5 THINGS

There were two ways this road trip go to start. The Lakers made sure, although it took all the way into the final seconds to solidify, it started with a win. Behind an exemplary game from AD, a historic night by LeBron and a $47 million dollar floor dive by Russ the Lakers Best the Milwaukee Bucks on their home floor.

1. Davis continues his “Have You Seen Me Lately, Though” tour. While outside shots are starting to find their way back into AD’s ‘every game’ shot selection his true home this season has in the paint. Davis was 2-3 from three, a sign that he’s getting more and more confident in his outside shot. That’s not what’s defining his season. Anthony is the bes inside player the Lakers have, leading a series of body blows every game that weakens the opponent for easy buckets and put-backs. While he didn’t amass a silly good amount of rebounds he secured the biggest one of the night just over the out-stretched fingers of Giannis, the one off Jrue’s miss that led to his game sealing free throws.
2. LeBron making more history. Last night he made history in two categories. He passed Earvin “Magic” Johnson into sole possession of 6th on the All-Time assists category. Magic did it in 906, The King in 1381 which only highlights how much of an impact Magic had passing the ball in his 14 year career. LeBron also passed Cliff Robinson to move to 13th in All Time games played. We had another well-balanced game from LeBron last night as once again he allowed and encouraged AD to be the focal point.
3. Patrick Beverley’s best game yet. While he didn’t have a positive +/- Patrick did make the most shits we’ve seen in awhile. While I have my doubts he’ll end his season in LA it was nice to see him make some solid contributions in a win.
4. Zero. The number of turnovers LeBRon and Russell Westbrook had to go with their mirrored 11 assists. While certainly unsustainable it was a key stat that helped us win the ball game against the best ranked defense in the NBA.
5. Welcome back Darvin Ham? I’m sure Coach savored this one a bit. I am liking Coach Ham more and more as the season has wore on. Gone are the celebrations from the team after a dunk or spectacular play as if such a thing had never been conceived of let alone executed. Last season our team seemed to lead the league in meaningless celebrations in the face of disheartening losses, maybe they had to just to through it. We’re a little more professional this season, I think Ham has more than a little to do with it.

Sunday we can keep this baby rolling if we bring the same level of focus and intensity to the contest. We’re more than in the hunt for decent seeding since the west is still a mess, we can take advantage of that if we play well and win.

The under-manned Blazers came to Crypto to face the under-manned Lakers and the Lakers took the note from the heart-breaking loss to Indy and didn’t let up at any point in the game. LeBron was better from the floor, Russ hit some magical shots and AD was solid as the Lakers won easily against a team on the down-swing. Let’s dig in.

1. The Lakers certainly didn’t fool around in this one. They tightened the defensive screws, rebounded better and stayed focused on scoring efficiently rather than casting up lazy shots. This is the kind of focus and intensity the Lakers need to bring every single night to even have a shot at winning. They just don’t have the luxury of losing focus for a quarter or to let a no-name player shake loose and get hot. For a game, at least, they did right by the Basketball Gods and treated the game seriously for 48.
2. LeBron was on fire. LeBron was solid all night long but went off in the second quarter hitting shots from everywhere. After a sluggish start he ramped it up before the half, eased into the 3rd quarter and picked it back up again in the 4th. I thought this was the kind of well-balanced game we need to see from James on the regular. I’m not talking about the shots he made, it’s not really feasible to hit 6-8 from three or 12-18 overall every night, but how he got his shots and when. There were fewer early/mid-shot clock flings for the heck of it and more shots from the flow of the offense. I don’t know what it feels like to be close to breaking the NBA All Time scoring record, I don’t know what it feels like to score a point in the NBA, but it must be hard not to over-search for your shot in his case. I though The King played one of his better games this season last night.
3. AD featured correctly. While he didn’t get to his 20 FGA I’d like to see him average for the season, Anthony Davis was used the way we need him to be for success to be possible. Hampered a bit by early foul trouble AD took over in the 4th quarter when we need him, even hit a three in that frame. No player attempted more than 18 field goals (LeBron) but no other Laker forced the defense to account for them like AD did as he, again, worked his way to the foul line more than any other player on the court and continued to show excellence from the stripe. We can’t go away from AD in late game situations, he needs to be the focus of the offense both by design and by the strength of his will to demand the ball.
4. Russ didn’t make many but the ones he did were straight ridiculous. Westbrook was not on his offensive game like he was against Indy (4-14 overall, 2-6 from three). But the shots he made were all huge. The three at the half was crucial to bring us into the break in action on a positive note (and with a 4 point lead instead of 1) and the 3 he made from half court to end the 3rd was ridiculous. Russ is loving his new role, at least on the court in front of the fans, and Crypto is showing him what LA love can feel like. We love a guy who sacrifices his overall game for the betterment of the team. It’s why Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom, Alex Caruso and Kyle Kuzma are beloved Lakers for all time. Rus has a chance to join that pantheon this season. The best part of Westbrook’s game last night? Zero turnovers.
5. Thomas Bryant fitting in. This was the player Coach Scott didn’t really expect much from or utilize, the one who made a name for himself in Washington. Not a stalwart defender but quick and strong enough to have a positive impact on that end. Active on the glass and in the half court flashing for easy hooks in the lane, not afraid to hit the open man with the pass, and a solid ‘do-it-all’ kinda guy off the bench. Bryant has found a nice niche backing up AD, leading the second unit with Russ and bringing a nice mix of energy and skill that is invaluable to this Laker team right now.

