Woo to the hoo. Talent + hustle = win.
Salmons ( B- ) -- you gotta love that John. Comes to a team stacked to the ceiling with offensive weapons, misses all of preseason, and yet still finds a way to make sure he gets up the most shots. Seriously though, it wasn't THAT bad, but he probably did lead the team in selfish possessions. In fact, his very first touch of the game he brings the ball up the court, dribbles, doesn't pass the ball even once, and then hoists up a long jumper off the bounce. Thanks John, nice to have you back. Anyway, that was the bad of it, but on the other side of the ledger he was effective spotting up for three, and of course the big thing for him both in this game, and potentially over the season, is the defense. He's always defended Kobe well, and while he in no way shut him down, John made things tough for him all night long. Critically he provided a thrid tough defender in that starting lineup to go with Hayes and Reke, and kept Reke from having to take Kobe as part of his new defesnive focus thing.
Hayes ( B+ ) -- this is one of those grades that clearly outstrips the numbers because Chuck's fingerprints were all over this win. Good defensive first half constantly being in the right place at the right time (which is not accidental) and especially notably shutting down pick and rolls. In fact even did a nice job switching onto Kobe on a couple of picks, and staying right in front of hiim the whole way. Individual defense against Gasol was good, although that will be overstated a bit -- Gasol has started this season in the same fog he ended last one in and looked passive in both his first games. Largely constrained himself to just doing the roleplayer follows on the offensive glaas etc., but a couple of times we mysteriously threw the ball to him for some of the ugliest attempts at one on one offense you ever are going to see, including an airballed flip and fugly spinning drive thing in the early 3rd. We shouldn't do that anymore. Came up with an important one man defensive stand at the 3 minute mark as the Lakers were within 3, singlehandedly stoning World Peace in the paint and then turning and blocking Gasol's follow attempt back to back. We went the other way and scored, and the Lakers never got that close again. Sent to the line at a critical time at the 2 minute mark and split the pair, which for him is about on average. Was all over the court on defense, but of course the biggest effect might have been in leading everybody else to be too.
Cousins ( B ) -- beat Gasol with the quick spin to start the game and draw the foul. Was impressively active and effective with his interior defense in the early going. But after that first move just could not get the offense going, and began to pick up a lot of fouls as our lack of shotblocking was putting a lot of pressure on him to try to ump in front of guys. We immeditaely ran a nice pick play for him out of the lockerroom to start the 3rd, but then he immediately picked up his 4th foul before even gettign a chance to get going. Westphal may deserve the credit for Cousins eventualy ending up with the solid grade. By the later stages of the third Cosuisn was having a bad game. He'd never been able to get his offense going, and he was in constant foul trouble. Then the Lakers sent Gasol to the bench, and after a couple of minutes of watching them trying to sneak on through with intimidating front lines led by the likes of Troy Murphy and Luke Walton, Westphal looked over and sent DeMarcus back in despite the 4 fouls. And he proceeded to tear the undersized Lakers up inside, including a monster one handed mop up dunk of a Fredette miss in the late third. It was really Cousins who led our major push down the stretch of the quarter and into the 4th, and when he left in the 4th to get a rest in the middle quarter, the lead really shrunk. After retuning for the final minutes brought an infectious hustle as he just banged and overpowered the Lakers on a series of missed FTs saving balls off of guys, getting absolutely mugged by a Lakers double team trying to wrestle him off the glass and drawing the foul, and just in general being a wrecking ball. Was all fired up and drew the charge on Kobe at the 1:00 mark to cap things. Complete tale of two halves here, but after he got it going and put the talent on display the Lakers had no answer in the second half.
