Joined: 14 Jul 2006 Posts: 18673 Location: L.A County, 26 miles away from Staples Center
Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2021 9:23 pm Post subject:
Spurs came out hungry to not get swept again for the season series.
Never sleep on Popovich he definitely had some bulletin board points that lit a fire on they ass. His squad responded and if they somehow make it to the playoffs I’d love to get my revenge on them in a 7 game series.
Oh well gotta Take this beating by the Spurs and convert that anger to a beatdown on Chicago tomorrow!
Lakers beat Spurs in just about everything else, but the above combined with Lakers scoring so little in the 4th hurt.
I really wanted to see a better game vs the Spurs entire healthy lineup (1st 2 games were without Aldridge). Did not happen, plus Aldridge dominated this game.
AD definately was not playing top notch D most of the game. I do think that hurt.
All in all, I agree some of the bad habits caught up. Hopefully this loss, where the Lakers NEVER led, will get them to play better moving forward for awhile.
And oh yes...STOP with this over play of Kuz. Why? If he is hot, fine, but when his shot is off, he adds very little value. He also is NOT a 2, and I'm shocked the Lakers are forcing a square peg in a round hole there.
* poor, inconsistent play from the center position (Gasol is trash/Montrel undersized)
* casual mindset from AD (no way is this guy a MVP candidate)
* careless turnovers by Lebron (seems to almost make intentional turnovers sometimes)
* horrid perimeter defense (opposing teams ALWAYS kill us at the 3point line)
* up and down play from Kuz (you can start adding D. Schroder, too)
* no rim protection/intimidating front line (where is Dwight, dammit)
* poor defense, in general (we are NOT the same defensive team as last year)
* Vogel not figuring out what to do with other teams strategy of bombing us with repetitive 3 point shots (the strategy of the opposing team cooling off isn't working)
* opposing teams over-achieving against us (not sure how to remedy this)
Told you guys I don't like this team as much as last year's team. Beating Memphis by only 2 with their best two players out was a red flag. Now it's starting to unravel. Fortunately, there's plenty of time before the playoffs to "make changes".
So far, Lakers have played 4 tough games this season (3 games against playoff teams and 1 game against a healthy SA team) and Lakers have lost 3 of those. _________________ Playoffs is good enough. - Jeanie Buss 2024
Last edited by lakersfever714 on Thu Jan 07, 2021 9:30 pm; edited 1 time in total
* poor, inconsistent play from the center position (Gasol is trash/Montrel undersized)
* casual mindset from AD (no way is this guy a MVP candidate)
* careless turnovers by Lebron (seems to almost make intentional turnovers sometimes)
* horrid perimeter defense (opposing teams ALWAYS kill us at the 3point line)
* up and down play from Kuz (you can start adding D. Schroder, too)
* no rim protection/intimidating front line (where is Dwight, dammit)
* poor defense, in general (we are NOT the same defensive team as last year)
* Vogel not figuring out what to do with other teams strategy of bombing us with repetitive 3 point shots (the strategy of the opposing team cooling off isn't working)
* opposing teams over-achieving against us (not sure how to remedy this)
I'd add that there's no intensity to start the games and we fell in a hole... again. We're down double-digits in almost every 1Q we play, which isn't a good thing.
I'm starting to think that the game-starting lob dunks to JaVale was our power-up last year.
Joined: 03 Oct 2003 Posts: 8342 Location: Santa Monica
Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2021 9:28 pm Post subject:
These slow starts are killing us. We also need to reignite our transition game, as it's been MIA the last few games.
We can't give these mediocre teams any hope or belief that they can beat us, especially early in games. _________________ Lakers 49ers Chargers Dodgers
Joined: 18 Aug 2004 Posts: 4752 Location: Next door to 24
Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2021 9:35 pm Post subject:
BlueNGold wrote:
troy wrote:
Laker problems:
* poor, inconsistent play from the center position (Gasol is trash/Montrel undersized)
* casual mindset from AD (no way is this guy a MVP candidate)
* careless turnovers by Lebron (seems to almost make intentional turnovers sometimes)
* horrid perimeter defense (opposing teams ALWAYS kill us at the 3point line)
* up and down play from Kuz (you can start adding D. Schroder, too)
* no rim protection/intimidating front line (where is Dwight, dammit)
* poor defense, in general (we are NOT the same defensive team as last year)
* Vogel not figuring out what to do with other teams strategy of bombing us with repetitive 3 point shots (the strategy of the opposing team cooling off isn't working)
* opposing teams over-achieving against us (not sure how to remedy this)
I'd add that there's no intensity to start the games and we fell in a hole... again. We're down double-digits in almost every 1Q we play, which isn't a good thing.
I'm starting to think that the game-starting lob dunks to JaVale was our power-up last year.
First three quarters lobs. Easy peasy points. They would pump up the squad. Missing not just rim protection but lob city mia. Part of that is DS in Rondo out.
Ehhh whatever - In a series, we would beat them 4-1 (not that they're making the playoffs). While our defense could def. improve, teams just get hot from three sometimes, it is what it is.
4-0 ... we play consistent defense in the playoffs
We're not the same team from last year. Actually, last year we played consistent defense even during the regular season already. Do you think Harrell and Gasol are gonna turn into shotblocking machines in the playoffs all of a sudden?
No, but AD will. How many block shots did Dwight and McGee have in the playoffs?
Don't need to block shots. It's the threat of blocking shots that deter teams from driving is what made our defense so good.
and besides that it was the lack of perimeter defense that killed us tonite
Like I've said before, good rim protection allows your perimeter defenders to be more aggressive at closing out three point shooters which leads to better perimeter defense. It all starts with the shotblockers.
Lakersfever -
I understand your point, but I think you may be oversimplifying.
To start last year you are correct in your assessment.
However, early in 2020 vs the Pistons the Lakers had an insane 20 blocks...yet barely put away a pistons team who went at our guys...how? By continuously attacking the rim and getting to the FT line (35 times).
I remember that game because it shocked me that no matter how many swats, they kept going at the rim, and getting calls. Pistons actually led that game into the 4th quarter.
After that, I believe the league took notice and teams started going at the Lakers more in the middle.
Then advance to the playoffs...there were series where Mcgee, Dwight, or both had very little play.
I will not disagree that I'd love to have an athletic big who can shot block and be a rim runner. With that said, I can definitely see why the Lakers could have looked at last season and perhaps believed that in the end blocks can be an empty calorie stat.
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