TWOLVES -at- LAKERS - 4-11-23 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

This Game, Man... Time and time again earlier in this season, this team found a way to disappoint fans -- letting big leads go, losing at the last second of multiple games or failing in overtime. After the trade deadline, they’ve worked on trying to change that mojo.

A poor first half by the Lakers in this game (when they had it going on a 14-2 run in the second quarter, the immediately gave up a 14-2 run to the Wolves). After trailing by 15 in the third quarter, the Lakers bench helped turn things around. They trimmed the Wolves lead down to 7 heading into the fourth quarter.

What changed this game was the Lakers defense. Specifically, the Lakers started switching everything. The Wolves are a poor iso team, one of the worst in the league. You want them playing one-on-one, not catching kickouts for open threes…or letting Conley slice a team apart by working off screens.

Once they started switching, the game changed. They also threw in a few perimeter double teams with some good rotations behind them. They locked down the Wolves, holding them to just 12 points in the fourth.

This should have been enough to easily take the game, but the Lakers couldn’t hit shots themselves. Good shots. Open looks. They didn’t try to manufacture freethrows despite being in the bonus way early in the fourth. Eventually, the Lakers caught the Wolves.

To close this game, however, it seemed like anything the Wolves couldn’t do, we decided to match them.

Tie score, timeout with 32.8 left. The Lakers turned the ball over on the inbounds as LeBron slowed up coming to the ball and the defender ran through to knock the ball loose. Bron dove for the ball and was called for a foul. Wolves ball with 30 seconds left. They promptly turn the ball over.

So after a timeout, we run the clock down. LeBron attacks baseline and finds Dennis in the corner. Bang. Huge three with just over a second left. Right in front of the TWolves bench. Glorious. That should have been it.

Of course, this team is still chasing after their mojo and can’t do anything easy. With 0.1 seconds left up three, AD was called for a foul on a closeout to Conley in the corner. The TWolves had 9 points at this point in the quarter. They’d finish with 12 and send it to overtime.

“I messed his game winner up,” AD said of Dennis’s three. “I apologize.”

On to overtime. Rui started the team off with a three. The Lakers would get a stop and Dennis would score a layup. The Lakers had a 5-point lead and were able to keep that as the teams went back and forth for the next couple minutes.

Up 3 with 19 seconds left and the ball, the Lakers threw the ball away on the inbounds. Again. With multiple Timberwolves busting down court, they got an open corner three with a chance to tie and blew it. In the first half, that was going down. After getting locked up, they blew the opportunity. After a timeout, Dennis was able to seal the deal with a couple clutch freethrows. Lakers win 108-102 in overtime to take the 7th seed.

What a game by Schröder. Russell was struggling badly. Once Dennis came in in that second half, he never left the game.

“He’s unbelievable,” Ham said of him. “Extraordinary. He lives for those types of moments.”

The team will get some much-needed rest and prep for the Grizzlies.


LeBron -- -- It was an adventure tonight. At times, brilliant. At other times, just awful in multiple ways. While he had a couple of disruptive defensive plays early on Towns, he let his man wander around the perimeter for open threes early on. He was just nailed to the floor, not mobile at all and that Wolves took advantage. The Lakers got burned on all of those. He was a -21 in 20 first half minutes. So the 4 minutes without him, the Lakers were a +10. He led the team in scoring with 16 points in the half as he started to put more pressure on the rim and hit a three. A strong third quarter by Bron. Hee picked it up on both ends and scored 11. He got downhill to aggressively go at Towns late in the quarter to pick up his fourth foul. A huge play as the Wolves were getting ready to have some second-unit minutes with Towns while AD rested. Bron took him out. Late in the fourth, as the teams went back and forth missing shots, Bron finally hit a three with 2 minutes left to tie the game up. A series of unfortunate events after that, however. With 1:21 left he got a switch with Towns, he settled for a jumper instead of attacking Towns who had 5 fouls and he missed. With 45 seconds left, he threw an awful cross-court pass that was easily stolen. A couple of bad plays on inbounds passes. One late in the game, he slowed up as the pass game, his defender ran through the ball to tip it away as a result, turnover. He’d have a bad inbounds pass himself in overtime, but luckily the Wolves couldn’t tie it up on the other game in transition. He was exhausted, though, in this game. We need him to play better D and that takes a lot out of him. He had his hands on his knees in overtime sucking for air. But he made big plays. That three that Dennis got, Bron collapsed the D and found him wide open. In OT, another great pass throwing it up high to AD from the corner who was able to score a layup. “This was definitely a playoff game,” Bron said of the atmosphere. He went a lot of minutes -- 45 -- and said, “You take the gas tank down to E.” The Stats: He scored 30 points on 12-21 shooting (3-6 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 6 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 5 turnovers and 5 fouls in 45 minutes. He was a -14.

