LAKERS -vs- BLAZERS - 8/29 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

The Walkout... We have to set the table for this one.

The Lakers have had a series of games called off in 2020 -- it began with Kobe’s death, then the pandemic, and now in protest for social justice in America. What a sentence.

It started earlier in the week with the Bucks refusing to come out of their locker room in protest of the shooting in Kenosha, Wis. Moments later, the rest of the league joined them. And then other sports followed. And with that, this game, which was scheduled for Thursday, was postponed. The rest of the playoffs hung in the balance as players and coaches sat out and met as a group.

To put this in context, the news cycle had the conclusion of the RNC that it could lead with. It had a massive hurricane hours from landfall in the south. But the NBA led the news with their protest and dominated the conversation.

Today, the games resumed. In the interim, the NBA worked on the establishment of a social justice coalition, the conversion of arenas into voting locations, and ads to promote civic engagement.

On tip off, you knew the focus and intensity would likely be a little off from the Lakers. Give Portland credit, though, they didn’t roll over. With all the injuries, the isolation of the Bubble, they could have easily phoned it in.

It was a high scoring first half, as both teams stayed even 68-68 with the Lakers weakest defensive half of the series. Vogel said it was like facing an entirely different team without Lillard on the floor.

The big guns came to play, though. AD dropped 20 points in the third quarter as the Lakers tried to get some separation. Down 8 heading into the fourth, the Blazers tied it up on an 8-0 run.

LeBron and AD took it to the Blazers tonight. The two combined for 79 points, and in the fourth, they were just too strong for the Blazers D. When the Lakers locked down (Caruso with two key steals late in the game), the Lakers finally got separation with a couple minutes to go. The Lakers held on for 131-122 win.

With that, the Lakers took the series, winning their last four games after dropping the first one. In the post-game interview, LeBron danced around AD as Sade’s Smooth Operator from the mid ‘80s played in the background. Good to see them smiling after an emotional, mentally draining last few days. And so we go forward...once again.

The Lakers can prep for the next round as they won’t play again until Wednesday at the earliest. The Blazers were just what the doctor ordered as they had all the momentum heading into the playoffs. The Lakers needed to shake off the cobwebs and get their heads in the game to beat them.

“I was very impressed with how we committed to the defensive end the first four games,” Vogel said. “This team was posting an offensive rating of 124 which would be the best offensive rating in the history of the game. For the first four games, our defense was as sharp as it’s been all year.”


LeBron -- -- His 25th triple-double of the playoffs. He had 24 points on 10-13 in the first half. Super efficient tonight. Twice in the half, he put men in jail, sealed them until the big, who set a screen, could get in front of him and set another screen to create a lane. He’d attack that for a layup. Both McGee and AD were the screen setters. We stole that from the Celtics earlier in the season. It’s a very tough play to defend with his size. He also cut Nurkic off at midcourt, put him in jail, then got downhill through the lane for another layup. So layups and a couple of threes and he led all scorers in the first half. He had a relatively quiet third quarter as AD took on the scoring load. In the fourth, he came up with a sweet pass on the break, slowing up just enough for AD to hit the pocket for a bounce pass and dunk. He’d follow that up with a drive and layup on the next possession. Just a beast. He was the engine driving the train once again. The offense likely looks pretty similar if we play OKC in the next round. If it’s the Rockets, they are going to switch on everything. So LeBron will likely hunt weak links on the D to collapse it. I suspect we’ll also see him in the post a ton more as a scoring/passing threat that they will have to send help to. Great job orchestrating the offense all series long against the Blazers. Last time a Laker had a 30-point triple double in the playoffs was in 1988 by James Worthy in game 7 of the finals. That’s why he’s Big Game James. King James is also a pleasure to have in the purple and gold in the playoffs. Regarding the walkoff and the social justice, LeBron was pleased with the outcome and standing with the Bucks. “We all stood with them, from OKC to Houston to our game which we didn’t play. And from that point on my mind began to figure out what is the plan going forward? If we don’t have a plan, then what are we talking about? Why are we still here? That’s where my mind went to. At one point, there was no plan of action. Me, personally, I’m not that type of guy who, one, doesn’t have a plan and then is not ready to act on it as far as action. So we had a couple of days to kind of figure it out.” His voice carries the most weight with the press. A lot of what came out of the walkoff relates to a cause LeBron was passionate about and actively supporting heading into the Bubble -- fighting voter suppression. The Stats: He scored 36 points on 14-19 shooting (4-7 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 10 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 5 turnovers and 1 foul in 34 minutes. He was a +20.

