LeBron’s looking like he’s back in his rhythm, his playmaking looked like it was back to normal this game. Last few games he hasn’t been getting his usual assist numbers, today he was throwing dimes
I think when he’s hitting shots it opens the game up for him. To start the season he was shooting extremely poorly and I think defenders were able to play off him a bit.
He definitely has his games that look like old Nurk and I get excited again, but he's just never been consistent since his injury. More just meh games overall lately.
Part of it is he's being forced to take a defensive role (helping up high on screens) that he simply doesn't have the foot speed for. He performs a lot better in drop coverage. That's on the coach for misusing him.
His play has declined since the injury but his shit talk has not. Dude talks some of the most shit in the league. Used to hate it but now I almost respect it because he doesn’t care if he’s losing, individually playing like shit, getting blown out, blowing a team out, etc. Nurk talks a chronic amount of shit. Top 10, maybe top 5, instigator in the league right now.
I think it's fair to say they're playing as good as any of the .500 teams out there, they just didn't start the season that way so they're playing catch-up record-wise.
The amount of post ups is fine, the problem is that for some reason off ball movement just completely stops when Lebron posts up, people need to start cutting and moving off ball.
Wasn't everyone saying he needs to let AD be the #1 guy and force feed him? Because that's still true. Lebron isn't going to shoot this well from 3 regularly and AD either gets a great look inside or goes to the line.
We blew out the Spurs two games ago and we were up by 17 last game. Last game it was on the coach, if you go look at that fourth quarter it was about his rotation and not stopping the bleeding while trusting Lebron too much after he twisted his ankle.
This game is basically what the Lakers should have done a night ago against Indiana. As great as LeBron is, run almost everything through Davis in crunch time.
I didn’t really see them run it through AD this game, I think Ham just saw that his team had the lead and stayed with the lineup that got them that lead in the first place, which is what they should’ve done against Indiana instead of him pulling players that were hot at the moment.
Russ isn't effective enough without the ball in his hands when Lebron is on the floor. Lebron is the better half court passer whereas Russ is better in transition. When you have a sizable lead, it's in your team's best interest to slow the game down.
As a Laker fan...I'm honestly thinking we may as well keep Russ. He's settling into his role and playing not bad frankly. We could spin him and picks into Buddy and Myles, but does that really make us a contender this season? I don't think so, tbh.
Austin Reaves is better than Caruso offensively and defensively while not as great is still decent enough given he's a guard. I think the Lakers cannot be forgiven if they dont give him a good contract.
Caruso defensive impact is much higher than reaves, though reaves is better on offense. Reaves is never making an all defensive team, which Caruso got votes for last year and probably would’ve made if he didn’t get injured. Caruso is one of the top guard defenders in the league and him and lonzo combined were the engine of a top 3 defense when they played last year.
Pat Bev and Schroder just kill the spacing. But Bev brings the defensive intensity to the whole unit, and Schroder actually burns clock with set plays. This roster construction unfortunately can only pay one-way players other than lebron ad Westbrook, that lineup is so flawed but idk if Ham has much better options with this roster
They obviously still have talent issues, but it is nice to see they've fixed the worst problems they had last year. Just putting younger and athletic guys around the duo is important. I have no idea what they were thinking last year with the retirement squad
Blazers are missing 4 rotation guys. Ran into a bit of a buzz saw Laker team that has found their step. Blazers played a lot of young guys and their +/- was super bad. These minutes hurt now, but will pay dividends down the stretch. A lot of people forgot and absolutely under estimate how much GP3 will help this team.
Russ with 0 turnovers! Most important stat of the night
And two buzzer beaters
Looks like Lebron’s decline…was mostly an ankle injury
LeBron James’s downfall was greatly exaggerated
Many such cases
LeBron’s looking like he’s back in his rhythm, his playmaking looked like it was back to normal this game. Last few games he hasn’t been getting his usual assist numbers, today he was throwing dimes
Until his next bad game, where father time has finally caught up with him. And then until his next good game, where he hits his next prime etc etc
wAsHeD kInG
I think when he’s hitting shots it opens the game up for him. To start the season he was shooting extremely poorly and I think defenders were able to play off him a bit.
Lakers big 3 of LBJ, AD, and Reaves combine for 80 points
Reaves is nice
Austin Reeves
Yall see Lebron hug Reaves in his post game interview
He’s gotta give props to the Lakers best player. Doesn’t want to get benched before passing Kareem.
