5 Things: Lakers Lose Spirit and Game

The Lakers had a rough time in Boston. For a team that attacks the paint like we do that translates into 6th in the league in free throws (25.4), Last night, with repeated forays going to the basket that resulted in missed calls (Russell had three in the first half by my count and one where the rim blocked his shot on an up and under) none loomed larger than the missed call on LeBron in the closing seconds of the game. This wasn’t about the disparity of fouls called, Lakers had 23 and Boston had 22, but the timing and nature of why fouls seemed to be called in this game.

1. The disparity issue for LeBron. The top 5 scorers all average double-digit free throws except one, Jayson Tatum (4th leading scorer, 8.8 FTA) who also shoots the most threes out of the top five as they make up nearly half of his overall FGA/game. LeBron comes in at 6th with more FGAs/game than all five players in front of him (23) with only Embiid (3.3) and Giannis (3) shooting fewer thress than the King (7.1) and still shooting fewer free throws than any other scorer among the top ten except Donovan Mitchell and Kyrie Irving (both rely on the jump shot more than James does). This is where LeBron’s on court anguish and post game moodiness stems. He’s attacking the rim and playing in the paint on a level close to what Giannis and Joel do, his three point attempts don’t account for even 1/3 of his overall field goal attempts. Yet he’s being awarded fewer free throws than guys who rely on the three ball and midrange game. It has to be demoralizing.
2. AD had one of his “took myself out of the game” affairs. This was a a bad game by Davis. He couldn’t get the ball because he was being guarded, for the most part, by 6’5″ Malcom Brogdon. What?! This one was also on the coaches for not trying to create some kind of action to get AD the ball in the paint and I give some credit to Boston for the quick doubles they sent at Davis when he got the ball on the perimeter and forced him to pass but there wasn’t much of an adjustment by coach Ham to counter this pretty simple tactic. Poor effort by Davis and poor coaching by Darvin Ham.
3. What the @#$% is Patrick Beverley doing even contesting Jaylen Brown’s layup?! We were up three, he can only make a 2 point shot. They tied the game (and he honestly could have gotten a flagrant for contact to the head) for that stupid and inane play. Then he doubles down on his idiocy by getting technical foul and putting us behind by 1 in overtime BEFORE IT HAD EVEN STARTED. There’s standing up for teammates and there’s acting like a clown. I know it’s these kind of moments and plays that make Patrick Beverley both an amazing teammate and an agonizing one to watch. In many ways he’s like Russ, full gear, plays hard, all game, no matter what. But he wasn’t going to block that layup and he didn’t need to. He didn’t need to disrespect the officials who went on to call touch fouls on Boston drives to put us down big in OT right off the bat. That was a self-created scenario of stupid that did not need to happen.
4. Coach Ham blew by not playing Russell down the stretch in the 4th than throwing him in with three minutes to go in OT. First that is a recipe for hurting a guy. Totally cooled down, on the bench, you’ve shown him he’s not going to play (and that can be the decision, the benching I disagreed with but it’s his call) and then suddenly “We need you Russ!”. What? You want the guy to pull a hamstring? Where I disagreed with keeping Russ on the bench in lieu of both Beverley and Schroder was neither one could generate offense in a meaningful way. Schroder and Beverley both hits shots generated by the pass but neither one could get AD going like Russ has shown he can. Neither one can collapse the defense like Russ can. I will say that Russ missed a key play in OT when he went for a layup he missed and LeBron had gotten open for a corner three. Gotta hit The King in stride on that one.
5. Solid game by Lonnie Walker IV and I also would have gone with him over Troy Brown Jr. especially in OT. It get it, TB is a “better” defender but the man wasn’t hitting shots and you can’t just play on one end of the floor. Lonnie is good enough on D and is better at hitting shots from inside and out and was doing just that. Ride the hot hand, switch out fresh for stagnant (like we got too often in the 4th and OT) and don’t get stuck in a rut with a line up. You lose games that way.

I put this loss as much on coach Ham as the officiating. He got out-coached by Joe M. (who was supposed to be an assistant and was thrust into the head coaching position). I get it that the Celtics generated +19 points at the free throw line, Ham left a lot of defense, effort and hustle on the bench by not playing Wenyan Gabriel at all or Thomas Bryant more than 20 minutes. We haven’t even experimented with a large line up yet despite those being some of our most effective players. Coach Ham has made it pretty clear that, while he values the three point shot, it’s not a core aspect of this team’s identity. I’m not saying he needed to bench anyone and play them in favor of but you need to be open to new ideas in the modern NBA. Sometimes that also means going back to old ones.