Lakers Victorious in Basketball Contest

by DexterFishmore on Dec 15, 2009 11:27 PM PST in Game Recaps

It's just as well the Lakers have a game on their schedule for Wednesday night. Tuesday's victory over the decaying organism known as the Chicago Bulls isn't one that we necessarily want to dwell on. It was choppy, uninspired and closer than it should have been. If the Lakers win another championship this year, very little from Tuesday's game will appear on the season-commemorative DVD. The final score was 96 to 87.

The good news, aside from the basic fact of the team's 19th win, is the return of Kobe Bryant's offensive game after the nightmare in Utah. Looking energized and much more comfortable with his jump shot, he dropped in 42 points on 64% True Shooting. His eight turnovers mean this won't go into the archives as one of his all-time great outings, but he did what needed done. It's not like there were a ton of other great scoring options on this occasion.

Aside from Kobe and Shannon Brown (4 for 4 off the bench), nobody on the Lakers had a good shooting night. The three-point game in particular continues to look ugly. After making only 3 of 21 from distance in Utah, the Lakers improved all the way to 4 for 20. Yuck. It was also a bad night on the boards.

The defense, however, by and large showed up. It didn't start out that way - the Bulls scored 14 points on their first eight possessions - but by midway through the first quarter the Laker D had its act together. Joakim Noah probably should not have been allowed to snare 14 offensive rebounds, though.

So northward to Milwaukee we go, 1-1 on the current road trip. Winning the second half of this back-to-back will require a cleaner, tighter performance.

	Poss.	TO%	FTA/ FGA	FT%	EFG%	TS%	Off Reb%	Def Reb%	PPP
L.A.	92	15	0.32	80	48	53	16	59	1.04
Chicago	92	15	0.17	69	40	42	41	84	0.95

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Comments

No nosense headline, eh?

"This is not a game for boys. This is a game for men." - Phil Jackson

by Gils_Keloids on Dec 15, 2009 11:43 PM PST reply actions

need edit function

no nonsense

"This is not a game for boys. This is a game for men." - Phil Jackson

by Gils_Keloids on Dec 15, 2009 11:44 PM PST up reply actions

It's good to be descriptive!

by DexterFishmore on Dec 16, 2009 12:30 AM PST up reply actions

noah 14 offensive rebounds..

10 of them had to be from missing or getting his own shot blocked… so i am fine that he got 14 offensive rebounds… cause he went 4 for 16 lol

by matthewmafa on Dec 16, 2009 12:12 AM PST reply actions

The Bulls shot 0.385,

so there were a lot of rebounds up for grabs.

We miss you, Ben Gordon!

by Granny Waiters on Dec 16, 2009 1:36 AM PST up reply actions

True

but they (the Bulls) rebounded 41% of their misses. That’s a really high number.

by DexterFishmore on Dec 16, 2009 1:41 AM PST up reply actions

Thank God

Kobe the best in game is here,hope to have him around at least 5 more years.Like SI says ""A sick night for Kobe"" .

by meeer1171 on Dec 16, 2009 1:30 AM PST reply actions

We own Basketball Contests!

we in da game!

YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD YES!
www.reverbnation.com/czheckproductions

by Czheck on Dec 16, 2009 6:09 AM PST reply actions

On Noah

Dude is a banger. I recorded the game and said or played it back because I missed Shannon’s dunk and all I kept thinking is, “how the hell does LO, Gasol and Bynum have rebounding position and Noah keeps out rebounding them?” Pure Hustle! Maybe Bynum needs to find out with Noah eats because he sure ate up Bynum and everyone else last night.

"These young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess" - Kobe

by PURPLE AND GOLD FOR LIFE on Dec 16, 2009 6:33 AM PST reply actions

Noah would be perfect for the triangle if he could shoot the basketball. His passing is underrated

and is quite intelligent. Me likes Noah. I could watch him do work all day. Its awesome!

by E-ROC on Dec 16, 2009 6:59 AM PST up reply actions

I could see Noah taking the qualifying offer

to get to free agency earlier so he could jump ship to a good team like the Lakers.

We miss you, Ben Gordon!

by Granny Waiters on Dec 16, 2009 10:36 AM PST up reply actions

Rebounding takes three things: Size + Technique + Will

The problem with Bynum especially is the latter.

"A bizarre and extremely rare hybrid Blazer/Laker fan, Timbo has always struggled to contain the Beast Within, like Dr. Jekyll, Bruce Banner, or Ted Kennedy." — Miled Animal

by timbo on Dec 16, 2009 10:24 AM PST up reply actions

YES, glad to see Kobe back!! Can I get the FGM/FGA he did with the left hand?

The Spanish Kid

by Kobe:The Legend on Dec 16, 2009 6:58 AM PST reply actions

Kobe had a scowl on his face when introduced, so I knew one of those nights was coming.

He might have forced his offense a bit on his teammates, but I don’t care. Just get the W by any means necessary.

I wonder if Scott Skiles will go small in the backcourt with Ridnour and Jennings. That wouldn’t end well for the Bucks.

by E-ROC on Dec 16, 2009 7:06 AM PST reply actions

I'm a fan of Jennings

so I really want to see this game. I think that any team that goes small is risking getting out rebounded because the Lakers are already a good rebounding team. Except for yesterday.

"These young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess" - Kobe

by PURPLE AND GOLD FOR LIFE on Dec 16, 2009 7:44 AM PST up reply actions

No Double-Doubles for Bynum Since Pau's Return

I thought his rebound totalagainst the Bulls was pathetic. So I looked it up. OK, Pau’s getting a share of those rebounds that Drew used to get. But 3 last night. Now that he’s a graduate of Kareem 101, maybe he needs the graduate level course. Bynum wants to be an all-star, I want him to be an all-star, everybody reading this blog wants that, and he needs to accept that he still needs to grow his game.

Before Pau’s return, Bynum had 106 rebounds in 353 minutes, an average of .3 rebounds per minute (RPM). Since Pau’s return, his RPM has slipped to.227. For Odom, the pre Pau RPM was .251, and since Pau’s return it has actually increased to .293.

So the return of Pau hasn’t hurt Odom’s productivity as a rebounder. But Bynum is sliding downhill. Is there something else my slavish devotion to stats isn’t revealing? Other than the possibility that Odom’s game is improving in inverse proportion to the time difference from his wedding?

by celticandlakerfanreally on Dec 16, 2009 12:01 PM PST reply actions

one of the knocks against Andrew

Is that he’s relies too much on his arm length to get rebounds. He’s not actually boxing out, going after the ball, he just kinda puts his arms up and hopes he gets the ball.

Lakers 2009 Road to Redemption: TREVOR, DEREK, LAMAR, PAU & KOBE.
Play the game of which Lakers reminds you of: TA - TI, Shannon Brown - Chris Brown, Pau Gasol - Jesus, Machine - Luis Scola/Russell Brand, PJ with mustache and beard - Colonel Sanders.

by PeanutButterSpread on Dec 16, 2009 12:52 PM PST up reply actions