LAKERS -at- HEAT - 4/8 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

 
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2021 7:38 pm    Post subject: LAKERS -at- HEAT - 4/8 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

A Good Effort, But Too Many Turnovers... Added to the list of Lakers sidelined tonight, Kyle Kuzma and THT. The Lakers, however, were able to throw newcomers Andrew Drummond and Ben McLemore into the fire.

The freethrow disparity in the first quarter was a bit ridiculous. The Heat shot 18 to the Lakers 1 (on an illegal defense). There were several plays where the Lakers were attacking and taking contact, but not getting the calls. Throw in 6 Laker turnovers and you’d think they’d be in trouble. But despite all that, they trailed just 32-27 after the first.

In the second quarter, they fell back by 9, but took the lead on freethrows by newcomer Ben McLemore. That freethrow disparity started to even up as the Lakers shot 14 and the Heat 2 in the second quarter. Refs doing work.

By the half, the Lakers led 56-54.

The Lakers had another 9 turnovers in the third quarter and fell back by 8 points, before going on an 8-0 run to even it up again.

Heading into the fourth, they were down by just 3 and in the hunt.

The officiating caught up with the Lakers late in the game. Dennis Schröder wanted an illegal screen call that allowed the Heat to hit an open three to bump the lead to 8. Then Kieff was ejected after getting hit on the elbow with 2 minutes left on a turnaround jumper in front of the ref. Instead of Laker freethrows, it was techs for the Heat as his frustration with the officiating ended up being the dagger in this one. With that, Miami had a 10-point lead.

The Lakers can be mad at themselves for the 22 turnovers (just way too many to overcome), but it was a good effort by the team. They had no business being in this game with all the players out while going to the deep bench and integrating two brand new players.

Strong outing by KCP in the 110-104 loss. He scored 28 points and was a +5 in a 6-point loss.


Schröder -- -- Up and down game. He was 0-7 in the first half, but had 8 assists with just 2 turnovers. I can take that. Some really good work drawing the D off his speed to setup his guys for easy ones in that half. In the second half, however, the turnovers would pile up. He had back-to-back turnovers to start the half. He’d find Drummond with a nice post entry for a layup, but then pick up another turnover when they blitzed him on the two-man game. The Heat were very aggressive defending our playmakers. Give them some credit, but the team and Dennis have not played very clean no matter what D is thrown at them. He had 6 assists with 5 turnovers in that second half. He’d get his first field goal with 4 minutes left in the game on a layup. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 2-12 shooting (0-4 from three, 6-6 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 14 assists, 1 steal, 7 turnovers and 2 fouls in 40 minutes. He was a -5.

Caldwell-Pope -- -- He was possessed. Season high 28 points, sinking 6-11 from three. Vogel said he asked him to score 25. Strong first quarter with 10 points, sinking a couple of threes and getting out on the break (including one with Drummond). In the second quarter, you could see his confidence when he iso’d on a couple of plays. One he buried a three right over his man. On another, he attacked, spun and scooped in a layup high off the glass. He’d have 15 by halftime on 6-10 shooting. Some good finds by Caruso in the second half as KCP continued to hit those threes. Defensively, very good effort. He forced a couple of turnovers and didn’t get credit for steal. He led the team with a +5, only Laker in the positive in that stat. The team was a -11 in the 9 minutes he was off the court. Let’s get that confidence going. The Stats: He scored 28 points on 11-20 shooting (6-11 from three) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 39 minutes. He was a +5.

Drummond -- -- Back in the mix after the toe injury in his debut, he showed some great hands early on with two steals. One of those he pushed out and hit KCP on the break for a score. His minutes were shortened a bit in the first half as he picked up 3 fouls. Double-double tonight with 15 and 12. He had a nice dunk powering up early in the game. He’d hit a jumphook out of the ATO. He’d score on iso around Bam. Got to give him some props with the 5-6 from the line. He flips that freethrow shot up there pretty quick but had a good rhythm. One of the things I’ve liked about his game is his passing. The rebounding always get the headlines, but he’s an underrated passer and showed some of that tonight. He whipped a kickout to the opposite wing for a three. He shoveled a feed to AC cutting for a layup. He also showed his good hands on D coming up with a steal, pushing out the break and hitting KCP for a layup for his other assist. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-9 shooting (5-6 from the line) to go with 12 boards (4 offensive), 3 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnover and 5 fouls in 27 minutes. He was a -1.

Morris -- -- He was ejected with 2 minutes left, getting hit on a turnaround jumper with no call and airballing. He got right in the refs face and was tossed. Big 4-point switch there. The game was probably out of reach, but certainly not a time for that. The refs were a bit annoying in this game, so I imagine it built up. He gave the Lakers a little lift returning to the game in the second quarter to score a couple of buckets against smaller defenders to force a timeout. He’d hit a big three to cut the lead to three late in the second half. Defensively, some very good rotations from the weakside to alter shots in this one. Consider adding LeBron and AD with their rotations and having Kieff in the mix like he was tonight in that back line rotations. That’s tough. He also had to cover some smaller players at times. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-11 shooting (2-6 from three) to go with 3 boards, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a -3.

Matthews -- -- Excellent first half with 11 points. He hit a couple of threes early, he drew FTs on a pumpfake at the three line, then also had a bucket on a curl off the dribble to score at the rim with his left. Defensively, again he matches up with Butler to give us some strength that we didn’t have there from our guards last year. Butler was able to get some space against our bigs for easy scores. That doesn’t happen with AD and LeBron out there. Good effort tonight, he even hit the floor for a steal. Always love when your vets are making the plays like that. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 4-11 shooting (3-8 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a -6.