Thornton ( A- ) -- its a funny thing, but just game in and game out I have fewer notes on Marcus than any of our other starters because he just goes out there and gets it done. Was working well with Reke in the early going spotting up for open looks at the arc, although he only hit 1 of his first 4. Mixed in some explosive drives to the hoop down the right side of the lane and jsut played the game fast and aggressive as always. Realy gave us an aggressive push in the 4th quarter again, and hit some big threes in the seocnd half to break Lakers runs. For his trouble eventually got chucked in the jaw by a Matt Barnes elbow which may or may not have been accidental as Barnes challenged his shot. Actually given Barnes' wannabe thug stuff of recent years and the Lakers general frustration, I would go with may not. Once again came down and hit the sealing clutch jumper at the 1:10 mark to make it a 10 pt lead and cap a big 27pt debut more than offsetting Kobe, who needed nearly twice as many shots to get his own 29.
Evans ( B ) -- modest statistical game by Reke's standards, but this was an impressively restrained effort. In the first half in particular he looked great, playing almost the prototypical PG in the first quarter finding shooters all around the perimeter, and then adding in some flashy drives knifing through the defense and just steamrolling people (Fisher in particular got bowling pinned which made me smile). Maybe most impresive of all were his in rhythm jumpers with his feet set. Sporting an all new form, he was dropping them like a whole new player. No more fadey leg kicking behind the head stuff. Defensively he had Salmons there to handle the bulk of the Kobe duties, and spent most of his time applying pretty good pressure on the lakers admittedly extremely limited PGs. When he did guard Kobe for a stretch in the 2nd quarter, looked very much able to stay right with him 1 on 1, but still struggled to get through picks, which remains his defensive achilles. Saw the seam and raced to the hoop for our final score of the half. Not as PGy after the first, and his offense wasn't as effective after half. Did not force the action though and you just really get the feeling he trusts his teammates now in a way maybe he didn't when they were named Ime Udoka and Sean May. We had to bring him back in the game in the 4th after Westphal maybe overplayed the smallball rookie hand a bit and the Lakers started to take control against Thomas and Jimmer. You could feel the difference immediately as they all of a sudden had a whole different animal to contend with. Forced an important foul and hit 2 FTs at the 3 minute mark. Followed that with a brilliant block from behind on Fisher's 3pt attempt, just taking the ball away and racing the other way. Repeatedly got to the line in the final two minutes but went cold from the line and was clearly exasperated with himself even though the game was largely over by that time. This was a game with a ton of promise to it. Reke in a box, getting his own without stopping anybody else from getting theirs.
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Bench
Fredette ( C+ ) -- ok first game alternating between saavy beyond hsi years play, and looking very much the rookie. Started the game looking nervous after entering for Thronton and turned it over in fugly do I drive or do I shoot or do I...oops! fashion. His first NBA hoop was a stop and pop off a hard drive that settled him as he went on a little run in a smallball second quarter adn scored inside and out. Showed that solid sense of basketball again knowing how to draw attention to himself and who the resulting open man will be. Ran a nice pick and roll with Cousins too, something that neither Reke's game nor Thornton's patience often allows. Started looking the rookie again as the defenses tightened in the 4th, getting his shot taken from him by Barnes, beign mugged in the backcourt by Kobe, and committing a charge when a wall fo Lakers suddenly converged on him on a drive. All learning experiences. I probably won't C+him for 6pts in 26 minutes in the future, but for a rookie's first game this wasn't terrible and he flashed some good stuff in that second quarter.
Hickson ( C ) -- erratic up and down in and out of the lineup performance. Had some obvious defensive misadventures misplaying the pick and roll, missed his FTs, and at one point got himself benched for taking a dumb long jumper outside of the offense, one of the few blatant selfish shtos we had on the night. Looked much improved after half, even if the numbers didn't follow, and redeemed hismelf with a great hustle play on a long fullcourt race for a loose ball resulting in him getting fouled by Murphy in desperation.
Thompson ( INC ) -- very limited minutes and again gave us pretty much nothign in them. Obviously he's been reduced to the 4th big, but I am not really understanding what I am seeing, or rather not seeing, from Jason out there. He's just not getting anything at all accomplished. Not outstandingly bad. But just out there in completely unproductive fashion buying us a few minutes. We haven't seen even a flash from him in either preseason game nor this, the home opener.
