When Mike Malone was asked why he thought about Denver’s defense, he specifically brought up Dlo:
> [“I felt we did a great job on D’Angelo Russell — so great that he wasn’t even in the game much in the second half.”](https://twitter.com/lakerssbn/status/1658720648213004288)
Lakers in the playoffs are 8-0 when Dlo scores 15 points, but winless 0-5 when he doesn’t.
KCP was matched up on Dlo to start this series, similar to how Warriors adjusted by starting to play GP2 on Dlo.
by JanuaryCarl
32 Comments
Dlo is a versatile scorer and playmaker and when you bottle him up/play him off the floor defensively, then you take away a big chunk of our attack.
He had a bad game, but he’s been largely pretty good for us in the playoffs.
Also when DLo is productive & aggressive Lebron and AD can save some extra energy for defense and late game domination.
His inconsistency drives me batshit crazy. Either be very good all the time or very bad all the time. A little of both not only messes up rotations, it’s fuckin with the Front Offices plans.
Lakers never run any action for him, he’s always just playing ISO
I think this is more on D’lo’s defense, he was being hunted on our end
tbh i think D’lo probably would work best playing with the 2nd unit or when Bron is off the floor. So, he can be a little bit more ball dominant vs being another spot up shooter
I don’t think they need DLo on the court to score against this Denver defense. More important to have a bigger body on the floor for defense.
If only you could combine the strengths of D’Angelo Russell Westbrook, that’d be an amazing player.
We just need dlo to hit his open threes
I don’t care if he doesn’t iso or gets doubled
Laker fans have a zero game leash with him. Sometimes you dont play well, it happens…
He has had so many good games for us and made a number of critical plays. Have a little faith
I didn’t realize that stat, so I’m all for DLo starting. We can’t give up on players, and I think he just had a bad game. I hope a big game from him in game 2.
There is nowhere to hide DLO on Def this series. He’s going to get cooked against any of their starters. He needs to come off the bench and anchor that unit!
I think he just missed makeable shots so I don’t know how good their defense was against him.
Defensively he needs to pay better attention to the guy he is guarding. He got beat by losing focus on a couple of plays
Bruce brown said the game plan was to attack D-Lo
On offense we should let dlo play more off ball like reaves, Lebron will be facing blitzes and doubles all series
I thought it was less KCP and more Schroder starting that totally took D’lo out of the game. He had way less opportunity. Need Schroder off the bench to cancel out Bruce Brown’s production imo.
If DLo is a consistent offensive threat and playmaker, we become close to unbeatable, honestly. He is a HUGE key for us as a viable threat from the arc. In simple terms, we need him to show up. Every night.
If Dlo is not hitting his shots then he is a super liability
He takes overly difficult shots and forces it quite a lot. His turnaround game is spotty.
I don’t think DLo and Dennis should share the court. DLo is too deferential and Dennis becomes the point or LeBron does. Without Dennis, DLo plays the 1 which is his natural position.
Starters should be DLo, Austin, Rui, LeBron, AD. DLo should run pick and roll with AD as much as possible with LeBron slashing to the hoop off ball. This gives us a unique 3 man game with outside shooting and lots of space.
Defensively, DLo is harder to attack when AD is roaming – which he can do with Rui on Jokic.
Game 1 was setup for failure because Ham struggles with making obvious adjustments until late. (Last series he kept Vando starting until G6 when it was obvious early in G2 that he was now useless and detrimental to the team)
I still feel like DLO is better when he isn’t surrounded by all of the other guards at the same time to my eyes at least.
He becomes redundant pretty quickly and can fizzle out of the game
We won game 4 against Warriors where he only scored 4 points.
How do people get simple stats wrong
Who else thinks Shroder should play less minutes?
DLo can start. He seems like the player who needs that.
Dennis was fine off the bench. He understood his role. Ham got ahead of himself by sticking Dennis in the starting lineup thinking what worked with GSW would work against DEN.
Simple adjustment would be to start Rui over Dennis. Just have DLo sub out early in the first if his shots aren’t falling. Then have him come back in late in the first to lead the bench. And have him start the second. If he’s hot, he plays more. If not, then he ain’t sniffing the 4th.
Please stop taking those turnaround jumpers. The nuggets defense is so bad at the rim that we can get attacks at the basket or leading to open threes.
Gamesmanship. I would say whatever I could to have my opponent do what I want them to do.
Lakers would be stupid to listen to your opponent and try to focus on getting DeLo more involved.
I would just go with what our game plan is and not pay much attention to what Malone says. If anything, I’d do the exact opposite of what he says is key. So basically just have him come off the bench to relieve Dennis.
If Dlo’s the key, then we’re cooked.
**Nope.** Don’t put that on 1 player. It was bad lineup to start. **Matchups matter.**
**Defense is the key to this series.** Every other Laker starter was scoring just fine. Dlo can’t be out there if his shot isn’t falling because defensively, he’s a liability. He hits his shots, the Lakers win. Then again, you start Rui, and the Lakers win. Hell, Lakers might have won starting Vando.
Unfortunately he only shows up at home. Hope he bounces back next game tho
This is why I struggle with his next contract, love him but the lows are very low
Kcp was looking at him n looking to drive… KCP. Thats how u know your D is wak.
He wasn’t in much in the second half and that’s when we made our biggest comeback