Run it Back! NBA Week in Review, Los Angeles Lakers Edition - Week #24

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

[00:00:07] It Back NBA Week in Review LA Lakers Edition, I'm Brian and Sparks, writer at thePeachBasket.net

[00:00:13] and your host this is the show where we recap the week that was for the Los Angeles Lakers

[00:00:19] and then highlight their marquee matchup for the week to come. Let's begin by looking

[00:00:23] at where the team lands on the Peach Basket's Objective Power Rankings this week. The Lakers

[00:00:28] overall went up one more spot on our Power Rankings number 12 going from number 15 to

[00:00:33] number 12 in just two weeks. They remain at number 9 in the Western Conference in our power

[00:00:39] rankings as the Kings have one more quality win than the Lakers against a championship level

[00:00:44] team on the road. The Kings have beaten the nuggets three times this season, one time in

[00:00:49] Denver so they remain slightly ahead of the Lakers for that in our power rankings. The Lakers

[00:00:55] finished the week at 4 and 0 which is awesome, great winning streak at the most important

[00:01:01] time of the season. The Lakers have improved to be the number 8 seed with a good chance

[00:01:06] of being the number 7 seed by the time the season is over next week. The Brooklyn

[00:01:12] Net game looked over when it started as the Net's just couldn't score and the Lakers

[00:01:16] went up 15 points to zero they had the Net's hadn't scored a single point at that point in

[00:01:22] the first quarter. Everyone just seemed locked in during this game especially after losing

[00:01:27] to Brooklyn last time the Lakers played them.

[00:01:29] Cam Thomas was the only player who showed up for the Net's this game as the Lakers blew

[00:01:34] them out with a scoring surge from the starters. There was a total of two points that came

[00:01:40] from the bench for the Lakers but it was still just an easy win and it was just great also

[00:01:45] to see Gabe Benson in his first game back in such a long time he played some stellar

[00:01:50] defense he looked great and I hope this is a trend that will continue going into the playoffs.

[00:01:57] Having a defensive bench with Benson and Dinwitty and hopefully Vanderbilt able to come

[00:02:02] in to stop any scoring surges while LeBron or Davis rests will be incredible.

[00:02:09] The Raptors game also wasn't close at all for the entire game as the Lakers held the lead

[00:02:13] for the entire game after a great first quarter. Any hopes of the Raptors coming back were

[00:02:18] destroyed in the third quarter as the Lakers outscored Toronto by 15.

[00:02:24] RJ Brarrick just decided to come off injury just for this one game against the Lakers score

[00:02:29] 28 and then go back to sitting out the very next game. This is something the Lakers just

[00:02:33] got to deal with everyone wants to show up and show out when playing L.A. Unif they are

[00:02:38] not 100%. There are many many cases of a player coming back off injury just to play the

[00:02:45] Lakers. I believe the Wizards game, the very next game Kyle Kuzma came off injury just

[00:02:50] to play the Lakers and then sat out the very next game. It is just a trend that will always

[00:02:56] occur with L.A. and it sucks as a fan to see that like it could be an easy win and then

[00:03:03] like one of their best players comes back to play but it is what it is. The Wizards

[00:03:07] game was actually the second game of a back-to-back and Anthony Davis just completely dominated.

[00:03:13] He finished with 35 points and 18 rebounds. And now to mention the rest of the starters

[00:03:19] all putting up 16 plus points. The starters for the Lakers really have found a flow together

[00:03:24] and have proven they can outscore any opponent while the bench comes in as a defensive

[00:03:29] unit to stop any possible scoring surges while the starters rest. It is a great system.

[00:03:35] I would just like to see some more scoring come off the bench especially from players

[00:03:39] like Princeton Dinnwitty who have shown that they can score a lot of points when needed.

[00:03:45] And that is what at least Princeton and the Cavaliers game which I thought would be a loss

[00:03:49] last week but I was proven wrong as the cash just decided to not show up for this game.

[00:03:55] It was the first game back home to the Lakers in a while and our three starters in LeBron

[00:04:00] Davis and Dilo really showed out. They each finished with 22 plus points each and Dilo

[00:04:06] hit some incredible threes where he just went on a rampage. He is very streaky shooter

[00:04:13] and can get hot at any moment and when he is hot it's like you can't miss. So hopefully

[00:04:18] those moments come a lot during the playoffs. Prince had a great night off the bench, 18

[00:04:23] points. He hit some great threes. He was driving in, he looked super competent, confident.

[00:04:29] I'm hoping that he can continue this trend going into this week and the playoffs.

[00:04:36] And the Cavs just did not seem locked in except for Derrius Garland even Dota the Mitchell

[00:04:41] couldn't score finishing with only 10 points. Max Struse had five points. Jared Allen

[00:04:46] I believe had like 11 points. Evan Mobley I think had eight points so I don't know

[00:04:51] what's going on there. There's a lot of ifs going on in question marks going around

[00:04:57] the Cavs and this might not be my place to say but I do think Dota the Mitchell's tie

[00:05:02] with Cleveland is coming to a close soon. He just doesn't seem locked in compared to

[00:05:08] last season and they are the threes who they are looking pretty good but obviously you

[00:05:14] gotta go through Boston and the east and that's a tough challenge. So it's just not

[00:05:20] looking good for Cleveland and there might be some coaching changes next year or there

[00:05:25] has to be some kind of changes especially if they don't perform very well in the playoffs.

