That was fun. Maybe a little closer than some fans might have been comfortable with but this ain’t last season’s Rocket’s team. While the record may not show it this team is trying to compete and has the vets to help them do so. So, while not an elite test, this kind of team (younger, faster, looking to push rather than play in the half court) has given us problems in the last couple years and Houston’s time, like the Thunder, is closer than some GMs would like. So in a game where AD fouled out, we couldn’t hit a three to save our lives, the Lakers once again turned to the oldest player in the Association to get them over the finish line.

1. LeBron James, a one man desperado. I’m honestly just trying to enjoy watching leBron do his think at 38 going on 39 in year 21. He just passed Kobe Bryant on the all-time Laker list of 30+ point games (237, Kobe sitting proud at 236 and that was definitely cut short by injury the last few seasons but there it is) which in and of itself is incredible. LeBron has been here 6 seasons and played in 291 games. That means there are but 51 games i which LeBron didn’t score 30+ points. If that isn’t worthy of amazement you might just be dead inside. Also, what minutes restriction? That last one, while seemingly not an issue in November, feels like one I’d like to see Coach Ham strive harder to achieve as the season wears on and we get bodies back. Another 40 minute affair for James and that will add up over time. The team needs to do better by it’s leader.
2. AD vs. Sengun like Godzilla vs. Kong. He held his own against Alperen Sengun but he didn’t seem to faze the young up and coming big man on the other end, either as Davis ended up fouling out against the big man with the herky jerky game.. Call it a Clash of the Titans but this is likely going to be an issue that continues to show itself throughout the season as the NBA is now increasingly populated by talented, multi-dimensional big men. AD looked a step slow against his main opponent all night long and that resulted in him fouling out in a game where the lakers only sent Houston to the line 10 times and went there themselves 29 (the difference in the game, by the way but more on that in a second). It’s not that AD had a bad game, he didn’t, but if he wants that MVP/DPOY crown he needs to try and dominate these marquee matchups a little more, gimpy hip and all. If that’s not important to him, cool,, we got the win but I believe (sic: hope) he wants to shed some of the labels he’s garnered over the last few seasons in purple and gold.
3. Malik Beasleyitis. Also know as Wesley Matthewsitis, Reggie Bullockitis, Danny Greenitis and so on. The Los Angeles Lakers, where three point specialists go to lose money. Where the skill seems to whitcher and die on the vine before our very eyes. Taurean Prince is the latest victim of this deadly, franchise-specific disease and this season’s variant is especially deadly. We are abysmally bad at shooting the three this season and it would be far worse without the lone bright spot game in which we tied the franchise record in made threes (also our only blow-out win). I’ve long contended that this is an issue that starts with the inherent philosophies of the Laker organization. We don’t bring in coaches who fully embrace the modern game, they always have a foot in the old school door, or both feet and just pay the modern game lip service (see Scott, Byron). We have a historic list of big men, we do not have a historic list of ex[pet marksmen. All of our best players thrived at either post play (Wilt, Kareem and Shaq), driving the ball in transition and finishing at the rim (Magic, Worthy, Kobe, and of course LeBron) or the midrange (Kobe, Pau, LeBron and also Kareem who hit the pick and pop 20 footer as easily as his skyhook). The outside shooter list is short: Jerry West. Kinda ends there. Sure we had Nick the Quick and Eddie Jones but those teams didn’t win banners. Fun? Sure, but not legendary. This issue permeates today, we don’t enable good shooters to be the best version of themselves. We tell them to stand around and wait for LeBron or AD to get into trouble with the shot clock and bail them out from wherever they happen to be standing. We don’t run plays for them, we don’t set them up to shoot their shot. We hope a lot that whatever shot they get goes in. It’s not working and won’t until the issue of how the organization values this skill set changes.
4. Cam Reddish defensive ace?! If these kind of games keep happening AD won’t be the only Laker in the DPOY convo and Cam could be in line for Most Improved, as well. In his last 5 games (all starts) he’s had 3,3,5,0,3 steals respectively. The 0 was against Memphis and he only played 25 minutes. In preseason I didn’t see the fit but he was one of the first players off the bench once the games started and has supplanted Austin Reaves as a starter with no end to that in sight based solely on Cam’s play. Where Wood found a spotlight early and seemed to quickly wilt away the more Cam is featured the better he plays on defense. He’s disrupting the half court sets by attacking passing lanes and applying stout on-ball defense. This is what probably every coach he’s ever played for wished he had done in previous stops so credit the Lakers and their development team for unlocking this version. While still a small sample size and most of the games being against a lower tier teams it’s worth noting how active and engaged on that end of the floor Cam has been. His scoring has come and gone which has been the status quo of every Laker not named LeBron James so it’s actually been quite essential that he step it up on defense and that’s exactly what he’s done.
5. A tried and true recipe for this Lakers team. Points in the paint and using that to help create a free throw differential that offsets our woeful outside shooting. It’s why the one game we actually made threes was such a route from beginning to end. Imagining how this team could play if it made just 1/3 of it’s outside shots is a fun exercise but so far one existing solely in the realm of imagination. Cause we don’t hit even 30% of our threes so far, it’s so far under what would seem acceptable as to be funny. Except this isn’t a night at The Improv, it’s grown athletes trying to make a shot from 28 feet out or so. 21 feet in the case of Reaves game clinching three (free throws sealed it, fittingly). While I will never be a full-throated proponent of the “three is everything” aspect of the game it feels like the Lakers are trying to build something with some missing tools other teams possess. Making threes opens a few doors for this team the first of which is reducing the wear and tear on LeBron James. The second is making our defense better since missed threes have been a boon to our opponents transition game, for the most part. Thirdly is how it would enable our centers to better function in the post and paint. Our current modus operandi feels like it’s shelf life expires around the playoffs. Free throws dry up, they don’t increase in a 7 game series. You HAVE to make shots in the playoffs, refs won’t bail you out and we saw that last season under a hail of Denver threes we couldn’t match with our style of play. So while it’s fun, in a painful way, to watch the Lakers body blow their way through the regular season even I have my doubts that this style is sustainable in a 7 game series against any kind of good team. Somebody, and it would be best if it ended up being more than one, needs to get buckets from beyond the stripe more reliably or we’re going to need our defense to find a whole other gear I’ve never seen before to keep games close enough for body blows to be effective. We will lose the war of attrition otherwise.

