Forum Blue And Gold

The other day the comments became a debate of the worst announcers in the NBA for those of us watching stuff on League Pass. (Congratulations Portland, you win!) But as was pointed out then, if that is all we have to worry about, things are pretty dang good.

I like the Lakers having the best record in the NBA better than I liked them being third. But, just as when the Lakers were third, being first in January and $4 will get you a latte. Play it one game at a time (this is a tough month on the schedule for the Lakers) and we’ll talk in March.

•Luke Walton is out with sesamoiditis, which you can read more about here. Basically, it’s tendonitis of the big toe area, and it hurts like a… well, this is a family blog. But you know the words, probably in several languages.

The cure for this is rest, and special shoe inserts. Walton will be wearing a boot for the next two weeks, followed by a re-evaluation. So, we wait at least that long. And, as this is January, no need to rush him back. This is the advantage of a deep team.

• Trevor “The Cobra” Ariza got the start in Walton’s place, over Ariza’s objections. (When was the last time a guy complained about starting? Even Marbury doesn’t try to talk the coach out of that.) He likes his role coming off the bench and closing out games, and with good reason as it has been so successful.

First things first — I don’t care who starts. Walton, RadMan, Ariza, Odom, Vic The Brick. Well, I’d care about the last one. But the point is that who finishes is who matters, not who starts. And Ariza finishes, something that is not going to change.

Ariza as a starter may or may not work out, but frankly nobody (not Phil let alone us fans) knows yet. Bad first quarter for that group, great third quarter. This is the time of the season to experiment, try out everyone but Vic as a starter. The rotation does not need to be set in stone yet by any means.

• LeBron James traveled. Well, in my world, but what I can get away with at the YMCA and guys can in the NBA are radically different. And I couldn’t pull off the “crab walk” anyway; I’d look more like the melted butter in the ramekin next to the crab legs. That said, whatever the rule is all the officials need to be consistent on it — I say if LeBron makes that same move 10 more times he gets away with it. I personally don’t really care one way or the other, just be consistent with the call.

• Pau Gasol really has adapted to playing with Andrew Bynum, and he has become insanely efficent. He has learned to use the space the big body on the block creates, and is finding holes in the offense to get his shots. And, with his offensive arsenal, when he can pick his shots he makes them.

Bynum is still spotty, but improving, particularly on the defensive end. Where he is needed the most. Last night during the Lakers third quarter run to take charge of the game, Bynum owned the glass. He made key plays, even smart fouls (stopping a possible momentum-changing dunk by Bantum) and basically filling his role beautifully.

I think what some people perceive as his problems was a case of him wanting to do a lot and pushing things when he got his big contract, rather than letting the game coming to him. But that has started to change. He is active on defense, he is moving his feet well and getting points in the rhythm of the offense. That is exactly how he earns his contract.

• In the last 10 games, Kobe is shooting 41.7% from three.

• For all my concerns about Derek Fisher and the PUJIT, he’s hitting a lot of them lately.

• I just started reading the latest from Sarah Vowel, The Wordy Shipmates, about the Pilgrims (it was a Christmas gift). I’ll send along a report in a couple weeks.

Records: Lakers 26-5 (1st in the West) Trailblazers 20-13 (7th in the West)

Offensive ratings: Lakers 112.7 (3rd in league) Trailblazers 113.4 (2nd in league)
Defensive ratings: Lakers 102.5 (4th in league) Trailblazers 109.5 (23rd in league)
Projected Starting Lineups: Lakers: Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Luke Walton, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum
Trailblazers Rudy Fernandez, Blake, Bantum, Aldridge, Oden

Lakers notes: For fun today, from 82games.com, the win percentages of some common Lakers lineups (basically, how often they outplay the opposing fives on the floor):

Fisher-Bryant-Radmanovic-Gasol-Bynum: 47.1%
Fisher-Bryant-Walton-Gasol-Bynum: 46.1%
Farmar-Vujacic-Ariza-Odom-Bynum: 63.6%
Farmar-Vujacic-Ariza-Odom-Gasol: 52.9%
Fisher-Bryant-Ariza-Odom-Gasol: 70%

Bottom line, the starting fives the Lakers have are basically .500 against the opposing starters, but the key Lakers bench lineups win, and the closing group is very good. This points to a couple other things: How important that Laker depth is during the season and how much it matters who finishes games rather than who starts.

One other quick note: I have read Bynum taking some heat in some Lakers forums for not stepping up, not scoring enough lately. I think Craig W. summed up the Bynum situation well in the comments:

We all want Shaq to arrive this week and Phil wants Bynum to concentrate on defense and let his offense develop gradually. He already signed his contract so he should now do as the coach wants; not as the fans want. The all-star nomination may not arrive when he wants it, but the trophy might just be a good substitute.

