Feels good. Feels real good to see the Lakers moving on to round two of the NBA playoffs. There’s no getting around it, this is one wacky season of basketball. Let’s dig in.

1. Davis and James were incredible. No stats needed, as we’ve said we’re going where they take us. But last night felt like something more serious, like they had finally chosen to start using the pick and roll a little more, that they’re finding the groove they need in order to know when one or the other needs to take over a little more and how to diversify that attack to keep defenders back on their heels. Davis’ personal 11 point run to all but seal the game was great to see as a long suffering Lakers’ fan. Kudos gents, on to the next round.
2. Laker defense won this series. For all the talk about how our three point shooting was lacking or we looked like we couldn’t get the looks we need to the real thing that carried this series win (which will be the exact same thing that enables us to win any other series) was our team defense. Tip of the cp to Kyle Kuzma on this one. WHile certainly not the best defender on the team his willingness to step up and play with a lot more focus and passion on that end is a big reason why this series ended in 5 games. He and Caruso off the ben ch together are allowing James and Davis to not have to carry the load on both ends. The starting five is solid but having two more guys who are locked in on D coming off the bench is a luxury few teams have and one that may just help us take this all the way to the trophy presentation ceremony.
3. Round of virtual applause for the Trailblazers. It took a lot out of them just to get to the playoffs and they had enough left to Iverson a game out. That was about it though. Lillard got hurt (and even prior t getting hurt looked pretty gassed), the short rotations got shorter, and the trio of McCollum, Dame and Melo just wasn’t enough without another guy stepping up huge every night. That team is a couple healthy guys and a Hassan Whiteside trade away from being a pretty thorny team to contend with. Ariza not being there hurt but it also allowed Melo to shine at the 3 (and shine he did). Regardless of what happens going forward this Portland squad has nothing to hang their heads about. They fought hard, competed with honor and gave it their best shot.
4. Some more rest. Sometimes too much time away from the court is a bad thing. In the Bubble this would seem especially concerning, especially if OKC forces the series to a full 7 games. But for the Lakers I don’t think that’s the case. We got veteran guys in roles they know, we got a solid coaching staff that will have time to prepare and now that the Lakers have moved on they can invit more people into the Bubble. Hopefully some quality time with friends or family will get the team even more locked in.
5. Bring on the next opponent. Personally I’d rather OKC take Houston out in the first round so we can mercifully see the end of that experiment. Houston on defense at this point is a lot of holding, cheap fouls and threes followed by a grip of whining about everything. Pretty sure that team calls to complain to the hotel staff on the reg. OKC is like a slightly better version of Portland. Traditional bigs down low, PG with epic skills, decent parts around that configuration. The Rockets are going to try and score 150 points per game to beat you. If I’m being honest, I think it’ll be the Rockets. wah wah waaaaaahhhhh…

So enjoy this Laker victory, we’ve moved on to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since Phil Jackson was head coach, and I hope we continue to move deeper into the playoffs. It’s an odd and exciting time to watch basketball is the only sure thing right now.

Wow. While I had hoped that we would win the game on Mamba Day I didn’t know it would take on an unearthly quality. When we went up 24-8

I had a feeling that something special was in the making and it was.

Let’s dig in.

