TWOLVES -at- LAKERS - 11-28-14 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

That D… The Lakers gave the fans plenty offensive highlights. There were halfcourt lobs, a Kobe make with 5 seconds left to tie it up, SwaggyP and Lin putting up good numbers. They ended up with 119 points on 54% shooting.

The ball was moving well. There were good open looks for everyone.

And it didn’t matter one bit because the Lakers gave up 120 points to an undermanned Timberwolves team to lose another home game. You can focus on Kobe’s missed FTs or his wide open missed three at the buzzer or the misses by Wes or Ellington on open looks in crunch time. None of that matters. The Lakers had more than enough points to beat this team.

“We looked at them like they were inferior to us,” Scott said. He said the Lakers exhaled whenever they had a lead.

Everyone likes to focus on the offensive end of the court, but the Lakers are one of the worst defending teams in the league. Don’t be fooled by the occasional team we match up with well. Don’t be fooled into looking at who is or isn’t scoring. When you don’t have defensive leaders, when you can’t get stops with any consistency, when you’re consistently beat in transition, behind the arc and everywhere between, it’s going to be a long, long season.

With this loss, the Lakers fall to 3-13 and just 1-8 at home. Even if they play .500 ball from here out, they are looking at a 36 win season. That’s nowhere near making the playoffs.


Kobe -- -- He had a wide open three at the buzzer to win it. The shot was dead straight, but short. That one might not bother his as much as the two missed FTs a minute early. Kobe said both bothered him, however. He’s usually money on anything wide open or anything from the line in crunch time. Not so much this season. He did hit a huge shot to tie the game up with 5.8 seconds left and did a good job on iso in the post down the stretch. Doubles came and it got good looks for others, or he was able to score himself. Very efficient first quarter, able to get some easy looks as we picked apart the weak D. Good job in that first half moving the ball when doubles came, very efficient, fluid game. He was also able to turn some steals into transition opportunities. Love the 5 boards, 5 assists and 5 steals. No one played great D tonight, however. As I’ve mentioned before, Kobe’s offense is an easy target for the team’s problems. But you see him putting together an efficient, fluid game, passing the ball well and the outcome is still horrible. “Trust me, my balance is not the number one problem we have. It’s defensively,” Kobe said. You have to get stops or it doesn’t matter how well Kobe, Lin or Young play offensively. “We were just lazy defensively. We cut corners,” Kobe said. The Stats: He scored 26 points on 10-18 shooting (0-1 from three, 6-10 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 5 assists, 5 steals, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 35 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He swished a sideline jumper over the zone D for the Lakers first score. He spotted Wes weakside for the open three. He posted up, drew a double and hit a cutting Boozer for the layup. He attacked with the shotclock winding down and drew FTs under the hoop, he made both. He poked the ball loose on a reach around on Wiggins, took the subsequent outlet and reverse jammed. He attacked left and swished a step-back baseline jumper. Poor outlet to Young and it was easily stolen. He missed a turnaround fade, then stole the ball back, gave it up, got it back on the baseline and drilled the easy jumper on a mismatch. He jumped a passing lane to swipe the pass, pushed it out and crossed over Young badly between his legs to lose him for the layup. He posted up, lost his man, but came up short on the turnaround on the right block. He missed a short one, falling back at the front of the rim on a jumper. He turned the corner, attacked the paint and drew FTs, he made one. He hit Boozer on the break for the layup. He had 13 points on 5-8 shooting, 4 assists and 3 steals. Second Half: He poked a ball loose twice to get a turnover on D. Left wide open and he missed the elbow jumper, that was a shootaround look, he’s automatic on those. He attacked, missed the runner and the follow tip. He missed on a drive. He drew FTs in the low post next time down, he made one. He got surprised on D in the post and gave up an And-1 at the front of the rim. He went back to the low post next time down and drew more FTs, he made both. He fumbled a pass away on the break, cherry picked and scored a layup after the TWolves make on the other end. He attacked strong baseline and powered in a layup. He posted up and swished a fade out of the timeout. He was in the high post position on the triangle split play and rifled a bullet to Young cutting baseline for the reverse jam (first time we’ve ever seen that sequence). He iso’d in the post and hit the lefty jumphook in the paint. He iso’d on Wiggins, pumped at the elbow twice and drew FTs with 1:15 left and the score tied, he missed both (one long, one way short). He iso’d, pumped a couple times and hit the big wing 12-footer over a couple of defenders with 5 seconds left to tie it up. He missed the open three at the buzzer to win, can’t believe he was that open.

