LAKERS -VS- CAVS – 7-14-16 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Summer League Game 4… The Lakers blew a sizable first half lead in this one coming out flat in the second half. While they lost the game, the bigger loss was losing Larry Nance to a fractured hand with a few seconds left in the game.

The Lakers struggled defending the Cavs guards with some very soft two-man D. Offensively, they missed freethrow after freethrow, and after a strong first half, D’Angelo Russell went stone cold in the second half. After a 31-point second quarter, the Lakers scored just 28 in the second half on their way to the 88-80 loss.

Very fun hitting up all the games this summer in Vegas. Laker fans were out in numbers. I probably won’t be going to tomorrow night’s game, but here’s some quick comments on tonight’s.


Russell -- -- In the first half, he made it look easy. The second half, I remember watching him miss back-to-back freethrows (one long, one short) and thinking he looked cold. He never got it on track again. I thought his court vision was very poor tonight. I also really wish he’d learn to throw it up for his bigmen when drawing traffic. That’s something he hasn’t done at all this summer. If you are going to penetrate the deep and draw all that attention, you've got to have more passing options to fall back on. The Cavs swarmed him at times in the second half on his drives. He had good looks a threes but was way off. Defensively, this is why I was hoping we’d get a guard who can defend the 1 or 2 spots. When we need to put out a fire, who will we go to? We switched him at teh 1 and 2 spots as we played him at both those spots, but he wasn't very disruptive defensively. Early in the game, he set up Nance on a play that resulted in a foul. The crowd started chanting "Larry" and DLO was trying to get them going louder. Very nice to see him supporting his guy like that. He scored 19 points on 7-20 shooting (2-8 from three, 3-6 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 3 turnovers in 34 minutes.

Nance -- -- He went up high for a finish very late in the game as a Cav player slid in to take the charge. Larry tried to stop himself from hitting the floor too hard and broke his hand. He was on the floor for a bit, then went straight to the locker room. He had some nice moments from midrange. If I recall, he airballed a three or was very short on it. We didn’t have the good chemistry that he and DLO had been developing. The timing was off, the passes were either deflected or into his shins. It was a bit too clunky. Double-double from Nance. He had 12 points on 5-9 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-4 from the line) to go with 10 boards (4 offensive), 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and 2 turnovers in 32 minutes.

Ingram -- -- Better game from Ingram. We ran him a lot at the PF in this game, more than we have in others. That may have had something to do with it. I would have liked to see us go to him a little more, especially down the stretch. He looked like he was ready to try to take the baton and try to close for us. Just my read. He had a great drive in transition early in the game that rolled off the rim, the crowd wanted that one to drop badly as it was a sure highlight reel play. Still, it showed some excellent mobility changing ends with the dribble and through traffic. Defensively, this has been the best part of his game in the summer league. His length is very disruptive. Loved seeing how aggressive he was late in the game in those traps. I’d like to see us trap like that every so often as a change up on the offense. We certainly should have been doing that more with the Cavs guards tonight to make them passers. He scored 13 points on 4-12 shooting (2-7 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 1 steal and no turnovers in 30 minutes.

Zubac -- -- This was one of those games where we really should have milked the post more (if he was a lottery pick, we would have fed him twice as much this summer as we have). There was a sequence where he ate up his defender in one post up for an easy bank. The coaches wanted us to go back to him the next possession, but Munford (if I recall) took a bad angle on the post entry and we didn’t get it into him. Kid was ready to beast on the smaller players. I’m disappointed that we did such a poor job working the ball to him. He was very efficient with his touches tonight. Zubac could use a little more schooling in sealing his man, but that was minor. He did a good job changing ends of the floor tonight and had a massive dunk on the break on one of those. We were again a bit soft in that midrange D when the guards came off those screens. Some excellent challenges at the rim. He got a couple of blocks negated by some tickytack whistles. He was especially frustrated with the calls. He scored 10 points on 5-6 shooting to go with 7 boards, 1 block and 1 turnover in 19 minutes.

A. Brown -- -- Just a trainwreck. He had a dunk on the break to start the game, but it was downhill from there. Offensively, he’s got to hit the jumper and can’t. He indulged himself a little too much with the dribble and even threw in a Nick Young like chuck in there. Defensively, some fouls on his man from behind on jumpers. We yanked him and looked for other answers the rest of the night. He scored 2 points on 1-5 shooting (0-3 from three) to go with 1 assist, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 17 minutes.

Munford -- -- He was part of the key to the Lakers developing a big lead. We kept him in a bit more than usual because of that. He hit from the perimeter, but had some nice drives, as well. He scored 12 points on 3-11 shooting (2-4 from three, 4-6 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 3 assists, 4 steals, 1 block and 3 turnovers in 28 minutes.

Auguste -- -- He was awful at the FT line tonight, going just 2-8. Very frustrating after he’s make some scrappy play under the hoop, draw the whistle, then clank at the line. Good job on the offensive glass. He had a nice push on the break to help with a score, but not a lot of impact in this one with those missed FTs. He scored 2 points on 0-3 shooting (2-8 from the line) to go with 5 boards (3 offensive) and 1 steal in 15 minutes.

