5 THINGS

The Lakers ended their longest losing streak of the season in convincing fashion against the rebuilding Rockets who still made a game of it up until the closing moments when some inspired execution sealed the win for LA. Driving the Laker train to victory were the usual cast of accomplished NBA vets on the roster and the young player who has best distinguished himself this season, one Malik Monk. Defense was borderline non-existent but, for at least one night, we scored the ball well enough to win.

1. LeBron as the starting big man. For the first time in his entire basketball life (according to his own personal recollections) LeBron James started a basketball game at the center position. Against the all-small-ball-all-the-time Rockets it worked brilliantly. His triple-eleven (11 FG’s made, 11 rebounds and 11 assists) resulted in 32 points, a steal and a block along with a much needed win. As basically a de facto point center for much of the game LeBron really did it all. He and Russ teamed for 4 big offensive rebounds, he only turned the ball over 3 times and had a great two-man game working with Westbrook to close out the game for the win. There will be matchups LeBron at center doesn’t make much sense but there will also be matchups where it makes a lotta sense to put LeBron at the 5 and let the game flow around him like it did last night. His triple-double with a fellow teammate was the first since he and Lonzo Ball did it prior to the AD trade.
2. Russell Westbrook’s big game. Russ had a really solid efficient and impactful game, as well. He managed one more rebound than LeBron to, again, lead both teams in rebounding for a second straight game. He and LeBron greatly benefitted from the first on-court practice the team had on Monday as he picked his spots better, developed a powerful two-man vibe with The King and was his energetic best. The way Russ plays the game of basketball is not without risk, but the reward can be quite high. Yes, he had 7 turnovers. Between he and LeBron we need them to stay at 10 combined TO’s which was where they ended up. I am of the opinion the Lakers can win with Russ et al on the roster. For m it’s still a question of when and not if.
3. The ever-shrinking role of THT. Things are not good over at the THT Fan Club HQ. His shot has left him, his defense remains spotty and for the most part he hasn’t lived up to his deal he inked over the summer. While being a trade piece of literally every single Laker trade idea floated THT’s overall quality of play has steadily declined over the course of the season. He and journeyman and freshly arrived Stanley Johnson were the only Lakers to post a negative +/- (granted only minus 2 for Talen) and he picked up 5 quick fouls which meant he never really found any kind of groove. I want to believe in Horton-Tucker but there’s a lot of things you just can’t fix on one summer. If I’m his agent I would encourage THT to focus on defense, defense, defense. The league is full of guys who score in one fashion or another but rugged defenders that can get to the rim are in short supply. THT too often shies away from contact as he tries to loop the ball around shot blockers with his long arms rather than take it up strong. I’m sure that worked well enough coming up to the NBA level but it’s not a great recipe for success at the highest level. While I don’t see him as a bust, he’s not a future star, either. He isn’t really a needle-mover, yet and may never be. His deal is manageable which is why a trade for another ill-fitting player on another team seems the most likely outcome of a THT trade. He’s not the guy you blow up a team for, just like Kuzma before him.
4. Carmelo as the back up center? Hey, if it works for LeBron it should work fir a guy who he came into the league with, right? Well, for one night, it did. Seeing his majority of minutes come at positions he used to balk at playing (the 4 and 5) Melo came up big in the scoring department and grabbed 9 rebounds of his own and blocking 2 shots. We need Melo to show up like this a little more often as his play play has been pretty uneven over the last couple weeks. His scoring has come in spurts and we need to find someone other than Malik Monk who can get buckets off the bench consistently.
5. Malik Monk distinguishing himself. It’s going to be hard to keep this dude on the roster. Any trade scenario one might care to cook up should include Monk as the sweetener and THT as the ballast because that’s the reality thus far. Monk had a stellar game in a starting role (one I am of the opinion he should given full time) and paired well with very Bradley defensively in the back court to start the game. He was aggressive when we needed it getting to the line 8 times and blocking 2 shots of his own. While Monk has been one of the better young Lakers thus far it’s also easy to see him having to be included in a trade based solely on the small raise (20% of his vet minimum deal he signed or an MLE) we can offer him this summer. It’s hard to see him choosing the Lakers over more money, you only get so many chances to snag a decent contract as a role-player.

