LAKERS -at- ROCKETS - 12/12 - Thoughts and :-)) ratings
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 12:53 am    Post subject: LAKERS -at- ROCKETS - 12/12 - Thoughts and :-)) ratings

Road Resilience... The Lakers may never get out of survival mode this season. It started with Kobe and Kwame early on, and now it's Lamar Odom out for an undetermined amount of time. Still, they fight through it.

"We'll be happy if he's playing again for us in January," Phil said of LO. "We have to reorganize our a team a little bit because Lamar has such an expanded role on this team."

They had to reorganize on the fly against the Rockets as Lamar went down early on a drive down the lane. "I felt like something was really wrong. I have no idea how long it’ll be. I’ve never had anything like this.”

This was a game of runs. They started off the game soft defensively, then tightened things up with a 10-2 run. Late second quarter, they closed on a 13-3 run to get the lead at half.

They crushed the Rockets in the third playing the same aggressive, hustle D that took apart the Spurs. They had two runs of 9-0 and 16-0 in that quarter. Then, you could see them relax at a unit. They settled, rather than continuing to pick apart the Rockets. The bench couldn't hold a huge 27-point lead like they are supposed to. The Rockets chipped away and slowly snowballed the momentum into a 26-1 fourth quarter run. Phil brought back the starters and we dodged bullets from three and the free throw line to escape with the win.

Yao had 21 points in the first half, before the Lakers clamped down. They held him to 5 points in the second half with good D by both Kwame, Bynum and some timely help. In the end, our two-headed monster combined for 17 points on 8-10 shooting, 9 boards, 2 blocks and 4 assists. That said, Kobe and Luke were the real one-two punch that made our offense click. They combined for 14 assists.


Kobe -- -- It seemed like it took Kobe a little bit to dial it in. Very similar at times to his game against the Spurs in that regard. Both he and Luke led the Lakers with +20 on the night. Kobe seemed a bit reluctant to attack the paint early, but did a better job as the game when along. After the aggressive third, he put it in neutral. He led the Lakers with 23 points on a poor 8-26 shooting (2-8 from three). He pulled down 8 boards and dished 7 assists with just 2 turnovers. He got caught in the air in the lane and forced up a brick early. He missed a pull-up wing jumper on his next attempt. He missed another wing jumper from the other side. He swished a 12-footer over Yao. He drilled a 16-footer off a Bynum pick when Yao didn't come out. He ripped the net on a baseline turnaround on his next touch. He goaltended a shot by Yao with a little authority. He traveled on a spin move. He missed a jumper over two defenders on the baseline. He rattled out a sideline running bank from three range at the end of the first quarter. He had 6 points on a just 3-10 shooting after the first quarter. He wrapped a pass around Yao to Bynum off the two-man game for an And-1. He missed a three. Some more dribble penetration challenging Yao, Kobe got into his chest and scored the And-1 and Yao sat. He missed a pull-up jumper in the lane. He attacked around Battier, then hung in the air as Yao came over before finally banking just as he was coming down. He attacked the lane and shoveled a pass to Kwame who scored a layup. He drew an illegal D on Yao, isolating on the wing, he made the FT. Kobe drained a wing three to answer a three made by Battier on the other end. Kobe had 15 points on 16 shots in the first half. He collapsed the D on penetration and kicked out to Luke for a three. He missed a bank shot badly and wanted the foul. He jumped a passing lane to steal the ball. He got stripped trying to attack on the baseline in transition. He collapsed the D on another attack and kicked out to Cook who drained the three. Poor angle entry pass to Kwame and he threw it out of bounds. He hit Luke curling from the weakside for a layup. After Phil whistled Kobe to call a timeout, they set him up on the wing, Kobe attacked, pumped several times and banked from about 12 feet out. Off an Evans steal, Kobe drilled a three to start the fourth. He missed a three next trip down. He swung through to draw FTs from the perimeter, made one. Phil sat him with 7 minutes left and brought him back three minutes later. He hung out on the perimeter a bit, then nearly scooped in a layup off an attack, but Kwame tipped it in. Kobe hit a couple of late FTs. "That was the weirdest game I've ever been a part of," Kobe said in the Times. "First time I've had to put the ice on and take the ice off. Interesting evening. That's like Red lighting up the cigar then having it doused." With Lamar out, Kobe is going to have to do a bit more heavy lifting, both scoring and organizing the offense with some precision.

