TWOLVES -at- LAKERS - 3-3-23 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

 
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DancingBarry
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 03, 2023 11:03 pm    Post subject: TWOLVES -at- LAKERS - 3-3-23 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

Step Up or Step Aside... The lack of firepower caught up with the Lakers tonight.

While AD tried to put the team on his shoulders and carry them to the win with a 38-point performance, he didn’t get enough help from others.

With no LeBron and DLo still out, the offense floundered between the second and third quarters, managing just 42 points.

They cut down a double digit lead in the fourth to just one possession. But when they needed a hoop the most, the offense had back-to-back possessions where they came up empty (a long AD attempt from three just trying to beat the shotclock on a play they should have worked on in the timeout…and that was followed up with a turnover by Lonnie Walker).

The Lakers fell 110-102 to the TWolves. Ham was left shaking his head afterward about the lack of intensity from some players in what should have been a full-out 48-minute battle.

“We do basketball for a living. Someone shouldn’t have to tell you to stay locked in,” Ham said of his team.


Davis -- -- Good effort from AD. He was carrying this team on his shoulders. They needed every bit they could get from him because no one else was stepping up. He led the Lakers in the first half with 18 points on 7-13 shooting before he picked up his third foul midway through the second quarter. He avoided the foul trouble the rest of the game. You could see him impose himself in the third when the team was slipping. He turned it up and was relentless. When he gets going at the rim and piling up those FTAs, he gets the big numbers. He hit a huge three in the fourth to get the Lakers within reach. He also had a great save on the defensive end to get another stop. He also stripped Gobert on iso D for another. Man was carrying them. LeBron may be done for the season or first round of playoffs (if they pull that off). Who knows? The team really needs AD to be that guy that carried the Pelicans with Rondo in the playoffs. Games like this, but with role players stepping up around him. That didn’t happen tonight. Hopefully, they get DLo back soon. The Stats: He scored 38 points on 12-22 shooting (2-4 from three, 12-14 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 6 turnovers and 3 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a -8.

Schröder -- -- He went scoreless, 0-4 in the first half, but dished out 8 assists without a turnover. A couple nice ones, including a give and go sequence with AD for a dunk and another great pushout in transition to get an advantage and then finding Lonnie for a layup. Later, he looked off the D as Vando cut baseline and he hit him for a dunk. The passing was great -- 12 assists with no turnovers. The shooting was awful. He hit a couple of floaters and turned the corner for a layup in that second half. He missed a big open three late that kind of buried us. We needed that 18-point or so performance from him tonight. That guy that steps up when our stars are out. It just wasn’t happing. Glad to see the ankle looked pretty good. He was hustling and defending hard. Just needed a few more points from him. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-13 shooting (0-4 from three, 0-1 from the line) to go with 1 board, 12 assists, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a -1.

Vanderbilt -- -- Some good effort out there. He was causing some problems with his perimeter D, getting illegal screen calls or push-off fouls going down on the contact out past the three line. Late in the game he came up with a big steal with 3:51 left for FTs. he made one to cut it to 3. Just prior to that last steal, he had a bad sequence where he was called for a moving screen, himself, and then his man hit a three on him on the other end to go up 7. I like when the team gets into that sense of urgency and is flying around the court. That’s when his game seems to really elevate. We saw that late, but not early on. Ham was irritated with the team’s sense of urgency in this game. That’s where you hope Vando grows his leadership. Just get after guys when they aren’t meeting the energy needed. Lead vocally and by example. That motor is his superpower and he needs to help make it as contagious as possible. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-5 shooting (1-3 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -4.

Beasley -- -- Good all-around game from Beasley. He made 3-6 from three, including a huge momentum three to cut it to 7 after AD made a three on the previous play. That had the arena going and forced a timeout. Some good probes to get some shorter hoops in the paint (he also had a putback, overpowering Conley under the hoop). Reasonable game from Beasley. He hit shots, hustled for boards. We didn’t need a superstar game from anyone, just more guys giving you this kind of production. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-11 shooting (3-6 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a -1.

