5 Things: Lakers beat short-handed Wolves

The short-handed Timberwolves fell to the not quite as short-handed, but definitely short, Lakers on Sunday evening. While proving that they’re record isn’t s fluke by giving LA a real run for it’s money up until the closing seconds the team from Minnesota also revealed another thing about the Lakers and their current style of play. The small ball Lakers can’t rebound for doodley squat.

1. Lakers got walloped on the glass. 56-28 good for a 2-1 Timberwolves advantage for the game. They grabbed 20 offensive boards which was only 8 below our rebound total for the game. If there’s a major drawback to LeBron at the 5 it’s this: rebounding. The younger, more athletic and energetic T’wolves crashed the glass all game long and that led to a 17 shot advantage (luckily for the Lakers the FGM was closer, only +5 for Minny). Against a young team minus two star players that wasn’t enough to turn the game into another disappointing loss. Against better competition it likely would have been worse. The kryptonite to LBJ at the 5 is the utter lack of rebounding.
2. It’s hard to pin the massive discrepancy in points in the paint scoring on LBJ at the five. That’s been an issue all season long. 58-32 which was a result of more transition buckets for the Wolves and the offensive rebounds they gathered. While the Lakers have been giving up big numbers in the paint all season it’s also impossible to argue that having LeBron man the 5 improves that area. Like the rebounding issue, against the team the Wolves trotted out, it wasn’t quite enough to swing the W to an L but against better and/or healthier teams it almost certainly would.
3. Russ playing really free. Too free? He almost had a double-double with his turnovers. A couple of those weren’t on Russ. Bradley fumbled a catchable pass out of bounds, a couple of times he was led by pass into an offensive foul and those things will happen. But there were a good 4 preventable turnovers that you can see drive Westbrook bonkers. They drive me bonkers, too! I no longer really expect this issue to magically disappear or resolve itself. This is all a part of The Russell Westbrook Experience so buckle up and enjoy the good, hope that the bad isn’t too bad and that we reduce the ugly to a minimum.
4. Bradley, Monk and Melo saved the game. LeBron wasn’t stroking the three ball like he had been and his point total reflected that. For once he got a few foul calls go his way and so he was able to boost his output with some makes at the stripe (a decent 9-12 for the King) but overall this was a game that LeBron looked pretty gassed throughout. It’s not too surprising given his overall level of responsibility to drive the team to wins, that he’s playing the most MPG he ever has as a Laker (37.0, currently) and playing more 5 than ever which means more banging in the post than he’d been accustomed to. All of this means that we needed some of our other guys to step up. Melo was Melo hitting 2-3 midrange jumpers to keep the scoring moving when we needed it and hitting 3-7 three pointers. Monk was solid all game and Bradley hit the three that sealed the win to go along with a superb defensive effort. The contributions of all three were vital to keeping us in the winning column.
5. Decisions, decisions, decisions. With the fate of Bradley, Johnson and Collison coming to a head over the next 6 days it’ll be interesting to see how each is used and the impact they have. Darren didn’t play last night and Stanley had a subpar game in that he didn’t make a shot but managed a point on a free throw. I’m hopeful we keep Stanley and let Collison walk as I believe Bradley is a better defender and is already on board with what the Lakers are doing. Regardless a choice on Bradley’s deal has to be made by Friday and Johnson and Collison will be released unless an offer is extended on Monday. With two games (Kings and Hawks) between then there isn’t much to go on. If it’s my choice I keep Bradley and Johnson and if you really value what Darren brings then you wave DAJ. Other than that, Collison is my odd man out as things stand today. If Ariza didn’t look like the mummy out there in terms of his fluidity and overall speed I could be convinced that keeping Collison was the smarter move on the basis of raw talent. But we need size and defense, Stanley has both.

Another game we ought to win tonight against the hapless Kings. Still, we need to show up with good effort and intensity. Likely another LBJ at the 5 for the most part although I wouldn’t be too surprised to see Dwight in there or even DAJ in a “show me what you got dude” kind of thing since we’re coming up on some major roster choices. Normally the end of the bench guys don’t warrant this much haranguing but with the sheer volume of games missed due to COVID and injuries it’s led to the last guys on the pine getting more chances to shine.