5 THINGS

This team isn’t going to make it easy, it would seem. Even when we get a big lead against a team we should manhandle we seem determined to let them back into the game. Whether it be sloppy execution, poor D, or a lackadaisical attitude in general this incarnation of Laker basketball lacks a killer instinct. It may come back to bite them but there’s fading hope it will change. After all, you are what you is.

1. Lotta donuts. Avery Bradley and Melo both put up scoring zeroes. Both added something to the box score but starters need to bring more and Melo is our best scorer off the bench. Against the woebegone Pistons who struggle nightly to score 100 points it ended up not resulting in a loss, however for a team that could use an easy win or three it only added to the rep of a team with banner aspirations playing down to inferior opponents. It wouldn’t hurt for us to be able to rest our star players in the 4th, either, as LeBron’s re-aggravated abdominal strain shows. It’d be nice to beat up on teams we should beat up on.
2. Lakers three point shooting remains an issue. The guy taking the most is the guy we want attacking the basket (LeBron) and the guys we brought in are either getting a low amount of shots and/or missing them in bunches. Last night saw the following players go 0-fer from three: Bradley, Melo, and Monk. Key reserves Ellington (1-3) and THT (1-4) made one but this isn’t a recipe for continued success against most teams in the NBA. AD has been so bad (20.5% for the season after last night, around 16% prior to) he’s taking more shots in the paint than ever. Again, no easy answer presents itself as the issue seems to be that LeBron would rather take threes than create them for guys like Ellington, Monk and so on. In some ways that makes sense since LeBron is one of three guys whom most of our cap is dedicated to. In reality I think the team would function better if all the tools were used to the best of their capabilities. Hopefully this works itself out over the course of the season but, so far, there isn’t a lot of evidence to support that notion.
3. Credit that Detroit Piston free throw defense. I kid, but LeBron and Russ need to be better. LeBron and Russ missed key free throws in the triple overtime loss to the Kings, and again missed key free throws down the stretch that could have helped us pull away earlier. We breathe life into teams in so many ways we have to look to cut down in some area or another and free throws seem the likeliest place to start. It’s nice we’re getting to the line more, but we need to make them for it to matter.
4. Small line ups score a little better, get killed on the boards. As Frank continues what one now has to assume will be a mostly season-long experiment we saw what was the only DeAndre Jordan at center line up. other than DAJ it was AD and LeBron manning the center position. In his 21 minutes Jordan managed only 6 rebounds and as a team we got killed on the boards 53-42 with the Pistons grabbing 12 offensive rebounds. This is unsustainable, especially against teams with true centers and a crash the glass mentality. We don’t box out, we don’t jump for rebounds, we simply stand there and hope. My biggest issue with LeBron at center with a bunch of guards isn’t the defense it’s the rebounding. Russ can’t do it all, somebody has to figure out what the phrase “put a body on him” means and box the hell out. Getting killed on the glass has become yet another constant issue in just about every game we play. More oxygen for inferior teams.
5. The ball was moving though! One super positive in my opinion was the 32 assists and the fact that all three superstars had solid and efficient games. This wasn’t a win to celebrate by any means, we should have beaten Detroit even more than we did. But when something goes right it starts to feel like you have to mention it since so little has thus far. So, in the spirit of that, the ball movement was exceptional last night. Also, Russ, LeBron and AD all had solid games without getting in one another’s way. So, if this si something sustainable and can be built upon I’ll take it.

The good thing is that rest of the west is kind of a mess, too. We’re lucky that Denver is this season’s walking wounded team, that Portland didn’t find new fire under Chauncy Billups and that teams slated to be rebuilding teams have, for the most part, played like that. We’re 6th in the west and we need to solidify that spot and look to push our way past the Clippers in the coming games. If we can fight our way into a top 4 seed by the All Star break and stabilize the ship I feel like we’ll be alright. If we keep up with this up and down play, stay around .500 we’re just as likely to have to go the play-in route, again. Nobody wants that.

The theme of the season is blowing big leads to inferior teams and/or giving up monster quarters to any and all comers. Team Oxygen gave the reeling Kings some life who are now coached by Alvin Gentry after a poor start to the season got Luke Walton fired. The Lakers in the 3 OT’s ran a nascent offense through LeBron which resulted in a lot of lazy threes, poorly executed plays and our now traditional defensive lapses. A win that got away in a season full of them.

