LAKERS -at- BUCKS - 2-4-15 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Tank You Very Much… It was a tough loss to pull off, but the Lakers somehow managed it.

The Lakers had led by as many as 14 points in the first half. In the third, they gave up a 17-0 run to the Bucks. The Lakers battled back by winning the first 5 minutes of the fourth and building a small lead in the final minutes.

After a Jeremy Lin three with 36 seconds left, the Lakers took a 6-point lead to the sideline. One stop and it’s probably over. Out of the timeout, they gave up a quick three, then ran clock on the other end and had a shotclock violation on another shot by Lin. Then, they made some Buck magic. O.J. Mayo took a pass in the corner with Boozer trailing him and Ellington late to react. He hit the tough three with 0.5 left. Tie game.

Despite 28 points from Carlos Boozer and 20 rebounds by Ed Davis, the Lakers couldn’t pull off the win.

“We didn’t get stops in overtime. I think they score every time but twice. That was very deflating,” Scott said.

The Lakers lost 113-105. If you are looking from the tank view – which is the only way for this game not to be painful -- this was a key last-second loss with both the Celtics and Timberwolves winning games tonight.


Clarkson -- -- After stringing a few good games together, he struggled finding any kind of comfort zone out there tonight. The Laker starting guards put up a lot of shots against the shotclock. The Bucks were aggressive and how is this lineup going to counter? I don’t think they know yet. What’s their go-to, bread-and-butter? They didn’t establish anything. Turnovers became scrambles back on D and more second guessing. It was just a bit clunky aside from Ellington bailing them out or Sacre with some easy scores. Defensively, I was curious to see how well the Clarkson/Black two-man D worked. Both are very mobile. We’ll need more minutes as they were cut pretty short tonight. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 0-4 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 23 minutes. He had a +/- of 0. The Action: He missed a step-back jumper, just beating the shotclock. Change of pace to break down the D and he no-looked to Sacre for the dunk. He kicked to Nick in the corner for a three. He was blocked on a layup. He lost a dribble, dunk the other way. Another turnover next time down. Second Half: He missed a long three up against the shotclock. He was called for a double-dribble in the backcourt. He forced the issue in transition and drew FTs on the attack, he made both. He attacked and whipped a pass to Black under the hoop for FTs. He airballed a jumper. Overtime: In for the final seconds, nothing to report.

Black -- -- With Black sliding in next to Sacre, the Lakers had to deal with spacing issues. Tough to see how you can play both of them on the floor easily. Having Kelly out there makes it more awkward. He had some early foul trouble and the offense never really clicked. He had his moments, though… an attack down the lane for a jam over his man and a post move for a score. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-2 shooting (1-4 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 16 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He hit Sacre in the lane for the dunk. He was called for an offensive foul trying to establish post position. He ball faked, attacked from the FT line and jammed over his man. He picked up his second foul on a closeout a few seconds later. Second Half: He took a post feed, pumpfaked and was hacked hard, he made one FT. He pivoted around defenders and scored a layup in the post. He took a pass from Clarkson under the hoop and was sandwiched for FTs, he missed both. He spun in the post but forgot the ball, turnover.

Ellington -- -- He sank five threes tonight. Amazing he was as effective as he was considering how many shots he had up against the shotclock. Nice bounce back after the last game. He’s going to get a lot of minutes this season, nearly 37 per game the last five. He’s averaged 18 points per game in that stretch despite the 7 points last time out. By the end of the season, he might get a double-digit scoring average. Last time he did that was in Cleveland in 2012-13…when Scott coached and was eventually fired in April. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 7-17 shooting (5-12 from three) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists and 3 fouls in 38 minutes. He was a -12. The Action: He missed a turnaround heave to beat the shotclock. Wide open in the corner and he drained the three. He missed an open wing three. He sank a wing three up against the shotclock. He sank a wing three on a kickout. He missed a two-footer working the offensive boards. He missed a challenged three. Second Half: He swished a long sideline jumper, stepping back on iso and hitting. He didn’t hit rim on a pull-up three. He missed a wing three on a kickout. He attacked, stopped at the wing and missed the jumper. He sank a long wing three up against the shotclock. He took a dribble to his right and swished the long jumper. He missed a wing three. Probably should have reacted faster defensively on that Mayo three since letting his man go to score a 2 would have been meaningless. Overtime: He missed a corner three up against the shotclock. He sank a wing three on a kickout. He missed a three straight away.

Kelly -- -- Pretty awful game from Kelly. He looks horrible at the SF spot. The starters look even worse with him, Sacre and Black out there offensively. The Bucks could sag and help and not pay a price. Really nothing to talk about in his minutes. He didn’t close the game. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-3 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 17 minutes. He was a -10. The Action: He missed a wing three. He got blocked on low position, but poked the ball loose in transition to get the ball back. Not close on an open three. Second Half: He fumbled a dribble away on a spin move.

