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Lakers Sluggish in Win Against Raptors
11.05.10
Pau Gasol scores two of his 30 points against the Raptors.
When the Lakers look back on this season, Friday’s game against the Toronto Raptors won’t be remembered as one to save for a time capsule, just as a victory. The Lakers shook off a terrible defensive game, and beat a gritty Raptor team 108-103 at Staples Center, to move to 6-0 on the season.
When the Lakers jumped out to a 33-20 lead after one quarter, it looked like the game was headed for extended minutes of garbage time, and another short night for the starters. But the young Raptors, learning about life after Chris Bosh, responded to the adversity on the road and stormed back to take a 58-55 lead into halftime.
The game went back and forth in the third, before the Lakers finally got the lead for good late in the quarter. They held on down the stretch for the win despite some uncharacteristic, shaky play in the last minute.
The Raptors dominated inside and on the boards all night, getting to the basket at will against the bigger Lakers, and outrebounding the world champs 49-31. The Lakers appeared confused on defense all through the game, and had trouble boxing out, as the Raptors also had 19 offensive rebounds to keep them afloat after the Lakers’ early lead.
Pau Gasol had another impressive offensive game, scoring 30 points on 12-22 shooting. He grabbed only seven rebounds, and didn’t have a single board until midway through the third quarter. It was just that kind of night. Kobe Bryant scored 23 points with six assists, and Steve Blake had 14 points, making 4-6 from the 3-point line. Shannon Brown added 12 points off the bench.
The Raptors had six players in double figures, led by Leandro Barbosa off the bench with 17, and USC-product DeMar DeRozan with 15. Amir Johnson off the bench had 12 points, and a game and career-high 15 rebounds, including nine on the offensive end. Andrea Bargnani and Jose Calderon each added 14 points.
The Lakers did outshoot the Raptors from the field hitting 48.1% to 47.1%, and only turned the ball over 12 times. But those were the few statistical categories the Lakers did win, besides the most important stat, the final score. The Raptors scored 38 points in the second quarter to erase the Lakers early 13-point lead.
Luke Walton saw his first action of the year, playing a little over six minutes and taking just one shot. He had been bothered by a strained hamstring since training camp.
The Lakers look to stay undefeated when they face Brandon Roy and the Portland Trail Blazers at home on Sunday. The Blazers, who always give the Lakers a hard time, are off to a good start at 4-2, despite missing their top two centers Greg Oden, and Joel Przybilla, both still recovering from serious knee injuries last year.
Lakers Run Over Grizzlies 124-105
11.02.10
Pau Gasol dunks over Hasheem Thabeet of Memphis.
It was another short night for the starters, as the Lakers dominated from start to finish, and dispatched the Memphis Grizzlies 124-105 at Staples Center on Tuesday night.
For the second straight game, the Lakers bench saw extensive action as the contest was blowout by early in the second quarter. Kobe Bryant scored all of his team-high 23 points in the first half, and played just 25 minutes.
In the battle of the Gasol brothers, Pau, coming off his Western Conference Player-of-the-Week award, easily won this match-up scoring 21 points, grabbing 13 rebounds, and dishing out five assists. Marc managed 11 points and eight rebounds, but was a non-factor most of the night as the game got out of hand early.
The Lakers led 34-23 after one, and turned up the offense in the second quarter, led by Bryant’s 14 points in the period, to take a 73-46 lead into halftime. The Grizzlies never got closer than 14 points in the second half, and the Laker reserves maintained the cushion throughout, even briefly pushing the lead up to 32. Matt Barnes led three Lakers in double-figures off the bench with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Shannon Brown scored 13, including 3-3 from the 3-point line, and Steve Blake added 10. The Lakers’ bench outscored the Grizzlies’ 50-30.
Lamar Odom scored 17 on 6-7 shooting, including eight rebounds, six assists, and a steal. Odom is averaging over 16 points and 12 rebounds to start the season.
Memphis was led by Rudy Gay’s 30 points, 12-18 from the field, and 3-3 from behind the arc. Mike Conley had 16 points and eight assists after signing a 5-year/$45 million extension earlier in the day. O.J. Mayo struggled from the floor scoring only eight points, on 3-11 shooting. He also had his troubles with Bryant on the offensive end, which has been a familiar story for the third-year pro when he has played against the Lakers.