1. Simple plays are easy to defend. When the Lakers start running their “LeBron dribbles for 19 seconds and jacks up a step back” offense we are a ridiculously easy team to defend. Star power? Wasted. Other 2 superstars? Unused. Motion or basketball plays? Nonexistent. It allows the defense to get set, makes it harder for us to rebound and is just plain bad basketball. When LeBron makes the shot we all go ‘yay’ but it doesn’t have to be this way.
2. 5 guys played almost an hour of basketball. I never understand when coaches let the guys who closed the 4th just keep on playing. And playing. And playing, as was the case last night. Get some guys a quick rest, change the look of the lineup, anything to get a fresh approach to winning the game. Looking at the box score it was team AARO and Monk who accumulated a ton of minutes. Bit a recipe for long term success.
3. AD has a terrible game shooting the ball. This team doesn’t work well if AD isn’t a force inside or lets himself be relegated to outside jump shot guy. We need him to score inside to open up looks for our three point specialists and open up driving chances for Russ and LBJ. Need AD to regain the form he showed when LeBron was out.
4. Russ finding his way. He’s racking up triple doubles, he was our most efficient player in the floor last night and we need him to have the ball in his hands more because Russ uses the team more often than LeBron. He gets guys moving, involves AD in pick and roll action. LeBron has a tendency to dominate late-game possessions and we need to better diversify.
5. Excuses have run out. We’re 21 games in. This team is playing the same whether LBJ, AD, Melo or whomever is on the floor. We need our younger guys to start stepping up which both requires them to succeed and for the older guys to step aside at times. Frank has the team’s ear on defense…kinda…but we need a more diverse offensive attack to close out quarters, halves and games. We’re a middle of the pack team right now, at best. That’s pathetic considering the talent level. There’s no way Jeannie and Co. can be happy with the results thus far and so the questions will begin. Frank needs to show them something or he won’t last the season. Offhand I can’t think of a coach that was fired a season removed from winning a title and yet here we are.

Too little, too late. After digging themselves into a 25 point hole the Lakers came all the way back to tie the game in the 4th quarter only to see it ultimately slip away. Once our again our 4th quarter execution looked more frenzied than focused and our defense wasn’t able to get the job done early. All in all the loss to the Knicks guaranteed that the road trip will be one with a losing record and tonight the Lakers are trying to avoid going 1-4 on the 5 game roadie.