Davis -- -- Super sloppy turnover-prone first half with 4 to lead the team. He’d get 12 points on 5-11 shooting, doing some good work on the offensive glass (6 offensive boards) for putbacks. But when you combined the 4 turnovers in there, just very inefficient. Meanwhile, Towns was 5-5 from the floor (6-6 from the line) for 17 with 4 assists. To start the second half, just 2 points for AD in the third quarter. I really wanted to see the Lakers run some of those guard screen plays along the baseline where AD comes off the DLo screen. This has potential to get KAT in foul trouble but also set up AD with low position. The Wolves were packing the paint, sending help. He battled on that offensive glass, though, if we weren’t getting him the ball (9 offensive boards). He’d pick out Towns’ fifth foul in the fourth on the offensive glass. He’d muscle in some putbacks, get a big bucket on the break and in OT powered up under the hoop to score over KAT after a great pass from Bron. Defensively, we finally leaned into his ability to switch. The Wolves wouldn’t go after him as a big with mismatches, but tried to get the ball to KAT. We kept KAT out on the perimeter and he’d end up passing the ball despite mismatches (some help at times zoning up). That was all fine until the end of regulation when AD spotted Conley coming off the screens wide open in the corner. He closed out and fouled (seen this before) to give up three FTs with 0.1 and tie it up. It’s been some adventures with him closing out to guys at the end of games this year. The Stats: He scored 24 points on 10-19 shooting (0-1 from three, 4-6 from the line) to go with 15 boards (9 offensive), 4 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks, 5 turnovers and 3 fouls in 43 minutes. He was a +9.

Russell -- -- Yikes. He looked off from the start. We ran the first play for him like we have in some other games and he was way off on the catch and shoot three. Just 2 points on 1-7 shooting in the first half. His only make was a pull-up from midrange. He did have half of the Lakers 12 assists in the first half. We got him into some two-man sequences in the second half and he was able to set up Bron for a three and hit AD for a layup to add a couple more assists. But the shot was completely MIA. Once Dennis came in and started balling, DLo sat except for a couple of SLOB plays late in the game where he was a screener. Maybe it’s good we start the playoffs on the road. He played so tight in front of the home crowd tonight that he was just unplayable. Ultimately, the playoffs are where you can make or break your value in a contract season. Hopefully, he shakes this one off and finds flow in the next game. The TWolves threw an athletic defender on him with some length. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-9 shooting (0-4 from three) to go with 3 boards, 8 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and no fouls in 24 minutes. He was a -2.

Reaves -- -- His three ball wasn’t falling tonight. He had been smoking in his last several games. Law of averages maybe coming to play there. This was a tricky game as the paint was a bit packed. That allowed the Wolves to get their hands in on some of his probes. I felt at times, he wasn’t quite as aggressive as he needed to be. He’d pass the ball a beat too soon before the D would fully commit. Or, he wouldn’t step on the gas to make something happen in spots where he had been aggressive in previous games. Still, hard to really say if that was the Wolves or Reaves feeling his first playoff atmosphere. “It was probably the loudest since I’ve been here,” Reaves said. Welp, now that he got that game out of the way, hopefully, we get him back to his usual efficiency. Felt like Ham left him on the bench too long in the first half, only bringing him back when Dennis twisted his ankle. Reaves had a couple of scores in transition that helped spark the Lakers on the 14-2 run. He’d also score on a pull-up attacking Conley and getting into the lane earlier. Still, he was sloppy himself, getting stripped a couple of times in the first half. He’d make his only three in the second half when his man went under the screen and he made him pay. He also had a nice attack on Edwards who closed out on him with 6 minutes left down 6 to earn a couple of big FTs. He’d miss a big three on a great pin-in by Vando with 4:18 left. Despite some of those issues, he was still solid out there. He had some tough matchups on defense (a switch on a KAT once or twice that I think nothing came of). Possessions against Edwards, as well. He held his own. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 4-13 shooting (1-5 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 3 assists, 3 turnovers and no fouls in 39 minutes. He was a +0.

