5 THINGS

The Lakers started their end of season run off on the right foot. Winning against an under-manned and struggling in general Warriors team was as close to a must-win game as one can get with 23 games left in the season. Lose and the questions continue, the identity as a team that wilts under pressure gains continues, the overall malaise that had built up around the team continues. Instead the Lakers took the first step in changing a season-long narrative of futility and ineptitude and gained ground on some key teams in the doing.

1. Off night for both LeBron and AD. There have been a couple games this season where AD or LeBron (or both) were out and the team came through with a win. none were as convincing as last night’s victory. With Davis and James combining for 8-25 shooting (25 points) and 21 rebounds the stage was set for a disappointing loss. The rest of the Lakers did an admirable job in picking up their two best players and, for a night at least, providing enough firepower to get them over the line with a W.
2. Reaves’ perfect night. Austin had a perfect night from the field and a solid game overall. While he didn’t force his offense he was still stellar and helped build a big cushion in the 3rd quarter, an area we’ve struggled in for the most part this season. In his post gamer Austin estimated he had hit the weight room and played “about 110 holes of golf” which is curious because there are 18 holes on most golf courses.
3. Shooter! Malik Beasley showed everyone yearning for a volume three point shooter that the place where shooters go to die won’t be claiming his soul, at least not yet. He was magnificent from beyond the arc, solid on defense with 3 steals and had a great game overall after D-Lo went down with an ankle injury. Great game from the new addition.
4. Worst coaches challenge ever? Darvin Ham has been pretty solid in terms of when and on what calls to deploy the coaches challenge this season. Last night he challenged one of the most blatant fouls called on a player I’ve seen in a long time. I know LeBron went apoplectic when the foul was called, that’s what he always does. Don’t waste those and don’t get caught up in your player’s emotions. Less than 5 minutes, maybe even 3 or 2, in close games is the only time to ever use a coaches challenge. Players will whine about calls. Always. Don’t let that effect the decision to use it.
5. D’Angelo goes down and then goes out. Bad timing for D-Lo when he rolled that ankle, hoping he comes back as it didn’t look too serious but would rather he get it under control now and come back strong. Injury bug came back after the break, too, unfortunately.

All in all I’m still taking this win with a small grain of salt. Warriors have had defensive and turnover issues all season long and that continued coupled with some bad shooting that wasn’t always the result of good Laker D. A healthy and hungry Dallas team looms on Sunday and that will be a solid challenge for the new squad, one that really hasn’t seen a complete, healthy and hungry team, yet. Need to keep on winning in-conference and division games, though, so this was a solid first step in the right direction.

The new look Lakers took the floor against the Golden State Warriors on their home floor where they have been extremely tough to beat and win despite a game that saw Anthony Davis handicapped by the refs as much as anything the Warriors. New faces (one old) all found way to contribute and the Lakers came out of the Bay Area with a much needed win.

1. Anthony Davis stymied by “tough” D. I felt for AD by the end of the game. Dude was fighting hard and just couldn’t get a call in the paint. Probably settled for a few too many midrange shots but he was usually open and he’s got to take those shots or drive it in. With the whistles being MIA it was hard to fault him opting for the jumper. Which was mostly off target.
2. D’Angelo looked like D’Angelo. A little stronger, a little less greedy in getting his shots, and still playing smooth. He won’t collapse the defense like Russ did or defend like Patrick can but if he just plays his game within what we do it should balance out to net neutral.
3. The art of flopping. It’s unfortunate that the NBA doesn’t reward strength, toughness or good fundamentals. You want the call on that moving pick you have to fling yourself sprawling to the floor. It’s silly, I don’t like it, but it works.
4. Jarred Vanderbilt is just what this team needs. I loved pairing him with Wenyan for a tall, active front court tandem. Could play those two with LeBron, D-Lo and Malik or any number of combos. He reminds me of a less polished, more active Lamar Odom and his play against the Dubs reinforced my feeling that he was the steal of our trade activity.
5. Ham learning. Called some late time outs instead of letting the players just feel it all out. Still went to some small lineups but also played AD and Vanderbilt together (unlike AD and TB which never saw the light of day or barely did). Better late than never.

