5 THINGS

In what was likely conceived as an NBA Finals rematch game the Heat beat the Lakers without the main culprits of their Finals demise on the court. No AD and no LeBron James coupled with the late scratches of Kyle Kuzma (calf) and Talen Horton-Tucker (suspension) meant the Lakers had even steeper climb. They should have hired a Sherpa or gotten a helicopter ride because the Heat were just a touch too much for the remaining players clad in purple and gold.

1. Don’t diss the Heat. Laker fans seem to want to denigrate the Heat’s accomplishment in making it to the NBA Finals. I, personally, find that notion absurd. There’s a reason things aren’t awarded on hype or expectations. The teams have to play, one team has to win so many games and that team moves on. Seems simple, one team ends up being better than the other. So, for those fans who crow they don’t fear Miami this one was for you. The basketball Gods always listen…always. Also, wishing Victor Oladipo all the best and a speedy recovery. Guess it’s a good thing we didn’t trade Kuzma and KCP and ahhhh why not, throw in Alex Caruso for Vic, eh?
2. Free throw parade. Was I the only one who thought it was ludicrous how often Miami got sent to the line for simply crashing into some Laker or another in the first quarter? I didn’t think I was…
3. That contract for Dennis is getting smaller every game. Mark my words, that man is going to fire his agent after this summer when he does not get his $20+ million dollar deal from anyone at all. A player that’s worth that sum of money can lead a team in more than the turnover department, doesn’t fall to the ground and leave his team one man down on the break, and does more than just play defense. Schroder is showing that last season was essentially a fluke, that playing alongside superstar talent like CP3 or LeBron is the only way he can shine. Sorry Dennis, I love your moxie, the cut of your jib and your peskiness on defense but you cannot be relied upon to score consistently. We got plenty of guys who make far less than $20 mil who can do just that.
4. Hey it’s KCP. Par for the course this season KCP breached for a game and looked like he wanted to play basketball. I don’t really expect it to carry over as it really hasn’t for most of the season. One good game followed by 3 or 4 terrible ones. Not much more useful than Dennis Schroder these days. You need to do this a lot more consistently to make me believe again, Kentavious. I want to but just can’t find it in me to look past the landslide of my new label DP-BDNSU (Dis Play-But Did Not Show Up).
5. Hey Andre’ Drummond finished the game! Which is about all we can say about that. Drummond was never going to save this season, he’s a good to above-average player on bad teams because…they’re bad, they don’t have a lot of good guys. He can do simple NBA center things well enough although the free throw shooting is certainly a concern for a team that often goes through major free throw line funks. I love his energy on the glass and his active hands on defense. I have hope he’ll be better at not holding the ball and looking around while the team tries to get a break going. There were more than a few times where it cost him precious seconds to find an open Laker but he’s getting acclimated. Those issues are correctable. I expect to see Gasol play in the 2nd night of back-to-backs in the regular season, maybe get some time of Drummond is in foul trouble. But he was in foul trouble last night and no Marc so…we’ll see how the three-headed center monster we’ve Frankensteined pans out.

Also, bonus point, welcome to the Lakers Ben McLemore. We’ll see how he grows into a role on this team in the handful of games left but this very much reminds me of the Dion Waiters signing. Might have a regular season impact but he may struggle to find a playoff role if he can’t defend at a decent level. The Lakers don’t cover for bad defenders just because they can shoot, that’s Frank Vogel 101 people.

Lastly, bonus BONUS point: a banner hanging ceremony agaaaaaaaaainst…the Houston Rockets (wah, wah, wah). Fishing for a win on banner night is fine but I think the real reason they chose that game is that there is a high likelihood that LBJ and AD could both be on the floor by then. Not certain, of course (tweets or what have you aside) but I feel like that’s very reasonable. That may not be the timeline Laker fans get excited about but it feels like Jeannie et al wouldn’t want to risk a blow out on banner night and that, if at all possible, have James and Davis play in the game.

Last thing: just a friendly reminder that this team is not, repeat, not designed to win without LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Not a player on the roster replicates the skills, talent or gravity both of those men create on a basketball court. So don’t overly-fret these losses save for the fact we’re freefalling through the standings. Might end up rocking a play-in game, might s well start getting used to the idea.

