LAKERS -at- KNICKS - 3-12-15 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Well, NBA… It can’t be a good business plan to have two franchises in the biggest markets failing this badly.

The Knicks and Lakers didn’t fail to make things look bad out of the gates with two of the ugliest shots you will see during that first quarter. For the Lakers, it was a lefty hook across the lane by Ryan Kelly that missed the rim by several feet and hit the top of the backboard. For the Knicks it was Alexey Shved picking up his dribble about 20 feet from the hoop and missing a one handed runner off glass from the left side.

If you stuck with the game after that, the Lakers lost an early lead, got hurt again in the third quarter and had dig themselves out of the hole against the Knicks, who hadn’t beaten a Western Conference team on the road this season.

“We got punched first and that’s not a good position because you are trying to recover,” Jeremy Lin said.

The Knicks built a 14-point lead with 2:51 left. After a series of three-point plays, the Lakers miraculously cut it to 4 in the final minute. If you were pulling for the tank, they even made this loss hard for you to enjoy. Amazingly, the Lakers have managed to lose both games to the Knicks this year. Well played.

“This got away before the game even started,” Scott said. “Our mindset was nowhere near it should have been.”


Clarkson -- -- It looked like he regressed a bit tonight with a few forces and some poor decisions. Bad start with several misses and a couple fouls in the first 4 minutes. He had to sit early as a result. Scott said he thought the team played selfish and didn’t give the Knicks enough credit. Put some of that on Clarkson. “He was trying to force things too much,” Scott said. “He didn’t do a good job of running the show. They sped him up and he just tried to do too many things.” Just 1 assist and some poor possessions where he shot quick-fire attempts in early offense without getting his team going. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-12 shooting (2-4 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a -11. The Action: He missed a drive that was covered well. He missed a pull-up jumper from 17 feet out. He forced and missed an 18-footer next time down. He was called for a charge on a pass off, his second and he sat after 4 minutes for Lin. Back in and he quickly swished a pull-up straight away after working off the wing screen. He stopped on the drive and hit the pull-back, 13-footer. He short-armed a runner across the lane. Second Half: He sank a wing three on a swing pass. He probed baseline and kicked out to Hill for the open jumper. He missed a three on a kickout. He lost the ball and was tied up pushing out the dribble, he lost the jumpball. He attacked and couldn’t finish a challenged layup. He pushed out a rebound and hit Ellington in the lane for FTs. He missed a pull-up jumper. He was fouled at the rim on a bustout, he made one FT. He sank a three to cut it to 5 with 53 seconds left. He missed a long three.

Hill -- -- He led the Lakers with the 19 points, including a putback on a late-game missed FT and a final-minute three that helped make things interesting. He seems like he has that corner three range now. He might want to start putting a few more of those up. That will turn him into a bigger threat and a more efficient/effective one if he can knock those down. The post-game tonight was a bit ugly, aside from one rim run. Most of his damage was done on the perimeter. Defensively, he had some poor moments. Our interior in general had little presence. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 8-14 shooting (1-1 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 1 assist, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a -11. The Action: He was called for a charge on the first possession showing no savvy in the post. He hit a face-up jumper in the post. Nice rim run and Lin found him for the And-1, he made the FT. He sank a quick-fire 19-footer from the wing off the Lin handoff. He let a guard go right past him without a challenge on the layup. He iso’d and missed the jumphook. He sank a baseline jumper off the kickout. He slammed down a missed layup by Tarik. He was blocked on a drive. He bricked a Dirk step-back on the baseline. Second Half: He swished a wing set shot off the Clarkson kickout. He airballed a jumphook. He drew FTs on a drive, he made one. He missed a wing jumper he thought was going down. He grabbed a missed Clarkson FT and scored. He swished a corner three to cut the lead to 4 with 24 seconds left. He missed a quick spin in the post that he’s been scoring on in late-game situations.

