The road woes continue for the Lakers. After dropping a tough loss against the Utah Jazz on Saturday, the Los Angeles Lakers (14-11) lost another close one to the Philadelphia 76ers (18-7) Monday evening.
On a night that saw a brilliant first half by Kobe Bryant (24 points in the first half on 8-14 shooting, with four three pointers), who moved into fifth place on the all time scoring list by passing former teammate Shaquille O’Neal, the Lakers once again failed to maintain a lead late in the game and came up short in a 95-90 loss.
The Lakers were up 50-46 at halftime, but Bryant’s performance was the complete opposite in the second half, scoring just four points on 2-12 shooting.
Midway through the fourth quarter the Lakers held a 82-76 lead over the 76ers and looked poised to pull away for a victory built on the solid post play of their big men, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. Bynum (20 points, 20 rebounds; eight offensive) and Gasol (16 points, 11 rebounds) dominated the paint, and had several lob plays and creative inside passing between the two of them. Bynum began to play like a true All-Star and dominate the game: grabbing offensive rebounds, getting put backs, altering shots, blocking shots, and pulling down defensive rebounds.
But then, all of that stopped and it went downhill for the Lakers.
The Sixers’ sixth man, Lou Williams, torched the Lakers with several clutch plays and was unstoppable towards the end of the fourth quarter en route to 24 points.
Kobe tried to will the Lakers to victory, but was swarmed defensively, and forced into taking tough shots towards the end of the shot clock on several plays. The Sixers’ defense also made it difficult to get the ball inside to the big guys, mainly Pau Gasol, who was forced far outside of the paint down the stretch.
It was the Sixers’ depth that really won the game, however, as their bench scored more points than their starting unit with 49 points compared to 46 for their starters.
The balanced scoring for Philadelphia was quite impressive, led by Williams’ 24. Jrue Holiday finished with 13 points and six assists; Andre Iguodala with 12 points, five assists; Joe Meeks and Thaddeus Young with nine points apiece; Spencer Hawes with eight points and five assists; Nikola Vucevic and Evan Turner with eight points apiece, and Lavoy Allen with four points.
As for the Lakers, no player outside of the “Big Three” (Bryant, Gasol, and Bynum) reached double figures. Derek Fisher and Metta World Peace combined for 10 points on 4-13 shooting. Of the four reserves who made it on the court, only two produced. Andrew Goudelock scored nice points on 4-6 shooting, and Troy Murphy chipped in with seven points on 3-5 field goals.
Next Page: The Breakdown
Now let’s break this game down a bit. Do you want the good news first, or the bad?
Since it’s been a tough few days for Lakers’ fans, we’ll go bad first, and then try to put a positive spin on it afterwards, deal?
Negatives – Well, obviously the biggest negative is that the Lakers lost. The Lakers are now a pathetic 3-10 on the road, which is obviously not a good sign for a team that expects to be a title contender each and every year.
Next would be the fact that other than the “Big Three,” the rest of the Lakers can’t seem to find a rhythm or score. There appears to be a nice two-man game between Gasol and Bynum, but that’s as much offensive chemistry as we’ve seen as of late. Bryant goes on his scoring sprees, and dishes out the most assists for the Lakers (5.4), but there seems to be very little fluidity in the overall offense.
Troy Murphy gets the occasional open outside shot, and Andrew Goudelock is left to create a few of his patented floater shots for himself. Metta World Peace can’t seem to find the basket from any distance on the floor, and although we saw him play the role of playmaker in a few games this season, that has not been a mainstay for him.
Then there’s the Lakers’ biggest Achilles heel: defending quick guards. How many times have we heard “the Lakers got annihilated by (insert other team’s fastest guard here)” and lost? Too many to count. Derek Fisher is too old to guard these quick guards by himself, but even with help the Lakers still do not seem to be able to contain quick, aggressive guards.
Many times we’ll see Kobe switch on to them down the stretch, but at his age he definitely can’t keep up with those guys each and every night. He needs to save that kind of energy for the playoffs when the team will really need his defensive prowess to slow the opposition’s best guard. Yes, everyone knows that the Lakers are in need of an upgrade at the point guard position, but for now, a huge upgrade looks unlikely.
The Lakers need to find a way to collectively slow those pesky guards. Matt Barnes has had some success guarding smaller guards, so perhaps he can be of help, but overall the Lakers must find some way to help slow opposing explosive guards.
Finally, there is the Lakers’ lack of execution down the stretch. It’s hard to generate some fluidity on offense down the stretch when the offense during the rest of the game isn’t running all that smooth in the first place. Kobe is seemingly left to try and create down the stretch, but with teams’ defenses focused on stopping him, it becomes harder and harder for him to get a good shot or even create a decent shot for others.
What’s going on – Perhaps Kobe is dominating the ball too much at the end of games, or maybe other guys are not being aggressive enough. It is likely a combination of both. Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant have combined to come up with big plays in multiple fourth quarters of years past, but that chemistry has seemingly evaporated. Either Gasol is not looking to be as aggressive in crunch time, Kobe is forcing up shots, or he is holding the ball too long and being forced to pass with very little time left on the shot clock. Whatever the problem is, the coaching staff must address it and come up with multiple options down the stretch.