1. If only we were fixing holes and cracks but it really feels like this team is treading water on a nightly basis. The injuries, new personnel, new offensive system and the new roles for AD and LBJ are all tough orders in the shortened training camp era and for Frank to have seamlessly implemented and integrated all those things off the bat would have been amazing. I’d settle for just one of those things above working and, really, none of them are, yet. Hard to see how it gets better other than from within. Had we changed LeBron and AD’s roles alone, kept most of the roster, that feels like it would have been an easy integration for the core squad from last season to adapt to. However we instead brought in 11 new faces, one a ball dominant guard, so that added a wrinkle to everything in that while AD and LBJ were learning their new roles at their new positions they also have to learn how to get the most out of an entirely new roster. Adding Russ in and of itself wouldn’t have been such a slog but then Frank also added a new offense so not only are Russ, AD and LeBron adjusting to one another, new roles, new teammates they’re also learning a new way to score. Then came the injuries. While not an excuse, it feels like the Lakers chose the most difficult path to get back to title contention they possibly could have.
2. That first quarter… The one thing this team does consistently is give up big quarters to, well, just about any team. Sometimes it’s the 3rd, it’s also happened in the 4th, last night happened to be to open the game. Regardless, no matter the opponent, the Lakers have a rep already of giving up 30+ point quarters and they usually come when we can’t throw it in the ocean. I don’t know what to say about this anymore, we seem to lose our focus and execution for a solid 10-15 minutes/game. If this trend continues it will be the defining characteristic to this Laker team as it makes it almost impossible to find a way to win consistently if you’re in the habit of giving up 1 monster quarter/game.
3. THT needs to find something that works consistently. We got a donut from THT last night and, if he’s going to be the starter and we’re going to see less of Kent Bazemore who is the better defender, he needs to bring a lot more on both ends. He was totally ineffective and had one of his most unproductive outings to date as he missed every shot he took, didn’t get to the line, and led the team with a -18 +/-. While some of that are the lineups he plays with but, as a starter, he needs to be a lot more consistent.
4. Lakers 3 point shooting woes continue. Other than Westbrook (3-6) and AD (1-2) the Lakers struggled mightily from three. It wasn’t like the Knicks shut us down, we just missed shots and a decent number of those came in the final five minutes of the game when any kind of score would have helped but empty possessions guaranteed the loss. I get it, the modern NBA is infatuated with the three point shot, 3 points is worth more than 2, and so on. the name of the game is still who ash the most points on the board, regardless of where they came from. When you have a player like AD and Russ it’s astounding to me we don’t run late-game offense through them more adeptly. Our late-game offense has consisted far too much of the laziest shot in basketball: the early shot clock three. Had we gotten a bucket or two from down low, run something through AD on the block I think we would have generated much higher quality shot attempts. For the Lakers I do not believe the answer lies solely in more, or volume, but in being diligent in ensuring the quality of the three point shot is high. That means doing more than passing the ball once or twice around the horn and jacking it up. That’s lazy basketball, not winning basketball.
5. Hey, we’re valuing the ball, though! Take away that first quarter and the Lakers would have had fewer than 10 turnovers last night. You can’t do that, though, and so we still ended up with a very manageable 12. That, beyond anything else, was what helped us claw our back into this game. That and a tighter defensive execution scheme in regards to our zone. Keeping turnovers low with Russ (2nd in the league currently in terms of turnovers/game) and LeBron (averages a round 5/game for his career) is a key to us winning consistently. Happy to see that the team is trying to at least create shots every time down and not coughing it up. Clean up a few more of those and we’re on our way in terms of getting the most out of time with the rock.

The bets we can hope is to come home a .500 team 20 games into the season. The trends are plain for all to see: play down to opponents, give up one monster quarter/game, lack of focus or intensity overall, especially on defense. LeBron coming back or trading for player X might help a little but we’re still a couple weeks away from even being able to trade guys we signed over the summer. Plus, THT has been pretty inconsistent thus far and I have a hard time seeing a team giving up an impact player for a project at his price. Lakers need to find the solution from within and the sooner the better.

Almost 17 years to the day was the infamous Malice at the Palace the Lakers and Pistons got together for an impromptu, unscheduled, old-timey re-enactment. While last night didn’t turn into a “one player against the world” kind of thing it was, by far, the most intense on-court brawl in a long time. At the time the Lakers were down and sinking fast. The Pistons came out after the scrum and scored the first bucket for a 17 point lead. Everything started to change after that and hopefully it’s a change for the better and on a permanent basis.

