Lakers Hammered by Warriors on Klay Thompson's Magnificent Night

Back to this old format to say the least until November 7. The Lakers go in on back to back games; after a statement opening win against the Clippers, the Lakers traveled to the East Bay and came out real flat. Pau Gasol was the Lakers' top performer scoring 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists, but that kind of performance was overshadowed by the Warriors' Klay Thompson. Thompson lit it up for the Warriors' opener scoring 38 points on 5-7 shooting beyond the arc as his spectacular performance put the Lakers away early on in the game leading to the final score of 94-125. Steve Blake and Jodie Meeks were the other two Laker starters that joined Pau in double figures with 10 points by Blake and 14 points by Meeks. The bench came out strong again, but not as strong as last night rather flat, I assume most of their points came from garbage time because I was keeping track on the score and they didn't do much this game. Nonetheless, Xavier Henry lead the bench with 14 points, Jordan Farmar chipped in 12 points, and both Chris Kaman and Wesley Johnson chipped in 11 points.

Final Score: @ Golden State 94-125 [L]
Full recap: http://www.nba.com/lakers/gameday/131030_gameday_warriors

Highlights

Next Game: @ San Antonio (11/01) < Again it's a nationally televised game, but due to my Programming lab, I won't be watching it.

Lakers Still Own LA, Stun Heavily Favored Clippers in Opener

Alright so welcome in to the full recap as the day of the NBA opener ends. The Lakers remind the Clippers that the city of LA is not theirs yet and man am I proud how much the Lakers shut up all critics picking the Clippers to beat us in a painful and embarrassing blowout and how LA is shifting towards Clipper town. No LA still belongs to the Lakers.

Let's start off with the positives. I am crying right now because we finally have a bench. Thank you bench mob for showing up to play your hearts out. In one night, this Laker bench has scored more points has than our their previous predecessors the last two seasons. 76 points, that's right 76 points all coming from the bench. There's a reason why our duo of Steve Nash and Pau Gasol have played sparingly in the 2nd half because our bench dominated the night. I mean, they just flat out beat the living heck out of the Clippers starters and they didn't have an answer.

I should stop about raving about our bench and talk about the stars: Jordan Farmar and Xavier Henry. Farmar, 16 points, 6 assists, 6-10 from the field, 2-3 from beyond the arc, Henry, season-high 22 points, 6 rebounds, 8-13 from the field, 3-4 from beyond the arc. These two lead the charge for our bench, I mean both of them were splitting the Clippers' defense like crazy, the Clippers just couldn't hang around with them. I mean they were completely gassed, they had no idea how to contain these two. Not to mention they have guys like Jodie Meeks and Wesley Johnson spreading the floor and Jordan Hill coming off of pick n roll. Even though Johnson is a negative (which I'll elaborate later), Meeks big time, stepped up to make plays scoring 13 points, as one dimensional as Meeks is, he stepped up when we needed it the most and especially when Farmar and Henry were playing their hearts out. As usual, Jordan Hill, Mr. All-Out Hustle, his hustle on both ends was the difference maker that 2nd half, he was fighting like crazy against guys like a Blake Griffin, a DeAndre Jordan, Hill brings out that spark and when he hustles, the team gets into it to try and make a play.

Another positive, Pau Gasol's double-double: 15 points, 13 rebounds. I mean Gasol didn't do much, but he put the team on his shoulders. Credit to him, he did not play soft against DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin's physicality, although he did move out of the way to avoid another poster dunk. Gasol held his own, minus a Bynum, minus a Howard, I tip my hat to him he stepped up big time as the team's alpha dog in Kobe's absence.

