Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes.
-- Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)
Boxscore
Greene ( A- ) -- as it ended up one of our kids bursting with potential put on a show -- it just wasn't the one we've been spoiled into expecting on a nightly basis. It was a Donte explosion to start this one. 12 quick point hustling all over the court. And the thing that remains so intriguing with Donte is that when he's rolling he's kicking butts on BOTH sides of the ball. Started things off with a beautiful cradle drive to explode by Odom for the big dunk. Stripped on the break a minute later but then buried a three on the kickout. Drew a foul and finally hit 2-2 FTs. Wild drives were still putting pressure on the Lakers big frontline (note: odd how these elite teams keep coming through here with the formula 1 great little + a whole bunch of size inside). Made a great defensive save to salvage a possession for us. After returning played some great defense on the break to save a hoop, but then got clocked by Bynum and had to go to the lockerroom fopr stitches -- not surprisingly Bynum went to the line on that play as we all know its always been a foul on you when you smack a Lakers elbow with your face. Came back for the second half and while quiet in the third, stepped up big time down the stretch. Forced Odom into a 4th offensive foul to start the 4th -- could match Lamar's length and it seemed to bother Odom. mAde a mistake and turned it over up top for a Lakers breakway. But came back to follow with a spining post move for his first points since the first quarter and then bombed a three off a scramble. Was doing good job at PF using his length and fighting on boards -- in fact for a while there we countered the monster frontline with a silly sounding one of Greene/Brockman and held our own. Got even better when we moved him back down to SF and was our best player in the final minutes. Not on offense, but by getting assigned to guard Kobe and exposing Kobe for the overrated scrub we've long suspected him to be -- great defensive stand against Kobe in the post with 1:20 to go, and then a huge block on another Kobe shot at the 52 second mark. And I'm sorry, those weren't luck and they weren't Kobe being hurty pooh. Kobe can post Donte Greene all night and he's not going to get anything going against a 6'11" long athletic kid who competes. Continued smothering Kobe on defense in the first OT as Kobe missed and missed some more in the face of the size. It was not until the 2nd OT when Kobe finally figured it out and hit back to back threes on him to split the game open. Queue Sportcenter Kobe-gushing, but I will cheerfully look forward to Donte guarding him again next time and making him into a jumpshooter -- Lebron shot the lights out against Donte, but he acquitted himself well having to guard the two best players in the world. That's that defensive potential that continues to make him such an exciting prospect -- defense wins championships, and this kid looks like he may be able to flat out bring it in the future.
Thompson ( C- ) -- for all that Tyreke's game in particular has been a topic of conversation -- and it should be -- this game, as many are, might well have been won or lost up front. Up front where the Lakers trio of bigs combined for 35 rebounds and 10 blocks while Jason just quietly slinked away with a 10 point 6reb on 4-12 shooting effort. Got off to a slow start again -- had a good tip on a missed Beno drive, but could get nothing going 1 on 1 against pretty much any of the Lakers bigs, and the jumper was shaky. Just a very quiet game and dominated by Pau through most of it. Finally got a continuation near the end of the third, but then missed the FT again -- been doing that aa ton lately. His 2-pt plays are in fact 2-pt plays. Watched Brockman show how it was done giving up half a foot, and then was back in there before Hawes in the 4th, not sure why. Some good work on the offesnive glass at a critical possession at the 2:30 led to 2 FTs -- and critically he hit both to get us within 4 and set up the tie. Forced a turnover off Gasol's leg down the stretch, but an offensive foul going for a board at the 23 second mark with the game tied set JT up to be the goat here -- we were in the penalty so it gave Gasol two FTs to put the Lakers up with a chance to ice it in regulation...and then Pau miraculously choked them both to bail Jason, and us, out. On the game breaking play wiht seconds to go in the first OT either got thrown out of the way or picked a really stupid time to flop as he went down allowing Pau to tie it with half a second to go before the buzzer. Fumbled a dribble and nearly turned the ball over with us down 2 in the second OT, then airballed a shot against the clock. Fouled out oin back to back plays saving breaks by the Lakers after Casspi forced a three and Beno turned it over. Reke failed in more spectacular ways, but I may be being kind here by holding this up at a C-. Just felt like Jason didn't even matter enough to truly dock with the awful grade this time. Just a very large houseplant on the night. Tame and irrelevant.
