LAKERS REPORT 1-19-2011
Riddle me this: how does a team win after shooting below 40% for the game, while their superstar shoots about 30% and falls woefully short of his season average, and they scored a mere 7 points in the 3rd quarter? I have no idea, but that is what the Lakers did when they beat the Mavericks in a game that ended with a point total that looked more like a 3rd quarter score than a game ending tally. They only made one 3-pointer (big surprise there) but it came in the form of the game-winning shot by Derek Fisher, who came out of no where to score most of the team’s final 10 points and broke the tie to give the Lakers a very unlikely victory.
Luckily for the Lakers, the Mavericks found a way to play worse than them. Both teams couldn’t score, and the Mavericks- namely Jason Kidd- missed a plethora of open shots, particularly from the 3-point arc and the game remained close throughout. It certainly wasn’t pretty, to the point it may be one of the ugliest game of the season, but that that notch in the “W” column certainly mutates it into a beautiful victory in the eyes of the winning team. Of course, they should try and learn what they can improve on, because they’re not going to win another game like that any time soon. In fact, they haven’t won a game in which they compiled such terrible statistics since they were the Minneapolis Lakers, a handful of decades ago, just to put it in perspective just how lucky they are.
Kobe Bryant had been carrying them recently, scoring 40 points in four straight games, and the team won the first three of those, only losing the last one against the home town rival Clippers. They have been winning games lately- that loss broke a 5-game winning streak, but they have also been aided by a lot of home games so far in this early season, and have been far too reliant on their veteran superstar for scoring for most of the season. The Clippers completely annihilated them with offensive rebounds, which may be an anomaly because they are a fairly good rebounding team, mainly because of Andrew Bynum who is averaging about 14 rebounds. The defense has held other teams to a low scoring average, but much of that comes from still rusty teams missing fairly wide open shots, as well as the fact that they play a slower offense with very few fast breaks, which in turn limit’s the other teams‘ possessions as well. They have to improve as the opposition’s offenses will certainly get better as they round into shape and get acquainted with each other as teammates, etc. So far their main issues are the enormous number of turnovers and their utter deficiency behind the 3-point line, where they rank dead last in 3-point field goal percentage.
That last one is pretty simple to remedy one would think; shoot less 3-pointers. Metta World Peace, I’m looking at you! For some reason this block head continues to shoot from behind the arc and he is shooting an abhorrently low 5% (no that is not a typo, he makes 1 out of 20 on average). He probably should realize at some point that he can’t make one and the home crowd gasps in unison when he gets the ball in his hands in that area, just hoping he won’t loft up another brick, but I also blame coach Brown for not telling him to quit shooting them. It’s pretty simple; if Josh McRoberts or like Andrew Bynum were firing up terrible shots from the 3-point area, the coach would tell them to stop because they can’t make them (and hence, shouldn’t shoot them). They would be just as mechanical and lacking fluidity in their shot just like MWP, and I would wager a guess that they could probably still make more than 5%. World Peace has become a liability and will remain so until he figures out (or someone forces him to recognize) that he has to play in the post position and the only two thing he should do from the 3-point area is dribble into the painted area (the key) or pass the ball to someone else on the team (and take his position in the key). He’s a strong dude, and he has a physical mismatch against most other small forwards, and some power forwards, and that isn’t to say that he will make a good play from the post, but at least it won’t be a bad long shot that often gives the opposition a fast break opportunity (and a chorus of boos from the home crowd). He’s an awkward, often off-balance player, but if he can make a couple of lay ups (left-handed of course) or simply create a mismatch that the other team has to respect it and double-team, it will create open opportunities for his teammates, instead of the lost possessions that result from his excessive long range shots.
