LAKERS -at- WIZARDS - 12-4-22 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

 
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 04, 2022 8:30 pm    Post subject: LAKERS -at- WIZARDS - 12-4-22 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

AD with 55 on the Road... AD had been destroying all challengers of late. Tonight, he dropped his fifth 50+ game of his career as he helped lead the Lakers to the 130-119 road win against the Wizards..

The Lakers took some early control off a 17-2 run in the middle of the first quarter. Bradley Beal went to the locker room early with a hurt leg and didn’t return. The Lakers pounced. In the third quarter, it looked like they were going to run away with it.

L.A. extended to a near 30-point lead, but let the Wizards trim it in half as the quarter went along. That meant that all the starters had to play the fourth. And after AD dropped 17 in the third, that just meant he could continue to feast on the opponent.

He’d foul out his buddy Kuz with about 4 minutes left as he got his 50th point. He’d get his 55th on a putback with over a minute left. He’s putting up some historically good games and it’s been fun to watch.


LeBron -- -- He was questionable before this game. He was getting to rim quite a bit for some easy ones as well as some tough ones that showed some excellent touch with his off hand. I don’t know if the health impacted some of the easy ones he couldn’t finish, but there were a few of those. But he certainly looked able tonight because he had some slams that had the crowd buzzing. They clearly wanted to see him with some highlight action and he didn’t disappoint. Late in the game, he jumped a passing lane and took it for a dunk that had everyone on their feet. Early on, he drained a couple of wing threes early (would miss the rest of the way) and had a nice fade over Kuzma in the post. He had a two-man action with AD where he hooked a pass to him for a lob. Show me that some more. He’s really been using the shot fake in various forms quite a bit lately to make some jump passes to his bigs. The Stats: The Action: He scored 29 points on 12-26 shooting (2-7 from three, 3-4 from the line) to ho with 8 boards, 6 assists, 1 steal, 5 turnovers and 3 foul sin 34 minutes. He was a +13.

Davis -- -- Beasting with the double nickel in DC tonight. There was a play in the third quarter where he got the ball in the middle of the paint, missed, grabbed his board and dunked over three defenders. He was trying to tear down the rim and let out a scream. His aggression right now is next level. So much of what we are doing with AD is getting him or a teammate downhill in the paint. Sometimes it’s on the roll, sometimes it’s just AD having a lane to take guys off the dribble. He’s getting high percentage touches. AD often uses that floater of his which is just tough to defend when you’re backing up to begin with, but at his height and length, forget about it. He showed off a numbers of those today. Additionally, if he’s hitting turnaround fades on you in the post, there’s not a lot the D can do. His shot has been great lately as he dialed in some jumpers from deep as well as the midrange (that two-man game is deadly when he can just pop elbow jumpers with ease off those). In the third quarter of this one, it just looked easy. He scored 17 points to get above 40. Had the Lakers played some D, he wouldn’t have had to play the fourth. But as things went, we needed to bring him back to restore some order. By then guys were really looking for him, maybe even forcing it a little, but I’d rather do that than ignore him in the fourth like we have previously. So he’s dropping 55, but is also the heart of our D. We could use a little more help from others on that end with his offensive usage going up. Tonight got a little ridiculous with some of the lack of effort on D by others. The Stats: He scored 55 points on 22-30 shooting (2-3 from three, 9-9 from the line) to go with 17 boards (3 offensive), 1 assist, 3 blocks, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 38 minutes. He was a +17.

Walker IV -- -- That three ball looked pure on his first touch of the game, swishing a corner three early. Good stretch late in the first half. He iso’d and hit a pull-up from the top of the key. Next play got out in transition with speed and hit AD for a dunk. Next play, Russ kicked out to him for another three. Early in the second half, he drilled another three. He made all four of his attempts beyond the arc in this one. He hammered some dunks in the third quarter, as well. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 7-10 shooting (4-4 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 foul in 25 minutes. He was a +10.

