LAKERS -at- CAVS – 12-14-17 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

 
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 9:38 pm    Post subject: LAKERS -at- CAVS – 12-14-17 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

Young Guns… To me this was a positive game for the Lakers. Hopefully, you paid attention to how much we ran our young guys in this one. I don’t think we can expect a win when you’re running three rookies and a second-year player together for long stretches against a team like Cleveland.

Yet, we did. And you can’t say they weren’t up for the challenge. They scrapped, clawed and battled all night, never going away. To me, that was a big positive.

The Lakers played a minimum of two rookies on the floor for most the game tonight. Only a brief couple minutes to close the first half where they didn’t. They even had a 9-point lead in the second quarter.

During a stretch in the third quarter, Luke had all three rookies and the sophomore, Ingram, in and the Cavs extended to a 9-point lead themselves.

The Lakers cut it to 4 in the fourth, but a flurry of turnovers cooled that run, pushing the lead back to double digits. With the three rookies and Ingram in again, they trimmed the lead to 5 and forced a timeout. Young guns just not going away.

Down the stretch, they started to settle for threes and that’s not their game yet. With that, the Cavs were finally able to push through and take the 121-112 win from the Lakers.

“They got a bunch of young guys and they don’t stop running,” LeBron said. “It was a good win for us.”


Ball -- -- LeBron covered his mouth at the end of the game and gave Lonzo some sage advice when it was over. Lonzo took it in and nodded several times. “I didn’t tell him anything,” LeBron said. Zo was two boards away from a triple double (and unfortunately a few turnovers, too). Still, a strong game from him. He sank three threes, he was finding teammates and pushing pace. Maybe the pace got the best of us on a few occasions with the turnovers. Regardless, anytime he’s close to a triple-double, that’s a great game for the rookie. As for what LeBron said? I’m sure it was something like work on your three shooting because I handle the ball a lot. Okay, certainly not that, but it was words of encouragement and most likely telling him to keep grinding and don’t worry about what people say. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-11 shooting (3-8 from three) to go with 8 boards, 11 assists, 2 steals, 6 turnovers and 3 fouls in 38 minutes. He was a -11. The Action: He sank a three for the Lakers first score. He missed a wing pull-up jumper. He missed a wing three. He blindsided a man, took it the distance and was about to dunk, slipped and scored the layup instead. He missed a three, got it back and hit Hart cutting for the layup. He pushed up the break and hit Lopez for the dunk. Bullet feed to Kuzma under the hoop for the layup. Great interior feed to Randle, who missed the layup but got the putback, negating an assist. He dribbled off his leg, turnover. He set up Lopez over multiple defenders with a full-court pass for FTs. He sank a long wing jumper standing on the three line. He had 7 points and 6 assists at the half. Second Half: His lob pass to Nance was disrupted. Brilliant full-court pass off the board to Ingram for a layup. Turnover stepping out of bounds on a drive. He missed a wing three. He pushed it up court and found Nance for the dunk. He attacked and was called for a charge. He swished a three on a swing pass from Nance. He setup Nance for FTs. He swished a three on a kickout from Ingram. He missed a rushed three. He found Randle rolling for the layup. He missed a three straight away. Nice read with Kuzma on a Cavs defensive overplay and he lobbed to him for the layup.

Lopez -- -- Sheesh. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-10 shooting (0-2 from three, 0-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: He missed a good look off glass on a jumphook to start. Easy score backing his man down in the middle of the paint. He hit Ingram on the give and go for the dunk. He missed another good look at a jumphook. He missed a corner three. He was blocked on a layup in transition. Swing through and he banked easily past Love. Called for a foul leading with his elbow in the post. He swatted Love on the other end. He dunked on the break with Ball. He ducked out of the way of a LeBron drive to give up a dunk. He drew FTs on the long outlet from Lonzo (probably should have finished the layup), he then airballed both FTs (what the heck?). He got stuffed by the rim on a lob dunk, uggh. He missed a short jumphook with low position on a smaller man. Second Half: He missed a three, short. He attacked and threw it away.

