Posted: Sun Feb 23, 2020 6:11 pm Post subject: CELTICS -at- LAKERS - 2/23 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings
Always a Good Day When You Take the W Against the Celtics... Payback time for the Lakers after losing badly in Boston a few weeks ago.
Last time the two teams played, both AD and Rondo were thrown back in the lineup after sidelined with injuries. The team was out of sync and AD wasn’t ready to make an impact. They got out-worked on the glass and everywhere else and lost big to the Celtics.
Today, the Celtics were without their starting point guard and had to shuffle their lineup. The Lakers didn’t care. Jayson Tatum filled the void with a big 41-point game, taking it to the Lakers between the second and third quarters.
In tight games, it often comes down to the stars making plays. LeBron James sank a huge turnaround fade in the post in the final seconds. Meanwhile, KCP’s feisty defense on Tatum resulted in a turnover and offensive foul to get the Lakers the key stops they needed.
The Lakers came away with the 114-112 win over their rival. Good job by the Laker bench in this one.
LeBron -- -- A lot of work in the post in this game. So it was fitting it came down to a LeBron post up. For most of the game, he was overpowering defenders for scores or drawing doubles as he got deep. Those led to a few open threes for AD and one lob to Dwight. But in the final seconds, he went to the post fade (almost looked like he smiled a little before faking one way and hitting the fade). He said Brown had been giving him baseline all game, so he faked that way then came back to the fade and was absolute money. Good to see him close this one. The perimeter shot was looking pretty good as he sank four threes. Near triple-double tonight. I also appreciate only 2 turnovers. Defensively, I thought he needed to rotate more on help in the paint. He did have some good sequences on Brown on the perimeter late in the game. The Stats: He scored 29 points on 9-19 shooting (4-10 from three, 7-12 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 9 assists, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a -1.
Davis -- -- Man, he did not close this one cleanly. He did have huge plays (a big three and did make some key FTs), but he also left some easy points on the table from layups or FTs. Last time these two teams played, it was AD’s first game back after his injury from his fall. He quickly picked up two fouls in that game and that threw everything out of sync. He never imposed himself in that game. In this one, he struggled quite a bit with double teams in the post (6 turnovers). Only 3 assists with those 6 turnovers (best assist was a short-roll kickout to the corner for a KCP open three). Thankfully, he had the three ball going. When LeBron got doubled, he drained them. A lot of clutching and grabbing going on under the hoop. Laker bigs got screened quite a bit in the paint to help prevent them from challenging drives. The team struggled with that. It would not surprise me if we see other teams start doing that after their bigs roll off the initial screen. That neutralized our height (and actually used to be illegal way back in the day). He had a stretch on Tatum defensively and that didn’t seem like a good matchup. Some painful misses from the line or around the hoop in that final minute, but at the end of the day, he still ended up with a 32-13 game. Sure didn’t feel like it. The Stats: He scored 32 points on 10-25 shooting (3-5 from three, 9-12 from the line) to go with 13 boards (6 offensive), 3 assists, 2 blocks, 6 turnovers and 3 fouls in 39 minutes. He was a -3.
Green -- -- He and KCP tried to prevent Tatum from getting middle. That didn’t work. Really ineffective game. Green picked up a tech, too, when he thought he tied up a man in the backcourt and they called a foul on him. He did not close this one as he was a -16 in his 23 minutes. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-4 shooting from three to go with 2 boards, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 23 minutes. He was a -16.
McGee -- -- Not a lot of action in this one, but he hit those boards in his short time out there. He got his two scores in the first half. One was a nice job changing ends to get a lob. The other was a follow tip on his own miss after LeBron set him up. The Stats: He scored 4points on 2-3 shooting to go with 8 boards and 2 fouls in 13 minutes. He was a -6.
Bradley -- -- Quiet night for him, which has been rare lately. He sank a wing three on a kickout on the first play of the game. No scoring the rest of the night. His D was serviceable, but nothing disruptive. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-4 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a +7.
Caldwell-Pope -- -- Loved his ball denial D on Tatum in the second half. That came up huge for the Lakers with 15 seconds left when he forced a turnover on the sideline that got a tech on the Celtics, too. It was a great effort, both guys were going after a loose ball and the Lakers forced the huge turnover. That resulted a tech (which we missed, so that didn’t come to play), but also put the Celtics in a foul situation to close. That resulted in two makes from AD. He also drew an offensive foul on the final play, taking a hit to the face from Tatum. “He really provided a spark for us in that third and got the assignment the rest of the way,” Vogel said. He also switched and returned to double Tatum at times, too. One of those ball denial plays allowed him to knock down a pass and take it for a dunk for one of his scores. He would swish a wide open corner three off an AD short-roll kickout. And also get a layup earlier in the game off a slip screen when Rondo found him. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-5 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a +2.
