MAVS -at- LAKERS - 3-8-15 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Down the Stretch They Come… The Lakers have been like that pacesetter horse that is in the front of the pack for half of the race, then fades down the stretch.

“Same old story,” Scott said afterward.

There was a five and half minute stretch in the fourth quarter where the Mavs outscored L.A. 16-1 to erase a Laker fourth-quarter lead and cruise to victory, 100-93.

Byron Scott wasn’t exactly pulling on the reins and slowing the Lakers down. The Lakers did that themselves.

On defense, they couldn’t stop Monta Ellis, who had 26 of his 31 points in the second half. On offense, they would score just 16 points in the fourth. Al-Farouq Aminu had 6 steals in the game for the Mavs.

It’s the final stretch run for the Lakers, so Scott switched up the lineups again. It didn’t matter in this one.

Successful weekend for the tank. The Lakers made up more room with the Magic and are just a couple wins ahead of the second and third spots.


Clarkson -- -- The Mavs specifically mentioned scouting Clarkson before this game. Out of the gates, they decided to trap him off the screens when they could in order to put more pressure on him (along with Rondo’s D). Clarkson said Kobe was talking to him about dealing with the pick and roll and how aggressive the Mavs were on the hedge and trap. He handled it well, getting some hockey assists (and even a nice drive and dish) out of the attention he drew. He picked it up in the third quarter where he scored 10 points. He couldn’t come through in the close. “It just comes with experience. You just got to keep going at it and stay aggressive,” Clarkson said. A lot of pass deflections, defensively, but he didn’t get credit for those as steals. “He’s playing with a lot of poise and reading the defense well,” Kobe said. Kobe mentioned working out with Randle this summer and working on his footwork and other small details of the game. Randle is going to the mountaintop to learn from the wiseman. Should be interesting. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-13 shooting (0-1 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 5 assists, 4 turnovers and 2 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He broke the trap off the screen, attacked and hit Black for the uncontested dunk. He missed a 17-footer. He pushed up with speed but was a little too hot on the pass, turnover. He called for the screen, worked off it and hit the pull-up FT jumper. He knocked a pass loose on the other end to get a stop. Might have deflected another one to ignite a break. He curled into the lane off the screen, nearly had it picked from behind (looked like a foul), but recovered it and went up and under on Chandler for the layup. He hit Boozer off the two-man sequence on the weakside for a score. He blew a layup at the front of the rim. He drew a triple team but found Davis who hit Boozer for the dunk. He hit Lin leaking out for a layup at the end of the quarter. He missed a pull-up jumper under pressure with the clock low. He deflected a pass on the other end to get a stop. He had 4 points on 2-5 shooting, 4 boards and 3 assists. Second Half: He attacked and kicked to Ellington for the three. He attacked the lane and swished the floater. He pushed it up with speed, elevated, took off and soared for the dunk (he left from the circle while the defender just watched him fly by with no chance). He was hit from behind on the pull-up jumper, he made both FTs. He probed and missed an FT jumper with Rondo on his shoulder. He got a couple nice bounces on a pull-up jumper working off the screen. He crashed the glass, got the board and quickly powered up a layup. Be beat the trap, missed the layup but Boozer cleaned it up. He attacked the pressure again, hit Davis, who then slipped it to Boozer for the uncontested layup. He missed a wing catch and shoot. Telegraphed pass across the top of the key and it was picked off. He was fouled on the dribble as the D converged, he made one. He missed a wing pull-up jumper. He was picked by Aminu on the perimeter.

Hill -- -- Back in the starting lineup. Really surprising how few notes I had in this one. He was part of the reason they lost the last one, settling for quick-fire jumpers versus moving the ball more and not setting good picks to free up his guards. So he may have reeled it in a bit. You saw some plays he’d normally fire away that he didn’t. After the game, he said they were playing hero ball down the stretch and he wanted to see more ball movement. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-6 shooting to go with 7 boards (3 offensive), 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 26 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He swished a jumper from the top of the key. He follow jammed down an Ellington miss. He missed a drive, we got it back to him and he hit the baseline set shot. He missed an open 19-footer. He had 6 points and 6 boards (3 offensive). Second Half: He ball-faked, scooted in a step and swished the floater.

