JAZZ -at- LAKERS - 4-9-23 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Regular Season Finished... The Lakers pulled out to an early 13-3 lead with LeBron dropping three threes early on. They team was pushing transition as well, but got stagnant at times offensively and allowed the Jazz to stay in touch.

They’d close the first half on a 16-4 run, going up by 11 as they moved the ball well and continued to run. The Lakers had 22 points on the break in the first half.

Turnovers and some poor shot selection in the third, allowed the Jazz to go on a 9-0 run and cut the lead down to 4.

With just over 4 minutes left in the fourth, the Jazz capped off another 8-0 run after the Lakers had pushed the lead back to double digits. In the final minute, LeBron knocked down two more of his eight threes on the night and put away the Jazz for good. The Lakers won 128-117.

“We need to clean up some stuff defensively,” Ham said afterward.

No rest for the weary. They face the Wolves in the play-in game on Tuesday. They’ll need to game plan much better than they did in the first half the last time the Lakers played.

“It’s been a grind, man,” AD said.

Win the next one and you can earn yourself a little extra time off.


LeBron -- -- After two big threes in the final minute, a dagger and a backbreaker in two straight possessions, he put the crown on his head. Ball game. That sealed the deal. He was on fire from behind the arc at the start and then closed it late with a couple of bombs. Eight threes in this one. Hopefully, he can carry the shooting over to the playoffs. Prior to those two, he also sank another much-needed three with 3:30 left. Great shooting night. He had 17 points on 6-12 shooting in the first half. Another 7-13 in the seconds half. Fairly steady game, although there was a stretch, where we stopped moving the ball and the Jazz went on a run. Defensively, the energy picked up a little after AD got mad. We need Bron to elevate that part of his game as that’s seemed to lag more since his return. The Stats: He scored 36 points on 13-25 shooting (8-14 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 6 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 33 minutes. He was a +20.

Davis -- -- I liked some of the guard screen actions they ran for AD deep in the paint early on. That allowed him to get low position and score (or find a teammate when they had to send some extra help). Defensively, some great moments with 4 blocks and 3 steals. There was one sequence in the second half where he blocked a shot, the Lakers pushed it out, blew it and AD was still back at the rim to reject the drive, control it and send it down court for a score. In the first half, he also intimidated a Jazz player into a travel when he was defending a two-on-one situation. He said their communication was poor and he didn’t like the defense on the ball, either. He was annoyed with Bron on one breakdown as LBJ just stood around while AD tried to handle two guys under the hoop. Again, you missed some of the pressure Schröder put on the ball. The guards were pretty soft defensively. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 7-15 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 13 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, 4 blocks, 4 turnovers and 2 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a +10.

Russell -- -- I believe all three of his threes were off passes from Reaves. Sometimes extra passes, but all of those DLo was wide open. Some good chemistry there. He’d make a couple of tough midrange shots, one he wanted the foul on. He’d also get a layup leaking out. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 6-13 shooting (3-8 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 5 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 33 minutes. He was a +10.

Reaves -- -- I’ve got 5 of his 6 assists as Reaves finding guys for threes. I don’t have notes on the other one, but some excellent work finding wide open teammates. Often, passing on a good look for a great look. He also knocked down 3-4 from three (the one miss a midcourt chuck at the buzzer that nearly went in). So, again, super efficient with what he did offensively tonight. Defensively, he was getting overpowered a bit too much at times. He had a couple nice challenges early on, but he wasn’t keep guys away from the rim. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 3-5 shooting (3-4 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 6 assists, no turnovers and 2 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a +20.

Vanderbilt -- -- A little more aggressive game from him offensively. Several dunks. One off an interior feed. Another cutting baseline off a Beasley drive. Another on a great bounce pass from DLo that curled around a defender. Another dunk off a feed from Bron. He’d then tip in his other make at the front of the rim. So some effectiveness in getting him the ball close to the rim. Vando also had a nice long outlet to AD for a dunk, as well. He’s going to be in the spotlight on both ends of the floor in the next game. Wolves will make him beat them, and we will need his D. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-7 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a +6.

Beasley -- -- A couple areas where Beasley is especially deadly: The pull-up threes in transition (he hit one of those and I think I read he was over 50% on those); the other was on handoffs. He sank another of those tonight at the top of the arc, as well, today. They are starting to figure out how to get him in his spots a little more. He still had one or two poor shot choices, but they are making some strides with the chemistry. Ideally, we have it figured out like a team like the Heat or the Warriors with their shooters, where they know exactly what they want to get, it happens fast and they have counters that are equally as quick. We just haven’t had that much floor time to get it to that level yet. He attacked the rim a couple of times and was hammered for FTs. He also went coast to coast at the end of the third quarter for a layup. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 4-10 shooting (3-9 from three, 2-4 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 3 assists and 1 foul in 27 minutes. He was a -6.

