GRIZZLIES -at- LAKERS – 2-26-16 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Eight Game Losing Streak… Like the last game, the Lakers gave up 67 points in the first half. That will put you in a hole 99 times out of a 100. The team is a disaster in all aspects on defense.

“They have great practices and it looks like they are going to transfer it into the games and it never happens,” Worthy said.

If they are practicing defense against their own offense every day, chances are they are pretty good defenders in practice. That doesn’t explain the poor job they do in transition D, however. They gave up 17 points on the break in the first half. It’s not like it’s just the young guys making mistakes in transition. The vets are just as bad.

“I think a lot of that’s because we’re so disappointed when we miss a shot, we forget we still got to play on the other end of the floor,” Scott said.

From an entertainment standpoint, once D’Angelo Russell sat tonight, the game slipped into a garbage-time coma laced with the occasional boo’s from fans, who didn’t even get to see Kobe play.

The Lakers hung another L, 112-95, to the Grizzlies. The Lakers have lost 8 straight. Both the Sixers and Suns have been equal to the task in the tank standings. The Sixers have dropped 7 straight and the Suns and impressive 13 in a row.

“Eight game losing streak, one game losing streak. It doesn’t matter. I don’t like losing, regardless,” Julius Randle said.


Russell -- -- Easily the most entertaining part of tonight’s game. Russell was aggressive throughout his minutes. Big difference in his confidence and hoop IQ from the start of the year. Not that he didn’t have great hoop IQ before, but experience is teaching him things all the time… whether it’s post-up moves or like tonight, how to draw fouls and make sure the refs blow the whistle. If he masters that aspect to his game, look out. But step back for a second and look at your rookie PG drawing 12 FTAs. That’s very nice. Some struggles from the FT line tonight during one stretch. He’s been better there lately, but left some points on the board. Regardless, you’ve got to like the ability he showed in drawing the whistle. He also got to the rim for scores and hit the three ball. Very efficient scoring. He had a couple of highlight passes, one was a quick-fire reaction to throw it what looked like between Randolph’s legs to Randle for a dunk in transition (but I don’t think it was between the legs, despite what they said in the post game). “I love what I’m seeing,” Scott said. Without him in the game, the offense looked lost and certainly without any real purpose as a team. I wouldn’t have minded seeing a few more minutes in the fourth to get him up to 35 or so. Russell describing our cluster(bleep) D: “It’s always two or three guys, including myself, that aren’t on the same page.” The Stats: He scored 22 points on 6-9 shooting (2-2 from three, 8-12 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a -14. The Action: He threaded a needle to Clarkson on the weakside for the floater. Nice close out on a three to force an airball. He sealed Conley on the high screen and got the foul call as he rode up his back on the jumper, he made both FTs. He attacked off an inbounds, took contact but kept going and hit the short one in the lane. He attacked from the wing and hit the floater from 11 feet out. He partially blocked a layup attempt on one end and missed the pull-up jumper on the other. He drained a long three with the shotclock about to expire. He set up Bass for FTs with an extra pass in the paint. He missed a long two straight away (would have been better served to take the three a second earlier). He drew the D on the break and bounced a perfect pass between defenders to Randle for the dunk. He drew a double team on the left side and whipped a pass to Randle in the paint for the layup. He swished a three working off the high screen at the end of the corner. He scored 12 points on 4-6 shooting to go with 3 boards and 3 assists. Second Half: He drew FTs on a foul before the inbounds was made, he made both. Excellent position on the weakside D and the Grizzlies pass had nowhere to but to him. He got his man behind him and drew FTs getting him to ride up the back, he missed both, uggh. He blew past his man to his left and scored a layup next time down. Way short on a pull-up at the FT line. He drew more FTs in the paint and made just one. Well done with the exaggeration on the perimeter contact to get a whistle, he made just one FT again. Nice pass to Black rolling and he drew FTs on the dunk attempt. Quick attack to his right in early offense and he scored the layup. He attacked through multiple defenders and drew the FTs at the rim, he made both.

Clarkson -- -- Not a good first half start for Clarkson with airballs and blocked shots. To start the second half, it was bricked threes and choked layups. Ugly. He’s being more aggressive with the three, but unlike the last several games, it wasn’t dropping tonight. Rare we see as bad a game as this from Clarkson offensively. He said they were putting in some new things offensively. I’m not sure that was the reason for his issues. Defense was both soft and confused, but that’s the whole team’s M.O. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-16 shooting (0-7 from three) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal and no fouls in 29 minutes. He was a -23. The Action: He swished a floater when Russell threaded the needle to him on the weakside. He missed a three on a kickout straight away. He was swatted out of bounds on a drive. Not close on a pull-up three in transition. He airballed a long pull-up jumper after pounding the dribble. He probe to his right, went back left across the lane and scored a layup. He ran the clock down, attacked off the high screen and rattled in the floater. He was blocked on a layup attempt in the lane. He forced an up-and-under and was blocked. He had 6 points on 3-8 shooting. Second Half: He missed a wing three. He attacked from the wing and whipped it to Randle for the dunk. He missed another wing three. He missed another open wing three. He choked a layup in transition after looking off a defender. Way short on another pull-up three. He attacked the paint and was rejected badly to ignite a break. Quick-fire attempt from three, clank. He hit a floater in the lane.

