LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 3/1 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings
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DaggerInTheHeart
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 1:55 pm    Post subject:

Jeremy, you still think we can make the playoffs?
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LakerLegend
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 3:50 pm    Post subject:

I will say that I am impressed with Odom getting in the double figures and when he said he was embarassed by the team's performance. I think that is the first time that I heard him admit that he was a part of the loss...not that he singlehandedly lost the game, but I think that for once, he went balls out, scored in the double figures like he should and learned how it felt to still lose.

Hopefully this will be a turning point for him. I'm not saying that it will, but the only person that can change Lamar is Lamar.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 4:34 pm    Post subject:

LakerLegend wrote:
I will say that I am impressed with Odom getting in the double figures and when he said he was embarassed by the team's performance. I think that is the first time that I heard him admit that he was a part of the loss...not that he singlehandedly lost the game, but I think that for once, he went balls out, scored in the double figures like he should and learned how it felt to still lose.

Hopefully this will be a turning point for him. I'm not saying that it will, but the only person that can change Lamar is Lamar.


After all this time, I think one can only say Lamar IS what he has shown so far. A good player but never will be great. Definately not worth what he is being paid. A good team player. What we need is another consistant scorer and point guard that penetrates and causes havoc.
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A Mad Chinaman
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 6:30 pm    Post subject:

8750 wrote:
mad chinaman, the lakers have a better record than other young teams only because they have the best player on this planet... of course i don't know what's the better coaching solution with these players and this team... but i see what mike d'antoni is doing with the suns (last year preseason's rankings had phoenix at 11th in west...)... i see what byron scott is doing with a young team like the hornets... and i think that brian shaw is a smart guy, with a good relationship with kobe... i repeat, i appreciate what phil jackson did until january... but it's not that jackson is the only coach on this planet and it's not that the triple post offense is the only strategy...
Appreciate your comments. d'Antoni has Steve Nash - the best PG that is able to get Amare and Marion the ball exactly when and where they need it - seeing the Suns function w/o Nash is evidence enough. Byron Scott is in a small market without any of the pressures/demands/spotlight/accountability that exists with the Lakers, hence can work underneath the radar screen - as he has. PJ and the Lakers' coaching staff has the experience, expertise, resources and owner's support to provide the best (not the only) scenario to maximize the available success possible. Thoughts . . .
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 03, 2006 9:12 am    Post subject:

As I looked at the replay many times where Smush parker got the ball stolen at the final seconds. Lamar Odom was actually very widely open...Smush parker got triple teamed and he just couldn't make the pass, that would have been a different story. I can't blame parker though, he's just young and dumb lol.
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:23 am    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 3/1 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

DancingBarry wrote:
stu·pid... Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-) adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est - 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.

If the Lakers cared to look how they won the last game against the Blazers, they would find several areas where they played smarter ball. If you don't want to deal with Steve Blake hitting jumpers, make him pay on the other end. Post him up, draw fouls, tire him out or have him pulled out because of a mismatch... Also, don't play under screens and sag off on a good shooter. Pretty basic concept... And if you are not going to post up a smaller guard lineup, then why do you try to run a full-court press against them? You end up playing to their strengths, not yours... Why run Turiaf on Darius Miles early in the game, when in the last game we had Lamar post up Miles and successfully cause problems throughout the game for the Blazers? And, when Lamar was on Miles in this game, we only took advantage of the post mismatch very late in the game... When you have a team in early foul trouble in the fourth quarter, keep attacking the rim, go to the post, manufacture points at the line... When you are down by three and have the ball on the offensive end on the last possession of the game, get the ball to the NBA's leading scorer instead of attacking a triple team off a screen. And if your players are prone to mental mistakes, call your last timeout to set up a play...

To win at this game, you have to play with intelligent effort. The Lakers played neither intelligent, nor with any particular effort on the defensive end until the final quarter. These are the games you have to win, if you are going to make the playoffs.


Kobe -- -- Fighting off a sinus infection, Kobe throttled things up in the third quarter when the rest of the team was not responding, as he scored 19 of his 35 points in that quarter (the rest of the team had 4 points). He did an excellent job of manufacturing points, particularly in that quarter. He went 15-15 from the line for the game and shot 10-27 overall from the floor. He led the team with 5 assists and 4 turnovers. His defense was generally soft on the night, and Blake had plenty of room to shoot. Kobe started the game slowly and gradually picked up the intensity. He had a nice no-look bounce pass to Mihm who slipped a pick and scored. He scored his first points late in the first on a couple FTs after getting an outlet pass. He turned the ball over twice in transition with some sloppy running of the break. He drew another foul on penetration and hit both FTs. He danced down the lane at the end of the first and scored a layup. He had 6 points and 3 assists after the first quarter. He stepped on the baseline for a turnover. He swished a pull-up jumper from the wing. He missed a reverse jam and a few other shots. Finally, he decided to get in the post against Blake and he overpowered him off the glass (he didn't go back to that with much purpose). He attacked at the end of the half and drew a foul, making both FTs. He swished a 17-footer straightaway. He drained a wing jumper with his heels on the three line. He spun through a double team, took a long stride and hit a hanging jumper from the FT line. He sank another long jumper with his feet on the three line. He hit a fade from the elbow off the weave. He attacked in transition and drew FTs. He continued to attack and draw FTs at the end of the third, the only Laker doing anything. After a long rest to start the fourth, he hit a jumper from about 20-feet and wanted the foul. Nice long outlet to Cook who was running the floor and it led to FTs. Lamar on Kobe: "I don't blame him shooting the ball 40 or 50 times a night," he said in the Times. "If I had his talent, I'd do the same thing. We should be embarrassed. I am."

Odom -- -- He had 17 boards in his last game against the Blazers, but just 8 in this one. He scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting and had 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers in 41:39. He hit a pull-up jumper straight away. He then seemed to disappear. He went to the bench after a couple of minutes into the second quarter. I swear I thought he had been there for the past few minutes when Meyers said it was his first rest of the night. The difference between his aggression in this game and the last Blazer match up was night and day. He bricked a baseline jumper badly. He hit a jumphook from the left block. For some reason he sagged way too far off Blake on a switch and gave up an open three. He attacked in transition aggressively and drew FTs. He hit a pull-up jumper with his feet on the three line in a two-for-one situation. He blew an alley-oop as his layup rattled out. He charged, attacking to his left. He blew past Skinner with ease for a layup. He posted up Miles and missed a jumphook from a foot away. He bricked badly on a layup, off the glass no rim. He busted down court on the break, kept running and Walton found him with a bounce pass for a dunk. He tried to create off the dribble to get past Miles rather than posting him up and he lost the ball. Finally, he posted up on Miles, spun around him, pumped faked the help defender and scored a layup with a minute left. He then took an offensive board away from Miles and scored after a critical miss by Kobe with under a minute left. Too little, too late against Miles.

Mihm -- -- Chris was the only starter not to get to double figures. The Lakers were better when they went with a smaller lineup to match up against the Blazers small lineups. He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, had 3 boards and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. He scored a layup, slipping a pick and getting the bounce pass from Kobe for a layup. He hit a nice jumphook off the left block. He swatted penetration with some quick reaction in semi-transition. He swished a 15-footer straight away. He picked up his second foul at the end of the first and had to sit. He didn't do much the rest of the game.

Smush -- -- Down by three, after a big defensive stop, we bring the ball up court, Smush then attacks around a screen into a triple team and loses the ball for a dunk the other way with 10 seconds left. Ballgame. Smush was playing okay before that, although his intensity seemed to only pick up late in the game. He had 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 6 boards and 2 assists with 3 turnovers. He buried a three from the corner. He hit a long jumper again from the side, this time his foot on the three line. He attacked the lane and hit a teardrop. He attacked again and got swatted. Good pass deflection on a double and it resulted in a fastbreak dunk for Lamar. He drained a wing three midway through the fourth. He scored a layup when his man left him alone cutting to the hoop and Luke found him. He pushed up the break, got into the lane and spun up a layup with 1:39 left and cut the lead to three. That was a huge play. Then, he had the crushing turnover after we brought the ball up and didn't look like we knew what we wanted to do.

Cook -- -- He gave up two offensive boards to his man and sagged too far off a pick and roll to give Blake an open jumper in crunch time. He got a lecture from Phil coming back to the bench after that one. Not good play from Cook on the defensive end, although he was part of the unit that helped the Lakers make a fourth-quarter comeback. Cook finished with 10 points on 4-9 shooting, 3 boards and 1 block in 23 minutes. He dunked off a no-look hand-off from Mihm. He missed several shots and then went to the bench midway through the first after picking up a couple of cheap fouls. He got sealed badly by Randolph and gave up a layup. He was benched just a few minutes into the third for Turiaf. He swished a wing jumper to start the fourth. He hit a jumper from the other side on a kickout from Lamar. He hit a short baseline jumper on a feed under the basket from Luke. He was fouled by Randolph, running the floor midway through the fourth, he hit both FTs.

Kwame -- -- Not much from Kwame in this game, other than getting hit in the head by an entry pass. He scored 1 points in 15 minutes and went 1-4 from the FT line. He also had 2 boards. Good first defensive stand against his man and he forced a turnover. He drew a foul after getting shoved under the hoop trying to score. He blew yet another point-blank shot, falling away from the rim. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, made one.

George -- -- Nice help D swat on Miles from behind. Kobe found him in transition and Devean hit a baseline jumper. He hit a jumper on the break, but he should have pitched it to the middle on the odd-number advantage, probably would have resulted in a layup on the other side of the court. Again, he messed up a break with flat pass that was easily picked off.

Walton -- -- Luke clearly was one of the stand-out players in this game. He captained the second unit to start the fourth quarter and dug the Lakers out from a hole. He ended up with 7 points on 2-3 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists and a steal in his 19 minutes. He stripped the ball from Miles in the post. He attacked, faked the pass and hit the floater. Superb push up of the fast break, going behind his back, then bounce passing to Lamar on the wing for a dunk. He drew a crowd in the lane, then kicked it to Cook, who hit a jumper as Luke was fouled under the hoop (Luke hit the FT). Out of a timeout, Luke attacked off the dribble, rocked back on the dribble, crossed over then blew past Skinner for a layup. Nice look spotting Smush open under the hoop for a layup. He hit a couple of FTs off a pick and roll with Kobe. He caused a turnover on the other end and it led to a fastbreak score. Good game from him, one of the few this season.

Turiaf -- -- In for Mihm with Kwame moving to C at the end of the first. He had to cover Miles, however...not sure what we were thinking with that sub. He picked up his first foul on a reach in mid court. He picked up his second foul shortly later on an And-1 to Miles and he had to sit. In at the 8:35 mark of the third, he was called for a foul on a defensive rebound. He then drew a clear-out foul on Randolph who tried to take Ronny off the dribble. Ronny tried to draw a charge on a drive by Dixon but was whistled for his fourth foul. Ronny picked up his fifth foul when Randolph was trying to create on him, looked like Turiaf played solid D until he put his roof down a little too low to draw the whistle. He had to sit at the 6 minute mark with his 5th foul. He had 1 board in his 4:56 of action.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha was pretty much watching from the pine in this game. He played just 6:41 and had no points and 1 board. He picked up his dribble in the corner after crossing half court, got double teamed and turned the ball over. He missed a layup on an attack to his left. He gave up an easy layup to Telfair and then got benched.

Phil -- -- Turiaf on Miles? Where's the Odom-Miles matchup we put in the last game?... Where was Kobe in the post against Blake?... Very sluggish effort and little purpose in the attack. We deviated from the game plan used the last time we faced the Blazers... The Lakers continued to play sluggish and soft to start the second half. Phil took a quick timeout. That didn't work. He then subbed out Cook for Turiaf at the 8:35 mark of the third... We were full-court pressing the small guard lineup and getting beat easily for layups or dunks... The Lakers cut the lead to start the fourth with a Cook, Lamar, Walton, George, Smush lineup. With Walton running the offense and some hustle on D by that unit, they made a dent in the lead. They started to sputter and Phil finally brought Kobe back in at the 7:11 mark after calling a timeout... "It was the second time that Blake has scored really big against us in critical situations," Phil said in the Times. If you are having trouble with Blake on the defensive end, why don't you go at him in the post at the other end? You did that in the last game. Damn...
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Islandboy
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:23 am    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 3/1 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

Islandboy wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:
stu·pid... Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-) adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est - 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.

If the Lakers cared to look how they won the last game against the Blazers, they would find several areas where they played smarter ball. If you don't want to deal with Steve Blake hitting jumpers, make him pay on the other end. Post him up, draw fouls, tire him out or have him pulled out because of a mismatch... Also, don't play under screens and sag off on a good shooter. Pretty basic concept... And if you are not going to post up a smaller guard lineup, then why do you try to run a full-court press against them? You end up playing to their strengths, not yours... Why run Turiaf on Darius Miles early in the game, when in the last game we had Lamar post up Miles and successfully cause problems throughout the game for the Blazers? And, when Lamar was on Miles in this game, we only took advantage of the post mismatch very late in the game... When you have a team in early foul trouble in the fourth quarter, keep attacking the rim, go to the post, manufacture points at the line... When you are down by three and have the ball on the offensive end on the last possession of the game, get the ball to the NBA's leading scorer instead of attacking a triple team off a screen. And if your players are prone to mental mistakes, call your last timeout to set up a play...

To win at this game, you have to play with intelligent effort. The Lakers played neither intelligent, nor with any particular effort on the defensive end until the final quarter. These are the games you have to win, if you are going to make the playoffs.


Kobe -- -- Fighting off a sinus infection, Kobe throttled things up in the third quarter when the rest of the team was not responding, as he scored 19 of his 35 points in that quarter (the rest of the team had 4 points). He did an excellent job of manufacturing points, particularly in that quarter. He went 15-15 from the line for the game and shot 10-27 overall from the floor. He led the team with 5 assists and 4 turnovers. His defense was generally soft on the night, and Blake had plenty of room to shoot. Kobe started the game slowly and gradually picked up the intensity. He had a nice no-look bounce pass to Mihm who slipped a pick and scored. He scored his first points late in the first on a couple FTs after getting an outlet pass. He turned the ball over twice in transition with some sloppy running of the break. He drew another foul on penetration and hit both FTs. He danced down the lane at the end of the first and scored a layup. He had 6 points and 3 assists after the first quarter. He stepped on the baseline for a turnover. He swished a pull-up jumper from the wing. He missed a reverse jam and a few other shots. Finally, he decided to get in the post against Blake and he overpowered him off the glass (he didn't go back to that with much purpose). He attacked at the end of the half and drew a foul, making both FTs. He swished a 17-footer straightaway. He drained a wing jumper with his heels on the three line. He spun through a double team, took a long stride and hit a hanging jumper from the FT line. He sank another long jumper with his feet on the three line. He hit a fade from the elbow off the weave. He attacked in transition and drew FTs. He continued to attack and draw FTs at the end of the third, the only Laker doing anything. After a long rest to start the fourth, he hit a jumper from about 20-feet and wanted the foul. Nice long outlet to Cook who was running the floor and it led to FTs. Lamar on Kobe: "I don't blame him shooting the ball 40 or 50 times a night," he said in the Times. "If I had his talent, I'd do the same thing. We should be embarrassed. I am."

Odom -- -- He had 17 boards in his last game against the Blazers, but just 8 in this one. He scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting and had 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers in 41:39. He hit a pull-up jumper straight away. He then seemed to disappear. He went to the bench after a couple of minutes into the second quarter. I swear I thought he had been there for the past few minutes when Meyers said it was his first rest of the night. The difference between his aggression in this game and the last Blazer match up was night and day. He bricked a baseline jumper badly. He hit a jumphook from the left block. For some reason he sagged way too far off Blake on a switch and gave up an open three. He attacked in transition aggressively and drew FTs. He hit a pull-up jumper with his feet on the three line in a two-for-one situation. He blew an alley-oop as his layup rattled out. He charged, attacking to his left. He blew past Skinner with ease for a layup. He posted up Miles and missed a jumphook from a foot away. He bricked badly on a layup, off the glass no rim. He busted down court on the break, kept running and Walton found him with a bounce pass for a dunk. He tried to create off the dribble to get past Miles rather than posting him up and he lost the ball. Finally, he posted up on Miles, spun around him, pumped faked the help defender and scored a layup with a minute left. He then took an offensive board away from Miles and scored after a critical miss by Kobe with under a minute left. Too little, too late against Miles.

Mihm -- -- Chris was the only starter not to get to double figures. The Lakers were better when they went with a smaller lineup to match up against the Blazers small lineups. He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, had 3 boards and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. He scored a layup, slipping a pick and getting the bounce pass from Kobe for a layup. He hit a nice jumphook off the left block. He swatted penetration with some quick reaction in semi-transition. He swished a 15-footer straight away. He picked up his second foul at the end of the first and had to sit. He didn't do much the rest of the game.

Smush -- -- Down by three, after a big defensive stop, we bring the ball up court, Smush then attacks around a screen into a triple team and loses the ball for a dunk the other way with 10 seconds left. Ballgame. Smush was playing okay before that, although his intensity seemed to only pick up late in the game. He had 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 6 boards and 2 assists with 3 turnovers. He buried a three from the corner. He hit a long jumper again from the side, this time his foot on the three line. He attacked the lane and hit a teardrop. He attacked again and got swatted. Good pass deflection on a double and it resulted in a fastbreak dunk for Lamar. He drained a wing three midway through the fourth. He scored a layup when his man left him alone cutting to the hoop and Luke found him. He pushed up the break, got into the lane and spun up a layup with 1:39 left and cut the lead to three. That was a huge play. Then, he had the crushing turnover after we brought the ball up and didn't look like we knew what we wanted to do.

Cook -- -- He gave up two offensive boards to his man and sagged too far off a pick and roll to give Blake an open jumper in crunch time. He got a lecture from Phil coming back to the bench after that one. Not good play from Cook on the defensive end, although he was part of the unit that helped the Lakers make a fourth-quarter comeback. Cook finished with 10 points on 4-9 shooting, 3 boards and 1 block in 23 minutes. He dunked off a no-look hand-off from Mihm. He missed several shots and then went to the bench midway through the first after picking up a couple of cheap fouls. He got sealed badly by Randolph and gave up a layup. He was benched just a few minutes into the third for Turiaf. He swished a wing jumper to start the fourth. He hit a jumper from the other side on a kickout from Lamar. He hit a short baseline jumper on a feed under the basket from Luke. He was fouled by Randolph, running the floor midway through the fourth, he hit both FTs.

Kwame -- -- Not much from Kwame in this game, other than getting hit in the head by an entry pass. He scored 1 points in 15 minutes and went 1-4 from the FT line. He also had 2 boards. Good first defensive stand against his man and he forced a turnover. He drew a foul after getting shoved under the hoop trying to score. He blew yet another point-blank shot, falling away from the rim. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, made one.

George -- -- Nice help D swat on Miles from behind. Kobe found him in transition and Devean hit a baseline jumper. He hit a jumper on the break, but he should have pitched it to the middle on the odd-number advantage, probably would have resulted in a layup on the other side of the court. Again, he messed up a break with flat pass that was easily picked off.

Walton -- -- Luke clearly was one of the stand-out players in this game. He captained the second unit to start the fourth quarter and dug the Lakers out from a hole. He ended up with 7 points on 2-3 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists and a steal in his 19 minutes. He stripped the ball from Miles in the post. He attacked, faked the pass and hit the floater. Superb push up of the fast break, going behind his back, then bounce passing to Lamar on the wing for a dunk. He drew a crowd in the lane, then kicked it to Cook, who hit a jumper as Luke was fouled under the hoop (Luke hit the FT). Out of a timeout, Luke attacked off the dribble, rocked back on the dribble, crossed over then blew past Skinner for a layup. Nice look spotting Smush open under the hoop for a layup. He hit a couple of FTs off a pick and roll with Kobe. He caused a turnover on the other end and it led to a fastbreak score. Good game from him, one of the few this season.

Turiaf -- -- In for Mihm with Kwame moving to C at the end of the first. He had to cover Miles, however...not sure what we were thinking with that sub. He picked up his first foul on a reach in mid court. He picked up his second foul shortly later on an And-1 to Miles and he had to sit. In at the 8:35 mark of the third, he was called for a foul on a defensive rebound. He then drew a clear-out foul on Randolph who tried to take Ronny off the dribble. Ronny tried to draw a charge on a drive by Dixon but was whistled for his fourth foul. Ronny picked up his fifth foul when Randolph was trying to create on him, looked like Turiaf played solid D until he put his roof down a little too low to draw the whistle. He had to sit at the 6 minute mark with his 5th foul. He had 1 board in his 4:56 of action.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha was pretty much watching from the pine in this game. He played just 6:41 and had no points and 1 board. He picked up his dribble in the corner after crossing half court, got double teamed and turned the ball over. He missed a layup on an attack to his left. He gave up an easy layup to Telfair and then got benched.

Phil -- -- Turiaf on Miles? Where's the Odom-Miles matchup we put in the last game?... Where was Kobe in the post against Blake?... Very sluggish effort and little purpose in the attack. We deviated from the game plan used the last time we faced the Blazers... The Lakers continued to play sluggish and soft to start the second half. Phil took a quick timeout. That didn't work. He then subbed out Cook for Turiaf at the 8:35 mark of the third... We were full-court pressing the small guard lineup and getting beat easily for layups or dunks... The Lakers cut the lead to start the fourth with a Cook, Lamar, Walton, George, Smush lineup. With Walton running the offense and some hustle on D by that unit, they made a dent in the lead. They started to sputter and Phil finally brought Kobe back in at the 7:11 mark after calling a timeout... "It was the second time that Blake has scored really big against us in critical situations," Phil said in the Times. If you are having trouble with Blake on the defensive end, why don't you go at him in the post at the other end? You did that in the last game. Damn...
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:23 am    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 3/1 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:
stu·pid... Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-) adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est - 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.

If the Lakers cared to look how they won the last game against the Blazers, they would find several areas where they played smarter ball. If you don't want to deal with Steve Blake hitting jumpers, make him pay on the other end. Post him up, draw fouls, tire him out or have him pulled out because of a mismatch... Also, don't play under screens and sag off on a good shooter. Pretty basic concept... And if you are not going to post up a smaller guard lineup, then why do you try to run a full-court press against them? You end up playing to their strengths, not yours... Why run Turiaf on Darius Miles early in the game, when in the last game we had Lamar post up Miles and successfully cause problems throughout the game for the Blazers? And, when Lamar was on Miles in this game, we only took advantage of the post mismatch very late in the game... When you have a team in early foul trouble in the fourth quarter, keep attacking the rim, go to the post, manufacture points at the line... When you are down by three and have the ball on the offensive end on the last possession of the game, get the ball to the NBA's leading scorer instead of attacking a triple team off a screen. And if your players are prone to mental mistakes, call your last timeout to set up a play...

To win at this game, you have to play with intelligent effort. The Lakers played neither intelligent, nor with any particular effort on the defensive end until the final quarter. These are the games you have to win, if you are going to make the playoffs.


Kobe -- -- Fighting off a sinus infection, Kobe throttled things up in the third quarter when the rest of the team was not responding, as he scored 19 of his 35 points in that quarter (the rest of the team had 4 points). He did an excellent job of manufacturing points, particularly in that quarter. He went 15-15 from the line for the game and shot 10-27 overall from the floor. He led the team with 5 assists and 4 turnovers. His defense was generally soft on the night, and Blake had plenty of room to shoot. Kobe started the game slowly and gradually picked up the intensity. He had a nice no-look bounce pass to Mihm who slipped a pick and scored. He scored his first points late in the first on a couple FTs after getting an outlet pass. He turned the ball over twice in transition with some sloppy running of the break. He drew another foul on penetration and hit both FTs. He danced down the lane at the end of the first and scored a layup. He had 6 points and 3 assists after the first quarter. He stepped on the baseline for a turnover. He swished a pull-up jumper from the wing. He missed a reverse jam and a few other shots. Finally, he decided to get in the post against Blake and he overpowered him off the glass (he didn't go back to that with much purpose). He attacked at the end of the half and drew a foul, making both FTs. He swished a 17-footer straightaway. He drained a wing jumper with his heels on the three line. He spun through a double team, took a long stride and hit a hanging jumper from the FT line. He sank another long jumper with his feet on the three line. He hit a fade from the elbow off the weave. He attacked in transition and drew FTs. He continued to attack and draw FTs at the end of the third, the only Laker doing anything. After a long rest to start the fourth, he hit a jumper from about 20-feet and wanted the foul. Nice long outlet to Cook who was running the floor and it led to FTs. Lamar on Kobe: "I don't blame him shooting the ball 40 or 50 times a night," he said in the Times. "If I had his talent, I'd do the same thing. We should be embarrassed. I am."