Can’t keep winning a few and losing a few. Need to put together a 5-7 game win streak. At least need to go into the ASB on a winning streak. Honestly, wouldn’t mind LeBron sitting up to and through the ASB.

Everything changed and then everything stayed the same. The Lakers continued a mostly season-long trend of coming out quiet in the 3rd quarter which doomed them to another loss despite the flurry of trade activity conducted by Rob. With LeBron out resting a sore left ankle the burden fell to Anthony Davis to lift and like his future HOF cohort he couldn’t get it done. What Lakers remained did their best but it wasn’t enough despite a below average game from the Bucks.

1. So long ex-Lakers. To Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley, Damien Jones and Thomas Bryant I say thank you for your time in the purple and gold. A lot of you took more flak than you deserved, sometimes you also didn’t do yourself any favors and I, for one, wholly appreciated the fire and intensity this particular group of players (well…not really Jones…) played with every single night. I don’t care if egos get bruised or some eggs get broken making the meal. We saw a whole team of chummy buddies lose a shit ton of games last season. Getting along and feeling good does not a championship team make. We’ll see who lights a fire under the moribund team now because a lot of people are running out of excuses at this point.
2. Davis struggles against good to elite defense. AD had no answer to Brook Lopez’s defense except to move further away from the basket. He reverted back to an older shot profile, one that doesn’t lend itself to efficiency and it showed in his FG%. You could argue that Davis took what the defense gave him but I’d counter with he didn’t really even ever try and attack the rim and his lack of free throws shows that. Yes, Brook Lopez is the elite center we traded D’Angelo Russell for (to rid ourselves of the awful, awful Timofey Mozgov signing) and it wasn’t lost on me the irony of people hoping Mo Bamba has it in him to replicate that which we let get away because of our pursuit of a LeBron and AD tandem. At this point Brook has as many rings as our duo and is in a better position to get another one before we do. I’ve long thought that Brook was one of the best players we let get away and he showed that in every facet of the game last night by thoroughly outplaying AD.
3. Lakers didn’t do much rebounding. We got anhillated on the glass giving up 16 (!!!) offensive rebounds and losing the overall rebounding battle by 19. This is an area I’m not sure which guy we traded for makes up the difference of losing Russ and Bryant. For all the hoopla about how long Mo’s arms are his career high at 7’1″ is 8.1 rebounds per game in his highest MPG season, by far (25.7). That’s not going to get it done, especially since everyone seems to think he’s best stationed at the three point line rather than do his center job which is box out and rebound. In his 17 MPG this season he’s averaging a quite meager 4.6 boards. Since I don’t envision him doing more than backing up AD (at a pricey $10 million) we turn our eyes to Jarred Vanderbilt (my favorite player we traded for yesterday already). He at least has a rebounding mentality so I won’t be surprised to see him alongside Wenyan when LeBron and AD go to the bench over Bamba.
4. Austin Reaves with a bounce back game. Here’s hoping Austin knocked all the rust off last night. he had a great game after a middling affair after a lengthy stint on the IL. Starting or not (likely not) we need this version of Reaves consistently.
5. Hey, it’s Dennis Schroder. For at least one game Dennis looked good. After languishing through the game against OKC where he basically looked like a G-Leauger, Euro League Dennis showed up last night. Don’t know what he does on good game days but he needs to bottle it and replicate it in a lab, hopefully one run by David Hasselhoff.

