LAKERS -at- KINGS - 3/3 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

 
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2021 11:13 pm    Post subject: LAKERS -at- KINGS - 3/3 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

Time to Rest and Recover... Welp. No LeBron. No AD. No Gasol. No AC...and No D.

Really not a lot to read into this game because so many of our best, smartest defenders were out. That left the floor wide open for the Kings to score.

What you got was various Laker bench units able to work out some of their offensive issues, but were ultimately exposed defensively.

The Lakers had a 1-point lead heading into the fourth. As Vogel made a line change, bringing in three players, sitting three, the team fell flat and fell back by 8 points.

They chipped away at the lead and caught the Kings. Down the stretch it was Schröder doing work. He hit a floater in the paint. He hit Trezz for a score. He missed a great look at a floater with 1:20 left. He attacked and scored a big And-1 with 57 seconds left and took the 1-point lead. After we gave up yet another score, he attacked and fouled out Fox with 42 seconds left on a drive. He made both clutch FTs to lead by 1.

They’d give up another layup as Morris couldn’t contain an easy Barnes drive. It came down to another Schröder drive. He got penetration, threw up a floater and got hit on the finish, but the shot bounced around the rim and came off. Trezz choked a point-blank putback, and the Lakers trailed by 1 with 2.5 second left.

The refs seemingly review everything these days. They didn’t review Hield’s foot on the three line earlier in the game. That 1-point difference now really came back into play. The Lakers were forced to foul, and down 3, they couldn’t hit a long buzzer beater. Lakers fell 123-120.

“They gave us some excuse that too much time had passed,” Vogel said of the review on that three.

Plenty of offense in that game as Schröder had 28, Harrel had 26 and Kuzma had 25. Unfortunately, we didn’t play well on both ends.


Schröder -- -- Good effort from Dennis. We put the ball in his hands over and over down the stretch and he was delivering quite a bit. He was able to get to his strong hand, around the primary defenders and score again and again. Earlier in the game, he was also getting to his midrange and knocking those down, as well. At the very least, we get a lot more reps with Trezz and the bench. There were quite a few more two-man actions for him to run tonight without LeBron running things. So Schröder was able to come away with 9 assists. The prettiest might have the pocket pass between the legs to Harrell in the first half for a dunk. Late in the game, he did have another good feed to Trezz on a bang-bang play that we scored on. The Lakers got nickel and dimed by the refs in this game. Earlier Schröder stopped to rise up for a three, trying to get a man to run up his back. He got the contact, but an offensive foul. Guess they aren’t giving him the same calls as other guys in the league. Dennis was beside himself, especially after having to eat an elbow from Curry a couple games earlier. The Stats: He scored 28 points on 11-20 shooting (2-4 from three, 4-5 from the line) to go with 1 board, 9 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 34 minutes. He was a +9.

Caldwell-Pope -- -- Weird game from KCP. He didn’t miss a shot, went 4-4, just did not shoot a lot. Sometimes a little over selective on his attempts. Maybe he’s just trying to get back into a groove and only wants the premium looks. He sank a 16-footer off a horns handoff. He hit a runner off the glass (should have been an And-1). He hit a three in transition. He sank a kickout three. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-4 shooting (2-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 2 assists and 1 foul in 29 minutes. He was a +20.

Kuzma -- -- He started the Laker scoring with a three and sank a couple more in the first half on his way to 14 points on 5-8 shooting. Strong first two quarters. Felt like we should have played him another couple minutes in the half in place of Wes. He sank a big corner three out of a timeout on a Schröder pass out from the baseline. Nice play and you knew he was hitting that. He was involved in a play where the refs erased a couple of FTs for him. He attacked and got hit for FTs. The Kings called for a review and they called a foul on Trezz who had his back turned to the player who tripped over him and ran into Kuz. Again, refs doing work in this one. Erase a couple points there. Another double-double from Kuz tonight. His best play on the boards might have been a defensive board going up high from behind to yank it down, then he pushed it down court and scored an And-1 with his left. The Stats: He scored 25 points on 10-20 shooting (4-10 from three, 1-3 from the line) to go with 12 boards (4 offensive), 3 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 5 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a +8.

Morris -- -- Big three with 3:49 left as we were chipping away at the lead. He’d sink 3-7 from three. That’s perfect. His man wanted to leave him and roam the paint. He was able to make him pay. He scored another bucket on a drive, going high off glass. Defensively, he got burned on a drive in the final minute when Barnes attacked him quickly. That one hurt. He was upset about his defense the other night...and, well, painful finish to this one. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-10 shooting (3-7 from three) to go with 5 boards, 3 assists and no fouls in 30 minutes. He was a +6.

