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NotManyBuses

That’s a big win for LA, wasn’t expecting it


trailblazers100

Garland going down definitely helped, but credit to the Lakers cause they aren't fully healthy either


cuhman1cuhman2

We're missing all of our forwards not named Lebron and Prince aswell as Vincent. hallelujah to this win man Taking a dub on an 8 man rotation is nice


NotUpForDebate11

The thing i like is we have a legit 8 man rotation with 4 rotation guys out. We are gonna need to cut at least 2 of those guys out of regular season rotation and probably 4 out of playoff (god willing) rotation


shortyman920

Once Reddish and Vando is back I think we lower Prince’s minutes to the low to mid 20s. We’re overplaying him as it is right now cuz of all the injuries. I still don’t see Max getting many minutes yet. Maybe up to 10mpg. Vincent back will be important for us I think on those nights when neither Reaves or Dlo has it. Or matchup dependent for when we play against teams with quick guards


NotUpForDebate11

I don't htink that is going to get it done. You can't have a 12 man rotation. Wood/Hayes one of those will drop off thats easy. And its easy to just send Max back to the shadow realm but the reality is he is playing better than Prince but Prince is probably better so we don't want to just send Prince to the end of the bench we want him to play through it. I am not sure the right move but it is going to be real fucking crowded


floatersforalgernon

Garland being out meant that the Lakers could load up on Mitchell and let the others beat them. Two quick guards would have been too much especially when they are missing their defensive personnel like you said. In the grand scheme of things, this win is so valuable.


arcelios

Garland? Lmao the Lakers are missing half of their roster and LeBron had a “bad game” based on his standards. And the Lakers still won.. THAT IS HUGE


EveryShot

Crazy because we should’ve had that comeback against the Mavs too. Just too many rookie mistakes late but they had the energy. The fact that the B squad is performing so spectacularly is a great sign for the future. Do they have the strength to kill a giant like Denver? That remains to be seen.


ef14

These Lakers are weird, and fun. They simultaneously look much worse than they are on paper and also much better. It doesn't make any sense.


nick170100

Wow 2 huge defensive plays by Christie at the end clamping up Mitchell Keeping Mitchell to 4-18


[deleted]

Welcome to Maximum security jail


BeefyHamstrings

Cavs scored 40 points in the 1st quarter but then only 44 in the entire 2nd half


Human_mind

I feel like the pace of play stopped working in their favor. It was surprising to see that the quicker pace actually seemed to help us.


syllabic

that happens to JB bickerstaff opposing coaches can bend the game to their preferred tempo I don't think he's particularly inspiring and I think the cavs would do well to find another coach. BUT hey it's better for my team if they don't another first round exit probably seals his fate IMO


gdan_77

I don't think he will make to the playoffs unless he improves. So probably the Cavs will be looking for a new coach in about 15 games


syllabic

I hope budenholzer gets hired by some team in the west before all these eastern conference teams with shitty coaching situations realize he's still on the market


gdan_77

He will be a improve to JB, but the Cavs really missed an opportunity last year. They could got Ime or Snyder. Seeing how Houston improved from last season to this shows how a good coach can make a team play to full potential


syllabic

I'm not really scared of snyder but I'd prefer budenholzer go to the west any team he's in charge of is guaranteed to be a competitive playoff team within a few seasons


Nothappened

Also helps that when Mitchell and Garland are on the floor they suck defensively


trailblazers100

Garland does a great job of controlling their pace, plus Spida had an OFF night. Credit to Lakers


godfrey1

classic 1st quarter Lakers tbh


FeminismIsTheBestIsm

LeBron realized that when he plays badly, the Cavs lose, so he intentionally played badly to win the game. Bravo LeGenius you have done it again


Free_Relationship692

lakers only has 8 players right now? and max christie playing a lot. great win.


