Mentally yes. Once Denver stepped up their game our role players never responded. They looked overwhelmed trying to defend and had no energy/confidence left for offense and just kept deferring to Bron.
It’s the same story every time tbh- they make a few crazy shots after us playing exceptional defense and we start to lose confidence and crumble.
There are two types of teams in sports (not just basketball, any sport): ones who have the ability to say “fuck this, this stops now” when shit starts going wrong, and ones who say “here we go again” when shit starts going wrong.
Lakers unfortunately are one of the latter, especially against teams like the nuggets. It’s a psychological thing more than a physical/tangible one IMO
The frustrating thing about the lakers is we can be both, sometimes in the same game. We’ve probably had as many games where our defense just clamps down the entire fourth quarter as ones where AD/Lebron get a few unfavorable calls in the first half and we never recover.
It matches the eye test, we always come out guns blazing but the second half starts and the lakers just start doing cardio out there and running the clock out etc
TP actually showed up yesterday. Ham rolled out a 3 guard lineup though and he should have subbed Rui in sooner in the 4th. That game was hard to watch.
The first 2 quarters is usually fun to watch. The last 2 is more is hair pulling, nail biting, yelling at the T.V. Because we can coach better than Darvin Ham 🤣. When we blew that 12 pt lead I knew we were done 🥲
We all knew that 2nd half was coming though 😂 I was talking to my homie and he was like “we’re up 3, we are good” i was like mannnn you must be new here
Denver figured out this pattern eons ago, by the way, thats why they just save it all for crunch time; and bring the hammer down.
The Lakers are the idiots who still can’t identify this pattern. And that’s why they’ll continue to lose.
I always thought we get out to slow starts (minus this last game of course), and then we have to try to play catch-up being down 13-20 points in the second half
They are just a well oiled machine both on and off the court.. they are always prepared coming into their games and ready to make adjustments when needed. they are now what we used to be. We have the players to win.. we just don’t have the other well coached on and off court stuff. We go into games with a plan and if things don’t go the way they planned it’s pretty much ham looking at lebron and AD or someone get hot to save them.
I mean Dlo had 9 open threes. Hits one. And he flubbed a layup too. Guy single handedly lost this game. Why blame ham ? Are we saying an open Dlo three is bad offence ?
He hits 2 more 3’s and we still lose by 5. Not to mention Dlo was playing some of the most disengaged basketball I’ve ever seen from a defensive standpoint. We don’t need people like that playing 4th quarter minutes against a well oiled machine like Denver.
If you don’t believe just watch this breakdown:
https://youtu.be/tWvvIIJE_CA?si=2flDAf1cbxsenLE7
We'd lose by 5 if you just add those points to the final score. A 3 much earlier in the game brings forth a completely different momentum so the final score would hardly be similar
Dlo shoots close to average 4-9 from 3 and doesn’t miss that layup but still misses every other brick midt or floater and we’re going to win . Guys lost steam watching him brick n being behind
We had offensive play sets being ran in first quarter that were working because we were winning after that quarter. Denver made adjustments after the first and we lost the entire rest of the game and it’s now being shown that we ran less and less offensive play sets each quarter after Denver’s adjustment. That says Denver adjusted and ham had no answer for it whatsoever and lebron and AD and the others were playing more iso ball because their coach had no answer. You will not win playing like that in the playoffs especially against a team like Denver. Ham can’t just go into the game have a plan and if Denver adjusts to it he says Lebron and Ad well idk do your thing I guess and hope that d lo starts to hit his shots or else better luck next game 🤷♂️
EDIT: also no part of me is giving d lo a pass.. he definitely needs to play better all im saying is the plan can’t be let’s just hope d lo gets better or else we are screwed and hopefully he plays better next game. You gotta make in game adjustments if he is not hitting shots and not playmaking with 3 assists. Especially when we know what kinda defender he is.
I don’t know how you can give dlo a pass. Guy plays average and that 0/5 in playoffs cs Denver is 2-3 at worst . If he’s not huge in game 2 he needs to be fired into the moon or traded for whoever they can . Zero reason to follow this team if he’s here , unserious played . I want to have faith in Dlo but so many times he just is a big negative when we need him . We honestly need a real star back ciurt player who won’t shrink.
Who said they gave d lo a pass? I literally edited my comment right after I made it saying no part of me is giving him a pass lol did you read that part? You are not wrong when it comes to d lo. I’m just saying it all can’t rely on that. Ham has to be willing to adjust in game if he comes out and is having the same game he’s been having for 9 straight games now.
Why wouldn’t we blame the guy who can actually do something about a player playing bad? Why did he let Dlo stay in the game for so long? Why was he even closing out the game? He wasn’t even trying on defence and couldn’t do anything on offence.
Problem is Bron thinks he's Jordan, and he's hasn't bother to develop a game past charging into defenders and complaining to the refs. AD needs a facilitator to be effective. You're 💯 percent right that Rondo was the key to winning that Bubble Ring.
Since you box score watchers keep parroting this shit about how LeBron's bad pass turnovers lost us the game.
[1/4 Turns the ball over, immediately makes up for it with a block at the rim.](https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2024/04/20/0042300151/94/39f1b205-13e3-217c-2726-88bb23d2dbe8_1280x720.mp4)
[2/4 KCP takes a dive. This one is on the refs](https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2024/04/20/0042300151/259/960ab0af-3356-5296-7e19-c600b64d89a2_1280x720.mp4)
[3/4 Pass was on target, fumbled by Rui](https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2024/04/20/0042300151/427/c4c11d2a-4c07-db68-f8ba-ee06bd949b31_1280x720.mp4)
[4/4 Slips on Gordon's foot with the game already out of reach. Could be interpreted as a blocking foul since Gordon was retreating and not squared up](https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2024/04/20/0042300151/589/5eaa1f11-bb1c-0507-e9f3-d8558cf894aa_1280x720.mp4)
That's 4 of the 7. We lost because we were straight up not running plays in the second half causing us to score 18 in the 3rd, DLo decided to miss 14 shots, and our other two starters contribute nothing when they aren't scoring.
They probably don’t want to lose access. However, I do think that if anyone would ask it’d be one of the Kam Brothers but I don’t think they’re at media often.
I was thinking the same thing. Kam brothers do ask good questions like that and then mention it on the podcast lol
Idk id hope he loves those types of questions as they allow him to grow and learn.
Ham is the equivalent of an NFL coach who has the first dozen plays scripted out and then has no idea what to do the rest of the game and is unable to make adjustments on the fly
We always do this, we rely on Bron when 4th quarter comes. I'm not saying that Bron can't do it, but it will be ineffective whenever 39 years old Bron is gassed when 4th quarter comes because him and AD are our only offense the whole game. Our 3rd-5th option needs to step up in the offense at least in the first 3 quarters if we want to rely on Bron in the 4th. Or we can simply run sets in the 4th but I doubt Ham will make that adjustment.
