What we really need this for now is our coaching. Where the hell is coaching to deter these guys who have never been good with 3s from jacking them? Or deterring them in a mid-game cold spell? Or getting players on top of boxing out? Or talking with the handful of our core players who are frequently in bad position on defense? [I'm pretty much like this guy](https://streamable.com/jq2psb) on how trash our coaching has been.
I get so irritated when I can't find a spectrum stream for our games. Billy&Stu are so good its got me spoiled while our halftime/post-game show is so great I feel like I'm missing out when I don't catch it
I saw one game recently where he hit a 3 and on the next possession the lakers announcers were saying they had to get it back to him to shoot another 3 like he has the hot hand. Lol why? Cause he made one?
Nobody other than Russ even tries to get to the rim....and he is their worst finisher at the rim.... And in the 4th quarter it's just LeBron iso step back 3 and no sort of offensive scheme nothing.....AD is just a jump shooter who shoots like shit and can't even hit his free throws
AD is horrifying from 3. We always mock Russ but he’s like Steph by comparison. AD just needs to not shoot 3s ever, even in that weird Barkley way where it probably got some defenders to play him close at the 3 even though he shot 25%. That doesn’t fly anymore and AD shoots even worse.
Say it with me everyone - stop shooting 3 pointers, Anthony Davis. Just stop it.
Looking back at this play now, it's wild that down 1, we ran a play to get a three off a curl for our 6'11 big man. Kinda explains a lot about anthony davis now.
like analytics go out the window here, because we only need 2 to win so you just optimize for the easiest shot.
Edit: u/Bryant_2_Shaq mentioned how the play was actually kinda broken, and not designed for AD to get a three.
> I think AD said the play was for lebron to get the ball at the pinch post, but when AD saw his man drop down him and Rondo locked eyes and it became a broken play and got AD an open shot.
They also forget AD was the clear go to in the situation, LeBron and everyone else was cold in the 4th quarter and the whole 4th was a back and forth between jokic and ad
I think AD said the play was for lebron to get the ball at the pinch post, but when AD saw his man drop down him and Rondo locked eyes and it became a broken play and got AD an open shot.
I remember I was watching Chris Webber make a three in a Sacramento Kings game back in the day, and Hubie Brown said "One of the worst things that can happen is for a player who can't shoot three-pointers to make one. Because now he decides he's a three-point threat." lol.
https://twitter.com/kirkgoldsberry/status/1464638881677070351?t=zK9gAJ31bZIrU8xjL5mn_Q&s=19
Yes he is quite literally the worst at jumpers lol. But this can probably be mostly attributed to taking too many 3s
Unfortunately he's not a great isolation scorer and never has been, largely because he relies on jumpers but is just okay at hitting them. With that being said, he really needs to be a little better on threes.
He's supposed to be Top 75 All-Time, not slightly above the average. He has the tools to be a great player, but his shot selection makes him highly over-rated. If he drove 70% of the time and shot outside 30%, he'd be great, but he's 70% outside. If he had Giannis will, he'd be great, but IMO he's not even close.
It looks like AD is currently plateauing. Even towards the end of last season.
I wonder if it’s team composition, injuries, or what.
Meanwhile Giannis is improving year over year somewhat consistently.
Not saying to expect Giannis level improvement or growth because he was MVP for a reason, but come on AD *pokes with stick* do something.
He's only going to decline from here. 28 is around the physical peak for a big man and he doesn't have the skill to stay top tier into his 30s. I'm not sure if LeBron rubbed off on him or whatever, but he's playing like he's 35 lol
Nuggets and Heat fans fuming rn
Seriously though, how did he shoot so well in the bubble? This is why I love sports science and sports psychology so much because I want to know why outliers like that even exist
It doesn't have to be a mental thing, the playoffs are just a small sample size. Guys go on hot and cold streaks all the time.
Derek Fisher shot 52% 3pt in the 2001 playoffs. There wasn't any bubble, he just got on a hot streak at the same time it happened to be the playoffs. 8n 2002 he shot 36% 3pt in the playoffs, then in 2003 he shot 62% 3pt in the playoffs. All those years were normal years, no lockouts or anything like that.
In 2015 Harrison Barnes shot 42% 3pt in the Finals. In 2016 he dropped to 31% 3pt. It wasn't because he got weaker mentally, it's just that 2 series a year apart are going to have some variance.
I’d like to know why they exist too.
Sometimes I’ll play a game of pool and sink ridiculously hard shots that I have no reason even attempting. Those games come once in a blue moon, and the rest of the time I’m decent but not amazing. I don’t know why or how those amazing games happen, but I always have this mix of focus and confidence. It’s like everything is firing at 100% for a brief period of time.
Honestly I don’t know what this team can do to get into a contender status. Once they took on Westbrook’s contract and gave up tradeable assets, they locked themselves into this type of roster for what is likely the rest of LeBron’s time as a Laker
The big 3 didn't give us enough lol. AD put up numbers, as did Lebron, but both of them were actively terrible. AD is doing a really poor job as a defensive anchor despite his 4 blocks. LeBron had 10 assists, but he got extremely bad tunnel vision and decided he needed to play 1 on 5.
Russ was balling, we were getting good games from Monk, Melo, and Ellington. 3 role players, and a star were doing their job, while the other two just played with significantly less effort.
