Posted: Wed May 10, 2023 9:53 pm Post subject: LAKERS -at- WARRIORS - 5-10-23 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings
We’ve Been Here Before... You want home court advantage for a variety of reasons -- role players shoot better, calls more favorable, sleeping in your own bed, etc. The Lakers stole home court advantage early in the series. If they defend home court, they are fine. But this isn’t a typical “up 3-1” situation simply because of the home court situation. But we’ve been here once in the playoffs and need to go back home and defend that home court.
Back home themselves tonight, the Warriors came out with aggression, particularly from lesser scorers who had their foot on the gas. Out of the gates, the Lakers were down 17-5. LeBron had three turnovers in a flash.
The Lakers saw Vando and went with better shooting lineups and the offense came to life. By the end of the first, the Lakers were down just 4, having taken the Warriors open push that included 7 made threes.
“Just have to weather the storm,” Ham said after the quarter.
The Lakers would take a lead a couple minutes later, but that would be short-lived. L.A. wasn’t able to slow the pace into a half court game, especially painful when the Warriors had both Looney and Green on the floor offensively. In half court defensively, you could take advantage of their poor shooting and pack the paint.
The Warriors went on a 10-2 run to lead by 8 during a couple-minute stretch near the end of the half. A poor close in the final minute to give up two more threes, and the Lakers were down 70-59 at the half. Several of the Warriors threes in that first half came off second-chance opportunities.
“We need to rebound the damn ball,” Ham told the halftime reporter.
Turnovers to start the second half had the Warriors out in transition again and building an 18-point lead. The Lakers got much more switchy on defense. They’d trim it to 11 by the end of the third, but they never got the pace in their favor. The Warriors had them on their heels all night.
The Lakers couldn’t make up the ground in the fourth and fell 121-106. The bigger story, however, is that midway through that fourth quarter, AD took an elbow to the head. He looked unstable, went to the locker room and the worry was the concussion protocol could put the entire series in jeopardy.
Hopefully, he’s good to go. We need to flip the tables on the Warriors again in the next one.
LeBron -- -- He had a 5-second call, a fumble on a drive for a turnover, and then threw a pass away on the break in what felt like his first three touches of the game. That really played into that slow start. The three ball was looking a little bit better from the start. Good to see them go, but I just don’t think the Warriors care at this point. Some of that two-man switch action we hunted previously, they can go under and dare him more. Some good moments muscling in hoops around the rim. He came up in pain with his foot on one play down there. Pretty sure that was Looney on that one, too. That guy is an injury magnet. Really hard to say how much pain Bron is in, but he’s just not quite as mobile in some situations. Offensively, we need him in attack mode. Get him down hill, getting to the rim, working that post, collapsing the D. The Stats: He scored 25 points on 9-17 shooting (3-7 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 39 minutes. He was a -16.
Davis -- -- Late in this one, he got popped in the head by Looney and came out of the game. He looked a bit wobbly heading into the locker room after sitting. He was then wheeled away on a wheelchair. The Lakers were down 12 when he sat. They got some perimeter shooting but couldn’t get stops like they needed to close. Tough to make a final push without him. It just goes to show you, anything can happen. Defensively in the last game we put AD on Wiggins to try to slow some of the two-man action. That forced Wiggins to be a little more aggressive than he had been. I think that came to play in this game. Some of the Warriors who had been sleeping a bit on offense were now aggressive and not hesitating to attack, and Wiggins had a big game as a result. Offensively, I’d like to see more done to get him in the post. We really went away from the wide pin sets and didn’t replace it with anything. He was getting into some of that midrange in the paint. When we’d switch on D, that led to some leakout dunks. We need him to go big in the next game. The Stats: He scored 23 points on 10-18 shooting (3-5 from three) to go with 9 boards, 3 assists, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a -22.
Russell -- -- He picked up his third foul with 6:41 left in the second and that limited his impact early. A very sleepy first half. Much more productive second half. He has to deal with the GP2 matchup. He had a couple scores in the post, a layup in transition off a Vando steal and buried one of his two attempts at three. We’re not doing a great job setting him up for catch and shoot threes. We need him to get that home crowd lift in the next game and deliver a big one. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-10 shooting (!-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a -9.
