I’m not going to go so far as to say this game is blueprint-worthy in terms of mapping out a road to consistent success but it did show us a team with a lot of heart and showcased the overall depth and potential that Ham can use to get the job done on a nightly basis. While AD and LeBron featured prominently in the win (like they do), it was a lot more than just the superstar tandem that helped make the first win of the season and the first game at Crypto come out right.
- The unheralded play of Cam Reddish and Christian Wood. Two dudes with more negative press than they probably deserve. Neither has the rep of defensive stopper, Wood has always been seen as a score-first (only?) player and Cam has been over-hyped at every stop along the way in his still young career. Neither one made a 3 pointer (combined 0-5, an onerous trend on a Laker team purported to have improved it’s three point shooting), nor did they score into the double digit range. Still, Cam had an impact on defense in the first half checking Durant and paving the way for what Wood helped do in the second half. Along with his 10 big rebounds Wood played some admirable defense on KD and got to the stripe despite the jumper not falling. These are the kind of things you need to do on this team, especially when three-point specialist Taurean Prince couldn’t buy a bucket all night long. When the scoring gets lean, turn to your defense.
- The defense was pretty solid all night long. Other than the 3rd quarter where I thought we picked up a bad habit from last season (the legendary third quarter struggles we endured for 3/4 of the season regardless of who was on the team) we really turned it around as a team in the 4th quarter. We clamped down on the entire team as Phoenix scored 5 baskets in the final frame, four of those were by Durant. 5-20 in the 4th quarter is getting after it and getting it done, I don’t care that Booker and Beal were out. These are all pros, these guys can all hoop, and therefor that was some great team defense.
- Going back to what works for this team under Coach Ham. Game 1 looked like what people want to see or think the Lakers should be: a team that shoots a lot of threes. We won last night by going back to the thing we’re best at: dominating the paint. There’s just no reason for the Lakers to shoot more than 30 three pointers in any game. Not unless a couple guys get hot and stay hot and that was definitely not the recipe last night. Instead the Lakers returned to their old friend the paint where they utterly dominated Phoenix to the tune of 60 to 36 fueled in part by a 16-6 edge in fastbreak points. Overall I thought our defense led to a ton of our offense, which is pretty much how this team is built to win. There may come a day when the lakers more resemble a modern NBA team with all the threes and such but I still have a hard time seeing this team play in that mode consistently and in a way that will generate wins.
- 1st quarter malaise. Was it just me or was Crupto really, really quiet for like the first hour of the game. Did everyone get a 3rd quarter shot of tequila or something? Halftime espresso? At any rate, the Lakers woke Crypto up with a stellar 4th but come on people, you paid your money now get loud! In defense of the fans our overall effort in the first frame was not great, almost as bad as Phoenix’s play in the fourth. This is where I think the Lakers truly miss Jared Vanderbilt and his energy and effort. Prince wasn’t hitting his shots, LeBron was still easing into the game, AD was, too. That meant that, outside of our guard corp, there just wasn’t much to get pumped about.
- Grand larceny. Another stat that jumped out to me was that almost every laker that played got at least one steal. Ironically only Wood and Reddish came up empty in the thievery department but made up for it with stellar defense. While we may not end up leading the league in steals or blocks it’s effort like this that will lead the way on D. There are some wrinkles to work out on offense (like getting Rui Hachimura going, maybe run some plays for the dude?) but if the defense shows up on a nightly basis we’ll be just fine.
Lakers have a couple days off before facing Sacramento (along with Ham’s three time outs to play with in the 4th, I’m pretty sure this factored into the logic of playing James over 30 minutes, as well). The Kings are looking to re-capture lightning in a bottle and, along with every other western conference team that’s played and won a solitary game, sits in a 6-way tie atop the conference in first place. The Lakers a re looking to continue their early winning ways and match their total wins through 12 games last season in game 3.
Our “A” Team beat their “B” Team. Well the game was pretty much won by LBJ, that’s a shame.
It is what it is, I’m just enjoying it while it lasts.
True. But where is DLO, Vincent, Reaves, Rui and others? Can’t imagine how good we’d be with Dame or KD. Stop shooting 3.s all ya, you too LBJ, we can’t make them as usual. I would say in our lackeys’ defense that you need 30 minutes routinely to get rhythm.
They were pretty mid before. Got some money and care even less now. Hard not to have seen this coming. The top two are worth maybe 8.8/10 and the contenders are 9.5 or better. Only shot this team has is a big trade or if the real contenders have injuries.
Terrific game by the Lakers and terrific Fiver, Jamie.
1. I’m always amazed at how everything seems to change when the games count. Suddenly, all the guys who shined in preseason come back to earth and we see two wild cards in Wood and Reddish suddenly shine now that the games are for real.
Frankly, I couldn’t be happier because Wood and Reddish both have size and I’m a big believer that the Lakers need to go jumbo big with Wood in the starting lineup along with LeBron and AD. What we saw in the fourth quarter is the first quarter this season where the Lakers looked legit. Darvin saw that, too. Chris Wood can be a difference maker for this team.
2. Defense won and having great positional size in the fourth quarter was a big difference maker. Ham should be seriously considering starting Christian Wood next to James and Davis. What we may be watching could be Wood and Reddish pushing their way into the Lakers rotation. The question is whom will they replace? DLo and Rui become more tradable.
