BLAZERS -at- LAKERS – 12-31-21 - DIY Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

 
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 31, 2021 10:14 pm    Post subject: BLAZERS -at- LAKERS – 12-31-21 - DIY Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

Sorry, all. New Year's celebrations in my family bubble interrupting the recap time today.

“I’m in a damn good zone right now.” — LeBron
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 31, 2021 10:59 pm    Post subject:

Lakers blow out the Blazers 139-106.

Starters: Lebron/Stanley/Monk/Bradley/Westbrook

Lebron Player of the game, MVP level right now. With going with 3 guards, 1 wing and Lebron. a lot of that open paint 5 out offense being run. Lebron was taking advantage, feasting on defensive issues from Portland. Portland had gone small with Nance, and had no rim protection. Big mistake. Right from the get go, a lot of little hustle plays from Lebron. Grabbing rebounds, deflecting a ball, being active. Really sets the tone when your "big" does that, as you know your last line of D is going to be calling in the right plays on both ends. I compare this to Joker in Denver, only this is a bit better. Some of the action: Lebron finishing a number of plays with a dunk. Lebron making a few layups. A lot of 3s. There was a part of the game, right in the middle where Lebron began to be stagant. This is usually where we begin to blow our leads. We didn't in this one, in large part because the other guys also seem to get our offense now. Lebron finshed the game with 43 points, 14 boards, 4 asissts, 2 steals, 2 blocks shooting 5-10 from 3.


Westbrook Pretty good game from WB. The wide open paint really helps him. When you get Melo, or a Stanley hitting 3s from the other wing, it helps a ton more. Now you add the fact that Portland stunk defensively and at rim protection, easy for WB to get his game going. I question if WB can ever make a significant impact against elite defenses. But if we give him this kind of spacing and 3 point shooting, we are at least setting the table for him to have success. He made a few good passes in this game, most of the time to players coming into the paint off cuts. The 5 out, open paint allows WB to await a cutter and then a pass. It also allows him to drive and see where the motion is coming from in his offense from teammates. He's a threat in these situations. Took a few spot up 3s, none of them bad looks. He has to take those. Westbrook finished with 15 points, 13 boards, 12 assists, 2 steals and 4 turnovers.

Monk Really solid game by Monk. Doing a good job of faking the 3, driving. Then sometimes just pulling up right away. Hell of a double threat. Defenses don't know what's coming with him. One special move. He drove baseline and fouled mid-air but reversed the ball in. Elite athlete play. He's a major talent, we're fortunate to have him at the vet min. Defensively lost his man on a few drives early, and didn't close out to shooters as quick as I'd like. But he's decent on defense now. Malik finished with 18 points and 2-5 from 3.

Bradley.
This is the sort of game you won't really understand looking at the stats what Avery brings as a starter. He was on Dame, a lot. Dame's a tough match up. It's a ton of work what Avery does defensively. He doesn't make it easy on his man. Dame had to fight for his shots. Dame finished 5-15. Not letting Dame get hot was a big credit to Avery. Made some mistakes by fouling him, but I can live with those. Dame's a superstar. On offense. out of the starters Avery's probably our weakest finisher off plays on the break or in speed situations. But he's trying to do the right things out there. Hit a corner 3 that I really felt was at the perfect time in the 2nd Q. When things were getting a little dry on offense. Avery finished with 5 points, 1 block, 1 steal and 1-1 from 3.

Stanley May be too early to call him Stan the man. But he's doing very well. Set up at the corner pocket a lot, made a few 3s from there. He has a nice strong body and is able to move himself into a strong post base trying to seal his man. You can tell the coaching staff like his work. Hitting those corner 3s have to feel good. That's how he will stick in the NBA. He's got a defensive reputation going back to college. He's got defensive skill at the NBA level. If he keeps making those 3s, he's going to make it in the NBA longterm. Of the action, a few things that stood out. 1) The corner 3s. 2) The post base. 3) Hustle on defense. 4) Calling out loud what he's doing. Stanley finished with 10 points, 2-3 shooting from 3.

Bench (Only doing the key guys).

