The Lakers come off a much needed few days off to play the Raptors tonight in Los Angeles. After a rough stretch of 7 games in 11 days with 6 of those 7 on the road, a few days off to recharge their batteries and come into this game fresh is what the team needed. And I do not just mean physically, either. The Lakers only have 2 wins in 11 games this season. Mentally, all that losing starts to take its toll.
So, not playing since Monday should help the Lakers. Playing the Raptors in that first game back, however, will not. The Raptors are not playing as well as they would like — they are currently 7-6 and not in the top 8 seeds in the suddenly improved East — but they are still a much better team than the Lakers. Of course, the Lakers are 28th in offensive efficiency and 27th in defensive efficiency, so most teams are “much better” than them. But that’s another story for another day.
At least in this game, though, the Lakers will have their full lineup at their disposal. Kobe will be back in the lineup after sitting out against the Suns on the 2nd night of a back to back. The last game Kobe played in, he did not shoot well but he was able to control the action offensively by having his best passing game of the year. I’m talking expert level reads where he was passing into open spaces and leading his guys into the spots on the floor where they can be successful.
It will be interesting to see if Kobe takes the same approach tonight. Watching him all year, it is becoming more clear the best type of game Kobe can play is as a sometimes scoring threat, more of the time passing player, and a most of the time attacking player who is looking to tilt the defense towards him. When he plays that style, the floor opens up for his teammates and, in turn will open up for him.
Kobe, though, won’t be the only player on the floor. Against this Raptors team, the match ups all over the floor are worth watching.
First up is the Clarkson vs. DeMar DeRozan battle. DeRozan has advantages in size and will try to work Clarkson in the post, but Clarkson will then take his quickness and off the dribble work in the P&R to the other side of the floor. Next up is (skinny!) Kyle Lowry against D’Angelo Russell. The Lakers’ rookie will likely need to guard his own position tonight (I can’t imagine Byron putting Russell on DeRozan or on DeMarre Carroll) and that will be difficult. Lowry is scoring 20 points a night while dishing out 6 assists and grabbing nearly 5 rebounds a night. Russell has good tools to try and deal with Lowry (specifically his length), but he will need to get around screens well and keep his wits about him in isolation and off the ball. If that sounds like a lot, it’s because it is. Especially for a rookie.
Tonight is also a game where I am interested in seeing whether Julius Randle can get back on track. Luis Scola is the opposing power forward and, if we’re being kind, Scola is not a great defensive player. Randle has been in a tough funk the last few games, scoring below double digits and shooting 7-23 in his last three contests. Jonas Valanciunas backing up Scola can offer some resistance, but Randle should be able to do decent work against Scola, especially when working in space. I am hoping to see Randle back in attack mode and making quick, smart decisions off the dribble.
Lastly, when the Lakers faced the Raptors in the preseason, Toronto absolutely torched them from behind the arc hitting 10 of their 21 three pointers. Many of these threes came off dribble penetration and kick-outs against a Lakers’ defense which often over-helped and did not rotate well against ball movement. The Raptors are currently 18th in the league in 3 point field goals attempted and 17th in 3 point percentage. But if the Lakers can’t stop the Raptors off the dribble or if their rotations are in any way slow, lazy, or incorrect they will get burned from behind the arc again. And, if that happens, this game could get ugly.
Where you can watch: 7:30pm start time on TWC Sportsnet. Also listen on ESPN Radio 710AM.
World Wide Will says
I am unsure as to why the Lakers collapse the paint during PNR sets. Its maddening to see. You have Roy Hibbert back there, take your chances with him at least altering the shot. Wide-Open threes are backbreaking and it kills me that the Lakers have yet to adjust to this yet.
Tra says
.. the Kobe we knew retired at the freethrow line against the Warriors.
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True Indeed.
If something changes ..
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Something will more than likely change, but unfortunately, for Kobe’s sake, it will be for the worse. At this point of his career, his game will only continue deteriorate.
Joe Houston says
Best quarter of DAR’s career. Would be really glad if he proves my doubts about him wrong.
Tim says
Liking Russell’s aggressiveness tonight. .
Gene says
Young was hot….yet only played 7 minutes….