Odom -- -- He played just 3:29 and went 0-2. He missed a three on his first touch. He went to the locker room after grabbing his knee on a drive down the lane. "He felt it was pretty loose when he came off the court," Phil said of Lamar's knee. To survive without him will be difficult. He controls the defensive glass, ignites the break, and collapses the D with drives and post ups. Not to mention, he's a versatile defender. If you look back at that Spurs game, Phil used Lamar a lot more at SF than he has all season. That caused a ton of problems for the smaller Spurs. Somehow, we have to find a way.

Walton -- -- Simply an awesome game from Luke. He picked the Rockets apart. With Lamar out, he's going to have to coninue to play at another level. Tonight, he scored 18 points on 7-10 shooting, dished 7 assists and grabbed 5 boards in 34 minutes. The Rockets had no answer for him, trying a variety of defenders. Whenever they went small on Luke, we did a decent job getting the ball to him. We probably could have stood a few more possessions in his hands, especially late in the game when we needed to keep things on track. Early on, Luke beat two defenders down court when Smush stole the ball and Luke scored a layup for the Lakers first basket. Luke ran a scissors cut off the post and took a bounce pass for a layup. He kicked out to Cook for a three. He missed a shot in the lane, then ripped the rebound away from Mutombo, then dunked with both hands (damn). Good D on Battier on two post possessions forcing misses with good challenges. He passed on the wing three, attacked the lane and hit a runner over Yao. He had a shot clearly goaltended by Yao, but it went as a block. He posted up Head out of a timeout and drew a foul away from the ball, he made both FTs. Against the zone, he got the ball at the elbow, attacked and scored an And-1 layup, he made the FT. Nice attack off the dribble, but he missed at the front of the rim to start the second half. He drained a corner three on a kickout from Kobe. He poked a pass loose from behind to cause a turnover. Great double, crowding Yao as he turned to shoot and it caused a brick. On the other end, he then curled from the weakside, took a feed from Kobe in the lane and scored a layup before going to the floor. He hit Kwame with a quick pass behind the D for a dunk. Luke posted up a smaller man again, drew the D and kicked to Kwame again for a layup and Stu put it correctly, "They are surgically taking them apart right now." Luke assisted on Parkers floater and a dunk by Evans in the last minute.

Smush -- -- I thought you could definitely see Smush switch gears after we had the lead. But until then, he put together a great game on both ends. He was mixing things up defensively in that third with some good hustle. He scored 14 points on 6-10 shooting, had 2 assists and 2 steals in 34 minutes. He even spent a short stint at the SG in this one. He stole a pass, then quickly outlet to Luke who scored a layup. He hit a 21-footer from the wing off a Tri cut. Good job working off the offense to score a layup off the high pinch post. What a sweet finish as Smush attacked around defenders to his left, he then turned the corner, went at Yao and spun in a hanging windmill reverse layup. He drew a moving pick call on D to start the second half. Bad alley-oop pass to Kobe in transition at it gave the ball back to the Rockets. He attacked quickly in transition and drew FTs, making one. He got an open look at a three a step behind the line, got his legs into it, his body squared and drilled the three and the Rockets called a timeout. He gave it back out of the timeout, cheating under a screen, then getting caught and giving up a wide open three. He then attacked, tried to draw a foul and missed. He flew by his man on D and gave up another three. Right about this time, the Lakers throttled it up. He hit Kwame in transition for a dunk. He curled off a scissors cut, took a handoff in the lane and finger rolled easily. In the fourth, he was called for a travel as he cupped the ball on the baseline. Key shot, he attacked the lane in the final minute and hit a teardrop over Yao that iced the game.

