BULLS -at- LAKERS – 11-20-16 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

The Butler Did It… “Our fouling set the tone,” Luke said after the 118-110 loss to the Bulls. “I think we let them shoot 11 freethrows in the first quarter, and it was jumpshots, too, that we were fouling.”

The Lakers fouled a three-point shooter three times in the game. Jimmy Butler made 12-14 from the line on his way to a game-high 40 points. Four other Bulls finished in double figures.

“You either take away the star or you take away the role players. You can’t let everyone have a night,” Luke said.

While the Lakers held the turnovers to just 10 (3 in the first half), they gave up 16 offensive boards. Despite all that, the Lakers had several opportunities to cut it to 2 with a minute left, but came up dry on several threes.

“That’s one of the best defenses in the league. We scored 110 on them, but we have to get a lot better. We all know that,” he said, critical again of the team’s defense.

The good start that the team got off to this season has set the bar higher for them, which is good in many ways. However, they are still a work in progress. They may take a few steps back against these upcoming opponents, but it’s a long season and a lot of lessons will be taught and learned in the process.


Russell -- -- He picked up a couple of early fouls on switches against Butler. That really put him in a hole in this game. “We can’t really let that dictate the game,” he said of the fouls. As Luke has mentioned, when he’s able to lock in defensively, he seems to have better games offensively. He was on his heels early and that’s how the game went for him. I like the assist-to-turnover ratio in this one. Offensively, I wish he could have gotten in the post for a few possessions or into the midrange. Some of that was how they were defending, but I do think he settled some, as well. “I felt a little better,” Russell said of the sore knee. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-11 shooting (2-9 from three) to go with 3 boards, 7 assists, 2 turnovers, 2 steals and 3 fouls in 22:39. He was a +4. The Action: He sank a pull-up three in transition. He missed a three off the high screen. He missed a three popping out behind a screen. He hit Mozgov from the post for the open jumper. Foul trouble and he had to sit. Great rotation to jump the passing lane and swipe the pass. He fouled a three shooter and had to sit again. Second Half: He missed a wing three. He missed a three on a kickout next time down. He swished the pull-up working off the screen. He missed a baseline jumper off the loop. He hit Randle on the screen-roll for the dunk. He missed a wing three. He sank a wing three in early offense. He missed a big three out of a timeout that could have cut it to 2 with 50 seconds left. He missed a long three.

Randle -- -- “We didn’t guard anybody,” Randle said. He said he did a terrible job on Taj (he did get some easy ones, scoring 15 to go with 3 offensive boards). The team D was non-existent. “Just got to lock in,” Randle said. Hopefully, the guys get pissed and bring better effort on that end. Few boards for Randle in this game and that might have been part of the reason we saw so few pushouts from him. That’s got to be a point of emphasis for him. He was probably his most surly in the postgame that we’ve seen him. This one left a bad taste in his mouth. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 6-11 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-4 form the line) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 2 turnovers, 2 block and 3 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He attacked off the weave, missed the drive, but Mozgov follow slammed it down. He sank a 20-footer. Good job getting back in transition to deflect a pass. He missed an easy layup on the break (probably could have dunked that). He airballed a short one in the paint. He was called for a charge lowering his shoulder on a drive. He missed a drive. He attacked, shed his man with a forearm and dunked. Second Half: He spun baseline, pumped and was fouled trying to power up, he made both FTs. He controlled a board, pushed it coast to coast and scored the layup. He faced up, attacked baseline and was fouled on the reverse, he missed both. He missed an open wing three. Sloppy pass behind Mozgov in transition, turnover. He couldn’t handle a Russell pass. Easy layup off a seal against a smaller man. He overpowered his man in the post for a layup. He dunked off the screen-roll with Russell. He hit the floor to tie up Butler with 48 seconds left (he couldn’t win it).

Deng -- -- Probably our best defender against Butler. Nick Young and young guys all got torched. Deng made it a little more difficult for him, but he was already rolling early on and in a rhythm. Deng sank a couple of threes of swing passes for his points. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-5 shooting (2-4 from three) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 3 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a -9. The Action: He pushed it coast to coast but had no touch on the finish. He missed a good look at a sideline three. Second Half: He sank a wing three on the swing pass. He sank a three straight away off a swing pass. He swiped a post entry pass. He missed a chuck from three, no ball movement. He gave up a putback score to Butler.

