SUNS -at- LAKERS – 1-3-16 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Three-Game Win Streak… And you thought the Sixers v. Lakers game was awful ball?

The Lakers helped the Suns to their lowest scoring first half in franchise history, holding them to just 22 points. That’s also the lowest scoring half for an NBA team this season.

The Lakers weren’t lighting it up offensively, but still had a 21-point lead at halftime.

They nearly had a 40-point Laker lead midway through the third quarter. Then Scott happened.

He got cute with his rotations, deciding to run the starters extra long to finish out the fourth. They finished the quarter a little gassed. Then, he went wholesale changes to start the fourth, also bringing in Huertas. The cold second unit with Huertas had no chemistry and the lead was trimmed down to just 15 points. That forced Scott to bring back in his starters. They held on for the 97-77 win.

“We didn’t come out the fourth quarter with the same aggressiveness and intensity we had in the first three quarters,” Scott said, throwing them under the bus. Randle felt the tire tracks the most with just 16 minutes. Certainly, they played poorly, but you could see it coming a mile away with Scott’s poor handling of the subs.

In the end, it didn’t matter. The starters returned, the lead was too big for the Suns to overcome. There’s a chance the Lakers could pass the Suns in the standings at some point if both teams keep up their current level of ball. The Suns have their health issues (Kobe sat out this one again for L.A., but the Lakers don’t have the health excuse this year).


Clarkson -- -- How many teams are kicking themselves for passing on JC? He led the team tonight with 7 assists and had a massive throwdown on a bigman (Nick Young needed CPR on the sideline after that dunk). “I’m proud of the young fella,” Nick said. And Nance: “He caught a true 7-footer.” Clarkson: “All I know is coach said I’ve been going to the hole like a light skinned dude, so I got to start going like a dark skin. So when I seen the lane open up, that’s all I remember.” Just an excellent all-around game from Clarkson. The bigs were engaged as he found both Hibbert and Nance for dunks. He had 3 steals and got out in transition to create easy points. The team has been doing much better of that lately. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-11 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 7 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a +23. The Action: He choked a layup on a drive down the middle of the lane. He weaved his way through traffic, came up free under the hoop and scored the layup. He went between the legs to Nance on the break for the dunk. He worked the post against the shotclock, pumpfaked, and swished the tough-angled shot behind the backboard. Great reach to swipe the ball and he drew FTs in transition. He hit Russell on the break for FTs. Russell returned the favor on the next breakaway and Clarkson scored the layup. He missed a three on a kickout. He attacked the paint and missed the short one. He attacked, got caught in the air and blindly threw the pass away. Price overwhelmed him on D, forced a turnover and a Suns score the other way. He had 8 points on 3-6 shooting and 3 steals. Second Half: He kicked out to Lou for three in transition. He blew past his man, changed hands in air and scored the layup. He pushed up the break, peaked behind him, drew the D and backhanded it to Nance for the slam. He broke down the D, drew a defender and dumped it to Roy for the dunk. He missed a 16-footer. He attacked, spun in air and missed the near-highlight layup. He attacked from the wing, took off between the circles, cranked it back and hammered the massive dunk. He airballed a three up against the shotclock.

Williams -- -- Season high scoring night for Lou with the 30 points. He led the Lakers in scoring in the first half, including a buzzer-beating three on an inbounds play with just 1 second left. Right guy for that type of sequence. He sank his first four three’s in this game. He was feeling it in the second half and finished 6-7 from three on the night. He also hustled on D and challenged some shots better than usual. Excellent all-around effort from him. He just destroyed the Suns “I’m just in a good vibe,” Lou said. Perhaps winning is helping that. “We’re starting to trust each other, the ball is starting to move around, guys are starting to encourage each other. I think winning breeds that.” Obviously, these are the kinds of games the Lakers want to see him starting to string together (not so much the 30 points as just the general, well-rounded impact he had tonight). The Stats: He scored 30 points on 11-17 shooting (6-7 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 34 minutes. He was a +26. The Action: He missed a short bank on a drive. He hit Hibbert for the elbow jumper off the two-man game. Awkward bank probing off the screen and he missed. He attacked off the three line for a layup. Nice challenge on a drive on his man to force a miss. He sank the step-back baseline jumper. He sank a wing three off the solid perimeter screen from Bass. He split the double and missed the floater. He swished the corner three off the extra pass from Russell. He swiped a post entry pass. Way short on a runner in the paint. His pass was picked off, but a great challenge in transition and bogus foul call. He missed another runner. With a second left we inbounded from midcourt and Lou hit a wing three at the buzzer. He had 13 points on 5-10 shooting (3-3 from three). Second Half: He hit Nance on the two-man game for the 15-footer at the FT line. He swiped another post entry pass, then probed baseline on the other end, took contact and scored the And-1 reverse, he missed the FT (but took Booker to school in that two-way sequence). He sank a three next time down on a kickout from Clarkson in transition. He missed an open corner three. He finally hit the floater off the give-and-go with Hibbert. He swished the baseline fade. Heat check three next time down and he swished (looking like money right now). Turnover, stepping on the baseline on a probe. He attacked and drew FTs, he made both. He wound his way around a high screen, ran over to the wing three line and drained the three.

