The Lakers return to action after two days off, facing off against the Knicks in the 3rd of their five game Grammy road trip. The team is 0-2 so far, losing a competitive game against the Wizards on Thursday then a hard fought game against the Celtics a night later. The game against the C’s saw the Lakers win every quarter but the 2nd, but the 12 point defeat in that period was too much to overcome.
After the game, Luke Walton harped on the team’s poor play in those 2nd 12 minutes, bringing up one of his favorite critiques of his team: “In the second quarter as a team, I thought we got selfish. We stopped moving the ball, we stopped trusting each other. Because of it, we’re not making shots and then our defense gets lazy.” Again, this isn’t new and, I think, reflects what Walton really values philosophically. He wants his team to play together, to move the ball, to play unselfishly. He believes that when you play this way, everyone will feel involved offensively and this will translate to defensive engagement too.
One could argue whether or not this is actually true, but I don’t think the Lakers, as a whole, really give these ideals an opportunity for extended stretches. I have commented on this before, but they have only so many natural ball movers on this team. Beyond that, they have guys whose natural games are to want the ball either to shoot it right away or to find a way to do something with it so they eventually can shoot it. When you look at who typically plays in the 2nd quarter, you’ll no doubt make the connection as to why some might rank higher on my list of veterans the team should explore trading.
Anyway, heading into tonight, the Lakers would do well to try to get back towards what Walton is preaching and doing it for longer stretches. This team has been at its best this year when multiple players have good games and come at opponents in waves. While Russell, Williams, Randle, Clarkson, and Young have the ability to turn a game in the team’s favor on their own, it is better if the offense flows organically rather than any of them looking to take over.
Against the Knicks, this is especially important. They rank 23rd in defensive efficiency and the best way to beat a bad defense is to put them in situations where they have to make quick decisions, get them into their rotations, and then capitalize on a breakdown. If the Lakers try the opposite approach by pounding the ball and driving into the teeth of the defense, they will encounter Porzingis on the back line and they’ll suffer the same fate they did when these teams played at Staples earlier in the season when the Latvian big man had 7 blocked shots.
No, the team must move the ball. Involve Porzingis in P&R’s, hit the short roll man, swing the ball to the corner, force closeouts, attack those hard off the dribble, then kick out to open shooters. Get them moving defensively and ultimately find a crack that can be exploited. If the Lakers can do these things, they’ll score well enough to put pressure on the Knicks’ offense.
Then, defensively, the Lakers must make sure they stay focused on the task at hand. First, is defending Melo in isolation. The team did a good job of that earlier in the year when Melo shot 4-16 and never found a rhythm. Deng, Ingram, and even Nick Young should all get chances against Melo and the key will be to limit his penetration (which he does little of now anyway) and make him take tough mid-range jumpers. He’s more than capable of hitting those shots, but you can live with the results if some of those fall.
The other key will be slowing their P&R actions when Porzingis is the screener. In the last game, Derrick Rose returned from injury and was up to his old tricks as destructive driver coming off screens in both transition and in the half court. This allowed Porzingis to set his feet in pick and pop actions or, after a while, to get a small switched onto him because the Lakers could not contain Rose. Once a small switched, Kristaps went to work at the nail and hit easy jumpers or got into the paint for easier jumpers over smaller defenders. The Lakers will need to show and recover better and keep the Knicks’ guards out of the paint to ensure they’re not giving up easy jumpers to Porzingis or layups at the rim to either Rose (should he play) or Jennings.
The Lakers are to the point in this trip where the opponents are bit more manageable. After playing the Wiz and C’s, they face the Knicks today, then the Pistons and Bucks. None of the latter three teams are .500 and makes getting W’s more realistic. I know the Lakers are not a good road team, but considering how they competed against Washington and Boston they have a chance to make this road trip respectable. It starts tonight in New York.
Where you can watch: 4pm start time on Spectrum Sportsnet.
LT Mitchell says
Ingram to start tonight over Deng. Permanent move hopefully?
Clay Bertrand says
LT Mitchell
Ideally this move should be permanent. At the same time, Ingram is hitting the Rookie Wall now that he is entering game territory beyond what a season’s worth of college games would be.
While we DO want him on the court learning as much as possible, we don’t want to run him into the ground. Maybe he will get a second wind soon.