Kuzma -- -- Got to give him some credit for some good defensive work against Tatum at times in that second half. He definitely helped slow him down and even had a nice block on recovery. Kuz ended up leading the team with a +17. The three ball wasn’t there, but he got some points on the move (a runner, fouled on a runner, a dunk, layup and FTs in transition. He should have had an And-1 that was goaltended, but the refs missed that. That came off a great challenge on the perimeter to force a brick and he leaked out to get the ball. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 6-13 shooting (1-5 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 27 minutes. He was a +17
Caruso -- -- Short minutes tonight as Rondo was playing very well. He probably could have taken some of Bradley’s minutes, but I think the 0-3 from three had him sidelined late. All his points were at the rim. He spun away from some perimeter pressure and drove the paint for a layup. He attacked a zone and finger rolled in another. He attacked off the three line from the corner for another layup. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-6 shooting (0-3 from three) to go with 1 steal and 2 fouls in 8 minutes. He was a +1.
Howard -- -- Last time we matched up with the Celtics, he was able to impose his physicality. He was able to get a little bit of that going. Love when we miss a three and he overpowers someone for a putback or FTs or both. It’s like found money. Defensively, he tried to pressure a bit more on the perimeter in the second half. That was hit and miss, but we had to change things up from the drop coverage. Randomness: He seems to be moving farther and farther back from the freethrow line. It seemed like after he missed his first FT tonight, he backed up just a little further and sank the rest. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 3-5 shooting (4-5 from the line) to go with 7 boards (2 offensive), 1 block, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 15 minutes. He was a -6.
Rondo -- -- Five steals in 22 minutes. A throwback defensive performance by Rajon tonight. Great hands tonight getting the Lakers some stops. He made me pause the game in the first half so I could get this one play down. AD airballed a jumper, Rondo was able to slap it down with his left, control it with a dribble, then bounce it behind his back with his left to AD cutting for a dunk. That was done entirely with his off hand only. One of his 5 assists tonight and one of his best plays of the seasons. He had another nice over-the-head lob to AD in the second half. Vogel gave Rondo the extended action as he was getting it done on both ends. He’s had a couple big games against the Celtics in his brief stint as a Laker. A great one today. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-2 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-4 from the line) to go with 1 board, 5 assists, 5 steals and 1 foul in 22 minutes. He was a +15.
Vogel -- -- Key Moment: LeBron’s fade in the post was a huge make. We ran a BLOB sequence where he had a couple of options for LeBron. That was part of the key sequence of the game. Almost equally as big was the subsequent defensive work by KCP. His ball denial on Tatum forced a bad pass and turnover on the other end. That put the Celtics in a must-foul situation, which gave us a couple more points. So a huge sequence in the final 15 seconds.
Key Substitution: Let’s go with giving Rondo/Kuzma some extra run in this game. Rondo was mixing it up on both ends. Some excellent steals as well as drawing an offensive foul fighting on a screen. Kuzma had some excellent defensive sequences, as well. So we were getting two-way ball from the two of them, and he rewarded that. Vogel did close with Bradley, which was the right move to get a defensive guard back in there. Good job going with what was working tonight.
Key Stats: Last time we played the Celtics, we gave them 14 offensive boards (Kanter had 6 of those). Tonight, we kept that at 8. That helped drop the Celtics shot total by about 10 attempts compared to last time out. Some better work there by the team.
Thanks, DB. Great day. We beat Boston and picked up Markeiff Morris. _________________ Nobody in the NBA can touch the Laker brand, which, like the uniform color, is pure gold.
Posted: Sun Feb 23, 2020 6:29 pm Post subject: Re: CELTICS -at- LAKERS - 2/23 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings
DancingBarry wrote:
Howard -- -- ---snip--- Randomness: He seems to be moving farther and farther back from the freethrow line. It seemed like after he missed his first FT tonight, he backed up just a little further and sank the rest. ---snip---
I noticed that too. At times, Wilt the Stilt went even further off the free throw line. Strong big men need to back way up in order to soften up the ball's flight path to the rim.
In the following video, former Celtic Tom Heinsohn said that Wilt once made 20 of 25 free throws from mid-court.
Thanks, DB! _________________ On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".
You said it, DB, any win against the C's is a good win.
Solid games by Dwight, Kuz, Rondo and KCP. They certainly contributed on both ends of the floor.
The Lakers offense got stagnant (again) in the 4th. With 5 minutes left, the Lakers went heavy iso ball. Either AD or LBJ on the post, every one else in spectator mode. In the last 5 minutes, almost every shot was taken by either LBJ or AD. There's gotta be more people and/or ball movement.
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