LAKERS -at- SIXERS - 1/25 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

 
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 25, 2020 9:05 pm    Post subject: LAKERS -at- SIXERS - 1/25 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

LeBron Passes Kobe... The first time LeBron met Kobe was as a teenager in Philly. Kobe gave him some of his shoes. They were a size too short for him, but LeBron wore them in his next game anyway. Fast forward through the ages and here we are back in Philly, LeBron moving past Kobe into third on the all time NBA scoring list.

Unfortunately, the Lakers couldn’t come home with a win in Philly. They struggled early behind some sloppy play as they coughed up the ball 9 times in the first 10 minutes.

“We have to use their pressure against them,” Vogel said after the first quarter.

The Lakers were getting frustrated with the officiating and by halftime both LeBron and AD had three fouls a piece. (Sixers would get frustrated, too, as the game went along.) The Lakers have been taken out of a game by the refs a couple of games, but it wasn’t an issue in the second half.

They slept walk to open the third quarter and quickly fell back by 22 as Vogel burned a couple of timeouts. The Lakers pushed back late in the third behind their second units. Eventually, they would cut the lead down to 5, turning some feisty D into transition scores and getting a couple big buckets from KCP.

L.A. had a chance to get it to 2, but a LeBron missed a three. The Sixers would rattle off a few Al Horford scores and bury the Lakers for good, 108-91.


LeBron -- -- Did you know LeBron was 18 points away from catching Kobe on the all time scoring list? If not, they beat the crap out of that story prior to this game. It happened on ATO after we were getting thumped and called a timeout. We put LeBron in the corner to curl off a screen, take a pass from AD and score the layup. Congrats to LeBron to moving into third on the scoring list. To be such a good passer, it helps to have some scoring chops to draw the defense to you, and he certainly has that. This, of course, will give rise to another tedious round of Kobe vs. LeBron debates. I’d like LeBron to add a couple more rings to his resume while in L.A. That’s all I want to see. Is that too much to ask? He wrote “Mamba 4 life” on his shoes prior to the game and shared some Kobe stories with the press after the game, talking about how much he admired Kobe, his work ethic and what he meant to him. “You felt like he was just immortal offensively,” LeBron said of 24. He went on a long time talking about Kobe and how he first met Kobe in Philly. Very nice to hear him talk Kobe for several minutes straight. As for this one, poor start to the game offensively with his passing as he had 4 of the 9 Laker turnovers in the first quarter (he’d finish with 8 on the game). Several Lakers were getting frustrated with the officiating, LeBron included early on. He had 14 of his points in the first half. Even though he shot 10 FTs, he probably should have had a couple more trips to the line. We fell back to start the third. LeBron struggled with his perimeter shot and we struggled as a team to get others involved as it was a bit of a one-two punch at times. Late in the game, we had a chance to cut it to 2 points on a LeBron three, but he missed. Things went downhill from there. Wish we could have got him the win in this milestone game. The Stats: He scored 29 points on 9-18 shooting (1-6 from three, 10-13 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 8 assists, 1 steal, 8 turnovers and 3 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a -22.

Davis -- -- He picked up three fouls in the first half. The last one was a bad foul pressuring in the backcourt. He’s played too many games to be making that kind of mistake. Thankfully, he was able to avoid any more fouls the rest of the game. Offensively, he was trying to go at Horford early to get him into foul trouble and wasn’t getting the whistles. He sank a couple of threes tonight, worked his face up game and had a few finishes at the rim. Some really good defense late in the third trying to rally the team, but our offense was inept. If you are looking at the defense tonight, really two guys (AD and AC) made a big impact. Few others really held their own or delivered intelligent effort. The Stats: He scored 31 points on 13-22 shooting (2-5 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 5 turnovers and 3 fouls in 39 minutes. He was a -10.