[00:05:31] Let's move on to top performance. Let's look at the best to do it in key categories for

[00:05:34] the Lakers this week. LeBron James had a stellar week. He was so efficient he led the team

[00:05:41] in points with an average of 29.3 and he scored 40 against the Brooklyn Nets. He was just

[00:05:47] shooting threes all over. He was incredible. DeLo led the team in three pointers made

[00:05:52] with five and just mentioned about three pointers. LeBron James tied his career high in

[00:05:59] three pointers with nine against Brooklyn that's how he scored 40 and he was nine for 10

[00:06:05] from three so that was just incredible to see. LeBron also had 10.7 fjolts made on average

[00:06:13] which was the most on the team for the week AD averaged 14.7 rebounds with 12.7 defensive

[00:06:20] rebounds. Jackson Hayes makes a surprise appearance as Davis and Hayes both averaged two offensive

[00:06:27] rebounds this week and Jackson Hayes has just been fantastic as of late. Granted in very short

[00:06:32] spurts but he's just great playing alongside LeBron and getting some great dogs and being just

[00:06:39] the energy giving a lot of energy off the bench really great to see. LeBron James had 7.7 assists

[00:06:49] on average this week. Davis averaged two blocks and DeLo averaged two steals which has become a

[00:06:55] common occurrence to see DeLo in this category and it's great to see him locking on defense and

[00:06:59] get some steals and those steals always turn into points so it's always great to see. The best

[00:07:05] game score averaged for the Lakers this week goes to LeBron James at 27.1. It had been going to

[00:07:11] Anthony Davis the last couple of weeks but LeBron James takes it back. Let's move on to the week ahead

[00:07:18] week 25 for the Lakers. The final full week of the season and easily the most important week

[00:07:24] for the season for the Lakers who could move up as far as the number 6 seed if things fall in place

[00:07:30] perfectly but for this to happen there's there's gotta be a couple things that happen. The sons need

[00:07:36] to lose at least two games this week which is possible the sons are playing some very tough

[00:07:42] opponents. They have the hardest schedule for the rest of the season and the Lakers need to win

[00:07:49] out which is entirely possible but it's it's gonna be hard to go on a eight game winning streak to end

[00:07:57] the season is hard but if it's done the Lakers will have immense confidence they will be not in

[00:08:05] the playing they will probably play either the Timberwolves or the Thunder which we already know

[00:08:12] we have we are able to beat so everything would be perfect if this happened but of course winning out

[00:08:19] is not an easy task. The Lakers play the Timberwolves on a back-to-back the second night of a back-to-back

[00:08:25] on Sunday the Warriors on Tuesday the Grizzlies on Friday and then the final game of the season

[00:08:32] against the Pelicans next Sunday but that game will be covered next week but I do think the Lakers

[00:08:38] can win that Pelicans game we've beaten them before the Pelicans are in a complete free fall

[00:08:43] right now without Brandon Ingram and even if he does come back he won't be 100%

[00:08:48] and we've already proven that we can destroy the Pelicans when needed as we saw in the in-season

[00:08:54] tournament when we absolutely destroyed them. The Timberwolves game is the most concerning out of all

[00:09:02] the games as they have already beaten us twice this season even though we got we got the win against

[00:09:08] them last time we've played them three times so far we beat them the last time he played but the

[00:09:14] only problem was last time they had no go bear or cat. Carly thing tells us it's unlikely to play this

[00:09:19] game however but with go bear back most likely he could be tough especially for Davis as go bear is

[00:09:27] most likely going to win defense the player of the year. I think it should go to Victor Webinyama

[00:09:32] even if he's a rookie I do not care that guy is dominant on the defensive end but that's just me

[00:09:40] this game could go either way for the Timberwolves and the Lakers as the T-wolves have been losing

[00:09:45] a lot more games ever since cat got hurt and Gabe Vincent and Spencer did what he's defense

[00:09:51] could make a difference possibly against Anthony Edwards. The only problem is this is the back to

[00:09:56] back for the Lakers but the Lakers are playing in LA they have a great momentum with the winning streak

[00:10:02] the Timberwolves are losing a lot of games since they can't put up points right now without

[00:10:07] Carly three towns they're losing a lot of scoring from losing him so it could go either way it's

[00:10:14] hard to predict who will win this game but I'm going to believe in the Lakers and say they squeak out

[00:10:18] this win. It's very important from the win this game so I think they're all going to be locked in

[00:10:23] they have this flow going on right now there's a lot going going great for the Lakers right now

[00:10:29] so I really hope they win this game. On Tuesday the saga of LeBron and Currie continues on national

[00:10:38] television must see game always LeBron can once again if he can stop if he can stop the Warriors

[00:10:46] and dissect their plays like he has in the past should be a win for the Lakers especially since