Black -- -- Back in the starting lineup but this time at the C instead of across Sacre. Scott will likely give him the 20-game run. But Sacre was key to the tank, so we’ll see how this goes. Lakers managed to blow this one down the stretch. What is their bread and butter? We don’t have a big we can just dump it to in the post down the stretch. The two-man scenarios aren’t going to trust Tarik in closing time yet. We’ll see if that grows as he gets more run. Solid first half tonight, not a lot of presence in the second half. “I thought Tarik was active, just like I wanted him to be,” Scott said. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-5 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 2 fouls in 26 minutes. He was a -11. The Action: Uncontested dunk off the drive and dish by Clarkson. Good hustle to pull down an offensive board and kickout to Hill for the jumper. Great help D rejection in transition (off the ground quickly). He was stripped on a layup attempt. He was stripped trying to score in the post. He attacked from the high post and scored a layup. He up-faked Dirk (as if he was going to take the 17-footer), blew past him and drew FTs, he made both. He had 6 points, 4 boards and 2 assists. Second Half: He stripped a man and it led to an Ellington breakaway dunk. He missed a 17-footer with the shotclock low.

Ellington -- -- He had his hands full against Ellis. Probably the biggest points were on an inbounds with 3 seconds left on the shotclock, Wayne got stuck too easily on a handoff screen by Dirk and the Lakers gave up a three to Ellis, going from down by 4 with 2 minutes left to down by 7 on what could have been an easy stop. That was the killer shot of crunch time. Offensively, Ellington couldn’t find his three ball. He made just 1 of 7 and wasn’t efficient with just 13 points on 16 shots. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 6-16 shooting (1-7 from three) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 5 fouls in 37 minutes. He was a -8. The Action: He missed a floater in the lane. He missed a wing three. He missed a sideline jumper. He pushed out the break and had his layup goaltended. He hit Boozer on the two-man game for a layup. He missed a turnaround from the elbow. He missed an open sideline three. He missed a three at the buzzer. Second Half: He sank a three on the Clarkson kickout. Short on a wing three he couldn’t get his legs under. He dunked off the leak out. He tried to get back on Ellis who was lighting him up and charged. He missed a pull-up jumper. He scored a layup off Ed’s offensive board tip to him. He swished a pull-up jumper next time down. He missed a three out of a timeout. He scored a layup at the game buzzer.

Johnson -- -- Back in the starting lineup in place of Kelly’s awfulness. Steady scoring game from Wes. He had the jumper dropping and that’s where he did his damage tonight. He probably had the Laker shot of the game, a three over a double team that included Chandler and the clock about to expire. The Lakers were just 2-14 from three tonight. The Mavs made 7-14 in the second half. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-9 shooting (1-3 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and no fouls in 25 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: He let a man fly by, moved in and hit the 18-footer for the Lakers first score. He missed a sideline three. He couldn’t handle a swing pass (he probably leads the team in taking his eye off of passes). He sank a 19-footer working off the screen. He sank a catch-and-shoot 18-footer off the horns. He sank a baseline turnaround jumper. He had 8 points on 4-6 shooting. Second Half: He sank a baseline jumper. He was hit on a three for FTs, he made two. He drilled a tough three over a double team up against the shotclock. He iso’d and missed a wing three. He pushed the ball up, attacked and threw it away, horrible pass.

Lin -- -- He got popped in the nose, bled instantly and had Vitti the cut man go to work on him, a nose plug later and he was back on the floor in about 20 seconds. He’d get contact on it again in the fourth at the end of his rotation (possibly) and bled quite a bit on the sideline. “We settled for a lot of tough ones,” Lin said of the offense in the fourth. The Lakers scored just 16 in that fourth quarter. Not a good shooting night from him scoring wise on that end. He did have some good moments setting up others with the pass and he was one of the only Lakers to get to the line with any consistency. He said mentally they need to play, “to not try to protect the lead but to grow it.” Yep. They just couldn’t get it done on either end tonight when they needed to. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 1-6 shooting (0-1 from three, 5-6 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 5 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He pushed out a turnover and blew the layup. He worked the two-man game with Davis and lobbed to him for the dunk. Short on a pull-up 13-footer. He busted out at the end of the quarter, Clarkson threw it ahead to him and he scored the layup with a second left. He missed a layup in transition. He pushed up the break and dropped a bounce pass to the trailing Davis for the layup. He attacked the paint and drew FTs. Second Half: He drew FTs on the dribble, he made both. He attacked the paint and drew FTs at the rim, going down hard, he made one. He was trapped off the screen and threw it away. He was stripped for a breakaway. He missed a three up against the shotclock. He missed a short one in the paint. He attacked, drew the D and fed Boozer for the layup. He attacked and charged, more blood coming out.

