Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2023 8:08 pm Post subject: LAKERS -at- NUGGETS - 10-24-23 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings
Picking Up Where We Left Off... I had this game as a loss. While the team has better continuity from last year, they still have issues there that will be exposed by better teams. Additionally, they just didn’t get enough reps to have their wind and legs under them. Going into Denver, they’d need to fight off fading late in the game.
The Lakers lost the first quarter when they went to their first substitutions, down 2 quickly turned into down 14 after Rui and Vincent came in for Bron and Russell. They struggled to pull themselves out of the hole all game.
They rallied back in the second quarter as they got their scoring on track after the poor shooting 20-point first quarter. Ham tested a variety of new defenders on the Nuggets’ Murray and the defense started to tighten up a little.
The Lakers reeled in an 18-point Nugget lead and after a couple transition buckets to start the second half, they had cut the lead to 5.
They Nuggets would push the lead back to double digits, but the Lakers bench led by Bron would tally a 13-0 run at the end of the third and start of the fourth to cut it to one possession. Despite Bron’s minutes being limited in this game, you could see him get fatigued on defense early in that fourth. He had to sit and the Nuggets would edge up their lead.
Turnovers and mental mistakes cost the Lakers out of a late timeout, and the Nuggets hit a series of unanswered buckets to get separation for good. The Lakers fell 119-107.
LeBron -- -- Only played 29 minutes in this game, and I thought there was a stretch early in the fourth where he looked a little gassed. He just wasn’t moving on D or getting hands up. So, this was one of the things I was worried about with the preseason with the Lakers never getting a full-game rotation in. We missed not only the 5 minutes, but even if Ham sticks to that, he still didn’t have it there late. It’s going to take a bit I think for him to get his regular season legs under him. Offensively, I loved how much he got downhill in this one. He was attacking hard in transition, but also had some moments in the half court (nice stampede cut off Reaves working the strong side). Some of that is the 5-out, a lot is probably just feeling healthy. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 10-16 shooting (1-4 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal and 1 foul in 29 minutes. He was a +7.
Davis -- -- While his energy looked better than Bron, he still went scoreless in the second half. So I do think it impacted him. Certainly, the Nuggets sent more help, but he just wasn’t effective in any way on the offensive end in the half. They needed a lift when Bron faded early in that fourth, but AD had nothing. First half was great. He was attacking aggressively. He knew Jokic was worried about foul trouble and took it to him in the post and off the dribble. “They started to double team and crowded the paint. I missed some easy ones,” he said. That’s fair, but we also just didn’t feel him in any way offensively in the second half. This is often reflected in my notes. If they are double teaming, we’d still see the kickouts and assists reflected in thim. But very little impact that was notable. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 6-17 shooting (1-2 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 4 assists, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a -17.
Russell -- -- Defensively, I don’t think we saw the issues quite like in the playoffs. Some active hands allowed him to be more disruptive. I think the areas he had problems with are more reads on splits. We were late and not quite on the same page. He gave up a big three out of a timeout on one of those late in the fourth. Lead went from 7 to 10 on that play. Offensively, both threes he made were catch and shoots. We need to set him up more on those against this team. I don’t like the iso three chucks. Hit form on those bothered me in the playoffs. He gets off-balance and rushed. On the catch and shoots, it looks great. Some wild drives in this one. Despite the issues, I see where he can be better against this team than in the playoffs. Just give it some time for execution to improve and let’s revisit later this year. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 4-12 shooting (2-5 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 7 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers and3 fouls in 36 minutes. He was a +1.
Reaves -- -- They look like they are planning to give him more sequences where he’s running the point. I think that will pay off. It took him a bit to get aggressive in this game. He was passing off a little early and not developing the advantage. We saw some of that early last year, too. Russell and Reaves are going to do well this season with the 5-out. There was a sequence in the second half where the Nuggets wanted to keep Jokic in drop coverage while AD was running a two-man sequence at the three line on the left wing. Reaves came off the screen with the ball. The help came from Russell’s man to the right (instead of trying to pull Jokic up high to hedge). Reaves then hit Russell and he knocked down the open three. If you sit back in drop coverage and we get a quality screen in, Reaves and Russell are going to get into open threes or midrange. If you send help from the top, one will be open for a catch-and-shoot three. Reaves missed some midrange he’s usually money on. That cut his scoring a little. He did a good job crashing the glass and general hustle. You could tell he wanted this one. Defensively, he had some moments. He stole the ball from KCP once and drew a charge on him another time. He read a play perfectly to start the half and took it for pick six and a dunk. He was on Porter quite a bit and stayed tight. Some surprisingly scrappy moments against Jokic in the post, as well. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 4-11 shooting (1-2 from three, 5-7 from the line) to go with 8 boards (4 offensive), 4 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -14.
