G07 LAL @ MEM PostGame Thread

Discussion 525

As expected, a short-handed Lakers lost to a very good Memphis team who have been together for a long time.

MEM bench also outscored LAL by 38-14. If Wayne Ellington or Nick Young were there, Lakers could have won this game.

Some observations

    • Lakers relied on Kobe again or Kobe simply took over feeling hot to score 28pts but 10-26 simply was not efficient.
    • Lin finished with 12pts/3asts/2rebs/1stl/1blk/3TOs with 5PF on 4-8FG (1-2 3FG). Lin needed to shoot more than 8FG for Lakers to have a chance of winning since his teammates are simply not very efficient in scoring. Boozer had a chance to pass to an open Lin on 3pt line but he chose to take it himself. Lakers need to get better finding Lin on the perimeter. This will come with more PT together and more losses of not passing to Lin to create.
    • Lin had a tough time guarding Conley who had 23 pts and 5pt swing from 3PT off a screen where no Laker was quick enough to switch to him. Then BS got a technical. Lakers need to get better at
    • Everytime Boozer came out to be replaced by Davis, the defensive intensity picked up. After MEM getting 7 offensive rebounds in Q1, they only got 2 after Davis came in with 3-4min left and not many 2nd chances to score. Byron Scott needs to figure out how to play Lin-Davis even when Davis comes off the bench. Relying on Kobe ISOs to close the game will not win many games
    • Lakers tried to get Wes Johnson early in scoring and they succeeded but overall the offensive still need to go through Lin more for the Lakers to be successful.

Grade: B+
Overall, I’d give Lin B+. He kept shooting on open shots but needed to take more shots or drive in the 4th quarter. 2 bad TOs in driving to rim but he also stole balls and deflected from Conley. He’s need help from bigs to cover Conley off screens. This is expected since Lin said each game has it’s “feel”. But it’s clear that Lakers  need Lin to run the “offense” to score efficiently. Lin would need to take more charge in the 2nd half. The tough part is not getting into foul trouble guarding opposing PGs.

By psalm234