5 Things: Lakers Win

It was going to happen eventually. At some point the Lakers were going to win…we hoped. Turns out it was against a team they had played days earlier in the Denver Nuggets. We had some different looks for the Joker, made shots like you gotta do, and played with energy, focus and poise throughout. You could even call this a blueprint game, something to build off of.

1. Westbrook off the bench and it’s working. Not gonna lie, thought theis wouldn’t happen for another 10-15 games. Good to see that coach Ham has the locker room enough to make this happen with the kind of impact. It’s also a credit to Westbrook to putting the team before his desires. In the end this isn’t about any single player, coach or person. Team sports need team buy-in and team execution and we saw that all on display last night. Russ might be cantankerous with the media, and honestly why shouldn’t he be? I rarely read about teammates not getting along with Russ. Except KD. Go figure on that one… Anyhow, game ball goes to both coach and player for making this possible quicker than I thought possible. Russ had great impact off the bench, closed the game out with a stellar defensive play and the Lakers are going to need a lot more of the same.
2. AD playing toughish. When he grabbed his back after that tip in I thought he would be out for a week. He stayed in, kept making plays, and sounded like a guy who will at least try to play on Wednesday. Davis and his much maligned toughness and stamina changed that narrative a bit, if only for one night, and helped keep the Lakers in the game in which he took zero three pointers. At this point I’ll take what I can get. If he doesn’t trust his shot, I don’t want him shooting. We got a whole season to work that out in the lab…off the court…where the game ain’t on the line. We know he can take them and make them, he just needs to get that back into his brain. For now I’ll take dominant low post threat AD and the defense that comes with it. 15 big rebounds, 6 offensive and the last one loomed large indeed. At this point it’s hard to worry about when, or if, we’ll ever see Bubble AD again. My guess is not too soon and we should all accept that this is the player he is now. If the other one Hyde’s back in at some point, awesome.
3. Reaves finding some kind of aggression. It must be easy to choose the backseat when you look across the floor at LeBron James, Anthony Davis or Russell Westbrook. To just sort of believe they’ll shoot the shot. This team doesn’t need another guy trying to find AD, LBJ or Russ. This team needs guys that shoot the shot off their passes without over-think or under-reacting. Shoot. The. Dang. Shot. Reaves has been too tentative in a lot of games this season. He’s always trying hard, which is wonderful. He’s got a high hoops IQ, which is great. He’s got some solid NBA skills that compliment the team, which we’ve all seen. What he’s not is aggressive. In the first half he was basically a no-show. With Kendrick Nunn looking more like trade fodder than a guy with a role on this team the last 4 games we need Austin Reaves to up his aggression. Let open shots fly, take it to the hole when they close out and take it hard. Make the extra pass if tyhe play requires it but chances are you ARE the recipient of that extra pass so do your job. Bottle last night’s game and bring it back to the arena most nights.
4. Kendrick Nunn’s defense or lack thereof. With the rep of a gunner…but one who could at least contribute on D, I was hoping for more from the Kendrick Nunn “I’m back!” tour. I don’t know if this is rust getting knocked off, if he’s always been this streaky (and not in a Nick Young “it’s fun to watch” way but in a painful “oh Trevor Ariza is on this team?” way) or what but Nunn looked like he got benched pretty quickly last night. Only Damien Jones (2) played fewer minutes than Nunn’s 3. He made his only three. We need him to play or we need to find him a new home. We can’t have a guy who takes up that much cap space fall into the ‘DNP-coaches decision’ pile. Nunn and Patrick Beverley are starting to creep up to Russ in terms of the trade I see happening first. You could trade Nunn and Pat Bev for a decent player…along with one of our FRPs. Beverley and Nunn are both expiring deals totally $18.25 mil. Enough for Buddy or Myles. Enough for a lot of guys that could help this squad in any number of ways. Both are struggling here but could be swapped to a team looking to jettison a contract they don’t value but could help us. Don’t be surprised if these guys get traded before Westbrook does.
5. Lonnie Walker’s efficiency. I like that he attacks like he does, I just want him to be better at it. Walker has been fitting in pretty well. Do i think he should have been one of the first deals we made? Not really but a lot of the guys I was hoping we could sign signed for more elsewhere. Of course, LW$ being a of the Klutch Kabal only made it more galling on a personal level since I feel like Rob is basically money laundering for Klutch at this point. Regardless, LW4 has been showing up on both ends and has been one of the more consistent performers on this team so far.

We’re nowhere near out of the woods but a few other teams in front of us are stumbling out of the gates, too. Opens it up a little more for us getting that first win. Now we need to string some together, start by winning out the last 3 games of the home stand. Congrats to George Mikan and his family for the jersey retirement and thanks to “Big Game” James Worthy for presenting. You know what would have happened if it were Rob or Jeannie.