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Dennis Schroder

5 Things: Lakers let down in the 4th, Warriors win

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This was a solid “test” game for the Lakers. We’d been beating up on under-talented or imploding teams, as we should be doing, and hadn’t faced a true test since much earlier in the season. While the Lakers didn’t win, thus in some ways ‘failing’ the test, nothing I saw last night derails my thinking that we are the team to beat. In the end, this was a bigger win for Golden State than it was a big loss for LA.

  1. Second half sputter. We had a poor overall showing in the second half. Didn’t score well, allowed the 2nd unit for the Warriors to eat into a big chunk of our lead and had some major defensive breakdowns. These are all fixable. Our transition D and get-back was poor last night, just one of the reason Golden State almost equaled us in points in the paint, done largely without budding star James Wiseman who played a scant 13 minutes due to foul trouble. The coaches will go over the film and the breakdowns will be mitigated or resolved altogether.
  2. Poor three point shooting. Just didn’t have the tough from distance. It happens but on a night when Steph wasn’t Steph it would have been nice to can just one more. LeBron will talk to Kentavious, he’ll let fly with more ease but everyone of the starters struggled from three point land. Plenty of blame for them to share, as they say.
  3. Stu’s Rule: no new superstars. We utterly failed on this letting Eric Paschal shake loose for 19 points (on 11 shots), the struggling Kelly Oubre Jr. to go off for 23 and third option Andrew Wiggins to pour in 18 (on 11 shots). Too much efficient shooting from guys we need to lock down. Credit the Warriors, though, for sticking with their game plan, hitting the open man and those guys for hitting some timely shots.
  4. Anthony Davis and his season long struggle from the stripe. It’s no secret Davis is starting slow, slower than LeBron James. While I sort of expected his defense and overall aggressiveness to take a small hit due to the quick turnaround, his free throw shooting was literally the last thing I expected to see suffer. Especially to the degree that it has so far this season. While he is shooting 75% that is down from his career 80.1% he’s shot for his career and well below his personal best 84.6% he made last season. I doubt he’ll be able to replicate that lofty percentage but he needs to get back on track. AD wasn’t alone, though, we missed some key freebies down the stretch that could have altered the complexity of the game.
  5. No home crowd. We’re seeing a strange, though not wholly unexpected, trend in the NBA this year: no home crowd leading to home team let downs. It sure seemed to effect the Lakers last night and our home record reveals the season long struggles we’ve had winning in an empty STAPLES. As vaccinations roll out I hope the league takes every precaution to maintain everyone’s safety and well-being but man would it be nice to have at least some people cheering the purple and gold on at home. That being said, we’re heading out on the road again for 7 games so we should be good to go. It’s also led to some odd refereeing, I believe, as the intensity is always bland which is an extra hurdle during the regular season.

It’d be easy to say everything that we saw last night will be fixed with time or a couple film sessions and practices. But one thing that troubled me was how ineffective our small ball was against Golden State’s version. This may be partly attributed to the fact we played the team that made small ball a thing but it should be a cause for alarm as the Warriors show everyone that the fork isn’t needed and please don’t stick it in, we’re nowhere near done, yet. Still, all things being as they are, I’ll take the Lakers in 7 over anyone right now. Go Lakers.

5 Things: Lakers continue dominance over Houston

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The Lakers are using the Rockets as a punching bag of late. In a chippy, chirpy affair the Lakers handed the Rockets their hat and saw some really positive developments in the doing. Since the Bubble it’s been nice to see the Lakers have Houston’s number and the best part, for me, was how much work we put in on the defensive end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmwsQ_dHrFM
  1. The Defense showed what it can be but is still a work in progress. Granted, the Rockets are kind of a mess and a big time work in progress. Harden and John Wall are a different version of Russell Westbrook and James Harden. For all our steals, blocks and stops the Rockets outscored us almost 2-1 in points off of turnovers. Like us the Rockets also had 8 blocks and stole the rock 7 times. The best defense came early before AD sat with foul trouble. The Lakers will, at some point, be a better defensive scheme team, but the skill the individuals on the team have are getting the job done early.
  2. Anthony Davis is a nightmare to defend. Silky smooth jumper, cans them from anywhere, footwork on the block, and solid on the break. You have a stretch big shooting a three? He better make it if Davis contests because we have 4 guys on the team that can throw the down court bomb for an easy score and they all rebound pretty well. His step back jumper is quickly becoming an unstoppable weapon. He bodies up and bounces off of contact neutralizing any shot blocking effort. AD had a superlative game marred only by early foul trouble. He also got back on track from the stripe where he’s shooting under 74%.
  3. Talen Horton-Tucker’s career game. In many ways Houston was the team where Talen got to show the NBA world what he could do. Up until those minutes THT was a bucket full of hope and promise and not much more. Horton-Tucker showed us all something in this game. He had 4 steals, he guarded Harden as well as can be expected and he scored within the flow. THT was stellar, probably his best complete game as a pro and if he can play like this consistently with the minutes he’ll get on this team it bodes well for his future. In Kyle, Caruso and Talen we have three young, solid cornerstones to build around or, should the need arise, include in a trade. I don’t get the sense Rob is looking to trade any of those 3, though. Still, it’s NBA, stranger things have happened.
  4. Turnovers holding the Lakers back. The Lakers are going to get better at being less sloppy, key guys are still getting acquainted, but man I can’t wait for the turnover issue to be a thing of the past. Once we clean up un-forced miscues we’ll be a team that is extremely tough to beat.
  5. Boogie! Yeah, yeah he got into it with Markieff, hit LeBron in the head and got ejected but it was still great to see Cousins playing and playing well. Frankly both he and Wall looked pretty good all things considered and that bodes well for Houston going forward. Cousins was rolling, too, so his ejection certainly benefited LA though it was well-warranted if wholly unintentional. The shove on ‘Kieff was all intention. Be interesting to see if any chirpiness lingers in the next one.

