Game Debrief: What Went Right And What Went Wrong?

Because it’s the Internet, and feelings were hurt

 

Uh oh

 

Both lil Scottie and stinky Jay Huff will tear our scrubs a new one

 

When did Marcus Smart earn and get the whistle of a prime Michael Jordan?
Honestly that was f***ing trash he kept throwing up prayers while driving into Lakers chest and got rewarded.
This whole Memphis team is f***ing annoying: how does that team have like 10 players who can hit shots, drive, play defense, and all just be annoying to watch? Maybe I'm just jealous of how they got so many good players

 

Lakers go up by 15 early, blow the lead, go down 11, win the game 128-123 vs. MEM for their 3rd straight win. Undefeated at home so far this year.

What went Wrong: Sleepy D from about midway through the 2nd and halfway through the 3rd.

AD had his first "bad game" of the year. The refs didn't help him, but he also played w/o his rhythm and groove in the first half. He had to sit for 9 crucial minutes due to foul trouble, but when he came back he looked more like the AD we've seen earlier in the season. Notably, Lakers outplayed MEM while AD was on the bench.

D-Lo still making poor decisions, not able to play his game.

Gabe has Lakers Three Disease. No one knows the cure for good shooters who come here and suddenly can't shoot. Won't you give generously so we can find a cure for this dreaded disease, which can strike any player at any time after they are acquired by the Lakers?

The refs were pretty bad for this game, all around, I thought. Lots of ticky-tack fouls called and they missed a lot of obvious quasi-muggings, especially inside. I swear Edey, who fouled out, must have had 13 fouls this game. Scott Twardoski, Jason Goldenberg with Josh Tiven as the crew chief: not a great job, guys. Hope to not see you again soon. Or ever. Two calls for Marcus Smart and the one where Kennard pushed AR into JJJ? You have to be kidding me. Those were stupid-bad calls.

MEM, even without Ja, continue to walk the line between aggressive gritty hustlers and b****-a** kinda dirty-playin' punks, and I suspect they reflect their coach's attitude.

What went right for us:
The Old Man with his 3rd straight triple-double, age 39. Can you imagine anyone breaking that record? I cannot. I try. Can't see it.

FANFARE: Ladies 'n Germs: Dalton Knecht has officially calmed down enough to shoot the effing lights out like we knew he would. What a thrill! 5 for 5 from deep, 7 for 8 overall.

Rui was 6 for 7; Cam played his solid D.

AR had a rough game but was battlin'. MEM kept hanging on making us nervous. Pippen Jr feeds JJJ with 1:25 left in the game to get MEM within 4. Then AR just says, screw this and hits a dagger 3 with 1:09 left to put us up 7.

Pippen Jr: did we ever give him a close enough look? Jay Huff might've made another solid big behind AD. Ah, well.

Love that we won and that Memphis LOST.

 

I'm pretty sure half of their players yesterday would play like Reddish here. I mean, we literally had 2 of them here that never played. Pippen was awful here

Memphis are really a nightmare for us, really well coached team and great culture they built there.
This team is just unable to have an easy game. But well, we got the W, 3 in a row and 6-0 at home.

Game notes:
- Memphis is very physical and quick which we don't like
- Bron is out of this world. Unbelievable
- Knecht breakout game, well rewarded by JJ. Hopefully it helps him feel more comfortable moving forward
- DLo sucked, his energy is not good

We got off to a good start, but this team isn't able to push a 15-20 point lead to 30

 

You can't push a lead out when you generate a ton of good shots that are bricked by Vincent or you create advantages for a player who should be able to use it and they just don't like Dlo.

If those two can't turn it around it's going to put a real cap on this team because all the good they do gets washed away. Your guards are supposed to be talented and skilled in the NBA. Big men can get away without these traits but not your guards

Plus Memphis is always good with or without Morant didn't realize they had won 3 in a row before last night

 

Concerned about the SAS game. Seems like a trap game.

 

AD better come with his A game defensively.
Wemby is looking scary good already.
Wish we had an enforcer on this team to lay out CP3 on a brutal screen.

 

When I catch Wemby on TV there are a lot of things that blow my friggin' 'mind, but here's three:

1. For a guy that tall, his baseline moves and acrobatic twists underneath the hoop just don't "match" everything I've ever seen from other guys 7'0" or taller.

2. His 3-ball form looks really good.

3. This is the wildest, for me: every time I watch him I see an opposing player go up for a shot and he looks relatively open, or I'm unaware of a contest...then Wemby comes from seemingly out of nowhere to block the shot. It will take a long time for me to get used to this one. It's an 8-foot wingspan, my friends. Lawd!

Edit to add: I'm suddenly no longer a "rookie" here! 'Bout time!

 

…. from rookie to scrub





JK!!

 

LeBron is not impressed

 

Sac and Minny are the only good teams they have beaten so far. Both at home (Houston too). Then they won against Portland, Washington and Utah. They are 5-2 at home, losing to Utah and Houston, by 4 or less points.

Soooo...they are tough at home but overall had an easy schedule. We have to be good to win this one. We have an "easy" b2b at Spurs and Pels, these are the type of wins that gives you an edge in a tough competition as the West. Unfortunately, I don't feel this team has it to win both but rooting to be proven wrong.

I haven't watched Castle yet but their other guards are not the type that make DLo and Reaves struggle. I think it's the type of game we can play both together for longer stretches and go full offense on them

 

PUT ME IN, COACH! I'm salty. I'm ready to battle. I'm...ready to get off the couch and chuck 28 footers, maybe try 'n play some D. Emphasis on "try." (Until I get winded and a side-ache/cramp about 3 minutes in.)

 

I'll give it to JJ, this team is a lot more interesting to watch than last season's it's just a shame that we don't have the personnel especially defensive to make a title run.

It's a lot of fun to see AD play at this level, too, but will it last?

 

Big Win!
So happy that CPDirty was called for that dirty pick at the end.
Max showed out and played really well!
Gave made a three and contributed!
AD continued BeastMode!

Spurs have a bright future with Wemby and Castle.

 

That was a fun and entertaining game - in typical Lakers fashion Spurs get healthy right when they show up with Vassell and he was pretty good!

Thoughts:
-Max trying to show me up with his best game as a Laker by far.
-Lebron was awful - he seemed to change his jumptshot. Instead of shooting it set he was jacking this 3's off a jumpshot. Totally messed up his shooting
-AD was incredible
-Reaves has big balls
-Dlo and Gabe weren't awful
-Knecht is going to be a 20ppg scorer in this league soon

 

Wouldn’t say Bron was awful … that was a real helpful triple double not to mention first time in his career for 4 in a row.