Bubble Game #2: Lakers vs Toronto 5:30 8/1/20

[ROballer]

KC trash doing what he does best, sucking ass at the beginning of the season.(long layoff, it's sorta the beginning).

He's limited as it is, ain't nobody got time anymore to wait for his ass to get in a rhythm like he usually does after a few months. Glue him to the bench, we've got plenty of options now to eat his 30+ mins.

[lazybatman]

AVERY BRADLEY!!

[Revived]

That kid of performance from Danny Green is almost inexcusable.

Read on Twitter

Toronto just a bad matchup for him.

[Hans1984]

Very disappointing performance. AD let the team down. I don't care how good Torontos defense is, if you are a superstar in this league you got to find ways to score.
It was impressive to see how well the ball moved for Toronto. Their defense was also very good. That's a well coached team.

[lazybatman]

I thought it was down to a few things -

- Passive Lebron - trying to overfeed AD and others. As we've seen in the latter half of the season, AD can get his without being 'set up'. Lebron's gotta keep the pressure up all game. He might be doing this to get the team going in the right direction before the playoffs begin for real, but winning might do that better.

- Over passing - passing up of good open 3s and driving in / passing the ball(JR, Lebron, Waiters, AD were all guilty of this.. heck everyone except DG and Kuz). This again can be attributed to finding their groove and problems that'll go away as we settle in.

- Terrible performance by the bigs - No impact defensively. We were outrebounded 40 - 51. McGee - 4 rebs, 4 fouls 2 TOs. Howard - 5 rebs, 2 fouls 2 TOs, AD - 6 rebs. How do non playmaking Centers get 2 TOs in 10 and 17 mins of action, not to mention the 6 fouls. These two dudes are not worth anymore than the vet minimums, and only look good around Lebron. Safe to say they'll both be in the bottom 20% of the Centers in the bubble.

- AVERY f***ing BRADLEY - Safe to say Kyle Lowry doesn't go for 30+ with AB on him all game. And he's not even a great offensive guard. Imagine what Lou Will, Russ, Harden, etc will do if we can't find a solution. I can recall Lebron's Cleveland tenure, when every random PG in the league, who used to average 8-15 ppg, used to come and score 25-30 on Kyrie every night. It is damn near impossible to come back from. AB could be the difference between a Championship or bust this season.

- Vogel's lack of adjustment - Kuz was the absolute worse defender to put on a super hot Lowry for way too long in the final quarter. Danny Green > Caruso > KCP / JR / Waiters should have been the order. Idk if most of these guys have the foot speed/technique to hang with the faster trickier guards in the league. Besides, DG is our only option on the bigger wings on that list, if we don't wanna tire out Lebron.

Concluding, Raps are a great team - worthy champions with or without Kawhi, but Lakers are the better team. We just gotta impose our will.

[TylersLakers]

That kid of performance from Danny Green is almost inexcusable.

Read on Twitter

Toronto just a bad matchup for him.

It's not like he's being defended though. He has WIDE OPEN looks. He also passed up a couple. He's gotta take and make shots.

[iamworthy]

Love what in seeing from Caruso. I also like waiters ability to navigate the high pick n roll. We should be fine by the second round.

[LAKESHOW]

Reality Check! You can't have your starting point guard leave the team(understood), bring in hired guns and back ups( last second), and expect Championship level Chemistry and play. Weve known that. Our Top teams had great chemistry, cohesion. Starters cannot be extracted and expect top level play

[whitelight]

KC trash doing what he does best, sucking ass at the beginning of the season.(long layoff, it's sorta the beginning).

He's limited as it is, ain't nobody got time anymore to wait for his ass to get in a rhythm like he usually does after a few months. Glue him to the bench, we've got plenty of options now to eat his 30+ mins.

No we don't.

[ROballer]

Caruso/Waiters/Smith.

You signed JR to have him play 8 mins while this mofo is bricking everything in sight? And getting torched on D top of that?

We have PLENTY of BETTER options. There's no need for KC TRASH to play 30 mins a game ever. His antics are documented, he simply can't buy anything after a long layoff, he needs time(like 2-3 months) to get his shot right. This is not the regular beggining of the season, we don't have the time to wait to pull the stick out of his ass. It's playoffs time in a hurry.

[tamaraw08]

I thought it was down to a few things -

- Passive Lebron - trying to overfeed AD and others. As we've seen in the latter half of the season, AD can get his without being 'set up'. Lebron's gotta keep the pressure up all game. He might be doing this to get the team going in the right direction before the playoffs begin for real, but winning might do that better.