Prince -- -- Defensively, we put him on Murray. We ran Prince and Cam to give us some extra length there and try to fight over the top of screens and pressure from behind. So-so results on that (he got backdoored on one play, fouled on a three, and on some stands, couldn’t stay as tight as you’d like), but it allowed for better match-ups elsewhere and, of course, better floor spacing. If we ran Vando in that assignment, the Nuggets would have packed the paint offensively and made life difficult. Prince made them pay, hitting 4-6 from three. Some of those shots, they were not even sagging anywhere close to what they do with Vando and he still made them pay. That’s a big deal for this team. Digging in on one of those plays, they made the Nuggets pay for trying to keep Jokic in the paint against our 5-out offense. AD got into a quick dribble handoff, screening Prince’s man. Prince rose up drilled the three. He’s going to be getting some wide open looks. He had a good two-way sequence on one play where he hustled back in transition to disrupt and stop a layup, then on the other end buried a transition -- 5-point switch. He also scored on a couple of drives, one in transition against Jokic, another off the dribble from the three line. The Stats: He scored 18 points on 6-8 shooting (4-6 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover and no fouls in 30 minutes. He was a -14.
Hachimura -- -- He started off slow, as well. Both he and Vincent did this same thing in our first preseason game, where they kind of slept walk through the first half. Rui started to pick up his D, especially when AD sat late in the first half. That helped the team chip away at the lead. In the second half, he’d score on a putback off an AD drive and miss. He’d also dunk on the break. Just not enough impact, especially not at the contract we have him on this season. But I suspect it’s more just a chemistry issue that will take some reps to get into rhythm. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 3-10 shooting (0-3 from three) to go with 3 boards and 2 fouls in 15 minutes. He was a -8.
Vincent -- -- This felt very much like a feel-out game for him. He did little to nothing in the first half. He had a couple fouls on a defensive stand against Murray and then went to the bench. Really passive first half. In the second half, it seemed like someone had told him he needed to be aggressive. That resulted in some turnovers on bad reads and some misses. He didn’t hit a couple in the midrange, including a drive into the lane where he pivoted and hit. That’s his shot. Then he started to finally get into it. He got a stop, knocking a ball loose on help and that led to a Laker breakaway. He drew a moving screen foul for another stop. Just not enough reps in the preseason, so we’ll start the regular season a bit slow. He had the team-low -19.
Wood -- -- Some work in the post for a couple scores (a jumphook on one, and a drop step into a dunk for another). He also dunked on the break when Jokick decided not to challenge him. Some moments with the bench unit in the second half. They had a stretch where they were holding the Nuggets to one-and-out possessions and had a little run. Our second unit is running several new guys. They’ll get better and be a difference maker. Tough to do that against the champs. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-4 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 15 minutes. He was a +2.
Hayes -- -- He got the start with Wood and Bron in the second quarter. He had a board and a foul trying to go vertical. The team played poorly while he was out there and he didn’t return until it was over. The Stats: He didn’t score, had 1 board and 1 foul in 6 minutes. He was a -9.
Reddish -- -- This might be the role that Vando will have. Off the bench, coming in to apply some D. Cam did that pretty well as he had to take the Murray assignment and some Jackson. He stayed tight and put in a focused, smart effort. Good on him. Offensively, he sank a catch and shoot three off a Russell kickout. He got on the offensive glass a couple times in one play as he corner crashed to get the ball, attacked, missed and scored the putback. He also drew some late FTs. Serviceable minutes. His best as a Laker, and he had a team-high +7. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-4 shooting (1-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 1 block and 2 fouls in 17 minutes. He was a +7.
Christie -- -- He came in for the final minute of garbage time. Curious to see if Cam is ahead of him in the rotation or if that was just a matchup thing for this game. Neither of them really made a strong case in the preseason. The Stats: He had no stats in 1 minute. He was a +0.
Ham -- -- Key Moment: The Nugget lead was 7 with 5 minutes left and out of timeout, The team coughed up the ball a couple of times and gave up a 7-0 run to go down 14. That was the ball game.
