HEAT -at- LAKERS - 1-13-15 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Losing Ugly… Good teams win ugly. The Lakers have shown that bad teams certainly lose ugly.

“I think once I look at the tape, I’ll throw this one away,” Scott said. “I’ll have a bottle of vodka with me, but other than that I’ll be okay,” he joked.

The Lakers spotted Miami an 18-0 head start by going scoreless for nearly 8 minutes to start the game. Just an awful start.

The goal to start the game was to keep the Heat as a perimeter shooting team. Instead, Miami scored all their field goals in the paint in the first half.

“I’ve never seen that,” Scott said afterward. Despite all of that, the Lakers would score just 34 points in the first half but only trail by 10.

There were moments where the Lakers would cut the lead to 2 or 1 and the Heat would bounce right back. They could never get over the hump, but had one final chance to catch the Heat.

With 34 seconds left, down 6, they called a timeout. On the inbounds play, Kobe swished a tough three from the sideline with 31 seconds to cut it to 3. The Lakers would get the subsequent stop.

Kobe pushed the ball up court with the clock winding down and missed a three to tie the game at the buzzer. Final score, Lakers fall 78-75.

The Lakers missed 63 shots. A couple more makes and they actually win the game despite that 18-0 start.


Kobe -- -- He nearly had some of that Kobe magic, which has been all too rare this season, when he swished a crazy sideline three with 31 seconds left. He couldn’t repeat that, missing another three at the buzzer to tie it. “It felt good, just came up short,” Kobe said. He did have a scoreless Price open on that shot, but, that would have been the first time Price did anything offensively all night. Tough game for everyone. Back from his rest, Kobe broke the Lakers scoreless spree with a little over 4 minutes left in the first quarter. That would be his only make of the half as he went 1-9. He did, however, lead the team in assists, finding his bigs free for a number of hoops and finishing with 7 (he should have had many more, but there were a lot of misses). He was rusty. Not like he’s been lighting it up this season on shots he usually makes, but 3-19? Ouch. He said he needs to get to the post more. Scott said the rest is going to throw off his rhythm and timing, but they will live with it. Kobe will likely play the next, then sit out the other one. “I feel like the Tin Man,” Kobe said. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 3-19 shooting (2-9 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 7 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -6. The Action: He missed a 20-footer to start the game. He missed a wing jumper. He ran the two-man game to set up Hill for FTs. He hit a wing jumper to end the 18-0 scoreless start. He missed a three. He missed a three on a face-up. Great bullet outlet from under the hoop to Nick for a breakaway layup. He found Hill in the paint for a score. He broke the D down and hit Hill again for FTs. He lost his man on a great move but couldn’t hit the open 15-footer. Horrible cross-court pass, easily picked off. He drew FTs on the elbow turnaround jumper, he made both. He got completely tapped on a pull-up three in early offense. He posted up and came up short on a fallaway. He drew FTs on the pushout, he made both. He spotted Hill in the paint for a score. He hit Davis next time down for a layup. He missed a rushed pull-up jumper from the wing at the halftime buzzer. He had 6 points on 1-9 shooting, 4 boards and 4 assists. Second Half: He threaded a needle to Davis for a layup. He stripped a man and then hit Wes for the breakaway score. He got tapped on another three in transition. Hit Tarik rolling down the lane for FTs. He missed a top-of-the-key jumper. He attacked the lane and threw it out of bounds (“Kareem on the shoulders of Shaq would have had a tough time” with that pass Billy Mac said.) He was blocked on a pull-up wing jumper. He swished a big wing three next time down with 2:40 left to force a timeout, down just 4. He missed a three from the same spot after that timeout. But we got it back and Kobe inbounded to Wes under the hoop for a layup. He attacked the paint and missed, but Davis tipped in the dribble penetration. He missed a good look at a FT jumper. He got it back and missed another good look at a wing three. He swished a crazy sideline three off the inbounds pass to cut the lead to 3 with 31 seconds left. We got a stop and he missed a long three a little short at the buzzer to tie it.

Hill -- -- He hyperextended his knee late in the game and went to the locker room. The Lakers will know more how serious it is tomorrow after a night of rest. He still got some decent run and looked like he was going to be the closer tonight. Kobe was able to find him free under the hoop with good position for some points tonight. Good job by Hill getting into those positions and making himself a target. He didn’t rely on the perimeter game in this one. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-12 shooting (2-4 from the line) to go with 6 boards (3 offensive), 1 turnover and 1 foul in 22 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He attacked baseline but blew the layup. He missed a sideline jumper. He missed an easy jumphook. He drew FTs on the two-man game with Kobe, he missed both. He hit a jumphook off the Kobe interior feed. He drew FTs off another Kobe pass, he made both. He missed a short one, got it back, missed a gain, but Davis cleaned it up. He hit a sweeping hook around the D when Kobe found him free under the hoop. He had 6 points on 2-8 shooting. Second Half: He skied over Andersen for a score off the two-man game to start the half. He missed a floater. He took a feed under the hoop, faked twice and hit the jumphook. He threw a kickout away. He swished an elbow jumper.

