If you want more Tim & Tom content, our Discord server is the place to be. Example: with 24 bonus pods since the start of the regular season, that's an extra pod every ~2 games. Join any premium tier to get into the Discord for good: tinyurl.com/supportlakersexp…

Deuce McBride is the most Cranjis McBasketball IJ name among NBA players

Here's what the calf strain timeline data looks like. This is one of the wider range of outcomes for that middle 50%. I plan to use this tool to help ballpark what to expect for various injuries throughout the year. bball-index.com/injuries/

Denver ran aggressive coverages the ~same rates as Golden State the game prior. Just 1 handful of them included actual blitzing. It’s good to see different looks and put things on film to clean up in practice. It’s not really something to be upset about.

Kessler rightfully gets a lot of credit for cleaning up mistakes (& did a ton yesterday), but I want to shout out Jaden Hardy and Bronny James here. After Thybulle is beat, Kessler rotates to traps the box and we see Harden sink & get into the dump off guy's body + Bronny bust ass to get to the corner, w/Hardy then full sprint to closeout, Bronny good help & recover forr a heavy contest.

Wrong team, but this was sick

DeRozan had been cooking LaRavia all game so LA uses a lurker to provide deterring help. Help AROUND the paint = middle is open Denver runs a help beater and gets an easy bucket.

Maybe he's pressing and trying to prove his case to start, but Grimes is making a lot of dumb mistakes on both ends of the court lately

Ice + Drop from LA and Kessler signals to switch. AR recovers to Jokic, but Grimes is late to go from zoning up to his own man + is in a closed stance and gets back cut

Denver going 4-out 1-in with a lob threat in the short corner + deep corners running Murray/Jokic high P&R vs drop is so hard to guard. Trevon Brazile fits that dump off guy job well

In Q1 LA was consistently in drop with their Centers One benefit of drop/switching (vs hedging) is your low man doesn't need to rotate each screen and you don't need to sink or fill behind it. That's supposed to limit dump off buckets like this. Luka should stay home here.

The Lakers half court offense yesterday was a bit rough A couple screenshots from the tracker I'll be sharing with the Discord's Courtside tier this year.

Help Counter Rate for the Lakers half court offense in preseason the last 3 years: 2024-25: 52% 2025-26: 14% 2026-27: 11% This is the % of plays LA attempts a counter w/cutting and/or screening when defenses are sending proactive doubles or overloading to deter drives.

The offensive rating for the organized portion of the Lakers half court offense in preseason each of the years under JJ, as well as their Scheme Score metric grade: 2024-25: 105 (C) 2025-26: 111 (A) 2026-27: 95 (D-)

Hiding things in preseason makes no sense to me. I'd rather have reps and build proficiency in various coverages, sets, tactics, etc. The regular season is more about YOU than specific matchups. If it's game 82 of the season and you're playing your locked in R1 opponent, sure.

Quentin Grimes aborting sets to call his own number and generate no advantage 👎

The P&R screener immediately setting a down screen instead of rolling/popping is called Veer. This is LA's 2nd Veer set in the 2H from yesterday. We saw Veer action just 26 times last season in 92 games (131 ORtg on those plays).

Denver disrupts the zipper entry for LA but LA's able to get to a veer action down screen for Mamu nonetheless

Denver was so well prepared defensively yesterday. We saw some proactive iso help, saw them jump LA's out of bound plays, saw some advanced P&R coverages. Very different approach from LA not seeming to care who plays in these games nor care who the opponent is w/r/t gameplan.