LAKERS -at- PELICANS - 2-4-23 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

More Disappointment... The Pelicans had dropped 10 straight games prior to this one. A win here by the Lakers would put them even with them at the 10 spot in the standings. The Lakers had a battle earlier with the Pelicans that took a Matt Ryan three at the buzzer to win.

A high scoring first half for the Lakers as they were aggressive in transition and did a nice job setting up AD in the half court for scores. Just 2 turnovers for the Lakers in the first half as they closed it strong to lead 72-61.

The third quarter defense was awful by the Lakers, giving up 42 points. After the Lakers gave up a bucket, then an inbounds pass steal for a three to close the quarter, they lost momentum.

The Pelicans would rattle off a 16-2 run with an 11-2 start of the fourth. The Lakers quickly trailed by 6 after three minutes and called a timeout.

Troy Brown sank a couple of timely threes to pull the team back even.

The Lakers struggled to defend Brandon Ingram all game. They continued using Beverley and Brown down the stretch and couldn’t get key stops.

After AD missed a sideline three with a minute and a half left, it was all but over. The Lakers fell 131-126.

"We've got to find a way," AD said after.

The zero-for-their-last-ten Pelicans broke their losing streak against the Lakers. Will this make the Lakers more likely to make a trade or less likely? Will they go all in with their remaining assets on an 11th place team or look for another small trade?

Next up, LeBron possibly passing Kareem for the all-time scoring record.


LeBron -- -- A lot of off-balance shots early on in this game and he struggled a little to get on track. He’s been leaning into those one-footers or midrange fades quite a bit lately. As the game went along, he’d try to get to the rim more and had some success there. He can just muscle his way through defenders. They’d catch him with an offensive foul trying to do that during a pushout down 2 points. That sucked a little wind from the sails. He’d get some late FTs and nearly a key And-1, but he couldn’t finish that. Okay, numbers. Just not efficient. He needed 63 points before this game to set the record. He got 27, so it’s in play in the next one with 36 to go. No doubt teammates are going to be focused on getting him the ball. And, really, who wouldn’t want the assist on the record-breaking score? That will be replayed for a long time. I’m sure Bron will be happy to both get the mark, but probably also happy to move on from all the focus on it. Will he pull out a fake to his right and a swing to his left for a skyhook? The Stats: He scored 27 points on 10-22 shooting (1-7 from three, 6-9 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 6 assists, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 39 minutes. He was a -5.

Davis -- -- The Lakers ran some nice double drag sequences that opened up rolls to the hoop for AD and easy finishes. He also changed ends with speed to get some transition buckets early. Throw in a couple of jumphooks and a perimeter jumper and he’d finish the first half with 18 points on 8-12 shooting. Again, they got AD going early in the second half. He’d score on a putback off a backscreen that was probably going to be a lob play for him. He hit a floater off a pocket pass from Bron. Then drilled a three on a kickout. Then Bron found him on another kickout for a second three and he had 30 midway through the third quarter. He’d get a couple more points off FTs, but then go quiet for a long stretch. He struggled with Valanciunas’s size and caught a break when he couldn’t return to the game. But he was lost in the shuffle for a lengthy stretch. He struggled to finish under the hoop on a couple touches. He then missed a huge three with 1:25 left down 4. That was the killer. The Stats: He scored 34 points on 13-25 shooting (2-5 from three, 6-7 from the line) to go with 14 boards (4 offensive), 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 38 minutes. He was a +0.

Hachimura -- -- The Lakers size had a few moments early with Rui on the offensive glass in this one. But they struggled a bit to maintain their defensive glass with Valanciunas imposing his size. When Rui was sitting in the third, they got killed there and the lead was trimmed to 4. It kind of felt like Ham was just trying to get as many guys minutes as he could in this one. Just 19 minutes for him and we couldn’t get some key one-and-out stops with our smaller lineups. Offensively, he sank an open three. He drew FTs a couple of times. He’d score a layup on the screen-roll with Russ. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 2-7 shooting (1-2 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 5 boards (3 offensive), 1 steal and no fouls in 19 minutes. He was a +2.

