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Archive for December, 2010
Lamar Odom Leads Lakers Past Sixers
12.17.10
Lamar Odom drives to basket for two against Sixers.
On a night when Kobe Bryant scored a season-low nine points, Lamar Odom picked up the slack and scored 28, as the Lakers pulled away from the Philadelphia 76ers in the fourth quarter, and won 93-81 at the Wells Fargo Center on Friday.
In a game devoid of artistic merit, the Lakers put together 12 great minutes of basketball in the fourth quarter, and turned a 62-58 deficit into a 12-point win, led by the play of Odom and reserve forward Matt Barnes.
Odom hit back-to-back three-point plays early in the fourth quarter to give the Lakers a 66-64 lead with a little over nine minutes left. Barnes, who scored 15 points to go along with 10 rebounds off the bench, kept the rally going with solid defense and timely shooting. His three-pointer with just over seven minutes left was part of a 27-8 Lakers’ run in the quarter, and put them ahead 71-64 as they never looked back.
Bryant, a day after having the gym at his alma mater Lower Merion High School renamed in his honor, had trouble getting into a rhythm all night. He scored just nine points on 3-11 shooting, and shockingly was never really a factor in the game. On this night, however, it didn’t matter, as the Lakers’ frontcourt just dominated the game.
Pau Gasol scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. Nobody else on the Lakers had more than eight points.
The game was very choppy for three quarters, and neither team shot the ball well, especially from the three point line. The Lakers shot a miserable 3-15 (20.0%) from beyond the arc, and the 76ers were an even more-inept 3-21 (14.3%) from long range. The Lakers have now held their opponents to under 90 points in five of their last eight games, and haven’t given up more than 94 points in their last six.
The 76ers were led by Spencer Hawes and Andre Iguodala, who both scored 18 points. Hawes also added 13 rebounds. No other Sixer scored in double-figures, and the team shot just 37.5% from the floor for the game. Despite that however, they led 62-58 after three quarters, before it came apart in the final stanza.
The Lakers have now won four straight, seven out of eight, and are 5-1 on this current road trip that finishes up Sunday in Toronto. The Lakers beat the Raptors 108-103 at Staples Center on November 5, in a game that was tight throughout. Pau Gasol scored 30 points that night, Kobe Bryant added 23.
Link: Lakers @ 76ers Box Score
Lakers Get Revenge for Home Loss; Dominate Pacers
12.15.10
Kobe shoots for three against Pacers.
The first time these two teams met in November, the Indiana Pacers shocked even themselves, as they beat the Lakers at Staples Center 95-92. There would be no repeat performance on Wednesday however, as a determined Lakers team came in to Conseco Fieldhouse and soundly pounded the Pacers 109-94.
Kobe Bryant put on a show again, as he lit up the Pacers for 31 points, on 11-18 from the field, and 4-8 from the three-point line. He also added six assists and three rebounds. His shooting touch continues to get better as he again shot over 50% from the floor, 4-8 from the three-point line, and made all five of his foul shots. Bryant scored 41 points the first time the teams met in Los Angeles.
The Lakers were focused and didn’t underestimate the Pacers this time from the start. They jumped out to a 29-10 lead before Indiana even knew what hit them. By the time it was 59-37, at halftime, it was too late for the Pacers to recover, and the Lakers just kept pouring it on in the second half en route to their second-straight blow-out win. The final score certainly didn’t indicate how thoroughly dominating the win was.
Pau Gasol, who had a poor game against Pacer center Roy HiIbbert in the first meeting, took it to the big man from Georgetown on Wednesday, pouring in 28 points, including 21 of them in the first half, to go along with eight rebounds. Gasol was aggressive from the opening tip and set the tone inside early for the Lakers, hitting 10 of his 17 shots from the floor.
Lamar Odom had another strong game with 13 points and a game-high 17 rebounds. Ron Artest was solid for the second straight night with 13 points on 6-8 shooting. Andrew Bynum played a little over 17 minutes off the bench in his second game, and scored three points to go along with five rebounds.
The Lakers’ shooting was also impressive, as they hit 51.2% of their shots from the floor, including 8-17 (47.1% ) from the three-point line. They also destroyed the Pacers on the glass 51-29, and had 12 offensive rebounds. The Pacers hit only six of their 21 shots from beyond the arc.
