5 Things: Final Weekend

Been swamped at work and at home so haven’t had time to dig into every game. Lots to like, some issues persist but one thing is clear: we won’t miss the playin. Had we won out and not lost to the Clippers we would have been guaranteed to slot no lower than the 6th seed. As it stands we’re probably going to have to play at least one extra game and potentially face the Nuggets or Grizzlies in our first round matchup, should we get that far.

1. As it has been for months the daily mantra is “kill ’em all”. Not literally, of course, this is a figurative mantra. The Lakers need to keep applying pressure through winning. We went away from our recent tried and true formula of making AD the focal point with Russell and LeBron on the court against the Clippers as Davis shot the ball only 14 times compared to James’ 20 and Russell’s 13 and Reaves’ 11. Hard to kill ’em all with jump shots when we need to pound teams into submission in the paint. This isn’t as much on the players as it is the coaches. Anthony Davis simply must be the main focal point on offense and our chances of winning will go up with the number of field goals he takes. 20 is the bare minimum.
2. Nagging injuries are the bane of our team. Now D’Angelo is nursing a bad wheel? Geeeeez man. Between AD’s floating bone, LeBron’s lower body and now Russell’s hip, back and foot the Lakers have an Operation game on their hands keeping guys available. Hopefully less travel and time between games will help alleviate that although the Lakers are assured zero home court advantage in any series they participate in.
3. The starting line up is as solid as it’s been all season long. Unfortunately that means the bench is now lacking depth, especially on the guard front. All our best players start and play big minutes so one of the challenges facing Coach Ham and his staff is finding reliable production off the bench. Schroder has looked gassed this week in all our games. Wenyan busts his ass every night but is generally facing a more talented opponent and that gulf will only widen once we hit the playin/offs. Our “laser” isn’t firing very well. Our more dynamic athletes don’t get consistent minutes. Of all our bench guys I think I trust Rui the most because his offense is pretty consistent and his defense seems to have already taken a small step in the right direction. Not too sure how much I’d throw at Mo Bamba but, like LW4, he is an option.
4. Coach Ham still struggling with adjustments. This is one of those things that he’ll be working on for as long as he coaches but we need to see more immediate growth sooner than later or I worry about how we’ll fare in 7 game series. We’re just about one season in under coach Ham and the best I can come up with in terms of identity and philosophy is use our defense to get out on the break and play inside out as much as humanly possible with the focus on the inside. Not to be dismissive but that really is a basketball 101 approach to the offensive side of basketball. Like Vogel before him I think Ham is more comfotrable coaching and preaching defensive principles, which is good, but our offense lacks a dynamic look at times, which is bad. Especially when it comes to freeing up guys like Beasley, Bamba, and even LeBron and D-Lo for three point shots. There doesn’t seem to be a play we run that all but guarantees a shot or a foul. While I doubt that changes this season it’s certainly something I hope he addresses over the summer.
5. What destiny we control. Not gonna lie, the loss to the Clippers coupled with a lot of teams in front of us resting key players makes us getting out of the playin rounds a real challenge. it’s unfortunate that we played LeBron, AD, and D’Angelo at less than 100% and still lost because now hindsight is telling me we should have rested all 3 and sucked up the loss in a sacrifice to better health. Still, there’s a small chance we crack through so keep the love light burring, Lakerholics.