Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 9:07 pm Post subject: LAKERS -at- RAPTORS – 12-2-16 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings
Dominated… This Raptor team was battle tested after last season. They came out focused and dismantled the undermanned Laker team 113-80.
“I felt like we weren’t mentally ready to compete against one of the better teams in the NBA tonight,” Luke said.
The Lakers clanked away offensively to start the game, then got steamrolled in the second quarter, giving up 41 points as the Raptors made 18-24 shots.
In the second half, when the Lakers held them in check for 15 points in the third, we only scored 14.
“They made it tough for us to get shots,” Luke said, “but when that’s the case it’s even more important for us to cut hard and set harder screens. And we weren’t really doing those things tonight, which is frustrating because that’s taking a step back from who we are and who we’ve becomes so far early in the season.”
I don’t know how many shots the Lakers took up against the shotclock tonight, but it was a lot more than usual. Reminiscent of last year in that regard.
Win tomorrow, however, and it’s all good. They need a bounce-back game, but it will be tough on the fourth game in five nights.
Randle -- -- “We didn’t come out with the right mentality,” Randle said. Too many turnovers again in this one with 5 in only 22 minutes by Randle. Got to clean that up. We certainly didn’t have the pop in the game defensively that we did in the last one. Raptors did a good job bottling him up. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-8 shooting to go with 8 boards, 2 assists, 5 turnovers, 1 block and 3 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a -12. The Action: He rejected a layup in transition. He faced up, attacked to his left and missed the layup. He was called for a charge on a kickout next time down. He didn’t hit rim on a fade. He hit Lou for a three. He held his ground on Lowry and forced a brick in the paint. He grabbed an offensive board on the other end and scored the layup. He sank a pull-up jumper at the FT line. He was blocked on a layup after a fake. He was blocked on a layup. He traveled on a drive instead of kicking out to an open shooter. Second Half: He attacked to his right and muscled in a layup. He dunked back in a missed shot by Deng. He traveled trying to score in the paint. Caught in air and he turned it over in transition.
Ingram -- -- Easily one of his best games in terms of finishing around the rim. He had a little more space, got to his dominant hand away from defenders instead of bringing the ball back to them. As a result, the scoring followed. Some flashes of the future there tonight. Throw in the eventual consistent shooting to translate over from college and he’s on his way. Even though this was a blowout loss, it was good for Ingram getting more minutes and seeing what he can and can’t do (and doing it against a very good team). “The more experience he gets and the more different situations he’s put in, he’ll slowly become a better player,” Luke said. He’s playing aggressively on that end of the floor. It’s important that he has that attitude. I said I wanted double-digit scoring averages from him in December as he gets more comfortable. He’s off to a good start. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 8-16 shooting (1-5 from three) to go with 6 boards, 2 assists, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a -24. The Action: He took the outlet, attacked the rim, good job shielding a defender and he scored the layup. He missed a three in transition. He missed a drive off a weave, but Black cleaned it up. He missed a challenged 12-footer. He sank the wide open wing three next time down. He attacked from the wing, slithered through the D to his right and flipped in the layup. He backdoored his man, took the shovel pass from Clarkson and slammed. He missed a wing three with the shotclock winding down. He missed a three in transition. He had 9 points on 4-9 shooting. Second Half: He attacked from the wing and scored the layup with ease. He was called for an offensive foul fighting for post position. He missed a corner three on a kickout. He swished an elbow turnaround in the post, might have been fouled. He challenged a shot on iso on one end, got the miss, pushed it out with speed and knocked down the short floater in the lane. He couldn’t finish a reverse up against the shotclock. He attacked a big off the dribble, missed the runner but bounced right back up and tipped it in. He blocked a jumper, it appeared (no credit for it, so just a good challenge, I guess).
