LAKERS -at- KINGS - 12-21-14 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Resting Kobe… The Lakers offensive identity is of a jumpshooting team with no ability to score in the paint. Down the stretch, they run this strategy through the tired legs of Kobe Bryant. Again and again.

They scored 60 points in the first half, stumbling out of the gates with their starters once again, getting a lift by the second unit and putting the Kings on their heels. The Laker three shooting was 8-12 when they had an 11-point lead at one point in the second half.

The scoring dried up, after a couple of threes by Nick in the fourth, they sputtered and stalled out as the offense became ineffective and predictable.

“They just got much more aggressive defensively and just took us out of everything,” Scott said

Down the stretch, they ran shot after shot through Kobe for a 4 minute stretch. The Lakers 1-point lead turned into a 9-point hole with 2 minutes left. That was the ball game. The Lakers would drop the game 108-101.

Scott said they never went to their offensive counters. He said some of it was Kobe needing to do a better job, but others need to do a better job getting into the offense. He said he’s thinking of sitting Kobe out a game or two.

There is no doubt he needs to rest Kobe. The team needs a lot of things that have been painfully obvious…


Kobe -- -- Scott is considering sitting Kobe out a game or two with how bad his shot has looked. Just no legs and no flow offensively. “It might make sense,” Kobe said. Michael Cooper disagreed and thought they should just really dial back the minutes. There could be some conflict with Scott trying to give him minutes and keep Kobe’s scoring average up. Otherwise, it just doesn’t make sense why he would be so reluctant to lower the minutes per game. That’s the only thing I can see that would be going through Scott’s head lately. “You’ve got to protect players from themselves sometimes,” Coop said. Kobe likes to play through injuries, play through whatever issues and has been successful doing that all his career. He’s always mentioned that he feels it’s an obligation for the fans who come out to see him for him to be out there and give it his all. So to sit out, it doesn’t sit well, but he’s very aware he needs to figure out something that works. Tonight, the Kings were doubling Kobe on the catch to start the game. Awful start for Kobe with turnovers and misses throughout the first part of the first quarter. The Lakers fell behind quickly as the first unit had no offense. He picked it up when the second unit subs came in and the D loosened up some. In the second half, the offense looked very clunky with Kobe. No real flow to it at all. They never seemed to be on the same page and he was very ineffective at times. Down the stretch we became myopic again with Kobe missing long jumpers off no real plays set up. Just way too much run through him. The 9 turnovers tonight were largely from trying to move the ball to teammates but unable to do so cleanly through a lot of the double coverage coming at him. With that starting lineup the way it is, defenses can load up too much on him. More balance, putting the ball into a more traditional playmaker’s hands and dialing back how much we are relying on him would do wonders for the team and for Kobe. Kobe said he agreed that ball movement stopped and player movement stopped. The Stats: He scored 25 points on 8-30 shooting (3-8 from three, 6-6 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, 9 turnovers and 3 fouls in 38 minutes. He was a -17. The Action: He missed a post turnaround over a double team on the Lakers first possession. He lost the dribble on a drive. He threw a pass out of bounds next time down trying to find Hill out of a double team. He missed a 16-footer. He drew the double and hit Price for the open three. He was doubled and had his pass picked off in the paint. He was called for a clear-out foul. He airballed a wing jumper. He finally scored on a pumpfaking short jumper in the paint. He made a tech FT. He missed a tough step-back wing jumper at the three line. He set up Sacre for FTs on the two-man game. He sank a three when the split play stalled. He attacked and missed a baseline jumper next time down. He forced up a wing jumper with a man all over him and drew FTs with 3 seconds left, he made both. He missed a baseline jumper. He missed a good look at a jumper, coming up short. He missed a short post up, but Hill cleaned it up. He attacked the paint and charged. He missed a short one attacking off the screen, but got his miss back. He pointed out the illegal D and drew the whistle, he made the tech. He missed a wing jumper. He was tripped on a move and grabbed his hand in pain after hitting the floor, he made both FTs. He swished a sideline three. Nearly a dumb gamble with 1.6 seconds left, he crashed the offensive glass to see if he could tip in a possible missed FT from Lin (choose someone like Ed Davis to do this on), that didn’t happen and it allowed the Kings for a good look at the buzzer when the Lakers had to scramble to recover on Kobe’s mistake. He had 14 points on 3-13 shooting and 5 turnovers. Second Half: He saved a pass at the half court, then buried a 32-footer to beat the shotclock. He posted up, drew a crowd, attacked baseline and whipped a pass to Hill for the layup. He missed a wing three. He was stripped for a breakaway and was upset about the no call. He attacked with speed and hit the pull-up 12-footer. He backed his man down with ease, no double team and he scored the easy turnaround in the paint, forcing a timeout. He swiped the ball from his man and scored the breakaway layup. He missed a tough corner jumper. He missed a three. He was called for a travel next time down. He pumped, drew contact and no whistle as he lost the ball. He missed a pull-up wing jumper off the screen. He didn’t box out on a switch and gave up a putback. He missed a hanging jumper in the paint at the end of the quarter. He missed a forced wing three off a handoff with 4 seconds on the shotclock. He missed a long wing jumper and was upset at the no call. He was blocked on a jumper, score the other way. He attacked across the lane, pumped a couple times and hit the short baseline jumper out of the timeout. He missed another long jumper. He was called for a charge trying to attack no space down the middle of the paint. He missed a pull-up three next time down. He grabbed an airball and found Hill for the layup. He threw a pass into Hill’s shins, turnover. He missed a leaning heave at three.

