Well, that was fun. In case you missed it, the Celtics ran away with this one in the third quarter. The lead had been double digits for most of the second period, but it got out of hand during a 49-second stretch during which Boston scored eight straight points. The spurt was highlighted by a Jeff Green dunk, followed by a Green block on the other hand that led to a fast break and a Paul Pierce three. I believe that put Boston up 21. They'd lead by at least 30 before coasting the rest of the way.
As comfortable a win as this turned out to be, it certainly didn't start the way. The Celtics were whistled for five fouls in the first two minutes, twenty-two seconds -- the fastest any team has found itself in the penalty since the Phoenix Suns on Halloween in 2000, according to the TNT broadcast. Two of those fouls were on Kevin Garnett, and by the end of the first quarter, his backups -- Jason Collins and Chris Wilcox, had five fouls between them.
This game affirmed for me, though, that Boston's recent hot streak is due not to some improved chemistry or ball movement in the absence of Rajon Rondo, but rather to an increased intensity and focus on the part of the entire team. Paul Pierce, in particular, came out sharper than he's been in weeks, draining a handful of pull-up jumpers in the first quarter.
However, with the exception of the third quarter -- when Boston shook off a few minutes of halftime-induced torpor to make 16 of 21 shots to blow the game open -- the Celtics didn't play well enough to enjoy such an easy evening. Indeed, this game said more about the Lakers' struggles than anything else. They couldn't take advantage of Boston's early foul trouble, they shot terribly, and their defense was nonexistent most of the night. The biggest indictment was the lack of ball movement. Steve Kerr harped on it quite a bit and so I won't rehash it here, but there was far too much one-on-one for a team quarterbacked by one of the league's all-time great point guards. The third quarter actually reminded me a bit of Game 5 of the 2010 Finals. Kobe Bryant -- who had been assisting at a career-high rate recently, which coincidentally has been L.A.'s best stretch of the season -- decided to try to take over offensively. And even as he hit a dazzling array of shots, each seemingly more difficult than the last, Boston's lead remained steady -- then blew up once Bryant's shots stopped falling.
Not that this is a novel opinion, but I think you can safely stick a fork in the Lakers this year. They don't appear to be anywhere close to figuring out how to play together, Dwight Howard is ailing, and Pau Gasol is going to be out at least 6 to 8 weeks. They aren't as far out of the playoffs as you'd think, but it's hard to imagine them turning it around any time soon.
Showing posts with label Pau Gasol. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pau Gasol. Show all posts
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Los Angeles Lakers 88, Boston 87 (Overtime)
[recap] [box score]
Losing to the Lakers always sucks. Losing to the Lakers at home is worse. Losing to the Lakers at home because we couldn't grab a couple loose balls is sleep-deprivingly frustrating.
Actually, we didn't lose because we couldn't grab a couple loose balls. We lost because we couldn't shoot -- just over 39 percent for the game -- and didn't attack the basket to try to get to the line. Particularly in the second half, with the Lakers sagging off of Rajon R-ndo as they have the last several seasons, the Celtics relied exclusively on jumpers, and paid the price.
The Lakers shot horribly, too, which is why we even had a chance to win the game. They missed a ton of open looks, as we did, and both tams played well enough defensively to win the game. But the Lakers got the loose balls when it mattered:
* After Boston had retaken the lead late in the fourth, the Celtics forced Pau Gasol into a long three from the right corner, which he missed. But Andrew Bynum was there for the putback and the foul, converting the free throw to put the visitors up one.
* Ray Allen gave Boston the lead with a three-pointer with 1:07 left, and after an exchange of empty possessions -- a missed jumper by Kevin Garnett and a horrific three-pointer from Metta World Peace (where was that in Game 7 of the 2010 Finals when we needed it?) -- LA had the ball with 30 seconds to go. Steve Blake drove, stopped at the foul line, passed up a shot, before throwing a terrible pass into the post. It was knocked away, and anyone of three Celtics could have grabbed it. They didn't, though, and Blake, following up on his pass, snatched it.
* Blake got the ball to Kobe Bryant, who missed a jumper, but Gasol was there for the tip and the tie. Overtime.
* The Lakers got the first four points of overtime, holding the Celtics scoreless for the first half of the extra period. Pierce brought us back, hitting a foul-line jumper and then a three with 90 seconds to go. Kobe again missed a jumper, but Bynum was there for the tip-in. The Lakers would go scoreless on their final two possessions, but Boston came up empty in its last three, and the Lakers won.
