PACERS -at- LAKERS - 3/12 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

 
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:27 pm    Post subject: PACERS -at- LAKERS - 3/12 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

Just Get the Ws... The Lakers still aren’t whole after the All Star break, but they’ve got to find a way to scratch out wins.

They fell back early after a sluggish offensive first quarter. They’d trail by 8 and that margin would stay the same as the teams played even over the next couple of quarters.

The Lakers put together a 15-2 run early in the third to take back the lead, but saw that fade away as they started going to the bench rotations, and once again they were down by 8 heading into the final quarter.

In the fourth, LeBron started picking on Sabonis off the two-man action with Trezz. The attention they drew, opened up Kuzma and he got rolling.

Kuzma sank a couple of threes to get the halfcourt offense going. The Laker D ignited the break as they finally began to impose their will on the Pacers.

“We just did a good job exploiting their weaknesses,” Kuzma said.

Kuzma had 15 points in the fourth quarter, and KCP came up with a key steal on an inbounds with 9 seconds left. He iced the game from the line.

The Lakers won the final quarter 34-21 and took the W, 105-100.


LeBron -- -- Chess game down the stretch. Early on, a lot of touches in the post for LeBron. That usually resulted in FTs, but he also setup Trezz for a dunk on one. They didn’t get going, however, until he started relentless hunting Sabonis and applying pressure. That resulted in another dunk for Trezz, then a kick to Kuzma for a three. In his only post up in the fourth, he saw the help come, surveyed the weakside of the offense and hit Kuz for another three. He’d then pick on Sabonis for another layup and now the Lakers were rolling and led by 6. The Pacers countered by bringing in Turner and sliding Sabonis onto Kuzma. The Lakers went after that once, but LeBron then gave up the keys to Schröder to work the offense on the sideline. Good job orchestrating the offense in the fourth. We’ll ignore the two FTs missed with 3:23 left. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 5-13 shooting (1-4 from three, 7-11 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 10 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a +11.

Schröder -- -- Just 4 points (0-4 shooting) in the first half to go with 4 turnovers. He started the second half with his fifth turnover on a pass off on a drive. With the 5 turnovers apparently now out of the way, he cleaned it up from there. Quietly, he had some key plays. Late in the fourth, we went to the two-man action with Schröder and Trezz. Both guys came up with big scores, Schröder’s was an attack to the right for a layup with 1:20 left. These are moments where you typically rely on LeBron over and over and it becomes predictable. Having someone else give the D a new look at a key juncture paid off. There are two sides of the floor. Dennis may be inconsistent with the offense, but he’s putting in some strong work on the other end. You need stops. The Lakers started to turn things around when Dennis poked the ball away from his man with a nice reach to ignite the break in that fourth. He also broke up a long pass to get the Lakers another break opportunity. As frustrating as the game was offensively, he had some excellent moments on D that helped rally the team. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 3-11 shooting (1-3 from three, 4-6 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 4 assists, 4 steals, 1 block, 5 turnovers and 3 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a -2.

Caldwell-Pope -- -- Kenny with an inbound steal on a switch to swipe a bounce pass and get fouled with 8.5 seconds left, Lakers up 3. Give him the defensive play of the game. He hit the FTs and the Lakers went up 5 to ice it. Not a lot of noteworthy plays from KCP, but I’ll take that AC impersonation any day. After the All Star break, we’re hoping to see if KCP’s legs were impacting his shooting. He’d go 0-2 from three tonight. I imagine we actually won’t get great games from KCP until AD is back and we get into a groove. We’ll see. He’d score the Lakers first bucket off a LeBron drive to find KCP cutting for a layup. Then was ineffective for the rest of the half and led the team with a -11 in his minutes. He’d get an And-1 later trailing the break. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-6 shooting (0-2 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 28 minutes. He was a -10.

Jones -- -- Signed to his second 10-day deal yesterday, he was back in the starting lineup. (They really should make it a 5-game contract vs. number of days). We’ve got at least two more weeks without AD, and Gasol is still in health protocol. Plus, trade deadline is still lingering, so this is how it will go. Good opportunity from him. We set him up for a lob off a stagger screen series early in the game. That was his only points in the first half. He started the second half by giving up FTs with a second on the shotclock on the perimeter. He’d finish a lob from Morris off a Morris/LeBron two-man sequence. Quiet night, but he’d burn 16 minutes for us with a +1. Hopefully, Gasol is back soon. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-3 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 16 minutes. He was a +1.

Morris -- -- Quality outing from Morris. Ideally, he’s doing this with AD instead of in AD’s place in the starting lineup. Early in the second half he took a handoff from LeBron on the perimeter and attacked. You could see the D trying to stick with LeBron and that allowed Morris to get penetration for a lob to Jones. When you’re aggressive off sequences with LeBron, you can catch the D overplaying LBJ. He’d knock down a couple of threes and draw FTs for his points. Defensively, he had a nice rotation for a block at the rim. Worst play of the night was a turnover with about 13 seconds left in the half, trying to throw an outlet. We paid the price of the poor clock management by giving up 3 points to close the half. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 2-3 shooting from three (2-2 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 2 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover and no fouls in 19 minutes. He was a -1.

