LAKERS -vs- CLIPPERS - 7-16-23 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Summer League Game 7... The Lakers wrapped up their summer league ball with a last second win against the Clippers.

The Lakers struggled a little early on as turnovers led to Clipper breakaways and a double-digit lead. By the time the first quarter ended, they were down just 6. And shortly into the second quarter they had the lead back.

The teams played even for the remainder of the half. In the third quarter, more turnovers (looking at you, Damion Baugh, again). The Clippers again stretched out to a 7-point lead.

D’Moi Hodge sparked the team with a number of threes and steals on his way to a 23-point, 5-steal night. In the final minute, they had some self-inflicted wounds up 3 points and missing three straight freethrows. (All by Figueroa, who put together another high energy outing on his way to 23 points.)

The Clippers tied it up by sinking a three with 0.4 left on the clock.

The Lakers called timeout and on the subsequent inbounds, Swider drew a foul before the ball was passed. That resulted in one freethrow, and that was the game. The Lakers won 104-103.

A good final game by a few Lakers. Here’s the details:


Castleton -- -- In the last game, the playmaking was awful and that impacted Castleton’s scoring. The Lakers got him the ball early in this one and he led the team with 9 points in the first quarter. Of course, they didn’t get it to him in the paint much after that. Castleton instead helped lead the team with 6 assists as the playmaker on the perimeter. Excellent DHOs, he also pushed out the boards (that led to another Hodge three in transition). I like how well he worked with the shooters and extended the advantage if a big helped up high. We’d see Castleton’s man try to hedge and get stuck in a switch as Castleton sealed the smaller defender and didn’t allow him to recover. This allowed the team to further break down the offense and led to open shots for others. Small thing, but it makes him even more effective when teams try to adjust away from drop coverages when our shooters are torching them. Defensively, Castleton had 1 block with no fouls. It was almost more like a 3-block, 0-foul performance, but he had a couple erased by guard fouls as he was in the process of rejecting a shot. So he really worked well at cutting down the fouls from the start of the summer league and started to bring back that anchoring that we saw early. Just adjusting to the game like we hoped. I was curious when we’d see that chippiness he played with in college. It came out a little when he got screwed out of a call. Next time down the floor you could see he was determined to get a bucket and imposed himself in the post with an aggressive move. Then, I think tossed the ball the ref for the tech. Castleton said his goal between now and training campaign is to add some more muscle and weight. I’m looking forward to seeing it. If he can get that strength to where he can start moving guys in the post and then play with that chippiness, that’s what we want. You saw it in college. You didn’t see it here in summer league, I think because they needed that perimeter playmaking of his due to the lack of playmaking from guards. He did a good job with the size, gobbling up the rebounds tonight with 14. A few assists shy of the triple-double. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-12 shooting (3-3 from the line) to go with 14 boards (3 offensive), 6 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 29 minutes. He was a +11.

Hodge -- -- Welp, he just put together, perhaps, the best summer league game of any Laker. The combination of shooting and D, was on full display with 5 steals and 7 threes. At Mizzou, they played very aggressive D and that allowed Hodge to get into the passing lanes with frequency. He reeled in that aggressiveness a little in the summer league, but tonight he went for it. The steals piled up, he ignited the break and the Lakers got easy scores as a result. He also blocked a three, as well. Meanwhile, he was playing the sniper role at a high level. He had 11 points in the first half, sinking 3-5 from three. He got his other points on a backcut with the defense tried to ball deny and he they had to foul him to prevent an easy score. He’s been very good on those cuts all summer league. In the second half, another 4-6 from three to lead the Lakers in scoring with Figueroa. I said prior to the summer league, he felt like the most NBA ready of the guys we got. He looked the part in this one with that KCP type of game that should really translate to the next level. Such a good two-way pick up by the Lakers. At some point in the season, D’Lo or Vincent may get injured. We’ll need another small guard to slide in for depth. I could see it. Hopefully, he shows out in training camp, as well. The Stats: He scored 23 points on 7-13 shooting (7-11 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 3 assists, 5 steals, 1 block and 3 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a +9.

Swider -- -- After the game was over, you saw him go through that freethrow motion again. He nearly missed it, throwing it up a little short, but it bounced in. Credit to him for getting that foul call with 0.4 left on the inbounds with the game tied. Quality game from Swider. He led the Lakers in the first half with 13 points, sinking threes, tipping in a ball on the break and hitting a wing pull-up. He started defensively against Kobe Brown and I was looking forward to see how well he could battle a big versatile player like that, but Brown rolled his ankle early in the first half and didn’t return. In the second half, he sank an And-1 corner three and also buried a step-back three off the two-man game with Castleton. He missed a corner three with over a minute left that came in semi-transition. The Clippers then hit a three in transition the other way. That wasn’t a good sequence. But he made up for it with that game-winning freethrow. I can’t really picture a scenario where he gets minutes with the big club next year. The Lakers are pretty deep at the PF/SF spots with a bunch of versatile guys. If Vando or someone was moved for a C, then that will still mean AD gets moved down to PF more. So work on your defensive game in the G-League and see what develops next year. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 7-11 shooting (5-9 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 block, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -11.

