LAKERS -at- PELICANS – 11-29-16 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Down Goes Nick… The game and the road trip quickly took a dark turn for the Lakers when Nick Young injured his Achilles just two minutes into the game.

It’s hard to say whether that sucked the energy out of the Lakers, but they certainly played like it after that.

“I think it definitely caught us off guard a little bit,” Luke said.

It didn’t help that their perimeter shooting also left the game with Nick. The Lakers shot an awful 5-30 from three tonight. You can’t win very often doing that.

“That’s why it’s so important for us to become a defensive team,” Luke said. He was pleased with the D in the second half when they held the Pelicans to 40 points, switching a lot more on defense. The Lakers were still blown out with the bad first half they played, falling 105-88.

This was a game they needed to win in this stretch. Somehow they will have to try to make up for it, probably without Nick.


Randle -- -- Good to see Randle back in action. He had the double-double in short minutes, but didn’t really look himself. He was battling through a few painful moments, so hard to say how he’s feeling, but he said “he felt really good.” He buckled his knee on one play that had him hobbling, but he recovered. Defensively, he seemed a little late to react or lost at times. He picked it up a little more as the game went along. Offensively, I liked his power moments against Davis. He was able to bump him and overpower him on iso in a few instances. Of course, Davis is a beast on the other end with 41 points and 16 boards. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 6-9 shooting (0-1 from three, 0-2 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 3 assists, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 21:35. He was a -17. The Action: He sank a wing jumper with his man sagging off. He sank a 21-footer from the wing on his next touch. Feeling it, he missed a three on his next attempt. He pushed it up court and quickly hit Clarkson for a three. He attacked in early offense and missed a drive, but drew FTs, he missed both. He missed an 18-footer. He attacked off the dribble, spun, pumped and scored the layup. He blocked a shot at the end of the quarter. He had 6 points on 3-5 shooting and 5 boards. Second Half: He bumped off his man on the drive and scored easily off the glass. His pass was stolen. He missed a fade up against the shotclock. Quick spin and he muscled in a layup over Davis. He took a pass at the top of the key, attacked and hammered down the dunk.

Deng -- -- Once again most of his shots were coming up short. And, once again, Deng had little positive impact while out there. He should just assume he’s going to come up short on his shots and put a little extra in it because he’s doing it with such regularity. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-6 shooting (1-4 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and no fouls in 22 minutes. He was a -18. The Action: He swiped a bad pass. He missed a wing three, short. He rattled in a corner three. Second Half: He missed a good look at a wing three, short. He missed a corner three, short. He sank a 20-footer straight away. Careless with the dribble on the perimeter and he was tied up. He missed, short again, on a jumper in the paint.

Mozgov -- -- Some nice moments of guys finding him for lobs. I think we may need to feature him a little more in offense without Russell or Nick. It would help if Calderon hit his shots coming off those screens. But when that’s not happening and you’ve got Metta and Deng out there at the SG and SF, that’s just an ugly situation. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 5-8 shooting to go with 9 boards (4 offensive), 2 turnovers, 2 blocks and 2 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a -11. The Action: He dunked off the pocket pass from Calderon. He missed a lefty jumphook. He was called for a travel on an up-fake. He was blocked on a turnaround. Second Half: He threw a pass away after fighting for the offensive board. He battled for an offensive board, got it and dunked. He blocked a shot. He sank a turnaround in the post. He missed a 17-footer. He dunked off the lob from Lou. He dunked off the lob from Nance shortly later.

Young -- -- About 2 minutes into the game, he challenged a shot on the break and came down yelling in pain and hobbled to the sideline immediately. It was his right foot, different from the toe, an Achiiles strain. With how much he was yelling on this…not a good sign. He knew he was done for the night. A depressing start to this game. I don’t know if it had an effect mentally on the Lakers, but they certainly struggled in the first quarter. No idea what Luke will do to replace Nick with DLO out. “We’ll have to get creative on what we do there,” Luke said. The Stats: He didn’t score or shoot in 1:50. He was a -4. The Action: Nothing to report.

Calderon -- -- His shot was awful tonight. He missed all of his threes and made just one shot. We don’t have a lot of options in our starters right now offensively, so we need him hitting those open jumpers. He led the Lakers with 6 assists, but really had little impact ball from him. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-5 shooting to go with 1 board, 6 assists, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 16 minutes. He was a -9. The Action: He missed a wing three on a swing pass. He hit Mozgov off the two-man game for a dunk. He missed an open corner three on a kickout. His pass was picked off for a layup the other way. He missed an open wing three on a kickout. Second Half: He missed a wing jumper. He sank a wing jumper finally. He threw a down court pass away. He gave up an And-1 jumper.

