LAKERS -at- NUGGETS - 12-30-14 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Snapping the Denver Cold Streak… It may have been a very cold Denver night outside the arena, but inside the Lakers were flame throwing inside it. They led by 16 at the half, the largest halftime lead for the Lakers this season. They pushed that lead to 23 points in the third quarter, making a season-high 14 threes on the night.

The Nuggets looked to take the ball out of Kobe’s hands on screens and in the post, sending extra defenders. As Kobe orchestrated the offense on his way to a triple-double, his teammates reaped the benefits of open threes and layups off good ball movement.

“I got to evolve,” Kobe said. “I got to evolve and focus more on all-around stuff and setting up guys. I just don’t have the legs to be in aggressive mode and score the ball for 48 minutes or whatever the case may be. So I just got to make adjustments and perfect another area.”

He led the team in points, assists, rebounds and turnovers (just one shy of a quadruple-double). While the usage was high, the wear and tear wasn’t. It was a very methodical, smooth game with continual ball movement from him.

Behind the strong play of the starters and Boozer with 19 and 9 off the bench, the Lakers snapped the cold streak against the Nuggets (seven straight losses) with the 111-103 win.


Kobe -- -- Enter the next stage of Kobe’s career. All season long he’s been feeling around a dark room looking for the light switch. Tonight, it was a triple-double (nearly a quadruple-double with the turnovers), but a very good game. He was scoring smoothly, rarely forcing anything and passing not-so-smoothly, but effectively. There were a lot of hockey assists out of the double teams he drew anytime he worked off a screen and occasionally in the post. His passing impact was definitely larger than the stats indicated. “Having the time off does wonders,” Kobe said. He said a lot of rest, hydration and stretching helped. He has games where his scoring has been there, but many others where that’s not the formula for success. Now his role may be changing as we having him setting the table and orchestrating the offense. He’s always been turnover prone when we’ve leaned on that too much. “I just got to make the easy play, man,” Kobe said. Very good start to the game as he began drawing doubles when the Nuggets would trap on the screens. This resulted in quick ball movement and easy scores for the Lakers (open threes or layups). He had 8 points on 3-3 shooting and 4 assists in the first quarter. Very smooth. The turnovers came off a lot of pass deflections dealing with the doubles. He had a couple forced feeds in there, too. If the offense can develop any kind of consistency and familiarity, those will be cut down. But it will be hard to make this a smooth transition. (That no-looker at the end of the game was pretty sweet, though). He is planning on playing between 30-32 minutes a game. These looked like very easy minutes for him. He wasn’t ball searching in the offense and let the game flow more. The Stats: He scored 23 points on 6-11 shooting (3-5 from three, 8-11 from the line) to go with 11 boards, 11 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 9 turnovers and 1 foul in 32 minutes. He was a +12. The Action: Trapped on the perimeter and he still found Davis with a 35-foot pass against a smaller man under the hoop for the layup (great read and placement on that pass). He hit Price in transition for a layup. He hit Wes on the sideline for the three. He hit Hill with a bounce pass on the two-man game for the short jumphook. He sank the Dirk fade at the FT line over his man (I like where he took that from). He swished a wing three, pulling up in transition next time down. He swished a pull-up wing three with the shotclock low. He waved off a screen and took Nate to the FT line and hit easily over him. He missed a pumping fade (his first of the forced variety). He orchestrated the offense and drew an illegal D tech, which he missed. Bad post entry, stolen easily by the help D. He hit Price for the open corner three. He posted up and hit Wes for the three. He threw it away and it led to a layup. Second Half: He posted up and swished a 12-footer when no double game. His pass was deflected, three the other way. Another poor pass, turnover, next time down. He tried to thread a needle, turnover and dunk the other way. He hit Price on a skip pass for a three. He may have blocked a shot from behind a teammate on help D (didn’t look like the shot hit rim). He found Price wide open for the corner three. He inbounded to Wes for the open jumper. Great D to strip his man, anticipating where he was going nicely. He missed a three. He drew a double and eventually the ball made its way around to Hill for the layup. He whipped a pass to Boozer for the layup. He missed a forced turnaround on a slow developing offensive set. He was fouled on a wing three, he made two FTs. He missed a long, tough heave trying to beat the shotclock. He swished a tough three with a man in his grill up against the shotclock. He was stripped trying to pass out of a double team. He was fouled on a rise up behind the three line for FTs (he made a tech first), then he made two of the three FTs. He took the ball into the post and was bodychecked on the turnaround for FTs next time down, he made both. He got his triple double rebound on a big offensive board with over 2:30 left. He missed a long three, short. After a steal, he no-looked to Davis who was hammered for FTs (Nate got a tech on that, which Kobe made). He attacked down the lane, faked one way and wrapped a pass around a defender the other way on a no-looker to Davis for the layup (pretty). Another deflected pass and a turnover.