1. A fitting tribute to Kobe, Gigi and everyone who passed away in the helicopter crash. I watch the Spectrum broadcasts whenever they’re available. For this game I thought it especially fitting. Stu noticed the 24-8 score instantly, it blew up the internet soon after. They went through the names of everyone who died a couple times. It’s easy to for Lakers fans to focus on Bryant, 41, and Gigi, 13, but the crash also claimed the lives of Payton Chester, 13; Sarah Chester, 45; Alyssa Altobelli, 14; Keri Altobelli, 46; John Altobelli, 56; Christina Mauser, 38; and the helicopter’s pilot, Ara Zobayan, 50. The NBA, city of Los Angeles, County of Orange and the NBA all did a great job paying homage. I wanted to do the same. You will all be missed.
2. LeBron James’ masterpiece of a game. All the eulogizing, street naming et al is cool. But I don’t think Kobe would have appreciated anything as much as he would have loved watching LeBron put together as perfect a playoff game as one could imagine. In a scant 28 minutes James poured in 30 points on a ridiculously efficient 12 shots. He was 4-5 from three point line, made 6-8 free throws, made every 2 pointer he tried and he did it in 3 quarters. He dished 10 assists and grabbed 6 boards with a block for good measure. LeBron was other-worldly last night and I hope this level of play continues on all the way to the moment he hoists the Larry O’Brien trophy.
3. Anthony Davis sitting out most of the game. Before he sat out the majority of the victory with back spasms (in his post-gamer on Spectrum he said he could have gone back in, everyone was playing great so he had the luxury to sit it out and is 100% going to play in game 5) Davis was putting as good a game as LeBron was. Portland has no answer whatsoever for AD. Whiteside is too slow, Nurkic too undisciplined, he’s passing well out of doubles…or splitting them…and he’s getting to the line. In 18 minutes he shot 5-8, got to the line 10 times making 8, and added 5 boards, 5 dimes, a steal and 2 blocks. I think it’s safe to say he finally found his All-Star caliber Bubble mojo.
4. The starting five playing like they’re our best players. Everyone in the starting line up played great. JaVale was Godzilla-like on defense blocking shots, grabbing boards and forcing the opposing big to guard him and not sag. Danny Green found his game by not settling for threes and driving the ball into the paint. KCP was solid. The starting 5 shot great from three (9-14), played great defense (2 steals and 9 blocks). The best part was no starter played more than James’ 28 minutes setting us up for…
5. The Bench Bunch! Bench Mob was the moniker bestowed upon the Jordan Farmar, Lamar Odom, Sasha Vujacic-era Laker bench. This is a new bunch and they got a lot of playoff burn last night. This marked the second game in the series where some of the guys on the Laker bench played near starter minutes and everyone but the G-Leaguers got some run. Led by Kyle Kuzma the bench of the Lakers has a lot more to offer than Portland’s bench does.

Portland looks gassed, some guys who don’t play often got in to the blowout last night and you could see why they aren’t getting meaningful minutes. The Blazers are really missing the flexibility Zach Collins brings, Melo and Whiteside are pulling a few too many shenanigans instead of just playing hard, and C.J. can only do so much. They can’t afford to lose Damian (awaiting his MRI from earlier today) and if he’s out for the next game I think we’ll see LT’s prediction of a 5 game series come to be. If he’s in I think Dame has enough magic in him to push it to a game 6. We’ve all but erased any chance of getting to 7 games and Portland’s only hope to pull this out is to force the series to 7. I just don’t see it happening. Too few bodies for the Blazers to throw at the Laker juggernaut which just a week ago looked vulnerable. Not any more.

Wow, that had all the makings of a game 3 disaster. Portland had guys stepping up, we had issues in places that usually lead to losses but in spite of it all the Lakers pulled out the win!

1. Attacking the rim. Lakers missed 15 free throws (28-43)…still won! It was one of those nights where even AD had struggles at the stripe. , he only hit 50% (7-14). LeBron missed 5 and in fact every Laker that shot a free throw missed at least 1 free throw (except KCP, 2-2). We got to the line a ton though by attacking the rim, attacking the mismatch and staying in attack mode all game long.
   
2. Coughing it up. We had turnover issues last night, especially LeBron (8!!!) but we overcame those by staying focused on driving the ball into the defense and forcing the issue at the rim. In all honesty, if you just looked at how the Lakers played in the stat sheet and didn’t see the score you might come away thinking we lost.
   
3. The greatness of Anthony Davis. It’s no secret how up and down Davis has been in the Bubble. Here one game, gone for a few, hey he’s back, whoops-there he goes again… But for 2 games running he looks like the dominant version of Davis we got accustomed to in the regular, regular season. He was in beast-mode on defense (3 blocks and 2 steals), cleaned the glass (11 boards) and hit shots from everywhere inside the arc (0-2 from three, 9-16 from everywhere else) and he forced his way into 14 foul shots (we mentioned his waaaaay below average above, no need to harp on it).. The dude was unstoppable and is the singular reason I think we’ll win the series.
   
4. LeBron James flirting with a quadruple-double!!! OK, one of those would have been 10 turnovers so not THAT exciting but the dude is locked in and focused. Shot great from three (4-8) grabbed one more board than Davis (12) and even shot and made more free throws (12-17). The last stat is good news for Laker fans and James himself, he had not been getting any love from the refs having to endure hits to the head, dudes all over his arms on his drives and the regular level of increased contact that is allowed in the context of his game. Hopefully we can bottle most of this performance (with the TO’s filtered out, please) and brew a batch of 14 more.
   
