5 Things: No Margin for Error

The upstart Utah Jazz came into town on their “Go Ahead and Count Us Out” tour and promptly showed the league exactly why we should not count them out. Again. If you’re still surprised at the Jazz start or the Lakers’ record, don’t be. These are two perfect storms colliding in totally different ways. One is a storm of fresh starts and new opportunities for guys who have been relegated to something lesser, the other a storm of age, expectations and desperation. I’ll let you decide which is which. One thing became crystal clear last night: this Laker team needs to leave no room for error and become perfect margin walkers.

1. LeBron vs. Father Time: Round 8. Victor? Father Time. LeBron didn’t make a three for the 2nd straight game. Looked, for the most part, uninterested in playing defense or forcing the action into the paint. He also tweaked the ankle of his already injured left foot all while playing 34 minutes. It’s not this his jumper is fading late as he works his way back into shape it’s that it’s not there at all, yet. This version of LeBron spells nothing but doom. Trade anyone you like, it won’t fix issues stemming from the King’s lack of explosiveness. He went to his bully hall game, eventually, but found the defense loaded. One wrinkle I would have liked to see was re-inserting Matt Ryan at some point in the second half. He hit a three, had one wiped off by a bad call on LeBron and might have helped unclog the paint more than Troy Brown Jr. or Patrick Beverley (more on him later). At any rate it won’t really matter if threat of LeBron from three doesn’t exist. Which doesn’t currently exist.
2. The Incredible Vanishing AD. 20 points and inspired play in the first half. I would be flummoxed if asked how he scored his last two points. Free throws? Outback? Layup? Couldn’t tell you because in the second half AD left his game and energy in the locker room. This game was one for both the diehard AD supporters and the fine with AD basically crowd. You got both versions! I’m one game! Conveniently split up by halves. In his defense, when they went big we should have gone big and matched up better because we don’t really have an effective small ball line up. Not will we anytime soon. Jones could have helped keep Kessler and the Jazz off the offensive glass as a lot of those rebounds were just a guy playing big.
3. Mr. MVP. You heard, I heard and I personally loved it. I have never once bought into the idea that the issues with the Lakers start and end with Russ. The man plays hard as f$&@. He’s embraced a role he likely despises. sTA-er-…Crypto….dot com…arena showered him (and not LeBron or AD) with MVP chants. He deserves that. Why? Because he’s the best player the Lakers have right now. Go ahead and read that again if you have to but it’s true. He’s the one applying pressure, being coachabke, and showing up with purpose. AD took the entire 2nd half off, LeBron is either still working his way into game shape r old. Russ is taking a ragtag group of nobodies and has-been an and going in 25-14 runs, getting the crowd pumped and doing his job. His entire vibe is night and day from last season. I love it.
4. Patrick Beverly is gun shy. You can’t pass up open shots and you can’t just be a cheerleader or stop Matt Ryan from celebrating the biggest shot of his life. We need him to apply some kind of pressure on the defense and he seems incapable or unwilling to do so. At this point I expect him to lose his starting job the second Schroder is cleared to play because we sorely lack someone other than Russ and (when he chooses to) LeBron collapsing the defense. Pat needs to up his aggression. Honestly, that was a weird thing to type but I think it’s true.
5. When the other team gets 20 more field goal attempts and you walloped them in free throws made and taken you know who was playing harder. The free throws were legit, Utah forces the whistle with aggressive play in both ends for a full 48. The Lakers play “The Ref” game and aren’t focused on getting back, boxing out, or running guys off the three point line. This was a truly winnable game had LeBron had more of an impact, AD showed up in the second half or anyone took on the task of boxing out or denying threes. Nobody did, that’s why we’re 2-6 instead of a momentum building 3-5. Still, this team has shown me something on this homestand. I just question that it’s enough.
   
   There are a lot of challenges this season. Must first year coaches are like Will Hardy, given rebuilding projects with extremely low expectations except to see a lottery ball with the number 1 on it. Ham has a legendary franchise with unrealistic expectations and the tools are suspect. One night Russ is off, AD is in and out both physically and mentally, and James is old. The rest of the roster are 10-15 bench players on a lot of teams. This was always going to be a challenge. Good thing all parties involved came in with eyes wide open.