Hill -- -- Not much of a game from Hill as he didn’t have any kind of shot from the perimeter. We were also pretty sloppy trying to get him the ball outside of those situations. He and Davis had their moments on the offensive glass, combining for 7. He had trouble defensively dealing with Cousins, but was probably our second-best defender on him. Cousins is better defended with as much size, length as you can throw against him. The Lakers generally lack that. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-12 shooting to go with 9 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist and 3 fouls in 33 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He missed an elbow turnaround. He missed an early offense jumper from his spot 19 feet out. He missed another long jumper. He couldn’t finish a jumphook from a couple feet away. He missed an up-and-under and a tip attempt. He tipped in a Kobe missed jumper. He tipped in a Kobe miss in the post. He lost his man with the up-and-under but was blocked by the help D. Second Half: He scored a layup over a defender off the interior feed from Kobe. He missed a long jumper. He scored a layup off the interior feed from Kobe.

Davis -- -- Good job on the offensive glass or the rare post touch (can we give him more, please?). Defensively, he doesn’t have enough strength to deal with Cousins. Outside of Sacre, no one blocked a shot for the Lakers. The Kings had 7. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-5 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards (4 offensively), 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He hit a jumphook in the middle of the lane, flashing to get good post position (finally a shot in the paint for the Lakers). He fumbled away a pass from Kobe under the hoop. He drew FTs on a putback attempt. He scored a layup off the two-man game with Price. Great job crashing the glass and he put back in a Kobe miss, pulling it from down low and putting it in all in one motion while in the air. He swiped a pass under the hoop. Second Half: He stretched out and tipped in the Kobe missed three.

Johnson -- -- Not much of a game from Wes. He looked like he was coming out with some energy and hitting the defensive glass hard to star the game, but that didn’t last. I had mentioned maybe running Wes at PF when the Lakers need to go with one of those ultra-aggressive full-court defensive squads. Scott made that change tonight when the Lakers were in desperation mode with a minute left. They had a moment, but it was too little too late at that point.The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-5 shooting (1-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: He sank a long wing jumper for the Lakers first score. Good job on the glass early on. He missed a long wing jumper. He attacked baseline and charged. He sank a three off the high handoff from Hill. He missed a wing three. He swiped a pass, but biffed a breakaway dunk (just try to lay it in). Second Half: He fumbled a pass out of bounds, unforced error taking his eyes off the ball (he does this more than anyone on the team on perimeter passes). He drew FTs getting run into from behind on a pull-up jumper, he made both.

Price -- -- A lot of our issues are summed up in our starting PG having just 1 assist. We don’t rely on Ronnie to create because he’s not great at doing that. He’s also not consistently a threat with his three. He had a good scoring burst in the first quarter the other night, which made life a lot easier, but that won’t occur very often. He can pass on set plays and is okay on the occasional two-man sequence. But we just don’t have enough balance out there consistently. So we have Kobe going into turnover/chuck mode with a lot of defensive pressure on him. We just need more talent on the floor. His deficiencies are only compounded with Wes on the floor. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 2-6 shooting (1-5 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 4 offensive boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 5 fouls in 27 minutes. He was a -6. The Action: He sank an open three off the Kobe double team. He set up Davis on the two-man game for the layup. He attacked from the corner aggressively, spun and drew FTs at the rim, he made both. Second Half: He threw a pass away, easy score for the Kings. He backed his man down and banked. He drilled Collison hard in transition D. Pressure D as the Lakers went full court and he swiped the ball from behind on help D. He missed a three. He drew FTs when Kobe knocked a ball loose, he made one. He missed a three at the buzzer.