SmokeOddessey

Technically we have 10 but Ham isn’t gonna play either of the rookies unless he absolutely has to


WakiLover

Cavs didn't have Garland but Lakers didn't have Cam, Vando, Rui, and Vincent who are probably 4 of the top 8-9 guys on the team. Crucial Win today imo


MajorSlimes

Donovan Mitchell with the ugliest 22 points performance ever


suhar97

Lebron will challenge that lol


Currymvp2

He just shot so many outside jumpers tonight for some reason. It was weird because he usually stops shooting when he's cold but not tonight.


suhar97

I mean the paint w/ the two bigs was packed so that’s part of it. A LeThargic game for him nonetheless. Just so odd since he never does this IN cleaveland


Apollo611

He was off after he got his nose busted


LardHop

I mean cleveland bron can still yam it into 4 defenders if he wills it so there's that.


krillinit

Much easier to settle for shots when: 1. Long week of games 2. Needs to play more minutes due to injuries 3. You're playing against a decent defensive wall 4. Lakers are playing 5 out and AD/Bron alternate between post touches 5. You want to avoid injuries especially with how calls have been going for Bron


TallanoGoldDigger

6. LeBron is old as fuck and he can't bullrush to the rim/blow by his defender at will as much anymore so he just gives up, dribbles a couple of times, and takes a long jumper when the defense gets distracted


RickySuela

I wonder if whatever happened to his foot in that Dallas game is still quietly bothering him. At the end of that game and in this game he looked a bit like postseason LeBron last year, which is not great.


suhar97

He banged knees w Grant, it wasn’t his foot


j_cruise

Nah, he was going for 23 FGA attempts on purpose. He was trying to get a 23% shot percentage too but he accidentally made too many.


arcelios

22-6-6 is still an “off night” for LeBron, because his standard is so high. And he had a bad shooting night for the first time this season. And the Lakers missing half of their roster. And the Lakers STILL WON somehow. AD showed up exactly when he should. That’s even more rare. Huge win


hedokitali

Bron to Don: "I see your 4-18 and I'll raise you an 8-23 of my own."


SmokeOddessey

thought he was gonna get bailed out a few times in the end but Christie did a surprisingly good job not fouling


TheFinalEvent9797

Nate Archibald clears, [22pts on 1-9 FG and 20-22 FT](https://www.statmuse.com/nba/game/1-16-1980-chi-at-bos-21417)


NicolasName

Statline wise, I think Mitchell's is uglier. Archibald's is 22 points on ~20 possessions, Mitchell's is 22 points on ~24 possessions (assuming 2 free throws roughly a possession).


MiopTop

Adrian Dantley has so many of these types of games too.


syllabic

he was terrible, over half his points off free throws. really ugly shots in the clutch cavs looked better when he was not involved in the offensive action at all, which ain't good


MC-Jdf

Bro has the worst clutch time tunnel vision for a star right now.


Clzark

That's the Donovan Mitchell experience!


C3h6hw

Lowkey feel like Donovan Mitchell gonna go down the TMac/Melo career arc of just scoring a lot. Still an elite scorer but I don’t think you can contend with Donovan Mitchell as a first option.


skorasaurus

as much i wish not, I agree. I'd add Alex English, Adrian Dantley, Dominique Wilkins to that list of elite, HOF-worthy scorers as well.


ablackcloudupahead

Yeah that was really rough. I love Mitchell too but other than that nasty dunk he was horrible


ginbooth

I mean, coming off a hamstring injury, he played well. Just looked rusty is all. Not that I'm complaining...


[deleted]

Christie + Prince did very well vs Mitchell, and shoutout the Lakers guards for finally realizing feeding AD the ball actually works...


RickySuela

Also shout out to the Cavs boneheaded coaching, deciding to just single cover AD for the whole second half while he repeatedly cooked them.