Boozer -- -- Back to the bench as we rotate the lineups once again. Great job on the offensive boards. He led the Lakers in scoring and did most of his work in the second half. Aminu started putting some pressure on him (and the Lakers in general) defensively, however, and that hurt in crunch time. Scott pulled him pretty late in the game (3 minutes left) for Hill, Lakers down 3 at that time. We don’t need his vet savvy offensively when were in tank, err, development mode. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 8-15 shooting (1-1 from the line) to go with 8 boards (4 offensive), 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He missed a baseline jumper. He ball-faked to lose the D but missed the open elbow jumper. He sank a baseline jumper off the two-man game with Clarkson. He missed a face-up jumper. He dunked off the interior feed from Davis. He grabbed an offensive board hustling in transition and hit Davis for the score. He missed a layup but Davis cleaned it up. He scored a layup off the two-man game with Ellington. Second Half: He sank a 15-footer. He cleaned up the Clarkson dribble penetration. He scored a layup off the interior feed from Davis. He grabbed an offensive board, blew past Dirk and scored the And-1 layup, he made the FT. He swiped the ball and pushed out the break. He scored a layup off the drive and dish from Lin. He was stripped by Aminu on the perimeter and fouled him for FTs. He was blocked on a post-up attempt, that wasn’t pretty. He missed a layup on a drive out of a timeout.

Davis -- -- He scored his usual garbage man, hustle points working on the glass. Did his usual shot blocking. But what was equally as impressive was some of the interior passing going on with the bigs tonight. Ed had a couple off of Clarkson feeds when he drew attention that led straight to uncontested scores for teammates. He Lin teamed up also for a lob dunk. On the down side, he’s shooting 23% from the line since the All Star break prior to this one. He missed both FTs tonight. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 5-8 shooting (0-2 from the line) to go with 8 boards (3 offensive), 2 assists, 3 blocks, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He rejected a shot shortly after entering the game. He slammed off the lob from Lin working the two-man game. He battled on the glass, but was blocked on the putback attempt. He took a pass from Clarkson and quickly hit Boozer with an interior feed for the dunk. He scored a layup off the interior feed from Boozer. He rejected a layup out of bounds on the other end. He was hacked on the baseline for FTs, he missed both. He finished a layup on the break when Lin dropped a bounce pass to him trailing. He cleaned a missed Boozer layup. He had 8 points on 4-5 shooting and 2 blocks. Second Half: He missed a short one in the paint. Another great interior feed off Clarkson’s setup and Ed found Boozer for a layup. He slammed back in a Kelly miss. Looked like he blocked Ellis from behind. He was stripped in the paint. He tapped an offensive board to Ellington for the score.

Kelly -- -- He was awful at the starting SF spot. The tank appreciated that but it was getting pretty hard to watch. His impact will now be moved to the second unit. With SwaggyP’s health still in question and Vitti doing tank work, it could be a while before this changes. Kelly continued that awful play tonight. He’s really hard to watch these days. He can’t hit a jumper. He can’t post up smaller players (it’s almost comically bad we can’t take advantage of his size at the SF). The Stats: He scored 2 points on 0-4 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 23 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He attacked baseline and short-armed the layup. He blocked a Parsons layup. He missed a wide open three, way short. Second Half: He moved in off the three line and missed the shorter baseline jumper. He hesitated and bricked a leaning three. He was fouled on a wing three (why would you do that?), he made two FTs. He looked silly falling to the floor against Parsons on D to give up a layup. He was stripped trying to post up.