Seeing his trade value before his eyes
Every time I watch Nurkic this year he looks like ass
Dude hasn’t been the same since he broke his leg
man looks like bbq chicken against AD all the time
He definitely has his games that look like old Nurk and I get excited again, but he's just never been consistent since his injury. More just meh games overall lately.
Part of it is he's being forced to take a defensive role (helping up high on screens) that he simply doesn't have the foot speed for. He performs a lot better in drop coverage. That's on the coach for misusing him.
Nah this is just who he is. He will have like 7 games per season where he looks like a top 5 C
His play has declined since the injury but his shit talk has not. Dude talks some of the most shit in the league. Used to hate it but now I almost respect it because he doesn’t care if he’s losing, individually playing like shit, getting blown out, blowing a team out, etc. Nurk talks a chronic amount of shit. Top 10, maybe top 5, instigator in the league right now.
To be washed you have to be good to begin with. Hes always been a let down.
He’s so garbage and we can’t trade him till January
Anthony Davis with the most casual 27-12-3 block game
I was upset and felt he had such a quiet game because he barely had any touches, and checked the stat sheet to see 27 and 12 lol.
He is once again in the argument for DPOY and best two way player.
his best defender tonight is pat bev
is it me or is AD a bit of a boring player
Tbh I think Lakers would be a shade over .500 if Schroeder wouldn't have been hurt to start the season
Bryant too. He's solid.
Maybe they turn Russ into a 6th man much sooner. Maybe even as early as preseason if Schroder didn't have visa issues.
Just about every team is dealing with significant injuries, so that’s just par for the course.
they got 3 early matches against god tier tanking spurs
I think it's fair to say they're playing as good as any of the .500 teams out there, they just didn't start the season that way so they're playing catch-up record-wise.
Sorry, I understand what you’re getting at, but the jump from a replacement to rotation player isn’t worth 2-3 wins in 20 games
Apologies if we failed to warn you about Mic'd Up Austin Reaves
Good talk !
Lakers vs bucks is going to be fascinating
If the Lakers even make it close I'll be happy.
Yeah, same way suns vs mavs game 7 was fascinating
Lmfao why?
smh but I heard AD isn't even worth Vucevic in a straight up trade
one adjustment LeBron has to make is less post ups, it's just too crowded most of the time, more pnrs, which he did do more this game
abuse pnr with AD. that shit is really unguardable if lebron defender is just a decent defender
The amount of post ups is fine, the problem is that for some reason off ball movement just completely stops when Lebron posts up, people need to start cutting and moving off ball.
more off ball too it's looked great any time he came through cutting whether to the inside or mid range.
LeFuck you reaction game to everyone talking about he needs to step back on offense after last game
regression to the mean more than anything
Wasn't everyone saying he needs to let AD be the #1 guy and force feed him? Because that's still true. Lebron isn't going to shoot this well from 3 regularly and AD either gets a great look inside or goes to the line.
I don't want to overreact, but i think Reaves might be the greatest player to ever put the Laker uniform.
I’m waiting for the rest of the statement where you over react.
I think it's a fair assessment
we must keep him
Big 3
That is the understatement of the year
Next to Caruso right?
The GLOAT
Better than Lakers Legend Matt Ryan?
If Lakers can get a decent seed AD should get DPOY, he's carrying this Lakers defense so much.
he's played dpoy level
Forget DPOY, he'd be MVP at that point.
Headband russ out collecting receipts
Absolutely love seeing Ham and Billups together again
Yeah that was a very cool moment
Blazers cant counter punch at all.
Yeah... I'm hoping getting healthy and the scheduling getting easier helps. Otherwise we're looking at a rough rest of the season.
Worst part of the game by far was that 5+ minute long GPII "interview" (if you can call it that)
Like do we really need to take up half the screen to see GPII sitting on the bench?
It was cool for like a minute and a half
For once the Lakers end a game comfortably lol
We blew out the Spurs two games ago and we were up by 17 last game. Last game it was on the coach, if you go look at that fourth quarter it was about his rotation and not stopping the bleeding while trusting Lebron too much after he twisted his ankle.
What if I told you there seems to be a correlation between not having Westbrook on the floor in crunch time moments and us winning games?
I'd rather be in the first seed like you are
This game is basically what the Lakers should have done a night ago against Indiana. As great as LeBron is, run almost everything through Davis in crunch time.
I didn’t really see them run it through AD this game, I think Ham just saw that his team had the lead and stayed with the lineup that got them that lead in the first place, which is what they should’ve done against Indiana instead of him pulling players that were hot at the moment.
Russ isn't effective enough without the ball in his hands when Lebron is on the floor. Lebron is the better half court passer whereas Russ is better in transition. When you have a sizable lead, it's in your team's best interest to slow the game down.
