MAGIC -at- LAKERS – 3-8-16 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

The Future… If you’re watching Laker games these days, it’s for the Kobe Farewell Tour or the Laker youth. With no Kobe in uniform again tonight, you got your money’s worth from the Laker youth movement again.

The trio of Russell, Randle and Clarkson all scored 20+ points in the same game for the first time. After a slow first half, they took control of the game with a 39-point third quarter behind Russell and Randle dominating for stretches. Their highest scoring quarter of the season.

“Those are the three guys we’re really trying to prime to get to the next level,” Scott said.

Throw in a near double-double from Nance tonight and you’ve got to be happy with the progress of the youngsters. They pushed the Lakers to the 107-98 win, showing they can all make big contributions in the same game.


Clarkson -- -- “We just want to come out here and get better every game,” Clarkson said. He was launching three’s tonight…and connecting. He’s trouble for the D when he’s able to hit from deep. Fournier found that out in embarrassing fashion tonight as he crumpled to the floor on a Clarkson cross-over before Jordan drilled the three. If you have to stay up on Clarkson to defend the three and make sure he doesn’t blow by you for a layup, good luck…especially if we get a switch. Our starting backcourt tonight combined for 51 on over 50% shooting. The kids can play together and play well. Loving it. The Stats: He scored 24 points on 9-17 shooting (5-12 from three, 1-1 from the line) The Action: He drained a three off a swing pass to just beat the shotclock. He threw a pass out of bounds when Hibbert showed his flat-footedness. He missed a deep wing three. He probed to his right and flipped in a layup before the defender realized he was shooting it. He swished a three on a kickout to the top of the arc. He airballed a rushed step-back three on iso (two-for-one attempt). He missed a three at the end of the quarter. He was rejected on a layup attempt in transition (got away with a travel before that). He broke his man off badly on a cross-over and sank the three (Nance impersonating the unfortunate defender on the sideline). He had 11 points (3-6 from three) and 2 assists at the half. Second Half: He set up Hibbert for the open jumper on the pick and pop. He missed a 35-foot three waiting for what looked like a partial motion-weak sequence that fizzled out. All kinds of contact as he powered in a baseline jumper with no call. He made a tech FT. Quick pull-up three off the high screen. He probed off the three line and hit the short one between defenders. Quick bustout on the defensive jumpball and he scored a layup. He missed a corner three on a kickout. He knocked down the back-breaking three from about 30 feet out with the shotclock going off. He missed a pull-up three.

Russell -- -- He said a lot of the reads are coming more second nature to him. He also mentioned that being able to get more experience with the guys make a big difference. “We believe in each other. We know what each other are capable of, but we’ve got to string some more wins together and make more progress,” Russell said. He throttled the Magic in the third quarter. Scott said they were sluggish in the first half, so he stepped it up to start that second half. The experience and second-nature aspects of the game are allowing him to read those early offense opportunities better. D’Angelo also has a couple of strong go-to skills, neither is based on speed, but using his body. The first is his ability to seal his man after working on the high screen, getting into the lane for jumpers or floaters. Those are deadly and extremely effective. The other area is the post game. He’s shown the ability to draw fouls on the swing through, hit the turnaround, the Dirk fade and tonight he had a great spin move to score an And-1 layup. He’s putting all of this together to make high scoring games look easier and easier. Great hands tonight on D. The length with both him and Nance can be pretty disruptive when they are active. He has 7 steals in the last two games. The Stats: He scored 27 points on 11-19 shooting (2-5 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 36 minutes. He had a +/- of 0. The Action: He dribbled into the feet of a defender, turnover. He swished a 16-footer off a late developing motion-weak sequence. He missed an early offense three. He airballed an open corner three off a low kickout. He swiped a pass, pushed it out, surveyed the floor, stepped on the gas and finished a layup high over the D using that length (at some point, I’d like to see a dunk or two with more regularity on those finishes just to get the crowd and team amped up). He sank an open wing three on a swing pass. He came up short on a layup after changing directions to get back to his left. He lost his man on a pull-back dribble but missed the quick-fire three. He attacked past the close out and drained the leaning floater up against the shotclock. He had 9 points on 4-8 shooting and 1 assist. Second Half: Nick found him open under the hoop for a layup. He attacked off the high screen, hung and banked between defenders. He posted up, spun, sealed his man off that and scored the And-1 layup, he made the FT. He deflected a ball on iso D and it resulted in a shotclock violation. He lost the ball in the post on a reach. He sealed his man off the high screen, got deep into the paint and hit the floater (he’s just deadly in those situations). He picked his man on the perimeter and took it for the layup. He posted up and missed a bank on the step-back. He drew a clear-out foul on iso D, getting shoved to the ground. He set a screen off the motion-weak, popped out and hit the three. He picked his man on some pressure D on the perimeter. He missed a rushed three. He missed a wing pull-up jumper. Great passing sequence from Nance to Russell to Bass for the dunk, then Russell barked at the ball as bounced out of bounds. Early offense attack and he drew FTs, he made one. Another early offense attack and he scored an And-1 runner absorbing contact well and concentrating, he made the FT (9-10 with the new FT stance). He missed a three up against the shotclock.