Scott -- -- R.I.P. Sacre/Kelly starting combo. That was a Tank Special combo. For a while there with Clarkson, Kelly, Sacre and Boozer that was a starting lineup with all but one player (Ellington) as a second-round pick. Now Scott added a couple of lottery picks in Hill and Wes back into the mix along with Tarik Black… The Lakers trailed by 1 when Lin came in for Ellington midway through the quarter… Boozer in for Black, Lakers down 1… Kelly and Davis in for Johnson and Hill, Lakers up 1 with 4 minutes left… An 8-0 run by the Mavs during this stretch, but the Lakers reeled them back… The Lakers trailed 25-24 after the first quarter… He started a Davis, Boozer, Kelly, Ellington, Lin lineup… Timeout Mavs as the Lakers took a 28-27 lead… The Lakers led by 2 when Clarkson and Hill came in for Lin and Boozer midway through the quarter… Black in for Davis… Wes back in for Kelly, Lakers down 2… An 8-0 Laker run to retake the lead… They were tied 44-44 at the half… The Lakers outworked the Mavs 9-2 on the offensive glass. Clarkson and Ellington shelled the Mavs out of the gates and forced a timeout, Lakers up 7… He sat Wes (who was hot) for Kelly and Lin, Lakers up 2 with 5 minutes left. Boozer also in for Black… Lakers D couldn’t hold the line and the lead was trimmed down shot by shot… The Lakers led 77-75 heading into the fourth… He started the same unit he had out in the second quarter… With Stoudemire out there, the Lakers are just killing the Mavs on the offensive glass… The Lakers had a 6-point when the timeout came midway through the quarter… The Lakers were up by 2 when he brought in Wes for Kelly with 5 minutes left… Lin out a few seconds later along with Davis for Black and Clarkson, Lakers up just 2… Hill in for Boozer down 3 with over 3 minutes left… An 11-0 Mavs run before Clarkson got some points at the line during this stretch… Mavs extending their lead to 9 with a minute left… Scott mentioned he will have Randle on the road with him has he’s been cleared to do a little more… He asked Kobe to come out, but didn’t really say why. “I wanted him around. I like seeing him,” Scott said. With Clarkson getting important minutes, it would be good for Kobe to be in his ear a little…

[markjay]

Wow, first time first!

Edited to add: Great write up for a great loss. I love how they are playing well and just falling behind at the end.

[H0B0]

THX DB. GO LAKERS

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[fafan]

This game just like replay. Excellent tank job!
_________________
"Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." --Sarah Cook.

[Laker_Town]

Db giving it Kelly lol


"vitti doing tank work"

[Lorenzomax]

Tanksanity

[A Mad Chinaman]

They needed somebody to rally the troops to make everyone accountable
~ Big Game James

Seemingly/Logically that should come from vets who have experienced success - Boozer and JLin???

What has happen to RKelly's game?!?!

Clarkson is developing nicely

JLIn is still inconsistent

Davis and Black were beasts - at least in the first half

Lakers are uncovering good bench players with some potential starters.

How would Swaggy P help this team when he doesn't play defense and he rarely passes?

[Lorenzomax]

[mhan00]

Loving how Clarkson looks.

Lin was indecisive today. Passed up on a number of shots and got himself into trouble.

[nolookpass]

The past couple of games were clearly lost on purpose imho, while showing great development by the younger players and the Team as a whole. I would therefore give them at lease an instead of (. I firmly believe this team could have Challenged for a Playoff spot had they gone full throttle without constantly changing lineups and deliberately taking out the veterans in end of game situations.

[ADA32]

Thanks, DB for your great write up!

Another tank job by Bscott with that Kelly/Sacre starting combo.

Let's see how the team react from this situation?

[bws94]

[bws94]

Thanks, DB.

Instead of Byron saying they don't have a closer, why not be creative and look collectively rather than individually? That's what I dislike about him, he doesn't pump up his players and get synergism out of them when that is the type of personnel he has. And he doesn't take blame or do coaching analysis putting the onus on him to find a way. OK, maybe I should go to the coach P&M thread

[Lakers#1Team]

Thanks DB!

[Lakerbull]

Tanks 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."

[swoosh-it]

[quote="Lorenzomax"]

[Richmond]

As far as the Lin sub...I think he was pulled because he got whacked in the face again and was bleeding.

[trunkz08]

BS says they don't have any closers, yet he benches ED, Lin, and Boozer. Guys who can help them win. Makes absolutely no sense.

[Shaber]

[22]

I only read Clarkson's review this season

Thanks DB

[bws94]

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB for your tireless efforts in a long ugly season. I appreciate potential in Russell, Towns, Okafor or Mudiaye, but I'll never enjoy watching the Lakers lose. Hats off to you for putting up with it and giving such a fine analysis game after game through thick and thin. Here's hoping for lots of ) threads in a couple years.

[fiendishoc]

[fiendishoc]

At one point in the 4th, Stu was talking about how the Lakers were leading in all the "important stats", but still losing and that the "only stats that matter" are the team scores, as if it were some sort of indictment on analytics.

Well Stu, that's because you were looking at a traditional box score and could only see fg%, rebounds and assists. (And ignored the turnover disparity). What you didn't see was that the Lakers were getting beaten down in eFG%, because the Mavs hit seven more 3's.