12/08: The Mamba Returns... LAKERS vs. Toronto Raptors Q-by-Q Reaction

4th Quarter:

Score: TOR 106 LAL 94

The return of the Black Mamba, but the Raptors stole the headlines. Not taking anything away from them, but it's obvious they were overshadowed by Kobe's return and wanted it more on the national stage. Stay tuned for the full recap.

3rd Quarter:

Score: TOR 73 LAL 68

Somebody call in the bench mob. They've been a big plus all season long, nearly closed out this quarter on a 10-0 run. But would somebody please find an answer for Amir Johnson? We're lucky DeMar DeRozan hasn't gone off, yet. Lakers have pulled within 5 heading into the fourth. Hopefully, the bench keeps this momentum because that was a huge spark this quarter.

2nd Quarter:

Score: TOR 51 LAL 47

The Lakers are coming back. A little nervous in the first quarter, but they're starting to regain their confidence. Kobe is also starting to get his mojo back one step at a time and a little scary moment in the last seconds when he was taking the last shot, slow to get up, but it's obvious based on his expression, that he'll be fine. Onto the halftime report.

1st Quarter:

Score: TOR 30 LAL 20

Sluggish start in the first quarter. Kobe's first stats since returning, 2 assists, 1 TO, 2 field goal attempts. I'm sure we'll see more once he's on the floor again, but Lakers are putting his minutes into precaution. This was a really sluggish and bizarre 1st quarter. A wrong Raptor player shot free throws instead of Kyle Lowry, I believe that player was Jonas Valanciunas who shot the free throws and Terrence Ross heaves one at the end of the 1st quarter, negating Nick Young's shot. 2nd quarter is underway, let's see what happens.

LAKERS vs. Raptors Halftime Post

Score: TOR 51 LAL 47

Alright so welcome in to the halftime report. A special game on NBA TV for the return of Kobe Bryant. However, the Raptors hold on to the lead in the 2nd half after a stunning fast start.

Onto the positives: too tough to highlight positives this game so far, but Nick Young and Xavier Henry off the bench. Both scored 9 points coming off the bench and Young and Henry made some buckets that brought the Lakers back to life. Overall, good defense is probably on the positive, despite how sloppy they looked offensively, their defense is letting them hang around, but only one particular area of that D I will be highly critical about in my negatives portion.

So my negatives, Pau Gasol and the interior D. From what I heard in the Lakers' commentators, that Pau is playing on an injured ankle. Gasol only tallied 6 points and 6 rebounds, but 3-9 shooting. I can understand that his jump shot is not 100% considering that bad ankle, but the offense has gotta find some way to get the ball on the inside to Pau for some easy buckets or better yet Pau has to try be more of a facilitator, try to get Kobe some shots to help boost some of that confidence for Kobe. The interior D is killing us right now, which is why we're in a hole early. Amir Johnson of the Raptors had 23 points on 10-13 shooting, most of his points were coming from the paint and considering we don't have a good interior D, we're making Amir Johnson look like a dominant low post player. Lakers have done a good job containing DeMar DeRozan and the Toronto's 3 point shooting, but they have to make them earn points in the paint now.

Overall, there's not too much to talk about after this half. The Lakers just got to keep hanging around and the Lakers got to get Kobe going while at the same time, monitoring how many minutes he plays in his first game back.

East Coast Jinx Continues with Loss vs. Jets

Alright so welcome in to the full recap of the Raiders-Jets game, where the Raiders still come up empty in the East Coast time zone. 2nd trip to MetLife Stadium and the Raiders still couldn't get it done.

This game was just a trainwreck to watch from the beginning. The Raider offense started heating up in the 2nd half, but the defense couldn't get the job done giving the offense another chance to cut deep into the Jets lead.