The games just keep on-a-comin and so we’ll see the Lakers hosting Utah tomorrow night in what should actually be a decent test. With Vincent continuing his kendrick Nunn redux vibe, vando still probably a week or more away and the scary fact that those two players basically represent the cavalry we need some guys to find more consistency in their roles. Once we get through the last couple games on this homestand stretch we are on the road for good long while. It’d be nice to see some positive patterns evolving by then, beyond the silver lining of our vet minimum players.

After getting run out of their own building by the Sacramento Kings (the score was closer than the game ever was if you watched it) there are a few things that I think have become clear. While deeper, longer and larger than the first incarnation of last season’s team the Lakers are still faced with a myriad of basic roster construction issues. While there was early hope for the new 5 out set the Lakers debuted this season it’s also safe to say that this, too, comes with several flaws that start with the personnel who are executing it on the floor. Lastly the coach has, again, come under intense scrutiny as every loss creates a magnifying glass fit to fry an ant hill. Sitting at .500 (6-6; 5-1 at home and 1-5 on the road) there are enough games in the can to start to talk about the emerging patterns both positive and negative. Let’s dig in.

1. How is the overall team performing? Stop me if you’ve heard this one before but injuries to key players have managed to obfuscate the actual potential of this team. Of those injured players it’s pretty easy to see that the lakers are missing Jarred vanderbilt’s energy and hustle on both ends but especially so on defense. The Vandolorian may not put up big scoring numbers but he shows up big on all the impact stats, things that the vet minimum signees haven’t really been able to replicate, at least not as consistently as we saw Vando do in the regular season and on into the playoffs. Also MIA for more games than not was splashy free agent signee Gabe Vincent. With these two out as much as they’ve been (Vando out since early in camp and Gabe has only played in 4 games this season) a lot of the playmaking duty has fallen on the shoulders of young Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell when LeBron is out or playing tired. In general the lack of hustle-focused players has led to a pattern of first quarter deficits, terrible defensive rebounding, and 50/50 balls generally not going our way. Sometimes you gotta make your own luck.
2. Didn’t we improve our three point shooting a lot? In what is now a mockery of an annual rite of passage the Lakers accomplished the following: signed some decent looking shooters over the summer, crowed about how we improved our three point shooting, and then proceeded to stink it up by shooting a league worst in just about every three point metric until our game against Memphis in which we tied the franchise record for makes while hardly missing a shot. That game, however, was the aberration as the lakers reverted to type against the Kings and returned to the brick yard. I’ve thought about this a lot and, in a lot of ways, it comes to down to the Lakers as an organization not embracing the three point shot as weapon to install into game plans and plays. The best shooters get plays run for them, screens set where the guy will take his shot in rhythm. We don’t do that, we throw it to dudes willy-nilly and pray for rain to fall. This is a consistent pattern back beyond even Frank Vogel and into Kobe’s last years with the team. Until we embrace getting guys their shots this will continue to be a weak link, hopefully not this weak all season but certainly not a strength.
3. Longer, larger…and slower. Much hype was bestowed upon the Lakers for all the size they brought in. 3 centers, retained Rui Hachimura, even signed a two way center. That ended up leaving a glaring hole at the guard position where a lot of hope continues to rest on Max Christie and Austin Reaves’ young and un-proven shoulders. As it turns out this is becoming a major problem as teams are out quicking our big line ups and our lack of penetration to the rim means we’re not really able to properly collapse the defense. This is turn has affected our shooting across the board. If the Lakers do make a trade it cannot be for another forward/center. It absolutely has to be for guard and preferably a quick one that can also defend at a decent clip. Since those are the most in-demand players across the Association that feels unlikely to happen unless fortune truly smiles down upon the purple and gold.
4. More diamonds in the rough. As has become the annual tradition for the Lakers, they signed two quality players to bargain vet minimum deals with those players hoping to capitalize on the Laker power of “Come Here and Revive Your Career!”. This season features Christian Wood and Cam Reddish. Both have had their ups and downs already with Wood looking like he’s really pressing in the last few games whereas Cam has found a comfort zone I don’t think I’ve ever seen him play in. Both have contributed to wins and both have not shown up in games we probably coulda/shoulda/woulda won with our better players, had they been available. As it is, if i were a betting man I’d wager that the players whose minutes suffer the most when Vincent and Vando return are Taurean Prince (not doing much of anything, reallly) and Christian Wood (not defending or rebounding well for a 7 footer and slow of foot when we need to get quicker). Cam could still maybe close games alongside LeBron, AD and one of Vando, Reaves, Hachimura or Russell if he’s got it going on both ends like he’s shown he can. Both players need to find a level of sustainability in their games, however, as the variance can be a killer.
