Run it Back! NBA Week in Review, LA Lakers Edition - Week #23

[00:00:00] Week 23 of the 2023 24 NBA season is in the books, which means it's time to run it back. This

[00:00:06] is Run It Back NBA Week in Review LA Lakers Edition. I'm Brandon Sparks, writer at thePeachBasket.net

[00:00:14] and your host this is this this is the show where we recap the week that was for the loss

[00:00:19] Angeles Lakers and then highlight their marquee matchups for the week to come. Let's start

[00:00:25] by looking at where the team lands on the PeachBasket's objective power rankings this week. The

[00:00:30] Lakers overall went up two spots on our power rankings, the number 13 they finished the week

[00:00:35] at three and one earning the record I predicted last week and only losing to the Pacers. However,

[00:00:42] the Lakers still remain at the number nine seed even with this great week. The Pacers Game

[00:00:49] in LA ended up being one of the highest scoring games the Lakers have had since the showtime Lakers

[00:00:55] with Magic and Karim. They got a great win and although the final score of 150 to 145 looked close,

[00:01:03] it was during the free throw filing game with like two minutes left that Tyres Halliburne hit

[00:01:08] like three threes in a row to bring it close but the game was basically sealed and done at that point

[00:01:15] and those threes were just kind of making us sweat as viewers. Dilo sat out this game due to an

[00:01:21] illness but Spentu didn't what he finally showed his offensive prowess, something we've been

[00:01:27] waiting for ever since he showed how great he is when he was with the Dallas Mavericks and then he

[00:01:33] got traded to... he left for Brooklyn or he was traded to Brooklyn. I don't remember but

[00:01:40] he had a big fall off when he hit Brooklyn and we've been just waiting for him to show what he was

[00:01:47] like with Dallas last season and we finally got that. He got the start over D'Angelo and he scored

[00:01:52] 26 points alongside some of the seller defense once again so if we can get this type of production

[00:01:58] from him off the bench just here and there he would make just a great sixth man which we are desperate

[00:02:03] for our bench production is really awful all we rely on really is Dinwitty and Torian Prince who are

[00:02:11] very wishy-washy but luckily our starters are really finding their flow right now. The Bucks game

[00:02:20] another thriller after the last Bucks game where Dilo put the team on his back without LeBron and

[00:02:25] Davis. This time around Davis actually played and he actually played the most minutes in his career

[00:02:31] with 52 minutes and it was also the most biolaker since Kobe in 2012 where he was

[00:02:37] ran to the ground by Mike D'Antoni but I digress. This game went to overtime after the Lakers made a

[00:02:44] huge 19 point comeback in the second half of the fourth quarter holding the Bucks to only 15 points

[00:02:50] in the whole quarter Austin Reeves took over he wasn't even having that great of a game before

[00:02:55] before the fourth quarter and he just completely took over he hit multiple threes tie it up along with

[00:03:01] a few shots and overtime to seal the game he finished with his second career triple double

[00:03:06] it was incredible Dilo also almost finished with a triple double he had a stat line of 29 points

[00:03:12] seven rebounds in 12 assists so just an incredible game all around from from the Lakers

[00:03:19] they are one of the best teams in the fourth quarter of this season so hopefully that can continue

[00:03:23] come play out time the Grizzlies were the second game of a back-to-back and Davis had to sit

[00:03:30] out for this game he did play the most minutes of his career the game before the day before so

[00:03:36] it's understandable he also looked like he was hobbling at the end of that Bucks game so

[00:03:41] understandable that he had to sit out but LeBron came back he was out for the Bucks game

[00:03:46] so it's even more of a surprise that we won that game but LeBron played in the Grizzlies game

[00:03:51] and he finished with a triple double as the Lakers once again got a win and this marked their fifth

[00:03:57] win in a row which is the most the team has had this season which is kind of sad to say but

[00:04:03] it is what it is Rudy Hachimura proves how valuable he truly is in this game he scored a career high

[00:04:09] seven threes and finished with 32 points which is a team high he has really been flying his flow

[00:04:16] ever since he was inserted into the starting lineup and he just has these games where he just

[00:04:19] goes off and has some great just great great production denwitty and prince also performed a

[00:04:27] great off the bench with 10 plus points each which is I believe the most important step because

[00:04:32] we all know the starters can play but it's the bench unit that really needs to step up

[00:04:38] the Pacers game in Indiana this time on Friday was like I said last week a game that

[00:04:45] the Lakers would just be tired for everyone really looked sluggish in this game and Dela was

[00:04:50] just a prime example of how tired the Lakers were every shot he threw up seemed to be short