Howard -- -- With McGee still out with the flu, the Lakers kept Dwight in the starting lineup. We saw a hack-a-Howard late in the first half. He went 0-4, Then they took a foul with 1:59 apparently on the clock and got a tech, so we regained a point. When he’s not scoring, it’s usually because we’re not getting guard penetration to set him up for lobs or to finish putbacks off the dribble penetration. We went for smaller lineups later in the game. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-1 shooting (0-4 from the line) to go with 5 boards (3 offensive) and 2 fouls in 16 minutes. He was a -12.

Green -- -- He got the Simmons assignment when he was out there. He really needed to do a better job trying to make him a shooter. A really poor job at times. I’m not sure what he was thinking. But this does once again illustrate some of our issues with those athletic wing-sized players who can create. Offensively, a negative on the floor. For a guy who doesn’t handle the ball much, his 3 first half turnovers were painful. He had a momentum killing one late in the half. He also helped build momentum for the Sixers in the second half, missing three straight shots on three consecutive trips. Just an awful game on both ends. You’ve got to at least be productive on one end. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-7 shooting (0-5 from three) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -12.

Bradley -- -- He had an ugly -20 in 18 minutes. Our starters were flat, especially to start the second half. He scratched some points out there with a pull-up elbow jumper coming off the down screen, then hitting a wing three on a kickout against the zone and finally when AC found him cutting under the hoop for a layup. That’s his entire offense in a nutshell. We went away from him later in the game for other guards. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-4 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 assist and 3 fouls in 18 minutes. He was a -20.

Caldwell-Pope -- -- One of the guys who sparked the Lakers in the fourth to give us a chance. I wish we would have called his number more offensively. I mean, he played 32 minutes out there and had just 4 shots. He’s pretty much our most consistent third scorer. That’s on the coaches and our floor generals. He had a couple of key makes while LeBron got his rest. One was a corner three off the Kuzma screen. The other was a pull-up in midrange off a screen. He’s one of the few guys I actually trusted to shoot from the perimeter in this game. He picked up a tech early on. Several players were annoyed with the officiating. Later, I’m not sure why he didn’t take a tech FT himself in the fourth, LeBron took it (made it). I definitely liked that we gave that KCP/AC duo some good run in the fourth. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-4 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 32 minutes. He was a -3.

Kuzma -- -- Ghost-mode Kuzma in the first half. He went 0-3 from three and was a -13 in his 14 minutes. The refs also erased a three of his in the second half for sticking out a foot. He also erased a sure layup with a ridiculous flubbed finish attempt on the break. His minutes were better in the second half, but he really had no impact. Again, the coaches need to help get him engaged with some play calls. He really gets lost with AD and LeBron. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-6 shooting (0-3 from three) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 26 minutes. He was a -4.

Caruso -- -- AC had 6 steals and a few more disruptive plays. He does a sensational job reading the offense and anticipating where the ball is going. The Lakers were fading early when he came in the first time. He quickly picked up a couple stops, one getting an offensive foul on Simmons in the post. The other, knocking a ball loose and diving to the floor to help recover it. In the second half, he helped us trim down a big league to get within reach. He was causing all kinds of issues and Vogel was forced to keep him out there. Offensively, he couldn’t connect on his three tonight. That certainly was going around with everyone. One of his best plays of the night was pouncing on a loose ball, tapping it to LeBron to ignite the break, getting it back and lobbing over his head to LeBron for the finish. I’ll take 6 steals in 20 minutes all day every day. Great job hustling and being disruptive. Love it. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-6 shooting (0-3 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 6 steals, 1 turnover and no fouls in 20 minutes. He was a -1.

Rondo -- -- They were leaving him wide open early on and he wasn’t connecting on the three ball. That certainly hurt the cause. The Lakers went a miserable 6-31 from three. It really felt like a game where we could have used a guy like Cook out there to spread the floor because we had too many guys who weren’t threats tonight. Vogel said we had dead legs at the end of the trip, but also not enough paint to great three looks. Which, ideally, the back up PG is helping create. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-6 shooting (0-3 from three) to go with 1 board, 4 assists, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 15 minutes. He was a +1.