Indiana was led by Darren Collison with 17 points and six assists. Brandon Rush scored 16 points, and Roy Hibbert had 12 points and six rebounds, but was nowhere near the offensive factor he was the first game in Los Angeles.
The win for the Lakers was their third straight, and they’re now 4-1 on their current road trip. It also seems like the team is slowly regaining the momentum they had early in the season when they started 8-0. They play at Philadelphia on Friday, and will finish up the trip in Toronto on Sunday.
Newly-acquired forward/center Joe Smith is expected to join the team in Philadelphia and should be in uniform for Friday night’s match up with the 76ers.
Bynumite! Andrew Bynum Returns; Lakers Cruise Past Wizards
12.14.10
Andrew Bynum back in action against Wizards.
There were two welcome sights for Lakers’ fans on Tuesday night in the nation’s capital. One was seeing center Andrew Bynum on the court for the first time this season, and the other was watching the Lakers get an easy win over an inferior opponent.
With Andrew Bynum contributing seven points, four rebounds, and two blocks in 17 minutes off the bench, the Lakers rolled over the injury-depleted Washington Wizards 103-89 at the Verizon Center, in game that really wasn’t as close as the final score.
Kobe Bryant led all scorers with 24 points in less than 24 minutes, and unleashed a barrage of three-pointers on the hometown Wizards in the third quarter, that pushed a 10-point Laker lead to 20, and the champs never looked back. Bryant hit three long-range shots after inexplicably missing three straight free throws when he was fouled beyond the arc.
Lamar Odom stayed in his starting role despite the return of Bynum, and scored 18 points to go along with 10 rebounds, making six of his eight shots. Pau Gasol, maybe happier than anyone to see Bynum back on the court, scored 16 points, with nine rebounds, and seven assists, in less than 31 minutes on the night.
Shannon Brown scored 16 off the bench, and Ron Artest had a solid night with 10 points on 4-8 from the field.
Bynum generally looked good out on the floor, wearing a big brace and black wrap to protect his surgically-repaired right knee. He struggled a bit with his shot, hitting just 1-5 from the floor, and couldn’t get enough lift to finish an alley-oop dunk, but did run the floor well for a player missing the first 24 games, and all of the preseason.
The Wizards played without rookie star guard John Wall and center Andray Blatche, and had predictable struggles all night. While they did manage to keep the game within 10-12 points until the middle of the third quarter, they shot just 40.7% from the field, and only 3-19 (15.8%) from the three-point line, which made an uphill battle even tougher.
Nick Young, who always seems to play well against his hometown teams, scored 21 points off the bench, but needed 21 shots to do it. Javale McGee had 12 points and nine rebounds, and Gilbert Arenas had 11 points and 11 assists, but shot just 5-15 from the floor, and 1-7 from beyond the arc. The Wizards have now dropped nine straight to the Lakers.
It was the first easy win the Lakers have had on this seven-game road trip. And with the second game of a back-to-back tomorrow in Indiana, the starters certainly must have appreciated the extended rest that accompanied Tuesday’s victory. Tomorow night, the Pacers may be without All-Star forward Danny Granger, who is nursing a bad ankle.
More help for the Lakers up front may be on the way, as sources have said a three-team trade has been agreed to in principle, that would send veteran forward Joe Smith to the Lakers from the New Jersey Nets, in return for guard Sasha Vujacic. That deal, however, cannot be announced until tomorrow.
ESPN: Lakers Trade Sasha Vujacic to New Jersey
12.14.10
Joe Smith. The newest Laker?
From ESPN.com:
The New Jersey Nets agreed to trade Terrence Williams to the Houston Rockets in a three-way deal that will land them Los Angeles Lakers guard Sasha Vujacic and a pair of first-round draft picks, sources confirmed to ESPN.com.
The trade, which has been agreed upon in principle, will also send Nets veteran power forward Joe Smith to the Lakers, while New Jersey will receive Los Angeles’ 2011 first-round pick and Houston’s 2012 lottery-protected first rounder, sources said.
Read the entire story here. So long Sasha, thanks for those two fouls shots in Game 7. Oh yeah, your girlfriend was hot too. Hello Joe Smith.
