Is Phil’s telling Pau that he needs more? If so, last night, Pau gave it to him…
The Lakers are looking better by the game even if the wins aren’t coming with the improved performance. So while it’d be a lot easier to say that this team is right on track if the results were better this pre-season (the Lakers are now 1-3), I’m still pretty pleased with how the team is progressing and am confident that by the time next Tuesday rolls around that we’ll be seeing a Lakers team that we recognize in both execution, style, and most importantly – results. A few thoughts on both the good and the bad from last night’s 99-94 defeat at the hands of the Jazz:
*Call it tired legs, disinterest, or just plain old bad play, but the Lakers didn’t come out ready or engaged in this contest. Though only trailing by two at the end of the first quarter and five at halftime, the Lakers needed offensive bursts to close the gap at the end of each quarter to make the game as close as it was. The team wasn’t necessarily sloppy early (though they’d prove more mistake prone as the game advanced) but rather, they just couldn’t make a shot. A lot of misfiring was the result of suspect execution and too much one on one play, but even the shots created by diligently running the Triangle were off target or just rimming out. For example, on one particular play the Lakers moved the ball beautifully from the perimeter to a slashing Odom who then touch passed a ball to Gasol, only to have Pau miss a bunny as he slid underneath the backboard. Sometimes, that’s the way the ball bounces and early on it was that way for the Lakers.
*Not all the Lakers were missing shots in the early going, however. I’ve been quiet on this topic for most of the pre-season but Ron Artest has been looking good on offense and last night the trend continued. Ron kept the Lakers in the game last night by making jumpers, cutting hard on both strong and weak side actions, and either finishing around the hoop or earning trips to the foul line. Artest had 17 points on 13 shots and hit two of his four 3 point attempts. I’m not ready to proclaim Ron as a fully functional member of the offense quite yet, but he looks much improved from last season in both comfort level and confidence (which should lead to better results over the long haul). For example on specific play, Ron was on the extended wing in a two man game with Gasol (who was in the post). Ron threw the entry pass into Pau and then cut hard going to the baseline side. However, halfway through his cut Ron changed directions and instead of cutting baseline went over the top of Pau to the middle (using Pau as a screener on AK47 in the process), received a nice hand off pass and finished in the lane for a lay up. This is a pretty simple play and one that many of the Lakers wings have used over the years, but I’m highlighting it here because of the nuance involved and how Ron used the basic premise of the offense (post entry, clear the side) to get himself a quality look right at the rim. This isn’t to say that Ron didn’t do some of these things last year, but he’s quicker to make the correct reads so far this pre-season and that split second difference is getting him open. (On a side note, Ron’s improved conditioning and lighter frame carried over from last season is noticeable and it’s also making a difference. On the play described, Ron showed a quicker first step and a great change of direction that wasn’t there at this same time last year due to his heavier weight. Right now he looks fit, quick, and it’s making a difference in how he moves in the half court.)
*While Ron was hot early, Kobe got hot in the 3rd quarter. And by hot, I mean he looked like classic Kobe from the Phoenix and Utah series last playoffs. Kobe rattled off 19 points in the quarter and did it on an array of jumpers, quick drives, and trips to the foul line that showed how far he’s come in his knee rehab over the past couple of weeks. On one sequence he nailed three straight 3 pointers (though one was waived off due to a travel call), hit a turn around jumper along the right baseline, and then drove left from the extended left wing, elevated, hung, and then just missed a 16 foot bank shot while drawing the foul. Needless to say, he may have looked shaky in the first quarter (0-4), but in the third quarter all that was forgotten as #24 looked fresh, active, and like his time shooting in the gym was paying off. I’m not saying he’s 100% just yet (he looks to be about 85%) but he’s looking better and better which is a great thing for the Lakers.
*If Ron was good early and Kobe was good in the third, the Laker that was good for the entire game was Gasol. After the Denver game on Saturday I mentioned that Pau looked to finally have his timing and rhythm back. Well, he carried that over into Sunday’s game against the Jazz. The big Spaniard had 28 points on 15 shots and also cleaned up his FT woes that have been plaguing him in LA’s exhibition games (12-14 FT’s on Sunday). He added 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks, and 2 steals in his 37 minutes of game action. If I have one area of concern on Pau it’s that he’s taking a few too many fading jumpers when driving middle, but that’s a minor complaint in an otherwise great couple of games over the weekend. Plus, after seeing Gasol for several seasons now, this specific shot could easily be another weapon that he’s adding to his repertoire of jump hooks, drop steps, and face up jumpers. Either way, it’s not like his couple of misses with this shot affected his efficiency.
