THUNDER -at- LAKERS - 12-23-15 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Nightmare Before Christmas… The Thunder flexed their muscle to start the second half, holding the Lakers scoreless for more than 5 minutes. It was a 22-0 start to the third. How is that even possible?

“It was like the starting gates opened up and the horses ran out,” Kobe said of that third quarter that led to the Lakers 120-85 loss.

You can’t blame the youth on this one.

That run blew the game wide open and beatdown continued for the Lakers at the hands of the Thunder.

“It seemed like Oklahoma City came out in the third quarter juiced up,” Scott said. “For us, we just can’t get to that level right now.”

The Lakers actually had a first half lead in the second quarter before Scott sat Russell for Williams (who was playing horrible). The tide turned from there…and just got uglier. Lou finished with a -47, Russell a +11 (he was actually a +17 to start the fourth quarter garbage time).


Kobe -- -- You could see he was enjoying the matchup against Durant. Both were. Both had their moments like they do. Kobe had 17 points in the first half with an aggressive 15 shots. The iso ball looked worse as the game went along. Too many chucks in the third quarter only made the Lakers scoring problems worse. He did get the Lakers first score of the third with a reverse around the 6-minute mark. Ouch. He had been playing really well on the second night of the back to backs. Credit some of Durant’s D for making Kobe chuck some bad ones and even get blocked on a couple. The iso ball was a bit too much in this match up. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 7-22 shooting (2-7 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a -36. The Action: He missed a long chuck from three up against the shotclock. He hit Clarkson from the corner on the baseline for the reverse. He stripped Durant from behind. He nailed Durant to the floor and hit the pull-up from the corner. He missed a fade from 12 feet. He was blocked by Durant, then stripped by him seconds later trying to create in the post. He airballed a three on a kickout. He missed another open three on a kickout. His pass was picked off, And-1 the other way. He leaked out off the Lakers steal, took the outlet and dunked. He posted up Westbrook, pumpfaked him and hit the And-1 jumper from the left side, he made the FT. He swished a wing three on a kickout from Bass. He attacked in transition and wanted the foul on the miss. He faked off the three line, probed and kicked out to Russell for the three. He swished a wing three right in Durant’s face. He put Durant into the popcorn machine with a couple of pumps and drew FTs on the jumper, he made both. He swished a baseline pull-up jumper. He missed a wing jumper on iso. He didn’t get back in transition and we gave up an uncontested dunk, uggh. He had 17 points on 6-15 shooting and 3 assists. Second Half: He missed an iso chuck from the wing, then fouled Durant on a three on the other end, uggh. He thought he drew contact on a baseline one-hander, but no whistle on the miss. He missed an elbow pull-up on iso. He reversed for the Lakers first score at nearly the 6 minute mark. He was blocked in transition (should have been a foul). He iso’d out of a timeout and clunked, that can’t be what we drew up. He aiballed a three.

Clarkson -- -- Our young guards have their hands full with Russell Westbrook. In transition, you need to wall him off as a team. In the half court, they did a good job going under the screens to force him to beat them with the jumper. On occasion we’d send a double to help Clarkson out when Westbrook got the ball in close range. If there’s a guy you’d like Clarkson to pattern his game and development on, it’s probably Westbrook. Clarkson hit the pull-ups but didn’t have the frequent finishes at the rim like Westbrook. He’s been struggling with his three ball lately, now 0-11 in his last four games. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-12 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and no fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -30. The Action: He took a corner feed from Kobe as he cut and reversed. He sank a pull-up 18-footer getting under cut a little from behind with no call. He missed the floater in the lane. He kicked out to Russell for the open three. Nice job saving a loose ball under our hoop and it led to a Laker score the other way. He swished a wing pull-up off the high screen from Hibbert. He drew a moving screen call on the other end to get a stop. He missed a quick-fire three. Westbrook blew past him for a dunk. He missed a bad chuck from the corner. He attacked in transition (four Thunder around him) and he was blocked out of bounds. He was picked from behind in the backcourt, uggh. He had 6 points and 3 boards.Second Half: He missed an elbow jumper short. He missed an open corner three. He missed in the paint, kept it alive, grabbed a Kobe airball and was fouled for FTs, he made both. He attacked off the Bass screen and scored the layup.

