LAKERS -at- CLIPPERS - 1-7-15 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Uninspired… Yuck. The only thing good about this game was watching the deep bench in garbage time. I think I used the word “soft” a few times in my notes even before Scott went on his postgame quote fest.

The defense was awful. The Lakers gave up 70 points in the first half. Not only didn’t they turn the Clippers over, they gave up second chance scores and open threes. Just 1 block and 1 steal for the Lakers in that first half.

Apparently Scott lit into them at halftime. It didn’t matter. The Lakers would trail by as many as 43 points in the 114-89 loss to the Clippers.

“I thought we came out soft,” Scott said. He repeated “soft” multiple times in his quotes afterward.

Kobe’s return didn’t help. He was awful. He missed shots, threw passes away and played loose D. It was one of many problems.

“What I said at halftime, I hope they take to heart and we’ll leave it at that,” Scott said


Kobe – -- “He said the same thing I said, he just didn’t use the toilet paper analogy,” Kobe said afterward. He was scoreless in the first half but had 6 assists. He started the second half with a series of misses and turnovers on possession after possession after possession. The Lakers fell back even further. He said he rushed things too much trying to get the team back in it in the fourth. He finally got his first score 6 minutes into the second half. Just off the mark badly. He had been doing a better job with the turnover issues in the past few, but not tonight. Very soft defensively (yes, he was a part of it, unfortunately), daring shooters to shoot open threes. Barnes had 14 points on 4-6 from three in the first half. You just can’t do that when we’re bleeding everywhere else. The Lakers were far too easy to score on. Despite the poor shooting night, Kobe still managed to lead the team in assists and rebounds…and, unfortunately, turnovers. “We missed that defensive versatility,” he said of Wes and Ronnie being out. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-12 shooting (0-3 from three) to go with 8 boards, 7 assists, 1 steal, 6 turnovers and 1 foul in 28 minutes. He was a -34. The Action: Sloppy post feed to start, turnover. He didn’t close on his man to give up a three, then missed a three on the other end. He spotted Lin open under the hoop and bounced a lefty pass to him on the baseline for a layup. He found Hill open (and slowly rolling) for a dunk. He missed a wing three. He posted up, drew attention and fed Davis in the paint for dunk. He telegraphed a pass in the lane and it was picked off. He posted up, attacked and was blocked, but Davis cleaned it up. He attacked, drew a double and turned it over. He hit Hill for the open jumper. He sagged off his man and gave up a three. He was scoreless on 0-4 shooting but had 6 assists. Second Half: He crossed over and was stripped for a turnover. He missed a fading wing jumper off the pindown. He faced up and threw a jump pass away next time down. He drew a double team and was picked off trying to hit Davis. He missed a pull-up three in transition next time down. He missed an elbow turnaround. He was called for a travel next time down. He fed Hill in semi-transition for FTs (finally something positive). He missed a pull-up 18-footer. He attacked in transition and hit the short pull-up in the lane. He missed a bad heave from three up against the shotclock (meanwhile a layup for Barnes on the other end). He swished a turnaround jumper. He missed another turnaround jumper.

Lin -- -- Lin back in the starting lineup with Price out. This was a good opportunity for him to step up and also get some minutes with Ed Davis to see if they could produce any chemistry. For those counting, I believe they ran the Lin/Davis pick and roll once and Davis passed it out. Lin did get a nice oop to Black in garbage time. Defensively, he had his hands full and had some foul issues. He also fell twice to give Paul wide open threes, which he made. The Lakers had issues across the board. Scott on not having Price: “Missing Ronnie, who is kind of the head of the snake for us, who is one of the toughest guys. He kind of sets the tone for us. We didn’t have that tone set tonight.” I do wish I saw a little more of a chip on the shoulder from Lin when on the floor. Occasionally, you’ll see it snapping at guys on the defensive end or after a big play. Lin had a big three at the end of the first quarter. That felt like the last time the Lakers were still in the game. “We got to fight harder, play harder. Everyone’s got to go home and look at themselves,” Lin said. He said the team needed to be more aggressive defensively. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-9 shooting (2-4 from three) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in 26 minutes. He was a -15. The Action: He was stripped on a drive. He missed a tough wing jumper off a screen. He missed an open wing three on a kickout. He missed a pull-up in the lane out of a timeout. Wide open under the hoop and he scored a layup off the Kobe feed. He attacked off the three line and reversed (took a little contact with no call). Sacre suckered him into a turnover on a pass in the lane when he didn’t move to the obvious open space. He attacked off the screen, spun and hit Boozer for the layup. He pulled up and swished a 30-footer at the end of the quarter. He sank a wide open three, originally initiated off the Kobe double on the sideline. He missed an open three off a kickout. He had 10 points on 4-8 shooting and 1 assist. Second Half: He telegraphed a pass in the lane, turnover. He gave up an easy score in the paint, then got backdoored by Paul next time down and that ended up more FTs for Jordan. He fouled CP3 and sat after only 3 minutes. He worked the lob to Black for the throwdown, very nice. He attacked in transition and tear-dropped over the help D for the score. He drew a double and hit Clarkson under the hoop for the layup.

