LAKERS -at- KNICKS - 1/30 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

[DancingBarry]

What Are You Gonna Do?... You're already reeling from losing starters Luke Walton and Kwame Brown and the league takes Kobe out of our starting lineup on a dubious punitive action from the previous Spurs game. The Lakers had an up-and-down battle with the Knicks to start this long roadtrip and lost 99-94.

LO and Vlad Rad gave the Lakers a little scoring punch, but nothing came easy. We had an tangible lack of playmaking and strength in this game, which our sidelined trio would have filled. The fans at MSG (many Laker faithful representing) boo'd the announcement that Kobe wasn't playing.

Honestly, this is a hard game to try to commentate on in any depth. All you can do is move on. Bounce back with your star player in the next game. This is the first time the Lakers lost three games in a row this season.


Lamar -- -- LO tried to crank up the production a bit tonight with No. 24 out for a game. His perimeter shot was off a little early, but he started to hit a few later, but unfortunately he was rebounding went the opposite direction -- he was good early, but Lamar had just one rebound in the second half. The Lakers played him at both PF and SF once again. We even got to see LO work the high wing screen-roll a bit that Kobe usually does (when Kobe comes back, I still want to see LO run that a couple of times). He finished with a team-high 25 points on 9-20 shooting (3-8 from three, 4-5 from the line), he pulled down 9 boards and dished a team-high 6 assists without a turnover in 42 minutes. He missed a three on his first attempt. He missed a stepback jumper. He posted up Jeffries and quickly drew a foul. He attacked off the dribble and missed a layup. He had a runner goaltended (looked short). He drew FTs and made both. He missed another jumper. He posted up to start the second quarter and hit a jumphook in the lane. He scored on a tip in after a nice offensive board from Mo. He missed a wing jumper. He hit a top-of-the-key jumper flashing from the weakside. He missed a jumphook on the baseline. He drained a wing three off the dribble with the shotclock low. He missed a running three at the buzzer. He had 13 points on 5-12 shooting and 8 boards in the first half. He sank an open wing three on a drive and kick from Sasha. He finished an easy And-1 layup on the break, he missed the FT. He missed an easy layup with his strong hand. He whipped a quick pass from the top of the key to an open Vlad for a dunk. He missed a three. He attacked off the Turiaf screen, got hit in the head for FTs and made both. He left before the Turiaf screen came on his next attack and scored a layup over Curry. He drained a big three from the wing with 2 minutes left. He attacked off the dribble and kicked it to Vlad for a three with 46 seconds left. He missed a three on our last attempt.

Bynum -- -- Bynum didn't look ready for Curry's size and strength early on and got on his heels a bit. He was plagued with foul issues, some relating to Curry...some trying to prevent easy hoops on help D. He played just 23 minutes and scored 9 points on 4-9 shooting and pulled down just 4 boards. He knocked a ball from Curry, forced a miss, got out-muscled for a score, then rejected Curry on the first few defensive sequences. Curry backed Bynum down midway through the first and drew a foul. Bynum drew a foul working the post and made one FT. Bynum dunked in a miss by Smush. He picked up his second foul late in the third when Vlad didn't rotate to Frye and he attacked the paint. On the other end, Bynum missed a left handed hook. The Knicks then went back into the post (single coverage) and Curry picked up Bynum's third foul in the first quarter (Phil should have taken him out or sent the double, neither happened). To start the second half, he cut weak to strong off a low screen by Vlad and he scored off the glass (great Tri execution, love seeing him get the ball like that). He posted up Curry, tried to go up and under then hit a jumphook from about 6 feet with his left (very nice...he wasn't shy about using the left tonight). He was blocked by Jeffries (looked like all arm, though). He missed a jumphook over Curry, but Vlad tipped it in. Good D on Curry, holding ground, then contesting at the last second. He held ground again and Curry was called for three seconds. He picked up his fourth foul with a few minutes left in the third, he sat and the Knicks then went on a run. He took a pass from Cook, turned and hit a short jumphook. He picked up his fifth foul early in the fourth when LO couldn't pull down a board and Bynum fouled to prevent a score.

