5 THINGS

It seemed like we could do it. It felt like we kind of had the game under control at the start of the 4th quarter. The prospect of going back to LA with the series tied 1-1 seemed legit. As the 4th quarter unfolded that prospect got dimmer and dimmer with every missed three by LA (specifically LeBron James) and every made three by Jamal Murray. As a result the Lakers fly to LA down 2-0 and looking for answers.

1. Murray even better in the 4th in game 2. This doesn’t seem like a mystery to me. The Nuggets look to have Jokic dominate the first 3 quarters and then let Murray loose in the closing frame. It worked in game 1 when, despite playing with 5 fouls for most of the 4th quarter, Murray went off for 17 4th quarter points and buried the Lakers as LeBron couldn’t match him shot for shot. Two days later Murray went off even more and the Lakers were somehow caught off guard…again. This is not rocket science, the Lakers need to figure out the 4th quarter defensive game plan for this Nuggets team like yesterday.
2. Bad shots on tired legs. I can live with the threes from LeBron…when they’re the flow of things. He hasn’t shot many of those for a lot of the playoffs. Most of them feel like poorly timed, and shot, heat checks. Are some close to going in? Sure, maybe? But the fact is they’re not. He hasn’t made a 4th quarter three since the Memphis series. He’s 0-fer in this series in any quarter, and he’s shooting a dreadful and team-killing 23% from three overall. People spent a lotta time up Russell Westbrook’s ass, raking him over the coals, bemoaning his lack of accuracy but poor connection rate. One would expect (but won’t get) the same vitriol regarding James’ abysmal shooting.. The Lakers are far and away a better team when they do not jack up threes like the rest of the league seems addicted to. The Lakers should top out at 20-25 3PT FGAs/game unless someone is actually making them and last night nobody but Reaves was. In clutch moments in both game 1 and game 2 LeBron’s poor shot selection and inability to make a shot from distance has killed our 4th quarter mojo. We won’t even get into the multiple blown dunks and layups that could have also meant the difference in this game, suffice to say The King has never looked more human than against Denver in this series.
3. D’Angelo watching money slip away in this series. As good as he was in a couple games against Memphis and a game or two against Golden State one has to consider the playoffs as a bad showcase for what D-Lo can do. He’s certainly playing with less and less aggression as the playoffs go forward as all of his numbers have dipped in each series across the board to the point he’s essentially an overpaid non-factor, so far. His talent is real but one has to question both his drive and his mental fortitude after another blasé playoff showing in what has become the norm. The outliers are the games where he does well, is that a player the Lakers want to keep at the price tag he’s likely to command? I’m starting to doubt it.
4. Coach Ham getting outcoached by a wide margin. The Lakers seem to have no answer for the Denver high screen and roll. It’s not a special or an amazing play, literally every team runs it. But we can’t seem to fight through them, and when we slip under we give up wide open threes which Denver is canning when it counts. It’s not just Jokic and Murray. It’s Murray and MPJ and even Aaron Gordon shaking free for rim runs as the Lakers dither behind the screen seemingly flummoxed by the action. Nobody is blowing this play up and for all the praise AD got in how he was able to cover back to Golden State shooters on plays like this he’s seemingly now incapable of it one series later. Same with Schroeder who has gotten the bulk of the defensive assignment on Murray. Dennis looks like he’s gassed after the gauntlet of screens he’s navigated thus far and is dying on the screen more often rather than fighting through. Credit the Nuggets, they are hitting some impressive shots at times, but also the Lakers need to get into the body more of both the screener and the guy coming off it and force the issue a little more. The Lakers have not been the more physical team, thus far, and have let Denver dictate both pace and physicality. That speaks to a lack of minutes for Vando, in my opinion.
5. Reasons to hope. Reaves and Rui are balling out, D-Lo plays better at home, the law of averages dictates LeBron James will make at least one more three pointer before the season concludes, and AD plays great in odd games. Problem is the margin for error has now shrunk to basically zero. Need to stay unbeaten at home in the playoffs and come back to Denver with a winner takes all mentality and follow it up with a “don’t let the zombie walk again” mentality in game 6. I don’t have high hopes for a game 7 win. AD can’t have another bad game until the 2023-24 season. D-Lo needs to play like he cares what happens. LeBron needs to operate from the elbow to the baseline for the majority of the game. The Lakers need to figure out the Nuggets high screen and roll.

Getting dicey now, altitude will be an issue in game’s 5 and 7, should it come to it and we likely let our best chance to take back home court last night. It can still be done, just got a lot harder is all. Go Lakers.

