Alright welcome in to a condensed post game recap of yesterday's game between the Lakers and the Chicago Bulls where the Lakers, never lead, had a couple of runs, but they just fell short against the Bulls 92-86. If you guys saw my announcement, yesterday, I was not going to cover this game because I was gonna be with family the whole day as I was celebrating my 20th birthday, but I did watch the game with them on ABC and I'll provide with as much of my perspective on the game.
So 1st quarter, both teams were not doing so good, but like 2 minutes into the first quarter, the Bulls started to get it going hitting 5 straight shots to put the Lakers within a 10-0 hole. As soon as I saw that score, I was like man this is gonna be an automatic loss because the Lakers early on were not buying a bucket, they were erratic in taking care of the ball, I mean they were just flat. It's not until mid quarter where they ended the drought on a floater by Robert Sacre and the Lakers put enough points in the first to make this watchable as the Bulls just lead by 11 at the end.
2nd quarter, the Lakers were starting to respond back, like Kendall Marshall had a great all-around game, he was hitting some threes to make the game close, it was more of a low-scoring affair in the 2nd, but the Bulls came away with 52-46 lead.
2nd half is underway, 3rd quarter, if you're looking at it there's a pattern. The Bulls completely dominated the Lakers, even without Derrick Rose and Carlos Boozer on the floor and considering the Bulls traded Luol Deng to the Cavs, Coach Tom Thibodeau has this team playing hard this game, Taj Gibson and Kirk Hinrich, it was their show this quarter and Chicago ended the 3rd leading 77-62, but the game is still close. Steve Nash left the game like mid-quarter after trying to draw contact off the break from Kirk Hinrich, resulting in a clean steal and another turnover for the Lakers.
4th quarter, the Bulls started to put the foot off the gas pedal a little bit, but the Lakers couldn't hit anything until down the stretch. Jordan Hill and Chris Kaman were the headlines this quarter, coming up with big buckets and like I said Marshall , he was having an efficient game from downtown, making big 3s down the stretch. Down by 6, Blake makes a key steal, passes it to Kaman, Kaman finds Wesley Johnson for an easy dunk to cut the Bulls lead to 4. Lakers had a chance this game, they come up with another defensive play, but Steve Blake makes a critical turnover on a pass intended for Kaman and that pretty much sealed the game. Credit where its due, Bulls' Joakim Noah, made a couple of key defensive plays and D.J. Augustin made critical free throws to put it in the bag.
Some of the positives this game, Chris Kaman, he was the Lakers' top performer with 27 points and 10 rebounds off 13-23 shooting. If you think about it, Pau Gasol, out, no more Dwight Howard, who was going to score inside the paint? It had to come between Kaman and Hill and Kaman answered the call with the game he had yesterday. Mike D'Antoni had no other choice because the Lakers needed something inside, Sacre is not contributing in big minutes, D'Antoni has no faith in Hill, so he had no choice but to play Kaman extended minutes and he was contributing big down the stretch. Like I mentioned, Hill also had a great game from inside scoring 15 points and 9 rebounds, so who contributed big? The non-D'Antoni guys and with Gasol out for a great amount of time (who knows) and Sacre failing to contribute, it'll probably force D'Antoni's hand to give either Hill or Kaman the nod in the starting lineup. Another positive this game, like I said before, Kendall Marshall as he recorded 13 points and 11 assists, he was our only guy that was giving us efficiency from beyond the arc.
Some of the negatives this game, it's been a stereotype for any Mike D'Antoni-coached team, defense. The Lakers didn't even try to play defense until the final stretch of the game, poor transition, pitiful in closing out, as much of a low score game it was, they couldn't stop a scrappy Bulls team playing without Rose, playing without Boozer, playing without Deng, it was pretty pathetic to watch. Another negative this game, Steve Blake. Blake shot 3-12 from the field and committed 5 turnovers, his shot selection was very questionable this game, in an essence, he was forcing the issue trying to draw a couple fouls and he gave the ball right back to the Bulls the most. Overall, it was just nightmarish game for Blake, he's been somewhat efficient all season long before the injury back in December, but just horrible. Another negative Ryan Kelly, after having a couple of good games, he dropped a goose egg this game leading to him benched indefinitely in favor of Shawne Williams. Kelly just still has a lot to learn, Lakers have a pretty legit chance in turning him into an efficient stretch 4, but this was one tough road block for the rookie out of Duke.
Overall, it's not a surprise anymore. It's obvious that the Lakers are playing for the lottery this season, how they are still televised nationally is beyond me because this season has been a downer overall, heck they are even losing ratings on their Time Warner Cable channel because of poor play. If you ask me to compare the 2004-05 Lakers to this season's Lakers, I'll say the 2004-05 Lakers still had more talent to make the playoffs than this year's Lakers (even though both didn't make it), but with a healthy Kobe and Lamar Odom and if Coach Rudy T stayed a full season, they would've had a chance. This season's roster is just void of talent to see who's going to make the cut next season. The Lakers have two games left before the All-Star break against Utah and OKC. At best, the Lakers have a chance to win against the Jazz, I don't wanna even think about what the Thunder are going to do to this depleted roster on Thursday night at the Staples Center. I'll see you guys after the All-Star break.
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