NUGGETS -at- LAKERS – 10-2-18 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

 
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 10:20 pm    Post subject: NUGGETS -at- LAKERS – 10-2-18 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

That Passing… While the rotations are still limited and we have yet to see Lonzo Ball on the floor, the Lakers are showing some signs of an entertaining team. The ball was moving tonight with some of the units on the floor.

“I thought they were messing with me they passed so many times,” Luke said. It was contagious.

Perhaps, contagious to fault in the final seconds. Deep into garbage time and deep into our bench, the game was still on the line in the final minute. Down 2, the Lakers moved the ball to an open Isaac Bonga, the Lakers young project. Not aware of the clock, he tried to move it one more time instead of taking the wide open three for the win. By the time the ball hit Travis Wear’s hands, the buzzer had gone off and the Lakers fell 113-111.

Fans might have had flashbacks to the team’s inability to close last year. It’s only preseason, however, and the real value of those minutes is the lessons learned.

In addition to the ball movement, Luke was happy with the improved physicality of the team. LeBron played just a couple of stints, teasing the crowds with glimpses of things to come. And both Rondo and McGee showed once again that they will be excellent additions to this year’s squad.

Staples will be in for a good show this year once things start to come together.


LeBron -- -- He took it easy in the last game on the offensive end, but looked a little more like himself in this one. Some turnovers when things got out of sync, but otherwise there were some definite Showtime-like moments out there. We were getting out on the break with consistency and he and Rondo ate that up. Can’t wait to throw Lonzo in the mix, as well. We may have to keep track of hockey assists this season because between the three of them. I think there will be a ridiculous amount. The passing in this game became contagious at times, as mentioned. And, again, that’s all without Lonzo. Think about that. It’s only preseason, but there was really no ball dominance in this one by LeBron. We’ll see how that plays out in the regular season, but the team was pretty effective and LeBron still put up big numbers in his very limited run. Defensively, while other guys are doing the heavy lifting at the C spot, we are also making LeBron work a little more at the PF spot all the time. Millsap in this game was still a non-factor. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-6 shooting (1-1 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 2 steals, 1 block, 4 turnovers and no fouls in 15 minutes. He was a +13. The Action: He missed a short floater in the middle of the paint. A little late on a lob to McGee in transition. He hit McGee rolling off the screen for an And-1 reverse. He took the outlet, pushed it up, stepped on the gas and banked in the short runner. Long outlet to Hart busting out for the layup. He stripped a man and that ignited another breakaway Laker score. He sank a long jumper over the D that sagged off. He pushed it out, no one got in his way so he threw down (he wiped his hand on his shirt while pushing it up and getting ready for that throwdown). He spun in the post and drew FTs, he made one. He pushed it up, no-looked to Ingram, who attacked and fed McGee for the dunk. He got caught in the air and threw it away. He traveled expecting someone to be in the corner for a pass. He sank a pull-up three in transition. He threw a kickout away. He swiped a ball, outlet to Rondo, who no-looked to Hart, who fed the trailing LeBron for the And-1, he made the FT. Second Half: He did not play in the second half.

Ingram -- -- Kind of surprised he ended up with only one assist tonight. That one came on a highlight reel no-looker from LeBron and another no-looker from Ingram in transition to McGee for the dunk. Pretty quiet night offensively. He hit a jumper on iso and scored a layup on the break for his scores. In the past, Ingram has shown an occasional good game on the defensive end. He’d give you those glimpses of potential, but the impact on that was never consistent. I really like the length of Ingram and McGee out there on help D. That might be one of the trademarks of this team. Brandon was rotating and challenging really well tonight. Some bogus fouls against him that hurt, but the bottom line activity was there consistently. “We had each other’s backs,” he said of the D. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-5 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 6 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 5 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a +12. The Action: He iso’d and swished a pull-up wing jumper. He might have gotten credit for a steal coming from the weakside on a late tag. He missed a baseline turnaround in early offense. He scored a layup getting out on the break with Rondo. He missed a pull-up 17-footer. He took the no-looker from LBJ trailing the break, attacked and no-looked to McGee for the dunk. Second Half: He picked up a fifth foul and sat.