Hibbert -- -- Hibbert got the bench to its feet with an up-fake and drive down the middle of the lane for a monster And-1 dunk. Rare we see him on the move like that after a fake. The Suns were caught off guard completely. He seemed more engaged in this one on both ends. I don’t know if that confidence and effort from him was the result of the blowout, but we need to see more of that from him. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 6-11 shooting (1-1 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 3 assists, 3 blocks and 1 foul in 29 minutes. He was a +17. The Action: He swished an elbow jumper off the two-man game with Lou. He sank a wing jumper from the other side off a split-play sequence. He ball-faked and missed the 17-footer. He missed a flip up at the rim from about 8 feet out. He swatted a drive. He missed a baseline jumper. Second Half: He spotted Nance coming free under the hoop for a reverse. He hit Lou on the give and go for the score. Nice closeout challenge at the three line. He sank the Dirk fade in the post. Up fake on the jumper, he attacked down the lane and threw down the monster And-1 dunk (wow, first time he’s done that all season…bench went crazy), he made the FT. He slammed off the drive and dish from Clarkson. He couldn’t finish a lob on the break from Nance. He sank a wing fade on the inbounds pass to just beat the shotclock. He missed a wing jumper. He blocked a drive.

Nance -- -- Back-to-back career high rebounding games. A double-double for Nance, hitting the boards hard again and teaming up for jumpers and dunks working with his teammates well. He’s doing an excellent job imposing his effort on the game. He skied for one offensive board that had the crowd buzzing. Some more chemistry again with Lou finding him for scores. “He’s done a lot of the small things,” Lou said. “Still working on his timing. Still working on him being in the right positions in certain plays, but he’s done a lot of the small things.” It’s January and Nance’s confidence has grown a ton. He now knows he can play in this league and play well. Lou mentioned Nance’s work within in the sets. He struggled with that badly in the summer, improved in preseason but was still unsure where he should be. Now, he’s finding his spots, not hesitating and, generally, in a great flow with the offense out there. He’s looking like he should have gone in the middle of the first round right now. “I haven’t run one play for Larry,” Scott said. I mentioned that in the last game. Those are the kinds of guys you want around super stars and players that need the ball. Props to Larry, for sure, but I’d like to see some plays ran for him. Set play lobs to get some easy ones, please. Nance said the team is playing aggressive defensively and that’s making a difference. Definitely. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 7-10 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 14 boards (4 offensive), 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a +16. The Action: He swished an open wing jumper off a kickout. He airballed a wing jumper shortly later, might have been blocked slightly. He missed an elbow jumper next time down. He dunked getting out on the break with Clarkson. He skied for an offensive board that got the crowd buzzing, it led to a Russell score. He couldn’t hold onto a long lob in transition that he definitely got up on. He had 7 boards. Second Half: He sank an open FT jumper off the two-man game with Lou. He reversed when Hibbert found him cutting baseline. He hit the floor to recover a loose ball. He sank a jumper off the kickout from Lou. He slammed when Clarkson found him trailing the break. He dribbled a ball at the three line right out of bounds as he tried to go between his legs with no one around him. Ouch. He swiped a pass in the backcourt and dunked. He was intentionally fouled for FTs, he made one.

Brown -- -- Quiet game again from Brown. It’s tough for him in this system as we don’t cater to his game very well or use his floor spacing with any purpose in our sets. He was the only starter not in double-digit scoring. He looked like the defense sped him up at times and had him second guessing or attacking when he shouldn’t. Just no flow on the floor. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-7 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 turnovers and no fouls in 30 minutes. He was a +22. The Action: Poor inbounds under the hoop and it was swiped. He missed a foot-on-the-three-line jumper from the wing. He was picked trying to drive into traffic. He missed an open three off the kickout from Russell. Another sloppy drive in transition, turnover. Second Half: He missed an open wing three. He swished the long wing jumper up against the shotclock. He should have taken the three, instead he attacked and was rejected badly. He missed an elbow jumper. He sank a sideline three.