Boston had plenty of chances on the offensive end to win the game. At the end of regulation, Doc drew up the predictable 2-3 pick-and-roll with Pierce and Allen. Allen was free, but Pierce hesitated on the pass and the ball ended up in the hands of Mickael Pietrus, who had no choice but to throw up a 35-footer.
* On the final possession of the game, Doc iso'd Pierce against World Peace, who has guarded Pierce well since he was known as Ron Artest. Pierce got off a decent look at a mid-range jumper, but it missed by a hair, bouncing softly of the front of the rim and the backboard into the waiting hands of Allen, who had pushed aside Blake as the shot went up. The Lakers' length would save them one last time, however, as Gasol came over and blocked Allen's putback as time expired.
The Celtics haven't beaten the Lakers in Boston in the regular season since 2007, with three of those four losses coming by a single point. The last time the Celtics beat LA on the parquet was, of course, June 13, 2010, Game 5 of the NBA Finals. Boston led the series three games to two and headed west brimming with confidence, a win away from yet another banner.
Things sure have changed since then. Kendrick Perkins, whose knee injury probably cost us the 2010 title, is gone, shipped to Oklahoma City at last year's trade deadline. Boston went down fighting to Miami in the second round of last year's playoffs, a five-game series that signaled a changing of the guard in the East. The Lakers, for their part, embarrassed themselves in getting swept by the Mavs last year, then lost key bench players in the offseason and didn't replace them. Neither team has been very impressive this season.
Yes, things are different. In past years, games like this really bugged me, not only because I hate the Lakers, but because I always had it in my mind that we might see them down the road. I'd worry for days afterward about what we'd do if they ever made Bynum and Gasol the focal point of their offense, or why R-ndo attacks their sagging defense some nights and disappears on others.
Now, there are no such worries. Neither team looks to be championship-caliber; the playoffs, for both, are not even a sure thing. And yet the loss still eats at me, and not just because I live among Lakers fans. There are a lot of games in an NBA season, but this one always means a little bit more. So the way we lost Thursday night eats at me. The fact that the offense slogged down in the second half eats at me. It gnaws at me that Doc sat Ray for so long, and that he didn't at least try Pierce on Kobe when Bryant got hot in the third quarter. (Though Ray did pretty well, all things considered; Kobe just hit some very tough shots.)
But we soldier on, across to the border to Toronto to face the Raptors in the second half of the back-to-back. Should be an easy win, under normal circumstances. But after all the minutes tonight and the letdown of letting this one slip away, it's going to take a particularly focused effort.
Losing to the Lakers always sucks. Losing to the Lakers at home is worse. Losing to the Lakers at home because we couldn't grab a couple loose balls is sleep-deprivingly frustrating.
Actually, we didn't lose because we couldn't grab a couple loose balls. We lost because we couldn't shoot -- just over 39 percent for the game -- and didn't attack the basket to try to get to the line. Particularly in the second half, with the Lakers sagging off of Rajon R-ndo as they have the last several seasons, the Celtics relied exclusively on jumpers, and paid the price.
The Lakers shot horribly, too, which is why we even had a chance to win the game. They missed a ton of open looks, as we did, and both tams played well enough defensively to win the game. But the Lakers got the loose balls when it mattered:
* After Boston had retaken the lead late in the fourth, the Celtics forced Pau Gasol into a long three from the right corner, which he missed. But Andrew Bynum was there for the putback and the foul, converting the free throw to put the visitors up one.
* Ray Allen gave Boston the lead with a three-pointer with 1:07 left, and after an exchange of empty possessions -- a missed jumper by Kevin Garnett and a horrific three-pointer from Metta World Peace (where was that in Game 7 of the 2010 Finals when we needed it?) -- LA had the ball with 30 seconds to go. Steve Blake drove, stopped at the foul line, passed up a shot, before throwing a terrible pass into the post. It was knocked away, and anyone of three Celtics could have grabbed it. They didn't, though, and Blake, following up on his pass, snatched it.
* Blake got the ball to Kobe Bryant, who missed a jumper, but Gasol was there for the tip and the tie. Overtime.
* The Lakers got the first four points of overtime, holding the Celtics scoreless for the first half of the extra period. Pierce brought us back, hitting a foul-line jumper and then a three with 90 seconds to go. Kobe again missed a jumper, but Bynum was there for the tip-in. The Lakers would go scoreless on their final two possessions, but Boston came up empty in its last three, and the Lakers won.
Boston had plenty of chances on the offensive end to win the game. At the end of regulation, Doc drew up the predictable 2-3 pick-and-roll with Pierce and Allen. Allen was free, but Pierce hesitated on the pass and the ball ended up in the hands of Mickael Pietrus, who had no choice but to throw up a 35-footer.