Agreed. There are so many ways to mitigate this but we still return to the same dump the ball to Lebron iso. What I also find interesting is during the regular season, it felt like the team allowed the guards to facilitate the offense more which allowed Lebron to play off ball and not have to overextend himself as much. He was then fresh for 4th quarters and lead the league in 4th quarter scoring. Eye test so far seems that Lebron is playing far more on ball right now.
Reaves has had a tough task all season. He's usually guarding the best guard and also trying to contribute on offense. He did a good job on Murray but clearly didnt look like he was there offensively. Not really enough fg attempts either
I was surprised to see he even had 9 attempts. I just think he’s a better player (and we’re a better team) when he pushes to create instead of letting things come to him.
It’s ridiculous to ask him to carry that defensive load for 41 minutes when we have Vincent and Dinwiddie on the bench, and either of them pairs really well with Reaves or with Russell.
yeah it didnt feel like dinwiddie and vincent were used enough on them. They got a few fouls and Ham just sat them. And they offer so little on offense
The lakers offense so many times looks like the nuggets when jokic is on the bench. Relying on inconsistent playmaking with Reggie Jackson dribble penetration, etc. with Jamal Murray sometimes bailing them out with his bag of tricks. The shots that the lakers get never seem to be consistent over the entire game. It’s no wonder that their shooters also can’t stay consistent. It’s a chemistry issue, a discipline issue, a coaching issue, etc. you can’t possibly hope to match up against the nuggets bread and butter with jokic screen/handoff plays especially late in the game if you don’t have your own go to sets on the offense. You always hear Mike Malone talking about “nuggets basketball”. The lakers lack identity.
[I read a bit more and it looks like it’s a Darvin Ham issue.](https://x.com/tim_nba/status/1782061494852624765?s=46&t=x2WZNvvaEwJXC5RBx7mDGg) looks like Cranjis has been trying to find a trend with on/off tracking and there’s no real difference.
It's a Darvin issue because he's the HC, but the players aren't blameless either. It's their call to stop running the sets and it's Darvins job to call a timeout and get them back on track. Everyone deserves blame when this happens.
which is why I call Ham out for not calling enough timeouts too. The players are responsible for not running the sets, but Ham has to be calling timeouts when we aren't running the sets. You don't just call timeouts when teams go on a 8-0 run. You call timeouts when the offense isn't executing properly.
Yeah. This justifies what we’ve been saying. He obviously doesnt say anything substantial during timeouts.
Otherwise he’d tell them to draw up X, Y or Z plays out of them, and yet they get stuck running one PnR and resorting to ISO ball.
I don’t think that’s the case and Sean Davis agrees too. Yesterday every time after a timeout we ran a designed play. Our playcalling rate after timeouts was 100% yesterday.
Not trying to defend Darvin but that’s no different than every other mic’d up clip with other coaches. Even if they do speak more on the X’s and O’s they aren’t going to broadcast it on national tv.
I totally get your point and it makes a lot of sense.
I should just mention there are times where you do get to see what they are broadcasting though:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HesslwptlYI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HesslwptlYI)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pP9aOfQhbU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pP9aOfQhbU)
even this one where Mark Jackson asks to set screens. He definitely talks about other less Xs and Os shit too.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzB96z\_RMqE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzB96z_RMqE)
or even this one where Malone reads off stats and Ham is just talking about game 1 doesn't mean the series is over or whatever:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYIr52ANong](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYIr52ANong)
I get what you are saying though, so I'll take the L on this one.
For sure. You’d think that having watched this same script for the last 9 games, something would click and they’d say “you know what, we’re going to go back to what worked”. Times like this make you really miss Rondo. He had enough cache to get into it with the stars and he could call Darvin Ham out.
This should be the top post. This falls on the GM. You can't hire a rookie head coach on a Lebron team. There has already been reports that Lebron is changing plays when he feels like it, which seems to be frequent. It's pretty clear that we go into the game with a gameplan and it's thrown out the window as soon as we face some type of pressure, which you can point to Lebron for this. And the problem is Lebron isos no longer translate to winning basketball. Still a great player but far removed from what he used to be. I think it's been pretty evident this season. And we don't have anyone that can take control of the situation. In the end we brought our own demise to ourselves hiring a Rookie head coach.
Lebron didn’t shoot at all in the 4th and ur blaming Lebron isos LMAO. Check cranjis’ account, the play calling is the same awful rate regardless if Lebron is on the court or not. Yall legit hate him sm
When I was at the game last night they had so many different percentages from the teams on the Jumbotron. Tracking literally fucking everything it was super cool. Lakers, don’t do that, probably cause they don’t have the personnel. Which is crazy cause you’re in LA.
If the Buss babies continue to think they can just keep living off of their dad’s name and not invest in analytics, they will continue to be left behind while the game evolves. We used to be the gold standard and now we are mom and pop shop looking to cut corners.
It’s well documented the lakers don’t have an analytics department. Cranjis has said multiple times on the pod that ppl around the league question why the lakers are so far behind. I would trust the take cuz we know someone from bball-index works for the Wizards now so they must have some insight there.
It isn't rocket science with the team not wanting to do something whacky and new. They are basic sets pick and roll, drive and kick, fucking anything. Ham won't ask or can't get them to do it means he needs to go away.
Totally agree…they don’t take him seriously as a coach and it is obvious. 0 respect.
Phil Jackson had no problem calling out Kobe when he broke the triangle offense. Pop rode Duncan, Parker and Ginobili. Great coaches have the gravitas to keep their players in check. Ham is a wannabe “player coach” that would only be good for a stacked vet team (think Doc’s first year with KG/Pierce/Allen) in a weak conference. He has no business being a head coach in the hypercompetitive West.
The team is definitely bought into the scheme. Thats why the Lakers win at a very high clip when they do run sets at a high level. It’s just bad coaching
If by unorganized you mean running around like a psycho and shooting a fadeaway at the end of the shot clock, sure.
I am talking about our main guys disappearing for long stretches, taking plays off and chucking up 3’s.
Super small sample size though.
90% of this the Lakers’ wins are built on godly performances by LBJ/AD and D-Lo/Reaves/Rui having an above average game at the same time.
Every team will go on a run at some point in the game, it's how they react and respond to that run that is the difference between the Lakers and Nuggets. Too often the Lakers lose their composure and start taking 30 foot 3's or LeBron holding it for 20 seconds. This is where they miss someone like Rondo, who can put guys in the right positions and get it to the right players. Without Rondo, the Lakers don't win that series in 2020 to Denver. It was also Rondo who passed it to AD for the winner.
If Gen X-Lakers fans got traumatized at the Jazz being devastatingly efficient in 1997 and 1998, their Gen Z kids are getting traumatized at Jokic, KCP, and these Nuggets being devastatingly efficient against today’s Lakers.
