SPURS -at- LAKERS - 12/13 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Gift-Wrapped W... With both Tim Duncan and Tony Parker out, the basketball gods handed the Lakers a golden opportunity to take a W against an elite team. Call it gift-wrapped.

The Lakers played like idiots for three quarters. Lamar Odom starred as the Invisible Man again. Kobe had some less than optimal shot selection. Several guys were sleep walking. Not even Bynum getting tossed in the third quarter fired the team up. Crime scene investigators had their chalk out and were starting to outline the cold bodies.

Then came the fourth, and the bench provided the missing sense of urgency. The pace and feel of the game changed. It went from the ugly, slow Spurs ball to the organized Laker chaos. They pulled out to a double digit lead and cruised the last few minutes to the 102-97 victory.

"You have to find a way to win a game like this," Phil said in the L.A. Times. "They can get ugly, it can get scrappy. We just had to find a combination of guys to go out there and play ball."

Bruce Bowen must love playing the Lakers, he led the Spurs with 22 as we paid him no respect again. The Lakers had 11 steals which led to fastbreaking and easy scores. Hopefully, they'll be well rested for tomorrow's game after putting it in cruise control for most of the night.


Kobe -- -- Some poor shot selection in the first half from Kobe, but he closed out with a 3-4 shooting fourth quarter and led both teams in scoring. Defensively, Kobe was on Manu to start the game while Luke was on Bowen. That (and foul trouble) turned Manu into a non-factor with 15 points on 5-17 shooting. Kobe chewed the (bleep) out of the ref who called Bynum's second tech on him. Just went after him. The Stats: He scored 30 points on 10-24 shooting (1-4 from three, 9-10 from the line), 7 boards, 3 assists and 4 steals in 38 minutes. The Action: He missed an open three. He pushed out the rebound and scored on the break. He forced an elbow jumper, although he usually hits those. He missed a three. He drew Bowen's second foul midway through the first creating off the two-man game and got to the line, he made both FTs. He reversed when Luke spotted him cutting off him along the baseline. He hit a baseline turnaround. He missed a forced jumper from 20 feet early in the offense. He signalled for the high screen, attacked and scored a layup. Kobe had 10 of the Lakers 18 first quarter points on 4-8 shooting. He missed a fading wing jumper, but created a travel in the backcourt with some pressure D. He attacked, zig-zagging in the lane and banking in the runner. He stole the ball, pushed up the break and drew FTs, he made both. He pushed the ball up, then threw it high to Bynum for the alley-oop throwdown. He stole the ball, pushed up the break, took two long strides, contact and went down hard, he got up and made both FTs. Another pump-faking forced jumper when there was plenty of time on the clock, he missed. He attacked and kicked to Luke for the open three. He had 16 points on 5-12 shooting, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in the first half. He missed a long jumper on iso (Manu was on LO, we should have went to the post). He dunked off a steal and outlet by Fish. Pressure D with Ronny and they swiped the ball from Manu, Kobe then drew the clear-path foul, he made both FTs. Good look at a jumper from the sideline and he swished. Finley hit a three over him, Kobe got tapped trying to answer on the other end. He missed a layup, got it back, but lost it out of bounds. He missed in the lane. He drew a perimeter foul on Bowen with 4 seconds left in the third, he made one FT. He had 23 points on 7-20 shooting after three quarters. Back in midway through the fourth and he attacked from the top of the key to his left and scored a layup. He swished a three straight away. He swiped the ball from Manu on the sideline, pushed it up, drew the D and fed Ronny for the dunk. Heat check 20-footer and he missed. He worked the shotclock down, then attacked and hit the fade on the baseline.

Lamar -- -- Cruddy first half by Lamar, scoring just 2 of his points. He bounced back in the second half with some more aggressive play, including some work down low. His shot was MIA from beyond the arc, in the midrange or at the FT line. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 7-14 shooting (0-3 from three, 1-4 from the line), he had 8 boards, 1 assist and 1 steal. The Action: ‪He missed a baseline jumper to start. He blew a sure dunk on the break, not focussed it looked like. He then bricked a three, short. He picked up a couple fouls late in the first quarter and had to sit. Poor stint. He created off the dribble, spun with no real effect but hit a layup over his man anyway. He picked up his third foul on Manu's drive and had to sit with 7:23 left in the second quarter. Poor first half from Lamar, he finished with 2 points on 1-4 shooting, 3 rebounds and 1 assist in 14 minutes. He posted up Manu, overpowered him and scored a layup. He posted up Manu a few minutes later and scored easily. He missed an off-balance runner. He cleaned up a fumble in the lane by Fisher for a score. Fading baseline jumper (no reason to fade) and he bricked badly. He cleaned up a Kobe miss with a putback layup. He took the pass from Luke, attacked with aggression and scored the layup. Lamar was ahead of the pack (rare for him), took the long outlet from Luke and finished the uncontested jam. He didn't hit rim on a wing three attempt. He didn't draw iron on a layup. He got it back in transition, was fouled and then had words with Finley, he made one FT. He was fouled with 10 seconds left trying to run out the clock, he missed both FTs.