Lin -- -- Good second quarter offensively, although we were chasing Lavine as he lit us up for 18 in that quarter. Lavine was just shooting right over Lin on some sets. Lin also couldn’t challenge him well in the paint with Lavine’s length and ups. Eventually, Scott would sit Lin to close the game and go with a bigger lineup. “We just got to defend better, me included,” Lin said. Offensively, very strong game from Lin. He did a good job staying aggressive, picking his spots and setting up teammates again and again. “When I try to stay aggressive usually good things happen for me,” Lin said. He was especially effective turning the corner off the screens and getting into the paints. If the D went under, he’d take the shots. He had the highlight pass of the game, a halfcourt And-1 lob to Wes on the break for the dunk. Late in the game, he was a little sloppy, however with a charge and nearly throwing away another pass. Great job offensively to get the double-double. The Laker D was horrible despite Kobe and Lin’s 9 steals combined. He said the Lakers aren’t consistent in bringing the defensive energy and attacking the offensive players. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 8-15 shooting (2-7 from threes) to go with 2 boards, 11 assists, 4 steals, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He got tapped on a wide open corner three over the zone. He ball-faked and missed a jumper from the top of the key. He probed baseline, they left him so he hit the open jumper. He pushed up the break to Hill to set him up for FTs. Nice post entry over the fronting D to Boozer who scored. He missed a wide open three when the TWolves doubled Kobe off the cut. He found Boozer again on the weakside for a layup, going over the top of the fronting D again. He scooped up a Kobe steal and outlet to him for the breakaway jam. He turned the corner off the Kobe screen, attacked the paint, hung around the defender and reversed on the other side of the rim (he left the floor outside of the paint on that one). Lavine reached, Lin attacked, drew the D and fed Hill for the slam. He sank a wing three in early offense when the D sagged off. He turned the corner again off the Kobe screen and scored a layup next time down. He was getting lit by Lavine on the other end (season high already in the first half with 18 points). He strip-blocked Lavine on a pull-up jumper. He deflected a pass. He had 9 points on 4-7 shooting and 4 assists. Second Half: He attacked with speed, drew the D and hit Hill for the dunk. He hit Wes for the corner three. He attacked off the three line and hit the step-back at the elbow. Perfect lob to Wes from midcourt for the And-1 dunk. He missed a wide open wing three. He fouled a three shooter. Dribble penetration and the Lakers got a putback score off a missed Hill one-hander. He lost his man badly on the high screen and scored a layup with a burst of speed down the lane. He hit Kobe for the cherry-picking layup. After giving up points to Lavine on one end, he attacked and hit the floater on the other. He hit Davis on the screen-roll for the slam. He got snapped at by Kobe for traveling on a break that should have been an easy Laker score. He gave up penetration and an And-1 to Lavine. He crossed over and was blocked at the rim, but Davis cleaned up the penetration. He worked the high screen and swished the open three, Lavine tagged him for a three on the other end (just shooting right over Lin). He missed an open three at the third quarter buzzer. Out of control on a drive, charge. He missed an open wing three. He attacked and nearly threw a ball away as Nick couldn’t recover (Lin called a timeout to avoid Swaggy getting tied up on the floor).

Hill -- -- Maybe too much Thanksgiving turkey for Hill. We need those double-double games from him. He wasn’t even close. Defensively, we had no interior presence in this game. Our bigs just played too small, the paint was open for business. Scott wants his bigs more aggressive on D. It’s a lot of things. Teams that get out in transition or can hit threes seem to eat us up when they do that. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-7 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 31 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He drew FTs getting out on the break with Lin, he made both. He swished a jumphook off a busted play out of a timeout. He tried to thread a pass to Kobe in a crowd, turnover. He slammed off the drive and dish from Lin. He missed a short jumphook. He missed a baseline jumper after making his man hit the floor on the move. Second Half: He missed a turnaround over a shorter man. He dunked off the drive and dish from Lin. He tracked down a Kobe miss along the baseline and it led to a Laker score. He missed a short one in the paint.