Well, some new players are coming in and it’ll be anyone’s guess what this all looks like leading up to the ASB. My hope is we can go 2-2 before the break, get the new guys into some line ups of impact and give the staff some time to go over film and put some time in on some good ways to utilize them. Whether Rui continues starting is a valid question after his mediocre showing last night. He’s an up and down guy, so far, so it won’t surprise me if he quickly loses his starting spot to Beasley or Reaves or LeBron and we go big with Vanderbilt or Bamba. I have no real clue, honestly, a lot of these guys were running the show or had a steady role on their older teams and that’s not necessarily going to happen here. How they adjust to that and figure how to fit in…and how long that all takes…will now define the Laker’s season along with the game to game health of LeBron and AD. Here’s hoping they’re fast learners.

LeBron James did something few thought possible. He passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the NBA All-Time Scoring list and now stands alone atop a pile of some of the best buvket-getters to ever lace them up. What this accomplishments means is something best left to the scholars. For myself, I did get a bit emotional not just because of what it must mean to a person to break a record like that but also because Kareem has always been my favorite player. I like that he’s brusque, focused on things more off the court than on and he had an unstoppable shot nobody has been able to replicate. Like many things of his era Cap was one of a kind.

1. Kareem’s legacy is one of repetitive excellence conducted amongst swirling chaos around him. But his space that he occupies is both controlled and fluid. He rarely scored quickly, always measured. His game was forged from his time spent at UCLA under Coach Wooden, his sparring sessions with the legendary Bruce Lee, and a lifetime of fighting against racial and religious stereotypes. He alienated many on his journey, something that many believe is why he’s not more celebrated. I think it’s simpler: he was too good at what he did and if you can’t copy greatness it’s not celebrated to the same degree. Take Edie Van Halen, his way of playing guitar was once unique but then was able to be replicated to a large degree by many others. Same with Michael “Air” Jordan. While he made his name dunking the ball from the free throw line he became a legend because of his fade away jump shot. Lots of players use the same move to create space to this day. LeBron broke the record using that shot. Nobody can shoot the Skyhook and few try. So it will will one day pass from all knowledge and existence save for clips some media producer chooses to show on TV or the internet.
2. LeBron’s legacy is one built on power, ferocity and a sustained level of efficiency rare for a modern NBA player. LeBron came into the league with more expectations than perhaps any player in NBA history up to that point. This will likely be surpassed this summer when Victor Wembanyana dons a cap from one team or another when he’s selected first. LeBron’s game came with holes at the beginning. He always was a willing passer but had to grow as both a defender and scorer. He made his early living punishing people in the paint by simply jumping over them. He made a career by adding to his game over time like all the greats have done. He also had the benefit of modern sport medicine and so on to aid in extending his career. The same could be said for any player in any era several years removed from the last time a record was broken and it still takes the dedication of time and energy to go through the process. At any rate, I got emotional seeing the awkward exchange being The Captain and The King, two men who have some differences of opinion but share an appreciation for each other’s skill and accomplishment.
3. Coach Ham needs to cut down on his learning process and fast. We had bad match ups far too often last night playing our older, smaller guys too much (Schroder in particular was devastatingly bad last night just giving the ball away a few times and missing all 5 of his three pointers, he looked slow most of the game except a couple of times he used a burst of speed to shake loose for layups). Coach Ham evidently doesn’t believe in extending the game in order to win because he left two time outs in the chamber when we needed to lengthen the game by a few seconds to even have a shot. Despite the make up of OKC (long, athletic, fast) we didn’t play Wenyan Gabriel or Max Christie a single minute and barely played Reaves (the latter making his first appearance after a lengthy stint on the IL). I can understand not playing Austin too much, he didn’t have much of anything going in his 7 minutes, but we needed someone to counter the length of OKC but we stayed with our small ball line up. Again.
4. Too many turnovers. 20 with Russ leading the way with 6 but every starter had at least two and both our starting guards (who are PGs by trade) had 3. LeBron wasn’t far behind Russ with 4. Still, the Lakers were the better team in capitalizing points off turnovers the costliest TO was Dennis when he basically just let Shai take the ball away from him while he dithered on the perimeter.
5. Anthony Davis has to defend and rebound if he isn’t going to score. AD was an after thought in this game and that can’t happen. 9 shots (made 6) and 8 boards along with a steal and a block all look OK. My issue was his overall lack of aggression, he just kind of floated from one end to the other, wasn’t assertive and didn’t do much to alter the outcome of the game.

