Milwaukee @ L.A.--11/23

21 pts, 10/11 in first half for DMason? Wow. Lakers need to hope Redd doesnt heat up in the second half.

 

Lakers just took the lead. 53-52....

 

Looks like we'll pull out this one. Whats up with all the 3's LA took. They aint the SONICS! lol. 4-15 isnt very good. The steals (Kobe had 6) and the limited T.O's helped them alot in this game..

 

oh, t brown has 6, Kobe has 5. still good! LOL

 

Well we hung on to win. Tierre Brown must've heard me curse. He really played a great second half. I expected Micheal Redd to come out strong in the second half. Seems like he had an off night or wasnt 100%. Now gotta get ready for whoop Sacramento.

 

good game kobe shot well thats what i was looking for. Good game.

 

too many three point attempts by the Lakers IMO.

 

Cant wait for Friday's game against Kings. Hope Divac plays a lot better and doesnt get dunked on.

 

I think it will go on to extra time... that's all i can say, not sure who wins

 

i think Mihm played w/ more energy because Vlade is now back. he's not afraid to go all out now that he has a substitute for his position.

 

Good win by the Lakers in a game we had to win. 7-5 record all due in part to defense down the stretch in the fourth quarter. When teams know how to finish off teams, there's a great chance that you're going to win. The lone stat I particularly looked at was the rebounding category. We were outrebounded 47-35, so it was a good sign to see Divac back in uniform and receiving "rousing cheers." Let me tell ya, I am pumped for Friday night's showdown against the Sacramento Kings. And what Laker fan isn't? Preview up very shortly.

 

Great game by the Lakers,esp Kobe.Kobe did great with 30 points,can't wait to see how he does against the Kings

 

Surviving another Soft Second Quarter... The Lakers second unit has been getting killed with regularity in the second quarter. The team came out with another solid first quarter only to be outscored 33-20 in the second. The Lakers got some lock down D from Kobe tonight against Redd and some excellent shot blocking from Mihm. Vlade saw his first minutes of the season and Jones got off the IR, only to run into a buzzsaw in Desmond Mason. The Lakers lost the battle of the boards, were outscored on the break by a point, but they had only 10 turnovers to the Bucks 17 and outscored the Bucks in the pain by 10.

Kobe -- :mrgreen: Kobe locked down on Redd, holding him to 6 points on 1-8 shooting with 6 turnovers. He smothered him on more than a few plays. Kobe had no answer, however, for Mason when he was on him in the first half. Mason was stroking it and caught fire scoring 18 points in the second quarter. He was simply in the zone, and Kobe was in his jersey on a couple of shots. Good thing half time came when it did. After taking his first rest, a four-minute stint starting at the tail end of the third quarter, Kobe came in and immediately started attacking off the dead center high pick and roll. The team is really waiting for crunch time to milk that in recent games. Kobe immediately attacked off the dribble, taking it to the basket for scores. When Kobe gets speed like that entering the lane, that spells trouble for the D. At the end of the quarter, the Bucks decided to immediately double Kobe as soon as he caught the ball. This threw the Lakers off just a bit. Kobe had a more typical 8-10 from the FT line tonight. He shot slightly better from the floor, too, going 11-24 for a game-high 30 points. He also pulled down 6 boards, dished 5 assists, had 4 turnovers, 3 steals and 1 block. He had some usual sensational plays offensively. Kobe posted up Redd, spun and attacked the baseline for a throwdown. Kobe attacked off an Odom screen, went down the lane, brought the ball up high, than scooped it down low and up and in as he was on his way down. Very nice looking shot. Kobe had the ball on the wing, the zone they tried to put on him got confused for a second and that was all he needed as he attacked the baseline and threw back a little reverse layup off the glass. As mentioned, Kobe had several scores off the high pick and roll in the fourth. He attacked to his right several times, once spinning back to the left down the lane for a score.

Mihm -- :thumbsup: -- Mihm did an excellent job anchoring the D with 5 blocked shots and 7 defensive boards in 36 minutes. He also added 12 points on an efficient 4-6 shooting. Mihm scored his first bucket on a alley-oop dunk off a Kobe lob pass. Shortly later, he teamed up with Chucky for a pick and pop and drilled about a 17-footer from the side. He scored a layup off a nice feed from the perimeter by Chucky. Tierre found him under the hoop on penetration for an easy score. It looked like Rudy almost forgot about him in the fourth quarter, finally subbing him back in on the defensive end and Mihm got a block and rebound in the minute or so left in the game.

Odom -- :thumbsup: -- Lamar put together an 11-point third quarter and ended the game with 17 points on 8-12 shooting, 9 boards and 2 assists in 37 minutes. Lamar led all Lakers with a +12. Odom grabbed a defensive board and pounded the dribble all the way down court for a layup and the Lakers first score of the night. He missed a couple of FTs after being fouled on a drive, then he tipped in a Kobe miss for the Lakers second score. Odom later had another score off a Kobe miss when Kobe was trying to create on the sideline, attracting attention, Odom went to the front of the rim, grabbed the miss and scored a layup. Lamar can get some easy ones if he goes to the glass with consistency when Kobe is drawing attention. Odom picked up a loose ball at mid court trailing a play and whipped a pass under the hoop to Butler for a score. Odom got out on the break and Butler found him with a bounce pass for a score. Lamar hit 1-2 of his threes. He had a strong drive where he took a jumpstep, held the ball high over the defenders and got a score.