Randle -- -- “I’m a lot more patient, letting the game come to me,” Randle said. He was aggressive early with the shot, both inside and out. Randle is excellent and following his own misses. He even kept his own FT miss alive to Roy for a dunk in this one. Again, another sequence of good screen-roll action with Russell in this game. I want to see a lot more of that. He had some beastly moments where he combined his speed, handles and powers to overwhelm Gordon and Ilyasova. “Randle is starting to realize his strengths,” Worthy said. “His strength is his quickness, his physicality and his speed and once he starts to use that without hesitation…he’s going to really start to possess some dominance.” He thoroughly outplayed Gordon tonight, who had a highlight dunk and a nice block, but little else. The Stats: He scored 23 points on 9-16 shooting (0-2 from three, 5-6 from the line) to go with 11 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist, 2 steal, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a +7. The Action: He iso’d on Gordon, attacked left across the lane, missed and scored on the putback. He up-faked, attacked to his right and banked in a tough right-handed runner up against the shotclock. He was blocked trying to score in the paint over a couple defenders. He missed a wing three. He up-faked, attacked, spun and banked in the middle of the lane. He missed a pull-up 17-footer on iso. He pushed out a rebound coast to coast at high speed for the layup. He telegraphed a perimeter pass, dunk the other way. He missed a righty jumphook in the post. Extra pass to Russell for the three. Quick attack on the catch from the elbow and he muscled in the And-1 layup, he missed the FT, but kept it alive and Hibbert slammed it. He had 10 points on 5-10 shooting and 6 boards. Second Half: Beastly baseline attacking where he just overpowered Gordon and scored the And-1 layup, he made the FT. He grabbed an offensive board and drew FTs on the putback attempt. He tracked down an offensive board, faced his man up from the corner, attacked baseline and lost him on the inside-out dribble for the throwdown. He jumped a passing lane on the D end and took it the distance for another dunk a few seconds later. He drew FTs trying to go weak to strong to post up, he made both. He scored a layup off the interior feed from Metta. He missed a step-back three up against the shotclock. He threw a pass away on what would have been a sure dunk for Nance as Randle took the screen-roll pass from Russell. He missed a drive right.

Hibbert -- -- He seemed a little more effective than the stats may show, but pretty much the usual kind of stuff: a jumper, some FTs (he’s been missing those lately) and a dunk. Some good challenges. Roy on the good play lately: “It just proves to us that if we do what we’re supposed to do we can get wins,” Hibbert said in a rare post game interview. He seemed his usual surly self in the interviews, so they’ll probably leave him alone again. He said the young guys are doing an excellent job soaking up the knowledge, and also mentioned getting back in transition has been huge for them in the past couple of games. The Lakers won the break 17-15. Roy had a nice block in transition. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-3 shooting to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 1 block and 3 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a +7. The Action: He missed a jumphook across the lane. He swatted a shot trailing the break in transition. He sank a couple of FTs. Randle kept his own FT miss alive, and Hibbert gathered it and slammed. He iso’d and drew FTs on the smaller defender, he missed both. He got a defender to travel on the challenge in the paint. Second Half: He swished a 17-footer off the two-man game with Clarkson.

