5 THINGS

I blame LakerTom. On our podcast yesterday Tom and I mused about how we had turned the quarter on the bad 1st quarter curse that the lakers had struggled with most of the season. Whoops. So thanks a lot LT! I kid of course, but the issue returned in a big way and at the worst time.

1. Wheels turning round and round indeed. The Lakers just can’t seem to build anything sustained this season. In a season where the only consistent has been inconsistency the following stats are indicative of how utterly mediocre the Lakers have been in 2023-24. They have not put together a winning streak longer than 4 games all season long. This has been done 38 times by multiple teams all of which are in contention and even some, like the Hornets, who are not. We are currently 18th in offensive rating and 16th in defensive rating. 16th in total wins. This is a middle of the pack team, has been all season long, and there are few, if any, indications that this will be changing any time soon.
2. Some guys didn’t take AD’s message to heart. Russell, Rui and Reaves (my three R’s) are all playing like they enjoyed the break. DLo needs to get greedier, 14 shots when you’re shooting like he was is not enough. We needed DLo, and desperately need every game, to take 20 shots. Anything less deserves a stern finger-wagging from the coach. Reaves and Rui need to rebound better and make the hustle plays. They’re the grit guys until we get Cam or Vando back and they need to get down and dirty even if we’re fully healthy. Rui, who tends to disappear when the rebound goes up and not do, well, much of anything except stand there has to start making 10 rebounds a nightly goal. Get greedy on the glass and it will have a direct and dynamic impact on winning. I am singling out Hachimura because, were he to put his mind to it, I feel he could be a really good rebounder. Just needs to box out and track the shot better. Reaves being a glue guy needs to walk the finest line. Do I need to shoot more, pass more, or just make grit plays. The answer my good fellow is all three. Every night. For forever (ok, just until you retire).
3. Spencer looks more lost as the games go on. Not sure what the coaches had him work on over the All Star Break but it’s not working. On offense we’re not letting him be his best self where he’s making plays to guys for easy scores. With no Gabe Vincent on the horizon it’s imperative we get some kind of backup guard support from either Dinwiddie or Max, best would be a lil something from both.
4. Blaming the refs? Please. Look, there was a huge disparity (big enough to account for the amount of points we lost by) but there are just so very many other reasons we lost this game. Let’s start with the most obvious to me and that’s the rebounds. Nurkic made more hustle plays than the Lakers as a team combined. 54-31 rebounding edge to the Suns is all you really should be looking at and the 14 to 3 difference on the offensive glass tells an even more complete story. The bench, those that got to play more than 6 minutes…was a non-factor on the glass. That can’t happen. Durant alone matched the Laker bench in rebounds. Some of that is Ham went away from Hayes in favor of more Prince minutes. Some of that was because of the craptastic first quarter but a good coach doesn’t just coach the moment, he coaches the team and if you’re getting murdered on the glass it’s not really fair to expect the dude you station 30 feet out all the time who is not a good rebounder to begin with to take up the slack. FWIW the difference in fouls was just 14-12, Lakers took that stat by 2. So it was as much the timing of the fouls as anything else. Sad excuse no matter how you frame it.
5. I’m-a-gonna keep saying it until it sinks in: offense alone is not enough. The defensive intensity has to come up, especially with the guys we have out. We scored with great efficiency last night: 52.2% from the field overall, 42.9% from three. Those are not sustainable numbers for this team and they will not impact winning as expected when the defense fails to come up to the same level. If we’re waiting for the injured players to come back and fix this then the coach and front office has failed already. It can’t be just one or two players, although they do make a big difference. Boxing out isn’t a one man job. Fighting for loose balls isn’t a one man job. Everyone needs to stop whining to the refs about non-calls, we look more like Devin Booker these days than Kobe and that’s sad to type. Go talk to the ref and throw your hands up on your own time and get you ass back in the play. AD can’t be the only one giving his all on D and that’s what is happening now.

Doesn’t get any easier on Wednesday with an “away” game against the Clippers. These are the teams we need to prove ourselves against. So far we’re looking like a C/C+ team. Mediocre.

Well, here we are. The ASB, trade deadline and ASG (mercifully the latter) are behind us. While it would be wrong to call this the home stretch (that feels like it should the last 10 or so games) we have come to a defining stretch of games for this Lakers team. Again. With a slew of solid opponents but playing mostly at home the Lakers have yet another opportunity to distinguish themselves from the Playin herd and break into the Playoff pack. In short, it’s business time.

