SIXERS -at- LAKERS - 3/25 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

 
Post new topic    LakersGround.net Forum Index -> Thoughts and Ratings Reply to topic
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
DancingBarry
Editor-in-Chief
Editor-in-Chief


Joined: 07 Sep 2001
Posts: 40188
Location: O.C.

PostPosted: Thu Mar 25, 2021 9:43 pm    Post subject: SIXERS -at- LAKERS - 3/25 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

The Struggles Continue... Take out AD and LeBron and we’re going to be challenged to get W’s with any consistency.

Early on, they battled. The Lakers played with speed, got into the paint and set up some inside-out sequences. They stayed even with the Sixers at the half.

To open the third quarter, Danny Green, who’s had one other 20+ game this season, picked tonight for his second one. He was knocking down three after three.

As the turnovers piled up by the Lakers, the Sixer lead ballooned. The Lakers lost the third quarter, 35-17.

To start the fourth, they picked up their pace. Quick attacks in the post or on sideline pick and rolls. They got out in transition more and as the quarter went along, they got within striking distance.

They needed one stop down 3 with a minute left, but Danny Green once again hit his eighth three of the game and that was that. The Lakers fell 109-101.

This game you don’t expect to win. Hopefully, the Lakers at least found a taste of the sense of urgency and the pace they need to play at in order to survive.

The next two games, the Lakers really need to get the Ws.


Schröder -- -- I’ll take 20-11 every night, but this really felt like it was done in three quarters. Strong first half with 14 points (4-7 shooting) and 5 assists. The team was a +6 in that half with him on the floor. He was using his speed to cause problems. He gets that initial burst of speed on his first step and he’s gone. Good work attacking on the catch. He was able to get us some nice inside-out possessions to guys like KCP who need those simple catch and shoot looks. The Lakers were scrapping when that was happening with consistency -- layups, FTs and passes out for threes to keep us toe to toe with the Sixers early. Come third quarter, that changed. Our turnovers had the offense screeching to a halt. When he got aggressive in the fourth, we started chipping away at the lead. He’s got to keep his foot on the gas for us to compete. I liked how quickly he and Trezz went to work in that fourth quarter from the left side. That made a big difference. Late in the game when we were making a comeback, he picked up a tech complaining on a foul call off a steal. It was a quick whistle on a bogus foul and Dennis reacted with some natural emotion in the heart of the battle. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 6-14 shooting (0-1 from three, 8-9 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 11 ssists, 3 steals, 6 turnover and 3 fouls in 39 minutes. He was a +3.

Caldwell-Pope -- -- We had three guys with 20+ scoring and KCP with 19. Golden opportunity to get a W tonight. KCP was nearly out the door with Schröder for Lowry earlier today, but the Raptors didn’t bite. I don’t know if that helped him play better or not, just knowing that the trade deadline is over, but I think the looks were better. I mentioned previously wanting to see him push tempo a little more to get some easy scores in transition. We saw that early as he made an effort there to get some transition scores. He also sank some perimeter shots on good inside-out possessions and finished the first half with 12 points on 4-7 shooting (2-3 from three). We were on our heels too much in the third quarter and with that KCP faded, as well. In the fourth, he was back in his comfort zone again and we were clicking. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 6-10 shooting (3-5 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and no fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -1.

Gasol -- -- He said Covid had him down good for about five days. It spread around his house, too. Seems like everyone got through it. He still doesn’t have his taste or smell all the way back. As for tonight, however, “the infection didn’t affect me much,” he said of his return. He was happy how well he felt on the floor. He last played Feb. 28, so nearly a month of inaction and not a lot of chance for any practice with the group. Tonight, he was limited to 15 minutes and that’s what we played him. Great first shift as he hit a three and moved the ball well. He also had some nice challenges on D, including going vertical on a fast moving Simmons to deny a drive. Good to see him in the mix (could have really used him in the last one). He looked a little out of sync on some rhythm passing/handoff sequences. We’ll see if we have another big coming in off the buyout market. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 1-2 shooting (2-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 15 minutes. He was a -10.