LA now means Long-live Austin. LA’s missing piece in their big3 has come to fruition.
Los Austin
They should play like this every time
It’s a lot easier to look good against a poor defensive team on the 2nd night of a back to back lol
Who knew utilizing players more = win.
This is the AD we want to take over the reins when ol LeGacy hangs it up
LeBrohn Wayne Gacy
As long as Bron and AD are healthy I can't give up on this Laker team.
As a Laker fan...I'm honestly thinking we may as well keep Russ. He's settling into his role and playing not bad frankly. We could spin him and picks into Buddy and Myles, but does that really make us a contender this season? I don't think so, tbh.
Lefuck you lives on.
When the Lakers get a lead bigger than 10, you can just hear the panic in their commentary voices. It's honestly pretty hilarious.
Bro even the crowd in the 4th was silent like they were nervous. I think everyone has PTSD
Austin Reaves is better than Caruso offensively and defensively while not as great is still decent enough given he's a guard. I think the Lakers cannot be forgiven if they dont give him a good contract.
Caruso is on a completely different tier defensively lol. Reaves with Caruso’s defense is a really good PG.
Reaves with caruso’s defense is just Caruso with a reliable jump shot haha
Caruso defensive impact is much higher than reaves, though reaves is better on offense. Reaves is never making an all defensive team, which Caruso got votes for last year and probably would’ve made if he didn’t get injured. Caruso is one of the top guard defenders in the league and him and lonzo combined were the engine of a top 3 defense when they played last year.
Matt Ryan played for a minute and was sent to the shadow realm by Jeannie lmfao
My boy reaves was carrying, he is him! 😤
Yeahhh POR really need lillard this team does not function without him. Super weird
We dodged a bullet because Dame abuses the crap out of us in LA.
IT'S MY BOY JETTO!!!!
Simons is a shooting guard forced to play point because Dame and Keon Johnson are both injured. That's the real problem.
Pat Bev and Schroder just kill the spacing. But Bev brings the defensive intensity to the whole unit, and Schroder actually burns clock with set plays. This roster construction unfortunately can only pay one-way players other than lebron ad Westbrook, that lineup is so flawed but idk if Ham has much better options with this roster
I swear bev knew how to shoot 3s
Pat Bev needs to be traded for a 2nd round pick
Thread when we lose: 3829 upvotes, 753 comments.
We beat a lot of teams on our way to 17 rings lol we will forever be the villains and I wouldn’t have it any other way
Remember when we were 10-4....good times indeed....good times...
It wasnt long ago...
The Blazers looked decent for a while then injuries happened, hope I can see them at full strength soon
Dame just hasn’t been healthy. They’ll improve when he gets back
They obviously still have talent issues, but it is nice to see they've fixed the worst problems they had last year. Just putting younger and athletic guys around the duo is important. I have no idea what they were thinking last year with the retirement squad
I know we'll come back eventually as Lillard and others come back but this is rough right now. Not very fun to watch us fall off a cliff
Russ with 2 of 6 from the 3 and both buzzer beaters... Maybe he should only take last/late shots? Just saying...
There honestly might be something to that because otherwise he is in his own head too much.
Blazers are missing 4 rotation guys. Ran into a bit of a buzz saw Laker team that has found their step. Blazers played a lot of young guys and their +/- was super bad. These minutes hurt now, but will pay dividends down the stretch. A lot of people forgot and absolutely under estimate how much GP3 will help this team.
I love over reactions on reddit after a win.
BEST TEAM IN THE WEST 🫡
Gg lakers, we are absolutely screwed right now tho lol
RWB tonight, 10 points and 6 of them are buzzer beaters.
I still can’t believe Beverley has not made more than 2 FGs in any game this season. Dude is cursed or something.
Man, I love seeing Austin Reaves ball out like this. Lebron and scrappy white dudes. Name a better duo
Reaves becoming insanely popular by being "guy who does his job"
WERE BACK
Wouldn’t trade Westbrick for Scot Barn
Put respect on Lebron's name you mofo if you're gonna crown him for going 20 points for less than 50% sometime
WE’RE FINALLY STARTING AND PLAYING HILLBILLY KOBE 30 MINUTES
Come on Blazers. How are you going to lose to that terrible team?
Hey! They've been pretty decently lately!
Rent free.
Lakers are right back in it
Playoffs secured
Reaves and Lonnie need more credit. Especially Reaves.
Blazers are pathetic.
Don’t get too excited Laker fans, Portland was missing it’s best two players.