Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 9:29 pm Post subject: KINGS -at- LAKERS - 10-11-23 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings
Progress... With AD, LBJ, Reaves and Vando all resting in this game, that could be four-fifths of the starting lineup there. The one guy remaining, though, has been torching it this preseason.
D’Angelo Russell led all players with 21 points and 8 assists in just 21 minutes. He’s been averaging a point a minute this preseason and making opponents pay out of the 5-out sets.
Meanwhile, some of the new guys are getting more comfortable by the game. Vincent had 18 points. Hayes manned the starting center spot well. Taurean Prince gave the team 13 and 7 from the SF spot.
The new pieces are making progress. They took the game 109-101. Now it’s time to tighten things up with the rotations and get momentum heading into the regular season.
Russell -- -- Just crushing it in the preseason -- 21 points and 8 assists in 21 minutes. He’s been at a point-a-minute pace in the preseason. First play of the game, he threaded a pass like Magic over the head of a defender to Vincent under the hoop for a layup. He hit Rui cutting for a layup and also a three. Really carving up the D. The perimeter shot has been there all preseason. There was also a stretch where he was getting downhill and scoring around the rim. At the end of his run in the second half, he hit Prince for a three, then sank a three himself next time down. Then, did it again with a couple players on him on the next possession. That forced a Kings timeout. He’s hungry. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 8-12 shooting (2-5 from three, 3-5 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 8 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a +10.
Hachimura -- -- Better job in the starting role than the first game. You felt him out there. He looked really comfortable getting into his shots. Also, no hesitation on the three ball. Last year, when he first got to the team, it was hard to get him into the flow. He also had a lot of that pumpfake from the three line game, which was really a staple of his since entering the league. Now, he’s letting those fly. This team has a lot of guys that can get to double-digit scoring with consistency. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-10 shooting (1-3 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and no fouls in 26 minutes. He was a +11.
Hayes -- -- Got the starting C spot with AD out. I think what I liked the most about that was we were just keeping the Kings off the offensive glass. Last year, this game was 100% a problem on the offensive glass without AD. It wasn’t that he was gobbling boards up, but he was putting bodies on guys and tapping at boards, as well. It wasn’t until we went to the G-League lineups that we saw any major issues there (looked very much like last year in those minutes). Some really good work in the 5-out setting screens. He also had a fake that he took on the dribble to earn FTs on the drive. Anytime they left him open on the perimeter and he got the ball, he kept the advantage going by quickly getting into a dribble handoff. So he’s getting used to the 5-out action and the coaches are giving him the minutes. Only bucket in this game came off a nice screen-roll feed from Russell. I’m still waiting for the lob chemistry to pick up. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 1-1 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a +14.
Vincent -- -- He scored a layup on a set play to start the game. Then buried a pull-up three in transition. Once he hit that three, you knew he was going to be aggressive. There were quite a few games last year where he came out of the gates firing and scoring with frequency. With no Reaves in the mix, we needed another guard to step up. Defensively, some good help rotations and switches. One nice stop on a scramble play where he picked up the right man. Another where he shut down a drive instead of giving up something uncontested, and they missed as a result. The team D reactions looked better for everyone in this game. Asked how comfortable he was getting, “More and more each day,” he said. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 7-12 shooting (4-8 from three) to go with 2 assists, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 26 minutes. He was a +11.
Prince -- -- Just fits so well with this team. Offensively, he can score from all areas of the floor. He hit a midrange. He got in the middle of the paint and hit a jumphook. He hit an And-1 midrange on a pumpfake. And sank a couple of threes. The points just add up. Last year, we struggled to get production from this spot by ou role players. Defensively, he had a nice rotation going vertical and getting a stop. Last year, that was likely a smaller man getting scored on. He had two plays where fouls went against him as both coaches used their challenges at the end of the first half. This is also the kind of rebounding game we need. I don’t know if he was thinking he needed to put in more effort there with AD out, but if he can pull these numbers that would be a nice surprise. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-9 shooting (2-5 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals and 2 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a +12.