Young -- -- Good first half, but only rewarded with 11 minutes despite being hot. He got a little more run in the second half. There’s just no excuse for playing Kobe as many minutes as we are right now when Nick can step in and give him some relief. “We don’t need him to kill himself. That’s what I’m here for,” Nick said. This seems obvious to so many, yet Scott has been a deer in the headlights. We need more of a mix offensively when he’s out there, too, with Kobe. This was a good example of how not to close a game. We were very easy to defend with Kobe launching long shots and no offense run. The Stats: He scored 26 points on 7-14 shooting (4-9 from three, 8-8 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals and 4 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: He missed a wing three. He attacked the paint on a handoff and drew FTs, he made both. He scooped up a loose ball and scored a layup off the baseline attack. He swished a step-back sideline three. Quick attack off the Lakers defensive rebound into the offensive zone and he scored a layup next time down. He missed a wing three. He sank a three in the transition counter strike after a made hoop. He had 12 points in 11 minutes, should be playing at least 4 or 5 more minutes a half. Second Half: He crossed over and swished the elbow jumper, wondering why he didn’t get a whistle. He missed a wing three. He missed a wing three on a two-for-one. He couldn’t finish a layup on the break. He swished an open three out of a timeout. Next time down he hit a deep And-1 three straight away, he made the FT. He split a double team and missed an easy layup. He drew an offensive foul on Gay holding strong in the post D. He attacked off the Price backcourt steal and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a forced three. He up-faked and drew three FTs from the corner with 6 seconds left, he made all three.

Lin -- -- Pretty ineffective game from Lin. The only thing we consistently do offensively is chuck long shots. He didn’t think they should necessarily go away from the offense, but that we should run it better. “When everybody’s touching it and feeling it and everybody’s scoring, that’s contagious,” Lin said. He said the team isn’t buying into the system and that they don’t have the luxury of collective experience together not to. Despite his encouraging the team to run the system, he’s also said some contradictory things about their offense in the past. So I’m not so sure he’s buying into it, either, even though he is trying to get guys to execute it. He referenced the Spurs game as how they should play. “To me that was the purest basketball we played,” he said, not just offensively but defensively. Offensively, the Spurs sent a lot of help to Kobe and he moved the ball, finishing with 22 points and 9 assists. Lin played more of his game with moments of speed and 8 assists…just getting a better mix of everything out there. This was his “we’re not soft” game where Kobe got on them at practice and they responded. If Scott sits Kobe, it will be interesting to see what he does with the starters that game. Do you move Nick to Kobe’s spot and then let Jeremy run the second unit more to his strengths? Probably not. This team swims against the current. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-3 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 5 assists, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He attacked with speed off the screen, took contact and scored the layup with his left hand. He curled into the top of the lane and whipped a no-look pass under the hoop to Boozer for the layup. He got caught in the air and threw a pass away, layup the other way. He pushed out a long rebound with speed and set up Ellington for the FTs. He took an inbounds from Kobe at the end of the half and drew FTs on a trip with 1.6 left, he made both. Second Half: He missed a wing three. He attacked and missed a prayer, dunk the other way. He threw a pass away on the break, poor execution. He hit Boozer on the two-man game and he attacked for a layup. He was called for a travel for dragging a pivot foot on a drive.

Boozer -- -- Quiet game from Boozer. He never really seemed integrated into the offense. He’s played very well off the bench since his move there but this was his least effective game to date. This team can never do anything effective consistently. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-7 shooting to go with 7 boards and 1 foul in 22 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He missed a baseline jumper. He swished a FT pull-up jumper in early offense. He scored a layup off the no-looker from Lin. Second Half: He faced up and missed a jumper. He was stripped on a layup. He attacked off the bounce pass on the two-man game and scored a layup.

