Spurs Are No Match to the Lakers

Kobe Bryant scored 22 points in 32 minutes, Pau Gasol added 16 points, five rebounds and four assists, and the Lakers beat the Spurs 99-85, avenging their one-point loss in their previous game on Jan. 14 in San Antonio.

This game is supposed to be a matchup of the Western Conference's best teams but it turned out to be a mismatch. The Lakers defense proved to be too much for the Spurs to overcome, holding San Antonio to 37.5 percent shooting from the field.

After a month of playing short-handed, the Los Angeles Lakers are back to full strength. Backup point guard Jordan Farmar returned after missing 18 games because of an injured left knee, and scored 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting including 2-of-3 from the 3-point range.

Luke Walton played in his third game after missing nine with an injured foot, and Lamar Odom (knee) and Sasha Vujacic (back spasms) were also sidelined for brief periods.

"We missed him a lot. He makes our second unit go, he's the motor," Bryant said of Farmar. "Now that he's back, everybody falls into their natural positions and we are back clicking on all cylinders."

"It [Jordan's return] helps us a lot. Jordan obviously has attributes -- the speed and the quickness. Those are things that we missed, that tempo change in our game, " Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.

Farmar entered the game late in the first quarter and played almost seven minutes in his first action since Dec. 19. He returned late in the third period and played another 10 1/2 minutes.

Andrew Bynum had 15 points, 11 rebounds, and four block shots. Reserve Trevor Ariza scored 17 points to match his season high. Odom contributed 6 points and 10 rebounds in 27 minutes.

Tony Parker had 19 points and six assists and Tim Duncan added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Spurs (29-14), who lost for just the fourth time in 18 games. Neither played in the fourth quarter.

Lakers Midseason Awards: Kobe Bryant, Lamar Odom Deserves Recognition

With the NBA season near its halfway mark, and the Lakers having the best record in the Western Conference, it's about time we handout some midseason awards for the LA Lakers' strong 2008-'09 season.

For this round, I'd be giving four awards—MVP, sixth man, most-improved, and their Mythical Five. Feel free to comment and suggest other awards.

Most Valuable Player: Kobe Bryant

Even without looking at the stat sheets, I think nobody will argue that Kobe is still, and would continue to be in the next few years, the Lakers' best player. The Lakers still don't have a One-Two Punch, or a Big Three, or the Strong Five. They only have one MVP and that's Kobe Bryant! No more, no less.

But let's be objective and look at his numbers.

His stats are a bit off this season (27.2 points, 4.7 assists, 1.32 steals) compared to his last year's performance (28.3 points, 5.4 assists, 1.84 steals) that made him the league MVP. But this is attributed more to the improved performance of his teammates rather than his diminishing contributions.

He's playing less minutes this season (36.2 vs. 38.9 last season) but his performance efficiency rating (PER) improved from 24.09 to 25.06, the second best this year behind Miami's Dwayne Wade. Wait...let me check that again.

Oh, sorry. The Lakers lost in their last two games and Bryant's PER dropped to 24.97, just good for number three behind Portland's Brandon Roy.

Bryant also increased his contributions to the team this January when the level of competition increases as we approach the middle of the season and the trading deadline. He averaged 30.1 points on 49.2 percent shooting (45.9 percent from beyond the arc), 7.1 assists, and 6.0 rebounds in nine games this January.

And for those who think that Kobe shoots too much and misses a lot: Well, he has the best field goal percentage (47.8 percent) for shooting guards with PER of 20 or more (Roy is second, Wade third).

Sixth Man Award: Lamar Odom

Just by watching their games, it's not easy to see Odom's contributions to the team. He's coming off-the-bench; he plays shorter minutes; he usually doesn't score much; his rebounding is off; etc. etc.

Moreover, his stats are all off from last season. Last year, he averaged 14.2 points on 52.5 percent shooting, 3.5 assists, 10.7 rebounds in 37.9 minutes of playing time. This season, his averages dipped to 9.1 points on 47.3 percent shooting, 2.4 assists, 6.1 rebounds in 26.4 minutes of playing time.

So why am I giving this sixth man award to Lamar in spite of his seemingly diminished performance? Well, this award should go to the player who contributes the most to his team by doing the other things that bench players are supposed to be doing when they are on the court.

The little things that current statistics don't track like setting screens, taking charges, drawing double teams, etc.

And that's what Odom keeps on doing.

By looking at his on-court/off-court statistics, which measures a player's contribution to the team when he's on-the-court and how the team performs when the player is on-the-bench, it's easy to realize how the Lakers could dominate their opponents when Odom is on-the-floor.