Mozgov -- -- How bad was he? He airballed a one-footer and was called for the travel when he grabbed the miss. He missed several shots in the lane to start the game and that got the Lakers on their heels. Man, I miss that Russell/Mozgov chemistry we were developing before DLO went down. Calderon isn’t an aggressive threat and that limits us badly. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-6 shooting to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 18 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He missed a jumphook to start the game. He airballed a one-footer, got it back and was called for the travel. He missed a short jumphook. He missed a rushed hook again. Not close on a turnaround in the lane. Second Half: He saved an offensive board to a diving Deng for the layup. He swished a jumper from the top of the key.
Deng -- -- Our free agent signings scored a combined 4 points on 2-12 shooting. I swear, how can someone so consistently shoot a jumper short again and again, like Deng? He got the Derozan assignment and did a decent job with it. He spent most of the night going under screens and forcing him to shoot jumpers. He did a good job staying on his feet on the pumpfakes unlike some of our other defenders. He also led the team with 3 steals. Derozan ended up with 16 points on 18 shots…of course, Deng had 2 on 6 shots. Take that, Raptors! “We just couldn’t hit any shots,” he said. He mentioned that he didn’t think the ball moved as well as it had been. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-6 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist and 3 steals in 24 minutes. He was a -14. The Action: He missed a short pull-up, way short. Way short on a baseline pull-up jumper. Second Half: He missed a wing three, off right. He cut off the Mozgov save, took the pass and scored a layup. He was short on a shot across the lane. Way short on a wing three, that had no chance of going in. Nice job breaking up a lob on a switch.
Calderon -- -- The all-time assist leader for the Raptors with 3,770, Calderon returned and was just awful. The starters had no chemistry and he never got them going. “They got the lead, they got their confidence and it was tough after that,” Calderon said. He said the Lakers didn’t have anyone who was hot tonight. Credit Raptors for some good D, but also with the Lakers being short-handed we need a couple players to step up every night. We don’t have the too many vets on this roster who can consistently bring it (only Lou available tonight and he was flat). The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-7 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 1 turnover and no fouls in 18 minutes. He was a -11. The Action: He missed a wing runner. He got a defender on his hip, then hit the pull-up in the lane (should have been an And-1). He missed an elbow fade. He sank a much-needed wing three on a swing pass. Second Half: He missed a tough pull-up at the FT line against the shotclock. He missed a midrange pull-up jumper. Bad pass, he got it back, backed it out to iso and promptly coughed it up for a dunk the other way. He missed a corner three.
Clarkson -- -- “Right now everybody has to kind of step up defensively and offensively,” Clarkson said. They didn’t get that tonight. The Raptors were pretty aggressive blitzing the screens at times, Clarkson mentioned that afterward. If you were anywhere near the sideline with the ball, the trap was coming. Poor shooting night for JC. Need a bounce back tomorrow. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 4-15 shooting (3-9 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -18. The Action: Wild shot on a drive to his left. He missed a wing three. Nice rotation to thwart a screen-roll. He missed a floater on a drive right. He sank a wing three on a kickout. He missed a jumper over a big and didn’t get back in transition. He attacked the paint and shoveled it to Ingram for the dunk. He crossed over, pulled it back and sank the three from the top of the arc. He scooped up a loose ball and scored a layup around a big. He missed a wing three. He snagged an outlet pass, attacked and missed the layup, looking for a call. He turned the corner and drew FTs on the drive, he made both. He made a tech FT. He had 11 points on 3-9 shooting. Second Half: He missed a heave from 35 when Calderon threw it to him with a second left. He missed a wing three. He was blocked on a drive right. He swished a three working off the high screen. He fumbled the ball then threw it away along the sideline. Not close on a pull-up three in iso. He missed a wide open wing three.
