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and Luka can own them again in the playoffs |
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I am the opposite of you, I think they a low chance to win against Denver but can and probably will beat OKC. |
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They were never going to shut down Jokic. They didn't get it done with Davis, they weren't going to get it done with Williams either. The idea isn't to beat him on the defensive side of the ball -- it's to wear him out on the offensive side of the ball and simply to pressure the guys bringing the ball up in such a way that prevents him from handling the entire game. Bottom line is that Jokic is getting 30-12-10 whether you want him to or not. He got it against KAT in the playoffs last season. He did BETTER than that against Davis. He's going to get his. So you try something else. If he can manage 40-15-15 for a series, you lose. But I don't think he will. I think he'll do the same thing against LAL that he was doing when we HAD Davis. But now we may just have the passing and perimeter shooting to answer back. |
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Free agent 7-footer Alex Len will sign with the Los Angeles Lakers, agent Mike Lelchitski tells ESPN. Len intended to sign with the Pacers but has decided to land in LA after the Lakers rescinded the Mark Williams trade and created new opportunity. <a href="https://t.co/pjqV5HaK4n">pic.twitter.com/pjqV5HaK4n</a></p>— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a href="https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1889435463615959132?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Boom, there's your Jokic stopper. https://www.landofbasketball.com/gam...oogle_vignette |
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I still think they'll try to go small to go around Jokic rather than through him, but we'll see. I think folks forget that the 'small ball' Lakers are pretty goddamn big. James: 6'9" Luka: 6'7" Rui: 6'8" DFS: 6'7" Reaves: 6'5" That's just a LOT of length in the passing lanes. No, there's not some massive 7 footer in the middle in that lineup but that's not the goal with that defensive alignment. They're just looking to get in the way of things when they do that. And now if they WANT to go big, they have that 7 footer in Len. Hayes is a 7 footer (though I think he's more like 6'11" with a bit more wingspan than that). Even Vanderbilt is 6'8" and Knecht 6'6". If you look at a 10 man rotation they have ONE guy who's shorter than 6'5" in Gabe Vincent at 6'2". It's a BIG team. But it doesn't have to be. They have a lot of versatility they can use. They're far better situated to take on Denver now than they have been in the past. |
I wonder if they still have room under the 2nd apron to convert Jordan Goodwin's deal into a full-time contract to potentially have him available in the playoffs to absorb some of the perimeter defense responsibilities off the bench that they lost with Christie.
Goodwin ain't as good as he's been, but he's a tenacious defender with pretty quick hands from what I've seen. That's not the worst use of their remaining space. They waived Wood to make room for Len (so Wood must be cooked at this point) but they could probably waive Markieff Morris or even Cam Reddish if they wanted to clear the roster spot to convert Goodwin. And he'd be far more likely to give them viable rotation minutes than either of those guys. |
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Jokic Wemby Davis Who else is there? I mean Sabonis is good but he ain't gonna make the post-season in all probability (if he does, it may come at the expense of Dallas and Davis). Am I supposed to lose sleep over Sengun? Gobert? And if LA gets to the finals, Adebayo won't be there with Miami. So that leaves KAT with the Knicks. {shrug} It's just not something we need to worry a great deal about. There was one guy likely to be a problem in Jokic and he was a problem BEFORE we moved Davis. |
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I'm simply saying it's possible. And that the lack of a true dominant defensive center isn't ultimately what will make the difference either way. |
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It will take Luka having his best playoff perfomance ever, but it's possible. |
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Honestly, I think it's just gonna come down to OKC being a little fools gold. If they're as good as their metrics say they are, LA can't beat them even if Luka has his best series. If they're aren't, I'm not sure Luka has to be any better than his historical averages in the post-season to beat them. But I'm obviously biased. I thought LAL had the talent to be the 4 seed LAST season and got Darvin'd into the play-in. I've liked a lot of the guys on this roster for longer than many. I just don't think this Lakers team was ever as mediocre as they looked last season at least when they were healthy. And right now they're pretty damn healthy. |
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I was wanting to get rid of Giddey for years. They did. They signed two guys that are a perfect fit. They are the top rated team EVER and Chet and Hartenstein have both been out a large portion of the season and have only played together once before yesterday. It will take a tall order or catastrophic injury to derail The Thunder. |
Bulls were down 71-29 at half
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The tanking Raptors just beat a full strength 76ers team, Philly might want to break up that team at some point
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OKC getting exposed tonight.
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Hey how did the Lakers do on the road vs the Utah Jazz last night? Heard Bronny got his season high! Must have been a great game. |
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Stockton, Malone, Jeff Hornacek.
Greg Foster |
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Lakers sure do get talked about a lot in this thread. More then any other team.
Hell I'm talking about them right now. |
Based on the early results for GS, I was completely wrong about the Butler trade. He has been really good and they are back to winning.
