LAKERS -vs- PACERS - 12-9-23 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

In-Season Tournament Champs... The first NBA in-season cup goes to the Los Angeles Lakers. Perhaps, as this grows they will give a little more importance to it. But for now you get to see what your team is made of and you get half a mil in cash for each player.

The intensity was throttled up. The rotations tightened. Guys came to play.

The Lakers edged out to an early lead. From the start they were hedging high, trapping and recovering when Haliburton had the ball for the Pacers. He’s the point of attack and the Lakers zeroed in on that.

On the offensive side, Austin Reaves stepped up with an aggressive first half, scoring 22 points on 7-9 shooting in the half. Playoff tested, you knew he’d come to play. The Lakers had a 65-60 lead at the half.

Midway through the third quarter, AD came up limping and went to the sideline. The rotations were thrown off as the staff went to work on him. He was back in a couple minutes later. He covers so much ground defensively, was a beast on the boards, you need him to win this game. Huge all game but especially down the stretch, he came up big.

In the fourth, the Pacers were able to cut the lead to just a possession. As Cam hit the Lakers second three, AD continued to impose himself in the paint, attacking the glass and the rim on offense and altering shots on defense. They rattled off a 13-0 run over a 3:25 stretch late in the fourth quarter. As LeBron teamed up with AD for a lob dunk and then another dunk of his own down the middle of the lane, the Pacers were done for.

For AD, he finished with 41 points, 20 boards, 5 assists and 4 blocks. The Lakers took the first In-Season Tournament, 123-109.

“Anytime you can put the Lakers in the history books for the greater good always means something,” LeBron said.


LeBron -- -- “This will go down in history,” Bron said. He’s stepped up his intensity in these in-season tournament games and it’s been amazing to watch. He got to the rim again and again tonight. One one he split defenders and scored a layup down the middle of the lane. He got middle on the two-man, scored a layup. Christie and Reaves found him for layups. He backed a man down, spun, missed but putback in a layup. Love seeing him in the post in big games. Late in the game he had a dunk around Toppin, pulling it down and back up on the finish. That was the backbreaker for the Pacers. Defensively, the steal he had early in the game was a thing of beauty. As they trapped Haliburton on the high screen, Bron played the free safety, read where the pass was going to go and jumped lane for the interception. Using those smarts, he’s played that backline well when we are pressuring up high. He’d get into foul trouble in the first half and had to sit with 3:19 left, one of those came off a rotation where he was just a beat late to take the charge. Great job leading this team through the tournament, but I’m sure also getting the team a taste of success early on can make them more hungry for the bigger prize. Scary moment in the fourth when Bron went down grabbing his knee after contact. What you don’t want in this game is an injury. It will happen some year. The Stats: He scored 24 points on 10-21 shooting (0-1 from three, 4-5 from the line) to go with 11 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals, 6 turnovers and 5 fouls in 35 minutes. He was a +19.

Davis -- -- Beast mode. “We want to be the first to get this,” AD said. That and the cash, of course, was motivating, for sure. But dang, AD. The stats in this game won’t count, but he came to play from start to finish. He had 17 points on 8-13 shooting, 11 boards and 2 blocks (more alterations). The second half was about the same as he finished with 41 points, 20 boards, 5 assists and 4 blocks. He was relentless around the rim on both ends. He had a block on a drive that led to a dunk for Cam the other way. He had a seal in the paint and hammered over his man. He cut off Bron and score a layup a the rim to force a timeout. He was pumped. He drew a number of freethrows during this stretch. So dominant on both ends of the court. He was vital for the Lakers defense. We’d hedge up high, he’d have to recover and scramble, covering space and causing disruption. “We’ve been locked in defensively,” he said of the team. “It’s my job to be that anchor and lead the team on the defensive end.” Limping quite a bit in the second half. He came out at the 6-minute mark of the third for Hayes with the Lakers up 8. They worked on his inner thigh or groin area and he returned a minute later. Hopefully, it’s just a bruise or something minor. He seemed to be moving fine late in the game. The Stats: He scored 41 points on 16-24 shooting (9-13 from the line) to go with 20 boards (5 offensive), 4 blocks, 4 turnovers and 2 fouls in 41 minutes. He was a +13.

