MAVS -at- LAKERS – 12-29-16 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

 
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2016 10:38 pm    Post subject: MAVS -at- LAKERS – 12-29-16 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

Shooting Fish in a Barrel… Heading into this game, the Mavs were at the bottom of the standings in the Western Conference. For a lot of teams, that might mean a likely win. For the young Lakers, nothing is given on any night.

The Mavs have a veteran-laden squad. They dialed in the Lakers and went on a 13-0 run in the third quarter to stagger the young squad, scoring easily against our soft D. Our offense went into iso mode and ended up with just 13 points in the quarter.

The Lakers were outscored by 18 points in the third. Luke was not happy with the lack of fire they played with, which was true. The switching defense also made the Lakers far too predictable when defending any high screens. The Mavs got mismatches far too easily. And they milked it again and again.

The Mavs coached mentioned that he didn’t like how comfortable the Lakers looked offensively in that first half. That was certainly also the case for the Lakers and their lack of D in the second half. The Mavs looked very comfortable and cleaned up on high percentage looks.

As Reggie said during the broadcast, it was like shooting fish in a barrel. Too easy.

“It seems like we’re going to have to take a lot of these lumps before it really kicks in to how hard it really is and how locked in we have to be as a young team in the NBA to get wins,” Luke said.


Russell -- -- Good start for Russell as he got into the paint for scores, hit jumpers and found teammates with some balance. He had 13 points and 4 assists. Some good chemistry with Nick in that opening stint. Luke gave them both extended minutes during that stretch, which was good to see. In the second half, Russell came out much less sharper and the Mavs had us on our heels. Just two different halves. It wasn’t just him, but both he and Randle have to set the tone for the team and they didn’t in that second half. I really need to see those guys come out with more intensity in both halves. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-15 shooting (1-5 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 6 assists, 3 turnovers, 2 steals and 3 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -12. The Action: He missed a short running bank. He banked a runner in the lane getting his man on his hip and taking as much space as the D let him. He bounced to Deng running the floor for a layup. He stripped his man to force a turnover. He hit Young for a corner three. He sank a three off the DHO from Randle. He called for the screen, his defender gave him space before it came, so Russell attacked the paint and swished the short floater. He missed an open three when the D went under the screen. He hit Nick for another three in the corner. He backdoored the ballwatching D when Nick was trapped and Nick hit him for the layup. Way short on a three over the zone. Nice pocket pass to Deng to draw FTs on the layup. Sweet, low inside-out dribble to lose his man and draw FTs, he made both. He threaded a pass to Randle next time down for FTs. He was tapped on a three straight away. He blew past a big on an inside-out dribble and banked the layup high over the help. He missed a tough pull-up jumper at the buzzer. Second Half: He missed a pull-up at the wing. He was rejected on a layup after a nice off-ball cut. He swiped it back on the other end. He was blocked out of bounds on a layup in transition. He missed the open 17-footer. His post entry pass was picked off. He iso’d with the shotclock low and missed a three. Nothing on his baseline pass and it was picked off. He missed a layup off the ball fake. He iso’d on Williams and fouled him out on a drive, he made both FTs. Nice lookaway to put the D to sleep as he snuck the pass by a defender to Randle on the break for a dunk.

Randle -- -- The energy was just not there. Some nice moments overpowering his man for layups on his way to 9 points in the first half. In the second half, he looked sluggish to start the third quarter and it went downhill quickly. The rebounding and intensity on D wasn’t there. You could see it early in the game, he did have a little bit of foul trouble but that’s how this one went throughout. I really think you need to involve him more in some traps and pressure D sequences to get his motor rolling. Julius, you’re only playing 28 minutes. If the minutes are going to be low, the energy/effort needs to be high. I’m hopeful that he learns this as he grows since he can spark the team as an emotional leader. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 5-10 shooting (0-1 from three, 8-10 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 3 assists, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a -8. The Action: He missed a wing three to start the game. He spun on a man in the post, then missed the step-back fade over the help. Handoff to Russell for a three. He was called for a charge posting up a guard, his second foul. He took the bounce pass and powered in a layup off a jumpstep. He dribbled a layup off his foot for a turnover. He faced up and powered a layup over his man. He gathered himself off the bounce pass, took a dribble, pumped and scored the And-1 layup, he made the FT. He attacked to his right and missed the awkward fade with his left, way short. He backdoored his man and Russell threaded it to him for FTs, he made both. Second Half: He got a guard switching on him, attacked to his right and powered in an And-1 layup, he made the FT. He tried to cross over a man on iso and was picked for a layup the other way. No box out and in horrible position to even get a board and we gave up a putback. He missed a chuck in the lane off iso. He blocked a drive off a Mav on a switch. Forced pass to Clarkson and he couldn’t hold on to it, turnover. He drew FTs on an interior feed, he made both. He drew FTs on a drive. He dunked off the great feed by Russell in transition. He drew FTs and made one.