Hill -- -- Boozer closed out the game instead of Hill. The Lakers kept Faried to just 4 points and 4 boards in this game, quietly outplaying him. Some nice passing sequences that ended up getting Hill some easy scores in the paint. These are obviously preferable to the 18-footers over and over again. Those were not in the mix tonight. Our paint scoring and hitting a high percentage of threes helped keep the Nuggets from getting runouts with any consistency. Good job by the team, however, in giving up easy transition scores. Some couldn’t be helped off bad turnovers, but the long boards and hustle plays by opponents to manufacture points wasn’t happening. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 6-9 shooting to go with 5 boards, 1 block and 2 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a +14. The Action: He scored a layup off the drive and dish from Price. He hit the short jumphook off the two-man game with Kobe. He posted up his man, drop stepped and reached out to reverse around the D. He missed a face-up wing bank on iso. He had a wide open lane and settled for the long jumper versus attacking the open lane for a probable dunk. He scored a short one in the paint in early offense. Second Half: He scored the easy jumphook off the interior feed from Davis. He made a layup off the Kobe double team.

Davis -- -- He broke his nose at the end of the game, getting fouled hard. He said he’ll likely be playing with a mask and was kind of bummed about it. Good job lately hitting FTs and not getting into foul trouble. Hopefully, a mask doesn’t mess up that FT shooting stroke (lost his hitch and seems to be leaning forward a little more). He didn’t put up great stats, but he got the close. The Nuggets out-rebounded the Lakers 11-4 on the offensive glass. We didn’t have the garbage men working on our end with much regularity, neither did the Nuggets, really. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-3 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 1 block and 5 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a +14. The Action: He scored a layup when Kobe drew a double and found him against a PG under the hoop. He drew FTs on the drive and dish by Price in transition, he made both. Second Half: He swatted a drive out of bounds to help Kobe. Nice interior feed to Hill for the easy jumphook. No communication on a switch and his man was left open for a dunk. He was hammered on a layup attempt for FTs, he made one. He scored a layup off the no-look drive and dish from Kobe.

Johnson -- -- Strong game from Wes and our perimeter snipers. The ball movement got our perimeter players wide open looks and they knocked them down. The game is so much easier for Wes when he just spots up, catches, squares up and shoots. His last five games, he’s averaged 14.8 points and 5.6 boards making 5.0-12.2 shots (and hitting .464 on threes). That includes the poor 3-14 game in Dallas. I think everyone will take those kinds of numbers even with an occasional poor shooting night or two in the mix. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 6-10 shooting (4-7 from three) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 foul in 26 minutes. He was a +18. The Action: He hit a sideline three off the Kobe feed. He swished a wing three on an inside-out sequence originally initiated by Kobe who drew the double. He missed a three off the Kobe handoff. He slammed either an off-the-backboard pass or a missed layup from Price in transition. Not close on a wing three, just not squaring up, looked like a miss before he even shot. He missed a post-up badly over a smaller man. Better square up (by far) and he swished the wing three. Second Half: Wide open off a kickout from Price (initiated off the Kobe double) and he drained the wing three. He skied for a one-handed interception in transition D. He sank a baseline jumper off the Kobe inbounds. He missed a long heave at three to beat the shotclock (and we recovered it).

