LAKERS -at- TWOLVES - 10-28-22 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

 
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 28, 2022 7:37 pm    Post subject: LAKERS -at- TWOLVES - 10-28-22 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

0-5... The scariest thing this Halloween might be the Lakers record. Even going back to the preseason, they’ve been taking L after L.

Tonight, the L came with AD sitting out due to back issues. They did get Russ back and brought him off the bench for the first time this regular season, and he gave the team some much-needed impact.

It wasn’t near enough, however, as the Lakers piled up 22 turnovers. That’s just near impossible to deal with on the road against a talented team.

In the fourth quarter tonight, there were multiple occasions where a Laker run just couldn’t get going because of the miscues. This led to 4- or 5-point switches and kept them at arm’s distance from threatening the TWolves. They fell once again, 111-102.


LeBron -- -- He said he was going to score more in this one and did, finishing with 28 points. The turnovers were better with 5 assists to 3 turnovers. He was winded midway through the fourth quarter, hands on knees after being unable to box out a big. Ham sat him, the Lakers down 8. We saw a few shots short at times, but it didn’t seem like his legs weren’t there as much as the last game, even though he shot 1-6 from three. I’d still like to see him not settle, but sometimes I think he’s playing tired still. I liked some of the defensive effort tonight. He finished with 4 steals, but even hit the floor under the hoop to recovery a ball. I loved seeing the bully ball from him, whether he’s just going at guys chests or sealing men off ball right under the hoop. It’s just a load to deal with. He’s still showing that athleticism if you give him a runway to take off on (nice dunk tonight and also a tough, one-handed lob finish on the break). He tweaked his right thumb a little early in the game and it seemed a bit uncomfortable throughout the night. Hopefully, not an issue because we’ve had too much bad luck with the thumbs already. The Stats: He scored 28 points on 10-24 shooting (1-6 from three, 7-8 from the line) to go with 7 boards (3 offensive), 5 assists, 4 steals, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 37 minutes. He was a -13.

Walker IV -- -- I feel like at some point this season, we will learn that Walker is a streaky shooter. Lonnie may not realize it, so we’ll need to reel him in when he’s stone cold. But we knew he was a shooting guard who struggled at times with that three shooting, so you got to expect nights like this. Some good finishes at the rim, but not efficient tonight. Defensively, Edwards took it to him at times. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-10 shooting (0-4 from three) to go with 3 boards, 3 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a -3.

Jones -- -- No AD means you’ve got to add Jones in the lineup. Guys were throwing some crappy bounce passes to him that were around his shins and resulted in turnovers. Good effort on the offensive glass where he had 4 of his 8 board. Some really bad passing attempts to him tonight. Also, no love from the refs. Almost disrespected at times on what looked like obvious calls. They did review a play and call a flagrant on a pull down on the break that earned him a couple of FTs. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-4 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 8 boards (4 offensive), 1 assist, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a -19.

Beverley -- -- Kind of a non-factor tonight. He had a floater for a score and also knocked down a wild hook shoot against the shotclock. Frankly, I wasn’t impressed with the D once again. Just too many mental mistakes. He had the team-low -21. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-4 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 4 assists, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a -21.

Brown -- -- Finally someone making some threes. We need it. He had back-to-back threes with 5 minutes left to cut the lead to 6. I’ve liked him as an option for us to close. He got the start tonight. We put him on KAT defensively to start, keeping Jones on Gobert. Not ideal, but it does show some of Browns flexibility as a defender that we can survive with that early on. On the bad side in this one, Brown had two big turnovers in the fourth quarter. One was on an outlet to Russ that was picked off in the back court. The other was when he stepped on the sideline as Reaves kicked the ball out to him. The Lakers had 22 turnovers and the fourth quarter ones were especially painful. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 4-10 shooting (4-6 from three) to go with 8 boards 4 turnovers and 4 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a -8.

Westbrook -- -- Off the bench. “I look forward to seeing it more,” Ham said afterward. I don’t know if that the stretch to close the first half from Westbrook was my favorite of his Laker career, but just seeing him compete like that after coming off the bench was very cool to see. Respect. He scored 8-straight points for the Lakers, including some drives that looked like younger Russ. Additionally, he was in on some defensive plays on the other end. Our bench won the first half 26-16. Interestingly, to close the half, both LeBron and Russ were on the floor together. It can’t be easy going through what he’s going through, but seeing him just get it done as a bench player was very cool. I had a lot of notes from him in both halves and the positive outweighed the negative. Once again, though, we saw a team put their center on him to close the game. So Gobert could just zone up (it was actually probably illegal D with how he just parked himself in the middle of the paint at times). It’s difficult to deal with that if we aren’t scheming for it to set up shooters. Maybe some day. The 5 turnovers with 3 assists is backwards on assist-to-turnover ratio. A nice give-and-go with LeBron and some slip screen passes that led to scores of FTs. His finishing was much better tonight. If we could have more of that with more consistency, that would be great. Also, please hit your freethrows. Left a lot of points on the board there. He should have had a 20+ point game. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 6-17 shooting (1-4 from three, 5-10 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 5 turnovers and 5 fouls in 33 minutes. He was a +0.

