LAKERS -at- MAGIC - 12/11 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

 
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 8:13 pm    Post subject: LAKERS -at- MAGIC - 12/11 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

On the Road Again... It felt like this would probably be an easy win. The Lakers have steamrolled teams lately, and the Magic weren’t about to stand in their way.

L.A. delivered a crushing 26-9 opening quarter, clamping down on the Magic early. And maybe after that the team felt like it was going to be another easy game.

They got sloppy in the second quarter, turning the ball over 8 times. The Magic turned that into easy hoops and got their confidence up.

“It felt like the first game on an East Coast road trip coming from the West,” LeBron said of the Lakers letdown and sloppy play.

The Lakers gave the Magic hope in the second half. A once 24-point Laker lead was erased as they tied it up.

LeBron can be devastating in those first 5 minutes of the fourth. He helped orchestrate the offense and pull the team out to an 8-point lead. Sitting to rest briefly, he watched as the Magic trimmed the lead to 5.

Then the Lakers would deliver the TKO. We found Caldwell-Pope in the corner for a three, and LeBron would deliver a dagger with a three of his own to go up by 11. The Lakers would take the 96-87 win from there and extend their record to 22-3.


LeBron -- -- Triple-double from LeBron. Asked when he decided to assert his will, he said, “I assert my will when I step on the floor.” Pretty much. He was overpowering at times throughout. It started in the post to open the second quarter, helping the Lakers extend to a 24-point lead. Didn’t matter if he was up against a big or a wing defender, he was just too strong. When he wasn’t scoring, he was finding guys like Green slipping into the paint or Dudley for a three. A little sloppy in the first half with just 3 assists and 4 of the Lakers 11 turnovers. He added a couple more turnovers in the third quarter. In the fourth, he found his teammates for a series of scores and went back to that midpost, faceup game and Fournier didn’t have enough strength to manage him. His only three in the game was a huge one, the dagger really, to go up by 11 with a couple minutes left. We definitely relied on him to ball handle a bit too much with Rondo out. Hopefully, Caruso and Bradley can pick up more of the load. The Stats: He scored 25 points on 11-24 shooting (1-6 from three, 2-5 from the line) to go with 11 boards, 10 assists, 2 steals, 6 turnovers and 2 fouls in 38 minutes. He was a +8.

Davis -- -- Off the mark in the first half, shooting 3-12 for 7 points. He was missing a lot of chippies and layups at the rim. “I had some good looks. I missed them,” Davis said. He also mentioned needing to do a better job finding teammates, which is really an area he can improve upon. The defense converged on him quite a bit and he dished out 6 assists (nice to have guys like Dudley knocking down threes on kickouts). AD took some threes, himself. Let’s see if he keeps up the three shooting at the pace of the last road trip. He got off four tonight, making one. I’d like to see more deep paint looks than we got in this game, but Orlando has some length to them to help defend that. Just a muddy offensive game, and it wasn’t much of a one-two punch in this one. We can play that way because we have AD and perimeter defenders mixing it. They had a strong close to the first quarter in this one. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 6-20 shooting (1-4 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 12 boards (4 offensive), 6 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 37 minutes. He was a +4.

Green -- -- Man, he was shooting bricks tonight. Just stone cold from three. Some good defense to start this game with a strip under the hoop, another strip/challenge to harass his man into a miss on iso and a reach in the paint to strip for another turnover on help. (He was only credit with 1 steal in all that.) He’d get some junk scores in the paint, but missing three after three was a bit painful. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-11 shooting (0-6 from three) to go with 5 boards (2 offensive), 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 1 foul in 29 minutes. He was a -8.

McGee -- -- The Magic did a pretty good job neutralizing our bigs. They have long, athletic guys which give us some issues. The Magic collapsed the paint quite a bit. He scored on a putback and had a 13-foot floater...but the highlight was after a made basket. McGee change ends, LeBron took the inbounds and threw a full-court pass right to the rim for McGee to finish the lob. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-3 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards and 4 fouls in 14 minutes. He was a -3.

