Dwyane Wade's dunk fail: In the early stages of the game, Marv Albert, Reggie Miller and Steve Kerr went on about how unhappy Wade was about his lousy shooting in Game 3, and how he did extra shooting, great players work hard, yada, yada, yada. That conversation led brilliantly into this:
Derrick Rose saw that missed dunk and raised three nasty ones:
Unfortunately, if you subtract those jams, Rose went 5-for-24. More on that below.
The Chicago Bulls: Things started out so well for the Bulls. They raced out to a 19-8 lead with 4:22 left in the first quarter...then bad things happened.
Very bad things.
Very bad offensive things.
The shivering terror actually started exactly at the 4:22 mark when Ronnie Brewer clanked the free throw half of an "And 1" opportunity.
Keith Bogans went on to brick three-pointers on Chicago's next two possessions. Why would Bogans ever shoot threes on back-to-back possessions, you ask? Because the Heat left him wide open, of course.
Rose followed Bogans' bricks with a three-point clunker of his own.
Then Carlos Boozer went 0-for-2 from the line and shanked an open 19-footer in consecutive scoreless possessions.
Then Bogans missed another three.
Then Rose committed a turnover on Chicago's final possession of the quarter.
That's right. After taking that 19-8 lead, the Bulls didn't score again during the first quarter despite having several open shots. That 12-minute sequence ended 19-16. I really believe that four-minute drought cost the Bulls the game. They had a very real chance to take complete control and didn't do it. That's just one of many things that will haunt them about this particular loss.
So many wasted opportunities. The Bulls bobbled the ball away 22 times for 26 points going the other way. That combined with their 38-22 disadvantage in free throw attempts offset their 26 fast break points and the staggering 44-24 advantage in points in the paint. Chicago also played tough defense, forcing King Crab (11-for-26) and Pookie (5-for-16) into off nights. Bosh was 6-for-12, but five of his six made field goals were from 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 feet. The Bulls forced him to shoot contested jumpers...he just made 'em.
The Bulls didn't make 'em. In all, they went 16-for-57 on jumpers (28 percent) and only 6-for-24 on threes (25 percent). Sometimes they were open. Sometimes they weren't. It didn't seem to matter either way.
Chicago's Bench Mob: LeBron (35 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 blocks, 2 steals) was seemingly the consensus Player of the Game, but his plus-minus score was -1. Dwyane Wade's was -10. But check out the borderline absurd plus-minus stats of Miami's reserves: Mike Miller (+36 in 26 minutes), Udonis Haslem (+25 in 34 minutes) and Mario Chalmers (+10 in 21 minutes).
Chicago's reserves? Borderline absurd in the other direction: Taj Gibson (-21 in 10 minutes), Ronnie Brewer (-12 in 21 minutes), C.J. Watson (-12 in seven minutes), Kyle Korver (0 in 16 minutes) and Omer Asik (0 in two minutes).
The Bench Mob was supposed to be the Bulls' biggest advantage against the top-heavy, bottom-weak Heat. Unfortunately, they were thoroughly outplayed by their Miami counterparts last night. Particularly Miller, who grabbed 9 big rebounds and scored 9 points in the fourth quarter, drilling two key jumpers and even driving into the jaws of Chicago's defense for a layup that tied the game at 80-80 with 3:15 left.
Speaking of which...
Kyle Korver: With his tattoos and wacky hair, Miller looks like Korver's Bizarro World counterpart, and his return to basketball life casts a harsh light on Kyle's fade into oblivion. As Jeff Fogle of Hoopdata points out: "Tonight's 2 of 6 brings him to 25 of 77 from the floor over the last 12 games, with eight rebounds in 172 minutes."
Here's the thing: I don't begrudge Korver any shot. That said, I don't think Chicago's offensive sets are getting him clean looks at the basket. Too many of his shots are contested and forced.
On that subject...
Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau: There's no question that the man can coach the absolute living hell out of a defense. But, at times, the offense looks like it's still running sets out of Vinny Del Negro's playbook. Especially in critical situations. In Chicago's last two possessions of regulation, Thibs put Rose on an island against LeBron. The result: A 6'2" guard forcing two contested 18-footers over a 6'9" athletic freak.
Not good shots.
From my living room, I was screaming for the Bulls to run an offensive set -- any set -- rather than bailing out and using an iso.
But, again, we should have seen that coming. The Bulls have been "cheating" all season, devolving into "give Rose the ball and get out of the way" mode every time the going gets tough. Credit Derrick for repeatedly coming through, which was probably a major factor in his winning the MVP. But then you also have to credit the Heat for repeatedly throwing new looks at him in this series. This time, they turned to LeBron down the stretch, something they hadn't really done yet in this series.
It worked.
Given time, Rose has figured out pretty much every defense that's been thrown at him. He didn't have time -- or, really, the energy -- to figure this one out. I'm not sure how much input Pat Riley is giving Erik Spoelstra at this point, but Riley did the same thing when he was coaching the Lakers in the 1980s. He was always throwing new defensive wrinkles at Larry Bird, trying to get Bird out of his comfort zone. Riley went with waves of defenders (first Michael Cooper, then James Worthy, then Mychal Thompson, and so on) and waves of doubles coming from a variety of directions. The Heat have been employing similar tactics against Rose.
And is has worked.
Derrick Rose: The Miami defense really put him in a box, didn't it?
For instance:
And:
About a month ago, I wrote that talent usually wins out in the NBA playoffs, and that Miami's Big Three would probably trump Chicago's Big One.
It was a bitter prediction that's coming true right before my eyes.
People are going to look cross-eyed at Rose for his shooting (8-for-27) and his turnovers (7), and rightly so. I'm sure some fans are contacting a repo man about taking back Derrick's MVP award. I'm also sure LeBron knows exactly how that feels. The previous two seasons, his Cavaliers compiled the league's best record while he won back-to-back MVP awards, and then those squads got soundly bounced by more talented teams.
In point of fact, last season, the Celtics wiped both Wade's Heat and LeBron's Cavs off the playoff map. Which, we have been led to believe, is what convinced them to join forces in Miami.
Rose missed a free throw with 1:09 left in regulation that, considering neither team scored again until the overtime session, might very well have won the game. Then there were the two missed jumpers over LeBron. I'm sure those three misses will haunt him. So will the unforced turnover he committed with 1:05 left in OT and the Bulls down only 93-89.
He gave his all. He came up short. Like I said, LeBron knows all about that.
Chicago's mental lapses: Said Joakim Noah: "Sometimes effort isn't enough. You got to do more than that. We had mental lapses. We can't turn the ball over against this team at all because they get on the break and they're really tough to stop in that situation.
"I feel like every game is a little bit like that. Even the games that are eight, 10 points. If you're watching closely, all these games are so close. They're played at one or two possessions, so a few of these turnovers, I missed a few easy baskets around the rim. Those are things I'll think about all night probably."
Turnovers?
The Bulls committed 22 in all. The Heat scored 26 points off of them.
Mental lapses?
Like when Luol Deng threw the ball away on an inbounds pass with 1:36 left in overtime and the Bulls down only 93-89? Or, on Chicago's next possession after LeBron missed a 21-footer, when Derrick Rose drove into the paint and simply lost his handle on the ball?
Those particular miscues were part mental lapse and part fatigue. The Bulls were absolutely out of gas at that point. At least by the looks of it. I've watched enough basketball and played enough pickup ball to recognize the effects of fatigue. On the road, against the wall, with guys closing in on 50 minutes of PT, facing a killer defense energized by its home crowd and the opportunity to put the series in a submission hold, the Bulls succumbed.
In overtime, talent won out, and Miami's three stars were overpowering.
Bosh scored the first four points of OT on two free throws and an icy cold jumper from 20 feet. The Bulls got an unlikely three-bomb from Brewer, but Wade responded by drilling a 19-footer right before the shot clock expired. Carlos Boozer muscled his way into a foul at the other end but missed the second freebie. On the other end, LeBron drove in for a layup. The Bulls called time and that led to Deng's botched inbound pass, then LeBron's missed jumper, then Derrick's turnover, then a layup by Wade.
On the other end, Wade blocked a shot attempt by Deng. Lu got it back and Wade fouled him, after which Deng hit both free throws to pull the Bulls to within four points. James hit another mid-range jumper to push the lead back to six points. Rose drove madly the other way and had his layup attempt swatted by Wade. In the ensuing scramble for the ball, the Heat simply outfought the Bulls. Wade then iced things with a couple free throws.
We can talk free throws and fast breaks and turnovers and bench play and whatever else. But in those final few minutes, the talent and will of Miami's three stars was too much. Just too much.
The Bulls still have pieces on the board. But last night's loss felt like checkmate.
Miami's flopstravaganza: With 10:18 left in the fourth quarter and the Bulls leading 69-68, LeBron James drew an offensive foul on Luol Deng courtesy of an egregious flop. Seriously, LeBron -- possibly the most powerful physical specimen in the league (or second to Dwight Howard) -- dropped like he got face-punched by Ivan Drago. He did the same thing in Game 3. The most annoying part was after his obviously exaggerated fall, he grinned like an idiot and nodded vigorously to his teammates while wagging his tongue.
Really? The mighty LeBron needs to flop?
With 4:39 left and the Bulls leading 77-74, Chris Bosh flopped his way to this flagrant foul:
Shame on you, Steve Kerr, for applauding and supporting Bosh's theatrics. Still, I can see why it was called a flagrant. My issue with it is that something very similar happened between Boozer and Udonis Haslem earlier in the game, only Boozer calmly stood up to Haslem's thuggary and -- of course -- wasn't given the flagrant. So I guess maybe Kerr was right. Maybe Boozer should have taken a dive.