Hill -- -- He’s got to be one of the tone setters for the Lakers. We need him battling and aggressive. He struggled with keeping DeAndre Jordan off the offensive glass early on, giving up tip outs and a putback slam at the end of the first half. After giving up yet another offensive board tip out to start the next half, I probably would have sat him for Black for a couple minutes. Hill was able to hit a couple jumpers and attack around the rim for some other scores. But our bigs did not meet the intensity of the Clipper bigmen. Just a poor effort and we could have used some better energy out there. To me it felt like it started here. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 6-8 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a -29. The Action: He sank an 18-footer on a kickout. He up-faked and attacked the paint for a layup. He attacked Jordan baseline, overpowering him and slamming. He spotted Boozer open under the hoop for a layup. He dunked off the Kobe feed. He hit a 17-footer off the Kobe feed. He missed a wide open elbow jumper. He airballed a hook. Another putback dunk for DeAndre. He had 10 points on 5-7 shooting and 5 boards. Second Half: Another offensive board tap out for DeAndre. He dunked filling the lane on the break with Ellington. He drew FTs when Kobe found him in semi-transition, he made one.

Davis -- -- “They definitely kicked our ass all the way around,” Ed said. He seemed to be a bit worried about DeAndre Jordan roaming around and challenging shots. Ed struggled to finish in the paint. The Clippers seemed to be pretty aware where Davis was offensively in our sets and usually had a body close to him. Ed may have had our only defensive highlight or play in this game with a block at the rim. Amazingly soft team D. “We played soft, that’s all. We played soft,” he said. Just 1 defensive board for Davis. That won’t work. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-6 shooting (0-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 block and 1 foul in 23 minutes. He was a -33. The Action: He was fouled on a high-low from Hill, he missed both. He missed a layup in the post. He missed a jumphook, should have gone for a layup off glass. He missed badly off the glass in the post (maybe not go off glass after all). He saved a layup with a nice help D rejection at the rim. He dunked off the Kobe feed in the lane. He bricked badly off glass again. His dunk off a Kobe miss was goaltended. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Ellington -- -- A lot of minutes for Wayne tonight with both Price and Wes out. I actually wished he was out there more for Nick in that fourth, but he had as much run as we could give him. He had some moments offensively moving the ball, some of his better passes in a game. Good effort throughout our steamrolling. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 4-10 shooting (2-6 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 3 assist and 3 fouls in 40 minutes. He was a -34. The Action: He swished a wing three off the high screen (this after they cycled out of the pindown, nice to see). He missed a three off the pindown. He kicked out to Hill to avoid getting rejected and Hill hit the jumper. He attacked the paint and drew FTs on a hesitation move, he made both. He iso’d and swished a wing three on the pull-up. He attacked baseline with speed, drew the D and hit Boozer between a couple defenders for the layup. He fouled Redick on a three for a 4-point play, Lakers had cut the lead to just 6, now it was 10 again. Two-handed slam curling off the split play to take the pass. He missed a three on a kickout. He missed a pull-up 15-footer. He had 10 points on 3-6 shooting. Second Half: He pushed out the break and hit Hill for the dunk. He missed a wing three. He broke his man down off the dribble and had his shot blocked while someone grabbed the hoop (so a goaltend) and tech. He missed a long three. He was fouled on the break off an outlet from Kobe, he made one FT.

Young -- -- He continued to clank to start this game. We need to get him some easier looks to open games instead of iso chucks over tight D. Just a couple of set plays to get him into a rhythm would probably do wonders. He’s generally not taking easy shots and that’s going to be hard to score at an efficient rate. By the time we do get him the rare open look, he’s stone cold. Wish we were able to sit him in the fourth so Clarkson could run more of the offense vs. the meaningless iso’s down big. A while back when Nick was out, I said Kobe was taking both his shots and Nick’s shots. Tonight, we had that back as the two combined for a 6-27. Not a lot positive will happen for the team when we get that. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-15 shooting (1-6 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal and 2 turnovers in 30 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He missed a long chuck from the perimeter, bad force, bad miss. He missed an iso chuck from three, little more open on that one. He crossed over and missed the pull-up (getting a little closer with his shots, but still shooting blanks). He hit Boozer with a nice feed down the lane for a layup. Second Half: He swished a wing jumper off the catch and shoot. He made a tech FT. He missed a wing three. He missed a three trying to draw contact. He crashed the glass shortly later in the same possession and tipped in a Sacre miss. He missed a wide open three. Sloppy pass to Kelly on the two-man sequence, turnover. He missed a pull-up jumper. He missed a long sideline jumper off a kickout. He swished a high-arching pull-up jumper over a soft double team (then was held on the sideline by the Clipper bench). He attacked off the three line and missed a runner. He lobbed to Clarkson on the break for the dunk. He swished an And-1 wing three, very controlled and actually didn’t seem to try to draw the foul, he made the FT. He missed a pull-up in the paint. He missed a chuck off the dribble.

