Gotta like the Hornets PR staff for putting me and Lakers PR man Josh Rupprecht right underneath the hoop in the first row, which is primarily a good place to watch an NBA game. The one drawback is that towards the end of the second quarter, we’ll get a sniff of body odor from the court.
If you checked out the pregame entry just below this one, I talked about a few areas that we’ll watch throughout the game: L.A.’s ability to use its bigs on offense; the Lakers ability to keep CP3 contained in the paint; and what the Hornets can do with Paul on the bench. Now, your starters:
Lakers: Fish, Kobe, Vladi, Gasol and Bynum
Hornets: Chris Paul, Morris Peterson, Peja Stojakovic, David West and Tyson Chandler
First Quarter
A huge Bynum swat of Chandler and a Gasol dunk at the other end was a pretty positive opening minute for the purple jerseys with gold trim, followed by a Chandler free throw, Radmanovic triple and Gasol jumper over a helpless David West for an early 7-1 lead. This was most important in the fact that an extremely loud Hornets crowd was quickly quieted.
L.A.’s early game plan? Pick on David West in his matchup with Gasol. However, the Hornets quickly climbed back with, as Lakers fans may have feared, Paul getting in the paint for six-straight points, all from between 12-15 feet. Fish responded with his second three - remember he missed all four of his triple attempts last game - before Vladi passed beautifully for a Gasol dunk that made it 15-9 Lakers. Bynum then notched his second big block of the game, this time on CP3.
Check this out: After a Hornets timeout, James Posey jumped off the Hornets bench, and started talking trash to Gasol. Fish seemed to take exception to this, and the refs jolted over to split up the fray. I only caught the tail end of the exchange, and nobody touched anybody else, but my guess is Posey had a word or two to say about the Finals last season.
Out of the timeout, Fish responded with a pull-up jumper in the lane for his eighth point, and Bynum made two free throws after collecting his third board for an early 10-point Lakers lead. Last year, these two teams each won one game on the other’s floor, with L.A. winning the April 11 matchup that was so crucial to playoff seeding between the two teams.
Random Suggestion: Foul Tyson Chandler any time he gets close to getting a shot off near the hoop: Not only is he a terrible shooter at 60.0 percent for his career, but his numbers have gotten worse since early in his career.
When Mike James and Jordan Farmar checked in for the final two minutes, things went nearly exactly as Hornets fans feared, as Farmar harassed James into 18 second of dribbling before James turned it over and Trevor Ariza said thanks at the other end with a big dunk. After the Hornets finally made two jumpers after going a horrid 4-of-19 to start the game, Farmar closed the quarter with a buzzer-beating jumper to give L.A. a 28-17 lead.
Two things stood out to me in the first quarter:
A) The Lakers had way too easy a time scoring, from all different parts of the court
B) New Orleans missed a lot of pretty good looks at the hoop from the perimeter, which shouldn’t continue, but the Lakers did do a solid job of keeping them out of the paint. When the Hornets got in there, the often met Andrew Bynum (three blocks).
Second Quarter
Rupprecht was explaining to me that last year’s 109-80 Lakers drubbing of the Hornets here in New Orleans last season was the biggest loss the Hornets have had since moving to N.O., which was brought up after the Lakers bench + Bynum looked absolutely fantastic at both ends of the floor during the quarter’s first two minutes.
Farmar, Ariza, Odom, Vujacic and Bynum were running circles around the Hornets in building a 36-19 lead to force a timeout, after which I overheard the two scouts to my left exchanging “Wow, L.A. is (darn) good” and “Uh, you think?” lines. A Vujacic jumper then put the Lakers up by 19, quick and in a hurry … And then Kobe checked back in.
The lead might have gone up four more points had the refs opted not to call a few fouls that seemed pretty obvious here underneath the hoop. That’s the whole “Your team is up by too many points to get that whistle” bit, one would think. A minute later, West committed the most obvious double-dribble I’ve seen since 8th grade when my friend Robby had two right hands, but the refs weren’t a proper angle to call it.
