Kobe Bryant Hero Ball All Los Angeles Lakers Have, and Sunday NBA Takeaways
In a manner of speaking, Kobe Bryant bounced back. The Los Angeles Lakers, though, fell woefully flat.
After slogging through an illness-induced 1-of-14 shooting night against the San Antonio Spurs on Nov. 14, Bryant was a whole lot more aggressive against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday. He poured in 44 points on 15-of-34 shooting in 31 minutes.
Content to let Bryant fire away, the Warriors absolutely crushed the Lakers. They opened up a 74-55 halftime lead and cruised to a final score of 136-115. Golden State had 115 points by the end of the third quarter, and getting there meant breaking a franchise record, per Bay Area News Group's Diamond Leung:
The story, though, was Bryant.
This is why the Lakers are worth watching right now: to see how fearsome Kobe's pride is, how maniacally he'll fight against overwhelming odds with virtually no help at all. Nobody can knock Kobe's effort in this one, but it was clear from the very early stages that his remarkable exertion would be for naught.
The Warriors got whatever they wanted on offense, and Stephen Curry had the easiest 30-point, 15-assist night imaginable. Andrew Bogut went for 15 points, 10 rebounds and four assists on 7-of-9 shooting in just 21 minutes.
Six Dubs reached double figures, and the team connected on 53.5 percent of its shots from the field as the Lakers offered zero resistance in both the half court and transition.
The final margin of victory was 21 points, but it may as well have been 50. The Lakers had no chance in this one.
Yet, Bryant gave it everything he had—fueled by whatever unquenchable fire keeps him going and the total passivity of his teammates (in nearly equal measure).
You have to wonder how long this can go on. "This" being Bryant raging against entire teams by himself in battles that are over almost as soon as they begin. Can Byron Scott convince him to move the ball, play fewer minutes or do something (anything!) to fuel L.A.'s defense?
Would we want him to? Grantland's netw3rk was very descriptive in describing this Lakers team:
After all, Kobe Bryant was the reason a wire-to-wire blowout was the most compelling story of the night. The Lakers are a one-man show in every sense of the term, and whether that show is a comedy or tragedy probably depends on how much purple and gold you've got in your closet.
The bizarre story continues for the 1-9 Lakers with three straight roadies, including trips to Houston and Dallas. In 66 years of existence between Minneapolis and L.A., the Lakers have never had a worse record in their first 10 games.
And they've rarely been more interesting.
Absorb what's happening with Bryant and the Lakers this year and take notes so you can explain to your grandchildren why a team getting annihilated every time out is such fascinating theater.
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Bucks Establish Clear Defensive Identity at Heat's Expense
It's been a while since anyone genuinely feared the Deer, but after a 2-of-17 shooting performance in a 91-84 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, Miami Heat big man Chris Bosh will be seeing antlers in his nightmares.
The Bucks continued their early-season trend of shutting down the opposition, limiting the Heat to 41.1 percent shooting on the night and, of course, making Bosh's evening particularly rough. Without the assistance of Dwyane Wade, who sat out with a sore hamstring, Bosh drew the full focus of a Bucks defense that came into the contest with a top-five defensive rating, per NBA.com.
ESPN.com's Michael Wallace shared Bosh's comments regarding playing without Wade and the need to play better to assist the team because of Wade's absence:
Milwaukee now sits at an even 5-5 on the year, as does Miami.
The difference, of course, is that the youthful Bucks are loaded with young talent and are trending upward.
Giannis Antetokounmpo furnished a flash forward of what the Bucks offense might someday look like in the early going, running an easy pick-and-roll to set up rookie Jabari Parker for a jumper. Then, he took care of things himself…emphatically:
One of Milwaukee's greatest challenges is figuring out how to use Antetokounmpo, a player so raw and so multifaceted in his skills that every avenue of development appears to be open. This is a good problem, and the solution may be simply giving the 19-year-old the ball in space and letting him decide what to do with it.
For all the Bucks' promise, there's still a natural wet-behind-the-ears quality to the club. For every solid play Brandon Knight (who had a game-high 20 points) made down the stretch to hold off the Heat's comeback attempts, there were instances of inexperience—such as Parker wasting two consecutive quick possessions with ill-advised fourth-quarter attacks when what the Bucks really needed was to run some clock.