Sacre -- -- I liked how he finished strong around the rim tonight. Too often he finesses the ball and gets into trouble. I’m not talking about the easy jumphooks over Dudley tonight, but the couple of early dunks. Need to see more of that. Good job by the offense going after the mismatch when he had it. Rare when Sacre is in that position. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 5-7 shooting to go with 4 boards, 1 assist and 2 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: Good read to prevent a lob, but he fouled shortly later. He missed a short jumphook on good position on the other end. He regained a possession on an offensive board, the ball worked back to him and he dunked. He slammed off the Clarkson drive and dish (nice to see him try to finish strong). Deep position and he hit the jumphook easily. Super low position again against Dudley and he overpowered him for the layup. Second Half: He backed Dudley down and hit the jumphook. He was blocked trying to attack against the shotclock.

Young -- -- “They brought me here to put the ball in the hole, but I got to learn the ins and outs,” Young said afterward. He kept mentioning “howling at the moon.” Very Artest-like postgame interview, like he enjoyed the spotlight but not the questions. He did most of his scoring damage in the first half, then cooled off some. A season-high 69 points from the bench tonight. The offense didn’t ball stop as much with him. Last year, when it was apparent the team was nose diving, Nick’s D got lazy. Scott is trying to break him of that habit and help him turn the corner. We’ll see how this goes. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 5-12 shooting (2-8 from three, 4-7 from the line) to gow tih 3 boards, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 34 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He swished a three on a kickout from Lin. He was fouled on a three, he made all three FTs. He missed a short one, Ellington missed a subsequent putback and Nick got it back and hit the little jumphook. He made a tech FT. He drew another foul on a three, he missed all three FTs (there goes that second place NBA FT percentage, wow). He swished a corner three on the kickout. He had 12 points in the first half (should have been 15). Second Half: He got lost on a spin move and gave up a dunk. He missed a wing three. He attacked, had his pass deflected back to him and scored the layup. He was stripped on a drive. He iso’d and swished a 19-foot pull-up. He missed a wing three. He missed an open wing three. He airballed a quick-fire jumper off the inbounds. He was called for a charge. Overtime: He missed a three straight away. Good battle for an offensive board, going to the floor for the tie up. He missed a wing three.

Lin -- -- “I wish we had given up two’s instead of three’s,” Lin said afterward. He hit a huge three in the final minute that wasn’t quite the dagger as the Lakers couldn’t defend the three line. That was just one of his two makes in the game. Despite not shooting with any consistency, he orchestrated the offense well. The starters had spacing issues that the bench did not. “They were being really aggressive with their pick and roll coverage, so we were just trying to space the floor and create opportunities where we were trying to use their aggressiveness against them,” Lin said. “A quick dump pass and now we’re playing three on two on the weakside.” It will probably go unnoticed, but I thought he played great D tonight in regulation. He was challenging well and keep his man in check. In OT, Knight had a few too many scores, although Lin was battling hard (except for one bad drive). Several nice shot challenges defensively by Lin tonight. “Defense he did some really good things,” Scott said. He seemed pleased with Lin’s game and gave him the minutes tonight. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 2-12 shooting (1-3 from three, 6-6 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 6 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 6 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a -8. The Action: He missed an open wing three. He missed a short pull-up in the paint. He attacked and kicked to Swaggy for three. Poor shot selection, hoisting up a long three and not even close at the end of the quarter. His lob pass was deflected, dunk the other way. He attacked baseline and reversed. Sloppy pass on a kickout to have it swiped, but he swiped it right back. Second Half: He missed a wing jumper. He stripped a man on the break to force a turnover. He airballed a jumper up against the shotclock. He attacked and fed Davis diving weakside for FTs. He sliced through the D and drew FTs on the layup attempt, he made both. Nice challenge on a jumper. He turned the corner, attacked and drew FTs, going down in pain, he made both. He stripped a ball off his man with a reach to get a stop. He probed around the wing and threaded a pass to Boozer off the dribble for a layup. He crossed over, attacked and missed a layup (Davis cleaned it up). He attacked behind a Buck bigman down the lane off the Davis screen, missed a layup he should have had, but Davis slammed it back in. Another good job on D to force a bad shot and we got the stop. He spotted Boozer popping free under the hoop for a layup. He ran the clock down, worked the Davis two-man game, got a switch and drained the huge rainbow three. Up three, we ran clock and he missed a three with 7 seconds left, Lakers up 3. Overtime: He missed a step-back 13-footer. Rare breakdown and he gave up a straight-line drive and layup. Great bullet feed from the three line to Boozer for the layup. He missed a big wing jumper out of a timeout, way off, with under a minute left. He drew FTs with 15 seconds left on a busted play and fumble, he made both. He took a couple intentional fouls and fouled out.