Deng -- -- He was playing strong D on Barnes left on an island, so the Mavs started to shake him loose and get switches. This was where the game changed. We never adjusted, just switched with ease and they picked us apart. Loved his D when they were matched up. Really disappointing that we never adjusted to that and tried to keep Deng on him as much as possible. He was causing Barnes problems. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-4 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 foul in 34 minutes. He was a +0. The Action: He iso’d and missed a wing jumper. Good job running the floor and Russell found him for a dunk. He couldn’t hold onto a bounce pass from Russell, hard to tell whose fault that one was but, turnover. Nice D on Barnes on iso to force a brick. He took the pocket pass from Russell, attacked and was fouled on the layup attempt, he made one FT. Second Half: He missed a corner three on good arc. He hesitated on a layup, drew a bigger crowd and couldn’t get it up cleanly.

Mozgov -- -- Pretty much a nothing game from Mozgov. I’ll give a little credit to the Mavs D for thwarting some of the plays for him as some of those guys like Bogut and Barnes are pretty familiar with what we run. But really, no impact from Mozgov in his time on the floor. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-3 shooting to go with 4 boards and 1 foul in 16 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: Not close on a turnaround jumper. He battled for an offensive board on a missed FT. Good help on Barnes to force a bad pass. He missed a short jumphook. Second Half: Way short on the jumper off the inverse play (we could have used a better screen on his man).

Young -- -- Didn’t like the sub patterns from Luke in this one. If you’ve got a hot hand, don’t cool it on the bench. Nick had it going and probably should have had another 5 or 6 minutes in this one. He sank 4-4 threes in the first half, got some good run in his first stint, but Luke waited a little too long to bring him back for his second one. He sank a couple more shots in the third and Luke threw the baby out with the bathwater when frustrated with our starters, subbing him out. A super-efficient 17 points from Nick on just 8 shots. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 6-8 shooting (5-6 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and no fouls in 30 minutes. He was a -6. The Action: He sank a three in transition. He sank a corner three on a catch and shoot (that one really tried to come out). Another three that I missed? He swished another corner three coming off the screen. He was trapped on the sideline but hit Russell cutting backdoor down the lane for a layup. Second Half: He couldn’t get free off the elevator play, but he drained a three a few seconds later anyway from the top of the arc. He swished a pull-up from the top of the key next time down. He missed a wing three after another long break on the bench. Interior feed to Randle for FTs. He missed a three, he wanted a foul on.

Williams -- – He was pissed with the refs in this game and picked up a tech late in the third. Our bench was outscored by the Mavs bench, which shouldn’t happen. He never really got on track. Our bench’s best moments were when we were turning defense into offense. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 3-7 shooting (0-2 from three, 4-5 from the line) to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 4 turnovers and 2 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He crossed over off and scored the layup high off the glass over a couple help defenders. He missed a drifting wing three. His backdoor pass was picked off. He hit Robinson on the roll for the layup. He was fouled on the perimeter reach from three in early offense, he made all three FTs. He lost some speed on the weave play, but attacked and flipped in a layup around the help D. Nice bounce pass to Randle for the layup. Second Half: He missed a wing three. He threw a pass away on a baseline drive. He missed a pull-up expecting a whistle. He picked up a tech after they called him for an offensive foul and then a touch foul on a reach in the last few seconds of the third. He was stripped on a drive (looked pinballed around with no call). He spun to lose his man and scored a layup. He changed speeds in early offense, drew the reach and earned FTs, he made both. He missed a wing pull-up.

