HEAT -at- LAKERS – 1-6-17 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

 
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 11:09 pm    Post subject: HEAT -at- LAKERS – 1-6-17 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

Taking Care of Business… There’s really no excuse for losing a home game against the Heat without Whiteside or Winslow. These are the games you take care of business and get the W.

The Lakers did that tonight in the 127-100 blowout win over the Heat. They attacked the rim relentlessly with Whiteside out and finished the night with a season-high 68 points in the paint.

At the same time, they held the Heat offense in check. Maybe give Clarkson the defensive play of the night getting ejected with Goran Dragic in the second half. Any chance the Heat had in this one probably was lost right there when they dropped another starter.

"I thought we were the aggressor," Deng said of when they came out of the huddle after the ejections.

He had one of his best games of the season. Strong outings also from Williams, Russell, Randle and Ingram.

Walton liked how the team attacked the paint, but praised their effort on D.

“That’s why we try to emphasize defense every day because that’s where you can hang your hat on when you are trying to become a winning team,” he said.


Russell -- -- He had 10 points in the first quarter getting to the rim and scoring with ease with no Whiteside in there to deter the drive. “We want to penetrate the defense whether it’s a post-up, a drive or a pass, and we want to attack the rim…I thought that all started with D’Angelo,” Luke said. Phil always talked about penetrating the defense with a pass, drive or in the post. Luke pulling quotes right from the Zen Master. From the eyeball test tonight, Russell looked a lot more efficient than the stats show. His makes were definitely high percentage shots close to the rim. He didn’t play the fourth as we blew the game out. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 7-17 shooting (1-4 from three, 4-6 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 5 assists, no turnovers, 3 steals and no fouls in 26 minutes. He was a +17. The Action: He swiped a kickout and took it the distance for FTs, he made both. Good challenge on his man to force a brick. He grabbed an offensive board but wasn’t close on the post up turnaround. He nearly airballed a pull-up in transition, Deng got it, Russell cut and Deng hit him for the layup. He missed the jumphook in the lane. Change of pace dribble off the double high screen for a layup. He probed off the screen, got his man on his hip and scored the short one. Quick attack off the high screen next time down and he scored again at the rim. He missed a short one in the post. He hit Deng for a three in transition. He missed a pull-up 16-footer. He missed a wing three. He drew FTs on the offensive glass with Randle, he made one. Second Half: He swished a three when his man went under the screen. He whipped a no-looker to Deng cutting to the hoop for a layup. He attacked to his right across the paint, faked the layup to get two defenders in the air, spun back the other way and hit the 5-footer. He hit Deng for the three. He missed a three in transition. He missed a pull-up at the FT line. He found Black with a smaller man on him on the rim run for a layup. He missed a tech FT way short. He missed a corner three. He changed directions, attacked to his left, used his size well and scored the And-1, he made the FT. He missed a long pull-up jumper trying to beat the shotclock on iso.

Randle -- -- He’s really got to trust his right hand. It’s improved. He’s been blocked in each of the last two game trying to bring the ball back to his left after attacking right. He had a sweet finish with his right on a drive right where he hit the running hook. Trust it and if you miss, you miss. You’ll improve over time. That left hand got hit last night on one of those plays and Randle underwent an x-ray before this one to make sure he was okay to play. With the blowout, he had limited minutes but was effective when out there, bullying his way to the rim or hitting some midrange jumpers. “We stayed locked in,” Randle said of the team effort tonight. Glad he wasn’t injured. The last few games have been a key part of his maturation. Let’s keep building on that. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-9 shooting (3-3 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 2 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a +11. The Action: Soft bounce on a tough fade across the lane and it fell. He attacked, spun and hit the 10-footer. Nice post entry to Mozgov over the D for a dunk. He lost a dribble on the perimeter, recovered it, attacked the rim and overpowered his man for a layup. Not close trying to muscle up in the paint. He stopped at the FT line after pushing it up, surveyed the floor and no one covered him so he hit the jumper. He was blocked on a jumper going to his right (and shooting with his left). He kept an offensive board alive and Russell drew FTs on it. He attacked off the bounce pass and drew FTs at the rim, he made both. Second Half: He swiped a pass under the hoop. He attacked right and hit the running jumphook with his right. He drew a double team and threaded a pass to Mozgov under the hoop for a dunk. He blocked a drive. He was blocked by a couple defenders with the shotclock winding down. He scored an And-1 layup off the interior feed from Black, he made the FT.

