113 Comments

The Lakers are just really bad. They play such an ugly iso-heavy, stand around, no movement offense. Seemed like all their runs came in transition off our mistakes. I feel bad for AD. Obviously, he has his own health issues, but he'd be a nightmare to play against if he was playing within a movement offense.

I didn't think we played all that well. Some of the turnovers were exceptionally unforced. On a positive note, I thought we created good quality shots and just didn't have our best shooting night. Altogether, pretty good start/result. You could see this team really hitting its stride 20-30 games in when the young players have found a rhythm/comfort in their roles and the vets lock back in.

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One nice thing about the Lakers is their balance. They complement their stand around no movement offense with an equally effective stand around, no movement defense!

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The Lakers have a defense?

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

E1P = Every 1 Party

Edit: And, of course I posted this in the wrong thread. Doh.

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That's probably about as well as the Lakers can play and they got trounced even though Curry and Poole had off nights shooting 3s. LeBron, AD, and Russ can get all the inside shots they want, but at the end of the day 3 is still greater than 2. Sharpshooting teams are going to beat them and PC (Post Curry) just about every team is loaded with sharpshooters. The Lakers are playing 1980s basketball in 2022.

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I ain’t no SoL or Being, but here’s my summary:

Newsflash: the Lakers aren’t good. LBJ and AD are lynchpin class players, but they need balance around them. If the NBA was a two on two game I’d be very worried. But it takes 8-10 players who gel and complement each other. Going to be a rough year for Laker fans. I feel for them, they are people after all. But some deserve their suffering.

The Dubs say ‘Hi’. But it’s more of a ‘oh man my alarm went off, I hit snooze three times, and I’m kinda sleepy and stiff but I’m ready to play’ greeting. Pre-season not withstanding, this is a team that isn’t going to rush into getting playoff ready. Nor should they, when their core is not young. So I read this game a bit differently. I expected rust and I got rust. Before the game I told my buddies that the W’s would be creaky but they should be able to handle the barely marginal Lakers. And that’s what we got.

My first guttural leap and cheer was the Poole to Wiseman PnR dunk. Other than that early on it was good but not great. What I expected.

Kerr game plan for game 1? Play the vets and win. Quiet the critics, calm the home town, don’t spoil ring night. And so that’s what we got. I was surprised to see so much DDV and JMG but then I thought about the plan. Best to start the season with a win, get the team in a flow. Lean on the veterans.

But the next twenty games are going to see a huge - huge - range of packages, minutes, and in game practice. The first quarter of the season is where the work happens. The research. Based on what they discover, Q2 is the product design phase. Q3 is the fine tuning and bug squashing. Q4 is the prep for the playoffs. It’s a Silicon Valley team and they are building a product to crush the competition and that’s how it’s done.

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So, do we think Kenny Atkinson was up all night working on defensive transition drills?

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Haha I bet. But even more important were Kerr’s instructions to the training staff: get these guys in game shape so they can compete for 48 minutes.

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I think one of my favorite parts of yesterday is that Wiseman proved he can definitely contribute this season even in limited minutes. He won't have to deal with the likes of AD every game.

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Love the team play. And the fact that neither team thought the Lakers had a real shot to win at any point.

Hopefully DDV acclimates and Wise hits the FT’s as they settle in.

More Moody and Looney please.

The Warriors are a class above the Lakers.

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A class above? They’re not even in the same school.

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I watched the game. It was Warriors vs. Lakers. Truth beauty and justice prevailed and the world was right. I slept well.

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Jason Timpf postgame review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSXyOBmZAlc

Quote of the night:

"This was an absolute destructive performance from the Warriors. They embarrassed and humiliated the Lakers just a few minutes after getting their rings."

he also had incredibly high praise for both Wiggins and Wiseman. Wiggins is the second best player on the team and is so much more than a 3 & D player (which is the contract he got). he's also a legit three-level scorer. Wiseman looked outstanding. Already a legit center in this league, for the role-player C: Screens and dives hard to the rim, defend at the rim in drop, holds his own on the occasional switch, punish the occasional mismatch, crashing the glass, rim-roll. If he can figure out some iso scoring and become a knock-down shooting, he'll become a better version of d'Andre Ayton. At this pace, in the future, he'll be able to plug into the Draymond spot if Dray has to leave.

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A Timpf rant.... I really liked Timpf when I first saw his show because he knows basketball and isn't some stupid yelling show about personalities and whatnot. But he's gotten on my nerves a lot lately. Two reasons: 1. He injects the Lakers into every discussion. Presumably because he covered them, he never leaves them out of a comparison. It's more than annoying. Obviously last night is an exception, he's supposed to be talking about the Lakers. But he always does, and relatedly, 2: He doesn't just discuss them, he whines about what's going on, or gets bitter. The tone shifts. Sometimes I'll listen to him get mad at Pelinka or Jeannie Buss for fifteen straight minutes and feel like I'm the wayward child he's telling off. For me it's like OK, we get it. Lakers built their team in stupid ways because their front office doesn't know what it's doing. New topic.

