Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2022 10:54 pm Post subject: CLIPPERS -at- LAKERS - 2-25-22 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings
More Failed Execution Down the Stretch... Losing AD going into the All Star Break may prove to be too much to overcome. But until then, the Lakers will need to scratch out every winnable game they can. This one was winnable.
The Lakers started the game 0-11 from three, missing some excellent looks. When you can’t make teams pay, that paint tightens up until you prove it. The Lakers trailed by 10 at the half as a result.
The Lakers held the Clippers to 15 points in the third quarter off some great team D and rotations. It was rare when they had breakdowns. They punctuated the quarter with a steal that led to a THT dunk with 0.3 left to go up by 6.
The Lakers ran a lot of offense through Melo or THT in the fourth quarter. Late in the game, they tried to hunt Kennard on some switches with LeBron. But the iso ball sucked some life out of the game.
With 44 seconds down 1, the Clippers called timeout. They got the ball to Morris who hit a jumper over Russ to take the lead back.
We put it in LeBron and Russ’s hands to close the game. Russ missed an awful attempt on the Lakers next possession. As LeBron crashed the board and tried to kick it out, his foot came down out of bounds (this took a lengthy review to determine). The refs called the ball out off the Clippers’ Covington. This was a point of contention for the Lakers. Why wasn’t the review of Covington since that was the call? Instead, they reviewed LeBron’s play just prior to that.
“How can you challenge a play that wasn’t called on the floor?” LeBron said.
So Clippers ball, 25 seconds left, Lakers down 1.
The Lakers had what looked like a sure backcourt violation with pressure D out of that, but the refs whistled THT for a foul (17 on the shotclock, Jackson too deep to likely make it over the line, Lakers weren’t taking a foul). Now the Lakers challenged the foul call. The Lakers won it, but the Clippers could now set up a play to prevent the backcourt violation. Still, the Lakers still got the backcourt violation with 17.8 left. Laker ball down 1 again. That only took about 20 minutes to cover 8 seconds of action with all the reviews and timeouts.
Out of timeout, we put the ball in LeBron’s hands. He drew a double, gave it up. Melo took a 30-footer and missed. Not a great look. Down 3 with 0.7 seconds left, the Lakers had a chance to tie it. LeBron missed at the buzzer from the corner.
Awful execution down the stretch. Lakers fall 105-102.
LeBron -- -- He had 14 points on 4-9 shooting in the first half. Some sloppy ball handling in this game from start to finish. He also really sucked the air out of the ball in that fourth quarter. He tried to hunt some bad defenders on switches, but it took forever to lineup after we walked the ball up court. Really painful to watch us close this game. In the final attempt, it was again trying to get a switch, but they took the ball out of LeBron’s hands with a double team. Just a lot of stagnant ball. We deserve the loss again. Defensively, somewhat poor game from LeBron. When there were switches not made or switches that shouldn’t have been made, he was involved a ton. Communication just wasn’t there or he wasn’t moving well. (Something to keep an eye on -- a bad advance pass by THT in the second quarter, LeBron stretched to try to get it and tweaked his groin a little after that.) That big Morris jumper on the ATO in the final minute was a simple switch between Bron and Russ that probably didn’t need to happen. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 6-18 shooting (2-8 from three, 7-8 from the line) to go with 11 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 6 turnovers and 1 foul in 36 minutes. He was a-4.
Westbrook -- -- We really need him to step up. Your two stars need to be 1+1 = 3. The whole needs to be greater than the sum of its parts. More often, however, it’s 1+1 = 1.5. He had 8 points on 11 attempts in the first half. Late in the game, we went small with floor spacers. This is when Westbrook should be able to make some things happen. He blew a layup with 1:50 left on a drive. With 24 seconds left out of a timeout, he missed another off balance baseline shot. We need him getting downhill not trying to hit some off-balance fade. Just poor execution and really not much star quality play from him. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 9-21 shooting (0-3 from three, 0-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 assists, 1 steal and 3 fouls in 33 minutes. He was a +2.
