MAGIC -at- LAKERS - 1/15 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

 
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 15, 2020 11:05 pm    Post subject: MAGIC -at- LAKERS - 1/15 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

Streak Ends... The Lakers had been seemingly looking to lose lately. They’ve been conservative with their injured players. They’ve put in some sub part efforts to open games. But the bench responded each time, stepping up and keeping the team on track as we think about the bigger picture of the season.

The Lakers got off to a slow start, sloppy on offense allowing for 10 Orlando transition points in the first quarter. L.A. then went scoreless to start the second quarter, giving up a 13-0 run. They’d go down by as many as 20 in the second quarter.

They trimmed the lead down to 4 to start the second half, then quickly faded with soft defense in transition and the half court. (They missed their two best defenders in AD and AC, who got hit in the head in the first half.)

With 6:41 left in the third, the Lakers were down 21 after giving up a 21-4 run in just under 4 minutes. They’d rally behind their bench, turning in a 22-2 run of their own to close the fourth and trail by just 89-88 heading into the fourth.

The team would a small lead twice but self-inflicted wounds would come back to bite them. Both LeBron and KCP got stuffed by the rim on dunk attempts. You rarely see that once a month, let alone twice in the span of a few minutes.

They’d miss those points as LeBron floundered on offense down the stretch, and the Magic picked on McGee defensively for several scores. LeBron had a chance to tie with a few seconds left, but rattled out a three. The Lakers fell 119-118 to an under .500 team (Magic barely that at 20-21 right now).

“Proud of the guys that got us back in the game,” Vogel said. “Those guys gave us a good lift, but we didn’t play well enough to win a basketball game.”

They’ve got a tough stretch of games coming up. Hopefully, they get reinforcements back in the lineup, rested and ready to go.


LeBron -- -- Uggh. That missed dunk in the fourth killed me. “I kind of tricked myself out of that one,” LeBron said. It’s hard to be disappointed when he gets you a career-high 19 assists in a game. He had his shooters knocking shots down and as a result, the big assist numbers. He’s just deadly with shotmakers around him. Vogel: “19 assists without playing an exceptional game,” is what it sounded like Vogel said in the presser. He wasn’t quite clear, but I’d have to agree with that. Despite all the assists in this one, not a superb game from LeBron as it took him a while to warm up (and then he finished poor). He was 0-2 and a -20 in his first 11 minutes. He’d score a couple of layups for 4 points in the first half. He was finding teammates but also a bit sloppy on the dribble or with some of those pass attempts (8 assists/3 turnovers in the first half...he’d finish with 5 turnovers). He’d get a little more aggressive in the second half, but barely got into the paint as the Magic played him to shoot. Never a great thing when he’s shooting a lot of threes (2-9 in this one). He rattled out a three to tie it with a couple seconds left. Defensively, not very impactful. Looked slow-footed and slow to rebounds. The close to the game was a series of misses and a bad turnover with 2:30 left. The Magic have defended LeBron well this season, but our defense was a bit soft tonight without AD. We should have won regardless. We do need to keep him focused on getting into the paint. That’s been an issue in more than a few of our losses. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 7-19 shooting (2-9 from three, 3-5 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 19 assists,1 steal, 5 turnovers and 1 foul in 36 minutes. He was a -9.

Kuzma -- -- He was a bit more into pass-mode Kuzma in this one. He had 5 assists in the first half. Kuzma hit McGee on a lob after a baseline attack. The two pointed at each other smiling after that one. They had a small squabble on court in the last game after Kuzma missed McGee and forced a shot on one of those. This time they connected. He’d finish the night with 7 assists. He can move the ball when he puts his mind to it. But can he score and pass with any consistency? Defensively, very little impact. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-10 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 5 boards, 7 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 27 minutes. He was a -11.

Green -- -- He had 9 points on 9 attempts in the first half and was a +6. We went away from him in the second half as our guard shooters were killing it. We could have used some of his D down the stretch. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 5-11 shooting (1-5 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 17 minutes. He was a -1.

McGee -- -- Not sure why we didn’t close with Howard. McGee was lost on D on a rotation and he gave up an And-1 dunk with 1:18 left to go down 4. Gave up a three in no man’s land trying to ice defensively when the bigman shooter can hit threes, again down by 4 with 56 seconds left. Then he gave up layup when we switched next time down. They were picking on him and scoring every time. Yes, we missed AD, but McGee wasn’t even close to preventing scores on any of those. Now imagine us closing the game with AD. I think we take the W pretty easily. He did have the defensive highlight of the game. Massive block at the end of the half when Ross tried to put a poster on him with a throwdown attempt. “That’s one of the greatest dunk attempts I’ve seen,” LeBron said afterward. That turned a highlight dunk attempt into a highlight rejection at the rim by McGee. “It could have been the dunk of the year or the block of the year,” McGee said. One of his 3 first half blocks. (He also rejected a man in the post and Fultz on a turnaround attempt.) No blocks in the second half. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 7-7 shooting to go with 9 boards, 3 blocks and 2 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a -15.

