LAKERS -at- WIZARDS- 4-3-24 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

A 5-1 Road Trip... It wasn’t their best effort, but they got it done.

The Lakers trailed 19-8 to start this game, knocking down 5-5 from three. That shooting wouldn’t last, of course, but the Lakers D turned up the pressure and started forcing turnovers.

Offensively, they got the ball to AD early and often as he scored 19 points in the first quarter and shot 11 FTs.

The Lakers led 67-60 at the half. Once again, Wizard turnovers to start the second half allowed the Lakers to edge the lead up to the 15-point range, and they kept the Wizards there most of the quarter, leading 101-86 heading into the fourth.

The second units struggled badly in this one anytime AD sat. Now, it was the Lakers turn for a sloppy start to the fourth. The Wizards used some zone, rattled off a 12-0 run, and it was too close for comfort once again.

The Lakers brought AD back in, got LeBron into the middle of the zone and applied pressure on the rim instead of settling.

Defensively, they locked in for a few minute stretch and build up a double digit lead. After Ham sat his starters for a minute, the deep bench squandered most of the lead and the starters had to return for one more stop. AD got the key block on a three and the Lakers held on to the 125-120 win.


LeBron -- -- He focused on getting to the rim. An occasional turnaround attempt from midrange. When the Lakers needed to impose themselves, he AD just overpowered the Wizards on the interior. That was key the fourth quarter as the Lakers wanted to put it in cruise control against the zone. Eventually, we ended up getting the ball to him into the middle of the zone where he could orchestrate and that was that, for the most part. Prior to that some nice passes by Bron, including a left handed off the dribble through the D for a bucket. He also had a Magic-like, off-the-dribble baseball pass to AD for a dunk late in the game. Earlier in the game, he got called for a flagrant on the offensive end as he went to his spin move on a drive and caught a man with an elbow to the head. The Stats: He scored 25 points on 9-18 shooting (0-1 from three, 7-9 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 9 assists, 3 steals, 4 turnovers and 2 fouls in 36 minutes. He was a +9.

Davis -- -- The Wizards were in trouble early as AD went for 19 points on 11-11 from the line in the first quarter. (A perfect 15-15 from the line for the game). That’s how you do it on the road. Several of his other scores were off offensive rebounds. He just destroyed them early on from the inside. And then he shut the door in the final defensive stand of the game with a block of a three-pointer. Second quarter, just 2 points, but anytime the Lakers needed to get some buckets, they just put pressure on the rim for scores, including some late ones by AD. He got popped in the eye with an elbow on a rebound and went down midway into the first quarter. That didn’t slow him down tonight. Good thing because without him on the floor, they were absolute garbage. The Stats: He scored 35 points on 10-17 shooting (0-1 from three, 15-15 from the line) to go with 1 assist, 2 steals, 3 blocks, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 38 minutes. He was a +29.

Russell -- -- Four more threes for Russell. He hit most of them early on. Crazy sequence on his last three. Bron stripped his man in the post, Reaves got it, pushed it out, threw a bad pass to Russell who saved it wildly inbounds right to Bron. LeBron tried to fire it back to Russell, hit a Wizard, got it right back and handed it off to Russell who hit the three and forced a timeout up 14 after barely a couple minutes into the second half. Defensively, Russell looked more disruptive than the 2 steals he got. Here’s what I got: He stole a pass coming cross court for a layup on the break (that one was slightly deflected). He poked a ball away from a man for another stop. He stole the ball with a reach in the post on iso D. He jumped a passing lane and took it the distance for a layup. So definitely more disruptive than the stat sheet showed. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 7-16 shooting (4-10 from three) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 38 minutes. He was a +8.

Reaves -- -- He had a couple plays that had the crowd buzzing. One was after scooping up a loose ball on the defensive end, as he pushed out, a defender went for a steal, Reaves went behind his back at full speed to lose him and scored the layup. Great defensive play blocking a shot on recovery from behind, then saving it to a teammate. That was the other play fans were buzzing. Shooting-wise, he missed his first three threes, including one off the side of the backboard, which he got back and scored a layup on. He finally hit a deep one on his fourth attempt. He’d knock down a big three late in the game off a Rui kickout to the corner. Hopefully, that gets him back on track after a 2-23 stretch from three. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 7-15 shooting (2-6 from three) to go with 4 boards (2 offensive), 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 35 minutes. He was a +7.