1. A defining moment for The Three R’s. Russel, Reaves and Rui in that specific order. Each has had their moment to shine and each has had some stretches of truly dud-style play. We need each of them to rise up to the level that gave the front office a reason to hand them a big money deal last summer. For the remainder of games, regular and playoff, we need these three to be the best versions of themselves. That means Russell needs to stay aggressive and hunt his own shot like he has been. That means Reaves needs to keep being one of the best glue guys in the association. That means that Rui needs to play with both power and grace like we know he can. It’s imperative that they take, and hopefully make, the open three point shots the offense creates for them fairly naturally. It’s also imperative that they make their presence at least felt on the defensive end. Most importantly they need to stay on the floor so no more injuries, especially for Hachimura whose season has been defined as much by his availability as his on court impact.
2. AD and LBJ just need to keep on playing. Not for any awards but because we have little hope of winning when they’re both out. Against some teams we can have one of either James or Davis out, although our defense takes a mighty big step back when AD is out, We can ill afford either one to go down with a serious injury and miss extended time. So I’m all in favor of an extra day or 3 for LBJ to try and get that ankle as right as it can get. Both guys might need a maintenance day here or there, especially with five more back-to-back games on the schedule. It’s on the rest of the squad to man up and fill the shoes as much as they can when one of their star players needs to tune up because we ain’t going anywhere in the playoffs with out them.
3. Speaking of health we could use some good luck moving forward in that regard. I hate excuses, everyone in the locker room is an excellent basketball players by the standards of planet Earth and needs to put their best foot forward on the daily. Even I can see what effect injuries have played on how this season has gone thus far. So with that it’s welcome news hearing that Cam and Max should be available tonight, that we should hear something in the next week or two regarding Vincent. It’s not so great hearing Wood is out with a knee issue and we know LeBron is just getting his mind and body as right as he can. I find it no small coincidence that, should LeBron miss exactly one game around each back-to-back remaining, he would still fall within one game of qualifying for the All NBA, MVP, etc. awards at season’s end. Gives him a one game buffer in the event the final game doesn’t really matter standings-wise.
4. We need to figure out how to squeeze more out of the small forward position. Taurean Prince, Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Cam Reddish have all given it a go. In my opinion the best fit is likely going to be out for awhile longer, if not the whole season. If that’s the case and Vando’s season is in the books already we need to focus on how to maximize the contributions of our remaining small forwards. I like Prince as a stabilizer off the bench but expect him to get the starting nod coming out of the break. While I prefer he and Dinwiddie coming into the game together with either Hayes or Wood to bring a veteran presence to the second unit that’s high on execution I can easily see Coach ham turning to his most durable player down the stretch. If Hachimura gets the nod I think that allows the Lakers to bring in the best mix of defense and offense and if they wanted to tilt more towards the defensive side I could see Cam getting the nod, just not after this lengthy time off recovering his ankle. We saw the same thing happen last season with LW4 in that he had to re-crack his way into playing time after months off dealing with a bum ankle. Currently Hachimura is listed as the starter and so here’s hoping that sticks. You just never can tell with our coach, though.
5. Define yourself, don’t let the opponent define you. AD hinted at the team (finally) discovering it’s identity. Defense-induced transition, paint points and efficient, in the flow threes. While you can’t control how many times you get to the free throw line you can make it a point to attack the defense and put yourself in the position to be rewarded with free throws. That does not mean hunting contact but rather attacking the rim and overly aggressive perimeter defenders. Where the lakers need to re-commit themselves is on the defensive end. Relying on AD is fine and good but augmenting his elite defense with NBA-average defensive effort will help the Lakers immensely. Finding another gear above average has the potential to transform the Lakers into something elite, although I’m not sure we can get there sans Jarred Vanderbilt.

All in all the season has been mostly defined by missed opportunities in a one step forward, two steps back kind of way. If we can change that, not go 6-4 over the next 10 but go something 8-2 we can start to redefine our season and maybe move up in the standings, too. Need to show we can beat Denver, the Suns and the Clippers in the next few games. You know they’ll be gunning for us. let’s do this. Go lakers.

That’s pretty much all a Lakers fan needs to see to perk them and put a lil pep in their step. And so it was that, without AD, LBJ and Vando 9after he left with a serious foot injury) the Laker still managed to hand the Celtics an L. In a word: radical.

1. Woo0hoo indeed. Nothing not to like about this game except for Vando going down. We dominated in pretty much every area and we did it with heart and effort. Other than Reaves and maybe Hayes nobody even had an other-worldly game. Everyone just did what they were supposed to have been doing all season long.
2. Reaves went OFF. Career highs, clutch baskets, and everything you could hope from the guy we saw flourish this summer in the FIBA games and played spectacularly down the stretch last season. There’s no reason why he can’t be this aggressive every single game, at least no reason i can think of. Shot’s not falling? OK then but you still keep on attacking and shooting, that’s how you get out of a slump anyhow.
3. DLo’s offense did not dictate his impact. One of my main gripes regarding Russell is how he generally lets the success of his offense control his overall in-game impact. Last night that wasn’t the case as we saw Russell struggle mightily from the field but still almost came away with a triple-double and was a leader on the court. Need more of this DLo going forward.
4. Hayes turning a corner? Sounds like he’s been putting the work in with the coaches, practicing defensive techniques to bring his fouling down. We saw it all on display last night, and in his defense he got some calls that went against him early on, as well. Jax stayed ready for his number to be called and had the best game of his young NBA career.
5. Vando out for several weeks. The one gloomy thing about this game was watching the Vandolorian hobble off. X-rays coming back negative didn’t provide the usual good news as it sounds like he’s seeking further medical opinions as to why his feet are killing him. Could be done for the season right when he was playing his best ball ever.

Incredibly we can still salvage this shit-show of a road trip and come back 4-2. Had you told me that was possible after back-t-back blunders against Houston and Atlanta without AD and LBJ going into the garden i would have laughed in your face. We;;, good on you for believing (if you did) and good on the Lakers for playing with ferocity. Now keep doing just that.