Key Substitution: Start of the fourth when the second unit had cut the game down to one possession. Defensively, Bron started to look fatigued and stuck in the mud and they got into trouble. They had rattled off a 13-0 run between the third and fourth quarters, but Bron had to sit. Once the effort fell off, so did the game in that fourth quarter. When Ham sat Bron, he brought in AD. We ran the AD, Wood, Reddish, Vincent, Russell unit and things started to go south a bit from there. They got close, but didn’t have enough in them to push over the top. Familiar story against the Nuggets, but this looked more like fatigue and just not enough chemistry yet.
Key Stats: The Lakers won the offensive board battle 13-9. Can’t use that as the excuse. They won the second and third quarter, just had a poor start and poor finish. The 34-20 first quarter put them in a hole and they never recovered. The Lakers had just 11 turnovers, probably can’t use that as the excuse either, but they had a slew of them in the first and fourth quarter in key stretches. The Lakers made 10-29 from three (34.5%), the Nuggets made 14-34 (41.2%).
Last edited by DancingBarry on Tue Oct 24, 2023 8:14 pm; edited 1 time in total
Joined: 03 Oct 2003 Posts: 8377 Location: Santa Monica
Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2023 8:53 pm Post subject:
I expected the Lakers to lose and have trouble hitting shots, especially from downtown. It's too early to get discouraged. Remember we lost on opening night in similar fashion in 2019 to the Clippers and people were already counting us out, but we went on to win the chip.
Right now, defensive rebounding, transition defense and halfcourt offense are our biggest concerns. If we just start hitting 3-pointers at a higher rate that would improve our halfcourt offense. We're at our best when we turn defensive stops into fast breaks, and we should double down on that and make teams adjust to us instead of the other way around. _________________ Lakers 49ers Chargers Dodgers
Bah. Yesterday I expressed that one of my top concerns for our Lakers this season would be what is going on inside of AD's head:
Quote:
AD's attitude to impose his will on the court (on both sides) comes and goes for no good, apparent reason. When it leaves us, it seems to be gone for quite awhile. We have no chance to get through a brutal Western Conference without him believing he is the best player on both sides of the court, and then acting like it.
A bad showing in Game 1 out of 82 is not the end of the world of course, but AD is not inspiring much confidence early on that he has put that lack of "fire in the belly" concern behind him.
Joined: 13 Sep 2008 Posts: 5737 Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia
Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2023 11:38 pm Post subject:
joeblow wrote:
Bah. Yesterday I expressed that one of my top concerns for our Lakers this season would be what is going on inside of AD's head:
Quote:
AD's attitude to impose his will on the court (on both sides) comes and goes for no good, apparent reason. When it leaves us, it seems to be gone for quite awhile. We have no chance to get through a brutal Western Conference without him believing he is the best player on both sides of the court, and then acting like it.
A bad showing in Game 1 out of 82 is not the end of the world of course, but AD is not inspiring much confidence early on that he has put that lack of "fire in the belly" concern behind him.
Ah well. On to the next one.
That "I missed some easy ones" shtick is getting really tiring. If it happens that often, perhaps you aren't missing some easy ones (that you would normally make). You're just missing shots. He looked frail and out of control on offense to me most of the time. Those drives to the rim with awkward looking heaves weren't a good look.
The only positive I saw in this game was the fight after digging that huge hole early on. But that is the same thing we saw last season. Dig huge holes, climb out of them and then win some/lose some. I thought they gave us similar if not the exact same problems than last year: too big, too strong, too quick, making timely shots, getting timely steals. The things that championship teams do. If our guys want to get there, performances like this against the top teams won't cut it. And still no real answer for Jokic. It's incredible how he manages to get all those rebounds without jumping an inch. And just muscling his way into points.
Joined: 13 Sep 2008 Posts: 5737 Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia
Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2023 11:40 pm Post subject:
tox wrote:
Thoughts on AD guarding Jokic straight up? Can't say I really understand that decision, personally.
Obviously I'm no expert, but I thought it was a poor choice. Jokic cannot be guarded straight up, even by a all-world defender like AD who is simply not strong enough. He just slowly but surely backs up whoever he has guarding him and it's an automatic score or even and one. He didn't even look that impressive out there and had a cool and efficient triple double. He's simply all over the place.
