Game Debrief: What Went Right And What Went Wrong?

f*** JJ, f*** gabe, and f*** ayton. This team fought it's a** off and those 3 anchors cost it. Vando was awesome for the most part

JJ played that dumb f***ing lineup where Luka is paired with Gabe, Vando, Hayes, and Rui. WTF are you expecting to happen here JJ. Vando/hayes combo is a disaster 2 man lineup as Vando lack of shooting takes away Haye's lob threat. Then he didn't call a timeout when Lakers got within 2 till the clips were up by double digits in the game. You saw the momentum had stopped and they had Harden attack the blitz and he sat on his a** instead of calling the TO

Gabe why the f*** is he playing his defense even sucks - he got blown by every Clip

Ayton I give a pass due to the eye injury but come on man play tough

 

We got pounded on the boards. Didn't make enough 3's to offset that.

 

Lakers fall down 26 in the 3rd Q, come back to within 2 but looked spent late in the 4th, lose to Clips, 112-104.

Luka 3 for 13 from deep. High volume shooting, low percentage: 11 for 27 overall, and his FT shooting is a sore spot for me: why is he so bad as a FT shooter? 75% for his career. You'd think he'd be better. Because he goes to the line more than anyone, he's leaving a lot of points there.

I thought Ayton looked very small against Zubac. Almost everyone looks small against Zu, but Ayton just shrinks against him. Ayton in 22 mins: 4/5/0. Give Clips D some credit. Zu had 19 boards. Clips out-rebounded us 49-34.

Once again we give 60+ in the first half. We were down 17, Clips bumped that up to 26 in what looked like a "flush it down" game, but then the Lakers started playing D and cut the lead to 2. Clips managed only 48 in the 2nd half.

Vando and Marcus played their azzes off. A rough loss, because we spent so much energy coming all the way back, but ran out of fuel, apparently. So we all got that tantalized feel that never paid off.

I thought Rui's defense looked pretty good. Yea, I said it.

Now we really need a win in DAL, on national TV. I hope everyone is healthy after this one.

Day-um.

I f***ing hate losing to the these guys.

 

Rebounding was a huge problem tonight.

our bigs were outplayed which is why I get our continued interest in big men.

Gabe continues to be all vibes and cardio.

We need AR.

Nice fake comeback but it was pretty clear from the jump to me that we weren’t going to win this one.

Edit - I do think our defense was much better in the second half.

 

We lost to the Clippers

Ugh

 

you could bet your life kawhi was going to be available for this game. wonder if aspiration paid for the cortisone shot.

 

streetlights > spotlights

 

Yeah, since the Flippers are cheaters, and none of their wins count, I will never watch a full game when we play them. How many of their current players do you think have similar side deals like Robotic Cornrows?
Harden still pushes off with his left arm, every single time he takes his man off the dribble, so you basically aren’t allowed to guard him.
They can celebrate their “Big Win” because that’s all they have to play for this season, and nearly every season.
Zu made Ayton look like G-League fodder.
Flush it down any number of the “ToiletBallz Super 3000” units and move on.

 

i'd be shocked to learn ballmer didn't give them bonuses for beating us in regular season games. you can tell lue treats them like the finals.

 

Whew. Frustrating to watch for multiple stretches in the second half but I’ll take that win.

 

Man that Laravai, Rui, Smart, Lebron, Luka lineup went balls to the walls and unlike the CLippers game brought it through

 

Yeah. They stepped up and brought us the win.