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That team has flaws that are probably fatal, but the alternative was just packing it in completely and doing a rebuild. Might as well try to do one last playoff run in the next year or two before Steph is done. |
A white dude won the slam dunk contest tonight. WTF???
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Not even a real NBA player WTF isn't Ant in there? |
I didn’t watch a single minute of that tonight and I’m sort of their target audience, not a great sign
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Shandon Andersen |
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">LeBron says he was hoping he would feel good enough to play this morning, and that it was more important for him to prepare for the stretch run with the Lakers trying to make the playoffs than to push it and play today.<br><br>He says he hopes to be available Wednesday. <a href="https://t.co/PIHlrbe4xG">https://t.co/PIHlrbe4xG</a></p>— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) <a href="https://twitter.com/TimBontemps/status/1891273696083349641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
LeBron has his eyes on the real prize this year, another NBA title. |
So this format isn’t working either.
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At least the young stars got Curry/Durant/Lillard trying for a few minutes there right now |
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Pro Bowl, All Star Game, etc all have the same problem.
You can’t incentivize these guys to care enough to risk injury for it. |
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Only other country with enough players to fill an entire roster is Canada. |
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">LEBRON JAMES JUST MURDERED MARK WILLIAMS!!!! 😭😭😭😭 <a href="https://t.co/WpNzIBpmWu">pic.twitter.com/WpNzIBpmWu</a></p>— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) <a href="https://twitter.com/LakeShowYo/status/1892439358839406804?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
This is 40 |
For as well played as the Missouri game was, this game has been equally shite.
Both of these teams look like complete ass. |
101 three point shots attempted in this game.
32 have gone in. With Lamelo, Lebron and Luca you have three of the most dynamic and exciting playmakers in the sport and this game has been nothing but bricklaying and perimeter passing. This right here is what's killing the sport. This game is absolutely inexcusable and proof positive that they need to do something to change these rules. The game won't survive this shit. God it's bad. |
Rui fully and finally manages to lose it for good. Figures that a couple missed free throws should put this pile of shit game to bed.
He's been doing his damndest to lose it all night. Good on him for finally getting it done. This game didn't set the NBA back decades. It set humanity back centuries. It was the worst basketball I've seen this side of my 9 yr old daughters games. Frankly, the 7 yr olds are actually MORE cohesive than that was. |
Reaves shouldn’t have gotten himself ejected, they win the game with him on the floor.
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Thats how ****in good these guys are now. Almost any team now if they were transported to play the 97 Bulls would absolutely destroy them because of math, skill and better roster construction. This idea that the NBA sucks is quite simply old man propaganda that has been spouted for 20 years. And now people believe it. If you wanna see guys throw up bricks...watch the 90s NBA. |
Old men Jordan fans...you know the types...make the following claims.
The NBA was better in the 80s and 90s! Its just a free throw contest now. Or they don't play defense now. All they do is miss shots because they take so many threes. Now facts. 1) FT Attempts per game have gone down each decade since the 60s. You mean to tell me you LIKED watching them shoot 30 & 35 FTs vs now of around 22? Thats what I find riveting basketball. Watching them shoot uncontested FTs without jumping! 2) In the 1980s nobody played defense. They just fouled. They used to put the little unathletic white guy on Jordan or Magic because he was gritty and tried hard or the overly physical bruiser because he had no fkn footspeed to defend. 3) Dunks have INCREASED and fast break exciting plays have INCREASED since the 90s. That isn't exciting? Do you know what I like watching? Middle school kids with 12 inch verts doing the Mikan drill. Now thats basketball! 4) FG % is the highest it ever has been since the 80s. Despite shooting more longer shots! Let that sink in. FG% is even higher than the 70s...and they didn't even have a 3 point shot back then! The only reason the 80s FG % was higher is because people DIDNT play defense. They just ****ing fouled so much. Clown world. |
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I've defended the NBA on this board for years. And have said, ad nauseum, that the 'they don't play defense' crowd is just reeruned. They play incredible defense -- shooters are just unbelievably good. But it's a static product. The Lakers and Hornets should NOT be firing up 100 3 pointers a game. Those are two fairly average 3-point shooting teams that do other things significantly better than shoot 3s. Doesn't matter -- gonna chuck 'em anyway. And it's not exciting to watch at all. It's incredibly repetitive. You like it because your team is good at it. But if you were to step back (or if OKC still sucked) you'd be sitting here bitching up a blue streak about the direction the game has gone. In a vacuum, this is a terrible long-term trend for the league. You're taking the size and athleticism, the court vision and the speed, out of the game. Now it's just guys shooting 3s off weave actions on the perimeter. It's a high screen and shoot sort of offense. There's just not enough variety to it. |
Damn Wemby out for the season with a blood clot in his shoulder.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Victor Wembanyama has a form of a blood clot in the right shoulder. He is out for the season. The Spurs believe this is an isolated condition. <a href="https://t.co/AEP8Way0Zb">https://t.co/AEP8Way0Zb</a></p>— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a href="https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1892632494475710582?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Per source, to <a href="https://twitter.com/TheAthletic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheAthletic</a>, Victor Wembanyama had experienced low energy lately that was causing concern. <br><br>When he still had low energy at All-Star weekend, and through his two-day vacation after it, the tests began that ultimately uncovered the deep vein thrombosis. The Spurs…</p>— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) <a href="https://twitter.com/sam_amick/status/1892638187018977655?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> |
That’s a surprise and hope it’s nothing longer term. Was going to be interesting to see if they could slip into a play in game after the Fox trade.
