MAGIC -at- LAKERS - 3-19-23 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Reaves Busting Out... The Lakers margin for error is getting slimmer by the game.

Maybe that’s why we saw Austin Reaves kick it up to another level tonight.

He was a force off the bench from start to finish on his way to a team-high 35 points. Out of the shadows of a couple of ball dominant players (Bron and Russ), his touches and aggression have leveled up considerably the past few weeks.

Tonight, they leaned into it. The Lakers pulled out to a 16-point lead early. As the game went along, the Magic chipped away at that. To end the third, they had a 4-point possession and cut the lead to just 3. Anyone’s game.

They battled throughout the fourth until the Magic finally pulled even with the Lakers. As they hit the 4-minute mark, the Lakers got a couple of big buckets from D’Angelo Russell, creating shots when their sets busted.

But in the final minutes, they handed the ball to Reaves to bring them home. He’d draw a huge foul on a corner three up against the shotclock. He’d then bury a clutch pull-up jumper off the screen with just under a minute left. The rest of the game was a series of freethrows for him (he’d finish with 18 attempts on the night).

Unlike the last game, the Lakers behind Reaves shot 81% from the line. Reaves’ steady hand carried them home to the 111-105 win.


Davis -- -- Offensively, good when he could get downhill. We didn’t have enough of that. Defensively, very disruptive. He rejected 4 shots with some nice work around the rim and in transition to get stops. We need more from him, though. We can’t have 15 points on 15 shots. This team is average when he’s like this. We can string together wins when he’s “that dude” on offense -- the guy who pushes 40 and takes it to another level around the rim. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-15 shooting (3-6 from the line) to go with 11 boards, 1 assist, 2 steals, 4 blocks, 5 turnovers and 4 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a -3.

Russell -- -- A couple of big makes from DLo in crunch time. The first was a huge corner three with 4 minutes left. He got the ball in the corner with the clock running down and had create something from nothing and nailed the three. The next was a big drive and layup with 3 minutes left out of a timeout. The play busted and again, he had to turn a negative into a positive in crunch time. Good job with that. Down the stretch, but he and Dennis, though, stepped aside and let Reaves run the show in this one. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 6-12 shooting (4-8 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 6 assists, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 33 minutes. He was a -8.

Vanderbilt -- -- His one make was a lob dunk off a Reaves pass. A couple of nice dimes. One he hit DLo cutting as Vando curled into the lane on the attack. The other was a kickout to Brown for a corner three. Solid on the boards. Some sloppy work with the handles. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-1 shooting to go with 10 boards, 2 assists, 1 block, 4 turnovers and 2 fouls in 23 minutes. He was a -12.

Beasley -- :gack -- Another big Meh game. He swished a corner three on a kickout from Vando. That was his only make. He’s got to string some good ones together. It can’t just be one great game every now and then. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-7 shooting (1-5 from three) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist and 1 turnover in 26 minutes. He was a -15.

Brown -- -- Nice job tonight knocking down that three ball (4-8). Catching and shooting. We’ve got guys who can create, he just needs to give them an open passing lane. A couple nice passes tonight, as well, for assists. One was a quick swing pass on the kickout to Beasley for a three. Another was a sweet fling over to a cutting AD for a big dunk that forced a timeout. Vando, Brown, Reaves…all excellent role player passers. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 4-8 shooting from three to go with 5 boards, 2 assists and 1 foul in 29 minutes. He was a -8.

Reaves -- -- We’ve been watching him blow up. It started happening as soon as Russ left. Reaves got more touches as the PG, more opportunity to be aggressive and playmake. When Bron was sidelined, it just forced Reaves to be even more aggressive. Tonight, he had his foot on the gas from start to finish on his way to a career high 35 points. He drew a ton of FTs. Multiple fouls that didn’t even count for FTAs. And then a bunch late on intentional fouls. But make no mistake, you don’t get 18 attempts from the line without being a bit of a baller. He stops on a dime, gets guys to run up his back or he gets into the pivot moves in the paint. Defenders get off balance and he hunts the contact. Down the stretch, they put the ball in his hands and he delivered. Biggest make of the game was getting downhill off the screen and pulling up to knock down the midrange from the elbow. He’s a triple threat and teams have to respect that. When he collapses the D and they force the pass, he makes the right play. And then, he just makes the ridiculous plays -- the scoops between players, the twisting layups, the tough makes falling back after contact. He was a couple of late FT misses and a three that went in (again) after the buzzer at halftime from hitting the 40 mark. “I think he has a lot more knowledge than the people he’s playing against,” Worthy said after the game. He was a +25 in a 6-point win. The game flat out changed every time he came on the floor. “He’s a hell of a player. Happy he’s on our team,” Ham said. You don’t want him on another team. Games like this, with the aggression from start to finish, that’s the guy you don’t want to face. If you are an opponent, you start to get nervous when the ball is in his hands because he’s efficient and is going to make the right play. “He’s just a flat out hooper,” Ham said. The Stats: He scored 35 points on 9-14 shooting (1-4 from three, 16-18 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 6 assists, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a +25.

