LAKERS -at- HEAT - 1-23-22 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

 
Post new topic    LakersGround.net Forum Index -> Thoughts and Ratings Reply to topic
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
DancingBarry
Editor-in-Chief
Editor-in-Chief


Joined: 07 Sep 2001
Posts: 40188
Location: O.C.

PostPosted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 7:55 pm    Post subject: LAKERS -at- HEAT - 1-23-22 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

Too Big a Hill to Climb... The Lakers moved AD to “questionable” status prior to this game. He was a game-time decision, and, unfortunately, not quite ready to go.

They could have used him as the Laker defense was not quite ready to go, either..

The Lakers gave up 39 points in the first quarter, and the Heat would build a 26-point lead as the half went along. Things started to get a little chippy to close the first half and the Lakers trimmed the lead to 17 behind some LeBron drives in transition.

To open the second half, the Lakers held the Heat’s offense in check out of the gates, but the Lakers couldn’t score, either, with both Dwight/Ariza out there. Had they come out scoring at a reasonable pace, they could have cut the lead in half. Instead, they saw it edge back up to 20.

They didn’t give up, however. The Lakers cut this one down to 4 in the final minute as they went small and poured in the points in the fourth.

Early in the game, both Dwight and Melo missed uncontested dunks. That extra bit of distance ended up being just enough a difference as the comeback attempt was too big a hill to climb. The Lakers fell 113-107.


LeBron -- -- A lot of minutes tonight (40) in his only trip to Miami in the regular season. He continued the high scoring. I’m enjoying seeing the baseline reverse lobs we are running for LeBron. His man is typically caught thinking about a help situation while LeBron cuts in behind him to the rim for the dunk. Great job ending the first half with some strong attacks at the rim for scores. We had a big coach’s challenge on a LeBron Euro step move late in the fourth that was called a charge. They reversed that and he got FTs. He’d help cut the lead to 4 with some key scoring late. The three shooting in this one, though, just not good. When we run with Dwight out there, he’s way more perimeter oriented and if that shot isn’t falling, it’s a struggle. Defensively, some miscues, not on the same page with teammates and that led to open scores. We saw a little too much of those kinds of breakdowns. As a result, too big a hole to climb out of. The Stats: He scored 33 points on 12-22 shooting (1-8 from three, 8-11 from the line) to go with 11 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in 40 minutes. He was a -8.

Westbrook -- -- He had a strong fourth quarter, getting the team down to a 4-point game as he really looked like a one-two punch with LeBron there for stretches of that fourth. Good to see. But he did have a big turnover pushing out the ball in the fourth where we could have cut the lead to 10, instead it led to FTs the other way. So one of those painful 4-point switch scenarios. Some big scores in that quarter to help the team, though. He had an offensive board score to cut the lead a little in the fourth, but I point it out because I’m surprised we haven’t seen that more from him this season. This game actually looked a bit more like the Russ of old. Some midrange jumpers and finishes at the rim. His finishing this year has been dramatically lower than his career finishing. Hopefully, the stats balance out for the remainder of the year and we start seeing this Russ more and more. The Stats: He scored 24 points on 9-15 shooting (0-3 from three, 6-8 from the line) to go with 9 boards (2 offensive), 9 assists, 3 turnovers and 5 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a -1.

Bradley -- -- Once again a strong third quarter. He started the half with some good D to pick his man. He later hit a couple of corner threes in that quarter. We ran him with a LeBron/Johnson/Reaves/THT lineup early in the fourth. That’s been Monk’s rotation in the fourth. But Bradley was playing better so he got the extra run with that unit and in the whole fourth quarter in general. His three with about 4 minutes left cut the lead to 11.He’d also get Bam to foul out with 1:26 left. Unfortunately, he had a big offensive foul on an inverted screen sequence with LeBron late in that fourth. He’d play 31 minutes tonight as Vogel rewarded him for the solid two-way outing. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-11 shooting (4-9 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a +11.