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I can live with someone lamenting how bad the Lakers are. I find it entertaining and delightful.

"The schadenfreude is strong with this one..."

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Oct 20, 2022·edited Oct 20, 2022

I do have to agree with this, but I really like his basketball insights. He has a lot of basketball knowledge that I feel he makes accessible in an easy-to-understand way. Also, he did talk about the Lakers a lot less after they fell out of contention last year, and I think that'll happen again this year.

He mentioned this in one of his podcasts. He talks about them b/c it drives eyeballs and viewers. His most watched season preview was the Lakers one.

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I definitely noticed the holding his own in the switch part last night. He was in his stance, ready to defend anybody.

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Per ESPN: Westbrook describes how coming off the bench in the last preseason game messed with his routine, leading to a hamstring strain.

Too funny. Guess that ends that experiment! Lol.

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Some adapt, grow respond and change. Within their limits. Others strain against the inevitable.

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Next game:

DNP: Ego strain.

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author
Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022Author

My reaction is a combination of Being and Sab’s emojis

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😂🤣

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Alright, here are my two cents after getting like three hours of sleep after the game.

The ring ceremony felt kind of ... rushed, for lack of a better term. No ceremonial ring giving for the front office and/or the coaching staff? Like, I know that is not true, but it felt like everyone but the players wanted to get this stuff over with asap. Ah well, I am probably overthinking things.

NBA, what did you do to the League Pass? The streaming quality was so awful that I had to switch to the radio feed because of the lag.

First quarter was ugly basketball for both sides, clearly the teams were out of rhythm. The young guns looked fine, but the best one of them after Poole was Moody, who got too few minutes. As Kerr has noted post-game, he will get his moments and I hold Kerr to that.

I hope Klay's bad shots were just him trying to get into a rhythm after having been "out of basketball" for the off-season. If he plans on re-running his 2021-22 shot selection unchanged, it's gonna get ugly really fast.

Wiggins and Poole proved why they got paid, Kevon Looney his usual silent killer self with +30. Gotta love all of that.

If the defense the team showed without Draymond Green is how they plan on playing without him, then Bob Myers better offer Green a blank-cheque extension as soon as possible, because that will not allow you to play winning basketball.

Green and DiVincenzo struggled a bit, Green in particular having the Omri Casspi yips where he sometimes rejected "obvious" solutions to get the ball to the Splash Brothers. It should be noted that he was much better about this in his time in the second half, so I do not think it's anything worth worrying about long term.

I am a bit unhappy that Curry had to come back in the fourth, but given as he ended up below 33 minutes I can still live with that. His performance was of course amazing. Shot wasn't quite cooperating, but he adapted quickly, which helped him get a couple of threes after all. 33/7/6 at age 34 is amazing, if health permits he will be in the MVP race this season - that is one thing I am more than willing to already claim.

I for one am looking forward to playing the Nuggets, it will give us a clearer picture of where the team stands. For now, I am still highly optimistic about the upcoming months, there was a lot of good stuff on show even if I criticized "a lot".

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

I thought the player programs gal who’d been with the team 18 years was got her ring on behalf of all the employees.

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Thanks for mentioning Klay's shots. I forgot to mention that in my review. Klay's shot selection in the first half belonged in the U-G-L-Y section. his overall FG% was about average, but there were some first half shots I was upset about. Definitely felt like comeback Klay prove-it energy was back. Too much driving into a shitty shot. Not enough playing within his game.

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"NBA, what did you do to the League Pass? The streaming quality was so awful that I had to switch to the radio feed because of the lag."

It was my last paid day on LP and now not sure I'm re-upping for awhile. I switched to a free stream that was much better than LP.

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The thing I hate about League Pass is that they block out seemingly every game in Canada. I can only watch them later.

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

Yeah, I mean, I was always only going to abuse the free seven-day trial they had in my market because my financial situation currently makes splashing on the League Pass unwise, but I did not expect to be given an actual reason to cancel beyond that.

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Nice warmup before we get an actual team on Friday.

Steph looked like his mind wasn't in the game during the first half. Maybe he was still thinking about the ring ceremony. Sloppy passes, missed easy (for him) shots. Third quarter, he woke up and put the Lakers to bed.

Wiggins and Poole showed why they got paid. Good team efforts, keeping the ball moving and (frequently) going into the basket.

Wiseman wasn't ready for LeBron, but he did way better at defending the rim without fouling and was in position to actually pull down rebounds, unlike during his rookie season. He struggled to score over the Lakers defense too, but he didn't force the issue so that's a plus.

Klay was himself: solid D, efficient scoring, no regrets about taking a shot anywhere, anytime. It's an incredible luxury to have this guy as a shooting threat alongside Steph.

Draymond was quietly good, but JaMychal may have been the better Green tonight. Dray had the sweeter passes though.

Moody got fewer minutes than I expected, but he scored aight in those minutes, and didn't screw up.

Kuminga couldn't quite figure out the Lakers defense, but he put in good effort and played solid defense himself.

DiVincenzo looked like he was pushing hard and discombobulated. Effort levels are appreciated but he's gotta get into rhythm with the rest of the guys. I'm thinking that'll happen pretty quickly.