The Trailblazers Coming In: Bad news for both the Blazers and all of us fans of good basketball — Brandon Roy is out tonight with a hamstring injury.

But it should be interesting because now Rudy Fernandez gets the start. And, according to Blazer homer Henry Abbott on TrueHoop, this will mean more minutes for Jerryd Bayless, the rookie out of Arizona, which Henry says is a good thing (despite the fact Bayless is shooting 27.4% eFG% and has a PER of 2.3 so far this season).

He said a big question for the Blazers tonight is which LaMarcus Aldridge shows up. For all of you that think Odom can be a mercurial player, he is loved in the locker room. Check out what Ric Bucher wrote about Aldridge in ESPN the Magazine:

BEING A Texan, Aldridge has a particular love of red meat. So it was especially wounding when he thought that Roy had left him out of a trip to a Brazilian barbecue joint in Memphis early last season. So that’s how it is, he thought, and steered clear of Roy everywhere but on the court. It wasn’t until the summer that Travis Outlaw convinced Aldridge that he had simply forgotten to tell him about the dinner. The issue is a memory now, but that kind of response to a perceived slight is what the Blazers work every day to avoid. They can’t afford not to…

Aldridge is shooting 50% from the floor and scoring nearly 20 points a game the last month. The key to stopping him, by the way, is to not let him get hot from the midrange. Easier said than done, if he is on it is very difficult to stop. I personally believe less in streaky shooting than most, but because of the confidence issue with Aldridge, you need to not let him get rolling.

One other thing, you should go read the preview (and basically everything) at Blazers Edge, which is one of my three favorite NBA blogs (even though I have no love for the Blazers).

Previous Meeting: In the first game of the season, the Lakers new aggressive defense overwhelmed the Blazers from the start, and the Lakers looked dominant and they cruised to a 96-76 win. It will be interesting to see how Fernandez and Bayless deal with the defense, now that it is the second time around.

Keys To The Game: Things are pretty straight forward against the Trailblazers — they can score in bunches but do not defend all that well. The Lakers will get their points in this one, how easy the win is depends on how focused they are on defense.

That has to start on the defensive glass — the Trailblazers are the best offensive rebounding team in the league, grabbing 32.9% of their misses. They grab one third of their missed shots, which is a crazy good number. The Lakers are a pretty pedestrian defensive rebounding team, but Bynum and Gasol need to come focused tonight (same with Odom and really the whole team).

Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom have to be focused on defense on Aldridge, he is the one guy who can carry the Blazers if he gets hot. The Lakers have to keep him in check.

Along those same lines, Bynum has to outplay Greg Oden, he tends to get up for the other big centers in the league and he needs to tonight. Also, the Lakers cannot sleep on Joel Przybilla and Travis Outlaw. Particularly Outlaw — in crunch time they will go to him in isolation.

Where you can watch: Fox Sports in LA with a 6:30 tip off. Nationally, League Pass and thee other usual suspects.

Records: Lakers 25-5 (1st in the West) Jazz 19-14 (9th in the West)
Offensive ratings: Lakers 112.7 (3rd in league) Jazz 108.0 (12th in league)
Defensive ratings: Lakers 102.5 (4th in league) Jazz 104.5 (9th in league)
Projected Starting Lineups: Lakers: Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Luke Walton, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum
Jazz Deron Williams, Ronnie Brewer, Andrei Kirilenko, Paul Milsap (maybe), Mehmet Okur

Lakers notes: Interesting Derek Fisher stats courtesy Mike Trudell over at the official Lakers Blog:

Pre Farmar Injury:
28.0 minutes; 10.5 points; 3.3 assists; 2.5 rebounds; 0.9 turnovers; 41.3% FGs

Post Farmar Injury:
36.2 minutes; 14.8 points; 4.0 assists; 2.8 rebounds; 1.0 turnovers; 49% FGs

Sure the minutes have gone up, but notice that the shooting percentage has as well, and he is not turning the ball over much more in those minutes. Basically, he is playing his best ball of the season.

If you want to look back at the year that was (by player), check out LA Ball Talk.

Celtics Considering Marbury? Rather than my thoughts, here are the thoughts of Dex 40 from the comments:

From the article linked here, “Marbury easily ranks as the most accomplished low-cost veteran that the Celtics can add to their bench in-season. Boston also knows it has the option to simply release Marbury without significant salary-cap consequences if he fails to click as a backup or proves unwilling to accept a secondary role.”

This is all true. Marbury is an accomplished low-cost veteran like Telly Savalas in The Dirty Dozen, whose only drawback is that he’s insane and has a tendency to fire his gun randomly in the air right at the moment when the slightest noise will compromise the mission. The slightest distraction may jeopardize everything, but what the heck, Telly doesn’t cost much and he’s been in a lot of wars.