Smush -- -- Smush had one of those flurries to start the game, then went stone cold for its remainder. We missed a true point/playmaker type tonight with Kobe and Luke out. Smush scored 14 points on 5-14 shooting (3-7 from three) to go with 3 assists and 2 turnovers. It was a tale of two games for Smush. He attacked the lane and finger rolled in a layup. He hit a three straight away on his next attempt. He rattled in a corner three on his third attempt. On his fourth attempt, he hit a wing jumper. He drew a foul on a jumper and made one FT, scoring the Lakers first 11 points. He missed a couple of layup attempts. He missed a fading jumper at the first quarter buzzer. He missed a three. He found Vlad under the hoop for a layup. Great job using that long reach of his slap the ball from Marbury who was driving across the lane. He missed a layup. He attacked and hit Turiaf for a dunk. He missed an open three, short. After making his first four shots, he missed his next seven and finished the half 4-11 for 11 points. He went 1-3 in the second half with 3 points. He sank an open wing three for his one make. He missed an early pull-up three and Phil then sat him after a timeout (the coaches made a point of trying to work the ball around and make the extra pass, so that shot looked like it ticked Phil a little). He came in with 4 minutes left and immediately missed a wing jumper on one possession, then fumbled a handoff out of bounds on another. He pressured Crawford to run out of bounds with the ball expecting a foul.

Radmanovic -- 8) -- If it wasn't for some of the turnover problems early on, Vlad put together a pretty good outing. He even had another clutch three for the team. His forays into the lane off the dribble tonight were is biggest problem on the offensive end. He scored 18 points on 8-14 shooting (2-3 from three), he had 9 boards (4 offensive), 2 assists, 2 steals and the 5 turnovers. He missed a FT jumper. He dribbled a ball off his foot and was stripped on another on two attacks. He was blocked on a layup (looked like the ball just started heading down, but close play). He scored a layup off a feed from Smush. He fumbled a pass away, looking before securing the ball. He tipped in a Smush missed layup coming behind Rose. He nearly had another tip in using his length. Nice job stealing the Sasha/Jeffries jumpball. He knocked down an open baseline jumper on the break. He missed an easy layup with his left. He putback in a missed hook by Bynum. He was called for a charge, attacking off the dribble (looked like Jeffries went down before contact even came). He somehow gathered in a tough pass from Smush in transition then hit Lamar trailing the play for an And-1. Left alone under the hoop, LO spotted him and Vlad dunked. He hit a jumphook with his left in the lane. He drained a wing three, but then got backdoored kind of going through the motions defensively. He gave up an And-1 offensive board to Jeffries. Big three by Vlad after LO collapsed the D and kicked it to Vlad in the corner with 46 seconds. We should have got him another look down the stretch, but it didn't happen.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha only managed to give the Lakers 2 points in place of Kobe on 1-4 shooting. His two were nice, the team-high 3 steals was better. He played 23:38 and never seemed to get into a good flow offensively. It also looked like the Lakers ran a couple of plays for him out of a timeout, but he couldn't convert. He missed a wing jumper. Good D at the end of the first to deflect a pass off a player and also challenge on the perimeter to force a shotclock violation. Nice drive and kick to LO for the three. He picked off a pass by Curry. Strong attack to his left and he flipped it in for a score.

Turiaf -- -- Extremely difficult match up for Turiaf again against a bigger, stronger post player. With Bynum in foul trouble, we needed Ronny to scrap and keep us afloat against Curry when the two matched up. It was a mixed result, but you can't fault the effort. He scored 7 points on 3-4 shooting (1-4 from the line, ugggh) and 5 boards (but only 1 defensive). He had 2 blocks, 3 turnovers and 1 steal in 24 minutes. He passed up an open elbow jumper that forced Mo into a tough shot. Nice strip on Curry as he turned to go up. He swished an open 17 footer from the wing. He dunked off a drive and dish from Smush. Sweet rejection on Curry from behind that sent Curry to the floor and ignited a Laker break. He drew FTs on a post up and missed both. He timed a missed shot nicely and tipped it in. He drew more FTs on a dunk attempt and made one. He couldn't pull down a FT miss, then gave up a layup to Curry shortly later. He rotated to the baseline to draw a charge on a nice bit of help D.

