After a couple of days off — the first of which involved Luke Walton not holding a practice the day after his team’s disappointing loss to the Mavericks — the Lakers are back on the court tonight against the Raptors. And while the Lakers may not be as bad as they seem, that might not matter with the quality of opponent they will face tonight.
The East’s second best team may be coming off back to back losses (Warriors and Suns on back to back nights), but before that they’d won 4 in a row and 8 of 10 games. They hold the league’s most efficient offense, a defense in the top half of the NBA, and the league’s 2nd best efficiency differential. They are a load to deal with, offering top end talent, depth, and underrated coaching.
Are they a player away from challenging the Cavs for the title as best of the East? Yes. Imagine Paul Millsap on this team. Or Serge Ibaka. Or…DeMarcus Cousins. Any of those three would do wonders to balance the perimeter/paint attack and allow them to even further stagger their lineups which already has PG Kyle Lowry staying on with the reserves to form one of the most potent secondary lineups in the league. This is a topic for another day, but in a league which is hurting for a couple of more challengers to the Warriors and Cavs, the Raptors are on the tier below but with a key roster addition could join that group.
Returning to tonight’s game, then, this spells trouble. As we know, the Lakers have not been playing well for complete games for a long stretch now. A bad quarter or particularly poor stretch have sunk them against many opponents, undoing any positives they’ve exhibited for the rest of the game. The Raptors are particularly suited to capitalize on any poor stretch because they not only have a very good starting group but, as noted earlier, also have a nice bench unit which can bury opponents.
If the Lakers have one of their poor stretches, they are unlikely to win. And, let’s face it, even if they play well throughout, a win is still going to be difficult. The Raps are just better, not only at the team level but in terms of the individual talent they have on the roster. Simply by looking at how strong their offense is versus how poorly the Lakers’ defense has played of late makes the outcome of this game pretty clear even before tip off.
Does this mean the Lakers have no chance? No, but a lot of things need to go right for them to stay in the game. For one, they will need sustained production from D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle in the starting group. Russell came out strong against the Mavs, but could not replicate that early play in the 2nd half. Against Lowry and DeRozan, back court scoring is important and that means Russell will need to bring some scoring punch.
The other key for the Lakers is for their 2nd unit to find some defensive presence. With Larry Nance out, this means Thomas Robinson and Luol Deng take on a greater importance as the back line defenders. Their rotations and communication must be sharp, especially when calling out switches and when recovering back to the paint to help on drives then when hitting the glass. On this unit, Clarkson and Williams will need to carry them offensively, not only with their scoring but in keeping their teammates involved. This hasn’t been a strength of theirs this year (at least for Clarkson), but getting Ingram and Deng some spot up chances and Robinson some easy baskets around the rim can help boost the overall O.
Speaking of Ingram, I’d like to see him get a few more chances on the move going to the basket — especially as a cutter/slasher rather than in isolation. Ingram’s shooting has been bad all year and it hasn’t really mattered what situations he’s getting his shots. That said, he’s been underutilized as a cutter. I think getting him some chances going towards the paint with a head of steam where he can either finish above the rim or draw fouls could help him find a flow.
Where you can watch: 6:30pm start time on Spectrum Sportsnet.
30twhite40 says
Robinson and Black doing nice work rebounding.
fern16 says
Yep, coughed up the lead. As expected…
30twhite40 says
Did not think that was a flagrant 1 foul by Mozgov that hip check foul on DeRozan. 1980s-1990s basketball shaking their heads.
matt24 says
Alot of fouls called in this game on both teams
L
30twhite40 says
Ingram throws it down.
matt24 says
Tarik black with 9 pts 9 rebs in 11 minutes
matt24 says
D’angelo russell and nick young, are supposed to come in and get hot after sitting on the bench for a long time
matt24 says
Super hero ball
30twhite40 says
4th quarter start dooms Lakers as Raptors take it to another level. Lakers hung around for three quarters despite poor shooting. Raptors have been hot all night and will finish above 50% from the field.
Toronto’s starting backcourt of Lowry and DeRozan is very good and could not be stopped tonight.
Better response tonight after being down by 10+ points in the 4th quarter.
A Horse With No Name says
Luke bears a lot of responsibility for this loss. With Lou and Clarkson really struggling at the start of the fourth, Luke calls two successive timeouts but leaves these guys in while Toronto racks up a lead they never surrender. It didn’t have to be that way.
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LordMo says
Toronto would just inserted Derozan and the results would have been the same. Lakers do not play good enough defensively to win these games. Giving up 123 pts on your home floor inexcusable.
KenNewport says
Robinson and Black 4 times more rebounds then Mosstiff in half the minutes and 1/8 the pay and and 5 times the 2 points of Dengit. 2 worst signing in NBA. 2 more years of that? Nice job Jimbo.
_ Robert _ says
Ken: That is 3 more years. We have $49 million spent in 2020 already.
new rr says
A few thoughts on last night:
1. Toronto is near the end of a long western trip, and they are weak upfront and weak defensively for a good team (16th in DRTG and as noted in the preview they are supposedly trying to make a deal. Black or Robinson would help Toronto.) so it is not surprising that the Lakers scored 114 and that Black/Robinson/Randle gave them some trouble.
2. But Lowry and DeRozan score so much that Toronto wins all the time anyway, and they did again last night.
3. From the Lakers’ POV, Russell and Randle did a lot of good things on O and Young shot lights out from the arc. But it comes back to the same things: if the other team has the best player, or best two players, and your team D is at the bottom of the league, it is hard to win, no matter what strings your coach pulls or which guys happen to have big nights for you. So last night was kind of the Lakers and the Raptors in microcosm.
_ Robert _ says
new rr Agreed. When your starting backcourt both have very hot shooting nights (I would say perhaps the best night of the year for a Laker starting guard tandem on offense) and you lose by 9 at home – you have issues. Yes – Toronto is good, but wow our defense is so bad that we lose even with a lights out offensive performance by our backcourt. We have done little to solve the defensive issues over the course of 4 coaches (remember people used to say how our defense was bad under Brown even though he was supposed to be a defensive coach). I do not think I need to cover the defensive performance under MDA and Byron – I guess I just did : )