Rondo -- -- Rondo and McGee are definitely looking like big additions. I can’t emphasize how much I trust him with the ball in his hands when the D is in scramble mode, especially on the break. You just know he’s going to make the right play at the right time. When we went small, the Nuggets put Jokic on Rondo defensively. We didn’t really attack that, but he turned it into a couple of made threes in the first half with guys unable to close in time. He went 3-3 from three tonight, showing that improvement and confidence from three. Again, he showed some great chemistry with McGee. I think he found him for scores at the rim three times. Defensively, we need to be careful doubling the post when we don’t have to. Rondo had one of those tonight that burned us for a three (his was bad because it was unnecessary). He got lost a couple times on D, I noticed, but that will happen quite a bit early on. The Stats: He scored He scored 11 points on 4-5 shooting (3-3 from the three) to go with 2 boards, 7 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He took the outlet, probed in early offense and scored a backhand layup. He stepped on the sideline on a kickout. He found McGee on the roll for a layup. He hit Brandon on the break for the layup. He couldn’t finish over Jokic in the paint. He sank a three straight away out of a timeout when Jokic couldn’t close. He inbounded, went to the corner, got it back and swished the three. Second Half: He hit McGee on the lob for the dunk. He sank an open sideline three. He fired ahead to McGee for an And-1 layup. Bad post double and he gave up a three. He then threw a bounce pass away on the other end.

McGee -- -- He’s killed it these last couple of games. He had 10 points, 7 boards and 4 blocks in the first half. We’ve got a lot of passers on this team, but it seems like everyone is looking for him whenever the opportunity is there. It’s also nice to see someone who knows how to set a screen and be a threat off that. The shotblocking, the rebounding and his ability to change ends all help ignite our break. Defensively, we want to see this team cause havoc with their length when he’s out there. He played 19 minutes tonight. If this were a regular season game, he might have been around 25 or so. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-8 shooting (5-6 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 1 steal, 5 blocks, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a +11. The Action: He missed a short one in the paint off a busted backdoor play for Ingram. He missed a baseline jumper on a kickout. He hustled back in transition and rejected a layup. He gathered a bounce pass that was a little behind him on the roll to the hoop and scored a layup. LBJ slipped him a bounce pass on a roll for an And-1 reverse, he made the FT. He iso’d and missed a corner jumper. He drew FTs getting tapped on an And-1 layup off the screen-roll, he made both. He swiped a lob pass. He disrupted another lob pass. He was fouled on the dunk attempt when Kuzma found him with an interior feed, he made one FT. He blocked a couple shots but couldn’t get the stop. Great job running the floor and Ingram found him on a drive for the dunk. Second Half: Easy lob throwdown with Rondo off the screen-roll to start the half. He blocked a drive. He threw a bounce pass away. Offensive foul in the paint. He scored an And-1 on the break and made the FT.

Hart -- -- Nice to see the Lakers give him a start this early in the season. “Josh is great at doing the dirty things. Fighting over the screens, grabbing the rebounds. Those little things that don’t get valued a lot, but they do by coaches and teammates,” Luke said. He fit well with the starters. He was finishing at the rim on the break. He was hitting threes. And some good working fighting over the screens and grabbing a few boards (would like to see him battle more there because he can turn boards into transition opportunities and the occasional one man breakaways). The Stats: He scored 14 points on 6-13 shooting (2-8 from three) to go with 3 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He missed an open wing three coming off a screen (had more time than he realized). He took the outlet over the top of the D, hung around the challenge and scored the layup. He attacked off the three line and scored a layup over the help. Great lefty finish over a big after taking contact. He drained a pull-up three off the handoff from LeBron. He hit LeBron trailing the break for the And-1. He missed a three trailing the break, looked like he didn’t pull it up cleanly. Second Half: He pushed it up and muscled in the layup over a defender (bumped off Barton and muscled it over Millsap). He airballed a break rhythm three (should have fired when he got it). He missed an open wing three out of a timeout. He forced a pocket pass that wasn’t there, turnover. He was stripped at the rim, turnover. He missed a sideline three. He swiped a pass on one end, then missed a deep three on the other. He swished a wing three over a big.

