Archive for the ‘Katie's Postgame Report’ Category
Kobe drains the game winner over Ray Allen and extends the Lakers win streak to four by defeating the Celtics 90-89.
The Lakers didn’t have their best game today.
They shot the ball poorly much of the second half, only 40%. They also got out rebounded and turned the ball over just about as many turnovers as assists. Something that will never win you a game.
But they made a couple big shots down the stretch and were able to get some key defensive stops, including drawing a huge offensive foul on Paul Pierce with under a minute that ultimately led to Kobe being able to get the ball back and win Lakers the game.
The aggressive play by our bigs was key for us today. They all ended in double figures. Bynum had 19 points and 11 rebounds, Pau had 11 points and 11 rebounds, and Ron had 11 points and played fantastic defense.
Lamar and Shannon Brown came in off the bench and contributed nicely as well.
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The Lakers put an end to their four game road losing streak with a 100- 95 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night.
The Lakers played the best they have on the road in quite some time. They shot and took care of the ball much better than in any of the previous four losses, and finally played efficient enough defense to hold a team under 100 points as they allowed the Mavericks to score only 95 points on 43% shooting.
Still bothered by his back spasms, Kobe was forced to sit much of the first half.
The rest of the team led by Lamar Odom and Ron Artest provided a nice balanced attack to keep us in the game for when he was able to return in the second half.
Our far too often inconsistent bench finally showed up tonight as well. They were plus 10 to the Mavericks bench and made up for the continued struggles of Derek Fisher, who shot a miserable 1-8 for only 3 points on the night.
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What can you really say? It’s Kobe’s world and the rest of the NBA should be miserably by it.
The Lakers reign in 2010 in dramatic fashion as they defeat the Kings 109-108 on yet another game winning shot by Michael Jordan, errr… I mean, Kobe Bean Bryant. *ahem*
This wasn’t the prettiest of games. The Lakers came out like they were still hung over from last night, and found themselves in a 20 point hole at some point in the first half.
With Ron still out, they continued to play sloppy defense — not getting back on transition, not making the proper rotations on defense, resulting in the Kings to score over 100 points on over 50% for the game, including a 36 point output in the second quarter.
Offensively the Lakers weren’t much better. They shot well below low 30% the entire first half. Our bench troubles also continue as we were only able to get 11 points out of them tonight.
To add to the offensive mess, Derek Fisher had his worst game of the season scoring only 6 points on 1-10 shooting. Thankfully, we have guys on our team like Kobe, Pau, and Lamar who can turn any ugly game into a W.
Pau was relentless down on the block contributing 17 points and 16 boards. Lamar had one of his best games of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds. And Kobe was, well, Kobe and led us to victory with his 39 points on the night, including yet another game winner.
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The Lakers faced their first realistic Finals opponent of the season and gave Lakers Nation the one gift you can’t return: a disappointing loss on Christmas Day.
The Lakers started the game well by scoring the first 6 points of the game, but it quickly vanished as they just couldn’t get it together defensively. They got destroyed by the Cavaliers pick and roll pretty much the whole game, and allowed them to shoot an ugly 60% from the field in the first half.
Offensively, the Lakers weren’t much better. Pau and Bynum couldn’t get much going down low and our bench “stench” was nonexistent. Most of their scoring was from Kobe and Ron, but a lot of it was them going one on one and that wasn’t very efficient.
It seemed like the Lakers were in the ears of the referees the entire game. There were a few questionable calls, but at the end of the day, had they put half the energy they put into their defense as they did complaining, the outcome may have been a little different.
To let you go, I’d like to wish Lakers Nation a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the entire TLN staff; and I’d like to remind you all it’s just one game and there’s a rematch we all have to look forward to on January 21st, 2010.
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Kurt Rambis’ return to Staples was spoiled as the Lakers win their eleventh straight game with an easy win over the young Minnesota Timberwolves.
For the second game in a row, the Lakers came out looking a little sluggish. Instead of pulling away from the Wolves before the halftime, they let the opponent stay close.
The Wolves were also able to hang with the Lakers partially due to Kobe having to leave mid-way through the 2nd quarter with a fractured index finger. Did that stop him? Not a chance. He returned to the game after halftime with his finger taped and played as if he never left by nailing a three and making a pretty reverse layup that helped extend the Lakers lead to ten.
