GRIZZLIES -at- LAKERS - 1-20-23 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

 
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 20, 2023 11:10 pm    Post subject: GRIZZLIES -at- LAKERS - 1-20-23 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

Craziness at Crypto... There’s no reason the Lakers should have won this game.

Like the previous game, the Lakers got crushed on the offensive glass to start this one. The Grizzlies had a 9-0 advantage on the offensive glass with 16 second-chance points in the first half. Despite that, the Lakers trailed just 53-49. Tighten the boards up and they’d have a lead.

Once again, the Lakers played very mistake-free offensively with just 4 turnovers in the first half, so that made up some ground on the possession battle.

Twice in the third quarter, the Lakers couldn’t rebound a freethrow miss and the Grizzlies scored off both of those as they stretched the lead out to 8, forcing a Laker timeout. The Grizzlies would add another 11 offensive boards in the third quarter alone. (The Lakers were no slouch, either, getting 7 offensive boards).

The Lakers trailed 89-81 heading into the fourth.

Despite all their issues, the Lakers had a chance to tie it early in the fourth. They’d miss a three, give up a three and another hoop and quickly be down by 8. Ham called a timeout to regroup.

They’d chip away and still had chances to cut it to one possession multiple times throughout the fourth quarter. They just couldn’t hit the big shots to get them over the top. Back and forth they went.

With 17 seconds left, they were down 3 and Ham called another timeout. They could tie it up to send it to OT with a three, but attacked instead. Schröder drew FTs with 13.2 left and cut it to 1 again making both clutch ones. The Grizzlies called timeout.

A blindside steal by Dennis at midcourt on the subsequent inbounds flipped everything on its head.

“That’s what we drew in the timeout,” LeBron said. The team would go for the trap and the steal. If they didn’t get it, they’d foul. Dennis got it. Even better, he took it the distance and scored an And-1 layup. Laker fans went nuts. What a play with 7.6 seconds left.

Up 2, the Lakers needed a stop and a board. They got a stop, but fouled on the defensive glass with 1.9 to give up two freethrows. The Grizzlies made just 1.

Somehow, someway, the Lakers won this game 122-121. They did it despite giving up 39 second-chance points, snapping the Grizzlies 11-game win streak.


LeBron -- -- We’re putting a lot on his shoulders and you can see him tiring. Another thing that seems hard to believe is that we won this game with LeBron really having a sub par offensive game. Slow first half with 11 points on 13 shots. The midrange wasn’t falling for him. The three ball continued to be off. He was able to get to the rim for some scores. Brooks was really playing him physical so it was fun to watch some of the possessions. There was a huge play in the fourth quarter on a blocking call on Brooks that meant the fifth foul for Brooks or the fifth for Bron. The Grizzlies challenged, but it was the Lakers way. Brooks had to sit after that. Some good moments showing a quick first step from LeBron to get past his man and to the rim. He was great on the break when we had opportunity to run. He really pushed the ball out fast for a Russ layup late in the game. That was an inspired moment when he is without a doubt exhausted. The Stats: He scored 23 points on 8-21 shooting (1-5 from three, 6-7 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 6 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in 37 minutes. He was a +9.

Bryant -- -- Foul trouble plagued his game tonight, among other things. We run the drop coverage over and over with no change ups, so teams get odd-man advantages or force Bryant to try to challenge at the rim, which he’s not great at. Challenging means he’s going to be a little out of position for defensive boards. It’s all just a mess. The three ball wasn’t close. He had some moments early on beating Adams down court and dunking on the break. Late in the game, he had another lob dunk finish of a set play. We might be a week away from AD returning. Maybe that gives Bryant a bit of rest and he can bounce back some. It would also allow us to pick our spots and usage better. Right now, we’re just trying to survive with him and Gabriel. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-8 shooting (0-3 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 7 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block and 5 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a +7.

Schröder -- -- He continues to come up big for the Lakers in the fourth quarter. Just a great effort down the stretch. Give him the game ball for the clutch freethrows he drew and made. That blindside steal you could see coming. Once JTA stifled his man at midcourt, Dennis was coming. He pounced and took it the distance, leaning in to a defender to get the And-1 and finishing. One of the plays of the season. A subtle thing, but Dennis mentioned that they told all three refs they were going to go for the trap and steal first, so not to assume there would be an automatic foul. We’ve seen them do that before and come up big. We’ve seen the refs also call a foul that wasn’t there in those situations earlier in the season. So they made sure it was communicated. In a game where we were getting killed on the offensive glass, I appreciated some of the effort Dennis put in on the defensive glass, especially in the first half. He was giving the Lakers an extra body (and led the team with 5 boards in the first half and for most of the game led the team in rebounding until Bron caught up). And those defensive boards allowed the Lakers to push it down court with speed to develop some advantages in transition. (Dennis had a great one that led to a Nunn layup in the first half). He also had the Ja Morant assignment in the first half, helping limit him to 2-10 shooting. In the second half, Ja started to get downhill more. That allowed for scores or more issues with the defensive glass. That might be why Russ asked for the assignment late in the game. Meanwhile, with all of that going on for Dennis, he also led the team in assists. He found shooters like Bev and Brown for threes and only had 1 turnover. Just did it all for the team tonight. Check out this statline. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 4-11 shooting (1-3 from three, 10-11 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 8 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 33 minutes. He was a +9.

