MAGIC -at- LAKERS - 10-30-23 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Bounce Back Game... After failing to win down the stretch of the game last night, L.A. had a chance at redemption tonight against the visiting Magic.

The Lakers pulled out a 10-point lead in the first half, but gave it up with a 17-4 Magic run as Gary Harris scored with ease against some poor defense.

The Magic edged up the lead to 8 points in the third quarter when Ham sat both LeBron and Russell, leaving a lack of playmaking on the floor again. Russell returned and restored some order. They’d tie it back up once again on an 8-0 run.

With the Lakers up by 1 heading into the fourth, it was anybody’s game. The Lakers would need to hold up after the long overtime the night before. Tonight, Ham went with the AD/Wood bigman combo all fourth quarter.

While that helped on the boards and with multiple shotblocks, it was Russell who carried the scoring. He had 12 points in the final 6 minutes of the game.

Up 1 with 20 seconds, the Lakers needed a stop. They went with AD, Wood, Bron, Prince and Vincent. AD got vertical to get the stop on the drive, Wood got the rebound in the middle of three Magic players.

Russell drained a couple of freethrows to go up by 3 with 8 seconds left. The Lakers dodged a good look at a three and held on to the 106-103 win.


LeBron -- -- We’ve been worried about LeBron and AD on the second night of back-to-backs. A couple decades into his NBA career, LeBron looked solid in his 33 minutes. It wasn’t a clean game, again more turnover issues. I think we’ll see a bit of that this first month or so as the team struggles with execution. He sank a couple of threes tonight, including a big one with 2:22 left to go up by 1. Prior to that he had a couple of drives go down against Isaac. He also worked an iso out of a switch on the Chicago action into a floater for a score. So, some inside and outside scoring. Not a dominant game, but good enough on the second night of the back-to-back. One last thing, he had a sensational behind the back pass from the top of the lane to Wood cutting. The perfect pass choice and right on the money, on time. Thing of beauty. The Stats: He scored 19 points on 7-17 shooting (2-6 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 5 turnovers and no fouls in 33 minutes. He was a +5.

Davis -- -- They seemed to have some intention to go to AD in the post to start this game. They ignored that in the first game. They ignored it down the stretch last night. Tonight, they gave him the ball and he was highly productive early on, scoring with both hands and dominating when given the opportunity. He’d finish the first half with 16 points on 7-9 shooting. He had “just” 6 boards in the first half, but cleaned up in the second half, pulling down 13 to finish with 19 on the night. A couple of those were putbacks for scores, including one late on a Prince drive. The Stats: He scored 26 points on 12-18 shooting (0-1 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 19 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocks, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 38 minutes. He was a -2.

Russell -- -- Really great to see one of our guards shake off the early season rust and put up some numbers. He had put together such a good preseason, but it just wasn’t on track to start the regular season. Big impact from him early and very late. Strong first quarter from Russell. The craftiness was on full display. He had one score where he up-faked on the three line to lose his man, attacked the paint, ball-faked the help D, then hit over him. He also turned the corner in early offense on one play and crammed down a dunk. Rare we see that from him. He was also setting the table early (he rifled one to Reaves for a layup to start the game). He also kicked out to Vincent after drawing his man for Gabe’s first three. He’d finish the first half with 13 points on 6-9 shooting and 5 assists. He had 16 points total with about 6 minutes to go in this game when he returned from a rest. He sank a pull-up from 15 feet out. He pushed the ball up, stepped back on his man in early offense and hit a three with 5 minutes left to cut the lead to 2. He drew FTs on a pull-up a minute later. He swished a big three to take a 1-point lead with 1:40 left. He’d bury a couple of FTs with 8 seconds left. Strong finish by Russell. Defensively, he picked up two fouls midway through the first quarter, but the coaches stayed with him and he avoided the third until 4 minutes left in the half when he got picked on the perimeter. He’d get just one more foul the rest of the game. The Stats: He scored 28 points on 10-14 shooting (3-6 from three, 5-5 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 8 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 4 foul sin 36 minutes. He was a +7.

Reaves -- -- Better game (hard not to be). He’s still struggling to him some of these midrange pull-ups he is usually money on. That’s hurting the production. Again, he had another bad read in this game in the fourth because he was not aggressively getting the help defense to commit to him. It was a pretty standard read where you need to wait to see if AD gets tagged on the roll. Reaves did not get AD’s man to commit to him by being more aggressive on the drive, that meant the tag man didn’t have to tag AD. So when Reaves tried to kick it to the corner, the tag man was in the passing lane waiting for an easy steal. One more dribble toward the hoop sets a chain reaction in place and Reaves just isn’t doing that consistently enough. Thus, some really poor reads of what the defense is doing. He was like this a little the start of last season. He wasn’t getting as many minutes or shots up, but he didn’t have his foot on the gas early on last year. Hopefully, he picks it up here shortly. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 5-12 shooting (1-4 from three) to go with 3 boards, 3 assists, 1 block, 3 turnovers and no fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -14.

Prince -- -- Team-low -7 in this one. Still, I appreciated that we didn’t make him our awkward point of attack defender for once. Let guys take on their natural assignments. Vando can do the cross-match defensive stuff when he gets back. He hit a baseline fade after cutting to get the ball. He earned some FTs in transition. No rebounds in 26 minutes. That kills me. Can we incentivise him with like a $1K a rebound or something? The Stats: He scored 4 points on 1-4 shooting (0-2 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 1 assist, 1 block and 3 fouls. He was a -5.

