KNICKS -at- LAKERS - 3-12-23 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

.500 Remains Elusive... Despite a strong game from D’Angelo Russell, the Lakers couldn’t continue their climb up the standings with a 112-108 loss against the Knicks Sunday.

The Lakers went up 18-11 early as Russell picked up where he left off in the last game, bombing threes and getting to the rim. He had 13 of the Lakers points in the first 5 minutes.

The Knicks countered with a flurry of points from Randle to close the quarter (he had 18 in the first) and they took the lead back.

Multiple times, the Knicks tried to pull out leads, but the Lakers would reel them back in until they had a 1-point lead heading into the fourth.

As they battled back and forth in the fourth, the Lakers started missing freethrows. They’d have breakdowns in transition. After Reaves missed a three and went down from what looked like contact without a call, the Knicks would chuck the ball down court for the easy score -- a potential 5-point switch that gave the Knicks a 10-point lead late.

Again, L.A. would scratch their way back. The Lakers cut it to 2 on a layup by Schröder with 19 seconds left. But they let 14 seconds roll off the clock before they fouled and the Knicks were able to ice the game at the line.


Davis -- -- Needed better from him offensively. He’d finish with 17 on 18 attempts. He had 12 points on 6-11 shooting in the first half, so 2-7 in the second half for 5 points. A couple of those were chucks against the shotclock, so not good looks. He did take Randle defensively in the second half to try to slow him down. But he left a lot points on the table tonight. He missed 4 of the 5 FTs he took. That would have helped. He missed multiple chippies right at the front of the rim. Just a little more. A layup. Two or three of those FTs. Just a little more efficiency and we can get this W. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 8-18 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-5 from the line) to go with 16 boards (6 offensive), 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 37 minutes. He was a +11.

Russell -- -- He came out of the gates smoking. Sinking threes, getting to the rim and generally giving the Lakers some tip of the spear offense that caused problems for the Knicks. He had 23 points, making 4-5 from three, to go with 5 assists in the first half. He’d get 13 of those in the first 5 minutes, as mentioned. In the second half, he’d knock down a couple more threes. One he scooped up a loose ball that a defender just dove for, looked back at him on the ground and then buried the three. He’d knock down another pull-up three in transition. He led the team in points, assists and plus-minus with a +14. The Stats: He scored 33 points on 13-19 shooting (6-11 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 8 assists, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a +14.

Vanderbilt -- -- He picked up a couple of cheap fouls on Randle in the first quarter. He had a few steals in this game, including one jumping a passing lane to take it for a dunk. But he’d immediately give that back by fumbling a pass away for a Knicks breakaway score. The Knicks didn’t feel him enough tonight. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-3 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a -16.

Beasley -- -- He swished a corner three on a kickout to start the game and you were hoping for a good shooting game. That didn’t quite happen. He’d hit another three, but he missed a bunch, including some good looks. He finally knocked another one down later in the second half and looked a bit like, it’s about time. He’d get a dunk and a layup, as well. Defensively, he was iffy. He got lost in the zone on one play to give up an easy one. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-12 shooting (2-8 from three) to go with 2 boards and 1 foul in 26 minutes. He was a -5

Brown -- -- I thought he really killed the team tonight. He wasn’t great defensively, but was atrocious on offense. He missed so many wide open looks from three. They just needed a couple makes. Just a little bit of an impact in place of Bron in that starting lineup. One or two buckets and this is a different game. Painful. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 0-8 shooting (0-7 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 4 assists and 3 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a -9.

Reaves -- -- A bit too many turnovers tonight. Rare we see that from him, but he coughed the ball up a couple of times in the fourth. I wish he could have had seven looks from three tonight instead of Brown. He sank one. He had a lot of action getting into the paint for scores and fouls. There was one in the first half that snaked through the D that looked a bit like Manu. He’s got a little of that herky-jerky to him that is tricky to cover. He had another nice attack against HArt where he drop-stepped him for an And-1 layup. Defensively, Barrett had some scores against him. I think where we got burned the most was in transition.Just a few too many easy ones there for RJ (12-27 for his 30). There was one late where Reaves missed a three and was knocked down by RJ. He immediately got up, but it was too late, layup the other way for Barrett. That went from a potential 5-point difference to 10 points with under 3 minutes left. That was big possession. Later Reaves teamed up with AD on a lob off the two-man action with 46 seconds left that cut it to 4. They get that call for Reaves a couple minutes earlier, it's a different ball game. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 4-6 shooting (1-2 from three, 4-5 from the line) to go with 1 board, 4 assists, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 25 minutes. He was a -1.

Schröder -- -- Gave up too much space at times on defense. That led to some easy perimeter looks or even some second chances as he didn’t stay attached to his man on the glass. Little things add up. Offensively, maybe a sub-average game from him. The scoring was there. The biggest was a layup with 19 seconds left to cut it to 2. He just attacked full court and wasn’t going to be denied. He got into the midrange for jumper and used his speed for layups. But he’s usually a reliable distributor and only had a single assist tonight. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 6-11 shooting (1-3 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 26 minutes. He was a -3.