It’s a relief to know that the Celtics won’t suffer significant salary-cap consequences if Marbury wreaks havoc on team chemistry and morale for a month or so. They can just release him!

Easy as Easy Cheese.

The Jazz Coming In: Welcome to the Western Conference, where the Jazz are on a 47 win pace but would miss the playoffs if they started today.

The Jazz have just not been able to get healthy. Tonight they will be without Carlos Boozer, who is in the unfortunate position of waiting for the swelling to go down in his knee so they can operate. Since he went down, the Jazz are 11-10, they miss what he brings in the paint.

Paul Millsap and Jerrod Collins may be back tonight, but both are coming off injury layoffs.

The Jazz still have Deron Williams, one of the best point guards in the game. The book on him lately has been to back off, make him beat you with a jumper but don’t let him get in the paint (the Lakers pack it in a lot anyway, so this should fit right in). The reason is his shooting is off, he shot 54.4% eFG% last year and just 47.8% this season, From three he dropped from a 39% shooting to a 32% shooting.

Just in time for the Lakers game, Williams may be breaking out of it., The 76ers followed the pack it in book recently and Williams went 11-18 from the floor, 4 of 6 from three and had 27 points as the Jazz cruised. If he is hot the Lakers need to adjust and get out on him.

A few other Jazz worth watching. The always hot and cold Andrei Kirilenko has been more hot than cold lately, and the team is a +13 per 48 when he is on the court. Mehmet Okur has picked up the scoring load with Boozer down, averaging 20 a game in the last 10, but he is not doing it efficiently. Okur is shooting 45.4% (eFG%) as well as just 31% from three in his last 10 games.

One guy to watch off the bench is rookie Kosta Koufos, who is getting just 15 minutes or so a game but has looked good the couple times I have caught a Jazz game, particularly on offense where he is very polished. Check out what ESPN’s David Thorpe said about him:

Want to get an idea of how diversified Koufos’ offensive game is? Here’s how he scored his buckets in the Jazz’s big win over Dallas: Offensive-rebound putback, layup off a dive in low-high action, step-through off a loose ball, race to the rim from the left-hand side, left-hand dribble and right-hand layup over Erick Dampier, rim-to-rim sprint and dunk, pick-and-roll left-hand finish, dive-to-the-rim dunk in low-high action, right-hand hook (and 1!) off a pick-and-roll.

Keys To The Game: The Lakers need to have the offense working tonight — the Jazz struggle to keep up with teams that can score a lot. The Lakers can score a lot, when they run the offense and are focused.

With Boozer out and Milsap just back from an injury, the Lakers should try to take advantage inside. AK-47 will help Utah there, but as Reed pointed out in his review post of a couple days ago the Lakers just have advantages inside against everyone and they need to exploit that more. If AK-47 is helping out inside, Luke and Ariza need to make him pay with points, Radmanovic can help here as well.

The Jazz are a team that protects the paint on defense — they pack it in. The Lakers need to hit some outside shots to loosen that up. Sasha could have a good night, but basically someone from the Lakers will have to be hot from outside. That Kobe fellow can do that as well.

On defense, you have to make Deron Williams a shooter, not a passer. Yes, he can shoot and he hurt the 76ers that way a few nights back, but like Nash and CP3 you don’t want Williams with 15 points and 12 assists, you’d rather make him score, and do it with the jumper. That will put a lot of pressure on Fisher tonight, who has to step up, as well as Bynum and Gasol in the paint to take away layups but recover to their man as well. Also, watch the Jazz try to post Williams on Fisher, they did that in the playoffs in hopes of getting fouls and getting Farmar on the floor (Williams destroyed Farmar). Fish has to be smart and get help.

Also, the Lakers need to be ready to bang, and they need to hit their free throws. Utah just wears on teams physically, the hold and push, frustrate and foul. The Lakers answered that just fine in the playoffs, they have to do it again tonight.

Where you can watch: Fox Sports in LA with a 7:30 tip off. Nationally, League Pass and thee other usual suspects.

First of all, I just want to say Happy New Year!  And, Thank you to Kurt, the other contributors, and all the faithful commentors that make this site the daily (multiple times) read that it is.  Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

The recent post by Kurt that focussed on Lamar Odom and the post by Reed on our team after 30 games got me thinking a lot about the make up of the team, our best lineups, and our roster in general.  As Reed pointed out, we are a top 5 team in both Offensive and Defensive efficiency.  Despite some inconsistent effort and some spotty and sloppy play, the Lakers have been a truly dominant team.  And up to this point, in this forum, we’ve focussed a lot on our Strong Side Zone and how that change in philosophy (when executed properly) is a challenge for teams that face us, especially when they see the defense for the first time.  However, one thing that we have not really discussed in depth is what we’re doing on offense, why it’s working, and who is doing what in making our offensive attack remain one of the best in the NBA.  And in the last 10 games, we’ve seen a change in the lineup that I think has helped us execute on offense and will continue to help us execute on offense for the rest of the season.

