Game Debrief: What Went Right And What Went Wrong?

I’m European, lots of young people struggle watching it these days because it’ll usually be 2-3 goals or less. For every Barcelona that plays attacking high octane football, there is 5-10 sides that are happy to park the bus and play for the tie.

Future generations are struggling with that kind of game and football will have to ask some tough questions on how to stay relevant from an attention point of view when comparing it to its heyday of the 80s and 90s.

 

There's a lot "to like" from this one.

Even with a no show 3rd, we had a legit chance down the stretch in the 4th.

Add Rui, Jax, a healthier Luka, and a healthy Bron groin which should all be in play if we see each other again and I think i like our odds.

 

why did they go away from picking on Derrick White: he was just not strong enough to handle Lebron and Luka. Horford held up a lot better

So much iso ball: need to run some offense at some point particularly when you're missing the two guys in Hayes and Rui who can finish inside.
Vando and DFS not being able to finish aside like those two caused huge problems with the ISO offense.

 

DFS been off with his 3 ball for a while now.
LeBron injured.
start of the 3rd did us in.
way to fight though and cut to 4 late in the 4th, just too little too late.
did NOT like Austin’s wide open left wing 3 at the end. I felt he was so wide open and had so much time to get closer behind the 3 pt line.

 

F R. Hachimura OUT
C J. Hayes OUT
F L. James OUT
C M. Kleber OUT
Who's playing next week
And JJ is actually very stubborn with small ball,but we don't have any body

 

Obviously sucks losing to the C Bags with LeBron getting hurt, but it wasn’t all bad.

I liked what I saw from Dalton. It’s been an up and down year for him, but if he sticks around I’m confident he’ll become a decent enough defender given he’s pretty athletic.

I love Goodwin man, he busts his a** out there every night. Early on we were complaining about how physical the C Bags were guarding way too much, but Goodwin was matching that physicality.

Luka was pretty bad overall tonight, but I like that he fought back in the second half and settled in.

I appreciate Vando’s hustle and defense, but man he is rough offensively. It’s really hard to play complete non-shooters against the best teams in the league when that non-shooter also isn’t a lob threat. I feel like Vando’s finishing around the rim has regressed since 2023.

Gabe is in a slump, we’ll really need him to make shots if LeBron is going to miss some time. Similarly, we’re going to need Austin to play like a legit second star for a while.

 

f***ing hate Tatum;s game: his whole game is based on pushing off with his off hand. They never call that if Lebron or luka did that automatic offensive foul

 

I saw the importance of the midrange game in that 3rd quarter against a great defense .. Luka a better Harden until proven otherwise .

Lebron stopped using it as well before going back to it in the 4th

 

Agree with what you said.

It’s tough to win when Luka, DFS, Vando, Reaves and Gabe all have an average game. We still stuck with them and had some chances to pull it out.

Reaves needs to step up now that Luka is out. We know he has the ability.

 

We really miss Rui as well and he’s a guy too that can provide a little vertical game in addition to Hayes. We should see him active again pretty soon it sounds like.

 

Gotta admit: every night I go to bed before we play the Bags the next day I'm nervous. Loved how we played for 3 Qs, considering...everything. I'd like Luka to take better care of the ball at the arc. Sometimes I wish he'd move the ball, but how can you complain, really? I'm not.

The 3rd Q was a frikkin' nightmare.

The first 5 mins of the 4th made me think we could actually win this after being down 21.

One of the worst calls I've seen in a long time: Lakers cut it to 3, 96-92: White gets the ball in the corner, Vando closes out to him. The replay shows - you saw it - Vando's hand touched White's hip, lightly, as he went up for a shot, then Vando's hand quickly pulls away. In no way did Vando impede White's ability to make that shot. 3 FTs. White hits all 3. R-Jeff and D. Burke said "not much there." Damned Bags back up 7. That was a gift of 3 points after we cut it to 4. Appallingly bad call imo.

Luka immediately banks in a 3 from 28 feet: back to 4.

We lost to the effing C-bags. Snapped our 8-game streak. Lebron James injured his groin and I seriously doubt he'll play any of the rest of the games on this trip.

We made more 3s than the Bags (14-13) and at a higher percentage (35%-34.2%): it didn't "feel" like that to me, because, for me, when I'm watching the Bags: if they shoot a 3 - and they shoot a ton of 'em - and they miss, it's like a little Laker fan gets his wings in heaven. Feels like the more you're in Tatum's face contesting his 3, the more likely he is to make it. Damn!

But we lost that 3rdQ and it was...everything. Because they exploited our lack of a Big in the middle and their defense was outstanding. Man I hate the Bags. So: we split the season with them 1-1. Hope there will be more against them in June.

 

This is definetely the case an opponent prefers dealing with Luka than AD . ( probably the only one)

I'd like to know the C Bags PPP when they attacked Luka against their PPP for others halfcourt possessions

 

I’m an EPL and Champions League fan and still play.
Amongst my friends, the interest hasn’t waned a bit, and judging by the packed stadiums around the World, it hasn’t for them either.
I get it, for the more casual fan, doing things like removing off sides would increase goal scoring, but there’s so much more to the game than just scoring.

 

That’s a terrible comparison. Luka has already taken a team further than Harden ever has.

 

He's better than prime Harden was , especially in the playoffs but there are similarities

 

well, he said "better harden". the quibble is how much better. i'd argue a lot whereas the tone of the post suggested a little.

anyway, not being able to carry teams over boston on the road in a game they clearly wanted badly isn't that big a deal. it's not like we were totally outclassed. let jaylen brown think he has luka's number (he does not).

 

Hard to win when your 3rd best player goes 3-14 from the field.

 

JJ is very stubborn with his small ball
Should try play bigs in 4 quarter, not only Vando

 

Jemison and Len are really bad basketball players. I'm sure there must be other G-league guys or guys playing in Europe that are much better than these two.