WIZARDS -at- LAKERS - 1-27-15 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Close But No Closers… With Nick Young sidelined with an ankle sprain, the Laker backcourt dominated the first half. Ellington and Clarkson scored 33 points in the first half. Lin worked the two-man game with Davis, and they pushed the lead to as many as 19 points in the half.

“I just made up my mind I was going to come out aggressive,” Ellington said. He’d finish the game with a career-high 28 points.

Outside of Davis, the Lakers got little help from their bigmen. The Wizards started to pick the team apart in the third quarter, going on a 14-0 run to tie it up.

The Lakers stayed with them in the fourth, but down the stretch they gave up key scores, and both Ellington and Clarkson couldn’t answer in crunch time. After the 57 point first half, the Lakers managed just 35 points in the second half – just 16 points in the fourth quarter as the Lakers fell 98-92.


Hill -- -- A lot of perimeter iso ball for Hill tonight, not a strength of his game yet and it resulted in a very inefficient effort. We just relied on him too much for that and he took it upon himself too much to try to create off the dribble. Some very good efforts, hitting the floor a couple of times tonight during battles for offensive boards and loose balls. He got double-digit boards. I wish he had more of a presence in the paint defensively. It’s tough because Sacre isn’t that kind of shotblocker, either. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-13 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 11 boards (2 offensive), 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and no fouls in 29 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: He missed a jumphook unable to get low position. No challenge on a drive and he gave up a dunk. He grabbed a loose ball that Sacre kept alive and dunked. He airballed a long step-back jumper trying to create off the dribble. He missed an 18-footer. He missed an open baseline jumper. He traveled on a drive. He stripped a guard and quickly outlet to Ellington for the score. He sank a step-back jumper on iso along the baseline. He barely hit rim on a long jumper (transition layup the other way). Great job going after an offensive board, falling down and having it go off a Wizard out of bounds. He missed a one-footed fade at the end of the half. Second Half: Great job filling the lane with Clarkson off the push out and Clarkson hit him for the reverse jam. He iso’d, attacked and missed a jumphook across the lane. He put back in a missed Ellington drive. He went to the floor to get a loose ball and outlet to ignite a break. He missed a corner three.

Clarkson -- -- Great first quarter to start this game. With Nick Young out, I was thinking for this game that Clarkson had to step it up. He needed to play with swagger like it was a D-League game. He went off for a career high with that strong first half. “JC can move,” Ellington said. Some nice fastbreak action by both of them tonight. The two were killing it in that first half in the half court, too. Clarkson went just 2-8 in the second half. The offense was very slow to get rolling in the half court sets. That may have been by design to control the pace, but hard to say. The Lakers had a lot of tough shots up against the shotclock in the second half. Good to see him get full starter minutes and some quality time down the stretch. The game was there for the taking if they were able to hang with the Wizards in crunch time, so he got to orchestrate the offense with the game on the line. He struggled from three, making just 1-5. One or two more of those would have turned a very good game into a great one. “It’s a process. You just keep getting better, keep working,” Scott said to Clarkson afterward. Clarkson on the strong first half by him and Ellington: “We were just playing aggressive, we were moving the ball and just getting to the rim and getting easy shots.” The Stats: He scored 18 points on 8-18 shooting (1-5 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 37 minutes. He was a -13. The Action: He missed a jumper at the top of the key. He swished a floater working off the high screen well. Good foul on a big to prevent a dunk and save a point on the missed FT. He changed speed off the high screen, stepped on the gas and slammed. Great job in transition to steal a pass. He hit Sacre on the pick and pop for the jumper. He drained a wing three on a skip pass from Wes. He pushed up the break and hit the short, twisting floater in the lane. He called his own number next time down and swished the pull-up off the high screen. He missed a three at the end of the quarter next time down, calling his own number again. He crossed over and was stripped on a reach. He attacked with the shotclock winding down and hit the tough turnaround just before the clock went off. He missed a wing three. He had 13 points on 6-10 shooting and 2 assists. Second Half: He pushed out the board with speed, had the D on their heels and fed Hill for the dunk. He attacked and was blocked. His man reached, he attacked hard and scored the And-1 layup over Gortat in the restricted circle, he made the FT. He missed a long three, open (probably could have moved in closer). He got tapped on a wing jumper. He attacked in transition but couldn’t finish (he wanted the foul). He went under the screen to Webster to give up a three. He missed a step-back wing jumper up against the shotclock. He hit a pull-up wing jumper next time down working the two-man game (and not having to force something against the shotclock). He knocked a loose ball ahead to ignite a break. He pounded the dribble too long and eventually was forced into a turnaround brick against the shotclock. He missed a big open three with under 2 minutes left down 5.