DFish -- -- No Tony Parker makes life much easier. Defensively, some superb help D by Fisher. Whether it was stealing a pass or mixing it up in the paint, he made an impact on that end. Despite a poor shooting night, Fish still got some points by getting to the line. He tweaked his knee, however, and went down after Manu pushed off. He looked like he was in decent pain, but bounced back. He thought Manu banged him with his arm, maybe like arm-on-knee contact or something. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 2-8 shooting (0-3 from three, 5-6 from the line), 1 board, 2 assists and 4 steals. The Action: He missed a corner three. He looked to set up Bynum for that lob off the drive and Bynum drew a push foul on Bowen (nice to see them go after that again). He faked the shot, attacked the lane and drew FTs, he made both to start the Laker scoring. Good job scrapping in the paint to swipe a couple of balls early. He missed a pull-up jumper. He set up Luke for an open jumper. He had 3 steals in the first quarter to go with his 2 points. He got contact on an inbounds pass and went to the line (this is where those fouls drawn by Kobe and now Ariza pay off for others), he made one FT. He drew another foul on the perimeter against Manu and made both FTs. He had 5 points on 0-2 shooting (5-6 from the line) in the first half. He missed a baseline jumper and a three to start the second half. He worked that high lob play again with Bynum, but Drew couldn't finish at the front of the rim. He sank a wing jumper next time down. He attacked in transition, no one stopped him and hit a layup over Horry, getting some contact to prevent Horry from D-ing up. He missed a drive down the lane. He swiped a pass and fed Kobe for the uncontested dunk. He lost the ball attacking the paint, but LO cleaned it up. He went down with the knee injury, taking contact from Manu who pushed off for a foul, he looked in pain, but was back out there after a timeout. Aggressive D on Finley and he knocked a ball off his leg. He missed an open three from the sideline.

Luke -- -- With Luke having what Phil called a bad practice and Luke, himself, calling it a terrible one...Phil gave Luke the start. He looked about as they described. Vlad seemed to have his offense going tonight, not sure why we didn't go more to him versus Luke. Luke did have a couple moments out there. The Stats: He scored 5 points on a poor 2-7 shooting (1-4 from three), grabbed 5 boards, dished 4 assists and had 3 fouls in 26 minutes. The Action: He tried to post up and got rejected by Horry. He then missed a three. He swished a wing jumper working off the two-man game with Fish. Nice assist working the midpost, he let Kobe cut off him, made an inside pivot and fed him for the reverse layup. Out of control on the break trying to keep his dribble alive, it got stolen and turned into FTs the other way. He missed a wide open baseline jumper. He got it back and swished the open wing jumper with 3 seconds in the half. He had 5 points and 2 assists in the first half. He missed an open three (should have reposted to Lamar). He quickly turned a defensive board into a long outlet to Lamar for a dunk. Luke missed another open three.

Bynum -- -- One wonders what Bynum might have done had teammates not gotten in his face. The ref had a quick whistle on that second T and before he knew what was happening, Bynum spent the last quarter of the game in the locker room. What set Bynum off was a number of non-calls as he was working in the paint, guys hitting his arms and Bynum missing. Finally, he just lost his cool (LINK) and let a ref and Spur have it. Several Lakers tried to calm him down, but it was too late. Prior to that he was doing a good job on the boards and probably would have had another double-double with ease. Kobe on Bynum getting tossed: "Andrew should be proud of himself," he said. "First ejection. He went out in style." The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-9 shooting, pulled down 11 boards (4 offensive) and had 2 fouls in 24 minutes. The Action: He missed a jumphook. He got drilled going up for a shot after Kobe fed him, he didn't get FTs, though. He missed a jumphook, hit on the arm with no call. He missed a short jumphook off the right block, he should have used the glass. He took the high lob from Kobe and hammered it down. He went after a loose ball, grabbed it, attacked and hammered another dunk. He had 4 points on 2-5 shooting and 7 boards in the first half. He missed on a lob from Fish (same sequence between the two). He cleaned up a Kobe miss, missed himself, got it back and kind of reversed a hook in. Then Bynum picked up a foul away from the play, had words with the officials, both Kobe and Fish were trying to calm him down when another official away from the play called a second Tech on Bynum...wow, quick trigger by the refs. Bynum was tossed wtih 4:30 left in the third.