Deng -- -- Back in the starting lineup after his day off yesterday, he looked great. Hitting threes, hitting the boards, keeping Clarkson from hitting Dragic. He was a steady and productive vet, which the Lakers need more of to help the ups and downs of the young team. “I think guys are getting comfortable with what I do. We’re playing a lot smarter. We’re playing with pace but we’re also making right decisions,” Deng said. He looked good against his old team tonight with the big 19-14 outing. Some great ball movement to him, but also a good job by Deng cutting or locating himself in the right spots. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 8-12 shooting (3-4 from three) to go with 14 boards (3 offensive), 2 assists, 3 turnover and 3 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a +32. The Action: He missed a long wing jumper. He ran into a man on a busted play out of a timeout, turnover on the charge. He grabbed a Russell miss and hit him cutting for the layup. He curled into the lane, hung, and scored with his left at the front of the rim. He put back in a missed jumper that bounced a couple times to throw off the defenders. Left alone at the three line in transition so he knocked it down. Second Half: He cut to the hoop and Russell threaded a no-looker to him for the layup (Deng pointing to Randle after that for setting the off-ball screen that gave him a step on that cut). He threw a bounce pass out of bounds. He sank a wing three in early offense. He missed in the paint and was blocked on the follow. He missed a wing three in transition. He took an inbounds and hit the short baseline jumper to just beat the shotclock. He waited for the flyby, attacked from the corner and reversed. He swished the wing three off the great ball movement and extra pass from Ingram.

Mozgov -- -- I think Luke was a bit disgusted with a putback dunk he gave up not boxing out in the third quarter, so he benched him early on. Either that or you light into him trying to spark him. He’s just much too soft on D at times defensively. He went for verticality on one play tonight when he should have been challenging a man who went right around him with ease for a layup. Really awful D. He’s just not erasing mistakes. If you are plugging the paint, you’ve got to be someone who erases mistakes with good challenges. Otherwise, there’s a reason Luke will go with smaller defenders at the C spot. They’re just as good at defending the rim but have mobility on the perimeter where it becomes less a need. Not a good night. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-4 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 16 minutes. He was a +9. The Action: He slammed when Randle found him over the fronting D. He missed a dunk not going up under control. Pathetic challenge on a drive allowing an easy layup when he was right there to alter the shot. He was fouled on the other end getting hit on a dunk attempt, he made one FT. He missed a baseline jumper in early offense. He fumbled a post entry pass away, layup the other way. Second Half: Finally a shot alteration on a challenge. He dunked when Randle threaded a pass to him. No box out and he gave up a putback dunk.

Young -- -- He was clanking. His only field goal was a three, which was No. 100 on this season. He had some good challenges defensively. It almost felt to me like the chippy part of the game kind of got him going on that end of the court. It was nice seeing Deng and Williams step up to help make this one a blowout despite Nick’s struggles. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 1-9 shooting (1-6 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist and 2 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a +32. The Action: He flashed to the ball and was fouled on a FT jumper, he made both. He missed a pull-up wing three in transition. He missed a wing jumper. He sank a three off the DHO from Randle (three number 100 of the season). He missed a wing three on the catch and shoot. He tapped out a missed shot after a couple attempts on a battle on the boards. Second Half: He attacked off the three line and wasn’t close on the circus shot over his head. He picked up a tech on a foul, shoving a man after the whistle. He missed a pull-up wing jumper. He didn’t hit rim on a wing three. He missed a wing three in transition.

Clarkson -- -- Ejected. First time, I think. Clarkson was ready to throw against Dragic when the two got found each other under the hoop shoving. Deng wrapped him up, but the damage was done. Both Dragic and Clarkson were ejected with 5:29 in the third. Dragic was the Heat’s leading scorer at the time so they will probably take the trade off, but Clarkson had to watch the rest of the game from the locker room. “It’s just stuff that happens throughout the game,” Clarkson said. He said he got an elbow in the stomach from him that ticked him off. Not too much from Clarkson in this one with the limited minutes. He had a lob dunk off a set play and scored on a floater. The Stats: The Action: He threw down the lob from Ingram to start the second quarter. He wanted a foul missing a three on the weave. He crossed over and hit a floater in early offense. He gave it right back with some awful D on the perimeter, letting a man go right by him for a layup (no excuse for that, just flatfooted and not ready). He forced a shot in the paint (move the ball) and he was blocked.