Black -- -- He had several putback jams to start the game, looking like the Black we saw when he first played for the team (prior to the ill-conceived Sacre/Black lineup…well, it was gold for the tank, anyway). He was mostly quiet after that. He does a good job setting picks. He’s looking for contact unlike some of our other bigs. Good job on the boards, as well, tonight. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 5-6 shooting to go with 11 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist, 1 turnover and 6 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He grabbed a loose board and slammed it down. He threw down a missed Clarkson jumper with one hand. He follow slammed a missed layup by Wes, grabbing it off the rim and throwing it down with both hands. He attacked and banked in a jumphook (he wanted the foul). He missed a layup on a drive but Hill threw down the putback. Second Half: He was blindsided in the post for a turnover. He faced up and powered his way to a jumphook in the middle of the lane.

Ellington -- -- Glad we have Jabari to cut Ellington’s minutes down…really, his minutes are pretty meaningless at this point in the season. He hit a couple of threes, but mostly struggled tonight. “We underestimated them,” he said. “We felt like they were not that good of team and we could come and just beat them.” Asked if he would look at the tape of this one, he was clearly thinking, “…yeah, right.” Who wants to watch this one again, losing on your home floor to the Knicks. Ouch. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-13 shooting (2-5 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists and no fouls in 28 minutes. He had a +/- of 11. The Action: He hit a baseline jumper for the Lakers first score. He airballed a pull-up jumper from about 16 feet out. He kicked to Hill for the jumper. He missed a wing three. He wedged a jumper in the rim for a jumpball miss. He sank a three working off the high screen. He sank a leaner at the FT line. Second Half: He missed a layup, smothered on a drive. He drew FTs filling the lane on the break, he made one. He missed a wing three. He attacked and got tapped on the turnaround jumper. He sank a wing three on a switch. He missed an open wing three. He attacked and missed a jam.

Johnson -- -- If there was a position the Lakers needed to look for some new blood, it is the SF spot. He and Kelly tonight were horrible offensively. He missed five threes. He did have some moments with steals and blocks on the defensive end. He said the team played soft and lacked focus. “We got to play with the same effort no matter who we play,” he said. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-10 shooting (0-5 from three) to go with 3 boards, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 33 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He missed a three straight away. He missed a short one under the hoop but Tarik slammed it back down. He swiped a post entry pass with some good anticipation. He probed and was blocked badly out of bounds (I think I could have swatted that one). Second Half: He tracked down a breakaway and swatted it with ease. He was stripped on the perimeter. He missed a three in early offense. He missed a layup on the break, then fouled. He missed a three, cut and Davis hit him for the layup. He sank a wing jumper. He cleared out to set up a jumper (late whistle but right call). He bricked a three. He stripped a man and ignited the break.

Lin -- -- Clarkson got into some early foul trouble so Lin was brought in a little earlier than usual in the first quarter. Later, Lin helped the Lakers start to turn things around between that third and fourth quarter. He outplayed Clarkson tonight, but these are important developmental minutes for Clarkson, so Scott brought Jordan back with about 7 minutes left in the fourth. That was probably the clutch tank move of the night. Lin felt like he was toying with one of those pushes that could have ignited the crowd and sparked the team. “We were never really able to break it open,” Lin said. Quality minutes from him when he was out there. He did get the crowd buzzing a little on a track down block against his man off the backboard. Very nice. “We just got to stick to the script,” Lin said, referencing how they’ve been playing since the All Star break. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 4-9 shooting (0-1 from three, 6-6 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 7 assists, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 22 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He found Hill on the rim run for the And-1. He attacked off the screen and hit his turnaround in the lane. He worked off the screen and scored the layup over the help D. He probed and lost the ball. He drew FTs on the dribble, he made both. He worked the two-man game to Boozer for the open jumper. He missed a step-back jumper from the wing. He drew the D and hit Ed for FTs. He was stripped on the break, turnover. Second Half: He traveled on his first touch. He threw a pass away on a break (Clarkson wanted the lob instead of that) and it led to a dunk the other way. He missed a step-back three. He attacked from the wing and scored on the reverse. Great defensive recovery on his man and he swatted the layup off the glass (Laker fans like that one). He attacked, missed, got it back and was drilled for FTs, he made both. He hit Davis on the two-man game for the And-1 layup. He attacked off the screen and drew FTs in the paint, he made both. He attacked to his left and finished over a bigman. He barely hit rim on a pull-back jumper from about 20 feet.