Ellington -- -- He was just torching it out of the gates tonight – threes, breakaway dunks and layups. He had 20 points by halftime on 8-11 shooting. With both Clarkson and Ellington scoring with regularity, the Lakers had 57 points at halftime. That’s been taking about three quarters of ball lately to hit that many points. Defensively, he was extremely disruptive, knocking loose a number of balls and getting out on the break again and again. As strong as his offensive game was, he defensive game was one his best of the year, too. Great job changing ends off of defensive stops and steals tonight. He finished the game with a new career high in points with the 28. With no Swaggy or Kobe, he did his best to fill that scoring void. The Stats: He scored 28 points on 12-20 shooting (3-9 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 36 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He swished a floater curling into the lane for the Lakers first score. He pulled up at the three line and sank the And-1, he made the FT for the 4-point play. He took a pass in the lane and scooped a layup around a defender. He swished a three in early offense. He took a handoff from Lin and sank the three. He picked a pass on the other end and took it for a dunk. He missed a 35-footer trying to beat the shotclock. He missed a wing three out of a timeout. He took an outlet from Hill and scored on the breakaway. Horribly telegraphed kickout pass, stolen, dunk the other way. He scooped up a loose ball and scored a breakaway layup. He missed a three up against the shotclock. Second Half: He hit Sacre on the screen-roll for a score. He crossed over and missed a three. He pulled off the dribble at the elbow and sank the jumper. He lost his man on the high screen and swished the wing jumper with ease. He tried to split a double and lost the ball, score the other way. Nice reach to poke a ball loose and he was fouled diving after it. He missed a long wing jumper. He hit Wes in stride with an outlet for a dunk over the challenging D. He missed a pull-up three next time down. He attacked and couldn’t finish the drive (but Hill cleaned it up). He knocked a handoff loose and took it the distance for a reverse against trailing defenders. He airballed a step-back wing jumper with a minute left down 5, a score by his man on the other end and that was that. He attacked and scored a garbage time layup.

Kelly -- -- Our SF spot was awful tonight (shooting a combined 1-10). He’s still playing that Swing Pass Kelly role. The Lakers set up a play for him to start the game to try to get him going, but it didn’t spark anything. Stu brought up a good point about Kelly having to do things a little faster than he’s used to playing at the SF spot. It’s just not clicking at all. The Stats: He scored 1 points on 0-3 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards and 1 foul in 20 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He missed a pull-up at the FT line to start the game (good play to try to get him going). He bricked a flat, wide-open elbow jumper (got to knock those down). He attacked and drew FTs on a reach, he made one. Second Half: He missed a wing three on the kickout.

Sacre -- -- He had his hands full dealing with the Wizards bigmen. Nene wasn’t much of a factor (6 points) until he scored an And-1 layup with 3 minutes left to go up 5 points. That was big. We could have used some bigmen that we could dump the ball to for post scores. Our bigs had little going on in that regard. I half wonder if we aren’t giving him some minutes to up his trade value. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-9 shooting to go with 8 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 blocks, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: He faced up and sank the baseline jumper. He kept an offensive board alive and it went to Hill for a dunk. Nice challenge to prevent a dunk on the other end. He missed a quick fling at the rim to beat the shotclock. He swished a wing jumper on the pick and pop with Clarkson. He missed a baseline jumper. Way short on an elbow jumper. He gave up an And-1 dunk to Gortat. He knocked a ball loose for a stop. Not close on an open jumper off an inbounds play. Lazy outlet and it was stolen easily. Second Half: He hit a one-hander in the middle of the lane off the two-man game to start the half. He stepped in and drew a charge on the other end to get the stop. He forced a turnaround in the paint and was blocked easily (I think I could have blocked that one with ease). He missed a fading jumper in the lane. Nice help D challenge to block a shot and recover it. He got drop-stepped on and gave up an And-1 layup, big score by the Wizards with 3 minutes left to go up 5.

