7'1 Wingspan for defense (shot-blocking & steals in the passing lane) with huge Kawhi Leonard-size hands.🤣🤣🤣
No other Laker guard has this physical makeup.
Rondo at 6'1 with a 6'9 Wingspan is the closest. Caruso = 6'5 with a 6'6 Wingspan— Dre Day (@ddpage369) September 11, 2020
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Bron/AD/Morris in 27 minutes have a DRtg of 79.2!
In the last 3 Lakers wins over the Rockets, Bron/AD/Morris have shared the floor for a total of 27 minutes. During those minutes the Lakers have a DRtg of 79.2.
— Darius Soriano (@forumbluegold) September 12, 2020
Could Lakers’ Version of Small Ball Be the Blueprint to Win a Championship?
With Markieff Morris replacing JaVale McGee, the Lakers may have found the perfect version of small ball to unleash superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis and a new starting lineup to lead them to a championship.
While starting Morris was tactically done to better matchup with the small ball Houston Rockets, how the Lakers played on offense and defense with Markieff in the lineup could convince Vogel to make the move permanent. The speed and quickness Morris brought turbo-charged the Lakers’ defense and the his ability to spread the floor with 3-point shooting clearly opened up the paint and empowered LeBron and AD to attack the rim on offense.
Starting Morris instead of McGee makes the Lakers more versatile at both ends of the court with only a small sacrifice in terms of size since Markieff is still 6′ 8′ and 245 pounds and able to play and defend the center position. When you consider Anthony Davis is 6′ 10,” LeBron James 6′ 9,” Danny Green 6′ 6,” and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 6′ 5,” the Lakers’ lineup with Markieff Morris at the five is clearly not your prototype small ball lineup.
Frankly, ‘small ball’ is a total misnomer for the Lakers’ lineup with Morris instead of McGee because it’s not a ‘small’ lineup. It’s a ‘skilled’ lineup where all 5 players can handle, pass, and shoot the ball and play defense. It’s a versatile lineup that can easily match up with any style of play or opponent. It can play big or small, fast or slow, inside or outside, offense or defense, which makes it the ideal Lakers’ lineup to start or finish games.
While many believe Vogel inserted Morris into the starting lineup for his offense, the more likely reason Frank made the change was defense, which is why he may elect to continue starting him going forward in the playoffs. Defense has always been Vogel’s calling card and the heart of his decisions and the speed and quickness of the Lakers’ defensive rotations in the second half of Game 3 and first half of Game 4 were championship caliber.
That defensive velocity and intensity is something the Lakers can’t duplicate with JaVale McGee or Dwight Howard in the lineup. It could be the Lakers’ version of the ‘death lineup’ that fueled the Warriors’ three championships. That raises the possibility of Vogel opting to continue starting McGee and deploying the higher energy Morris lineup as at strategic points in games where the Lakers need stops like Kerr did with the Warriors death lineup.
Designed to accelerate the Lakers’ ability to rotate and run shooters off the 3-point line and cruise the passing lanes, the Lakers’ version of small ball was also elite at blocking shots with James and Davis protecting the rim. Whether Vogel decides to start Markieff Morris or emulate the Warriors and deploy the Lakers’ new version of small ball as a wild card coming off the bench to lock down games, he’s found a game-changing defensive weapon.
As important as the Morris lineup will be to the Lakers’ defense, don’t discount how his presence in the lineup impacts the Lakers’ offense and unleashes superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis to attack the rim. Vogel may start Markieff because of his ability to stretch the floor. He’s clearly a better 3-point shooter than Green, which is what makes the Lakers’ small ball version better offensively than the Warriors’ ‘death lineup.’
When you take into consideration the ability of the Lakers’ version of small ball to run 5-out sets to create more space and unclog the paint for LeBron and AD to attack the rim, it makes better sense for Vogel to start this lineup. The Lakers have struggled starting games and halves this season, often due to opponents packing the paint and forcing them to settle for jumpers instead of attacking the rim. Starting out going small could change that.