Hachimura -- -- Good to see him hit double digits again. We need to make that a consistent thing. Randle had 2 points on Vando in the first five minutes of the first quarter before we subbed in Rui. He’d finish with 18 before the quarter was over, but to be fair it was against everyone, including some transition buckets and over the zone. So I wouldn’t tag that on him. He had some decent moments on Randle that forced him to pass. Really, the Lakers team got killed in transition from Julius. Offensively, Rui had a decent game. He sank a baseline pull-up. He had a wing three on a kickout from Russell. He’d drop another three in transition during a Laker run. In the fourth, he’d hit another pull-up from midrage. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-9 shooting (2-3 from three) to go with 3 boards and 3 fouls in 27 minutes. He was a +8.

Gabriel -- -- We’re still trying to figure out those AD/Bamba-less minutes with our backup C spot. More zone today, but we had some issues there. The team was a -13 in Wenyen’s 11 minutes. Ouch. Gabriel had a couple of scores: a layup when Reaves hit him on the two-man action and a dunk in transition. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-3 shooting to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 11 minutes. He was a -13.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: Down 2 with 19 seconds left, the Lakers couldn’t get a foul until 5 seconds left. Painful. Really, though, all the transition scores they allowed earlier in this game and the missed FTS are what really hurt them. Just too many easy ones.

Key Substitution: Not thrilled with Reaves playing just 25 minutes when Brown was stone cold. Got to get a few more minutes in there for him. Both Beasley and Brown combined for 2-15 shooting from three.

Key Stats: In the previous game the Lakers were 19-19. Tonight, 10-17 in a game that went down to the wire. Guess that's the law of averages.

[Hanging from Rafters]

1st😒 tough loss. Thanks DB, appreciate the write up. It’s probably time to ease on the Beas…start Reav. I’d also like to see Vande at SF instead of TBjr with Rui starting at PF. I think that gets the best line up on the floor at the same time to start. Schro/Beas or LW4/TBjr/Gabe would be the 2nd unit with either Dlo or AD on the court all the time staggering their rest.

Get rebounds, hit free throws, with Reeves getting more Beasley minutes and Vande getting more of TBjr minutes at SF for Barrett with Rui on Randle and it’s a blow out win for the Lakers.
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Just win baby!!!

[DrDent]

Thanks DB.

Frustrating loss, especially since it woulda been nice to take one vs a team over .500. This game had the same sort of feel as the Minnesota game.

If there is a silver lining; despite not playing well, team hung in there. Not a "moral victory", but is notable the fellas just wouldnt go away.
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"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

[PLATNUM]

TBjr was hot garbage
Offense was crap
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"Be the person you needed when you were younger..."

[bertrome]

If somehow they're going to miss the play-in/playoffs, they only have themselves to blame by dropping winnable games like this all season long.

[tox]

[defense]

I didn't like the effort all night. They just acted like the they thought they didn't have to hustle.

[SGSD32]

Weird night.
Announcers noted the dead atmosphere in Staples... Oscars distraction? lol.. who knows.

Very frustrating because it wasn't a terrible night.. just two more shots, for goodness sakes.

Beas needs to get it going.

Brown has been great.. but was an absolute, complete, dumpster fire. Yikes, he was bad. Haven't seen that kind of overall game from him at all this year.

[Laker7]

Missed free throws and allowing Barrett to get sooooo many layups was frustrating.
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Keep winning!

[kfkilla]

[JUST-MING]

Josh Hart is the unsung hero for the Knicks. He handled the ball. He grabbed key rebounds. He defended the point of attack. He made all the winning plays. Hart and Hartenstien. One of those two get the game ball.

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB.

Size matters against some teams, and we're down 2 big players, ridiculously thin at C/PF ATM other than AD and Rui. Still, more Reaves and Vando, a couple more free throws made, and we'd have escaped with a win IMO.

This was penciled in as a tough matchup already, not a decisive win for the Knicks.

Kudos to Randall and Hart though, they're a big reason the Knicks are competitive. Laker draft scouting ftw.

At some point Beasley needs to start hitting shots again. I'm tired of getting my hopes up on fearsome 3 point shooters who go stone cold as soon as they're Lakers and freeze out the better lineups we could be putting on the floor.

Any time I see draft discussions or free agency posts all hyped about another 3 point threat we can get our hands on I just want to say SHUT. UP. Get hyped if they play solid defense, play smart, set picks, move off the ball, and hustle for every rebound.

[unleasHell]

Missed a prime chance to keep moving upward..

Super sad, when 2 of the starters are at -16 & -9..

Ham needs to REACT to that in real time and fix it, not sit there and HOPE for the best, this was a very winnable game...
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“Always remember... Rumors are carried by haters, spread by fools, and accepted by idiots.”

[Halflife]

they were way more physical.
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Kobe.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Clw9scopegx/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

[DancingBarry]

[Rek]

Sign a backup center already, Rob...

[oaktown_dimond]

DLo is gonna start calling out AD if he doesn't STEP IT UP!

DLo can't do it all by himself!

[Halflife]

[Startrout]

[Aeneas Hunter]

[LakersRGolden]

They didn't bring it. AD, and Reaves finally took an interest and tried with 2 minutes left, but it was too late.

Dlo was cooking but he really didn't run the team as well has he can. Maybe it was the weak rolls on the P&R from AD and the crap shooting from the wings that made him look for his own more.