For the last 10 games, Luke Walton has been put back into the starting lineup.  And if we go back to the recent past, this is not a new concept.  Two seasons ago, Luke was a mainstay at Small Forward.  But for the first 20 games of this season, Luke had been relegated to mop up time in blowouts or spot duty due to foul trouble to our other SF’s.  But now that he is back starting, we can once again appreciate the things that Bill’s son brings to the table and how that is helping this Laker’s team on offense. 

First off, Luke is a fantastic fit for this offense.  His ability to handle the ball, see the floor, execute the simple and complex pass, post up, penetrate, and shoot the ball is the exact skill set required for a wing player in this offense.  Sure, he could shoot the ball better (an understatement, I know).  And sure, he is not the quickest person whose first step scares defenders.  However, the combination of a good enough jumper, his repetoire of hesitation moves, knowledge of angles, and know how to use his frame to create space for himself to get his shot off are traits that make him an underrated offensive player.  Add to the fact that he has (as mentioned frequently, but bears repeating) a tremendous basketball IQ and he is the type of player that can be a glue player for any motion offense as he knows what to do with the ball.  He is unselfish enough to pass to the open player while also being smart enough to know when to shoot.

X’s and O’s wise, the most important thing that Luke brings to the offense is his want to execute the Triangle in all phases.  What this means is Luke focusses just as hard on making the right pass or making the shot that he takes as he is on moving/cutting off the ball and setting screens to free up his teammates.  If you watch Luke in any given game on any given possesion, you’ll see a player that is doing what he is supposed to be doing on almost every single play.  This level of execution is what makes the Triangle offense one of (if not the) most difficult offenses to defend (especially when every other player is acting in this same manner).  For example, Luke often finds himself as the initiator of the offense from the strong side guard postion.  And when Luke makes an entry pass either to the wing or to the post, he cuts hard and then executes the motion in the offense superbly.  By cutting hard and setting the screens that he’s supposed to with the proper timing and at the proper angle, Luke is consistenly getting his teammates the half step they need to get open.  I mean, how many times have you seen Luke pass to the post from the strong side, cut to the weakside low block and set a good screen that either frees up Gasol/Bynum to roll to the basket?  How many times does he set this same screen for Kobe?  And then when the defense reacts to this and tries to cheat into the lane to defend the curl play, how many times have you seen Luke seal the man that he screens to free himself up for an easy lay up or draw a foul?  These are plays that Luke executes with great frequency that other players that play SF just don’t do on a consistent basis.

Earlier, I also mentioned Luke’s ability to handle the ball.  In our starting lineup, having a third ball handler that can run the fast break or initiate the offense is a key to the offense running smoothly.  When you think back to last season, Odom was that third player.  But this year, with Bynum and Gasol in the lineup together, and Radman starting, we really didn’t have that third player.  But now that Luke is in the starting lineup, he’s getting outlet passes and running the fast break, he’s initiating offense as a primary ball handler, and he’s setting up his teamates for scores.  Once Luke got back to getting minutes consistently, we’ve seen an increase in easy layups and dunks for teammates in the half court, on the fast break, and on the delayed break/early offense.  Luke is masterful at hitting cutters at the right time and at identifying the trailing big man and hitting him in stride to finish at the basket without having to dribble.  When watching the game, these may seem like simple, fundamental plays.  But how often were we seeing them before Luke began getting consistent minutes?

Overall, I understand that Luke is not the perfect player.  As I said earlier, his jumper is not reliable and his lack of quickness (on offense and defense) is obvious.  But, in the end, I like the fact that he’s starting again.  I like that players are running and cutting harder because they know that he’s looking for them.  I like that players are getting open off his screens.  I like that we have another post up option in our half court sets.  I like that Kobe and Fisher don’t always have to bring the ball up and initiate the offense with the first unit.  But most of all, I just like that we’re back to running our sets with more consistency.  Earlier in the season, I commented for a week straight that we were running too much Pick and Roll and isolations (from the wing and the post) in our half court offense.  We were running these types of sets so often that I just stopped saying it.  But for the past ten games, it’s been different.  It’s not all because of Luke, but I do know that before he started playing, it just wasn’t happening.  But I’m not the only guy watching.  What do you guys see?

-Darius

We’re 30 games into the season, in the midst of a lengthy break in between games, and approaching a new year – feels like a good time to take a long look at where the team sits, what it’s strengths and weaknesses are, and how it compares to its chief competitors. In that spirit, and to try and encourage objectivity, I’m going to throw out buckets of statistics to try and spark informed discussion of the team’s current state.