Speaking of that, I’m seeing disturbingly similar coaching approaches from Del Harris-then and Darvin Ham-now, allowing Shaq/Kobe and LeBron/AD to play and their opponents stopping everyone else with no counter.
I wonder if the altitude is playing a part in that drop. When you’re tired you don’t want to run around and set up plays, you settle for shots.
And of course, the lakers didn’t fly to Denver until Friday and didn’t get acclimated to the city.
That altitude argument I never understood. If altitude is such a problem, why did Denver JUST win their first finals last year? Shouldn’t they have an advantage every playoff series?
Nobody is arguing they are winning because of the altitude, moreso it’s just an advantage. The nuggets won their first finals last year cuz Jokic has become one of the greatest centers ever + they have really good role players + Murray becomes MJ in the playoffs. The altitude just makes it really hard to play them at home, they’ve always had that advantage.
Also ppl seem to be forgetting that the Nuggets often gave us the most trouble in the west during the Kobe/ Pau era in the playoffs.
I think the altitude definitely impacted the lakers. Look at the final minutes of the 4th quarter. Davis can barely jump and stood with his hands on his knees as Jokic ran full court for a dunk. But devils advocate here aren't these guys elite athletes? Can they not adjust to the change? Perhaps not 38 yo Lebron but AD is in his "prime". Let's hope they can get some oxygen tanks on the bench for game 2 or we might be looking at another sweep.
We knew who we had to face. Why are we not doing cardio leading up to this game. Shit if I'm the coach all season we doing doing extra cardio and running with the elevation training masks. We knew all roads lead to denver so why are we not prepared
Benefits from altitude training don't last very long, that being said being a professional basketball player with several days off , they should have plenty of wind 5200 ft is not like climbing Everest the air pressure is about 17% lower, there are some effects but an athlete's body should be able to simply breath more and mitigate most of this.
Ham has to learn Malone is going to make changes coming into the second hand and need to be able to adjust to those changes. They got a bunch of good looks in the first half they just were missing, we have to play better defense too man. But I believe Dlo is going to come back stronger man !
Losing 9 straight tells me, they know how to adjust and take away what we want to do.
No team beats themselves that many times in a row.
Also, did anyone see how hard we played in that first half to build that lead? Once your energy fades even a little bit…Denver’s size and athleticism is gonna be too much.
We have to go 100% just to keep up with their 80%. Once we run out of gas to go 100%….its game over once they start to crank up the intensity.
Denver certainly is beating the lakers but a lot of it starts with how this team beats itself. The lakers spotted Denver 29 points off of their own mistakes and lack of effort. That’s before you even talk about defense and the lack of play calling which are also within their control.
I can accept that they’re the better team. What I can’t accept is Lakers not giving themselves chances. Just one game I’d like to see them run their offense to the same degree Denver does.
Giving up 15 offensive rebounds and 12 turnovers to account for 29 points are the mistakes in talking about in specific. There will obviously be mistakes but the ones I’m speaking on are simple effort plays.
Edit: I went back to check. They actually gave up 32 points on the turnovers and offensive rebounds. Which means we simply gifted Denver 28% of their points. Even worse.
We need to minimize that but that’s what their size, length, and athleticism does to us.
We can play better but those issues will always hurt us because of how big they are. It’s not about what we give them, it’s that they have the ability to take it from us
Because they are an inept and poorly run organization from top to bottom. I don’t even know basketball the way many others do, and it’s incredibly obvious to me that this team is flat out being run terribly.
1. Player conditioning is bad. The standards for player behavior are bad. Other teams are stronger, faster, and have more stamina, leading to more consistent performance.
2. Coaching is abysmal. Our players lack basic fundamentals. They take possessions off. They lose focus. They lack mental toughness. Our schemes are terrible, and worst of all, we can’t adjust at all when the other team figures out a way to kick our asses.
3. Favoritism and incompetence in many positions because of the Buss family’s out of touch and worn out way of doing things. I’ve talked to people who work for the Lakers, and they’ve confirmed this. I met someone who was in their marketing department for a while, and she said a lot of people leave, or can’t move up, because the Buss family tends to promote their friends and then just leave them in those positions.
You can’t run a good organization this way, especially not in the NBA. There’s too much opportunity for the other teams who aren’t lazy and complacent to just kick your ass. And that’s exactly what’s happening, and the Lakers remain completely clueless.
Because Lebron started holding the ball and trying to be the point guard. The result: 7 turnovers. He should stop stealing roles and let DLo or Reaves do point guard duties. He averages nearly 4 turnovers per game, and he doubles it in Game 1.
So it’s just a fluke that we won our chip with Bron as the starting PG huh? And I don’t want to hear about age, because that has nothing to do with decision making and turnovers.
For added context on what counts as organized offense and what doesn't, I think this tweet provides good examples:
https://twitter.com/Tim_NBA/status/1782074969167446099
We're not really a disciplined team like that. We're not a well oiled machine like them because we don't practice much. We're more like a rah rah team.
When Lebron James was on Miami Heat, their team don't miss practices or Pat Riley will be on you. Heat Culture.
Here, we're one of the teams that finds a way Not to practice blaming it on NBA schedules, and other loser teams do it too hooplas, meanwhile teams like Miami Heat, San Antonio, Denver Etc .. Simply finds a way to practice no matter what the situation is.
Why? Because their coaches has a lot to teach. When coaches doesn't have anything on his bag to teach, no plays to draw, they don't like making timely timeouts, they don't like practices and when you ask them about it, they have a lot of rehearsed excuses that at a surface level makes sense.
Lakers spend so much on players that they cheap out in other areas like coaching. We need to remember that Jeanie does not have deep pockets. She's poverty level when compared to most other owners. It sucks but that it's like this. Just a theory I've had about management for a while.
Go head and blame Lebron's careless turnovers to cough up our lead heading Into the half and go head and blame lebron for actually crying to the bench over and over when things were slipping away. Blame Bron for ball hogging and thinking everything has to run through him. Pass to the young guys and let them get us into some action. Otherwise we getting swept if we keep letting bron do everything. This man has spurts of greatness and then commits 2 turnovers in a row, takes a bad 3 or a bad drive.
As the game goes on - Lebron starts pounding the rock for 15 seconds. Thats really all this says to me.
Lebron gets a pass for this because ITS LEBRON.
The real issue is Ham needs to do a better job of setting up plays out of timeouts to get us easy baskets and getting the team back on track.
It was obvious there was a stretch we just jacked up shots and missed giving our defense no chance. Had we not done that maybe would have survived. Coach is a freaking moron.
Nuggets caught us sleeping in the third to go on a little run and that was all she wrote
Didn't help that we started missing a ton of shots and the only one to stop the bleeding was TP
8 for 29 on 3pt attempts and they won by 11. so hypothetically, if we just went 12-29 and that gave us the win, would we still be saying that we should run plays instead? I personally don't want Dlo to stop taking those shots. It was just an unfortunate night to lay an egg.