5. Alex Caruso looking good. AC was a dynamic force once again. Asked to be the back up point guard it took Alex a few games to re-acclimate himself to that role, again. He’s looking like he’s finding the right mix, especially on offense where he was aggressive and accurate. His 7 assists were huge as they allowed James to focus more on his all around game and not just directing the offense. When Caruso plays like that, hitting the open shots given to him, finding his teammates for baskets in the flow and being his normal defensive ace self he helps to unlock the best versions of his teammates.

It was just one game, Dame looked like he was still adjusting to playing with a dislocated finger, Melo was off early but really caught fire after the first quarter, and CJ McCollum was only good, not great. For Portland to win those three have to be more efficient than they were (credit the Laker defense a little but they also missed a fair number of make-able buckets) and they need someone from their bench to contribute something. Gary Trent Jr. was the only guy off the bench who brought much game and the Lakers exposed his lack of size on LeBron all game long. Trent is game but there’s no question he’s out of his depth on that match up. I expect Portland to make some adjustments between now and Monday and that we won’t get quite so many favorable whistles, either. We’re a long way from moving on to the next round but this was a great effort.

8 years, 3 months and 2 days or so. Last Laker playoff victory. Mike Brown was the coach. D’Antoni didn’t win one. Luke never got there. Here we are. Very enjoyable.

1. “Here we go!” That first quarter was a long time coming and when I was watching it I could only think one thing: Blazers are in trouble. We were defending hard and with good instincts. Danny Green still couldn’t throw it in the ocean but he was stellar on D. McGee was outplaying Nurkic on both ends, LeBron and AD were more engaged. Most of all Kentavious came ready to play and got off to a great start. Second unit didn’t let their foot off the gas, either. But the starting 5 were all stellar tonight, set a tone and the whole team carried that energy throughout the game. That’s how we need to be every night.
2. “Nobody is gonna stop-” a Laker team that’s playing like this. This was as perfect a playoff game as the Lakers could play. Conversely this was just about as bad a game as the Blazers could play. So now an odd conundrum arises, as of yet to be fully defined, is how does a total lack of home court advantage affect an NBA playoff series? My bet is quite a bit, that teams with more inherent talent come out on top and that while there may be more upset games there will be fewer total upset series. We shall see, we shall see.
3. “Lit to pop.” Because of the margin of victory and complete lack of shots made by Portland the score was as wide as it was. But don’t let that fool you, we hit a ton of shots when the game was yet to be determined. KCP was hot from three, AD was on fire and somehow J.R. Smith cast up 9 (5 more than any other Laker!) three-pointers hitting 3. A luxury for the team with some key guys still adjusting to getting some playoff-level burn.
4. “And the water will run.” The modern NBA game is all air and fire these days. Chucking and gunning, defense when the game is on the line…maybe. The Lakers have one of the earthier line ups in the NBA, as throwback as it is analytical, but it’s at it’s best when it flows like a powerful river. Our defense is rarely on a string, rather we have excellent free safeties in Davis and James. But their ability to disrupt an offense is enabled by other guys controlling the flow, funneling players like rocks in a stream guiding water. Even our fast-break has a slow flow rather than an explosive burst. Like a kayak about to encounter some rapids. Tonight that was on full display. While we didn’t out fast-break Portland we held our own and didn’t let their leak outs disrupt our flow.
5. “Hum, hum along with me. Hum along with the TV. Go!” This shit is weird man. It is, no other way to describe it. The Lakers are the more talented team, if our guys play to type we ought to dominate the glass more often than not, ought to force turnovers with the best of ’em and we just need some guys to hit some shots to support LeBron and Anthony. LeBron scored 10 points and we blew them out. Wacky man.

No crowds, all televised. Going to be hard to maintain a normal playoff-level focus. Need to bring a quiet intensity every night.

The Lakers, like the Bucks, may find that they are running short on time. The juggernauts that were rolling pre-COVID are now sputtering on fumes in the Bubble. They roll hard in fits and spurts but just do not seem to resemble the well-oiled and fine-tuned machines that we saw back in early March. Talked about adapting today, now we see where the rubber meets the road.