Another game tonight against Memphis with an early start time. The Grizzlies are rolling and have joined the 20+ win club along with the Jazz, Suns and Warriors. We need to bring the same execution and smart basketball we displayed late in the game last night if we want to win. Here’s hoping we can start another streak in the opposite direction (by that I mean a winning streak of any kind). Go Lakers.

O. For 0-fer, old and over the hill. That describes the majority of the Lakers roster at this point. Only one man seems capable of continuing to defy Father Time and that would be one LeBron James. The King continued to pour in points, give forth supreme effort and all in a loss. Another Christmas day game, another loss this one to the equally short handed Nets. Hopefully Santa treated the rest of your holidays with more grace.

1. All hail The King. There aren’t enough superlatives.. The man is bionic, amazing and nigh unstoppable. If we had half a team around him we’d be doing better. We don’t. LeBron James outdueled James Harden in terms of points scored but the Nets walked away with the W for reasons we’ll get into down yonder. LBJ had a monster line although I don’t quite get how Harden got to the line 17 times and James only 9. That Nets defense I guess…couldn’t be the Captain of the Flop getting his way by whining on literally every single possession. Oh, Harden gave THT what maybe should have been a Flagrant 2 groin shot, as well. Keep it classy, James.
2. Russell Westbrook’s effort if not results. I have to agree with LeBron, that Russ isn’t the problem. He’s putting forth the right kind of effort and no Laker fan should have mistaken Russ for Dame in terms fo scoring output. Russ led both teams in every rebounding category possible. He grabbed 5 offensive rebounds on his own. He led both teams in assists which means he’s making the right plays while only turning it over 3 times. The problem was Russ often played when LeBron sat and our starting five got obliterated. SO, to put the whole loss at Westbrook’s feet is, to me, an improper placing of blame. Yes, the rim blocked his dunk in his 37th minute of play but he’s also been one of a few Lakers available for every single game to date. While Russ may not be the player we want, or even need, he is doing what he can. It’s not Westbrook’s fault Rob chose aged players in doling out minimum deals last summer, not Westbrook’s fault THT is playing like a G-Leaguer or that we’re now relying on G-Leaguers to win NBA games. That’s just the situation he finds himself in. The missed dunk was infuriating, though. I doubt anyone was as pissed at him as he was at himself.
3. We need THT to return to something resembling what we believe he can be. Again, I don’t need him to be the second coming of anyone at all, just to be the THT we’ve seen in flashes. Play adequate defense, take it to the rim with purpose and not to avoid contact and get the shot off. As the 4th highest paid Laker, albeit with some distance between the sums of the top 3, we need more. The same can of course be said of Russel Westbrook but THT was chosen over another guy who we know makes a nightly impact and that, fair or not, is the barometer by which he will be measured. The problem is what he’s shown us he’s capable of. Like Kuzma before him if you our in 30 points and hit shots from everywhere fans will get frustrated when you don’t show that consistently. They get stuck on what you did a handful of times as opposed to being content with effort. In THT’s case, though, he still seems to blame his teammates for many of his defensive miscues. I though the intent of his groin shot from Harden should have resulted in an F2 ejection. Wasn’t a basketball move, you see James extend the arm deliberately and make contact. But, being the NBA poster boy for ref love has it’s advantages I guess.
4. Speaking of the NBA referee’s union poster boy for love and care. The running stiff arm Harden uses feels like an offensive foul to me. If LeBron played like that and bowled guys over all over the court like Harden, CP3 and Trae Young do he’d be ejected most games for 6 fouls or flagrant fouls. That is an illegal clearing out of space, in my opinion. Evidently the NBA thinks it’s really great for the game, though.
5. Stanley Johnson’s big game. Stan made a pretty solid Laker debut and I sure hope we keep him past the 10 day mark. There are few Lakers on the roster with his speed and size and we desperately need more of them. All it would take is to waive human log man DeAndre Jordan. But since we know that won’t be happening we’ll likely see Stan snagged by another team this season because Rob is such a genius GM…

This is likely going to get worse before it gets better. Luckily we play in the western conference, which is a mess this season, so we’re still in the playoff picture. A loss by Dallas last night means we’re sitting at 7th place only one spot below the play-in threshold and with the news that Paul George will be out for an extended time due to a torn UCL we’re still alive and kicking. I do believe that, even with DeAndre Jordan on the roster, we have the pieces to contend purely on the play of LeBron James and this cast of old, slow players. The playoffs a re geared towards a slower pace of play, we have battle-tested vets, and the best player in the game today. Just need to get healthy and find a groove of any kind. Go Lakers.

