LAKERS -vs- GRIZZLIES - 7/15 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

[DancingBarry]

Stuck in Mud Island... The Lakers stayed with Memphis and led a few times for most of three quarters. Then the offense just came to complete halt as we scored just 2 points for the last several minutes of the third quarter and Memphis built up a big lead. The Lakers eventually fell 88-73. The 73 points were very indicative of the offensive stagnation that the team suffered through all game long.

Let's start again with Triangle basics. Memphis plays a smart defensive scheme. It's annoying because the Lakers stuggle with understanding how to counter it. This is something I've harped on at times and something that Rambis mentioned after a previous game.

Memphis crowds our perimeter players, cutting off the passing lanes. They front the post, cutting off the easy entry pass. They also sag with weakside help on the post to prevent lobs over the top. What they are doing is playing aggressive to take away the first pass options of the Triangle. This requires the Lakers to run their "counters", certain read and react sequences that allow them to take advantage of what the Grizzlies are taking away. (If you try to take something away in the Triangle, you are often giving something else up.)

For instance, to get the ball into Bynum it now requires some quick passes while Bynum seals his man. When teams would front Shaq or partially front him in the Tri, you would sometimes see us bring the ball up to the top of the key, then reverse it back to the corner while he seals his man who is fronting him. The corner entry pass is made quickly and it leads to an easy score. Or, last year, we saw the high-low sequence quite often. A defender would front the post so we couldn't make the entry pass. This cues a Laker from the weakside to flash to the freethrow area to receive a pass. The post man seals his man and a quick high-low pass takes place.

A lot of this requires the team to be on the same page and react with speed. Unfortunately, this being the SPL...we don't know how to react to this. Heck, we've even seen the regular season team struggle with this type of defensive scheme early on or even during games at times. The result for today's SPL game was that our offense was stuck in mud. It stalled and fell apart. The team had 26 turnovers and shot .390 from the floor to get their 73 points. Combine that with a non-stop whistle which led to 85 freethrow attempts and you have a recipe for a slow, ugly-to-watch game.

In the end, it's good for the guys who are going to make the team because they will understand the system better. For the guys who aren't going to make the team, they don't get to show off their skills or take much anything with them that will probably be useful as they work on their game. The standout players in this game tended to be the hustle guys like Green or Slaughter. The guards tended to work the ball around the perimeter or attack off pinch posts and the low post was essentially neglected for long stretches.


Bynum -- -- One of the first few possessions of this game, Bynum got the ball in the post and was promptly quadruple teamed. He tried to pass out, but it was deflected. It just showed how much attention the Grizzlies were going to pay to him today. They had a few triple teams, a lot of doubles and some weakside zones to take away lobs over the top of fronting defenders. As explained above, we had difficulty countering this the way we should have. Occasionally, Bynum wouldn't seal or be ready for a high-low sequence...but the chance of it coming anyway was slim. So, how did Bynum react? We saw him try to work from the high post a little more than usual. On those standard weakside pinch post plays were he usually hands the ball off to the cutting guard, he kept the possession on several occasions and faced up against his man. He had a couple good sequences doing this. He'd take a couple of dribbles, turning his back on his man as he got low position, then he'd got to a post move and score. This is not his strength, but he actually made it work a couple of times. He's a back to the basket player and he essentially just worked the dribble to get himself low post position. At the end of the game, there is a reason Bynum shot just 3-4 for 7 points. The offense couldn't get him the ball where he needs it to score. In the prior game, you saw a straight forward defense that allowed simple post entry passes for Bynum to go to work. The Triangle could work because it was functioning on its most basic level, and Bynum had success. It wasn't because Farmar was setting him up, which I've heard people at the SPL say. (Farmar set Bynum up once in the past game, almost all the other offense was Bynum creating for himself.) If you compare the past two games to each other, the failure is purely a result of the team not executing the more sophisticated counters that it takes to make the Triangle work.

