A Laker that hits wide open threes! Who knew? _________________ On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".
Could have been eyes deceiving me, but I thought I saw Melo play some defense today.
There was a play early in the 2nd quarter where Melo guarded JJJ perfectly on the iso, that JJJ ended up giving up the ball and ended in a long brick. One on one Melo’s defense is actually not bad. His help/team defense is what he needs to keep improving. _________________ Tacos
Joined: 17 Sep 2008 Posts: 21113 Location: In a white room, with black curtains near the station
Posted: Sun Oct 24, 2021 10:05 pm Post subject:
I was intrigued by how we came back in that previous game in Phoenix with Melo in the lineup matching up with their bigs. We started steamrolling the Suns late third through the end of the game, just ran out of time. It felt like Vogel was on to a lineup that I never would have guessed worked. Tonight tells me we weren't seeing things.
Nice game for Melo. I haven't seen him this effective in a long time, talk about a surprise. I hope he keeps this up.
Pleasant surprise from Melo - he has been pretty good in all the games now and his defense on bigs isn't that bad either, seems like he can hold his ground.
He has no conscience but if teams keep giving him wide open shots he is going to bury them more often than not.
His improved 3 point game is simply amazing, and when he's playing that small ball 5 position, he battles. He may not be able to move laterally, but he's still strong as an ox.
Joined: 19 Nov 2007 Posts: 4390 Location: Lake Nacimiento
Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 6:26 pm Post subject:
Honestly, the shooting was very nice but I fully expect him to have some big shooting nights.
What I loved is for the first time in years I watched Melo and he was legitimately putting effort on the defensive end especially early on and even barking at guys to keep the team defense right on a few plays I noticed. First time I seen him score several baskets and not give it right back soon after with a bad play or matador defense. If we get an even somewhat focused Melo on the defensive end that changes a lot going forward. I'm not looking for him to be elite or anywhere close to great obviously just average/solid which he is fully capable of.
I don’t think Carmelo played like he did yesterday against the Grizzles when he was with the Blazers, sure he had a lot of offensive moments, but yesterday he literally looked like vintage NY/DEN Carmelo.
I don’t think Carmelo played like he did yesterday against the Grizzles when he was with the Blazers, sure he had a lot of offensive moments, but yesterday he literally looked like vintage NY/DEN Carmelo.
Kudos to CA on his historical night.
I hope we see that version of Melo more often than not.
I don’t think Carmelo played like he did yesterday against the Grizzles when he was with the Blazers, sure he had a lot of offensive moments, but yesterday he literally looked like vintage NY/DEN Carmelo.
Kudos to CA on his historical night.
I hope we see that version of Melo more often than not.
What is interesting is despite him being hot, he got some open shots. I am hoping that is due to having the other super stars on the court as the "defense had to pick its poison." I saw one play where the defense overloaded the side where LBJ had the ball and LBJ just swung the ball to the other end where Melo had a open 3.
If that is that case, Melo performances like this could be more common than previous years.
Great game tonight. _________________ On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".
Joined: 19 Nov 2007 Posts: 4390 Location: Lake Nacimiento
Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 11:26 pm Post subject:
Yeah, back to just all out matador defense but at least he was hitting on the offensive side tonight so I guess i'll take that. He is one of the only players I feel confident on any remotely open 3 he takes which is a beautiful feeling I have not had about many Lakers for the past few decades.
Melo is only a + if he's making those 3s. His defense is atrocious on 3 point shooters. He gives them so much space, and that old school defensive approach doesn't work in 2021. I don't know if Melo always played D that way, or it's age. Probably a bit of both. But despite having defensive anchors behind him, he gives his man so much space that they just easily create a shot from outside and burn him time after time.
But on offense, it's beautiful the way he just spots up and shoots. He is everything we hoped Kuz would become. He is like year 1 of AD/Bron era, Kuz. Not good on D, but can go off on O. Only he fits on O because of his 3 point shot.
I guess you justify his minutes based on his 3 ball impact. I can live with him if we have 4 elite defenders around him. Howard/AD at the 5. Bron/AD at the 4. Baze/Bradley/Reaves. If we have those guys around him, he can be a net + if his 3 ball is on. We need that floor spacing and he makes teams pay big time. Best role player shooter we have had in the Bron/AD era.
He would have been great in a Caruso/KCP/Bron/Melo/AD lineup.
Oh man, that would have been an unreal lineup!
We can still create a Bradley/Reaves(or Baze)/Bron/Melo/AD lineup which is a softer version, but still a good option.
Even if Melo gives us one performance like this per week, he will turn out to be our best offseason signing. Love having a reliable FT shooter on the team. The guy is shooting:
90% from FT range
50% from 3PT range
48.5% from FG range
Carmelo has what it takes to play D. Vogel brings that mindset when it comes to players, he doesn’t have to play good defense all the time but he’s shown in small spurts this season that he can hold his own defensively.
Carmelo has what it takes to play D. Vogel brings that mindset when it comes to players, he doesn’t have to play good defense all the time but he’s shown in small spurts this season that he can hold his own defensively.
that's my prayer, if he can finally does that, he's closing games
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