Clarkson -- -- Some nice finishes for throwdowns on the break. He had 8 points in the first half on 4-5 shooting. He started to get pissed with the refs and Barnes early in the fourth quarter. We kept switching easily, making it predictable for the Mavs to get mismatches, often resulting in Clarkson trying to D up Barnes instead of Deng. He pushed back and played with some fire. One of the few guys to really impose some positive energy on the floor for us and he led the team with 3 steals. This seemed more reminiscent of the Clarkson we saw to open the season in that regard, so good to see that. I think he has always been a willing defender, just not a refined/smart one. So whomever is making the decision on switching (the coaches, the players) we really need to reel that in. That hurt us badly tonight. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 7-11 shooting (1-3 from three, 0-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 2 turnovers, 3 steals and 2 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He missed a layup on a drive, but Robinson cleaned it up. He was fouled on a pull-up jumper, he missed both FTs, uggh. He fumbled a dribble away off a drive. He knocked a pass away, pushed it out and soared over the defender for the slam. He sliced through the D in transition and scored the layup, nice control on that. He sank a pull-up leaner at the elbow. He attacked, stopped under the hoop and then reversed. Second Half: Not close on a floater. He missed a wing three on iso. He drained a wing three, just beating the shotclock after Ingram gave it to him. He crossed over on iso and was stripped. Pissed off, he jumped on a ball that Barnes showed him on iso to strip it away and draw a foul. He missed a pull-up three (looked hit on the arm). He jumped on a pass to Barnes from behind to knock it away, take the pass and dunk. He sank a runner.

Ingram -- -- One of those 1 for X games again. I think he must lead the team in that stat. Really could have stolen some of his minutes for Nick who had a hot hand…especially against a more veteran smart team like the Mavs. A lot of little things that he gave up. We were a -12 while he was out there. Good job on the boards (actually wished he was a little better there, but we needed more guys chipping in). The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-5 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 assist and 3 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a -12. The Action: He missed a good look at a three, but it came right back to him. He missed an elbow jumper. He pushed out the break with speed and drew FTs, he made one. Second Half: He attacked and missed a pull-up in the lane. He was swatted on a drive. He attacked, got into the body of the defender and powered in the layup.

Robinson -- -- He got his 10 boards in 19 minutes. That’s really his bread and butter. I wish we had more guys helping on the glass tonight on both ends. That’s not going to help us too much with the 13 point third quarter, but again we allowed the Mavs to switch easily with Robinson and you saw him against Curry on the perimeter quite a bit. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-5 shooting to go with 10 boards (4 offensive), 2 turnovers, 1 steal, 1 block and 3 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a +0. The Action: He hung in the air and one-handed back in a missed Clarkson drive. He was called for a charge on iso. He scored a layup off the drag screen for Lou in early offense. He missed a hook on iso, not getting low position. Second Half: He attacked down the lane and scored a lefty layup over his man. He rejected a shot off Curry to get a stop. He attacked right, spun back the other way and hit the jumphook.

Walton -- -- The Mavs went on a 7-0 run, then the Lakers went on a 10-0 run to force a timeout… Randle picked up his second foul midway through the first quarter so he brought in Ingram, Lakers up 6… Lakers up 7 when Clarkson and Robinson came in for Mozgov and Deng… He sat Russell with under 3 minutes left for Lou, Lakers up 4… Young out for Deng with 1:30 left. Good job giving Nick extended run as he wasn’t missing anything… Poor close to the quarter and the Lakers led 27-26 after the first… The Lakers went on a 10-0 run to start the second quarter and forced a timeout. Some good work getting out in transition for easy scores… Russell in for Deng, Lakers up 9. Where’s Young?... The lead was trimmed to 5 as the Lakers executed their two-man D poorly. Luke called a timeout… He brought in Deng again and Nick with 4:25 left to fill out the starters with Lou instead of Mozgov… Mozgov in for Lou a couple minutes later… The Lakers led 57-50 at the half… Quick timeout by Luke after a couple of lackluster minutes, Lakers up 3… Lakers up 1 when Deng sat for Ingram midway through the quarter… The fell back by 5 and Luke called a timeout again… He brought in the rest of his bench and Deng again… The Lakers were outscored 21-5 to close the third quarter… They trailed 81-70 heading into the fourth… “We stopped moving the ball,” Luke said. “We started playing iso. Defensively, we lost our fire.” The switching D was awful, too… Same bench unit to start and we were getting nowhere… Luke made some changes. Randle, Ingram, Young, Clarkson, Russell down 11… Late in the game, we started getting aggressive with more pressure D. Needed to do that earlier when we were falling asleep…
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2016 10:38 pm    Post subject:

