The Timberwolves came in to STAPLES having beaten one of the NBA elites and feeling good. A young team riding high can be a dangerous thing in the regular season. Teams like the Lakers are built for the more structured and evenly paced style of the playoffs whereas the T’wolves want to run and gun, play loose and fast. It took a few quarters but the Lakers found the formula that allowed them to beat Minnesota. In so doing the Lakers remained unbeaten since the All Star break.
- The King and Monstrezzl pick and roll. That’s not a typo, BTW, Trezz has been a monster of late hence the moniker. That pick and roll looks like it could be the new unstoppable Laker weapon, at least against defenses that don’t understand how to level Trezz off and stop him from hitting the paint in stride. Similar to how James and Caruso ran PnR last season, when they’re playing smart and the defense isn’t keyed into it there’s no stopping it. That play should be good for at least one bucket per game and one misdirection to the trigger man in the corner which also happened the last time they ran it. Wes missed the three but the play is a good one and bears repeating especially in our fairly one-dimensional offense.
- Wes Matthews getting it done on D. With Caruso out we’ve been out one of our best defenders and it’s been really nice seeing Wes Matthews contributing on that end. he also canned a couple threes but it was his defense that helped stymie the Timberwolves, especially in the second half. Wes has not had a great season, had a scary collision early with Karl-Anthony Towns, but shook all that off to contribute to a gritty Laker win. Assuming the Lakers don’t make a big splashy move it’s imperative that we unlock some of our under-performing players. Seeing Wes contribute within the role he was brought here to perform was great to see.
- Laker bench finding an identity. Injuries in the NBA happen, it’s just one of those things that every team has to overcome. The Lakers had really struggled with their identity since AD went down and especially when Schroder was out. The Laker bench rotation went through several iterations before landing on this current one where Morris replaces AD in the line up and everyone else pretty much sticks to their role. Bringing in Damien Jones further solidified that look once we lost Gasol. Wes has stepped into Caruso’s role well enough and the result has been a more balanced Laker attack post ASB. I’m sure getting in an actual practice helped as well (based on a recent ESPN article the Lakers have practiced 5 times since camp broke. 5. Let that sink in. Not sure if that reflected any work done over the break but, at best, that would make it 6 or 7 practices in total.) The bench has become a major stabilizer behind the stellar play of Trezz and Kuzma along with the emergence of THT.
- Speaking of Talen Horton-Tucker… Kid was balling again last night. Stu Lantz has been pretty spot-on with his game-to-game analysis of THT and being pretty fair in his judgement of both his growth and areas he still needs work on. Defense is the biggest thing and that’s understandable, this is for all intents and purposes THT’s rookie season and he’s shouldering a large chunk of responsibility as the season goes along. He’s impressing his coaches and LeBron James, no small feat, and you can see the game slowing down for him on offense. The work he needs to put in on defense is legit but I think that he’s on the perfect team to get better on that end. My only critique of Talen on offense is to not always drive the ball to the rim. That is predictable and teams will start to bait him into it. Take those open threes a little more frequently, live with the results if they come organically and the floor will open up even more.
- Speaking of three pointers… The Lakers made a bunch of them last night (13-26 good for exactly 50%). The Lakers, by design, are not going to be among the elite three point shooting teams in the NBA, we lack the personnel and the offense isn’t really designed to create those looks. They happen more organically off the quite traditional and old school inside-out methodology. In this case usually off of Schroder, James or THT collapsing the defense and kicking it out. We weren’t letting those shots fly early on but it feels like we’ve turned the corner on that issue and are taking the open three more consistently. Given the talent of our squad, when healthy, that ought to be enough. I don’t have a hard number I’m fixated on in terms of how many threes is appropriate for us to take per game. Let success by your guide and if they’re falling for you…well, shoot more. If they are not keep moving the ball and finding the open man. Old school hoops still has a place in the game. Even moreso when the playoffs role around.
