SUNS -at- LAKERS - 3/2 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

 
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 02, 2021 10:41 pm    Post subject: SUNS -at- LAKERS - 3/2 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

Stumbling into the Break... The Lakers learned they’d be without Gasol and Kuzma in this game. And with no AD, that meant trouble against a hot Suns team.

Devin Booker tried to help by getting tossed after just 24 minutes, but the Lakers couldn’t match the blistering three shooting (55%) of their opponent.

Trailing by 3 points heading into the fourth quarter, the Lakers lost the few minutes of the fourth quarter. Their small ball gave up points in the paint as well as from the perimeter. LeBron could only watch from the bench as the Suns lead ballooned to double digits again.

He’d return to the game, but had too little help on the roster tonight.

Every time the Lakers would make a big play, the Suns would hit a shot or two to keep them at arms distance. The Lakers fell 114-104.

“A lot of guys looking forward to the break,” LeBron said of the team’s fatigue right now.

Got to get the next one.


LeBron -- -- He was getting to the rim for scores in the first half, shooting blanks from threes. He knew he had to score and knew his jumper wasn’t there early. Take out the threes in that first half and he was 7-9 for his 15 points. He worked off the Trezz screens. They switched a bit and LeBron looked to take advantage or get downhill. In the second half, some post work for LeBron for scores, but he also had some nice cuts for scores working off ball, as well. Loved seeing how much he was getting to the rim. This is what you see in the playoffs. Very late in the game, his three ball came alive and he drained a few of those, as well. We were a +2 when he was out there and a -12 when he wasn’t. With our depth shot, it’s really a challenge when he’s sitting. He did his job tonight. Just needed more guys to join him. He picked up a quick tech early on and Vogel followed immediately after with another tech defending him. The Stats: He scored 38 points on 16-24 shooting (3-8 from three, 3-5 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 6 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 1 fouls in 38 minutes. He was a +2.

Schröder -- -- Man, that was an ugly 10 points in the first half. He banked in a three, got a really kind bounce on another three. Then was blocked a few times, taking 10 shots to get his 10 points. He’d end up with 17 points on 17 attempts. Nothing easy for him tonight, but he was at least able to do something unlike some of our other guards. He did have 6 assists, a couple of nice ones to a cutting LEBron for layups later in the game. I love seeing our other guys setting up LeBron when he’s on the move like that. Defensively, he shadowed CP3 quite a bit. Paul had 8 points on 1-4 shooting, but also 10 assists and orchestrated the offense well. Team D got picked apart. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 6-17 shooting (2-5 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 6 assists, 1 block, 3 turnover and 3 fouls in 38 minutes. He was a -11.

Harrell -- -- With the Laker frontline sidelined in this one, Trezz got the start with Morris. He was a -17 in 12 first half minutes. He can’t bully Ayton and that left him lost on offense, scoring wise. He did, however, help set some solid screens for LeBron to get downhill against Ayton for scores. Defensively, he was showing high and blitzing early. That’s how we’d like to defend with Trezz most of the time as he’s not great at anchoring, especially when he’s got taller players rolling to the hoop. So we blitzed and recovered. The Suns, however, were lights out from three. Late in the game, you could have made a strong case for him to come in against Saric and play bully ball, especially when CP3 sat. But he sat on the bench as we went with Morris at C and LeBron at PF. Saric toasted our smaller players in that fourth. I mean, Trezz didn’t give Vogel much to want to return to, but we also gave up 21 to Saric. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-4 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 block and 2 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a -15.

Caldwell-Pope -- -- Awful game. In the first half, he missed all three threes he took and a reverse layup. He was called for a weak flagrant foul on a shot challenge in the first half. Didn’t hit the head and called for following through on the shot challenge on a player in the air. So that cost the Lakers 4 points there. So he was a negative. (KCP had a much better argument that Booker grabbed his foot while on the ground as a non-basketball play than KCP not making a basketball play.) He was a -14 in 15 minutes in the first half. He started the second half getting stripped. Then was lucky not to get a travel call for passing to himself. He finally scored a layup in transition for his first hoop late in the game, but then got backdoored to give up FTs immediately later to give it right back. Not sure how he only has 2 turnovers in this. Horrid game. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-7 shooting (0-5 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -11.

Morris -- -- Morris stepped up. This is the guy that becomes huge when you have AD out there. When he can hit those threes and play big and mobile on D, that’s what we saw in the playoffs. We played him a lot at the C spot in this game, which didn’t really ever work last year. Across our other bigs as PF in a 5-out lineup is what we want. He sank his first five attempts, hitting from the midrange getting smaller defenders on him and then sinking a couple threes before missing a tough one in the corner late on a play we had originally set up for LeBron, but Morris had to force it against the clock. One of the few bright spots in this game. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-6 shooting (2-3 from three) to go with 6 boards, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a -16.

