The NBA regular season is an unforgiving gauntlet. A marathon that forces you to sprint through games every other night and grind that out for 5 month and then magically be ready for the even more intense NBA playoffs. Up against that reality are our Los Angeles Lakers of 2025-26. Injuries have forced Coach Reddick to adapt on the fly with multiple starting line ups and rotational tweaks just to keep a semi-functioning 5 man unit out there. Against Portland, when we were already down Luka and LeBron, we added Vincent and Smart to the list of wounded players which left Reaves, Bronny James and two-way player Nick Smith Jr. as the primary playmakers. This would prove to be too much to overcome.
- Reaves keeps pouring in the points. Reaves was, again, a lightning rod on offense sparking the Lakers with 41 points on 22 shots. Where he had a major let down was on the efficiency and accuracy of his passing game. 5 assists to 8 turnovers is bad however you frame it and we need him to take better care of the ball while Luka and LeBron are out. Especially when we’re also down our other 2 primary guards off the bench. Austin looks primed to make an All Star team this season and, if he keep this up when Luka and LeBron return, I don’t see how they keep him off. That’s an individual accolade, though, and we need Reaves to be the best version of himself when it comes to managing the game, points or no. If he can combine his elite scoring with some solid playmaking and decent defense the sky is the limit.
- Vando’s solid all-around game. I’ve long wanted to see Vanderbilt in more of a point-forward role off of rebounds in the open court. He’s not a half-court playmaker, although he’s an under-rated passer (and a lot better than the cringe-worthy Jake LaRavia who I had hoped would be better at making the simple pass) but on the break he’s solid. You won’t (and shouldn’t) confuse him with Magic Johnson or even Lamar Odom, but he makes decent reads and he pushes the tempo under control. His rebounding and tenacity helped keep us in the game and his minutes are starting to creep up towards the 30 mpg mark which bodes well for his health.
- Jake’s game to forget. Nothing went very well for the prime offseason acquisition (according to Rob Pelinka, my pick is Ayton on that front). I have to keep telling myself he’s only 23, being asked to contribute in a role bigger than he’s probably ready for, and should be viewed as more of a building block than ready to contribute now kind of player. Having said all that, Jake stunk against Portland. Owner of a -27 +/- (which also meant he shared the floor a lot with Ayton and Nick Smith Jr.) I hope Jake can move past this one quickly. You can’t let a loss bother you just like you can’t let a win blow up your expectations. Keep it cool and steady, he’s got a solid all around game that’s still finding it’s way into what we’re doing.
- Ayton’s pick and pop. A lot was made of the potential for Ayton to be a lob threat. Maybe it’s me, but I’ve never really thought of Ayton as a high-fly act, that’s Jaxson Hayes. Where Ayton is more effective and comfortable is trailing a cutter in the half court and getting the pass around the elbow where he can either make a decisive move (decisive being the key word there) or just shoot the elbow jumper. He looks so much more fluid and sharp in those actions than he does trying to set up for the lob. If I’m Reddick, Luka and LeBron I’m taking note of this. It also opens the door for an unconventional line up of Hayes, Ayton, Luka, LeBron and Reaves with Hayes in the dunkers spot and Ayton as a weak-side spacing big. Not too sure I want to see DeAndre firing up threes all game long but one or two from the corner isn’t out of the question, either.
- Offensive rebounding, turnovers and an overall lack of adjustments. What truly lost us the game though, was an inability to secure the defensive rebound, unforced errors and not adjusting to Portland’s pressing defense. By the time the 4th quarter rolled around (some might even say after the half) we should have had a player ready to set a screen in the backcourt for the PG to get it smoothly across the timeline. We never really made that adjustment and, as such, we were never able to properly punish the Trailblazers for over extending their defense. Add in a bunch of bad passes (something that really needs to get ironed out ASAP, I feel like we lead the league in lofting, willowy passes ripe for the picking) and not boxing out offensive rebounders and it’s the same recipe for a loss we saw last season and especially in the playoffs.
Big game tonight, let’s bounce back people!
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