5 Things: Lakers show more fight, still lose to the 76ers

A day later and we know one thing: the roster we got is the roster we’ll live with for the next couple of weeks. Maybe the Don Quixote Calvary will come trotting over the hill in the form of a buyout candidate or two, maybe an overseas NBA vet, but that’s not going to fill LeBron and AD’s shoes. The truth is this team was never meant to go long stretches without LeBron and AD. Lotta shine comes off when the engine and transmission go down.

1. We can kick this team while it’s down all we want but it won’t improve the talent on the roster and it won’t reverse the choices we made at the trade deadline. Those moments are in the past, this is the team we got and the solution either lies within that locker room or it doesn’t exist. We all know this team is built around 2 ailing superstars. That hasn’t changed. So I am going to do my level best not to overly berate the guys on the roster, especially if they are excelling within the parameters of the usual role. So, having said that…
2. Dennis Schroder wants $$$ then he needs to put forth $$$ effort. A 20-25 million dollar player in the NBA doesn’t do just one or two things well. That amount, to me, signifies All Star potential and we have not gotten that from Dennis. As one of the leaders on the team, the guy with the ball in his hands a lot, and because James and Davis are both out, that puts more pressure on Dennis to deliver. His scoring has been up and down but the bigger issue is how inefficient he’s been. Last night was an outlier in that he shot 6-14. The 2-10 effort a couple nights back made that game unwinnable. For the season he’s shooting 43%, 31% from three. I like his defense a lot, his speed and ability to get to the rim and make a play or score are legit. For the price range he sounds like he sees himself in he needs to bring more to the table. When the best players go down and you’re the new #1 we definitely need more and we’re not really getting it from Schroder.
3. Alex Caruso. I’m a big fan of AC but since his concussion he has played terribly. I don’t know if he’s a more than a little banged up but last night most of his errors were of the mental variety. Both he and THT have a tendency to pick the ball up around the logo when they don’t see a quick pass available. AC has to keep that dribble alive, stop making terrible passes (I thought Trezz was going to choke him after that botched lob) and get those hops back. His rim attacks have not been up to his standard and so that’s where I do wonder that if he, like KCP, is dealing with some lingering leg injury. If so…sit dude. Get it right or get surgery if needed. Playing hurt isn’t helping us, obviously, and he’s lost his +/- crown this season. Caruso, when not being a near elite defender and playing well within the system, doesn’t bring the talent to the floor to balance that deficiency out. We need him to execute better on both ends.
4. Markieff Morris. I have to say that during the playoff run I often wondered how ‘Kieff ended up getting waived. This season I now know why. He’s the kind of streaky player where the highs and lows come purely from the mental and engaged aspects of the game. At one point he left an open lane to Tobias Harris to go guard Kuzma’s man…whom Kyle was already guarding…which led to the easiest NBA basket of the game if not season. He made his one 3 and was 2-3 overall in 15 minutes of action but honestly I don’t even know why he plays that much. Once James and Davis return it will be ‘Kieff (or at least I hope it will) who should ride the pine.
5. Treading water has to happen. We cannot afford to plummet in the standings and expect to flip a switch and dominate. While that’s a nice notion it simply isn’t realistic and even getting every single player on the roster healthy won’t fix the issues that have plagued this team all season. We can’t give up 20 turnovers to the best team in the east and expect to win. We can’t miss layups in the paint as both Kuzma and Trezz were doing in the first half and expect to win. We can’t get almost zero production from the center position and expect to win. For crying out loud Caruso out-rebounded Gasol in fewer minutes of game action and it wasn’t even close (6-2). We need another center and I don’t care if it’s the ghost of George Mikan at this point. I am a fan of both Gasol brothers but Pau made the smart choice this year: he’s playing in Spain and having a fine time doing in. Marc is slogging through one of the roughest stretches of his career.

The solution lies within. This team has to dig deep and find their best selves together, the one that executes, doesn’t lose focus and can win a basketball game on a team without LeBron James or Anthony Davis. If they can’t then in a month when we could theoretically get both back (possibly a little sooner in Davis’ case) we could be so far down the standings and playing with such bad mojo it might not matter anymore. If it gets to that and we look like we could fall out of the playoff picture altogether I might be of a mind to get AD and LBJ right…for next season. But we’re not there yet, not even close. Because we’re stopping the losing streak tonight, people! Tonight we are the trap!

Oh and the poetry of Green having the best shooting night of the season ought not to be lost on anyone. Same goes for Howard and his antics and pranks. I’d take either one of ’em right about now. Go Lakers.