Boozer -- -- He led the Lakers in scoring with 28 tonight. “I’m just playing off my teammates,” Boozer said. He was popping free for layups off extra passes or bullet feeds from Lin. In the first half, he was on fire from the perimeter. He did also lead in turnovers with 4. (The Lakers team as a whole gave up 31 points off 18 turnovers. That killed them.) Some nice chemistry tonight with both Lin and Davis. It seemed like they were on the same page more than usual. They got starter minutes as a result. With Hill out, interesting to see what kind of numbers some of other bigs will put up. The Stats: He scored 28 points on 13-21 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 4 assists, 4 turnovers and 1 foul in 37 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He threw an outlet away. He swished an open wing jumper. He didn’t hit rim on an elbow jumper. He missed a pull-up 16-footer straight away. He attacked and scored a layup. He swished a turnaround in the paint. He hit a baseline jumper. On fire, he sank a 17-footer straight away. Quick attack on the handoff fake and he drew FTs, he made both. He took an outlet all the way for a layup at the end of the half. He had 14 points in the first half. Second Half: He missed a layup, Ed got it back and gave it to him, and he fumbled the ball away under the hoop. Turnover on a cross-court pass. He missed a jumper. He grabbed an offensive board but missed the point-blank putback. Quick spin in the post and he scored a layup. He lost the dribble next time down, layup the other way. He scored a layup off the pass from Ed who was rolling down the lane. He was blocked on a turnaround jumper. Lin threaded a pass to him for a layup. He missed a baseline jumper. He flashed to the ball baseline and Lin found him with a bounce pass for a layup. Overtime: He kicked out to Wayne for the three. He sank a wing jumper. He scored a quick layup off the Lin bullet feed. He scored a layup off the interior feed from Davis next time down. He was called for a clear-out foul on a drive with 24 seconds left, Laker down 4.

Davis – -- He killed it with a career-high 20 boards off the bench. Active, physical and he kept the motor going. “That might be the best game I’ve ever seen him play,” Boozer said. “He was everywhere, grabbing rebounds, tip dunking it back in. He played like a complete animal out there. Very, very proud of him, man.” He pulled down 9 offensive boards, resetting the offense a number of times or cleaning up garbage on occasion with a putback. “Just be aggressive, be physical and play defense. That’s what I was doing out there,” Davis said. Sometimes when guys get big rebounding numbers, you see it carry through for a few games. Let’s keep an eye on that. Offensively, some nice extra passes from Davis as he helped pull defenders on the rolls to the hoop and made the pass to open teammates. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-8 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 20 boards (9 offensive), 3 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 33 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He was lucky to avoid a 3-second call and drew FTs under the hoop, he made both. He kicked out an offensive board to Ellington for three. He was blocked on a jumphook. Second Half: He missed a layup. He missed another layup. He drew FTs on a throwdown attempt when Lin found him diving from the weakside, he made one. He blocked a layup on help D to save Boozer. He grabbed an offensive board, but fell out of bounds trying to power up out of control. He took the pass from Lin rolling down the lane and fed Boozer for the layup. He was blocked on a layup. He grabbed another board in a crowd and reset the offense. He followed a Lin drive and put the miss back in. Nice D on a switch, good challenge on the guard, but we couldn’t get the stop. Loose ball foul and he gave up FTs. He slammed back down a Lin missed layup. Overtime: Great hustle to tap a board to Young to regain possession. Nice interior feed to Boozer for the layup.

Johnson -- -- He sprained an ankle, came back in later and got poked in the eye. That kind of a night for him. I’m surprised Vitti let him back in. He smells blood in the tank water and you’re sitting right now. We’ll see how that goes after a night’s rest. Vitti may shut him down for a game. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-7 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 4 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 18 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He had an offensive board bounce to him and he sank a 17-footer, just beating the shotclock. Horrible passing angle in the post, stolen, three the other way. Not close on a wing jumper. He attacked off the three line, took contact with no call and missed. He swished a wing three, then twisted an ankle coming down on the defender’s foot (should have been an And-1). Second Half: He grabbed an airball and scored a layup. He missed a wing three. He got poked in the eye after grabbing a loose ball.