Gene says
Good sign for Scott and team tonight….after a few days off the team and youngster look much better….That is what we want….. Improvements!!!!
Fern says
@Tra Achilles ended Kobe’s career, we should be grateful that was a hell of a season he carried that team on his back
Tim says
Exactly what Darius pointed out in the preview is happening tonight, Lakers are getting burned from the 3-point line.
What will Golden State do from the three when they face the Lakers next week?
chibi says
Ugh. Julius doesn’t bend his knees when he ties his shoelaces.
Vhan says
Lou was trash tonight, I still prefer Young.he had the hot hand in the 2nd quarter and then BS replaced him out. Russell, Randle and Clarkson were doing their things and then Raptors were hot from downtown.
LKK says
Good effort with poor results. Great to see DAR picking up his aggression. BS also let him finish. The 3’s for Toronto were the difference along with their 2nd unit. Why in the world is Kobe playing so many minutes?
Chearn says
Great game D’Angelo “Devil’s Pie”, this game was representative of a player chosen with the number 2 pick in the draft. Kobe played the best defense that I’ve seen him play in well, years. It looks like Russell got the don’t worry about winning the games conversation 11 games in, unlike last year when Jordan got the go ahead during the second half of the season.
When the Lakers run the offense to quote the coach from two years ago, “The ball doesn’t stick, and it has energy.” Every game the team plays competitively in a closely contested contest, but sometime during the 3rd quarter they forget to move the basketball, move their feet on defense, contest, and challenge for rebounds, and fail to splash the ball on offense.
Why can’t the Lakers play one ‘B’ grade and lettered player for another, play Black instead of Bass?
Baylor Fan says
There is a camera crew filming Kobe’s last season. I wonder how much that impacts his playing time?
Chris J says
Second unit did them in tonight.
That aside, the offense looked much more sharp; lots of sideline action and more high screens. I would assume they got some good work in at practices over the longer layoff since Phoenix.
There were some encouraging things on the floor tonight , despite the L. One good adjustment Byron is making for long-term is letting starters get extended minutes, or mixing in Artest with the other four so they get better continuity. The downside of this is we see that second unit all together, and that has been dog crap this season.
Drrayeye says
37 minutes for Kobe. 0 for 5 from behind the three point line. 5 for 13 for 10 points. No free throws. 5 assists. 3 turnovers. Another loss.
No fun.
How much more self abuse can Kobe take?
rubenowski says
Nice bounce back games for Russell and Randle. Too bad BS didn’t insert them back in before the Raptors ran it up in the 4th.
The team played with energy tonight. It was a good 3 days off.
nimble says
Kobe was good tonight defensively,should work on the treys.
Randle’s right hand is really atrocious,worse than a first grader,strange.
R says
Kobes last season is confirming my worse fears about how it would go. How come an amateur like myself could see this coming but not the “experts” who own/run the team? Very disturbing stuff.
Keith says
Lakers recipe:
1. Play the kids (and pile up the losses)
2. Get Ben Simmons
3. Hire Luke Walton
4. Let simmer
5. Add an athletic center
6. Let simmer again
7. Dominate the NBA
KevTheBold says
I’ve got to give Kobe his props for beginning to fit into an appropriate role for his experience, and his capabilities.
Kudos to D’Angelo for beginning to realize that he needs to take control over his destination, because the GPS is running on outdated software.
Good also to see Randle find his game.
May Scott and the FO, finally accept that there is only ONE logical goal this season: Develop our Kids !
Clay Bertrand says
They should have played Kobe more minutes. This team needs to start racking up some wins if we want Kobe to decide to play next year!
D’Angelo Russell is a total BUST!!! The Whole Front Office should be fired!!! This kid can’t play at this level!!! He’s showing me nothing. Okafor is a baby Tim Duncan and Porzingis is the next Wilt Chamberlain. We draft a 19 yr old guy who wants to get with Kendall Jenner and keeps changing his hair styles?!!?!?!?!?! That’s just insane! How could this guy be any good if he can’t play better than this after all these games he’s played so far!??????
This organization is going down the tubes!!!! The Busses need to sell the franchise to Magic while there is still some value left…….I hope Jim Buss is happy with himself.
I’m not gonna be a fan anymore.