Meanwhile, a rogue cameraman has decided not to listen to the Hornets PR staff and instead kneeling up right in front of us, as opposed to crossing his legs like the other six guys with cameras. To be fair, his knee pads are pretty high tech, and it’d be a shame not to use them to their full capability. “I’ve never seen anything like them,” explained Josh. “They’re like feet on his knees.” Digression.
Bynum drew a technical foul by pushing the ever chippy James Posey, who aside from playing good defense tonight has done nothing but try to get inside any Lakers player’s head that was willing to listen. It did work on Bynum, but the kid seemed to be upset as he thought Posey undercut him on a rebound with malicious intent. To be fair, it didn’t look like a dirty play from this angle, and Phil left Bynum, with six points, six boards and four blocks, in the game with L.A. up 45-28. The Lakers did dodge a bullet moments later when Stojakovic missed a wide-open three for the fourth time, not to mention three misses from two for an 0-for-7 start. That shot would have made it a 12-point game, but instead the Lakers took a 45-30 edge into a timeout with 2:08 left.
Out of the timeout, Kobe hit a nice pull-up J in the lane, Bynum made a great catch from Kobe for a finish near the rim and Fisher hit a deep two to take the Lakers into the half on a 6-0 run and a 21-point advantage. What was remarkable, other than holding New Orleans to 30 points in a half and 13 in the second quarter, was that other than Peja, the Hornets barely got a good look at the rim. Since I’m still likely to ball watch at times, I asked the scout next to me why he thought New Orleans struggled so much offensively, and he had some very interesting thoughts:
A) The Lakers pressured Paul fullcourt the whole half to take the ball out of his hands as much as possible and slim down the shot clock.
B) L.A. trapped Paul on almost every possession in the halfcourt, again trying to make him give the ball up.
C) Bynum was fantastic in the lane, not just blocking four shots but diverting at least four dribble drives from the Hornets that the scout remembered.
D) L.A.’s doing a great job of defending the pick and roll.
Great points, I think.
Now, as I’m still trying to learn more and more about the Lakers, I’ve been leaning on a few guys that have seen the team play for several consecutive years, such as Rupprecht, sideline reporter John Ireland, Spero Dedes, Ty Nowell and others. Ireland commented that he loved the Lakers lineup on the floor for the final two minutes (Fish, Bryant, Ariza, Odom and Bynum) and I asked if he’d like Farmar with that group even more since Jordan was so good in his 9:27 of action (four points, five boards, one steal). Rupprecht responded since Ireland didn’t hear me (KCAL in his ear, whatever) that he actually thought Fisher was better for those minutes in this type of a chippy game. Sure enough, Fish hassled CP3 into a bad decision, then drew a charge on the next possession, and finally canned a jumper for a team-high 10 points. That’s why I ask…
Fantastic half for the Lakers, by all accounts.
Third Quarter
You knew the Hornets were going to make a second half run, but you didn’t know it was going to come immediately … But boy did it.
CP3 opened with steal and a bucket, followed by consecutive Peja threes and an alley-oop to Chandler, and all of a sudden it was 53-42. L.A. did pull back four points immediately thanks to Bynum and Fisher, and may have quelled the run all-together had Radmanovic not missed a wide-open dunk in transition that would have made it 59-42. Instead, the dunk nailed the back rim, and Chandler caught another oop.
But there was Fish with a three-pointer he took after checking his voicemail, cutting his toenails and flossing his teeth in the corner, plus two Vladi free throws and L.A. was back up 18. Sorry … make it 21, after Fisher’s fourth three. On the next possession, the cagey Fish drew an offensive foul on a very chippy CP3 and Kobe nailed a turnaround to match L.A’s biggest lead, 67-46, with 5:00 left. L.A.’s answered punches like Ali in the season’s early goings, have they not?
So, I ran into ESPN’s John Hollinger on the way back to my seat, and asked him if his views on the Lakers had changed after witnessing the first half. His answer was, unequivocally, yes. Not a shocker. He liked the Lakers early, but wasn’t overly impressed with their opponents, but that seems to have changed. Fairly so after this stretch against Houston, Dallas and New Orleans.
