WIZARDS -at- LAKERS - 12-18-22 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

 
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2022 9:46 pm    Post subject: WIZARDS -at- LAKERS - 12-18-22 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

Battling Injuries... With news that AD would be out for several weeks, the Lakers got a bit more banged up in this one. Reaves rolled an ankle. Lonnie had his ankle kicked. They were limping to the finish line.

Once again the third quarter proved problematic for the Lakers. Their 14-point halftime lead was quickly cut in half after just 3 minutes. Then later in the quarter, they gave up a 12-0 run and the lead. Much of this was a round a poor offensive stretch for Russ, who compounded mistakes trip after trip as the Lakers went scoreless while LeBron sat.

An 11-0 Laker run gave the Lakers a 3-point lead in the fourth. They would stretch that up to 7 points with 3 minutes to go, but the Wizards would catch them.

Late in the game, the Wizards tried to use Porzingis to plug the paint or double LeBron. The Lakers attacked it with Schröder for two Bryant threes. Then when Schröder fouled out, it was Reaves coming up with back-to-back floaters.

The Lakers struggled to get defensive boards, giving up multiple putback dunks late. This cost them several stops in crunch time as they got an initial miss, but not the board.

Tied up in the final 30 seconds, Lebron had an open runway for an uncontested dunk to take the lead. On the other end, the Wizards drew a foul to tie it back up. Timeout Lakers with 23 seconds left. Then some chaos.

As we inbounded to LeBron, he ran some clock. The Wizards sent a double, and he tried to thread a bounce pass. It was deflected. LeBron came up with the loose ball in the scramble, attacked and fired it to Bryant for a dunk with 7 seconds left. The Wizards inbounded and Kuzma missed a three at the buzzer. Lakers win, 119-117.

“It’s better to be lucky than good,” LeBron said afterward about that play.


LeBron -- -- Steady from start to finish. I really liked that we didn’t suck the air out of the ball tonight. The Wizards did give us some focus in trying to hide Porzingis on non-shooters. So down the stretch, he played with purpose trying to expose that. Whether it was LeBron drawing doubles and finding teammates to exploit that or himself attacking off screens when they didn’t trap, he was playing the chess game. Much better than stalling out the offense for long threes. He scored 15 points on 7-11 shooting in the first half. He went 6-13 in the second half. That final offensive play almost went horrifically sideways on him. He botched the pass and the Wizards had a chance to scoop it up and get out on the break to win the game. This was a situation where it was the Lakers to win or lose. And they nearly choked that away. Credit LeBron for hustling to recover the ball, he then attacked and fired it to Bryant for the game-winner. Also some credit to LeBron for the play just prior to this. He let the ball roll up court, then scooped it up and attacked down the lane for a dunk. This gave us a two-for-one to close the game. The Stats: He scored 33 points on 13-24 shooting (1-4 from three, 6-8 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 9 assists, 1 block, no turnovers and no fouls in 37 minutes. He was a +10.

Walker IV -- -- Strong first half with 13 points on 4-5 shooting. He hit a couple of threes, including one straight away while on the move. We got him out in transition multiple times tonight. That’s playing to his strengths and he finished well. We were also able to get him downhill on a curl and also working some two-man action. Late in the game, he got kicked and tweaked his ankle and had to sit out. We can’t afford to lose him, too. We’re going to need him aggressive and dropping some 20+ games like this with some regularity. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 7-12 shooting (2-4 from three, 5-5 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 3 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a -6.

Reaves -- -- He led the team with a +15 tonight. A couple of huge plays late as he hit two floaters in the final two minutes, taking advantage of the attention LeBron was drawing and making the Wizards pay the price. Normally, you wouldn’t worry about him in those situations, but he was injured tonight. Reaves rolled his ankle good, stepping on a foot under the hoop and immediately went to the locker room in the third. He came back to start the fourth to give it a shot, but was limping too much. Still, he managed to draw an offensive foul battling on the defensive glass. He kept trying to adjust his laces and headed back to the locker room after that. When Lonnie got hurt, Reaves was back. Again, he drew an offensive foul on Beal on D, staying on his shoulder and flying when Beal lowered it to get separation. (Earlier in the game, he forced Beal into an airball, got a charge on him in the post, and stripped him on a drive.) His two assists were a kickout to Dennis for a three and great pushout off a rebound where he got past defenders then lobbed to Bron to force a timeout. He’s been one of our key closers. So in addition to no AD, not having him would be tough. Thankfully, he was able to go. He hit both of his threes earlier in the game. Super efficient again and just making things happen on both ends. Hard to say if we will miss tomorrow. That ankle could tighten up over night. So, he might. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 4-5 shooting (2-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 foul sin 34 minutes. He was a +15.