Mozgov -- -- He was pretty soft defensively on the ball and had the team-low -14 in his limited minutes. Lopez had the double-double and was scoring with a bit too much ease. Team wise, he did have a couple nice reads in passing lanes for deflections and led the team with 4 steals. He sank a couple of nice midrange jumpers around the FT line. I’d like to see if we can consistently get him looks there because that’s an easy shot if the bigs are sagging off. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-7 shooting to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 4 steals and 1 foul in 21 minutes. He was a -14. The Action: He follow slammed back down a missed Randle drive. He deflected a pass for a steal. He was blocked on an inbounds pass trying to beat the shotclock. He airballed a lefty jumphook. He sank a 16-footer off the Russell post kickout. He flashed to the ball and hit the FT jumper. He hit the lefty jumphook across the middle of the lane. He couldn’t finish a lob and wanted the foul. He was called for an offensive foul using his off arm on a drive. He had 8 points on 4-7 shooting. Second Half: He fumbled a pass at midcourt, not expecting it, dunk the other way.

Young -- -- We really could have used some lockdown moments from Nick on D on Butler. (In fact, he did have one stretch where he was in Butler’s jersey throughout a play…and Butler still scored.) Luke has talked about how the team has plateaued defensively in practice. They’ve got to get back that sense of urgency and desperation on that end of the floor. None had done that better than Nick earlier this season. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-13 shooting (3-8 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 2 assists, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a -6. The Action: He missed a good look at a pull-up in the lane. He swished a three coming off a screen on the sideline. He missed a corner three. He attacked to his right and missed the layup. He crossed over and missed an elbow pull-up. He attacked from the wing off a scramble and scored the layup. He sank a fade from the elbow. Excellent D on Butler on one sequence, but he still scored. He missed a three in transition. Second Half: Burst of speed as he turned the corner and he drew FTs on the drive, he made both. He swished a three straight away. He missed an open wing three. He sank a corner three on a swing pass. He missed a huge three with a minute left that could have cut it to 2. He missed a three trying to draw a foul.

Clarkson -- -- He went 0-9 before finally making a shot late in the fourth quarter. Just an awful night on both ends of the court. He finished with 1-12 shooting. Had the Lakers gotten any kind of game from him offensively, maybe they just plain outscore the Bulls to a win. Credit the Bulls for some tough D, but Clarkson was missing shots he usually makes. Defensively, I thought he had some moments that reminded me of Clarkson from last season. Hopefully, after viewing the tape he gets after it again. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 1-12 shooting (1-3 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists and no fouls in 25 minutes. He was a -12. The Action: He missed a runner from about 10 feet. He missed a baseline floater. Nice drive and dish to Nance for the layup. He lobbed to Nance backdoor for the throwdown. He sidestepped to get space on a three and was fouled, he made two FTs. He missed on a drive off the screen-roll but Nance slammed back down the dribble penetration. He missed a drive. Way short on a three. Second Half: He airballed a forced wing pull-up jumper. Horrible D letting Butler walk right around him for an easy score. He missed a runner. He missed a baseline pull-up. He looked fouled with no call on a drive, another miss. He finally sank an open wing three, his first make in 10 attempts. He missed a corner jumper. He missed a runner on iso.

Williams -- -- Excellent game from Lou. He had 14 points in about 3 minutes after entering the game. He’s looking every bit like the Sixth Man of the Year he was in the past. He led the Lakers in scoring with 25 and Luke ran him for 30 minutes. He sank his first four attempts from three, including one from midcourt at the buzzer. Wish we could have set him up for one or two more of those critical threes we missed with the game in balance with a minute left. The Stats: He scored 25 points on 8-14 shooting (5-6 from three, 4-6 from the line) to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 2 turnovers, 2 steals and 2 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He got his man on his hip, took contact but still banked (should have been an And-1). He sank a wing three off a great Nance screen. He banked in a three at the buzzer from midcourt. He attacked from the wing and scored the And-1 layup, he made the FT. Nice double team to help a big and force a turnover. He missed a drive, but Black reset the offense. He drained a corner three off an inbounds. He missed a short runner and then picked up a tech on the no call. He missed a tech FT. He missed a tough fade to his left. He froze the D in transition with a ball fake and rattled down the three. Great extra feed to find Nance under the hoop for a dunk. Change of pace in early offense to draw FTs at the rim, he made both. Bogus offensive foul as he attacked, he was in disbelief. He had 19 points on 6-9 shooting (4-4 from three). Second Half: He split defenders and drew a reach foul for FTs, he made one. He attacked and threw it away for a layup the other way. He sank a deep three. He missed another deep three next time down. He missed a scoop he wanted a foul on. He swiped a pass and took it the distance for a layup.

