If I could recap this game in one word, it would be frustrated.

Fans are frustrated with a home loss that the Lakers could have used to build on their back to back wins over Dallas and Portland.

The coaches were clearly frustrated by their players’ lack of effort on defense and their casual approach on offense.

The players were frustrated by the physicality of the Grizzlies, where tough defense and a patient approach on offense must have seemed like a turn in the torture chamber.

Frustrated. Everyone is feeling it right now.

Save for the Grizzlies of course. Give the blue bears credit in this game. They played harder and smarter than the home team. Rudy Gay paced his ‘mates with 18 points on 14 shots on mostly disciplined attacks off the dribble. He used his quickness advantage over Artest to get below the foul line and shoot turnaround jumpers that Ron tried to contest but couldn’t fully get to. OJ Mayo poured in 12 points in the decisive 4th quarter on hot outside shooting and strong drives to the rim and his 16 points for the game nearly doubled the output of the Lakers reserves (who tallied all of 9 points on the evening). When you add in Haddadi’s 10 points off the bench and Zach Randolph’s 10 and 12 rebounds from a reserve role, the Grizzlies bench gave their team a spark that the Lakers simply couldn’t match.

From the Lakers end, though, it was truly a lack of effort and commitment that did them in. Yes, some of the players point totals and shooting percentages look nice but when you look closer at the boxscore, you can see the red flags. Bynum had 4 rebounds all game and besides Pau’s 11 defensive boards no Laker had more than 3 defensive rebounds all game. The Lakers committed 16 turnovers, mostly of the lazy and weak variety where they either floated a pass or weren’t strong enough with the ball. Rather than doing work to establish the post or set good screens, the Lakers settled for jumpers or tried to do all their work after having the ball in their hands neither of which were very successful.

But it was the defense that really let the Lakers down. The rim went unprotected. Cutters weren’t bumped. Too many shots went uncontested. When the ball was turned over, too many Lakers watched instead of racing back on D. The result was too many easy shots and on a night where the Lakers couldn’t hit their own open jumpers, they didn’t have the firepower to overcome such poor effort. It got to the point that Mike Brown even sat Kobe in a key stretch of the 4th quarter trying to give his team some life only to bring him back in with under two minutes remaining because that didn’t work either.

And so everyone is frustrated. You, me, the coaches, and the players. But, when you take a step back the realization comes that games like this happen. Some nights the other team comes out hungrier, plays harder, and proves to be better on that evening. Such was the case for the Lakers in this game, just like it was for the Mavs this past Wednesday. Hopefully the team learns from this game and can turn some of that frustration into stronger play.

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Stocks climbed higher in Asian session today as China stepped up easing measures. The Chinese government announced, in order to boost credit, a reduction of reserve requirement ratio in 379 more branches in rural areas of the Agricultural Bank of China. The scheme was initially applied to 563 branches in 8 provinces. The reduction of the ratio by 2% is expected to free up RMB 23B. In the US session, the markets were a tad lower due to weaker than expected existing home sales data.

China Steps Up Easing by Cutting RRR for More Banks

Sell Gold, Silver, and Jewelry for Money

Gold futures trade higher Monday, shaking off initial weakness as bargain hunters snapped a cheaper gold after steep losses in the previous week, and other commodities and U.S. equities also post gains.

Metals Stocks: Gold ends higher as bargain hunting ensues

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Market sentiment strengthened in the NY session in a quiet trading day, due to Apple?s announcement of a new dividend plan. Wall Street soared with the DJIA and the S&P 500 gaining +0.05% and +0.40% respectively. In the commodity sector, crude oil extended gains on Monday despite speculations that Saudi Arabia may increase output. The recent rise in oil prices has also triggered growth concerns with the IMF managing director Largarde warning that ‘the rising price of oil is a new threat that could derail the recovery’. The front-month contract for WTI crude oil climbed to a 2-week higher of 108.24 before settling at 108.29 while the equivalent Brent crude contract ended the day largely unchanged at 125.71. On the contrary, gold continued its consolidation below 1700. UBS downgraded its 1-month price forecast to 1550 from 1775.