Davis -- -- Quietly a good game from Ed with the 12 points and 8 boards. He was set up for some scores with passes in the paint. He also crashed the offensive glass for putbacks. Good job with the garbage work. The Lakers did get outrebounded tonight by 6, but shooting 31.5% for the game will do that. “It was just one of those ugly games that you just got to grind it out on defense, get stops and get a win,” Davis said. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 6-7 shooting to go with 8 boards (4 offensive), 1 block, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 23 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He threw a perimeter pass away, dunk the other way. He battled on the glass and eventually scored the putback. Bosh blew past him for a dunk on iso. He took a pass from Kobe in the middle of the lane and scored a layup around the D. He blocked Bosh to get a shotclock violation. Second Half: He scored a layup off Kobe’s feed right down the middle of the paint. He dunked off the interior feed from Wes. He couldn’t power in a layup in a crowd. He one-hand jammed a missed Laker jumper for the putback score. He follow tipped in the Kobe missed drive.

Johnson -- -- Really poor D on the two-man game with 34 seconds left to let his man score a layup and go up by 6. That was too easy a score at that point in the game. Offensively, he was missing out of the gates, scoreless in the first half, shooting and missing from three all night. He’s had some good games of late (before and after the injury). Any kind of game from him tonight and the team wins. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-13 shooting (0-5 from three) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 2 blocks and 1 foul in 28 minutes. He was a -6. The Action: He missed a corner three on a kickout. He missed a 21-footer. He missed a baseline pull-up jumper. He fumbled away a sure dunk off a backdoor feed from Kobe out of the split play, then missed the harder turnaround in the paint. Second Half: He missed a three from the wing. He scored a layup on the bustout when Kobe hit him. He missed another open sideline three. Another wide open wing three and he missed. He scooped up a loose ball, attacked and wrapped a nice pass around a defender to Davis for the dunk. He deflected a pass off a Heat player to get a stop. He attacked from the three line and hit the elbow fade. He missed a deep three. He missed a baseline jumper. He missed a wing three. He broke free under the hoop on an inbounds pass for a layup.

Price -- -- He had the team-low -12. Sloppy work running the two-man game tonight, getting his passes easily deflected and picked. He also didn’t hit anything offensively, giving the Lakers the bagel. I would have gone with Lin down the stretch or at least a few minutes longer. Price? Wes? Kobe? 6-36 shooting in our starting lineup. The two teams combined to miss 108 shots. Ronnie was the only Laker who played not to score. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-4 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a -12. The Action: He missed a wing three. He threw a pass away out of a timeout, layup the other way. He missed a drive a few seconds after re-entering. Great reach on help D to knock a ball loose. He attacked the paint and threw it away. Second Half: Back in transition D, he forced one man to pass and fouled the other, who then missed both FTs. He threw another pass away off the two-man game. He missed a three straight away on a kickout.

Young -- -- He got to the rim in transition early in this one and tried to get to the rim more, but then went on a brick fest. I would have benched him early in the fourth for Ellington or Clarkson. He couldn’t hit anything. He and Kobe combined for the impressive 5-30 shooting. “I just got to let this dark shadow go over,” Nick said. He even missed a dunk tonight. He needs a slump buster. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 2-11 shooting (1-4 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He busted out off a turnover and Kobe hit him in stride for the layup. He popped out and hit a wing three next time down. He attacked in transition, spun and lost the ball. He attacked the paint and was rejected badly at the rim. Nice reach on help D to strip Bosh and ignite a break, he drew FTs on the layup attempt, he made both. He missed a chuck from three. He missed a step-back chuck from 17 feet. He had 7 points on 2-5 shooting. Second Half: He missed a quick-fire three in transition. He attacked the paint and was blocked. He missed a wing three up against the shotclock. He missed a wing jumper short. He attacked down the paint and lost the ball out of bounds. He made a tech FT. He had a dunk on a breakaway slip out of his hands to blow the sure score, ouch. Badly forced wing jumper and he missed.

