LAKERS -at- TWOLVES - 2/13 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

7-2 Road Trip... The Lakers finished off their franchise-record-long road trip in style, crushing the TWolves 117-92.

This looked to be one of the easier games on the schedule, especially with the TWolves up late the previous night. Behind Kobe, Pau and a triple-double from Lamar, they cruised from the opening tip.

Lamar's 10 points, 10 assists and 16 boards were the result of an active and engaged effort. He did a great job of collapsing the D and not settling. Gasol was again efficient and occasionally disruptive on the defensive end.

The Lakers left on this road trip with the hope of staying afloat in the West. A trade later, they return home with a head of steam and an All Star 7-footer.


Kobe -- -- Kobe supposedly re-injured his finger sometime in the first half, but it didn't seem to affect anything. That might put a chill on his All Star game. Asked if he noticed any drop off in Kobe's game, Phil answered "Yes, in the fourth quarter." Kobe watched from the bench for the fourth quarter of garbage time as we had a massive lead. Another great game from Kobe, which included some highlight moves, active sequences on D and even a 4-point play. The Stats: He scored 29 points on 7-18 shooting (2-7 from three, 13-13 from the line...he's smoking from there) to go with 5 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 35 minutes. The Action: He hit Gasol with an entry pass over the fronting defender for a score. He missed a three. He drew two early fouls and a tech on Jaric posting up. He deflected a pass off his man. He set up with his back to the basket at the wing, called over Gasol to set a screen, then went behind his back to Pau for the baseline jumper. He called his own number, posted up and hit the And-1 in the lane, he made the FT. He missed a wing jumper, short. He was bumped out of bounds on the sideline for FTs, he made both. He swiped an inbounds pass and missed a tough heave from three at the first quarter buzzer. He missed a long wing jumper. He missed a layup, then picked up a tech yelling at the ref for the no-call. He missed a wing jumper. He drew FTs on a pull-up jumper, he made both. He hit a wing jumper and got hit on the shot, he made the FT. He iso'd on Buckner, spun to lose him and then flipped in the And-1 layup. He dunked when Luke swiped the ball from his man and fed Kobe down court. He was blocked, forcing the shot into traffic. He drew FTs getting held on the break (he's scored 12 of the Lakers last 13 at this point). He missed a three on the break, got it back, threw a pass off Jefferson, got it back and fed Pau for FTs. He had 17 points at the half. He bricked on the swing-through move when he didn't draw the foul. He drained a 30-footer with 5 on the shotclock. He hit Gasol on the slip screen for a dunk. He pulled up and hit an And-1 three on Telfair, he made the FT (4-point play). He missed a three on his next attempt. He drew FTs posting up the smaller Telfair, he made both. He left Brewer going one way as Kobe went the other off the cross-over, he then scored the And-1 layup and made the FT (he had the crowd buzzing on that one). He had 29 points after three quarters.

Gasol -- -- Another effecient, effective game, picking apart the opponet and taking what the D gives him. He no longer has to create or force shots to try to lift his team. The triangle and the talent around him make for some fun ball to watch. Pau on playing with Lamar and Kobe: "It takes a lot of pressure off my game and saves me a lot of energy," he said. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 9-11 shooting to go with 9 boards, 3 blocks, 2 steals, 3 turnovers and no fouls in 28 minutes. The Action: He took the entry over a fronting defender in the post and banked easily over a helping guard to start the game (a key on that play is DFish going to set a screen on the weakside, this confuses the D to make a decision on how to help). He missed a jumphook. He sank a short baseline jumper off the two-man game with Kobe. He drained another good look from the baseline off the drive and kick from Lamar. After a timeout from the TWolves off that score, they tried to iso Jefferson against Gasol, Jefferson drop stepped and Gasol swatted him to ignite the break. He missed a wing jumper on the pick and pop. Same play from Jefferson again and it was another TWolves turnover. He dunked a high-low lob from Lamar. Jefferson scored on him and Gasol went back at him in the post on the other end, hitting with his left. He swatted Jefferson's post attempt again. Jefferson dunked on him on another. After a looong rest, he came back in with 2 minutes left in the second quarter. He airballed a FT, then made the next (must have gotten real cold on the bench). He had 11 points at the half. He swung through and hit the 7-footer in the lane. He dunked off the slip screen after Kobe hit him. He no-looked to LO who missed the layup. He faced up, took two dribbles to his left and powered in the layup. He rejected Foye on help D. He caught a pass from Fish on the secondary break and quickly put it up and in for a score. He had his 19 points on 9-11 shooting after three quarters.