Melo Probably Melo's best 2-way game as a Laker. There have been a number of great shooting games from Melo this year. This was different. This was a 2-way game from him. He was doing the Kieff role, really well on D. A lot of quick rotations on defense to get into the paint and shot challening. Why can't we get this Melo on D, all the time? Beats me. This is the Melo we need though. The shots will come and go, but the defense as to stay consistent. When AD returns, we could slide AD into Stanley's spot and Stanley could get into a situation where he and Melo play small fast 2nd unit ball. Melo hit some 3s right in the 1st Q, and helped LA break open the game very early. Continued his strong shooting most of the game. Melo finished with 16 points, 3 blocks and 4-7 shooting from 3.

Reaves Good to see him back. Great, actually. Our record is now 11-3 when AR plays as a regular rotation guy, and we're on a 4 game win streak with him playing (3 game before he went out with Covid, and a win now). He looked a little out of game shape, you can see him breathe heavy. The shot wasn't falling. The defensive motor was consistent.. The IQ was elite as usual. A play that stood out? He got a pass on the break right under the basket, and he saw 2 defenders reach him. Didn't take the shot, kicked it back to a trailing 3 point shooter. The way he just pauses and can read the defense and make the right play. He's such a great intangibles guy. Austin finished with 10 points, and 1-4 shooting from 3.

Ariza Still not sure on Ariza, personally. He doesn't look like someone that we can rely on as a vet like Avery. He looks closer to DAJ/Rondo. It could just be me, and the long layoffs. Yes he's a threat as a shooter, but he's slow. He's not looking like he can give a significant impact this year. A lot of talk was that he will, but I don't see it so far. To me, he looks a little better than Dudley. He sits on the 3 point line and looks for the open 3. Young Trevor was a threat to cut off the ball. Old Trevor isn't. Ariza finished with 3 points on 1-3 shooting from 3.


THT THT's having a tough time finding his plays in the offense. He gets in a spot where teammates are giving him the ball and trusting him. However he's not making much from there. A few botched plays are becoming a common theme. Tonight a missed dunk, a few poor passes and some bad timing on attempted passes. You really don't want to run any THT+WB lineups. Those are going to bring your IQ and execution down a lot. Defensively a decent game, highlighted by a monster swat inside. He's got that length where he can be that kind of shotblocker and also finish the plays around the rim. The rest of the game? The man D? the shooting? Passing? All needs a lot of work. Talen finished with 10 points, 3 assists, 1 block and no 3 point attempts.

Vogel Great to see coach back. Felt there was better defensive energy and execution with him out there. You can tell his timeouts are far different than Fizdales. They run the schemes maybe the same, but they look at the game differently. Vogel's much more defensively focused, and patient on offense. He loses patience on D much earlier. As a result, you'll see timeouts be on defense and when he feels one of his stars needs a break (and to sub him out). This was one of our biggest blowouts of the season. Nice on his 1st game back. Coaching notes: Made a challenge on Avery foul on Dame. Won it. Interesting timing, but shows hie defensive support of a role player. Rotation: Ran Melo at the 5 in some small ball, but with Reaves and Stanley. Unit did ok. Starters, went with Bron at the 5, Stanley at the 4 and 3 guards (Monk/Bradley/WB).
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wolfpaclaker
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 31, 2021 11:09 pm    Post subject:

(Part 2)

Gonna borrow some of DB's great work from the Rockets game on our improvements on offense.

Quote:

There's a lot of little things that they are doing and not doing. Some of it is just decision making, some of it is set play execution.