Ellington -- -- He’s reliant on our system or any system where the ball gets him in catch-and-shoot situations. The Lakers were not creating those kinds of looks with any consistency in this one. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-3 shooting (1-2 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 assist and 2 fouls in 11 minutes. He was a +9. The Action: He missed a turnaround off the pindowns. He sank a three on iso. He drew FTs filling the lane on the break with Lin, he made one FT. Second Half: He skied for a defensive rebound on one end, but missed the three on the other.

Sacre -- -- I thought it was actually a key moment when Sacre left the game in the fourth. He was manning up Cousins on iso D really well. We subbed in Davis and quickly gave up a couple of scores on that mismatch. Defensively, that was a mistake that gave the Kings some separation at a key stretch. Sacre was one of the team leaders with the +/-. We just looked a little better with his D out there. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-2 shooting (1-4 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 2 blocks and 3 fouls in 13 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: Nice rotation to help behind the two-man game, then he drew a charge on the iso D in the post. He was rewarded with a pass on the two-man game on the other end for FTs, he missed both, however. Second Half: He drew FTs on the Kobe pass, he made one. Nice post D on iso against the Cousins to get a stop. He sank an open baseline jumper.

Scott -- -- Kings doubling Kobe on the touch. All you need to do is overplay against Kobe with this lineup and make others beat you. You keep Kobe shooting low percentage shots and take your chances that Price, Hill and Johnson aren’t going to beat you from the outside. Decent odds that’s not going to happen consistently… The Lakers trailed 15-7 when the timeout came midway through the quarter… He brought in Boozer and Young for Davis and Johnson… Down 10 when Price and Hill sat for Sacre and Lin… The Lakers trailed 26-23 after the first quarter. Good job by the second unit to chip away at a 10-point lead. Kobe scored 8 of the last 12 with better offensive players around him, too… He started the Sacre, Boozer, Young, Ellington, Lin lineup. Will Lin throttle it up? Swaggy will... Sacre picked up his third and had to quickly sit for Hill… The second unit picked up the lead… He brought back in Kobe with 7 minutes left for Young. Should have kept him out a little longer, Lakers up 4. He brought back in the rest of the starters. Good way to lose the lead with near wholesale subs right here… Lakers down by 5 pretty quickly, but they rally back with a run after they get warmed up… He sat Davis for Ellington on the final defensive stand. Lin in for the final offensive possession (to protect Price from a third foul most likely). Lin drew FTs with 1.6 left… The Lakers led 60-52 at the half. The Lakers made 7-10 from three and did a good job getting on the offensive glass… Young in for Johnson, first sub after Wes picked up a foul… The Kings called a timeout down 11 when Kobe scored with ease in the post on single coverage… He brought in Lin with 5:19 left when Price picked up a foul, Lakers up by 11… Boozer in for Davis… Sacre in for Hill, Lakers up by just 4… Lakers falling apart to close the quarter, going 0-12… The Lakers trailed 81-80 heading into the fourth… He started the Sacre, Boozer, Young, Ellington, Lin unit… A 17-1 run for the Kings during this stretch before Young hit two three’s including an And-1 three. That gave the Lakers a 6-point lead… He brought in Kobe for Ellington with under 7 minutes left, Lakers up 2… He sat Sacre for Davis, some good D by Sacre on Cousins in the post… The Kings go after Davis with Cousins for some key scores, this hurt… He sat Boozer and Lin for Hill and Price down 3 with 5 minutes left… Hill now on Cousins… A couple of misses by Kobe on iso and the Kings were up by 8 quickly. Timeout Lakers… They doubled Cousins and gave up a layup to the cutter we doubled off of… Offense is way to Kobe centric down the stretch and ineffective… He went with Wes at PF to extend our D…

[fafan]

No. 1, thanks!
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"Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." --Sarah Cook.

[ODotSoHot]

nvm....thanks for the write-up, DB!

[summerly]

Thanks DB! Classy

[H0B0]

THX DB. GO LAKERS.

[mhan00]

(bleep) Byron Scott. Kobe should have been on a minutes restriction from the beginning of the season (and I, and many others said that) with gradual ramping up if he looked good. Instead, Scott kind of limited his minutes a tiny bit, and when Kobe looked pretty good, just threw him out there to kill himself. And to compound things, not one peep from Scott or any acknowledgement that he might need to ramp Kobe's minutes back down when he clearly needed some rest. Kobe is going to try to run through a brick wall during games, that's who he is. It's up to a coach to protect Kobe from himself; too bad we got a lame duck (bleep) excuse for a coach instead of a decent one.