The Boshtrich's flop initiated a huge swing. He hit both free throws and, when the Heat got possession back afterward, Mike Miller drilled a jumper to put Miami up a point. Fans and, supposedly, players talk up the importance of toughness, but once again bravely flopping in the face of physical contact continues to give teams a significant advantage.
Update! Officiating: Great players don't need extra steps to hit clutch shots...but it sure does help, doesn't it?
Chris' Playoff Lacktion Report:
Labels: 2011 NBA Playoffs, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat
James Harden's flop: All I can say is: Wow.
Okay, "wow" isn't really all I can say. If there was such a thing as basketball prison, and players were sentenced to it for crimes against the sport, I would want Harden serving a life sentence with no chance for parole.
It wasn't just the flop, mind you, it was the "OH MY GOD NOT MY FACE!" reaction that went along with it. There's selling a flop, there's overselling a flop, and there's pretending someone shot you in the head. Too much, James. Too much.
The worst part was that Tyson Chandler received a technical foul for arguing the call. The league actually showed some wisdom by rescinding the tech. But damn, people. It never should have come to that. And Harden's flop-a-rooni started an 8-0 run that pulled the Thunder to within 65-52, which was the closest they'd been since the end of the first quarter.
Which brings me to...
The Oklahoma City Thunder: Playing at home with a chance to take complete control of the series, the Thunder forced Dirk Nowitzki (7-for-21) and Jason Terry (3-for-12) into bad shooting games. Ditto for Jason Kidd (4-for-10) and Peja Stojakovic (3-for-7). In all, the Mavs shot 43.9 percent and went only 7-for-21 from downtown. They also lost the rebounding battle 45-37 and had a 36-18 disadvantage in free throw attempts.
Dallas also led by as many as 23 points and held on down the stretch for a 93-87 win. Thanks to a team-wide offensive pants-wetting by Oklahoma City.
The Thunder shot 36.5 percent as a team and went 1-for-17 on threes. That is not a misprint. According to ESPN Stats and Information, OKC tied for the second-worst three-point percentage in a playoff game in the last 20 years (5.9 percent), trailing only the 2005 Mavericks, who shot 5.6 percent (1-for-18) in a 119-102 loss to the Phoenix Suns. You know, back when the Suns were relevant and Steve Nash was the MVP.
*sob*
Anyway, Kevin Durant bricked his way to a 7-for-22 night and Russell Westbrook went 8-for-20 and committed 7 turnovers. And you know what? Westbrook has me totally confused. I can't tell if he's Oklahoma City's best player or their worst nightmare. Is he keeping them in games or shooting the Thunder out of them? I have no idea at this point.
Maybe it's a little of Column A, a little of Column C.
On the subject, courtesy of AnacondaHL, a "flawed yet interesting take on why Eric Maynor should be point over Westbrook."
So now let's backtrack to that "since the end of the first quarter" reference I made in the entry for Harden's flop. Oklahoma City got outscored 27-12 in the first 12 minutes, and that pretty much defined the game. According to ESPN Stats and Information, "they turned the ball over 7 times and made just 4-17 from the field. The Mavericks meanwhile assisted on 8 of their 12 made FG."
Bad D. Bad O. Bad everything.
Said Durant: "Frustrating. It's tough to start a game, not make shots and you give teams easy baskets. That's like a backbreaker."
Added Thunder coach Scott Brooks: "There's no question they started the game really hitting us and knocking us out of our offense. And we missed a lot of 3s. Those 3s weren't all contested."
Sometimes you’re hitting. Sometimes your not. On Saturday, the Thunder were not. It wasn't just three-pointers, either. According to Hoopdata, OKC went 4-for-9 from 3-9 feet, 3-for-10 from 10-15 feet and 3-for-9 from 16-23 feet. And they missed 13 of their 29 attempts at the rim.
Bonus video: More adventures in officiating courtesy of Refcalls:
The Chicago Bulls: I didn't think it would be Chris Bosh.
He was the Ringo of these "Heetles," right? The oft-criticized, occasionally forgotten third wheel. The butt of all the "Two and a Half Men" jokes that swirled around Miami this season. The Boshtrich. The guy who went 1-for-18 against the Bulls during what's turning out to be an utterly meaningless regular season game.
I didn't think it would be Chris Bosh.
I just didn't think he would be the Heat player beating the Bulls.
Bosh scored 34 points on 18 field goal attempts.
According to Hoopdata, e went 5-for-6 at the rim, 2-for-2 from 3-9 feet, 1-for-1 from 10-15 feet and 5-for-9 from 16-23 feet.
He hit open shots.
He hit contested shots.
After starting the game 0-for-3, he went 13-for-15.
Bosh also earned more foul shots (10) than LeBron James (9), Dwyane Wade (6) or Derrick Rose (3).
And he knocked down eight of them.
Chicago's defense was designed to slow down the scoring exploits of LeBron (6-for-13) and D-Wade (6-for-17). That mission was accomplished. But Bosh's frightening accuracy from everywhere on the floor stretched that D to its breaking point. It allowed James to drive, draw the double team, and kick the ball out. Six of LeBron's game-high 10 assists were dished to Bosh and Wade...four of them to Bosh.
That's the value of Miami's three-star system.
How can you possibly guard all three of them on every possession? The answer, it's turning out, is that you can't. Bosh now has two 30-point outbursts in three playoff games against the Bulls. And in the one game he didn't go for 30, James and Wade had big scoring games.
It's hard not to compare LeBron's floor game and assist totals to that of Derrick Rose. Of course, when Rose tried to run the pick and roll with Joakim Noah, the Heat defense stuck to Rose like it was made of Velcro. That's because Noah is no threat to score. Last night, Jo finished with a single point on 0-for-4 shooting.
Speaking of which...
Joakim Noah: Let's put it this way: Noah finished the game with more alleged gay slurs than field goals.
Oh, man. Listen to Grant Hill and think before you speak, Joakim!
Back to the game, Noah has never been a primary or even secondary scoring threat. The Bulls count on him to rip down rebounds and make an impact on defense. Only he didn't do either last night. Not even close. Jo totaled a mere 5 rebounds, only one of which came on the offensive end, when he missed a tip shot.
And he was the unfortunate victim of several Bosh jumpers.
Noah finished with five fouls. He committed three of them trying -- and failing -- to stop Bosh. He couldn't even slow Bosh down. That wasn't just a hiccup in the game plan. It blew the game plan to hell.
Said Noah: "We didn't finish well at the rim. I feel like I could definitely do a better job on the boards, and I need to finish better. I'm really disappointed in myself with the way I played tonight."
You can tell Noah is frustrated. You can also tell he's lost all faith in that little 15-footer he had developed before his thumb surgery. Now, when left unguarded with the ball on the outside, Noah looks like he's holding the world's hottest potato. He can't get rid of that thing fast enough.
Juxtapose Noah's fear of getting the rock outside the paint with Udonis Haslem's confidence. Haslem went 4-for-5 from the field in the second half, which included jumpers from 15, 16 and 18 feet. Haslem's ability to hit those shots opened up the floor for James to drive and kick, drive and kick, drive and score.
Back to the Bulls... The Bulls aren't opening similar lanes for Rose. Carlos Boozer finally made a jail break -- 26 points, 10-for-12 at the line, 17 rebounds -- but Deng went 2-for-7 when he wasn't shooting from point blank range. Keith Bogans hit one and missed two. Ronnie Brewer was 2-for-6 and hasn't earned any respect for his jump shot. Kyle Korver attempted only two field goals in 11 minutes. Omer Asik -- who's less of a threat to score than anyone else on this team -- went 0-for-3 before leaving with a leg injury.
In short, the Bulls couldn't stop Miami's Big Three -- who scored 73 of the Heat's 96 points -- and couldn't get anything consistent out of their offense outside of Boozer. Haslem, Mike Bibby (2-for-4 on threes) and Mario Chalmers (2-for-3) spaced the floor just enough for their superstar teammates to go where they wanted to go.
Chicago won the rebounding battle (41-32) and outscored Miami in the paint (36-31), but the Heat nearly 51 percent from the field and went an outrageous 10-for-19 from 16-23 feet (52.7 percent). That can't happen.
Said Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau: "They're making shots. We have to get up and challenge their shots better. We have to finish our defense. The rebounding was good. Challenging their shots wasn't."
I guess. Although there were a couple times Noah's hand was so far up in Bosh's face he could have wiped Bosh's nose, but Miami's big man knocked the shots down anyway. What more can Noah do to challenge? Hit Bosh with a brick?
Shouldn't be a problem. The Bulls have plenty of bricks to go around.
Kyle Korver: This was just...embarrassing. All I can say.
Chris' Weekend Playoff Lacktion Ledger:
Mavs-Thunder: Eric Maynor bricked once and lost the rock once as well for a +2 in 5:54, while Daequan Cook baked two bricks from...uh...Bricktown and fouled thricely for a +5 in 14:03.
Bulls-Heat: Gee, Mr. Joakim Noah, the fact you are in the lacktion report probably means you didn't help the moo machine beat out South Beach.
In 29:04 as starting big man, five boards and six assists were negated by four bricks, two turnovers, and five fouls for a 7:6 Voskuhl. yikes.
Omer Asik also represented the windy city well with two fouls countering a board in 15:21 for a 2:1 Voskuhl.
Meanwhile, Miami's Mike Miller fouled and bricked twice each (once from...uh...Brickell) and lost the rock once in 12:54 for a celebratory +5 suck differential.
Labels: 2011 NBA Playoffs, Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, James Harden, Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder
Let's talk numbers.
The Thunder score 106 points on 55.7 percent shooting.
