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A lot went right in the loss but just enough went wrong that the Lakers were unable to hold two solid leads built up over the course of the game down the stretch. Credit to Phoenix for making shots and staying aggressive for all 48. I’m chalking this one up to “learning how to win on the road” in the schemes and with younger guys and rookies taking a more prominent role but we’re digging in on this one all the same.

1. Lakers bench got thoroughly outplayed. The bench of the Lakers mustered 8 points and the whole group was outplayed by Royce O’Neal all on his own. Plumlee owned Hayes, too as Jaxson barely got 4 boards in his 13 minutes. Some of that was some good rotational choices made by Coach Bud who dropped Nurkic down to bench minutes territory with just 15 minutes (down from 18 the last time we played) in favor of 23 minutes for Plumlee (up from 19) but it was Royce O’Neal whom the Lakers really didn’t seem to ever adapt to his energy and activity. He hit big shots when our defense seemed designed to stop the “name” players. That’s a learnable lesson because, at this level, anyone can beat you on any given night. In the end we need more than 3 points from Gabe and 5 from Max. DK registered his first donut, along with Hayes, so lot’s for that group to take away mand grow from.
2. Not enough points in the paint. 42 points (same as Phoenix scored and a lot of their came in transition) won’t get it done, especially on the road. We shot the 3 ball well (43.8%), and a lot…for us… (32), but it didn’t matter as it wasn’t enough to overcome Phoenix’s overall efficiency (46% for the game). On the road you need to lean in even more to your strengths and, for this Laker team, that’s AD in the paint. AD only got 5 FGA’s in the 4th quarter compared to 10 in the first. That doesn’t work for us. That’s another adjustment the staff can look to implement in the next film session: keep AD involved through 4 quarters and have him continue to set the tone in the paint.
3. LeBron sick game. Bummer, but it happens and he played but he didn’t play well. So it goes.
4. The question of Max Christie playing over either Knecht or Reddish. Max Christie, whether it’s deserved or not, is going to be one of the season-defining storylines this season. Can he play up to his new deal? The 4 year $32 million ($8 mil/season with a player option in 2027-28….VERY player friendly, overall) was offered relatively quickly when free agency hit. That money could have been used in other ways, we could have let the market dictate his value and matched another offer (or not) or we could have offered him less and see what came back. Maybe shades of Caruso vastly outplaying THT was dancing through Rob’s head and maybe the Lakers really see something in the guy that simply hasn’t manifested in an NBA game, yet. Regardless with players like Knecht in the waiting now, not to mention bigger/faster options in Reddish and eventually Jarred Vanderbilt, it’s a worthy debate to have. I like that they’re giving the kid a shot and this is certainly the best time to do that. The length of the experiment is all that I’m questioning right now and also whether or not Knecht has already earned a bigger role. I’m still undecided but leaning towards more DK.
5. Christian Koloko is NOW cleared to play. Not last weekend, like Tom insisted was true repeatedly and vehemently on our podcast (and was also flat wrong about it), but today. Now, well, now we wait some more. Dude hasn’t played hoops in over a year so he’ll have plenty of ramping up ahead of him. He’s on an NBA two-way deal and so, as of this moment, can only play in 50 total games and not in the playoffs at all. Everything about this looks like he’s a project player to me but we’ll see what he manages to accomplish this season. One way or the other the Lakers are smart to swap a guy like Koloko who has the potential of NBA bonafide’s over Colin Castleton who never really looked like an NBA player. Expected impact this season: negligible.

Roady continues tomorrow night against in Cleveland. I expect Bronny to get a 5 minute burn or so for the sake of playing in Cleveland but maybe not. Hope LBJ starts to feel better because we need his impact.