The Lakers then went on a 12-0 run to finish off the quarter and pretty much controlled then game from there on out.
The Wolves are just too inexperienced and too small to stay with the Lakers. The Lakers dominated the boards and in the paint with their size. They have way too many weapons as well. Almost every Laker came in and contributed tonight.
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The Lakers extended their winning streak to ten games and improved their record to a league best 17-3 by beating the Utah Jazz 101-77 Thursday night.
After pretty much walking through the game for three quarters, the Lakers finally found life and put on a defense clinic in the final 12 minutes of play. It was by far their best defense this season. They went on an impressive 27-2 run and held the Jazz to 6 points in the fourth.
The Laker got contributions from everyone tonight. Our bigs overpowered theirs all night. Kobe was his usually self. Even Sasha, who hasn’t any real playing time lately, played some impressive ball tonight; his three early in the 4th was one of the plays that actually sparked our Lakers and got the crowd into it.
Overall, it was an alright game. They didn’t play great early, but they took care of the ball and did what they needed to do to stay in the game to win it late.
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He’s baaack!
After missing the first 11 games of the season, Pau Gasol made his season debut, leading the Lakers to an easy win over the Bulls.
Pau didn’t look as if he hadn’t missed a step from his injury. He set the tone early by coming out scoring 6 points within the first 4 minutes of play and played pretty flawless the rest of the game.
His effect in the lineup showed especially in our defense tonight. After having a rough stretch of games, the Lakers seem to finally be getting where their supposed to be on their rotations.
The Lakers played a nice all around team game tonight. With Kobe dominating in the scoring lately, it was nice to see six players in double figures; it makes a team very tough to beat when you have so many scoring options.
There really wasn’t anything to complain about tonight. The only one to really play poorly was Sasha, but that’s nothing out of the ordinary. Other than that, the team played great.
Congratulations to Kobe on another milestone as well; he’s now 2nd on the Lakers all-time scoring list passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
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Despite being short handing again tonight, the Lakers begin their three game home stand with a win in dominating fashion.
For the first time in a couple games, they came out with great energy; it was essentially what kept them in the game in the first half.
They got most of the hustle plays killing the Grizzles on the glass and in the paint. Unfortunately, it was their dismal shooting (38% as a team), heavy reliance on Kobe, and the mental lapses on defense that allowed the Grizzles head into halftime with a two point lead.
The Lakers apparently got the memo during halftime because they began the 3rd quarter making 7 straight points. As a whole, they played better. They weren’t quite depending on Kobe for everything, and after a quiet first half, it was our bench players who came in and made what I think was the biggest impact in the game. Josh Powell especially.
I think the most impressing thing from tonight was our team play. At first glance you would think it was Kobe being selfish going one on one all night just to put up 40+ points, but as a whole we shared the ball nicely, racking up 35 assists tonight.
A special Congratulations goes out to Kobe Bryant for being the youngest to reach 24,000 points in NBA history; in the process he also passed opponent Allen Iverson for 16th place all time scoring list, as well as hitting the 40 point mark for the 99th time in his career. Congrats, Mamba!
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Somewhere in Los Angeles Mark Cuban is laughing and saying, “I told you so,” and for one night only, I am going to have to agree with him. The Lakers played the worst game I’ve seen them play since they walked off the court in Boston late June 2008 – I thought it was that pitiful.
The Lakers went from playing lackluster in the first half to playing like a girls JV highschool basketball team the rest of the game. They came out of halftime turning the ball over, playing out of the offense, not making the proper rotations on defense and ultimately lettings the refs get them rattled. Before you knew it, the 7 point Mavericks half time lead was now 16 and they were never able to recover.
Other than Kobe, no Laker scored more than 15 points tonight, as a team, they shot only 40% from the field, had as many turnovers as assists and our bench got outscored by an embarrassing 41 to 28. All a recipe for a loss.
Something positive to take from this game would be the play of Shannon Brown and Jordan Farmar. While much of the team was still in celebrating mode, Brown and Farmar played great and kept the team treading water in the second quarter by making big shots and getting back on defense
Why Phil chose to stick with Sasha over Brown in the second half for so long is something I’m trying to figure out.
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Kobe drains the game winner over Ray Allen and extends the Lakers win streak to four by defeating the Celtics 90-89.
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