5 Things: Solid Team Win

Even the superstars have an off night. For the Lakers, this was the case for both Reaves and Luka as both players had an off night scoring the basketball. They did keep the ball moving and it was to their benefit because on a night that both Doncic and Reaves will quickly put behind them, their teammates stepped up. That’s why you trust in the team, the stronger the team, the easier the road.

1. Jake LaRavia finding his place. With the injuries, games missed and overall rotational chaos to kcik off the season it was kind of easy to overlook Jake’s arrival as a Laker. Luka’s extension and LeBron’s mood dominated headlines all summer long. So, while everyone acknowledged the signing was a positive one for thew Lakers, I don’t think anyone saw this level of potential impact. To put it plainly, Jake’s on a solid little 2 game tear right now. He’s hitting from three, he’s scoring at the rim, and you generally count on him to make the right play. He was 10-13 from the floor, 2-3 from three point land, and grabbed 8 boards. Jake’s role is largely undefined and his skill set fits that perfectly. Dude just plays hard and plays smart. That’s a solid combo and, while the league is filled with specialists, it’s worth noting that guys who, in Coach Reddick’s words “can just play”, are good at everything has it’s upside. I don’t expect Jake to score or have statistical impact high enough to be considered a sixth man of the year candidate, but he was the Lakers best player off the bench last night by a country mile.
2. Hayes stepped up. With Ayton a late scrub due to back spasms, Hayes showed he can be a pro and was ready to step in and fill the void. He even hit a 3! There’s a world Jaxson Hayes is a better defender, and I hope he becomes one in this world, but the lack of defensive timing and footwork is what’s holding him back more than anything else. He can pass well, has a decent handle for a big man, is athletic as the day is long and has a great attitude. He just fouls too much instead of properly contesting shots. I’ll add he almost never gets the benefit of the doubt from the whistle but that’s a reflection of how often he gets caught reaching and leaning.
3. Marcus Smart winning me over. I’ll admit, Marcus Smart was my least favorite pick-up of the summer. He looked over-the-hill and burnt out in Memphis (although that now looks like a culture issue as much as anything else which tracks) and he’s getting up there for a modern NBA guard. Marcus set the tone early and was a solid contributor throughout the game. Other than the tech he caught for taunting the Miami bench (which I actually didn’t mind much since it seemed like they were the one’s chirping), he was a force for good all game long.
4. Bronny’s great 4th quarter. With injuries to many key players, Dalton not being able to keep up with the pace the Heat played at (although he did make a three and is looking more like last season’s early version of DK4) it was Bronny James who was playing late into the 4th quarter and was a key contributor on defense. His stat line won’t jump off the page: 18 minutes, 1-4 , 0-2 from three with 2 assists and no turnovers. But his 3 steals were clutch, especially since 2 of them came during a stretch in the 4th when Miami was making a push. He passed up some open looks I’d just as soon see him take (one an open 3 and the other when he drove across the lane and nobody really picked him up…those are the shots you have to take when the defense gives them to you), but overall Bronny showed why his defense could be his calling card in his young NBA career.
5. Coach Reddick and his growth and regression. One of the things that irked me about Darvin ham was how slow to adjust he could be. Reddick was the same, last season, when it would take 2-3 games to make an adjustment to what were clearly tactics to take us out of our comfort zones as a team. Fast forward to last night and the pressure the Heat applied to our guards in the back court was easily released by having screeners in the backcourt, having a 3rd player come back for a pass ahead to break the pressure and it was very pleasing to me to see us quickly adapt to teams that want to switch up the coverage in the backcourt. We didn’t deal with Portland’s full court press well at all 4 games ago (a good test for that will be tonight) and since then we’ve see 2 teams try and emulate that pressure but the Lakers being a lot better prepared to counter it. That’s the primary function of the coaching staff: having the players prepared for unexpected scenarios. Where Reddick regressed was losing his shit on national TV…again…and stomping all over the court, yelling at his team on the sideline, and looking like an angry teenager. Dude. Learn the ways of the Zen Master, Mr. Phil Jackson, and take a page from his book of cool. I get it, Hayes wasn’t rotating properly and nobody picked up cutters for like 3 plays in a row on defense late in the game. Just do your job without the hysterics and the drama, nobody reacts well to that. If Jaxson Hayes came to the sideline screaming, yelling, flailing his arms like a bratty kid you’d send him to the locker room and rightly so. You really think grown men are going to take your tantrum well? If there’s major knock against Reddick is that it’s known fact that he will lose his cool. Whether it will cost us games or not is the question. Last night it did not.