The Jigglin’ Jello: Lakers Week in Review – Dec. 5-12
12.13.10
In a new weekly feature here on LakerStats, we’re going to do a recap of what went on the last week of Lakers basketball, from player stats, to trends, to items of note. Basically whatever tickles our fancy to talk about. And we’re calling it “The Jigglin’ Jello” because…well…I don’t know, it sounded good, and was the first thing that came to mind…OK? It will either be written on Sunday nights or Mondays, depending on how tired this author is. So here is the first installment, for the games of December 5-12. Enjoy, and feel free to actually comment. We like comments, at least we know someone is reading something we post.
Lakers Record (Week of December 5-12): 3-1 (1-0 at home, 2-1 on road)
Wins: Washington, @ L.A. Clippers, @ New Jersey
Losses: @ Chicago
Current Season Record (As of 12.12.10): 17-7 (10-2 at home, 7-5 on road, Current Streak – Won 1)
Current Standings (As of 12.12.10): 1st Place Pacific, 3rd Place Western Conference
Best Win Of The Week
The Lakers didn’t exactly knock off any heavyweights last week, so no win really stands out as that impressive. So in terms of the three wins they had, they played their best in the Washington game on December 7. And while they gave up much of a third quarter 19-point lead, they never fell behind like they did to both the Clippers and New Jersey. Like I said, there really were no great wins to talk about. Derek Fisher’s buzzer-beater was exciting of course, but again a game that shouldn’t have been that close.
Stud Of The Week
Pretty easy here, it was Kobe. Yes Derek Fisher hit the game-winner against the Clippers, but it was Kobe who hit two big shots down the stretch when the game seemed out of reach. He also was the one of the few Lakers who came to play against New Jersey on Sunday, and really willed the team to victory with some smart plays down the stretch of that game, as well as scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter. For the week, he averaged 27.8 points, 5.0 assists, 3.3 rebounds, 2.5 steals, and shot 48.8% from the field (39-80). It appears he’s getting his shooting rhythm back, even though he has had some issues at the foul line the last four or five games.
Spud Of The Week
Also a pretty easy choice here, it’s Ron Artest. What is going on with Ron’s offense? Defensively there’s little to argue about, he made great plays at the end of the Clippers game and averaged almost 3.0 steals for the week, but offensively? Ouch. How about this? He hit only 7-31 shots from the floor, that’s 22.5%, and you don’t need to know much about basketball to know that’s just plain awful. He was even worse from the three-point line, hitting 1-10. He did make 3-4 foul shots, and is shooting 73.1% for the season there, so that’s OK. And I’m not picking on Ron Ron, I love the guy, but right now his ineptness on offense is a bit of a liability. He needs to be able to give the Lakers more than the 4.5 points he averaged last week. He’s far too good of a player for those kinds of numbers.
What’s Going Good
In a very up and down 10 games, the Lakers’ defense has improved. Last week they allowed just 93.5 points per game, and if you take away the Washington game, no team shot more than 41.3% from the floor. They’ve been good defending the three for most of the year, and despite a few issues last week, they did a decent job from there as well. They certainly aren’t playing championship-caliber defense, but they have clamped it down a bit more in the last week.
What’s Going Bad
The offense. What happened to the team that was averaging 112 points the first 15 or so games? They’ve only broken 100 twice in the last nine games, once was last week against the Wizards. They only averaged 96.3 points for the week, and that’s with a 115-point night against Washington. The main problem I see is that the three-point shot just isn’t going in like it was early on in the season. For the week, the Lakers shot just 32.9% (24-73) from beyond the arc. And without that reliable outside shooting, and with Pau Gasol just worn out up front from playing so many minutes, it has made life tougher offensively. Especially in the last two games, the Lakers have had good looks from distance, they’re just not making them. It really hurt them in the Chicago game.
Upcoming Week
The Lakers continue their road trip all week with games in Washington, Indiana, Philadelphia, and Toronto. They also expect Andrew Bynum back Tuesday against Washington, and any minutes he can give them up front will be welcomed, for sure by Pau Gasol. All these games are winnable, and frankly they should win them all. But with the way things have been so up and down, it’s so hard to know what Laker team will show up. But the only team playing halfway decent in that group is Indiana, and they’re not exactly the Boston Celtics even at their best.
LakerStats’ Week Prediction: 4-0 (Bynum coming back, very winnable games, I’ll be an optimist here.)
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