LAKERS -at- NUGGETS - 2/12 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

 
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 12, 2020 10:50 pm    Post subject: LAKERS -at- NUGGETS - 2/12 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

Made it to the All Star Break... The Lakers have been running on fumes after the emotional last couple of weeks. They had one last game in front of them against a hungry Denver Nuggets just behind them in the standings before this break. They were going to have to work for it.

The Lakers fell back by 13 points in the second quarter. They turned things around through the energy of Alex Caruso off the bench and rallied off a 21-2 run to lead by 6 points at the half. Great energy and spark by AC that flipped the tables in the game.

Vogel switched up the starters to open the second half, going with the stronger Howard against Jokic. Howard had a monster second quarter, as well. They quickly extended to an 11-point lead, but had that trimmed back down on an 11-0 Nuggets run. Both teams battled back and forth all third quarter until the Lakers brought in the smaller lineup with Kuzma at PF and Rondo at the point. Once again, they lost ground, falling back by 5 points.

Vogel brought in Caruso, finally, in the fourth. Then promptly sat him just a couple minutes later in favor of his second half starters -- a unit that looked sub par to open the half. The Lakers quickly fell back by 6 while Caruso sat.

Thankfully, Vogel corrected his error and returned AC to floor. They ran off a 12-2 run to go up 4 after a great off-ball dive by AC with 1:43 left.

Denver wouldn’t go away. They tied the game up with 24 seconds left. After the timeout, we ran a LeBron/AC screen to get a switch. LeBron missed the wing jumper at the buzzer. Overtime.

With LeBron sucking wind a bit, it was Anthony Davis’s turn to step up. He knocked down two big threes in overtime and added another freethrow. Some big defensive plays by AD with a couple of blocks earlier in regulation, but the defensive play of the game goes to KCP with a steal on a Jokic kickout with 20 seconds left. That was a killer for Denver, and the Lakers would hold on to take the 120-116 overtime win.

The Lakers have won 17 in a row on the road against Western Conference teams.


LeBron -- -- Aggressive attacking to start, getting in transition for scores or quick passes and outlets to guys changing ends. He had 6 assists with no turnovers in the first half to go with his 13 points (0-3 from the line). He’d get a little sloppier in the third quarter with a couple of turnovers. But he’d repeatedly get into the paint. He was too strong, too fast at times for the Denver defenders. There was a play where he grabbed a defensive board in a crowd, pushed it out with speed like a runaway train past another help defender and scored an And-1 layup. Just a beast when he gets downhill. He had a chance to win this one in regulation with a jumper off the screen from AC to get a switch. LeBron seemed to get tired in overtime. He wasn’t attacking and settled a bit, but he was still able to find AD for a couple of big threes. AD had his back all night, but huge impact on this game. Imposed his will. Good job not taking the night off before the break. Everyone mentioned that he set the tone before this game. The Stats: He scored 32 points on 15-29 shooting (1-7 from three, 1-4 from the line) to go with 12 boards, 14 assists, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 42 minutes. He was a +4.

Davis -- -- He warmed up as this one went along. Just 4 points on 2-6 shooting in the first quarter, but he came alive in the second quarter where he had 11 points. He had several spin moves in the half for scores. The best might have been on a drive from the corner against Jokic where he spun around him and stretched out for the reverse. There was also a nice spin away from a double team in the post to score an And-1. He was huge down the stretch. He had a tip-in of a LeBron drive. Some great blocks in crunch time. In OT, he sank two gigantic threes on LeBron kickouts. Those were some clutch big ones. We needed it, too, because LeBron looked like he was getting fatigued. The Stats: He scored 33 points on 12-23 shooting (3-6 from three, 6-9 from the line) to go with 10 boads, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 42 minutes. He was a +5.

Green -- -- He was pretty invisible out there. He had just 2 shots and 2 rebounds after three quarters. I kind of despised his staying in the game instead of keeping Caruso out there in the fourth quarter. Not his fault, but Vogel killed me a little with that. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-2 shooting from three to go with 2 boards and 1 foul in 21 minutes. He was a -7.

