LAKERS -at- GRIZZLIES - 1/5 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

 
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 9:34 pm    Post subject: LAKERS -at- GRIZZLIES - 1/5 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

4-0 Roadtrip... This one came down the final minute. It’s good to have LeBron and AD in those situations.

The Lakers struggled with turnovers early on. The miscues led to a poor 19 points in the first quarter from the Lakers and Memphis pulling out to an early lead.

The Lakers would take the next three quarters, but were trailing heading into the fourth. Again, LeBron had 21 of his 26 in the second half including some big makes and passes down the stretch in the Lakers small ball lineup.

He found AD for a dunk off the pocket pass, then would hit a spinning fade from 17 feet out to go up by 5. Big plays in a tight game. The Lakers would extend that lead to 9 with 22 seconds left, but two backcourt turnovers gave the Grizzlies some false hope and late scores. But the Lakers hung on 94-92.

Not pretty, but a grind-it-out win on the last game of the roadtrip. With the bench struggling, good to be able to lean on your stars to pull you through.


LeBron -- -- Poor start with 5 points on 2-8 shooting and 3 of the Lakers 10 first half turnovers. Once again, he elevated his game in the second half to help carry the team to the win. That may be a pattern this season as he looks to pace himself. Take it easy early on, rely on perimeter shooting, then throttle it up later, if needed. It was needed tonight. Some big plays down the stretch of this one. He worked the two-man game and hit AD with a pocket pass for a dunk down the middle of the lane. With a minute left, he sank a tough, spinning fallaway from 17 feet out. Then on the other end, he blocked a shot to get the stop. The Lakers were a -18 when he was out of the game tonight. Obviously, we were hoping to improve on that part of our overall game with the new players we brought in. The Stats: He scored 26 points on 11-20 shooting (1-4 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 11 boards, 7 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 6 turnovers. He was a +20.

Davis -- -- Career-high 10 attempts from behind the arc tonight and he hit four. You’ll take those percentages. He led all players with 12 points in the first half, sinking a couple of threes and finishing an And-1 layup at high speed on the break (that was a tough one to catch on a bounce from LeBron, but he controlled it at the last second). He also had a nice sequence pushing the ball up court after stealing a pass and then lobbing to Kuzma. In the second half, he showed more of that floater game, knocking down a couple. He’d add in a couple of corner threes (looked money on those corner looks tonight where three of his triples came from). Late in the game, we had AD at the 5 after Gasol/Morris battled Valanciunas up until crunch time. Defensively, some good energy tonight from the start (ended up with 3 blocks and 3 steals). That was important as this was one of those ugly, grind-it-out games as our offense struggled with turnovers. A couple of key scores late. One LeBron set him up rolling for a dunk with 1:35 left. The other he attacked baseline for FTs. Bad turnover with 16 seconds left throwing a pass away in the back court. LeBron also lost the ball, as well, making the game closer in the final seconds. The Stats: He scored 26 points on 10-20 shooting (4-10 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks, 4 turnovers and no fouls in 34 minutes. He was +12.

Schröder -- -- He struggled to get any flow to his game. I don’t think he had much confidence in the jumper. Nothing looked easy or clean as the game went along. Thankfully, he’s got enough in his game from the three line, midrange or on drives to scratch out points. His one make from three must have bounced on the rim about 4 or 5 times before dropping. Let’s talk about some of the turnovers. His post entry passing is super sketchy. Quite often, it’s a bad angle he’s taking (he had one go right out of bounds with 3 minutes left trying to find LeBron). Those hurt, but it’s such a correctable thing. On the other post entry pass turnover, his man deflected the pass as he tried to throw it over him. On the good side, he did have an excellent bounce pass to Trezz under the hoop on another post entry that led to an And-1. You just never know what you are going to get. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-15 shooting (1-4 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 6 assists, 4 turnovers and no fouls in 36 minutes. He was a -1.

Kuzma -- -- Kind of his Danny Green game tonight -- 5 points and a +21. He was grabbing boards, playing some solid individual and team D and not much of a threat offensively. He didn’t get credited with a block tonight but he broke up a lob in transition with what was essentially a block. He also forced a man into an airball staying tight on him to challenge. Offensively, he airballed a three, dunked on the break when AD lobbed to him and he got some FTs on layup. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-5 shooting (0-2 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a +21.