Young -- -- Last time he started he went 0-5 in the first half. Tonight, another 0-5 in the first half. That’ll teach Scott to think twice about putting him in the starting lineup. With Kobe and Brown both out, the only other choices were Metta or Kelly. Scott went to them to close the game. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-5 shooting (0-3 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 assist and no fouls in 23 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He attacked and kicked out a hockey assist for a three. He missed a corner three. He missed a pull-up wing jumper. He missed an open wing three on a kickout. He missed a pull-up 19-footer. He missed a sideline three. Second Half: He probed and spotted Russell wide open for a layup.

Nance -- -- “We had a bunch of stats shown to us today where we improved our ball movement and stopped dribbling as much,” Nance said of the recent improvement. The motion-weak is helping. Just a bucket away from a double-double, and had Randle not thrown a pass behind him, Nance would have had it with a big throwdown in the final minutes. Still, great job on both ends. He led the team with 4 offensive boards. Some excellent moments of man D, tying up his man or swiping the ball on a couple of occasions. To close the game, we had a couple of minutes of the Nance/Randle bigman duo. I want to see more of that, especially when Clarkson/Russell are also out there. That’s the future. Let them figure things out. That play where Randle missed him with the pass was a great screen-roll sequence with Russell and Randle. The more we can see them work on little things like that, the more effective they’ll be next season. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-9 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 10 boards (4 offensive), 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He ball-faked on a kickout and hit the 16-footer. Not close on a jumper out of the motion-weak. He grabbed an offensive board next time down and put it back in. Second Half: He missed a half-court heave. He hit a short jumphook form the left side. He missed a finger roll on the break. He rattled in a baseline jumper. He denied his man baseline and tied him up with a reach. His man faced up on him and Larry swiped the ball from him a second later. He was rejected by Gordon on a reverse dunk attempt. Nice challenge on a drive from the three line to force a brick.

Bass -- -- He struggled to finish around the rim a little in this one. Multiple times passes were just off the mark or he was a little behind the backboard. Just not quite in sync. The team still looks better with him on the floor vs. Hibbert on most nights, even with Hibbert putting in a decent one tonight. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 2-5 shooting (4-4 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 3 assists, 2 blocks and 1 foul in 24 minutes. He was a +8. The Action: He corralled a loose ball and kicked out to Clarkson for three. He kicked out to Metta for the open three. He drew FTs on the two-man game with Marcelo, he made both. He was called for 3 seconds unable to power up behind the backboard. He threw an outlet away. He missed a short one in the paint but Nance cleaned it up. He blew a nice setup from Russell under the hoop. Second Half: He was blocked on a dunk attempt. He dunked off the Nance-Russell passing sequence. He iso’d and rattled in a pull-up jumper to just beat the shotclock. He drew FTs in early offense when Huertas found him under the hoop, he made both.

Huertas -- -- Not as impressive as his last game as he was off the mark with passes quite a bit (6 turnovers in this one). Still some good passes to setup teammates and lead the team in assists. The turnovers were on some off-the-mark lob passes and Marcelo also has some issues with jump passing to get the ball over bigger defenders. It wasn’t always smooth with him running the PG tonight, but it’s usually steady. Russell was a little ticked at Huertas at one point for not giving him the ball in early offense when he feeling it. Seems like that has happened more than once this season. Still, effective game from Huertas. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-5 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 6 boards, 5 assists, 6 turnovers and no fouls in 23 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He scored a layup a few seconds after entering the game working off the high screen. He found Bass for FTs on a bounce pass (great behind-the-back dribble before that). He missed a baseline pull-up jumper. He missed a scoop attempt around defender. He threw a pass away on the two-man game. Second Half: He sank a wing three on the kickout from Metta. He missed a wide open sideline three. Off the mark on a couple of lob passes to Bass. He hit Nance for a jumper. Quick outlet to Clarkson off the Nance jumpball and it led to a breakaway layup. He traveled on the ball-fake in the lane. He found Bass in early offense for FTs.