Kwame -- -- Yao had Kwame on his heels early. Kwame gave up an And-1 to Yao in the lane on his first touch. He poked the ball loose from behind Yao to stop a score on Yao's second touch. Yao hit a baseline jumper over him on his third touch. Nice feed by Kwame, bouncing in tight quarters to Luke for a layup. Yao overpowered Kwame again in the post for an And-1 and Kwame had to sit with two fouls just 5 minutes into the game. Back in, he tried to attack Yao off the dribble (right idea for Kwame, poor execution as he threw up a brick). Kwame was then able to start scoring when others drew the D and set him up. He scored a layup, when Kobe attacked and slipped him a pass in the lane. Good job pointing out the illegal D on Yao and the refs finally called it late in the first half. He drew a charge on Yao in the last minute of the first half for Yao's third foul, great D. To start the second half, he quickly attacked Yao in the post, got into his chest and hit over him in the middle of the lane. He stepped around Yao to steal the post entry pass. He jumped a passing line trying to steal a perimeter pass to Yao, he missed, then swiped Yao's pass back to the guard. He dunked around Yao on a bounce pass from Smush in transition. He spotted Smush wide open off a Tri scissors cut. He dunked off a quick pass from Luke when we scrambled the Rockets D. He scored a layup off another quick feed from Luke as he collapsed the D in the post. Kwame took the post entry, saw some space as Vlad cut and bounced it to him for a layup. He was called for a loose ball foul late and gave up FTs. The Lakers finally scratched after a long Rocket run when Kwame tipped a miss by Kobe that was close to offensive interference (the ball appeared to still be on the rim, evening out Luke's bad call earlier). Kwame finished with 12 points on an efficient 6-7 shooting. He had 4 boards and showed his growing comfort in the offense with 4 assists. Early in this game, Yao was able to overpower Kwame on a few possessions. Kwame was able to use his speed a bit more effectively later and held ground better as doubles came at the last second. He also did a good job fronting slightly as Yao would try to set up, this would push Yao out a little farther from the hoop as he worked to get around Kwame.

Bynum -- -- The education of Andrew Bynum continues. The test tonight -- Yao Ming. Drew answered the challenge, giving Yao trouble on numerous occassions. Yao, of course, still had his moments...and probably more so in this game without TMac dominating the ball. When Drew gets a little stronger and the team develops a little more confidence in him in the post, we may be treated to some great center battles in the future. Bynum played 14 minutes and scored 5 points on 2-3 shooting, he grabbed 5 boards, blocked 2 shots and had 4 fouls. Bynum blocked Yao's first shot against him in the post, sending a message early. Yao faced up and hit a jumper over him. He bit on a headfake by Yao, then fouled him off the dribble. Bynum fronted Yao and drew a pushoff foul as Yao tried to clear space for the entry. Yao traveled on his next attempt in the lane over Bynum. Good contests on Yao's next two shots and we got misses. He took the post feed, turned to shoot, pulled it down and went up and under, but the refs said he moved his pivot foot (probably a bad call as Bynum was adamant he didn't lift his pivot foot). He fouled trying to contest penetration. He took the post entry next time down, reposted, then hit a jumphook over Yao in the middle of the lane. He was fouled on an inbounds and made one FT. He and Kobe worked the two-man game, Bynum got a return feed under the hoop, went up strong and scored an And-1 trying to throw down, he missed the FT. He blocked or got Yao to shoot an airball on a jumper with some good D. On his next defensive stand, he hit Yao on the arm and picked up his third foul. He airballed a long left-handed hook over Yao (I guess he's getting a little more confident to take that kind of shot). The Rockets went to Yao three straight possessions to start the fourth: Evans stole the ball, Drew contested a jumper for a miss, then Drew swatted him on a turnaround in the lane and controlled it. Great job by the 19-year-old. He's only going to improve his D. With the Kwame-Bynum duo, we can be a little more aggressive against Yao. We got into a bit of foul trouble, but thankfully, we didn't have to go to a smaller man against Yao.

