It’s always good to see the Lakers do what they ought to do. Whether it’s playing the game the right way, not playing down to an opponent or taking a game off for whatever reason it can be infuriating when the Lakers challenge the Basketball Gods. So it was good to see them show up and dominate against the Rockets and not let a bad half stop them from competing against the T’Wolves.
- Dominant Davis. This is the way. It has always been the way. For many years AD himself resisted the idea until no other path made sense. AD at the five, working in the paint and terrorizing teams on both ends. Especially as LeBron ages out and needs a little mroe room to operate having a true center and AD on the floor increasingly makes less sense. Pairing him with a jack-of-all-trades power forward (like JV) makes a lot more sense. Maybe if the other 5 was an elite scorer or defender (like Gobert) one could make a case but the truth is few centers in the league are up to Anthony’s level on defense. Because of his speed and quickness he can compensate for lack of bulk against the Jokic’s and Embiid’s of the league. He can overwhelm smaller players with either size or speed. He can shoot from the outside but honestly the whole team is better when he doesn’t. This is the way. It has always been thus.
- Reaves as a starter works and needs to be the move from here on out. Want Austin to stay? Offer him as much money as you can and tell him he’s the starter going forward barring injury or steep decline. because it’s not only the right move it’s also the smart move. He fits in everywhere and is just good enough at everything to raise the performance of everyone else while not dominating the ball or possessions. There are better ball handlers, rebounding guards, passers and shooters but few who are above average in all those categories like Reaves has proven himself to be. It took awhile for Ham to come around but it looks like he has and here’s hoping there’s no going back. (or cheaping out come summer…TBD on that one)
- Dennis Schroder embracing whatever comes his way. We need you to spot start when D-Lo has a hang nail, Dennis. OK, coach. We need you to come off the bench now, D-Lo is back. OK, coach. Would it be OK if- Stop right there coach, I’m here to support the team in whatever capacity I can. This is what makes Schroder so valuable. He has a slow to load outside shot and isn’t the greatest finisher at the rim but he is a pretty solid on-ball defender, doesn’t turn the ball over too much, and embraces the challenges whatever role is assigned to him.
- Coach Ham’s adjustments are coming around. One game after the absurd hockey line shift substituting we saw that banished. one game of LeBron coming off the bench (one assumes to better align his minutes with finishing the game but still…). Add in playing the right guys in the rotation at the right times and what I consider to be a team-helping injury to Mo Bamba as it’s opened the door for a very effective and efficient Wenyan Gabriel and you can see a playoff rotation forming. That’s one of the goals of the regular season: hone your 10-12 man team down to a solid 9, maybe ten. When Mo comes back one wonders if they’ll slide him into Wenyan’s role, or try to at least. I have my doubts how effective that can be. Wenyan, like Vanderbilt, doesn’t need plays run for him, Bamba does. Or I should say that, unless he just stands out at the three point line he’s not very effective otherwise whereas Gabriel’s hustle and energy provide multiple opportunities for the team. The Bamba vs. Wenyan equation will get interesting come the playoffs, methinks.
- Speaking of which we are so freaking close it’s astounding. Despite all the games frittered away, the lengthy Russell Westbrook experiment that simply was never going to work the team constructed as such and the lengthy absences to LeBron and AD this team has a legit shot at snagging a playoff spot and skipping the playin. This is a goal that should be achieved at almost any cost as it means extra rest and less wear on our best players. It gives the coaches more time to game plan for a specific opponent especially since we pretty much know who we’ll get. Even the 5th seed isn’t wholly out of reach. However, since neither comes with something resembling home court it doesn’t mean much other than playing against Sacramento and Phoenix. I think we match up decently against either team with Sacramento being deeper but that’s not as important in the playoffs. If I had to pick I suppose I’d say I would want to face the Kings in the first round but I like how we match up with the Suns, too.
Just need to keep winning, getting a better in-division and conference record and accumulating as many tie-breakers as possible. It’s the little things that can trip[ us up. Just need to take care of business and we should be OK.
NBA’s tiebreaker rules:
- Tiebreaker No. 1: Win percentage in games played among the tied teams
- Tiebreaker No. 2: Division leader wins tie over non-division leaders
- Tiebreaker No. 3: Division win percentage, if tied teams are in the same division
- Tiebreaker No. 4: Conference win percentage
- Tiebreaker No. 5: Win percentage against conference teams eligible for the playoffs
- Tiebreaker No. 6: Point differential
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