5 Things: Lakers finally down Thunder on third try

Third time was the charm for the Lakers to finally overcome the comeback mentality of the OKC Thunder. Behind a dominant game from LeBron James and solid showings by Avery Bradley and Austin Reaves the Lakers cruised to a comfortable victory. Still, despite the win at this point it would appear Laker fans need a little more than that to start to fully believe in the potential of this team.

1. A dominant and explosive LeBron. It was really nice to see how balanced and aggressive The King was throughout that game. 6 three pointers is a good amount and he kept the defense off-balance by using his step back and bully drives in a variety of ways. This is the version fo LeBron that needs to carry forward, In control, playing in the paint and not settling for lazy shots. I’m hopeful that the version of LeBron we’ve seen is born more of a need to work himself up to true game shape rather than a portend of things to come.
2. Avery Bradley’s rewards Frank’s faith. I am of the opinion that Bradley in the starting line up is just fine. It allows Monk to get going against other bench guys, gives the starters a defender that can have an impact and when he’s on he can get a nice roll like he did against the Thunder. There are certainly younger, more athletic and, likely, better shooters that could be put in the line up over Avery. The thing is there really isn’t anyone that blends his shot-making ability with defense who can also get his own shot or create for others, although that isn’t his main strength.
3. Dwight stepping up. The box score didn’t accurately reflect the big game Dwight had and there will always be the potential for Frank to revert and go back to playing a center next to Davis. I was watching the Backstage Lakers show on Spectrum the other day and it was all about DeAndre Jordan’s contract signing day and first couple practices. There was Rob Pelinka touting DAJ since his Clipper days and saying AD had told him “thank you, less minutes for me at the 5”. Enter Frank Vogel in all his excitement to coach the big man at long last. So, if we are going to have a big play I’d rather it be Dwight and when he does I want him to have a high degree of impact on our D. Dwight checked that box and needs to keep doing that whenever his bell is rung.
4. Three point guys getting up three point shots. Much has been made of our lack of offensive schemes to get Ellington, Monk, Melo and the other “3 and…?” guys shots in the flow. Well, for one game, the Lakers solved that riddle pretty darn well: Melo 1-6 three pointers, Ellington 3-9, and Monk 1-6. While those guys may not have made the looks seeing 6+ attempts shows us that the team is at least trying to get these guys shots in the offense. A few more makes and this game would have been even more of a blowout. While the overall volume of attempts (42) is a tad high for my tastes (I’d rather see a few more rim runs and the 3 point FGA around 35-40, tops) it’s still a positive to see the right guys taking their shots.
5. THT doing a little bit of everything. I’m not on the “Talen is a superstar in the making!” train but rather “let’s hope he can contribute consistently this year!” train. That’s exactly what he did last night. While no single stat jumps out at you (11 points, 3 boards, 2 assists and a steal) he got that very efficiently and controlled. That’s what we need from him this season. In some ways THT is the new Kuzma: the young Laker on a movable contract with some good and bad things about his game. If Horton-Tucker can focus on filling in the gaps he’ll be just fine on this team, we don’t need him to be superstar #4.

Shout out to Auston Reaves who had a good game in front of his home town crew. Also another positive outing in garbage time for Kent Bazemore in which he made the only shot he took. If that shot can come back we could certainly use his defense. Need to string some wins together to show everyone, myself included, that this team can be a force.