Williams -- -- Just 2 points in the first half before dropping 22 more in the second half (16 in the fourth to blow the game open). Funny watching Spoelstra shaking his head off some of Lou’s makes. Lou just got into one of those punching frenzies where he’s got the opponents on the ropes and was going for the TKO. I think he got it tonight. The Stats: He scored 24 points on 9-19 shooting (5-10 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 24 minutes. He was a +12. The Action: Not close on a drive into traffic, but Black drew FTs getting the dribble penetration rebound. He missed a wing three. He fed Robinson on the two-man sequence for a layup. He ran clock and missed a long three at the end of the quarter. Transition drive and dish to Black for the dunk. He attacked in transition and flipped in the layup. Forced bounce pass, dunk the other way on the turnover. He missed a fade out of a timeout. Second Half: He lost the ball on a baseline drive. He swished a three going to his left. He missed a drive, we got it back to him and he missed the corner three. He sank a three straight away off the high screen. He missed a tough chuck on iso at the end of the quarter. He was rejected on a drive. He got a big to switch then took him to school for a layup. He crossed over, got the contact and whistle, hung and hit the And-1 wing jumper, he made the FT. Going to his left, he swished the three straight away next time down. He missed a wing three getting knocked down. He swished a three when Ingram found him. He stepped out of bounds getting iced into the corner. He curled off the weave and whipped the teardrop up off the dribble before the D could close on him. He swished a three next time down.

Ingram -- -- I mentioned in the last game, that was really the first time Ingram looked like the player we saw at Duke. He was playing his game and to his strengths in that half of the last one. Just looked very comfortable. No surprise he had one of his best games of the season tonight. I’m surprised he only had 4 assists with how well he moved the ball or found guys, but the 17 points was Ingram being aggressive. He attacked the paint when he saw opportunity. That long, quick first step is tough to defend. Once your on his hip, he’s got all that length that requires help D. Great aggressive attitude tonight. In the pregame, Horry was talking about how hard it is as a young player to get that adrenaline going that can help your game. How to find something to get mad about and channel that. “He just needs to find that trigger,” Horry said of Ingram. Keep progressing, BI. “I think he’s slowly getting more comfortable navigating the paint,” Luke said, mentioning using his length and finishing off one foot. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 6-9 shooting (0-1 from three, 5-5 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 4 assists and no fouls in 28 minutes. He was a +10. The Action: He swished a long turnaround trying to post up the smaller man. He attacked off the drive, missed on the contact but bounced back up and put back in his miss. He lobbed to Clarkson for the dunk. He missed a turnaround in the paint getting contact and no call. He grabbed a defensive board, pushed it up behind a defender, stepped on the gas and took it to the rim for the layup. Second Half: He missed an open wing three on a kickout. He posted up and drew FTs on the turnaround at the elbow, he made both. He attacked on the ball reversal, took contact and scored the And-1 layup, he made the FT. He worked the high screen, kept his man on his hip, then lobbed to Black for the score (that’s a heady play from the rook). He was fouled on the dribble for FTs, he made both. He blew past his man to his right (no screen needed), attacked the lane and scored the layup. Sweet extra pass to Deng on the wing for the three. He whipped a no-looker to Lou for the three. He caught a pass with his left and scored the layup all in one motion off a great look from Huertas (excellent hands, or hand, by Ingram on that).

Black -- -- Double-double for Tarik. Mozgov was not making happy tonight and I was glad to see Luke go to our bench bigs early in the second half and not look back. Great hustle on the offensive glass. He was active defensively. He set good picks (the lob to dunk to Clarkson was off the screen from Black). All of the little things you like. He’s shooting .792 from the FT line this year, up from .422 last year. (Remember when he was shooting about a foot behind the line for a while last year?) The improvement has been impressive, much better form. Tarik needs to teach Robinson how to shoot FTs. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 3-5 shooting (4-4 from the line) to go with 11 boards (6 offensive), 2 assists, 1 turnover, 1 block and 4 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a +17. The Action: He missed a jumphook in the post. He set up T-Rob for FTs off the interior feed. Nice challenge on a switch to force a miss. He grabbed a brick on the other end and drew FTs trying to power up, he made both. He was called for an illegal screen. He dunked in transition when Lou attacked and dished to him under the hoop. Second Half: Nice rim run to get the mismatch and he scored a layup. He grabbed an offensive board, up-faked twice and drew FTs on the putback, he made both. He rejected a man and threw it off him, but the officials missed that and called a jumpball. Nice interior bounce pass tor Randle for the And-1. He kept a miss alive and Robinson yanked it away to reset the offense. He finished the layup off the lob from Ingram on the two-man game.