Hachimura -- -- A little surprised he didn’t have more points in this one. He and Reaves had some excellent chemistry going. Reaves found him for a couple layups (and a couple other setups from Reaves, Rui missed). He also hit a pull-up off the two-man action with Reaves. Good contributions tonight. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 4-9 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 1 block and 3 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a +4.

Schröder -- -- He hit a flurry of threes early on, a couple on kickouts from Reaves. And a third that started with a Reaves behind-the-back pass to Russell, who then spotted Dennis in the corner quickly for a three. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 3-9 shooting (3-6 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 5 assists, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a +22.

Gabriel -- -- Really loving the energy he’s playing with. We’ve been able to get some good minutes at the C spot and PF now from Wenyen. But this game, that bench without AD just dominated. Gabriel/Reaves had team high +25. Again in this one, Wenyen was getting to offensive boards. The first of those led to another Brown three. He tipped another offensive board out to the corner to Russell for a three. Last game, he had a couple of those second-chances turn into threes. Just big plays in close games. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-3 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 8 boards (4 offensive), 1 assist, 1 block and 3 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a +25.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: The ball in Reaves hands (not AD, not Russell) with a minute left. Ham wants to get him downhill and mentioned that after the game. Reaves had the speed, stopped in the midrange and drained the big jumper with 58 seconds left. Reaves is earning that trust. Ham gave it tonight..

Key Substitution: That trio of Gabriel/Schroder/Reaves were a +22 to +25 range. Some of this is no AD (and no LeBron) minutes. These have been our toughest to survive this season. They’re starting to find something. Aggressive guard play and Wenyen turning up the motor, Ham is starting to trust these guys to close games instead of the starters.

Key Stats: Reaves went 16-18 from the line. The team 26-32 -- 81%. That’s more like it.

[mhan00]

Thank you Austin!

[sonic the laker]

Thanks, DB! And, thank you, Austin a.k.a. Hillbilly Kobe!!!

Lakers won! We were as hot from three, as we were sloppy with the ball, in the first half. We cooled in the second half. That combined with a horrid offensive game from AD allowed the Magic to make this a close game down the stretch.

Reaves put the team on his back...which is not something he's accustomed to doing as a Laker...and he came through with flying colors. Beasley has been absolute doo doo. Rui, Wenyen, DLo, Troy, and Dennis were all solid. AD, while bad on offense, was very impactful on defense. In order to have a strong finish to the season, AD is going to have to put a great all around game together, on both ends.

Lakers!
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ZOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dr. Laker]

Thanks, DB!
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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".

[slavavov]

Thanks DB!

First the bad, or the not-so-good:

We barely beat one of the worst teams, at least record-wise, in the Eastern Conference in pretty much a low-scoring game. The tempo was slow throughout, which hurts us, and we had only eight fast-break points. We need to aim for 20-30 fast-break points a game, at least.

It seems like while a few guys are playing with confidence and urgency, others aren't. We need to help AD start playing with swag again. I know everyone loves to beat up on him, but some of his poor offensive play lately falls on his teammates and coach Ham. They need to find a way to get him easy chippies while on the move. Speeding up the tempo and getting back to Showtime would also help since he's so good in transition.

Now the good. Austin Reaves has been a revelation. I really think he's a better player than Alex Caruso because he's above average in several facets of the game, while Caruso is only above average on defense. It was also nice to see DLO have a very good game and play up to his standards. Props to Gabriel for gradually getting better at his role, which is to snatch rebounds, make hustle plays and score a couple of garbage baskets a game by springing open in the paint.

[Startrout]

Austin, Dennis, DLO, AD, Wenyen is our best lineup right now. I wonder how much of that is because 4 of the 5 have played together much longer than our new guys. Whatever it is, it’s working.

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB! Another excellent write-up. It's good to see the Lakers back in the win column.

Wow Austin Reaves what a game. Hats off again to Wenyan Gabriel for bringing the hustle, and Schro too. DLO and AD did their jobs as well.

Let's win a few more now Lakers!

