Aloha
Okay Lakerholics, how many of you want Russ to take the most shots on the team? 9 for 21 with his normal half a dozen missed layups. LeBron wasn’t any better 6 for 18 with 6 turnovers. We can not win when our stars play like that.
And Frank didn’t help. Do we not have any plays? 15 seconds down by one and all we get is a forced 30 ft 3 by Melo. Did Frank not think that the Clips wouldn’t blitz LeBron? It’s the same thing every time. LeBron stands out there and dribbles the clock down and we get a bad shot. Down only one why wasn’t Howard in for a rebound? He dominated the glass all night. Then there was putting Russ on Morris. It was not from a switch, he was ASSIGNED to him and Morris backed him in and shot over him. Why wasn’t LeBron on him?
The only reason we were in the game was because we played good defense and Melo, THT and Dwight had good games.
Are we doomed? Probably.
Very good observations as usual, Michael. What really caught my attention in your post was Russ taking 21 shots. For some reason, I didn’t notice that. I thought he was under control throughout the game though he looked tentative for the most part. His aggressiveness wasn’t there and that may help show why he had no turnovers and his assists going down as well. That shot by Morris over Russ is where we lost the game. He should never be assigned to a good shooter like Morris who also have height advantage. What really got me cringing was why we settled for a forced 30 feet 3 point shot when all we need is a simple basket to win. That was a costly play.
Kudos to Reaves. His hustle play in the second quarter against Reggie Jackson was the play that woke up the team and help turn things around. The Clippers were about to runaway for a blowout win before Reaves brought the energy that the team needs. Any loss to the Clippers is always the most painful. Forget about our 2 losses to OKC earlier in the season where we squander blowout leads.
I would like to add that I was very happy with how Dwight, Reaves, THT and Melo played. Ariza just needs to make his 3s and that’s all am asking for.
Great points!