Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Could almost see this one coming.
Cisco ( A- ) -- inserted into the starting lineup in place of Kevin, and for a team desperately in need of energy in recent games was a godsend. Dominated early action on both ends of the court against the casual sloth-like play of Vlad Rad, and was obviously hyper hyped up, which was almost predictable. Slowed down a bit thereafter, but stepped up again to hit back to back big shots as we began to pull away. Energy did not express itself through much other than scoring, but was infectuous and maybe the key to the entire game for us.
Hawes ( C+ ) -- was quiet early while Cisco dominated play, then began to get involved, but was firing from all angles inside and out and hitting nothing, so maybe you would rather he have not. Pau was his man as well, and dominated action for the Lakers (one of the few of the men in purple who botheed to show up). Had a few moments -- rebounding was solid (although again lost the battle in there), came up with a few energy blocks, and hit Beno? I think on a thread the needle pass on the cut, but not one of his better ones, and unable to contain Pau.
Miller ( B ) -- played a little bit of wingman to Cisco early on, taking charges, flopping once, grabbing an offensive board, and generally looking far less like a walking corpse than he had the last time out. Was only minimally involved offensively, but still managed to flummox a lethargic Andrew Bynum who looked every bit the big dopey kid out there. Grabbed several tough boards on the defensive glass, although his overall numbers continue to be troublesomely low again this year. Benefitted from all the penetration our guards were able to get and was often wide open, and also helped create those lanes for the guards with good screens and just by standing outside and dragging the Lakers reluctant bigs with him (the dirty little secret with the Lakers defensive collapse is that their perimeter defenders are awful and depend on the big shotblockers to save them -- puill the shotblockers out, and you can burn Fish, VladRad, Farmar, and when he doesn't focus, even Kobe all night). Not the man, nor even the wingman by the end of the game. Not one of our 4 best players. But a solidly efficient outing.
Salmons ( A ) -- quiet early while others did the work, but impact was in the other direction where Kobe again did not look like he was sure what to do with him and struggled to an awkward 2-9 first half. Then John came up the big third quarter, and although Kobe began to wake up himself toward the end of it, this was clearly a superstar pantsing going on. Helped on offense of course that Kobe played him like a complete idiot, hopping around in front of him like a bunny rabbit in a show of faux defensive hustle that did nothing but give John lane after lane to the hoop (where the Lakers seem determined to force him to the baseline? His favored shot? Er...duh.). But the story was on the other end -- a good offensive game, but not a dominant one. But defensively was another story. Kobe's stats are inflated by some late game chucking where he padded his stats in semi-garbagetime, but for most of the game John had him held down under 20, and Kobe hasn't actually shown that he can do anything with John on offense all season long. And maybe he will on Friday -- I think Phil had him out there late largely to humiliate him, to smear his face in it and goose him into anger for the game on Friday. Maybe he'll just drop 50 on us. But at this point he almost has to prove that the photoshop isn't the new state of things.
Udrih ( B+ ) -- mostly quiet first half before getting into foul toruble, but avoided the mistakes that have been plaguing him (and us). Scored on several of those spinning drives, and frankly I am not sure why guys don't just guard him for those since he'd rather spin than go straight in. Began to really dominate Fisher after half, and while the stats don't look much different than normal -- 12pts 5ast, and on crappy shooting to boot (5-13) -- both he and BJax created all sorts of havoc for the Lakers defense with their ability to penetrate at will. Only got five assists, but responsible for probably twice that many good shots for his teammates.
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Greene ( B- ) -- might have been our first guy in of the bench, and in for Cisco at the 4:00 of the first quarter after Cisco had been completely carrying us. Was a questionable move, and one that left Donte with some big shoes to fill. Did not really fill them, but was more solid and involved than he has been in the first half, on both ends. Took shots when eh should, helped on the glass. Hit a big three in the third, finally connecting on one after a season long struggle (BJax's struggles are well documented, but Donte, billed as a shooter, is only hitting 23% from out there). Lasted only one minute into the 4th...actually less than 1 minute. One play. Got wild trying to dribble the ball fullcourt and picked up a sloppy turnover, and make make no doubt about it -- this game was not about or for the kids learning. Reggie was coaching for his job and it was the Lakers. Overall not an impact performance or anything, but helped this time and looked like a part of the team rather than a kid in training.
Thompson ( B- ) -- ragged play after initially entering was part of why we lost our early lead. Fumbled balls, picked up fouls, again strugled to finsih his moves inside. But settled down and late in the half was back to functioning as a garbage man, moving for open dunks and finishing off scrappy work inside. After half was less of an adventure and kept the energy rolling for us off of the bench. Did get blocked again inside where he still seems to be figuring out that big men in this league aren't 6'7", but generally gave us the hustle boost wihtout the sloppiness that marred the first half effort.
BJax ( B+ ) -- back in the rotation, and this being the Lakers, found that rivalry fountain of youth again in a big way. Or maybe just found that crappy Fisher defense. In any case was able to hurt the Lakers off the bench, blow past the Lakers guards to the rim, and in a truly amazing turn, he hit his threes. Well...at least half of them. And that made all the difference. His offensive game has still been reduced to largely that of a 3pt shooter (6 of his 7 shots were from that distance), but this time he hit a number of them, and at critical junctures. And that was the difference between this being a good grade and mediocre or even bad on. On the season he maybe goes 1-6 from downtown, 2-7 overall, has 9pts. But tongiht he hit 3-6 and stung the Lakers repeatedly. Not much statistically in other areas, but the ability to get to the hoop also caused the Lakers defense to buckle, and like Beno he likely had effect there only poorly acccounted for by the stats.
Brown ( B- ) -- had a brief first half stint in which we lost most of our lead and Bobby himself did little. But came back for a handful of good second half minutes, showing again this season that he has little problem with Farmar, and canning a big three as we were putting the Lakers away.
Moore ( B- ) -- gave us an empty first half stint where the highlight was getting badly schooled by Bynum on one play, getting overpowered and faked out on the post move that left Bynum free for a big dunk. Also tried to finish in traffic another time, and got smushed. But came back and played a solid role for us in the first half of the 4th quarter while we were building our lead to insurmountable heights. Nothing dynamic of course -- this is Mikki Moore -- but hsi rotatins were solid, he was in the right place for open shot son offense, and generaly he was a stable presence out there for us before giving way to Spencer for the stretch.
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Theus ( ) --
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