The Lakers lost to the lottery-bound Memphis Grizzlies tonight, and one can reasonably argue that the purple and gold are due for a lottery appearance themselves despite having LeBron James on their team. They're three games out of the eighth and final playoff spot with 22 left to play. They're really not that far away from obtaining a playoff spot....but judging by the embarrassing efforts they've put out in absolutely must win/winnable games, their season feels all but over. And the opponents are only going to get harder from here.
There were some questionable calls that went against the Lakers at the end, such as an eight-second violation no-call and an EXTREMELY questionable offensive foul on LeBron, but these mess-ups only prevented a Laker miracle from happening at the end. If LA just took care of business against a lowly team, they wouldn't have been in a position where they needed those crucial calls late. Blame ultimately falls on the Lakers inability to be competent.
Things are looking really dark for the Lakeshow. You have to win games against the Hawks, Knicks, Cavs, Pelicans, and Grizzlies because in this neck-and-neck playoff race, your last five contests of the year are against the Thunder...Warriors...Clippers...Jazz...and Blazers.
Those five are going to be the gatekeepers to your playoff eligibility. You need wins against sub .500 teams to be your reinforcements in the battle of Playoff Judgment Day. Just by the looks of it, the Lakers will be entering the home stretch as severely under-armed, or mathematically eliminated from the playoff hunt.
Take a look at the Rhythm of the Game for the Recap and Takeaways section for analysis. The Takeaways section is vast, as I try and tackle what patterns I see through these soul-crushing Laker losses.
Rhythm Of The Game
The Lakers and Griz played at almost a dead-even pace until Memphis broke out at the end of the first quarter. It wasn't by much, but Jonas Valanciunas and Joachim Noah were having themselves some games against the weak interior Laker D. JaVale just isn't playing like he did at the start of the year and Chandler hasn't had the stamina to be consistently impactful. I scratch my head pretty much all freakin' day at the thought of why we traded a talented, cheap young big man in Ivica Zubac.
Joachim Noah continued his unexpected onslaught against the Lakers in the second, but Brandon Ingram & Reggie Bullock were there to counter the madness. Ingram was shooting an efficient 6/8 from the field with 16 points on 15 minutes, while Bullock managed to sink three triples to bring it all to a one-possession game, 50-51.
Things look like they were turning in the Lakers favor, but a bench-igniting Avery Bradley crossover on Brandon Ingram sent the Memphis morale through the roof. Brandon Ingram tried copping a world-stopping slam on a drive down the middle, but it looked like he was blocked by the Memphis defender. Mike Conley took the ball at the other end, chucking up a three for an all-of-the-sudden Grizzlies 11-point lead. Here we go again! Despite the struggle, they were able to cut it to five-point game after a small rally to end the half, 56-61. The hill to overcome on the scoreboard had shrunk, but they had to change something about their effort and execution if they were going to have a chance in another must-win game.
The purple and gold looked more vocal and sharp to start off the third. LeBron gathered the guys around for a brief team meeting during one dead moment in the action. I don't recall him doing that very often other than in the first game against Portland, but if he wanted to do more team-building maneuvers like that I'd totally welcome it.
Later in the quarter, Kuzma started to discover his hot hand en route to a tie game off a slick cut under the basket. Memphis quickly coppe a bucket to respond, but Kuz was there again to get a crucial score when the offense seemed dead. Ten third quarter points for Kuz with two minutes still to go. After getting so close to stealing back the momentum in this one, the Lakers loosened up and let Memphis escape the third with a six-point advantage, 81-87. Onto the fourth quarter we went!
All of my positive inclinations of the third quarter washed away at the start of the fourth. They just looked like garbage out there, getting outworked for rebounds, carelessly turning it over, letting Rondo run wild, turn it over, and throw up bad shots. It was a mess out there. Despite that, they were only down eight because Memphis was playing like shit too! They had to turn this around or their season pretty much felt over.
Several plays later, the Lakers looked like they had some life in them as they cut it to two with an Ingram three! But just like every other time when things seem promising, the Lakers just drop the ball. The once two-point game was now a nine, 89-98 with 4:30 to play. I was just watching in utter, helpless disgust at this point. A huge eight-second violation no-call and an egregiously wrong Joachim Noah charge ended up doing no favors for the Lakers at the end, but it was truly their lack of competence through the first 44 minutes that doomed the purple and gold. Lakers lose 105-110.