Kuzma -- -- “No Kuz at the five?” Luke asked his own question afterward, wondering why the reporters didn’t ask it. “I thought Kuz at the five was much better tonight,” he said, describing Kuzma’s fronting and getting hands up and battling. Really, Kuzma should be taking minutes away from Stephenson instead of a big. Run a PG, Hart/KCP, Kuzma, Beasley and a bigman. But they’re experimenting with it. Perhaps out of necessity...but it is what it is. I think it’s thrown off his game quite a bit, but he’s learning. Offensively, we really don’t have a lot of rhythm with him and it’s resulting in some forces. “It’s always a work in progress trying to learn new positions,” he said. He had a cramp and left the game a little early in the second half. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-8 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists and 2 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He missed a turnaround in the paint. Two quick fouls trying to cover Jokic. He flashed to the post, spun baseline and reversed (reminded me of Ceballos with that finish). He pushed out the break, head up he found Caruso backdooring his man for a layup. Poor shot selection on the long turnaround jumper in early offense, he missed. He drew a charge on a big next time down to get a stop. He attacked and lobbed to McGee who was fouled. He dunked on the break when KCP quickly hit him. Interior feed to McGee for FTs. He was stripped on the break. He airballed a corner three on a kickout. Second Half: He swished a pull-up three in semi-transition. He forced up and missed a bad three.

Caldwell-Pope -- -- Sheesh. He has looked really off his game. Just rusty. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-7 shooting (1-4 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 21 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He missed an open corner three. He made a tech FT. He banked in a short pull-up on the break (might have been able to hit a trailer in Kuz). He was called for an illegal screen (holding a man) to cancel a lob play. He missed an 18-footer coming off a screen. He found Kuzma on the hit ahead for a breakaway dunk. Second Half: Not close on a wing three on a kickout. He attacked, spun and clanked. He lost the ball on iso, ugly. He finally rattled down a three trailing the break. He missed a running three at the buzzer.

Beasley -- -- Another one of the guys who I think is struggling a bit because he’s playing outside of his comfort zone. More fouls than rebounds. We did get him more minutes at the PF tonight, but we still went small at times. Give it time and he’ll produce at the PF. Hard to say about the C-spot experiments. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-5 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 5 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a -16. The Action: He missed a wide open three straight away. He airballed a turnaround on iso against the shotclock. He missed a wing jumper. Second Half: He attacked and fumbled the ball out of bounds. He missed an elbow turnaround. He sank an open wing jumper out of a timeout. Great read on D to deflect a lob, but then he threw a lob away himself for a dunk the other way.

Zubac -- -- Defensively, he was out of position quite a bit. Just really bad recognition on that end. He seemed overly concerned with the help D and was giving up too much space to the man he was supposed to be guarding. He gave up his share of easy ones to Plumlee and the help D was just as awful behind him on rotations, too. Really poor minutes from him. (To be fair, Plumlee was also punking our other backup C’s.) Offensively, he was solid. There was better spacing and bit more purpose offensively, so that helped. Outside of McGee, our C spot is killing us early on. Hopefully, Moe’s knee contusion doesn’t last all season. And, hopefully, Zu’s D warms up sooner rather than later. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-5 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 11 minutes. He was a -13. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: Nice challenge on a drive to prevent a score. He overcommit to help when he didn’t need to and had to foul his man on a recovery. He biffed a 5-footer he should have had. He posted up and missed the short jumphook but drew FTs battling for the offensive board, he made one. He flashed to the ball and stepped past a defender for a layup. He took the feed from Svi in the paint, spun and scored. He traveled in the paint. He lost his man on D and gave up a dunk. He scored an easy one on low position in transition. He sank a 15-footer off the two-man game. He gave up an offensive board.