Christie -- -- Never really got comfortable out there. He struggled from both the perimeter and at the rim. Also just too many turnovers. Everything looked choppy. It might be that he knew we needed a bit more playmaking without LBJ and Reaves, but it was all too clunky. The stars will slide him back into a simpler game when they are back in the mix. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-9 shooting (0-3 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 4 assists, 4 turnovers and 2 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a +1.
Wood -- -- Aggressive and efficient tonight. He had a post-up that he muscled in a laup. He attacked from the three line for a dunk. Drew FTs rolling to the hoop. Scored a layup on the screen-roll. He hit a face-up midrange. And scored an And-1 on the break and some more FTs on a drive. I like these numbers. Can’t wait for the three ball to start coming along. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-7 shooting (3-5 from the line) to go with 4 boards and 2 turnovers in 20 minutes. He was a +2.
Lewis -- -- Some good moments out there. He up-faked and moved in off the three line for a pull-up. He blocked Monk on an iso three (not easy, he flashes a great defensive play once a game). He attacked off the three line and hit Castleton for a floater. He ball-faked, attacked and scored a layup. He also got a nice bounce on a corner three to drop for him. On the downside, a couple of travels, which seems standard for rookies learning footwork. I mentioned this in the summer league, but one of the things I wasn’t thrilled about with him in college is the lack of other things in the stat sheets (boards, steals, blocks) that show effort out there. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-5 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 1 assist, 1 block, 1 foul and 1 turnover in 15 minutes. He was a -2.
Hodge -- -- He came in for the final quarter of garbage time. No microwave tonight. He cold from the floor, missing everything. Good hands again on D getting a steal and nearly another in the passing lane that he couldn’t quite handle. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-4 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 12 minutes. He was a -3.
Hood-Schifino -- -- It’s been rough. I generally think bad things are going to happen when he’s got the ball right now. He had another 3 turnovers, including getting stripped on some perimeter pressure that turned into him having to foul in transition. First half was pretty awful. Second half, he had a couple defensive plays and was able to score. He had one bucket, getting a man on his hip, then attacking the rim with speed to score. Good job on the boards. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-5 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a +4.
Castleton -- -- We looked a bit more comfortable offensively and playing to his strengths a bit more on the perimeter ballhandling/screen setting. He lead the team in rebounding, but we struggled keeping the Kings off the glass. He hit a couple of floaters for scores. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-4 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 7 boards, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 15 minutes. He was a -2.
Pippen -- -- First time we’ve seen him in a long time. He didn’t take a three and carried the ball after giving up the advantage. No scores on a couple of attempts.The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-2 shooting to go with 1 board, 1 assist and 1 turnover in 6 minutes. He was a -8.
Fudge -- -- He made some good use of his time out there with a couple of highlight plays. On one he got a loose ball off a tricky pass, the faked a pass to completely fool the defender into leaving the paing, then scored the easy layup. Later, he had a putback jam getting up high for the throwdown. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-2 shooting to go with 2 boards and 2 fouls in 8 minutes. He was a -10.
Ham -- -- He slid Rui, Hayes and Vincent into the starting lineup to replace LBJ, AD and Reaves. All contributed well for the team. Hayes has been very serviceable out there as a backup big, doing a lot of the little things the coaches like. I think he’s screen setting has been better than in the past, so the coaches are really seeing some good chemistry developing… Good to see Vincent more aggressive in this starting role. Last time starting, he was kind of missing in action for the first half of the quarter. He’s getting comfortable. The coaches made sure he knows he has the green light… A lot of turnovers in this game (20), which made for some sloppy ball at times. Missing our main guys put some stress on the system… First subs in this game were Wood for Rui and Christie for Vincent. They still had some issues to close that first quarter…
First! Thanks, DB! Missed the game so your write up is critical for me! _________________ On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".
Key will be finding that perfect balance of putting more on D'Angelo's plate in terms of playmaking but keeping Lebron involved and in rhythm throughout the game. Ideally I would like D'Angelo to keep his efficiency where it was at last season and average 19-20 Pts and 6 Asts per game. But the days of Lebron dribble dribble dribble and step back three or pounding the ball constantly off a live dribble need to die permanently
Thanks DB! Didn't watch the game again so glad to see your analysis. Seems at this point I can trust Prince, Hayes, Vincent, and maybe even Wood (in addition to our 6 returning rotation players) to be steady contributors. I'm most interested in Christie and hope he can get back in rhythm as his growth is crucial to shore up the guard rotation.
