Game Debrief: What Went Right And What Went Wrong?

Keon is "ok". He'd work, and honestly, I'd probably would rather have him than Wiggins. Wiggins is too expensive, too many warts for the price-tag, etc.

Never on that train. I was on the Grant trade for the right price at one time, admittedly, but he just fell off a cliff from his days in Denver.

Heck, I'd throw the Theiro (spelling might be off) to see what he can do...

 

i honestly kinda hope ellis keeps not impressing, as it will lower his price both in trade and in FA next summer. i think he's just not in a good situation.

 

again, i'm glad it's looking possible that one or both will be available. i really think a knecht swap for either one is good for all parties. all these guys need a change of scenery, and their team needs shooting and we need defense in the backcourt.

 

For his length alone, he’s a better fit.

 

i wanted him pre-draft and was thrilled we got him. the low hoop iq is hard to see in college, but it just really pops in the nba. i think he can figure it out (he's improving off the ball in small increments, imo), but we're not on that timeline.

 

I’ve come to the same conclusion. He needs to be elsewhere, where the lights are super dim- it doesn’t get much darker than at that bum Franchise, the Queens, who straight bumbled the Fox, Bonus pairing.

 

WHAT A WIN

AR is so HIM. Shut up and take my money

Ayton was great too, he's definitely buying in to his role.
Rui is very good at putting the ball in the basket.
Smart and Vando are great on defense.
LaRavia's best game, he really looks like a plug-in type of guy. Great get

No negatives in this game, this is a really great win, on the road against a team that hates us and is full of Lakers alumni/trade storylines who would have loved to kill us
It was even good that Ellis got into foul trouble and sucked. Keep doing that until the end of the year please

Tonight will be tough with Portland, minus Gabe and maybe Smart. Manon and Nick Smith may see the floor. Even Bronny although I would hope not while competitive.
Also curious to see if Smart and Vando are playing b2b

 

Really needed that one cause I don't like our chances tonight.

Lot to love from that team showing. JJ had them ready to go and they stepped up. Austin on a historical game. Ayton outplaying a big who's given us issues more often than not. We kept them in foul trouble all night.

Hopefully neither injury is serious.


Re: tonight
Not optimistic. Injuries, tired players and guys on health watch. Portland is on a back to back but they stayed in LA. Younger and healthier. Plus Grant decided he wants to actually hoop for a bit. Maybe Rui can take that personally again. Maybe DA can be prodded into a revenge game. We're going to need something.

 

Someone has to score forty tonight so there is that.

 

Luka/Bron-less Lakers go into SAC and win 127-120.

All of us knew our only reliable scorer was AR, and I was hoping he could get 30, maybe 35. If the other guys play up to snuff and not dumb, we could win, but I really honestly couldn't see it.

AR goes 51/11/9. Good LAWD! And Hallelujah!

Luka had texted AR earlier in the day: get 60. Vando getting on the bus with AR told him he could get 50; we just feed you and you score, aight?

AR was the only starter to hit a 3: he had 6, but mostly his moves in/near the paint drew fouls and Hillbilly Kobe went 21 of 22 from the stripe, saving our entire side of bacon.

I don't think we can expect AR to be Kobe in March 2007: 4 straight 50 point games. But this one was memorable.

 

Good:
Austin continues to cook.
He and Ayton's chemistry is getting better and better. The pick and pop game was working really well.
JJ is hopeful to get Smart and Jax back on Wednesday.

Bad:
Everything else
DK's basketball IQ
Laravia's offense tonight


Ugly:
The ball handling outside of Austin
The non Austin minutes
3 point shooting. Only 7 makes

 

Lakers lose the 3rd Q again 32-26

26% from the 3 line

AR carrying the team right now

DA, Rui and Vand pulling their weight

Jake? 3 pts 5 boards

 

Game was over mid-way through the 3rd quarter.

Couple fakebacks, but the game was never in doubt for Portland.

 

As long as AR is on the court things are interesting. With the players available that wasn't a bad game. Most seem to have expected worse. Context matters. Even without Luka/LeBron, if Smart could have played, we likely win that one. Despite his Moose in the headlights look, even Dalton made a shot or two. Granted, it was too little too late, but might jump start him to some degree. We got the ingredients for the right Chef. Dramatic music.... Is JJ the right Chef?? After a few moments of doubt, I believe he is.

 

We started really well and it wasn't until JJ deployed a full bench unit (Bronny, Nick Smith, Dalton, Koloko and someone else) at the end of Q1 that their lead went away.

We had 0 3s in the first 22 minutes of the game.

Managing to keep this game competitive until the end is a great show by our team. We had only 5 rotation guys and 1 of our 5 ball handlers. Didn't expect us to be "this good"

Positive:
+ Competitiveness
+ AR continues scoring at ease with great efficiency. These games will help him grow to another level
+ Vando looked more decisive and playable on offense
+ Knecht Q4 was promising, he needs to be a scoring machine in this stretch, he won't get better opportunities

Negatives:
- Bronny is unplayable
- Nick Smith had like 20 or 30pt games in Charlotte but he didn't take the opportunity. If he can't generate offense, he's of no use to this roster
- LaRavia isn't suited for an increased role. He will be great playing with the best, but will not give you more if there's absences
- Knecht first 3Qs, he's already a bad defender, if he doesn't generate offense with so many absences, he's useless too. His 3 ball hasn't appeared yet this season. He needs to make all of them to be playable
- I hoped Rui would go for 30s in these types of games but he doesn't look suited for that either

 

Austin Nash strikes again.

 

Against Portland, Reaves knew they kept trapping and doubling him so he had to get his teammates involved.

The very next game against the Wolves, Reaves does exactly that and leads the Lakers to a W.

He's the real deal.

 

Nick Smith has no thread of his own? Gotta give props to his contribution