Game Debrief: What Went Right And What Went Wrong?

Lakers on a away-home BTB get Rui, Luka, Ayton, and Jaxson back and it made a difference, beat TOR 110-93.

Luka and Ayton: 25; Lebron 24. Ayton was 10-10 from the field and 5 of 6 from the line.

2nd straight game where Jake can't throw a pea in the ocean: 1 for 5 in 19 mins, 0-4 from deep; against POR he went 0-2 in 28 mins. I'm still high on him, though.

TOR, who started off the season looking like one of the surprising good teams, are 9-12 since Dec began. What's wrong with them?

Play of the game for me: in the 4th Q, Raptors tryna get a good look, ball gets knocked out-of-bounds, but one of their own guys saves it, and tries to hit someone at the arc, but Vando picks it off, one man to beat, Vando uses his body to make it look like he's going right, totally fools the defender, goes left and jams it.

Drew Timme got 16 mins, which makes me think something's up with this guy. Will he get moved before the deadline? Is there some team that collects Zags guys?

 

Hey we won

DA 10-10 25 pts 13 reb

Jake 2 pts

Rui 21 minutes and 0 reb

 

I really like how TOR plays: third in team assists and the fifth best defensive team in the NBA.
Great to see our team play with a sense of urgency again.

 

Definitely a nice win for us. We needed it to say the least.

 

Lakers begin the loooong-azzed Grammy road trip in Denver and won, 115-107. Lakers were without Austin Reaves; DEN was without The Joker.

It was a stunning, thrilling game for Laker fans as, though All-World Joker has been out for awhile, DEN has still managed to play really well, with Jamaal Murray, Aaron Gordon, and Peyton Watson stepping up for them.

Any Laker fans can be excused if they have bad Jamaal Murray flashbacks just watching this guy play us. And the first half of this game was no exception. The final minute of the half made me havin' to remind myself to breathe:

With 52 seconds left in the half, Lebron hits Luka for a runner to cut the deficit to 6, 62-56. We're still in this! Luka gets the and-one on it, but he's pissed and is jawing at the refs, Luka-style. They call a T on him. Murray hits the T, then Luka makes his and-one FT. 52 secs left, 63-57, Lakers down 6. Luka is one of the few superstars who can manage to get T'd up after making a shot and getting the and-one.

Murray hits Gordon with an alley-oop slam that reminded me of Luka hitting Hayes a few games ago from half court, Jaxson doing a reverse slam. Lakers down 8. Great pass, great convert by Gordon. Damn.

Luka misses a 3, Peyton Watson hits a 27 footer after a dish from Murray: 7.3 left in the half and what was a 6 point deficit is now 11. DEN 68, Lakers 57.

With 2.3 left in the half, Lebron gets called for a charge, DEN takes it in and Jamaal hits a 56 footer: Lakers go into halftime down 14. The crowd is going nuts; my mind started wondering if I should ask my doctor if Dammitol is right for me.

So just to recap: Lakers give up 71 to Denver in the first half, and go into the locker room down 14 after cutting it to 6 just 52 seconds left in the 2nd Q. Looks like once again the cards are not in it for us vs. DEN.

Then, JJ says eff it: double Murray every damn time he gets the ball. Lakers D looks as good as it can be this year in the 2nd half, we hold DEN to 36 in the 2nd half after coughing up 71 in the 1st half, and the worm turned in a major way for us starting at just after the 9 minute mark of the 4th, when Hardaway hit Nnaji - first NBA player in history to ever play starting with two Ns in his last name, quite a feat - for a 2-point shot: DEN up 4, 96-92. No one knew it at the time, but Night had descended on DEN at this point.

Then:

Hardaway makes a good block on Lebron's shot attempt under the basket, Lebron gets it back, tries again, but Hardaway got two hands on it, refs rule jump ball. Lebron wins the tip to Rui, who missed a 14-foot pullup. Marcus gets the rebound and banks in a 1-foot bunny! DEN up 2.

Pickett misses a step-back 3. What a relief! These guys hit what? 9 3s in the 1st Q? Luka gets the board, Lakers down 2.