Ariza -- -- Oh boy. Not shooting the ball early led to some turnovers. Got to take those open shots, but he had no confidence in this one. Just a frustrating game to watch. It’s nice having his size out there at the SF spot, but just getting any kind of game from him… a couple makes from three, a couple less turnovers and that really becomes a difference maker for us. We just need more production from the SF spot. You can’t have that many turnovers in that few minutes, especially in his role. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-5 shooting from three to go with 5 boards and 4 turnovers in 15 minutes. He was a -9.

Howard -- -- He got the start, but our offense goes extremely perimeter oriented with him out there. The Heat pack the paint and we struggled. He missed a dunk early on. Melo would miss another uncontested dunk, as well. So two missed dunks in what turned out to be a 6-point game? Painful. Dwight had the team-low -13 in 11 minutes (part of that is also spending time on the floor with Ariza, too). The game just was difficult when he was on the floor. Perhaps, if it was AD tonight it would have been different. As soon as AD is back, it sounds like we are going with AD and Bron at the C full time. So Dwight will be nailed to the bench. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-1 shooting to go with 4 boards, 1 block and no fouls in 11 minutes. He was a -13.

Anthony -- -- A big three with over 3 minutes left to cut it to 8. The Heat were aggressive with Melo, sending help and making him a passer. I suspect we see more of that in the playoffs, so I’m glad we at least had some of that for them to think about now. The Heat forced him into a turnover on one of those. Defensively, Vogel made some offense-defense subs in the first half. In the fourth, we had Melo out there closing. The Heat didn’t really pick on it, thankfully. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 3-8 shooting (2-5 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a -5.

Monk -- -- We need to have one big game from one of our scorers per game right now. Monk had been strong against the Heat earlier this year and last season, as well. We needed one of those 20+ point games, but that wasn’t to be. He had a pull-up airball three in the second half. And it just was looking like one of those nights. After some defensive miscues from Monk, Vogel leaned into more Bradley in situations we might normally run Monk. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-6 shooting (1-4 from three) to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 foul in 24 minutes. He was a -8.

Horton-Tucker -- -- Why are you taking a deep, deep early offense three? It’s like a heat check and your first shot attempt is from 33 feet or so? You get Russ taking some of those early offense threes and these throwaway possessions pile up. He also had a foul 90-feet from the hoop to give up FTs. Not smart ball. We need more discipline against good teams on the road. Defensively, he had a couple of steals, one using that long reach to snag a pass, the other a strip on help. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 1-5 shooting (1-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnover and 3 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a +12.

Reaves -- -- Sub par game from the usually consistent rookie. Outside of his two FTs, he notched a couple of stats. One assist, which was a swing pass to the corner to an open Monk. The other a telegraphed perimeter pass that was picked off for a dunk the other way. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 0-1 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 1 assist and 1 turnover in 9 minutes. He was a +1.

Johnson -- -- A couple of makes tonight. He hit one of his threes and he had a nice pushout with speed to score a layup over a defender for his other bucket. The 15 minutes from Ariza tonight were pretty awful. Ariza is getting the start, but he did not finish this one. I am curious about seeing both on D with AD, but I got to think Stanley’s energy and effort will look better across AD. Hopefully, we see it soon. I don’t want to see any of those 70-point halves any more. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-3 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards and 2 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a -4.

Ellington -- -- In with 6 minutes left in the first half after foul issues from THT and Monk missing some shots. He’d score his only bucket on a three in the second half. (A cut by Melo helped the D sag a bit before we hit Wayne for the three.) The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-2 shooting from three to go with 1 board in 10 minutes. He was a -6.

Vogel -- -- Key Moment: I think you go back to the start of the third quarter. If we had any kind of production offensively, that probably changed the whole tone of the second half. The Lakers were getting stops, but offensively they struggled.

Key Substitution: Vogel shuffled through a lot of players in that fourth quarter. Key to the comeback: He ran Bradley the entire quarter, LeBron nearly the whole quarter, Westbrook for the last 7:40, and THT for 9 minutes. They had an 18-5 run with Melo/Johnson running with them.

