Alright folks, put away the sharp objects. One regular season game, without our best player(s), at the very dawn of a new era for us, remember? Game 7 of the WCF this was not. We'll live. And yes sooner rather than later we'll get those stinks.
Alright, this is the Lakers feed for the game, with a bunch of different angles:
[yt=Kobe's Last Second Shot]BNFsEnI9lFg[/yt]
1) pause it 3 seconds in -- its really not an elbow, that still shot is deceptive. What it really is though is a moving screen. Intentional collision set up, and then Kobe knowing how to use that momentum to go get free. We misplayed that thoguh -- I know you want to pressure the passer, but Udoka is wasted trying to smother Pau at the 3pt line, and too short to do so. The pick of course seperates Sergio from Vujacic, which was his man, and Kenny gets worried about Vujacic cutting for the tie and so falls back under the hoop rather than running at Kobe. Frankly I think you need BOTH Udoka leaving Pau to run at Kobe and KT leaving Vujacic to run at Kobe (with Casspi rotating down to disrupt any Vujacic layup attempt). Then if Pau wants to hit a three, or Sashs wants to tioe it wiht a contested layup over a flying Casspi, or Casspi's man (Morrison?) wants to beat us from the other side, so be it. But just don't let Kobe do it.
2) at the 53-54 second mark on the replay of Kobe's shot watch Westphal's eyes -- he's standing directly behind Kobe, a foot or two away, and looking directly down at his feet (which actually shows real presence of mind). Best view in the house (none of the other angles were definitive, and the Lakers announcers blathered on about whether he got the shot off in time without ever specifically looking at his heel). Refs apparently reviewed the heel question and said he was in. You can see when he catches the ball he is clearly in -- he's clearly up on his toes. But as he drops down into a stance to launch the shot...well only Paul knows, and if he didn't lodge a complaint from 2 feet away I'm going to have to assume there was space there.
Starters:
Casspi ( A- ) -- and yet another 20pt outing -- Omri's last 5 games? 17.6pts 7.4rebs 2.0ast on .477 shooting. Was fierce from the start in this one, and I think taunting Lakers fans with almost every shot. May have been overhyped to start, as he forced a shot into Bynum's chest and was blocked and missed his first few shots before starting to roll. But he was helping on the glass from the very beginning and had a good pass on the break to Donte for the dunk. Then started hitting everything and closed the first quarter with an emphatic dunk at the buzzer. Just had all kinds of energy and picked up a technical foul in mid 2nd as we went up 20. I thought it was for exceessive yapping, but then maybe it turned out to be about a no call? In any case, technical #2 this season for Omri, and I know he was shocked when he got the first one, but I am thinking as on edge as he plays emptionally he will pick up quite a few over his career. Whihc is generally ok, but this time that technical seemd to really hurt us as it broke moemnetum and sent the Lakers off on a minirun to chop it back down to 14. Made some sloppy plays in the early 3rd as the Lakers stormed back, and kept on doubling off of Odom to go after Kobe which Lamr took advanatge of to hurt us. Stepped back up to hit a huge contested three to close the third and push our lead back out to 7. Involved in back to back fastbreak turnovers that kept us from getting out to the safe lead, but stepped up to hit another huge three to put us up 2 with 1:00 to go. The best term for this game just really was "fierce". Wanted to compete, hit big shots, yapped at the crowd. I've got a few quibbles but no complaints on this one.
Thompson ( F ) -- wow JT, really? Tried to post Bynum, got blocked by about three lakers, sat fairly quickly, and with Hawes playing so well, and Donte and Casspi rolling, just forgotten about for about 12 minutes. Came out in the third and immediately threw a TO. Followed that with an offensive foul and back to back missed jumpers, and was huting us. Picked up his 4th foul on an offensive foul and took about a half hour to slouch over to the bench. Came up with his lone bright point of the night with back to back offensive rebounds to start the 4th that gave us an eventual hoop. Then got fouled, but predictably missed both FTs. Got powered threw by both Bynum and Pau in the post. Fouled out with 40 seconds to go on a terrible call -- the ole NBA the offensive player is always right tripping call -- that let the Lakers tie the game. That one wasn't his fault. But the rest...you can't have your best big just disintegrate in the face of a big frontline.
