LAKERS -at- WIZARDS - 4/28 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

 
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 28, 2021 7:08 pm    Post subject: LAKERS -at- WIZARDS - 4/28 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

Dunked On... The Lakers looked soft this game -- either soft or tired.

Their bigs didn’t impose themselves on either end. Multiple Lakers got posterized. And when the scoring dried up at times, that softness made for an easy night for the Wizards.

The Lakers flatlined completely a couple of times in this game. The offense dried up late in the second quarter for over 4 minutes and the Wizards took an 8-point lead. Still, L.A. trailed 61-55 at the half, and anyone’s game.

But midway through the third quarter, it was apparent there was little concerted effort to impose their will. The Davis/Drummond duo had little punch in their game. Dennis Schröder disappeared, and another long scoreless dry spell followed. The lead ballooned and they were down 16.

The Wizard edged up that lead to 19, but the Lakers made a run, getting stops. That turned into pushouts for a couple of dunks. Combine that with an AD three and dunk off a KCP drive. The 19-point lead was trimmed to 9 with 5:29 left forcing a Wizard timeout.

Things went south as the Lakers simply missed shots and the Wizards got their scoring back on track. Those two droughts the Lakers went through had them outscored 59-42 between the second and third quarter. Ultimately, that was just too deep a hole. They fell 116-107, a poor road trip for the team.

LeBron James needs to get back and restore some order.


Davis -- -- Really poor second shift in this one. He missed everything he took and coughed up a couple of turnovers. That helped the Wizards take the lead. He and Drummond looked especially soft in the third quarter. In the fourth, he helped give the Lakers a little bit of spark when he got his perimeter game going and our guards found him for finishes. That was the only time he really imposed himself on the game. So most of his scoring came in that fourth when we had Drummond off the floor and were spacing things out. It still feels like he’s a ways off as our defense is pretty soft. Vogel put him out there late with that smaller lineup with Kuz at the PF. That mobility helped a little, but it was too little, too late. The Stats: He scored 26 points on 10-20 shooting (2-5 from three, 4-6 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -13.

Schröder -- -- A quiet first half with 6 points and 3 assists. It looked like he tried to kick it into gear a little in the fourth. He may need a rest or something because he did not look like he had it in the tank. I appreciate the 8 assists with no turnovers. Again some nice pocket passes. He’s really cleaned that up after some poor games. Still, we needed his A game in this one and he was not as aggressive as needed. Occasionally, he’d seek out Bertans to attack for layups. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-12 shooting (1-3 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 8 assists, no turnovers and 4 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a -8.

Caldwell-Pope -- -- Some issues with his ankle in this game as he tweaked it again. Hard to know what impact that it was having. He missed threes in the first half and was a non-factor offensively. A little better in the second half as he blocked a shot and hit a wing three for his only make. He then had a series of passes where he found AD for a dunk, a three and then McLemore a lob for a dunk. Three straight possessions for all his assists in this one. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-5 shooting (1-4 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a -2.

Drummond -- -- On both ends, it was really hit or miss at times. Either a really nice play or a rather bad one. Not a lot of in between. The ADs have a lot to work on, but you can also see they are making little improvements by the game. The Lakers had a nice sequence for their bigs that got back-to-back scores. AD came off a Drummond down screen to catch the pass in the paint for the short jumper. Next time down, they faked the screen and Drummond buried a smaller defender deep in the paint on the seal and scored an And-1. We did see some quicker rotations and switches tonight, although still quite a few breakdowns where Drummond didn’t quite stay with a guard. But the recognition on rotations seemed faster. So even though our bigs played relatively weak, there were some improvements. Come playoff time the defensive reads and anticipation has to be consistent and fast. We haven’t seen that yet, but we have seen improvement at least. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 8-12 shooting (1-4 from the line) to go with 11 boards (4 offensive), 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a -9.

Kuzma -- -- Some really excellent passing out of the gates in this one. There’s not a lot to like or pull away from this one, but Kuzma reading the floor better and better was a silver lining of not having LeBron. He found AD for a dunk off a jump pass. He hit Drummond with an no-looker off a baseline cut. He found Drummond again with a bullet off the dribble for a dunk. In the second half, he had a nice setup to KCP for a three and he found McLemore for a corner three. He had 8 assists to go with his 11 points and 7 boards. Late in the first half, he also gave the Lakers some much needed scoring, sinking two threes. We had no points for about a 4-minute stretch until he provided the threes. Defensively, a couple better moments against Russ when those two matched up that we’ve seen in the past. I think he got both his blocks on him. Normally, Russ has been able to bully Kuz, but he was able to deal with him on the rare occasion they were matched up. There was a play at the end of the half, where I really wished Kuz would have been defending Russ because he was able to just size up KCP and hit a 16-footer over him with no challenge. That’s just too easy. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-12 shooting (2-5 from three, 1-1 from the line) to 7 boards (3 offensive), 8 assists, 2 blocks and 2 fouls in 36 minutes. He was a -3.