Odom's net on-court/off-court stat of +15.4 is the highest on the team. It's even better than Bryant's +8.7 and Fisher's +4.8 stats. This doesn't suggest that Lamar is more important than Kobe for the team.

It's just that Odom is very good playing in his position (power forward) that he's either outscoring his counterparts or limiting their productions by his active defense.

Odom is No. 5 in the league on the net on-court/off-court performance per 100 possessions, behind New Orleans' dynamic duo, Chris Paul and David West, Miami's Dwayne Wade, and Cleveland's LeBron James.

All the top 16 players in this category are regular starters on their team except for Odom and Utah's Andrei Kirilenko (No. 10).

With this stats, you'd wonder why Phil Jackson continues to have Lamar come off-the-bench. I also do. In fact, I wrote an article last month regarding the need to have Odom return to their starting lineup.

Most Improved Player: Trevor Ariza

Trevor Ariza really improved a lot this season. Last year, he averaged 6.5 points, 1.5 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 24 games he played for the Lakers. Those stats are already a marked improvement over his performance in Orlando (3.3 points, 0.7 assists, 2.2 rebounds, and 0.5 steals)

This season, he raised his averages to 9.2 points, 2.1 assists, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.7 steals per game. His PER has improved from 15.83 to 17.66 and now ranks 10th among small forwards in pure point rating.

Ariza ranks second among small forwards in free-throw rate, eighth in rebound rate, and fourth in field-goal percentage.

So you wonder again why Jackson keeps Trevor coming off the bench? More on this later.

Mythical Five: Fisher-Bryant-Ariza-Odom-Gasol

This combination should be the Lakers starting lineup. It is their strongest unit producing +70 and 72.7 percent winning percentage in the 82games.com rating vs. the +57 and 48.0 percent winning percentage for their current starting lineup.

But why Jackson in not putting this combination on floor to start the games? Because he feels this unit is just a minor upgrade from the lineup that was routed by the Celtics in the NBA Finals last season. Admittedly, Ariza in place of Radmanovic is a minor upgrade.

So he's really is trying to get Gasol and Bynum play together. He's very strategic-minded. If he succeed, the Twin Tower of Gasol and Bynum would be very formidable, indeed.

Jackson is trying to develop Bynum to be a defensive-minded center while Gasol, an unstoppable offensive power forward. But the problem is, the two are not getting it yet. They are taking away scoring opportunities from each other.

Pau Gasol's scoring dipped from 18.8 points per game on 58.9 percent shooting last season as a Laker to 17.6 points at 54.8 percent shooting this season. Andrew Bynum's 13.1 points on 63.6 percent shooting last year also went south with 12.6 points on 53.7 percent shooting this season.

In fairness to Gasol and Bynum, they are very good at center position. They combined to make the Lakers the third-best in that position in terms of PER difference. The best in that category is Dwight Howard's Magic. No wonder they couldn't beat Orlando.

The second-best in that category is Cleveland. And they would be playing them tonight. Watch their performance.

Gasol ranked sixth among power forwards in the league in efficiency rating at 21.77 PER. But he only plays around 50 percent of the time at that position, the other half being played by Odom. Half of the time, Gasol is playing center, which is where he's more effective.

He produces +162 net points in the 82games.com rating with net48 of 12.7 with 75 win% as a center. As a power forward, he's only +76 with net48 of just 5.5 and 50 win percentage.

In contrast, Odom, playing at power forward, is +303 with net48 of 16.5 and 85 win percentage. Andrew Bynum is +183 with net48 of 8.2 and 66 win percentage.

These stats are quite complicated but it clearly shows that Odom and Gasol should be given more playing time at their natural position—that is at power forward and at center, respectively.

I'm not suggesting that Gasol and Bynum split the 48 minutes available playing time for one position. They are both too good to be playing just 24 minutes each. Sure, play Pau some minutes at forward but reduce it a bit to give more time for Lamar to be more effective.

So please Mr. Jackson, put Odom back to the Lakers starting lineup.

Lakers defeat Hornets 100-87 in New Orleans

The Los Angeles Lakers used a balanced offense and swarming defense to beat their Western Conference rivals, New Orleans Hornets, 100-87 for the second time this season. Kobe Bryant played 37 minutes and had 26 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Pau Gasol scored 20 points on 8-10 shooting and collected 8 rebounds.

Andrew Bynum and Derek Fisher scored 13 and 11 points respectively. Trevor Ariza contributed 10 points with 2 steals and Lamar Odom had 8 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists off the bench.