Randle -- -- He was getting into the paint with some ease tonight, attacking to both his left and right with speed. That resulted in a number of FT attempts. I would have liked to see him back in during the fourth. Every game for the rest of the season is garbage time. Why aren’t we making sure he gets a full dose of starter minutes? Sacre, Kelly? Who cares? Strong offensive numbers in his limited minutes. He wasn’t able to get the double-double, however. “I’m trying to get better every day, every game. Take it to the next level,” Randle said. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 6-12 shooting (0-1 from three, 5-8 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a -22. The Action: Weak handoff and it was taken for a score the other way. He pushed up the board, spun to lose a man and missed the layup at the rim. His soft outlet cross court was picked off for a layup (just bring it up yourself). He attacked to his right across the lane and he banked in a nice looking short one with his right. He missed a step-back elbow jumper. He attacked off the three line to his right and drew FTs, he made one. Another quick attack to his right next time down and he drew more FTs, he made one again. He missed a wild attempt in transition. He fed Nick in transition for FTs. He drew FTs on an iso up against the shotclock out of a timeout, he made both. He missed a putback attempt, got it back and powered in the layup. He attacked to his left across the lane and drew FTs, he made one. He bricked a three up against the shotclock. He dunked off the sweet bounce pass from Russell in transition. Russell drew a double team and whipped a pass to him for a layup in the paint. He had 13 points on 4-9 shooting (5-8 from the line) to go with 6 boards. Second Half: He took the bullet feed from Clarkson in the paint and dunked (good hands). He attacked to his left and hit the short runner. He stripped the ball from his man in the post. He got all the way to the rim to his right but not close on the easy finish with his right, then he fouled.

Brown -- -- With Kobe out (DNP – Old/Sore Shoulder), Brown slid into the rotation. There’s talk he’ll get more run (as he should) to close the season. He didn’t take a shot in the first half, going into Invisible Man mode. Someone must have said something to him at halftime because he stepped up the aggression to get a few shots up. He missed some easy ones. Defensively, no one was good tonight, but he did get a couple of steals. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-7 shooting (0-2 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He sagged off his man to help in the post (didn’t need to) and gave up a three to his man. Second Half: He missed a top-of-the-key jumper to start the half. He missed a wing three. He jumped the pass lane, pushed it out with speed and choked the layup, uggh. He missed a wing three on a kickout. He got to a missed FT and knocked down the 17-footer. He attacked the pressure D and scored the And-1 layup, he made the FT. He attacked to his left and missed the layup.

Hibbert -- -- He’s averaging 6.3 points per game and 5.1 boards. I had to double check those rebound numbers because I feel like I see more games like tonight where it’s just a couple of boards (actually just 1 tonight). All season long I’ve been curious about what his market value will be this offseason. He’s made no case as a defensive anchor with this team, that’s for sure. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-5 shooting (0-1 from the line) to go with 1 board and 2 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a -21. The Action: He clanked a jumphook working the post on our first possession. He lost his man on an up-and-under and scored the layup. He spun, took contact, threw it up immediately and the And-1 went down, he missed the FT. Weak help on the high screen and they gave up an open jumper. He was stripped trying to work the post. He scooped up a loose ball and missed the short one. He picked up a tech on the other end. Second Half: Nothing to report.

Williams -- -- He seemed a little out of sync with the flow of the game in this one. I thought we saw him on the right side of the floor a bit more and maybe that was part of it. He still scratched out some points off the bench. Defensively, he had a couple of steals, but his team D is often a step late to react. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 4-8 shooting (1-5 from three, 4-5 from the line) to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and no fouls in 24 minutes. He was a -13. The Action: He attacked off the three line from the right wing and scored the layup. He missed a chuck from three. He attacked the paint and swished the early-offense floater. A step late on a switch, that sucked Bass into the lane and Bass’s man hit a three at the buzzer. Poor read in transition, letting a man get behind him to take a pass for a layup. He iso’d out of the timeout and hit the fading wing jumper from the left side. He swished the wing three when his man stood there after Lou picked up his dribble. He got tapped on a high-arching And-1 attempt on the run, he made one FT. He had 10 points on 4-5 shooting, but was a team-high -14. Second Half: He drew a foul at the three line, taking an extra step and getting away with it, he made all three FTs. He missed an open three in transition. He missed a deep chuck from three. Nice jump pass to Black who cut baseline for the layup. He missed a wing three. He set up Bass for FTs on a bounce pass.