1. Patterns in the Bubble. As much as inconsistency has defined the Lakers Bubble reboot there have been some things they seem to do consistently. One of those things is start poorly. That held true tonight, again. Sloppy, uninspired play from the starting 5. This won’t do in the playoffs. You can’t cede entire quarters to the other team on a regular basis. Whatever changes need be made should not be off of any table, board or iPad at this point. It’s the playoffs, adapt or die.
2. No motion from either KCP or Danny Green on offense is one of the biggest issues. Green is doing his thing, KCP is doing his thing…but both their things overlap, it’s too much of the same thing. That’s on the staff for not recognizing that through 8 seeding games. The mistake has been trying to replace Avery Bradley rather than redefine the starting five’s roles. With Bradley, well, it doesn’t matter ’cause he ain’t here and for good reason. I made that mistake in my mind, too, but I’m not on the staff. I have now long been of the opinion that we should start Waiters to get a more aggressive, decent ball handler, with a solid chip on his shoulder, alongside LeBron and AD to start games. Whether it’s Green or KCP that goes to the bench doesn’t matter to me, you have the same role with different syntax with either player.
3. Lakers Largers showed up big. Both McGee and Howard came to play. Both were victims of terrible play by their teammates or not being on the floor when it mattered. Both will be needed as we move on through the playoffs. AD doesn’t want to bang with centers. Ever. He’ll do it here and there but I distinctly remember a possession where he and Morris were on the floor and Hassan Whiteside floated into the lane for an uncontested dunk because both guys were defending perimeter players and forgot one of them was the center. In a playoff game. The Lakers are going to start one of McGee and Howard every game during the playoffs. Likely McGee. They will not be starting Kyle Kuzma save for injuries sake. It’s what has gotten them the number one seed in the western conference. They won’t be going away from that except, maybe, against Houston and I don’t think they’ll do it for the first game, maybe not even the second. But they may be forced too against the Houston Lilliputians, er Rockets…
4. Crunch time execution. We just didn’t have it. Under two minutes we didn’t look like we had a clue where we wanted points to come from. That’s on us, Portland is not a top flight defensive team, they outscore teams. We let Portland get what they wanted, where they wanted, from whom they wanted when the game was on the line with guys you would expect to be better. Too much KCP for me in the 4th, would have put our best line up (Caruso, Green, LeBron, Kuzma, Davis) in around 3-4 minute mark, just another reason we need AD and Dwight for the first 43ish minutes of the game.
5. Making free throws but also the referees. I haven’t really brought it up but it has to be said. We’re getting whistle jobbed in the Bubble. LeBron isn’t getting any respect at all, there’s a different set of rules for pushing off for us, had to take a coaches challenge, early, to reverse an obvious charging call. Having said that, AD was 12-17, those free throws change the complexity of the game. LeBron missed two in the final 5, that changed the complexity of the game. Your superstars need to make them.

We got time. We showed some solid stretches in the 2nd and early 4th quarter. Let the odd whistles mess with our mojo. Couple things go our way in the 4th, different ball game. Move on, keep improving. The same lack of energy on our supposed home court won’t be there for theirs. One of the reasons I said 7 game series was just as much a matter of adjusting to the reality of these playoffs as anything else. No crowd has to be super odd, for all parties, refs included. It was never supposed to be easy.

Go Lakers!!!

Honestly, that’s about what I expected. The real issue would have been if it took more than handful of games to clinch. Like if the clinching game had come down to the wire. It did not. While it may not mean much, it does mean something.

