 |
| Happy Holidays from Hack-a-Shaq! |
What a wild ride Saturday was, right? In what was the game of the season so far for
the Lakers (and maybe the league), Los Angeles just happened to pull off a
gutsy comeback over a red-hot Warriors team, willing their way back into the
contest and getting out of Golden State with a 118-115 OT victory (the team’s
first OT of the year). The game was relatively lopsided for the first 3
quarters, however, the entire 4th quarter and OT was an incredible slugfest,
including some amazing shots, smartly drawn up plays and some surprising misses
from both teams, The 4th included 7 lead changes in the last 4
minutes of the game with both teams going back and forth after the 2 minute
mark.
This looked like a game where the Lakers could have broken down, like
they have in so many close contests to start the year. With Dwight Howard
committing quick and dumb fouls in the beginning of every single quarter (save
for OT) and Kobe Bryant tossing up shot after shot after shot and never once
reaching the free throw line (technical foul FT doesn’t exactly count); facing
a young, relatively healthy (let’s not forget: big man Andrew Bogut is still
riding the pine with injury) and loaded Warriors team on the road seemed like a
recipe for disaster. Of course, in typical Laker fashion, the team went
down big for the second game in a row, looking like the frustrating side of
this team by going down 14 in the 3rd quarter and taking a 13 point deficit
into the 4th. The defense looked slow and nobody was rotating on backdoor
cuts, while the offense wasn’t working like we anticipated with Steve Nash in
his first game back. Somehow, off of the brilliance of Metta World Peace,
Jodie Meeks and the incredible energy Jordan Hill brings, the Lakers’ backups
brought the team back within striking distance, before Mike D’Antoni brought
the starters back in the game to close out the game in OT.
The biggest headline of the game – one we didn’t know would happen until
gametime – was the return of All-Star Steve Nash. How would the Lakers
use him and how many minutes could he play, not having played a game in about two months? D’Antoni used him for 41 minutes in his first game back, something
nobody expected, especially with him coming off of a 2 month injury layoff and
never having played heavy minutes throughout his career. A very good sign
though: he didn’t look like he was laboring or fatigued, so his conditioning
seems to be in a decent place. Much like I though, Nash controlled most
of the game for the first three quarters, using D’Antoni patented Pick and
Rolls with both Howard and Pau Gasol. Time after time, he would weave his
way into the lane; looking to set up his teammates rather than himself (he only
had 8 shot attempts). It seems my only two gripes with this game was the lack
of defense played by Los Angeles and Bryant still forcing up shots despite Nash
being back to create offense for others, though I will commend Kobe for sinking
some key jumpers despite having missed so many of them earlier. Not a lot of
players would have come through being as cold as he was, but time and time
again, Bryant came through in the clutch.
The most surprising part about
Saturday’s game came in the 4th quarter with Bryant, Howard, Nash,
Gasol and World Peace on the court. Reaching the 5 minute mark, the team went
away from the standard pick and roll offense and instead used the Horns offense,
where the point guard has the ball at the top of the three point line, shooting
guard and small forward roll to the corners and the two post players come up to
the elbows and set double screens for the point guard. The Lakers ran the Mike
Brown variation they had used last season and gave the ball to Gasol at the high
post, but this time, Nash rolled around him and set a backdoor screen on Howard’s
man to let him roll to the bucket, in which Gasol would give him the entry pass
via alley-oop. It was uncharacteristic of D’Antoni, but it completely caught
Golden State by surprised and worked to perfection. They used the same play
later in OT, but Howard lost grip of the ball and couldn’t finish the jam. It
was still not my favorite coaching move by D’Antoni, however, as he drew up an
incredibly smart play toward the end of the 4th quarter. A more
standard pick and roll play, Bryant was on the strong side, and Nash and
D’Antoni knew they would roll to his side once Nash cleared Howard’s pick. Nash
gave the ball to a rolling Howard at the high post after passing the pick, and
sure enough, Golden State made sure Bryant wouldn’t receive and open shot by
keeping a man on him, but at the same time, collapsing the defense so Howard
wouldn’t reach the paint. This opened up a wide open shot for my player of the
game Metta World Peace, who calmly sank the three pointer to give the Lakers
the lead.
Nash finished with an impressive
12 points and nine assists, including a huge three in the 4th and his signature,
one-legged, mid-range jump shot in the lane to seal the game in OT. The offense
looked incredibly smooth and seamless in his return as he helped set up his
teammates to get them going and made a lot of smart plays down the stretch. His
impact was immediate, and the validity of all the “wait for Nash” arguments
seem supported now that he is back and has the Lakers offense looking like the
best in the league.
Check out the subtle screen by Nash at the 1:10 mark and the aformentioned play at the 1:57 mark.
And hey, it’s Christmas, and what
better gift could the Lakers give it’s loyal fans than a win against the
Eastern Conference’s number one team, the New York Knicks, a team that already
beat the Lakers on December 13th 116-107; that team was vastly
different from the one Los Angeles is trotting out today as Gasol and Nash were
still out at this time. There’s nothing like a little revenge, right? It will
be interesting to see if Mike D’Antoni will be starting World Peace today, as
he has stated that Metta will start during games against star players at his
position, and clearly, Gasol would be overmatched going up against Carmelo Anthony
at the 4 slot. Devin Ebanks or Darius Morris could start, pushing Kobe to the 3
to cover Ronnie Brewer and World Peace to the 4 to cover Anthony, with Gasol
coming off the bench for today’s matchup. For all intents and purposes, I will
list the starting lineup that I would field against New York as the lineup will
not be known until a later time, including Morris, who I would put in to help
counter Jason Kidd at the 2.
Starting Lineups:
Position
|
Knicks
|
Lakers
|
Point Guard
|
Raymond Felton
|
Steve Nash (!!!)
|
Shooting Guard
|
Jason
Kidd
|
Darius
Morris
|
Small Forward
|
Ronnie Brewer
|
Kobe Bryant
|
Power Forward
|
Carmelo
Anthony
|
Metta
World Peace
|
Center
|
Tyson Chandler
|
Dwight Howard
|
Merry Christmas everybody and Happy Holidays! Enjoy Laker basketball today with your loved ones.