Ingram -- -- This is the kind of scoring game you get with him when he’s sinking those perimeter jumpers and mixing it with the drives. The future of his game was here tonight. Threes, drives for scores, getting to the line, a midrange pull-up, and then he also mixed in 6 assists with just 2 turnovers. The offense didn’t stall as often when it hit his hands either. Some of that is how much we set him up on the move tonight. You’ve got those give and go sequences as well as curls to take the pass and attack. That’s negates the ball stopping and still takes advantage of his strengths. The Stats: He scored 26 points on 10-15 shooting (3-4 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 6 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in 40 minutes. He was a -14. The Action: He missed a baseline jumper. Quick change of directions and a drive left to get FTs, he made one. Poor pass in transition and it was picked off. He slammed on the give and go with Lopez. He curled into the paint, taking a pass and scoring the layup. He attacked right, hung through contact and scored the layup. He cut off JC’s probe, took the pass and dunked. He tipped in a miss. He drew FTs on the give and go, he made both. He sank a wing three, just beating the shotclock. Second Half: Poor help reaction and we gave up a layup. He attacked Love and went off glass over him for the layup. Lonzo hit him with a full-court pass for a layup. He swished a sideline three in transition. He lost a perimeter pass out of bounds. He attacked across the lane and threw it away. He probed off the screen and hit the pull-up FT jumper. He missed a long pull-up jumper. He missed a baseline fade. He swished a corner three on a swing pass. He kicked to Lonzo for the three. He missed a big wing three.

Nance -- -- Great job on the offensive glass tonight. He was getting after it there and causing the Cavs problems. He’s got to impose that length and athleticism like that every game. There were times when he wasn’t as aggressive as he needed to be early on. He also never really looked for his shot when open, but he kept the ball moving at least. Just wish on some of those plays early in the game he tried to finish strong off an offensive board or when taking a pass in the paint. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-7 shooting (0-2 from the line) to go with 12 boards (8 offensive), 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a -5. The Action: He missed a long jumphook. He choked an easy one not going up strong. Offensive board bit again didn’t got up strong. He crashed the glass and threw down the putback jam. He scored off glass high over Love after getting deep position. He couldn’t finish a lob dunk. Second Half: He swiped an inbounds pass (after forcing that inbounds with a couple deflections). He tapped out an offensive board to reset the offense. He dunked as Ball found him in transition. He swung it to Ball for a three. No challenge on Calderon’s drive, come on. He was fouled on a setup from Ball, he missed both FTs.

Hart -- -- With KCP out, we slid Hart into the starting lineup for some major minutes. Rookie had to go up against LeBron, Wade, even Love on switches at times. He handled himself very well defensively. Just looks nothing like a rookie on that end of the floor. With the extra minutes, came the rebounds. That’s a strength of his and he finished with the double-double as a result. Wish he could have knocked down one more three (well, just move back an inch on one long jumper, anyway, and he would have been 2-5 from three) and wished he finished a couple more layups, but nothing but respect for his showing tonight. Unless things go wrong this offseason, KCP won’t be here next year. And who knows about JC? We’re going to need Hart to step up in most scenarios. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-11 shooting (1-4 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 33 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He missed a wing three. He intercepted the ball getting back on D. Looked like he blocked LeBron on a drive. He missed a wing three, we got it back to him and he couldn’t finish a layup (but Nance did). He took the pass from Lonzo, attacked the paint and scored the layup. He missed a driving layup he should have had. He pulled down the board, pushed out with speed and drew FTs, he made both. He chased down a board across court to reset the offense. He couldn’t finish a layup on a drive. He drew a charge on Love in the post. Second Half: He sank a long wing jumper, toe on the three line. He dunked as LeBron was trying to track him down in transition, great finish. He sank a deep wing three. He attacked the paint, spun and couldn’t finish. Great help on Korver, then he recovered to Wade to force a travel. Love got away with a hook on him in the post. Great challenge in the post as another player tried to go after him and we got the miss. He missed a good look at a three straight away.