Outlaw ( C- ) -- okay, I remember Outlaw had 6pts in the last preseason game, and I think I gave him a B+ or some such as his impact exceeeded his numbers. This was the exact opposite situation. Looked a little lost out there on defense as Westphal threw out a ridiculous smallball lineup with Jimmer and Thomas in the bakcourt, Thornton at SF, an Hayes and Outlaw at the "power" spots. Ht a jumper and raced out for a spectacular catch and spin finish on the break. But could nto rebound at all, and just got absolutely manhandled by World Peace in the post, which he can't blame on being played out of position. That was a SF (althoguh obviously one of the strongest) knocking him around in there. Dear Paul, we've got 4 rotation level bigs on the team. Use them.
Thomas ( B ) -- surprisingly got some minutes in the early 2nd as Westphal seemed to intentionally want to put out the very smallest lineup possible with our personnel. But Isiah immediately set about proving he belonged with a nice drive and dish out to the three point line, and then took a pass the other way from thronton for his own three. In a fun sequence either repeatedly got caught guarding Kobe, and gave him all he wanted peskily getting into his chest like a yippy little Jack Russel Terrier. Maybe enough under Kobe's skin that Kobe gave him a blatant elbow trying to free up for the last shot just before the halftime buzzer. Added another aggressive take to the rim in the early 4th but we probably stayed with him too long in the 4th as he lost steam and the lead went away before we got Reke back in. Back in to close the game for ballhandling and grabbed a defensive board and helped dribble it out.
Greene ( INC ) -- in for the last minute of the first half to guard Kobe, actually got shaken, but recovered somewhat with length to challenge
Salmons ( B- ) -- you gotta love that John. Comes to a team stacked to the ceiling with offensive weapons, misses all of preseason, and yet still finds a way to make sure he gets up the most shots. Seriously though, it wasn't THAT bad, but he probably did lead the team in selfish possessions. In fact, his very first touch of the game he brings the ball up the court, dribbles, doesn't pass the ball even once, and then hoists up a long jumper off the bounce. Thanks John, nice to have you back. Anyway, that was the bad of it, but on the other side of the ledger he was effective spotting up for three, and of course the big thing for him both in this game, and potentially over the season, is the defense. He's always defended Kobe well, and while he in no way shut him down, John made things tough for him all night long. Critically he provided a thrid tough defender in that starting lineup to go with Hayes and Reke, and kept Reke from having to take Kobe as part of his new defesnive focus thing.
Hayes ( B+ ) -- this is one of those grades that clearly outstrips the numbers because Chuck's fingerprints were all over this win. Good defensive first half constantly being in the right place at the right time (which is not accidental) and especially notably shutting down pick and rolls. In fact even did a nice job switching onto Kobe on a couple of picks, and staying right in front of hiim the whole way. Individual defense against Gasol was good, although that will be overstated a bit -- Gasol has started this season in the same fog he ended last one in and looked passive in both his first games. Largely constrained himself to just doing the roleplayer follows on the offensive glaas etc., but a couple of times we mysteriously threw the ball to him for some of the ugliest attempts at one on one offense you ever are going to see, including an airballed flip and fugly spinning drive thing in the early 3rd. We shouldn't do that anymore. Came up with an important one man defensive stand at the 3 minute mark as the Lakers were within 3, singlehandedly stoning World Peace in the paint and then turning and blocking Gasol's follow attempt back to back. We went the other way and scored, and the Lakers never got that close again. Sent to the line at a critical time at the 2 minute mark and split the pair, which for him is about on average. Was all over the court on defense, but of course the biggest effect might have been in leading everybody else to be too.