Reaves -- -- Good job knocking down the three ball tonight, hitting 3-6. Legs looking good. Whatever the outcome of the playoffs, it’s great seeing him push through some early offensive difficulties in this series. Loved seeing him crash the offensive glass and ripping a board away from Curry or take some deep threes. He’s also thrown some great passes, including those full-length outlets that are on the money. All those just feel like confidence types of plays. He’s battling with the defending champs, making an impact and lifting that scoring up. Defensively, he’s also been making a lot of great rotations and reads in this series. A lot of guys on this team have disappeared in this series. He hasn’t. On D tonight we’re picking up different guys and doing a lot of switching. Wiggins was very aggressive when he had the smaller Reaves on him. There were some really smart angles on screens that Wiggins took on those switches that also caused problems. We need him to come up big in the next one and get the crowd going. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-12 shooting (3-6 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and no fouls in 36 minutes. He was a -21.
Vanderbilt -- -- The -16 in 11 minutes. One thing you could look at in this one. Offensively, he just causes us a ton of problems. The Warriors could hide Curry on him to start as Vando isn’t a threat and you have to hunt that differently. Defensively, Green did a much better job tonight being aggressive. He had been looking for teammates and allowing us to recover in the previous games. Tonight, he just went at it. This is an adjustment I thought we might see a couple games back. Let’s see if he can duplicate that or not. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-2 shooting from three to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 block and 3 fouls in 11 minutes. He was a -16.
Schröder -- -- I’m not sure what Ham may do for an adjustment, but early in this game when we fell down big, he pulled Vando and brought in Dennis. If we treat this next one like a game seven, I wonder if this might be a starting lineup change. It gives us better perimeter shooting, not great, but better. But he battles on defense and the team needs more two-way minutes. Tonight, he sank a couple of threes. He got into the midrange. He blew past Curry for a layup. He got middle and hit a floater (this is something the team needs to make as a big point of emphasis). If we can get middle, the game changes for us. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 6-11 shooting (2-5 from three) to go with 2 boards, 4 assists, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a +14.
Hachimura -- -- A couple buckets tonight. He dribbled to the FT line off a corner screen and hit a pull up. He got into the post, spun around a flopping Poole and scored a layup. Again, very tricky to play him. If I’m the Warriors and the Lakers move to a very switchy defense from the get-go in the next one, I might search out Rui with their guards. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-3 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and no fouls in 21 minutes. He was a +7.
Walker IV -- -- Fairly quiet first half. He did a good job finding teammates when he had the ball in his hands. At times he brought the ball up to kick off offensive sets. In the second half, he got more aggressive with the shot during a short stretch. He hit a wing pull up jumper with 4 minutes left in the third quarter for his first bucket of the game. I’d like to see a little more aggression in those first half minutes. We could use his athleticism to get the Warriors on their heels instead of the other way around. The Stats: He had 4 points on 2-6 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 4 assists, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 28 minutes. He was a -7.
Beasley -- -- He hit a three trailing the break in garbage time. Good to see the ball go through for him. We really do miss some of the sets he allows us to run with his threat as a mobile shooter. The Stats: He had 3 points on 1-2 shooting from three in 2 minutes. He was a -2.
Brown -- -- He attacked for a layup in garbage time. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-3 shooting and had no other stats in 2 minutes. He was a -2.
Gabriel -- -- Garbage time had some effort on the offensive glass, but all was meaningless. The Stats: He had 1 point on 0-2 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 3 offensive boards and 1 block in 2 minutes. He was a -1.
Harrison -- -- He had a couple assists in garbage time. The Stats: He didn’t score or shoot and had 1 board, 2 assists and no fouls in 2 minutes. He was a -2.
Christie -- -- He missed a jumper in garbage time. The Stats: He was 0-1 in 2 minutes. He was a -2.