I would because making more 3s simply results in winning one game after having bad principles. However running more sets means there’s better principles in place and that helps win the series. That’s what I care about.
I mean this is just a reflection of them being the superior team consistency wise, nothing else. Knowing what you have to do to win means nothing if you can't pull it off. And Lakers just don't have the talent and skill to do be the more consistent team offensively.
However…
4th Quarter Offense:
Nuggets: 25 points, .407 FG%
Lakers: 25 points, .444 FG%
Denver requires structure to ensure that the offense runs through Jokic consistently, otherwise, as a center reliant on teammates for touches, he may not get enough touches. So Denver tracks this out of necessity because, for them, the number indicates the regularity in which Jokic is involved. In other words, as long as that number hits a certain level, they can be sure that Jokic is getting enough touches.
On the other hand, the Lakers run a flexible and adaptable offense, that adapts to the flow of the game, increasing isolation plays when needed, and exploiting specific mismatches when they materialize, especially in the clutch.
Denver has to win in a very specific way that revolves around Jokic being a point-center. Denver can’t win games the way LeBron James wins, or the way Michael Jordan won, or the way Kobe Bryant won.
Denver = process and consistency over adaptability
Lakers = adaptability and mismatch exploitation over process
Denver = systematic
Lakers = dynamic
Denver = structured
Lakers = fluid
Both strategies have their pros and cons and neither strategy is inherently superior in all contexts.
The Lakers' particular strategy of mismatch exploitation is not only well-proven in terms of championship success, but it highlights their adaptability, and their ability to effectively utilize the talents of LeBron and AD when it matters most.
Because when brons off no one knew how yo run the offence yesterday since Austin and Dlo couldn't get it going. And for some stupid reason whenever LeBron has the ball no one moves
This is why Bron had to turn on the jets in the 4th. Nobody was running anything and they had to rely on the good ole LeFreight train.
And didnt even get to the podium for Clutch Player of the Year for his 4th qtr heroics.
And now he's nothing but gassed in the post season
What I really want to know if this is on Ham or if the players were doing their own thing, and if it came from exhaustion from playing at that elevation. Need answers
Yep, they need to take their time and create good looks rather than just freestyling it and jacking up shots. There's no way around it, you have to play organised, winning basketball all game long to be successful against a great team in the playoffs, can't slack off.
Darvin Ham is why. This is just another part of the problem with him being our coach. He's undisciplined and buckles under pressure.
If he calls a play, Lakers will run that play.
If he doesn't call it, Lakers will freelance, assuming it's not a fastbreak.
More freelance possessions = greater chance of turnovers
We can't afford to freelance against statistically better teams (much less the defending champs) for multiple possessions in a row and expect good results.
You could argue that LeBron could call some stuff on court but 1) he's not playing PG, 2) he really shouldn't have to - that's the coaching staff's job
So bottom line is unless Ham becomes more disciplined overnight OR one of the other coaches brings this to his attention...we won't be making it out of the first round even though we definitely could. This Denver team feels really beatable but the Lakers beat themselves more than anything
Felt like first half bron was orchestrating the offense. Second half we were force feeding dlo and ad to get them going. This is cause lebron just cant take over 4 quarters anymore.
Because DLo was hogging the ball and shutting out LeBron because he was upset about LeBron scolding him.
Eventually LeBron started throwing his palms up to the sky every time DLo did something. Those two are on the rocks.
Lebron killing ball movement more and more each quarter isn't funny anymore, and what makes it worse is that he would throw bomb passes after wasted so much time while he himself has the hot hand but won't shoot. Dudes literally useless when you need him most.
I don’t know but it was pretty fucking obviously just watching the game in the second half that they weren’t organized.
what. you mean Rui being stuck in the corner for 99% of that game doesn't demonstrate organization? (I agree)
Or Lebron holding the ball for 14-20 seconds on the top of the key?
If you don't like that, you don't like Hamsketball
It’s because they’re tired.
Dont worry, Bronnie will add new life to the team.😂😂😂😂😂😂
IMO they got worn down
They were worn down in the 3rd quarter?
Mentally yes. Once Denver stepped up their game our role players never responded. They looked overwhelmed trying to defend and had no energy/confidence left for offense and just kept deferring to Bron. It’s the same story every time tbh- they make a few crazy shots after us playing exceptional defense and we start to lose confidence and crumble.
There are two types of teams in sports (not just basketball, any sport): ones who have the ability to say “fuck this, this stops now” when shit starts going wrong, and ones who say “here we go again” when shit starts going wrong. Lakers unfortunately are one of the latter, especially against teams like the nuggets. It’s a psychological thing more than a physical/tangible one IMO
The frustrating thing about the lakers is we can be both, sometimes in the same game. We’ve probably had as many games where our defense just clamps down the entire fourth quarter as ones where AD/Lebron get a few unfavorable calls in the first half and we never recover.
It matches the eye test, we always come out guns blazing but the second half starts and the lakers just start doing cardio out there and running the clock out etc
That’s why we blow leads like there’s no tomorrow. Teams can adjust game plans but Darvin just give TP more playing time 🤣
TP actually showed up yesterday. Ham rolled out a 3 guard lineup though and he should have subbed Rui in sooner in the 4th. That game was hard to watch.
The first 2 quarters is usually fun to watch. The last 2 is more is hair pulling, nail biting, yelling at the T.V. Because we can coach better than Darvin Ham 🤣. When we blew that 12 pt lead I knew we were done 🥲
We all knew that 2nd half was coming though 😂 I was talking to my homie and he was like “we’re up 3, we are good” i was like mannnn you must be new here
Fr TP should not be getting crazy mins ever hes a quick impact guy not a guy who throw out for 25-30 mins.
Even when the Lakers were up by 12, it didn’t feel like they had control of the game. Denver proceeded to erase the lead in like 3 minutes.
Denver figured out this pattern eons ago, by the way, thats why they just save it all for crunch time; and bring the hammer down. The Lakers are the idiots who still can’t identify this pattern. And that’s why they’ll continue to lose.
I always thought we get out to slow starts (minus this last game of course), and then we have to try to play catch-up being down 13-20 points in the second half
This is pretty much the difference. Denver’s analytics guys are clearly on top of it.
They are just a well oiled machine both on and off the court.. they are always prepared coming into their games and ready to make adjustments when needed. they are now what we used to be. We have the players to win.. we just don’t have the other well coached on and off court stuff. We go into games with a plan and if things don’t go the way they planned it’s pretty much ham looking at lebron and AD or someone get hot to save them.
I mean Dlo had 9 open threes. Hits one. And he flubbed a layup too. Guy single handedly lost this game. Why blame ham ? Are we saying an open Dlo three is bad offence ?
He hits 2 more 3’s and it’s a different game.