5. LeBron passing the torch to…LeBron?!?! As many of the preseason plot points have fallen by the way sie (our depth isn’t what we thought it was, our shooting is incredibly worse than last season, Darvin Ham will takes his hands out of his pockets more) the one over-arching storyline the lakers pushed was that AD was FINALLY going to take “the torch” from LeBron. The King said as much on media day (“It’s AD’s team”) and yet, 12 game sin, it’s clear that the Lakers cannot compete when LeBron sits. For all the hype surrounding the “Running it Back” guys they still can’t sustain winning habits without the gravity on the court created by LeBron’s mere presence. While not a huge problem now this will become a major issue in the playoffs and there’s really only one player that can alter this: Anthony Davis. Problem there is the dude is simply wired to defer that responsibility to other players. Even in NOLA he ended up deferring to Boogie Cousins until the latter tore his Achilles. I love the Run It back Guys, they’re plucky and they fight hard. But pluck ain’t enough to sustain winning and our record shows it in every way.

Need to keep feasting on teams we should feast on. Another trend is that the Lakers are generally struggling against playoff caliber teams and fattening up n the sucky ones. That’s fine while we find our identity and work out the rotation while getting guys back but at some point we need to string some quality wins against some quality opponents.

Watching the game against Orlando for the second time and it was even more astounding at how completely lackadaisical the Lakers looked as a whole. Fundamental basketball evidently didn’t make the road trip’s opening flight so one can only hope it arrives at the next stop in Miami. All in all, while a couple lakers turned in some solid showings, the overall tenor of the loss was a complete and total lack of consistent effort.

1. Faceplant to kick it off. Another craptastic first quarter makes one think a change of some kind is imminent. Can’t pin it on Cam reddish, we’ve been slow out of the gate all season long as our first quarter point differential (210-139) is astounding to see over just 5 games. Slow starts mean uphill climbs for the rest of the game. This is where you miss a guy who starts the game with hustle and energy like Vanderbilt the most. Setting a tone out of the gate is as important as getting off to a good start in the 3rd. Can’t play catch up all game, every game all season. Hard to ask LeBron to lead the team out of the gate, dude’s 4 billion years old in NBA years. We need younger guys to match the energy and intensity the opponent brings against the Lakers on a nightly basis.
2. Fundamental were utterly MIA. Needed to put a body on multiple Magic players and just didn’t do it. They out-worked us to the tune of 19 offensive rebounds and clobbered us in second chance points (another disturbing season-long theme that’s emerged) and our turnovers led to an unbeatable edge in transition points. These are effort stats that lost us the game. these are the lunch pail stats and we didn’t bring our hard hat. That better change against the fundamentally sound and hard-playing Heat tonight. This happened all game long, Tree Trio or no, so that means it’s coming down to a lack of executing the fundamental of boxing out. Everyone needed to do better, nobody did.
3. Couldn’t hit a three to save our lives. D’Angelo Russell was 1-10, LeBron and Wood each shot 2-5 and Reaves looked good (more on that later) but after that the well ran very, very dry. These misses generated great scoring opportunities for Orlando more often that which is causing me to revise my internal guide for the lakers to play by. I was an advocate for 30 3 PT FGAs/game and now I’m looking at lowering that to 20, maybe 25 if they’re going in. AD didn’t shoot one and he’s shooting 42.9% (on an anemic 1.2 attempts/game) so maybe he needs to move out more as a floor spacer? I dunno…frustrating trend thus far.
4. Reaves rounding back into form. Of the five starters he was the only who had a positive impact on the game. he made his kind of shots, hit his threes, and generally looked like the dude we’d all been hoping to see consistently this season. While it came in a losing effort hopefully it means Reaves has put his early season struggles squarely in the rear view mirror.
5. Tree Trio adjustment. LakerTom and I did a show where I theorized this would be a good test for the three bigs line up that got so much attention since we deployed it against the Clippers. This was the first time a team that had seen it had time to make an adjustment and it turned out to be a pretty simple one: play faster and harder. Everything about this (both the effectiveness of a three big line up and it’s counter) is a small sample size at this point but it makes sense. The only way we force teams to go big to match up is by beating them on the scoreboard so when that didn’t happen against Orlando (seeing it for the second time) the experiment looked like a flop. This will be a season-long topic for debate, in theory I like the idea of either starting Christian Wood and strategically deploying the three big line up but the fact is they have to use that height to counter speed and effort. The Tree Trio didn’t box out, hustle for loose balls, or score all that much as they basically got ru off the floor by a smaller Orlando team (that still features length, just better speed). The deciding factor is match ups and who wins them. Start Wood against a faster guy or a team that screens for shots like Golden State and I don’t see the point or the sense in it. He’s not a guy who fights through screens and we don’t deploy a switch everything defense very well, at least not yet. That takes a lot of time to implement because everyone on the court has to be on the same page and in sync. We’re not close to that by a country mile. Maybe if we’d had Vando for camp but we didn’t and even then I doubt it. At any rate I’m not giving up on the idea but Coach Ham needs to be more strategic and the Tree trio needs to execute the fundamentals a lot better than they did.