Team Stats

Notes:

• Looking at big picture stats, the Lakers appear weakness free. They score, defend, and rebound at top 5 rates, and their turnovers are respectable.
• They have made significant inroads in catching up to the best defensive teams compared with where they were at last year (now only 4.3 behind the league leader/Boston, compared with 6.6 last year). However, as we’ve all seen, the defense has been inconsistent, with an impressive start and last few games, but a scary stretch in between. Hopefully, increasing confidence in and execution of Rambis’ strong side zone will lead to results closer to what Boston and Cleveland are doing.
• Offensively, they probably are not going to get much better, as they are just off the league leading pace this year (Portland) and last year (Utah).
• They are a strong rebounding team, on both ends of the court, another area where they have caught up to the elite teams compared with last year. As we all hoped, Bynum’s presence alone seems to have solved that problem (which was gaping during the playoffs).
• Their point differential is almost at double digits, and about where the league leader sits each year. Last year they relied on offensive dominance to overwhelm other teams; this year they combine this offense with much improved defense and rebounding, leading to more stable, consistent success.
• Comparing LA to the other two elite teams, Boston and Cleveland, it appears we are right with them, but no one is set apart from the pack. Boston and Cleveland have marginally better point differentials and overall efficiency numbers, but we have the best records vs. playoff and contending opponents.
• It is noteworthy that Cleveland is significantly worse against playoff and contending teams than LA and Boston, perhaps suggesting that their success somewhat comes from beating up on bad teams (and that LA indeed has a boredom problem).
• Records vs. elite teams seems particularly illuminating to me in differentiating between real and pretend contenders. For example, note that Phoenix has 11 losses against playoff teams, is 1-6 against contenders, and is 2-7 against playoff teams on the road (with the wins coming against NJ and Milwaukee). Championship teams bring their A game in “test” games, especially on the road. LA is passing those tests so far.

Player Stats:

Notes:

• As expected, we dominate at SG, PF, and Center. The Bynum/Gasol combination at center puts us at first in the league in net production (PER differential).
• Point guard is a glaring weakness, especially defensively as Fisher and Farmar combine to allow an 18.4 PER. Tellingly, our PGs allow opposing PGs to shoot .500 eFG, the highest of any position against us. It is extremely rare for a team’s PGs to lead in eFG, given that they take so many perimeter shots (on our team, PGs shoot the lowest eFG at .489, with our centers shooting .537).
• Our PFs and Cs are extremely efficient shooting the ball, at .531 and .537 – we really should pound the ball inside at every opportunity. Other teams don’t have an answer for the length and skill of Gasol and Bynum (or Odom).
• Our best lineups feature a few common ingredients: Kobe and Ariza. Odom, Gasol, and Bynum are fairly interchangeable, although Odom appears more often than the others.
• Bynum is featured in all of our best defensive lineups, which we’d expect. This makes it all the more puzzling why Phil has often take Bynum out in offensive-defensive substitutions at the ends of game when transitioning to defense.
• Our team stands out in its depth. While it lacks one uber-dominant offensive or defensive lineup (compared to league leading lineups), it boasts the highest ratio of top 10 or 20 such lineups – there are just endless combinations of effective lineups for Phil to play with. I believe the best is Fisher, Kobe, Ariza, Gasol, Bynum – which should become our closing lineup in the playoffs.
• Odom is the best individual player in point differential per 48 minutes (+15.6), the best on offense (110.6 rating), and the second best on defense (95.0).
• Five other players have a +9.0 or greater point differential rating, revealing incredible depth: Fisher (+12.9), Kobe, (+11.5), Ariza (+10.9), Bynum (+9.9), and Gasol (+9.5).
• The team is 4.6 points better on offense with Gasol on the court than Bynum, and 4.9 better on defense the other way – meaning we get almost identical results, but at opposite ends, when we replace one with the other.

Final Thoughts

This team feels a lot like the 1999-2000 Shaq-Kobe Lakers, which was the most talented, but least experienced of the three title teams. That team was loaded. They finished 67-15, started Shaq, Kobe, Rice, Harper, and AC Green, with Fox, Fisher, Horry, and Shaw all coming off the bench (at a time when most of them were in their primes). Imagine bringing those four off the bench. They finished first in defensive efficiency and fourth in offensive efficiency. Shaq was unequivocally the best player in the league, averaging 29.7 points, 13.6 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks. Yet, despite their regular season dominance, they struggled through the playoffs, beating the Kings 3-2, needing the miracle 4th quarter comeback against Portland in game 7, and letting the outgunned Pacers take them to six games in the Finals. On paper, they were unbeatable, yet they hadn’t quite learned how to play as one and execute under pressure – resulting in choppy playoff play. The subsequent title teams were significantly less talented and deep, had worse regular season records, but were much more dominant come playoff time. I think this current Laker team is going to similarly end up with a sparkling regular season record (64-68 wins?), but struggle against less talented teams in the playoffs as their role players learn to deal with pressure and execute seamlessly, especially on defense (Bynum, Ariza, Farmar). We saw some of the same last year, with players like Farmar, Turiaf, and Sasha struggling at key moments — so hopefully some of the growing pains are behind us — but two of our top 5 players are still not battle tested. In the end, I think whether we prevail against teams like the Spurs, Celtics, or Cavs in intense series will come down to mastery of the small things – which Boston embodied so annoyingly last spring. If we can progress through the season and give our key young players the experience they need, then we should be the champions. No other team is as talented, balanced, or deep (unless, of course, team Lebron trades Wally for a few all stars…).

