KINGS -at- LAKERS - 3-6-24 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

"The Cavalry Ain't Coming"... This was a big one for the Lakers in the standings.

The Lakers opened the game strong. The starters pushed out to an early lead, and the Lakers extended that further to a 30-13 advantage to force a timeout with 4:19 left.

L.A. would lead by as many as 19 points in the first quarter, before a horrible close, giving up a 10-0 run

Then in the second quarter, everything continued to go the wrong way. The Kings were scoring at will, making 13 straight baskets at one point during part of a 24-3 run. They made 17 of their last 18 shots and 8 of their 10 threes in that second quarter.

Things looked really ragged in the third quarter as AD quickly picked up his third and fourth fouls and sat after 4 minutes. De’Aaron Fox just started running the ball down the Lakers throats for easy layups (with And-1 fouls added on top of it).

The Lakers were down big. With a couple minutes left in the third, the intensity picked up for L.A. They made a couple of threes, Bron put his foot on the gas to pressure the rim, and they chipped away at the lead. They forced a timeout down 12 after a LeBron three with a couple minutes left in the quarter.

That lead could have been single digits heading into the fourth, but the refs overturned a Hayes And-1 finish, saying he led with a knee. A questionable overturn off a big play. The Lakers trailed 104-92 heading into the fourth.

Again, it’s back to the first 5 minutes of the fourth. Whoever won these, likely wins the game.

The Lakers gave up easy scores at the rim, weren’t competing and found themselves down 19 when Ham brought back LeBron.

Reaves helped give the team some life on defense, while Rui and Bron got going on offense, and they cut it to 12, forcing a timeout with 5 minutes left. LeBron would hurt himself (ankle tweak) and go to the locker room and that was the end of that, essentially. Kings were in cruise control and cruised to the 130-120 win.

“The cavalry ain’t coming. We got 18 left,” Ham said.


LeBron -- -- Well, big news was him leaving the game late in the fourth quarter. Straight to the locker room. “I’ll be alright,” Bron said. He was setting the table quite a bit when the Lakers were rolling in that first quarter. He also had a couple strong drives to the rim (one taking it to Sabonis for an And-1, just bodying him). On another he attacked off the three line and hammered a dunk. Once the Lakers sat him and Rui and went to their bench, things went south. Late in the third quarter, Bron brought the intensity up another level, getting downhill for scores and hitting a three. Of course, we sat him and the lead ballooned again until we brought him back in the fourth. The Stats: He scored 31 points on 10-16 shooting (1-4 from three, 10-10 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 13 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and no fouls in 36 minutes. He was a -3.

Davis -- -- Uggh. He missed a turnaround to start the second half trying to draw a foul, complained, then gave up an And-1 layup to Sabonis on the other end, not not set on D. That was his third foul. He’d pick up his fourth foul 4 minutes into the half on an And-1 layup for Fox and some lazy transition D. It was iffy enough of a fourth foul that’s the kind you want to challenge. Instead, he sat right after that for Prince, Lakers down 16. Bron said the Lakers defense evaporated when AD picked up his second foul in the first half. For sure, he wasn’t bringing much resistance. He was missing a lot of chippies, way too many. There was a lid on the basket for him for sure. I’m not sure Ham was pleased with the level AD was competing at. It really felt like Sabonis was working him over on both ends all game. Then, late in the game Sabonis just owned him on the offensive glass. Laker fans were not happy. A dud of a game. No punching back from AD all game. Got to have his A game in big games. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 5-13 shooting (0-1 from three, 4-5 from the line) to go with 11 boards, 3 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a -6.

Russell -- -- Defensively, he was getting his hands on a lot of pass deflections, but we didn’t recover a lot of those early on. Really not much of an impact in this one. He missed everything in the second half, including a big three that could have cut it to 11 in the fourth as the Lakers were making a run. Just not an impactful night. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 3-10 shooting (2-6 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 35 minutes. He was a -10.