Takeaways
Another day, another disgusting loss in a must-win game against a garbage opponent. In this crucial stretch that'll define whether they get into the playoffs or not, the Lakers have gone 1-4 in their last five. Why does this team keep epically dropping the ball in winnable, significant games? I've noticed a few things about their play during this awful stretch
Defense is the obvious one here. The Lakers just let teams shoot the lights out against them with little resistance. A lot of that comes down to effort, which often starts with LeBron's output. After publicly declaring that he's going to elevate his game to playoff mode, LeBron has looked like he's trying a bit harder - but just by a marginal amount.
He's actually closing out on three-point shooters, battling for boards a bit more, upped his on-court communication, and increased his defensive effort earlier in the game, where often he'd just save it for the fourth quarter of a close one. The problem is, these recent additions to LeBron's game should be minimum requirements for defense/communication/effort, not a special occasion for a playoff run. The defense needs to be there for the full 48, but consistency seems so unobtainable for LeBron and the team.
Besides the defense, the one thing that has jumped out at me is the lack of offense in key moments. When the score is getting close and the defense actually manages to get stops, you need to execute on the other end to get back in it! That's an obvious statement, but it just feels like when the team really needs buckets to recapture the momentum, the ball just....dies. Bad plays are run. Rondo chucks up an ill=advised mid-ranger without passing, LeBron settles for a way-too-deep thirty footer, somebody else runs a bad iso play. It's all bad.
The same thing happened tonight at the start of the fourth quarter. The Lakers were down by 8-10 throughout the first fourish minutes, and it stayed that way because Memphis couldn't score themselves! But once again, the offense failed them in a do-or-die moment. Offense was really a problem in certain stretches when LeBron was out and Lonzo was still in. The team just couldn't generate points, even though they were one of the top ranked teams in terms of defensive ranking (with a healthy Lonzo). Offense looks like it's always going to be a problem for this collection of players. You can't make the playoffs like that when the defense is bad to boot.
Another gripe I have with this team is the lack of production from the veterans. A lot of blame tends to fall on the young core because of how much hype they generate, but I think it's the veterans (like Rondo, JaVale, KCP, Chandler, and Muscala) who really aren't doing shit when they're out there. Guess how many bench points the Lakers had tonight. Seven! In 70 combined minutes of play! KCP, Chandler, and Rondo were all -10 in the +/- metric, and you'd only add 6 points on top of the 7 if you count JaVale's contribution.
Besides the lackluster offense, the defense of the vets is really despicable. Rondo just lets anyone blow by him, JaVale can't put up a fight against skilled bigs, and Chandler just can't keep up with them either. That's probably a factor of age plus injuries, but it is what it is. Chandler is truly turning into the buyout big that he inevitably was to become. This isn't the Chandler that invigorated us early on this season with game-winning blocks and rebounds. He's just too old and broken down to do it at this point in the year. Jonas Valanciunias was a monster for the Griz tonight (20-13). So the next time you hear someone bag on the worth of the kids, consider how the adults are failing the team at this crucial juncture.
Speaking of the younglings, before tonight's game Brandon Ingram was averaging 19.7 points, 5.4 boards, 3.9 assists, on 52% FG, and 75% FT in his last fifteen contests. Kuzma on the other hand was pouring in totals of 19.8 points, 5.1 boards, 2.7 assists, on 48% FG, 82% FT with 38% from three. Those are the numbers of two guys that are producing. Tonight Kuz had 22-4-2 on 9/15 FG while Brandon had another great game with 32-6-4-1-1 on an efficient 12/18 shooting! Those numbers are excellent! A team-high for BI in points tonight. Those two are the lone silver linings in this woeful stretch.
Even though we have a lot to look forward to regarding Kuz and Brandon's development, we aren't in a position to appreciate them. Partly because we don't even know if they'll be Lakers next year, they could just be chips in an Anthony Davis or Bradel Beal trade. Why get too attached? LeBron's arrival has theoretically given us a window to win titles, and at the end of the day it'd be foolish not to capitalize on that. That's why I hope we really just get a free agent as opposed to trading for a star. That way we won't have to give anyone up.
This isn't last season where losses could be viewed as moral victories. We have to focus on making the freakin' playoffs or we are going to be epically embarrassed. That unfortunate outcome seems evermore likely each time they take the court. I half-jokingly wonder to myself whether this frustration is worth it anymore. We were never going to win the title this year, everyone knew that coming in. Maybe I should be like LeBron's defense and just take this home stretch off. Here's hoping for a Laker miracle in these last 22 games.
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