All photos from Twitter.com/Lakers
After months of anticipation, the Los Angeles Lakers played their first game of the 2018 – 2019 NBA Regular Season, opening the year on the road in Portland to face the Trailblazers. The result was not what fans had hoped for as the Lake Show lost 119-128. The game was a fun one for the most part, despite the Lakers’ unsuccessful attempt at winning (which is, apparently, the goal of sports). The Purple-and-Gold played at breakneck speed, exactly as they advertised when the front office assembled this roster. However the Lakers missed their first 16 three-point shot attempts while the Blazers made most of theirs. That was a huge difference maker.
A loss is a loss, and we’ll cop to that. However, there were several takeaways from the game, which transcends beyond wins and losses. The NBA season is 82 games long; it’s a long journey for teams not named Golden State Warriors — to gel together, to learn tendencies on offense and defense, know each others’ game a little bit more, etc. For this Lakers team that has several new faces on board, this journey is more arduous. Fans can be sure that, with possibly the greatest basketball player of all time on the team, things will run more smoothly in the long run, but there will be growing pains.
Here are my thoughts on some the things that stood out for me in Game One:
- Poor 3-point shooting. The Lakers started the game 0-of-16 before Josh Hart hit a three in the the third quarter. The team finished the game shooting 7-of-30 (23.3%). That is not ideal.
- The Lakers are crazy fast. The team scored 34 fast-break points, including 17 off of turnovers. The coaching staff said they would run. The Lakers ran really fast.
- SEVENTY (!!!) points in the paint. The Lakers compensated for their lack of outside shooting by taking the ball to the rack. Some of these were due to nice cuts and reads during half-court play, but a good portion of these points comes from their run-and-gun style, that allowed them to push the ball down low before the opposing team could position themselves on defense.
- Poor rebounding. The Lakers allowed the Blazers to grab 14 offensive rebounds, leading to 21 second chance points.
- Josh Hart. One of my personal favorites on the team, Hart scored 20 points on 8-of-12 FG shooting (66.7%), 3-of-5 3-point shooting (60%), and was also terrific on defense, stealing the ball thrice while blocking a shooter twice. During training camp, there was plenty of debate as to who should start for the Lakers at the two-guard position, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope or Hart. This game showed that Hart definitely should be a starter. He’s such a good role player, he plays to his strengths and is very consistent.
- Lonzo Ball still needs time to acclimate. I’m no expert in the medical field, so I can’t say if Lonzo needs to take things slow because of his offseason knee surgery. He didn’t have a great game, especially in the first half. He made a couple of shots in the second, including a three and two free throws, to score 7 points while grabbing 4 rebounds — not his sharpest game.
- Brandon Ingram’s length is scary on defense. Ingram’s lengthy limbs have been showcased on defense in the preaseason, and we’ve had glimpses of that in this game. Hopefully it continues.
- The Kyle-Kuzma-at-Center experiment. While Kyle Kuzma at the five was a lot better than what we saw in the preseason, he is still not the answer to the Lakers’ gaping hole at the center position. Maybe in end-of-game lineups as the Lakers’ “Death Lineup” center, but definitely not 7 minutes into the first quarter.
- Lance Stephenson should be jettisoned to outer space. Lance was Lance — held on to the ball longer than he should (in my opinion, he shouldn’t touch the ball, but that’s just me), stopped the flow on offense and was not particularly helpful on defense. If jettisoning him out of the Earth is not possible (or legal), at least bench him. Glue him to the bench.
- That LeBron fellow is a Laker, and he’s very good at shooty hoops. The aforementioned potential GOAT scored 26 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out 6 assist. LeBron is so fun to watch, especially if he plays for (and not against) your team.
- JaVale McGee and Rajon Rondo were solid. I wasn’t the biggest fan when the Lakers signed these two, but I’ve changed my mind. JaVale is a high-energy guy who runs (perfect fit to the scheme eh?), jumps high, and blocks and/or alters a lot of shots around the rim. Rondo is a smart floor general who is not only useful this season, but can help in the long term by being a good mentor to Lonzo.
- FREE SVI AND ZUBAC. Give ALL of Lance’s minutes to them, Luke.
Obviously, a game one loss in October is no reason to panic. The Lakers acknowledged that things won’t necessarily go smoothly at the get-go. There will be some work to be done before everybody on the team is on the same page.
However, the Lakers need to work improving on their flaws fast as the race for a playoff spot in the Western Conference is always tough; and with almost all 15 teams having improved their roster (at least on paper), theres is little margin for error. But as for the fans, we should just take it one game at a time lest we go insane.
patrickkennan.com 