Chris Paul played 46 minutes and had 17 points, 10 assists, and 6 steals. Rasual Butler also scored 17 points. David West continues to struggle against the Lakers scoring only 13 points on 5-15 shooting. Morris Peterson added 16 points off the bench.

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Odom should return to the starting lineup

Lamar Odom's good game as a starter in the Lakers' last game against the New York Knicks should convince Phil Jackson to go back to their starting lineup last year with Odom on power forward slot, and Pau Gasol moving back to the center spot while Bynum comes off the bench. I think their strongest lineup is the Fisher-Bryant-Ariza-Odom-Gasol combination, and Coach Phil knows this--he keeps them at the end of close games.

According to 82games.com, this unit is their most productive combination that produced 1.21 points per possession and only allowed 0.95 opponent points per possession. Also, this starting lineup would maximize the effectiveness of Bynum on defense by keeping him out of early foul troubles and spread the floor on offense to allow Bryant to play his best game--attacking the rim and take higher percentage shots or get fouled and take free-throws--instead of taking too many long outside shots early in the game. It's hard to attack the lane if you have a 7-footer teammate in the low-block (Bynum) and another fellow 7-footer in the high-post (Gasol).

But I think Jackson is sticking with his current starting lineup because he's preparing the team for Boston Celtics. It's obvious that their strongest unit lacks the defensive force for the Celts, as they experienced in last year's finals. They need Bynum to matchup with the Perkins of Boston pound-for-pound and protect the paint, which Lamar or Pau couldn't do in last year finals.

But Phil might be overdoing it. By sticking with their current lineup, they may be sacrificing their overall effectiveness that made them the favorites to win the championship early in the season. Their current starting unit with Bynum and Walton in the lineup only makes 1.09 points while surrendering 1.00 opponent points per possession. Their previous starting lineup with Radmanovic and Bynum had a 1.11/1.05 record.

I believe the key to the continued development of the team is by doing what the other top two teams in the league, the Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers, are doing--try to dominate the opposition in every game by letting your best players play their best games. See how the Cavaliers are dominating their opponents by letting Lebron James play his dominating attack-the-basket and play-above-the-rim game and still make the team better?

At this point, all players in the Lakers team have regressed from their last year's performance. Only Trevor Ariza has better stats. And that's mainly because he wasn't playing much last year. Everyone wonders why Kobe Bryant usually struggles with his shots early in the game. Isn't he taking too many low-percentage jump shots? Is there something wrong with him? As Phil Jackson correctly pointed out, "there's nothing wrong with him." There's something wrong with his team--specially with their starting lineup.

Kobe was very effective last year playing with two quick front court players in Pau and Lamar and two spot-up wing players, Derek and Vlad, who can make 3-point shots. He can drive and drop to the post or kick out to the wing for long bombers. Gasol and Odom also are effective feeding each other alternating in the high and low post. That unit was very effective it earned Bryant his first MVP trophy! Unbeatable, the basketball analysts used to say.

Why would you change a very effective, high-octane, running-on-all-cylinders, like-a-Ferrari-sports-car unit that cruised through the insanely competitive western conference playoffs just last year? Not even the other most dominant team of this decade, the San Antonio Spurs, were able to figure out how to put the brakes on them. Because the Celtics locomotive run over the Lakers 12-cylinder engine and beat them in six games in the Finals?

Well, the Lakers are not playing them until December 25, right? And they'd only be racing with that massive steam-engine train called the Celtics for only one more time next year. In the meantime, please give us back the Lakers that the fans love and opponents feared so much. Just twink it a little by replacing a slower Radmanovic with the faster and more defensive-minded Ariza. Give Andrew his minutes. He's too good to warm the bench and his contributions will be critical against teams like the Celts and Cavs. But allow our team to start full-throttle by putting our best players to start the vaunted Lakers Engine and try to dominate the competition early in the game.

If you do that, Coach Phil, the Lakers sports car will jump over the Celtics train in June.

Lakers beats Knicks despite Gasol's absence

Kobe Bryant scored 28 points to lead the Lakers to victory against the New York Knicks at the Staples Center, 116-114. The Lakers played without its second leading scorer, Pau Gasol because of strep throat.

Lamar Odom, who started for Gasol, scored 17 points with 12 rebounds. Andrew Bynum also had a double-double with 13 points and 11 boards. Derek Fisher added 15 points and 7 assists. Luke Walton and Trevor Ariza completes the 6 players in double-figures at 14 and 13 points respectively.

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