Strength in Oil may Derail Growth

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Records: Lakers 29-18 (3rd in West), Blazers 22-25 (12th in West)
Offensive ratings: Lakers 104.5 (13th in NBA), Blazers 105.0 (11th in NBA)
Defensive ratings: Lakers 101.7 (10th in NBA), Blazers 103.8 (13th in NBA)
Projected Starting Lineups: Lakers: Ramon Sessions, Kobe Bryant, Metta World Peace, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum
Blazers: Raymond Felton, Wesley Matthews, Nicolas Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge, Joel Pryzbilla
Injuries: Lakers: none; Blazers: Elliot Williams (out), Shawn Williams (out)

The Lakers Coming In: After two straight losses to Utah and Houston, the Lakers bounced back with good performances from Kobe, Pau and Ramon Sessions. Kobe went into the game against Dallas with little rhythm offensively, having shot three-for-20 and 10-for-27 in the two games prior, but he ended up having one of his most efficient nights on the season in Dallas, scoring 30 points on 11-for-18 shooting. Pau Gasol also had a big night, scoring 27 points (his second highest mark of the season) on 13-for-16 shooting with nine rebounds. On top of that, Ramon Sessions seems to be coming into his own in this Laker offense, as he had his best night as a Laker (granted, he’s only played in four contests in the Forum Blue and Gold), recording 17 points and nine assists — more assists than any Laker point guard had recorded up to this point in the season. In the post-game thread, Travis noted that it was his first time being able to see Sessions play as a Laker, but was able to sum up his effectiveness pretty well: “The best part is his game is controlled and even though the ball is in his hands a lot, he rarely gets in trouble or lets the defense hone in on him.”

The Trailblazers Coming In:  Portland is coming off a big win over the Memphis Grizzlies that saw Nicolas Batum score 24 points, which included four three-pointers. Wesley Matthews, who has recently become a starter after Portland effectively got rid of two-fifths of their starters at the deadline, chipped in 18 points and nine rebounds. While most expected the already struggling Trailblazers to be playing for a lottery pick the rest of the season, they currently sit at 2-2 since the trading deadline, just like the Lakers — who many expected to be much improved with the addition of Sessions. Instead, Portland has now won two of three against playoff bound teams (the other loss was an embarrassing effort against the Milwaukee Bucks), and have been either really good or really bad with their new roster and coach.

Portland Trailblazer Blogs: Portland Roundball Society is a fantastic blog to check out all Blazer news and analysis.

Keys to the Game: I mentioned that the Blazers lost two of their five starters at the trade deadline, and they happen to be two guys who were best against the Lakers’ strengths. As far as under appreciated ballplayers go, Gerald Wallace may define that more than any other small forward in today’s game. He’s an energy guy who can knock down jumpers, attack the rim, pass well, and defend the hell out of some of the league’s best perimeter scorers. If you needed one guy to shut down Kobe for one possession, he’s one of the first three guys that I’d consider, and he’s no longer a member of the Portland Trailblazers. The task of guarding Kobe will now fall on either Nicolas Batum or Wesley Matthews, who Kobe has destroyed over and over again. With Wallace gone, Kobe should feel a lot more comfortable working within the offense, especially in the mid to low post with Matthews guarding him or around the perimeter with Batum guarding him. While Batum is no slouch on the defensive end himself (he’s the kind of tall, lanky defender Kobe has struggled with in the past), he hasn’t had the same success stopping Bean that Wallace has had.

The other guy the Blazers lost was Marcus Camby. While one of the oldest players in the NBA, Camby was still a serviceable post defender who was still rebounding at a nice clip. Before the trade deadline, Camby was at his best defensive rating in seven years and starting every night with the condensed schedule at age 38. Now with Camby gone, the Blazers lose some of the frontcourt depth that’s needed to counter the Laker bigs over the course of 48 minutes and now start Joel Pryzbilla, another aging big man but one less skilled than Camby. A heavy dose of Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol should give the Blazers all they could handle on the night, and both Drew and Pau have had relatively good games when Camby was on the helm.

Even with Wallace and Camby gone, this is still a team that won’t allow you to key in on one guy defensively. The Blazers will run their offense through LaMarcus Aldridge (as they should), but both Nicolas Batum and Wesley Matthews could give the Lakers issues. Batum was fantastic from behind the 3-point line in January and February, averaging better than 42 percent from range. However, teams have finally started to close out and run the Frenchman off the three-point line, lowering his shooting from behind the arc to 32 percent in March. Even with his significant drop off, he’s still a dangerous shooter when open (as Memphis found out), and it would be wise for the Lakers to run him off the line and not trade two points for three. Wesley Matthews is another guy who can score the ball. While Kobe has repeatedly killed Matthews when Bean has had the ball, Matthews is the kind of guy who moves around a lot and has given Kobe problems himself. He moves well without the ball and is an excellent spot-up shooter, which accounts for 33 percent of his overall offensive production. Per mySynergy Sports, Matthews is hitting 42 percent of his spot-up threes and scores 45 percent of the time he spots up (this is accounting for the times he’s fouled). Finding Matthews, keeping Batum off the three-point line, and working hard to keep Aldridge from going off will all be instrumental, but obviously much easier said than done.

