WARRIORS -at- LAKERS - 12-23-14 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Tables Turned… Without Kobe, the Lakers took on a Warriors team that had won 18 of their last 19. They had destroyed the Lakers by an average of 26 points per game.

Maybe it was a trap game for the Warriors. Maybe the Lakers to a man decided they would have to pick up their intensity without Kobe. Maybe it was Jordan Hill giving a speech before the game. Maybe it was team playing free without the ball going through Kobe over and over.

“Sometimes you’ve got to move your security blanket to the side and just go out and play,” Scott said of playing without Kobe.

It also could have been the D. The Lakers had a season-high 11 steals to go with 10 blocks in the 115-105 win. Their help D rotations were quick and on point. The bigmen protected the rim and erased shots. The guards scrambled for loose balls and steals. Those turned into offensive bustouts and easy scores.

Offensively, it seemed like everything fell right for the Lakers. They can’t always rely on the shots that were dropping tonight. They simply won’t. As they say, offense will come and go, but the effort the Lakers put up on the defensive end of the floor was something that should always be there. I’m not sure we’ve see so many pass deflections and shotblocks combined in a game.

“You’ve got to attack them and put on their heels a little bit,” Jeremy Lin said of the Lakers defensive approach.

They were the aggressor defensively, and this time it was the Warriors who found themselves trailing by as many as 24 points in a blowout loss.


Hill -- -- “I gave my first speech tonight before the game,” Hill said. “I just said go out there and play for each other.” He said that everyone would doubt them without their leader out there. The guys responded. Loved the defensive effort from the Laker bigs tonight. They were rejecting and altering so many shots. Hill was a beast on that end of the floor protecting the paint. It was vital that we kept the Warriors out of transition and getting easy ones. We did and the Lakers D was able to dig in in the halfcourt and cause all kinds of problems. He didn’t have his jumper going and was the only starter not in double figures but the 4 shotblocks in 18 minutes were one of the stats of the game. Good job stepping in and showing some leadership. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-5 shooting (2-4 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 assist, 4 blocks, 1 turnover and no fouls in 18 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He was called for a travel in the post. He missed a 19-footer wide open. He took an inbounds a few seconds later and dunked. He hit Wes popping out at the FT line for a jumper. He backed his man down under the hoop and drew FTs, he made one. He missed his set shot straight away. Nice challenge twice on plays at the rim to alter shots and we get the stop. He rejected a shot at the rim, but we couldn’t recover. Second Half: Hell of a defensive play, he deflected a pass on the two-man D, dove out of bounds to save it back in, hustled back on court to reject a shot with Wes under the hoop. He attacked the paint with speed and drew FTs at the rim, he made one. He missed a floater. He looked like Pau in the high post, surveying cutters on the split play, then finding Ellington under the hoop on the weakside instead.

Davis -- -- We had an extended stretch of Lin/Davis on the court and some good things happened as a result. Imagine that. He and Lin teamed up for a lob dunk off the two-man game. Several dunks by the Lakers tonight. Those lob plays and dunks get the crowd going, get the guys pumped up and the team plays better. Davis was a perfect 7-7, getting everything to go. We’ve got to do a better job of consistently hitting him both on the roll and in the low post where he’s sneaky effective. The Laker trio bigs combined for 8 shot blocks. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 7-7 shooting to go with 5 boards (2 offensive), 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks and no fouls in 21 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He grabbed a missed three and put it in before coming down. He slammed on the break trailing the action and taking the pass. He took a pass, side-stepped a man and scored the layup. He rolled to the hoop and Lin hit him for the layup. He rolled to the hoop and this time Lin lobbed to him for the throwdown. He hit a jumphook off the low position. He had 12 points on 6-6 shooting and 4 boards in the half. Second Half: He swiped a pass on the two-man D. Nice recovery to reject a drive. They dumped it to him in the post against a smaller man and he hit the baseline jumphook.