He scored all 7 of his points in the first half, scoring twice off face up sequences that turned into post moves (one a jumphook). He also scored a layup off an interior feed. Bynum was ticked on one sequence and went up to throwdown with aggression over a man. He couldn't complete the dunk, but wanted the foul (he should have been to the line).

Defensively, Bynum did a slightly better job of contesting shots as a defensive anchor. He had a couple big swats early. The stat sheet completely missed a couple blocks that happened right in front of me. So, instead of 2 blocks...I've got 4 in my notes. Such is SPL stat keeping. Andreas Glyniadakis had 20 points. Half of those points came when Bynum either left Andreas to contest someone else's shot or a guard reached and fouled Andreas. So, again, another somewhat deceptive stat. Where Bynum does appear to be consistently exposed is his reluctance at times to move out to the perimeter to contest his man's shot. Andreas got a couple good looks in that situation. Bynum was whistled for 7 fouls in this one. Again, he got a little sloppy...and a couple of those fouls were also of the cheap variety (one where he contested a jumper that should have been a 24-second violation and another where he got pushed while setting a screen and was called for a moving screen). Both Bynum and Rambis were livid on those.

Farmar -- -- Not a good game from Farmar as he tallied a game-high 7 turnovers and shot just 4-12 (going 0-5 from three). He ended the day with 10 points, 5 boards and 2 assists. A point of emphasis this summer will be working on that perimeter shot. The turnovers were not from high-risk type of plays, just sloppy stuff (charge on a pass off, colliding with Green trying to push up the break, etc.). He did thread the needle a couple of times on passes, but those were on the mark. One was a very nice bounce pass to a teammate who was cutting on the baseline, but couldn't convert. Another was a great no-looker to Douthit under the hoop for a dunk. Farmar showed, again, he knows how to use his body well when he gets near the rim... he attacked on the break on one sequence, took contact and scored with his left for the And-1. Farmar probably had the score of the game, a high-flying reverse layup attacking along the baseline that he spun off the glass. He also did a nice job getting his man in the air and drawing a foul on the perimeter when the offense stalled and he was forced to create something with the shotclock low.

Defensively, a bit of the same as we have seen in previous games. Farmar does seem to go under the screen a ton, but this being SPL ball, he hasn't paid a price as guys don't seem to be killing from the perimeter. So, I'd probably be doing the same thing until you show me you can make that shot. There is one thing to his advantage when he goes under the screens and that is how he pops out from behind them, using his hops well to get up and contest the shot. He often seems to recover to guards and he will occasionally alter a shot. He'll need to be careful with players who still have their dribble left after popping out from behind a screen.

Green -- -- Just another solid, all-around game from Green. Again, he had to deal with Hakim Warrick at times, who only managed 8 points. Green shot 5-7 on the day, sinking one catch-and-shoot J from the perimeter. Green had a steal that led to a score for Farmar and he tipped an offensive board to Douthit who scored. Green scored several times at the rim, including dunks and layups that came off feeds by Pinnock. He got to the line and buried all 8 freethrows he attempted. He finished with a game-high 18 points, 7 boards, 2 assists and 1 block in 28 minutes. Both he and Pinnock seem to be consistently out-playing Wafer.

Pinnock -- -- He led all Lakers with 5 assists, which was not easy to do in this kind of game. He made some great finds to cutters like Green for scores. He made the extra pass on the break to get the Lakers a dunk. He hit a pull-up three from the wing. He made a nice stutter-step move in transition and hit a floater. Pinnock finished with 7 points on 3-10 shooting.

Slaughter -- -- He only clocked 16 minutes, but he was active, pulling down 6 boards and getting to the line for 4 FTs. He had one block in the game, but also had 2 other blocks erased by fouls from the teammates whose butt Slaughter was saving. One of his contested shots resulted in a 24-second violation. He was called for a flagrant for contesting another shot on the break. He did several defensive things well on one sequence where he switched out onto a smaller player, staying in front of him with good lateral speed, then grazing the shot as the guard settled for a jumper. He shot just 1-4 for the game, creating off the dribble to score off the glass.