Boozer -- -- Scott highlighted how the TWolves came out in the second half and took it to the Lakers just like he knew they would and we didn’t defend like we were supposed to. Boozer was attacked for three straight scores in that stretch. Scott was extremely frustrated, saying it was like the coaches never mentioned the defensive plan. Boozer and Lin were also having more discussions on court about defending the two-man game. Obviously, the team D was horrible…but Boozer is a frequent problem on that end. Teams know they can attack him consistently in the halfcourt or get easy looks for threes whenever they aren’t running on us. Glad to see the limited minutes for Boozer in this one. Wish we were at least replacing those with Randle or Kelly. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-9 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He took a pass over the fronting D and scored off the glass. He scored a layup cutting off the Kobe post double team. He missed an open wing jumper next time down. He spun around his man under the hoop for the layup (almost an old man 360 layup since he didn’t really leave the floor). He backed his man under the hoop and drew FTs, he made one. He swiped the ball from his man and scored a layup on the break with Kobe. He choked a layup next time down off the Lin feed. He had 9 points on 4-6 shooting. Second Half: He gave up a couple of easy scores to Young to start the half. He scored a layup off an inbounds pass under the hoop. Third straight hoop for Young against Boozer to start. He missed a layup on a cut down a lane. He was fouled on a putback and made both FTs. He tipped in a Hill miss.

Johnson -- -- He was able to square up and hit from behind the arc in the first half. No fading, just catch and shoot. Very good game from Wes on that end of the floor to get his season high. He missed a big open look from three late in the game. “It felt good,” he said of that shot. He mentioned about the backdoor cuts on us for easy scores, the transition scores and the lack of focus to continually give up easy stuff. It’s a shame you get so many Lakers with good offensive games and you come up short. On your home floor. Against a bad team. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 7-10 shooting (4-7 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 38 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: He sank an open sideline three over the zone. He missed a three in early offense, probably should have worked it around more. He dropped a pass out of bounds. He sank a corner three off an inside-out sequence initiated by Kobe. He swished a wing three over the zone. He scooped up a loose ball and fumble-tripped it away trying to push it up court. He had 9 points on 3-4 shooting. Second Half: He sank a corner three on the kickout from Lin. His layup against the zone was goaltended. He stepped back and missed a wide open corner three (needed to be set up behind the arc). He threw down a halfcourt And-1 lob from Lin, wow. Horrible cross-court pass that went out of bounds. He couldn’t reel in an outlet off his fingertips. He scored a layup off the drive and dish from Price next time down. He blindsided a rebounder to steal the ball back and it led to Davis FTs. He then kept a missed Davis FT alive and it led to a Young three. He missed a wide open wing three on a Kobe kickout.

Young -- -- He, Kobe and Lin seemed to show a little bit of chemistry out there in the second half when they worked the triangle sets with Kobe in the high post. They really need minutes and reps together to build that. Kobe said he likes having Nick on that strong side of the offense. Some first half foul troubles limited Nick’s minutes early on. He came on strong in that second half. Tough call on Nick to give up the game-winning FTs against the other Young. We never saw a great angle on that call, but Nick certainly thought it was cheap. “We don’t have the freedom of speech,” Nick said about expressing how he felt about that call. Like his effort in this game. Nick even went to the floor at least three times for loose balls. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 6-12 shooting (1-3 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 2 turnovers and 5 fouls in 26 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He swished a pull-up And-1 jumper at the top of the key after coming off the weakside of the triangle, he made the FT. He missed a pretty good look from about 30 feet out at the end of the quarter. He missed a wing jumper to start the second quarter. Second Half: He sank an elbow jumper. He missed a short one in the paint he should have knocked down. He yanked down a screener for his fourth foul. He changed directions and hit the long sideline pull-up jumper. He missed a pull-up at the FT line. He sank a wing three when we recovered a missed FT. He tied up a man on D on the other end and drew a foul on the jumpball. He was fouled filling the lane on the break, he made both FTs. Quick first step baseline and he threw down with both hands. He reverse jammed cutting baseline off a split play sequence with Kobe who found him from the high post. Good effort to regain a possession by chasing after a ball in the corner. He stepped in off a three line and missed a jumper. He missed a wild turnaround three when we couldn’t make the post entry to Kobe and had to force up a shot against the shotclock. He was called for foul with 2.8 seconds left against the other Young for FTs.