Ingram -- -- He fouled a couple of three-point shooters in this one. Those hurt. Not something we see a lot from him (and something we used to rarely see once in a game…but the past few years, it happens a lot with all the three shooting). It’s not brought up a lot, but you see Ingram often bringing the ball back to his strong hand to finish. The offhand looks fine on the dribble, which is probably why it’s not mentioned, but he’s got to work on that when finishing as he’s bringing the ball back to the defender at times. That’s one of those rookie things that takes time. Up and down game from Ingram. His best play was either a pass to Nance on the screen-roll for a dunk or the follow dunk on Ingram’s own miss. I remember seeing Butler work over our youngins this summer in the Team USA practices. Anytime he got one of them in his sights tonight, he took them to school. “We didn’t have an answer to stop him tonight,” Ingram said on Butler. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-6 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 3 assists, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He leveled Mirotic on a close out for a foul for three FTs. He undercut Butler on an attempt from three. He attacked off the screen at the end of the quarter, drew the D and wrapped a sweet bounce pass around a defender to Nance rolling for the dunk. He posted up, missed the turnaround, bounced back up and dunked it back in on the follow. He hit Williams for a three off an inbounds pass. Second Half: Bad pass on the perimeter, points the other way. He hit a pull jumper at the FT line. Perfect lob pass to Nance for the dunk. He missed a short jumper over Rondo. He attacked from the elbow for a layup. He attacked off the three line, brought it back to his strong hand was fouled on a near block (really needs to work on finishing with his left), he made one FT. He iso’d and missed a drive.

Nance -- -- Great game. Larry had 6 dunks, showing the activity, athleticism, length and a more concerted effort of teammates to find him where he could do some damage. He had some open jumpers that didn’t drop, but the finishing at the rim was one of the few bright spots in the game. That was impressive. A lot of points from Larry tonight with so little time actually handling the ball. Those are the kinds of players that elevate a team to new levels when you have more ball-dominant superstars alongside him. Hopefully, some of our youngsters fill that role, as well. Despite those 6 dunks, Larry’s best highlight might have been a touch pass while in air to Black for a dunk. A shame we wasted this one from Larry on a loss…but I hope we see more of this. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 8-11 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and no fouls in 26 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: Excellent seal and he drew FTs on the attack, he made both. He sank a one-hander on the baseline off the two-man sequence. He swiped a pass at midcourt. He drilled a man on a screen to free up Lou for a three. He dunked off the great screen-roll bounce pass from Ingram. He took the dump off pass, hung and scored the layup. He blocked a drive. He spun and Clarkson hit him for the lob jam. Sweet one-handed touch pass while in the air to Black for the dunk. Next time down, he follow slammed back down a Clarkson missed drive. He missed a jumphook. He dunked off the extra pass from Lou. He had 14 points on 6-7 shooting and 5 boards. Second Half: He missed a long wing jumper. He cleaned up a missed jumper with putback slam. He missed an open wing jumper. He was overplayed up high, so cut to the rim for the lob dunk.

Black -- -- Kind of an average game from Tarik. He got on the offensive glass to regain some possessions, he made his FTs had a strong finish at the rim and generally did his typical garbage-man work. The combined energy of Tarik and Larry is hard to match by teams. Wish he was a little more lockdown on the D end. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-3 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist, 1 turnover, 1 steal, 1 block and 3 fouls in 16:29. He was a +0. The Action: He reset the offense on an offensive board and it later led to a Williams three. He blocked a drive. Nance rolled to the hoop and then hit Black with a touch pass while in air for a dunk. Second Half: He missed a layup on a drive left. He drew a charge on Butler after a bad outlet nearly cost them a score. He battled off a Clarkson missed runner and drew FTs with 0.5 left in the quarter, he made both.

