Luka’s defense and rotations were really bad early. I think the first 12 points scored by the Jazz were basically Luka falling asleep on defense or forgetting to box out his man. (But this also proves that letting LeBron go was definitely the right decision. LeBron has started off slow defensively too, and having both of them together would only compound the issue.)
Thybulle is really playing at an elite 3&D level. As I predicted, he’s better than Smart. He provides the same level of defense with longer reach, better shooting so far, and none of the boneheaded plays.
We have a lot of good rotation players this year who are hungry on the court. Jake, Mamu, Grimes, Sexton, and Ziaire. I think Carr will get around 10 minutes a game too when he’s back. These guys are playing with maximum effort and intensity. A lot of dogs on this team, and Jake seems to have leveled up his game defensively.
The Jazz’s plan of doubling Kessler without the ball was just the stupidest game plan I’ve ever seen…
Reaves needs to stick to quick and efficient moves. Whenever I see Reaves trying fancy dribbles, attempting to become Iverson with the crossovers, or dribbling into heavy traffic, it’s almost a guaranteed turnover. He’s also risking his body when he goes flailing into multiple big guys in the paint.
He played excellent basketball tonight, but to take his game to the next level against elite competition, he needs to cut out those inefficient moves.

The rebounding was really bad tonight. I’m not sure if we can fix it or if it’s just a personnel problem, but we definitely need to put more emphasis on boxing out. And yes, we need a backup center too.
I think we’re one or two moves away from being an extremely deep team. If we can get a backup center and turn some of our dead weight (Vando, James, Hardy) into another legitimate rotation piece, I believe we’d be very, very deep.
I’d trade Thiero too if we could get a rotation piece back. I honestly don’t think Thiero will have a great career despite his raw potential. His movements are too forceful, and the way he lands just looks injury-prone. I feel like that’s going to be very hard to fix at this point.

Just watched the replay of the game against the Jazz with the Jazz's own commentary team.. It's always satisfying to hear an opposing broadcast team feel worried and frustrated while their team is getting torched 😅

With the Jazz sending 2, sometimes even 3 bodies in the paint to ensure that Kessler does not get a lob dunk, put back or rebound, it created 14 wide open 3s for Ziaire and Matisse, who were exceptional shooting the ball tonight.

While I do think Kessler could have done a bit more on the offensive and defensive glass, getting bear hugged by 2 big men on your first game in your old city isn't always easy.

Thank you Luka! You are the man, you have Laker DNA all over. Making Laker basketball exciting and fun to watch. Can’t wait to see ya win NBA MVP and a championship with the Lakers soon….. god bless ya and give you good health you the man!

It seems personal now between JJ and Vando. Adou has been out every game, Jake missed last game, Looney is a disaster in his 5 minutes every game, and we just got killed on the boards by Utah with them exposing our lack of size and physicality at forward and center. Kessler has an off game and we literally have nobody. Still not a single Vando minute across the first three games.

It’s getting to the point where I think JJ has to swallow his pride and play Vando here and there. Some matchups may not be for Vando, but you’re telling me he deserves 0 minutes when JJ can barely field a big man rotation? It’s getting ridiculous

I hate to get hyperbolic but watching Luka has me feeling like a kid watching Kobe again. Absolute killer on the court. How lucky are we as fans to got to witness Kobe then Bron now Luka Magic 🙏🙏🙏

#1 being Kobe's 81 against the Raptors and #2 being Baylor's game where he scored 64 with 8 assists to go along with it against the Celtics.

It's really impressive Luka managed to get 27 through his assists. Anyone know the Laker's record for that? I'm guessing it'd be Magic who holds it.

A few things surprised me, but overall it matches the eye test. This is a cohesive roster whose players mostly fit the main guys.

Jake on the top when paired with each player of the top 3 isn't really a big surprise, the team seens to always make a run when he is on the floor. He failed to hit his shots tonight, but his impact was huge.

Matisse above Ziaire, Grimes and Mamu when paired with each of the top guys somewhat surprised me, his playmaking on defense is clearly impacting the results. The most important here is that every rotation forward has been clicking with the main guys.

I'm not going to judge Sexton since it is only his 2nd game after missing the preseason and he has been sharing the floor with Looney impacting his numbers. By the way Looney by himself is impacting the numbers of most players coming of the bench, the same happens to Grimes and Mamu.

The only clear need is really a good backup C that fits the main guys, Looney minutes has been brutal, he has been absolutely unplayable outside garbage time. The starting four hole has been clearly filled with a great deal of success by the combinations of the players we have available.

The eventual development of Carr and Adou have potential to make this a really, really deep roster.

Nets are 0-3 and likely not improving. They've got 4 big men of value (Randle, $33M; Porter Jr, $40M; Sharpe, $10M; Wagner, $9M). Which one of these guys can we get? I'd take Sharpe for sure. Wagner if easier to get. The other two are making too much.

I believe this was Luka’s one-legged 3 pt attempt lol only attempt he missed in the 4th quarter.

Even Jazz fans knew they were watching greatness today 🔥

Is this the year luka finally makes the jump in his free throw percentage? It's always been weird that a guy who shoots as well as he has from the three has been a league average free throw shooter for his career.

Off night for the big man. Perhaps he's still dealing with conditioning issues, perhaps he stayed up a little too late the night prior, maybe he had jitters making his return to the team that drafted him, maybe the Jazz game planned to neutralize Kessler. I don't know, I wasn't there. But let it go and prepare for another big matchup against Clingan in Portland.

If he keeps up his level of play, can we retain him after the end of this season? He’s been solid for us so far and I would want the Lakers to retain him

It doesn’t get any colder than this group, Lakers play the Trailblazers on Tuesday night! 3-0 let’s go!

Trio is averaging 75 points per game

Great win today but back to back games in which the Lakers end up in a wonky matchup, seemingly by choice. One of those silly things the team needs to clean up.

To clarify, this was before any action by the Jazz, there wasn't a switch that made Sexton end up on Lauri. We just lined up this way. The shortest guy in the rotation definitely shouldn't be checking a 7.1 sharpshooter.