Onto the negatives, Wesley Johnson, Shawne Williams, Steve Nash, and Nick Young. I understand most players have off nights in a game. Both Johnson and Williams scored on whopping 3 points, both only made one field goal out of many attempts and that happens all the time and I expect their game to get better as the season rolls on. Steve Nash, I hate putting him in this category and I understand that he's playing injured. He was basically a non-factor in this game although he dished out some nice assists and an off balance 3, I think he should continue drawing defenses, even though age is catching on to him and the players should continue to help spread the floor. If Nash can't step up with his shooting, continue to be that play maker setting the offense and calling the picks and the plays. Nick Young 13 points, but 3-10 shooting, credit to the Clipper defense because they know Young's game in and out considering he played there before, which is why he didn't drive to the lane very often. Other than that, not too mad on the negatives, but it shouldn't happen on a consistent basis.

It's only one game, this is not "WE'RE GOING TO WIN IT ALL" sign of victory. But this game proves that this Laker team, as long as their players on, will compete their hearts out. We got a back to back game tomorrow against Golden State, another team that is projected as the team to beat in the west. It's gonna be difficult to contain the back court of Curry and Thompson, not to mention the addition of Iguodala, puts this team in another dimension. As long as we played like we played tonight, the game could be close.

Announcement: If you guys looked at my announcements that first announced the changes to my blog, you'll notice that I won't do Wednesday or Friday games, I have Computer Science and Programming night classes on those days. So no Q-by-Q or halftime for tomorrow's game or Friday against the San Antonio Spurs. I will still recap the game in my old format, just reading off the stat sheets, the full article from lakers.com, and post up the highlights if they're ever up on YouTube. If you're new to my blog and don't know what old format I'm talking about here's a sample: http://trueraiderlaker.blogspot.com/2013/04/lakers-outlast-rockets-claim-7th-seed.html

I'll see you guys back on the November 7th Thursday showdown against the Houston Rockets. For Laker Nation who are also a part of the Raider Nation like myself, I'll see you guys on Sunday when the Raiders take on the Philadelphia Eagles.

10/29 2013-14 NBA Season Opener (BATTLE: LA): LAKE SHOW vs. Lob City Q-by-Q Reaction

4th Quarter:

Score: LAC 103 LAL 116

Call in the bench mob. Call in the bench mob. Slap the taste out of little brother. Clippers were just outplayed this quarter and our bench just ran the hell out of them. Proud of how this team competed opening night, a lot of experts expected the Clippers to steamroll us, but surprise, surprise. No Kobe? No Gasol? No Nash? No problem. Stay tuned for the full recap.

3rd Quarter:

Score: LAC 79 LAL 75

A sloppy 3rd quarter to say the least. We can't finish playing defense, rebounding the ball, giving the Clippers' 2nd chance opportunities. The note I point out, turnovers; they played an integral part in this 3rd Quarter and the Lakers committed a lot this quarter and that's just completely unacceptable. We're lucky to be down by 4 after that debacle of a quarter because with Farmar, he's speeding up that game and stretching the floor for his team to make shots.

2nd Quarter:

Score: LAC 57 LAL 55

This is closer than most experts expected and that's a good thing. Like I said, the Lakers are hanging around against the athleticism of the Clippers and Nick Young started to get going. Overall, pace is still good, I'll elaborate more on the halftime report.

1st Quarter:

Score: LAC 30 LAL 28

Alright welcome in to the first post of the 2013-14 NBA Season between the Clippers and the Lakers in the Battle of LA. I like how the team is hanging around against this young and athletic Clippers team. Pau Gasol I believe is leading the team as the top performer and he found his form early on in the game, scoring inside and even outside, we know at times Gasol can shoot the 3 ball. One thing I don't like, we can't defend J.J. Redick. He's like near perfect this game and just burning Steve Blake on all corners. So far, pace is good and we're hanging tight with the roster we have right now.

LAKERS vs. Clippers Half Time Post

Score: LAC 57 LAL 55

Alright welcome in to the first halftime report for the new format where so far Lob City breaks the deadlock against the Lake Show at the half. So far, the Lakers are just trying to keep pace, they know they can't run with the athleticism of the Clippers, but they're competing without Kobe Bryant.