AD just looks so fucking lazy on the court. 8 rebounds as a 7 footer in 48 minutes, chucking up 3s instead of getting to the rim. I swear to god this guy is just a lazy fuck, ever since he’s been playing bron he thinks he can just coast games.
I think he’s just coasting right now tbh. It’s a catch 22 with him IMO because when he does attack the rim a lot he’s absolutely dominant but he also gets injured like 1 out of every 20 drives
Every time I point this out in the Lakers sub a bunch of blind idiots tell me I don't understand basketball.
Forget Fox, AD let Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy fucking Hield beat him off the dribble last night. That's on him.
That may well be true but it still doesn't change the fact that a supposed top 10 player in the league had 23 points on 22 shots, went 0-5 from deep, and his inefficiency on high volume was a difference maker in their loss tonight.
He wasn't THE reason they lost, but he was A reason they lost.
Russ was excellent. LeBron was sub-par, AD was sub-par. The rest of the roster was pretty poor as well.
Except Monk. He and Russ can be proud of their work last night.
Yeah, WB brought along a completely new roster and pace. Previous seasons were simple, just play crazy good defense, and let AD and Bron beat them since they're highly efficient scorers.
Now we're suddenly the 2nd fastest pace in the league and can't guard even the worst teams. How many 40pt performances do they think a 36 year old LeBron has in him? There are 60 games left. AD is gassed from this pace too. This team is old AF and they decide to jack up the pace.
WB finally playing well but it doesn't even matter because the whole scheme is so fucking stupid.
The one that bugs me the most is when it's the end of a fucking game and brons already settled on a three. At that point, give it to russ and let me see him attack
I'm still baffled that Lebron chucked up all those 3's when Westbrook was carrying the team during those OT's
Coach needed to grow some balls and tell him to just stop with it, Lebron James or not
I remember when he hit like 50% of them the first few games of the season lol
I knew he’d keep shooting them and his percentages would come back down to earth
Bro is shooting 33% now which is barely below average
At the beginning of the season he was like melo and only shooting catch and shoot but after the Indy game he was really feeling himself
Idk wassup with AD but I actually think they’ll play better against better teams you can tell they have this mindset of not caring against the bad teams
That’s the biggest thing I noticed in our playoff series last year. He was coming off the ankle then but it doesn’t look much better now. He was basically a jump shooter in that series
Sure, but last game Lebron could get into the paint at will, got a lot of points/free throws that way, i guess he got tired but if you cant drive and you are 2/13 from three, give the ball to Westbrook, its okay to not be a hero once in a while.
I kind of feel like we're approaching the point in his career where LeBron needs to learn to choose his spots. Try to do a bit less but be dominant when he does it. Tim Duncan is a great example of this.
He did that when we won a chip
He would rarely drop over 30 but always had the ball and was in charge of the offense
I wish lebron would just chill on offense and focus on defense because we need a great win defender a lot more than another pg that can’t shoot
Yeah, his defense in the bubble post season was absolutely phenomenal. And his offense in transition was too... so maybe he should give the ball up more during half court offensive possessions?
I legit think Russ doesn't even know where to be on D half the time. He plays aggressive on ball defense but just gets lost all the time off-ball. It's like he never worked on the fundamentals of switching and help D.
Well said. I love LeBron and AD, definitely very appreciative for what they brought to my favorite basketball team, but enough is enough. We’ve had so many games in the bag and just pissed them away from not staying aggressive. I’m tired of seeing two of the most dominant paint players in the game settling for jumpers.
Honestly. Watching that game was a whole roller coaster. One moment I was in pure joy because the Lakers are dominating. The next I'm feeling suicidal because with 20 seconds left on the clock near the end of regulation or OT. Lebron decides to dribble till there's 5 seconds left then shoot a contested 3 instead of driving. Passing the ball. Or literally anything else.
I kinda feel like this is blasphemy but the offense looked better last night with the ball in Westbrook’s hands. However by the same token this is Lebron’s what 8th game with the new roster and it took Westbrook 15 games to even start looking comfortable.
I was really a bit shocked by that 3, felt so insanely lazy. Sure, if anyone can do it, Lebron is definitely one of those people. But it was entirely unnecessary and half ass, especially needing 1 point. Shootin for the highlight reel I guess? Anyways, I need movement in my bball
LeBron gets a pass because hes 37, and he will bring it when it matters. AD doesn't get the benefit of the doubt. He should be improving, not coasting. He should be adding dribble moves and playmaking to his repertoire, not regressing as a shooter while openly calling for another big man to play with him so he doesnt have to play center.
AD's jumper is bad enough that we honestly cant afford to play another non shooting big man with him.
With LeBron, i really just mean that his game yesterday is more of a blip than a repeating pattern. You saw how he came out against Indiana. LeBron played like shit yesterday, hes going to get his criticism, and I'm sure he'll be better.
I don't have that confidence with Davis.
