THUNDER -vs- LAKERS - 8/5 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

 
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 8:01 pm    Post subject: THUNDER -vs- LAKERS - 8/5 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

Going Through the Motions... The Lakers shot a dismal 1-12 from three to open the first quarter and were on their way to another brick fest, making just 5-37 attempts behind the arc.

This one had all the emotional content of an insurance webinar. I suspect most of these remaining games will be the Lakers going through the motions for stretches. That’s probably not a good thing, considering they need to try to get back to the level of play they were at before the pause.

The energy was down, the three shooting cold, and the Lakers fell back by as many as 20. The LeBron, Kuzma, Caruso trio helped the Lakers trim that in half. They had a chance to cut it to 7 early in the fourth, but missed a three, gave up an And-1 on the other end and were down by 13 again. Eventually, they fell 105-86.

The goal to close the season is build chemistry back up and get their wind, their legs and their three ball going.


LeBron -- -- He was a little bit cryptic after this one. “There’s just some things that you really can’t control that are here that I don’t really want to talk about that’s kind off the floor. You just try to be there for your teammates,” he said. I’m not sure what he’s alluding to or whom. He was one of the few guys able to impose himself. He couldn’t hit a three, but he could get to the rim and finish with consistency. We need others to follow his lead heading into the playoffs. “This is a totally different season,” he said when asked how to get a team ready for the post season. He had just 4 assists tonight, the ridiculous shooting will do that to you. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 7-19 shooting (0-5 form three, 5-8 from the line) to go with 11 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal and 1 foul in 30 minutes. He was a -8.

Davis -- -- Only three made field goals. He had the foot off the gas in this one. Vogel said they weren’t putting an emphasis on his scoring as much in this one. All his makes were dunks...putback dunk, dunk stepping around defenders with a couple long strides, and another dunk off the lob from LeBron. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-11 shooting (0-3 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 5 assists, 1 turnover and 5 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a -15.

Green -- -- He was clanking away from three early on. Finally, later in the game, he knocked down a couple of them. Some sloppy turnovers in this one with a travel on the perimeter, unforced, and a weak pass in transition for another turnover. He did have another poke away from behind on his man defensively. It seems like he’s been doing that with some consistency lately. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-8 shooting (2-7 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 23 minutes. He was a -10.

McGee -- -- Better game, hard not to have one. He set up Green for a layup off the two-man sequence (avoiding a moving screen with the ball in his hands). He had a couple of post scores, one a Wilt-like flip in over his defender, another with a dropstep for a layup. He had a shotblock, but still looked late a number of times (or didn’t contest at all). His timing and reads just seem off on that end. The starting unit is still coming out flat when he’s out there. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-4 shooting (0-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 3 assists, 2 block, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a -6.

Caldwell-Pope -- -- He had a collision with CP3 in the third quarter and had to go to the sideline. CP3 gave him a forearm to the ribs (no foul on the play, either). He came back later. Not a lot of action. He sank a three on a kickout and scored a layup, curling into the lane to take a pass. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-5 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 18 minutes. He was a -9.

Kuzma -- -- Not enough shots for him. You want better three shooting, get him the ball on some set plays (he’s 11-22 from three in this resumed action). He went a long stretch early on without getting a look, then finally got one and sank it. Sometimes that lack of seeing the ball go up can force a player to chuck a couple. He had one or two of those, for sure. Still, he’s trying to play the right way most of the time. I’d love to see him get it going and light it up for big numbers. The team could use that right now. “We’ve got to really focus,” Kuz said on if they can get things on track in the last four games. “We’ve kind of been sluggish a majority of these games because we’re not shooting well.” The Stats: He scored 10 points on 3-7 shooting (2-5 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards and 2 fouls in 27 minutes. He was a -3.

Caruso -- -- Good energy, as usual from Caruso. They miss that in their starting lineup with Bradley out, so it’s pretty noticeable when Caruso comes in and the intensity picks up. Like others, he couldn’t finish behind the arc. He did have a nice dunk in transition. He also had some aggressive attacks in the half court. This has definitely been an improvement over earlier in the season, but we need to see that three ball going down. Caruso was the trigger man for a couple others shooting threes, one on a drive and kick to the corner to Green for three, the other a swing pass to Kuzma for three. I want to see more of Caruso setting screens for AD like CP3 does for Adams. With AD’s handle and Caruso’s screen shooting, they need to pull that out a little more. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-6 shooting (0-3 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a -7.

