Yeah he had a +/- of +19. Highest on either team. He made things difficult for Booker when it mattered most. Obviously +/- can be misleading and he did objectively have a bad game. He can’t be invisible for us on offense if we want to have a deep run. But if his defense remains consistent, I’m confident his shooting will round into form... it just may be a bit of a bumpy ride because he’s been prone to going on extended cold/hot streaks.
Terrible game, but I still think he’s the type of guy where it takes just one game and suddenly he’s back. I remember the start of last season where everyone- myself included - wrote this dude off. Last postseason earned him a career’s worth of leeway. I’m not worried about KCP.
Plus 19. Great D. Got a key loose ball late too. But ZERO points in 32 minutes?? Ugh. Go home to Staples and get right. Bron was doing the Kobe-to-Gasol chest pound on KCP to get him goin. Passing up shots. Hit the side of the backboard twice in two games.
bricking is 1 thing but to pass up open shots now is not a good look, props for other aspect of his gm but bro you the only true shooter on the team, just let it fly
He was scared to shoot and that just won’t work. Lebron got into him about it and I think he’ll be fine.
I liked how Bron leaned into him and yelled: "I WANT YOU TO SHOOT!" Good leadership, motivate the guy, don't let him become scared.
KCP played good D and was getting those long rebounds that could have went either way. He still contributed but he needs to hit a 3 early in Game 3 to get the willys off him.
his defense has been good, and i haven't lost confidence that he'll get his shot back. the concern is that he has. but as others have said: passing up the shots can be as bad or worse than missing them. leads to worse shots for others or turnovers. just take it if it's there. don't overthink. hopefully, we can get out and run a bit, where he's very good.
Gave us good playoff D against Booker. But to piggyback on the above, you can't be a such a liability on offense. It's one thing to have an off night, it's another to play scared, refuse to shoot and leave us in bad spots for TOs and shot clock violations by over passing. AD and Bron both had to have in game talks with him. Hopefully something sticks and he can snap out of it. He needs to pick McLemore's brain about how to shoot without thinking.
It sounds like it was just a bruised Quad, so this is great news, I thought it was worse, he should be back soon, next game?
They did say it was a quad contusion and he was questionable to return, which is somewhat promising and gives me hope he'll be good to go next game ... but maybe I need to watch the replay again because that diagnosis seemed odd to me. Looked more like a hyperextended knee to me, and it seemed like he was on the verge of tears as he was walking off to the locker room. Hoping he was just shaken up by some initial pain and will be fine, because even though he remained invisible from 3, we do absolutely need him going forward. EDIT: Yeah watching on Spectrum right now KCP says he overall feels good and is hoping he'll be good to go on Sunday, but did say it was a hyperextension and he was in too much pain to finish out the game.
Yeah, he looked absolutely devastated as he walked off the court... like he knew he was done for the year. I'm glad to hear it's not too serious.
I know KCP is a tough kind of player. Hopefully he can still play but I’m concerned. He’s not shooting well but his defense is needed.
We have to finish off this series as quickly as possible before Booker tries to hurt our whole team. “It was me coming off the pick-and-roll with him [Booker], the kind of hostage situation, he tried to hostage me. He kind of like backed into my leg and it hyperextended a little bit,” Caldwell-Pope said. “Other than that, that was all that happened. I felt immediately pain when it did, when he bumped me and it hyperextended. It was painful enough where I couldn’t finish the game.” https://lakersnation.com/lakers-new...ame-4-after-suffering-knee-injury/2021/05/28/
I’m really hating Booker more than ever. I hope KCP can recover. Needless to say we need him going forward.
Dude (Booker) was always punchable Im more "scared" of Crowder though. Waiting for him to pull a stunt on Bron...