1. The length of this journey depends on one thing and one thing only. OK, two things. LeBron James and Anthony Davis. We go where they go. ALl of the X-factor, new guy, young guy, which center, style of play doesn’t really matter. If there’s a line up that has AD, LBJ and pick yourself three players that is knocking out of the park in the playoffs we will be going with those guys in crucial moments and to end the game. Could be any number of guys who had any number of roles up until this point. Doesn’t matter what you did before. It matters what you do now.
2. Spacing and flow. These will be big issues for us, especially if we have games where we struggle with the three ball as much as we have in more than few games. Again, this comes down to who else is hitting them. Danny Green discovers his true self? Dope, you’re getting paid the money to be 3rd fiddle but haven’t really occupied the seat thus season, be wonderful to have our first chair fiddler for the big dance. Kyle Kuzma? Awesome, way to take concrete steps in cementing the notion that of all the young Lakers traded away you were the one that had what it takes to contribute to a championship culture. Quinn Cook? My man, I had high hopes for you all season and if you turn it on when it matters most that’s fine by me. Dion Waiters? Sweet, do all you can to take control of your narrative back. J.R. SMith? Way to prove you weren’t ready for the retirement rocker. Alex Caruso? Great, that means we have a solid 2-way player on our hands. THT, radical. That would be great for him, great for the Laker G-League team and another feather in the cap for our scouting department. You get the picture. However it breaks that results in W’s.
3. Frank has to do better. Not thrilled with Bubble Frank as much as I was pre-COVID Frank. It’s duly noted that this was, largely, an experimental slate of games but I still didn’t much care for the experiment. I think he has the chops, he has the pulse of the team, and that when his key guys are healthy he can fashion a very efficient NBA defense. If James is healthy and enough other guys hit shots his offense looks great. When anything above is slightly off-kilter, or we miss an an abysmal number of free throws, we look like a pretty mediocre team. Here’s hoping there are some new looks we see in the playoffs.
4. JaVight McHoward. We’re going to need them. I can see a reduced role against the Rockets. After that we’re going to need one of those 2 to show up in every single series. It makes AD better when they play well, gives LeBron an easy lane to get assist of lobs and rim-rolls, and it improves our spacing for drive and kicks. In a lot of ways you can trace many of our Bubble struggles back to the struggles of both players. Dwight looked like he was coming on late, which is good, but our first unit functions better when JaVale is contributing and he simply hasn’t. If that means we try switching the role of the bigs I, for one, am down. Whatever needs be done.
5. Stay healthy. Honestly, outside of Rondo, we’ve been pretty fortunate when it comes to the injury bug and we that luck to hold for 16 more wins and whatever number of games it takes to get there. LeBron resting his groin wasn’t great news but let’s not forget the code teams need to speak in when it comes to load management. The Lakers are going to need a healthy LeBron and AD to go anywhere. Those 2 are going to need the best versions of the supporting cast to get there. We need as many guys ready to contribute as we can suit up.
   
   At any rate, it’s here! The first Laker playoff run in a damned long time and I’m pumped. Apocalypse or no, tin-pot dictator threatening to break the country, whatever planet Earth throws at us? Whatever…we’ll deal with that later because we got NBA playoffs before November! Kidding aside, we need all of you Lakerholics, too. So stay safe, be well and let’s get this one together…apart…from home…in Orlando!

Go Lakers!

Alright, alright. A win is a win and we’ll take a couple of them where we can get them. While these last few games have had zero impact on the Laker seeding, the Laker psyche has been bruised and beaten down a bit. Losses to inferior teams, inexplicable no-shows in terms of in-game involvement and slew of missed jump shots have brought us to the point where LeBron James himself has proclaimed the Lakers as ‘not mentally ready for the playoffs’. That needs to, and can, change.

1. Kyle Kuzma playing his best basketball with LeBron James and AD on the floor. This has been the brightest spot on these dim post-conference-clinching games. Furthermore, it’s the one thing that pretty much needed to happen for the Lakers to have a true shot at winning a title, especially with Bradley not being a part of this. Kuzma needs to be a threat off the bench and he needs to keep his mind focused and ready for his number to be called in odd moments. He said it himself in his post gamer, that he would be starting on most NBA teams. That’s true, and to his credit, he also acknowledged that now he plays behind 2 of the best on the planet. That’s also true. It’s taken time for Kuz to get both his mind and body right at the same time. It looks like he has and it couldn’t have happened at a better moment.
2. The Mystery and majesty of Alex Caruso. In all reality he shouldn’t have this much of an impact on an NBA game. He played in only 20 minutes, missed all his shots, missed all his free throws, had only 4 assists and 2 steals. But the way he plays emboldens the team, throws a wrench in what the other team tries to do, and he just has…a knack…for being on the floor when the game swings. AC’s +21 was a big reason we got on the right side of the W/L column last night.
3. Danny Green making some shots. I’d wager Danny would be the first one to tell anyone in ear shot that he’s had an off-season this year. Before the Bubble, in the Bubble, doesn’t matter. That shot just hasn’t fallen with the same frequency in season’s past. It won’t matter if he gets hot in the playoffs and hits 3’s off of LeBron or AD drive and kicks. The Lakers need him to be that floor spacer we desperately need when Davis and LeBron share the floor with him. His defense has been solid, as usual, but we need more for the money he’s getting and the rep he’s certainly earned.
4. Waiter’s bouncing back. Dion had sat a game, and had tailed off a bit after his hot Bubble start. He looked good again last night and, like the 3 dudes above him, we’ll need this kind of steady contribution (frankly even a little more) if we’re going to have a chance. He has the skills and savvy to put a lot of pressure on opposing defenses, especially when he’s on the floor with LeBron or AD, and we need him to stay aggressive but in control. I think he’s more than up to the task.
5. Cleaning the offensive glass. The benefit to playing large, like we generally do, is you ought to have a couple of the bigger guys on the floor. Meaning you should also get your share of rebounds. Offensive rebounding has, for whatever reason, become a passe’ stat. Coaches prefer to have the transition defense get back and cover the three point line or slow down the point of attack. I get it. And it makes sense in a lot of ways. But the goal is to put the ball in the basket and if a big dude can grab you some offensive rebounds and get you a put back or kick out three…well, that doesn’t suck.

