Getty Terance Mann of the LA Clippers and Devontae Cacok of the Los Angeles Lakers fight for a rebound.
The Lakers lost out on Kawhi Leonard to the Clippers and were ALMOST able to at least get back a small sliver of revenge against Clippers in the Las Vegas Summer League. Despite the Clippers jumping out to an early lead, the Lakers once again showed off their mettle and battled back from a deep hole to nearly overcome the much more talented team. Unfortunately, the Laker comeback effort fell just short as the Lakers fall to 0-2 in their Vegas Summer League run.
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Takeaways From Lakers Comeback Win Over Clippers In Vegas Summer League
Your daily Devontae Cacok dunk highlight.
#LakeShow (📺: ESPNU)
The Good
– Devontae Cacok is an absolute beast. Whenever he checks into the game he makes his presence immediately known with impact plays on both ends of the floor. He is still incredibly raw both offensively and defensively but has an infectious energy you simply cannot teach. Expect the Lakers to try and groom him in the G-League before eventually letting him have a crack at the NBA level possibly as soon as next season.
– As a team, the Lakers just don’t have any quit. Despite getting out to an ugly start that saw the Clippers build a massive lead, the Lakers slowly whittled down the lead and eventually tied the game in the third quarter before pressuring the Clippers the entire way down the stretch. This bunch has a knack for surviving some ferocious runs and doesn’t get mentally rattled very easily.
– Aric Holman finally showed up to play and gave the Lakers some quality minutes. The stretch big man does a great job at opening up the floor for drives to the rim and finally knocked down the majority of his open looks. He hit the boards hard and if he gives more efforts like this one, expect Holman to possibly find himself with a role in the NBA down the line.
The Bad
– Where have you gone, Joe Young? Young struggled shooting the ball once again (outside of a hail mary highlight fadeaway) and the veteran scorer doesn’t seem to be able to hang with today’s younger crop of players – despite winning All-League honors in Summer League 2015 as a rookie. Young is coming off a year where he torched defenses in China and seemed primed for a comeback, however, it doesn’t look like that comeback is going to happen with the Lakers. Even after scoring a team-high 17 points, he didn’t get those buckets efficiently and isn’t performing at the level a vet of his caliber should be in Summer League.
– Basically all the rest of today’s starters. In addition to Young’s struggles – Caroline, Johnson, Mathias, and Perkins all struggled to an extent. Perkins rebounded well and Mathias was efficient from deep but the unit struggled defensively. The defense on the Lakers’ starting unit is a major issue and despite minor tweaks and a rest day for Zach Norvell Jr., they can’t seem to figure out the right rotations.