Nance -- -- He hasn’t been very aggressive offensively lately. We called his number in iso against Carter out of a timeout. That was an ugly possession where he tried to face up and then threw it away. You’ve got to use your size on that, but not much of a play call anyway. I liked seeing him out there in our full-court pressure situations. He covers a lot of ground with that athleticism and length. They might want to consider some more moments of that to try to get them more engaged defensively. “I’m going to do all I can in my power to make it better,” Nance said of the D. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-3 shooting to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 15 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He scooped up a loose ball and missed the jumphook. He pulled down an offensive board and kicked it out to Nick for three. Second Half: He tracked down a loose ball on the full-court press to get the turnover. He attacked off the three line to his right and hit the floater over the help D. An iso for Nance out of a timeout and a turnover. He reached for a steal and Carter took it for a layup.

Young -- -- He and Lou shot a combined 2-10 from three tonight. Nick was in genuine chuck mode. Poor shot selection. Defensively, he had a couple of shotblocks, but like everyone else, defensive rotation issues. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-6 shooting (1-5 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and no fouls in 17 minutes. He was a -18. The Action: He drew FTs when Randle hit him on the break, he made one. He missed a long chuck from three. He rejected his man’s layup attempt. He missed a corner three. He sank a wing three off the kickout from Nance. Not close on a chuck from three. Second Half: He iso’d and hit the long chuck from two, not a good shot. He was stripped on the perimeter on the other end. He airballed a chuck from three on iso, ugly.

Bass -- -- Not a lot of action tonight. Black replaced him in the second half, which we should see more of. Or less of Roy, anyway. He then came in for Nance in the fourth and got a couple garbage-time scores. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 1-2 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards and no fouls in 17 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He drew FTs on the feed from Russell under the hoop, he made one. Second Half: He drew FTs off the nice bounce pass from Lou, he made both. He posted up Barnes and dunked. He had his layup spiked out of bounds.

Black -- -- “Communication solves a lot,” Black said of the D. He came in for Hibbert in the second half. He said he focuses on keeping his energy active while out there and just learning from experience. I like seeing him and Russell on the floor together, but it’s been pretty rare. His FT shooting kills me. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-3 shooting (0-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 1 block and no fouls in 12 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He couldn’t get a tip to fall in. He drew FTs on the dunk attempt on a nice screen-roll sequence, he missed both FTs, of course (why are you a foot behind the FT line?). He cut baseline and Lou hit him for the layup.

Huertas -- -- In for the extended garbage time midway through the fourth. He scratched out a few points, including a three and a banked runner. Good minutes, but the game was over already. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-3 shooting (1-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 steal and no fouls in 7 minutes. He was a +10. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He banked in a runner in transition. He went behind his back to crossover but missed the layup. He swiped an inbounds pass. He was fouled on the perimeter and made two FTs. He made a three on an inbounds pass.

Kelly -- -- Garbage time action, not much to write about. He banked in a short one for his only make. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-2 shooting to go with 1 board, 2 assists and 1 foul in 6 minutes. He was a +6. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He missed the off-balance bank, it was tapped back to him and he knocked down the easier one.

Sacre -- -- A Sacre sighting in this one. And… yawn. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 0-2 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 2 offensive boards and 1 turnover in 6 minutes. He was a +8. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He drew FTs under the hoop, he made both. He missed the face-up jumper from the right side.

Scott -- -- Williams in for Russell midway through the quarter, Lakers down 14-12. Russell was leading the team in scoring. No feel for the game on that sub… Bass in for Hibbert… Young in for Brown, Lakers down 6… Nance in for Randle, down 5… After giving up an open three at the buzzer, the Lakers trailed 32-25 after the first quarter… He started the Bass, Nance, Young, Williams and Russell unit… More transition D issues and Scott called a timeout, down 12… Down 9, Hibbert in for Bass, Randle in for Nance… Lou out for Clarkson, Lakers down 16 with Carter going 5-5 from three… The lead ballooned to 18 with 4:13 left and another timeout came… The Lakers trailed 67-50 at the half. The Grizzlies had 17 points on the break and shot 8-16 from three… The coaches stressed getting back on D… Clarkson was stone cold to start the second half… He sat Clarkson this time instead of Russell for Lou and Hibbert for Black… Nance in for Randle… The Lakers trailed 90-71 heading into the fourth… He started the Black, Nance, Young, Williams, Clarkson lineup… Some easy scores in transition and Scott called a timeout down by 25… Out of a timeout, we run an iso for Nance. Turnover. We had size there but, a face-up iso? What the heck?... Bass in for Nance… Huertas and Brown in for Lou and Clarkson… Sacre and Kelly in. Super… The Grizzlies shot 51%...

