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Brett
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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.)
Lakers Avoid Disaster in New Jersey
12.12.10
Kobe Bryant dishes off for two against Nets.
As the old sports adage goes, “a win is a win,” and that saying would certainly apply to the Lakers’ shaky 99-92 victory over the New Jersey Nets at the Prudential Center on Sunday afternoon.
In a game that was a lot closer than it should have been, the Lakers got a strong performance from Kobe Bryant, who scored a game-high 32 points, to go along with six assists, four rebounds, and four steals. He also scored 14 points in the decisive fourth quarter when the game was still very much in doubt.
The Lakers led for most of the game, but never could put the Nets away. It was a 52-42 halftime lead for the Lakers, who then briefly opened up a 12-point lead early in the third quarter. But the Nets continued to fight back, and by the middle of the fourth, had taken the lead 78-77 after a pair of free throws by Brook Lopez.
With the game tied at 87-87 late in the quarter, the Lakers went on an 8-0 run, topped off by a Pau Gasol three-point play. That run was enough to finally put the pesky Nets away, and the Lakers got the seven-point victory. They are now 2-1 on their current seven-game road trip.
Lamar Odom continues to play well in a starting role, scoring 22 points, and grabbing seven boards. He also scored five key points down the stretch of the game. Pau Gasol struggled with his shot again, but scored 15 points, to go along with 11 rebounds, and five blocked shots. Gasol is averaging nearly 3.5 blocks in his last five games.
Shooting continues to be an issue for the Lakers during this last 10-game period that has seen them go just 5-5. On Sunday, they shot only 41.5% from the field, missing a lot of wide open shots during the game. They did manage to make 7-16 (43.7%) from the three-point line, and 24-29 (82.8%) from the foul line, where they have shined all year.
The Nets, who have now lost seven in a row, shot only 40.4% from the field, and a worse 4-20 (20.0%) from beyond the arc. They did manage 15 offensive rebounds which helped them stay close in a game few thought they had a chance in. For the game, the Nets held a small rebounding advantage at 45-42.
Brook Lopez, who has had his struggles at times this year, led the Nets with 25 points and nine rebounds. Devin Harris had 16 points and 10 assists, and Anthony Morrow had 15 points, but hit just 3-9 from the three-point line.
The Lakers will spend Monday in the nation’s capital meeting with President Barrack Obama, who will congratulate them on their second-straight NBA Championship.
Their next game is Tuesday night against the Washington Wizards at the Verizon Center. The Wizards, another team struggling at 6-16, have lost eight straight to the Lakers including last week’s 115-108 loss at Staples Center. The status on Andrew Bynum playing his first game of the year Tuesday is still up in the air.
Link: Lakers @ Nets Box Score
Lakers Get the Horns in the Chicago
12.10.10
Kobe Bryant slams home two against Bulls.
If the Lakers played the rest of the game Friday like they did at the beginning and the end, they wouldn’t have suffered their fifth loss in their last eight games. But, in yet another lackluster effort, the Lakers fell short to the Bulls at the United Center, 88-84.
The game started well for the world champs, as they jumped out to 13-point lead in the first quarter, and still led 29-20 midway through the second. But that’s when the wheels came off, as Derrick Rose got hot, and the Bulls went on a 16-3 run to end the half, and take a 36-32 lead into the break.
In the second half, things didn’t get much better. The Lakers took a couple brief leads early in the third quarter, but couldn’t stop Rose from breaking down the defense inside, and stepping out for three-pointers. Eventually they found themselves down 82-69 with just over three minutes left in the game.
That’s when the Lakers put on a furious rally, and got as close as 83-80 with 48 seconds left after a Derek Fisher three-pointer from the corner. After Rose split a pair of foul shots to put the Bulls up 86-82, Kobe Bryant was fouled, but he was only able to make 1-2 from the line. After a Lakers’ foul on the rebound, Ronnie Brewer hit two from the line, and the Bulls had the win.
Bryant led the Lakers with 23 points, but only shot 9-23 from the field, and continues to struggle from the foul line, going 4-6 on Friday. Bryant did however pass John Havlicek, and move into 11th place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list with 26,398 points.
Pau Gasol did have a solid game with 21 points, eight rebounds, and four blocked shots. Lamar Odom added 18 points and eight rebounds.
Early on, the Lakers dominated the game inside, with Gasol the recipient of several easy scores inside. As the night wore on however, the Lakers got away from going inside, starting taking a lot of three-pointers and watched their early double-digit lead slip away quickly. They hit just 3-13 from beyond the arc for the game.