Kuzma -- -- It didn’t even feel like a great game and he finished with 20 points on 50 percent shooting. That’s the sign of a cat with some game. The three ball wasn’t dropping for him, unfortunately. Maybe one of these days both he and Lonzo will be knocking down threes in the same game. Team will kill if that ever becomes consistent. The turnovers were probably a bigger deal than the threes. He’s not a ball dominant player, so 4 turnovers were painful. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 8-16 shooting (1-5 form three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 7 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -8. The Action: Ball zipped a pass to him in the paint for a layup. He was stripped on a drive. He got tapped on a runner off glass. He posted up and scored off the glass. He missed a wing three. He lost the ball on a drive. Second Half: He missed a running hook, got it back and missed a layup. He missed a three. He attacked and hit the running hook off glass. He attacked with speed from the corner and drew FTs, he made both. Fouled on a drive with no call, layup the other way. Not close on a wing three. He sank a quick-fire three straight away. He threw a kickout away in transition. He swished a floater to cut it to 5. He attacked, spun, brought it back to his right and was blocked by Korver. Good job going to the counter out of a timeout when the Cavs took away a three, he finished the lob layup instead. He grabbed an offensive board, pulled it out, attacked with speed and scored a layup. He missed quick-fire three.

Randle -- -- Randle was often the vet in the lineups we had out there. Pretty crazy thought since he’s only played three real seasons, but that’s why I like thinking of our core as Randle, Kuzma, Ingram, Ball. Those four with Hart really had no business staying with the Cavs, yet they hung in there. That’s Randle with his third real season, Ingram in his second, and rookie, rookie, rookie. Randle played a strong first half, but his fourth quarter tonight had too many turnovers and miscues. A little sloppy on that end. He still had some good defensive sequences and was able to finish strong around the rim to stay competitive. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 6-9 shooting (1-1 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 3 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 22 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: The D sagged off and he missed the open wing jumper, way short. He missed a layup on a drive and dish from Lonzo, but powered back up and in his miss. Good challenge on Green’s drive to get a stop. He scored a layup off the drive and dish from JC. He attacked baseline and threaded the needle back to JC for the layup. Second Half: Offensive foul to start the fourth on the perimeter. He posted up a smaller man and hit the And-1 jumphook, he made the FT. He got deep into the paint and hit the short one. He forced a bad pass to JC, turnover. Strong attack left from the elbow for a layup. He was stripped under the hoop by a smaller man as he had deep position. He powered in the layup off the roll with Lonzo. He forced LeBron into an airball on iso D.

Clarkson -- -- Liked seeing him out there with the starters to close the first half. They had some good moments and nothing looked clunky at all during that stretch. Wish we could see more of it. I’m really liking how Clarkson is slow the game down, keeping the pass as a threat and getting deep into paint under control. I think that’s been a big difference and improvement for him recently. Teams aren’t sure if he’s going to pass and by then he’s deep in the paint and that floater is deadly. That makes a huge difference versus trying to always beat people with speed, getting caught in the air and passing lanes denied. His three ball was off tonight as was his balance on some of those. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 5-13 shooting (1-7 from three) to go with 1 board, 4 assists, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 25 minutes. He was a -4. The Action: Way off the mark on a wide open wing three. He missed a corner three on a kickout. He drained a wing three on the catch and shoot behind the screen. He broke down the D and hit Randle for the score. He cut off Randle’s baseline drive, took the feed and scored the layup. He missed a three when the D went under the screen. He probed slowly and hit the floater. He iso’d and swished a wing jumper with the shotclock low. He attacked the paint and hit the pull-up. He probed and hit Ingram cutting for the dunk. He missed a pull-up wing jumper. He missed a two-for-one three. Second Half: Unforced turnover with a perimeter travel when he caught a pass and was being a bit lazy. He missed a running three at the buzzer. He missed a pull-up in transition, not a good look. He missed a tough wing three.