Boozer -- -- They weren’t yelling “Booooozer,” I don’t think. He was awful in the fourth quarter. After a couple of scores, he kind of singlehandedly helped keep the Knicks going. Some turnovers, missed jumpers and drives. He threw in a tech for good measure. I’d say that was some clutch tank work if I didn’t know he was just having a crap stretch of ball. That kind of sucked the wind out of the sails. He probably should have had two more points than the box score indicated because there was a goaltend on one of his that the refs missed. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 5-12 shooting (1-1 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He missed a jumper straight away. Looked like his shot was goaltended as it circled around the rim and came out. He hit Ed with the interior feed for the layup. He sank an open FT jumper next time down, working the two-man game with Lin. He was rejected trying to power in a layup. He curled into a baseline drive off an inbounds and scored the layup. He scored and And-1 layup off the bounce pass from Kelly, he made the FT. Second Half: He missed a wing jumper. He deflected a pass, then scored a layup on the break with Jabari. He attacked from the FT line and scored a layup. He traveled off a nice no-looker from Lin. He attacked and kicked a dribble out of bounds. He was rejected on the post-up attempt. He airballed a face-up wing jumper. He attacked and missed a layup with his left, then picked up a tech.

Davis -- -- Good job on the boards again, pulling down 5 offensive in the process. He did his usual garbage man work, cleaning glass, working the two-man game and scoring around the rim. Three of the Lakers had double digit rebounding games. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-7 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 10 boards (5 offensive), 1 assist, 3 steals and 4 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a -11. The Action: He powered in a layup off the interior feed from Boozer. He was mugged trying to finish at the rim off a pass from Lin, he missed both FTs. He was rejected on a hook, got it back and missed a layup. He tipped in a missed Hill jumphook. He missed a putback at the buzzer. Second Half: He grabbed a Wes miss and then hit him cutting for the layup. He scored an And-1 layup off the two-man game with Lin and made the FT.

Brown -- -- Back in the purple and gold and on the court after his brief stint with the team during training camp. I thought it was a good unsigned pickup by the Lakers at the time, having watched a lot of Clarkson and Brown at Mizzou. Jabari didn’t bring it and the Lakers deferred to the more experienced Ellington (who slumped his way through the preseason). He’s a deadeye shooter, but struggled from the freethrow line tonight and clanked a few jumpers. “Out of all our guys, I thought he played the best,” Scott said. He added that he was a little more aggressive tonight than previously this season. He picked a good game to get his feet wet in the NBA regular season against the Knicks, but after a good start he cooled down a bit. “Felt good just getting out there, hearing the crowd and seeing that first shot go down,” he said. He said the lights were real bright out there on the NBA court and the competition was a bit faster. Get this first game out of the way and, hopefully, he shows more of his skills at the next level. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-6 shooting (0-2 from three, 1-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assists, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 18 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: He pushed out the break and drew FTs, he made one. He sank a long wing jumper (foot on the three line) on a kickout. He probed off the screen, got his man behind him and hit the floater in the middle of the lane. He lost his man off the dribble, put on the brakes and hit the wing jumper next time down. He drew FTs on an inbounds pass, he missed both. He missed a wing jumper, challenged well. Second Half: He pushed up the break and hit Boozer for the layup. He missed a wing three. He missed an open sideline three.