Where you can watch: 7:30 PM start time on Fox Sports West. Also listen at ESPN Radio 710AM.

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Gold and silver continue their strong 2012 advance with relatively sparse mainstream press headlines.  Gold is now only 4 per ounce below the all time high of ,895 reached on September 6, 2011 and silver looks more and more like it is getting ready to challenge the range last seen in mid 2011. Based [...]
Gold and Silver Blog

The U.S. Mint reports that March sales of the American Eagle Gold and Silver Bullion coins are on track to more than double from February sales levels.  Sales during February were unusually low with gold bullion sales down 77.3% and silver bullion sales down 54% from the prior year.  Shown below are the U.S. Mint [...]
Gold and Silver Blog

Records: Lakers 28-18 (3rd in West), Mavericks 27-20 (5th in West)
Offensive ratings: Lakers 104.1 (16th in NBA), Mavericks 102.8 (22nd in NBA)
Defensive ratings: Lakers 101.7 (10th in NBA), Mavericks 100.1 (4th in NBA)
Projected Starting Lineups: Lakers: Steve Blake, Kobe Bryant, Metta World Peace, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum
Mavericks: Jason Kidd, Rodrigue Beaubois, Vince Carter, Dirk Nowitzki, Ian Mahinmi
Injuries: Lakers: none; Mavericks: Brendan Haywood (out), Shawn Marion (doubtful), Delonte West (out)

The Lakers Coming in: The Lakers have found ways to lose their last two games, be it through sloppy play or late game dysfunction. Many deserve blame for the losses so pinning any while pinning these defeats on one person may be easy but it’s not the most nuanced approach. Too many things went wrong in those games.

Take last night for example. Below are the plays the Lakers ran, with the results, after Kobe entered the game late into the 4th quarter:

• Post up for Pau where he went baseline for an up and under move that he missed.
• A “horns” set (where the ball is entered into the hight post and the weak side big and strong side guard set down screens for the wings) to get Kobe the ball. After Kobe came off the screen he wasn’t open but received a hand off from Pau that led to him missing a three point shot.
• Another “horns” set to get Kobe the ball. When he curled into the paint a pass was attempted by he did not catch it cleanly and a turnover resulted.
• Another “horns” set to get Kobe the ball. After he makes the catch drifting to the top of the key, he runs a P&R with Gasol, splits the screen and shoots a fading jumper going left that misses.
• The Lakers run “two down” which is a down screen action to free Kobe up to get the ball. He has the option of coming up to the FT line or can break off his cut to go to the strong side post. Kobe gets the ball, on the left side of the floor and shoots a fadeaway jumper that misses.
• The Lakers run a 1/2 P&R with Sessions and Kobe. Sessions comes off the pick but with nothing there swings the ball to the opposite wing. The ball is then entered into Pau in the mid post but with the shot clock winding down he takes a contested jumper that misses.
• The Lakers run an isolation for Kobe after a screen action and he hits a jumper.
• The Lakers run a variation of the same play to get Kobe the ball and he again hits a jumper in isolation.
• The Lakers run a post up play for Gasol but he’s fouled and the Lakers must inbound. After the inbound the Lakers run a hand off for Kobe and he takes at three pointer that misses.
• The Lakers run another hand off play for Kobe at the top of the key and he makes a three pointer.
• After fouling, the Rockets make one of two FT’s but because the Lakers don’t have a timeout, they can’t advance the ball and Barnes can’t get a full court heave up after fumbling the rebound. Game over.

In the entirety of the last 4 minutes and 45 seconds, not counting the last second heave that wasn’t, the Lakers had 10 trips on offense. Of those 10 plays they ran 2 post ups for Gasol and one Sessions/Kobe P&R that led to another Pau post up. Gasol took 2 shots and was fouled once. Every other time, the play was ran for Kobe and Kobe shot the ball.

