LAKERS -at- MAGIC - 12-27-22 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Hey, We Didn’t Get Killed In The Third Quarter... Two key junctures of this game.

First, the Lakers were able to hold serve in the third quarter. Amazing. They were outscored by just 1 point, not 30.

The second key moment came right after that when LeBron sat to start the fourth quarter with the Lakers up 9.

Westbrook and Bryant went to work on the two-man action. This resulted in multiple scores between them or led to a couple open threes for Brown. While Bron sat, they extended the lead to 13. Well done putting pressure on the paint and turning that into consistent offense.

Russ was key. He was the engine that drove those minutes and finished the night with his third triple-double of the season off the bench.

The Lakers won 129-110 and are now 3-6 without AD.


LeBron -- -- He went 0-7 from three tonight. Good looks, just nothing falling from deep. Thankfully, others were hitting so we finished 39.5% from three tonight despite Bron’s donut. In fact, every other person who took a three tonight made one. He had 12 points on 5-10 shooting and 4 assists in the first half. Some good finishes at the rim in transition or off cuts. He is tough to stop when he’s downhill and we hit him with speed. The Lakers were a +8 when he was on the court and a +11 while off it. Those minutes he was off the court were key to this one. Hopefully, the Lakers can be as effective in the next one. The Stats: He scored 28 points on 12-24 shooting (0-7 from three, 4-5 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 4 turnovers and 1 foul in 31 minutes. He was a +8.

Walker IV -- -- The Lakers had some nice relocations for Russ tonight. He’s a willing passer so guys were making sure he’d have a clear line of sight to find them while he was on the move. One of Lonnie’s threes was a nice relocation to make himself available. He got a couple scores on the break, including getting knocked down hard on a finish attempt. He’ll probably feel that one tomorrow. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 3-10 shooting (2-7 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 2 assists and 1 foul in 25 minutes. He was a +2.

Beverley -- -- Hot start to this one. Most of his positive action was very early. He scored 11 points in the first half, sinking his first three threes and a floater. He sank another three to start the third. He cooled off an missed a bunch of threes as the game went along, but enough of an offensive threat tonight. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 5-11 shooting (4-10 shooting from three) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 block and 3 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a +3.

Schröder -- -- Defensively, he drew a couple charges tonight, one in the post, another in transition. Scoring-wise, he was efficient, hitting his only three in early offense and scoring a late layup off a Bron post-up handoff. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 1-1 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a +9.

Bryant -- -- Strong effort tonight. He led the team with 13 points on 4-5 shooting and 7 boards in the first half. Not quite AD but close enough. In the second half, he had a couple of dunks. One on the break, another on a putback jam at the rim. On that putback, he gave his man a nice box out bump just prior to get separation before going up to finish. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 8-10 shooting (1-1 from three, 4-6 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a +6.

Westbrook -- -- He scored 15-13-13 from Russ tonight. And there were probably another 5 or 6 trips to the line for guys for FTs off Russ passes. Guys were looking for the passes and also making extra passes at times off that. So some of those threes off Russ kickouts were hockey assist type plays where we go inside-out and swing it. The boards also helped. We need more team rebounding and more effort from him and our other guards. Scoring wise, he sank some midrange jumpers and a three. He beat his man with a quick first step, as well for a layup. Just a well-rounded effort from him tonight and he led the Lakers with the +18. Bottle this and repeat, please. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-11 shooting (1-3 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 13 boards, 13 assists, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a +18.

Reaves -- -- Good job moving the ball tonight. He found Bron on a swing pass, hit Lobbie on the break, setup Gabriel for a corner three, found Bron for a layup in transition all in the first half. In the second half he scooped up a loose ball, pushed it out and lobbed to Bron for the dunk. A couple of turnovers we usually don’t see as he dribbled into some traffic. He’d sink a couple of threes, including a nice relocation to the corner to help Russ find a shooter on the baseline. He drew his 11th charge in this game and also got popped in the face again. “I’m starting to think people don’t like me too much and are just trying to get a shot off,” Reaves said. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-7 shooting (2-6 from three) to go with 3 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 26 minutes. He was a +12.

Brown -- -- He was a key to the Lakers success. Huge fourth quarter from Brown tonight. He sank three straight threes. A couple of those came while LeBron sat. And with over 2 minutes left, he sealed the game finishing a lob layup on the break. Nice to get some impact from him. It’s been a minute. He had a couple scores in the first half off some setups from Russ. Good chemistry from those two tonight. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-7 shooting (3-4 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 assist and 1 foul in 17 minutes. He was a +15.

Gabriel -- -- Nice to see him bury a three. They left him early and Reaves found him in the corner. He knocked it down. It looked like the team made a little effort to put some bigger longer players around him. The Magic did a poor job imposing any size on the Lakers, so it didn’t much matter in this one. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-5 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 6 boards, 1 assist and 3 fouls in 15 minutes. He was a +11.

Nunn -- -- In for the final minute and a half. He swished a three on the two-man action with Gabriel. Next trip down, he iso’d and hit a three straight away. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-2 shooting from three to go with 1 board in 2 minutes. He was a +4.

Christie -- -- No notes for him in this one. The Stats: He didn’t shoot or score or have any stats in 5 minutes. He was a +7.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: As mentioned above that whole third quarter, of course, but really that first 5 minutes of the fourth was key. The team was able to thrive around Russ as they ran some two-man action with Bryant.

Key Substitution: Russ and Brown were big in that fourth quarter. Brown gave the team some perimeter shooting. Russ put pressure on the paint with Bryant. So if we weren’t scoring off the initial two-man action, it would end up with a kickout and the ball moved to Brown who knocked down the threes.

Key Stats: The Lakers had 32 assists. Related, they made 17-43 from three. Good ball movement and extra passes led to very good looks.

[Halflife]

Crazy how our lack of size wasn’t an issue
_________________
Kobe.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Clw9scopegx/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

[deal]

[mad55557777]

[slavavov]

Love the idea of using Bryant in the pick-and-roll, since he can either roll to the hoop and finish strong or pop out and hit 3s.

[Aeneas Hunter]

[pio2u]

[pio2u]

We had to have this one, Thanks DB.