Los Angeles Lakers vs. Brooklyn Nets: Postgame Grades and Analysis
The Los Angeles Lakers battled holiday traffic on Wednesday night to take on the struggling Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center. The Nets staged a valiant fourth-quarter comeback, but they couldn't get over the hump and ended up as turkeys, losing 99-94.
Nick Young led all scorers with 26 points off the bench, and Pau Gasol had a strong night with 21 points on 9-of-17 shooting and eight rebounds. Joe Johnson led Brooklyn with 18 points.
The Lakers wore their weird black jerseys and started strong behind a barrage of three-pointers. They led by as many as 27 points, but the Nets stormed back with a 15-0 run in the second quarter. Despite that run by Brooklyn, the Lakers led 54-40 at halftime.
Brooklyn played a strong second half, and Mirza Teletovic tied the game at 92 with just under four minutes remaining. But the Nets went ice-cold on offense and were held scoreless until a bucket with nine seconds remaining. They put up a tremendous fight and got great play out of Mason Plumlee and Teletovic, but their cold spell at the end doomed them.
The Nets are laid bare with Brook Lopez and Andrei Kirilenko inactive; Deron Williams remains out with a sprained ankle, and Jason Terry has a bruised left knee. The Lakers are still without Steve Nash due to "nerve root irritation," according to the NBA box score, but the drop-off from Nash to Steve Blake is much less steep than that from Williams to Shaun Livingston.
It was a thrilling game despite the injured stars, so let's hand out grades and give thanks to all players.
Lakers Key Player Grades
Pau Gasol, Power Forward
Pau Gasol made a little history in the first quarter, as he passed Detlef Schrempf for second place on the all-time scoring list of European NBA players. Dirk Nowitzki reigns supreme, but it marks a nice achievement for Gasol, who did it significantly quicker than Schrempf.
Gasol had 10 points in the first quarter and 11 in the next three quarters, but he put in work in the middle all night long. He added a blocked shot, but he also fumbled away four turnovers. One of Gasol's most crucial attributes is the veteran leadership he provides to the ragtag cast around him; he has been the most consistent presence on the floor and has the team treading water at .500.
Grade: B+
Steve Blake, Point Guard
Steve Blake continues to fill in for Steve Nash, and you could barely tell the difference on Wednesday. OK, Nash is a little slower.
Blake dished 10 assists, with eight of them coming as part of the excellent ball movement in the first half. He also added nine points, but the Lakers' bench mob provided plenty of scoring to go around.
Grade: B+
Jordan Farmar, Point Guard
Jordan Farmar came off the bench and played eight stellar minutes in the first half. He knocked down four of the five three-pointers he attempted and helped the Lake Show grab an early lead.
He came on in the second half and didn't have the long-range rhythm, but he turned in an excellent all-around effort with 15 points, four boards, three dimes, two steals and two blocks. Farmar was a terror off the bench, along with Nick Young.
Grade: A
Nick Young, Small Forward
Young had one of his good halves and tallied 11 points in the first half. He showed his versatility as a scorer with a three-point bucket and some aggression to earn four free throws. Surely there was no way he could do that again!
As it turned out, Young was even better in the second half and finished with a game-high 26 points. Young knocked down four triples and was perfect on six free throws. He even blocked Mason Plumlee on a dunk attempt, depriving everyone of a beautiful Plumlee coast-to-coast slam off his own block at the other end.
Grade: A
Jodie Meeks, Shooting Guard
Jodie Meeks started in the backcourt with Blake. He didn't have his Spidey-sense working, as he shot 3-of-10 from the field and got two of those blocked. Meeks scored 11 points and dished three assists, but he was more of a facilitator than an impact-maker on Wednesday.
Grade: B-
Jordan Hill, Center
Jordan Hill continued his strong rebounding, although it should be noted that some of those came against Andray Blatche. Hill hoarded eight defensive and four offensive boards, but he should really stick to his specialty. Hill shot just 1-of-9 from the field and finished with two points. Three of his shot attempts were blocked.
Grade: B-
Wesley Johnson, Small Forward
Wesley Johnson got the start and did a little bit of everything, but not really all that much considering he was outshined by multiple bench players. Johnson ended the night with four points, five rebounds (three offensive), two assists and two steals.
Then again, no one in the game did anything more amazing than Johnson's reverse slam down the baseline.
Grade: B
Rest of Bench
The Lakers bench scored 52 points against Brooklyn, although much of that was down to Young and Farmar.
Shawne Williams was another Laker to squeegee the glass against the light-rebounding Nets. Williams shot just 1-of-7, though it was a trey, and he piled up 10 rebounds. Williams even added two blocked shots in a kooky game that saw 17 blocks in total.
Early-season sensation Xavier Henry continued his regression to the mean, though he made his only field-goal attempt and got to the line four times to tally five points in just over a dozen minutes.
Robert Sacre played under eight minutes and contributed two points, one rebound and one block, but at least he played, unlike Chris Kaman.
