There it is, the first of what should be many more wins for this iteration of the Lakers. The Lakers gutted out a gritty win over the Grizzlies from Memphis and in the doing quieted some of the chatter surrounding the cohesion, chemistry and composition of the team. While the issues that were troubling remain so (points in the paint, defense without fouling, turnovers) the Lakers, as a team, were able to overcome those and bring home win #1.
- What a game by Carmelo Anthony! On a night he passed Moses Malone on the All Time scoring list to move into the #9 slot Carmelo also sealed the win with a couple of free throws and paced the team in scoring with 28 points. There will be nights where Melo won’t be able to throw it in the ocean and not be up to the task on defense. But then there will also be glorious nights like last night where you just think it’s going in when it leaves his hands. We needed every one of those highly efficient 28 points to overcome Ja and the pesky Grizzlies. Anthony went a superb 10-15 from the floor, 6-8 from three and chipped in 3 boards, 2 blocks and an assist and a steal leading a stellar effort in general from the Lakers bench.
- Malik Monk had a solid bounce-back effort. Monk is fighting to prove he should stick in the rotation when some guys get back healthy. Frank went with a shorter, 10 man rotation last night and Monk featured prominently in minutes that had been going to Rondo. He did well on both ends and shot well from beyond the arc. His 4 assists were a boon and were a big part of the benches success last night as the second unit did a great job moving the ball and not letting the rock stick. Malik did pretty well on defense which is where he needs to prove he can contribute consistently if he wants a prominent role.
- Austin Reaves continues to impress. It’s getting harder and harder to come up with reasons as to why Frank doesn’t play Reaves more. While he will certainly go through some growing pains, especially on defense, it makes sense for the Lakers to get through those as early as possible because the kid has what it takes to be a force in the NBA. Maybe not an All-Star, but certainly a key cog on a team with banner expectations. In just 18 minutes Reaves played some decent defense and kept the ball moving by finding the open man for 3 dimes. Again, as with Monk, it’s the defensive end which will determine the extent of his role but the intangibles Austin brings are already having an impact.
- The starters are still struggling. Not one starter logged a positive +/- in what has become a fairly consistent pattern thus far. I’m sure there are metrics and measurements Frank and his staff use that allow them to justify this starting group but from my perspective it’s not working very well. I’m guessing this is pretty much set in stone at this point, barring injury, though. Frank is not one for changing things up, likes a set look and adapts to things in-game. While we could go on and on discussing the pros and cons of that approach it is the way things are run at this point. Therefor the best we can hope for, as fans, is that Frank, LeBron, Russ and AD can figure out how to make it work with DeAndre Jordan to start halves. I’m not thinking that there is anything else to hope for.
- While getting that first win was great the issues that are worrisome remain. We gave up an astonishing 62 points in the paint, got out-rebounded 49-36 and allowed the Grizzlies to shoot 53% overall. We were a Ja Morant missed free throw away from OT and who knows what happens then. It would appear it doesn’t mater which player plays at the five, we can’t stop anyone at the rim and teams are feasting on easy shots against us. They’re also killing us on the glass. If we want to reach our goals that area needs to improve as we’ll lose more games than not if that trend becomes the status quo.
Fun fact, I happened to be at the Forum last night to see Phish and it’s always nice to be back in that building. We’re going to need a little old school LA magic for this to come together quickly and the quicker it does the more we can get around to the business of seeing what this team is really capable of. I think it will happen but the defining question of our season is when. When can this group put it all together on both ends consistently? We have a nice stretch of games coming up that feature teams we ought to beat. We pick up a couple wins, improve our defense and cohesion in the doing, and things should start to look up. While it is just one win, as the first two games were only two games, maybe this will be the thing that helps to start bringing it all together. We get another chance tomorrow night. Go Lakers.
Thanks for the fiver, Jamie. It pretty much sums up everything that went on in the game.
The game against Phoenix was the worst Lakers game I have ever watched. It goes without saying, that is why the preseason is very important in building chemistry. Our stars were left out of the lineups in the preseason instead of trying to integrate every one in the early going. It should have been known to everyone that a team with so many new parts need more than just the first week of the season to get started. The preseason should be treated as ” we need the preseason” instead of “the preseason needs us.”
The loses to the Warriors and the Suns shouldn’t come as a surprise. Those teams already have built-in cohesion and continuity, and to think you are going to use them to prepare yourself at the start of the season, you are literally acting like drunkard begging for a knock out punch which is exactly what they got. The Lakers were completely punch drunk in these two defeats.
There is hope with these Lakers team, and I mean a lot of it. They just need time to get this chemistry issue taken care of. There are 79 games to go for the season and this team will eventually explode in every team’s face. I like how they grind out the win against the Grizzlies. There will be more games like this as we go on.
Just like the super team of the Miami Heat that went 9-8 to start the season, this Lakers team has the potential to eventually embark on harassing and tearing up teams as if they were asking for every team to hand in their resignations or else they will be smothered. This team will come alive at some point and it wont be good for many teams.
There are a lot of wrinkles that need to be ironed out in terms of rotations and substitution patterns before the team reaches its potential, but we will get there.
Finally, I want to thank everyone for the contributions to the blog.
By the way, I am still recovering from my shoulder replacement surgery. So I am having difficulty typing with my left hand. That is why I have not been commenting that much.
Glad you’re on the mend Buba! It’s all good man, people do what they do and we carry on. Wrinkles indeed but I agree, the biggest question is the amount of time and where we’ll be in the standings when it all really comes together.
I think it will be in early December when this team starts going full throttle. However, it could be earlier than that if we have most of these newcomers having heroic moments like Melo did in the last game. Once their individual level of confidence goes up, we will see a well-oiled machine firing on all cylinders. I just don’t want to hear any more about injures as it takes away the wind out of our sail. Things will look rough before taking a turn for the better.