Miami tonight, this will be a tough one. Everybody always wants to count Miami out, yet of all the teams with hype they’ve been to the NBA Finals more in the last 5 years than any other team so they’re doing something right. It starts with Jimmy Butler but the whole team buys in, even the not-supposed-to-be-here Tyler Herro, so if we show up with another half-assed effort i expect this to be an L.

It’d been awhile. The much noted and hyped losing streak the lakers had going against their cross-hall rivals (one of the more unique situations in all of sport) ended last night with the tenet’s of Laker basketball guiding the way: put pressure on the defense and get to the line, be a paint-dominant team, and defend like your role depends on it (it does). Still, it’d been awhile and so was really nice to see the Lakers pull this one out and allow everyone to move on.

1. The defense was feisty! Led by Anthony Davis (4 blocks), Austin Reaves (3 steals)and surprise starter Cam Reddish (also 3 steals and thrust into a starting role due to T. Prince being a late scratch after warming up and reporting some mild knee soreness adding another body on the pile of our walking wounded) the Lakers did a phenomenal job disrupting the late-game Clipper offense inside the three point line. The Clippers also missed some very makeable shots but I still liked the way the team defended as a whole. LeBron even got up for 2 big blocked shots.
2. LeBron is a marvel. He really shouldn’t be doing this, at some point the hops will go…won’t they?! At any rate the breakaway ally-oop lob Reaves dished to The King as we pulled away in OT should dispel any “old” notions, at least for awhile. While once again blowing past the self-imposed minutes-restriction (and honestly I don’t fault the staff or anyone for that last night, we only had 8 healthy, NBA-ready players and that’s not a knock on Colin Castleton, Dmoi Hodge, Maxwell Lewis or Alex Fudge it’s just the truth) James put on a gem of a show for everyone in attendance and watching on the tube. 4-8 from three, skying to block shots, and that one-handed jam in transition from Reaves as the cherry on top. Gnarly stuff, man.
3. Reaves rounding into form. The efficiency still leaves something to be desired and he still isn’t getting a consistent whistle on pretty solid contact but Reaves didn’t let his offence get in the way of his defense. While it’s also poignant to remember that Max Christie was only going to be so effective and there weren’t really many other options other than to go with Reaves down the stretch, I still thought this was the most “our Austin” type game he’s played this season. The hustle was there and he started driving to the rack more when the shot still wasn’t falling (other than a couple of his pet elbow jumpers he can almost make in his sleep when he’s gathered right) and my one true knock was the team-high 5 turnovers. That’s not on Reaves alone, a lot of lakers a re forcing passes into too tight of coverage, but Reaves also just made some bad passes. Still, a very encouraging game and hopefully the forebearer of better games to come.
4. Evolving away from the three guard line up. We’ve all harped on it, most of us more than once. So it was a little surprising to see a line up of D’Angelo Russell, Max Christie, Christian Wood, Jaxson Hayes and Anthony Davis for more than a few minutes last night. Coach Ham just loves him a triplicate of some kind or another. At any rate, that group of guys held their own (and whichever ref called the “hanging on the rim” tech on hayes deserves to have his whistle taken away, c’mon man…dude’s first basket of the season and was legitimately going hard in transition and was carried along by his momentum). Again, the lack of healthy and NBA-capable players likely had more than a little to do with this choice but the matchup worked for a few reasons. The Clippers aren’t fast team, per se. Both leonard and George want to conserve their bodies and energy for the long season and playoffs. They feature a rim running center more after trading Batum and Morris Sr. away. Russell Westbrook likes to get out but is often a little out of control on the break. So that length had enough speed to match up in this game, not saying this is a line up we’ll see a ton of going forward but there are a couple teams it makes sense to deploy.
5. Christian Wood 6th man of the year. While I don’t see the campaign to start Wood going anywhere (or making much sense on an every game basis, at least in the regular season) I heartily endorse the creation of the C-Wood for 6thMOY fan club. With his “it’s all over now baby blue” put back dunk, increasingly reliable defense and floor stretching ability it’s been fun watching Wood dominate against the benches of opposing teams. To my way of thinking it still makes more sense to start either Vanderbilt (upon his return) for a defensive tone, Prince for an offensive tone, or Reddish for a little bit of both kinda tone. I like being able to deploy Wood like a surgical air strike when LeBron goes to the bench because it gives he and AD a little bit of a different look to work against. I’m sure some folks would rather he start but I think he can be a solid “best player off the bench” and if he keeps this up he could end up in the running for the award for best bench guy.