On the Lakers side, weirdly Westbrook was not the problem. He rebounded well (like, actual contested rebounds), he drove against Steph with decent success, he didn't look super lost on D... mostly. AD and LeBron both played pretty well, except LeBron taking little mini-vacays on defense didn't work too well for LA. But the defensive gameplan made a lot of their shots tough, and the other guys didn't have it together. It's neat seeing JTA play so many minutes, which he would definitely not have had over here, but he maybe needs to adjust to the Lakers lack of shooters and cut back on over-passing (which worked better when Steph was on his side). Reeves was a sieve on defense, whom several guys lost so hard he was barely in the camera shot on replay. Beverley played hard, including excessive fouls, as usual.

But enough about the bad team in purple: hell yes, 1-0 baybee! Time to celebrate before we lock in for a real challenge on Friday!

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Nice review. I thought Westbrook made some cringey plays, even though he fills the stat line. He stepped out of bounds -- again. He took an outside shot (a 3?) and missed /everything/. In general, he looks greatly diminished from peak Westbrook. It makes the contrast with the still-elite Steph all the more shocking.

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I thought Kuminga tried to take the ball into traffic a few times when I wish he wouldn't have but I liked his D a lot. I agree that it was good to see JTA get playing time, although I didn't think he played all that well - although he gets bragging rights from JP for winning their friendly wrestling match! Westbrook played well in some ways but shot some westbricks and I agree with Being that he didn't play good team ball. Overall I was pleased with JW, and I think as he matures and gains more muscle, as well as furthering his education, he's going to be a big problem for the league. It felt great sitting at the bar on Wiseman Island (the bar that is powered by green energy, of course!), even if the game did get pretty sloppy at times.

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

Kuminga's D vs. LeBron was a great thing to see. he definitely gave Bron fits.

Westbrook looked good, but played poor team basketball, IMO.

Also part of Curry's first half difficulties was Pat Bev, I think. After he had to leave the game with foul trouble, Curry got more involved in the O.

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I forgot to shout out Loon! Absolutely pro performance, he was a big part of why the Lakers' stars shots were difficult. Also phenomenal screen placement and timing. Really excellent contributions to winning—hey, it's a team sport, no matter what your stats say—and if he does so quietly like tonight: that's fine too.

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Quietly, +30. I love me some quiet.

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Ugh what a lovely way to start the season. Loved that JTA got to be with the boys on ring night, love that I got to watch Leflop AND Westbrook and patbev all lose and love this team. It's so rare to get to watch your team contend AND get to watch all these young guys get better every game, what a time to be a dubs fan. Also missed y'all, back to scrolling through dnhq on the nightly now that the season has officially started!

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Always nice to get a win on opening night at home.........

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

3-1 on ring nights in this era, 6-1 across all according to the AP game recap.

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Nite nite… happy thoughts of rings and lakers losses will surely be dancing through our heads this evening as we fall peacefully into dreams

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Seriously, we have to consider this as the last preseason game. The Swampers suck so shamelessly that they ended up ruining the concentration of our own team, in some instances. The season starts Friday. Good luck Swampers, you might really have a strike at Wembanyama, probably just that

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Stefano I respect your commitment to no sleep. I was just in Milan (for work, not fun) and was worried that if my trip got extended I’d miss the first game. Or have to get up crazy early to watch it before work. But I love all the Warriors fan energy in Italy!

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It's a boundless joy, all the city around fast asleep and me, with headphones, in front of the screen screaming voicelessly to avoid waking up the whole palace! I'm glad that you had the chance to try it for yourself. Sure one day I wish to travel to San Francisco, I will make sure to put some flowers in my hair (oddly so with my hairstyle), and I want to spend it all at Chase Center to enjoy before, in and after the match.

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No amico mio

Prima scelta finita nel pacchetto AD

= No, my friend

First round pick '23 was in the pack to bring AD to L.A.

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Oct 19, 2022·edited Oct 19, 2022

…You do know the Pelicans currently have the first round pick of the “Swampers” in next year’s draft, right?

Tanking does the “Swampers” no good. It won’t do them any good until sometime in 2026-27. And that’s assuming they keep what picks they have for the rest of the friggin decade lol.

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I didn’t know. They really may end up giving their name to a depressive state syndrome. The Swampolarity?

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LOL.

Still, it will take some doing to match the misery of the Nets after KG and Pierce left. They were one of the worst teams in the league two years running, and had no first round draft pick either year.

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“Swampers” (lol) don’t get to keep their 1st rounder this year… too bad so sad

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Their season is getting sadder than a Polish countryside novel.

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Honestly sounds like Kerr gonna treat the next couple weeks like an extended preseason lol

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I hope he does. Last night not so much.

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He should treat the whole first quarter of the year (roughly until Christmas) as extended preseason, really.

No need to lean on the title winning core. Play the young guys and give them a chance to grow. If we get in trouble, use the vets to do the tough work.

We have a rare luxury this year. I trust Kerr not to waste it.

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