LAKERS -at- ROCKETS - 12-12-15 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

3-21… The Lakers started this game out strong with Kobe finding teammates on great passes, Russell hitting his first four shots. Everything was going well in the first quarter for the starters.

“I thought our second unit was terrible,” Scott said. “They kind of came in and all our moment shifted.”

It would help if Scott wouldn’t make a wholesale change of four players out for four cold bench players all at once. As soon as he did that in the first quarter, the Lakers went scoreless for several minutes and the game, indeed, shifted. All momentum was gone and the Lakers were on their heels the rest of the night.

Certainly, the bench has to do a better job. But you’ve also got to ease them into a game, rather than the subbing them in all at once. So, I think this one is on Scott’s blunt hammer substitution pattern.

“We have a long way to go,” Scott said after the 126-97 blowout loss. Scott will meet with Jim and Mitch. There’s a slim chance, he doesn’t come out of that meeting with a job…but I think they ride him a little longer and maybe we switch more into player development. We’ll see.


Kobe -- -- Not sure what it is on those second nights of back to backs, but apparently that’s the ticket to get if you are Kobe watching this season. Whether he’s looser or what, who knows, but he’s playing really well in these situations. I think the only true Black Mamba games from him were on the second night this year. He had 5 assists in the first quarter, distributing the ball really well early on. Later, he picked up the scoring, swishing jumper after jumper. Good game from him on the last night of the road trip. I suspect he may take a home game off at some point again here, but probably not after playing well. Good show for the crowd tonight. Despite the bro hugs with Dwight, they still looked a little chilly. The Stats: He scored 25 points on 9-16 shooting (4-9 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 6 assists, 3 steals, and no fouls in 31 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: Nice jump pass to Nance on the roll for the slam. He missed a wing three. He tracked down a loose ball after Hibbert was blocked, then jump passed right back to him for the dunk. His man got lost so he swished a three. He missed a 10-footer on the break, wide open. He hit Russell breaking out for the layup. He missed a long three, got it back on the backcourt steal and hit the three. He swished a pull-up wing jumper right in Ariza’s face. Feeling it, he hit a pull-up three in early offense. He drew a foul on Harden on a pull-up three in transition next trip down (Harden should never complain about a foul call), he made all three FTs. He missed a three in transition. He had 14 points on 4-8 shooting and 5 assists. Second Half: He rattled in a pull-up wing jumper from 15 feet out. No challenge on Ariza’s wide open three. He sized up Beverley, backed him down and hit the turnaround at the elbow. He missed a corner three. He hit Nance rolling for the layup. He picked up a ball tapped out and swished the sideline three. He worked his way to the elbow and swished a layup. He swiped a pass and outlet quickly to ignite the break. He swiped a pass at midcourt, but missed the three. He pumped once and swished the long wing jumper. He was stripped at the end of the quarter for a layup the other way, he wanted the foul.

Russell -- -- He hit several shots to get the Lakers off to a good start in this one. When Russell and the starters sat, that’s where the game fell apart. Russell never got back on track after returning to the game after that. They were now on their heels for the rest of the night. After starting 4-4, he’d only make one shot the rest of the night. The offense never really adjusted to the Rockets trapping on the sideline pick and rolls. That seemed to stall things quite a bit. Here’s where you wish the coaching staff or vets would help change things up. Defensively, he got to take on Harden, which is no easy task. “Really starting to figure out the pace of the game,” Russell said. He’s picked it up for sure, getting the ball to the front court quickly and getting the Lakers into the flow. Asked what he’d like to take from Harden’s game, he said he’d like to get to the freethrow line more. Master the whiplash head jerk. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-14 shooting (2-8 from three) to go with 4 assists, 3 steals, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 37 minutes. He was a -14. The Action: He splashed a sideline three on the pass from Kobe. He sank a baseline jumper off the inbounds pass. Quick attack off the screen and he hit the pull-up at the FT line to beat the shotclock (so nice). He tried to no-look to Hibbert running the floor ahead of the pack for a turnover. Quick recognition of a change of possession and he beat Lawson down court to take the feed and score the layup. He missed a turnaround working the post. He kicked out to Young for a jumper. He missed a sideline three. He knocked a pass away under the hoop to get the turnover. He missed the turnaround in the post. His perimeter pass to Kobe was picked off. He missed a pull-up three in early offense. He missed a drive trying to finish over Howard. He had 9 points on 4-9 shooting and 2 steals. Second Half: He sank a long three off the kickout from Lou. Great challenge on Harden on the other end. He missed a three next time down. He missed a three in transition. A couple of hockey assists generated off his initial breakdown of the D. Great bounce pass ahead of the pack to Huertas, who then threw it away getting cute, uggh. He missed a three on a busted offensive sequence.