Wafer -- -- He didn't offer a whole lot in his 14:23 of action, scoring 5 points on 2-4 shooting. He had 4 turnovers during that time and looked miffed getting sent to the bench after one stint.

Everyone Else -- -- Douthit put up 10 points on 3-6 shooting and grabbed 7 boards. He also had 4 turnovers, again looking a little sketchy from that wing spot trying to pass the ball. He had a nice tip in of a Farmar miss and another nice cut to free himself and Jordan hit him for a score... Doron Perkins drew four fouls on the Grizzlies to start the fourth quarter and helped get them into the bonus early. He should have just continued to attack and march to the FT line. He finished with 5 points and 4 boards in 11:53 of action.

[Rick12322]

Thanks for the report DB. When you said they were "stuck in the mud" I thought you meant fatigue until I read the rest of it. it makes sense that the team would not be effective countering the triangle 101 post defense.

I think Bynum is fatigued though because of the few rebounds he got. To this day Bynum has never in his entire life been in basketball shape. That's going to take playing time so we're going to have to be patient on that end.

I wonder if the Lakers coaches are teaching him rebounding fundamentals, like how to anticipate and move to where the expected carom would be? They should run drills for him this summer, he and Kwame should go at it with Farmar shooting. Farmar and Green practicing their 3 point bricks while Bynum and Kwame practice their anticipation, boxing out skills.

[pokoy]

[Endure 12]

I think Wafer will get cut. The only guys I see making the Squad are Bynum, Famar and Pinnock.

[Rick12322]

[Freakout]

I'm just amazed that DB was the only person that mentioned Bynum being defended so tightly. We saw what good defense does to a player of Shaq's calibur yet fans expect Andrew to bull through the defense like it doesn't exist?

[wolfpaclaker]

It's great to read that an 18 year old kid is getting that much defensive attention. The fact is, you didn't see much of that last summer.

Bynum is a LOT better it seems. The biggest things missing right now is NBA caliber conditioning (as they say "NBA ready") and consistency.

Young players are rarely consistent. I don't expect Bynum to be a consistent performer until 21. I also expect him to be NBA ready (physically) by that age.

It will be fun seeing what he's like at that age.

[mm708]

Slaughter is looking like the most consistent player on the Lakers. His defense never lets down. 8)

[lakers399]

It's very difficult to dominate purely in the low post, with the way zone defenses are being allowed nowaday. What makes Duncan great is that he can score in both the high and low posts. Bynum will have to learn to score from the high post to become a dominant scorer.

[SoCal88]

I was there, and it amazes me that Wafer looks to be a headcase. One dimensional player; he doesn't deserve even an invite to camp.
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[LakerFan1972]

DB - Another great report. Appreciate the detailed analysis of the tri.

When the season starts there is some thought that Bynum and/or Farmar will see time with the Lakers development team. Your analysis makes me wonder if that is the best place for Bynum in particular. You have described the SPL team unable to execute the counters in the tri. The result basically limiting Bynum's effectiveness in the game. The speed in Bynum's development in the tri would seem to be directly proportional to how well the other 4 players understand the tri. Wouldn't he learn faster playing as the backup to Kwame and getting 15 to 25 mins? Rather than spending 30 to 40 mins as the starter on the Lakers developmental team?


Outside of Bynum and Farmar it sounds like Pinnock, Green and Slaughter are on the bubble. I'd like to see all three as training camp invites.

I do hope the Lakers do some moves to make room on their 15 man roster.

Mckie - salary ballast in a trade or just outright release
Wafer - cut, just doesn't get it. being out played by Green and Pinnock
Cook - just tired of his one dimensional game. maybe have someone like Slaughter take Cooks roster spot. Just a thought

[RhodyRay]

[RCS926]

[Lakers#1Team]

[DancingBarry]

[DancingBarry]

[DancingBarry]