Lakers News: What The Heck Happened In That Overtime Period?
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Tonight, your Los Angeles Lakers fumbled away a potential surprise victory on the road against the Philadelphia 76ers, despite having rallied from an 18-point fourth-quarter deficit all the way to a 120-120 tie to force overtime at the end of regulation. The Lakers would go on to be brutally outscored, 13-2, in the extra five minutes, and fell 133-122 to Philly. It's the team's third straight loss, on the heels of a run of three straight wins. L.A. is now just 2-3 on its current six-game road trip.
A big part of that miserable overtime run fell to some key personnel decisions from Lakers head coach Darvin Ham, in addition to some clear fatigue on the part of the Los Angeles players on the floor, who seemed somewhat spent.
The Lakers failed to score across seven (!) consecutive offensive possessions, partly because Ham for some reason insisted on surrounding LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Austin Reaves with non-shooters Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley throughout the final frame. James's shot had not been falling all night, and this writer questioned why he at the very least didn't receive a breather after clearly looking exhausted during the extra period. Ultimately he would take and miss two field goals in overtime.
Tough defense and shotmaking (especially from James Harden and De'Anthony Melton) led to a brutal 12-0 Philadelphia run to start the overtime period.
The Lakers shot just 1-of-10 in the overtime frame, while letting the Sixers get whatever they wanted at the other end. The Sixers shot minimally from the field, going just 3-of-4 in the overtime, but James Harden and De'Anthony Melton also generated a ton of their offense at the line, where they went 7-of-7.
Ironically, that lone made L.A. field goal came from the player this writer would have preferred to have been watching the action from the bench: starting guard Patrick Beverley, who has had a horrible start on offense to his 11th NBA season, despite remaining a tenacious defender -- although his defense on James Harden sure didn't seem to dissuade the All-Star in the overtime period.
After having an excellent first four quarters of ball, L.A. guard Austin Reaves fell apart in the overtime frame, showing the wear and tear of playing a team-high 40:50. He coughed the ball up three times and missed his sole field goal try, after having gone 9-of-14 in regulation for 25 points.
Beyond Darvin Ham not seeming to appreciate that he needed to make some tweaks to his rotation after L.A.'s listless start in the overtime period, there was one other key issue that struck this writer: starting L.A. small forward Lonnie Walker IV needed to play over Beverley or Westbrook (ideally over Beverley), or at least to split minutes with one or both members of that duo. Walker had fresher legs and is, by far, one of the team's better outside shooters ((he is nailing 37.6% of his 5.3 triples a night).
Beyond the lack of occasional rotational relief and a total Lonnie Walker deficit, it's pretty clear that L.A. is missing at least one elite shooter along the perimeter. The Lakers need to make a trade, let's be real. Anthony Davis is just playing too darn well for the team to not help him out in late-game situations.