Walton -- -- The Lakers struggled to hit some easy ones early on and trailed 17-10 when the timeout came midway through the quarter… He brought in Nance and Ingram out of that for Randle and Deng, slightly different sub pattern with Randle sitting early… Russell out for Clarkson, Lakers down 4… Full bench in down 6 with over a minute left… The tied it up 30-30 after the first quarter… Lou Williams on fire and the Lakers took an 8-point lead to force a timeout… After a 10-point Laker lead was trimmed to 3, Luke called timeout… He brought back in Russell, Young and Randle for Black, Clarkson and Ingram… Nance out for Mozgov with 3:48 left, Lakers up 8… Russell picked up another foul and had to sit again for Clarkson… The Lakers trailed 62-61 at the half. Bulls shot 58%. Lakers had just 3 turnovers and those came late in the half… The Lakers pulled out to a lead, but a flurry of turnovers and the Bulls evened things up again, forcing a timeout… Nance in for Mozgov, Black in for Randle… Williams and Clarkson in for Russell and Young a few seconds later… Ingram in for Deng, Lakers down 4… The Lakers trailed 90-85 heading into the fourth… Down 12 quickly, he called a timeout… Butler in, so Deng in for Black down 9 with 7:41… Randle and Young in for Ingram and Nance, Lakers down 11 midway through the quarter… Russell finally back in for Clarkson, who was awful, Lakers down 13 with 4 minutes left… The Lakers cut it to 5 with 1:12 left, forcing a timeout… They missed several threes that could have cut it to 2 over the next 20 seconds and that was that…

[SweetP]

Thanks DB
Definitely still a work in progress.
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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

[Shaber]

A young Lakers team is going to get schooled in this stretch of difficult games. It will be interesting to see if they learn and advance or break down.

Hopefully this game imprints the value of defense to the minds of Lakers.
But I'm not holding my breath on that. The issues of D have been a trademark for too long.

Might be a while until we see a smiling smiley in the title again.


Thanks, DB!
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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

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks again DB.

[Chronicle]

Walton's worst game of his career

He really needs to start calling more timeouts

Why is he so dead set on the phil jackson let them play mentality?

If the other team is on a run then you call a timeout to stop it. Popovich is becoming the coach with the most wins because of that one simple thing.
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Kobe

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB.

[lakerican]

[pio2u]

Good stuff DB!

[pio2u]

[sonic the laker]

Thanks as always for the analysis, DB! I agree with Luke, about not having a star player AND the opposing team as a whole, go off offensively. Sometimes, you have to pick your poison, and stick to it. I think Nick played Butler well, but he was picking up fouls trying to stay connected, while fighting through picks. Lopez was getting too deep on the block against Moz, imo, which led to him getting buckets. Lakers have to be more disruptive with their D, to get opposing teams out of their rhythm. Bulls got into a flow, and just ran with it. Especially Butler.

Also, Lakers were doing fine, taking care of the ball during the first half. But, I didn't like how some of the passes were telegraphed, and lazy. The Bulls picked up on that, later in the game, and started shooting the gaps, and intercepting passes. Still have to learn to take better care of the ball, consistently.


ZOOM!!!!!!!

[yinoma2001]

The series of offensive fouls really hurt the Lakers. Was it 3 consecutive offensive fouls by Jules/Moz/Lou?
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From 2-10 to the Western Conference Finals

[Lakers#1Team]

Thanks DB!

[DrDent]

Annoying loss.our young guys have lots to learn still regarding "close game comebacks" late in the fourth...forget the double digit deficit they erased - they were poised with some tough defensive stops (they made me proud with those) to erase that 5 point deficit but took some hurried shots.

DB - what's your take on the massive out rebounding by the Bulls? Is that fixable with our squad or just one of our weaknesses?

[Goldenwest]

[DancingBarry]

[Snipes]

How good is Butler. Wow.

[Laker7]

I am getting more and more concerned with DLo and Deng, especially after watching last nights game. DLo is shooting 41% from the field for the season and Deng is shooting 33%. All of the other regular rotation players have a better FG % than them other than Ingram and he is a rookie so I cut him some slack.

Deng seems to have acquired some Derek Fisher concrete shoes on defense and rarely goes into the paint to score. It is jumper after jumper.

The big expectation during the preseason on DLo was he worked on his low post game so he could take smaller PG's (like Rondo) into the paint and punish them. But all I saw from DLo was jumper after jumper. On defense, I get the hurt knee so I am not going to judge.
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Darvin Ham is an idiot!

[yinoma2001]

[70sdude]

Thanks DB.

Not much went right this time, which with a young team of young players early in the season, one can expect probably about half the time. OK, it's a learning process.

Onwards !

[jodeke]

As usual DB great write up. I have a nephew who's a producer at ESPN, I'll put in a good word for you.
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Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

[tox]

Thanks, DB! I'm glad there's at least one other person out there that thought Deng looked solid out there yesterday

Also Ingram's right hand dominance is really noticeable once you start looking for it. If he were left handed, would people be making a bigger deal about it? Maybe..