All-Star forward Zach Randolph again sat out for the Grizzlies with a sore back injured on opening night. Memphis definitely missed his presence offensively and on the glass, as they were outrebounded 59-36.
The Lakers shot 51.2% from the field, and 14-23 (60.9%) from the 3-point line for the game, but again turned the ball over far too many times with 19. They had 20 turnovers two nights earlier in a blowout win against Golden St.
The Lakers play their first back-to-back games of the season as they take on the Sacramento Kings in Sacramento tomorrow night. The Kings are playing well at 3-1, and are coming off a win over Toronto, where they rallied from a 17-point first quarter deficit on Monday at home.
LAKER ROSTER: Lamar Odom
09.23.10
Lamar Odom, a 6’10” 30 year old forward remains the most enigmatic of players. He may give you a double double in points and rebounds, or he may have so few as you can count them on one hand. I believe his inconsistent play frustrates fans, his teammates, coaches, and management. The double-edged sword here is that his potential, like Andrew Bynum’s, is great enough that every trade rumor features him, and his salary is great enough that you could envision the Lakers doing it. Growing up in New York, his favorite player was Magic Johnson. And in his youth, Odom was an AAU teammate of Elton Brand and Ron Artest; his friendship with Ron-Ron would be another reason to keep him a Laker. Lamar was drafted by the Clippers after playing at Rhode Island, then spent one year in Miami. He came to the Lakers with Brian Grant and Caron Butler when Shaq was traded to the Heat. This will be his 12th season in the NBA. He is the Lakers 6th man and his main role is back-up to Pau Gasol at power forward position. He’s also capable of playing minutes at the small forward. Last season, he played in all 82 games, 38 as a starter, and averaged 11 points and 10 rebounds. This summer he was a major contributor on the US Team that won the gold medal in Turkey. He also has a bronze medal from the 2004 Athens Olympics. In case you hadn’t heard, he’s married to Khloe Kardashian.
LAKER ROSTER: The Rookies
09.14.10
As rookies, Devin Ebanks and Derrick Caracter can count on spending a lot of time at the end of the bench during the regular season, if they’re not shipped off to the Developmental League. In either case, you can view the presence of the rookies as addition by subtraction, as they won’t have to do much of anything to match the output of Josh Powell and Adam Morrison. Plus the combined salaries are considerably lower. And they are young. Ebanks, a 6’9″ 215 lb small forward from West Virginia, is only 20. Caracter, a 6’9″ 265 lb power forward from Texas-El Paso, is 22. As second round draft picks, no one should suffer from super high expectations here. I would only expect to see them playing in the preseason and games that are routs (one way or the other). My hope is that they work hard in practice, learn the offense, and realize that their role, coming off the bench, is to preserve and build on any lead that the starters create. Last season It seemed to me the bench was keen on jacking up long distance shots when they didn’t turn the ball over, and letting the opposition drive to the basket without offering much resistance. In short, perfo
rming poorly both offensively and defensively.
Ebanks has been compared to Trevor Ariza, and if he’s as good defensively, that works for me. The Lakers are a little thin at the power forward position, so I believe Caracter will have more opportunities for playing time. There have been some comparisons to Shaq, as far as commitment to conditioning anyway. His contract has incentives for him not to balloon up in weight.
The Lakers are one of the more veteran teams, so I like having a little youth as well. Management was sufficiently impressed with their potential to sign them to contracts, so here’s hoping they contribute in some fashion to the Three-peat.
It’s a long season, so having players that the coach has enough faith in to play during the season, thereby allowing the starters to rest, is critically important.
The Derrick Caracter Weight-Loss Contract
09.07.10
So apparently the Lakers have a new way to motivate rookie forward Derrick Caracter to stay in shape, “keep your weight down, and we’ll pay you.”
According to a report on ProBasketballTalk.com,
Caracter has a $473,000 contract this year with $250,000 guaranteed. If Caracter weighs 275 pounds or less on Sept. 10, the contract becomes fully guaranteed.
There is a future for Caracter in “Laker Land,” especially with the team letting both DJ Mbenga and Josh Powell go this off season. If Caracter can keep himself in shape, there is some playing time to be had. And it seems the Lakers are willing to reward him financially for doing so.
This writer knows that for $177k, he’d surely keep himself under 275 pounds. Of course it would take two of him to equal that weight, but I digress.
Maybe the Lakers should have thought about employing this when Shaq still wore purple and gold.
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