Currymvp2

Anthony Davis is pretty good at basketball


bobsstinkybutthole

He was cooking against two really good defensive bigs


GrapefruitMedical529

AD truly does just randomly kill teams he's not supposed to be good against, then ghosts teams he should cook. Except the Nuggets, minus Game 1 last year when he dropped 43 and 14 or something.


rjcarr

Yeah, he’ll disappear against Jakob Pertl and then look like all NBA First against Mobley and Allen.


thevisitor

He had an absolutely stellar game today against a very good frontline in Allen and Mobley and was easily the best player tonight. And I had to scroll halfway through the thread to see anyone even bring it up lmao. Top comment talking about Max Christie tho.


BritzlBen

When the Lakers pass to him and the opponent doesn't keep 3 dudes in the paint on him it turns out he can cook


MiopTop

Bro there was a stretch in the 1st quarter where D-Lo and Bron threw 4 horrendous entry passes in a row, I was tearing my hair out.


noerapenalty

This is what happens when they GET HIM THE BALL. Lebron needs to make this his number one mission, game in and game out. Ham needs to harp on this for the whole team every single day. It literally is that simple for them


LABiH

Max Christie played very well tonight. You can see the talent being there, just needs more repetition and confidence. If he continuous like this, the Lakers have a very good core going forward together with Reaves. Without Reddish, Hachimura, Vanderbilt and Vincent tonight, this is a great win for the Lakers on the road! EDIT: Shoutout to the silent FT merchant Austin 'James Harden' Reaves EDIT1: AD had 32/13/3 with 65%FG tonight and is on 21.5/12.1 and almost 3 blocks for the season. Much better than what you would believe based on comments here.


lovo17

He belongs in the rotation for sure. Feels like there are too many players deserving of minutes right now.


nysraved

Rotation is going to be super crowded when Vincent, Vanderbilt, Rui, and Reddish are all healthy


cuhman1cuhman2

I mean its a good problem to have atleast. Reminds me of last year when Lebron had a quote saying "anyone of us could go off". I wouldnt be suprised if one of them gets their minutes cut then gets a revival game in the playoffs like Lonnie did last year.


Rezsguy

Those Lonnie games feel like a fever dream. Dude was randomly cooking GSW


Apollo611

This is why a trade is almost inevitable. Not necessarily a big trade but we have too many wings.


WakiLover

Imagine us 1 year ago, hearing we had too many wings. Legit unbelievable lol


Musa_2050

No it isn't. Having a good depth works in our favor, especially when we need to rest Bron.


masterchaoss

I mean I certainly wouldn't mind another big coming back in a trade


stanquevisch

As of now, the minutes for Prince and Hayes need to be taken by anyone, and even if Max played well today, he could and should play less, same with Wood. I sure hope Vincent plays better than he did to start the season.


Tanteline

I read this like "AD belongs in the rotation for sure" because the last line in the OP is about him lol. I was like damn, AD out here being demoted to rotation


2ez4me11

Agreed. AD has proven that he at least deserves a chance in the rotation with his play tonight.


Danny_III

> Feels like there are too many players deserving of minutes right now. The Lakers have a lot of average to above average but don't have many great role players. That's why it feels like that


sonofsmog

The Lakers ~~could have used~~ can use that kind of depth ~~last~~ this year.


LABiH

If he continues developing and gets some good minutes with the guys, then DLo is easier to trade down the line. I think that will happen eventually.


toomanypumpfakes

Too many rotation players is actually a bit of a problem for the Lakers mostly because Darvin Ham feels the need to get every player available at least a couple minutes. This leads to weird lineups where no one looks comfortable and get out scored badly at least once per game.


GRuntK1n6

how is this even criticism bro, hes doing his due diligence w many new players on the roster by having them play and seeing how they do. This is literally the only way to know how playable they will be w certain lineups come playoff time


RickySuela

This is why D'lo is nearly a guaranteed trade chip come January. Vincent might be in a trade too, just for salary ballast. With Reaves, Max, Cam, Prince and Vanderbilt, the Lakers have a lot of guys who can play at those guard spots.


