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Records: Lakers 4-0, Kings 3-1
Offensive ratings: Lakers 116.6, Kings 112.5
Defensive ratings: Lakers 103.1, Kings 112.2
Projected Starting Lineups: Lakers:Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol
Kings: Tyreke Evans, Beno Udrih, Omri Casspi, Carl Landry, DeMarcus Cousins
Injuries: Lakers: Andrew Bynum (out, knee), Luke Walton (questionable, hamstring); Kings: none
The Lakers Coming in: The Lakers face their first back to back of the season and do so on the road. While the Kings aren’t exactly what people would call one of the better teams in the league, this is the first real test for a Lakers squad that’s had some pretty smooth sailing in their 4-0 start. There’s a history between these two organizations and the crowd at Arco Arena are sure to be pretty anti-Laker. So, the best thing the Lakers can do is what they’ve done in their past two games: get out of the blocks quickly. If the Lakers can jump on Sacramento and build an early lead they’ll achieve two goals by 1). silencing the crowd and 2). force a relatively inexperienced Kings team play from behind. The Kings are a capable offensive group (as you can see, their offensive rating is only a couple of points below the Lakers’) but an uphill battle against the Lakers, as shown by the Warriors and Grizzlies, isn’t exactly a winning formula.
The Kings Coming in: The Kings have started 3-1 and currently sit 2nd in the division behind the Lakers. However, when looking more closely at their opponents, it’s tough to be firm believers in the Capital kids. Their three wins have come against the T’Wolves, Cavs, and Raptors – better known as the team that David Kahn built and boys that Lebron and Bosh left behind to suffer. Not necessarily a murderers row there. I understand that this same logic can be used to analyze the Lakers’ schedule, but if you look at point differential and see that the Kings have won their three games by an average of 2.3 points while the Lakers have won theirs by an average of 13.3 points, you see the difference.
That said, this is a Kings team with talent and they’re using a balanced attack to get their wins. They’re led by prized 2nd year guard Tyreke Evans who boasts a 20 point scoring average while dishing 6 assists and grabbing 6 rebounds a game. He continues to develop as an all around guard whose driving skills and improving jumper make him the ideal guard in today’s NBA. He’s strong and fearless and plays an attack-all-the-time game. Evans is flanked by guys who always seem to play their best ball against the Lakers in Beno Udrih and Carl Landry. These two combine to score a shade over 30 points a game. You throw in the very talented rookie DeMarcus Cousins, Sammy Dalembert, Casspi, Francisco Garcia, and Jason Thompson and you’ve got a team that is 8-9 players deep that’s capable of hurting opponents by turning to the next man in line if a starter isn’t playing well.
Kings Blogs: Zach Harper does tremendous work wherever at all his gigs, including Cowbell Kingdom. Or, there’s always Tom Ziller – a guy who just happens to be one of the best at writing about this game called Basketball – at Sactown Royalty.
Keys to game: Tonight will a be a pretty straightforward contest. The Lakers are rolling but in order to keep that going they’ll have to attack the Kings’ defensive weaknesses. And that starts up front. Landry may be a Laker killer, but he’ll have his hands full with Lamar Odom so I hope to see LO continue to go to the block where Landry has some size but isn’t exactly a stopper. And obviously the Lakers should attack DeMarcus Cousins with Pau to see how the rook holds up against a post threat as polished and skilled as the Spaniard. Plus, Cousins is quite foul prone (he averages nearly 5 fouls a game in just over 23 minutes of action) so attacking him will have the dual benefit of getting Pau buckets while also potentially removing the Kings best low post player because of foul issues.
At this point it’s unclear who will guard Kobe, so #24’s strategy will shift depending on who he has lining up opposite of him. If the Kings go with Udrih or Evans, expect to see a high dosage of Kobe in the pinch post. Kobe dominated Mayo from that position last night and if either of the undersized backcourt options from the Kings we can expect the same. The only way this changes is if Casspi starts out on Kobe as he has more size and will not be as easily beat with fade away jumpers or turn and face moves. So, if Casspi is indeed the primary defender, we may see a bit more P&R than we’ve seen in recent games and I also would expect to see Kobe work more to get the ball on the move on curls and cuts off the ball when Pau is working the post in the hub of the Triangle.
