WARRIORS -at- LAKERS - 10-13-23 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Offense is Flowing... When they run their rotation guys, the Lakers offense has been humming. They scored 70 points in the first half, flamethrowing from three in the first quarter.

Newcomer Taureen Prince sank 4-5 from three to lead the team with 17 points as the ball moved well to find open shooters.

The Lakers led by double digits when they went to the G-League bench late in the third quarter. They quickly gave up the lead.

They played even for most of the fourth quarter. In the final minute, JHS had a drive and dish to Castleton to take the lead. They gave up a putback on the other end.

Then, JHS attacked the paint, got the whistle, but the play was reviewed and despite it appearing like he was hit in the head, the call was overturned. No freethrows with 17 seconds left. That put them into a foul situation and they lost the game, 129-125.


LeBron -- -- Just a half of ball tonight, and he was in cruise control quite a bit. The defense was very much in preseason mode (he had the starters low -9). Offensively, not a lot going on. He had a nice backdoor cut that Reaves hit him with a bounce pass for a layup. The hoop IQ on this team is pretty high, we’ve got more continuity, so I expect a lot more of that. I’m liking how the post game is going to look this year. We’ve got shooters around him (Christie with a nice three on one). The Stats: He scored 12 points on 4-8 shooting (1-3 from three, 3-6 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 5 assists, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 18 minutes. He was a -9.

Davis -- -- He’s looking good from those corner threes. I’m not so thrilled about the other areas beyond the arc. Occasionally, instead of taking those threes, I like to see him quickly go into the dribble handoff to screen for a shooter. That can catch the D off guard. I think his three above the arc in this one came as they left him to double Bron in the post. Opponents will be willing to give that up, but we can still turn that into an advantage if we flow into some of those other options. He got a tech in this one for getting hit on the wrist with no call while trying to dunk. Seemed like a pretty obvious call. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 3-8 shooting (1-2 from three, 6-7 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a +14.

Russell -- -- I’m not sure I’ve seen a more disruptive defensive game from Russell. The stats show a couple of steals, but let’s go through it in more detail. He got his first score by hitting a three in transition after forcing a turnover. He blocked a shot out of bounds on help D from behind. He forced CP3 into a double clutch jumper and miss with a challenge. He swiped a post entry pass. He pressured CP3 on the perimeter to throw a pass out of bounds near midcourt. He stole an inbounds in the backcourt and hit Rui cutting for a dunk. He drew an offensive foul to get another stop. He gave a little back on the offensive end with turnovers (4). A couple of his turnovers, however, should have been fouls on the Warriors. We could have used those extra possessions. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-8 shooting (2-4 from three) to go with 4 boards, 6 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 4 turnovers and 1 foul in 26 minutes. He was a +14.

Reaves -- -- I really enjoy seeing him cook Curry for an And-1 in the paint. He had a drive that took contact from Curry, and he finished the tough one-hander in the middle of the paint with his left for the And-1. He should have had another And-1 on him when he went behind his back to lose Curry and hit a running bank getting a shove in the waist. Reaves got a little ticked on the no calls and picked up a tech later. Right after that, we went into a 5-out sequence we had run a few times in a row and Reaves faked the handoff and attacked down the lane for a dunk. The execution offensively on some of our sets is looking deadly. First play of this game, they ran a play for Reaves and he was wide open for an easy three. We had CP3 in the cross hairs at times defensively. Reaves turned the corner on a handoff for an easy layup against him. Reaves nearly had the play of the game with a steal at midcourt which he immediately chucked toward the rim where Hayes was, but Hayes blew the lob layup and the assist. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 6-9 shooting (1-2 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a +0.

Prince -- -- So nice getting production from this spot on the roster. Last year was rough. Anything we got from our role players there was like squeezing water from stone. Super efficient night with 17 points on 5-6 shooting from Prince. Love seeing AD collapse the D on the short rolls and then find Prince wide open for the three. Those look automatic. Last year, that might have been Brown missing multiple open looks. Ham said Prince could get 30 without a play run for him. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 5-6 shooting (4-5 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 2 steals and no fouls in 20 minutes. He was a +5.

Hachimura -- -- Off the bench in the first half, starting for Bron in the second half. Three ball looked good again, no hesitation and he swished his first on a feed from Russell. I really like the attack and kickout after collapsing the D. That’s the part of his game that will really elevate everything. That turned into a swing-swing and wide open Christie three. Ham mentioned the extra passing by the team afterward. Plays like that make the team (especially second units) deadly. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 2-5 shooting (1-2 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a +11.

Christie -- -- When we simplify the game for him with our stars, everything becomes smoother. Simple catch and shoots. He is not forced to do too much, just hit the open looks and play D. One three came off a Bron post up and kickout. The other was that Rui drive that kicked to the corner into a swing-swing that found him wide open. Defensively, he’s been strong all preseason. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-5 shooting (2-3 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 19 minutes. He was a -1.

