LAKERS -at- ROCKETS – 1-10-21 - DIY Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

 
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2021 6:43 pm    Post subject: LAKERS -at- ROCKETS – 1-10-21 - DIY Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

Good road win. Looks like they finally had the break going off some scrappy D.

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lordtrapula
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2021 6:46 pm    Post subject:

Best start to finish I've seen from the Lakers this season.

Fun game, felt like everyone contributed and had a highlight.

Not that I didn't think it was there, but it was nice to get a reminder of when Davis wants to, he just straight up becomes the best player in the world locked in.
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2021 7:01 pm    Post subject:

Good defensive energy from the start contributed to 13 steals by the Lakers. Harassed 3 point shooters into 29.3% from 3 point land while shooting 34.5% themselves. Outscored Rockets 62-50 in the paint. Boogie and Markief both ejected. Won fast break points 32-7.
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wolfpaclaker
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2021 7:02 pm    Post subject:

C: Gasol

Good effort on defense. Screen setting was also better, and timing of those screens getting more in line with what we need.

The action: Nice post move to get a score. Was challenging shots and moving feet well. I think Gasol gets exposed much more when AD-Bron-KCP-Dennis (other guys) lose their man. The more we play active D, the more positional D Gasol can play. Some good D on Wood, and also a great screen set for Bron. 2nd half makes a kick out 3 from Bron. Nice, need that stretch 5 play so AD and Bron can go to work inside. Gasol finished the game with 6 points, 7 boards and was a +3.

F-C: AD
MVP, DPOTY mamba playoff mode activated for one game. Made a statement in the press after his last game. Backed it up. Nice AD.

The Action: Great defensive energy. Running the floor well. Easy scores in his sweet spots, nice alleyoop. But picked up 2 fouls early. I rather him pick up FT and play less minutes with intensity than the other option. Had a playoff AD mode in this one to start. Came back into the game, right away went to work on Wood for a score in the post. Nice pass to Trez, taking a few dribbles and then drawing the D (Big to big action), Great defensive coverage on a 3 pointer rotation, blocked a lot of shots, and playing like a DPOTY in this half. Second half, continued domination. Rockets had a very hard stopping anything AD tried to do. AD got fouls (and FTs) on moving in the offense. Very aggressive AD in this one, on both ends. And we were looking for him, with Dennis not playing a selfish style. AD finished the game with 27 points on 12 shots, 3 blocks and was a +29.

F-G: Bron

Solid overall game from Bron, loved the way he mimics Magic more and more as he is aging. Pleasure to watch.

The action; Defensive energy with deflections, some nice outlet passes in transition. Hit a long 3. Drew a foul on Cousins that sent Cousins out of the game. Some great passing to teammates in transition (He really mimics Magic when he does this). Continued to be a factor on D with his deflections. Bron bully balls to close out the half, scores with ease. 2nd half, we see Bron continue to facilitate and just set up the offense, and defer to secondary guards to make plays. Great managed 2-way game from Bron. Lebron finished with 18 points on 15 shots, 7 boards, 7 assists and 1 steal and was a +10.

G-F: KCP Felt like the starters again with KCP back, loved his energy to start the game.

The action: Missed some of his shots early 1st Q, but were all good shots. His chemistry with Bron-AD is so obvious vs Kuzma. Came back in with AD, in the 2nd Q, and immediately felt his energy again. Strong finish in transition, and also a 3 pointer made from a Bron kick out. KCPs off the ball D was really good in this game. Second half kept running and filling the wing or all the way to the basket well. KCP finished the game with 7 points, 3 assists, 2 steals.

G: Dennis Best game of the season by Dennis. Loved this one, 2-way energy. Played very within himself and allowed the offense come naturally without looking to force. Great defensive energy. Hands everywhere. Bron was deferring to Dennis to initiate the offense.

The action: Dennis with a sweet pass to AD on a 2 man game. Dennis has historically done well against this Houston team. Dennis only had 3 points at one point when the Lakers had 55 on the board, but I thought he had done a much better job of being a role player in this one. That is what we need. Nice steal and defense on Wall backing him down, give to Kuz for a layup. Some really good PG like qualities from Dennis in this game throughout the game. We thrive when he plays like this. He is far more effective when he can pass and set up people as a ballhandler and passer from outside than a scorer. Later on teams began to leave him, and he shot the ball more. Good IQ. Great block on a Rocket player in help D. The deflections. hands, all active all game long. Schroder finished the game with 8 points, 7 assists, 5 boards, 2 steals, 2 blocks and was a +17 - the absolute non AD-Bron player of the game. MORE of this Dennis, please!

G: Caruso - Alex came in and played quite a bit of 3 guard lineups, and the activity rate was great. Typical AC effort in this one.

The Action: In early for KCP. Nice deflections. Struggled to finish some plays in this one, a lot of good shots and looks. Like the 3 guard lineups when Caruso is out there with Dennis-KCP or THT-KCP. Had 3 steals, and really brought that bench defensive mentality that the starters were already playing with. Caruso finished with 3 points, 4 assists, 3 steals and was a +3.