[00:04:55] and he only finished with six points which is awful but I'm gonna leave this as an outlier

[00:05:02] as the Lakers were this is their fourth game in the week they're really tired

[00:05:07] and they're they just seem like they just didn't want to play the Pacers play incredibly fast as

[00:05:14] well and are always trying to fast break so the worn out Lakers just didn't have the energy to

[00:05:18] keep up with them Davis did return to the lineup after he'll leave after not being in the Grizzly's

[00:05:23] game and he had a great game at least so that's good to see all right let's move on let's look at

[00:05:31] the best to do it in key categories for the Lakers this week Anthony Davis just had a monster

[00:05:36] week leading the team in points with an average of 31.3 Dela led the team and three pointers made

[00:05:43] with 3.3 which isn't isn't a lot Anthony Davis had 12 fuel goals made on average which

[00:05:50] was the most on the team Davis also averaged 18 rebounds which is crazy with 4.7 rebounds offensive

[00:05:59] rebounds sorry and 13.3 defensive rebounds as I said monster week LeBron James had 10 assists on

[00:06:08] average this week Davis averaged 1.7 blocks and Delo and Davis both averaged 1.3 steals which is

[00:06:16] the most for the team and the best game score average for the Lakers this week goes to Anthony Davis

[00:06:21] at 27.9 which earns him two weeks in a row as the top performer for game score which is usually

[00:06:27] dominated by LeBron. Let's move on to the week ahead week 24 for the Lakers is just as busy as

[00:06:34] this week with multiple back-to-backs occurring which is extremely frightening for a team that is

[00:06:40] desperate to get some wins with only two weeks left in the season the Lakers play the nets on

[00:06:45] Sunday the Raptors on Tuesday and then a back-to-back with the Wizards on Wednesday and then after

[00:06:50] a few days off they get to go home the Lakers play the calves back in Los Angeles on Saturday but then

[00:06:56] they have another back-to-back with the T-wolves on Sunday in LA as well but I'll cover that T-wolves

[00:07:01] game on the next run it back. The surprise of the week gave Vincent supposedly returning to the

[00:07:09] Lakers at the Brooklyn game which would just be incredible as he would complete the defensive pack

[00:07:14] back court that would come off the bench for the Lakers having a second unit with either

[00:07:19] Reves and Delo alongside either Vincent or Jenny Witte Denwoodie would be amazing and he'd just

[00:07:24] leave Davis in there of course it'll take a while for Vincent to get back into game form and

[00:07:29] probably won't get many minutes but just seeing him on the court getting minutes with the guys letting

[00:07:34] him figure out line-ups will be important and unless Brooklyn and Cam Thomas have another

[00:07:41] super stellar shooting night like they did against the Lakers last time I believe the Lakers should

[00:07:46] win this game after a Sleggers Pacers game where they kind of just took the game off.

[00:07:52] The Raptors and Wizards games although they are back-to-back they should just be easy wins.

[00:07:57] The Raptors have been on a huge slide ever since Scotty Barnes got hurt

[00:08:00] and just to have looked just as bad as the Wizards and the Pistons this season without Scotty

[00:08:07] and as for the Wizards they have been putting together some wins this of late which is not

[00:08:11] saying much but they don't say no chance at stopping Anthony Davis if he is available so those

[00:08:17] should be easy wins. The Cavaliers game will be back in Los Angeles and will be after a few days

[00:08:22] rest so the game could go either way but with Donovan Mitchell back in the lineup for the Cavs

[00:08:28] I think the Lakers will lose this game just from being tired very similarly to the Pacers game

[00:08:33] last week and then they have a back-to-back right after that so I could see them resting either LeBron

[00:08:39] or Davis for either the Cavs game or the Terran Wolves game one of the two.

[00:08:45] I predict the Lakers going three and one this week once again losing to the Cavs in the one

[00:08:50] home game this week. The teams they are playing this week are just not good and should be easy wins

[00:08:56] as long as the Lakers play how they should which you know is always a question mark but as of late

[00:09:03] they have been looking great and seem to be finally figuring out the correct lineups and they're

[00:09:07] getting into a flow so I don't believe the Lakers should be giving up any losses to the teams like

[00:09:11] Brooklyn or Toronto or Washington especially it's such an important time this season I think they're

[00:09:16] really going to step up and and play like how they should they're really finding their flow I really

[00:09:21] believe that the Lakers have finally figured it out and they're going to get gave Vincent back which

[00:09:26] will be a learning curve I believe for the team of just like how to it's especially for him

[00:09:31] which we know his coaching isn't incredible so it'll take a minute for him to threw out the correct