Ugly. Ain’t no other way to describe it. If excuses are your thing this is the Laker season for you. We got plenty to spare. The similarities to this season and last are striking both in their similarities and differences. The similarities stem from multiple injuries to key players, games missed for various reasons and a multitude of line up and rotation changes as a result. The difference is last season, without LeBron and Westbrook, that team bothered to show up to play. This team? Right now this team is just plain ugly.

1. The Good. LeBron and Russell look ever more comfortable together when sharing the court. That’s a really good thing going forward. Since I personally don’t see a Westbrook trade happening in-season it’s imperative to any title hopes we might still have, which are still valid hopes in my opinion, that LeBron and Russ co-exist on a high level. I’d say combining for 66 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists qualifies, even in a loss. Russ kept the turnovers to five which is my benchmark for both players to stay at or under. They put pressure on the defense and found the open man. It’s after the pass that generally resulted in futility. Also, the Lakers as a team have done a good job not wasting possessions. Westbrook and James are likely going to average around 10 turnovers/game as result of their usage and on-ball dominance. It’s great when the rest of the team doesn’t cough it up a lot.
2. The Bad. The three point shooting of this team is pretty awful in general. Sure, once and awhile player X catches fire and makes a bunch. Sometimes it’s Melo, other times it’s Wayne, or even THT. Rarely do we shoot well as a team and rarely do multiple guys make more than a couple. This is not a byproduct of personnel as the Lakers have now auditioned a “Who’s who?” of low-cost three point marksmen for a few seasons now. Since our cap is tied up in three players that isn’t likely to change, especially not midseason where the most we can expect is a THT or maybe Nunn trade or maybe seeing Jordan getting waived and picking up someone on the buyout market. That won’t be a Buddy or Seth level shooter, it’ll be another “I do one thing kinda OK” guy. The Lakers need to get back to what worked in the season they won the title and focus more on the defensive end by surrounding the stars with players who can truly play on both ends of the court. Defense wins championships. Three pointers do not. They help, sure, sometimes a lot in a game or three. They are a tool that has uses, like any offensive weapon. Sometimes shots fall, sometimes they don’t. But if you have a good defense it’s generally always there and keeps you in the game.
3. The Ugly. Nothing is more irksome to me than a bunch of millionaires half-assing their way through a game. A. Game. Show up and have some goldurn pride in yourself. I’m not even talking Laker pride. IT wants to stick in the league? Cool bro, prove you should stick. G-Leaguer wants to show they should play at the big boy level? Put on some big boy pants and play like a man who cares. What transpired last night is plain unacceptable and I don’t care one single iota that we had players out. The players that did play, other than Westbrook, LeBron and Dwight (of whom not much is asked to be honest) didn’t do squat. Not many of the Lakers showed me they deserve more of anything except time on the bench. To a man they defended poorly, missed open shots and generally looked like they would rather be doing something else.
4. Team Oxygen is back! Career high for Kata Bates-Diop of 30 points on a perfect 11-11 shooting. This from a dude who’s previous career high was…10 and averages 3.8 ppg. This was indicative of how poorly the Laker bench competed last night but also our total indifference to playing anything resembling defense. Had we managed to keep the lid on Diop like the rest of the league has figured how to do this might have actually been a ga-well, no actually lots of other Spurs had great nights against the matador Lakers. We did manage to keep Dejounte “I average a triple-double against LA” Murray in check. Whee.
5. No more excuses. It’s getting really, really sad how many excuses the Lakers now trot out in the post game interviews. AD is out? So sad, Kyrie has yet to suit up for the Nets and they’re leading the eastern conference. The Warriors have yet to see Klay play and are similarly challenging for the best record in the west. New roster? Aw gee, the Bulls had the second most roster turnover to us and are a top team in the association. Injuries? You poor dears, look at Miami who has lost Bam, Butler and seen Duncan Robinson totally regress and is 4th in the east and have won over 60% of their games. Excuses are like the hole where the poop falls out boys and I’ve had enough of yours. Throw your little pity party at home and show up to work for crying out loud. We all have been during the pandemic, your lofty job title of NBA player doesn’t exclude you from trying hard.