Lamar -- -- Good road trip by Lamar and he capped it off with the elusive triple-double. "We're starting to click," he said. "Pau came at the perfect time." He described Pau's fit for the team as a "perfect pick up." They are running some screen-rolls with him and Gasol. This is the kind of thing that helps keep Lamar active. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-8 shooting (1-1 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 16 boards (5 offensive), 10 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 35 minutes. The Action: He dunked when Vlad fed him on the bustout. He attacked the lane and kicked out to Gasol for the baseline jumper. Great look on the high-low to Gasol for the oop. He pulled up from 21 feet and hit a jumper from the wing. He missed a layup off the lob, (he should have come down with it). He drew the D and kicked to Sasha for a three at the end of the first. He missed a long jumper short going up against the shotclock. He tipped in a missed layup by Fish. He stole the ball and ignited the break. He drew FTs pushing out the break again, he made one. He missed a layup off a no-look touch pass from Gasol. He missed a jumphook, got it back and fed Vlad for the dunk. He attacked on the dribble and kicked to Vlad for three. He hit Fish for a three on the next trip down. He grabbed an offensive board, pulled it back out, ball faked and hit the three at the end of the third. He had 10 points, 13 boards and 9 assists after three quarters. It looked like they knew LO's situation because he was feeding people early and often to start the fourth. He got caught in the air and threw the ball away. After multiple attempts to set up others, he finally got the triple-double, grabbing a board and outletting to Sasha for the break away score. Phil then sat him for the rest of the fourth. Excellent game.

Fisher -- -- It looked like he got on track late in the game with his shot. He missed a few layups in this one, which didn't help his numbers. Defensively, there were never any issues with the TWolves. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 4-11 shooting (2-4 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 25 minutes. The Action: He missed a tech FT. He missed an open three. Great effort to save a bad pass back in bounds to Lamar and it led to a score. He pushed out the break and hit Vlad for the layup. He bullied Telfair from the three line into the paint like a mini-Barkley and drew a foul, he made both FTs. Bad idea not waiting for the kickout from Kobe, he cut to him, was crowded by his man and still forced up a jumper and missed badly. He missed a layup badly down the middle of the lane. He swished an open wing three on the break. He stole a pass at midcourt, attacked the lane and missed a layup with his strong hand (Lamar tipped it in, but Fish should have finished that). He dropped a ball out of bounds. He hit a long sideline jumper with a toe on the three line. He swished a 19-footer, pulling up on the break. He pulled down an offensive board, then bricked the layup. He missed a wing jumper. He sank a corner three off the swing pass from Lamar. He missed an open three off some great ball movement. He hit Pau on the secondary break for a layup.

Radmanovic -- -- Pretty good game on both ends again from Vlad. He's been jumping the passing lanes well in the past few games, using that length of his to get to the ball. I like it. Keep that up. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-6 shooting (1-3 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 19 minutes. The Action: He took an offensive board away from Brewer easily and scored the layup. He jumped the passing lane to steal the ball, pushed out and fed LO for the dunk. He missed an open three. He got out on the break, filled the lane and scored around a guard. He got tapped on a three. He dunked off the feed from Lamar. He swished a sideline three of the Lamar drive and kick. He curled around Gasol off the handoff, attacked, switched hands and drew FTs, he made both.

Luke -- -- While he didn't score but a point, he had a few nice passes and some more solid D. His jumper was a miss waiting to happen. The Stats: He scored 1 points on 0-3 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 21 minutes. The Action: Great D picking Walker off the dribble and it led to an uncontested dunk for Kobe. Nice read, cutting when Ronny was working the two-man game, Luke took a pass from Ronny and drew FTs, he made one. He posted up, drew the D and fed Ronny who hit the jumphook. He stripped Jefferson on help D, pushed it up and hit Fish for the three. He missed a good look at a bank. He missed a long jumper, fading to his left a little. He clanked an open wing jumper.