Vanderbilt -- -- The Wolves were able to pack the paint with him out there early. That helpsed protect KAT as we can’t easily put pressure on the rim. Sloppy start offensively for Vando, unable to finish around the rim. He was aggressive on the offensive glass early, keeping possessions alive despite no credit for an offensive board. He had one block in this game, but looked like he was robbed of a couple others. He drew Towns’ third foul early in the second half taking a shot to the neck as Towns tried to get to the middle of the paint. His lone steam was a big one switching under the hoop and recovering with some crazy speed to deflect a pass with the Lakers down 3. Offensively, they’ve really got to find better ways to make teams pay. Late in the game, they had Vando set a great pin-in screen weakside for Reaves to take a pass for an open three. He missed, but that’s something we need to see more of. It’s hard to put him in the dunker spot when you have AD out there and floor spacing issues. Also, Vando struggles at times with his hands and that erases what should be some scores when he bobbles catches. We saw the Wolves hide KAT on him so he could avoid fouls and stay in the paint. It’s tricky. I think I saw some Rui, Bron, Vando combos out there tonight, which are easier to deal with, especially when you need Vando to shut someone down (Edwards tonight ended up 3-17 and 0-9 from three…we made him very uncomfortable). The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-2 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 22 minutes. He was a -12.

Schröder -- -- Huge freaking three with just over 1 second left in regulation. We should all be celebrating that as the clutch game winner it should have been. He took the kickout from Bron, lined it up in front of the TWolves bench and drilled it. Crypto went nuts. Dennis just stood their in front of the bench for extended time. But we choked that moment away for him. Let’s rewind a bit, though. In the first half, things looked dicey as he had a left ankle twist in the second quarter. He couldn’t move around the floor and we took a foul to get him out. They kept it loose and you didn’t notice it all the rest of the way. “I’ll be good,” he said after the game. He looked strong to start his next shift in the third quarter, scoring 7 straight helping spark a Laker push to close the third quarter. Momentum started to shift when he came off the bench in that third. He was a +22 in this game. Strong fourth. He attacked Conley in trans for FTs down 7. Swing through with 5:%1 to earn more FTs (love that when you are in the bonus early and struggling to get buckets). He had a steal, but he and Bron botched the advance pass and we turned it right back over. Then we found him for that big three late. In OT, he had a nice give and go for a layup. He buried a couple clutch ones with 8.4 seconds left up 3. All that while playing scrappy on D (including a couple of times ending up on KAT on switches. He’s bailed this team out of funks so many times this season. Hope he continues to deliver in the next series. “We didn’t do nothing yet special,” he said after the game. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 5-12 shooting (3-4 from three, 8-8 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 33 minutes. He was a +22.

Hachimura -- -- His strength was really on display tonight having to handle KAT at times never giving up ground. He had a man driving on him and just bounce off him to get a stop. Several big challenges at the rim as well. He said they watched a ton of film heading into this game. His mentality on that end of the floor has really be strong the past several weeks. Glad to see it coming to play in this intense game. Offensively, he buried a couple of threes, including a big one to start the overtime. That’s the huge difference with him and Vando and why Rui had more minutes and +20. He pulls bigs out of the paint, the floor opens up and he’s not only serviceable holding ground on the other end, he can challenge shots well. We had him run at the C spot with Bron out there, limiting Gabriel’s minutes, as well. He and Dennis flipped the game on its head. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 3-8 shooting (2-5 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 27 minutes. He was a +20.

Beasley -- -- Limited action in this one. He’d curl off a screen for a layup in the first half. He’d sink an open wing three when Bron drew the D, kicked it to Rui who swung it to Beasley. Those were his only buckets. Wolves are very familiar with Russell, Beasley and Vando. Hopefully, we see bigger games from that group going forward. They combined for just 7 points in this one. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-3 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 14 minutes. He was a -1.

Brown -- -- Again, we’re looking for two-way minutes. We need better offensively from him. He missed all three of his threes. He chucked up a tough shot on iso when the clock was low. He also overpassed on another to force a shotclock violaiton. His only make was a layup in transition. Sub part outing from him. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-5 shooting (0-3 from three) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 turnover in 17 minutes. He was a +10.

