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Inactives
Lakers: DJ MBenga, Sun Yue
Suns: Shaquille O’Neal
We actually have some news here, folks: Luke Walton is starting. Phil Jackson declined to mention this before the game, so it was a surprise to all when Walton’s name was read by PA announcer Lawrence Tanter. More on that later…
In the meantime, your starters:
Lakers: Fish, Kobe, Luke, Pau and Bynum
Suns: Steve Nash, Matt Barnes, Grant Hill, Amare Stoudemire and Robin Lopez
First Quarter
Has anyone else noticed that Derek Fisher’s been on fire lately? After scoring the game’s first three points on an and-1 in the lane, Fisher connected from three for his 33rd make of the season in 67 attempts, good for 49.2 percent, which ranks fifth in the NBA. His early season shooting slump appears to be a thing of the past. In other news, Walton collected two steals in the first four minutes of action, helping the Lakers push a 15-8 lead on the visitors.
As Robin Lopez somehow made a turnaround jumper on the baseline off one foot (huh?), I should relay that in my pregame interview with the openly goofy rookie, I had just gotten him to warm up and start saying some completely random things when media access ended. A nice pat on the back from Phoenix’s PR person let me know they we were past time, and I had to immediately cut Lopez off as he started telling a story about Ken Griffey Jr. throwing someone out at home (no idea how the conversation got there). I bring up Lopez also because he had the tough task of guarding Bynum, who abused him for nine points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field to lead the Lakers to a 26-23 lead at the 1:49 mark.
On the season, the Lakers are giving up 24.9 points in the first quarter. It’s seemed like that numbers been higher since the first two weeks of the season, though tonight it was right there: 25. A late Vujacic three gave the Lakers 29 points (Sasha always starts games well after coming on Lakers.com), but it was a pass that Vujacic made that I think will serve the team even better. Let me explain: Remember the end of the first quarter in the Milwaukee game on Sunday when Vujacic pulled up for a three with about three seconds left on the clock, even though Ariza was streaking up the court ahead of him? Well, tonight, Vujacic had a chance to make his second consecutive three with that same three seconds left, but he instead made an extra pass to a wide open Ariza in the corner. Even though Ariza missed badly, I think the play serves the team much better than the alternative. It was just one play in the game, sure, but that’s the kind of little thing that can make guys want to battle with each other.
Second Quarter
An excellent few minutes from Vujacic continued into the second quarter. First was his generally harassing defense, which forced Stoudemire into a bad miss at the end of the shot clock; second a triple from the corner after a drive along the baseline; and third a nice feed to Gasol for a bucket that put the Lakers up 38-27. All that gave Vujacic a game-high +10 rating in his five minutes of action, and put on a little show for his Slovenian counterpart Goran Dragic. Just a thought here, but maybe you leave Vujacic in and bring Kobe in to play the three for Ariza?
Sure enough, two minutes later at the 6:38 mark, Jackson put Kobe in for Ariza. Call me the Bill Simmons honorary VP of Common Sense on that one: One guy’s playing well, the other’s not - keep the hot guy in.
Vujacic rewarded Jackson by canning another three, his third of the first half, though Barbosa answered at the other end. Gasol and Barbosa then traded hoops, and something called Louis Amundson (a third-year pro out of UNLV) dunked for his sixth point to make it a 46-41 game. Let’s get back to tonight’s rotation, which has certainly been the most fluid of any this season: Vladimir Radmanovic, who had started L.A.’s first 20 games, had yet to play with 4:54 left in the half, when Walton returned; Josh Powell didn’t see the court; and Vujacic went out in favor of Walton, who pushed Kobe to the two.
Without Shaq in the lane, Phoenix hasn’t been able to do anything to keep Bynum from setting up right underneath the rim, and if he catches it down there … you’re in more trouble than a sheep in a fox pen (or something like that, just go with it). But at the other end, the Lakers gave up some easy buckets of their own, allowing 11 points from Amare, seven from Lopez and the aforementioned six from Amundson. Accordingly, L.A. was able to build only a five points lead (53-48) at the half on the undermanned Suns. The two teams shot nearly identical percentages, with L.A. making 21-of-44 shots, and the Suns 20-of-42, while Phoenix managed a two rebound edge (22-20). The biggest news, again, was Jackson’s rotations, which afforded 15 minutes to Walton, eight to Vujacic and none to Radmanovic. Back in a few…
Third Quarter
Fisher canned another three to put L.A. up 10 early in the third, but we already talked about how well he’s shooting the ball of late. Instead, let’s talk Pau Gasol, who converted his first two attempts in the third quarter to give him 19 points on 8-of-10. Pau came into the game shooting 55.9 percent, which was good for eighth in the league. Add tonight’s shooting, and he was up to fifth in the league, which is even more impressive because he’s really the only player in the top 17 in that category that actually shoots with range (with the exception of Stoudemire, who was at 56.3 percent and was 7-of-12 at the 6:34 mark with the Lakers up 69-64).