Joined: 17 Jun 2003 Posts: 6292 Location: Central Coast
Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2023 5:14 am Post subject:
Normally this is the type of game we lose, not a lot of stars - looks to be a much better constructed team. _________________ LAKERS 2019-2020: NBA World Champions!
Joined: 24 Feb 2003 Posts: 6413 Location: Past left field
Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2023 7:50 am Post subject:
Thanks DB!
Exact opposite of the Brooklyn game statistically. Won FG%, 3PT% and free throw attempts. Won rebounding battle as well as points in the paint. Won 2 of the 4 quarters and held the Kings to under 30 points in each quarter.
I did see more effort on the defensive end. Guys were playing up on their opponent rather that dropping and were going over screens rather than under. Hope to see more of that.
The Good: DLo with 21 points, Vincent with 18 points and Wood with 13 off the bench
The Bad: Christie 2-9 with 4 turnovers,
The Ugly: Hodge 0-4, Pippen 0-2, JHS 1-5
Hayes continues to be perfect from the floor this preseason (on low volume of 7 shots) but had a team high +14 while on the floor against the Kings. _________________ Darvin Ham is an idiot!
Joined: 23 Jun 2005 Posts: 12825 Location: Somewhere watching a Laker game
Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2023 8:40 am Post subject:
Thanks DB. D'Lo looks like the best player on the Lakers so far. He's playing with a swagger we haven't seen in a while. Went toe to toe with Fox and didn't blink.
DHam not starting him in that game 4 seems to have lit a fire under him. Keep it going D'Lo!
Thanks DB! Didn't watch the game again so glad to see your analysis. Seems at this point I can trust Prince, Hayes, Vincent, and maybe even Wood (in addition to our 6 returning rotation players) to be steady contributors. I'm most interested in Christie and hope he can get back in rhythm as his growth is crucial to shore up the guard rotation.
@tox,
you can watch the game afterwards in : Watch Replay
Not to get too excited over summer league and pre-season play, but looks like with some experience Fudge will be able to contribute to a winning team in the not too distant future. Has the ability to make solid plays from time to time, is agile and, of course, tall which is a good start toward being a useful player......
good stuff and loving the depth this year... some hope, lol #GoLakers!!!
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-- Just crushing it in the preseason -- 21 points and 8 assists in 21 minutes. He’s been at a point-a-minute pace in the preseason. First play of the game, he threaded a pass like Magic over the head of a defender to Vincent under the hoop for a layup. He hit Rui cutting for a layup and also a three. Really carving up the D. The perimeter shot has been there all preseason. There was also a stretch where he was getting downhill and scoring around the rim. At the end of his run in the second half, he hit Prince for a three, then sank a three himself next time down. Then, did it again with a couple players on him on the next possession. That forced a Kings timeout. He’s hungry. 
-- Better job in the starting role than the first game. You felt him out there. He looked really comfortable getting into his shots. Also, no hesitation on the three ball. Last year, when he first got to the team, it was hard to get him into the flow. He also had a lot of that pumpfake from the three line game, which was really a staple of his since entering the league. Now, he’s letting those fly. This team has a lot of guys that can get to double-digit scoring with consistency. 
-- Got the starting C spot with AD out. I think what I liked the most about that was we were just keeping the Kings off the offensive glass. Last year, this game was 100% a problem on the offensive glass without AD. It wasn’t that he was gobbling boards up, but he was putting bodies on guys and tapping at boards, as well. It wasn’t until we went to the G-League lineups that we saw any major issues there (looked very much like last year in those minutes). Some really good work in the 5-out setting screens. He also had a fake that he took on the dribble to earn FTs on the drive. Anytime they left him open on the perimeter and he got the ball, he kept the advantage going by quickly getting into a dribble handoff. So he’s getting used to the 5-out action and the coaches are giving him the minutes. Only bucket in this game came off a nice screen-roll feed from Russell. I’m still waiting for the lob chemistry to pick up. 