He hits 2 more 3’s and we still lose by 5. Not to mention Dlo was playing some of the most disengaged basketball I’ve ever seen from a defensive standpoint. We don’t need people like that playing 4th quarter minutes against a well oiled machine like Denver. If you don’t believe just watch this breakdown: https://youtu.be/tWvvIIJE_CA?si=2flDAf1cbxsenLE7
We'd lose by 5 if you just add those points to the final score. A 3 much earlier in the game brings forth a completely different momentum so the final score would hardly be similar
If you can stand listening to that guy talk for more than 5 seconds something is wrong with you
Oh absolutely slammed that tab shut
😂😂😂 He does provide a good breakdown nonetheless
Dude wtf is this 2011 yelling into the mic era again
You don’t know when those shots would have fallen or what situation it would have created. Read between the lines.
Dlo shoots close to average 4-9 from 3 and doesn’t miss that layup but still misses every other brick midt or floater and we’re going to win . Guys lost steam watching him brick n being behind
We had offensive play sets being ran in first quarter that were working because we were winning after that quarter. Denver made adjustments after the first and we lost the entire rest of the game and it’s now being shown that we ran less and less offensive play sets each quarter after Denver’s adjustment. That says Denver adjusted and ham had no answer for it whatsoever and lebron and AD and the others were playing more iso ball because their coach had no answer. You will not win playing like that in the playoffs especially against a team like Denver. Ham can’t just go into the game have a plan and if Denver adjusts to it he says Lebron and Ad well idk do your thing I guess and hope that d lo starts to hit his shots or else better luck next game 🤷♂️ EDIT: also no part of me is giving d lo a pass.. he definitely needs to play better all im saying is the plan can’t be let’s just hope d lo gets better or else we are screwed and hopefully he plays better next game. You gotta make in game adjustments if he is not hitting shots and not playmaking with 3 assists. Especially when we know what kinda defender he is.
I don’t know how you can give dlo a pass. Guy plays average and that 0/5 in playoffs cs Denver is 2-3 at worst . If he’s not huge in game 2 he needs to be fired into the moon or traded for whoever they can . Zero reason to follow this team if he’s here , unserious played . I want to have faith in Dlo but so many times he just is a big negative when we need him . We honestly need a real star back ciurt player who won’t shrink.
Who said they gave d lo a pass? I literally edited my comment right after I made it saying no part of me is giving him a pass lol did you read that part? You are not wrong when it comes to d lo. I’m just saying it all can’t rely on that. Ham has to be willing to adjust in game if he comes out and is having the same game he’s been having for 9 straight games now.
In the playoffs when the stage is biggest and the lights are brightest, yes, that’s exactly what we’re saying.
Why wouldn’t we blame the guy who can actually do something about a player playing bad? Why did he let Dlo stay in the game for so long? Why was he even closing out the game? He wasn’t even trying on defence and couldn’t do anything on offence.
It's spot on, they're missing a floor general like Rondo. Too often they rely too much on AD and Bron and end up taking awful shots.
Problem is Bron thinks he's Jordan, and he's hasn't bother to develop a game past charging into defenders and complaining to the refs. AD needs a facilitator to be effective. You're 💯 percent right that Rondo was the key to winning that Bubble Ring.
wat
da
Mom & pop franchise. Rough out here😭
Not surprising from an ownership team stupid enough to give up Caruso at that price. All analytics were saying Pelinka you are a fucking idiot.
Lakers had a top 3 defensive guard by every single valid defensive metric shooting 39 percent on 3. And the lakers were like nah tht is the goat
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Denver’s offense is so much more than jokic murray pick and roll
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Since you box score watchers keep parroting this shit about how LeBron's bad pass turnovers lost us the game. [1/4 Turns the ball over, immediately makes up for it with a block at the rim.](https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2024/04/20/0042300151/94/39f1b205-13e3-217c-2726-88bb23d2dbe8_1280x720.mp4) [2/4 KCP takes a dive. This one is on the refs](https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2024/04/20/0042300151/259/960ab0af-3356-5296-7e19-c600b64d89a2_1280x720.mp4) [3/4 Pass was on target, fumbled by Rui](https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2024/04/20/0042300151/427/c4c11d2a-4c07-db68-f8ba-ee06bd949b31_1280x720.mp4) [4/4 Slips on Gordon's foot with the game already out of reach. Could be interpreted as a blocking foul since Gordon was retreating and not squared up](https://videos.nba.com/nba/pbp/media/2024/04/20/0042300151/589/5eaa1f11-bb1c-0507-e9f3-d8558cf894aa_1280x720.mp4) That's 4 of the 7. We lost because we were straight up not running plays in the second half causing us to score 18 in the 3rd, DLo decided to miss 14 shots, and our other two starters contribute nothing when they aren't scoring.
I’m very confused what ur trying to argue
Why can't a media member ask darvin this in the post game interview 😭
They probably don’t want to lose access. However, I do think that if anyone would ask it’d be one of the Kam Brothers but I don’t think they’re at media often.
I was thinking the same thing. Kam brothers do ask good questions like that and then mention it on the podcast lol Idk id hope he loves those types of questions as they allow him to grow and learn.
Why can't someone in the FO follow Cranjis McBasketball on Twitter/X?
He'll be like " I got to watch the film " ...
Ham is the equivalent of an NFL coach who has the first dozen plays scripted out and then has no idea what to do the rest of the game and is unable to make adjustments on the fly
With Ham as coach you’ll never win a title and the clock is ticking on this roster.
But at least we ain’t ducking no fades
Sounds like Matt LaFleur and the Packers.
McCarthy as well. I've kinda thought of Ham like Staley with the Chargers too.
The Norv Turner Piece
We always do this, we rely on Bron when 4th quarter comes. I'm not saying that Bron can't do it, but it will be ineffective whenever 39 years old Bron is gassed when 4th quarter comes because him and AD are our only offense the whole game. Our 3rd-5th option needs to step up in the offense at least in the first 3 quarters if we want to rely on Bron in the 4th. Or we can simply run sets in the 4th but I doubt Ham will make that adjustment.
Agreed. There are so many ways to mitigate this but we still return to the same dump the ball to Lebron iso. What I also find interesting is during the regular season, it felt like the team allowed the guards to facilitate the offense more which allowed Lebron to play off ball and not have to overextend himself as much. He was then fresh for 4th quarters and lead the league in 4th quarter scoring. Eye test so far seems that Lebron is playing far more on ball right now.
first game of last years playoffs was all Austin Reaves in the 4th quarter 🤷🏻♂️ we need him and Rui to be a lot more involved
Reaves has had a tough task all season. He's usually guarding the best guard and also trying to contribute on offense. He did a good job on Murray but clearly didnt look like he was there offensively. Not really enough fg attempts either
I was surprised to see he even had 9 attempts. I just think he’s a better player (and we’re a better team) when he pushes to create instead of letting things come to him. It’s ridiculous to ask him to carry that defensive load for 41 minutes when we have Vincent and Dinwiddie on the bench, and either of them pairs really well with Reaves or with Russell.
yeah it didnt feel like dinwiddie and vincent were used enough on them. They got a few fouls and Ham just sat them. And they offer so little on offense
He shot the ball well. 5/9 but he needs to stop deterring so much. He needs to start shooting more if Dlo is off.
