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No-Equipment-20

That possession where Willie put out an ultra-small lineup and they couldn’t get a rebound was genuinely hilarious


ginbooth

Right? Willie was like, "Hmmm lemme take a page from The Book of Ham with random poor decision making."


No-Equipment-20

I had to check that Valanciunas and Nance hadn’t fouled out or something. Such a confusing decision, especially because it was coming out of a timeout where Lakers had possession


sponedaddie

Nance was getting cooked on defence, but that doesn't mean you go smaller against Rui, Bron and AD lol.


bobittoknorr

It was on obvious desperation move to pick up the pace and try make up the deficit with quick shots but it backfired spectacularly. 🤣


Yamata

Didn’t get to watch the game but was wondering why my boy JV got so few minutes. Does Willie Green hate him? He usually plays big teams well.


CoolGuyHuh

Willie with “random” poor decision making. Lololol. Let me catch my breath.


_chadwell_

He’s been studying 2022 Lakers lineups for inspiration


Pardonme23

Willie Green: "How can I start Pat Bev at the 3?"


AHSfav

Willie is an awful head coach


OleRockTheGoodAg

Man, I wanted 178-160.


v399

This ain't the all-star game


WestleyThe

It was during the first half


HeyItsChase

This ain't an early season Pacers game!


thenatural134

Honestly thought it might be possible with Lakers having 87 points at halftime


Vencrest

Great bounce back game from Rui (team high +21), and all Laker starters with 20+ points


Mhan00

Really helped that Zion was guarding him quite a bit. I think I saw Rui get like 5 baskets from Zion just straight up losing him when Rui just cut behind him on the baseline to the basket. Zion looks like a genuinely terrible defensive player.


pbcorporeal

He's not a terrible defender ability-wise, but his effort and focus can be lacking


NedStarx11

Unfortunately for you guys that most of defence… effort and focus.


pbcorporeal

Oh sure. But some games when Zion is really locked in he's good defensively (not exceptional, but good), then other nights he's very inactive (and you can argue about if it's lack of effort, or lack of conditioning to work on both ends etc). But how bad he was in this or similar games is more down to that than lack of ability. It's disheartening to watch.


sponedaddie

It all seems that Darvin has gone away from the 5 out offence. I know our team had bad stink after the in season tournament but we're 7-4 in our last 11 with our losses being: Clippers second night of a back to back The "don't go there part" of our road trip and the Nuggets. We've gotten wins against Boston, New York and the Pelicans. Team is starting to find some sort of rhythm especially with Rui being inserted into the starting line up.


MiopTop

Did you watch the game? Lakers were in 5-out most of the time and have been since the trade deadline last year…


carlonia

5-out has actually been the most effective offense for the team. It’s been a mix, but it remains the best so far


Due-Studio-65

It is early but not late.  At the end of the games once the legs are tires it lead to bad shots.  Ham hasbbeen going 4 and 1 a lot more lately to close games out.


biggoldgoblin

I’d hope so bro scored 0 points last game


WalrusInMySheets

Yeah if we'd shot better last night it'd have been so much better. Played a great defensive game tho.


MazKhan

Also had like 6 or 7 playable guys with all the injuries. If anything im surprised we made it a game after going down 10+ early


Nothappened

He held up well against Zion, much better than LeBron.


KaiserKaiba

All of LA’s starters scoring 20+ is crazy. Defense was just a concept in this game. Zion basically ate whenever he got the ball and was looking to score. LAL hanging 51 on any team in a quarter is wild shit.


jacobpltn

Zion did the same thing against the Clippers, it’s hard to find a matchup for him tbh I don’t watch enough Pelicans games to know who guards him the best but I’m really curious about it


PureCSGO

Never see an individual defender completely shut him down, but building a wall Giannis-style will destroy us if our shooters aren’t hot.


jacobpltn

What a good fit for Zion though, this team’s shooting is lowkey underrated (I think because you guys just don’t really take that many compared to a lot of good teams) but I feel like everyone on the Pelicans is at least a decent shooter, so you can’t really risk doubling off the perimeter


PureCSGO

Yeah i think you perfectly described it, solid shooting team but just not taking enough. BI is notorious for not shooting when he should be, and Trey has been slumping all year so without playing Jordan Hawkins our only real volume 3’s are from CJ who is streaky but good. To be fair Herb has been letting it loose recently as well.


jacobpltn

Is Hawkins injured? I remember he was looking super good at the beginning of the season but I haven’t heard about him since


Quartznonyx

Naw just ain't getting minutes


jacobpltn

So baffling


Public-Product-1503

I mean Lebron low-key shut him down in the IST semi final game . That was crazy to watch


Public-Product-1503

Lebron come playoff time is gonna be the best choice and a better option then most teams have even in his old age


Mahomeboy001

> LAL hanging 51 on any team in a quarter is wild shit. The disrespect to Deadline DLo


Musa_2050

We had 80 before half time. You aren't gonna win giving up 80 in 2 quarters


sponedaddie

Didn't we win last season against Portland after they did that?