Stephenson -- -- At some point we will always have one of Rondo, Ball or LBJ running the show. Tonight, we made sure Caruso was out there at the PG. The ball stopping by Stephenson was pretty bad at times in his first stint. I think I liked his role late in the game. It was garbage time, we had a lot of G-Leaguers out there and it kind of didn’t matter if he was dominating the ball. Unfortunately, we didn’t get Svi some run when we could have. Still, I could of wonder if this is how Luke is starting to see the depth chart. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-7 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards (2 offensive), 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 foul sin 23 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He blew past his man, but couldn’t finish over the help (should have passed), but got it back while lying on the ground and kicked it out. He nailed his man to the floor off a fake, then scored a layup. He crossed over Plumlee and was fouled on the layup attempt, he made both FTs. He scooped up a loose ball and hit KCP on the break for a score. He skipped up court with a few seconds left and just missed the three at the buzzer. He missed a 15-footer straight away. Second Half: He missed a wide open 18-footer. He attacked down the lane and scored a layup between defenders. He iso’d and hit a step-back pull-up baseline jumper. He pushed out the break and fed Wear for the And-1 reverse. He grabbed an offensive board and hit a man for a three.

Mykhailiuk -- -- Not exactly sure why we ran Stephenson so much in the fourth with all the garbage time action. Get Svi some minutes, Luke. Or, hey, why not bring him in for the final possession for a three? Svi showed a little more of his well-rounded game tonight with some drives that resulted in either a score for himself or a big. Oh well, felt like an opportunity lost. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 0-1 shooting from three (2-2 from the line) to go with 1 assist and 1 turnover in 6 minutes. He was a -11. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He missed a wing three on a kickout. He was fouled on a change of directions on the perimeter for FTs, he made both. He attacked off the three line, drew the help and wrapped a pass around the D to Zubac for the score. His pass was picked off on the perimeter.

Caruso -- -- Instead of trying to run Stephenson and Ingram as the backup PGs, they gave the job to Caruso this time. Things were a bit less chaotic. Steady minutes from Caruso. Nothing special, but having a steadying force this time of year makes more sense until the team gets on the same page and develops the playbook. Some really good D in the passing lanes these first couple of games. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-4 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 1 steal and 3 fouls in 17 minutes. He was a -7. The Action: He jumped a passing lane, swiped the ball and was given the clear-path foul call, he made both FTs. He missed an open wing three. He backdoored his man and Kuzma found him for the layup. He set up McGee for FTs on the screen-roll. Second Half: He snaked off the screen and hit the one-hander in the paint. He missed an open jumper from the top of the key.

Berry II -- -- The shot looked good when he took it. He was a little wild with some of the passing. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-2 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 1 board and 2 turnovers in 7 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He threw a pass away on the break. He sank an open wing three. He swished a pull-up from the top of the key, working off a screen. He threw a pass away.

Wililams -- -- Relatively quiet night aside from a slam late in the game. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-3 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 7 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He missed a lefty jumphook across the lane. He missed an open corner three. He grabbed a loose ball and slammed.

Bonga -- -- Bonga for the …. Ouch. He overpassed at the buzzer. He had a wide open shot with under a second left and tried to hit Wear instead. Painful. Got to be aware of the clock. Lesson, hopefully, learned. Decent minutes from him despite that painful end. He’s definitely shown some improvement from the summer league disaster. Nowhere to go but up. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-1 shooting to go with 1 assist and no fouls or turnovers in 6 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He attacked to his left, spun back to his right and scored a tough layup. He slapped a pass off a man to get a stop. Nice job to kick to Wear for a three out of a timeout (he could have taken one himself, but attacked and kicked instead). Next time he got it, he tried to hit Wear again, but the clock ran out at the buzzer (got to be aware of the clock).

