LAKERS -at- RAPTORS - 12-7-15 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

DancingBarry · Last edited by DancingBarry on Tue Dec 08, 2015 9:49 am; edited 1 time in total

Changes… Scott likes to give players blocks of 10 games before making changes. We hit game 20 and he shuffled the lineup. Removed from the starters were Randle and Russell, despite both playing well recently. Inserted in were Nance and Williams.

“The starting unit we had wasn’t working. I mean it’s pretty simple,” Scott said.

They didn’t get off to a slow start tonight. Instead, they faded badly at the end. The Lakers were down just 2 points with 4:45 left before the wheels came off.

“Couldn’t make a shot, couldn’t get a stop,” Scott said.

That manifests itself most in those points off turnovers. The Lakers only forced 9 turnovers, scoring just 6 points off those. The Raptors took the game 102-93.

Kobe --

-- Check another one off his list, the Toronto Raptors of 81-point infamy. The Raptors higher-ups chopped any mention of Kobe’s 81-point game in their tribute to him. Lol. One of the reasons the Lakers were close in this game, this was the first time Kobe shot .500 or above all season. “Really? Fifty percent? Finally,” Kobe grinned. He also said he has to take responsibility for their success and failure. “When I’m playing well we’re a better team and when I’m not were a worse team.” He said he was able to get into his sweet spots more tonight. Very controlled game. He orchestrated the offense early to help them get off to a better start. He kept the threes to just four. He said he’s still trying to figure the puzzle out of being this age and playing the game. Despite the sickness yesterday, he bounced back well tonight. “I feel pretty good,” Kobe said. He’s looked better on these second nights of back-to-backs. Not sure what that’s about. He said maybe he needs to get on a bicycle the night before games. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 8-16 shooting (1-4 from three, 4-5 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a -11. The Action: He found Lou for the three. He swiped a baseline pass. He sank a baseline jumper on the passing sequence with Hibbert. He hit Clarkson cutting baseline for a reverse. He probed to his right, pumped a couple times and hit the jumper. He airballed a forced turnaround jumper at the FT line. His kickout to the corner was picked off for a massive dunk the other way. He missed a tech FT. Great footwork from the elbow to lose his man, but he short-armed the shot. Poor read in the paint, turnover on the pass, layup the other way. He missed a baseline pull-up jumper. He curled into the lane, went all the way and scored the layup. He had 6 points, 6 boards and 3 assists. Second Half: He missed a wing three. He missed a sideline three on a kickout. He hit a turnaround in the paint on a drive to his right. He missed a long wing jumper. He swiped the ball on the perimeter and took it for the layup. We hit him almost cherry picking a few seconds later after that layup and he drew FTs at the rim, he made both. Poor cross-court pass, turnover Lakers. His bounce pass was picked off, looked kicked, but was telegraphed anyway. He stepped in off the three line and rattled down the wing jumper. He swished a corner three when Russell kicked out to him (great cut by Kobe to get open). Nice elevation off the dribble on the pull-up and he sank the 16-footer. He airballed a deep three, uggh. Not close on a long corner pull-up jumper. He kicked to Clarkson for three. He attacked the paint, took contact and drew FTs, he made both.

Clarkson --

-- Man, he was getting torched at times. Certainly, a lot of defense on the guards is team defense, but Clarkson was getting beat pretty badly regardless of whether it was a team D scenario or not. He was clearly frustrated with getting tagged again and again for points. He didn’t do anything particularly well on either end. With Kobe having a decent game, had Clarkson been just a little more effective, they might have pulled this one off. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-15 shooting (1-4 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He missed a wing three on a swing pass. He hit a sideline jumper in early offense. Nice cut behind the D and Kobe found him for the reverse. He attacked and couldn’t finish a floater. He attacked the paint and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a layup on a drive. He was rejected on a baseline drive. He missed a long jumper from the perimeter at the buzzer. Second Half: He attacked off the high screen and scored the layup high off the glass. He missed a three up against the shotclock. He missed a pull-up, quickly followed up his miss and choked the layup. He scored a layup on the high-low from Hibbert. He missed an open wing jumper out of a timeout. He sank a wing three spotting up off the Kobe kickout. He was rejected badly pulling up in the paint.

