Archive for the ‘BenchMob Beat’ Category
It’s called the “charity stripe” for a reason. It is an opportunity to score freely in a game; no arms flailing about to hinder your vision, no opponents chasing you down, little disturbance on the court while other players wait until your release before they make any movements, etc. Free throws are basically complimentary points.
The only catch is… you have to make them.
Not every player in the league is savvy at the free throw line. Many, like Shaquille O’Neal who is shooting just under 50%, certainly are not. In 53 games, he has missed 124 free throws — 124 points! Some players do have the touch from the line. Steve Nash is the best free throw shooter in the NBA at 94%. In 62 games, he has only missed 11!
In light of another loss, the Lakers should take some time to think long and hard about how they let this game against Miami get away from them. A close-fought battle, this game could have gone in either team’s favor. The Heat led by nine points in the second half, which the Lakers retaliated with a late run. More timely shots from clutch-ready Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher gave the Lakers an opportunity to take this game at the end of regulation.
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If the Lakers were going to win this game, George Karl probably advised his team, they would have to do it with someone other than Kobe Bryant leading the way.
Arron Afflalo, ready for the challenge, velcroed himself to Kobe all afternoon and, with help from other Nuggets, had Mamba constantly surrounded. It worked; he was 3-17 and had five turnovers.
A bad shooting night for Kobe usually translates into trouble for the Lakers.
If it came down to the last second against this new and improved Nuggets team, you have to wonder, would Kobe have been able to hit a game winner, and would it have omitted the 4-18 line in his box score? Probably, but today, instead of fighting through the stingy Denver defense with a ridiculous volume of shot attempts, Kobe helped close the game by taking a little detour from Scoring Street, to venture into Assist Avenue and Defense Drive.
Other than his 14 points, he also had 12 assists, five rebounds, three steals and two blocks. It’s a shame that only when he struggles offensively, do we get to appreciate the rest of his talents and skills.
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Lamar Odom squirmed in front of the camera’s bright light, wiping his forehead as beads of sweat trickled down his face, all the while trying to listen as FSN West’s Michael Eaves began his post-game interview. Eaves opened up by saying that Bobcats coach, Larry Brown, pointed to Odom’s contribution as the difference in the game. Odom shrugged upon hearing this instance of praise and was quick to explain, “I just tried to find my way to the offensive glass and make some plays… We’re a little beaten up right now… I just used my finesse and eye-hand coordination to get to the ball.”
He basically said, “I did what I had to do.” Odom didn’t break any records against the Bobcats, nor did he achieve any career stats, but just for doing what he had to do, the Lakers got what they needed — a win.
It is often noted and discussed, by basketball analysts, beat writers, play-by-play announcers, coaches and players alike, that Odom, at 6’10”, possesses a most unique combination of basketball talent, skill and ability. He is tall and lanky, able to reach over and/or across players to snatch rebounds, block shots, deflect or steal. He’s quick, with a signature play that has him grabbing a defensive board, going coast-to-coast and scoring on a fastbreak so swiftly that his defender is left wandering 60 feet away from the field goal.
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Fisher couldn’t miss. 3-pointers landed through the hoop hitting absolutely nothing but net. Bynum spun around and over Dwight Howard, a welcome sight from his lesser role in last season’s Finals. A large lead over the Magic arrived quickly and it appeared that this Finals rematch would end as it did the last time these two teams played — in victorious and dominating fashion.
Unfortunately, the execution by the home team occurred in the first 8 minutes of the game. 40 more awaited.
Fisher’s scoring run hit a brick wall (as did others’) and a lack of ball movement produced nothing but Orlando points. Bynum and Gasol were playing with two fouls apiece, unable to contain Howard and his 18-point first half. And Kobe, oh Kobe, grabbed his hand after an attempted pass to Gasol went awry, his fractured index finger suffering the blow that eventually resulted in a daunting, very un-Mamba like inaccuracy.
The Lakers had once led by thirteen, but after a long, and very difficult to watch, offensive lull, it was suddenly the 3rd quarter, Orlando had found their shooting touch, and the home team lead had turned into an 11-point deficit.
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We have the best player on the planet and the winningest coach in the league.
No doubt.
We’re rich in length and veteran leadership.
Hell yes.
We’re a deep team.
Hmmm… Prove it.