With a couple days off the Lakers have some time to get guys healthy, work on tightening up some things on both ends, and rest LeBron. Loved how we fought in this game, even though we almost gave it away when we took our foot waaaaay off the gas in the last two minutes. Good stuff.

So far the closing trio of LeBron, Davis and Wood has shown itself to be pretty capable, especially when the other team is also fielding a large selection of players. In a game where D’Angelo Russell had his first big game and Davis played like the beast we need him to be for the full 48 it was the trio of James, Davis and Wood that stood out.

1. AD in beast mode. Since his second half no-show (and the global clamor it created) AD has been engaged on both ends. In all fairness to Davis I challenge anyone to remember a game he didn’t show up on defense for. His issues are getting and staying engaged on offense. We need him to be a constant threat both inside and out or it won’t matter who he’s on the floor with, we’ll be having a hard time scoring the ball. He was stellar in the paint, grabbing boards (something the rest of the tem is struggling with so far) and affecting the other team’s ability to score with blocks and steals.
2. LeBron over the line again. Last night he only played 33 minutes but it came on the heels of a back-to-back game. I’ll admit I was surprised to see him n the lineup and it shows how dedicated he is to putting together a solid season to get the team into good position for the playoffs. Win a lotta games, earn some home court advantage. Sneak in like last year, face an uphill climb the whole way. While he didn’t have a superlative-generating game he was solid across the board. More importantly he looks like he’s moving well, even after a long game the night before.
3. D-Lo busts out. His shot was sparkling as D-Lo was masterful scoring inside and out. Why this level of aggression can’t be an every game thing is the only mystery to me. He led the team in points, assists, made threes ( ona another night most of the team couldn’t find the mark from distance) and was a a consistent threat to score all game. I’d rather he defer to pretty much nobody at this point, D-Lo has all the tools and just needs to use them more often.
4. Reaves and Vincent coming around? They both had probably their best game of the season, which is scary considering the overall results were pedestrian to say the least. Still, it’s encouraging to se what are certain to be 2 key players start to find the groove a little bit.
5. Wood cementing a role and Hayes getting some solid run. Both played a season high in minutes and Wood was on the floor down the stretch to help close the game. Honestly, if I’m Darvin Ham, I look at moving James down to the guard position and putting Vando in while moving Reaves to the bench if the latter continues to struggle and get hunted on post ups and hard rubs. There will be a crunch when it comes to minutes when Vanderbilt returns and his game isn’t likely to show much rust because it’s built pretty much on hustle and defense. Wood and AD are showing some nice synchronicity out there and it allows LeBron to defend a zone on the perimeter rather than bang as much down low. It also allows AD to be more of a free-roamer on D while trusting Wood to rebound and alter shots with his length. While this may not end up happening any time soon (at least not until Reaves is given a nice long leash to return to form), I won’t be surprised if one of the first moves ham makes to alter the rotation is to move Wood from the bench to a starter.

Got a big one tonight against in-house rivals the Clippers. not so much because of the super epic and amazing trade that went down (whee) but rather because the coat-tail riders have been smoking us like cheap reefer for a couple seasons now. Time to light them up.

It took a lot to even force OT, and that goes double when your coach is still working out who should play when and with whom (his words, paraphrased for brevity). Having defensive stalwart Jared Vanderbilt unavailable for most of the preseason has had a cascade effect of a dual nature: roles and minutes have opened up for some guys who might not have gotten the shot and the defense has looked God-awful most nights. So, even with DeAaron Fox going down and out for a short period of time in the 4th quarter with what ended up being a fairly serious ankle injury, the Lakers were unable to eke out a win in one of the tougher road venues in the Association. Still, a couple positives can yet be gleaned.

