NBA Regular Season Game#1 Lakers vs Clippers - LOSS - 0-1

[Landsberger]

Tough to watch on dvr..... must have been tougher live.

I’ll reserve judgment on most of this until we get 10-15 games in. Too much new and different. The things I did see that I didn’t like were Luke’s decisions and the body language of Ball, Ingram (especially) and Randle. Ball can be given a little slack because of his situation. That said, his dad and Magic’s gum flappin’ seems to have energized the opposition to give him their best. The hype machine needs a rest.....let this kid be.

Not much good out there. Effort by Clarkson and Nance are about all that went as expected. Ball had some decent time on the defensive end of things but the individual defense stuff proves irrelevant in a the team aspect when it’s obvious that they don’t know each other yet.

I’ll be at the Phoenix game tonight. Hope they play better...

[Lost Angel]

I was shocked at the rotations last night.

hopefully we start this lineup against PHX:

Lopez
Nance
Ingram
JC
Ball

with Kuzma as 6th man, then Randle/Bryant/Brewer/Caruso off the bench.

[TyCobb]

Lonzo Ball struggled in his first NBA game as he was hounded by Patrick Beverley, finishing with three points, nine rebounds and four assists.

“I’ll be ready,” Ball told The Vertical. “I have to show it in my game, because when we win, people won’t talk. But if we lose, people will think it affects me. It’s wins and losses for me. We know it’s a process.”

Beverley was determined to give Ball a hostile welcome to the NBA that it won't be an easy transition.

“I told him after the game, man, due to the riff raff … he’s going to get a lot of people coming at him,” Beverley said. “He has to be ready for that.”

“I don’t want to get into one-on-one battles,” Ball told The Vertical. “It’s five on five, not me versus him.

“He’s going to do what he can, but I have to do what I can to get us wins.”


_____

We're in good hands..

[TyCobb]

W's and L's. The best statistic out there. Seriously. Nothing else matters.

[Kilroy]

Yeah, Beverley is probably one of the top physical defenders at that position in the league and he was going out of his way to play tough on Ball... But I think Ball did a good job of fighting through it and making plays...
He's still a kid, and he's got some growing to do, but I thought he did fine... He needs to be a little more deliberate with his passes... They're a little too finesse-y right now. But that's not a big deal.
His shot was off, but that's probably more first game nerves...
I'm not worried about him and I think he's ahead of Russell at the same time in his career for sure. But my expectations are a little tempered... He's probably not leading us to the playoffs this season... If that was ever a legit possibility.
But I'm still optimistic about him as our leader for the future.

[milesfides]

Lonzo Ball
Alex Caruso
all-star caliber wing
Kuzma
Bogut/Nance

We will make it to the playoffs.

[lake_show]

Lonzo Ball struggled in his first NBA game as he was hounded by Patrick Beverley, finishing with three points, nine rebounds and four assists.

“I’ll be ready,” Ball told The Vertical. “I have to show it in my game, because when we win, people won’t talk. But if we lose, people will think it affects me. It’s wins and losses for me. We know it’s a process.”

Beverley was determined to give Ball a hostile welcome to the NBA that it won't be an easy transition.

“I told him after the game, man, due to the riff raff … he’s going to get a lot of people coming at him,” Beverley said. “He has to be ready for that.”

“I don’t want to get into one-on-one battles,” Ball told The Vertical. “It’s five on five, not me versus him.

“He’s going to do what he can, but I have to do what I can to get us wins"

Absolutely the right answer by Ball. Don't get caught up in the nonsense of these 1 on 1 battles. Focus on yourself, your team, and getting wins.

[Kilroy]

In that lineup, I think PG is the only fit I can think of that might get us to the playoffs, but then you basically have Kuzma and PG as primary scorers and the focus of the Defense... I don't think Kuzma is ready for that right now.
I also don't think Kuzma can defend big 4s in the West... If you've noticed, the west is huge at the 4 now... Griffin, Cousins/Davis, Noel, LMA/Pau, KD/Green... Nance can't even defend those guys... I think we're going to need Nance/Bogut at a minimum at the 4 and 5... Probably Randle/Lopez... Randle for rebounding Lopez to spread the paint and score.
Small-ball as we know it is kind of over in the West at this point... Sure there aren't a whole lot of true 7'ers, but teams are twin towering guys from 6'8/250 up to 7'0" 290 in the combo 4/5 role... And they're all athletic as hell.

[milesfides]

I think that’s why the Lakers signed Bogut. Bogut could have signed with a contender. The only way this makes sense is if Luke promised him a big opportunity and the F.O. plan of contending soon.

