Did the line up change do any good? It depends on who you ask. Ronnie Price and Ed Davis started for the Lakers. Admittedly, the Lakers did a solid job defensively. At one point in the second quarter, they had more points in the paint than the Pelicans, which is a shock, considering the Pelicans lead the league with points in the paint.
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However, as a unit, they could not generate any kind of offense. There was limited flow, no playmaking, and no enthusiasm on the offensive end. Wesley Johnson tried to pick things up and got hot early, hitting 5 of his first 6 shots, including a sweet baseline dunk and another dunk off of a Kobe assist, but neither Price nor Davis could get this going offensively.
Wesley Johnson highlights https://t.co/tXXf7xqVgD
— Mike Garcia (@CanyonDriver) December 8, 2014
Jeremy Lin, expected to lead the bench unit, didn’t come out with his usual fire. Aside from a couple of strong defensive rebounds and intent to push the basketball, he had trouble picking his spots with the second unit. Nick Young showed some heart on the floor despite poor shooting from the field. He changed his sneakers two different times before his shot got going a bit.
The Lakers had a fourth quarter run to start. It began with a Nick Young three-pointer, an Ellington three-pointer, Boozer backing down his defender for a quick hook, and another corner jumper by Wayne Ellington for a very quick 10-0 run. That cut a large deficit down to 12 points. Once Jordan Hill, Kobe Bryant, and Ed Davis came back to the game, the game was out of reach.
Ellington with the backdoor dunk https://t.co/ajPsIsJpwU
— Mike Garcia (@CanyonDriver) December 8, 2014
Overall, the Lakers had some better focus on the defensive end, but nearly zero enthusiasm on the offensive end. There weren’t many fast break points. The Lakers had a hard time getting to the foul line. They are one of the better teams to get there.
Perhaps Byron Scott will stick with this line up before tweaking it again, but for tonight it didn’t work.