LOL
“Trust the Process”………………..
ps: Nice recipe Keith….looks like a Slow Cooker kinda deal but good food takes TIME.
rr says
ps: Nice recipe Keith….looks like a Slow Cooker kinda deal but good food takes TIME.
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Fans of bad teams need dreams.
Keith says
Fans of bad teams need dreams.
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It’s all that is left … hopes and dreams.
rr says
Russell/other rookies: The correct approach to Russell IMO is the boring/middling one. The hyper-defensive people are mostly just FO homers/in-your-face optimist types, but that is no better than saying Kendall Marshall Kendall Marshall Evan Turner Bust Bust Bust etc etc. Russell and Mudiay have both done exactly what I thought they would do so far. Mudiay is a nice athlete but has a flat shot; Russell has nice floor vision and a better arc on his shot, but is not much of a jock for a fresh-legged 19-year-old picked #2 in the NBA draft, which is the other side of the “He’s only 19” argument. Magic Johnson and Steph Curry were/are not awesome jocks either, but they had/have unique basketball gifts. I don’t see that with Russell. Again, the ceiling for DAR is as a guy as valuable as James Harden or Manu Ginobili–big guard who can score, dribble, and pass, play on or off-ball, and not hurt you on D if he tries to play D. All-Star, #2 or #3 guy on a contender–but not enough talent to be Kobe or MJ or Magic.
I expect that both Mudiay and Russell will be good to very good, but neither will be great. I would still rather have Mudiay. I also do not think that Okafor will be great. I have seen him twice, and I still think he is sort of a slightly better Al Jefferson. Towns has a chance to be great or close to that–somewhere between Al Horford and David Robinson. But I think Horford is his floor, and Horford is a very good player.
As to Porzingis, I never gave an opinion about him. I have seen him twice and right now he looks like the second-best guy behind Towns. I agree with those here who have that people popping off about being right about draft picks are overstating stuff, especially if they just get their opinions from You Tube clips. But FWIW, (very little) I only “scouted” four guys, and came up with
Towns
Mudiay
Russell
Okafor
With Towns clearly being the guy and room for argument about the others.
Clay Bertrand says
My last post was simmered twice in Sarcasm sauce……
pat oslon says
5 assists by Kobe was good to see. He’s embracing his mentorship role. Now if only Coach Scott would really restrict his minutes so he can be more effective in the long run.
Chearn says
Sorry, but at this point, Luke Walton is not yet ready to guide the Lakers franchise into playoff contention. Can anyone guess how the pundits would spin Steve Kerr as a great coach if he were at the helm for the Warriors history-making run? Just goes to show you that Mark Jackson implemented a system and determined the culture of that team that is still bearing fruit for the Warriors. Steve Kerr inherited a team primed for the championship just goes to show you that as presently constituted anyone can coach the Warriors: Luke Walton is 13-0 as head coach.
A system and a culture aid in drafting players, developing long-term rosters, and in recruiting free agents to finalize a team capable of contending for deep playoff runs.
KevTheBold says
RR:
I was never much for labels or boxes.
I’m not an FO supporter, nor against.
It’s more complicated than that.
There are areas that I can agree with, and others which I don’t.
Blanket approaches are useless imo.
With regards to the rookie class, again, it’s premature to the point of bloody raw to make any judgments that are worth a rafter ticket.
With regards to my support for D’Angelo, I can see greatness in that kid.
That said: It’s potential at this point in time, which only shows itself in flashes.
rr says
I’m not an FO supporter, nor against.
It’s more complicated than that.
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Yes and no. There are always complicating factors, sure, but one of the charms of sports is that there is ultimately a bottom line, a conclusion, a W-L record, a champion etc. And the bottom line with the Lakers FO is that most of its big decisions/overall plans have not worked since 2011. If Porzingis (who put up a 27/14 with 7 blocks last night as New York moved to 8-6) turns out to be a big star and Russell doesn’t, then that decision will be added to the list.
As to the rest, you are basically saying a lot of the same things I said (which is fine; we all repeat ourselves and overlap ideas from time to time). I generally agree that one-way narratives are not the way to go. Russell is doing OK so far; it is far too early to write him off. But he is not at this point announcing himself as a potential star the way that Porzingis is.