Jones -- -- From 10-day contract to starting C for the Lakers with barely a couple practices. The D broke down a number of times as a result. His best moment was getting a block on a finish attempt to force a shotclock violation. But he wasn’t in good position defensively often tonight. I imagine he’ll get another 10-day deal after the break. Vogel said he wasn't sure, but thought Jones should be optimistic. The Stats: He didn’t shoot or score to go with 1 board, 1 block and 3 fouls in 15 minutes. He was a +1.

Harrell -- -- Already mentioned him missing the point-blank putback. Obviously, got to finish that. But let’s rewind a little. He was called for a tech for yelling for an And-1 after a score early in this game. There are probably 100 of those techs that could be called nightly in that case. He was angry about it afterward. Add in that he drops 26 points and had no freethrows on 22 attempts. I think 3 were perimeter attempts. That’s it. There were several where he was fouled on. He couldn’t say a thing about it after that tech. Nickel and dimed all night. Caught up to the team. Offensively: Dunk, dunk, short one in the paint and a tech, dunk on the break, putback dunk, tip in, post up spin and dunk. Throw in a couple missed jumper including a three and that was his 14-point half. Teammates did a good job setting him up for some of those dunks, but Trezz also hustled on the offensive glass to manufacture some points. Second half, he got to a putback, hit a floater, was called for a weak charge where it looked like he had the angle, he dunked on the screen-roll, hit a floater off the two-man game, another layup off the two-man game that should have been an And-1. He got to an offensive board and hit Schröder for a three. Schröder found him again for a short bank. Defensively, he’s not providing enough resistance. This is why you don’t close with him when teams have their starters targeting him. They’ll get better on D and tonight is even tougher when you don’t have guys like AD/LeBron around him to erase mistakes. Definitely some good moments of communication by Trezz as he scrammed guards out of mismatches a number of times so he could take bigger men. That mobility and communication will be key to their improvement. The Stats: He scored 26 points on 13-22 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 13 boards (8 offensive), 1 assist, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 33 minutes. He was a -2.

Horton-Tucker -- -- He was the engine offensively as Schröder rested. Just no way around it with all our missing bodies. That resulted in a lot of dribbling by THT. Not the greatest offense and not a great job in getting us into sets where guys could work open off ball. Again, this is why you play all these minutes. You’ve got to work on the issues. Defending him, you give him the jumper, go under screens and try to make him make more difficult reads. He slippery, though. That handle can get him places. The long reach allows him to finish tough ones or draw fouls (he has that great stretch-out/gather move that often draws a whistle and did tonight). When he can break down the D and make the simple dump offs, good things usually happen. He was able to set up Trezz some tonight for that dunks or a floater. Again, got to get reps and build chemistry. He had the team-worst -11 in the first half. But we running a Dudley/McKinnie/Wes lineup out there, so that will be rough on anyone’s +/-. They still played a -4 with him on the floor in the second half. It’s hard to be critical of our team D with some of these lineups, but the communication was poor. The rotations were off. He’s going to be a good defender. He had a great pass deflection on the perimeter and that led to a throwdown attempt for him. That long reach, his willingness to learn and play hard on that end, just give him time. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-9 shooting (0-1 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a -15.

Matthews -- -- It felt like I was watching a little kid play ball out there. He missed a wild looking chuck from the freethrow line. Then tried to create off the dribble, turned it over, then fouled. He missed a point blank putback layup. In the second half, he killed me. Dudley did a great job setting up a set after we just had a dribble-fest possession by THT. Dudz found Wes cutting backdoor for what looked like a sure layup, but Wes didn’t take it. He overpassed and we didn’t get a point on that possession. Just ridiculous. You want minutes? You have to score on that. One nice play in this one, knocking a ball loose on D and then a quick outlet to Trezz for a dunk, but I hated the minutes tonight. Hope the break gets him rested and right. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-2 shooting to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 16 minutes. He was a -12.

Dudley -- -- What we need from him in a game like this is Dudley organizing the offense and playing that Gasol role as a passer shooter. We started to see a little of that as the game went along. THT was dribbling a ton in this game and Dudley stepped in a little to help. I wish he did more of that sooner. I’m not sure if getting the reps in now will help in some way later, but at the very least, maybe he’ll be a little more in tune with helping guys like THT improve their mental game. Play of the game, maybe season for Dudz tonight: Fox was sizing him up at the end of the third quarter and Duz went after him, swiped the ball with a long reach, pushed out the break and hit McKinnie for the layup. Too funny. Fox was thinking this was going to be an easy bucket on a mismatch and got owned. We ran Dudley at PF tonight, not the C like the last one. The Stats: He didn’t score or shoot, had 3 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 foul in 14 minutes. He was a -11.

