Well, that was almost too interesting. Like the Talking Heads song says, “Some good points, whole lotta bad points…but it all works…I’m just a little freaked out’. Let’s dig in.
1) No injuries man, come one! While it was great to see KCP back after his rolled ankle and Alex Caruso back after suffering a minor back contusion it was not great at all to see Anthony Davis walking off the court holding the eye that got poked. That prompted many a story on the Spectrum broadcast from James “Big Game” Worthy about how he adopted goggles at the behest of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar after suffering an extremely serious eye injury that took 2 weeks to heal properly. We don’t have that kind of time in the Bubble so it was good to see AD back on the bench late in the game joking with teammates.
2) Big lead slipped away. Didn’t like this much, either. We went up by 19 in the first quarter and let the Magic all the way back into the game behind a ton of silly fouls, poor passing and forced shots. Yes, these are games akin to preseason. No, they don’t matter. But that’s still a very bad habit that needs to be snuffed out ASAP.
3) Playing defense for 48 minutes. Hasn’t happened yet, this is where we miss Avery Bradley. We’ll score buckets in a variety of ways, that’s a guarantee, but can the coaching staff put together a rotation of the old and new faces that can sustain a high-level defensive effort for 48 minutes? Feels doubtful right now…
4) Happy birthday Kyle Kuzma. At least for one game we got a glimpse of the young player who dominated summer league a few years back, who took the league by storm in his rookie campaign in addition to the things he’s worked on to improve his overall game (defensive effort, passing to the open man). But can Kuz keep this up for more than the occasional effort here or there? That definitely remains to be seen…
5) New guys incorporated more into the regular rotation. While it was nice to see J.R. Smith and Dion Waiters playing more, especially when they got to share the court with LeBron for some spot minutes the results are still very mixed. Especially on defense where there just isn’t enough time to get these guys up to speed. Of the two Waiters seems more ready to contribute at a high level. Smith passed up wide open looks early and over-compensated by repeatedly driving the ball into defense and coughing it up or putting the offense in a bad spot. Stick with your MO, J.R.: when you’re open, shoot it like the gunner you are. Waiters has a solid overall game, like his aggressiveness when he’s defended by smaller/lighter players and bullying them in the paint but they both are going to go through some big time growing pains on defense. Here’s hoping those growing pains don’t result in losses, especially come playoff time.
Happy Sunday y’all!
Great ‘5 Things’ as usual, Jamie. I was so happy NBA TV added the game to its schedule since I don’t get Spectrum in NorCal. Just checked and they also have tomorrow afternoon’s game on the schedule now too.
Was great fun having both you and Rafael on today’s Lakerholics Round Table podcast. We need to get together to discuss the upcoming Live Game Group Chat planned for Thursday’s season restart opener versus the Clippers.
I’d like to have a dry run Monday or Tuesday night just to make sure we get all of our ducks in a row. I think it could be a great fun event that will give all Lakerholics members (and maybe even Lakerholics visitors) an outlet to cheer a great play, gripe about a bad call, and celebrate a big win over the Clippers.
These past few games remind me of the preseason games we had earlier in the season when everyone was trying to get used to each other on the court. But a few weeks into the season, the team was on a roll and never looked back and was leading the Western Conference. The whole issue right now is a lack of familiarity with one another, which was to be expected and is evident in our turnovers. So, there is not much stock in there except to expect gradual improvement going forward. Mind you, time and tide wait for no man. There is not much time between now and the playoffs. These new players and our G-Leaguers must make use of a favorable opportunity before it is too late and I hope they will figure it out sooner rather than later. As for the new players, I am impressed with Waiters. He is definitely going to continue to improve. J.R. Smith needs to let the game come to him instead of forcing things. We all know he can be a lightning rod when his gunner mode kicks in. Morris is also one I am waiting to gauge. Before the stoppage he was ascending. So here we are hoping that he will improve from where he left off. I am also keeping an eye on Kuzma. He seems to have something up his sleeve and he looks well rested and injury free. We shall see. I will reserve my comments on the rest of the rotation players until the real games start. We all know what they can bring to the table. So far I am tempering my expectations for now. Thanks for the 5 things as usual, Jamie. Looking forward to the game tomorrow.