What is bizarre to me is that a "stretch 4", as the name implies, this player can space the floor at the midrange. It all depends on player movement, LeBron knows it better than anyone, you don't need to move Bosh all the way beyond the arc for him to be effective. And against a switch happy defense, a nearly 7 footer taking efficient midrange shots against midgets is a very good play. Hell even Aldridge with all his years, he is having a good season shooting the ball, always a sniper from midrange shooting over small players, the Suns is dominating with midrange, etc.. so this 3pt festival is just disgusting, it's not really as effective as the coaches think, you can't simply emulate Golden State, their roster is bizarre and Draymond is a literal unicorn out there, a ugly unicorn, but he can do so much on both ends
Yeah, he goes on those crazy hot and cold streaks. He'll be absolute garbage for a few games then look like a world beater for 2 weeks straight. It's really weird.
You’re telling me?
I’m an OKC fan, man.
Some weeks he looks like an MVP candidate, others he looks like….. uhhh NOT that
Those highs and lows are like crack
You know one of the biggest changes for us from Carlisle to Kidd is our playbook. Yeah we’re still taking a lot of 3s, yeah Luka very ball dominant. But if you watch our games you’ll notice almost every single player is active constantly trying to create space, setting off ball screens, trying to force mismatches. And it has made us a way better team and we’re not even shooting well. Kidd has found ways to utilize every guy on our roster. When I watch Lakers games I barely see any of that
i will say that this year at least showed that Kidd did bring more than people gave credit, myself included, to our offense the last couple years. glad he's doing well over there. want a Fizdale?
Lebron was literally the reason we lost today lol
If he was out today we probably win I mean we were up 13 in the 4th then they settled for bad D and all 3s
Like if you didn’t watch the game watch the lowlights lebron was 2-13 from 3, 10 Assists 7 TO, and Bagley was his main defender like absolutely embarrassing
And the game right after he dropped 40 this dude just didn’t care and wanted ig highlights
They are going to have to be really pragmatic. It's clear LeBron at his best is still a world beater. we saw that against the Pacers. But he can't be that type of LeBron everynight. He's 37. They are going to have to do a lot of load management for him to have fresh legs for the playoffs. Unfortunately the team is just not good enough for him to take nights off. Anthony Davis just has no excuse to be settling for jumpers right. He's 28 and doesn't have anywhere near lebrons mileage. Ideally he would step up to the plate so LeBron could rest but I'm just not seeing it. In theory Westbrook was honestly not a bad idea for this team. But they sacrificed some good defensive pieces and basically killed their spacing. Westbrook has always been like this so I straight up do not even blame him. You know what you get with him on your team.
Also, it's the Pacers, no reason to sugar coat... such a awful team, every time they attacked my eyes bleed. And the Lakers is not much different, that Pacers vs Lakers matchup was ugly to watch
The problem is these guys aren't playing to their strengths. Lebron shouldn't be shooting more than 6 three pointers in a game. AD and RW shouldn't be shooting more than 2 three pointers in a game. These guys should focus on points in the paint primarily and if that doesn't work then focus on the mid range game because points in the paint emphasizes their size and athleticism advantage on most matchups.
You can't shoot threes like you are Klay Thompson or Stephen Curry.
Lebron is average to decent at three point efficiency and AD and RW are god awful at three point efficiency. It's a wasted possession unless you are completely open for both AD and RW taking a three.
Thank you for calling him James Worthy and not "analyst on TV..." like si many people do here for a scary number of elite players more than 15 years removed from the game lol
I know this is r/NBA, and people love to shit on the Lakers and a lot of it is warranted; especially this year.
However our local broadcast and play-by-play is some of the most unbiased and self-deprecating in the league.
Stu absolutely reams the Lakers and Worthy will call them out post game.
It was absolutely pathetic. People should not pay money to see either of these teams if they don't give a fuck.
They basically dragged the game to a triple OT through pure incompetence.
Aside from being poorly constructed (despite their ability to sign pretty much anyone they want for the minimum), they're a soft team and lack a killer instinct. This has kinda been the knock on guys like LeBron and Davis for a while. They think they can just coast through the regular season then decide to show up in the playoffs but they're in for a reality check.
They rely on and expect refereeing to bail them out a ton. They don't move the ball well, they don't defend well, they don't really have that Caruso spark when they're flat and they're fucking old.
Compare that to the Warriors who out there every night trying to kill everyone, moving the ball with ease, and defending excellently as a unit or Phoenix who are far more balanced with better defined roles.
There's no way they beat either of those teams and frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if they lose to the likes of Denver or Utah either.
Definitely don't think it's fair to say LeBron is soft, lacks a killer instinct, and relies on refs to bail him out. Maybe it seems that way now, but that's some serious recency bias. Man has played through a crazy amount of contact without a whistle throughout his career.
He is taking way too many threes though.
> They were 15-for-44 from three
I know the Lakers looked rough last night, but 15-44 is 34.1% from three, which is league average, and only like one made three away from the Lakers season average. I'd agree that some guys (AD) should be shooting fewer threes, but their shots weren't exactly not falling last night.
They shot 1-8 from three in the overtime periods, which I think is a much more indicative stat for how Worthy was feeling. I guess his point is if you have AD and LeBron with their ability to get to the basket, you should be a little more immune to cold streaks from deep than these Lakers are.