Odom -- -- He had 17 boards in his last game against the Blazers, but just 8 in this one. He scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting and had 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers in 41:39. He hit a pull-up jumper straight away. He then seemed to disappear. He went to the bench after a couple of minutes into the second quarter. I swear I thought he had been there for the past few minutes when Meyers said it was his first rest of the night. The difference between his aggression in this game and the last Blazer match up was night and day. He bricked a baseline jumper badly. He hit a jumphook from the left block. For some reason he sagged way too far off Blake on a switch and gave up an open three. He attacked in transition aggressively and drew FTs. He hit a pull-up jumper with his feet on the three line in a two-for-one situation. He blew an alley-oop as his layup rattled out. He charged, attacking to his left. He blew past Skinner with ease for a layup. He posted up Miles and missed a jumphook from a foot away. He bricked badly on a layup, off the glass no rim. He busted down court on the break, kept running and Walton found him with a bounce pass for a dunk. He tried to create off the dribble to get past Miles rather than posting him up and he lost the ball. Finally, he posted up on Miles, spun around him, pumped faked the help defender and scored a layup with a minute left. He then took an offensive board away from Miles and scored after a critical miss by Kobe with under a minute left. Too little, too late against Miles.

Mihm -- -- Chris was the only starter not to get to double figures. The Lakers were better when they went with a smaller lineup to match up against the Blazers small lineups. He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, had 3 boards and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. He scored a layup, slipping a pick and getting the bounce pass from Kobe for a layup. He hit a nice jumphook off the left block. He swatted penetration with some quick reaction in semi-transition. He swished a 15-footer straight away. He picked up his second foul at the end of the first and had to sit. He didn't do much the rest of the game.

Smush -- -- Down by three, after a big defensive stop, we bring the ball up court, Smush then attacks around a screen into a triple team and loses the ball for a dunk the other way with 10 seconds left. Ballgame. Smush was playing okay before that, although his intensity seemed to only pick up late in the game. He had 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 6 boards and 2 assists with 3 turnovers. He buried a three from the corner. He hit a long jumper again from the side, this time his foot on the three line. He attacked the lane and hit a teardrop. He attacked again and got swatted. Good pass deflection on a double and it resulted in a fastbreak dunk for Lamar. He drained a wing three midway through the fourth. He scored a layup when his man left him alone cutting to the hoop and Luke found him. He pushed up the break, got into the lane and spun up a layup with 1:39 left and cut the lead to three. That was a huge play. Then, he had the crushing turnover after we brought the ball up and didn't look like we knew what we wanted to do.

Cook -- -- He gave up two offensive boards to his man and sagged too far off a pick and roll to give Blake an open jumper in crunch time. He got a lecture from Phil coming back to the bench after that one. Not good play from Cook on the defensive end, although he was part of the unit that helped the Lakers make a fourth-quarter comeback. Cook finished with 10 points on 4-9 shooting, 3 boards and 1 block in 23 minutes. He dunked off a no-look hand-off from Mihm. He missed several shots and then went to the bench midway through the first after picking up a couple of cheap fouls. He got sealed badly by Randolph and gave up a layup. He was benched just a few minutes into the third for Turiaf. He swished a wing jumper to start the fourth. He hit a jumper from the other side on a kickout from Lamar. He hit a short baseline jumper on a feed under the basket from Luke. He was fouled by Randolph, running the floor midway through the fourth, he hit both FTs.

Kwame -- -- Not much from Kwame in this game, other than getting hit in the head by an entry pass. He scored 1 points in 15 minutes and went 1-4 from the FT line. He also had 2 boards. Good first defensive stand against his man and he forced a turnover. He drew a foul after getting shoved under the hoop trying to score. He blew yet another point-blank shot, falling away from the rim. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, made one.

George -- -- Nice help D swat on Miles from behind. Kobe found him in transition and Devean hit a baseline jumper. He hit a jumper on the break, but he should have pitched it to the middle on the odd-number advantage, probably would have resulted in a layup on the other side of the court. Again, he messed up a break with flat pass that was easily picked off.

Walton -- -- Luke clearly was one of the stand-out players in this game. He captained the second unit to start the fourth quarter and dug the Lakers out from a hole. He ended up with 7 points on 2-3 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists and a steal in his 19 minutes. He stripped the ball from Miles in the post. He attacked, faked the pass and hit the floater. Superb push up of the fast break, going behind his back, then bounce passing to Lamar on the wing for a dunk. He drew a crowd in the lane, then kicked it to Cook, who hit a jumper as Luke was fouled under the hoop (Luke hit the FT). Out of a timeout, Luke attacked off the dribble, rocked back on the dribble, crossed over then blew past Skinner for a layup. Nice look spotting Smush open under the hoop for a layup. He hit a couple of FTs off a pick and roll with Kobe. He caused a turnover on the other end and it led to a fastbreak score. Good game from him, one of the few this season.

Turiaf -- -- In for Mihm with Kwame moving to C at the end of the first. He had to cover Miles, however...not sure what we were thinking with that sub. He picked up his first foul on a reach in mid court. He picked up his second foul shortly later on an And-1 to Miles and he had to sit. In at the 8:35 mark of the third, he was called for a foul on a defensive rebound. He then drew a clear-out foul on Randolph who tried to take Ronny off the dribble. Ronny tried to draw a charge on a drive by Dixon but was whistled for his fourth foul. Ronny picked up his fifth foul when Randolph was trying to create on him, looked like Turiaf played solid D until he put his roof down a little too low to draw the whistle. He had to sit at the 6 minute mark with his 5th foul. He had 1 board in his 4:56 of action.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha was pretty much watching from the pine in this game. He played just 6:41 and had no points and 1 board. He picked up his dribble in the corner after crossing half court, got double teamed and turned the ball over. He missed a layup on an attack to his left. He gave up an easy layup to Telfair and then got benched.

Phil -- -- Turiaf on Miles? Where's the Odom-Miles matchup we put in the last game?... Where was Kobe in the post against Blake?... Very sluggish effort and little purpose in the attack. We deviated from the game plan used the last time we faced the Blazers... The Lakers continued to play sluggish and soft to start the second half. Phil took a quick timeout. That didn't work. He then subbed out Cook for Turiaf at the 8:35 mark of the third... We were full-court pressing the small guard lineup and getting beat easily for layups or dunks... The Lakers cut the lead to start the fourth with a Cook, Lamar, Walton, George, Smush lineup. With Walton running the offense and some hustle on D by that unit, they made a dent in the lead. They started to sputter and Phil finally brought Kobe back in at the 7:11 mark after calling a timeout... "It was the second time that Blake has scored really big against us in critical situations," Phil said in the Times. If you are having trouble with Blake on the defensive end, why don't you go at him in the post at the other end? You did that in the last game. Damn...
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Islandboy
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:24 am    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 3/1 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:
stu·pid... Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-) adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est - 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.

If the Lakers cared to look how they won the last game against the Blazers, they would find several areas where they played smarter ball. If you don't want to deal with Steve Blake hitting jumpers, make him pay on the other end. Post him up, draw fouls, tire him out or have him pulled out because of a mismatch... Also, don't play under screens and sag off on a good shooter. Pretty basic concept... And if you are not going to post up a smaller guard lineup, then why do you try to run a full-court press against them? You end up playing to their strengths, not yours... Why run Turiaf on Darius Miles early in the game, when in the last game we had Lamar post up Miles and successfully cause problems throughout the game for the Blazers? And, when Lamar was on Miles in this game, we only took advantage of the post mismatch very late in the game... When you have a team in early foul trouble in the fourth quarter, keep attacking the rim, go to the post, manufacture points at the line... When you are down by three and have the ball on the offensive end on the last possession of the game, get the ball to the NBA's leading scorer instead of attacking a triple team off a screen. And if your players are prone to mental mistakes, call your last timeout to set up a play...

To win at this game, you have to play with intelligent effort. The Lakers played neither intelligent, nor with any particular effort on the defensive end until the final quarter. These are the games you have to win, if you are going to make the playoffs.


Kobe -- -- Fighting off a sinus infection, Kobe throttled things up in the third quarter when the rest of the team was not responding, as he scored 19 of his 35 points in that quarter (the rest of the team had 4 points). He did an excellent job of manufacturing points, particularly in that quarter. He went 15-15 from the line for the game and shot 10-27 overall from the floor. He led the team with 5 assists and 4 turnovers. His defense was generally soft on the night, and Blake had plenty of room to shoot. Kobe started the game slowly and gradually picked up the intensity. He had a nice no-look bounce pass to Mihm who slipped a pick and scored. He scored his first points late in the first on a couple FTs after getting an outlet pass. He turned the ball over twice in transition with some sloppy running of the break. He drew another foul on penetration and hit both FTs. He danced down the lane at the end of the first and scored a layup. He had 6 points and 3 assists after the first quarter. He stepped on the baseline for a turnover. He swished a pull-up jumper from the wing. He missed a reverse jam and a few other shots. Finally, he decided to get in the post against Blake and he overpowered him off the glass (he didn't go back to that with much purpose). He attacked at the end of the half and drew a foul, making both FTs. He swished a 17-footer straightaway. He drained a wing jumper with his heels on the three line. He spun through a double team, took a long stride and hit a hanging jumper from the FT line. He sank another long jumper with his feet on the three line. He hit a fade from the elbow off the weave. He attacked in transition and drew FTs. He continued to attack and draw FTs at the end of the third, the only Laker doing anything. After a long rest to start the fourth, he hit a jumper from about 20-feet and wanted the foul. Nice long outlet to Cook who was running the floor and it led to FTs. Lamar on Kobe: "I don't blame him shooting the ball 40 or 50 times a night," he said in the Times. "If I had his talent, I'd do the same thing. We should be embarrassed. I am."

Odom -- -- He had 17 boards in his last game against the Blazers, but just 8 in this one. He scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting and had 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers in 41:39. He hit a pull-up jumper straight away. He then seemed to disappear. He went to the bench after a couple of minutes into the second quarter. I swear I thought he had been there for the past few minutes when Meyers said it was his first rest of the night. The difference between his aggression in this game and the last Blazer match up was night and day. He bricked a baseline jumper badly. He hit a jumphook from the left block. For some reason he sagged way too far off Blake on a switch and gave up an open three. He attacked in transition aggressively and drew FTs. He hit a pull-up jumper with his feet on the three line in a two-for-one situation. He blew an alley-oop as his layup rattled out. He charged, attacking to his left. He blew past Skinner with ease for a layup. He posted up Miles and missed a jumphook from a foot away. He bricked badly on a layup, off the glass no rim. He busted down court on the break, kept running and Walton found him with a bounce pass for a dunk. He tried to create off the dribble to get past Miles rather than posting him up and he lost the ball. Finally, he posted up on Miles, spun around him, pumped faked the help defender and scored a layup with a minute left. He then took an offensive board away from Miles and scored after a critical miss by Kobe with under a minute left. Too little, too late against Miles.

Mihm -- -- Chris was the only starter not to get to double figures. The Lakers were better when they went with a smaller lineup to match up against the Blazers small lineups. He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, had 3 boards and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. He scored a layup, slipping a pick and getting the bounce pass from Kobe for a layup. He hit a nice jumphook off the left block. He swatted penetration with some quick reaction in semi-transition. He swished a 15-footer straight away. He picked up his second foul at the end of the first and had to sit. He didn't do much the rest of the game.

Smush -- -- Down by three, after a big defensive stop, we bring the ball up court, Smush then attacks around a screen into a triple team and loses the ball for a dunk the other way with 10 seconds left. Ballgame. Smush was playing okay before that, although his intensity seemed to only pick up late in the game. He had 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 6 boards and 2 assists with 3 turnovers. He buried a three from the corner. He hit a long jumper again from the side, this time his foot on the three line. He attacked the lane and hit a teardrop. He attacked again and got swatted. Good pass deflection on a double and it resulted in a fastbreak dunk for Lamar. He drained a wing three midway through the fourth. He scored a layup when his man left him alone cutting to the hoop and Luke found him. He pushed up the break, got into the lane and spun up a layup with 1:39 left and cut the lead to three. That was a huge play. Then, he had the crushing turnover after we brought the ball up and didn't look like we knew what we wanted to do.

Cook -- -- He gave up two offensive boards to his man and sagged too far off a pick and roll to give Blake an open jumper in crunch time. He got a lecture from Phil coming back to the bench after that one. Not good play from Cook on the defensive end, although he was part of the unit that helped the Lakers make a fourth-quarter comeback. Cook finished with 10 points on 4-9 shooting, 3 boards and 1 block in 23 minutes. He dunked off a no-look hand-off from Mihm. He missed several shots and then went to the bench midway through the first after picking up a couple of cheap fouls. He got sealed badly by Randolph and gave up a layup. He was benched just a few minutes into the third for Turiaf. He swished a wing jumper to start the fourth. He hit a jumper from the other side on a kickout from Lamar. He hit a short baseline jumper on a feed under the basket from Luke. He was fouled by Randolph, running the floor midway through the fourth, he hit both FTs.

Kwame -- -- Not much from Kwame in this game, other than getting hit in the head by an entry pass. He scored 1 points in 15 minutes and went 1-4 from the FT line. He also had 2 boards. Good first defensive stand against his man and he forced a turnover. He drew a foul after getting shoved under the hoop trying to score. He blew yet another point-blank shot, falling away from the rim. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, made one.

George -- -- Nice help D swat on Miles from behind. Kobe found him in transition and Devean hit a baseline jumper. He hit a jumper on the break, but he should have pitched it to the middle on the odd-number advantage, probably would have resulted in a layup on the other side of the court. Again, he messed up a break with flat pass that was easily picked off.

Walton -- -- Luke clearly was one of the stand-out players in this game. He captained the second unit to start the fourth quarter and dug the Lakers out from a hole. He ended up with 7 points on 2-3 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists and a steal in his 19 minutes. He stripped the ball from Miles in the post. He attacked, faked the pass and hit the floater. Superb push up of the fast break, going behind his back, then bounce passing to Lamar on the wing for a dunk. He drew a crowd in the lane, then kicked it to Cook, who hit a jumper as Luke was fouled under the hoop (Luke hit the FT). Out of a timeout, Luke attacked off the dribble, rocked back on the dribble, crossed over then blew past Skinner for a layup. Nice look spotting Smush open under the hoop for a layup. He hit a couple of FTs off a pick and roll with Kobe. He caused a turnover on the other end and it led to a fastbreak score. Good game from him, one of the few this season.

Turiaf -- -- In for Mihm with Kwame moving to C at the end of the first. He had to cover Miles, however...not sure what we were thinking with that sub. He picked up his first foul on a reach in mid court. He picked up his second foul shortly later on an And-1 to Miles and he had to sit. In at the 8:35 mark of the third, he was called for a foul on a defensive rebound. He then drew a clear-out foul on Randolph who tried to take Ronny off the dribble. Ronny tried to draw a charge on a drive by Dixon but was whistled for his fourth foul. Ronny picked up his fifth foul when Randolph was trying to create on him, looked like Turiaf played solid D until he put his roof down a little too low to draw the whistle. He had to sit at the 6 minute mark with his 5th foul. He had 1 board in his 4:56 of action.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha was pretty much watching from the pine in this game. He played just 6:41 and had no points and 1 board. He picked up his dribble in the corner after crossing half court, got double teamed and turned the ball over. He missed a layup on an attack to his left. He gave up an easy layup to Telfair and then got benched.

Phil -- -- Turiaf on Miles? Where's the Odom-Miles matchup we put in the last game?... Where was Kobe in the post against Blake?... Very sluggish effort and little purpose in the attack. We deviated from the game plan used the last time we faced the Blazers... The Lakers continued to play sluggish and soft to start the second half. Phil took a quick timeout. That didn't work. He then subbed out Cook for Turiaf at the 8:35 mark of the third... We were full-court pressing the small guard lineup and getting beat easily for layups or dunks... The Lakers cut the lead to start the fourth with a Cook, Lamar, Walton, George, Smush lineup. With Walton running the offense and some hustle on D by that unit, they made a dent in the lead. They started to sputter and Phil finally brought Kobe back in at the 7:11 mark after calling a timeout... "It was the second time that Blake has scored really big against us in critical situations," Phil said in the Times. If you are having trouble with Blake on the defensive end, why don't you go at him in the post at the other end? You did that in the last game. Damn...
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Islandboy
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:24 am    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 3/1 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:
stu·pid... Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-) adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est - 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.

If the Lakers cared to look how they won the last game against the Blazers, they would find several areas where they played smarter ball. If you don't want to deal with Steve Blake hitting jumpers, make him pay on the other end. Post him up, draw fouls, tire him out or have him pulled out because of a mismatch... Also, don't play under screens and sag off on a good shooter. Pretty basic concept... And if you are not going to post up a smaller guard lineup, then why do you try to run a full-court press against them? You end up playing to their strengths, not yours... Why run Turiaf on Darius Miles early in the game, when in the last game we had Lamar post up Miles and successfully cause problems throughout the game for the Blazers? And, when Lamar was on Miles in this game, we only took advantage of the post mismatch very late in the game... When you have a team in early foul trouble in the fourth quarter, keep attacking the rim, go to the post, manufacture points at the line... When you are down by three and have the ball on the offensive end on the last possession of the game, get the ball to the NBA's leading scorer instead of attacking a triple team off a screen. And if your players are prone to mental mistakes, call your last timeout to set up a play...

To win at this game, you have to play with intelligent effort. The Lakers played neither intelligent, nor with any particular effort on the defensive end until the final quarter. These are the games you have to win, if you are going to make the playoffs.


Kobe -- -- Fighting off a sinus infection, Kobe throttled things up in the third quarter when the rest of the team was not responding, as he scored 19 of his 35 points in that quarter (the rest of the team had 4 points). He did an excellent job of manufacturing points, particularly in that quarter. He went 15-15 from the line for the game and shot 10-27 overall from the floor. He led the team with 5 assists and 4 turnovers. His defense was generally soft on the night, and Blake had plenty of room to shoot. Kobe started the game slowly and gradually picked up the intensity. He had a nice no-look bounce pass to Mihm who slipped a pick and scored. He scored his first points late in the first on a couple FTs after getting an outlet pass. He turned the ball over twice in transition with some sloppy running of the break. He drew another foul on penetration and hit both FTs. He danced down the lane at the end of the first and scored a layup. He had 6 points and 3 assists after the first quarter. He stepped on the baseline for a turnover. He swished a pull-up jumper from the wing. He missed a reverse jam and a few other shots. Finally, he decided to get in the post against Blake and he overpowered him off the glass (he didn't go back to that with much purpose). He attacked at the end of the half and drew a foul, making both FTs. He swished a 17-footer straightaway. He drained a wing jumper with his heels on the three line. He spun through a double team, took a long stride and hit a hanging jumper from the FT line. He sank another long jumper with his feet on the three line. He hit a fade from the elbow off the weave. He attacked in transition and drew FTs. He continued to attack and draw FTs at the end of the third, the only Laker doing anything. After a long rest to start the fourth, he hit a jumper from about 20-feet and wanted the foul. Nice long outlet to Cook who was running the floor and it led to FTs. Lamar on Kobe: "I don't blame him shooting the ball 40 or 50 times a night," he said in the Times. "If I had his talent, I'd do the same thing. We should be embarrassed. I am."

Odom -- -- He had 17 boards in his last game against the Blazers, but just 8 in this one. He scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting and had 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers in 41:39. He hit a pull-up jumper straight away. He then seemed to disappear. He went to the bench after a couple of minutes into the second quarter. I swear I thought he had been there for the past few minutes when Meyers said it was his first rest of the night. The difference between his aggression in this game and the last Blazer match up was night and day. He bricked a baseline jumper badly. He hit a jumphook from the left block. For some reason he sagged way too far off Blake on a switch and gave up an open three. He attacked in transition aggressively and drew FTs. He hit a pull-up jumper with his feet on the three line in a two-for-one situation. He blew an alley-oop as his layup rattled out. He charged, attacking to his left. He blew past Skinner with ease for a layup. He posted up Miles and missed a jumphook from a foot away. He bricked badly on a layup, off the glass no rim. He busted down court on the break, kept running and Walton found him with a bounce pass for a dunk. He tried to create off the dribble to get past Miles rather than posting him up and he lost the ball. Finally, he posted up on Miles, spun around him, pumped faked the help defender and scored a layup with a minute left. He then took an offensive board away from Miles and scored after a critical miss by Kobe with under a minute left. Too little, too late against Miles.

Mihm -- -- Chris was the only starter not to get to double figures. The Lakers were better when they went with a smaller lineup to match up against the Blazers small lineups. He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, had 3 boards and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. He scored a layup, slipping a pick and getting the bounce pass from Kobe for a layup. He hit a nice jumphook off the left block. He swatted penetration with some quick reaction in semi-transition. He swished a 15-footer straight away. He picked up his second foul at the end of the first and had to sit. He didn't do much the rest of the game.

Smush -- -- Down by three, after a big defensive stop, we bring the ball up court, Smush then attacks around a screen into a triple team and loses the ball for a dunk the other way with 10 seconds left. Ballgame. Smush was playing okay before that, although his intensity seemed to only pick up late in the game. He had 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 6 boards and 2 assists with 3 turnovers. He buried a three from the corner. He hit a long jumper again from the side, this time his foot on the three line. He attacked the lane and hit a teardrop. He attacked again and got swatted. Good pass deflection on a double and it resulted in a fastbreak dunk for Lamar. He drained a wing three midway through the fourth. He scored a layup when his man left him alone cutting to the hoop and Luke found him. He pushed up the break, got into the lane and spun up a layup with 1:39 left and cut the lead to three. That was a huge play. Then, he had the crushing turnover after we brought the ball up and didn't look like we knew what we wanted to do.

Cook -- -- He gave up two offensive boards to his man and sagged too far off a pick and roll to give Blake an open jumper in crunch time. He got a lecture from Phil coming back to the bench after that one. Not good play from Cook on the defensive end, although he was part of the unit that helped the Lakers make a fourth-quarter comeback. Cook finished with 10 points on 4-9 shooting, 3 boards and 1 block in 23 minutes. He dunked off a no-look hand-off from Mihm. He missed several shots and then went to the bench midway through the first after picking up a couple of cheap fouls. He got sealed badly by Randolph and gave up a layup. He was benched just a few minutes into the third for Turiaf. He swished a wing jumper to start the fourth. He hit a jumper from the other side on a kickout from Lamar. He hit a short baseline jumper on a feed under the basket from Luke. He was fouled by Randolph, running the floor midway through the fourth, he hit both FTs.

Kwame -- -- Not much from Kwame in this game, other than getting hit in the head by an entry pass. He scored 1 points in 15 minutes and went 1-4 from the FT line. He also had 2 boards. Good first defensive stand against his man and he forced a turnover. He drew a foul after getting shoved under the hoop trying to score. He blew yet another point-blank shot, falling away from the rim. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, made one.

George -- -- Nice help D swat on Miles from behind. Kobe found him in transition and Devean hit a baseline jumper. He hit a jumper on the break, but he should have pitched it to the middle on the odd-number advantage, probably would have resulted in a layup on the other side of the court. Again, he messed up a break with flat pass that was easily picked off.

Walton -- -- Luke clearly was one of the stand-out players in this game. He captained the second unit to start the fourth quarter and dug the Lakers out from a hole. He ended up with 7 points on 2-3 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists and a steal in his 19 minutes. He stripped the ball from Miles in the post. He attacked, faked the pass and hit the floater. Superb push up of the fast break, going behind his back, then bounce passing to Lamar on the wing for a dunk. He drew a crowd in the lane, then kicked it to Cook, who hit a jumper as Luke was fouled under the hoop (Luke hit the FT). Out of a timeout, Luke attacked off the dribble, rocked back on the dribble, crossed over then blew past Skinner for a layup. Nice look spotting Smush open under the hoop for a layup. He hit a couple of FTs off a pick and roll with Kobe. He caused a turnover on the other end and it led to a fastbreak score. Good game from him, one of the few this season.