Beverley -- -- This was a very quiet 10 points. He got the Lakers first bucket of the game, a three 3 minutes into the game. He’d later also score a short runner after getting deep into the paint. In the second half, he’d knock down a corner three off a feed from Dennis. Defensively, he had a nice pick on Ja on a crossover and that turned into freethrows in transition. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 3-6 shooting (2-5 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a -2.

Brown -- -- Great job keeping a LeBron missed three alive and it led to a Russ layup in the final possession of this one. That was a huge play. A lot of threes for Brown in this one, he knocked down three. He made a big one from the wing when LeBron drew a double team in that fourth. We were trading threes for twos at one point and were on the good side of that equation. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 3-12 shooting (3-10 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 1 block and 1 foul in 28 minutes. He was a +2.

Westbrook -- -- He had 10 points on 4-7 shooting and 3 assists in the first half. In the second half 19 points on 6-11 shooting with another 3 assists. His best assist was a on a set ATO play. He inbounded the ball to a guard on the right sideline, cut hard and took the give-and-go. That forced the D to collapse on him and with that, he hit Bryant coming weakside on the baseline for the lob dunk. Just a great play call with 5 minutes left and excellent execution by Russ getting downhill quickly. Russ also had some big scores late. He got a layup on the break with Bron pushing the ball out hard to cut it to 3. He’d attack with speed and draw Fts with 1:38 left. He’d then get the huge putback score after Brown kept it alive off a LeBron missed three to cut it to 1. Defensively, some mixed results. It took him a long time to get a defensive board in this game. He’s a triple-double type of guy and was not getting boards, sometimes just standing there. That’s a problem for us. He’d pick it up a little more as the game went along. Some good challenges on Ja, however, down the stretch by Russ defensively. Russ told Ham that he wanted Ja down the stretch. He was up for the challenge there. The Stats: He scored 29 points on 10-18 shooting (2-4 from three, 7-11 from the line) to go with 5 boards (3 offensive), 6 assists, 1 block, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a +3.

Gabriel -- -- A quieter game from Wenyen than we’ve seen lately. Memphis plays big. At times, he got a little bullied out there by Adams (gave up a drive to him for a layup). He was whistled for a foul with just over a second left when we couldn’t secure a board. He shoved a man and that nearly put this game into overtime. Thankfully, Memphis missed a key FT. Gabriel got his scores on a putback and a jumphook off the drive and dish from Russ. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-5 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards and 4 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a -13.

Nunn -- -- He swished a three to cut the lead to 5 with 5:25 left. We needed that one. He had knocked down a couple earlier. He missed a couple late, however that could have cut the lead. Still, we need some extra scoring coming from someone without Lonnie or Reaves out there. When Nunn can give us a little bit of a punch, it makes a difference. Defensively, why reach in the backcourt on a good FT shooter with over a minute left when we are down just 3? That gave up two FTs, which the Grizzlies made. Thankfully, we quickly scored on the other end right after that. So only a few seconds actually went off the clock and it didn’t really cost the Lakers. Note that Ham had him in there at that point in the game, which we don’t see too often. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-10 shooting (3-9 from three) to go with 5 boards, 1 block, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a +3.

Toscano-Anderson -- -- I don’t have a lot of notes for him in this game, but he was the first defender on that steal at the end of the game. He contained his man, didn’t reach for a foul and let Dennis come for the blindside. He was applying some great pressure and helped force that turnover. Rebounding-wise, we are playing pretty small when he’s out there usually. Both he and the team really need to make a concerted effort to help on the glass as much as possible with those lineups. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 0-1 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 assist and 1 foul in 10 minutes. He was a +0.

Christie -- -- Not too much action for Christie tonight. He sank a three on his only attempt off a kickout from Russ at the top of the arc. He still seems to be about half a step off where I’d like him to be on some of the perimeter challenges. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-1 shooting to go with 1 board, 1 assist and no fouls in 14 minutes. He was a -13.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: I mean easy call for this. That Dennis steal and the And-1 layup. The Lakers talked about it in the huddle. Teams expect a foul. They’ve been really good at forcing turnovers when teams expect fouls. We’ve seen it multiple times this season. We caught the Grizzlies off guard with that trap. Poor communication by the Grizzlies led to the blindside opportunity. “We always want to give ourselves a chance to create a turnover,” Ham said.