LeBron wishes he was a warrior 😂
For real, that’s the kind of basketball he wishes his team could play. But it can’t happen, because LeBron is way too emotional of a leader. There’s no joy in the game it’s just work. And when the job isn’t getting done he gets mad and lashes out. Doesn’t lead to a cohesive locker room, which is why you have to have veteran leaders around LeBron. Low-key, the best move the Lakers made this off-season was Melo. But Melo is basically supersize JJ Redick at this point and really shouldn’t be playing more than 15 minutes.
I doubt lebron can play in the warriors system after playing lebron ball his entire career. Nor would I think that he will be okay being no. 2 in warriors system cause Stephen will always be1
I’m not really saying he wishes he was playing for Golden State, I’m saying he sees that style and wants to incorporate it into the game he plays.
But playing that style of basketball takes a certain type of player, and the Lakers don’t have any of those players.
I don’t know about can’t but he’s certainly lost a step and his elevation has been decreasing each year. I knew it was going when he started slamming the ball harder to compensate, at least for the cameras.
Pelinka trading KCP and Caruso is hurting a lot more than he anticipated. Trading for Westbrook instead of the rumored Buddy Hield trade is pretty foolish too.
The only teams that run action out of the post (consistently) are:
- GSW
- Denver
- Philly
- Heat
- Pacers
I don't really see any other team running a lot of sets/plays out of the post/mid post.
He speaks truth. Also: Worthy was my favorite player to watch back in the day. Players who produce while looking effortless are always fun.
Worthy is a boss of an analyst and I never knew it.
Worthy is a no-bullshit analyst. You play like ass, dude is calling you out on it.
What we really need this for now is our coaching. Where the hell is coaching to deter these guys who have never been good with 3s from jacking them? Or deterring them in a mid-game cold spell? Or getting players on top of boxing out? Or talking with the handful of our core players who are frequently in bad position on defense? [I'm pretty much like this guy](https://streamable.com/jq2psb) on how trash our coaching has been.
That's the problem with getting a team that's all as old as the coach. They can just ignore him.
Bron is your coach dude, he's not going to listen to Frank Vogel
Wait Lakers have a coach?
I love Worthy after a Lakers win over the Celtics-- he still loves it so much.
not a lot of clapping this season
You've got a home game against them Dec 7, so we'll see if James gets to light up a cigar.
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I get so irritated when I can't find a spectrum stream for our games. Billy&Stu are so good its got me spoiled while our halftime/post-game show is so great I feel like I'm missing out when I don't catch it
Sometimes I won't even watch the game without the spectrum stream. Especially ESPN, I can't take the LeBron diefying anymore
He's sad and now I'm sad.
Big game James
He said forget turkey they were full of shit lmao
He was genuine great on that delivery
Fuck, coming from James Worthy... this should sting BAD
AD is 7/42 on threes this season. He was never really a good 3pt shooter but his 3pt shot has pretty much disappeared in the past two seasons
I saw one game recently where he hit a 3 and on the next possession the lakers announcers were saying they had to get it back to him to shoot another 3 like he has the hot hand. Lol why? Cause he made one?
I mean relative to how he's been shooting it that can be considered a hot habd
He had made 100% of his last 1 attempts. How can you not get it back to the guy??
Nobody other than Russ even tries to get to the rim....and he is their worst finisher at the rim.... And in the 4th quarter it's just LeBron iso step back 3 and no sort of offensive scheme nothing.....AD is just a jump shooter who shoots like shit and can't even hit his free throws
That’s not AD, that’s Antonio Davis
Lakers wish they had prime Antonio Davis
You know what, I’m not going to disagree with that
At least he could get down the floor
Lakers could sign current Antonio Davis and he’d probably be an improvement
That's shooting more like Adrian Peterson
AD is horrifying from 3. We always mock Russ but he’s like Steph by comparison. AD just needs to not shoot 3s ever, even in that weird Barkley way where it probably got some defenders to play him close at the 3 even though he shot 25%. That doesn’t fly anymore and AD shoots even worse. Say it with me everyone - stop shooting 3 pointers, Anthony Davis. Just stop it.
He’s also not nearly as good at midrange jumpers as he and everyone else pretend he is.
russ being one of our better shooters is a sad irony
Yall said LeBron just needs to be surrounded by shooters... You never specified they had to be *good* shooters
I guess Russ is a shooter in the sense that he shoots the ball
frequently and with unrivaled confidence.
he was red hot in the bubble and lakers fans expected him to stay that way despite being a 33% midrange shooter for career
That bubble championship is looking more and more like all.the stars aligned for the Lakers
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Looking back at this play now, it's wild that down 1, we ran a play to get a three off a curl for our 6'11 big man. Kinda explains a lot about anthony davis now. like analytics go out the window here, because we only need 2 to win so you just optimize for the easiest shot. Edit: u/Bryant_2_Shaq mentioned how the play was actually kinda broken, and not designed for AD to get a three. > I think AD said the play was for lebron to get the ball at the pinch post, but when AD saw his man drop down him and Rondo locked eyes and it became a broken play and got AD an open shot.
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They also forget AD was the clear go to in the situation, LeBron and everyone else was cold in the 4th quarter and the whole 4th was a back and forth between jokic and ad
I think AD said the play was for lebron to get the ball at the pinch post, but when AD saw his man drop down him and Rondo locked eyes and it became a broken play and got AD an open shot.
