That was a fun game to watch. When you’re on fire from distance like we were, playing the kind of defense that leads to a bunch of easy baskets and making plays for the team the game is fun to play and watch. That was indeed the case last night.
- Rinse, wash, repeat. Beating the Clippers back to back, even in preseason, is always a treat. Y’know…I used to feel bad for the Clipps. Not so much these days what with all the hype they keep pumping up about this and that. In all honesty the only good things that’ve come out of Clipper Land these days is us snagging Trezz and the news that Steve Ballmer won’t be knocking down the Fabulous Forum in order to build his mega sports complex in Inglewood. Nowadays I take a slightly sadistic, special pleasure when we hand that squad an L. Even in preseason.
- Winning with defense. The best part, in my opinion, about the preseason thus far has been how locked in our defense is. Sure there have been some miscommunications between the new guys (expected) and some break downs here and there (always will be, except of course the Game 6 defensive masterpiece) but for preseason the Lakers already look pretty solid on defense. Whether it’s crashing the glass or ducking into passing lanes for steals or THT mugging Kawhi Leonard the Laker D is on point.
- Three point barrage. It won’t happen every night but man were the Lakers on fire from three last night! The team shot a whopping 72% and everyone who took one made one (except Marc Gasol). Fun stuff!
- Speaking of the debut of Marc Gasol… Man is it going to be fun watching Marc with the ball in the high post. Sharing the floor with LeBron and Anthony Davis is going to make his passing so incredibly deadly. His ability to drop surgical strike passes from the top of the arc is a lethal weapon that should be classified as such. The only blemish was he missed his sole three point shot. Other than that he looked like a perfect addition to a Laker team that prides itself on defense and a team-first mentality. Welcome (back) to the Lakers Marc Gasol!
- The best for last. You knew this one was going to be about Mr. Horton-Tucker. Talen was superb last night and if he keeps this up he’s going to make somebody sit. Who that will be is a tough question for coach Vogel to answer (and he said as much in his own post-game session) but it’s an awesome problem to have. Talen hit step backs from the mid-post out to the three point line while shooting 11-17 (4-5 from three, 7-9 from the stripe) bullied Clipper defenders on his way to the rim, grabbed 10 boards to go along with 4 assists and 4 steals. For as much as he had the ball in his hands he only had 2 turnovers which indicates to me he’s playing under control and not just barreling his way all over the court. He picked his spots perfectly last night and the Clippers, who boast some decent wing defenders named Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, had zero answer for him. While this may not happen every night and he certainly won’t play that type of role on this team on a nightly basis…yet…it was a blast to watch Talen deliver his best performance to date in an NBA uniform. Keep up the good work.
We got two more preseason games left against Phoenix and then this thing kicks off next week. So i expect we’ll see the true starting 5 to a limited degree on Tuesday and something approaching a normal rotation in the second game before the games matter. The emergence of THT as a ball distributor who can obviously get his own shot makes the lack of a true back up PG less of an issue. Between Talen, Gasol and Caruso we have the talent on the roster to create offense in the half-court when Schroder or James sits. That was one of my concerns for this team coming in and seeing how well THT has passed and created has been awesome. Kid needs a role. Back up point forward sounds about right to me.
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