Reaves -- -- His first start of his career. He’s at least a glue guy that fits. Early in the second half, he had a massive rejection on Reggie Jackson. I’m sure he didn’t like the talk in the last game about the Clippers going at him because they thought he’d be an easy bucket. That was a wind up and swat. That got the crowd going, especially when he hustled to the corner to put more pressure on. We were down 9 at that point. The team started to rally. Reaves had a big miss on an open corner three with 2 minutes left. He hit a couple of clutch FTs with 57 seconds left. We were continually looking to bring Kennard over to LeBron and trying to get switches. Reaves was shoved as he went to set that screen and thus the FTs. That big miss in one of our final possessions was with Reaves coming to set the LeBron screen again. Kind of predictable. Some good passing by reaves in this game, including a lob to Monk and another swing pass to Melo for three as we were battling in the second half. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-4 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 33 minutes. He was a -2.
Howard -- -- A 9-rebound, 2-block first 7 minutes by Dwight. He’d finish the first half with 14 points and 11 boards. The Lakers couldn’t hit a shot, so there were opportunities for him to bully the offensive glass. It is tough to play Westbrook and Dwight together. Teams pack the paint, so when Dwight is out there he’s got to go to work like that. Late in the game when we brought him back, we had some defensive issues as the Clippers got some scoring going for a stretch. We then went to small ball after that, which we did a poor job of taking advantage of. He could have easily had 20 boards in this one. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 5-11 shooting (4-5 from the line) to go with 16 boards (7 offensive), 1 assist, 1 steal, 3 blocks, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 26 minutes. He was a +1.
Ariza -- -- We got LeBron/Westbrook and minimums in that starting unit. The offense in the first half was dead for long stretches. Kind of just a warm body out there…and even that is in question. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-5 shooting (0-3 from three) to go with 1 steal, 1 turnover and no fouls in 18 minutes. He was a -1.
Monk -- -- He couldn’t find his shot in this game, but he did a good job switching gears after realizing it wasn’t there. He started attacking the paint more and moved the ball well. He somehow led the team in assists with 6. Props for that, but also what is going on with the rest of the team and our offense. LBJ, Russ, THT combined for just 5 assists. Those are the guys who are typically our playmakers. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-9 shooting (0-4 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 6 assists and 2 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a +7.
Anthony -- -- “My legs wasn’t underneath me,” Melo said on that last three. Hey, we played him 28 minutes coming right off the injury. So, yeah, probably no legs on that shot. His three ball was looking rusty in the first half, missing some wide open looks and finally banking one in. He did work that post for a couple of turnarounds early. In the second half, the jumper started falling as he knocked down some big threes. Defensively, he was disruptive enough with some good hands that turned steals into scores. He was scramming the smaller defenders out of the paint on rotations. He had a couple of offensive boards, one led to a three, the other to two some THT freethrows. Overall, I’ll take these games from him. (Well, maybe not the tech he got in the fourth. We can’t afford those most nights.) But, yeah, doesn’t surprise me he had no legs in that final shot. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 4-9 shooting to go with 5 boards (2 offensive), 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a -3.
Johnson -- -- Man, you look at places where you could have had a couple of hoops. He had a layup he blew in the second half that looked like a sure bucket. He missed a flat jumper earlier in the game. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-2 shooting to go with 2 boards, 2 assists and no fouls in 14 minutes. He was a -2.
Horton-Tucker -- -- Strong second half from THT. He was mixing in that jumper with some drives and had a very balanced attack. I loved seeing him trailing the break and asking for the ball so he could bury a three. A lot of confidence there, which will serve him well as he continues his development. He ended the third quarter with a big dunk with 0.3 left. He’d sink another confident three behind a flare screen at the wing. That’s a shooter’s play and he played the part. He’s starting to string some good games together. We’re relying on him more and probably tabled bringing back Westbrook during the heat of the battle by a couple minutes just with how well he was battling. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 6-9 shooting (2-2 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 turnover and 2 foul sin 27 minutes. He was a -13.
Vogel -- -- Key Moment: This was probably the angriest I’ve seen him all season. He didn’t like the review on LeBron because the whistle blew on Covington deflecting the ball, not LeBron stepping out. His point was, well, if we are going to rewind and review whatever, then about LeBron getting fouled just prior to that. The Lakers were able to turn over the Clippers, but they lost 8 seconds and a BLOB set play opportunity with that ruling. As for the play the Lakers ran shortly later, Vogel said they knew LeBron would be doubled and they’d get a good look off that. They didn’t get a good look.
Key Substitution: THT and Melo gave the Lakers some nice spark off the bench. Melo had a pretty strong defensive game (2 steals and 1 block…but felt like more). Some good rotations and scrams by him as well. So Vogel left him in late in the game when they normally might take him out.