- Over passing - passing up of good open 3s and driving in / passing the ball(JR, Lebron, Waiters, AD were all guilty of this.. heck everyone except DG and Kuz). This again can be attributed to finding their groove and problems that'll go away as we settle in.

- Terrible performance by the bigs - No impact defensively. We were outrebounded 40 - 51. McGee - 4 rebs, 4 fouls 2 TOs. Howard - 5 rebs, 2 fouls 2 TOs, AD - 6 rebs. How do non playmaking Centers get 2 TOs in 10 and 17 mins of action, not to mention the 6 fouls. These two dudes are not worth anymore than the vet minimums, and only look good around Lebron. Safe to say they'll both be in the bottom 20% of the Centers in the bubble.

- AVERY f***ing BRADLEY - Safe to say Kyle Lowry doesn't go for 30+ with AB on him all game. And he's not even a great offensive guard. Imagine what Lou Will, Russ, Harden, etc will do if we can't find a solution. I can recall Lebron's Cleveland tenure, when every random PG in the league, who used to average 8-15 ppg, used to come and score 25-30 on Kyrie every night. It is damn near impossible to come back from. AB could be the difference between a Championship or bust this season.

- Vogel's lack of adjustment - Kuz was the absolute worse defender to put on a super hot Lowry for way too long in the final quarter. Danny Green > Caruso > KCP / JR / Waiters should have been the order. Idk if most of these guys have the foot speed/technique to hang with the faster trickier guards in the league. Besides, DG is our only option on the bigger wings on that list, if we don't wanna tire out Lebron.

Concluding, Raps are a great team - worthy champions with or without Kawhi, but Lakers are the better team. We just gotta impose our will.

All good points but I can't help to point out that 29 other teams also don't have Bradley. I am not saying he is worthless, of course he is very valuable but good teams usually find other ways to win. I watched the Boston/Portland game esp the 2nd half when Dame and CJ lead massive assault over the Boston's vaunted defense. Celtics also couldn't stop them but what made them successful was the fact that they matched the Blazer's firepower. They shot 48% from the 3pt area and missed only 1 FT.
KCP and Green combined for 1 of 10 3pt shots, 2 of 14 overall. Morris and Waiters combined for 7-21 and 2 of 11 from the 3pt area.
As they say, it's a hit and miss league. You hit shots, you will likely win but you are right, good teams will IMPOSE THEIR WILL, get high % shots AND get to the Line.
Howard has been very disappointing IMO, limited rebounding and blocks and he's punishing his team with stupid fouls and illegal screens bec of meaningless shoves.

[whitelight]

Caruso/Waiters/Smith.

You signed JR to have him play 8 mins while this mofo is bricking everything in sight? And getting torched on D top of that?

We have PLENTY of BETTER options. There's no need for KC TRASH to play 30 mins a game ever. His antics are documented, he simply can't buy anything after a long layoff, he needs time(like 2-3 months) to get his shot right. This is not the regular beggining of the season, we don't have the time to wait to pull the stick out of his ass. It's playoffs time in a hurry.

Well I don't trust Waiters or Smith either. Caurso like KCP and even Smith and Waiters are all better on limit minutes. Plus Frank made his choice you just have to get over it and deal with it

[EArl]

Waiters has looked better than Rondo has all year. Definitely playing better than JR Smith.

[lazybatman]

I thought it was down to a few things -

- Passive Lebron - trying to overfeed AD and others. As we've seen in the latter half of the season, AD can get his without being 'set up'. Lebron's gotta keep the pressure up all game. He might be doing this to get the team going in the right direction before the playoffs begin for real, but winning might do that better.

- Over passing - passing up of good open 3s and driving in / passing the ball(JR, Lebron, Waiters, AD were all guilty of this.. heck everyone except DG and Kuz). This again can be attributed to finding their groove and problems that'll go away as we settle in.

- Terrible performance by the bigs - No impact defensively. We were outrebounded 40 - 51. McGee - 4 rebs, 4 fouls 2 TOs. Howard - 5 rebs, 2 fouls 2 TOs, AD - 6 rebs. How do non playmaking Centers get 2 TOs in 10 and 17 mins of action, not to mention the 6 fouls. These two dudes are not worth anymore than the vet minimums, and only look good around Lebron. Safe to say they'll both be in the bottom 20% of the Centers in the bubble.