Davis -- -- Ever since he talked about trying to stay on balance, his perimeter shot has been looking much improved. The Lakers look to help facilitate that and get him going early by running plays to start the halves. He had the Lakers first 8 points tonight and would finish with 12 at the half on 5-8 shooting. He got into a little foul trouble in that first half and that seemed to slow him down some. We also put him in the post quite a bit in the second quarter, and he was passing out to shooters or cutters rather than trying to score. To start the second half, again he was scoring the Lakers first several points, hitting a baseline jumper off a set play, then a corner three in transition, then fouled on another jumper next time down. He dropped 20 in that third quarter, getting to the line with frequency and sinking three threes. He’d help bring the Lakers home with some FTs and a dunk in transition late. He’d score 11 in that final quarter. Not sure what my favorite play of the night was, but he had an offensive board he yanked away from a from a couple defenders, then spun and threw down an And-1 dunk. Beastly. No matter which team we face in the next round, that kind of effort going forth in the playoffs will be key as these games get harder. The Stats: He scored 43 points on 14-18 (4-6 from three, 11-13 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 36 minutes. He was a +15.

Green -- -- Oof. The perimeter shot was not going down as he made just 1-6 from three. Some wide open looks, too. He runs pretty hot and cold. Tonight was cold. He’d sink his only three on a kickout from the post from AD. He’d score his other basket ripping a defensive board out of Melo’s hands, sending Melo to the floor like a child covering his face. He’d be all alone for the hoop as everyone else headed down court. Kind of funny. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-8 shooting (1-6 from three) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a +17.

McGee -- -- Very quiet night. For the Blazers to have any chance in this game, they’d need to keep us off the offensive boards. They did that, leading the Lakers 10-7 in that category. McGee didn’t have an offensive board and that just seemed to be indicative of the Lakers general intensity in this one. He’s got to impose his length nonstop out there. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-2 shooting to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 13 minutes. He was a +8.

Caldwell-Pope -- -- He missed his first couple of threes and then got rolling. He’d knock down four threes on the night. More impressive was his 5 assists. A couple of those were hooking up Dwight for a couple of dunks. Late in the game, he had a nice rotation to deflect a pass on one end, then he’d swish a three trailing the break to push the lead to 11. Great job to close this game. He’d hustle back in transition for a stop, hit Dwight for one of those assist and swish a corner three late. On the negative side, he took a crazy three early in the game...one of those head scratcher plays he seems to give you every now and then. He also had some weak moments defensively, as well, just making it a little too easy for CJ. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 5-12 shooting (4-9 from three) to go with 5 assists, 3 steals, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 28 minutes. He was a +6.

Kuzma -- -- A bit of a quiet night offensively. He went 0-4 from three and would also miss a couple of FTs. His one assist was finding KCP for a three. HE did sink a big turnaround in the post late in the game during a key stretch. Defensively, he struggled with foul trouble, but was generally more active than a lot of others. He had a steal knocking down a pass and saving it back inbounds to ignite a break. He’d then take a charge next time down to get another stop. He’d have a few good challenges, but needed to be a little cleaner on some of those. He’ll be key in the next series if it’s the Rockets. Start watching that Harden film. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-12 shooting (0-4 from three, 2-4 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block and 5 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a +7.

