Lakers VS Pistons Live Blog 11-14-08

Lakers VS Pistons November 14, 2008

This storied rivalry begins a new chapter tonight, with Allen Iverson having replaced Chauncey Billups. Although they are still finding their identity with Iverson, the Pistons still have enough talent to beat anyone in this league including the Lakers. For the Pistons, this is the second game of a back-to-back on the road. So, if the Lakers can keep up their defensive intensity that they've had throughout the first 7 games, they should be able to defeat the Pistons. 

First Quarter

The Pistons start with Rip, AI, Sheed, Prince, and Kwame (haha!). The Lakers go withBynum, Pau, Kobe, Vlad Rad, and Fish. The Pistons start off the game 6-6 while the Lakers start cold. Can you believe that Kwame Brown scored?! At this rate, he'll have 8 points at the end of the game! Wow. After that scorching start, the Pistons go cold and the Lakers go on a 10-0 run, highlighted by a back screen on Rip and an alley-oop from Pau to Kobe. The pass was actually high, but Kobe showed that he can still get up (to my surprise because he's missed some dunks this season already) and he flushed it through. The Lakers ended the quarter with a small lineup that we've never seen in Lamar at Center, Ariza at the PF, Kobe at the 3, Sasha at the 2, and Farmar at the 1. Unfortunately, the Pistons closed out with another run after Kobe turned it over with 5 seconds left to Iverson who sped down and hit a floater at the buzzer. 

 

Second Quarter

The Lakers start the second much like they started the first- slow. Sheed hit two 3 pointers and AI was very active in the passing lanes. The game went up and down for much of the quarter and just as the Lakers started to make a run, they began turning the ball over and the Pistons got it up to around 11-13 points. This Pistons team definitely looks nothing like the Pistons of the "recent old". They're offense right now consists of 4 guys spotting up at the 3 point line while AI drives and kicks. Tayshaun plays point forward and Rip still looks lost. He picked up his third foul at the end of the quarter. Kobe tries to shoot the Lakers back into the game, but his shots are falling short while Bynum and Gasol are doing little do dominate on either end. The staple for the Lakers this year has been their activity on defense and execution on offense as well as second chance points. This first half has seen none of that. The Pistons are controlling the boards pretty well after the first quarter and are hitting their open jumpers. The bench has kept the game semi-close by getting steals but the Lakers just aren't executing at either end. This is probably the worst half the Lakers have played all season.

 

Third Quarter

This quarter goes much of how this whole game has gone with the Lakers inability to score due to good Piston defense and the Lakers inability to stop the Pistons. They havethe Lakers scrambling on defense and confused and disjointed on offense. The Pistons build their lead to 14 by the end of the quarter with Kwame Brown, yes, Kwame Brown playing great defense on Pau while controlling the boards. The Pistons second team has also outplayed the Laker second squad. As the 4th begins, we'll see if the Lakers can figure out this new Piston team.

 

Fourth Quarter

The quarter begins with Kwame banking in a free-throw. And the rest of it went the same as the first three. The Pistons controlled the pace of the game on both ends of the floor and had the Lakers jacking up 3s with 4 minutes left. The Lakers made the score a respectable 11 point loss, but with the way the game went, it felt more like a blow-out especially because it was a home game. The Pistons played well 1-8 with each player playing their role minus Rip. The player of the game could even be Kwame Brown for tonight as he got a double-double and held the Laker bigs along with Sheedto a below par showing. 

 

Wrap-Up

The Lakers were taken out of their game by a well coached, well prepared team in the Detroit Pistons. Where the Lakers have done well this year, they did poorly today, mainly due to the Piston defense and the skill set of Allen Iverson. Iverson is the kind of player that you can't really prepare for. He's almost like a Michael Vick type of player where when he's really good, he's amazing, but when he's off, it messes up the whole team. Today, AI was amazing. He was able to get to the rim and dish, he didn't turn the ball over, and he created so many opportunities for himself and his teammates. That put a lot of pressure on the Lakers defense, especially with Rasheed hitting 3s because that forced the Laker bigs out of the paint, allowing Iverson to get to the middle to make things happen. Kobe had an off shooting night, partly due to the Piston defense and partly due to poor shooting on his part. He did miss some bunnies. All these things added up to the Lakers first loss of the season. Sometimes you learn more from you losses than your wins and let's hope that the Lakers do that.