One night after Lower Merion High School named their gymnasium after Kobe, Kobe treated the city of Philadelphia to his lowest scoring total of the season on a 3-for-11 effort. With Kobe having one of those rare off-nights, it would be Lamar Odom and Matt Barnes who stepped up and helped lead the Lakers to a 93-81 win.
Tonight marked the Lakers’ fourth straight win on their current road trip. The game started out a sloppy mess, with both teams combining to miss the game’s first nine shots (Philadelphia would go on to miss their first 11). The Lakers rallied to an early 10-0 lead before turnovers got the 76ers running. Six Laker first quarter turnovers led to ten of Philadelphia’s 21 first quarter points. What also contributed to Philly’s run was the fact that eight of the points during the Lakers early 10-0 run were shot attempts in the paint: a Pau Gasol layup, a Ron Artest layup, a Derek Fisher layup, and a Pau Gasol jump hook. For the remainder of the quarter, the Lakers largely went away from pounding the ball inside, including a badly airballed Kobe three pointer.
Philadelphia also did their part in contributing to the Laker woes, not only in the first quarter, but in the third quarter as well. They turned the Lakers over early, getting them running against an older, less athletic Laker team. They also hit the boards hard, grabbing 16 offensive rebounds with four guys grabbing multiple rebounds on the offensive end of the floor. Andre Iguodala had a huge dunk, Spencer Hawes threw some beautiful passes that led to layups and Elton Brand got some easy looks, mainly due to their ability to turn the Lakers over in those first and third periods. Of course, there were lots of offensive rebounds to grab due to the number of missed shots in this game, but Philly worked hard to grab them.
The game ended up being decided in the fourth quarter where Lamar Odom and Matt Barnes did most of their dirty work. The fourth quarter started out with Matt Barnes getting in the lane for a layup, followed by two consecutive and-ones from Lamar Odom. Also in this quarter: Matt Barnes hit the Lakers’ first three-pointer of the night (after the team started 0-for-11 from long range); Lamar Odom found a cutting Matt Barnes to extend the lead to nine; Lamar Odom hit the Lakers’ second three pointer of the night; Matt Barnes assisted on the LO dunk that definitely put the game on ice, extending the Lakers lead to 15 with just over five minutes left to play; and they combined for eight rebounds in the quarter.
Pau Gasol had a decent night with 19 and 13, Steve Blake — minus his 1-for-5 shooting — played a good game with five points, five assists and four rebounds, and the Lakers, for the most part, played a great game on the defensive end of the floor as a team (Philly only shot 3-for-21 from behind the arc and only 37.5% from the field). But the night belonged to both LO and Matt Barnes, who had the biggest roles when it mattered most.
The Lakers end their road trip in Canada as they take on the Toronto Raptors on Sunday. They’ll have the opportunity to win their fifth straight before coming home to play the Milwaukee Bucks, a team that has won three of their last four.
Taylor says
If Meeks makes a couple of his shots it’s a much closer game too. Good recap, a lot of the same things I saw, but no mention of Kobe getting whacked and that possibly contributing to his lack of want to shoot? He did only take 11 attempts.
On a somewhat tangent…The Machine played 27 minutes tonight and only had 2 fouls!! How is that possible? Did he completely change his defense? Good for him though, I think we all want to see him do well, and the fact he got that many minutes is great. If he doesn’t go 0-5 on threes, it’s an even better night.
VoR says
Good recap. This is what I want to see. If Kobe is having an off night – he only takes 11 shots and a couple of other guys step up. This team has the players to be so balanced.
I would really love to see LO make the all star game – he seems to have really found a consistency groove.
Laker Kev says
Kobe probably only shot 11 times because of a sprained finger.
Don Ford says
@ 1/ Taylor: Thanks for highlighting The Machine’s new operations.
I looked and, hey, he was at least a +4, leading all the Nets in +/- go figure ! And was the team worst -11? Mr. Farmar.
As poor as Sasha’s 3-10 shooting was, Jordan played (at least statistically) an equally poor game. Similar minutes, and shot 4-14; well, at least he had a few more assists and stole it twice.
I’m interested in what these young frustrated ex-Lakers can accomplish with a little rope, I mean minutes 🙂
I’d been big fans of both of them, but it just soured after a while. Good luck to them in NJ.
bribri says
“They turned the Lakers over early, getting them running against a older, less athletic Lakers team.”
— I effing LOVE this blog, but that sentence from above reads like the words of a foreign exchange student.
The Dude Abides says
@5. edited
jilab says
Kobe arrives often to a 3-11 line in the middle of games… Then still ends up with his 26 by the end.
What impressed me is that he seemed to notice that the team was firing as a whole tonight. And so, he did not try to find his own. Even though this led to a 9 point game.
That is MVP.
Craig W. says
jilab,
The issue is that we all have our opinions about how any person – let alone a polarizing figure like Kobe – reacts to things. As a result, we tend to notice those situations that confirm our opinion and are oblivious to those that disprove our opinions.
Seems like a human condition; so don’t get upset when no one seems to observe what, to you, seems obvious.
dave m says
@#1&4 – much agree… good to see Sasha letting it fly in his debut, regardless of whether they were going in or not. It probably means he was given encouragement to go out and be himself. I notice he didn’t have any FT’s but when he does, he should maybe reconsider his signature groom-the-eyebrows habit. New beginnings and all.