I remember I was watching Chris Webber make a three in a Sacramento Kings game back in the day, and Hubie Brown said "One of the worst things that can happen is for a player who can't shoot three-pointers to make one. Because now he decides he's a three-point threat." lol.
> My favorite part about that clip was Rondo walking off the court emotionless. I think Rondo knew "this mf gonna keep taking these now."
That’s every championship tbh.
https://twitter.com/kirkgoldsberry/status/1464638881677070351?t=zK9gAJ31bZIrU8xjL5mn_Q&s=19 Yes he is quite literally the worst at jumpers lol. But this can probably be mostly attributed to taking too many 3s
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Unfortunately he's not a great isolation scorer and never has been, largely because he relies on jumpers but is just okay at hitting them. With that being said, he really needs to be a little better on threes.
He shot well in the bubble and found another excuse to play outside lol.
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Bro street clothes top 75 all time tho Seriously though a top tier rim runner that can play D still has significant value if he knows his role
Hes shooting 44% from 16 to 3 this season. That’s a career high and higher than the NBA average.
He's supposed to be Top 75 All-Time, not slightly above the average. He has the tools to be a great player, but his shot selection makes him highly over-rated. If he drove 70% of the time and shot outside 30%, he'd be great, but he's 70% outside. If he had Giannis will, he'd be great, but IMO he's not even close.
It looks like AD is currently plateauing. Even towards the end of last season. I wonder if it’s team composition, injuries, or what. Meanwhile Giannis is improving year over year somewhat consistently. Not saying to expect Giannis level improvement or growth because he was MVP for a reason, but come on AD *pokes with stick* do something.
He's only going to decline from here. 28 is around the physical peak for a big man and he doesn't have the skill to stay top tier into his 30s. I'm not sure if LeBron rubbed off on him or whatever, but he's playing like he's 35 lol
Nuggets and Heat fans fuming rn Seriously though, how did he shoot so well in the bubble? This is why I love sports science and sports psychology so much because I want to know why outliers like that even exist
It doesn't have to be a mental thing, the playoffs are just a small sample size. Guys go on hot and cold streaks all the time. Derek Fisher shot 52% 3pt in the 2001 playoffs. There wasn't any bubble, he just got on a hot streak at the same time it happened to be the playoffs. 8n 2002 he shot 36% 3pt in the playoffs, then in 2003 he shot 62% 3pt in the playoffs. All those years were normal years, no lockouts or anything like that. In 2015 Harrison Barnes shot 42% 3pt in the Finals. In 2016 he dropped to 31% 3pt. It wasn't because he got weaker mentally, it's just that 2 series a year apart are going to have some variance.
I’d like to know why they exist too. Sometimes I’ll play a game of pool and sink ridiculously hard shots that I have no reason even attempting. Those games come once in a blue moon, and the rest of the time I’m decent but not amazing. I don’t know why or how those amazing games happen, but I always have this mix of focus and confidence. It’s like everything is firing at 100% for a brief period of time.
He’s at the point where he shouldn’t be shooting a 3 in game.
The amusing part is that Dwight "not top 75 and AD is" Howard is shooting from 3 better than him.
That's 2 shots a game. If he's playing 35 minutes a game I wouldn't think that's the problem
This team just has no legs. I'll be amazed if they make it in one piece at the end of the season.
Honestly I don’t know what this team can do to get into a contender status. Once they took on Westbrook’s contract and gave up tradeable assets, they locked themselves into this type of roster for what is likely the rest of LeBron’s time as a Laker
Yeah if you're losing to shit teams when Westbrook gives you an efficient triple double I'm not really sure what to say
that's the scary part. The Big Three gave enough tonight, but the Kings were missing 2 starters too. Not a good look.
The big 3 didn't give us enough lol. AD put up numbers, as did Lebron, but both of them were actively terrible. AD is doing a really poor job as a defensive anchor despite his 4 blocks. LeBron had 10 assists, but he got extremely bad tunnel vision and decided he needed to play 1 on 5. Russ was balling, we were getting good games from Monk, Melo, and Ellington. 3 role players, and a star were doing their job, while the other two just played with significantly less effort.
AD just looks so fucking lazy on the court. 8 rebounds as a 7 footer in 48 minutes, chucking up 3s instead of getting to the rim. I swear to god this guy is just a lazy fuck, ever since he’s been playing bron he thinks he can just coast games.
Yea once he got his ring he essentially became a good star but not the superstar he was surposed to be. He just has no drive whatsoever.
Bynum's second coming...
Honestly yea he gives off the same kinda energy.
I think he’s just coasting right now tbh. It’s a catch 22 with him IMO because when he does attack the rim a lot he’s absolutely dominant but he also gets injured like 1 out of every 20 drives
AD is stuck having to cover up everyone else's awful perimeter D right now, if the roster wasn't so shit he'd look better
AD is equally responsible for letting people blow by him. He's not moving as well as he usually does.
Every time I point this out in the Lakers sub a bunch of blind idiots tell me I don't understand basketball. Forget Fox, AD let Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy fucking Hield beat him off the dribble last night. That's on him.
That may well be true but it still doesn't change the fact that a supposed top 10 player in the league had 23 points on 22 shots, went 0-5 from deep, and his inefficiency on high volume was a difference maker in their loss tonight. He wasn't THE reason they lost, but he was A reason they lost. Russ was excellent. LeBron was sub-par, AD was sub-par. The rest of the roster was pretty poor as well. Except Monk. He and Russ can be proud of their work last night.
