LAKERS -at- ROCKETS – 12-20-17 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings
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Dr. Funkbot
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 21, 2017 8:49 am    Post subject:

I kinda hope we find a way to keep Brewer on the team. He is the player at the right price that we wanted Deng to be. The calming veteran presence on this young squad.
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RCS926
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 21, 2017 8:52 am    Post subject:

LakerSD wrote:
Kuzma
Ball got better in the 2nd half.

This game reminds me why I just don’t trust the rockets. Great offense, solid talent across the roster but I just don’t believe you can win in the playoffs with their defense. Analytics say they are a good defensive team but that’s not the case. There is still a gap imo between GSW championship level defense and Houston. GSW gets stops when needed.

I think their fans are going to be very upset when the same playoff scenario plays itself out again.


Also have to factor in that regular season Harden doesn't show up in the playoffs.
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Baron Von Humongous
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 21, 2017 8:52 am    Post subject:

LakerSD wrote:
Kuzma
Ball got better in the 2nd half.

This game reminds me why I just don’t trust the rockets. Great offense, solid talent across the roster but I just don’t believe you can win in the playoffs with their defense. Analytics say they are a good defensive team but that’s not the case. There is still a gap imo between GSW championship level defense and Houston. GSW gets stops when needed.

I think their fans are going to be very upset when the same playoff scenario plays itself out again.

Capela is so key to their defense that it's tough to judge when he's out.
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LakerSD
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 21, 2017 9:13 am    Post subject:

Baron Von Humongous wrote:
LakerSD wrote:
Kuzma
Ball got better in the 2nd half.

This game reminds me why I just don’t trust the rockets. Great offense, solid talent across the roster but I just don’t believe you can win in the playoffs with their defense. Analytics say they are a good defensive team but that’s not the case. There is still a gap imo between GSW championship level defense and Houston. GSW gets stops when needed.

I think their fans are going to be very upset when the same playoff scenario plays itself out again.

Capela is so key to their defense that it's tough to judge when he's out.


I hear you, but defense also can’t be a one man show. It sets off a chain of events when harden and others are that bad on defense and MDA tends to overlook that side

I will give them credit for bringing in Mbah A Moute for defensive help but you need certain guys to play defense. It’s tough to hide guys who can’t play defense in the playoffs.
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durden-tyler
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 21, 2017 9:47 am    Post subject:

Harden is a great great player, but man his playing style is unbearable...
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Dr. Funkbot
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 21, 2017 11:01 am    Post subject:

LakerSD wrote:
Baron Von Humongous wrote:
LakerSD wrote:
Kuzma
Ball got better in the 2nd half.

This game reminds me why I just don’t trust the rockets. Great offense, solid talent across the roster but I just don’t believe you can win in the playoffs with their defense. Analytics say they are a good defensive team but that’s not the case. There is still a gap imo between GSW championship level defense and Houston. GSW gets stops when needed.

I think their fans are going to be very upset when the same playoff scenario plays itself out again.

Capela is so key to their defense that it's tough to judge when he's out.


I hear you, but defense also can’t be a one man show. It sets off a chain of events when harden and others are that bad on defense and MDA tends to overlook that side

I will give them credit for bringing in Mbah A Moute for defensive help but you need certain guys to play defense. It’s tough to hide guys who can’t play defense in the playoffs.


Antoni teams will always ultimately lack the defensive acumen to advance in the playoffs. They are better this year, but I predict that their D will fail them again in the playoffs.
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Baron Von Humongous
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 21, 2017 11:35 am    Post subject:

Dr. Funkbot wrote:
LakerSD wrote:
Baron Von Humongous wrote:
LakerSD wrote:
Kuzma
Ball got better in the 2nd half.

This game reminds me why I just don’t trust the rockets. Great offense, solid talent across the roster but I just don’t believe you can win in the playoffs with their defense. Analytics say they are a good defensive team but that’s not the case. There is still a gap imo between GSW championship level defense and Houston. GSW gets stops when needed.

I think their fans are going to be very upset when the same playoff scenario plays itself out again.

Capela is so key to their defense that it's tough to judge when he's out.