Atkins -- -- Chucky struggled with his shot tonight, going 1-8 (1-5 from three). He did get to the line and sank 5-6 FTs for 8 points in 34 minutes. He hit his first shot, a wide open three, then missed everything the rest of the game. Chucky found Mihm for a couple of his 3 assists, once on a pick and pop and once whipping a pass from the perimeter to Mihm under the hoop for a layup. Defensively, Chucky got hurt again off the pick and roll. Whether it was the Bucks knocking down perimeter shots or getting dribble penetration, they had their way for most of the game. James had a career-high 11 assists to go along with 18 points on 7-15 shooting.

Butler -- -- Caron was playing poorly for the first two and a half quarters. Then, he got his game going and the Lakers started to peck away at the Bucks. He was on Mason in the second half and did a good job keeping him to just 5 points on 2-5 shooting after Mason was one fire in the first half. Butler had 7 points in the fourth quarter on 3-3 shooting and was one of the key forces down the stretch. He finished the game with 16 points on 7-13 shooting (1-4 from three). He also had 4 rebounds, 4 assists and a game-high 4 steals. Caron scored his first hoop on a fastbreak, pushing the ball up and riding it in for a layup. He drilled a three on a Kobe post-up kickout. He pushed a couple of steals up the court that led to scores, one on a nice bounce pass to Odom for the dunk. Butler faked the three and hit a bank shot while jackknifing around the defender. He got a pass from Tierre, faked the three and then hit the pull-up jumper. Kobe smothered Redd on one drive and Butler got into the passing lane, stole the pass and went all the way for the dunk. Shortly later, he made a sweet And-1 on the baseline, throwing up a floater in transition.

Cook -- -- Cook played with the second-unit group that gave up the lead, but he also played on the fourth quarter unit that took back the lead for good. Offensively, he brought some good shooting going 4-7 for 9 points in 19 minutes. Paul and Stu were on the money talking about Porter looking at his assistant coaches and wondering what the heck the story was on the Cook pick and pop. All Cook's scoring came on the perimeter, and he missed one dunk attempt. The D was scrambling and left Cook so he hit a jumper with his feet on the three line. He nailed a jumper from the top of the key late in the offensive set. He drilled one of his two three attempts. Cook sank a pick and pop in the fourth quarter off a nice pass from Tierre. Cook had his hands full with Fizer on the defensive end, but Rudy left him in.

Vlade -- -- Vlade made his first appearance of the season to a loud cheer from Staples. Just a 5-minute stint in the second quarter. Obviously, he is going to take a little while to get on the same page. In fact, the team probably loses a step now with Grant on the IR and Vlade having to get up to speed. Vlade was part of four bench players who played with Kobe at the start of the second quarter when we gave up our double-digit lead. Defensively, Vlade had a nice show and boxout on a pick and roll shot. He gave up an And-1 foul, not quick enough over to contest a Mason drive. Vlade was lumbering up and down the court and Laker defenders are going to have to help pick up his man for a moment if the opposing bigs try to beat him down court. In his brief minutes, Vlade ran both the Slice play and the Horn play, but he did look a little out of sorts on a couple other offensive sets.

Jones -- :thumbsup: -- Jones got Mason defensively when he was put in the game. He fouled him twice, watched him bury a jumper over him, Kobe switched on one stand and gave up an And-1 dunk, then Mason lost Jones and got into the lane for a layup. That was the damage in his 7 minutes. He did draw a charge on Strickland. Offensively, Jones got tapped on a drive and got tapped on the arm when he went up for a three and airballed with no call. Good to see him back on the court. Not an easy match up for him tonight.

Rush -- -- Saw a four-minute stint in the second half when Kobe went out for his first rest at the end of the third. Guarded Mason for a play and got scored on. Then he switched to Redd and did okay.

Brown -- -- Finally, finally, finally, finally... he brought his best bit of spark for the Lakers since the preseason. He has to string them together now. Tonight, he was able to get penetration, collapse the D and find the open man or score. In 14 minutes, he scored 8 points and dished 6 assists. In the first half, Tierre accidently dribbled the ball off his foot and lost it in the backcourt for an easy Bucks score. He got a sideline screen from Vlade, split the defenders and drove in for a layup. In the second half at the end of the third, off of dribble penetration he set up Odom and Mihm for dunks. He also drove for a layup from the wing. He tried to pass to Mihm, got it deflected, the Lakers recovered and passed back to Tierre, he attacked the lane and hit a pull-up jumper as the 24-second clock expired. He attacked and drew a foul for FTs. And, he found Cook on a pick and pop. Very good stretch between the third and fourth quarters tonight.

Rudy T -- -- Didn't play Slava or Walton in this game. Slava because of the wrench factor, Luke probably because of matchups and the fact that Jumaine is back... Rudy mixed up his rotation slightly tonight, keeping Kobe in during the entire first half with the bench but that didn't solve the team's second quarter problems... Rudy didn't bring Jones back in during the second half as Mason killed him in the first half...