Your thoughts?

–Reed

The game against the Warriors was a pretty good example of the Lamar Odom conundrum. On one hand, in his 21 minutes Odom had just 6 points and 3 rebounds and was did not seem to stamp his imprint on the game. Then again, at the end of the day he was +22, the best on the Lakers. He leads the Lakers this season in +/-, good things happen when he is on the floor.

So, for fun I re-watched the game and just tracked Odom, watching him on both ends of the court. What I came away thinking is that the +/- numbers are no accident. Here are a few observations:

• He understands the offense very well and spaces out well, then comes crashing to the boards when needed.

He often is set up on the weak side of the triangle, and against the Warriors (as in many games) there was not a lot of ball movement to the weakside to take advantage of Odom and the spacing. (To be fair, against the Warriors that was in part because the Lakers got pretty much whatever shot they wanted on the strong side, that was not a defensive tour d’ force by Golden State.)

I think when the ball sticks, or when Kobe goes Kobe, Odom can be one of the guys who gets hurt the most in terms of touches. But sometimes he finds gaps.

For example, the last possession of the third quarter for the Lakers, the team is running and Ariza tries to feed Bynum for a fast break dunk, but it gets stripped and the ball is loose. Not shockingly Ariza outhustles everyone for the board, but while all this is going on Odom quietly slipped all alone to the corner, Ariza gets him the ball, Odom sets his feet and drains the three.

Then on the first possession of the fourth quarter, Sasha does his best Curley Neal imitation, but Odom finds a space in a gap and gets the ball on a pass, goes up and is fouled in the act. He does that a lot, he just doesn’t always get the pass.

• When he’s not getting touches in the flow of the offense, every once in a while he creates one for himself, and he can be a little predictable doing that.

Here’s an example. There are 40 seconds to going the third quarter, Odom hasn’t gotten a lot of touches and the Lakers need a fairly quick shot for a two-for-one. Odom brings the ball up court after an outlet, gets to the top of the key and decides its his turn, He starts a drive to the basket from the three point arc (with his man way off him), going left of course. It’s pretty easy to see it coming, and Turiaf has seen that plenty. He and smacks Odom’s shot back out to half court.

But Odom adjusted to what happened. And I think we overlook that aspect of him sometimes.

As an example, early in the fourth Odom brings the ball up court after a rebound and gets a little half-hearted drag screen from Gasol, fairly deep, but Odom uses it to attack the rim early in the possession. When the Turiaf comes again looking for a block Odom feeds back to Gasol who closes easily. He makes a similar play a couple possessions later, feeding Gasol when the defense collapsed.

• Odom really plays solid defense. Just a couple of examples.

At the 3:10 mark of the first quarter, his man, Brandan Wright goes isolation, with a spin move into the lane and shoots, but Odom’s length really disturbs the shot that misses. Biedrins outworks Gasol for the offensive board and Golden State starts again. This time Stephen Jackson blows by Kobe and Odom rotates to help, so Jackson dishes to Wright who is going in for the lay-up. Odom recovers and blocks the shot but gets some arm in the process.

1:10 mark of the First Quarter. Odom is part of a soft full quarter pressure, but just after half court he and Ariza trap the Warrior ball handler. That’s a lot of length in a trap, and the result is a pass that goes out of bounds for a turnover.

At 8:01 in the second. CJ Watson blows by Fish in the isolation and Odom comes over to help in the paint, while his man Write slides out for the 12-foot baseline jumper and Watson gets him the ball. Odom is quick and recovers and his closeout helps cause a miss.

At 6:25 in the second, due to rotations, Odom ends up on Beidrens. He does a good job staying in front of him and forces a miss from three feet.

Next trip down the court, Ariza is on Jackson and funnels the driving Jackson to the strong side help, in Odom. And Odom strips him for a steal and brings the ball up himself.

There is a lot of this throughout the game.

• With Farmar out, Odom is doing more ball handling with the second unit.

• A couple of Odom’s rebounds came because he simply outworked Turiaf for the ball. Not a lot of people outwork Turiaf for anything.