Williams -- -- As I mentioned above, he’s the only vet available that consistently brings the scoring. He was flat tonight and the team couldn’t compete. Too many turnovers from Lou. Our two best playmakers out there tonight (Randle and Lou right now) combined for 9 turnovers. The ball movement was already suffering a bit and that only added to it. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 4-14 shooting (1-6 from three, 4-5 from the line) to go with 1 board, 4 assists, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a -20. The Action: He swished the wing three on the feed from Randle. He missed a short baseline jumper in early offense. He probed the paint, drew the D and found Nance for a layup. He missed a layup on a drive right. Quick attack from the wing and he drew contact for FTs, he made both. He missed a tech FT. He kicked out to Ingram for the three in transition. He missed a drive at the end of the quarter (should have pulled up in all the space he had). He stepped on the baseline on a drive, turnover. He threw a pass away when Black didn’t see it coming. He missed a wing three. Quick attack in transition and his layup was goaltended. He attacked off the three line and scored a layup. He attacked and drew FTs on the perimeter, he made both. He got picked for a layup the other way. He had 11 points on 3-7 shooting. Second Half: He got caught in the air and threw it away. He airballed a heave up against the shotclock. He missed a fade. He missed a wing three going to his left. He couldn’t finish a drive. He missed a wing three. He missed a wide open three. He sank a pull-up 17-footer, fouled with no call.
Nance -- -- Nance had a couple of dunks in the game, but the second unit had little impact in this one. Late in the game, I was wishing we had Black instead of Nance. Simply because Nance is much more vital to the second unit. He took some knee-on-knee contact in garbage time and is now questionable for tomorrow. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting to go with 6 boards and 1 foul in 23 minutes. He was a -16. The Action: He scored a layup off the drive and dish from Lou. He overpassed at the end of the quarter instead of taking the 12-footer and time ran out. He missed an elbow jumper. Second Half: He missed a tip-in attempt. He dunked on the feed from Black. He hammered down a monster dunk off the sweet dish from Huertas. He jab stepped, attacked left and missed the lefty layup.
Black -- -- Some excellent effort on the offensive glass again. He was outmuscling guys and dominating in that area. One of the few things we had going for us in this game. We had a 19-7 advantage on the offensive glass and Black had 6 of them. One of the few areas we won. Defensively, the Raptors got him on switches a number of times and were pretty efficient in taking advantage. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-8 shooting (2-3 from the line) to go with 6 boards (all offensive), 2 assists, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a -20. The Action: Wild jumphook, he wanted the call on the airball. He grabbed the missed drive from Ingram and powered in the And-1 layup, he made the FT. He drew more FTs on an offensive board, he made one. He hit JC for a three after taking the pass on the short roll. He outmuscled a defender for the rebound and dunked it back down. Second Half: He missed a tough lefty layup. He missed a putback. Horrible, telegraphed post entry pass and his man stole it. He was blocked under the rim. He drew a charge cutting off baseline.
Huertas -- -- Late-game garbage time run for Huertas. He had one of the few highlights with a nice no-looker to Nance for a jam. Lakers had too little of that in this one. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-2 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 1 steal and 1 foul in 7:41. He was a -8. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He swiped an inbounds and scored a layup. He skipped into the paint between defenders and no looked to his right to a rolling Nance for the jam. He missed a three. He drew FTs on a floater, he made one, his first of the season.
Robinson -- -- He came in with 10 minutes left in the fourth, the Lakers down 25. Garbage-time minutes so he probably tried to do a little too much offensively. Kind of wish he was in there earlier in the game when we were looking so flat. Maybe that could have sparked them a little. Got to hit those FTs, though! The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-4 shooting (0-4 from the line) to go with 4 boards (2 offensive), 1 turnover and no fouls in 10 minutes. He was a -8. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He didn’t hit rim trying to create up against the shotclock. He attacked to his right and powered in an And-1 layup, he missed the FT. He grabbed a rebound, pushed it out, sized up the D, attacked and hit the And-1 runner, he missed the FT. He tried to dribble through defenders and coughed it up. He drew FTs on a drive and missed both. He missed a baseline jumper shortly later.
World Peace -- -- Metta in with 5 minutes left for garbage time. He didn’t score and blocked a shot under the hoop. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-1 shooting to go with 1 board and 1 block in 5:38. He was a -7. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He missed a three trailing the break. He blocked a shot.