Williams – -- He, Huertas and Russell combined for 14 of the Lakers 19 individual turnovers. His weren’t as bad as Huertas’s but some led to transition points the other way. The Rockets dominated the fastbreak 35-16. They scored 23 points off those Laker turnovers. Lou was the only remaining starter in the first quarter when Scott made those wholesale subs. “Just got to be ready to play when you come in,” Lou said of the bench players. He couldn’t keep the offense afloat by himself with that unit at the tail end of his long stretch with the starters. We definitely missed Clarkson during that stretch. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 3-10 shooting (1-5 from three, 8-9 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 29 minutes. The Action: He was tapped on a wing three. He attacked baseline and hit Hibbert for the layup. He suckered Harden into a foul on a three, he made all three FTs. He threw a kickout away after stealing the ball on other end. He tried to draw a foul on the perimeter and threw it away when he didn’t get the whistle. He missed a baseline fade. He missed a wing three. He drew contact on a close out, foot on the three line, he made both FTs. Second Half: He threw a pass away, layup the other way. He drew FTs on a drive. Quick attack from the wing before the defense could set and he scored a layup. He swished a wing three going to his left out of a timeout. He couldn’t finish on a drive. He missed the fade straight away. He drew more FTs in early offense, making one. He missed a wide open three. He swished a wing three on a busted play out of a timeout. He missed a long three on another busted offensive sequence.

Hibbert -- -- He led the Lakers with the +6. Good scoring first half and then he was quiet in the second half. I liked the Dirk fade he drained with the shotclock low. They seemed to have been going to him a little more in the first halves. Not sure whether that’s by design or not. He certainly kills the PnR at times with his slow feet. They’ve got to improve on that and really get a feel for how good the team D can be with Roy. There is a decision to be made in the offseason and right now, that’s not going well for Roy. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 5-9 shooting to go with 7 boards, 3 blocks and 4 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a +6. The Action: He sank a 17-footer on the Lakers first possession. He scored the layup off the drive and dish from Lou. He got blocked at the rim, Kobe got it back to him and he slammed. He roofed a man and it led to a Russell breakaway score. He hit a Dirk fade over Dwight, wow. He was blocked, blowing a great passing highlight sequence from Russell to Kobe to Roy. He missed a flip in but follow tipped it in. He missed a 19-footer. He had 10 points on 5-9 shooting. Second Half: He picked up his fourth foul early.

Nance -- -- Better game from Nance. He wasn’t second guessing quite as much. He likes to look for teammates, but he needs to realize sometimes he just needs to take that shot. He seemed to do that much better in this one than the last. I liked seeing him roll to the hoop a little more. It’s a shame we do so little of that with him. Like Roy, the Lakers played better tonight with Nance/Hibbert vs. Randle/Sacre. Some very good position D and rotations at times. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-9 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He missed a baseline jumper. He was blocked trying to finish over Dwight. He slammed off the screen-roll with Kobe. He drew FTs, nearly scoring the And-1 layup, he made both FTs. He couldn’t hit rim on a rushed jumphook against the shotclock. Great backscreen on Harden, who then flopped and yelled and Larry was called for the moving screen, he never moved. He swished a pull-up wing jumper creating with the shotclock low. He intercepted a pass on a perfect defensive rotation under the hoop. He missed a short one in the paint. Second Half: He missed an elbow jumper. He missed an open baseline jumper. He scored a layup rolling to the hoop for Kobe to find him.

Randle -- -- Very clunky game offensively. He worked hard and pulled down the 10 boards, but the second unit had very little chemistry or idea of what they wanted to accomplish tonight. The losing is definitely wearing on him, but the poor performances in the last couple have him down a little. “I just try to control what I can and just play hard,” Randle said. I’m glad his default when things aren’t going well it to just get after that. That bodes well for when he’s got more of the vet savvy and tools later in his career. He led the Lakers in boards tonight. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-11 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 5 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a -34. The Action: He missed an open baseline jumper. He pushed out the board and lost the handle, turnover. He tied up a man under the hoop. A little too high on the pass to Sacre, turnover. He threw an inbounds away and the Rockets hit a three. He missed a short bank, got it back and was blocked. Too long on a wide open top-of-the-key jumper. Second Half: He dunked trailing the break. He was rejected on a layup. He missed a short one in the paint. He missed a drive to his left. He blew past his man to the right and scored a layup. He poked a ball free from his man to ignite the break. He tracked down a long board, pushed it up with speed and slammed. He drew some garbage time FTs. He missed a three at the buzzer.

