Game Debrief: What Went Right And What Went Wrong?

Lakers lose their 1st game this year in Crypt and all they had to do was make FTs. Lebron and AD missed clutch FTs in crunch and Franz Wagner looked like Steph from 3 late: give ORL credit: 3 starters out, including their best player and they were on a BTB on the road.

Damn!
DAY-um!

ORL impressed me.

What went right: we lost but weren't terrible.
AD with 39 (shouldda had 42) and 9 w/3 blocks, but those 2 bricked FTs very late were brutal.
Lebron 31/10/7 with 3 3s within about 90 secs in the 4th when we needed it.

What went wrong:
Dalton came back to earth, like Icarus. (Well, not that bad.) 3 for 7 from 3. The crowd is frothing when he gets the ball at the arc and this week might be wearing on the rookie emotionally.

AR with another bad shooting night (3 of 12), but I agree with NickthaQuick: when AD got immediately fouled and missed both, I would've done anything to get AR the ball in that spot. I'd rather he shoot FTs with the game on the line.

There were some moments in the 3rd and 4th where ORL was playing a zone and the Lakers just stood around. No cutting. It's like they hadn't practiced against a zone. They really need to work on that. They looked stagnant on offense a few times down. That said, ORL's D is really good and I think they held opponents under 100 in all 6 games in a row they won lately (before losing to Clips and giving up 104 yesterday). In their 6 straight games they won they gave up 99, 86, 90, 89, 94, and 88. In today's NBA that's nothing to sneeze at. I wish we could hold teams under 100. We've done it once this season, beating the Pels 104-99. ORL really are good this year, and a surprise to me on the level of CLE and GSW.

Uhhh...now we play The Joker's team.

 

Yea. You know how they do the ice water in the veins gesture after hitting a 3? I'd like to see them hit clutch FTs with the game on the line and do the ice water thing, because that really is a sign you are very cool under pressure. AD can close his eyes and exhale all he wants; he's gotta hit those. Same with Lebron.

 

Free Throws

 

37 points – the best result of the season for Franz, 11 assists a career high

 

Wagner's salary jumps up to 38M per next season. He's a legit baller at 23, might end up a Laker one day.

 

Tough loss.

Definitely hurt by free throws.

can’t let games like that slip away.

 

What a stupid loss. I was pissed. We had 3 trips to the line to put the game away, one from Bron and 2 from AD in the last 2 minutes. We go 2-6. A single FT would have closed the game at each time. Really stupid

Only good thing is that this sticks in our stars' head and they don't let it happen in the future, especially in more crucial games.

 

or it sticks in their heads and thus happens again...

anyway, didn't see the game, but the reason we're not a contender is that we're a very bad defensive team. in the last few games, the pacers held them to 94, the sixers held them to 98, and the clips held them to 93. we gave up 119.

also got outrebounded by 12.

second bad loss of the season, and it's extra bad because it sets up a potentially long losing streak. denver, at phx, at SA, and home vs okc are the next 4.

 

AR and DLO were atrocious on both ends of the floor.A combined 6-22 from the floor and 2-11 from 3.Yes FT cost them the game but that only would have been make up to cover this wart

 

I blame AD on this one, he just didn’t make any effort on rebounding, and let Mo and Bitadze push him around

 

Yeah that can happen too...
Agree also that we may be starting a losing streak, Suns and Spurs is another b2b on the road. Hopefully Suns are without KD

Blaming JJ also on this one. Wagner was their main offensive threat and we let him get going against Knecht or Reaves. Reddish should have played those last minutes, especially when JJ brings Max. Not only for the defense but also the rebounding and size.

AR is fluctuating too much. He can't be part of the big 3 having these single digit games and highly inefficient shooting nights. We already have DLo and Rui doing that

 

But Reddish was on Wagner when he hit the game-winning 3, no? Good contest by Cam, too. Wagner was like Steph on that shot.

In general I agree with all y'all on defense: we have to be better. I think our defense can be better with the guys we already have, but it's a team/chemistry/desire thing. Also: if and only IF Vando comes back healthy, he's the kind of guy who could see us "suddenly" keep other teams under 100.

O Vando! Why hast thou forsaken us?

 

He came in in the last free throw by AD. But initially it was DLo, then Max and only Cam with 30 something seconds to play. He should have played the last 5-6 minutes

 

Yep. Franz got totally warmed up with easy meat of going against the rookie Knecht so he was in the flow for that last shot. Big mistake by JJ going Dlo for the 4th particularly after 3rd lebron 3. They needed to clamp down on defense as they got the lead out of some ridiculous individual shotmaking. It wasn't like Dlo was opening up space or hitting critical shots.

Not sure what the gameplan was there either. I would have forced him to go for the 2 and at least you get OT at home but OTOH its not like Cam gave him an easy one there. He gave a good contest

 

Yeah it didn't work out but JJ has been outstanding reading the game and making adjustments. You'll always get some wrong.
I think he likes to go more offense late in the game but last night specifically made even more sense to go with Cam because Orlando lacked creators. Without Banchero, it's all on Franz. Suggs can score too but it's not his game.

I'm sure JJ will learn from it, the guy is a psycho.

In any case, the game was a dub. We executed well and were on top throughout crunch time, FTs mean good execution, especially if it's your big 3 going to the line. We just have to make those. Again, we had 4 different opportunities to close the game with a FT and missed every single one of them

 

JJ needs to watch more tape of den/la playoffs, he's clueless as pimple on this matchup

 

He can watch tape for the next 2000 years, unless that tape magically gives the Lakers different players it won't do a damn thing. This roster, as constructed, can't beat that team. Period.

 

well hes the one saying hes been watching/studing the tapes

 

Bingo!