The Lakers eked out a win over the plucky Pistons and the team can breathe a sigh of relief as we won’t be facing them again this season. Even without Blake Griffin or D-Rose the Pistons gave us all we could handle with a couple of extra helpings of “WHYYYYYY?!?!?!?!” in the form of double OT. So no LakerTom Load Management where AD and LBJ get to sit out the 4th.
- Lakers looking gassed mentally and physically. Maybe it was the recent news that the All Star break won’t be a break for our superstar tandem, maybe it was the long road trip catching up, or looking forward to what turned out to be one of the most boring (or so I heard, didn’t watch it) Super Bowls ever. The Lakers look a little rundown. You can see it in their body language, in their lack of movement on offense and in their general lackluster play of late. They’re relying on “The Switch” far too often. The talent level and overall team cohesion and chemistry is generally enough for us to pull out wins. This was the case against Detroit.
- If The King is running down he needs to turn the keys over to Schroder more often. Dennis was 7-9 from the field, a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line for 22 points. He found his teammates for 8 scores while coughing it up only 3 times. The man can handle more of the playmaking and orchestrating. Free The menace.
- THT maybe ought to have played more. THT hit a driving backhand layup followed a few possessions later by a nifty 10 foot jumper from Schorder. After those 2 shots we came up empty for over 6 minutes of game time stretching between the 4th quarter and the 1st overtime. During that span the Lakers barely moved on offense when the ball crossed half court, everyone looked like they were lagging and we relied solely on James making something happen. The good thing about Talen is he’s young, he’s not coming off a long championship run with lots of responsibilities to manufacture offense. I’ll live with a rookie mistake or three this season in the spirit of future growth and saving James for the playoffs. THT is bringing more than KCP looks like he can these days. My theory is that ankle sprain he suffered a few weeks back has never fully been dealt with. Watch Pope with the basketball, he makes no basketball moves these days. No cuts, no drives to the rim he just kicks it in the corner. That’s either a grievous coaching error or a player who is lacking in mobility.
- Thank goodness we had Alex Caruso. #ACFresh has been in a shooting slump of late, had missed a bunny finger role in the 4th and along with the rest of the guys playing looked like he had somewhere else to be rather than competing in an NBA basketball game. He made a smart cut, canned a three and suddenly we were back in business otherwise this might have been a brutal OT loss to the woebegone Pistons.
- Finding ways to rest key players. The 9 man rotation, while effective, works against this notion. It means more minutes for the same guys, more AD at the 5 banging when he wants to be Gazelle-like, and a lot of LeBron doing everything he can. It’s a lot. Between the 71 day break between championship game and the start of this season, no break for the weary during the ASB, or just being a superstar with a ton of miles on his body James needs to find some time to rest and keep his mind and body right.
Got some more “easy” games on the docket coming up this week. In theory the Lakers ought to sweep the week, get some 4th quarter downtime for Davis and James and we should see some major Cook minutes. Here’s hoping.
Good fiver, Jamie,. Thanks.
1. Lakers definitely looked gassed tonight but I also think having them be aggressive on defense and run on offense would have helped. Game gets boring with everybody standing around and not being aggressive. Just plays into the Pistons’ hands. Got to play aggressive to avoid traps.
2. Great game from Dennis. He’s really bounced back well after a string of soso games offensively. He deferred way too much to LeBron and AD at the end of the game and in OT. Very unlike him normally.
3. Agree 100% with the idea of THT getting more minutes against the Pistons. I mistakenly thought he had fouled out. His ability to attack the rim and dish or kick to open teammates is exactly what the Lakers needed then and will need tonight.
4. And after what was a second terrible game in a row, AC came through big in the clutch with an old school and new school three. That he and KCP were so hot from three is being missed sorely right now. Here’s hoping they both get back on track tonight.
5. Might have been the game with so many minutes for LeBron and AD for Frank to play Keef and Wesley. If not then, when is the question. We cold have used some veteran sharpshooting against the Pistons.