Hawes ( A+ ) -- well one good thing came out of this game -- we discovered that we are now set at center for the next 15 years -- Spencer Hawes, benched a few weeks ago for consistent wussiness, is now averaging 30pts 11rebs 4ast this decade, which I'm pretty sure would land him in the hall of fame. Of course he has always played some of his best ball against Bynum, and Bynum some of his worst against us -- one of he reasons why I think that Kings fans hold Bynum in lower standing than maybe any other fanbase. In any case, after careful observation it has become clear that the Kings have only alimited amnount of big man mojo to spend per game. And if one guy is going to play great, there is an unwritten law of the universe that the other guy is going to suck eggs. tonight it was Spencer's time to shine, and how, whiel JTY sat in the corner suckign the eggs. Started right from the beginning of this one with a backdoor pass to Beno, and it still seems like we break out more of the Princeton out of nostalgia against the Lakers than we do with any other team. Did make one terrible play in there when he decided to grab a d-board and lead the break ala JT -- ended up similar ot most of JTs forays as it resulted in a real ugly turnover on a strange pass...thing. You would have had to have seen it. Actually, better for you if you did not. Recovered though with a nice alley oop pass to Casspi -- in the early going much of his impact was with passing, but as he started to feel his offense he became more and more aggressive with it. Nice post move on Odom in late first. Nice up fake and stormed the paint for the dunk to put us up 7 in the early 2nd. Followed with a jumper and was the key player in pushing us out to a 38-23 lead. Had 10pts 5rebs 4ast midway through the second quarter. Canned a three. Should be noted Bynum was scoring back the other way inside but this was pretty onesided in terms of impact. Even played some defense at times, and forced Bynum and Gasol once each to loose control of shots, catch their own, and turn it over. The third quarter was a bit of an adventure, but he remained extremely involved. Threw up a wild hook and missed his first two shots in 3rd, one inside and one out. Came up with a good anticipation steal on Kobe in the mid third, but followed it with a post move where his lack of physical strength was obvious and had him off balance for the entire sequence before thorwing up something wild. Settled in and back to back hoops in the mid 3rd, one a jumper, one up and under, then a three. Then missed a three and turned it over trying to feed KT under the hoop -- always a dicey decision. Big down the stretch as well -- hit a jumper to tie us back up at the 4:20 mark, and then canned a huge three at the 3:00 mark to give us back the lead, then a second three to put us up 4 with his 30th point. Unable to stop Gasol though at the 1:15 mark as Gasol got the continuation to put the Lakers back up 1, and somewhat disappointingly wasn't even on the floor to try to cloe things out on that final play -- of course because his defense still sucks, but after what was easily his career night it would have been ncie to see him finish it off. So like I say, 30pts 11reb 4ast a game so far this decade, and its clear we have a new David Robinson in his prime. Along with reke, Donte and Casspi, we are just about set baby!
Alright, this is the Lakers feed for the game, with a bunch of different angles:
[yt=Kobe's Last Second Shot]BNFsEnI9lFg[/yt]
1) pause it 3 seconds in -- its really not an elbow, that still shot is deceptive. What it really is though is a moving screen. Intentional collision set up, and then Kobe knowing how to use that momentum to go get free. We misplayed that thoguh -- I know you want to pressure the passer, but Udoka is wasted trying to smother Pau at the 3pt line, and too short to do so. The pick of course seperates Sergio from Vujacic, which was his man, and Kenny gets worried about Vujacic cutting for the tie and so falls back under the hoop rather than running at Kobe. Frankly I think you need BOTH Udoka leaving Pau to run at Kobe and KT leaving Vujacic to run at Kobe (with Casspi rotating down to disrupt any Vujacic layup attempt). Then if Pau wants to hit a three, or Sashs wants to tioe it wiht a contested layup over a flying Casspi, or Casspi's man (Morrison?) wants to beat us from the other side, so be it. But just don't let Kobe do it.
2) at the 53-54 second mark on the replay of Kobe's shot watch Westphal's eyes -- he's standing directly behind Kobe, a foot or two away, and looking directly down at his feet (which actually shows real presence of mind). Best view in the house (none of the other angles were definitive, and the Lakers announcers blathered on about whether he got the shot off in time without ever specifically looking at his heel). Refs apparently reviewed the heel question and said he was in. You can see when he catches the ball he is clearly in -- he's clearly up on his toes. But as he drops down into a stance to launch the shot...well only Paul knows, and if he didn't lodge a complaint from 2 feet away I'm going to have to assume there was space there.