Bradley -- -- No impact in this game. He’d hit a pull-up in the paint for his only points and find McGee on a lob off the strong handoff play for his only assist. The starters needed to be mixed up tonight as Avery was a bit of a ghost out there. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-2 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 17 minutes. He was a -20.

Caldwell-Pope -- -- Some good energy off the bench early. We were playing a bit lifeless in the first half and he was a bit more active than most. That eventually translated more as the game went along. He’d hit some big threes and jumpers. He, too, had a breakaway dunk stuffed by the front of the rim in the fourth. That came after LeBron’s. Just painful in a fourth quarter when we’re trying to get over the hump. I liked the game from him, though. He certainly outplayed Bradley in this one. It’s good to see the bench able to manufacture points like they did tonight without needing Rondo. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 6-12 shooting (3-8 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a +0.

Caruso -- -- He got blocked on a drive and took an elbow to the face in the process. That shortened his minutes as he went to the locker room. He didn’t return as the concussion protocol was inconclusive. Probably no coincidence the Lakers lost. We could have used his D down the stretch when we couldn’t get stops. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-2 shooting to go with 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and no fouls in 4 minutes. He was a +1.

Howard -- -- He was a beast on the offensive glass in the first half with 7 of his 11 boards on the offensive end. A near double-double in his 13 minutes. His scores were on lobs or offensive boards. He did have one nice jumphook off glass on a postup as the Lakers were beginning to make a run in the half. He couldn’t score in the second half. He, too, missed some chippies at the rim. Great rebounding night, but he could have used some help from others at times. As mentioned, I wished he closed defensively. He had a great switch on a guard in the second half and hounded him into an eventual brick against the shotclock. We needed more of that in the final minutes when he sat. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-10 shooting (1-3 from the line) to go with 16 boards (8 offensive), 1 assist, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in 26 minutes. He was a +14.

Daniels -- -- Big moments late in the first half when we were looking to rally. The Lakers had a huge 6-point switch when the Magic were rejected at the rim by McGee on a dunk attempt and then we turned that up court and found Daniels for an And-1 three. He completed the 4-point play with the made FT. His shot looked good in that first half, so Vogel went to him pretty early in the second half and he did not disappoint. He was stroking it. The more shots we could have created for him the better as he knocked down 4-5 from three tonight. They were certainly looking for him and set up some ATOs to get him looks. He led the team with the +23 in his 21 minutes. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 6-9 shooting (4-5 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 1 offensive board, 1 assist and no fouls in 21 minutes. He was a +23.

Cook -- -- “We felt like we should have won this one,” Cook said afterward tonight. “I’d rather have zero and win.” He sparked the team in the second half. In the first half, he picked up a tech not getting a call on a foul on a corner three. The Lakers went down 15 at this point and Vogel sat him. Vogel went to him later in the second half when we pulled LeBron over to PF, but the key stretch was when Dudley came in for LeBron. We needed someone to keep the rally going and generate offense. Cook heated up with a three and a couple of pull-ups all in a row to close the quarter. He carried that momentum into the fourth quarter. He’s played pressure minutes in the playoffs and you could see him rise to the challenge tonight when we needed it. Think about the playoffs and when things go sideways and you need to shake it up. He’s been there. When he’s got it flowing and has guys finding him, he can give you some of that game changing spark like he did tonight. Our trio of bench guards: Cook, Daniels and KCP combined for 11-20 from three. Bummed we didn’t pull it off for him so he could enjoy this one. The Stats: He scored 22 points on 9-14 shooting (4-7 from three) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a +17.

Dudley -- -- He went all out on a dive on the sideline to save a ball and get a defensive stop at midcourt. So many great plays by our role players tonight, sparking this team back from a huge deficit. He also had another stop anticipating a charge. He had another play in the first half where he went to the floor for a steal and then got his only bucket of the night on a corner three on the other end. Love it. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-1 shooting from three to go with 1 board, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 16 minutes. He was a -4.