McGee -- -- Vogel sat him to start the second half in favor of the stronger Howard. This put McGee in with the second unit. They didn’t quite seem to know what to do with that. I’d really like to see Rondo/McGee working on the two-man action and lobs. They didn’t explore any of that, but they haven’t had a lot of overlap in minutes. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-3 shooting to go with 3 boards, 1 steal, 1 block and 3 fouls in 13 minutes. He was a +0.

Bradley -- -- Kind of an average game from him lately, which is a good thing. He sank a couple of threes. Played his usually aggressive, hustling defense. Good all-around effort. Nothing huge, but he was contributing. His fourth game in double digits. “LeBron set the tone from us at the beginning of the game,” he said. A lot of guys mentioned how it rubbed off on them with how ready and intense LeBron was in this game. Glad to see it positively impacting guys. “He wasn’t smiling. There was no jokes before the game,” he said of LeBron. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-8 shooting (2-5 from three) to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -6.

Caldwell-Pope -- -- Huge steals by KCP tonight. He had a couple big ones in OT, including the back breaker in the final 20 seconds. He kind of warmed up as this game went along. He came out cold missing everything in the first quarter. He’d finish the half with 3 points on 1-6 shooting. He’d sink his last two shots in this one, both threes, and both confident catch and fires. No hesitation. I like seeing that mental toughness from him after struggling. A lot of guys will get the credit and spotlight in this one, but KCP was in the mix with some huge plays. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-9 shooting (3-7 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 4 steals and 2 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a +10.

Kuzma -- -- When we went small with just one bigman and Kuzma at PF we floundered in the first half. Kuzma had the team-low -9. In the second half, we went negative again. Really an awful, invisible game from Kuzma. He did nothing and the coaches did very little to help him, either. Rondo was sleepy, as well, so we had very little dynamic and chemistry out there. These minutes are killer for us. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-4 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 16 minutes. He was a -11.

Caruso -- -- “Right now, he’s my secret weapon. I break him out when I need him,” Vogel said. AC was a +23 in 22 minutes. Damn, though, Vogel was killing me with his usage in the second half...until he finally just left him in. He came in a few minutes into the second quarter and sparked the team on both ends. He was attacking the rim for scores, hit a three, setup AD where he needs the ball. Quality floor general work from him on several possessions, which we haven’t seen a lot of. Meanwhile on D, he stripped his man, stole a kickout, was grabbing boards and rotating aggressively. They were down 13 at one point in the second and led by 6 at the half behind him and Dwight. The Lakers had a 21-2 run during that stretch. Critical juncture for the Lakers to push the Nuggets back. He was a +13 with 7 points and 3 assists in the half (they only credited him with 1 steal, but he had 2). In the second half, you kept waiting and waiting and waiting for Vogel to bring AC back in. He finally did in the fourth, then sat him after a couple minutes. Huge mistake. The Nuggets went on a short run. Vogel brought him back and AC was mixing things up agian. He had a huge score off LeBron’s probe, diving weakside behind his man to take the pass and finish a layup with 1:43 left to go up 4. Vogel kept him out there to close and throughout the whole OT. “Fit in where you get in,” AC said. HIs screen setting in this game was also strong. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-7 shooting (1-2 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and no fouls in 22 minutes. He was a +23.

Howard -- -- “It’s important that we impose our will on teams,” Dwight said. He did that tonight. Great first half beasting on the offensive glass for putback and Nugget fouls. He even made his FTs early on. Those are just huge extra possessions when you are trying to make a run. There was a brief stretch there where we were even looking to get him the ball in the post. He led the team with a +14 in the half, pulling down 6 boards and scoring 9 points in his 14 straight minutes. “I played with the Mamba mentality,” he said afterward. He played so well, Vogel had him start the second half because of his better size. He collected several fouls on Jokic in that third while scoring 5 points. I hope this is the Dwight we see in the second half of the season and the playoffs. Loved his physicality and how well he switched off the bigs onto guards and moved his feet. Just a good combo of both tonight. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 4-6 shooting (6-12 from the line) to go with 11 boards (5 offensive boards), 2 assists, 4 turnovers and 4 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a +7.

