Game Debrief: What Went Right And What Went Wrong?

was able to catch this one on delay.

warriors just have zero talent out there, but they play hard and just constantly move players and the ball on offense, which gives you a chance.

what also gives you a chance is the refs acting like gui santos isn't traveling on pretty much every drive ("look at the footwork!").

lebron was complete a** save for the opening of the third quarter, which was basically the second-most important part of the game (the stretch in the 4th where we got it back up to 10 was the most important). when that muppet guy was talking trash to end the half, you could tell that lebron was going to cut his strings in the second half. whole team looked like they had enough of that mustachioed toddler for the day.

good games from smart and kleber.

great...passing...from kennard?



draymond's stuff was nuts (not literally for once), and i can't believe he gets away with it on a nightly basis. i was begging for someone to just deck him after the reaves screen. and once again, that's lebron's pal out there just throwing an absolute cheap shot at reaves.

reaves had some absolutely insane moves in this one, and the announcers didn't do it justice.

this was the worst game i've seen laravia play. just really bad on both ends. getting backdoored (everyone did, but some of his were just ludicrous, only lebron's were worse), took a couple weird unnecessary shots and bricked two wide open corner threes at some points that could have helped. he'll want to burn this tape.

anyway, no luka and reaves on a minutes restriction, you take the win any way you get it. and it was ugly. the warriors are scrappy but just...terrible without curry and butler. they mucked it up as planned, but any win they get without steph should end with soul-searching from their opponent.

 

He's a pretty heady young player, but i think he just got back doored again and didn't realize it. Going to be a rough tape review for him. Every highlight caught the back of his head facing the wrong direction.

 

I was at the game - put down some money for good seats thinking it was the best chance to see Lebron/Steph rivalry one time before it's done with them. oh well we can't have all nice things - sucked no Steph and no Luka

still was fun
-Lebron was awesome in the 3rd but you know he felt this game should have been over when they got it close to double digits. Pep in his step just changes and you can see it. Not sure what's going on with his turnovers just a lot of unforced errors? He's got to clean that up
-AR was the best player in the game. Literally the only guy on both team who could get to the rim off the dribble. It pops in person how he can beat guys with his first step now consistently
-Lebron/AR just a big talent discrepancy pops in person

-this should have been a blow out but Kerr is a good coach Warriors players all are annoying on defense it's like playing a bunch of Jose Alvarados. They know they suck on offense so they backdoor cut you to death

-Draymond is an incredibly annoying player to watch partly he's an extremely good basketball player on defense and passing. And he flails all over the place pretending like he's clumsy to got shots in on opposing players.

-Defensive rebounding almost lost the Lakers this game. It's wasn't that the Warriors got a bunch of offensive boards either. Ball just kept bouncing off Lakers out of bounds etc

-Vando was awesome. You can feel the physicalness change for the Lakers when he was in. Tough as when games get tight and he misses the corner 3 I got why JJ pulled him but not sure what else he could

-Rui jumper feels automatic. Thought he was good. He can get backdoored at times. Like Vando jumper I think the reason JJ went away from him

-Hayes was fine

-Smart is Smart. He's does a lot of s*** on defense and gets away with it. I love him even with all his warts lol

-Kennard finished the game well but I have no idea why Kerr didn't put him in ISO against Moody he's just bad on D

-Klieber is a baller. High bball IQ a lot of Marcus Smart in his game. If only his jump shot would come back. He can really move his feet well for a big

-LaRavia I don't care what the plus minus said he was f***ing awful looked like he was shaving points. Just totally lost on offense or bricking open shots. Defense one on one was good but he didn't get back or just didn't pay attention.

Overall Lakers won pretty easily. Wasn't a blowout as would be expected due to the warriors being f***ing pesky, Lebron not wanting to go all out except the 3rd, defensive rebounding f***ups all game long, and a LaRavia stink bomb

 

Good win on national TV

Role players

Vando 13 pts 8 reb 2 ast 2 stl 1 blk

Luke 10 pts 2 reb 2 ast 1 stl (4-7 from the field 2-4 from the 3 line)

Max 5 pts 7 reb 1 ast 2 blk

10 blocks as a team which shows we are playing some defense

 

FrontOfJersey22:
>Donkey Green is still an idiot and should have been given a flagrant for nearly taking Vando’s head off.
Then, he should have been ejected for that extra hard screen on Austin.
I honestly don’t know how the refs didn’t think that either were just normal fouls.<

Exactly.

 

That loss was on Reaves and LaRavia...

Reaves was a no-show after the first Q. Granted, not his usual 36+ minutes but he rushed too many bad shots. I think him sitting that long when being hot ruined his momentum. He kept rushing into bad shots and was tunnel-visioned for some reason. That's the next part of his game where he needs improvement to make it to that superstar level. The ability to pace the game.

LaRavia.. no words... Three wide open 3's and he clanked them. You can see Scott Brooks immediately head straight to JJ to get him pulled for Luke instead after that. You gotta make those damn shots... no defender within arm's reach of him and he clanks 3 straight shots.

I have no idea why Ayton plays so freaking soft. He will grab a rebound and take years to get the ball up to his chest to prevent others from swiping down at it from his knees. PICK THE BALL UP... I counted at least 3x where he would hold it for so long under his chest just allowing guards to swipe it out. I thought Hayes should have been put earlier into the game at the 4th.

