We were weebling. We were wobbling. Then we reinserted Cuz and Rondo, and in about 3 minutes the game was over. Its a good thing peeps to be the team with Stockton and Malone for once.
Boxscore
Stats: 33min 16pts (6-9, 2-3, 2-4) 6reb 3ast 2stl 6blk 2TO
Summary:poked his head up here and there, made good defensive plays, had a key little run with Rondo finding him repeatedly in the third.
Gay ( B ) -- there was only one mini run of offensive impact in this one for Rudy in the third, as Rondo began to find him on the break and at the three point line. But he wasn't forcing and ineffective the rest of the time, he was just rarely used (9 FGs) and mostly involved in trying to slow Kobe, who only plays decent games against us anymore. But being Rudy, many of the few things he did on offense were nice, and for those who look further than the scoring column in a boxscore and may have noticed that big number at the right of Rudy's line, yes, that ties a career high. I'm not 100% sure its accurate as these weren't help blocks out in space but rather the result of Rudy once again being scrappy around the defensive backboards, helping Cuz especially on scrums around the defensive glass. A cynic might note that Rudy's sudden emergence as a hustle player roughly coincided with the rumors of a possible trade, but regardless of its cause, he's been helping in ways other than scoring for several weeks now as we've begun to come online. A final interesting note: in the third quarter I think for the first time this season, and maybe in Karl's tenure, for a few minutes we went BIG with the old Malone Rudy at SG trick, next to Omri, WCS and Cuz. Karl's coaching seems to be undergoing a little morph here as well.
Stats: 29min 12pts (5-8, 0-0, 2-4) 10reb 1ast 2stl 2blk 0TO
Summary:exciting game for Willie having a major impact wiht his live body around both rims. Third star of the night.
Cauley Stein ( A ) -- was very active right out of the gate, and it caused the smaller Lakers problems. Was still showing no touch around the rim except on dunks again, at times reminding one of the last tall guy to hold that spot -- bad hands, no rim touch, who does that remind you of? Except this time in all other ways Willie was dynamic. He returned for the end of the quarter and came up with a beautiful help block over the top of Koufos, and had great activity around the boards and rim getting his hands on ball after ball. In the third even smoothly hit a little jumper from Cuz, as if it was a normal shot for him, despite us only seeing it a handful of times all season. Added an oop from Rondo, and there was not much to dislike here. Watch in future games to see how Karl uses him too, because tonight George Karl seemed to have turned a page on smallball, and kept us big with Cuz/Willie, Cuz/Koufos, and Willie/Koufos for most of the night.
Stats: 35min 36pts (13-22, 0-0, 10-12) 16reb 3ast 1stl 1blk 2TO
Summary:not a huge energy game, and for much of the night I was not loving the defensive effort. But just a man amongst boys inside, and powered home the win.
Cousins ( A- ) -- I wasn't sure at all the long layoff was doing us any favors as Cousins became one of a bevy of Kings to start sluggishly and even airball (well just miss the rim entirely and bounce it off the glass) a little 15 footer. And if you notice that little minus next to a 36-16 statline its because he also got off to a slow defensive start, and seemed reluctant to commit, likely for foul avoidance reasons. He never really would come online and be his most effective defensive self, but he put such an unfair offensive whipping on the Lakers, and almost entirely inside, that any defensive sluggishness was soon forgotten. What we saw a lot of were the sorts of muscular o-boards and clever skilled finishes around the rim that we have seen too few of this year with the big guy parked out next to Ben and Rajon at the 3pt stripe. But tonight it was there all night long for highlight worthy finishes, and his little jumpers were back to elbow work rather than 3pt shots, and were splashing down after that first airball. He did make a really bad play at the end of the first half, getting stopped in the last 30 seconds, then picking up a frustration foul, his 2nd, sending the Lakers to the other end of the floor for FTs, and costing us our 2 for 1 at a time when the game was still close. But he went right back to work in the third, and when he returned with Rondo in the mid 4th, there was a noticeable pop as he led a big surge to suddenly, and abruptly, end the Lakers chances. 31.7pts 13.7rebs for the month, which are flat MVP like numbers.
Stats: 18min 6pts (3-6, 0-1, 0-0) 2reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Summary: started the game off well as an early contributor, but another of those half games, came out i the third getting beat, sat, and was it
McLemore ( C+ ) -- for most of the first half Ben was an actual positive out there for us, and was mixing in some very nice high level a basketball plays with occasional "doh!" plays. He started things off with a nice gliding slash from Rondo, but next time down tried it again and it was a turnover. Made a very nice saavy behind his back hustle save to Rudy to trigger a break. Then airballed a corner three. Added a beautiful spin move drive in the late half. But sometime around there is when it started to go sideways again for him, he made multiple defensive mistakes in the final minutes of the half allowing Kobe and Williams to score, and things did not rebound after half. He got leveled by Hibbert early in the third, then lit up by Clarkson. Then Lou got by him too, and just like that, he was out and his night was over.
Stats: 34min 11pts (5-10, 0-1, 1-1) 5reb 17ast 0stl 0blk 3TO
Summary:started off the game just flat off with his passing, yet by the 3rd was flat maestroing, and hsi return with Cuz was what sealed it for us.
Rondo ( A- ) -- another player where you weren't sure how the layoff had effected him. Started off the game and his passes were just OFF, and he knew it. Threw a terrible alley oop pass to WCS that missed by 3 feet, and when he tried the same thing a couple of plays later, it was well off target too, but gathered up by Willie. A few minutes later he became the third King of the first quarter to airball a shot. But around the I haven't played any ball in a decade and have lost all feel, miscues, Rondo began to have himself a game. The assists piled up, and the Lakers defense parted like the Red Sea on multiple occasions, of which he took full advantage, darting straight down the lane to the rim. On the most memorable of these occasions he made the decision to go up for a big dunk down the lane, but came down awkwardly and took a hard near belly flop fall onto the hardwood for a +1 play. There were still passes off target, and too many bad risks taken, but somehow the turnovers didn't pile up, and in the third Rajon just began finding everybody as those assist totals spiked again while we made our first attempt to open the lead. As we once again gave away a good lead he would have to come back along with Cuz in the 4th to save the day though. He found the big guy, and hit several open jumpers after the return to help us quickly blow the game back open.
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