Playoffs - Round 1: Lakers Vs. Denver. Let's Freaking Go!!

9 times same s*** different faces

 

This might be a short series, unfortunately.

 

This went how I expected. I might have been overly optimistic by predicting they Will win in 5.

 

We had an entire offseason to sign a big that could at least take a little pressure off AD. What do we do? Sign a 220 and 215 pound Hayes and Wood.

 

We coughed up a 12 point lead. As I thought we would. When Lebron hit that long 3 to end the half with us up 3, I thought we have to not only win the 3rd Q but really show DEN they can be beat by us. But it was as I feared: DEN won the 3rd by 14, and I knew it was over then.

D-Lo was horrid. As we feared. 1 for 9 from 3. Dear D-Lo: I thought you wanted all the smoke?

AD played out of his mind (except for the 3pt FGA: just: quit with those?) and it was all for naught. He was as good as it gets.

Basically, this was like every frikkin' game against them: once we have a lull, we're cooked. DEN takes every advantage. We're just not as good as they are. It's not like they blow us out; DEN plays a solid 48 minute game and we play 42 minutes of solid game with...was there a 4 minute stretch in the 3rd where we didn't score? No one made cuts; no one got into the paint.

Depressing. Frustrating.

 

i agree that our strategy is lacking at times, but one of the biggest differences in jokic now vs. a few years ago is that you can't hunt him on defense with as much success. malone (and the denver FO) have done a great job building a defense that caters to his strengths and covers for his weaknesses. he also gets so much respect from the refs that he'll never find himself in foul trouble. his entire strategy against AD is to just bump him on every shot. every time it's a foul, but he knows they'll call it maybe twice in a game.

 

No surprises in game one.

I thought AD played well particularly since he gets no calls.

DLO just missed too many shots. Back court as a whole did not give us enough. I expect to see more of Gabe and Spencer as we move forward particularly if DLO can’t get his offense going.

but yeah. Same script. We play well for a while then Denver hits another gear and the wheels completely fall off for us.

 

really, there were three runs in the game of about 10 points each. denver got two of them, and that's that. the problem at this point is that it feels like they'll always get one more.

 

Yeah same story all over again.
We actually punched them in the mouth in the first half, we exploited well Gordon's foul trouble, executed well and were in a good spot.
But then they go a 8 or 10-0 run and quickly tie the game. Then on the 3rd quarter they have a 13-0 run and we couldn't catch them ever again.
They're just too good and consistent. They don't give anything to you and don't have players disappearing in the game. Even if MPJ or KCP are cold, they just play Jokic-Murray two man game and works every time. Hats off to them for that, they're really good

We need to try something different to make them uncomfortable otherwise it's the same story again. LeBron and AD played well. Reaves could have been more aggressive and DLo didn't find his groove, but it's more than that for us to win


For game 2, I would keep the same lineup but let loose Gabe and or Spencer, I think they may be the key to surprise them. They have to get hot as they can improve our ability to defend Murray

 

Basically this

 

the only chance the lakers have at winning this series is if jokic or murray gets hurt

it's already over otherwise

 

I was watching to catch a smuggler

 

Oof!

 

Jokic is 29
Murray 27
MPJ 25
Gordon 28

Lebron is 39 in his 21th season
AD 31 and had many injuries

At one point , fans should just accept it and move on

 

Lebron is the only old guy on this team.
Would be an excuse if he didn't play well but it's Rui, AR, DLo, Prince, Spence etc who are getting busted relative to their roles. Jokic and Murray did not outplay AD and Lebron

 

If that's not an indictment on coaching. I don't know what is.

 

He couldn't replicate in the 2nd half what he did in the 1st half and is our best player so this is definetely a problem in the playoffs against the best team in the league

 

definitely. especially with his improved three point shooting, he's a high gravity off-ball player who can make a rotating defense pay. but we don't use him a lot as a screener or a weakside release valve on pick and rolls involving dlo.

 

There really aren't a lot of adjustments to be made here, on our side. We have who we have, their bench isn't that great either, Watson did hit a couple of 3's tho.

This is going to be , the starting 5 vs 5 series IMO. Id run it right back as is, we have to give Russell another crack at it, before we look to change it up IMO.

If we gamble on trading some better on ball defense, with Gabe or Spencer, for D'Angelo's scoring, they are still going, to have to make some shots too.