they made sure he got plenty of warm up time before the game to get loose. He had a minute limit tonight. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 1-3 shooting (1-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 foul in 12 minutes. He was a -12. The Action: He attacked off the three line working the two-man game with Lin and drew FTs at the rim, he made both. Flat runner across the lane and he missed. Way short on a baseline jumper off the inbounds, he rushed it. He drained a wing three on the Kobe kickout (more please). He had 5 points on 1-3 shooting. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Davis -- -- Still wish we’d just dump the ball to him in the post a little more. You can penetrate the D by going to the post and forcing it collapse from there. We just don’t do that at all with this team. Davis shot blanks from the FT line, missing all three he took. When teams are focusing on Kobe and he hits you under the hoop for FTs and you don’t get points, it’s just even more aggravating when we need to scratch out scores. The Pelicans had 43 points in the first quarter tonight. It took the Lakers into the third quarter to reach that mark. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-5 shooting (0-3 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 1 block, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He missed a layup off the two-man game, usually he finishes those. Next time down, same play with Kobe and this time he finished the layup. He took a pass from Lin under the hoop for the easy dunk. He blocked a man on a reverse. He missed a short one in the middle of the paint. Second Half: Kobe found him under the hoop for FTs, he missed both, arggh. A rare iso for him, he faced up, spun and scored the And-1 with his left in the middle of the lane, he missed the FT.

Clarkson -- -- With Price out, Jordan got some extended run. If we’re going to lose, the least we can do is get some good run for the youngster. He ran more as an SG tonight in the two-guard front. Kobe or Lin were in more of the PG role. He really has some nice explosiveness when he can get in that lane with speed. Defensively, he had one major miscue, but generally hustled and recovered well. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-6 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: Poor reaction and his man scored a layup on a give-and-go in early offense. He blocked a layup in transition off the glass. He missed a wing three. Second Half: Aggressive attack off the give and go with Boozer to draw FTs after taking contact at the rim, he made both. He missed a wing three. He attacked the lane for an And-1 layup, he missed the FT. He pushed up the break, took contact, powered through it and scored a layup. He crashed the glass and put in the Henry airball.

Henry -- -- Scott dusted him off for garbage time. He didn’t do much as the game was already over and he’s been invisible so far all season. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-1 shooting to go with 1 board in 4 minutes. He was a +11. The Action: He did not play in the half. Second Half: He attacked and airballed a runner in traffic.

Sacre -- -- The low point might have been when Sacre missed a wide open jumper in the lane by about 2 feet, garbage time never looked so bad. Not sure why we had Sacre out there tonight with Kelly back, especially when we badly needed floor spacing tonight. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-5 shooting to go with 3 boards and no fouls in 14 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: Completely tapped on an elbow jumper that rattled down and out. He missed an open FT jumper. Second Half: He clanked a putback attempt. He bumped his man off and was left open in the lane for the short jumper and he airballed by 2 feet, wow. He sank a 17-footer from the right side.

Scott -- -- The Lakers led 11-10 midway through the quarter when the timeout came… He sat Hill for Davis, then Lin for Clarkson. Kobe running point… Spurs getting easy scores in the lane or open threes against the Laker D… The Lakers trailed 29-22 after the first quarter… He started a Sacre, Davis, Kelly, Clarkson, Lin lineup. Kelly at the SF, lots of length but they don’t seem to know what they should be doing on offense. No Boozer… He brought in Kobe and Hill for Davis and Clarkson down 13… Lakers down 10 when the timeout came midway through the quarter… He brought in Boozer for Sacre… Wes back in with 5 minutes left for Kelly down by 8… Lakers offense not clicking at all, just 13 points in the second quarter… The Lakers trailed 45-35 at the half. Jordan Hill just killing the Lakers with his inability to make a shot. It was stalling the Laker offense as the Spurs dared him to shoot and took things away from others… Down 8, he brought in Clarkson for Lin and Davis for Hill… Lakers offense struggled as they Spurs swarm on Kobe and force others to beat them… The Lakers trailed 68-57 heading into the fourth… He started a Sacre, Davis, Kelly, Kobe, Clarkson lineup… He sat Clarkson for Lin… Hill, Kelly, Wes, Kobe, Lin… Spurs in blowout mode… He finally sat Kobe for Clarkson 5 minutes into the fourth down 22… He brought in Davis, Henry and Sacre for extended garbage time…The Spurs had 28 assists on 33 field goals…

[Richcbt]

First??? That's a first.

