5 Things: Road Trip a complete success as Lakers defeat Celtics

I kid, the trap game in Detroit will leave a mark for a spell but in my mind it’s better we work out these sort of issues early rather than have them linger on into the season. A line up issue is like a lingering injury. You start to compensate, can injure or break something else as a result, and the issue persists and can even grow worse with time. This isn’t so much an indictment of the play of Morris and Matthews (although both have been fairly underwhelming thus far) but rather an acknowledgement that the shorter rotation looked and played better. The numbers bear this theory out, at least for the one game. Let’s hope this is a launching point for some regular season dominance.

1. Stellar bench play. With 2/5ths of the starting 5 contributing 1 point it fell on the bench to bring some passion and energy to the game and they did not fail to deliver. Whether it was the smooth shooting from Kyle Kuzma, the ‘little bit of everything’ game of THT, the super efficient scoring by Trezz or the incredible, game-saving defense of Alex Caruso the bench stepped up when it was called upon. For the game Caruso led the team in +/- with +14 but it was his defense in the waning seconds that was the defining moment of the basketball game.
2. Anthony Davis’ bounce back game. After taking some shots in the media from Joel “I Only Win at Video Games” Embiid or his own public self criticism, AD has a rough start to the 2020-21 campaign. With his numbers down across the board, the Lakers suffering some uncharacteristic losses to under-manned teams or what AD has just looked…off. Last night he was pretty solid for the most part getting force-fed by his team for buckets in the second half and pulling down a game high 14 rebounds. We won’t go far in the playoffs without the best version of Anthony and he knows that. We go as far as he and LeBron take us.
3. The Lakers are playing slower this season. The Lakers are down about 4 points per game in fast break points so far in 2020-21. That in and of itself isn’t a concern but when you factor that we’re treading water in some areas we ought to have improved on as a team (three point shooting is about the same, turnovers are about the same, scoring about the same as last year’s squad) and you can begin to understand why our margin for victory feels a little slimmer this season. The funny thing? It’s not, we’re actually outscoring our opponent better than last year’s team did, so far. So, while we may not be getting out on the break and scoring in quite as fantastic a manner as last season we’re still winning games and doing the little things that it takes to be successful in the NBA.
4. Morris and Matthews. Both have been fairly underwhelming this season. Both have had moments in which they shined but neither has cemented himself in the rotation with consistent play. ‘Kieff is having one of his worst scoring seasons ever. Wes is continuing to show the lingering effects of his Achilles injury and seems unable to find other ways to contribute. Neither is a lost cause and I think the solution itself lies in the shorter rotation. Play nine guys, any nine. THT might not play every night in this scenario but that’s life in the NBA. Feels like Caruso and Kuzma are locks to play barring injury, as it should be. They helped win a ring and have shown that they don’t need to score to be effective. So, in order for the other guys to get the burn they need choose another guys (because Trezz is playing) and roll with them.
5. This season is a different test. It’s the in-game vibe of The Bubble now with more travel, buses and hotels! Not a recipe for fun. No crowds but with all the travel rigor of a normal NBA season. The Lakers have done pretty darn well at avoiding the COVID bug thus far but you can see on this road trip how the travel affects the older players, especially LeBron who looks a little gassed. I’m sure he’s ramping up his activity and isn’t in peak game shape, yet. For the Lakers, who enjoy a little home crowd boost in every other NBA arena (we don’t lost to Detroit if the house is 2/3rds full of Laker fans) it’s a double whammy. Just another minor obstacle but as those add up it amounts to a small mountain the team needs to overcome.

All in all, this is now guaranteed to be a successful road trip. Atlanta is going to be tough but my gut is telling me we’ll eke out another W and since they don’t award those style points they’re all equal in the eyes of the playoff seeding. In the end, that’s all that matters. It would be nice to sit atop the west, again, but I’ll take top three and another Bubble NBA playoffs.