Official Game Preview: Lakers at Hawks

[lethalweapon3]

“…’cept nobody is supposed to know. Ohh, So I Creep! Yeah… ‘cause she doesn’t know what I do…”

 

When you hear the word, “Showtime!”, only one NBA team should come to mind. Of course, that’s the Atlanta Hawks, who look to stretch their season start to 4-0 against a team from Los Angeles they call the Lakers (7:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast, 92.9 FM in ATL; Spectrum SportsNet in LA).

Only one team in basketball can presently boast of 24.0 PPG derived from opponent turnovers (+7.0 net PPG off TOs, 1st in NBA), and that’s Atlanta. The Hawks can capitalize even more against a Laker team that has allowed a league-high 24.5 PPG off TOs and is ahead of just three teams with 16.5 opponent fastbreak points.

Is there a Bleak Mamba in the house? It’s going to take quite an adjustment for the Lakers (1-3) to compete with any level of consistency, especially now that Kobe Bean Bryant has laced ‘em up for the final time. They arrive in Atlanta looking to avoid a four-game slide after falling in Indiana last night, without the services of starting center Timofey Mozgov due to an eye injury sustained against the Pacers. But things are not all Tar Pits in La-La-Land. There remain several things to give new-age Laker fans hope for not just tomorrow, as in future seasons, but today, as in this year.

You can start with the new head coach. The Golden State Warriors finished at 73-9, but they started out at 39-4 under the watchful eye of current Lakers coach Luke Walton. He implores his new starters not to wait until the ends of games to execute game plans, as if they’re hoping for some tight contest that’s in search of a heroball hero. After all, Kobe isn’t walking through that door anymore.

“I don’t know why we didn’t come out with the intensity and hunger we should after early losses,” Walton told the OC Register after last night’s 115-108 defeat, a climb made difficult by allowing a 27-18 first-quarter deficit and 62 Pacer points in the opening half. Whenever the curtain has lifted on the Lake Show, so far L.A. coughed up an NBA-worst 121.6 opponent points per 100 possessions in opening quarters of play. Contrast with Atlanta, whose 83.3 first-quarter D-Rating ranks 3^rd behind the Bulls and Pacers thus far.

The Hawks themselves have gotten sloppy out of the gate in games, Dennis Schröder’s squad currently ranking behind the Lakers and 2^nd-worst overall with 18.7 first-quarter turnovers per 100 possessions. Although he is still feeling things out in his new full-time starter role, it is Schröder’s challenge to keep this specific game from getting unnecessarily chaotic. His late-game scoring (7 fourth-quarter points) was crucial in completing the comeback against the Kings on Monday, but Dennis’ fourth-quarter production even more more useful if it’s to put a well-earned lead out of reach.

To that end, Schröder must also disallow easy baskets by leading Laker scorer and playmaker D’Angelo Russell (15.0 PPG, 4.0 APG). With or without Kobe around, the Lakers have more than their share of players willing to create their own shot, from Russell to shooting guards Jordan Clarkson and ex-Hawk Lou Williams (44.4 3FG%), to swinger swingman Nick Young (32.0 3FG%). Whether said shot is a wise one, in the cases of Clarkson (15.4 3FG%) and Russell (33.3 FG%) remains to be seen.

Another gem that is beginning to pan out for the Lakers is power forward Julius Randle. The man known in L.A.’s Spanish-speaking circles as “Don Julio”, Randle is averaging 7.5 RPG while shooting 64.7 FG%, showing a nifty knack for finishing shots around the rim. If he’s granted lots of undisturbed low-post touches, Randle will be a lot to handle, even for Atlanta’s Paul Millsap (77.2 D-Rating, second behind Thabo Sefolosha among NBA players averaging 20+ minutes). Sap and the Hawks forwards need to invite Randle to work on his lack of range tonight.

The way it was supposed to work, Dwight Howard was destined to be the face of the Lakers franchise once Kobe reluctantly handed over the mantle. Didn’t quite work out that way. Howard expected to be top-banana right away, and the whole so-called superteam slipped on the banana peel in that fateful 2012-13 season as Bryant balked at Howard’s entreaties.

Two teams later, D8 (NBA-highs of 3.3 BPG, 23.0 O-Reb%) suits up to face a Laker team (somehow, still with Metta World Peace on the roster) that will struggle to keep him away from the rim without hacking, specifically in the absence of Mozgov, who looked to be returning to pre-Mozgov’d form.

Hawks assistant Neven Spahija hopefully has a gameplan cooked up to help the Hawks deal with his fellow Croatian, Lakers rookie Ivica Zubac. Zubac has yet to be activated this season, but Dwight’s size will likely be too much for his former Rocket backup Tarik Black (career-best 16.2 rebounds per-36) to contend with for long stretches of the game.

The future success of the Lakers is connected very closely to their top pick, the long and lanky rookie Brandon Ingram, who is behind Hawks management favorite Luol Deng on the depth chart. How soon the Lakers return to a winning brand of basketball will depend upon how successful Walton is establishing Ingram within the flow of the offense, taking the leap, of course, that such a flow currently exists.

