WARRIORS -at- LAKERS - 10/19 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 19, 2021 9:56 pm    Post subject: WARRIORS -at- LAKERS - 10/19 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

The Jeanie Buss Blend... Years ago, Dr. Jerry Buss described his strategy for building a contending team. He wanted an all star guard, an all star forward and an all star center. Big asks for many teams, but not necessarily for the Lakers. Dr. Buss was like a master distiller of bourbon, creating that mash bill of corn, rye and barley. He pulled together Magic, Worthy and Kareem, and the Lakers became a dynasty.

Of course, over the years, it’s been increasingly complex to navigate that path with the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement and salary cap nuances. The Lakers have built championships based on powerful duos: Kobe/Shaq, Kobe/Pau, LeBron/AD. Each had strong supporting casts but never quite a “big three.”

The last duo, of course, was under Jeanie Buss’s leadership -- quickly turning around the franchise as it became increasingly rudderless. This summer, she may have tried to pull an idea out of dad’s master distillery notes by acquiring a star trio once again. Call it the Jeanie Buss Blend. But will it work?

Right now, it clearly needs a hell of a lot more time in the barrel.

If you watched the preseason games, you knew this team was not ready for the regular season. There was very little continuity. They had moments of good intention with some play design. But it’s not something that will happen overnight.

The purpose of the half court offense is to try to move the ball from side to side, occupying defenders on weakside so they cannot help strong side. This will give Russ and LeBron opportunities to get downhill without layers of help defense in their way. The Lakers ran very little of that tonight, and despite LeBron’s great game, it was largely perimeter oriented. Don’t expect his shooting touch to be there like it was tonight. Give the offense time, it will get better, and Russ will as a result.

Defensively, the Lakers have seemed a player short in the preseason. The injuries only made the issue worse. So tonight, we saw Vogel witnessing first hand the wrath of the basketball gods when you try to play both Monk and Melo at the same time against a smart team.

The Warriors picked on it, and when Steph Curry sat, picked on it some more. Vogel immediately went to last-minute pick-up, Avery Bradley, and threw him in the mix, but the damage was done. The Lakers went from leading by 8 in the third to bleeding badly as we made the turn from the third struggled against the bench in the early fourth quarter. They fell 121-114, giving up 38 fourth quarter points.

The Lakers will get off to a slow start. There is no doubt. With all the players missing, the very little time we ran our trio in the preseason, it’s just going to be a fact of life until more and more, the pieces start to click. In the meantime, expect an emphasis on transition and a whole lot of iso ball to mask over all the early season chemistry issues.

It’s not an easy fit with Westbrook offensively, but we need to find our team defense still.


LeBron -- -- The shot was falling from the start as he made his jumpers out of the gate. The touch was there and looking nice all game. Now imagine when those first few jumpers don’t fall and LeBron wants to get into the paint. Or teams decide to go zone like the Warriors did for a stretch. That will require finesse and play calling we just don’t have at the moment. Hey, if LeBron can kill it like this from the perimeter? And if AD can beast like he did tonight. We’ll figure it out and things will be fine. Defensively, both he and AD are key on that end. We need help, but they will cause a lot of chaos. LeBron had a great baseline help rotation to block a layup early in the game. In the second half, he drew a charge beating a man to the spot on the baseline. He also rotated to force a pass which DJ picked off. Having him on the back line patrolling, zoning and reading the opposing team’s offense plays to his greatest strength defensively. The Warriors were pulling AD and DJ out on the perimeter at times, so LeBron needs to be our Draymond in certain sets. We need some hustle guys around them on D. We’re figuring that out, too. The Stats: he scored 34 points on 13-23 shooting (5-11 from three, 3-6 from the line) to go with 11 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 4 turnovers and 5 fouls in 37 minutes. He was a -2.

Davis -- -- They really started working the ball through him as the first quarter went along. Size advantage and space to use it in the post once DJ sat. We weren’t running a lot of set actions, so dumping the ball into guys meant a lot of looks. Thankfully, he was aggressive and hitting from the post and midrange. He and Rondo teamed up for one of their lobs. We need more chemistry versus just overpowering/out-talenting teams for stretches, but that will take a while. You saw he and Bradley trying to get their chemistry going despite not having played together for a year, but the actions will come and we’ll see more of AD getting dump offs and finishes versus having to do everything himself. He had 20 points on an aggressive 9-16 shooting in the first half. Some good touch on the perimeter tonight. His freethrows, however, do not look good at all. I asked this in preseason, I’ll ask it again. Why is he taking techs for us? He missed a big one with 4 minutes left (2-7 from the line, nope, give me anyone else right now). I liked the aggressiveness. The Stats: He scored 33 points on 15-26 shooting (1-5 from three, 2-7 from the line) to go with 11 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks and no fouls in 39 minutes. He was a -2.

