Aloha,

That was an extremely important win. You hate to play a team the day after their coach was fired. You know they will come out with extra energy. And when it’s a talented team like the Griz, it’s down right scary. They are a fast paced, high scoring team that averages 123 points a game. Fortunately when healthy we score as well.

There should no longer be any doubt that Austin is our 3rd star. He was our best player again last night. And it isn’t just the 31 points but it was also some tough rebounds and steals. Denying JJJ that pass drawing a foul won’t show up on the stats sheet but it was another huge play in crunch time. Austin is averaging 20 points, 4.5 boards and 6 assists as the 3rd option. And when or both of our superstars miss a game, Austin plays like a superstar. He is without a doubt one of the toughest players in the NBA. We no longer need to star hunt. When can now focus on just depth.

LeBron is beginning to look better after that long layoff. But his timing is still a bit off. He’s missing layups and bunnies. Hopefully he will find his rhythm soon.

Miami Gabe. Enough said.

It’s a shame Rui had to miss the Bulls game because of injury management because our small ball line up of him, Lebron and DFS is so much better when he’s available. Vando is great but he is better on the perimeter. Rui has the body to bang with bigs. Plus his shooting adds another dimension over Vando when we go small.

Luka’s 3 ball wasn’t falling but superstars find a way and Luka turned to attacking the paint and hit 10-11 free throws as well as midrange jumpers. All of the open looks we get is the Luka effect and I don’t think there is anything any team can do about it.

This stretch run is going to be tough. We hold tie breaks with every team around us except the Rockets but we play them twice. Fortunately at home. Tie breaks only work if you tie someone. Our margin over the 6th seed is slender. But with the tie breaks we would need to lose 3 more games than the Warriors or the Clippers. With all the injuries we haven’t had a lot of time together for a while. We do get an extra days rest after the Rockets game which will help. We have 2 with OKC coming up. I’m hoping they don’t have anything to play for when we meet them. They have a 3 game lead over the Cav’s for best overall record. Even if they play all their starters we need to at least split the 2.

It will be a challenge staying in the top 4, heck even the top 6 won’t be easy. But we are finally healthy and hopefully we stay healthy. Because if we do I feel good about our chances.

Aloha,

I tuned into the game last night with no expectations. With our top 6 players sitting, this was clearly a schedule loss. It was the 6th game in 8 days, which is brutal and never done. Unfortunately, games had to be moved around because of the fires, leading to 3 straight back to backs. Guys were tired and a little banged up, so we sacrificed a potential win for health. And I agree with that. The good news is we may have a full squad for Saturday. With a lack of practice time, I think it’s important to play everyone against a subpar Bulls team as a tune up for a difficult road trip coming up.

Last night I watched, just to see how the remaining guys would play. While we did manage to hang around until the mid 3rd quarter due to defense, we struggled. One of the roster construction problems this team has is, we have 3 play makers on the roster and they all start. We don’t have a true backup point guard off the bench. And it showed. As much as I like Gabe, he isn’t a true point guard. I view him as an Avery Bradley type. A Bulldog on defense that can hit some shots. He is not a play maker. And it showed last night in the poor quality looks that we were getting. That was disappointing.

I was also disappointed in Dalton. While he scored 17, most of those points came after the game was decided. He actually went 1 for 8 on 2 point attempts which killed us. And Goody, while he gave his normal all out effort, he also wasn’t hitting shot.

There were bright spots. Morris played well. He had a plus 7, the only plus on the team. Jax was okay, with 9 points and 5 boards in only 16 minutes. Len actually played pretty well with 10 points and 9 boards in 17 minutes. Defensively, I think he held up well against Lopez.

But the star of the night was Bronny. 17 points on 7-10 shooting and 5 assists. And that one long pass to Morris was straight out of his Dad’s playbook. I occasionally watch the South Bay Lakers and I have seen him grow as the season has progressed. His confidence has soared and he was usually the best player on the court for either team. It was great to see that confidence translate to the varsity. What you saw last night is exactly how he has looked in the G league for the last couple of months. With the way he works, I can possibly see him breaking into the rotation at some point as early as next year. While he was the 55th pick, he is looking like a player taken much higher.

The good news is that even with all the injuries and the hellish schedule we are still sitting in the 4th seed with tie breakers over everyone in the top 8 with exception of the Rockets and we have 2 left with them. Even with a difficult remaining schedule, if we remain healthy the rest of the way, this team could still realistically finish 2nd. I think sacrificing one game for that was worth it.