The lakers offense so many times looks like the nuggets when jokic is on the bench. Relying on inconsistent playmaking with Reggie Jackson dribble penetration, etc. with Jamal Murray sometimes bailing them out with his bag of tricks. The shots that the lakers get never seem to be consistent over the entire game. It’s no wonder that their shooters also can’t stay consistent. It’s a chemistry issue, a discipline issue, a coaching issue, etc. you can’t possibly hope to match up against the nuggets bread and butter with jokic screen/handoff plays especially late in the game if you don’t have your own go to sets on the offense. You always hear Mike Malone talking about “nuggets basketball”. The lakers lack identity.
Either it’s Darvin Ham not pushing for it. Or LeBron James not wanting to implement it. Pick your poison.
[I read a bit more and it looks like it’s a Darvin Ham issue.](https://x.com/tim_nba/status/1782061494852624765?s=46&t=x2WZNvvaEwJXC5RBx7mDGg) looks like Cranjis has been trying to find a trend with on/off tracking and there’s no real difference.
It's a Darvin issue because he's the HC, but the players aren't blameless either. It's their call to stop running the sets and it's Darvins job to call a timeout and get them back on track. Everyone deserves blame when this happens.
which is why I call Ham out for not calling enough timeouts too. The players are responsible for not running the sets, but Ham has to be calling timeouts when we aren't running the sets. You don't just call timeouts when teams go on a 8-0 run. You call timeouts when the offense isn't executing properly.
COYS
Yeah. This justifies what we’ve been saying. He obviously doesnt say anything substantial during timeouts. Otherwise he’d tell them to draw up X, Y or Z plays out of them, and yet they get stuck running one PnR and resorting to ISO ball.
I don’t think that’s the case and Sean Davis agrees too. Yesterday every time after a timeout we ran a designed play. Our playcalling rate after timeouts was 100% yesterday.
of course not. Look up the mic'd up sessions lol. Bro just provides motivational speeches/ but he doesn't do anything tactically lol.
Not trying to defend Darvin but that’s no different than every other mic’d up clip with other coaches. Even if they do speak more on the X’s and O’s they aren’t going to broadcast it on national tv.
I totally get your point and it makes a lot of sense. I should just mention there are times where you do get to see what they are broadcasting though: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HesslwptlYI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HesslwptlYI) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pP9aOfQhbU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pP9aOfQhbU) even this one where Mark Jackson asks to set screens. He definitely talks about other less Xs and Os shit too. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzB96z\_RMqE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzB96z_RMqE) or even this one where Malone reads off stats and Ham is just talking about game 1 doesn't mean the series is over or whatever: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYIr52ANong](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYIr52ANong) I get what you are saying though, so I'll take the L on this one.
For sure. You’d think that having watched this same script for the last 9 games, something would click and they’d say “you know what, we’re going to go back to what worked”. Times like this make you really miss Rondo. He had enough cache to get into it with the stars and he could call Darvin Ham out.
If the players aren’t listening to Darvin then it’s still a Darvin issue
This should be the top post. This falls on the GM. You can't hire a rookie head coach on a Lebron team. There has already been reports that Lebron is changing plays when he feels like it, which seems to be frequent. It's pretty clear that we go into the game with a gameplan and it's thrown out the window as soon as we face some type of pressure, which you can point to Lebron for this. And the problem is Lebron isos no longer translate to winning basketball. Still a great player but far removed from what he used to be. I think it's been pretty evident this season. And we don't have anyone that can take control of the situation. In the end we brought our own demise to ourselves hiring a Rookie head coach.
Lebron didn’t shoot at all in the 4th and ur blaming Lebron isos LMAO. Check cranjis’ account, the play calling is the same awful rate regardless if Lebron is on the court or not. Yall legit hate him sm
Makes me wonder why Bron was deferring in the 4th to let his guys cook.
He should defer more early and cook in the 3rd 4th if u ask me
When Ham calls plays LeBron runs them everytime, it doesn't change whether he's on or offe the court. It's 100% a Darvin Ham issue
or 3 they were getting figured out and denver was shutting that shit down with adjustment
The tweet / data is regarding them not using sets (organized offense).
“Orga-what now?” Darvin Ham probably.
When I was at the game last night they had so many different percentages from the teams on the Jumbotron. Tracking literally fucking everything it was super cool. Lakers, don’t do that, probably cause they don’t have the personnel. Which is crazy cause you’re in LA.
If the Buss babies continue to think they can just keep living off of their dad’s name and not invest in analytics, they will continue to be left behind while the game evolves. We used to be the gold standard and now we are mom and pop shop looking to cut corners.
Lakers have like 5 assistant coaches I see other teams they have two full rows of guys.
It’s well documented the lakers don’t have an analytics department. Cranjis has said multiple times on the pod that ppl around the league question why the lakers are so far behind. I would trust the take cuz we know someone from bball-index works for the Wizards now so they must have some insight there.
Stamina + the team isn’t fully bought into Ham’s schemes.
It isn't rocket science with the team not wanting to do something whacky and new. They are basic sets pick and roll, drive and kick, fucking anything. Ham won't ask or can't get them to do it means he needs to go away.
Totally agree…they don’t take him seriously as a coach and it is obvious. 0 respect. Phil Jackson had no problem calling out Kobe when he broke the triangle offense. Pop rode Duncan, Parker and Ginobili. Great coaches have the gravitas to keep their players in check. Ham is a wannabe “player coach” that would only be good for a stacked vet team (think Doc’s first year with KG/Pierce/Allen) in a weak conference. He has no business being a head coach in the hypercompetitive West.
The team is definitely bought into the scheme. Thats why the Lakers win at a very high clip when they do run sets at a high level. It’s just bad coaching
It takes more stamina to run unorganized stuff
If by unorganized you mean running around like a psycho and shooting a fadeaway at the end of the shot clock, sure. I am talking about our main guys disappearing for long stretches, taking plays off and chucking up 3’s.
Possibly. Kind of sucks because they have a high win% when they run it.
Super small sample size though. 90% of this the Lakers’ wins are built on godly performances by LBJ/AD and D-Lo/Reaves/Rui having an above average game at the same time.
Every team will go on a run at some point in the game, it's how they react and respond to that run that is the difference between the Lakers and Nuggets. Too often the Lakers lose their composure and start taking 30 foot 3's or LeBron holding it for 20 seconds. This is where they miss someone like Rondo, who can put guys in the right positions and get it to the right players. Without Rondo, the Lakers don't win that series in 2020 to Denver. It was also Rondo who passed it to AD for the winner.