Harrell -- -- He had 10 points and 5 boards in the first half. Great job being aggressive, drawing FTs and then finishing when set up by his guards. No scoring in the second half, however. The Heat were sending a lot of extra help to our post players. But without consistent playmaking or penetration from our guards, he faded from making an impact. Curious to see if we run some Gasol out there with him. The Heat played super small tonight, so Vogel didn’t think it was a good matchup. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 3-4 shooting (4-6 from the line) to go with 9 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist, 2 steals, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a -5.

Caruso -- -- As soon as they mentioned he had to do more playmaking, he threw a kickout away. Of course, he got the ball back on D on the other end fighting over a screen seconds later and hitting the floor. Such is AC at times. With no Kuzma in this team, our minutes without Schröder were in the spotlight. AC was a -3 in his 5 minutes in that first half as we struggled a bit to create. He’d help us trim the lead down with a great skip pass to the corner for a KCP three and he also found him on a swing pass for a three. Good job finding the hot hand. I’ll take 6 assists with just 2 turnovers. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-3 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 2 boards, 6 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a -4.

McLemore -- -- He came in with 5 minutes left in the first quarter. A 78% freethrow shooter, he got his first points as a Laker on a tech FT. He draw more FTs getting fouled on a three. He didn’t hit a three in this one. I would expect his three shooting to kick into gear when he’s around LeBron and AD and the looks get better (or we face bad teams). He’d get his first bucket on an inbounds pass for a corner jumper. He can hit on the move and from the corners especially well. Quality minutes tonight. Defensively, give him a few games to get into sync with the team, but Vogel got him some good run tonight. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 1-4 shooting (0-3 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards and 1 foul in 17 minutes. He was a -5.

McKinnie -- -- Kuz was out with a calf strain, so McKinnie was in play as part of the rotation. He dunked filling the lane with Schröder on the break and also hit a long iso pull-up jumper for his points. With McLemore in the mix now, I suspect we try to play smaller more versus using McKinnie. We’ll see how that plays out. LeBron is still a ways away, not sure Kuz’s situation. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-5 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 1 board and 1 turnover in 12 minutes. He was a -6.
Vogel -- -- Key Moment: Down 8 in the fourth, they cut the lead down to 3 off a KCP three. We had a Drummond, Morris, Wes, KCP, AC lineup. That’s hard to keep the offense rolling without a playmaker in there. AC did a good job finding KCP for some big shots.

Key Substitution: We had 43 minutes between McClemore and Drummond, so the lineups out there tonight had little to no time together. Throw in another 12 from McKinnie. How were they even in this game? Gritty effort, just need to get the offense running smoother. This might have been the game to steal, but it would have been shocking.

Key Stats: We gave up 33 points on our 22 turnovers. The Heat had 21 turnovers and we scored 25 points off it. That’s an 8-point difference right there. They were just better taking advantage of the miscues. It’s an impossible task to win against a good team on the road when you have that many errors in your offensive game. I don’t care how good your D is.
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DrDent
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2021 7:50 pm    Post subject:

First
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DrDent
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2021 7:57 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB.

Frustrating because it really felt the depleted Lakers were still playing 5 on 6. Outside of the second quarter, the officials were not doing the team any favors.

Putting that aside, they just did not have the horses. DS is not good enough to overcome a defense targetting him to be shutdown. That left others to fill in against a Star (Butler) plus his cohorts down the stretch. Not gonna win a tight game like that.

The turnovers are gut wrenching however. There were times they got within 5, or even 3 down the stretch, then...blam, turnover, leading to a heat score (usually a 3)...and back in the hole the team went again.

This will not be pretty this upcoming stretch. Nets are next and that is going to be ugly, and I am mixed about watching that. Then a B2B on M/T with the Knicks and Hornets.

After that? Oh brother. Celtics, Jazz x 2, and Mavs x 2. It is very, very possible that if the team continues without AD and LBJ in that stretch, they go 2-6, or 1-7.

Not looking forward to Saturday's game.
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yinoma2001
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2021 8:30 pm    Post subject:

When KCP is your leading scorer you have no business winning the game.
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akgolf
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 09, 2021 5:12 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB!
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joeblow
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 09, 2021 6:34 am    Post subject:

I wasn't bummed about most of the game. We mostly showed excellent defense against a really good team while our squad deals with so many absent players. Even the offense was decent for most of the game.

The biggest disappointment was seeing how vulnerable Dennis is to being targeted by aggressive double teams. It's like he had no idea what to do (though one time he finally split the defense, dove towards the basket, but passed it to an empty corner three because Mckinnie came in for the rebound).

In general, I blame the turnovers for the team on Miami's excellent defensive schemes more than I do on carelessness on our part. With all that said, we were in it for most of the game, and lost to a much better roster due to our health issues.
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danzag
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 09, 2021 7:25 am    Post subject:

Thanks, DB.

I think it is clear now that Dennis is not a PG. A combo guard of sorts, but not someone that can run your offense. An interesting dilemma for Pelinka to solve this offseason.
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governator
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 09, 2021 7:42 am    Post subject:

I thought we looked good, clunky on offense with AD2 and McLemore but we was scoring like we haven’t had in a while... AD2 is like a young Dwight out there
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