Los Angeles Lakers: Kobe Bryant Sinks Pacers For Revenge

You should’ve realized it on December 15. Sitting in Bankers Life Fieldhouse, or staring at your television during halftime, there’s no conceivable way you thought it would happen again.

Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers trailed 60-27 at halftime that night, against the second-worst offense in the league.

The Indiana Pacers had knocked them down, put all their weight on their defenseless selves, and stomped the life out of them.

Even then, Bryant said it’s easily the quickest the Lakers have ever let a game slip away from them in 24 minutes since he’s been around. It only took 24 minutes on that night.

You should’ve realized, glaring around the locker room at the disgusted faces and looks of despondency, that it would be a different story at Staples Center.

Whenever a team gets blasted off the floor in the ugliest blowout of the season — worse than anything Philadelphia has endured thus far — it tends to be a fight for revenge during the next game.

For Bryant and Nick Young, it surely was. They took it to heart, and played the most inspiring basketball of the season down the stretch.

What started as an intense back-and-forth battle with five early lead changes, eventually became a double-digit game in favor of the Pacers. Just for a bit, it appeared to be a replica of the horrifying December night. Indiana’s lead swelled up to 13, and it became the story of the putrid Lakers’ defense.

Los Angeles has allowed 112.8 points per 100 possessions this season, which is the 18th worst defensive rating in NBA history. To begin the season, they were on pace to record the worst rating ever, but it’s improved by a touch.

Below is a list of some of the worst defensive ratings in history, per Basketball-Reference. You’ll notice it’s overwhelmingly filled with modern teams we all remember:

There’s no denying that Vogel knew how easy it was to score against this defense entering the game. They did just post 110 points against L.A. back in Indianapolis, which is something their crowds never get to enjoy.

After drenching the Lakers for 28 points in the first quarter on Sunday — eventually leading by 13 heading to the second — it looked to be another affliction for Byron Scott.

Regardless how weak and delicate Roy Hibbert has been as a screener during his career, the Lakers still couldn’t fight through them. It provided clear space for shots that the Lakers’ bigs couldn’t get out and contest quick enough:

Take note at how Hibbert is able to “push” Jordan Hill toward the restricted area, as he’s trying to set a pin-down on Ed Davis. Hibbert doesn’t even need it to work magically, he just needs it to work for a split second. It allows David West, who was on the right block, to slip out for the 15-foot jumper.

If you’ve been paying attention this season, this is incredibly favorable to West. Out of all forwards, he takes the second-most shots from 15-19 feet. At 5.0 attempts per game, he’s only behind LaMarcus Aldridge’s 6.1 per game. It’s not as if West is inefficient with his high attempts, neither. He’s connecting on 46 percent from that range, better than Aldridge’s 43.5 percent mark. Of course, it’s not to the level of Dirk Nowitzki (53.8 percent), but average human beings should never expect to reach Dirk-levels of anything.

The third quarter continued to be acceptable offense for Indiana, as they didn’t let their lead diminish. Most of it was due to the screen-rolls and pops West was working with Donald Sloan.

Seriously, if Jeremy Lin is the guard defending the pick-and-roll, it forces Ed Davis to lay off West more than anyone should:

In the instance above, Sloan decides to take the extra gap Lin allowed him, and misses a floater. However, Indiana grabbed one of their 16 offensive rebounds and eventually worked another West-Sloan screen-pop to perfection:

Poor Ed Davis. Although he’s known for his defensive savvy from Memphis and Toronto, he didn’t defend the two-man game proficiently at all on Sunday. It was too generous for West, who knocked down all five of his field goals in the third quarter.

In the play above, he couldn’t make up his mind whether or not he was wanting to hedge Sloan hard off the screen, or stay back and slide to West. It resulted in a wide-open 20-footer, and the whole Pacers’ bench knew it was dropping. That threw Indiana ahead by 12 as the quarter was closing.

The fourth was a completely different novel, written by a master of storybook endings. This time, it was a Hollywood ending.

Los Angeles went on a rampage, starting with Nick Young making the best of bad shot selection. An off-balanced triple off the dribble … check. A behind-the-head layup in traffic … check. There wasn’t much Indiana could do about Young’s heroics that brought the Lakers back into the game.

They were defending Young perfectly, playing him tightly. The only issue was, they also hacked him a large amount in the fourth. They sent Young to the foul line five times in the fourth, in which he connected on all five.