- AVERY f***ing BRADLEY - Safe to say Kyle Lowry doesn't go for 30+ with AB on him all game. And he's not even a great offensive guard. Imagine what Lou Will, Russ, Harden, etc will do if we can't find a solution. I can recall Lebron's Cleveland tenure, when every random PG in the league, who used to average 8-15 ppg, used to come and score 25-30 on Kyrie every night. It is damn near impossible to come back from. AB could be the difference between a Championship or bust this season.

- Vogel's lack of adjustment - Kuz was the absolute worse defender to put on a super hot Lowry for way too long in the final quarter. Danny Green > Caruso > KCP / JR / Waiters should have been the order. Idk if most of these guys have the foot speed/technique to hang with the faster trickier guards in the league. Besides, DG is our only option on the bigger wings on that list, if we don't wanna tire out Lebron.

Concluding, Raps are a great team - worthy champions with or without Kawhi, but Lakers are the better team. We just gotta impose our will.

All good points but I can't help to point out that 29 other teams also don't have Bradley. I am not saying he is worthless, of course he is very valuable but good teams usually find other ways to win. I watched the Boston/Portland game esp the 2nd half when Dame and CJ lead massive assault over the Boston's vaunted defense. Celtics also couldn't stop them but what made them successful was the fact that they matched the Blazer's firepower. They shot 48% from the 3pt area and missed only 1 FT.
KCP and Green combined for 1 of 10 3pt shots, 2 of 14 overall. Morris and Waiters combined for 7-21 and 2 of 11 from the 3pt area.
As they say, it's a hit and miss league. You hit shots, you will likely win but you are right, good teams will IMPOSE THEIR WILL, get high % shots AND get to the Line.
Howard has been very disappointing IMO, limited rebounding and blocks and he's punishing his team with stupid fouls and illegal screens bec of meaningless shoves.

Bro,
I get the teething issues with the shooting; lack of Center contribution at both ends(heck McGee looked even worse yesterday than the previous 2 games); Lebron still being in facilitation mode and jeez, the over passing. But, point blank, I don't think there are any teams with a worse back court than the Lakers in the league right now.

The championship contenders have elite all around defenses, including a great PG defender(Pat Bev, Marcus Smart, Bledsoe). I've seen this before @ Cleveland. It's not one odd night in this era of guard dominant basketball, it'll be every night. Average / above average guards start salivating at the opportunity and cause a net impact of over 15-20 points with their individual production and the freedom to analyze and distribute freely. More so, since our guards are just stand and shoot kinda passive offensive players, who don't even drain them out at the other end. AB shout down Lou Will, Pat Bev and Bledsoe in the March weekend games, and the Clips, specially, were only left with iso ball or set plays most of the game. AB has been, by some distance, given Danny Green's production, our third most important player this year.

I get that 25 of the other 29 teams probably don't have an elite defender like AB, but none of those teams(at least the playoff teams) are likely as top heavy and lacking depth as the Lakers. This wouldn't be a problem if we had 2 more Danny Green(7-7.5) level defenders who could switch between PG, SG and SFs, but we're left with just 1 now, and he's rarely gets on the opposing PG as his primary defensive target.

[LAKESHOW]

We have a serious problem with our On Guard Pressure. Without Bradley it is a freeway down the middle of the Lane. Green and Dions defensive speed looks like we got Zion out there playing point. This is going to catch up to us and bite.

Now, Guardplay teams must be avoided during these playoffs for as long as possible.. if weve gotta go thru Dame and Mcollum, then Harden and Westbrook before the final 4, we are going thru the gauntlet.
But if we can at least avoid heavy guardplay first 2 rounds, that would be an easier ride.

[Beethoven]

Dammit let's sign 1996 the glove

[tamaraw08]

I thought it was down to a few things -

- Passive Lebron - trying to overfeed AD and others. As we've seen in the latter half of the season, AD can get his without being 'set up'. Lebron's gotta keep the pressure up all game. He might be doing this to get the team going in the right direction before the playoffs begin for real, but winning might do that better.

- Over passing - passing up of good open 3s and driving in / passing the ball(JR, Lebron, Waiters, AD were all guilty of this.. heck everyone except DG and Kuz). This again can be attributed to finding their groove and problems that'll go away as we settle in.

- Terrible performance by the bigs - No impact defensively. We were outrebounded 40 - 51. McGee - 4 rebs, 4 fouls 2 TOs. Howard - 5 rebs, 2 fouls 2 TOs, AD - 6 rebs. How do non playmaking Centers get 2 TOs in 10 and 17 mins of action, not to mention the 6 fouls. These two dudes are not worth anymore than the vet minimums, and only look good around Lebron. Safe to say they'll both be in the bottom 20% of the Centers in the bubble.