This is just ugly now.
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2016 10:41 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB.

Here's to a better 2017 basketball.
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2016 11:57 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 12:03 am    Post subject:

I am not talking about this game, but in general I feel Mozgov is under-utilized. He has more skills than demonstrated. Maybe it's the guards, maybe coaching, maybe himself. It makes me wonder whether adding DMo would make any difference. If the guards do not know how to play with a center, or if Luke has a fixed way of using a center, DMo or not would not change anything.
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 12:13 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB. After steaming about it for a couple of hours, I'm over it. New Year, new beginning for us. The team can turn this around.
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 12:27 am    Post subject:

LaxT wrote:
I am not talking about this game, but in general I feel Mozgov is under-utilized. He has more skills than demonstrated. Maybe it's the guards, maybe coaching, maybe himself. It makes me wonder whether adding DMo would make any difference. If the guards do not know how to play with a center, or if Luke has a fixed way of using a center, DMo or not would not change anything.


You want us to throw him the ball in the post where he is in the 2nd percentile in the NBA?
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 12:37 am    Post subject:

dcarter4kobe wrote:
LaxT wrote:
I am not talking about this game, but in general I feel Mozgov is under-utilized. He has more skills than demonstrated. Maybe it's the guards, maybe coaching, maybe himself. It makes me wonder whether adding DMo would make any difference. If the guards do not know how to play with a center, or if Luke has a fixed way of using a center, DMo or not would not change anything.


You want us to throw him the ball in the post where he is in the 2nd percentile in the NBA?


I don't think that's what he necessarily means, I think that way too sometimes. Especially in a game like this when we desperately needed some rim protection and rebounding, I think he would benefit from playing a bit more in the 4th if he's not in foul trouble.
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 12:43 am    Post subject:

No energy, plain and simple. Maybe this team lacks a true leader
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 12:43 am    Post subject:

Andre2K wrote:
dcarter4kobe wrote:
LaxT wrote:
I am not talking about this game, but in general I feel Mozgov is under-utilized. He has more skills than demonstrated. Maybe it's the guards, maybe coaching, maybe himself. It makes me wonder whether adding DMo would make any difference. If the guards do not know how to play with a center, or if Luke has a fixed way of using a center, DMo or not would not change anything.


You want us to throw him the ball in the post where he is in the 2nd percentile in the NBA?


I don't think that's what he necessarily means, I think that way too sometimes. Especially in a game like this when we desperately needed some rim protection and rebounding, I think he would benefit from playing a bit more in the 4th if he's not in foul trouble.


I agree about his minutes being too low most games, but he has been playing more lately. In his last 5 games he is averaging 24MPG. About where most of us thought he would be going into the year.
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 1:41 am    Post subject:

I had the (mis)fortune of going to this game. A couple of my key takeaways (wrote this before reading DB's post but I realize now most of it overlaps ):

-Randle's defensive mishaps are a lot more glaring when you're sitting ~50-75 feet away from what's going on. More so than any other player, you could see lazy (or entirely missed) rotations. This is of course most glaring when he's playing small ball 5: he has the capability to succeed I think, but he bleeds points on the pick and roll when that should be his bread and butter defensively (as opposed to standard rim protection). His poor boxing out also becomes noticeable when we become small.

I don't mean to rag on Randle because I think he had a decent offensive game, but it really says something when this is my most memorable takeaway.