Vincent -- -- This, I think, is what a standard game from him will look like. HIt a three, scratch out some points on midrange pull-ups and a drive or two. Play hard defensively and end up with a positive +/- at the end of the night. Good to see him finally knock down a three. He’s out there when we need stops. I think we’ll see more of this as he gets more comfortable by the game. At some point, he’ll come out firing and throw a big game in here and there. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-7 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 2 assists, 1 steal and 2 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a +10.

Wood -- -- “He gets some of the toughest defensive rebounds I’ve ever seen anyone get,” Ham said of Wood. Really love the two-big man lineup (assuming we have some playmaking on the floor). The length defensively causes problems for opponents. Without that, we play small. We struggle to get one-and-out possessions. There were a couple blocked shots in that third quarter that no one else gets to on our team besides AD. And on these two, AD was on the floor but having another guy in Wood to have your back, the team seems to play some of their best ball. On the second of these blocks near the end of the quarter, AD disrupted the roller but got bumped out of the play. Normally, these end up being scores as AD looks around for help that is never there. This time Wood rotated over and swatted the layup and controlled the miss to ignite a break. Again, a team-high +12. With Rui out, that made it easier to get Wood his minutes. But we just need his length. It reminds you of the championship team with McGee/Dwight, but with a perimeter threat. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 3-6 shooting (1-4 from three, 2-4 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 3 assists, 3 blocks, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 27 minutes. He was a +12.

Hayes -- -- A couple of boards and a couple of fouls. Probably one of those fouls should have been a blocked shot, but the whistle didn’t go his way. The Stats: He didn’t score or shoot, had 2 boards and 2 fouls in 10 minutes. He was a +5.

Reddish -- -- Really not seeing it. To me, it feels like we’ve promised him a good run and chance with this team. We’ve got Vando out for now, so they figure he can show what he’s got. Defensively, he let Harris cut past him for a layup, not paying attention. He airballed a corner three in transition. Max Christie is waiting in the wing. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-1 shooting from three to go with 2 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and no fouls in 14 minutes. He was a -3.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: Probably going big all fourth quarter. But let’s go with some timely three shooting. With 2:22 left, Bron drained a three. With 1:42 left down 2, Russell hit another to take the lead. The team was a weak 8-27 from three, but came up big there.

Key Substitution: Welp, we went big again all fourth with that AD/Wood combo and the team pulled out the win. Just having that second layer of shotblocker paid off multiple times in the fourth quarter. But not getting killed on second chances because you have length is equally as big. Yes, you might be a little more exposed to some mismatches with guards, but the positives outweigh the negatives.

Key Stats: The Lakers were outscored on second-chance points in the first half 10-0. They would be outrebounded on the offensive glass 12-3. (Seemed like all 3 of the Laker offensive ones were putbacks by AD). The Lakers had a 10-3 advantage on blocks. Nice job by the bigs there.

[SweetP]

Thanks DB!
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“There is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it.” --Amanda Gorman

[slavavov]

The Lakers honestly didn't deserve to win this game, and they played at half intensity and half speed all night. But maybe this game and the Phoenix game proves they can find ways to win even when they play like crap.
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Lakers 49ers Chargers Dodgers

[waterman40]

Thanks for the recap.
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LAKERS 2019-2020: NBA World Champions!

[wolfpaclaker]

Not exactly a convincing win, but a win is a win. We're neither playing great defense or great offense.

It's a similar start to last year where we were really slow out of the gates in the RS. But the talent level is so much better than last year's team at this time, we won't be 2-10. We're already 2-2 and haven't played particularly well.

Like that AD/Wood lineup. Seems to clicking so far. We needed to go all in for Porzingis or Turner. He's like a much much better version of AD/Wood, only we'd have a starting level impact defender as well.

[danzag]

Thanks, DB.

I really like that AD/Wood combo, seems like we've found something there.

[ChefLinda]

Thanks, DB.

[pio2u]

THX DB

[governator]

Coulda been 0-4 but DB’s reports got me glass half full, we simply out of sync, gonna get better. Once Reaves becomes Reaves again, Vando back, DLo/Gabe settles in, Rui the Bron body double and AD-Wood becomes a thing… championship run
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“The main goal for the Lakers is to win a championship. All I care about, all we care about, is to raise another banner in the rafters.“

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB! Good to see a win, encouraging to see the Wood/AD combo effective this game. It feels like we're at a point in training camp where rotations are just starting to solidify, which maybe is a reasonable feeling considering we squandered training camp. We'll see if rotations keep evolving the right direction in upcoming games, sure hope so.

[Laker7]

Thanks DB.

Echo the Wood/AD comments. Also Wood / Hayes pairing is not to bad either. Still puzzled by the Reddish playing time when he does not put forth the effort on the defensive end.
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Keep winning!

[lakerjoshua]

Thanks, DB!

[A Mad Chinaman]

[joeblow]

[ocho]

From 3 last night:

Davis 0-1
Prince 0-2
James 2-6
Reaves 1-4
Wood 1-4
Reddish 0-1
Vincent 1-3

Obviously this isn’t sustainable and I’m impressed we have been competitive shooting the ball like this through 4 games. Just hope this collective slump ends sooner than later.
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14-5-3-12

[DancingBarry]

[JM]

[governator]

[TDRock]

THIS game...

But I am happy we figured out a way to win.

Thanks DB!
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#IStillBelieveTaurean

[mad55557777]

[Laker7]

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/nba-leaders-in-plus-minus

Wood has the 9th best plus minus in the association after the Magic game.
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Keep winning!

[Hammett]

Thanks DB. Still waiting for Reaves to show up, man, wtf.
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Lakers. Built different.

[A Mad Chinaman]

[deal]

The Lakers worked like crazy to beat the Magic??


Ok, thanks DB!
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Lakers need to build a freaking team !

[Dr. Laker]

Thanks, DB!

Wood may pay bigger dividends than I expected.
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