Lin -- -- He led the Lakers in assists with 8, but couldn’t put together a good scoring game, himself, making just 1 FG. We saw some chemistry with Davis tonight…finally. Just when the Lin/Davis two-man game finally started to click again for a series of scores in the first half, however, Scott sat Lin. It was part of his planned sub pattern, but they were killing it for a stretch. In the second half, they were a little sloppy with it, but still had a couple of scores in three or four attempts. Then Scott cut the minutes short to bring his other bigs back in. Not as strong a second half from Lin and he struggled to score himself. Good to see the back-to-back games where we played him over Price in the rotations. He needs minutes to continue to develop his game, as well. On the game tonight, he said: “When they turn up the pressure, we need to, too. We can’t panic. I felt like we didn’t get into great sets for a little bit,” Lin said. The offense was certainly clunky in that second half. Lin toggled between PG and SG, much more effective in the PG role. No Nick Young with the minor ankle sprain (Vitti is going to pounce on anything as we are in tank mode). The Stats: He scored 7 points on 1-5 shooting (1-2 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 8 assists, 1 block, 4 turnovers and 2 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: He picked up two quick fouls. He attacked off the handoff out of the horns and drew FTs, he made both. He was stripped on a pull-up jumper. He found Davis for the open jumper. He dumped it off to Ellington for the three. He no-looked a short pass to Davis under the rim for a score. He lobbed to Davis for the oop working the two-man game. He probed the lane off the Davis screen next time down, stopped under the hoop, reversed directions and hit Davis for the layup. Next time down he hit the three off the Davis screen. He had 5 points on 1-1 shooting and 5 assists at the half. Second Half: His perimeter pass was picked off, points the other way. He missed a step-back baseline jumper. Not on the same page with Davis, turnover on the pass, And-1 the other way to tie it up. He knocked over Gortat who the refs thought flopped and he handed it off to Davis for the dunk. He found Ed again in the paint for FTs. Webster collided with him in the backcourt for a foul, Lin made both FTs. Sloppy post entry pass to Boozer, turnover. He missed a high-arching jumper off the two-man game. Looked like he blocked Miller from behind in the paint, but we couldn’t recover it. He missed a wing three, way short.

Boozer -- -- Pretty much a nothing game from Boozer. The Lakers need him to be consistent right now, but that may have been harder tonight as we were exploring more of the Davis/Lin two-man game. Clarkson needs to work with Boozer a little better when they are on the floor. We really didn’t have much of a plan after players came off the pindowns and weren’t open. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-5 shooting to go with 4 boards, 1 steal and 1 foul in 19 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He missed a long wing jumper. He airballed in the post. Soft bounce and he sank the wing face-up jumper. Second Half: He airballed an elbow jumper, ouch. Quick first step and he scored a layup down the middle of the lane (after giving up a bad putback dunk on the other end).

Davis -- -- In the first half, Lin found him four times for scores. They were working the two-man game extremely well. Finally. It’s in both their interests to exploit that more. I’m not sure why they haven’t as much as they should since they’ve been playing together more. The end result was Davis being our best offensive big tonight and doing it in very efficient fashion. Now they need to exploit it with consistency. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 6-7 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 1 steal, 1 block and 3 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a -9. The Action: He sank a 12-footer when Lin found him weakside. He took the no-looker from Lin and scored easily under the hoop. He slammed off the Lin lob pass working the two-man game (more please). Lin set him up for another layup working the two-man game. He had 8 points on 4-5 shooting at the half. Second Half: He dunked off the Lin hand off after Gortat went down. Lin found him again in the middle of the paint for FTs, he made both. He hit a jumphook over Gortat. He missed a quick baseline jumper off an offensive board trying to beat the buzzer.

Johnson -- -- He didn’t seem like he had much of a plan out there tonight. I think that’s the best way to describe it. He was often off balance, throwing up tough shots. He was rarely on the same page. His only field goal was a breakaway flush. His perimeter shots were just clanking all night. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 1-7 shooting (0-2 from three, 4-6 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a -9. The Action: He threw a skip pass to Clarkson weakside for the three. He missed a wing three in early offense. He stripped his man to ignite a break. He missed a wild, off-balance jumper in the lane. Second Half: He missed an off-balance pull-up jumper (he was wide open, just not sure what he was doing). He threw a pass away. He missed a flat pull-up three at the end of the quarter. He threw a pass away to start the quarter. He drew FTs on a bad idea to attack a crowd to attempt a fade, he made both. He attacked the paint off the dribble and drew FTs, he made one. He slammed past the D on a bustout ahead of the pack. He missed a long pull-up jumper. He was fouled on the break and made just one, costly inability to finish that two-on-one cleanly. He pulled out an offensive board and missed a badly forced turnaround just inside the three line (he had a teammate wide open).