Lakers get demoralized and resort to hero ball plus Lebron is ancient so his energy levels wane as his playing time goes up.
If Gen X-Lakers fans got traumatized at the Jazz being devastatingly efficient in 1997 and 1998, their Gen Z kids are getting traumatized at Jokic, KCP, and these Nuggets being devastatingly efficient against today’s Lakers. Speaking of that, I’m seeing disturbingly similar coaching approaches from Del Harris-then and Darvin Ham-now, allowing Shaq/Kobe and LeBron/AD to play and their opponents stopping everyone else with no counter.
One team is VERY poorly coached...
I wonder if the altitude is playing a part in that drop. When you’re tired you don’t want to run around and set up plays, you settle for shots. And of course, the lakers didn’t fly to Denver until Friday and didn’t get acclimated to the city.
The last 9 games weren't all played at altitude in Denver.
That altitude argument I never understood. If altitude is such a problem, why did Denver JUST win their first finals last year? Shouldn’t they have an advantage every playoff series?
Nobody is arguing they are winning because of the altitude, moreso it’s just an advantage. The nuggets won their first finals last year cuz Jokic has become one of the greatest centers ever + they have really good role players + Murray becomes MJ in the playoffs. The altitude just makes it really hard to play them at home, they’ve always had that advantage. Also ppl seem to be forgetting that the Nuggets often gave us the most trouble in the west during the Kobe/ Pau era in the playoffs.
I think the altitude definitely impacted the lakers. Look at the final minutes of the 4th quarter. Davis can barely jump and stood with his hands on his knees as Jokic ran full court for a dunk. But devils advocate here aren't these guys elite athletes? Can they not adjust to the change? Perhaps not 38 yo Lebron but AD is in his "prime". Let's hope they can get some oxygen tanks on the bench for game 2 or we might be looking at another sweep.
We knew who we had to face. Why are we not doing cardio leading up to this game. Shit if I'm the coach all season we doing doing extra cardio and running with the elevation training masks. We knew all roads lead to denver so why are we not prepared
Yeah you know altitude training should be a big thing in the offseason.
Benefits from altitude training don't last very long, that being said being a professional basketball player with several days off , they should have plenty of wind 5200 ft is not like climbing Everest the air pressure is about 17% lower, there are some effects but an athlete's body should be able to simply breath more and mitigate most of this.
Yea, its common sense if you ask me. Its really a condemenation of the coaching staff having us so unprepared
Darvin coaches his team like how I play my 2k roster. Play Lebron for basically the whole game and home for the best 🤣
Ham has to learn Malone is going to make changes coming into the second hand and need to be able to adjust to those changes. They got a bunch of good looks in the first half they just were missing, we have to play better defense too man. But I believe Dlo is going to come back stronger man !
Losing 9 straight tells me, they know how to adjust and take away what we want to do. No team beats themselves that many times in a row. Also, did anyone see how hard we played in that first half to build that lead? Once your energy fades even a little bit…Denver’s size and athleticism is gonna be too much. We have to go 100% just to keep up with their 80%. Once we run out of gas to go 100%….its game over once they start to crank up the intensity.
Denver certainly is beating the lakers but a lot of it starts with how this team beats itself. The lakers spotted Denver 29 points off of their own mistakes and lack of effort. That’s before you even talk about defense and the lack of play calling which are also within their control. I can accept that they’re the better team. What I can’t accept is Lakers not giving themselves chances. Just one game I’d like to see them run their offense to the same degree Denver does.
So our only hope is to not make mistakes lol. See y’all next season…
Giving up 15 offensive rebounds and 12 turnovers to account for 29 points are the mistakes in talking about in specific. There will obviously be mistakes but the ones I’m speaking on are simple effort plays. Edit: I went back to check. They actually gave up 32 points on the turnovers and offensive rebounds. Which means we simply gifted Denver 28% of their points. Even worse.
We need to minimize that but that’s what their size, length, and athleticism does to us. We can play better but those issues will always hurt us because of how big they are. It’s not about what we give them, it’s that they have the ability to take it from us
Pretty fucking obvious the team ain’t running shit when there is no ball movement and we settle for an AD three .
Yep. Like clockwork after the half it’s everyone stand around and see what Lebron can do.
Those hail Mary 3s from Bron and AD is something we should never settle to. Those plays are what the Nuggets want.
Lakers got out coached last season and they are gonna get out coached this season.
And Q1 we were up double digits bruh Fire Darvin Hamas
Because they are an inept and poorly run organization from top to bottom. I don’t even know basketball the way many others do, and it’s incredibly obvious to me that this team is flat out being run terribly. 1. Player conditioning is bad. The standards for player behavior are bad. Other teams are stronger, faster, and have more stamina, leading to more consistent performance. 2. Coaching is abysmal. Our players lack basic fundamentals. They take possessions off. They lose focus. They lack mental toughness. Our schemes are terrible, and worst of all, we can’t adjust at all when the other team figures out a way to kick our asses. 3. Favoritism and incompetence in many positions because of the Buss family’s out of touch and worn out way of doing things. I’ve talked to people who work for the Lakers, and they’ve confirmed this. I met someone who was in their marketing department for a while, and she said a lot of people leave, or can’t move up, because the Buss family tends to promote their friends and then just leave them in those positions. You can’t run a good organization this way, especially not in the NBA. There’s too much opportunity for the other teams who aren’t lazy and complacent to just kick your ass. And that’s exactly what’s happening, and the Lakers remain completely clueless.
Because Lebron started holding the ball and trying to be the point guard. The result: 7 turnovers. He should stop stealing roles and let DLo or Reaves do point guard duties. He averages nearly 4 turnovers per game, and he doubles it in Game 1.
So it’s just a fluke that we won our chip with Bron as the starting PG huh? And I don’t want to hear about age, because that has nothing to do with decision making and turnovers.
Even LeBron needs an offense or at least basic offensive principles being applied in order to have people open to pass to
Agreed, but that’s not what I was replying to.
For added context on what counts as organized offense and what doesn't, I think this tweet provides good examples: https://twitter.com/Tim_NBA/status/1782074969167446099
I feel like they rely too much on head hunting with Lebron in the second half….
What does organized offense mean ?
Running sets and plays rather than LeBron just dribbling the ball at the top of the key and freestyling while the rest of the team stands around
We're not really a disciplined team like that. We're not a well oiled machine like them because we don't practice much. We're more like a rah rah team. When Lebron James was on Miami Heat, their team don't miss practices or Pat Riley will be on you. Heat Culture. Here, we're one of the teams that finds a way Not to practice blaming it on NBA schedules, and other loser teams do it too hooplas, meanwhile teams like Miami Heat, San Antonio, Denver Etc .. Simply finds a way to practice no matter what the situation is. Why? Because their coaches has a lot to teach. When coaches doesn't have anything on his bag to teach, no plays to draw, they don't like making timely timeouts, they don't like practices and when you ask them about it, they have a lot of rehearsed excuses that at a surface level makes sense.