Adios to Matt Ryan who was waived today. Not too sure why, trade in the works maybe? Probably not, maybe his agent sees an opportunity to get him more of a role in Charlotte with Gordon hayward back on the IL? Dunno but I’m bummed to see him go. I literally just watched the Backstage Lakers episode on him that had a lovely story to go along with his ridiculous buzzer beater that helped jump start the team a couple weeks back. Good luck, Matt, we thank you for your minutes. All 129 of them.

This one will sting. At the end of the season there are, to date, two games that should have absolutely been wins but ended up losses. Sacramento and last night. Coincidentally both games had stellar performances from Russell Westbrook and a late 4th quarter collapse fueled by too much iso ball after the team had built a sizable lead. This pattern is one that should be squashed but, as I will elaborate on down yonder, may prove impossible to do so.

1. LeBron “taking over”. The team was rolling, Russ was either scoring or assisting on easy buckets and had just completed a Crypto.com rousing over-the-head-no-look pass to a wide open Wenyan Gabriel as Russ drew three defenders for an easy dunk. Time out Pacers, 9:59 seconds left in the game, score 101-84 good for a 17 point Laker lead. From that point? The Pacers outscored us 32-14. All of their 4th quarter points came after the 9:59 mark. LeBron went 2-8 in that span accounting for 66% of our field goal attempts. We went completely away from what was working both in past games (AD) and that night (Russ in the 4th) and instead relied on LeBron James iso ball. Poor choice, again.
2. Taking the foot off the gas on defense. It was perfectly captured on the last inbounds play. AD totally lost track of his man (Myles Turner) resulting in a scramble on defense that left LeBron James guarding…nobody within 10 feet of him. He stood near the paint drifting closer to the rim instead of getting a step or two closer to the wide open shooter standing 12 feet away. Too late to close out, three pointer goes in, game over. That wasn’t the only bad defensive possession in the 4th but it showed what happens when a team takes it’s foot off the gas. This Lakers team can’t afford to do that in any game on any night.
3. Too few FGAs for AD. The man needs 20+ FGAs/game or our chances of losing get higher. Last night he shot 9-15 (which was enough for a game-high 25 points) compared to 8-22 for LeBron (21 points on 22 shots is bad however you frame it) and 10-18 (24 points) for Russ. Yes, Davis needs to step up and take the torch or carry the team or whatever saying you choose to deploy. The team also needs to make getting him the ball a priority and I don’t mean at the three point line. This one is as much on the coaches as the players.
4. Can’t keep losing games where we outshoot the opponent 2-1 on free throws. We won the rebounding battle, too. Despite our 14 turnovers (6 by Russ which is too many for him to get to 6 dimes) the Pacers only scored 9 points to our 10 off of turnovers; we won that battle, too. Where we lost the game was giving up too many threes and awful transition D and those are both hustle stats. LeBron and his late close out to lose the game was but one of many, many examples of the Lakers playing defense for 3/4s-4/5s of a possession only to come up short on a final close out. Again, that’s a heart stat and a coaching challenge to rectify.
5. Ham is wrong on this one. In his post game he thought the Lakers were over-relying on Russ down the stretch and wanted to take the ball out of his hands. Which seemingly meant putting it in LeBron’s. There’s a reason the saying “go with the hot hand” reverberates across time and space. That’s because it’s true. LeBron was certainly not the hot hand and once we went away from Russ collapsing the defense we stopped scoring. LeBron will end up the greatest player to score the basketball in the history of the game. That doesn’t mean the team should go away from what is working so he can pile up points in what was thought to be garbage time. This team cannot afford to take an opponent lightly until the final horn sounds, going to iso ball down the stretch turned what was dynamic attack into an easy to defend, slow-walk the ball up the court, oh man we missed and now I gotta get back on D…which was also MIA due to the 23-9 fast break points the Pacers walloped us with. Coach needs to recognize that and fast.

Well, instead of 8-11 we’re 7-12 and still 3 teams back of the final play-in. Luckily, for the Lakers, the Jazz are free falling down the standings as they come back to Earth, the Mavs are struggling without Brunson, and KAT is out a few weeks with a calf strain (although that may really just unlock The Ant so…). We got a tough slog of games coming up and a long road trip where are 2-6. The team needs to take this one whole entire complete game at a time and work their way up.

