Game Debrief: What Went Right And What Went Wrong?

Hey Lakers ! Miss me yet ?

 

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so the starters, even with cam, suck on defense. curious to see what--if anything but wait for trades--jj does here.

 

The lack of grit in this team is alarming. Drives me crazy. I don't understand why guys like Rui or DLo aren't going all in with their future in the league on the line. The CBA is going up and they have hundreds of millions in the horizon, they should be playing for their life

I would start Knecht for Rui today, we need to spice things up again

 

Going with Knecht over Reddish. It's a good one to try, Reaves struggles holding fast guards but should be fine against CP3. Going full offense with the lineup

I just like that JJ hasn't been stubborn about things and that's an amazing thing to have in your HC

 

JJ is already shuffling lineups like Ham did. The season isn't 20 games old yet, the players need to man up!

 

Dalton is just too good to keep on the bench. Team desperately needs a trade to get more competent 2 way players to put around AD/lebron/AR/DK. Thats a great offensive core to start with

 

That’s our 5 most impactful/best players I like it Let them gel and do their best on D. DLO mixing in awesomely tonight off the bench and with starters. Christie finally IS looking better more consistently and Koloko is probably as good or better than Hayes on offense and better on D. Cam adds some D off the bench. It’s more balanced this way with what we have to work with. The sub patterns and minutes rewarded for good play off the bench look good. JJ and DLO look in tune with one another.

 

We won..seee me after the OKC game. I'm still pissed with these wishy washy dudes

 

Lakers beat Wemby's Spurs in SA on a BTB for both teams, 119-101.

Lakers won all 4 quarters and - in a breath of pure oxygen for some of us - they won the damned, cursed 3rd Q, 34-30. May wonders never cease!

It's hard to tell but the Lakers players might have actually started to talk to each other on defense. If so? About frikkin' time.

After the choked game to ORL and the collapse in the 3rd Q against DEN and PHO, it's too early to tell if this win is a glitch. The best team in the West comes into the Crypt Friday night. All I ask is for a Laker team to play a competitive 48 mins against OKC, who beat GSW in San Fran tonight in a very physical defensive game for both squads. (Andrew Wiggins blew a layup that could've sent the game into OT: he had more time than he thought...)

What went Right: we wuz bleedin' real bad; against SA we have applied a tourniquet. It remains to be seen how the patient (Lakers) fares in recovery. Startin' to feel dizzy over here, Lake-show. Play a strong game against OKC to let us feel grounded again?

Glimmer: in the 3rd, Spurs stormed back from being down 11 at halftime to cut the Laker lead to 4 when Wemby hit a finger roll. Damn: PTSD: here it comes again. Oh, no. Not this jit again. Then: AD gets fouled shooting, hits both FTs. Lakers back up 6. Decent D and Barnes throws it out of bounds. DK hits a floater: Lakers up 8. DK steals the ball/picks off a Wemby pass, hits AD for a dunk: Lakers back up by 10 with 5:20 to go in the 3rd.

All that felt...relatively sane. They aren't melting down in the 3rd. They are holding their halftime lead. I felt like that time my friend who had had surgery but hated all the pain pils they gave her and she gave them to me and I took 1/2 an oxycontin - mostly 'cuz I wanted to see what all the shouting was about over this drug - and it felt really good. Too good. Keep that stuff away from me. I mean, I enjoyed the high, but can see how and why people in despair got addicted and died.

But the Lakers playing well and winning?: while both habit-forming and addicting: ain't gonna kill me. Or any of us.

Caught the immediate post-game interview with a sweaty Dalton Knecht. He sounded like he's 16 years old. Nothin' but hoops for this guy his entire life. Bless him. He'll mature. Think of growing up in Thornton, Colorado, up I-25 from Denver, a very white/latino community. I lived in that area when I was a teen, for awhile. It's all sports in a place like that. If you don't wear a letterman's jacket in HS, you're strictly persona non grata. He goes from 5'8" as a sophomore to 6'1" as a junior, keeps his growth spurt going through Northeastern Junior College, up to 6'6" at Tennessee, where he shoots the lights out, scoring from everywhere on the court. I just hope he can handle Hollywood after all that. AR seems to be doing okay so far. Best of luck to Dalton Knecht. I'd like to picture him reading Dostoevsky on the plane, but can't see it. I do worry...

Bron with a triple-double. AD with 19/14/7: solid. Dalton and AR together: 7 for 16 from deep. We beat 'em on the boards 46-38.

D'Angelo Russell: 17 points on 7 for 11 shooting, 3 for 6 from deep and 5 dimes: WHERE THE HELL YOU BEEN, MAN?

Max and Rui had good games. Cam was solid. Maybe I don't need to reserve a room at the Asylum Hilton.

Wemby is a wonder and one of my favorite players to watch.

The litmus for us is FRI night at the Crypt against OKC. Until then: y'all have a fantastic T-Giv. Imma smoke some trees and eat everything in sight, like a black hole, 'cuz I certainly am not gettin' any younger, lemme tell ya.

 

lol, dalton's interviews always leave me wondering about whether he's got much of a life outside of hoops. doesn't come off as a scholar, for sure, lol. but he can definitely ball.

interesting that jj went all-offense by subbing knecht for reddish. wonder if that just worked because, as pika said, SA doesn't really have fearsome quick perimeter scorers (vassell sort of...). we've got sacramento back to back at sac sometime soon, and i fear for that lineup there.