Bryant -- -- Tale of two halves for him (or maybe first three quarters vs. the fourth). He struggled to finish around the rim early on. That’s when he could get the shot off because he also was stripped and fumbled another pass away. Out of a timeout in the third, he was called for an offensive foul on the ATO to blow that. In the fourth as the Wizards tried to hide Porzingis on Schröder, Dennis attacked it twice, drawing the strong-side defender and hitting Bryant for two big corner threes. Love having a big who can stretch the floor. On the last play, Bryant was the guy to receive the baseball pass from LeBron and finish the dunk with 7 seconds left. Good job rallying back from a poor start where he smacked himself in the head in frustration. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 7-13 shooting (2-2 from three, 0-1 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 2 assists, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 33 minutes. He was a +0.

Schröder -- -- He was key down the stretch, hitting Bryant for those threes. He also set some screens for LeBron to work off. Finally, he fouled out and we were down another player. Defensively, he was too small to handle Beal, so they went to that multiple times in the third quarter. He got tagged for a few fouls there. (Then we put Reaves on Beal who drew a charge immediately in the post.) Good job setting up his bigs. He found Jones for a dunk on a drive and dish and another time on a lob. He also hit Reaves for a three, as well. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 4-12 shooting (2-6 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 7 assists, 1 turnover and 6 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a +7.

Westbrook -- -- We’re going to need much better games from him to survive the next few weeks. He had 8 points, 5 boards and 5 assists in the first half, pacing for a triple-double. The second half got ugly, though. Just one point. There was a stretch where he had multiple miscues in a row (off the mark on a lob pass, missed a layup, bricked a three, all consecutively to turn into a Wizards rally). Late in the game with how the Wizards were using Porzingis, sagging off and plugging the paint, we decided to leave him on the bench. He also missed a couple of FTs on a drive. Good call. I was worried this might go to OT and we’d bring him back for another disaster. Not a good game. He hit the top of the backboard on one jumper. Some good passes on the night, but we were looking like a hot mess for a good stretch there. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-12 shooting (0-2 from three, 1-4 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 9 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 turnovers and no fouls in 23 minutes. He was a -5.

Brown -- -- He missed a layup on a baseline drive, missed a three and threw a pass away for a dunk the other way. Nothing game. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-2 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 10 minutes. He was a -12.

Jones -- -- With AD out, we’re going to need some minutes from Jones. Gabriel may steal them at some point, but Jones needs to make an impact while he can. He and Schröder had a little bit of chemistry as Dennis set him up for dunks. LeBron and Russ also found him, as well. He missed an awful three attempt. Defensively, he had a good shot block, but on the same play let defenders get behind him for a transition dunk as we blew our opportunity on the other end. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-6 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 17 minutes. He was a +3.

Christie -- -- No hesitation to bury a three just after entering the game. That trigger is quick and confident right now. In summer, his shot was slow to develop and he passed up on taking a bunch. Now, he’s firing at will and knocking them down. He’d hit another on a kickout from Russ in the second half. His other score was a good read to cut off Russ who was working the post and Christie would finish around Porzingis. Some good effort on D. I think as he gets more and more reps, he’s going to be more familiar with his opponents and cause more trouble. He had a nice help block on Kuzma at the glass. That length is surprising at times and he’ll learn to use it better over time. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-6 shooting (2-5 from three) to go with 4 boards, 1 block and no fouls in 24 minutes. He was a -2.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: Final offensive possession. Ham and the team were ready for the double. LeBron just botched the first pass, hitting a shin. But the team was going to be aggressive with a 4 on 3 after LeBron had pulled defenders out high to the middle of the court. We won the scramble, but had we made that pass to begin with, I like our odds of winning there. One thing to note, the offensive play prior to this. LeBron rolled the ball all the way up court, then grabbed it and saw the red sea part for a dunk. That allowed us essentially a two-for-one.