Late mistakes like Parker's are to be expected, and all's well that ends well as far as Milwaukee's concerned. Besides, what mattered most was the continued defensive stinginess. The rangy Bucks seemed to contest everything, and though Jason Kidd's club had only one blocked shot on the night, Miami converted just one shot in the restricted area after halftime.
This was a rough one for the Heat, and Bosh got a real dose of the downside of life as an alpha. In an odd way, Bosh deserves credit for continuing to shoot, even though his jumper was clearly off and the Bucks were zeroed in specifically on him. His only healthy marquee teammate, Luol Deng (3-of-11 on the night), wasn't up to the challenge of breaking down Milwaukee's D either.
The Heat have now dropped three straight—a disturbing trend for them that presents an opportunity for other high-seed seekers in the East, as noted by Bleacher Report's Ethan J. Skolnick:
Milwaukee will take on the New York Knicks before visiting the Brooklyn Nets at the Barclays Center in a back-to-back later this week. All smiles and sitting at .500, we'll see if that defense travels.
Mile-High Nuggets Hit New Low, Knicks Snap Skid
Speaking of trips to New York, the Denver Nuggets did not enjoy theirs.
Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith put up matching 28-point efforts, hitting a combined 20-of-30 shots from the field as the New York Knicks smashed a reeling Nuggets club by a final score of 109-93. The win snapped a seven-game slide for the Knicks, giving head coach Derek Fisher a brief respite before New York hits the road for five of its next six.
For the Nuggets, well…it's hard to see a silver lining in this one.
Now sitting at 2-7 and boasting a bottom-five net rating of minus-6.2 points per 100 possessions, Brian Shaw's crew is circling the drain. After a spirited first quarter that included six made triples, the Nugs imploded in the second period.
New York's advantage in that horrendous 12-minute span: 31-8. Denver made just one field goal in the quarter.
It's not just that the Nuggets aren't hitting shots this season; it's that the offense lacks the flow and secondary options necessary to create shots worth taking. And yes, it would seem Shaw's seat might be getting a little toastier. SB Nation's Doug Eberhardt noted the Nuggets are "not being put in position to succeed":
Denver shot 39 percent on the night, and even its better scorers—such as Kenneth Faried, who put up 16 on 7-of-9 shooting, felt the critics' wrath for their work in other areas. Charlie Yao of RoundballMiningCompany.com shared his critique:
"When real plus minus comes it's going to absolutely skewer Faried. He's getting torched, NYK was his 3rd best game in +/-
— Charlie Yao (@skitalicious) November 16, 2014"
We've been pretty negative to this point, so here's something fun: JaVale McGee air-balled a free throw!
Moving on.
Full of Sound and Fury...
...signifying very, very few points.
James Harden's latest meeting with his former team must have been a confusing affair. First, he shows up expecting to see some familiar pals sporting Oklahoma City Thunder jerseys, only to find Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook in street clothes.
And whatever potentially nostalgic vibes he might have otherwise felt were quickly consumed by some seriously negative mojo. This one was emotional, and it didn't take long for tempers on both sides to ignite.
Chippiness pervaded the action, as world-class irritants—led by Houston's Patrick Beverley and OKC's Steven Adams—plied their trades in an atmosphere of frustration and barely contained animosity. Beverley very nearly crossed a line, though, as seen in this GIF shared by SI.com's Ben Golliver:
This one had it all: technical fouls, Adams inducing a Trevor Ariza shove by utilizing his trademark "hold onto the guy and wait for him to get mad" tactic, Scott Brooks running onto the floor to bark at Beverley, Durant shouting NSFW challenges at Dwight Howard from the pine, a flagrant foul by Nick Collison…the list goes on and on and on.
You'll note there hasn't been much discussion of actual basketball yet. That's because the game itself was borderline unwatchable. Both teams shot under 30 percent from the field, and the final tally of 69-65 (Houston "won") looked like a score from early in the third quarter of a normal game.
Combined, the Rockets and Thunder amassed 43 made field goals and 29 turnovers.
It. Was. Rough.