Ellington -- -- I wouldn’t mind Ellington starting with Kobe sliding to SF. The offensive spacing and balance would look better. He’s also not hesitant to shoot…ever, which would help balance out Kobe’s aggressiveness. “We need to be able to play like that with him out there,” Wayne said of when Kobe returns. “He has a kind of presence that makes guys kind of shy away from their game and become passive, and that’s something we’ve got to get away from. We’ve got to play exactly like we did with him out there.” The choices for Scott with Kobe out are either Ellington or Young to start. The Lakers were a little lucky that both Price and Johnson were hitting shots tonight. We won’t get that consistently but that made the lineup click much better. Ellington had a nice mix of perimeter shooting and plays around the rim tonight. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-9 shooting (2-4 from three) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 25 minutes. He was a +10. The Action: He was blocked on a runner in the paint. He fumbled a ball out of bounds next time down, unforced error. He missed a long, challenged wing jumper in early offense, we do a good job of being predictable on these (he should fake the shot and attack a little more). He swished a long wing catch-and-shoot jumper. He inbounded, cut baseline and took the return bounce pass from Wes for the dunk. Second Half: He drained a wing three in early offense. He missed a wing three on a kickout. He spun away from the screen, attacked the lane with speed and scored a layup, wow (more please). Sloppy pass back and it led to a Warrior transition hoop. He iso’d and drained a pull-up three over Klay. Nice job hustling in the passing lane to force a turnover on a deflection. He cut baseline weakside, took pass from Hill under the hoop, faked his man, drew another and dumped it back to Boozer for the layup. He missed a long three up against the shotclock.

Johnson -- -- The Lakers got a combined 31 points from Price and Johnson. I think they probably win most games when they can get that from this duo in the starting lineup. Wes did most of his damage in the first half. He was in on some key transition baskets in that half…a huge halfcourt lob from Nick. A three for Nick when Wes’s outlet was off the mark, but Nick hit from the corner anyway. And, another three by Wes when we had a man advantage. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 5-10 shooting (2-4 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 turnover with no fouls. He was a +14. The Action: Brick 16-foot frozen rope on his first touch. He drained a three off a handoff next time down, much better looking shot. Airball on a fading jumper, just go up straight, please. He gave up a dunk on iso D. He missed a wing three in transition. Nice feed to Hill on the inbounds for a slam. Strong first step in early offense and he powered in a layup on the baseline. He hit an open jumper at the FT line when Hill found him coming off the screens. He got called for a travel taking an extra step to dunk on a drive. Way off the mark on an outlet after scooping up a loose ball on D, but Nick tracked it down in the corner and hit a three. He hit Ellington cutting baseline backdoor for the dunk. He swished an open wing three when we had a 5-on-4 situation. He got out in transition next time down and Nick lobbed from halfcourt for the sensational throwdown. He had 12 points, 3 assists and 1 steal in the half. Second Half: He drew a late whistle on a forced baseline jumper that hit the side of the backboard, he made both FTs. He missed a flat fallaway jumper.

Price -- -- “Defensively, that’s the biggest thing that we collectively as a unit did possession in and possession out,” Ronnie said. “I think if we look at our energy, the way we moved, the way we helped on the weakside, that’s something that’s going to have to carry on and carry over because we’re not going to have offensive nights to where we are clicking on all cylinders.” One of the better nights of his career with the 17 points, 8 assists and 3 steals going up against Steph Curry. He was a point off his career high of 18. Heck of a two-way game. “I thought Ronnie took the challenge,” Scott said. During one stretch of the game, Ronnie hit three straight threes. He was feeling it and took it right at Curry. Defensively, he was a step or two faster than any Warrior, going after loose balls and boards. We won most of the 50-50 balls tonight. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 6-10 shooting (3-7 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 8 assists, 3 steals, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 31 minutes. He was +11. The Action: He swiped a dribble from Klay. He missed a wing three. He was called for a charge. He attacked with speed across the lane and hit the layup. He telegraphed a post entry pass out of a timeout, turnover. He found Sacre for the open elbow jumper off the two-man game. He swiped a horrible pass in transition. He missed leaning three. He swiped an inbounds in the back court and missed a three, but we scored a putback on it. He was stripped on the perimeter. He lost the ball, got it back and found Davis for the jumphook in the scramble. He probed, reversed directions on a spin to lose his man and scored the layup. Nice crash on the defensive glass to pull the ball away from the Warriors. Second Half: He attacked the paint, took contact and tossed it up and in somehow. He missed an open wing three. He swished a corner three on a return pass from Boozer. He swished a wing three next time down on the Sacre kickout. He worked Curry off a screen and swished the three over him, third in a row. He hustled for a Boozer airball and called timeout from the floor. He was intentionally fouled and made both FTs.

