If we get LaVine, i will cry myself to sleep every night

We coming for the Pistons streak

Lakers lose. They'll be back at OKC on Saturday to finish their 3-game trip.

Darvin Ham noted postgame that he prefers to keep Austin Reaves in the 27-to-28-minute range as it keeps him “fresh” and “efficient.”

D’Angelo Russell has been in a shooting slump of late (18 ppg in Nov., 9 ppg in Dec.), and while he found his rhythm in the 4th Q tonight, he said he expects more from himself.

“I’ve just gotta be better. No excuses.”

Austin Reaves on his recent scoring stretch:

"I feel good. Confident, playing the game the right way. Game feels like it's in the right spot, shot feels good... Now it's just about figuring out how to win these games, that's all that matters to me."

Darvin Ham on tonight's loss

Prince is a better and more consistent shooter than Rui and a more mobile defender.

Rui struggles guarding fast wings.

You also can't start him at PF because Lebron is at the position.

He deserves more minutes but he's in a tough situation.

It's up to Ham to give him more looks and get him more involved in the offense when he's coming off the bench.

Anthony Davis:

"It sucks to lose. Four in a row is tough, obviously you want to get back in the win column... But I think overall our effort was there tonight."

Anthony Davis added that the Lakers are looking at Saturday's game in OKC as a must-win after losing four in a row.

Rui Hachimura with an update on his back after his scary fall: "It's sore, but I think it'll be fine. Next day, probably, tomorrow, gonna be sore. But should be fine. It was my back and kind of my wrist. I just got an X-ray and everything. It was fine. Bones are fine."

Rui Hachimura: “This is a hard time right now for us. We just got to get through it”

AD on the lineups:

DLO went from saying he wants to be Derrick White to talking like this

Teams cooked

We need a young superstar man i want our own luka, ja, sga, or ant type player. Tired of watching injured hofers and mid role players.

bro really left that s*** in the preseason

DLO failed us the first time as a #2 pick
DLO failed us the second time against the Nuggets last year in the playoffs. We beat the nuggets and win the title if DLO stepped up

Reaves balled out in the playoffs. yet he is benched. I get you want to have a stud 6th man, but f that. your best players need to be getting the minutes and play off each other. this should be the lineup

C- AD
PF- Lebron
SF- RUI- another guy who should be starting. he's better than Prince. He should have a bigger role
SG- CAM- he's fine for 3&D
PG- Reaves- Reaves bigger then DLO, more athletic combo guard too. DLO is too inconsistent and slow

Bench
C- Hayes- need to try to build up his confidence or trade for someone at deadline. Play him and see if he improves by deadline
PF- Prince - solid backup
SF- Vandy- needs to get healthy but solid defender and backup
SG- DLO - he becomes our scorer off the bench. bench players don't have to be as consistent. DLO would be instant offense
PG- Vincent- hopefully he gets better. Could also slide DLO to PG and play Max if Vincent doesn't do anything

Thoughts

Team needs a big or AD is going to get worn down.

Gabe Vincent is probable

Anthony Davis, LeBron James, and Rui Hachimura are listed as questionable

You can't play DLO and Reaves together unless you have a defender like Vando to cover up their mistakes. Right now he's not 100% so who knows when he's gonna start.

Reaves is getting better but DLO is a better playmaker than Reaves right now and has been feeding AD more.

The problem is DLO is inconsistent, which is why I'm hoping Gabe Vincent can take his minutes when he's playing like trash.

Reaves was move to the bench for defensive reasons and for him to get the ball more. It's been working. As long as he gets minutes and finishes the game, it doesn't matter if he starts.

No idea why he didn't get more mins last night but it looks like Ham wanted to give DLO a chance to work through it. But yea that can't happen again.

You have Prince at PF.. Prince cant guard power forwards. Rui can though since he's bigger, which is why he's better off the bench at PF. I've said this before but Rui has problem with fast wings and can't chase them down like Prince can.

Prince is average as a defender and makes mistakes but hes been the Lakers best shooter. He's shooting 38% from 3 on high volume and needs to be in the starting lineup next to Lebron and DLO. The problem is he's getting too many minutes.

Hayes shouldn't be in the rotation honestly. He fouls too much, doesn't rebound, has moments when he doesn't even try on defense, poor awareness and can't shoot 3s.

Only reason why Ham still gives him minutes is because he's good at rolling to the basket and he gets dunks. He's also good for switching purposes but hes trash and you can't play him in the playoffs.

The guy that should be getting mins at center is Christian Wood.

The problem with him on the offensive end is that he has moments when he f***s up the offense by turning it over after he tries to get by his man.

That's why Ham needs to have a clear defined role for him and put him in the post or have him at the three point line so we can space the floor.

Wood aint perfect but Ham also isn't using him correctly.

He benched Wood after he started shooting like s*** from 3 but when guys like DLO, Reaves and Prince have bad shooting stretches, they still get their minutes.

Wood also doesn't get rewarded when he plays well. This has been a constant thing since the beginning of the season.

He had a decent game in the Spurs game when AD was out (17 points; 2/5 from 3) and next game, Ham decides to go small against Drummond and Vucevic and doesn't play him or Hayes. Very inconsistent with how he's dealing with Wood.

We need to trade for a better one at the deadline. F*** all that Lavine trade talk.

In the meantime, Ham needs to use Wood better.

No reason why we should be going small with Lebron, Vando, and Rui at the center position against Drummond and Vucevic.

We won a championship with Lebron, AD, and role players.

Then reached the WCF with Lebron, AD, and role players.

We just need healthy consistent role players.

Lebron, AD, and Reaves can take us to the promise land if everyone else including Ham gets better and more consistent.

We can get a young superstar to pair with AD after Lebron retires.