5 Things: Lakers do it with defense and beat Cavs

It took awhile for the Lakers to show the kind of defensive intensity that we’ve all grown accustomed to from a Frank Vogel coached team and having a generally healthy LeBron James didn’t hurt, either. The Lakers got back to .500 with a solid second half defensive effort that, if truth be told, really started with a couple minutes to go in the first half to bring the two teams back to a tie going into the break. Keyed by a stellar scoring night from Carmelo and the dominant interior presence of Dwight Howard the Lakers won at STAPLES for just the second time in 4 tries.

1. The stealth impact of Avery Bradley. Not much was made when the Lakers claimed AB off of waivers save for some folks to quip about the overall age of the team just keeps on creeping north. While there are issues with the team age adding Bradley should have been a no-brainer who saw how he was able to flourish on the floor with LeBron and AD in the regular season prior to COVID-19. That has continued in his second tour and he was one of the keys to last night’s win. I’m sure Frank will dust off Rondo on occasion, break the glass when the ball stops and we need a little more on court savvy, but for the most part those minutes should go to Bradley for the time being. Getting back THT and Nunn might change that but for now I don’t see sense in not putting Bradley on the floor especially when Russ is running the show. He plays the slow-control Yin to Russ’ hyper-force Yang. It gives us another defense minded guy who can hit from the outside and run a set play.
2. The juice Carmelo brings to the arena. Is it just me or does it feel like Laker fans have waited about 20 years for Carmelo to suit up for the Lakers? I remember when he was out of basketball being utterly mystified we didn’t make him an offer. Well, here he is and he’s kicking booty. Yes, you will get some bad shooting performances. Yes, you will get some lackluster defense. You also get the equivalent of an old west gunfighter who has never lost a quick draw. The man can flat score the basketball and he can do it from anywhere. As soon as he gets off the bench the crowd gets juiced, even in most away arenas since Laker fans dominate planet Earth. Last night he missed his first shot and missed not but 2 more out of 12 going a deadly 6-8 from three. In short, Melo is a joy to watch hoop. Even for crusty, defense-first guy like me.
3. Getting the King back out there. I know one of the big reasons we got the third superstar caliber player to go along with LBJ and AD was to give us a cushion for when one of them goes down, needs to sit, foul trouble, etc. But…c’mon, this is LeBron’s team people and it has been since he signed here. He says things that indicate otherwise but the Lakers need LeBron like Earth needs an atmosphere. We need to do everything we can to not replicate the issues the Brooklyn Nets have faced with their big three in that they have barely played together and frankly that may end up being the only legend they forge at this point depending on how long Kyrie chooses not to sit (hint: until NYC changes it’s vaxx mandate). The Lakers are going as far as AD, Russ and LeBron take them and in the spirit of that the Lakers need them to get time together and for Frank to figure out what works when they’re not on the floor in the flow. In terms of last night’s game, James didn’t blow the roof off the arena but his presence is so stabilizing. On defense he can be a game-changer and he is the engine that drives our offense, this was all on full display last night as he continued his dominance over the team that drafted him #1.
4. Davis chipping in, too. Davis has been focused a lot more on playing in the paint and it’s starting to become a weapon. Fewer step back, fade away shots and more drives to the rim. He was 1-2 from three which we will also need. But he can be, and is, such a dominant paint presence even playing the style of basketball he prefers. AD was a big part of our defense which was key in a game where we once again gave up 20+ free throws to the opposition. He was also a big reason why we reverted to type and dominated in the paint, again.
5. Some interesting numbers: 27 being the number of threes we shot which is right in line i regards to that being the number of attempts we ought to be shooting. Much more than 30 and I feel like it reveals a lazy, unorganized approach on offense. 60-44=16 being the difference in paint points we scored which helped offset the 6 points we gave up at the free throw line. 9 which was the number of field goals we made more than the Cavs as our offense executed at it’s highest level to date. Lastly, and most importantly: 16 which was the total number of points the Cavs scored in the 4th quarter. The Lakers need to bottle that quarter and send it to the brewery or wherever basketball mojo is brewed because I could stand for a lot more of that kind of thing.

We kept a team under 100 for the first time this season in any game played. We had our best defensive effort so far and we got the majority of the roster playing together. Could this be the page-turning game we’ve all been looking for? The one where the Lakers as a team can overcome the individual warts in the singular games of each of it’s players? Where superstars known more for scoring can chip in and play decent defense? I sure hope so because up until this point there just hasn’t been much that’s fun or exciting to watch. I’ve started the process of talking myself into accepting that 20 turnovers is an acceptable number for this team since you basically have to spot LBJ and RW 5 each which leaves 10 for the rest of the team. At any rate, solid win and one that is to the form we hope to see from the team going forward. Go Lakers.