Reaves -- -- Good start, hitting a floater, swishing a corner three on a quick release and then muscling a defender for a layup. Then, he couldn’t get a thing to drop when everything went wrong for L.A. in that second. He’d give the team some life with some defensive plays in the fourth. He hustled to the sideline and threw a ball off a King to get a stop. He stopped a 4-on-1 Kings break with a great challenge, and the Lakers hit a three on the other end. Both big momentum plays. He’d force another turnover. “When we play like that, things turn out great for us,” Ham said of that kind of effort from Reaves as an example of what they need to do. He’d bury a couple of threes late, but the game was out of reach. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 6-15 shooting (4-7 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 4 assists, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 36 minutes. He was a -4.

Hachimura -- -- He and Bron were consistently bringing it tonight. So it kills me whenever we make that Bron/Rui double sub right now. But momentum really shifted then. For Rui, he was knocking down threes, getting into transition for finishes, stealing the ball for dunks, and attacking the paint for scores. He and Bron had half of the Lakers 120 points. Our big guys were bringing it. When we tried to play small, we just didn’t have the same ability to impose our will. Love seeing our big guys cutting to take passes off ball. Rui had a great one in the first half off the AD post. But when those guys are on the move like that, it’s tough to stop. The Stats: He scored 29 points on 13-17 shooting (3-5 from three) to go with 2 boards, 2 steals, 1 block and no fouls in 33 minutes. He was a -3.

Dinwiddie -- -- One of several guys to try to take on the Monk assignment. We needed our more athletic point of attack defenders like Reddish or Vando, I guess. He sank a couple of threes in the game. One he stepped into on the wing and knocked down. Another he sank in the second half off a swing to the corner. Kind of game when Russell is looking subpar that maybe you put the ball in Dinwiddie’s hands more. When Russell fades like that like we saw in the postseason last year, that’s what you are hoping for, anyway. Coaching staff needed to lean into him more and didn’t. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 2-3 shooting (2-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a -9.

Prince -- -- He blocked a drive early in the game, but in the fourth, he blocked a big dunk attempt and was pumped. Some rare fire by the Lakers on the defensive end. We scored on that on the other end. Both scores in this game were on corner threes. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-3 shooting from three to go with 2 boards, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and no fouls in 15 minutes. He was a -17.

Christie -- -- The Lakers missed Reddish in this one. Their point of attack defense wasn’t giving much resistance. Christie sank a late three off a great block from Prince in the fourth, but little else in this one. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-2 shooting from three to go with 2 boards, 1 assist and no fouls in 11 minutes. He was a +1.

Hayes -- -- He had an And-1 finish at the rim where he was leaping for the dunk finish. The And-1 was overturned, saying he led with the knee. That’s how Hayes jumps and finishes. Sometimes when officials stop and slow down the play, they just overthink things. Really a weak call. Karl Malone used to lead with a knee a lot and you could see it in real time, didn’t need a replay to know the difference of holding it there or just trying to jump and elevate. But that was a potential three points erased and slowed some momentum when the Lakers were making a run late in the third. He had one of the only stops against Fox during a stretch where he was just going straight to the rim in this one. The Stats: He scored 1 point on 0-1 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 13 minutes. He was a +1.

Hood-Schifino -- -- He chucked up and missed the rim on the obligatory bricked three in garbage time. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-1 three shooting in 1 minute. He was a +0.

Lewis -- -- In for final minute of garbage time.The Stats: No stats in 1 minute.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: From about 2 minutes left in the first quarter through that whole second quarter, the Lakers were collectively awful on both ends. This was a big game for the Lakers. They got off to a good start, but the Kings were the ones who showed the sense of urgency. “We have to be able to maintain that,” Ham said. There was no punching back from the Lakers in that second quarter. They were just punched in the face again and again. He said the team allowed things like the officiating and little things to bother them.

Key Substitution: We went to the bench, sitting Rui and Bron for the smaller lineups late in the first quarter and things went south from there. The Kings ran three guard lineups in that second quarter and the Lakers tried to match. They just got smoked.

Key Stats: The Kings made 13 shots in a row and 17-18 to end the second quarter. The Lakers made just 5 shots in the quarter. They were outscored 24-3 during those 13 straight King makes. Kings made 8-10 from three in the second quarter, Lakers were 1-6 during that time. This was the only quarter the Lakers lost.

[lakeshowtacular]

Thanks DB, that was hard to watch!!
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Magic*Kobe*LBJ*AD*Cap

[slavavov]

Thanks DB as always for your thorough analyses.