Either of Ingram or Deng will be a haughty challenge for former Laker towel-waver Kent Bazemore. Baze is working out of his “Kent Yucky” early-season slump, as evidenced by his 11-point second-half output in the Hawks’ 106-95 victory over the Kings. If his open shots aren’t falling early, look for Bazemore to mimic his fellow starter Millsap (8 assists vs. SAC) by keeping the rock moving, an aspect of offense that the Lakers (46.7 assist%, 28^th in NBA, league-low 0.95 assist/TO ratio) still struggle to execute.

It's Showtime!

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

 

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[lethalweapon3]

Welcome to the League!

~lw3

[Guest]

Nice thread lw3!!! As always. Looking forward to taking it to the purp n gold. 

 

GO HAWKS!!!!

[Thomas]

Damn Timmy. Pulling a good Kyle Korver tonight!

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Dwight FTs . . . 7 - 10 at the half.   Add in the last 2 FTs he made last game, and he's 9 for his last 12 FT.

 

The ( bleep ) works !!

[AUhawksfan]

This Dennis at starting PG thing is off to a rocky start this season. Hopefully he puts together a complete game soon and gets comfortable. 

[Peoriabird]

Worst manage game by Bud in a long time.  Didn't even look like Bud wanted to win this game.  Definitely not a go with the Hot hand type coach.  Sorry Tim, you should have played more minutes!  I can't begin to tell you upset I am with Dennis and Bud allowing him to kill the team all night!!!

[Guest]

Silver lining :  I now have a HS stepson. @Spud2Nique is now kg02

[jrok23]

Paul is still showing me he is not consistent yet. 

 

 

 

[Lurker]

It's one game. But how in the world do you let Lou f***ing Williams burn you time and time again?

And it's Malcolm Delaney that he got started off of because he jumped into him and drew a foul past the three point line. That's not a foul.

Hardaway Jr should have never left the game for good either.

[bleachkit]

Dennis does not have the poise or shooting ability to lead us to victories in crunch time. He just doesn't. Making him filthy rich isn't going to change that.

[NBASupes]

Coach Bud was trash tonight.

 

[Sarcatic1]

A lot of the issues I saw in previous games bit us in the ass tonight.  Not a good game at all

The Lakers guards got any and every shot they wanted tonight and the Hawks could do nothing about it.

Dennis did not have a good game. Bad shots, bad defense, and bad passes

Delaney cant defend on a NBA level. He cant keep anyone in front of him. I think some members on here could drop 20 on him

The Hawks were killing them inside then for some reason started jacking up bad jumpers

And tonight I saw a lot of the laziness on defense  from Dwight that Supes has brought up before. There were several times the Lakers got in the paint  Dwight  was not there to protect the rim.

Bud made some head scratching moves too. The bench gave up all the momentum but he kept them in way too long instead of pulling them when it became clear they could not defend

And what is up with the passing on this team?. So many lazy and telegraphed passes from guys

[StephenHawking]

My personal opinion:

S5:

Dennis: Worst game so far. The old Dennis came to play tonight. Awful decisionmaking in many plays. I hate when he just penetrates straight into the opp. center and you can see the block coming from a mile away. Defensively solid.

Kyle: Defensively bad. Offensively he was meh. Stretched the floor but was always guarded. 

Baze: I dont understand what he and Dennis think when they start to take walk-in threes with 22 secs left on the clock from 5ft behind the three point line. Baze leaves his head behind when he goes to Phillips Arena. Defensively bad. Couldnt keep the pace and lost his player often which ended in a three.

Sap:Quite game from him tonight. Bad from the 3pt-line. Good in the post. Defensively not able to make stops.

D8: Best S5 player by far tonight. Made his shots. Many Putbacks. Made his FTs. Defensively the best tonight. Without his boards and putbacks it wouldve looked a lot worse tonight.

Moose: Pretty good game again. One of the better players tonight.

Thabo: No good game from Thabo tonight. Couldnt hit a shot and made a couple of wild passes. Defensively bad in comparison to his usual self

THJ: Atl JR Smith. Tonight he was on fire. All around good game. Best Hawk tonight.

Hump: Quiet game. Played to his strengths as usual. Nothing to critizise really.

Malcolm: Bad Game tonight. Especially defensively DRussel could go for any shot he wanted. Offensively solid but nothing more.

[Lurker]

Oh please. Guys, this game was not on Dennis. The offense wasn't the problem, the defense was. And if you hate how he controls games in crunch time, especially in need a bucket or you're done situations, you didn't watch Teague last year.

The game was on Kent Bazemore being cooked when he got put on Lou Williams. Love his story, but I'm afraid his magic has ran out. Honestly, both he and Kyle Korver shouldn't have been in during the last 5 minutes.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Lurker

[Plainview1981]

This team sucks d*ck. The crowd rightfully cheered for LA tonight. Well, what fans were there. The arena was half empty.

 

[Plainview1981]

19 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Coach Bud was trash tonight.

 

This team is horse crap. Good defensive team my rear end.

[NBASupes]

This is an ugly game when up by 14. No surprise we lost,  we didn't come to play 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

The Miserable Ones . . . . welcome back!

[Lurker]

The lineup from 5 minutes on should have been Schröder/Hardaway Jr/Sefolosha/Millsap/Howard. Maybe it doesn't lead to a win, but the dirty secret about the starting lineup is...only 2 players can really effectively create a shot and playmake out of it. Schröder and Millsap have to do EVERYTHING.

It's one game. I'm good. I thought about not even watching this game and really didn't watch most of the second half. I won't be watching Saturday. I'm going to play the casual fan game until later in the season.