Can't score. Can't defend. Can't rebound. Isn't a lob threat against Gobert. He had some good volleyball spikes to keep it alive in the first Q, Wolves turned that valve off by the time he re-entered the game.
Here is the good news for Lakers fans: James' playoff series record is 41-14. That means he has plenty of experience winning a playoff series when he starts down 1-0. In fact, James has gone on to win a playoff series after losing a Game 1 a whopping 12 times. That includes two first-round wins In a bubble Lakers lost to Portland and Houston. But bad news it was last time when Lakers won series after losing 1 game
And another bad news .. Luka first playoffs losses to Clippers for 2 years in a row after losing 1 game of series
So here's my after the day thoughts: Someone said the Lakers got bullied by the Wolves and I am inclined to agree. WOlves were able to be extremely physical starting in the 2nd qtr with some really questionable contact/no calls on Luka and Bron in the paint. In fact some of the calls we got after contact came only after the miss. The most egregious was when Luka got murdered by Julius late in the game. I don't think it was intentional but it was not only dangerous but it was flagrant AND it was a Take Foul as the Lakers were on the break. None of it was looked at and the Lakers just got a common foul called. As for the team, our guys were caught between either trapping or staying with their man. Most of the Wolves 3's came off weak rotation and, as JJ put it, lack of real energy until late in the game. We have to be better at picking and choosing who we leave. I also think we spent to much time early letting Luka get going and not let some of the other guys get going. Bron and AR took too long to get going. Speaking of AR, I see people saying he had a bad game. I disagree 100%! AR battle Julius all game and he was getting beat up holding his position. He def got beat off a few up fakes but what he did in the paint against the bigger guys was impressive to me. Again, if refs called some of that physicality the wolves got to play with we might of had a much different game all together. In the end, we got punched in the mouth by a team that didn't accidently make it into the playoffs. This is going to be a 6 game series I believe which means that we gonna lose a game or two. We need better energy from the jump next game.
Regardless if its a win for this season whatever happens in the post season. It still sucks, just ultimately underwhelming. Looked like the washington generals out there. Edit: Corrected my grammar (to the best of my ability lmfao), lol I remember I got s*** from people at Club Lakers. Insane its been more than 10 years since we migrated from CL Lakers to Lakers Ball.
Stop over helping and biting on pump fakes. Ironically if AR didn't bite on every single pump fakes the individual defense was solid. Lakers help defenders just was way to overzealous. This thread shows a bunch of clips confirming what a bunch of folks including were pointing out in the game thread.
giving a team wide open looks from 3 isn't a winning formula. who would've thought? vanderbilt was the only guy who actually tried defending yesterday
Yeah, they need to fix a lot, if they don’t, we won’t win the series, there are no easy series’ in the West, I think teams 1-7 can make it to the finals
Because he has ONE skill: finishing lobs. I’ll stand by my statement that he’s unplayable if the lob threat is broken up.
Its kind of crazy, how malone before he got fired said his players dont ever look at film. I thought this was the norm for all teams even cursed ones like ther wolves, clips, nets, bobcats, queens, etc
He was doing ok in the regular season, even regards to this defensive presence, but we looked like crap. Like a headless chicken just chucking and clanking 3s and dumb turnovers.
Yes, he had some good games against teams that didn’t try, or didn’t have the personnel, to break up the lob threat. The playoffs are a different beast altogether- intensity ratchets up and weaknesses are exposed. Minny has great individual defenders and they play great team defense. Furthermore, Chris Finch is no dummy- he, and his staff, did a great job preparing his team for this matchup.
Vando overhelped on multiple occasions last night - him and Rui did a bunch of times and you combine that with team in particular AR biting on every single pump fake that caused the team far more problems than, say Luka's 1v1 defensive ability last night