* On the final possession of the game, Doc iso'd Pierce against World Peace, who has guarded Pierce well since he was known as Ron Artest. Pierce got off a decent look at a mid-range jumper, but it missed by a hair, bouncing softly of the front of the rim and the backboard into the waiting hands of Allen, who had pushed aside Blake as the shot went up. The Lakers' length would save them one last time, however, as Gasol came over and blocked Allen's putback as time expired.
The Celtics haven't beaten the Lakers in Boston in the regular season since 2007, with three of those four losses coming by a single point. The last time the Celtics beat LA on the parquet was, of course, June 13, 2010, Game 5 of the NBA Finals. Boston led the series three games to two and headed west brimming with confidence, a win away from yet another banner.
Things sure have changed since then. Kendrick Perkins, whose knee injury probably cost us the 2010 title, is gone, shipped to Oklahoma City at last year's trade deadline. Boston went down fighting to Miami in the second round of last year's playoffs, a five-game series that signaled a changing of the guard in the East. The Lakers, for their part, embarrassed themselves in getting swept by the Mavs last year, then lost key bench players in the offseason and didn't replace them. Neither team has been very impressive this season.
Yes, things are different. In past years, games like this really bugged me, not only because I hate the Lakers, but because I always had it in my mind that we might see them down the road. I'd worry for days afterward about what we'd do if they ever made Bynum and Gasol the focal point of their offense, or why R-ndo attacks their sagging defense some nights and disappears on others.
Now, there are no such worries. Neither team looks to be championship-caliber; the playoffs, for both, are not even a sure thing. And yet the loss still eats at me, and not just because I live among Lakers fans. There are a lot of games in an NBA season, but this one always means a little bit more. So the way we lost Thursday night eats at me. The fact that the offense slogged down in the second half eats at me. It gnaws at me that Doc sat Ray for so long, and that he didn't at least try Pierce on Kobe when Bryant got hot in the third quarter. (Though Ray did pretty well, all things considered; Kobe just hit some very tough shots.)
But we soldier on, across to the border to Toronto to face the Raptors in the second half of the back-to-back. Should be an easy win, under normal circumstances. But after all the minutes tonight and the letdown of letting this one slip away, it's going to take a particularly focused effort.
Viewing Alert (and this is a big one)
TNT, 8 p.m. Eastern, Lakers at Celtics
The Lakers are in Boston tonight for the first of two matchups between the two storied franchises this year. In recent years, we've become accustomed to seeing the Celtics and Lakers at the top of the standings, but both are in seventh place in their respective conferences right now, and both with the benefit of a comparatively easy early-season schedule. LA is in worse shape than we are -- the Lakers are a half-game away from being out of the playoffs, while the Celtics have a comfy four-game cushion on ninth-place New York.
Boston's on a roll, too, having won five in a row and nine of ten, though not all of those wins have come against difficult competition. LA's halfway through a six-game road trip and are just 3-9 as the visiting team this season.
If you haven't seen the Lakers yet this year, the big change is on the bench. Phil Jackson is gone, and in his place is Mike Brown, late of the Cavaliers, a well-regarded defensive mind whose teams have struggled offensively. Lamar Odom plays for the Mavs now. And Ron Artest now goes by the name "Metta World Peace."
Other than that, they're pretty much the same Lakers. Kobe is still Kobe, remarkably prolific as a scorer in his 16th season, having just passed Shaquille O'Neal for fifth-place on the NBA's all-time scoring list. In mid-January, he had a string of four consecutive 40-point games, a stretch made even more remarkable by the fact thta he did it with a torn wrist ligament (which has reportedly healed). But he's struggled lately, shooting just 35.4% (23 of 65) in the last three games. Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol are both having excellent years, but with Kobe averaging 24 shots per game (the second-highest total of his career) they aren't being used as much as they probably should be.
The bench is nothing special, but keep an eye on rookie Andrew Goudelock, their second-round pick. I was big on him coming out of College of Charleston (very disappointed that he went to the Lakers) and after a slow start, he's come on of late. He's a terrific shooter with almost unlimited range.
Anyway, should be an intense one.
The Lakers are in Boston tonight for the first of two matchups between the two storied franchises this year. In recent years, we've become accustomed to seeing the Celtics and Lakers at the top of the standings, but both are in seventh place in their respective conferences right now, and both with the benefit of a comparatively easy early-season schedule. LA is in worse shape than we are -- the Lakers are a half-game away from being out of the playoffs, while the Celtics have a comfy four-game cushion on ninth-place New York.