Key Stats: The Heat made 15-33 from three (45.5%). The Lakers went 11-40 (27.5%). A lot of three attempts (almost half of all the FGAs in this game) and we lost that fight.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote
dabask11
Star Player
Star Player


Joined: 27 Dec 2012
Posts: 1989

PostPosted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 8:02 pm    Post subject:

Still don't understand why we moved Ariza to the starting lineup, especially with how Monk had been playing lately.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote
PenG_
Franchise Player
Franchise Player


Joined: 01 Feb 2020
Posts: 10387

PostPosted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 8:34 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB! Vogel sure likes to make our offense as difficult as possible to start some of these games.

Solid game from Russ... more of those
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote
A Mad Chinaman
Star Player
Star Player


Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 6121

PostPosted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 9:17 pm    Post subject:

Only saw part of this game - thankful

Expose/Confirm the number of weaknesses/holes in our team roster

At least they battled to the end = Silver Lining

Maybe they can play Ariza at the 4 where his lack of foot speed and quickness are not easily taken advantage of

Dwight and DJ are in there for centers like Embiid, Gobert and Adams
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote
mad55557777
Franchise Player
Franchise Player


Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 22801

PostPosted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 9:24 pm    Post subject:

dabask11 wrote:
Still don't understand why we moved Ariza to the starting lineup, especially with how Monk had been playing lately.

Chess move to keep monk, lol
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote
mad55557777
Franchise Player
Franchise Player


Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 22801

PostPosted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 9:24 pm    Post subject:

A Mad Chinaman wrote:
Only saw part of this game - thankful

Expose/Confirm the number of weaknesses/holes in our team roster

At least they battled to the end = Silver Lining

Maybe they can play Ariza at the 4 where his lack of foot speed and quickness are not easily taken advantage of

Dwight and DJ are in there for centers like Embiid, Gobert and Adams

Ariza also lacks weight to play 4, unlike melo
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote
DrDent
Franchise Player
Franchise Player


Joined: 30 Jun 2016
Posts: 12975

PostPosted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 9:58 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB. Another good write-up.

My only disagreement is pointing to the 6 point loss and referencing how, for example, the missed dunks really hurt. The thing is, the game really was not that close, and the Heat were blowing the fellas off the floor for most of the game. That the team would, once again, close out strong to make the final score respectable has been a fairly common theme with the team this year versus good teams.
_________________
"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
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote
danzag
Franchise Player
Franchise Player


Joined: 28 Apr 2013
Posts: 22244
Location: Brazil

PostPosted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 2:57 am    Post subject:

Thanks, DB

This team simply isn't talented enough. LBJ can only do so much
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote
wolfpaclaker
Retired Number
Retired Number


Joined: 29 May 2002
Posts: 58318

PostPosted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 6:37 am    Post subject:

Hard to evaluate this team without AD. With WB and Bron playing like this, if we had a healthy AD, what's the result here? We're maybe not as good as the contenders Miami/Phx/Brooklyn/State/Milwaukee etc. but we're going to be much better.

The current situation remains. When we run Dwight, Westbrook, Bron lineups, it's way too congested. Not enough defensive versatility. When we go small, we fare better, but also are prone to being scored on inside either by offense rebounding or just lack of paint protection.

So yeah, AD has to play Dwight's minutes and then some. The Lebron at the 5 minutes need to be around 15 (at most) a game. Rest AD. You probably don't elevate to contending status, but you'll improve. This is a sub/right at .500 team without AD. With AD, I am hoping they can get to .600-.650 level of play. He's that great of a player. I just don't think we should rush him. He needs to come back when he can play all out. Lets say we're at 25-27. Or something like that in a few games. In the last 30 games if we can get the big 3 healthy and win 18/30. That puts us at 43 wins and either a 6th seed or a 7th seed play in.