Defensively, slowing the Kings starts with controlling Evans. This is easier said than done but Ron Artest will likely get the first chance at doing so. Last season Ron did well against Evans as his bruising, power based drives just aren’t as effective against a natural SF that has excellent strength, good foot speed, and lightning quick hands. So, I expect Ron to resume his role as the primary defender on Evans and expect him to receive little help unless the Kings go to a P&R heavy attack. And in that case the Laker bigs will need to keep their discipline by showing and recovering to the paint while consistently inviting Evans to launch a deep two rather than barrelling his way into the paint for a deuce, foul call, or both.
The matchup I’m most interested in though is not between Ron and ‘Reke, but with Cousins and Gasol. The Kings’ rookie has size, quickness, and great touch around the hoop with range out to 18 feet. His offensive talent is tremendous and when it’s all packed into a 6’11’, 280 pound of a body it can lead to real beasting. In the past these are the types of players that Pau has struggled with so I’m interested in seeing how he handles the talented rook. My suggestion would be to lay off him and tempt jumpshots, but DeMarcus is a bully and will likely try to close that space and attack the rim. Either way, Pau on Cousins is what I’m really looking forward to seeing.
Where you can watch: 7:30 pm start time in the West, locally on KCAL and nationally on ESPN. Also listen live on ESPN Radio 710am.
Sedale says
This one’s for Warren!
Taylor says
For Warren!
Carreid over from the Grizz Preview because still relevent:
“I think our first B2B is a good test. Not necessarily against the quality of the opponent, but more to see our discipline this early. I’d also like to know if the players are going to buy into the “let’s get 10+ in a row for Phil” mentality.
I’m hedging my bet on this team continuing its focus and winning by double-digits tonight and tomorrow. Intensity and the killer-instinct that lacked all last year will be great to see. No letting the foot off the gas.”
Reignman says
One thing is for sure tonight…joel meyers will be counting down the SECONDS to Kobe passing The Capt. in all-time minutes…This should be another easy win. I doubt Lakers will lack focus until they are up 30.
Kris says
“Kobe dominated Mayo from that position last night and if either of the undersized back court options from the Kings we can expect the same.”
You do know Evans is 6-6 and close and close to 230 now with a 7 foot wingspan. That isnt undersized at all hes guarded bigger guys than Kobe in the post.
MannyP says
First back-to-back test of the season.
DirtySanchez says
Minutes have been down for starters early in the season so the first home and away back to back should see fresher legs than in years past. Tyreke is a fun up and coming player to watch, he can go for thirty tonight as long as he doesnt get his team involved Ill be happy with the results. Im waiting for a letdown in team play, it has been too good to be true so far this season. No urge to throw the remote at the tv, havent wanted the team to play with more urgency, Kobe looking in control of team without dominating ball, and finally a second unit that comes to play with energy. Someone pinch me I think Im dreaming, or Christmas has come early this year.
Kaifa says
I really like the Kings’ talent base. If they continue to build the team smartly around their young guys, they could very well follow the Thunder’s model of success (although I think Durant’s ceiling is higher than Evans’).
Depending on how good Cousins turns out, they might need to draft, sign or trade for one more top shelf talent (their Pau to Evans’ Kobe), but they have a lot of very solid role players to round out the bench.
