Official Game Thread: Hawks - Lakers

[lethalweapon3]

“You know what… maybe I shouldn’t have left you guys after all…”

How much more truth can Jack Nicholson handle?

Under-manned, overwhelmed, low on fundamentals, highlights few and far between… the Los Angeles Lakers have even their most iconic fan looking around for somebody willing to separate him from his obligatory Staples Center seats.

It’s a nice Sunday evening, so you can expect Jack in the building today. But he may be inclined to watch the visiting Atlanta Hawks (9:30 PM Eastern, SportSouth, TimeWarnerCable SportsNet) if he intends to make the most of his entertainment dollars. Don’t be surprised to catch him spending more time filling out his brackets than watching the game.

The Lake Show was already barely afloat at the season’s start, relying way too heavily on franchise icon Kobe Bryant to do the heavy lifting on offense for a team with few defensive stoppers. Things only got worse as their most likely playmakers started checking out: first Steve Nash (pre-season back injury), then lotto rookie Julius Randle (pre-season broken tibia), then Kobe (rotator cuff tear in January) and, for the past few weeks, Nick Young (lingering knee soreness) and Ronnie Price (elbow bone chips).

With Swaggy P (13.4 PPG) sidelined, there is no active Laker averaging over 13 points per game on the season. Atlanta native Jordan Hill (career-high 12.5 PPG and 7.9 RPG), who returned to La-La-Land on a two-year, $18 million deal this past summer, is the only Laker starter who’s been scoring in double figures. Head coach Byron Scott has turned the starter’s minutes over to Hill, rookie second-rounder Jordan Clarkson, journeyman guard Wayne Ellington (35.9 3FG%), fifth-year forward Wesley Johnson (36.1 3FG%), and rookie waiver-wire pickup Tarik Black.

Those moves leaves several players (Carlos Boozer, Jeremy Lin, Ed Davis) feeling like they’ve seen better days. Lin and Price battled for a half-season to gain Coach Scott’s favor, and the winner appears to be Clarkson, who moved into a starting spot right after Kobe’s exit and hasn’t relinquished it. Scott, whose facial expression has been stuck on “Who passed gas around here?” since the 1990s, is trying to balance Lin’s superiority in running pick-and-rolls with Clarkson’s relative superior ability to get to the rim and make things happen. How long Clarkson avoids the hook will depend on how much he gets his teammates involved in the offense, rather than dribble out possessions in search of his Inner Westbrook.

Not even Phil Jackson could lead these Lakers into playoff contention. What he could do is field a bunch of guys in Knicks jerseys to topple the Lakers at Staples, as occurred on Thursday night. During the Lakers’ sixth loss of their last seven games, New York’s Tim Hardaway and Langston Galloway (combined 13-for-21 FGs) had no problem getting the shots they wanted. Atlanta guards Kyle Korver and Kent Bazemore should find similar success tonight.

With another back-to-back looming, it will be Jeff Teague’s turn for some rest. Al Horford could probably use some extra time off tonight, too, in advance of tomorrow night’s rematch in Sacramento with DeMarcus Cousins. Coach Bud may split minutes evenly between Dennis Schröder and Shelvin Mack, as they’ll be expected to force lots of turnovers out of Clarkson and Lin. The Kings are thinner but the Lakers have less experience starting at the one, so a rested Teague should be able to feast tomorrow.

DeMarre Carroll and Paul Millsap will sit tonight as well. That should give Horford plenty of time to showcase himself at the power forward position. His two-way game should give Boozer (20 and 10 at Atlanta on Nov. 18) and Hill (18 and 10 at Atlanta) nightmares, so long as he defends aggressively and avoids foul issues. New acquisition Austin Daye may get some time to show what he can do, but Coach Bud may again turn to the Not-So-Grumpy Old Men frontcourt pairing of Elton Brand and Pero Antić, who were able to slow Phoenix’s roll in the second half of Friday’s victory.

Coach Scott’s mantra to L.A.’s lead guards is to feed the big men inside and let them eat, and his orders to the bigs are to crash the glass with reckless abandon. Three Lakers (Hill, Black, and Ed Davis) each piled up ten rebounds in Thursday’s loss to the Knicks. Antić, Brand and/or Mike Muscala will have their hands full fighting for defensive boards and keying the Hawks’ transition offense.

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

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[MaceCase]

Lethal with the Kobe-clutch gamethread.

[Guest]

Didn't Jordan Clarkson win American idol or something?

[lethalweapon3]

Sorry 'bout the late post! My usual computer is on the fritz, so I'm relying on my Univac-speed backup to get 'er done. Bracket-filling time didn't help either!

 

Watch out for Bazeball now that he's back at Staples!

 

~lw3

Edited March 16, 2015 by lethalweapon3

[lethalweapon3]

It's SchröTime!

 

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~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

No reported changes to the Lakers' starters tonight, although Lord Byron plans on giving Jeremy Lin his starting PG job back during L.A.'s final ten games, assuming he stays healthy.

 

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~lw3

[aznsensation]

Mack is off to a hot start. Hopefully he make the most of his opportunity tonight.

[Dnice]

Brick city

[Dnice]

Some poor looking ball...15 pts down to 2.

[ATLHawks3]

Kyle has a broken nose...

[Dnice]

Great already limited.

Edited March 16, 2015 by Dnice

[FrankWhite]

Ugly game.

[Guest]

Lw3 went short n sweet on us. I love it haha ...awesome stuff in the clutch. 3 starters down but I still think we win. Lakers seem to be fighting tonight which kinda sucks lol.

[Guest]

Kyle has a broken nose...

Was it an official break? I saw it but had the tv on mute and playing music. Dang I thought he just smacked it really hard against Davis's shoulder. Dang that sucks. Mask time for Cow..:-(

[DrReality]

Injuries are mounting up. Just when Korver was getting his shot back

[ATLHawks3]

Was it an official break? I saw it but had the tv on mute and playing music. Dang I thought he just smacked it really hard against Davis's shoulder. Dang that sucks. Mask time for Cow..:-(

 

Yeah, Andre Aldridge announced it. He'll probably miss the next couple of games tho.

[DrReality]

Dennis 9 assist and Antić 6 rb's.

[DrReality]

Five bench guys playing 4th qtr

[DrReality]

Missed 8 FTs. Could've cost us

[Ruckus]

These are the types of minutes that will play dividends in the playoffs. Our bench needs these experiences so they will play with confidence come April.

Edited March 16, 2015 by Ruckus