Rondo -- -- Painful minutes in this one. Just watching the clock slowly ticking when he was out there. Any of those minutes where we waited for LeBron to get back on the floor, just went by so slowly. As active as he was in the last one, he was quiet in this one. And, really, we need him to be more aggressively making things happen for that second unit. They played very flat and without purpose. He had one assist in this one, a lob to AD and one layup. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-2 shooting (0-1 form three) to go with 1 board, 1 assist and 3 fouls in 14 minutes. He was a -5.


Vogel -- -- Key Moment: Tied up with 23.9 left, the Lakers had the ball and called a timeout. This is where you want to be on the road. The Lakers 16-game win streak against Western Conference teams on the road was on the line. AD, LeBron, AC, KCP and Bradley. LeBron ran clock, AC set a screen, LeBron missed a wing pull-up jumper. Overtime. We had AD over to LeBron’s left, which meant Jokic could sag on that in the paint if LeBron wanted to attack. A little clunky positioning there. In OT, LeBron found AD for a couple big threes.

Key Substitution: Sitting AC in the fourth after only playing him a couple of minutes. You nearly lost me on this one. The Lakers fell back by 6 and it looked like we were headed for a loss. Just no reason to sit AC there. Thankfully, Vogel brought him back in to close and left him out there until the Lakers won the game. Don’t be pulling that Luke Walton stuff on me, please.

Key Stats: So many to choose from. You’ve got the poor 14-27 FT shooting by the Lakers. You could go with the individual stats of AD with 3-6 shooting from three or KCP with the 4 steals. Key to me, however, was simply Caruso’s +23 in 22 minutes (Rondo a -5 in 14 minutes).

Coach’s Challenge: Not sure why Vogel didn’t challenge that foul they called on LeBron rebounding the ball against Jokic late in overtime. Final possession here, you might as well burn it. The Nuggets used theirs much earlier trying to erase a LeBron And-1 layup. That failed.
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wolfpaclaker
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 12, 2020 10:52 pm    Post subject:

First!

For the first time, ever, I think.

Thanks, DB.

One of the best games this season.

Sure you enjoyed the recap on this one.

The Dwight-AD-Lebron-Caruso lineup is the sort of defense that I was talking about us needing in the playoffs.

AD and Lebron were in playoff mode.
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Dr. Laker
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 12, 2020 11:09 pm    Post subject:

Thanks, DB!
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Klone_dd
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 12, 2020 11:46 pm    Post subject:

Thanks for mentioning Caruso''s screening ability. Go back and look at AD's game winning 3 set up by a double screen by Dwight and Caruso with Caruso, noticing he could easily set a back screen on his man, and then motioning to LBJ where the pass could go. Great set play.
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danzag
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 3:55 am    Post subject:

Thanks, DB! Great win!

Hopefully is the beginning of a trend: playing Caruso more minutes than Rondo
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 4:39 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB! Lebron had an extra gear from the onset. You could tell he wanted this game. It was arguably our biggest game to date (on the road, team behind us in the standings, last game before break). This was as close to playoff mode as we have seen from him. Good job by KCP. I was worried about him as he threw up some ridiculous shots to start it off and followed it by refusing to shoot the ball with .7 seconds to end the quarter (screw the stats KCP). He turned it around nicely. AC and DH were BEASTs tonight and they really turned the game around. I think Green and JV are going to lose some minutes to AC, KCP, and DH respectively. GO LAKERS!
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akgolf
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 5:52 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB!
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LakerSD
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 7:20 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB.

This was definite preview of playoff game. Lebron and AD played like it, even Vogel spoke of how they wanted this game.

