All eyes were on the John Wall vs Ricky Rubio matchup in Dallas
The scorn came fast and furious, reviling the Lakers for shipping Chandler Parsons and Ish Smith for Ricky Rubio. Massive overpay, they said. Rubio is overrated and too much like much-maligned Rajon Rondo they said (There's something about those floor general defensive specialists and double Rs, it seems). Questions abounded, even privately within the organization - how would they handle the loss of leading scorer Parsons? Would Rubio's poor shooting doom them, despite Terry Stotts' confidence that he could control the Spaniard's attempts, even though few other have been able to? Couple that with a tough home game against the widely praised Orlando Magic (#6 in recent GM Power Rankings) and the start of a rough road trip against the revamped Dallas Mavericks, featuring a litany of former Lakers (Parsons, Smith, Victor Oladipo), and the writing was there for a freefall into the lottery standings.
But then Stotts got the team fired up, Rubio in particular, by pointing out the disrespect. Prove the haters wrong. Go out and kick ass. In the coaching offices, Stotts and his staff worked more closely with the scouting department than they've ever done at any point since he took over. With the Purple and Gold falling behind early in the playoff race, and having the further disadvantage of an early home schedule and games played, each and every contest was going to be critical. Prophetic words indeed.
Game 1: Paul George sat out with injury, a major boon that made gameplanning much easier. Particularly since Magic coach Jeff Van Gundy has been utilizing strange lineups all season long. End result? A box-to-wire, dominating 20 point win, headlined by Los Angeles forcing Orlando to just 38% shooting, and 27 shots behind the arc at 25.9%. The matchup featured the doppelgangler point guards in Ricky Rubio and Rajon Rondo. They cancelled each other out, as did DeMarcus Cousins and Larry Sanders. That left it to Delon Wright (26 points, 3 steals on 9 of 14 shooting) and Julius Randle (23 points, 23 rebounds and living at the FT line for PotG honors) to carry the scoring load. Only Brook Lopez was magical for Orlando - a game-high 28 points and 10 rebounds on 50% shooting from the floor. The game was also notable for Lucas Nogueira getting his first meaningful minutes of the year - notching 4 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks in 14 minutes, hitting 2 of his 3 attempts.
Delon Wright has sparkled since the trade
Heading into the first game of a four game road trip, one of two the Lakers are taking this month, Terry Stotts knew it was going to be a tough order trying to beat the Mavericks. Priority #1: Limit John Wall and Dion Waiters. The staff still remembered Wall blitzing them for 39 points vs San Antonio (A balanced offense and Shabazz Napier's 6th man heroics saved the day in that one), and a repeat performance couldn't happen. So they gameplanned around that, bracing themselves for a dogfight.
And a dogfight it was - Down by 6 at the half, Dallas narrowly taking the first two quarters, the Lakers came out with a third quarter surge, and in the end did just enough to walk out with a nasty 89-87 win. Delon Wright had his second straight brilliant game, racking up 23 points on former Laker Victor Oladipo, hitting 10 of 19 from the floor. Julius Randle posted yet another double - 13 points and 12 rebounds, again living at the charity stripe. But it was a second consecutive defensive highlight - the Mavericks shot just 36.3% - the second game in a row the Purple and Gold held opponents under 39% shooting. The gameplan worked - John Wall did score 20, but needed a flawless 10/10 night at the line - held to 5 of 15 otherwise and also coughing up a season-high 7 turnovers as he played all 48 minutes. Dion Waiters also had his worst game of the year - 1 of 10 from the floor and 1 of 4 from 3 point range - held to just 6 points. And while he didn't shoot well, rookie Nikola Mirotic contributed defensively and in multiple areas in finishing with 12 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, a steal and 2 blocks. In addition to shutting down Wall, Rubio hit 50% for 10 points, 5 assists, and 2 steals.
The win gave the Lakers temporary possession of the 8th seed, though Stotts cautioned the fans not to dream of playoffs just yet. "It's a long way to go yet," he said, "And with as many road games as we have this month, our record is probably going to drop again. But we're confident we'll still be in the mix at season's end. We just have to approach this game by game, and not get caught up in anything else. And we're also happy to see Delon step up - one of the reasons we dealt Chandler away was to give Wright more opportunities, and that's worked out well thus far."
But for now at least, with two victories over much more lauded teams, including one ranked as an Elite, the Purple and Gold can silence a few of their haters as they appear to be taking on the mantle of a defensive, bruising squad. Up next - the original defenders in the Grizzlies, the road trip continuing in Memphis.
2028
I also can't remember the shortcut for umlauts. I don't think Rubio fit well in Dallas, TBH, especially not with Oladipo off to the coldest start of his career. They'll be fine by the end of the season, and I expect them to be in the playoffs if they can find the right PF and move Porzingod to C. Team is way too talented to be in the lottery, and Brett's smart enough to get it figured out. It's just an adjustment period ATM.
