When the Lakers exploded to a 13-2 lead in Wednesday’s season opener, it seemed a quick validation of what we saw the two times the starting lineup played real minutes together in the preseason, as they twice blew a shorthanded Golden State squad off the floor.
Despite it being a Clippers home game at Staples Center, the Purple and Gold fanbase was rocking. They appeared to be a slight majority, and in those first few minutes, the Lakers were the aggressor, the ones with something to prove.
But then, at the 8:30 mark of the 1st Q, Doc Rivers put Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell into the game, and suddenly the Clippers had their known, basic set as a foundation piece, with the two of them in screen/roll action. They started scrapping for every inch, and didn’t stop for the final 45 minutes. It was the first time that the Lakers were on their heels a bit since this new roster came together, and while they responded in the third quarter behind Danny Green’s hot shooting (28 points on seven 3’s), it ultimately wasn’t enough in a 112-102 loss.
As Lou Williams would say on TNT after the game, the Clippers players weren’t exactly thrilled to be hearing boos in their own arena, and that brought out the chip on their shoulder to a greater extent. The used a 5-0 run to finish the first quarter once Anthony Davis joined LeBron James on the bench, then outscored L.A. 40-29 in the second quarter - in which Kawhi Leonard hit six straight jump shots - which changed the tenor of the game.
“I didn’t like anything about our defense in the second quarter,” said Frank Vogel. “We weren’t good enough on the ball and we weren’t good enough with our help. That quarter probably cost us the game. We need to get back to work and just make sure we are tighter with our game plan.”
“They made some tough shots in the second quarter,” added LeBron. “We let our offense dictate our defense. We have to be better at that. Obviously, 40 points in any quarter is too much.
“Down the stretch, we had some careless and costly turnovers when we were making a run. I know I had three of them that were very careless and [the Clippers] capitalized on them.”
The Lakers were in the game down the stretch thanks in part to Green, who drilled three of his seven triples in the final three minutes of the third quarter, helping LAL erase a 12-point deficit to tie the game at 85 heading into the fourth. What ensued, however, was more shot making from the Clippers, and more misses on open jumpers from the Lakers, including three straight wide-open 3’s to start the fourth.
“They made seven or eight highly-contested shots in that (second) quarter, and that’s going to happen from time to time,” said Vogel. “We had a game where we missed a lot of looks that we normally make, and we had a lot of possessions where we guarded well and didn’t get the payoff with the stop because they hit a tough shot.
“I feel like we have a really good team, and we should be optimistic we’re going to have a really good season. We got outplayed last night, and there are some things we can definitely do better, and I’m very encouraged by what we can be.”
Among those things that need to be ironed out:
“There are a thousand little execution pieces that we’ve got to clean up, from post spacing, to not running enough offensively, more second actions, more side-to-side movement,” explained Vogel. “Defensively, pick-and-roll coverages let us down in particular in the second quarter.”
One thing that happened in Tuesday’s opener seems unlikely to happen very often: LeBron and AD combined to shoot just 5 for 18 (27.8 percent) in the second half (11 points) after combining for 32 points on 10 of 22 FG’s (45.5 percent) in the first. LeBron is a career 50.4 percent shooter, and AD 51.7 percent. The Lakers went to each a ton in the post in the first half especially, and while it was effective, perhaps that could have taken some of their legs, with neither having played in a regular season game since March.
AD, in fact, had 17 post-up possessions and just one rolling to the rim, according to Synergy, which was a career high. Vogel said that the Clippers couldn’t stop him – indeed, Davis repeatedly drew fouls (9 of 14 free throws) and scored near the rim. He was 7 for 12 in the paint … but just 1 for 7 on jumpers.
“At times we got stagnant, but at times we still got great shots,” said James. “(Troy Daniels) had a great (look) off the dribble penetration, Quinn [Cook] had a couple of looks in the fourth quarter that didn’t go in. We had great looks, they just didn’t go in. It is easy to point it out where we (missed shots)....but we had some dribble penetrations and some good kick-outs that just didn’t go for us. We’re always a pass-first team. We want to get whoever is open a great look, but (they just didn’t go in tonight).”
L.A. did convert 13 3’s, up from 10.3 last season (20th in the NBA), thanks to Green’s seven plus a pair from both Jared Dudley and Avery Bradley.
“My teammates did a great job finding me,” said Green, whose 28 points were actually a record for a Laker in his debut, passing none other than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. “I got into a nice little rhythm, made a couple of lucky ones, but that’s not my concern, it’s the defensive end. My job is to get us going, get us talking, communicating and making sure we’re all on the same page. I did my job decently when on defense, I played the way I should’ve. We gotta do a better job containing [Lou Williams] and [Kawhi Leonard] when they’re on the floor.”
And so, after a loss, there are typically a number of areas to look towards for improvement. Much of Wednesday’s practice was spent in the film room going over the game film, and they’ll now begin to think about how to input the tweaks ahead of Friday’s home opener against Utah.
“We’re not focused on the result each game as much as the process,” Vogel concluded. “Building and tightening things up on all those little habits that we know we need to win.”
INJURY UPDATES:
Kyle Kuzma was doing some 5-on-0 drills with teammates and assistant coach Phil Handy after practice as he continues to ramp up his activity, but he’s not ready to return just yet: “We’re taking it day-by-day with him and seeing how he responds to the increased activity each day, but he’s not going to play Friday,” said Vogel.
Rajon Rondo was on the court doing drills on Wednesday after missing the opener with a sore calf. Vogel responded “We’ll see” when asked if Rondo will be available on Friday, implying that they’ll see how he looks in practice tomorrow.
Alex Caruso, meanwhile, was available to play on Tuesday after bruising his tailbone in the preseason finale, but Vogel said he opted to use Quinn Cook at backup point guard.