Nance --

-- He said the coaches wanted him to bring the energy so they don’t start off sluggish. I felt like this was one of his better defensive games presence-wise. He was swatting and challenging shots better than he has. That’s something I’ve been wanting to see from him for a while. He also had a number of great sequences on rotations and switches that helped the Lakers get shotclock violations and stops. “The one thing I love about him is he doesn’t try to do things he’s not capable of doing,” Scott said. He was efficient offensively, limiting shots which helps with the chemistry alongside Kobe and Lou. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-4 shooting to go with 6 boards, 3 blocks, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a -6. The Action: He missed an open sideline jumper. Nice job tapping out a defensive board. He tied up a man with a strip under the rim, but tapped the jumpball out too far. Same stand, great job forcing a shotclock violation on a switch and challenge. He follow slammed a Clarkson missed drive in transition. He attacked out of a timeout and hit the pull-up in the lane. Great job rejecting a man badly from behind as he was about to power up. Second Half: He rejected a layup. On the other end, he battled in a crowd to pull down a Kobe miss and scored the layup.

Williams --

-- He got the start against his old team. Clarkson and Kobe took turns orchestrating the offense and he could play off them. Lou said they all made a concerted effort to pass the ball better. He sank 3-5 from three, looking better from there recently. He also looked for his opportunities to draw fouls in early offense. The result was about the same. “At this point everything we do has to be a learning process,” Lou said. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-11 shooting (3-5 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -10. The Action: He sank an open three when his defender hung too long on Kobe. He missed a wing three on a kickout. He was called for a travel attacking off the three line. He missed a drive down the middle of the paint. He attacked the paint and got the runner to fall in. He missed a 17-footer. Second Half: He swished a corner three over his man. He drew contact in transition and FTs on a runner, he made both. He scored a layup cutting off Hibbert’s high post feed. He missed a three. He missed a layup on a drive. He missed a drive. He let a man fly by and drained the corner three.

Hibbert --

-- In 30 minutes, he should have more the 4 boards. He started off the preseason, showing some good energy on the glass and everywhere else. That’s faded quite a bit. I’ve got to think this is affecting his market value. Just a quarter way through the season, he needs to pick it up. Offensively, he made some plays from the high post to others, missed his usual point-blank range shots and scored all his points in the first half. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-5 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 5 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a -8. The Action: He posted up and hit the jumphook for the Lakers first score. He hit a turnaround jumper after a pump fake. He choked a point-blank hook. He missed a 17-footer. He drew FTs on the offensive glass, he made both. He had 6 points on 2-4 shooting and 3 boards. Second Half: He missed a long jumphook. He found Lou popping free under the hoop for a layup. He overpassed at the front of the rim and we didn’t score off the play. He hit Clarkson under the hoop for the layup. He shuffled his feet in the paint, travel.