- Westbrook has cut way down on early offense jumpers from where he was. At the same time, his percentages going to the rim have improved. This was a noticeable change a while back, even before us going small.
- LeBron has cut down on the iso step-back threes. He's taking more pull-ups and catch and shoots. He seems to only go for those step-backs when the lock is very low.
- We're seeing more flare screens for a variety of guys.
- The inverse screen action with LeBron and smaller shooters has picked up immensely from where it was. This is now one of our bread and butter actions in crunch time.
- We've got several new horns actions.
- We're using gaggles on the weakside more and flowing into them from other set actions, which is like a layer on top of a layer in our schemes...so we're going deeper into counters when first options aren't available.
- Russ and THT are positioning themselves in the dunker spots a few more times than previously. This is still a work in progress, but again, like last night we saw Russ get an easy off ball bucket from this. So awareness is there. We really need more work on Russ/LeBron cutting with purpose off ball, but it's improved.
- Pin-in screens on the weakside have increased, but still need more. But we could go multiple games without those previously.
- We were improving our two-man actions with AD to get him going to the hoop more.
- We've realized the issues with certain lineups (like those with DJ in them) and have moved on.
- The ball movement in the final minute has been much better. Previously, we'd stall things out on iso and let the D load up. Last night, passing won it. That game with Reaves and the outcome on the line, multiple passes until we hit the open man. This is still very much a work in progress (and we need more games), but coaches are stressing it and we are seeing some results.


If you look at the last 3 games (Houston, Memphis, Tonight). We're seeing:

1) Lebron is still taking those 3s, but it's not a primary part of his offense. He's far more inclined to attack especially with the mismatches he's got at the 5.

2) Westbrook has cut down on the early dumb shots, but it's still part of his inclination. More, I think we're just far more reliant on LBJ, such that the reliance on Bron, in itself forces the ball out of WB's hands. Today was a steady game by WB, but he also faced a team that had no rim protection, while his team was shooting well. When you give WB that situation, he will feast.

3) In particular, DB is spot on. Seeing more inverse action, more pin downs, a lot more scheme into schemes. It is crazy, but our offense is actually deeper and better run than it was 2 years ago at this point when we won the title. We're just such a TO heavy, error prone team (without the same defensive level) that we can't make up our mistakes. Our offense though has more depth than it ever has had in the Vogel era, IMO.

My analysis to add:

When AD returns, I'd like to see him take over Stanley's role and us not force him into being a 5. Let him defend wings, help out on the rim protection and rotate out to shooters. He can also use his length to help on long rebounds (major current weakness of the Lebron at 5 units). If we do this, we should also continue with the same offense and not try to enforce AD posting up too much early on. Let AD hover around the perimeter (as soft as some may call it) and find his way into the paint within the schemes off the offense. This allows AD to get post ups and paint touches that are much much harder to double/zone.

Basically let Bron be the 5 and plat the Joker role on offense. Let AD play the 4. I think it will work very well.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 01, 2022 12:13 am    Post subject:

First.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 01, 2022 12:43 am    Post subject:

Thanks Wolf - and happy new year!

This will sound really strange but right now the guys I'm really interested seeing how they pan out are Reaves and Johnson. If, somehow, some way, they can be those 3 and D types (I know, I know re Stan and his difficulties shooting)...perhaps, possibly, that 4-10 record vs teams over .500 will significantly improve?

Not the record we wanted to end 2021, but certainly a win we will take.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 01, 2022 1:35 am    Post subject:

Thanks, Wolf!

On LeBron’s threes tonight, I think I called at least two heatchecks before they happened. And I think Westbrook had an early offense one, as well. Some of this was them feeling it and getting loose with the offense when we had the lead. Some sloppiness/bad habits there because they were rolling and you saw the lead trim a little. I think they tighten that up again but were just steamrolling the Blazers and LBJ is feeling he’s in the zone so they lost some discipline.

On Melo’s D, we are better when he’s aggressively attacking and doubling ball handlers instead of switching or staying in drop coverage. We saw that a little but I’d like to see it more.

Fun one to watch.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 01, 2022 6:12 am    Post subject:

Thanks, Wolf. And Happy New Year DB, Wolf and the whole gang.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 01, 2022 6:30 am    Post subject:

Quote:
This will sound really strange but right now the guys I'm really interested seeing how they pan out are Reaves and Johnson. If, somehow, some way, they can be those 3 and D types (I know, I know re Stan and his difficulties shooting)...perhaps, possibly, that 4-10 record vs teams over .500 will significantly improve?