Harrell -- -- He led the Lakers with 12 points on 5-5 shooting in the first half and was the only Laker to have a positive +/- with a +1. THT found him a couple of times for scores, Schröder as well off the pocket pass. He also had a couple of assist including a nice kickout to McLemore off the short roll for a three. Love seeing that combo, Trezz with gravity rolling, then making the right read to a good shooter. In the second half, we had nothing. No scoring. A charge. He disappeared with the rest of them. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 5-5 shooting (2-4 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 3 fouls. He was a -8.

Horton-Tucker -- -- He started this game off with some nice passes. One, he drew the D and then slammed a bounce pass to come up high and tight to Trezz for a finish at the rim. He’d find Trezz again for a layup. I was feeling optimistic about his effectiveness and aggressiveness early on. Some good moments with our guards and Trezz in the first half that helped activate him. In the second half, there was not a lot of that and THT’s positive contributions faded. Can’t wait for LeBron to return, but the team might be thinking the same thing. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-7 shooting (0-2 from three) to go with 4 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover and no fouls in 23 minutes. He was a -8.

Morris -- -- His dry spell lately has been something else. He was 0-18 from three coming into this game. Make that now 0-21...Zero for Twenty-one! That’s crazy. AD had been chasing him in that stat, until hitting a couple late in this one. Those two are one of our key small ball lineups. They’ve got to hit the three. Hopefully, Morris will dial it in over the next week or so to get some momentum going. Law of averages coming. If not, we slide LeBron to PF and he will take some of those minutes from Keef if he’s not getting it done. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-7 shooting (0-3 from three) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist and no fouls in 16 minutes. He was a -5.

McLemore -- -- They started to get McLemore going in his second half shift and then he got checked to the ground. Got to respect that foul. The Wizards were doing the punching tonight, taking hard fouls and hard finishes. Someone started to get going? Bam, he’s on the ground. He was kind of a non-factor after that and missed several key shots down the stretch. He did have a nice lob finish on the break, showing some athleticism. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 5-16 shooting (4-12 from three (2-3 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a -3.

Cacok -- -- In to relieve AD for garbage time. Nothing to report. The Stats: No stats in 2 minutes. He was a +7.

McKinnie -- -- Garbage time. The Stats: No stats in 2 minutes. He was a +7.

Vogel -- -- Key Moment: They probably lost this game in the second drought they had in the third quarter where they went scoreless for 6 minutes. Still, the Lakers had a run going in the fourth. McLemore had a chance to score a three and cut it to 6 with 4 minutes left after they trailed by as many as 19. He missed and in the subsequent attack off that, Westbrook would score an And-1. McLemore would get it back and missed another three after that. When Beal hit the stepback three over Ben on the other end, that was the dagger. That back and forth was the K.O. for L.A.

Key Substitution: On the positive side, AD’s last shift when he came back in the game in the fourth looked more like the AD we know. He was hitting from the perimeter and finishing dunks around the rim. The Lakers had a little run off that, but they had too big a hill to climb.

Key Stats: The Lakers had 6 more shots than the Wizards but 5 less makes. The Lakers shot 10-34 from three and just 13-21 (29%) from the line (61.9%).
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akgolf
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 28, 2021 7:29 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB!
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PenG_
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 28, 2021 8:40 pm    Post subject:

Couldn't watch the game. Benny took 16 shots? lol
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DrDent
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 28, 2021 8:53 pm    Post subject:

Thanks DB.

I knew the Wizards would be a tough game. A loss was not unsurprising...what was frustrating was the effort. Steamrolled as the game went along.

I miss the defense that would just shut down teams for long stretches, impose their will, and make the games fun to watch. This one had no D; not even when the team had the lead as it was just a shooting fest - I knew the team could not keep that pace up.

I suppose if any bright spots, AD overall seems to be getting the touch back. I also liked the fact they were trying to have Dre and AD get lobs to one another...you can visualize that could work. It just didnt really go as planned tonight.

Team is cutting it close with this play. The reality is the defense was atrocious on this road trip.
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A Mad Chinaman
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 28, 2021 11:52 pm    Post subject:

Look forward to when the Lakers hold the opposition scoreless for 6-7 minutes
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danzag
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 29, 2021 4:47 am    Post subject:

Pain.

Thanks, DB.
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oaktown_dimond
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 29, 2021 7:29 am    Post subject:

these losses really make you reflect on al the times LBJ puled a rabbit out of his rear end and squeaked out a W last year. or rondo orchestrating the offense as the "coach on the floor".

i mean, skill wise and talent wise, we are better this year... but we had a special "something" last year with a healthy LBJ, AD, rondo and even D39.

still none of this means much until the playoffs start.
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Dr. Laker
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 29, 2021 7:31 am    Post subject:

Missed the game, thanks, DB!
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A Mad Chinaman
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 12:01 pm    Post subject:

oaktown_dimond wrote:
these losses really make you reflect on al the times LBJ puled a rabbit out of his rear end and squeaked out a W last year. or rondo orchestrating the offense as the "coach on the floor".

i mean, skill wise and talent wise, we are better this year... but we had a special "something" last year with a healthy LBJ, AD, rondo and even D39.

still none of this means much until the playoffs start.
IMHO - the actual advantage of being in the 5th or 6th playoff position is that it provides practice time for McLemore/AD2/AD/LBJ to get Vogel's system down plus rest.
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