-Ingram drove me crazy. I think people who think he's a plus player are deluding themselves. Don't get me wrong, I'm plenty high on Ingram. Still, at the present moment, Ingram just destroys the offense by refusing to shoot open 3s (I'm sure the people sitting next to me didn't like me repeatedly shouting at him to shoot open shots). Unless he gets to the basket, he essentially lets the defense reset. Seriously, it's unbelievable how much space he gets from his defender. And yes, he's shown glimpses of being a playmaker, but I honestly think it's way overstated.

Defensively, he was what I expected. His length really bothers shooters, but nights like today showed that capable post players can destroy him. That'll come with strength.

-Pick and rolls, man... There was one play in the first half where I believe Lou & JC ran to the same man on a scramble, so it looked like the Mavs would get an open 3... but the Lakers fought to get to the open shooter. It culminated in Deng covering two guys and contesting a 3 pretty well.

That did not happen in the 2nd half. I get it... it's an exhausting scheme, and this team just does not have it for 48 min anymore. It also explains the over-reliance on switching, but it doesn't excuse them. You just can't switch willy nilly against a team that has two guys that love posting up smaller players (Barnes & Matthews). Deng absolutely smothered Barnes on one post up in 1Q but it's sort of moot when Barnes is mostly posting up Russell or Clarkson.

-T-Rob is brutal, man. I appreciate his hustle and he got us some scores when the offense choked up. But he's just horrendous at defense, and frankly he's a net negative on offense as well. Tarik is so much better, and I never missed him as much as tonight when I could see Robinson play. Black sets massive screens, rotates properly, and probably does better on the perimeter than Robinson (a surprise to me). T-Rob is a good 3rd string big, don't get me wrong, but there's a reason no other team wanted him. Tarik is much, much better.

-Russell: He had some soft defense in the 1Q but it was pretty okay. (An aside, but I can see why DRPM has him as the #40 defender at his position... bad, but not horrible. His length gives him some leeway, and he's pretty good when he tries on defense.) And he was amazing in the first quarter and pretty good in the 2nd. Unsurprisingly, this is also when the starters were creating and adding to the leads. In the 3rd, he was horrible and lackadaisical and the starters got pummeled. He really is the engine that makes them go, and when the engine isn't running well, neither does the unit.

I understand Luke wants Russell to be develop his PG skills and learn to score in the framework of the offense (it amazes me watching how easily LeBron & Durant can get 25 points so casually within the framework of the offense), but it would really be nice for them to run plays to get him looks. It seems like Randle doesn't get Russell the ball in transition for open 3s anymore... loop is always scouted (if Russell gets a look, it's not wide open), etc. It just seems like he's not in a rhythm. Also, his midrange jumper is MIA... he can't hit a damn midrange off the PnR for his life (he was money on those last year). Good job getting into the paint today, though, even if he blew 3 layups.

-Clarkson: Pretty much the only bright spot aside from Nick. Loved his defensive energy all throughout the 4th.

-Luke's subs: I'm a big Luke supporter, but Nick needed to play more & Russell should've gotten a shorter break in the 1st half. I don't mind Ingram playing for Nick in the 4th (this is a development year) but why did Nick play so little in the 2nd and 3rd? Not sure.

-Nance: please come back
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 2:14 am    Post subject:

Another "teacher" spank the youngsters

Familiar tale, just stay close to the Lakers because they either fade, lost focus and/or lack the increase intensity to be any threat to win games

Who are the Lakers are/is the Killer(s). At the present time, nobody
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 2:56 am    Post subject:

Didn't watch the fourth. Knew it was over when they started giving up that run in the third
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 5:03 am    Post subject:

Ship be sinking?
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 6:09 am    Post subject:

DB & tox
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 7:23 am    Post subject:

tox wrote:
I had the (mis)fortune of going to this game. A couple of my key takeaways (wrote this before reading DB's post but I realize now most of it overlaps ):

-Randle's defensive mishaps are a lot more glaring when you're sitting ~50-75 feet away from what's going on. More so than any other player, you could see lazy (or entirely missed) rotations. This is of course most glaring when he's playing small ball 5: he has the capability to succeed I think, but he bleeds points on the pick and roll when that should be his bread and butter defensively (as opposed to standard rim protection). His poor boxing out also becomes noticeable when we become small.