Russell -- -- Not an efficient game, but he had some moments. Good job changing speeds on probes to get to the rim for layups. He finessed his way to some finishes early on. I love seeing us run the sideline pick and roll with Russell and AD. They’ve got some chemistry on that. When Russell can get middle on that it’s trouble. He’d hit a floater. He’d get middle on a high screen and lob to AD. In the second half in a key juncture, he’d probe for a layup and swish a baseline jumper. He’d also find AD on a great post entry bounce pass for a score. The Lakers had the lead to just a possession and he contributed to some big plays there. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 6-15 shooting (0-3 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 7 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 1 foul in 32 minutes. He was a +17.

Prince -- -- “The attention to detail we kept from the time we landed to the time we won it was impeccable,” Prince said. This is what I love about this tournament. You could tell everyone was dialed in and they will absolutely grow from this experience. “It gives you a good stepping stone to where we could be in June,” he said. Asked what he would do with the money, he said buy some land or something. He had a quiet night compared to the last one, but he hit our first late in the third quarter. He’d get another And-1 layup attacking in transition for his other bucket. Fewer minutes in this one as we went with more Christie. I think we might see more of that as the season goes on. Just to keep Max in the mix and reduce some of the load on Prince. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-3 shooting (1-2 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a +4.

Reddish -- -- Can’t say enough about how important he was in this game. He took on the point of attack in Haliburton and battled hard, tag teaming with Vando when he needed a breather or had to sit with some foul issues. The 3 blocks show how relentless he was on defense. Haliburton had a couple of turnovers early on with the Laker pressure. The Lakers can apply a lot of pressure on the perimeter with AD there helping. All you need to do with the Pacers is make sure you don’t get beat by their pace, and just take a little bit of inefficiency out of Haliburton who carries them (Haliburton would shoot 2-8 from three and had 3 turnovers…still put up 20-11, but was a team-low -19). Reddish was a team-high +24. Offensively, he had a big dunk off an AD block to ignite the break and buried a huge corner three in the fourth. Ham said that prior to the season, Cam just wanted the coach to be straight up with him. Whatever he needed, let him know. If he was doing something wrong, tell him. Ham said, you got the right coach. His career has turned the corner, it seems. I think Cam, more than anyone, probably benefited from this game. He’s been doing while in the spotlight in L.A., but what about when the pressure is on? We just don’t know until the playoffs usually. This game gave you a chance to build a little trust with the coaches and confidence with Ham. That will pay off the rest of the season. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-7 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 3 boards (2 offensive), 1 assist, 3 blocks, 3 turnovers and 5 fouls in 33 minutes. He was a +24.

Reaves -- -- He wasn’t feeling well, Ham revealed afterward. Bron was joked about whose flu game was better, AR or MJ. Reaves crushed it. He’s already shown he can compete in the pressure of the playoffs. He got after it. He dropped 22 in the first half. He hit a pull-up from inside the three line working off a screen. He’d get into the lane for some midrange scores. He’d get all the way to the rim for some And-1s. He’d attack the pressure, blowing past it for an easy finish. His layup package may be second to just Bron on the team. Great job getting to the line in this game. I think only a couple of those were him purposely just trying to get to the line (I think he was ticked on a call they whistled on Cam, so he did a swing through to force a call for FTs). The Lakers had 86 points in the paint as Reaves, Bron, Russell, AD were taking it to the weak Pacer D. I love his consistency. He’s just very reliable in big games and stepped up big tonight. “I don’t think anyone on our team is worried about who the third guy or fourth guy or fifth guy is, we just want to win,” Reaves said. The Stats: He scored 28 points on 9-15 shooting (0-3 from three, 10-12 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists and 1 foul in 28 minutes. He was a +10.

Hachimura -- -- Super quiet night. Only 9 minutes and he had 3 fouls. He missed a fading jumper on his only attempt, but had a couple of offensive boards. We played some smaller, mobile lineups with Vando and Christie. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-1 shooting to go with 2 offensive boards and 3 fouls in 9 minutes. He was a -5.

Vanderbilt -- -- I loved just seeing the energy out there hounding Haliburton full court or ball denying. Just the continuous energy the Lakers were able to throw defensively at the point of attack was a huge difference maker. Some good challenges, forcing an airball on one, swatting a man on a drive on another. He didn’t score, missing a dunk attempt (AD cleaned that up). He had an assist, scooping up a loose ball and hitting Russell on the break for a layup. Some odd lineups out there we haven’t run yet this season when Bron sat that impacted the +/-. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-1 shooting to go with 4 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 blocks and 1 foul in 16 minutes. He was a -8.