Price -- -- These should be easy games for the Lakers to take when you get both Wes and Price scoring big. The two combined for 9-13 shooting from three. That is making them pay for leaving you open. Excellent game by both of them. When the bench was struggling in that fourth, it was one of those rare occasions when you wanted these two back in the game to close. Most of his night consisted of some very simple catch and shoot offense as he handed the ball over to Kobe and worked off ball. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 6-10 shooting (5-6 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 33 minutes. He was a +13. The Action: He sank an open corner three to start the game as the ball moved from Kobe strong side to Price weakside. He block-swiped a pass on one end, controlled it, gave it to Kobe and got it back for the transition layup. He attacked off the three line and wrapped a pass around a man to Hill for a layup. I’m not sure he missed a layup that badly, but it looked like an off-the backboard pass for Wes to dunk as the end result. He threw a pass away against the pressure and it led to a dunk. He attacked and hit Ed for FTs in transition. He swished an open corner three when Kobe found him. He attacked, took contact and missed a layup. Second Half: He was called for a clear-out foul in the corner. He choked a layup off the give-and-go with Kobe. No ball movement and he missed an iso three. He sank the open sideline three off the Kobe kickout. He erased a break by taking a painful charge. He hit Hill with the extra pass for the layup. He drained a three on the kickout from Nick. He was stripped on a drive, layup the other way. He hit the top of the board on a floater, ouch. He drew FTs shortly after hurting his leg (he made one and then hobbled off court).

Young -- -- Prior to this game, Nick was seventh best in the NBA for three shooting, which is pretty amazing considering how often he contorts his body and looks to draw fouls on those shots. He missed both of his three’s tonight. Not much impact from him tonight… The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-7 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 22 minutes. He was a -10. The Action: He lost his double team with a step-through and missed the short one in the paint. He sank a wing jumper coming off the screen. He missed a pull-up at the FT line, a little too off balance on that one. He hit Boozer off the two-man game for FTs. He scored a layup off the throwback play (usually we settle for jumpers on those, but he took it easily into the paint). Second Half: He missed an open 17-foot pull-up. He was stripped and the Nuggets choked a breakaway dunk. Then he missed a long chuck from three at the end of the quarter.

Lin -- -- Not much of a game from Lin. He missed a layup and a bank that he’ll usually finish and was blocked on a couple other shots. Just wasn’t playing with much sharpness. Neither was Nick. With Price putting up career numbers, Lin’s minutes were minimal. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-6 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 4 assists, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 15 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He attacked and was blocked. He missed an open bank from the wing, got to knock those down. He lost the ball out of bounds and was irked at the no call. He choked a layup in transition, another one he should have had. Second Half: He attacked and couldn’t finish a layup. He was blocked on a forced elbow jumper up against the shotclock. He attacked a tight seam, got tripped and flipped in a tough one-handed And-1 off the glass, he made the FT. He attacked again next time down and drew more FTs, he made one. His man sagged off to deny the post and he bricked the three a couple steps behind the line.

Boozer – -- He helped steady the second unit when they were struggling. You could see the Lakers go right to him in the post out of timeouts to try to end the Nuggets pushes. He answered the call. He’s got that high-arching turnaround jumper that’s just tough to defend. Got to love 19 and 9 off the bench. “Just playing my game,” Boozer said and staying aggressive. The good minutes with the second unit once again earned him the closing minutes. He wasn’t without his mistakes. I swear I would probably bench Boozer every time he gets called for one of those dumb push-off fouls. How many times a game does that happen? He gave up points at the end of the first quarter when whistled for that foul on the offensive end with 2.2 seconds left. Maybe you can’t teach and old dog new tricks, but this is not that hard of a habit to break with some negative reinforcement. For a vet, he needs to learn a little more savvy to dislodge an opponent. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 8-14 shooting (3-6 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a -9. The Action: He airballed a fade in the paint instead of going up strong. He swished a turnaround from the left block next time down. He sank an elbow turnaround against the shotclock. Stupid foul by Boozer pushing off on the offensive board with 2.2 seconds left in the quarter and giving up FTs, just dumb but a typical bad habit foul for him. He attacked the press after taking a pass from the backcourt and scored a layup. He drew FTs next trip down against the same D, he missed both. He drew FTs rolling on the two-man game with Nick, he made just one. He swished an open wing jumper off the two-man game with Ellington. He kicked to Ellington for the open three. He didn’t hit rim on a scoop that almost looked like a pass to himself off the backboard, except the shotclock was expiring. He sank a runner in the lane after taking contact. Second Half: He scored a layup off the Kobe feed. He missed a layup he probably could have finished had he gone to the other side of the hoop. He missed a jumper against the shotclock. He sank a post-up turnaround. He faced up in the post and hit the jumper out of a timeout. Good job battling on the offensive glass to draw FTs, he made both. He was blocked on a jumper. He faked a handoff on the subsequent inbounds play, then was blocked again this time at the rim.

