LAKERS -at- TWOLVES - 3-25-15 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Tank Hard with a Vengeance… Who doesn’t want it more? Another battle of two simply bad teams.

Bad teams find a way to lose.

Pressey tried his best. After losing a lead in the final couple minutes (Chase Budinger with a game-tying three with 6 seconds left), he let that unit try to lose in OT. The TWolves tripped, stumbled and found ways to not win. Tied up, Pressey didn’t call a timeout on the final possession of OT, allowing an ice cold Wayne Ellington (3-19) to get rejected on a drive.

At this point, the refs may have seen enough. They whistled a foul sending Clarkson to the line for FTs with 0.3 left in the game as he scrambled for the loose ball. He drained both FTs and that was that. Lakers won 101-99 over the TWolves.

While the Magic and Knicks both lost, the Lakers got a break with the Sixers also winning their game.


Clarkson -- -- That was and ugly 20 points, but he came up big down the stretch. Clarkson had 6 turnovers in the game (including three uncharacteristic travels), but he pushed through and in the final minute of overtime he sank a couple FTs, drove for a layup and hit the game winning FTs with 0.3 left. “We just grinded it out, it wasn’t pretty,” Clarkson said. He drew the final FTs by hustling after a loose ball when Ellington got rejected on the drive. Good job sinking 8-8 from the line, including those clutch ones. When things aren’t going great, you’ve got to find a way to manufacture points. It’s somewhat impressive that he can get 20 points on an off night. However, doing that against the TWolves…well, yeah, not that big a deal. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 6-16 shooting (0-1 from three, 8-8 from the line) to go with 5 boards (3 offensive), 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 6 turnovers and 5 fouls in 38 minutes. He was a -6. The Action: He dunked off a turnover for the Lakers first score. Not close on a hook across the lane (looked like the ball slipped out of his hands). He missed another drive that he looked like he should have had. He iso’d and missed a high arching baseline chuck. He swatted Lavine in the paint. He tried to split a double team and was stripped for an uncontested layup the other way. His post entry pass was picked off. He iso’d and swished the 18-footer. He kicked out to Ellington for the three. He sank a wing jumper working off the screen. Second Half: He swiped a bad pass and outlet it to Lin for the layup. He sank a 19-footer off the pull-back dribble against a big. He traveled after taking a pass in the lane and trying to get out. He missed a three on a kickout. He missed a tough step-back jumper up against the shotclock. He attacked, spun and missed a layup. He probed and lobbed to Black for the score. He was called for a travel on iso. He probed and drew FTs, he made both. He attacked and missed, going to the floor after the drive. He grabbed an offensive board but couldn’t power in the layup. He probed and missed a layup he should have had. He probed off the high screen and sank the 16-footer. He missed a floater. Overtime: He attacked strong from the wing, leading with a knee to take out a big and drawing FTs, he made both. He was picked by his man for a dunk. He was called for a travel trying to step back to the three line, then attack after that. He attacked and drew FTs, he made both to tie it up with 1:09 left. He blew past Lavine and scored a layup to take the lead with 34 seconds left. He was fouled with 0.3 left and the game tied on a scramble for a loose ball, he made both to lead by 2.

Lin -- -- He had 13 points in the third quarter. Pressey ran him a few more seconds in the fourth quarter, than sat him for the rest of the game. He had Davis had the chemistry going strong in this one. While Lin didn’t shoot the three ball well, he put together another solid game. Last night the +/- difference between Clarkson and Lin when on the floor alone was a -20 for Lin. Tonight Lin had the +15 and Clarkson the -6. I would have thought if this were a must-win game, Lin would be in there down the stretch and in OT for sure. The Stats: The Action: He missed a three off a handoff. He attacked, fell and coughed it up. He blew past his man and took contact by the help D in the circle for FTs, he made both. He found Tarik with low position for the easy score. Quick burst of speed and he was blocked under the hoop. He missed a wing three. He crossed over his man and scored a layup down the middle of the lane. He threw a pass too far behind Davis on the two-man game, turnover. He ran into a shooter trying to stay with his man on D, giving up FTs. He found Davis under the hoop for a dunk. He probed the lane, drew the D and hit Davis around a defender for the dunk. He circled around the lane and dumped it to Davis for a score. He stripped a man and took it for the uncontested layup. Third time in the past two games where the end of the quarter horn went off with the ball in his hands. Second Half: He swished an open three on the high screen. He probed and missed a turnaround. He took the pass from Clarkson on the break and rode it in for the layup. He attacked right through the D with ease and scored a layup, forcing a timeout. He airballed the 16-footer, looking for a foul. He missed an open wing three. He got past his man with a hesitation move and scored a layup. He attacked the paint for FTs and made both. Bad baseline pass that was easily picked off. He picked up the inbounds at halfcourt, attacked with speed and drew FTs on the two-for-one sequence, he made both. He missed a three at the buzzer (getting a shot off this time).