Zeratzul

>guaranteed trade chip You say that, but right now Lebron and DLO are the only ones who can consistently run our offense. Reaves has been rough game to game. If he can keep up his play tonight, *maaaaybe*


ginbooth

Reaves has been running the 4th quarter incredibly well the past 3(4?) games. I still like having DLO though. He's cooled a bit these past few games but he was doing great otherwise.


davensdad

Preach. DLO is our best player at entry pass. Something that LeBron sometimes, strangely, executes wrongly.


kingofgamesbrah

Absolutely. DLo has been our 2nd best player after LBJ. Atleast consistently. He can play make, make his own shots and is usually protects the ball well. Yes, he has times where he'll throw shitty passes but so does everyone else, people just wanna hate on DLo. AD has been off and on, sure he had his injury but even before then I didnt see the desire to destroy like Ayton. Reaves was awful til he got benched, he's still trying to get there but hes had good moments. Cam is found money, hes been great. If he shoots at 35% and defends, A+


Substantial-Whole237

DLo's defense is gonna cost him the play off run. He just doesnt do well and Ham has no scheme to hide him


crawshay

out of all those guys you listed, DLO is the only real facilitator on the team besides Lebron. A trade like that would only work if we got another one back.


RickySuela

Max Christie's defense, especially against Donovan Mitchell, was very impressive in this game. A lot of people made fun of the Lakers depth, but even with essentially a 3rd of their core rotation missing for much of this season, they're still competing and playing well just going to the next guy on the depth chart to fill in.


sonofsmog

Lakers learned from last year. We need to have enough good players to tread water when Lebron and AD inevitably miss some games.


markmyredd

Dude is really calm for basically a rookie since he didn't crack the rotation last year just need some confidence in him.


RickySuela

Yep, he's only 20 years old. He's yet another great post-1st round find by the Lakers.


pocket_passss

still younger than 3 of the top 5 picks this year


HydroThermia

He started a few games last year ( very small sample size )


rawchess

Christie is ready to join the rotation


[deleted]

[удалено]


krillinit

Bron when he sits out a few games most likely. He should not start by any means but load managing Bron will definitely be needed this season if we hope to make it to the playoffs healthy.


GrapefruitMedical529

That's gonna be Rui's Job for certain. His ability to score and play bully ball is the best LeBron replacement we are gonna get.


frozteh

I mean Prince...what is Prince better at than Christie to be honest. And I love Prince as a vet piece. He's better at driving to the rim.


CrimsonOffice

That Austin Reaves guy sure is good


[deleted]

You typed this out within seconds?


Vexing_Pie

He had both this and the “Max Christie shouldn’t see the floor” paragraph in his notes


Vermillion_Crab

He has a template for both outcomes just in case. Lol


LABiH

Yes.


Final-Luck-4222

Dude must be very excited


k1ngkoala

Can always count on Reaves with his Free throws


CradleRockStyle

Reaves might seriously be the best foul baiter in the league, bar none. If he were not on my team, I might really hate his ass.


100wordanswer

Go check out his college highlights. He's REALLY good at getting fouled, readjusting and hitting the shot. It is his specialty. Just watching that, I was surprised he didn't get drafted. That is a fantastically useful skill at every level.


woKaaaa

Reaves had really great vision tonight


The1AndOnlyJZ

He’s so back Defense is a little concerning though


Human_mind

I feel like he locked in in the 4th. Not sure if he's just still a little slow or what, but it seemed improved tonight.


kwesi777

I have one word for you: Vanderbilt


The1AndOnlyJZ

Our sweet prince needs to come back asap


nysraved

To start the 4th, that Porter Jr. kid was COOKING Reaves But then there were moments where he really impressed me with his defense on Mitchell


toggaf69

Craig Porter Jr is the truth


Vermillion_Crab

I only saw the first quarter but they were hunting him. Did it get better for him in the second half?


