One down, one to go. With these two locked in from jump, never thought the W was in doubt. -The Good -AD and Bron set the tempo from jump. Bron wasn't as efficient as he was against NO, but they were both ready to go. Intensity wise they treated this like a game 7. -AD tonight: 1/1. No one can play like this as a two way player. -AR had his Jordan flu game in the first half -Cam was elite defensively. Without Cam and Vando, we can't take Haliburton out of the game like we did. - Went right at them and had various Pacers in foul trouble throughout -- Brown early, Turner fouled out, Toppin and Nesmith with 5, McConnell and Mathurin each with 4. - dominated the glass 55-32 - thought it was a 90s game... paint domination: 86-44 The bad -3s were non existent - Austin was the only bench player to make a FG
The right: A freaking D!!!!!! Oh yeah and 88 points in the paint. And some great D! And Lebron continuing his domination in this tournament. Wrong: yeah, the three point shooting is woeful.
It’s incredible we won with no 3pt shooting. That’s unheard of in these times Our defense is otherworldly
Silver really showed me. Playoff Intensity Ball in December is awesome!!! Man, AD turned back into Bubble AD! What a complete domination!!! This could turn into one of the best Laker Defensive Teams ever. I’m loving it!
Don’t tell Zen I said this, but Ham and the coaches deserve some credit for this IST championship. These were single game elimination games where it’s one and done and we couldn’t make a mistake. We had the right defensive coverage calls assignments and subs to blow these teams out in every game.
It was essentially a G7 rotation. Had it down to an 8 man, probably even fewer bench minutes if not for foul trouble for Bron, Cam and TP. Effective game plan to have Haliburton put up his most meaningless 20 & 11 of the season. Had us maximize our strengths and punish them in the middle.
What’s everyone’s take on them busting out the Champagne for this IST Cup? I think it should be reserved for the Season Chip, but at the same time, who am I tell tell these guys how they should celebrate?
The Good: AD LeBron CAM on D Reaves DLO (1st Q, his passing, big shot in the 4th) The bad: nothing. Ok fine, 3pt shooting. That's it. But we only took 13 of them and absolutely dominated the paint. I want us to take taht approach more often than not this year instead of just launching 3's in the 5 out offense. SOmetimes it's not going to go our way and we're literally one of the worst shooting teams in the league so why not take advantage of our size and punish teams down low? Either way - this is a huge moemntum swinger for us - we're back to winning ways and I want that to carry over for rest of the season. IST was the BEST thing to happen to us honestly...thank you Adam Silver!!!
Nah this “was” a championship. Wasn’t one team that was capable that didn’t want to win that sucker. Gave the youngn’s a taste too. That was no small accomplishment.
I have one word: DEFENSE! What went right? Everything (except the 3-ball, of course). What went right? We had a guy who put up 41/20/5 with 4 blocks. His name is Anthony Davis. He was an absolute beast. Deal with it! Right? We had a guy who put up 24/11/4 with 2 steals. His name is Lebron James. A guy off the bench had 28 points in 28 minutes; his name is Austin Reaves. Halliburton was lucky to crack 20. (He ended up with 20 in 35 mins.) What went right? We put Cam and Vando on Tyrese and shut his jit down. Did I mention DEFENSE??? The Lakers were 2 for 13 from 3. Message to all the other teams in the NBA: We won the first IST and that's without us hitting 3s. You don't even wanna know what you're up against if we hit from outside also. EFFIN' DEFENSE!!! Max Lewis, Jalen H-S, Hodge, Fudge, and Castleton definitely owe our Big 8 a steak dinner.
it'd be cool if they raised a banner and left it in the vegas arena glad they won't be putting anything up to celebrate this at staples. leave that s*** for teams like the clippers and hornets