Boozer -- -- “Quite frankly, they got whatever they wanted out there,” Boozer said. He was extremely soft defensively. Griffin loved the possessions he had against him. The other Lakers didn’t like the lack of help D. None of our regular rotation bigs were up for the challenge tonight. He said they missed Ronnie and Wes out there. Sure, but our trio of bigs was MIA, too. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 5-8 shooting to go with 3 boards, 1 assists and 3 fouls in 15 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He scored a layup off the high-low from Hill. He couldn’t finish a layup off a nice Kobe feed. He scored a layup off the two-man game with Lin. Ellington attacked and set him up for a layup. Caught on the defensive glass, pushing again (run laps!). No help D and Sacre was forced to take a foul on the tough recovery. He powered in a layup off a nice feed from Nick. He missed a jumphook in early offense. He hit Ellington curling off the split for a dunk. He attacked off the split play from the high post, ball-faked and scored a layup. He had 10 points on 5-7 shooting. Second Half: He was blocked on a layup.

Clarkson -- -- Last game I talked about trying to get him some meaningful minutes for extended run. Well, with Price out for this one, Clarkson got the backup PG duties…and with the blowout, he got a full fourth quarter of extended run. At the end of the night, he led the Lakers in scoring. A very controlled game from Clarkson, scoring pull-ups off the dribble, floaters, layups and dunks around the rim. He also orchestrated the offense decently. One of the few enjoyable things to watch tonight. Even though it was a blowout, it was important minutes for him. He can carry some confidence over from the D-League and start seeing where his opportunities are at this level. I love the explosiveness in the paint and the ability to hit from the perimeter. Just wish we could see a lot more of him with consistency. Scott said Clarkson wasn't a problem afterward, in a way that seemed to indicate he's always a hard worker, if that makes sense. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 6-10 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists and 1 foul in 20 minutes. He was a +9. The Action: He went up high for an offensive board, then nearly airballed the floater. He missed a scoop in the lane he should have had up against the shotclock. He missed another floater, just try to finish closer (it’s there). He split a double and was wrapped up before he could explode for a dunk, he made both FTs. He attacked to his left, stopped on a dime and hit the elbow pull-up jumper. Second Half: He missed a three on a kickout. He worked off the high screen and hit the controlled pull-up from the top of the key. He tracked down a loose ball in transition and took it for the layup. He attacked a seam, collapsed the D and no-looked to Black for the And-1 dunk. He attacked up against the shotclock , pulled the ball back a little and hit the nice floater (loved how smooth that one looked). He slammed an oop down when Nick hit him next time down the court. He scored a layup off the bullet feed from Lin.

Kelly -- -- After getting some key run in the last two, he sat on the bench in this one. We finally brought him in for the garbage time run. Good job on the glass, but very quiet still The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-1 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards and 2 fouls in 12 minutes. He was a +11. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He attacked off a Clarkson kickout and drew FTs, he made one. He tipped in a missed Young drive.

Sacre -- -- He seemed to be a little surprised when passed to. Not much impact. Compare the amount of notes I have for Sacre vs. Black when the two played about the same minutes. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-2 shooting to go with 4 boards (2 offensive), 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 10 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: Nothing to report. Second Half: He grabbed an offensive board and threw it to the Clippers for a layup. He missed a baseline jumper. He took too much time trying to finish under the hoop and Jordan recovered to block him.

Black -- -- With the Lakers getting killed and their bigs looking underwhelming on D, Tarik was busted out to start the fourth quarter. They should have done it sooner, but getting him out there at least made the final quarter semi-interesting. The Clippers tried to go after him with Big Baby after getting an early score against him. I don’t think he scored again after that. A couple nice dunks by Tarik. He missed a couple layups he probably should have finished. Scott on Tarik: “A guy that communicates, is quick on his feet and is very athletic,” Scott said. He said he hopes to get him in there a few more minutes. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-4 shooting (1-3 from the line) to go with 3 boards and no fouls in 12 minutes. He was a +11. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He reached in the post and gave up a layup when his man spun away and made him look silly. He attacked to his left off the dribble and missed an easy layup. He took the drive-and-dish from Clarkson and hammered down the pumping And-1 dunk, he made the FT. He posted up and drew FTs, which he missed. He missed a couple taps at the rim. He slammed down the oop from Lin. He up-faked, attacked and missed the layup.