Young -- -- “We just played like Django Unchained and were free tonight…They had no handcuffs on them and they just felt free tonight,” Nick joked afterward. It’s hard to tell what part of his postgame interviews are serious, but the team played loose and free offensively without Kobe. They were moving the ball and running a lot more two-man game through the PGs it seemed. At the end of the game when we started running clock and iso’ing, the ball stopped moving, guys stopped cutting and the offense went flat. That looked very much like how we’ve played with Kobe down the stretch. Thankfully, we had a huge lead in this one. Still, you could see the difference in the flow and player movement and how clunky things got quickly when our play calling resorts to iso’s. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-13 shooting (2-6 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He lost his man on an inside-out dribble and a screen, then hit the three with Staples buzzing. He blocked a bigger man under the hoop out of the zone. His pass was picked off. He crashed the glass and hit the And-1 putback with 2 seconds left in the quarter, he made the FT. He missed a long wing three. He swiped a pass playing tight on-the-ball D. He tracked down a long outlet that was off the mark, forcing him into the corner instead of for a dunk, so he squared up and sank the open three instead. He iso’d and hit the step-back wing jumper, impossible to defend that. He attacked the lane but couldn’t get the finish over the rim. Beautiful lob from halfcourt to Wes for the throwdown on the break. He had 11 points and 4 boards in the half. Second Half: He missed a step-back elbow jumper on iso. He swished an elbow pull-up jumper. He was hammered on a wing pull-up jumper, he made both FTs. He missed a three. He missed a step-back jumper. He missed a chuck from three when the offense stalled. He ran clock and missed a drive. He missed a tough three up against the shotclock.

Lin -- -- “You’ve got to attack them and put on their heels a little bit,” Lin said of how the Lakers needed to play D. “Do as much of that as you can. Make them throw skip passes and things like that. Our weakside defense was really good tonight.” Both Lin and Price had 3 steals each. The Lakers had been anything but disruptive against the Warriors on D this season. Tonight, they turned the tables. The Laker frontcourt and backcourt both battled hard and good things happened. Offensively, Lin’s game had more flow to it as he got to create off the screens more. He missed a couple of easy layups he probably should have had. He did a good job getting dribble penetration and setting up others. The Lakers need to penetrate the D, but just don’t seem to want to do that most of the time. Very frustrating. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-11 shooting (3-5 from three) to go with 1 board, 5 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He drained an open wing three on a kickout in transition. He missed a rainbow three chuck, not a good look. He missed a layup in transition. He drained a three off the high handoff when his man went under the screen. He stepped in for a charge in transition and got the stop. He knocked a ball loose and tipped it ahead to Clarkson for a dunk. Great job pouncing on a Warrior trying to get an offensive board and he swiped it away from him. He hit Davis rolling to the hoop for a layup. He worked off the high screen from Davis and lobbed to him for the dunk (why don’t these two stay on the floor together more? It’s so puzzling). He attacked the rim hard and was called for the charge, erasing an And-1 layup (no way the defender was set on that). Second Half: He banked in a top-of-the-key jumper falling to the ground at the end of the quarter (that’s how it’s going for the Lakers). He missed a wing pull-up jumper. He missed a wing three. Nice D to swipe a backdoor pass to his man. He biffed an easy layup at the rim, got to finish those. He hesitated then attacked the paint with speed, drew the D and dumped it back to Boozer on the no-looker for a point-blank layup. He attacked the paint with speed and hit Boozer for the FTs. He ran clock down and missed an elbow jumper. He drained a wing three.

