The bombs rained down from Vino and Nash as the Lakers tallied yet another come from behind win. This time their victim was the Toronto Raptors, and when the final buzzer rang the score was 118-116 at the end of overtime. I was fortunate enough to catch this one live.
In the first quarter the Lakers D was almost non-existent. They allowed the Raptors to put up 37 points. That's just unacceptable. But considering they featured lineups with Antawn Jamison playing center, the root cause is no mystery. There is just no rim protection and other teams know it. It's like open season for opposing guards. I find myself anxiously awaiting when Dwight can get back in the game to play some defense. In fact, in the 1st and 3rd quarters where Dwight only plays half the quarter, the Lakers gave up 37 and 30 points respectively. In the 2nd and 4th quarters where he plays them all, they only gave up 22 and 20 points. That's a remarkable difference, and it really shows how much this team misses Pau Gasol. (Who is getting healthier BTW).
The Lakers were down by as many as 14 in the 1st half, but they cut the lead to 6 by halftime. Like we've seen before, the Raptors' strategy was to take advantage of their size mismatches. Word is definitely getting out around the league about how to attack the Lakers small ball lineups. Poor Jodie Meeks. The Raptors went to Alan Anderson and DeMar DeRozan on the block against him at every opportunity they could. He fought hard though. At times he was simply over-matched by their size. That's how he wound up with 5 fouls.
That strategy worked well for the Raptors, but they forgot about one thing: Vino. Mamba. Bean. Whatever you want to call him the dude is just flat out cold blooded. With 29 seconds left in the game (Lakers down 4), Kobe caught the ball in the corner and fired a 3 that went straight home. After two Raptors free throws, the Lakers found themselves down 3 again. On the next play Kobe pump faked to get one Raptor in the air, and then let her fly...SWISH! Staples erupted. The Lakers stopped the Raptors on the ensuing play to force overtime. In OT the Lakers were down by three again, but this time Nash came to the rescue. He fired a pull up 3 off the dribble and it was money again. With the game timed tied in OT the Lakers once again turned to Kobe. This time the Raptors were determined to get the ball out his hands. They sent the double team coming from the center Aaron Gray. Their intention was to make Kobe pass. But he used their double team against them. He quickly dribbled around Gray, went into the lane and DUNKED it on 'em! Can't hate on that. Lakers win.
Notables:
The Good:
- Kobe (41 points, 12 assists, 6 rebounds)
- 24 points and 13 rebounds for D12
- 22 points is good production from Nash
The Bad:
- Defense when Dwight is out.
- Making bench players from the other team look like all-stars
Good win. And with the Jazz loss, the Lakers are only .5 games back of 8th place.
I'd like to see the Lakers develop some type of defensive scheme to swing the tides in their favor when Dwight is on the bench. Right now that's their biggest weakness.
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