Hawes ( B- ) -- I really have nothing to add to those people who tagged this performance as Spencer channeling Vlade -- it absolutely was. But old on his last legs Vlade, not young in his semi-prime Vlade. It was all there -- the passing saavy, the poke away steals, the inverted rebounding/assist numbers, the inability to contend with bigger stronger atheltes inside. So how exactly does one grade a 21 yr old kid who played the game like a a saavy old 35yr old chainsmoker in the final months of his career? Good defense on Bynum to start -- and throughout Specner's career he has always seemed to have Bynum's number. Too weak against the Lakers frontline to finish inside, and a voice sounding suspicously like one of the Maloofs was shouting, and I quote: "dunk the son of a *****!" Hey Spencer, that's your boss -- better listen up. Threw an alley oop to JT and was dropping nifty dimes right from the start of the game. Then came up with a steal to start a fast break. One aggressive follow dunk but otherwise just soft soft soft finsihes in there. Came up with renewed activity after Reke returned with 2 minutes to go in half. Stole a ball from behind on Bynum as he tried to outlet it. Hit a little jumper. Dropped in another assist. Picked up a cheapie foul on a Kobe flop with 6 seconds to go in the half letting the Lakers go back ahead. Came back out after half and delivered back to back beautiful Vlade style passes for Beno layups, one between Bynum's legs. In fact the whole game we seemed to be running our 2002 sets with him far more than I have ever seen us this year -- don't know whether that was a special welcome home present for Phil Jackson or what. Threw in a running hook off the glass but then resumed just such soft soft little flippy wussing on offense. And shot after shot after shot was sent back in his face, and he just did not learn. I think Pau now leads the league in blocks after this game, or at least he certainly would if he got to face Spencer every night. Short minutes and never a factor late in this one. A grading conundrum was this. The passing, the steals, the saavy...like Vlade of old it was all fun and all positive. But the weak little flippy offense, half a dozen balls swatted in his face on the way to a 4-14 shooting night, rebounding that basically consisted of his catching a handful of those balls as they were swatted back in his face, and then not mattering at all down the stretch...well parts of it were fun. He made some impact which is more than I can say for his running mate. But it was still a soft effort, a you don't scare one me one bit effort. I'm going to call it a B-.
Udrih ( B+ ) -- by far our best offensive player of the night (we shot 40%, Beno was 10-19), but unable to come up with the big ones we needed to pull this off. Started off a bit shaky, invisible early and really just seemed to be in there to create the Kobe/Reke matchup, then almost threw a Sergio no look turnover to start the second quarter. But settled and splashed in back to back open threes off the nice ball movement. Was basically the only player playing offense for us for long stretches of the second. Fullcourt race and three splashed in in the final 6 seconds of the first half left us with the lead going into the break. Big slashing drive early in the third, and then had some fun with back to back old Bibby cuts taking bounce passes from Hawes. Began to get quiet though, and as our offense progressively slowed (we scored fewer points in every period and OT) a lot of those little pullups were not falling. Missed the 18 foot jumper at the 24 second mark that would have put us up 2, leading to JT's offensive foul that could have cost us the game. Little pullup jumper to put us up 7 in OT and then did a subtly nice job of chasing Fisher off a 3pt shot a few seconds later -- you know he loves to can those big shots on us. Had a bad turnover throwing the ball out to Thompson on the drive as we started to collapse, and did not do a good job getting us in our offense as the OTs ran out. Bricked a wide open three we needed in the late double OT -- lead would have been down to 3, but became 8 when the Lakers took the miss the other way for a couple of FTs. Still a strong game, but Beno is not a primetime player you want to have to rely upon to start down Kobe in overtime. Which brings us to the story of the night...
-- Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)
Boxscore
Greene ( A- ) -- as it ended up one of our kids bursting with potential put on a show -- it just wasn't the one we've been spoiled into expecting on a nightly basis. It was a Donte explosion to start this one. 12 quick point hustling all over the court. And the thing that remains so intriguing with Donte is that when he's rolling he's kicking butts on BOTH sides of the ball. Started things off with a beautiful cradle drive to explode by Odom for the big dunk. Stripped on the break a minute later but then buried a three on the kickout. Drew a foul and finally hit 2-2 FTs. Wild drives were still putting pressure on the Lakers big frontline (note: odd how these elite teams keep coming through here with the formula 1 great little + a whole bunch of size inside). Made a great defensive save to salvage a possession for us. After returning played some great defense on the break to save a hoop, but then got clocked by Bynum and had to go to the lockerroom fopr stitches -- not surprisingly Bynum went to the line on that play as we all know its always been a foul on you when you smack a Lakers elbow with your face. Came back for the second half and while quiet in the third, stepped up big time down the stretch. Forced Odom into a 4th offensive foul to start the 4th -- could match Lamar's length and it seemed to bother Odom. mAde a mistake and turned it over up top for a Lakers breakway. But came back to follow with a spining post move for his first points since the first quarter and then bombed a three off a scramble. Was doing good job at PF using his length and fighting on boards -- in fact for a while there we countered the monster frontline with a silly sounding one of Greene/Brockman and held our own. Got even better when we moved him back down to SF and was our best player in the final minutes. Not on offense, but by getting assigned to guard Kobe and exposing Kobe for the overrated scrub we've long suspected him to be -- great defensive stand against Kobe in the post with 1:20 to go, and then a huge block on another Kobe shot at the 52 second mark. And I'm sorry, those weren't luck and they weren't Kobe being hurty pooh. Kobe can post Donte Greene all night and he's not going to get anything going against a 6'11" long athletic kid who competes. Continued smothering Kobe on defense in the first OT as Kobe missed and missed some more in the face of the size. It was not until the 2nd OT when Kobe finally figured it out and hit back to back threes on him to split the game open. Queue Sportcenter Kobe-gushing, but I will cheerfully look forward to Donte guarding him again next time and making him into a jumpshooter -- Lebron shot the lights out against Donte, but he acquitted himself well having to guard the two best players in the world. That's that defensive potential that continues to make him such an exciting prospect -- defense wins championships, and this kid looks like he may be able to flat out bring it in the future.
Thompson ( C- ) -- for all that Tyreke's game in particular has been a topic of conversation -- and it should be -- this game, as many are, might well have been won or lost up front. Up front where the Lakers trio of bigs combined for 35 rebounds and 10 blocks while Jason just quietly slinked away with a 10 point 6reb on 4-12 shooting effort. Got off to a slow start again -- had a good tip on a missed Beno drive, but could get nothing going 1 on 1 against pretty much any of the Lakers bigs, and the jumper was shaky. Just a very quiet game and dominated by Pau through most of it. Finally got a continuation near the end of the third, but then missed the FT again -- been doing that aa ton lately. His 2-pt plays are in fact 2-pt plays. Watched Brockman show how it was done giving up half a foot, and then was back in there before Hawes in the 4th, not sure why. Some good work on the offesnive glass at a critical possession at the 2:30 led to 2 FTs -- and critically he hit both to get us within 4 and set up the tie. Forced a turnover off Gasol's leg down the stretch, but an offensive foul going for a board at the 23 second mark with the game tied set JT up to be the goat here -- we were in the penalty so it gave Gasol two FTs to put the Lakers up with a chance to ice it in regulation...and then Pau miraculously choked them both to bail Jason, and us, out. On the game breaking play wiht seconds to go in the first OT either got thrown out of the way or picked a really stupid time to flop as he went down allowing Pau to tie it with half a second to go before the buzzer. Fumbled a dribble and nearly turned the ball over with us down 2 in the second OT, then airballed a shot against the clock. Fouled out oin back to back plays saving breaks by the Lakers after Casspi forced a three and Beno turned it over. Reke failed in more spectacular ways, but I may be being kind here by holding this up at a C-. Just felt like Jason didn't even matter enough to truly dock with the awful grade this time. Just a very large houseplant on the night. Tame and irrelevant.