Robinson -- -- Active and hustling. It wasn’t always pretty but the crowd appreciated the effort. The FT shooting was not so pretty tonight. Got to his those, T-Rob. He had one of the playh sof the game with a throwdown dunk off a missed Laker three. Love seeing that from our bench bigs. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-5 shooting (1-6 from the line) to go with 9 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist, 2 turnovers, 2 steals and 4 fouls in 17:29. He was a +0. The Action: He telegraphed and entry pass for a turnover. He gave up a putback dunk. He took an interior feed from Black and drew FTs trying to power up, he missed both. He slammed back down a missed three crashing the glass off the two-man game. He scored a layup off the screen-roll with Williams. He attacked baseline, spun back to the middle and hit the short one at the front of the rim. Second Half: He was rejected, got it back and missed the putback, Black kept it alive and Robinson yanked it away from the defender to reset the offense. Great job crashing the offensive glass to pull it away from the D and then he was fouled. He gave up it right back on a charge off the slip screen. He missed a drive down the middle of the paint. He drew FTs on the roll, he missed both. He hit Huertas for the baseline jumper off the two-man game. He broke up a lob pass. He was fouled on a dunk attempt, he made one FT.

Huertas -- -- He came in with 2 minutes left just to mess with me and write his section up. Couldn’t go back to Calderon, Luke? Anyway, he had a sweet pass to Ingram over the D for a layup and hit a jumper off a nice two-man sequence with Robinson. The Stats: He scored 2 point son 1-1 shooting to go with 1 assist in 2 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He worked the two-man game with T-Rob, got the pass back and hit the baseline jumper. He threaded a perfect pass to Ingram over the defender for a layup.

Calderon -- -- He came in for Russell at the end of the third with Clarkson ejected. He missed a three on his only attempt. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-1 shooting from three to go with 2 boards and no fouls in 5 minutes. He was a -2. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He missed a wing three on a kickout.

World Peace -- -- Crowd was happy to see him, even cheering a foul when he came in with 2 minutes left. They only got louder the more he fouled. Metta played for a lot of teams, but this is clearly his home. “My recommendation is to keep him obviously with us,” Luke said. If not, he would love to have him as a coach around the players. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-1 shooting and had 3 fouls in 2 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He got tapped on a three in transition.

Walton -- A 10-0 Laker start forced a Heat timeout… Lakers up 9 when Randle sat for Robinson… Russell with half of the Lakers points getting deep into the paint for scores without Whiteside there… Black in for Mozgov with the Lakers up 6… Clarkson and Ingram in for Young and Deng, Lakers up 6… Russell out for Lou with 2:45 left, Lakers up 4… Black and Robinson productive on the boards and scoring points… The Lakers led 32-23 heading into the second quarter… Randle in… Lakers getting jobbed by the refs and the lead was cut to 3 (an offensive interference play that was about as obvious as they get, and then no FTs for Ingram getting fouled on a drive and then another turnaround where they didn’t blow the whistle). Luke called a timeout and was in the refs ears… Mozgov in. Surprised no Russell… They lost the lead and Luke called timeout. An 11-0 Miami run… He brought in Russell, Young and Deng finally with 6 minutes left to complete the starting lineup… Mozgov out for Ingram… The Lakers led 58-56 at the half… Luke benched Mozgov after not boxing out and giving up a dunk… They pushed it out to an 8-point lead… Clarkson ejected. Lou in. Lakers up 8 with 5:29 in the third… Deng out for Ingram, Lakers up 8… They stretched it to 12 when the timeout came with 3 minutes left… Up 12, Calderon in for Russell… The Lakers led 90-79 heading into the fourth… Same players to start the quarter… Deng in for Robinson, Lakers up 8… Lakers in the bonus with under 3 minutes into the quarter… The Lakers pulled out to a 19-point lead behind some Lou Williams fourth quarter scoring. Good to see. That forced a timeout… Black out for Robinson, Lakers up 24… Metta and Huertas in with a couple minutes to go…
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 11:09 pm    Post subject:

first

thx db
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 11:25 pm    Post subject:

Awesome to watch Ingram playing with such confidence. I am sure he will be able to building on his past two outings.

