Lakers (14-6) at Celtics (10-7) Game #18 1/30/21

[hpantazo]

This coming west coast trip might be painful. No smart or Pritchard, bad Kemba, Teague and Tristan. Not looking good. Brad will have to use all the tricks he has in his back pocket otherwise the trip would yield 1-4 or 0-5.

Brad does very well with less players. I think it will be a good trip for the team.

[Phantom255x]

Hate to say it, but it's becoming clear that Kemba just might not be a "big game player". Even in the postseason last year, we mostly won the Raptors series in spite of Kemba, and then in the Heat series he was also extremely "meh" outside of maybe 1 game.

We had chalked it up to zone defense and schemes other teams were drawing up, but even then Kemba needs to make hittable shots and make the right plays. More often than not, he isn't able to though against great teams.

[Phantom255x]

Also, this might be a crazy thought. But is it possible that the "2-big lineup" actually isn't the problem, but it's simply that Tristan Thompson is playing bad this season?

I mean, I thought Theis and Timelord did fantastic last night when on the court and their impact was felt. Thompson meanwhile played just 15 minutes and still only had 1 point, 5 rebounds and looked lethargic.

Obviously there are others to mention like Teague and G-Will, but I've been more disappointed with Thompson this season. I'm not at all saying I expected him to outplay guys like Embiid and Davis (b/c who the hell can anyways), but I figured he could be an upgrade over a guy like Kanter since he could play against most bigs and hold his own. Instead, he's been poor especially over the last month, and you kind of wonder if Brad even trusts him that much with the minutes he's playing nowadays.

Thompson was supposed to be our starting center that could do the "dirty work" and while he has done it at times, there are others where he just misses easy shots and doesn't box out in key moments.

Idk if he's dealing with an injury or something, but this Thompson just isn't good enough. It'd be nice if he could give us more 10/8 or 12/10 kind of games, but feels like nowadays we get a lot of 0 point, 5 rebound games and alike. Hope Timelord can stay healthy and get more minutes.

[footey]

Also, this might be a crazy thought. But is it possible that the "2-big lineup" actually isn't the problem, but it's simply that Tristan Thompson is playing bad this season?

I mean, I thought Theis and Timelord did fantastic last night when on the court and their impact was felt. Thompson meanwhile played just 15 minutes and still only had 1 point, 5 rebounds and looked lethargic.

Obviously there are others to mention like Teague and G-Will, but I've been more disappointed with Thompson this season. I'm not at all saying I expected him to outplay guys like Embiid and Davis (b/c who the hell can anyways), but I figured he could be an upgrade over a guy like Kanter since he could play against most bigs and hold his own. Instead, he's been poor especially over the last month, and you kind of wonder if Brad even trusts him that much with the minutes he's playing nowadays.

Thompson was supposed to be our starting center that could do the "dirty work" and while he has done it at times, there are others where he just misses easy shots and doesn't box out in key moments.

Idk if he's dealing with an injury or something, but this Thompson just isn't good enough. It'd be nice if he could give us more 10/8 or 12/10 kind of games, but feels like nowadays we get a lot of 0 point, 5 rebound games and alike. Hope Timelord can stay healthy and get more minutes.

Completely agree with you, TP!! The on/off numbers (though very limited sample size) are astronomically positive in terms of offensive and defensive rating when Theis and Rob Williams are on the floor together.  They suffer when Theis and Thompson play together. 

[footey]

Hate to say it, but it's becoming clear that Kemba just might not be a "big game player". Even in the postseason last year, we mostly won the Raptors series in spite of Kemba, and then in the Heat series he was also extremely "meh" outside of maybe 1 game.

We had chalked it up to zone defense and schemes other teams were drawing up, but even then Kemba needs to make hittable shots and make the right plays. More often than not, he isn't able to though against great teams.

He was dealing with knee pain throughout the playoffs, so is it fair to make that criticism? I don't think so.

[footey]

This coming west coast trip might be painful. No smart or Pritchard, bad Kemba, Teague and Tristan. Not looking good. Brad will have to use all the tricks he has in his back pocket otherwise the trip would yield 1-4 or 0-5.

Brad does very well with less players. I think it will be a good trip for the team.