Wear -- -- Would have been interesting had there been that additional second or two that Bonga thought there was. Wear hit a big three with 30 seconds left and also took a huge charge on the other end to get a stop. Those were winning plays. He might have made another had we the time. Oh well. Good minutes from Travis. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-4 shooting (1-2 from three, 0-1 from the line) to go with 1 board in 7 minutese. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He finished the And-1 reverse off the no-looker from Stephenson in transition. He missed a wing three. He couldn’t finish at the rim on a nice feed from Bonga. He sank a wing three off a kickout. He then drew a charge on the other end on help D to get a stop.

Walton -- -- Luke called a timeout after the starters gave up a couple offensive boards and a dunk. Seemed they were thinking about transition before securing the board… The Lakers had a flurry of fastbreak scores out of that timeout and forced the Nuggets to call a timeout themselves… Kuzma in at C out of that (we had a 7 point lead). He instantly fouled trying to push Jokic out of the paint. (The Nuggets put Jokic on Rondo defensively.) The lead was quickly trimmed down and Luke called another timeout. Defensively, we will suffer if we have to double Jokic. He’s just too good a passer… Stephenson and KCP in for Hart and Ingram… Caruso in for Rondo… Beasley in for LeBron… The Lakers led 33-26 after the first. A few more misses from the Nuggets tonight and the Lakers had a bit more up and down ball in their favor… He ran the Beasley, Kuzma, Stephenson, KCP and Caruso lineup to start the second… McGee in for Kuzma pup 5 with 10 minutes left… Kuzma back in a couple minutes later for Beasley… Starters back in with 5 minutes left up by 4… Up 10 when Kuzma came in for McGee at the C… Sloppy close to the second quarter but the Lakers still led by 11… The Lakers led 59-48 at the half. The Lakers had a 17-7 advantage on the break… LBJ sitting for the second half, Kuzma takes his spot at PF... Quick timeout by the Nuggets after a flurry of scores by the Lakers… Luke called a timeout just to bark at a ref and pick up a tech… KCP in for Ingram… Kuzma out for Beasley, limping to the locker room… A 14-3 Nuggets run… Up 10 when Zubac came in for McGee. Momentum slipping some… Rondo out for Caruso, Lakers up by 7… Svi in for Hart, Lakers up 9… The Lakers led 84-78 heading into the fourth. The game is looking a little more G-League right now. Will they make productive use of the remaining time or go to the deep bench?... He started the Zubac, Beasley, Svi, Stephenson, Caruso… This unit lost the lead on an 8-0 run and Luke called a timeout after 2 minutes, down 2… Hart in for Svi out of that timeout… Zu and Beasley out for Wear and Williams… No Svi for the rest of the fourth or the final possession. Sigh…

Programming Note: I won’t be able to cover the next game as I’m traveling.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 10:29 pm    Post subject:

fizzirst
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 10:35 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB

I would say the only vet who seems to be needing a lot of time to show his value is Beasley, I mentioned during the 1st preseason game that he did not look comfortable, it was even more evident in this game.

Rondo/McGee/Stephenson have been fantastic, and i also include Stephenson because I love how he always plays with effort which will be huge when we are playing against good teams and we need a bench guy to come in and give the team a boost.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 10:55 pm    Post subject:

I hope Lance and Beasley will only be used in spot duty.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 10:59 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB! I enjoyed this game. Particularly the part where our starters ran Denver off the floor.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 11:00 pm    Post subject:

jonnybravo wrote:
I hope Lance and Beasley will only be used in spot duty.