Hachimura -- -- I don’t know how many of his shots rimmed in and out but it happened a ton tonight. He went 0-6 from three and at least half of those were down and out. He was able to score in the midrange a couple of times. He bailed out the offense a few times. Once, just beating the shotclock on an attack from the corner. Another, our set busted and we just threw the ball into the post for him to create and he hit the turnaround. Late in the game he ha d tough And-1 fade over Jones, where he shot on his way down for the And-1. He also had a key block late in the game. His rim protection has been strong lately. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-14 shooting (0-6 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 1 block and no fouls in 23 minutes. He was a -4.

Brown -- -- Relatively quiet night. He knocked down a wing three when Bron drew a double next to him. I feel like he’s due for one of those hot shooting nights. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-5 shooting (1-3 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist and no fouls in 18 minutes. He was a -5.

Gabriel -- -- He scored a couple buckets around the rim. One on a reverse when AD found him under the rim. Another in the second half when he had a delayed cut to the rim as Bron sucked all the defenders toward him and then hit Wenyen cutting baseline.The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-3 shooting to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 16 minutes. He was a +4.

Bamba -- -- Feels like we could use his size in the next game, but they just haven’t had time to develop the chemistry. Wish we could have had a blowout today to get him extra time. He got in for half a minute of garbage time and grabbed a board tonight. The Stats: He didn’t score and had 1 board in 1 minute. He was a +0.

Christie -- -- In for half a minute of garbage time. The Stats: No stats.

Swider -- -- In for half a minute of garbage time. The Stats: No stats.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: They never really found separation tonight until the very end. Up 120-117 with 2:30 left and a timeout. Out of that we missed on a Rui three when Bron drew a double. Jazz had a chance to tie or cut it to 1 on the other end. Olynyk attacked the rim and Rui rejected the shot and we turned it into a bucket by AD on the other end to go up 5. Huge defensive play. We got another stop and AD was pulled down from behind on the offensive glass to regain possession and then Bron buried yet another three, the dagger to go up 8 with just over a minute left. Bron then capped it off with another deep three with 39.7 seconds left and the Lakers went up 11 -- an 8-0 run to take the W.

Key Substitution: How about we talk about no Dennis in this one. It’s really seemed like the defensive activity and pressure has been off since he’s been out. Guards need to step it up a little more. In the next game, they can’t let Conley go off and get Gobert going like they did in the first half of the Wolves game. A lot of that, most of that, was on scheming (no switching, our big too far back at times, as well, and help the helpers not in proper position).

Key Stats: The Lakers won the break 26-14. They were dominant early in the game, 22-5 in the first half. So they got outscored 9-4 in the second half.

[tox]

Thanks DB!

[Dr. Laker]

Thanks, DB!
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[michaelg]

Thanks DB. Thanks for all the write ups this season, you are amazing! Hopefully the team can carry some hot shooting into the coming weeks, everyone’s tendons stay strong, and they get back to that elite defensive level.

[pio2u]

Thx DB!

[ThePageDude]

Thank you DB and here's hoping you get to write at least 17 more game summaries!

[A Mad Chinaman]

Thanks for all the breakdowns this season

As LBJ/AD noted, finishing above .500 after a 2-10 start is remarkable - would have been magical if they had beaten the Clips

This much better constructed team is able to thrive without AD/LBR playing major MPG and better shooting

Hopefully Vando will incorporate many of the ways of Draymond to providing a larger offensive impact on games while providing lockdown defense on people such as Ant Man on Tuesday

Look forward to DS placing great pressure on Conley with his high octane energy

Continue to see Rui’s growth with consistent production on offense and size on defense

DLo’s dependable shooting opens the court for LBJ/AD

AR is always “Nails!”

Gabriel’s “Dawg” and energy

Brown’s defense is appreciated and hoping that he will be able to make strategic outside shots

Discovering how and when to get Beasley his shots is an ongoing process that is key to the Lakers’ playoff success

Will Bamba make the fans and his teammates dance the “La Bamba” because of his play - that might be needed against Gobert for a few minutes (if he doesn’t punch another of his teammates

[Startrout]

Thank you again for your write ups all year DancingBarry! It’s what I most look forward to after the games.

What a crazy and often frustrating season. We must of lost a dozen games in the closing seconds this year. It got so bad it was almost shocking when we did finally win one. We had to deal with the whole WestBrook experiment/fiasco too. But now we seem to have a solid foundation for the future (thank you front office).

This was not an impressive win, but I think players were hesitant to go full out and increase their risk for injury. Hopefully, that won’t be the case in the next game. Minnesota is really a poor matchup for us, but if we can get by them I feel like we have the best possible route to the Western Conference Finals. At least LeBron looked a little better than he has been in previous games. We need Schröder back.

[Hammett]

Thanks DB for another great season of write ups! On to the playoffs!


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