LA Lakers @ Miami Heat, Fri, Dec 19, 2008

A running diary:

First Quarter

• Game started, still see empty seats around. For Lakers in town? Against the red-hot Wade? That shows how bad business is right now.
  
• Wade played terrific defense on Kobe early on. The Heat forced the Lakers to commit turnover, followed by a fast break by the Heat, with Marion drawing fouls. The Lakers were 1-2 FG and 2 TO in the first two minutes. Phil Jackson called an early 20 sec timeout. That’s early.
  
• Things didn’t do better after the timeout, as the Lakers continued to miss shots and turn the ball over.
  
• The Heat looked sharp from the perimeter, Wade and Chalmers took turns to hit the 3s. But Kobe decided to take it personal, trying to make things happen all by himself. He scored back-to-back turnaround Js over Wade.
  
• The commentators were trying to imply that this is a battle between Wade and Kobe. I think that’s just how Kobe looks at it too, a duel between him and Wade.
  
• Wade tried to throw an alley-oop pass, but it was so off that it hit the top of the board! That’s probably the worst alley-oop pass I’ve ever seen. Then, the balls bounced hard off the board and ended up back in Mario Chalmers’ hands 25 ft from the basket.
  
• But the Heat were badly undersized.
  
• Jordan Farmar looked good, made a couple of nice backdoor passes for easy layup, include the one to Kobe for a buzzer beater reverse layup.
  
• Game tied at 26-26 at the end Q1.
  

Second Quarter

• Farmar continued his brilliant performance, drove past 3 defenders and scored on a tough layup. Moment later, he drained another 3. Wow.
  
• The second team of the Heat led by Beasley did ok on offense, but was helpless in defense failing to make any stops.
  
• Starters checking back in with 6 min to go.
  
• The Lakers were leading by a comfortable 6-8 pts but then Heat made a few stops, Mario Chalmers hitting a 3 and 2 FTs, and then the Lakers made some slow defense rotation which resulted in Marion made a wide open dunk to end the 1H.
  
• After the end of Q2, the game is tied at 46-46.
  

Intermission

• I’m not impressed by the Lakers. Yes, Kobe is the same old Kobe. He had 17 pts and 3 ast in 1H. But the team didn’t have good ball movement. And they turned the ball over (12 TOs in 1H). On defense, they failed to stop Wade and at the same time allowed Chalmers to have open looks from the arc. Anyway, they didn’t look like the best team in the league to me. Bynum completely disappeared in 1H. zero point, 2 reb, 1 ast and 2 TO.
  

Third Quarter

• Bynum finally scored his first goal. Drew foul, but did not make the FT.
  
• Another brilliant driving layup by Wade. This guy is really impressive. I think Kobe is going to do something to counter that soon.
  
• A great steal by Wade off Luke Walton, then he made the break-away dunk and fell to the floor. No foul called. Wade was furious and complaining, but I don’t think there is contact there. He just flopped.
  
• Game was tight as the Lakers did not play that well. Kobe dominated the ball too much. Don’t know why he always takes tough shots. Play some teamwork, man!
  
• Also, I don’t know why Phil Jackson didn’t take the clear size advantage and call for more low post plays. Obviously there’s no chance for the Heat to defend both Gasol and Bynum, right?
  
• Another back door pass to Marion for an easy layup. Bynum was called for his 4th foul. He has to sit again. Heat up by 3, 62-59.
  
• See? Another tough shot in the paint by Kobe. Yes, he made it. 62-61
  
• Another wide open mid J by Haslem, 65-61 Heat with 3 min to go in Q3. Phil Jackson has had enough and called a timeout.
  
• The Lakers didn’t play better after the timeout. They relied too much on individual plays, mainly by Kobe and Gasol. While Kobe forced tough shots, his teammates didn’t have the patience to pass the ball around, usually opted for shooting the ball after 1 or 2 passes, and they usually missed.
  
• On the other hand, the Lakers continued to let the Heat guards getting open looks. Just now, backup PG Daequan Cook made a couple of 3s and the Heat are now leading 72-63. 1 mins to go in 3Q.
  
• Oops, Marion is down, grabbing the back of his head. Obviously his head hit teammate Joel Anthony on their way down in a hustle defense play. Hope he’s fine.
  
• Oh, it’s clearly Wade’s night. Last minutes of Q3, Ariza almost stole the ball from Wade, but Wade was able to recover the ball and threw a “hail Mary” from 30 ft as the buzzer sounds. And the shot went it!
  
• Heat led by 75-63 after Q3.

Fourth Quarter

• The Heat actually played some very good defense, forcing the Lakers to commit an unusually huge number of TOs.
  
• OK, the Lakers fought back. A 7-0 run led by Vujacic (who scored 5 pts) and the lead is trimmed to 75-70. Without Kobe, no less.
  
• 5.15 to go. Kobe and Fisher is now checking back in.
  
• This is Kobe’s sequence: a dunk, a good defense on Wade to force a backcourt violation, a missed long J, after a basket by Wade, Kobe then forced a drive to the paint, almost lost the ball, and threw it to Bynum, who had no choice but throw up a missed shot as the shot clock expires. Perfect.
  
• Wo, Wade had a driving layup, and then a running J, as the Heat’s lead extended to 88-82 with 1.17 to go.
  
• Final sequence:
  
• Kobe made a left spin and scored a fadaway jumper over 2 defenders to pull within 86-88 with 41 sec to go.
  
• The Heat came out empty on the next possession.
  
• 20 sec left, Lakers possession. Kobe drove the lane, dished to Lamar Odom, whose running J was blocked by Joey Anthony. Odom got the ball back, threw up another shot, blocked again by Wade. Gasol got the offensive rebound but the ball was once again knocked out of bound by Wade. Superb defense!
  
• After each of Gasol and Wade making only 1 FT, the Heat maintained a 89-87 lead with 5 sec left. Lakers possession. Kobe started at half court, drove across the FT line with a back-the-back dribble, elevated and fired a fadaway over the long hand of Marion. The shot look good in the air, and ball went in, then out as the clock expire.
  
• Final score: 89-87 Heat.
  

BEAT L.A.!

• It’s really a duel between Wade (35 pts) and Kobe (28 pts). When Kobe scored many tough shots – in the traffic, with hands on his face – Wade would answer back with a tough shot of his own, or a long range J. Actually I don’t know whether it’s Kobe answering Wade, or Wade answering Kobe.
  
• The Lakers clearly are not at their best. Defense is the Lakers main problem, but then their offense is not smooth and does not have any chemistry. They turned the ball over too much. Kobe played selfishly this game, which is always not the good sign. I think Gasol and Bynum are under-utilized.
  
• On the other hand, for the Heat, it’s basically a Wade show tonight. The reason why I do not complain about the selfishness of Wade is that he was not forcing his way, instead he just took what the Lakers’ defense gave him. Moreover, the Heat need him to score 35 pts more than the Lakers need Kobe to score 28 pts. And the Heat overall played better defense than the Lakers.