[00:10:51] the game takes place in LA and the Warriors are possibly going to be without Wiggins and Caminga

[00:10:57] so it is very possible that Lakers win this game. The Warriors have also just not been looking

[00:11:03] great as of late especially without those two players Currie can't do it all so

[00:11:11] she's got to pray that LeBron does what he usually does and dissect the Warriors completely like

[00:11:16] he always has let's just hope it doesn't go to double over time like last time although it would

[00:11:21] be great to watch so but as a fan of the Lakers I want them to win this game but as a spectator it'd

[00:11:28] be great to see a double over time game. The Grizzly's game on Friday should be an easy win

[00:11:33] the Lakers will be locked in at this point to win. Rory Hodgemer always seems to have a great

[00:11:38] game against Memphis and we destroyed them the last time he played so there isn't much to discuss

[00:11:42] about this game unless magically Marcus Smart and some other injured players for them come back

[00:11:49] to play the Lakers which you know is always a possibility when it comes to LA. It is a road game

[00:11:55] for the Lakers too so that could be a factor as well but I predict the Lakers going three

[00:12:01] in oh this week it could go either way for the T-Wolves game as there's a lot of factors going into

[00:12:06] that game but the rest of the game should be win for the Lakers especially if the Warriors are without

[00:12:11] two of their starters in Wiggins and Caminga. Let's move on to full court press I'll end with a

[00:12:18] quick look at Lakers news we call this full court press I just type in loss and this Lakers

[00:12:24] and see if anything interesting and worth talking about comes up on page one. Today this article

[00:12:29] caught my eye three Lakers that failed to meet expectations this season by Will Udy for Lake Show

[00:12:36] and it just discusses a couple of the teams players that just you know we had a high expectations for

[00:12:44] and they just fell short. Max Christie is the first one this is his second year now and he's had

[00:12:50] moments where even he would start some games. Derwin Ham of course you know we know he doesn't get

[00:12:56] the rotations right a lot I think he finally figured it out but there was times where he was

[00:13:01] really just testing different lineups with Cam Reddish starting a lot and Max Christie sometimes

[00:13:08] getting starting minutes and awesome Reaves coming off the bench and just so many different factors

[00:13:13] but Max Christie is one of the players that was kind of failing to meet expectations this season

[00:13:20] and he just is not getting a lot of minutes anymore and thinking now he's just a garbage time player.

[00:13:25] We just don't have the time to wait for him to you know get better and give him the rotation

[00:13:30] minutes that he needs to improve. We have a championship window that we need to strive for and if we

[00:13:36] you know lose games because we decided to play Max Christie for too many minutes then

[00:13:42] you know we can't let that happen so another player is Cam Reddish he was

[00:13:50] he was I don't even know what the expectations were with Cam Reddish there's always the word

[00:13:55] potential that is the defining word of Cam's career he played for New York he played for Atlanta

[00:14:02] he played for Portland and for Portland he was actually pretty good he scored 11 points per game

[00:14:07] with the trailblazers last season so you know maybe he could prove to be a scoring boost off the

[00:14:13] bench for the Lakers and he did the opposite of that he scored exactly half of what he did in Portland

[00:14:22] at 5.5 points per game even though he got 26th starts this season he was averaging over 20 minutes

[00:14:30] of night again Darwin Ham has got to figure out this whole rotations thing but luckily he's finally

[00:14:38] figured it out I believe but Cam Reddish did play some great defense especially in the in-season

[00:14:44] tournament and I think that's what was making Lakers fans believe in him but he is just not

[00:14:54] not good period so hopefully maybe in the off season he can work on his shooting but right now he's

[00:15:01] just not good enough to be getting quality minutes for the Lakers and then the final player is Christian

[00:15:07] Wood Christian Wood looked incredible at times for the Mavericks last season he finished top 10

[00:15:14] for 6 man of the year while playing for the Dallas Mavericks and for LA of course he decides to

[00:15:21] have the fewest points he's ever had since the 2016-2017 season he's also rebounding

[00:15:29] his lowest since 2018 when he played 12 minutes a night with Milwaukee and Norelline's

[00:15:35] he is a journeyman he's been with almost every team it feels like and his best seasons came when

[00:15:40] he was with Houston and with Detroit but Christian Wood he's probably out for the season at this point

[00:15:47] he has is very similar if not the same injury as Gabe Vincent which we all know has kept him out

[00:15:53] basically the entire season and he just came back so it's unlikely Christian Wood comes back

[00:15:57] anytime soon if at all and even when he was playing he barely got any minutes he just

[00:16:04] is not rebounding well he's not playing great defense he was a good shooter off the bench

[00:16:10] he could uh spread the floor as a backup 5 which is always important but yeah he just does not see

[00:16:18] he did not seem as good as he was with Dallas Mavericks last year so it's tough to see especially

[00:16:24] since we had such high hopes for him and hopefully next season he can he can find more consistency

[00:16:34] since we signed him to a two year deal but I guess we will see and that is it week 24 of the Lakers

[00:16:41] 2023 24 NBA season is wrapped join us next next week for week 25 the last week when we once again run it back