O.J. Mayo

Over a plate of frozen eggplant parm last night, I started flipping through League Pass’ full slate – Spurs/Kings, Rockets/Nets, Blazers/Nuggets, and Lakers/Grizzlies. After totally buying into Austin’s preview of T-Mac vs. Vince, I figured that was the game to focus on. But I didn’t make it for long. First of all, since hearing that his nickname is “Birdman,” I can’t watch a game Ian Eagle is calling. And even if I muted the TV, both cousins put up duds last night – Carter and McGrady combined for 22 points.

After switching over to Memphis/L.A., I didn’t need the controller for the rest of the night. (At least until Turistas came on Thriller Max around midnight, which is guaranteed to f*** up your night’s sleep…) From the first second I turned the game on, it was a Memphis highlight reel. Marc Gasol hit Rudy Gay with a pretty wrap-around pass, which Rudy smashed through the rim two-handed right off the bat. O.J. played give-and-go with Hakim Warrick before knocking down a triple. A couple possessions later, he sunk a step-back trey in Kobe‘s mug.

But in the possessions between these highlight-caliber buckets, Memphis’ attack was incredibly effective, picking on Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum with high ball screens. Neither one of those guys can defend a guard on the perimeter, and the Laker guards were not recovering after getting hit with a hard screen. In the Lakers’ disappointing road trip (1-2 up to this point), both the Heat and the Magic exploited this weakness. But last night it was particularly pronounced, due in part to Marc Gasol. He definitely deserves a lot of credit for creating openings for O.J. and Rudy, as he sets one of the best screens in the League.

After the Lakers made a run and closed the gap, Memphis tried to keep attacking in the screen-and-roll game, but something clicked for L.A. They started doubling screens. Trevor Ariza and Kobe came up with a crucial steal when they both attacked O.J. off a pick. And when they didn’t blitz the ballhandler, Memphis made them pay. Mayo used a soft Rudy Gay screen to tie the game at 96-96 with a deep trey.

The 105-96 final is nowhere near as close as this game actually was. It was decided on Kobe’s dagger three with under 35 seconds on the clock to give L.A. a 99-96 lead, and a run of fouls extended the score.

“I thought we played a better second half defensively because we stopped turning the ball over,” Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. “Our screen-roll defense got kind of tighter in the fourth quarter.”

Even if L.A. figured out how to keep Memphis under control in crunch time, it seemed like the Grizzlies exploited a real defensive weakness throughout the night.

Source: LA Times