Key Substitution: The bench again was stepped up. Got to give Russ off the bench some props. He scored 29 points off 18 shots. He had a great lob play out of a timeout to Bryant. He also had a big offensive layup when we were battling for an offensive board down the stretch. Honorable mention to Nunn for hitting some big threes.

Key Stats: Ridiculous offensive boards. The Grizzlies had 24 in this game. How do you win a game while giving up 39 second-chance points (the most in a couple decades someone said)? Let’s look a little deeper. First, we had a 20-4 advantage on the break. If you are crashing the boards, you can pay a price on the break sometimes. The Lakers had some great pushouts in this one. Second, the turnovers. If you keep those in check, you limit extra possessions. The Lakers had just 10 turnovers, the Grizzlies had 14. So you made up 4 possessions there. Third, three shooting. Both teams shot 31%. The Lakers, however, made 4 more threes. Fourth, freethrow shooting. The Grizzlies shot 40, the Lakers 41. Difference was L.A. made 81%, the Grizzlies just 65%. All those little areas of advantage added up and you got a few second chances of your own with 10 offensive boards.

Coach’s Challenge: Bron attacked the paint drawing a foul with a chance to cut it to 3 points with 8:15 left in the fourth. The Grizzlies challenged as it would be the 5th foul on Brooks or the 5th foul on Bron depending on how the call went. Challenge unsuccessful, FTs for Bron, bench for Brooks, lead just 3 points.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 20, 2023 11:13 pm    Post subject:

...... SWEET WIN!
THX DB
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 20, 2023 11:25 pm    Post subject:

Second.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 20, 2023 11:43 pm    Post subject:

Quote:
Key Stats: Ridiculous offensive boards. The Grizzlies had 24 in this game. How do you win a game while giving up 39 second-chance points (the most in a couple decades someone said)? Let’s look a little deeper. First, we had a 20-4 advantage on the break. If you are crashing the boards, you can pay a price on the break sometimes. The Lakers had some great pushouts in this one. Second, the turnovers. If you keep those in check, you limit extra possessions. The Lakers had just 10 turnovers, the Grizzlies had 14. So you made up 4 possessions there. Third, three shooting. Both teams shot 31%. The Lakers, however, made 4 more threes. Fourth, freethrow shooting. The Grizzlies shot 40, the Lakers 41. Difference was L.A. made 81%, the Grizzlies just 65%. All those little areas of advantage added up and you got a few second chances of your own with 10 offensive boards.

Nice summary. The offensive board disparity by the Grizz was expected (maybe not this bad), but it was good to see that the issue didn't prevent a Laker victory.

I give Bryant a break on all the fouls this time. He's been terrible lately at guarding the paint, so someone must've said something to him because he was trying a lot harder this time on that end of the floor (though his first one was a lazy foul).


Last edited by joeblow on Sat Jan 21, 2023 8:25 am; edited 1 time in total
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A Mad Chinaman
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2023 12:22 am    Post subject:

As Al Davis famously often shared - "Just Win Baby!!"
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2023 3:27 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB. Crazy game. It was men against boys and the boys won.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2023 4:29 am    Post subject:

Great night from Russ against the league leading defense.

Edit: couldn’t watch the game… never would’ve thought I’d wake up to a W
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danzag
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2023 6:18 am    Post subject:

A win is a win
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governator
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2023 7:29 am    Post subject:

lol, the two balls and exploding banana in the middle for DS
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deal
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2023 8:14 am    Post subject:

Crazy game. The Griz put physical players on LJ all night long and that
certainly made him extremely uncomfortable, he would end up 8 for 21.
He had to put in a lot of work in this one, maybe too much.

This, however, opened things up for Russ, Dennis, etc and they took
advantage of that.


Thanks DB !
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2023 8:30 am    Post subject:

Nice win. Much needed after Wednesday’s debacle.

Dillon Brooks should just stfu. Shannon Sharpe is a hall of fame tight end and a pioneer for the modern NFL Tight End.

No one will remember Dillon (bleep) Brooks in 5 years He should get back in the gym with the amount of bricking last night.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2023 9:04 am    Post subject:

russ asking to guard Ja down the stretch and coming through was solid.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2023 7:21 pm    Post subject:

Who knew Shannon Sharpe was a Lakers fan?
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2023 8:54 pm    Post subject:

LakerLanny wrote:
Who knew Shannon Sharpe was a Lakers fan?
he's a LBJ stan
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 22, 2023 5:22 pm    Post subject: to the finals

with this attitude maybe we have some chances for the finals.
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