Game Debrief: What Went Right And What Went Wrong?

That was shaping up to be a good game, down the stretch. I guess refs have egos too. On to Dallas this one might be tougher than expected.

 

Yea, if the refs influenced the game by not giving SGA all his FTs on SUN, then they got us back two days later after we came all the way back, then they kicked out Luka for bantering with a fan, and then OKC immediately went on a 29-12 run to close it out. Enjoy that next paycheck, Tony Brothers/JT Orr/CJ Washington.

Okay, yea: I'm sure it was all just a coincidence that Luka got tossed and OKC's run started right then. Whatever. I think OKC now knows they can't just blow through the Lakers in the playoffs, and I have the strong suspicion they'd rather not face us.

 

Thunderefs won this game

 

Honestly one of the few times when I completely blame a ref for the outcome of a game. Definitely was a great back and forth between two good teams only for a ref to inject himself into the game.

And yes, watching what Draymond did does not help.

 

After last night, I have two general thoughts regarding OKC:



[Not Afraid]

We gave them our best shot in game one of this baseball series and destroyed them. They gave us their best shot and it took a ref taking over a game to beat us.

They're overrated for playoff basketball. They don't have the roster to stop us.

 

The turnover differential hurts the Lakers so much.

OKC is the best team at not turning the ball over so every possession matters against them. The 2nd Q was so bad from the Lakers. They cleaned it up in the 3rd but instead of being up double-digits heading into the half, the Lakers were down 8.

 

NBA Rescinds Luka's 2nd tech Against OKC; Damage Done Already

Window dressing at this point. Closing the barn door after the horse has ran out. Hey NBA: your ref basically caused us a loss. Any pain for Brothers or Orr or just BS at this point? Naw? That's what I thought. Pffffft!

 

With calls like that, they can "set up" whatever 1st round matchups they need/want. This is some major BS and should be delt with.

 

This kind of pisses me off. They need to fine that ref and make there be a repercussion. Refs cannot screw up like that for apparently bad reasons without a fine or a punishment. Screw that ref.

 

Luka owns OKC. That's why the refs had to get him out of there. We were about to win it. Only team I'm concerned about in the west right now are the Warriors. Outside of that I think Luka will be back in the finals.

 

I sorta thought the emotions would lead to a bad game for Luka, but it was the opposite. He said he watched the tribute on the screen and thought "I can't play this game"...crying...then drops 45 on DAL and we're now one win away from securing HCA and the 3rd seed.

Lakers 112
Mavericks 97

I thought for sure Luka would go for at least 50 when he had IIRC, 32 at halftime. The Old Man turned on the jets in the 4th and we pulled away.

Aside from Luka, this was a throwback Lakers night from the 3: Bron/AR/DFS/Gabe: 2 for 18 from deep.

We held DAL to 40 pts in the 2nd half, which, say what we will about out outside shooting: the defense is what will get us to #18.

 

felt like luka's non-lebron teammates could have done a better job "getting his back" by making a shot here or there! luckily lebron finally took it personally that jason kidd was treating him like he was DFS on offense or something. and maybe lebron was just trying to let luka cook in the first half, but those drives were there from the opening tip, and when he finally started going to them, dallas didn't really have a plan b.

reaves had a quiet game but hit a big three when it was still tight. he also caught a few shot clock grenades, which forced him into some bad shots that weren't his fault.

we definitely treated AD like other teams did when he was here--sent the house at him whenever he caught the ball anywhere near scoring position and let him work far from the basket. it worked. he had one really nice assist when he penetrated and drew the defense, finding a baseline cutter. he's going to have to do a lot of that if he wants to play in a two-big scheme. relatedly, thought it was strange how dallas went away from the two-big look as the game wore on. some of that may have been lively's minutes restriction, but i think some of that was just trying to win, and that's going to be an issue there if they don't figure it out in training camp/early season next year. that process will be complicated by kyrie's injury, too. man, dallas couldn't catch a break pretty much all year this year.

our team defense was good, but part of that is dallas was basically down to zero penetrating guards at this point. they get williams back for their next game, and i'm glad he wasn't there for this one, as it would have altered our game plan a bit.

 

What went Right: took care of what had to be done. I was hoping Udoka would sit his main guys and it would be a yawner and it was.

Right: 11 steals.

Right: D F-S 6/8 from city limits.

Right: Luka Doncic is on the Lakers.

What went Wrong: Lebron may have aggravated his groin issue.

Wrong: missed a ton of FTs: 15 for 25 from the line: 60%. Twice Luka missed both attempts. It's not the playoffs but FTs loom large in postseason games.

Glad our starters will get a ton of rest before the playoffs start.

 

Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves like 3-seed Lakers' title chances

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/44639361/luka-doncic-austin-reaves-3-seed-lakers-title-chances

 

Locking up the #3 spot

Now time for playoff basketball

Bring us #18 guys

Go Lakers!

 

In the FWIW comment section. These comments were goaded by the media, not offered up without provocation by the players.

 

Re: AR and Luka telling reporters the Lakers could win it all: these Qs are almost always met with one of two responses:

1. "Yea man we've been playing really well, we believe in each other...if everyone's healthy..." etc, followed by "I like our chances."

2. "I think we can win it all."

It's very rare-to-never:

3. "If we play the kind of defense we've been playing and hitting shots like we know we can, I think we can get out of the first round. Beyond that? Who knows?"

 

Then again those 2 are, "I'll f*** you up" type alphas.