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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.)
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
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