Lewis -- -- Meh. He went scoreless, going 0-5 and had his minutes limited. Seems like he’s been called for a travel just about every game. He had 4 turnovers in his 18 minutes and the team was a -11 (a travel, losing the dribble out of bounds, a charge and a bad pass in transition). This is a long-term investment. You don’t want to check into your portfolio on a daily basis with him. Let’s see where he’s at 6 months and a year from now. Like I said before summer league, I think he needs help with that creation off the dribble, that includes footwork. Get him in the lab with Handy. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-5 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 1 block, 4 turnovers and 2 fouls in 18 minutes. He was a -11.

Baugh -- -- No JHS in this game, which is a bummer. I think JHS has a lot to prove still and could use all the reps he can get. So Baugh got a lot of run. He had 3 assists in the first half, but 3 turnovers as well. He fumbled a handoff on one play, then next time down was picked from behind for another turnover. The compounded errors allowed for the Clippers to develop a first quarter run. He added 4 more turnovers in the third quarter. Just bad or deflected passes, leading to more Clipper points and putting the Lakers in a hole again. He led the team with a team-low -18 for a reason. So this was a bit of a disaster. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-4 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 4 boards, 1 steal, 1 block, 7 turnovers and 1 foul in 19 minutes. He was a -18.

Fudge -- -- He scored his only bucket off a Hodge steal. Hodge pushed it out and lobbed to him for the finish. Smart decision. He had an assist that was a tap out of an offensive board to Hodge, who hit the three. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-3 shooting to go with 2 boards, 1 assist and 2 fouls in 14 minutes. He was a +4.

Figueroa -- -- All the games he played in he has shown high energy. Ball finds energy. Before we get to the good stuff, he nearly lost the Lakers this game. With 17 seconds left, he missed a freethrow up 3. We got a stop, he was fouled with 4 seconds left and he missed both FTs. Ouch. The Clippers tied (bleep) up with a three with 0.4 left in the game. But prior to that, he was at the line for that first freethrow with a nice attack of the close out for an And-1 layup. He scored a layup on a drive down the middle of the paint. He had a putback in transition. He dunked off a Hodge steal on the break. He attacked across the lane, dropstepped and scored an And-1 layup. He got another bucket off a back door layup and another off a cut as another Laker attacked. He dunked on the break once. He skied for a tip in crashing the glass. Love seeing guys play with that energy and activity. The Stats: He scored 23 points on 10-13 shooting (3-7 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 2 assists, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a +11.

Hamilton -- -- There were times during this game, it felt like he missed some open looks and had tunnel vision. He got one of his turnovers pounding the dribble and charging where he should have passed. But he ended up with 6 assists, so he was able to strike a balance. Early on, he had a couple misses on drives. He then scored by picking up his dribble and using the pivot like Reaves for a short one in the paint. He scored off a drive and a spin. He attacked left and scored with his left and had a couple more finishes on drives. He sank one of his two attempts from three..The Stats: He scored 14 points on 6-12 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 1 board, 6 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks and 2 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a +17.

Killeya-Jones -- -- Good minutes. He found Figueroa cutting a couple times for scores. He didn’t miss any of his four shots. They were all around the rim. He scooped up a loose ball and scored. He got a layup rolling to the hoop. He hit a jumphook. He finished a putback jam cleaning up some dribble penetration. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-4 shooting (0-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist, 1 block and 1 foul in 11 minutes.

DuBois -- -- Nice to close the summer with a win against the Clippers… Without any great playmakers but a couple of money three shooters, they leaned into a lot of the Castleton DHO offense on the perimeter… He kept size in the roster tonight with Sacha and Castleton on the floor nearly all the time… He made a defensive sub on the final stand by sitting Castleton and bringing in Fudge. Good call. Castleton was a little late at times challenging threes on those high screens. So pulling him on that last play, helped protect some options there. Still, the Clippers managed a pretty decent turnaround to tie it up… The last play looked like there were going to set up a lob attempt for Castleton. Here’s where you might consider bringing back Fudge at PF. In any event, they got Swider going down for a freethrow and the win…

[tox]

Thanks DB! We keep seeing the KCP comps to Hodge. What do you think, DB? It seems maybe the shooting is there? But he's obviously smaller and it seems like opinions are pretty split on if he's a good defender or not minus the gambling for steals (my recollection was that he is but I only watched a handful of summer league games).

[waterman40]

Beating the Clippers anytime feels good.
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LAKERS 2019-2020: NBA World Champions!

[Dennis_D]

Thanks for all of the summer write ups!
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<-- My avatar is Margaret Nolan from one of the Carry On films. She was the girl who got painted gold in "Goldfinger". Thanks to CaliRyderX for identifying her.

[pio2u]

Good stuff, THX DB!!

[Laker7]

Thanks DB! Great write ups as usual.

By my count, Castleton was 36 of 64 from the floor for 56.3% shooting percentage. He averaged 13.7 points, 9 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.1 blocks per game (including Sacramento games). IMO definitely worth keeping around for development / duty in case of injuries.
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Darvin Ham is an idiot!

[TDRock]

Nice to end SL with a win. Thanks for the SL write ups DB!

[deal]

[DancingBarry]

[DancingBarry]

[Halflife]

[chantruong]

Figueroa probably earned a training camp invite somewhere, possibly here.

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

I'd hope Figueroa gets a training camp invite, Hodge really put it all together this game, I'd like to see him get a closer look as well.

Good game Summer Camp Lakers! Great to see the squad come out and win and a couple players step up with Max and JHS out.

[tox]

[Alpha]

Thanks from me as well DB! Much appreciated!

[Trevacious2]