LAKERS -at- HEAT - 12-28-22 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

 
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 28, 2022 8:10 pm    Post subject: LAKERS -at- HEAT - 12-28-22 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

Possessions... Two stats didn’t bode well for the Lakers in the first half. After the first quarter, they were down 13-0 on second chance points. At the half, they had a 19-0 disadvantage in points off turnovers at the half.

You’ve got to try to limit the extra possessions when on the road.

Once again, the Lakers third quarter woes showed up. They had multiple turnovers to start the quarter and fell back by 20+ points as the quarter went along.

The Lakers brought in JTA late in the third quarter. As they went to their small ball lineup, they started switching on D. With that, they rallied.

The Lakers got stops, JTA got the team extra possessions on the offensive glass and the Lakers trimmed the lead down to 7.

Having held the Heat to just 10 points with only 2 minutes left in the fourth quarter, JTA gambled for a blindside steal, missed and got caught in no man’s land to give up a big three.

That was the backbreaker, especially after a few more Laker turnovers for good measure. They fell 112-98 and finished with 26 turnovers.

The points off turnovers stat for the game? The Lakers lost that 31-2.

Asked what he thinks about at this point in his career, LeBron said:

“I don’t want to finish my career playing at this level from a team aspect,” he said. “I’m going to still be able to compete for a championship because I know what I can bring to any ball club with the right pieces.”


LeBron -- -- He mentioned afterward how he still prides himself on being the focal point that teams have to deal with in their game plan. That was the case tonight. "As long as my mind stays in it, I can play at this level for a minute," Bron said when asked if he could play another 7 years. He added, "playing basketball just to play basketball is not in my DNA. It's not in my DNA anymore. We'll see what happens and see how fresh my mind stays over the next couple of years." A couple of late turnovers in the post that derailed the late rally a little, but he did a lot in this game to keep the team afloat. They were sending double and triple teams against him all night. We didn’t give him too much support when that happened. Clearly, 6 turnovers is too many even with all that. To start the game, he was killing it. He had 10 points on 4-5 shooting and assisted on our other 2 baskets. Miami had to send a lot of help. They were sending help defenders from nail/elbow area and trying to zone up at the opposite elbow. A lot of times, we kind of just stood around. Good job defensively on the switchy lineups late. He can’t be quite as sedentary in those situations and he wasn’t on the second night of the back to back. The Stats: He scored 27 points on 10-18 shooting (2-5 from three, 5-5 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 6 assists, 6 turnovers and 4 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a -4.

Bryant -- -- He was a -22 tonight in just 23 minutes. Certainly, he didn’t anchor the paint great, but a lot of this is our drop coverage schemes. We just get abused so often as teams get into a grove and our defense is in scramble mode. Also, too many turnovers from him tonight. He had an inbounds pass violation in the third quarter after a made hoop. How many times in the past couple weeks have the Lakers done this? I think three. Just giving up possessions and points by being lazy in the backcourt. He had another turnover on a short-roll sequence where he’s got to give up the ball sooner on that read. Instead, he charged. No threes attempted tonight, but the jumper looked good. Bron and Russ both set him up for some other scores. He also had a nice putback jam crashing the glass off a Schröder miss. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 5-6 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a -22.

Walker IV -- -- A scoreless first half with just a couple of misses from three and nothing else. He picked up in the second half where he left off. He was MIA in Miami. When we aren’t getting out in transition, he’s not getting many touches designed for him. Even less with AD out. Poor game and we needed someone else to step up scoring-wise. He and Reaves were nowhere tonight. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-4 shooting from three to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 2 turnovers and no fouls. He was a -17 in 21 minutes.

Beverley -- -- He missed a big open three that could have cut it to 4 with 3 minutes left. He had knocked down two tonight. The third would have made things interesting. Highlighting the turnovers of some folks tonight. Bev had just one, but it was atrocious. He pushed out the break, veered over to the sideline, then threw a slow moving cross court pass that was easily picked off by the recovering defense. Just a dumb pass. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-7 shooting (2-5 from three) to go with 7 boards, 4 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a -13.

Schröder -- -- Dude was killing me to start that third quarter, dropping passes, throwing passes out of bounds. I guess credit the Heat for getting into passing lanes some, but some of this was Dennis being lazy. The flat passes across the top of the D. You can’t just go through the motions, but a little too much of that on the road tonight. On the good side, he had a nice And-1 past Bam in the fourth, then also buried a big three to cut it to 7 with 4 minutes left. So he was contributing to the comeback, but 4 turnovers helped contribute to the overall loss. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-10 shooting (2-5 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 4 turnovers and 1 foul in 35 minutes. He was a -12.

