LAKERS -at- GRIZZLIES - 4-12-24 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Down to the Wire... After an 8-0 run for the Lakers to close the first quarter, it seemed like the Lakers were ready to get into gear.

The 34-26 first quarter lead would be extended to as many as 13 in the second quarter, but sloppy ball by the Lakers gave the Grizzlies extra possessions. Poor defensive rebounding hurt L.A., as well.

LeBron had 6 of the Lakers first 8 turnovers in that first half, but he’d come up big late in the game.

Memphis reeled the Lakers in later in that second quarter, cutting the lead all the way down to 1 again. And in the third quarter, it was the young Memphis bench players taking it to the Lakers.

L.A. would fall back by as many as 9 points, before Bron would flex some scoring muscle, hitting threes and helping the Lakers take back a 98-97 lead in the fourth.

Ham kept AD in all second half as this one was too close. The Lakers would rattle off a 25-8 run between the quarters, but the young Memphis team wouldn’t go away. Former Laker Scottie Pippen Jr. had a series of big drives for layups in the fourth on his way to 28 points that sparked the Grizzlies.

As the Lakers settled for long jumpers late in the game, the Grizzlies would take a 1-point lead into the final minute.

LeBron took over from there. He attacked off the three line for a layup with 45 seconds left, he’d make a couple clutch FTs, and then up by 3 he hustled out to midcourt as the Grizzlies tried to save a loose ball. LeBron intercepted it and took it in for one of his trademark reverse dunks. The Lakers held on for the 123-120 win.

With the Suns grabbing a comeback win against the Kings and the Pelicans taking one from the Warriors, the Lakers have a big matchup Sunday against the Pelicans. Can the Lakers win and possibly take the 8th seed? Or lose and, perhaps, end up with the 10th seed?


LeBron -- -- Where to start in this one. He saved the Lakers in the final minute with those three big scores and the hustle for the steal with 5 seconds left. There were sequences in the second half, where he turned it up and that was one of them. He also had a few possessions in this game where the offense busted and he bailed them out with a last second score. I did not like some of the late game three shooting (I think there was a sequence on two straight possessions where he went 0-3 from three and then AD missed a three on the next one…all in crunch time). The 5 assists with 8 turnovers stat sticks out. Most of those (6) were in the first half. Let’s look at them. He fumbled a dribble away on the break. He threw a pass away on a confused horns sequence. He threw a post entry pass away. He got caught in the air and threw a pass away for a layup the other way. He coughed up another one on the dribble or the gather and it was points the other way. He had a clear-out foul on the perimeter. So three of those were kind of unforced miscues. The passing is a more of a concern. You hate to see the team not on the same page at this stage in the season. I do think Bron was playing maybe a bit casual in the first half. But we can’t be sloppy like that right now. The Stats: He scored 37 points on 13-20 shooting (3-7 from three, 8-11 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals, 8 turnovers and 1 foul in 41 minutes. He was a -3.

Davis -- -- Size advantage for AD tonight at times. He drew a number of FTs in the post (made 13 of 17, missing two huge FTs with 1:40 left in the game). Best post play might have been a change of speeds into a spin move that caught the defense sleeping as AD went around his man. A lot of three shooting from AD despite that. He made an early one, and then missed a bunch, including one late in the game when he and Bron were missing threes on key possessions. Glad to have him back. We can’t do anything without him. We ran him all second half and big minutes on the night. Hopefully, he’s ready to dominate in the next one. “We can’t play how we played tonight with the turnovers, letting them get offensive rebounds, sloppy play,” AD said. The Stats: He scored 36 points on 11-22 shooting (1-6 from three, 13-17 from the line) to go with 14 boards (4 offensive), 5 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 4 turnovers and 2 fouls in 43 minutes. He was a +2.

