Playoffs - Round 1: Lakers Vs. Wolves

Can we talk about this dirty POS



Might be time to give Morris one of the Jax shifts to lay these guys out.

 

yeah, you can't let a 6'9" guy who slightly outweighs me act like a badass out there. put him in the seats.

 

I think the Lakers will be sharing that with the league. League prob won't do much but I imagine it'll be asked to look into it. It was a clear ejection able dirty play in my opinion. He didn't just try to trip Luka he squeezed and twisted Luka's ankle. I think the wolves team is getting away with some borderline dirty crap all game. Can't imagine what it will be like at their place.

 

We're having a lot of trouble matching their size and physicality. It will be a much closer series than people anticipated, and it may go to 7 games.

 

I never thought this would be an easy series but still expect us to pull it out in 6. Luka has pretty much been carrying us at this point. I expect AR to break out at some point and that will be enough to get us through this one.

 

This was a huge swing. All made possible because game 1 wasn't sustainable for them AND we were physical on offense and got all their guys out of sorts with foul trouble. Randle just committed another foul as i was typing this.

 

Thanks for the assist, Cuban

 

These guys have to play better... Every single Lakers player is underperforming outside of Luka.

Reaves playing 40 minutes per game putting up 16/4/4 on bad efficiency won't cut it... Rui is too good to be shooting below 40% from the field. LeBron is playing great defense but that offense has looked bad.

Looking at this roster sheet, man, this team is top heavy. If two of any: Luka, LeBron, or Reaves play bad, the Lakers are in trouble.

 

I don't think we're getting more out of Austin in this one, not with how they play him, how they're allowed to play him and who they have playing on him. BUT Rui is the key offensively and I said I want 18 out of him a game this series, especially because we need him to makeup for some of that AR loss. 39% FG and 33% from 3 on low volume is not even close to what we need from him. He was came up huge defensively and that will take some of the legs out of the offense, but this is the playoffs. You have to find that next gear.

DFS and Gabe need to combine for 16 a game, not 9.

Gabe and Luka are the only ones shooting respectably from deep.

 

Wolves had the 8th best offense, 6th best defense, 4th in 3P%, and only one game separated the Wolves from the Lakers in terms of seeding.

They're one of the best teams in the league and made the WCF last season. Our disappointment with how the Lakers are playing ignores that the Wolves are genuinely a very good team. Nothing to be upset about if this goes to 6-7 games. Lakers can play better so there is room for improvement.

 

I was saying this in the game chat at the end of the first half, Reid and McDaniels were the difference in game one, they won’t be able to shoot 80% from 3 and over 70% from the field for a whole game (well they basically did), but they won’t be able to do that for a whole series.

And after giving in game 1, the basketball gods took in game 2. Going off the law of averages, we probably deserve one good shooting night in the next two which would level it.

Athletically, Minnesota is good, but there’s a chance we verse Houston in the second round that’s also an athletic handful and then OKC in the WCF. That would be a hell of a run if we got there against younger and more physical teams.

 

I texted the exact same thing last night to my buddy!

 

I'm really curious if we can match game 2's energy in game 3. We have to continue to fight harder and harder than them on defense AND attack the paint all game especially from our big 3.

 

Well you know Lebron will bring it, he doesn't have many post seasons left. We know Luka will bring it, he is psychotically competitive. Reaves plays with a real chip on his shoulder since everyone basically overlooked him his whole career. Gabe, DFS and Rui really are the main 3 guys that have to just be competing harder than the Wolves - they're just so key for us.

So I'm not worried about our energy. And I don't think we are going to get surprised again by Minnesota, physicality wise. Thats not to say that they won't play harder than us for a game, it's the nature of playoffs, but I don't think we'll look like a deer in the headlights again when it comes to energy or pushing our weight around.

 

We clearly adjusted better on this in game 2. Which lead to Ant and Randle being the only ones in double figures. It's the best way to beat them, all the other guys have no shot creation skills.

Also, energy is really low in this forum. People fearing a sweep before game 2, throwing the towel if we lost it and even after winning still not being confident.

I think this is a really tough matchup. They are very long, athletic and physical. They were 1 or 2 wins away from being #3 seed while finishing on 17-4 and went to WCF last year. It will be a tough series and we won't run them out of the court, but I think we will come on top.
You don't have to win pretty, just get the dub and we have Luka, Bron and JJ who are elite in close matchups and can give us a game or two each just on that (eg. Bron steal and layup to put the dagger in last game)

Bron lately takes some time to get to his zone in playoffs, he also had a week off which takes some time to return to his groove as he gets older. He will have one or two 30pt games this series, I believe. We already know he's not the superstar he was before, but that's why we have Luka. Bron is an elite #2 option.
AR should struggle in this series. He has to guard a lot and attack a physical team which are 2 things he doesn't feel comfortable and impacts his offensive output.
This is where the role players come in. Minny has Reid, DiVincenzo and NAW coming off the bench. We need Rui, DFS, Gabe and Goodwin to bring it. I don't think Hayes will be good in this matchup and Vando is not an offensive guy, so it's on all the others to increase their offensive output.
I think we end up winning in 6 or 7, I think we steal at least a game there

 

for me, it was the way we came out in game 1. it was just deflating. as svtzr said, we looked like deer in the headlights, and there's just not an excuse for that as a veteran team. all these guys have advanced far in the playoffs. you can't be "surprised by the physicality".

pair that with lebron looking a little off, health-wise, and my expectations dropped way down, even after salvaging a win in game 2 (frankly, i didn't like that they got it close again after beating us soundly in the first one).

i still think a series victory is possible if not probable, but we haven't come out looking like a team on a mission at all. and this isn't the eastern conference, where round 1 is basically a warm up exercise for most of the upper seeds. a couple different bounces and every wc series but okc is reversed. all 6 of those teams could legitimately expect to reach the conference finals.

anyway, i'm hoping our role players can make some shots in minny. you usually expect that at home in the playoffs, but we haven't gotten it yet. instead, theirs went bonkers in game 1. we're owed!

 

Lebron's going to be needed on defense with how big Minnesota and the lack of size for the Lakers - that may cause dead legs on offense so I'm really hoping Reaves can get untracked. These games are rock fights so if AR can add 20+ppg to Luka 30+ that puts a big floor on the Lakers offense and making it much easier to win

And yes I really hope they had a good reason not to do that Williams deal because Lakers are clearly up in the OKC/Cle/Boston in terms of title favorites if they had a legit center. Instead they're one of the team below which have good chances but can be taken down by a poor matchup