They scored those 106 points in 88 possessions, giving them an Offensive Efficiency of 120.5 points per 100 possessions.
Their accuracy from three-point range (7-for-18) pushed their Effective Field Goal Percentage to 60.7 percent and their foul shooting (21-for-26) put their True Shooting Percentage at 65.1 percent.
Can you say "sizzling"?
Hoopdata (as always) broke Oklahoma City's shooting down by zone: 12-for-14 (85.8 percent) at the rim, 6-for-12 (50 percent) from 3-9 feet, 4-for-6 (66.7 percent) from 10-15 feet and 10-for-20 (50 percent) from 16-23 feet.
According to Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News: "The Western Conference finals is tied at 1-1 after the Thunder exploited the Mavericks for 55.7 percent shooting. Only once in the regular season did the Mavericks allow better shooting -- in a 103-89 loss Jan. 17 at Detroit."
Wow. Two distinct levels of fail there. The Pistons? Really? But I digress.
Said Tyson Chandler: "I know guys are going to be upset and come back and have a better game in Game 3. Oklahoma City got hot and made shots. But you can't allow a team to shoot 54 percent. There were so many defensive errors out there. To me, it's just a lack of concentration and we're playing for too much to have that right now."
And how about that Thunder bench, eh? The OKC reserves scored 50 points on 16-for-23 shooting to go with 17 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocked shots. And check out the productivity: Nazr Mohammed (+5 in two minutes), Daequan Cook (+11 in 16 minutes), Eric Maynor (+18 in 20 minutes), Nick Collison (+10 in 26 minutes) and James Harden (+14 in 32 minutes).
And the Thunder's crunch time lineup consisted of Harden, Maynor, Collison, Cook and Kevin Durant. And that shit worked.
Said Durant: "We had a good start to the fourth quarter. You can't mess that chemistry up. Coach made a good decision by doing that."
Added Nowitzki: "Their reserves came out swinging and really took it to us. We were never really ready for their reserves."
Wait. How can you be "not ready" for Eric Maynor and Daequan Cook?
Said Harden: "Eric made some great plays. Daequan made some big shots. Kevin did what he did. Nick played some great defense. I just tried to find my spots and make shots as well."
That he did. Harden -- who, it recently came out, was Danny Ainge's true target in the Kendrick Perkins trade -- scored 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting in the fourth quarter.
Still, it doesn't matter whether Harden or Russell Westbrook is in the game: _allas nee_s to _o something about their _efense.
Said Mavs coach Rick Carlisle: "The defensive end is what we've got to solve. Scoring 100 points in a playoff game should be enough to win. Not if you're giving up 106, 112."
Seriously.
I quoted various shooting stats above. Here's another from ESPN Stats and Information: "The Thunder scored 26 points on jump shots in half-court sets during Game 1, accounting for 23.2 percent of their total points. In Game 2, Oklahoma City scored 50 points on jump shots in half-court sets -- 47.2 percent of the Thunder's total points."
Of course, in all fairness to the Mavericks, the Thunder were white hot from everywhere and will likely regress to the mean in Game 3. But one smokin' game was enough for them to steal the homecourt advantage.
Said Carlisle: "Sometimes you get your butt kicked. You've got to take it like a man. Hey, we've got to respond."
Rick Carlisle: Jennifer Floyd Engel of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram blames not the _efense but the _allas coach for this loss:
The Dunk and The Beard and The Miss all had a hand in dooming the Mavericks in Game 2 of the West Finals.I guess I see where Engel is coming from. Although by suggesting that the Mavs' problem was that they didn't outscore a team that was shooting lights out feels a little Lawler's Law-y to me. I still think the problem was the _efense.
What eventually led to OKC 106, Mavs 100, though, was The Idiocy.
No acceptable explanation exists for why Dirk Nowitzki only took two shots in the third quarter.
Two bleeping shots.
He did not have a single point in the third quarter, which is a sure sign of adjustment/point guard/coaching/all around Mavs fail. It was not as if OKC was doing a great job on Dirk, or even a good one.
They just were not forced to do any job at all on him for 12 minutes.
And if proof were somehow needed of this, in the fourth, when Dallas started again feeding him on trip after trip, he jumped in exactly where he left off in Game 1.
Killing OKC.
Just like in Game 1, OKC had absolutely no answer for The White Mamba or Dirty Dirk or The Big German, for my fans who prefer to keep nicknames old-school and consistent.
So did he get enough touches?
"Yeah, I thought he got enough touches" a testy Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said before reversing direction and launching into a tirade against his defense.
I beg to differ, Rick. Seventeen shots is not enough for Dirk, not in a loss, not when Kevin Durant has 23, especially not coming off of his 48-point dominance in Game 1.
Feed your beast. And once Dirk became re-introduced, Game 2 suddenly went double D and I am not talking about crowd eye candy.
Kendrick Perkins, quote machine: "Me and Tyson never got along. He don't like me and I don't like him. That's pretty much how it's been. Everybody always looks at me as kind of a dirty player, if you're on the opposite team. But he's just as dirty as anybody else."
Chris' Playoff Lacktion Report: Nazr Mohammed monied up a 1.55 trillion (93 seconds)...while Brendan Haywood negated a 100% shooting percentage (on one attempt) and board with 4 fouls in 7:57 to earn a 4:3 Voskuhl. And Ian Mahinmi fouled twice in 71 seconds for a +2 and a 2:0 Voskuhl.
Labels: 2011 NBA Playoffs, Worst of the Night
How bad were the Bulls last night? I'll let Jamaal Magloire answer that:
Sigh.
It was just that kind of night.
The Heat beat the Bulls on the boards and they beat them up. For example:
Miami forced Chicago to shoot 34.1 percent from the field. The Heat packed the paint and willingly gave up open threes. The Bulls capitulated but couldn't convert, going 3-for-20 from downtown. They also missed 10 free throws
It was like the chunk of their brains that controls shooting was taken out and replaced with Michael Bolton's Jack Sparrow song. Which, while totally awesome, doesn't contribute much to putting a ball in a basket.
Check out these ugly numbers: Derrick Rose (7-for-23, 0-for-3 on threes), Carlos Boozer (3-for-10), Luol Deng (5-for-15, 1-for-7 on threes), Kyle Korver (1-for-7, 1-for-5 on threes). Let's face it, those are the Bulls' shooters/scorers. And Boozer, Deng and Rose combined for 8 of Chicago's 10 turnovers. Every time Deng tried to drive baseline, he got the ball stripped.
Rose tried to set up his teammates, and he finished with eight assists, but guys weren't hitting. From ESPN Stats and Information: "Derrick Rose couldn't find his shooting rhythm, and when he created shots for his teammates, they too struggled to convert chances into points. Starting frontcourt Carlos Boozer and Luol Deng had a hard time converting Rose's passes, as the two forwards combined to shoot 2 of 9 (four points) off passes by Rose, and sharpshooter Kyle Korver missed all four of his chances created by the league MVP."
With homecourt advantage on the line, the Bulls mustered only 10 points in the fourth quarter and finished with a playoff-low 75 points.
The Bulls weren't much better on the other end. LeBron James (29 points, 12-for-21) and Dwyane Wade (24 points, 8-for-16, 8-for-10 at the line) did whatever they wanted, and King Crab hit four clutch hoops down the stretch, including a three-pointer with 4:28 left that broke a 73-73 tie and put the Heat in total control. Chicago scored only two more points the rest of the way.
Said Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau: "We played a low-energy offense, a low-energy defense and the result was not good."
He's got that right.
And, hell, I haven't even brought up the mess the Bulls made in the paint last night. From ESPN Stats and Information: "The Bulls made 15-of-33 shots (45.5 pct) inside five feet in Game 2 against the Heat, well below their season average of 58.9 percent entering Wednesday night. Derrick Rose (2 of 10), Carlos Boozer (3 of 8) and Joakim Noah (2 of 6) were three big reasons the Bulls were outscored 50-34 in the paint."
According to Hoopdata, the Heat went 16-for-20 at the rim, an 80 percent conversion rate.
I've gotta tell you, Udonis Haslem was to Game 2 what Taj Gibson was to Game 1. He finished with a plus-minus score of -11, but his energy inspired his teammates. He threw down dunks. He blocked a shot by Rose. He hit a couple 20-footers at the end of the third quarter to stave off a Bulls rally. He grabbed 3 key offensive rebounds and made countless hustle plays.
But let's face it. Haslem didn't beat Chicago by himself. Nor did LeBron or Wade.
The Bulls won Game 1 with defense and rebounding.
They lost Game 2 for the same reasons.
Labels: 2011 NBA Playoffs, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Worst of the Night
The Oklahoma City Thunder: Try to sedate your brain and consider the following: The Thunder finished last night's game with an Offensive Rebound Rate of 30.6, an Effective Field Goal Percentage of 52.1, a Free Throw Rate of 59.7 and an Offensive Efficiency of 120.4...and they lost the game.
Or maybe it's more accurate to say the Mavericks won it. And they sure didn't do it by stopping Oklahoma City. Dallas scored with the kind of efficiency that must have had John Hollinger biting his lip and silently caressing his calculator.
The Mavs shot 53.3 percent from the field -- including 9-for-23 from downtown -- and converted 34 of their 36 free throw attempts (94.5 percent). That gave them an eFG% of 59.6 and allowed them to score 130.1 points per 100 possessions.
With all due respect to Jason Terry (24 points, 8-for-16), J.J. Barea (21 points, 8-for-12) and Jason Kidd (11 assists), this one was all about Dirk Nowitzki.