Boozer -- -- Very efficient scoring night. It seemed like he was in the right place at the right time on the offensive glass to get some easy scores. Lin also found him for some easy points, as well. Most of his damage was in the second half. “I thought we did a good job playing D the whole game,” Boozer said. They didn’t let up until the game was well in hand. A little sloppy holding onto the ball tonight with 5 turnovers. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 8-11 shooting (2-6 from the line) to go with 9 boards (4 offensive), 3 assists, 1 block, 5 turnovers and 2 fouls in 26 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He faked a handoff and swished a rainbow turnaround on the baseline. Quick spin in the midpost and he drew FTs at the rim, he made one. He grabbed an offensive board and slammed it down with both hands, haven’t seen that from him. He missed a point-blank putback. Second Half: He scored a layup off the interior feed from Ellington. Nice drop step to the middle to seal his man and score the layup easily. He iso’d and missed the baseline jumper. Bad kickout right to the Warriors. He grabbed a Sacre airball jumphook and scored the layup. He had a rebound bounce to him (did he get away with a push or was it mistimed? Couldn’t tell) and he scored the layup. He was hit on an 18-footer, he made one FT. He hit Sacre cutting for the layup. He was stripped on the break for a turnover. He hit a wing jumper getting knocked over on the challenge with no call. He blocked a layup on help D and it led to a shotclock violation. He scored a layup on the drive and dish from Lin, who put it right in his lap. His pass out of the triangle was picked off for a three the other way. Lin attacked and hit him for FTs in the lane, he missed both. He fumbled the ball away on the two-man game. Nice pressure in the backcourt passing lane to force a turnover. He airballed a baseline jumper.

Clarkson -- -- Very controlled game by Clarkson. He took the Ellington role off the bench, starting the second and fourth quarters. I wouldn’t mind seeing Ellington in the starters, sliding Kobe to SF and getting Clarkson some SG minutes. He needs the PT. He probably should have had 8 points, but missed a couple of point-blank scores at the rim. Defensively, he moved his feet well and hustled as always. His only brainlock was a play where he picked up his dribble, then forced a pass and compounded that turnover with a clear-path foul. A series of errors in about a second. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-7 shooting to go with 2 boards, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 15 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He choked a layup in transition, not sure how after the nice probe to get right to the rim. He got tapped on a short baseline floater. He missed a rushed wing jumper against the shotclock. He picked up his dribble on the perimeter and was stripped when he panicked, turnover and clear-path foul. He scooped up a loose ball tapped out by Lin and took it for the dunk. Second Half: He curled into the lane off the split play and swished his floater from about 10 feet out, very nice control. He missed a leaner, but quickly bounced up only to miss the follow tip and hit the floor hard.

Sacre -- -- “We played hard. That’s all that matters,” Sacre said. He mentioned the ball rotations and helping the helper by everyone was the key. The bigs were awesome. The two-man D was decisive. The Lakers were recovering and playing on a string. Sacre had a couple of blocks and drew a charge, as well. Meanwhile, you had mistakes like Curry doubling Sacre in the post and leaving an open three shooter that Sacre found. Or when Sacre airballed a jumphook, it went right to Boozer for a layup. Everything went right, it seemed. Just a complete role reversal tonight for the two teams. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 2 blocks and 1 foul in 23 minutes. He was a +8. The Action: Soft touch on the turnaround in the lane to get it to drop. He sank an elbow jumper on the two-man game. He tried to fish soft at the rim instead of attacking and bricked. Second Half: He posted up and kicked out to Price for the three after drawing a dumb double from Curry. He rejected Lee on a nice recovery under the hoop. He airballed a jumphook right to Boozer for the layup. He cut weaksdie and took the Boozer pass for a layup. But he got confused on D on the other end and gave up a layup. He missed a jumphook. He got it back stepping in to take a charge against Barbosa on the other end.