Some of the positives: Marcel Reece. Reece finished with 19 carries on 123 yards, connecting on a 63 yard rushing TD and finished with 2 receptions on 38 yards. All season, Reece has been the invisible man in the offense and with Rashad Jennings and Darren McFadden out this game, the playbook just blew up for him. Give the ball to Reece, like I said early, there's a reason he's nicknamed the "matchup nightmare." You utilize him in the offense, good things happened. Another positive, Rod Streater, targeted 10 times, finished with 7 receptions on 130 yards and he's joined Andre Holmes and Denarius Moore as one of our receivers to have 100+ yard receiving game. I said during Thanksgiving, Holmes was the first 100+ yard in a game, but I was wrong. Denarius Moore had a 100+ yard game in week 3 vs. Denver. So Streater joins both of them and we have a chance to develop that trio of receivers, but doesn't erase our need for a proven go to play maker at the wide receiver position. Matt McGloin, had a rough going early, but heated up, finishing with 18 of 31 completed passes, 245 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT and rushed twice for 20 yards and I thought he played a good game in the midst of some controversy.

Onto the negatives, 3rd down defense has been a story of our season. No pass rush. The secondary can cover, cover all they want, but when there's no defensive linemen to put pressure on the quarterback, coverage is out of reach and gives the quarterback plenty of time to find a receiver. Special teams, another negative; allowing a blocked punt, missed 52 yard FG by Sebass, and could not recover the onside kick (even though it didn't matter already). But the biggest negative of all, coaching and management. Pulling out McGloin for Pryor early in the 1st quarter was one of the worst decisions I seen from a coaching staff since Tom Cable making the decision to start Bruce Gradkowski against the Dolphins after one bad game from Jason Campbell. McGloin deserved better, Pryor deserved better, just premature decision making by Dennis Allen and the coaching staff. It's obvious Pryor deserves another shot, but not this way as it did during the game. The season's out of reach, but the dysfunction is still there.

Record is 4-9, season's out of reach, but we're still mathematically in the playoff hunt. The last AFC wild card spot this season is a joke and expect a one and done on whoever gets that spot. But any given Sunday still applies, so an upset does loom on the home field division winners. The last 3 games are against division rivals, let's try to win out and head into the end of the season with something positive. Stay tuned for tonight because I will be doing Q-by-Q, halftime post, and full recap of the Lakers' game against the Raptors in anticipation for Kobe Bryant's return to the court. So hang around the blog because I'll be back at 6:30 PM.

Week 14: East Coast Woes Part 2: RAIDERS @ NY Jets Q-by-Q Reaction

4th Quarter

Score: OAK 27 NYJ 37

Another Sunday, another trip to the East Coast, another loss. Stay tuned for the full recap.

3rd Quarter:

Score: OAK 17 NYJ 30

It's about damn time Reece has a breakout game and being the focal point of the offense. The game is not out of reach yet. McGloin is doing a nice job, responding to his premature benching and is driving down the field. Just a TD to put us within 6, one defensive stop and we have a chance to take the lead. Still a lot of time left.

2nd Quarter:

Score:  OAK 3 NYJ 20

This is where the growing pains of a Raider fan begin again. Just a pathetic and embarrassing display in the 2nd quarter. Onto the halftime report.

1st Quarter:

Score: OAK 0 NYJ 10

All I can ask is: good lord how short handed are we in the running back position? I woke up a little late for the game like 15 minutes into it and first Raider drive I saw was with Taiwan Jones in the backfield. Looks like DA is starting his QB evaluation early pulling out McGloin for Pryor. Personally should've pulled out McGloin if he's really struggling, like multiple picks (a la Carson Palmer), but it's obvious he's not moving the chains. Pryor so far, looks pretty healthy, but I can see the lack of reps regressed his throwing mechanics.

RAIDERS @ Jets Halftime Post

Score: OAK 3 NYJ 20

Alright so welcome in to the halftime post between the Raiders and the Jets, where yeah pretty much the score above does not lie.

All I can say is, what a crappy half for the Raiders. A lot of dysfunction in that 1st half beginning from the offense to the defense to special teams, and to coaching. I mean wow, it's only typical that we break down like this in December. That is pathetic.

