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Boing. Bonk. Clang. Clank. Ckunk, Unfortunately that isn’t the sound of construction near my apartment but the sound of the outside shot of the Los Angeles Lakers. It ain’t pretty but it’s still not all doom and gloom.

1. Unbalanced attack. Not quite enough force-feeding Anthony Davis like the first murder victim in 7, Gluttony. We kind of let P.J. Tucker and the Lilliputian defenders of the Rockets dictate the tempo of our offensive attack. We didn’t get the ball to Davis with much of a plan, or if there was a plan it was blown to a high degree.
2. The Mystery of the Disappearing and Re-appearing Anthony Davis. It’s quite the magic act to be able to make a talented 7 footer vanish but somehow Davis seems up for trying. While not quite as bad as the games against Toronto or OKC, considering LeBron was out this was Anthony’s big chance to show how he could dominate as a small ball center, punish the smaller Rocket defenders in order to have them sag off for mid-game threes only for that to be a set up for a game-sealing mid-range barrage. Instead we saw him outplayed and even bullied at times by the tiny Houston defenders. Tip-o-the-cap to Tucker and whatever rangy help defender they sent to double when he turned his back to the basket or before he would commit his dribble at the three. Davis needs to play above that kind of thing in the playoffs if we’re going to have any chance at all.
3. Quinn Cook doesn’t seem like he’ll have a shining moment as a Laker. Too bad. Good dude, played his way into a solid role on the Warriors, hoped he could challenge Rondo for PT. None of that ever happened. Not really sure what the issues of his fit with this team are because it feels like he could have been a solid backup PG on this squad. Seems like it’s just not destined to be.
4. Dion off, too, spelled the end. I feel like, despite all of the above and the underlying issues that are causing this struggle to reboot, if Dion had been on his game we would have been in this. We really didn’t get much from the bench. I’d like to see a couple games where Dion starts. Keep the tandem of KCP and Dwight Howard intact, they play really well with one another. KCP might have better stats and our winning percentage was better in the 20 games he started but that first unit, even with LeBron, has really bad spacing. Caldwell-Pope can come off the bench and fill a role, he’ll pair better with Caruso and make that second unit defense resemble the one that was on the same page in the regular season. Dion starting gives LeBron some space to get his game going, would have quality defenders to play with, and for all we know would play even better as a starter. Most guys do. But when he comes in along with Morris and Smith the defense just tanks. Probably won’t happen.
5. J.R. Smith welcome to the Lakers. He made his first basket (technically scored his first points last night on free throws) as a Laker. Now, please help me understand why he’s playing? Yes, it;s roughly for only 13-15 mpg but those are minutes you could be giving to one of the G-Leaguers during this little stretch to see what they can bring to the big club. The dude was a gunner of an extraordinary nature. He ain’t that machine gun now.

Still not overly concerned, we were out 2 starters and our best bench defender. Lakers not really playing with the same heart that we grew accustomed to during the regular season and one has to begin to wonder if there’s another switch or lever to pull. Can’t wait to long to find that groove, man.