LA has been blessed with some of the best home team announcers. Along with Vin Scully, the absolute best was Chick Hearn, who changed the commentating game and invented terms like “air ball,” “triple double,” and “slam dunk.” His partner behind the mic in his final years was Stu Lantz, who will forever hold a special place in my heart for the love but also the impartiality with which he provided (and still provides) color commentary. He has always been full of useful tidbits of information that provide insight into the game.
One of the things Stu has always stressed is starting and finishing quarters. During the Shaq/Kobe era, we were absolutely the best at that. The third quarter, in particular was ours. We OWNED the first five minutes of the second half, and it made the difference so many times. I don’t know what Phil told them in the locker room, but they would use those opening minutes of the third to either turn the momentum to their favor or put a team away for good. It was goddamn inspirational and I miss it. I know coming up short in close games is a virtual inevitability with such a young team, as these guys just don’t have the experience to know how to close out games yet. But I will be much relieved when we figure it out and start winning some of these games where we have earned a W but end up losing because we stumble at the finish line.
On a related note, I’m still waiting for LeBron to really take over a game and carry us. You can’t argue with his stats – he definitely plays a complete game every night. But especially when we’re struggling to finish games strong, I’d love to see him say, “I got this” and do it himself. I know our eventual success depends on us finding the right combination on the court with him – and the Minnesota game proved that Kuzma might be a better fit in that regard than Ingram – but the point of having an elite player like LBJ is being able to use him as a get-out-of-jail-free card in close games.
In terms of floor time with LeBron, I am honestly stumped as to what our starting line-up should be at this point. My gut take is that Lonzo, Kuzma, and Josh Hart should all be starters, but after the past two games I can see the argument for Rondo, at least short term. Moving Ingram to the bench seems harsh, especially since we’ve essentially committed ourselves to him (along with Lonzo) as the future of the team, but he just doesn’t look convincing on the court with LeBron. Kuzma is so much more productive teamed up with James, so using Ingram when LeBron sits actually makes a lot of sense. Starting Ingram and Kuzma together is an intriguing option, especially because of how much Ingram improves our perimeter defense, but Josh Hart still makes more sense at the 2, at least to me.
One up side so far this season has been the supporting cast. Josh Hart has stepped his game up significantly, and he hustles like a motherfucker. So does Jonathan Williams, for that matter. Lance Stephenson is having a career Renaissance. I doubt it can last, but I will take it for as long as it does. And don’t get me started on Javale McGee – that man is my new hero. Who knew he had this kind of production in him?
And oh by the way, good LORD we need a back-up center. Williams is a great effort guy, and Kuzma can fill in for short stretches, but we are getting killed on the boards whenever McGee goes out. It’s a credit to the implementation of Walton’s coaching strategy that we are still scoring 64 points per game in the paint even with such a small line-up. All that action under the rim has not led to free throw chances, though, as we are only 20th in the league in free throw attempts per game despite being tied for first in points in the paint. It’s a disparity I don’t quite understand, especially with LeBron on our team. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that we’re 17th in total rebounds per game, which surely says something about our activity levels in the key.
And to close, and apropos of absolutely none of this, I miss Antawn Jamison. He was a tough all around player who kept his head down and tore shit up without demanding attention. He didn’t get as much appreciation as he deserved.