Derrick Rose led all scorers with 29 points, to go along with nine assists, five rebounds, and several key baskets down the stretch, as the Bulls beat the Lakers for the first time since 2006. In fact only one member of the current Bulls was on the team when they last beat the Lakers, and that was Luol Deng.
Deng scored 14 points, and Carlos Boozer added 10 points and 11 rebounds. Boozer didn’t play the first time the two teams met this year in Los Angeles, a 98-91 Lakers’ win.
The Bulls didn’t shoot the ball particularly well, hitting only 41.3% from the field, but made up for it by hitting 8-17 (47.1%) from the three-point line, which proved to be the difference in the game.
In a rather disheartening statistic, the Lakers have now only beaten two teams this season with a winning record, but will play just one more .500 team (Indiana) during the rest of this five-game trip.
The Lakers’ next game is Sunday in New Jersey against the slumping Nets. Also, the Lakers are hoping to have center Andrew Bynum back for Tuesday’s game in Washington.
Link: Lakers @ Bulls Box Score
Fisher’s Buzzer-Beater Gets Lakers By Clippers
12.09.10
Derek Fisher hits the game-winner against Clippers.
Normally when Derek Fisher hits a game-winning shot, it’s a jump shot. On Wednesday night he tried something a little different, as he banked in a layup at the buzzer, to lead the Lakers to a wild 87-86 win over the Clippers at Staples Center.
The game seemed to played in mud all night, as neither team had much of an offensive flow. After an early lead, the Lakers found themselves down the rest of the night, never really did find their rhythm, but were able to make enough plays down the stretch to pull out what was seemed to be a loss to their hallway rivals.
Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 24 points, and while he only scored four points in the fourth quarter, his two baskets in the final two minutes of the game, set up the dramatic finish.
With the Clippers leading 84-83 after a Bryant basket, Ron Artest knocked away a pass for a steal, and Bryant then drilled an 18-foot jumper to put the Lakers up 85-84 with 22.8 seconds left.
After a timeout, the Clippers’ Eric Gordon, who scored 24 points himself, spun down the lane and found DeAndre Jordan for dunk, and an 86-85 lead with 15.5 seconds left. Not calling a timeout, the Lakers brought the ball down and Bryant was fouled by Gordon before he could get up a shot with 3.1 seconds left. The Clippers had a foul to give, although Gordon didn’t appear to commit the foul intentionally.
After a Laker timeout, Fisher took the inbound pass above the top of the three-point line, and drove the left side of the lane to the basket against Eric Bledsoe, and floated in the running layup at the buzzer over the outstretched fingers of DeAndre Jordan, who nearly blocked the shot, for the exciting 87-86 win.
Fisher only hit three baskets in the game, but the last one mattered the most.
Shannon Brown had a big night off the bench for the Lakers, scoring 16 points, and single-handedly keeping the Lakers in the game in the third quarter after they had fallen down by 12 points, including a 50-foot heave at the buzzer to bring the Lakers to 71-65 after three.
Lamar Odom, plagued by foul trouble, scored just 8 points and eventually fouled out of the game. Pau Gasol also continues to struggle, scoring just 10 points on 4-13 from the field, although he did grab 11 rebounds.
Clippers’ rookie star Blake Griffin, who also was in foul trouble early and struggled to find his game in the first half, wound up with 16 points and 11 rebounds in the loss. Eric Bledsoe added 11 points and seven assists, and DeAndre Jordan scored nine points, and grabbed 11 rebounds.
The Lakers were once again were outrebounded, 52-39, and shot a miserable 42.5% from the field. The Clippers were their own worst enemy down the stretch, turning the ball over on two straight possessions to allow the Lakers the chance to get close in the final two minutes. Ron Artest had four steals for Lakers.
While most thought the game wouldn’t be close, the Clippers were not intimidated by the world champs, and weathered an early 20-12 Lakers lead to take a 43-41 lead into the break. They led by 68-56 late in third before the Lakers mounted a charge to get back into the game. The lead changed hands three times in the final 22 seconds of the game.
The Lakers next game is on Friday in Chicago against the Bulls, who now have Carlos Boozer back in the lineup. Boozer didn’t play in the first meeting between the two teams, an 98-91 win by the Lakers back on November 23. The Lakers are hoping to have Andrew Bynum back on Tuesday when they play the Washington Wizards in the nation’s capital.
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