WB's game will always limit what we can do.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website Reply with quote
Aeneas Hunter
Retired Number
Retired Number


Joined: 12 Jul 2005
Posts: 31763

PostPosted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 8:04 am    Post subject:

This was a loss, but an encouraging loss. There are signs that we're finding ways to integrate Westbrook. On the other hand, this game illustrated the weakness of the supporting cast. Unless someone like Monk gets hot, we don't get much from the other players.

As of today:

24th in ORtg
16th in DRtg
29% chance to make the playoffs per RAPTOR

It's time for Davis and Nunn to come back. Then we'll see whether we can get this season going.
_________________
Internet Argument Resolved
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote
governator
Franchise Player
Franchise Player


Joined: 28 Jan 2006
Posts: 24996

PostPosted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 8:34 am    Post subject:

This season sucks so bad, vastly under appreciated how good a perimeter defender the championship season guards were. It’s bleak, Bron is 37, chip or bust season with a lottery squad, healthy AD-Bron better being it in the playoff and make one hell of historic run
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote
A Mad Chinaman
Star Player
Star Player


Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 6121

PostPosted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 3:26 pm    Post subject:

wolfpaclaker wrote:
Hard to evaluate this team without AD. With WB and Bron playing like this, if we had a healthy AD, what's the result here? We're maybe not as good as the contenders Miami/Phx/Brooklyn/State/Milwaukee etc. but we're going to be much better.

The current situation remains. When we run Dwight, Westbrook, Bron lineups, it's way too congested. Not enough defensive versatility. When we go small, we fare better, but also are prone to being scored on inside either by offense rebounding or just lack of paint protection.

So yeah, AD has to play Dwight's minutes and then some. The Lebron at the 5 minutes need to be around 15 (at most) a game. Rest AD. You probably don't elevate to contending status, but you'll improve. This is a sub/right at .500 team without AD. With AD, I am hoping they can get to .600-.650 level of play. He's that great of a player. I just don't think we should rush him. He needs to come back when he can play all out. Lets say we're at 25-27. Or something like that in a few games. In the last 30 games if we can get the big 3 healthy and win 18/30. That puts us at 43 wins and either a 6th seed or a 7th seed play in.

WB's game will always limit what we can do.
Agree with many of your comments

If Dwight is in the starting lineup, Ariza needs to be replaced by Monk to supply some outside shooting

Melo’s minutes need to limited to 12-15 minutes. Many have noted that when Monk was taking Melo’s minutes, the team played better

AD, LBJ, Johnson, Reeves and Monk is a good closing lineup

Westbrook seems to work best with Johnson, Reeves, Monk and LBJ because they can play at his pace

Ariza has the speed/quickness at PF (in the small lineup) to compensate for his lack of bulk

Ellington and Bazemore seemingly has lost their shooting touch during their meaningful minutes of games

Hopefully Johnson/Reeves can play SF - as they have at times

Hopefully Westbrook/LBJ/AD will figure out how to play with each other - soon. Real season starts after the ASG
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote
deal
Franchise Player
Franchise Player


Joined: 17 Aug 2008
Posts: 14900
Location: Earth

PostPosted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 4:30 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB !!!
_________________
Lakers need to build a freaking team !
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote
LakerSD
Franchise Player
Franchise Player


Joined: 10 Nov 2016
Posts: 23731

PostPosted: Mon Jan 24, 2022 5:06 pm    Post subject:

Quote:
Avery Bradley: "We're not learning from our mistakes. ... We just have to play better."


I think what Avery means is they are stubborn, old players incapable of athletically being able to play a full 48 minute NBA game.

This is why they get blown out for stretches and make these garbage time comebacks.

And they have a coach who is purposely playing all these old guys in the hope of getting let go.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Reply with quote
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic    LakersGround.net Forum Index -> Thoughts and Ratings All times are GMT - 8 Hours
Page 1 of 1
Jump to:  

 
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






Graphics by uberzev
© 1995-2018 LakersGround.net. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy. Terms of Use.
LakersGround is an unofficial news source serving the fan community since 1995.
We are in no way associated with the Los Angeles Lakers or the National Basketball Association.


Powered by phpBB