How Are Lakers Surviving Without Luka & Reaves?!

This video is brought to you by Surf

Shark. More on them later. When JJ Reic

took the Lakers coaching job, fans

literally called him just a podcaster

who got hired for drinking wine with

LeBron on his podcast. And when Lakers'

offensive engines Luca Donic and Austin

Reeves got injured right before the

playoffs, everyone wrote them off in

their first round matchup against the

Houston Rockets. But fast forward to

right now, and nobody's laughing

anymore. Well, maybe they are laughing

at Houston, but not at JJ Reic as the

Lakers are up 2 and 0. Today, I'll break

down exactly how he built a defensive

scheme that broke down Kevin Durant and

turned a depleted roster into a team

that can compete in the playoffs. Let's

get into the tape. In game one, with

Kevin Durant out, JJ's first mission was

to trap Alper and Shenun and make his

life miserable. And right away, we saw

the strategy. Amen. Thompson screens.

LeBron switches onto him, but completely

fronts Shenun in the post, denying the

entry pass with Marcus Mart providing

textbook backside help. The ball swings

around and it forces a 3second violation

on offense. For the rest of the game,

whenever ShenGun tried going one-on-one,

Aan and Jackson Hayes put on a clinic

defensively. Look at all these sequences

where Aan stays perfectly in front,

refusing to bite on the fakes, forcing

tough jump hooks. Hayes did the exact

same thing using his verticality and

length to absorb contact and actually

block some shots. In fact, Chenun shot

just six for9 because JJ's guy stayed

incredibly disciplined. Reic's second

mission was building a literal wall

against a man Thompson. A man is an

incredible athlete but is not a shooter.

So, the Lakers completely disrespected

his jumper. Look at Ruy Hachimura

sagging way off, daring a man to shoot a

mid-range. That's a miss. Hachimura then

literally keeps a foot in the paint for

the whole possession. And when the ball

swings to Thompson, Ruy doesn't even

close out. He just kind of jumps up from

the distance and we see another miss.

The ultimate disrespect happens in the

fourth quarter. Amends up wide open in

the corner, but LeBron doesn't even

rotate. He just watches Amen take his

time and then airball the three. And

even when Amen actually attack the paint

going downhill, LA managed it well. Here

he gets past LeBron and even though

Capella seals Aton, LeBron miraculously

recovers for the block at the rim or we

see this beautiful contest from Marcus

Smart on the fast break. The Lakers

built a wall in the paint and Houston

had no answers offensively in game one

without Luca and Reeves. JJ Reick didn't

panic. He just let LeBron operate out of

the post and the mid-range and it was an

absolute clinic. Look at LeBron just

getting these screens, forcing switches,

and then just reigning smooth fadeaway

jumpers deep into the shot clock. Then

we see the old man strength here in the

short corner. He backs down Oki, draws

help from both Amen and Shenun and then

still finishes inside. He does the exact

same thing to Tari Een. A few minutes

later here, he bullies Jabari Smith with

a beautiful footwork for a fading hook.

And then he spins baseline on a man

Thompson for another mid-range fader. It

was just automatic in this game. But

LeBron needed help and JJ Reic unlocked

Luke Canard to punish Houston's drop

coverage.

>> He didn't see anybody there, so he took

the extra dribble and finished with

authority.

>> CANARD AGAIN. BANG. LUKE CANARD FROM

DOWNTOWN

>> HERE. Canard runs a pick and roll with

Vanderbilt. Shenun drops back into the

paint and Canard easily pulls up for the

mid-range. Then the Lakers are running a

handoff. Amen over helps on the drive,

leaving Canard wide open for the three.

In this one, Aan sets a pick. A man

tries to go under it, but Canard only

needs a split second of daylight to

drain a deep three from the top.

Finally, it came down to straight heat

check time. Canard drains two massive

three-pointers. First one, a pullup, and

then another one coming off a double

screen. He finished the game with game

high 27 points and sealed the game for

the Lakers. Before we look at the genius

decisions that JJ Reic made in game 2

and that ultimately got them the win, I

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SharkVPN and there's a 30-day money back

guarantee. Now, back to the video. Game

two is where JJ Reic truly proved his

genius. Kevin Durant came back and

Houston's first half offense actually

looked good, but only when KD played. In

fact, with Durant on the floor, they

scored 46 points in 18 minutes as he

dropped 20 without him. Well, just five

points in six minutes. But JJ Reic made

a halftime adjustment that completely

broke the Rockets. Starting in the third

quarter, Reic stopped letting KD play

one-on-one entirely. He asked his guys

to face guard, trap, and stunt Adant

constantly. Listen to this. KD attempted

only one field goal in the entire third

quarter. Like, take a look at this very

first possession. You see, Smart is

glued to KD. Then Hachimura switches on

to him and literally faceguards him on

the wing. KD is totally taken out of the

play, so Shenun is forced to play

one-on-one against Aan and throws up a

brick. Just a few possessions later,

Smart is attached again. KD gets a

screen. Canard switches onto him at the

top. And the second KD puts the ball on

the floor, Aan brings a double T. Aan

stunts again later in the play, keeping

KD out of the action and Houston ends up

missing a corner three. Then we see how

smart face guards KD again. Ethan

switches. KD tries to dribble, but then

LeBron stuns him. And if you look at Ru

Hachimura, he switches on to KD. And his

denial defense is absolutely incredible.

Shenun is desperately trying to get him

the ball, but he simply can't. And with

the shot clock dying down, Shingun has

to force an isolation drive and then

misses a jump hook. Now, this is that

one and only field goal KD even

attempted in the third quarter. Shingun

sets a screen. KD finally gets the ball,

uses a rescreen to get away from Smart

and pulls up from deep. Aton is right

there for a great contest and the shot

misses. In the fourth quarter, this

pressure just continued. Actually, KD

finished the second half with just three

points and nine turnovers. JJ Reic's

schemes made a historic scorer disappear

while Shenun kept missing makeable hooks

against LA's physical interior defense.

Offensively in game two, the Lakers ran

beautiful high pick and rolls and ran in

transition. Marcus Martin stepped up

huge with five three-pointers. Canard

kept punishing the drop coverage, but to

close the door, LeBron took over.

>> He's figuring it out here in this third.

>> Right pass.

>> Quick first step, reverse dunk. He still

does that by the way.