Schröder -- -- Not a lot of scoring, but like Westbrook a lot of setting up teammates. He found AD on that two-man action. Sometimes it was more ability by AD (like a 10-foot floater off the two-man game). He also found Lonnie for some of his threes. The passing by the guards has been a big reason the team has been throttling up the scoring. Some of the knock on Schröder’s game when he was with the Celtics last year was his ball stopping and not finding teammates. We can handle some of the ball stopping, but it’s key he is putting some pressure on the D so AD can take advantage. The difference between guys like Schröder setting the table versus Nunn, who prefers to chuck, is pretty apparent. Nunn was out of the rotation tonight and may lose his minutes on this road trip. The other guards are looking more and more comfortable. Schröder didn’t score much in this game, but he did hit a floater midway through the fourth that pushed the lead from 9 to 11. A much-needed bucket. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-5 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 2 boards, 8 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 30 minutes. He was a +14.

Beverley -- -- He had a little of the fire going early, talking to the Laker bench after making some defensive plays. Then picking up a tech after a block-charge call that didn’t go his way. So maybe that was good for getting the team focused early. But outside of that, really not a lot in this game. I prefer having more size than the Schroder/Bev/Walker trio we started. Some of our lineups were undersized as a result, especially against Kuzma (we also ran some of that 4-guard stuff with AD, as well). The Stats: He scored 1 point on 0-4 shooting to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block and 2 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a +5.

Reaves -- -- Not a big game from him. He filled the lane and scored the And-1 off a bounce from LeBron. His other make was another one in transition where he split a couple of defenders and scooped in a tough reverse. We used him briefly again at the PF spot in some small lineups. The 50-40-90 numbers at this stage of his career are something else. Will it hold up? Who knows? But he’s playing off some superstars so he can be selective. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-4 shooting (0-2 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 3 boards and 1 foul in 25 minutes. He was a -4..

Westbrook -- -- Big assist night with 15. Not a big scoring night as he had 4 of his 6 in the first quarter and just 2 the rest of the game (a layup that was goaltended as we got out in transition). But it doesn’t matter when he’s breaking down the D and setting up teammates at a high clip like tonight. He had a nice one in the first half where he picked up his dribble in the paint, but aggressively pivoted to reverse, forcing the help D and he wrapped a pass around the big to AD for the score. In the third, he threaded a nice one to AD on the two-man at the elbow area that got AD downhill for the And-1 layup. He is also finding LeBron from that same elbow area. Those two have been working that low pick and roll action for a while now. Russ threaded LBJ a nice one between defenders late in this game that LeBron scored with ease. Just some good chemistry developing now that is making a difference. He and LeBron got a little too loose with the ball in that second half as the lead built and we coughed it up a little too much over that stretch and it allowed for some of that Wizard momentum. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-8 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 7 boards, 15 assists, 6 turnover and 2 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a +0.

Brown -- -- Off the bench, he knocked down a couple of threes early. I would have liked to use his length a little more in this game. Some of our guard heavy lineups were outsized. Kuz just started feasting on smalls. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-4 shooting (2-3 from three) to go with 1 board, 2 assists and 1 foul in 17 minutes. He was a +9.

Bryant -- -- Some power ups for scores under the hoop against his old squad. He got to the line, but choked all four of his attempts there. Otherwise, he could have had some better numbers in his limited minutes. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-4 shooting (0-4 from the line) to go with 5 boards and 1 foul in 10 minutes. He was a +5.

Gabriel -- -- His only attempt was a miss on a wing three. He had a couple offensive boards and a block, but we did not play well when he was out there in the second half. So that brought AD back in with about 8 minutes left. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-1 shooting from three to go with 2 boards, 1 block and 2 fouls in 9 minutes. He was a -14.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: I liked that we took it to a team in the third quarter. The Lakers had that 18-point halftime lead, which normally we’d give up like an 11-0 run or something to open the third and then be in for it. Tonight, they came out strong and extended that lead into the near 30-point territory. Next, we need to work on maintaining that.

Key Substitution: I think I’ll just go with no Nunn in this game. It’s been painful to watch all season. While Kendrick has been better of late, he just doesn’t give the team any positive, consistent impact. Good to see that change. It was an easy on that I think needed to be done a while ago so others could build more chemistry.