Turiaf -- -- Some longer run for Ronny, which is good to see. Jefferson had an 11-point first quarter, but had just 2 points in the second quarter as Ronny covered him for a stretch. Shutting the lid on that helped the team get some distance from the TWolves. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-9 shooting, had 3 boards, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 20 minutes. The Action: He settled for a jumper instead of attacking a wide open lane and he missed. He dunked when Sasha drew the D and found Ronny all alone under the hoop. He got hit by Walker in the post and went down after drawing the offensive foul. He missed an easy look at a 5-footer in the lane. He swatted Smith from behind. He blew an easy one that Sasha set up for him again. Good D on the other end holding ground and forcing Jefferson into a travel. Nice interior feed to Luke cutting baseline for FTs. He erased the drive by Jaric on help D with a nice swat that ignited the break. He hit a jumphook in the lane off a feed by Luke. He nearly tore down the basket on a dunk off Sasha's feed. He missed an 18-footer. He missed a wing jumper. He scored a layup on the lob from Karl. He dribbled a sure score off his foot.

Vujacic -- -- We'll bring out the tomato for this game. Sasha might have gone for 20 points, but he actually got to sit on the bench and watch some garbage time for half of the fourth. Sasha led the bench in scoring and despite all the double figures from multiple players, he was the Lakers third best scorer of the night. He also had a couple nice attacks off the dribble to set up Ronny in this game. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 7-12 shooting (1-4 from three, 0-1 from the line), he pulled down 4 boards, 2 assists and 2 fouls in 19 minutes. The Action: He missed a short, wide open wing jumper that he should have banked. He sank another wide open jumper from the wing on his next touch. He swished an open three off the kickout from Lamar at the end of the first. He had a Kobe miss bounce off a player right to him and he scored the layup. Aggressive attack off the dribble, he drew the D, then whipped it to Ronny under the hoop for a dunk (very nice, he usually kicks out to the corner from those). He missed a three, forcing it. Looked like he had a good block on Smith under the hoop but he was called for the foul. He took the outlet, attacked Walker on the break, drew the whistle and flipped the ball up over his head with his left and it went in, he missed the FT. He missed a jumper to start the fourth. He pulled up in transition and drained the jumper. He bricked a three badly trying to get LO an assist. He hit Ronny with a bounce pass for a dunk. He took the outlet from Lamar and scored a layup. Farmar went behind his back to Sasha and he scored over Green with his left.

Farmar -- -- Average outing from Farmar. He wasn't vital to our success in this game during those early fourth quarter minutes as we had a huge lead. He did stay away from the heavy three-ball oriented play that he indulged in at times on the road trip. I'm hoping one of these days he'll learn how to draw the charge like DFish does. He needs to do that to compensate for his lack of strength and turn his speed into his advantage. Unfortunately, he hasn't figured that out yet. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-7 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and no fouls in 23 minutes. The Action: He swished an 8-footer, cutting off Kobe. He attacked the lane and hit a runner over a taller man. He attacked with speed and missed the layup. He missed an open three. He missed an 18-footer. He threw a pass away trying to thread the needle. He stole a pass in the backcourt and fed Sasha behind his back for the score. He missed a three. He scored a reverse off a quick pass from Karl. He lobbed to Karl on the backdoor cut for a throwdown.

Karl -- -- He came in early in the fourth with the Lakers up huge. He couldn't connect on any of four threes he took in that time, but did score off an oop. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-5 shooting (0-4 from three) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 block and no fouls in 7 minutes. The Action: Bad decision to hit Mbenga at the FT line in transition...turnover Mbenga. He missed a three. He missed a three, got it back and lobbed to Ronny for the score. He was fouled on a lob attempt. He missed a three. Quick pass in transition to Farmar for the reverse. He swatted Brewer's jumper attempt. He missed another three attempt. He cut back door and dunked the lob from Farmar.

