CLIPPERS -at- LAKERS - 11-1-23 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Finally... It seems like anything that could go wrong against the Clippers typically does.

So no Rui, no Prince, no Vincent and no Vando heading into this game. On the sideline waiting to join the Clippers was James Harden.

The Lakers played awful to start. Kawhi had 18 points in the first quarter on 7-8 shooting. The Lakers fell behind 37-18. Turnover after turnover (12 in the first half by the Lakers).

But they stuck with it. They flipped the tables in the third with a 39-24 quarter themselves, which included a 17-4 run to take the lead. They’d extend that lead in the fourth as their big lineups continued to look strong and they didn’t turn the ball over.

The Lakers blew a late 9-point lead, missing freethrows on offense, not protecting from threes on multiple trips down court. With a miss on the final possession, the game went to overtime.

One point could have made a difference in regulation. Any number of missed freethrows by the Lakers. Or a weak, rarely called technical given to Hayes for hanging on the rim. They were nickel and dimed into overtime.

Somewhere amidst the pressure of that second half and overtime, Austin Reaves found his game. He was aggressive, hitting from the midrange, finding teammates. He came up big on a steal, knocking a ball away from Kawhi, taking an outlet and throwing up a lefty lob to a soaring LeBron.

“Go win the ball game, AR. Go win the ball game,” Bron yelled in Reaves’ ear after the game.

It came down to the final minute of OT, a miss by Reddish from the corner, but Christian Wood hammered down the miss to seal the deal. The Lakers beat the Clippers 130-125.


LeBron -- -- He had a strong close to the first half with a couple of threes, a layup and some FTs as a one-man wrecking crew offensively. He’d finish the half with 17 points on 6-9 shooting. That close to the half may have given the Lakers some momentum into the half. It certainly helped the team to start going toe to toe with the Clippers. The three ball was looking good, as was that 18-footer. You could tell he was feeling it, floating on some of those shots. Where he wasn’t feeling it was from the freethrow line. That 5-10 shooting there nearly cost them. A lot of minutes again because of the 5 from OT. We had to get creative with all the guys who normally back him up sitting out in this one. You do have to stop and pause to take in what he did in this game. The 35-12-7, but also things like that soaring lob dunk in OT. What a beast. The Stats: He scored 35 points on 13-19 shooting (4-8 from three, 5-10 from the line) to go with 12 boards, 7 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 42 minutes. He was a +6.

Davis -- -- I’m not sure if there was a player on the other team he didn’t guard in this one. Bigs, smalls, he took them. For a big chunk we put him on Kawhi and he was smothering at times. Offensively, just 8 points and 3 boards in the first half. He did have 3 blocks in the half, but it felt like every one of those the Clippers recovered and scored on. In the second half he’d score 19 points (with 2 in OT). Some two-man action with Bron for a lob. Russell hit him for another layup. He’d have a couple putback layup and a dunk on the break. In overtime, he’d score a jumphook on the right block over Zu. I wouldn’t mind have seeing him get the ball against he small lineup the Clippers had to close regulation. Long minutes for AD tonight. The Stats: He scored 27 points on 10-18 shooting (7-9 from the line) to go with 10 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, 4 blocks and 3 fouls in 48 minutes. He was a +11.

Russell -- -- He had 8 points in the first half and 19 in the second half. There was a stretch in the half where Westbrook left him and they were zoning where D’Angelo killed them off ball. He got into scoring position on cuts multiple times and was getting bucket after bucket. He also had a few more on the break. The three ball was looking good, but he came up short on a game winner in regulation. We need an ice in the veins moment sometime soon. Interesting seeing us pull Reaves off Westbrook and letting D’Angelo handle him. He did a good job. Westbrook was “guarded” by many in this game and really had an excellent shooting game. As good as it gets for him from the perimeter. Of course, WB missed a huge one in crunch time and had 6 turnovers. The Stats: He scored 27 points on 10-19 shooting (3-7 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 6 assists, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 36 minutes. He was a +3.

Reaves -- -- Awful first half. He had 5 turnovers, was missing shots. Just more of the struggles we’ve seen lately. Later in the third, he got it going. He came off the bench and sank a wing jumper on a handoff. He then crossed over a man badly, sending him tripping over AD the opposite direction while Reaves pulled up for a jumper. This had the arena buzzing. Shortly later, Reaves was coming off a screen and slipped to the floor, but he still found Wood for a three to cut the lead to 1 and force a timeout. The Lakers were back in it. Stu mentioned it and it’s something I’ve been saying for a while, Reaves has been playing too tentative. Now we saw him attacking and drawing whistles. We saw him get to the rim for FTs. When he’s getting beat up, knocked down or off-balance and drawing freethrows and scoring, that’s his bread and butter. He has been avoiding that contact and aggression. When he found it, he was back to himself. In overtime, he hit a running, one-legged And-1 in the middle of the paint. He then had a huge steal against Kawhi and lobbed to Bron on the break for the slam. He attacked, up-faked and hit a jumper. He drew Powell’s sixth foul with 47 seconds left and made both FTs to go up 3. Great OT by Reaves. Bron was hyped for him afterward. Got to love it. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-13 shooting (0-3 from three, 5-5 from the line) to go with 7 boards, 7 assists, 3 steals, 5 turnovers and 4 fouls in 38 minutes. He was a -5.