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Would be a massive blow to the NBA as a whole if that turned into a Chris Bosh situation. The guy is a special player.
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French. Skinny. Chucks threes even though he is big. And he's actually long it's annoying to watch. I hope he quits and makes a croissant shop. Make NBA American Again. |
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Chet 62% career from 2FG Wemby 55% career 2FG Wemby 33% career 3FG Chet 37% career 3FG Wemby kind of a chucker. |
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Exposed. |
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Ratings are down for the NBA. That's a fact. Back in the day the game was more physical, better big men play, and it wasn't a 3-pt contest. The game also wasn't as soft as todays. If you can't understand why someone would like that era more than today you're just being ignorant. I don't give a **** what era you like that's up to you. |
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I mean yeah, you can say if you want that Reaves getting tossed was the issue (and yeah, it was obviously the turning point) but when James came back in for him after that ejection, he was...indifferent. At best. Doncic had come off the floor and it was James, Knecht, Vando, DFS/Rui and Vincent. And those guys absolutely shit the bed. You can box score scout that game all you want, but James seemed ready for his rest and when he came back into the game he really didn't seem to feel like playing. Did Reaves getting tossed necessitate that? Yeah - but you're making $50 million my guy - another 3-4 minutes isn't asking a ton. |
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He's just doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. |
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I'm not asking him to 'shoulder the blame' -- Luka and Rui carry plenty of it. They didn't play well either. But that doesn't absolve James of any either. When you come off the ASB and you're fighting for a chance at a 2 seed that would be HUGE in advancing to the WCF, you just cannot lose to the damn Hornets. And when you're the leader of the squad, you have to wear it when that happens. Because it ain't Reaves and Luca's been there for like 3 weeks. This is James team for the duration of this season and yeah, he has to eat some shit for games like last night. |
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Blame LeBron (who, again, was the only Laker to show up even at all in the game) all you want but that won't change that fact. |
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But James had every opportunity to step up as a leader and hold things together. It's the same argument we have with Mahomes -- yes, I hold Mahomes to a higher standard than I hold anyone else. Because that's what comes with greatness. I expect Mahomes to be able to operate at his highest level even when things are less than ideal. You don't. You're always looking to blame his teammates. It's no different with James. You'll call him great but never hold him to the standard of greatness. I mean...credit is due for consistency, I guess. |
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Again, blame the 40 year old who was the only one to even show up for the Lakers all you want, but it won't change what actually happened. LeBron was the least of their problems last night. |
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hornets strategy at the end of the game was to target Luka on defense every time <a href="https://t.co/1bhAVUQzvG">pic.twitter.com/1bhAVUQzvG</a></p>— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) <a href="https://twitter.com/LakeShowYo/status/1892458733063852229?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I'm sure this is LeBron's fault too somehow. |
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Potentially by the playoffs this season. But right now, having gone 6 weeks without playing basketball and with a low body injury that pretty well prevents him from being able to stay in basketball shape -- of course not. That's silly. He's new to the system and working his way back into game shape. James is still the Mahomes of this squad. In time, that will change. I don't think there's any reasonable way to argue that it already has. I certainly don't think Lebron thinks it has, any outward assurances to the contrary notwithstanding. |
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is wild. 😭 <a href="https://t.co/yKGX837XsZ">pic.twitter.com/yKGX837XsZ</a></p>— Hoops (@HoopMixOnly) <a href="https://twitter.com/HoopMixOnly/status/1892585959604064544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Here’s a real stat, as of 2023, LeBron was 7/12(58%) in his career in game tying/winning FGA in the final :01 of playoff games. Kobe/Steph/Durant/Kawhi/Harden/Westbrook/Dirk/Wade/Jokic/McGrady/Nash are combined 6-50(12%) |
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https://fadeawayworld.net/nba/los-an...inters-hornets |
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Exposing this lie (a tread ��) <a href="https://t.co/tXFXDVbfRO">https://t.co/tXFXDVbfRO</a></p>— LeBron_SZN (@LeBron_SZN_) <a href="https://twitter.com/LeBron_SZN_/status/1892466450733920627?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> |
After 3 games with the Lakers...
Luka Doncic 14.7 ppg, 26 mpg, 6.7 rpg, 5.3 apg, 35.6% FG, 4.3 turn per game |
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Why beat Charlotte when you can blowout Denver on the road? Luka owns the Nuggets.
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