Now, maybe this is Kobe’s fault for shooting every time. Maybe it’s Brown’s fault for calling these plays (from the angles I saw on TV, Brown looked to call several plays in this stretch, whether he called all of them I do not know). But what I can say is that the Lakers must find a way to diversify their late game offense if they’re going to be successful scoring the ball. Running simple down screen actions for Kobe and/or asking him to create off the dribble isn’t a strategy that will work often enough for it to be the only plan of attack. It puts the Lakers in a position where they’re too dependent on one person to score for their offense to be successful and beyond that it’s asking him to do so mostly on his own. And while Kobe’s always seemed willing to operate within this type of structure, it’s not the most prudent way of attacking a geared up defense.

Of course, missing Bynum surely hurt them as he’s become a very good late game option in the low post. And with his full compliment of players, who knows what Brown calls or what the players decide to run if given the chance. But last night was an example of the Lakers being too predictable. And, in the end, that must change or they’ll be too easy to defend on these critical possessions.

The Mavericks Coming in: Dallas has won 4 in a row with their last two being impressive victories over the Spurs and Nuggets. In those two games the Mavs flashed a balanced and efficient offensive attack with Dirk leading the way but his teammates also playing very well. They’ve been missing Brendan Haywood and Shawn Marion on defense but their offense has more than made up for any deficiencies (though, to be clear, their defense has still performed well) as teamwork and ball movement has ruled. Recently the Mavs have looked more like the buzz saw that shredded opponents in the playoffs than the middling offensive team they’ve been for most of this campaign. And that should worry opponents – especially the Lakers – a great deal. Because when this team shares the ball and makes quick and sound decisions, the shots come easy and are usually open. And with the quality of players they have taking those shots, they become very dangerous (as we saw last season).

Mavericks Blogs: The Two Man Game and Mavs Moneyball are both very good sites. Check ‘em out.

Keys to game: With Haywood out and Marion listed as doubtful and unlikely to suit up, the Mavs are suddenly weaker at the defensive spots that would be allocated to Bynum and Kobe. This should put an emphasis on the Lakers working the ball through those two players as often as possible – especially Bynum.

Big Drew will be matched up against Mahinmi and Brandan Wright, both good athletes but both giving up a lot of weight and strength to Bynum. A post centric attack that features Drew should be the point of emphasis tonight to make the Mavs either double team or watch as he powers to the rim with his low block arsenal. With this sort of attack, though, Bynum will need to be decisive with the ball and make the easy pass to try and set up his mates rather than looking for the homerun pass that sets up the basket. In recent games, Bynum has fallen in love with the skip pass to the opposite corner when the angled, same side pass is the easiest or the teammate rotating to the top of the key is most open. He must show patience  and rather than hunt the actual assist, he must live with the hockey one.

As for Kobe, he’ll see plenty of Vince Carter and Jason Kidd tonight and while he has the advantage over both players, both will get into him and make him earn his baskets. Against both guys I’d like to see Kobe work in the P&R more to spread the Dallas defense out and rely less on him creating his own shot in isolation or coming off curls where the timing and accuracy of passes must be nearly perfect to run the action correctly. If Kobe can catch the ball in space and free of defenders, I’m more than happy to let him attack in whatever way he sees fit, but the Mavs often hound him with defenders right in his hip pocket and working in more on ball screens should serve him well to escape  them.

Defensively, the Lakers rotations must be sharp as the ball will be moving all over the court. Kidd will run the P&R and he’ll not only seek out Dirk, but he’ll use the big German’s presence on the court to shift the defense and then hit an open man elsewhere. Once the ball is passed, it will move on to the next man, and then again to the next man until the guy with the ball is open enough to take an uncontested shot. With this type of discipline on offense, the Lakers must show the same amount on defense lest they want to give up open shots to players more than capable of knocking them down.

On an individual level, the Mavs are obviously quite talented too and must be respected when in isolation. Dirk, of course, is one of the best scorers in the league and he’ll try to work over Gasol with his deep jumper and then his show and go moves to get to his preferred spots on the floor. Pau must be quick in guarding Dirk’s J, but also not fall for the fakes that will get him out of position. With Marion likely out, the Mavs also have dual threats on the wing that want to attack off the dribble. The last time these teams met Vince Carter was a key, attacking off the dribble and breaking down the Lakers’ defense. His first step must be respected and I’d much rather him have to take pull up jumpers than for him to shoot in rhythm coming off picks or be able to get all the way to the rim off the dribble. The same applies to Beaubois who loves to use his quickness to get into the lane. He must be cut off and forced to take contested jumpers.