Scott -- -- He was pissed afterward. Maybe the most he’s been, repeating often how they played soft. He’s right. It was a very soft effort… The Lakers gave up second chances early on and were chucking bricks on the other end. They trailed 19-7 when the timeout came midway through the first quarter… He brought in Boozer for Davis at the 4:28 mark, Lakers down 10… Clippers took a timeout, Lakers down by 8. Scott brought in Young for Kobe, Clarkson for Ellington and Sacre for Hill with 2:13 left… The Lakers trailed 34-24 after the first quarter… He started the Sacre, Boozer, Young, Ellington, Clarkson unit… They traded hoops. He sat Sacre for Davis with 8:28 left, Lakers down 8… He brought in Kobe for Clarkson midway through the quarter, Lakers down 10… Boozer out so Nick and the starters (no Lin) out there… Lin back in with 5 minutes left, Lakers down 12… Clippers throttling the Lakers right now… The Lakers trailed 70-48 at the half. Kobe and Nick scoreless on 0-7 shooting, five other Lakers with double figures. Just 1 block and 1 steal for the Lakers. The Clippers shot 58%… Kobe awful offensively to start the second half, missing long jumper or throwing passes away on multiple possessions in a row… Lin out for Young after three minutes after fouling Paul and two other poor defensive sequences… Nick and Kobe finally each hit jumpers and the lead was 30 when the timeout came midway through the quarter… Boozer and Sacre in for the Laker bigs, Lakers down 31. He should sit the rest of them. They are awful… He started Black, Kelly, Young, Ellington and Clarkson. Shotclock violation to the start the fourth quarter as we moved the ball weakly around the perimeter… Lin in to rest Ellington midway through the quarter… “We’ll get a response in practice one way or another,” an angry Scott said…

[fafan]

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

[SweetP]

I don't want to be first
But thanks DB.
_________________
“There is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it.” --Amanda Gorman

[Quartz888]

Our bench is solid..actually one of the best in the league. We need to improve the starter spots.

Thanks DB!

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[cdg]

I check here after every game but have just realised I've never thanked you.

So a big thank you.

Your write ups are appreciated, at least by me.

I think a big issue is the defence, which is no secret I guess.

Not sure how to fix this. Get a better centre/big men?

M Gasol maybe?

[H0B0]

THX DB. GO LAKERS

[SweetP]

[Honeybadger81]

[summerly]

Thanks DB so much!

[Charisma]

Thanks DB!

[DancingBarry]

[mhan00]

Much respect to DB for managing to take notes and do a write up of that debacle. Awful, awful game.

[A Mad Chinaman]

Revealing observations by the pundits

• curious on why these Lakers having problems of consistently bringing EFT (Effort, Focus and Toughness) to every game.
(Is this surprising from a team that admits it was not up to play on Christmas Day)

• JLin and Swaggy were disappointing because they are veterans that know what is required to play in the NBA

• Wish JLim was more aggressive
Q
Are we surprised that the team (with the added focus on JLin and Swaggy) is consistent or not surprised because their play is confirming where they are currently at as players

[lakeshow83]

Thx DB. I will be very disappointed if we don't make a move by the deadline. Either tank (shedding jhill and/or jlin for picks or young talent) or make small improvements to the roster. I don't think laker nation can endure this for 42 more games.

[Shaqtin]

Everyone needs to go watch the B. Griffan and CP3 highlights. Kobe needs to play defense and Bigs have to box out.

[Honeybadger81]

[fiendishoc]

I agree with Byron that the team played soft and let themselves be pushed around. They deserved to be called out on it. However I don't agree with him giving Kobe a free pass, because he was one of the most egregious offenders. Such blatant favoritism is an easy way to get guys to tune you out.

[Richmond]

****Scott on not having Price: “Missing Ronnie, who is kind of the head of the snake for us, who is one of the toughest guys. He kind of sets the tone for us.****

Oh my lord....a career backup is now our "head of the snake"
How about holding the "mamba" accountable, oh double standard one.

[hopandskip]

That was the starting lineup I've been waiting to see all season.

And they got steamrolled! Doh!!!

[fiendishoc]

[Reflexx]

[Lakerbull]

thanks!

why does Scott always throw Lin under the bus? his coaching has much to be desired likewise.

[bws94]

[13th Man]

It's always Lin's fault with BS. LOL. If only Price could have been there we would have won.