*Normally if Kobe, Pau, Artest, and Odom (8 pts, 15 rebs) play well the Lakers cruise. So what happened in this game? The bench didn’t play well. At all. On offense the only bench player to make more than one shot was Shannon and he needed 10 FGA’s to hit his 3 shots. Including his attempts from the field, the Lakers bench shot a combined 5-26 from the field for a total of 20 points. The biggest culprit in missing shots was Steve Blake who missed all 7 of his attempts from the floor, many of them wide open looks from the corner or from straight away. However, I give Blake a bit of a pass here as 1). These are shots he’s been making this pre-season; shots I’m confident he’ll make pretty consistently this year and 2). He’s been fighting an upper respiratory infection the last few days that likely affected his wind and endurance.
*Defensively the Lakers as a whole weren’t very good and the bench was especially poor in its run. In the preview to the game I mentioned that I was interested in watching Jazz rookie Gordon Hayward play and he didn’t disappoint in his 33 minutes of floor time. The baby faced Hayward had 26 points on 10(!) shots and showed a well rounded polish on both the perimeter and the interior that displayed during his college career at Butler. Hayward looked especially comfortable in Utah’s flex sets as he moved well off the ball and made good, smart reads on his cuts in order to make catches in position to be effective. Overall, I was very impressed with the rook – especially on a couple of up and under moves he put on both Shannon and Ebanks during the contest.
As I mentioned earlier, despite the losses I’m quite happy with where the Lakers are right now. There are a couple of injuries that need to be sorted out (besides Bynum and Walton’s ongoing issues, Sasha didn’t play due to his concussion and Caracter also sat out with back spasms) but other than those issues the Lakers are coming along nicely and the progress made by both Kobe and Gasol with their respective issues are now becoming non-concerns. Really, if the Lakers were focussed on winning these games they’d play some of their guys longer minutes and Phil would also not be resting Kobe as much when he’s obviously feeling better. So, based off what I’m seeing from the coaches in how they’re handling the minutes and rotations, I can only conclude that they’re feeling just as good as I am. The Lakers will get their chance at a rematch on Tuesday, and at that point we’ll hopefully see Deron Williams (one of my favorite non-Lakers) and also see if Kobe gets a longer leash and some extended burn.
chibi says
one thing i really liked last night was odom’s teammates finding him down low after sealing his man. it’s nice that odom doesn’t have to initiate the triangle all the time. it means the team is becoming more well-rounded.
i think blake is at his best when he plays decisively. last night, one could see how his hesitation affected his shooting rhythm/mechanics.
Chownoir says
I’m really liking what we’ve seen from Ebanks so far. If he can continue the progress, it would be great if he could get 5-8 minutes of burn and provide the energy and productivity he’s been showing. That would be just another factor that other teams would have to contend with and make it harder for their players to adjust to yet another element.
It could be the Laker’s version of 48 minutes of hell from their wing defenders. Ron, Barnes and Ebanks just a steady rotation of tough energetic defenders who don’t take a play off. That has to wear on players after a while and make them more prone to mistakes knowing they can’t take even one play off.
The spot minutes form Ebanks could come in handy those times Ron and Barnes will be hit with foul trouble and Phil could hopefully buy some time with Ebanks before putting either guy back in.
3ThreeIII says
Absolutely nothing matters in the pre-season, EXCEPT avoiding injuries.
Wake me when the regular season begins.
Chownoir says
Yes, nothing in pre-season matters at all. Not learning teammates preferences and tendencies. Not seeing how plays in practice translates against game speed. Not how strengths and weaknesses might be magnified going against players fighting for jobs. Yup, none of those matter.
In fact wake me up when every regular game is over and just tell me the score and only if the Lakers win. I don’t need to watch basketball, I just want to know if Lakers won.
tsuwm says
>48 minutes of hell from their wing defenders. Ron, Barnes and Ebanks
let’s not get too excited here; I think it was some sequence of these guys who ‘guarded’ Jazz rookie Gordon Hayward last night. yeah, he had a hell of a night.
flye says
Seemed to me that Kobe’s 3rd quarter was him getting fired up by Raja Bell’s defensive intensity.
Sort of poked the sleeping bear, Raja did.
Jay says
Slightly off-topic, but I just heard on PTI that Magic has sold his share of the Lakers. Does anyone know what the deal here is? I hope this doesn’t mean that he needs the cash.
alex v. says
@Jay – It’s been reported that Magic is maneuvering to buy some or all of the Pistons. He probably has to give up his Lakers stock in preparation for that.
harold says
The preseason is panning out as nicely as possible, with our guys getting ready for the regular season without injury, players who took the summer off slowly getting into game form, and losing just enough games to continue flying under the radar.
Now too bad Sasha and Walton and Derrick are injured and are not getting as much burn, but somebody else is benefiting from that, namely Theo and Ebanks.
