MAVS -at- LAKERS - 11-22-23 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Sluggish Until They Weren’t... The third game in four nights for the Lakers, who are missing most of their high energy defenders outside of AD.

As a result, no steals for the Lakers in the first half. Combine that with a ton of missed layups and that meant very few easy ones offensively.

After being outscored 8-2 to close the first quarter while Bron, AD and Russell all sat, the Lakers had an underwhelming start to the second quarter when LeBron returned only to miss more layups and cough the ball up. They trailed 62-46 at the half.

The Lakers tried to play with a little more aggression in the second half, but it came and went in that third quarter. They’d threaten to cut the lead in half, then go dry offensively. Losing the first three quarters, they fell back by 20 heading into the fourth. The one bright spot in that third, Reaves brought the right effort and mindset. That carried over into the fourth.

With LeBron and Reaves teaming up with back-to-back threes, they forced an early timeout down 13. Reaves would help them trim it to 9, but the Lakers came up empty on several trips in a row before Ham called another timeout still down 9.

They’d dig in defensively and scratch their way to a 21-4 run to open the fourth quarter.

Reaves would come up big with another shot and LeBron came out of nowhere to tip in another of Reaves’ attempts and the Lakers took the lead.

Up 2, the Lakers gave up a big three to Kyrie trail by a point with 20 seconds left. Instead of taking a timeout to get their guys some rest, draw a play up, they ran it down court. Bron took the air out of the ball for a bit before finally throwing it away trying to connect with AD (who was scoreless in the second half) under the hoop. Turnover, foul situation, and the Lakers are now down 3 with 2.8 seconds left.

LeBron would miss a corner chuck on an inbounds to try to tie it up, and the Lakers fell 104-101.


LeBron -- -- He’d get 16 of his 26 in the fourth quarter. He was 2-6 in the first half and I think all four of his misses were layups. He’s been really good at finishing around the rim, but just struggled in this one. He’d sink a couple of threes, though, including a big one early in the fourth to force a Dallas timeout. He’d miss a big one that could have cut it to 6 early in the fourth, but hit another one to cut it to 5. He’d then follow that up with a layup over Kyrie to cut it to 3. After missing a couple big freethrows (ouch!), he made a big three to cut it back to 4. He’d give the Laker the lead flying in from the rafters to tip in a Reaves miss with 1:16 left. Great effort by him. Reaves was the Robin to his Batman. AD was I don’t know what. Defensively, the scheme we were playing required a lot more movement and rotations. You’ve really got to have some hustle guys around Bron for that. Once they went to switching later in the fourth, good things happened for the team. Good effort to close this one. The Stats: He scored 26 points on 9-19 shooting (4-9 from three, 4-7 from the line) to go with 9 boards, 7 assists and 3 turnovers in 36 minutes. He was a +7.

Davis -- -- He had 10 points and 7 boards at halftime. He finished the game with 10 points. Down the stretch, you want to see something draw up for him to help carry the load instead of relying entirely on Bron and Reaves. Upsetting. Bron tried to force one to him under the hoop in the final seconds and turned it over. That was a freelance play instead of setting something up. But a lot of this is on AD. There were plays we put shots up and AD was just standing on the perimeter and watching. Where are you? Use your size. We had an advantage late. So, I think when we get into these multi-game scenarios, we just aren’t getting the full effort from him. Additionally, it feels like the perimeter shot he started the year with is starting to leave him. When you’re tired you can maybe fall back on that. His last couple shots were midrange jumpers that both came up short. Very few notes for AD tonight. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 4-10 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 14 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 36 minutes. He was a +2.

Russell -- -- Quiet first half making just one layup in his six attempts. He picked it up in the second half. He buried a couple of threes, a long jumper and scored a layup in transition and was quickly the Lakers leading scorer. He was called for a big foul on a Luka head jerk as Russell came from behind him to challenge a shot. The Lakers challenged the call down 2 with 2:04 left. Successful challenge, Lakers got the ball. Good job by Russell on the defense there. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 5-11 shooting (2-4 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 5 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 24 minutes. He was a +1.

Prince -- -- Much better game. A little more attacking off the three line in this one, which allowed him to get all the way to the rim on a few for scores. He’d knock down a big three midway through the fourth quarter on a busted play, stepping back and burying it to cut the lead to 6. He’d later hit a big one in the paint to cut it to 2. Some big plays there which helped the Lakers chip away at that lead. Better rebounding game. Although, he did have a bad one. He’s semi decent at boxing out despite his typically poor rebounding numbers, but man, did he have a bad boxout where his man just reached right over his head to take a board away and score a putback. They called a timeout right after that one as the lead ballooned to 21. Those little plays add up. The Stats: HE scored 14 points on 6-10 shooting (2-5 from three) to go with 6 boards, 2 assists, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 37 minutes. He was a +17.

Christie -- -- As mentioned out of the rotation to starting with the Cam injury. He did a good job on Kyrie, but he’s certainly not the steal machine Cam has been. He hit a three for the Lakers first score. In the second half, he curled around a screen and dunked with both hands. He’d also hit a floater attacking the paint. Definitely looked more in the flow and comfortable in this game, although Bron snapped at him one time for not securing a defensive board. That’s usually not a problem. He got caught on some of those no AD, no Bron, no Russell minutes impacting his +/-. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-7 shooting (1-4 from three) to go with 2 boards and no fouls in 23 minutes. He was a -19.