I haven’t even mentioned Jason Terry or Lamar Odom yet but you get the picture by now. The Mavs are a dangerous team and if the Lakers are going to stop this slide they’ll need their best execution on both sides of the ball. If they bring it, this is a totally winnable game that can get them back on track. The question of course, is will they?

Where you can watch: 6:30PM start time on ESPN. Also listen at ESPN Radio 710AM.

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After the recent volatility in precious metals, let’s take a look at the year to date performance of gold, silver, platinum and palladium.  The new year started off with a strong rally across the entire precious metals group which erased some of the losses seen in the second half of 2011. The across the board [...]
Gold and Silver Blog

I’m not a big fan of the meme surrounding clutch play. I’ve found that too often people who toil in the territory of claiming or refuting who is and who is not clutch do so at the expense of at looking at the entire game. That possessions that happen outside of the accepted construct (5 minutes or less in the game with a margin of 5 points or less) don’t meet the definition of clutch, that what matters most is scoring or shot making and the efficiency in doing so, that positional confines or players’ roles aren’t front line variables to consider, etc, etc.

Said another way, there’s too much gray area surrounding the arguments of clutch play for me to get worked up about it either way.

I’m more than happy to admit that as a game winds down and the score is close, the contest is more exciting. I’m also happy to admit that it’s thrilling to see someone hit a game winner and that misses in those instances don’t carry the nearly the negative connotation that a made shot carries a positive one.

This surely influences how I view Kobe Bryant. But as a Lakers’ fan, and someone that’s appreciative of having him spend his entire career helping the team I root for achieve more success than any other team during his era of play, I’ll also admit I’m a bit biased here. I mean, I’m objective about how Kobe’s late game play can both help and hinder the Lakers (last night is just the latest example of the latter) but over the years I’ve learned to accept Kobe for what he is: a fantastic basketball player who has had a bunch of success playing the game the way that he sees best while also being far from perfect. If you want to focus on the “far from perfect” part, that’s fine. If you want to focus on the “fantastic basketball player” part, I’m good with that too. After all, he’s both.

Again, I accept this.

I don’t care much about his place in history because those are of often mythical match ups that spur on hypothetical arguments that will never be solved. I don’t care how he stacks up against present day players because he’s 16 seasons into a career whereas his “peers” that carry the elite tag have had careers half as long (or less) to this point. I don’t need to argue who is better. I’m quite comfortable knowing that Kobe’s still quite excellent at this game and has been so for so long that he’s viewed this way both as a present day participant and through a historical lens. The fact that he’s in this discussion means more to me than if someone proves to me he’s better than another all time great.

Let’s get back on track though, shall we?

I don’t much care for arguing if Kobe’s clutch or not but I do know that the way we’ve come to define what is or isn’t clutch is too limited for my taste. For example LeBron gets gunned down by many fans for passing up shots to instead hit an open teammate in the closing moments of a close game. Some extrapolate this to mean he’s scared or deficient in the clutch. That he’d rather not miss than take and make the shot. I’ve no clue if any part of that last sentence is true but I can tell you I’ve read it about a thousand times in the last few seasons. Meanwhile, Kobe’s discussed and critiqued ad nauseam for the exact opposite reason.

Again, though, all we’re really discussing here is taking the shot. Is that all that matters? I’d argue no. And, while this topic has been covered some at this site before, there are others that would probably agree with me. Like Jared Dubin from Hardwood Paroxysm who covered this ground well in this fantastic read about what Kobe does and does not do in what’s become known as crunch time. He looks at Kobe’s stats from all angles and comes to this conclusion:

Kobe is such a lightning rod in the clutch discussion because his ardent supporters usually maintain that he IS clutch because of the game-winners and the championship rings, while statheads maintain that he ISN’T clutch because he usually doesn’t hit those game-winners and “count teh ringzzz isn’t an argument.” The track record on game-winners is indisputable. He doesn’t have a very good one. But he’s still an excellent shot creator – one of the best in the league at getting himself an open look – who routinely draws double and triple teams down the stretch of games, gets to the free throw line at an elite rate, steps up his rebounding and passing and usually wins. In other words, he’s a really, really good clutch time player, just not for the reasons his biggest supporters seem to think he is.

I suggest you go read the entire thing to better understand all the data that drove his conclusions. It’s a smart and well written piece that tries to get at more than just the shot that is or isn’t taken; that goes in or misses. And bringing some color to this gray area can only help us understand this part of the game better. Even if we’re not that fond of even discussing it in the first place.

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