I really don’t understand the idea of trading Chris Mihm for Tyronn Lue, the rumor that has gained enough momentum to be taken seriously. But then, any Laker trade rumor is harder to kill than Freddy Krueger.

The Lakers don’t save any money in this proposed deal — Lue actually makes more than Mihm. They trade big for small, and they do it for just a back-up guy to fill in for two months. Because if you’ve seen Lue play at all recently, you know he is no Jordan Farmar.

The Bucks gave Lue the old trade spotlight game Saturday, giving him key minutes against Detroit. What did he do with it: 0-7 from the floor, 0-5 from three, and made Allen Iverson look a decade younger on defense.

Did you watch Sasha Vujacic last night? He can play the point in the triangle. He had 17 points on 6 of 10 shooting, 4 of 7 from three, had a season best six assists to just two turnovers, and looked solid on defense.

Some Lakers fans have this odd, unnatural affection for Lue and think he’s a good defender. He is not. So far this season, opposing point guards are shooting over 60% (eFG%) against him, scoring 23 points per 48 minutes and have a PER of 22.7. That is the same as having a Tony Parker or Chauncey Billups playing against you every night.

And if you thought he played stellar defense against Iverson in the finals seven years ago, you must not remember The Answer stepping over him after hitting a key three late in game one. I remember that.

In the end, this trade would not be a big deal if it went down because neither Lue nor Mihm will see key minutes in the playoffs. (If they do, the Lakers have some serious problems.) But it still makes no sense to me.

A lot of Lakers fans think that this team, this 25-5 team, needs to make a trade. If you think so, this is the rare comment thread here to throw it out.

But, remember, if you want to trade Lamar Odom, you have to remember he is part of a winning three-man front line for the Lakers. You have to replace his production and role on the team, and as much as I think the Lakers can get more from Josh Powell, he is not Odom (the guy with the best +/- on the team).

And, one more thing in your trade suggestions — make sure it makes sense for both teams. Just because you want Devin Harris doesn’t mean the Nets are going to trade him.

Records: Lakers 24-5 (1st in the West) Warriors 9-22 (11th in the West)
Offensive ratings: Lakers 112.1 (3rd in league) Warriors 106.1 (17th in league)
Defensive ratings: Lakers 102.2 (4th in league) Warriors 112.1 (28th in league)
Projected Starting Lineups: Lakers: Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Luke Walton, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum
Warriors C.J. Watson, Marco Belinelli, Stephen Jackson, Brandan Jacobs, Andris Biedrins

Lakers notes: After the Laker win, there was a gracious post up at Celtics blog saying that if you are going to call Pau Gasol soft, then you need to give credit when he steps up and performs.

J.D. Hastings in the comments made the same case for Lamar Odom, who is oft-maligned by some Lakers fans.

I want to make sure to mention something I haven’t seen getting enough attention. Lamar Odom’s intensity during the Boston game was a huge factor. He was a team high +17. I don’t think anyone else was even in double figures. The uncharacteristic drive and energy he brought that helped set a tone.

One play on defense he threw KG to the floor before he could get the ball. He was called for the foul, but it was a great moment considering how KG had been manhandling Pau every time down before he could get the ball.

Even the 3 pointers that made me cringe had an attitude with them that the team needed to display against the Celtics. To say nothing of his Kobe-like hook floater in traffic.

Not to take anything away from anyone else (and I do agree with playing Bynum to close), but considering what LO has sacrificed for this team, his contributions are worth noting.

SMT added that Odom pushing KG around after KG threw an elbow at Sasha — Odom from the tough streets of New York will stick up for his friends.

Secondly, Odom has had the best (or tied for best) +/- numbers on the team the last three games. He leads the team in raw +/- for the season, the only player in the double digits positive. Certainly the +/- stat has some flaws as a way to define who is playing well, but the bottom line is that if your team is doing better when you are on the court then when you are off, then you are doing something right. And are a key part of the team’s success.

Welcome Back Ronny: I still miss the guy, dancing around on the sidelines and hustling his butt off when in the game.

I get why he moved on — that was more money than the Lakers should have paid and up north Ronny gets more burn (about 20 minutes a game lately). In his game, Ronny is still Ronny, he is not shooting great but he is getting to the line often and is contributing at both ends of the floor. It will be good to watch him play again.

The Warriors Coming In: In case you missed it, they beat the Celtics, too. This is a team that, like the Knicks, has a different style that can throw teams off their rhythm and beat them if you overlook them. The Warriors are playing at the second fastest pace in the league.

Obviously, this was a team that wanted Monta Ellis as the go-to guy, but he is not back from injury yet. Also out is Jamal Crawford, who has played fairly well in the up-tempo style, and Corey Maggette. That said, they are getting some increased production from other guys.