The Lakers have been on the other end of some beatdowns recently so it was nice to see the team cruise (relatively speaking) to an easy win. Certainly not without drama as we saw players from both sides get tossed but a win is a win, as they say. With re-enforcements coming soon, hopefully, the Lakers just need to keep treading water, head above the waves, until the team can get healthy and back on track.

1. Marc Gasol did all the right things on the court and followed that up by saying all the right things off of it. He contributed his best all-around game as a Laker pouring in 13 points (6-9, 1-3 from three), a co-team high 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 big blocks. While he did cough it up 5 times he looked more like the player I think we all though we’d see on a regular basis. In his post-gamer he continued his excellent showing by stating unequivocally that he was all in on this Laker season. Did he mean it? Could he be fibbing? Maybe, sure, who knows but the important thing was that he is playing the right way and saying the right things and being a good teammate in the doing. Solid effort by Marc.
2. The THT/AC pairing. This hasn’t gotten much attention but I think it speaks to the coaching staff’s confidence in both players to get the job done. Slowly but surely AC and THT are getting more time as combined unit. For awhile it felt like they were staggered off of one another and it didn’t matter when LeBron was on the floor commanding attention and orchestrating like only he can. In his absence, and when Schroder goes to the bench, Vogel turns to this duo to keep us afloat. The results have been mixed but I think the combo has potential as a stabilizing force off the bench. THT can be the de facto PG and Caruso takes the lead on D. This allows for their offsetting skill sets to balance out a little more organically. We’re talking about 10 or so minutes of actual basketball action so it’s not like it needs to hold up for long. It’ll be interesting to see how the rotation settles in as we get guys back but I kind of hope this continues into the playoffs. For the night both THT and AC had solid games: THT had 17 (6-10 shooting, 3/4 from three), 4 rebounds, 6 assists. Caruso had an efficient 13 (4-7, 3/4 from three) 5 boards and 4 dimes. They both had 4 turnovers which is too many but par for this team this season.
3. Wesley Matthews Jr. contributing impact plays if not eye-popping stats. It hasn’t been the easiest of roads for Wes this season. Struggled early, got benched, got a neck injury on a scary fall into the stanchion and has seen his role fluctuate based on how other guys have begun to emerge but through it all he’s been solid on defense and that shot has come around little by little. Last night Wes led the team in +/- and played hard on both ends. We’re going to need Wes to contribute in order to have success in the playoffs so it’s been nice to see him carve out a role for himself on account of his defense and hard-nosed play.
4. Trezz standing up for his team. I mentioned this in the podcast but it bears repeating here. I can’t count the number of comments on the site, articles in the media and social media that shine a light on the notion that a lot of these guys will be moved, sign elsewhere and aren’t all in on the Lakers. Last night we saw the other side. The side where guys who play on a team bond together. Trezz id a fiery-fellow, you can see him jawing with opponents, refs and teammates through every single game. It could be as easy to misconstrue that intensity as displeasure with his situation, after all he did have to accept our bargain basement MLE, as it was to misconstrue his All Star tweet. Passion can be an intimidating thing, not always taken the right way or expressed in a socially acceptable manner. To see Trezz stand up for Dennis and then to see the comment about how he has a beef with anyone not wearing a Laker jersey makes me smile. The dude’s heart is in the right place. Still, he did get tossed and only contributed 2 whopping minutes of play. That left a Harrell-sized hole in our line up. One that was filled by none other than…
5. DEVONTAE CACOCK! The G-Leaguer, 2-way player had his best game of the year by a country mile. In 17 minutes he had 8 rebounds, hit 5-7 shots for 10 big points, and played with the kind of energy this team needs on a nightly basis. I sure hope Devontae makes the post-season roster. I’ve always loved his hustle and nose for the rebound. For a team struggling with a “next man up?” identity issue Devontae flipped the script and stepped up in a large way.

Miami is up next, gonna be a tough one. Maybe we can play the trap team for once, eh? At any rate, won’t be much of an NBA Finals rematch without AD or LeBron so maybe we can bring this same energy and feistiness and pull out another W. Keep the head a little higher above those waves.

