Game 5: vs. Raptors, 101-92 (L) 

 Lakers Highlights

1st Half:

2nd Half:

 

  1. Overview 

Both teams started fast on offense. A lot of running and teams making their shots. Our pressuring the offense by attacking their passing lanes paid off so far, we made ton of steals and a lot of easy transition baskets. Larry very active againg and Ball commanding the team very smoothly. Good overall defensive effort and shots are falling. Randle is trying to be the help defender which is great to see. 18-6 run to end the first quarter. 

We started good to 2nd quarter too. Forcing bad shots leading to long rebounds and early transition. This seems to be our best game no matter who is in the game. Play hard defense and run. After playing a solid first quarter, the second quarter is going as smooth as it gets. Making shots, forcing the opponent to turnovers and tough shots, rebounding, helpin. Team’s on a great run! But Toronto made a late push after trailing as much as 17. From there, everything went downhill. Some simple mistakes and consecutive missed shots let Toronto make a push. The quarter ended on a 15-4 Toronto run and lead is down to 6. 

Sloppy start to 3. Team got a little too excited to run every single time, resulting in turnovers, forces passes and missed shots very early in the clock or a player trying agains 2-3 players in transition. As mistakes and unforced errors piled up and Raptors starting to make shots, we even made more mistakes. We let a lot of easy baskets. Offense got so out of sync once Ball sit. As Clarkson could not do a good job organizing the team, the offense was as ugly as it gets. 

4th quarter was not much different from the 3rd but we made some shots, Randle played hard and Kuzma had his double double to keep the team in balance. Our bench outplaying them was the reason Toronto could not make their lead bigger. The bench played with a lot of effor and we were leading 83-80 at a point. After starters came in, our energy dropped, DeRozan made some mid range shots. The lack of go-to moves for every player and go-to sets for the team costing us big. After the lack of energy and focus from the first unit led to Luke substituting all 5 starters which was not a good move. It was a 14-0 Raptors run for a 94-83 lead and they did not make any mistakes to let us crawl back. Today there will only be one GIF and that's reserved for our beloved coach! 

  2. The Team  

Positives 

+ Transition play 

+ Sometimes good movement off the ball on offense, especially in semi-transition type plays 

+ Some lineups showed great potential 

+ Bench play 

Negatives 

- Team can not keep it’s cool sometimes and gets too excited, leading to mistakes - Trying too much to run every single position 

- When the transition is shut down, team looks helpless 

- Too much unforced turnovers 

- Gave up too many easy baskets, just because taking an eye off the opponent 

- 1923740 Turnovers… 

- No halfcourt sets it seems 

- FREE THROWS!!! THEY ARE FREE FOR GOD’S SAKE!!!  

  3. The Players 

*Lonzo Ball* (C-): His worst game so far. It was not that bad but he did not communicate with his teammates and could not lead them. He has to be both vocal and lead by example. We struggled so much when we could not go out on transition and Ball should’ve ease the teams nerves. Call some picks, initiate the offense by playing some simple sets. He showed good effort on defense and had some deflections. But he needs to be a better leader, especially in late game situations. No need to worry much about his shot though, it’s too early. 

*Kentavious Caldwell-Pope* (D): Mediocre on defense, awful on offense. Gambled too much on defense and suffered greatly from the lack of sets played. Nothing much to say about him, needs to do a lot better than this.  

*Brandon Ingram* (D): When he is decisive, he is at his best. He made shots, did not settle for the mid range j and kept attacking the rim in the first half. And then again he was lost for good. Coach did not play him much actually but he was too passive most of the time. Can not say he made big mistakes but his game was inefficient at best. 

*Brook Lopez* (C): Don’t get the hate towards Lopez, he was not that bad. Great start on offense, used their lack of length inside to his advantage, made some pretty moves down the post. Did not make a three but he is a great shooter so this little slump he is in does not concern me. Because he feasted under the rim. Showed his Arsenal of moves on the post. He made 3 block shots in the first half too. When we can not get the offense going, we need him and Kuzma together with Ball, this can be a solution to our stagnant offense. 

*Larry Nance* (D-): Another good start on both ends but started to hurt the team after a while. His lack of a respectable range and overall offensive moves makes us play 4 on 5 sometimes. Yes he hustles, rebounds and has some putbacks here and there but this is not enough for a starter. I saw him as a good complimentary in the first 4 games, where Lopez roamed outside and he battled inside. But when teams decide to exploit his lack of offensive game, it really hurts us. Develop a jumper dude! 

*Jordan Clarkson* (F): Suspect number 2 for the loss. He played only 13 minutes but somehow managed to take any momentum we had away. Stopped a smoothly running offense, forced some shots and made silly mistakes. Hacking through 3-4 opponents is not a good offensive move Jordan! He needs to play under control, that has been his biggest issue and today this has costed us the game. And he has to be ashamed by the fact that a rookie in Hart plays x10 better defense than him… 

*Kyle Kuzma* (B-): New name: Mr. Constant Movement. Came in again, did not stop moving and got rewarded. Not only that, he played a great rebounding game. Always under control, always vocal and giving effort on the defensive end. The only thing about him is he is being forced to be a go-to scorer because he does not play a lot with Ball. He benefits from some Clarkson assists here and there but other than that he has to pull up and shoot, rather than catch and shoot. If we are using Lopez as a low post threat, Kyle has to start insted of Nance. He also was a little sloppy today  

*Julius Randle* (B-): That Wizards game may have triggered some sort of mental switch for him. Lead the team in points, was very under control and his defensive effort was nothing like we saw from him in the last couple of years. Now he knows what he is capable of, the only thing he needs to focus on is consistency. If he all of a sudden decides to be a offensive juggernaut he will fail again. Let us pray he continues the 2 game run he is on. 

*Josh Hart* (B-): One of the very few bright spots. If he was not benched by Luke, we could’ve won this. Both his offense and defense was solid today, he almost made 0 mistakes. And he has such a beautiful stroke, coach has to encourage him to take more shots. Opponents obviously don’t know much about him right now so we should use him to exploit this.  

*Corey Brewer* (D-): How can someone play 23 minutes and does almost nothing? Or how someone who can go unnoticed in 23 minutes of play can be on the floor for 23 minutes? It’s not his fault that coach played him and he really tries everytime he is on the floor. But 12 minutes a game must be his ceiling. 

*Tyler Ennis* (F): I came in, i screwed, i went out.  

*Coach Walton* (F): This one is on Walton. That decision to take out all starters at the end of the game when it was just an 8 point game? Abysmal. He coaches too emotionally. He tries to be the Zen Master 2.0 with his odd decisions but they certainly don’t work. Also he does not intervene when he needs to. He lets 10-0 run to take a timeout when the team plays in chaos mode. And although i am generally pleased with the rotations, tonight they were so bad. He made sure that a tick-tacking offense became stagnant. He is sometimes too stubborn with his lineups. What’s the point of taking Kuzma out to make Nance post-up and take all the starters out? What about working on some sets coach? AND WHAT ABOUT NOT PLAYING BREWER FOR 20+ MINUTES??? Nothing more is needed to be said, he has my attention. Not in a good manner. 

- Remember what happened to Mike Brown after this? Yeah Luke, don't you ever forget that!

Hey Steemit Lakers Community! Too bad we lost a game where we led 17 points at some point! We have to learn from our mistakes. We taken on Jazz back-to-back so it’s gonna be a busy weekend! (and i have to admit, it sucks to write about a game we lost!)