Last night marked the first time this season in which a streak of either kind has moved beyond the 3 game mark. We have yet to win more than 3 games in a row and are now facing the quite likely prospect of hitting a 5 game losing streak as early as tomorrow. While I do think the Lakers have the personnel in-house and on-team to win it all I also question their ability to grow together. I blame that on the front office and the coaching staff. We aren’t using the pieces we have very well and the front office has consistently taken the best tools away from it’s coach and drifted further and further away from the blueprint that won it all. So, if anyone truly needs to step up it’s Frank and his staff who really need to figure out how to unlock the mystery and secret of the three point shot. We have too many guys who were specifically brought in to use that tool for it to be as useless as it is for us. Rob will, likely, have to wait until the summer to redeem himself. Westbrook is nigh impossible to move midseason as he is not on Philly’s list of desired talent in a Ben Simmons trade and Russ’ deal becomes an expiring one once the season ends.

Last thing, if you’re having a sense of deja vu it’s understandable as the Spurs beat us at the Forum’s final game, too. Only difference was that was in the playoffs. The bright side was we subsequently went on to win the NBA Finals in year 1 of STAPLES so here’s hoping the name change has been weighing on the team and once they play in The Crypt the effort, heart and execution follow. If not this season is doomed.

This should not have been a surprise. With so many players out, Carmelo getting tossed and the Suns rolling through the NBA this was, to me, an expected loss. The Lakers are who they are now in terms of being a team but dealing the amount of players out, including coach Vogel, meant this was a hill that would have to be climbed perfectly. That was something that did not happen. The themes surrounding the blowout are familiar ones.

1. No interior defense worth mentioning. I mean…Melo and Rondo got a blocked shot apiece but none of our “centers” managed to block a shot or deter the Suns from burning us in the paint all night long. The 2 centers from the Suns, DeAndre Ayton and JaVale “looking pretty useful to my eyes” McGee abused the Lakers down low to the tune of 14-18 shooting combined for 29 points (Ayton got to shoot a free throw for the odd numbered tally), 22 rebounds (4 offensive rebounds with JaVale accounting for 3 of those) and a block. We had no answer for Ayton who feasted off of crisp passes from his teammates and abused whomever we slotted to defend him. The Lakers are simply too small to hang with a team like the Suns and, in general, suffer from an abysmal interior defense.
2. A team versus a group of guys. The Lakers, to date, play more like a group of guys who showed up at the gym, picked sides and let it roll. The Suns look like an NBA team poised to challenge for the title. A lot of people wrote the Suns off last season they way they wrote the Heat off the previous season which, in my opinion, is a mistake. You do not reach the NBA Finals on luck alone or by accident. It takes a collection of talented individuals who play together well and with purpose. It’s not a fluke kind of thing to achieve. That teamwork was on full display last night as the Suns got what they wanted, when they wanted, how they wanted indicated by their 29 assists with every starter getting at least 1 dime and several bench players moving the rock efficiently, as well.
3. The pace we want to play. There is a myth the Lakers want to play fast and loose. This has not been the case as we play kinda fast but not very loose. We run through 2 guys and one of them plays at a high pace and the other, well, notsomuch. Russ has frenetic frenzied aspect to his game that has worked for him his entire career. LeBron has a more controlled and at this point sometimes plodding aspect to his game which has also worked for him quite well up to this point. The problem is figuring out when and how to deploy which player’s skillset. Thus has been made more difficult with the injuries and games lost for a variety of reasons. If the Lakers want to get anywhere it is beyond imperative that they figure when to play fast, when to play methodically and maybe how to manage more than 15 fast break points for a team that’s supposed to be burning up the floor according to the coach and players.
4. While we didn’t turn the Suns over a ton we did a great job turning those miscues into points. We punished the Suns in points off of turnovers, though not necessarily via the fast break. While it didn’t alter the complexion of the game in a meaningful way it was a bright spot.
5. An overdue welcome back. Isaiah Thomas is back in the purple and gold. His first game back, his second game back was largely forgettable. He and the newly returned Talen Horton-Tucker went a combined 2-24. Just…wow…it’s incredible to imagine two players on the same team reaching almost the exact level of poor shooting. IT is a replacement player and we’d need to waive someone to keep him on the roster. I don’t really see the logic as we are already small, old and bad on defense. We need size and we need defense, desperately, IT checks almost zero boxes we need to check but does continue Rob’s theme of “old and slow but we really want play fast somehow” theme for the season. THT is basically our best tradeable contract but let’s be honest in regards to his value for a minute. It’s not high now and really never has been. He’s a solid player, not a future superstar just waiting for the right situation to come along. He can get hot from the outside but is not a shooter. He can score inside but isn’t a slasher. He can make plays for others but isn’t a playmaker. He is a good role player and, as such, we should expect the market for him to be about that high. You can attach Nunn or whomever you want to the deal but THT isn’t a sweetner or a haul for another team. He fills a role, could fill more than one because of his diverse skillset, and that should be the expected level of player we could potentially trade for him. I don’t see a trade as being too likely though for the reason LeBron voiced in regards to this team: we have no idea what it’s truly capable of because the team has barely played together. Not in camp, not in the regular season. basically the LBJ Vegas mini-camp was the only time the whole group of guys go together and could scrimmage or whatever they did together. We aren’t alone in that regard, many other teams have fared better against a stronger schedule facing similar obstacles. Our limitations go beyond a lack of chemistry and cohesion. There are physical obstacles (age and size) that I really don’t see a way to coach or game plan around. I also don’t see path to trade our way out of them as we’d likely be giving up whatever young players we do have for someone older but hopefully bigger and better at D.

