5 Things: Lakers Go Big In Win

So far the closing trio of LeBron, Davis and Wood has shown itself to be pretty capable, especially when the other team is also fielding a large selection of players. In a game where D’Angelo Russell had his first big game and Davis played like the beast we need him to be for the full 48 it was the trio of James, Davis and Wood that stood out.

1. AD in beast mode. Since his second half no-show (and the global clamor it created) AD has been engaged on both ends. In all fairness to Davis I challenge anyone to remember a game he didn’t show up on defense for. His issues are getting and staying engaged on offense. We need him to be a constant threat both inside and out or it won’t matter who he’s on the floor with, we’ll be having a hard time scoring the ball. He was stellar in the paint, grabbing boards (something the rest of the tem is struggling with so far) and affecting the other team’s ability to score with blocks and steals.
2. LeBron over the line again. Last night he only played 33 minutes but it came on the heels of a back-to-back game. I’ll admit I was surprised to see him n the lineup and it shows how dedicated he is to putting together a solid season to get the team into good position for the playoffs. Win a lotta games, earn some home court advantage. Sneak in like last year, face an uphill climb the whole way. While he didn’t have a superlative-generating game he was solid across the board. More importantly he looks like he’s moving well, even after a long game the night before.
3. D-Lo busts out. His shot was sparkling as D-Lo was masterful scoring inside and out. Why this level of aggression can’t be an every game thing is the only mystery to me. He led the team in points, assists, made threes ( ona another night most of the team couldn’t find the mark from distance) and was a a consistent threat to score all game. I’d rather he defer to pretty much nobody at this point, D-Lo has all the tools and just needs to use them more often.
4. Reaves and Vincent coming around? They both had probably their best game of the season, which is scary considering the overall results were pedestrian to say the least. Still, it’s encouraging to se what are certain to be 2 key players start to find the groove a little bit.
5. Wood cementing a role and Hayes getting some solid run. Both played a season high in minutes and Wood was on the floor down the stretch to help close the game. Honestly, if I’m Darvin Ham, I look at moving James down to the guard position and putting Vando in while moving Reaves to the bench if the latter continues to struggle and get hunted on post ups and hard rubs. There will be a crunch when it comes to minutes when Vanderbilt returns and his game isn’t likely to show much rust because it’s built pretty much on hustle and defense. Wood and AD are showing some nice synchronicity out there and it allows LeBron to defend a zone on the perimeter rather than bang as much down low. It also allows AD to be more of a free-roamer on D while trusting Wood to rebound and alter shots with his length. While this may not end up happening any time soon (at least not until Reaves is given a nice long leash to return to form), I won’t be surprised if one of the first moves ham makes to alter the rotation is to move Wood from the bench to a starter.

Got a big one tonight against in-house rivals the Clippers. not so much because of the super epic and amazing trade that went down (whee) but rather because the coat-tail riders have been smoking us like cheap reefer for a couple seasons now. Time to light them up.