Clarkson -- -- After scoring all his points in the first quarter, he went cold (missing his final eight attempts). “I shot like butt tonight,” he said. He killed a couple of Lakers rallies. Unlike last game, he didn’t play in control. He was off-balance on shots, got himself into bad situations and threw the ball away. Without Nick, the Lakers needed JC to step up. Maybe he pressed too much, but he was bricking threes and back to that hit or miss kind of play when he attacks. Some very poor decisions. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-14 shooting (1-7 from three) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 2 turnovers, 1 steal and 1 foul in 29 minutes. He was a -9. The Action: He knocked down a pass, stepped on the gas to chase it down and scored the breakaway layup. He sank a wing three on the Randle pushout. He missed a quick-fire three, not squared up. He attacked from with wing and scored a layup between defenders. He missed a turnaround in the lane. He attacked a big off a high screen at the end of the quarter and scored the lefty layup. He attacked and kicked to Lou for the three. He pounded the dribble in the corner and missed the chuck. He missed a sideline three on a kickout next time down. He missed a short one, getting fouled with no call. He got tapped on a wing three. He was blocked on a drive. He had 9 points on 4-11 shooting. Second Half: Way off on a wing three. Awful pass on the two-man game, dunk the other way. He missed a short one in the paint, getting in too deep. He attacked the paint, got out of control and threw it away, uggh. He missed a wide open corner three.

Williams -- -- Even if Lou caught fire tonight, I don’t think we could have caught the Pelicans. Just too few contributing offensively. Kind of an average game from him. He made a couple of threes, got the line and into that midrange area for floaters and jumpers. I think we probably need to lean on him for more minutes. Maybe you start him for 5 minutes, sit him early, then bring him back with the second unit to make sure you have some good run without breaking them up. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 5-14 shooting (2-7 from three, 4-5 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 4 assists, 2 turnovers, 1 steal and no fouls in 22:25. The Action: He missed a sideline three. He attacked off the three and scored the And-1 layup, he made the FT. He telegraphed and threw away a kickout. Wild pass to start the second quarter, turnover. He pushed it out, took contact and threw it up to draw FTs, he made one. He missed a pull-up wing jumper. He swished a corner three on a kickout. He missed a three in early offense. He ball-watched and his man backdoored him for FTs. He split a couple defenders and scored a layup off two long strides. He missed a corner three. He missed a floater in transition. He had 9 points on 3-8 shooting. Second Half: He lobbed to Mozgov for the jam. He swiped a pass under the hoop, pushed it out and found Nance who lobbed to Mozgov for the dunk. Nance tapped out an offensive board and Lou threw it back to him for a dunk. He missed a floater in the paint. He attacked baseline and found Ingram diving for an And-1. He swished a wing three off the handoff from Ingram. He missed a wing three. He attacked in transition and hit the floater. He missed a fade in transition. He attacked the paint and drew FTs, he made both. He missed a wing three.

Ingram -- -- “They got whatever they wanted on offense,” Ingram said. Decent game from BI. Offensively, he set a new career high with 5 assists. He was trying to push the ball in transition (found Nance for a dunk on one of those). His past 10 games, he’s picked up the scoring. Let’s see if he can start averaging double-digit scoring for December. He had the team high in minutes tonight (unlike Hield who only had 1:28 of minutes on the other side of the court). Glad we’re giving our young guy the run. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-10 shooting (1-3 from three, 0-1 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 5 assists, 1 turnover, 2 steals, 1 block an 1 foul in 29 minutes. He was a +0. The Action: He attacked and missed the pull-up in the lane, short. He pushed out a break and was stripped from behind. He missed an open corner three on a kickout. He ball-faked, moved in closer and hit the baseline pull-up jumper. Second Half: He sank a jumper from the top of the key. He missed a corner three on a kickout. He missed a pull-up in the lane. He missed a chuck from the wing. Good hands on a dive in the paint when Lou fired it to him and he scored the And-1 layup, not close on the FT, however. He blocked a shot, pushed out the break in a crowd and fed Nance for the dunk. He sank a wing three, stepping into from the left wing. He missed a wing pull-up jumper.

Nance -- -- I thought he was one of the few guys that looked like himself. He was playing with energy. Helped ignite the team on both ends when we were trying to rally. Some excellent passes to his bigs (lob to Mozgov, the usual interior feeds to Black). “First half it was our defense, but throughout the whole game we couldn’t make a shot to save our lives,” Nance said. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-7 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 5 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 3 fouls in 20:28. He was a -6. The Action: He airballed a sideline three. He missed a wing jumper, falling back a little. He swished an up-and-under to beat the shotclock. Second Half: He lobbed to Mozgov in transition for a dunk. He tapped out an offensive board, Lou grabbed it and fed it back to Nance for the dunk. Excellent interior bounce pass off the two-man game with Lou to hit Black for the dunk. He filled the lane on the break and dunked off the pass from Ingram. He missed an open 16-footer. He deflected a pass, was held from behind with no call but still dunked on the pushout.