Russell -- -- I hope this isn’t the time of the year when his shot form begins to look like a car wash inflatable. His first attempt from three hit the side of the backboard. He never looked comfortable and kind of faded from the fight, scoring wise as he shot blanks from three (0-5). Some good passing in this one. There was a great sequence where he was in the high post in horns, set a screen for Gabe, the peeled into a two-man action with Bron where he hit LBJ with the pocket pass for a dunk. Late in the game, he got picked by Pippen at midcourt. Russell and Pippen dove for the ball. No other Laker made it down court, but it looked like most of the Grizzlies were down court and they got a big score off it. Russell would get a nice block on a reverse dunk attempt shortly later to try to make up for it, it seemed. Need a big one from him in the next one. Can’t have these big MIA scoring games. He’s 3-19 from three in the last three games. Right when AR is getting back into it, Russell’s shot disappears. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-9 shooting (0-5 from three) to go with 3 boards, 10 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a +1.

Reaves -- -- Rare foul-trouble game for Reaves. He was actually playing some pretty strong D outside of that. He didn’t agree with a few of the whistles, but if you could take away a couple of those, this would have made for a really strong two-way outing. They used a challenge on what looked like a pretty obvious strip off Pippen’s drive. That bad call was overturned and the Lakers got the stop, as a result. Early on, that three ball was falling. A good sign after that slump. It seems he’s dialing it in. He hit a pull-up three in early offense. He sank a pick and pop three. Later in the second half, he hit a step-back three on the first possession. It seems like we are favoring a Dinwiddie/Reaves combo and a Russell/Vincent combo. Keep an eye on the rotations with that. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-8 shooting (3-5 from three, 0-1 from the line) to go with 1 assist, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and 5 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a -22.

Hachimura -- -- Some good plays early on, jumping a passing lane for a dunk. He also hit a wing three and swished a corner three against the zone. He flashed to the lane for midrange jumper, as well. In the second half he had a dunk in transition and a huge offensive board where he drew a foul with 2 minutes left up by 1. However, GG went around him on the other end for a big dunk to give that one back. We didn’t see the off-ball cutting, post play and taking advantage of attention drawn by AD and Bron as much as you’d like against a smaller Grizzlies team. Although, Bron did find him under the hoop on one play and the pass bounced off Rui’s hands for a turnover. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 4-6 shooting (2-3 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards (2 offensive), 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 29 minutes. He was a -17.

Dinwiddie -- -- He was fouled on a wing three for his only points. Hit and miss on D. He had a couple disruptive plays, but also gave up too much space on occasion. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 0-1 shooting from three and 3-3 from the line to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a +9.

Prince -- -- Some good minutes for Prince. Again, can’t fault him for being run at PF in small lineups whenever that happens. Defensively, some up and down moments. He fouled a three shooter on a step back with the shotclock low. Painful. But late in the game, he had some better defensive sequences. He drew an illegal screen to get a stop. He stepped in on help to draw a charge in the paint. He applied to perimeter pressure and his man stepped on the sideline. We needed all of that. Offensively, he sank three threes in the first half, a couple of them in transition, another off a drive and kick from Gabe. One of the transition threes was off a great stop, going vertical at the SF spot. We’re better when we can play big. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-8 shooting (3-6 from three) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a +17.

Vincent -- -- The +27 in 19 minutes in a 3-point game sticks out in this one. Gabe got some extra time with Reaves getting into foul trouble. Reaves played 25, so maybe that might give you an idea that maybe Gabe will get 10-12 minutes in Ham’s tighter rotation with no Reddish and Christie. Hard to say for sure because the Lakers could play bigger than they are and cut some guard time. And Spencer got 20 minutes, so that could easily vary, as well. In any event, some good moments for Gabe. He brought the professional-level effort. Some good hustle plays (offensive board that led to an AD second-chance score. He also deflected a pass to get a stop at the end of the quarter. He had a couple of scores. One was a big three to go up 6 with 10 minutes left. Good to see that shot from three drop. I’m worried he will find some flow with that shot with so few games under his belt. We also called his number out of a timeout to cur around the double screen to attack with his right off a handoff and he scored a layup. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-5 shooting (1-4 from three) to go with 1 offensive board and 1 assist in 19 minutes. He was a +27.