So much of the playoffs is a mind game. Not letting the crowd get you down, the refs knock you off your game, and keeping your head on straight if you find yourself out of a shortened playoff rotation. The Warriors weak point has always been their emotional players (Draymond, Klay, and Poole in this era) and those cracks showed last night. In the 3rd quarter they made their patented “we got this” series of baskets pulling away for a double-digit lead. The Lakers had an answer and it resulted in what can only be described as the best quarter of Lonnie Walker the IV’s life.

1. Lonnie Walker the Fourth. I’ve been low-key posting and hoping for Lonnie to get minutes over Malik Beasley. Then we stopped playing Malik and I was low-key hoping we’d at least see what LW4 could do with Troy Brown Jr’s time. I like TBJ, don’t get me wrong, he’s got three point range and plays decent D. I felt (and still feel) that since we promoted Reaves to the starting 5 the bench has lacked oompf. Scoring, athleticism, and mojo. Enter Lonnie. The first thing you have to do is give the man a ton of credit for staying ready both in terms of his game but also in terms of what the Lakers a re doing game-to-game and being ready to contribute where asked. Few players have that maturity, especially guys who are probably wondering where the next paycheck will be coming from and how many zeroes it may or may not have. In one quarter Lonnie re-inserted himself into the debate of “Which Lakers Do We Keep?” we’ll go around endlessly this summer. He also made history as he made a record shared only by Kobe Bryant by dropping 15 in the 4th on the Warriors.
2. Though it be dwindling we still won the free throw battle. 20-20 is getting it done and we needed all of those points in the face of Curry’s one-man onslaught on our defense. Steph dropped a triple-double, was picking our defense apart and had Klay shot better or Poole showed up at all, this game likely swings Golden State’s way. As it stands his effort will show upas another playoff ‘L’ and the defending champs are now on the proverbial ropes. Still, takes a mighty swing to knock out the champs and the Lakers need to bring the thunder to Chase Center. Expect that free throw number to go down even more in game 5.
3. D’Angelo Russell got bailed out. Lost among LW4’s heroics was an absolute stinker of a game from D-Lo. 1-10, 0-4 from three and an overall middling game, D-Lo must have been stoked to see Lonnie match Steph shot for shot in the 4th and the resultant win as it will forever cover over a game that could have been dissected endlessly if the Lakers had lost home court advantage and possibly the series. Still think D-Lo makes a ton of sense to keep, this is an early stage of his playoff career and he’s finding his own way as much as anyone not named James or Davis.
4. For us to lose the three point line battle and the points in the paint battle and still come away with a win is something special. They played a better overall game than us, honestly, it just came down to who made shots in the 4th and the Warriors felt that sphincter tighten up a bit, except Steph, and could not rise to the moment on the road. Game 4 is often looked at as the pivotal game (although the Lakers famously won game 4 against Phoenix only to get swept out of the last 3 games a decade or so ago so anything is possible) but we’ll need to play a lot better if we want to close this out in the Bay Area. We won’t pull this same game out at Chase Center. We need to take even better care of the ball and make a few more shots in the doing. The 11 extra points generated by The Stripe will not be available on the road, methinks.
5. LeBron and AD dominating. Hard to do a fiver of last night’s games and not mention the two stalwarts who made Lonnie’s heroics possible. LeBron still hasn’t had a dramatic scoring game in a win, yet, and AD got more shots off than normal. Only went to the line 3 times and still scored 23 (without taking a three pointer) so he had his overall game working. LBJ and AD are showing that, when they are healthy enough to play, they still form a dominant and hard to beat duo in a 7 game series. Between them and Coach ham’s sublime adjustments and rotation moves the Lakers are on the verge of proving a lot of doubters (like myself), haters (like a lot of planet Earth), and talking heads wrong. I don’t know what team has ever started 2-10 and made it to the conference finals but the Lakers a re 1 win from establishing that as thing that has been done. Need to complete the job ASAP and get to resting LeBron, AD and the rest of the James Gang.

I expect Steve to try and speed the game up even more with his younger guys, still haven’t seen a dominant game from Wiggins yet and Klay is always just waiting to erupt. The Lakers need to steel themselves for a little of all of the above, keep their composure and poise (which has definitely been an advantage) and just keep competing at a high level. Do that and I like our chances of winning 1 of the next 2 games and possibly even close it out on the road. Go Lakers.

The Lakers returned to Crypto on Saturday after a major league drubbing in game 2 at Chase Center. The Warriors have won everywhere in every scenario, riding a stellar game of shooting from everyone, and boasting a healthy roster. The game was over by halftime. The Lakers defense and style of play, especially at home, was just too much for the Warriors defense to overcome. What adjustment they can make is the question now.