In their first game of the New Year, the Lakers trailed by more than 20 points against a young, energetic and very confident Sacramento Kings team; the very same team that took two overtimes and a couple of timely Kobe Bryant trey’s to defeat. As the game recap and box score showed on January 1st (as it had shown through most of December), it was a lot of Kobe, a lot of Pau, more Lamar than usual, some Andrew, but very little everyone else.
Though the defending champions have had the best record in the league for most of this season (an accomplishment no one should scoff at no matter what their schedule), many of us have been wondering when we would see the same slick-passing, defensively stifling, so-fired-up-even-Pau-is-screaming group of guys that played (mostly) every game last season like they had something to prove.
Lately, however, all the Lakers have proven is that they can squeak by and get a win as long as Kobe still has appendages with which to dribble and shoot.
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It was the start of the 4th quarter when Kobe Bryant hopped up from his seat on the bench like a fan in the stands, spinning a towel in his right hand as he encouraged his teammates on the floor, “Keep it going, Jordie!” he yelled, “Keep it going!”
The starters sat and the Laker reserves upped the lead until the buzzer sounded for a 21-point victory.
The second unit closed out in runaway train-like domination. That bench mob, Phil’s beloved “minutemen” (so called back then by Coach Phil for the speed and immediate impact they brought into the game) were the talk of the NBA.
The opposing team was the San Antonio Spurs. The date was May 2008.
In a film documentary that centered around Lakers leader, Kobe Bryant, what stood out most during a breakfast viewing of ‘Kobe Doin’ Work’ on Christmas morning was not the Mamba’s thought process during the course of a game. It was the disparity between that season’s bench play then and their play now.
“BenchMob 2008″ had a fire in them, an unmistakable enthusiasm each time they hit the hardwood, a mission per minute to make their team greater, a powerhouse that no other in the league could match. They extended leads, made garbage time a great time and they played proudly. BenchMob 2009 has as much talent, if not more, and more experience than their former selves, but where is the nightly enthusiasm? Where is the pride? Where is the fire?
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Jordan Farmar dribbled cross-court, scanned the floor before him, stopped behind the 3-point line, then calmly lifted off his feet and arched a smooth-sailing shot over his defender. Swish.
Shannon Brown rebounded a missed lay up, raced to the other basket, passing defenders left and right, then catapulted off the ground. Slam!
The center of these sample scenarios is the Lakers’ newly established back-up duo. Farmar, lean, small and quick, is often seen sprinting down the court, eyeing a teammate in the distance, then tossing up a perfectly-timed lob for a thunderous two points.
Brown, mere inches taller, is muscle-bound and aerodynamic, often seemingly floating to the hoop to meet Farmar’s lob, thereby providing said thunder.
What started out as a competition between two point guards vying for playing time behind starter Derek Fisher, has turned into a purple and golden opportunity for a pair of dynamic young players to combine their strengths and skills to empower a 2nd unit in need of the stability and collective confidence necessary to live up to Championship standards.
It seems ages ago since Brown arrived from Charlotte via the VladRad trade; beaming and simply happy to don a Laker uniform. Forward Adam Morrison was the marquee name on the transaction, with Brown, a point guard who scarcely played for his former teams (Cleveland and then Charlotte), considered a “throw-in” to the deal. Phil Jackson’s coaching philosophy, however, refuses the existence of (for lack of a better word) “unusable” players.
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The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Or in the Lakers case, the better they are, the more opponents, pundits and haters want them to fall into the fiery pit of defeat.
It’s no secret — the Lakers are good. Championship good. And for every prediction (see: Bill Simmons’ every hope) that the Ron Ar-Test will be the demise of a new Lakers dynasty, there is an even greater prophecy come true in the oracle that is Kobe Bryant (see: Bill Simmons’ hate). Though it’s true that this Lakers team begins, goes through and ends with #24, basketball is, after all, a team sport and as skilled and menacing as he is on the court, Kobe did not earn that fourth ring alone.
Lakers depth — that was what analysts last season claimed was the team’s greatest strength. At Kobe’s side were a cast of teammates with various levels of experience who, like him, simply played (or had the opportunities to play) their part through the victorious end, and play it to the maximum of their physical and, most importantly, mental strength.
Last year’s playoff performance for the younger “cast members,” however, left a lot to be desired and the previously heralded “BenchMob” (minus Lamar, who basically played starter’s minutes last season when Andrew Bynum was in foul trouble), fell under much, and well deserved, scrutiny for its relative lack of production in the title run.
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