Kuzma -- -- Big putback jam and wing three to cut the lead to 5 with 3 minutes left. He nearly had a big And-1 in the final minute, but couldn’t get the layup to go, and then only made one FT. Loved seeing him throw some punches in that fourth quarter comeback attempt. Prior to that, Blond Kuzma had some ups and downs. Good work bumping players with that shoulder to get some separation on some drives early. His shot was coming up short as he was off balance on some threes early on. But he was inefficient on just about everything else. Still, he kept going, played with some good pace at times and scratched out some big scores. Defensively, I’m not enjoying watching guys hit turnarounds over the top of him with some consistency lately. The Stats: He scored 25 points on 9-21 shooting (3-9 from three, 4-5 from the line) to go with 9 boards (3 offensive), 1 steal, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 42 minutes. He was a -8.

Morris -- -- His head didn’t seem in the game defensively to start. A couple sequences where players were communicating to him and he just wasn’t listening. Vogel had him matching up with Simmons some, but really wasn’t interested in playing him. I think he wasn’t mentally there tonight and Vogel recognized it. Sixers did play small, but we were a -14 in Morris’s 15 minutes. The D was just asleep. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-3 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 5 boards to go with 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 15 minutes. He was a -14.

Caruso -- -- Caruso is good around superstars, but he’s not the kind of player that can take advantage of more shots available when those guys aren’t in the mix. So if you are another team with cap space this summer, you probably don’t want to use it on AC. It’s more teams that have their big pieces in place and are now using the MLE that will work for him. Nothing going in this one offensively. He blew a backdoor pass to Trezz during those heated moments with Dwight that Trezz would have had a massive dunk on. Kind of bummed about that miss, just threw it out of bounds. The Stats: He scored 1 point on 0-4 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 14 minutes. He was a -10.

Harrell -- -- He was getting fronted by smaller defenders and we didn’t know what to do with that all game. When he did get it in the post, Doc knew where to send the help from as the defense could load up, and Trezz struggled to make reads early on. He was fouled quite a bit but struggled from the line, but in the fourth we changed it up. We attacked quick with our two-man action, we attacked quicker in the post and had the defense moving versus locking in. That allowed Trezz to be Trezz. Learning moment for the team. Early on, Trezz said goodbye to Dwight from the sideline after a chippy first few minutes after those two matched up. Dwight was up to his usual sort of antics when he wants to get under a guy’s skin, grabbing and bumping and fouling. Trezz shoved him earlier in the quarter during an exchange for techs. Then as the quarter ended, Dwight met him at midcourt for an unnecessary bump. Dwight was making an impact and just torpedoed his team getting caught up in the individual stuff that probably goes back to this offseason. “I’m not backing down from nobody,” Trezz said. You could see Dwight grabbing him and trying to get away with some stuff. By the time the quarter was over, though, Dwight had a bloody mouth and then was ejected. I didn’t see where Dwight got popped, but perhaps Trezz returned the physicality somewhere. Good for him. I actually don’t mind seeing the physical stuff with the bigs and kind of wish the refs would have just handed out fouls instead. It would have made for some fun minutes. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 8-13 shooting (4-8 from the line) to go with 8 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 33 minutes. He was a +2.

Horton-Tucker -- -- Glad they didn’t trade him with all the other pieces that would have gone out in the rumored deal. That was a bit too much, and he’s really the only hope that the Lakers can improve from within over the next couple of years as everyone else on the roster is what they will be. If we had a big expiring deal from someone who wasn’t as much a factor to go out with him? Hard to say if he’s still here. In any event, not a good game tonight. He never got on track and struggled to get through the D as cleanly as he usually does. The three ball is still not a weapon. All offseason, that’s what he’s going to be working on. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-6 shooting (0-2 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists and 1 foul in 19 minutes. He was a -3.

Matthews -- -- Way too quiet for as many minutes as he played. He swished a three trailing a break and also found Trezz on a nice pass for a score, but really not a factor. Hopefully, he can pull off a game like Green did tonight sometime in the future. Nice to get production from unexpected places to put you over the top in a game or two. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-3 shooting from three to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals and 3 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a +1.

McKinnie -- -- He came in to close the third quarter for a few minutes. He missed a couple of threes. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-2 shooting to go with 1 foul in 4 minutes. He was a +0.
Vogel -- -- Key Moment: Entire third quarter. The Sixers went 6-13 from three in the third quarter. The Lakers were 0-6 from three. Too many turnovers, too little offensive punch.