1. The LeBron James question. Both in the national media and on our Gerald Glassford’s Lakers Fast Break podcast the question has been raised: is Father Tim finally sinking it’s claws into LeBron James. The question is legit as James has been dealing with an abdominal strain that took an extended amount of time off the court to heal, and even when he did play nearly half his shots were from three point land. I actually thought the beginning of the Pistons game showed us that the true LeBron remains. While he was getting hit and slapped on a bunch of his drives he was more balanced in his shot repertoire. 1-3 from three but also three shots in the paint with one midrange step back that he drilled. I am of the opinion that James still has something in the tank and that he’s easing his way into the regular season. This is not only common for players his age who generally play more of a role than lead but it’s been LeBron’s traditional approach for some seasons now. The King will be fine if he can avoid contact injuries and get time on the court with the team. Now, he may end up getting a suspension as a result of his retaliation but that’s up to the League office.
2. Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook found a way. It sure wasn’t pretty but wrestling with a pig never is. Let’s be honest, Detroit’s plan was to junk up the game from the start and the number of free throws shot, the fight that added a 15 minute delay, and the overall feel of the game. Detroit has never been known to field a finesse team, it’s just not in the state of Michigan’s DNA. Piston teams are hard-driving, gritty and play in your grill. It’s why players like Bill Laimbeer and “Big” Ben Wallace are revered there to the degree they are. It took the best quarter of Russ as a Laker and a return to form for AD to pull this one out. Davis swatted 5 shots, Russ started attacking with the purpose to score and not figure it out in mid air. They both played like the superstars they are and we need them to be to have a shot. Davis shot 4-4 in the final frame and was stellar on defense overall. Russ carried the load offensively shaking loose for 15 points. Both guys found each other repeatedly for baskets down the stretch. This is how they have to play all the time, every game. With that intensity and fervor.
3. Carmelo shaking off his road woes. it’s no secret that Melo has mostly struggled on the road. Outside of his game against Boston where he wasn’t much involved but shot well, his road splits have been awful. Last night he came up huge on both ends in the 4th quarter with some aggressive close outs, his shooting and his overall presence which is still one of elite NBA pedigree. While he may not be the Melo of old, he has a ton left in the tank and the young guys react to that in a positive way. Melo is going to be a big part of this team’s successes and it’s been a thrill to watch. I’ve always loved me some Carmelo.
4. Dwight Howard’s monster 13 minutes. We lose this game without Dwight. He was the only one who, early on, rose to the level of physicality that Detroit was playing with. He wasn’t part of an effective unit but he played with the kind of focus and intensity this game required when he was out there. Oh, and he hit 2 threes within the flow of the offense. One to close out the first half as time expired. Clutch.
5. The gritty stats. While we can once again point to a plethora of first half issues defensively we still found a way to win. We outrebounded Detroit by a decent margin (51-39), and did a great job on the offensive glass with 12 boards there (4 of those by DAJ who got the start). Kept the turnovers low when they had crept up early, our defense in the 4th quarter is something I’d like to bottle and save for every single game from here on out and, in general, we found the right kind of hustle this team needs to play with. They stopped relying on talent, stopped begging the refs to bail them out and simply played harder down the stretch for a potentially season-saving and job-saving win. Had we lost (and should we lose either of the next 2 games on the schedule) this will be a losing road trip and ensure we come back no better than .500. Win these next 2 games and everything starts to look a little better: 11-9 with a .500 road record. While not elite, that works for a team that is still figuring out a lot of different things on the fly and waiting for key guys to get back.

The main thing for the Lakers is to avoid the play in which means a top 6 seeding. 4 or higher would be nice but it’s already looking like 1-3 are going to go to Golden State, Phoenix and Utah in some order or another. That means we have to knock one of Dallas, Denver or the Clippers out of the top 6. With 64 games left that seems doable. Who knows with some injury luck on our end and something unexpected happening to one of those 6 teams there is still more than enough time in the season to make a serious move up the standings. I think the team has enough as-is to compete for the title. If we do make a move it feels like this team plays better with a traditional big man, at least to start halves and play spot minutes leading up to crunch time so I would hope that we’d acquire a player to fill that role rather than split it up between Dwight and DAJ. Heck, one potential solution in my mind is to actually try starting Dwight and letting him play 20+ MPG and DAJ is there in case of foul trouble. Super Man has shown he can hit the three, after all.

An absolutely uninspiring effort against the team one would think the Lakers would want to beat no matter the situation, record or personnel. Maybe the Boston/Laker rivalry is dead and, if so, another thing of magic and majesty has passed from the planet’s surface. Can’t be a rival when you only show up for half the battle. That’s minion level status, at best.

