LAKERS -vs- BLAZERS - 8/22 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Slow Start, Strong Finish... The intensity to start this game was dialed back from the level the Lakers took it in the previous one. As a result, the Blazer guards got a little more comfortable early on and the Lakers had to reel them in.

The Lakers trailed by 4 at the half (both AD and LeBron missed a combined 10 of the Lakers 13 missed freethrows in the first half). AD wasn’t aggressive in the first half, either. Defensively, as a team, they weren’t as sharp, blowing some switches and rotations. All in all, a somewhat sluggish first half.

In the third quarter, LeBron hit a couple threes to start, KCP drained a couple, as well, and the Lakers took a lead early. AD joined the fight. The second unit came in and pushed the lead to as many as 12 points in the third quarter. They’d drop 40 on the Blazers in the third.

The Lakers struggled with defending Nurkic on the move early in the fourth quarter as he was aggressively trying to score. A 9-0 run by the Blazers between quarters had L.A. only up by 3.

With LeBron doing the heavy lifting all game, Davis and Caruso took over while he took his rest in the fourth. AD knocked down multiple jumpers from the left and right elbow areas off the pick and pop.

The Lakers one-two punch took it to the Blazers. AD would finish with 29, LeBron with 38. The support staff knocked down enough of their open looks and closed the game strong.

The Lakers took the 2-1 series advantage with the 116-108 win.


LeBron -- -- He was going strong to the hoop in this one. “He was in attack mode,” Vogel said. Combine that with him draining threes and it’s trouble. He had 22 points in the first half (despite missing five FTs). He was muscling in some buckets and shrugging off the contact after getting the whistle. (Nice to see him get to the line finally, too.) “It was like a stick shift. At times I was in gear one, at time I was in gear 6,” LeBron said, talking about his change of pace. He went hard when he saw opportunities, slowed it down when there was traffic. It was great to see him attack Nurkic on a switch late in the game. When we run that AD/LeBron two-man stuff and get a switch, it’s never enjoyable to see LeBron settle for a step-back three. A little sloppy at times, particularly in the first half (8 turnovers on the night...some offensive fouls with Trent flopping a little on LeBron’s strength). Ultimately, the Blazers have no one to matchup with LeBron. They need help. If we’re hitting our threes, it’s hard to help on him. The Stats: He scored 38 points on 11-18 shooting (4-8 from three, 12-17 from the line) to go with 12 boards, 8 assists, 2 steals, 8 turnovers and 3 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a +2.

Davis -- -- We got both LeBron and AD bringing it offensively tonight. They combined for 67 points on 36 shots. AD struggled a bit with his shot early as he missed four of his first five FTs and had just 3 points midway through the second quarter. He was also ball stopping and surveying the floor for iso attacks instead of catching and going like that last one. But things would click into place as the game went along. In third, he looked more aggressive on the catch. He’d drain a series of jumpers in the fourth from the right and left elbow areas. I think I prefer him running the pick and pop for open jumpers versus seeing him try to create in the post with the LeBron-less lineups. The post ups are sketchy as doubles come and we don’t have a lot of movement at times. I prefer him passing in those short-roll situations. Still, he found Green off a double for a score (he had 8 assists). Defensively, he wasn’t quite as intense in this one early on (the entire team was a little bit relaxed at that end). Although he did have a monster rejection of Dame who tried to throwdown on him. He picked up his third foul with 13.5 seconds left in the first half, however. Thankfully, he didn’t pick up another foul the rest of the night. I don’t expect another 7-14 game from the line from him again. The Stats: He scored 29 points on 11-18 shooting (0-2 from three, 7-14 from the line) to go with 11 boards (3 offensive), 8 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 41 minutes. He was a +15.

Green -- -- We got some three balls to drop from Green in this one. Our trio of perimeter players in our starting lineup combined for 9-20 three shooting. Defensively, he’s been working it out against the Blazer guards. It helps having bigs supporting you, but he’s typically in the right place most of the time. A few mistakes tonight. He did get caught going under a flare screen to give up a wide open three (that screen moved on him, too, maybe go down on that contact). He also allowed a guard to go left on him when he was trying to take that away and that allowed for an open jumper in the second half, but he was solid for the most part on both ends in this one. Two impressive blocks on that one sequence in the final minute. Good to see more of a two-way game. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-8 shooting (2-4 from three) to go with 4 boards (2 offensive), 1 assist, 2 blocks and 1 foul in 32 minutes. He was a +7.

McGee -- -- The Lakers had a 12-7 advantage on the offensive boards. Just 1 from McGee tonight. Not the same motor as the previous game. The starters, though, worked things out. They got some extended run in that third quarter with McGee staying on the floor until the 4-minute mark in that quarter. That might have been one of the few stretches where I wasn’t looking at the clock for us to get to the smaller lineups. Vogel wasn’t, either, and let them keep rolling. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-2 shooting to go with 2 boards, 1 steal, 1 block and 1 foul in 14 minutes. He was a +0.

