LAKERS -at- CLIPPERS - 2-28-24 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Bron Goes Crazy in Fourth as Clippers Collapse... Wow! What a comeback.

After giving up a three to head into the fourth and then another bucket to start the fourth, the Lakers were down 21 points. Apparently, that lead wasn’t big enough.

LeBron went off in the fourth.

Cam Reddish hit a three to get things going. Bron followed that up with another three. Then he dropped two more threes to cut it to 9. The Clippers called a timeout.

LeBron found Russell for three. Another LeBron drive and a bank and the lead was now just 5. The Clippers hit a three, but LeBron answered that with another three. The Clippers called another timeout. Didn’t matter. Bron would hit his fifth three of the quarter and cut the lead to just 2.

The Clippers switched on Bron a lot, allowing him to iso on mismatches, but that also allowed AD to have size mismatches under the hoop for offensive boards. That came up big down the stretch as he’d tie it up with a couple of freethrows working the offense glass. Then later, recover another offensive board that led to a huge Rui three.

As the Clipper defenders doubled LeBron, the ball worked its way again to Rui and he attacked from the corner for a reverse. The Lakers now led by 5.

LeBron then found Russell in the corner. The ball at chin level, Russell never brought it down and swished a three, that was a killer. The Lakers outscored the Clippers 39-16 in the fourth. What a meltdown by the Clippers, but a superstar performance from LeBron in that fourth.

The Lakers really needed the W here and somehow pulled out the 116-112 comeback win. Now, let’s get the W tomorrow.


LeBron -- -- Insane. He had 19 points on 7-12 shooting and 5-8 from three … in the fourth quarter. Big assists on other buckets in that fourth. He was just going off. The Clippers were switching quite a bit with AD before finally sending doubles and that’s when others joined in the scoring as he moved the ball. Credit LeBron, as well, on the defensive end. He was playing feisty. He had the huge challenge on the stop on Kawhi as the Clippers had a chance to tie on a jumper from the baseline that came up short. He then fired it down court to Cam for the dunk to seal the deal. That fourth quarter was non-stop Bron. Really, a classic performance. Just crazy what he’s doing. The Stats: He scored 34 points on 13-21 (7-12 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 8 assists, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 37 minutes. He was a +11.

Davis -- -- The perimeter shot wasn’t there tonight. He missed quite a bit from the midrange and even hit the side of the board on a corner three. Defensively, some good hands at times for steals or poke aways that led to Laker fastbreaks. He’d have 2 steals and 3 blocks, including a great one on Kawhi during that stretch in the third where the Lakers defense strung several steals in a row before AD forced him into the jumpball there, which Kawhi didn’t attempt jumping. AD turned some defensive into offense in the first half, stealing a pass in the back court and taking it for the And-1 layup. Just a couple assists for AD, seemed like more, but he got the Lakers off on the break multiple times. Late in the game, he was key in getting Kawhi off Bron on switches, then battling on the offensive glass for some second-chances. Some good moments with Dinwiddie and AD that they need to explore more of. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 8-15 (0-2 from three, 4-5 from the line) to go with 12 boards (3 offensive), 2 assists, 2 steals, 3 blocks, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 36 minutes. He was a -4.

Russell -- -- Both those threes he hit in the fourth quarter, he shot with a super quick release. The first one was with 7:51 left, cutting the lead to 7 when Bron found him. The next one, again from LeBron, on a skip pass to the corner, Russell caught around chin level and went right into the shot. Swish with 1:12 left. And then he shushed the Clipper fans. Sneaky, quiet game from Russell. He had some scrappy drives to draw FTs. He hit from the midrange, as well. Bring it again tomorrow. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 6-10 shooting (3-6 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 6 assists, 3 turnovers and no fouls in 34 minutes. He was a +8.

Reaves -- -- The Clippers were struggling to score in the fourth quarter. And late in the game, you could see them decide that they need to find Reaves and try to go to work on him. He didn’t switch, he stayed with Powell, so Powell tried to create on iso. Reaves was all over him, forcing an airball and shotclock violation. That was a huge defensive stop. There was a stretch in the third quarter where the Lakers had forced the Clippers into 5 straight turnovers, Reaves dunked on the break on one of those. He stripped harden on a steal on the perimeter and took it for an uncontested layup. He’d also later have a challenge and leak out that AD hit him for a layup. Great job changing ends and digging in on the defensive end tonight. Excellent job on the boards tonight. I know he’s got that in him and shown it. With Dinwiddie now in the mix maybe that will free up some more energy for AR on the defensive glass. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 6-11 shooting (1-4 from three) to go with 8 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 36 minutes. He was a -5.