Turiaf -- -- In for Mihm with Kwame moving to C at the end of the first. He had to cover Miles, however...not sure what we were thinking with that sub. He picked up his first foul on a reach in mid court. He picked up his second foul shortly later on an And-1 to Miles and he had to sit. In at the 8:35 mark of the third, he was called for a foul on a defensive rebound. He then drew a clear-out foul on Randolph who tried to take Ronny off the dribble. Ronny tried to draw a charge on a drive by Dixon but was whistled for his fourth foul. Ronny picked up his fifth foul when Randolph was trying to create on him, looked like Turiaf played solid D until he put his roof down a little too low to draw the whistle. He had to sit at the 6 minute mark with his 5th foul. He had 1 board in his 4:56 of action.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha was pretty much watching from the pine in this game. He played just 6:41 and had no points and 1 board. He picked up his dribble in the corner after crossing half court, got double teamed and turned the ball over. He missed a layup on an attack to his left. He gave up an easy layup to Telfair and then got benched.

Phil -- -- Turiaf on Miles? Where's the Odom-Miles matchup we put in the last game?... Where was Kobe in the post against Blake?... Very sluggish effort and little purpose in the attack. We deviated from the game plan used the last time we faced the Blazers... The Lakers continued to play sluggish and soft to start the second half. Phil took a quick timeout. That didn't work. He then subbed out Cook for Turiaf at the 8:35 mark of the third... We were full-court pressing the small guard lineup and getting beat easily for layups or dunks... The Lakers cut the lead to start the fourth with a Cook, Lamar, Walton, George, Smush lineup. With Walton running the offense and some hustle on D by that unit, they made a dent in the lead. They started to sputter and Phil finally brought Kobe back in at the 7:11 mark after calling a timeout... "It was the second time that Blake has scored really big against us in critical situations," Phil said in the Times. If you are having trouble with Blake on the defensive end, why don't you go at him in the post at the other end? You did that in the last game. Damn...
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:24 am    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 3/1 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:
stu·pid... Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-) adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est - 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.

If the Lakers cared to look how they won the last game against the Blazers, they would find several areas where they played smarter ball. If you don't want to deal with Steve Blake hitting jumpers, make him pay on the other end. Post him up, draw fouls, tire him out or have him pulled out because of a mismatch... Also, don't play under screens and sag off on a good shooter. Pretty basic concept... And if you are not going to post up a smaller guard lineup, then why do you try to run a full-court press against them? You end up playing to their strengths, not yours... Why run Turiaf on Darius Miles early in the game, when in the last game we had Lamar post up Miles and successfully cause problems throughout the game for the Blazers? And, when Lamar was on Miles in this game, we only took advantage of the post mismatch very late in the game... When you have a team in early foul trouble in the fourth quarter, keep attacking the rim, go to the post, manufacture points at the line... When you are down by three and have the ball on the offensive end on the last possession of the game, get the ball to the NBA's leading scorer instead of attacking a triple team off a screen. And if your players are prone to mental mistakes, call your last timeout to set up a play...

To win at this game, you have to play with intelligent effort. The Lakers played neither intelligent, nor with any particular effort on the defensive end until the final quarter. These are the games you have to win, if you are going to make the playoffs.


Kobe -- -- Fighting off a sinus infection, Kobe throttled things up in the third quarter when the rest of the team was not responding, as he scored 19 of his 35 points in that quarter (the rest of the team had 4 points). He did an excellent job of manufacturing points, particularly in that quarter. He went 15-15 from the line for the game and shot 10-27 overall from the floor. He led the team with 5 assists and 4 turnovers. His defense was generally soft on the night, and Blake had plenty of room to shoot. Kobe started the game slowly and gradually picked up the intensity. He had a nice no-look bounce pass to Mihm who slipped a pick and scored. He scored his first points late in the first on a couple FTs after getting an outlet pass. He turned the ball over twice in transition with some sloppy running of the break. He drew another foul on penetration and hit both FTs. He danced down the lane at the end of the first and scored a layup. He had 6 points and 3 assists after the first quarter. He stepped on the baseline for a turnover. He swished a pull-up jumper from the wing. He missed a reverse jam and a few other shots. Finally, he decided to get in the post against Blake and he overpowered him off the glass (he didn't go back to that with much purpose). He attacked at the end of the half and drew a foul, making both FTs. He swished a 17-footer straightaway. He drained a wing jumper with his heels on the three line. He spun through a double team, took a long stride and hit a hanging jumper from the FT line. He sank another long jumper with his feet on the three line. He hit a fade from the elbow off the weave. He attacked in transition and drew FTs. He continued to attack and draw FTs at the end of the third, the only Laker doing anything. After a long rest to start the fourth, he hit a jumper from about 20-feet and wanted the foul. Nice long outlet to Cook who was running the floor and it led to FTs. Lamar on Kobe: "I don't blame him shooting the ball 40 or 50 times a night," he said in the Times. "If I had his talent, I'd do the same thing. We should be embarrassed. I am."

Odom -- -- He had 17 boards in his last game against the Blazers, but just 8 in this one. He scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting and had 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers in 41:39. He hit a pull-up jumper straight away. He then seemed to disappear. He went to the bench after a couple of minutes into the second quarter. I swear I thought he had been there for the past few minutes when Meyers said it was his first rest of the night. The difference between his aggression in this game and the last Blazer match up was night and day. He bricked a baseline jumper badly. He hit a jumphook from the left block. For some reason he sagged way too far off Blake on a switch and gave up an open three. He attacked in transition aggressively and drew FTs. He hit a pull-up jumper with his feet on the three line in a two-for-one situation. He blew an alley-oop as his layup rattled out. He charged, attacking to his left. He blew past Skinner with ease for a layup. He posted up Miles and missed a jumphook from a foot away. He bricked badly on a layup, off the glass no rim. He busted down court on the break, kept running and Walton found him with a bounce pass for a dunk. He tried to create off the dribble to get past Miles rather than posting him up and he lost the ball. Finally, he posted up on Miles, spun around him, pumped faked the help defender and scored a layup with a minute left. He then took an offensive board away from Miles and scored after a critical miss by Kobe with under a minute left. Too little, too late against Miles.

Mihm -- -- Chris was the only starter not to get to double figures. The Lakers were better when they went with a smaller lineup to match up against the Blazers small lineups. He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, had 3 boards and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. He scored a layup, slipping a pick and getting the bounce pass from Kobe for a layup. He hit a nice jumphook off the left block. He swatted penetration with some quick reaction in semi-transition. He swished a 15-footer straight away. He picked up his second foul at the end of the first and had to sit. He didn't do much the rest of the game.

Smush -- -- Down by three, after a big defensive stop, we bring the ball up court, Smush then attacks around a screen into a triple team and loses the ball for a dunk the other way with 10 seconds left. Ballgame. Smush was playing okay before that, although his intensity seemed to only pick up late in the game. He had 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 6 boards and 2 assists with 3 turnovers. He buried a three from the corner. He hit a long jumper again from the side, this time his foot on the three line. He attacked the lane and hit a teardrop. He attacked again and got swatted. Good pass deflection on a double and it resulted in a fastbreak dunk for Lamar. He drained a wing three midway through the fourth. He scored a layup when his man left him alone cutting to the hoop and Luke found him. He pushed up the break, got into the lane and spun up a layup with 1:39 left and cut the lead to three. That was a huge play. Then, he had the crushing turnover after we brought the ball up and didn't look like we knew what we wanted to do.

Cook -- -- He gave up two offensive boards to his man and sagged too far off a pick and roll to give Blake an open jumper in crunch time. He got a lecture from Phil coming back to the bench after that one. Not good play from Cook on the defensive end, although he was part of the unit that helped the Lakers make a fourth-quarter comeback. Cook finished with 10 points on 4-9 shooting, 3 boards and 1 block in 23 minutes. He dunked off a no-look hand-off from Mihm. He missed several shots and then went to the bench midway through the first after picking up a couple of cheap fouls. He got sealed badly by Randolph and gave up a layup. He was benched just a few minutes into the third for Turiaf. He swished a wing jumper to start the fourth. He hit a jumper from the other side on a kickout from Lamar. He hit a short baseline jumper on a feed under the basket from Luke. He was fouled by Randolph, running the floor midway through the fourth, he hit both FTs.

Kwame -- -- Not much from Kwame in this game, other than getting hit in the head by an entry pass. He scored 1 points in 15 minutes and went 1-4 from the FT line. He also had 2 boards. Good first defensive stand against his man and he forced a turnover. He drew a foul after getting shoved under the hoop trying to score. He blew yet another point-blank shot, falling away from the rim. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, made one.

George -- -- Nice help D swat on Miles from behind. Kobe found him in transition and Devean hit a baseline jumper. He hit a jumper on the break, but he should have pitched it to the middle on the odd-number advantage, probably would have resulted in a layup on the other side of the court. Again, he messed up a break with flat pass that was easily picked off.

Walton -- -- Luke clearly was one of the stand-out players in this game. He captained the second unit to start the fourth quarter and dug the Lakers out from a hole. He ended up with 7 points on 2-3 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists and a steal in his 19 minutes. He stripped the ball from Miles in the post. He attacked, faked the pass and hit the floater. Superb push up of the fast break, going behind his back, then bounce passing to Lamar on the wing for a dunk. He drew a crowd in the lane, then kicked it to Cook, who hit a jumper as Luke was fouled under the hoop (Luke hit the FT). Out of a timeout, Luke attacked off the dribble, rocked back on the dribble, crossed over then blew past Skinner for a layup. Nice look spotting Smush open under the hoop for a layup. He hit a couple of FTs off a pick and roll with Kobe. He caused a turnover on the other end and it led to a fastbreak score. Good game from him, one of the few this season.

Turiaf -- -- In for Mihm with Kwame moving to C at the end of the first. He had to cover Miles, however...not sure what we were thinking with that sub. He picked up his first foul on a reach in mid court. He picked up his second foul shortly later on an And-1 to Miles and he had to sit. In at the 8:35 mark of the third, he was called for a foul on a defensive rebound. He then drew a clear-out foul on Randolph who tried to take Ronny off the dribble. Ronny tried to draw a charge on a drive by Dixon but was whistled for his fourth foul. Ronny picked up his fifth foul when Randolph was trying to create on him, looked like Turiaf played solid D until he put his roof down a little too low to draw the whistle. He had to sit at the 6 minute mark with his 5th foul. He had 1 board in his 4:56 of action.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha was pretty much watching from the pine in this game. He played just 6:41 and had no points and 1 board. He picked up his dribble in the corner after crossing half court, got double teamed and turned the ball over. He missed a layup on an attack to his left. He gave up an easy layup to Telfair and then got benched.

Phil -- -- Turiaf on Miles? Where's the Odom-Miles matchup we put in the last game?... Where was Kobe in the post against Blake?... Very sluggish effort and little purpose in the attack. We deviated from the game plan used the last time we faced the Blazers... The Lakers continued to play sluggish and soft to start the second half. Phil took a quick timeout. That didn't work. He then subbed out Cook for Turiaf at the 8:35 mark of the third... We were full-court pressing the small guard lineup and getting beat easily for layups or dunks... The Lakers cut the lead to start the fourth with a Cook, Lamar, Walton, George, Smush lineup. With Walton running the offense and some hustle on D by that unit, they made a dent in the lead. They started to sputter and Phil finally brought Kobe back in at the 7:11 mark after calling a timeout... "It was the second time that Blake has scored really big against us in critical situations," Phil said in the Times. If you are having trouble with Blake on the defensive end, why don't you go at him in the post at the other end? You did that in the last game. Damn...
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Islandboy
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:24 am    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 3/1 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:
stu·pid... Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-) adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est - 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.

If the Lakers cared to look how they won the last game against the Blazers, they would find several areas where they played smarter ball. If you don't want to deal with Steve Blake hitting jumpers, make him pay on the other end. Post him up, draw fouls, tire him out or have him pulled out because of a mismatch... Also, don't play under screens and sag off on a good shooter. Pretty basic concept... And if you are not going to post up a smaller guard lineup, then why do you try to run a full-court press against them? You end up playing to their strengths, not yours... Why run Turiaf on Darius Miles early in the game, when in the last game we had Lamar post up Miles and successfully cause problems throughout the game for the Blazers? And, when Lamar was on Miles in this game, we only took advantage of the post mismatch very late in the game... When you have a team in early foul trouble in the fourth quarter, keep attacking the rim, go to the post, manufacture points at the line... When you are down by three and have the ball on the offensive end on the last possession of the game, get the ball to the NBA's leading scorer instead of attacking a triple team off a screen. And if your players are prone to mental mistakes, call your last timeout to set up a play...

To win at this game, you have to play with intelligent effort. The Lakers played neither intelligent, nor with any particular effort on the defensive end until the final quarter. These are the games you have to win, if you are going to make the playoffs.


Kobe -- -- Fighting off a sinus infection, Kobe throttled things up in the third quarter when the rest of the team was not responding, as he scored 19 of his 35 points in that quarter (the rest of the team had 4 points). He did an excellent job of manufacturing points, particularly in that quarter. He went 15-15 from the line for the game and shot 10-27 overall from the floor. He led the team with 5 assists and 4 turnovers. His defense was generally soft on the night, and Blake had plenty of room to shoot. Kobe started the game slowly and gradually picked up the intensity. He had a nice no-look bounce pass to Mihm who slipped a pick and scored. He scored his first points late in the first on a couple FTs after getting an outlet pass. He turned the ball over twice in transition with some sloppy running of the break. He drew another foul on penetration and hit both FTs. He danced down the lane at the end of the first and scored a layup. He had 6 points and 3 assists after the first quarter. He stepped on the baseline for a turnover. He swished a pull-up jumper from the wing. He missed a reverse jam and a few other shots. Finally, he decided to get in the post against Blake and he overpowered him off the glass (he didn't go back to that with much purpose). He attacked at the end of the half and drew a foul, making both FTs. He swished a 17-footer straightaway. He drained a wing jumper with his heels on the three line. He spun through a double team, took a long stride and hit a hanging jumper from the FT line. He sank another long jumper with his feet on the three line. He hit a fade from the elbow off the weave. He attacked in transition and drew FTs. He continued to attack and draw FTs at the end of the third, the only Laker doing anything. After a long rest to start the fourth, he hit a jumper from about 20-feet and wanted the foul. Nice long outlet to Cook who was running the floor and it led to FTs. Lamar on Kobe: "I don't blame him shooting the ball 40 or 50 times a night," he said in the Times. "If I had his talent, I'd do the same thing. We should be embarrassed. I am."

Odom -- -- He had 17 boards in his last game against the Blazers, but just 8 in this one. He scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting and had 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers in 41:39. He hit a pull-up jumper straight away. He then seemed to disappear. He went to the bench after a couple of minutes into the second quarter. I swear I thought he had been there for the past few minutes when Meyers said it was his first rest of the night. The difference between his aggression in this game and the last Blazer match up was night and day. He bricked a baseline jumper badly. He hit a jumphook from the left block. For some reason he sagged way too far off Blake on a switch and gave up an open three. He attacked in transition aggressively and drew FTs. He hit a pull-up jumper with his feet on the three line in a two-for-one situation. He blew an alley-oop as his layup rattled out. He charged, attacking to his left. He blew past Skinner with ease for a layup. He posted up Miles and missed a jumphook from a foot away. He bricked badly on a layup, off the glass no rim. He busted down court on the break, kept running and Walton found him with a bounce pass for a dunk. He tried to create off the dribble to get past Miles rather than posting him up and he lost the ball. Finally, he posted up on Miles, spun around him, pumped faked the help defender and scored a layup with a minute left. He then took an offensive board away from Miles and scored after a critical miss by Kobe with under a minute left. Too little, too late against Miles.

Mihm -- -- Chris was the only starter not to get to double figures. The Lakers were better when they went with a smaller lineup to match up against the Blazers small lineups. He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, had 3 boards and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. He scored a layup, slipping a pick and getting the bounce pass from Kobe for a layup. He hit a nice jumphook off the left block. He swatted penetration with some quick reaction in semi-transition. He swished a 15-footer straight away. He picked up his second foul at the end of the first and had to sit. He didn't do much the rest of the game.

Smush -- -- Down by three, after a big defensive stop, we bring the ball up court, Smush then attacks around a screen into a triple team and loses the ball for a dunk the other way with 10 seconds left. Ballgame. Smush was playing okay before that, although his intensity seemed to only pick up late in the game. He had 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 6 boards and 2 assists with 3 turnovers. He buried a three from the corner. He hit a long jumper again from the side, this time his foot on the three line. He attacked the lane and hit a teardrop. He attacked again and got swatted. Good pass deflection on a double and it resulted in a fastbreak dunk for Lamar. He drained a wing three midway through the fourth. He scored a layup when his man left him alone cutting to the hoop and Luke found him. He pushed up the break, got into the lane and spun up a layup with 1:39 left and cut the lead to three. That was a huge play. Then, he had the crushing turnover after we brought the ball up and didn't look like we knew what we wanted to do.

Cook -- -- He gave up two offensive boards to his man and sagged too far off a pick and roll to give Blake an open jumper in crunch time. He got a lecture from Phil coming back to the bench after that one. Not good play from Cook on the defensive end, although he was part of the unit that helped the Lakers make a fourth-quarter comeback. Cook finished with 10 points on 4-9 shooting, 3 boards and 1 block in 23 minutes. He dunked off a no-look hand-off from Mihm. He missed several shots and then went to the bench midway through the first after picking up a couple of cheap fouls. He got sealed badly by Randolph and gave up a layup. He was benched just a few minutes into the third for Turiaf. He swished a wing jumper to start the fourth. He hit a jumper from the other side on a kickout from Lamar. He hit a short baseline jumper on a feed under the basket from Luke. He was fouled by Randolph, running the floor midway through the fourth, he hit both FTs.

Kwame -- -- Not much from Kwame in this game, other than getting hit in the head by an entry pass. He scored 1 points in 15 minutes and went 1-4 from the FT line. He also had 2 boards. Good first defensive stand against his man and he forced a turnover. He drew a foul after getting shoved under the hoop trying to score. He blew yet another point-blank shot, falling away from the rim. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, made one.

George -- -- Nice help D swat on Miles from behind. Kobe found him in transition and Devean hit a baseline jumper. He hit a jumper on the break, but he should have pitched it to the middle on the odd-number advantage, probably would have resulted in a layup on the other side of the court. Again, he messed up a break with flat pass that was easily picked off.

Walton -- -- Luke clearly was one of the stand-out players in this game. He captained the second unit to start the fourth quarter and dug the Lakers out from a hole. He ended up with 7 points on 2-3 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists and a steal in his 19 minutes. He stripped the ball from Miles in the post. He attacked, faked the pass and hit the floater. Superb push up of the fast break, going behind his back, then bounce passing to Lamar on the wing for a dunk. He drew a crowd in the lane, then kicked it to Cook, who hit a jumper as Luke was fouled under the hoop (Luke hit the FT). Out of a timeout, Luke attacked off the dribble, rocked back on the dribble, crossed over then blew past Skinner for a layup. Nice look spotting Smush open under the hoop for a layup. He hit a couple of FTs off a pick and roll with Kobe. He caused a turnover on the other end and it led to a fastbreak score. Good game from him, one of the few this season.

Turiaf -- -- In for Mihm with Kwame moving to C at the end of the first. He had to cover Miles, however...not sure what we were thinking with that sub. He picked up his first foul on a reach in mid court. He picked up his second foul shortly later on an And-1 to Miles and he had to sit. In at the 8:35 mark of the third, he was called for a foul on a defensive rebound. He then drew a clear-out foul on Randolph who tried to take Ronny off the dribble. Ronny tried to draw a charge on a drive by Dixon but was whistled for his fourth foul. Ronny picked up his fifth foul when Randolph was trying to create on him, looked like Turiaf played solid D until he put his roof down a little too low to draw the whistle. He had to sit at the 6 minute mark with his 5th foul. He had 1 board in his 4:56 of action.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha was pretty much watching from the pine in this game. He played just 6:41 and had no points and 1 board. He picked up his dribble in the corner after crossing half court, got double teamed and turned the ball over. He missed a layup on an attack to his left. He gave up an easy layup to Telfair and then got benched.

Phil -- -- Turiaf on Miles? Where's the Odom-Miles matchup we put in the last game?... Where was Kobe in the post against Blake?... Very sluggish effort and little purpose in the attack. We deviated from the game plan used the last time we faced the Blazers... The Lakers continued to play sluggish and soft to start the second half. Phil took a quick timeout. That didn't work. He then subbed out Cook for Turiaf at the 8:35 mark of the third... We were full-court pressing the small guard lineup and getting beat easily for layups or dunks... The Lakers cut the lead to start the fourth with a Cook, Lamar, Walton, George, Smush lineup. With Walton running the offense and some hustle on D by that unit, they made a dent in the lead. They started to sputter and Phil finally brought Kobe back in at the 7:11 mark after calling a timeout... "It was the second time that Blake has scored really big against us in critical situations," Phil said in the Times. If you are having trouble with Blake on the defensive end, why don't you go at him in the post at the other end? You did that in the last game. Damn...
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Islandboy
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:24 am    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 3/1 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:
stu·pid... Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-) adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est - 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.

If the Lakers cared to look how they won the last game against the Blazers, they would find several areas where they played smarter ball. If you don't want to deal with Steve Blake hitting jumpers, make him pay on the other end. Post him up, draw fouls, tire him out or have him pulled out because of a mismatch... Also, don't play under screens and sag off on a good shooter. Pretty basic concept... And if you are not going to post up a smaller guard lineup, then why do you try to run a full-court press against them? You end up playing to their strengths, not yours... Why run Turiaf on Darius Miles early in the game, when in the last game we had Lamar post up Miles and successfully cause problems throughout the game for the Blazers? And, when Lamar was on Miles in this game, we only took advantage of the post mismatch very late in the game... When you have a team in early foul trouble in the fourth quarter, keep attacking the rim, go to the post, manufacture points at the line... When you are down by three and have the ball on the offensive end on the last possession of the game, get the ball to the NBA's leading scorer instead of attacking a triple team off a screen. And if your players are prone to mental mistakes, call your last timeout to set up a play...

To win at this game, you have to play with intelligent effort. The Lakers played neither intelligent, nor with any particular effort on the defensive end until the final quarter. These are the games you have to win, if you are going to make the playoffs.


Kobe -- -- Fighting off a sinus infection, Kobe throttled things up in the third quarter when the rest of the team was not responding, as he scored 19 of his 35 points in that quarter (the rest of the team had 4 points). He did an excellent job of manufacturing points, particularly in that quarter. He went 15-15 from the line for the game and shot 10-27 overall from the floor. He led the team with 5 assists and 4 turnovers. His defense was generally soft on the night, and Blake had plenty of room to shoot. Kobe started the game slowly and gradually picked up the intensity. He had a nice no-look bounce pass to Mihm who slipped a pick and scored. He scored his first points late in the first on a couple FTs after getting an outlet pass. He turned the ball over twice in transition with some sloppy running of the break. He drew another foul on penetration and hit both FTs. He danced down the lane at the end of the first and scored a layup. He had 6 points and 3 assists after the first quarter. He stepped on the baseline for a turnover. He swished a pull-up jumper from the wing. He missed a reverse jam and a few other shots. Finally, he decided to get in the post against Blake and he overpowered him off the glass (he didn't go back to that with much purpose). He attacked at the end of the half and drew a foul, making both FTs. He swished a 17-footer straightaway. He drained a wing jumper with his heels on the three line. He spun through a double team, took a long stride and hit a hanging jumper from the FT line. He sank another long jumper with his feet on the three line. He hit a fade from the elbow off the weave. He attacked in transition and drew FTs. He continued to attack and draw FTs at the end of the third, the only Laker doing anything. After a long rest to start the fourth, he hit a jumper from about 20-feet and wanted the foul. Nice long outlet to Cook who was running the floor and it led to FTs. Lamar on Kobe: "I don't blame him shooting the ball 40 or 50 times a night," he said in the Times. "If I had his talent, I'd do the same thing. We should be embarrassed. I am."