Black -- -- He missed the only Laker FT tonight as the team went 17-18 from the line. The TWolves made a strong 27-30, as well. Tarik came up with a huge offensive board with less than 24 seconds left in regulation, but was stripped. That changed the flavor of how the game could have gone. In OT he had a dunk off the setup from Brown and also made the one FT. Good experience for him. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 5-6 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 7 boards (3 offensive), 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He missed a jumphook trying to create in the post on is. He grabbed a miss in midair and put it back down all in one motion. Low position on the rim run and he scored the short one over his man. He recovered to his man and rejected a dunk attempt. He grabbed a Clarkson brick and put it back in. Second Half: He scored off the lob pass from Clarkson. He should have tried for a layup instead of overpassing to Kelly for the missed three. Huge offensive board with less than 24 seconds left, but he was stripped. Overtime: He drew FTs on a strip, he made one. He dunked off the drive and dish from Brown.

Kelly -- -- Kelly for the win… clank. He was wide open at the buzzer in regulation and missed it. He’d go a horrible 1-8 from three in this one. Aside from a nice looking reverse layup, not much of a gem from Kelly. He did better on the glass and hit a couple of short jumpers, but a mediocre game from him. Which, honestly, is an improvement. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-13 shooting (1-8 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 1 foul in 37 minutes. He was a +15. The Action: He sank a baseline jumper on an inbounds pass. He missed a wide open three straight away. He got tapped on a wing three, just beating the shotclock. He drew FTs in transition, he made both. He missed a three straight away. He missed a bad looking fallaway jumper off a drive, not close. He swished an open corner three on the kickout. He missed a wing three. Second Half: He missed a wing three and got run over with no call. He attacked baseline and scooped in a pretty reverse layup. He grabbed an offensive board and hit the baseline jumper. He missed a sideline three. He missed a big jumper up against the shotclock in the final minute. He had a wide open three to win the game, clank.

Johnson -- -- Not much of a game from Wes. It seemed like he was off to a good start, active on both ends. Then he disappeared. He got some brief time in OT for D. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 21 minutes. He was a +12. The Action: He missed a corner three on the first possession. No box out and his man scored a putback. He swished a baseline jumper trying to create. He sank a 20-footer behind a screen. He knocked a ball off a cutter to get a stop on the other end. He swiped a post entry pass. He attacked baseline and missed. Second Half: Wiggins just went right around him and dunked. He lost a dribble in a crowd, FTs for the TWolves the other way. He grabbed an offensive board and hit the turnaround. He airballed a wing three, ugly. Overtime: Nothing to report.

Davis -- -- Nearly a double-double in his 22 minutes. He and Lin had the chemistry working pretty well. Davis also had some board battles for scores and a couple nice moves around the rim. He led the team in rebounding, and the Lakers were back to winning the battle of the boards again 48-40 tonight. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 7-9 shooting to go with 9 boards (3 offensive), 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: Easy score in the post after a good rim run to get low position. He knocked a ball loose to ignite a break. He traveled off the Lin pass to erase a hoop. He dunked when Lin found him with a bounce pass under the hoop. He dunked off the probe and dish from Lin. He took an interior feed from Lin and scored a layup. He had 8 points on 4-5 shooting. Second Half: He battled for a miss and hammered it back down. He battled for an offensive board and scored. He attacked from the elbow, spun and scored the layup. He missed a jumphook.