Aloha,

I didn’t have this one as a win. The Celtics had rested players the game before while had to fly 3,000 miles after a tough overtime game against the Knicks. While they didn’t have Porzingas, we did not have Rui and Jackson, which I think is more important to us.

We had 3 good quarters. We lost the game in the third quarter. We just could not make a shot. We missed our 1st ten and didn’t make a basket until under 6 minutes. Still, we came back and cut it to 4. It’s really hard to come back from that far down, especially when LeBron is out for the stretch run. You spend a lot of energy coming back and we ran out of gas. But for me, it showed that if we were to meet these guys in the finals, we can play with these them . I doubt we will have very many shooting quarters like the third.

The game plan last night resembled our offense last year. Put the ball in LeBrons hand and get out of the way. Except it was Luka. Brown is a great defender. I think I would have had Austin run the offense more. He’s a good playmaker as well and it might have upset their game plan because it revolved around stopping Luka and Lebron. Speaking of Austin it was good to see him have a bounce back shooting night.

Goodwin continues to impress. He definitely will be on the team for the playoffs.

We did a good job keeping Boston off the 3 point line. They only shot 38. We actually shot 2 more 3’s and made one more. It was offensive rebounds and untimely turnovers that were the difference. Rui and Jax definitely could’ve helped on the boards.

Speaking of turnovers, the Celtics were allowed to mug Luka all night. One play in particular really pissed me off. Brown hit Luka in the head, knocking him off the ball for a steal. What made this one so egregious was it happened in the open court with just the two of them and all 3 officials turned their heads. There was a definite home court advantage when it came to the officials.

We are Losing LeBron for at least a week. I’m thinking probably two. We actually are 3-1 without LeBron. But Rui is also out and he usually steps up big when LeBron is hurt. The good news is Rui ramping up and could be available for the Bucks game. Jackson maybe back for the Nets.

The Nets game will be huge. We really need this one. I expect to see all star version of Austin while LeBron is out. He seems to always come up big when we are missing a star.

Fortunately we have built somewhat of a cushion so even if we drop to the 5th seed while LeBron is out, we will have time to regain some ground once he returns.

By the way, the nuggets play OKC back to back in OKC. Go Thunder!

It will be a challenge but if we get Rui and Jax back we could at least go 2-2 on this trip.

Go Lakers!

Aloha,

Wow this is fun. It is the mark of a great team when you win a game against a quality team that you probably should have lost. Through the first 3 quarters we couldn’t hit the ocean from the beach. Then at the buzzer Dalton hit that 3 and it seemed to provide a real momentum boost heading into the 4th, where our defense picked up the intensity and the shots finally began to fall.

The defense has been special holding the Knicks to 99 points in regulation. While adding DFS, Vando returning, Gabe becoming Miami Gabe again and the play of our two way guys is important, the game plans have been elite. I honestly believe that the expectations early on were unrealistic. There is a learning curve with a new coaching staff. Not only do the players have to learn the new schemes but the coaches have to learn more about the players as well and make adjustments. So it was bound to take time. But we are hitting on all cylinders now. And we should be mentioned in the same breath as the other great defenses in the league.

The defense has been really unconventional when it comes to guarding scoring bigs. The first Knicks game Rui was assigned to Kat and he did a really good job. With Rui out, Lebron was on Kat and he did a great job as well. Kat scored a total of 23 points in the two games combined. This has freed Hayes to roam. We saw this approach against the Joker. Even in the Celtics game, Max was on Porzingas most of the time.

I keep hearing how it will be different in the playoffs because teams will adjust. But teams will have to figure out us as well. This team has a ton of fire power. We didn’t have Rui, who scored 21 the last time we played the Knicks and Austin was coming back from an injury and didn’t have a good game. We were also missing Goodwin. The Knicks were completely healthy. With this kind of depth, we will be a problem for anyone in the playoffs. While the Luka/Lebron combo poses so many problems that teams just cover all of our other options.

One thing I may have enjoyed more than the game was how angry Barkley is because the Lakers are good 🙂 He went bolistic in the pre-game and after the game. That is soooooo much fun.

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.

Aloha,

Just a few thoughts. All eyes are on the 2nd seed with the Lakers a mere one game back in the loss column. But I’m also keeping my eye on the teams behind us. The Clippers are in 6th now 5 games back of us in the loss column. The 7th, 8th and 9th seeds are all 6 games back in the loss column. Barring major injuries we have an excellent chance of at least the 5th seed and avoiding the play in game altogether.