F-SG: Kuzma

Decent overall game from Kuz, Rockets color guys were saying it is ridiculous how the Lakers have a guy like Kuz who is their 7th or 8th option, because they are so deep, when many teams would have Kuz as a 3rd or 4th option. Still, he makes so many mistakes, it is frustrating to see for a 4th year player. THT is showing more IQ than him ... And Kuz was the only player in the regular rotation a - today.

The Action: Swatted on the break, then right away responded with a pull up 3. Takes another quick heat check right after (hate those). Travelled on an attempt late in the 1st Q with seconds left. Second half hit more of his shots, and was able to get some transition chances. Hit some 3s within the offensive flow, but continues to take a lot of questionable shots for a role player on a ring team. Need more shot IQ from Kuz. Kuz finished with 13 points, 1 steal, 1 block and was a -4.

F-C: Kieff - In early with AD in foul trouble, came into play the 4 spot. Got into it with Boogie. Thrown out of the game. You wonder if some of that was Kieff basically taking Cousins spot on the team this past season. He pretty much took his assigned role.

C: Trez
Two different halves for Trez. First one, he struggled, second he did a lot better. Defensively, one of the games where he challenged a lot of shots and was active (team was on fire on D today).

The action: In for Gasol. At the 5. Ball stopper in the post, yet over Harden missed the post move jumper, and a soft move. You have Harden on you, go strong. Mishandled the ball in the post again, ugly start for Trez. Finally gets going on his 3rd or 4th touch in the paint. Next one, Wood rejects him one on one, the one after that Trez forces the elbow and called for a foul. In the 2nd half, Trez started to get some flow and get some makes in the post. We really trust him with the ball in a way we never trusted Dwight or McGee. Trez is a workhorse just keeps at it. A lot of trust shown in him in the 2nd half and our guards (Dennis, THT, Caruso) was going to him a lot, and Lebron always trusts his bigs when open. Trez once he gets into a flow is very tough to contain, but we need to get him in a flow and that requires a lot of usage for him and effort aka trust from us. Had some good strong cuts that led to easy baskets, and did some good post sprinting that led to long outlet passes from THT or Bron. Trez finished with 16 points on 11 shots, 8 boards, 1 steal, 1 block and was a +15.

G: THT

The Action: Great footwork on the post move score. Made a quick pull up wing 3 in transition, from a Lebron pass. Really like when our wings get up the court fast like that. Hits a corner 3. Misses some of his layups around basket needs to work on those as they are there for him, he rushes them, Some good playmaking and IQ plays in the 2nd half. Good bounce passes to the bigs or for post entry continued, great long pass to Trez (ala Bron style). Loved that. He has some PG qualities, we have 3 really solid combo guard playmakers in THT, Caruso and Dennis, All 2-way guys. Good game, his 3rd or 4th straight game with consistency in what he brings on both ends. Love it. THT finished the game with 17 points on 8 shots, 3 assists, 4 steals and was a +7.

1st Q summary - Lakers doing a great job on D and deflections. A lot of fastbreak chances and Lakers style ball, but Kieff flagarant, and also not taking advantage of their dominant D, you would have liked to have a big lead, but it was only a 2 possession game after 1 Q. 25-21. Should have been up much more. May hurt us later in the game, as Houston will not shoot 27% the entire game.

2nd Q summary - Lakers continue their elite D effort. This is playoff level intense D. It changes the way the Lakers play and look. Rockets looked like they began to implode a bit. They saw they were overmatched, If Trez plays a good Q, we probably end this game in this Q. Continue to dominate on the break. AD and Bron looked like the 2 best players in the NBA, by far. Lakers up 19, at the half.

3rd Q summary: Lakers began the same starting 5, and had a good defensive intensity. Loved to see that because was wondering if we would begin to coast, but did not. Statement by this group that they can defend and bring it at that level of intensity and D.

4th Q summary: A lot of Trez action, and bench guys getting going, with less of AD-Bron. But game was already over by the 3rd.

Coaching:

Frank has this team showing some signs of developing. The offense was a lot more like last year, where we saw lots of post sprinting from our bigs. More transition of stops and a lot of looking for AD-Trez. Which I like. Not sure if it was coaching, or Dennis just making the switch, but Dennis switched into Alex Caruso mode tonight and it made us incredibly good as Dennis has way more skill than AC. Frank has always liked combo guards (George Hill Indiana) and he has a truck load of them on this roster. Defense was back, like last year. Frank did not even need to run AD at the 5 in this one, that is how good our D was.

Rotation 1st half:

5- Gasol-Trez-Gasol
4- AD-Kieff-Kuz-AD-Bron-Kuz
3- Bron-Kuz-Bron-THT-Bron-KCP
2- KCP-Caruso-THT-KCP-Caruso-Kuzma
1- Schroder-Caruso-Schroder

Liked that we ran more Caruso-THT lineups with KCP. 3 guard lineups work for us. The Schroder-Caruso, THT-Caruso backcourt is starting to look very good. When LA went up big in the 2nd Q, Frank brought Kuz in at the 2 for a stint to keep AD from getting his 3rd foul.

