Game Debrief: What Went Right And What Went Wrong?

i wouldn't be surprised if the lighting for lakers home games at staples played a part in it. players were already saying it was a tough place to shoot in when the arena first opened. then about 15 years ago or so they changed the lighting so that it's darker in the stands

but then how do you explain opposing teams shooting the lights out there? not to mention the clippers are always a good 3 pt shooting team. it's just a mystery

 

exactly. my first thoughts were always about the arena/lighting--something physically different, but that should affect everyone, including and perhaps especially opponents.

rui, i think, was talking about the psychological toll of being wide open with everyone's eyes on you because you're a laker, and that's an interesting point. you'd still think that at least some of these guys would be totally unaffected by this stuff, though. almost nobody comes out unscathed here.

although i will say that the psychological explanation could also help explain why it seems that some bad shooters do better here (low expectations, even more wide open on shots).

 

Every team gets up to play us though. They see games against us are their NBA Finals, maybe that adrenalin and hype is greater than the distraction of the lights?

Maybe that + the psychological angle of it.

It's truly bizarre. I don't know why someone who covers the team hasn't done an investigative report on it by now.

 

maybe even moreso it's gain (vs loss) focus. focusing on how fun it is to beat the lakers vs. worrying about how bad it is when you lose as a laker. my guess is this is the closest to explaining it.

i do think winning as a laker is also more special, though, so once guys get a taste of that, it's possible the gains focus comes back?

reaves strikes me as a real "gains focus" type of guy in general, but i guess i thought most pro athletes were. maybe not. i know it's probably why i was a meh ft shooter.

 

Some guys, obviously, are just built different, psychologically. Others, wilt under pressure- whether it be the increased expectations of doing well in a Laker uni, or performing during must win games- either to get into the playoffs or playoff games.
This is the only thing that has made sense to me regarding this issue.

 

Here's a case of the George McCloud curse working in reverse.

Trevor Ariza
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/trevor-ariza-2009-stats
regular season: 31.9% from three

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/trevor-ariza-2009-playoffs-stats
playoffs: 47.6% from three

Derek Fisher
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/derek-fisher-2001-playoff-stats
51.5% from three!

Lamar Odom, 2009 playoffs
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/o/odomla01/shooting/2009

He went from 32% in the regular season to 51.4% from 3!

So what makes these guys different from everyone else who came over here only to forget how to shoot?

Well using @abeer's theory, opposing players get hyped playing us and shoot better, while our players shoot worse. So what happens in the case of these 3 guys?
Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza rose to the occasion and everyone else did the opposite, basically @abeer's theory in reverse, thus breaking the George McCloud curse.

There's literally nothing scientific here, I'm as confounded by this as the rest of you.

 

The other thing interesting in Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza's case is how bad they shot during the regular season. Fisher has shot over 40% from 3 at least once I believe during the regular season.
I don't know what to make of this information.

 

Jordan Clarkson is in the Building

 

Lol..Captain Crunch

 

Trying to get attention because his strong play isn't

 

AD fully engaged from the tip off
LeBron able to rest
Austin(still not a PG) Reaves taking care of the ball
Max getting some good burn(bittersweet because of Cam’s issue)
DLO’s shooting back on track

Hambone putting Reaves back in the game with 5:00 to go and us up 30+
THT still only having ONE effective offensive move( his off the dribble padding has improved, though)
The floor
Hambone not helping JHS’ confidence by refusing to put him on the floor in a 30 point blowout

 

WTF?

 

I think Hood-Schifino was listed as under the weather. Of roster players, only he and Vando DNP, but I thought we were allowed to have 15 roster players and not only 12? There's only 12 listed for right now that I saw. I didn't get a good look at the bench (TNT feed) to see who was actually suited up.

This was the kind of game you'd want to see Hodge/Fudge/Castleton all get 10 mins of PT. What a snooze-fest. But I count that as "good" of course.

The Bad:
Cam straining the groin. What a drag. Hope he doesn't miss too many games; he was starting to gel in the starting 5.

 

was this is back 2 back for Utah? Lakers totally obliterated them and they got some decent players on that team including guards who normally should have a green light against Dlo/REaves,e tc

 

No. They lost a 2OT game to PHO 2 days ago. Not a BTB. This was a freak game.

It was nice to jump out to a 30-12 lead with 55 secs left in the 1st Q, which was a real flipped script for us. Up 21 at the half.

I have a feeling we'll wish we could have used some of these points for our BTB game tomorrow vs. DAL.

 

This was the first time the Lakers have reminded me of that Bubble year start when they were something like 24-3 and were totally annilhating teams to the point that Lebron was given out his shoes before the game was over. They had some blowout last year when a player got hot but this was a total our team is just better than you across the board feel to it

 

We are now .5 positive in total point differential. I think for the 1st time this season and it only took a 32 pt beatdown of the Jazz

 

i might call that the "webber/peja effect". why? those are two guys who failed so hard on big stages that they eventually shook it off and played better, with my explanation being once you've experienced enough failure, you're not afraid of it anymore, and you focus on gains instead of losses. peja in game 7 against us: what if i miss? in the 2011 playoffs with dallas: what if i make it?!

this is why i still hold some hope for dlo. he's been so putrid in the playoffs several times now, maybe he shakes the fear of being bad (because it already happened and he's not dead).

the 40 pt beat down to the freaking houston rockets looms large over a 15 game sample, as does this win.


as far as the good/bad:

good:
AD in the paint on both ends (no blocks but they should keep a stat on how many guys beat their man then wet their pants and passed back to a covered perimeter player)
rest for lebron/AD
finally catching a break with an opposing team not playing its best game against us
wood got his offense working a bit

oh, and i watched on TNT and could tell reggie miller was just stewing in our good performance all night. he was pissed. he was ready to trashtalk AD and the lakers except lebron, and he got absolutely nothing to work with other than gleeful speculation on reddish's injury. eat it, reg.

bad:
cam injury (we're starting to get really thin at guard)
relatedly, max's three ball is still MIA, and we're going to need him to hit those in the coming weeks--i think it's a confidence thing with him
we once again saved a rare non-putrid shooting night for a bad opponent at home
prince being bad on both ends