Wilson -- – We gave a good chunk of Brown’s minutes to Wilson, since he can hit a shot. He sank a couple of threes tonight. Wish he had a couple of better challenges on the penetrating guards. He scored 10 points on 4-6 shooting (2-3 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 steal and 5 fouls in 19 minutes.

Misc. -- -- Throughout the summer league, one thing I’ve really liked with our sets has been the very consistent screen the screener actions we’ve had. Last year, it was very rare… A lot of different lineups in this one, especially with Ingram at the PF. He still looked a little lost, even on some of the basic horns sequences with him in the high post… I saw Pincus chatting up Jim Buss prior to the game… The Lakers shot 14-28 from the FT line. That was the game right there…

[LakerLanny]

1st
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Love, Laker Lanny

[SweetP]

Well, not a great game but still better than last summer.
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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

[A Mad Chinaman]

It appears that we need to focus on two things

The "Head of the Snake" on defense (DLO)

Designated "Defensive Stopper" (AB)

[lakersfreak]

Thx DB

[Mation]

Thanks for the write-up DB!

Hope we can get a W tomorrow.

Bummed about the Nance injury. Get well soon buddy.

[tox]

Thanks DB!

I went out after halftime. Sad to see the second half was a disaster. Hope Nance gets better soon.

[lounger]

Thanks DB....

DLo was awesome the first half. But in the second, there were a lot of really good screens and DLo sucked the defense towards him. I don't understand why he didn't pass out when the screener rolled or got free. I couldn't tell whether there weren't any passing angles. I thought there were.

This game and the whole experience, I am sure, has given valuable lessons for everyone even for the coaching staff as Mermuys said.

The missed free throws really hurt. After being impressed with Zach Auguste, he was just lost tonight. His free throw shooting was terrible as well as for the whole team. Those could've helped the kids have they made more.

Hopefully, Nance can get back to where he left off after healing from the hand injury. He has shown how much of a steal he was same as Zubac.

[Laker Intervention]

K. Felder... I'm telling you.

[Laker7]

I blame this one on the coaching staff.

Zubac was 5-6 from the field and sat the entire 4th quarter when the Cavs took the lead.

Brown is supposed to be our best defender and was not on floor in the fourth quarter when McRae went off.
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Darvin Ham is an idiot!

[pio2u]

Thanks DB!

It appears that we will struggle with perimeter defense again this year.

[Lakers#1Team]

Thanks DB!

[danzag]

Thanks DB!

[angrypuppy]

Thanks, DB!

I loved what I saw from Russell last night in the first half, and much of the summer league. What I wanted to see was him transitioning from scorer to facilitator, and the second half was an excellent opportunity for him to flip the switch. I agree with DB, his floor vision was poor last night, perhaps he's having trouble finding that proverbial switch. Oh well, SL is a learning exercise.

[LoyalLakerfan44]

Thanks DB

Like you said I wanted the Lakers to look for Ingram a little more, but the guy with the ball simply wanted to shoot and not pass. I saw Ingram open many times and nobody found him. I know he's skinny and everything but he's 6'9".

[DrDent]

[Klone_dd]

It really looked like the team put it in cruise control in the 2nd half. In the 1Q, they had a great run in the middle, but Cle closed that gap. Then the Lakers went on a larger run in 2Q. Perhaps they thought they could flip that switch again in 3Q.

Nance's injury made the game even more of a downer.

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[iceberg01]

Great analysis as usual, DB.

IMO, D'Angelo's not a "pure" PG, but who is anymore anyway, right?

I think it's good that the team is forcing him to work on his floor game, because he has the potential. But I always felt like it's hard for a guy that doesn't dribble penetrate a lot to rack up a lot of assists. Sure, it looks like Russell will eventually be a helluva P&R player. But he still doesn't go to the basket as much as he could or should.

Because he doesn't, he attempts some bad passes in traffic, and the across-the-court variety, which is much harder to pull off in the NBA because of the superior length & speed of NBA players.

Ultimately, I think Russell is a combo guard who will be capable of having good assist games, much like James Harden is. But IMO, even though he's still young, the fact that he's in his 2nd year and struggling in his playmaking against D-league talent doesn't bode well for his future as a "pure" type PG.

[JM]

Brown seems to perpetually disappoint (and I read a lot about his 'hitch'.) What is his contract situation this year?

[kentu_tiro]

Wasn't happy with how the players quit last night. We were still up slightly but you could feel the momentum has already shifted. Instead of battling, our guys including Russell just gave up. At some point he didn't even want to try and guard McRae. So much for all these hoopla regarding his "maturity". LOL
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The road back to the top...

[DancingBarry]

[lakerfanaticPT]

Needs:
1. Better perimeter defense
2. Better perimeter shooting
3. Free throws (OMG)

Should pick up a defensive 1 or 2 and would really like C. Wood for improved shooting.

[Vadorojo]

Any sense as to why we didn't play Zubac for what felt like the entirety of the 4th quarter? Is his perimeter defense too poor to risk against smaller centers? I didn't feel like he was being exposed defensively, but it didn't help that the whistles against him were questionable when he was challenging at the rim. I also feel like we could have benefitted form his offense - his touch around the rim is truly remarkable for such a big 19-year-old.
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"I like looking at a guy's face when he realizes that even his best moves aren't going to work on me all night. They look depressed." - Ron Artest

[IPK]