Thornton ( A- ) -- its a funny thing, but just game in and game out I have fewer notes on Marcus than any of our other starters because he just goes out there and gets it done. Was working well with Reke in the early going spotting up for open looks at the arc, although he only hit 1 of his first 4. Mixed in some explosive drives to the hoop down the right side of the lane and jsut played the game fast and aggressive as always. Realy gave us an aggressive push in the 4th quarter again, and hit some big threes in the seocnd half to break Lakers runs. For his trouble eventually got chucked in the jaw by a Matt Barnes elbow which may or may not have been accidental as Barnes challenged his shot. Actually given Barnes' wannabe thug stuff of recent years and the Lakers general frustration, I would go with may not. Once again came down and hit the sealing clutch jumper at the 1:10 mark to make it a 10 pt lead and cap a big 27pt debut more than offsetting Kobe, who needed nearly twice as many shots to get his own 29.
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Bench
Fredette ( C+ ) -- ok first game alternating between saavy beyond hsi years play, and looking very much the rookie. Started the game looking nervous after entering for Thronton and turned it over in fugly do I drive or do I shoot or do I...oops! fashion. His first NBA hoop was a stop and pop off a hard drive that settled him as he went on a little run in a smallball second quarter adn scored inside and out. Showed that solid sense of basketball again knowing how to draw attention to himself and who the resulting open man will be. Ran a nice pick and roll with Cousins too, something that neither Reke's game nor Thornton's patience often allows. Started looking the rookie again as the defenses tightened in the 4th, getting his shot taken from him by Barnes, beign mugged in the backcourt by Kobe, and committing a charge when a wall fo Lakers suddenly converged on him on a drive. All learning experiences. I probably won't C+him for 6pts in 26 minutes in the future, but for a rookie's first game this wasn't terrible and he flashed some good stuff in that second quarter.
Hickson ( C ) -- erratic up and down in and out of the lineup performance. Had some obvious defensive misadventures misplaying the pick and roll, missed his FTs, and at one point got himself benched for taking a dumb long jumper outside of the offense, one of the few blatant selfish shtos we had on the night. Looked much improved after half, even if the numbers didn't follow, and redeemed hismelf with a great hustle play on a long fullcourt race for a loose ball resulting in him getting fouled by Murphy in desperation.
Thompson ( INC ) -- very limited minutes and again gave us pretty much nothign in them. Obviously he's been reduced to the 4th big, but I am not really understanding what I am seeing, or rather not seeing, from Jason out there. He's just not getting anything at all accomplished. Not outstandingly bad. But just out there in completely unproductive fashion buying us a few minutes. We haven't seen even a flash from him in either preseason game nor this, the home opener.
Outlaw ( C- ) -- okay, I remember Outlaw had 6pts in the last preseason game, and I think I gave him a B+ or some such as his impact exceeeded his numbers. This was the exact opposite situation. Looked a little lost out there on defense as Westphal threw out a ridiculous smallball lineup with Jimmer and Thomas in the bakcourt, Thornton at SF, an Hayes and Outlaw at the "power" spots. Ht a jumper and raced out for a spectacular catch and spin finish on the break. But could nto rebound at all, and just got absolutely manhandled by World Peace in the post, which he can't blame on being played out of position. That was a SF (althoguh obviously one of the strongest) knocking him around in there. Dear Paul, we've got 4 rotation level bigs on the team. Use them.
Thomas ( B ) -- surprisingly got some minutes in the early 2nd as Westphal seemed to intentionally want to put out the very smallest lineup possible with our personnel. But Isiah immediately set about proving he belonged with a nice drive and dish out to the three point line, and then took a pass the other way from thronton for his own three. In a fun sequence either repeatedly got caught guarding Kobe, and gave him all he wanted peskily getting into his chest like a yippy little Jack Russel Terrier. Maybe enough under Kobe's skin that Kobe gave him a blatant elbow trying to free up for the last shot just before the halftime buzzer. Added another aggressive take to the rim in the early 4th but we probably stayed with him too long in the 4th as he lost steam and the lead went away before we got Reke back in. Back in to close the game for ballhandling and grabbed a defensive board and helped dribble it out.
Greene ( INC ) -- in for the last minute of the first half to guard Kobe, actually got shaken, but recovered somewhat with length to challenge
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