Since I’m a sucker for stupid commercials, here’s the complete series of Pau and Rafa Nadal, the best part of which was shown in the ESPN piece:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4gK_hfJS6E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejszTF7kJec&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvpS-5jko7A&feature=related
The Dude Abides says
A lot of this talk about how the Kobe-Pau Lakers get complacent and let teams back in the game and how the Showtime Lakers never did is rather misguided, IMO. The win-loss records are pretty similar. The difference between the 1980-89 Lakers and the 2008-10 Lakers was the greater depth of the Showtime teams. In the past two championship seasons, the Lakers really won with six (and occasionally seven) guys. When you step away and examine the team, was it complacency that let the opponents back in the game, or was it our lousy depth? The starting five plus Odom would frequently work its way to an 8-12 point lead after 12 minutes of play, only to see Farmar, Shannon, and Sasha/Luke give up the lead in the first two minutes of the second quarter. That had to be a big burden for out top six to overcome, game after game, week after week. It wasn’t complacency, it was our bench’s inability to play smart, under-control basketball.
Well, that’s over and done with now, isn’t it? The starters work their way into a double-digit lead, and Blake, Barnes, and Brown now come in and EXPAND that lead. That first half last night was sick. Memphis had no chance. Our ball movement was sublime. Blake sets the pace in a proper manner, unlike Jordan. Barnes never rests–he seems to constantly cut to the hoop, either receiving a pass for a chippie or grabbing an offensive board. On those times he doesn’t cut to the hoop, he spots up beyond the arc for proper spacing, and Shannon or Lamar do the cutting.
Our offensive efficiency is such that the opponent is always having to take the ball out of the basket, lowering the number of their transition opportunities. Not only that, but our spacing is solid enough that we don’t seem to get caught in a numbers deficiency after our opponent grabs a rare defensive rebound. The only fast break baskets we’re giving up are coming on unforced turnovers by two players who still sometimes do things they’re not capable of doing–Shannon when trying to initiate the offense with an entry pass from half court, and Ratliff when deciding to hold onto the ball for more than one second.
Mike Penberthy says
“There’s a history between these two organizations and the crowd at Arco Arena are sure to be pretty anti-Laker.”
Great write-up overall, but this part is just plainly not the case anymore. These days when the Lakers playe there about 50% of Arco cheers for them. In fact those “great” Kings fans have shown themselves to be no different than any other fanbase in the NBA. When their team is not good they stay away.
Mark says
8, The Dude Abides,
I hear. Complacency or not, you can surely feel it in the third quarter, how can they become superior for 24 minutes and suddenly look like sleepwalkers on the next?
Sorry if it sounds like nitpicking, but I think that’s what you get when you win every game. 😉
harold says
I think a bit of sleepwalking is natural and excusable, but dangerous as the tendency to get injured rises if you are not fully aware of your surroundings and relax a few muscles when they should be tight to protect your joints.
It’s the duty of the Coach to figure out when players are sleepwalking and call timeouts or sub players so at least the players on the floor remain relatively alert.
Still, I much prefer to nitpick over sleepwalking and winning to finding silver linings on losses saying that at least we were all focused.
The Dude Abides says
@10. They were up 27 at halftime last night. They knew there was no way they would lose. I’m talking about 8 to 12 point leads that the bench unit of previous seasons would regularly give away in two or three minutes of play, and the cumulative, wearying effect it would have on the top six over a full regular season. They frequently had to play more minutes than they should have actually played. If our second unit of seasons past had just been merely bad, our top six wouldn’t have had to work so hard. Unfortunately, they were terrible. That’s not going to happen this season…at least, not very often.
dave m says
I think the let-ups have been pretty minor compared to year’s past. Four games in, I’m not seeing anything to be alarmed at. The bumps in the road will come soon enough but for now, I’m just enjoying it. In a perfect world there would be a Doug Christie punchout tonight but we’ll always have the memories.
Darius Soriano says
#9. Mike Penberthy,
You know, I edited out the part that speaks to your point. I was actually going to say that this hasn’t been the case the last couple of years but with Tyreke and now Cousins on the team, plus their early season success, I expect that to shift back to a more anti-Laker crowd. Maybe I should have left all that in but decided against it.
Anonymous says
uh oh OT at Boston
Mark says
Overtime for the Celtics and Bucks. Late game.