Brewer -- -- Only Laker with a positive in the +/-. While there are a lot of reasons for that, Corey did seem a little ticked when he had to go to the bench after the second unit getting it going in the fourth quarter. Felt like maybe you could go another minute with him out there. Not a big deal, but that’s why he was annoyed. He had a couple strong attacks to get the rim for scores. Korver can’t keep up with him. Some good D that meant we didn’t have to go into automatic switches all the time. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2=3 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 8 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He blew by Korver with speed and scored a layup. He missed an open three trailing the break. Second Half: He attacked baseline and threw down the dunk. He then picked up an illegal screen on Crowder on the other end to get the stop.

Walton -- -- As far as a learning game for the young guys, this was a good one. Huge minutes for the rookies tonight and they kept it competitive all night. Can’t hope for much more than that against the Cavs… Lakers had a 7-point lead midway through the quarter. A lot of attacking Love in the post with our bigs… Up 2 when Kuzma and Clarkson came in for Hart and Nance with 3 minutes left… Up 2 with Randle in… The Lakers led 26-24 after the first quarter (they had 22 points in the paint)… He went with a Randle, Kuzma, Brewer, Hart, JC lineup to start the second quarter… This unit destroying the Cavs bench, getting stops on one end and layups on the other. They led by 9, forcing a timeout… Ingram in for Brewer up 3… Ball in for Hart… Lopez in for Randle, timeout quickly after that… Lopez looking awful, Lakers down 4… Down 1, Nance in for Kuzma with a couple minutes left… The Lakers trailed 63-60 at the half. The Lakers had 38 points in the paint, but Cavs shot 50% from three… Down 5, Kuzma in for Lopez midway through the quarter. Three rookies in here with Ingram… The lead went to 9 and Luke called a timeout… Down 8, Randle in for Nance with 2 minutes left… The Lakers trailed 94-86 heading into the fourth… He started the Randle, Kuzma, Brewer, Hart, Clarkson unit that hurt the Cavs to start the second… Good stretch by Brewer. The Lakers cut it to 4 when Ingram came in for him… Turnovers suddenly killing the Lakers here. Lonzo back in with the Lakers down 8 with 7 minutes left. JC out… So three rookies and Ingram in again now… The lead got to double digits, but this unit cut it to 5 to force a timeout… They couldn’t get over the hump as they started settling for threes and missing…
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akgolf
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 9:39 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB!
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 9:50 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB!
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Ujah's Goat
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 9:55 pm    Post subject:

Cheers DB!
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ThreePointBomber
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 10:05 pm    Post subject:

I hope you Lonzo haters bring that same energy for Zo and Brook.
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 10:06 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB
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DrDent
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 10:11 pm    Post subject:

AAAAA DB
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durden-tyler
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 10:53 pm    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- CAVS – 12-14-17 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

DancingBarry wrote:


Lopez -- -- Sheesh.




but

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 11:48 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB.
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 3:16 am    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- CAVS – 12-14-17 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

DancingBarry wrote:
Lopez -- -- Sheesh. [b]


It would be comical if it wasn't tragical.

Great game for us. Kids battled and grinded and almost got a win on the road against the NBA's best player.
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 8:18 am    Post subject:

Man, not a good game from Lopez. Wow, he is supposed to be the vet.
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 8:28 am    Post subject:

This was an impressive showing from our kids. Proud of our young guys showing that the Lakers will be back soon.
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deal
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 7:58 pm    Post subject:

BOYS AGAINST MEN, AT THE END OF THE DAY.


Our all spaghetti team, Lonzo, Ingram and even Kuzma
need to bulk up; the sooner the better... bulk up, not
juice up
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 9:23 pm    Post subject:

Went to the game. Overall, I thought the Lakers physicality was excellent. Josh Hart was a standout as far as effort and his physical defense. BI was a stud. Lonzo shot the ball decent, but turned it over a little bit. Lopez was a bum, Larry was physical. Randle was physical...

The Lakers just cant shoot, they dont know how to win those close games yet. Too many late mistakes.

Kuzma defense was horrible imo, and he did not play well, I dont care how many points he scored.
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