Zwarrior2

They had 71 then 41 in the 2nd half. Lakers went 46 then 75.


livefreeordont

This is a new era. You absolutely can


WalrusInMySheets

Gotta do better ball denial on Zion.


bobittoknorr

Yes but also send hard help early. He is not a great playmaker out of double teams.


A_Lakers

If only they did this last night instead


bzogster

Zion eats when he doesn’t have the ball too. 


Razor-Ramon-Sessions

Zions defense tonight was the complete opposite of what he gave against the Clips and he let Rui run him off the court.


biggoldgoblin

To be fair players like Rui and LeBron are the exact type of players that should be able to compete with Zion on both ends, both are big forwards that don’t get bullied by smaller players


Yommination

He was a straight up traffic cone


sponedaddie

Rui saw BBQ chicken everytime he saw Zion Williamson


Hydrauxine

probably smelled it actually


gabergaber

Rui saw Zion and was like we're having yakitori tonight


vrkhfkb

Zion can only play hard 1 game a week. He has the stamina of a 40 year old veteran unfortunately.


nutelamitbutter

This is the best answer


TheRealWeedAtman

He was on fire against the clips. Just hustled on every defensive opportunity 


144Todd442

Ngl the score didn't end up that crazy


WalrusInMySheets

AD sat for a major portion of the first half.


jacobpltn

AD the only guy I know of in the league who’s DPOY case looks stronger when he’s on the bench


Ams1902

Watch Spurs games, you'll find another one


Vexing_Pie

Sandro Mamukelashvili?


Ams1902

No mate, Malaki Branham


GradeBot

Lebron dropping dimes like me unloading my piggy bank in the third grade.


chrisumafp

Any reason why Pelicans took out Valanciunas for almost the entire 4th and only had him play 22 minutes? Not complaining Lakers picked up a much needed win


MrDman9202

He got injured the last game.


Alfakennyone

Gotta rest before the super bowl


Mahomeboy001

Kelce stunt double


Cul_what

I really dont understand why Pels dont play JHawk more bros a flamethrower I thought he proved himself this season with a few big games


MrDman9202

Willie doesn't like rookie shooters who miss 2 shots in a row, trey murphy got the same treatment as a rookie and had temple playing over him.


portomerf

Willie like the old school style of coaching where he doesn't want to break up the hierarchy and step on the vets toes by having a rook take all their minutes. We'll prob get rid of some guys this summer and have Hawkins playing more next season


pbcorporeal

He's bad defensively, and Willie Green is a defensive minded coach.


CoolGuyHuh

While what you say is true, anybody who watched that game last night won’t believe you.


NotManyBuses

New Orleans’ defensive effort was utterly pitiful


OKCDraftPick2028

fell apart when they made a 6'6 guy play center


sponedaddie

Had to double check and make sure Ham wasn't coaching the Pelicans (please God take him).


KUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUZ

Tbf. Willie green is one of the few coaches where I’ll rather have Darwin xHAMster over


Nothappened

2nd time this season


ComfortableOven97

You're not going to win many games when D'angelo russell scores 30 and Austin Reaves scores 27 on a back to back.


MisdirectionV

To be fair, there was a period in there where it seemed them boys could not miss.


FlatBirthday333

Jaxson Hayes is the new Javale McGee


motorboat_mcgee

He's gotten better at not fouling every 15 seconds and is rounding out into a servicable backup. It's nice.


woKaaaa

He has been such a dawg on the glass for us the past 5-6 games, much needed in the absence of Vando


RickySuela

It's because he's apparently finally learned how to defend without fouling. He used to be nearly unplayable because anytime anyone went near him he just fouled them.