-- He scored a layup on a set play to start the game. Then buried a pull-up three in transition. Once he hit that three, you knew he was going to be aggressive. There were quite a few games last year where he came out of the gates firing and scoring with frequency. With no Reaves in the mix, we needed another guard to step up. Defensively, some good help rotations and switches. One nice stop on a scramble play where he picked up the right man. Another where he shut down a drive instead of giving up something uncontested, and they missed as a result. The team D reactions looked better for everyone in this game. Asked how comfortable he was getting, “More and more each day,” he said. 
-- Just fits so well with this team. Offensively, he can score from all areas of the floor. He hit a midrange. He got in the middle of the paint and hit a jumphook. He hit an And-1 midrange on a pumpfake. And sank a couple of threes. The points just add up. Last year, we struggled to get production from this spot by ou role players. Defensively, he had a nice rotation going vertical and getting a stop. Last year, that was likely a smaller man getting scored on. He had two plays where fouls went against him as both coaches used their challenges at the end of the first half. This is also the kind of rebounding game we need. I don’t know if he was thinking he needed to put in more effort there with AD out, but if he can pull these numbers that would be a nice surprise. 
-- Never really got comfortable out there. He struggled from both the perimeter and at the rim. Also just too many turnovers. Everything looked choppy. It might be that he knew we needed a bit more playmaking without LBJ and Reaves, but it was all too clunky. The stars will slide him back into a simpler game when they are back in the mix. 
-- Aggressive and efficient tonight. He had a post-up that he muscled in a laup. He attacked from the three line for a dunk. Drew FTs rolling to the hoop. Scored a layup on the screen-roll. He hit a face-up midrange. And scored an And-1 on the break and some more FTs on a drive. I like these numbers. Can’t wait for the three ball to start coming along. 
-- Some good moments out there. He up-faked and moved in off the three line for a pull-up. He blocked Monk on an iso three (not easy, he flashes a great defensive play once a game). He attacked off the three line and hit Castleton for a floater. He ball-faked, attacked and scored a layup. He also got a nice bounce on a corner three to drop for him. On the downside, a couple of travels, which seems standard for rookies learning footwork. I mentioned this in the summer league, but one of the things I wasn’t thrilled about with him in college is the lack of other things in the stat sheets (boards, steals, blocks) that show effort out there. 
-- He came in for the final quarter of garbage time. No microwave tonight. He cold from the floor, missing everything. Good hands again on D getting a steal and nearly another in the passing lane that he couldn’t quite handle. 
-- It’s been rough. I generally think bad things are going to happen when he’s got the ball right now. He had another 3 turnovers, including getting stripped on some perimeter pressure that turned into him having to foul in transition. First half was pretty awful. Second half, he had a couple defensive plays and was able to score. He had one bucket, getting a man on his hip, then attacking the rim with speed to score. Good job on the boards. 
-- We looked a bit more comfortable offensively and playing to his strengths a bit more on the perimeter ballhandling/screen setting. He lead the team in rebounding, but we struggled keeping the Kings off the glass. He hit a couple of floaters for scores. 
-- First time we’ve seen him in a long time. He didn’t take a three and carried the ball after giving up the advantage. No scores on a couple of attempts.
-- He made some good use of his time out there with a couple of highlight plays. On one he got a loose ball off a tricky pass, the faked a pass to completely fool the defender into leaving the paing, then scored the easy layup. Later, he had a putback jam getting up high for the throwdown. 
-- He slid Rui, Hayes and Vincent into the starting lineup to replace LBJ, AD and Reaves. All contributed well for the team. Hayes has been very serviceable out there as a backup big, doing a lot of the little things the coaches like. I think he’s screen setting has been better than in the past, so the coaches are really seeing some good chemistry developing… Good to see Vincent more aggressive in this starting role. Last time starting, he was kind of missing in action for the first half of the quarter. He’s getting comfortable. The coaches made sure he knows he has the green light… A lot of turnovers in this game (20), which made for some sloppy ball at times. Missing our main guys put some stress on the system… First subs in this game were Wood for Rui and Christie for Vincent. They still had some issues to close that first quarter…