I have been watching basketball more years than I like to admit. I can honestly say that I have never seen a team with 3 playmakers on one team like we have in Luka, Lebron and the still underrated Austin.

Now the next thing ever NBA teams long for are long, athletic forwards. We have 4 of them in Lebron, Rui, Doe and Vando. And they all can play multiple positions.

Add those groups together and you have something special. Earlier in the year our 2nd unit struggled on both sides of the ball. While our defense on Joker was the talk of the league, I thought our rotations should have gotten more notice. I no longer worry about our 2nd unit. We had at least 2 of our big 3 playmakers on the court 40 of the 48 minutes. And the one 4 minute stretch where we only had Lebron out there we doubled the lead to 18 in the 4th.

I thought JJ’s mixing of our top scores and defenders was brilliant. We generally had 3 starters on the court. Rotating Doe, Gabe and Vando in we always have a strong unit on the court.

I have to give LeBron his props on the defensive side. I had been hard of him earlier in the year but he has looked like the defender he was back when he came to the Lakers. Mix in the huge strides that Rui and Austin have taken defensively, thats why we have been the top defense in the league for over a month. By the Austin is 5th in the league in taking charges. And Luka always led the Mavs in steals. I believe our back court isn’t the liability some people think it is. What is making the defense special is the connection between the players. And I only see it getting better as the group plays more games together.

I am still somewhat concerned by our center rotation. Jaxson has really improved, still it could be our Achilles heel. I really don’t see a helpful 5 being bought before March 1st. I think we may end up promoting either Koloko or Tre to the varsity. That could give us 6 hard fouls. Currently I like Tre more than Koloko. But they have until the last day of the season to decide.

I also believe we should promote Goodwin as well. He has been so much better than Shake and Cam have been. He is definitely a keeper for next year.

I really like this group. I think we bring them all back next year. Hopefully we can keep Jax. He has earned at least a back up center role. Even if they can keep Jax we will need another center. However it doesn’t have to be a star. Someone who can play some defense, rebound and catch a lob. An interesting name out there could be Clint Capella and he could possibly be had for the MLE. We will have up to 5 open roster spots and as we saw this year with the new CBA, a lot of talent fell into the Vet minimum level. This team will be a preferred landing spot for those vets that fall.

I haven’t been this excited by a Laker team since the last Championship. I don’t know if we can win it all this year but we are so much closer than we have been for a long time. This 6 game home stand is very important because we have a tough March ahead. I don’t in that stretch that we beat, if we continue to play like we have been playing.

Go Lakers

Aloha,

Great Laker day. We picked up a game on both the Clippers and the Mav’s who lost. We also picked up a game on the Grizzlies who also lost. We are now only one out in the loss column from the 2nd seed. If OKC beat the TWolves we will gain another game on them. So far, so good.

Aloha,

We have had some impressive wins this year but that one was I believe our best game. Luka, was amazing. He was better than I thought he could be this soon after the trade and coming back from injury. And if there was any question if Luka, LeBron and Austin being able to start together, I think we saw the answer. A resounding HELL YES.

I think one can now, say with certainty that our defense is for real. It starts with some innovative games plan that the players execute beautifully. And they just played harder than the Nuggets all night. The coaches designated which Nuggets would have to beat us and effectively defended the others

While Luka got the game ball, if there was defensive game ball I would give it to Rui. Now don’t get me wrong, the entire team defended at a high level. But JJ singled out Rui, calling him a Warrior and I completely agree. Rui is extremely strong and he was in Jokers shirt all night. He is really hard to move. It’s kind of strange to me that some people still don’t realize how much he has improved defensively. I see it and the coaches point it out all the time but for some reason he doesn’t get the credit he’s earned.

Luka and Austin are two others that don’t get enough credit on the defensive end. Doe pointed out that Luka led the Mav’s in steals the years he played with him. He had 4 tonight. And Austin has elevated his defense as well. He’s been an integral part of that number 1 defense the last month.

Offensively I think we could be perhaps a top offensive team as well. Luka had 30, while Lebron, Austin and Rui all had 20+ Doe, Vando and Gabe didn’t contribute much offense but they will and their defense made a huge difference. Vando had the Joker visibly irritated.

I am liking JJ’s rotations. There seems to always be scorers and defenders on the court at the same time.

The Rockets lost so we are back at the 4th seed. And we are only 2 games back in the loss column from the 2nd seed. We have several tough games coming up but they are at home. If we continue to play this hard and execute we will win a lot of games.