Walton -- -- Starters looking poor offensively, Mozgov can’t hit anything and Calderon not creating for anyone. The Lakers trailed 12-4 when the timeout came after 5 minutes… He brought in Clarkson for Ingram shortly later… Lou in for Calderon, Lakers down 8… Nance and Black in to go with Lou, Clarkson and Deng, down 6… Ingram in for Deng shortly later… The Lakers trailed 28-22 after the first quarter… A series of miscues, a lucky Raptor three and the second unit slipped back down 12… Lakers getting no stops… Deng and Randle back in for Nance and Black, Lakers down 12 with 5 minutes left… Still not stopping the Raptors and the lead ballooned to 19… The Raptors shot 18-24 in the second quarter, scoring 41 points… The Lakers trailed 69-48 at the half. Lowry and Joseph combined for 28 points on 11-14 shooting… Coaches wanted the defensive intensity to pick up… Clarkson in for Ingram down 20 midway through the quarter… Low scoring quarter, Lakers with no rhythm offensively even though they are now getting stops… Nance, Black, Deng, Clarkson, Lou all in now down 18 with 3 minutes to go in the third… Ingram in shortly later… A lot of shots up against the shotclock for the Lakers… The Lakers trailed 84-62 heading into the fourth… Down 25, Robinson in for Black… Huertas in for Lou. Garbage time for the rest of the game…
Just a heads up, I've got some conflicting plans tomorrow right in the middle of the game so I'm not sure I will be able to cover it. We'll see.
Since Pop has always had "strategic" DNP for his stars, you deserve "strategic" rest whenever you need it!!
Maybe you can have the many posters here look for certain aspects of the next game and report their respective analysis - especially for those out of the country like myself
Thanks DB. _________________ "I don’t give a [expletive] what you say. If I go out there and miss game winners, and people say, 'Kobe choked, or Kobe is seven for whatever in pressure situations.' Well, [expletive] you. Because I don’t play for your [expletive] approval."
Thanks DB! Ugly one today. Man they miss Russell and Young.
Randle's ATR with Russell is 47/36 (1.31), and without him is 16/15 (1.07). Small sample sizes for sure, but it doesn't surprise me.
Yeah, it's a tough change for everyone. They were developing chemistry, learning what works and doesn't, and now the deck has been shuffled and they start over.
Well, to some extent with the Bulls they already knew the opponent so they understood what they had to do. Last night they seemed like they were hesitating a lot on their decision making. I think they got better on that end as the game went along but just couldn't score, then it was too late and we had extended garbage time. I'd expect a better game on D next time we face the Raptors.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
-- “We didn’t come out with the right mentality,” Randle said. Too many turnovers again in this one with 5 in only 22 minutes by Randle. Got to clean that up. We certainly didn’t have the pop in the game defensively that we did in the last one. Raptors did a good job bottling him up. 
-- Easily one of his best games in terms of finishing around the rim. He had a little more space, got to his dominant hand away from defenders instead of bringing the ball back to them. As a result, the scoring followed. Some flashes of the future there tonight. Throw in the eventual consistent shooting to translate over from college and he’s on his way. Even though this was a blowout loss, it was good for Ingram getting more minutes and seeing what he can and can’t do (and doing it against a very good team). “The more experience he gets and the more different situations he’s put in, he’ll slowly become a better player,” Luke said. He’s playing aggressively on that end of the floor. It’s important that he has that attitude. I said I wanted double-digit scoring averages from him in December as he gets more comfortable. He’s off to a good start. 
-- How bad was he? He airballed a one-footer and was called for the travel when he grabbed the miss. He missed several shots in the lane to start the game and that got the Lakers on their heels. Man, I miss that Russell/Mozgov chemistry we were developing before DLO went down. Calderon isn’t an aggressive threat and that limits us badly. 