Great result. We just have to hope Lebron has 4 rounds of that in him...
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 7:20 am    Post subject:

Best game we have played in weeks.
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deal
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 7:55 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB !!!
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 8:20 am    Post subject:

Due to the wacky time zones, I can only last through the first half of these western conference games. When I wake up, the outcome is like Schrodinger's Cat until I pick up my phone and check the final score. Glad to see this one in the win column. With this recap and the highlights I almost feel like I watched the whole game.
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danzag
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 8:28 am    Post subject:

ElginBaylor wrote:
Due to the wacky time zones, I can only last through the first half of these western conference games. When I wake up, the outcome is like Schrodinger's Cat until I pick up my phone and check the final score. Glad to see this one in the win column. With this recap and the highlights I almost feel like I watched the whole game.


Same here
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 8:42 am    Post subject:

I think this game is a microcosm of how we win, especially in the playoffs.

Lebron and Davis 30 point games, all around good play.

Descent games from a couple of players, in this one Bradley, KCP.

Great bench games from AC and Howard - who likely becomes a starter moving forward.

Other nights it’s Kuzma, Rondo, Green, or McGee in the mix.

We don’t have that third star but we have a team effort that comes differently game to game.
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oaktown_dimond
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 10:51 am    Post subject:

Dwight can be our 3rd scorer. He needs to start from now on. It's time to roll. Javale will understand. He's just not Dwight freaking Howard. Not many are.

h2omike wrote:
I think this game is a microcosm of how we win, especially in the playoffs.

Lebron and Davis 30 point games, all around good play.

Descent games from a couple of players, in this one Bradley, KCP.

Great bench games from AC and Howard - who likely becomes a starter moving forward.

Other nights it’s Kuzma, Rondo, Green, or McGee in the mix.

We don’t have that third star but we have a team effort that comes differently game to game.
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 11:06 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB for an excellent recap of a game I missed. Howard and Caruso play awesome defense off the bench, we also have Bradley, KCP and AD playing superb defense as well. Very encouraging. We have LeBron and AD providing firepower on offense and a lot of players on this team who can shut teams down. I agree with what was said earlier in this thread, this is how we win playoff games.
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Richcbt
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 11:26 am    Post subject:

Brilliant recap, as always, DB.

As I was watching, I was as confounded as you were as to why Caruso wasn't playing more, after he spearheaded the comeback in the first half. It wasn't just accidental that he was a +23, as you could see on possession after possession how his D helped to throw Denver off.

Dwight was also sensational, as were LeBron and AD. It was a thriller of a game, and I watched it with something like playoff excitement, because I didn't want anybody creeping to within two games of us in the West.
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 12:30 pm    Post subject:

Plus Minus Feb ony

Player PTS
LeBron James 75
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 48
Dwight Howard 46
Avery Bradley 41
Anthony Davis 41
JaVale McGee 33
Danny Green 31
Rajon Rondo 14
Kyle Kuzma 6
Quinn Cook 5
Jared Dudley 3
Troy Daniels -2
Alex Caruso -6

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 12:32 pm    Post subject:

Plus Minus Year to date

Player PTS
LeBron James 435
Danny Green 255
Anthony Davis 214
Alex Caruso 195
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 183
Dwight Howard 177
JaVale McGee 169
Kyle Kuzma 110
Avery Bradley 101
Quinn Cook 85
Rajon Rondo 56
Jared Dudley 2
Troy Daniels -4

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 5:37 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB! I've missed the last couple games. Time zone issues and renewed depression from the "Vanessa is Mad" news. So, I really appreciate your diligence in the T&R's during this fragile time for our collective psyche.

However, after realizing what a game I missed last night, I found time to watch it today.
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Hammett
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 9:10 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB.

BTW, looks like cachookaman got banned again from YT.
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 14, 2020 3:55 am    Post subject:

Hammett wrote:
Thanks DB.

BTW, looks like cachookaman got banned again from YT.


He did not.

He said he was gonna take some time off due to personal issues
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