KINGS -vs- LAKERS - 8/13 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

 
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 13, 2020 4:47 pm    Post subject: KINGS -vs- LAKERS - 8/13 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

Back in the Playoffs... The Lakers got in a light workout in their last game of the regular season. They rested multiple players, ran some starters only briefly and gave their bench some extended run against the Kings.

The shooting started off strong as the Lakers made 8 threes in the first quarter to tie their season high and lead 40-30. In the second quarter as they cycled into the deep bench and even some of their vet lineups, the offense struggled (just 1 three and only 16 points that quarter). Combine that with some soft D and they trailed by 10 at the half.

In the second half, they sat more starters, saw the Kings lead balloon to 28 and finished the game out with the 136-122 loss.

They worked on some things with LeBron and also got THT some extended run. Now, they’ll rest up and get ready.

The Lakers are back in the playoffs for the first time in seven years.


LeBron -- -- I’ve mentioned a few times I was hoping to see LeBron in the post more. That’s mostly what we saw in his minutes in this game, which is awesome to see. Possession after possession he worked down low, drew double teams, found teammates or hit turnarounds or muscled his way to a score. Really glad to see them get him some reps there as he can be an effective playmaker and scorer against teams that try to take away the drive. Really interesting to see the team work on that after ignoring it quite a bit for this stretch of games. Maybe they wanted to wait until he had his legs or prevent some of that wear and tear. He added some three shooting and transition scoring to the mix and kept his double-digit scoring streak alive (994 straight). They sat him for the second half. Ready to see playoff LeBron get after it. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 6-13 shooting (2-5 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 4 assists, 3 turnover sand no fouls in 15 minutes. He was a -13.

Morris -- -- The shot looked nice. He was looking good early on, sinking three of the Lakers eight first quarter threes. He’d drain another one later as well as knock down a turnaround in the middle of the paint. He’s developing that trust in teammates and coaches. Hopefully, we can go a little smaller with him out there spacing the floor instead of getting the paint clogged. I know AD doesn’t want to play a lot of minutes at the five, but running Morris at the four more and sliding AD over looks pretty enticing to me. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 6-9 shooting (4-5 from three) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist and 1 foul in 20 minutes. He was a -16.

Horton-Tucker -- -- Rook got the start and 34 minutes and managed a new career high with 14 points. There were some up and down moments. He had an ugly possession early in the second half where he fumbled the dribble, then forced a pass for a turnover and capped it off with an And-1 foul in transition. He was later picked as he drove to his left to give up another transition score. Those were his only turnovers of the game. Defensively, there are still moments where players are talking with him about rotations after a breakdown. That’s why you have these minutes. But he also had strong defensive moments. Again, during one stretch after he scored a backhand layup off a drive, he would get the stop on the other end, going to the floor for a loose ball. Then the next time down, he swiped the ball from his man on the perimeter. Offensively, he sank an open three in transition for the Lakers first score. His other three was a tougher step-back from the wing. The rest of his scores were around the rim with some nice finishes, including a strong throwdown off a drive from the corner. No idea if he gets any minutes in the playoffs. He showed well in the preseason, especially when we didn’t leave him on an island against the star players but sent help and trapped. I could see the team using him in that fashion if AC and KCP are in foul trouble or just not getting it done in some way. We’ll see. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 6-15 shooting (2-5 from three) to go with 4 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, 2 turnovers and4 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a -4.

Green -- -- His lone make was a pull-up on the baseline after moving in off the three. The missed threes at least looked close, which wasn’t the case when the second season started. We played him one half, then sat him for J.R. the rest of the game. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-4 shooting (0-3 from three) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 foul in 14 minutes. He was a -3.

McGee -- -- A lot more action for McGee than usual. He managed the team low -20. So even without that AD/McGee tall combo it was still not working when he was on the floor. He was active, battled hard on the offensive glass which is what we need. He had mostly putback scores. His highlight play of the game was a no-look wraparound pass to THT who cut off him for a layup. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-6 shooting to go with 9 boards (4 offensive), 1 assist, 1 turnover and no fouls in 21 minutes. He was a -20.

Howard -- -- Short minutes and not too much intensity going on in this one from anyone. But he bodied guys up and battled on the glass to draw FTs on second chances. He and Waiters teamed up on a SLOB sequence that got Dwight a layup. It’s those little kinds of plays that you want to see and develop over the course of a season. So getting minutes with Waiters now, hopefully, pays off a little in the playoffs as they continue working on that chemistry. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 1-3 shooting (4-6 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 12 minutes. He was a -5.