Turiaf -- -- Where Bynum left off, Ronny took over at the C spot. He brought some much needed energy to the floor as well as some anchor D. He hit the floor several times, swatting and going after loose balls. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-5 shooting, pulled down 6 boards, dished 2 assists, stole 1 ball, blocked 2 shots and had 3 fouls in 24 minutes. The Action: He upfaked at the elbow, attacked and scored a layup just beating the shotclock. Horrible inbounds pass, going right out of bounds with 1.3 left in the quarter, but he deflected both attempts by the Spurs to inbounds themselves and time ran out. He missed a layup off the two-man game with Farmar. He switched on a guard, used the baseline as a defender and stole the pass. He cleaned up Farmar penetration and a miss with a putback that might have still been on the rim. He was called for a cheap foul swatting Vaughn's drive attempt. He had 4 points on 2-3 shooting and 3 boards in the first half. Good trap with Kobe and Ronny tipped the ball away from Manu to draw a clear-path foul. He scored a layup when Ariza set him up out of the low post. He got to a missed FT by Ariza, then drew Manu's fifth foul. Great help D rejecting Vaughn's penetration. He dunked when Kobe pushed up a steal, drew the D and fed him under the hoop. He rejected Bowen's dribble penetration.

Farmar -- -- Farmar was mic'd up for the game and TNT showed how well Jordan communicates on the defensive end. Farmar was key in bringing some of that energy off the bench late in the game. When our bench is putting teams on their heels to start fourth quarters, that's when we get W's. Farmar hit a key three in the middle of the fourth that the Spurs never seemed to recover from. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-4 shooting (2-3 from three, 1-2 from the line), 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 foul in 17 minutes. The Action: Very quiet first few minutes on the floor with Kobe to close out the first quarter, then he turned it up. Great return feed to Turiaf off the two-man (I thought for sure Jordan was shooting it) but Ronny couldn't finish. Farmar hit the corner three next time down. He pushed out the break and was fouled trying to finish the And-1 (should have had it), he made one FT. He missed an open pull-up three. He missed an attack off the pinch post, but Ronny cleaned it up. he had 4 points on 1-3 shooting in the first half. He pulled down a rebound and hit Vlad in transition for a layup. He drained a wing three-pointer midway through the fourth to give the Lakers an 8-point lead.

Radmanovic -- -- Seemed like we could have used Vlad just a bit more in this one. He was perfect from the floor. We went small a lot with Luke at PF, which Vlad is also capable of playing. Just thought we should have had him out there more than Luke tonight. He did have some foul-prone ball, but he's a difference maker when he's got that stroke going. Vlad led all Lakers with a +17. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-3 shooting (2-2 from three), had 2 boards, 1 assist and 4 fouls in 17 minutes. The Action: He sank a sideline three on his first attempt. Nice no-look handoff to Sasha for the reverse layup. He gave up an And-1 to Bowen with a typical Vlad-esque challenge. He had just 3 points on only 1-1 shooting in 11 first half minutes. He buried a three on a swing pass from Ariza. He scored a layup when Sasha found him in the paint. He took the long outlet and scored a layup in transition. Vlad picked up his fourth foul on a poor call midway through the fourth, Barry jumping into him while he stood his ground around the FT line. Phil then sat him for Luke.