Onto the positives: what positives are there? There are no positives to highlight this game after the first half. I think only the INT by Kevin Burnett late in the first quarter and Marcel Reece's performance are the only positives this game. Reece had 10 carries for 40 yards and 1 reception for a big 26 yard gain. That's it like I said, what other positives are there to highlight?

I'm obviously getting a run for my money in the negatives. The offense is not moving, the defense is on the field too long, special teams have been disastrous and it all points fingers to the coaching. DA is playing WWE tag team with Terrelle Pryor and Matt McGloin in the first half. McGloin fumbles, couldn't move the chains, tag in with TP, TP at least moves the chains, but couldn't make spot on throws, you could blame lack for reps for that and it's his first game back, ironically since against the Giants at again, MetLife stadium. Anyway time to display my stats skills: Pryor and Mcgloin have combined 7 of 15 passes for 91 yards and an average of 45% completion, no TDs, 1 INT. Special teams, awful, Sebass missed a 52 yard field goal and a blocked punt on Marquette King returned for a TD.

Short halftime, but it is what is. This was a pathetic first half and embarrassing to watch. It's gonna be hard watching QBs interchange it's like the Tebow-Sanchez situation all over again and it's frustrating that the coaches would show signs of dysfunction this late especially they had this team motivated all season long to play hard (the Eagles game and the Cowboys game as an exception).

Furious 2nd Half Rally Lifts Lakers Past Kings

This game was supposed to air on NBA TV due to multiple rumors concerning Kobe's return, but NBA TV pulled it off it nationally televised lineup since Kobe made public that he was going to play Sunday when the Lakers take on the Raptors at home. From what I'm reading in a Yahoo Sports article, it seems that it was one heck of a game the Lakers played this season to get a W in front of an ever present hostile Sacramento crowd.

Alright let's get right to it. Pau Gasol was the Lakers' top performer with 19 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists, but he wasn't the central part of the Lakers' stunning run in the 2nd half, it was the role players. One of the players who played big this game was Jodie Meeks. Meeks also chipped 19 points, but had the touch from beyond the arc, shooting 5-6 from beyond. Two of Meeks' 3 pointers were big shots to give the Lakers a pull away lead against the Kings and managed to hold on 106-100. All starters were in double figures: Wesley Johnson added 13 points and was a pickpocket thief all game long adding 5 steals including one steal late in the fourth to set up a Nick Young jumper and Young came off the bench finishing with 14 points. Steve Blake added 13 points and 10 assists and Robert Sacre made his first start (second? I don't remember) tallying 11 points on on 5-7 shooting.

Final Score: @ Sacramento 106-100 [W]
Full recap: http://www.nba.com/games/20131206/LALSAC/gameinfo.html

Highlights

Next Game: vs. Toronto (12/08)

The game against the Raptors is possibly going to be aired on NBA TV, so in case, there'll be Q-by-Q, Halftime Post, and Full Recap. So after I post the full recap of Sunday's Raiders game against the Jets, stay tuned, hang around my blog or something, start a chat in any of my posts until 6:30 pm because I'll be working double time on Sunday. Hehe.

Lakers Rally After Being Down by a Dozen, but Still Fall Short vs. Blazers

Xavier Henry was the Lakers' top performer, coming off the bench with 27 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 assist to start a furious Laker rally in the 4th, but it was too much of a hole to overcome as the Lakers stumbled to a hot Portland Trailblazers team early in the season 114-108. Jodie Meeks and Steve Blake were the only starters in double figures with 20 points coming from Meeks and 13 points and 9 assists coming from Blake. Nick Young and Robert Sacre joined the double figure category with Henry off the bench as Young added 17 points and Sacre add 12 points and 7 rebounds while playing valuable minutes in his sophomore year in the NBA.

Final Score: vs. Portland 114-108 [L]
Full Recap: http://www.nba.com/games/20131201/PORLAL/gameinfo.html

Highlights

Next Game: @ Sacramento (12/06)