The Lakers did this to themselves. To go from up 19 to down by 20+ is totally inexcusable. They had defensive breakdowns, and their offense went from Showtime to slowtime.

This team just doesn't apply any defensive pressure on the perimeter. De'Aaron Fox penetrated and assaulted it on a continual basis, and it couldn't find a way to corral him and prevent him from getting below the free throw line extended.
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Lakers 49ers Chargers Dodgers

[Nobody]

What a horrible turnaround. Embarrassing really. Outrebounded again.

[A Mad Chinaman]

Team got spanked and didn’t find when the Kings kept on spanking harder and harder since there was no resistance on a game that the entire team absolutely knew was very important.

What happened to our Minister of Defense (AD)?

This game highlights the missing energy and effort of injured players starting with Vanderbilt, Vincent and Reddish - whose speciality and what they excel in is defense, effort and energy

When rebounding is based and starts with effort, seeing the Kings get THREE consecutive offensive rebounds was EMBARRASSING!

They got worked over and nobody got mad - maybe this is the biggest problem

Can’t blame Ham and he can’t burn TOs early in the 2nd quarter and burn out LBJ. Can’t depend on AD playing with foul trouble during critical games.

Bad Loss

[sonic the laker]

Thanks, DB. Great analysis, terrible game...

And, honestly, it's hard to put a definitive finger on what went wrong tonight. Except to say EVERYTHING went wrong tonight, after the initial hot start. At first the Lakers were looking like a well oiled machine, on both sides of the court. Then once they had a big lead, they looked like they relaxed and lost focus. Their energy dropped, and attention to detail, dropped. Conversely, the Kings bench, led by Monk and Mitchell, got hot and boosted the Kings energy. That was essentially the end of the game, at that point.

The Lakers tried to "turn it back on", but the Kings were having none of it. The Kings kept piling it on, behind Fox and co., while the Lakers looked mostly listless, and discombobulated.

And, as much criticism as Ham receives (rightly so), this loss isn't on him. This was a purely player(s) letdown, as a whole. We have a lot of skill guys, yes. But, apparently not enough energy/hustle guys, with Vando/Price out for most of the season. I like to think they would have made a difference for us, in this regard. Oh well.
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ZOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!

[governator]

Outside of OKC, we’ve lost to every western playoff contenders since the all star break, it is what it is
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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]

[Nobody]

[TDRock]

So yesterday I just gotten home from traveling for work and I was out of it and I fell asleep in the first quarter and etc. So I was disappointed when we lost but I didn't have full context of how absurd this was. But I watched the first half of the game and just... 🫠

Ankywhoo thanks DB
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#IStillBelieveTaurean

[gumby]

Probably one of the most disappointing games of the year.

Great start and then they just gave it away within a quarter and couldn't do a thing. Couldn't get hot and they were outhustled.

Very disappointing.


Bye.
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"This trophy removes the most odious sentence in the English Language. It can never be said again that 'the Lakers have never beaten the Celtics.'" -Dr. Jerry Buss (1985) R.I.P., 33 x M.V.O.

[A Mad Chinaman]

[joeblow]

[danzag]

Our starting lineup played FIVE MINUTES. For (bleep)'s sake.

[lakeshowtacular]

[Hammett]

Huge loss. This one really looked BAD. And all eyes are on Ham now.
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Lakers. Built different.

[miggz23]

[A Mad Chinaman]

[DancingBarry]

The tricky part with the starting lineups not playing as much as they could have was AD getting into foul trouble in both halves. That just throws everything off.

Even then, when AD is in foul trouble, he's on the floor...but not really on the floor defensively. He is very limited defensively. Ham should have gambled his challenge on AD's fourth foul. The drop off with this team from AD to AD in foul trouble is rough. And rougher when going to no AD. We just got little behind him.

I would have rather seen us go bigger with just a lot of switching and make them beat us over the top or in the post and on iso. And then pound them with our size on the offensive boards and post as much as we could. (But even that was probably limited with AD's foul issues.) Just letting them get downhill again and again off screens was painful.

The play calling lately has been pretty poor and inconsistent. We had been doing pretty well and could score even when other teams were lighting us up. That second quarter we couldn't hang like we normally could offensively.

[A Mad Chinaman]