Scott -- -- He sat Kobe who had been gunning with no legs. The team played inspired ball on both ends for long stretches in this game.… The Lakers led 13-11 when the timeout came midway through the quarter… Lakers up 16-14 when Ellington and Davis sat for Lin and Boozer, Lin at the SG… Wes out for Nick on the next stop, same score… He sat Hill for Sacre score tied… Great job by everyone. Several dunks for the Lakers in the quarter. One of their better first quarters since the previous lineup changes… The Lakers led 34-24 after the first… He started a Sacre, Boozer, Young, Clarkson, Lin lineup… Zone D to start the quarter and they got a stop… Sacre out, Davis in after 3 minutes, Lakers up 11… Up 9, he sat Sacre for Johnson… Some good D turning into bust outs and the Lakers took a 14-point lead, forcing a timeout. So far 8 Laker steals in the half. Very impressive… He brought back in Ellington for Clarkson, Lakers up 46-32 with under 6 minutes left… Up 16 and he sat Lin for Price… He sat Davis for Hill, Lakers up 14 with 2 minutes left. Wes at PF still… Lakers just dominated the half, especially turning defense to offense, while not allowing the Warriors to do the same… The Lakers led 63-48 at the half. The Lakers shot 56%, the Warriors 40%. The Lakers made 6-13 from three and had 19 assists. They had 9 steals to the Warriors 4. Lakers didn’t allow a fastbreak point to the Warriors… The Lakers pushed the lead out to 21 early… Curry trimmed it to 14 quickly and Scott called a timeout with 7 minutes left… Davis out for Boozer… Warriors trimmed it to 10, but Price caught fire, swishing three three’s sandwiched around a Boozer layup to drive the lead back up to 91-70, forcing another Warrior timeout… Wes out for Young with 2 minutes left… Lin in for Price, who was smoking hot… The Lakers led 95-73 heading into the fourth. The Warriors can score points in a hurry, so the Lakers can’t let up the intensity… He started the Sacre, Boozer, Young, Clarkson, Lin lineup… They traded hoops for most of the quarter, then the Lakers started to get conservative… Up 14 with 3 minutes left, he sat Clarkson for Price… Lakers not playing aggressively down the stretch. More than 5 minutes since they last scored… Slow finish, but the Lakers still finished shooting 51.7% for the game. Only team to shoot more than 50% against the Warriors this season… On the team having everyone step up on offense: “Kobe and I have talked about that. When we go through slumps or periods we are not playing well, he takes it upon himself to be the aggressor. That’s just him. One thing we’ve talked about is allowing those guys to continue to play.”…

[mhan00]

What a win.

[H0B0]

THX DB. GO LAKERS

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[Hammett]

So nice to see all those double digits point totals. Team effort!
_________________
Lakers. Built different.

[rayfantastic]

"why don’t these two (Edsanity) stay on the floor together more? It’s so puzzling"

Puzzling is an understatement. There is no acceptable explanation short of a conspiracy theory.

[tyusedney1]

nice to see everybody with a happy little emoticon tonight! it's like that feeling back in 2nd grade where every student got stickers for overachieving

[SweetP]

"As they say, offense will come and go, but the effort the Lakers put up on the defensive end of the floor was something that should always be there. I’m not sure we’ve see so many pass deflections and shotblocks combined in a game."

So why isn't that defensive intensity there all the time? People keep fixating on offense, Kobe shoots too much, Lin shoots too little, why aren't Lin and Davis on the court more, blah blah. Why is the defensive intensity missing so much, from ALL the players?
_________________
“There is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it.” --Amanda Gorman

[vixvolatility]

thanks db

[vixvolatility]

[KLS]

Thanks DB for the thoughtful analysis. Everyone played beautiful team ball with ball movement and multiple passes like the Spurs, at least for the first 3 quarter which contributed to their big lead. If only the team plays like this from now on.... That is a hard one to predict. If not, why???

[SweetP]

[Shaqtin]

[SweetP]

[Phillycheese]

[Lorenzomax]

[ADA32]

Thanks DB for the great write up as usual!

Missed this game but watching on League Pass show that our team:

1. Ball movement, unselfish plays, full of energy and passion.
2. Seven players in double digits.

This is a total team effort! What a shock, baby, with this game and Spurs game.

Go Lakers.

I just send this out:

Dear Santa:
Please give us a win on Christmas in Chicago.
Love,
Lakers Fan

[Nobody]

Great win. Wish they would play such inspired ball more often, I could get used to it.

[blueice]

Well, it's hard to find a balance when Kobe comes back, that's for sure...

[Dr. Jez]

Great win. Go Lakers!

[Unstable]

Thanks db, just hopefully th coach finally see the value of playing Davis and Lin more often.....
_________________
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.

[Os Trigonum]

so beautiful . . .

I want to frame this write-up. What a great game, so much fun to watch.

[Lostology]

Everyone keeps talking about Kobe chucking but not talking about his defense. Even if Kobe decides to play teamball, it won't change his defense. How can he play decent defense if he continues to play so many minutes on old legs? How many times have we seen Kobe stand there when not getting a call while the Lakers go 5 on 4. Lakers have beaten Atlanta, Spurs, Warriors, Raptors, and Rockets. All very good teams that play good defense. Maybe against bad teams Kobe does more and against good defensive teams he does less. Even both Memphis games Lakers had a chance to win.

[Lostology]

[Melbournefans]