LAKERS -at- HEAT - 11-6-23 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

War of Attrition... The Lakers are struggling to keep bodies in the game.

They lost AD to a hip injury halfway through this one. Russell was kicked out with a double tech early in the fourth. So down the stretch all they had on the bench beside Christie were the rookies.

The two teams traded the lead 12 times in the first half. In the third quarter, the Lakers gave up a 10-0 run with 4 minutes left in the third. They’d battle from there trying to dig their way out of the hole.

With about 3:30 left in the fourth, the Lakers were down 9 points. They got a layup from LeBron. Wood hit a three. LeBron got another And-1 layup and they rattled off a 10-1 run in about 50 seconds.

Multiple times in the final minutes they had a chance to take the lead, but came up empty. They missed four open looks at threes, including a great look at a corner three by Reddish at the buzzer (open for a reason). The Heat were giving the game away, the Lakers refused to take it.

They fell 108-107. Too many technicals in this game ended up costing them.


LeBron -- -- He had 13 points on 5-10 shooting at the half and 17 in the second half on 8-13 shooting. Too many turnovers in this game, including a late-game charge and a pass he threw out of bounds. Painful possessions when you are battling and getting stops. For much of the fourth quarter, they had Bron setting screens for his guards to create. Simple offense that allows others to take advantage of the attention LeBron gets. Multiple dunks from LeBron in this one as he was able to get out in transition. He’s been fairly unstoppable when he’s in freight train mode. Defensively, some great effort on chase downs, including a big rejection of a Herro dunk that would have been huge had the Lakers pulled off the win. The Stats: He scored 30 points on 13-23 (0-4 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocks, 5 turnovers and 4 fouls in 36 minutes. He was a +6.

Davis -- -- He hurt his hip on a spin move late in the first half. He tried to go in the second half and was pulled after a few possessions. Sat. Then returned a few minutes later. “Kind of just spasmed again,” he said, mentioning he will be fine and ready for Wednesday. Really not activated, though, when he returned and had moments of stagnant movement and in pain. Lowry also gave him a shot in the hip setting a screen later before AD sat and didn’t return. The term was “hip spasm.” Not sure what the story is there, but they can’t win easily without AD. They sure tried, though, tonight. With no AD, they held the Heat to 18 points in the fourth quarter. “I’m very optimistic,” AD said afterward. Hopefully, just some rest and he will be good to go. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-7 shooting (1-1 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 4 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a -9.

Russell -- -- With 7:52 left in the fourth, he got ejected clapping in the refs face and saying something to another ref. He had attempted to throw a bounce pass to Wood and it looked kicked with no call. We could have used those two tech FTs we gave up. Got to stay in control there. We just don’t have enough bodies. A lot of midrange action from Russell in this one and he slithered his way to a couple layups. We could have used a look or two like that down the stretch. Asked to address the techs, he said, “I’d rather not.” The Stats: he scored 13 points on 6-10 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 4 boards, 6 assists, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a -4.

Reaves -- -- Huge effort from Reaves in this one. He was an assist shy of a triple-double. I’m not sure if the second-chance issues were on his mind, but he was hitting the boards hard tonight. He came up with many in that fourth quarter. His best board was probably on the offensive end to close the first half. He crashed the glass and threw down a missed Bron jumper. That had the crowd buzzing. He led the team in the first half with 14 points on 6-8 shooting and 4 assists. He missed a couple of great looks at three down the stretch, the shots came up short suggesting all the minutes and effort might have impacted his legs there. Still, really happy to see him rounding into shape again. When he takes it to the next level like this, it makes a huge difference for the team. On the negative side in this one, he telegraphed a few too many passes and they were picked off. So, still struggling a bit with the reads this season. The Stats: He scored 23 points on 9-14 shooting (3-8 for three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 10 boards (3 offensive), 9 assists, 1 steal, 4 turnovers and 1 foul in 40 minutes. He was a +2.

Prince -- -- Good to get a body back in the mix. He led the team with a +13. We were able to play toe-to-toe in that first quarter, which is nice for a change. Just having his ability to stretch the floor or attack the rim opens the offense up a little more. He had a layup cutting off a Russell drive. He Euro stepped around a help defender for another layup. He got a man on his hip and scored a layup. He sank a three after letting a defender fly by. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-9 shooting (1-4 from three) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals and 4 fouls in 34 minutes. He was a +13.

Wood -- -- No Hayes in this one. So when AD went down, it was up to Wood. Either that or Castleton. So Wood it was. He came up big with a couple of huge threes in the fourth. He also scooped up a loose ball for a layup. He might have been open or available for a putback if Bron tried to finish or maybe could have squeezed a pass or threw it up high to him on that last play. Still, having a floor spacer like Wood helps a lot. Didn’t use it on that last play, though. He had just hit a couple of threes. You bet they’d have been concerned about that and stuck with him. But, we stuck him in the dunker spot and the paint was crowded. Don’t like that. The Stats: He scored 12 points on 4-10 shooting (3-6 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 30 minutes. He was a -1.