Dudley -- -- I kind of forgot about that Dudley/Simmons action from the playoffs of last year. But Philly fan remembered and grumbled a bit when Dudley would touch the ball. Dudley sank his first attempt from three to make sure they felt him. He played a little bit in those small ball units as McGee was out again. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-2 shooting from three to go with 1 board and 1 foul in 7 minutes. He was a -2.

Vogel -- -- Key Moment: The Lakers cut the Philly lead to 10 after they forced another turnover and dunked. Timeout Philly. With LeBron sitting for a couple of minutes, they would trim the lead to 5 on a KCP three and pull-up J to force a timeout. They were back in it with LeBron returning to the floor. LBJ and AC would miss a couple of threes (LeBron was 0-5 from three at that point). Meanwhile, Al Horford knocked down a midrange, a three and another short one on the baseline to bury the Lakers. LeBron had another of his 8 turnovers in that stretch. That was their chance and they couldn’t pull it off.

Key Substitution: Great game by AC off the bench defensively. He was disrupting the Philly offense and helping get the Lakers out in transition. He had the 6 steals in 20 minutes. Good to see him get a few more minutes in this one.

Key Stat: The Lakers finished with just 91 points. The combo of 6-31 shooting from three with the 21 turnovers were killer.
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LakersFan_73
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 25, 2020 9:17 pm    Post subject:

First! Thanks DB. Disappointing game.

Last edited by LakersFan_73 on Sun Jan 26, 2020 7:37 am; edited 1 time in total
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Snipes
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 25, 2020 9:27 pm    Post subject:

Can’t win em all. All good. Onto the next.
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unleasHell
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 25, 2020 10:44 pm    Post subject:

1-5 against the top 6 teams in the East...!
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A Mad Chinaman
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 25, 2020 11:00 pm    Post subject:

They appear to have dead legs being the last game before the All-Star Break and last road game on their annual Grammy tour

They will have to start getting quality wins against the upper echelon teams.

Rondo is strategic in getting Kuz going. Having Kuz at the top of the key to create makes Rondo useless on the court if he is not penetrating the paint
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DrDent
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 25, 2020 11:11 pm    Post subject:

6-31 from threes says alot. Would have trouble beating the Generals never mind an NBA team with that kind of shooting.
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Surfitall
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 12:13 am    Post subject:

DrDent wrote:
6-31 from threes says alot. Would have trouble beating the Generals never mind an NBA team with that kind of shooting.


When you miss threes like that, the defense just packs the paint and dares you to make them. For some reason the poor shooting always seems contagious.
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Nobody
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 1:44 am    Post subject:

The only thing I got from this game was AC's new nickname, bestowed upon him by Mike Breen - Defensive Demon!

To bad they couldn't cut it to 2 with that LeBron three. I thought he shouldn't have taken it with him resting prior to it and KCP feeling it.
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akgolf
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 5:43 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB!
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wolfpaclaker
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 26, 2020 10:33 am    Post subject:

It looked the Lakers lacked their legs in this one. Just not enough movement. You could see even Lebron, was just not pushing the ball enough. I actually wished Rondo got some more minutes or even Cook, because we needed someone to push the ball up and get the offense started early, so to get the ball inside earlier. By the time we were getting our offense started it was later, and a lot of Lebron handling the ball in this one. Too much dribbling from the perimeter.

The 3 point shooting being abysmal was just the cherry on the top of a disastrous night on offense.

Did not really bring it on D either.

This is the type of game where Kuzma not being a 3rd star for us sticks out like a sore thumb. We need him to become that guy, who can sense the team is off and pick up the slack, initiate things. This is the type of game where you can really make a case for needing that guy that can push the ball, the pace, and create for us. Now, come playoffs I think Lebron will not be like last night nor will the team be as flat. It was the 5th game on the road on a long trip.

We went 3-2 on a long trip during the dog days of the NBA season, right before the ASB. This is not bad - we beat Houston and the Nets, two playoff level teams. Lost to Sixers and Cs.
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