Scott keeps saying we aren't running our system. I never hear one word of self recrimination, all he does is blame the players for not doing the right thing. How about a little accountability? If Scott is intentionally trying to tank, he's even (bleep) that up since he's wearing Kobe out in the process instead of conserving him for next season. He's a (bleep) coach either way.

[xiaozhugong]

In the last 5 games, the Lakers starters are ranked No. 30 out of 30 NBA teams in points per game. The Lakers' bench: No. 1 out of 30 teams in points per game.

http://www.hoopsstats.com/basketball/fantasy/nba/teamstats/15/7/pts/5-1

[DJ Slik]

the lakers starting lineup is one of the worst in team history.

[DJ Slik]

[Shaber]

[Charisma]

Thanks DB!

I am still mad that we let this winnable game get away. After losing to OKC by just one point I thought this team has finally turned the corner .

[Reflexx]

[Unstable]

Thanks db, missed seeing the game.

BS should seriously think about resting Kobe. The current starting unit is simply not competitive at all, I don't think we shoud wait until after th 40th game before he makes another adjustment.....
_________________
Calling another person idiotic does not necessarily mean you are less idiotic than that person. The best way to improve oneself is to focus on the positive things in life and build on them.

[TDRock]

I had to leave before the half. The Rest Kobe meme is getting tired from BScott and Kob. Every game I hear how he's tired and nearly every game he plays more minutes than anyone else. And then I have to hear about "uncharted territory" and "trying to figure it out". What in the entire hell? Nothing to figure out: Stop. Playing. So. Damn. Much.

Thanks for the write up as always, DB.

[bws94]

I'm flat out disgusted by Scott tonight. What is he doing? Kobe can't continue like this and it is disturbing how he is overusing Kobe, trying to suck out more from him than he has. And what kind of combination of players did he have out there? He's supposed to be coaching, not putting seemingly random guys out there and hoping they'll gel. This is more than a fail from Byron, this is misuse of personnel. Kobe is a legend, you don't do tonight what Byron does to a legend and consider yourself competent. You are either a sadist or incompetent. And I'll give Byron the benefit of the doubt and call him incompetent.

Great job, DB. Always look forward to your thorough post-game players/coach report and game analysis.

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[A Mad Chinaman]

thanks DB for another meltdown recap done excellently and accurately

BScott is in a dilemma of playing with a roster that is definitely lacking in talent

Understand that he is having JLin, Boozer and Young coming off the bench to start their PT against the opposing bench since they were having problems starting. The problem is the black holes of Johnson and Price. Maybe he should have them pressing full court to bump up the tempo

Another problem is the lack of any production from Hill and Davis. They are not running the court and Kobe has no confidence in them on offense at the end of recent games. If the bigs are not making any impact, might as well go small and let Ellington have some PT

We need to dial down Kobe's minutes. Agree that it is a crime to not have paying customers not see him play. It is a much greater crime for them to see a first ballot HOF just flat out struggling (ala Jordan in his days with the Bullets). A long string of games like this will make Kobe consider retiring at the end of this season, especially if the team's talent level goes up dramatically

[mhan00]

Huh, just realized that Kobe had more shots than the rest of the starters combined. That can't be a recipe for success. How often has that happened? I'm sure it does with notorious shot jackers like Iverson and Harden and Westbrook existing, but it can't be too common, can it?

Edit - might be more common than I thought. Westbrook had 27 shots compared to 27 shots by the rest of the starters combined tonight too. Volume shooters are volume shooters I guess.

[tw-lakbfan]

Kobe was too sturbbon to take less shots down the stretch. He really hasn't been smart with his plays. Neither was Scott with his game management.

It's been so painful to watch the Laker games so far.

Kudos to DB for your dedication to this thoughts & ratings through these down days.

[tw-lakbfan]

[tw-lakbfan]

[Shaber]

[Vin]

Tired legs don't explain the selfishness and the bad shot selection. Kobe lost his mind last night.

[Richmond]

[DShotMaker1824]

Kobe should sit against the Warriors. No sense trying to win that one. He needs to play on Christmas though.
_________________

"Through the legs to the left, through the legs to the right, we don't run them Laker plays, we just Kobe fadeaway..."