Reddish -- -- Missing Vando and Vincent, we needed someone mixing it up on D (Prince doesn’t really give you that to the level those guys do). Cam battled tonight. George or Kawhi, he gave the team some great D. He’d finish with 1 block and 3 steals, being disruptive. His best was probably out on the perimeter when he picked George clean on iso D and then hit Russell for the breakaway layup. He also jumped a passing lane for a steal at midcourt and took it for a layup. A couple nearly big plays on offense. He tried to cram over Zu on a baseline drive. That was nearly a poster job, but the foul just threw off the finish slightly. Otherwise, that would have been one of the plays of the night. “I haven’t had a runway like that in a few years,” Cam said. The other big one was a missed corner three on OT, but Wood was there to clean it up. A lot of “little big” plays that are appreciated. He was switched on Zu under the hoop in OT and did a great job boxing him out and keeping him off the boards, Just an excellent effort there. As rough as it’s been for Cam, this was by far his best game and he earned some trust from the coaches by going toe-to-toe with the Clipper stars on that defensive end. Great job. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 2-7 shooting (1-5 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 block and 5 fouls in 37 minutes. He was a -4.

Wood -- -- Another team high +14 tonight. We just play so much better with him on the court in those big lineups. Tonight, we could go extra big at times when we had guys like Wood, Hayes or AD able to cover Westbrook. Those tall lineups crushed it again. His rebounding is a massive factor in the success of those lineups. Ham went away from him late in regulation, but brought him back when Zu returned in overtime. Wood came up huge again. Russell told Wood to crash the board if he didn’t get the ball. When it swung to Cam in the corner, Wood crashed and threw down the putback jam off the missed three. That was the backbreaker in the key possession in OT. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-8 shooting (2-4 from three) to go with 11 boards, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a +14.

Christie -- -- Some run for Max tonight with the roster depleted for this one. Somehow the stat sheet didn’t give him a steal, but he did swipe a Westbrook kickout and push it down court for FTs. He also buried a three from the corner at the end of the quarter in transition. Good to see him get some action, especially in the heat of the battle. Some weird lineups around him tonight (three bigs at one point), but they worked it out. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 1-7 shooting (1-5 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards and 3 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a +0.

Hayes -- -- That technical for hanging on the rim was weak. When you are going high speed like that, you’ve got to give the guys some leeway. I knew that was going to comeback to cost them. One point there given to the Clippers in a game that was tied at regulation. Defensively, he had a nice block going up with both hands and smothering a driving small. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-1 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 block and 1 foul in 14 minutes. He was a +0.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: They found themselves in the third quarter. Again, those big lineups just caused problems. Ham went away from that down the stretch as the Clippers went small. The 9-point lead the Lakers had with 2 minutes left was erased. Guys missed FTs on one end and were giving up threes and And-1s on the other. Final play of regulation we inbounded after the made freethrows, the Lakers ended up with a Russell three attempt at the buzzer in regulation. Probably could have got something better than that considering the small lineup the Clippers had. Got to do better closing when you’ve got a lead like that with that little time left. Glad they got the win in OT.

Key Substitution: He was challenged a bit with the number of players out in this one. At one point to close the third he had the AD, Wood, Hayes, Christie, Reaves lineup. It kind of worked. But the Wood/AD/Bron trio out there really looks strong. Just wish we would make teams try to match up with us more. For one brief moment we had a 4-guard lineup out there. Some craziness, for sure.

Key Stats: They lost the possession battle in the first half. The Lakers had 12 turnovers and no second-chance points in the half. In the third quarter, the Lakers had just 2 turnovers as they won the quarter 37-24. They’d finish with just 14 turnovers on the night after that poor first half. That was huge.

[mhan00]

A win!

[jonnybravo]

Let's GOOO!!!!
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KOBE

[Dr. Laker]

Thanks, DB!

Ham will ave to find more minutes for Wood.
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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".

[pio2u]

GO LAKERS!!... THX DB!

[joeblow]

I'm pleased the most with how strong our defense collectively improved starting from the second quarter through all but the last two minutes of regulation. The bigger lineups helped a lot, so Ham gets credit fro not going too small for very long as noted above.

But Cam Reddish is who I am most happy for tonight despite his missing outside jumper. Just about everyone rooting for the Lakers noticed how hard he worked on the defensive end, and it was a key difference maker. He didn't always get the stop, and even notched up five fouls by the time the game ended, but his defensive energy and effectiveness was legit.