1. Wrong lineup to close the game. Not too sure what the coaching staff has seen from gabe Vincent that makes them so certain he should be on the floor for the closing moments…and in OT. Shooting 33.3% overall and 0-fer from three is the kind of offensive punch that means you’re a defensive ace in the hole. Unfortunately that’s not really true, at least not yet. It’s not that Vincent played badly, per se, it’s that Coach Ham broke one of, maybe the first, cardinal rule of basketball: stay with the hot hand. It looked like Rui Hachimura had found his groove a little bit in the 4th quarter, hit a three, hit a step back, was rebounding the ball well, not turning it over…and was yanked. In his time in the 4th and OT Vincent attempted (and missed) 1 total shot meaning the bulk of everything fell to LeBron, DLo, Prince and AD when it came to the offense. Would have liked to see a better defensive lineup and hachimura likely has plenty in the tank unlike…
2. Taurean Prince closing games is another question mark for me. His shot was falling early but he looked pretty done towards the end while racking up 41 minutes. His defense was certainly cooked by then. This is another one of those cascade effects of two factors: Reaves sucking big time and Vando being out. Coach Ham has to either put a lineup out there that tries to help space the floor or stop the other team from scoring and, unfortunately, closing lineups with Prince don’t honestly do either one. Teams will forever let Taurean Prince launch as many shots as he cares to take from three over letting AD and LeBron dominate the paint and they’ll do it with gladness in their hearts.
3. Speaking of dominating the paint… We didn’t. Here’s a Nostradamus for ya: we will lose every single game of the season if we’re not within +/- 5 points of the other team in paint points. Last night we lost that battle 56-44 (-12) and the incredible thing about that is we lost that battle while dominating them in fastbreak points (22-7). That tells you one thing: our half court defense was absolutely hot garbage last night. Not having Vando and Gabe Vincent not being quite the defensive pest has hurt us already this season. D-Lo may have made a small improvement in that area but the flip side of that is teams now hunt guys like Prince or Reaves.
4. Another curious choice regarding the rotation. Much has been made of Coach Ham’s predilection (addiction?) for trotting out 3 guard line ups. Sure enough during a disastrous stretch in the 4th we saw Reaves, Vincent and D-Lo out there, unable to rebound or stop guys from getting to the hoop. Domantas Sabonis fouled out with a few minutes to go in regulation and we responded by…staying with the same guys. No hachimura (+9 for the game in PER) and no Christian Wood (team leading +12). Wood had a perfect game going, too. No misses from any kind of shot you can take in an NBA game and 5 boards to boot. Yet, somehow, the two most effective bench players saw zero minutes down the stretch of the 4th quarter or OT? I’m not ready to proclaim any player other than LeBron and AD as “must play in crunch time (when actually playing)” but Wood and Hachimura had shown themselves to be at least as effective as Vincent was. Defensively I get it, but you’re telling me you can’t rotate guys by possession to make sure you score enough to win a basketball game? That after Fox was so very obviously limping you couldn’t go to a more physically punishing line up and force him to either play defense without fouling (finished the game 5 fouls) or get to the rim? Please…
5. The team went away from AD even when he cleared out and demanded the ball. AD had 5 fourth quarter shots (made 1, another reason a little more C-Wood would have made some sense given this was the first of a back-to-back) and but one shot and bucket in OT. They missed him in favor of three pointers multiple times in OT after Sabonis fouled out. We did not exploit the most obvious weakness in the Kings which was an injured point guard whom we didn’t put into pick and roll actions or a missing All Star center for AD to bully. This isn’t rocket science, the coach sometimes has to tell the players to exploit the obvious advantages. It’s hard to stomach winnable losses and, for me, this was one of those.

Back at it tonight at home against the unbeaten Orlando Magic. I’m sure we’ll see the minutes restriction roughly back in place and maybe even a more expanded role for Wood and/or Hayes to give AD more rest. It would help if Reaves could hit the broad side of the barn or Vincent to show the aggression he played with in Miami when they’re called upon.

I’m not going to go so far as to say this game is blueprint-worthy in terms of mapping out a road to consistent success but it did show us a team with a lot of heart and showcased the overall depth and potential that Ham can use to get the job done on a nightly basis. While AD and LeBron featured prominently in the win (like they do), it was a lot more than just the superstar tandem that helped make the first win of the season and the first game at Crypto come out right.

