LAKERS -at- HORNETS - 2-5-24 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

A 4-2 Road Trip... The Lakers had a 21-point lead with 2 minutes left in the third. Three minutes of ball later, it was down to 10 and the Hornets had momentum.

LeBron seemed to stop running the offense, and the Lakers went scoreless for that stretch. What could have been an easy blowout, suddenly gave the Hornets renewed life.

The Lakers really sucked the air out of the ball once they got the lead. The Hornets kept coming, hitting big threes and chipping away at the lead.

Credit AD for a series of big plays in crunch time. He cleaned up a LeBron miss, and he finished a bullet feed from Russell for another dunk. But it was a defensive play out of a timeout with 40 seconds left that might have been the dagger.

He switched on the perimeter, challenged the three shot and got a piece of it. The Lakers recovered and were in the driver’s seat for good. The Lakers held on for the 124-118 win.

Triple-double for AD tonight. Great job turning around the Grammy trip and finishing 4-2.


LeBron -- -- Really poor end of the third and start of the fourth. He stopped running offense and had a series of misses and miscues. That gave the Hornets some hope and made life difficult in the fourth. He’d get a couple scores in down the stretch, including an And-1 layup off a great feed from Russell with 1:40 left. That helped the Lakers go up 7. In the first half, he put on a show for the Hornet crowd. He had a nasty And-1 two-handed jam over a help defender after a great first step to get past the primary defender. He dunked on a baseline drive on a play that started from an AD post up strong side, kicked out to Reaves weakside and then swung to Bron for the attack. Some good passes, including a lob to AD spinning back door and a nice feed to Russell cutting off an elbow screen for another layup. Better minutes for that end of third/start of fourth stretch and maybe he rests instead of playing 40. The Stats: He scored 26 points on 12-22 shooting (0-5 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 7 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 4 turnovers and 2 fouls in 40 minutes. He was a +2.

Davis -- -- Triple-double by the third quarter. His second triple-double this season, which is showing some progression in his game. He had 8 of his 11 assists in the first half. That was a career high for a half. The Hornets sent the doubles, the Lakers went into their help beater cuts and the offense clicked as he picked them apart. On one sequence, he drew the double, had two players cut, then hit Rui wide open for a three. Great patience and great job by the team creating that with cuts. In the second half, we saw less of that and more of AD on the short-roll. He had a nice sequence taking the pass from AR, then hitting Wood for a three. Next time down, same play, but this time Wood was under the hoop and AD found him for the dunk. As the game became tighter in the fourth quarter, AD had multiple big plays, cleaning up a LeBron miss on one, dunking on a bullet feed from Russell on another. Then he had the huge block out of a timeout, switching on the perimeter to defend against the three. HE followed that up with a big rebound with 7 seconds left and buried a couple FTs to ice it. The Stats: He scored 26 points on 12-16 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-2 from the lien) to go with 15 boards (3 offensive), 11 assists, 3 blocks, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 37 minutes. He was a +16.

Russell -- -- He lit the Hornets up in the first half with 22 points on 8-14 shooting. He was bombing threes like he does when things are click. But his work off ball really showed the chemistry the team has been developing. He was cutting himself open depending on what the defense was up to. That got some easy buckets. He had a Vando-like cut at the elbow where he faked setting the screen and we found him for the layup. He’d score another layup cutting off AD. Late in the game, he hit a big three on a kickout from Reaves. He also quick-fired passes to Bron and another to AD rolling down the lane. Again, chemistry on both of those plays. With the trade deadline looming, we will see if those signs of chemistry make any bit of difference or if he winds up elsewhere. The Stats: He scored 28 points on 10-21 shooting (5-12 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 6 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 40 minutes. He was a -2.

Reaves -- -- Some nice passes in this game. He had a fastball from a BLOB pass to Prince in the far corner for a three. He also found AD sealing in the post for a score, perfect placement against the partially fronting defense. He had another play out of timeout, curling into the lane and into a lob for AD. He had another lob to Rui on the break after Reaves anticipate a pass, swiped it and pushed out the break. A lot of assists, but an uncharacteristically high numbers of turnovers in this one. Also, the three ball wasn’t falling. He or Bron hit just a couple more of theirs and this game doesn’t get close. He did knock down a couple of clutch FTs late. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-8 shooting (0-5 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 11 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 5 turnovers and 3 fouls in 36 minutes. He was a +15.