Starters:
Casspi ( A- ) -- and yet another 20pt outing -- Omri's last 5 games? 17.6pts 7.4rebs 2.0ast on .477 shooting. Was fierce from the start in this one, and I think taunting Lakers fans with almost every shot. May have been overhyped to start, as he forced a shot into Bynum's chest and was blocked and missed his first few shots before starting to roll. But he was helping on the glass from the very beginning and had a good pass on the break to Donte for the dunk. Then started hitting everything and closed the first quarter with an emphatic dunk at the buzzer. Just had all kinds of energy and picked up a technical foul in mid 2nd as we went up 20. I thought it was for exceessive yapping, but then maybe it turned out to be about a no call? In any case, technical #2 this season for Omri, and I know he was shocked when he got the first one, but I am thinking as on edge as he plays emptionally he will pick up quite a few over his career. Whihc is generally ok, but this time that technical seemd to really hurt us as it broke moemnetum and sent the Lakers off on a minirun to chop it back down to 14. Made some sloppy plays in the early 3rd as the Lakers stormed back, and kept on doubling off of Odom to go after Kobe which Lamr took advanatge of to hurt us. Stepped back up to hit a huge contested three to close the third and push our lead back out to 7. Involved in back to back fastbreak turnovers that kept us from getting out to the safe lead, but stepped up to hit another huge three to put us up 2 with 1:00 to go. The best term for this game just really was "fierce". Wanted to compete, hit big shots, yapped at the crowd. I've got a few quibbles but no complaints on this one.
Thompson ( F ) -- wow JT, really? Tried to post Bynum, got blocked by about three lakers, sat fairly quickly, and with Hawes playing so well, and Donte and Casspi rolling, just forgotten about for about 12 minutes. Came out in the third and immediately threw a TO. Followed that with an offensive foul and back to back missed jumpers, and was huting us. Picked up his 4th foul on an offensive foul and took about a half hour to slouch over to the bench. Came up with his lone bright point of the night with back to back offensive rebounds to start the 4th that gave us an eventual hoop. Then got fouled, but predictably missed both FTs. Got powered threw by both Bynum and Pau in the post. Fouled out with 40 seconds to go on a terrible call -- the ole NBA the offensive player is always right tripping call -- that let the Lakers tie the game. That one wasn't his fault. But the rest...you can't have your best big just disintegrate in the face of a big frontline.
Hawes ( A+ ) -- well one good thing came out of this game -- we discovered that we are now set at center for the next 15 years -- Spencer Hawes, benched a few weeks ago for consistent wussiness, is now averaging 30pts 11rebs 4ast this decade, which I'm pretty sure would land him in the hall of fame. Of course he has always played some of his best ball against Bynum, and Bynum some of his worst against us -- one of he reasons why I think that Kings fans hold Bynum in lower standing than maybe any other fanbase. In any case, after careful observation it has become clear that the Kings have only alimited amnount of big man mojo to spend per game. And if one guy is going to play great, there is an unwritten law of the universe that the other guy is going to suck eggs. tonight it was Spencer's time to shine, and how, whiel JTY sat in the corner suckign the eggs. Started right from the beginning of this one with a backdoor pass to Beno, and it still seems like we break out more of the Princeton out of nostalgia against the Lakers than we do with any other team. Did make one terrible play in there when he decided to grab a d-board and lead the break ala JT -- ended up similar ot most of JTs forays as it resulted in a real ugly turnover on a strange pass...thing. You would have had to have seen it. Actually, better for you if you did not. Recovered though with a nice alley oop pass to Casspi -- in the early going much of his impact was with passing, but as he started to feel his offense he became more and more aggressive with it. Nice post move on Odom in late first. Nice up fake and stormed the paint for the dunk to put us up 7 in the early 2nd. Followed with a jumper and was the key player in pushing us out to a 38-23 lead. Had 10pts 5rebs 4ast midway through the second quarter. Canned a three. Should be noted Bynum was scoring back the other way inside but this was pretty onesided in terms of impact. Even played some defense at times, and forced Bynum and Gasol once each to loose control of shots, catch their own, and turn it over. The third quarter was a bit of an adventure, but he remained extremely involved. Threw up a wild hook and missed his first two shots in 3rd, one inside and one out. Came up with a good anticipation steal on Kobe in the mid third, but followed it with a post move where his lack of physical strength was obvious and had him off balance for the entire sequence before thorwing up something wild. Settled in and back to back hoops in the mid 3rd, one a jumper, one up and under, then a three. Then missed a three and turned it over trying to feed KT under the hoop -- always a dicey decision. Big down the stretch as well -- hit a jumper to tie us back up at the 4:20 mark, and then canned a huge three at the 3:00 mark to give us back the lead, then a second three to put us up 4 with his 30th point. Unable to stop Gasol though at the 1:15 mark as Gasol got the continuation to put the Lakers back up 1, and somewhat disappointingly wasn't even on the floor to try to cloe things out on that final play -- of course because his defense still sucks, but after what was easily his career night it would have been ncie to see him finish it off. So like I say, 30pts 11reb 4ast a game so far this decade, and its clear we have a new David Robinson in his prime. Along with reke, Donte and Casspi, we are just about set baby!
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Being a Kings fan is way too painful...but damn i still love em!