[jonnybravo]

This game was really excruciating to watch. You can feel Kobe laboring through the TV screen.

Christ, 73 more of these to go...

[SweetP]

That was an awful game to watch, much less dissect and write up. Kudos to you.
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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

[Honeybadger81]

at least I am happy with the first 8 minutes, they played good D, boozer played good D too, you hear me...

[Raydiation]

"I don’t think we played particularly smart most of the time,” Scott said. If you want intelligent effort, it was in the other jersey tonight"

Hum... I usually think that for the team to play smart. It probably start from the coach.

[LakerEric]

I'm truly shocked anyone is on this site with any comments. True fan? LOL I'm a true fan but it shocks me regardless. So sad how this has transpired. I'm praying for some kind of relevancy. At this point, I've watched a game and a half total this year with DB's reviews the only thing keeping me remotely engaged with the team. This is truly a shock to me and to see my true enemy the Spurs with continuity and winning with the same trio that battled Kobe/Shaq/Gasol makes me seethe even more at the front office!

[fafan]

That was fast! thank you, DB.

[H0B0]

THNX DB GO LAKERS

[fiendishoc]

I didn't like that they put Kelly at the 3, though maybe the injuries, and X being a shell of his former self, forced their hand. Given that the spacing was already bad, you didn't need Sacre out there when you could have had four shooters.

Also, only 20 min for Davis was again inexcusable.

And Wes, "playing hard" is not the solution. Playing smart is.

[K28]

Hill needed the dead banana more than Sacre did.

Thank you for the write up though. Yes, this was hard to watch. I wish Byron could have given Kobe a rest on this one.

[cheesysapien]

[mhan00]

Scott is even worse than I feared he would be. The minutes for Kobe and the rotations were mind boggling.

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB. Hadn't heard the illness thing. Explains a lot of what I watched.

[tirebiter]

this offense just seems so old-school and broken to me.

we shot at a low percentage because every shot was contested. other than hill's 20 footer which they were more than happy to give us (it's pretty much a turnover every time he shoots it), all other shots were highly contested. even boozer, with his point, had to sink one high arching jumper after another. that can't be sustained. i'm sure the spurs were more than happy to give him that as well. he had a few layups based on shots created by kobe and lin for him, but the majority of the his points came from contested, long 2's. we need to see him attack the basket off of a pnr instead of settling for jumpers.

and hill - duncan was giving him a lot of room. next time try rolling to the basket a little to give yourself an easier shot.

the ball moved a little better but guys still look like they were thinking a lot on the court. this offense just doesn't seem to provide many clean looks. i'd like to see a lot more per with kobe and lin, and get kelly out there as a stretch 4.

[yinoma2001]

Why do I feel X may be cut? Just isn't anywhere near his old self and may not be for a while.
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From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals

[Vin]

It's getting really painfull to watch theses games. Really, really painfull. Just makes me sad watching the lakers play theses days. Watching Kobe struggle this much is tough.

[freethrow]

Spurs haven't looked all that great so far this year. If Kobe or Hill hit their usual percentage, we probably win this one.

Unfortunately for us, Spurs usually get better as the season goes on so this was our best shot at a win.

[LinKobe]

We are just too predictable on offense and that's on BS to get more plays and change from his current scheme. It just isn't working and he's got to find a more efficient way to maximize the talents available to him. I know the roster depth isn't great but they aren't as bad as we having been showing imo.

[Jonathan1212]

[angrypuppy]

Hopefully Kobe bounces right back. You got it right DB, Kobe had nothing. He looked physically haggard, his shots were consistently short and he overmatched by his defender. The skills were there on display by #24, but the fatigue coupled with the lost athleticism left him vulnerable.

I'm glad Clarkson got some run out there, he was a nice find by the scouting department (perhaps a sign that one of those Buss kids is doing a good job). That might be a silver lining if we somehow hold on to our pick this season.

[bws94]

[bws94]

[Laker_Town]

Well, from the everyone's accounts, it seems like I was lucky in forgetting there was a game tonight.

I cannot believe how excited we all were for the season to start. Now, the majority of us just want to get to draft night.


AND that is the only success to look forward to. Keep that pick at all costs.

There are zero moves im interested in the lakers making. Id be more upset if they picked up someone who only improves our chances of losing our pick.


No shame in tanking when its the only move.

[calistrtballr]

Keep the tank rolling