Ellington -- -- He was the only bench player to hit a three. The bombs were flying and finding their mark from the first unit. Some better ball handling in this one. He and Boozer teamed up for points (Ellington ended up with 4 assists…just simple passes and moving the ball cleanly). A lot of pressing at times by the Nuggets second unit to try to put the pressure on. After the game, Nick and JHill made fun of him for a bad layup miss. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-6 shooting (2-4 from three) to go with 3 boards, 4 assists, 1 block and 1 turnover in 16 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He drained a wing three. He missed an open three from the other wing in transition. He hit Boozer with the bounce pass off the two-man game for a jumper (I want to see this duo run that a couple of times a game). He sank an open three off some nice ball movement by the team. Poorly run fast break and he blew a layup, points the other way. Second Half: He swished a wing jumper off a handoff. He missed a wing three.

Sacre -- -- I was hoping the Lakers might be able to at least push that 23-point lead further and we might get to see Tarik Black out there. I don’t imagine Scott will likely play him over Sacre anytime soon. They’ll need more practice together and Black will have to earn his way into the rotation over Sacre. Until then, Sacre will keep his spot it seems. “I don’t like our bigs to get comfortable,” Scott said, hoping Tarik will be challenging his other bigs, but not sure right now where/when any minutes will happen. Sacre was the only Laker not to score tonight. You could see him get waived off and moved over to the weakside in favor of Boozer. He had a couple of good efforts on the offensive glass. That’s about it. The Stats: He didn’t shoot or score to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 13 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He regained possession on a missed Boozer FT and it led to a Laker three. Second Half: Good battle on the offensive glass to draw a foul and regain possession. He was involved in a couple passes where Lakers didn’t go to meet the ball, he threw one and was on the receiving side of the other. XXX

Scott -- -- The Lakers were taking nothing but open threes or layups to start the game. Better looking shots than we’ve seen in a while to open a game. They forced a timeout (went 7-7 to open the game). Most of the offense was initiated by Kobe drawing doubles off screens… The starters pulled out to a 10-point lead with Kobe also hitting from the perimeter… He brought in Boozer for Davis, Lakers up 8 with 5 minutes left… He brought in Young, Lin, Ellington and Sacre for the remaining starters, Lakers up 8. Why the wholesale subs?... They struggled to maintain the lead to close the quarter… The Lakers led 33-29 after the first quarter… He started the Sacre, Boozer, Young, Ellington, Lin unit… Lakers doing a better job attacking the press to start the quarter… A 12-1 run for the Lakers and they led 45-32 to force a timeout… He brought in Davis for Sacre out of that timeout… Price in for Lin, Lakers up 13… He sat the second unit with 5 minutes left for the rest of the starters up 12… The Lakers led 62-46 at the half. They had 19 assists in the half, getting good looks consistently. Nuggets shot just 2-12 from three and had just 6 points on the break… More great ball movement and the Lakers pushed out to a 23-point lead… He sat Wes for Young with 4 minutes left… Lakers up 18 when Lin and Sacre came in for Price and Hill… Lakers up 16 when Kobe sat with a little more than a minute left… They led 83-71 heading into the fourth… Usual second unit starting the quarter… Lakers up 8 with 10 minutes left and Scott called a timeout (went to Boozer in the post for a score out of that)… He sat Sacre for Davis up by 10 with over 8 minutes left… Davis, Boozer, Young, Kobe and Price now with the Lakers up 8 with 7:12 left… Nate got the Nuggets going, trimming it to 5 with 4 minutes left. Scott called a timeout… Wes in for Young… He went with the starters and Boozer instead of Hill to close… Kobe got to the FT line for some points to keep things from getting crazy… The Lakers had 31 assists (with 20 turnovers). They shot 56% (14-25) from three and 52.6% for the game…

[Omar Little]

First?
_________________
“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” ― Elie Wiesel

[lakersfreak]

Second?

[LakerDan]

Dang, almost first.

Thanks for the write-up DB, this was actually a fun game to watch.