 

luka was solid but not spectacular. they got him moving a bit off ball, but as the game wore on, we or he went away from it. you could tell he had to keep reminding himself to stick to the plan in that regard, and he mostly did. that right leg is bothering him, too. he's playing hurt.

lebron looked bad until the 4th, where he turned it on on both ends. that one bum rush steal on williams was just devastating, like being mauled by a cougar.

was a real smart rollercoaster again, but i guess that's the smart experience.

ayton is obviously the goat here, but the whole team save maybe luka was struggling to finish at the rim, lots of missed shots in the paint against a team without much in the way of fearsome shotblockers. i really think the missed short shots is what led to the huge mavs run; dudes were hanging heads.

i'd still like to see smith or bufkin (i guess he's not on the roster anymore, though) get the gabe minutes for a while, but that might have to wait until trade or injury.

dallas doesn't look like much, but they'd won 4 in a row, have one of the league's best defenses, and were at home, so a win's a win. for the next two weeks, we just have to scratch out a few until the deadline dust settles and the team stops wallowing.

 

I thought Luka a lot fresher in the 4th - this is advantage of having Lebron finally woke up.

This team can really bring the hammer down even in the Clippers loss the Clips were looking shell shocked (in both games Lebron and Smart in the 4th quarter as key parts of the hustle guys, etc).

Again this is my frustration with not trying yet again for another off season - if you have decent supporting cast once the Ferrari gets going the other team is toast.

 

Lakers take a 65-52 lead into halftime at Dallas and I thought: just play a tight 3rd and the 4th will be a laffer, but of course the Lakers did everything wrong in the 3rd and DAL won that quarter 35-14. DAL goes up 15 at one point.

Lakers start the 4th down 8, 87-78.

B. Williams - the quick, fast guard that torches us, gets a 7 footer and hits the and-one: Lakers down 11. This is excruciating.

Marcus misses a floater. Caleb Martin misses a 24 footer. Lebron misses a layup. Williams hits Martin for a 3: Lakers down 14 with 71 secs gone in the 4th. Lakers still haven't scored a point. JJ takes a timeout.

Gafford blocks Lebron's shot at the rim. Gafford is a good shotblocker. When they get AD back (unless they move him), and Lively back, they have a lot of length underneath. The NBA and all of us miss watching Kyrie Irving play offense.

Lakers can't get a shot off: 24 sec violation.

B-Williams misses a 13 footer. Lakers are maybe starting to play some defense? Naji gets the offensive board, then Jake blocks Gafford's 6-footer.

Naji fouls Luka at at the arc 9:38, and he makes all 3 FTs: Lakers finally score in the 4th, but are down 11.

Cooper Flagg hits a gorgeous 9 ft runner. 19 year old already looks like a superstar to me.

PJ blocks Rui's 7 footer, but Rui gets the board, dishes to Lebron for a 3. Lakers down 10 with 9 mins left. I'm still pissed off we slept through the 3rd quarter and let them torch us to ashes, 35-14. This feels like another bad loss to me.

Lebron fouls Naji shooting, JJ challenges, Lakers lose. Naji hits both FTs. Down 12 with 8:39 left.

Luka misses a 15 foot fade away. Max (I really miss this kid) hits a layup. Lakers down 14 with 8:20 left.

Lebron dribbling at the arc, the Lakers offense is standing around. They look totally stagnant. Suddenly Marcus cuts to the paint, Lebron hits him, FG plus the and-one with Flagg fouling him. Smart misses the FT: Lakers down 12.

Caleb Martin hits a 3 after a pass from Max Christie. With 7:41 left in the game, Lakers are down 15. This is dark, man. Our guys just consistently give up with the effort. We were up 13 at halftime, are down 15 now. Damn...

Laravia misses a 3, Marcus gets the offensive board, hits Rui, who misses a 3.

Luka blocks B-Williams's 8 foot drive to the rack.

Lebron hits a shot right under the rim. Lakers down 13 with 6:44 left.

Max misses a shot. Caleb Martin fouls Marcus shooting and Marcus hits 'em both. Lakers down 11 with 6:14 left.

Lebron steals the ball from Brandon Williams, who had a terrific 3 quarters of play tonight. The 4th Q? Not so much. 3 1/2-4 secs after stealing the ball and racing the length of the court, the 41 year old man dunks. 5:57 left. Lakers down 9. Kidd takes a timeout. I would too.

