The Good

Pau Gasol* - The asterisk is me putting aside his paint protection, which wasn't exactly fortress-worthy.  But on the other side of the ball, the Spaniard made quite a bit happen.  25/7/9, to be exact, with 10 of those points coming in the fourth quarter, well complimenting his 100% clip from the line during that same time period.  He also hit a huge bucket off a sweet Derek Fisher pass to put the Lakers briefly up by one with 15 seconds to go.  Again, his time watching video will reveal many a lapse on the defensive end.  Of course, given the purple and gold output along those lines, misery loves company, you know? 

Sasha Vujacic's shooting: He made some silly decisions, racked fouls like they were going out of style (including one while lying on the ground) and didn't play his most controlled of games.  But he was also 4-5 from distance, and went 50% overall to notch his 15 points.  That baker's dozen plus two picked up the slack for a bench that otherwise didn't really get into the bucket filling business (9 points between Farmar, Luke Walton and Ronny Turiaf). 

Lamar Odom's second half: A 16/10 double-double, with most of the damage coming in the second half.  10 points, 5 boards and four assists in all.  Pretty good stuff from Lamar over those 24 minutes.  Unfortunately, there was a first half of basketball offered to fans this evening, which presented the following problem...

The Bad

Lamar Odom's first quarter shooting:  As in, "he didn't do any."  Zero attempts over a dozen minutes.  That won't cut it.  The offensive expectations in a post-Pau world may have lessened for Lamar, but they haven't been eliminated altogether.  Odom's effectiveness in this role has come in large part by serving as a continual threat to score, even if he's not the formal "second option."  Think a couple of early buckets in the pocket may have come in handy during a one-point loss?

Jordan Farmar: From minute one upon checking into the game, The Bench Mob's leader was fairly sloppy and out of sorts.  And I mean that in the most literal sense, as Farmar had already turned the ball over twice before notching 60 seconds of PT under his belt.  four in all, some the result of poor passes.  Or like in the case of the 7:15 mark of the fourth quarter, the call not to pass.  Instead of finding a wide open LO on the wing, he took the ball head down towards the bucket and got blocked by Spencer Hawes.  Throw in the amount of times he got dusted by Beno Udrih or whoever he was guarding and it's not a surprise to see his streak of being on the floor down the stretch come to a close.

The Laker D: Yeah, there were moments down the stretch, but collectively speaking, ain't many Lakers that can make big claim on a game's worth of lockdown.  Everyone from Kobe (guards) to Vlad (forwards) to Gasol (centers) found themselves on the wrong end of a guy getting loose on a back door screen, not keeping track of a cutter or failing miserably to close in when the paint was getting attacked.  Six Kings hit double figures, which helps explain the team's 55% percent from the field.  The single worst play might have come when Radmanovic allowed Udrih a layup, despite the point guard falling down and in danger of losing the handle.  Of course, when make a half-hearted reach instead of bothering to move your feet and pick up what could have been a gimme charge (if not a sure turnover), it becomes considerably easier to recover.   

Turnovers: Eleven in the first half alone.  They cut down on the gaffes in the second half, but then again, "cutting down" meant limiting them to a still crummy eight.  Every starter had at least one and the bench combined for nine by their damn selves.

Composure: Kobe was jawing non-stop at the officials and eventually picked up his thirteenth technical of the season (meaning he now only has a pair to play with before before getting issued a plane ticket to "One-Game Suspension County: Population, you).  Gasol also landed one and spent yet another game looking perturbed by a game's physical nature.  Sasha may have drawn the ire of Mikki Moore to land him a T, but Slovenia's Favorite Son was also complaining like he was doing his best Mamba impression.  Even Ronny Turiaf, the team's ultimate optimist, appeared at times bent out of shape and unhappy with the officiating.  And mind you, I'm not saying it was all peaches and perfection.  But even crappily reffed games continue forth and a team can't allow itself to get taken out of a contest because of that.  The Lakers spent way too much time complaining in lieu of soldiering on.  As Phil Jackson said afterward, "That's where we get into trouble and stop playing."

The Odd

Kobe's fourth quarter: Only two shots in nine minutes, with one of them serving as the game's last (a sequence which Kobe didn't seem particularly thrilled about after the game)?  To say the least, not something you see every day, especially from arguably the game's premiere closer.  Seeing things wind down this way struck me as even weirder, since I thought was getting pretty caught up in his match up with Ron Ron.  Typically, this would lay the groundwork for an especially aggressive finish for Bryant.  Maybe Artest's absence for the entire fourth conversely cooled Kobe's blood a touch.  Maybe he was bent out of shape by the direction the game was headed (and supervised by Derek Richardson and the gang).  Maybe this is what he defined as "taking what was given."  Whatever the case, Kobe's work down the stretch was basically the polar opposite of what I would have predicted. 

AK

AUDIO:

• Kobe Bryant: Not surprisingly, Kobe wasn't in a great mood after the game.  Interesting comments about how this can be a wakeup call for the team, and an indication that the Lakers still have some work to do (not that they didn't know that, I'm sure).  Kobe also seemed to indicate that he'd have liked to have had more space on the last shot, and that in the future, the Lakers will need to draw something up with a wrinkle or two to get him the ball in space.  Teams anticipate the iso, and can defend against it. The comments about Artest at the end refer to Ron Ron's postgame celebration, where he apparently rushed towards the Lakers bench, popping his jersey as Kobe did Tuesday night coming off the floor at ARCO.  Download kobe_bryant_3.10 postSAC.mp3

Phil's comments about the design of the last play:

"It was to open up the court and let Kobe get into attack mode, and attack the basket.  Spread the court out, open up the floor for him.  I told him I didn't care if he took the ball to half court, as long as he had momentum going to the basket.  But he didn't seem able to get a space on the floor that he wanted to attack."

On the defensive effort:

"There's a lot of the defensive effort that did not please me, but we held them to 43 points in the second half after giving up 71 in the first half.  The defense I didn't like was transition defense after some turnovers, some shots were out in the corner and we just didn't stop the ball, and they got three or four dunks and easy baskets.  Otherwise, I thought we made some plays, took the ball away and forced some turnovers, did some things right defensively in the second half."

On the team responding to a physical game:

"I'm on them to stay off the referees.  I think we get after the referees too often, and eventually the referees end up turning a deaf ear or blind eye.  It's a consequence of playing through things, and this is the temperament we have to understand to play through games tenaciously and just go forward.  I think the referees see the game and they choose not to make the calls, than you have to continue playing.  That's where we're getting ourselves in trouble, as we stop playing and lose concentration."

LO's comments about the game could be summed up in one sentence:  "71 points."  That, of course, in reference to the number Sacto hung on them in the first half. 

BK