The guy who is really thriving this season is Andris Biedrins. He is averaging 14 and 11, has an impressive true shooting percentage of 56.7% and leads the team in PER (20.7). Most importantly, he is a real hustle guy, and one of the few Warriors who seems to do that at both ends of the floor. Stephen Jackson also apparently likes the system, and he was the go to guy against Boston with 15 points in the fourth quarter.

Keys To The Game: Discipline is at the heart of what the Lakers need to do. Bottom line with the Warriors right now, they are not a disciplined team. If you are disciplined, you can force them into mistakes at both ends. But, if you get sucked into their game (something the Lakers do all too often) it could look a lot like Friday night for Golden State. The Lakers need to live by the old John Wooden mantra tonight: Be quick but don’t hurry.

If the Lakers can force the Warriors into a half-court offense, this is a good team to trap. That’s because they are not a good passing team. Bad passers and guys don’t get to open spots like they should.

The battle of the boards will be key, the Lakers are longer but they can be lax in that area, and the Warriors are very aggressive on the offensive glass and are eighth in the Association in the percentage of offensive rebounds grabbed. That is a little ironic, because they are last in the NBA in the percentage of defensive rebounds grabbed. The Lakers should be able to get some second chance points in this one.

While teams shoot a pretty high percentage against the Warriors, don’t expect to get bailed out with a foul. They don’t send teams to the line often.

The Lakers need to recognize the personnel on the floor for the Warriors — you can’t let Azubuike or Belinelli shoot the three, they will kill you from there.

On offense, I would love to see a little screen and roll from the Lakers tonight, because Watson is weak at defending it. And he doesn’t get a lot of help, because the overall concern on defense from the Warriors is not impressive.

Where you can watch: 6:30 start here is Fox Sports in LA or the League Pass options nationally.

1. A really nice jacket from my brother. Everyone should have a gay brother, it ensures that one truly cool and stylish piece of clothing will be given you each year.

2. The Lakers were the tougher team, the grittier team. They out hustled and out muscled the Celtics. Both teams wanted this one, the Lakers just stepped up in the last 4 minutes and the Celts wilted. (This note may be the hardest for some in the media to get their head around.)

3. Phil Jackson is clearly still looking for his post-Farmar rotation in the backcourt. As Darius echoed in the comments, Van Gundy (who I love as a color guy) was wrong about the Lakers treating this like a playoff game in the rotations, what you saw is pretty much what they have done since Jordan went down.

4. Notes to Celtics fans: You look foolish saying during a 19-game win streak that what makes your team special is they bring it every night, then saying they sleepwalked through the Lakers game. Secondly, don’t complain about the officiating, Kobe Bryant took no free throws either, when do you think that last happened? The refs put the whistles away, and for one game the Lakers were the tougher team.

5. The fact the Lakers were tougher will not stop newspaper columnists and television talking heads from calling the Lakers a soft team during the playoffs. As has been noted by a few in the comments, for the part-time basketball followers in the media, teams are soft until they suddenly aren’t because they won something.

6. Kobe was assigned Rondo and left to roam away from him, which worked at times. This was what the Lakers did in the Finals with moderate success. Really, the key is pretty obvious: Make Rondo a jump shooter. Easier said than done with his quickness, but the Lakers did it for stretches. (If he ever develops a very good midrange game…. watch out.)

6. In the end though, I say about the win what I would have said about the loss — this is December, it has no bearing on June. The win may have been cathartic for fans, but it was 1/82 of the schedule, and the Lakers will have to play better than that in June to win. There certainly was still room for improvement.

7. The best part of Christmas was still the looks on my daughters’ faces opening presents in the morning. By a mile.

Records: Lakers 22-5 (1st in the West) Celtics 27-2 (1st in the East)
Offensive ratings: Lakers 112.4 (3rd in league) Celtics 110.4 (5th in league)
Defensive ratings: Lakers 102.5 (4th in league) Celtics 98.6 (1st in league)
Projected Starting Lineups: Lakers: Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Luke Walton, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum
Celtics Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Kendrick Perkins

No big breakdown, this game has had nearly as much hype as Santa today.

Just sit back and enjoy this one. Remember that over at TrueHoop Kevin Arnovitz is live blogging all five games today, because he loves basketball or is a masochist (or some combination of those two).

I leave you with a few thoughts from Gatinho on the Lakers on Christmas day:

In ‘88, ‘02, and ‘03 the Lakers lost on Christmas and won the Championship

This will 35 times that the Lakers have played on Christmas dating back to 1949.

This will be the fourth time playing the Celtics.
(’51 L, ‘55 W, ‘70 W)

The Celtics will be playing in their 25th Christmas game, only one of those games has been played in Boston.

Among Laker opponents on Christmas are the Fort Wayne Pistons, Indianapolis Olympians, and the San Diego Rockets.