5 Things: Lakers beat Mavs

This one’s on the late side, had X-mas duties to wrangle yesterday. But the nice thing was the Lakers notched their first W of the season. While this will not go down as the “defensive masterpiece” that was game 6 of the NBA Finals a win is a win.

1. Three 20+ point scorers in one game. With the 18 points Schroder tossed in right behind. I never got around to digging the facts on this theory up but I’ll wager that we had 3 20+ point scorers in one game maybe 4 times last season? No more than five. Feels like Rondo might have had a hot game, maybe Danny Green? Kuzma probably had 2, maybe 3. At any rate I could see this sort of thing happening with far more regularity than in any recent season. A good problem to have, especially when the defense wasn’t really locked in for large parts of the game.
2. Trezz!!! Man does this guy play with a ton of energy. But the best thing about his energy is how focused it is. It’s not like we haven’t had energy guys in the past. Larry Nance Jr. and even Julius Randle played with a lot of vim and vigor. What he lacks in size he more than makes up in tenacity and grit. Trezz showcased some nice range on his baseline and up 15-20′ jump shot and was ridiculously efficient.
3. Out-working the Mavs on the glass. Trezz and his 7 boards was one of 5 Lakers who had 7+ rebounds (the team was led by Marc Gasol who had 9 in limited minutes) and our 53 rebounds was one of the ways we took it to the Mavs in an area they are weak in. With no Porzingis to clean the glass the Mavs were -26 in the rebound battle. If we can control the rebounding game like we did last night we’ll set ourselves up for a lot of success.
4. Schroder’s sneaky-good. I can see why he and his agent wanted to wait until the season started to talk extension. In the off-season the Lakers were hampered by cap rules. They can go bigger and they probably will because this guy is good now and getting better. Playing alongside talent like AD and LBJ can be intimidating, cause guys so second-guess open shots or kick out to one of their uber-talented teammates in lieu of an easy lay up. Not Dennis. He already looks just fine waving LeBron into the corner and taking it to the hole. This should be encouraged because we’re going to want that ability to be unlocked to it’s fullest. LeBron needs to be ready for the playoffs and if he’s feeling it you can be sure he’ll have the rock. But on nights when Dennis has it going let him make a name for himself. It’ll help the team overall now and on down the line.
5. Marc Gasol’s improved play. I re-watched this game to see if I felt the same ay after watching Marc trundled around specifically during his time on the floor. I think that in some ways my expectations are too high for this point in the season. My concern is his overall conditioning hasn’t looked good since the Bubble. Looked off in the Bubble, camp and early on in the season. Just isn’t looking to score in any meaningful way. Which is fine, points from guys like him at this stage in his NBA career are gravy points. He led the team in rebounds (in only 20 minutes of play) and made some great outlet passes that led to buckets or hockey assists. I’d like to see he and Caruso and THT get some time together, have his passing be as much the PG as anything else in some half court sets and his outlet passes free up LeBron, Schroder and Davis for easy break points rather than to focus on bringing the ball across the timeline. I also don’t feel like we’ve seen him in a favorable match up. How does he play against the Embiid’s and Jokic’s of the game? Even Kat and Vucevic are better matchups than Powell whose game is all speed and hops. There’s more here to unearth, it’s early and Gasol is a champ. Might not start by the end of the season but you never know.

All in all a pretty sweet win against a potential playoff opponent. The Mavericks looked like they were missing a HOF center and so in some ways this wasn’t the best test for our young season but nobody looks back at the W’s and critiques the why’s and wherefor’s. They just count ’em up. So, to that, the Lakers are an e-ticket draw and will play at an e-ticket level sooner than later.