Game 1: Lakers @ Memphis: Sunday, 2pm CST/12pm PST
Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2023 1:54 pm
Good morning y’all,
Today sounds like a great day to get a W. I think it’s so critical we come out and make a statement. This cannot be a blowout loss where Memphis’ crowd gets hyped and Ja and Dillion Brooks are mean mugging and acting ridiculous. Weather the storm and play our game.
What is your keys to this game? Here’s mine.
- 1) Transition D: We know Memphis is going to run and come at us. We cannot be watching the ball and let the Grizz beat us in transition. If Reaves is the primary assignment against Ja, only Vando and AD can go for offensive rebounds. Once Memphis boards, AD has to sprint back in transition. There’s 2 days between games for the first 3 games of the series. There’s no reason for AD to be slow to get back. Sprint your ass off, set up the half court D.
- 2) Who Steps Up?: I’m confident that down the stretch of games LeBron/AD/Reaves will be on the court and able to thrive in a playoff game. Who joins them? The playoffs are a different animal and not every regular season player can play. I’m fairly confident because of his versatility that Rui will be out there as well. Schroder is capable of the moment and wasn’t afraid against the T-Wolves. If I had to bet on a closing 5, it’ll probably be that. But 2 more guys at minimum have to join them. Troy Brown? Malik Beasley? Leads me to my next key.
- 3) D’Angelo Russell: Need D-Lo to be productive. They’re going to attack him and he needs to be a professional defender (which he has been this year). Don’t need him to be a lockdown defender, but he has to use his hoops IQ to be in the right spots, take the right angles, and not be a bystander. Offensively, he has to make shots. Against Minnesota, his form was all over the place. Not one shoot looked in rhythm and no shots looked the same. It was bizarre. Take and make open shots, get to your pull-up game in screen/roll actions if the D goes with the roll man (AD).
- 4) Dominate the boards. We cannot be out rebounded. With no Clarke and Adams, we have to punish this team. We should win the rebounding battle every game by a significant margin. If it’s close or we lose it outright, we’ll have no chance.
Prediction: Lakers in 6 games.
Today sounds like a great day to get a W. I think it’s so critical we come out and make a statement. This cannot be a blowout loss where Memphis’ crowd gets hyped and Ja and Dillion Brooks are mean mugging and acting ridiculous. Weather the storm and play our game.
What is your keys to this game? Here’s mine.
- 1) Transition D: We know Memphis is going to run and come at us. We cannot be watching the ball and let the Grizz beat us in transition. If Reaves is the primary assignment against Ja, only Vando and AD can go for offensive rebounds. Once Memphis boards, AD has to sprint back in transition. There’s 2 days between games for the first 3 games of the series. There’s no reason for AD to be slow to get back. Sprint your ass off, set up the half court D.
- 2) Who Steps Up?: I’m confident that down the stretch of games LeBron/AD/Reaves will be on the court and able to thrive in a playoff game. Who joins them? The playoffs are a different animal and not every regular season player can play. I’m fairly confident because of his versatility that Rui will be out there as well. Schroder is capable of the moment and wasn’t afraid against the T-Wolves. If I had to bet on a closing 5, it’ll probably be that. But 2 more guys at minimum have to join them. Troy Brown? Malik Beasley? Leads me to my next key.
- 3) D’Angelo Russell: Need D-Lo to be productive. They’re going to attack him and he needs to be a professional defender (which he has been this year). Don’t need him to be a lockdown defender, but he has to use his hoops IQ to be in the right spots, take the right angles, and not be a bystander. Offensively, he has to make shots. Against Minnesota, his form was all over the place. Not one shoot looked in rhythm and no shots looked the same. It was bizarre. Take and make open shots, get to your pull-up game in screen/roll actions if the D goes with the roll man (AD).
- 4) Dominate the boards. We cannot be out rebounded. With no Clarke and Adams, we have to punish this team. We should win the rebounding battle every game by a significant margin. If it’s close or we lose it outright, we’ll have no chance.
Prediction: Lakers in 6 games.