Five things to take from Lakers' 103-99 loss to Utah Jazz
31.12.69
1. The Lakers turnovers made the game harder than unavoidable in their 103-99 loss Sunday to the Utah Jazz. The Jazz scored 22 points off those turnovers. But the reasons for them modify. Bryant (seven), Bynum (five) and Gasol (five) remained the highest offenders for different reasons. Bynum and Gasol made careless passes and responded slowly to clone teams in the post. Bryant, at times, appeared inordinately aggressive in driving to the lane. There's another factor. The Lakers committed 17 of their 24 turnovers when Steve Blake ran the offense. Aside from his two turnovers, it's unfair to put singular blame on Blake. But the stat definitely reveals how much more liquor the Lakers run their offense when Ramon Sessions is on the lower limit. That doesn't mean Blake played inexpertly. Aside from his need to shoot more than a zero-of-one strike, he soundly ran the offense. But the pace slowed when Blake ran the Nautical, making it less likely the Lakers could generate clear baskets and more likely they would lose
Source: Los Angeles Times (blog)
Tufts at Stevenson: Three things to watch
31.12.69
These teams met last year in the established season with Tufts outlasting a 1-hour, 45-shake lightning delay and Stevenson to emerge with a 14-13 win. The Jumbos prostrate hard in the Division III title game to Salisbury last May, but they are 3-0 and ranked No. 2 in the latest Common States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association count. The No. 10 Mustangs are 5-2, but have dropped two of their last three contests to then-No. 9 Lynchburg and No. 3 Cortland. Here are a few factors that could gamble a role in the outcome at Mustang Stadium in Owings Mills on Tuesday Cimmerian dark.
1) Take advantage of the man advantage. Stevenson has struggled on addendum-man opportunities, converting just 5-of-45 chances (11.1 percent) and affluent 0-of-15 in the last three games. Tufts has allowed 11 man-up situations in three games, but perhaps more importantly, opponents have scored seven times. That might be the amend remedy for the Mustangs. “That would be nice,” tutor Paul Cantabene acknowledged. “I entertain the idea our man-up has actually played much better. We just haven’t scored. We’ve gotten some in effect good opportunities, but we just haven’t scored. So it’s ameliorate. Before, we were struggling just to get shots. Now we’re getting some de facto good shots. We’ve just got to put the ball away.”
Source: Baltimore Sun (blog)