Odom -- -- He had 17 boards in his last game against the Blazers, but just 8 in this one. He scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting and had 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers in 41:39. He hit a pull-up jumper straight away. He then seemed to disappear. He went to the bench after a couple of minutes into the second quarter. I swear I thought he had been there for the past few minutes when Meyers said it was his first rest of the night. The difference between his aggression in this game and the last Blazer match up was night and day. He bricked a baseline jumper badly. He hit a jumphook from the left block. For some reason he sagged way too far off Blake on a switch and gave up an open three. He attacked in transition aggressively and drew FTs. He hit a pull-up jumper with his feet on the three line in a two-for-one situation. He blew an alley-oop as his layup rattled out. He charged, attacking to his left. He blew past Skinner with ease for a layup. He posted up Miles and missed a jumphook from a foot away. He bricked badly on a layup, off the glass no rim. He busted down court on the break, kept running and Walton found him with a bounce pass for a dunk. He tried to create off the dribble to get past Miles rather than posting him up and he lost the ball. Finally, he posted up on Miles, spun around him, pumped faked the help defender and scored a layup with a minute left. He then took an offensive board away from Miles and scored after a critical miss by Kobe with under a minute left. Too little, too late against Miles.

Mihm -- -- Chris was the only starter not to get to double figures. The Lakers were better when they went with a smaller lineup to match up against the Blazers small lineups. He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, had 3 boards and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. He scored a layup, slipping a pick and getting the bounce pass from Kobe for a layup. He hit a nice jumphook off the left block. He swatted penetration with some quick reaction in semi-transition. He swished a 15-footer straight away. He picked up his second foul at the end of the first and had to sit. He didn't do much the rest of the game.

Smush -- -- Down by three, after a big defensive stop, we bring the ball up court, Smush then attacks around a screen into a triple team and loses the ball for a dunk the other way with 10 seconds left. Ballgame. Smush was playing okay before that, although his intensity seemed to only pick up late in the game. He had 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 6 boards and 2 assists with 3 turnovers. He buried a three from the corner. He hit a long jumper again from the side, this time his foot on the three line. He attacked the lane and hit a teardrop. He attacked again and got swatted. Good pass deflection on a double and it resulted in a fastbreak dunk for Lamar. He drained a wing three midway through the fourth. He scored a layup when his man left him alone cutting to the hoop and Luke found him. He pushed up the break, got into the lane and spun up a layup with 1:39 left and cut the lead to three. That was a huge play. Then, he had the crushing turnover after we brought the ball up and didn't look like we knew what we wanted to do.

Cook -- -- He gave up two offensive boards to his man and sagged too far off a pick and roll to give Blake an open jumper in crunch time. He got a lecture from Phil coming back to the bench after that one. Not good play from Cook on the defensive end, although he was part of the unit that helped the Lakers make a fourth-quarter comeback. Cook finished with 10 points on 4-9 shooting, 3 boards and 1 block in 23 minutes. He dunked off a no-look hand-off from Mihm. He missed several shots and then went to the bench midway through the first after picking up a couple of cheap fouls. He got sealed badly by Randolph and gave up a layup. He was benched just a few minutes into the third for Turiaf. He swished a wing jumper to start the fourth. He hit a jumper from the other side on a kickout from Lamar. He hit a short baseline jumper on a feed under the basket from Luke. He was fouled by Randolph, running the floor midway through the fourth, he hit both FTs.

Kwame -- -- Not much from Kwame in this game, other than getting hit in the head by an entry pass. He scored 1 points in 15 minutes and went 1-4 from the FT line. He also had 2 boards. Good first defensive stand against his man and he forced a turnover. He drew a foul after getting shoved under the hoop trying to score. He blew yet another point-blank shot, falling away from the rim. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, made one.

George -- -- Nice help D swat on Miles from behind. Kobe found him in transition and Devean hit a baseline jumper. He hit a jumper on the break, but he should have pitched it to the middle on the odd-number advantage, probably would have resulted in a layup on the other side of the court. Again, he messed up a break with flat pass that was easily picked off.

Walton -- -- Luke clearly was one of the stand-out players in this game. He captained the second unit to start the fourth quarter and dug the Lakers out from a hole. He ended up with 7 points on 2-3 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists and a steal in his 19 minutes. He stripped the ball from Miles in the post. He attacked, faked the pass and hit the floater. Superb push up of the fast break, going behind his back, then bounce passing to Lamar on the wing for a dunk. He drew a crowd in the lane, then kicked it to Cook, who hit a jumper as Luke was fouled under the hoop (Luke hit the FT). Out of a timeout, Luke attacked off the dribble, rocked back on the dribble, crossed over then blew past Skinner for a layup. Nice look spotting Smush open under the hoop for a layup. He hit a couple of FTs off a pick and roll with Kobe. He caused a turnover on the other end and it led to a fastbreak score. Good game from him, one of the few this season.

Turiaf -- -- In for Mihm with Kwame moving to C at the end of the first. He had to cover Miles, however...not sure what we were thinking with that sub. He picked up his first foul on a reach in mid court. He picked up his second foul shortly later on an And-1 to Miles and he had to sit. In at the 8:35 mark of the third, he was called for a foul on a defensive rebound. He then drew a clear-out foul on Randolph who tried to take Ronny off the dribble. Ronny tried to draw a charge on a drive by Dixon but was whistled for his fourth foul. Ronny picked up his fifth foul when Randolph was trying to create on him, looked like Turiaf played solid D until he put his roof down a little too low to draw the whistle. He had to sit at the 6 minute mark with his 5th foul. He had 1 board in his 4:56 of action.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha was pretty much watching from the pine in this game. He played just 6:41 and had no points and 1 board. He picked up his dribble in the corner after crossing half court, got double teamed and turned the ball over. He missed a layup on an attack to his left. He gave up an easy layup to Telfair and then got benched.

Phil -- -- Turiaf on Miles? Where's the Odom-Miles matchup we put in the last game?... Where was Kobe in the post against Blake?... Very sluggish effort and little purpose in the attack. We deviated from the game plan used the last time we faced the Blazers... The Lakers continued to play sluggish and soft to start the second half. Phil took a quick timeout. That didn't work. He then subbed out Cook for Turiaf at the 8:35 mark of the third... We were full-court pressing the small guard lineup and getting beat easily for layups or dunks... The Lakers cut the lead to start the fourth with a Cook, Lamar, Walton, George, Smush lineup. With Walton running the offense and some hustle on D by that unit, they made a dent in the lead. They started to sputter and Phil finally brought Kobe back in at the 7:11 mark after calling a timeout... "It was the second time that Blake has scored really big against us in critical situations," Phil said in the Times. If you are having trouble with Blake on the defensive end, why don't you go at him in the post at the other end? You did that in the last game. Damn...
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Islandboy
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:25 am    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 3/1 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:
stu·pid... Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-) adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est - 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.

If the Lakers cared to look how they won the last game against the Blazers, they would find several areas where they played smarter ball. If you don't want to deal with Steve Blake hitting jumpers, make him pay on the other end. Post him up, draw fouls, tire him out or have him pulled out because of a mismatch... Also, don't play under screens and sag off on a good shooter. Pretty basic concept... And if you are not going to post up a smaller guard lineup, then why do you try to run a full-court press against them? You end up playing to their strengths, not yours... Why run Turiaf on Darius Miles early in the game, when in the last game we had Lamar post up Miles and successfully cause problems throughout the game for the Blazers? And, when Lamar was on Miles in this game, we only took advantage of the post mismatch very late in the game... When you have a team in early foul trouble in the fourth quarter, keep attacking the rim, go to the post, manufacture points at the line... When you are down by three and have the ball on the offensive end on the last possession of the game, get the ball to the NBA's leading scorer instead of attacking a triple team off a screen. And if your players are prone to mental mistakes, call your last timeout to set up a play...

To win at this game, you have to play with intelligent effort. The Lakers played neither intelligent, nor with any particular effort on the defensive end until the final quarter. These are the games you have to win, if you are going to make the playoffs.


Kobe -- -- Fighting off a sinus infection, Kobe throttled things up in the third quarter when the rest of the team was not responding, as he scored 19 of his 35 points in that quarter (the rest of the team had 4 points). He did an excellent job of manufacturing points, particularly in that quarter. He went 15-15 from the line for the game and shot 10-27 overall from the floor. He led the team with 5 assists and 4 turnovers. His defense was generally soft on the night, and Blake had plenty of room to shoot. Kobe started the game slowly and gradually picked up the intensity. He had a nice no-look bounce pass to Mihm who slipped a pick and scored. He scored his first points late in the first on a couple FTs after getting an outlet pass. He turned the ball over twice in transition with some sloppy running of the break. He drew another foul on penetration and hit both FTs. He danced down the lane at the end of the first and scored a layup. He had 6 points and 3 assists after the first quarter. He stepped on the baseline for a turnover. He swished a pull-up jumper from the wing. He missed a reverse jam and a few other shots. Finally, he decided to get in the post against Blake and he overpowered him off the glass (he didn't go back to that with much purpose). He attacked at the end of the half and drew a foul, making both FTs. He swished a 17-footer straightaway. He drained a wing jumper with his heels on the three line. He spun through a double team, took a long stride and hit a hanging jumper from the FT line. He sank another long jumper with his feet on the three line. He hit a fade from the elbow off the weave. He attacked in transition and drew FTs. He continued to attack and draw FTs at the end of the third, the only Laker doing anything. After a long rest to start the fourth, he hit a jumper from about 20-feet and wanted the foul. Nice long outlet to Cook who was running the floor and it led to FTs. Lamar on Kobe: "I don't blame him shooting the ball 40 or 50 times a night," he said in the Times. "If I had his talent, I'd do the same thing. We should be embarrassed. I am."

Odom -- -- He had 17 boards in his last game against the Blazers, but just 8 in this one. He scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting and had 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers in 41:39. He hit a pull-up jumper straight away. He then seemed to disappear. He went to the bench after a couple of minutes into the second quarter. I swear I thought he had been there for the past few minutes when Meyers said it was his first rest of the night. The difference between his aggression in this game and the last Blazer match up was night and day. He bricked a baseline jumper badly. He hit a jumphook from the left block. For some reason he sagged way too far off Blake on a switch and gave up an open three. He attacked in transition aggressively and drew FTs. He hit a pull-up jumper with his feet on the three line in a two-for-one situation. He blew an alley-oop as his layup rattled out. He charged, attacking to his left. He blew past Skinner with ease for a layup. He posted up Miles and missed a jumphook from a foot away. He bricked badly on a layup, off the glass no rim. He busted down court on the break, kept running and Walton found him with a bounce pass for a dunk. He tried to create off the dribble to get past Miles rather than posting him up and he lost the ball. Finally, he posted up on Miles, spun around him, pumped faked the help defender and scored a layup with a minute left. He then took an offensive board away from Miles and scored after a critical miss by Kobe with under a minute left. Too little, too late against Miles.

Mihm -- -- Chris was the only starter not to get to double figures. The Lakers were better when they went with a smaller lineup to match up against the Blazers small lineups. He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, had 3 boards and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. He scored a layup, slipping a pick and getting the bounce pass from Kobe for a layup. He hit a nice jumphook off the left block. He swatted penetration with some quick reaction in semi-transition. He swished a 15-footer straight away. He picked up his second foul at the end of the first and had to sit. He didn't do much the rest of the game.

Smush -- -- Down by three, after a big defensive stop, we bring the ball up court, Smush then attacks around a screen into a triple team and loses the ball for a dunk the other way with 10 seconds left. Ballgame. Smush was playing okay before that, although his intensity seemed to only pick up late in the game. He had 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 6 boards and 2 assists with 3 turnovers. He buried a three from the corner. He hit a long jumper again from the side, this time his foot on the three line. He attacked the lane and hit a teardrop. He attacked again and got swatted. Good pass deflection on a double and it resulted in a fastbreak dunk for Lamar. He drained a wing three midway through the fourth. He scored a layup when his man left him alone cutting to the hoop and Luke found him. He pushed up the break, got into the lane and spun up a layup with 1:39 left and cut the lead to three. That was a huge play. Then, he had the crushing turnover after we brought the ball up and didn't look like we knew what we wanted to do.

Cook -- -- He gave up two offensive boards to his man and sagged too far off a pick and roll to give Blake an open jumper in crunch time. He got a lecture from Phil coming back to the bench after that one. Not good play from Cook on the defensive end, although he was part of the unit that helped the Lakers make a fourth-quarter comeback. Cook finished with 10 points on 4-9 shooting, 3 boards and 1 block in 23 minutes. He dunked off a no-look hand-off from Mihm. He missed several shots and then went to the bench midway through the first after picking up a couple of cheap fouls. He got sealed badly by Randolph and gave up a layup. He was benched just a few minutes into the third for Turiaf. He swished a wing jumper to start the fourth. He hit a jumper from the other side on a kickout from Lamar. He hit a short baseline jumper on a feed under the basket from Luke. He was fouled by Randolph, running the floor midway through the fourth, he hit both FTs.

Kwame -- -- Not much from Kwame in this game, other than getting hit in the head by an entry pass. He scored 1 points in 15 minutes and went 1-4 from the FT line. He also had 2 boards. Good first defensive stand against his man and he forced a turnover. He drew a foul after getting shoved under the hoop trying to score. He blew yet another point-blank shot, falling away from the rim. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, made one.

George -- -- Nice help D swat on Miles from behind. Kobe found him in transition and Devean hit a baseline jumper. He hit a jumper on the break, but he should have pitched it to the middle on the odd-number advantage, probably would have resulted in a layup on the other side of the court. Again, he messed up a break with flat pass that was easily picked off.

Walton -- -- Luke clearly was one of the stand-out players in this game. He captained the second unit to start the fourth quarter and dug the Lakers out from a hole. He ended up with 7 points on 2-3 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists and a steal in his 19 minutes. He stripped the ball from Miles in the post. He attacked, faked the pass and hit the floater. Superb push up of the fast break, going behind his back, then bounce passing to Lamar on the wing for a dunk. He drew a crowd in the lane, then kicked it to Cook, who hit a jumper as Luke was fouled under the hoop (Luke hit the FT). Out of a timeout, Luke attacked off the dribble, rocked back on the dribble, crossed over then blew past Skinner for a layup. Nice look spotting Smush open under the hoop for a layup. He hit a couple of FTs off a pick and roll with Kobe. He caused a turnover on the other end and it led to a fastbreak score. Good game from him, one of the few this season.

Turiaf -- -- In for Mihm with Kwame moving to C at the end of the first. He had to cover Miles, however...not sure what we were thinking with that sub. He picked up his first foul on a reach in mid court. He picked up his second foul shortly later on an And-1 to Miles and he had to sit. In at the 8:35 mark of the third, he was called for a foul on a defensive rebound. He then drew a clear-out foul on Randolph who tried to take Ronny off the dribble. Ronny tried to draw a charge on a drive by Dixon but was whistled for his fourth foul. Ronny picked up his fifth foul when Randolph was trying to create on him, looked like Turiaf played solid D until he put his roof down a little too low to draw the whistle. He had to sit at the 6 minute mark with his 5th foul. He had 1 board in his 4:56 of action.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha was pretty much watching from the pine in this game. He played just 6:41 and had no points and 1 board. He picked up his dribble in the corner after crossing half court, got double teamed and turned the ball over. He missed a layup on an attack to his left. He gave up an easy layup to Telfair and then got benched.

Phil -- -- Turiaf on Miles? Where's the Odom-Miles matchup we put in the last game?... Where was Kobe in the post against Blake?... Very sluggish effort and little purpose in the attack. We deviated from the game plan used the last time we faced the Blazers... The Lakers continued to play sluggish and soft to start the second half. Phil took a quick timeout. That didn't work. He then subbed out Cook for Turiaf at the 8:35 mark of the third... We were full-court pressing the small guard lineup and getting beat easily for layups or dunks... The Lakers cut the lead to start the fourth with a Cook, Lamar, Walton, George, Smush lineup. With Walton running the offense and some hustle on D by that unit, they made a dent in the lead. They started to sputter and Phil finally brought Kobe back in at the 7:11 mark after calling a timeout... "It was the second time that Blake has scored really big against us in critical situations," Phil said in the Times. If you are having trouble with Blake on the defensive end, why don't you go at him in the post at the other end? You did that in the last game. Damn...
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Islandboy
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:26 am    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 3/1 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:
stu·pid... Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-) adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est - 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.

If the Lakers cared to look how they won the last game against the Blazers, they would find several areas where they played smarter ball. If you don't want to deal with Steve Blake hitting jumpers, make him pay on the other end. Post him up, draw fouls, tire him out or have him pulled out because of a mismatch... Also, don't play under screens and sag off on a good shooter. Pretty basic concept... And if you are not going to post up a smaller guard lineup, then why do you try to run a full-court press against them? You end up playing to their strengths, not yours... Why run Turiaf on Darius Miles early in the game, when in the last game we had Lamar post up Miles and successfully cause problems throughout the game for the Blazers? And, when Lamar was on Miles in this game, we only took advantage of the post mismatch very late in the game... When you have a team in early foul trouble in the fourth quarter, keep attacking the rim, go to the post, manufacture points at the line... When you are down by three and have the ball on the offensive end on the last possession of the game, get the ball to the NBA's leading scorer instead of attacking a triple team off a screen. And if your players are prone to mental mistakes, call your last timeout to set up a play...

To win at this game, you have to play with intelligent effort. The Lakers played neither intelligent, nor with any particular effort on the defensive end until the final quarter. These are the games you have to win, if you are going to make the playoffs.


Kobe -- -- Fighting off a sinus infection, Kobe throttled things up in the third quarter when the rest of the team was not responding, as he scored 19 of his 35 points in that quarter (the rest of the team had 4 points). He did an excellent job of manufacturing points, particularly in that quarter. He went 15-15 from the line for the game and shot 10-27 overall from the floor. He led the team with 5 assists and 4 turnovers. His defense was generally soft on the night, and Blake had plenty of room to shoot. Kobe started the game slowly and gradually picked up the intensity. He had a nice no-look bounce pass to Mihm who slipped a pick and scored. He scored his first points late in the first on a couple FTs after getting an outlet pass. He turned the ball over twice in transition with some sloppy running of the break. He drew another foul on penetration and hit both FTs. He danced down the lane at the end of the first and scored a layup. He had 6 points and 3 assists after the first quarter. He stepped on the baseline for a turnover. He swished a pull-up jumper from the wing. He missed a reverse jam and a few other shots. Finally, he decided to get in the post against Blake and he overpowered him off the glass (he didn't go back to that with much purpose). He attacked at the end of the half and drew a foul, making both FTs. He swished a 17-footer straightaway. He drained a wing jumper with his heels on the three line. He spun through a double team, took a long stride and hit a hanging jumper from the FT line. He sank another long jumper with his feet on the three line. He hit a fade from the elbow off the weave. He attacked in transition and drew FTs. He continued to attack and draw FTs at the end of the third, the only Laker doing anything. After a long rest to start the fourth, he hit a jumper from about 20-feet and wanted the foul. Nice long outlet to Cook who was running the floor and it led to FTs. Lamar on Kobe: "I don't blame him shooting the ball 40 or 50 times a night," he said in the Times. "If I had his talent, I'd do the same thing. We should be embarrassed. I am."

Odom -- -- He had 17 boards in his last game against the Blazers, but just 8 in this one. He scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting and had 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers in 41:39. He hit a pull-up jumper straight away. He then seemed to disappear. He went to the bench after a couple of minutes into the second quarter. I swear I thought he had been there for the past few minutes when Meyers said it was his first rest of the night. The difference between his aggression in this game and the last Blazer match up was night and day. He bricked a baseline jumper badly. He hit a jumphook from the left block. For some reason he sagged way too far off Blake on a switch and gave up an open three. He attacked in transition aggressively and drew FTs. He hit a pull-up jumper with his feet on the three line in a two-for-one situation. He blew an alley-oop as his layup rattled out. He charged, attacking to his left. He blew past Skinner with ease for a layup. He posted up Miles and missed a jumphook from a foot away. He bricked badly on a layup, off the glass no rim. He busted down court on the break, kept running and Walton found him with a bounce pass for a dunk. He tried to create off the dribble to get past Miles rather than posting him up and he lost the ball. Finally, he posted up on Miles, spun around him, pumped faked the help defender and scored a layup with a minute left. He then took an offensive board away from Miles and scored after a critical miss by Kobe with under a minute left. Too little, too late against Miles.

Mihm -- -- Chris was the only starter not to get to double figures. The Lakers were better when they went with a smaller lineup to match up against the Blazers small lineups. He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, had 3 boards and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. He scored a layup, slipping a pick and getting the bounce pass from Kobe for a layup. He hit a nice jumphook off the left block. He swatted penetration with some quick reaction in semi-transition. He swished a 15-footer straight away. He picked up his second foul at the end of the first and had to sit. He didn't do much the rest of the game.

Smush -- -- Down by three, after a big defensive stop, we bring the ball up court, Smush then attacks around a screen into a triple team and loses the ball for a dunk the other way with 10 seconds left. Ballgame. Smush was playing okay before that, although his intensity seemed to only pick up late in the game. He had 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 6 boards and 2 assists with 3 turnovers. He buried a three from the corner. He hit a long jumper again from the side, this time his foot on the three line. He attacked the lane and hit a teardrop. He attacked again and got swatted. Good pass deflection on a double and it resulted in a fastbreak dunk for Lamar. He drained a wing three midway through the fourth. He scored a layup when his man left him alone cutting to the hoop and Luke found him. He pushed up the break, got into the lane and spun up a layup with 1:39 left and cut the lead to three. That was a huge play. Then, he had the crushing turnover after we brought the ball up and didn't look like we knew what we wanted to do.

Cook -- -- He gave up two offensive boards to his man and sagged too far off a pick and roll to give Blake an open jumper in crunch time. He got a lecture from Phil coming back to the bench after that one. Not good play from Cook on the defensive end, although he was part of the unit that helped the Lakers make a fourth-quarter comeback. Cook finished with 10 points on 4-9 shooting, 3 boards and 1 block in 23 minutes. He dunked off a no-look hand-off from Mihm. He missed several shots and then went to the bench midway through the first after picking up a couple of cheap fouls. He got sealed badly by Randolph and gave up a layup. He was benched just a few minutes into the third for Turiaf. He swished a wing jumper to start the fourth. He hit a jumper from the other side on a kickout from Lamar. He hit a short baseline jumper on a feed under the basket from Luke. He was fouled by Randolph, running the floor midway through the fourth, he hit both FTs.

Kwame -- -- Not much from Kwame in this game, other than getting hit in the head by an entry pass. He scored 1 points in 15 minutes and went 1-4 from the FT line. He also had 2 boards. Good first defensive stand against his man and he forced a turnover. He drew a foul after getting shoved under the hoop trying to score. He blew yet another point-blank shot, falling away from the rim. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, made one.

George -- -- Nice help D swat on Miles from behind. Kobe found him in transition and Devean hit a baseline jumper. He hit a jumper on the break, but he should have pitched it to the middle on the odd-number advantage, probably would have resulted in a layup on the other side of the court. Again, he messed up a break with flat pass that was easily picked off.

Walton -- -- Luke clearly was one of the stand-out players in this game. He captained the second unit to start the fourth quarter and dug the Lakers out from a hole. He ended up with 7 points on 2-3 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists and a steal in his 19 minutes. He stripped the ball from Miles in the post. He attacked, faked the pass and hit the floater. Superb push up of the fast break, going behind his back, then bounce passing to Lamar on the wing for a dunk. He drew a crowd in the lane, then kicked it to Cook, who hit a jumper as Luke was fouled under the hoop (Luke hit the FT). Out of a timeout, Luke attacked off the dribble, rocked back on the dribble, crossed over then blew past Skinner for a layup. Nice look spotting Smush open under the hoop for a layup. He hit a couple of FTs off a pick and roll with Kobe. He caused a turnover on the other end and it led to a fastbreak score. Good game from him, one of the few this season.

Turiaf -- -- In for Mihm with Kwame moving to C at the end of the first. He had to cover Miles, however...not sure what we were thinking with that sub. He picked up his first foul on a reach in mid court. He picked up his second foul shortly later on an And-1 to Miles and he had to sit. In at the 8:35 mark of the third, he was called for a foul on a defensive rebound. He then drew a clear-out foul on Randolph who tried to take Ronny off the dribble. Ronny tried to draw a charge on a drive by Dixon but was whistled for his fourth foul. Ronny picked up his fifth foul when Randolph was trying to create on him, looked like Turiaf played solid D until he put his roof down a little too low to draw the whistle. He had to sit at the 6 minute mark with his 5th foul. He had 1 board in his 4:56 of action.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha was pretty much watching from the pine in this game. He played just 6:41 and had no points and 1 board. He picked up his dribble in the corner after crossing half court, got double teamed and turned the ball over. He missed a layup on an attack to his left. He gave up an easy layup to Telfair and then got benched.

