LAKERS -VS- SIXERS – 7-10-16 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Summer League: Ice In My Veins II… I tracked down GT and we found some seats together to watch this one. Unfortunately, in a stadium packed with Laker fans, I managed to put us in front of a group of Sixer fans and one Celtic fan. GT was having none of the Sixer fans comparing Simmons to Magic and reminded them of Magic’s rookie year performance to help win the championship when Kareem was out…and added the Celtics dismal record of rings the past 30 years.

The first half was awful. The Sixers have several more games under their belt and also started a couple of third-year players. They pressured and overplayed the Lakers, mucking up the flow and taking the Lakers out of what they wanted to do. Eventually, L.A. attempted to go to some of their counters and back cuts to try to deal with it, but that was sloppy, as well. Still, the fact that they started to switch gears a little with that in the second game of the summer league shows they are going to take their sets much deeper than we did last year with Byron’s shallow schemes.

The Lakers would scrap a lot of what they did and settle for exploring the double drag screens with the ball in Russell’s hands. Through this, D’Angelo started hitting jumpers and Nance would go into superman mode. Game 2 and these two are developing some serious chemistry.

After being down big, they chipped away at the score in the third quarter. A couple threes by Russell, including one from serious distance, and another from Nance and they had the Sixers in their sights. Mix in some scrappy play by Zach Auguste and the Lakers turned the game around. Russell bombed a huge foot-on-the-three-line jumper to tie it up. The Sixers immediately scored on a drive on the inbounds while the Lakers D wasn’t focused. The Lakers called a timeout with 1.8 left.

All eyes were on Russell as fans stood. Nance set him a screen at the top of the key area to get him a little space. He caught, turned and fired a deep three with a man on…Swish. Ball game, 70-69.

The only time the Lakers would lead the entire game.

The house went nuts. I think the only quiet ones were in the row behind us.


Russell -- -- “I played like sh*t,” Russell said afterward. Aside from a couple of bad defensive lapses during this stretch, he took over the game from midway through the third quarter on. He worked those double screens to get space and get off shots, or set up Nance. The Derek Fisher special where he had his toe on the three line as huge. That tied the game up. You knew he was taking that shot. He was going to impose his will on the opponent. As he was heading back on the defensive end pointing to Ice in His Veins, McConnell built up a ton of speed heading into the offensive zone. He was caught flatfooted and the rest of the Lakers didn’t help walling him off. The Sixers took the lead back with under a couple seconds left. After the timeout, Russell set up with his back to the inbounder on the high elbow area on the weakside. He faked a screen there while Nance came up and screened off his defender. Russell met the ball and swished the game winner, Ice in My Veins Part II. The sequel much better than the one a few seconds earlier in the game. Loved seeing Clarkson get out of his seat as a spectator and meet him as well as the rest of his teammates mob him. Prior to the game, GT reminded me that McConnell has given Russell some fits in previous matchups with his pressure D. Russell didn’t go to the post in this game. I think just twice, if I recall. He had a monster jam coming off an early offense sideline screen in the first half. He was ticked because just prior to that he had a turnover, so he got up and threw down. The second dunk from him this preseason. The Lakers clearly wanted this win as Nance and Russell got extended minutes. I don’t recall Russell sitting in the second half. Russell was a bit ineffective with his normally reliable floaters in this game missing a few. Russell finished with 22 points on 8-20 shooting (3-9 from three, 3-5 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal, 6 turnovers and 1 block in 36 minutes.

Nance -- -- How good was Nance in this one? He took on the Simmons assignment and caused all kinds of problems for him. Nance’s combination of length, athleticism and great hands was very disruptive. I don’t think Simmons was used to seeing that from some at the PF spot and it caught him by surprise. In the past two games, Nance has used that length extremely well on D. He’s also leading the summer league, I’m sure, in kicked balls. He’s been like a hockey goalie with kick saves in the passing lanes. Offensively, he showed the three ball again as he and Russell orchestrated the comeback. After Zubac got dunked on Nance apparently told him he’d get them back. Man, did he ever. He set a great screen for Russell off, took the return pass and took off from the bottom of the FT line circle and threw down a monster jam. Guys were getting out of the way. The place went nuts. He also had a coast to coast jam later when no one stopped the ball on a pushout. On another pushout he also kicked to Ingram for an open transition jumper. There was another key interior passing sequence where he found Auguste for a score. Lots of loud “Larry… Larry…” chants once again in this one. Just a sensational, electric two-way game from him. Impressive stat line. He scored 13 points on 4-9 shooting (1-2 from three, 4-6 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 4 assists, 7 steals, 4 blocks and 5 turnovers in 35 minutes.