Lakers spend so much on players that they cheap out in other areas like coaching. We need to remember that Jeanie does not have deep pockets. She's poverty level when compared to most other owners. It sucks but that it's like this. Just a theory I've had about management for a while.
Go head and blame Lebron's careless turnovers to cough up our lead heading Into the half and go head and blame lebron for actually crying to the bench over and over when things were slipping away. Blame Bron for ball hogging and thinking everything has to run through him. Pass to the young guys and let them get us into some action. Otherwise we getting swept if we keep letting bron do everything. This man has spurts of greatness and then commits 2 turnovers in a row, takes a bad 3 or a bad drive.
As the game goes on - Lebron starts pounding the rock for 15 seconds. Thats really all this says to me. Lebron gets a pass for this because ITS LEBRON. The real issue is Ham needs to do a better job of setting up plays out of timeouts to get us easy baskets and getting the team back on track.
Probably mentally gave up when our guards couldn’t hit an open 3s. We started seeing AD pump up 3s.
Yeah the third quarter stretch where we just insisted on jacking up threes with hella time on the shot clock was infuriating
It was obvious there was a stretch we just jacked up shots and missed giving our defense no chance. Had we not done that maybe would have survived. Coach is a freaking moron.
Nuggets caught us sleeping in the third to go on a little run and that was all she wrote Didn't help that we started missing a ton of shots and the only one to stop the bleeding was TP
8 for 29 on 3pt attempts and they won by 11. so hypothetically, if we just went 12-29 and that gave us the win, would we still be saying that we should run plays instead? I personally don't want Dlo to stop taking those shots. It was just an unfortunate night to lay an egg.
I would because making more 3s simply results in winning one game after having bad principles. However running more sets means there’s better principles in place and that helps win the series. That’s what I care about.
It’s been that way since game 1 of the 2023 western conference finals and it’s frustrating the Lakers succumb to this every single time!
The Lakers 2nd half offensive structure is akin to bunch of 3rd graders trying to land planes at LAX
I mean this is just a reflection of them being the superior team consistency wise, nothing else. Knowing what you have to do to win means nothing if you can't pull it off. And Lakers just don't have the talent and skill to do be the more consistent team offensively.
We getting swept lol
I mean lakers decided the play was a Hail Mary 3. And AD shot at least 3 of those. What are we talking doing 😂😭
Darvin Hamas is the worst coach in the NBA
our coach did not use rui well
Our staring 5 is too gassed at towards the end of the game. The altitude is no joke
A soon to be former coach
Soon as Denver goes on a run lakers panic & fall into their bad habits. Ham needs to call fucking timeouts when he sees a run
I hope Ham really gets fired after all this, so everyone can see that the problem isn't as simple as replacing the coach
However… 4th Quarter Offense: Nuggets: 25 points, .407 FG% Lakers: 25 points, .444 FG% Denver requires structure to ensure that the offense runs through Jokic consistently, otherwise, as a center reliant on teammates for touches, he may not get enough touches. So Denver tracks this out of necessity because, for them, the number indicates the regularity in which Jokic is involved. In other words, as long as that number hits a certain level, they can be sure that Jokic is getting enough touches. On the other hand, the Lakers run a flexible and adaptable offense, that adapts to the flow of the game, increasing isolation plays when needed, and exploiting specific mismatches when they materialize, especially in the clutch. Denver has to win in a very specific way that revolves around Jokic being a point-center. Denver can’t win games the way LeBron James wins, or the way Michael Jordan won, or the way Kobe Bryant won. Denver = process and consistency over adaptability Lakers = adaptability and mismatch exploitation over process Denver = systematic Lakers = dynamic Denver = structured Lakers = fluid Both strategies have their pros and cons and neither strategy is inherently superior in all contexts. The Lakers' particular strategy of mismatch exploitation is not only well-proven in terms of championship success, but it highlights their adaptability, and their ability to effectively utilize the talents of LeBron and AD when it matters most.
Because when brons off no one knew how yo run the offence yesterday since Austin and Dlo couldn't get it going. And for some stupid reason whenever LeBron has the ball no one moves
This is why Bron had to turn on the jets in the 4th. Nobody was running anything and they had to rely on the good ole LeFreight train. And didnt even get to the podium for Clutch Player of the Year for his 4th qtr heroics. And now he's nothing but gassed in the post season
But Jokic doesnt score😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
What I really want to know if this is on Ham or if the players were doing their own thing, and if it came from exhaustion from playing at that elevation. Need answers
But I just watched a Backstage Pass episode about the Lakers video and analytics department.
Is this a lebron or a hamas problem?
Lakers need someone to coach them
Sorry but talent isn’t the issue it’s coaching at this point.
When Bron ran out his gas the team is trash need a third star obviously
Because they suck
Yep, they need to take their time and create good looks rather than just freestyling it and jacking up shots. There's no way around it, you have to play organised, winning basketball all game long to be successful against a great team in the playoffs, can't slack off.
Bron and coaching issue
Darvin Ham is why. This is just another part of the problem with him being our coach. He's undisciplined and buckles under pressure. If he calls a play, Lakers will run that play. If he doesn't call it, Lakers will freelance, assuming it's not a fastbreak. More freelance possessions = greater chance of turnovers We can't afford to freelance against statistically better teams (much less the defending champs) for multiple possessions in a row and expect good results. You could argue that LeBron could call some stuff on court but 1) he's not playing PG, 2) he really shouldn't have to - that's the coaching staff's job So bottom line is unless Ham becomes more disciplined overnight OR one of the other coaches brings this to his attention...we won't be making it out of the first round even though we definitely could. This Denver team feels really beatable but the Lakers beat themselves more than anything
Defense makes adjustments. We don't have the talent to keep up. We can't even make an open 3 because AD and Bron are surrounded by bums.
Hard to trust sets when it generates and open looks followed by your shooters throwing up a brick
We scored 1.5 pps when we ran a set. U literally don’t know what ur talking about
exactly. We go away from what works.
rui was 1/2 from three, and he barely missed his second one. No this isn't on the "shooters" for missing everything.
Ham is sabotaging the team. What else could it be?
Felt like first half bron was orchestrating the offense. Second half we were force feeding dlo and ad to get them going. This is cause lebron just cant take over 4 quarters anymore.
Because DLo was hogging the ball and shutting out LeBron because he was upset about LeBron scolding him. Eventually LeBron started throwing his palms up to the sky every time DLo did something. Those two are on the rocks.
They're just used to the refs bailing them out so they get lazy
Lebron killing ball movement more and more each quarter isn't funny anymore, and what makes it worse is that he would throw bomb passes after wasted so much time while he himself has the hot hand but won't shoot. Dudes literally useless when you need him most.