Phil -- -- Turiaf on Miles? Where's the Odom-Miles matchup we put in the last game?... Where was Kobe in the post against Blake?... Very sluggish effort and little purpose in the attack. We deviated from the game plan used the last time we faced the Blazers... The Lakers continued to play sluggish and soft to start the second half. Phil took a quick timeout. That didn't work. He then subbed out Cook for Turiaf at the 8:35 mark of the third... We were full-court pressing the small guard lineup and getting beat easily for layups or dunks... The Lakers cut the lead to start the fourth with a Cook, Lamar, Walton, George, Smush lineup. With Walton running the offense and some hustle on D by that unit, they made a dent in the lead. They started to sputter and Phil finally brought Kobe back in at the 7:11 mark after calling a timeout... "It was the second time that Blake has scored really big against us in critical situations," Phil said in the Times. If you are having trouble with Blake on the defensive end, why don't you go at him in the post at the other end? You did that in the last game. Damn...
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Islandboy
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:26 am    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 3/1 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:
stu·pid... Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-) adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est - 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.

If the Lakers cared to look how they won the last game against the Blazers, they would find several areas where they played smarter ball. If you don't want to deal with Steve Blake hitting jumpers, make him pay on the other end. Post him up, draw fouls, tire him out or have him pulled out because of a mismatch... Also, don't play under screens and sag off on a good shooter. Pretty basic concept... And if you are not going to post up a smaller guard lineup, then why do you try to run a full-court press against them? You end up playing to their strengths, not yours... Why run Turiaf on Darius Miles early in the game, when in the last game we had Lamar post up Miles and successfully cause problems throughout the game for the Blazers? And, when Lamar was on Miles in this game, we only took advantage of the post mismatch very late in the game... When you have a team in early foul trouble in the fourth quarter, keep attacking the rim, go to the post, manufacture points at the line... When you are down by three and have the ball on the offensive end on the last possession of the game, get the ball to the NBA's leading scorer instead of attacking a triple team off a screen. And if your players are prone to mental mistakes, call your last timeout to set up a play...

To win at this game, you have to play with intelligent effort. The Lakers played neither intelligent, nor with any particular effort on the defensive end until the final quarter. These are the games you have to win, if you are going to make the playoffs.


Kobe -- -- Fighting off a sinus infection, Kobe throttled things up in the third quarter when the rest of the team was not responding, as he scored 19 of his 35 points in that quarter (the rest of the team had 4 points). He did an excellent job of manufacturing points, particularly in that quarter. He went 15-15 from the line for the game and shot 10-27 overall from the floor. He led the team with 5 assists and 4 turnovers. His defense was generally soft on the night, and Blake had plenty of room to shoot. Kobe started the game slowly and gradually picked up the intensity. He had a nice no-look bounce pass to Mihm who slipped a pick and scored. He scored his first points late in the first on a couple FTs after getting an outlet pass. He turned the ball over twice in transition with some sloppy running of the break. He drew another foul on penetration and hit both FTs. He danced down the lane at the end of the first and scored a layup. He had 6 points and 3 assists after the first quarter. He stepped on the baseline for a turnover. He swished a pull-up jumper from the wing. He missed a reverse jam and a few other shots. Finally, he decided to get in the post against Blake and he overpowered him off the glass (he didn't go back to that with much purpose). He attacked at the end of the half and drew a foul, making both FTs. He swished a 17-footer straightaway. He drained a wing jumper with his heels on the three line. He spun through a double team, took a long stride and hit a hanging jumper from the FT line. He sank another long jumper with his feet on the three line. He hit a fade from the elbow off the weave. He attacked in transition and drew FTs. He continued to attack and draw FTs at the end of the third, the only Laker doing anything. After a long rest to start the fourth, he hit a jumper from about 20-feet and wanted the foul. Nice long outlet to Cook who was running the floor and it led to FTs. Lamar on Kobe: "I don't blame him shooting the ball 40 or 50 times a night," he said in the Times. "If I had his talent, I'd do the same thing. We should be embarrassed. I am."

Odom -- -- He had 17 boards in his last game against the Blazers, but just 8 in this one. He scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting and had 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers in 41:39. He hit a pull-up jumper straight away. He then seemed to disappear. He went to the bench after a couple of minutes into the second quarter. I swear I thought he had been there for the past few minutes when Meyers said it was his first rest of the night. The difference between his aggression in this game and the last Blazer match up was night and day. He bricked a baseline jumper badly. He hit a jumphook from the left block. For some reason he sagged way too far off Blake on a switch and gave up an open three. He attacked in transition aggressively and drew FTs. He hit a pull-up jumper with his feet on the three line in a two-for-one situation. He blew an alley-oop as his layup rattled out. He charged, attacking to his left. He blew past Skinner with ease for a layup. He posted up Miles and missed a jumphook from a foot away. He bricked badly on a layup, off the glass no rim. He busted down court on the break, kept running and Walton found him with a bounce pass for a dunk. He tried to create off the dribble to get past Miles rather than posting him up and he lost the ball. Finally, he posted up on Miles, spun around him, pumped faked the help defender and scored a layup with a minute left. He then took an offensive board away from Miles and scored after a critical miss by Kobe with under a minute left. Too little, too late against Miles.

Mihm -- -- Chris was the only starter not to get to double figures. The Lakers were better when they went with a smaller lineup to match up against the Blazers small lineups. He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, had 3 boards and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. He scored a layup, slipping a pick and getting the bounce pass from Kobe for a layup. He hit a nice jumphook off the left block. He swatted penetration with some quick reaction in semi-transition. He swished a 15-footer straight away. He picked up his second foul at the end of the first and had to sit. He didn't do much the rest of the game.

Smush -- -- Down by three, after a big defensive stop, we bring the ball up court, Smush then attacks around a screen into a triple team and loses the ball for a dunk the other way with 10 seconds left. Ballgame. Smush was playing okay before that, although his intensity seemed to only pick up late in the game. He had 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 6 boards and 2 assists with 3 turnovers. He buried a three from the corner. He hit a long jumper again from the side, this time his foot on the three line. He attacked the lane and hit a teardrop. He attacked again and got swatted. Good pass deflection on a double and it resulted in a fastbreak dunk for Lamar. He drained a wing three midway through the fourth. He scored a layup when his man left him alone cutting to the hoop and Luke found him. He pushed up the break, got into the lane and spun up a layup with 1:39 left and cut the lead to three. That was a huge play. Then, he had the crushing turnover after we brought the ball up and didn't look like we knew what we wanted to do.

Cook -- -- He gave up two offensive boards to his man and sagged too far off a pick and roll to give Blake an open jumper in crunch time. He got a lecture from Phil coming back to the bench after that one. Not good play from Cook on the defensive end, although he was part of the unit that helped the Lakers make a fourth-quarter comeback. Cook finished with 10 points on 4-9 shooting, 3 boards and 1 block in 23 minutes. He dunked off a no-look hand-off from Mihm. He missed several shots and then went to the bench midway through the first after picking up a couple of cheap fouls. He got sealed badly by Randolph and gave up a layup. He was benched just a few minutes into the third for Turiaf. He swished a wing jumper to start the fourth. He hit a jumper from the other side on a kickout from Lamar. He hit a short baseline jumper on a feed under the basket from Luke. He was fouled by Randolph, running the floor midway through the fourth, he hit both FTs.

Kwame -- -- Not much from Kwame in this game, other than getting hit in the head by an entry pass. He scored 1 points in 15 minutes and went 1-4 from the FT line. He also had 2 boards. Good first defensive stand against his man and he forced a turnover. He drew a foul after getting shoved under the hoop trying to score. He blew yet another point-blank shot, falling away from the rim. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, made one.

George -- -- Nice help D swat on Miles from behind. Kobe found him in transition and Devean hit a baseline jumper. He hit a jumper on the break, but he should have pitched it to the middle on the odd-number advantage, probably would have resulted in a layup on the other side of the court. Again, he messed up a break with flat pass that was easily picked off.

Walton -- -- Luke clearly was one of the stand-out players in this game. He captained the second unit to start the fourth quarter and dug the Lakers out from a hole. He ended up with 7 points on 2-3 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists and a steal in his 19 minutes. He stripped the ball from Miles in the post. He attacked, faked the pass and hit the floater. Superb push up of the fast break, going behind his back, then bounce passing to Lamar on the wing for a dunk. He drew a crowd in the lane, then kicked it to Cook, who hit a jumper as Luke was fouled under the hoop (Luke hit the FT). Out of a timeout, Luke attacked off the dribble, rocked back on the dribble, crossed over then blew past Skinner for a layup. Nice look spotting Smush open under the hoop for a layup. He hit a couple of FTs off a pick and roll with Kobe. He caused a turnover on the other end and it led to a fastbreak score. Good game from him, one of the few this season.

Turiaf -- -- In for Mihm with Kwame moving to C at the end of the first. He had to cover Miles, however...not sure what we were thinking with that sub. He picked up his first foul on a reach in mid court. He picked up his second foul shortly later on an And-1 to Miles and he had to sit. In at the 8:35 mark of the third, he was called for a foul on a defensive rebound. He then drew a clear-out foul on Randolph who tried to take Ronny off the dribble. Ronny tried to draw a charge on a drive by Dixon but was whistled for his fourth foul. Ronny picked up his fifth foul when Randolph was trying to create on him, looked like Turiaf played solid D until he put his roof down a little too low to draw the whistle. He had to sit at the 6 minute mark with his 5th foul. He had 1 board in his 4:56 of action.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha was pretty much watching from the pine in this game. He played just 6:41 and had no points and 1 board. He picked up his dribble in the corner after crossing half court, got double teamed and turned the ball over. He missed a layup on an attack to his left. He gave up an easy layup to Telfair and then got benched.

Phil -- -- Turiaf on Miles? Where's the Odom-Miles matchup we put in the last game?... Where was Kobe in the post against Blake?... Very sluggish effort and little purpose in the attack. We deviated from the game plan used the last time we faced the Blazers... The Lakers continued to play sluggish and soft to start the second half. Phil took a quick timeout. That didn't work. He then subbed out Cook for Turiaf at the 8:35 mark of the third... We were full-court pressing the small guard lineup and getting beat easily for layups or dunks... The Lakers cut the lead to start the fourth with a Cook, Lamar, Walton, George, Smush lineup. With Walton running the offense and some hustle on D by that unit, they made a dent in the lead. They started to sputter and Phil finally brought Kobe back in at the 7:11 mark after calling a timeout... "It was the second time that Blake has scored really big against us in critical situations," Phil said in the Times. If you are having trouble with Blake on the defensive end, why don't you go at him in the post at the other end? You did that in the last game. Damn...
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Islandboy
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:26 am    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 3/1 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:
stu·pid... Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-) adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est - 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.

If the Lakers cared to look how they won the last game against the Blazers, they would find several areas where they played smarter ball. If you don't want to deal with Steve Blake hitting jumpers, make him pay on the other end. Post him up, draw fouls, tire him out or have him pulled out because of a mismatch... Also, don't play under screens and sag off on a good shooter. Pretty basic concept... And if you are not going to post up a smaller guard lineup, then why do you try to run a full-court press against them? You end up playing to their strengths, not yours... Why run Turiaf on Darius Miles early in the game, when in the last game we had Lamar post up Miles and successfully cause problems throughout the game for the Blazers? And, when Lamar was on Miles in this game, we only took advantage of the post mismatch very late in the game... When you have a team in early foul trouble in the fourth quarter, keep attacking the rim, go to the post, manufacture points at the line... When you are down by three and have the ball on the offensive end on the last possession of the game, get the ball to the NBA's leading scorer instead of attacking a triple team off a screen. And if your players are prone to mental mistakes, call your last timeout to set up a play...

To win at this game, you have to play with intelligent effort. The Lakers played neither intelligent, nor with any particular effort on the defensive end until the final quarter. These are the games you have to win, if you are going to make the playoffs.


Kobe -- -- Fighting off a sinus infection, Kobe throttled things up in the third quarter when the rest of the team was not responding, as he scored 19 of his 35 points in that quarter (the rest of the team had 4 points). He did an excellent job of manufacturing points, particularly in that quarter. He went 15-15 from the line for the game and shot 10-27 overall from the floor. He led the team with 5 assists and 4 turnovers. His defense was generally soft on the night, and Blake had plenty of room to shoot. Kobe started the game slowly and gradually picked up the intensity. He had a nice no-look bounce pass to Mihm who slipped a pick and scored. He scored his first points late in the first on a couple FTs after getting an outlet pass. He turned the ball over twice in transition with some sloppy running of the break. He drew another foul on penetration and hit both FTs. He danced down the lane at the end of the first and scored a layup. He had 6 points and 3 assists after the first quarter. He stepped on the baseline for a turnover. He swished a pull-up jumper from the wing. He missed a reverse jam and a few other shots. Finally, he decided to get in the post against Blake and he overpowered him off the glass (he didn't go back to that with much purpose). He attacked at the end of the half and drew a foul, making both FTs. He swished a 17-footer straightaway. He drained a wing jumper with his heels on the three line. He spun through a double team, took a long stride and hit a hanging jumper from the FT line. He sank another long jumper with his feet on the three line. He hit a fade from the elbow off the weave. He attacked in transition and drew FTs. He continued to attack and draw FTs at the end of the third, the only Laker doing anything. After a long rest to start the fourth, he hit a jumper from about 20-feet and wanted the foul. Nice long outlet to Cook who was running the floor and it led to FTs. Lamar on Kobe: "I don't blame him shooting the ball 40 or 50 times a night," he said in the Times. "If I had his talent, I'd do the same thing. We should be embarrassed. I am."

Odom -- -- He had 17 boards in his last game against the Blazers, but just 8 in this one. He scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting and had 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers in 41:39. He hit a pull-up jumper straight away. He then seemed to disappear. He went to the bench after a couple of minutes into the second quarter. I swear I thought he had been there for the past few minutes when Meyers said it was his first rest of the night. The difference between his aggression in this game and the last Blazer match up was night and day. He bricked a baseline jumper badly. He hit a jumphook from the left block. For some reason he sagged way too far off Blake on a switch and gave up an open three. He attacked in transition aggressively and drew FTs. He hit a pull-up jumper with his feet on the three line in a two-for-one situation. He blew an alley-oop as his layup rattled out. He charged, attacking to his left. He blew past Skinner with ease for a layup. He posted up Miles and missed a jumphook from a foot away. He bricked badly on a layup, off the glass no rim. He busted down court on the break, kept running and Walton found him with a bounce pass for a dunk. He tried to create off the dribble to get past Miles rather than posting him up and he lost the ball. Finally, he posted up on Miles, spun around him, pumped faked the help defender and scored a layup with a minute left. He then took an offensive board away from Miles and scored after a critical miss by Kobe with under a minute left. Too little, too late against Miles.

Mihm -- -- Chris was the only starter not to get to double figures. The Lakers were better when they went with a smaller lineup to match up against the Blazers small lineups. He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, had 3 boards and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. He scored a layup, slipping a pick and getting the bounce pass from Kobe for a layup. He hit a nice jumphook off the left block. He swatted penetration with some quick reaction in semi-transition. He swished a 15-footer straight away. He picked up his second foul at the end of the first and had to sit. He didn't do much the rest of the game.

Smush -- -- Down by three, after a big defensive stop, we bring the ball up court, Smush then attacks around a screen into a triple team and loses the ball for a dunk the other way with 10 seconds left. Ballgame. Smush was playing okay before that, although his intensity seemed to only pick up late in the game. He had 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 6 boards and 2 assists with 3 turnovers. He buried a three from the corner. He hit a long jumper again from the side, this time his foot on the three line. He attacked the lane and hit a teardrop. He attacked again and got swatted. Good pass deflection on a double and it resulted in a fastbreak dunk for Lamar. He drained a wing three midway through the fourth. He scored a layup when his man left him alone cutting to the hoop and Luke found him. He pushed up the break, got into the lane and spun up a layup with 1:39 left and cut the lead to three. That was a huge play. Then, he had the crushing turnover after we brought the ball up and didn't look like we knew what we wanted to do.

Cook -- -- He gave up two offensive boards to his man and sagged too far off a pick and roll to give Blake an open jumper in crunch time. He got a lecture from Phil coming back to the bench after that one. Not good play from Cook on the defensive end, although he was part of the unit that helped the Lakers make a fourth-quarter comeback. Cook finished with 10 points on 4-9 shooting, 3 boards and 1 block in 23 minutes. He dunked off a no-look hand-off from Mihm. He missed several shots and then went to the bench midway through the first after picking up a couple of cheap fouls. He got sealed badly by Randolph and gave up a layup. He was benched just a few minutes into the third for Turiaf. He swished a wing jumper to start the fourth. He hit a jumper from the other side on a kickout from Lamar. He hit a short baseline jumper on a feed under the basket from Luke. He was fouled by Randolph, running the floor midway through the fourth, he hit both FTs.

Kwame -- -- Not much from Kwame in this game, other than getting hit in the head by an entry pass. He scored 1 points in 15 minutes and went 1-4 from the FT line. He also had 2 boards. Good first defensive stand against his man and he forced a turnover. He drew a foul after getting shoved under the hoop trying to score. He blew yet another point-blank shot, falling away from the rim. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, made one.

George -- -- Nice help D swat on Miles from behind. Kobe found him in transition and Devean hit a baseline jumper. He hit a jumper on the break, but he should have pitched it to the middle on the odd-number advantage, probably would have resulted in a layup on the other side of the court. Again, he messed up a break with flat pass that was easily picked off.

Walton -- -- Luke clearly was one of the stand-out players in this game. He captained the second unit to start the fourth quarter and dug the Lakers out from a hole. He ended up with 7 points on 2-3 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists and a steal in his 19 minutes. He stripped the ball from Miles in the post. He attacked, faked the pass and hit the floater. Superb push up of the fast break, going behind his back, then bounce passing to Lamar on the wing for a dunk. He drew a crowd in the lane, then kicked it to Cook, who hit a jumper as Luke was fouled under the hoop (Luke hit the FT). Out of a timeout, Luke attacked off the dribble, rocked back on the dribble, crossed over then blew past Skinner for a layup. Nice look spotting Smush open under the hoop for a layup. He hit a couple of FTs off a pick and roll with Kobe. He caused a turnover on the other end and it led to a fastbreak score. Good game from him, one of the few this season.

Turiaf -- -- In for Mihm with Kwame moving to C at the end of the first. He had to cover Miles, however...not sure what we were thinking with that sub. He picked up his first foul on a reach in mid court. He picked up his second foul shortly later on an And-1 to Miles and he had to sit. In at the 8:35 mark of the third, he was called for a foul on a defensive rebound. He then drew a clear-out foul on Randolph who tried to take Ronny off the dribble. Ronny tried to draw a charge on a drive by Dixon but was whistled for his fourth foul. Ronny picked up his fifth foul when Randolph was trying to create on him, looked like Turiaf played solid D until he put his roof down a little too low to draw the whistle. He had to sit at the 6 minute mark with his 5th foul. He had 1 board in his 4:56 of action.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha was pretty much watching from the pine in this game. He played just 6:41 and had no points and 1 board. He picked up his dribble in the corner after crossing half court, got double teamed and turned the ball over. He missed a layup on an attack to his left. He gave up an easy layup to Telfair and then got benched.

Phil -- -- Turiaf on Miles? Where's the Odom-Miles matchup we put in the last game?... Where was Kobe in the post against Blake?... Very sluggish effort and little purpose in the attack. We deviated from the game plan used the last time we faced the Blazers... The Lakers continued to play sluggish and soft to start the second half. Phil took a quick timeout. That didn't work. He then subbed out Cook for Turiaf at the 8:35 mark of the third... We were full-court pressing the small guard lineup and getting beat easily for layups or dunks... The Lakers cut the lead to start the fourth with a Cook, Lamar, Walton, George, Smush lineup. With Walton running the offense and some hustle on D by that unit, they made a dent in the lead. They started to sputter and Phil finally brought Kobe back in at the 7:11 mark after calling a timeout... "It was the second time that Blake has scored really big against us in critical situations," Phil said in the Times. If you are having trouble with Blake on the defensive end, why don't you go at him in the post at the other end? You did that in the last game. Damn...
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Islandboy
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:26 am    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 3/1 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:
stu·pid... Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-) adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est - 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.

If the Lakers cared to look how they won the last game against the Blazers, they would find several areas where they played smarter ball. If you don't want to deal with Steve Blake hitting jumpers, make him pay on the other end. Post him up, draw fouls, tire him out or have him pulled out because of a mismatch... Also, don't play under screens and sag off on a good shooter. Pretty basic concept... And if you are not going to post up a smaller guard lineup, then why do you try to run a full-court press against them? You end up playing to their strengths, not yours... Why run Turiaf on Darius Miles early in the game, when in the last game we had Lamar post up Miles and successfully cause problems throughout the game for the Blazers? And, when Lamar was on Miles in this game, we only took advantage of the post mismatch very late in the game... When you have a team in early foul trouble in the fourth quarter, keep attacking the rim, go to the post, manufacture points at the line... When you are down by three and have the ball on the offensive end on the last possession of the game, get the ball to the NBA's leading scorer instead of attacking a triple team off a screen. And if your players are prone to mental mistakes, call your last timeout to set up a play...

To win at this game, you have to play with intelligent effort. The Lakers played neither intelligent, nor with any particular effort on the defensive end until the final quarter. These are the games you have to win, if you are going to make the playoffs.


Kobe -- -- Fighting off a sinus infection, Kobe throttled things up in the third quarter when the rest of the team was not responding, as he scored 19 of his 35 points in that quarter (the rest of the team had 4 points). He did an excellent job of manufacturing points, particularly in that quarter. He went 15-15 from the line for the game and shot 10-27 overall from the floor. He led the team with 5 assists and 4 turnovers. His defense was generally soft on the night, and Blake had plenty of room to shoot. Kobe started the game slowly and gradually picked up the intensity. He had a nice no-look bounce pass to Mihm who slipped a pick and scored. He scored his first points late in the first on a couple FTs after getting an outlet pass. He turned the ball over twice in transition with some sloppy running of the break. He drew another foul on penetration and hit both FTs. He danced down the lane at the end of the first and scored a layup. He had 6 points and 3 assists after the first quarter. He stepped on the baseline for a turnover. He swished a pull-up jumper from the wing. He missed a reverse jam and a few other shots. Finally, he decided to get in the post against Blake and he overpowered him off the glass (he didn't go back to that with much purpose). He attacked at the end of the half and drew a foul, making both FTs. He swished a 17-footer straightaway. He drained a wing jumper with his heels on the three line. He spun through a double team, took a long stride and hit a hanging jumper from the FT line. He sank another long jumper with his feet on the three line. He hit a fade from the elbow off the weave. He attacked in transition and drew FTs. He continued to attack and draw FTs at the end of the third, the only Laker doing anything. After a long rest to start the fourth, he hit a jumper from about 20-feet and wanted the foul. Nice long outlet to Cook who was running the floor and it led to FTs. Lamar on Kobe: "I don't blame him shooting the ball 40 or 50 times a night," he said in the Times. "If I had his talent, I'd do the same thing. We should be embarrassed. I am."

Odom -- -- He had 17 boards in his last game against the Blazers, but just 8 in this one. He scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting and had 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers in 41:39. He hit a pull-up jumper straight away. He then seemed to disappear. He went to the bench after a couple of minutes into the second quarter. I swear I thought he had been there for the past few minutes when Meyers said it was his first rest of the night. The difference between his aggression in this game and the last Blazer match up was night and day. He bricked a baseline jumper badly. He hit a jumphook from the left block. For some reason he sagged way too far off Blake on a switch and gave up an open three. He attacked in transition aggressively and drew FTs. He hit a pull-up jumper with his feet on the three line in a two-for-one situation. He blew an alley-oop as his layup rattled out. He charged, attacking to his left. He blew past Skinner with ease for a layup. He posted up Miles and missed a jumphook from a foot away. He bricked badly on a layup, off the glass no rim. He busted down court on the break, kept running and Walton found him with a bounce pass for a dunk. He tried to create off the dribble to get past Miles rather than posting him up and he lost the ball. Finally, he posted up on Miles, spun around him, pumped faked the help defender and scored a layup with a minute left. He then took an offensive board away from Miles and scored after a critical miss by Kobe with under a minute left. Too little, too late against Miles.