Ham -- -- Key Moment: Keeping AD from the concussion protocol? Early diagnosis appears he’s avoided it. But seriously, though, I feel like we lost our process in this game. The speed of the game had us on our heels all night. We didn’t get to set up defensively as often. We did a poor job getting middle and countering some of the defensive schemes the Warriors have consistently thrown our way. We need to get downhill in the paint and get to the line. I’m relentless on this in the next game. There were several plays we’ve run in the past couple games, I didn’t see out there tonight. Hopefully, in front of the home crowd we get more methodical again. He said they are going to play a physical, forceful brand of basketball and let the chips fall where they may.
Key Substitution: The Dennis/Vando subs in this game. With the Warriors going smaller with GP2, the Lakers might be needing to match up with Dennis from the start. Vando -11, Dennis +14.
Key Stats: The Lakers shot their second fewest freethrows of the season with 15. Warriors shot 15, as well. Points in the paint, the Lakers 52, Warriors 50. We need to dominate both of those.
Last edited by DancingBarry on Thu May 11, 2023 9:54 am; edited 2 times in total
Joined: 03 Oct 2003 Posts: 8383 Location: Santa Monica
Posted: Wed May 10, 2023 10:14 pm Post subject:
Thanks DB. I full expected us to lose, but the way we lost was disturbing. The officiating was lopsided, but I still feel like we could've given ourselves a chance to win if we had kept things close.
I posted this in the game thread. Our season is literally coming down to Game 6. If we win, especially if we win convincingly, and we come out of it healthy it will pretty much mean we're a legit championship contender. But if we lose Game 6, we will probably lose Game 7 too. _________________ Lakers 49ers Chargers Dodgers
Thanks DB. I full expected us to lose, but the way we lost was disturbing. The officiating was lopsided, but I still feel like we could've given ourselves a chance to win if we had kept things close.
I posted this in the game thread. Our season is literally coming down to Game 6. If we win, especially if we win convincingly, and we come out of it healthy it will pretty much mean we're a legit championship contender. But if we lose Game 6, we will probably lose Game 7 too.
No foul call means transition offense for the warriors, more layups. Simple as that
Joined: 03 Oct 2003 Posts: 8383 Location: Santa Monica
Posted: Wed May 10, 2023 10:19 pm Post subject:
mad55557777 wrote:
slavavov wrote:
Thanks DB. I full expected us to lose, but the way we lost was disturbing. The officiating was lopsided, but I still feel like we could've given ourselves a chance to win if we had kept things close.
I posted this in the game thread. Our season is literally coming down to Game 6. If we win, especially if we win convincingly, and we come out of it healthy it will pretty much mean we're a legit championship contender. But if we lose Game 6, we will probably lose Game 7 too.
No foul call means transition offense for the warriors, more layups. Simple as that
We also contributed ourselves by getting outrebounded by 12 and giving up 18 second-chance points.
Yes the officiating sucked. But this one one of those matchups where both teams want to and need to run. We actually outscored them 15-13 in fast-break points, but it may take 25-30 fast-break points for us to win in Game 6. We have to rebound better, especially if the refs are going to try to force a Game 7. _________________ Lakers 49ers Chargers Dodgers
Thanks DB. I full expected us to lose, but the way we lost was disturbing. The officiating was lopsided, but I still feel like we could've given ourselves a chance to win if we had kept things close.
I posted this in the game thread. Our season is literally coming down to Game 6. If we win, especially if we win convincingly, and we come out of it healthy it will pretty much mean we're a legit championship contender. But if we lose Game 6, we will probably lose Game 7 too.
No foul call means transition offense for the warriors, more layups. Simple as that
We also contributed ourselves by getting outrebounded by 12 and giving up 18 second-chance points.
Yes the officiating sucked. But this one one of those matchups where both teams want to and need to run. We actually outscored them 15-13 in fast-break points, but it may take 25-30 fast-break points for us to win in Game 6. We have to rebound better, especially if the refs are going to try to force a Game 7.