Bogut is a great matchup with big lineups. It’s the small lineups that give him trouble, but that’s where Nance comes in. I don’t think Nance gets enough credit for his defense - all the metrics show he’s pretty good. He won’t be as good as Draymond, but nobody is.

I don’t think the twin towers frontcourt works - evidenced by the best iteration of it in Cousins and Davis. The playoffs have shown it’s the small lineups that work, with dynamic players who can shoot, pass, defend on switches.

I wouldn’t write off Kuzma! First game ever as a pro, off the bench, limited minutes. But his shot is wet, he’s physically mature, and he’s confident. With his size, athleticism, and skills, there’s not even 5 guys like him in the NBA.

[Danny Darko]

I would think someone like Bogut needs to do some enforcing for Lonzo here. Set a few really hard screens, take a tech or two to send a message back.

[Kilroy]

I agree that Twin Towers isn't as effective as talent spread across the lineup... LMA and Pau isn't really working, Cousins/Davis, isn't really working... Griffin/Daj, is working but they aren't winning anything... Green/KD is working fine...
My point is though that even though those lineups aren't true Championship lineups (outside of GSW)... They're still way better than what we have right now...
And until we have some legit offense, all we can do is focus on trying to slow them down... Bogut helps for sure, but he and Kuz will get manhandled... He and Nance is better... He and Randle is probably the best defensively we can do, but Randle and Lopez is probably the best 2 way option...
All of this is couched within the concept that this could be a playoff team lead by ball though... I think adding George (probably not possible this season) is a start... But I think we also need one other upgrade from 2-5...

I'm sure we are looking for trades... While I don't think they want to trade Nance, I think they may have realized he's the most tradeable outside of Ball, Kuz and Ingram... But I think it's a matter of time before they start taking calls on Brandon too.

[TyCobb]

As much as I want a current player to have his back, barely any of them feel comfortable enough doing it because they are here temporarily. This team still has too many players that won't be here in the long-term and its screwing with the flow.

[Landsberger]

W's and L's. The best statistic out there. Seriously. Nothing else matters.

I agree with every fiber....Yet so many cite so many statistics.....

[Landsberger]

I would think someone like Bogut needs to do some enforcing for Lonzo here. Set a few really hard screens, take a tech or two to send a message back.

Unfortunately.... Lavar has his back..... from the 8th row.

[Danny Darko]

As much as I want a current player to have his back, barely any of them feel comfortable enough doing it because they are here temporarily. This team still has too many players that won't be here in the long-term and its screwing with the flow.

true well at least he had pretty amazing composure

[Ball so hard]

I think that’s why the Lakers signed Bogut. Bogut could have signed with a contender. The only way this makes sense is if Luke promised him a big opportunity and the F.O. plan of contending soon.

Bogut is a great matchup with big lineups. It’s the small lineups that give him trouble, but that’s where Nance comes in. I don’t think Nance gets enough credit for his defense - all the metrics show he’s pretty good. He won’t be as good as Draymond, but nobody is.

I don’t think the twin towers frontcourt works - evidenced by the best iteration of it in Cousins and Davis. The playoffs have shown it’s the small lineups that work, with dynamic players who can shoot, pass, defend on switches.

I wouldn’t write off Kuzma! First game ever as a pro, off the bench, limited minutes. But his shot is wet, he’s physically mature, and he’s confident. With his size, athleticism, and skills, there’s not even 5 guys like him in the NBA.

Regarding why Bogut chose us - he did say the other teams [Celtics and Cavs] didn't move fast enough. They were kinda waiting to see what happens with their other pursuits. It doesn't sound like we had to promised him much, if anything.

To add to what others have said about Luke tinkering with his rotations far too much... I think this has affected Kuzma's play. I think very few have a defined roll on this team. I don't think it's a good idea to play Kuzma with Randle and Clarkson as both guys are "me first" players.

Like Slava mentioned, we have far too many players who do the same exact thing, i.e Randle and Clarkson are essentially the same (ISO heavy) player. Kuzma should be substituted for Ingram into the starting lineup; this of course would pose issues for the bench as Ingram is currently an ISO heavy player. There would be 3 ISO heavy players (Clarkson, Ingram, and Randle) coming off the bench.

In short, the pieces that we have simply don't fit. Luke is not solely to be blamed for this mess, but he certainly adds to the issue. Only a handful of coaches would be able to mitigate the impact of having pieces that simply don't fit.

[ardee]

Christ guys, calm down. Say it with me: ONE GAME.