Nunn -- -- Better moments tonight. He was getting into his floater game in the paint. He knocked down a three off a pitch back from LeBron. He did get an uggh from me for missing a tech freethrow. That kind of drives me nuts. Lakers shot 70% (19-27 from the line tonight). Still low minutes and definitely not enough impact from him. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-9 shooting (1-4 from three, 0-1 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 turnover and no fouls in 12 minutes. He was a +4.

Reaves -- -- Happy to see in the last game that the three ball was going down. Once again, he knocked a couple down in this one, including a big one late when LeBron drew a double team. You’ve got to make teams pay for that and he did. He had the team-high +11. I think some of his detractors focus on the loud negative plays like the time he fell down and threw it away. Or some defensive matchups where he gets outmuscled (and at times shouldn’t be matching with them anyway, but we need him to play up). But they miss a lot of the little things. The box outs, the screens, the cuts that make something out of nothing. He’s got great feel for the game. That kind of showed itself on one of the highlight plays in this one. He missed a three, followed it up to track down the offensive board and then instantly went behind his back to Gabriel under the hoop for a layup. Solid contribution tonight off the bench. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 4-5 shooting (2-3 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 3 assists, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 26 minutes. He was a +11.

Gabriel -- -- He slides up into the backup C role with no AD and Bryant. His mobility and feistiness under the hoop gave the team some nice energy off the bench. Guys set him up under the hoop for some scores. Late in the game, he got burned on a wing split action that gave KAT a good look at a three out of a timeout. That let them go up 9 with 3 minutes to go. Get a stop there and score at the other end and maybe it’s 4 or 3 point game. We missed AD there. What can you do? Good overall impact from Gabriel on the night, however. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-6 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 assist, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a +10.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: I liked the late first half run the Lakers went on to tie the game at the half. They played a reasonable third quarter and only trailed by 3 heading into the fourth. The first few minutes of the fourth, though, the TWolves extended that lead. Our lack of depth hurt and we saw LeBron winded midway through the quarter. There were multiple plays where the lead could have been trimmed to 4 or 3 but instead went to 8 or 9. The Lakers had just too many turnovers and the ones in the fourth were just too much. Pick a couple of those by Brown. Or pick that three we gave up to KAT out of a timeout when we were down 6 with 3 minutes left. Just too many mistakes at key moments.

Key Substitution: Russ off the bench. The Lakers pulled the trigger on it. Russ had one of this better games of the season. The problem tonight was we needed him to close. That meant that the TWolves could put their center on him in crunch time, so Gobert could hang out under the hoop. That’s not how you play Gobert off the court when it matters. With no AD in the mix and all the other injuries, there wasn’t a lot of choice for Ham. I would still prefer, however, to not see Russ just standing on the perimeter. We had him the dunker spot once, but we can free up a shooter with pin-in screen while the ball was in LeBron’s hands.

Key Stats: The Lakers shot 5-14 from three in the first half (respectable). Not unrelated, they also won the rebound battle 28-24. The 11 turnovers, however, were too many. They kept pace up in the second half and finished with 22 turnovers. Brutal. (Three shooting they finished 9-29 -- 31%. It’s climbing!).

Coach’s Challenge: The Lakers challenged a block/charge call with 29 seconds left as Russ tried to stand in under the hoop on help D. They reviewed and called the foul on LeBron instead for a push. I like the proximity foul call review option. It didn’t quite go in our favor, but at least you get the call right unlike previous seasons where you saw this stuff and there was nothing that could be done.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 28, 2022 7:54 pm    Post subject:

First

Down 5 with 2 minutes to go, Ham had LeBron at Center with Russ, Reaves, Pat and Lonnie against Towns and Gobert. WTF?
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Dr. Laker
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 28, 2022 7:58 pm    Post subject:

Thanks, DB!
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 28, 2022 8:10 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB, it’s my sister’s birthday so I missed this one but will watch the DVR. I posted on Twitter that I was excited when they signed Brown but was ridiculed. It will be fun to see if he can develop into a good starter, unfortunately I think that might be the best reason to continue to watch.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 28, 2022 10:22 pm    Post subject:

New Coaching Staff
New Roster
New Defensive Schemes
New Offensive Schemes
New Adjustments (WestBrick coming off the bench)
New Adjustments/Lineup (AD-Less Lineup)
New Addition (who was injured the enter last season - Nunn)
New Addition (AD, who was gone most of last season)
New Attitude
New Commitment to Winning
New Commitment that feelings is not a factor when deciding how to win

Nets are 1-4 with a very talented roster, albeit dysfunctional with little noise - compared to the Lakers' noise! 76ers and Heat are 2-4 with talented rosters that have been together for 2+ years

Lakers are getting better (but not fast enough) and having problems maintaining effort/efficiency for the entire 48 minutes (hmm, lack of quality depth)

Hopefully playing great Team D (see TD, Manu, TP-Spurs teams) will come to fruition


Here’s a look at the four teams since 1999-2000 that started 0-5 yet still made the playoffs that year.