Last night was a good test. Potential playoff team in the Phoenix Suns, albeit without two key players in CP3 and Cam Johnson. Lakers still without LeBron and AD flirting with historical numbers. In the end it was our defensive let-downs and role-players who didn’t contribute enough to push us over the hump and win the game. Just too many donuts to get it done.

1. Davis playing at another level. Sinc 1974, the year of my birth, only one other player has put up a 30+ point, 20+ board, 5 steal, and 5 blocks game. That player was none other than Bob McAdoo, more on him on down the line. AD joined all sorts of elite company last night in what was unfortunately a losing effort. When LeBron gets back we nee this level of engagement and impact from AD. If we do we got a good chance at making the playin, maybe even make some playoff noise. If we get the AD of the last couple season, if he reverts back, won’t matter what fringe moves we make or even if we make a major trade, it won’t be enough without a fully engaged and focused Davis.
2. Russ and his tightrope act. I get what Russ is doing: he’s forcing the defense to collapse on him, which is generally a good thing. It opens up wide open shots or passes to AD or Bryant which has been working pretty well the last couple games. The thing was, especially after half-time, the Suns were ready for it and Russ and the coaching staff never adjusted. The fouls that were called in the first half weren’t in the second, that was another adjustment that went left un-made. Since we shot 35 free throws to Phoenix’s 5 (which is as much a byproduct of the two teams’ style of play as anything else) can’t really complain when the whistles stop blowing. You have to adjust. The Lakers didn’t adjust to Phoenix sitting on Russ’s drives in the second half at all. In the end I still am loving Russ off the bench. The Lakers historically win when they have an elite 6th man: Bob McAdoo was once such a player, Derek Fisher, Rick Fox, Lamar Odom and of course Michael Cooper have all been elite 6th men for the Lakers at various points in their respective careers.
3. Couldn’t buy one from three. Lonnie Walker IV and Westbrook were the only two Lakers to hit from three (both players hit 2-6). Other than that the Lakers were dry from distance and, to their credit, didn’t over-shoot the three ball. What they couldn’t figure pout was how to chase Phoenix off the line. A good defense realizes two things: you can’t stop everything and you want to make easy shots hard. That’s it, in a nutshell. No easy shots at the rim, force those threes into long twos. The Lakers made a lot of mistakes gambling for steals rather than maintaining a tight coverage on the perimeter leading to easy baskets or open threes. You should win when you shoot 30 more free throws than the opposition. Our defensive breakdowns on the perimeter were the biggest culprit.
4. Second, however, was too many donuts. When four guys who played, three of whom logging 20+ minutes, contribute zero points you’re going to find it difficult to win. Doesn’t matter how historically one man plays, if the team isn’t playing well winning is a lot harder. Troy Brown Jr, Dennis Schroder and Patrick Beverley all brought Krispy Kreme’s to the arena and put up donuts in the scoring column. Wenyan Gabriel did, as well, but only played 7 minutes. That quartet combined to go 0-16 and were the major contributors in our shooting 42.4% from the floor, 4-22 from three (18.2% for those like numbers). Toss in Russ and his 8-20 night and five Lakers combined to go 8-36 o 22.2%. History can’t overcome that much futility.
5. The Ejection. Much is being made of Patrick Beverley’s cheap shot on DeAndre Ayton, and make no mistake that’s what it was. Was Ayton, and the un-teched Booker, taunting Reaves? Absolutely and they both should have gotten a T for it. But the real issue is what kind of impact does Beverley want to make? He’s obviously a vocal leader, helps the line up buy into defense, and does a lot of little things. He’s also a rather large sinkhole on offense these days. He’s shooting 41.1% from the field, often passes up open shots and will likely miss at least a game for the shoulder he leveled into an unsuspecting Ayton. I’m all for standing up for your guys, Auston Reaves went out of his way to make sure he knew PatBev understood that, but if the Lakers are going to make any playoff noise they need Beverley to make baskets. The other thing that rankled me was the nature of his hit. If Ayton had fallen more awkwardly and hurt himself seriously this would have taken a much darker turn. There’s no room in the game for a behind the back cheap shot like the one Beverley delivered last night. Can’t mince away the ones from your guys, they’re either bad for everyone or they’re not. The game was pretty much out of reach, the Lakers could have walked away the classier team. They didn’t.

If, as I expect, the NBA suspends Patrick for at least one game that will open the door for Schroder to start. Another debate is who should go to the bench when LeBron returns? My vote is Troy Brown Jr. except that he brings size and defense. Can’t have all heart and D guys in the starting 5, though. TBJr. and PatBev make it harder for your best players on offense and easier on defense. One of them probably ought not start going forward and if it were up to me it’d be Beverley. Austin Reaves has shown he belongs in the staring five, in my opinion.