That was a very fun game to watch. Over after the first quarter, some LeBron James “LakerTom style” load management (i.e. resting in the 4th) and solid contributions across the board from pretty much everyone who played. The sweetest part was the revenge, sweet, sweet revenge for the last second loss the Dubs dealt us awhile back.
- 24. The # of minutes LeBron James was on the basketball court competing. That is a wonderful number to see these days and is a vast improvement over his 40+ mpg we’ve been accustomed to seeing since AD went out. The rest of LeBron’s numbers were, as expected, also pretty good: 19 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists. To top it off, despite not playing in the 4th quarter, The King still led the team in scoring. Nice, tidy game. Fun fact: last night LeBron became the 23rd player in NBA history to appear in at least 1,300 regular-season games. Cool synchronicity, that.
- Happy birthday Alex Caruso. @acfresh21 turned a big old 27 yesterday and put in a solid all around effort, per usual. Alex is generally a great barometer for this team in that if he scores in double-digits, has some assists and rebounds he’ll generally be among the team leaders in +/- and the team will often times be sporting another ‘W’ for his troubles. Check, check, and check. He also played only 21 minutes producing 13 points, 4 boards and 4 dimes along with his usual stout D.
- Welcome to the Lakers Damien Jones. DJ hammered home his first points as a Laker on a play we’ve been missing the entire season: a lob from a teammate, in this case Dennis Schroder. Jones was an efficient 3-3 before exiting with what looked like back tightness. Not a great sign and a mildly auspicious way to start off his 10 day contract. Another obstacle being that his deal ends mid ASB, not sure how bright a P&G future DJ has but we’ll see.
- Lakers still struggling from three. Despite a fast start in which we came out nova hot from deep (6-9 in the first quarter) the Lakers made only 5 more in 22 attempts thereafter. Schroder and the bench were the big culprits in this game, Dennis going 0-3 and the bench going a combined 3-13 (Kuzma and Caruso were the only guys off the pine to can a trey). While this didn’t loom large last night (much like the 20 turnovers were also overcome…) it’s an issue for a team with banner aspirations. One can only hope that when AD gets back we’ll be manufacturing cleaner looks and Davis will help up our makes/game.
- 2 more to go. The biggest goal, in my opinion, for the next two games? Stay healthy. No more injuries. Health will be the biggest factor in our quest to repeat as NBA champs and we haven’t had the best of luck in that area this season. We may win out, go 1-2 or drop both but if we come out of this home stretch in as good a health as possible and get some guys a little better over the break we’ll be doing pretty well for ourselves. Of course, Injury Watch 2021 centers around AD and his calf/Achilles strain. If he comes back on 3/14, great. If it takes longer, so be it. We need him right for the playoffs.
Tomorrow night should, should mind you be our hardest remaining game of the first half of the regular season. Phoenix is playing great, they’re right on our heels in the standings, are on a 2 game winning streak of their own and are 8-2 in their last 10. With Utah creating some separation in the standings from the rest of the conference it’s imperative that we keep pace with the Clippers and Suns so as to stay a top 4 team. If I was a betting man (not generally speaking…but sometimes!) I’d wager there will be fans in the stands for the playoffs, that the seeding matters in regards to what teams we play and when, and that it would be best to face Utah in the western conference finals, not round 2. 1 game separates us, the Clippers and the Suns. I’d like to stay at #2 (where we currently reside in the standings) and put some pressure on Utah and challenge for #1.
Sounds like D-Jones isn’t too concerned about his back. Not sure he’ll play against Phoenix tho…
Definitely a lot to like about the game and fiver, Jamie.
1. Definitely great to see LeBron enjoying himself on the bench and cheering on the rest of the team. Like to see more of that for sure over the second half of the season. Been too long without that. Guys having fun!
2. Good to see Alex have a good game. I was cringing with his play in the first quarter so good to see him make some great drives, hit some shots, and play his usual excellent defense. A role model for every UPS driver.
3. I thought Damian looked very serviceable. Blocked a couple of shots, grabbed a couple of boards, looked pretty mobile, even displayed some good footwork preventing a Warrior from driving on the baseline. Bummer to tweak your back in first game. Let’s hope he gets another 10-day since his contract will expire over the All-Star break.
4. Still my biggest concern about this team. We’re fine defensively against the 3 as we showed against the Warriors. The problem is we can’t seem to shoot or make enough threes on a regular basis. Problem is the sets we run and the limited number of threes the players we have shoot. Need to add volume 3-point shooters to solve the problem and build a positive 3-point differential, especially against the Clippers, Jazz, and Nets.
5. We need to take the game tomorrow against the Suns. Right now, it’s like those weekend games against the Bucks and Clippers last season before the league shut down. Want to go into the break with a 4-game win streak. I think the team comes out loaded for bear. Trap and hassle Booker from the tip. Slow him down like we did Steph and we win the game. Need to hit our threes and dominate the boards and points in the paint.
I would love to see us win out, Suns are on fire right now so a good test of the re-energized and re-focused Laker D. Going to be fun.
I would offer DJ a second 10-day, just to see if he can help add a different wrinkle on D like he did last night and we all know how great passers love lob threats. Those 2 factors alone warrant a closer look, IMO.
The adding of players I think will ultimately resemble last season’s moves that we made mid-season: minor pick ups, adding vets who’ve been through it and have the basic skill sets that fir our team ID. I would love to see IT come back but kind of doubt he will. Not a good defender at this point but could play a ‘Waiters’ or ‘Smith level role with us. I’d love to trade for Wayne Ellington, not sure that’ll happen but he fits in enough.
I had higher hopes for McKinnie, frankly, and find it mildly disappointing he hasn’t shown enough to crack out of the garbage time role he has here. Makes you appreciate a guy like THT who has forced his way into the rotation.
So, a pride of lions woke up hungry and decided in order to feed the whole pride they must go for a large prey. Then they came across a lone bull buffalo that was separated from the herd. What follows next was history. The lions made a quick work of the buffalo, and that was it. The buffalo was brought down mercilessly and the whole pride converged and feasted until every member of the pride had a belly-full.
That was the story of the Lakers’ game last night. They subdued an overmatched opponent whose only prayer to God would be to sing kumbaya. The Lakers imposed their will with complete dominance, a dominion only seen with a conquering lion. And in a rear feat this season, every player on the team gets to play at least 6 minutes. By the time the game ended, everyone got their belly full. This is how you pay back for an earlier loss, but in a very demoralizing way. I was still feeling the sting from our earlier loss to them.
I would like to give a big shoutout to Damian Jones for giving us a hint of what he could do, and I hope the injury is not that serious.
That was the story of the game, folks. A great win and a big thank you to Jamie for the fiver.
Thank you Buba, loved the pride story man. When the Lakers bring that level of intensity to the court we’re tough to beat even if we don’t have our best offensive showing. That is what gives me confidence in the playoffs, that we know as a team that level of defense is a core part of our identity. Some good health and a couple of shots falling will make it all look even brighter.