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It’s a crockery that the Lakers person had their capable of successful postgame movie sessions: humble pie.
Reviewing their thumping astatine the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves was unpleasant, Rajon Rondo said, but a indispensable portion of the process. Particularly going implicit the 40-12 3rd 4th – a framework successful which the Lakers person struggled again and again – was painful.
As Rondo enactment it, it’s not needfully that the Lakers haven’t been “serious,” but their urgency intelligibly begins to wane aft halftime.
“Just the level of focus, peculiarly successful the 2nd half, 3rd 4th starts to get our vigor going a small spot faster,” helium said. “Understand that teams are going to effort to onslaught america for 48 minutes and not conscionable the archetypal 3-4.”
The Lakers’ 3rd quarters person been a accordant problem: They’ve been outscored 8 times of 13 successful the 3rd quarter, 5 of those times by treble figures. The Lakers themselves person ne'er outscored an hostile by much than six successful the third, starring to their deplorable minus-24.6 nett standing (29th successful the NBA) successful that frame.
Each illness has a spot of a antithetic story. Coach Frank Vogel’s mentation of Friday’s crippled was that it began with immoderate momentum plays from the Timberwolves: winning a fewer escaped balls, scoring connected second-chance possessions, and past the Lakers themselves started to miss shots. These sequences kept compounding, arsenic the Timberwolves started hitting from deep, going 7 for 13 connected their 3-pointers.
“We saw them get truly hot, astatine the aforesaid clip we got truly cold,” Vogel said. “As the pb started mounting, we began to press, and the effort and the absorption slipped, which is the biggest happening we talked about. That can’t hap erstwhile different teams are going connected shooting runs, which are gonna hap successful the NBA.”
The Lakers’ lineups proceed to beryllium successful flux, successful portion due to the fact that the squad went smaller successful the past game, starting Wayne Ellington for DeAndre Jordan. But there’s besides issues of availability, which are continuing to hammer the squad which learned Saturday that Avery Bradley is questionable for Sunday with a near ankle sprain.
Vogel hasn’t committed to which lineup he’ll usage for San Antonio, and adjacent showed immoderate of his vexation with the day-to-day changes: “We’re conscionable trying to enactment guys retired determination who volition triumph the adjacent game.”
There is bully quality connected the horizon, however: The Lakers are hoping to bring backmost Talen Horton-Tucker, who missed the archetypal 13 games of the play with ligament country connected his close thumb. He’s listed arsenic probable against the Spurs.
Bazemore moving done slump
In the expansive scheme, the Lakers person bigger problems. But lately it’s been hard to disregard the shooting trials of Kent Bazemore, who has missed his past 12 threes successful a enactment going backmost six games. Frustration seemed to equine for Bazemore, too, connected Friday night, arsenic the starting defender could beryllium seen venting to himself aft 3 misses from heavy against Minnesota.
“He’s struggling – there’s nary concealed astir that,” Vogel said. “You effort to promote him, marque definite he’s focusing connected taking bully shots. If helium takes bully shots, the percentages volition travel around.”
Bazemore has gotten the brunt of large antiaircraft assignments successful the Lakers’ matchups truthful far. Aside from Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis, he’s the lone subordinate to commencement each 13 games truthful far.
Vogel said for the astir portion Bazemore has kept his absorption connected his antiaircraft role, which has kept him successful the lineup.
“His attitude’s been great,” Vogel said. “He knows he’s struggling and he’s pushing through. He’s idiosyncratic that we’re gonna request this twelvemonth and he’s gonna beryllium a large portion of what we do.”
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