Key Substitution: Let’s go with sitting Russ down the stretch. We’ve come a long way where people aren’t really noticing that or making it a storyline. That started with benching him. But good to see Ham not just use him because he’s Russell Westbrook.

Key Stats: Just 9 turnovers tonight and 11-27 (40.7%) shooting from three. They’ll need to get the most of their possessions without AD.
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mhan00
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2022 9:48 pm    Post subject:

God bless you Reaves. May he keep your ankle healthy.
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sonic the laker
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2022 10:02 pm    Post subject:

Loving it, DB! Absolutely loving it! Seems like Ham is being forced to be creative, with all these injuries. And, he's showing that he has the ability to go outside his comfort zone, to explore what's best for the team, and maximize our player's strengths. That's what I really wanted to see.

You can also see this in how we play defense, now. Earlier, the Lakers played drop defense, ALL the time, no matter what. Seeing a steady dose of this, teams adjusted and took advantage. I commented on this as far back as the Pacers game debacle. Now, over the last few games, you see Ham switching up his defense's more, to keep teams off balance. Some man, some zone, some drop coverage, some switching... And, the defense has looked better, since.

And, I see a more focused attempt to move the ball, and get the whole team involved. Much less iso perimeter dribble-shoots for Bron.

My current critique is with Russ. I like the change of pace he gives us, and his passing. He HAS to be better with his shot decision making. Those quick 3's, and mid range shots, hurt me so much, lol. That said, the bench lineup was rough. The only creators were Russ, and Lonnie. I would have preferred to see Lonnie get more touches, in that instance. But, Ham may need to tweak that second unit a bit.

Love Christie, and glad to see Damion give us some positive production. We're going to need it.

Lakers!
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pio2u
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2022 10:05 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB!
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joeblow
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2022 10:18 pm    Post subject: Re: WIZARDS -at- LAKERS - 12-18-22 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

DancingBarry wrote:

Key Substitution: Let’s go with sitting Russ down the stretch. We’ve come a long way where people aren’t really noticing that or making it a storyline. That started with benching him. But good to see Ham not just use him because he’s Russell Westbrook.

^^^ From this...


Quote:
Key Stats: Just 9 turnovers tonight and 11-27 (40.7%) shooting from three. They’ll need to get the most of their possessions without AD.

^^^ ...to this. It's not a coincidence. Good on Ham for making more lineup choices based on common sense.

The Lakers looked decent defensively in all but the 3rd quarter, but part of the Wizard's problem when they are on offense is that they refused to attack the paint enough when Bryant was sitting down. That was good for us obviously, but we can't expect every team to take it easy on the injured purple 'n gold in that way moving forward.
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A Mad Chinaman
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2022 11:08 pm    Post subject:

Work your butt off, stay focus, maintain one's fundamentals and the basketball will (more than less) will reward you.

Past Laker teams would have lost this game, now they are finding ways to beat teams (better lucky than good, as long as it translate into wins)

Thanks DB
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Dr. Laker
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 19, 2022 6:02 am    Post subject:

A Mad Chinaman wrote:
Work your butt off, stay focus, maintain one's fundamentals and the basketball will (more than less) will reward you.

Past Laker teams would have lost this game, now they are finding ways to beat teams (better lucky than good, as long as it translate into wins)

Thanks DB


Spot on. Thanks, DB!
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scout_0
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 19, 2022 7:02 am    Post subject:

To me most enjoyable game of the season. Low Brick minutes. No Beverly. Reaves starting with Bron.

I love 5 players that are a threat on offense at all times..

On the break it just looks so beautiful.

Please trade beverly today!!!
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 19, 2022 12:26 pm    Post subject:

With no LeBron, AD, Reaves in this next game, I think I will skip writing it up. If someone wants to step up, let me know. Or, maybe even just focus on Christie or some particular element of the game might be worthwhile.
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