Gasol -- -- Vogel was focused on making sure Gasol was out there whenever Valanciunas was. Gasol got into some foul trouble picking up his fifth with a minute left in the third. But he shadowed his man, banged in the paint and gave a feisty effort. That’s kind of how you might see it work with Jokic in the playoffs with AD finally taking over down the stretch like tonight. One of his rejections at the rim tonight led to an instant bustout for LeBron. The other rejection, he roofed his man then went to the floor to try to recover the ball. He’s looking a little looser, quicker on the floor than a couple weeks ago. Offensively, he hit a three and found Morris on a no-looker for a corner three and LeBron backdoor for a layup on his two assists. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-3 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 5 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a +11.

Matthews -- -- He sank his first three, swishing from the corner. Then missed his rest. Tough looks when you aren’t on balance on some of those. Defensively, he’s moving better and recovering better. He’s still learning our system, but you can start to see game by game where it’s looking better. His one FT was battling on the offensive glass and getting a shove from Allen as a shot went in. Both Wes and Trezz giving Grayson long stares after his fouls in the last two games. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-4 shooting from three (1-1 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist and 1 block in 30 minutes. He was a -8.

Harrell -- -- I’m surprised he had the numbers he did after the limited action tonight. Vogel was willing to go to Morris a little more as a backup C tonight. The use of Gasol as our first big, then Morris to step in for Gasol on that matchup at C, shows what we saw from Vogel in the playoffs. He’s going to use his options and guys are going to have to sacrifice. Again, though, we saw Vogel call Harrell’s number for a play out of a timeout. Limit his minutes, well, throw him a bone offensively. Trezz iso’d from that left block and scored off a jumphook in the middle of the lane on that. Trezz had a big putback jam midway through the fourth on a Schröder miss, his biggest score of the night. He added another 3 offensive boards tonight. They mentioned during the game, the Lakers being second in the league in second chance scoring. Glad to see that part of the game from last year appears to be trending this season and Trezz is playing a big role in that. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-9 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 7 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a -13.

Horton-Tucker -- -- The team low -22. A lot of that was just having a lot of minutes without LeBron on the floor. THT scored on a couple of drives. He split the D and took contact at the rim with no call on a finish. Then he also had a baseline drive for a reverse around a couple of other defenders. I don’t think he felt confident in the jumper tonight. He missed a midrange and a three. Defensively, some mistakes. He recovered on one to block a shot. He also didn’t defend an inbounds well to give up a hoop under the basket. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-5 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 2 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a -22.

Morris -- -- The shot wasn’t falling on some good looks, but just having him as a threat to space the floor helps and you can pull the opposing big out for LeBron. Some challenging minutes against Valanciunas to start the fourth when Gasol had foul trouble. He got bullied for an And-1 layup. But he battled back and drew a charge and also got another stop. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-6 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 6 boards, 1 assist and 3 fouls in 14 minutes. He was a -10.

Vogel -- -- Key Moment: LeBron with a minute left hitting a fallaway 17-footer to go up by 5. That felt like the dagger (although, the Lakers would have some silliness with backcourt turnovers later when they were up by 9 with 23 seconds left). When LeBron has that shot going, which he did tonight, that’s just impossible to defend. You don’t want a game like this to come down to the final minute, but these second games have been competitive so far. Again, when it comes down to it, it’s good to have LBJ with the ball in his hands when you need a big bucket late.

Key Substitutions: Let’s look at the closing lineup: AD, LeBron, Kuzma, Matthews and Schröder. Matthews off the bench with the starters instead of Gasol. A 5-out unit, smaller with LeBron at the PF. That helped the Lakers on a two-man sequence with 1:35 left where LeBron bounced to AD and he dunked down the middle of the lane.