Caldwell-Pope -- -- An up and down game from him at times. He was deadly, though, from the corners on threes, and he hit some very timely ones, too. He helped the Lakers shut down an Orlando run at the end of the first half, sinking back-to-back corner threes from in front of his bench. When he gets like that, you need to feed him because he’s pretty streaky. However, the half time break came and that broke up that. To start the second half, he was missing wide open freethrow jumpers and threes to start. That helped the Magic get cooking again. In the fourth, he’d knock down a huge corner three after that deadball action from the techs. Then with 3 minutes left and the Magic hoping to mount one last come back, KCP took the swing pass and buried the big corner three. (That was followed by a LeBron three...the combo of those sealed the Magic’s fate. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-10 shooting (4-7 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 3 steals, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -3.

Bradley -- -- Solid first half defensively as he was a +10 in his 9 minutes, but not really into a groove offensively. He clanked a couple midrange jumpers and was short on a three straight away. He’d get his only score on a layup after cutting baseline weak to strong for LeBron to find him. Good to see that cutting ability manufacture a bucket. Glad to have him back and hopefully he can get back to where he left off. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-4 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 2 boards and 2 fouls in 17 minutes. He was a +12.

Howard -- -- He entered the game to his usual boo’s in Orlando. Not a very impactful first stint. He kept a board alive but was unable to get in sync with any of his guards. In the fourth quarter, he started to mix it up more. Battling under the hoop, he was hacked and shortly later a shoving match with Laker and Magic players jumping in. They were up 7 with 7 minutes left. (Dwight missed both of those freethrows to the crowd’s delight). That delay probably benefited LeBron and AD to get some rest. Better fourth from Dwight, he had a nice block and some challenges. We need more of that energy and impact. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-4 shooting (0-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 18 minutes. He was a -2.

Caruso -- -- WIth Rondo out in the last game, AC was more aggressive. Part of me also thinks that he was simply more comfortable playing at the pace they did. He’s shown that from his Summer League days to the G-League and last year on the team. When he’s playing up tempo, he just seems more decisive. We did not have that tempo tonight and actually lost the fastbreak 4-8. So a slower pace and not quite the impact offensively. Still, he sank an open three in the first half and then knocked down another in the fourth. No assists in this one, but not for trying he set up LeBron and Dudley for wide open threes and both of them missed. Now AC will freeze them out. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-4 shooting (2-2 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 28 minutes. He was a +13.

Daniels -- -- He should have had a few more points, but he clanked from the freethrow line. He sank a three in the first half working a DHO with Davis at the top of the arc. We shortened the rotation in the second half and left him out of the mix. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-2 shooting (1-1 from three, 1-3 from the line) to go with 1 board and no fouls in 7 minutes. He was a +8.

Dudley -- -- He got ejected as a third man in along with an Orlando player after the double tech sequence with Dwight and a Magic player. Typical Dudley, always having his guys’ backs. Dudley was playing great prior to that. Maybe overpassing a little like he always does, but give him space to hit those open threes and he’s gold. Good first stint coming in for Kuzma’s spot in the rotation. He sank a couple of three on kickouts from his stars. Combine that with solid D and the Lakers extended their lead. He was a team-high +13 in those 10 minutes. In the fourth, he sank a huge three with 9:17 left to force a timeout as that helped the Lakers on an 8-0 run. Good to see him get some run. I thought he should have when Kuzma first injured the ankle and did not look good in that first game after that. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-5 shooting (3-4 from three) to go with 2 boards and 3 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a +16.

Vogel -- -- Key Moment: Let’s give it a little background first. Lakers were up 4 starting the fourth quarter. We went with the Howard, Dudley, LeBron, Bradley, AC. Orlando tied it up, but then LeBron found his teammates: Bradley cutting baseline for a layup, Caruso for a wing three, Dudley for a three from the top of the arc. The 8-0 run forced a Magic timeout. This gave the Lakers a little buffer. At the end of LeBron’s stint, we had the same lead with LeBron at the line to extend it, he missed both FTs, then gave up a weak And-1 on the other end. Vogel sat him for a little rest. The first offensive possession with out LeBron resulted in a shotclock violation. With the lead now just 5, Vogel called timeout. Here’s the key moment. He brought back in LeBron after that very short rest. Immediately, we found KCP in the corner for a three and then LeBron followed that up with a three himself to go up 11. That was the killer. A possible momentum shift by the Magic thwarted with a couple of haymakers from the Lakers.