Hayes -- -- The Lakers found themselves in a bit of trouble in this game, so Hayes didn’t play in the second half. It’s possible we see this in the playoffs, too, as AD goes for big minutes. In the first half, Hayes had a nice sequence where he scored a tricky layup getting out in transition. On the other end, he swatted a drive off the glass to ignite a breakaway. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-2 shooting to go with 2 boards, 1 block and no fouls in 5 minutes. He was a +1.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: There was a key stretch for the Lakers late in the third and early in the fourth where they fell back by 9 and then went on a 25-8 run. But I think you have to look at the final minute in this one. The Lakers were down 1 to the deep Memphis bench. Bron and AD were missing threes. Bron finally attacked a closeout for a layup, then drew FTs on the defensive end, then the big play of the game, stole the ball at midcourt and dunked with 5 seconds left to go up 5. That was the ball game.

Key Substitution: AD played the entire second half as Ham had to have his guys claw back in the game late in the third and early in the fourth.

Key Stats: A 14-5 advantage in steals for the Kings. A 25-11 advantage for the Lakers on the break, however. Part of that was the 6-2 advantage for the Lakers in blocks. The Grizzlies had 20 points on second chances. Ham highlighted that after this one.

[mad55557777]

Glad we beat the mighty Gleague grizzlies

[danzag]

We talk about moral victories but this one was a moral loss

Pathetic display by everyone

[joeblow]

What's been the Lakers primary problem (aside from health issues) in a lot of our losses, and even in a number of our wins? Poor defense, especially on the perimeter. Who are the main contributors to that? Ham, Dlo, and Austin.

Ham continues to downsize our on-court roster in his frequent 3-guard lineups to match the other team instead of over powering them with size, defense and rebounding. And even when it is just AR and DLo on the floor for us as guards, opponents are extremely skilled at picking them apart to easily score.

DLo in particular is disgusting to watch at times on defense because he sometimes gives no real effort at all for some reason. I mean, even when he does try his best he still puts us at a disadvantage because of his short height, poor lateral movement and average jumping ability. When coupled with a lack of even really trying to stop an opponent from shooting or driving on occasion and it becomes a break down for our entire team.

AR has similar athletic issues, but at least he almost always plays hard. His ain problem sometimes is his staying focused on making right defensive reads. For instance, he'll sag towards the paint too often to "help" defend it (or be in position for a rebound) when his lack of foot speed and jumping ability means he leaves a shooter wide open for three since he can't recover well.

It's also frustrating to see AR do something like rotate off of the team's best shooter at the trey line when the opponents are rotating the ball to try and disrupt a lesser shooter who has the ball (like he did vs. Curry the other night). He continues to need the coaching staff and Laker vets to help his defensive IQ... you're too slow so stay with your man!

Last thing about Ham... he's not ignorant of his defensive options and how to use them when cornered. Last night we needed to get a stop of any basket with less than ten seconds left, and coming out of the timeout not only did he keep AR and DLo on the bench - he also went with only one guard (defensively sized and skilled Spencer) along with three other forwards with AD. We got a stop... how about that!

If only Ham mixed in more defensive lineups on the floor, especially with athletic size, we wouldn't embolden the opponents so much in how easy it is to score against us a lot of times. Even subbing out one of our two sieves for the defense of Gabe last night (while staying big at the other three positions) showed how effectively we can slow the other team down in putting in basket after basket.

Yes, all this would be much easier to work through if Vandy were healthy (and even if Reddish's head was back in the game as it once was), but we still have enough to slow down smaller teams like the depleted Memphis team last night, but it took almost 40 points by both Lebron and AD to cross the finish line because our team defense had holes in it.

[Laker7]

[Nobody]

[A Mad Chinaman]

Amazing that this team believes it can take any game for granted - lol

Noted that Ham played his fav Triple Threat (No D, No O and No Effort) Prince. Opening moments include an inability to pass the ball to LBJ, then committed a defensive foul on the next possession, then got beaten while not giving any effort, etc. Prince got better because he was “better” than the G League/Deep Bench Players he was facing

Vando’s effort and energy would have embarrassed this team because their laziness would have been even more obvious

Sad that Cam and Max hasn’t yet earned Ham’s trust - given their length and energy

Sad that CWood and Vando are not available

AR has found a way to make an impact on games

DLo hasn’t found a way to make an impact hence becoming more like Prince - lol

[Dr. Laker]

Thanks, DB!

Just win, baby!
_________________
On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".

[A Mad Chinaman]

[I Bleed P&G]