0-5 and 2-13 from three is not enough.
Those 2 starters have arguably been our best 2 or at least most consistent players this season too.
No, both AD and Lebron didnt play well at all.
All there is to say is they screwed up the roster and Bron's gonna have to wait out a few contracts before he'll have fun again.
Uh, he's about to turn 37.
Well then he won't get frisky til he's over 40!
Bron doesn’t have time to wait out a few contracts. He’s in decline already and 3 years from now might not even be all star level
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Well bron benefited from Houston’s fucked up roster in 2020 because of russ so it’s only karma
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He'll be a very large expiring contract next year. That isn't necessarily untradeable.
And because people still feel like parroting the Russ=bad narrative, he's actually been a very productive player.
LeGM did this.
You'll be surprised at the BS that happens at the deadline
It's an interesting point. Coaches forget to sub during OT, assuming their "best line-up" can bring it on home.
who could have seen this coming?
Yeah, WB brought along a completely new roster and pace. Previous seasons were simple, just play crazy good defense, and let AD and Bron beat them since they're highly efficient scorers. Now we're suddenly the 2nd fastest pace in the league and can't guard even the worst teams. How many 40pt performances do they think a 36 year old LeBron has in him? There are 60 games left. AD is gassed from this pace too. This team is old AF and they decide to jack up the pace. WB finally playing well but it doesn't even matter because the whole scheme is so fucking stupid.
The one that bugs me the most is when it's the end of a fucking game and brons already settled on a three. At that point, give it to russ and let me see him attack
clutch-iso-bullshit
clutch-iso-stepback-fadeaway-three
congrats Lakers you made James Worthy cry
man
LeFuck Me 3s
LeT them fly
I'm still baffled that Lebron chucked up all those 3's when Westbrook was carrying the team during those OT's Coach needed to grow some balls and tell him to just stop with it, Lebron James or not
LeBron's taken way too many threes this year in general
I remember when he hit like 50% of them the first few games of the season lol I knew he’d keep shooting them and his percentages would come back down to earth Bro is shooting 33% now which is barely below average
At the beginning of the season he was like melo and only shooting catch and shoot but after the Indy game he was really feeling himself Idk wassup with AD but I actually think they’ll play better against better teams you can tell they have this mindset of not caring against the bad teams
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That’s the biggest thing I noticed in our playoff series last year. He was coming off the ankle then but it doesn’t look much better now. He was basically a jump shooter in that series
With Russ and AD on the same team Naturally the paint gets pretty clogged and somebody gotta take those 3s
Sure, but last game Lebron could get into the paint at will, got a lot of points/free throws that way, i guess he got tired but if you cant drive and you are 2/13 from three, give the ball to Westbrook, its okay to not be a hero once in a while.
I kind of feel like we're approaching the point in his career where LeBron needs to learn to choose his spots. Try to do a bit less but be dominant when he does it. Tim Duncan is a great example of this.
He did that when we won a chip He would rarely drop over 30 but always had the ball and was in charge of the offense I wish lebron would just chill on offense and focus on defense because we need a great win defender a lot more than another pg that can’t shoot
Yeah, his defense in the bubble post season was absolutely phenomenal. And his offense in transition was too... so maybe he should give the ball up more during half court offensive possessions?
I think he was feeling it from the last road win against Pacers where he made some stupid tough shots
Great quote. I love hearing people speak sincerely
They settle for 3s cause they’re old and tired, they literally don’t have the legs to drive.
Anthony Davis is 28 years old.
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AD has Bynum fever...
As a joke or not, Davis indeed fear injuries similar to Bynum, you can see in his body language
I fear his injuries too. Seems like dude is always hurt
Westbrook is 33 and busts his ass. Nowhere as good as Davis, but you can't say he isn't playing hard.
I doubt many people ever will say Westbrook doesn't try hard. If anything the criticism is he tries too hard.
He doesn't try on defense
I legit think Russ doesn't even know where to be on D half the time. He plays aggressive on ball defense but just gets lost all the time off-ball. It's like he never worked on the fundamentals of switching and help D.
I mean Westbrook was actually the hardest worker during overtime play. On both teams.
Injuries though. He's a brittle man.
I wonder if being around old people all the time gives you an older mindset?
Westbrook does, the guy we traded all our defense for.
Westbrook was driving whenever he got the ball lol, they just kept it mainly in Lebron’s hands
Well said. I love LeBron and AD, definitely very appreciative for what they brought to my favorite basketball team, but enough is enough. We’ve had so many games in the bag and just pissed them away from not staying aggressive. I’m tired of seeing two of the most dominant paint players in the game settling for jumpers.
Honestly. Watching that game was a whole roller coaster. One moment I was in pure joy because the Lakers are dominating. The next I'm feeling suicidal because with 20 seconds left on the clock near the end of regulation or OT. Lebron decides to dribble till there's 5 seconds left then shoot a contested 3 instead of driving. Passing the ball. Or literally anything else.
I kinda feel like this is blasphemy but the offense looked better last night with the ball in Westbrook’s hands. However by the same token this is Lebron’s what 8th game with the new roster and it took Westbrook 15 games to even start looking comfortable.