Would have loved to see Caracter and Ebanks develop into solid 3~5 minute guys for us during the pre-season… maybe that may still happen…
alex says
I’m huge on Caracter and Ebanks, thanks for continuing with the coverage leading up to the season Darius. For basketball fans, my buddy and I just did a quick Western Conference preview podcast, prob not as insightful as the material on here, but if you have an hour to kill: http://usershare.net/7cflqj2a383n
Dave M says
OK, Alex… good stuff when I was finally able to target it but first I got redirected to all kinds of other stuff, from something about asteroids, to an Australian tourist cruise, to some mom’s thing to music downloads. Soooo… turnabout is fair play. If you’ve got one MINUTE to spare, take a fast slalom through http://searchingforslava.blogspot.com. Not nearly as informative as your western conference preview but it’s a lot faster, haha.
Mark says
Off-topic but here’s one of the non-Laker players I like the most:
Rudy Fernandez has been lightning-rod hot in the 3-pt area during this post-season:
Check out his last 5 games:
– versus Clippers: 15 points (5-of-8 shooting; 5-of-6 from 3-point area)
– versus Jazz: 15 points (5-of-10 shooting; 4-of-6 from 3-point area)
– versus Nuggets: 9 points (3-of-8 shooting; 3-of-7 from 3-point area)
– versus Jazz: 14 points (3-of-5 shooting; 2-of-3 from 3-point area)
– versus Warriors: 14 points (4-of-10 shooting; 4-of-8 from 3-point area)
= 18-of-30 from downtown (60%)
For a guy who basically had problems during the offseason, he’s letting his play do the talking, and I’m more excited to see him continue in the regular season.
Travis Y. says
The second unit is going to be a very interesting component for the Lakers this year.
While we lost Farmar, it’s looking like we could have used him this year. With Bynum out until Dec. and not likely to get huge minutes the Lakers could have implemented that change of pace 7 seconds or less offense for the second unit. Look at our athletic wings with Shannon, Barnes, Ebanks, and a big with young legs in Character. But with Blake running the 2nd unit I’m sure we’ll be more deliberate and balanced, essentially the C version of our starters.
Once the chemistry comes together I’m sure this could improve but early on in the season look for Kobe and the rest of the starters to play bigger minutes.
Hopefully by midseason the 2nd unit gels and we can get Kobe down to 34 minutes/game.
Darius Soriano says
Travis,
You raise an interesting point in that besides Kobe/Odom/Artest/Shannon, Farmar was the only wing player that was consistently able to generate his own offense outside the structure of the offense (how effective that offense was is questionable, but that’s an off-shoot of the point).
So, I think your point is a good one in that Blake is a much better fit when our big man rotation includes Bynum because that’s when two of the Pau/Drew/LO will almost always be on the floor, and that group of bigs needs a controlled guard to run the offense rather than a freelancing PG that is more of a creator off the dribble and in the P&R.
However, I also think that the second unit (even the players outside of the big man core) will be better off in the long run with a PG that is looking to organize the offense and run the sets. This will get them better shots consistently and something reliable to depend on rather than the penetration ability of a guy like Farmar. When run correctly, the Triangle will produce good shots and the Lakers now have players better suited to knock those shots down. With the continued development of Brown and with the addition of Barnes, the offense should not stall as much. I know that was not the case against the Jazz (all those guys were ice cold) but on most nights I think we’ll see solid offense that produces the needed baskets.
quetzpalin says
And just as importantly, having a second unit that runs the sets means fewer jacked up shots, which means more getting back properly on defense, which means less coughing up half of a big lead in the span of three minutes.
Not that I’m bitter or anything…
Travis Y. says
Darius-
Agreed, with your point about Blake being better suited to get our big men into their sweet spots.
However I really did like our change of pace when we threw in our 2nd unit in the past. We would run what ever remains of their first unit and make them expend more energy.
The volatile nature of those shots (quick misses leads to fast breaks) compromises the benefits. The safer choice is to go with Blake and run a less effective version of our first unit.
Our team is a veteran team and while we strive for balance on both sides of the court one of our biggest weaknesses this year will be getting fast break points.
As we noticed in the finals, the game slows down big time and it becomes increasingly hard to score. When that time comes our execution is going to have to be close to perfection as we play our “old man’s game”.
If that’s your biggest weakness you’re in a good place.
As the new season begins let’s enjoy this new journey!
Darius Soriano says
Travis,
You just gave me an idea for a post that I’ll put up later this week (probably on Friday) after I have a couple of more games to look at.
Also, a new post is up. Previewing the game tonight…
http://www.forumblueandgold.com/2010/10/19/preseason-lakers-vs-jazz-preview-chat/
Travis Y. says
sounds good