All in all, I didn’t get too low during the little losing streak and I won’t be getting too pumped for this win. The big takeaway, for me, was Kuz having the coaches and team’s trust to take and make the shot off the curl play. Great draw up from Frank (admitted himself he stole it from Mike Budenholzer, lol) and it’s nice for the team to not have to talk about a loss. But there’s a long way for us to go before we feel playoff ready. As hot and strong as we were rolling before COVID we’re still warming up to life in the NBA Bubble. It is what it is, as they say…but we can do better and I think we will. Still tuning up, finding legs and integrating. Couple games to get some flow going, get into the groove, and come out on top!

One thing can unequivocally stated: the Lakers aren’t earning any style points with their play inside the Bubble. While the lack of execution, shooting and overall lackadaisical nature of how the Lakers a re playing is certainly not without concern, it’s still not what will define their time in the Bubble. That is still to come.

1. One way or another the Lakers need to come together fast. It’s all nervous Lakers fans want to see: LeBron effortlessly dropping 10 dimes/game like before, Anthony Davis being a threat on both ends, the bench playing with fire, role-players executing their roles. Unfortunately, as in all life, it’s just not that easy. We’re seeing a Laker team in a state of mid-season flux. Not only are we rebooting the season, we lost a major rotational player and we’re incorporating 2 new ones. Breathe, relax, there are a lot of positives to take away from this stretch of play.
2. Laker defense is still pretty solid. We have a top five defense inside the Bubble. Given the loss of Bradley and the fact that the new additions aren’t defensive stalwarts that’s impressive. It’s also good news concerning our playoff chances.
3. biggest issue is our outside shooting followed by no offensive flow. Free throws are third but I don’t see an elixir or balm that will soothe that woe. Outside shooting needs to improve, no question. It’s obvious that we’re still finding our legs and our grooves. We’re an older team, the younger squads seem to be adjusting to both the disputed schedule and life in the Bubble better than older teams. Just a feeling, no hard data on that notion, just a vague sense watching the games. No offensive flow I’m less worried about. We’ve barely played the same rotation game-to-game as Coach Vogel continues to see what combinations produce what results. This, for the Lakers, was always going to be a weird training camp/preseason hybrid. Especially after we clinched.
4. T.J. Warren is a baller. Suns will kick themselves for letting such an explosive and talented scorer go. For cash considerations, at that. That dude is destroying right now and could be a big factor in the eastern conference playoffs. Don’t quite see how Indy goes all the way…but it is the playoffs and anything can happen.
5. 8th seed might not be easy pickings. If we face a full-strength, hungry team from Portland I can only say this: I’m glad we’re not playing at the Rose Garden. We play terribly there, LeBron plays terribly there and if we do have to play the Trailblazers it feels like the Bubble is as good a place as any for that to happen. If it ends up being the Grizz, I like our chances much better but will still be a hard contest, especially if our issues scoring the ball continue.

Look, these games haven’t been exciting or hope providing. Most of them have been the polar opposite. But take heart, Vogel is still experimenting, still tinkering. Last night in his post-gamer he said he had yet to use his playoff rotation. That’s good news. So here’s hoping we win out and have a shred of momentum going into the real season.

Boing. Bonk. Clang. Clank. Ckunk, Unfortunately that isn’t the sound of construction near my apartment but the sound of the outside shot of the Los Angeles Lakers. It ain’t pretty but it’s still not all doom and gloom.