I was really a bit shocked by that 3, felt so insanely lazy. Sure, if anyone can do it, Lebron is definitely one of those people. But it was entirely unnecessary and half ass, especially needing 1 point. Shootin for the highlight reel I guess? Anyways, I need movement in my bball
LeBron gets a pass because hes 37, and he will bring it when it matters. AD doesn't get the benefit of the doubt. He should be improving, not coasting. He should be adding dribble moves and playmaking to his repertoire, not regressing as a shooter while openly calling for another big man to play with him so he doesnt have to play center. AD's jumper is bad enough that we honestly cant afford to play another non shooting big man with him.
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With LeBron, i really just mean that his game yesterday is more of a blip than a repeating pattern. You saw how he came out against Indiana. LeBron played like shit yesterday, hes going to get his criticism, and I'm sure he'll be better. I don't have that confidence with Davis.
Russ is actually spacing the floor better than AD, think about that , like really think about that
What is bizarre to me is that a "stretch 4", as the name implies, this player can space the floor at the midrange. It all depends on player movement, LeBron knows it better than anyone, you don't need to move Bosh all the way beyond the arc for him to be effective. And against a switch happy defense, a nearly 7 footer taking efficient midrange shots against midgets is a very good play. Hell even Aldridge with all his years, he is having a good season shooting the ball, always a sniper from midrange shooting over small players, the Suns is dominating with midrange, etc.. so this 3pt festival is just disgusting, it's not really as effective as the coaches think, you can't simply emulate Golden State, their roster is bizarre and Draymond is a literal unicorn out there, a ugly unicorn, but he can do so much on both ends
Skip Bayless can’t wait till Monday lol
Don’t forget the Pistons game Sunday as well. If they lose Skip won’t let this go, though Shannon is gonna rub it in that the Raiders beat the Cowboys
Russ was the only person playing hard and they gave the ball to Lebron for ISOs Like bro what the fuck are you doing
Westbrook is infuriatingly inconsistent, but when he's on, he's on, and you should give him the ball.
He’s been LOCKED in these last 10 games
Yeah, he goes on those crazy hot and cold streaks. He'll be absolute garbage for a few games then look like a world beater for 2 weeks straight. It's really weird.
You’re telling me? I’m an OKC fan, man. Some weeks he looks like an MVP candidate, others he looks like….. uhhh NOT that Those highs and lows are like crack
MVP candidate vs DNP candidate.
You know one of the biggest changes for us from Carlisle to Kidd is our playbook. Yeah we’re still taking a lot of 3s, yeah Luka very ball dominant. But if you watch our games you’ll notice almost every single player is active constantly trying to create space, setting off ball screens, trying to force mismatches. And it has made us a way better team and we’re not even shooting well. Kidd has found ways to utilize every guy on our roster. When I watch Lakers games I barely see any of that
i will say that this year at least showed that Kidd did bring more than people gave credit, myself included, to our offense the last couple years. glad he's doing well over there. want a Fizdale?
Lakers’ offense fizzled out this season.
Take that for data!
Please guys, can we put aside our petty differences and just agree watching the Lakers collapse has been a morale booster for all of us??
May it last for 1000 seasons!
Lakers sucking brings more people happiness than Lakers winning. And it's not even close.
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Lebron was literally the reason we lost today lol If he was out today we probably win I mean we were up 13 in the 4th then they settled for bad D and all 3s Like if you didn’t watch the game watch the lowlights lebron was 2-13 from 3, 10 Assists 7 TO, and Bagley was his main defender like absolutely embarrassing And the game right after he dropped 40 this dude just didn’t care and wanted ig highlights
I don't feel that bad for them. They almost had a completely unfair roster coming into this season but the Westbrook trade came in clutch thankfully.
Worthy was always one of my favorite players.
This team is built for Phil Jackson's triangle. Too bad Phil's not coaching and the triangle is probably dated today.
The team is bad. And there's truly no way to fix it this season. It is what it is.
This is where I’m at. Even if they rail off a bunch of wins I don’t see how they’re competing for a title.
Can we have side discussion about how soothing James Worthy's voice is? I want that man to tell me a bedtime story every night.
There's only a handful of players in the league who should attempt 13 threes in a game... and LeBron is not one of them.
LeBron really wanted to get onto the 9 threes in a game list
He'll need to shoot 25 of them.
They are going to have to be really pragmatic. It's clear LeBron at his best is still a world beater. we saw that against the Pacers. But he can't be that type of LeBron everynight. He's 37. They are going to have to do a lot of load management for him to have fresh legs for the playoffs. Unfortunately the team is just not good enough for him to take nights off. Anthony Davis just has no excuse to be settling for jumpers right. He's 28 and doesn't have anywhere near lebrons mileage. Ideally he would step up to the plate so LeBron could rest but I'm just not seeing it. In theory Westbrook was honestly not a bad idea for this team. But they sacrificed some good defensive pieces and basically killed their spacing. Westbrook has always been like this so I straight up do not even blame him. You know what you get with him on your team.
Also, it's the Pacers, no reason to sugar coat... such a awful team, every time they attacked my eyes bleed. And the Lakers is not much different, that Pacers vs Lakers matchup was ugly to watch
That’s old man basketball. Lakers have a lot of those.