Mbenga -- -- He came in for Gasol to run next to Ronny in the early second quarter and was back in late. Decent minutes from him, which allowed Ronny to go at PF for some extended time. Hopefully, Phil does that a little more. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-3 shooting to go with 2 boards, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 8 minutes. The Action: He kept an offensive board alive and reset the offense, he then swished a 13-footer from the right side. He missed a 9-footer on his next trip down. He posted up, pounded the dribble and hit the line-drive jumphook.

Phil -- -- Phil said he would be happy with a 5-4 road trip. This was prior to the Gasol trade, even though he knew it might come down. The mindset has changed with the trade. The 7-2 was good, but most of the guys were talking about the two that got away... The Lakers started off working the ball to Gasol and pulled out to a quick double-digit lead. As soon as they want away from that the TWolves came back. The Lakers closed the quarter stronger and led 30-21 after the first... Phil ran Ronny for a long stint in the second quarter. We built up a 14-point lead before Phil brought Gasol back in with 2 minutes left in the half. (Good stint of D by Ronny)... Strong first half on both ends and the Lakers led 60-44. The Lakers shot 47 percent to the TWolves 38 percent. They had an 18-5 advantage on points off turnovers... The coaches wanted the team to put the TWolves away, which has been a problem. We crushed them to start the third quarter and had a 16-2 run midway through. We led 99-68 off the 39-point beatdown in the third... Garbage time after LO was allowed to get his triple-double... Phil on what his team should do over the break: "Get as much rest as possible. Don't go skiing in the interim and come back ready to play."...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Kobe was a ridiculous +37.

[Teamof2000]

Thanks DB! Fun game.

[frenzy]

it was a good game from all players
if coby karl scores then u know it was going good

[VujacicFan]

I love it!

[yanyon]

as stu lantz would say.... nooooiiiiiiiicccccceeeee

[George W Buss]

[tlim]

Good game. And *still* after this good run, we're *still* 5th. We barely moved at all in the standings.

[japanesebeef1]

Another day of Christmas! Thanks DB. I never miss your recaps!

[wh03lse]

pretty much seemed effortless on the lakers part... good game
sasha is coming up big time again....dare i say consistent?

[ocho]

DB:

if a month ago i told you "hey DB. in a month we'll have Pau Gasol, we'll go 7-2 on our longest road trip in history and set an NBA record in the process...and on top of that the road trip will be capped with Coby Karl finishing a reverse alley oop slam dunk" what would you have said?

[big E]

[DancingBarry]

[PakaLOLO]

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[Vadorojo]

[pawn]

[LakerSanity]

I am looking forward to checking the team efficiency stats tommorrow (its my routine after every Laker game) and seeing where we rank... we could be as high as #2 on offense and #6 or 7 on defense. On this road trip we actually increased our offensive efficiency and slightly decreased our defensive efficiency, but if we end up #7 on defense, we'll be back to where we were (rankings-wise) pre-Bynum.
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[DancingBarry]

Vadorojo - I think he might have tweaked it a little but nothing major. X-rays were negative, he'll see a doctor, but he still looked like himself in the third. I do think he wants out of the three contest and can probably limit himself in the all star game.

[Trajan]

Very good road trip. Wish we came out of it 9-0, or at least 8-1, but 7-2 is fantastic. I wouldn't blame any of the guys if they slept through most of the break.

Looking forward to seeing Gasol in his home debut on Tuesday, not to mention the Lakers getting some much needed revenge against the Hawks.

BTW, I loved DJ's hook shot. He also showed a decent face up jumper.

[Vadorojo]

[jd2k]

With the way Gasol's been shooting, we might end up with the top 2 FG% shooters(Bynum + Gasol) in the league. He's been shooting at 62% since he joined the Lakers.

[Critical Beatdown]

Lamar is shooting 61% in January too.

[Dr. Laker]

Thanx, DB!
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[Ares24]

man, phil be killing vlad with the jokes lol I hope he doesn't take them personal lol

[Downunder]

LO is really looking comfortable with Gasol around

Thanks DB

[Chillinn]

I always look forward to reading your follow ups. It's a great way to cap off a Laker victory.