Point Blank – February 4
Kobe Bryant’s week vs. Stephen Curry’s season (you are not going to expect this one)…Did the Wizards begin to build a new Wall last night?...Tyronn Lue’s halftime adjustments have been disastrous this week…Even in Spanish it’s still called a “touchdown”…
Stephen Curry was awfully good last night. John Wall actually did a pretty good job of countering, and I will get back to Warriors/Wizards in a moment. So suppose we go ahead and pencil Curry in as the MVP (hell, we can probably use pen), and establish his sublime base numbers as a standard for measurement. Then we pro-rate them based on 48 minutes, for easier comparison. There is a player that over his last two games has handily exceeded Curry’s brilliant numbers across the board, except for assists, which is excusable because he does not play PG -
Per/48 Curry Player X
Points: 42.3 52.1
3-point%: 45.8 57.9
Rebounds: 5.9 11.1
Assists: 9.7 6.9
Steals: 2.6 3.4
Turnovers: 4.7 1.7
Assist/TO: 2.1 4.0
Some pretty good stuff, isn’t it? And who is Player X? Kobe Bryant. Kobe f’ing Bryant. The question now, as the Lakers head to New Orleans for the nightcap of the Thursday TNT double-header, becomes how to react to it.
For most of this season Bryant has been one of the least efficient players in the NBA statistically, and you could make a strong case that he has been the worst overall starter, given the roller coaster ride the Lakers have had to take, his presence seemingly not helping in any way. I have even detailed some recent charts about the Totals patterns, the games loose and free-flowing on nights Bryant plays, the focus as much on entertaining the fans as winning, and then tightening up on the nights when he sits. That is hardly the way for a young team to mature.
There have been times in which it has been genuinely embarrassing to watch, one of the greatest players, and one of the greatest competitors, in the history of the league having a most awkward final chapter to a fantastic career. But might one of those ugly outings, the 114-91 loss to the Bulls in front of the TNT cameras on Thursday, have possibly snapped something? Bryant was just 4-13 from the field, scoring 10 points in 25:05, as the Lakers fell down big early and never got in the game. Not only was he lousy, the team was awful.
Kobe sat out the following evening against the Clippers, then had an additional day off Saturday, so when Sunday night’s tipoff vs. Charlotte took place he was playing for only the second time in eight days. And it was a different player on the court. While the Lakers produced another dismal scoreboard in losing 101-82, they were actually +1 in the 22:58 that Bryant played. He was good, and he was active (eight rebounds). Then on Tuesday they actually went out and won a game, ending a streak of 10 consecutive losses, and when it mattered most Kobe was the one in charge. When the T’Wolvers cut it to 111-110 in the final minute he made a clutch late-clock jumper, and then closed it out with a 6-6 at the FT line.
Byron Scott’s take - “He was in a zone last night that we haven’t seen him in in a long time. Last night, he had that bounce in his step again, he had that pep in his step. He was able to get to the spots that he wanted to get to, able to elevate and get his shot off. It was just one of those games where his rhythm and timing was great and it lasted the whole game.”
Yes, Charlotte and Minnesota are nothing special. Except that last night the Hornets beat the Cavaliers, and the Timberwolves handled the Clippers. So is this something that Kobe can build on and carry forward? Perhaps – while the physical skills have indeed diminished the competitive fire is still allowed to bring some occasional bursts of heat, and perhaps Tuesday is what he needed – the previous eight Laker defeats that he had played in were all decided in double figures, not bringing anything to ignite that fire. In truth, the January games that have been close have seen Bryant step up (28 points in 30:56 in a three-point loss at Sacramento; 19 points, six assists and four rebounds in a four-point loss to Oklahoma City), so there may yet be some smoldering coals in that oven.
And because this part also matters time to update again – since Bryant announced back in November that this would be his final season, the Lakers have played Over at an 11-4-1 clip on the road.
About Last Night, Part I…
As ridiculously good as Curry was at Washington on Wednesday, going 7-8 from 3-point range in the first quarter to set the tone for an outing that rained 51 points in only 35:41, the Warriors were close to a coin flip in terms of the ATS result into the final possessions. As such, there does need to be a tip of the cap given to Wall, who turned in one of the better games of his career, with 41 points, and 10 assists vs. only three turnovers, over his 34:44 stint. The Wizards were only -1 when he was on the floor, but -12 in the 13:16 that he did not play. The question is whether it portends to something positive for Washington going forward.
Having gone up against the Warriors/Thunder gauntlet the last two games, extending the current slide to 2-7, the Wizards are now 21-26, their season low. But the schedule is about to change – they face four teams that are under .500 in that last leg before the All Star break, albeit with three of them on the road. Might the opportunity to step down in class be a potential turning point for a group that has underachieved to this point, with Wall’s showing as the catalyst last night a potential buy signal, especially with Bradley Beal gradually coming out of his minutes limitation? Washington should be under the magnifying lens for this next cycle.
About Last Night, Part II…
Also remaining under magnification is Cleveland, as the Cavaliers try to figure it out, with the on-going question as to how ready Tyronn Lue is for this challenge. In particular think about tomorrow night, when Lue runs up against Brad Stevens in a clipboard mismatch. As a precursor to that take notice of just how bad the Cleveland adjustments having been coming out of the locker room at halftime this week – in their mini-road trip to Indiana and Charlotte the Cavs were out-scored by a shocking 63-32 in the third quarter, getting tactically picked apart on both ends of the court. And that was a short-handed Hornets team that was controlling the second half last night, while completely dominating the boards (it was 49-28 for Charlotte off of the glass, with Cleveland only managing three offensive rebounds the entire game).
Lue’s intent to have the Cavaliers run more has worked when they have actually been able to get into the open court, where they indeed have been successful, but that has not been all that often – the game pace is actually a tick slower under his guidance than with David Blatt. A genuine issue is the half-court offense continuing to bog down, and in that aspect of the game they may have even taken a step backwards. But perhaps even worse is the team psyche, not sounding at all like a group that is nearly 50 games into the season.
First, from Lue, who is entitled to speak as though this is all new, because for him it is - "It's going to take a little time, but I think when things get hard and you have great individual players, they seem to take it upon themselves to try to get you out of a jam. So we've just got to be able to play past that and continue to trust." Now a follow-up on that theme from Kyrie Irving, which is a different matter entirely - "When that happens (referring to the team struggling) I take it upon myself sometimes to just go be aggressive, go to the rim. … But as it gets down to the gritty, the grinding times, we've just got to find those continuity plays that we can go to. We still have to learn how to win games. We can't keep digging these holes."
It is not just a matter of X’s and O’s for Cleveland right now - the psyche of this team may also be further away from being a real contender than the general perception.
Vegas: And for those of you caught in the Cox/KLAS standoff
One of the side shows in Las Vegas as Super Bowl 50 approaches (no, I have not forgotten about it, that game will be the lead topic on Friday) has been the failed contract renewal negotiations between Cox Communications, the largest cable provided in the valley, and KLAS, the local CBS affiliate. KLAS is not available to Cox subscribers at this time, and the two sides went to the last stages of their processes knowing that the shadow of the Super Bowl was hovering. For now it looks like the dispute may not get settled in time, but for locals that have Cox there is a new option being opened up. ESPN Deportes, the Spanish language channel under that vast umbrella, will be broadcasting the game live for the first time, and Cox has pulled the rather deft move of turning this into a “free preview weekend” of that channel. You will find it on Cox channels 16 and 1016, the latter being for HD, and it also means a chance for Palmtree to watch some Caribbean Winter League action this weekend. Yes, the Super Bowl audio will be in Spanish, but that still might be better than Phil Simms…
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