Wood -- -- A point per minute tonight. He had a putback jam after Rui was blocked on the break. He swished an open three. Soft touch on a midrange jumper that bounced in. He’d score on a couple of drives. One off a rebound, he pushed up court, spinning in the paint and finishing. He would also finish another twisting layup. Nice production in short minutes. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-8 shooting (1-2 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 7 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 13 minutes. He was a -4.

Hayes -- -- Not as strong as he had been in the other games. He got his one bucket off a nice drive and dish from Bron. He choked that Reaves lob and missed a bunch of FTs. No rebounds, either. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-3 shooting (1-4 from the line) to go with 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 11 minutes. He was a -10.

Fudge -- -- Defensively, he blocked a couple of shots. One was a good challenge after a Warrior secured an offensive board. The other was a block on an inbounds with the shotclock expiring. Offensively, he made one of his threes. He let’s it fly and looks much more comfortable with his stroke than Vando. His other bucket was finishing a lob on the break. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-4 shooting (1-3 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 12 minutes. He was a -3.

Hodge -- -- Good to see him connecting again on a couple of threes. He also swiped a pass and took it for a layup, keeping the ball from the defender and not giving him a good angle for a challenge. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-7 shooting (2-6 from three) to go with 1 board, 2 steals and 1 foul in 12 minutes. He was a -3.

Hood-Schifino -- -- It’s been rough. We lost the lead when we went to our rookie backcourt. That was gone in an instant. He scored just once in seven attempts. He had a chance to take the lead with 17 seconds left but couldn’t finish a layup (probably getting hit in the head, but they reviewed and overturned the foul call). The D is learning pretty quickly to go under the screens on him to cause problems. His one score was an attack in transition, which he scored in a crowd after picking up the dribble. If there was an area of improvement, it was the 5 assists without a turnover. Some good execution there, including a nice interior feed and another kickout off a set play for a three. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-7 shooting (0-2 from three, 1-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 16 minutes. He was a -11..

Castleton -- -- This was the first time, he looked more like himself. Very comfortable out there and he was timing the speed of the game well with a couple of blocks. He scored multiple times in the paint, including off some offensive boards. He had a nice drive with a change of speeds for a score. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-5 shooting to go with 7 boards (3 offensive), 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 12 minutes. He was a -1.

Lewis -- -- Some sloppy passing and he also coughed up the dribble in this one to finish with 3 turnovers. He did have some good setups, however. He hit Castleton trailing the break for a dunk and he also lobbed to Fudge over the D in transition for another dunk. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-2 shooting from three to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 16 minutes. He was a -11.

Ham -- -- First subs tonight were Rui and Christie for LeBron and Reaves. No Vincent, so Christie slides up a spot. He then sat Prince for Wood shortly after that. So AD, Wood, Rui, Christie, Russell lineup. That’s a big group… He went to a Hayes, Bron, Christie, Reaves, Russell lineup to start the second quarter. Some good shooting around Hayes and some playmaking… I’m not going to put too much weight on the second half, but in the first half the Lakers gave up 63 points. That’s still too many with the guys we had on the floor. There was some better moments from some. Others, like Bron kind of coasted. So hard to get a real feel for the D… Lakers made 16-36 from three (44%). They shot a poor 23-37 from the line (62%). Kind of gave the game away there…

[dino]

thanks db...was at the game tonight, you could see dlo really trying and competing on defense...

oh, and the team stunk at the line tonight...

[tox]

Thanks DB!

[pjiddy]

The Lakers rotation guys shot 56% from 3

[deal]

Thanks DB !
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Lakers need to build a freaking team !

[Laker7]

Thanks DB!

As mentioned, Lakers shot 44.4% from 3PT land but just 62.2% from the free throw line. Lost this game at the line.

Won the first and second quarters, lost the third and fourth. Lost FG% and FT% but won 3PT%. Lost rebounds and points in the paint AGAIN (getting frustrating). Won steals and blocks.

The Good: Prince (6 shots to get 17 points), Reaves (9 shots to get 16 points) and Rui (5 shots to get 8 points)
The Bad: Hayes (1-3 with 3 fouls and 2 turnovers)
The Ugly: JHS (1 for 7 from the floor) and Lewis (0-2 with 3 turnovers)

Based on what we have seen in preseason, Prince will be the 5th starter. Bench will be Rui, Wood, Gabe, Christie and Hayes until Vando is healthy then Hayes will go to the deep bench.
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Darvin Ham is an idiot!

[LakerSD]

Happy with this one. We outplayed them when the rotation guys played.

When we went to the G-League and end of bench guys they were still playing Payton, Moody and Kuminga

[Dr. Laker]

Thanks, DB!

We have to tighten up on the glass.
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On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".

[TDRock]

Fun game.

Thanks DB
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#IStillBelieveTaurean

[pio2u]

THX DB!