Rui misses a 3 and Gordon gets the rebound. Gordon misses a little floating J. These misses by DEN in a close game, late, are little dopamine hits to my system.

Luka hits Jaxson for an alley-oop dunk! TIE GAME! 7:22 left: 96-96. I don't think the Lakers had led this entire game. Let's see if they can get a stop and then take the lead, finally.

Gordon does us all a solid and misses a step-back 3. This is too good. Can we take advantage?

Bruce Brown fouls Luka shooting. It was Luka getting into the paint and throwing it up, it rolls around the rim and out, but shooting foul. Happens to the best of 'em, Brown. Literally. DEN takes a timeout. I'm still not quite clear why DEN was awarded a timeout immediately after the foul was called. Maybe it's early onset Old-Timer's disease.

Luka hits both FTs: first leads of the game! 98-96. 6:42 left.

Lakers double Jamaal. Gordon hits a cutting Watson in the paint, but it's too hot, ricochets off Watson's hands to Rui. DEN gets back on D quickly and Laravia tries a spin move in the paint, and it gets knocked out of bounds, Lakers ball. I thought Jake just lost it. Adelman did too: challenge. DEN wins the challenge. I still have real bad flashbacks about Murray against us in a game in this situation. Like: now he's gonna score 10 points in 90 seconds on us or some jit.

Lakers double Jamaal, he gets rid of it to Watson cutting to the rack, but he runs over Marcus: offensive foul! Still 98-96 Lakers. 6:02 left. Marcus is one of the all-time take-a-charge guys, eh?

Marcus gets fouled by Watson from behind at the arc. Marcus hits all 3 FTs: 101-96: Lakers by 5 with 5:44 left in the game. This has just got really innarestin'. Lakers are on a 9-0 run.

Lakers double Jamaal at the top of the arc, Jamaal tries to split the double, loses control of the ball, catches it - this felt questionable to me - he puts up a running shot in the paint, the kind he always hits, and...he misses. DEN crashes the boards, Luka gets a hand on it, tips it up against the backboard and gets the board.

Luka hits Marcus all alone for a corner 3: Lakers on a 12-0 run, 104-96, a little over 5 mins left.

Spencer Jones misses a corner 3, Gordon gets the offensive board, Jamaal gets doubled and hits a wall around the FT line, creates space near the elbow, puts up a shot: in and out! Watson is under the basket surrounded by 3 Lakers, gets the board, puts it up: misses! Marcus gets the rebound.

This is what every Laker fans needs, right here. Still a lotta game to play. Sure we're up 8 with 4:30 to play, but we've all seen Murray kill us in this situation.

Luka brings it up, dribbling, slowly, eating up clock, moves to his left at the arc and puts it up: if this goes in I might jump up off the couch and hurt myself...it misses, and Jaxson, next to the hoop, flat-footed, has it hit off his hand, at waist level, DEN gets the board. Hayes? WTF were you doin' there?

Fast break: Brown drives to the rack, Rui defending. Brown's shot misses, Marcus trailing the shooter, was going to get the board and is immediately fouled by Watson on the loose-ball. JJ takes a timeout. Lakers up 8 with 4:06 left.

Lebron misses a layup. Hardaway rebounds. Lakers double Jamaal. He dishes to Hardaway, who, with Lebron standing right in front of him, misses a 26 footer. The announcer for NBC, who seems like a DEN fan, called it an airball, but I think it grazed the rim. DEN has gone 5 minutes and 15 seconds without scoring a point. And counting. 9 straight missed shots by DEN, and a lot of this is Laker defense.

Luka hits Rui for a little mid-range at the FT line, but it's off the heel. It bounces back to Rui, who hits Lebron with a pass. Eat clock! Lebron works with is his back to the basket, makes a move toward the rack, gets fouled on a shot. Lebron bricks the 1st, hits the 2nd. Lakers up 9 with 3:14 left. Are we going to win this game?

Jamaal gets doubled, splits it, hits Hardaway in the corner: he misses the 3! 10 straight misses for DEN. They haven't scored a point in over 6 minutes or so.