From ESPN Stats and Information:
Dirk Nowitzki scored 48 points, his sixth career 40-point playoff game, finishing two points shy of his playoff career-high.I think Luc Richard Mbah a Moute needs to rewrite his scouting report to read simply: HIDE YOUR WOMEN, CHILDREN, AND ALL YOUR VALUABLES. YOU CANNOT STOP DIRK NOWITZKI.
Among active players, only Shaquille O'Neal (12), Kobe Bryant (11) and LeBron James (nine) have more career 40-point playoff games.
Nowitzki set an NBA record by going 24-for-24 from the free throw line, the most free throws made in a single game without a miss -- regular season or postseason.
He drew fouls from seven different Thunder defenders, including all five of Serge Ibaka's. Dirk went 7-for-9 when guarded by Ibaka, including 6-for-8 on post-up plays.
Combining field goal attempts and free throw attempts, the ball left Dirk Nowitzki's hand 39 times tonight; 36 of those times, it went in the hoop.
Nowitzki attempted just 15 shots, the second-fewest field goal attempts in a 40-point playoff game in NBA history.
Only Terry Porter, back in 1992 for the Portland Trail Blazers, needed fewer attempts (41 points on 14 attempts) to reach the 40-point plateau. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, his field-goal percentage of 80.0 is tied for the highest ever in a Conference finals game (minimum 15 FGA).
Seriously, Mbah a Moute said: "Dirk is a shooter, that's what he does. That's his game. So when you have a guy who shoots, you can contest his shots, you can body him up and you can take him out of his shots making it tough for him to get in a rhythm. ... You want a player like Dirk to drive all night. You want to give him the drive and make sure the help comes or try to take a charge."
Well, the Thunder took that advice to heart, and they made Dirk drive. The end result was that record-setting night at the foul line. When he wasn't doing stuff like this that is:
Said Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks: "I thought we defended him as close as we can -- obviously, too close."
Obviously. Think about this: Nowitzki scored 48 points on 15 shots.
According to Dirk, he spent the nine-day break between sweeping the Fakers and starting the Western Conference Finals engaging in late-night shooting sessions. I'm sure he wanted to add something like "and the voodoo rites necessary to make it so I never miss another shot ever again." What? Nowitzki only went 12-for-15 from the field, you say? I'm sure he realized he'd have to miss a few shots now and then just so people wouldn't realize dark magic was involved. Probably decided that while he was washing the pig's blood off his ceremonial wizard's robe.
Said Nowitzki: "I was really looking to shoot early and was able to get my rhythm after the first couple of shots. I kept attacking and my teammates kept feeding me and feeding me and I was able to take advantage over some smaller players."
Kevin Durant -- whose 40-point, 8-rebound, 4-assist, 2-block night was completely overshadowed by what Dirk did -- said: "We can't get discouraged. He's going to make shots. He's going to make off-balanced shots with a hand in his face."
Added Ibaka: "He was hot. It's tough. You can't get frustrated. I'll watch film and we'll come back the next game."
I'm not sure Ibaka really wants to review that film. It would be like watching a home video of your own violent murder. Then Ibaka will realize he was a ghost the whole time, Sixth Sense-style. Actually, you know, that would explain a lot about his defense last night.
Memo to the Thunder: Smacking Dirk around the way you did to Zach Randolph might not work in this series. Not when he shoots free throws like this:
Said Durant: "After playing a physical series with Memphis, I think we were a little too physical with him. We have to make adjustments, be smarter. It's a learning experience, just feeling it out and seeing how we're going to play."
Russell Westbrook: Westbrook was aggressive looking for his shot and getting to the free throw line. The good news is that he went 14-for-18 at the charity stripe. The bad news is that he went missed 10 of his first 11 field goal attempts and ultimately ended up 3-for-15. And, as the AP recap pointed out, "Despite his poor aim, he had taken more shots than Durant at one point late in the third quarter, fueling the critics who say he's too much of a scorer and not enough of a distributor."
What? Because he attempted 15 shots and 18 free throws while finishing with more turnovers (4) than assists (3) despite playing with one of the league's most prolific scoring machines, who was on his way to scoring 40 points on 10-for-18 from the field and 18-for-19 at the line? Are those critics really suggesting he should have been feeding Durant instead of looking to score?
Said Brooks: "He was attacking the basket. That's what we want Russell to do."
I bet. Especially when he shoots 1-for-6 from 3-9 feet, 0-for-1 from 10-15 feet and 0-for-3 from 16-23 feet. At least he didn't jack up any threes.
Kendrick Perkins: Okay. It's official. I'm sick of Perk's tough guy act. Exactly one minute and 11 seconds into the game, he grabbed Tyson Chandler's arm while they were jockeying for position under the hoop, and then he got in Chandler's face after Durant knocked down a 15-footer. For some bizarre reason, the official called a double technical even though, as far as I could tell, Chandler didn't do anything other than stand there looking sour.
Exactly two minutes later, again while they were establishing position under the basket, Perkins basically brought his elbow through Chandler's head. It wasn't a swing so much as a push, but the refs caught this one and Perk was whistled for his second personal and had to go to the bench.
Kendrick didn't commit another foul, but he ended up logging only 28 minutes, during which the Thunder were outscored by 14 points. And yes, in case you were wondering, Perk did in fact have the worst plus-minus score of the game.
Peja Stojakovic: Peja is a shooter. He's there to shoot. Which he did, squeezing off eight shots in 21 minutes, six of which were three-point attempts. He hit exactly one of those shots. Man, it feels like 2002 all over again, doesn't it?
The Dallas D: Do you realize that, if you subtract Westbrook's 3-for-15 brick-a-palooza, the Thunder shot 54 percent from the field? The other starters were on fire: Durant (10-for-18), Ibaka (7-for-11), Perkins (3-for-4), Sefolosha (2-for-2). Oklahoma City went to the line 43 times and shot 43.8 percent from beyond the arc. Oh, and they had 22 fast break points.
If Dirk hadn't been so legendary, this game really might have swung the other way.
Dirk Nowitzki, poster boy: It wasn't all violins and roses for Dirk.
Kevin Durant's post-game fashion statement: Was he on his way to his sixth grade yearbook photo shoot or something?
Magic Johnson, quote machine: This one was submitted by Will R. of Two Middles Up. Here's Magic on Dirk's performance: "He might have three legs tonight the way he was shootin'!"
No, really. Here's video:
The Human Heat-ipede: My buddy Gauvin is a surgery nurse and recently watched The Human Centipede out of professional curiosity. His curiosity quickly turned to horror and the nearly unstoppable urge to barf. Which, of course, translated into the need to tell all his friends about the movie in exacting detail. In case you don't know about it -- and I'm not sure how any regular Internet users could have at this point -- here's a one-sentence summary: A mad doctor kidnaps three people and sews them together ass-to-mouth to create a human centipede.
This Deadspin link was provided by reader inkybreath at my By The Horns blog. Apparently, some guys made the following poster for Game 1 of the Heat-Bulls series. Security didn't let them into the United Center, unfortunately, but no amount of security could keep it off the Internet.
The Minnesota Timberwolves: Let the conspiracy theories begin:
The Minnesota Timberwolves have had the worst history of any team in the NBA Draft Lottery.The Los Angeles Clippers: But wait. There's more:
Despite finishing in the lottery in 14 of their 22 seasons, the Minnesota Timberwolves have never had the No. 1 draft pick.
In fact, after losing out on the first pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers last night, this will be the first time they've even had the No. 2 pick
The Wolves have had zero luck. In the 14 years they've been in the lottery, they have never moved up and 8 times they've moved down.
In 1992, they had the league's worst record and ended up at No. 3. Picks One and Two were Shaquille O'Neal and Alonzo Mourning
GM David Kahn said what everyone was thinking after Cavs owner Dan Gilbert sent his 14-year-old son (who has a rare nerve disorder) to represent Cleveland.
"This league has a habit, and I am just going to say habit, of producing some pretty incredible story lines," said Kahn. "As soon as the 14-year-old kid joined us, we were toast."
We assume he's only (half) joking? Though more than a few NBA fans are still convinced that the Knicks didn't win the very first Lottery (and Patrick Ewing) on an entirely fair draw.
The worst part is that the Cavs, who were stabbed in the heart by LeBron James last summer, didn't even win with their own pick. (As the second worst team, they had has a 19% chance of nabbing No. 1 overall.) They won with a Clippers pick that they got in a trade ... that had a 2.8% chance of winning. Cleveland now has two of the top 4 picks.Ah, the Clippers. No matter what happens, no matter the circumstances, they are and always will be who we thought they were. On the bright side, they got Mo Williams and Jamario Moon in the trade that sent that pick to Cleveland...
Chris' Playoff Lacktion Ledger: Nate Robinson obeyed his thirst for lacktivity by bricking thricely in 5:41 (twice from the JPMorgan Chase Tower) and taking a rejection for a +4!
Labels: 2011 NBA Playoffs, Dallas Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki, Kendrick Perkins, Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder, Russell Westbrook, Worst of the Night
The Atlanta Hawks: Well, for starters, Carlos Boozer dunked on them.
No, seriously. Boozer flushed it. Left handed.
At this point, between his slump and the torn toe ligaments, getting dunked on by Boozington is like letting an 80-year-old grandmother go over the top on you in an arm wrestling match.
Chicago's defense through three quarters: For the first 36 minutes, the Hawks shot 53 percent from the field. And, actually, Chicago's D let the Atlantean's knock down 56 percent of their two-pointers (33-for-59) and convert an astonishing 15 of their 18 attempts at the rim. Good thing the Hawks were broke from three-point range (1-for-12).