All in all a really solid win. Houston is a better team than the record indicates but definitely need to worry about falling far behind early in a loaded West. Golden State is streaking, Denver has yet to find it’s footing, the Spurs are lurking. Feels like only a matter of time that James needs to find another home but whither shall it be? Increasingly it looks like the Heat are the likeliest of destinations. Philly is leading the East and Brooklyn is unlikely to gut the squad. Duncan and Herro could get it done with filler. Not sure that will happen, honestly. James has carved a unique kingdom and Houston and few seem willing to help him move it elsewhere. Interesting stuff.

5 Things: Blazers Hand Lakers 2nd loss

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Marc Gasol gets his chance to start! Might be a smart move to give Dre some time off to get that toe well. It may be why he has not played well.

Going to miss Morris though. Who’s going to guard Tatum? I guess Kuzma. Going to be a challenging game. But winnable.

5 Things: Lakers beat Mavs

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This one’s on the late side, had X-mas duties to wrangle yesterday. But the nice thing was the Lakers notched their first W of the season. While this will not go down as the “defensive masterpiece” that was game 6 of the NBA Finals a win is a win.

Banyan slays.
  1. Three 20+ point scorers in one game. With the 18 points Schroder tossed in right behind. I never got around to digging the facts on this theory up but I’ll wager that we had 3 20+ point scorers in one game maybe 4 times last season? No more than five. Feels like Rondo might have had a hot game, maybe Danny Green? Kuzma probably had 2, maybe 3. At any rate I could see this sort of thing happening with far more regularity than in any recent season. A good problem to have, especially when the defense wasn’t really locked in for large parts of the game.
  2. Trezz!!! Man does this guy play with a ton of energy. But the best thing about his energy is how focused it is. It’s not like we haven’t had energy guys in the past. Larry Nance Jr. and even Julius Randle played with a lot of vim and vigor. What he lacks in size he more than makes up in tenacity and grit. Trezz showcased some nice range on his baseline and up 15-20′ jump shot and was ridiculously efficient.
  3. Out-working the Mavs on the glass. Trezz and his 7 boards was one of 5 Lakers who had 7+ rebounds (the team was led by Marc Gasol who had 9 in limited minutes) and our 53 rebounds was one of the ways we took it to the Mavs in an area they are weak in. With no Porzingis to clean the glass the Mavs were -26 in the rebound battle. If we can control the rebounding game like we did last night we’ll set ourselves up for a lot of success.
  4. Schroder’s sneaky-good. I can see why he and his agent wanted to wait until the season started to talk extension. In the off-season the Lakers were hampered by cap rules. They can go bigger and they probably will because this guy is good now and getting better. Playing alongside talent like AD and LBJ can be intimidating, cause guys so second-guess open shots or kick out to one of their uber-talented teammates in lieu of an easy lay up. Not Dennis. He already looks just fine waving LeBron into the corner and taking it to the hole. This should be encouraged because we’re going to want that ability to be unlocked to it’s fullest. LeBron needs to be ready for the playoffs and if he’s feeling it you can be sure he’ll have the rock. But on nights when Dennis has it going let him make a name for himself. It’ll help the team overall now and on down the line.
  5. Marc Gasol’s improved play. I re-watched this game to see if I felt the same ay after watching Marc trundled around specifically during his time on the floor. I think that in some ways my expectations are too high for this point in the season. My concern is his overall conditioning hasn’t looked good since the Bubble. Looked off in the Bubble, camp and early on in the season. Just isn’t looking to score in any meaningful way. Which is fine, points from guys like him at this stage in his NBA career are gravy points. He led the team in rebounds (in only 20 minutes of play) and made some great outlet passes that led to buckets or hockey assists. I’d like to see he and Caruso and THT get some time together, have his passing be as much the PG as anything else in some half court sets and his outlet passes free up LeBron, Schroder and Davis for easy break points rather than to focus on bringing the ball across the timeline. I also don’t feel like we’ve seen him in a favorable match up. How does he play against the Embiid’s and Jokic’s of the game? Even Kat and Vucevic are better matchups than Powell whose game is all speed and hops. There’s more here to unearth, it’s early and Gasol is a champ. Might not start by the end of the season but you never know.

All in all a pretty sweet win against a potential playoff opponent. The Mavericks looked like they were missing a HOF center and so in some ways this wasn’t the best test for our young season but nobody looks back at the W’s and critiques the why’s and wherefor’s. They just count ’em up. So, to that, the Lakers are an e-ticket draw and will play at an e-ticket level sooner than later.

E-Ticket Ride by Banyan (written by the incredible Mike Watt)