A lot of the attention has naturally gone to the Los Angeles Lakers trading for Luka Doncic that their acquisition of Dorian Finney-Smith has largely gone under the radar.
Finney-Smith has made a big impact since joining the team though as his +162 plus/minus ranks second on the team behind only Austin Reaves. His shooting has been inconsistent, but his defensive impact and intangibles have been exactly what the Lakers need.
That was evident in the Lakers’ win over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night as despite scoring just two points, Finney-Smith made a huge impact, particularly down the stretch in the fourth quarter. It’s little things like offensive rebounding, setting screens, coming up with steals and deflections that don’t end up in the box score but still impact winning that Finney-Smith always seems to do.
“We don’t win the game if Bron doesn’t take over, we don’t win the game if Doe doesn’t make three massive plays,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said after the win. “I’ve got another one that won’t show up on a box score. But Luka drives against the switch. … Luka gets the layup. He finally gets an actual dunk on the tip dunk, and not just touching the rim, while he puts the ball through and then, and then the back tap steal on Kyrie [Irving] that led to a Rui [Hachimura] basket. So I just thought he led the charge down the stretch of just making winning basketball plays.”
Redick has a previous relationship with Finney-Smith as they were teammates on the Mavericks, which allows him to coach him hard.
“I would say, with Doe, occasionally he needs some; what’s the opposite of gentle? Harsh needling, but he can take it, and then he just, he’s right back at it,” Redick said. “He normally does a fantastic job of just setting the tone with his toughness. We had some fun yesterday with the team, defining what a banshee is in different cultures and finding what a banshee is in Laker culture. And I think Doe is a banshee; he leads that charge for us. Sets the tone with with winning basketball plays.”
The Lakers have been looking for a 3-and-D wing for a handful of years now, and it appears they finally have one they can rely on.
LeBron James praises what Dorian Finney-Smith brings to Lakers
LeBron James, who is used to being guarded by Finney-Smith when he was on the opposing team, also shared praise for his teammate and what he has brought to the Lakers.
“We knew exactly what we were getting when we got him,” James said. “We knew we’d get things in the boxscores and then there would be things that didn’t show up in the boxscore. He’s just a winning player, he makes winning plays. And like you said, those three plays right there down the stretch, the Gortat screen getting Luka that layup when the game was tied, I drove left on one of my possessions and missed a floater and he tip-dunked it in, and then to be able to get a tip from behind that got us another easy basket, three of the biggest plays of the game.
“So when you got guys like Doe Doe, you just always know he’s gonna make winning plays no matter if it’s in the first or the fourth quarter.”
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