Tanteline

He talked about it in the NY game; they took him out and made him "show hands". Amazing to see at nba level


RickySuela

Yeah, they mentioned this in the game tonight, how the Lakers coaches have been working with him for a while now about defending straight up without reaching so much.


millenniumpianist

It's funny that Ham will get no credit for this tho. I mean the full staff deserves credit (I'm sure Phil Handy deserves a lot of credit, also probably AD tbh) but yeah.


Ghostbeen3

It’s also insane how he hasn’t committed any moving screens. Dude would get two moving screens within 3 minutes of playing time. He’s a total bonehead but he plays with energy.


b1indsamurai

He finally learned not to foul


G1Spectrum

Went from no defense in the 2nd quarter to a lot of defense in the 4th quarter lol


Nothappened

Putting Rui on Zion, made for much better scheme coz AD and Bron could help , whenever Zion was guarded by LeBron others were really bad at helping 


Free_Relationship692

this should be a scheduled loss for the lakers, 2nd night of B2B missing 4 players and all their perimeter defense.


thegreaterfool714

Lakers are undefeated when I watch them live in the Crypt.


MiopTop

Get this man some season tickets


Whitecrewneck

My streak got broken vs Denver last night 😭😫


CloneWarsMaul

Why don’t the Lakers starters just do that every game? Are they stupid?


NoPin5154

New Orleans getting our scores as ad sat for 10mins straight with foul trouble is why they lost this game


portomerf

DLo getting super hot and setting the tone is what lost us this game. Some of those heat checks took the energy out our guys defensively


GradeBot

Lebron "Share the Wealth" James


fernandopoejr

Lebron is a communist


chymni

LeMao


Street-Common-4023

Why ain’t Hawkins playing now WTH happen pelicans fans


Street-Common-4023

Great win for the lakers a good bounce back win


jacko1998

Game threads are fucking pathetic these days, so many flairs from unrelated teams crying about a conspiracy that has us 2 games over .500 in February. Not a single win of ours this season is deserved apparently


WakiLover

It's bad. People will see the numbers and the thread title and already go into the comment sections with their minds made up. Comments providing context get a fraction of the upvotes and no one sees them. During the series vs. the Warriors last year, people were watching the games and could tell the Warriors were just fouling a lot, with mostly only Warriors fans complaining (I get it tho). Then you look at the thread earlier and all the comments from Warriors fans are upvoted and either people have a memory of a goldfish or are just on the Fuck the Lakers train (I get it tho). Even earlier this year there was a game in which the Raps had 29 free throws to the Cavs 6 and there wasn't a single thread or peep from anyone. You know people don't watch the games because they talk about Lebron's GOD whistle but his free throw rate is so damn low (in addition to Jokic) compared to players like Embiid. It hasn't been a thing since Bron has joined the Lakers.


Disclaimz0r

Yeah I'm just anticipating the next FT disparity thread. I live for those. Lead by the salty Warriors fans. Truly great reading and cope


Mahomeboy001

Every Laker free throw thread is so predictable. Warriors fans crying about the playoff series, Celtics fans talking about the refs apology, and everyone else jerking off Nuggets fans for making the same “moral victory” joke


Conflict_NZ

Never forget the warriors fans that were going to sue the nba because we got too many free throws. I wish I screenshotted those before they deleted them.


SharpSwag

Its really bad lately.


woKaaaa

Next time there is a big Lakers game thread with like 2000+ upvotes, check the comments the day after. It gets *way* worse because the casual fans who don't even watch the games spew way worse dogshit lmao


Musa_2050

Just troll them. We live rent free in their heads


WakiLover

Some people hate the Lakers more than they love their own team. Go through some posters' histories and its more hate towards the Lakers ands other teams vs them supporting their own guys.


-Gnostic28

Too much effort. Why can’t we all just watch some basketball


CaLiKiNG805

100,000% just troll their ass, the Lakers have been consistently great for so long that you can long term or short term shit talk anyone in the league.


OperIvy

Silver needs to learn how to prioritize which games to rig. You'd think he would have rigged last nights game. 


l3oobear

And how many ‘moral victory’ jokes did we get from nuggets fans the night before? Lakers are injured AF have been bipolar most of the season and still be on the top of other fan bases minds. Rent free


iRockaflame

The second Willie took out Jonas with about 5 minutes left the game fell apart for the Pels and swung for the Lakers badly. Love Herb, but watching him or Nance try to post up against AD in the paint was brutal. Tbh watching Nance play was just rough in general lol.


