Game Debrief: What Went Right And What Went Wrong?

Me too Cookie! And as mentioned in the other general trades / info thread, I don't think Luka passed once to Knecht when he was open, and he's a guy we could really use if we can get him going again from deep, since he's up trending in other parts of his game, and now with a few 3s starting to drop again.

 

This is why I said in another thread that Austin seems to get the other guys involved more.
I like Luka, of course, but the ball tends to stick with him a lot more when running the show. Maybe it’s because he hasn’t had much time with some of these “new” guys, but he did play with Jaxson, Austin, Gabe, Rui, and Knecht(a lot less) last season. I hope the coaching staff isn’t happy with this version of the offense because it’s not a recipe for a 50 win season.

 

Wins are always great, ugly wins included. We have to keep grinding em out, by the 2nd half of the season, we should be over, the standing around and gawking at Luka, for long stretches of games stuff. It's not such a huge problem now, but at full strength, we are going need some better ball movement. Luka is a friggin offensive machine all by himself, I just don't want us to get too complacent, with the let Luka play one on one, and then play team ball later. We can win 50 games or so like that, but I don't think that's a title run, type of offense.

 

There is always a correlation from offense to defense. If you expect full effort on defense a player has to feel like they are involved somewhat in the offense. Standing away from the bucket with your hands on your legs isn't conducive to offensive rebounding or defense. Plus it is just ugly basketball. Austin has been in that position and understands that.

 

Most +/- stats seem misleading. But I found this comparison interesting along the move-ball-to-win argument:

Luka and AR both start and play 39 and 36 mins, respectively.

Luka: 44/12/6 and a -2.
AR: 21/4/4 and a +15

Luka shot 52% overall; AR only 38%.

There must have been something else going on....

 

Luka for Giannis … who says No?

 

AR would, those 2 are on the top branch of a giant sycamore cracking jokes at each other. Lonzo and Kuz part deux.

 

the reason to be wary of lineup numbers is coaching/strategy, imo. luka gets thrown out with more questionable lineups because he can kind of operate as his own offense. reaves has shown the ability to do similar in stretches, but i wonder if--psychologically--everybody doesn't relax a bit when luka's on the floor in a way they don't when he's not.

more importantly, historically, luka's a huge net plus on the floor.

i think we just have some early season variance, and guys are still learning how to play together. when lebron comes back, it will happen again.

i'm just glad we've scratched out some wins despite it all.

me. luka's younger, and his game will age better. i know it's a joke, but it's important to remind ourselves that it is indeed that.

 

We've all seen move-the-move-Luka and he's fantastic. it's just that when everyone knows he's going to keep the ball and shoot it's by definition predictable, and of course Luka's a net +++ player. My only argument was I'd like to see more of a mix styles.

 

Lakers score 77 in first half, shoot a hair over 50% as a team for the game and beat the Heat 130-120 at the Crypt.

Startin' to fall in love with Jake's game.

Jake: 25 off the bench on 10 of 13: his FG% (after a slow, nervous start to the season) is 55% for the season.

Luka and AR: both 9 for 22 for 29 and 26pts; #77 trip-dub: 29/11/10 with 3 steals.

Fave play: Jaquez driving to the rack, thinks he's got an easy layup, but Marcus catches him and rises up behind him and stuffs the ball hard off Jaquez's leg out of bounds, 2nd Q. That kinda jit rawks, man.

Weird play: AR drives the lane, is met by a wall of D, jumps up and throws a perfect pass behind his shoulder to a guy wide-open at the arc. Problem: it's Jaxson. And he starts to shoot and all of us were sayin WTF are you doing? and it swished. 1st Q kind of play that makes you think hey I think it's the Lakers' night.

With Ayton out, Hayes got 32 mins, was 7-7 from the field, with 5 boards, a dime and a swipe, but his overall hustle was big.

5-2 now on the season.

Tomorrow night (a BTB) in POR, then home to face Wemby's team.

 

I absolutely love this championship team.

 

People gonna start thinking we are the C Bags with all our good white boys!! LOL

 

This team plays with great effort which is really nice to see. That’s been a frequent complaint I’ve had over the last few years but it looks like those days may finally be behind us.

 

that's racial

 

ain't in the top 3 in the league or the Lakers LOL

 

Strong games by AR Jake and Luka with a triple double

But we lost the 3rd 35-25

AR and Luka 5-25 from the 3 line

Good thing they were 9-33 from the 3 line

 

Yeah, this is my main compliment to JJ. He's really building a good culture and that's totally on the coaching staff. It doesn't win championship by itself but it's the foundation for it and elevates our floor. Then it's up to schemes and finding tge right fit between players to elevate our ceiling.

LaRavia is really playing comfortable. He's the ultimate glue guy and just makes the right play almost everytime. Amazing find by our scouting department. These are the under the radar type of moves that put you closer to win titles.
Smart is another great find, he really brings something new to the team. Something we wanted from Gabe but he hasn't deliver.

Interesting that we played Bronny until the last couple minutes in the 4th. JJ must like his defense. Especially when Smart (who was called to clock in in the last 2 minutes) and Vando on the bench.
Rui was also out of the closing lineup. It's a good sign we can mix and match depending on the matchup and context of the game, great job by the coaching staff in maximizing our (still flawed) roster

In sum, this is a team that regardless of the absences, will always compete for the game and can win any game. That's a great sign and hell of a fun to follow

 

I didn’t think Luka played very well. I think he was trying to save his legs for the back to back, so he took a bunch of tough threes instead of working for better shots. Just one of those things that happens in the regular season.

I really like this team! They’re better than I thought they would be, and it’s a likeable group. Smart is a special player, his instincts on defense are pretty incredible. And I love Jake, he’s a bargain at his number. Great connecting piece on offense.

If LeBron comes back healthy and buys into a role as a play connector/finisher and defensive QB…man this team could be really damn good as is.