The bad from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:
Despite all of the great defense the Lakers played in the first half, they only led by six points.
The Lakers did some great things in the first half. It was probably the most efficient two-way basketball of the season. The only problem is the Jazz hung around just enough to be only down six points.
Now if you have followed the Los Angeles Lakers all season long, it’s a known fact that the Lakers are not the greatest third-quarter team in the world. Well…the bottom fell out. The Jazz outscored the Lakers 32-20 to go into the final period up by six points.
Utah went on a huge run because Frank Vogel thought it would be a good idea to close the third quarter with these players…
- Talen Horton-Tucker
- Stanley Johnson
- Malik Monk
- Austin Reaves
- and finally at the center spot…Trevor Ariza!
At least Vogel had enough sense to call timeout with 48 seconds left in the quarter to put LeBron back in. But what is he thinking with these rotations? The Lakers could have lost this game right here!
Frank Vogel thought it would be a good idea to bench Malik Monk for Trevor Ariza.
Let the staff of Lake Show Life get this straight. Malik Monk is close to a 20 point scorer in the starting lineup and averages half that amount coming off the bench. Frank Vogel decided to start Ariza in his place. Okay… let’s see here.
- Trevor Ariza: In 27 minutes, Ariza scored 4 points (1-8 shooting!) and grabbed 4 rebounds. His plus/minus was -13.
- Malik Monk: In 25 minutes, Monk scored 14 points (6-12 shooting!), 7 rebounds with an assist and a steal? His plus/minus was +17.
Can we just please just let David Fizdale or Phil Handy take over? How about just do the rotations and in-game adjustments!