That was a beatdown of epic proportions. The Lakers never led, never seriously threatened and struggled to make shots. The Clippers on the other hand looked solid despite being without key players themselves. Of course the biggest difference was that the Clipper superstar duo played and ours did not.

1. The name of the game is scoring the basketball. The Lakers never figured that out against the Clippers. They couldn’t hit open shots, couldn’t hit contested shots, couldn’t hit from the outside and often missed inside. We had a season-low 38 points in the first half. The Lakers just couldn’t couldn’t throw it in the ocean as a team. 40% from the field, 30% from three but, hey, 75% from the free throw line.
2. The defense showed up. The Lakers defense retained it’s elite status in the face of yet another loss without AD and LBJ. We held the Clippers to 104 points, they only shot 9 free throws, and we forced 20 turnovers. Where we failed was in converting those into points of any kind. 15 points off of 20 turnovers ain’t great. Certainly did not get it done on the break with 8 whopping transition points. Allowing the Clippers to rain threes essentially sealed the loss.
3. The mental game. It’s become obvious that the guys who should be stepping up (Kuzma, KCP, Schroder) aren’t. Whether they can or not has become a sort of moot point: we’re already falling in the standings, not showing up for big stretches of winnable games and in short not acting like professional sportsmen. Harrell is doing his job, guys on the bench have generally had a decent, if not totally positive, impact. But those three guys are starters right now, they all have the ball in their hands and are bucket-getters or, in theory, creators. This team has z-e-r-o chance of winning against anyone when they don’t play with the right mentality, don’t come prepared, and if they cannot make shots. We know they can but since they are not one has to assume it’s in their heads.
4. Adjustments? Please, feel free to enlighten me, perhaps I’ve missed something but I don’t think I have. What adjustments has the team made on offense since James went down? To my count it would appear to be none. We run the same, silly sets we run when LeBron James is playing. But there isn’t a single player that replicates the gravity James brings to the court along with the skillset to maximize that gravity. I get it, there hasn’t been much practice time but we’re talking about a team that semi-overhauled it’s defensive identity mid-playoffs. Surely they can adapt to a life on offense without LeBron James for a few games. The answer, apparently, is no.
5. The return of Drummond. The Big Penguin could be back on Tuesday and that’s a good thing. It’s one of the games I have slated as ‘winnable’ and Toronto by way of Tampa Bay isn’t killing it with size this season. So, if he gets the green light, let’s hope for better showing than in game 1 of his Laker career and get this one off right.

5 more games on this road trip. If I let the pessimist in me rule the day I say we go 1-4 and further take a tumble in the standings. But the realist (I don’t have an inner optimist) says we go 2-3. We win the bun games and lose the cheese, patty and lettuce games. So if this Laker burger can be even tastier and we end up winning some of those middle games I like our chances of getting AD back after the road trip, or soon thereafter. Although I also won’t be surprised if both sit until the playoffs.

Man..I’ve been totally unimpressed by Snyder in this series. Just haven’t seen a whole lotta adjustments..lets just chuck 3’s and hope for the best. And the Clipps were actually seeking out the DPOY with iso ball off those switches on the perimeter. Gotta do better..

Well. That happened. In the end Coach Vogel was right: we did need all 3 centers, not that it made much of a difference which one of them was out there. For what it’s worth, and it wasn’t worth very much, Andre’ Drummond debuted as a Laker. Unfortunately it appears there are already issues with fit but they’re not the biggest issue plaguing the team these days.