Scott -- -- Hill out, Black in. Mentioned in the broadcast, this group of starting players average this season -- a combined 29.7 points… He brought in Boozer, Davis and Lin for Sacre, Black and Clarkson… Johnson in for Kelly, Lakers down 21-16… He brought in Young for Ellington late in the quarter. Good quarter by Wayne… The Lakers trailed 26-24 after the first quarter… He started a Davis, Boozer, Johnson, Young, Lin unit… He sat Lin for Clarkson after 4 minutes, score tied 33-33… He sat Wes for Ellington, Lakers up 5… Boozer killing it. Lakers up 40-33, forcing a timeout… Black and Sacre in for the Laker bigs… Boozer back in for Black a couple minutes later… He sat Sacre for Davis with a minute left, Lakers up 10… The Lakers led 54-46 at the half. Bucks had a 9-2 advantage on the break… Lakers were trading hoops until the offense started stalling out midway through the quarter… Up just 3, he made wholesale changes, sitting all five starters for the bench… They lost their lead shortly later (17-0 run by the Bucks over 3 minutes during this stretch against the starters and bench)… The Lakers trailed 74-68 heading into the fourth… A 7-0 Laker run and they cut the lead to 1… Ellington in for Wes… The Lakers pulled out to a 5-point lead as Lin orchestrated the offense (and Davis worked the offensive glass). Timeout Bucks with 2:37 left… A 6-point lead with a minute left. Timeout. Lakers gave up a quick three out of that… They gave up another three to Mayo with 0.5 left to tie the game up. Timeout. Score tied. We couldn’t get shot off. OT… Same unit in OT… Under a minute, down 4. Timeout. Lin missed a wing jumper… Foul situation down 4 with 20 seconds left… Lin fouled out, intentionally fouling. Clarkson in. Lakers down 6 with 11 seconds left. Timeout…

[fiendishoc]

Welcome back.

[fafan]

2nd, thanks.
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"Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." --Sarah Cook.

[SweetP]

Yay, missed you DB and your write-ups!
I was still at work for this early start game so your thoughts are especially valued, thanks.
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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

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[DancingBarry]

Couldn't do the last one with a 4 a.m. wake up, the half marathon, then Superbowl festivities...just dead tired. Finally watched the game last night. Then watched some of Kobe's MSG game to get the taste out of my mouth.

[mhan00]

Missed the game since I'm in DC. I thought about staying away and watching it on DVR when I got home, but I just couldn't resist. Sucks we lost, but at least the team seems to be making some progress. Hopefully Clarkson can get it together on Friday.

[Charisma]

Thanks DB. Hope you had a great Super Bowl party.

[fiendishoc]

Regarding the spacing, I was laughing at our coaching staff for putting Black on the corner 3 line to start the game. Were they hoping that the other team didn't watch any games and would think that he's a threat out there? His man just planted himself firmly in the paint. When Boozer checked in, he assumed the exact same position too. Thankfully as the game went on they stopped doing it. The team plays better without Hill and I was worried for the tank for a while, before the tank commander came through.

The way you create spacing with Black and Sacre is to put one of them on the baseline near the basket and have the other one set picks. Similar to the plays where Davis feeds Boozer for the dunks. They should be going to pick and roll almost every possession. One thing I did like to see though, was the ball moving to the weak side for open 3's on several possessions. Have to keep the defense honest when they're loading up like that.

Lakers were actually lucky that Kenyon Martin was out tonight- dude has looked like the Kmart of old recently, at least physically. Bucks had no depth up front, as shown from Dudley helplessly trying to defend Sacre in the post. Hopefully it convinces them of the need to sign a quality big and let go of one of their restricted free agents .

[Reflexx]

[H0B0]

THX DB. GO LAKERS

[angrypuppy]

Thanks DB.


I don't know how you do it. Frankly this team makes my eyes bleed.

[SIT_GOODWIN_SIT!]

[tony smith]

Thanks, DB! You were missed.

[A Mad Chinaman]

[sf2099]

welcome back and thanks for the update!

[kastuul]

3:00

“I wish we had given up two’s instead of three’s,” Lin said afterward

And the Lakers out rebounded the Buck in this game.SMH.

[ADA32]

We missed you on SuperBowl day.

Tank you for the great write up!

[JLinfanJoe]

As always, thanks DB for your thoughtful post-game summaries and analysis!


And despite the loss in overtime, Magic Johnson seemed pleased with how the team played yesterday:

[lakurluv]

Didn't see the game, but watched the highlights. I knew Clarkson was going to have a game like this sooner or later, it's all part of being a rookie. I'm glad for him, because it should help him focus on the mental part of his game.

[Lakerbull]

thx db.

the hoop was 10 feet wide for Knight. oh well.
_________________
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."

[yinoma2001]

Boozer is playing like a man who wants a ticket out of here. Please let him go....please.
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From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals

[TDRock]

[Richmond]

I wonder what's going on with Jeremy's shot? He is a MUCH better shooter than he's shown. If he was even mildly more on target we win yesterday.

[Lakerbull]