Tonight was supposed to be a special game. The return to the Great Western Forum for the first time in ten years! For those fans that came into the game expecting to rekindle some of that “Forum” magic: I’m sorry. From the opening tip to the final buzzer, this was not the same team that stepped onto the floor Wednesday night. The euphoria from our first preseason game has worn off, and we have now been brought back to Earth. It’s important in the preseason, and even in the regular season to keep a balance; don’t get to high with the high’s, or too low with the low’s. So how “low” was tonight’s game? Let’s get into the recap and see what and where we went wrong.
1st Quarter: LAL 24 – GSW 29
The Lakers’ Andrew Bynum won the opening tip to Pau, who laced a great pass to Kobe for the games first two points. Unfortunately for us, it was mostly downhill from here. The early moments of the first showed flashes of nice defensive intensity from Artest, but for the most part we were beat with strong outside shooting and the return on Monta Ellis. The Warriors backcourt play was strong throughout, even with the loss of Stephen Jackson, who was sent to the showers after a verbal exchange with Don Nelson on the sidelines. Let’s take a look at a few items that stood out in the first:
- Artest has the ball strongside on the wing- he takes a nice jab step towards the top of the key and powers it inside, driving baseline for the one handed dunk. I will be watching to see if he can continue to do this all season. As I said last night, Artest will be seeing a lot of time in those corners when running the triangle, and it’s up to him to maximize those opportunities
- Andrew had some nice plays in the post early, but his defense definitely wasn’t up to par. The lob early in the first was a great indication of how his knee is feeling though- last year he was not elevating post-injury and its good to see him getting back up there again!
- There was a really nice “triangle sequence” where Luke and Gasol executed the high post Pick n’ Roll to perfection. The drop bounce pass was right on the money, which allowed Pau to get a good look that resulted in a foul and two made free-throws.
- A theme for the rest of the game: turnovers. Early in we had already committed 4 turnovers, with most of them being unforced.
2nd Quarter LAL 24 – GSW 23
The Lakers showed some life in the second quarter and were able to close a little of the gap before heading into halftime. Overall the offense for the first half looked disjointed and out of sync- much of this has to do with the lineups that Phil was running on the court. The first preseason game featured a much more focused rotation, even if some bench players were getting looks that they wouldn’t get in the regular season. I felt like Phil was tinkering to see what he has, and that is what the preseason is all about! The highlight of the quarter was definitely the fast break with Farmar and Brown. Farmar was able to gather the board, push the ball and make a nice dish to Brown for the two-handed double clutch dunk. There was no real rhytm to this quarter and it showed in the play. In stark contrast to the previous game, there were a lot of offensive fouls, turnovers, and overall sloppy play shown by the Lakers. Regardless, they were still working hard trying to make things happen. A few points to chew on heading into halftime:
- Bynum looks “fast” on the block. He’s making decisive moves with the basketball and going up strong. Last year he was struggling to gather himself and bringing the ball down way too low. This year he seems to be much more composed and aggressive. What we need to see now is that 1-on-1 domination in the post!
- Artest is making some really nice entry passes- this is something that I really didn’t expect to see night after night. Let’s hope he can keep this up going into the season.
- Kobe picked up four fouls in the first half. Two of these fouls were legitimate calls. (Please see my final thoughts for the referee commentary!)
- We really didn’t see a lot of “solid” lineups in the second quarter, this goes back to the thought that Phil was seeing what cards he has in the deck for the regular season, don’t be discouraged!
3rd Quarter LAL 20 – GSW 24
I was looking for the Lakers to come out with some renewed energy after the half, but unfortunately we were left with the same kind of basketball displayed during the first 24 minutes. Going into the third, the Lakers were shooting 1-10 from three, with 16 first half turnovers. This is indicative of the early preseason, and something I’m surprised we didn’t see in the first game. Overall the third quarter was tough to watch because we never got anything going. One thing I will point out before moving on to the fourth: Adam Morrison needs to take open shots. He is out there to take those open shots. Twice he passed up “makeable” shots in order to swing the ball. If this were the regular season, there would have been two three-second violations in the paint because of this. TAKE THOSE SHOTS, AMMO! REMEMBER GONZAGA! NEVER FORGET!
Some plays that stood out:
- Bynum stepping out on a switch to guard Monta at the three… and BLOCKING HIS JUMPER! This is why if you’re a guard, and you have a big on you trying to D up outside, you have to take it to the hole. Really bad shot from Monta
- The Lakers executed a great trap off a missed free throw, something they’ve been working on in camp. The bigs were in the backcourt applying great pressure D and eventually forced an 8 second violation.
4th Quarter LAL 23 – GSW 34
Two words: Garbage Time. This was an ugly quarter, and honestly, there isn’t much to say. We wrapped up the game shooting 47.3% overall, and an amazing 11.1% from behind the arc. There was no hope for our money ball tonight!
Final Score LAL 91- GSW 110
This is the second preseason game, so try not to read into it too much. There is work that needs to be done, but overall you can’t expect much from these outings. The Lakers shot the ball horrible from behind the arc, went underneath on most screens against the Warriors best shooters, and played lackluster D. Look for the Lakers to come out more focused, and shoot the ball better in the next game versus the Sacramento Kings on Thursday.
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