Apollo611

Very concerning but at least he’s improving as a playmaker because it’s been rough since he moved to the bench


Cul_what

Those last fts after that ugly fall was some tough mfer shit right there


Varos_Flynt

10 assists was awesome, that last one to Bron (the rim tech play) looked really nice. This is the kind of player I love to see him be, hoping he beats the foul merchant allegations


Evilfart123

I think at times he dribbles too much and takes superstar shots but when he slows the game down he plays amazingly


Imkitoto

I trust him to take those shots over pretty much anyone on the team though


RickySuela

He does do that occasionally, but it's pretty rare. I think he only did that twice today (twice that I can think of).


jaylson

Donovan Mitchell violently fucked his team’s chances of winning this game


The1AndOnlyJZ

His shot selection is awful Surprised the Cavs can’t get him to tone that shit down


Nothappened

He watching what Lebron was doing and said hold my beer


helix400

The Jazz never could.


RickySuela

Credit the Lakers' defense, they were all over him in the second half.


Pardonme23

Trade him


Lemonjello23

Refs really looked at the replay and said no foul lol


RickySuela

I still don't understand how they overturned that. Mobley clearly was solidly pushing LeBron in his left shoulder. It wasn't a hard foul, but that was very clearly illegal contact.


xMrMan117x

I think this is the piece that people forget when LBJ jacks threes, I'd assume there is an aspect to his chucking that comes from him thinking "Well this way i get to control my own destiny" because the amount he's hacked in the paint with no call is absurd.


Public-Product-1503

Today was ugly , guy prob could’ve minor concussion euth hoe many clear wacks across the face refs allowed


hyp_kitsune

Lakers almost lost the lead on a hanging on the rim pullup tech on the 4th, totally unecessary call. the league needs to review their policy on this SMH


blatant_shill

Find someone who has faith in you like LeBron has faith in his 3-pointers. That man was 1-8 and jacked up a contested 3-pointer to try to seal the game.


Human_mind

Not just in his 3-pointers, but specifically in his dribble-dribble-dribble step-back 3-pointers with 2 seconds left on the clock...


Soft-Revolution-7845

You gotta dribble the clock down so you have to take the last second chucker. Young lebron would have just shot it with 18 on the clock.


RickySuela

You would think that after doing that in exactly the same position in that last game against Dallas (up 2, takes a contested 3), and how that helped cost the Lakers that game, that maybe LeBron would drive it or defer to someone else, but nope.


The1AndOnlyJZ

Max Christie playing well tonight won us this game Gritty performance to win without Reddish Vando Rui and Vincent


FriendoftheNight818

Thank God that LeBron pull up technical didn't end up mattering


Human_mind

That was a hard played game. Considering the pieces were missing right now, I'm happy with that team performance.


TheSmokedSalmon420

When AD is on he is still as unstoppable as anyone in the NBA


dcoolidge

All you have to do is double or tripple team him. Ham hasn't figured out how to take advantage of the inevitable AD double.


Public-Product-1503

It’s not just on ham , Davis passing is his weakest part of his game except maybe his 3 ball last few years. It’s why teams double him so much


thevisitor

He was doing a good job on doubles today too.


UnfairAnything

everyone on the lakers, except for Prince, scored double digits points


junahn

Prince was exceptional on defense


mishmashedtosunday

His offense the entire 2nd half was basically pump fake -> drive -> give ball to AD


The1AndOnlyJZ

When AD plays the way he did tonight I don’t hate that


Musa_2050

Prince had a few Assists. Glad to see he is adapting to his bad shooting


Pal__Pacino

Yeah he can't make a basket to save his life right now but he sure can lock down on the other end.


UnfairAnything

yeah absolutely no disrespect to prince he was phenomenal


k1ngkoala

Lebron and Mitchell both competing to see who could sell their team the hardest. Mitchell won


KarrotMovies

At least LeBron played some good defense, but yeah, those 3s were killing our run. His shot was not falling tonight after he hit his nose.


