This was ugly. Really ugly. Like, "Medusa in a string bikini leaning in for a kiss" ugly . The important thing is the win, but the second most important thing is the way the win was manufactured. And in this game, a photo finish against a lousy Hornets team rolling out Jarrett Jack and a bunch of 10th-man/D-League caliber players constitutes poor manufacturing. Nobody can feel particularly happy about this day.
Here are four takeaways.
1) Something is wrong with Kobe's shot right now.
Yes, Bryant hit the winning 3-pointer and he absolutely deserves credit for maintaining the focus necessary to ride out a brutal afternoon. As the saying goes, that's what makes Kobe the first ballot Hall-of-Famer he is. But having acknowledged this, it's a good thing March comes to an end Sunday, because the month has been brutal to The Mamba's percentages from the field. Heading into this game, Bryant had shot 50 percent from the field only once in his last 10 games, and only three times in the entire month. This afternoon, his touch turned especially brutal. Fifteen shots were fired before one finally dropped with 7:32 remaining in the fourth quarter (!), and with his frustration on his sleeve, the Staples crowd began chanting "Kobe" late in the third quarter to get him rolling again. Not "MVP," but "Kobe," just like in 2010 Game 7 against Boston, when they rallied behind their struggling star. Unfortunately, their efforts didn't make much of a difference. He missed his final two shots of the frame rolling him to 0-for-15. Even more disturbing was the variety of shots refusing to fall. Long jumpers. Catch-and-shoot opportunities from between the circles. Bunnies from nearly point blank. The Mamba couldn't just couldn't toss a pea into the ocean.
The cause for this slump? Maybe Kobe's heavy minutes are catching up to him. As of Friday, he lead the league in total minutes (1968) and at age 33, 16 seasons into a career, that's got to take a toll. Especially during this compressed schedule, where days to recover are as rare as a yeti sighting. Mike Brown said reducing Kobe's PT is a luxury he doesn't have at the moment, but he may need to bite the bullet and find the guy a few extra minutes on the bench, results be damned. Fatigue may also be exacerbated by Kobe's propensity for launching 3s. As of this writing, he's seventh in the league for 3-pointers taken, and has by far the worst percentage among league leaders. Whether that's a matter of too many plays drawn up placing him far from the basket or Bryant taking advantage of his green light, dialing this back is a must.
Or maybe this is just a good, old-fashioned wicked drought.
But whatever the case may be, the Lakers can't continue to survive against mediocre opponents (much less contenders) with Bryant continuing to create so many empty possessions. Hopefully, that touch can be rediscovered ASAP.
2) When the Lakers move the ball, they often look exceptionally good
In the first quarter, when the Lakers were in complete control of the contest, the rock was shuttled around the court with a masterful touch. Their first six baskets were assisted, setting a tone that should have been maintained throughout the game. In the first quarter, Ramon Sessions threaded a bounce pass inside to Pau Gasol, who wraps the ball around a defender in the lane to Andrew Bynum, who threw down an uncontested dunk. On the very next possession, Pau and Sessions ran pick-and-roll, with Gasol slipping a screen, then fed on the run by Sessions for an easy score at the rim. In transition, Kobe set up Sessions at the rim with a slick bounce feed, then later tossed a gorgeous lefty no-look on the run to create a dunk for Matt Barnes. Josh McRoberts (who played a very nice game off the bench) did good work moving offensive rebounds to the right spot, and later in the game created a dunk for Bynum off a no-look of his own.
When, however, the Lakers grew either frustrated by a Hornets zone (or, frankly, lazy), stagnation occurred, along with the predictable bad results. That Sessions is now in the fold doesn't change the fact this team is desperately low on players capable of creating their own shot or breaking down a defense from the perimeter, and Bynum is still in the learning stage of conducting an offense. More often than not, they'll have to create for each other. The good news is when they adhere to this principle, the Lakers can be a hard team to stop. But when this reality goes ignored, the Lakers look as ordinary as this Hornets team they barely beat today.
3) I still don't get Mike Brown's rotations
As mentioned earlier, I think Brown is hurting Kobe (and by extension, the Lakers) with his refusal to find the guy a few extra minutes of rest each game. (The same could probably be said about Gasol and Bynum as well.) But that's not the only area in which his decisions about how to use players can be frustrating. With the Hornets running zone, and the ensuing need to bust it up through penetration, the decision to sit Sessions for a long duration in the fourth quarter is perplexing. Then again, why Sessions, at the ripe old age of 25, isn't playing 35+ minutes each night is a mystery to begin with. The fourth quarter was also kicked off with McRoberts, Bynum, Metta World Peace, Steve Blake and Barnes, which naturally created zero spacing necessary for Drew to operate with maximum efficiency. As I've said before, why Andrew Goudelock wouldn't get some run in these situations, which scream for a shooter, makes no sense to me. After a few minutes, Brown inserted Pau to play alongside McRoberts, creating the lineup he said during Friday's practice would create better movement, but why it took so long, and again, the lack of spacing and skill sets on display feels problematic.
Brown says he'll keep tinkering, which could be reassuring or maddening. I'll let y'all decide.
4) The Lakers just can't be counted on for four quarter's worth of hard play.
Particularly on the defensive end. Doesn't matter if the opponent is the Western Conference leading Oklahoma City Thunder or the Western Conference And guess what? They're just not good enough to pull that off.
It's becoming easy to question the Lakers' ability to handle adversity
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