Ellington -- -- He tried. He was key to this being a close game. If it wasn’t for him, this wouldn’t have been close. Wayne nearly willed his team to a loss. You got to love the 7 points on 19 shots, including getting rejected on the final drive. Just a horrible…horrible game from Ellington. I mentioned yesterday how he was shooting at too high of a clip. He emptied the clip tonight and only hit the target three times. Wow. And if it wasn’t for the refs blowing the whistle with a fraction of the second left for Clarkson, he would have gotten the game to a double overtime. And who knows? Maybe another 5 or 6 more misses to seal the loss. Pressey had him covering Wiggins. That was a tank worthy move, as well. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-19 shooting (1-7 from three) to go with 7 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 39 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He scooped up a rebound and hit the 17-footer. He missed a wing three. He swished a wing three on the kickout. He missed a three from the other side. He pulled up and missed a 10-footer a few seconds later. He attacked and kicked to Kelly for the three. He missed a corner three. He missed a long sideline jumper. Second Half: He missed a long jumper a few seconds after entering the game. He iso’d and clanked. He missed a wing three. He bricked another long jumper, slow it down already. He sank a wide open elbow jumper. He missed a reverse. He missed a step-back 20-footer. He missed a wing three. He missed a sideline chuck. He missed a 17-footer out of a timeout. Overtime: He attacked, tripped, turnover. He gave up an And-1 to Wiggins in the post (Lakers up 1 prior to that). He missed a step-back 21-footer. No timeout, he attacked off the dribble and was blocked in the final possession.

Brown -- -- He outscored Ellington by 2 points with 15 less shots. Damn, Ellington quit chucking! Some clutch plays by Jabari, including a big three with 2 minutes left that (along with a Clarkson score) put the Lakers up by 5. It seemed like the game was in the bag at that point. But the Lakers found a way to get it to OT. In OT, Brown had a strong attack in the paint to set up Black for a dunk. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-4 shooting (3-3 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 32 minutes. He was a -10. The Action: His swing pass was picked off for a score the other way. He sank a nice looking three from the top of the arc, working off the split play. Second Half: He rattled down a wing three. He missed a step-back 19-footer. He sank a huge wing three with 2 minutes left. Overtime: He attacked, drew the D and dumped it to Black for the dunk.

Sacre -- -- He drained a couple of jumpers in a brief sequence. That was his offense. Not much else in this game. He’s still got to do a better job on the boards. Just 2 boards in 16 minutes isn’t a good pace. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-5 shooting to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 16 minutes. He was a -11. The Action: He sank a face-up jumper in the post. He hit a 17-footer next time down. He missed a jumphook after bumping his man nicely to get a little space. Second Half: He was called for 3 seconds, not going up quickly off the post entry pass. He missed a wing jumper up against the shotclock. He missed a jumper.

Pressey -- -- He gave a strong effort at the tank tonight… First subs with 2:29 left in the quarter, Lakers up 3. Clarkson and Black out for Davis and Ellington. Long run without a substitution… The Lakers led 24-15 after the first quarter… Sacre, Davis, Brown, Ellington, Clarkson to start the second quarter… Both teams bombing threes for a stretch midway through the quarter… The Lakers led 38-35 when the timeout came with 4:42 left. He brought back in Kelly and Lin for Clarkson and Sacre… The Lakers led 49-43 at the half. The coaches liked the effort… The Laker guards went to work and pushed out the lead to 13 on a 9-2 run, forcing a timeout… The Lakers sent LaVine to the FT line multiple times and got into the penalty with more than 7 minutes remaining to get reeled in a little… Up 8, he brought in Ellington for Clarkson… Sacre in for Black, Lakers up 8… Davis in for Kelly, Lakers up 10… Brown in for Wes… The Lakers led 73-66 heading into the fourth… He started the Sacre, Davis, Ellington, Brown, Lin lineup. Then quickly sat Lin for Clarkson after 40 seconds… Lakers fouling early and often… The Wolves cut it to 5… Black and Kelly back in, Lakers up by just 3 with 8:15 left… Lakers up 3 and Saunders quickly makes some subs… A 12-2 run now and the TWolves had the 1-point lead. How did that happen? So many bricks… Tie game with 2:23 left…. Brown with a three, Clarkson a jumper and the lead was 5 again… Lakers managed to get tied back up with 6.6 seconds left on a wide open three. Timeout… Kelly with a wide open three on the other side and a miss… Same unit to start the OT… TWolves up 2 and they hoist a horrible shot, then get a shotclock violation with just over a minute left. Then a travel in the post. Then gave up a layup to Clarkson down the middle of the lane. Clutch tankage… He brought it Wes and sat Kelly… Refs blow a whistle with 23 seconds left on what looked like a sure putback score by the TWolves to tie it up. They gave it back to the TWolves with 23.8 left down by 2. They tied it with 18.7 left. Laker ball… No timeout by Pressey. Ellington pushed it up court, ran clock, attacked and got blocked, Clarkson got to it and drew a whistle with 0.3. Refs didn’t want to see any more of this either. Lakers win on the FT…

[sf2099]

thx db!