Westbrook -- -- Rust vs. Russ. It will be a battle for a while. I’m a little surprised at the level of panic among some fans. The preseason was horrible. Tonight was more of the same. He starts slow, this team is going to start slow with all the turnover. Expect ugliness. We won’t be playing to his strengths for a while and in the preseason looked like we couldn’t beat anyone. Slow scoring start to this one as expected. He got his first bucket with over 4 minutes left in the first half, posting up on an inbounds and muscling in a layup around his man, able to use that strength and speed near the hoop without help. The Warriors were playing him smart. Going under the screens, leaving him to help on others. We have sets we want to get into to limit this, to get him downhill but ran very little. The Lakers offense was winging it at times with no real purpose to counter any of that. He had 2 points on 1-7 shooting in the first half. He was the only Laker in the negative with a -4. You may see a bit of that this season just because he’s going to be in charge of those non-LeBron minutes. Early in the second half, we ran a set sequence a couple of times to try to get him downhill as we ball reversed into a DJ screen at the three line before the defense could react. Get the switch and get him downhill. He’d score a layup off that, but the Warriors would zone to prevent our guys from getting downhill. No pet plays and you’ll need to get your zone offense on track quickly because you will see more of it. He had a -19 in the second half. “He just needs time. He needs minutes on the floor with these guys,” Vogel said. Russ was brusque after the game in the post game. “I just have to figure it out. That simple,” he said. Pretty much an awful debut for him. There will be better days. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-13 shooting (0-4 from three) to go with 5 boards, 4 assists, 4 turnovers and 4 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a -23.

Bazemore -- -- This is why I thought he’d start for this team. Who else are you going to have to take on the tough guard assignments? Out of the gates, he was shadowing Curry tight. Really good defense in that first half, but his minutes were cut a little short when he picked up his second foul. Otherwise, we were going to match him minute for minute with Curry. “I thought we did a good job being up on Steph but the backside was much better in the first half than the second half,” Vogel said. We went to pressure him off the three line, get help and rotate. Curry had 10 points on 3-11 shooting in the first half. He’d finish with 21 on 21 attempts. He was a +10 in his 31 minutes. Baze can be our KCP, but who will be our AC? The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-9 shooting (2-8 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 block, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a +10.

Jordan -- -- Losing some depth with their early season injuries, you knew the Lakers would likely go with DJ at the C after the decent outing he had last time out. The real trick here against the Warriors is they know how to pick on a traditional/drop coverage big. So DJ would need to be mindful of the three shooters when his man set screens. What helps him is having LeBron behind him rotating to get stops or cause problems when we try to get the ball out of a shooters hands or pressure them from behind. He’ll have better matchups, but we are just having him eat minutes and hopefully not taking lumps in the process (+2 tonight). I think as we get healthy (or if Bradley works his way into a role), it’s possible there will be nights we don’t start him. But until then, expect the kind of minutes we saw tonight. He will work especially well with teams that have traditional bigs that aren’t great at playing the short roll. Credit the Warriors also tonight for keeping our size off the offensive glass. That’s not easy. He got his one hoop off the opening tip. Baze set the backscreen as DJ ran to the rim and we found him. Standard play we’ve run for McGee at times. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-1 shooting to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 13 minutes. He was a +2.

Howard -- -- The Warriors play small, the Lakers needed to punish them when they play big. Howard struggled a bit to impose his size on the offensive boards. He and DJ had none in their 26 minutes. I’m going to give the Warriors some credit for that. Dwight seemed to be trying to free up his arms from getting clutched or grabbed quite a bit. Like DJ, he got his one score off a LeBron lob. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 1-2 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 13 minutes. He was a -7.