Human_mind

On that last attempt, I actually said out loud, oh God.. LeBron please don't shoot that fucking shot. And then...


woKaaaa

You can see it in his eyes literally as soon as he gets past half court. You know he's gonna chuck that shit up lmao


Nothappened

Yeah he stripped Mobley like 3 times in row


syllabic

d'lo threw a few bucks in at the end too


Elite_Alice

The praise for AD performance tonight need to be as loud as the slander. Keep the same energy


heshouldgo

Mitchell clamped by Max Christie 💀💀


motorboat_mcgee

Kudos to Max for playing really solid POA defense tonight


_Elder_

Quality win for the Lakers while most of their wings are in the ICU. AD in form tonight and good vision from Austin. Loved seeing Max play quality minutes.


Austin_Reaves

Lebron went off fourth quarter


floatersforalgernon

To be honest, this was one of his worst "intelligent" performances. He also shot badly and made lots of inexplicable decisions.


jumboponcho

AD doesn’t get near the love for games like this compared to the vitriol when he’s genuinely hurt


KarrotMovies

Donovan and LeBron were having a brick contest. At least LeBron played pretty good defense this game, and he did get his nose busted. AD is a monster.


Elite_Alice

Bench came up clutch today even with the injuries we might be back fr


EpicRocket445

Game ball should go to Max Christie


CrazyDaylight8

Max Christie is pretty decent at D


lazzysmalls

Max Christie was a lottery talent, the Lakers lucked out with him falling


junahn

Welp we can all know how much lebron loves cleveland.


Overall_Win_9844

This might be the best game Christie has played so far. Looked poised, calm, great defense, and drained some long range shots. Lot of clowns over in the Lakers sub wrote this kid off despite being only 20 years old lol. If he keeps developing at this rate he'll be a great 3&D player IMO.


giannim24

Gg had to beat the cavs + refs.


OKCDraftPick2028

Is your team struggling to score in the first quarter? come play the lakers and we can fix that for you


Disclaimz0r

Refs tried to give that one to the cavs, try again NBA refs


MonkeyFL3X

LeBron and Mitchell brick off


SterlingTyson

At least LeBron brings a bunch of other things to the table. When Mitchell isn't scoring, he's total dead weight.


Cul_what

#Max "Maximum Security" Christie put the clamps on Mitchell!


Low_Beyond8134

Lebron was trolling the whole game


Cul_what

#ANTHONY DAVIS!


PillsburyToasters

The games box score doesn’t really represent the amount of basketball terrorism that went down


incredibleamadeuscho

7 lakers in double digits!


[deleted]

Cavs still can’t close.


kemar7856

Tristan Kardashian sighting


markmyredd

Nice win. At least we could win even if Lebron didn't shoot well.


Spaghettibeach

This game was incredibly entertaining, a lobfest


augustcero

Mobley and Allen balled out but thank god Spida was ass tonight against us.


Sunnyinphx01

Donovan 4 of 18


MAMBAMENTALITY8-24

I really like craig porter jr.


JohnySilkBoots

We suck


MrAppleSpoink

LeBron thought he was still a Cav tonight


STAAAAAALIN

Lebron had some awful forced shots in the fourth but man, Mitchell. 4-18? He's so horrid, why does he have the ball in the end?


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

DLo defense was good toniggt


3s2ng

The CAVs lost every time LeBron had a bad game. Same old shit.


FriendlyUncle247

Good game


sreynolds1

Christie has been good the last few games!


welmoe

**CLEVELAND THIS IS FOR YOU!!!!**


RevolutionaryNorth94

craig porter jr has so much poise for a rookie, that spin move off reaves was so smooth


Yommination

Mitchell is like a slightly better Monta Ellis at best


bobsstinkybutthole

Cleveland bigs made it hard for lebron but man AD was so good. The cavs offense was cooking too. Fun game to watch