Last edited by Nobody on Wed Oct 25, 2023 2:19 am; edited 2 times in total
Joined: 05 Nov 2005 Posts: 10777 Location: Hoosier Nation
Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2023 2:18 am Post subject:
Losing to Denver on their court on opening day is not a surprise. There were so many things stacked against the Lakers I lost count. _________________ Not a legend
Thoughts on AD guarding Jokic straight up? Can't say I really understand that decision, personally.
I would have liked to experiment with Hayes guarding him. He is obviously not the defender that AD is. However, he has more length, speed, and hops which could have given Joker some trouble (at least in his outside game). I know Joker is very strong and his low post game is insane (honestly I am not sure if anyone can guard him), but this is where the help D has to come from.
THANKS DB!!
Last edited by RI Laker on Wed Oct 25, 2023 5:45 am; edited 1 time in total
Thanks, DB! _________________ On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns".
I noted a few things. Wasn't able to catch the entire game too many things going on with my kids. However from what I saw:
- Reaves, DLO have issues staying infront of bigger players when they drove.
- We're missing a KCP type of player on our side, although Prince is helping.
- AD looks outmatched as a 5 vs someone like Joker
- On offense, we're quick, but we don't look explosive in any one area. If you know what I mean by that. Not explosive at getting to the 3 point line, rim, or anything like that. Again, DLO/Reaves/Vincent, none of them seem those types of players.
- Rui looked way overpaid
- We're still heavily reliant on Lebron being great to win. He was quite good when I watched and finished with a +7 in 29 min. That's the most postive sign of this loss.
- Prince as we all know is arguably our best offseason move.
Obviously only 1 game. And that too in Denver. But we had this game circled apparently, and we were motivated and fresh coming off preseason. We seem to lack an explosive part that contenders have. It would greatly help this team if they could get AD in a better position so he can be that force for us. I don't like him playing the 5 full time in these sort of matchups.
Joined: 24 Feb 2003 Posts: 6402 Location: Past left field
Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2023 5:42 am Post subject:
Thanks DB!
Gave up 2 30 point quarters and a 29 point quarter. Defense is not where it needs to be yet. Nuggets had 9 steals to only 5 for the Lakers. Denver had 6 blocks to only 4 for LA.
Only scored 30 or more points in one quarter. Other quarters were mid to low 20's. Got out shot in both 2 and 3 point land but did shoot and make more free throws than Denver.
The Good: Lebron 21 points, Prince 18 points on only 8 shots
The Bad: Reaves and DLo combined 8-23 from the floor with 5 turnovers
The Ugly: Rui 3-10 while 0-3 from 3 point land, Vincent 8 shots to score 6 points while 0-4 from 3 point land _________________ Darvin Ham is an idiot!
I see the same issue as last year. We don’t have that “big” center who has the size, length, and strength to keep centers like Joker off the boards, challenge their shots, and make it harder for for them to see & pass over the top. It seems like Joker and some of their other players just out reach us all the time. We probably should of used the mid level on that (no idea who) instead of a backup point guard. I guess no one was available that would of made a difference.
Also, we don’t really have a good option to defend Murray. I was surprised that Reddish appeared to do the best on him. Maybe we can live with the options we have there. DLO has improved his defense, not great, but much better effort and he is getting some results.
I do think we have a good team and I see a lot of potential positives after the first game. In another year we probably would have a championship level team, but this year there appears to be more really good teams than I ever remember seeing. We needed a few warm up games before taking on some of top teams in the league. Crazy schedule to start the season.
Bah. Yesterday I expressed that one of my top concerns for our Lakers this season would be what is going on inside of AD's head:
Quote:
AD's attitude to impose his will on the court (on both sides) comes and goes for no good, apparent reason. When it leaves us, it seems to be gone for quite awhile. We have no chance to get through a brutal Western Conference without him believing he is the best player on both sides of the court, and then acting like it.
A bad showing in Game 1 out of 82 is not the end of the world of course, but AD is not inspiring much confidence early on that he has put that lack of "fire in the belly" concern behind him.
Ah well. On to the next one.