Monk -- -- Not thrilled seeing Monk and Melo both on the floor defensively. We’re not playing on a string with them. In the fourth while Curry sat, the Warriors picked on Monk. Vogel finally called a timeout when the Melo/Monk two-man D gave up an easy layup. It’s just awful. With Curry out, they just picked on that. This is why it’s tough to play Monk and Melo. Sure, he had some moments. In the first half, however, he was was a +0 and actually had a couple stops. He had a nice steal, opening up to snag a pass backdoor, but then threw it away in transition -- so finally a good defensive play and gone in a few seconds with the bad decision. He then strip-blocked a layup in transition, but this time Dwight threw it away a second later. So even when you get some found money on a defensive stop, it was erased. You can only play one of those guys at a time. Thus he sat Monk in the fourth. Thus, you see the pick up of Bradley off waivers with our current injuries. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-5 shooting (2-4 from three) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 19 minutes. He was a -10.

Anthony -- -- A pump fake on the FT line? What are you doing? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen someone get a violation like that, and I think it was in a situation where you wanted to purposely miss a freethrow. Melo, tonight, had a Shaqtin’ moment just not shooting a FT and everyone jumped into the lane. Anyway, back to our normally scheduled programming. I get it. We love to see offense. We love to see the ball go through the hoop. It’s Melo, a big name. But championship ball is all about two-way minutes. We did no favors to neither Melo nor Monk by putting them both on the floor at the same time. You need good defenders around them. And you also need to pull the plug on them quickly when they are getting abused. We lost the game with our bench when they were attacked late in the game. Get Melo rotating or out on the perimeter and chaos ensues. Offensively, Melo hit a couple of threes in transition and he also swished a baseline jumper on iso. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-9 shooting (2-4 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 26 minutes. He was a -5.

Rondo -- -- With Nunn unavailable and our generally lack of chemistry, we gave Rondo more time on the floor than I assume we will as the season goes along. The offense kind of went to the Rondo offense early in the first after he came in. No real set play action. That meant plenty of AD getting the ball. Also some sequences with Melo, including a two-man sequence (Melo missed, but I want to see more of that). We need someone to organize the team early this season. We also have some key injuries, so we need warm bodies. Defensively, we had him even covering Curry at times, as well. It’s not ideal in any way, shape or form. It is what it is right now. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-4 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 5 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a +1.

Bradley -- -- He seemed really grateful for the opportunity to be back with the team. Claimed off the waivers from the Warriors, Bradley gives the Lakers a little bit of much-needed continuity, and hopefully, a lot of setting of the tone defensively in practices and on the floor. If you wonder why we picked him up, well you saw it tonight as Monk got roasted, we’re relying a ton on Rondo and we need guys who can get stops. He came in for Monk after we gave up a 9-0 run in the fourth. The defensive intensity picked up right away. Want to find minutes with coach Vogel? Do that. Offensively, we found him for a couple of threes. He also worked the strong handoff with AD to lob for him. That was one of his pet plays and we dusted it off right in the middle of the battle. I feel like I’m going to be annoyed because we will put out some no-defense-playing lineups out there when we really need more of what Bradley provides the team. Guys that can give you two-way minutes around your stars...that will be very important. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-3 shooting from three to go with 1 offensive board, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 8 minutes. He was a +1.

Vogel -- -- Key Moment: Up 8, we had AD, Melo, Monk, Russ, Rondo all on the floor late in third. The Lakers led by 2 to end the third. As Curry sat to start the fourth, the Warriors picked on Monk and Melo. As they got toasted off a two-man game, Vogel had seen enough and called timeout to change things up, but the damage was done. The game has shifted dramatically in the Warriors favor and they were doing it with their bench as their stars sat.

Key Substitution: Vogel in desperate need for some D, pulled Avery Bradley off the bench and into the mix in the fourth. Had he maybe done that earlier in the third instead of Monk, we might have had a different outcome. “They had 55 points off the bench,” LeBron said, lamenting the Warriors effectiveness.

Key Stats: The Lakers won the break 11-4 in the first half. We weren’t great, but the Warriors were pretty awful at times. Despite that, the Lakers were outscored in the paint 26-18 in the first half. We’d win the break 20-10. I’ll say it again, yes, we’re going to be a running team, but offensively you’ve still got 80% of your offense coming in the half court. If you want Russ to be effective, you need to get that figured out. The Warriors would win the points in the paint 46-34. We want to win that number. We want pressure on the rim from LeBron/Russ. We want our bigs to get offensive boards and putbacks. We lost the offensive glass 9-5. Despite all that, this was a defensive loss. Game one and our weak defenders were exposed. Defensively, you aren’t winning anything if you give up 38 points in the fourth quarter of a close game.