Hachimura -- -- After he had a 10-point first half, he was really pretty quiet offensively until the end of the game. But he came up huge. We found him for a corner three late, he missed it, AD got the ball, it worked its way back to Bron, who attacked, drew the D and Rui buried his next attempt. His only make from three during the game, but a huge, huge shot with 3:11 left. Less than a minute later, Bron would draw a double, find Russell, who then hit Rui in the corner. This time he attacked for a big reverse. And with those two buckets, the Lakers were up 5. Prior to all the fourth quarter fireworks, Rui had one of the plays of the game on the defensive end. He deflected a pass to midcourt, chased after it, stretched out and tapped it ahead, anticipating Reaves would be there. He was and took it for a dunk. Great effort and I hope that play sticks with him. Some sloppy closeouts at the three line tonight fouling shooters. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 8-15 shooting (1-5 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a +1.

Dinwiddie -- -- Good to see the ball in his hands playmaking more. He got middle early on and lobbed to AD. I want to see a lot more of that. There was a possession in the second half where he settled and missed a three that looked like he could have gotten middle again from the sideline off the two-man action. Some other finds: He hit AD with a bullet feed rolling for a dunk. He probed and hit Rui under the hoop for a layup. He hit AD open for a freethrow jumper. He sank one three tonight on a Reaves drive and kick. He also had a nice drive in transition off a hesi for a layup. Also, kind of a wild drive that he somehow threw up and in on a runner. Defensively, the Clippers used Russ fairly smartly early on. Later, we had Bron briefly on him and that’s when the defense became really disruptive because he could play free safety. You want to do something unconventional like that with a big or savvy defender like Bron to throw a wrench in the opponent’s playbook. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-6 shooting (1-4 from three) to go with 2 boards, 6 assists, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 20 minutes. He was a -3.

Prince -- -- Too many things that I didn’t like in this game. Glad he was limited to just 17 minutes. He didn’t secure a defensive board with both hands and allowed Russ to steal it from him. He traveled at the three line trying to attack a close out. He missed a floater that should have been a lob to Hayes. He’d get picked off too easy on screens. It just wasn’t working. His one make was a nice pull-up bank from the left side after moving in off the three line. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-4 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 17 minutes. He was a +3.

Reddish -- -- With Cam back in the mix Christie was out of the rotation. Cam came in off the bench with Prince as our first subs of the first quarter. He gave the team some better D on Harden as the game went along. The Lakers really worked at taking that step-back three away, but they gave up a few drives and some assists in the process. Regardless, it’s good to have a point-of-attack defender back in the mix. Good to see Prince’s minutes going down. Offensively, Cam made a three to start the fourth. He just caught and fired early in offense. It was almost a little abrupt, but after the game Ham said he had told the team they need to get more threes up that quarter, so Reddish started them off with the first Laker score of the fourth. He’d get the last score of the fourth changing ends off the Bron stop and rebound and dunk it with 1 second left. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-4 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 3 boards, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a +5.

Hayes -- -- He struggled defensively in the first half dealing with Harden on the switches or help D situations. He brought some good energy in that fourth quarter, though, as the Lakers got off to a good start. He was fouled crashing the offensive glass to regain a possession for us. Short minutes. We might have used him a little more instead of those small lineups where we sat Rui and Bron for Prince and a guard. The Stats: He didn’t shoot or score, had 2 boards and 1 foul in 11 minutes. He was a +6.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: There was a stretch in the third where it looked like the Lakers were going to make their run. They had steal after steal, but really quickly gave up a 10-1 run to the Clippers and all that was erased. Throw in that chuck from the sideline for a three that the Clippers got to end the third and the team could have been down, hanging heads. Credit Bron for just going crazy and carrying the team. Ham would take some timeouts late to get Bron some rest, but they were running everything through LeBron in that fourth and taking advantage no matter what the Clippers threw at them. Good job riding the hot hand and finding ways to keep him rested.