Scott -- -- Ellington and Clarkson off to a good start and the Lakers led 19-12 when the timeout came midway through the first quarter… He sat Ellington out of that timeout (11 points for Wayne). Lin in. Apparently, this was Scott’s planned rotation since he wasn’t rotating Price in later and would bring back Ellington to start the second quarter… Davis and Boozer in, Lakers up 6… Wes in for Ryan, Lakers up 7… The Lakers led 31-24 after the first quarter… He started a Davis, Boozer, Johnson, Ellington, Lin lineup… Ellington still on fire and he forced a timeout as the Lakers extended to a 14-point lead on the 7-0 start… The Lin/Davis two-man game torched the Wizards and the Lakers extended to a 19-point lead… Scott sat Lin with 6:41 for Clarkson (again sticking to his rotations despite a something working well)… Starters in with Johnson instead of Kelly… Lakers up 11, Kelly in for Wes with a few minutes left… The Lakers led 57-46 at the half. Both teams shot 50%. The Lakers were 5-11 from three. Just 5 Laker turnovers, 10 Wizard turnovers… Both teams traded hoops and the Lakers were up 10 midway through the quarter when the timeout came. He sat Ellington for Lin and brought in Davis and Boozer… Wizards picking apart the Lakers right now. A 14-0 run for the Wizards… The Lakers led 76-75 heading into the fourth… Same unit that started the second quarter. Two turnovers for the Lakers to start the quarter off some sloppy passing… He went back to Hill and Sacre for Boozer and Davis after 3 minutes. Limit that Lin/Davis two-man game… The Lakers trailed by 3 when the timeout came midway through the quarter… Clarkson in for Lin… Down 5 with under 2 minutes left, timeout. Clarkson missed an open three… Lakers couldn’t push through in crunch time. No closers…

[jrod88]

First?

Thank you DB!

[cheesysapien]

Thanks DB. Can't sleep before reading your post
_________________
"We have a lot of guys that have been kinda discarded ... Myself with the injury and the age. Jeremy ... a bunch of players who other teams really felt they had no use for. So we have that kind of attitude built into ourselves" -- Kobe Bryant

[asingc]

Thank you DB, the best and the most consistent thing about the Lakers this year is your great post game note.

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[fafan]

Thanks. Had different loss than before. Anyway, task completed.
_________________
"Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." --Sarah Cook.

[DancingBarry]

[H0B0]

THX DB. GO LAKERS

[TheBlackMamba]

Is BScott gonna have the tank emoticon every game now?

[Charisma]

Thanks DB. I'm late as I was slowly digesting your post. I learn a lot from reading your reviews night after night. So objective and observant.

The Lin-Ed 2-men game was really fun to watch. Too bad doesn't seem like BS will make it a part of his game plan.

Clarkson had a good game, considering he's only a rookie and this was only his 3rd start. Credit to Ri-Ri?

Wayne Ellington #NBABallot

Good luck with the half-marathon. What happened to the full marathon?

Enjoy the Super Bowl! Who do you got?

[Shaber]

Thanks DB!

No Price?

Scott should start Wes and bring Kelly off the bench. Both played much better that way. And I still insist that Kelly does not fit into the SF role.

Could we bring back Kareem to teach Sacre some post moves?

Under firm commandment of Scott we are heading towards longest losing streak in Lakers history.
At lest they have a goal now.
_________________
.

Lakers depth chart

PG Johnson / Goodrich
SG Bryant / West / Scott
SF Baylor / Worthy / Cooper
PF Mikkelsen / Hairston / McAdoo / Gasol
C Chamberlain / Abdul-Jabbar / O'Neal / Mikan

[PLATNUM]

I missed the start of the 1st, but the rest of the game--- I counted at least 5 times when Jordan Hill had the ball on the perimeter and faced up and tried to drive and create something off the dribble. W. T . H?

Sacre has no business on the court.

Clarkson has promise.

Ellington was solid.

The team plays well in spurts but then resort to ISO ball and things get outta control.

I'm over Wesley Johnson and his disappearing acts. Not to mention the fact that the guy is ALWAYS trying to play outside of his element. One legged step back fadeaway, Wesley? Really? And when he DOES hit a 3 or get a dunk he celebrates like he did something special. Man, we don't need that ish from you too, bro.
_________________
"Dread it, run from it... destiny arrives all the same."

[tirebiter]

[A Mad Chinaman]

Good luck with the half marathon and thanks for your typical detailed breakdown

Lakers are playing teams that treat this roster like how the Shaq/Kobe and Kobe/Pau teams treated inferior teams - took it easy during the first half and tightened the screws in the 2nd half

Since Johnson is often playing The Invisisible Man" - what can BScott lose by trying RKelly (especially since he has no other choices).