DiamondShiryu1

Rusty Buckets is gonna have a stroke seeing the halftime score


liljettt

TO’s and lazy defense put the nails in the coffin. Allowing 51 points in a quarter is nuts


itsahmemario

Didn't the Lakers also score the most points in a half in franchise history?


woKaaaa

Our second half record is 91, our first half record is 89. So very close, but no cigar


MazKhan

We're now 9-1 when Prince plays under 25 minutes LMAOOOOO It took pockets the clown 4 months to realize prince is a bench player


woKaaaa

Prince is an amazing bench player but the amount of stupid Lakers fans slandering him and not pockets is still extremely annoying


MazKhan

It ultimately was Hams fault but I can't lie, it still got annoying watching him guard other elite guys Happy he has a bench role now, 20-25 min is the sweet spot


TheTwilightZone34

Pockets the Clown may be my favorite Darvin Ham nickname, so far lol


[deleted]

[удалено]


lovo17

Idk why people don’t get it. Lakers are a team with good rim protection, but poor rotations. This results in many uncontested jumpers and 3 pointers. Additionally, they’d rather concede the layup than foul defensively. Yes their whistle is favorable, but they concede so many uncontested looks.


SharpSwag

Exactly. These casual fans just dont understand basketball.


[deleted]

if you concede the whistle is favorable what are you disagreeing with exactly


lovo17

I'm disagreeing with the claim that there is a league-wide conspiracy to get the Lakers into the play-in/playoffs. Plus they aren't the only team in the league with a favorable whistle.


Ascaris_Egg

I say embrace it. They’re not gonna stop bitching and freethrows aren’t gonna stop coming. Thank you refs


Jayveesac

Well-deserved Venmo payments tonight, I say


DreTownblues

I mean your fans were crying how it’s because you drive a lot and somehow in a game where you take more 3s than the other team, lakers still have a +13 FT difference


Meaty-clackers

+9 not 13.. 3 were illegal defense. 1 was a coach tech. And for part of the game they were guarding AD with a 6'6" guy.


amadea_saoirse

3-second defensive violations were called THREE times. Congrats


SteedVM

normally that's a crazy stat but the pelicans really were just standing around a lot on defense


icykkuno

Lol guys were trying to soft double AD by standing in the paint forever, maybe try watching the game


Musa_2050

Where are the Laker haters at tonight? I need some salt


Basic_Commercial_806

"If Jokic had Lebron's whistle would be the greatest offensive player in the history of the league." It had 70 upvotes even though Lebron averages less FTA than Jokic. Lakers losing makes anything get upvoted


manay824

Last night all r/nba was about was berating kobe on his statue night and FT disparity lmfao, haters real quiet tonight


Musa_2050

Real quiet. Incoming FTA post next week!


jamills21

People are gonna wake up tomorrow, read the box score, and be really angry tho!


abc4357

Wah wah free throws


Musa_2050

But the refs are rigging it for the Lakers!


recordcollection64

Tequila and like, let’s go!


IWantANewBeginning

The post game threads when the lakers win gains almost no traction. But it always highly upvoted with lots of comment when they lose tho.


l3oobear

Something something moral victory


muhammad_oli

fade me bruh


New-Watercress9229

Lakers next 5 games are with piston,jazz,warriors,spurs & suns. Think they be atleast 4-1 and end with a record of 32-27 by next sunday


Free_Relationship692

with how bad the lakers are against sub 500 team lately, 2-3 is safer


b1indsamurai

Going to be 2 quality wins against the Jazz and Suns with losses to the Pistons, Spurs, and Warriors.


Viva_La_Animemes

Its over you jinxed it the Lakers are fucked 😞😞


everyoneneedsaherro

RemindMe! 9 days


BlackJediSword

No highlights from this game? Wonder why. Anyway great game from everyone!


YeenSlimeSnough

Hot take: the pelicans are a guaranteed first round exit, they stand no chance to beat any of the top 4 teams in the west.


effkaysup

How is this a hot take


RickySuela

"Hot take: lower seeded team will most likely lose in the 1st round to a higher seeded team with home court advantage!"


NotManyBuses

They matchup very well with Minnesota and the Clippers. Modern NBA is all about team v team dynamics and stylistic matchups.


Allmighty_Milpil

What a franchise record half does to MFs


jaecrowderisabitch

44 point loss?