Williams -- -- Pretty sure I haven’t see that big of a +/- difference between two players (oh, wait…Nance and Bass combined for a 59-point difference tonight). Lou had a -47 and Russell had a +11. That’s a difference of 58 points and at one point to start the fourth quarter, the difference was 64 points. Crazy. Lou played a sluggish first stint. Russell came in the Lakers came back. Then as soon as we subbed back in Lou for Russell, the Thunder went on another run to flip the game around again. Williams was awful on both ends. Really poor job boxing his man out at times on D to give ups second chance. Throw in some ballwatching that allowed his man to get behind him for scores (back-to-back ball watching plays in one stretch). It was pretty awful. His freethrow shooting continued to struggle, as well. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 0-6 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-6 from the line) to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a -47. The Action: He missed a fading bank. He missed the corner three. He split a double team with some sweet work with the handles, drew another defender and dumped it to Bass for the dunk. He swiped a kickout on the other end and it led to a Kobe breakaway dunk. He missed a long wing pull-up. He drew FTs on the fade after drawing a whistle, he made one. He went to the floor and was tied up, he won the jumpball. He missed a sideline three. Second Half: He was blocked to start the quarter and his man dunked in transition. He drew FTs and missed both. Not close on a wing jumper, just kililng us. He drew more FTs on a runner, he made one. Finally subbed out. Scott should have done that long ago in this one.

Hibbert -- -- Some foul trouble limited his time in the first half. He wasn’t much of a factor when he was in there. We did see him space the floor once early in the game out of the right corner. Rare we see that, but I’d like to see more of it. The iso work in the post was pretty ugly. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-4 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a -28. The Action: He drew FTs on the interior feed from Nance and made both. He sank a corner jumper on a Nance kickout (great to see him spacing the floor more on the weakside). He was blocked on a wind-up hook. He missed a jumphook on iso. He picked up two quick fouls and sat midway through the quarter. Offensive foul away from the ball, uggh. Second Half: He missed a hook working the post on iso.

Nance -- -- While Westbrook would make a good model for Clarkson, Ibaka would make a good one for Nance. Ibaka can hit that perimeter jumper and finish lobs on one end, and he is disruptive with the shotblocks on the other. Nance’s shotblocking presence just isn’t there with consistent impact. The Thunder had 13 blocks in this game. Just another area of domination. A couple nice moments on the offensive glass, but we probably were better off with more Bass in this game. The chemistry with Lou/Nance was non-existent in this one. “We just didn’t bring it today,” Nance said. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-5 shooting to go with 5 boards (2 offensive), 1 assist, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a -45. The Action: Nice interior feed off the two-man game to Hibbert to draw FTs. He kicked out to Hibbert for the jumper. He threw a pass away for a dunk the other way. He skied for an offensive board and hit the baseline jumper. Double team on Westrbook and he help to force a turnover. Good hustle in transition to deflect a pass and save a dunk. He missed a post attempt, not quite getting into a good move (or any move). He threw a post entry out of bounds. He was blocked, ruining a nice Kobe highlight where he split a double team. He sank a jumphook off an inbounds pass from Kobe. Second Half: He missed a wing jumper.

Russell -- -- Man, the difference between D’Angelo and Lou tonight. It was very apparent in the first half, and I thought Russell should have got some extended run in that second quarter. Things went south fast when he sat. I don’t know if he took that playing “scared” BS from Scott and used it as fuel or not, but he was aggressive on both ends. “We didn’t match their intensity coming out of the half,” he said. To me, he was one of the few who did try to elevate his intensity (maybe he took a little something from Kobe’s last game, as well). In any event, the offense is still a cluster(bleep) out there, and we seemingly spend half our clock trying to get organized. When we keep it simple and keep our foot on the gas, we look better. Russell was a little better in that regard in this game than he has in the last few, but I’d still like to see him aggressive with the pace like he was a couple weeks back. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 6-16 shooting (4-7 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists and 2 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a +11. The Action: He missed a challenged pull-up in the lane. Behind-the-back-ball-fake (no one to get a behind-the-back pass, so the fake failed) and he missed on the challenged drive. He sank the open wing three on the kickout from Clarkson. He missed a rushed wing three. He sank a sideline three in transition to get the Lakers the lead. He was blocked by Ibaka on a layup attempt after blowing past the initial defender. He had 6 points on 2-6 shooting. Second Half: He drew FTs on a pull-up working off the high screen with the shotclock short, he made one. He attacked to his left off the high screen, drew the whistle and got the And-1 runner to drop, he made the FT. He was stripped in transition. He sank a three in transition. He helped force a turnover on a double team. He missed a 17-footer short. He missed a leaner and wanted the foul. He hit Kelly on the two-man game for a score out of a timeout. He sank a baseline jumper off the inbounds play. He jab stepped and missed the three. He missed an open wing three on a kickout. He turned his defender around with a spin on the perimeter and then he drained the pull-up three.