I like that Brad is more focused on player development this regular season.   The value of team record is less important this year, as home court advantage is unlikely to mean very much. I'd rather develop my young guys, build culture, as long as we can get a top 6 seed and don't have to do the play in.  Will get a better draft pick in the process which could give the TPE more value if we end up using it in the off season, as I suspect we will. 

[td450]

Still obsessing about the last play:

1. Walker makes a steal, but then almost screws it up with a terrible pass.

2. Tatum does not hustle up court. You can see him stop. He could have been a trailing option.

3. Brown makes a great save on the bad pass, and gets the ball to Semi. The team just hasn't adjusted to reality. Semi just naturally gets the ball to Walker, because that's who should have gotten the ball LAST YEAR.

The team needs to understand things have changed. The bias now needs to be getting the ball back to Brown, which would not have been difficult.  THIS YEAR, HE'S THE BETTER PLAYER and there are 5 seconds left.

[nickagneta]

Still obsessing about the last play:

1. Walker makes a steal, but then almost screws it up with a terrible pass.

2. Tatum does not hustle up court. You can see him stop. He could have been a trailing option.

3. Brown makes a great save on the bad pass, and gets the ball to Semi. The team just hasn't adjusted to reality. Semi just naturally gets the ball to Walker, because that's who should have gotten the ball LAST YEAR.

The team needs to understand things have changed. The bias now needs to be getting the ball back to Brown, which would not have been difficult.  THIS YEAR, HE'S THE BETTER PLAYER and there are 5 seconds left.

Brad should have called a timeout as soon as Kemba secured the turnover. It would have given the team 8 seconds to run a play that wouldn't have had the ice cold Kemba shooting the last shot. Tatum and Brown had proven all game that they could score against a set LAL defense at will. You gotta call that timeout and get Tatum or Brown the ball in that situation.

That said, I don't blame either Brad or Kemba. The strategy to play through and let a guy that has closed games his entire career get a good shot off against an unset defense is just as valid. Kemba simply missed the good look.

It was a great, well played, well coached, well officiated extremely close, entertaining game. The intensity had a Finals level feel to it. Kemba simply missed the 15 foot shot. If Boston plays that well on the road trip, they could sweep the trip.

[td450]

Still obsessing about the last play:

1. Walker makes a steal, but then almost screws it up with a terrible pass.

2. Tatum does not hustle up court. You can see him stop. He could have been a trailing option.

3. Brown makes a great save on the bad pass, and gets the ball to Semi. The team just hasn't adjusted to reality. Semi just naturally gets the ball to Walker, because that's who should have gotten the ball LAST YEAR.

The team needs to understand things have changed. The bias now needs to be getting the ball back to Brown, which would not have been difficult.  THIS YEAR, HE'S THE BETTER PLAYER and there are 5 seconds left.

Brad should have called a timeout as soon as Kemba secured the turnover. It would have given the team 8 seconds to run a play that wouldn't have had the ice cold Kemba shooting the last shot. Tatum and Brown had proven all game that they could score against a set LAL defense at will. You gotta call that timeout and get Tatum or Brown the ball in that situation.

That said, I don't blame either Brad or Kemba. The strategy to play through and let a guy that has closed games his entire career get a good shot off against an unset defense is just as valid. Kemba simply missed the good look.

It was a great, well played, well coached, well officiated extremely close, entertaining game. The intensity had a Finals level feel to it. Kemba simply missed the 15 foot shot. If Boston plays that well on the road trip, they could sweep the trip.

Consider the typical end of play sensibility for the Lakers, or the Warriors or the Clippers or the Nets.

A role player on the Lakers who gets the ball with 6 seconds doesn't think, "Oh, there's Dennis Shroeder open", he thinks "where is LeBron", or "where is AD"?

Semi passed it to Kemba and he shot it because our team hasn't figured this out yet. Not that complicated.

[blink]

Also, this might be a crazy thought. But is it possible that the "2-big lineup" actually isn't the problem, but it's simply that Tristan Thompson is playing bad this season?

I mean, I thought Theis and Timelord did fantastic last night when on the court and their impact was felt. Thompson meanwhile played just 15 minutes and still only had 1 point, 5 rebounds and looked lethargic

I agree, I like Theis and timelord a lot better together at this point than Theis and Thompson.

I am all for this starting lineup while smart is out

Kemba / Brown / Tatum / Theis / Timelord