[TDRock]

Im still in a daze after that game...

Thanks DB

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[Lakers#1Team]

Thanks DB!

[tox]

Thanks DB! Looks like I didn't miss much. Guess I picked a good time to be too busy to watch the Lakers. Highlights of DLO will have to suffice

[Shaber]

[A Mad Chinaman]

When will somebody/ANYBODY get pissed off that opposing teams are getting close to 70 points by halftime

"the credibility or experience,” Russell said. “So I can’t since what I say goes in one ear and out the other. I feel like once I get that credibility, I feel like I’ll have that quality of being a leader.”"
~ one gets credibility when one produces, backs up one's words and lead by example. According to his words, he won't be leader for a few years. Maybe DLO needs somebody else to be the leader that will away the need to be accountable while freeing him to do his stuff - like any child that needs a parent

Nance Jr seems a logical choice because of his maturity (comparatively) and his production - if he can stay healthy

Randle has frequent lapse of effort on D

JC is trying

Miss the Black Mamba tearing into teammates to "Man Up!"

When will people start looking at the players first regarding the continuing bad efforts on D. Even when they are further down the court than their opponents, opposing teams are beating them to the basket. Obvious Byron has made bad decisions but that is not the culprit for consistent ongoing bad D

They deserved to be booed, not because of not producing - because of their effort. Since he has committed to having the rookies get their entitled PT - maybe in an upcoming blowout loss, Byron should just let them get their butts thoroughly spanked where they would either learn on the court (since they are obviously not able to transfer what they are doing in practice to the games) or they would get thoroughly embarrassed that hopefully morphed into being MAD (Phil Jackson method)

These games appear to be preseason games or a Varsity vs Junior Varsity teams or a D League team playing a friendly exhibition against a NBA team or the Washington Generals vs Harlem Globetrotters - there is NO URGENCY to get better because they know they will NOT be benched

[H0B0]

THX DB. GO LAKERS

[LakerEric]

Worthy is "implying" without malice that it's not Byron's or the staff's fault. We have "dumb" players. What do you think?? I just don't buy it.
_________________
Do you believe it now, Trinity? - Morpheous

[Aeneas Hunter]

[Chewrockan]

That was one of the worst games I've seen in a while. This team's defense is unbelievably awful.

[Wilkes52]

Thanks DB.

OK, trying to find the silver lining here. The defense was bad but for once the offense may have been far worse. Against a team lacking their defensive ace (Gasol), this:

FG: 41.0%
3P: 21.7%


_________________
“These GOAT discussions are fun distractions while sitting around waiting for the pizza to be served.”

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

[Wilkes52]

[A Mad Chinaman]

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB.

It was a game for the first 6 minutes or so. Then comes the early Williams for DLO sub, immediately followed by Memphis blowing us out.

I feel like the 5 position is hurting us a lot here. All game long I watched guys much smaller than Hibs grab the ball when it was easily within his reach. Seven foot two and can't grab a rebound. Watching him run is painful. How many possessions did he cost us with his lack of rebounding? How much of a handicap do we have to make up for because he can't keep up with the action, particularly on defense?

When Tarik Black entered the game, the Lakers held their own against Memphis. He's shorter than Hibs but plays taller, he's stout and agile, sets picks and moves without the ball, and you could see all of our guards just light up the way he continually found space right under the rim when moving off-ball. And he's got a great attitude. You'd think a coach would favor him, right?

Yet Tarik Black gets little playing time and Hibs starts. That's not on the players, that's on Scott.

I'd like to know what Mitch was saying when the camera panned to him late in the game. He did not look happy in the slightest.

[DancingBarry]

[A Mad Chinaman]

[DancingBarry]

They have run the play in summer league, but they ran a ton of stuff then and ran it all like garbage. (One of the worst summer leagues I've seen in terms of coaching.) I believe they've run it only a handful of times since, but there's a massive difference between throwing it out there once as a "play" and running it over and over throughout the course of a game as a system, which is what they were trying to do and why so many of the players were frustrated with each other for not running it right. If you go back and watch the game, you will see a lot of body language and discussion during the game and in dead balls about the offense. This is where their head was at before the game at practice and during the game. If your PGs are supposed to make sure this is getting run right, that's where their focus is. It was like herding cats this game and where PG leadership was focused, and no one else stepped into the vacuum on D.

And like Byron said, they were so concerned about that end of the floor that they got lost on D.

I doubt Young or Kelly would want a buyout. Young likes L.A., Kelly the grass may not be greener. I don't even know if winning motivates Hibbert more than the hopes of staying in L.A.

[A Mad Chinaman]