- AVERY f***ing BRADLEY - Safe to say Kyle Lowry doesn't go for 30+ with AB on him all game. And he's not even a great offensive guard. Imagine what Lou Will, Russ, Harden, etc will do if we can't find a solution. I can recall Lebron's Cleveland tenure, when every random PG in the league, who used to average 8-15 ppg, used to come and score 25-30 on Kyrie every night. It is damn near impossible to come back from. AB could be the difference between a Championship or bust this season.

- Vogel's lack of adjustment - Kuz was the absolute worse defender to put on a super hot Lowry for way too long in the final quarter. Danny Green > Caruso > KCP / JR / Waiters should have been the order. Idk if most of these guys have the foot speed/technique to hang with the faster trickier guards in the league. Besides, DG is our only option on the bigger wings on that list, if we don't wanna tire out Lebron.

Concluding, Raps are a great team - worthy champions with or without Kawhi, but Lakers are the better team. We just gotta impose our will.

All good points but I can't help to point out that 29 other teams also don't have Bradley. I am not saying he is worthless, of course he is very valuable but good teams usually find other ways to win. I watched the Boston/Portland game esp the 2nd half when Dame and CJ lead massive assault over the Boston's vaunted defense. Celtics also couldn't stop them but what made them successful was the fact that they matched the Blazer's firepower. They shot 48% from the 3pt area and missed only 1 FT.
KCP and Green combined for 1 of 10 3pt shots, 2 of 14 overall. Morris and Waiters combined for 7-21 and 2 of 11 from the 3pt area.
As they say, it's a hit and miss league. You hit shots, you will likely win but you are right, good teams will IMPOSE THEIR WILL, get high % shots AND get to the Line.
Howard has been very disappointing IMO, limited rebounding and blocks and he's punishing his team with stupid fouls and illegal screens bec of meaningless shoves.

Bro,
I get the teething issues with the shooting; lack of Center contribution at both ends(heck McGee looked even worse yesterday than the previous 2 games); Lebron still being in facilitation mode and jeez, the over passing. But, point blank, I don't think there are any teams with a worse back court than the Lakers in the league right now.

The championship contenders have elite all around defenses, including a great PG defender(Pat Bev, Marcus Smart, Bledsoe). I've seen this before @ Cleveland. It's not one odd night in this era of guard dominant basketball, it'll be every night. Average / above average guards start salivating at the opportunity and cause a net impact of over 15-20 points with their individual production and the freedom to analyze and distribute freely. More so, since our guards are just stand and shoot kinda passive offensive players, who don't even drain them out at the other end. AB shout down Lou Will, Pat Bev and Bledsoe in the March weekend games, and the Clips, specially, were only left with iso ball or set plays most of the game. AB has been, by some distance, given Danny Green's production, our third most important player this year.

I get that 25 of the other 29 teams probably don't have an elite defender like AB, but none of those teams(at least the playoff teams) are likely as top heavy and lacking depth as the Lakers. This wouldn't be a problem if we had 2 more Danny Green(7-7.5) level defenders who could switch between PG, SG and SFs, but we're left with just 1 now, and he's rarely gets on the opposing PG as his primary defensive target.

There was a poster before you constantly point out that Derek Fisher was the least productive PG who gets virtually and massively outscored by everyone he is guarding. Everyone knows he doesn't get a lot of touches but eventually Phil later revealed that he ordered Shaq NOT to hedge and switch so they don't give up lobs and dunks, fortunately for them those guards like Parker,Kidd etc were not as lethal from the 3, back then.
Again I ALSO love Bradley but please bear in mind that most prolific PGs like Lilliard gets most of their points from getting a ton of screens from their centers. Yes, he'll occasionally jack up those 27 footers but their staple is a ton of high pick and rolls.
Yes, I also believe Green is not appreciated enough for his defense but if he can't hit those shots, then, it'll be very difficult to beat teams without some kind of offensive support esp to an AGING Lebron who has to sit every 7 mins(half of the time he's facilitating to conserve energy) now to keep fresh.
You mentioned Cleveland, well at least Kyrie would drop 28 pts and back then James was younger... I would love to see KCP and AC to at least try to pick up and trap those prolific PGs from 40 feet at least to see how they react, but most likely the Lakers would have to scramble defensively to switch and I don't think it's wise to try this with Dwight and JMG on the floor.