I like what Phil Jackson did in this quarter by leaving his starters in to fend with the New Orleans run, and then waiting until after the four-minute mark to finally make a change by sticking Odom in for Bynum, who was terrific (12 points, eight boards, four blocks). Sometimes the best move is not to make one, to avoid a panic substitution. Um … not that Phil Jackson really needs my opinion on that.
By the way, if you hadn’t heard this, Chris Paul broke Oscar Robertson’s record by starting the season with six consecutive games of 20+ points and 10+ assists, and with 2:21 left in the third, he’d amassed 12 points and eight dimes. So he should be fine.
Rupprecht made a good point that the Lakers aren’t reacting very well to a zone defense employed by the Hornets, seeming content to stand around and huck jumpers, but instead of allowing the Hornets a mini-run, Ariza picked off a pass and drew a foul to take the lead back to 21. Plus, L.A.’s defensive rotation on the weak side was terrific, and the Hornets still couldn’t get any good looks. CP3 did get two late free throws to make it 71-52 Lakers heading into the fourth. In other good news, they sprinkle powered sugar on their cookies and have RC Cola on tap here at New Orleans Arena, which pleases me. Did you even know they still made RC Cola?
Fish led all scorers with 18 points, and Odom had a quiet but loud nine boards, four assists and a steal in 15 minutes.
Fourth Quarter
The first extended couple of minutes of the game that L.A. didn’t look very good came at the start of the fourth quarter, and New Orleans took advantage of two missed dunks (minus potential foul calls) in climbing within 14 points at 75-61 with 7:45 on the clock.
Meanwhile, I overheard a great sideline report from Ireland, as he explained that Bryant went up to both Gasol and Ariza (who missed those respective dunks) and said “You’ve gotta get over it,” before Jackson put Bryant and Bynum back into the game to close it out.
Here’s as good a summary point for the early season as I can think of: Every time an opponent has posed any kind of run or challenge to the Lakers, they have responded. And responded quickly. Midway through the fourth, the Hornets again tried to sneak back into it, but Bryant and Bynum nailed back-to-back buckets, the second on another beautiful catch from the sticky-handed big man. That made it 79-63 L.A. with 5:54 remaining.
To their credit, the Hornets still wouldn’t die, in getting a three from Posey and a free throw from Paul to bring New Orleans within 10 points, the closest it had been since the first quarter. Would L.A. respond again?
New Orleans is shooting over 60 percent this half, and the Lakers under 40 percent, by the way…
Out of the timeout, Chandler made his second free throw, and Paul cut into the lane after an Odom miss for a way-too-easy layup. But Ariza countered with a tremendous driving dish to Gasol for a layin that made it nine again. Then it was CP3 with a silky top-of-the-key jumper, and a wide-open Gasol miss that resulted in a West layup and a five-point game at 83-78. Where has the Lakers’ offense gone?
Yet another terribly easy shot for Paul came to make it a three-point game, until an incredibly difficult, hanging, contested jumper from three somehow went down for Kobe. Wow! Amazing, amazing shot. That had no business going down.
Odom then stripped West in the lane to create a transition chance for Gasol, who was hammered in the face but managed to make 1-of-2 free throws to put L.A. up seven with 53 seconds left. That about did it.
Next came a reach in from Fish that put Paul at the line. He missed the second, but the Hornets got possession on a loose ball, down six with 48.2 to play. Fish then redeemed his previous reach by stealing the ball away from West on the perimeter, and cashing in from the charity stripe to build L.A.’s lead back to eight.
Back to that Kobe three. Ireland and I were just marveling, with Ireland calling Kobe “Mariano Rivera,” and my questioning how the ball went in as it seemed so flat out of his hands. I guess that’s just Kobe, right?
Speaking of Kobe, he boarded a Paul miss to seal the deal. In short, the Lakers dominated the whole game until going completely cold from the field and giving up a series of very easy looks in the fourth, and then begged Kobe for a response to pull out the win.
Boy, did he deliver. L.A. is now the only undefeated team in the league after Boston just pulled out a last-second win on Atlanta at home.
See you back at STAPLES on Friday.