Randle -- -- He was ticked getting just the 16 minutes tonight. He only scored 2 points, but he had 12 boards in those 16 minutes. It wasn’t like he was standing around or not playing with effort. Scott botched up the second-half rotations, then pulled Randle early in the fourth when the lineup was just starting to break a sweat. Certainly not a great game offensively. He and Nance go at each other in practice. I’ve got to think, Randle’s going to bring that chip on shoulder into the next practice. (I hope JC and Russell go at it, too…having our young guys covering each other and occasionally besting each other will help them stay motivated to keep improving.) The Stats: He scored 2 points on 0-4 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 12 boards (2 offensive), 3 assists, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 16 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He missed a layup off the nice two-man sequence with Russell, we got it back, he attacked and drew FTs on the reverse, he made both. He blew past Price on the break, pushed it out and was blocked on the dunk attempt. Great interior feed to Bass for the layup. He just plowed right over Price in transition not making any move to get around him, charge. Just 2 points but 6 boards and 2 assists. Second Half: He missed a wing three on a kickout. He couldn’t finish a layup off an interior feed. He grabbed a couple offensive boards, attacked on the second one and set up Bass for the And-1, then Scott sat him, lol.

Russell -- -- Good job once again by the second unit busting the game open in the first half. Russell led all Lakers with the +18 in the half. They had it going on both ends. Got out in transition. It was looking great. In the second half, Scott threw a stick in the spokes of the bicycle with the wholesale change of the bench, everyone coming in cold, and then throwing Huertas out there. Pedal that bike, rookie! The mojo was lost, confused and Russell and Huertas were practically annoyed with each other. Ugly. Russell hurt his right hand in a scramble for the ball with Price (who played some great D for the Suns). The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-8 shooting (0-3 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnover and 3 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He swished an elbow jumper working off the high screen. He was fouled on a throwdown attempt on the break, he made both FTs. Perfectly timed switch under the hoop and the pass was thrown right to him, he pushed it out and hit Clarkson on the break for the layup. He got tapped on a pull-up 19-footer. Quick attack and kickout to Bass for the early offense jumper. Extra pass to Lou in the corner for the three. He missed a long three off a busted offensive sequence. He was fouled on the break (probably should have lobbed to Nance), he made one FT. Herky jerky probe in the lane and he hit the short one (more please). Way short on a three in transition, looked a little tired after that up-and-down stretch at the end of this long stint. He had 7 points on 2-5 shooting, 3 boards and 4 assists. He led the team with a +18. Second Half: He spun and missed a jumper. He tried to flip a layup over his head and was blocked (should have used his right). He missed a pull-up at the FT line. He missed a sideline three. Price swipe the ball from him.

Young -- -- “We just came out and tried to run the ball,” Nick said. That was about the only thing he said post game that made sense. Not a good shooting game from him. He sank one three. A lot of off-balanced jumpers. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-7 shooting (1-4 from three) to go with 1 board and 1 foul in 18 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: He probed and missed the fading 12-footer. He missed a wing jumper with a man on at the end of the quarter. He was blocked on a wing three. He missed a wide open corner three, his best look of the night. Second Half: He swished a wing three out of a timeout.

Bass -- -- A couple of nice setups from Randle to Bass in this one. Not sure if that’s chemistry developing but good to see Randle looking for teammates when he draws a crowd. Bass missed some jumpers in the second half when the Lakers were going through their troubles. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-6 shooting (2-3 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 19 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: Sneak attack from the split play off the high post and he drew FTs at the rim, he made one. He swished the early offense baseline jumper. He took an interior feed from Randle, pumped Chandler a few times and scored the layup. Great screen on one end to free up Lou for three. He swatted a drive on the other end. Second Half: He missed a wing jumper. He missed a 17-footer. He missed a wing jumper. He scored an And-1 layup off the drive and dish from Randle, he made the FT. He passed up an open jumper and threw it away.

Huertas -- -- Scott decided to run his starters extra long in the third instead of going with his regular rotation. It looked like he was thinking he would then shut them down and run Huertas and the bench in the fourth. He should have stuck with his usual rotations. Let the bench ease into the game and then bring in Huertas and the deep bench later. Instead, the wholesale subs just brought the Laker game to a screeching halt. Huertas and Russell didn’t seem on the same page or real happy about that. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-3 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 turnover and no fouls in 6 minutes. He was a -14. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: Ugly jump pass turnover for a score the other way. He grabbed an offensive board, pulled it out, attacked and swished the floater. He had a defensive board swiped from behind and taken for a three. He clanked a wing three after ball stopping. Not close on another three.