Key Substitution: Let’s go with Jared Dudley in the rotation tonight. It was a long opening stretch for starters. On a timeout with 4 minutes left in the first quarter, we brought Dudley in instead of Kuzma. They would hold the Magic scoreless while extending to a big 26-9 first quarter. Some key threes by Dudley in that stretch, then he knocked down another in the fourth. Great job staying ready and playing the Kuzma role better than Kuzma lately.

Key Stat: Let’s go with the Lakers locking down in that first quarter, holding the Magic to 9 points. That allowed the Lakers to hold the Magic to 87 on the night. The Lakers can win a variety of ways...grind it out or put the offense on turbo. They let up after that first quarter, but they were locked in out of the gates in this one. (They were certainly their own worst enemy in the second quarter as they had 8 turnovers and lost a 24-point lead in the process.)
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LakerLanny
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 8:14 pm    Post subject:

Numero uno!
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 8:18 pm    Post subject:

a 10-player rotation in this one? Rondo out, Kuzma out? hopefully they are not tiring themselves out
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unleasHell
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 9:46 pm    Post subject:

Need a better game than this to beat the Heat, but I'll happily take the win...!
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lordtrapula
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 9:53 pm    Post subject:

I wonder after that 1st quarter they starting thinking about the Miami trip...

Anyways great writeup! An ugly win no matter how you look at it, but a win is a win.

Last year's team would've definitely get blown out after firing in the 1st quarter.
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 9:55 pm    Post subject:

unleasHell wrote:
Need a better game than this to beat the Heat, but I'll happily take the win...!


I'm sure there will be a lot more focus and effort against the Heat. In an 82 game season, you need games like this. And if they end up in wins, even better. You can't go 100% every single time. We were lucky the Magic are trash and we could afford it.
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 10:37 pm    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- MAGIC - 12/11 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

DancingBarry wrote:

Now AC will freeze them out.


Line of the decade!

Thanks, DB!
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 11:02 pm    Post subject:

It was obvious Lebron wasn't happy about the team's overall performance. This would be a good opportunity to exert some leadership skills and light a fire under the team for the Miami game. I expect to see AD be more aggressive and the rest of the team more efficient.
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 3:31 am    Post subject:

Thanks for the recap DB. Seems like it's been a long time since feeling I could count on getting these easy wins.
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 5:17 am    Post subject:

Thanks, DB!
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 6:51 am    Post subject:

Nice DB, a little ugly, the offense. These are all games a less than elite team would lose considering we played pretty sub par.


Q1 Lakers won the quarter 26-9.
Q2 Lakers lose the quarter 25-29
Q3 Lakers lose the quarter again 18-27
Q4 Lakers win the quarter 27-22

Laker Team Stats

Points 96 (+9)
FGs 37-87 (+4)
3 pointers 12-31 (+4)
Points in the paint Lakers 40 (-8)
Fast Break points 8 (-6)
Assists 20
TOs 13 (-1)
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TooMuchMajicBuss
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 7:44 am    Post subject:

Had to miss this one - thanks DB!

I think the Lakers will be ready for Miami.
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 10:20 am    Post subject:

Thanks, DB.

I think some credit needs to be given to Orlando's defense. Especially in quarters 2 and 3 (but really almost the whole game), they did a better of help/recover and walling off/packing the paint than anyone I've seen against the Lakers this year, perhaps excepting the Clippers game. Somewhere in the middle of the second quarter, I thought it was a flukish spurt, but by the end of the game, I was left impressed.
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 11:25 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB. KCP hit some big shots. This will go a long way towards building their confidence.

We need Rondo. We don't blow that big lead if he played.
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 1:30 pm    Post subject:

Plus Minus Year to Date

Player PTS
LeBron James 239
Anthony Davis 152
Danny Green 146
Alex Caruso 132
Dwight Howard 118
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 97
Kyle Kuzma 80
Rajon Rondo 67
Avery Bradley 67
JaVale McGee 66
Quinn Cook 59
Jared Dudley 5
Troy Daniels 4
Kostas Antetokounmpo 2
Talen Horton-Tucker 0


Everyone positive for the year. Caruso and Howard are 4th and 5th on the team respectively. Surprised McGee is so low. Rondo and Kuzma have missed some games accounting for their lower +/- compared to others.

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