Game Debrief: What Went Right And What Went Wrong?

Strange team this year, we’re clearly very good, but maybe not elite? However our offense could be elite, but our defense definitely isn’t. At the same time we’ve been very good in crunch time and it’s going to be hard to stop our starting unit putting big numbers on you.

But OKC may be the best defense of all time. So I don’t know what to make of this season.

 

AR and Luka combine for 73 and Lakers move to 15-4 in beating DAL 129-119. Lakers as a team shot 59% for the game.

Hillbilly Mamba was 12 for 15 overall and 6 for 8 from long. 38/8/3; #77 was 35/5/11. Those two guys made 19 of 20 FTs.

I thought AR was fantastic tonight. I think it was Flagg's elbow that knocked AR down in the paint. AR got up, dazed, his jaw took the shot. If you look at the replay really closely you see a little ring of stars floating above AR's head for around the next 45 seconds. He was temporarily out of it. Next thing: he hits a 3.

Rui started off 1-5 from the field then hit 3s from the corner. His midrange wasn't what it usually is, but DAL is really long defending down low. AD had a couple of spectacular blocks, but looked very rusty on offense.

There were stretches in which we played good defense. Like maybe 4 minutes total.

With 3:33 left in the game we're up 9, Bron gets fouled by Cooper Flagg and misses both FTs. I thought this might lead to a DAL run: PJ tips in a shot: Lakers lead down to 7...but Luka hits Rui for a 13 foot pullup: back to 9: okay! Max Christie (miss this guy) misses a 3, gets his own rebound, Nembhard misses a floater I thought was going in and he gets his own board, then he hits a 20 footer: back to 7, but now there's only 2:20 left. Eating the clock, Luka hits Bron for a 3 and I think we all knew it was over for sure then. The reason I keep suspecting the other team is going to cut it to w/in 2 late is because...that's what this Lakers team has done over and over. Push it to 20, 25. But no.

After the Lakers won a challenge that Luka called for with 70 secs left in the game, Kidd put his scrubs in, but JJ had his starters on the floor, up 12. Why?

svtzr is right: it's a weird team: great record, really good offense, but what we saw in that game against OKC should still haunt every Lakers fan.

I record the games then begin watching them when the actual game-game is almost over, sometimes long over. Tonight I didn't start watching until 11PM, and Amazon Prime really blows when you want to fast-forward through commercials and halftime. Man, I'm totally spoiled by the DVR, friends. I admit it.

 

Amazon cuts it too close with the double headers. 2nd time we missed the start of the Lakers game and this time the first game wasn't even OT like the first. But tonight the Bucks down 9 with 20 seconds left and call a time out .... WTF! Picture quality is superb though and they have a ton of camera angles.

 

You're right LT it does look effing good. The PBP guy: what a voice.

 

the defense has MILES to go before i can believe we can hang with the top teams. denver and okc in particular. we just don't contain penetration AT ALL.

anyway, the game was indeed entertaining. reaves was absolutely incredible. luka was just his normal self, which is incredible. lebron was pretty bad, and rui came to life just in time to help salt the game away with some timely shots.

hayes had a bit of an off game; think some of the physicality took him out of his zone a bit. that dunk he had was a) awesome and b) clearly out of frustration with how the game was being played/officiated. ayton was really good, though, and he was doing a good job challenging shots in particular, imo.

gabe did gabe stuff, which is solid and unspectacular. laravia was sort of invisible, and when he wasn't, he probably wanted to be.

his minutes were brutal. he looked 1000 years old.


anyway, you can't need 40 minutes of luka to beat the kyrie-less, near last place mavs at home. that's bad. not a strong game from us as a team, just a couple really great individual performances and an uncharacteristically good long range shooting night.

on the other side, dlo got dnp-cd'd in favor of their young undrafted guards, so that's going great. really like aspect of both nembhard (just a pure floor general, cp3-esque in terms of playing nearly mistake-free) and williams (he can create shots, particularly against second line players), but both should be backups. not having exum has probably hurt the mavs more than people realize, tbh.