Ingram -- -- Very quiet night from Ingram. Going up against the No. 1 pick, he was pressing a little too much early on. I would have liked to see them set him up something a little easier to get him going, but the offense was mucked up early on. Late in the game, he got thrown back into the fire…and even matched up guarding Simmons for a couple trips down the floor before Nance took over again. I was curious to see that matchup, but it didn’t last. Defensively, his length is very disruptive. The Lakers look much better on that end with him on the floor. He scored nearly all of his points in the final 6 minutes, hitting three jumpers, including one with 1:23 left. He finished with 7 points on 3-12 shooting (0-3 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist and 3 turnovers in 28 minutes.

Zubac -- -- Man, he got hammered on. Jerami Grant welcomed to the NBA. Zubac came over to challenge, but thought Grant was going to pumpfake, so he didn’t jump. Grant threw one down in his grill, along with an elbow and maybe a foot to the back of the head to on the way down. When told that someone had changed his Wikipedia listing to say that he died tonight, Zubac said “I did a little bit.” Awesome. I was hoping they’d go right to Zubac in the post the next trip down, but he didn’t get the ball. He showed a nice touch on a 17-footer in this game and had a tip in shortly after that. He also had a strong post move earlier, where he bumped the defender and hit the baseline turnaround. He didn’t have the block party in this one. A couple of times when Simmons came in the paint, Zubac bit on the first fake. The Lakers went with Nance/Auguste down the stretch to close this one. He scored 7 points on 3-7 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 8 boards and 1 block in 22 minutes.

Auguste -- -- Scrappy effort from him again. He was always crashing the offensive glass. He scored a couple of layups getting fed under there, right place, right time. He had a nice drop step in the post for a score. He’s had some issues of getting a bit flat-footed on the defensive glass and giving up second chances. Excellent job with Nance working those double drag screens. He scored 8 points on 4-6 shooting to go with 7 boards, 2 steals and 1 block in 20 minutes.

My schedule has been tight but slipped this quick writeup in before heading out. Crazy game to be at!

[lakerlove123]

First!

[GoldenThroat]

YES! Didn't think you'd do this today.

Had a blast with you yesterday, brother!

[lounger]

Thanks DB!

Like Coach Mermuys said, win or lose, it is a good game to learn a lot from.

The young guys delivered quite well and it's funny how Nance seems to give a veteran vibe to the team despite being only his second year like Russel.

Do you think Auguste has a chance for a slot?

[SweetP]

Thanks!
_________________
“There is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it.” --Amanda Gorman

[dmills]

There's no way that Russell only had 1 assist. I counted like 5 in the last two quarters alone. Had to be closer 8 or 9.
_________________
A key that has the ability to unlock many locks is a master key. But a lock that can be opened with any key is useless.

[GoldenThroat]

Philly Fan behind us (after Simmons gets an assist): The next Magic Johnson!!!!

Me: Magic Johnson?!?!?!? How about we wait until this dude scores double digits in a Summer League before calling him the next Magic Johnson? Magic was dropping 42 in the Finals as rookie. You remember who that was against?

Philly Fan: I...uhh..don't know. I wasn't born yet.

Me (looking at DB): You remember who that was against?

DB: *wants no part of the (bleep) talking, but clearly amused, sits silently*

Me: I'm pretty sure that was against Philly. In Philly. That's gotta hurt. "next Magic Johnson." Get the heck outta here.

Boston Fan: Hey, both of your teams aren't making the playoffs next year, and my Celtics are.

Me: Playoffs?!? Man, you guys have like 1 title in the last 30 years. I'm not tryna hear that.

Then I spent the rest of the game calling Simmons "Rondo" and "Ben Simmons Carter-Williams" loud enough so the Philly fan behind me could hear it. "Magic Johnson." PLEAAAASE.

[oldschool32]

[GoldenThroat]

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB.

[IPK]

[Vancouver Fan]

[Laker7]

Thanks DB.

Rough game to be at with all the sloppy play. Thanks for all the insights and analysis.
_________________
Darvin Ham is an idiot!

[GoldenThroat]

DB, no T&R on the one "literally juicing" and many other lazy babies?

[Theseus]

I disagree with the official scorer of this game, giving d'angelo 1 assist is really low.

Great write up as always

[P.K.]

[Mation]

Thanks DB! Really appreciate the write-up!

[Karmaloop]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone have Russell's shooting by quarter?
_________________

[lakersfan8]

I don't understand why there wasn't much ball movement. I know this is just summer league and not all players will be on our team when the season starts. But I was expecting to see more passing and more off dribble moves by Russell like Curry do. Instead, we were trying to make Russell like Chris Paul/Raja Rondo.

[P.K.]

[KeepItRealOrElse]

[Laker_Jocker]

Another win and another DB : -)) recap.....life is good!

[fiendishoc]

DB, GT definitely should get an emoticon rating for that.

[fiendishoc]

Btw, Simmons said his favorite NBA player to watch is Huertas. It makes so much sense.

[KeepItRealOrElse]