Davis -- -- “We didn’t stick to our principles and it cost us the game,” Davis said about the D. He’s one of the few guys that seems to take pride on that end of the court. “That’s what wins games,” he said. Ed was foul-prone the moment he entered the game tonight. That limited his action in the first half. In the second half, that wasn’t an issue. He led the Lakers with 10 boards, doing a good job on the offensive end with 4. He and Lin showed a little chemistry again. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-3 shooting (0-2 from the line) to go with 10 boards (4 offensive), 1 assist, 1 block and 4 fouls in 15 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He picked up two quick fouls after entering the game. He picked up his third foul early in the second quarter in transition at midcourt, he ran straight to the bench. Second Half: He slammed off the two-man game with Lin. He cleaned up a missed drive by Lin. He worked the post for a jumphook to start the quarter. He was fouled trying to power up in the lane, he missed both FTs. Great recovery to save a sure layup with a rejection off the glass on a second effort under the hoop.

Price -- -- You could see he wanted to pressure Lavine, but why do it right in front of the refs? He got tagged with a couple fouls reaching in those situations. That’s not going to rattle a rookie when he’s getting the whistles. He had a couple of Lakers wide open in this game that he completely missed finding. Tired of not seeing Clarkson out there. We are 3-13 and giving up 120 with Price in the rotation. It’s not goint to hurt giving the rookie minutes. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-3 shooting to go with 3 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 15 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He missed a pull-up jumper, followed it to recover the ball, but then was stripped. Horrible pass with 5 seconds left in the quarter to throw it right to an opponent and force a Laker foul and FTs, just an awful decision. He picked up two fouls reaching on Lavine right in front of the ref about 35 feet from the hoop. Second Half: He attacked off the three line and missed. He pushed out and hit Wes for the layup. Awful shot from three with a teammate wide open.

Ellington -- -- Scott subbed him in for Lin to close the game. That’s probably telling about how he felt about both Lin and Price’s contributions. Lin played great offensively, but we were getting torched. So we went without a PG and it didn’t change anything. Ellington also missed a big wide open look from three in the close. A lot of guys were involved down the stretch but didn’t come up with anything offensively. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-7 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists and 1 foul in 20 minutes. He was a -12. The Action: He airballed a wing jumper. He drained a three behind a high screen out of a timeout. Second Half: He missed a tough baseline runner. He airballed a wing jumper (or was blocked) working off a screen a bit too slowly. He missed a wing three. He swished a wing jumper coming off the pindown. He missed a wide open corner three.

Sacre -- -- “I don’t know what happened out there,” Sacre said. He had some good minutes offensively. He’s not solving any of our problems defensively. “We just need to focus on our focus,” Sacre said. Nice quote. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-5 shooting to go with no other stats in 8 minutes. He was a +8. The Action: He missed a jumphook after backing his man down. He missed a 19-footer straight away. He posted up, turned baseline and hit the jumper. Soft touch on the one-hander in the lane off the two-man game. He swished a jumphook over his man on iso. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Scott -- -- TWolves opened in a zone D, which allowed the Lakers to measure some shots early on instead of the usually hard stuff they tend to create for themselves… The Lakers led 15-13 when the timeout came midway through the quarter… Young in for Johnson… TWolves timeout when the Lakers extended to a 6-point lead. Davis in for Boozer and he quickly picks up a foul… He sat Lin for Price… Sacre for Hill… Kobe out for Ellington (good quarter from Kobe)… The Lakers led 30-23 after the first quarter… He started a Sacre, Davis, Young, Ellington, Price unit… Davis out for Wes when he picked up his third foul a couple minutes in… Boozer in for Young, sliding Wes to SF when Nick picked up his third foul… Starters with Sacre, Boozer, Kobe, Ellington, Lin in with 7 minutes left… Lakers transition D looking awful and the TWolves trim the lead down. Just poor effort and execution, allowing the TWolves a number of layups… Zach Lavine with 18 points in the second quarter on 7-8 shooting… The Lakers led 58-54 at the half. TWolves with 13 points on the break… Coaches disappointed in the defensive letdown after getting a rare lead… TWolves going right after Boozer to start the half for several easy scores. The Lakers pulling back out to an 8-point lead after they were caught. Wes leading all Lakers in points… Lakers up 2, Boozer out for Young… Davis in for Hill… The Lakers led 96-93 heading into the fourth quarter… He started a Davis, Johnson, Young, Ellington, Price unit… He brought in Lin and Kobe for Price and Ellington. Hill for Davis up 6 with 6 to go… Scott sat Lin for Ellington up 3 with under 4 left… Lakers fell back by 2 with 40 seconds left. They got a rare stop and got the ball back with 20 on the clock. No timeout. Kobe iso’d and scored with 5 seconds left to tie it up… Nick Young called for a foul with 2.8 left for FTs. Tie score. TWolves make one. Timeout with 2.8 left… Kobe with a great look at a three, but he came up short. He was wide open, dead straight but short… Tough loss. Scott was ticked afterward… “Things that we talked about doing defensively, we just didn’t do,” Scott said…