LeBron/Smart missed four straight FT's... at a time where neither team could score. Huge blunder. Props to Smart, though. Hustled all game and made some tough shots.

Refs were HORRIBLE. MY GOD, Lakers could not catch a freaking break. Every blatant missed call was called against the Lakers... And the Lakers had to use two reviews to show how blatantly wrong the refs were. This OKC team gets away with constant hacking, elbows, and pulling of jerseys. It's at the point where the refs just treat them like how they treat Draymond.. "Oh, that's just how they play defense." Yet, if other teams do it, they're called for a foul. OKC's defense is just pure dirty tactics mixed in with hustle.

God, I wish LeBron was at his prime to give this OKC team an a**-whooping... One thing the OKC has going for them is they are deep as hell. Seemed like every player they put on the court was capable of playing rugged defense and knock down 3's. Sadly, just a bad matchup for the Lakers because they have a significantly better frontcourt and elite perimeter players as well. Need another WC team to eliminate them for the best chance. I'm hoping Wolves can drop down to that spot and face OKC.

Lastly, you're not beating OKC if Caruso can drop near 20 on almost perfect efficiency against you... Caruso chose to have the best game by a wide margin of his season against the Lakers so that's extra nice of him....

 

Lakers lose at the Crypt to OKC 119-110 and it was a closer game than that, I think.

I thought the Lakers played these guys really well, but it was tough to see us miss some decent - if well-contested - shots in the paint in the 4th Q, but Jake clanking open 3s when we desperately needed them to go down was rough.

As Astros says above: Ayton needs to secure the rebounds better. Agreed with his assessment.

Great defense by OKC and yes, they do seem to get away with hacking and holding fouls just about every time they're on defense.

Good game. Rough one to lose.

Finally: I really wish NBC wouldn't have two motormouths like Hummel and that dip**** Austin Rivers, who are saying nothing while constantly chattering; it really detracts from the game.

 

Lakers lose without Luka

Won the 3rd but lost the 4th

Role players

Smart 19 pts 3 reb 2 ast 2 stl

Hayes 12 pts 4 reb 1 ast

Suck it up guys and move onto the next game

 

On the bright side we didn’t lose by a bagillion points like we did the last time we played the Ref Grifters.

 

Annoying game to lose. I hate how easily we were conceding the switches of Austin onto Jalen Williams down the stretch. Austin was getting frustrated with the lack of foul calls and the combination of that + OKC's good defenders sped him up a bit too much. You really see the value of someone like Luka in a game like last night, who's big enough to not really be bothered by their smaller guys like Wallace/Caruso and can attack them at his own tempo.

Ayton just isn't very good. I don't care what his FG% is, he plays with zero force on either end of the court. There is no reason for someone like Hartenstein to be a better player than him, but Hartenstein is a significantly better player than him.

On the positive side, I hope Marcus sticks around for next year when we're hopefully better positioned to contend. He drives you crazy sometimes with shot selection and general recklessness, but that guy has no fear out there. I'm not going to pile on Jake either, I thought he played decent aside from those missed threes. But there's a reason he was getting those open looks down the stretch - OKC is fine helping off of him because he's just not a knock down shooter. If it was Kennard out there he'd never have gotten those open looks and there'd be another switch hunting target.

 

https://x.com/LALMuse/status/2021293869577425358?s=20

Dirtiest player in the league... not even a debate anymore. This guy is always doing something dirty and never gets called for it.

 

Boards are definitely important..we should try to hypnotize Rui or something. It's worth a try, I don't think that's illegal?

 

It's a defensive issue - what's happening from what I can see is the rim protector and close out guys are doing their jobs. THe movement is there to do the close out or cut of the drive. But if you're not part of the final move, there is no one at the behind them to get the rebound. They got to help the helper essentially

 

Need every single rotation person plus a couple more to be healthy whenever we play OKC plus somehow have the refs call the game fairly and not allow the crap they do on D plus SGAs blatant push offs. To have any kind of chance. It's a shame we didn't have Luka last night in that great groove he was getting back into before the hammy tweak. He would have made a big difference with SGA out and still with their defensive crap.

 

After Wemby dropped 37 in the first half in a horrible game in which JJ started scrubs, I'm pretty sure he could get 80 in a game at some point.

That was an absolute drag of a game to watch. SA went up 40 at one point.

Lakers lose in a BTB at home, 136-108 and it wasn't that close.

 

The only good thing about watching this game was you got to see all our guys get significant mins. I mean...Kobe Bufkin STARTED, and played 24 mins. He was 2 for 10 from the field.

Kennard and Timme tied for high scorers, with 14 each.

Kennard started and was 1 for 3 from 3.

Jake started and was 2 for 2 from long. Picked the wrong game to hit those. Around 26 hours tardy, Jake.

Bronny got 1st Q mins, and played 25 mins: 12 pts on 5 for 10. He looked good. Drew Timme looked okay.

Chris Manon got 8 mins and made 2 FTs. It was that kind of game.

I envy you for missing this one.

 

Good to see all the young guys get some playing time

Zoyd summed it up well

On to the next game

 

First game with 2 days rest in feels like a month?