Young -- -- He brought the Lakers back to within striking distance a couple of times in the fourth quarter before the inept ball from others turned that back around. “Too many turnovers at crucial times,” Nick said. Yep. Told they went over 6 minutes without a field goal when the second unit came in, he said “that’s just crazy.” They needed to do a better job getting him the ball earlier when he came in to help the second unit score. “It was a long, brutal trip,” he said. He got his first assist to Kobe since they’ve played together. Ouch. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-10 shooting (3-7 from three) to go with 3 boards, 1 assists and 1 foul in 27 minutes. He was a -35. The Action: He missed a corner three. He swished a wing jumper on a kickout from Russell. Second Half: He rattled in a baseline jumper off the inbounds pass. He let a man fly by and swished the wing jumper. He missed a quick-fire chuck from three in semi-transition. He swished a sideline three to cut it to 11. He drained another three to keep to them to 11. He bricked a corner three badly. He missed a wing three.

Huertas -- -- Just awful tonight at times, leading the team with 6 turnovers in just 17 minutes. I don’t envy him when Scott brings in a cold unit of multiple bench players at once. That is not easy to manage. Even though he’s technically a rookie, this is where you’d hope his vet experience could get the team on track a little quicker. I thought he should have got Nick involved sooner because he’s a microwave off the bench. In the second half, just a bunch of bonehead plays that were fourth quarter rally killers when we had a chance to get the Rocket lead into single digits. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-1 shooting from three to go with 4 assists, 1 steal, 6 turnovers and 4 fouls in 17 minutes. He was a -15. The Action: Turnover trying to hit Randle in traffic, hard to tell if Randle shouldn’t have held that. He got backdoored by Harden to give up a layup. Second Half: He hit Randle trailing for the dunk. Way off on a wide open three. His football pass outlet was picked off. Grrrr, sweet bounce pass to Huertas ahead of the pack on the break and Huertas threw it away trying to get cute instead of finish the layup (that could have cut the lead to single digits). Horrible turnaround jump pass, turnover, FTs the other way. Another poor perimeter pass out of a timeout, turnover.

Brown -- -- He got in for some late garbage time and was able to get in a couple shots, but didn’t connect. Not really quality time to do anything with. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-2 shooting (0-1 from three) in 3 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He missed a sideline jumper. He missed a corner three.

Sacre -- -- He, Nick and Julius had -35, -35 and -34, respectively. Sacre and Randle got there’s in just 23 minutes. When Clarkson returns, Russell will likely go back to the second unit so that should help, but those are awful numbers for the second unit. Just 2 rebounds for Sacre tonight. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-6 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 23 minutes. He was a -35. The Action: He was blocked trying to finish in a crowd. Moving screen by Sacre on our first offensive possession of the second quarter. Second Half: He took an outlet, spun around a guard and scored the layup. He drew FTs and made both. He sank an elbow jumper. He missed a jumphook in the post. He airballed an open baseline jumper. He missed a turnaround. He drew FTs trying to power up in garbage time, he made one.

Scott -- -- Some excellent passing by Kobe to start this game, Russell scoring, and the Lakers led 25-21 when Scott made his first subs late in the quarter. Just went completely wholesale with Sacre, Randle, Young and Huertas all in at once to run with Williams. Hope they warm up fast… They didn’t. An 11-0 Rocket run as the Lakers went scoreless the last few minutes of the quarter since the substitutions. Well done, Scott. We give you a -11 for that stretch… Same unit to start the second quarter… A 14-0 Rocket run before Scott decided to bring back in Russell and Kobe… He called a timeout when the run was extended some more a few seconds later… Rockets players had their confidence super high off that stretch… Hibbert and Nance back in with the Lakers down 20… Kobe cut the lead in half, getting hot… Poor close of the half by the Lakers… The Lakers trailed 63-46 at the half. They had 12 turnovers that were turned into 16 points… Hibbert picked up his fourth foul with 10:20 in the third, but stayed in and avoided foul issues… The Lakers trailed by 19 when Huertas and Randle came in with under 4 minutes left for Russell and Nance… Sacre in a couple seconds later for Hibbert… The Lakers trailed 91-76 heading into the fourth… He went with Sacre, Randle, Young, Russell and Huertas… Nick cut it to 11 on a three. They trailed by 14 when the timeout came midway through the quarter… He finally sat Huertas for Lou midway through the quarter… Lakers trying to run sideline pick and rolls and getting instantly trapped again and again. They didn’t stop doing it, but ended up wasting time trying to and then turning to ineffective perimeter passing and busted offensive sequences. No adjustments… Down 22, he went back with Sacre, Randle, Young, Brown and Huertas for garbage time…

[SweetP]

Thanks DB
All these losses are wearing out the fan base but there are glimmers of improvement.
Kobe played a great game tonight.
Scott substitutes in blocks of players just like he plays guys for blocks of time (you get ten games, now you get 10 games). So rigid in his thinking.
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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

[Arbitrary]

Thanks, DB.