[A Mad Chinaman]

Team is starting to have a clear identity (of its strengths and weaknesses) and solidying what lineups would be good for certain situations

DS/Dlo are still finding out to throw lobs to AD/give accurate entry passes to AD that has led to open court TOs

Ham tried a Vando/Gabriel/AD in the front court with Reeves/DLo to provide the needed length to counter taller lineups and/or need to get rebounds

DLo/DS seems to have problems with super aggressive defenders and/or the team hasn't had the time to develop counters to relieve the pressure. With Reeves, at certain points of the game (winning time), having the ball - getting a good clean shot from somebody usually happens with DLo/DS acting as relief valves getting clean outside shots

Beasley, hopefully, will be able to get into a rhythm as a catch&shoot upon team's ability to set up strong screens to let a poor man-version of Klay (without the defensive prowess). He still seems to have "gravity" as team respect his outside shots, hence will take advantage of the available driving lanes

Brown Jr. is a hit-or-miss player where defense is his calling card and can stay on the court longer if he can hit a few outside shots.

Gabriel and Vando have the Rodman Dawg in them and its great to see.

All the guys are playing with eneryg, effort and (usually) with urgency, hence displaying the confidence. Since losses usually bring a team together faster than losses, that is the silver lining with this team. On most nights, this team can survive without AD on the floor, even with AD playing subpar (hopefully not too many times).

This Laker team is facing either teams like the Magic/Rockets/Spurs who have very young teams with youthful energy with nothing to lose or teams that are scratching for the playoffs - what Stein/Silver wanted. This season has the Spurs that lost a 29 point lead, then on the next night came back from a 24 point deficit against the Hawks who are battling for the playoffs.

Magic gave the Booker/CP3 a run for the money and recently beat the Heat

Lakers gave away the Rockets and Mavs games, maybe they can still one from the Booker/CP3 Suns.

DB - it must be much more fun writing these reviews and you deserve to be awarded with these games after suffering through the Westbrook years.

[Theseus]

It feels like our guards are pretty inept at passing the ball to AD near the basket. Either that or the defense is trying to make our guards scorers rather than passing, and it seems like AR was up to the challenge.

It seems like AD is setting a ton of screens every game for our guards up top and if he gets the ball back on the move its ft line extended, rather than underneath.

Beas had that one play where he got to the basket and had AD open for the lob, and he ended up short arming a shot at the basket because I think he was indecisive there. Would love to see that wrinkle in Beas' game because he has shown the ability to break down his defender after they close out and get action toward the rim.

[DrDent]

Thanks DB. Another well written summary.

I’m having difficulty viewing this win in an overly positive light.

On the one hand, it is a W. Will take it.

On the other, against a team on their second night of a back to back, who will finish under .500, it took an enormous effort from AR to win. We cant really expect that on any consistent basis, regardless of some folks wishing to crown him with hall of fame type comparisons.

More than anything, this game just showed the team limitations minus LBJ and Mo. For me, the lesson: it is just to keep low expectations with what they have at the moment.
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"One thing I admire about Kuzma is his unwavering confidence. He truly has no idea that he’s not as good as he thinks." - Killer_Z

[Surfitall]

I’m happy with this win because I’m happy seeing the recognition from Ham of what lineups are working and going with those. Reaves got the minutes he deserved, he started going with taller lineups to get the rebounds…and a win came as a result.

“No rebounds, no rings!”

[DancingBarry]

[jodeke]

Great write up DB. Reaves rises to the occasion without fear. He comes in and takes control of the game. That's unprecedented for an undrafted rook.

Question, Have we found a closer?
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[joeblow]

I'm actually not as down on AD for his performance in this particular game as some. It would have been nice if he got to 20 points or so, but at least he put 15 shots up with the way he was gingerly approaching his offense (i.e. floaters and mid range shots).

I'm not sure if he is still gimpy or if he wanted to ensure he didn't get hurt again knowing how messed up we'd be without him, but it definitely was a conscience choice for him not to be overly aggressive attacking the rim to score.

Another factor that may have contributed to his pedestrian offensive play is that he used some good energy on the defensive end. Four blocks and eleven rebounds, not to mention the shots he altered, is a tremendous contribution for a team in the Lakers with no backup center right now.

I'd rather that he "rest" on the offensive end and turn it up defensively. As a team we held the Magic to 105 points, which is below their average of almost 112 a game. AD was a big part of that.

[Laker7]

[danzag]

I'm amazed at how bad we are at setting up AD on the post

[tox]

DB what do you think about the defense of AD's offense that our offense is unable to set him up in a good position, and that teams are loading up on AD after the Raptors game and daring other Lakers to beat them?

I think that's a little too subtle for me to notice with my own eyes but maybe you've seen this?

[A Mad Chinaman]

[DancingBarry]