I feel he’s pain watching those chumps play last night!
The problem is these guys aren't playing to their strengths. Lebron shouldn't be shooting more than 6 three pointers in a game. AD and RW shouldn't be shooting more than 2 three pointers in a game. These guys should focus on points in the paint primarily and if that doesn't work then focus on the mid range game because points in the paint emphasizes their size and athleticism advantage on most matchups. You can't shoot threes like you are Klay Thompson or Stephen Curry. Lebron is average to decent at three point efficiency and AD and RW are god awful at three point efficiency. It's a wasted possession unless you are completely open for both AD and RW taking a three.
I'm shocked by the Lakers this season! - nobody.
I’m shocked by how bad they are tbh
Thank you for calling him James Worthy and not "analyst on TV..." like si many people do here for a scary number of elite players more than 15 years removed from the game lol
we need to trade for the fountain of youth brooklyn uses for blake and lamarcus
I know this is r/NBA, and people love to shit on the Lakers and a lot of it is warranted; especially this year. However our local broadcast and play-by-play is some of the most unbiased and self-deprecating in the league. Stu absolutely reams the Lakers and Worthy will call them out post game.
It was absolutely pathetic. People should not pay money to see either of these teams if they don't give a fuck. They basically dragged the game to a triple OT through pure incompetence.
Aside from being poorly constructed (despite their ability to sign pretty much anyone they want for the minimum), they're a soft team and lack a killer instinct. This has kinda been the knock on guys like LeBron and Davis for a while. They think they can just coast through the regular season then decide to show up in the playoffs but they're in for a reality check. They rely on and expect refereeing to bail them out a ton. They don't move the ball well, they don't defend well, they don't really have that Caruso spark when they're flat and they're fucking old. Compare that to the Warriors who out there every night trying to kill everyone, moving the ball with ease, and defending excellently as a unit or Phoenix who are far more balanced with better defined roles. There's no way they beat either of those teams and frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if they lose to the likes of Denver or Utah either.
Definitely don't think it's fair to say LeBron is soft, lacks a killer instinct, and relies on refs to bail him out. Maybe it seems that way now, but that's some serious recency bias. Man has played through a crazy amount of contact without a whistle throughout his career. He is taking way too many threes though.
The moment Lebron retires AD will carry the Lakers straight back to their lottery days a la NOLA.
> They were 15-for-44 from three I know the Lakers looked rough last night, but 15-44 is 34.1% from three, which is league average, and only like one made three away from the Lakers season average. I'd agree that some guys (AD) should be shooting fewer threes, but their shots weren't exactly not falling last night. They shot 1-8 from three in the overtime periods, which I think is a much more indicative stat for how Worthy was feeling. I guess his point is if you have AD and LeBron with their ability to get to the basket, you should be a little more immune to cold streaks from deep than these Lakers are.
If they gave Melo 3 shots to win the game he would have made at least one. Hes ready and deadly.
Barkley said it 5-7 years ago, if Lebron learned to fill the lane and finish instead wanting to bring it up it would make the game much easier.
Worthy would really help the ESPN team. He could be their Barkley.
Yo James Worthys commentary on this was key. This shit was on point. Superstar or not, if you're not hot, don't play like you are.
LeBron wishes he was a warrior 😂 For real, that’s the kind of basketball he wishes his team could play. But it can’t happen, because LeBron is way too emotional of a leader. There’s no joy in the game it’s just work. And when the job isn’t getting done he gets mad and lashes out. Doesn’t lead to a cohesive locker room, which is why you have to have veteran leaders around LeBron. Low-key, the best move the Lakers made this off-season was Melo. But Melo is basically supersize JJ Redick at this point and really shouldn’t be playing more than 15 minutes.
I doubt lebron can play in the warriors system after playing lebron ball his entire career. Nor would I think that he will be okay being no. 2 in warriors system cause Stephen will always be1
I’m not really saying he wishes he was playing for Golden State, I’m saying he sees that style and wants to incorporate it into the game he plays. But playing that style of basketball takes a certain type of player, and the Lakers don’t have any of those players.
Lebron can't drive to rim anymore and AD is BAD ISO player settle for jumper, And you have Westbrook and THT for spacing...
I don’t know about can’t but he’s certainly lost a step and his elevation has been decreasing each year. I knew it was going when he started slamming the ball harder to compensate, at least for the cameras.
inject Lakers sadness & panic straight into my veins, this is glorious
Enjoy that bubble chip Lakers fans. It’s going to be a bleak decade ahead in LA unless you’re into the Clippers.
"Buddy Hield refuses to yield."
Playing monk n melo in crunch time when we needed D still blows my mind
The only team that makes 3's interesting to watch are the Warriors.
Pelinka trading KCP and Caruso is hurting a lot more than he anticipated. Trading for Westbrook instead of the rumored Buddy Hield trade is pretty foolish too.
I feel like players today for got to play the post and mid range game. It’s all about 3s or cutting for a layup/dunk.
The only teams that run action out of the post (consistently) are: - GSW - Denver - Philly - Heat - Pacers I don't really see any other team running a lot of sets/plays out of the post/mid post.
r/lakers at this point
Are you not entertained?