Mihm -- -- Chris was the only starter not to get to double figures. The Lakers were better when they went with a smaller lineup to match up against the Blazers small lineups. He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, had 3 boards and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. He scored a layup, slipping a pick and getting the bounce pass from Kobe for a layup. He hit a nice jumphook off the left block. He swatted penetration with some quick reaction in semi-transition. He swished a 15-footer straight away. He picked up his second foul at the end of the first and had to sit. He didn't do much the rest of the game.

Smush -- -- Down by three, after a big defensive stop, we bring the ball up court, Smush then attacks around a screen into a triple team and loses the ball for a dunk the other way with 10 seconds left. Ballgame. Smush was playing okay before that, although his intensity seemed to only pick up late in the game. He had 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 6 boards and 2 assists with 3 turnovers. He buried a three from the corner. He hit a long jumper again from the side, this time his foot on the three line. He attacked the lane and hit a teardrop. He attacked again and got swatted. Good pass deflection on a double and it resulted in a fastbreak dunk for Lamar. He drained a wing three midway through the fourth. He scored a layup when his man left him alone cutting to the hoop and Luke found him. He pushed up the break, got into the lane and spun up a layup with 1:39 left and cut the lead to three. That was a huge play. Then, he had the crushing turnover after we brought the ball up and didn't look like we knew what we wanted to do.

Cook -- -- He gave up two offensive boards to his man and sagged too far off a pick and roll to give Blake an open jumper in crunch time. He got a lecture from Phil coming back to the bench after that one. Not good play from Cook on the defensive end, although he was part of the unit that helped the Lakers make a fourth-quarter comeback. Cook finished with 10 points on 4-9 shooting, 3 boards and 1 block in 23 minutes. He dunked off a no-look hand-off from Mihm. He missed several shots and then went to the bench midway through the first after picking up a couple of cheap fouls. He got sealed badly by Randolph and gave up a layup. He was benched just a few minutes into the third for Turiaf. He swished a wing jumper to start the fourth. He hit a jumper from the other side on a kickout from Lamar. He hit a short baseline jumper on a feed under the basket from Luke. He was fouled by Randolph, running the floor midway through the fourth, he hit both FTs.

Kwame -- -- Not much from Kwame in this game, other than getting hit in the head by an entry pass. He scored 1 points in 15 minutes and went 1-4 from the FT line. He also had 2 boards. Good first defensive stand against his man and he forced a turnover. He drew a foul after getting shoved under the hoop trying to score. He blew yet another point-blank shot, falling away from the rim. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, made one.

George -- -- Nice help D swat on Miles from behind. Kobe found him in transition and Devean hit a baseline jumper. He hit a jumper on the break, but he should have pitched it to the middle on the odd-number advantage, probably would have resulted in a layup on the other side of the court. Again, he messed up a break with flat pass that was easily picked off.

Walton -- -- Luke clearly was one of the stand-out players in this game. He captained the second unit to start the fourth quarter and dug the Lakers out from a hole. He ended up with 7 points on 2-3 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists and a steal in his 19 minutes. He stripped the ball from Miles in the post. He attacked, faked the pass and hit the floater. Superb push up of the fast break, going behind his back, then bounce passing to Lamar on the wing for a dunk. He drew a crowd in the lane, then kicked it to Cook, who hit a jumper as Luke was fouled under the hoop (Luke hit the FT). Out of a timeout, Luke attacked off the dribble, rocked back on the dribble, crossed over then blew past Skinner for a layup. Nice look spotting Smush open under the hoop for a layup. He hit a couple of FTs off a pick and roll with Kobe. He caused a turnover on the other end and it led to a fastbreak score. Good game from him, one of the few this season.

Turiaf -- -- In for Mihm with Kwame moving to C at the end of the first. He had to cover Miles, however...not sure what we were thinking with that sub. He picked up his first foul on a reach in mid court. He picked up his second foul shortly later on an And-1 to Miles and he had to sit. In at the 8:35 mark of the third, he was called for a foul on a defensive rebound. He then drew a clear-out foul on Randolph who tried to take Ronny off the dribble. Ronny tried to draw a charge on a drive by Dixon but was whistled for his fourth foul. Ronny picked up his fifth foul when Randolph was trying to create on him, looked like Turiaf played solid D until he put his roof down a little too low to draw the whistle. He had to sit at the 6 minute mark with his 5th foul. He had 1 board in his 4:56 of action.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha was pretty much watching from the pine in this game. He played just 6:41 and had no points and 1 board. He picked up his dribble in the corner after crossing half court, got double teamed and turned the ball over. He missed a layup on an attack to his left. He gave up an easy layup to Telfair and then got benched.

Phil -- -- Turiaf on Miles? Where's the Odom-Miles matchup we put in the last game?... Where was Kobe in the post against Blake?... Very sluggish effort and little purpose in the attack. We deviated from the game plan used the last time we faced the Blazers... The Lakers continued to play sluggish and soft to start the second half. Phil took a quick timeout. That didn't work. He then subbed out Cook for Turiaf at the 8:35 mark of the third... We were full-court pressing the small guard lineup and getting beat easily for layups or dunks... The Lakers cut the lead to start the fourth with a Cook, Lamar, Walton, George, Smush lineup. With Walton running the offense and some hustle on D by that unit, they made a dent in the lead. They started to sputter and Phil finally brought Kobe back in at the 7:11 mark after calling a timeout... "It was the second time that Blake has scored really big against us in critical situations," Phil said in the Times. If you are having trouble with Blake on the defensive end, why don't you go at him in the post at the other end? You did that in the last game. Damn...
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Islandboy
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:26 am    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 3/1 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:
stu·pid... Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-) adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est - 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.

If the Lakers cared to look how they won the last game against the Blazers, they would find several areas where they played smarter ball. If you don't want to deal with Steve Blake hitting jumpers, make him pay on the other end. Post him up, draw fouls, tire him out or have him pulled out because of a mismatch... Also, don't play under screens and sag off on a good shooter. Pretty basic concept... And if you are not going to post up a smaller guard lineup, then why do you try to run a full-court press against them? You end up playing to their strengths, not yours... Why run Turiaf on Darius Miles early in the game, when in the last game we had Lamar post up Miles and successfully cause problems throughout the game for the Blazers? And, when Lamar was on Miles in this game, we only took advantage of the post mismatch very late in the game... When you have a team in early foul trouble in the fourth quarter, keep attacking the rim, go to the post, manufacture points at the line... When you are down by three and have the ball on the offensive end on the last possession of the game, get the ball to the NBA's leading scorer instead of attacking a triple team off a screen. And if your players are prone to mental mistakes, call your last timeout to set up a play...

To win at this game, you have to play with intelligent effort. The Lakers played neither intelligent, nor with any particular effort on the defensive end until the final quarter. These are the games you have to win, if you are going to make the playoffs.


Kobe -- -- Fighting off a sinus infection, Kobe throttled things up in the third quarter when the rest of the team was not responding, as he scored 19 of his 35 points in that quarter (the rest of the team had 4 points). He did an excellent job of manufacturing points, particularly in that quarter. He went 15-15 from the line for the game and shot 10-27 overall from the floor. He led the team with 5 assists and 4 turnovers. His defense was generally soft on the night, and Blake had plenty of room to shoot. Kobe started the game slowly and gradually picked up the intensity. He had a nice no-look bounce pass to Mihm who slipped a pick and scored. He scored his first points late in the first on a couple FTs after getting an outlet pass. He turned the ball over twice in transition with some sloppy running of the break. He drew another foul on penetration and hit both FTs. He danced down the lane at the end of the first and scored a layup. He had 6 points and 3 assists after the first quarter. He stepped on the baseline for a turnover. He swished a pull-up jumper from the wing. He missed a reverse jam and a few other shots. Finally, he decided to get in the post against Blake and he overpowered him off the glass (he didn't go back to that with much purpose). He attacked at the end of the half and drew a foul, making both FTs. He swished a 17-footer straightaway. He drained a wing jumper with his heels on the three line. He spun through a double team, took a long stride and hit a hanging jumper from the FT line. He sank another long jumper with his feet on the three line. He hit a fade from the elbow off the weave. He attacked in transition and drew FTs. He continued to attack and draw FTs at the end of the third, the only Laker doing anything. After a long rest to start the fourth, he hit a jumper from about 20-feet and wanted the foul. Nice long outlet to Cook who was running the floor and it led to FTs. Lamar on Kobe: "I don't blame him shooting the ball 40 or 50 times a night," he said in the Times. "If I had his talent, I'd do the same thing. We should be embarrassed. I am."

Odom -- -- He had 17 boards in his last game against the Blazers, but just 8 in this one. He scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting and had 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers in 41:39. He hit a pull-up jumper straight away. He then seemed to disappear. He went to the bench after a couple of minutes into the second quarter. I swear I thought he had been there for the past few minutes when Meyers said it was his first rest of the night. The difference between his aggression in this game and the last Blazer match up was night and day. He bricked a baseline jumper badly. He hit a jumphook from the left block. For some reason he sagged way too far off Blake on a switch and gave up an open three. He attacked in transition aggressively and drew FTs. He hit a pull-up jumper with his feet on the three line in a two-for-one situation. He blew an alley-oop as his layup rattled out. He charged, attacking to his left. He blew past Skinner with ease for a layup. He posted up Miles and missed a jumphook from a foot away. He bricked badly on a layup, off the glass no rim. He busted down court on the break, kept running and Walton found him with a bounce pass for a dunk. He tried to create off the dribble to get past Miles rather than posting him up and he lost the ball. Finally, he posted up on Miles, spun around him, pumped faked the help defender and scored a layup with a minute left. He then took an offensive board away from Miles and scored after a critical miss by Kobe with under a minute left. Too little, too late against Miles.

Mihm -- -- Chris was the only starter not to get to double figures. The Lakers were better when they went with a smaller lineup to match up against the Blazers small lineups. He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, had 3 boards and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. He scored a layup, slipping a pick and getting the bounce pass from Kobe for a layup. He hit a nice jumphook off the left block. He swatted penetration with some quick reaction in semi-transition. He swished a 15-footer straight away. He picked up his second foul at the end of the first and had to sit. He didn't do much the rest of the game.

Smush -- -- Down by three, after a big defensive stop, we bring the ball up court, Smush then attacks around a screen into a triple team and loses the ball for a dunk the other way with 10 seconds left. Ballgame. Smush was playing okay before that, although his intensity seemed to only pick up late in the game. He had 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 6 boards and 2 assists with 3 turnovers. He buried a three from the corner. He hit a long jumper again from the side, this time his foot on the three line. He attacked the lane and hit a teardrop. He attacked again and got swatted. Good pass deflection on a double and it resulted in a fastbreak dunk for Lamar. He drained a wing three midway through the fourth. He scored a layup when his man left him alone cutting to the hoop and Luke found him. He pushed up the break, got into the lane and spun up a layup with 1:39 left and cut the lead to three. That was a huge play. Then, he had the crushing turnover after we brought the ball up and didn't look like we knew what we wanted to do.

Cook -- -- He gave up two offensive boards to his man and sagged too far off a pick and roll to give Blake an open jumper in crunch time. He got a lecture from Phil coming back to the bench after that one. Not good play from Cook on the defensive end, although he was part of the unit that helped the Lakers make a fourth-quarter comeback. Cook finished with 10 points on 4-9 shooting, 3 boards and 1 block in 23 minutes. He dunked off a no-look hand-off from Mihm. He missed several shots and then went to the bench midway through the first after picking up a couple of cheap fouls. He got sealed badly by Randolph and gave up a layup. He was benched just a few minutes into the third for Turiaf. He swished a wing jumper to start the fourth. He hit a jumper from the other side on a kickout from Lamar. He hit a short baseline jumper on a feed under the basket from Luke. He was fouled by Randolph, running the floor midway through the fourth, he hit both FTs.

Kwame -- -- Not much from Kwame in this game, other than getting hit in the head by an entry pass. He scored 1 points in 15 minutes and went 1-4 from the FT line. He also had 2 boards. Good first defensive stand against his man and he forced a turnover. He drew a foul after getting shoved under the hoop trying to score. He blew yet another point-blank shot, falling away from the rim. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, made one.

George -- -- Nice help D swat on Miles from behind. Kobe found him in transition and Devean hit a baseline jumper. He hit a jumper on the break, but he should have pitched it to the middle on the odd-number advantage, probably would have resulted in a layup on the other side of the court. Again, he messed up a break with flat pass that was easily picked off.

Walton -- -- Luke clearly was one of the stand-out players in this game. He captained the second unit to start the fourth quarter and dug the Lakers out from a hole. He ended up with 7 points on 2-3 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists and a steal in his 19 minutes. He stripped the ball from Miles in the post. He attacked, faked the pass and hit the floater. Superb push up of the fast break, going behind his back, then bounce passing to Lamar on the wing for a dunk. He drew a crowd in the lane, then kicked it to Cook, who hit a jumper as Luke was fouled under the hoop (Luke hit the FT). Out of a timeout, Luke attacked off the dribble, rocked back on the dribble, crossed over then blew past Skinner for a layup. Nice look spotting Smush open under the hoop for a layup. He hit a couple of FTs off a pick and roll with Kobe. He caused a turnover on the other end and it led to a fastbreak score. Good game from him, one of the few this season.

Turiaf -- -- In for Mihm with Kwame moving to C at the end of the first. He had to cover Miles, however...not sure what we were thinking with that sub. He picked up his first foul on a reach in mid court. He picked up his second foul shortly later on an And-1 to Miles and he had to sit. In at the 8:35 mark of the third, he was called for a foul on a defensive rebound. He then drew a clear-out foul on Randolph who tried to take Ronny off the dribble. Ronny tried to draw a charge on a drive by Dixon but was whistled for his fourth foul. Ronny picked up his fifth foul when Randolph was trying to create on him, looked like Turiaf played solid D until he put his roof down a little too low to draw the whistle. He had to sit at the 6 minute mark with his 5th foul. He had 1 board in his 4:56 of action.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha was pretty much watching from the pine in this game. He played just 6:41 and had no points and 1 board. He picked up his dribble in the corner after crossing half court, got double teamed and turned the ball over. He missed a layup on an attack to his left. He gave up an easy layup to Telfair and then got benched.

Phil -- -- Turiaf on Miles? Where's the Odom-Miles matchup we put in the last game?... Where was Kobe in the post against Blake?... Very sluggish effort and little purpose in the attack. We deviated from the game plan used the last time we faced the Blazers... The Lakers continued to play sluggish and soft to start the second half. Phil took a quick timeout. That didn't work. He then subbed out Cook for Turiaf at the 8:35 mark of the third... We were full-court pressing the small guard lineup and getting beat easily for layups or dunks... The Lakers cut the lead to start the fourth with a Cook, Lamar, Walton, George, Smush lineup. With Walton running the offense and some hustle on D by that unit, they made a dent in the lead. They started to sputter and Phil finally brought Kobe back in at the 7:11 mark after calling a timeout... "It was the second time that Blake has scored really big against us in critical situations," Phil said in the Times. If you are having trouble with Blake on the defensive end, why don't you go at him in the post at the other end? You did that in the last game. Damn...
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Islandboy
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:27 am    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 3/1 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:
stu·pid... Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-) adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est - 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.

If the Lakers cared to look how they won the last game against the Blazers, they would find several areas where they played smarter ball. If you don't want to deal with Steve Blake hitting jumpers, make him pay on the other end. Post him up, draw fouls, tire him out or have him pulled out because of a mismatch... Also, don't play under screens and sag off on a good shooter. Pretty basic concept... And if you are not going to post up a smaller guard lineup, then why do you try to run a full-court press against them? You end up playing to their strengths, not yours... Why run Turiaf on Darius Miles early in the game, when in the last game we had Lamar post up Miles and successfully cause problems throughout the game for the Blazers? And, when Lamar was on Miles in this game, we only took advantage of the post mismatch very late in the game... When you have a team in early foul trouble in the fourth quarter, keep attacking the rim, go to the post, manufacture points at the line... When you are down by three and have the ball on the offensive end on the last possession of the game, get the ball to the NBA's leading scorer instead of attacking a triple team off a screen. And if your players are prone to mental mistakes, call your last timeout to set up a play...

To win at this game, you have to play with intelligent effort. The Lakers played neither intelligent, nor with any particular effort on the defensive end until the final quarter. These are the games you have to win, if you are going to make the playoffs.


Kobe -- -- Fighting off a sinus infection, Kobe throttled things up in the third quarter when the rest of the team was not responding, as he scored 19 of his 35 points in that quarter (the rest of the team had 4 points). He did an excellent job of manufacturing points, particularly in that quarter. He went 15-15 from the line for the game and shot 10-27 overall from the floor. He led the team with 5 assists and 4 turnovers. His defense was generally soft on the night, and Blake had plenty of room to shoot. Kobe started the game slowly and gradually picked up the intensity. He had a nice no-look bounce pass to Mihm who slipped a pick and scored. He scored his first points late in the first on a couple FTs after getting an outlet pass. He turned the ball over twice in transition with some sloppy running of the break. He drew another foul on penetration and hit both FTs. He danced down the lane at the end of the first and scored a layup. He had 6 points and 3 assists after the first quarter. He stepped on the baseline for a turnover. He swished a pull-up jumper from the wing. He missed a reverse jam and a few other shots. Finally, he decided to get in the post against Blake and he overpowered him off the glass (he didn't go back to that with much purpose). He attacked at the end of the half and drew a foul, making both FTs. He swished a 17-footer straightaway. He drained a wing jumper with his heels on the three line. He spun through a double team, took a long stride and hit a hanging jumper from the FT line. He sank another long jumper with his feet on the three line. He hit a fade from the elbow off the weave. He attacked in transition and drew FTs. He continued to attack and draw FTs at the end of the third, the only Laker doing anything. After a long rest to start the fourth, he hit a jumper from about 20-feet and wanted the foul. Nice long outlet to Cook who was running the floor and it led to FTs. Lamar on Kobe: "I don't blame him shooting the ball 40 or 50 times a night," he said in the Times. "If I had his talent, I'd do the same thing. We should be embarrassed. I am."

Odom -- -- He had 17 boards in his last game against the Blazers, but just 8 in this one. He scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting and had 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers in 41:39. He hit a pull-up jumper straight away. He then seemed to disappear. He went to the bench after a couple of minutes into the second quarter. I swear I thought he had been there for the past few minutes when Meyers said it was his first rest of the night. The difference between his aggression in this game and the last Blazer match up was night and day. He bricked a baseline jumper badly. He hit a jumphook from the left block. For some reason he sagged way too far off Blake on a switch and gave up an open three. He attacked in transition aggressively and drew FTs. He hit a pull-up jumper with his feet on the three line in a two-for-one situation. He blew an alley-oop as his layup rattled out. He charged, attacking to his left. He blew past Skinner with ease for a layup. He posted up Miles and missed a jumphook from a foot away. He bricked badly on a layup, off the glass no rim. He busted down court on the break, kept running and Walton found him with a bounce pass for a dunk. He tried to create off the dribble to get past Miles rather than posting him up and he lost the ball. Finally, he posted up on Miles, spun around him, pumped faked the help defender and scored a layup with a minute left. He then took an offensive board away from Miles and scored after a critical miss by Kobe with under a minute left. Too little, too late against Miles.

Mihm -- -- Chris was the only starter not to get to double figures. The Lakers were better when they went with a smaller lineup to match up against the Blazers small lineups. He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, had 3 boards and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. He scored a layup, slipping a pick and getting the bounce pass from Kobe for a layup. He hit a nice jumphook off the left block. He swatted penetration with some quick reaction in semi-transition. He swished a 15-footer straight away. He picked up his second foul at the end of the first and had to sit. He didn't do much the rest of the game.

Smush -- -- Down by three, after a big defensive stop, we bring the ball up court, Smush then attacks around a screen into a triple team and loses the ball for a dunk the other way with 10 seconds left. Ballgame. Smush was playing okay before that, although his intensity seemed to only pick up late in the game. He had 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 6 boards and 2 assists with 3 turnovers. He buried a three from the corner. He hit a long jumper again from the side, this time his foot on the three line. He attacked the lane and hit a teardrop. He attacked again and got swatted. Good pass deflection on a double and it resulted in a fastbreak dunk for Lamar. He drained a wing three midway through the fourth. He scored a layup when his man left him alone cutting to the hoop and Luke found him. He pushed up the break, got into the lane and spun up a layup with 1:39 left and cut the lead to three. That was a huge play. Then, he had the crushing turnover after we brought the ball up and didn't look like we knew what we wanted to do.

Cook -- -- He gave up two offensive boards to his man and sagged too far off a pick and roll to give Blake an open jumper in crunch time. He got a lecture from Phil coming back to the bench after that one. Not good play from Cook on the defensive end, although he was part of the unit that helped the Lakers make a fourth-quarter comeback. Cook finished with 10 points on 4-9 shooting, 3 boards and 1 block in 23 minutes. He dunked off a no-look hand-off from Mihm. He missed several shots and then went to the bench midway through the first after picking up a couple of cheap fouls. He got sealed badly by Randolph and gave up a layup. He was benched just a few minutes into the third for Turiaf. He swished a wing jumper to start the fourth. He hit a jumper from the other side on a kickout from Lamar. He hit a short baseline jumper on a feed under the basket from Luke. He was fouled by Randolph, running the floor midway through the fourth, he hit both FTs.

Kwame -- -- Not much from Kwame in this game, other than getting hit in the head by an entry pass. He scored 1 points in 15 minutes and went 1-4 from the FT line. He also had 2 boards. Good first defensive stand against his man and he forced a turnover. He drew a foul after getting shoved under the hoop trying to score. He blew yet another point-blank shot, falling away from the rim. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, made one.

George -- -- Nice help D swat on Miles from behind. Kobe found him in transition and Devean hit a baseline jumper. He hit a jumper on the break, but he should have pitched it to the middle on the odd-number advantage, probably would have resulted in a layup on the other side of the court. Again, he messed up a break with flat pass that was easily picked off.

Walton -- -- Luke clearly was one of the stand-out players in this game. He captained the second unit to start the fourth quarter and dug the Lakers out from a hole. He ended up with 7 points on 2-3 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists and a steal in his 19 minutes. He stripped the ball from Miles in the post. He attacked, faked the pass and hit the floater. Superb push up of the fast break, going behind his back, then bounce passing to Lamar on the wing for a dunk. He drew a crowd in the lane, then kicked it to Cook, who hit a jumper as Luke was fouled under the hoop (Luke hit the FT). Out of a timeout, Luke attacked off the dribble, rocked back on the dribble, crossed over then blew past Skinner for a layup. Nice look spotting Smush open under the hoop for a layup. He hit a couple of FTs off a pick and roll with Kobe. He caused a turnover on the other end and it led to a fastbreak score. Good game from him, one of the few this season.

Turiaf -- -- In for Mihm with Kwame moving to C at the end of the first. He had to cover Miles, however...not sure what we were thinking with that sub. He picked up his first foul on a reach in mid court. He picked up his second foul shortly later on an And-1 to Miles and he had to sit. In at the 8:35 mark of the third, he was called for a foul on a defensive rebound. He then drew a clear-out foul on Randolph who tried to take Ronny off the dribble. Ronny tried to draw a charge on a drive by Dixon but was whistled for his fourth foul. Ronny picked up his fifth foul when Randolph was trying to create on him, looked like Turiaf played solid D until he put his roof down a little too low to draw the whistle. He had to sit at the 6 minute mark with his 5th foul. He had 1 board in his 4:56 of action.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha was pretty much watching from the pine in this game. He played just 6:41 and had no points and 1 board. He picked up his dribble in the corner after crossing half court, got double teamed and turned the ball over. He missed a layup on an attack to his left. He gave up an easy layup to Telfair and then got benched.