1. Get up for game 3. There can be no sleepwalking, there can be no taking a quarter or a half off. We must come with another elite effort and keep on winning at home. The Lakers need to get excellent and stay excellent at 2 things: winning a game on the road in the playoffs and defending home court. To date the Lakers have done both and they need to maintain that level of focus and execution. The body will not be ready, you will be feeling fatigue. That’s where the mind comes into it and the Lakers need to be mentally sharp and rise to the challenge of going up 3-1.
2. Lonnie Walker’s big game. I’m not talking about his stat line, especially pre-garbage time, I’m talking about his appearance in the first half when he came in when Troy Brown normally does. He didn’t try and light it up, he didn’t force his shot, and he didn’t loaf on D. he did his job, he’s been an incredible professional (especially since the trade deadline when his minutes all but evaporated) and he has stayed ready and in sync with what the team is doing. He may not be a Laker next season but I can honestly say I am now a big Lonnie Walker the Fourth fan. I don’t know what role he has consistently on this team, especially during the playoffs, but the level of maturity and team before me LW4 has shown is really impressive.
3. LeBron taking less is more. 2-4 from three and he didn’t shoot the ball once in the first quarter, or the first 4 minutes of the second? That should be a recipe for Lakers disaster but it wasn’t. It gave D-Lo the room to start the game like a star exploding. It gave the Warriors a defensive problem because they know he can’t play decoy the whole game so they still had to have at least a body leaning his way, often two in the vicinity. It also saved him for an incredible stretch in the 2nd and 3rd quarters where he orchestrated the demise of Golden State in game 3 with an efficiency we haven’t really seen from him the playoffs until Saturday night.
4. AD wakes up. I know what he’s been saying, that he doesn’t play any differently from one game to another. The eye-test tells a different tale. More FGA’s in the paint than from outside. More engaged on D. A better player. Maybe it took him a film session to see how they switched up their coverage? Maybe he ate a better breakfast? Who knows and who cares, we just need that version of AD tonight…and as I’ve said a grip of times…in every game going forward.
5. Pound the paint and don’t stop doing it. Every settle-for jumper, every early shot clock three, every shot that isn’t a kick-out off a drive is a bad shot for this Laker squad in the playoffs. I accept a few D-Lo/LeBron heat checks from three. Other than that, drive it, relentlessly, into the defense and force the action at the rim and in the paint. It’s why we have such a wide free throw discrepancy, because we’re playing with power and strength. Golden State is, by far, the prettier team. But they don’t have an answer for AD in the paint altering shots and accumulating blocks. They don’t have an answer for our ability to at least show at the three point line and recover back into the paint. A lot of that is AD’s elite defense but there’s a lot of support coming from his teammates in the form of on-point backside rotations on the baseline and staying on guys in the corners. It all works only if it’s working together. that’s what was so impressive to me about LW4 coming in and executing the defensive game plan as if he had been running with the starters the whole time.

Another must-win game for a team playing must-win games for the last 2 months. Fire forges steel. The Lakers have been in the fire for a good while now and we see the team has forged into something that has special potential. Need to back the potential up with results and those happen on the court. Go get another one tonight. Go Lakers.

If you didn’t have ‘James’ or ‘Hachimura’ on your jersey last night you might as well have also gotten a ‘DNP-Content’ next to your name in the stat box. Seemingly content with their game 1 victory the Lakers looked sluggish, tired and generally disengaged for most of game 2. While it could also be said the Warriors were fighting for their playoff lives, the Lakers overall lackadaisical approach to game was frustrating for this Lakers’ fan.

1. I want to believe AD is ready for the next step in his career. But I can’t. Not because of a lack of talent but his overall mentality and disposition have shown us that he just ain’t that dude. Mongo been saying it since before he got here and ever since. At times, I’ll admit, I allow myself to be fooled. For a game or three AD will look unstoppable on both ends. Blocking shots, fighting for rebounds, scoring inside and out. You get caught up in it and believe he’s figured it out, he’s found that gear, whatever parable one wishes to create. Inevitably it’ll be followed by a game (or worse, a stretch of games) where he simply shows up. Middling impact, drifts around the floor, especially on offense, and isn’t aggressive. That was the AD we got last night. Here’s hoping he goes into hibernation for the rest of what season is left to us.
2. Wasted a vintage LeBron game. Looked like The King of old except that the rest of the team (save for one) no-showed the game. His assists were down, only 3, but that’s a byproduct of the house the Lakers seemed intent on building last night. It’s too bad because one has to wonder how many more of these kind of games, where he’s efficient inside and out, are left in LeBron’s career.
3. Rui found his shot. 8-14, with a sparkling 4-6 from three, Hachimura found that stroke early and kept it going. While he alone was not able to help LeBron keep the Lakers in the game in the second half it was a welcome sight.
4. Laker guards got schooled. All of them, even the ones who played in garbage time (OK, LW4 looked solid off the bench in GT). Simply put we can’t absorb bad games from all of Schroder, Russell, and Reaves. Combined they shot an abysmal 8-26 (1-9 from three), amassed 8 total rebounds and couldn’t stop Curry’s drives or Klay’s shots all game long. We’ll need those three to play a lot better if we want any chance at all.
5. Home cooking and some coaching adjustments. Need some shots to start falling, AD to return to playoff form, and a few tweaks to the D. As AD outplayed the Warrior front line in game 1, so did Curry outplay our back court in game 2. Toss in Klay going off and voila! Loss. We need our guys on the baseline to have one eye on Curry and the other on a potential cutter. That’s not a difficult adjustment but it does require the defender to keep their head on a swivel and not relax. We also need to stop relying on the refs. Yes, you got fouled on that drive. Play on. The whistles will dry up the further we go and we need to rise above it.