While Fisher’s knocking down his shots, he’s also committing technical fouls, getting his second of the week and fourth of the year for decking Stoudemire. Moments later, Matt Barnes hit his fourth three of the evening to cut L.A.’s lead all the way down to one, quieting a rather subdued STAPLES crowd at a 4:26 timeout. During that timeout, T.I. and his two-man posse got up from their courtside seats next to the Lakers bench, walked along the court to the opposite side of the floor while pointing and nodding at everyone, before finally stopping to offer some dap to whoever was in that far corner. TI then walked back along the baseline, paused for a picture with one overzealous fan, shook about 20 more hands and finally returned to his spot. That was fun to watch. How many girls a day do you think ask T.I. if they can have whatever they want? About 546?
Phoenix took its first lead of the game at the 2:55 mark when Steve Nash buried his first three of the evening to make it a 75-74 game, and after Grant Hill artfully drew a Bryant charge (those Duke kids…), Jackson called a timeout to talk things over. Bottom line: the starters, who were uninspired in the first half, weren’t much better in the first 10 minutes of the third quarter. In unrelated news, why doesn’t T.I. just go sit with the Phoenix bench? There are like six empty seats there…
L.A. managed to reclaim the lead, though just by one, with two Ariza free throws to close the quarter with the Lakers up 82-81.
Fourth Quarter
Ty made a good point after Ariza buried a three at the start of the fourth: Trevor really gets going after he makes defensive plays. That’s exactly what he did at the third quarter’s close, and we’re going to attribute this made three accordingly.
A thought on why L.A.’s facing tougher opposition of late: Early in the season, teams were taking a look at the Lakers talent, seeing what came off the bench and often just ceding the game early. There were several games where teams basically laid down to the superior purple and gold well before the game was decided. But recently, teams have seen a lot of tape on the Lakers, and are feeling like they can stay in games and at least give themselves a chance to win, as long as they play extremely hard for the whole game. That’s of course quite general, but there’s no question that teams are laying fewer eggs against the Lakers than they were earlier this season.
The second unit picked up the tempo for the Lakers in the fourth, getting Ariza’s three, a Gasol jumper and two consecutive Odom dunks to reclaim a five-point lead at 91-86. Kobe checked back in moments later after the Suns had reeled off four-straight points, and hit the biggest shot of the game to that point (obviously), a three-pointer that put L.A. up 94-90 heading into a timeout at the 6:26 mark. This would be a point in the game where you’d want your squad to really turn up the defensive intensity to a new level, right? Is L.A. capable of that right now? One other note: the last time Kobe didn’t take a free throw was Nov. 18 against Chicago, and last year there were only three games, including the playoffs (103 games) in which he didn’t take a foul shot. He’s 6-of-16 from the field for 14 points.
A bigger play came after another defensive stop, when Kobe threw up an alley-oop to Bynum to make it an eight-point game. Then, in a substitution Spero Dedes and I were speculating about last night on the plane, Jackson brought Vujacic in for Ariza to close the game. It just seems like a good idea to have a knock-down shooter out there, and it’s not like Sasha’s bad at D. Alas, the Slovenian immediately notched a steal upon checking in … But Bryant coughed it up at the other end, resulting in a Barbosa layup and the 78th timeout of the game (thanks ESPN).
I’d wondered aloud (or in words, two paragraphs ago) about whether or not L.A.’s defense could lock down for a stretch , and it’s certainly fair to say that they did as Phoenix managed just four points from the 7:16 to 2:35 mark of the quarter. The score had been 91-90 Lakers, before the home team stretched it to 103-94 … Quite the time for a 12-4 run, right?
Again rewarding our speculation and Jackson’s action, Vujacic hit a big jumper from the baseline to give L.A. a 107-99 lead at the 39.9 mark, forcing another Suns timeout. Out of the timeout, Nash missed a three, but Stoudemire snuck in for a put-back, plus the foul, to cut the lead to five, and force the Lakers to make foul shots down the stretch. First came Vujacic, who missed the first of two at the 29.3 mark, though L.A. still held a six-point lead.
When Gasol rejected Barbosa’s three-point attempt and Ludacris’ “Move *****” song rung out in STAPLES, do you think T.I. thought about writing a song more akin to shot blocking? Either way, Grant Hill then threw away the ensuing inbounds pass to Fisher, who promptly made to free throws for a 110-102 lead. Stoudemire then scored easily inside, and Vujacic was fouled again, and again missed the front end of two shots. The saga continued with a Barbosa layup, two Fisher free throws, two Barbosa free throws, two made Vujacic free throws (season high 15 points, previous was 10), and finally a hill layup. Final score: Lakers 115, Suns 110.
The bottom line in this Lakers win was that the defense stepped up when it had to, something we hadn’t seen in a hot tick. Surely that’s something about which the Lakers coaches can feel good after a mostly negative night in Sacramento and a less-than-stellar road trip.
Next up is that same Kings team on Friday night, right here at STAPLES. Gotta go help T.I. write his new swatting song, but I’ll see you later.