Scott -- -- The Lakers had a 12-6 lead when the timeout came midway through the quarter. Guards mixing in the bigmen well… Russell in for Lou out of that… Bass and Randle in shortly later, followed by Nick. Only starter now is Clarkson… This unit killing it again. Only 2 points for the Suns the last 4 minutes and the Lakers were out in transition. They led 22-8 when the timeout came (a 10-0 run, extended further on Randle FTs)… They led 25-10 after the first quarter… Same unit to start the second quarter… Lou in for Clarkson after one play… First Laker foul of the game at the 9:55 mark of the second quarter… They extended the lead to 34-12 when the next timeout came… Lakers up 23 when Hibbert came in for Bass with 7+ minutes left… Nance in for Randle shortly later… Brown in for Young who was struggling… Clarkson in for Russell, Lakers up 24 with 3+ left to play… Wheels coming off the Laker offense without Russell in. Luckily the Suns suck bad… Suns called a timeout with 2 seconds left and promptly threw it away. Lakers called a timeout and Lou hit a wing three at the buzzer… All-time low scoring half for Suns. The Lakers led 43-22. The Suns shot just 20% with only 2 assists (and were 0-10 from three)... They doubled the Suns up 72-36 midway through the quarter… Nice Laker ball movement. A 38-point lead was their largest lead in 4 years… This unit started to fade as Byron went longer with them than usual. He sat Hibbert for Bass with 2 minutes left, 29-point lead… Why change the rotations right now? Looks like he’s playing with the lead by planning to rest these guys all fourth… The Lakers led 81-31 at the end of the third… He started the Bass, Randle, Young, Huertas, Russell lineup. Wholesale subs to start the fourth. Dumb… Up just 21, Scott called a quick timeout... Up just 16, he sat Huertas for Clarkson… Up 17, he brought in Lou for Russell … Hibbert in for Bass, Brown for Young… Starters held on…

[SweetP]

Three in a row!
Thanks DB.
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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

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

I'll second that!

[jjangx27]

seems like every game there's stuff to criticize BS about....but a win is a win is a win

[ratra_1211]

loving the recap! now we just need CaCHooKaMaN's highlights!!

[yinoma2001]

Okc and warriors up next.
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From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals

[All_Star_Laker]

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[bonkers]

[H0B0]

THX DB. GO LAKERS

[Omar Little]

Bizarre to realize that the lakers have the same number of wins in their last 3 games as they did in their first 24.

[GoldenThroat]

26 rebounds from the PF spot tonight.

[Shaber]

Great to have three in a row. It's been a while.


Some things that keep rounding in my head.

* I love the way our guards are rebounding. Almost all of them. And then Randle. It took him a while to start rebounding like he is now. But it has been a steady improvement. If he continues and starts getting the minutes he deserves (that might depend on him playing better D) we may soon start to see 20 rebound games from him. Both Russell and Clarkson are on track to have double-digit rebounding games soon too. Great!

* I don't like at all the low rebounding games from Hibbert. This one is again one of those. Part of it is of course a "system". He challenges shots and rebounds go to helpers. But some of it is just because he is too slow. For his size he should be getting about double of the rebounds he has.

* Winning cures a lot. Start winning and you have better chemistry, better development. Better attitude. Winning attitude. That's what I have been saying these last years all the time. And that's why I hate tanking. Tanking teaches wrong attitude. You can't build your future on that.

* A win is a win. But our wins are ugly. And none of the praise should go to Scott. We are not winning thanks to Scott. We have won some games in spite of Scott. Look at this quote:

[TooCool]

Thanks DB!

Can't remember the last time we had a 3 game winning streak.
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[LakerEric]

I can't stop clamoring for Scott's head. I hate seeing this guy clown around on the sideline. Just despicable!
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Do you believe it now, Trinity? - Morpheous

[Andre2K]

Throw it down JC, Throw IT Down!!!
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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

[Arbitrary]

Thanks, DB.

Oh, Byron.

[twisted]

[Rek]

[ElginBaylor]

Imagine what this team could if they had a coach that was worth a sh#$.
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Not a legend

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[markjay]

[Wilkes52]

Thanks DB. U-g-l-y play, ugly win. What the hell is going on here.
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“These GOAT discussions are fun distractions while sitting around waiting for the pizza to be served.”

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

[Vin]

Suns really gave that game away man. At least we make bad teams look bad so that's an improvement.

[Vin]

[LakerSanity]