Caruso -- -- It was a rough start in this one with a series of turnovers, but he closed strong. He had two steals in the middle of crunch time that allowed the Lakers to get out in transition for key scores and force a timeout. And another stop on a drive out of that timeout. Shortly later, he’d attack pressure and finger roll in a layup. He’d also get a block from behind on a big. That was just a huge stretch for the Lakers. In the key moment with the game in balance, he came up big. Great series for AC in his first NBA playoffs. Twice in this series, he’s knocked an inbounds off the inbound passer to get the Lakers a possession. He did that again in the first half of this one. He’d score on that possession rolling to the hoop after setting a screen and LeBron found him for the layup. Then, he got a stop on Melo on the other end. Some guys will give you a series of miscues and mistakes, compounding one bad play with another. Alex seems to give you the opposite -- a series of excellent plays that help the team impose their will on an opponent. Great job against an excellent backcourt that was the talk of the Bubble heading into this one. He mentioned what he will likely remember the most of the past few days was all the players meeting together and being part of a historic moment for the league. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-5 shooting (0-2 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 4 steals, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 25 minutes. He was a +5.

Howard -- -- He scored 9 points on 4-6 shooting and 5 boards in the first half. The Lakers did a good job finding him for the most part (including a nice lob from LeBron where it didn’t seem like Dwight was open). But Dwight did pick up a three second violation sealing a smaller man after a rim run. He was going to force that pass to get there or take the penalty it seemed (AC had the ball and missed him). They did find him in the first half and it amounted in a foul, no shot. Dwight created his own offense on one sequence where he faked the handoff and attacked the rim for the And-1 layup. Nice looking play. If OKC can pull it off, we’d have a great match up with Adams and Dwight for some minutes battling. With Houston, Dwight’s got to come up big on both ends. They will likely try to pull him away from the rim on D. On offensive, he’ll get hacked, but he’s going to have a lot of those rim runs looking for feeds, a lot of passes over the top of the D and he needs to be absolutely relentless on the offensive glass. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 5-9 shooting (1-1 from the line) to go with 6 boards (4 offensive) to go with 1 turnover in 20 minutes. He was a -11.

Smith -- -- No Waiters in this game. He was available but had migraines. Smith really could have sat, as well. He gave up a 4-point play at the end of the first quarter. He then was out of bounds in the corner when he took an inbounds pass. Both feet were out of bounds, wasn’t even close. The Stats: He didn’t shoot or score and had 1 turnover and 1 foul in 7 minutes. He was a +1.

Morris -- -- He got some points early in the game, sinking a three when LeBron drew a crowd. He drew some FTs setting a screen. Defensively, he had kind of a bonehead play to start the fourth, saving a ball inbounds under our own hoop to give up an And-1. That kind of helped the Blazers jump off to a good start of the quarter and eventually tie things up. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 1-3 shooting (1-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 16 minutes. He was a -11.

Cook -- -- He came in for the final couple minutes of garbage time. He got to run out the clock. The Stats: He didn’t have any stats in 2 minutes. He was a -6.

Dudley -- -- Late sub as we sent our key players to the bench to rest. Nothing to report. The Stats: He didn’t have any stats in 1 minute. He was a -6.

Vogel -- -- Key Moment: We always talk about the importance of the first 5 minutes of the fourth quarter. Tonight, the Lakers offense struggled to get going with LeBron and the bench. Portland tied it up on an 8-0 run and it was all even. With LeBron resting later, the Lakers took a 5-point lead after a KCP three and an AD wing jumper. That forced a timeout and LeBron was able to return. Here’s where the Lakers imposed their will. Caruso with two key steals as they forced Portland into a series of turnovers. The Lakers had an 18-5 run over 4 minutes in the heart of the game.

Key Substitution: LeBron and the bench struggled to get us going in that fourth. AD and the bench was able to work it out as the defense tightened up and got out in transition. Give Caruso some credit for his impact in that fourth.