Let's start off with positives: Pau Gasol, at the half 13 points, 9 rebounds, almost a double-double shooting 50% from the field. Gasol said that he's gonna put the team on his shoulders while Kobe's on the sideline still healing with the achilles and he's backing up his talk. The departure of Howard certainly is making a difference and Gasol is getting what he wished for, more touches in the paint and he's holding on his own against more athletic guys like Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.

Another positive, the bench. Oh how we missed Jordan Farmar the last 2-3 seasons and he's helping this Laker bench tune up the tempo and doing a good job keeping CP3 in check. However, the star of the bench, Chris Kaman. Caveman Kaman doing all the cleanup in the paint, scored 10 points, 6 rebounds off the bench. Aside from the embarassing DeAndre Jordan block on his jump shot, Kaman is doing a good job filling in and lining up along with Gasol. Xavier Henry, Shannon Brown 2.0, perfect highlight reel dunk in the first and he's the second leading scorer on the bench with 8. The bench are giving the starter's real breathers and that's a good sign.

On with the negatives, the transition defense. When the Clippers are on the break, 99% all the time it's over either from a 3 ball or a lob and jam. Lakers have got to race back on D and not turn the ball over. Aside from the transition, pick n roll, but what can you expect from CP3? The pick n roll has killed us over the years since Shaq left and it's no surprise especially against an elite point guard like Paul. Overall, we gotta make Lob City not Lob City and it starts with the transition or controlling the ball.

Overall great way to start the 2nd half, trailing by two. The Clippers will be looking to turn on the jets, but if we competed like we did in the 1st half, this could go down to the wire in a very close one and hopefully the Lakers can be on that end for a victory.

Raiders Edge Steelers, Snap Bye Week Hangover

Alright welcome in to the full recap of the Steelers-Raiders game where the Raiders elude a near 2nd half meltdown as they beat the Steelers 18-21. First off, I'm happy we won, the first win after the bye week in a longtime, but at the same time, I am just absolutely livid at how this game turned from a comfortable game in the first half to a down to the wire type of game in the 2nd half. You can't let a team like the Steelers hang around especially when Big Ben has a resume of game winning drives around his belt.

First off the positives and the negatives here are all over the place considering how the game went on. But one of them is the running game. All of our TDs came from a run play of course with Pryor shattering the rushing TD record for a QB. To run all over this Steelers defense in the first half is a testament and it's apparently obvious that Pryor is now the primary option with McFadden as a secondary. Either one way or another, they're gonna get you if you sleep on either TP or D-Mac.

Another positive, the defense. Negate the 15 unanswered points and poor penalites, the defense played great creating turnovers and sacking a very strong and elusive QB like Roethlisberger. A coming out party for rookie Sio Moore, he managed to get after Big Ben twice. Our front seven wrecked havoc on their offensive line to an extent considering we don't have the best defensive line, but yet they caused a lot of pressure because of our secondary playing tight man coverage and our secondary created two turnovers. You can make a case for our special teams as a positive too because they disrupted Suisham in short field goal positions and made a blocked punt of Mesko, if our special teams didn't make those kinds of plays of the kicking game of the Steelers, the Steelers would've rallied considering how the final sequences of the game went.

The negatives, I'm just going to shout it out: FINISH THE FREAKIN' GAME! Offensive play calling was too vanilla in closing situations and a couple of boneheaded turnovers in the 4th, including that Jacoby Ford fumble that helped the Steelers cash in the first 7 out of 15 points to make this game close. Not happy with those, especially if our defense played great for 3 straight downs and they have to go back on the field again because the offense turned the ball over. If I were DA, I'd spend this whole week of practice making this team learn how to close out a game. This game almost reminded me of the game against Detroit in 2011 where we were up 14-27 in the closing minutes of the 4th and Detroit came back to score 14 unanswered to win the game. Close out a game, end of story.