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[Halflife]

After 3 seasons and 451 minutes on the court together, @Lakers G Nick Young assisted Kobe Bryant for the 1st time in his career tonight.

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB. Excellent recap again - I missed the game, but this gives me a pretty good picture of how the it progressed. I'm not inclined to view a replay this time around.

After the Spurs game I started thinking maybe Scott might have appeased Mitch and Jim a little prior to their meeting, letting the rookies play and seeing the Lakers hang with the Spurs for a while. But not after this game. After completely laying an egg with the momentum killing sub pattern in the second quarter, failing to adjust to Houston trapping their sideline PNR attempts, failing to see pairing Huertas with Russell is a waste, and another blowout fresh in their minds when Mitch/Jim meet with Byron - words like 'exit conference' keep running through my head. Who knows? I guess we'll see.

[SweetP]

[fiendishoc]

It was great seeing Kobe having his legs and still playing the right way for the most part. Pretty much the only positive to take out of this game.

The first lineup substitution was yet another glaring example of how the coaching is killing the team this season. Leaving Huertas to defend Harden after he had subbed in for the last shot was a joke.

[Omar Little]

Pretty easy to see who the impact player on the new second unit is.

[Andre2K]

Russell should watch game tape of Harden tonight and see where he would be in the next couple of years with hard work, I liked the fact that he got his chance to go after him in the first quarter. Randle struggled again this game, he was lost on defense a bunch of times this game, he didn't come ready to play tonight. Hope Clarkson will be back soon, thanks DB
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My Dream Starting 5 next Season

Pg Lonzo
Sg Kawhi
Sf Ingram
Pf Lebron
C Dedmon

Bench: Caruso, Hart, Bullock, Kuzma, McGee etc

[Omar Little]

After playing the last 21 minutes straight two games ago, 37 minutes last night, and the same tonight, it is clear Russell's legal are a bit tired as the games wear on. Too many consecutive minutes for those twiggy young legs.

[A Mad Chinaman]

Lastest Basketball Lesson That Was Taught
~
How to play on extended road trips
How to handle full court pressure defense

-

Watching Huertas guard Harden late in the first quarter was indeed intriguing

Bringing in four new players at one time was not the smartest move. Byron assumed that the bench players would be engage with the game and ready to go into the game at any time.

How much time is needed to have them ready to handle full court pressure that included sideline traps while recognizing that if they were able to attack the press - they would get clean layups.

Randle not knowing that he can run the baseline has little to do being cold but an indication of inexperience that hopefully he has learned today.

Sacre and Randle being stuffed in the paint in two consecutive possessions was not helpful. As Big Game James constantly shared, the good to elite teams will not allow Randle play "Bully Ball" especially with players like D12 able to cleanly stuff him. Sacre just doesn't have the skill set to handle rolling to the basket with traffic around him - Huertas will learn that passing the ball to Sacre in these situations need to be a much simpler pass.

[AFireInside619]

Thank You on your game reviews DancingBarry. I always enjoy reading them.

[tox]

Kobe was really fun to watch

Not going to comment about the rest of the game

[Shaber]

[ReaListik]

[LakerLogic]

Blockbuster thinks he's coaching the Kings with his line changes.

[LakerLanny]

Surprisingly, Nick Young has turned it around and is actually turning in a solid season.

He is right in his element coming off the bench for instant offense on a 3-21 team.
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Love, Laker Lanny

[Wilkes52]

Thank you for the game summary. Is 3-21 the worst LAL start ever ?
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“These GOAT discussions are fun distractions while sitting around waiting for the pizza to be served.”

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

[danzag]

[K28]

Robosub with the Lakers up 25-22 was the ball game.

Byron is the worst coach in the NBA right now.

[Lakers#1Team]

Thanks DB!

[DancingBarry]

Programming Alert: I won't be able to cover tonight's game it will have to be a DIY night.

[A Mad Chinaman]

[H0B0]

THX DB. GO LAKERS