Oh, nvm, the game already started with 3 by Kobe… and another from 11th and Figueroa.
gxs says
This is so damn annoying. I was hoping to watch the first hour before heading off to the library.
Why not move this game and play the game you SCHEDULED at the SCHEDULED time?
God I’m so F******* pissed at espn.
Mark says
And our 132-minute dominance evaporated.
Charles says
Watching in Canada. The network showing Lakers/Kings was showing Celtics/Bucks first.
So I’m facing a triple whammy here:
1) Losing the first quarter of a Lakers game
2) Having to watch the Leps win one
3) Watching Paul Pierce break 20,000 points and the Beantowners cheer him
Is it a bad sign that I made a sarcastic comment to my brother about how they should bring out a wheelchair and have Pierce get out of it (doing his Paul Pierce “That Hurts!” face) to shoot his 20k plateau breaking FTs for more drama and he nodded along?
AusPhil says
Solid 0.8 seconds there for Sasha!
Jane says
Allowing 33 pts in the 1st Q (or any Q, for that matter) is just plain unacceptable.
Aaron x2 says
What the heck? I have NBA League Pass but miss last night’s game because of NBATV and tonight’s because of ESPN!!! I’m a victim of the Lakers’s own success…
The Dude Abides says
@20. ROFL
AusPhil says
Kobe.
What else is there to say?
Well, the other thing to say is that I don’t like us being in the penalty with over 7 minutes left in the quarter!
Glove says
Kobe with the 4 point play
Simonoid says
“You’ve got to – no pun intended – keep your head in the game.” This, from Mark Jackson.
Am I missing the pun?!
restrict says
any link for the game plz
Simonoid says
restrict – this one isn’t bad:
http://atdhe.net/27382/watch-los-angeles-lakers-vs-sacramento-kings
harold says
Simonoid, it hit the country limit for me, didn’t know that many people were watching it in Korea 🙁
Got back from lunch, and what looked like the start of a domination turned into a competitive game…
But I guess Kobe decided to turn it on 🙂
Danny says
Kobe on course for a triple double here.
Mark says
Kobe has been murdering the Kings…. heck he has been murdering the “1st Half”. His knee may not be 100%, but it’s pretty darn sure he’s feeling pretty fine.
E. Dimowo says
Hey did anyone catch when Mark Jackson said that DeMarcus Cousins was modeling his game after Pau Gasol? Pau’s so finesse sometimes he looks like a ballet dancer lol can you imagine DeMarcus? And those cowbells annoy the crap out of me… what an amazing pass by Kobe to end it:) way to be ready Barnes!
AusPhil says
Nice finish to the half. I’ll take that.
Glove says
Kobe 21 points 8 assists 6 rebounds at the half
kehntangibles says
Kobe’s committing regicide
AusPhil says
@kehntangibles – Well said.
Every game so far we’ve seen slightly different aspects of what players are going to be able to offer this season. I’ve really liked seeing Barnes the hustler vs Barnes the shooter, and Blake the facilitator vs Blake the outside threat. It’s showing the potential multifaceted nature of the team for 2010-11.
And then Drew comes back and hopefully helps the team take it to an even higher level…
harold says
Maybe Kobe heard that LeBron got 12 assists?
Landry just seem to have fun when he faces us… and since i’m only following gamecast, how has Caracter been against Cousins?
Simonoid says
I absolutely loved how Kobe dodged Udrih there before he dished to Odom for the dunk.
I know it’s done often in basketball, especially during fast breaks, but was that change of direction just absolutely beautiful.
Simonoid says
Oh no oh no oh no.
