G05 PHX @ LAL PostGame Thread

Lakers lost again 106-112 with Kobe being the one-man offense shooting 37 FG attempts while the rest of the starters only shot a combined 35 attempts.  Even worse Byron let Kobe played 44 min without getting rest in the 2nd half (or very minimum)

JLin came out aggressively in the 1st quarter and quickly attacked the rim, scored a 3 with 8pts in 9 min. But he had a string of hard fouls and hard fall:

Q1 6:13 Lin got hit on mouth/teeth and he rubbed his mouth. He didn’t like Bledsoe’s hard foul

Q1 2:40 seen taking Advil

Q4 3:59 fell on back/hips softened by landing on Markieff Morris body who inadvertently undercut him

Lin finished with 18pts/3asts/qreb on 4-8FG, 9-10FT, 1-2 3PT.

He had a very strong game but had to take 3 quick fouls in the 2nd quarter guarding quick Isaiah Thomas so he had to sit early. Kobe took over and never relinquished the offense back to Lin until late Q4 (5min left). Byron should have given rest to Kobe in early Q4 and let Lin come in early in Q4 to establish rhythm of the team. It should get sorted out but Lakers lost the chance in this winnable game by not letting Lin run the offense in early Q4.

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Review by realdsb:

Scoring: A-

• Lin started Q1 like gangbusters. He was aggressive and had 8 pts on 3-4 fg, including a 3. He already matched his previous game pts halfway through Q1.
• I think that he tweaked his ankle and he wasn’t able to be as aggressive later in the game. He did make a big impact when he came back in the 4th quarter, helped bring the Lakers within 1 pt. Lin was 6-6 FTs in the 4th.
• Overall, Lin had a good scoring game with 18 pts on 4-8 fg, 1-2 3pt, 9-10 ft. Kobe was playing hero ball much of the second half, so Lin didn’t have much opportunity.

Passing: B

• Lin had a few beautiful dropoffs for the big men. He also had a sweet feed to Davis cutting in the middle of the lane, but the dunk didn’t count (I think Davis was fouled before the shot). He should produce more than 3 assists though.

Defense: B+

• Lin was matched up on Bledsoe most of the night, who had an extremely quiet 6 pts. Isaiah Thomas only scored 8 of his pts while Lin was on the floor.

Overall Grade: B+

• Lin was definitely not the reason for this loss. Kobe started hero ball in the 3rd quarter, which probably reduced his energy in the 4th. Kobe routinely pulled up jumpers over a triple team while Lin was waving at the 3 pt line. Lin can’t really go towards Kobe to get the ball, otherwise he would be bringing yet another defender over.