All in all a decent win. Could have been a trap game but, since I didn’t call it (you’re welcome, Gerald) it would appear we didn’t fall in. LaMelo Ball returns to LA on Thursday, should be fun. The Rookie of the Year debate is essentially between LaMelo and Anthony Edwards so we’ll get to see both back-to-back. Good stuff.
Good fiver, Admiral Ackbar. We assumed you had called this as a ‘trap’ game.
1. LeBron and Trezz pick-and-rolls need to become a mainstay just like Lou Williams and Trezz pick-and-rolls led to Harrell averaging 20 ppg and winning 6MOY last season. In retrospect, Lakers were underutilizing the pick-and-roll in general and with Trezz specifically. Much better go-to option than isolating LeBron or AD on the wing. Never understood why Lakers didn’t do that but maybe the reason is the roller. AD has been inconsistent on the play but Trezz seems like the perfect fit for it. Unfortunately, it may result in him playing so well the second half of the season that we can’t keep him this summer. Or maybe the Pacers or Knicks will suddenly conclude he could help them.
2. Wes had been an enigma this season at both ends. He’s definitely capable of playing excellent defense and getting hot from deep but no consistently. If the Lakers make a big trade, Wes is going to have to be able to fill the hole in the guard rotation so I’m hoping we’ll continue to see him improve and contribute.
3. The Lakers new Bench Big Three of Kuz, Trezz, and THT has been sensational, maybe even good enough for the Pacers to want them in a trade for Myles Turner. How long can they keep this up? All three players are showing their value to the Lakers and to other teams, which is exactly what the Lakers want. We saw signs of the Bench Big Three excelling with LeBron earlier in the season and now that they’re using Trezz in the pick-and-rolls with LeBron or Dennis, it’s become explosive. Just need to show it against better teams. No excuses, no letdowns.
4. THT continues to take 2 or 3 steps forward every time he takes one step back, which is the kind of exponential growth you want from a future star like Talen. The game is slowing down for him for sure and the growth accelerating. He’s got magic in his game and handles bad outings as well as good outings. Only question is his 3-point shooting but he continues to shoot 84% from the line, second only to KCP’s 86.5%,, which bodes well for his future from long range. Been playing like a star since I included him in 10 trades the other day.
5. The problem with your assessment of our 3-point shooting problems is naïve. The Lakers can’t solve their 3-point shooting woes by just making a higher percentage or even shooting more threes. That will only add a point or two to the 10 points per game 3-point differential they have versus the Clipper, Jazz, and Nets, who lead the league with 40 attempted threes per game versus our 30.
The only way you solve the problem is by replacing low volume 3-point shooters with high volume 3-point shooters. And the reality is teams don’t allow players to be volume 3-point shooters unless they shoot above the league average of 35%. If the Lakers want to reduce the 3-point shooting differential, they need to move some of the players who don’t shoot many threes and replace them with guys whose game involve taking more threes.
Last playoffs, we increased our 3-point takes from 31 to 34 per game, which was actually a big increase, many of which came from KCP, LeBron, and Green, who all took more the 5.5 per game. This season, LeBron is taking 6.5 per game but nobody else is even over 5 per game. And you have Trezz eating up big minutes without shooting any. We’re going to need to make some changes in personnel to close the gap.
A2D on three point logic. Volume in a vacuum solves nothing.
LOL. Your reply makes zero sense. WTF does volume in a vacuum mean. You can’t make volume threes without taking volume threes and the only guys whom teams allow to take volume threes are those who make better than the league average. 10 out of 10 of the players with the most 3PA shot over 37.4%.
Current roster is not going to suddenly start taking and making more threes. Need different players to reduce the 10 to 20 point 3-point differential we give up to the other top three teams. Standing pat while everybody else improves is a recipe for a second round exit to the Clippers, Admiral Ackbar.