Westbrook -- -- Not that triple-double energy from the last game, but still some good overall energy that this team needs. We could have used that rebounding tonight, though. We can’t survive when we were giving up second chances, turnovers and scoring inefficiently (Russ had 15 points on 16 attempts). He knocked down a couple of threes. He wasn’t as turnover prone as you might expect in a game where we had some season worst numbers there. He did have a late turnover on a BLOB pass trying to force it in a crowd. It was on an ATO down 10 in the fourth, so that’s one where you need to execute and get a bucket. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-16 shooting (2-7 from three, 1-3 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 8 assists, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 32 minutes. He was a -9.

Reaves -- -- One of his worst games in a while. Maybe ever. I certainly can’t think of a worst first half. He lost the ball twice on the dribble. He was called for an offensive foul coming off a screen. He missed his shots. Defensively, he sagged off his man too much for scores and then got backdoored trying to stay tight. He did get another charge on help D later in the second half, but it just wasn’t his night, for sure. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-5 shooting (0-4 from three) to go with 1 assist, 1 steal, 4 turnovers and 1 foul in 20 minutes. He was a -9.

Brown -- -- He caught fire again late in this game with a series of threes late in the third and early in the fourth. That helped keep the Lakers in touch. His only missed three was the first one he took. He’d score a layup on the two-man game with Bron, rolling to the hoop on a deep sideline screen-roll. Good game again. Hopefully, this continues. He had a great stretch to start the season, then disappeared once our lineups and injuries started popping up. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 5-6 shooting (4-5 from three) to go with 4 boards, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 21 minutes. He was a +3.

Gabriel -- -- Again, he drained a corner three. Some good work on the two-man action, including scoring on a deep screen-roll with Russ and weather with Bron. Defensively, we were getting killed on the defensive glass. Gabriel had just one board and had Jam step around him for a putback jam. He can’t be outworked. That’s where he has to make his name. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-4 shooting (1-1 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 block and 2 fouls in 14 minutes. He was a +5.

Toscano-Anderson -- -- Down 20 with 2:30 left in the third, he came in for the first time in forever. His effort and energy on the offensive glass got the Lakers extra possessions. His switchy D helped the team make their late comeback attempt. He got caught in no man’s land with 2 minutes left down 7, trying to blindside on help D, he didn’t get the ball and his man took the pass and hit a three to push it back to 10. That was the game. But he did a lot in this one to get the Lakers back in. Really loved his energy. Much needed. The Stats: he didn’t score on 0-1 shooting, grabbed 7 boards (3 offensive), 3 assists and 1 foul in 13 minutes. He was a +8.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: Two key plays late: Pat Bev had a chance to cut it to 4, but missed a three. And then there’s that JTA gamble where we gave up that three to trail by 10 instead of 7. It wasn’t needed and cost us. Hard for the Lakers to even be in that situation after all the turnovers. So I don’t think this really came down to one big play on either end. It was a continual issue in this one. The Heat had 92 shot attempts, the Lakers just 77.

Key Substitution: He went to Bron and JTA as our bigs in the fourth and we locked down. How? They switched everything. It drives me nuts how much our regular drop coverage can get abused before we do that. It’s even worse when we occasionally go to the small ball and do not switch. That’s on coaching. You would think that some of our comebacks, which have been a result of switching on D, would open the Lakers up to doing a little more of that.

Key Stats: The Lakers had 26 turnovers, the Head just 6. That’s 20 extra possessions. It’s amazing they even had a chance to cut it to 4 late in the fourth.
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deal
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 28, 2022 8:11 pm    Post subject:

Thanks Db !
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 28, 2022 8:13 pm    Post subject:

I solely blame reaves. It’s easy that way.
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 28, 2022 9:12 pm    Post subject:

I think JTA needs to get some significant playing time moving forward. He may be a much better option than Troy Brown Jr. at the 3, and he can even play a little at the 4 when we go small.

JTA will hustle, defend and bring energy, and he's a more proven 3-point shooter than Brown. Hopefully JTA eventually replaces Brown on the depth chart.
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 28, 2022 11:20 pm    Post subject: Re: LAKERS -at- HEAT - 12-28-22 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

DancingBarry wrote:
Asked what he thinks about at this point in his career, LeBron said:

“I don’t want to finish my career playing at this level from a team aspect,” he said. “I’m going to still be able to compete for a championship because I know what I can bring to any ball club with the right pieces.”
Revealingysicality Thoughts

Imagine if Lebron's Westbrook trade didn't happen, this club would have all the right pieces

Big Game James was sharing that these Lakers were not prepare for the physicality that the Heat always bring.

Steve Kerr's Dubs have long demonstrated the ability to have strong 3rd quarters because the coaching staff have made the adjustments and adjustments to adjustments that the opposition will make

If Skywalker is not consistent, then the search should be who will be the 3rd scorer - Brown, Nunn, Schaeffer or Bryant are not dependable

Reeves played one of his worst game, is it because of the Heat's physicality or the 2nd of a back-to-back game sequence
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2022 5:34 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB. Worst game this season by AR. Don't look now, but Walker has come back down to Earth as he is averaging 5.5 fewer points while his FG% dropped 9 points this month vs last. His lack of D, rebounds, and assists really hurts us (although he is still better than I originally thought).
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2022 7:32 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB. Thank you for enduring this season and answering lackluster games with excellent write-ups.