Chicago's defense on Jeff Teague: Little dude flat out kept the Hawks in this game by scoring a team-high 21 points on 8-for-11 from the field and 5-for-7 at the line. He also had a team-best 7 assists and went 5-for-5 at the rim. Atlanta might have had a chance if not for the following four factors:
Factor 1 -- Joe Johnson: The 120 Million Dollar Man once again played like a third or fourth banana...assuming that banana had been half-peeled and left in the sun for a couple hours. Joe finished with 15 points on 6-for-15 shooting in 41 minutes. He was 1-for-5 from downtown and had only 3 assists and 2 rebounds. Still, Johnson wasn't half as bad as...
Factor 2 -- Jamal Crawford: Crawford was instant offense last night, minus the "instant offense" part. In 27 minutes of PT, Jamal managed just 2 poitns on 1-for-9 shooting (0-for-4 on threes). Note that Keith Bogans outscored Crawford 11-2 last night. I'm just sayin'.
Factor 3 -- Atlanta's fourth quarter offense: During the final 12 minutes, the Dirty Birdies scored only 15 points on 5-for-16 shooting. They committed 5 turnovers -- including one shot clock violation -- and got 2 shots blocked. They jacked up four three-pointers and made zero of them.
Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau went with a fourth quarter lineup of D-Rose, Lu Deng, Omer Asik, Ronnie Brewer and Taj Gibson. That unit straight up shut the Hawks down. It probably didn't help that -- because Atlanta has no bench -- Hawks coach Larry Drew had to play Horford, Johnson and Teague 40+ minutes each. And Smith played 39 minutes.
Factor 4 -- Atlanta's fourth quarter defense on Taj Gibson: The fact that Derrick Rose (33 points, 9 assists, +17) torched the Hawks with 11 points and 3 assists in the fourth quarter isn't all surprising. But Gibson also lit 'em up for 11 fourth quarter points. THE RISE OF TAJ!
Luol Deng, poster boy: Uh, Lu, you don't need to get out on him. Trust me, you want Josh Smith shooting jumpers.
Carlos Boozer versus Josh Smith: Cat fight!
Not sure what that was all about, really. It sort of looked like Boozer thought Smith was going to come down on him and stuck out a protective arm...only Smith landed safely and walked right into Boozer's 'bow.
Said Smith: "I dunked the basketball and I go to turn and he just cleared me with an elbow to the jaw. Nobody is going to do that to me. I don't care who you are. I'm a man first."
Wow. That line was so macho, the woman sitting across from me on the train just grew a tuft of chest hair.
Josh Smith's shot versus Omer Asik's hand: Get out, Josh. Get out.
Benny the Bull: Hey! That's a waste of some perfectly good popcorn.
Chris' Playoff Lacktion Report: Pape Sy and Rasual Butler went mining in 65 seconds each for a 1.1 trillion payday.
Labels: 2011 NBA Playoffs, Atlanta Hawks, Carlos Boozer, Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, Omer Asik, Worst of the Night
Editor's note: The top pic was created by The Big Nowitzki and sent to me by Shayan Mannan of Sports Haze. Evil Ted will be writing about the Celtics game.
The Los Angeles Lakers: You know what? In hindsight, the most shocking part about what just happened to the Lakers is how not shocking it should have been. L.A.'s season was a mishmash of up-and-down play. At times, they looked unstoppable. Other times, they looked helpless and lost. But their fans never quite lost that air of cocky arrogance and the non-fans never felt totally comfortable predicting the collapse that seemed inevitable. The Lakers had, after all, turned it on before.
But not this time.
The talent was there. No question about it. But something vital was missing and we may never know exactly what it was. Chemistry? That seems impossible given that the core group of back-to-back championship teams remained intact. Motivation? That doesn't feel quite right. The Lakers wanted to win.
I guess maybe it was desire. I can't presume to know what was going on inside their hearts, but this Lakers team felt different than the squads who won the last two league titles. Two seasons ago, they played pissed off after the way the Celtics had manhandled them in the 2008 NBA Finals. Last year, they played with a chip on their shoulder, because they still seemed to feel they had something to prove.
I never felt that this season. They played well in stretches but never inspired. At least, that's what it looked like from the outside. I think Kobe sensed it. I think that's why, after the Lakers lost to the Heat in Miami, he pulled that crazy "I'm going to shoot around until they kick me out of the arena" stunt. Kobe's a control freak. That's a large part of what's made him great. He could see the Lakers weren't competing the way they needed to if they wanted to defend their title. So Kobe controlled what he could control: His own maniacal effort.
Only that never inspired his teammates. No amount of ribbing in practice or public, no black swan / white swan comparisons, nothing lit a fire under the other Lakers. Basically, they lost the eye of the tiger.
Man, did they lose it.
I've always been a card carrying Lakers Hater. I wanted them to lose. I didn't want them to match the Celtics championship total. I didn't want Kobe to get his sixth ring or Phil Jackson to close out his career with a fourth three-peat. I wanted the Lakers to fail.
But like this? Swept. Demolished in Game 4. Meeting defeat in shame -- with cheap shots and elbows -- rather than facing it with dignity.
Look, I hate the Lakers, but I also respected them. They were champions. But, when the walls came tumbling down, they stopped acting like champions. They gave up in Game 4. They quit. They abandoned all the principles that won them back-to-back titles and started acting like a bunch of common thugs. For example:
And, not long after, this happened:
This fall from grace was about as graceless as it gets. It got to the point where Pau Gasol had to address Internet rumors about his personal life, while Jackson was forced to explain why he was smacking Pau in the chest during timeouts and had to resort to bitching about the officials. Kobe wondered out loud whether he was sick in the head for thinking his team could still win the series. Turns out, his teammates were just sick in the heart.
I mean, Andrew Bynum's post-ejection tearing off of his jersey while being escorted by the locker room by Ron Artest -- who himself had been suspended for Game 3 because he pulled a cheap shot on the same guy Bynum whacked -- was the lowest of the low moments of this series.
Championships are won. They aren't handed out because you're the best team on paper. The Lakers learned that lesson in 2008 and went on to win two titles in a row. I'm not sure what happened. Maybe Men in Black showed up and gave them a group mind wipe. "What you experienced wasn't back-to-back championships. It was swamp gas."
Bad form, Lakers. Bad form.
But you know what? A low moment for the Lakers was a high point for the Mavericks. Faily or unfairly, they have spent the past several seasons fighting a quiet war against accusations of being soft and mentally fragile. Well, they blew all those accusations to smithereens during this series. Sweet redemption after years of bitter torment. It kind of reminds me of when Phoenix swept the Spurs in the second round last year. Of course, we know how that turned out. Hopefully, the Mavs will have a better fate.
Ron Artest, Dunk Master: Oh. My.
Kobe Byrant, quote machine: From Basketbawful reader Charles Y:
Experts: More fail from stephanie g:
The Chicago Bulls: The Bullies won Game 3 thanks to an all-out attack by Derrick Rose: 44 points (a career-high), 16-for-27 from the field, 4-for-7 from downtown, 8-for-9 at the line, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, a steal and a block. And as ESPN Stats and Information noted: "One of the more impressive aspects of Rose's performance was that he was scoring from everywhere. He scored 12 points in the paint, 12 from three-point range, and 12 from mid-range, adding eight points at the free throw line."
Rose was undeniably awesome in nearly every sense of the word. But the Bulls also dominated the glass, pulling down 18 offensive rebounds, and got great production out of their bench. And blowing out the Hawks in Atlanta just felt right.
But the performance was not repeated in Game 4. So...what happened?
For starters, Chicago's interior defense was poor. The Hawks went 22-for-34 (64.8 percent) at the rim and outscored the Bulls 56-40 in the paint. Horford was 6-for-6 at the rim. Joe Johnson was 3-for-3. Jason Collins was 2-for-2. Crawford 1-for-1. Teague was 4-for-6. Smith was 6-for-11.
Teams don't earn many wins by giving up that many good looks around the basket.
They also got shot down by Johnson (24 points, 9-for-14, 3-for-5 on threes) and picked apart by Smith (23 points, 16 rebounds, 8 assists). Smith didn’t shoot well (8-for-22), but he got to the line (7-for-9) and created extra offense though his passing and work on the offensive glass (5 offensive boards).
Overall, Chicago's defense simply wasn't that good. Atlanta finished with an Offensive Efficiency of 108.7. That’s too high for a team that relies on defense to win. Speaking of which...let's talk about their offense.
Rose finished with game highs in points (34), assists (10), free throw attempts (11) and shot attempts (32). It's that last stat that worries me. Especially considering the rest of the starting unit combined for two fewer shots than Rose took.
It's tempting to think the shot distribution wouldn't have been a big of a deal if Derrick had converted more than 12 of his attempts. But it was a big deal. And not because Rose's shot selection was terrible. After all, 22 of his 32 attempts came inside 10 feet. But he went only 6-for-14 at the rim and 2-for-8 from 3-9 feet.
To be completely honest, I thought there was a significant amount of uncalled contact on several of Rose's drives. Which isn't all that surprising, considering Hawks coach Larry Drew talked publically about his team getting more physical with Rose after Game 3. That's what happened. The Hawks forced Rose into several misses and got away with bumping him off a handful of shots that might have otherwise gone in or resulted in free throw attempts.
Said Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau: "He kept driving the ball. I'm anxious to see the replays. From my perspective, I thought he was getting fouled. Maybe he wasn't going hard enough."
But here's the thing: Even if Rose hit more shots and earned more trips to the lines, and even if the Bulls had pulled this one out, I would still have a problem with the offense. Or, at least, what it devolved into.