Key Stats: Let’s go with 23 assists between Schröder and Westbrook. That’s setting the table. The team had 34 in total with 15 turnovers (a few too many late in this one, but hard to complain too much after they had just 4 against the Bucks).

Coach’s Challenge: The Wizards challenged a foul call that that looked like a good strip of LeBron against a blitz. They got it overturned.
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mhan00
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 04, 2022 8:45 pm    Post subject:

AD Da Beast.
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sonic the laker
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 04, 2022 9:24 pm    Post subject:

Thanks, DB! And, glad to have you back!

I'm happy that we're winning. And, I'm glad to see the positive turn we're making. AD playing like a beast really restores that faith in him, that I lost. And, Russ is doing work off the bench! (good and bad, lol)

That said, there are some things that concern me. The team almost repeated the same problem they did against the Pacers, with the Wizards. They let up, and started playing stagnant, sloppy iso ball. Led by LeBron and Russ. This time Ham did not just watch, fortunately. He used his timeouts to help restore order. We're not good enough to do these types of things, and our vets should know better. Especially since they just got burned a couple games ago...

Ham's obsession with small lineups...and playing Bev...mystify me. I hope the FO trades Bev, soon. Ham seems stuck on this dude, for some reason. not seeing "Facts over Feelings" when it comes to Bev.

Also, I'm concerned about the trending lack of inclusion regarding Reaves and Lonnie, on the offensive end. We're winning, and I'm not complaining about that. But, the offense has become LeBron/AD/Russ centric. Whereas before, the ball/player movement was more spread around, we're not seeing that as much, lately. Reaves and Lonnie have been relegated to spot up shooter, mostly. We're winning in the short term, sure. But, I'm not sure how this bodes for overall team health, in the long term. We'll see.
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Dr. Laker
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 04, 2022 10:05 pm    Post subject:

Thanks, DB!
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kfkilla
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 04, 2022 10:37 pm    Post subject:

Man AD! I had forgotten who he was. I don’t know what the future holds but he’s the MVP of the league right now. Hope he doesn’t get injured man.
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A Mad Chinaman
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2022 1:04 am    Post subject:

sonic the laker wrote:
Also, I'm concerned about the trending lack of inclusion regarding Reaves and Lonnie, on the offensive end. We're winning, and I'm not complaining about that. But, the offense has become LeBron/AD/Russ centric. Whereas before, the ball/player movement was more spread around, we're not seeing that as much, lately. Reaves and Lonnie have been relegated to spot up shooter, mostly. We're winning in the short term, sure. But, I'm not sure how this bodes for overall team health, in the long term. We'll see.
Good coaches ride a "Hot Hand" and AD was rolling tonight.

Skywalker was 7 out 10 shooting with 20 points. Would you want Skywalker take shots that belong to AD for ball movement

LBJ/AD/Westbrook are the Alpha Dogs that are driving the bus, if the Lakers are to do any damage in the playoffs. Skywalker and Riverboat Reeves understand their roles in this game, that will change in every game.

Of course, it would be ideal to have somebody like Jae Crowder over PatBev at the SF. As the Dubs have proven, one doesn't need length to play great D. PatBev has proven that he can effectively guard players with far greater height than he has

Hopefully this team will learn to have a Killer Mentality in the very near future.
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governator
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2022 3:37 am    Post subject:

That 2020 Championship team vibe again
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danzag
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2022 3:46 am    Post subject:

AD
ON
THE
WAY
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PenG_
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2022 5:41 am    Post subject:

Thanks DB!

Big thanks to AD for rekindling my interest in watching these games. This is an absurd level of basketball.
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2022 9:38 am    Post subject:

Yay Winning

Thanks DB
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TooMuchMajicBuss
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2022 12:36 pm    Post subject:

Had to watch on replay - AD is beasting big time, and I like how this team played ball and fed AD. I like Ham's lineups overall, I'm concerned about matchups with small wings, but we survived Kuz so there's that. Better than last year's team by quite a ways IMO.
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TooMuchMajicBuss
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2022 12:37 pm    Post subject:

And also - Thanks DB!!
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