Ariza -- -- We saw Ariza working some aspects of the offense better in this game. He got in the post a little. We saw some nice cuts away from the ball. He even hit a jumper off a set up sequence. He didn't have an efficient shooting night, but he still made an impact. Ariza's ability to use that quick first step and make quick cuts will manufacture points in the triangle. Both he and Farmar do that well. Defensively, we also saw some more of him working that free safety position away from the ball when guys are trapping. I hope that becomes a regular thing, it should pay off. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 1-6 shooting (4-6 from the line), he had 3 boards, 2 assists and had 1 foul in 17 minutes. The Action: He cut from the weakside, took a pass and missed at the rim. He took the kickout at the three line, attacked off the dribble when his man challenged and drew FTs at the rim, he made both. He got blocked at the rim trying to finish. Very nice cut off of Bynum (cut with speed), he took the handoff and drew FTs trying to reverse, he made both FTs. He posted up and got the ball knocked loose, but Bynum cleaned it up nicely with a dunk. Great hustle to track down a long offensive board and give us a chance to get the last shot of the half (led to a Walton three). He hit a catch and shoot 17-footer out of the timeout. Next time down, he posted up, drew the D and fed Turiaf for a layup. He cut off Ronny on the next trip and drew FTs, he missed both. He missed a sideline jumper. He missed a wing 15-footer way short.

Vujacic -- -- Meh. The Stats: Sasha scored 8 points on 4-8 shooting in 13:29 of action. That green light in his head must have been bright. He also had 4 boards, 1 assist and 1 steal. The Action: He sank the catch and shoot from the top of the key. He attacked off the dribble and missed an easy one. Horrible pass in transition next time down and it resulted in a score the other way. He clanked a wing jumper on the next trip down (it's the Sasha Show and not pretty). He got beat for a layup. He hit a reverse layup cutting off Vlad. He missed an open wing three. Manu blew past him to start the fourth quarter. He swished a wing jumper cutting off the screens. He sagged of Bowen, leaving him open for a three. He missed a wing three. He created off the high screen and hit Vlad for a layup.

Phil -- -- Phil and Pop had to deal with the microphones and cameras in the huddles and locker rooms. Phil even got in his first in-game interview. Both coaches seemed amused with an undercurrent of annoyance in their interviews... The Lakers trailed 7-4 with 7:41 into the first quarter and Phil called a timeout. Looked like they could have worked for much easier shots or penetrated more, but weren't making the extra pass and were settling. Two minutes later the score was 7-6. Yuck... We brought in Ariza and Farmar with under 4 minutes left... He had a Turiaf, Luke, Ariza, Kobe and Famar lineup late in the first. The Lakers trailed 19-18 after the first... Long stint for Sasha despite him sucking badly in the second quarter... The Spurs had 11 turnovers in the first half which we scored 14 points off of. We led 51-43... With 4:30 left in the third quarter Bynum got tossed. The Lakers led by 3 points. For a brief moment, they seemed like they had a pulse again but it was a false alarm.... At the end of the third, the Lakers trailed 74-72... Phil's turn for the in-game sideline interview: He talked about Bynum getting tossed, then asked Craig Sager what was up with the tie... The second unit came out with energy and pulled out to an 8-point lead midway through the quarter... The starters came in and closed the deal... The Lakers won the battle of the break 17-2. We scored 24 points off of 16 Spurs turnovers... Phil on Bynum's ejection: "They undercut him a couple times," Jackson said. "There's a couple things that took his legs out from underneath him and made him feel very uncomfortable. It's a good lesson. Learn that you've got to maintain your character, your poise and that you're needed by your basketball club right now."...

Video Highlights -- LINK -- Includes Bynum's ejection. Thanks, TACH.

[ImmortalD24]

Good job!
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60!

[JUST-MING]

[AceOfSpaDeZ]

Thanks a lot.


I was there , my first lakers game ive been to ( been a fan for 16years , thats counting from the day i was born )

[calistrtballr]

starting line up is a joke. He needs to stop adjusting the lineup. Why fix something that isnt broken? Vladimir should b starting, he was brought in to nail open 3's from all the attention Kobe gets. Luke needs to stay on that bench.

[Sister Golden Hair]

I almost can't stand watching Luke and Lamar these days. These guys rarely play with urgency and focus. Both seem to be sleepwalking at times. When they both play so unfocused, the team can be deadly to watch.

Question: how does one get to be a vet in the NBA and never learn how to shoot?


WHy does the Laker FO seem hell-bent on cornering the market on brick-laying SFs?

I hope and pray Ariza develops a jumper.

That is all.

SGH

[Downunder]

DB, another great job
What do you mean when you say he got tapped?

[cmonkee]

Thanks DB - I can now officially go to sleep

looking at the +/- stat on the NBA box scores & saw a surprising stat - guess who was the biggest minus for the Lakers? Kobe, with a - 7. The leader? Vlad, with a +17. I guess that sums up why that's not the best stat out there....

