Well, that was informative. The Toronto Raptors played the Lakers riding a 10 game winning streak versus the purple and gold that they stretched to 11 and in the process illuminating a few troubling patterns.
- Nobody on the Lakers is shooting well. Over the first 2 games in the bubble one thing is clear: our shooting is evidently still self-isolating in Los Angeles. Certainly hasn’t looked like it made the trip, so far. Over 2 games we’re shooting 27.6% from three, and 37.4% overall. Oddly enough we put up exactly 82 shots in both games making 3 more against the Clippers. In both the win and the loss we shot poorly. Some guys got hot at the right times against the Clippers, didn’t replicate that against the Raptors.
- Danny Green has started off very, very slowly. Looks like he’s a step slow right now. He did play improved defense last night, especially on the low block, but still doesn’t look right on that front, either. As the 3rd highest paid Laker Danny needs to step it up a little bit and find a groove before the playoffs.
- Dwight Howard’s mentality isn’t right. As always he looks ripped, he’s moving well but his mind is not in Orlando, yet. He pulled a lot of focus before entering the bubble on a lot of different fronts, has flouted some Bubble protocol and isn’t the X-factor he worked so hard to become during the regular season. It would be a shame if he didn’t at least approach that level of impact but right now I’d just as soon see JaVale McGee in those minutes until Dwight gets his head in the game. Needs to stop setting silly moving screens, needs to box out rather than clear out in the post, and he needs to let the refereeing go. Big time on that last one, which is certainly not an issue unique to Dwight Howard. But I feel that, in his case, he needs to focus on the hardwood and what he can do on it. Let the rest of that stuff sort itself out.
- It’s been said before but it’s worth repeating: we’re only going as far as LeBron and Anthony take us. LeBron looks off, more human, less able to get to the rim at will. I think he’s miffed he’s not getting any foul calls unless they’re extremely obvious but he’s got to play through that and, like Dwight, focus more on what he needs to do to elevate this team without Avery Bradley. Davis looked fairly disinterested last night. Yes, he was often doubled whenever he got the rock, often a few seconds before. Toronto rotates on defense as well as anyone in the league, probably the best right now in the Bubble. But you have to find a way to score and outside of a stretch where he forced some whistles and followed it up with a three he was quiet for long stretches of the game. Might be trying to let the game come to him too much and needs to out the pedal down on his own.
- I don’t think you can play J.R. Smith and Dion Waiters at the same time and expect the guys on the floor not to sieve points. Dion has some instincts on that end, has a couple of nice help plays coming from the weak-side to his credit, but overall looks pretty lost out there. J.R. was never a touted defender, tried well-enough during his high impact years in Cleveland but aging a couple of years and not playing last season didn’t improve his defensive moxie. Likely, it’s suffered and it’s hard for me to justify major minutes for Smith right now, especially when he looks gun-shy on wide open looks like he has in too many games, scrimmages included. He needs to get his head out of his brain and into a basketball and let it fly the second he’s open. We don’t need him to make another play, someone just made one for you and you need to shoot it dude. Waiters looks like he’s trying a little too hard to earn a payday when he just needs to find a rhythm with his teammates out there, especially Kuzma whom he’s likely to share a lot of minutes with. When all three (Smith, Waiters, and Kuzma) share the floor we’re over-weighted on scorers and need more defense and play-making. In a few weeks when Rondo comes back I highly suspect we’ll see his minutes pulled from Smith’s and we might end up seeing more Quinn Cook out there cause at least he knows where to be and when.
That’s the Fiver. Honestly, there could be another couple of topics (namely how good and hungry the Toronto Raptors look coming out of the gate, Nick Nurse is on point and has those guys believing, strong chance to repeat as eastern conference champs, IMO) but it’s only game 2 of the seeding games. Hard to see us losing out the rest of the way so I’m still thinking we lock up the west by the end of next week but the shooting and lack of defensive cohesiveness is troubling already. Hope to see game-to-game improvement in some areas as we move on.
Lastly, in a more real and sombre note, the first person I truly know and have worked with on some theatre projects in the past has come down with COVID-19. He and his girlfriend tested positive this week. They played it pretty safe, masked up, don’t go out in public much and they still got it. It’s real, we all need to do better and we need to continually question why more isn’t being done. So, please, do be careful, stay safe, be well and go Lakers.