We got a winnable game on Thursday against the Spurs then it’s the traditional “Lakers on X-mas” where we tend to fall short. Doesn’t matter if it’s Kobe, Randle or The King the Lakers tend to lose on Christmas. The one thing to hope for is that we continue to tread water. We have yet to win more than 4 in a row and we have yet to lose more than 3 in a row. So, with the 3 game losing streak attained, here’s hoping we switch back to our winning ways and beat San Antonio and avoid a long losing streak which could well doom the season, even this early.

With the news that AD is out for a minimum of 4 weeks I thought it worthwhile to look at the overall state of the team rather than rehash the latest loss to the Bulls. In general, this season, like last, is being defined more by who isn’t playing rather than who is. Be it injury, COVID, wanting to be traded or anti-vaxx stances the players that haven’t played this season have garnered as many headlines as the ones who have suited up. All of this has impacted the Lakers in one way or another so let’s dig in. At least 2021 is at an end.

1. The Lakerteers. Russ, AD, and LBJ have played 13 games as a unit and that trend of one or more of them missing will do nothing but continue due to AD’s knee injury. If we’re lucky he’ll be the only one that misses extended time but let’s face it: LeBron has entered a fairly injury-prone era of his career missing several games already due to various, and differing, injuries. Russ has been the most consistent of the three and his play has steadily improved. AD started strong but has really fallen off after lower leg injuries seemed to sap him of his ability to hit the outside shot that made him such a deadly player early in his career. He compensated by scoring inside more but with him being out for 4, or more, weeks what was already a small team got smaller. If LeBron and Russ can both stay on the floor, elevate the role-players to a decent level and share the ball properly I think we’ll stick in the 8-5 range of seeding but if they struggle to blend or the guys brought in to do a specific job don’t get it done we could see a Laker team loaded with HOF, top 75 All Timers, numerous All NBA this or that’s, MVPs, DPOY, ROY and so on have to play in to get to the playoffs.
2. The role-players. There’s no way to sugar coat, the Laker struggle to find the right blend of role-players to slot in around AD and James. Adding Russ only seems to have exacerbated that issue which is just another reason it’s mystifying to me that we let Caruso, who had proven he could fit in on a team like this, walk. Regardless, what we have now is a collection of aged vets and young up and comers with the tilt leaning heavily on the aged-vet side. Gone are the elite role guys we saw in the Bubble like Green, Kuzma, KCP, Caruso, and locker-room stabilizer Jared Dudley. Much has been made out of who has left the building but we really need to figure out how to elevate the guys in it now because help is definitely not on the way. Unless you count G-Leaguers or over-seas vets earning a dime as help. I do not. IT has shown he can still score in addition to showing that he will never be a plus defender on any team in the NBA going forward. His lack of size and steps lost in addition to it never really being a strong aspect of his game means he will struggle. Why we chose IT over James Ennis, a SF, will be yet another mystifying aspect of this season. One that has seen Rob Pelinka consistently choose the older player who requires more of the ball and/or a VERY specific role for said players for them to be most effective. The Laker role-players have struggled a lot this season as they have lacked for exposure as to how our Big Three function which has trickled down to very uneven play across the board.
