LAKERS -at- MAGIC - 2-6-15 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Clutch Loss… The Lakers have been fairly consistent at losing in the clutch lately.

“I thought we just played not to lose,” Scott said after the 103-97 loss to the Magic.

Things are all ass-backwards in Los Angeles right now.

In the tank standings, of course, this was a big one. The Magic move to 16 wins and the Lakers stay at 13, instead of having just one game separate the two. So a clutch loss in that regard, too.

Like the last game, the Lakers had a 14-point lead in this one. The Magic would chip away and it was anyone’s ball game in the final minutes. Only no one seemed to want it. Both teams combined to make only one field goal in the final 3 minutes and the game went to overtime.

In overtime, the Lakers had two very big miscues. Down 3 with 1:25 left and a chance to pull within 1 or tie it up, Wes Johnson got picked for a dunk the other way to push the lead back to 5. The second miscue was a missed breakaway layup by Jordan Clarkson with 23 seconds left that could have cut it to 1.


Clarkson -- -- He started the team off well, getting out in transition for scores and setting up teammates. He also found Wes for a lob dunk and Tarik on the break for a throwdown. A very nice mix to his game in that half. He would go on to lead the team with 6 assists. This offense isn’t made for consistently high assist numbers unless you’re taking over everything like Kobe does and guys are hitting jumpers. In crunch time, Scott went to Clarkson to close. “I’m going to see what you guys can do. I’m going to leave you in there,” Scott said. They came up short unable to produce consistently or play to strengths in the final minutes. Scott said the guys were upset about the loss and the team should be. However, he also said, “you lose the game, but you gain some experience.” It’s clear we’re in development mode in games like these. I liked seeing him get aggressive against Payton after he was picked for a dunk in the first half. He sank a three on him next time down, then a pull-up shortly later. Down the stretch, however, was too choppy. “I think I had some good looks, I just missed them,” Clarkson said. He mentioned the Magic sped them and they got on their heels. The biggest miss of the game was Clarkson’s layup with about 23 seconds left. He had got away with a clear-out in transition, but just choked the finish that would have cut the lead to 1 and make it a one-possession game. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 6-14 shooting (1-4 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 6 assists, 4 steals, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 31 minutes. He was a -8. The Action: He attacked in transition off a turnover and scored a layup for the first score. He grabbed a bad pass, pushed it up and scored the layup. He swiped a dribble, pushed it up and hit about a 10-foot floater. He pushed another turnover and hit Black trailing for the slam. His pass went through Davis’s hands for a dunk the other way. Back in, he was picked by Payton for a breakaway dunk. He swished a three on a kickout next time down. He stopped on a dime and swished a pull-up jumper. Sweet lob to Wes on the break for the big throwdown. Second Half: He was called for a travel. He missed a pull-up jumper. He missed a wing three. Great recognition when he got a switch and then orchestrated the offense to move the ball to Kelly in the low post for an And-1. He reversed off the interior feed from Ellington (nice cut when recognizing Wayne was in trouble). He missed a wing three. He missed a tough corner step-back jumper not getting the offense organized quickly. He missed a big three on iso against a big on the final possession of regulation. Overtime: He exploded down the lane but couldn’t finish the layup over the help D. He gave up a layup to Payton with sloppy footwork. He attacked and was blocked on the other end. Nice D to force a bad pass on the other end. He missed a layup on a drive after clearing out (uncontested layup with 23 seconds left that could cut it to 1, wow). He drew a foul with 9 seconds left, he made one.

Ellington -- -- A bit of a choppy game from him down the stretch. He sank a couple threes in the first half, but would miss his final four from behind the arc. Several of them in big situations. He had a chance at a game winner but lost the ball, got it back and missed a heave. He and Scott wanted a foul, but the refs will swallow their whistles a bit in those situations. He shot three techs tonight (missing one of them…that could be the difference in the game right there…nice try, Magic). The Stats: He scored 10 points on 3-10 shooting (2-7 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 37 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He hit a three to beat the shotclock. He lost the ball trying to split a double. He missed a long three off the two-man game, need to work that better than that. He attacked the paint and coughed it up. He swished a three on a kickout. He drew an offensive foul defending a big and taking an elbow. Second Half: He made a tech FT. He missed a wing three. He swished a 17-footer working the two-man game with Sacre. He nearly lost the ball in the paint, but eventually found Clarkson cutting baseline for a reverse. His man blew past him for a reverse. He made a tech FT. He missed a wing three. He missed a tech FT. Clock winding down, tie score, he iso’d, lost the ball on a three attempt, got up and missed a heave at three (wanted the foul on one of those, possibly the first), Kelly was open on that sequence, too. Overtime: He missed an open sideline three that he didn’t need to rush. He missed a bank on a drive.