Coach’s Challenge: With 4:20 left LeBron got hit as he attacked baseline and there was no call. He lost the ball out of bounds. After a review, they gave it to the Warriors as the refs couldn’t review the no call. The Lakers came up empty on that possession, and trailed by 9 once the Warriors scored on the other end.
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joeblow
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 19, 2021 10:20 pm    Post subject:

Quote:
Vogel -- -- Key Moment: Up 8, we had AD, Melo, Monk, Russ, Rondo all on the floor late in third. The Lakers led by 2 to end the third. As Curry sat to start the fourth, the Warriors picked on Monk and Melo. As they got toasted off a two-man game, Vogel had seen enough and called timeout to change things up, but the damage was done. The game has shifted dramatically in the Warriors favor and they were doing it with their bench as their stars sat.

Key Substitution: Vogel in desperate need for some D, pulled Avery Bradley off the bench and into the mix in the fourth. Had he maybe done that earlier in the third instead of Monk, we might have had a different outcome. “They had 55 points off the bench,” LeBron said, lamenting the Warriors effectiveness.

Westbrook's play was actually the second most disappointing aspect of the game today. Defense, as shown here, will make or break us this season.
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parsons777
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 19, 2021 10:25 pm    Post subject:

Great writeup as always.

I start AB. I know that wrecks Russ, but I just do not see this trio working out short or long-term.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 19, 2021 10:30 pm    Post subject:

Thanks for the analysis, as always, DB

My personal takeaways from the game weren't all negative. The turnovers were down, from the preseason. And, the defense was looking better, for most of the game, till midway through the 3rd quarter.

Russ is still not looking comfortable. And, the offense is still a bit stagnant, for my liking. This coaching staff has never wowed me with their offensive play calling...or, lack thereof. So, the jury is still out, on if they have the chops to successfully incorporate Russ.

Monk played himself out the rotation. He makes Ellington look like a Defensive Player of the Year award winner. Play Avery, Nunn, Reaves. Anybody, except Monk. All it takes is one weak link, to kill a defense. Personally, I'd switch out Monk/Ellington, for Matthews/Ennis. This team is WAY too light on passable defenders, imo. You can overcome bad offense. But, not bad offense AND defense. Will be happy to see this team get healthy, though.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 19, 2021 10:37 pm    Post subject:

Even Barkley called out Vogel playing Rondo and RW together. Doesn't take a genius to figure why thats a recipe for disaster
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 19, 2021 10:51 pm    Post subject:

We just can’t play two bad defenders at the same time. Playing Monk and Melo together probably cost us the game. None the less, it’s a learning experience and way too soon to be concerned. With all the new players it’s going to take some time.

Actually, the good/great news is AD and Lebron are looking awesome. I’m confident we’ll fix the rest. The ridiculous overreactions in some of the other threads are just impossible to read.
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TooMuchMajicBuss
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 1:08 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB. Excellent write-up as always.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 2:36 am    Post subject:

Monk played solid defense in the 1st half....and his offense was non-existent because the focus was on AD. That to me makes melo the bigger culprit. He went under a Steph screen....really???
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 2:47 am    Post subject:

We were lucky to be this close. Our perimeter D (and free throws) are going to bite us.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 3:33 am    Post subject:

Remember this stat from the 2019-20 season? Sure hope we can return to that, but this roster is a mess.

"The Lakers are 16-1 when Anthony Davis and LeBron James combine for 60 points, including the playoffs."

Best win percentage when a duo scores 60+, in NBA history (min. 15 games)

1. Kobe and Shaq, 1999-2000 (.952%)
2. LeBron and AD, 2019-2020 (.941%)
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 3:43 am    Post subject:

Positives: Bradley, Bazemore, Rondo. All guys that looked good around AD/Bron. You can tell they will get minutes and compliment the big 2.

Negatives: Westbrook, Melo, Monk. Melo had his moments on O, but that D stood out a few times (in a bad way). Monk looked like he feared the basket. And his D also stood out. Westbrook missed a lot of easy shots and did not seem to have a strong consistent attack plan.

One overlooked positive though. With Westbrook and then Rondo, AD and Bron looked a lot more effective off the ball. You're seeing the advantage of having that PG who will do a lot of the ballhandling. Bron is playing a lot of that Kobe/MJ scoring role vs the PG role he was playing 2 years ago. AD is also aggressive. You're seeing the biggest advantage of having Rondo and Westbrook (at least 1) out there at all times.

