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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 Len intended to sign with the Pacers but has decided to land in LA after the Lakers rescinded the Mark Williams trade and created new opportunity.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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