 

that was a winnable game and we played probably the best defensive game of the season, but Lebron played one of his worst games I've ever seen. He just looked totally cooked out there and mishandling the ball constantly.

if this is more the Lebron we can expect moving forward, we are toast.

 

Lakers return to Crypt and lose to the top team in the West, OKC 101-93 and it was closer than that, really.

OKC is missing Caruso and Chet. Their defense is still first-rate. They have one superstar and everyone else plays tight D and most of them can shoot the ball. They're young, smart, fast, physical, fundamentally sound and well-coached. They're scary, frankly.

But I think we played a really good game. If the 39 year old billionaire action figure has a "normal" game we win this one. Our defense was really good. Especially AD's.

After the debacles in the 3rd against DEN and PHO, we beat OKC in the 3rd 21-20: talk about defense! I was nervous coming out of halftime: Is there where OKC wins the 3rd Q, 35-14 or something like that? No! I found it thrilling. We played our best defense.

Too bad Max fouled SGA with 22.4 left. SGA sank both to put them up 4, JJ calls a TO, then we couldn't get the ball inbounds, picked off for a layup: game over. Let's say we played 47 mins of some of our best basketball of the year.

SGA was maddeningly good. 36/6/9 and he was 3 of 10 from outside. When they had to have a bucket, he got 'em one, even with good defense being played on him. Nothing you can do about that jit.

Teams even in boards, 47-47.

What went right: we played effing defense. That, to me, was everything. We all wanted the win, of course. The fact that we played solid D makes me think the 2 recent collapses were an anomaly, a deviation and not the norm. A few more games will tell a more nuanced story about who we are.

Damn I wanted this win. But it was a good game.

AD: 15/12/7 with a steal and 4 blocks, but his defense also did things that don't show up in the box score. OKC made it rough on him on offense, and AD only had 9 attempts overall, with 5 baskets. This wasn't "tentative" AD on offense; this was OKC playing him really well. As good as you can. Props to them. (Dammit...)

Lebron: 34 mins: 12/8/6 with 5 turnovers. Traveling. Double-dribbles. Damn. The really dark thing is that Father Time might be saying, around now, "Hat's off to you, Mr. James: you spent a million dollars every year on staying fit and you've broken every record. But you're almost 40, dude! In the NBA, man! But Father Time comes for every man at some point. I have come for you."

(Now watch Lebron have a 38/12/15 game in the next two weeks to make me - I mean Father Time - look like a damned foo.)

Liked how DK was 3 for 7 from deep, then air-balled a 3, then less than a minute later said eff it: and swished another attempt. 5 for 9, Lakers top scorer with 20.

What went Wrong: We lost a game to a hotshot team - Top 3 in the NBA - that we couldda won. Ah, well.

AR's fall on his back was horrifying. Was very surprised to see him check back into the game midway through the 3rd. He was 1-9 from deep, but most of those shots were pretty well-contested. In body-wracked pain he got up after being laid out and writhing on the floor for a good 2-3 mins. Got up finally, walked around, shot his FTs and made 'em both, then a 3 rattled in and out, then he limped to the locker room with 2 1/2 mins left before halftime. I really didn't think he'd return and just hoped he wouldn't miss more than 3 games. Mamba mentality.

A memorable moment: midway through the 4th, game very tight: AD hits Max on the wing, who pump-fakes, then drives the lane and looked like he was going to try to dunk over Hartenstein Dr. J-like with his right hand palming the ball, arm outstretched, ready to windmill-dunk over Isaiah. I really don't think he could've made that shot, but Hartenstein bailed him out by fouling him. Can Max dunk like that? Has anyone seen it? It would've brought the house down if he did.

Rare loss where you feel optimistic about the team. Speak for myself: that's how I took this game, at least.

Okay, we've lost 4 of our last 5. Better take care of Utah! If we play defense like we did against OKC, we're gold.

 

Am going to repeat what I said after the first use of the AD, Bron, Rui, Knecht, AR lineup the last game.

They didn’t get any closer to “gelling” with LeBron having another turnover prone low scoring game and AR getting hurt and finally having to leave the game …. but they DID “do their best” and played some very good defense against the top team. DLO and Max again playing well off the bench and Cam adding his size and defense as well.

 

LeBron’s turnovers are really started to annoy me.
Dude still jumps before he passes!
Not sure if he’s mentally slowing down, but all the unforced ones to to be reduced.

 

Word. Who’s not screaming at their screen when he gets sloppy and turns it over.

 

We should trade Le grandpa while we can still get a bag of chips for him .

 

Control your anger my friend ! These scrubs ain’t worth a heart attack ! Reality bites

 

LeBron with Million f***ing miles on him missing shots and turning the ball over ! Why is anyone shocked ?

why is anyone shocked trump can ONLY beat women . No pun intended lol

 

Really with the Trump hate?
Funny that he appointed so many women to run large sections of the gubmint, including his Chief of Staff, while being such a masogonist!
Never let the false narratives get in the way of the truth!

 

Ain't no olives when we suckkkkkkk
Ain't no brininess with that displayyyy



Maybe someone will get this.