How much sweeter are wins when their driven by the youth? On national television, we got an MVKP performance along with arguably Frank's best game. The Lakers' kids showed promise but the Knicks youth won out and it was fun. This game was sloppy at times, but the combination of pace and effort from both sides brought the entertainment value to a ten. Now, it was another close and competitive battle with a lottery team...but we won like we were supposed to in the end. I'm still leaning toward going younger, selling off the vets and letting the kids come into their own with a better lottery pick as the prize but I sure as hell won't complain if we get games like that and wind up closer to an 8th seed than a Doncic. The kids played the key roles, the effort level was high and win or lose; I just had a lot of fun watching this one unfold. But the win was sweet.
KP: When the Lakers undersized 4's tried to guard him, he shot over them. When the bigs like Lopez tried to stop him, he took them out to the three point line and rained on them. On a night where both rosters showed off their young talent and rising stars, KP was the only player who looked like a present day star. 37 pts on 14/26, 11 boards and 5 blocks as KP was an absolute terror inside; Ingram is gonna have nightmares about KP meeting him at the rim. The three point shooting was back for this one (5/8) and KP's poise through three was impressive. He looked like a leader, making buckets when we needed them and visibly hurrying guys to get back and defend in the second quarter. In the fourth though, he forced some things and did some ref complaining. But once he settled into a mainly two man game with Frank or letting Beas take the heat off of him, he was back to being the dominant presence on the floor. It was fun to watch.
Frank: Breaking format again because this kid was the clear second star on the night. Lonzo Ball went off in the third quarter and looked like he was ready to go blow for blow with the Knicks, then Frank checked in and of course N-A-H were the letters he spelt. Lonzo got pretty much locked down as the game went on from there and Frank emerged both defensively AND offensively. 13 pts, 5 asts, 5 boards in 29 minutes and he again only turned it over once (albeit the TO was ugly as hell). The kid is more comfortable shooting, he put Lonzo in the Matrix with an in and out dribble, he attacked and found players in good positions...and he STILL could be even more aggressive. He picks his spots to attack off the dribble but he's at his best when he plays fast and I'd love to see him just push the pace from the second he steps on the floor to the time he gets off instead of being measured. The mistakes will increase, but I think the impact will be even more pronounced.
Kanter: Looked a bit better last night but still not nearly 100%. He still had a productive night. 14/11 in 27 mins on 70% from the field for Kanter. Where the hip thing stands out is that his lateral movement is looking as labored as Luke Kornet in summer league. But he's become a guy that the team rallies around and it's impossible to ignore that he's a workhorse.
Lee: This was a game where the aggression backfired for probably the first time. Lee was 5/17 and 0/4 from three. He forced the issue and missed open guys that he usually finds. In short, he seemed like he was pressing which never happens. 10 pts, 4 asts, 3 boards, 2 steals; he still pieced together a solid performance by defending well and making things happen but there was some standout ugliness. Also a memo for Lee and Frank, dunk it when you have the lane and can; that's why Timmy is our fastbreak stud. Lee airmailing a fastbreak lay-up because Randle was a step behind him was really bad.
Lance: 24 minutes are too many to be a forgettable starter in imo. 5 pts, 3 boards and I'd drop a treatise on his intangibles but I don't think they stood out particularly. He did a good job on Ingram...not great, but with the back-up at the rim he did well.
Jack: 1/6 for 3 pts, 10 asts, 6 boards...he continues to tally assists, get some boards but struggle scoring most games with some outliers (literally the last one) keeping his starting hopes afloat. The reason he needs to hit the bench sooner than later and the reason Frank played the 4th and OT though is that Jack's defense just isn't what it needs to be. Lonzo was torching him and the assists don't make up for that.
Beas: A much needed good performance. With the Lakers heavily focused on stopping KP, Beasley was able to do a lot of damage on the opposite block late. 13 pts, 5 boards, 2 asts and importantly just 1 TO in 22 minutes. When he's not completely out of control or head in the clouds on defense, he can be a useful release valve to take pressure off ball handlers and KP. His offensive skill works well against an over aggressive defender though a well timed double can break his effectiveness.
Doug: 10 points, 2 boards in 32 minutes but unlike Lance; the pedestrian numbers hide a real intangibles type performance. Doug's constant cutting really gave guys options when the Lakers aggression was smothering them. He pumped in double digit points without hitting a three. Defensively, he's honestly not bad...not a standout or anything, but he's good enough that you don't worry about him out there.
KOQ: in 14 minutes he was 4/4 dropping 8 pts, 3 boards and 2 asts with a couple of bad TO's (I hate moving screen TO's). His effort levels have picked back up though the minutes have kept his impact more muted. A pretty good performance for a bench big.
Baker: Baker followed up a really nice game with kind of a dud. 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 block in 11 minutes...his defense is pretty reliable but he wasn't the big complimentary piece he had been last time out. Still they weren't bad minutes, just meh.
Jeff: First praise goes to sticking to Frank and letting the Frank/KP tandem loose after that combo sorta vanished as the closing crew recently. Frank logged 29 mins (I think that's a career high) that he absolutely deserved. He also didn't just forcefeed KP in the post to close out a tight game. We saw that so often with coaches and Melo, throwing away the offensive sets to kill the clock and hope Melo would make enough tough jumpers to win. The fourth started to look headed that way with KP but Frank and Beasley both took pressure off by just running the sets properly.
More on Frank: Didn't want to overload yall but there's a couple more things to point out from Frank's game last night. One, on switches against big men, Frank used his length to still force them into difficult takes. Two, he hit 3 of 4 three pointers and is stringing together multi-three pointer games. His absolute floor is a 3 and D player with PG skills above any 3/d guy I can think of off the top of my head. His ceiling with that wingspan, size and PG ability is higher than the dome flat earthers believe in.
at Screech.