Key Stats: Lakers started 0-11 from three, and finished 8-20 after that. With all the missing, the Lakers had just 6 assists in the first half and finished with 18. Russ had just 1, LeBron just 3. Odd game.
We are still trying out starting lineups this late in the season….
Most people in LG already knows the best starting lineup for the lakers, but Vogel doesn’t…. monk is ineffective coming off the bench and his minutes should’ve been with lebron as much as possible. He sucks on D, yes, but so is Ariza.
The miscommunications between THT and lebron gave them 2 wide open 3s which they made.
Tech by melo??? Stupid
Lebron holding the ball for 18 seconds and no one moves- frustrating
This team just sucks in every which way, reaves is the only reason I even watch anymore, this kid is fun to watch
We are still trying out starting lineups this late in the season….
Most people in LG already knows the best starting lineup for the lakers, but Vogel doesn’t…. monk is ineffective coming off the bench and his minutes should’ve been with lebron as much as possible. He sucks on D, yes, but so is Ariza.
The miscommunications between THT and lebron gave them 2 wide open 3s which they made.
Tech by melo??? Stupid
Lebron holding the ball for 18 seconds and no one moves- frustrating
This team just sucks in every which way, reaves is the only reason I even watch anymore, this kid is fun to watch
We are still trying out starting lineups this late in the season….
Most people in LG already knows the best starting lineup for the lakers, but Vogel doesn’t…. monk is ineffective coming off the bench and his minutes should’ve been with lebron as much as possible. He sucks on D, yes, but so is Ariza.
The miscommunications between THT and lebron gave them 2 wide open 3s which they made.
Tech by melo??? Stupid
Lebron holding the ball for 18 seconds and no one moves- frustrating
This team just sucks in every which way, reaves is the only reason I even watch anymore, this kid is fun to watch
Kind of odd but I felt we were getting better looks with Russ handling the ball down the stretch, getting past midcourt within seconds, and being aggressive. Once he deferred to Lebron and slow-ball our offense absolutely stagnated after Lebron did his usual 8-second trot to midcourt. We are asking too much of Lebron at the end of games and should be mixing in a fresh Russ more especially if the plan is to essentially play him less minutes overall. _________________ Luxury Tax/FA Spreadsheet (Save to your Google Drive to edit)
Thanks DB. Great job. I love that you pointed out that LJ took the air out of the ball. The hero ball has to go especially since he did not have a good game and THT carried us. Why go away from the hot hand? We were clearly better with RW setting up the table.
Understandably. I'm praciticing what I preach to my kids. And that is to emotionally disconnect. With the negative effects of the Westbrook trade, and the constant in and out status of AD, I sense the inevitable failure of this season, and I decided not to ride that elevator.
Big Shot Rob’s breakdown of the last play was interesting
When the Clips double/tripled-team LBJ, he didn’t drive to his left to go to the basket
When the Clips came to take the ball of of LBJ’s hands, Melo didn’t move closer to the top of the circle (where LBJ expected him) and closer to his normal spots
THT didn’t clear his space at the right corner forcing WB’s man to stop him hence leaving WB to go straight to the basket
The play was LBJ to hold the ball and draw defenders for Melo to have a 30’ shot
With Westbrook and THT successful at driving the paint and Reeves setting up screens, why wasn’t there more action and why was Melo getting ball in Stephen Curry-range - far beyond his normal shots
Joined: 24 Dec 2007 Posts: 35809 Location: Santa Clarita, CA (Hell) ->>>>>Ithaca, NY -≥≥≥≥≥Berkeley, CA
Posted: Sat Feb 26, 2022 10:11 am Post subject:
Since 2012-2013, no team has more wins against an opponent than the Clippers have against the Lakers. _________________ Damian Lillard shatters Dwight Coward's championship dreams:
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
-- He had 14 points on 4-9 shooting in the first half. Some sloppy ball handling in this game from start to finish. He also really sucked the air out of the ball in that fourth quarter. He tried to hunt some bad defenders on switches, but it took forever to lineup after we walked the ball up court. Really painful to watch us close this game. In the final attempt, it was again trying to get a switch, but they took the ball out of LeBron’s hands with a double team. Just a lot of stagnant ball. We deserve the loss again. Defensively, somewhat poor game from LeBron. When there were switches not made or switches that shouldn’t have been made, he was involved a ton. Communication just wasn’t there or he wasn’t moving well. (Something to keep an eye on -- a bad advance pass by THT in the second quarter, LeBron stretched to try to get it and tweaked his groin a little after that.) That big Morris jumper on the ATO in the final minute was a simple switch between Bron and Russ that probably didn’t need to happen. 
