Game Debrief: What Went Right And What Went Wrong?

Lakers go into MIN suiting up only 9 guys. Luka, Bron, Smart, and Gabe all out. Lakers fall behind by 12, maybe more. Even with Antman out, who expected us to win this one anyway? Our healthy players were playing all-out, hustling, but it wasn't enough. Until it was, then wasn't, then Austin hits a floater at the buzzer to win by 1, 116-115. We had taken a 10 point lead, then MIN gradually ate into the lead until Julius hit a 9-footer with 10 secs left and we lost our lead. Felt inevitable: we'd played our hearts out, massively shorthanded, only to lose. But we had the ball out of bounds with 6 secs left.

It goes into AR, he splits the D, nails the floater: superstar. I almost dislocated my shoulder with the involuntary "YES!" and both arms up when that thing went in.

Jake: 10 for 11 from the field, 5 of 6 from long: 27 points. Reminded me of that game early last season when DK went for 37 or whatever, hittin' 3s like he was out of his mind. Jake hit a couple 3s down near the MIN bench and Ant was talkin' trash to him, then Jake hit another 3 right in front of Ant. Not sure if that shut Ant up or not.

AR: 28/1/16 with 2 steals, 9 of 24 from the field. He was 8 of 23 and said eff it, gimme the ball to take the last shot. Man alive...

Ayton 8 for 11; Rui 7 of 14; DK 7 of 12. I thought Jaxson made a diff coming back, played a solid game, with one really key blocked shot. MIN shot 50% for the game, which would almost always mean you won it; but we shot 54%, and that added to a scintillating game. It was painful to watch us cough up that lead late, a major case of euphoria seeing Hillbilly Kobe hit the game-winner.

Another surprising win. AR is now averaging 35/6/8 for the season.

On to MEM for Halloween, then home.

 

The other way is not as obvious, but it's got a nice ring to it: Steve Reaves.

 

So we lose the 4th 29-19 and still find a way to win

Like they say, good teams find a way to win

This team is building character and chemistry without Luka and LBJ

The depth is what we always wanted and it's building right in front of us

 

Winning a game on the road with 6 players down = Everything went right

 

the late third and late fourth meltdowns were both tough to watch and should have been avoided, but yeah, i didn't expect a win here, and we played pretty well overall.

 

It was like watching Game 3 and 4 of last season series again without Bron , Luka and Ant this time

 

Different result now that Austin's not injured.

 

btw, they shot 50% from three on high volume, and we still won that game. that wasn't easy. i kept expecting guys to miss, but randle, ddv, conley, mcdaniels all steph curry for a day.

 

.... and we had no center basically that Redick would play ..... yet this coven of AR detractors/haters on LG and one here continue to put it all on AR, with Luka and LeBron on the team too. What a joke. Sorry, lousy take but it's warranted because puffs up chest knowing Xs and Os better than most.

He was sub par for HIM in games 1 and 2, badly sprained his left big toe (no effect on shooting there LOL) in game 3 and still played with it in games 4 and 5.

Game 1 12 points, game 2 17 pts, game 3 20 points, game 4 16 points, game 5 16 points.

 

Austin did a great job not forcing the issue against McDaniels. The length bothered him, but he didn't force bad shots. He had a bunch of nice hit-ahead passes to get us easier opportunities on offense.

 

and having mcdaniels occupied on the ball that much kept him from wreaking havoc as a help defender, too.

mcdaniels played a helluva game, though, on both ends.

 

https://imgflip.com/i/aantpf

 

Naz Reid shooting 4/19 in 2 games against the Lakers feels GOOD though .

 

Right click on image, copy "image link" and paste in the image icon

 

Thx. Posting from phone, and can't right click though. When I click on image and try to paste into Image URL, it doesn't work for some reason.


¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

I'm able to copy image and paste directly in the box with my phone

Don't need the Image URL

 

Good win. WB fat Balkan

 

We won the 3rd 34-22 and the 4th Q 28-21

Steps in the right direction

 

you know...i didn't love that game...

memphis looked/looks bad to me. morant was clearly checked out mentally in this one, and if he just played ok instead of atrociously, we get beat pretty handily, imo.

as others noted, i didn't like our offense for large stretches, and some of that was indeed luka getting some tunnel vision. i defended it a bit in another thread, but it was an issue. i wonder if our turnover problems are making us move to more pounding isos. and i guess if you're going to play that way, we have the guy for it. but it's not the path to a ring, imo. that said, there were some plays were we used luka as a screener and screened for him off the ball to catch at the nail instead of way out beyond the line, so those were positives.

laravia continues to look more comfortable and like someone you'll have to find minutes for. i might actually have him 5th on our talent/impact chart right now, tbh. ahead of rui and approaching ayton.

smart and vando both change the complexion of the game on defense for us, but each is still being negated by the offensive struggles. smart can do a little more, so if and when we ever have everyone, i'm guessing vando becomes the situational 9th guy.

speaking of moving down the lineup, i've actually been encouraged by knecht's minutes lately. second straight game i've seen where he was engaged on defense and making smart plays on offense. maybe the game is starting to slow down for him?

on the other side, memphis has problems, imo. i don't think morant and jackson are good enough to be the anchors of a perennial playoff team at this point. they probably should have moved on from morant already, but if you're going to stick with him, you can't switch your offense to a heavy ball/player movement scheme as it seems they're attempting. jjj is also ill-suited to this. if you're going to play with those guys, you need to keep the offense simple and play defenders around them.

cam spencer's a really good offensive player, imo, but i don't think he can guard nba players, and we let them off the hook for large stretches. if we're going to iso, at least pick on their weak link, man.

i can see why memphis moved up for coward in the draft. he's got some stuff you can't teach--great length, body control, good feel for the game. he's going to be good.

i'm confused as to why memphis decided to go with landale/edey as the centers. they're a bit overloaded on wings now with coward, wells, kcp, and gg jackson (not to mention williams and konchar). they also spent their FA money on jerome when they have pippen jr. and spencer as guys who can play backup guard credibly, imo.

they should consolidate some of those extra bodies to get a center better than landale or edey, imo.

oh, and kcp looked like he was auditioning to me. if memphis ends up in the bottom 5 in the west in february, i wonder if gabe/kleber can be moved for kcp with basically no sweetener. kcp has a PO in the summer, but it's kind of a DFS situation where he might opt out and look for one more long-term mle deal, so it might not end up being a sacrifice of a salary slot. i think it might also placate lebron a bit--can't say you're not trying to win when you acquire your own former champion, right?