If we only get 15 Fts next game, we will lose. They can’t pick up the pace off our makes and Fts. Ham needs to play wenyen when DG and Looney were in the game, that period killed us on boards
Lebron has been uncharacteristically bad taking care of the ball. The team as a whole is not valuing possessions. Careless turnovers and just bad passing in the lanes. So many missed or botched plays. Need to clean it up and play strong. Ugly basketball out there at times. _________________ "Dread it, run from it... destiny arrives all the same."
LeBron had a lot of painful turnovers. Hard to believe it was only four.
This felt like one of the least impactful AD defensive games. I don't just mean how they insist on pulling him from the paint. But there were times he was behind on the play and he could've recovered and he just watched. The fouls didn't help, but still.
The Warriors are playing two bigs on offense, basically (Dray & GP2). It really hurts not having a second big guy to clog up the paint. Imagine having BroLo or the theory of Mo Bamba at the 5. I feel like Wenyen can work, but I'm also fine having just subbing in Vando with Dennis and making sure we get more offensive firepower, understanding the Curry PnR will work. The Warriors' offense hasn't been fantastic with this new approach, plenty beatable if the Lakers show up offensively.
A lot will rely on the Lakers hitting 3s, and the Warriors missing them.
I did not get to watch most of the game, but what I did watch (mostly the 4th) I was not happy with a few things when the game still up for grabs, Lakers edgiing in down 9 or 11:
- Chucking up quick 3's multiple possessions in a row
-unforced turnovers
-compounding the above, officials who literally just didnt care if the Laker players were being physically attacked. As Ham said in the post game, "I dont know what a foul is anymore" and he went on to point out how his players were scratched and bruised. Sounds like Kerr got this crew to listen to his complaint.
The AD injury is a big concern. We need him to have a shot.
Beyond that I am somewhat surprised the Lakers held the dubs to 2-14 from 3 in the second half, but still couldnt make a dent in that lead. That part is frustrating.
But, if there is a silver lining, despite getting literally the dubs best blows at times, and most desperation, a hostile home crowd, and refs who really just didnt care that the Dubs were playing like all of them were Bill Laimbeer...the team was still within earshot of making this a thriller ending.
I can be somewhat superstitious at times, and I will not lie...that OKC failure vs the dubs a few years back does sit in the back of my head. I'm just not going to expect much since they are playing a team that has alot more familiarity with each other and are defending world champs. I just hope for the team to really throw out some good blows on Friday, and play a hard, full 48 minutes, with limited mental mistakes. And that our home crowd give that extra push - if anything, the warriors not having their home crowd behind their sails may be all the difference needed. _________________ "One thing I admire about Kuzma is his unwavering confidence. He truly has no idea that he’s not as good as he thinks." - Killer_Z
Our poor defense in the second quarter put us in catch up mode for the rest of the game, and the poor offense of the second half put the nail in the coffin. Turnovers and bad rebounding at times didn't help.
Ah well, I hope AD is OK and we play with more fire and purpose in Game 6 at home.
This was an expected loss but still a worrying one. I expect AD to be back without any issues, but Ham is the one I am really concerned about. For all the mistakes Kerr has made in this series (and he's been taking a LOT of (bleep) from Warriors fans) he is incredibly experienced in this situation, and I expect him to make the correct adjustments on the road that will give his team a shot. It's vital that Ham comes fully prepared to deal with this. The Lakers have to be absolutely ruthless.
I did not get to watch most of the game, but what I did watch (mostly the 4th) I was not happy with a few things when the game still up for grabs, Lakers edgiing in down 9 or 11:
- Chucking up quick 3's multiple possessions in a row
-Unforced turnovers
- Compounding the above, officials who literally just didnt care if the Laker players were being physically attacked. As Ham said in the post game, "I don't know what a foul is anymore" and he went on to point out how his players were scratched and bruised. Sounds like Kerr got this crew to listen to his complaint.
The AD injury is a big concern. We need him to have a shot.
Beyond that I am somewhat surprised the Lakers held the dubs to 2-14 from 3 in the second half, but still couldnt make a dent in that lead. That part is frustrating.
