The Lakers improbably climbed back to .500 on Wednesday, beating the Bulls in an ugly game which saw both teams struggle to score. Of course, ugly wins count the same as the most beautiful ones so I’ll take the result happily. Underscoring/what led to the poor aesthetics was that the Bulls game offered some of the best defense the Lakers played all season. So, I guess if you’re 90’s Knicks era Pat Riley, you might have found the game to be prettier than most.
Wednesday is long gone, though. Or at least it needs to be when the Lakers are now in Toronto to play the Raptors on the first night of another back to back that has them in Memphis on Saturday. Regardless of how good the Grizz are (and with Mike Conley out, they are much worse than they were just a few days ago), that game will be the team’s 4th in 5 nights all in different cities while crisscrossing the continent (New Orleans to Chicago to Toronto to Memphis).
So, if the Lakers hope to go (at least) 2-2 on this trip, getting a win in Toronto is likely to be the best way to make that happen. Of course, considering the Raptors are 12-6 (2nd best in the East), that is easier said than done. When you consider their personnel and how they like to attack teams, the chances decrease further.
The Raptors are driven by their dynamic back court of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, both all-star level players who can hurt you in multiple ways. Lowry can bomb from distance and also get to the paint to finish, while also playing dogged defense. DeRozan, meanwhile, is playing a throwback game which relies heavily on mid-range jumpers out of isolations, P&R’s, and post ups. His shot chart looks like the three point line doesn’t even exist, doing damage from both elbows and the shallow corners along the baseline.
Outside of those two, Toronto has massive big man Jonas Valanciunas, shooting PF Patrick Patterson, and a nice group of complimentary role players — including backup guards Cory Joseph and Terrence Ross. All of these guys concern me, but I am especially intrigued with Valanciunas and Ross. They are the team’s 3rd and 4th leading scorers respectively and both have the ability to hurt the Lakers with their respective games.
Valanciunas can score in the post, as a dive man in the P&R, and via put backs on the offensive glass. Again, he’s just a big dude and when he gets position it is hard to root him out. If the Lakers surrender too much dribble penetration, he will be lurking on the weakside and it will be up to the helping guards/wings to dig down, infringe on his space, and contest those rebounds.
As for Ross, he’s shooting 43% from distance on nearly 4 attempts per game this year. He is their most prolific outside shooter and the spacing he provides — especially in lineups with Patterson or DeMarre Carroll at PF — can allow Jonas to work the post while also giving DeRozan and Lowry the space they need to attack the paint. The Lakers will need to mark Ross and be cognizant of where and how he moves around the floor to ensure they do not give him too many open looks.
Considering all of the above, certain players take on some key roles tonight. First, is Brandon Ingram who is likely to start at SG and match up with DeRozan defensively. Ingram will need to use his length, contest shots without fouling, and try to not get bullied with DeRozan takes him to the post or drives him to the elbows. The second player who will matter a great deal is Mozgov. When the Lakers have played teams with strong big men, Luke has leaned on Timo harder, often leaving him in later in games to play post defense and contest rebounds better. This cannot be a night where he gets in foul trouble.
Lastly, with Russell out and now Young also injured, the Lakers have become even more dependent on the scoring, playmaking, and leadership of Julius Randle, Jordan Clarkson, and Lou Williams. Those three need to play well nightly for the Lakers to even have a chance of winning. In their specific matchups tonight, I am looking for Randle to be able to space out defensively to find Patterson behind the arc while still recovering to the paint to rebound, for Williams to continue to hit shots to carry a heavier offensive load, and for Clarkson to up his playmaking and make Ross work defensively.
Ultimately, this is not a game the Lakers should win. Toronto is at home, has won 4 in a row, and are more rested. That said, the Lakers continue to surprise and by playing hard they seem to find themselves in games that they probably shouldn’t be. Maybe that trend continues tonight.
Where you can watch: 4:30pm start time on Spectrum Sportsnet.
Joel_ says
Sometimes Tarik Black needs to just kick the ball back out.
mindcrime says
TOR 15-18 from the field in the 2nd quarter with a little over 2 minutes until half. LAL just needs to persevere because that strikes me as unsustainable.
Joel_ says
mindcrime It’s not unsustainable when so many of those FGs are layups…
LKK says
2nd quarter meltdown by the Lakers. Poor defense by the Lakers and exceptional shooting by Toronto. Bad combination. 41 second quarter points (on 18-24 shooting) by the Raptors has LA in a deep hole.
Mid Wilshire says
mindcrime Actually, they’re not all layups. So far, toronto is 8-15 from 3. They’re shooting 60.9% overall vs. the Lakers’ 35.4%. It’s time for a few adjustments. And hopefully Toronto will cool off…just a little bit.
mindcrime says
Even WITH Young and DAR, there is simply no way around the fact that LAL is, at current level of play, deploying a rotation occupied mostly by “solid” or “decent” NBA players, with one “above-average” player (Lou Williams, at least to this point) and two “below average” players (Ingram–he’s a rookie after all– and Deng–who is looking much older than his age his year as rr accurately predicted was a real possibility).
Admittedly, this is a huge improvement over last year, where Williams and Brandon B. were the only two players to post an above replacement level PER. (I’m not a huge believer in this stat in isolation–but for comparison’s sake, as Darius noted in a recent tweet, Brandon B was also the only decent Real Plus Minus player LA had last year). Some of this is simple organic improvement (DAR, Nance, and Randle are a year older and better, Black is finally getting judiciously-allotted minutes he likely should have had last year.) Some of this is coaching (Clarkson is picking his spots more, Nick Young has been reborn).
However, while Lou Williams is a nice “sixth man” candidate; while there is
undeniable “upside” for some of LA’s youngsters; and while Luke has so far pushed this crew in the right direction, there is not one player
on this team that is within shouting distance of “borderline
all-star.”
As a result, LA doesn’t have a “that guy” that can carry them through tough stretches against good teams, especially on the road. And against quality teams, on the road, “solid” or “decent” NBA players are usually going to perform more poorly. So until LA either organically grows a “star” of its own, or signs one as a free agent, LA is going to be a fun team to watch that beats some good teams, but nevertheless will suffer through games like tonight, especially on the road.
KevTheBold says
The Lakers play harder against teams which are seemingly improbable to beat.
This tendency needs to be corrected, as these blowouts against middle of the pack teams is as bad for self esteem as beating top tier teams is a boost; which leaves them – when all is said and done, in limbo.
I’m sure however that this is simply the young core learning the ins and outs of the nba game.
What gives us hope is the fact that when they are hitting on ally cylinders, they can beat just about anyone.
It will just take time to get that engine tuned, and over the break-in-period.
KevTheBold says
mindcrime
As to the question of if we have “that guy”,..It’s much too early to call.
We might end up with more than one, for we know.
mindcrime says
KevTheBold mindcrime
I agree it is too early to tell whether “that guy” is on the roster–for the future. My only point is that, as presently constituted, this roster doesn’t have a “that guy” unless you count Lou’s bench contributions at times.
KevTheBold says
mindcrime KevTheBold
True but our team play, {usually} has made us competitive, while their individual potential keeps us on the edge of our seats in anticipation.
For now that’s all we can ask for unless they decide to blow up our core and trade for some so called star.
But if they do, we would still be in the same boat, or possible a leaky one.