Game 11: @ Celtics, 96-107 (L)

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Lakers Highlights

1st Half

2nd Half

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1. Overview

If it wasn’t for a 2nd quarter rally, i was going to simply not going to write about this game. Normally i take my laptop as i watch the game and take notes to later edit and publish it. But for bigger games and any game against Celtics, i am all in the game. That’s how serious these games are to me! It was not the case for the team appearantly (?) and they lacked any focus and energy from the get go. Maybe they don’t get the rivalry yet. Maybe they get it but got anxious. But i doubt the latter. Lack of energy and effort, careless with the ball (10 TO in the first quarter alone) and not executing properly on offense against the top record tam of the league is a recipe for disaster. This was the case in this first quarter.
Second quarter though was a different story.

As i said, i was so frustrated in the first Q, i was going to just not write about this. But an active Randle on both ends showed us his worth for the team. His effort lifted the team spirit up, we took better care off the ball and made better executions throughout the quarter to help us cut to lead as close as (?) in the quarter. After this, it was anyone’s game.

3rd quarter was very close. Both teams played good overall and our starters showed a better effort on offensive end. Led by Ingram, we cut the deficit down to 2 points. Especially in this quarter, referees seem to have lost control of the game. I don’t like to talk about the referees when the team loses, but that Kuzma offensive foul, an uncalled and-1 on Clarkson and another on Ingram helped Celtics hold on to their lead. After the end of th 3rd, it was just a 6 point game.

Our opportunity came at the start of the fourth quarter. A sloppy Celtics and a good defensive effort lead us to hold the C’s to just 2 points for 3 minutes. The problem? We had just 2 points in that period of time! After that both teams found their rythms and C’s we tried to catch them without success. Back 9 points and 3 minutes left, KCP took an horrible shot after a timeout and we had 3-4 positions without scoring and it was our last chance.

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2. The Team

Positives

• Strong push for comeback, good effort after being down 20+
• The ability to switch on defense
• The team could rally back despite some very bad calls by the referees

Negatives

• Turnovers
• More turnovers
• Just can’t stop turning the ball over
• When you turn the ball over this much...
• We really struggle when our shooters can’t find their rythm
• Forgot about BI after he played great for a stretch
• Coach not changing mentality quicly enough to counter the opponents strategies
• WHO THE HELL IS BAYNES!!!
  

The Real Beard!

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3. The Players

*Lonzo Ball (C-): If this team is going to be successful, he needs to find an effective to score. I don’t care if he changes his mechanics or else but if he can’t shoot the ball, his court vision is not going to be maximized. The opponents are going hard at him and take away the pass. Although he found a way to make his assists, he did not lead the effectively on offense. He was again solid at least on defensive end, but backing off of Kyrie after he scored just 2 consecutive positions is not a good thing for his reputation. He showed potential as a good chase defender with his 4 blocks, but he has to man up and take the challenge to rally his team. Today, he was unable to do that

Yeah right...

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*Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (C-): It’s official: he is a double edged sword. When he is on a roll, he rolls! But when he rolls, he try to roll too much and starts to take bad, contested shots. He take one such shot, which was our last chance to complete a comeback. It was after a timeout too and no way that’s what we drew. He obviously plays with heart and puts in the effort, but he takes to much risk rather than trusting the offense. He agian had an OK game.

*Brandon Ingram (B+): Liking the play, liking the effort, hating the way he gets lost! Another game where he was poised for at least a 25+ game and another game where he was the only effective offensive weapon. Yet again, after playing great in second and third quarters and helped Randle ignite the comeback, he only shot the ball once, which was a putback dunk! Hard to rate him when he does this. If this is a win, he is one of the players making the comeback possible. But now he has to share the blame with the coaching staff not being aggressive enough. It seems like the staff forced him too much to be the guy to start the season, it backfired and he is now too aggressive or too passive. Once he deals with this problem, he is automatically a 20+ player. Future is bright.

*Brook Lopez (C-): He has to find a way to help the team when he does not takeover offensively. Tonight, although having his way under the rim, he was off from the range. And although the player he defended was the leading scorer of the game, he protected the rim better against the drives. But you are never gonna look good when you let Baynes (who?) let score 5 times more than his average. Hope he gets back to his great scroing streak!

*Jordan Clarkson (C+): Another day and night game for him. In his first minutes in the first quarter, all he did was dribble for 20 seconds, turn the ball over and take silly shots. But after that he was the Clarkson we all want to see. He scored effectively, he contributed and took better care of the ball. His defense was very bad though, he lacks the consistency he has on offensive end. He plays a good defensive game and bad 3-4 games after that. He has to put the work on that department too. I was just asking him to be a score only guard but as time shows, he needs to play some defense too.

*Kyle Kuzma (C-): His worse game as a Laker. Let me correct that: his only bad game as a Laker. Still had 10/6 which is not that bad, but he forced some shots, did not take care of the ball and fouled too much. This was his worst defensive effort. This kinda find his personality through inspiring plays of Kuzma and Randle. Today though, his lack of energy seemed to affect the team.

*Julius Randle (A-):
Our lone star of the night. He made us enjoy the game after the disasterous first quarter. Came in and played the whole 2nd, shouldered the team on both end of the floor and made it a competitive game. He played almost totally under control, he attackded very effectively and was very good on the defensive end. He could have had better stats if it wasn’t for very bad calls by the referees. 16/12 in 21 minutes is very impressive. Let’s hope this loss ignites his teammates to put on better effort.

Seems like nobody can!

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*Tyler Ennis (-): Dude who the hell are you?

*Josh Hart (F): I am disappointed. When he did a good job, i wrote about it. When he did not, i just gave him time. But i have to say now, he does not play good basketball. Maybe it’s too early for him to have minutes. I think it’s obvious when you get overplayed by Corew Brewer...

*Andrew Bogut (F): Turns out i was wrong about Bogut... Maybe there is a reason coach Walton does not play him. But tonight he showed that there is no reason to give him any minutes! I still preserve a littl hope for him, but the air just got thinner. A lot thinner...

*Coach Walton (D+): Not pleased, not pleased at all! Let’s give him credit first: making Randle the backup C and a defensive anchor was a great call which nobody saw coming. With Randle, Luke was in a streak too, where he lead the team real good. But last couple of games, his deficiencies, especially in terms of execution is really bothering the team. Whether it’s a lead we blow or a comeback we fall short, it comes down to critical minutes and he seems to have no plan for those kind of situation. Our offense really struggles to something other than shooting threes. If they go in, we win, if not we lose. But in a game where your shooters struggled, you can not call only for 3 pointers and have to make your players go to the rim. Also, i don’t think he manages Ingram’s role successfuly. At first he forced him to be an iso player. Now even though he is our best scorer overall, Luke does not use him effectively and let’s him get lost. Rotations also were weird today (why Bogut?), so there is a lot to take out from this game, both for players and our coach.

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Nothing feels better than beating C’s in the garden. And if it’s a comeback from all the way back from 21 points, it’s priceless. We just fell short of doing that. There are a lot of lessons to learn from this game. Let’s see how they play back-to-back agianst another top team of the East, Wizards. They’ll go for a revenge...

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