Los Angeles Lakers lose twice, the game and Lonzo Ball

2. JaVale McGee and Tyson Chandler were set up to fail

These two highlights will see JaVale McGee looking bad and will probably justify Luke Walton playing McGee only playing 16 minutes.

Juan Hernangomez comes off the wing goes through the lane and provides a facial to McGee! To some, it looks like JaVale is not doing his job…

https://twitter.com/nuggets/status/1067605017144713216

Let’s take a closer look.

Nikola Jokic hits Hernangomez with a pass in a pick and roll play. Ingram is caught up in the pick and JaVale is late with a rotation that was not his responsibility. If you hit play you will see that LeBron James is watching the play on NBA League pass instead of sliding over to rim protect.

Why is this bad on JaVale McGee?

Because he is guarding Jokic who leads the Nuggets in virtually every offensive statistical category. Plus he has a jumper. That fact will cause JaVale to hesitate, hence the result!

How about this one…

Paul Millsap gets the ball in the right corner. JaVale closes out and goes for the pump fake. Millsap goes by and drives for the basket for the dunk. At least LeBron James had Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma on the couch to eat popcorn with him watching Millsap dunk. No rotations here.

Oh, they got Tyson Chandler too.

I’ll bet Lakers fans were thinking BLOCK THE SHOT! But take a closer look.

With the dribble drive by Monte Morris, he put Chandler in a bad position. If you look in the back, Mason Plumlee is lurking, looking for the lob if Tyson steps up to Morris. Chandler has no choice but to play the percentages and allow the floater.

This one right here…just count the dribbles and see how long it takes for the post move! We’re talking Mason Plumlee here!

Tyson Chandler did his job and stood Plumlee up in the paint. You have three Lakers players, Brandon Ingram, Michael Beasley and Lance Stephenson, watching the play like a Dick Vitale video on post moves.

I mean really???

I mean the defense does get worse…