Lakers-Warriors: The Sequel Surpasses The Original

The Lakers had to go up to Oakland looking to redeem themselves against a team that they should beat without having to come back from 26 down.

Luckily, through this hard fought game, the Lakers found the composure they sorely lacked in L.A.. They rode that, along with a concerted effort on the defensive boards and mid-range, to a much needed, heart-attack inspiring win.

There was a lot of good and a fair share of bad in this one, so let’s run through it.

Good early offensive post work by Ronny. When he got position in the second half mostly, he wasn’t letting go of it. That hold on position went a long way to giving the Lakers a pass option to the middle inside, easing up movement everywhere else. He has got to stop passing the ball in or out of the paint when he has a shot. He’s right by the basket for a high percentage shot, a foul, or sometimes both. It’s not a bad problem to have (players that pass too much), but it can’t come at the expense of three-second violations or missed easy chances.

There was determined defensive work from Ronny though. He isn’t letting any shot go without a fight and you’ve got to love that. He had numerous changed shots and played some really well contained jumping defense. The emphatic swat he was doing before has given way to a more controlled type of block.

A most impressive element to the Lakers game tonight (mostly in the second half) was the team effort on the defensive boards. Lamar was heading the effort, but there were few times in the second half that he was alone underneath. Luke, Kobe, Vladi, Sasha and Jordan were crashing the key to get position alongside Lamar. That bolstering of the paint helped almost completely wipe out the second shot chances of the Warriors in the 4th quarter and overtime.

Sasha, overall, is shooting well, but he has really got to settle down from the arc. Making shots is great, but hoisting up a shot early in the clock is doing no good in the long run. He has got to get back to his drives along the baseline that he was doing earlier in the year. At the very least he’s got to put the ball on the floor along the key once in a while to ease pressure off of his shot. Defensively, he has to stop gambling on steals. Once he gets beaten on drives, he reaches for the improbable steal when he should be looking to get into a recovery position to help on the other player rotating onto his man.

Sasha’s fourth-quarter help defense on the swing through moves of Davis and Jackson were desperately needed. With the Baron looking to sweep from side to side up high to set up his drive or get space for his jumper, it was really important that the Lakers had someone on him that could take a quick step back or laterally to keep up with him.

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