Bass -- -- We actually saw some Hibbert/Bass duo on the floor tonight with Randle sidelined. Early in the season we should have seen a lot of this. Once they Lakers were virtually eliminated from any playoff hopes, then they could have switched it up. As it is now, it’s good for Nance to get some run and experience. In any event, nice to see him playing his position. He set some good screens that allowed the guards to get some space. Not a lot of action offensively. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-4 shooting to go with 6 boards, 1 assist, 2 blocks and 1 foul in 16 minutes. He was a +14. The Action: He got tapped on a jumper at the FT line. He swished a 17-footer straight away. Second Half: He missed the FT pull-up jumper.

Brown -- -- With Kobe in the mix this time, he didn’t have to start against Durant, but got some action off the bench with Nick out. Not much of a game from him on either end. He missed all five of his attempts from three. Not much of an impact on either end, but we certainly weren’t killed when he was out there. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-6 shooting (0-5 from three) to go with 3 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and no fouls in 20 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He was blocked on a three up against the shotclock. He missed a three on a kickout. He tripped on a drive and threw it away. Second Half: Way long a sideline three. He helped swipe a ball in the backcourt with Kelly. He busted out and scored on the breakaway. He missed a wing three. He clanked a three at the buzzer.

Sacre -- -- At some point we should give Black his turn in the rotation. This was the last of a 10-game stretch for Sacre, which seems like a minimum stretch before Scott makes a change. He was aggressive in the paint and scratched out double digits in some lengthy run. The two-man sequences are still pretty clunky despite his ability to set a screen. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-6 shooting (2-4 from the line) to go with 6 boards (3 offensive), 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 27 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He missed a jumphook in the post. He dunked off the drive and dish from Lou. He hustled to the corner to grab a long rebound and quickly hit the corner jumper with a second left in the quarter. He attacked the middle and hit the jumphook. Second Half: He drew FTs in the paint and made one. He muscled his way to FTs on a drive and jumphook attempt, he made one. He airballed a jumphook. He scored a layup rolling to the hoop. He gathered a lob from Huertas, powered up and dunked.

Huertas -- -- “I think we just stopped as a team completely,” Huertas said. I agree. We went into too much iso stuff with the first unit and it got ugly. Not like we could really throw Huertas out there to defend Russell and help with that…but he would have helped offensively. Defensively, yikes. He led the team in assists in his fourth quarter of garbage time. Pretty sad when you can lead the team in assists with 4. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-1 shooting to go with 4 assists, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 12 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He hung in the air and found Sacre rolling for the layup. Not close on a jumper. He hit Sacre on a lob for a dunk, not as pretty as it sounds (nearly stolen and Sacre was like “Jump? Me? I don’t think so.”). He hit Brown on the breakaway for the score. He threw a pass away trying to kickout, points the other way.

Kelly -- -- He was aggressive in the fourth quarter during the garbage time and scored at a nice clip. He showed his range, his ability to attack off the dribble and gave the offense a little more dynamic. If this were the Phil Jackson Lakers of the Three-peat, he’d probably have a good role with those teams. We struggled with Slava, Samaki Walker, etc. to play along with Horry. Kelly was drafted a little over a decade too late maybe. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-7 shooting (1-2 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 block and no fouls in 12 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He was hacked, rolling to the hoop for FTs, he made one. He bricked trying to create in the post. He sank the floater off the two-man game with Russell. He attacked from the corner and scored the layup. He missed an open wing three. He hit a three off the backcourt steal with Brown. Some long strides off the three line and he scored the layup. He hit an elbow pull up. He blocked a shot under the hoop.

