8:40- Dunleavy Jr. drills a three, and the Pacers are up 9-0, and now have the ball after a second LA turnover.  No makes from the floor, a couple TOs, and some less than stellar rotations on the other end.  Not a great start.

7:37- There it is.  LO makes a layup, Fisher follows with a jumper and the Lakers are on the board.  But they're going to have to tighten up on their end, or they'll give Indiana an awfully large cushion to work with.  That triple Dunleavy just hit- his second of the game- was the type that drives a coach nuts if it doesn't go in.  He took the outlet, stepped back, and shot.  Nobody there to grab a board, had he missed. 

Not to worry.  Nothing but cord.

6:22- Drew takes a nice pass from LO, and gets the and one on JO.  He makes the FT, and now it's a 14-11 game.  The Lakers seemed to have woken up and are now playing some ball.  And now the Pacers are helping them out, as Dunleavy picks up a T, followed by Jim OBrien.  Fish makes both Ts, then one of two (it was a blocking foul on Dunleavy that started the kerfuffle) and the Lakers are tied at 14.  Momentum gone for Indiana. 

5:41- Timeout on the floor, Lakers tied at 16 with Bynum going to the line.  Nice little play there by Drew, who lost JO on a shoulder fake (O'Neal tried to flop and draw the charge, to no avail) then laid the ball in while picking up the hack from Troy Murphy.  The Lakers are now on a 16-7 run after starting the game spotting Indiana nine points. 

Drew comes out of the TO, makes the freebie, and the Lakers have the lead.  After a slow first couple minutes, they've gotten their act together on both ends, forcing some TOs from Indiana, and getting the ball inside with some ball movement. 

3:40- Walton picks up a personal, and from my end, I thought Kobe might have been dinged.  That would have been his second, so it's a good thing I'm not the ref.

2:39- Great sequence there from the Lakers.  Kobe misses a nifty little turnaround jumper, Drew outworks JO and another Pacer (couldn't see which) for the ball, feeds a cutting Walton on a nice bounce pass. JO cuts Walton off, so rather than force up a shot, Luke dribbles through, feeds Fish at the arc, who immediately throws it back to Luke, who has now set up in the corner for a wide open three.  Great play all around, from the rebound to the passing to the shot at the end.

Hopefully it's a little bit of a turnaround for Luke, who wasn't very sharp in the first few minutes. 

Lakers up 24-19.   Farmar, Ariza in for Fish, Luke.

1:58- Drew picks up his first personal, on the offensive end.  Nice aggressiveness going to the hold on the roll portion of the screen and roll, but the defender clearly had position, and saw it coming.  Something he'll have to learn to recognize.

1:16- Kobe makes two FTs, and the lead is now 28-21.  Kwame in for Drew.

:15- Nice pass from Ariza to Kwame.  After hitting a triple, Ariza drew a little more attention from Indy's D.  He drives the baseline, the sea parts as three Pacers come out to defend, and nobody is anywhere near Kwame.  Good pass, easy dunk. 

END OF THE FIRST:  After a 9-0 start for Indiana, the Lakers outscore them 33-14 the rest of the way, for a 33-23 lead.  Fair to say they've regained momentum. Indy hasn't done anything since the double T on Dunleavy and O'Brien, though they were starting to lose the momentum before that point, as well.  Strong first quarter for Drew offensively, as he finishes with 12 points.  LO has six boards, and Kobe, just as it was on Friday, hasn't had to do much heavy lifting. 

AK with the second.   

SECOND QUARTER

11:17 - Ronny's quickly called for a foul cutting off Marquis Daniels in the paint.  Two freebies for Daniels and Jermaine O'Neal enters the game for Indy.  A little most offensive action in the paint for the Lakers to now contend with.

10:59 - I'm stunned to see Kwame take an open jumper at the free throw line.  I'm not shocked to see him miss badly.  Wasn't shot with much confidence.  There's a reason not much pick and pop is run with 54.

10:43 - Ronny and Kwame are both guilty of not boxing out Jeff Foster close to the goal.  Dude's got a nose for the ball and snags Indy's miss.   

8:53 - Kwame travels like a 747 in the paint trying to free himself space to put up a shot.  Phil Jackson calls time out.  To say the least, it's gotten a little raggedy of late with the second unit. Two points scored in the last three minutes and the percentage from the floor has dropped 5%.  Probably a nice time for a pow wow.
 