-- We really need him to step up. Your two stars need to be 1+1 = 3. The whole needs to be greater than the sum of its parts. More often, however, it’s 1+1 = 1.5. He had 8 points on 11 attempts in the first half. Late in the game, we went small with floor spacers. This is when Westbrook should be able to make some things happen. He blew a layup with 1:50 left on a drive. With 24 seconds left out of a timeout, he missed another off balance baseline shot. We need him getting downhill not trying to hit some off-balance fade. Just poor execution and really not much star quality play from him. 
-- His first start of his career. He’s at least a glue guy that fits. Early in the second half, he had a massive rejection on Reggie Jackson. I’m sure he didn’t like the talk in the last game about the Clippers going at him because they thought he’d be an easy bucket. That was a wind up and swat. That got the crowd going, especially when he hustled to the corner to put more pressure on. We were down 9 at that point. The team started to rally. Reaves had a big miss on an open corner three with 2 minutes left. He hit a couple of clutch FTs with 57 seconds left. We were continually looking to bring Kennard over to LeBron and trying to get switches. Reaves was shoved as he went to set that screen and thus the FTs. That big miss in one of our final possessions was with Reaves coming to set the LeBron screen again. Kind of predictable. Some good passing by reaves in this game, including a lob to Monk and another swing pass to Melo for three as we were battling in the second half. 
-- A 9-rebound, 2-block first 7 minutes by Dwight. He’d finish the first half with 14 points and 11 boards. The Lakers couldn’t hit a shot, so there were opportunities for him to bully the offensive glass. It is tough to play Westbrook and Dwight together. Teams pack the paint, so when Dwight is out there he’s got to go to work like that. Late in the game when we brought him back, we had some defensive issues as the Clippers got some scoring going for a stretch. We then went to small ball after that, which we did a poor job of taking advantage of. He could have easily had 20 boards in this one. 
-- We got LeBron/Westbrook and minimums in that starting unit. The offense in the first half was dead for long stretches. Kind of just a warm body out there…and even that is in question. 
-- He couldn’t find his shot in this game, but he did a good job switching gears after realizing it wasn’t there. He started attacking the paint more and moved the ball well. He somehow led the team in assists with 6. Props for that, but also what is going on with the rest of the team and our offense. LBJ, Russ, THT combined for just 5 assists. Those are the guys who are typically our playmakers. 
-- “My legs wasn’t underneath me,” Melo said on that last three. Hey, we played him 28 minutes coming right off the injury. So, yeah, probably no legs on that shot. His three ball was looking rusty in the first half, missing some wide open looks and finally banking one in. He did work that post for a couple of turnarounds early. In the second half, the jumper started falling as he knocked down some big threes. Defensively, he was disruptive enough with some good hands that turned steals into scores. He was scramming the smaller defenders out of the paint on rotations. He had a couple of offensive boards, one led to a three, the other to two some THT freethrows. Overall, I’ll take these games from him. (Well, maybe not the tech he got in the fourth. We can’t afford those most nights.) But, yeah, doesn’t surprise me he had no legs in that final shot. 
-- Man, you look at places where you could have had a couple of hoops. He had a layup he blew in the second half that looked like a sure bucket. He missed a flat jumper earlier in the game. 
-- Strong second half from THT. He was mixing in that jumper with some drives and had a very balanced attack. I loved seeing him trailing the break and asking for the ball so he could bury a three. A lot of confidence there, which will serve him well as he continues his development. He ended the third quarter with a big dunk with 0.3 left. He’d sink another confident three behind a flare screen at the wing. That’s a shooter’s play and he played the part. He’s starting to string some good games together. We’re relying on him more and probably tabled bringing back Westbrook during the heat of the battle by a couple minutes just with how well he was battling. 
-- Key Moment: This was probably the angriest I’ve seen him all season. He didn’t like the review on LeBron because the whistle blew on Covington deflecting the ball, not LeBron stepping out. His point was, well, if we are going to rewind and review whatever, then about LeBron getting fouled just prior to that. The Lakers were able to turn over the Clippers, but they lost 8 seconds and a BLOB set play opportunity with that ruling. As for the play the Lakers ran shortly later, Vogel said they knew LeBron would be doubled and they’d get a good look off that. They didn’t get a good look.