Caruso -- -- He got hit in the head on a drive late and had neck spasms. One of the few plays they didn’t review. He was also called for an offensive foul jumping, bringing his knee up like you do when you jump. That was reviewed. Refs killing me tonight. Good seeing him hit a couple of threes. One was off a weakside screen. The other again on the weakside as his defender tried to zone up. Good to see the Lakers making teams pay on the weakside when they try to help. That’s a part of the game, we’re slowly getting better at this season. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-4 shooting (2-3 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 4 assists, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 20 minutes. He was a -8.

Horton-Tucker -- -- He had 12 points on 4-5 shooting in the first half. He sank a couple of threes and had a couple scores on step-throughs. A +7 in his 9 minutes. Really good first half. Probably should have played even more. In the second half, he had to force a couple shots against the clock. He also had a couple of turnovers. No assists in the game. He should have made an extra pass to Morris on a wing three, but instead took and missed it himself. Got to move the ball more. Defensively, he had a couple big failures in that fourth, getting beat off the three line and also giving up an offensive board and score. Still trusted him more than Wes/KCP in this one. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 6-9 shooting (2-5 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 2 turnovers and 5 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a -2.

Matthews -- -- He killed some good ball movement late in the third quarter when we worked it around the perimeter. Once it went to him in the corner he attacked a crowd instead of taking a three, turned it over and was inside his own head. You’ve got to take those shots. But he just had no confidence going and we were limited on bodies to run out there as we went small. He was able to get a couple stops with some D in the final 2 minutes, rotating to draw a charge on one. His best play of the night. But it was painful to watch tonight. He’s an automatic miss right now. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-2 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 23 minutes. He was a +1.

Jones -- -- He came in early in the second quarter for Dudley when the Suns brought Ayton back. He immediately blocked a shot, then scored on the other end. Offensively, we ran a horns handoff sequence where he sealed his man in the paint, took the pass and scored. He also opened up a three shooter on the weakside with a pin-in flare screen. That was just a read in good basketball, not necessarily a set play sequence. We brought him back sooner into the second half half with Ayton still on the floor. Then took him off when they went small. In two games, he’s shown enough that you give him another 10-day. I don’t know what, if anything, we may have going on behind the scenes, but it’s nice having that change of gears big we can use. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-2 shooting to go with 1 board, 1 block and 1 foul in 7 minutes. He was a +1.

Dudley -- -- He had to go up against Ayton briefly in the first half. Once the Suns transitioned to their smaller lineup, Dudz worked it out effectively in that first stint on D. They actually played really well and he was disruptive on D. To start the fourth, however, they went after him in the post against Saric and this time were able to get a couple of scores. That had him back on the bench again. He couldn’ score on a couple of attempts, but he ended up leading the team with the +9 as that small ball C because of that first half. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-2 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 block and 3 fouls in 11 minutes. He was a +9.

Vogel -- -- Key Moment: The Lakers trailed 86-83 heading into the fourth. We ran the same unit we closed the quarter with: Dudley/Matthews/AC/THT/Schroder. The Suns worked the post against Dudley for a couple of scores. Then got open threes off the two-man game and the Lakers trailed by 10 after just 2 minutes. We’d bring in LeBron. Shortly later, CP3 would sit and the Suns would scratch out several buckets, forcing the Lakers to call timeout down 11 and making up no ground. That killed us.

Key Substitution: Any time KCP or Wes were in the game, it was painful. The C spot, however, was in the spotlight tonight. It was an adventure with no AD or Gasol. We saw Trezz, Dudley, Jones and Morris all take turns. I liked that Vogel mixed up the rotation a little in the second half, but he wasn’t able to activate Trezz’s game in this one and that was a failure.

Key Stats: Suns shot 16-29 from three, 55%. That efficiency killed us.
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Hammett
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 02, 2021 10:55 pm    Post subject:

thanks db!
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 02, 2021 11:39 pm    Post subject:

Even WITH the hot shooting, if the refs called this one fair- we win by 2 or 3...Just like the last Warriors game I PRAY AD and the rest of the guys are back for our revenge game- I wanna murder these hacks next time.
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 02, 2021 11:54 pm    Post subject:

I fell asleep for part of the game yet somehow I feel like I saw enough.

Thanks DB
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A Mad Chinaman
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2021 2:39 am    Post subject:

Vogel has a longer pile if he cancture that he is trying to put together

Great that LBJ is taking the Kings game off, with the ASG coming up. Maybe a simlar strategy to have LBJ missed the first game after the ASG would be a wise move.

KCP seems to be playing with low energy. "Acceptable" if he can play shutdown D, if not - why is he on the floor

Vogel needs to find a way to aciivate Matthew's game.

Along with LGB, keeping Kuz out of the Kings game and out of the first game after the ASG would be a wise move - long term. These games would have the same importance of a preseason game where Vogel can (forced to) try different lineups and give extended PT to players that he will be using in the playoffs.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2021 2:51 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB

Vogs misuse of harrel, jones and duds killed me tonight, along wth kcps play and the officiating.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2021 4:48 am    Post subject:

Maybe Vogel could’ve gambled putting D.Jones on Saric in the 4th, dude was shooting over Dudley/Kief with ease... ASB time, recharge and get healthy
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2021 5:11 am    Post subject:

Bruce Brown has been a walking 15 points for Brooklyn while KCP, a starter on the Finals favored team, has had one good game in like a month?

