The Lakeshow Review

The Los Angeles Lakers kicked off their preseason with a disappointing showing, after dropping their first two contests to the Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors. Both games displayed much of the same faults, with the Lakers playing without LeBron James and Luka Dončić and failing to squeeze out good productivity from their role platers. Aside from Dončić and James, LA also played without Gabe Vincent and Marcus Smart for the first game. Vincent eventually returned for the second contest versus Golden State, and even though he clearly brought some balance to the bench unit, the final score still yielded the same result.

Game one against Phoenix was a bit of a weird one. The Lakers played without Luka, LeBron, Smart, Vincent and Maxi Kleber. On paper, a great opportunity to get an extended early look at newcomers such as Jake LaRavia and Deandre Ayton. Unfortunately, none of those guys looked particularly good, instead appearing lost and still finding their footing in a new roster and system. Ayton scored all of one point, while grabbing eight boards and swatting two shots. LaRavia was a bit more solid, tallying 7 points on six shots, although one certainly would have liked to see him have a bigger role, particularly with all the aforementioned names out of action. Rui Hachimura aslo had a disappointing outing, scoring 11 points on twelve shots, including 1-4 from three. Austin Reaves was the lone bright spot, dropping a team-high 20 points while shooting 6-11 from the field, to go with three boards and two assists. The Lakers, however, lost handily by a final score of 101-83.

The early portion of the game looked promising, with Austin Reaves shouldering the scoring load early on, and Rui Hachimura teasing a big night with 5 consecutive points early in the first quarter. The Suns, who were playing close to all of their key rotational pieces, eventually took command of the game midway through the first half and never looked back. Three of their starters hit double figures in scoring, including Devin Booker who had a game-high 24 points and looked quite comfortable scoring the basketball. The Lakers made a bid to make things competitive, after a Rui three pointer slashed Phoenix’s lead to just three. The Suns answered with a scorching run to push their lead back up to double figures just before the halftime buzzer. The second half saw more of the same, with the Suns pushing their lead significantly and leaving LA in the dust. The Lakers looked underprepared, lackadaisical, and were clearly outplayed by a superior side. The offense looked stuck in reverse with all the big names out, and no consistent playmaking engine to spark the offense. It’ll be nice to see more cohesiveness once the big boys are back.

LAs second game yielded more of the same, with the team falling to a fully-manned Warriors unit by a score of 111-103. Head Coach JJ Redick opted to rest shooting guard Austin Reaves, as Gabe Vincent returned to the lineup. Vincent was relatively solid, scoring 16 points on nine shots and dishing out five assists. The Lakers actually managed to look somewhat more competitive in this game, compared to their first. The offense and ball movement looked to be more cohesive, and the team managed to produce a somewhat competitive showing despite missing all of their key guys. Jake LaRavia had a nice showing with 10 points (albeit on ten shots), while Jarred Vanderbilt provided some glimpses on what could be a new and improved iteration of himself. Vando scored 9 points and even drilled a three, while pulling down seven boards. More importantly, he displayed his game-changing defensive skillset as he was everywhere on that end of the floor. He collected three steals, and hovered around on switches while being the type of defensive disruptor that won over the Lakers a couple of seasons ago. If we can see this Vando on a reasonably consistent basis, that’ is’ll be a huge plus for the Lakers. They’ll need all the defensive help they can get.

The Warriors, who were making their preseason debut, looked every bit as rusty as you’d expect. To their credit, the shorthanded Lakers took advantage of this, as they led on the scoreboard as late as midway through the second quarter. But as soon as guys like Curry and Butler got going, the Golden State handily assumed control of the game, extending their lead to double digits. Once the game veered into garbage time, LA made a small run, which made the final score look more respectable. Golden state were easily the better team this game and they showed it. The Warrior’s Moses Moody led both sides in scoring with 19 points, including five three pointers. Stephen Curry also chipped in with 14 points. Golden State played their full rotations, and looked like the more organized and experienced team. As far as the Lakers, hopefully they’ll look better once they have their full compliment of rotational players at their disposal, as they have clearly been shorthanded to start preseason.

It’s tough to evaluate the team after just two preseason games, as it’s also unwise to rush to overreactions. Guys like Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves and even LeBron James will surely make a difference. With that said, the team has looked quite lackadaisical through these first two contests. Even without Luka, they should still be able to run their offense, provided there’s a good system in place. The team is also going to require significantly more production out of names like Rui Hachimura and Deandre Ayton, who will be counted on to fulfill major roles this upcoming season. Guys like Vando and Jaxson Hayes on the other hand have looked fairly promising. Hayes in particular likely won’t be asked to play above his paygrade, as he’ll be backing up Ayton throughout the year without being asked to do too much. So far he’s looked good; swatting shots, setting picks and cleaning up the glass. Occasionally he’ll get his lobs at the rim as well. Team-wide, we’ll have to see a better effort on both ends, even with the starters back. Hopefully we can see a couple of tuneup games with as many rotational guys as possible, so we can hit the ground running when the season commences. Until then, here’s to the team getting better, improving with each game. Go Lakers.