Mark says
29 NBA teams must have been smiling now..
jm says
hope its nothing serious
dave m says
Oh, that doesn’t look good. Hopefully he just jammed it.
harold says
Was that the thumb? What’s with all these thumb injuries…
I thumb my nose at thee!
kaveh says
Let me say this…i don’t want to sound like i exaggerate much because i really dont….but this is the best that i have EVER seen the Lakers play offense. It is just a beauty to watch. For some reason they went off the rails for the last 2 years on offense. Which is funny to say since they won 2 championships over the last 2 years. They won those rings because of a dominant DEFENSE. This offense reminds me of a maturation of the offense which was in place in Pau’s first year here. That was the start, they took a break for 2 years, and now this is the maturation.
I’m not worried about the defense even though it hasn’t performed. This is a veteran team. Sometimes you can’t turn on the offense with a switch, but this team CAN turn on the defense on a switch. I am extremely excited about this team this year.
F$@#, S*$%, F*$#!!!!!!!! just as i’m writing this post and watching the lakers on a stream, Odom hurts his thumb and i hear him say “i think it is broken.” I hope i heard wrong.
Simonoid says
I remember when Kobe scored 20,000 and no one (especially not Kobe) made a peep out of it. Now Pierce and he has to stand and pose for a minute or two at the line when he hits 20,000.
Tyler says
Anyone else notice how Pau isn’t recovering back to Dalembert on the P&R’s for really long, yet not one from the Kings is even looking up at him alone under the basket?
kaveh says
Lamar Odom = Drama Queen!
I could swear the camera got close when he hurt his thumb and he said “I think i broke it.” Maybe he was just describing the pain.
Simonoid says
What hustle by Barnes. Does it ever gets old saying that?
Joel says
Is anyone old enough to remember when this team struggled to hit outside shots?
chibi says
Odom > Lebron
Bynumite says
Lamar Odom is definitely not a drama queen.
Guy played all 82 last year with all sorts of injuries. Hand, shoulder, ankle, knee problems. Didn’t complain once to the press. Never blamed his injuries for his play. I think he can be described as the opposite of a drama queen.
Mark says
Let’s insert Ebanks/Caracter and replace Theo. He’s been doing nothing these past few games.
James says
49. Is 5 games a large enough sample size to say we are actually a good 3 point team, i think it might be, so wierd compared last year
Darius Soriano says
Odom is definitely toughing it out. As someone that’s sprained his thumb before, when you re-aggravate it the pain is tremendous and does feel like it’s broken. Just a sharp, wince inducing pain.
As for this game, the one thing that I’ve seen is that the Lakers have gone P&R heavy in their offensive sets. It’s one of the reasons Kobe’s assist numbers are so high. He’s been able to come off screens, collapse the defense and then hit the open man in prime scoring position. You know, there’s a reason that Nash, Deron Williams, Lebron, CP3, and other guys that run a P&R heavy offense often are the among the league leaders in assists.
AusPhil says
Well there’s the triple-double… would be nice if Kobe knocked down some of these jumpers though!
Simonoid says
OMG Mark Jackson, just counted “Bryant, Howard, LeBron, Wade, James.”
Simonoid says
NVM he just realized, after a whole minute.
Mark says
Get ready for Kobe-nova now, someone woke him up!
chibi says
Garcia auditioning for the Lakers 4 years before his contract with the Kings is up.
Joe says
This Kings team is good, but I dont think they will make the playoffs…
harold says
Ugly game now. Where did our offense go?
AusPhil says
Fish looking for the dagger there… probably a little early in the clock for it!
Then happily proves me wrong on the next possession! Balls of solid rock.
Mark says
Oh…. didn’t realize we still had Derek Fisher.
Simonoid says
6-0 personal Fisher run. Nice.
kehntangibles says
You cannot defend Derek Fisher’s intangibles, you can only hope to contain them.
Glove says
Fisher doing his best to put the game away
ray says
i love having the “worst” point guard in the league
chibi says
Fisher pulling a Game 3.
Aqzi says
One of Fisher’s greatest qualities is not getting down after missing shots. One of Fisher’s greatest weaknesses is taking shots when he shouldn’t. He is the poster-child for following the shooting adage, ‘your next shot is always going in.’ While this is a major component of Fish’s heroism (read: Orlando in 2009, 0.4, Game 3 Finals 2010), it is also a major point of frustration for Laker fans when Fisher misses shot after shot when somebody else clearly had the hotter hand.