We won 1/2 against the Pennsylvania teams, we got Philadelphia coming in next week. So far, the Eagles have been playing disappointing football considering Chip Kelly wants a high octane offense and they have a QB controversy of their own, well you can add Michael Vick into the equation considering he was injured when Nick Foles and Matt Barkley were switching in between QB roles. We gotta contain LeSean McCoy in the run and DeSean Jackson in the pass and if we can do that, we can win that game too.

For Raider Nation, I'll see you next Sunday, for Laker Nation, basketball season is starting Tuesday! I'll see you guys on Tuesday for the LakeShow's season opener against Lob City. Remember same format.

Week 8 The Historical AFC War: RAIDERS vs. Pittsburgh Steelers Q-by-Q Reaction

4th Quarter:

Score: PIT 18 OAK 21

Finish the game, finish the game, finish the game, finish the game, finish the game, finish the game. Damn it's like I'm in detention writing that phrase over and over again. We finally got a win after the bye week, but this game clearly shows that we can't close a game out the right way. Stay tuned for the full recap.

3rd Quarter:

Score: PIT 3 OAK 21

Not too much action here in the third, considering the Steelers offense took a chunk of the whole quarter off. However, I like how our defense is hanging in there, just like DA's philosophy, bend but don't break. The defense is doing exactly that as well as special teams forcing Suisham to miss twice now, this time on a 32 yard field goal.

2nd Quarter:

Score: PIT 3 OAK 21

The Raiders performing a blitzkrieg on the Steelers. Dumb mistakes by Jacoby Ford and Brice Butler, but lucky we get a break with a TD by McFadden and a missed field goal by Suisham. Onto the halftime report.

1st Quarter:

Score: PIT 0 OAK 14

Terrelle Pryor, first play of the game scores on a 93 yard TD run, setting the NFL record for a QB rushing TD. What a way to start out. Faked out the whole Steelers defense as they were zeroing in on McFadden and forgot about Pryor's speed and athleticism. Overall, good start aside from the Pryor INT to Troy Polamalu almost at the end of the first quarter. We just gotta keep this tempo up because the Steelers have been playing better football the last two games and we gotta keep the foot on the gas. Other than that, great, explosive start to the game for the Raiders.

RAIDERS vs. Steelers Half Time Post

Score: PIT 3 OAK 21

Alright so welcome to the halftime report of the game between the Steelers and the Raiders in a new chapter to this historical AFC rivalry. So far, the Raiders have come out of the gate and punched the bully in the mouth.

Some of the positives so far, the running game is bringing their A game so far behind a really banged up O-line, even though we got Wiz back. 93 yard run by Terrelle Pryor out of the gate setting the record for the most rushing TD yards by a QB, followed by back to back TD runs by Darren McFadden. Credit to the O-line creating as much holes as they can against the stingy D. Another positive, the defense, defense, defense. They just held the Steelers to double digit yards and who knows, our defense is knocking on the door to be one of the most underrated defenses in the NFL. Defense managed to get Ben Roethlisberger 2 times and he is so strong to evade tackles and that's a good sign.

Negatives, just dumb decisions overall and special teams on the receiving end of the ball. Taiwan Jones muffed a kickoff and Jacoby Ford almost muffed twice on punt returns. The Steelers are so good when they create turnovers and we gotta eliminate those. Pryor, I know he threw two picks, but one is not his fault and the other was actually his fault. Pryor should've thrown it away during that INT to Polamalu and he just needs to continue his decision making, the second one, Brice Butler should've caught, but it ricocheted off his body leading to another pick. We're playing a complete game on all 3 phases, we just continue to play smart football.

As usual, no lead is safe in the 2nd half, the Raiders have a tenacity to take the foot off the gas and as long as we keep going with the tempo in the first half, we'll be fine. Hopefully we learned a thing or two from the late night game against the Chargers to finish up the game and not let the opposing team hang around, especially against a Steelers team that is playing in desperation mode.