I do think our biggest issue might be our stars. One is the oldest player in the league on a minutes restriction and the other just isn’t a lights out scorer. Not sure those guys can take us over the top in crucial games the way Jokic or Durant/Booker can. In 2020 we had the two best players in every series we played. That’s just not the case anymore. _________________ 14-5-3-12
Bah. Yesterday I expressed that one of my top concerns for our Lakers this season would be what is going on inside of AD's head:
Quote:
AD's attitude to impose his will on the court (on both sides) comes and goes for no good, apparent reason. When it leaves us, it seems to be gone for quite awhile. We have no chance to get through a brutal Western Conference without him believing he is the best player on both sides of the court, and then acting like it.
A bad showing in Game 1 out of 82 is not the end of the world of course, but AD is not inspiring much confidence early on that he has put that lack of "fire in the belly" concern behind him.
Ah well. On to the next one.
I do think our biggest issue might be our stars. One is the oldest player in the league on a minutes restriction and the other just isn’t a lights out scorer. Not sure those guys can take us over the top in crucial games the way Jokic or Durant/Booker can. In 2020 we had the two best players in every series we played. That’s just not the case anymore.
How we use them has vastly changed though. Lebron is easily still good for best player of the game in 9/10 nights. But we took him off the ball, giving lesser players non-stars like Westbrook, then DLO/Reaves the ball. This may help Lebron as a scorer but does it mean the best player have the ball in his hands to create? The other thing, as we talked already to death in the offseason, we play AD at the 5 full time now, without a physical presence next to him. This makes his matchups heavily relying on him being much bigger than his opponents, which he is often is. But he isn't always much bigger, such as is in the case vs Denver. When those match up presents, we are stuck a bit.
Don't get me wrong, this is a very good team loaded with depth and solid NBA players. We're going to be a very good team this season. To get to that level again, we probably need to put our 2 best players in a role they can dominate in. In Lebron's case maybe it will break him down, but I see no reason why we keep avoiding giving AD some physical presence to set screens for the team, instead of making AD do that. The alternative is to get 3rd and 4th options who are explosive as AD/Lebron can be.
Lets say AD is that guy at the 5 full time. Are we that explosive as some teams are with their 3rd, 4th, 5th options? If we're wanting AD to do the duties a 5 tends to do in the modern NBA (A lot of screen setting up high for guards and wings looking to curl for a spot up J or make a quick drive with the ball) we probably need a star level 3rd and 4th option to get over the hump. Not saying DLO and Reaves aren't big time helpers, they are, but if your top 2 guys aren't inn those roles, your 3rd and 4th dudes need to be all-star level.
It's why Rui's impact in the playoffs was so vital. When we were rolling in the playoffs,, seemed we got a lot from Rui and Reaves. Seems to me the way we're currently playing, we need 20 points from 2 other sources on a nightly basis to get over the better teams. If we continue to operate in this basis, it may make sense to add a legit 3rd star (if you can) without losing your depth (if the star fits and is willing to take over what you get from Reaves/DLO).
I agree with people (unsurprisingly, it was a leading question ) answering my post that AD on Jokic is a bad decision. I would rather have someone else on Jokic (even the infamous "Rui on Jokic") if it means AD can play free safety off of Aaron Gordon. This lets the guards cheat a lot of the split cut actions by overplaying the shooting and relying on AD to clean up the back cuts. He won't be 100% effective but it's our best bet, especially if the guards can apply some reasonable back pressure.
Honestly with this starting lineup, I'd probably want LeBron guarding Jokic and AD on Gordon. But you're not gonna ask LeBron to do that in a regular season game. If it were me I'd have just started Rui again but I get the idea too.
To get to that level again, we probably need to put our 2 best players in a role they can dominate in.
The usual proposed solutions to these problems create new problems of their own. While I agree that most nights we have more than enough, to win a championship we need that every night against the top teams. A guy (or two) who are better than the other team’s best. We just aren’t going to have that against some of the top teams we need to go through. We don’t have that unstoppable element Denver has or Phoenix has or Milwaukee has. Would any of the top guys on those teams go scoreless in a half of a big game? The difference between a good scorer and a great scorer is what tilts championship favor. This was a game they publicly stated they had circled and they basically lost wire to wire. Just feels like we are a class below the top. _________________ 14-5-3-12
Denver’s top two dogs are just better than ours. It was obvious in the playoffs and it was obvious last night. Not only that but their role players play out of its minds whenever they play us on both ends of the court!
Look at the box score:
Jokic vs AD:
Jokic - 29 points, 13 rebounds,11 assists, 1 steals, 1 blocks on 55% (60% from 3 5 on attempts)
AD - 17 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 0 steals, 1 blocks on 35% (50% from 3 only two attempts)
Safe to say Jokic was on a completely different tier no?