Overall excellent game to watch. I'm loving how cohesive the team is looking. Thanks, DB!
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 11:35 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB!! Great game, great write up as always!

Deng and Ingram - outstanding!

Solid games from a lot of guys, DLO, Lou, Randle in particular!
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 12:17 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 12:55 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB! Sad I missed this game, especially since it seems to have been Ingram's best so far...
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 6:57 am    Post subject:

The crowd cheering on MWP fouls
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 8:37 am    Post subject:

tox wrote:
Thanks DB! Sad I missed this game, especially since it seems to have been Ingram's best so far...


Not sure what highlights you've seen by now, but the thing I found most interesting is Ingram's starting to get effective at absorbing body contact and scoring. On a couple of those scores the defender tried to use his size advantage to shove BI out of the play but Tiny Dog's nowhere close to as frail as he looks.

I think he busted that invisible lid over the basket with that first rattling three pointer that went in at Portland. More seriously, his shot and his arc seems to have improved these last 2 games, not sure if it's just me, if he's found an adjustment that works, or if he's simply getting used to NBA tempo.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 9:59 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB!
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 12:10 pm    Post subject:

Goal should be to reach 20 wins before 30 loses.

Thanks DB.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 12:35 pm    Post subject:

Lakers have played 40 games so far after this Heat game. Almost to the halfway point, with 42 games left.

14-26, .350 win rate. Last season they won 17 games total.

figuring a 35% win rate across 82 games would project to 28.7 wins. Which would beat ESPN's 27 win projection, and would be an 11 (or 12 if you want to round up) game improvement over last season 17 wins (64.7% better)

Personally, I'd always expected this years team to show improvement as the season went on - taking the first few months to get over growing pains, shake off the Byron malaise, mature a little, etc. I still expect that they'll improve the 2nd half - anyone that's paying attention can see some pretty significant growth in a number of players. I think it's reasonable to expect that they'll start playing better team ball, offensively at least. Although I'm not sure I'd expect much improvement on the team defense side

It's not much of a stretch to believe that they'll finish with 30+ wins at this point, barring major injuries.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 12:42 pm    Post subject:

P.K. wrote:
Lakers have played 40 games so far after this Heat game. Almost to the halfway point, with 42 games left.

14-26, .350 win rate. Last season they won 17 games total.

figuring a 35% win rate across 82 games would project to 28.7 wins. Which would beat ESPN's 27 win projection, and would be an 11 (or 12 if you want to round up) game improvement over last season 17 wins (64.7% better)

Personally, I'd always expected this years team to show improvement as the season went on - taking the first few months to get over growing pains, shake off the Byron malaise, mature a little, etc. I still expect that they'll improve the 2nd half - anyone that's paying attention can see some pretty significant growth in a number of players. I think it's reasonable to expect that they'll start playing better team ball, offensively at least. Although I'm not sure I'd expect much improvement on the team defense side

It's not much of a stretch to believe that they'll finish with 30+ wins at this point, barring major injuries.


Our schedule during the 2nd half of the season is a little bit easier: more home games, playing some of the worst teams on the league.
I think we can end the season winning like 35 games.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 12:45 pm    Post subject:

As another interesting factoid:
OKC currently sits at #7 in the West at 21-16 (.568)
Portland sits in the #8 spot, at 16-22 (.421) 15.5 games behind

projecting Portland's 42.1% win rate across 82 games would be 34.5

LA is currently 12th in the West, 18.5 games behind the leader, and 3 games behind Portland.

Considering Portland beat us just a few games ago, I wouldn't put money on being able to pass them - but it's at least interesting to see how close they actually are

Man, the top 7 teams are where you'd expect them to be - but there's a huge drop off between #7 OKC and the rest of the pack this year
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Last edited by P.K. on Sat Jan 07, 2017 12:49 pm; edited 1 time in total
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 12:48 pm    Post subject:

danzag wrote:
P.K. wrote:
Lakers have played 40 games so far after this Heat game. Almost to the halfway point, with 42 games left.