I am not stressing, but there are some Mike Brown 2012 trends here. Winless preseason. Losing start to RS. Lots of changes and new stars coming in. New coaching staff addition (Fizdale in, Kidd out). We probably don't can Vogel, but this will be a tough time for Vogel. He's putting in a new system on offense, as well.

Another positive, damn, did we push the ball. I have not seen a team in LA play like this in a long time. But, on the flip, in the halfcourt, a lot of 1 on 1. We got to get some more ball movement in the halfcourt set.

2 years ago we had a similar start to a Clippers game. Lots of 1 on 1. Team didn't look great chemistry wise. Even on D. Then a video session, and a lot of improvement. Issue is we face a Suns team next. May be another difficult one. I am not going to give up on the team a game into a RS where we never saw them play together in PS. This is our preseason really, these first 10 games. Talk to me in November. If we're still like this. Uh oh.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 4:25 am    Post subject:

Best performance of opening night was DB’s write-up. Loved the contextual intro. The LA Times should be calling you.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 4:40 am    Post subject:

I think giving Bradley minutes over Monk will send a positive message that says if Monk wants more minutes then he needs to get better defensively. Monk can watch Bradley from the sidelines, emulate what he does. Monk can grow into a role, over the course of the regular season, be ready for the playoffs. Monk has the potential to take the team to the next level.

Last edited by JUST-MING on Wed Oct 20, 2021 4:47 am; edited 5 times in total
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 4:42 am    Post subject:

Great write-up as usual DB, thank you.

This team will get better. No need to panic. Happy to have Bradley back. Much needed.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 5:07 am    Post subject:

it's optimistic to say that this is like a bourbon that needs more aging. I'd say that this is like a blended scotch that may need to be reblended. Due to the time zone difference, I missed the end of the game. When I went to bed, we were still leading. But I wasn't surprised a bit to get up and see that we lost.

My general impression was this team functions almost exactly the same as last year's team (pre-injuries) with a better version of Davis but without an upper tier defense. The only reason why we were leading was that Davis and James were on fire. Davis was a complete mismatch for anything the Warriors could do defensively. It was almost laughable at times. The problem is that we kept doing the defense a favor by letting him jack up threes. Lebron took some low percentage shots, but he was making them. For long stretches, he was the engine for the offense. When he took a seat, the offense sputtered.

And that's the point. Westbrook was a non-factor for most of the game. He barked at people and made mean faces, but didn't do much other than show off his lack of a jump shot. Last night, he wasn't an upgrade over Schroder. We have got to figure out a plan for using Westbrook on offense. Right now, it's the same offense as last year, built around Davis and Lebron. But that was not a great offense. It worked only because we had an imposing defense.

But oh, this year's defense. Thankfully, Golden State couldn't throw a brick in the ocean while I was watching. Davis and Lebron played with some defensive intensity at times, and Bazemore had his moments. But otherwise, it was hard to watch. I'm not surprised that they lit us up after I went to bed. They had been threatening to do that all game.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 5:45 am    Post subject:

What are we now counting preseason, about -120 with RW on the floor?
I don't see how he fits at all unless he changes his role to be almost exclusively on the second unit.

Warriors missed way too many three's in the first half, or this one wouldn't have been close. Many were uncontested, and our perimeter defense was dreadful. We also got beat inside way too much.

It says plenty when the guy who doesn't even have a guaranteed contract and was just signed a day or two ago was our best defender and player when it mattered most.

Obviously we need to figure this out, and I still think it will eventually be RW having to get most of his minutes with the second unit. The Rondo/RW being on the floor together decision was just insane. Vogel still inept more times than not.

All that being said, foul shooting is ultimately why we lost. Refs just don't call isolation drive fouls as much as the do when you make passes in your offense and someone gets hacked. They got 11 more FT attempts than we did, and we made that difference even worse by missing 10 of our 19. We are woefully bad at the charity stripe, that can't continue.

I didnt like giving up our best perimeter defenders and trading for a non-shooting superstar when we ultimately went that route, but we are deeper I think when we get healthy. As of right now though, I don't know how this works. Maybe the four missing (Ariza, THT, Nunn and Ellington) eventually coming back will give me a better indication.

