Well this game was a fun one to watch. When Phil said he wanted to pick up the pace and run the break more he wasn’t kidding.
The Lakers ran the ball all night and racked up an impressive 30 assists. The Lakers also shot 56% from the field along with 58% from behind the arc. The Lakers had great play from their big men offensively. Ronny had 13 points to go along with Mihm’s 11 on 5-5 shooting and Bynum’s 19 points. Cook also showed up for the first time this year with 19 points on 9 shots.
Defensively, while the Lakers blew the Sonics out, they gave up 12 offensive rebounds and allowed the Sonics to shoot 51% from the field. Normally I wouldn’t be worried, but these Sonics shouldn’t be shooting 50%. However, I was impressed by both rookies, Durant and Green as both started slow and heated up in the second half. Back to the Lakers.
Lakers top 3 players:
1) Andrew Bynum had a monster game. Off the bench, Bynum contributed 19 points and 10 rebounds. Most impressively, 6 of them were offensive. Bynum shot 8-11. My only negative for Bynum tonight is that he needs to do a better job of protecting the paint. He should have had 3-4 blocks tonight with the way the Sonics were getting in the paint.
2) Jordan Farmar finally broke through this preseason. His 10 points, 7 assists, and 2 steals sparked the Lakers in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. He missed only one shot and was a perfect 2-2 from behind the arc. Great game Jordan!
3) As much as I want to give this to Cook for his 7-9 shooting and 6 rebounds, his poor defense and passing won’t let me. Mo Evans came off the bench and made great shots for the Lakers. He hustled on D and played solid defense on the Seattle rookies. Mo shot 6-8 and had 14 points for the Lakers.
Lakers Smush of the day (Note: Smush of the day is to denote the Laker that looked poorest): Vlad Radmanovic looked awful tonight. If I were to tell you that he played 18 minutes tonight, would you have believed me? Well he did, and in those 18 minutes Vlad put up 0 points and a rebound. Vlad needs to be more consistent than this, if he wants any time at all this season. His defense was poor as well.
Key play: Ronny oops the ball to Kobe for a dunk in the 3rd quarter.
What to look for next game: Keep looking for the Lakers to pick up the pace. Lakers will play the next two games at Staples. Two games in two night’s means that we should see just about every Laker get some action. Kobe vs JRich on Sat and we might just see Nash and company on Sunday night.
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For one day, all is normal for Kobe
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