Waiters -- -- Tale of two halves. Awful first half, just horrible. He should move the ball a little more to turn a good shot into a great one. Way too many forces. I hated the shot selection in the first half. He wasn’t even close on a number of attempts. In the second half, he was much more efficient, getting into the paint for scores and hitting the jumper. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 5-13 shooting (0-4 from three, 4-5 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 1 foul in 26 minutes. He was a -9.

Smith -- -- Really didn’t contribute anything. He tried to force some things in the paint and missed his threes from the perimeter. Defensively, nothing worth mentioning. We’ve got to find some shooters. Minutes are available if someone can knock those three down. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-3 shooting (0-2 from the line) to go with 1 board and 1 turnover in 11 minutes. He was a -3.

Morris -- -- He got the Dwight minutes with the Lakers resting him with soreness. So we ran him as the backup C. He looked rusty. I’m not sure why he’s not playing consistently, but good to see him get some run. He sank a baseline pull-up, had a tip-in and drew some FTs on an off-ball cut. I’m hopeful he’ll get more minutes as our starting lineup has played poorly. We may need to switch that up somewhere down the line (or sub out of it quicker) if the paint stays clogged with that combo of McGee out there and no shooting. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-6 shooting (0-2 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 5 fouls in 13 minutes. He was a -1.

Cook -- -- With KCP getting the shot to the ribs, Cook got some time. He didn’t make the most of it, that’s for sure. A -14 in 12 minutes. He got picked on defensively by CP3 and couldn’t contribute much on the other end. He did have a steal that he took for a layup. That was it. Ugly. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-5 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 steal, 1 turnover and no fouls in 12 minutes He was a -14.

Dudley -- -- He came in for garbage time and contributed to the missed three action with one of his own. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-1 shooting in 4 minutes. He was a -5.

Antetokounmpo -- -- Garbage time run. Nothing to report. The Stats: He had 1 foul in 4 minutes. He was a -5.

Vogel -- -- Key Moment: They lost the game in the third quarter, falling behind by 20. There was really no fight in them until LeBron returned with the bench later in that quarter. The other minutes were garbage.

Key Substitution: You could look at when Cook came in during that third quarter. He was a -14 in 12 minutes (every single player in this game had a negative in the +/-, so really can’t pick on one person. This was a team effort.) But the health of KCP and AC is absolutely vital with us missing Bradley and Rondo.

Key Stat: The Lakers shot a horrid 5-37 from three. This needs to turn around pretty quickly.
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Aeneas Hunter
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 8:56 pm    Post subject:

I guess this is going to be another year when we hope that the team can flip the switch when the games matter. Maybe it can.
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LakerSD
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 8:58 pm    Post subject:

Quote:
LeBron -- -- He was a little bit cryptic after this one. “There’s just some things that you really can’t control that are here that I don’t really want to talk about that’s kind off the floor. You just try to be there for your teammates,” he said. I’m not sure what he’s alluding to or whom.


Hmm...
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MookieBetts50
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 10:52 pm    Post subject:

LakerSD wrote:
Quote:
LeBron -- -- He was a little bit cryptic after this one. “There’s just some things that you really can’t control that are here that I don’t really want to talk about that’s kind off the floor. You just try to be there for your teammates,” he said. I’m not sure what he’s alluding to or whom.


Hmm...


Source please, just Googled and can't find anything re: this quote.
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LakerSD
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 4:18 am    Post subject:

MookieBetts50 wrote:
LakerSD wrote:
Quote:
LeBron -- -- He was a little bit cryptic after this one. “There’s just some things that you really can’t control that are here that I don’t really want to talk about that’s kind off the floor. You just try to be there for your teammates,” he said. I’m not sure what he’s alluding to or whom.


Hmm...


Source please, just Googled and can't find anything re: this quote.


He said it in the postgame presser.
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danzag
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 5:23 am    Post subject:

I think it's normal to expect the team relaxing a bit after clinching the 1st spot...
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 12:52 pm    Post subject:

danzag wrote:
I think it's normal to expect the team relaxing a bit after clinching the 1st spot...


For sure.

I worry that we've lost momentum and may need to focus more to get that going heading into the playoffs. It would be nice if we could face an easy team in the first round and get it then...but seems like that may not happen.
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 06, 2020 5:17 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB!
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