It's early, but right now I am less than encouraged...
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 5:52 am    Post subject:

JUST-MING wrote:
I think giving Bradley minutes over Monk will send a positive message that says if Monk wants more minutes then he needs to get better defensively. Monk can watch Bradley from the sidelines, emulate what he does. Monk can grow into a role, over the course of the regular season, be ready for the playoffs. Monk has the potential to take the team to the next level.

Look at GS....they won this game with role players playing precise in a system. I do like Bradley...but Monk is more dynamic than him. Our offense is too dependent on AD and Lebron....so their dominance didn't even put a dent on the other players because the lakers ball movement/ other players werent able to apply pressure to the defense. In the playoffs this style is more effective...but I think we should use the regular season to integrate attacking from all angles... just imagine when THT and Nunn come back...do you want them only passing to lebron/ad and standing in a corner.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:02 am    Post subject:

Thanks, DB!
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:13 am    Post subject:

Players that look they can defend:

AD, Bron, Baze, Bradley.

Players that can look like that they can contribute some D in the right sitatuation:

Dwight, Rondo, DeAndre

Players that looked either inept or lost on D most of the game:

Monk, Melo, Westbrook

I expected Monk/Melo to be that way on D. They are instant O guys who should play short bursts of 3-5 minutes. But was let down by Westbrook's D. He didn't seem like he made a presence on either end. If Bradley and Baze can do what they did on D, why can't Westbrook? He has just as many athletic tools. He doesn't take pride in his defense.

We had control of the game until late 3rd, when our D holes exposed us. It was a lineup with Westbrook, Melo, Monk. Just can't play so many defensive liabilities.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:17 am    Post subject:

P-O-R-O-U-S

80 games to fix
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LakerLanny
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:37 am    Post subject:

wolfpaclaker wrote:

Players that looked either inept or lost on D most of the game:

Monk, Melo, Westbrook



I don't expect much D from Monk or Melo, but it is disappointing coming from Westbrook as he certainly has the experience and athletic ability to be effective on defense and this team is going to need that from him.

Right now this team is like Pineapple on Pizza, it just doesn't fit.
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Dr. Laker
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:45 am    Post subject:

Thanks, DB! All is fixable. Of concern to me was the FT shooting.
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Laker7
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 6:48 am    Post subject:

Preseason all over again.

Like preseason, we sucked at free throws (47.4%) and we lost.

Like preseason, we were average at best at three point shooting (35.7%) and we lost.

Like preseason, we got out rebounded (50-45) and lost.

Like preseason, we had more turnovers than the other team and lost.

Like preseason, our perimeter defense sucked and we lost.

Like preseason, Lakers were outscored in the paint, and we lost.

Yeah, preseason does not matter.

Bazemore needs to continue to start with Bradley off the bench at SG. Gotta have someone who can defend and Monk is not it.

I want people to think about this. Dwight Howard was 3-4 from the free throw line (which is WAAAY over his average) and the Lakers shot less than 50% from the free throw line. Lakers missed 10 free throws and Lebron missed 5 of them.

Agree with DB, Lakers are not going to get his kind of performance from LBJ and AD every night. Other guys are going to have to step up.
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Last edited by Laker7 on Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:52 am; edited 1 time in total
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LakersPimp
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:04 am    Post subject:

Laker7 wrote:
Preseason all over again.

Like preseason, we sucked at free throws (47.4%) and we lost.

Like preseason, we were average at best at three point shooting (35.7%) and we lost.

Like preseason, we got out rebounded (50-45) and lost.

Like preseason, we had more turnovers than the other team and lost.

Like preseason, our perimeter defense sucked and we lost.

Like preseason, Lakers were outscored in the paint.

Yeah, preseason does not matter.

Bazemore needs to continue to start with Bradley off the bench at SG. Gotta have someone who can defend and Monk is not it.

I want people to think about this. Dwight Howard was 3-4 from the free throw line (which is WAAAY over his average) and the Lakers shot less than 50% from the free throw line. Lakers missed 10 free throws and Lebron missed 5 of them.

Agree with DB, Lakers are not going to get his kind of performance from LBJ and AD every night. Other guys are going to have to step up.
you would think our coach would have tried harder to instill better outcomes in preseason...but with our age...he figured its probably best to learn on the go...
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pio2u
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:15 am    Post subject:

On Point again!

Vogel may have used some questionable line-ups but our overall defensive effort was abysmal.
This was a winnable game that the team squandered.
Hopefully we can correct some things before the next game.
    Thanks DB; nice assessment.
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