Radmanovic -- -- We saw some glimpses of the free-shooting Vlad that used to play in this league. Radmanovic led the bench with 10 points on 4-7 shooting (2-5 from three) and had 3 boards and 1 steal. With LO out, it would be an ideal time for Vlad to get his shooting hand back off the IR. He missed a three on his first touch. He scored a putback off of a Kobe miss. He fouled Howard on an iso play. They were isolating Howard more on Vlad and exposing him defensively before we switched Turiaf over to end that. Nice cut, working off Kwame in the post and he was rewarded for a layup. He tipped out an offensive board behind Battier, then he got it back on the opposite side of the floor and drained a three. On the next offensive possession, he looked a little like his old self as he drained a wing three without hesitation off a kickout from Farmar. He missed a heat check three and another wing three before he went to the bench.

Turiaf -- -- Phil made some quick subs to bring Ronny in versus the Rocket's second string and out versus Yao. In to cover Deke, he drained a 16-footer over him straight away. As mentioned above, the Lakers moved Turiaf over on Howard when the Rockets were isolating against Vlad and Turiaf ended that threat. Great hustle to pull down an offensive board at the end of the half, then he drew a foul on Deke, he made both FTs. Nice block on penetration. He couldn't handle an inbounds pass and turned it over. He missed a long wing jumper. He scored 4 points on 1-2 shooting and grabbed 2 boards in 11 minutes. He also had 1 assist, 1 block and no fouls in that time.

Evans -- -- Seemed like a standard Mo Evans kind of game. He chipped in 6 points on 2-7 shooting in 17 minutes. He had 3 boards, 1 steal, and 1 assist. He attacked quickly off the floor to draw a foul on Deke, he made both FTs. Good foul on Deke under the hoop on the other end to make him shoot FTs. He played the Kobe role on one sequence as he curled off the screens and swished a baseline jumper off the inbounds pass in a two-for-one situation. He doubled Yao and stole his kickout pass.

Farmar -- -- Quiet game from Farmar. He played 16 minutes and scored 2 points on 1-4 shooting and dished 2 assists. He rose up high and knocked down a jumper from 17 feet with the shotclock low for his only hoop. He missed a pull-up three after his man beat him on the other end. He missed a pull-up three at the third quarter buzzer. He drove, drew the D and dished to Vlad for a three.

Cook -- -- In for Lamar, who had to go to the locker room just a few minutes in the game, and Cook drilled a wing three on a kickout from Luke. He forced a wing jumper over a defender and missed. He missed a corner three. Instead of cutting pas the post in the Tri, he tried to set a low pick for Bynum in the post and Battier stripped the ball off Bynum's leg. He had the ball swiped right out of his hands under the hoop. He nearly avoided a foul by leap frogging Lucas, but that was probably too athletic a manuever for him to pull off. He tracked down a long offensive board, then drained a long two standing on the three line. He drained a wing three on a long kickout from Kobe under the hoop. He fouled out late in the game as the Rockets were making their run. Cook played 23:45, taking a major chunk of the minutes that LO missed. This could be how Phil goes as he had Cook start for a portion of games last year at the PF before moving Lamar there. Phil will probably toggle minutes between him and Ronny, who can D-up a little better.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha got a couple token stints that only amounted to 53 seconds. Not enough to do much of anything.