Rui, Reaves, Prince, and Vando are going to be in a vicious competition for minutes. Reaves will break out but the other three might be suddenly find themselves out of the rotation.
3. I agree with most of what you’re saying about the Lakers still prioritizing winning the battles for points in the paint and made free throws. That’s our identity. Yes, we want to also try to negate and even win the 3-point shooting battle but not at the cost of points in the paint and made free throws, which come from attacking the rim.
I still want the Lakers to fire away from outside. What we need to compete for a championship is the synergy you get from 3-point shooting creating lanes to the rim and great defensive stops generate fast break opportunities. Everything is linked. We’re just trying to make sure we’re running on all cylinders and our offense and defense are in sync. To do that, we need better outside shooting than we’ve seen so far. Just don’t forget our identity: PIP & MFT.
4. The answer to the first and third quarter problems is go big with Wood as the fifth starter. Right now, Chris has second best +/- on team, Vando is still hurt, and Prince has fallen to dead last in +/-. My entire impression of Taurean is he can shoot but he’s too small to defend the guys we need defended. Christian Wood should be the fifth starter.
5. Was great to see more activity on defense, especially since our identity is not to foul, which is part of our MFT strategy. It’s the ability now to throw 3 or 4 different guys with length at a player like KD. In the end, that was the most impressive thing about last night. LeBron showing he can still close and the Lakers showing they can slow down KD.
Thanks LT, regarding Wood starting I think they’ll give Vando some run when his foot lets him play and he gets up to game speed. I kind of like Wood coming in off the bench at this point for another reason: Rui has had a really rough start to the season and we need somebody to score off the bench when AD and/or LeBron is out there alone (and in the non-staggered minutes for sure). We saw the return of the Three Guard Lineup, as well, and it fared about as well as it did last season which is to say fairly mediocre.
I think that Wood could eventually seize that starting spot which would likely mean he priced his way right outta town next summer. That would be a great story for him personally. All in all it will be the defense and rebounding that determine the starting and finishing, Ham made that a staple last season and I don’t see him changing it up now.
Aloha Jamie, nice post. It was nice to see Woods effort on defense. In an odd way KD was a good match up for Wood. He is not a banger and while he has long strides he isn’t super quick. His bread and butter is getting to his spots and shooting over people. Woods length made that more difficult. Plus he was great on the boards. I don’t know if it would be as effective if the Suns were at full strength. That 4th quarter focus was on KD. With Booker and Beal, it would have required LeBron to play on the perimeter a lot more. I’m looking forward to Vando coming back, just to see where is at now. As for shooting, we won’t shoot 17% from 3 often. But you are right that our primary focus should remain in the paint.
Thanks Michael. My critique against us shooting three’s isn’t really on the players, they’re all fine. They all shoot in the mid to high 30’s which is respectable. The real issue is, and for awhile now has been, the coach. Since I can’t remember when we’ve brought in coaches that maximize post play and ball movement. We never bring in guys who install screening actions like we see on other teams. This is where my empirical evidence begins, the Lakers as a team philosophy have yet to fully embrace the three point “revolution” and, in some ways, it’s easy to see why.
Elite shooters are by and large specialists. They do one thing really well and that’s shoot. So if you’re not creating and running plays to get those guys shots and they don’t do much else well…where’s the role on the team? Ham has said since day one on the job that he wants to attack the paint. Given the makeup of the team this all makes sense.
Someday we may have one of those teams that launches threes with more regularity (and hopefully more accuracy) but until the guys brought in fit that mold I’m not holding my breath. I thought LT’s comments, that we want to find the balance in our attempts and hopefully that bears out in makes. IMO 30 is the goal. Given that LBJ is likely to average between 5.5 and 7.5 3PT FGA’s/game (just where’s been heading for awhile now) and the rest of the roster 30 seems like a solid goal on a nightly basis. like Stu lantz says, let success be your guide.
Which logically brings us to Anthony Davis. To say “AD should shoot/half” or whatever is kind of disingenuous in that it places an artificial goal into place. AD has never averaged more than 3.5 3PY FGA/season and that he did once…in2019-20. Before that his high was 2.6 and after that 2.8 (the following, injury-plagued season.
More specifically, and relevant, is he’s never made even close to 2 3 pointers/game. That high mark is 1.2 (also in 2019-20). Really that’s just bad, inexperienced coaching by Darvin. Why even bring it up? Better to say “we want AD to be aggressive and decisive in his shot selection and floor reads” because that’s what you really need outta the dude. he’s at his worst when he’s out there pondering the right move. Just go hard to the rim or take the open 3. The rest will sort itself out just fine.
Big issue is you can’t always count on threes. I love it as adding to the PIP and MFTs but it can’t be a substitute. Our identity is PIP and MFT. Just want to add 3PM to that list, not take anything off.
As for AD, I have no problem with him taking the threes. Just have to make a high percentage if you want to hoist 6 of them per game.
It’s not the number but the green light from the coach that counts here, Jamie. Ham doesn’t expect AD to take 6 a game. Just take them when they’re there because it will help his overall game.
If I’m PHX I’m walking away from this game with a knowing smile on my face. Huge difference trying to stop KD when Book & Beal are on the court. But yeah…let’s nominate Wood for DPOY…lol.
Well he did what was asked of him.