Bron sounds like a victim and not a de-facto GM with that comment. Which is he? Rhetorical question I suppose. The answer should be "neither", the most unacceptable answer is "both."
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2022 7:35 am    Post subject:

Weird ending with LeBron committing three turnovers in the last minute. Clearly frustrated
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2022 10:20 am    Post subject:

PenG_ wrote:
Weird ending with LeBron committing three turnovers in the last minute. Clearly frustrated

that was sad because we have 4 guards on the court and only one was capable of making a proper entry pass to Lebron in the post, lol. he worked his ass off to get position inside. Pat bev, DS and Walker have no passing skills at all and all 3 are starting.
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2022 10:27 am    Post subject:

TooMuchMajicBuss wrote:
Thanks DB. Thank you for enduring this season and answering lackluster games with excellent write-ups.



It's getting tougher by the game with no AD. I hate being stuck in no man's land with this team -- no pick and on the outside looking in to the playoffs. But even just the general games aren't too entertaining. And the entertaining ones, more often than not seem to end in some kind of dramatic loss.

Opposing teams must love us this year. We would be very satisfying to play against on most nights. You get to see LeBron and Westbrook and then get a win over the Lakers. Good value for your entertainment dollar.
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2022 10:42 am    Post subject:

DancingBarry wrote:
TooMuchMajicBuss wrote:
Thanks DB. Thank you for enduring this season and answering lackluster games with excellent write-ups.



It's getting tougher by the game with no AD. I hate being stuck in no man's land with this team -- no pick and on the outside looking in to the playoffs. But even just the general games aren't too entertaining. And the entertaining ones, more often than not seem to end in some kind of dramatic loss.

Opposing teams must love us this year. We would be very satisfying to play against on most nights. You get to see LeBron and Westbrook and then get a win over the Lakers. Good value for your entertainment dollar.

this is a repeat of last year but worse. The only difference is the young guys try where last year the vets quit.
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2022 9:49 pm    Post subject:

DancingBarry wrote:
TooMuchMajicBuss wrote:
Thanks DB. Thank you for enduring this season and answering lackluster games with excellent write-ups.



It's getting tougher by the game with no AD. I hate being stuck in no man's land with this team -- no pick and on the outside looking in to the playoffs. But even just the general games aren't too entertaining. And the entertaining ones, more often than not seem to end in some kind of dramatic loss.

Opposing teams must love us this year. We would be very satisfying to play against on most nights. You get to see LeBron and Westbrook and then get a win over the Lakers. Good value for your entertainment dollar.



LOL painfully true... dammit... what a great date night we are for opposing fans.

I guess that's the point of having 3 highly paid superstars, right? It puts butts in seats around the league! I'm not giving up hope something breaks the logjam at the top of this organization.
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2022 4:16 pm    Post subject:

TooMuchMajicBuss wrote:
DancingBarry wrote:
TooMuchMajicBuss wrote:
Thanks DB. Thank you for enduring this season and answering lackluster games with excellent write-ups.
It's getting tougher by the game with no AD. I hate being stuck in no man's land with this team -- no pick and on the outside looking in to the playoffs. But even just the general games aren't too entertaining. And the entertaining ones, more often than not seem to end in some kind of dramatic loss.

Opposing teams must love us this year. We would be very satisfying to play against on most nights. You get to see LeBron and Westbrook and then get a win over the Lakers. Good value for your entertainment dollar.
LOL painfully true... dammit... what a great date night we are for opposing fans.

I guess that's the point of having 3 highly paid superstars, right? It puts butts in seats around the league! I'm not giving up hope something breaks the logjam at the top of this organization.
LBJ (Superstar/GOAT who at this stage of a career can't carry a team), AD (Fabulously talented player, wif/when he is on the court) and Russ (HOF, whose consistency/production/basketball IQ is questionable - at this stage of his career) are not enough


"The implication is that James' teammates have routinely and freely allowed him to control and score the ball, a natural game plan with him on the roster."
https://global.espn.com/nba/insider/story/_/id/35343581/why-lebron-james-greatest-ally-getting-baskets-lebron-james
When LBJ can carry a team and/or have a superstar (like Wade, who gave him him the keys to the team) - things are great

When it appears that Ham and players allow him to control/score at the end of games with the opposition overloading the zone with three defensive players having their eyes are him just outside of the paint with no movement from the other players (from experienced/PatBev, to savvy (Reeves) to bigs (Bryant) to team-oriented players (Walker/Brown) at this stage of LBJ's career of not being able to carry a team (Producing a great stat line but no wins) - will LBJ be able to make an adjustment, like what Westbrook did this year???????

"Continuing to build a team around James with the expectation that he is still capable of carrying a team of role players to a title is the definition of insanity."
https://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/story/2022-12-29/plaschke-lebron-james-hints-wants-leave-lakers-should-let-him
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