Harrell -- -- Some excellent work anchoring the D in his first stint. He saved a couple of layups with blocks and helped ignite the break. He’d finish with 3 blocks at the half and for the game. As mentioned, he was key down the stretch, just working the two-man actions with LeBron and Schröder. Trezz had a huge And-1 score with 1:47 left, putting in a tough one over Turner. A lot more two-man action. I don’t know if that was just for tonight or something we will see with more frequency, but it was effective. We ran a couple horns handoff sequences. The first resulted in a KCP score. The second, Trezz looked off the defender, kept it himself and attacked for a dunk. They’ve also been running that a little more, but that might be the first time he’s kept it for himself. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 8-11 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 3 blocks and 3 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a +2.

Kuzma -- -- Hitting the boards early and scoring late. He’d get a couple of hoops in the first half, a turnaround on iso from about 18 feet out and a corner three on a kickout. But the offense came fast in the fourth. Drew Fts to start the quarter. He’d miss a hook, but Trezz would clean it up. He’d attack for more FTs. He putback in a LeBron miss on the break. Then the O started to pick up more with about 7 minutes left. He’d hit a fade across the lane attacking out of the corner to tie the game up. He sank a wing three next time down spacing the floor for that LBJ/Trezz two-man game. He’d knock down a corner three off a semi-back screen from Trezz while LeBron worked weakside. Then he’d get a layup in transition to force a timeout as the Lakers pulled ahead by 5. Nice flurry of activity there. If this was a boxing match, the Lakers had their opponent in the corner and Kuz was connecting blows. A 24-13 game off the bench. The Stats: He scored 24 points on 8-18 shooting (3-6 from three, 5-6 from the line) to go with 13 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 30 minutes. He was a +3.

Caruso -- -- They didn’t get him for long in this game. He hit his head on the floor after saving a loose ball and went to the locker room in the first half. He didn’t return. He’d attack on iso for a couple of FTs and also go coast to coast for a layup for his scores. Lakers can’t afford losing more players. They can barely compete. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-1 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist and no fouls in 7 minutes. He was a +7.

Horton-Tucker -- -- With AC out early, we had to rely on THT more. AC was a +7 in the first half, THT a -10. Not a good first half, getting lost on D and not effective on the other end. In the second half, we saw the rarest of plays this season THT attempted and finished a drive with his left hand. First time all season. Good to see a little confidence in it. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-7 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 17 minutes. He was a -5.

Matthews -- -- We got a +5 from him in the first half, including a drive for a tough And-1 bank. But he also threw a pass between LBJ’s legs for a turnover. Some pretty good D in the second half, including erasing a transition opportunity by taking a hard charge. Good rotations, sometimes ahead of the pass, anticipating well. He had a couple quality games after he was benched earlier in the season. I’m curious to see if he’s rested right now from the break and we see the same. Team high +19 in 22 minutes. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-3 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 1 steal, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a +19.

Vogel -- -- Key Moment: Let’s go with the defensive stop with 9.9 seconds left. The Lakers were up 3. They needed to defend the three line. They switched everything. Wes did a good job challenging the inbounds pass and KCP stepped around Sabonis after switching on him to steal the bounce pass. Nice to see the Lakers get a stop instead of going into OT.

Key Substitution: We didn’t start LeBron in the fourth. We brought him in with 8:58 left and the game changed from that point. We trailed by 8, a minute later it was down to 2, and the Pacers were on their heels.

Key Stats: The Lakers made 30-39 from the line. They were struggling to score early on, but were able to manufacture some points here. They scored 12 more from the line and only gave up 3 more points from three.
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mhan00
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:42 pm    Post subject:

Whew. Close one.
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A Mad Chinaman
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 13, 2021 12:19 am    Post subject:

Hope AC is ok

Hopefully TNT (along with Jones) will find/learn what niche he can effectively fulfill on this team
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DrDent
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 13, 2021 1:31 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB

Some good, some bad from this one. Cant help but notice the Pacers 3 shooting was terrible, they shot less FT's, but they lost only by 5. Hopefully team starts being more consistent during a game...but, that's a broken record at this point
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PenG_
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 13, 2021 4:45 am    Post subject:

Thankfully the Pacers bricked so many wide open threes
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akgolf
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 13, 2021 5:59 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB!
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TooMuchMajicBuss
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 13, 2021 7:33 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB. At least it's a win. Heal up Lakers!
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danzag
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 13, 2021 7:36 am    Post subject:

Thanks, DB!
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Dr. Laker
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 13, 2021 9:56 am    Post subject:

Thanks, DB! I forgot that they were playing last night.
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deal
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 13, 2021 10:52 am    Post subject:

Thanks !!! We need the team healthy again...
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