2001-02: Philadelphia 76ers (finished 43-39; lost in the first round of the conference playoffs)

2003-04: Miami Heat (finished 42-40; lost in the semifinals of the conference playoffs)

2004-05: Chicago Bulls (finished 47-35; lost in the first round of the conference playoffs)

2007-08: Washington Wizards (finished 43-39; lost in the first round of the conference playoffs)

https://statsontapp.com/2013/11/08/the-end-result-of-5-0-and-0-5-starts-in-the-nba/
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 28, 2022 11:05 pm    Post subject:

Positive outlook: Lakers are 2nd in Def rating. Eventually shooting will come back to career averages for most of these guys. They're all shooting below their average. Will get a hot streak of shooting, and wins will come. We're also playing a lot of teams that are going to end up higher than us in the standings anyway (Portland, Clippers, Warriors, Wolves, Blazers may all end up in the top 6 this year). We need to face some of those OKC, Houston, Sacramento level teams. Not going to panic before we lose to one of them.

Negative outlook: 30th in offense, the big 3 doesn't fit together with Ham either, Russ maybe played well off the bench at first, but the closing minutes were weak with Bron/Russ. Even the defense when it comes to death lineups has not looked good in closing/4th Q situations. Do we have a 2-way balanced lineup in the clutch we can rely on? AD and Lebron are not the same level they once were.
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 29, 2022 12:57 am    Post subject:

We can't hit timely shots at all.
Or really any shots for that matter.
It's like the Bad News Bears out there.
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PenG_
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 29, 2022 2:10 am    Post subject:

We’re mediocre shooting nights away from a 3-2 record. LeBron needs to find something with his jumper and quick. All those touches and he still can’t find a rhythm is bizarre
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 29, 2022 2:35 am    Post subject:

They need a win soon just to get some freedom in their minds.
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 29, 2022 2:56 am    Post subject:

The defensive intensity is good, the offensive execution is not there yet.
Keep fighting & grinding LA, Thanks DB
......GO LAKERS!
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PenG_
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 29, 2022 6:45 am    Post subject:

It's a shame how often I'm reading that "x player doesn't care". That argument made sense at certain points during last season, but so far this year guys are competing hard.
It's fair to criticize the team as lacking talent, but to say players don't care is silly narrative chasing.
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danzag
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 29, 2022 7:18 am    Post subject:

Thanks, DB.

This situation is very weird.

We're not a horrible team. Far from it. But at the same time we're not good enough to win those close games.
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 29, 2022 7:53 am    Post subject:

Walker IV- good athlete, and definitely a streaky shooter

Reaves- he is exactly the type of defensive-minded, super ball iq, improving as a shooter, player we need all the time. I love his game from the beginning and continue to appreciate him

Nunn- I was very happy when we signed him seeing as though the only reason we got him was Miami rescinded their offer to him to make room(maybe Lowry?) doesn't matter. I'm still happy we signed him because he'll be a great piece of salary to move when we make the inevitable, and maybe imminent trade.

AD- out again, not surprising, he's not built to last. Are we really expecting him to be healthier going forward when his healhiest years age-wise, 22-28, are behind him?

Overall, the same issues will arise because of the unbalanced roster, and whether the FO wants to acknowledge it or not, the impact that the RW situation will continue to have on the team.

DB, we appreciate you and your work. Thank you!
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 29, 2022 9:02 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB

I wanted a win, of course, but I thought the game overall looked much better.
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 29, 2022 9:37 am    Post subject:

PenG_ wrote:
It's a shame how often I'm reading that "x player doesn't care". That argument made sense at certain points during last season, but so far this year guys are competing hard.
It's fair to criticize the team as lacking talent, but to say players don't care is silly narrative chasing.


I haven’t seen that from anyone on court. I’ve seen guys get frustrated, guys get tired and maybe there has been a stretch or two where they look overwhelmed. Too much is made about how someone should be reacting after another loss and having a microphone in their face. That’s not the game.
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 30, 2022 1:04 am    Post subject:

PenG_ wrote:
It's a shame how often I'm reading that "x player doesn't care". That argument made sense at certain points during last season, but so far this year guys are competing hard.
It's fair to criticize the team as lacking talent, but to say players don't care is silly narrative chasing.
Agree with your comments

It should be noted that the Nets have all the talent in the world with a good roster yet having major problems resulting in a 1-5 record that prompted a team meeting right after tonight’s game

Clips are a team that has their Superstar/Savior missing 4 of the first 6 games of the season. As Steven A has stated, Kwahi is an uber talented players who haven’t played many games (far worse than AD) since he left the Spurs. Balmer has more money than god, but even his $$$$$ can’t erase the Curse of the Clips

Westbrook playing with the younger bench players will allow him to play “His Game” because he will be the best Laker on the court and the pace he creates will provide more mismatches and cleaner opportunities for the young players

LBJ/AD need a slower pace game. Look forward to the time where AD will be demanding the ball during crunch time and the ball actually be given to him in the post area for time management and getting best shot selection during crunch time
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