Game Debrief: What Went Right And What Went Wrong?

Great win, but Luka is going to have nights where he doesn't score 49, right?

I think JJ needs to start asking himself if he should start Marcus right now.

I do think this will be the recipe to win games with this group now and when LBJ comes back; it will give you a PO berth, but whether or not it will get you past the second round is left to TBD.

 

ok, super late to the party, but i finally got to see it all. some thoughts:

-many lakers fans are seeing luka for the first time. he's the guy. he can't be guarded without a second defender. you should be able to build a top-10 offense with him and 4 solid nba players. i think he likes playing mcdaniels because mcdaniels still thinks he can thug him, and he just toys with him. mcdaniels stands zero chance. none. luka's defense was also generally pretty good, a few good deflections, and he gets in the right spots almost all the time. really fights against bigger players in the post on the defensive boards, too.

-reaves is reaves, and that play in the mid-third where he drove, put the brakes on, and spun for the layup was absolutely elite. won't hit the espn reel, but not many guys can do that.

-ayton is making plays we wish centers on our team could make on both ends, imo. couple times just simply grabbing a loose ball/rebound after it's batted around a bit. seems like nothing, but AD was the only guy who did it before, and now ayton does it.

-brings me to smart--repeating that it's like when we signed artest. he just brings things we need. his limitations are there and the same as they've always been, but his positives are hard to replicate. the physicality is something we've lacked from a perimeter player, and he's high hoop iq even if he lets his emotions lower his decision making here and there.

-vando's a whipping boy here, but he still just pops on the court for me. you know he's out there. the other team knows he's out there. those two blocks he had late in the third were huge in terms of tone-setting.

-rui had a couple personal offensive flurries that kept us either in the game or in the lead. defensively, i'm still not in love, but offensively, he does a lot of pretty important things. he's like dlo in this way for me, but not as bad on defense, nor do i think when he fails on offense it's because his brain turned off.

on the other side:

-randle and ddv like to play us, and if they didn't, minny loses this one HUGE. when randle finally missed a wild three, i think minny packed it in, tbh. if he hit shots regularly like he does against us, he'd be a max guy.

-i think conley may finally be done. been expecting it for like, four full years, but he just doesn't have any burst on either end anymore.

-naz reid needs to go back to playing within himself with an occasional "i can also do this!" flair, instead of trying to do that other stuff more.

-shannon and clark aren't ready to step in to NAW's role as of right now. and to be fair, early indications in atl are that NAW was more comfortable as a 5th wheel. this is the stuff that happens when you're trying to contend in the 2nd apron/hard cap era.

-bones hyland having supplanted dillingham in the wolves lineup isn't a good sign, imo. they paid a pretty heavy price for dillingham, using draft picks that keep them out of trades going forward. he needs to be able to play this year and not be outshined by a guy who's been discarded twice.

-edwards is great, but he ain't luka (nor is SGA, for that matter).

all in all:

i didn't expect a win in this game at all, so i was pleasantly surprised to see the fight shown by the team. luka set the tone throughout, and i agree with others that it's a welcome sign after a pretty significant period of our star players hoping to swoop in after a while instead of driving the action from the get-go.

i still don't like that when luka doesn't have the ball, he/we have determined that he stands near midcourt. yeah, i get it--the defender has to be out there, so you have 4 on 4 in more space, but on one play, we ran action where gabe got a ball screen...only to pass it to an already covered luka 38ft from the hoop. this makes no sense and looked fully intentional. stop this nonsense. if we're going to use 5 seconds of clock to set a ball screen for gabe, i want luka catching in a better position. i'd love to hear jj diagram that play and discuss why it will never, ever happen again even in our waking nightmares.

going forward, i'm not sure what to do about vando/hayes. it may be that we can only play one in a given game? i like both players as 15-20mpg energy/dirty work guys, but it's hard to play them together. and maybe that's the solution. the rotation is luka/lebron/reaves/ayton/rui/gabe/laravia and whichever of hayes/vando makes the most sense.

anyway, on to the next. if we can't beat sac, the minny win is kind of hollow. let's try to kidnap ellis or carter while we're in town.

 

Good takes, I agree with just about all of your points.

For Vando/Hayes, I mentioned in the depth chart thread that we should definitely not be playing them together, and that Hayes being hurt is a blessing in disguise, because Rui/Vando at PF/C went an incredible +15, even against Gobert, Randle, & Reid. Smallball C in bursts is not a problem, and the Smart/Reaves/Luka/Rui/Vando lineup was super effective. Even with only 1 of Reaves & Luka, it was effective. It maximizes Vando's defense, while minimizing his offensive liability, as the only non-shooter. However, in Game 1, him playing next to Hayes just didn't work.

My suggestion is something like Ayton (30), Hayes (10), Vando (8 at C next to Rui, 8-10 next to Ayton). We don't want or need more than 10 Hayes minutes imo, barring injuries.

 

I agree with you, it’s also why I hope Kleber can come back healthy. Defensively he is like a LaRavia in that he is jsut solid, great hustle guy, but opposing teams can’t leave him on the perimeter because he can hit a 3 on you.

The Vando at the 5 lineup with Austin / Smart / LaRavia / Rui / Vando is a +55 in two games. It makes sense why, we have Rui as a 5 on defense and Vando as the 5 on offense, where they are both more useful. I actually really like that lineup as a blend of defensive bench guys and offense. Reaves takes the worst guy 1-5 and everyone else is slotted in well with Rui on the big, Smart taking toughest assignment 1-3, LaRavia on the next guy and Vando roaming more to be a terror on defense.

 

When is he scheduled to start playing?

If he can be a defensive backup that can keep us in the game that would be huge for our depth

 

Maxi imitating Sally Fields’s voice to @svtzr …. “You like me, You really like me?”

Who knew

 

Maxi’s already dealing with health issues — I wouldn’t count on him even if my life depended on it, and thankfully, it doesn’t.

Vanderbilt at the 5 can work in certain matchups. It actually helps solve some of the spacing issues we run into with him at other spots. More importantly, it might let us play JV and Smart together more often, assuming Smart can be at least serviceable with his shot. Defensively, both can handle any coverage, which gives that unit the kind of two-way versatility we’re looking for, IMO.

The key will be rebounding — that’s the main tradeoff. We’ll need to emphasize strong principals there and make sure everyone’s crashing the glass to limit second and third opportunities.

 

The website isn't allowing me to embed any vids. I wanted to show some of the actions that Raj put up on Twitter.