But, if there is a silver lining, despite getting literally the dubs best blows at times, and most desperation, a hostile home crowd, and refs who really just didnt care that the Dubs were playing like all of them were Bill Laimbeer...the team was still within earshot of making this a thriller ending.
Agree with your observations.
Lakers seemed just slower than the Warriors, weren't getting the 50/50 balls and got rebounded. Look forward to what adjustments Ham will make to have AD more in the paint. Given that AD always have a mismatch on offense, need to activate schemes to take advantage of this forcing Draymond
We had 14 TOs (seems like we had more) needs to go down.
We got out rebounded 48-38 despite the Dubs going small. Draymond had 10 rebounds, Looney had 8, Thompson/GP2 had 6 and Wiggins had 5 rebounds - got to block out.
Draymond decided to be much more aggressive resulting in playing 30 minutes, 7-11 shooting, 10 rebounds, 20 points and 5 TOs.
LW4 showed during garbage time in past games resulting in invaluable PT in later games. When will Beasley take advantage of similar opportunities.
Great plan to steal Game 1 resulting in having Game 6 at home! With the extra energy and being more comfortable at home for our shooters will result in beating the Dubs - that might be the hardest series they will face, no disrespect to the Suns (little depth beyond KD/Booker), Nuggets (Jokic is great but their defense is suspect), Heat (where defending Playoff Jimm is obviously the top priority and ideal scenario for Vando to play), Celtics (their team seems off-kilter with Tatum/Brown having issues) and 76ers (despite Embiid being a great player, which player can you depend on producing consistent numbers).
DB - didn't know that Warriors were attacking Wiggins - LOL
Davis - "Some of the Warriors who had been sleeping a bit on offense were now aggressive and not hesitating to attack Wiggins had a big game as a result" - ??? (lol)
I did not get to watch most of the game, but what I did watch (mostly the 4th) I was not happy with a few things when the game still up for grabs, Lakers edgiing in down 9 or 11:
- Chucking up quick 3's multiple possessions in a row
-Unforced turnovers
- Compounding the above, officials who literally just didnt care if the Laker players were being physically attacked. As Ham said in the post game, "I don't know what a foul is anymore" and he went on to point out how his players were scratched and bruised. Sounds like Kerr got this crew to listen to his complaint.
The AD injury is a big concern. We need him to have a shot.
Beyond that I am somewhat surprised the Lakers held the dubs to 2-14 from 3 in the second half, but still couldnt make a dent in that lead. That part is frustrating.
But, if there is a silver lining, despite getting literally the dubs best blows at times, and most desperation, a hostile home crowd, and refs who really just didnt care that the Dubs were playing like all of them were Bill Laimbeer...the team was still within earshot of making this a thriller ending.
Agree with your observations.
Lakers seemed just slower than the Warriors, weren't getting the 50/50 balls and got rebounded. Look forward to what adjustments Ham will make to have AD more in the paint. Given that AD always have a mismatch on offense, need to activate schemes to take advantage of this forcing Draymond
We had 14 TOs (seems like we had more) needs to go down.
We got out rebounded 48-38 despite the Dubs going small. Draymond had 10 rebounds, Looney had 8, Thompson/GP2 had 6 and Wiggins had 5 rebounds - got to block out.
Draymond decided to be much more aggressive resulting in playing 30 minutes, 7-11 shooting, 10 rebounds, 20 points and 5 TOs.
LW4 showed during garbage time in past games resulting in invaluable PT in later games. When will Beasley take advantage of similar opportunities.
Great plan to steal Game 1 resulting in having Game 6 at home! With the extra energy and being more comfortable at home for our shooters will result in beating the Dubs - that might be the hardest series they will face, no disrespect to the Suns (little depth beyond KD/Booker), Nuggets (Jokic is great but their defense is suspect), Heat (where defending Playoff Jimm is obviously the top priority and ideal scenario for Vando to play), Celtics (their team seems off-kilter with Tatum/Brown having issues) and 76ers (despite Embiid being a great player, which player can you depend on producing consistent numbers).