Phil -- -- Phil called an early timeout after the Rockets jumped out to a 12-6 lead on some soft D by the Lakers. Lamar went to the locker room with the injury and Phil went to Cook to take his spot... When Yao went to the bench, Phil brought Turiaf in to save Bynum/Kwame for Yao... The Lakers finally started going at Yao a little in the second quarter with Bynum in the post... Phil was pissed at the horrible non-call on a goaltend by Yao when Luke clearly hit the backboard with the shot. Glad the refs didn't take away that Kwame putback later in the game... The Lakers went on a 13-3 run at the end of the first half. The Lakers shot 50 percent in the first half and only had 6 turnovers. They finished teh game with 16 turnovers... The Lakers came out with aggressive D to start the third. They also got the Rockets in the penalty with more than 6 minutes left in the third. Very similar aggressiveness they played with against the Spurs. The key stat of the night was the Lakers scoring 33 points off of 20 Rocket turnovers... As the Lakers pulled ahead to a huge lead, Phil went to the bench to put the game away. The team went nearly 6 minutes with only scoring a point before Phil made a move. With the lead cut to single digits, Phil called a timeout with 4 minutes remaining and put back in the starters. They struggled, played without purpose, and dodged some bullets to take the win... He was critical of the bench for not holding the lead so that we could rest our guys for the back-to-back. If you consider Cook a starter, the entire bench all had a negative in the +/- for the night... Phil had to play Kobe 43 minutes... Damn, with LO's injury and the late run by the Rockets, it's hard to enjoy that great 30-13 third quarter the Lakers put together...
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Mr. LakeShow
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 1:05 am    Post subject:

DB, do you think these 2 wins against SA and the Rockets was a big statement for the rest of the league i think if we win tonight it will ice the cake..
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flashakadrano
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 1:09 am    Post subject:

great job sasha!!!!!
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 1:11 am    Post subject:

Mr. LakeShow wrote:
DB, do you think these 2 wins against SA and the Rockets was a big statement for the rest of the league i think if we win tonight it will ice the cake..


They're statements. We're coming to play.

Just keep your fingers crossed about LO. These injuries are tough to deal with.
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RYZ
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 1:14 am    Post subject:

Thanks, DB.

Tell the truth: When (in the fourth quarter) did you start yelling at Phil to do something?

Personally, even before he took Kobe out, I was a bit unnerved when Joel was talking about getting Kobe out before the game was even in hand. Joel's funny that way isn't he: He prematurely assumes Laker victories while never missing a chance to mention that there's "still plenty of time left" as the Lakers find themsleves down by 17, on the wrong end of a 12-3 run with 6 min. remaining in the 4th.

Hard to enjoy the win indeed, but not nearly as hard as it would've been to stomach the loss.
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Mr. LakeShow
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 1:14 am    Post subject:

Well he said hes optimistic he will miss 1-2 weeks and i trust his time-table more then Phils.
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 1:29 am    Post subject:

RYZ wrote:

Tell the truth: When (in the fourth quarter) did you start yelling at Phil to do something?


I don't know. I guess I'm pretty used to seeing Phil ride that bench a little longer than most coaches in this situation.

At some point, it becomes so bad that you just sit back and observe the free fall in a zen-like trance yourself...outside of the whole thing looking back in.
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 1:31 am    Post subject:

Mr. LakeShow wrote:
Well he said hes optimistic he will miss 1-2 weeks and i trust his time-table more then Phils.


He said he didn't know, so I wouldn't put much weight in that, either. We were dodging bullets tonight...hopefully, this is another one.
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angel
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 1:38 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB!

This was a great night to have two centers. Yao was hot in the first half, but they seemed to wear him down. Drew was giving him problems. It's amazing how quickly it went South after they built up a big lead. Kobe pulled them out of the dive, but I was getting concerned for a while. Kwame is getting very good at passing and anticipating opportunities to steal. Four assists and two steals for a center in 26 minutes?

This was one I felt good just to escape with the "W".
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dino
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 1:50 am    Post subject:

hey db, thanks for the recap...

who do you think phil goes with to start in odom's place? or does he go small sometimes with luke at the 4 and evans at the 3? looking at the schedule the rest of the way, they can hopefully go 6-4...
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 2:15 am    Post subject:

Good enjoyable game tonight... until the 4th quarter. The meltdown is absolutely ridiculous.

I always loved Stu, but I actually got annoyed when he kept mentioning "Mr. Mo..." lol
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 2:47 am    Post subject:

DB - thanks for taking the time for your detailed breakdown of each Lakers game.

Re: Jordan
Do you think that the lineup he was playing with strapped him from being his usually productive play, since he is not a person that looks to score first.