Gabriel -- -- Just a 2-minute stretch where he picked up 2 fouls and Ham was over that. No Bamba as he really hasn’t had a chance to be integrated with the team, so we went with Rui. The Wolves have two bigs out, so that made that decision easier. The Stats: He had 2 fouls in 2 minutes and was a -2.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: Let’s go to late in the fourth quarter. What a crazy game. We were locking down on D with all the switching, but time after time, we just couldn’t execute offensively. Still, let’s go to the final minute of this one. Tie score and we got a stop. Timeout with 32.8 left. We’ve come up dry, settled for threes, missed a ton of shots. It was a 16-9 fourth quarter at this point. What would the play call be? We’ll never know. Bron doesn’t run through an inbounds pass and then fouls on a dive in the backcourt (kind of a week call…I like when you let guys go after loose balls when no one has control). Anyway, now the Wolves have the ball with 30 seconds left tied up. They turn it over, fumbling the dribble into the backcourt. Okay, laker ball with 21.7 left and a chance to win it to close the game. Timeout again as we couldn’t inbounds the first time. Sigh. We eventually inbounded and got the ball to LeBron, he turned the corner, got to the rim, collapsed the D and found Schröder for a corner three off. Love that we didn’t settle. That should have been the game winner. Nope. AD fouls a three in the corner with 0.1 left when he and Bron miscommunicated a switch. Overtime. After all that, Ham and the team regrouped and came out for a strong 10-4 fourth quarter. So just 16 points for the TWolves in 16 minutes to close the game. Great job (finally!) going to the switching on D. That changed everything.

Key Substitution: Schröder and Rui were huge in this game (+22 and +20, respectively). Love that Ham kept Russell on the bench. Some coaches might not have, but that’s how this game played out and Ham limited Vando, Beasley and Russell, as needed, in this one. Some defensive subs for Vando late, but other than that the TWolves made it tough on those guys..

Key Stats: TWolves just 4 offensive boards, AD had 9. A 48-37 advantage on the glass. Big games are all about possessions. On the opposite end of that, the TWolves had 24 turnovers, the Lakers had 21. That can’t happen.

Coach’s Challenge: The Lakers had to burn a challenge with 9:22 in the third to save a foul on AD on a play that Vando blocked. Had AD not come up with a stupid take foul in the first half so Schröder could sit, we might not have had to protect him from the third foul. Of course, if the bad call wasn’t made, they could have saved the challenge for some other plays later. Regardless, we won the challenged, saved FTs, lost the jumpball, but the Wolves missed. In a tight game, glad we got something for our challenge.

Random Note: No pick swap for New Orleans. After the 2-10 start, those Pelican fans sure were licking their chops and giving Laker fans a hard time. Welp. One less asset in the AD trade.

[Startrout]

We tried really hard to lose, but winning was our destiny.

[DrDent]

This team just wants to raise my blood pressure and annoy the crap out of me.

But a tip of the cap to winning and getting into the playoffs.
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"One thing I admire about Kuzma is his unwavering confidence. He truly has no idea that he’s not as good as he thinks." - Killer_Z

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB! Excellent game by Schroeder, he has a knack for stepping up this season when we need him.

Frustrating game all right. Not nearly as frustrating as a loss though!

Playoffs it is!!

[mad55557777]

They allowed 16 points total in the 4th and OT combined, that’s the lowest in NBA history for a playoff game last regulation
It included a concession basket to ANT and that stupid AD foul

[A Mad Chinaman]

Scrappy game between two teams with rosters that are learning how to perform at the highest level during the playoffs - guess that is why both of these teams are playing each other in the "Play-In Games."

Fascinating that KAT thought that he was the victim of two "flop" calls while the TNT Gang thought that KAT didn't really want the ball when the highlighted several times where he was matched against AR and DS in the paint and didn't take advantage of the mismatches - in fact, went out to the perimeter

Hopefully Ham will figure out additional ways to get Vando effective on the offensive end of the ball so that his defensive prowess on the opposing team's best player(s) will be on display - in the Grizzs case, Jaren Jackson

Crazy TOs from LBJ where the ball wasn't close to anybody and couldn't inbound the ball. As Reggie said on the broadcast, AD needed to seriously up his game in the second half.

Lakers will go as far as LBJ and AD will take them - up and down. Miscues because of being too aggressive are acceptable, needless/careless TOs by AD/LBJ placed extra pressure/obstacles to win this game.

Hopefully this Lakers team will learn and grow from this game that will help them beat the Grizzs in the next round

[slavavov]

I know the Lakers played like crap for 2.5-3 quarters, but the way they fought back and won is the way good and great teams win.