World Peace -- -- He had made just 4 of his last 28 attempts from three before knocking down his first one tonight. Good minutes for Metta. He had a foul-prone stretch with three fouls in two defensive stands in the third quarter. But other than that he played with some good intensity on D and was able to be effective in the post, as well on offense. With Brown no longer available, I like seeing Metta out there as long as he’s teaching the young guys. You could see him talking to his guys tonight. The team D has been much better lately. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-1 shooting from three, 1-2 from the line to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 block and 5 fouls in 16 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He sank a corner three off the kickout from Bass. Second Half: He drew FTs in the high post getting a shove, he made one. He attacked and kicked to Huertas for three. He lost his man in the post and set up Randle for the layup. He regained possession battling on the offensive glass. He blocked a shot on help D.

Kelly -- -- He got some run in place of Metta when Nick was floundering out there. Quality minutes for Kelly this time with the game still undetermined, unlike his usual garbage time spot duty. He seemed a little rusty with the timing. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 0-1 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board and 2 fouls in 9 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He missed a sideline three. He was fouled on a putback attempt and made both. He fumbled away a sure dunk.

Scott -- -- Nick in the starting lineup for Kobe… The Lakers trailed 17-13 when the timeout came with 4 minutes left… Huertas and Bass in for Hibbert and Russell… Lakers down 4 when Metta and Nance came in for Randle and Young… The Lakers trailed 26-20 after the first quarter… Bass, Nance, Peace, Clarkson, Huertas to start the second quarter… Up 1 when Russell came in for Clarkson after about 3 minutes… Lakers down 4 when Hibbert, Randle and Young returned… Down 5, when Clarkson subbed in for Huertas… The Lakers trailed 51-45 at the half. No Laker with more than 2 assists in the first half… Russell taking over for a stretch and the Lakers pushed out to a 3-point lead… Lakers up 3 when Metta came in for Young midway through the quarter… Now Randle taking over… He took out Clarkson for Huertas, Randle for Bass with under 3 left. An 8-point Laker lead… Nance in for Randle… Kelly in for Metta with 2:12 left, Lakers up 4… The Lakers led 84-77 heading into the fourth… He started the Bass, Nance, Kelly, Russell, Huertas unit… Up 7, he sat Russell for Clarkson… Up 9, Kelly sat for Metta with 5 minutes left… Lakers up 11 when Russell and Randle returned for Huertas and Nance… Nance in for Bass… Scott was pleased after the game with the team’s continued improvement in the motion-weak set and the team’s attention to detail lately…

[eddiejonze]

first?
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[Vancouver Fan]

[LakerSanity]

Two great games in a row. Thanks, DB. Hope for way more of this next year.
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[SweetP]

Two in a row.
Haven't been able to say that very often this season.
Thanks DB
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“There is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it.” --Amanda Gorman

[LAII]

I see the entire NBA sportswriting and broadcast contingent was on hand for tonight's game, as I assume, they stayed over after the Warriors game to see the Cavs game. I think it was Russell that commented on how bright, literally, the lights were, but all the players were completely blinded during their interviews. Hopefully, they won't be blinded on Thursday.

[Megaton]

I do agree that Nick Young shouldn't start. The problem is is that the only other two options are....Ryan Kelly............and Metta.

My solution: call somebody young up from the D-League and give them a 10 day contract. Why not at this point right?
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Darvin Scam: https://media.tenor.com/images/3c15249955860a4b16b59e8ae035fb75/tenor.gif

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB for another great write-up!

Just a couple weeks ago my Portland area co-workers were rolling their eyes at my insistence that DLO/Clarkson could soon be an even match with Lillard/McCollum, or that there's any talent on this Laker team, period. They want to believe we don't have a good GM. They want to believe we messed up by not taking Okafor or Mudiay, they only know Jordan Clarkson was a second rounder, they think Larry Nance Jr. is just another scrub. Having never seen him play.

Then came DLO's 39 points. That caught their attention. Then the GSW game REALLY caught their attention. Now they're going to hear about another 50+ point performance from our very young guard tandem and yet another double double from Randle. I'm seeing and enjoying this hint of doubt in these LA haters smug expressions, and a little begrudging acknowledgment maybe we have something here. I'm not surprised the lights are a bit brighter in the press room lately. This core is starting to turn a few heads.

[H0B0]

THX DB. GO LAKERS

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[Chronicle]

Marcelinhooooooooo
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Kobe

[20,000]

Wow, this performance has me back posting. Wow!
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Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying...'I will try again tomorrow.'

[yinoma2001]

[Lakers#1Team]

Thanks DB!