Darius Soriano says
#5. Thanks for the kind words about loving the site. However, you can spare those kind words and your comments on the writing. You disagree with a concept in the post, don’t agree with the analysis? – let’s hear it. But Phillip (or any other contributor) works hard to try and get quality posts up without you coming around here trying to bring him down a peg because of one sentence in a game recap. Spare us, please. I’ll listen to anything about me that you want to throw out there – it wouldn’t be the first time someone knocked me for my writing.
Also, there’s an old saying about glass houses and stones that you may want to read up on. If you’re wondering what I mean, re-read what you wrote in your comment and remember what your criticism was.
jilab says
Craig, certainly Kobe is polarizing. And as such, you’re quite right that we create reality based on our vantage point.
Happily, I gave up becoming “upset” years ago… not worth it.
However, I do think it is worth noting the change of character in our team’s play thanks to KB24. perhaps saying that he was only sitting on 9 points isn’t the key. Perhaps the fact to point out is that his killer instinct–which he generally deems fit to unleash through his own “taking over” down the stretch–was unleashed through the team game.
Taylor says
Holy news…are the Magic about to trade their entire team away? Lewis for Arenas. Pietrus, Gortat, and Vinsanity for Hedo, Earl Clark, and JRich? Someone break this down for me, I don’t have time to look into it any further. Bringing Turkoglu back? I don’t believe this is speculation if ESPN just ran it. Thoughts? Does this make them better? Are the Suns going to be able to win another game?
E-ROC says
Taylor,
The Suns must’ve did some jedi mind trick on the Magic for them to take on Hedo’s on top of Lewis’s deal or maybe Arenas’s deal if traded for. Anyway, Hedo shouldn’t see the light of day for the Magic. If so, it should be limited minutes off the bench. I like a lineup of Nelson, Richardson, Lewis, Bass, Howard. Shooters all over the place for Howard. Then the Magic can go to Jason Williams, JJ Redick, Anderson, and I think Earl Barron is in the trade for the Magic. Barron will back-up Howard.
For the Suns, Marcin Gortat is the best part of the trade. This has saving money written all over it. Pietrus will be glued to the bench with the glut of wings that they already have. VC is terrible.
Zephid says
12, Just saw confirmation on PBT, ESPN, and Yahoo, so it’s probably true.
That being said, WOW NBA GMS ARE DUMB.
I could see Washington wanting to get out from under the stink of the Gilbert Arenas gunslinger episode, but receiving a big stinky pile of $65M+ for three years of Rashard Lewis? Makes me want to barf. Why not get Vince Carter and let that stench go away faster?
I LOVE this trade for Orlando for a number of reasons.
1.) Vince Carter is most likely legally dead at this point.
2.) Jason Richardson is having a crazy good season, shooting lights out, plus he has an EC, so they can either re-sign him for cheap after the lockout or dump his ass if he sucks.
3.) Rashard Lewis was slowly sucking the soul out of Dwight Howard with every wide open three he was clanking off the rim.
Arenas and Turkoglu, as long as they don’t suck (which will be a stretch) should really help, if only because it will allow Stan Van Gundy to never have to play Chris Duhon or Jason Williams ever again, ever.
Joel says
Richardson is a clear upgrade on Vince at this point, and Turkoglu immediately becomes Orlando’s best playmaker even if he never recovers his old form. Not sure exactly where Arenas fits in but it’s clear that the Magic have really improved their overall talent.
The Suns are obviously in rebuilding/costcutting mode but Gortat is a nice piece at a reasonable price.
I’m not sure what Washington is up to here. You get rid of Arenas to pick up an even worse contract (and an inferior player) in Rashard Lewis? Mindboggling. They shouldn’t even be considering that trade.
Bobji says
Wait… Orlando is getting Turkoglu back + J Rich? And possibly Arenas? ay carumba.
I don’t see Rashard staying with Washington long. They have a glut of similar players (Blatche/Josh Howard/Al Thornton) none of whom can play much defense. I’m going to assume they are going to be making a lot more deals in the near future.
VoR says
Agreed – Washington is the the part of this discussion that makes no sense. Can someone shed some light there?
chibi says
i think the key to making this work for orl is van gundy. if he doesn’t trust guys he’s going to sabotage his team by relying on inferior players, and/or players that are a comfort to him.
JD says
I see a couple problems with this from an Orlando perspective. 1. They really have limited depth now up front. Ryan Anderson is more of a stretch 4 as is Bass to an extent. 2. Arenas will be coming off the bench. I like this move as he can fill in an old Vinnie Johnson Microwave way, but he’s missed numerous games. 3. Will/Can Turk really return to his old self? He’ll be the 4th option but his play has fallen off dramatically. I do agree that Richardson is having a fantabulous season. Huge upgrade over VC. From Phoenix’s perspective, they actually get some good things coming back. Gortat is and should be a starter. Pietrus is off and on but does have some value. And its only 4 months before they can rid themselves of VC. From Washington’s perspective, I don’t really see what Lewis does for them. Yes, he stretches the floor and that has benefits with Wall’s dribble drive game, but he’s the second highest paid player in the league. I agree it would have been better to just get cap space in the event of a potential VC for Arenas trade.
Darius Soriano says
I’ve put up a thread to talk about the trades that went down today. Feel free to move all the conversation here:
http://www.forumblueandgold.com/2010/12/18/saturday-special-lets-make-a-deal-magic-suns-wizards-edition/