Lakers News: Desperate LA Adding 2 New Starters For Must-Win Game 4
It looks like your Los Angeles Lakers, down in an 0-3 hole against the Denver Nuggets, are at least listening to some of their critics ahead of Game 4, which tips off tonight at 5:30 p.m. PT.
Per Shams Charania of The Athletic, Los Angeles head coach Darvin Ham is demoting starting point guard D'Angelo Russell, who has been rough in the Western Conference Finals through three games, and starting power forward Jarred Vanderbilt, who's a terrific defender but cramps LA's spacing on the other end.
In their stead, Ham will start the more defensively-inclined Dennis Schröder (traditionally a poorer three-point shooter for his career, but with a bit more run perhaps his jump shooting improves?) at the point, and one of LA's two playoff breakouts, impending restricted free agent Rui Hachimura, at the four.
Hachimura, who's heavier than Vanderbilt but not traditionally thought of as a great defender, has supplied weirdly competent minutes on that end of the floor against Nuggets superstar center Nikola Jokic, while LA center Anthony Davis roams around the paint and occasionally looks to double, even as he ostensibly guards non-shooting threat Aaron Gordon.
Schröder and Hachimura will join LA's incumbent starters Austin Reaves, LeBron James and Davis.
Earlier today, ESPN's Zach Lowe explained to Bobby Marks on the former's The Lowe Post podcast why this new-look first five would be his preference.
"That'd be my lineup, and I'm going to overplay it, if I have to, 'cause D-Lo isn't good enough defensively and isn't bringing enough offensively" Lowe said. "And if I see him screw up in transition defense again I'm going to throw my laptop out of my office window."
"And the Vanderbilt thing -- I would start Hachimura over him, and I would start Schroder over Russell. It's not a great shooting lineup, but it's better than anything with Vanderbilt on it. Because the longer this series has gone on, the more conservative [the Nuggets have] gotten on defense. [Their thinking is,] 'We're just going to drop Jokic back in the pick-and-roll, and we're going to do that because, if Vanderbilt's on the floor... [the Lakers] just don't have enough spacing to do much of anything.' They don't trust him to guard Jokic the way they'll put Hachimura on Jokic and allow Anthony Davis to roam. That lineup... is +34 in 46 minutes in the playoffs. It's +21 in 26 minutes in this series [through three games], it's actually their most-used lineup in this series... Just start it, it's your best lineup... they've got to ride it more."
LA now needs to win out against the Nuggets to advance to the NBA Finals. No team in history has rallied back from an 0-3 deficit, in 149 previous tries. While taking four of the next four games against this jumbo-sized, deep, talented Denver team seems like a near-impossible quest, it behooves LA to remember that every journey begins with a single step. This is a great decision, let's see if it helps net a win at Crypto.com Arena.
The Lakers had been concerned of ostracizing Russell, an unrestricted free agent this summer, if they moved him to the bench earlier in this series, but with the team's season on the brink and Russell giving them very little, they had little choice but to do this.
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