I don't mean to rag on Randle because I think he had a decent offensive game, but it really says something when this is my most memorable takeaway.

-Ingram drove me crazy. I think people who think he's a plus player are deluding themselves. Don't get me wrong, I'm plenty high on Ingram. Still, at the present moment, Ingram just destroys the offense by refusing to shoot open 3s (I'm sure the people sitting next to me didn't like me repeatedly shouting at him to shoot open shots). Unless he gets to the basket, he essentially lets the defense reset. Seriously, it's unbelievable how much space he gets from his defender. And yes, he's shown glimpses of being a playmaker, but I honestly think it's way overstated.

Defensively, he was what I expected. His length really bothers shooters, but nights like today showed that capable post players can destroy him. That'll come with strength.

-Pick and rolls, man... There was one play in the first half where I believe Lou & JC ran to the same man on a scramble, so it looked like the Mavs would get an open 3... but the Lakers fought to get to the open shooter. It culminated in Deng covering two guys and contesting a 3 pretty well.

That did not happen in the 2nd half. I get it... it's an exhausting scheme, and this team just does not have it for 48 min anymore. It also explains the over-reliance on switching, but it doesn't excuse them. You just can't switch willy nilly against a team that has two guys that love posting up smaller players (Barnes & Matthews). Deng absolutely smothered Barnes on one post up in 1Q but it's sort of moot when Barnes is mostly posting up Russell or Clarkson.

-T-Rob is brutal, man. I appreciate his hustle and he got us some scores when the offense choked up. But he's just horrendous at defense, and frankly he's a net negative on offense as well. Tarik is so much better, and I never missed him as much as tonight when I could see Robinson play. Black sets massive screens, rotates properly, and probably does better on the perimeter than Robinson (a surprise to me). T-Rob is a good 3rd string big, don't get me wrong, but there's a reason no other team wanted him. Tarik is much, much better.

-Russell: He had some soft defense in the 1Q but it was pretty okay. (An aside, but I can see why DRPM has him as the #40 defender at his position... bad, but not horrible. His length gives him some leeway, and he's pretty good when he tries on defense.) And he was amazing in the first quarter and pretty good in the 2nd. Unsurprisingly, this is also when the starters were creating and adding to the leads. In the 3rd, he was horrible and lackadaisical and the starters got pummeled. He really is the engine that makes them go, and when the engine isn't running well, neither does the unit.

I understand Luke wants Russell to be develop his PG skills and learn to score in the framework of the offense (it amazes me watching how easily LeBron & Durant can get 25 points so casually within the framework of the offense), but it would really be nice for them to run plays to get him looks. It seems like Randle doesn't get Russell the ball in transition for open 3s anymore... loop is always scouted (if Russell gets a look, it's not wide open), etc. It just seems like he's not in a rhythm. Also, his midrange jumper is MIA... he can't hit a damn midrange off the PnR for his life (he was money on those last year). Good job getting into the paint today, though, even if he blew 3 layups.

-Clarkson: Pretty much the only bright spot aside from Nick. Loved his defensive energy all throughout the 4th.

-Luke's subs: I'm a big Luke supporter, but Nick needed to play more & Russell should've gotten a shorter break in the 1st half. I don't mind Ingram playing for Nick in the 4th (this is a development year) but why did Nick play so little in the 2nd and 3rd? Not sure.

-Nance: please come back


Thanks for the at the game analysis.

Russel's lack of hustle on the defensive end along with his poor shooting percentage is killing me man. As Reggie pointed out during the game, Dallas was going under the screen and begging DLo to shoot the jumper. 5 of 15 from the floor does not cut it when the other team is going under the screen. 39% from the field YTD and 36% from 3PT YTD does not cut it. Luke needs to give more minutes to Lou and JC if DLo is giving a half assed effort on D and is shooting like crap.

Randle and / or Robinson at the C is definately a problem but we have to deal with it until Tarik gets back. For whatever reason Luke does not want Zubac out there right now. Personnaly I would play Z with the second unit to give him some development time.