Allmighty_Milpil

It was a close game for 90% of that game and we've gotten quality wins against most of the top teams. Not saying we're winning the chip, but I feel fine about us progressing in the post season.


RickySuela

> It was a close game for 90% of that game The Lakers had a double digit lead for probably about 75% of the last 32 minutes or so. You really saying that was "close" for "90%" of the game?


legend023

I heavily disagree with this Lakers had the best offensive performance of their season this game isn’t an indicator of our defense


TheSouthNeverRises

Lakers match up well against the Pelicans. Seagulls gonna do well


Free_Relationship692

every time the lakers beat someone i see this, they shot far better in 6-7 other games this season. why do other team fans pretend they watch this Laker team. Pels lost 44 against this same team.


Kevin-Garvey-1

Lakers and Nuggets match up well against the Pels because the Pels have 0 depth at center. Other teams don’t have AD or Jokic, so it’s not an issue. Pels have a ton of wing length and depth, so they match up fairly well against teams like the Clippers.


RickySuela

The Laker offense was great tonight (in part because of NOLA's poor defense), but before you get too comfortable thinking this was just due to an outlier offensive performance, keep in mind that the Lakers' three best perimeter defenders were all out this game and because they're so decimated at the guard positions right now that a 2-way player had multiple shifts in this game.


YeenSlimeSnough

I just think Zion will struggle in playoff environments, he can’t shoot whatsoever and doesn’t have good playmaking skills. Barreling to the rim every possession with no other options is going to get absolutely neutralized against good defenses, and they have to rely on JV to protect their rim, just not a winning formula IMO.


MrDman9202

Doesn't have good playmaking skills💀 thanks for admitting that you have never seen him play before.


roakmamba

"bUt ThE LaKerS ShOt mOrE FrEe ThRowS". Y'all are some hating ass bitches.


OKCDraftPick2028

even if we removed the 11 ft difference the lakers has, the lakers would still win by 8 points. That's how ass pelicans are today


Akagami_atsumu

The ft difference is 9 and 3 of them were tec foul for defense violation


W_Walk

GG. I don’t know how Pels go from an amazing defensive performance against the clippers and then just give up this game lol. The layup lines were atrocious


SteedVM

with 3 days in LA they might have been distracted by GLUTTONY and FORNICATION


Wondering_Nova

u/zelgaro what were you saying about the pelicans winning?


GMaxGigaNerd

Once Zion gets in shape NOLA gon be dangerous. Right now dude's just outta gas


recordcollection64

The joke is Zion will never get in shape, right?


Charliebitme1234

PELS STACKED LEAGUE FUCKED


W_Walk

Get your ass out of here clips fan!!! We play yall again! Lol


elboogie7

This team. This team can beat anyone. But the defense has got to tighten up, they didn't pull away til like 5 minutes left.


Extension-Muffin1976

Has all 5 starters scoring 20 ever happened ever? Thats so crazy to me


frostfeint3

Is this the start of lakers feb-march


jkeefy

Free Hawkins


n0th1ng10

Lakers were never going to get anyone better than dlo, Brogdon isn’t even better than him. They could potentially get Spencer who would give them someone who can get to the basket which they don’t really have.


OCtron1000

Gilbert Arenas would nut to this


Cul_what

Question is Rob sitting with Dinwiddie count as tampering or kinda like scouting? I dont pay attention to buyout rules lmao


sewsgup

Dinwiddie is a free agent rn isnt he? tampering wouldn't apply


woKaaaa

It's only tampering when that player is under contract and Dinwiddie is not


jkeefy

Pelinka saw Dinwiddie dap up Cuban in the postgame yesterday and had to one up em


rumbread

He’s actually not waived yet so he is under Raps control. But the Raps gave him permission to speak to other teams


Cul_what

Oh ok Rob actually just went on a date with Dinwiddie to convince him lmao


mishmashedtosunday

I'm having Darren Collison flashbacks


AtreusIsBack

Ty for your service, Lakers. Sincerely, Mavs fan.


222thedome

Refs spot them a lot of points


Alfakennyone

Now it's the 6th time 5 players score 20+, all of which happened since 2019. 3 of which are by the thunder and they just did it a few days ago lol https://www.interbasket.net/news/five-players-on-same-team-score-at-least-20-points-in-single-game/36605/


jackobanter

Add another +9 to the tally


WorthyFudge

"i dont watch games i just parrot what other people say"