Key Substitution: Hayes, Bron, Prince, Reddish, Russell lineup to start the fourth. After a Russell turnover on the first possession, the Lakers went off. After 5 minutes, Ham went to an AD, Bron, Reddish, Reaves, Russell lineup. The team went on a 29-8 run to erase that 21-point lead in 8 minutes to start that fourth. Credit to all those guys, especially defensively to hold the Clippers to just 16.

Key Stats: First half: The Lakers were just 1-2 from the line and 9 turnovers in the first half. The Clippers were 11-14 from the line with just 3 turnovers in the half. Wrong side of both those numbers for the Lakers. Also, in the first half a 15-4 advantage for the Clippers bench, despite missing two starters in the game. The Lakers would still have another 8 turnovers in the second half, but they forced the Clippers into 11 second-half turnovers. Freethrows, the Lakers took a foul with a couple seconds in that third quarter for their only foul of that quarter. The Clippers made just 1-2 from the line in the second half. The Lakers 7-8.

[A Mad Chinaman]

[A Mad Chinaman]

[slavavov]

Great win! Shows that when the Lakers want to, they're a very good team and even a championship-caliber team.

Unfortunately, they have shown that maybe they don't care enough with all those double-digit losses to crap teams. Otherwise they'd be in fifth place in the West right now with maybe a shot to move into the top four.
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[A Mad Chinaman]

[danzag]

We are all witnesses

[governator]

That’s how you evict a delinquent renter
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“The main goal for the Lakers is to win a championship. All I care about, all we care about, is to raise another banner in the rafters.“

[sonic the laker]

Thanks as always, DB!

And, despite the game ending in a win for us, things do not look good for us. We didn't win this game off of great play(calling) on offense, or defense. This was a purely a combination of the Clippers taking their feet off the gas, combined with LeBron going nuclear, in the 4th quarter. Letting teams get huge leads, and depending on either LeBron/AD to lead a monumental comeback in the 4th is not a winning formula.

In the face of all the ups and downs, I've been a firm Ham supporter. That's considering all the obstacles he's had to contend with that were both in, and out, of his control. But, after seeing that Clippers game, I'm firmly done with Ham. He continues to horde timeouts like gold, trot out bizarre rotations, ices potentially helpful players (Christie), and shows absolutely no signs of improving/stabilizing our stagnant offense/defense. Our up and down play is testimony to that fact.
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ZOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!

[governator]

Love the win but like with the dubs and suns game, why can’t we unleash AD on the offensive end? He should get like 30 shots and drop 40+. These bigs shouldn’t be able to handle him. Ham gotta get the brow going more
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“The main goal for the Lakers is to win a championship. All I care about, all we care about, is to raise another banner in the rafters.“

[joeblow]

^^^ Agreed, but AD the play maker has been a nice development with all the assists he's gotten in the past few months as teams double him.

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- Ham almost lost us this game by allowing the Clips to surge against his three guard line up in the middle of the game. I honestly thought he was trolling us when he mentioned it would be an option, but here we are. I'm happy that Linda Rambis must've yelled at him to get his act together because we never saw it once during our comeback.

- Over the past few years Lebron was killing me with his 3PAs, which more often than not was to the Lakers detriment. Shooting +40% from the arc overall at an acceptable five attempts per game (he was as high as eight attempts in years past) is a huge improvement to his game now.

One of the benefits of that is how they double teamed him at the trey line for the final half of the 4th, leaving his teamates like Rui and Dlo open. I never would've imagined any other defensive strat other than "Let him shoot it!" Props to Lebron for really working hard to improve that part of his game.

- Welcome back Cam! Especially on defense, we sorely missed ya!

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On a side note, the first half of DB's write up above illustrates why my brother has lost a rabid interest in the NBA (not DB's fault). Ten times there is a mention of a made 3PA from either team, which accurately represents the back and forth for both teams, and that's not even counting he 3PA misses.

The game is dominated by the long ball more than ever (I "blame" Steph ), but the NBA always evolves with new strats and counter strats. I'm not as down on it as he is, but even my wife gripes at times that teams shoot too many and it's predictable + boring.

Maybe the league should make the court larger to let these MUCH bigger players have more room than before (Chick used to ask for this) and to expand the three point line a lot further to balance out the rest of the offensive game. It reduces the number of high $$$ seats in arenas, so I doubt it happens.

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

[A Mad Chinaman]

[Dr. Laker]

Thanks, DB!
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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".