Grade: A+
Nets Key Player Grades
Joe Johnson, Shooting Guard
Joe Johnson had everything clicking in the first half, as he carried the Brooklyn offense with 16 points. He drained a couple of treys and got to the rim effectively, shooting 5-of-9. Meanwhile, the rest of his teammates shot 8-of-28 through two quarters, which accounts for their 14-point deficit at the break.
Then as the rest of the team improved their play, Johnson came crashing back to earth. Johnson shot 1-of-10 in the second half and managed just two more points in the game. He finished up with four rebounds, three assists and a block, but his disappearing act in the second half loomed large.
Grade: B
Kevin Garnett, Power Forward
The highlight of Kevin Garnett's night came in the third quarter, when Pau Gasol posted him up, and KG pulled the chair out from under poor Pau. Without Garnett to elbow him, Gasol flung the ball at the hoop and clattered to the floor as KG trotted back on offense. That's some veteran-on-veteran schooling right there.
Garnett turned in four points on 2-of-5 shooting and looked a little gassed in the latter part of a back-to-back. He did snag nine rebounds, including four on the offensive glass, and helped narrow the rebounding gap that L.A. had opened up. He blocked a couple of shots, using more veteran savvy than good old-fashioned hops to do so.
Garnett is quietly effective, but he has nowhere near the level of explosiveness that he showed even last year with the Boston Celtics. He doesn't seem like a threat on offense unless he happens to be hitting the elbow jumper.
Grade: B-
Paul Pierce, Small Forward
Paul Pierce was clanging his jumpers for much of the night, but he showed vintage form late in the third quarter. Pierce came off a screen and pulled a wicked hard spin move to freeze Jordan Hill before getting fouled by Shawne Williams on the scoop shot. Of course it banked in, although The Truth missed the free throw.
Pierce shot just 4-of-17 from the field for 12 points, but he added six rebounds and five assists. He also flubbed four turnovers to round out a very uneven night.
Pierce dished the ball to Garnett with 20 seconds left for the game-tying bucket, but KG bricked the shot. Pierce also got a pretty good look at a game-tying shot but came up empty. Joe Johnson has been thriving in those situations, but you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube.
Grade: C+
Andray Blatche, Center
Andray Blatche is a serviceable "center," but he's a poor substitute on the front line for the offense and shot-blocking of Brook Lopez. Nevertheless, Blatche did a fairly good impression of a talented center on Wednesday night. Blatche posted 14 points, eight boards, three assists, two steals and two blocks.
While the Nets got dominated on the boards for most of the game, Blatche exhibited great energy in the middle. He suffered an apparent ankle injury in the second half and missed the closing minutes. His presence and production were sorely missed in the endgame, although it opened the door to more time for Teletovic.
Grade: A-
Shaun Livingston, Point Guard
Shaun Livingston played reasonably well as the starting point guard, but he was also the reason Tyshawn Taylor and Alan Anderson saw big minutes off the bench. Livingston finished with five points, three dimes, two boards and a steal. He did not commit a turnover but mainly faded into the background in his 25 minutes.
Grade: C
Rest of Bench
Mirza Teletovic was enormous in the fourth quarter, scoring 14 points, grabbing rebounds on both sides and adding a steal and a block. He was like a revelation off the bench, and with his neatly combed hair he seemed like an extra from the nearby set of Boardwalk Empire. Unfortunately, his effort from a bygone era was not quite enough to get the win.
Mason Plumlee figured he'd fill in for Brook Lopez and throw a block party on Wednesday night. Plumlee was a menace in the paint with four blocks. He added six points and four rebounds, and he even tossed in a sweet reverse lay-in on an alley-oop.
However, Plumlee's menacing defense came to a screeching halt when he was subbed out for Kevin Garnett late in the fourth quarter.
Alan Anderson saw big minutes off the bench to shore up Brooklyn's shallow backcourt. In 35 minutes, he had the three-ball working and scored 14 points, along with three assists and a steal.
Tyshawn Taylor knocked head coach Jason Kidd's cup of soda out of his hand when he accidentally bumped into him late in the fourth quarter. Who accidentally bumps into their own coach? And what coach commands so little regard he gets his drink bumped out of his hand? These are likely the thoughts that went through Kidd's head.
Reggie Evans played a little under four minutes and grabbed a rebound. He likes rebounding.
Grade: A
What's Next?
The 8-8 Lakers hit the Motor City and play the Detroit Pistons on Friday before returning home to face the streaking Portland Trail Blazers. Hovering around .500 while they wait for Kobe Bryant to return seems like a very reachable goal for L.A.
The 4-11 Nets will be thankful to have Thursday off before facing a tough two-game road trip, which sees them visit the Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies on back-to-back nights. The fight they showed on Wednesday should give them some confidence and perhaps make Jason Kidd rethink his rotation. Hint: more Plumlee and Teletovic!