Kelly -- -- He led the Lakers with 20 points, finally getting his offense on track and hitting five threes. You could see he felt like he had a hot hand and was putting up shots he had been passing (literally) on all season. “I tend to try to make the right play but sometimes the play is to be aggressive and shoot the ball,” he said. They ran him at PF down the stretch, but he did his damage at the SF spot. In the third quarter, he was on fire. Good to finally see him step up and play more like the Kelly the Lakers saw last season. Defensively at the SF, however, he had his hands full with Harris, who had 34 points on 14-18 shooting. So that hurt a lot. In OT Harris worked him for some scores, while Kelly struggled to get anything off…and the one he did was blocked by Vucevic. Best game of the season from Kelly regardless. He needs to do it with some consistency. “He gave us the cushion and lead that we did have,” Boozer said of Kelly. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 6-14 shooting (5-6 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and 3 fouls in 33 minutes. He was a -10. The Action: He attacked against the shotclock and missed an awkward runner. He stripped his man in the paint. He missed a 19-footer on the other end. He sank an open wing three next time down. He missed a wing three when his man came up empty on a steal. Second Half: He missed a pull-up elbow jumper. He rattled in an open wing three on a kickout. He got a small on him in the post and swished an And-1 turnaround jumper, he made the FT. He sank a catch-and-shoot three working a two-man sequence. Quick-fire, step-back three off the split play (with a man on him, too). He let a man fly by and swished a three (looked hit on it, too). He missed an elbow turnaround over a smaller man (again getting a switch, but needing to use his power more). He was blocked on a jumper on the inbounds. He was fouled on a high-low for FTs, he made both. Overtime: Harris scored easily over him to start OT. Harris swished a wing jumper over him on a crossover. He forced up a corner jumper off an inbounds and was blocked (wasn’t even a three, which they needed).

Sacre -- -- How many times did we dump the ball to him with the shotclock to create in this one? That’s when you know we’re not thinking as much as we should be at our guard spots. Sacre had some moments on both ends. Vucevic scored 25 and was a tough cover. Sacre had a few mistakes, but battled hard. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-12 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks and 1 foul in 32 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He sank a turnover in the mid post. He missed a short jumper just beating the shotclock. He was fouled on a jumphook and made both FTs. He airballed a jumphook. He missed a FT jumper. Second Half: He missed a baseline step-back jumper up against the shotclock. Good position to get a miss, but he came down with it and was fouled to prevent a hoop. He missed a turnaround in the post. He rejected a drive. He missed a jumphook up against the shotclock. He hit an open FT jumper. Not close trying to finish in a crowd. He hit Kelly on the high-low for FTs. He bricked an open baseline jumper with a minute and a half left. Great job getting the Lakers another shot on the final possession, yanking away an offensive board. Overtime: Again trying to create against the shotclock and he missed a jumper (looked fouled, actually). He swished a wing jumper out of a timeout. He blocked a drive on the other end to get a stop.

Black -- -- I’d like to see him and Kelly at the PF/C combo at some point. Not thrilled about these Sacre/Black combos on the floor and our spacing issues in this system. Tarik tried to fit in where he could. Scott would go with Kelly/Sacre to close and give the Lakers some better spacing. Tarik scored his only points on the break. No real two-man game action from him like when he was playing well earlier for us. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-5 shooting to go with 6 boards, 1 assist, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a +7. The Action: He missed a putback jam. He dribbled into the paint and was called for 3 seconds after getting nowhere. He dunked when Clarkson found him trailing the break. Second Half: He missed a pubtack jumphook. He missed a lefty jumphook. He was stripped in the post, dunk the other way. He missed a 17-footer.

Young -- -- “One of them nights,” Nick said. He couldn’t hit anything and Scott limited his minutes. Any kind of game from him, the Lakers probably win it. He said he needs to just keep shooting. He actually had some nice moments passing the ball. If he ever figures out how to pass like that with more frequency, that would take his game to another level. Until then, they will overplay him and crowd him more. With the shot not falling, he also could have attacked the rim and manufactured points at the line. He seemed pretty discouraged after the game. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-6 shooting (0-3 from three) to go with 1 board, 3 assists and 1 foul in 16 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He missed a baseline jumper. He broke down the D and hit Boozer for the open jumper. He missed a wing pull-up jumper. Second Half: He missed a wing three a second after entering. He missed a pull-up elbow jumper. He airballed a three on iso, expecting a foul call.