1. The unheralded play of Cam Reddish and Christian Wood. Two dudes with more negative press than they probably deserve. Neither has the rep of defensive stopper, Wood has always been seen as a score-first (only?) player and Cam has been over-hyped at every stop along the way in his still young career. Neither one made a 3 pointer (combined 0-5, an onerous trend on a Laker team purported to have improved it’s three point shooting), nor did they score into the double digit range. Still, Cam had an impact on defense in the first half checking Durant and paving the way for what Wood helped do in the second half. Along with his 10 big rebounds Wood played some admirable defense on KD and got to the stripe despite the jumper not falling. These are the kind of things you need to do on this team, especially when three-point specialist Taurean Prince couldn’t buy a bucket all night long. When the scoring gets lean, turn to your defense.
2. The defense was pretty solid all night long. Other than the 3rd quarter where I thought we picked up a bad habit from last season (the legendary third quarter struggles we endured for 3/4 of the season regardless of who was on the team) we really turned it around as a team in the 4th quarter. We clamped down on the entire team as Phoenix scored 5 baskets in the final frame, four of those were by Durant. 5-20 in the 4th quarter is getting after it and getting it done, I don’t care that Booker and Beal were out. These are all pros, these guys can all hoop, and therefor that was some great team defense.
3. Going back to what works for this team under Coach Ham. Game 1 looked like what people want to see or think the Lakers should be: a team that shoots a lot of threes. We won last night by going back to the thing we’re best at: dominating the paint. There’s just no reason for the Lakers to shoot more than 30 three pointers in any game. Not unless a couple guys get hot and stay hot and that was definitely not the recipe last night. Instead the Lakers returned to their old friend the paint where they utterly dominated Phoenix to the tune of 60 to 36 fueled in part by a 16-6 edge in fastbreak points. Overall I thought our defense led to a ton of our offense, which is pretty much how this team is built to win. There may come a day when the lakers more resemble a modern NBA team with all the threes and such but I still have a hard time seeing this team play in that mode consistently and in a way that will generate wins.
4. 1st quarter malaise. Was it just me or was Crupto really, really quiet for like the first hour of the game. Did everyone get a 3rd quarter shot of tequila or something? Halftime espresso? At any rate, the Lakers woke Crypto up with a stellar 4th but come on people, you paid your money now get loud! In defense of the fans our overall effort in the first frame was not great, almost as bad as Phoenix’s play in the fourth. This is where I think the Lakers truly miss Jared Vanderbilt and his energy and effort. Prince wasn’t hitting his shots, LeBron was still easing into the game, AD was, too. That meant that, outside of our guard corp, there just wasn’t much to get pumped about.
5. Grand larceny. Another stat that jumped out to me was that almost every laker that played got at least one steal. Ironically only Wood and Reddish came up empty in the thievery department but made up for it with stellar defense. While we may not end up leading the league in steals or blocks it’s effort like this that will lead the way on D. There are some wrinkles to work out on offense (like getting Rui Hachimura going, maybe run some plays for the dude?) but if the defense shows up on a nightly basis we’ll be just fine.

Lakers have a couple days off before facing Sacramento (along with Ham’s three time outs to play with in the 4th, I’m pretty sure this factored into the logic of playing James over 30 minutes, as well). The Kings are looking to re-capture lightning in a bottle and, along with every other western conference team that’s played and won a solitary game, sits in a 6-way tie atop the conference in first place. The Lakers a re looking to continue their early winning ways and match their total wins through 12 games last season in game 3.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Nobody bossing Denver around, and that was before some onerous calls by the refs to kick off the season. Mile high altitude must mess with them, too. The truth is the Lakers simply didn’t execute well enough to beat poised and polished Nuggets squad. Some had hoped that the departure of a few key players might reveal a wrinkle or weakness. When you have Jokic and Murray, the rest is pretty much gravy.