Key Substitution: The bench was Trezz tonight. We had just 7 points from everyone else. I liked how Vogel sped up our attack in the fourth. He had the guys working with speed before the doubles and help could load up and that activated Trezz’s game. We’re figuring things out that could factor in big later, but we’ve got to get some Ws.

Key Stats: Well, 28 points from Green on 8 threes. He’s been shooting well of late, but that’s his second game with 20+ points this season. Just picked the perfect time to go off. We got 19 points from KCP in this game, but that was washed out by Green’s shooting.

Coach’s Challenge: None. I thought we might have wanted to burn one on that foul call on Schröder late on the steal.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote
CandyCanes
Retired Number
Retired Number


Joined: 24 Dec 2007
Posts: 35750
Location: Santa Clarita, CA (Hell) ->>>>>Ithaca, NY -≥≥≥≥≥Berkeley, CA

PostPosted: Thu Mar 25, 2021 10:23 pm    Post subject:

First.
_________________
Damian Lillard shatters Dwight Coward's championship dreams:

Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website Reply with quote
DrDent
Franchise Player
Franchise Player


Joined: 30 Jun 2016
Posts: 12975

PostPosted: Thu Mar 25, 2021 11:53 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB.

I think for maybe 6 straight games the third quarter has been atrocious for the Lakers to start. Sunk them tonight as well.

They really need to just get back to being strong defensively, even with LBJ out. It's doable, and IMO the only way they can get wins right now. This needs to be combined with low turnovers - Sixers had as many (20) as the Lakers but they have more talent with Simmons and Harris.

Unclear to me if any buyout help will arrive, anytime soon.
_________________
"One thing I admire about Kuzma is his unwavering confidence. He truly has no idea that he’s not as good as he thinks." - Killer_Z
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote
SweetP
Star Player
Star Player


Joined: 23 Jun 2005
Posts: 6054
Location: My own little piece of reality

PostPosted: Fri Mar 26, 2021 1:53 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB.
_________________
“There is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it.” --Amanda Gorman
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote
PenG_
Franchise Player
Franchise Player


Joined: 01 Feb 2020
Posts: 10387

PostPosted: Fri Mar 26, 2021 2:14 am    Post subject:

Danny Green's eight threes were as many as he made in the entire 2020 Finals.

I'm shocked....
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote
danzag
Franchise Player
Franchise Player


Joined: 28 Apr 2013
Posts: 22244
Location: Brazil

PostPosted: Fri Mar 26, 2021 4:07 am    Post subject:

Thanks, DB.

It's gonna be real tough until one of AD or LBJ comes back. Brace yourselves.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote
Laker7
Star Player
Star Player


Joined: 24 Feb 2003
Posts: 6393
Location: Past left field

PostPosted: Fri Mar 26, 2021 11:21 am    Post subject:

The game.

22 turnovers in bunches. Started off the third quarter with 6 turnovers when the game was tied resulting in Philly getting a big lead. Guys who normally don't do a lot of ball handling when Lebron is playing are handling it more and making bad decisions.

Inconsistent officiating. Guys were getting mugged on one play and called for ticky tack fouls on the next. Players on both teams were frustrated. 45 common fouls and 8 technical fouls between both teams is a lot. That is more than one foul per minute.

Shooting efficiency. Matthews, Caruso and THT were a combined 2-13. Kuzma got 25 points but took 21 shots to get them. Need to be more like Schroeder and KCP who were a combined 12-24 with 39 points.

The season.

This roster was put together to compliment and supplement LBJ and AD. It was not constructed to win on their own. The team is going to have to gut it out until one or both return.
_________________
Keep winning!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote
pio2u
Retired Number
Retired Number


Joined: 26 Dec 2012
Posts: 54519

PostPosted: Fri Mar 26, 2021 9:58 pm    Post subject:

THANKS DB!!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic    LakersGround.net Forum Index -> Thoughts and Ratings All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Page 1 of 1
Jump to:  

 
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum






Graphics by uberzev
© 1995-2018 LakersGround.net. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy. Terms of Use.
LakersGround is an unofficial news source serving the fan community since 1995.
We are in no way associated with the Los Angeles Lakers or the National Basketball Association.


Powered by phpBB