Evans -- -- Just some very poor running of the offense at times. He looked lost on several sequences. He had gone two games without hitting a perimeter shot, and finally, he got a couple to drop tonight. Still, he struggled with his efficiency, scoring 10 points on 4-12 shooting in 27 minutes. On the good side, he showed some nice effort trying to D-up against Marbury. he's covered a few PGs for us semi decently this season. It's a nice change of pace and we ought to do it just a hair more when we can. He hit a pull-up wing jumper on his first attempt. He airballed on his next attempt when he was challenged well. He posted up Crawford, backed him down easily and hit a turnaround over the top of him. He fouled Crawford shooting a three and gave up three FTs. He posted up Crawford and missed, but Cook tipped it in. He posted him up again and drew FTs, making both. He attacked Marbury off the dribble, missed, got it back and powered in a score. Good D staying tight on Marbury and forcing him to lose the ball and Farmar snagged it. He hit a pull-up J in the lane over Marbury. He got tapped on a huge three out of a timeout in the last minute -- probably the biggest miss of the game as that would have brought the Knicks lead to just one point.

Farmar -- -- Too little playmaking from Farmar tonight. With Kobe out, we could have used someone to run a little more of the wing pick and roll to get the D to collapse. Never happened from our points. A couple of good hustle plays, which is what you want to see from everyone. Just when Farmar seemed to be giving the Lakers a spark, he got pulled by Phil in the fourth. He finished with 3 points on 1-2 shooting and 1 assist in 18:49 of action. He threw a ball away trying to give Cook a behind-the-back return feed. Nice dive for a loose ball to secure a possession. He missed a good look at a baseline jumper. Marbury hit a big three midway through the fourth over Evans and Farmar answered back with a three for his first score on the other end (that Marbury shot needed an answer). Nice hustle again, diving to the floor and calling timeout after getting the loose ball.

Cook -- -- He was cold off the bench early. Sure could have used him stroking it from three tonight, but he went 1-4 from beyond the arc and 2-6 overall for 6 points, 2 boards and 2 assists in 13:36. He missed a jumper from the top of the key and badly bricked a wing three. He missed another three. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, making one. He tipped in a miss by Mo who posted up a smaller man. He attacked, then fed Bynum for a score in the lane. He popped out to the wing and hit a three. He got blocked on a sideline three attempt in the last seconds of the game.

Shammond -- -- Brief stint with a few seconds left in the third to match up with the Knicks guards. Quality 6 seconds.

Phil -- -- Bynum picked up two fouls late in the first. Phil kept him in against Curry instead of subbing him out and the Knicks made them pay the price, drawing Bynum's third on the next sequence. Not sure why he left him in or why he didn't send the double team at that point. Uggh... The Lakers shot 37 percent in the first half and trailed by just 2 points. They improved their percentage to 43.5 percent for the game, but the Knicks shot 49 percent and beat us on the boards by 15 rebounds... The Lakers missed three attempts from beyond the arc to close out the game...

KCAL -- -- What the hell? Their regular Ch. 9 broadcast sucked tonight. Bad background sound for a long time to start the game and then some fuzzy camera coverage for a stretch later. Yeesh. How can you muck up a game at the Garden like that for those not set up with HD? I've been stalling on the HD set up for a reason right now, but if it's going to be like this for regular viewing they're going to force my hand a little early. Arggh. Props, though, for going to the HD. Can't wait to see it...

[SweetP]

Thanks for the recap.

Too pissed off to watch the game.

Wish the team could have pulled out the win.

Hope Kobe comes back with a vengence, hope the rest of the guys catch fire too.
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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

[PLATNUM]

This is the type of game where players step up and play with a big chip on their shoulder in support of a downed teammate. Sadly, a lot these guys lack the mental and testicular fortitude to do so.
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"Dread it, run from it... destiny arrives all the same."

[melo061]

The game was painful.

DB, there was a certain play where IIRC evans had the ball and odom came right next to him and Evans had to point out to odom where to go. I could not believe that. I was asking myself what offense were we running. The triangle looked stagnant pretty much all night.
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Perfect music.