Speaking of liabilities, Pau Gasol is looking more like one as each game progresses because of his lack of toughness, and is seemingly reluctant to even be the #2 scorer that he was brought in to be. Each and every time he is touched or, God-forbid, pushed by the opposing player, he screams aloud and then complains to the referee. It’s beyond annoying to watch, and I can only imagine how the refs feel about him; say what you want about their professionalism, but I’m sure some biases are formed when players constantly complain and whine after every play. Doesn’t anyone learn from the story “The Boy Who Cried Wolf?” Too many players yell and complain, either about nothing that they thought should have been a foul or about an obvious foul that was called that they still choose to dispute, but if you keep doing it on every play, when someone actually does foul you, the refs aren’t going to take your reaction into account as much as they would if you didn’t do it EVERY DAMN time. Grow some balls, toughen up, quit bitching like a little baby, and play basketball, which (news flash!!) is a physically demanding game. So what if someone bumps into you, bounce off of it and go get the rebound since you are one of the tallest players on the court. So what if someone pushes you out of the post; pass it out and reestablish post position and demand the pass back, since you have an array of shots that you should have confidence in. So what if someone bodies up against you when you are shooting a lay-up; that is how defense is played and how about going up to dunk the damn ball. I’m sick of this constant finesse crap; it’s like watching Vlade Divac out there sometimes- dunk the ball when you are right there and you’re that tall; not only are you more likely to make the shot, but you’re also more likely to get that foul called against the defense if you show some aggression going to the basket instead of the constant passivity. He’s even started to move back to the 3-point line and has taken more of those than in the past, which speaks again to his reluctancy to play close to the basket where the tall players are supposed to be.
The Lakers as a team need to play from the post more. Bynum and Bryant are the only two who make it a point to back their opponents down in the post position, but they Gasol and MWP should also get the ball down there often and try shooting much closer to the basket. Some of the problem is that Bryant is often demanding the ball at all positions on the court, and he will sometimes run into a position closer to the basket when someone is already in the post, clogging up the lane and taking away the chance from the guy with the ball in his hand. He was scoring a bunch, which is usually not as great as it seems, in my book, because the other players on the team just differ to him and don’t develop any offensive rhythm of their own, and it’s never a good thing when one player is scoring nearly half your points. In other words, if the offense is basically just pass the ball to Kobe and watch, and Kobe is shooting at less than 45% for the game, their chances to win diminish significantly because no one else is adding points to the scoreboard.
Matt Barnes and McRoberts are providing a lot of energy and hustle points which is helping the team on both ends of the court, and they seem fine with their roles on the team. Barnes gets easy baskets when he makes quick cuts to the basket and is always in the mix on fast breaks, as well as providing some toughness to make up for what some others are certainly lacking. McRoberts is a high jumper and underrated passer, who provides additional toughness, to the point that some fans are calling him McRambis, in honor of the former Laker player Kurt Rambis. McRoberts is more than willing to take the hard fouls and do the dirty work on rebounds, without concentrating on his own scoring, much like Rambis in the 80s. Fisher had his best game of the season, and seemingly scored more points in the 4th quarter of the last game than he had for most of the season to provide that needed boost to the team. He is a solid position defender but he has always been a liability when guarding the fast point guards of the league, so that will always pose a problem for the team going forward, but his knowledge and experience are still a valuable asset, even if he is getting a bit too long in the tooth (especially for a point guard).
The team still has potential to do well, particularly if they continue to improve their defense, including limiting wide open shots, and tinker with their offense so they are taking the appropriate shots according to their individual strengths. If they can cut down on turnovers and either improve on their 3-point shooting or stop shooting them, it will only help their team. Their strengths are from closer to the basket, and probably the only players who should be shooting 3-pointers are Jason Kapono (in his limited minutes) or Steve Blake (who is now injured and out for a month), so in other words, they should probably just stop shooting them altogether. They are shooting 25% as a team from that range, so that should already tell them to stop shooting from that area, and take better percentage shots (which would be anything else). If other players don’t start making more of their shots or making plays, Kobe will continue not to trust his teammates, hog the ball like he likes to do, and take the shot on his own. He also needs to take the opportunities to pass the ball to Bynum or Gasol when they are in the post position, so they can get easy shots, instead of taking on double teams by himself and trying to do it all alone, which he has been guilty of far too often. Sure, he scored a lot, and the team won, but it wasn’t good team basketball, and it isn’t the way to win in the long run. Since they have a few low post players, one of them should get the ball close to the basket on every possession, to see if a double team comes that would free up a teammate, or if a good shot opportunity presents itself, instead of waiting until the last few seconds to shoot a challenged jump shot. Their scoring average is way down compared to last year, and they look stagnant far too often, if they want to be a winning team as the season progresses, instead of just a team with potential.
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