SUNS -vs- LAKERS - 10-19-23 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Preseason Ball Finally Done... Pretty sleepy preseason night for the Lakers.

You hoped maybe we’d get some regular rotations and minutes going into this game? Nope.

Another half with the starters and then midway through the third, Ham ran a garbage lineup with no playmakers (Cam/Christie backcourt with Wood, Hayes and Rui). The Lakers were outscored 35-15 in that quarter. Awful basketball to try to watch.

Let’s hope the team has their wind ready for the regular season. They haven’t played a full game, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see them fade late in their first few games of the season. Hopefully, everyone else is sucking wind, too.

The Lakers fell 123-100 in a very mediocre outing.


LeBron -- -- First time he and KD played each other in 5 years. Not much of a story there in preseason. He had 19 points on 6-11 shooting in the first half. He sank 3-5 from three, which included a missed heave at the buzzer, so really 3-4 and he drew FTs on another three attempt. Combine that with a few plays getting downhill to get at the rim for some backhand layup finishes around the help D and one bully ball layup in transition. He put some work in on the three shooting this offseason it was said. It looked good tonight. Good job on the defensive boards. The Stats: He had 19 points on 6-12 shooting (3-5 from three, 4-5 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 3 assists, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a +2.

Davis -- -- He had 5 blocks in the first 8 minutes of this one. Dominant rim deterrence to start. Perhaps, they were testing him to see if they could get some foul trouble. Great job with the rim protection. Some good two-man action with Russell for a couple of dunks. Bron also teamed up with him for a layup on the pick and roll. He also drew FTs trying to throwdown another massive dunk in transition and earned FTs. I loved some of the chemistry with Prince mentioned below. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-10 shooting (1-3 from three, 4-7 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 6 blocks, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a +2.

Russell -- -- Great job setting the table for teammates early, with 6 assists in the first half. He got into some good lob action with his bigs getting into the paint. I think my favorite was the two-man game on the wing with Hayes, Russell got middle, threw it up high and Hayes threw it down with ease. He’d also use the threat of Hayes rolling to open up the lane for him to finish a layup. This game felt a little reserved still from Russell compared to what we’ve seen. Either that or we missed Vincent in the mix allowing Russell to play off ball for some threes. With Gordon defending him at times, we needed to attack that more but kind of put him in the corner. So when others had the ball, not a lot of action created with him in mind it seemed. So I think he forced up some poorer quality threes in this one. Either that or we were just chilling and not really bringing the A game against the Suns right now. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-8 shooting (0-4 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 6 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 22 minutes. He was a +5.

Reaves -- -- Looking steady as usual. He had 11 points on 3-6 shooting in the first half, sinking a couple of deep threes, a leaner in the lane and drawing some FTs. He’d sink another three in his brief third quarter stint as he wheeled around a screen and rose up. That quick-fire is not a shot he takes last year. I’m really optimistic on the three ball this season taking another leap. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 4-8 shooting (3-4 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 24 minutes. He was a -3.

Prince -- -- He got the KD assignment, although we also had Hayes and Reddish in the mix. Bron and Reaves also had possessions. He did average, forced a turnover on one play (finished with 3 steals on the night). I really liked some of the two-man sequences we saw emerge with Prince. AD worked the 5-out sequences into a quick handoff to Prince, who got middle and bounced it back to AD for the And-1 dunk. They ran a two-man again shortly later and AD earned FTs off it. In the starters tonight, you could have any of the four playing with AD work some two-man action effectively it seems. That’s going to be fun to watch. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-2 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 3 steals and 4 foul sin 17 minutes. He was a +15.

Hachimura -- -- Lost in the shuffle in the first half. He missed a drive and a pull-up and really wasn’t in the mix. In the second half, he got backdoored twice for dunks. Out of a timeout, we called his number and he banked in an And-1, but really a nothing game from Rui. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-5 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 19 minutes. He was a -30.

Christie -- -- Not a great game. He’d sink a couple of threes in garbage time, but had some wild moments on the floor. In the middle of the battle earlier in the game, he had a play set up for him out of a timeout but couldn’t finish the layup. Hayes cleaned it up. In the garbage minutes, we had no playmakers in the mix, so that made for some clunky minutes and put him in some tough spots. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-8 shooting (2-3 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a -15.

Wood -- -- Not a lot looked smooth in this one. He got blocked on a dunk attempt and missed an off-balance iso chuck. He had one nice attack from the wing to score a layup, but pretty much garbage minutes. He was a -35 in 15 minutes. They were a bit sabotaged with those minutes without playmakers, so take that +/- with that in mind. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-4 shooting to go with 6 boards, 1 block, 1 turnover and no fouls in 15 minutes. He was a -35.

