Just one game, but…

Aloha,

Great win for the Lakers against a team many consider a contender in the west. I know it’s just one game, but I saw what I wanted to see. The Lakers regulars didn’t play a ton together in the preseason but when they did they looked very good and this was a continuation of what I saw in preseason. Just a few thoughts.

I wrote earlier that I was warming up to JJ and that trend continued. The Lakers busted their butts and JJ was completely engaged. He even called time out to slow some of the TWolves runs, something Darvin rarely did. For a first game I thought the teams executed extremely well.

Our new offense was on full display. JJ promised to unleash AD and boy did he. 35 points and 16 boards. He could have scored even more but he missed some bunnies early that he normally makes. But it was the ball and player movement that was even more impressive. Since LeBron arrived the Lakers have been an iso heavy team. Not last night. I really like how JJ ran the offense through AD. AD had 4 assists but he had a couple of others passes that led to players getting fouled and there were missed open 3’s as well. The offensive created good looks, we were just missing. We will start making them.

The defense also shined. People seem to forget about coaching staffs. Nate McMillan is a great defensive mind and his switching defense had his fingerprints were all over the defense. We gave the TWolves multiple looks and they could never quite figure us out. Ant man had 27 but on 25 shots, he was never comfortable. We also did a great job on Randle and Reed.

And of course offensive rebounds were an emphasis and we came through big time. Austin and AD had 4 and Rui had 3. We had 3 more offensive boards and 8 fewer turnovers. We had only 7. That’s 11 more shots right there.

I thought Austin had a great game. Beyond his 9 boards his defense was very good and he just seemed to be the glue guy on offense.

Rui also had a strong game. Mister irrelevant did what he did last year after he became a starter. Did what he did in the Olympics and in preseason. 18 points. Strong defense, with 2 steals and he blocked Rudy. He generally had either Randle or Reed and neither did much.

I liked Dalton’s run. He wasn’t a liability on defense and he showed off some of his play making skills. I could see him taking minutes from Max when Vando returns.

I came into the season cautiously optimistic. Based upon how good our starting unit looked down the stretch last season and in the preseason. I’m still cautiously optimistic. Yes it was only one game but I liked what I saw.