Key Stats: Turnovers were a big issue for the Lakers. The Lakers had 7 in the first 13 minutes and the Grizzlies were able to pull out to a small early lead as a result. The Lakers had 17 to the 13 of the Grizzlies. The Lakers did well on the boards with 52-38 advantage, including a 9-5 advantage on the offensive glass. Stats were fairly even outside of those areas. The Lakers made 2 more of their 87 shots then Memphis did.

Coach’s Challenge: The Grizzlies used theirs late in the third on a foul against Schröder and that was overturned for a jumpball to save a couple of FTs. Lakers won the jumpball.
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lordtrapula
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 9:38 pm    Post subject:

A win is a win but boy those last few turnovers almost gave me a heart attack

Sleepwalking Lakers with the #1 seed doe
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DrDent
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 9:41 pm    Post subject:

Ugly as heck, but Lakers D showed up 2 games in a row

Offense was so bizzarre...that better get cleaned up or an L coming soon
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 10:21 pm    Post subject:

Inspired defense when it counted.

17 turnovers and 29% on three point shooting made the game way closer than it needed to be. Credit to the Lakers, most nights with high turnovers and low 3 point shooting percentage results in a loss.

For reference Lakers are the 4th best 3 point shooting team in the NBA with 39.2% and average 15.1 turnovers per game with ties them for 20th in the NBA.
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Last edited by Laker7 on Tue Jan 05, 2021 10:33 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Dr. Laker
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 10:25 pm    Post subject:

Thanks, DB.

Ugly, unmotivated, sloppy . . . and a victory.

When this team gels, they will be unstoppable.
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TooMuchMajicBuss
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 10:52 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB! Offense may have been a bit fugly but it's good to see defense win games when the offense is misfiring.

So far, so good.
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Startrout
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 05, 2021 11:53 pm    Post subject:

Is it just me or does Schröder get his shot blocked 2-3 times a game, every game?

I thought he looked terrible tonight with poor passing and ineffective offense. The main reason for him being a Laker is so we don’t have the big drop off when LeBron is not on the floor. He failed at that in this game. Hopefully, it was just an anomaly, not the norm.
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akgolf
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 5:47 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB!
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governator
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 5:50 am    Post subject:

U-G-L-Y You ain't got no alibi, we lucky (to have Bron/AD)

clearly coasting
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danzag
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 7:17 am    Post subject:

Those last turnovers
Guys are clearly not in rhythm yet.

Thanks, DB!
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wolfpaclaker
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 2:07 pm    Post subject:

Lakers have won all 4 road games using AD at the 5 to close in the 4th Q and some elite D in each of those situations. Other consistencies in those spurts of great D - Kieff or Kuz at the 4, Bron is playing good D at the perimeter, Dennis is pressuring the ball, and Wesley is huge on defense.

We now rank 3rd in D rating in the league, and 6th on O. Believe it or not, as ugly as we looked, I rather be where we are now, than where we were 4 games ago. 4 games ago it looked like we could not give a (bleep) about defense.

The offense will come with time, and the type of shot makers we have as well s improved 3 point shooting, the team will score. The only concern I have on offense longterm is our bench leader - floor general. We do not have one. Frank is just staggering AD-Bron, and while Bron can be that guy, AD is not that guy for the 2nd unit, so maybe he is expecting Dennis to be that guy (Dennis is certainly the #1 usage ballhandler when Bron sits) but that is not Dennis either. So we could use a bench PG, someone that can come in for about 6 min each half and give us some high IQ play, organizing the offense and allow Dennis to be a high usage scorer who does not have to worry about being a PG in those situations.

I am certain we could find that player, eventually via FA buyout market or even trade.

For D I see the following rotation eventually in the playoffs being rock solid and league best if effort is there

AD-Gasol or Trez (situationally, only 1 plays a game in the playoffs)
Kuz-Kieff (match up dictates if Kuz or Kieff start)
KCP-Wesley
Schroder-Caruso
Bron-FA (or trade) otherwise THT

Those THT minutes right now, if THT can not develop into a floor general-leader of that group, I think those minutes without Bron, we need to get that veteran PG or playmaking wing who can be the floor general of that 2nd unit. That is IMO the one move that makes it for opponents to have extreme difficulty to expose weaknesses.
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Lakers#1Team
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 4:03 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB!
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