Murray vs Lebron
Murray - 21 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists, 0 steals, 1 block on 62% (60% from 3 on 5 attempts)
Lebron - 21 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 0 blocks on 63% (25% from 3 on 4 attempts)
Pretty close here. Bron had more rebounds but Murray was way more deadly from 3. Also Lebron has to be bubble wrapped since the narrative is he’s old and delicate. Super annoying as he is not being paid like he’s old and delicate. In fact he makes 20M more a year than Murray! So the edge goes to Murray in my book for not being bubble wrapped and able to play super star minutes.
Then you have the role players:
Reaves vs KCP:
KCP - 20 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 3 steals, 0 blocks on 67% (67% from 3 on 3 attempts)
Reaves - 14 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 0 blocks on 36% (50% from 3 on 2 attempts)
I would say KCP over performed in terms of efficiency and Reaves underperformed a bit. But even if Reaves shoots 50% here it’s not on the same level as freaking 67% from KCP.
Dlo vs Gordon:
Gordon - 15 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 blocks on 64% (50% from 3 on 2 attempts)
Dlo - 11 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, 0 blocks on 33% (40% from 3 on 5 attempts)
Again close but Gordon's efficiency was super high! Even if Dlo shoots 50% it’s just not enough.
Prince vs MPJ:
Prince - 18 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assists, 1 steal, 1 block on 75% (67% from 3 on 6 attempts)
MPJ - 12 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 0 blocks on 38% (22 % from 3 on 9 attempts)
At first glance this looks like Prince is clearly ahead but 12 rebounds is kind of crazy and was the game high! Still Princes efficiency cannot be denied here. So advantage goes to Prince.
Just can’t win when the cards are that stacked and one of your one two punches is bubble wrapped and the other can’t score in an entire half.
Denver fans chanting “who’s your daddy?” was tough. God I miss prime Kobe. The dude who would remember this and try to rip those fans heart out and eat it in from of them while it was still beating the next time we saw them.
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-- Only played 29 minutes in this game, and I thought there was a stretch early in the fourth where he looked a little gassed. He just wasn’t moving on D or getting hands up. So, this was one of the things I was worried about with the preseason with the Lakers never getting a full-game rotation in. We missed not only the 5 minutes, but even if Ham sticks to that, he still didn’t have it there late. It’s going to take a bit I think for him to get his regular season legs under him. Offensively, I loved how much he got downhill in this one. He was attacking hard in transition, but also had some moments in the half court (nice stampede cut off Reaves working the strong side). Some of that is the 5-out, a lot is probably just feeling healthy. 
-- While his energy looked better than Bron, he still went scoreless in the second half. So I do think it impacted him. Certainly, the Nuggets sent more help, but he just wasn’t effective in any way on the offensive end in the half. They needed a lift when Bron faded early in that fourth, but AD had nothing. First half was great. He was attacking aggressively. He knew Jokic was worried about foul trouble and took it to him in the post and off the dribble. “They started to double team and crowded the paint. I missed some easy ones,” he said. That’s fair, but we also just didn’t feel him in any way offensively in the second half. This is often reflected in my notes. If they are double teaming, we’d still see the kickouts and assists reflected in thim. But very little impact that was notable. 
-- Defensively, I don’t think we saw the issues quite like in the playoffs. Some active hands allowed him to be more disruptive. I think the areas he had problems with are more reads on splits. We were late and not quite on the same page. He gave up a big three out of a timeout on one of those late in the fourth. Lead went from 7 to 10 on that play. Offensively, both threes he made were catch and shoots. We need to set him up more on those against this team. I don’t like the iso three chucks. Hit form on those bothered me in the playoffs. He gets off-balance and rushed. On the catch and shoots, it looks great. Some wild drives in this one. Despite the issues, I see where he can be better against this team than in the playoffs. Just give it some time for execution to improve and let’s revisit later this year. 