-- Our free agent signings scored a combined 4 points on 2-12 shooting. I swear, how can someone so consistently shoot a jumper short again and again, like Deng? He got the Derozan assignment and did a decent job with it. He spent most of the night going under screens and forcing him to shoot jumpers. He did a good job staying on his feet on the pumpfakes unlike some of our other defenders. He also led the team with 3 steals. Derozan ended up with 16 points on 18 shots…of course, Deng had 2 on 6 shots. Take that, Raptors! “We just couldn’t hit any shots,” he said. He mentioned that he didn’t think the ball moved as well as it had been. 
-- The all-time assist leader for the Raptors with 3,770, Calderon returned and was just awful. The starters had no chemistry and he never got them going. “They got the lead, they got their confidence and it was tough after that,” Calderon said. He said the Lakers didn’t have anyone who was hot tonight. Credit Raptors for some good D, but also with the Lakers being short-handed we need a couple players to step up every night. We don’t have the too many vets on this roster who can consistently bring it (only Lou available tonight and he was flat). 
-- “Right now everybody has to kind of step up defensively and offensively,” Clarkson said. They didn’t get that tonight. The Raptors were pretty aggressive blitzing the screens at times, Clarkson mentioned that afterward. If you were anywhere near the sideline with the ball, the trap was coming. Poor shooting night for JC. Need a bounce back tomorrow. 
-- As I mentioned above, he’s the only vet available that consistently brings the scoring. He was flat tonight and the team couldn’t compete. Too many turnovers from Lou. Our two best playmakers out there tonight (Randle and Lou right now) combined for 9 turnovers. The ball movement was already suffering a bit and that only added to it. 
-- Nance had a couple of dunks in the game, but the second unit had little impact in this one. Late in the game, I was wishing we had Black instead of Nance. Simply because Nance is much more vital to the second unit. He took some knee-on-knee contact in garbage time and is now questionable for tomorrow. 
-- Some excellent effort on the offensive glass again. He was outmuscling guys and dominating in that area. One of the few things we had going for us in this game. We had a 19-7 advantage on the offensive glass and Black had 6 of them. One of the few areas we won. Defensively, the Raptors got him on switches a number of times and were pretty efficient in taking advantage. 
-- Late-game garbage time run for Huertas. He had one of the few highlights with a nice no-looker to Nance for a jam. Lakers had too little of that in this one. 
-- He came in with 10 minutes left in the fourth, the Lakers down 25. Garbage-time minutes so he probably tried to do a little too much offensively. Kind of wish he was in there earlier in the game when we were looking so flat. Maybe that could have sparked them a little. Got to hit those FTs, though! 
-- Metta in with 5 minutes left for garbage time. He didn’t score and blocked a shot under the hoop. 
-- Starters looking poor offensively, Mozgov can’t hit anything and Calderon not creating for anyone. The Lakers trailed 12-4 when the timeout came after 5 minutes… He brought in Clarkson for Ingram shortly later… Lou in for Calderon, Lakers down 8… Nance and Black in to go with Lou, Clarkson and Deng, down 6… Ingram in for Deng shortly later… The Lakers trailed 28-22 after the first quarter… A series of miscues, a lucky Raptor three and the second unit slipped back down 12… Lakers getting no stops… Deng and Randle back in for Nance and Black, Lakers down 12 with 5 minutes left… Still not stopping the Raptors and the lead ballooned to 19… The Raptors shot 18-24 in the second quarter, scoring 41 points… The Lakers trailed 69-48 at the half. Lowry and Joseph combined for 28 points on 11-14 shooting… Coaches wanted the defensive intensity to pick up… Clarkson in for Ingram down 20 midway through the quarter… Low scoring quarter, Lakers with no rhythm offensively even though they are now getting stops… Nance, Black, Deng, Clarkson, Lou all in now down 18 with 3 minutes to go in the third… Ingram in shortly later… A lot of shots up against the shotclock for the Lakers… The Lakers trailed 84-62 heading into the fourth… Down 25, Robinson in for Black… Huertas in for Lou. Garbage time for the rest of the game…