Caldwell-Pope -- -- Superb third quarter draining the three ball. The Lakers were taking the game to the Blazers after trailing. He hit a series of threes from the left side that were big blows and helped the Lakers drop that 40. I’m cheering hard every time he puts on one up. Wish he could have the fan support behind him at a game, but his three shooting is critical. The Lakers shot 10-30 from three in this one. Give him also some props on a sweet putback jam he had on the break in the first half. He got up there for that one. Getting him some transition scores seems to be a key to success. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 4-13 shooting (3-8 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and no fouls in 28 minutes. He was a +5.

Kuzma -- -- Some good work cutting off ball. AC found him for a score off one. LeBron posted up and found Kuz for FTs. It’s essential we have cutters off those post ups to keep the D occupied/honest. Some good looks at three (although one was way too long and way too early in the shotclock for that), but he didn’t knock down the three ball. We need to get him going offensively. He had momentum going heading into the playoffs, but it’s slipped a bit. I’d like to run some plays for him to help. Right now, he’s just getting stuff by hustling in transition or the occasional off-ball sequence. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-6 shooting (0-3 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a +6.

Caruso -- -- AC gets the third man award for stepping up offensively in this game with the 10 points and 7 assists. He was aggressive going to the rim at times for scores or a nice setup for Dwight to finish. Another nice baseline probe to find a cutting Kuzma. Later he worked that pick and pop with AD while LeBron was out. We need to put defensive pressure on the Blazer guards. Often, AC does that off ball by setting screens and making them help. But it’s great to see him working the ball screens, too, this game. “It allows LeBron to be off the ball some,” Vogel said, but also mentioned AD needs someone to set him up. Defensively, some more iso from Dame in this one than we’ve seen. I mentioned in the last game that I thought we’d see more of that simply because our help D has been so good. AC’s goal was to try to stay tight on those iso’s and force drives to help or get a good challenge on the jumpers. Occasionally, that led to a foul or a drive when help wasn’t supporting him, but we didn’t let Dame get off for a crazy game (34 points on 8-20 shooting). Throw in some of his usual stuff to cause turnovers that he doesn’t get credit for (he had a legit steal in this game, but it actually didn’t get credit). He also had a play knockin and inbounds pass off an inbounder to get a possession back. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 3-5 shooting (1-2 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 7 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 27 minutes. He was a +10.

Howard -- -- I think he was a little frustrated on the offensive end in this one. The Lakers weren’t spotting him on rim runs early in the fourth when he had Melo sealed. Our bigs were running their bigs off the floor at times and getting them gassed, but we need to do a better job of rewarding Dwight when he’s got a small on him under the hoop. LeBron did finally hit him over the top with a lob dunk (needed a little more of that, too). Defensively, we had some miscommunications and more switches than we’ve seen. The Blazers were running more handoffs and we got a little out of sync. I suspect we get back on the same page in the next game from some of the Blazer adjustments and tighten things up again. Not as good on the perimeter stuff as the previous games, but good job in other areas like on the glass pulling down 10. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-3 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 10 boards (2 offensive), 1 assist, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 17 minutes. He was a -2.

Smith -- -- We went with some tall lineups with J.R. essentially the defensive PG. Our guards had a few issues tonight keeping the Blazers going in the direction we wanted them to. J.R. got burned on that and it allowed his man to attack the paint with our big caught on the other side of the screen. He missed both his threes and a floater. Nothing really positive out there. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-3 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 2 fouls in 9 minutes. He was a -4.

Morris -- -- He’d score his only points on a short baseline jumper off an inbounds pass. Defensively, I don’t think he was showing high enough and that allowed the Portland guards to get off some threes on us. So, not as tight in this one as the last. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-2 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 3 boards, 1 block and 1 foul in 15 minutes. He was a +1.

Vogel -- -- Key Moment: Let’s go with the closing job by the Lakers tonight, particularly the combination of LeBron scoring a drive against Nurkic late in the game after the Blazers switched. He’s settled too much on switches this season. But this time, LeBron attacked it and scored a layup forcing a Blazers timeout. Combine that with the team D after the timeout. The Lakers came out of that timeout to disrupt the Blazers play. Green blocked Trent on a closeout. Trent got it back and AD then blocked him. Trent got it back again, then fed Lillard and Green blocked his three pointer out of bounds. That’s just a strong close by the Lakers in this one. Good to see them flex their closing game.

Key Substitution: The second unit minutes in the fourth quarter, particularly when LeBron sat. AC worked the two-man game with AD for multiple scores, one after another. LeBron got to rest without the Lakers skipping a beat.

Key Stat: While we shot decently from three (10-30), we struggled from the line, shooting 28-43 (65%). We should have got past the 120 mark offensively, but that held us back. Great job getting to the line, though, they were attacking aggressively.

Coach’s Challenge: With under a minute left they challenged a foul by AC on Lillard at the three line. AC wasn’t quite stationary enough to win that one, but they had the challenge to burn, so they went with it.

[epic_]

Yes sir!!!!
14 more baby!!!!
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💜💛 🏆 👀 🍖 #18!!!

[deal]

Am I second? Wow!