Against Philadelphia Kobe logged almost 44 minutes, a number that is much too high for him at this stage of his career. The Lakers must find some way to reduce Kobe’s minutes and maintain the team’s production while he sits.
Andrew Bynum has shown that he is capable of making big plays offensively and defensively in big moments, so the Lakers should strongly consider making him a focal point in crunch time. Bynum is a big, physical center who has multiple post moves and can score. He attracts double teams and fouls, both of which can benefit the Lakers down the stretch. He just needs to learn to read defenses and pass out of double teams quicker. Additionally, he must bring his free throw percentage (58.4 percent this season) up closer to his career averages of 67.6 percent if he wants to truly be relied on in big moments.
Next Page: The Good News
Okay, now that we’ve aired out all of the negatives, let’s talk about some positive stuff and see what the Lakers need to do to moving forward.
Positives – Well the biggest positives from Monday night were the Lakers’ big men. For most of the game they did their jobs and dominated the paint. Bynum and Gasol combined for 31 rebounds, 14 of which were offensive, allowing the Lakers to out rebound the 76ers 55-30, and 21-8 on the offensive glass. This had been a problem for the Lakers, as they were giving up too many offensive rebounds and not dominating the defensive glass the way they should.
The two only had five assists between them, but they connected on several exciting and effective plays, either resulting in dunks or trips to the foul line. They seem to have developed the type of chemistry that Mike Brown had envisioned before the start of the season. In the past we have seen Gasol look for Bynum and throw fancy passes his way, but now we are beginning to see Bynum attempt to make those plays.
Bynum’s post passing has improved significantly, and he appears intent on returning the favor and dishing assists to his front court mate. He is even attempting some flashy passes himself. He just needs to work on passing to cutters and teammates outside of the key.
Bynum’s overall post presence was also a huge positive for the Lakers last night. He was altering shots, blocking shots, crashing the offensive glass, and making up for teammates’ missed shots with second chance points for much of the second half. He has proven he can be a big factor at the end of games on both ends of the floor, but he must be more assertive offensively by getting in position and demanding the ball down low.
Another positive for the Lakers has been Andrew Goudelock, who continues to be aggressive and shoot efficiently for the Lakers. The rest of the bench remains inconsistent, but the “Mini Mamba” is proving he can be a constant for the Lakers. His most successful move is driving into the heart of the defense, and flipping up a running floater over the opposing team’s bigs. He is still a rookie, and can’t be truly relied upon in big moment situations, but he is definitely a bright spot for the Lakers right now.
Goudelock doesn’t appear to be a consistent playmaker, and doesn’t seem quick enough to even get past his defender most of the time, but he can create some offense for himself. Hopefully Steve Blake will be back soon so there will be less pressure on Goudelock to stop those lightning-quick guards.
What needs to be done – Not speaking in terms of personnel, the Lakers must continue to work hard and hustle on the road. They have three more games on the road before they come home, and must develop some kind of identity. Given the fact that they have had limited practices and are still learning the offensive and defensive systems on the fly, the Lakers aren’t doing that bad. That is likely why in late game situations we see Kobe Bryant dominating the ball so much.
However, the coaching staff and the players must address the execution and figure something out. It appears to be a combination of unfamiliarity with the offense and defense as well as bouts of mental lapses that end up hurting the Lakers in the end.
If they can stick to their original game plan and not rely on Kobe too much, they should be okay. Conversely, Kobe must either try not to force things too much, or if his teammates are not stepping up, must demand that they do. Overall, they need to develop some sort of chemistry and trust each other.
When Kobe is on point and hitting his shots the Lakers are usually in good shape. Just like in the first half, when his shots were falling the Lakers had the lead. However, in the second half, we all saw what happened. For the game he hoisted 26 shots compared to Bynum and Gasol’s combined 27. It’s hard to criticize a man who has accomplished practically everything in his career, but sometimes one must learn to defer to his teammates more.
We have seen Bryant play brilliantly in the past, but he seems more intent on creating offense for his team by himself. Part of this is the learning curve associated with the new offense, but he must also realize that his two big men have figured out their own offensive system and chemistry. We still want the “Black Mamba” to do his thing at the end of games, but we all know he’s much better when he has a capable player at his disposal for a 1-2 punch. With Gasol and Bynum available, he can give help deliver a 1-2-3 combination and knock teams out.
Bryant has not gotten where he is without studying the game extensively and making adjustments. If there is one thing he knows how to do, it is figuring out ways to win. There is little doubt he will make the correct adjustments and help his team win going forward.
Additionally, the role players must be aggressive, look to make the right play when they are in the game and not just watch the “Big Three” go to work. It’s definitely a process at this point in the season, but there is a lot of room for improvement.
The Lakers are half way through an east coast road trip and the next three games will tell them, as well as us, what kind of team they really are. It will tell us their identity.