Thanks again.
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 8:16 am    Post subject:

Tough one to watch. This is what a rebuild looks like. I keep telling myself that.
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 9:38 am    Post subject:

tox wrote:
I had the (mis)fortune of going to this game. A couple of my key takeaways (wrote this before reading DB's post but I realize now most of it overlaps ):


Heh. Anytime you want to take over a T&R for me (especially those nights I have schedule conflicts) let me know!
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 9:46 am    Post subject:

tox wrote:


-Ingram drove me crazy. I think people who think he's a plus player are deluding themselves. Don't get me wrong, I'm plenty high on Ingram. Still, at the present moment, Ingram just destroys the offense by refusing to shoot open 3s (I'm sure the people sitting next to me didn't like me repeatedly shouting at him to shoot open shots). Unless he gets to the basket, he essentially lets the defense reset. Seriously, it's unbelievable how much space he gets from his defender. And yes, he's shown glimpses of being a playmaker, but I honestly think it's way overstated.

Defensively, he was what I expected. His length really bothers shooters, but nights like today showed that capable post players can destroy him. That'll come with strength.


I've got low expectations for Ingram offensively this year. In winable game where both Nick and JC are playing pretty well, Ingram's minutes should have been reduced and we should have slid Nick to more SF. Minutes are valuable for him, but W's are still valuable for this team, too, right now.


Quote:

-T-Rob is brutal, man. I appreciate his hustle and he got us some scores when the offense choked up. But he's just horrendous at defense, and frankly he's a net negative on offense as well. Tarik is so much better, and I never missed him as much as tonight when I could see Robinson play. Black sets massive screens, rotates properly, and probably does better on the perimeter than Robinson (a surprise to me). T-Rob is a good 3rd string big, don't get me wrong, but there's a reason no other team wanted him. Tarik is much, much better.


They definitely click better on both ends with Tarik. I give T-Rob a little more rope right now since he's still learning on both ends and gets lost a bit. I'm not sure what the holdup with getting Black on the floor is, but hopefully, he's good to go and the second unit can elevate their game a bit more.
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 11:44 am    Post subject:

Thanks, DB.

The Mavs' bench has outscored the Lakers' in both of the Staples games this year. To add further insult, both of those games were also played without Dirk, and thus you'd figure their bench to be even weaker with one of their reserves having to move to the starting unit.

As an aside, I don't know how you continue to grind through this misery night after night, but when the official Lakers history since the mid 00's is written, it will be titled Thoughts & Ratings, and I will be buying the hardbound anthology... even if it physically resembles/costs as much as the last full print version of the OED.
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 4:24 pm    Post subject:

thx as always, db.

usually after bad losses i avoid any lakers coverage for about a day or so, but this one felt so bad i had to dive in.

what stuck out to me is the fact that we lost to this same underwhelming mavs team only a couple of weeks ago. usually once pride and ego kicks in, the results are going to be different.

i'm still not sure why we have so many periods with such a low energy level.... everything you hear from our youngsters is how hard they work, how commited they are bla bla... i know age and distractions (hollywood, celebrity girlfriends, newborns, expectations, etc) can never be underestimated but these stretches offen appear pretty randomly and are hard to comprehend.

go lakers
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 4:30 pm    Post subject:

Quote:
I really think you need to involve him more in some traps and pressure D sequences to get his motor rolling. Julius, you’re only playing 28 minutes.


This is actually a really great idea, although the two sentences may be contradictory. I really see it the way you do - once he makes an offensive play, the defensive motor revs up and he might make a risky/athletic defensive play. So if you give him some food defensively, that could get that motor going as well. But, we aren't sure of what type of conditioning he has - and more high energy plays could burn him out.
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 4:40 pm    Post subject:

Making mistakes is presently acceptable - playing lethargically, without energy and/or in a befuddled fashion is not acceptable from our young players wanting to have a long successful NBA career

Should Luke apply The Zen Master method (allow the players learn by themselves on the court or be embarrassed by opposing teams to prove they need to change) or the Pop method (sub all the players on the court, even if it is mere minutes into the game)?

Since DLO apparently is not able to create on his own (outside being in the post) and more comfortable as a shooter, look forward to Luke discovering how to find a role that will make him more effective.
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