Tuesday night we learned some things about the Washington Wizards — and maybe this is the kind of game where maybe they learned some things about themselves and what it takes to win.
What we learned about the Lakers we already knew: That the Lakers are better than the Wizards; That the Lakers are a lot better than the Wizards when they want to be; That the Lakers can lose focus; That Kobe will score 32 and take over when he has to; That if you let the Wizards run they can make you pay; That when the Wizards get some kind of defensive presence inside they are better.
The key at Staples was the Laker are much better inside — even without Andrew Bynum (Dec. 14, to answer your next question) the Lakers dominated scoring 50 points in the paint. Odom had 24 points on 8 of 12 shooting, Gasol added 21. At one point late in the third quarter the Lakers had grabbed the offensive rebound on 59.4 percent of their missed shots and finished grabbing 46.8 percent.
Word to the wise, you may not wan to give the Lakers a lot of second looks. The result of that was a 115-108 Lakers win. The outcome was never in doubt — the Lakers were the cat making a game out of toying with the mouse — but the Lakers lost focus. Best sign of that, they tore up the Wizards zone with passing and had 22 first half assists, they had four in the second half.
But maybe this game should not be about learning something — this was was just fun to watch. Athletic moves at both ends. Some nights that is enough. Still…
Here are the little things we learned:
• John Wall is getting better.
“He’s fast, he’s crafty, I thought he shot the ball well tonight,” Kobe Bryant said afterwards. Wall did, he had 22 points on 7 of 14 shooting with 14 assists to three turnovers.
• Phil Jackson made an interesting comment about John Wall pregame — he is still figuring out where he can score from on the floor at this level. Wall showed he can shoot, he was 2 of 5 from three, but great players have spots they get to on the floor where they are almost automatic. He could have learned from Kobe tonight, who gets to his spot at the elbow so well (Kobe has a lot of spots).
• Wall often gets compared to Derrick Rose, but is Wall a better shooter than Rose as a rookie? The conventional wisdom is yes, but the numbers make you think twice. Rose shot 22 percent from three as a rookie but 43 percent on long twos and he took 5.4 of them a game compared to one three a game. Wall is knocking down 33 percent from three, attempting 2.8 per game, but a lesser 33 percent on his 4.8 long twos per game.
• Trevor Booker, the rookie out of Clemson, had a game. He was 7 of 9 for a career best 14 points and had a monster dunk in transition off a Wall assist.
“I just try to get out and run with the guards,” Booker said.
But where he really came through was on defense. In the first half the Lakers carved up the Wizards on the interior. And while the Lakers got sloppy, Booker stepped up defensively, he was physical and picked up five fouls.
“That’s what they brought me to the Wizards for, just to play defense,” said Booker, who was drafted by the Timberwolves but traded. “That’s my main thing, playing defense, but I provided a spark offensively tonight.”
• Nick Young lights it up in Los Angeles. He’s an LA guy — Cleveland High in the Valley than USC — and Laker players and coaches to a man said when he comes home he plays better. When young was asked what it is about his play in LA he said it’s “probably the weather.”
• As for the Lakers, did we really learn anything new? Well, Dec. 14….