Only other way to make up the difference is via points in the paint or free throws. We’re better than the Clippers, Jazz, and Nets in PIP differential but not anywhere good enough to offset the 3PT DiF. Ttrading for an elite rim protector like Turner might be one way to help solve that. But obviously, you have now joined the rest of the ‘we don’t need a trade’ crew. Let’s just hope Rob Pelinka knows better.
I mean I think that you’re applying this scenario in a vacuum devoid of how the team is designed to function. It’s not like we don’t have guys whose role it is is to take and make threes. They haven’t been falling and so we stop taking them. Our leak outs in transition aren’t designed to search out three pointers, they’re designed to get lay ups and dunks.
The Lakers aren’t going to miraculously change how they play at this point. We don’t practice and that has trickled down into every aspect of the game. A lot of teams go for the three ball as a first option. That just isn’t how the Frank Vogel offense works. In crunch time, LeBron or Schroder is taking the ball to the hole and kicking it out. On the Nets and such they are built differently, they have a coach who was an elite three point shooter with guys like Harden who play the analytics game. That’s not LeBron and thus it’s not the Lakers The other side of the analytics coin and, frankly, the smarter and more attainable one, is improving our PIP dominance. Especially for this version of the Lakers. If you have to gut the team to add a couple three point shooters who are far worse defenders than the players leaving it won’t fly.
That’s what I mean by ‘in a vacuum’. I don’t see how any version of the team consistently shoots the fixed number of three point shots you feel is needed. This team is built from a defense-first mentality. While Vogel’s in charge, especially after that worked so well last season, I don’t see a path where that changes. Transition baskets at the rim, attacking the paint and applying the unique pressure LeBron inflicts on a defense paired with decent, not elite, shooting and AD is what makes this team work.
I don’t see where you get better from simply more. It doesn’t make sense. More is only better if more go in, more without making them is far worse. Taking another 10 three pointers a game means that you’re doing a lot more than tweaking how the team works on offense.
That’s why I see tweaks to the roster but the closer we get to the deadline the more I think we’ll be buyout hunters and that’s where it’ll end. Frank has shown himself to be a believer in the Law of Averages, nothing I’ve ever seen has changed my opinion about that or that’s it’s changed. It won them a title. He and the staff and the players and the front office have put in a lot of work building this team. I think they’re riding this out just about as-is.
Thanks for clarifying what you said, Jamie. Lots of excellent points. I do agree that’s it’s unlikely that the Lakers are going to change how they play midseason by bringing in multiple volume 3-point shooters. I also agree that it’s unlikely that we will see the current roster suddenly take and make more threes. It’s not in the coach’s or the players DNA.
Frankly, adding volume 3-point shooters is something we should have done in the offseason and was a mistake, especially considering how volume 3-point shooters like Kyrie and Ray Allen had such a big part in LeBron winning championships. However, adding one elite volume 3-point shooter could have as big an impact as having the entire team shoot lights out like they did in last year’s playoffs, especially since the teams were likely to face are all greater volume 3-point shooting teams than last year’s opposition. We don’t want massive change, just one volume shooter for somebody who isn’t.
Finally, it’s good to see you embrace the point I have been trying to make with you all day, which is we need to build a bigger PIP differential to make up for what’s coming via our 3-point differential in the playoffs. And the easiest way to do that is to get an elite rim protector like Myles Turner. We already have a good edge in PIP differential even with our terrible rim protection. Imagine if we had Turner or AD on the floor all 48 minutes and maybe together for start and end of each half. We would get back the dunks and lobs we miss and stop the layup line we currently allow.
Lastly, we need a starting center who isn’t going to get played off the floor in the playoffs because our best defense is our trapping, doubling, rotating defense AND because we don’t want AD to have to play the five for 50% of the time in the playoffs like he had to do last year. Adding a 26-year old shot blocker and inside banger and dunker like Myles will preserve Anthony Davis’s energy and allow us to double down on our defense and win the PIP battle by a lot more points. It will also improve our perimeter and 3-point defense by allowing our defenders not to worry about getting blown by since AD or Myles will have their backs.