Boston's on a roll, too, having won five in a row and nine of ten, though not all of those wins have come against difficult competition. LA's halfway through a six-game road trip and are just 3-9 as the visiting team this season.
If you haven't seen the Lakers yet this year, the big change is on the bench. Phil Jackson is gone, and in his place is Mike Brown, late of the Cavaliers, a well-regarded defensive mind whose teams have struggled offensively. Lamar Odom plays for the Mavs now. And Ron Artest now goes by the name "Metta World Peace."
Other than that, they're pretty much the same Lakers. Kobe is still Kobe, remarkably prolific as a scorer in his 16th season, having just passed Shaquille O'Neal for fifth-place on the NBA's all-time scoring list. In mid-January, he had a string of four consecutive 40-point games, a stretch made even more remarkable by the fact thta he did it with a torn wrist ligament (which has reportedly healed). But he's struggled lately, shooting just 35.4% (23 of 65) in the last three games. Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol are both having excellent years, but with Kobe averaging 24 shots per game (the second-highest total of his career) they aren't being used as much as they probably should be.
The bench is nothing special, but keep an eye on rookie Andrew Goudelock, their second-round pick. I was big on him coming out of College of Charleston (very disappointed that he went to the Lakers) and after a slow start, he's come on of late. He's a terrific shooter with almost unlimited range.
Anyway, should be an intense one.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Links of the Day (October 17, 2010)
- Interesting article about Phil Jackon's psychological treatment of Pau Gasol. They'd get plenty out of him if they went to him more. If Jackson, the supposed genius, wants more from Gasol, he'll need to get Kobe to give up the rock. LA would not have had to squeak out Game 7 against Boston had they not waited until the fourth quarter to recognize where the biggest mismatch on the floor was.
- Zach Lowe lists 11 duos (well, ten duos and a trio) to pay special attention to as they run the pick-and-roll, RwH's favorite play.
- Canis Hoopus borrows from George Karl in suggesting how to get the most out of Michael Beasley.
- LeBron's new shoe isn't exactly modern-looking. Looks like something Larry Johnson/Grandmama might've hawked 15 years ago.
- Pepperdine's Keion Bell dunks over seven people at Midnight Madness. As impressive as that is, it's actually my third favorite thing in that video. The second is his 360 with the pass between the legs at around the 20 second mark. The first? "Club Can't Handle Me" playing in the background during the first dunk. That's right; RwH is a closet Flo Rida fan.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Boston 87, Los Angeles Lakers 86
Finally!
The point I want to make is somewhat subtle, and so I'm going to use a little bit of a dialectical method to make it. Here are the points I'm not trying to make: The Lakers are as good without Kobe as they are with him; the Lakers are better off without Kobe on the floor; the Celtics would have won Thursday night even if Kobe had played.
After a string of frustrating losses against the NBA's best teams in which Boston held -- and then gave up -- comfortable second half leads, the Celtics finally hung on for a W -- in the defending champions' barn, no less.
Boston played three good-to-very-good quarters and then one wretched one. Leading 76-69 after three periods, Boston extended their edge to 80-71 before giving up the next 13 points. But the Cs then dug in on the defensive end, holding the Lakers to just two points over the final 7:13, and won despite their own offensive struggles.
As I was leaving the pizza joint near USC's campus where I watched the game, a Lakers fan spotted my "Beat LA" shirt and pointed out to me that Boston won by just a single point despite the fact that Los Angeles was without Kobe Bryant, who sat out his fifth straight game with a left ankle injury. This is something I talked about extensively with a Laker fan friend of mine before the game, and I want to address it here, too.
The point I want to make is somewhat subtle, and so I'm going to use a little bit of a dialectical method to make it. Here are the points I'm not trying to make: The Lakers are as good without Kobe as they are with him; the Lakers are better off without Kobe on the floor; the Celtics would have won Thursday night even if Kobe had played.
The point I do want to make is that the Lakers are still a very good team without Kobe. They are a different team, to be sure, but they are still very good. Without Bryant dominating the ball, the focus shifts to Pau Gasol, perhaps the most skilled big man in the game today, and Lamar Odom, an extraordinarily talented point forward, who, at 6-10, has the skill set of a guard. Pair those two with young Andrew Bynum, an at-times dominant seven-footer, and Ron Artest, and you've got an almost impossible team to defend that controls the boards and guards very well, too.
