Preview and Chat: Lakers vs. Spurs

I’m going to keep this short because I honestly don’t think there’s much to say about the Lakers right now. They lost their last game with a very poor 2nd half performance, one which saw their offense struggle mightily and their defense play just okay for stretches and struggle more later when the pressure to try to get stops led to gambles and miscommunication which cost them.

I know some would like to make the Blazer game more than that, but I don’t really see it that way.

Anyways. This isn't a "back to the drawing board" game for me. Russell/Randle need to play better. Execution needs to get sharper.

— Darius Soriano (@forumbluegold) January 11, 2017

I think these things will continue to come, then drop off, then improve again. This is what development looks like. I'm here for all of it.

— Darius Soriano (@forumbluegold) January 11, 2017

I will say, though, that I am trying to check myself on one thing. Every time the Lakers play well it’s not just about talent just like every time they play poorly it’s not just about youth. As much as some might want it to be that easy, it never is. The Lakers do have talent and I think it’s showing more and more as the season progresses — especially with their young players. As I noted on twitter, Randle and Russell played poorly and, recently, the team has become more dependent on them to win games. When they struggle, the rest of the team needs to pick it up. Against the Blazers, it did not happen.

Part of that is because Lou (despite a strong showing against the Heat) hasn’t been up to his season standard of late and Young is slumping something bad in recent games. They, as a duo, represent the veteran scoring kick the team has used all year to help elevate the results, so when they go cold it is especially important for players like Clarkson, Mozgov, and Deng to play well. If they don’t and Russell/Randle don’t, the Lakers are going to lose every time. Even if they do, those other guys — save for Clarkson — don’t have the juice to prop up the team’s offense. All these guys are role players, but the role Young/Lou play is to put the ball in the hoop with regularity — those other guys, not so much.

Anyways, I say all this because the construct of these Lakers is such that they need their best players to play well. As of now, their best players are Russell and Randle. They’re the guys who have the most talent (though Ingram is showing flashes) and can do the most things on the floor (at least offensively) at a high level across the board. And when they don’t play well, it’s not just because they’re 22 and 20 respectively. Sometimes, you just don’t play well and there doesn’t need to be an excuse for it. I think both those guys still need to find ways to have a positive impact when their shots aren’t falling — to be clear, both do already; Russell’s passing and Randle’s rebounding are every game positives irrespective of their scoring numbers — but to become the high impact players they want to become, they’ll need more ways.

You notice I haven’t yet mentioned the Spurs and that’s because I have less to say about them than I do the Lakers. San Antonio only has 8 losses on the year and are in the top 5 of both offensive and defensive efficiency. The only other team that can say that is the Warriors, who is also the only other team in the league with single digit losses (6) for the season.

In other words, the Spurs remain a great team. They are supremely coached, have an MVP candidate in Kawhi Leonard, another all-star player in LaMarcus Aldridge, and our old buddy Pau Gasol. They have successfully passed the torch from the Duncan/Parker/Ginobili era to this current one without a hitch or hiccup to be seen. They should be favored tonight by a lot. They should be favored most nights by a lot. 

The last time these teams played the Lakers played them close but didn’t have the execution or experience to actually pull out the W. A rough 3rd quarter (surprise!) also did them in. Tonight, I wonder if the Lakers can bounce back from a rough loss against PDX and play well or if the Spurs’ machine will chew through them. I could see this game going in either direction, honestly and for that alone it is worth paying attention to.

Where you can watch: 5:30pm start time on Spectrum Sportsnet.