Lin -- -- Very good game from Lin tonight with the shot falling and some nice passes. He should have had more assists than he had but Boozer and Davis both missed layups off some great passing sequences by Lin. I liked that the shot was falling again and he was pulling the trigger on it. He said it was a positive that they were taking teams to OT, but they obviously need to do a better job closing them out. Tonight, we went with Clarkson in crunch time and OT instead of Lin. “They turned up the pressure defensively and we weren’t able to get high quality shots,” Lin said. He said when other teams turn it up, they need to do a better job attacking their aggression. Clarkson said the same. Great first half by the two of them. Not quite as good the second half. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 6-8 shooting (2-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 22 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He sank a wing three off the split play. He got picked from behind by a big for a dunk the other way. His lob to Davis was deflected for a turnover. He drained an open sideline three on a kickout from Ed. He missed a short jumper in transition, we got it back to him and he attacked for a layup. He buried a long wing jumper on the catch and shoot. He swatted Payton’s drive. Great read, hitting Davis with a 30-foot lob for the throwdown. He swished a rainbow wing jumper calling for the foul as he launched it. Second Half: He swiped a pass and pushed it out. He hit Boozer with a long outlet for a score. He missed a step-back jumper at the end of the quarter. Shotclock low, he attacked, was smothered but still hit the fading jumper. He jumped a passing lane to come up with a steal.

Boozer -- -- In a game where every point counts, I think back to a missed FT that Boozer had. The ball pretty much went down and somehow managed to slowly climb over the rim and out, all in slow motion. You knew that was going to be a point they would somehow miss later. Good scoring game from him and he also showed some nice hands on D (not much else, though, on that end). He understood that it was important for Clarkson, Kelly, etc. to get these minutes. “You’d rather learn and win, but these are growing pains,” Boozer said. Actually really liked his attitude after the game. He talked about it tough not being out there himself in crunch time, but he was very encouraging of the young guys, mentioning how he was in their position earlier in his career. Glad to hear it from him. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 7-13 shooting (0-1 from the line) to go with 3 boards (2 offensive), 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 18 minutes. He was a -9. The Action: His man blew past him for a layup. He got tapped on a wing jumper. No box out (along with Clarkson) and they gave up a putback dunk. He swished a wing jumper off the drive and kick from Nick. He faked the handoff and missed a layup taking contact but cleaned it up on the follow up. He poked a ball lose to get a stop. He missed a 16-footer. He banked a short one on iso in the post. He grabbed a Davis miss and scored the layup. He ran over a man away from the ball in transition for a charge. Second Half: He took a long outlet, muscled his man and scored a layup. He faked the handoff, attacked and scored an And-1 layup, he got tapped on the FT (this is the one). He faked one way, went the other in the post and scored the layup. He choked a layup away off a great pass from Lin. He missed a baseline jumper out of a timeout. He lost the ball on a drive. He stripped a guard on a drive to get a stop.

Davis -- -- He led the team with 3 blocks and had a nice lob dunk from Lin. Some scrappy moments, but not a huge impact in this one. He missed a couple layups and jumphooks. (It seemed like there were a lot of chippies that didn’t fall for either team in this one.) Hard to say whether the Lakers would have won had Scott kept his bench in. They were losing the lead, but they also might have played a little more poised in the final minutes. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-6 shooting (0-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 2 assists, 3 blocks and 2 fouls in 21 minutes. He was -8. The Action: He faced up, spun and missed the jumphook. He attacked and kicked to Lin for the open three. He grabbed an offensive board and drew FTs on the putback attempt, he missed both. He erased a layup. On the other end, he reset the offense grabbing a Lin miss. He couldn’t power up off a drive and dish from Lin. He missed a jumphook bank. He couldn’t finish another layup. He slammed on the 30-foot lob from Lin. Second Half: He rejected Gordon and controlled it. Gordon scored over him on iso shortly later. He hit a jumphook in the paint.

Johnson -- -- In overtime, he sank a big three, then was later stripped for a huge dunk the other way. That dunk allowed the Magic to go up 5 with under a minute and half left (potential 4- or 5-point switch on that sequence). I did like seeing Wes at SF and Kelly at PF. It made for more balanced offense and floor spacing. Plus, Nick was a bit MIA in this game. Wes said he thought the team got sped up down the stretch. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-9 shooting (1-4 from three) to go with 9 boards (3 offensive), 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 turnovers and no fouls in 31 minutes. He had a +/- of 0. The Action: He reset the offense on a missed Davis FT. He sank a long wing jumper. He swiped a pass in the backcourt but missed the short pull-up jumper. He threw a swing pass out of bounds. He attacked and kicked to Ellington for the open three. He missed a wing three in transition. He got tapped on a 15-footer coming off a screen. He slammed the oop from Clarkson in transition next time down. He missed an open sideline jumper on the Clarkson kickout at the end of the half. Second Half: He was tied up on the wing. He battled for an offensive board and hit the short turnaround in the paint. He missed a hero-ball wing three with a minute left. Overtime: He sank a big wing three. He was picked on the perimeter for a dunk the other way, ouch.

