Tonight, the Lakers had a grand opportunity to end the year on a high note. They had all the ingredients – A new look side after the shocking trade of D’Angelo Russell that welcomed Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton into the LA roster. But it didn’t make an immediate difference one would expect. Well, they faced the Cleveland Cavaliers. However, after the game, one of the debutants known for his 3&D forte trashed JJ Redick’s team’s perimeter while speaking about the side’s defeat.

Going up against Donovan Mitchell & Co., a team has to get their perimeter defense on point or else they’ve to prepare themselves for the raining buckets from the arc. The Lakers had a similar fate tonight. The Wine & Gold team rained down 18 three-pointers on the Lakers without giving them time to breathe. On the other hand, LeBron and Co. could only convert 9 three-pointers in their 35 attempts. They took 11 attempts less than the table-toppers…

Notably, the Lakers recorded a poor three-point metric of 25.7% in their first game without D’Angelo Russell, who was touted as their long-range specialist, despite his inconsistencies. Nevertheless, Dorian Finney-Smith, who replaced D’Lo on the roster, had something harsh to say about the team’s perimeter shooting. He didn’t hesitate while being candid about the 8 players who played alongside him.

“They made tough shots. They made a bunch of threes and we didn’t… We shot like 20 20-something from the three. That’s tough. That’s tough to win the NBA. With everybody bombing threes we ain’t got nothing to go in,” said DFS after his first Lakers game.

Importantly, analysts, speaking about Dorian Finney-Smith’s inclusion, spoke highly of his shooting prowess. Apart from his dominant defensive plays, the hoopster has an impressive shooting percentage from the arc. He’s recorded a near career-high stat line of 45.9% from the field and 43.5% from the arc this season. However, tonight, in his 20-minute stay on the court, Finney-Smith attempted only two shots from the deep and missed both of them. The star ended his Lakers’ debut with 2pts, 2rbs, and 2asts.

Despite the trashing, DFS dropped hope on the Lakers’ future

After trading D’Angelo Russell, the Lakers have one big loophole. The LA team lost their second unit orchestrator. Speaking of D’Lo’s absence, Coach Redick said, “We’re gonna miss a lot from DLo… I think with the way we substitute and the way we’ve kind of evolved with some of the non-starting lineups and how those things go, AR and LeBron will be out there sometimes together, and sometimes on their own. So they’re gonna have as much, if not more, responsibility in terms of playmaking. AD as well.”

While JJ Redick has shared the D’Lo-orchestrator responsibility across his three key pillars in LA, the three-point shooting still looks unclear. Apart from LeBron James‘ 3-6 triples and Anthony Davis‘ 2 of 4 from deep range, none of the players really made any impact in that aspect of the game. Notably, Dalton Knecht, who recently impressed everyone with his long-range shooting, went 0-5.

Nevertheless, Dorian Finney-Smith made a promising statement after his critical judgment of the team’s shooting. The hoopster added, “We got great looks and coach said it, we got great looks, we battle better. Every time they made a run, we made one and they’re number 1 in the league for a reason.” What do you make of DFS’ candidness? Let us know in the comments.