Aloha,
Okay I must admit that I was frustrated by the end of the first half. If it weren’t for being gifted that last basket, we have been down by 10. Same ole same ole, we came out flat against a bad team. I told myself that it’s not unusual for a bad team, especially one with good young players to give a better team a tough time in the first half, so I decided to not change the channel and watch the 2nd half and I’m glad I did. For the First the first time in a while I was right. We inserted Stanley, brought the D and rode Melo’s surge. Just a few things that caught my attention.
Stanley Johnson had a great game. Besides his solid defense he went 3 for 4 from 3 with a total of 11 points. He also had 5 boards, 2 assists, a block and a steal in 22 minutes. I don’t expect Stanley to become a volume 3 point shooter but if he can continue to knock down wide open looks, it would be huge. It was reported that as expected the Pistons turned down the Lakers trade offer. So Stanley maybe the best we can do at the forward. Unless Trevor dramatically improves, I would like to see Stanley start. We better not let him walk or I might boycott the rest of the season.
Russ had a nice bounce back game. It seemed to me that he slowed down and was more under control then he has been for awhile.There was only a couple of boneheaded plays, like the shot on top of the backboard. He might consider giving that shot up. If he can just play under control from here on, it will be huge.
Okay Malik got 2 three point shots today. Better then the one he got last game. I still can’t understand this at all.
Melo had another explosion, 23 points in 17 minutes. Like I’ve said before Melo seems to either be hot or cold, doesn’t seem like anything in between.
Great title to this post, Michael. “3rd quarter magic.” Indeed.
That was when the Lakers show up after a nonchalant play in the first half. Their abysmally poor performance in the first half and especially the second quarter had me worried as I thought they were going to resort to their season-long habit of letting us down when it comes to winnable games. Thank God they were able to shake off any lingering effects from the long flight and different time zones just in time to put the game on cruise control in the second half.
I didn’t sense any panic from the team. Instead, their composure gave me a feeling that they are going to take care of business, just enough to squeak by. They meticulously executed well in the second half to start the trip on a positive note.
I would like to shout out to the whole team for figuring out how to get it done when it mattered. I am 100% on board with you on Sir Stanley Johnson. There is no way the Lakers should not grab this man for the rest of the season, if not beyond. Anything he brings offensively is a big-time bonus. His defensive acumen is one to boot and he fits in our style of play seamlessly. Great to see Russ being Russ while under control. Ariza? I don’t know what it is but it seems like he was contributing great without showing up on the stats sheet. His presence had a calming effect on the team. Not sure how others see it, but it is definitely worth having a debate on that.
Holding Cole Anthony the Magic’s leading scorer to just 4 points for the game? Well, there must be something magical about that. And that’s the “3rd quarter magic” sneaking in and saying: not tonight.
Great post.
Aloha, Michael,
Yeah, it was tough watching the first half. Much better job in the second half. Lakers finished first half with 96.4 OffRtg, 108.8 DefRtg, and -12.3 NetRtg. Second half was 129.2 OffRtg, 87.8 DefRtg, and +41.4 NetRtg. Game was 111.5 OffRtg, 99.1 DefRtg, and 12.5 NetRtg.