Yeah, Reaves and Stanley can provide some fresh young legs that you just won't get with the older vets. They're also quite disciplined. They take good shots and only shots within their limits. With THT, you don't get that.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 01, 2022 6:32 am    Post subject:

Quote:
On Melo’s D, we are better when he’s aggressively attacking and doubling ball handlers instead of switching or staying in drop coverage. We saw that a little but I’d like to see it more.

Yeah noticed that. Wonder whether it's going to be a consistent scheme change or was it designed specifically for the Blazers.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 01, 2022 8:50 am    Post subject:

Wolf and DB. Westbrook seems to press when LBJ goes to the bench and that's when a lot of the turnovers happen. Are you seeing it also or is it just my imagination?
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 01, 2022 9:23 am    Post subject:

We beat up on a terrible team, but I don't care. A win is a win, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 01, 2022 10:28 am    Post subject:

Thanks Wolf, great recap, much respec. This team reminds me of how much Kobe reliant we were and are now LeBron reliant. LeBron doesn't have enough help to take us to a ship but he's trying his ass off. Brook is too inconsistent, AD stays hurt. Our big 3 is not doing what it was signed to do. I see us as a 1st round exit if we make the playoffs. Honestly, I think we'd be better off as a lottery team.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 01, 2022 10:58 am    Post subject:

Laker7 wrote:
Wolf and DB. Westbrook seems to press when LBJ goes to the bench and that's when a lot of the turnovers happen. Are you seeing it also or is it just my imagination?

Here is some play by play.

Bron exited for WB with the score 25-13 Lakers.
WB had 1 TO in 3 min, and then Bron returned score at 35-21 Lakers. So they scored 10 points, and gave up 8 and WB had 1 TO.

Next one was with score 56-39 Lakers Bron goes to the bench, WB in.
Within 2 minutes, WB had a TO.

I'd have to say many of WB's turnovers are just careless stuff that can be cleaned up. Some of them are his style of play (forcing, pressing etc). When Bron is in the game, the defensive attention is on Bron, especially with how he's playing right now. You can hide WB's weaknesses. When Bron exits, it gets exposed a bit more.

This game though because our 3 point shooters were on, and Portland's a poor defensive team with no rim protection, it was very easy to use WB effectively as a point guard when Bron sat. This will not be the case when we play good defensive teams and nights when our 3 point shooters are off.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 01, 2022 11:47 am    Post subject:

Laker7 wrote:
Wolf and DB. Westbrook seems to press when LBJ goes to the bench and that's when a lot of the turnovers happen. Are you seeing it also or is it just my imagination?


I’m not loving the Russ/THT combo we have going at those times. Even before the season I mentioned this felt like a problem. THT started the season looking like he might have improved his shot but after a few games it was apparent it’s still a big issue. They both want to get to the rim and avoid taking threes. It’s going to make things tougher on both. You kind of need to play one like a C or off ball screener.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 01, 2022 1:04 pm    Post subject:

Wolf and DB - great observations

Great that the Lakers are doing what they are supposed to do, have slam dunk routs over teams that they should be easy wins

The energy, effort and young legs of Johnson and Reeves really stand out while providing a needed quickness on defense. Ironic that we might have 2 "Caruso-like" players on this team.

THT is having expected problems of "living up to his salary" and playing free, since his role and expectations are ever-changing - like any other young and talented player with big dreams playing in the NBA's largest market with everybody scrutinizing his every move who doesn't want to be like another Larry Nance (talented player) who is far from the spotlight (like DLo, Hart, BI, Randall - knowing that he's playing for the Knicks, etc.)

As Big Game mentioned, LBJ is starting to realize that getting the ball in the high post bring many more benefits than bringing the ball up and creating. LBJ at the post forces the D to pay close attention to him that would allow cutters more space (instead of loading up when he is playing the perimeter), less expended energy to get his shots and keeping the D constantly guessing what he will be doing.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 01, 2022 4:08 pm    Post subject:

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 01, 2022 7:13 pm    Post subject:

THT may need a change of scenery. Caruso, Ball, and Kuzma are playing great basketball since moving.
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