DB - didn't know that Warriors were attacking Wiggins - LOL
Davis - "Some of the Warriors who had been sleeping a bit on offense were now aggressive and not hesitating to attack Wiggins had a big game as a result" - ??? (lol)
Agree with alot there - also, re your 50/50 ball comment, during this entire series it seems even 50/50 random ball bounces have gone warriors way as well, meaning the ones where effort plays almost no role in the outcome. _________________ "One thing I admire about Kuzma is his unwavering confidence. He truly has no idea that he’s not as good as he thinks." - Killer_Z
Warriors just reminding us and the NBA world that they're still the defending champs. What I'm happy about is there will be no excuses when we beat them.
When Dennis got his 3rd foul in the second quarter and had to go out, our defense fell apart. The Warriors went on a run and we never really recovered. We were playing surprisingly well up until then. LeBron is still killing us with his badly timed 3 point misses, off target passes, driving into traffic losing the ball which seemingly always results in the other scoring.
""NBA on TNT" analysts Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal couldn't stop laughing, apparently at Davis' expense, while discussing the game on the network's postgame show.
“Shaq is over there crumpling up paper, that’s why I’m laughing,” Barkley said, with the implication seeming to be that the oft-injured Davis is made of paper.
Fellow analyst Kenny Smith may have joined the antics as well, with Barkley indicating that Smith was imitating the use of a wheelchair with his own chair. Smith said he was merely adjusting his seat."
" Stephen A. Smith appeared to mock Davis for possibly suffering a concussion during a basketball game.
"Concussion? Concussion?" Smith said incredulously. " I thought the NFL season was over."
He then made no effort to hide his amusement at Davis being unable to walk on his own after sustaining the injury.
"A wheelchair? A wheelchair?" Smith said with the same incredulous tone. "Really? That's where we are?""
""We got to stop! We got to stop it, man! It's the playoffs, man!" Smith shouted to the apparent amusement of co-host Jay Williams. "I mean, was he running over the middle and get hit by Ronnie Lott or something? Did I miss something? ... I mean, did he get hit by Aaron Donald? Did I miss something?""
^When watching the game yesterday, I did not believe it was a concussion - more of a hunch really that was the case. But AD got wacked at a really odd angle. It was hard to see but could have included the temple and/or a direct smack at angle that included the eye.
If that happens at the wrong angle, that will mess you up for a bit. Not a great analogy, but think of it as getting a knee in the nether regions, except upstairs.
It's not the best analogy, or even analysis, but I totally get why AD went through what he did. Folks making fun of him about that are just being ignorant. _________________ "One thing I admire about Kuzma is his unwavering confidence. He truly has no idea that he’s not as good as he thinks." - Killer_Z
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
-- He had a 5-second call, a fumble on a drive for a turnover, and then threw a pass away on the break in what felt like his first three touches of the game. That really played into that slow start. The three ball was looking a little bit better from the start. Good to see them go, but I just don’t think the Warriors care at this point. Some of that two-man switch action we hunted previously, they can go under and dare him more. Some good moments muscling in hoops around the rim. He came up in pain with his foot on one play down there. Pretty sure that was Looney on that one, too. That guy is an injury magnet. Really hard to say how much pain Bron is in, but he’s just not quite as mobile in some situations. Offensively, we need him in attack mode. Get him down hill, getting to the rim, working that post, collapsing the D. 
-- Late in this one, he got popped in the head by Looney and came out of the game. He looked a bit wobbly heading into the locker room after sitting. He was then wheeled away on a wheelchair. The Lakers were down 12 when he sat. They got some perimeter shooting but couldn’t get stops like they needed to close. Tough to make a final push without him. It just goes to show you, anything can happen. Defensively in the last game we put AD on Wiggins to try to slow some of the two-man action. That forced Wiggins to be a little more aggressive than he had been. I think that came to play in this game. Some of the Warriors who had been sleeping a bit on offense were now aggressive and not hesitating to attack, and Wiggins had a big game as a result. Offensively, I’d like to see more done to get him in the post. We really went away from the wide pin sets and didn’t replace it with anything. He was getting into some of that midrange in the paint. When we’d switch on D, that led to some leakout dunks. We need him to go big in the next game. 
