And so it shall be. No bracket wackiness, no losing to win, just steel on steel and may the best team win. This was my personal preference not only because there are no guarantees but because why wait? We won’t have home court unless the Bulls go all the way and we meet in the NBA Finals, the earlier round gets the most rest between games and we can get to Denver a couple days early so the team can acclimate (I believe they leave today for the Saturday game). Injuries to Butler and Caruso during their respective playin games show that nothing planned is set in stone. So why wait? Bring on the pain.
- Live with Jokic’s greatness. Nobody will stop him, nobody will contain, he will put up great numbers so you have to focus on making it as difficult as possible. AD hasn’t been great against him, Rui can (in theory) hold his own in terms of playing face up D but that leaves us vulnerable to back cuts an quick hitting actions. My potential solution? Have LeBron guard Jokic. LeBron won’t get moved around, has the smarts and hops to affect his jumpers, and it allows Rui to focus on either MPJ or Gordon and AD to focus on being elite at defending the rim. This will give up a lot of mid-range shots and that is by design because you want to get them off the three point line and you don’t want them slicing for easy lay ups. Last season LeBron’s foot didn’t make this a viable strategy so maybe, with slightly better health, he can be the Jokic Affector we need (nobody stopping the dude, don’t use the term, it’s like Ruben Patterson calling himself a Kobe-Stopper which was #$%&ing laughable).
- Neutralize Aaron Gordon. He was a surprise in last season’s playoffs and kept doing the exact same damage against us all season long. the lakers need to respect that he has sacrificed a lot of role to be an elite 4th or 5th option. That may sound like a small thing but I assure you it is not. Gordon has a habit of getting timely offensive rebounds and canning late three pointers, this cannot be allowed to happen. Rui, or whomever ends up on him, needs to respect his shot but keep him off the glass.
- Make life miserable for Jamal Murray. If we can force Murray into tough shots and make him play defense it will help reduce his impact in the 4th quarter. Murray often lies in the weeds until crunch time, content to let the game play out until it’s time to step up and make some big shots out of set actions. Set an aggressive defensive tone on him early and don’t stop, I would even rather send him to the line than get hot from three. Knock him down, hit him on screens, make him work on defense.
- Don’t get out-coached. Just…just don’t. Don’t lose faith in DLo, let him play his way out of his contract and let that fall where it may. Don’t get stuck on what worked for maybe a game and a half last season (Rui on Jokic) and expand your mind on what defending a multi-tool center can look like. Use Hayes, who should end up with 4 fouls and maybe a flagrant almost every game (that’s based on what constitutes a flagrant 1 nowadays), and use him more than maybe you think you should. Same goes for Vincent. I like Dinwiddie but if he’s not scoring Vincent is the better option. Take that step, Coach Ham, I think you got it in you, man.
- The process of beating this team is almost sure to come with trials and pain. So learn the lesson of the last 8 games and execute at the highest level. If we execute well we can hang. I can live with Denver winning off of a H.O.R.S.E. shot or 4. I cannot abide death by 1,000 back door cuts. Clean up the mistakes, don’t get lost in the moment, use that Calm app or whatever LeBron uses to still his thoughts and focus on the game and get this done.
Thanks, Jamie. Great fiver, and thanks for keeping things real. You hit the nail squarely on the head. If I could wrap this fiver like a gift and drop it off at coach Ham’s door, I will do it in a heartbeat. But I am resting right now after returning from a long and exhausting, but a memorable trip to my home country of the Gambia. I miss you all but I am glad the blog is still up and running gazelle. Thank you!!
Glad you are back BB!
Thanks, DJ.
Nice! Hope the vacation was fun!
Yes, it really was. I have seen and enjoyed a lot.
Great fiver, Jamie.
1.Live with Joker’s greatness.
While I opted to have AD guard Joker because I think he needs to prove he can do it for the Lakers to win, I also did consider LeBron guarding Joker. My only concern with that is whom does AD guard. Whomever he does will be a 3-point shooter who will simply go and stand in the corner, effectively neutralizing AD. That’s why I want him on Joker. LeBron on Gordon. Rui on MPJ. I do agree with you that LeBron is going to play defense. In fact, I could see him closing on Murray.
2. Neutralize Aaron Gordon.
We’re both in the same vein that we need to shut this guy down. He’s been killing us. I don’t think Rui can handle his physicality, which is why I want LeBron on him. Going to be interesting to see what Ham ultimately does and whether he adjusts.
3. Make life miserable to Murray.
I put Austin on him and play him one-on-one. If Austin struggles, then bring in Vincent. I would attack Murray on defense every single halfcourt possession. Same with Jokic. Make them work hard on defense, be extremely physical. He averaged 21 ppg, 1 point more than last year. Can’t let him average 32.5 ppg like he did in the finals.
4. Don’t get outcoached.
Darvin’s definitely done a better job with timeouts and solid lineups. I think Rob and others discussed this with the coach and it’s helped. We have a solid 9-man rotation. Just keep AD or Hayes and AD or LeBron on the court for all 48 minutes.
5. Key to winning.
Key is to bury them early and don’t let them come back. They beat us from the 3-point line by 5 threes or 15 points per game in a series where the average loss was just 6 points. Since Feb 1, Lakers no longer are losing 3-point differential by -10 per game. Instead, they lost only by -1.5 per game while winning PIP and FTM by +10 per game. Solution is to have 10 point lead heading into last 5 minutes.