This was an ugly, low-scoring game, the kind of game that doesn't favor us, but we still found a way to win. That's a quality that you need in order to advance in the playoffs.

At the same time, we're going home in the first round if DLO plays like he did offensively tonight, and the same goes for Reaves.

But we won the effort categories — rebounds, fast break points and free throws, and again, that's how good and great teams win. They find ways to win even when they're playing like crap.
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Lakers 49ers Chargers Dodgers

[tox]

Say what you will, I thought the Lakers' defense in the 4th was really good. Defense will win you games when your shooters are bricking.

Dennis was incredible today.

[joeblow]

Wow, huge props to Ham for making some nice adjustments as the game progressed. DLo wasn't working out, so he didn't just trust him to figure out and simply benched him as the game went on.

However, the main thing I was impressed with is how Ham's line up combinations switched around until he found something that worked well at keeping the TWolves from consistently scoring as regulation wound down. I mean, the last half of the fourth quarter, Minny didn't make one field goal!

Part of that is the fault of the TWolves' offense though, which definitely has huge holes that we ultimately exploited. I blame the coach, but also was surprised at how pedestrian Conley was as the primary playmaking PG veteran.

He was amazing aa a scorer tonight, so I'm not fully blaming him for the loss, but Minny's two stars in KAT and Antman really needed a traditional playmaker to set them up, especially in the 4th and OT. We dialed in on the one on one tendency of those two and shut them down with great defense and smart double teams.

If Conley, who only had 4 assists, would've set them up more instead of forcing them to create for themselves, it may have opened up their respective offensive games. Their team defense gets a thumbs up, though. I was impressed at how well they slowed us down in the first half with what they have.

Ah well, their limitations was our gain in the end. On to Memphis!

[A Mad Chinaman]

[lakerican]

[PenG_]

That game was stressful af

Lots of coffee needed this morning

[Lakers#1Team]

Thanks DB! What an ugly win but kudos to both Ham and the players for fighting through all the sloppiness. Good recognition by Ham that our former Minny players all came up small (or Minny was very familiar with them).

Play-in games seem to have a built-in stress factor that freaks most players out of their normal games. Kudos to DS and Rui for their help in righting the ship.

Now, going to Memphis, we are the ones playing with house money. Hope that loosens everyone up to play better.

[kfkilla]

[LakerLanny]

Without Schroeder's heroics they would have lost by double digits.

He was fantastic, I thought Reaves was excellent also.

The rest of the team? Not so much, but I will take a 7 seed after the horrific first 3 months of the season.
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Love, Laker Lanny

[joeblow]

[daytripper]

Welp they officially get the 7th seed after this win.

This game kinda sums up the entire season. Considering where they stood in the standings at the trade deadline can't really complain too much though. I wish they had more time to gel before the playoffs but it is what it is.

[TDRock]

[mad55557777]

whenever Lebron decides to play defense, we are the best defensive team in the league.

[ThePageDude]

[DancingBarry]

[LakerSanity]

We all know watching a game which team is better, regardless of what the score reflects. There are runs a team makes during a game which shows a peak that is either higher or lower than the peak displayed by the other team's runs.

The T-Wolves runs were not based on great defense or, even, amazing offense, but really sloppy mistakes/turnovers by the Lakers and bad help/weakside defense. The Lakers runs were based on the Lakers focusing in, creating opportunities and imposing their will, especially on defense and in transition.

This is what makes the Lakers so frustrating. They have a ceiling that almost no one else (save the Bucks and, maybe, a Durant-led Suns team) can match. However, whether due to age, inexperience or teammates thinking they can dial it in (and game manage) the same way Lebron/AD do, this team doesn't always put out the effort to demonstrate their ceiling... and, when they finally decide to, it can come too late.

Last night was one of these games. Charles Barkley was right - last night shows why the Lakers are a 7th seed instead of the 4th, 5th or 6th seed. There were at least a half of a dozen games which the Lakers lost just because they flipped the switch too late or took leads for granted, and stopped playing. They did the same thing last night in a lot of ways, but, luckily, still came out with a win.

This isn't just this season either. There were elements of it in 2020 as well. Remember, this team lost game 1 to Portland, only to dominate the next 4 games after. I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing happens - i.e. lack of effort/focus - with Memphis, especially with a noon PST start on a Sunday in Memphis after 5 days off.
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[A Mad Chinaman]