Wasting history seems to be the Laker M.O. these days. The crowd was amped, we were playing a team we need to pass, and we kind of showed up. That is absolutely unacceptable. LeBron showed up, Russ showed up, PatBev showed up as much as he is able (which isn’t enough to justify $13 mil, IMO) and Rui showed up. That’s not a team that’s most of a line up. Guys made baskets but didn’t defend the three point line at all. The defense has fallen off a cliff since the calendar turned to 2023. Not winning anything with anyone that way.

The Lakers got back on the good foot last night against a surging Knicks team and snapped a 4 game OT losing streak in the process. While not the prettiest of victories, it was one a sagging Lakers desperately needed in order to have a shot at pulling off a winning road trip. Plenty of good play all around with some puzzling miscues.

1. LeBron James passed Mark Jackson and Steve Nash on the All Time Assists list. All of these records speak to two astounding facts: LeBron James is really good at basketball and he’s been good for a very long time. Assists are a finnicky stat because they require a buddy to get one. Can’t pass a dime to yourself, that’s travelling. Passing NBA luminaries like Jackson and Nash has become common place with LeBron in the purple and gold. Fortunately, this milestone also came with a win.
2. Schroder’s half court heave. I’ve never seen a player more despondent after making a shot like that than Dennis, who was pissed at himself for a couple bad plays on both ends in the first half. Quickley was more excited about the shot than Dennis was, who didn’t even watch as it went in.
3. Rui Hachimura looking like a solid addition. Considering what we were getting out of Kendrick Nunn on a consistent basis this is a lifeline. Wearing #28 in honor of Kobe and Gigi Rui has already earned a starting look and a place in the closing line up. He hasn’t disappointed with steady all-around play, timely shooting and better than advertised defense encapsulated by the longest goal-tending review in league history (they decided he blocked Brunson’s shot at the apex in OT which really helped seal the win). If he continues to supplement the offense and defense like he has been you can expect Rui’s value to raise prior to the summer but, all in all, this looks like a gold star worthy addition by the front office.
4. Max Christie going to school, taking lessons. Max had a learning game last night and it’s one I hope serves him well. He took and made the open shots (including a ridiculous three off a Westbrook pass with a second or so on the shot clock that he drilled) and played pretty solid defense. He got eaten alive by Brunson’s quickness and stop/start game he deploys so very well. he also struggled to match the physical guys he got switched onto a few times to the tune of 5 fouls in 13 minutes. He didn’t really hang his head, he’s soaking up some valuable lessons and likely will still get minutes until Austin Reaves comes back.
5. Russell’s late dominance. I was just reading how it took over a year for Miami’s Big Three (James, Wade, Bosh) to gel and play within an acceptable hierarchy between each other. It reminded me very much of the growing pains Russ, James and AD have been going through. Last night we needed Russ in OT to create a couple easy looks for Davis (who struggled with multiple coverages all game long). Westbrook had three assists and nifty bank shot in OT after we had the lead with a couple minutes to go in the 4th and let that slip away in a hail of bad shots, missed free throws and poor overall execution on both ends. A game after being benched in the 4th (but summoned for juice in OT) Russ got a chance to show everyone what he can do when he plays with a higher level of focus and channels all that raw energy into the game.

Indy and NOLA will finish off this trip and both are winnable games. Barring an astounding explosive offensive burst LeBron will likely pass Kareem at home against either OKC or Milwaukee. Whether the team around him looks the same is, as yet, TBD, but one thing is certain: it’ll be a pretty big let down if he passes Cap in a loss so here’s hoping the best version of his teammates shows up on that night.