AD actually moved fairly well after the layoff, though i still think he needs to drop some lbs. we played him like teams played him when he was with us--for the same reason: we didn't believe they could shoot it well enough to punish the early doubles. we almost got burned, but we kept him quiet.

dallas actually had some nice high/how action and cuts to help manufacture paint looks. i was a bit surprised, tbh, as kidd's offenses have often been pretty unimaginative. but these were clearly coaching calls, imo, and they helped a team with much shot creation get some good looks.

i still think flagg looks awesome, and the numbers aren't doing him justice. his shot will come around, i have no doubt. and he's just really athletic, large, and smart. i've seen a lot of chirping about knueppel or edgecombe being better than him, but i really don't think that's how this shakes out in the end. in fact, the guy i've seen who could maybe end up being a challenger is coward, but even that would surprise me quite a bit. flagg's going to be a star.

 

We are elite offensively, but very mid defensively. This won’t cut it against either OKC or Denver and an infusement of at least two defenders who can also shoot a bit is needed for us to avoid being waxed by either in a series.
We are a good regular season team as is, but that’s not enough.

 

hey, i'll take the progress! okc will have to lose a player or two this offseason, and i think it will matter.

 

Smart is awesome on defense and his motor gets the Lakers extra possessions and he adds another ballhandler. Basically he does stuff both on offense and defense that make up for the jumper

 

Kinda like Vandi?

 

No nothing like Vando. Vando doesn't do anything well on offense. Smart can dribble,pass, finish, and even catch a basketball in traffic

 

I think everyone's thinking the same: we need another piece, someone who defends like Vando but that doesn't suck on offense like Vando.

 

Vando has even more of an impact on defense, but he can’t shoot- just like Smart.
Smart can’t rebound like Vando, nor guard larger players, but he can pass better.
Somehow, one is our Savior and the other should be playing in China, according to some here.

 

You understand my point though, right? Flawed offensive player (may be not to the extent Vando is) and gifted momentum-changing defensive player (again, not to the extent, imo, Vando is, when he is on).

Question is, how much of a difference between offense/defense there is.

I wish Rui would have been a better and a smarter defender. He'd near goddamn perfect, with his shooting and scoring skills and size.

He'd be 30m per though, if he was Vando-level defender.

 

if you merged all the positives of rui and vando, you basically have something like prime kawhi.

 

These are pedantic points - every player has strengths and weaknesses, particularly when you're a roleplayer. The eye test and stats clearly show Smart is just a better player.

Overall Smart's defensive impact is greater than Vando, gets more steals, guards 1-3, acts as a defensive QB, and for his position rebounds just fine. Marcus is top 20 in defensive net points! Plus, not commenting at all on the offensive Smart does better then Vando is laughable. This Vando obsession that somehow he somehow deserves minutes over players you know who are just frankly better than him is reaching delusional levels. Hell it's not me just my belief - JJ who has done a very good job of coaching this year did his best to integrate him, got him regular minutes, and decided to pull the plug. His minutes were bad - go rewatch the last week of basketball before he got pulled - lakers were awful when he was in there.

 

I think you're underrating Smart - he is an all time good defender. Firstly, he is a defensive quarterback in the vein of Lebron, where they communicate to such a high level that the team's defensive level gets raised.

On ball he was a great POA defender (he is good at it now) while also being able to defend wings due to his strength (can still do this very well) and also being really strong on bigs because of his quick hands and ability to front them. Vando is a great defender, but he isn't on Smart's level. No shame in that, Smart peaked as a DPOY.

I've long said that a Vando and Rui merger would be the perfect 3rd wheel and a multi year all star as the ultimate 3&D low usage guy. Imagine someone that can shoot 50%+ / 40%+ / 80%, and over 36 minutes gives you 18/10 with 3 assists / 3+ stocks. On top of that, can guard POA, the wing and a big in the post. Kawhi peaked higher as a scorer, but the combo of Rui/Vando would be as close as you could get and perfect next to Reaves, Luka & Maxi.

 

not once have I said he deserved minutes. Nor do I think anyone does.

just find it funny that there is a consensus on one being the good and other being the bad fit.

 

I don’t think I am underrating Smart.
He’s an extremely flawed offensive player- just like Vando.
He’s a good defender- just like Vando.
I don’t buy into the narrative that Smart is levels better defensively than Vando.
Ya’ll can believe any eye test ya like. My eyes have witnessed him being a very valuable defensive player when paired with the right pieces.