Key Stat: The Lakers lowest scoring quarter was 31 points tonight. You won’t beat this team if they are able to score consistently like that. They will have a stretch or two where they lock in defensively on an opponent and if they can’t do that themselves with any consistency, it’s trouble -- 131 points tonight for L.A.

Coach’s Challenge: Early in the third quarter, Whiteside was whistled for pushing McGee on an offensive board. Unsuccessful challenge. It was Whiteside’s fifth foul. One less player available for Portland from that point on.

[MookieBetts50]

First! Much appreciated recap DB...on to the semis!

[Jesusdelonla]

Thanks DB

[Dr. Laker]

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".

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB! Excellent and spot-on T&R again.

Lakers move on to Round 2!!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!


Kudos to LeBron, AD, AC and KCP. Big time. D12 had a decent game too. After Portland grabbed momentum to start the 4th these guys were there to take back momentum, close out this game, and earn our first playoff round win in a long, long time.

[wolfpaclaker]

Could have been the mini break over the protest, or no Lillard.
But this game we really slipped on D.

Can not beat Houston with this kind of defensive effort and focus. Will need to have our A game, if we play them.

Really liked how Lebron and AD played in this series. We had a lot of that Shaq-Kobe like stuff there. Two dominant players carrying the team.

We need to focus in on defense, rebounding, and setting up our offense in a way where we can get back on defense to contest early 3 pointers. We need to refrain from post dumping on size mismatches, as that is what Houston will want.

Happy we won this series. Two weeks ago, I would have told you I was not sure we win this outside of 6-7. We played a lot better than I expected, but still not as good and complete as we need to be, or were playing in March. We need to get that back, if we want to win a ring. I love this group of guys and think Vogel is the best coach we have had since Phil. We can do this but still need to get on another gear mentally.

Side note: First Laker team to make the 2nd round since 2012, and first Laker team to be in the second round with a Kobe Bryant since 1995.

[RI Laker]

Thanks DB. I think Morris is going to be the X Factor for the next series.

[DancingBarry]

Some stats from NBA.com:

In 97 minutes with Davis on the floor with either McGee or Howard, the Lakers scored 126 points per 100 possessions and allowed 109.

In 66 minutes with Davis at center, the Lakers scored 111 points per 100 possessions and allowed just 82.

Caruso was a +20.2 per 100 possessions. That +20.2 with Caruso on the floor is the fifth best mark among 101 players who've averaged at least 20 minutes in these playoffs. (Davis has the fourth best mark at +22.5.) His pick-and-roll play with Davis fueled a couple of important runs in Game 3, and the Lakers' defense has been at its best, allowing 90.9 points per 100 possessions, with Caruso on the floor.

AC shot just 3-15 from three in the series. (...no doubt the Rockets would leave him wide open like they do with Dort.)

[deal]

Thanks DB !
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Lakers need to build a freaking team !

[danzag]

I don't think we slipped on defense. Player were just relaxed

Thanks, DB! On to the 2nd round

[angrypuppy]

Thanks DB.

With the exception of Lebron, AD and Caruso, this team looked lackadaisical until maybe half-way through the fourth quarter.

[SweetP]

Thanks DB!

It is a testament to the maturity and focus of this team and management that the team is on track for a successful season after the shock and sadness of Kobe's death, the chaos and fear of the pandemic and the anger and horror of the protests and killings. All in a few short months.
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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

[TDRock]

Glad I watched the “Lakers Compacto” on this so I could see the second half. It was a much closer and much more interesting game than I thought (based on reading a few random posts), with the Lakers coming out victorious. Fun game, yay winning.

Thanks DB

[Lakers#1Team]

Thanks DB! Picking up on LeBron's Smooth Operator theme, the Lakers could use a little more Smooth Operation. Outside of Bron and AD, the Lakers have been a rag tag bunch of inconsistent play. Hope to see their play smooth out into consistent good play and accurate shooting next series.

[DancingBarry]

[CervantesRises]

[cathy78]