14-26, .350 win rate. Last season they won 17 games total.

figuring a 35% win rate across 82 games would project to 28.7 wins. Which would beat ESPN's 27 win projection, and would be an 11 (or 12 if you want to round up) game improvement over last season 17 wins (64.7% better)

Personally, I'd always expected this years team to show improvement as the season went on - taking the first few months to get over growing pains, shake off the Byron malaise, mature a little, etc. I still expect that they'll improve the 2nd half - anyone that's paying attention can see some pretty significant growth in a number of players. I think it's reasonable to expect that they'll start playing better team ball, offensively at least. Although I'm not sure I'd expect much improvement on the team defense side

It's not much of a stretch to believe that they'll finish with 30+ wins at this point, barring major injuries.


Our schedule during the 2nd half of the season is a little bit easier: more home games, playing some of the worst teams on the league.
I think we can end the season winning like 35 games.

I'd guess more in the 31-33 region, but we'll see..
another interesting note is that we've played 40 games so far, the most in the West. Most of the other teams in the West have played 2-4 games less then us.
A little more "breathing space" the rest of the way may help with extra practice time & rest too
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 12:52 pm    Post subject:

We are only a few games back from the 8th seed and despite the most games and hardest schedule we are gonna have a good chance to sneak into that final playoff spot if we take care of business... we could have been a top 6 team in the West if not for the stupid melt downs.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 1:09 pm    Post subject:

Inspector Gadget wrote:
We are only a few games back from the 8th seed and despite the most games and hardest schedule we are gonna have a good chance to sneak into that final playoff spot if we take care of business... we could have been a top 6 team in the West if not for the stupid melt downs.

While they should have probably won a couple of those games, it's pipe to really and truly believe they could be #6 or better.

OKC is currently 7th, 21-16 with a .568 win rate

for LA to be better then #7 OKC @ .568 would require 23 wins (40*.568=22.72).
that would be 9 wins more than our current 14. I don't think anyone in their right mind would have watched our games and actually expected 9 more wins.

Memphis, which is currently 6th, is at 23-16 .590. For us to get into 6th would have been an even bigger stretch.
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Last edited by P.K. on Sat Jan 07, 2017 1:58 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Inspector Gadget
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 1:24 pm    Post subject:

P.K. wrote:
Inspector Gadget wrote:
We are only a few games back from the 8th seed and despite the most games and hardest schedule we are gonna have a good chance to sneak into that final playoff spot if we take care of business... we could have been a top 6 team in the West if not for the stupid melt downs.

While they should have probably won a couple of those games, it's pipe to really and truly believe that could be #6 or better.

OKC is currently 7th, 21-16 with a .568 win rate

for LA to be better then #7 OKC @ .568 would require 23 wins (40*.568=22.72).
that would be 9 wins more than our current 14. I don't think anyone in their right mind would have watched our games and actually expected 9 more wins.

Memphis, which is currently 6th, is at 23-16 .590. For us to get into 6th would have been an even bigger stretch.


Good breakdown, I guess top 6 would have been tough but I'd say that we will be sitting in a pretty position.
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tox
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 1:37 pm    Post subject:

TooMuchMajicBuss wrote:
tox wrote:
Thanks DB! Sad I missed this game, especially since it seems to have been Ingram's best so far...


Not sure what highlights you've seen by now, but the thing I found most interesting is Ingram's starting to get effective at absorbing body contact and scoring. On a couple of those scores the defender tried to use his size advantage to shove BI out of the play but Tiny Dog's nowhere close to as frail as he looks.

I think he busted that invisible lid over the basket with that first rattling three pointer that went in at Portland. More seriously, his shot and his arc seems to have improved these last 2 games, not sure if it's just me, if he's found an adjustment that works, or if he's simply getting used to NBA tempo.


Yeah I've noticed how great he's been at getting to the basket and finishing recently as well. He might not have the explosiveness of Giannis to get to the basket at will, but Ingram finishes at the basket at a very healthy percentage (better than Giannis as a rookie) while very rarely being assisted on a drive (he's assisted as often as a LeBron drive!)

Super promising stuff for when his jumper gets consistent.
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Andre2K
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 4:46 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB

I think Young struggled because our bigs weren't making contact when setting screens on the floppy play to get Nick clean looks. Hopefully Luke gets on them for this, also Nick needs to do a better job of recognizing when he is not open on that play and just keep the ball moving hopefully to the weak side.
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