Lin -- -- I wasn’t thrilled with the sub out of Lin midway through the fourth for Price. It seemed like Lin was one of the few things starting to work for the Lakers offensively that quarter. Our struggles were with Nick being a liability. We needed a spark badly in this game and he had a couple moments of that. Lin led the team with a +9 in just 16 minutes. If we’re struggling to score, we need more minutes than that. The Lakers only got their offense kickstarted in that first quarter after we cleared most of the starters out of there. In any event, it was a quiet game from him before that fourth. Boozer was also MIA, but we could have done a better job working him into the offense. “We couldn’t get into a rhythm,” Lin said of the team. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-7 shooting (0-2 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 16 minutes. He was a +9. The Action: He hit Nick popping out for a three. He hit rim on a 60-foot heave at the buzzer. He attacked with speed, slammed on the brakes to lose a man and somehow choked the layup badly (wow, that was way off). He crossed over, attacked a crowd and scored the layup around the help D. He gave up an And-1 layup on the other end to give it right back. Great job erasing a fastbreak by taking a hard charge. He probed off the Boozer screen a couple times, attacked the paint and hit Black for the dunk. He missed an open three behind a screen. Second Half: He missed a pull-up wing jumper. He scooped up a bad pass and pushed out the break. He attacked from the wing, was expecting a whistle off contact and somehow got a forced baseline, off-balance jumper to drop. He busted out to get an outlet after we stole the ball, Nick hit him in stride and he scored the And-1 layup at high speed, he made the FT to cut it to 1. Bad perimeter pass to Young who didn’t come off a screen cleanly and it was easily picked off for a score the other way.

Boozer -- -- Wow. Usually a reliable scorer, he was MIA tonight. He missed some chippies and some of those jumper he usually knocks down. We didn’t integrate him as much into things in the second half. It’s a credit to him that these types of game have been extremely rare this season. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-8 shooting to go with 6 boards, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 23 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He missed an elbow jumper. He missed a short floater off a great feed by Kobe. He missed another bunny in the lane. He sank an elbow face-up jumper. He was blocked out of bounds on a short bank attempt. Second Half: He was called for an offensive foul trying to post up. He missed a forced elbow jumper (didn’t gather the ball well before that shot). He was blocked on a short one in the paint.

Black -- -- Nearly a double-double tonight. He led the Lakers on the boards with 9 (6 offensive). Again, some pretty strong defense for a rookie. A few mistakes here and there, but very mobile, usually taking good angles and reading the floor well. He had a couple of touches in the post in the second half, one a score around his man and the other, a great look on the weakside corner to Kelly for the three. Right now, these are usually my favorite minutes of the game, just seeing how he incorporates with the other players and watching him on hustle on both ends of the floor. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-8 shooting to go with 9 boards (6 offensive), 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He was blocked on a layup. He grabbed a board, was blocked, got it back and reset the offense. He tipped in a Boozer miss. Nice step out on the screen in the corner and he nearly came up with a steal. He grabbed a Boozer miss, pump-faked and drew FTs, he made one. He was called for a travel. He airballed a jumphook, rushing it. He missed a long sideline jumper up against the shotclock. He dunked off the drive and dish from Lin. He had 5 points and 4 offensive boards in the half. Second Half: He swiped a ball on the baseline on his first defensive play, then earned FTs on the other end off the Kobe feed, he missed both. He was fouled on a defensive board for FTs, he made both. He took the post feed, pivoted around his man and scored a layup. He spotted Kelly weakside and wide open for a three. He missed a tip at the rim.

Kelly -- -- He took the Ellington minutes as we slid Young to SG and ran Kelly at SF with the second unit. I wish we would have incorporated him more in the offense, but I also wish he was just more aggressive in demanding the ball. No one was doing much of anything on that end of the court, and this was a perfect time for him to step up. He hit a corner three in the fourth and also found Hill for another jumper. Wish we could have seen more. We did run him at the PF spot late in the game to help spread the floor. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-3 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal and no fouls in 22 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He let a man fly by in the corner, moved in and swished the shorter jumper. Nice D on Wade on iso to get a stop. Second Half: He drew a charge in the backcourt to get the ball back for the final shot of the third. He then inbounded the ball from the sideline, got it right back, attacked the paint and scored a layup in a crowd. He sank an open corner three off the Black kickout. He attacked off the three line and hit Hill for the jumper.