Vogel -- -- Key Moment: There were a few letdowns defensively in the final couple of minutes. Let’s go with McGee giving up the And-1 dunk to Gordon after getting lost on a rotation for a moment, then making the mistake to add the foul to it. That was one of several key breakdowns defensively in the final couple of minutes as the Magic picked on McGee.

Key Substitution: When LeBron sat in the third quarter and we were in the middle of our 22-2 rally. The bench behind Quinn Cook in that stretch closed strong, hitting big shots and getting stops. Getting our shooters (KCP, Daniels and Cook) a lot of good looks allowed the Lakers to nearly recover from an awful start to the second half.

Key Stat: The freethrow shooting. The Magic shot 23-29, but the Lakers just 7-11 on the night. That kind of showed our weak ability and effort to get into the paint tonight.
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drae
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 15, 2020 11:12 pm    Post subject:

First!

Excellent write up

Glad I missed this game. Would have put me in a bad mood
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michaelg
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 15, 2020 11:15 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB really appreciate your write ups!

Maybe we should have tried hack a Fultz in this one, if we weren’t going to bring Howard back. The combination of no Howard, no Davis, no Caruso down the stretch hurt us defensively for sure.
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DrDent
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 15, 2020 11:53 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB. Frustrating game in many ways and after thinking on it I think lineup wise we could have done some things differently down the stretch for the W.

But without AD team went 3-1 and came close to pulling out a game they played poorly in for long stretches. 33-8 at the midway point is nothing to sneeze at. Second half of season officially starts v Rockets, lets hope for another win streak.

As an aside, thus far: All Laker wins so far have been in bunches. Two 7 game win streaks, a 9 game win streak, and a 10 game win streak. Meanwhile, half their losses were in a 4 game losing streak. Not sure ive seen something like that from a Laker team in a long time.
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eddiejonze
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 12:06 am    Post subject:

29-11 Free throw disparity you say?
Can't be.
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TooMuchMajicBuss
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 12:47 am    Post subject:

Thanks again DB.

Get well AC. Get well AD too.
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Metro2Staples
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 1:00 am    Post subject:

^^cool writeup^^
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ElginBaylor
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 3:05 am    Post subject:

Guess it's true when they say "You can't win them all." Thanks for the recap.
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danzag
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 4:30 am    Post subject:

Thanks, DB!

I'm cool if we lose 1 out of 10 games
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lar9149
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 7:10 am    Post subject:

Man I feel like the Lakers could have pulled this one out.

But after seeing the rim "block" Lebron's dunk and KCP's, I was thinking..is this going to be one of those nights? I mean how often does that happen...

Despite that they had a chance to win in the end.
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LakerSD
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 7:22 am    Post subject:

Crazy that they had a chance to win, good to see Cook and Daniels contributing.

They haven’t lost too many of these games, so it was bound to happen. Now we will see where the focus is at and response.

This trip is similar to the Utah/Denver/Portland trip. Let’s see how they handle it.

This team fights, but against Orlando you could see what we lack. Kuzma is running out of time...he has approximately 2 more weeks to convince the coaches and FO.
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LakerLanny
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 7:23 am    Post subject:

Lakers lose? I had almost forgotten what that was like.
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Klone_dd
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 10:58 am    Post subject:

No fair. 6 on 5. That Rim guy stuffed two shots that turned out to be critical.
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A Mad Chinaman
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 11:02 am    Post subject:

Great that the bench is producing

Love The Bald Eagle's hard play that will results in different types of injuries that hopefully will not result in missing games

JaVale needs to be excellent in what he does well and always alert when on the court
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Goldenwest
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 7:17 pm    Post subject:

Funny, if LeBron and KCP don’t blow their uncontested dunks lakers win.
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LaLaLakeShow
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 16, 2020 7:43 pm    Post subject:

Goldenwest wrote:
Funny, if LeBron and KCP don’t blow their uncontested dunks lakers win.


Now we know why LeBron never entered the dunk contest
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Snipes
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 17, 2020 3:49 am    Post subject:

Goldenwest wrote:
Funny, if LeBron and KCP don’t blow their uncontested dunks lakers win.


All good. We allowed to lose some games. Focus on what’s important.
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unleasHell
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 18, 2020 9:01 am    Post subject:

Sorry, but if I posted my true thoughts on this game, I'd get banned, just a pathetic all around effort, losing to a team that the Clipps beat the next night by 27!

I'd like to see Green and Bradley benched and Cook and Daniels inserted as starters, just once, as those guys REALLY hustle and seem to make a higher percentage of their shots!
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 18, 2020 2:27 pm    Post subject:

Programming Note: I won’t be able to cover the game tonight.
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