Here's what the Bulls offense looked like in the fourth quarter:
Carlos Boozer missed layup; Rose made 10-footer; Rose made 14-footer + 1 free throw; Rose made layup; Rose missed layup (blocked by Teague); offensive rebound; Rose missed 14-footer; offensive rebound; Rose missed 8-footer; Rose missed layup; Kyle Korver made 17-footer (Rose assists); C.J. Watson turnover; Taj Gibson 2-for-2 at the line; shot clock violation; Rose turnover; Luol Deng missed three-pointer; offensive rebound; Rose made 7-footer and the foul; Rose misses free throw; Rose made layup; Rose missed layup; Rose missed 6-footer; Rose turnover; Salvatore’s blown call; Korver missed three-pointer; Deng made layup (Rose assists); Korver turnover; Rose made layup.
In summary: The Bulls' fourth quarter offense consisted of only 2 assists (both by Rose), 4 free throw attempts, 5 turnovers and 17 field goal attempts...12 by Rose.
Said Thibodeau: "You know, when he's making the plays and he's scoring, everyone's saying how great he is. So tonight, he was aggressive. I didn't have any problem with the way he played. ... It's a make or miss league. If they go down, we're talking about the great plays and how unselfish he is."
Countered Kyle Korver: "I think when Derrick gets it going, he should shoot every time. But when it's not there, we got to work it as a team. We got to do a better job of getting open so he can see us, and he probably needs to do a better job sometimes of finding us, but it's a team thing. You can't out it on one person. Obviously, when he has it going, he is the best basketball player in the world, and we want him to take every shot that he feels like he's going to make."
Korver's right. The offense cannot become "Rose dribbles and drives while everybody else stands around watching." That's what happened in the fourth quarter of last night’s game, and it’s no wonder the Bulls scored only 19 points over those final 12 minutes. Look, Derrick has become a tremendous closer, one of the best in the game. But no matter how good he is, Most Valuable Player or not, the Bulls still need to execute an actual offense down the stretch.
That didn't happen last night. And it was costly. More so even than Bennet Salvatore's "inadvertent whistle" (see below). Much more so because officiating is out of a team's control. The way an offense runs is.
Take Boozer’s night. Carlos finally broke out of his offensive slump -- 18 points, 7-for-10 from the field, 4-for-4 from the line -- but attempted one shot in the fourth quarter. The first one, as it turned out, and he never shot again. That's ridiculous. Boozer is supposed to be the team's second offensive option. If the team isn’t going to go to him when he’s hot, when are they going to go to him? This is just a for instance. Deng is the team's third option and he took only two shots in the fourth.
Good offense requires ball movement and total involvement from all five guys on the floor. I'm perfectly okay with Rose taking 30+ shots as long as they come within the flow of the offense. When there’s no flow to the offense...that's when the problems crop up.
Everybody is at fault. Thibs is at fault for not running more plays that get players other than Rose good looks. Rose's teammates are at fault for not being more aggressive, getting open, and calling for the ball. And Rose is at fault for not generating more offense for the other guys wearing red jerseys.
It'll be interesting to see if they get it cleaned up in Game 5.
Officiating: With 2:27 left in the fourth quarter and the Bulls trailing 90-84, Derrick Rose made a nice ball fake, got Jamal Crawford into the air, and then drew obvious contact on a three-point attempt. Official Bennett Salvatore blew the whistle...
...then said it was inadvertent and ruled a jump ball. Josh Smith won the tip, Jeff Teague gained possession, and Atlanta’s possession ended with a dunk by Al Horford that increased Atlanta's lead to eight points.
That’s a big swing. It was also a bit mistake.
And Salvatore admitted as much.
Said Salvatore: "An inadvertent whistle is when a referee blows his whistle and didn’t mean to. That's exactly what happened. I blew my whistle and didn't mean to, I didn't think it was a foul. Having watched the replay after the game, it was a foul and I should have called it. I made a mistake."
He blew his whistle. But he didn’t think it was a foul. Okay.
Salvatore continued: "I blew my whistle. I was positive it was not a foul. I blew my whistle by accident. Which is an inadvertent whistle. That's why I disallowed it ... Having watched replay. It was a foul. I made a mistake. I was wrong."
Said Rose: "It's basketball. Hopefully next time they call it."
Added Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau: "At that time of the game, I've never seen that. But look, Bennett's a good official. He said he made a mistake. He's human. So that's what he did. He's a good official. He got him in the air, he came down on him. I thought it was a foul. But you know, sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t.
You don't have to be a math major to realize how costly Salvatore’s mistake was for the Bulls. Assuming Rose hit all three of the free throws he should have gotten, the Bulls would have been down only three points with two and a half minutes remaining. Instead, after it was all said and done, they were down eight with two minutes to go.
And, watching the game, you could tell the sequence demoralized them.
If that call had been made correctly, the Bulls could have won this game. But it's not why they lost the game. They lost because they played poorly.
The Oklahoma City Thunder: If the Thunder could have scored 11 points in the fourth quarter of Game 3, they would have won and reclaimed homecourt advantage.
Instead, OKC got outscored 23-10 in the fourth and ended up losing in overtime.
The Grizzlies are brutal savages. They're a scary team, man. Never thought I'd say it, but it's true. But still...the idea that a team with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook got held to 10 fourth quarter points after beginning the period with a 13-point lead is stunning.
Said Mike Conley: "I think once we looked up at the clock and saw how many points we were down, a little bit of desperation hit. We were like, 'Man, we cannot lose this game.' And guys amped up their game, made some changes here and there, and we were able to just be scrappy and play our game, and fortunately we got the win."
Countered Durant: "This is a tough loss. I'm trying to stay positive, but it was tough. This was tough. We were up 13 going into the fourth, had a good roll going. It was tough."
Added Thunder coach Scott Brooks: "We stopped doing [what they did for the first three quarters]. The last seven or eight minutes, we just stopped doing it, and we gave into their play. I give them credit. They really stepped up and got into us and made us take tough shots."
No kidding. From ESPN Stats and Information: "The end-of-game dynamic between Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant reared its ugly head again on Saturday. Entering Game 3, Durant had been tremendous in the final 5 minutes of regulation and OT, shooting over 50 percent from the floor compared to just 26 percent for Westbrook. Both struggled down the stretch on Saturday, combining to go 0-10 with the lone points coming on a pair of Russell Westbrook free throws."
As a team, the Thunder shot 36 percent, with Durant (10-for-24) and Westbrook (7-for-22) shitting bricks. Westbrook has 12 assists...but he also committed 5 of his 7 turnovers in the fourth quarter and overtime before fouling out of the game.
Bonk.
By the way, according to ESPN Stats and Information, that 10 points is tied for the fourth-lowest fourth-quarter playoff point total since 2005. I'm just sayin'.
Panathinaikos basketball fans: Nobody should get shot by an AK-47 over basketball. But it happened.
Chris' Playoff Lacktion Report:
Bulls-Hawks: Omer acquired a board in 14:12, but buried it in three fouls for a 3:1 Voskuhl. Rasual Butler had 121 seconds of prime rib pricing for a 2 trillion.
Meanwhile, Atlanta's Zaza Pachulia countered a free throw and board in 9:03 with a turnover and four fouls for a 5:2 Voskuhl, and both Jason Collins (in 1:45 via two fouls) and Josh Powell (in 4:07 via brick and turnover) got +2 suck differentials, with Collins getting a 2:0 Voskuhl and Powell earning a Madsen-level 1:0 ratio.
Lakers-Mavs: Joe Smith unmightily fouled in 3:23 for a +1 and a 1:0 Madsen-level Voskuhl, while Corey Brewer matched that suck differential for Dallas in 68 seconds via brick from the Stemmons Freeway.
Thunder-Grizzlies: Daequan Cook fried up three bricks from the Sterick Building, along with two fouls, to earn a +5 in 8:15!
El (Oh El) Heat-Celtics: Von Wafer plugged in his Super Nintendo for a mere four seconds, earning a celebratory Super Mario!!!!
Bulls-Hawks: Damien Wilkins bricked once in 58 seconds for a +1 and a Mario! And as commenter Batmanu notes...
Should we make mention in the Lacktion Report that Damien Wilkins' missed FGA was on a blown dunk at the end of the first half?
Yes, we will make mention of it. :D
Labels: 2011 NBA Playoffs, Andrew Bynum WTF, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Worst of the Weekend
The Los Angeles Lakers: I'll admit it. I wrote off the Mavericks before this series even started. Lots of people did. Including, it seems, the Lakers.
But here we are. Not on Planet Earth. I'll tell you that much. It's Bizarro World. The Nuggets are better off without Carmelo Anthony. Danny Ainge willingly busted up a potential championship contender midseason. The Bulls have the best record in the league but look like poop in the playoffs. The Pacers became tough guys. Zach Randolph became superclutch. The Grizzlies dominated the Spurs before sending them home early. And the Lakers are down 2-0 to the Dallas Mavericks.
Despite having homecourt advantage.
Said Dirk Nowitzki: "If you would have told me before that we were going to win both games, it would have been hard to believe."
No kidding.
The situation is both shocking and...not all that shocking. L.A. has been turning it on and off all season. On some nights, Kobe looks like Kobe. Other nights, it appears he's lost half a step. When the season started, Pau Gasol was playing like an MVP candidate. After a month and a half of 40+ minutes per game, he looked like The Old Guy in a pickup league, exhausted and barely getting by on experience and instinct. The bench started off so hot Kevin McHale started calling them "The Killer Bees" but their production dropped off dramatically.
And Ron Artest still looks absolutely lost in Phil Jackson's Triangle.
No, the problems didn't start today, and Andrew Bynum knows it.
Said Bynum: "It's deeply rooted at this point. It's obvious that we have trust issues, individually. All 13 of our guys have trust issues right now. I think it's quite obvious to anyone watching the game -- hesitation on passes, and defensively we're not being a good teammate because he wasn't there for you before -- little things. And unless we come out and discuss them, nothing is going to change."