Randle --

-- Uhoh. Scott is messing with James’s boy. “It just seems like the minutes had been predetermined because I thought Julius Randle came in with a great attitude, another double-double I believe, for him and nowhere to be found in the fourth quarter,” Worthy said. “I thought regardless of who started I didn’t think the minutes would matter.” Randle moved to the bench and didn’t skip a beat. He imposed his will, dominating around the rim with second and third efforts. That motor was impressive once again. He got the 15-11 double-double in just 21 minutes. He needs to be playing more than that. “I can control what I can control, man,” Randle said. He had 5 double-doubles in his last 6 games (9 for the season). “Those two still have to understand how to play this game,” Scott said. The coaches didn’t talk to him since the change. Kid is playing great. The benching may end up pissing him off that we see him take his game to the next level. We’ll see. “It’s just hard to know what’s in Byron’s head there,” Worthy said. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-13 shooting to go with 11 boards (7 offensive), 1 turnover and 1 foul in 21 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He grabbed the miss by Hibbert and powered in the And-1 a few seconds after entering, he made the FT. He got tapped on a turnaround jumper on iso. We dumped it to him on the wing to iso and he hit the fading 14-footer up against the shotclock. He choked a layup. He curled around the Kobe brush screen to his left, stepped on the gas and scored the layup. His pocket pass was picked off. He attacked from the wing, spun, missed, kept it alive and then powered in the And-1 in a crowd, he made the FT. He had 10 points on 4-8 shooting and 5 boards. Second Half: He spun baseline, missed the reverse, grabbed the rebound and scored the And-1 in a crowd, he made the FT. He got away with a travel on a drive, got it back, but was trapped under the backboard for 3 seconds. He scooped up a loose ball under the hoop and scored a layup.

Russell --

-- I hate messing with his minutes as he was seemingly getting more and more confidence by the week. Now, we throw him a curve. “It was cool. You’ve got to be more aggressive. I thought I would have Nick or someone else to really run the floor with me, but I was off the ball so that was something new,” Russell said. Both our young guys had a good attitude. And, yeah, I was wishing Nick was on the floor with him instead of Huertas. Russell said he felt like he had more opportunity and better ball movement to work with while not playing beside Kobe. “No disrespect to Kobe,” he said, but it’s hard not to defer to Kobe as a rook. Russell started a little slow in this one, then seemed to pick it up and look more aggressive. He’s been attacking the paint much better lately. I might have finished with him in this game just because Clarkson/Lou was looking especially weak defensively at times. Offensively, he struggled with the three ball, but got into the paint for scores. You can put 2 more points on his stat line than you see there. Sacre had a bonehead move to erase a great drive and score by Russell by getting his hand on the rim. The Stats: He scored 9 points 4-12 shooting (1-5 from three) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 21 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He missed a wing pull-up jumper. He missed a sideline three at the buzzer. He missed a tough pull-up jumper up against the shotclock. He threaded a pass to Sacre in the paint for FTs. Second Half: His bounce pass was picked off. He shed his man with an off-arm and hit the floater in the lane. He scored a bustout layup after avoiding a foul and forcing a brick on the defensive end. He had a layup erased when Sacre interfered with a great drive by Russell (nice burst of speed and he finished over length). He missed a wing three off the two-man game. He missed a floater on a probe from the right side. Inside-out dribble to cross up the D, he stepped on the gas and scored the layup. He airballed a pull-up 16 footer. He missed a sideline three. He drained a wing three on a kickout. He picked up his dribble under the hoop, but found Kobe open for the corner three. He missed a long, garbage-time three.

World Peace --

-- Quiet minutes from Metta. He got his only points on a three. He was the only Lakers without a turnover in this one. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-2 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 3 boards and 1 foul in 16 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He was blocked on a layup. Second Half: He sank a three on a kickout at the top of the arc. Some matador D to allow a player to blow by him and hit a runner at the buzzer (reviewed and they took the basket away a hair late after the buzzer).

Huertas --

-- He got Nick’s minutes, basically. We could have ran Russell at the PG on the bench and Young as the SG, but Nick’s in Scott’s doghouse. Not much of a game from Huertas. Probably his best play of the game was a steal in which he gave right back up a few seconds later to take the shine of that one. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 0-2 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and no fouls in 12 minutes. He was a +/- of 0. The Action: He missed a long baseline floater. Randle cleared a hole in the lane and Huertas followed him in and drew FTs on the drive, he made both. He missed a pull-up from 13 feet out off the double high screen. Second Half: He swiped a ball, pushed it out, got turned around and coughed it up for a layup the other way.