[DancingBarry]

^ They were both running into each other on a couple of plays. I don't recall the specific one you mention above, but MO was definitely getting lost on multiple sequences.

[DancingBarry]

[melo061]

I was talking about in the gamethread. The execution was completely whack. It just seems as if this team just randomly comes out and decides it dont' want to execute properly.

The denver game was only a couple of weeks ago...
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Perfect music.

[anilanne]

Hey DB great recap,

As far as the quality of KCAL 9 being bad for you, I have some more unfortunate news as if this day wasn't gonna be any worse. KCAL 9 was in HD today on channel 9.1, and it looked stunning. They even introduced a new graphic for the scoreboard, and some commercials were in HD too. The sound was awesome as my speakers were booming the whole game. Unfortunately, the lakers forgot to show up tonight. But nevertheless, the Boston game tommorow might be in HD too so go and grab a ATI HDTV Wonder for your pc rig and enjoy the game tommorow. If that isn't an option you could also try an OTA antenna to get the channel. I look forward to your recap tommorow, and a great win in glorious HD.

Thanks

[ElginBaylor]

DB: Love your reports when I can't watch the game (still don't know why they don't regularly broadcast Laker games in Indiana).

1. Is it me or does it seem like we get more production from Vald Rad when he starts?

2. Quality 6 seconds from Williams . Wish I could have seen that.
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Not a legend

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

[The_Coach]

Just a few notes from a birds-eye view ... my entire family (eight of us) went to the game JUST to see Kobe in his once-a-year visit to New York.

(a side note first ... I called the NBA office and actually got through to Stern's office ... spoke with Sarah, his secretary, who was none-too-pleased once she realized why I called. I got my two cents worth in ... for what THAT was worth)

The whole team ... unfortunately Lamar included ... came out VERY flat. In fact, both teams did. We all thought the game looked almost in slow motion until halfway through the second quarter.

Random thoughts: Whenever the ball did not start in Odom's hands ... and for that matter whenever he was not handling it DURING the possession ... we had virtually ZERO playmaking with the possible exception of Farmar. Smush just IS NOT A POINT OR EVEN A SEMI_DECENT FACILITATOR.

Speaking of Smush. You can see it in his body language ... where his head and eyes are looking ... and in the way his teammates react or don't react to him ... he is ALWAYS looking to shoot first ... shoot second ... shoot third ... and then possible give up the ball once they trap him. When Phil pulled Farmar in the fourth for Smush there were a number of Laker fans who screamed NO!!! (myself included) Smush's play in the fourth truly cost us any chance to win. The worst was not just the turnovers (I don't care what the box score says, he caused TWO turnovers int eh fourth alone) but the way he visibly deflated his teammates with his play.

Phil. I love Phil and NEVER criticize him but ... Odom came out in the fourth looking like a man possessed by the spirit of Kobe. His body language and the way he demanded the ball and the way he played defense all made it look like he was ready to take the game over in the fourth. Then .. without any apparent reason ... Phil pulls Odom out and sends Vlad in with only 3 minutes gone in the fourth. Odom doesn't return until less than 5 minutes left. I realize we closed the gap by 4 while he was out but you could FEEL the need for him to be in the game. Maybe he really needed the rest as he had played all but 3 minutes up til then but ... the time get him his rest was NOT crunch time.

Speaking of Odom. He looked 100% better last night than in the last couple of games. His quickness is almost there ... ball handling was great ... just waiting for his shooting touch to return.

Someone has GOT to work with Turiaf on his free throws. He looks HORRIBLE up there. Flat ... no spin ... too quick. Jesus ... this is basketball 101!!

I don't care if Evans had a so-so game last night. The man is ATHLETIC!!!! He brought a HUGE cheer from Laker AND Knick fans with one of his moves that looked absolutely Kobe-like ... except it did not go in. Should have started for Kobe. AND he needs more minutes. The man has game.

The first few fouls on Bynum were BULL. Touch fouls all the way. Maybe Bynum can't guard Curry but Curry can't guard Bynum either. If he stays in the game for 35 minutes ... we win.

