Game Debrief: What Went Right And What Went Wrong?

i feel like there are two reasons for this. one is he's trying to shoot himself back into a rhythm, and the other is that he's still physically limited enough that his drive game isn't there. that means more and more difficult threes for him and his teammates, imo.

just going to have to weather the storm of his reconditioning for a while.

 

that, and when he's out, Lebron is getting older and it's physically easier to launch a 3 and get back on D than to drive around people at his age. He's better cutting to the basket with a head of steam vs trying to take someone one on one. Launching 3's is the easy way out of running bad offense as well.

 

The days of Denver owning us are OVER.
We have solved the Joker problem and they have no chance of guarding Luka, LeBron and Austin controlling the rock.

 

I'll say it:
Championship type of game today. This team is legit.

Great defense. Great hustle. Perfect plan to defend Jokic (WITHOUT A CENTER). Great execution. Great poise to withhold their little runs.

Just an amazing night.
Can't wait for the playoffs, this team is hella fun and we are set for many entertaining years with Luka.
Kudos to everyone in the team

 

Hey Mikey, f*** you. Can't wait for you to find something to cry about.

Man, this one was fun. This had all the feels of a playoff game. We finally found the cheat code against Denver. His name is Luka Doncic! Shame he's fat and out of shape.

The defensive activity was phenomenal. Constant fight and engagement from everyone.

Not sure if game ball goes to JJ, Luka or Rui tonight. All 3 are deserving. Making Russ think being the focal option was a good idea. If we can trick him into shooting a team high 17 shots (10 more than Joker), you're winning the chess match. Luka is back! Rui went nuts in the 3rd and did a great job defensively.

Bron and Austin were also awesome.

 

The most frustrating thing about all the losses to these guys is that they always seemed to be literally 2 or 3 plays better than us and watching our guys tighten up and wilt down the stretch.

That nonsense appears to be over thank God.

 

Hayes deserves a lot of credit. He has greatly improved defensively since the start of the year. Playing with DFS, Vando, and Gabe has helped in this area.

 

The LA swarm

 

Guys like Gordon, Braun, and Brick got points but it was the Lakers roleplayers this time around who seemed to much for Denver. Gordon could only guard one Lakers, Braun maybe helps with you two but then you still have third Lakers star to contend with.

That freed up guys like Hayes, Rui, Godwin to have great games and while DFS, Gabe and Vando missed or just didn't take wide open looks they were all awesome on defense. Having so much offensive firepower with these the guys allowed the Laker roleplayers to really shine.

 

I’ve commented a few times about bringing more defence into the starting lineup for that first 6 mins. But honestly it’s been really nice to bring DFS and Vando in for Bron and Hayes. That unit of Reaves, Luka, DFS, Rui and Vando can just switch everything and get some shots up.

Then you bring in Gabe and Goodwin back with Lebron and you just have so much activity with those two guys. Having four defensive minded players off the bench while always keeping two of LeBron, Luka and Reaves on the floor worked really well.

Those four guys have been huge additions for us: Gabe playing himself into form, Goodwin as a pickup, DFS as a major acquisition and Vando getting healthy for the first time since the WCF run.

Alongside Luka and those four guys, this is a completely different team with a new identity. It’ll be a challenge to mesh in this next 20 odd games but if we stay healthy, our ceiling is very high.

 

I'm on the road but was able to watch this game against Denver. Best game of the year. I was amazed. We are a completely better team than we were at the beginning of the season. It was nice to hear Lebron say Luka was the best quarterback and he is a great receiver. 4th in the west!!!! Houston lost. After a couple of ugly losses and waiting for Luka to play like Luka, this game gives me huge hope.

 

Now we are the deeper more talented team and time for the nuggets to adjust. Bring on the doom!!

 

Second the "Great stuff!"

Yea, man: We up 9 at the half, in literally 61 secs DEN cuts it to 1 in the 3rd, and I said to myself, "Well, here we go again. We'll be down 10 to start the 4th.I've seen this episode too many times, man..." but after Gordon cut it to 1 with the 3-ball, Bron dunks (up 3), Rui hits a step-back (up 6), AR dishes to Rui for a dunk (up 8), Luka hits a step-back (back up 11): time out DEN: our run took 90 secs.

It was at this point - and I know you may say I'm a dreamer - but I think at this point I felt, in my bones, that DEN's 14-0 ownage in DEN against us is OVER. But I suspect I'm not the only one. For the true Luka Era seems to have dawned, as of around 7PM Mountain Time.

Earlier this year, AD goes out, and it's Lebron who has to score. They double him, he dishes, and guys either made the shot or not. Bron goes out, AD in, and maybe AR gets into the paint. Now, either Bron or Luka can go for a blow and the other guy just takes over. And why? What's so different? It now looks like every guy on the floor has bought in on D. Doesn't hurt to have guys like Vando, DFS, Gabe, Jaxson, and yea: Goodwin: playing stellar D. Hell: Rui and AR have looked really good on D lately!

Lakers beat DEN, in DEN, the place where all our dreams have gone to die, but not tonight: we snap DEN's 9-game winning streak and win, 123-100, and my gawd those players for DEN had to look themselves in the mirror after this one: we kicked their AZZEZ, royally, wire-to-wire, muthahs!

We had 9 blocks. DEN had 1. We had 8 turnovers. DEN had 20. Suck on it, Michael Malone. Ya lispy dipjit. Drink all that in, Brick.

The worm has turned, my dudes. The worm has turned.

Now: back home to face DAL, then MIN two days after that, then home games against the Clips on 28th and March 2. Going 3-1 over those 4 wd be really cool. 2-2? Understandable but kind of a drag. 1-3? We'd all be sour and screaming and hurling blame. 4-0? After the way we played DEN, I'll believe anything.

 

Was the uniform the cursed city edition or no?

 

Perfect

 

Excellent post highlighting the important things we did last night

First of all we beat Denver in Denver

That is huge to get the monkey off our back

The big 3 made it work and meshed well together

The team buying into defense is what will get us over the hump and be able to compete for a championship

Now no more losses to teams with losing records

 

saw someone say this elsewhere, but we did a good job making jokic work on both ends. feel like in the past he got to rest a lot on defense, and we looked to get him moving around there. on the other end, lebron, luka, rui, and even vando did a good job just getting into his legs so that he couldn't just pick his spots. then bringing guys from different angles and at different times helped.

in a playoff series, he'll figure some of that out, but the cumulative wear can make it so that he doesn't hit those crazy turnarounds late in the game, etc.

our offensive strategy is definitely workable in a playoff series against them, though. they can't guard us now that they can't simply ignore two of our players at all times.

malone is at home weeping.

george karl in shambles.