Tonight was a classic example. I screamed at my TV when Fish shot that 3 with 22 seconds left in the shot clock and I jumped up in excitement when Fish hit his next shot and got the And-1 on the next play. Here’s to hoping Fisher’s heroism outweighs his bonehead mistakes in the future.
J-M says
#26 Simonoid wrote on November 3, 2010 at 8:30 pm
“You’ve got to – no pun intended – keep your head in the game.” This, from Mark Jackson.
Am I missing the pun?!
—————-
lol. He’s talking about Luther Head.
Simonoid says
LOL wow J-M that was terrible.
AusPhil says
Some people say that Kobe has no regard for human life on the court. He certainly seems to have no regard for his shooting percentage sometimes!
Mark says
Kobe talking to Garcia… “join us”
Andreas G. says
Mark: Haha:D
harold says
@kehntangibles:
Fisher’s balls are intangible and should be kept that way.
Charles says
Did just enough to win this one. We got a little sloppy on both ends and let them back in it. Aside from Barnes, the bench was off tonight.
J-M says
Fisher’s balls are very tangible :p
Simonoid, lol yeah, he’s horrible. “Hand down, man down!” “Mama, there goes that man!” “Good defense, better offense!”
Andreas G. says
The Lakers are sloppy, and without their starting center – still win by 12. Speaks to their level of talent.
Underrated fact in this game: The Kings best two offensive players had to guard Kobe and Pau respectively. The result? Both in foul trouble.
dave m says
This is just a seriously good veteran team, extremely balanced… and that’s without Drew. Scary good.
lil' pau says
5-0 and an automatic win on friday. as stu would say… noooice…..
portland on sunday is going to be a war.
dave m says
77 – you say sloppy, I say steamroller, haha.
exhelodrvr says
andreas,
” and without their starting center ”
Kaveh,
” this is the best that i have EVER seen the Lakers play offense”
Gasol/Odom are better than Gasol/Bynum or Bynum/Odom.
Snoopy2006 says
Richard Jefferson really had a good offseason. If you’re in a fantasy league and picked him up in a very late round, good foresight.
tsuwm says
Brown/Blake looked pretty bad tonight.. didn’t look smooth at all. (-12 and -14 respectively.)
—
fantasy note: having the numbers 1/31/32 picks in the draft, and then having Durant shoot 25% (6 for 24?? that’s sounds very familiar) for 16 points kinda ruins your prospects for the week. (and this gave the Clips their first win.)
The Dude Abides says
Looks like our offense went down the drain for those four or five consecutive possessions where Kobe had Luther Head guarding him on the low block, and we kept trying to force it into him. Otherwise, another solid offensive effort. Our defense also really cleaned up after that first quarter. I’d have to say that the one nitpick one can make these first five games is our below-average defensive rebounding.
E. Dimowo says
This is COMPLETELY off topic but I cannot believe that Kevin Garnett quite possibly called Charlie VIllanueva a cancer patient during the Pistons-Celts game. That’s just too disgusting. Is he really that low? Is that what MY Lakers had to go through last year top less 2008? I, being 5’8″ and a female, seriously want to fight him right now.
dave m says
86 – off topic or not, it’s always nice to be reminded of Garnett’s gravitas.
The Dude Abides says
@86. It’s just trash talk, but what separates Garnett from everyone else is how low-class he is.
tsuwm says
Garnett claims to have said to VIllanueva that “You are a cancer to your team and to the league” – as though that’s somehow better.
Snoopy2006 says
86 – You, being 5’8″ and a female, would be heavily favored in a fight against Kevin Garnett.
Jeff Skibiski says
Post-game thoughts are up…
http://www.forumblueandgold.com/2010/11/03/lakers-at-kings-post-game-thoughts/