JAXSON HAYES 102.5 ISNBA BEST CENTER DEFENSIVE RATINGSINCE FEBRUARY 1It's time to give Jaxson Hayes his flowers for the job he has done as the Lakers' starting center. Frankly, he may be the single most important Lakers role player. Losing him would hurt as much as losing… https://t.co/jakMjdw8ed pic.twitter.com/4TQmCktXmY— LakerTom (@LakerTom) March 3, 2025

Charles Barkley is on a generational run for bad Lakers takes. pic.twitter.com/DvhnzQLjq7— The Pettiest Laker Fan 🤫 (@ThePettiestLA) March 3, 2025

JJ REDICK, COACH OF THE YEAR CANDIDATEI agree 100%, Brian. The two things I've always used to evaluate and judge basketball coaches are:1. How hard do his or her players play?2. How organized is their offense and defense?Applying those two standards to JJ Redick delivers… https://t.co/JJ2cWMN4El pic.twitter.com/p0lX03a5oW— LakerTom (@LakerTom) March 4, 2025

“OKC, KFC, UFC … Lakers in 5!”@ShannonSharpe isn't taking anyone over the Lakers in the West 😤 pic.twitter.com/CuuUP5qYhx— First Take (@FirstTake) March 3, 2025

The Lakers went from 10th to 2nd in the West in 77 days 😳THE LUKA EFFECT 🪄 pic.twitter.com/5ZlOjsPSrk— Lakers All Day Everyday (@LADEig) March 3, 2025

Update:Lakers are now 35-2 when taking a lead into the 4th. Best closer in the game just got a Batman lmaoo https://t.co/ii1j5lP7Gn— NBAStatGuy (@NBAStatGuy_) March 3, 2025

Aloha,

Well that was fun. There is nothing better than beating the Clippers in back to back games. Yes for me it’s even better than beating the Celtics because the Clippers had the nerve to even come to LA. And the basketball gods have rewarded them with heartbreak year after year😂

We didn’t have Rui at all and only had Austin for 9 minutes in the first game as well as Goodwin last night. We proved we are a very deep team and can win even when LeBron has an off night like he did last night. If it wasn’t for turnovers that led to 24 Clipper points this could have been a blowout.

While I doubt Rob will get Executive of the year award, he should. Yes the Mavs approached the Laker in the Luka trade but Rob’s negotiating led to the Lakers under paying. Giving up Max was tough but keeping a first as well as the swaps was brilliant.

I have been hard on Rob through the years but you have to give him his flowers for how this team was built. It started with signing Austin as an undrafted rookie and then as he improved, resisting the pressure to trade him for a name player. He is now our 3rd star.

Next was insisting that Vando came back in the Westbrook dump. Not a lot was made of it at the time but Rob saw a 6’ 9” whirlwind defender and rebounder. There were a lot of questions after Rob extended him but I don’t think anyone is complaining now. His 10mil contract maybe a bargain now.

Rob followed that up by trading Kendrick Nunn, remember him ? and a few 2nds for Rui. A 6’ 8” big body 3 level scorer. While Rui was inconsistent, he began to find consistency down the stretch last year when Ham finally inserted him into the starting lineup. This year he has been a big part of the team’s success. And again Rob resisted calls to trade him.

This was followed by trading DLO for Finney-Smith and some seconds. While DlO is quality offensive player, he was struggling this year and with Austin emerging he wasn’t what we needed but we needed what DFS brings.

Once Vando came back we suddenly had four 6’ 8”- 6’ 9” guys for our “small ball” line up. That always cracks me up. Rui and Lebron can both guard the wing and have big bodies to bang with bigs while Vando and DFS are both lock down wing and guard defenders.

There are other moves as well. After missing most of last year Gabe took some time to find his Miami game again but he finally has.

It took Jackson a year and a half to be the player Rob saw when he signed him. But he has.

Dalton fell to us but he seems to finally coming back to the player he was early in the season.

Add in Tre and Goodwin, two way players that deserve to be on standard contracts and suddenly you have a contender.

What is most exciting to me is there is a lot of room for improvement. Luka is slowly becoming himself again he still is getting his conditioning and rhythm back. And Vando, DFS, Luka, Tre and Goodwin are all still learning to play together in JJ’s system.

While I love that we are sitting in the 2nd seed, it’s just as important that we are 7 games or more up in the loss column on the contenders for the 6th seed. With are newfound defense and reasonably good health we are going to be a problem come playoff time.

#NBA Power Rankings, Week 20! Back to business.https://t.co/U40CAusQMr pic.twitter.com/ohCFWryp2k— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) February 28, 2022

#4
Los Angeles Lakers
Last Week:4
Record: 38-21

OffRtg: 114.2 (10)
DefRtg: 112.6 (13)
NetRtg: +1.6 (13)

Pace: 98.5 (22)

After losing their first game out of the All-Star break, the Lakers have won six straight, improving to 6-2 with Luka Dončić in uniform.

Three takeaways

The Lakers’ Friday win over the Clippers was just their sixth (they’re 6-17) in a game they trailed by double-digits and just the second of those six comeback wins coming since mid-November. But they haven’t had to worry much about falling into deep holes lately because they’ve been dominant out of the gates. Over their last 19 games, the Lakers have outscored their opponents by an amazing 34.3 points per 100 possessions in the first quarter, ranking second in first-quarter offense and first in first-quarter defense (by a huge margin) over that stretch.

The defense has also been strong late in games. Five of the Lakers’ six games during this winning streak have been within five points in the last five minutes, and they’ve allowed just four points on 18 clutch defensive possessions over that stretch. That includes keeping the Clippers scoreless (0-for-8 from the field with five turnovers) on nine clutch possessions over the weekend, with the highlight being LeBron James’ chase-down block (initially called a goaltend) on Kris Dunn.

With Rui Hachimura out, Dorian Finney-Smith started the two games against the Clippers. The start wasn’t great on Friday, but since he arrived from Brooklyn, the Lakers have been 14.5 points per 100 possessions better with Finney-Smith on the floor (plus-13.9) than they’ve been with him off the floor (minus-0.6). That gives him two of the top five on-off differentials among players who’ve logged at least 500 minutes with a single team.

Two of the best wins on this 18-4 stretch that the Lakers have been on over the last month and a half were against the Celtics (in Boston) and Knicks (at home). They’ll face both again this week, with their game in Boston on Saturday being the start of a four-game trip that also includes visits to Milwaukee and Denver.

Week 20: vs. NOP, vs. NYK, @ BOS