Kelly – -- He had one of the ugliest shots of the season for the Lakers, a lefty hook that didn’t hit rim…just the top of the backboard. That pretty much describes his season, except for one or two games. Awful game again. The Stats: He scored no points on 0-1 shooting to go with 2 assists and 3 fouls in 15 minutes. He was a -9. The Action: He attacked across the lane and bricked the lefty hook by hitting the top of the backboard, wow, dude…really? He hit Boozer with the pocket bounce pass for an And-1 layup. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Scott -- -- Clarkson picked up 2 fouls in 4 minutes and had to sit for Lin, Lakers down 1… The Lakers led 15-9 when the timeout came midway through the quarter… He sat Hill for Boozer, Lakers up 6… Lakers up 4 when Davis came in for Tarik… Brown in for Ellington, Kelly in for Wes Lakers up 2 with 3 minutes left… The Lakers led 28-15 after the first quarter… He started the Davis, Boozer, Kelly, Brown, Lin unit… Clarkson came in for Lin 4 minutes into the second, Lakers up 1… He brought in Black for Davis, Wes for Kelly, and Ellington for Brown with the Lakers down 2 with 6 minutes left… He sat Black with his third foul for Davis with a minute left, Lakers down 6… Knicks shot 70% in the second quarter… The Lakers trailed 60-54 at the half… The Lakers trailed by 8 after 4 minutes… He brought in Davis and Lin for Black and Ellington midway through the quarter, Lakers up 7… Down 10 when Boozer came in for Hill. They trailed by 12 a few seconds later and Scott called a timeout. Some turnover-prone ball this quarter… He brought in Brown for Clarkson down 12 with 3:29 left… Lin starting to heat up and get into the paint and they cut the lead in half… The Lakers trailed 80-74 heading into the fourth… Kelly in for Wes to start the fourth… With 7 minutes left and the Lakers down 10, he brought in Clarkson and Ellington in for Lin and Brown… Boozer just looking awful this quarter… He brought back in Hill and Johnson for Boozer and Kelly, down 12… Black in for Davis… The Lakers scored three straight three-point plays, a 9-0 run, to cut the 14-point lead to 5 with 53 seconds left… They gave up a huge layup with 32 seconds left on the next possession… Hill hit a three, fouled, the Knicks missed one FT and we trailed by 5 with 23 seconds left. Timeout… Just too big a lead for even the Knicks to choke… I thought for sure this was going to be a loss. Credit Tim Hardaway’s knockdown perimeter game. The Knicks killed the Lakers from three, shooting 9-18…

[SweetP]

Thanks BD
_________________
“There is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it.” --Amanda Gorman

[Charisma]

Thanks DB, I can zzzZZZ now

[Captain America]

Thanks DB, and wow did he really say Brown played the best? Lol I couldn't believe he dropped the ball so bad just bricking tonight. Maybe it was nerves, but on a ten-day contract you gotta seize the moment

[H0B0]

THX DB. GO LAKERS

[DShotMaker1824]

Didn't see Kelly's shot but I will guess I'd see it on Shaqtin' next week. Thanks DB!
_________________

"Through the legs to the left, through the legs to the right, we don't run them Laker plays, we just Kobe fadeaway..."

[kobe_luver]

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[cdg]

Thanks DB.

Masterful tank. It is too obvious BS doesnt want to win.

I wonder if the NBA will have a chat with the FO about this.

[Lakers#1Team]

Thanks DB!

[Lakers#1Team]

[Lakers#1Team]

[nikeykid]

https://vine.co/v/O9HxUgrIhl0

[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."

[Lakers#1Team]

[Laker_Town]

[yinoma2001]

Thank you Phil. Thank you Fisher. We won't forget.
_________________
From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals

[JLinfanJoe]

Byron Scott's post-game comments:

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB for putting up with this team. Here's hoping we have a lot of promising rookie starters along with Randle to rate next season.

[DancingBarry]

[ADA32]

Thanks, DB, for the wonderful write up!
Another Lakers game. Another loss.

[tyusedney1]

[Charisma]

Complains about selfish players.
Benches the one with 7 assists.

That's total BS.

[bws94]

I'm confused by Scott's statement. Who was playing selfish basketball? The guys played like they usually played. They didn't hustle enough, but I didn't see a lot of selfish basketball.

Thanks DB, great writeup as usual.

[fafan]