Still think we can get this done in 6.

The Lakers will be the road team no matter what path they take in these playoffs, not even if we meet fellow playin team the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. Thus it behooves them to get really comfortable winning a road playoff game and doing so early in the series to keep the pressure on the other team. This was, once again, accomplished last night as the Lakers found the defensive grit and overall tenacity to beat the Warriors in game 1 at Chase Center and take home court advantage for themselves. The work, however, is only beginning.

1. The James Gang is apt because this ain’t no one-man show. LeBron James will not be putting the Lakers on his back like he’s done with so many other squads in his lengthy career. In what can only be described as a mediocre (for him) showing from LeBron we still won the game. In the playoffs. On the road. LeBron still had a tremendous impact on the game but was neither efficient nor the best player on the floor. I’m sure there are a few incredible games left in LeBron, and hopefully they come in wins, but these NBA playoffs (and frankly since he passed Kareem) have shown a LeBron who is starting to decline in small ways. Luckily he now has a James Gang to support him and help him on his journey.
2. Anthony Davis and all the torch talk. Personally I still see this as a partnership between two superstars whose bodies aren’t their best friends. Still, if there is a torch being passed from LeBron to AD this season it’s also changing the appearance of the torch. The new torch is a defensive monster who outplayed Golden State’s front line almost single-handedly. The new torch is a shot blocking beast who altered even more than the stats will reveal. The new torch doesn’t rely on threes or fadeaways (although they are technically in the bag) but on abusing opponents in the paint and at the rim. Last night AD made history by joining the likes of Shaq, Kareem, Wilt and Elgin Baylor as the only Lakers to have scored 30+ points and grabbed 20+ rebounds while dishing out 5+ assists. Legendary stuff. I’m sure he appreciated the win more, though.
3. Jarred Vanderbilt’s defense. Still pumped we managed to get him as a throw in in the trade for Russell Westbrook. He makes everything work better, like the Lamar Odom’s and Rick Fox’s before him. The fact that he asked to guard Curry shows you how much belief he has in himself, how much humility and respect for the game he has (because you don’t ask for that assignment thinking “I’m shutting down Steph!” you ask for it knowing that your job is to make him work) and what an astounding work ethic he has. There will be adjustments made to neutralize The Vandolorian’s impact on Curry but that in and of itself is the sign of ultimate respect. Amazing game by JV.
4. Winning the rebounding game. Looney pulled down 23 rebounds (7 offensive which helped contribute to one of my Scary Stats regarding the Warriors) but no other player for Golden State pulled down more than 6 (Wiggins and Curry w/6 apiece). After that the drop off is even more precipitous with no Warrior grabbing more than 3. The Lakers did just well enough in the rebounding game with solid gang rebounding from the team, LeBron pulling down 11 of his own and AD matching Looney with 23 boards himself (only 4 offensive). This is the stat, along with turnovers, I’m watching the most. Lakers need to do their level-best to limit the number of extra possessions they give up.
5. Dennis Schroder’s huge impact. We’d been (OK, maybe just I…) waiting for a breakout performance from Dennis who was largely marginal in the Grizzlies series. Check that box. Pouring in a crucial 19 points Schroder filled the “Who is gonna step it up?” role in this win using efficient scoring, near-perfection from the free throw line, and z-e-r-o turnovers which helped keep the Lakers under 10 in that department (you know how I feel about those) and played the scrappy defense we’ve come to appreciate.

One last thing, don’t let the free throw discrepancy fool you. That’s a by-product of some bad defense by the Warriors (Looney smacking AD in the face, Poole choosing not to play defense on Schroder for much of the game and just slapping at the ball) and our overall style of play. We pound it inside and we don’t relent. We may not see that wide of a gulf again but I also doubt the Warriors will make so many threes.