3. COVID season 2.-uhm…no. The NBA will not be postponing anything unless the Federal government steps in and starts issuing shelter i place edicts or some such. There will be no Bubble playoffs, we will have travel and really the only question is to what degree do the NBPU and the NBA board of governors and owners disagree on vaxx mandates. If we continue to sieve players like we have been and we get what amounts to a replacement league season just without a lockout one has to imagine the topic of mandatory full vaccinations and boosters will at least get floated and looked at. Yes, there will be some hue and cry from the players but ultimately the things that they work for the most: the ability to earn money on the open market, legacies and rings, will win out. Sure, we might lose Kyrie for the season. But the latest tweak to both how replacement players affect the salary cap and the insistence that enough players be signed who can suit up rather than postponing a number of games or shutting down for a short time tells you all you need to know about the League’s stance on another semi-shut down: Hell no.
4. Help on the way? Unlikely. because of injury, COVID, contract rigmarole and poor play in general it’s pretty safe to say the Lakers do not have the assets to swing a big trade that would end up being favorable to them. Frankly, I don’t see a move the Lakers can make won’t amount to essentially admitting this season was a disaster from the start, a PR nightmare I believe the front office is very keen on avoiding. AT this point they have so many baked-in excuses as to why the team has struggled as much as it has (injuries to stars, injuries to young players, injuries to key players, injuries in general, COVID, fake COVID, time needed to gel when no time is available and so on) that it almost makes sense for them to move forward as is and hope for the best. The only tradable contracts are Nunn and THT. Toss in a vet minimum player that couldn’t find a better deal elsewhere to start the season and that’s the package we have to offer. Underwhelming seems a kind term, really. Unless you want to see John Wall or maybe Kemba Walker manning the point you can throw out any and all Russ trades, I don’t care how the trade machine works it out. If Philly was interested it would only be to toss us bad deals in the form of more players added for a Ben Simmons deal and frankly we can’t offer them a pick until almost the next decade unless we involve the draft pick Godfather Sam Presti in OKC. This amounts to gutting the team in mid-January which will also not likely be happening. Is there a team that views Westbrook as the missing piece to a title? Maybe, but it’s a lot more likely that he gets traded this summer if that’s the case when his deal is expiring and the Lakers are over a barrel with cap issues, again. Why help the Lakers now if you know Westbrook can be had this summer as an expiring along with likely coercing Pelinka into tossing in THT anyhow and the 2027 1st rounder when it’s that much closer? SO I don’t see any trade other than something more minor, possibly with the Kings or Pacers, but even those teams can likely get better picks somehow and will covet said asset.
5. Thankfully the western conference is kind of a mess this season. The top 3 spots are locked in between the Warriors, Suns and Jazz. Memphis…without Ja Morant who is back…has started separating themselves from the pack, as well at 19-13. After that it’s a jumble of .500-ish teams with injury or roster issues as bad as ours. SO 5th seems to me to be the highest seeding we can hope for given everything above. TO date our only consistent aspect of the team is it’s inconsistencies. Being slow, small and old is not generally a recipe for success in the NBA and yet that’s the very team we have assembled. That being the case we desperately need Frank and Co. to figure some things out better, especially on defense. We also need lady luck to blow some wind our way on the injury front in the form of a quick recovery for AD, no more COVID games missed, and fewer injuries in general. Also, we need to get Nunn on the floor at some point since he is now the only Laker signed this summer who has yet to play in the regular season.

The Lakers face the Suns, with Book, and I think we’ll be right back at .500 after tonight with a 16-16 record. The Suns are rolling the way the Lakers were after losing to the Celtics way back in ’07 – ’08. Determined. Focused. Good. In all reality we could close out the year on a multi-game losing streak unless we manage to beat Houston or San Antonio. If we kick off 2022 looking up at most of the western conference expect all the hot coaching seat noise, trade rumors and overall malaise around the team to deepen if not get worse. We can do better than that, it’s just nigh-impossible to expect this team to turn the corner given all that ails it at this point.