Thanks DB
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Lakers need to build a freaking team !

[lts]

Third..

Just hard to understand why Waiters was given up, he is much better than JR.
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You are not alone.

[LakerSD]

Thanks DB!

https://twitter.com/espnstatsinfo/status/1297377586817970177?s=21

[SweetP]

Thanks DB!
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“There is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it.” --Amanda Gorman

[Dr. Laker]

Thx, DB!
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On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".

[sonic the laker]

Excellent analysis, as always.

Though, I'd give more credit to Kuzma for his great defensive effort, on the floor. His offensive game wasn't there, but he didn't let that effect his defendive intensity. Great to see.
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ZOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!

[RI Laker]

Thanks DB. We got home court advantage back.

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB! Excellent write up as always! So good to see the Lakers with a coach who can keep up with Stotts, who's going to make adjustments every game. Too much LeBron and AD for the blazers to handle, particularly if LeBron can get Nurkic back on his heels all game. It also helps having AC out there keeping Dame from getting hot then going hysterical from 40 feet out. KCP and AC are filling an Avery Bradley sized hole pretty well so far. As for the rest of this series; I'll be curious if Dwight continues to stay open out there. Looking good so far, keep it up Lakers!

[DancingBarry]

^ Yep, the Blazers are now trying to shake AC and KCP with off ball screens before the ball screens but our guys are battling through it AND providing a little more offense on the other end. Excellent two-way minutes by both while dealing with the adjustments focused on them.

[unleasHell]

I find it amusing the (Jail) Blazers (lol), are complaining about the discrepancy in the number of fouls called!

First, Whiteside is a hack and could have been called for 4 or 5 MORE fouls!

And while there were a few missed ones on the Lakers, there was just as many ticky-tack fouls called on the Lakers as well.

AND there were just as many missed Blazer fouls as well.

They are frustrated they are not allowed to bully our bigmen and Howard is being allowed to be himself (ahem...)!
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“Always remember... Rumors are carried by haters, spread by fools, and accepted by idiots.”

[joeblow]

^^^ Not to mention that the Blazers are a jump shooting team (taking more long twos and threes than us), while our Lakers (finally) are focusing on their greatest strength when we have the ball: pounding it in the paint and attacking the offensive glass. One style generates more foul calls, the other one doesn't.

The stats are clear... in the third and fourth quarters, the two teams were roughly tied in FT attempts, so let's ignore that. The disparity occurred in the first two quarters, mainly due to Lebron (eight in-the-paint FGAs, two FGAs outside the paint) and AD (three in-the-paint FGAs, no FGAs outside the paint). They are the two most difficulty players to defensively stop in the paint for both teams, so it is a surprise to no one they were getting hacked a lot by Blazer players.

Can anyone say that most of those fouls were ticky-tack? Of course not. Pretty much all 14 of Lebron's FTs and all 17 of AD's FT's (full game totals for both) were from legit fouls. OK, if the Lakers deserved to go to the line a lot, were the Blazers unfairly kept off the line themselves?

Nope. Anyone watching it knows what happened. Dame went to the line 14 times, which is in line with LeBron and AD. That leaves his teammates to pick up the FT slack. So which of them was getting hacked with no foul calls?

Not Melo, who started off going 0-7 taking a lot of jumpers that clanked. In the second half he got going, but even then he was taking mostly jumpers that swished. He wasn't robbed of FT attempts.

McCollum? He took a lot of outside jumers too, but even when he smoothly attacked the paint, he usually scored unmolested. I don't recall him once complaining that he should've gotten an "and-1".

Whiteside? Lol. Same reaction to Trent and the rookie Simons. None of these three took a lot of shots, and even when they did they only went to the line when they were clearly fouled. There was only one other Blazer that was on the court for at least 10+ minutes...

Nurkić had ten FGA (made four) and two FT attempts (made them both). He is the only one that could possibly have a case for more freebies at the stripe last night, and anyone who watched the game knows that his efforts did not deserves, say, 5-7 more FT attempts.

He is playing against opponents in AD, Javale, Lebron and Dwight that are either bigger than he is and/or are more defensively athletic than his offensive skill can ward off. He was literally throwing himself forward with weird twists of his body to try to generate contact that simply wasn't there. He is not a good flopper, and we are too big and defensively skilled in the paint to allow his normal post moves to consistently beat us.

So the complaining Portland TBs and their supporters absolutely do not have a case. Laker bully ball from big, athletic and skilled players like AD and Lebron deserved those calls (and maybe more). Blazer mid/long range jump shooters deserved the receipt of fewer calls.

It's really just that simple.

[calistrtballr]

Vogel needs to run post ups for morris/kuzma, get them easy buckets on switches with midget guards. Less smith too, and more waiters instead

[Lakers#1Team]

Thanks DB!

[hype]

Great write-up DB!

absolutely insane we went from one of the worst shooting Playoff games ever in game 1 to breaking the all time Lakers record for most 3's in game 3

Not a single team in the Bubble can beat us in a series if we're making 3's at even a somewhat decent percentage imo.