Re: Cook
Do you think that he will be the replacement starter for LO, or will Vlad be that person? Though Cook provided some needed offensive punch, it was funny seeing him play defense and falling over the opposing players. If only Vlad can get his "shot" going, as Stu stated - what a team the Lakers would have??

Re: Handling Big Leads
Isn't it great that this has to learn how to handle big leads against good teams - we've come a long way, baby?!?!?! Phil will definitely address the team in maintaining its focus. Wouldn't it have been great to provide an opportunity for Kobe to rest on the front-end of "back-to-back" games?

Re: Bynum/Kwame vs. Yao
What was great was how Bynum/Kwame are quickly learning how to be effective against one of the best centers in the NBA (i.e. not always "bodying" up, maintaining good defensive position, always running/attacking, making Yao work on both ends of the court, etc.).

Re: Smush
He played a good game against Luther Head. The real test will be against elite teams with their PGs (Terry, Parker, Nash, DWade/GP/JWill, Paul, Ford, Ridenour, Iverson (whatever team he will be playing for), etc.)? At least he is not a detriment to the team and that is a positive sign. Having Jordan on the team has "motivatedis" Smush to stay focus if he wants to keep his present PT.
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 5:41 am    Post subject:

DancingBarry wrote:
RYZ wrote:

Tell the truth: When (in the fourth quarter) did you start yelling at Phil to do something?


I don't know. I guess I'm pretty used to seeing Phil ride that bench a little longer than most coaches in this situation.

At some point, it becomes so bad that you just sit back and observe the free fall in a zen-like trance yourself...outside of the whole thing looking back in.


riding the bench too long is one thing, but when the lead got down to less than ten - I started getting naseaous. but the starters were able to pull out the win. and it sucks about LO, but we'll have to adjust.
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 6:01 am    Post subject:

Great recap DB - as usual.

Please tell me Cook won't start at the 4 for us I'm hoping that Turiaf gets the nod. I could roll with Kwame/Turiaf/Luke/Kobe/Smush.

Good game from the young Lakers learning how to win on the road. Blowing a 27 point league is just PJ getting youngins some experience and realizing we gotta bring it again tonight.

LO's injury could be a blessing in disguise. People will have to step up and once they do, we will be styling when LO gets back. LO don't come back until you are 100% healthy and get well soon!!!
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 6:46 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB.

Phil is going to have some line-up challenges ahead, now that Lamar is out. I would imagine most of the scoring will be shared between Kobe and Luke, but the offense may have to mutate a bit. We'll really miss the havoc that Lamar creates via penetration, particularly since Kobe has done less of it himself thus far this season. In terms of defensive rebounding, sometimes I think the Laker bigs take Lamar's presence for granted. I'd really like to see if they'll rise to the challenge.

That being said, I'm curious as to the line-up changes and role expansion in the next few weeks. Maybe I'm a masochist, but the team (particularly Kwame and Andrew) really needs to improve their rebounding. They were going to have to learn at some point before the playoffs... maybe this will expedite the lesson plan.


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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 7:01 am    Post subject:

c'mon phil. start turiaf. lets see dirk try and dance with the predator!
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 7:03 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB. Good stuff.
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 7:16 am    Post subject:

Good stuff as always, DB.

I told my wife last night after the game, "That was the most lopsided 8-point victory I've ever seen." The Lakers truly demolished that Houston team, and that was without Lamar (and, granted, them without McGrady). The fact that there was a lapse in the 4th along with what I thought was a tactical error by Phil in subbing too early, doesn't change the fact that was a good old fashioned ass whoopin from about 2:30 left in the 2nd quarter up until the halfway point of the 4th.
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 7:22 am    Post subject:

Thanks as always, DB. Hopefully, we'll dodge a bullet in regards to LO's injury. Honestly, I thought Phil should have called a TO when the run was at 15-1. I'm glad that we escaped with the W. Padgett at the line for two for a chance to tie the game. I thought we did a good job of helping on Yao. It appeared that Yao didn't have a good idea as to where the help was coming from in that third quarter. I thought our passing in that third quarter was excellent. I especially liked how Kwame was passing from the post, hitting cutters to the hoop. I'm hoping that we can play .500 ball with LO out, but maybe I'm being optimistic. This is the time for our depth to step up and play well. I agree that we're ready to play when we play the better teams. The only unfortunate thing with LO's injury is that we're getting ready to go on our first long road trip next week.
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B_Rabbit1212
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 7:46 am    Post subject:

DB:

Do you get the impression that if Lamar was still around that the lead wouldn't have collapsed like that? I certainly came away with that. I think he would have been in the ENTIRE fourth, and he would have done a better job setting the table and being a more consistent scoring force, and I don't think we would have been outscored 26-1.

My only realistic complaint in this game: I think Phil did a poor job with the subs in the 4th. I think he took Kobe out a little too early, and left us without a real scoring threat out there. Also, we're getting torched defensively, so what do we do? PUT IN SASHA AND COOK! That'll solve it!

Gotta give it up to John Lucas and Luther Head though. They were simply unconscious in the 4th.

As for the injury: well that's the news of the game. Not the win, not the near loss, but the MCL of Lamar Odom. Hopefully this isn't a month-er, and get him back by Christmas. It was just so bizarre. I didn't look that bad, and he ran on it for another minute or so. Strange, strange injury.

Keep ya head up LO!

Man that 3rd quarter was a thing of beauty. We HAVE to carry that into Dallas tonight.
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Terry_Teagle
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 8:07 am    Post subject:

That was a good game, except for the end of the fourth. I am not concerned, for the simple fact that it was just a case of scrubs playing loose during garbage time, making shots that they usually wouldn't. As you can see once the game was on the line and the presure was on, they just could not handle it. Went back to playing like the scrubs they are. It did not help that our third team did not score any points. Happy to get the win though, I was getting pretty upset seeing that lead disappear though. Did you all notice when the game was on the line at the end, nobody wanted the ball? Just kept passing it to Kobe. Like old times.

As far as T-Mac being out, we shouldn't even mention it. His absence is a factor, but we should all be used to it by now. This is why the Rockets will continue to be "pretenders".
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 8:24 am    Post subject:

This was a very good win on the road for this team.

Two things stood out to me:

1) The defense in the 3rd quarter seemed to carry over from their performance against the Spurs. The creation of turnovers led to easy buckets; and,

2) Luke Walton. His performance last night was the definition of someone stepping up when needed. I particularly enjoyed how physical he played in the offensive post. After he experienced initial success in that area, he declined to float back out to the perimeter. Instead, he stayed in the paint and worked over his defenders some more.

I believe that he will continue to play well with us being short-handed the next few weeks.
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 8:33 am    Post subject:

Terry_Teagle wrote:
As far as T-Mac being out, we shouldn't even mention it. His absence is a factor, but we should all be used to it by now. This is why the Rockets will continue to be "pretenders".


Concur 100%.

You can pretty much write it down at the beginning of the season that McGrady will miss 8-12 games with various ailments.

And when he returns "healthy," you can bet that Yao will fall out for another 8-12 games.
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magic_bryant
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 9:00 am    Post subject:

DancingBarry wrote:
RYZ wrote:

Tell the truth: When (in the fourth quarter) did you start yelling at Phil to do something?


I don't know. I guess I'm pretty used to seeing Phil ride that bench a little longer than most coaches in this situation.

At some point, it becomes so bad that you just sit back and observe the free fall in a zen-like trance yourself...outside of the whole thing looking back in.


Same here. I was surprised that Phil even put the starters back into the game. I was expecting him to just let the young guys ride it out, win or lose.
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hoopschick29
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2006 9:17 am    Post subject:

I think that near total collapse might work out for us tonight. That third quarter and first minutes of the 4th were way too easy. They needed to be reminded that you can't take anything for granted as a road team, and you better believe those last 5 minutes will be pushing them tonight.
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