[H0B0]

THX DB. GO LAKERS

[fafan]

Thanks, DB.
_________________
"Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." --Sarah Cook.

[Lakers#1Team]

Thanks DB!

[13th Man]

Thanks DB.

[summerly]

Thanks DB, Ed Davis shows his agility in the game. His off the ball movement is quite decent IMO.

I hope Lakers will keep him for next season.

[SweetP]

Thanks DB.

Clarkson played well in rare win. Good minutes and development time for him.
_________________
“There is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it.” --Amanda Gorman

[jenopogi]

loved the ellington part . this is a classic DB.
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JL#7 in Purple and Gold. Shoutout to my Lakers4Life Buddy Ian M.

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[Laker's Fan]

Clarkson got to the line tonight which is great. That's a major area of growth for him.
_________________
Austin Reaves keeps his game tight, like Kobe Bryant on game night.

[Klone_dd]

What's the old saying? "Can't win for losing." Or is it "Can't lose for winning"?

Probably the most bizarre game in this bizarre season. Neither team deserved to win.

[LakerEric]

SMH

[Richmond]

[ice_cold]

Thanks DB! well written and astute as always. this one was also wickedly funny!

[bws94]

Thanks, DB. Ellington was amazingly inept. And THIS for these:

"Wes. It seemed like he was off to a good start, active on both ends. Then he disappeared." Yep, that's Wes.

"Kelly for the win… clank. <snip> a mediocre game from him. Which, honestly, is an improvement." Exactly, poor Kelly has been so bad that mediocre is a step up.

Clarkson's next step up is to play better team ball. His scoring is not an issue. Lin was still under the weather hence the towel over his head on the bench (unless he thinks that's stylish) but he's a good combination of creating off penetration team-ball PG and aggressiveness in getting his own shot with the usual avoidable TOs that we have to live with. Better game from Black, and Davis was himself and should team with Lin as much as possible. Sacre, why?

[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."

[Cutheon]

Clarkson's first "game winner." Nice. Love this kid

[Lorenzomax]

Thanks DB!

[Laker7]

DB,

As you have said before these are invaluable minutes for Clarkson. You can't replicate these situations in practice. Clarkson is getting better and better.
_________________
Darvin Ham is an idiot!

[ADA32]

DB, Thanks for the great write up!

As B. Scott and P. Pressey passing each other in the hallway:

Pressey: Byron, mission accomplished. The guys played hard. We have a nice game. We took one from Timbervolves with one basket by accident.

Scott: Did you play C. Boozer and J. Hill?

Pressey: No, as per your instruction, I benched them for the next few games. I have Sacre, Kelly, Johnson and Brown around 30th minutes.

Scott: Good job, Paul, Tank you!

[ice_cold]

This is funny. The pictures wouldn't copy unfortunately. Here is the link. http://grantland.com/the-triangle/nba-shootaround-who-needs-chemistry/

How to Tell If Your Team Is Tanking

Jason Gallagher: Typically, when an NBA team wins a game, the franchise expresses some form of joy through the art of the victory tweet. The excitement is displayed in a variety of ways, whether it be a fist-bump emoji …

Cavs Tweet

… an exclamation point …

Hawks Tweet

… or the all-encompassing hashtagged exclamation point.

Pacers Tweet

Pretty much all of the winning teams showed some form of delight in their victory tweets last night. Some, like the Brooklyn Nets, posted sponsored victory tweets. Side note: Someone at Party City is so fired.

Nets Tweet

And then we come to the Lakers, who beat the Timberwolves, 101-99, in overtime, in one of the closest contests of the evening. Despite the narrow margin of victory, the game itself was a slow burn, in which neither team looked particularly eager to win. Still, the important thing to remember is that the Lakers won a close game — on the road — in OT.

And they celebrated with this tweet.

Lakers Tweet

Can someone please check on the person running this account to make sure they haven’t hyperventilated from elation? Gracious. The only thing missing here is a sigh spanning 56 characters.

For anyone who’s lost, that tweet roughly translates to “We won. (bleep) Jordan Clarkson.” No emoji. No hashtags. No exclamation points. Just the most matter-of-fact victory tweet in the history of basketball after an overtime win.

[ice_cold]

The Lakers victory tweet was this:

Jordan Clarkson's last-second foul shots push the Lakers past Minnesota in overtime.

[catman2u]

[LaxT]

I hope Pressey and Brown do not get fired for winning this one. "It 's not my fault; the Wolves have more oil in their tank" they would say.