-- He picked up his third foul with 6:41 left in the second and that limited his impact early. A very sleepy first half. Much more productive second half. He has to deal with the GP2 matchup. He had a couple scores in the post, a layup in transition off a Vando steal and buried one of his two attempts at three. We’re not doing a great job setting him up for catch and shoot threes. We need him to get that home crowd lift in the next game and deliver a big one. 
-- Good job knocking down the three ball tonight, hitting 3-6. Legs looking good. Whatever the outcome of the playoffs, it’s great seeing him push through some early offensive difficulties in this series. Loved seeing him crash the offensive glass and ripping a board away from Curry or take some deep threes. He’s also thrown some great passes, including those full-length outlets that are on the money. All those just feel like confidence types of plays. He’s battling with the defending champs, making an impact and lifting that scoring up. Defensively, he’s also been making a lot of great rotations and reads in this series. A lot of guys on this team have disappeared in this series. He hasn’t. On D tonight we’re picking up different guys and doing a lot of switching. Wiggins was very aggressive when he had the smaller Reaves on him. There were some really smart angles on screens that Wiggins took on those switches that also caused problems. We need him to come up big in the next one and get the crowd going. 
-- The -16 in 11 minutes. One thing you could look at in this one. Offensively, he just causes us a ton of problems. The Warriors could hide Curry on him to start as Vando isn’t a threat and you have to hunt that differently. Defensively, Green did a much better job tonight being aggressive. He had been looking for teammates and allowing us to recover in the previous games. Tonight, he just went at it. This is an adjustment I thought we might see a couple games back. Let’s see if he can duplicate that or not. 
-- I’m not sure what Ham may do for an adjustment, but early in this game when we fell down big, he pulled Vando and brought in Dennis. If we treat this next one like a game seven, I wonder if this might be a starting lineup change. It gives us better perimeter shooting, not great, but better. But he battles on defense and the team needs more two-way minutes. Tonight, he sank a couple of threes. He got into the midrange. He blew past Curry for a layup. He got middle and hit a floater (this is something the team needs to make as a big point of emphasis). If we can get middle, the game changes for us. 
-- A couple buckets tonight. He dribbled to the FT line off a corner screen and hit a pull up. He got into the post, spun around a flopping Poole and scored a layup. Again, very tricky to play him. If I’m the Warriors and the Lakers move to a very switchy defense from the get-go in the next one, I might search out Rui with their guards. 
-- Fairly quiet first half. He did a good job finding teammates when he had the ball in his hands. At times he brought the ball up to kick off offensive sets. In the second half, he got more aggressive with the shot during a short stretch. He hit a wing pull up jumper with 4 minutes left in the third quarter for his first bucket of the game. I’d like to see a little more aggression in those first half minutes. We could use his athleticism to get the Warriors on their heels instead of the other way around. 
-- He hit a three trailing the break in garbage time. Good to see the ball go through for him. We really do miss some of the sets he allows us to run with his threat as a mobile shooter. 
-- He attacked for a layup in garbage time. 
-- Garbage time had some effort on the offensive glass, but all was meaningless. 
-- He had a couple assists in garbage time. 
-- He missed a jumper in garbage time. 
-- Key Moment: Keeping AD from the concussion protocol? Early diagnosis appears he’s avoided it. But seriously, though, I feel like we lost our process in this game. The speed of the game had us on our heels all night. We didn’t get to set up defensively as often. We did a poor job getting middle and countering some of the defensive schemes the Warriors have consistently thrown our way. We need to get downhill in the paint and get to the line. I’m relentless on this in the next game. There were several plays we’ve run in the past couple games, I didn’t see out there tonight. Hopefully, in front of the home crowd we get more methodical again. He said they are going to play a physical, forceful brand of basketball and let the chips fall where they may.