[00:09:37] lineup with Vincent in there but either way I believe the Lakers can figure it out let's move on

[00:09:43] to full court press all in with a quick look at Lakers news we call this full court press I just type

[00:09:48] in lost angelous Lakers and see if anything interesting and worth talking about comes up on page one

[00:09:54] and today this article by in this article by Paul Kasabian for Bleacher Report hit

[00:10:00] it's called a trade young linked as trade target as LA hopes to go third star hunting and we all

[00:10:07] know the Lakers always have trade rumors around them and there's already trade rumors coming around if

[00:10:13] the Lakers want to get a third star if they fail to make a deep run in the playoffs this year

[00:10:19] which is very possible we are the nine seed we could lose in the plan especially if the Kings

[00:10:25] are in the plan if we have to play the Kings it is very likely we lose to them and even if we do

[00:10:32] make it out of the plan we have to play the Denver Nuggets possibly which that'll be rough so

[00:10:42] yeah if we don't make a deep run then the Lakers are gonna want to find a third star

[00:10:49] and it's looking like they're linked to trade young the Hawks have actually been looking pretty good

[00:10:54] even without trade young de jonte Murray just beat the almost by himself beat the Boston Celtics twice

[00:11:03] so if looking like trade young just might not be in the future plans for the Hawks especially

[00:11:09] considering they've been a fringe playoff team for a couple seasons now after they had that one

[00:11:17] season which was just a great season where they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals

[00:11:23] granted there's a lot of injuries on the teams that they played but it's still incredible that

[00:11:27] they made that run but either than that like besides coaching changes and there's the de jonte Murray

[00:11:34] trade and everything it just doesn't seem like they've been able to get a run going again so it

[00:11:40] looks like they're trying to rebuild almost and readjust what their team looks like and it doesn't

[00:11:47] look like trade young might be part of that so trade trade young has been linked to a lot of

[00:11:52] different trades and one of them was the San Antonio Spurs which if you've been watching Victor

[00:11:59] Webinyama wow he is that 40.20 rebound game against the NYX was just incredible he is

[00:12:08] he's looking incredible so him with trade young I mean call it quits for the league but

[00:12:16] he's also been linked with the LA Lakers he is a clutch sports client so you know he's he's

[00:12:24] definitely you know in cooots with LeBron almost so there is a possibility that he's able to come

[00:12:30] but the problem is who do we trade for him do we trade Dawson Reefs do we trade Delo

[00:12:36] do we trade Rory Hachimura which I don't really want to do but he's an expensive player too he's on

[00:12:44] I believe he's entering his third season on a five-year deal and he has been he's making a lot of money so

[00:12:52] it might end up being a Phoenix Sun type of situation where we have three all stars

[00:12:57] and three superstars and then a bunch of not great players but I guess we'll see what happens

[00:13:04] in the off season but it's an interesting situation and I think depending on I think Trayong and LA

[00:13:12] other than like the money would be incredible I think he's a he's a young player he's a great player

[00:13:19] and I think he would really benefit from like he loves being in the light in the limelight

[00:13:24] like when he beat New York NYX in that season run in that playoff run where they made it to the

[00:13:29] recent comments finals when they beat the next he really was enjoying being the villain for New York

[00:13:35] and I think he would really enjoy being in LA I think he's he has the grits and the

[00:13:43] he can handle being in the light and all the hate that can come as being a Laker and what Laker fans

[00:13:49] can really throw at you so I think Trayong would be a great asset just depends on what we have to

[00:13:55] trade for him that's the problem I'm not sure what we could possibly put together to trade for him

[00:14:01] I guess a couple first round picks and D'Angela Russell and Ruby Hatchimura and possibly someone else but

[00:14:10] I guess we'll see it depends on what Trayong they traded John Collins for a bag of chips so I'm hoping

[00:14:16] that pay kind of undervalued Trayong when it comes to the trade market but there's always the Lakers

[00:14:22] tax so I guess we'll see there's also a couple other trade targets for the Lakers including Donovan

[00:14:29] Mitchell and Kyrie Irving maybe but I think Trayong is the more likely scenario I think Donovan

[00:14:36] Mitchell is more likely to go to New York New York than he is to go to LA especially if it comes

[00:14:41] to trading I don't think we have the trade assets for Donovan Mitchell but Kyrie Irving also I think

[00:14:48] he is perfectly happy in Dallas sorry so I don't think that's going to happen either but

[00:14:56] I guess we'll see in this offseason and that's it week 23 of the Lakers 2023 24 NBA season is

[00:15:03] wrapped join us next week after week 24 when we once again run it back