Reaves -- -- I liked his energy off the bench in the third quarter. We were down big, but he was playing with a chip on his shoulder and that was huge. Very much in that Manu-like role to help spark the team. He and Bron helped bring the team back in the fourth (including a sweet And-1 step-through at the buzzer). Down 5, he had an 8-second violation getting the ball knocked away from him. That didn’t cost them as they got the stop. With 1:51, he’d make up for it coming out of a timeout and attacking off the screen for a floater to tie the game up. Huge make. I wanted to see him bring the game home for us with 20 seconds left. Bron was looking gassed and the foot hurt and he’d sucked the air out of the ball a bit. Lakers had the lead in this one late, just couldn’t push it to the finish line. Go back to the halftime. Reaves made a half court heave, but it came just a hair after the buzzer. They could have used that one. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 7-14 shooting (1-5 from three, 2-3 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 6 assists, 2 turnovers and 5 fouls in 31 minutes. He was a -3.

Hachimura -- -- He had 9 points on 4-10 shooting at the half. He struggled a little with that midrange shot, but did hit a corner three. They liked the athleticism Hayes was playing with and sat Rui early to go for that defensive pressure on Luka. Rui tried taking on quite a bit of that Luka defense earlier in the game. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-11 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 3 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 26 minute. He was a -8.

Wood -- -- He was a -15 in 15 minutes. Ham is running Reaves for stretches without Bron, AD or Russell. That’s tough. Ideally, Wood can find some easy ways to score during those stretches, but he may need more playmaking help to get that going. The Stats: He scored 1 points on 0-1 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist and 1 foul in 15 minutes. He was a -15.

Hayes -- -- Some switching and doubling that put Hayes on Luka early in the fourth defensively. That kept him in the game over Rui as we were more active defensively. (Luka got a bogus foul against him when Hayes went vertical and Luka bounced off him.) He had a big offensive board down three with 4:37 left for FTs, he’d miss both, however. Cut have cut it to 1. We needed those. He and Bron left 4 points at the line in crunch time. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-1 shooting (0-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards and 1 foul in 11 minutes. He was a +7.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: Down 1 after we gave up a three with 20 seconds left (really needed to defend against the three there). We brought the ball in without taking a timeout (we had two). LeBron ran clock down and threw it away trying to hit AD in a crowd on a freelance read. No real play call. Ham said he didn’t want Dallas to put in defenders. How about getting Bron some rest? The Lakers would then fall back by three after taking intentional fouls. They had 2.8 seconds left and LeBron would miss a three in the corner at the buzzer. Sigh.

Key Substitution: When we brought back AD, we sat Rui and kept Hayes in the mix in the fourth. The team was getting stops, but AD coming back in the fourth and not scoring? How are you not getting him something when Bron is looking gassed and AR is having to completely take over. AD going scoreless in second halves is something, man. Weird.

Key Stats: I don’t know how many missed layups they had in the game. Ham said they missed five point-blank looks by halftime. Felt like more. The Lakers lost all three quarters to start this game and then won the fourth 30-13. They’ve put some clamps on in the fourth this year. They opened that quarter with a 21-4 run.

[Kobe_Is_King13]

First....

[Inspector Gadget]

Christian Wood has been a wasted signing, some nights it seems like he’s helping the team and other nights he becomes invisible like there is no tomorrow, this is the perfect thread for me to vent my frustration

[slavavov]

LeBron's turnover with a few seconds left really killed me. This is what bugs me about him. Sometimes he's clutch (and he's been great in the fourth quarter this season), but other times he, I hate to say it, chokes.

Coach really needs to find a counter to these double-team defenses teams throw at AD. It's not all on AD. Ham and LeBron need to find a way to counter these defenses and get AD some easy looks and get his head into the game.

Our biggest weakness right now is 3-point shooting. Maybe that's one reason why other teams can get away with doubling AD. Prince, Reddish, Wood and Vanderbilt need to start hitting from downtown, or else the Lakers will need to make some moves to bring in wing players who will do that.
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Lakers 49ers Chargers Dodgers

[Inspector Gadget]

[Nobody]

Oh well, all those 50-50 balls, missed FTs and untimely turnovers came to bite them in the ass. Being thoroughly outplayed, outhustled and outrebounded through 3/4 of the game also didn't help. Enjoyed the 4th quarter run, too bad they didn't pull it off.

[RI Laker]

Thanks DB! Great come back but the missed FT's by LJ and Hayes as well as the TO's by AR (who lost one bringing the ball up) and LJ (what the F was that pass) were killers. I know this was the back end of a back to back, but our big 2 luckily didn't play big minutes on the front end. AD should be embarrassed with that performance (Dallas is not known for their low post D). AT least LJ kicked it into overdrive when it counted. AD was stuck in first gear.

[PenG_]

LeBron's strategy for this season is pretty obvious now, which is to coast then turn up the dial for the 4th.

His 4th quarter stats
47/73 (64.4%)
+86 net rating (next closest in the league is +60)

Unfortunately you just don't win that many games trying to claw back from 20. Have to figure out the slow starts.

[Laker7]

Thanks DB!

Can't decide if the Lakers lost due to Hayes and Lebron missing 4 free throws is the last 4 minutes or because Davis didn't score in the second half.


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Darvin Ham is an idiot!

[Hammett]

AD didn't score in the 2nd half? WTF, this is just unacceptable.
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Lakers. Built different.

[kfkilla]

[ocho]

[Brawn13]

[slavavov]