Phil -- -- Turiaf on Miles? Where's the Odom-Miles matchup we put in the last game?... Where was Kobe in the post against Blake?... Very sluggish effort and little purpose in the attack. We deviated from the game plan used the last time we faced the Blazers... The Lakers continued to play sluggish and soft to start the second half. Phil took a quick timeout. That didn't work. He then subbed out Cook for Turiaf at the 8:35 mark of the third... We were full-court pressing the small guard lineup and getting beat easily for layups or dunks... The Lakers cut the lead to start the fourth with a Cook, Lamar, Walton, George, Smush lineup. With Walton running the offense and some hustle on D by that unit, they made a dent in the lead. They started to sputter and Phil finally brought Kobe back in at the 7:11 mark after calling a timeout... "It was the second time that Blake has scored really big against us in critical situations," Phil said in the Times. If you are having trouble with Blake on the defensive end, why don't you go at him in the post at the other end? You did that in the last game. Damn...
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:27 am    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 3/1 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
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DancingBarry wrote:
stu·pid... Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-) adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est - 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.

If the Lakers cared to look how they won the last game against the Blazers, they would find several areas where they played smarter ball. If you don't want to deal with Steve Blake hitting jumpers, make him pay on the other end. Post him up, draw fouls, tire him out or have him pulled out because of a mismatch... Also, don't play under screens and sag off on a good shooter. Pretty basic concept... And if you are not going to post up a smaller guard lineup, then why do you try to run a full-court press against them? You end up playing to their strengths, not yours... Why run Turiaf on Darius Miles early in the game, when in the last game we had Lamar post up Miles and successfully cause problems throughout the game for the Blazers? And, when Lamar was on Miles in this game, we only took advantage of the post mismatch very late in the game... When you have a team in early foul trouble in the fourth quarter, keep attacking the rim, go to the post, manufacture points at the line... When you are down by three and have the ball on the offensive end on the last possession of the game, get the ball to the NBA's leading scorer instead of attacking a triple team off a screen. And if your players are prone to mental mistakes, call your last timeout to set up a play...

To win at this game, you have to play with intelligent effort. The Lakers played neither intelligent, nor with any particular effort on the defensive end until the final quarter. These are the games you have to win, if you are going to make the playoffs.


Kobe -- -- Fighting off a sinus infection, Kobe throttled things up in the third quarter when the rest of the team was not responding, as he scored 19 of his 35 points in that quarter (the rest of the team had 4 points). He did an excellent job of manufacturing points, particularly in that quarter. He went 15-15 from the line for the game and shot 10-27 overall from the floor. He led the team with 5 assists and 4 turnovers. His defense was generally soft on the night, and Blake had plenty of room to shoot. Kobe started the game slowly and gradually picked up the intensity. He had a nice no-look bounce pass to Mihm who slipped a pick and scored. He scored his first points late in the first on a couple FTs after getting an outlet pass. He turned the ball over twice in transition with some sloppy running of the break. He drew another foul on penetration and hit both FTs. He danced down the lane at the end of the first and scored a layup. He had 6 points and 3 assists after the first quarter. He stepped on the baseline for a turnover. He swished a pull-up jumper from the wing. He missed a reverse jam and a few other shots. Finally, he decided to get in the post against Blake and he overpowered him off the glass (he didn't go back to that with much purpose). He attacked at the end of the half and drew a foul, making both FTs. He swished a 17-footer straightaway. He drained a wing jumper with his heels on the three line. He spun through a double team, took a long stride and hit a hanging jumper from the FT line. He sank another long jumper with his feet on the three line. He hit a fade from the elbow off the weave. He attacked in transition and drew FTs. He continued to attack and draw FTs at the end of the third, the only Laker doing anything. After a long rest to start the fourth, he hit a jumper from about 20-feet and wanted the foul. Nice long outlet to Cook who was running the floor and it led to FTs. Lamar on Kobe: "I don't blame him shooting the ball 40 or 50 times a night," he said in the Times. "If I had his talent, I'd do the same thing. We should be embarrassed. I am."

Odom -- -- He had 17 boards in his last game against the Blazers, but just 8 in this one. He scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting and had 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers in 41:39. He hit a pull-up jumper straight away. He then seemed to disappear. He went to the bench after a couple of minutes into the second quarter. I swear I thought he had been there for the past few minutes when Meyers said it was his first rest of the night. The difference between his aggression in this game and the last Blazer match up was night and day. He bricked a baseline jumper badly. He hit a jumphook from the left block. For some reason he sagged way too far off Blake on a switch and gave up an open three. He attacked in transition aggressively and drew FTs. He hit a pull-up jumper with his feet on the three line in a two-for-one situation. He blew an alley-oop as his layup rattled out. He charged, attacking to his left. He blew past Skinner with ease for a layup. He posted up Miles and missed a jumphook from a foot away. He bricked badly on a layup, off the glass no rim. He busted down court on the break, kept running and Walton found him with a bounce pass for a dunk. He tried to create off the dribble to get past Miles rather than posting him up and he lost the ball. Finally, he posted up on Miles, spun around him, pumped faked the help defender and scored a layup with a minute left. He then took an offensive board away from Miles and scored after a critical miss by Kobe with under a minute left. Too little, too late against Miles.

Mihm -- -- Chris was the only starter not to get to double figures. The Lakers were better when they went with a smaller lineup to match up against the Blazers small lineups. He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, had 3 boards and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. He scored a layup, slipping a pick and getting the bounce pass from Kobe for a layup. He hit a nice jumphook off the left block. He swatted penetration with some quick reaction in semi-transition. He swished a 15-footer straight away. He picked up his second foul at the end of the first and had to sit. He didn't do much the rest of the game.

Smush -- -- Down by three, after a big defensive stop, we bring the ball up court, Smush then attacks around a screen into a triple team and loses the ball for a dunk the other way with 10 seconds left. Ballgame. Smush was playing okay before that, although his intensity seemed to only pick up late in the game. He had 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 6 boards and 2 assists with 3 turnovers. He buried a three from the corner. He hit a long jumper again from the side, this time his foot on the three line. He attacked the lane and hit a teardrop. He attacked again and got swatted. Good pass deflection on a double and it resulted in a fastbreak dunk for Lamar. He drained a wing three midway through the fourth. He scored a layup when his man left him alone cutting to the hoop and Luke found him. He pushed up the break, got into the lane and spun up a layup with 1:39 left and cut the lead to three. That was a huge play. Then, he had the crushing turnover after we brought the ball up and didn't look like we knew what we wanted to do.

Cook -- -- He gave up two offensive boards to his man and sagged too far off a pick and roll to give Blake an open jumper in crunch time. He got a lecture from Phil coming back to the bench after that one. Not good play from Cook on the defensive end, although he was part of the unit that helped the Lakers make a fourth-quarter comeback. Cook finished with 10 points on 4-9 shooting, 3 boards and 1 block in 23 minutes. He dunked off a no-look hand-off from Mihm. He missed several shots and then went to the bench midway through the first after picking up a couple of cheap fouls. He got sealed badly by Randolph and gave up a layup. He was benched just a few minutes into the third for Turiaf. He swished a wing jumper to start the fourth. He hit a jumper from the other side on a kickout from Lamar. He hit a short baseline jumper on a feed under the basket from Luke. He was fouled by Randolph, running the floor midway through the fourth, he hit both FTs.

Kwame -- -- Not much from Kwame in this game, other than getting hit in the head by an entry pass. He scored 1 points in 15 minutes and went 1-4 from the FT line. He also had 2 boards. Good first defensive stand against his man and he forced a turnover. He drew a foul after getting shoved under the hoop trying to score. He blew yet another point-blank shot, falling away from the rim. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, made one.

George -- -- Nice help D swat on Miles from behind. Kobe found him in transition and Devean hit a baseline jumper. He hit a jumper on the break, but he should have pitched it to the middle on the odd-number advantage, probably would have resulted in a layup on the other side of the court. Again, he messed up a break with flat pass that was easily picked off.

Walton -- -- Luke clearly was one of the stand-out players in this game. He captained the second unit to start the fourth quarter and dug the Lakers out from a hole. He ended up with 7 points on 2-3 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists and a steal in his 19 minutes. He stripped the ball from Miles in the post. He attacked, faked the pass and hit the floater. Superb push up of the fast break, going behind his back, then bounce passing to Lamar on the wing for a dunk. He drew a crowd in the lane, then kicked it to Cook, who hit a jumper as Luke was fouled under the hoop (Luke hit the FT). Out of a timeout, Luke attacked off the dribble, rocked back on the dribble, crossed over then blew past Skinner for a layup. Nice look spotting Smush open under the hoop for a layup. He hit a couple of FTs off a pick and roll with Kobe. He caused a turnover on the other end and it led to a fastbreak score. Good game from him, one of the few this season.

Turiaf -- -- In for Mihm with Kwame moving to C at the end of the first. He had to cover Miles, however...not sure what we were thinking with that sub. He picked up his first foul on a reach in mid court. He picked up his second foul shortly later on an And-1 to Miles and he had to sit. In at the 8:35 mark of the third, he was called for a foul on a defensive rebound. He then drew a clear-out foul on Randolph who tried to take Ronny off the dribble. Ronny tried to draw a charge on a drive by Dixon but was whistled for his fourth foul. Ronny picked up his fifth foul when Randolph was trying to create on him, looked like Turiaf played solid D until he put his roof down a little too low to draw the whistle. He had to sit at the 6 minute mark with his 5th foul. He had 1 board in his 4:56 of action.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha was pretty much watching from the pine in this game. He played just 6:41 and had no points and 1 board. He picked up his dribble in the corner after crossing half court, got double teamed and turned the ball over. He missed a layup on an attack to his left. He gave up an easy layup to Telfair and then got benched.

Phil -- -- Turiaf on Miles? Where's the Odom-Miles matchup we put in the last game?... Where was Kobe in the post against Blake?... Very sluggish effort and little purpose in the attack. We deviated from the game plan used the last time we faced the Blazers... The Lakers continued to play sluggish and soft to start the second half. Phil took a quick timeout. That didn't work. He then subbed out Cook for Turiaf at the 8:35 mark of the third... We were full-court pressing the small guard lineup and getting beat easily for layups or dunks... The Lakers cut the lead to start the fourth with a Cook, Lamar, Walton, George, Smush lineup. With Walton running the offense and some hustle on D by that unit, they made a dent in the lead. They started to sputter and Phil finally brought Kobe back in at the 7:11 mark after calling a timeout... "It was the second time that Blake has scored really big against us in critical situations," Phil said in the Times. If you are having trouble with Blake on the defensive end, why don't you go at him in the post at the other end? You did that in the last game. Damn...
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Islandboy
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:27 am    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 3/1 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:
stu·pid... Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-) adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est - 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.

If the Lakers cared to look how they won the last game against the Blazers, they would find several areas where they played smarter ball. If you don't want to deal with Steve Blake hitting jumpers, make him pay on the other end. Post him up, draw fouls, tire him out or have him pulled out because of a mismatch... Also, don't play under screens and sag off on a good shooter. Pretty basic concept... And if you are not going to post up a smaller guard lineup, then why do you try to run a full-court press against them? You end up playing to their strengths, not yours... Why run Turiaf on Darius Miles early in the game, when in the last game we had Lamar post up Miles and successfully cause problems throughout the game for the Blazers? And, when Lamar was on Miles in this game, we only took advantage of the post mismatch very late in the game... When you have a team in early foul trouble in the fourth quarter, keep attacking the rim, go to the post, manufacture points at the line... When you are down by three and have the ball on the offensive end on the last possession of the game, get the ball to the NBA's leading scorer instead of attacking a triple team off a screen. And if your players are prone to mental mistakes, call your last timeout to set up a play...

To win at this game, you have to play with intelligent effort. The Lakers played neither intelligent, nor with any particular effort on the defensive end until the final quarter. These are the games you have to win, if you are going to make the playoffs.


Kobe -- -- Fighting off a sinus infection, Kobe throttled things up in the third quarter when the rest of the team was not responding, as he scored 19 of his 35 points in that quarter (the rest of the team had 4 points). He did an excellent job of manufacturing points, particularly in that quarter. He went 15-15 from the line for the game and shot 10-27 overall from the floor. He led the team with 5 assists and 4 turnovers. His defense was generally soft on the night, and Blake had plenty of room to shoot. Kobe started the game slowly and gradually picked up the intensity. He had a nice no-look bounce pass to Mihm who slipped a pick and scored. He scored his first points late in the first on a couple FTs after getting an outlet pass. He turned the ball over twice in transition with some sloppy running of the break. He drew another foul on penetration and hit both FTs. He danced down the lane at the end of the first and scored a layup. He had 6 points and 3 assists after the first quarter. He stepped on the baseline for a turnover. He swished a pull-up jumper from the wing. He missed a reverse jam and a few other shots. Finally, he decided to get in the post against Blake and he overpowered him off the glass (he didn't go back to that with much purpose). He attacked at the end of the half and drew a foul, making both FTs. He swished a 17-footer straightaway. He drained a wing jumper with his heels on the three line. He spun through a double team, took a long stride and hit a hanging jumper from the FT line. He sank another long jumper with his feet on the three line. He hit a fade from the elbow off the weave. He attacked in transition and drew FTs. He continued to attack and draw FTs at the end of the third, the only Laker doing anything. After a long rest to start the fourth, he hit a jumper from about 20-feet and wanted the foul. Nice long outlet to Cook who was running the floor and it led to FTs. Lamar on Kobe: "I don't blame him shooting the ball 40 or 50 times a night," he said in the Times. "If I had his talent, I'd do the same thing. We should be embarrassed. I am."

Odom -- -- He had 17 boards in his last game against the Blazers, but just 8 in this one. He scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting and had 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers in 41:39. He hit a pull-up jumper straight away. He then seemed to disappear. He went to the bench after a couple of minutes into the second quarter. I swear I thought he had been there for the past few minutes when Meyers said it was his first rest of the night. The difference between his aggression in this game and the last Blazer match up was night and day. He bricked a baseline jumper badly. He hit a jumphook from the left block. For some reason he sagged way too far off Blake on a switch and gave up an open three. He attacked in transition aggressively and drew FTs. He hit a pull-up jumper with his feet on the three line in a two-for-one situation. He blew an alley-oop as his layup rattled out. He charged, attacking to his left. He blew past Skinner with ease for a layup. He posted up Miles and missed a jumphook from a foot away. He bricked badly on a layup, off the glass no rim. He busted down court on the break, kept running and Walton found him with a bounce pass for a dunk. He tried to create off the dribble to get past Miles rather than posting him up and he lost the ball. Finally, he posted up on Miles, spun around him, pumped faked the help defender and scored a layup with a minute left. He then took an offensive board away from Miles and scored after a critical miss by Kobe with under a minute left. Too little, too late against Miles.

Mihm -- -- Chris was the only starter not to get to double figures. The Lakers were better when they went with a smaller lineup to match up against the Blazers small lineups. He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, had 3 boards and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. He scored a layup, slipping a pick and getting the bounce pass from Kobe for a layup. He hit a nice jumphook off the left block. He swatted penetration with some quick reaction in semi-transition. He swished a 15-footer straight away. He picked up his second foul at the end of the first and had to sit. He didn't do much the rest of the game.

Smush -- -- Down by three, after a big defensive stop, we bring the ball up court, Smush then attacks around a screen into a triple team and loses the ball for a dunk the other way with 10 seconds left. Ballgame. Smush was playing okay before that, although his intensity seemed to only pick up late in the game. He had 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 6 boards and 2 assists with 3 turnovers. He buried a three from the corner. He hit a long jumper again from the side, this time his foot on the three line. He attacked the lane and hit a teardrop. He attacked again and got swatted. Good pass deflection on a double and it resulted in a fastbreak dunk for Lamar. He drained a wing three midway through the fourth. He scored a layup when his man left him alone cutting to the hoop and Luke found him. He pushed up the break, got into the lane and spun up a layup with 1:39 left and cut the lead to three. That was a huge play. Then, he had the crushing turnover after we brought the ball up and didn't look like we knew what we wanted to do.

Cook -- -- He gave up two offensive boards to his man and sagged too far off a pick and roll to give Blake an open jumper in crunch time. He got a lecture from Phil coming back to the bench after that one. Not good play from Cook on the defensive end, although he was part of the unit that helped the Lakers make a fourth-quarter comeback. Cook finished with 10 points on 4-9 shooting, 3 boards and 1 block in 23 minutes. He dunked off a no-look hand-off from Mihm. He missed several shots and then went to the bench midway through the first after picking up a couple of cheap fouls. He got sealed badly by Randolph and gave up a layup. He was benched just a few minutes into the third for Turiaf. He swished a wing jumper to start the fourth. He hit a jumper from the other side on a kickout from Lamar. He hit a short baseline jumper on a feed under the basket from Luke. He was fouled by Randolph, running the floor midway through the fourth, he hit both FTs.

Kwame -- -- Not much from Kwame in this game, other than getting hit in the head by an entry pass. He scored 1 points in 15 minutes and went 1-4 from the FT line. He also had 2 boards. Good first defensive stand against his man and he forced a turnover. He drew a foul after getting shoved under the hoop trying to score. He blew yet another point-blank shot, falling away from the rim. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, made one.

George -- -- Nice help D swat on Miles from behind. Kobe found him in transition and Devean hit a baseline jumper. He hit a jumper on the break, but he should have pitched it to the middle on the odd-number advantage, probably would have resulted in a layup on the other side of the court. Again, he messed up a break with flat pass that was easily picked off.

Walton -- -- Luke clearly was one of the stand-out players in this game. He captained the second unit to start the fourth quarter and dug the Lakers out from a hole. He ended up with 7 points on 2-3 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists and a steal in his 19 minutes. He stripped the ball from Miles in the post. He attacked, faked the pass and hit the floater. Superb push up of the fast break, going behind his back, then bounce passing to Lamar on the wing for a dunk. He drew a crowd in the lane, then kicked it to Cook, who hit a jumper as Luke was fouled under the hoop (Luke hit the FT). Out of a timeout, Luke attacked off the dribble, rocked back on the dribble, crossed over then blew past Skinner for a layup. Nice look spotting Smush open under the hoop for a layup. He hit a couple of FTs off a pick and roll with Kobe. He caused a turnover on the other end and it led to a fastbreak score. Good game from him, one of the few this season.

Turiaf -- -- In for Mihm with Kwame moving to C at the end of the first. He had to cover Miles, however...not sure what we were thinking with that sub. He picked up his first foul on a reach in mid court. He picked up his second foul shortly later on an And-1 to Miles and he had to sit. In at the 8:35 mark of the third, he was called for a foul on a defensive rebound. He then drew a clear-out foul on Randolph who tried to take Ronny off the dribble. Ronny tried to draw a charge on a drive by Dixon but was whistled for his fourth foul. Ronny picked up his fifth foul when Randolph was trying to create on him, looked like Turiaf played solid D until he put his roof down a little too low to draw the whistle. He had to sit at the 6 minute mark with his 5th foul. He had 1 board in his 4:56 of action.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha was pretty much watching from the pine in this game. He played just 6:41 and had no points and 1 board. He picked up his dribble in the corner after crossing half court, got double teamed and turned the ball over. He missed a layup on an attack to his left. He gave up an easy layup to Telfair and then got benched.

Phil -- -- Turiaf on Miles? Where's the Odom-Miles matchup we put in the last game?... Where was Kobe in the post against Blake?... Very sluggish effort and little purpose in the attack. We deviated from the game plan used the last time we faced the Blazers... The Lakers continued to play sluggish and soft to start the second half. Phil took a quick timeout. That didn't work. He then subbed out Cook for Turiaf at the 8:35 mark of the third... We were full-court pressing the small guard lineup and getting beat easily for layups or dunks... The Lakers cut the lead to start the fourth with a Cook, Lamar, Walton, George, Smush lineup. With Walton running the offense and some hustle on D by that unit, they made a dent in the lead. They started to sputter and Phil finally brought Kobe back in at the 7:11 mark after calling a timeout... "It was the second time that Blake has scored really big against us in critical situations," Phil said in the Times. If you are having trouble with Blake on the defensive end, why don't you go at him in the post at the other end? You did that in the last game. Damn...
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:28 am    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 3/1 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:
stu·pid... Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-) adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est - 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.

If the Lakers cared to look how they won the last game against the Blazers, they would find several areas where they played smarter ball. If you don't want to deal with Steve Blake hitting jumpers, make him pay on the other end. Post him up, draw fouls, tire him out or have him pulled out because of a mismatch... Also, don't play under screens and sag off on a good shooter. Pretty basic concept... And if you are not going to post up a smaller guard lineup, then why do you try to run a full-court press against them? You end up playing to their strengths, not yours... Why run Turiaf on Darius Miles early in the game, when in the last game we had Lamar post up Miles and successfully cause problems throughout the game for the Blazers? And, when Lamar was on Miles in this game, we only took advantage of the post mismatch very late in the game... When you have a team in early foul trouble in the fourth quarter, keep attacking the rim, go to the post, manufacture points at the line... When you are down by three and have the ball on the offensive end on the last possession of the game, get the ball to the NBA's leading scorer instead of attacking a triple team off a screen. And if your players are prone to mental mistakes, call your last timeout to set up a play...

To win at this game, you have to play with intelligent effort. The Lakers played neither intelligent, nor with any particular effort on the defensive end until the final quarter. These are the games you have to win, if you are going to make the playoffs.


Kobe -- -- Fighting off a sinus infection, Kobe throttled things up in the third quarter when the rest of the team was not responding, as he scored 19 of his 35 points in that quarter (the rest of the team had 4 points). He did an excellent job of manufacturing points, particularly in that quarter. He went 15-15 from the line for the game and shot 10-27 overall from the floor. He led the team with 5 assists and 4 turnovers. His defense was generally soft on the night, and Blake had plenty of room to shoot. Kobe started the game slowly and gradually picked up the intensity. He had a nice no-look bounce pass to Mihm who slipped a pick and scored. He scored his first points late in the first on a couple FTs after getting an outlet pass. He turned the ball over twice in transition with some sloppy running of the break. He drew another foul on penetration and hit both FTs. He danced down the lane at the end of the first and scored a layup. He had 6 points and 3 assists after the first quarter. He stepped on the baseline for a turnover. He swished a pull-up jumper from the wing. He missed a reverse jam and a few other shots. Finally, he decided to get in the post against Blake and he overpowered him off the glass (he didn't go back to that with much purpose). He attacked at the end of the half and drew a foul, making both FTs. He swished a 17-footer straightaway. He drained a wing jumper with his heels on the three line. He spun through a double team, took a long stride and hit a hanging jumper from the FT line. He sank another long jumper with his feet on the three line. He hit a fade from the elbow off the weave. He attacked in transition and drew FTs. He continued to attack and draw FTs at the end of the third, the only Laker doing anything. After a long rest to start the fourth, he hit a jumper from about 20-feet and wanted the foul. Nice long outlet to Cook who was running the floor and it led to FTs. Lamar on Kobe: "I don't blame him shooting the ball 40 or 50 times a night," he said in the Times. "If I had his talent, I'd do the same thing. We should be embarrassed. I am."

Odom -- -- He had 17 boards in his last game against the Blazers, but just 8 in this one. He scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting and had 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers in 41:39. He hit a pull-up jumper straight away. He then seemed to disappear. He went to the bench after a couple of minutes into the second quarter. I swear I thought he had been there for the past few minutes when Meyers said it was his first rest of the night. The difference between his aggression in this game and the last Blazer match up was night and day. He bricked a baseline jumper badly. He hit a jumphook from the left block. For some reason he sagged way too far off Blake on a switch and gave up an open three. He attacked in transition aggressively and drew FTs. He hit a pull-up jumper with his feet on the three line in a two-for-one situation. He blew an alley-oop as his layup rattled out. He charged, attacking to his left. He blew past Skinner with ease for a layup. He posted up Miles and missed a jumphook from a foot away. He bricked badly on a layup, off the glass no rim. He busted down court on the break, kept running and Walton found him with a bounce pass for a dunk. He tried to create off the dribble to get past Miles rather than posting him up and he lost the ball. Finally, he posted up on Miles, spun around him, pumped faked the help defender and scored a layup with a minute left. He then took an offensive board away from Miles and scored after a critical miss by Kobe with under a minute left. Too little, too late against Miles.

Mihm -- -- Chris was the only starter not to get to double figures. The Lakers were better when they went with a smaller lineup to match up against the Blazers small lineups. He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, had 3 boards and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. He scored a layup, slipping a pick and getting the bounce pass from Kobe for a layup. He hit a nice jumphook off the left block. He swatted penetration with some quick reaction in semi-transition. He swished a 15-footer straight away. He picked up his second foul at the end of the first and had to sit. He didn't do much the rest of the game.