Scott -- -- The Lakers quickly fell behind 10-0, shooting blanks the first 5 minutes. Scott called a timeout… Lakers still scoreless, trailing 14-0, after 6 minutes when the subs started to come in, Black and Boozer for the Laker starting bigs… Miami getting into the paint with ease. Lakers not getting anything… Down 16-0 when Young came in for Johnson… Kobe finally hit a wing jumper to get the Lakers their first score nearly 8 minutes into the game… They trailed 20-4 when Lin came in for Price… Down 20-6 when Kelly came in for Kobe… The Lakers trailed 22-12 after the first quarter, salvaging the last 4 minutes of the quarter… Down 13, he brought in Hill for Black and Price for Lin… Kobe, Wes and Davis in to get the starters all back out there, down 15… They cut it to 8 with an 8-1 run… The Lakers trailed 44-34 at the half. Lakers 1-9 from three, the Heat 0-7. The Lakers shot 25.5% for the half. Miami had 38 of their points in the paint. Wow… Coaches irked about that stat… The Lakers getting scores around the rim to start the second half and they forced a quick timeout, trimming the lead to 4 after 3 minutes… Zone out of that timeout and they got the stop… The Lakers cut it to a hoop but the lead bounced back up again… He brought in Black, Young and Boozer for Hill, Davis and Wes down just 5 with 4 minutes left… Lin and Kelly in for Kobe and Price with 2:28 left, Lakers down 57-48… Nick Young brick fest in this quarter… The Lakers trailed 61-53 heading into the fourth quarter. No DWade for the Heat in the fourth quarter with a first-half injury… He started the Black, Boozer, Kelly, Young, Lin lineup… They cut it to 1 behind Lin, but the lead ballooned back to 6 off Laker turnovers and Scott called a timeout… Down 3, he brought in Wes and Price for Lin and Young. Probably should have left Lin in. Awful offense the next several possessions and Scott called a timeout to bring Kobe in with 5 minutes left. Kelly stays in and Tarik sits… Boozer out, Hill in… Davis in for Hill, who went to the locker room… Lakers down 6 with 34 seconds left. Timeout. Insane three by Kobe with 31 seconds on the inbounds play. We got a stop. Kobe brought it up and missed a three to tie it at the buzzer…

[SweetP]

Sucky game. But thanks for writing it up.
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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]

Horrible game. Sadly, a constant theme for the season.

[fafan]

Thanks. BS tried his best to loss this game
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"Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." --Sarah Cook.

[Reflexx]

Byron needs to go.

It's one thing to lose. It's quite another to lose with head scratching decisions game after game after game.

[bws94]

Suckfest on both sides, Miami didn't play well and worse after Wade got injured. Byron's rotations were abysmal.

DB, thanks as usual. And yes, ugly, ugly, ugly.

[tirebiter]

“I think once I look at the tape, I’ll throw this one away,” Scott said. “I’ll have a bottle of vodka with me, but other than that I’ll be okay,” he joked.

yeah but you can't call your team soft now, can you.. cuz your boy price got the most burn tonight. it can't be for the fact that price only plays on one end of the floor... nah.

and most of all, it's never you. it's never your rotation, your scheme, your coaching. nah, the guys just didn't play hard. oh but they did cuz ronnie and kobe were in there!

what a joke of a coach.

[Shaber]

Thanks, DB! What an ugly task you have taken upon yourself.

This game is on Scott and Kobe. Stupid lovefest with Price for one and stupid lovefest of hero-ball for the other.

From a game thread:

[PLATNUM]

Just turned on the replay of the game. Heard the crowd cheering. The Lakers had just scored their first basket... With 4 minutes left in the 1st. 18-2. LOL
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"Dread it, run from it... destiny arrives all the same."

[H0B0]

THX DB. GO LAKERS

[trunkz08]

Thanks DB, BS just likes to one up himself every game doesn't he? What's his infatuation with Price? Where the heck was Ellington? Why was Kelly guarding Wade?

[DancingBarry]

[Lakers#1Team]

Thanks DB. What an ugly mess of a game. Heat get mostly points in the paint while the Lakers jack up way too many outside shots. Trying times indeed...

[Reflexx]

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[xiaozhugong]

[PLATNUM]

Kobe, Price, Wes, Nick, Lin shot a combined 11-54. NOT gonna get it done.
_________________
"Dread it, run from it... destiny arrives all the same."

[MorlockO]

[Honeybadger81]

the reason Byron took ease with this one is Kobe did not play well, if Kobe played decently, and rest of the guys sucked, watch out, camp scott would run them to death in tomorrow's practice, what a coach...

[Charisma]

Thanks DB, not only you had to watch the game, you also had to relive the game. You are no Charmin.

[trunkz08]

[Dr. Jez]

Wow, I'm glad i was too busy at work to tune into this game

[Reflexx]

[SweetP]

[PLATNUM]