8:42 - Dunleavy slips his man moving inside along the arc, but Kwame does a terrific job picking up and staying with him, eventually forcing a wild shot by the Clip Coach's son. 

7:43 - David Harrison may have actually tipped Kwame's layup attempt in, but whether friedndly roll or unintentional help, it still counts as two points.  And I like seeing Kwame attacking the basket two possessions in a row (the last of which got him a trip to the stripe with two converted freebies).  Like BK and I often say, it's not about how many points Kwame actually scores (although it's obviously nice if he racks some), it's about him having to be accounted for by a defense.  Too many times, Kwame doesn't even appear to be looking at the rack, much less looking for his shot.

5:52 - Again, another possession where Kwame faces up, puts the ball on the floor a few times and takes it to the hole, this time drawing the foul on Jeff Foster.  After the timeout, he misses both freebies, but again, it's the act of doing, not necessarily scoring.  Twenty seconds later, Kwame's greeted with a sea of cheers upon exiting for Drew.  Can't say I blame the crowd. 

5:15 - Danny Granger makes a wide open jumper from 22-feet out.  Of course, it's pretty easy to be open when you blatantly push off, as Granger did while Luke was guarding him.  I mean, arm fully extended after administering a full on shove.  But at least it was right in front of the ref.

4:43 - Murphy buries a triple with Drew in his grill.  Lot of wingspan to shoot around, but that's still not where you ideally want Bynum guarding a guy.  Defintiely out of his comfort zone.  The Lakers need to be conscientious of this and try to arrange themselves so LO is on Murphy whenever possible and Drew guards Foster.  Otherwise, Murphy's just gonna draw Bynum as far away from the basket as possible. 

3:43 - Kareem Rush's layup cuts the lead to three and one possession (and a Luke Walton turnover later), it's down to one after Foster follows suit.  Granger quickly steals the ball from Kobe and gets fouled by LO heading to the rack.  One freebie of two is converted, with Bynum securing the loose ball.  But the damage is underway.  It's now a tie game, 44 all square.

1:44 - The game's briefly knotted at 47 after Rush buries a three ball, but The Lakers regain advantage with a Bynum dunk.  Fish with the feed after penetrating the paint.  Good things coming as we get closer to the basket.

57.6 - The Lakers pay for Murphy connecting from 21 feet, but nobody paid as badly on the play as LO.  The southpaw got absolutely leveled by Foster while running into his screen.  As Mr. Miyagi would say,  "Squish like grape."  Someone needed to let him know that bad boy was lurking. 

27.1 - Drew gets fed yet again inside and draws a crowd of Indianians looking to stop him.  Showing patience, he passes out to Luke in the corner.  Money ball from behind the arc.  Again, work the ball inside, then out.  Not the reverse. 

The half ends with Kobe hounded and slipping on the ground during the final seconds, a 55-53 Laker lead going into the locker room.  Not the prettiest of second quarters.  Cold shooting.  Four turnovers.  And only 7 boards snagged to Indiana's 17.  Good showing from Drew (21 first half points), whom hope will be fed even more after Phil instructs his team to keep looking the kid's way.  We shall see.  BK with the third.

THIRD QUARTER:

Good start for LA offensively.  Two possessions, two layups from LO, off good ball and player movement.  That's what they didn't have in the second quarter.

Fish follows with a bucket, and the Lakers are up by six, 61-55.  Perhaps they recieved a sternly worded talking to at halftime?

9:00- Two plays by Drew in one defensive stint, one good, one bad.  He did a great job sticking with JO on the face up, dribble penetration, forcing a bad, bad miss by O'Neal. But he didn't recognize that the Lakers didn't get the board, and had released up the court, leaving O'Neal open for an easy dish from Foster.  Love to see him working to get up court, but he has to completely finish the play.

7:28- Timeout on the floor, Lkers up 67-59.  They've been much more efficient on the offensive end in this quarter.  LO already has six points on three easy lay ins, and the Lakers have four assists in the quarter on five FGs.  Much healthier percentage, for sure.  Nice play by Walton on the last bucket, as he quickly returned an Odom feed on the wing to LO for an easy lay up. 

Defensively, the Lakers are forcing the Pacers to play set offense much more- as they did in the first- and the results have been much better.