From the season opener to the Bucks game, KCP shot 57% from three.

Since then, he's 20/74 (27%).

Tough loss when Lebron has such a solid game offensively.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2021 7:03 am    Post subject:

Dudley, Matthews and KCP combined for 1-11 from the floor and 0-6 from three.

Jones, Caruso and THT were 10-15 from the floor and 4-8 from the three.

The first trio got 65 total minutes and the second trio got got 46 total minutes.

Ya gotta play the players that are hot and sit the ones that are not during a game.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2021 8:15 am    Post subject:

Thanks, DB!
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2021 8:49 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB. Excellent write up, crappy game.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2021 9:26 am    Post subject:

governator wrote:
Maybe Vogel could’ve gambled putting D.Jones on Saric in the 4th, dude was shooting over Dudley/Kief with ease... ASB time, recharge and get healthy


If I recall, he hit a three over Jones and then Vogel went small shortly later. Pretty sure that happened.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2021 9:28 am    Post subject:

DancingBarry wrote:
governator wrote:
Maybe Vogel could’ve gambled putting D.Jones on Saric in the 4th, dude was shooting over Dudley/Kief with ease... ASB time, recharge and get healthy


If I recall, he hit a three over Jones and then Vogel went small shortly later. Pretty sure that happened.


It did. First thing I noticed was the quick hook.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2021 9:29 am    Post subject:

Laker7 wrote:
Dudley, Matthews and KCP combined for 1-11 from the floor and 0-6 from three.

Jones, Caruso and THT were 10-15 from the floor and 4-8 from the three.

The first trio got 65 total minutes and the second trio got got 46 total minutes.

Ya gotta play the players that are hot and sit the ones that are not during a game.


I found myself counting up a lot of minutes myself while the game was going on.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2021 9:54 am    Post subject:

What is so frustrating about this loss is the sheer efficiency of the Suns from 3. Yes, at times they had open shots from a blown assignment, or strange scramble plays where a guy got open. But overall they typically had a guy on them or hand in the face yet still hit their shots.

Think on this. 55% from 3 - that's basically as good as the Nets were shooting overall in their win streak. They did that on 29 shots, which was 37.6% of their field goal attempts. So closing on on 40% of their field goal attempts, they shot the highest point giving shot at over 50%.

Let's say the Lakers, instead of 11-31 (35%) from 3, were 13-31 (41.9%). That still doesnt cover the deficit even with a good 40% clip from 3 (albeit, yes, who knows how the game goes down the stretch with a closer game). It's almost like, geez, what the hell do you do with that when a team shoots that well from 3?

If that wasnt enough, the Suns then had 25 free throws (Lakers 17), and knocked down 22. Hard to not notice that in addition to shooting from 3 at a high level, they were getting to the line as well.

Of note, Suns 2 point shots they were at about 45%ish, Lakers were 63%ish with their 2 point field goals.

Just some stats that make you go...hmmm.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2021 10:48 am    Post subject:

DrDent wrote:
What is so frustrating about this loss is the sheer efficiency of the Suns from 3. Yes, at times they had open shots from a blown assignment, or strange scramble plays where a guy got open. But overall they typically had a guy on them or hand in the face yet still hit their shots.

Think on this. 55% from 3 - that's basically as good as the Nets were shooting overall in their win streak. They did that on 29 shots, which was 37.6% of their field goal attempts. So closing on on 40% of their field goal attempts, they shot the highest point giving shot at over 50%.

Let's say the Lakers, instead of 11-31 (35%) from 3, were 13-31 (41.9%). That still doesnt cover the deficit even with a good 40% clip from 3 (albeit, yes, who knows how the game goes down the stretch with a closer game). It's almost like, geez, what the hell do you do with that when a team shoots that well from 3?

If that wasnt enough, the Suns then had 25 free throws (Lakers 17), and knocked down 22. Hard to not notice that in addition to shooting from 3 at a high level, they were getting to the line as well.

Of note, Suns 2 point shots they were at about 45%ish, Lakers were 63%ish with their 2 point field goals.

Just some stats that make you go...hmmm.


Yeah this game reminded my of that Jimmy Butler fadeaway three he hit in AD's face to close out the 1st half in game 5.
Some games just always feel out of reach because of timely, momentum killing threes. We had too many starters out to be a smart defensive team, and just left too many open looks... even after no longer doubling Booker.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2021 4:13 pm    Post subject:

https://lakersdaily.com/phil-handy-fires-shots-at-teams-celebrating-regular-season-wins-like-they-won-the-finals/

Right on, Phil. Suns were celebrating pretty excessively just like GSW in the 1st matchup.

It’s ok, beatdown incoming later in the year and possibly a sweep in the playoffs.
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deal
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2021 5:39 pm    Post subject:

OUCH !
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2021 8:44 pm    Post subject:

We'll be invigorated after the break. I just hope that all our guys are responsible.
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