Waiters -- -- Too many turnovers. Some of his cross-court passes were easily picked off or one hit the backboard...was not pretty making those types of reads. I worry that won’t get better, but maybe in a playoff series you end up watching so much tape and an opponent gets more predictable about what they do in certain situations that maybe he gets a comfort zone. Scoring-wise, excellent job leading the team with 19. He sank 3-6 from three, including swishing one off a handoff, another on a pull-up in transition and another was just a wide open catch and shoot. All different scenarios. Again, we saw him aggressive in early offense. He looks to attack before the help D is set or if there is no one behind his primary defender. That is usually when you see him cross over and go hard, often using that body to overpower the defender on his hip. Defensively, this one was hard to watch for most players. He had a missed rotation just standing around, but that was kind of the intensity of this one. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 8-15 shooting (3-6 from three, 0-1 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 5 assists, 5 turnovers and 2 fouls in 26 minutes. He was a -1.

Smith -- -- He knocked down one three off a handoff in a two-for-one situation. We called his number for a three on ATO motion-weak sequence later that he clanked badly. That one probably didn’t instill confidence from the coaches. Some nice finishes with floaters and runners with both hands. That part of his game was on point. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 5-10 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a -15.

Cook -- -- Really soft on D at times. On that end of the floor, there are just so many sequences when he gets burned where guys like AC or Bradley would have recovered to their men to prevent an advantage from developing. With Cook, it just happens with so much regularity. He also had a ballwatch he got burned on, as well. Just very soft overall on that end of the floor. Offensively, the three ball wasn’t going. He did get aggressive trying to get to the rim for layups or FTs. He attacked pressure well in those situations. He had a nice score attacking, putting on the brakes then going up and under. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 4-11 shooting (1-5 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 4 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 31 minutes. He was a -6.

Dudley -- -- Poor stretch of defense from him in the second quarter, allowing his man to roam free or get past him for scores at the rim. Just too much cheating off his man or overthinking on the help, to be honest. That helped the Kings cut a 10-point lead to 1 in a 2-minute span. Kind of the beginning of the end of this one. He did have better moments on D as he usually does. The three ball looked good in this one as he swished a couple of looks. Hopefully, he got that dialed back in just in time for the playoffs. I’ll be curious to see what his role is in the playoffs. Morris and Kuzma should have most of his minutes, but there may be a time when we need the intensity to pick up and Dudley can give us some chippy play. The Stats: He scoffed 6 points on 2-3 shooting from three to go with 4 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a -6.

Cacok -- -- He quickly scratched a few seconds after entering with a score in transition. He had another one of those later as the garbage time D wasn’t stopping anyone putting in an effort. He’d also hit a confident jumphook in the halfcourt set. He was the last guy in and played the fewest minutes. I imagine this is the last time we see him for the season. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting to go with 5 boards, 1 assist and no fouls in 9 minutes. He was a +5.

Antetokounmpo -- -- He got in on a series of dunks, one after catching a bullet feed as he cut down the lane. The others he was left open in transition and he also grabbed an offensive board and hammered it back in. Garbage time run mostly. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-3 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 2 offensive boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 11 minutes. He was a +14.

Vogel -- -- Key Moment: Let’s go with that first half stretch where we had our 10-point lead erased in a couple of minutes. That was a Howard, Dudley, LeBron, Smith, Waiters unit that got torched quickly. A vet lineup, but just played poorly on both ends. The team didn’t play with a lot of intensity, but there was some purpose out there at times. I did like Vogel’s use of LeBron in the post consistently throughout that first half. Vogel tried using some zone at times, but generally just gave up easy scores. Still, they at least worked on some stuff even if the focus wasn’t really there.

Key Substitution: Well, prior to the game resting AD, Kuzma, AC, KCP… that allowed Vogel to give his bench some long run. Good to see him give THT a start and big minutes.

Key Stat: We gave up 21 threes to the Kings. The Lakers, however, also managed to drop 15-35 (43%) from three. I will take that any playoff game I can get it.
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PLATNUM
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 13, 2020 5:22 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB. I didn't know the game was played so early.
Let's hope we have a plan for the playoffs because we don't look like a #1 seed for 48 minutes right now.
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TDRock
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 13, 2020 7:47 pm    Post subject:

That game was terrible I mean really I shouldn’t even say that because I was working and not 200% paying attention. However some guys got some run so that’s a good thing.

1 2 3 PLAYOFFS!
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 13, 2020 8:25 pm    Post subject:

Lakers vs Blazers unless the Blazers choke a two-foot putt.

Wish we had all our guards. I think our mobile bigs will help a ton, though. But a 10-point lead is nothing for Dame to overcome in the fourth so we better come ready.
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LakerSD
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 13, 2020 8:31 pm    Post subject:

DancingBarry wrote:
Lakers vs Blazers unless the Blazers choke a two-foot putt.

Wish we had all our guards. I think our mobile bigs will help a ton, though. But a 10-point lead is nothing for Dame to overcome in the fourth so we better come ready.


At this stage, I’m just hoping for a 2nd play-in game. Get Portland to expend more energy.
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AFireInside619
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 13, 2020 10:19 pm    Post subject:

I haven’t said this in a while. Thanks DB!
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 15, 2020 5:58 am    Post subject:

DB

PLAY-OFFS HERE WE COME!!
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