Sacre --

-- We’ve gone to Sacre as the backup C, which means Bass gets buried in Scott’s rotation. I’m assuming Bass is still ahead of Black on the depth chart. He didn’t stand out particularly in this one other than missing some shots you thought he should have made. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 0-3 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 17 minutes. He had a +/- of 0. The Action: He missed the pull-up in the lane. He grabbed an offensive board and drew FTs, he made both. He short-armed a 3-footer. Russell found him in the paint for FTs, he made one. Second Half: He erased a Russell hoop with offensive interference. He kicked out off the two-man game and Russell hit the three. Moving screen turnover out of a timeout, ouch.

Scott --

-- New starting lineup with Lou and Nance in. They had Kobe orchestrating the offense early. They forced a timeout with a 15-8 lead… He brought in Russell for Lou at the 5 minute mark, Lakers up by 3… Lakers down 1 when Randle and Metta came in for Kobe and Nance with 4 minutes left… Huertas in for Clarkson with 3 minutes left… Sacre in at C…. The Lakers trailed 25-22 after the first quarter… Same unit to start the second quarter… Kobe in for Metta a minute into the quarter, Lakers down 1… Huertas out for Lou, Lakers down 2… Nance in for Sacre at the 7:29 mark, Lakers down by 4… Metta in for Kobe at the 7-minute mark. Clarkson in for Russell… The Lakers were down 5 when the timeout came midway through the quarter… Hibbert in for Randle… Kobe in for Metta under 3 minutes to play. Lakers down 6… The Lakers trailed 53-42 at the half. Lakers no fastbreak points, only 4 assists… They trimmed the lead down to 1 when the timeout came… They faded again unable to score and were down 8 when the timeout came… He brought in Russell for Lou out of that… Down 6 and he brought in Randle, Sacre and Metta to go with Clarkson… Huertas in…Randle and Russell tied the game back up… The score was tied 71-71 heading into the fourth… He sat Huertas and Metta for Kobe and Lou… Clarkson in for Russell, Lakers down 2… Nance in for Randle, Lakers down 6… They called a timeout down by 9… Let this one get away from them… The Lakers scored just 6 points off 9 Raptor turnovers…

mhan00 · Retired Number Joined: 13 Apr 2001 Posts: 32059

Fire Scott.

10scott10 · Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2015 8:46 pm Post subject:

Byron needs to be fired and left at the airport

Any airport

SweetP · Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2015 8:59 pm Post subject:

TooMuchMajicBuss · Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2015 9:21 pm Post subject:

Thanks DB.

Here's hoping DLO and Randle keep their chins up about this.

Nick Young was right though.

TDRock · Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2015 9:30 pm Post subject:

Thanks DB. Quite frankly, I fell asleep. If I'm so motivated I'll re-watch the 2nd half later maybe... It is not exhilarating watching the Lakers right now so I salute thee.

OregonLakerGuy · Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2015 9:39 pm Post subject:

Thanks DB.

Freddie Buckets · Star Player Joined: 08 Oct 2007 Posts: 9131

Goldenwest · Star Player Joined: 28 Nov 2009 Posts: 2801

Why is Sacre playing, he had hands of stone out there today. Poor finisher also.

Where is black? Is he hurt?

ssurloff · Rookie Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 17

why does everyone want to fire scott -- I think it is a brilliant move to bench randle and Russell and limit their minutes going forward

it gives us a chance to get more playing time for Lou Williams and maybe metta -- 2 of the keys to turning around the franchise

Seriously -- what the heck is going on -- this is lunacy

I am at wit's end -really disappointing is all I can say that won't cause what I really want to say from being blocked

I am a disillusioned 35 year season ticket holder

10scott10 · Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2015 10:07 pm Post subject:

Megaton · Retired Number Joined: 18 Feb 2015 Posts: 25636

Fire Scott.
_________________
Darvin Scam: https://media.tenor.com/images/3c15249955860a4b16b59e8ae035fb75/tenor.gif

H0B0 · Starting Rotation Joined: 11 Nov 2014 Posts: 168

THX DB. GO LAKERS. TANKin M0D3

Omar Little · Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2015 11:34 pm Post subject:

JerryMagicKobe · Moderator Joined: 28 Jul 2005 Posts: 15100

Shaber · Posted: Mon Dec 07, 2015 11:59 pm Post subject:

Does Lakers medical stuff include a psychiatrist? For Scott's sake....
_________________
.