1. Unbalanced attack. Not quite enough force-feeding Anthony Davis like the first murder victim in 7, Gluttony. We kind of let P.J. Tucker and the Lilliputian defenders of the Rockets dictate the tempo of our offensive attack. We didn’t get the ball to Davis with much of a plan, or if there was a plan it was blown to a high degree.
2. The Mystery of the Disappearing and Re-appearing Anthony Davis. It’s quite the magic act to be able to make a talented 7 footer vanish but somehow Davis seems up for trying. While not quite as bad as the games against Toronto or OKC, considering LeBron was out this was Anthony’s big chance to show how he could dominate as a small ball center, punish the smaller Rocket defenders in order to have them sag off for mid-game threes only for that to be a set up for a game-sealing mid-range barrage. Instead we saw him outplayed and even bullied at times by the tiny Houston defenders. Tip-o-the-cap to Tucker and whatever rangy help defender they sent to double when he turned his back to the basket or before he would commit his dribble at the three. Davis needs to play above that kind of thing in the playoffs if we’re going to have any chance at all.
3. Quinn Cook doesn’t seem like he’ll have a shining moment as a Laker. Too bad. Good dude, played his way into a solid role on the Warriors, hoped he could challenge Rondo for PT. None of that ever happened. Not really sure what the issues of his fit with this team are because it feels like he could have been a solid backup PG on this squad. Seems like it’s just not destined to be.
4. Dion off, too, spelled the end. I feel like, despite all of the above and the underlying issues that are causing this struggle to reboot, if Dion had been on his game we would have been in this. We really didn’t get much from the bench. I’d like to see a couple games where Dion starts. Keep the tandem of KCP and Dwight Howard intact, they play really well with one another. KCP might have better stats and our winning percentage was better in the 20 games he started but that first unit, even with LeBron, has really bad spacing. Caldwell-Pope can come off the bench and fill a role, he’ll pair better with Caruso and make that second unit defense resemble the one that was on the same page in the regular season. Dion starting gives LeBron some space to get his game going, would have quality defenders to play with, and for all we know would play even better as a starter. Most guys do. But when he comes in along with Morris and Smith the defense just tanks. Probably won’t happen.
5. J.R. Smith welcome to the Lakers. He made his first basket (technically scored his first points last night on free throws) as a Laker. Now, please help me understand why he’s playing? Yes, it;s roughly for only 13-15 mpg but those are minutes you could be giving to one of the G-Leaguers during this little stretch to see what they can bring to the big club. The dude was a gunner of an extraordinary nature. He ain’t that machine gun now.

Still not overly concerned, we were out 2 starters and our best bench defender. Lakers not really playing with the same heart that we grew accustomed to during the regular season and one has to begin to wonder if there’s another switch or lever to pull. Can’t wait to long to find that groove, man.

I have not seen this Christian Wood kid play since I mostly watch Lakers games, and haven’t done any research on him yet, but if your articles are any indication, there must be something special about him that rains gold. Or should I say purple and gold?

Aloha, Michael,

Thanks for commenting. You’re right what we are going to do to improve our roster to try and repeat this season will depend entirely on whether Pelinka continues the plan to maximize cap space to chase a third superstar in the offseason after next season.

Personally, I would prefer that we went all in to win now as we need to get better if we want to win the championship next season because none of our competitors are going to stand pat. I also don’t want to get into the same situation we did last season where waiting for Kawhi cost us opportunities to become an even better team. Finally, having valuable players on good contracts could put us in a better position to land a player like Giannis than just having cap space. We saw sign-and-trades become the preferred transactions among many teams last offseason.

One factor I think strongly favors the Lakers protecting their cap space after next season is the reality that the third superstar plan doesn’t work unless LeBron James is willing to take less than a max contract, which kind of indicates LeBron must be amenable to doing that in the right situation, like Giannis deciding to join the Lakers. I don’t see Pelinka protecting that cap space without at least a token understanding LeBron would be amenable.

Bottom line, while I think Pelinka and the Lakers will still be shooting for the superstar after next season, I also think winning the championship has made taking advantage of the opportunity to repeat more important. Lakers have shown they have the best team in the league right now and it would be foolish not to be in a win now mode to repeat, especially knowing everybody else is going to be loading up to try to dethrone us. We also know some things we didn’t last offseason, including that LeBron is still the King and AD is now the second-best player on the planet.

The result is more of a win now attitude and hopefully an approach that recognizes cap space alone is not the answer. Our overreliance on cap space has at times limited what we were able to do with respect to trades and sign-and-trades. If we can get a player like Oladipo or Turner now, we’re not going to hesitate. If we have to pay to keep Rondo, Morris, KCP, and Howard, we’re not going to hesitate. We’ll still try to keep contracts as flexible as possible but won’t let cap space alone undermine improving the roster to win it again next season.