1. Let’s get something straight about the Nuggets. When healthy and engaged I’m not sure there’s a team that has enough firepower, skill and chemistry to beat them. Especially in Denver. Losing a couple guys won’t change a thing when the guy who made them better, Jokic, is still suiting up for the team Colorado. The Timberwolves, with the defensive aplomb of Gobert especially, have the best matchups. For us to win, or most teams for that matter, you have to win the small battles: rebounds, points i the paint, free throws, and keep your turnovers down. Too often our turnovers, which were pretty low all things concerned, led to easy buckets when we didn’t do a great job getting back. That won’t cut it against the Nuggets, not anymore.
2. The mysterious case of the here one half, gone the next Anthony Davis. That didn’t take too long… What has long been my, and many other lakers fans, biggest knock against AD is his ability to vanish when we need to shine brightest. It’s just not in his DNA, not everyone can be like a Kobe or leBron or Magic. Once again, with the Lakers needing more, AD, he seemed to wilt into the floor against a double team scheme. I long ago gave up on hoping for AD to play more like __________ player who was born with the clutch gene. It’s just not in him, not on an every game basis. He played really well on defense bt we need him to be a consistent threat for 4 quarters on both ends for this to have a shred of hope in ending with another banner. It’s just that simple.
3. Their guards outplayed our guards. Yeah some calls maybe didn’t go our way but our starting guards also missed a lot of wide open shots. With big money comes big expectations. D Lo and Reaves both signed lucrative extensions and need to be better hitting the open shots this offense is certain to generate on a nightly basis. Other than Vincent, and for a short burst Cam Reddish, we didn’t get all that much out of any guards against the Nuggets while KCP and Murray went off on us all game long.
4. Prince’s shooting kept us in the game. While he often looked a little lost on D and was as guilty as any Laker of not getting back, Prince showcased his shooting and that’s a bright spot going forward. Were it not for his efforts from three this game would have been a true blowout.
5. LeBron looked smooth and I approve of the minutes limit. This is what comes with relying so very much ona 39 year old. if the first game of the season told me anything it’s that our depth still needs to do a better job rising to the task at hand or those LeBron minutes are going to creep up, up, up and I fear that will result in what could be a borderline career-ending injury. While difficult to watch, especially in the 4th as we saw the game start to slip away when AD couldn’t get it going, this is the correct blueprint for handling a 39 year hoops savant. He cannot play 35+ mpg, we need to keep it around 30, save for overtime games. This is why the legendary Laker Tom Load management Plan needs to happen more than it did last season: hit ’em hard, hit ’em early, blow ’em out, rest your key guys down the stretch while the bench mops up.

A lot was made of the “Who’s your daddy” chant. That, my friends, is a bonafide sign of fear, loathing and respect. Add it to the “Beat LA” chant as another feather in the cap of how the Lakers can uniquely annoy and inspire vitriol in another big city. Kind of big, well…not really. Guess Michael Malone ain’t the only one worried about the lakers more than any other team.

While it shouldn’t, these sort of things matter. At least in Laker Land they do. Generally a fanbase is pretty blase’ about their respective teams’ W/L record during camp and preseason. Lakers fans need look back to just over a decade ago when Mike “The Notebook” Brown wen’t 0-fer in the preseason which bled into the regular season and he was subsequently canned. So, in a way, it’s a relief that the first “win” is out of the way, however meaningless it truly happens to be. Which brings us to the Lakers/Nets game last night, let’s dig in.

1. The brave new world of the made three pointer. The Lakers shot the three ball well with the group they started with (D-Lo, Reaves, Prince, james and AD) at 13-23 (good for 56%). While I don’t expect Prince to start games (mainly because he is a fouling machine out there…) it was nice to see the offense operate as a well-oiled machine. Overall the bench was a little more off the mark (7 of 32 aka 21%) which led us to an overall 36ish% from beyond the arc and, in particular, the rookies struggled mightily. All in all, a fairly promising showing in that department. Still, i was glad that Coach Ham went out of his way to mention that living and loving the paint are the bread and butter of the team.
2. The elusive 5th starter. Prince was a surprise for many (but really all one had to do was look at the injury report and see that Vando was sitting out due to heel soreness along with Cam who had a sore ankle). Some may clamor to start Rui but I don’t see that happening, at least not out of the gate this season. It feels like Vando’s job to lose at this point. I base that on the following observations: Prince is a fouling machine on defense which means his role will have extreme limits on this team, yes he made some threes last night. Won’t move the Ham Needle, or mine. Rui makes so much sense off the bench. He can backup three different positions against most opponents: either forward and center. Vando can set a tone, try and lock down the other team’s best scorer, and I believe he can make enough threes to help keep the defense a little more honest.
3. LeBron and Reaves debut. Reaves has been eased into the season after his lengthy stint with USA basketball. He didn’t look like he missed a beat last night making the kind of smart, smooth plays we’ve become accustomed to. LeBron looked like an elder statesman easing his way into the season. That’s fine and frankly it’s exactly what he should be doing. I won’t be surprised if both players miss the next game, or at least LeBron. In general, the first rule of preseason is get everyone out healthy.
4. AD looks locked in. Everything is working right now for the Lakers cog. AD is the essential gear that makes this whole machine work. If he’s on, we hum. When he’s off, we grind and skid. His defense last night was superb, highlighted by 3 blocks. he shot with confidence and determination, not nearly as much waffling when he got the ball. This kind of showing needs to be his status quo, his modus operandi for the entire season.
5. Laker Kids nearly coughed it up. Which wouldn’t have mattered all that much…except because they didn’t it can prove to be a valuable learning step and a confidence booster, as well. Nothing has really changed my perception that Max will be the only Laker Kid with a role of significance, if we need any of the others it means somebody is hurt. JHS and Hodges both struggled mightily with their shot and that unit couldn’t defend a rock stuck in cement but they gritted it out, which is admirable.

Honorable mention goes to Lonnie Walker the iVth who looked like he had one thing on his mind: Beat LA.Also, that Ben Simmons dude played Cool. Hope he’s right top to bottom, inside and out.