1. Ok, ok it was his right toe. Regardless this likely means more Gasol for a game or two. Drummond came to the Lakers saying all the right things: wants to fit into what we’re doing, not looking to steal shine, best shape he can be in. None of that mattered as he struggled to finish from anywhere going 2-6 on shots in the paint, missed both free throws and had more turnovers (3) than rebounds (2). In all honesty he was out-performed by Gasol in less than half the time. Drummond’s 14 minutes did showcase a pretty awesome block and the quick hands we’ve heard about but I wasn’t overly impressed with his game and the fact he’s hurt now made it even more of a bummer. The Lakers are fortunate they don’t need much from Drummond come the playoffs, or at least so we hope, and that Davis will likely absorb a lot more minutes at center than maybe some had hoped for.
2. The S.S. Kentavious has sailed and I don’t think it’s-a-coming back. This has been the most disappointing stretch of many disappointing stretches for KCP. Whether you think missing games due to not showing up for court is worse than being on the court and not showing up there’s little doubt we need more than it would seem Caldwell-Pope is able to provide. Another game where he didn’t make a single shot, only took 4 and in general didn’t do much of anything except run back and forth. Pretty sure we could Jason Kidd a uni so he could that. At this point I am in favor of giving his minutes and role to literally any other player. Davonte Cacock? Sure. Kostas? Definitely. Certainly THT or Caruso could do more the court time than Pope has done since the first couple of weeks of the season. While I would never use the corporate fast-food moniker some like to deploy when talking about the lack of impact KCP has for looooooong stretches of the season it’s become difficult to not see him as no-show since James went down and we needed someone like him to step up. I don’t think he has it in him anymore.
3. More turnovers than a strudel shop. This season-long issue, which some tried to gloss over earlier in the season, hasn’t gone anywhere. Every starter had multiple turnovers last night which was actually mild compared to Talen Horton-Tucker’s astounding 6 turnovers in a mere 17 minutes. Our team assist to turnover rate was 1-1. 22 assists and 22 turnovers. That’s pathetic. Incredibly we scored more points off of turnovers than the Bucks did who also had 22. T’was indeed a sloppy game highlighted by some nice defense by both sides and terrible offense from us while allowing the Bucks to launch from three where they killed us.
4. The three point game. Where to begin? For fans of launching three pointers this was a great game. We took 36! For fans of made shots this was not the game for you. We only made 10… The even bigger issue was that, after the first quarter, we had made 8 of those 10 and only took 13 shots in the doing. That means, as a team, we went 2-23 for the final three quarters from beyond the arc. Yikes. I don’t fully comprehend the philosophy of simply ramping up the three point field goal attempts without attaching the caveat of making some but I’m sure there’s an equation or something that will explain it. That equation has generally proved elusive to the Lakers since the early weeks of the season which I still feel is a team that plays best when it dominates the paint. Let success be your guide. Maybe up Markieff Morris’ minutes since he’s playing well now? Something has to give, we either need to not attach a blanket number of three point attempts and be content with good shots or we need to make more three pointers. The current formula of simply more attempts does not work.
5. The not-so-$25 million-man. Dennis Schroder was awful last night. Sure he did OK on defense but the same could be said for Wesley Matthews and Alex Caruso. They’re not looking for big pay days this summer. Schroder is and right now I would say we got fleeced if we offered him one cent over $15 mil. Frankly that feels like an over-pay. It took him 18 shots to score 17 points ironically making 3 three pointers in the doing on only 8 attempts. He neither plays the contact game to draw fouls nor has strong moves to the basket. If the floater ain’t falling or the jumper is off there’s not a lot he can do offensively. His outside shot is slow to load and he turns down a ton of open looks while probing semi-meaninglessly. Since LeBron has gone down Schroder has looked more like a solid backup PG than an elite starter in line for a massive payday. I’ll be surprised if anyone backs up the Brinks truck and the Lakers would be wise to table their extension offers until the summer.

We have the 2nd toughest strength of schedule in the league to finish the season. After we play Sacramento tomorrow and the Raptors on Tuesday we face nothing but playoff-bound teams until the final week of the season. It’s likely we back into the playoffs with the only question being can we avoid the play-in tourney? While in some ways it’s not surprising given the injuries there’s also the matter that all of the guys on the Lakers are professional basketball players. So they need to dig deep and figure this out, find a way to make some more shots and at least be competitive for 48 minutes. So far that kind of effort has been M.I.A. since the King went down. You want that big pay day? Earn it. You want to be recognized as one of the better NBA players? Prove it. Trying to show that you’re one of the league’s up and comers? Do it. Nothing is bestowed based on hype and right now that’s about all we got going for us.