There was also another major, recurring problem the Pacers had.

No. 24 was coming toward them hot and heavy in the final minutes.

Flashback

Back in the 2000 Finals, he was dressed in No. 8. But, it doesn’t matter the number, Kobe Bryant has always enjoyed sinking the Pacers when the fourth quarter arrives.

In 2000, Bryant had been given the car keys with 2:33 left in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. The Pacers had held him to just 6 points in the first half, but Shaquille O’Neal fouling out in the fourth meant it was time for big boy plays.

Not allowing Indiana to tie the series at 2-2, Bryant was allowed the freedom by Phil Jackson, and he fueled the Lakers to victory in the final minutes of the game. In the last three possessions of the fourth, Bryant torched Indiana on three-consecutive isolation plays, and the game headed to overtime. It was that moment where he kicked it into something beyond overdrive.

Scoring eight points in the overtime period and downing the Pacers to make the Finals lead 3-1, Kobe had proven it was just as much his team as it was Shaq’s. It was one of the many turning points in a long career.

Back to reality

On Sunday, the long-time Pacers fans were reminded of the young 21-year-old kid.

Only this time, he was bald, had a grumpy, angry face, and was the oldest player on the floor.

It was still the same Pacer-killer in the final 12 minutes.

Bryant scored the Lakers’ final nine points en route to an 88-87 victory in Staples. Nothing was bigger than his pull-up, desperation 3-pointer over David West with 2:00 left. It gave the Lakers a two-point lead, which was something you didn’t expect this team to come back and grab.

Well, maybe there was something more meaningful.

To go along with his 4-of-4 connection from the free throw line in the fourth, Bryant also had the clutchest bucket of his season. With 20 seconds left, Bryant played the point guard role. He marched the ball up the floor, determined to actually come through in the final seconds. This season, he hasn’t been the “killer” we all anticipate.

Jeremy Lin didn’t even touch the ball. In fact, he strayed away from the play, clearing space:

As Bryant’s floating hook fell through the net to give the Lakers a one-point lead, everything was relieved. There was 12.4 seconds left, and Kobe had done his part.

Donald Sloan could be envisioned as the problem in this play, as he failed to offer help on Bryant’s penetration.

If there’s one thing we know about Bryant this season, it’s that he isn’t passing the last attempt up 90 percent of the time. There’s still instances — like Friday vs. Memphis — where he hands it off in the paint for a better look. But for the most part, the final 10 seconds belongs to him.

Sloan could’ve laid heavily off Lin at the top, especially when he realized Bryant was in attack-by-myself mode:

While Sloan was likely terrified the refs would gift Bryant with a late-game foul and send him to the line, it’s a defensive gamble I may have taken. You have to make it as tough as possible for someone known to bury fourth quarter shots. Especially in the paint.

“Kobe got that last shot because, in everyone’s mind, if we touch him, he’s going to the free throw line,” Solomon Hill said after the game. “If we don’t, he’s going to get a good shot. It was definitely a difficult situation but we just tried to play our hardest.”

There’s nothing for Hill or head coach Frank Vogel to be ashamed of with their defensive play. Considering Bryant is shooting just 36.3 percent from inside the paint (per NBA.com), they sure played the odds.

It was just Kobe’s time to shine, even if the sun is now shining greater in the land of Phoenix. Those deadly Suns moved into better position to get their draft pick for 2015, which the Lakers will only steal back if it falls within the top five of the lottery.

While the defensive effort wasn’t anything to be embarrassed about for the Pacers, their other end of the floor surely was.

Only scoring 87 points against the worst defense in the league — by far — has to hit home as the best indication of how objectionable your offense has turned into. Without Paul George and George Hill, some of it is understandable. But, not when you have a perfect mix of veterans and youth.

It was the first time this season ANY opponent for the Lakers has scored just 87 points. Every other time, it’s been well into the 90’s and 100’s, hence their 11-23 record.

If Vogel wants to get his squad to the playoffs (for whatever reason instead of getting a lottery pick), pin-pointing what’s wrong with the offensive flow is the step he must overcome.

If he needs help pin-pointing it, just ponder how it’s even comprehensible that Roy Hibbert ended up with the final game-winning shot. From 18 feet. Off-balanced.

“I don’t think the shot that I took was the shot we drew up,” Hibbert said.

I sure hope not.

**All statistical support credited to Basketball-Reference and NBA.com**