-- They look like they are planning to give him more sequences where he’s running the point. I think that will pay off. It took him a bit to get aggressive in this game. He was passing off a little early and not developing the advantage. We saw some of that early last year, too. Russell and Reaves are going to do well this season with the 5-out. There was a sequence in the second half where the Nuggets wanted to keep Jokic in drop coverage while AD was running a two-man sequence at the three line on the left wing. Reaves came off the screen with the ball. The help came from Russell’s man to the right (instead of trying to pull Jokic up high to hedge). Reaves then hit Russell and he knocked down the open three. If you sit back in drop coverage and we get a quality screen in, Reaves and Russell are going to get into open threes or midrange. If you send help from the top, one will be open for a catch-and-shoot three. Reaves missed some midrange he’s usually money on. That cut his scoring a little. He did a good job crashing the glass and general hustle. You could tell he wanted this one. Defensively, he had some moments. He stole the ball from KCP once and drew a charge on him another time. He read a play perfectly to start the half and took it for pick six and a dunk. He was on Porter quite a bit and stayed tight. Some surprisingly scrappy moments against Jokic in the post, as well. 
-- Defensively, we put him on Murray. We ran Prince and Cam to give us some extra length there and try to fight over the top of screens and pressure from behind. So-so results on that (he got backdoored on one play, fouled on a three, and on some stands, couldn’t stay as tight as you’d like), but it allowed for better match-ups elsewhere and, of course, better floor spacing. If we ran Vando in that assignment, the Nuggets would have packed the paint offensively and made life difficult. Prince made them pay, hitting 4-6 from three. Some of those shots, they were not even sagging anywhere close to what they do with Vando and he still made them pay. That’s a big deal for this team. Digging in on one of those plays, they made the Nuggets pay for trying to keep Jokic in the paint against our 5-out offense. AD got into a quick dribble handoff, screening Prince’s man. Prince rose up drilled the three. He’s going to be getting some wide open looks. He had a good two-way sequence on one play where he hustled back in transition to disrupt and stop a layup, then on the other end buried a transition -- 5-point switch. He also scored on a couple of drives, one in transition against Jokic, another off the dribble from the three line. 
-- He started off slow, as well. Both he and Vincent did this same thing in our first preseason game, where they kind of slept walk through the first half. Rui started to pick up his D, especially when AD sat late in the first half. That helped the team chip away at the lead. In the second half, he’d score on a putback off an AD drive and miss. He’d also dunk on the break. Just not enough impact, especially not at the contract we have him on this season. But I suspect it’s more just a chemistry issue that will take some reps to get into rhythm. 
-- This felt very much like a feel-out game for him. He did little to nothing in the first half. He had a couple fouls on a defensive stand against Murray and then went to the bench. Really passive first half. In the second half, it seemed like someone had told him he needed to be aggressive. That resulted in some turnovers on bad reads and some misses. He didn’t hit a couple in the midrange, including a drive into the lane where he pivoted and hit. That’s his shot. Then he started to finally get into it. He got a stop, knocking a ball loose on help and that led to a Laker breakaway. He drew a moving screen foul for another stop. Just not enough reps in the preseason, so we’ll start the regular season a bit slow. He had the team-low -19.
-- Some work in the post for a couple scores (a jumphook on one, and a drop step into a dunk for another). He also dunked on the break when Jokick decided not to challenge him. Some moments with the bench unit in the second half. They had a stretch where they were holding the Nuggets to one-and-out possessions and had a little run. Our second unit is running several new guys. They’ll get better and be a difference maker. Tough to do that against the champs. 
-- This might be the role that Vando will have. Off the bench, coming in to apply some D. Cam did that pretty well as he had to take the Murray assignment and some Jackson. He stayed tight and put in a focused, smart effort. Good on him. Offensively, he sank a catch and shoot three off a Russell kickout. He got on the offensive glass a couple times in one play as he corner crashed to get the ball, attacked, missed and scored the putback. He also drew some late FTs. Serviceable minutes. His best as a Laker, and he had a team-high +7. 
-- He came in for the final minute of garbage time. Curious to see if Cam is ahead of him in the rotation or if that was just a matchup thing for this game. Neither of them really made a strong case in the preseason. 
-- Key Moment: The Nugget lead was 7 with 5 minutes left and out of timeout, The team coughed up the ball a couple of times and gave up a 7-0 run to go down 14. That was the ball game.
) answering my post that AD on Jokic is a bad decision. I would rather have someone else on Jokic (even the infamous "Rui on Jokic") if it means AD can play free safety off of Aaron Gordon. This lets the guards cheat a lot of the split cut actions by overplaying the shooting and relying on AD to clean up the back cuts. He won't be 100% effective but it's our best bet, especially if the guards can apply some reasonable back pressure.