Christie -- -- He and Reaves combined for the bench’s 30 points. Of course, Christie, of course, had just 2 of those, a couple of FTs. Some good moments out there. He hit Bron on the break with a sweet bounce pass between defenders for a score. On the bad passing side, he threw a ball to AD who was not yet across the half court line. He was disruptive on D at times, deflecting a pass in the paint to ignite a break. He got a stop at the rim on a drive. He drew a moving screen foul for another stop. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 0-1 from three (2-2 from the line) to go with 1 board, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 19 minutes. He was a -3.

Hayes -- -- Our backup again for when AD sat, and again we were able to stay net positive. A key stretch was in the middle of the third when AD sat after limping up and down the court for a bit. His one offensive board led to a Reaves score. The money will be especially big for Laker free agents who signed for the minimum. Not often you can leave Vegas up $500K. The Stats: He had 4 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 7 minutes. He was a +1.

Hood-Schifino -- -- Garbage-time minute of action to run out the clock. The Stats: He had 1 foul in 1 minute. He was a -1.

Lewis -- -- I think they said this would be a 47% raise on his base salary this year. The Stats: He had no stats in 1 minute. He was a -1.

Ham -- -- Key Moment: As a coach, you really can’t create a playoff atmosphere to test your guys. Sure there are big games and crunch time in tight games. But you can’t replicate the hype and pressure in the regular season that the last couple of games had. So Ham and the staff got to test their guys, especially the new ones, in a pressure situation tonight. With the game on the line, the team responded. They rattled off a 13-0 run over 3:25 late in the fourth. The Lakers couldn’t get separation until this stretch. Credit AD and Reddish defensively. Good seeing Russell come in and make a couple key plays. Bron, Reaves, AD, you know what you are getting. The closed strong.

Key Substitution: Reaves had 28 of the 30 Laker bench points. “I don’t think he gets enough credit for how big of a competitor he is,” Ham said. Pressure on, he delivered.

Key Stats: They had an 86-44 advantage on points in the paint. So the 2-13 three shooting didn’t matter. The Pacers shot 10-41 from three (24%). The difference in attempts there is crazy. The Lakers may have purposely dialed in the long attempts to help slow the Pacers transition game.

[pio2u]

THX DB!!!

[LakerDYnasty72]

This team is showing that we can/will be a formidable defensive team. Vando, Cam & AD give us a real defensive presence. When you have LeBron playing free safety the team can play with anyone.

The way we played reminded me of how we looked shortly after the trades last year. Specifically, I remember how we overwhelmed the Pels at that time with our length and defense. Great showing.

However, I still can't shake the feeling that we still times need a bulkier 5 behind AD & Hayes.

As always, appreciate your work DB. Thanks!

[Valdarno]

With superstars LBJ and Davis playing great, the Lakers still barely won........to a team with how many superstars?

[Brawn13]

[RhodyRay]

DB,

Great job as always.

Since this was not an NBA championship, you need to breakout a two horsemen story!!
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Let them HATE so long as they FEAR!

[miggz23]

[Nobody]

Wonderful defense all night long and just a beastly performance by AD, LeBron and Reaves on offense. The only blip was - predictably - three point shooting. I guess you can live with that against the soft Indiana D and almost 90 paint points.

[Dr. Laker]

[governator]

3 playoff atmosphere wins, good wins, defense elite, Bron elite, AD elite, Reaves ready and how you like the Cam/Vando/Max relentless pursuit
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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.“

[ChefLinda]

Kobe would be proud.

[danzag]

17+1 >>>>>> 17
(bleep) BOSTON

[waterman40]

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

[LakerLanny]

LeBron continues to amaze.

It really does seem like he could play as long as he wants to and still be a dominant player.

The IST may be a little cheesy but bottom line is the Lakers won it and all the other teams didn't. Suck that Boston.
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Love, Laker Lanny

[LakerDYnasty72]

[CervantesRises]

[CervantesRises]

[Hammett]

You could really see the refs trying hard to keep the Pacers close til the end. Great win! Love the Boston tears. Now lets win the real trophy.
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Lakers. Built different.

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

DB - waay overdue on this but thank you for another great T&R analysis!!

Great to see the Lakers stepping it up, and Cam is such a difference maker, way beyond my expectations pre-season.

[LakerDYnasty72]

[ReaListik]

Amazing win. Great performances from this team.
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"We are the goodest." - Shaq ESPN interview

[JM]

[LakerDYnasty72]