5 Things: What Father Time?

I had a feeling this might happen. It was easy to bury the Lakers as dead and gone when LeBron looked mortal just a couple weeks ago. Since he had a string of inefficient, 30+ point games, LeBron decided that he was going to go back to what works: scoring inside. The King did it again last night as he strung together back-to-back 40+ point games which just so happened to coincide with two Laker victories. Coach Ham in his post-game presser made it clear that this is the plan going forward, to ride LeBron until the wheels fall off or help returns.

1. LeBron defying reality. If there’s one reason for the Laker’s front office to pull the trigger on a trade it should be the way LeBron is playing right now. When he’s commanding the paint like he is now there are few things that can deter his scoring. He gets to the line more, as well, which puts even more pressure on the defense and helps his teammates who can get to the rim and create contact like Schroder did last night. The King’s line was both epic and necessary as the Laker bench frittered away a big second half lead without Russ to get them easy baskets. What had almost looked like some potential 4th quarter rest turned into a close affair and LeBron ended up playing a team-high 40 minutes.
2. Thomas Bryant filling in more than ably. He’s been more efficient than he was last night (9-17, no 3 pt. FGA) but it’s work on the glass on both ends that is helping keep the Lakers afloat while AD rests his injured foot. The big man continued to show he has completely recovered from a year of dealing with leg injuries by pulling down a game high 15 rebounds, 5 on the offensive end which proved critical as we needed all of those second chance points to pull this one out. If it were up to me I would experiment quite a bit with AD and Bryant on the floor with LeBron and maybe Russ. His pick and roll game is strong because he can shoot it from the rim out to the three point line. Loving the effort we’re seeing and this guy is playing his way into at least an MLE if not more.
3. Austin Reaves bounce-back game. Reaves had largely struggled on this road trip but found his shot and his game again in Charlotte as he had a very True Grit-style game. 7 assists to one turnover helped reverse an ugly stretch of games for the sophomore and his shot came back in a game that really helped salvage the road trip. While I’d still like to see Reaves start we need games like this from him on a consistent basis wherever he plays in the rotation for us to have a shot most nights, especially with Davis and Lonnie Walker 4 out.
4. Wenyan Gabriel finding his niche. It’s getting harder for me to remember that Wenyan had been all but cast out of the NBA until last season’s AARP team needed youth and energy so desperately Rob scoured the trash heap for anyone who could run fast or jump high. In 11 minutes the young forward posted a team high +15. While that stat can often be a tad misleading I thought that, in this case, it showed how much his backup minutes can swing the tide of a game. We don’t need Wenyan to replicate what LeBron brings when he comes in for the 38 year old legend, we just need him to consistently play hard and with focus. That’s it. He often shares the floor with Russ or Schroder when LBJ sits and the PGs are doing a good job of playing to his skillset and talent and his hustle can help shape a quarter, for good or ill. I like that he’s taking wide-open threes, not forcing his shot or his offense and just playing hard with heart. That alone can be something that helps win some ball games in any sport.
5. The hits just keep on-a-coming. Lonnie Walker IV has been out a couple games, Russell has foot intermittent soreness in his left foot and AD is out indefinitely. No real update on any of them so hoping Russ and Lonnie play in the next one because my guess is we won’t see AD until late January, at best. More likely will be after the trading deadline which will all but be the final obstacle Rob needs to continue his waffling and dithering. In his defense nothing is really happening everywhere as the western conference pile-up has made it possible for everyone who would be interested in a trade holding onto their cards until clarity is achieved and chances for a playin berth fade to almost nothing. With the news that Indy and Myles have opened talks on keeping him the list of potential trade partners just keeps on shrinking. Whether that will doom this team or force them to come together and truly battle for something great remains to be seen.

Home against Miami in what one hopes will be a revenge game and see a winning streak worth mentioning get started. Beat the Heat and we’ll have won three games in a row. If LeBron scores 40 he will be on another list of one as only he and Jordan have scored 40+ in back-to-back games but nobody his age has gone three in a row. It’s likely the kind of effort the Lakers will need to pull out a W. Whether any of this inspired the Laker “Brain Trust” to action isn’t debatable as I don’t think it will. They’ll justify this as treading water successfully and hoping AD’s return is enough to get them over the hump as-is. We’ll have to debate the intelligence of this plan in a few weeks, or at least after the trade deadline, because I don’t see much hope in it now but with The King playing like this anything feels possible.