Emmanuel Mudiay relished this matchup against the more heralded George DePaula
In the warmups before the Lakers/Knicks game, Emmanuel Mudiay looked over at George DePaula taking a shot and smiled. "I've been waiting for this one for a while now," he said. "We've both played pretty well recently, but I want to go out there and show him I'm better."
Across the arena, the Knicks coaching staff was huddled in a last-minute going over their new strategy. Play in a half-court defense and go up-tempo. Use the quicker pace to force a shootout and a much greater use of zone to force Mudiay into 3 point shots, letting his reported propensity for turnovers take care of itself. Troy Daniels? Not an issue. As well as he'd been playing, he wasn't aggressive enough to do any damage.
The first quarter was a see-saw affair that ended up knotted at 33 and portended a close game. Then the Lakers pulled away in the second, 35-27, and after taking that 8 point lead in the second quarter, expanded on it in the third with a 23-18 margin that saw both teams actually play some defense. Fourth quarter bookended with a 27-27 draw, the home team's efforts to get back into it unable to overcome the 13 point deficit. 118-105 Purple and Gold win.
The Undercard Battle
Ironically, Ivan Rabb was the one who drew contact, earning 7 free throw attempts and making 5. He also shot 50% (6 of 12) on his way to a 17 point, 10 rebound double-double. Cheick Diallo was a near-mirrored image, his own double-double consisting of 10 points, 15 rebounds, a steal, and a block. He himself was 4 of 10 from the floor, a 40% rate closer to Rabb's season average, just as the Cal alum's 50% was closer to Diallo's average.
In essence, their total contributions cancelled each other out and that's not going to put to rest the belief that these two are the CSL's Geminis. In an online poll of the matchup, Rabb won a slight majority of the vote - 53% to 47% - and that seemed about right to me. Points are sexier than rebounds, and Rabb was more explosive and more efficient, though the gap was narrow.
The Marquee Matchup
Then there was the title bout - the fight everyone came to see. Would George DePaula continue the recent rediscovery of asserting himself? Would Emmanuel Mudiay's newfound hot touch stay fiery? The answer to the first was no, and the answer to the second was yes. Congo absolutely dominated Brazil, Mudiay torching DePaula for 31 points, 6 assists, 4 steals, and a block on 13/21 shooting (3 turnovers), while forcing his New York opposite to a 4 of 12 shooting night, 0 for 4 from 3 point range with 4 turnovers. On the plus side of the column DePaula did manage a poor man's double-double of 10 points, 11 assists, and 2 steals - his second straight double-double.
Mudiay took home Player of the Game honors, continuing his torrid shooting of late by hitting 61.9% of his shots. Meanwhile, DePaula continued to play somewhat passively (his 12 FGA was half Terrance Pettaway's 24 and tied with Rabb and Joseph Young), but at least got his teammates involved more by racking up the assists.
No question as to who won this one, though. Mudiay again championed the Lakers to a win. 5-10 now (33.3% - the previous article had a math error) in the new PG's reign, which would be 7th worst applied over the season and just behind the New York Knicks. Too late in the year to hope for Most Improved Player honors, but he's quickly putting himself on the shortlist for the award next season.
And now the teams are tied, and the way their trajectories are going, the defending champion Phoenix Suns could well end up with the #1 pick heading into the lottery - the ultimate definition of the rich getting richer.