5:17- Kobe drills his second consecutive three, in the face of a fairly defenseless (metaphorically and literally) Dunleavy.  Timeout on the floor for Indy, as the Lakers have come out and run the lead to 16 in the third.  Much more like what they did in the first.  The shooting has been incredibly hot, but that's in part because they're moving the ball and getting good looks at the rim.

4:40- LO hits a three, in response to a Dunleavy triple.  Lakers up by 16, 80-64.  They've beat up on the Pacers in Q3, 27-11.  10-13 for the quarter.  That'll get it done, for sure.

3:11- Timeout on the floor, Lakers still up 15, 82-67.  At this point, it's about maintaining.  They just showed a preview for that "Cloverfield" movie on the Jumbotron.  Try as I might, and I've seen a few different versions of the trailer, I can't figure out what the hell that movie is about.  Anyone have an idea? 

Ariza and Farmar back on the floor after the TO.

1:22- Kobe to the line, to try and push the lead to 18.  The MVP chants are going.  I'm wondering if that guy who was chanting for Coby Karl on Friday is joining them.  The make  on the second shot gives the Lakers a chance to press, and they force a jump ball.  The refs call a stolen tip on LO, who hit the ball back while it was still on the way up, but it's nice to see the Lakers force the potential turnover.

With 55 ticks left, the Laker lead is 15.  J Critt into the game at the next break, to give 24 a breather.

:30- Two great plays by Ariza, the first to set up Drew inside with a nice entry, which Drew converted with a foul on O Neal, to boot.  Another example of great ball movement- the ball didn't hit the floor for three or four passes, and the result was a great open look.  Then, after Drew missed the FT, Ariza tipped the long rebound out and the Lakers got the ball back.  Solid work.

END OF THE THIRD: Lakers blow the game open, outscoring Indy 35-19 in the third.  Good to see them come out and put the game (hopefully) away.  The last thing you want to do is let a team stick around into the fourth, and give them a chance to think they can win.

AK will have the fourth.

FOURTH QUARTER:

11:04 - The Critter penetrates into the paint, then whips a no look to Kwame, who bobbles it into a turnover.  Although in fairness to #54, it's very difficult to catch a pass when your hands are sitting at your sides and nowhere close to ready.  Degree of difficulty: 10+.  Thankfully, he redeems himself a possession later by taking the ball at David Harrison for the up and in.

9:06 - Farmar misses from bhind the arc, his second gaffe from distance and his sixth brick on the night, the latter number equaling the amount of attempts.  Not the best night launching shots for Derek Fisher's backup.  But at least he's doing a decent job hawking the rock.  No turnovers, 1 steal.

8:45 - Travis Diener drains the 19 footer, a nice showing for a member of the "Dudes you'd never guess were in the NBA" Club.  Folks also aware of the handshake include Dan Dickau, Richie Frahm, Fabricio Oberto (height aside) Chris Paul (too short) and the Lakers' own Coby Karl. 

6:16 - Phil angrily jumps up to call time out after Dunleavy lays one up and in, a basket cutting the third quarter lead from 18 to 13.  Another unproductive, gap shrinking outing for the second unit.  All five Laker starters reenter the game, allowing Ariza, Turiaf, The Critter, Kwame and Farmar to sit quietly and think about what they did.

4:19 - HUGE triple racked by Fish, who was set up by Kobe with about 7 days to line up the shot.  Nobody but a streaking and late JO challenging matters.  Kobe also got the break running by snagging the rock from Diener. 

2:55 - String candidate for "Play of the Game:" Kobe works some ball movement just inside the arc, a couple more dribbles, then pops the ball behind his back to Fish, who's again left all by his lonesome.  Long distance dialing successful.  Laker lead now back to 20.

1:48 - Yet another Three ball from Fish having passed, the dead ball situation allows Farmar to take his place and Coby Karl to get some run in Kobe's spot.  Both starters receive some hearty applause.

TACOS AHOY!!! 112-96 Laker victory!  Big night for the starters (all of whom reached double figures), particuarly Andrew Bynum, who racked a double-double and absolutely destroyed the Pacers in the first half (21 of his 23 points represented before chalk talk) and the boards (10 in the second half).  Rough outing for the bench crew.  Aside from a nice show of aggression (if not continual success) from Kwame Brown attacking the rack, scattered success at best for those entering from the pine.  But that's all water under the bridge when it's said and done.  Still the crushing win everyone wanted to see.  Thanks for dropping by.  More to come later.

AK