Bryant famously doesn't sit out very often, so empirical evidence of this point is rather thin, but consider the Lakers' four games prior to tonight's, all without Kobe: a 17-point win at Portland; a 12-point win over San Antonio; a 15-point win at Utah; and a 10-point win over Golden State. It's even more impressive than that brief treatment makes it sound. Utah currently has the third-best record in the West; San Antonio has the fifth-best record; and Portland owns the eighth-best -- although just three-and-a-half games separate the Jazz and Blazers in the standings. Moreover, Bynum played just ten minutes against Portland before injuring his hip, and didn't play at all in the wins over San Antonio and Utah.
My point is that removing Bryant from the Lakers is not the same as, say, taking LeBron James off of the Cavaliers. Sure, if you take Bryant away completely, LA probably isn't leading Denver by six games for the top spot in the West, but aside from those Nuggets, there isn't a Western team you can point to that is clearly better than a Kobe-less Lakers team. It's fallacious to unilaterally say that if Bryant played Thursday night, the Lakers would have won comfortably. Remember, Bryant played 45 minutes the last time these two teams met, when the Lakers eked out a one-point victory.
With that said, it'd also be fallacious to ignore Los Angeles' major offensive struggles in the last half of the fourth quarter. I can't imagine that there have been very many times over the years where the Lakers have managed just two points in more than seven minutes with Bryant on the floor. And given Bryant's prowess for scoring in such situations, it's not a stretch to say that with him in the lineup, they'd be a favorite to get a bucket on at least one of their final four possessions, rather than the 0-fer they ended up with. And that illustrates best what I mean when I say that the Lakers are a different team without Bryant: At least in a single-game situation, they are capable of being as good without him as with him for the first 45 minutes or so. But down the stretch, when nerves tighten, the defense intensifies, and the officials tend to put the whistles away, they sorely miss the services of the best assassin in the game today.
The upshot of this whole sidebar is that, just as it's almost always wrong to draw any conclusions from a single regular-season basketball game, it's wrong for Lakers fans to take solace in comments like the one made to me after the game tonight. The Lakers who did play Thursday night played well, and Boston won -- despite a 25-13 free throw discrepancy, despite a terrible night from Rasheed Wallace, despite the fact that the bench was a non-factor, and despite the fact that the Celtics were without both the recently-deposed Eddie House and the newly-acquired-but-not-yet-in-uniform Nate Robinson. The Lakers would still be the favorite in a seven-game series, but the Celtics wouldn't be too long of a shot. We're right there.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Los Angeles Lakes 92, Boston 83
Well, we weren't going to win 'em all.
[recap] [box score]
Up two points with four minutes to go in LA is about all we can ask for, and we were there last night. That we didn't close it out is disappointing, but the Lakers needed a big-time performance from Pau Gasol down the stretch to close it out, not to mention a couple of big three-pointers from Lamar Odom to even be in that spot. I'll take my chances against those guys.
I came into this season thinking that, even if we were the defending champs, the Lakers were the team to beat. That opinion hasn't changed all that much despite our record-setting start, although the Lakers' inability to play consistently good defense had me less worried about them as the season has progressed. If anything, then, that we were so close to winning in LA despite being thoroughly outplayed is fairly reassuring. It's kind of weird to say, but given that the Lakers got the contributions they were lacking last ear from guys like Gasol and Odom and still barely beat us, I feel pretty good about last night.
We're back in action tonight, at Golden State at 10:30 pm Eastern. The game's on NBATV, so I won't be able to see it. I'm also heading out of town for a couple of days, so I won't be able to blog about it either. I'll be back to post on Sunday, after we play the Sacramento Kings.
[recap] [box score]
Up two points with four minutes to go in LA is about all we can ask for, and we were there last night. That we didn't close it out is disappointing, but the Lakers needed a big-time performance from Pau Gasol down the stretch to close it out, not to mention a couple of big three-pointers from Lamar Odom to even be in that spot. I'll take my chances against those guys.
I came into this season thinking that, even if we were the defending champs, the Lakers were the team to beat. That opinion hasn't changed all that much despite our record-setting start, although the Lakers' inability to play consistently good defense had me less worried about them as the season has progressed. If anything, then, that we were so close to winning in LA despite being thoroughly outplayed is fairly reassuring. It's kind of weird to say, but given that the Lakers got the contributions they were lacking last ear from guys like Gasol and Odom and still barely beat us, I feel pretty good about last night.
We're back in action tonight, at Golden State at 10:30 pm Eastern. The game's on NBATV, so I won't be able to see it. I'm also heading out of town for a couple of days, so I won't be able to blog about it either. I'll be back to post on Sunday, after we play the Sacramento Kings.
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