McKinnie -- -- He had some moments out there. This was his first real minutes with the team. We’ve run a lot of 4-minute stretches of garbage time, but he got into the game while the battle was still raging. Offensively, he drew FTs crashing the glass and also had a putback jam. He sank one of his two attempts from three. He finished a layup on the break with Dudley and had another layup cutting when Dudley found him. All good stuff that would fit in around our normal rotation guys. Defensively, he showed some good lateral movement on D and also drew a charge, stepping in on a rotation. He had the team-low -19, but again these were deep bench lineups. The question is whether he could play a role with the guys that were out. Wes is making a strong case that McKinnie can. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-6 shooting (1-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 steal and 1 foul in 16 minutes. He was a -19.

Vogel -- -- Key Moment: Up 1 with 35 seconds left. Kings call timeout. Trez/Morris,/Kuzma/KCP/Schröder. Morris got scored on by Barnes for an easy layup. If Bron plays, that’s probably his cover. And Bron has been playing some great D lately. That gave the Kings the go-ahead score.

Key Substitution: Man, the Lakers rested Kuz last night, LeBron tonight and came up with two L’s. Should have just went all in on securing this W if you were planning on not playing LeBron in both. The bench was shuffled quite a bit. Having Trezz back in his role off the bench seemed to work. We didn’t get him activated the previous night. Tonight, he was. That left a green Jones as the starter for 16 minutes. He was a +1 but the team was not on the same page defensively.

Key Stats: Kings shot 60% and Hield went 11-15, including 7-11 from three. They just broke down far too many times. A lot miscommunication and bad decision led to wide open looks.
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Kobe_Is_King13
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2021 11:27 pm    Post subject:

First comment.....
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SweetP
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2021 11:43 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB. Close but no cigar.
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mhan00
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2021 11:55 pm    Post subject:

Why oh why does Wes play? If Vogel really doesn’t want to play anyone else, I suggest he just have the team go 4 on 5 instead. The empty spot on the floor that the other team can double off of at least won’t throw the ball away.
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A Mad Chinaman
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2021 7:48 am    Post subject:

Good to give the Lakers' JV Squad some time

Given the Kings' defensive and offensive ratings, these players are the "Not Ready for Prime Time" team

Best Thing is that it gave the stars needed rest and invaluable PT for TNT/Jones

KCP/Matthews just need rest
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DrDent
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2021 8:18 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB:


Wont say much, you covered it, but will say this:

Very surprised Frank didnt go after the refs more. Trying to be objective here, but that officiating crew seemed to just have it in for the lakers with pettiness and unproffessionalism:

1. Trez tech for simply saying and 1
2. After that giving trez zero fts when he had 19 of his attempts at the rim. That was “we are sending you a message” childish behavior by that crew
3. Electing to call that foul on ds when he created contact on offense just cuz a players face hit ds elbow. Both booker and curry had exact similar plays and announcers said “per letter of the law”(rules) yes defensive player fouled. But suddenly rules changed for this one.
4. Officiating crew refusing to take do the right thing by wiping away a 3 pointer and making it a 2.

There are other instances but this was truly disgusting. I really wish frank would have ripped into them he had justifiable ammo to bring attention to it.

All of the above coulda been critical in the games outcome.
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danzag
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2021 8:44 am    Post subject:

Thanks, DB.

Let's just be thankful for the ASG break and let our guys rest a little bit.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2021 12:23 pm    Post subject:

The refs were letting all sorts of contact go on both sides. It looked chippy out there several times and I blame the refs for not stepping in and calming things down.

Lakers shot 44% from 3 point range but the Kings shot 48% from the same. The Lakers also gave up 64 points in the paint compared to 62 for the Lakers. Interior and three point defense were both poor.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2021 3:10 pm    Post subject:

Laker7 wrote:
The refs were letting all sorts of contact go on both sides. It looked chippy out there several times and I blame the refs for not stepping in and calming things down.

Lakers shot 44% from 3 point range but the Kings shot 48% from the same. The Lakers also gave up 64 points in the paint compared to 62 for the Lakers. Interior and three point defense were both poor.


Curious how Kings have several guys at 6'10, even those who are shot blockers (Holmes, has had several 6 block games), yet they gave up that many points in the paint. Is that a result of Walton being that poor on defensive schemes?

As much as Vog irritates me at times with overly predictable rotations and slowness with in game adjustments, I think if he was the Kings coach with that roster they'd be a vastly better D, and likely be making a good run for the 8th seed with a .500 or better record at the break.
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Eagle2904
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2021 3:43 pm    Post subject:

It's okay. Just gotta get healthy.
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BruceLeroy1985
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 09, 2021 9:03 pm    Post subject:

Kobe_Is_King13 wrote:
First comment.....

I swear, anyone who makes a comment like this should just be automatically banned. Seriously. How old are you? Idiot
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