The Lakeshow Review

Coming off of consecutive wins, the Los Angeles Lakers continued their homestand against the Golden State. With Luka Dončić, Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler all sidelined due to injury, this contest did not quite have the intrigue of past Lakers-Dubs battles, nonetheless it was an important game for both sides. LA prevailed in a tightly-contested 105-99 win that more closely mirrored 2000s basketball with the amount of defense played and lack of offensive fireworks. The Lakers received a collective effort from starters and reserves alike, making this a good win, and certainly a performance they can continue to build upon.

Things got off to a slow start, with the Warriors taking a slim 42-41 lead into the locker at halftime. Neither team shot the ball well, with Golden State shooting an uncustomary 27% (14-51) from three point range. LA fared better, albeit on less volume, making 11 of their 27 treys, good for 40%. LeBron James led all Lakers scorers with 20 points, while also pulling down seven boards and dishing 10 assists. He once again had a rough night turning the ball over, coughing it up seven times. To his credit, LeBron ramped up his play coming out of halftime, knocking down a trey and scoring on a series of bully-ball plays to start the third quarter, which gave the Lakers a lead and control of the game.

Even in the absence of Steph Curry, Steve Kerr’s motion offense still managed to give the Lakers’ defense all sorts of fits. Their off-ball cutting remains a bad matchup for the Lakers’ team defensive schemes, which aren’t exactly compromised of the keenest and most situationally-aware players. Rui Hachimura, Jake LaRavia and even Jarred Vanderbilt are often miffed by Golden State’s constant off-ball motion, which eventually forces LAs defense into a bad rotation/s and ensuing breakdown. Despite these woes, the Lakers managed to play good defense on the aggravate. Aside from LeBron’s 20 points, they also received quality offensive output from Rui Hachimura (18 points on 4-5 shooting from deep), Marcus Smart (15 points), Austin Reaves (16 points and eight assists), newcomer Luke Kennard (10 points) and Jarred Vanderbilt (13 points and eight boards). It was this offensive balance, coupled with Golden State’s abysmal shooting that gave LA the upper hand. One would have to assume that Steph sitting out had something to do with that.

The Lakers endured offensive struggles of their own, namely with 22 turnovers, to just 12 by the Warriors. 12 of those came from LeBron and AR. This helped keep the Dubs in the game, despite their own bad shooting. The lack of Luka’s presence certainly played a factor, as the Lakers were without their main offensive engine. LA did manage to find some offensive juice late in the fourth quarter, with a series of Rui Hachimura triples and a great ATO hammer-screen sequence for newly acquired sharpshooter Luke Kennard. It’s good to see they’re already running actions for Kennard, leveraging his shooting and floor-spacing abilities. JJ Redick had enough confidence to sub him in for the final minutes, where he held his own. Maxi Kleber was also awarded late game minutes thanks to his robust five point, seven rebound effort (his defense was also surprisingly good), and a game-high +12. The team was able to generate enough offense to close out the win, thanks to steady late-game execution from Kennard, Rui and Austin Reaves (whoc scored 8 of his 16 points in the fourth). It was a solid team win by the Purple and Gold, and one that they can gain some valuable insight from, as it was achieved by way of collective effort.

The Lakers will now face a rocky portion of the schedule, as they’ll play the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs in a back-to-back, both games in LA. After that, they’ll face the Dallas Mavericks next Thursday, before heading into the All-Star break and get a much needed reset period. It’s important for the Lakers to maintain their focus and to continue to demand quality output from their entire rotation, as they want to make it to the break with momentum, so that once the season resumes the morale is still at a high. Until then, hopefully the team can keep it together and sustain their level of quality play. Go Lakers.