Christie -- -- He dunked off a high-low feed from AD. He also attacked quickly off the catch to get between a couple defenders. He missed his only three attempt and he lost a handle trying to turn the corner. Good chance for Christie to try to make an impact. Hitting threes would help that. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-3 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 1 board, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 15 minutes. He was a -8.
Reddish -- -- He missed the open three at the end. He’s been terribly inefficient offensively. Yeah, it was a good look, but you are also open for a reason. The Lakers could have used him to set a screen for Prince to drop to the corner. Maybe you could pull Bam out high with Wood, have Reddish in the dunker spot. They did this earlier in the game and it allowed Bron to finish over a smaller help defender. They didn’t go back to that. Reddish didn’t get a stat for shooting a three, that will probably be corrected. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-5 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 4 boards (2 offensive), 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 29 minutes. He wa s a -4.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: Last several plays of the game where the Lakers went 0-5. Neither team scored with 2 minutes left. If the Lakers manufacture anything, they win this. On the final play, they had Bron attack, draw help and he fed it to the open man, Reddish, in the corner. He missed. The Lakers got the L. Really, only choice there is swapping out Christie on offense. Would have been great to have Russell or Vincent or even Rui. I think I’m more annoyed that we have Wood down in the paint so that Bam could hover around there with ease on that last drive. Why not pull him out to the perimeter? Not thrilled with that. It just allowed Bam to leave and challenge Bron. The Lakers got burned by a lot of techs in this game, including Ham. “We just want balance and consistency. That’s it. I see Bron shooting four freethrows and the amount of times he attacked the rim, the amount of time he was slapped on the arm, which I could see plain as day for that not to be called?”

Key Substitution: Wood, Bron, Prince, Reddish, Reaves down the stretch. Normally, I think we sit Reddish for a shooter in a final play like that. No choices right there but Christie.

Key Stats: Lakers 8-26 from three (30.8%). Could have used one more.

[gumby]

Very disappointing loss considering they battled back from a large deficit around the 3rd/4th quarter.

That very last play was terrible to me. I'd rather LeBron heave it or try to get fouled vs. just throwing it to a poor shooting option like Reddish. I'll always take my chances with that in comparison because quite frankly we don't have a true Fisher or Horry for that kind of situation.

It will always remind me of this Star Trek quote:

Kirk:
Mr. Spock, have you accounted for the variable mass of whales and water in your time re-entry program?
Spock:
Mr. Scott cannot give me exact figures, Admiral, so... I will make a guess.
Kirk:
A guess? You, Spock? That's extraordinary.
Spock:
[to Dr. McCoy]
I don't think he understands.
McCoy:
No, Spock. He means that he feels safer about your guesses than most other people's facts.
Spock:
Then you're saying...
[pause]

Spock:
It is a compliment?
McCoy:
It is.
Spock:
Ah. Then, I will try to make the best guess I can.
McCoy:
Please do.

(thanks DB)

Bye.
_________________
"This trophy removes the most odious sentence in the English Language. It can never be said again that 'the Lakers have never beaten the Celtics.'" -Dr. Jerry Buss (1985) R.I.P., 33 x M.V.O.

[A Mad Chinaman]

Spoelstra played it smart

Left open the shooter that they wanted to take the last shot

Conclusion: We Lost

[Nobody]

The two teams really played those last two minutes and a half like they both wanted to lose, huh. Again no effort on the boards and a ton of second chance points by the Heat. And a whole lot of open three-pointers. The D gets knocked out of sync far too often because we have so many defensive liabilities out there. Some crisp ball movement and bam - an open three.

[joeblow]

Eh, I suppose it's the way the ball bounces to blame Reddish for missing the last open jumper, but the truth of the matter is that immediately before his brick, Lebron missed an open three (missing all four of his 3PAs for the night) and then Austin proceeded to miss two threes of his own.

Any of those four clangers would have put us in position to win, but since we only had seven warm bodies available that were all putting out a good defensive effort for much of the game, I don't blame any of them for perhaps being kinda winded.

It would've been nice if one of those three players attacked the basket though.

[pio2u]

Thanks DB!
Those TECHS really cost us big-time.

[RI Laker]

Thanks DB!!! How many were thinking OH [don't bypass the filter. alpha] when Cam was taking the shot?

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB.

Your write-ups:

This game:

[governator]

Coulda been 0-7, injuries, mostly playoff teams, stay positive
_________________
“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.“

[Alpha]

Thanks DB!

I caught the end, driving home from work, when they brought the lead down from 9 to 1... i kept yelling "stop taking 3's!" I know if you're open and you normally hit it but, they were down by one... i swear they only attempted (and missed 4) threes (with exception to Lebron getting called for a charge). They only needed a two... or one for that matter.

[joeblow]

[Hiphopdrunky]

I mean seriously what a frustrating game to watch. In a 1 point game, to take 3 threes in a row?!?!? Seriously come on!

[DancingBarry]

PROGRAMMING ALERT: I won't be able to cover Friday's game. If anyone wants to cover it, the game is open.