Good to see JLin play aggressively and confidently - at least during the first half. With this team in need of leadership, especially during crunch time, he has shown that his strength is to be a valuable bench player/backup PG.

JHill mistakenly feels that he is Shaq and Dirk with the ability to take Nene in ISOs.

Clarkson is showing tangible potential

Ellimgton is truly a professional that understands one has to be always ready and have an overall game to make an impact in various aspects of the game. This quality would be invaluable for JLin to have

Boozer is Boozer

Team is performing to expectations though it would be nice to get a win every once in awhile

[mhan00]

Glad to see Clarkson and Lin get the nod over Price today. Hope it continues. At the very least, Clarkson needs time on the floor. I wonder if Scott realized this himself, or if a mandate came down from on the front office?

[A Mad Chinaman]

[fiendishoc]

Thanks DB - the auto-sub is killing me too. But good for

[meows a lot]

Nice game by wayne and clarkson.

starting to hate our bigs. they always choose to play like a shooter than post up and jordan hill is atrocious.

love davis, has always been my 2nd favorite player. he needs to play with lin more often to get it going

lin has been meh - nice assists but his shooting is absolutely terrible. small part of the reason is that the lanes are SO packed. our offense leaves so little spacing to work with! clarkson is athletic so he cna easily shoot over and make quick bursts but for lin he seemed to struggle with his shot. seemed like he had no lift

the coaching patterns...da fk. i think byron now will put any excuse out there for the team not to win.

/rant
_________________
“We do have a lot in common.
The same air, the same Earth, the same sky.
Maybe if we started looking at
what's the same instead of
always looking at what's different,

...well, who knows?”

- Meowth

[bws94]

[Lakerbull]

the substitution pattern is akin to NBA 2K auto substitutions with a 'doghouse' DLC.

I went to bed after the 1st quarter.

thanks DB!
_________________
Jeremy Lin: "In terms of my career, the only thing that's really been consistent is the amount of inconsistency that I've had in my life."

[bws94]

Hill played a poor game. He shouldn't ISO, he shouldn't hold the ball so much. Kelly at 3 is not working. Boozer is needed to produce, and he just wasn't himself in this game. Black didn't play. Davis played well but wasn't in to close the game. So, the big men didn't produce much outside of Davis.

The offense was Ellington playing great, scoring and being active on offense, Clarkson scoring and penetrating, Lin worked the 2-man game with Davis but had no rebounds and Lin needs to score much more.

Then there's Wesley. Nice dunk but nothing else.

Byron's rotations, ugh.

This should have been a W. Lakers had less TOs and more blocked shots. Still, an L. It didn't have to be that way.

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB.

Frustrating offense from the Lakers, but I thought Ellington played a great game. I actually enjoyed watching in spite of the loss thanks to Wayne and JC. Ellington made a statement out there that he can play both ends of the court, not get down when the rest of the team falters, and I'm starting to think he's a solid second unit guy after all.

JC - I like the no-fear attitude on the floor, and he comes across as a guy who's head is in the right place too. He has a learning attitude. Was it Worthy who said it appears he actually wants to match up against players like Wall, Parker, Rose etc. so he can measure himself? In his post-game interview, when asked about what he needs to improve the most, he hit on organizing the offense and clock management iirc. I'd say he's spot on in his self-assessment. Maybe add outside shooting to that list. Still, he has more than Pinocchio-potential.

Jordan Hill - why on Earth is he facing up from the three line so much? $9M. He's looking more and more like a trade asset all the time.

It's pretty obvious a bunch of 6-10 225 guys are hard pressed to match up with centers around the league. We've got a bunch of power forwards and Sacre. Too bad Tarik wasn't available, at least he's got a little more beef. I thought Sacre played to his abilities, but his abilities are deep bench not semi-starter.

Way too many holes in this roster. Our best players are injured once again, we've got lots of OK talent at PF, although we're pushing them to the 5 and 3 spots a lot. We've only got second-unit quality guards. Our 3 and 5 positions are deep bench or D-League quality at best playing the starting positions unless we stick a bunch of 4's out there. Sounds like a Lotto formula to me.

Might was well enjoy the few players who do shine.

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

And yes we could have used a little more Lin last night - looked to me like JC was getting tired in the 4th, and Lin-Davis was working when BS wasn't pulling them off the floor.

[catman2u]

[Lakersprime]

Thanks, DB.
We could win last night, but someone worked hard to prevent it.