1. Great first quarter, huh? The Lakers showed up like a team that desperately wants to turn the page in a horror novel where the horror sort of just…never…ends. The offense was grooving, we forced 7 turnovers, LeBron was back, Russ was greasing the engine and we we’re defen-well, not quite. That first quarter defense, which gave up 30 points, was about as good as it was going to get it turns out as the Lakers gave an equal amount or more points for the rest of the game. There is an issue on defense which can’t just be explained away by the loss of Alex Caruso. That issue is a lack of several things: execution, attention to detail, heart, and investment.
2. The Lakers new hit single should be called 3rd Quarter Blues. But we really didn’t need the 4th quarter encore of “I’ve Already Left the Building”. It’s been an issue all season. The halftime refreshments need to be changed, whichever parent is bringing the orange slices and Gatorade needs to get booted over to hauling the balls and setting up the nets because we come out of the locker room like we’ll all look on Thanksgiving after turkey. I’m assuming the Lakers don’t serve the team turkey dinner at the half, of course. I really don’t know what to say about this. The only people in the room are the team and coaches and whatever support staff is there to tape up this or patch up that. It’s such a consistent occurrence that it has to be mentioned and is a major concern. Until we can figure out how to come out of the half with some level of intensity we’re going to have an uphill climb in most games.
3. The odd refereeing continues. It’s obviously bothering the entire team as they spend more time talking to the refs about this or that than with each other about blown coverages and missed assignments. Foul calls are, in my opinion, a byproduct of intensity. We lack it, which is astounding when one considers that we have Russell Westbrook on the team. But, at this point, it seems pretty obvious to me that there is a lack of fire under the team. If it’s a symptom of too many guys on minimum deals, something that will even out over time, or simply the way the game is now being called I don’t know but a blow to the head should be a foul no matter the score, no matter what. AD took a head hit last game, LeBron in this one and Russ has been knocked down more than I’ve ever seen him and barely gets to the line. Now…would we win just because of more free throw attempts? No guarantee on that one as the Lakers are struggling against the free throw line defense teams are throwing at them but I think a few more calls going our way would at least help us stay focused on the task at hand.
4. The Lakers rebounding struggles continue. Because we’re a long and not tall team we need to team rebound with intent. We’re not doing that very well. I can understand why Davis prefers to play the 4. He gets to weak side block shots and hunt guys down when they’re not focused on him. He gets a big lug to box out and set screens. In short, someone to do the yeoman’s work in the paint. AD has the skillset, and oftentimes the mentality, of a guard. Which is what makes him both so dangerous and also what makes this current experiment with him playing the majority of his minutes at the 5 such a quandary. Not one Laker managed more than 7 rebounds and, as a team, we were out rebounded 18 (51-33). Like defense, rebounding is a heart/hustle stat. This team plays fast, but not controlled. This team has heart but usually it only shows up for a half or so. It’s getting sickening to watch, quite frankly. The fans deserve better and so does the team. This team should be better than this.
5. 8-9. I remember when the Heat hit that 9-8 record in year 1 and Bosh and Wade told LeBron to just be LeBron, they’d fit in around him. From there on out it worked and it worked to the tune of 2 NBA titles. Something like that has to happen here only I have no idea what that looks like. It’s hard for Russ to find his own groove when Frank takes he and LeBron out at the same time. It’s neither of the ball-dominant player’s team, it’s more AD’s now than anyone else’s as he’s the youngest and has the most impact game to game, so far. He may not want it but that torch is coming his way and it feels like it’s coming his way right now. Maybe that’s the issue, that we’re a LeBron James team in Anthony Davis’ body while Russ watches on in horror like a version of Freaky Friday gone horribly wrong. We’re on the south side of that 9-8 mark, had we won tonight it could have been now. As it is the best we can hope for is to see 9-9 after the next game and not 8-10. If this team comes back from the road trip not having won a single game I think we’ll start to hear some rumblings followed by the dreaded vote of managerial confidence in regards to coach Vogel’s job.

Never in a million years would I have imagined that I would write that last sentence. Think of it…Luke Walton might have more job security than Vogel does right now. At the very least there probably isn’t much difference between the heat under either seat. But this team isn’t defending and they’re not outscoring teams with raw firepower. There is no easy fix, it would appear. Time? Sure, there’s still some time to get it figured out but come the end of the roadie we’ll be 20 games in with 62 left. We’re in 9th place in the western conference right now. A Laker team that can put up 109+ ppg should have a better record if only they could figure out how to play defense for more than a quarter or two. If they can’t then it makes Vogel’s skillset an even larger issue as he is known to be a defense-first guy. At any rate, the Lakers are now fast running out of excuses: AD is playing the 5, we’re running shooters out there in the sets that they evidently prefer, we got all three superstars back and THT.

We’re still getting run out of the building.

Something’s got to give.

Go Lakers.

(personal note for all the GHE/GHF chit chat – I would much rather be writing about how great the team is playing and how the playoffs are going to be fun…well…the team ain’t obliging, people, the team ain’t obliging)