Hayes -- -- Really good chemistry on the two-man actions in this game. The Lakers had some moments with their regulars. Bron and Russell both worked well with thim. In the third quarter when we had no playmakers, Hayes got put into the middle of some passing sequences and that resulted in turnovers and sloppy play. Waste of minutes. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-3 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 13 minutes. He was a -18.

Reddish -- -- When he was in the rotation, playing around the regulars, he fit in well enough. He played good D, didn’t do much on offense and everything went fine. But he had a little extra energy in the mix that this team needs. That will likely be Vando minutes. In the third, he got into some lineups without playmakers and coughed up a couple of turnovers (and the lead). He’d score a layup weaving through some traffic, but it was mostly going sideways with the poor lineups. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-4 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 2 boards, 1 steal, 4 turnovers and 5 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a -28.

Hodge -- -- He sank 1-5 attempts from three. Off to the G-League for him and our fourth quarter group. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-5 shooting from three to go with 2 boards, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 10 minutes. He was a -1.

Fudge -- -- Nothing to report. The Stats: He had 1 offensive board and 1 foul in 10 minutes. He was a -1.

Castleton -- -- The best preseason of the rookies I think. JHS had way too many issues. Lewis was hit and miss, much improved from summer league, but still a ways to go. Hodge had one good game and some mediocre to sub par outings after that. Fudge had moments every now and then. Castleton consistently delivered. He had a highlight play tonight with a steal that he pushed up court. No one stopped him, so he took it the distance for a slam. He had a few other scores in the paint in that 5- to 10-foot range. He got in on another block with some good timing. The shot altering was better than I thought it would be this point in his transition to the next level. Strong summer league, solid preseason. If we have a big that is sidelined, he’ll be called up. He didn’t get any minutes with the regulars, but he plays smart and will fit in as they will run the same 5-out sequences in the G-League. Castleton’s passing ability should help him level up in the offense with more reps. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-5 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 2 offensive boards, 2 assists, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 1 foul in 10 minutes. He was a -1.

Lewis -- -- He tried to hammer a massive dunk over someone and drew FTs. Close to a highlight play. I could have sworn he hit a three, but the extended garbage time was hard to pay close attention to. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 0-1 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 2 assists and 2 fouls in 12 minutes. He was a -7.

Ham -- -- If these were regular rotations, he sat Bron/Prince for Rui/Cam at the 7:16 mark of the first quarter. Real early substitution. The team went cold the next 5 minutes… Duh moment. With the Lakers up 65-64 in the third, he made a wholesale change of the starters for Wood, Hayes, Rui, Reddish and Christie. No playmakers in this squad. They had three straight turnovers and Ham called a timeout. Then kept them in and the Suns pulled out to a double digit lead with ease. What’s the purpose of running a lineup like this? We aren’t going to use it. Throw one of our ballhandlers in the mix to get some reps in lineups that might actually happen. They trailed by 16 heading into the fourth…

[mhan00]

Nurkic wanted no part of AD. His below the rim post game just gets eaten up by AD and he looked genuinely lost every time he got the ball against AD.

Brutal way to end pre-season. Lakers better wake up quick to start the season, since the schedule is incredibly tough for the first couple of weeks.

[matigol]

[TDRock]

Thanks DB

I am slightly disappointed that we didn't win more preseason games but I'm also *more* disappointed that we really just didn't get to see how the rotations look because key rotational guys were out. So hopefully things will settle down and look more like normal quickly into the start of the season.
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#IStillBelieveTaurean

[Hammett]

New season, lets go baby!

Thanks DB!
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Lakers. Built different.

[Laker7]

The Good: Castleton 4-5 from the floor, 3 rebounds, 3 assists in 10 minutes, Reaves 3-4 from 3, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks, Lebron 3-5 from 3 with 19 points

The Bad: Wood -35 in plus / minus, Christie -15 in plus / minus

The Ugly: Rui 1-5 from the floor with 1 rebound, 0 assists, 0 steals, 0 blocks in 19 minutes and -30 in plus / minus, Reddish 4 turnovers and 5 fouls in 22 minutes and -28 in plus / minus
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Keep winning!

[Bron2AD]

Gets eaten up alive on defense

[DancingBarry]

[DancingBarry]

[Laker7]

[slavavov]

I know coach needs to give the rookies some run in even the last preseason game, but he should've played at least two starters or regulars in the fourth quarter. One, it would've given those rookies some support, and two, it would've gotten his starters and regulars in game shape.

Hopefully Darvin Ham has these guys practice hard and smart over the next few days so that we at least compete with the world champs on Tuesday.
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Lakers 49ers Chargers Dodgers

[LakerSD]

I thought this was a bad preseason performance. Too similar to the past 2 preseasons of getting stomped.

I know most of it was the Gleague guys, but the vibe of this one was different than the losses to GS and Bucks at home.