Brown -- -- He had 8 points on an efficient 3-3 shooting in the first half, including two threes from each wing. Nothing in the second half, missing a couple corner shots. But he was still giving the team a good effort. Wish he was out there instead of Lonnie, but Ham was probably looking for offensive production because the team was so stagnant. Still, probably should have closed with him and the rest of the starters. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-5 shooting (2-3 from three) to go with 6 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a +1.

Hachimura -- -- Got to have better from him. We’re down stars, Rui needs to step it up. If he wants the big paycheck, he can’t have games like this where he makes no difference, no impact. He finished with the team-low -13. What’s more disappointing is he gave you that nice stretch of ball in the fourth in the last game. He played with that sense of urgency and impact that coaches wanted from him, but gave them none of that tonight. You can’t come out flat like that. You’re telling everyone you struggle to take it to the next level with consistency. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-9 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a -13.

Reaves -- -- We may have lost the game here. He had a poor 1-6 shooting first half. He got a pull up at the FT line to fall in the second half. But was involved in some sloppy plays/turnovers. Really not the consistent, productive guy we’ve seen of late. Give us another one of those 18-point games and we get the W. The result of Reaves not playing well, meant Ham used Lonnie to close. That just compounds things. Lonnie doesn’t give you the same disruption on D and come up with the big plays at big moments. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-8 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 3 assists and 2 turnovers in 21 minutes. He was a -10.

Bamba -- -- Only two guys had positives in the +/-. Surprised to see Bamba as one of them. He altered some drives with his presence in there. No blocks, but guys were missing around him. He had a couple scores, one off an offensive board, another on al ayup on the interior feed from Troy. He was involved in a 4-point possession where Vando knocked down a three as Mo was fouled. That helped with that +/-. There was sequence at the end of the third when he was wide open and Lonnie forced a three. The coaches ran a pick and pop for Bamba the very next play to start the fourth (and he bricked), trying to right the wrong, lol. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-4 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 11 minutes. He was a +1.

Walker IV -- -- We’ve lot a lot of our depth. Lonnie was out of the rotation and the Lakers were cooking. Down goes DLo. Down goes LeBron. Reaves gave the team a poor outing and now we are relying on Lonnie for 26 minutes. He hit a couple of threes tonight. He missed a huge open three with 6 minutes to go that would have cut it to 4. He’d get a chance to cut it to 4 a minute later with a pull up from midrange. Probably his best play of the night. Just a simple two-man action to get into that no-man’s land against the TWolves drop coverage. We should have run that multiple times. Defensively, there were some breakdowns in that fourth that cost them. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-9 shooting (2-6 from three) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 26 minutes. He was a -4.

Gabriel -- -- Not much in this one. Short run and he didn’t really stand out. The Stats: He didn’t score or shoot and had 1 foul in 4 minutes. He was a -1.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: Down 3 late in the game, after a Timberwolves timeout, the Lakers offense busted on its set. It resulted in a long three attempt from AD just trying to beat the shotclock. The TWolves would score on the other end. Then Lonnie would come down and get the ball stripped off him on a drive. That was the game right there. Some poor execution.

Key Substitution: Hmm. Reaves played really poorly tonight, which meant more minutes for Lonnie, who was lackluster at best. I would have preferred Brown out there if we aren’t going to Reaves. Lonnie’s D had some miscues. In any event, our bench SG spot let us down tonight.

Key Stats: Poor offensive production in the second and third quarters where they scored 21 points in each. They missed their floor generals.
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A Mad Chinaman
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 04, 2023 12:39 am    Post subject: Re: TWOLVES -at- LAKERS - 3-3-23 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

Agree that the energy level dramatically dropped especially at the start of the 3rd quarter.

As you stated, coaches were on Rui to be much more aggressive on the defensive end

TWolves picked up their defensive pressure and were very aggressive/bodying up our shooters not name AD. Instead of imposing our will on the other team with our energy and pressure, TWolves took us out of our game and made the Lakers very uncomfortable/unable to run their normal sets.