Countered Kobe: "I think the trust that he's referring to is being able to help each other on the defensive end of the floor. You saw a lot of layups. He gets frustrated when he supports a guard coming off the screen-and-roll and nobody supports him."
The Lakers can talk about defense all they want, but it's not like the Mavericks were setting the world on fire. They went 12-for-21 at the rim, which is good, but not great. Nowitzki was fantastic (24 points, 9-for-16, 2-for-3 from downtown), but Jasons Kidd and Terry combined to shoot 6-for-22. And Peja Stojakovic was flashing back to 2002 with his 2-for-9 (and 0-for-5 on threes) night.
As a team, Dallas shot 42 percent, went 8-for-25 from beyond the arc and got outrebounded 44-39.
L.A.'s defense did a credible job. Their offense, on the other hand, did not. Talk about way off: The Lakers converted only 41 percent of their field goals, shot 2-for-20 on threes and bricked nine of their 20 free throws. Kobe had one of his classic 9-for-20 nights (including 1-for-5 on treys). Gasol (5-for-12), Artest (4-for-10) and Derek Fisher (2-for-7) couldn't have located the basket with a police dog. The bench went 6-for-23, and that was despite Shannon Brown's 3-for-4 performance.
If it wasn't for Bynum's 8-for-11 shooting and 7 offensive rebound, the Lakers might have lost by 20.
You know what it was? The Mavericks were the aggressors. They had no fear. They attacked the Lakers on offense and defense. They never got rattled. Never backed down. They displayed a toughness nobody outside of Dallas believed they had.
Now ESPN's J.A. Adande says the three-peat ain't happening:
The Lakers are done. I say this despite their championship pedigree, their coach's ability to guide teams through apparent calamity and a direct warning from a certain 6-foot-6 guard.Kobe's defiant. You expected that. But are any of the other Lakers feeling it?
"Be careful what you write," Kobe Bryant said, knowing full well that I and the rest of the media pack walking through the Staples Center corridor were about to type the Lakers' death notice as soon as we returned to the Chick Hearn Press Room.
"Be careful what you write," Bryant repeated. He added an admonition for my ESPN.com colleague. "You too, Stein."
I told Bryant that the Lakers don't have the energy.
"True," he said.
And if you don't have energy, then the schemes or the intent or the pride don't matter.
"True," he said.
There's no way he was leaving it at that. I tried to draw more out of him.
"But?"
"But," he replied with a smile. "But. Dot-dot-dot. "
Said Jackson: "It looked like Dallas had more energy out there on the floor than we did. That's a concern. ... We really got dispirited."
Now the Lakers have to be feeling the dreaded "D" word.
Said Kobe: "Desperate? That's a strong word. I think when you play desperate, you don't play your best basketball. What we need to do is relax, focus on what we're doing wrong and the mistakes that we're making, and we have plenty to review and lock in on that."
If you say so, Mamba.
Said Bynum: "If we go to the root of what's really hurting us and not candy-coat things and not talk around issues, then we'll be fine. If not, then we won't. I think we've addressed them before, but now is the time to really sit down and ask yourself the tough questions."
Good luck with that, Andy.
Ron Artest: L.A.'s "defensive stopper" was dispatched on Dirk Nowitzki. And it didn't matter. Dirk still got whatever he wanted. What did you expect? That Artest could really guard a seven-footer? Really?
Still, that's not why Ron is getting a WotN. No, it's because your 2011 J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award winner did this:
As Basketbawful reader Peter asked: "Tru Warrior or Ultimate Warrior?"
Now that's the Crazy Pills we've been waiting to see. Artest was ejected and will likely be suspended for Game 3. Although, the way he's been playing, that might actually be good news for the Lakers.
Shawn Marion: Rewatch that Artest video and notice how Marion reacts to his teammate getting clotheslined across the face.
Bonus video: Basetbawful reader Cetti writes: "I do not have words for that." And by "that," Cetti is talking about this:
The Atlanta Hawks: Spider-Man's balls! The Dirty Birds really laid an offensive egg last night. I could eat Vinny Del Negro's offensive playbook and crap out a better game plan than Atlanta had last night. You know it's bad when, during those Mic'd up segments, the coach is bitching out his team for taking stupid shots.
And he wasn't wrong.
The Bulls held the Hawks to 73 points on 33.8 percent shooting and forced them to miss 10 of their 13 three-point attempts. Atlanta finished with a miserable Effective Field Goal Percentage of 35.7 and an Offensive Efficiency of only 81.1. As in points per 100 possessions.
The Hawks missed 11 of their 23 field goal attempts at the rim and went a gag-reflex-testing 6-for-30 from 16-23 feet. They were as cold last night as they were hot in Game 1. Dr. Jekyll, meet Mr. Hyde.
Chicago's D did a number on Josh Smith (4-for-14), Al Horford (3-for-12 and zero free throw attempts), Jamal Crawford (2-for-10) and Marvin Williams (2-for-9). Moreover, the Bulls contained Joe Johnson, who finished with 16 points on 7-for-15 shooting and made only one trip to the foul line. And, outside of Crawford, the Atlanta bench managed only 2 points.
According to ESPN Stats and Information, Atlanta had the lowest FGP of a Bulls playoff opponent since the Michael Jordan era...and the third-lowest since 1995-96.
Seriously, the Hawks couldn't have located the basket even if they'd had help from the CIA agents who tracked down Osama Bin Laden.
The Bulls also outrebounded the Hawks 58-39 and had an 18-10 advantage in second-chance points.
The only reason the Bulls didn't win this one by 30 is because their offense was almost as dreadful as Atlanta's. Derrick Rose had a case of the MVP yips: 10-for-27 from the field, 1-for-8 from downtown and 8 turnovers. Carlos Boozer kept shooting directly into the hands of Smith. Kyle Korver (1-for-9) led a Chicago bench attack that produced a combined 5-for-20 brick-a-palooza.
Noah was the hero of the night, scoring 19 points (6-for-8 from the field and 7-for-8 at the line) to go with 14 rebounds, including 7 big-time offensive boards. Jo also had three steals and countless hustle plays. There was no question he felt a sense of urgency. Still...Noah twice gave up three-point plays by swiping at an Atlanta player who was about to make an easy layup. The second time Noah did that -- fouling Smith with 4:56 remaining -- allowed the Hawks to pull to within six points (75-69).
That was the kind of night it was. It seemed that for every two positive players, somebody on the team made a negative one. Yes, the Bulls won by double-digits. No, it did not feel like a commanding victory even though it probably should have been.
The Bulls need to get their offensive act together. Pronto.
Carlos Boozer: Last night, Boozer went 3-for-8 at the rim, 0-for-1 from 3-9 feet, 0-for-1 from 10-15 feet and 1-for-2 from 16-23 feet. Four of his shots were blocked. Felt like twice that many.
And Booz got booed by the home crowd. Noah wants them to stop.
Said Noah: "Sometimes our home crowd is a tough game to play. We've got a lot of love for our crowd, but through tough times, we got to stick together. I've been in that position before, my rookie year, where I've been booed. It's tough to be booed in your home crowd. With Carlos, people have to understand he's playing through an injury, and he's giving us what he's got. He's somebody who has an unbelievable presence, and he opens up a lot of things for a lot of us. I think sometimes people are quick to bash one player. But this is a team, and we know we need Carlos to get to where we want to go."
Added Ronnie Brewer: "If you know how turf toe is, if you have any injury [like that], anything he can go out and give us is a plus. I think he did a phenomenal job on both ends of the floor."
Further added Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau: "Carlos is giving us everything he has. The rebounding is huge. His offense will come around."
The Bulls better hope so.
Said Boozer: "Obviously I want to make the shots that I missed, or the ones that got blocked. But for the most part, I'm just going to keep playing."
That's all he can do, really.
I just hope he doesn't keep playing the way he has been.
Chris' Playoff Lacktion Report:
Jason Collins fouled once in 3:16 for a +1 and a 1:0 Madsen-level Voskuhl...
...while fellow dirty birds Josh Powell, Hilton Armstrong, and Pape Sy went 55 seconds as MARIO TRIPLETS! (Armstrong checked a board in and avoided true lacktivity).
In 15 fewer seconds, steakhouse master Omer Asik matched Collins's not-so-big-man numbers to a tee.
Labels: 2011 NBA Playoffs, Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Lakers, Worst of the Night
The Chicago Bulls: A few Bulls fans got pissy with me for something I wrote in a recent ESPN 5-on-5.
The question:
"On a scale from 0 to 100, what are the Hawks' chances?"
My partial answer:
"My gut says 50 because the Hawks are such a 50-50 team: with so much potential but so enigmatic."
On my By The Horns blog, one commenter said: "There is no way you should write for the Bulls if you say the hawks have a 50 percent chance of winning this series wtf."
Look, I wasn't trying to rag on the Bulls or anything, but the Hawks are one of those trick-or-treat teams. Some nights, they look like the champions in warmups. Other nights, they look like the Clippers. That's how it is with streaky jump shooting teams. If they get hot, they can beat anybody...
...and they were hot last night.
The 120 Million Dollar Man left third degree burns all over anybody who dared guard him. Joe Cool finished with 34 points on 12-for-18 shooting, going 5-for-5 from downtown and 5-for-5 from the free throw line. Former Bull Jamal Crawford added 22 points on 8-for-16 from the field, 2-for-4 from beyond he arc and 4-for-4 from the foul line.
As a team, the Hawks went 14-for-21 at the rim (66 percent). They went 7-for-13 from three-point range (54 percent) and converted 26 of their 57 jumpers overall (46 percent). Atlanta finished with an Effective Field Goal Percentage of 55.8 percent and an Offensive Efficiency of 115.7.