I hear you, but defense also can’t be a one man show. It sets off a chain of events when harden and others are that bad on defense and MDA tends to overlook that side

I will give them credit for bringing in Mbah A Moute for defensive help but you need certain guys to play defense. It’s tough to hide guys who can’t play defense in the playoffs.


Antoni teams will always ultimately lack the defensive acumen to advance in the playoffs. They are better this year, but I predict that their D will fail them again in the playoffs.

Agree with both of you. Their defense will definitely be better with Capela and LRMAM, but they're also going to face much better offenses in the playoffs.
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A Mad Chinaman
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 22, 2017 12:52 am    Post subject:

DancingBarry wrote:
DrDent wrote:
Question: think Luke finally comes around to starting kuz or will he still rationalize the "doesn't matter who starts it's who finishes" line to not start him when KCP and bro come back?
I don't know. Just hard to guess what Luke does with his lineups sometimes. This sure would be a good one for Nance to realize to go to the bench in painless fashion. I mean Kuzma drops 38, they beat a top team and also show Nance he can be in a big role off the bench. Next game start Randle in place of Bogut and seen how they roll with our Ball, Ingram, Kuzma, Randle youth death lineup.
Maybe Luke is providing each starting combination he uses a fair chance for him to accurately assess the pros and cons (long term) of each of his changes.

Great game and breakdown
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 22, 2017 9:00 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB!
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 22, 2017 10:18 am    Post subject:

TooMuchMajicBuss wrote:
OK just got done watching a full replay, this one with the Houston TV crew doing the play by play. I thought it would be interesting to get their perspective.

Ball - they had a field day on his shot, or lack thereof. Sometimes just a casual 'Ball misses the knuckleball' after one of his misses, and at other times breaking down the form, comparing others who shot this way, frequently mentioning the 49% ft shooting, and emphasizing he needs to get that shot fixed this coming summer. Really, he's the only Laker they said anything bad about, and they were not critical of the rest of his game.

Kuzma - they RAVED over Kuzma's game. Drexler - he's a shooter AND a scorer - Clyde's emphasis - and how he's destined to become a star in this league, how he went 27th in the draft, how GM's are kicking themselves that they let him slip that far, that he should be a ROY candidate, he's just a rook and one of the highest scoring bench players in the league, and to Drexler, and, well... the whole crew, it was a foregone conclusion that Kuzma won't be a bench player much longer, they have to start this kid, he may already be the best player on this team. We'll see....

Laker Defense - The Houston crew started the game looking at points allowed, and even though they mentioned several times that the Lakers play at the highest pace in the league, they talked as though the Lakers score a lot and allow a lot of scoring too. They were surprised at what they saw as the game progressed. Starting second quarter and as the game went on, they praised the Laker defense more and more, very complimentary on how they countered Houston's offense, hustled and played smart team defense. I don't know how many times I heard comments like "and look at that Laker defense!" They actually recognized it. And acknowledged it. Good on them.

Corey Brewer - they still like him a lot, they loved his effort, and as has been said on this forum - they said he's one of the nicest people in the league. Their opinion from his Houston days - great guy to have on a team and great influence on others in their opinion.

As the game wound down, they said the Lakers had an answer for every Houston run and they were quite complimentary on the young players, particularly Kuzma, but also Ingram and Nance, as well as Brewer.

Anyhow - great win! I just thought it would be interesting to hear what spin a Houston crew with zero homerism towards the Lakers would put on this team. To their credit they felt this was no fluke - the Lakers played a better game.

Nice recap of the Houston feed! I missed the first quarter and a little bit of the second but when I turned on NBATV they had the Houston feed as well. All your comments are spot on.

We are currently on pace to win 31 games and we are almost through with the hardest part of the schedule. If we can keep improving and win most of our home games there's still an outside shot for an eighth seed. That's what would really grab FA's attention.
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Runway8
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 22, 2017 7:42 pm    Post subject:

Harden just scored 51 again, and lost to a LA team again. LOL! I think it'll be a long time before such a coincidence would ever happen again. Back to back 51 pts, and back to back losses to 2 LA teams.
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Daphanabe
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 22, 2017 7:47 pm    Post subject:

Bummer that Hart’s not in the starting lineup.
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