Lakers depth chart

PG Johnson / Goodrich
SG Bryant / West / Scott
SF Baylor / Worthy / Cooper
PF Mikkelsen / Hairston / McAdoo / Gasol
C Chamberlain / Abdul-Jabbar / O'Neal / Mikan

tox · Franchise Player Joined: 16 Nov 2015 Posts: 17876

That sequence where Russell (?) found Huertas for a nice feed like 8 feet out and Huertas didn't even try to shoot...

sundaquem · Rookie Joined: 06 Dec 2015 Posts: 7

I'm from Brazil and I have been watching Huertas since long time ago. He's a excellent player. You guys have to remember that the adaptation in the league is not so easy. That happened to Splitter too, who came to nba making horrendus movements and in a little time after he was a fundamental piece in the spurs' defense.

First point - His defense awareness is not so bat as he is showing up lately, I think Huertas is feeling the heat, primarily the physical part. He played against the best pg's in the world, including the american team, and his defense never was a key factor for a loss.

Second point - He lost the pre season, and he was injured, losting the few time he had to get some chemistry from the team and set a better athletic condition.

He is by far the best pg Lakers has right now.

PDX_LAKERFAN · Star Player Joined: 20 Jan 2004 Posts: 2555

KindCrippler2000 · Franchise Player Joined: 02 May 2003 Posts: 15821

Chronicle · Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2015 2:21 am Post subject:

A Mad Chinaman · Star Player Joined: 07 Apr 2005 Posts: 6142

Shaber · Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2015 4:37 am Post subject:

The starting 5 – I don't mind having Nance instead of Randle, although I am not sure it helps either. We'll see in 10 games.

DLO should start. Bring Kobe off the bench.

Since that is not going to happen, and if you really need to change the guards, bring Clarkson off the bench, but start Young.

All this is irrelevant, if the best 5 of the current game is not on the floor in the fourth. Scott, would you listen to Worthy? Please!

Black is the backup C off the Lakers. Scott, listen, it is Black. Not Bass, not Sacre (barring injuries). It is Black!
Does anyone know why Black is in the doghouse?

Could Worthy and Scott swap places for at least some games?
_________________
.

Lakers depth chart

PG Johnson / Goodrich
SG Bryant / West / Scott
SF Baylor / Worthy / Cooper
PF Mikkelsen / Hairston / McAdoo / Gasol
C Chamberlain / Abdul-Jabbar / O'Neal / Mikan

sundaquem · Rookie Joined: 06 Dec 2015 Posts: 7

NYLakerFan · Starting Rotation Joined: 20 Nov 2006 Posts: 413

Thanks DB. Really appreciate the write ups.

I did not re-up my NBA package this year. Really have no desire to stay up late here in NY just so I can scream and cuss at the screen whenever they show BS. As a retired coach, watching Scott is excruciatingly painful. It is much better for my mental health to read your notes rather than to actually watch this train wreck.

The only possible explanation for BS still having a job is that the front office is not-so-secretly looking for a total tank. Otherwise what is happening makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. We should be doing what Oklahoma/Seattle did in the beginning with Durant and Westbrook ... baptism by fire. Throw them into the games and let them take their lumps while they learn.

Scott's tactics are stunting the development of our young talent. And worse, he may be souring them on even being Lakers. Hopefully they will not hold a grudge once he is fired. Suffering through seasons like these past few only to have our young talent leave as free agents would be unbearable.