Smush -- -- Down by three, after a big defensive stop, we bring the ball up court, Smush then attacks around a screen into a triple team and loses the ball for a dunk the other way with 10 seconds left. Ballgame. Smush was playing okay before that, although his intensity seemed to only pick up late in the game. He had 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 6 boards and 2 assists with 3 turnovers. He buried a three from the corner. He hit a long jumper again from the side, this time his foot on the three line. He attacked the lane and hit a teardrop. He attacked again and got swatted. Good pass deflection on a double and it resulted in a fastbreak dunk for Lamar. He drained a wing three midway through the fourth. He scored a layup when his man left him alone cutting to the hoop and Luke found him. He pushed up the break, got into the lane and spun up a layup with 1:39 left and cut the lead to three. That was a huge play. Then, he had the crushing turnover after we brought the ball up and didn't look like we knew what we wanted to do.

Cook -- -- He gave up two offensive boards to his man and sagged too far off a pick and roll to give Blake an open jumper in crunch time. He got a lecture from Phil coming back to the bench after that one. Not good play from Cook on the defensive end, although he was part of the unit that helped the Lakers make a fourth-quarter comeback. Cook finished with 10 points on 4-9 shooting, 3 boards and 1 block in 23 minutes. He dunked off a no-look hand-off from Mihm. He missed several shots and then went to the bench midway through the first after picking up a couple of cheap fouls. He got sealed badly by Randolph and gave up a layup. He was benched just a few minutes into the third for Turiaf. He swished a wing jumper to start the fourth. He hit a jumper from the other side on a kickout from Lamar. He hit a short baseline jumper on a feed under the basket from Luke. He was fouled by Randolph, running the floor midway through the fourth, he hit both FTs.

Kwame -- -- Not much from Kwame in this game, other than getting hit in the head by an entry pass. He scored 1 points in 15 minutes and went 1-4 from the FT line. He also had 2 boards. Good first defensive stand against his man and he forced a turnover. He drew a foul after getting shoved under the hoop trying to score. He blew yet another point-blank shot, falling away from the rim. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, made one.

George -- -- Nice help D swat on Miles from behind. Kobe found him in transition and Devean hit a baseline jumper. He hit a jumper on the break, but he should have pitched it to the middle on the odd-number advantage, probably would have resulted in a layup on the other side of the court. Again, he messed up a break with flat pass that was easily picked off.

Walton -- -- Luke clearly was one of the stand-out players in this game. He captained the second unit to start the fourth quarter and dug the Lakers out from a hole. He ended up with 7 points on 2-3 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists and a steal in his 19 minutes. He stripped the ball from Miles in the post. He attacked, faked the pass and hit the floater. Superb push up of the fast break, going behind his back, then bounce passing to Lamar on the wing for a dunk. He drew a crowd in the lane, then kicked it to Cook, who hit a jumper as Luke was fouled under the hoop (Luke hit the FT). Out of a timeout, Luke attacked off the dribble, rocked back on the dribble, crossed over then blew past Skinner for a layup. Nice look spotting Smush open under the hoop for a layup. He hit a couple of FTs off a pick and roll with Kobe. He caused a turnover on the other end and it led to a fastbreak score. Good game from him, one of the few this season.

Turiaf -- -- In for Mihm with Kwame moving to C at the end of the first. He had to cover Miles, however...not sure what we were thinking with that sub. He picked up his first foul on a reach in mid court. He picked up his second foul shortly later on an And-1 to Miles and he had to sit. In at the 8:35 mark of the third, he was called for a foul on a defensive rebound. He then drew a clear-out foul on Randolph who tried to take Ronny off the dribble. Ronny tried to draw a charge on a drive by Dixon but was whistled for his fourth foul. Ronny picked up his fifth foul when Randolph was trying to create on him, looked like Turiaf played solid D until he put his roof down a little too low to draw the whistle. He had to sit at the 6 minute mark with his 5th foul. He had 1 board in his 4:56 of action.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha was pretty much watching from the pine in this game. He played just 6:41 and had no points and 1 board. He picked up his dribble in the corner after crossing half court, got double teamed and turned the ball over. He missed a layup on an attack to his left. He gave up an easy layup to Telfair and then got benched.

Phil -- -- Turiaf on Miles? Where's the Odom-Miles matchup we put in the last game?... Where was Kobe in the post against Blake?... Very sluggish effort and little purpose in the attack. We deviated from the game plan used the last time we faced the Blazers... The Lakers continued to play sluggish and soft to start the second half. Phil took a quick timeout. That didn't work. He then subbed out Cook for Turiaf at the 8:35 mark of the third... We were full-court pressing the small guard lineup and getting beat easily for layups or dunks... The Lakers cut the lead to start the fourth with a Cook, Lamar, Walton, George, Smush lineup. With Walton running the offense and some hustle on D by that unit, they made a dent in the lead. They started to sputter and Phil finally brought Kobe back in at the 7:11 mark after calling a timeout... "It was the second time that Blake has scored really big against us in critical situations," Phil said in the Times. If you are having trouble with Blake on the defensive end, why don't you go at him in the post at the other end? You did that in the last game. Damn...
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Islandboy
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:29 am    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 3/1 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:
stu·pid... Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-) adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est - 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.

If the Lakers cared to look how they won the last game against the Blazers, they would find several areas where they played smarter ball. If you don't want to deal with Steve Blake hitting jumpers, make him pay on the other end. Post him up, draw fouls, tire him out or have him pulled out because of a mismatch... Also, don't play under screens and sag off on a good shooter. Pretty basic concept... And if you are not going to post up a smaller guard lineup, then why do you try to run a full-court press against them? You end up playing to their strengths, not yours... Why run Turiaf on Darius Miles early in the game, when in the last game we had Lamar post up Miles and successfully cause problems throughout the game for the Blazers? And, when Lamar was on Miles in this game, we only took advantage of the post mismatch very late in the game... When you have a team in early foul trouble in the fourth quarter, keep attacking the rim, go to the post, manufacture points at the line... When you are down by three and have the ball on the offensive end on the last possession of the game, get the ball to the NBA's leading scorer instead of attacking a triple team off a screen. And if your players are prone to mental mistakes, call your last timeout to set up a play...

To win at this game, you have to play with intelligent effort. The Lakers played neither intelligent, nor with any particular effort on the defensive end until the final quarter. These are the games you have to win, if you are going to make the playoffs.


Kobe -- -- Fighting off a sinus infection, Kobe throttled things up in the third quarter when the rest of the team was not responding, as he scored 19 of his 35 points in that quarter (the rest of the team had 4 points). He did an excellent job of manufacturing points, particularly in that quarter. He went 15-15 from the line for the game and shot 10-27 overall from the floor. He led the team with 5 assists and 4 turnovers. His defense was generally soft on the night, and Blake had plenty of room to shoot. Kobe started the game slowly and gradually picked up the intensity. He had a nice no-look bounce pass to Mihm who slipped a pick and scored. He scored his first points late in the first on a couple FTs after getting an outlet pass. He turned the ball over twice in transition with some sloppy running of the break. He drew another foul on penetration and hit both FTs. He danced down the lane at the end of the first and scored a layup. He had 6 points and 3 assists after the first quarter. He stepped on the baseline for a turnover. He swished a pull-up jumper from the wing. He missed a reverse jam and a few other shots. Finally, he decided to get in the post against Blake and he overpowered him off the glass (he didn't go back to that with much purpose). He attacked at the end of the half and drew a foul, making both FTs. He swished a 17-footer straightaway. He drained a wing jumper with his heels on the three line. He spun through a double team, took a long stride and hit a hanging jumper from the FT line. He sank another long jumper with his feet on the three line. He hit a fade from the elbow off the weave. He attacked in transition and drew FTs. He continued to attack and draw FTs at the end of the third, the only Laker doing anything. After a long rest to start the fourth, he hit a jumper from about 20-feet and wanted the foul. Nice long outlet to Cook who was running the floor and it led to FTs. Lamar on Kobe: "I don't blame him shooting the ball 40 or 50 times a night," he said in the Times. "If I had his talent, I'd do the same thing. We should be embarrassed. I am."

Odom -- -- He had 17 boards in his last game against the Blazers, but just 8 in this one. He scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting and had 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers in 41:39. He hit a pull-up jumper straight away. He then seemed to disappear. He went to the bench after a couple of minutes into the second quarter. I swear I thought he had been there for the past few minutes when Meyers said it was his first rest of the night. The difference between his aggression in this game and the last Blazer match up was night and day. He bricked a baseline jumper badly. He hit a jumphook from the left block. For some reason he sagged way too far off Blake on a switch and gave up an open three. He attacked in transition aggressively and drew FTs. He hit a pull-up jumper with his feet on the three line in a two-for-one situation. He blew an alley-oop as his layup rattled out. He charged, attacking to his left. He blew past Skinner with ease for a layup. He posted up Miles and missed a jumphook from a foot away. He bricked badly on a layup, off the glass no rim. He busted down court on the break, kept running and Walton found him with a bounce pass for a dunk. He tried to create off the dribble to get past Miles rather than posting him up and he lost the ball. Finally, he posted up on Miles, spun around him, pumped faked the help defender and scored a layup with a minute left. He then took an offensive board away from Miles and scored after a critical miss by Kobe with under a minute left. Too little, too late against Miles.

Mihm -- -- Chris was the only starter not to get to double figures. The Lakers were better when they went with a smaller lineup to match up against the Blazers small lineups. He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, had 3 boards and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. He scored a layup, slipping a pick and getting the bounce pass from Kobe for a layup. He hit a nice jumphook off the left block. He swatted penetration with some quick reaction in semi-transition. He swished a 15-footer straight away. He picked up his second foul at the end of the first and had to sit. He didn't do much the rest of the game.

Smush -- -- Down by three, after a big defensive stop, we bring the ball up court, Smush then attacks around a screen into a triple team and loses the ball for a dunk the other way with 10 seconds left. Ballgame. Smush was playing okay before that, although his intensity seemed to only pick up late in the game. He had 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 6 boards and 2 assists with 3 turnovers. He buried a three from the corner. He hit a long jumper again from the side, this time his foot on the three line. He attacked the lane and hit a teardrop. He attacked again and got swatted. Good pass deflection on a double and it resulted in a fastbreak dunk for Lamar. He drained a wing three midway through the fourth. He scored a layup when his man left him alone cutting to the hoop and Luke found him. He pushed up the break, got into the lane and spun up a layup with 1:39 left and cut the lead to three. That was a huge play. Then, he had the crushing turnover after we brought the ball up and didn't look like we knew what we wanted to do.

Cook -- -- He gave up two offensive boards to his man and sagged too far off a pick and roll to give Blake an open jumper in crunch time. He got a lecture from Phil coming back to the bench after that one. Not good play from Cook on the defensive end, although he was part of the unit that helped the Lakers make a fourth-quarter comeback. Cook finished with 10 points on 4-9 shooting, 3 boards and 1 block in 23 minutes. He dunked off a no-look hand-off from Mihm. He missed several shots and then went to the bench midway through the first after picking up a couple of cheap fouls. He got sealed badly by Randolph and gave up a layup. He was benched just a few minutes into the third for Turiaf. He swished a wing jumper to start the fourth. He hit a jumper from the other side on a kickout from Lamar. He hit a short baseline jumper on a feed under the basket from Luke. He was fouled by Randolph, running the floor midway through the fourth, he hit both FTs.

Kwame -- -- Not much from Kwame in this game, other than getting hit in the head by an entry pass. He scored 1 points in 15 minutes and went 1-4 from the FT line. He also had 2 boards. Good first defensive stand against his man and he forced a turnover. He drew a foul after getting shoved under the hoop trying to score. He blew yet another point-blank shot, falling away from the rim. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, made one.

George -- -- Nice help D swat on Miles from behind. Kobe found him in transition and Devean hit a baseline jumper. He hit a jumper on the break, but he should have pitched it to the middle on the odd-number advantage, probably would have resulted in a layup on the other side of the court. Again, he messed up a break with flat pass that was easily picked off.

Walton -- -- Luke clearly was one of the stand-out players in this game. He captained the second unit to start the fourth quarter and dug the Lakers out from a hole. He ended up with 7 points on 2-3 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists and a steal in his 19 minutes. He stripped the ball from Miles in the post. He attacked, faked the pass and hit the floater. Superb push up of the fast break, going behind his back, then bounce passing to Lamar on the wing for a dunk. He drew a crowd in the lane, then kicked it to Cook, who hit a jumper as Luke was fouled under the hoop (Luke hit the FT). Out of a timeout, Luke attacked off the dribble, rocked back on the dribble, crossed over then blew past Skinner for a layup. Nice look spotting Smush open under the hoop for a layup. He hit a couple of FTs off a pick and roll with Kobe. He caused a turnover on the other end and it led to a fastbreak score. Good game from him, one of the few this season.

Turiaf -- -- In for Mihm with Kwame moving to C at the end of the first. He had to cover Miles, however...not sure what we were thinking with that sub. He picked up his first foul on a reach in mid court. He picked up his second foul shortly later on an And-1 to Miles and he had to sit. In at the 8:35 mark of the third, he was called for a foul on a defensive rebound. He then drew a clear-out foul on Randolph who tried to take Ronny off the dribble. Ronny tried to draw a charge on a drive by Dixon but was whistled for his fourth foul. Ronny picked up his fifth foul when Randolph was trying to create on him, looked like Turiaf played solid D until he put his roof down a little too low to draw the whistle. He had to sit at the 6 minute mark with his 5th foul. He had 1 board in his 4:56 of action.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha was pretty much watching from the pine in this game. He played just 6:41 and had no points and 1 board. He picked up his dribble in the corner after crossing half court, got double teamed and turned the ball over. He missed a layup on an attack to his left. He gave up an easy layup to Telfair and then got benched.

Phil -- -- Turiaf on Miles? Where's the Odom-Miles matchup we put in the last game?... Where was Kobe in the post against Blake?... Very sluggish effort and little purpose in the attack. We deviated from the game plan used the last time we faced the Blazers... The Lakers continued to play sluggish and soft to start the second half. Phil took a quick timeout. That didn't work. He then subbed out Cook for Turiaf at the 8:35 mark of the third... We were full-court pressing the small guard lineup and getting beat easily for layups or dunks... The Lakers cut the lead to start the fourth with a Cook, Lamar, Walton, George, Smush lineup. With Walton running the offense and some hustle on D by that unit, they made a dent in the lead. They started to sputter and Phil finally brought Kobe back in at the 7:11 mark after calling a timeout... "It was the second time that Blake has scored really big against us in critical situations," Phil said in the Times. If you are having trouble with Blake on the defensive end, why don't you go at him in the post at the other end? You did that in the last game. Damn...
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Islandboy
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:29 am    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- BLAZERS - 3/1 - Thoughts and :-(( ratings

Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
Islandboy wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:
stu·pid... Pronunciation Key (stpd, sty-) adj. stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est - 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied.

If the Lakers cared to look how they won the last game against the Blazers, they would find several areas where they played smarter ball. If you don't want to deal with Steve Blake hitting jumpers, make him pay on the other end. Post him up, draw fouls, tire him out or have him pulled out because of a mismatch... Also, don't play under screens and sag off on a good shooter. Pretty basic concept... And if you are not going to post up a smaller guard lineup, then why do you try to run a full-court press against them? You end up playing to their strengths, not yours... Why run Turiaf on Darius Miles early in the game, when in the last game we had Lamar post up Miles and successfully cause problems throughout the game for the Blazers? And, when Lamar was on Miles in this game, we only took advantage of the post mismatch very late in the game... When you have a team in early foul trouble in the fourth quarter, keep attacking the rim, go to the post, manufacture points at the line... When you are down by three and have the ball on the offensive end on the last possession of the game, get the ball to the NBA's leading scorer instead of attacking a triple team off a screen. And if your players are prone to mental mistakes, call your last timeout to set up a play...

To win at this game, you have to play with intelligent effort. The Lakers played neither intelligent, nor with any particular effort on the defensive end until the final quarter. These are the games you have to win, if you are going to make the playoffs.


Kobe -- -- Fighting off a sinus infection, Kobe throttled things up in the third quarter when the rest of the team was not responding, as he scored 19 of his 35 points in that quarter (the rest of the team had 4 points). He did an excellent job of manufacturing points, particularly in that quarter. He went 15-15 from the line for the game and shot 10-27 overall from the floor. He led the team with 5 assists and 4 turnovers. His defense was generally soft on the night, and Blake had plenty of room to shoot. Kobe started the game slowly and gradually picked up the intensity. He had a nice no-look bounce pass to Mihm who slipped a pick and scored. He scored his first points late in the first on a couple FTs after getting an outlet pass. He turned the ball over twice in transition with some sloppy running of the break. He drew another foul on penetration and hit both FTs. He danced down the lane at the end of the first and scored a layup. He had 6 points and 3 assists after the first quarter. He stepped on the baseline for a turnover. He swished a pull-up jumper from the wing. He missed a reverse jam and a few other shots. Finally, he decided to get in the post against Blake and he overpowered him off the glass (he didn't go back to that with much purpose). He attacked at the end of the half and drew a foul, making both FTs. He swished a 17-footer straightaway. He drained a wing jumper with his heels on the three line. He spun through a double team, took a long stride and hit a hanging jumper from the FT line. He sank another long jumper with his feet on the three line. He hit a fade from the elbow off the weave. He attacked in transition and drew FTs. He continued to attack and draw FTs at the end of the third, the only Laker doing anything. After a long rest to start the fourth, he hit a jumper from about 20-feet and wanted the foul. Nice long outlet to Cook who was running the floor and it led to FTs. Lamar on Kobe: "I don't blame him shooting the ball 40 or 50 times a night," he said in the Times. "If I had his talent, I'd do the same thing. We should be embarrassed. I am."

Odom -- -- He had 17 boards in his last game against the Blazers, but just 8 in this one. He scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting and had 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers in 41:39. He hit a pull-up jumper straight away. He then seemed to disappear. He went to the bench after a couple of minutes into the second quarter. I swear I thought he had been there for the past few minutes when Meyers said it was his first rest of the night. The difference between his aggression in this game and the last Blazer match up was night and day. He bricked a baseline jumper badly. He hit a jumphook from the left block. For some reason he sagged way too far off Blake on a switch and gave up an open three. He attacked in transition aggressively and drew FTs. He hit a pull-up jumper with his feet on the three line in a two-for-one situation. He blew an alley-oop as his layup rattled out. He charged, attacking to his left. He blew past Skinner with ease for a layup. He posted up Miles and missed a jumphook from a foot away. He bricked badly on a layup, off the glass no rim. He busted down court on the break, kept running and Walton found him with a bounce pass for a dunk. He tried to create off the dribble to get past Miles rather than posting him up and he lost the ball. Finally, he posted up on Miles, spun around him, pumped faked the help defender and scored a layup with a minute left. He then took an offensive board away from Miles and scored after a critical miss by Kobe with under a minute left. Too little, too late against Miles.

Mihm -- -- Chris was the only starter not to get to double figures. The Lakers were better when they went with a smaller lineup to match up against the Blazers small lineups. He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting, had 3 boards and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes. He scored a layup, slipping a pick and getting the bounce pass from Kobe for a layup. He hit a nice jumphook off the left block. He swatted penetration with some quick reaction in semi-transition. He swished a 15-footer straight away. He picked up his second foul at the end of the first and had to sit. He didn't do much the rest of the game.

Smush -- -- Down by three, after a big defensive stop, we bring the ball up court, Smush then attacks around a screen into a triple team and loses the ball for a dunk the other way with 10 seconds left. Ballgame. Smush was playing okay before that, although his intensity seemed to only pick up late in the game. He had 14 points on 6-10 shooting, 6 boards and 2 assists with 3 turnovers. He buried a three from the corner. He hit a long jumper again from the side, this time his foot on the three line. He attacked the lane and hit a teardrop. He attacked again and got swatted. Good pass deflection on a double and it resulted in a fastbreak dunk for Lamar. He drained a wing three midway through the fourth. He scored a layup when his man left him alone cutting to the hoop and Luke found him. He pushed up the break, got into the lane and spun up a layup with 1:39 left and cut the lead to three. That was a huge play. Then, he had the crushing turnover after we brought the ball up and didn't look like we knew what we wanted to do.

Cook -- -- He gave up two offensive boards to his man and sagged too far off a pick and roll to give Blake an open jumper in crunch time. He got a lecture from Phil coming back to the bench after that one. Not good play from Cook on the defensive end, although he was part of the unit that helped the Lakers make a fourth-quarter comeback. Cook finished with 10 points on 4-9 shooting, 3 boards and 1 block in 23 minutes. He dunked off a no-look hand-off from Mihm. He missed several shots and then went to the bench midway through the first after picking up a couple of cheap fouls. He got sealed badly by Randolph and gave up a layup. He was benched just a few minutes into the third for Turiaf. He swished a wing jumper to start the fourth. He hit a jumper from the other side on a kickout from Lamar. He hit a short baseline jumper on a feed under the basket from Luke. He was fouled by Randolph, running the floor midway through the fourth, he hit both FTs.

Kwame -- -- Not much from Kwame in this game, other than getting hit in the head by an entry pass. He scored 1 points in 15 minutes and went 1-4 from the FT line. He also had 2 boards. Good first defensive stand against his man and he forced a turnover. He drew a foul after getting shoved under the hoop trying to score. He blew yet another point-blank shot, falling away from the rim. He attacked off the dribble and drew FTs, made one.

George -- -- Nice help D swat on Miles from behind. Kobe found him in transition and Devean hit a baseline jumper. He hit a jumper on the break, but he should have pitched it to the middle on the odd-number advantage, probably would have resulted in a layup on the other side of the court. Again, he messed up a break with flat pass that was easily picked off.

Walton -- -- Luke clearly was one of the stand-out players in this game. He captained the second unit to start the fourth quarter and dug the Lakers out from a hole. He ended up with 7 points on 2-3 shooting, 2 boards, 3 assists and a steal in his 19 minutes. He stripped the ball from Miles in the post. He attacked, faked the pass and hit the floater. Superb push up of the fast break, going behind his back, then bounce passing to Lamar on the wing for a dunk. He drew a crowd in the lane, then kicked it to Cook, who hit a jumper as Luke was fouled under the hoop (Luke hit the FT). Out of a timeout, Luke attacked off the dribble, rocked back on the dribble, crossed over then blew past Skinner for a layup. Nice look spotting Smush open under the hoop for a layup. He hit a couple of FTs off a pick and roll with Kobe. He caused a turnover on the other end and it led to a fastbreak score. Good game from him, one of the few this season.

Turiaf -- -- In for Mihm with Kwame moving to C at the end of the first. He had to cover Miles, however...not sure what we were thinking with that sub. He picked up his first foul on a reach in mid court. He picked up his second foul shortly later on an And-1 to Miles and he had to sit. In at the 8:35 mark of the third, he was called for a foul on a defensive rebound. He then drew a clear-out foul on Randolph who tried to take Ronny off the dribble. Ronny tried to draw a charge on a drive by Dixon but was whistled for his fourth foul. Ronny picked up his fifth foul when Randolph was trying to create on him, looked like Turiaf played solid D until he put his roof down a little too low to draw the whistle. He had to sit at the 6 minute mark with his 5th foul. He had 1 board in his 4:56 of action.

Vujacic -- -- Sasha was pretty much watching from the pine in this game. He played just 6:41 and had no points and 1 board. He picked up his dribble in the corner after crossing half court, got double teamed and turned the ball over. He missed a layup on an attack to his left. He gave up an easy layup to Telfair and then got benched.

Phil -- -- Turiaf on Miles? Where's the Odom-Miles matchup we put in the last game?... Where was Kobe in the post against Blake?... Very sluggish effort and little purpose in the attack. We deviated from the game plan used the last time we faced the Blazers... The Lakers continued to play sluggish and soft to start the second half. Phil took a quick timeout. That didn't work. He then subbed out Cook for Turiaf at the 8:35 mark of the third... We were full-court pressing the small guard lineup and getting beat easily for layups or dunks... The Lakers cut the lead to start the fourth with a Cook, Lamar, Walton, George, Smush lineup. With Walton running the offense and some hustle on D by that unit, they made a dent in the lead. They started to sputter and Phil finally brought Kobe back in at the 7:11 mark after calling a timeout... "It was the second time that Blake has scored really big against us in critical situations," Phil said in the Times. If you are having trouble with Blake on the defensive end, why don't you go at him in the post at the other end? You did that in the last game. Damn...
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