That's funny. I'd heard rumors that the Bulls are the league's best defensive team.
Outside of the defense, Chicago's most significant advantage over Atlanta -- offensive rebounding -- was negated as the teams finished almost dead even in Offensive Rebound Percentage and second-chance points: Bulls 25.6 percent and 12, Hawks 25.0 percent and 11.
And, despite the presence of Derrick Rose, Atlanta finished with a higher Free Throw Rate (25.6) than Chicago (19.3).
Or maybe I should say because of Rose. If your stomach is at all queasy, I suggest not reviewing the Great Poohdini's shooting stats: 11-for-27 from the field, 2-for-7 from downtown, 0-for-0 from the free throw line.
He began the game 0-for-7. Clink. Clank. Clunk.
Rose -- who, according to a source, will be named MVP today -- had an otherwise strong game (24 points, 10 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and a blocked shot). But his ankle is gimpier than the guy locked up in Zed's basement. Derrick couldn't explode into defenders to draw the contact necessary to earn a whistle. And, to make matters worse, he further tweaked the ankle stepping on Crawford's foot with only six seconds left and the game already decided.
Way too many jumpers. Not nearly enough drives.
Said Rose: "I don't know why I didn't keep attacking the basket."
It could have been, and probably was, the ankle. Of course, Atlanta had a nice game plan, too. They -- as so many teams before them -- clogged the paint and dared the Bulls to make outside shots. Chicago was decent from beyond the arc (8-for-18) but went a miserable 4-for-18 (22.3 percent) from 16-23 feet. Almost as bad was the fact that the Bulls missed 15 of their 30 attempts at the rim. Rose missed five of his nine bunnies.
Chicago's most critical failure was in intensity, especially on defense. During the regular season, this team challenged every single shot. Last night, the Hawks got pretty much any shot they wanted. During the regular season, Chicago's defense got stronger as the game went along. Last night, Atlanta scored 31 points in the fourth quarter.
Said Bulls coach and NBA Coach of the Year Tom Thibodeau: "The intensity wasn't right. The start of the game was poor in terms of ball direction, in terms of challenging shots, in terms of showing help. There wasn't one aspect of the defense that was good. They're too good of a team to play like that."
It was a stunning performance. Or non-performance, depending on your outlook. In the opening round, the Bulls were clearly caught off guard by the intensity and tenacity displayed by the Pacers. Through the first four games anyway. By Game 5, though, the team was finally ready for it. The players had taken it...now they were ready to dish it out. Which, I thought at the time, seemed like a pretty good sign for round two.
Apparently, I was way off in that assessment. In the first quarter, the Bulls played far too relaxed, like they were waiting for the game to come to them. Meanwhile, the Hawks were trying to take the game by the throat. They began the game with a 9-0 run and led 28-18 after 12 minutes.
In the fourth quarter, when Atlanta built a solid (but not insurmountable) lead, players started hanging their heads and looking beaten.
Okay, maybe it was more frustration than defeat, but it sure wasn't the "never say die" team that won 62 games during the regular season. And the fact that Rose couldn't dominate the action late in the game seemed to take the wind out of his teammates sails.
Said Joakim Noah: "It's tough when your best player is limping off the court with an injury that you know he's had before. It's tough, but right now, we have a game on Wednesday in less than 48 hours."
That's right, Jo, you guys do have a game in less than 48 hours. And you need to get your stuff together. Of course, I have to keep reminding myself that this is a young team that hasn't been tested in the playoffs yet. No amount of film study or preparation in practice can substitute for experience. The Hawks aren't as good as the Bulls...but they've been through this together.
The Bulls haven't.
And if they don't get their shit together, their playoff experience is gonna end really soon.
Update! The dickery of the Atlanta Hawks: Basketbawful reader The Other Chris:
I think this post needs a mention of Atlanta leaving tickets for Jameer Nelson, in an absolutely classic "FU" move.
I felt like crap last night and went to bed just after the start of the 3rd quarter between Chicago and Atlanta, assuming that with a 56-51 lead and all the momentum, Chicago would put the hammer down and cruise to an easy victory.
Whoops.
And the Lakers lost.
And Canada elected a Stephen Harper majority government.
A lot of crazy shit happens while you're sleeping, sometimes.
The Los Angeles Lakers: Man, the way the first half ended was so Dallas Mavericks-y that I was absolutely certain the Mavs' annual playoff meltdown was underway.
With 2:31 left in the second quarter, Jason Terry drilled a 21-footer to give Dallas a 42-39 lead. The Lakers proceeded to go on a 14-2 run that was capped off in true Mavericks fashion. First, Jason Terry fouled Lamar Odom on a half-court heave with less than a second to go.
Yes, it was a pretty bogus call, all things considered. But you know what? Let Odom chuck it from 50+ feet. Challenge but don't get in his grill. Terry got to close and the call was made. The officials reviewed the play to make sure the foul happened before time expired...and the look on Terry's face during that review was priceless. I wish I had a screen capture of it.
So Odom got three foul shots and he hit 'em all. That should have been the end of it. But, of course, it wasn't. As Dirk Nowitzki tried to block out Ron Artest, Mr. Citizenship drove his ass into Dirk's lower body, forcing him under the basket. That's a foul, by the way, because you're not allowed to push someone with inside position out of the way. No foul was called, however, and Nowitzki retaliated by swinging an elbow into Artest's back.
Tweet!
Technical foul. Kobe calmly knocked down the freebie and the half ended Lakers 53, Mavericks 44.
I genuinely thought that was the game. Forget the fact that there were 24 minutes left. This was going t be yet another example of Dallas players losing their cool and blowing a winnable game.
Only they didn't blow the game. They stole it.
After falling behind by as many as 16 points in the third quarter, the Mavs came back to life. By the end of the quarter, L.A.'s lead was down to seven. And then Dallas really turned it on in the fourth, shooting 10-for-19 from the field and outscoring the Lakers 25-16.
Oh, and Herr Dirk took a huge, steaming dump all over the "anti-clutch" tag that people (myself included) have stuck on him over the years. Nowitzki scored 11 points in the final 12 minutes and hit the go-ahead free throws with 19.5 seconds left. You wanna know how Dirk earned those free throws? Pau Gasol badly overplayed him on an inbounds pass and fouled him in a very obvious way.
Nowitzki's thespian skills helped. But still.
Gasol wasn't done effing up. On the ensuing possession, with his team down by a single point, Pau was trying to hand a pass off to Kobe Bryant when Bryant tripped over his own feet and bumped the ball on his way to the hardwood. For a second, it looked like Gasol would retain possession, but the ball squirted loose, Jason Kidd came up with it, and Gasol was forced to foul.
Kidd went only 1-for-2 at the line, giving the Lakers a chance to tie or win with a three. Kobe got wide open for a three, thank to wonderful moving pick by Andrew Bynum, but he missed.
And the Mavericks won.
Said Dallas coach Rick Carlisle: "You've got to mke plays, and you've got to dodge some bullets. We did both."
Added L.A. coach Phil Jackson: "We felt like we gave the game away. I'm not so sure Dallas didn't outplay us, but the players felt like we gave it away. ... The game was won in the third quarter when we got the lead and stopped playing defense and stopped playing offense. It took a lot of energy out of us and gave a lot of energy to them."
Countered Shawn Marion: "We did well, but I think we can do better. Is there anybody that knows we play good D?"
I guess we all know now. The Lakers shot only 42 percent and went 5-for-19 from downtown. And they scored only 16 points in the decisive fourth quarter. At home.
Of course, their offensive woes might have been because of their game plan as much as it was because of the Dallas D. According to ESPN Stats and Information:
In the first half of Game 1, the Lakers attempted 25 of their 42 field goals within 10 feet of the basket. In the second half, the Lakers stopped going inside as often, attempting 15 of their 42 field goals within 10 feet. The Lakers shot 50.0 percent within 10 feet on the game.This is where I point out (once again it seems) that Kobe attempted 29 shots while the rest of the L.A. starters combined for 32. I also need to remind everybody that the Lakers didn't turn their series with the Hornets around until they started utilizing their biggest advantages. Namely, size and inside scoring.
Andrew Bynum shot 70.4 percent (19-of-27) against the Mavericks in the regular season, but the Lakers shied away from him in Game 1. Bynum was on the floor for 59 of the Lakers' 101 possessions (58.4 pct) and had a touch on just 18 of those possessions (30.5 pct). Bynum was utilized much less frequently than his big counterpart Pau Gasol, who played 74.3 percent of the Lakers possessions and got a touch on 52.0 percent of them.
For your reading pleasure, here's L.A.'s crunch time (final five minutes) offensive possessions.
Kobe missed three-pointer; Ron Artest offensive rebound and missed tip shot; Kobe missed jumper (blocked by Tyson Chandler); Kobe made 17-footer; Kobe missed 19-footer; Derek Fisher missed three-pointer; Lamar Odom offensive rebound; Gasol missed jumper (blocked by Chandler); Kobe made 11-footer; Kobe turnover; Gasol turnover; Kobe missed three-pointer.
29 shot attempts. 3 turnovers. 0 assists. 2-for-6 with a TO in the final five minutes. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
Chris' Playoff Lacktion Report:
Hawks-Bulls: Kurt Thomas fouled once for a +1 in 1:58 and a 1:0 Madsen-level Voskuhl.
Mavs-Lakers: Brendan Haywood hung 100% on the field goals from one attempt) in 13:11, only to foul four times for a 4:2 Voskuhl.
Labels: 2011 NBA Playoffs, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, Worst of the Night
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