Hachimura -- -- The team might be getting a little better at recognizing the mismatches Rui gets when he’s with the starters. Whether it’s on a rim run where it forces an opponent to match up or even something set up out of a timeout, there are plays where you can see them zero in on those sequences. Rui does a good job using his size advantage. So several finishes at the rim and he also buried a three on a kickout off a great sequence of teammates cutting and allowing Rui for a wide open look. Keep working on that chemistry. Those starters may have some defensive issues, but that Laker lineup is a tough cover themselves. “It works well with us,” Bron said after highlighting some of those mismatches Rui gets. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-6 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 5 boards, 1 steal and 1 foul in 29 minutes. He was a +6.

Prince -- -- Good work attacking those closeouts and finishing at the rim or getting out in transition for layups. He hit a corner three off an AR bullet inbounds pass. He also cut off AD in a 5-out set, took the pass and hit the baseline jumper. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-7 shooting (1-4 from three, 0-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist and 2 turnovers in 19 minutes. He was a +2.

Wood -- -- A nice sequence at the PF spot with AD on a couple of plays. We put the ball in AD’s hands short-rolling and AD made the extra passes to Wood for a three and for a dunk. Show me more of that. AD is looking deadly in those spots. He can either hit the jumper himself, attack for the finish or hit floor spacers to make the D pay. Even throw in someone in the dunker spot with size like Wood and it’s just a great place for AD to operate from. Wood also had a coast to coast drive for a score and drew some FTs, as well. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 3-5 shooting (1-2 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 6 boards and 1 foul in 10 minutes. He was a +3.

Christie -- -- He’s playing a little more minutes per game and now it seems like he’s giving you something eye popping once per game. He had a sequence where he held ground in the post and blocked his man’s attempt on one end. Then on the other a few seconds later, he took a handoff in early offense, attacked down the middle of the paint and hammered a dunk. He’s still a kid and showing flashes now. Great job also attacking closeouts from the corner in this one. He had one where he took it for a layup and another where he drew FTs trying to hammer over someone. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-3 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 block and 1 foul in 18 minutes. He was a -2.

Hayes -- -- He had the team-low -10 in this game. I think that was more of an offensive process problem than a Hayes thing. Just a bad stretch by the Lakers running offense with the game seemingly in control. Early on some disruptive work on defense. He deflected a pass and saved it to a teammate. He went vertical to deny a drive. It looked like he blocked another shot, but didn’t get credit for it. No scoring in this one. The Stats: He didn’ score on 0-1 shooting to go with 3 boards, 1 steal and 1 foul in 11 minutes. He was a -10.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: The Hornets had the ball down 4 with 40 seconds left. Out of a timeout, the Lakers did an excellent job defending the three. AD stayed up high, switched, challenged and blocked the shot. Good work making sure they got the stop.

Key Substitution: The Lakers won the glass 48-34, only giving up 5 offensive boards in this one. A couple parts to that. With AD/Bron/Rui out there you should have more one and out possessions with that size. But we’ve also used Christie with Prince on the floor, giving some extra size with Christie to rebound. Occasionally, we have a few minutes with Prince at the SG, as well. We also run some AD/Wood in the mix, also. Keep an eye on the rebounding with these new rotations.

Key Stats: It doesn’t sound like we will get Vincent back until March. Vando is out several weeks at a minimum. Reddish is still recovering. The Lakers are going to have their hands full with the point of attack defense. Sometimes, the best defense is a good offense. The Lakers scored 74 points in the first half. Just 50 in the second half. They will struggle if they score 50 and under right now without key defenders.

[Dr. Laker]

First!

Thanks, DB! By the time I went to watch, it was over!
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[JM]

Tnx

[LakersPimp]

I totally agree that our offense can totally bolster our defense!

[slavavov]

Decent win. They got off to a strong start against a crap team, and even though that crap team made a frantic run late, the Lakers held it off.

DB you're right about our best defense being a strong offense. However, for that to happen, we need to shoot well from 3-point range, and at least right now we don't have the personnel to do so.
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Lakers 49ers Chargers Dodgers

[Hammett]

We made headlines with the wins over BOS and NYK. All the crap teams are gonna be gunning for us again.
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Lakers. Built different.

[mad55557777]

The schedule is really tough end of February and early March

[LakersFan_73]

A little sketchy at the end, but overall good win on the final game of an exhausting road trip.

[A Mad Chinaman]

Rui’s 29 MPG and Prince’s 19 MPG was a good thing

Hopefully having Christie/Prince combo will provide enough D until it becomes a Christie/Vando or Prince/Vando combo on the court in March 2024

Great that the team beat a team that they should beat

Agree with DB that just a few more minutes of effective play would have allowed Ham to rest AD/LBJ at the end of the game

[DancingBarry]

[pio2u]

Thx DB!