Luka drives to the rack, two guys are on him, he flicks it to Marcus all alone in the corner: swish! Lakers by 12 with 2:41 left. 16-0 Lakers run. The crowd is stunned, sounding almost like they're on the verge of booing, but they know it's Lebron and Luka who are doing this to their team so they have mixed feelings.

Lakers double Jamaal again - why the hell not? - and he dishes to Gordon who dishes to Watson in the corner: HE MADE IT! That stops a 16-0 Laker run, but there's less than 2 1/2 minutes left, Lakers up 9, DEN long since in the penalty. But then...

After Watson's 3, Luka lazily inbounds the ball and Watson steals it. This pisses me off. Watson waits for his guys to get back. He dishes to Gordon at the top of the arc: swish. 6 points in about 10 seconds for DEN. Laker lead down to 6.

Luka way up at the top of the arc, he gets doubled, hits Rui who hits a cutting 41 year old man, who throws down a monstrous dunk that floors the crowd. Lakers back up 8 with 1:50 left.

Lebron and Luka meet Jamaal at the top of the key, passes over to Gordon, who has Marcus in his jock. Gordon puts up a 3 while kicking Marcus in the family jewels, sending Marcus sprawling. Sympathy pain all-around. They called Marcus for the foul? Gordon plays altar boy. It's weird 'cuz Gordon is one of those guys who seem to have muscles growing out of other muscles. You know the type. Not sayin' he's juicin', just...He has a tough time looking innocent to me. Replay shows a very unnatural act by Gordon, to my eyes. Gordon gets assessed a T but Gordon still gets to shoot 2 FTs? (His foot was on the line.) Another questionable call.

Luka hits the technical: Lakers up 9 with 1:33 left. Gordon bricks the first, hits the 2nd. Lakers by 8. I still don't understand why Gordon got to shoot 2 FTs there when he was guilty of an offensive foul - an unsportsmanlike groin-kick to Smart's nads. "Illegal contact by Smart to the arm" before he kicked Smart in the groin. Okay...

Luka gets called for a charge in what I think was some acting by Watson, but he made it look good. Watson's a good defensive player. Love his game. Luka, who already has a T, disagrees, he always disagrees, and he runs down the court to avoid saying anything to the refs that might be misinterpreted.

Jamaal has one guy on him, Hayes, and hits a high arcing 2-point shot. Lakers by 6 with 1 minute left.

With 9 secs left on the 24, and the Lakers eating clock, Spencer Jones deliberately fouls Marcus. Not sure that was Phi Beta Kappa. 51 secs left in the game. Marcus hits the first, misses the 2nd, but it's back-tapped by Rui, Smart gets it, passes to Luka, and now DEN must foul, so they do. Luka hits e'm both: Lakers by 9 with 45 secs left and that's it.

Why did I need to type all that? Y'all saw it. It was a great Lakers win.

 

Great summary by @Zoyd Wheeler above

Nice to get a win over Denver

Won the 3rd and 4th after getting blown out in the first half

Role players

Timme 9 pts 3 reb

Hayes 9 pts 5 reb

Rui 9 pts but more important 6 reb

 

Rui got 6 boards. Yep. We out-rebounded them 51-31, and let's be clear: they seriously miss Jokic and Valunciunas on the boards. DEN is seriously good this year. Just...so good to go in there and win. After all the misery we went through the past what? 4 seasons?

 

glad we got the bad hardaway game (which is 2 out of 3, but i figured we'd get the allstar tim hardaway).

 

Fans are hilarious

 

Just finished watching the game(been sick).
What a comeback!
Who knew that Denver would not have been able to make another 500 threes in the second half!
Game ball goes to the coaching staff for doubling Murray, which took him completely out of the game.
Why is it not an automatic ejection if a player kicks his leg out on purpose and makes contact with the family jewels of the defender? Absolutely ridiculous.
Old man had the passing game going- more of this please.
Luka in utter BeastMode.
Strange that Jones for Denver looks eerily similar to Porter Jr. and plays the same game.

 

did you see the mavs/knicks game the other night? omg, KAT kicked dwight powell in the nuts like, five times! on one of them, i think they simul-racked each other. on the last one powell didn't know whether to laugh or cry, i think. it was tragicomic.