Scott -- -- Hibbert out midway through the quarter, Lakers down 4. Sacre in… Timeout with the Lakers down 19-10 with 5:21 left. And it looks like we’re heading in the same direction last time we played them… Russell in for Clarkson… Bass in for Nance, Lakers down 12… Brown in for Kobe, Lakers down 11… The Lakers forcing some turnovers, but struggling on offense… They trailed 27-17 after the first quarter… He started a Sacre, Bass, Brown, Clarkson, Russell lineup… They cut it to 5… Kobe and Hibbert came in for Brown and Sacre with 9:25 left. So some rare Hibbert/Bass combo out there. Nice to finally see… The Lakers took a 2-point lead on Russell’s second three of the quarter… Nance in for Bass, Lakers up 2… He sat Russell for Lou with the Lakers up 3 and 5 minutes left. Should have left Russell in as they had the mojo going… They quickly trailed by 4 just 2 minutes later… He called a timeout down 6. Uggh. Quick 9-point switch… Hibbert out with a stupid foul, Sacre in… The Lakers trailed 57-46 at the half. The Thunder shot 56%, the Lakers shot 38%. A 38-12 advantage for the Thunder in points in the paint. Just 6 Laker turnovers… A fast timeout by Scott as the Lakers gave up a couple dunks in transition and quickly trailed by 18… Lakers getting smoked, going scoreless to start the half and now trailing by 25 after just 3 minutes… He finally sat Nance for Bass after 5+ scoreless minutes… Hibbert out for Sacre, Lakers down 32… Russell in for Lou. That was a long time coming… Kobe out for Brown… They trailed 91-62 heading into the fourth. They were outscored 34-16 in the third… He started the Sacre, Kelly, Brown, Russell, Huertas unit. Welcome to garbage time…

[mhan00]

Kobe scared too?

[DancingBarry]

[TDRock]

Ah boy...

Well anyway...Thanks DB.

[H0B0]

THX DB. GO LAKERS
Director. TB
STORY. DB

[Yumyumcha]

Thanks DB!

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[Lakers#1Team]

Thanks DB!

Lots of negatives but I'll comment on only two.

1) Byron's substitutions are hideous. Not playing DLO when he's playing well. Not playing Tarik AT ALL. I guess he has his arms wrapped around his brain as well. Stubborn and inflexible.

2) Hibbert is disappointing. My failed assumption heading into this season was that Hibbert's main problem was mental and a new situation would inject new life into him and he would play better. WRONG. His main problem is physical. And lack of skills. The mental problems are probably still there as well. 7'2" and only 1 rebound in 22 minutes?

I have hope the other negatives (besides the above two) can be improved upon.

[A Mad Chinaman]

The rookies were again the culprits but it wasn't exclusively their fault

As Stu alluded to during the broadcast, when OKC decided to take out the Lakers in the third quarter - the team was out-hustled and out-worked, out-talented. Byron was doing his Zen Master imitation by letting this vet-laden lineup stay on the court with the hope that they will learn how to reverse the momentum - they did not

The old Kobe would have gotten into somebody's face to stop OKC's ridiculous run - good or bad. Which of the rookies (DLO, Clarkson, Randle or Nance) will keep the players on the court accountable? Acceptance of "moral victories" for other organizations but not for title-contending teams.

It will be fascinating to witness which players will emerge as leaders. OKC gave an example of how to utilize ISOs, limited PPPs, paralyzingly intensity and commitment to dominant. The Clippers (team with great talent but missing the mental makeup to win critical moments/possessions/games) game will be a barometer of where they are in the mental toughness area

Since the Clippers have not outrebounded any team this year and acknowledging our rebounding woes, which trend will continue in an area where activity and focus is more critical than talent.

[GoldenThroat]

[danzag]

FIRE BYRON SCOTT!

[Wilkes52]

Thanks DB. We caught the second half action with my brother from LA after an evening out, and well, I kinda wished we hadn't seen it. Needed an extra pour or two each of Bourbon to hang in there and sit through the action right to the end. For a couple of old Laker fans, this feels like the club's rock bottom.
_________________
“These GOAT discussions are fun distractions while sitting around waiting for the pizza to be served.”

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

[A Mad Chinaman]

[yinoma2001]

You're pulling a Byron and blaming the youngsters when others were primarily at fault here.
_________________
From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals

[briedfox]

[briedfox]

[yinoma2001]

[GoldenThroat]

[mhan00]

[A Mad Chinaman]

[DancingBarry]

DLO's +/- differential stats were better prior to garbage time as I mentioned, the +/- between him and Lou at that point was crazy. Don't think I've ever seen a difference that big before.

[GoldenThroat]

[A Mad Chinaman]

[LakerLanny]

I thought Kobe played his best defensive game since Game 7 vs. Boston.

And we still lost by 35. OKC behind Westbrook is looking to take teams hearts and eat them. They own us in every aspect.
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Love, Laker Lanny

[CannonBrown]