Happy New Years!

[Charisma]

Thanks DB!

Good thing happens when BS eats crow and endorses shooting 3's .

Happy new year!!

[SweetP]

Great win, thanks DB!
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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

[mhan00]

First time all season I was yelling for Wes and Price to replace Nick and Lin. Great win. Denver showed zero respect for the other starters, and Kobe made the passes and more importantly, Wes and a Price hit the shots to make them pay. They keep doing that, and we will get some nice wins.

[fiendishoc]

I enjoyed seeing the Lakers made the extra pass in this game. Coming into tonight they were second to last in the league in secondary assists at around 4 a game. Today they had 10.

Shaw made the mistake of trapping and doubling Kobe, which is something that has lead to some of the Lakers best wins this seasons, as he's so good at reading the defense and making the right pass. The rest of the team seemed to take his cue and kept moving the ball to the open man, which resulted in more open 3s and layups than usual.

They did tempt fate however, letting Denver shoot some wide open 3s.

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[Honeybadger81]

very inspiring game from Kobe

[fafan]

Thanks! 1st time starter played better than bench after line up changing.
_________________
"Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." --Sarah Cook.

[H0B0]

THX DB. GO LAKERS

[IPK]

DB!



_________________
Our tribute to Phil, the man behind LG

[A Mad Chinaman]

[bws94]

Great to have you back DB.

Awesome game. Lakers built a big cushion so Denver's 2nd half bench run didn't get them over the hump. Kobe, even with the TOs, played very well. Price seems to have improved his scoring, he's had a few games now of upper teens scoring. Can't depend on that but it helps, especially if Lin has an off game. Young and Lin didn't do much scoring, for some reason the defense keyed in on Lin in the first half. But Young and Lin will be needed in games to come, so they need to snap back, and they will. Davis will be masked, that's ok. Price looked like he may have hurt something late in the game, but walked it off and it looks like he's ok.

[A Mad Chinaman]

[bws94]

[A Mad Chinaman]

[bws94]

[A Mad Chinaman]

[A Mad Chinaman]

[fafan]

Good game for Price. Reached the career high 18 pts. BS must gave him a big kiss after the game!
_________________
"Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." --Sarah Cook.

[bws94]

[Sleepy]

The Lakers are 1-0 in games I attend.

[Lorenzomax]

Price is averaging 7.8 and 3.6 on 42 FG% when he is the starter. He is just outplaying himself who came off the bench.

Despite NOT playing with E.D. that much, AND playing with Boozer SO much, Lin still ranked #1 at Defensive-RPM among all active Lakers.

2-man line-up MinPlayed
Davis,Ed - Randle,Julius 13
Davis,Ed - Kelly,Ryan 19
Davis,Ed - Henry,Xavier 65
Davis,Ed - Clarkson,Jordan 115
Davis,Ed - Boozer,Carlos 126
Davis,Ed - Sacre,Robert 176
Davis,Ed - Young,Nick 210
Davis,Ed - Lin,Jeremy 213
Davis,Ed - Ellington,Wayne 249
Davis,Ed - Hill,Jordan 387
Davis,Ed - Johnson,Wesley 446
Davis,Ed - Bryant,Kobe 460
Davis,Ed - Price,Ronnie 556

2-man line-up MinPlayed
Boozer,Carlos - Kelly,Ryan 1
Boozer,Carlos - Henry,Xavier 12
Boozer,Carlos - Clarkson,Jordan 68
Boozer,Carlos - Davis,Ed 126
Boozer,Carlos - Price,Ronnie 147
Boozer,Carlos - Ellington,Wayne 176
Boozer,Carlos - Sacre,Robert 222
Boozer,Carlos - Young,Nick 302
Boozer,Carlos - Hill,Jordan 446
Boozer,Carlos - Johnson,Wesley 484
Boozer,Carlos - Bryant,Kobe 568
Boozer,Carlos - Lin,Jeremy 645


DRPM
Last Updated: December 30, 2014 5:00:02 PM PST
http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/sort/DRPM/position/1

Jeremy Lin -0.15
Nick Young -0.29
Ronnie Price -0.61
Ed Davis -0.73
Carlos Boozer -1.30
Wes Johnson -1.43
Jordan Hill -1.60
Kobe Bryant -3.66