I LOVE Turiaf. He's NOT a center.

Vlad looked GREAT ... much better than the box score despite the turnovers. Last night he was crashing the boards ... fighting on defense ... moving all the time on offense. PLEASE keep it up!!

I have defended Sasha FOREVER. I'm about to give up on him.

Finally ... the Lakers got a HUGE amount of LOVE at the Garden last night. It sounded and felt like HALF the fans there were cheering for the Lakers. Lots of PnG everywhere. In our section alone there were four Laker fansd to our immediate right ... two more to our immediate left ... and a whole row two in front of us. Toward the end ... Curry was on the line ... and the booing was DEAFENING. And when we closed the gap in the fourth ... the cheering was as loud as anything the Knicks got. Gotta make the home team feel crappy. Had to have given our Lakers a HUGE Boost

[wolfpaclaker]

My only issue with this game is why only Odom elevated his game. I don't understand why Smush Parker gets so many shots and plays ... there are guys like Mo Evans, Vlad Rad and Drew all of whom are better percentage scorers .. yet we saw Smush take lots of questionable shots after that good start.

It's a bit mind boggling why Smush thinks he's the 1st option. While Andrew was in FT all game, I don't think Eddy Curry could defend him. Mo Evans isn't exactly a skilled player but his athleticism and strength advantage should have warranted more post play. The 2 man games with Rad were almost non-existant. Those 2 man games could be very effective as Rad can both spot up or roll inside .. unlike Cook (who just spots up).

I just don't like the fact that Smush feels he can take that many shots. We need a PG thta will understand with Kobe out ... we need another creator. Not a guy just looking for his own shot.

Not a Smush hater ... but this defined his game. He's me, myself and I. The more I watch his me first game, the less I want him starting. He should be a bench player on a very good team and well the Lakers are just not going to a very good team if he's their starting PG.

[8750]

Thanks, DB...
i wouldn't be happy having smush&sasha in our team here in milan, italy... thinking that yesterday they were in the starting five of the los angeles lakers is really embarassing...
in these years we chose -sometimes rigidly- only players able to fit the triangle: and now we have as pg a player who evidently has nothing to do with the triple post offense... go figure why...
role players, you say... true... the problem is that we have bad role players... we don't have a real playmaker, nor a defensive pg... we don't have a blocker... we don't have a reliable outside shooter (ok, rad)... we have kwame and smush and sasha and cook, who sometimes -unconstantly- play ten great minutes... walton is a good role player, and ronny and evans... but it's more and more evident that we desperately need a real pg...

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks DB. I found it strange that Kobe was suspended. The play did look awkward, but not intentional.

I think that Vlad Rad is finding his niche on this team - as his second clutch three seems to indicate. He knew we needed it and he delivered. I believe that if Bynum keeps starting at center we could get away with an LO/Vlad front line given today's NBA rules.

[wolfpaclaker]

[Aloha]

Thanks for the recap;

I was thinking during the game (losing from the beginning), wow Mihm, Brown, Walton, Kobe(Hotel), - are really our streetclothed starters with ODOM (Just finally wearing a jersey)...

Come back we miss you...
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[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

i knew we were gonna lose midway through the 3rd. right after we hit back to back 3's and then gave up an easy layup to steph. we settled for 3's(like always) they attacked the paint. its as simple as that.
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"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[LakerLanny]

It was nice to see Sasha come through with a big effort starting in place of Kobe.

2 pts and 1 assist in 25 minutes of action against some of the biggest matadors in the league.

Nice job Sasha, what a great pick he was.
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Love, Laker Lanny

[karlmalonefan]

Yeah, Mo should have started instead of Kobe. We needed his offense and Sasha wasn't even looking for his shot. He would have been great against either Crawford or Starbury for more of the game. I knew we were going to lose for sure in the fourth when we couldn't stop anybody from scoring, and when we finally did, we didn't score ourselves. Way too many missed freethrows (again), second chance points/offensive boards for NY (again) and too many unforced turnovers. LO was trying out there, but the Knicks knew he was the only one they needed to guard to get the win.
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[Laker7]