They can be very valuable for us in the 4th, we know both of them have made big shots in the 4th quarter through out there NBA career.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 12:52 am    Post subject:

Quote:
there were some definite Showtime-like moments out there



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Lakers depth chart

PG Johnson / Goodrich
SG Bryant / West / Scott
SF Baylor / Worthy / Cooper
PF Mikkelsen / Hairston / McAdoo / Gasol
C Chamberlain / Abdul-Jabbar / O'Neal / Mikan
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 3:02 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB.

Quite a deep rotation that was a lot of work.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 4:38 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB. Our new guys all played very well minus Beasley. We all know what we were getting with LJ and Rondo. I am still of the belief that McGee and Stephenson (yes I said it) are going to be big surprises this year.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 5:59 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB.

The shooting has to get a lot better.

Rim protection is Javale and not much else right now. You know it’s bad when someone like Plumlee is dunking the ball every time he gets a touch.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 6:11 am    Post subject:

The team will be good but has a big problem.
The second string center position.
You saw when McGee goes out the center
goes to town. And the Lakers lost the lead and mojo.
Kuzma and Zubac are getting abused.
In real games it will be worse.
Have to get a competent second string center.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 6:25 am    Post subject: Re: NUGGETS -at- LAKERS – 10-2-18 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

DancingBarry wrote:

Zubac -- -- Defensively, he was out of position quite a bit. Just really bad recognition on that end. He seemed overly concerned with the help D and was giving up too much space to the man he was supposed to be guarding. He gave up his share of easy ones to Plumlee and the help D was just as awful behind him on rotations, too. Really poor minutes from him. (To be fair, Plumlee was also punking our other backup C’s.) Offensively, he was solid. There was better spacing and bit more purpose offensively, so that helped. Outside of McGee, our C spot is killing us early on. Hopefully, Moe’s knee contusion doesn’t last all season. And, hopefully, Zu’s D warms up sooner rather than later. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-5 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 11 minutes. He was a -13. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: Nice challenge on a drive to prevent a score. He overcommit to help when he didn’t need to and had to foul his man on a recovery. He biffed a 5-footer he should have had. He posted up and missed the short jumphook but drew FTs battling for the offensive board, he made one. He flashed to the ball and stepped past a defender for a layup. He took the feed from Svi in the paint, spun and scored. He traveled in the paint. He lost his man on D and gave up a dunk. He scored an easy one on low position in transition. He sank a 15-footer off the two-man game. He gave up an offensive board.


DB: With regards to your point of Zubac's defensive woes coming in large part from his overemphasis on help defence. would it make a difference if Luke were to insert Zubac only when our better defensive guards are also on the floor with him. Also, would it be better to tell him to emphasise on his assigned cover and worry less about backing up other defenders?


Last edited by Vanquish on Wed Oct 03, 2018 6:33 am; edited 1 time in total
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 6:32 am    Post subject:

Thanks, DB!
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 6:48 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB! The starters played well last night. I sure hope ZO and MOE get back soon.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 7:06 am    Post subject:

There was a stretch in this game that was giving me flashbacks to the showtime era. So exciting to see that type of run and gun play. Does “no rebound, no ring” still apply?
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:14 am    Post subject: Re: NUGGETS -at- LAKERS – 10-2-18 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

Vanquish wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:

Zubac -- -- Defensively, he was out of position quite a bit. Just really bad recognition on that end. He seemed overly concerned with the help D and was giving up too much space to the man he was supposed to be guarding. He gave up his share of easy ones to Plumlee and the help D was just as awful behind him on rotations, too. Really poor minutes from him. (To be fair, Plumlee was also punking our other backup C’s.) Offensively, he was solid. There was better spacing and bit more purpose offensively, so that helped. Outside of McGee, our C spot is killing us early on. Hopefully, Moe’s knee contusion doesn’t last all season. And, hopefully, Zu’s D warms up sooner rather than later. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-5 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 11 minutes. He was a -13. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: Nice challenge on a drive to prevent a score. He overcommit to help when he didn’t need to and had to foul his man on a recovery. He biffed a 5-footer he should have had. He posted up and missed the short jumphook but drew FTs battling for the offensive board, he made one. He flashed to the ball and stepped past a defender for a layup. He took the feed from Svi in the paint, spun and scored. He traveled in the paint. He lost his man on D and gave up a dunk. He scored an easy one on low position in transition. He sank a 15-footer off the two-man game. He gave up an offensive board.