My favorite sequence from him came in the first half when Kawhii was attacking another Laker on a drive when he pulled up to take a shot at the FT line. Cam read the play, scrambled over from his man and jumped up with Leonard from behind to block the shot. KL sensed it and tried to change his mind mid air to pass it to a Clipper behind him, but he he reacted too late and came down with the ball for a travel.

Two thumbs up, Cam!

[michaelg]

Thanks DB. What is up with these awful starts? The guys need to change up their pregame routine or something.

Glad to see them battle again. Good to get one against that team. Glad to not go 2-10 again.

Wood has been such a nice surprise on the boards and on defense. Got to give him credit for playing his role, doing exactly what we need him to and what folks doubted him about. Keep it up.

The Wood, Hayes, AD lineup holding their own?? Did we see that? Triple towers!

It just seems all season like our guys besides AD and Lebron have the jitters, and maybe Russell now getting comfortable. It seems like they will settle in and find their shooting at some point, and we’ll enjoy some nice wins.

[lakeshowtacular]

Cam's defense and effort have been impressive early. The way he has been engaged with the assignments on KD and Kawhi, he looks like he's got a bit of dawg in him.

I thought they were going to snatch a defeat from the jaws of victory tonight...it's been happening so often in this losing streak with the "Toe Nail" Clippers. Hope Ham runs the bigs together more often. Limits his 3 guard lineups, and LBJ/AD/Wood have been exciting on both sides of the ball.

Huge Win!! Lets Go LakeShow!
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Magic*Kobe*LBJ*AD*Cap

[lordtrapula]

That was game of the year level. I got pissed looking at the score at work and thinking we were about to choke but it seemed like watching it on replay clippers were making insane shots at the end to come back not to mention that weird 50/50 call on Cam that I think could've gone the other way..

Great character builder for these new Lakers. Wood has been a revelation transforming from a black hole do it himself scorer to a wet work hustling big man.

Reaves is starting to round into form, happy he's looking the same guy again AND it was against one of the better teams of the league.

[slavavov]

This was a character-building win. Love the defense starting late in the third quarter and the fact that we had 23 fast-break points. We also outrebounded our opponent for once, which was refreshing.

Maybe later on we'll look at this game as the one in which the Lakers found themselves and discovered how great they can be.
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Lakers 49ers Chargers Dodgers

[sonic the laker]

I'm not worried about the level, or depth, of talent currently on the team. When/If healthy. But, health is something that all teams have to contend with. My major concern is in Ham's ability to unlock this team's true potential.

Last year he was handed a jank roster to begin the season, only to be see almost half the roster turned over mid-season. It was a "do the best you can" situation, that was out of Ham's control. So, any shortcomings were overlooked.

Now, the roster is unquestionable better, with higher expectations. And, so far, this team looks totally unorganized. Granted, they've got a lot of new players, along with some players out, as well as having a tough slate of games to start the season. Understood. But, the level of disorganization on both sides of the ball is absolutely appalling. I figured that the Lakers would likely look a bit wonky to start the season. But, what I've seen so far has vastly exceeded my expectations. They look like they've never seen each other before. That's not a player issue. That's a coaching one.

I'm not going to pass judgement just yet, as it's still pretty early. But, I'm going to definitely see how this team proceeds to grow...or not. With the roster upgrades made, there are no excuses for Ham and the coaching staff this season.
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ZOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Chronicle]

Above 500 after only 5 games
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Kobe

[PayasoLoco]

No gabe ham was forced to go big and it worked

[Laker7]

[Startrout]

Last season if we had so many rotation players out we’d of lost big. This season our depth (and size) is keep us competitive.

[danzag]

There's only one team in LA and it's the (bleep) Lakers.

[richsmith]

VLF in shambles.

[pio2u]

[danzag]

[defense]

So you're saying you like it big?

[PenG_]

That finally beat the Clippers sleep hit different

[governator]

I’m ready for the Bron-Vando-Cam-AD-Wood defensive unit, all 5 can switch freely
Cam is Vando lite
Wood is AD lite
Reaves is back
DLo off ball a beauty
Rui and Gabe hasn’t even got going yet

How yall like going from wings PatBev-Troy Brown- JTA-Cole Swider to Vando-Prince-Rui-Cam
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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]

[Theseus]

[tox]

Fun game. Love to beat the Clips with PG, Kawhi, and even Westbrook (grading on a curve ) having great games.

You mentioned Reddish fighting in the post; there were also a few possessions where Russell was doing a great job fighting for position in the post/ even fronting Zubac (?) with Wood providing help from behind. Not sustainable against a team like Denver IMO, which has the shooting and ball movement to punish it. But the Clippers' offense, for all the individual greatness of their two stars, is really stagnant