[angrypuppy]

first

[mugwump]

Well, I missed the game tonight, but I never miss a DancingBarry game summary.
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"At the end of the day, you are what your record says that you are." --Mitch Kupchak

[SweetP]

We lost, at home, to the T-pups...
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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

[KeepItRealOrElse]

I can picture the giant SIGH you exhale when you press "submit".
Thanks for your contributions during the tank years. ...tank on playaz..

[twisted]

Wow, thanks for the quality work DB. you type fast!

[H0B0]

THX DB GO LAKERS

[angus]

B Scott basically still blaming execution and the players, nothing wrong with his wonderful plan just players not doing what he said to do... I call BS, and await the day he starts even slightly hinting that maybe his coaching plan and schemes, and/or lack thereof, may have some small part in the sorry state of things... not a hint of taking responsibility himself that you hear the better coaches mix in their descriptions of how they can and need to improve

[DancingBarry]

[KeepItRealOrElse]

[fiendishoc]

Thx DB.. This would have been the perfect game to throw Clarkson into but unfortunately he remained glued to the bench. I probably don't need to comment on the coaching. I think the rest of the fans are starting to come around to realizing what we're stuck with here for the foreseeable future.

[mhan00]

Since our front office has the amazing ability to continually hire coaches even worse than our previous one, I am wondering how much further we can sink from Byron Scott? Who could we possibly find who is dumber and more incompetent and yet talks a whole lot?

[DShotMaker1824]

Thanks DB, fell asleep after a long and hard day. This has to be the new worst loss of the season.
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"Through the legs to the left, through the legs to the right, we don't run them Laker plays, we just Kobe fadeaway..."

[Lakers#1Team]

[tw-lakbfan]

Wth, we now even couldn't beat the T'Wolves?

[tw-lakbfan]

Blown-out losses, players' fault; close losses, coaches' fault?

Was B Scott brain-dead?

[Richmond]

DB - Thanks for the analysis. Disappointed in that call on Young at the end. As a ref, how do you do that with 3 seconds left?

[wolfpaclaker]

[GoldenThroat]

[angrypuppy]

Thanks DB, I know it's tough on you to actually relive the loss on paper. It took a special degree of ineptitude to lose to the second-worse defensive team in the Association, at home, while being spotted a three starter advantage.

Oh well.

Being that I want to retain the rights to our first round pick, I wanted the Lakers to fall short. That being said, if BS wants to win these games he has three choices: Cut further back on Kobe's minutes, wait until that point in time when Kobe shows that he has grown into his surgically repaired body, or draw up a play for someone else. The last takes coaching ability, so I'm just throwing it out there for the sake of argument.

The telltale sign that Kobe was exhausted were those missed FTs, both short. When Kobe is fatigued, the answer isn't to have him launch a three. While the shot gave Kobe separation, he just didn't have the legs late in the fourth to shoot like that from distance.

[qiantom]

Lin was defending Mo Williams, not Lavine at the end of 4th Quarter?

[bws94]

Thanks. Bad D. Really bad D. That's it. Offense was really good from key players like Kobe, Lin and Young with Wes having a strong offensive game also. Maybe only Kobe played good D overall as well as the usual from Ed D. Team D wasn't good.

Kobe missing the FTs shouldn't happen but it coming down to a must make winning shot for Kobe shouldn't of happened either. Never pulled away on a run, never sustained a lead, D always let the T-Wolves back in.

[Lin_Stan]

[angrypuppy]

I don't know who had worse defense last night. The Lakers seemed happy to surrender transition defense baskets as the TPups refused to help or rotate, allowing easy layups. Both sides suffered back door cut humiliation, which provided a degree of comedic relief.

How bad was the Laker defense? Well the TPups were missing their best scorer, their starting PG and their leading rebounder/defensive presence. They spotted the Lakers 18 turnovers and 12 offensive boards. They allowed the Lakers to shoot 53.9% and score 119 points, both season highs for the Lakers. And the Lakers still lost. At Staples.

[ReaListik]

Byron can't do much with this squad. No coach can. The team just sucks. Personnel changes are where we're at and that will be hard to pull off.
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"We are the goodest." - Shaq ESPN interview