Schröder -- -- Tale of two halves. He had a strong +14 in the first half (he’d still finish with a team-high +5 to end the game). He led the team with 7 assists (and no turnovers) in the half. Just some excellent passing. He lobbed to AD off the double drag screen. He probed and found AD in the paint for another score. He hit Brown for a three on a quick swing pass. Then, he’d lob to AD again on a push out for another dunk on the next play. The Lakers had a couple blindside steals in the first half. Dennis had one on BI as he spun, he swiped the ball, pushed out and hit Bron trailing for a dunk. His best pass might have been a lookaway scoop pass to a trailing Bron on the break for a score. In the fourth quarter, he’d manufacture some FTs with 4 minutes left, but have a couple miscues. One was a drive that looked like he didn’t know what he wanted to do and missed. Then later when we were in scramble mode trying to get a steal in the last few seconds, we got it, but he threw the ball away trying to hit AD. The game was pretty much out of reach at that point, but a three there would have brought it to one possession. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 1-6 shooting (1-2 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 10 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 37 minutes. He was a +5.

Beverley -- -- He drew an offensive foul on BI on the first play, then strip-blocked him next time down. Then he drew some FTs on the other end. Then he attacked BI on our next trip down and scored an And-1 on him for his second foul in a minute and half. Bev would get tagged with some foul trouble in the second quarter and have to sit with three of his own. We’d bring him back in to try to cool off BI late in the third and he instantly picked up a foul (he grabbed Lonnie’s hand and threw his arm up in the air, hoping they’d call it on him instead, lol.) Bev was given the BI assignment in crunch time. I might have liked to see some JTA in this to give us more length as Ingram just caused all kinds of issues for Bev and Brown (and Russ earlier). Tough matchup for him, for sure. Late in the game, Bev got a score on a pass he was trying to throw over the fronting defender and he threw it into the hoop. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-3 shooting (0-1 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 4 assists, 1 block and 5 fouls in 27 minutes. He was a -10.

Bryant -- -- A short 3-minute stint in the first half. He’d sink a jumper at the nail and then miss a couple of FT attempts. That was it for him tonight. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-2 shooting (0-1 from three, 0-2 from the line) to go with 1 board and no fouls in 3 minutes. He was a -3.

Westbrook -- -- He was listed as questionable and even out for this game spurring on more rumors of trade, especially as Kyrie sat out his game. They kept his minutes short as Ham clearly didn’t trust him in that fourth quarter tonight. “Whatever decision they make, that’s up to them,” he said. He pushed back on the press. He said he’s grateful for the opportunity and all in. They kept pressuring and asked about trade rumors. “That’s not up to me,” he said, saying he’s a professional. Good job handling the questions. Efficient scoring first half with 12 points on 5-7 shooting, including sinking a couple of threes. And on one of his misses, he got the offensive board and scored off it. The Lakers only had 2 turnovers in the first half, Russ had both in the first quarter. We threw him on BI for a stretch and that went like you might expect. We saw a rare Russ/Rui two-man action that Rui turned into a layup on the roll. Russ also had an attack and hit Wenyen coming baseline for a dunk. After they left Russ open and covered everyone else a minute into the fourth and tied the game up, Ham sat Russ for Schröder. That was it for him for the night. Ultimately, this is the problem with running with Westbrook, as we’ve mentioned a thousand times over. Come playoff time or winning time, teams can just leave him. And if we just position him out on the perimeter, that makes it easier on opponents and harder on our stars. Last game for Russ in the Laker uni? Who knows? We will find out soon enough. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-11 shooting (2-3 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 4 assists, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 23 minutes. He was a -4.

Walker IV -- -- He looked ready to drop a high scoring game. He just had good balance on his shot. If we aren’t integrating him well in the offense to take advantage of that, then we aren’t going to get much positive on the other end. He had one excellent defensive play, blindsiding McCollum as he spun for a steal and he took it the distance for a layup. He would also score on the break after fumbling a pass, then reversing directions to catch the D sleeping for an easy layup. In the second half he swished a three on a catch and shoot, then would miss another. He also swished a midrange pull-up early on. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-8 shooting (1-4 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 foul in 16 minutes. He was a -8.