B-Will pulls up for an 11 footer: misses. Jake gets the board. Lebron eventually throws a pass out of bounds. Man, I thought we had some of that weird-azz "momentum" there for a second, but maybe not.

Martin drives to rack, Lebron blocks it. Rui gets the board and shoots a long pass down to Marcus, who has his shot blocked by Martin. Marcus gets the board in an incredible heads-up play where he had to re-establish himself as having both feet back on the court, and he has two guys all over him under the rim, he pump fakes at least once, then gets fouled. I see what the Bags saw in this guy all those years. Marcus misses the first, makes the 2nd. Lakers down 8 with 5:06 left. Don't look now, but we're on a 7-0 run and looking like we care. But it's probably too late.

Flagg misses a 19 footer. Luka gets the board, Flagg steals the ball from Laravia but Marcus hustles back and blocks Flagg's shot and then gets the board. Ohmygawd. Kinda play that a former DPOtY makes.

As if to atone for letting Flagg pick his pocket, Jake takes a pass from Marcus and hits a 25 footer. This was where I started to actually think we might come back. Lakers down 5 with 4:16 left. Lakers on a 10-0 run.

Max misses a 3. Jake gets the rebound, to Luka, who hits Lebron for a dunk. Suddenly it's a one-possession game with 3:38 left.

Jake fouls Max shooting. Max is a great FT shooter, and hits then both, stopping the Lakers 10-0 run. DAL by 5.

Luka drives to the rack, no one can stop him, it goes in: Lakers down 3 with 3:17 left. Kidd takes another timeout.

Jake fouls Max shooting again, and of course Max hits 'em both. DAL back up 5 with just under 3 mins left.

Here's where the Lakers make you believe...

Luka dishes to Rui, who hits a 26 foot 3. Lakers down 2.

Naji misses a 22 foot 3 from the corner. Rui gets the board. Lebron dishes to Rui, who hits another 26 footer, from a different area of the court than the one he hit seconds ago. PJ Washington was called for a foul on Rui's shot. Rui converts the 4-point play. Lakers are up 2! 2:15 left.

Luka fouls Flagg, who hits the 1st, misses the 2nd: Lakers by 1 with 2 mins left. Lebron gets the board off Flagg's missed FT. Rui misses a 3, but Marcus tips it in: Lakers by 3 with 1:40 left. Kidd calls a timeout. Ya kinda gotta, don't ya?

Brandon Williams maneuvers, gets into the paint, Lakers converge there, he misses, and Jake gets the board. Marcus misses a runner, but Lebron knocks in a bunny. Lakers by 5 with 1:30 left. The Great Laker In The Sky has answered our prayers, ladies 'n gentlemen.

Brandon Williams decides to atone for a very bad 4th Q, attempts a 28 footer, and it clanks.

With 75 secs left, I'm not sure why Naji grabs Luka, but he does. Luka hits both FTs: Lakers up 7 with 1:15 left.

Luka fouls Naji, who makes the 1st, misses the 2nd, Jake gets the board. Lakers up 6 with 1:07 left.

Luka looks like Nuryev, hits a 3 foot scoop shot. I don't know how he gets to that spot, makes that move, and it looks like an unguardable scoop shot. Lakers up 8 and we all know what we just saw. It's all over but the shouting.

Lakers win 116-110 in a rollercoaster game of highs, lows, then ending on a high. They decide to expend effort on the defensive end and it, once again, pays off.

 

Lakers get blown out in the 3rd 35-14 and yet come back to win after going 37-23 in the 4th

We looked so good in the 2nd

Luka was dishing the ball and DA had a nice lob dunk which I wish we would see more of

Role players

Jake 13 pts 6 reb

Smart 13 pts 7 reb 3 ast 2 blk

Rui 17 pts more important 8 reb

 

naji marshall is such a weird/fun player.

 

Get this team some help and roll the dice - even OKC has traditionally had a hard time guarding Luka. You got this awesome Austin contract. Lebron is still an all nba talent. You had a good off-season

 

He might get them a nice return before the deadline.