5 Things: Lakers Beat Clippers…Finally

It’d been awhile. The much noted and hyped losing streak the lakers had going against their cross-hall rivals (one of the more unique situations in all of sport) ended last night with the tenet’s of Laker basketball guiding the way: put pressure on the defense and get to the line, be a paint-dominant team, and defend like your role depends on it (it does). Still, it’d been awhile and so was really nice to see the Lakers pull this one out and allow everyone to move on.

1. The defense was feisty! Led by Anthony Davis (4 blocks), Austin Reaves (3 steals)and surprise starter Cam Reddish (also 3 steals and thrust into a starting role due to T. Prince being a late scratch after warming up and reporting some mild knee soreness adding another body on the pile of our walking wounded) the Lakers did a phenomenal job disrupting the late-game Clipper offense inside the three point line. The Clippers also missed some very makeable shots but I still liked the way the team defended as a whole. LeBron even got up for 2 big blocked shots.
2. LeBron is a marvel. He really shouldn’t be doing this, at some point the hops will go…won’t they?! At any rate the breakaway ally-oop lob Reaves dished to The King as we pulled away in OT should dispel any “old” notions, at least for awhile. While once again blowing past the self-imposed minutes-restriction (and honestly I don’t fault the staff or anyone for that last night, we only had 8 healthy, NBA-ready players and that’s not a knock on Colin Castleton, Dmoi Hodge, Maxwell Lewis or Alex Fudge it’s just the truth) James put on a gem of a show for everyone in attendance and watching on the tube. 4-8 from three, skying to block shots, and that one-handed jam in transition from Reaves as the cherry on top. Gnarly stuff, man.
3. Reaves rounding into form. The efficiency still leaves something to be desired and he still isn’t getting a consistent whistle on pretty solid contact but Reaves didn’t let his offence get in the way of his defense. While it’s also poignant to remember that Max Christie was only going to be so effective and there weren’t really many other options other than to go with Reaves down the stretch, I still thought this was the most “our Austin” type game he’s played this season. The hustle was there and he started driving to the rack more when the shot still wasn’t falling (other than a couple of his pet elbow jumpers he can almost make in his sleep when he’s gathered right) and my one true knock was the team-high 5 turnovers. That’s not on Reaves alone, a lot of lakers a re forcing passes into too tight of coverage, but Reaves also just made some bad passes. Still, a very encouraging game and hopefully the forebearer of better games to come.
4. Evolving away from the three guard line up. We’ve all harped on it, most of us more than once. So it was a little surprising to see a line up of D’Angelo Russell, Max Christie, Christian Wood, Jaxson Hayes and Anthony Davis for more than a few minutes last night. Coach Ham just loves him a triplicate of some kind or another. At any rate, that group of guys held their own (and whichever ref called the “hanging on the rim” tech on hayes deserves to have his whistle taken away, c’mon man…dude’s first basket of the season and was legitimately going hard in transition and was carried along by his momentum). Again, the lack of healthy and NBA-capable players likely had more than a little to do with this choice but the matchup worked for a few reasons. The Clippers aren’t fast team, per se. Both leonard and George want to conserve their bodies and energy for the long season and playoffs. They feature a rim running center more after trading Batum and Morris Sr. away. Russell Westbrook likes to get out but is often a little out of control on the break. So that length had enough speed to match up in this game, not saying this is a line up we’ll see a ton of going forward but there are a couple teams it makes sense to deploy.
5. Christian Wood 6th man of the year. While I don’t see the campaign to start Wood going anywhere (or making much sense on an every game basis, at least in the regular season) I heartily endorse the creation of the C-Wood for 6thMOY fan club. With his “it’s all over now baby blue” put back dunk, increasingly reliable defense and floor stretching ability it’s been fun watching Wood dominate against the benches of opposing teams. To my way of thinking it still makes more sense to start either Vanderbilt (upon his return) for a defensive tone, Prince for an offensive tone, or Reddish for a little bit of both kinda tone. I like being able to deploy Wood like a surgical air strike when LeBron goes to the bench because it gives he and AD a little bit of a different look to work against. I’m sure some folks would rather he start but I think he can be a solid “best player off the bench” and if he keeps this up he could end up in the running for the award for best bench guy.

With a couple days off the Lakers have some time to get guys healthy, work on tightening up some things on both ends, and rest LeBron. Loved how we fought in this game, even though we almost gave it away when we took our foot waaaaay off the gas in the last two minutes. Good stuff.