Hachimura -- -- Strong outing by Rui against his old team. He showed a little of that classic Wizards game of his early in the game, getting into the midrange for some jumpers. As the game went along, he used more of that L.A. game, including a corner three, a dunk after sealing his man and rolling and then some muscling around the hoop and cuts off others, including a nice And-1 off a Reaves dish. Late in the game, he cut baseline, took a pass and fed it to AR for a big corner three. Probably should have played Rui more than they did. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 9-12 shooting (1-2 from three, 0-1 from the line) to go with 7 boards (2 offensive), 1 assist, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 27 minutes. He was a +21.

Dinwiddie -- -- Fairly quiet night, but still the only guy with a positive in the +/- off the bench with a +8. For his points, he crossed over and drew FTs on a drive. He hit a hanging runner off one foot from the left side. His assist was a nice bounce pass to Rui for a dunk. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-4 shooting (0-3 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 19 minutes. He was a +8.

Prince -- -- Pretty strong defensive game, both on the glass and just getting stops. He had a great box out early on to control a defensive board. He poked the ball away from Kuz on iso D and controlled it. He swatted a drive and controlled the loose ball. Offensively, he hit the wing three late in the third. He also knocked down a baseilne jumper after moving in off a fly by. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-4 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 7 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 16 minutes. He was a -8.

Hayes -- -- His +/- in just 10 minutes is crazy -- a -24. The Wizards just went right to the rim the moment AD sat early on. Then later, the Lakers were a bit turnover prone and not putting in a lot of effort. Not his fault for some of that stretch. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-1 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 2 assists, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 10 minutes. He was a -24.

Vincent -- -- They are slowly easing him back in the action. His best play was hustling for a long offensive board, which would lead to more FTs for AD later in the possession. He had a pass picked off later in the game. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-1 shooting from three to go with 1 offensive board, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 14 minutes. He was a -6.

Christie -- -- Vincent back in the mix, so Christie’s minutes were down from the last one. He missed a drive and a three during that final stretch of garbage time. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-3 shooting (0-1 from three) and no other stats in 4 minutes. He was a -3.

Castleton -- -- Nothing to report. The Stats: No stats in 1 minute. He was a -8.

Lewis -- -- A -8 in the 1 minute of garbage time. That helped force the starters back in as he turned the ball over up 5. Just lost the dribble out of bounds in the backcourt. “I’ll sit down with some of the young guys,” Ham said after this one. The Stats: He had 1 turnover in 1 minute and was a -8.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: The Wizards cut the lead to 2 points a couple times as our second unit couldn’t hold the line. The score was 107-105 as the Lakers were trying to deal with the zone. Once they got the ball to Bron more in the middle of the paint and then put pressure on the rim instead of hoisting threes, they got the offense on track again. Defensively, the Wizards didn’t score for several straight minutes. Good job getting that final kick from a tired team.

Key Substitution: Hmmm. Let’s go with subbing AD back in twice in the fourth. Once when the lead got cut to a bucket. And then for that last possession where he blocked a three to make sure nothing crazy happened. Really wish we saw a little more Rui in this one than we did.

Key Stats: The Lakers had a 14-0 advantage in second chance points in the first half. Just 21 assists overall for the Lakers in this game. Three shooting was weak at 28.6% (8-28), but FT shooting was on point at 86% (25-29).

[Hanging from Rafters]

Good thing the Lakers added Dinwidde, hope Game comes around but not liking the total game from him so far .
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“When it looks as if it is a realistic possibility, I want to focus on winning a ship like it’s a goal that can’t be denied. I didn’t see that this off season.”

[Dr. Laker]

Thanks, DB!

Harder than it should have been, but a win is a win and ALL road wins are good wins!
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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".

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB!

Nice road trip Lakers!

[A Mad Chinaman]

Win is a Win

Game against a bottom-feeder team provided Prince an opportunity to succeed before Vanderbilt returns

Vincent's minutes are slowly being ramped up so that he's ready for the post-season

Our deep bench struggles tonight is a lost opportunity for these players to get any meaningful time fro play during the post season

[Laker7]

Thanks DB!
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Darvin Ham is an idiot!