Hawes ( B- ) -- I really have nothing to add to those people who tagged this performance as Spencer channeling Vlade -- it absolutely was. But old on his last legs Vlade, not young in his semi-prime Vlade. It was all there -- the passing saavy, the poke away steals, the inverted rebounding/assist numbers, the inability to contend with bigger stronger atheltes inside. So how exactly does one grade a 21 yr old kid who played the game like a a saavy old 35yr old chainsmoker in the final months of his career? Good defense on Bynum to start -- and throughout Specner's career he has always seemed to have Bynum's number. Too weak against the Lakers frontline to finish inside, and a voice sounding suspicously like one of the Maloofs was shouting, and I quote: "dunk the son of a *****!" Hey Spencer, that's your boss -- better listen up. Threw an alley oop to JT and was dropping nifty dimes right from the start of the game. Then came up with a steal to start a fast break. One aggressive follow dunk but otherwise just soft soft soft finsihes in there. Came up with renewed activity after Reke returned with 2 minutes to go in half. Stole a ball from behind on Bynum as he tried to outlet it. Hit a little jumper. Dropped in another assist. Picked up a cheapie foul on a Kobe flop with 6 seconds to go in the half letting the Lakers go back ahead. Came back out after half and delivered back to back beautiful Vlade style passes for Beno layups, one between Bynum's legs. In fact the whole game we seemed to be running our 2002 sets with him far more than I have ever seen us this year -- don't know whether that was a special welcome home present for Phil Jackson or what. Threw in a running hook off the glass but then resumed just such soft soft little flippy wussing on offense. And shot after shot after shot was sent back in his face, and he just did not learn. I think Pau now leads the league in blocks after this game, or at least he certainly would if he got to face Spencer every night. Short minutes and never a factor late in this one. A grading conundrum was this. The passing, the steals, the saavy...like Vlade of old it was all fun and all positive. But the weak little flippy offense, half a dozen balls swatted in his face on the way to a 4-14 shooting night, rebounding that basically consisted of his catching a handful of those balls as they were swatted back in his face, and then not mattering at all down the stretch...well parts of it were fun. He made some impact which is more than I can say for his running mate. But it was still a soft effort, a you don't scare one me one bit effort. I'm going to call it a B-.
Udrih ( B+ ) -- by far our best offensive player of the night (we shot 40%, Beno was 10-19), but unable to come up with the big ones we needed to pull this off. Started off a bit shaky, invisible early and really just seemed to be in there to create the Kobe/Reke matchup, then almost threw a Sergio no look turnover to start the second quarter. But settled and splashed in back to back open threes off the nice ball movement. Was basically the only player playing offense for us for long stretches of the second. Fullcourt race and three splashed in in the final 6 seconds of the first half left us with the lead going into the break. Big slashing drive early in the third, and then had some fun with back to back old Bibby cuts taking bounce passes from Hawes. Began to get quiet though, and as our offense progressively slowed (we scored fewer points in every period and OT) a lot of those little pullups were not falling. Missed the 18 foot jumper at the 24 second mark that would have put us up 2, leading to JT's offensive foul that could have cost us the game. Little pullup jumper to put us up 7 in OT and then did a subtly nice job of chasing Fisher off a 3pt shot a few seconds later -- you know he loves to can those big shots on us. Had a bad turnover throwing the ball out to Thompson on the drive as we started to collapse, and did not do a good job getting us in our offense as the OTs ran out. Bricked a wide open three we needed in the late double OT -- lead would have been down to 3, but became 8 when the Lakers took the miss the other way for a couple of FTs. Still a strong game, but Beno is not a primetime player you want to have to rely upon to start down Kobe in overtime. Which brings us to the story of the night...
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