His shot and game looked pretty good against the Celtics.
Deng starting at the end of the day does nothing for this team IMO.
Clay Bertrand says
Neither Mozzy nor Deng will be starting tonight. Black in for Mozzy with Zubac coming off the bench.
Nice signings Jim and Mitch. 4 Years and $136 Million to play as part time starters for HALF of ONE season before they are changed out. NO, you’re right Mitch…..we DEFINITELY should NOT BE LOOKING to make any trades. We are RIGHT where we want to be. We just need some more MENTORING!!!!!!!!
Think about our awesome plan THIS way: In the 2020-21 season, WE WILL FINALLY HAVE CAP ROOM TO SIGN FAs and Deng will be wearing adult diapers………….SMH
Still R says
I can only imagine Luke’s pep talk before the game: “Let’s buckle down and keep that pick!
KevTheBold says
So far, a good showing by the starters,.
LKK says
Question … do the Lakers have an alternative purple and gold uniform? Or is it my tv? Certainly doesn’t look like the forum blue and gold that I’m used to.
LKK says
Zubac doing a good job of protecting the rim.
KevTheBold says
Up by 18 in the 2nd,..
new rr says
Really hope the team holds on to this now that they have this huge lead.
fern16 says
A huge lead and i feel nervous, wouldn’t be great if we beat Phil’s Knicks on MSG?
LKK says
@fern16…
It sure seems to good to be true. Hope the Lakers don’t lose their focus.
LKK says
15-4 run by the Knicks has the halftime lead down to 16 for the Lakers.
Mid Wilshire says
The Lakers are up by 16, 61-45, at half. They were up by 27. I like what I see. But like many others, I’m awfully nervous about the 2nd half.
LKK says
Russ with 6 assists and zero turnovers in his first 26 minutes… getting guys layups. Nice!
LKK says
Typo…Should have said first 16 minutes.
KevTheBold says
This game has been in the refrigerator for some time now,..
Mid Wilshire says
Feels good to win one, doesn’t it?
KevTheBold says
Mid Wilshire
Yes !! Good for the confidence of our team as well.
new rr says
The team is now 11-17 in games decided by 10 or more. 4-44 last year.
bluehill says
If the team can stay healthy for the rest of the year (knock on wood), we’ll get an idea if this team is that 10-10 team at the beginning of the year or the terrible one we’ve seen since then.
Kudos to Luke for changing the starting lineup and putting the most highly paid players on the bench. It’s an easy thing for fans to do, but I imagine that’s it’s tougher in real life.
LonShapiro says
The Jim Buss-Mitch Kupchak record is baffling. Just good enough to give fans hope they might sign one star and turn around the franchise. But bad enough to have fans light torches and breaking out the pitch forks every time the team goes on a long losing streak.
Hated the Mozgov contract, but love Zubac draft choice. Hated the Deng contract (but he has played better since the first part of the season), but love drafting Ingram. Love Nance and Randle draft picks, still on the fence with Russell.
Made the Chris Paul deal but got screwed by David Stern. Hated the Dwight Howard deal. Hated the Steve Nash robbery. Hated the Kobe extension.
Hated every Laker coach signing until Luke.
Clay Bertrand says
LonShapiro
Its as if the young guys and foreign scouts do the drafting (except for when its the #2 pick and its mostly a no brainer) and Mitch and Jim to the FA pursuits.
Mitch didn’t even know who Zubac was when they drafted him. It was purely the foreign scout’s call.
I think the closer you look, you may be able to see whose fingerprints are on what.
Its RIDICULOUS how much more rim protection a 19 year old, predominantly offensively developed second round pick provides than the $16 Million Dollar per year player he is replacing.
Deng’s contract is SO BAD, and he has been so bad that ANY upward tick in his production has us all grasping at straws to see some BS silver lining.
If the guy is gonna front rim 3 pointers 75% of the time, his legs are GONE in this the FIRST year of his Cap Killing 4 year contract. His game DOES NOT, CANNOT, and WILL NOT EVER justify $18 Million per year even in a bloated out post TV DEAL NBA economy.
Only the most blissful optimists are claiming to see value in what Deng brings. Unfortunately, I can GUARANTEE you, NONE of those people are opposing NBA GMs. SMH.