While defense certainly wins championships, you also need great offensive performances by your superstars, which is why unleashing the power of LeBron James and Anthony Davis is so important for the Lakers to triumph. The defensive strategy to beat the Lakers by the Clippers or whomever will clearly be to pack the paint to stop LeBron and AD from attacking. Playing 5-out with Markieff Morris and spreading the floor is the counter to that.
Great teams become great because of facing great challenges, which is why I’ve always been in favor of the Lakers having the Blazers, Rockets, and Clippers as their likely opponents on the road to their 17th championship. Facing two teams with loaded back courts and divergent styles like the Blazers and and Rockets has helped make the Lakers a better basketball team and may have given them the blueprint for winning a championship.
The Myth of Lakers small ball
Aloha,
I am amused by the notion that the Lakers went small to win this game. AD, Lebron, Morris and Kuz are not small players. And we beat them up inside like we should have with our size advantage.
But our true advantage is on the defensive end because our big guys can guard their little guys. And when you add in solid defenders like Green, KCP and Alex to the mix, it really takes a small team like the Rockets out of their game. I don’t think the Rockets will ever win a ring until they can add a couple of tall guys that can play in their system. I think size still matters in the NBA and our ability to play small, while staying tall is our advantage here.
5 Things: Lakers take 3-1 series lead over Houston
Lakers fooled around a little too much and suddenly Houston was granted the power to just jump on top of anyone but in the end the lead we built up over 3 and 4/5ths of dominating basketball was enough to overcome Houston’s late game surge. Frank Vogel granted LakerTom’s wish, Talen Horton-Tucker got some playoff burn and the Lakers are looking to close it out on Saturday. Good stuff.
- Lakers make the final adjustment: go full Lilliput. It was the Lollypop Guild vs. the Lullaby League, Willow vs. Tyrion Lannister. The Time Bandits vs. Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin and Strider (starring Anthony Davis as Aragorn II Elessar). There was no traditional center to start the game is my point. Markieff Morris replaced JaVale McGee (who, like Dwight Howard did not see the court) in the starting line up. The result was a pretty dominating three quarters of basketball. While some of what went down was aided by the incredibly lackluster Houston squad, there’s no denying that the Lakers put forth an excellent defensive effort that fueled their fast break and points in the paint advantage. While it didn’t unlock magical accuracy from three point land (we shot 9-30, 30%) we were able to better execute the trapping defense that has stalled out the Houston offense.
- Dominating the glass. It took a great team effort to dominate the glass tonight. It took Danny Green and Rajon Rondo fighting for 3 offensive rebounds apiece, LeBron battling for a team high 15 rebounds and a lot of boxing out. It took every one of those rebounds and effort points for us to survive the late flurry at the end. We lost our focus on those kinds of plays with about 7 minutes to go. The foot came all the way off the gas pedal and it turned out to be very fortunate that we had the cushion we did.
- Free Throw Blues. One of the reasons we coughed up the big lead was we stopped playing smart defense, started reaching and holding instead of moving our feet. James Harden shot 20, 4 more than the entire Laker team combined. The Lakers have been able to overcome the free throw discrepancy mainly because they’ve been romping in the paint. They need to keep that up for one more game.
- 62-24 is where the game was won. That was our advantage in the paint. Aided by our 19-2 advantage in fast break points the points in the paint will be looked back upon as our key to success. We got that advantage in a variety of ways, LeBron James doing his thing, Rondo cutting to the rim unguarded because…yeah…defense, offensive rebounding by the team, and a focus on getting to the basket emphasized by Vogel in the broadcast. While we Frank made the call to bench both his 7 footers (OK, Dwight’s always been more like 6’10”) we still won playing big, just in a small way.
- Talen Horton-Tucker! Give me that over J.R. Smith all day, every day. Maybe even over Waiters. Talen got his first bucket on one of our 9 makes from three point land. But his second was a thing of beauty. Driving right at James Harden the rookie showed no fear of the beard and juked the Rockets All-Star out of position before dropping a perfect finger roll through the net. A great moment for the second round pick of the draft. Another great example of the Laker G-League system. Most importantly: a validation of hard work and perseverance.
Got another dog-fight on Saturday. Even though we’re up 3-1 it hasn’t been an easy 3-1. Need to close it our on Saturday, don’t give Houston any more reason to hope. Go Lakers.