Scott -- -- Clarkson scoring in transition off Magic turnovers to get the Lakers going early… The Lakers led 15-9 when the timeout came midway through the quarter. The Magic had 5 turnovers… Up 7, he brought in Davis and Boozer for Sacre and Black… They quickly trailed 19-18 when the timeout came… Young, Lin and Wes in the game off of that stoppage… The Lakers trailed 26-23 after the first quarter… Strong scoring from the bench and the Lakers pushed out to a 34-28 lead to force a timeout… Boozer out, Black in… Sacre, Ellington in for Young and Davis, Lakers up 10 midway through the quarter… Lakers up 42-34 when Lin sat for Clarkson with 3 minutes left… The Lakers led 52-38 at the half. Great play by both Clarkson and Lin in the half… Up 9, he brought in Davis for Sacre… He brought in Lin, Boozer and Young, Lakers up 6… Kelly on fire from three this quarter (finally!)… The Lakers led 78-69 heading into the fourth quarter… He started the Davis, Boozer, Johnson, Young, Lin lineup… The lead was cut to 4 and Scott called a timeout… The Magic took a lead a minute later… He sat Young for Ellington down 2… He brought back in Kelly and Sacre for Davis and Boozer, sliding Kelly to PF instead of bring Black back… The Lakers took back a 1-point lead when the timeout came midway through the quarter… Up 1, he brought in Clarkson for Lin with 4:17 left… It was tied 89-89 when the timeout came with 2:46 left. The tried to set up Kelly, who was blocked on the inbounds play… Neither team able to step up and hit a shot down the stretch. Overtime… Same Laker unit to start OT… Both teams don’t seem to want to win to start the OT… The Magic pulled out to a 5-point lead with 1:24 left and Scott called a timeout… Clarkson missed an easy layup on the break that could have cut it to 1. That was the killer. Now the Lakers are forced to foul… Down 5, timeout with 18 seconds left. Kelly comes up very empty on a jumper. This one is over…

[H0B0]

THX DB. GO LAKERS

[SweetP]

Thanks!
Good teams find a way to win, bad teams find a way to lose.
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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

[A Mad Chinaman]

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[SweetP]

[Charisma]

Thanks DB.

I said it before and am saying it again: Watching the Lakers is like watching South Park. Kenny always dies.

[DShotMaker1824]

Missed this game, thanks DB!
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"Through the legs to the left, through the legs to the right, we don't run them Laker plays, we just Kobe fadeaway..."

[cdg]

Thanks DB. Missed you the last game.

I chuckled at the Southpark quote above.

[mhan00]

Watching Sacre play just makes me sad. He tries so hard, but he can do so little.

Clarkson imploded along with the rest of the team down the stretch, but great start and middle. More learning experience for the rook.

Two horrible teams facing each other in the clutch, and the Magic choked slightly less than the Lakers to get the win.

[TDRock]

I'm calling Shenanigans on that game. Just ridiculous.

Thanks DB.

[A Mad Chinaman]

[fiendishoc]

Excellent tank job, but aren't we supposed to be also developing players during the tank? What can Black possibly learn from being matched up with Tobias Harris on the perimeter? Or standing on the three point line on offense? I don't think I saw him set a single screen for the ball handlers. Kelly at the three spot was already a joke, though I enjoyed watching him on fire from three.

[ElginBaylor]

These are not the Lakers you're looking for.
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Not a legend

[yinoma2001]

[Lakerbull]

Tanks db

I know were tanking but can we at least try to win winnable games
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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."

[JLinfanJoe]

[fiendishoc]

I'd just like to add that that post move that Boozer put on Aaron Gordon was sick. Have to love those old man tricks.

[meows a lot]

didnt watch the game, but was sad they lost.

thanks for recap db.

I saw the Lin highlights, glad he had a better shooting game. his scoring has been atrocious lately...not sure if it was a spacing issue on our team or he's just making bad decisions out there or just his shot wasnt falling

but i saw that in the highlights, that a) lin had much more space to work with, wide open and im wondering if that is a combination of better spacing from our guys, or just poor defense from magic? lol.
_________________
“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

[angrypuppy]

Thanks DB.

[A Mad Chinaman]

[meows a lot]