Game Debrief: What Went Right And What Went Wrong?

Yea, the scheduling ticks me off sometimes. Recall: we played @PHI on Dec 7th, then had 2 days off and played Spurs at home, then 3 days off and played @ PHO: 3 games in 8 days. I know I sound like complaining that the water is too hot after complaining it's too cold, but this jit does take its toll. After losing that close game to OKC JJ basically sacrificed the BTB game vs. Spurs. I'm wondering how many mins our regular starters get vs. DAL before the All Star break. I do think we need this DAL game, which starts 2 hrs from the moment I'm writing this. Why? 'Cuz we sick of losing those last 2 and DAL will go Flagg-less tonight.

G'won GET IT, Lake Show!

 

Lakers step up and get the last game before the ASB, going up 10 to DAL, letting DAL take the lead on a 12-0 run, going up 8, DAL gets back to 1, finally Lakers punch a lead to 20 and that was it. DAL is really hurtin' right now, having lost 9 straight. Lakers win 124-104.

Going into the ASB we're tied for 5th in the West with MIN at 33-21. 28 games left before the 2nd season starts.

Lebron James: 28/10/12

Guys who shot 50% or better: Lebron (10 of 20); Rui (9 of 13); Jake (4 for 6); Jaxson (8 of 10); Maxi (2 of 3); Vando (2 of 3); Kennard (3 of 4); AR (5 of 10); Adou (1 for 1)

We outrebounded them 44-28.

Now Imma be jonesin' for some good games for a week. Gotta sweat it out, prolly exercise a lot to keep my mind off it.

 

Good to see us be strong in the rebound column

Needed this win before the break

Role players

Hayes 16 pts 7 reb 4 ast 3 stl 1 blk

LKen 9 pts 7 reb 3 ast 1 stl

Smart 9 pts 2 reb 6 ast 1 stl

 

wins against tanking teams should be a given

glad we didn't mess it up

 

bit of a weird game with dallas going on that 12-0 run to end the half that really made the game seem closer than it was. whenever we play dallas and kidd just lets williams cook his assigned defender, i weep for our lack of a POA defender. williams is a third stringer, guys--the other team shouldn't be able to count on getting a good look by giving him the ball and clearing out. other than that, it was good shooting/scoring from marshall and christie (who likes to play us) that made it a game for a while.

i was annoyed when jj called a timeout up 18 with three minutes left and then basically returned all the starters to the floor. then i realized it was to get lebron a triple double--but why bring everyone else back? you're risking injury.

speaking of, reaves is still out of rhythm--this was one of his worst games. and yet the offense still looked a lot better when he was in the game simply because he now commands so much attention. the mavs were basically playing lebron straight up and switching centers onto him when ball screens came, but with reaves, they were concerned and trapping.

i got briefly annoyed when dallas played a couple minutes with middleton, thompson, and jones on the floor and we didn't score on every single possession. and speaking of that--boy middleton and thompson both look completely cooked to me. i think the only reason thompson wasn't moved at the deadline was because there were zero takers.

for us, i thought hayes played one of his better games. was really bothering shots in the paint consistently and doing a good job positioning himself on offense.

i continue to be really surprised by kennard's offensive game other than shooting. even before svg went off about it, i sort of jumped in my seat when he drove and whipped a cross-court laser right into the shooting pocket using his off hand. who knew he was actually more of a pg than gabe?

can't say it was a super impressive game overall, but we took care of business against a team that's really struggling. but we needed a win, too.

 

Someone needs to tell Smart, he's no Steph. Stop chucking the damn 3's...

 

gotta keep those minutes light and that body fresh

 

i think he had to keep shooting them, as they were almost all pretty good looks. he did drive and throw a couple good interior passes, but you can only go to that well so many times before they play even further off you.

i would be nice if he, you know, could make a couple more though, lol. given the quality of their looks, both he and jake just need to be better there.

 

For real. Playing with Bron and AR (and of course Luka), gives you so many open 3's it's ridiculous. Kennard may break some records soon

 

notice teams are all over kennard, though, which is opening the floor up for lebron/reaves (and eventually maybe luka, too). kennard's also doing a good job making teams pay for overplaying him when he does get a catch. his quick decision making basically makes him fast instead of slow on offense.

 

I (hate) watched a good bit of Kennard when he was on the Clippers a few years ago. He's always had underrated skill as a passer/playmaker, to the point that it seems like he should be given more ballhandling responsibility. But I don't think he's ever been comfortable with that. The issue with him at every stop has been that he's not as aggressive as he should be given how great a shooter he is and that he has some of that extra playmaking talent. Plus of course the defensive limitations. If we can bring in some better athletes/defenders over the summer, I wouldn't be opposed to bringing him back next year. I like him as like the 9th guy who can swing a handful of regular season games if he has a hot night.

 

i think if you ask him to handle the ball as part of a set play, it could be disastrous just due to the lack of speed and quickness. he's really good at attacking when he's overplayed or being chased/closed-out upon. and he's really good moving off the ball around the basket, too.

his defense makes it impossible to have him in during critical situations in most cases, though, so yeah, he's probably best slotted as a 9th man.

this could fit into my ideal summer dream, though:

rotation:
luka/
reaves
athletic forward acquisition
athletic guard acquisition
laravia
ayton
hayes
smart
kennard
vando

bench/development:

bufkin
knecht
thiero
draft pick

it's not happening, but if you get keon ellis (or dosunmu) and peyton watson in those mystery spots, i think that's a really good, versatile team. even if in the worst case you had to settle for like wiggins and kcp or something, it's still a nicely fitting, competitive team.

 

Kind of annoying that JJ couldn't ahve worked more mintues in for Theiro, Kobe, or Bronny. This would have been a good game to get some of these guys real minutes

 

Plus we don’t have to deal with LeBron and his careless turnovers anymore if that plan is to be followed

 

lebron had several great passes last night and only forced up a couple bad shots. and i'm not one who's like, counting the days until he's gone. i just have accepted that this summer is the most sensible time for him to move on. that said, if he wants to take less money to stay another year, i'm actually ok with it. him at 25 per is probably still going to be more valuable than what we can do with space this summer. but not at his current rate. that money could be better spent.

 

Truth is, we are going to miss his production when he is gone and if he goes to another team, especially the Cavs, I have no doubt he will beat us good at least a couple of times.

 

This is due to the fact that our team is literally one of the worst defensive teams in the League.
This is the worst defensive team we have had in the LeBron era.

 

? this is why i think Thiero needs minutes. Develop a POA defender

 

I’ve been on this train since I first saw him play for us.
I hope he gets his chance next season because it seems like JJ isn’t interested at all in playing him much this one.
He’s exactly the type of athletic, mid sized player we have been missing on this team. I just don’t understand coaches who prematurely label all young players as “whale poop,” even after seeing, in short spurts, their positive effect on the floor.