Black -- -- Typical game for Tarik. He wasn’t as disruptive defensively as the last game, but you could see the bigs on that second unit really trying to put the pressure on defensively. When they did that we started to roll a little. Some nice finishes around the rim, as usual. Really like the chemistry with him and Nance. Tarik might earn that team option on the second year of his contract. Still can’t believe Scott put him in the doghouse all last season. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-6 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 1 block and 2 fouls in 23:43. He was a -2. The Action: He swiped a pass in the paint. He missed a jumphook badly. He shed his man and easily scored the putback. He split a couple defenders taking the pass from Huertas and scoring the layup. Second Half: He dunked off the dump-off pass from Nance. He up-faked and missed a reverse on the drive. He posted up and hit a jumphook.

Huertas -- -- He got to the freethrow line for the first time this season and promptly missed both. He had a chance to make up for it in the second half by getting back to the line again, he then clanked both. So 0-4 from the line. Wow. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-1 shooting (0-4 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 assist and 2 fouls in 11 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He hit Black with a bounce pass for a layup. He was blocked on a three. He attacked baseline and drew FTs on the layup, he missed both, uggh! Second Half: Back to the line on a scoop shot on the baseline, he missed both again.

Robinson -- -- With Randle back, he moved back to the third string. We got him some minutes when Luke was shaking things up with the Lakers reeling. Better job at the FT line tonight, making all four of his attempts. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 1-2 shooting (4-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards and 1 foul in 10 minutes. He was a +2. The Action: He sank a FT jumper. He drew FTs crashing the glass, he made both. Second Half: He missed a putback jam. He pushed up a rebound, saw a lane, attacked and drew FTs, he made both.

World Peace -- -- He got the start at SG in the second half with Nick injured. This made for some extremely ugly lineups for the Lakers. As much as I would have rather kept Anthony Brown, he also played as expected for the Pelicans. The Stats: He didn’t score on 1-5 shooting (0-3 from three) to go with 3 boards, 1 turnover, 2 steals and 1 foul in 12 minutes. He was a +3. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He missed a wing three on a kickout. Not close on a three straight away. He bricked a pull-up jumper badly over a double team (pass the ball, please). He swiped a ball but gave it right back on a wild pushout off the dribble. Not close on wing three. He swiped the ball and took it the distance for a score.

Walton -- -- He brought in Clarkson for Young after a couple minutes when Nick got injured. Get Randle back, lose Nick. Sheesh… The Lakers trailed 19-11 when the timeout came midway through the court… Ingram in for Calderon… Black in for Mozgov who picked up a couple fouls. Nance in for Randle. Lakers down 10… Lou in for Deng… Timeout, Lakers down 29-13. Just awful on both ends… The Lakers trailed 33-22 after the first quarter… Lakers down 16 when he brought in Huertas for Clarkson after 3 minutes… Down 14, Randle in for Black… Ingram out for Deng, Lakers down 14… Mozgov back in, Lakers down 17… Offense going dry again. He brought in Robinson for Randle with 4 minutes left, down 23… The Lakers trailed 65-41 at the half… Metta in to start the half for Nick… Sluggish still as a team. Just not enough talent in the starters… The Mozgov, Nance, Ingram, Clarkson, Williams lineup finally forced a timeout when they cut it to 19. First time we had the Pelicans on their heels for a few possessions… A lot of switching defensively… Black in for Mozgov out of that and the Lakers fell apart again, taking a 17-point hole and turning it into a 26-point one in the final minutes of the third. That was the end of the game right there… The Lakers trailed 89-63 heading into the fourth… They cut it to 17 after 4 minutes. Second-unit defense picking it up, but the hole was too deep… Extended garbage time…

[Ujah's Goat]

Thanks DB. Whacky game, nothing was going right for us.

[Ujah's Goat]

[OregonLakerGuy]

Thanks DB

[TDRock]

I don't know why Huertas' write up made me laugh, but it did.

Thanks DB!

[akgolf]

Thanks DB.

[Fortysixn2]

[Shaber]

Thanks, DB!

The youth thing. They fell out of their seats after Nick went down. An experienced team probably would have pulled through this. But these youngsters are too emotional and have to learn to cope with injuries yet.
It does not help that Luke has no options left to replace Nick. Metta? Please no. He should not even be on the (active) roster anymore.

Sad game, Lakers badly needed to win this.
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Lakers depth chart

PG Johnson / Goodrich
SG Bryant / West / Scott
SF Baylor / Worthy / Cooper
PF Mikkelsen / Hairston / McAdoo / Gasol
C Chamberlain / Abdul-Jabbar / O'Neal / Mikan

[Lakers#1Team]

Thanks DB!

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB. Terrible game, more because of the injury than the final score. Anxiously awaiting the prognosis on Nick's achilles, and whether it's going to be weeks, months, or the season we're talking about here.

Here's hoping DLO hones in his shooting quickly when he returns.

[70sdude]

Thanks DB. I missed action after the first quarter and your work - once again - helps bring me back up to date. I guess we're gonna see the Laker success trend downwards for a few weeks now, something that feels unavoidable given the loss of the DR and Nick, the team's best two high rate perimeter shooters.

Dang.

[Gimme_the_rock]

Thanks, DB!!!

And thank you Vitti for all the great health!!!!
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We back.

[A Mad Chinaman]