Brown -- -- He hit a couple of big threes, one out of a key timeout with 8:30 left in the fourth to help slow a Pelican rally. Then, he sank another three to tie it up with 6:40 left. Good moments there. Defensively, he had some nice help challenges to disrupt shots early on, but he got cooked by Ingram shooting over him later. He got a couple layups in the first half for other scores. A lot of minutes for him tonight. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-9 shooting (3-7 from three) to go with 6 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist and 4 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a +0.

Gabriel -- -- In the third quarter, he’d get a dunk on a drive and dish from Russ. But he threw an awful inbounds pass after a made basket, right to a Alvarado popping out behind a player and they’d hit a three. So a 5-point switch in a matter of seconds to close the quarter. Just horrible timing for that. We used him earlier in this one. He started the second quarter at C along with Bron and three guards. A short shift of 4 minutes where he was a -1 with no stats. He’d score on a dunk on a drive from Russ to find Wenyen cutting baseline. Not enough of the little things from Gabriel in his minutes. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-1 shooting to go with 1 turnover and 1 foul in 6 minutes. He was a -2.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: Let’s go to that Alvarado steal to end the third quarter. He pretty much stole momentum with that, as well. The arena was hyped, the Pelicans reeled us in and they carried that momentum into the fourth quarter where they outscored the Lakers 11-2 to start that quarter. So a quick 5-0 strike in the last few seconds of the third followed by that burst to open the fourth. Ham said they scouted for that, told players to look for it, and Wenyen was just careless with that inbounds. Painful.

Key Substitution: We put Bev, Brown and Russ largely on BI. As mentioned somewhere above, Ham needs to consider going with a specialist like JTA when getting bled badly. Get some more length and athleticism out there, mix it up.

Key Stats: First half three shooting: Lakers made 6-15, Pelicans 2-13. Turnovers in the first half: Lakers 2, Pelicans 8. Lakers were doing well, then they came out and gave up a 42-point third quarter. Pelicans would hit 7-17 in the second half. It was really the Lakers giving up 35 to BI who just looked automatic during the heart of this battle. Anytime the Pelicans needed buckets, he was there.

[Laker7]

First

This one hurt bad. And I lay the blame at the feet of the coaching staff. Defense was not working late in the third and the entire fourth quarter. And they kept the lineups and assignments the same. Bring a taller Rui and try him on Ingram. Bring in a more athletic Walker and try him on McCullum. Nope.

Einstein said the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. The Lakers stays with the same defense and got torched. No zone. No trapping defense. No changes what so ever.
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Keep winning!

[PenG_]

Thanks DB

Beyond bummed with this one. Ingram has a beautiful game... too bad I couldn't admire his shot making in a W.

[Dennis100mtrash]

This is on coach

[PLATNUM]

Seems like WINNING is an afterthought for this team and organization.
It's more about branding and fanfare now.
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"Be the person you needed when you were younger..."

[oaktown_dimond]

Okay, do we win this game with Vogel at the helm?

[Halflife]

The key players all quit on Vogel
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Kobe.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Clw9scopegx/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

[Laker's Fan]

[Dr. Laker]

Bad, bad loss.

Thanks, DB!
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On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".

[samnizam]

[Halflife]

[Dennis100mtrash]

[slavavov]

Why didn't the Lakers double-team Ingram and make someone else beat them?

It's really frustrating how this team doesn't seem to learn from its mistakes. Yet it is still within striking distance of the fourth spot in the Western Conference.

[mad55557777]

[joeblow]

[Dennis100mtrash]

[A Mad Chinaman]

[danzag]

WTF is Ham thinking?

[governator]

Bad loss

[wolfpaclaker]

[AtlLaker]

This Team is a Disappointment

[LakerLanny]

I actually watched the second half of this one (rare for me this season) and of course jinxed them again.

It seems like every time I tune in, they blow a lead and lose.

Giving up 131 points to a team that has lost 10 in a row and without Zion is a tough pill to swallow.

That said, if they can just put together one winning streak of 5 games or more this season, they could end up not only in the playoffs, but even have a decent seed.
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Love, Laker Lanny

[Barry Seal]

[A Mad Chinaman]