Rotation 2nd half (Meaningful mintues)

5- Gasol-Trez-Gasol
4- AD-Kuz-AD-Bron-Kuz
3- Bron-THT-Kuz-Bron-THT
2- KCP-THT-Caruso-KCP
1- Schroder-Caruso-Schroder
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dcastillo
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2021 7:32 pm    Post subject:

Thanks Wolf!
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DrDent
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2021 8:05 pm    Post subject:

Great summary Wolf!

We finally saw for extended stretches their defense look similar to last year. Big props to AD and KCP getting them to rev up in that direction.

Agree re DS. Not a big scoring game but his D was outstanding. Was all over their quick guards. Usually the Lakers bane, the Lakers now have a guy that can stick with these quick little guys.

Really liked how the Lakers put down any further run in the 4th, Led by AD and Trez. By the time LBJ came back in, game was over. LBJ and AD only had to burn 30 minutes each.

I'm sure Tuesday will be a much tougher game. Rockets will very likely shoot better from 3. Hopefully Lakers intensity will show up again to pull off the Texas sweep.
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deal
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2021 8:23 pm    Post subject:

Good job Wolf !!!



Thanks
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Inspector Gadget
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2021 8:30 pm    Post subject:

Nevermind

Last edited by Inspector Gadget on Sun Jan 10, 2021 11:43 pm; edited 1 time in total
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LakerSD
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2021 8:33 pm    Post subject:

Inspector Gadget wrote:
Check out this quote by Harden after the game, yeah this dude is gonna get traded.. no doubt

https://www.reddit.com/r/lakers/comments/kuukul/james_harden_on_the_rockets_120102_loss_to_the/


I can’t believe that’s real. Wow.
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Inspector Gadget
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2021 8:40 pm    Post subject:

LakerSD wrote:
Inspector Gadget wrote:
Check out this quote by Harden after the game, yeah this dude is gonna get traded.. no doubt

https://www.reddit.com/r/lakers/comments/kuukul/james_harden_on_the_rockets_120102_loss_to_the/


I can’t believe that’s real. Wow.


Probably fake but you never know from a guy who doesn’t want to be there.
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Klone_dd
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2021 10:17 pm    Post subject:

Elite game by AD. LBJ continues to show he's a freak of nature to be playing at such a high level in his 18th yr. That backcourt lefty pass he made off the bounce to a streaking KCP was epic!! THT making Kuz look expendable.

That said, the Rockets are a mess. Wouldn't surprise me if they're out of the playoffs even with Harden.
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joeblow
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2021 10:26 pm    Post subject:

Inspector Gadget wrote:
Check out this quote by Harden after the game, yeah this dude is gonna get traded.. no doubt

https://www.reddit.com/r/lakers/comments/kuukul/james_harden_on_the_rockets_120102_loss_to_the/

It's a fake quote. The mods even closed the thread.
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2021 11:35 pm    Post subject:

Man, watched the game on my phone. Seeing AC and THT hounding the Rockets defensively. I was trying to imagine the two of them a couple years from now. After going through countless battles and building a rep up as a tough defensive back court... they’re going to be fun to watch.
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Inspector Gadget
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 10, 2021 11:43 pm    Post subject:

joeblow wrote:
Inspector Gadget wrote:
Check out this quote by Harden after the game, yeah this dude is gonna get traded.. no doubt

https://www.reddit.com/r/lakers/comments/kuukul/james_harden_on_the_rockets_120102_loss_to_the/

It's a fake quote. The mods even closed the thread.


Thanks.
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akgolf
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 5:08 am    Post subject:

Thanks Wolf!
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wolfpaclaker
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 6:02 am    Post subject:

DrDent wrote:


We finally saw for extended stretches their defense look similar to last year. Big props to AD and KCP getting them to rev up in that direction.

Agree re DS. Not a big scoring game but his D was outstanding. Was all over their quick guards. Usually the Lakers bane, the Lakers now have a guy that can stick with these quick little guys.



Yes. A real glimpse into how Gasol and Trez can fit into a similar set up like last year, and how Dennis can play the defensive PG who initiates some offense role. THT-Caruso off the bench are just dynamic defensively.

Best game of the season, by far.
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Dr. Laker
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 8:57 am    Post subject:

Thanks, Wolf!

We are getting better incrementally and progressively.
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danzag
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 9:11 am    Post subject:

Thanks Wolf and DB!

My impression is that this Lakers team is just toying with the opponents. We're that good.
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LakerSD
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 10:39 am    Post subject:

https://twitter.com/bj_metta/status/1348597255121428486?s=21

Klutch Angeles Lakers.
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Rek
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 11:16 am    Post subject:

Thanks, Wolf!
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Halflife
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 2:50 pm    Post subject:

btw- morris or cousins in a death match?
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