Game Debrief: What Went Right And What Went Wrong?

AR and Luka (even with 35 points) were awful. I hope there weren’t any residual effects from Rich Paul’s comments. Stuff like that splinter a locker room and team chemistry fast.

 

i skipped the second half because i saw the first, but i didn't think luka played badly. he argued with the refs instead of getting back on defense three times. but all three times were legit missed fouls. then when he did get back once (only guy on the whole team on that play), they called him for a ticky tack and-1 on a break. i don't know; i feel like if he's officiated normally, he has his 40 on efficient shooting. reaves was the guy who looked completely out of sorts on both ends. he's played like this before, and we later found out he was playing with an injury. i'm guessing that's what's happening right now.

we're a quarter way into the season, and the issues that worried me in september are the ones that worry me now: we're too slow to be a good defense in the modern nba. this will have to be fixed via personnel change. we can definitely play better than last night on defense, but when you see a team with speed on the perimeter coming, you know we're not stopping anyone. we actually had a pretty solid offensive night as a team--made 17 threes on high percentage, shot well overall, only 11 turnovers after a rough start there.

i'll spam this thread (in addition to the others) with "let's play the two young guys" until we can find the right trade to get some speed on this roster.

 

We had the most athletic player dressed in a uniform on either team and JJ managed to play him one whole minute vs a team that was young, fast and running us out of the gym. Would’ve been nice to at least see what Thiero could do in games like this early in the season.

 

thiero went from being first off the bench to nailed to it in one game, right? feel like jj will be asked about it.

it was bad team defense (as lebron indicated) that led to the zillion wide open threes, but i would argue that you have to rely less on "the string" when not every single one of your defenders is a threat to give up penetration. again, apparently i was watching a different game than others, but luka was actually the guy putting up the MOST resistance in these cases. well, him and smart, of course.

like, can nick smith at least keep ballhandler in front of him? if so, get him out there. gabe's not doing it.

 

It goes back to last season. The higher stakes the game is, the tighter JJ’s butt cheeks get, and the more risk adverse he becomes. It’s a pattern now.

 

do you think this was a high stakes game, though? we'll see what happens in our other game, but the winner here got the right to play an okc team that is just thrashing everyone right now (and has already thrashed us). iow, not sure anyone's too bothered by the loss. you could tell by how lazily we played in the first half!

anyway, i would like to hear why thiero fell out of the rotation after the boston game. nothing to 20 minutes to mop up duty.

 

My concern is more that when we lose we LOSE. Just completely mopped up in several of these games.

 

They're 6-6 against teams over .500 right now. 11-1 against teams under .500 They struggle against teams with athleticism and speed. Ball handling guard that can get downhill and get in transition. They've been a bottom 3 defense the last is it 8 games I think. Got the stats from Buha last night.

They need to start Smart & and Rui to the bench or trade for a starting wing that can play POA and bring Smart in off the bench; the problem with starting Smart this: how much continuity can you build when he's in and out of the starting 5 all season?

Either way, this team is a bad first round exit matchup or second round exit away. Can't take them serious with this roster construction.

 

What's our avg. win margin? Like 2 points or something? We could easily be 8th

 

Right now my confidence in the team is based heavily on who we matched up with in the playoffs. We're definitely not a team built to take on all comers. Specific matchups I would be confident in but a bad draw could definitely result in an early exit. There's always a chance of that but this year its particularly glaring for me.

 

Early exit in the playoffs = somebody is getting fired. I'm not sure if this roster is all that "ill fitting " or if it's just not being used properly all the time.

 

this actually doesn't concern me as much as it does most. losses are losses. also, the attributes that give us trouble (e.g., poor transition defense) are also the kinds of things that can run up the score.

i've mostly excused are poor point differential due to all the injuries, but i feel like a couple of these big losses came with everyone available, so yeah, not ideal.

when you don't have solid defense, things can spiral on you. we played pretty well offensively, but a couple droughts doomed the whole game because we can't guard anyone with speed.

the real player(s) we need aren't on the roster. they weren't available this summer, either--save for maybe jordan goodwin, whom we cut. still got bronny, though!

 

It is painfully obvious that we are NOT as good as our record indicates, that we are in dire need of probably two solid 3 and D players. Our record against +.500 teams is 5-6. This is not going to cut it. While I totally appreciate Luka's ability to score, he needs to see when guys like Rui or Ayton need help to get going, he helps find them some shots. If he is going to run our offense, he needs to be a willing passer. He does seem to have a bunch of shooting games below 50% from the field, I would like to see that rise, even though I understand that he gets a lot of fouls called for him and that really is a field goal, in practicality. Not sure what is going on with AR. Don't know if so many people have complained about the calls he gets that the refs are refusing to make those calls or if guys are simply adjusting to him and not fouling him the way he is counting on. ?????? We need better defenders, period. Without them, we are a third tier team. Period.

 

Thank you Silver lol
Lakers are going to be playing at Phoenix
It's still better than Oklahoma,but I thought it's supposed to be game at Staples with already eliminated team from cup

 

We look slow. The whole role player Bron thing lasted like two games, and now we aren’t firing on all cylinders.

we have some interesting speed on the roster. Maybe coach needs to get them reps and work around their weaknesses even if it costs us a few games.

as currently constructed, we are unlikely to make the WCF, much less give OKC a challenge.

 

Please tell me again just how much Vando sucks!
His presence alone brought the entire squad’s level of defense up dramatically.
He was everywhere- blowing up plays, rebounding, getting steals.
Took you long enough JJ to realize your team defense had what it needed rotting on the bench.
Also, watching Booker jumping into players all night long I’m order to get the whistle is a disgrace to the game. He’s the real free throw merchant.
Old man had an awful game besides a few assists.
Why did he shoot the tech when he’s a 61% free throw shooter?

 

Lakers have to make some changes with the roster.

This roster as it is will be good enough for the 2nd round, maybe WCF, but won't beat OKC, Nuggets, and even the Spurs playing like this...

Rui's defense is also horrible. Like c'mon, man! If you're not getting the ball which means you should have more energy, the least you could do is put more effort on defense.