DB: With regards to your point of Zubac's defensive woes coming in large part from his overemphasis on help defence. would it make a difference if Luke were to insert Zubac only when our better defensive guards are also on the floor with him. Also, would it be better to tell him to emphasise on his assigned cover and worry less about backing up other defenders?


He was struggling a bit with doing to things at once and took some poor angles off his man or left too early on a few occasions. On a couple other occasions the help behind him failed. It was just out of sync and we were stuck in no mans land too much by our own doing. He started off slow defensively last season and improved. He got much better at helping at the last second or challenging better in recovery.
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:18 am    Post subject:

laker50 wrote:
The team will be good but has a big problem.
The second string center position.
You saw when McGee goes out the center
goes to town. And the Lakers lost the lead and mojo.
Kuzma and Zubac are getting abused.
In real games it will be worse.
Have to get a competent second string center.


At least we have an open roster spot. Wish we could see how Moe will do, but regardless he’s still a rookie and that C spot looks very weak. If McGee goes down ... yikes.
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LakerEric
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:52 am    Post subject:

Stephenson, Beasley, and KCP...Ouch! Kuzma looks like a deer in the headlights and very tentative. Otherwise, beautiful basketball out there!
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oldlakerfan
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:54 am    Post subject:

Finally watched the game.

Bonga had a brain fart at the end of the game but he looks a lot better than he did in Summer league. He looks ready to step into the rotation in the G League.

Zubac did get abused but he guard play on defense was bad. I still have some hope.

KCP now has 2 games in a row where he looks lost.

Hart looked great but would like the see that 3 pointer go down a little more regularly.

Kuz looks like he is really concentrating on passing the ball and setting up teammates.

Beasley seems out of sorts with very little working on either side of the ball.

Stephenson looks like a point guard.

McGee wow he has looked great 2 games in a row on both ends of the court. Seems like a perfect fit for this team.

Overall the starters did a good job but play was sloppy as expected. I think we are going to be pretty good when the rotation is tightened up and we get Lonzo back.
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Pierlu92
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 9:43 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB!
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eddiejonze
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 11:01 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB.
Question to anyone- Didn't Mcgee have minutes restrictions with W's last year due to some health thing? Wonder if that's still in effect.
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justsomelakerfan
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 11:50 am    Post subject:

The passing potential of this squad is thru the roof
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Ryan1973
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 1:02 pm    Post subject:

eddiejonze wrote:
Thanks DB.
Question to anyone- Didn't Mcgee have minutes restrictions with W's last year due to some health thing? Wonder if that's still in effect.


That's what I am wondering too. I would love to see him play around 30 minutes a game when the regular season starts.
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 1:24 pm    Post subject:

Luke said there were no minute restrictions on him.
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TooMuchMajicBuss
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 7:15 pm    Post subject:

Ryan1973 wrote:
eddiejonze wrote:
Thanks DB.
Question to anyone- Didn't Mcgee have minutes restrictions with W's last year due to some health thing? Wonder if that's still in effect.


That's what I am wondering too. I would love to see him play around 30 minutes a game when the regular season starts.


McGee has asthma, and a lot of people say that limits him to less than 20 minutes per game before he has breathing problems. I'm inclined to believe this, yet I like to hope that's not true. I'd like to see him average more than 20 minutes with no ill effects, but that's something McGee hasn't done since 2013 if I remember correctly.
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