Clay Bertrand says
bluehill
The line up changeout is great, sad, ridiculous, alarming, damning and above all NOT a shining moment for the Front Office.
That line up was the basketball equivalent of Jim Buss being told to clean out his office. Which, from what we know, should probably take about 30 seconds because the guy used it so rarely that his non existent personal effects and the ONE Rolodex card with CHAZZ’s CONTACT INFO made for an easy move out process.
Clay Bertrand says
Mid Wilshire
Sorta. It would feel BETTER if we didn’t beat one of the teams in “competition” for our draft pick. Or a team that is worth a damn. I know we want to celebrate growth and not be negative all the time (as I tend to be). But we don’t need to beat our chests over beating the crappy Knicks.
Jut the same, I’m glad we are in full development mode now instead of PLAYING OUR TALENTED VETERANS like Mozgov to try to “WIN NOW”!!! Lol
Clay Bertrand says
This tagline from The Ringer regarding last nights “UNINSPIRING” (their word) Knicks vs Lakers game speaks volumes:
“The best thing about the contest was that it was taken off the national TV schedule.”
Still R says
Sorry, hard to feel great about this win, in a lost season that’s, what, the fourth straight lost season? That sounds about right, since they’ve been to the lottery three straight years and are lottery-worthy this season as well.
The Lakers talent on the court is – to be objective – pretty questionable, and they are giving up a lot of draft picks over the next three years to pay for past actions that didn’t pan out, to put it charitably. Those past actions have been excused/explained/spun in countless ways, but they still have to be paid for. So, they are giving up a lot of draft picks over the next three years in an environment where the draft is the top means of acquiring talent. Which brings us back to the first sentence of this paragraph.
new rr says
LonShapiro
If you look at Kupchak’s history, the FO under him has generally drafted pretty well, and nailed big decisions (keeping Kobe over Shaq, drafting Bynum, bringing back Phil, landing Pau). But they have never been that great at bargain-hunting and building benches/getting middle talents through FA and trades.
What happened this time was the big move that would have worked perfectly, the Paul deal, got vetoed by the league, and the other big moves (Nash, Howard, D’Antoni, Kobe’s extension, Scott) all either didn’t work, were poorly-reasoned to begin with, or both.
And, we are seeing the other pattern again now. The FO has done a very good job with late picks, and made reasonable choices with the lottery picks. But they have also made very questionable moves on middling veterans–Young, Williams, Mozgov, and Deng.
Clay Bertrand says
Still R
If they keep their pick this season, the actual payout for the gamble on Nash and the deal for Howard will be significantly less than if they don’t keep their pick. In ironic truth, because they have been so bad the last three years is in fact the very reason they have NOT had to surrender a lot of draft picks for these past failed transactions.
If they keep their 1st round pick this year, then Philly gets their pick next year and they retain 2019 while the payout to Orlando then becomes 2 second rounders. The loss of the second rounders isn’t as bad as a lottery pick loss and at least can be ballasted SOMEWHAT by the 2 second rounders they picked up for taking on Calderon so that the Bulls could sign Wade. Still two 2nd round picks are lost but it doesn’t feel as bad.
All in all, as I have said before, certainly some bullets to dodge for this to play out that way (meaning we keep our pick this year) but if it does, the ACTUAL costs of those trades asset wise would be minimal and much less than it COULD have been.
Clay Bertrand says
new rr LonShapiro
Objectively, besides the Pau trade, maybe the best deals Kupchak and Jim have made were trades like the Jordan Hill deal or even the Calderon deal. The Bazemore deal would look better if weeeee uhhhh KEPT BAZEMORE!!!
Beyond these, I can’t think of a meaningful beneficial non draft related move the FO has made before they signed Walton.
We need someone who can add lateral talent and better manage our Salary to Talent ratio. Daryl Morey would find a taker for Deng!!!!! Or at least he’d TRY HARD to
Alexander_ says
new rr LonShapiro Agreed. Mitch has done well in trades and draft picks, but has been historically dreadful in FA signings with past-their-prime choices – Mitch Richmond, anyone?
I can understand and accept Mozgov, we needed a starting center, had no idea how fast or if Black/Zubac could rise to that, and were losing options. Offering Deng $18m is a fireable offense.