LAKERS -at- THUNDER - 11-30-23 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

2-2 Road Trip... I guess considering all their issues right now, you can be okay with splitting your road games.

The Lakers, however, just got taken out of a couple of games rather quickly on this trip when teams went to zone defense.

L.A. had a 35-21 lead with a minute and half left in the first quarter. They gave up early offense scores, too many freethrows and saw that lead cut in half by the end of the quarter.

As the Thunder shifted to a zone on defense, the Lakers struggled. AD was dominant in the first quarter, but neutralized in that second quarter.

Defensively, AD got beat down court. The Thunder would score early and often, running off a 17-4 run. They’d get down court before the defense got set, and they dropped 42 points in that second -- the most given up by L.A. in a quarter this season.

More of the same in the second half for the Lakers as the Thunder cruised to a 133-110 win. The Lakers never threatened.


LeBron -- -- Late in the game, LeBron looked gutted when AD was blocked on a dunk from behind after a feed from Bron in the fourth quarter, a 5-point switch on that play. The three ball was dropping for LeBron (4-8). That usually means a big night, but we floundered offensively after the first quarter with the zones. Defensively, nothing great. He gave up an offensive board and a three off that. He’d have a bunch of turnovers throughout the game. All of them different. The Lakers got nickel and dimed off those extra possessions. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 7-12 shooting (4-8 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 12 boards, 6 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 5 turnovers and 1 foul in 35 minutes. He was a -18.

Davis -- -- He had 15 points on 6-8 shooting in the first quarter, bullying his way to some easy scores against Holmgren. Holmgren had zero chance against AD on iso. Just 4 points in the second quarter, however, as we struggled with the zone coverage thrown against him. The offense once again lacked purpose against the zone and that largely neutralized him. Occasionally, they would find some high-lows for easy scores, but they struggled. It didn’t help that what OKC gave up (open threes) was not being taken advantage of by guys. Defensively, the huge thing for the Thunder was just beating AD down court. They were relentless and AD was not in transition. That killed us. They’d get to the rim or to their shot before our defense could lock in and were very efficience. Bad hands tonight, as well, from AD as he fumbled away at least three passes. The Stats: He scored 31 points on 11-18 shooting (0-1 from three, 9-10 from the line) to go with 14 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 foul in 36 minutes. He was a -12.

Russell -- -- He had 14 points on 5-8 shooting in the first half. Most of that came early as he was able to get to the paint or knock down a couple of threes. Once the Thunder got into the zone, he wasn’t a threat. When they went back to man coverage, Russell looked like he knew what he wanted to do once again. So he got neutralized with our poor zone offense in addition to AD. Some bonehead plays, though, in this one. He fouled a man 40-feet from the hoop for FTs. He also choked a point-blank layup to start the fourth. The Stats: He scored 16 points on 6-13 shooting (2-5 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 10 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a -4.

Prince -- -- He killed the team on both ends. Offensively, you can’t get any more wide open from the corner than he was. Again and again missing shots you’ve got to make. That’s why you are out there. Vando at least gives you defense if he’s missing threes. Prince is borderline on that end. If there’s a foul near a screen, it’s usually him. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-7 shooting (2-5 from three) to go with 1 board, 2 assists, 1 turnover and 5 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a -10.

Christie -- -- He got the SGA assignment defensively to start. I’m not sure why they went away from that. Our problems defensively were more in transition and general process. He hit a couple of threes in the game and had a nice drive where he bumped a man and hit a runner out of at timeout. On the poor side, his lack of confidence showed when he picked up his dribble on a drive in the paint and was immediately stripped. Still, overall, good minutes for him to keep getting more reps. No boards, but he did have a couple of tap outs. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-7 shooting (2-3 from three) to go with 2 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 21 minutes. He was a -2.

Reaves -- -- Slow start, missing some threes and throwing away a pass. He picked it up in the second half, hitting some jumpers and And-1s. He got robbed of two And-1s in the second half. We need our depth back to help the bench. We brought him in early in the second half for Prince to take on the SGA assignment. A lot of the success on that depends on the help from the bigs when navigating screens, but he did all right. We needed Vando or Reddish, though. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 5-9 shooting (1-4 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 29 minutes. He was a -23.

Wood -- -- Just one make in this game. He bullied Holmgren on an attack off the three line for an And-1 layup. The three ball wasn’t there tonight, he also rushed an easy one down low. Just not efficient. With how OKC was getting the ball up court in transition, this is where you hope the two bigman lineups would perform better. AD is behind the action, but you still have some anchoring. That didn’t happen a lot tonight, but was something we saw earlier in the season. We also missed Hayes a little in that hustle area. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 1-6 shooting (0-2 from three, 5-7 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 21 minutes. He was a -11.

Hood-Schifino -- -- He was in to start the second quarter with the Lakers short-handed. Just too many little miscues. Those lead to empty possessions where you don’t finish something you should have or you fumble a pass away or get stripped trying to create off the dribble. Best play of the night was attacking the paint, bumping his man to get space and hitting a one-hander. That’s his bread and butter that he needs to focus on. Use that size to get some easy ones. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-6 shooting (0-3 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a -15.

Hodge -- -- He missed a three. The Stats: No scoring on 0-1 shooting from three in 4 minutes. He was a -5.

Castleton -- -- He drew some FTs on a layup attempt for his only points. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 0-1 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 1 block and no fouls in 4 minutes. He was a -5.

Lewis -- -- Nothing to report in his 4 minutes of garbage time. The Stats: No stats in 4 minutes. He was a -5.

Fudge -- -- He hit the top of the backboard on a corner three. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 0-1 shooting from three (2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board in 4 minutes. He was a -5.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: The momentum shifted at the end of the first quarter, but it was really a continuation of the Lakers struggles against zone defense that took them out of this one. There’s just a lot the team isn’t trying or setting up. The purpose/intent is totally fixable and on the coaches. Surprising that it was not better handled in this game. The execution (not hitting open threes or throwing passes into crowds) is on the players.

Key Substitution: No Rui, no Gabe, no Vando, no Hayes, no Reddish tonight. So we had JHS out there getting minutes. That’s a problem.

Key Stats: The Lakers gave up 78 points between the second and third quarters. They scored 51. Both teams shot 33% from three.

[pio2u]

THX DB!

[Hanging from Rafters]

2-2 ain’t bad but team looked bad in the two losses.
_________________
“When it looks as if it is a realistic possibility, I want to focus on winning a ship like it’s a goal that can’t be denied. I didn’t see that this off season.”

[DA1]

That 1st Quarter was some of the best ball we've played all season IMO.

Such a great quarter... too bad the games are 4 quarters

[Halflife]

[deal]

Ahhhh,



Thanks DB!
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Lakers need to build a freaking team !

[A Mad Chinaman]

[mhan00]

[Nobody]

[DA1]