As Big James shared, the counter to an overly aggressive defense is to pass the ball to force the defense to move bodies - Lakers didn't do that

Schroeder's weakness when being defended by taller players showed up again. Ham needs designated plays to free up/get separation from the defenders.

Surprisingly Vando was effective despite being guarded by Gobert while not providing little scoring but doing all the little things plus guarding Anthony Edwards.

Team played like it was tired and/or ran out of energy after the first quarter and especially in the third quarter

With Beasley, Reeves, Schroeder and Rui not providing much offense - hard to win games.

As Ham shared, team needs to go North to South, not East to West and relentlessly drive towards the paint. That means Beasley, Reeves, Rui, Walker Jr and Schroeder to force the D to collapse. P&R with AD with a pass out to the corners would be good

Since we have a deep roster, maybe next time we will see Christie can do.

Thanks for the writeup DB

At least this team is (usually) much more enjoyable to watch and support.

Most important thing from this loss is whether this team has learn from this game. They will be forced to learn that Laker fans don't take kindly half-ass efforts (albeit they are "trying hard"). Interesting that Ham's usual comment that they "competed hard" didn't come from his mouth during his interview that was shown on the broadcast
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pio2u
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 04, 2023 5:09 am    Post subject:

THX DB. The team played lethargic for most of the night in a game that we needed to win.
........ Step Up or Step Aside!!
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 04, 2023 8:27 am    Post subject:

I actually fell asleep for part of the game. Woke up in time for the fake comeback. Le Sigh

Thanks DB
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DrDent
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 04, 2023 9:42 am    Post subject:

TDRock wrote:
I actually fell asleep for part of the game. Woke up in time for the fake comeback. Le Sigh

Thanks DB


In general, more of the same inconsistent play we've season throughout. I figured it was going to be a concerning game when around midway in the first the shooting percentages were something like 76% for The Lakers, 45% for the wolves, and its only a 6 point diffrence at 18-12. You'd expect with those sorts of numbers the score to be more 24-12 or so.

I'm also concerned this team just will be this way for the foreseeable future, including upcoming season(s), due to injury proness. Going back to the season they defended their ring, AD and LBJ have both missed significant time (LBJ will now with current injury) each season [since teaming up, only the year they won it all did they avoid any longer term dings]. D'lo is no stranger to long recovery times either.

Is what it is. Hope for the best.
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 04, 2023 3:47 pm    Post subject:

DrDent wrote:
TDRock wrote:
I actually fell asleep for part of the game. Woke up in time for the fake comeback. Le Sigh

Thanks DB
In general, more of the same inconsistent play we've season throughout. I figured it was going to be a concerning game when around midway in the first the shooting percentages were something like 76% for The Lakers, 45% for the wolves, and its only a 6 point diffrence at 18-12. You'd expect with those sorts of numbers the score to be more 24-12 or so.

I'm also concerned this team just will be this way for the foreseeable future, including upcoming season(s), due to injury proness. Going back to the season they defended their ring, AD and LBJ have both missed significant time (LBJ will now with current injury) each season [since teaming up, only the year they won it all did they avoid any longer term dings]. D'lo is no stranger to long recovery times either.

Is what it is. Hope for the best.
the hard work over an extended period of time that LBJ did at the beginning of the season because of the Westbrook fiasco seems as if it finally caught up with him

As LBJ shared many times, in the past - he only ramped up his game AFTER the ASG. Could LBJ and management be weighing which option is better - work to get to 6th place with a bye for LBJ/AD to have a needed rest before the Second Season begins vs being injury free/rested for the Play-In Games.

Of course, the best scenario is that AD + Gang can somehow make it to 6th place

Worst scenario is that they don’t make the playoffs at all
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joeblow
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 04, 2023 5:44 pm    Post subject:

Not gonna lie, the TWolves are playing decent defense now, and we didn't adjust well. I was even surprised at the confident offensive moves out there by Gobert, even when he wasn't successful. The team has a good coach.
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