The Lakers' affinity for Goaltending and other quirks I miss.
An ode to the team's many swats, foibles and everything particular.
Welcome to issue #7 of Throwdowns.
First off, I hope you and yours are all doing well during this difficult time. Before we get started here, a few recommendations that have helped serve as a distraction for me while at home.
Streaming:
1) Nathan for You
If for whatever reason you missed this comedy/drama/thriller/love story during its original Comedy Central run, you can go watch the complete series on Hulu right now. The “Finding Frances” episode in particular is exceptional. Thank me later.
2) Baseball
Ken Burns’ entire landmark documentary on the sport is currently streaming for free on the PBS site. A fantastic and fitting alternative to the real thing for the time being.
3) The Decline of Western Civilization
One of the most pivotal documentaries — and films in general — of my adolescence. A sprawling, rare and earnest representation of Punk music and those directly involved. Also, the tagline is killer: “See it in the theater…WHERE YOU CAN’T GET HURT!”
Thankfully you can rent, buy or very likely find this online somewhere to view safely in your home.
Books:
1) Stealing Home - Eric Nusbaum
A deeply enriched baseball, Los Angeles and family story that I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this week. Eric is also the writer of the always excellent “Sports Stories” newsletter, and all around good guy.
2) The Wax Pack - Brad Balukjian
Jayson Stark pretty much nailed the magic behind this book within his review: “What if a pack of baseball cards could come to life? It sounds like a Spielberg movie plot, except it happened.”
I hope one of these helps take your mind off things for awhile. Going forward, I will try to offer up more recommendations with each issue. On to this one however, which is about the Lakers, and their love affair with committing violations. Let’s Throwdown.
Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Sometimes you just have to break the rules during a basketball game. Of course, within the right context.
We have all seen the head coaching trope of intentionally getting thrown out of a game for stepping over the line with the officiating staff. That key expletive, an aimed attempt — guided or mis — to stick up for their respective team, to fire them up or possibly a last ditched effort to secure that 9 pm dinner reservation. An unwritten rule that is more often than not, okay to break.
For this season’s Lakers, their fancy leaned more toward racking up violations. Goaltending ones, in particular.
Obviously not the most ideal as it essentially rewards the opposition with points, their heart was assuringly and mostly in the right place. An action that can easily be perceived as relentless effort in contesting every shot or just a mere intimidation play.
A get that shit out of here mantra that a coaching staff will gladly turn an eye to when the referee blows the whistle.
This unique tendency of this team was just one of the squad’s many trademarks. And as basketball continues to remain frozen in time, it is the quirks that have emerged as the things I have grown to miss the most.
So how much did the Lakers actually commit these violations? It turns out, a lot.
Before the stoppage of play, the Lakers led the league in goaltending violations with a whopping 38 in only 63 games played. The next closest team Miami, had 25.
To put that number 38 into better context, just one team since the 2013-14 campaign has tallied more than 40 goaltending violations in one season — last year’s Knicks (44).
Given the rate they were on, it would have likely been a safe bet that Los Angeles would have topped last season’s league leader and even given the 2011-12 Charlotte Bobcats (50) a run for their money.
Non-surprisingly, the team’s centers were the main culprits. JaVale McGee was tied (Bam Adebayo) for the league lead in goaltending calls with 17. And his backup, Dwight Howard, was not far off as he registered 13 of his own.
Yes, McGee and Howard had more goaltending calls by themselves than the entire second place Heat squad. But also, more than the Clippers, Suns, Nets and Thunder teams combined!
For McGee and Howard, this was no outlier. As Ian Levy recently pointed out in his article, since 2008 the only player with more goaltending violations than McGee’s 240 is you guessed it — Howard with 328.
While the number and context in itself is surprising, the violations ultimately are a side effect that comes with also leading the league in blocks and possessing a jumbo-sized roster.
Beside goaltending, there are other things I have found myself missing about this team lately. Which reminiscing now, made me realize how much fun they actually were.
The wins were obviously great, but as were the lovable and annoying habits. While not equally, they still represented an important ingredient to what made this club unique.
Aspects like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s misadventures in transition, Alex Caruso finding himself on the floor every 5-10 seconds and Frank Vogel’s ability to smile through literally anything were all a piece of clothing in their ensemble.
Little joyous intricacies in a year that found itself filled with an inordinate amount of hardship.
We ultimately may never get another minute of this squad as it is currently constructed, nor will we potentially see if they could have won the whole thing, but based on what they were able to do for a city when it needed them the most, will undoubtedly live on in fans’ hearts and minds forever.
This has been Throwdowns. If you enjoyed this, or any other post in the archive, please feel free to share it on social media or with your friends and family. It is greatly appreciated.
If you have any questions, concerns, feedback or want to send me recent work for consideration in future “recommended reading” installments, feel free to email me: Alexm.regla@gmail.com. As always, thank you.