Well, that was informative. The Toronto Raptors played the Lakers riding a 10 game winning streak versus the purple and gold that they stretched to 11 and in the process illuminating a few troubling patterns.

1. Nobody on the Lakers is shooting well. Over the first 2 games in the bubble one thing is clear: our shooting is evidently still self-isolating in Los Angeles. Certainly hasn’t looked like it made the trip, so far. Over 2 games we’re shooting 27.6% from three, and 37.4% overall. Oddly enough we put up exactly 82 shots in both games making 3 more against the Clippers. In both the win and the loss we shot poorly. Some guys got hot at the right times against the Clippers, didn’t replicate that against the Raptors.
2. Danny Green has started off very, very slowly. Looks like he’s a step slow right now. He did play improved defense last night, especially on the low block, but still doesn’t look right on that front, either. As the 3rd highest paid Laker Danny needs to step it up a little bit and find a groove before the playoffs.
3. Dwight Howard’s mentality isn’t right. As always he looks ripped, he’s moving well but his mind is not in Orlando, yet. He pulled a lot of focus before entering the bubble on a lot of different fronts, has flouted some Bubble protocol and isn’t the X-factor he worked so hard to become during the regular season. It would be a shame if he didn’t at least approach that level of impact but right now I’d just as soon see JaVale McGee in those minutes until Dwight gets his head in the game. Needs to stop setting silly moving screens, needs to box out rather than clear out in the post, and he needs to let the refereeing go. Big time on that last one, which is certainly not an issue unique to Dwight Howard. But I feel that, in his case, he needs to focus on the hardwood and what he can do on it. Let the rest of that stuff sort itself out.
4. It’s been said before but it’s worth repeating: we’re only going as far as LeBron and Anthony take us. LeBron looks off, more human, less able to get to the rim at will. I think he’s miffed he’s not getting any foul calls unless they’re extremely obvious but he’s got to play through that and, like Dwight, focus more on what he needs to do to elevate this team without Avery Bradley. Davis looked fairly disinterested last night. Yes, he was often doubled whenever he got the rock, often a few seconds before. Toronto rotates on defense as well as anyone in the league, probably the best right now in the Bubble. But you have to find a way to score and outside of a stretch where he forced some whistles and followed it up with a three he was quiet for long stretches of the game. Might be trying to let the game come to him too much and needs to out the pedal down on his own.
5. I don’t think you can play J.R. Smith and Dion Waiters at the same time and expect the guys on the floor not to sieve points. Dion has some instincts on that end, has a couple of nice help plays coming from the weak-side to his credit, but overall looks pretty lost out there. J.R. was never a touted defender, tried well-enough during his high impact years in Cleveland but aging a couple of years and not playing last season didn’t improve his defensive moxie. Likely, it’s suffered and it’s hard for me to justify major minutes for Smith right now, especially when he looks gun-shy on wide open looks like he has in too many games, scrimmages included. He needs to get his head out of his brain and into a basketball and let it fly the second he’s open. We don’t need him to make another play, someone just made one for you and you need to shoot it dude. Waiters looks like he’s trying a little too hard to earn a payday when he just needs to find a rhythm with his teammates out there, especially Kuzma whom he’s likely to share a lot of minutes with. When all three (Smith, Waiters, and Kuzma) share the floor we’re over-weighted on scorers and need more defense and play-making. In a few weeks when Rondo comes back I highly suspect we’ll see his minutes pulled from Smith’s and we might end up seeing more Quinn Cook out there cause at least he knows where to be and when.

That’s the Fiver. Honestly, there could be another couple of topics (namely how good and hungry the Toronto Raptors look coming out of the gate, Nick Nurse is on point and has those guys believing, strong chance to repeat as eastern conference champs, IMO) but it’s only game 2 of the seeding games. Hard to see us losing out the rest of the way so I’m still thinking we lock up the west by the end of next week but the shooting and lack of defensive cohesiveness is troubling already. Hope to see game-to-game improvement in some areas as we move on.

Lastly, in a more real and sombre note, the first person I truly know and have worked with on some theatre projects in the past has come down with COVID-19. He and his girlfriend tested positive this week. They played it pretty safe, masked up, don’t go out in public much and they still got it. It’s real, we all need to do better and we need to continually question why more isn’t being done. So, please, do be careful, stay safe, be well and go Lakers.