[DancingBarry]

[A Mad Chinaman]

Great work

Whatcan be done (besides time) for the Lakers to develop a killer instinct?

[Cardom]

[Strokke]

LO needs to stop shooting threes.

[AllorNothing]

I was worried someone was going to get hurt in this game.
Guys were falling left and right and the refs suck to the point that the game was almost getting out of hand.

[DancingBarry]

Video highlights added.

[ocho]

turiaf
ariza
vlad
sasha
farmar

as crazy as it seems and as much as i groaned when i saw this lineup....these are the guys that won the game

these guys took us from down a couple buckets to having the game practically iced. i continue to be impressed with how we can turn up the heat with kobe/bynum/odom on the bench. great job by those guys tonight.
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14-5-3-12

[DancingBarry]

[Siguy]

I was there, and that was the worst officiated game of the year.

The refs let the Spurs smack and manhandle our guys the whole first half. The game was clearly out of control and everyone knew it by them. Then in the second half, things get more violent, always with the Spurs instigating and the gutless refs don't know what to do, so to maintain order and make themselves feel important, they come down hard on Bynum.

What was crap was the first ref called a tech. Okay, fine. Bynum had been jawing a lot. Then Kobe and guys walk Bynum away from the play and the ref he gave the tech turned around, and then suddenly the ref on the other side of the court runs up and gives him a second T from 30 feet away. It was nonsense. You couldn't tell on the TNT broadcast because they cut away and didn't even show the first tech.

They punished Bynum to get control of the game, but it was the Spurs who had been viciously undercutting, scratching, and slapping our guys the whole first half. The stuff they got away with was positively criminal. Then, as if that weren't enough, they complained to the refs more than we did.

You know Phil. He's implacable. He just sat there while we got reamed, but Popovich was up screaming and making insane faces over every call that didn't go his way (all four of them). Just a disgusting, disgusting game.

It wasn't a conspiracy, just some bad refs who lost control and decided to reassert their manhood in the worst possible way. The building had been angry the whole first half. At one point Darius Washington blatantly shoved Fisher and the refs just stood there. The crowd was actually shocked. It was so blatant. After the bynum fiasco, if they hadn't called the next obvious clear path foul in our favor, I think there actually would've been a palace brawl incident and people would've started throwing things onto the court. That stretch there was just unimaginable.

[Siguy]

Oh, and two more thoughts.

DFish is a hell of a man. He looked real hurt, and then came back into the game. I couldn't believe it. What a tough guy.

Lamar is an idiot. I'm sorry but man, those plays at the end of the game gave me flashbacks to his debacle against the Sacramento Kings, when he single handedly lost us a game by driving at the hoop with 20 seconds on the clock when we just needed to use up the clock to win. The guy is just missing a couple neurons or something because his actions at the end of the game were inexcusable and nearly cost us the win.

[Al-Mbarak8]

Great recap , couldn't watch the game , for some reasons they were putting the suns vs the nicks 2ot game..What a mess , i like the way kobe reacted for bynum's ejection..A win is a win at the end of the day , if we win tonight,we're on a roll..
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LG.net Lurker for 3 years , finally got my account approved..

It's just life. Everybody goes through it. It doesn't matter whether you're a banker, politician or an athlete. God has a different movie script for all of us.
-Lamar Odom

[Socks]

Anyone a lip reader? What was Bynum saying when he was tossed? I know there were some words that would be bleeped on this site.

[Alpha]

thanks DB... the team seemed like the days off hurt their getting in the groove... couldn't buy a basket... fought thru it and won... that's the main thing.

the officiating flat outright sucked! dang that was frustrating.

[JUST-MING]

[B_Rabbit1212]

my buddy, who's not a laker fan, but a veteran basketball player and has considerable knowledge of the game, had this to say about tonight game.

"sasha vujacic must take more shots per minute than anyone else in the nba. dude is ridiculous, there's not even a chance he passes the ball if he catches it. talk about thinking he's got the green light. someones in a contract year, and i think he realizes he needs to put up numbers if he wants to stick around the nba for a few more years..."

on the overall, sloppy, ugly game, but we did what we had to do and thats get that W. also, is it weird that part of me was kinda stoked to see bynum get tossed? show a lil fire, big fella!
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bonerkillcollective.tumblr.com - peep our art.

[limchrc]

Happy we won... even if it's ugly. Thanks for recap.

[jbjb]