2020/21 NBA season + Olympics

chopperbyrne

Lakers were so lethargic last night. Just completely off the pace.

Corvo

Hopefully the Heat Bucks game tonight can be a bit better than the first one!

ButtersSuki

Dillon Brooks is creating a name for himself in the past 10 days. Chris Vernon is always talking about him as being a talented but an incredibly frustrating player on The Mismatch pod, and you can see why -he leads the league in actual fouls and is prone to WTF? moments, but he plays bloody hard. He reminds me of Westbrook in a few ways.

ButtersSuki

Carcharodon wrote: »

AD is one soft ass ...., and LeBron again with antics in my opinion. Please let them get eliminated

AD is great when you're winning, but not so much so when you're in hole. There's a reason why they failed so much in NO even with him. He looked amazing last year in the Play Offs but the Lakers were cruising.

He's such an immensely talented player but he's not a guy I'd want to go to war with in a 7 game series tbh.

Sweet.Science

ButtersSuki wrote: »

AD is great when you're winning, but not so much so when you're in hole. There's a reason why they failed so much in NO even with him. He looked amazing last year in the Play Offs but the Lakers were cruising.

He's such an immensely talented player but he's not a guy I'd want to go to war with in a 7 game series tbh.

He is such a drama queen . When the ball hit his ankle he was thinking of staying down then decided against it . Its some weird thought process he has where he gets comfort in people thinking he is carrying a niggle . He still has a lot to prove to me. Last years playoffs has an asterisks beside it

The Lakers persistence with Drummond is a strange one. He clogs up the paint and leaves Lebron and AD with nowhere to drive. Means they have to stick to mid range jumpers which isn't their bread and butter

jk23

As bad as things look for the Lakers I wouldn't write them off. They lost the first game to the Blazers and Houston last year as well.

Top Dog

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Ffs LeBron again with the over-acting.

It was hilarious to see him rolling on the floor with his injured shoulder, and once he sees he getting zero attention because of the Montrez scuffle he's back on his feet :pac:

Sweet.Science

jk23 wrote: »

As bad as things look for the Lakers I wouldn't write them off. They lost the first game to the Blazers and Houston last year as well.

Oh i agree . I do think there is a slight difference though . The overall health and balance to the team is not like last year .

I still think they will come out of the West . I think they could beat the Philly . I dont think they can beat Brooklyn .

Corvo

They improve drastically if they bench Drummond.

chopperbyrne

ButtersSuki wrote: »

AD is great when you're winning, but not so much so when you're in hole.

He's a lot like Scottie Pippen.

Great player, but not a leader at all.

LuckyLloyd

Sweet.Science wrote: »

He is such a drama queen . When the ball hit his ankle he was thinking of staying down then decided against it . Its some weird thought process he has where he gets comfort in people thinking he is carrying a niggle . He still has a lot to prove to me. Last years playoffs has an asterisks beside it

The Lakers persistence with Drummond is a strange one. He clogs up the paint and leaves Lebron and AD with nowhere to drive. Means they have to stick to mid range jumpers which isn't their bread and butter

According to who?

Also this stuff about Drummond seems like narrative of the day. Last year across the playoffs Howard and McGee averaged 26 mins between them. Vogel has always wanted a centre rotation, and the plan has never been to play Davis at 5 for 35mins+. Drummond is playing because that's their team construction for two full seasons now.

The issue is that the Drummond / Gasol / Harrell rotation at 5 is a downgrade from McGee / Howard of last year. That's the error here, if there is one.

buyer95

Knicks blew last nights game, Randle was way below par. I still think NY will win the series, defensively they are much better than the Hawks and Randle won't be as bad again. It was a great game to watch, MSG and Spike Lee in particular out of their minds. Unlucky not to win, but I do think they will pull through. Thibs will come up with a better plan for Trae Young and limit him more than they did last night.

ButtersSuki

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

According to who?

Also this stuff about Drummond seems like narrative of the day. Last year across the playoffs Howard and McGee averaged 26 mins between them. Vogel has always wanted a centre rotation, and the plan has never been to play Davis at 5 for 35mins+. Drummond is playing because that's their team construction for two full seasons now.

The issue is that the Drummond / Gasol / Harrell rotation at 5 is a downgrade from McGee / Howard of last year. That's the error here, if there is one.

Who'd have thought Dwight Howard would have been such a loss in hindsight? Dwight in fairness to him (and that's not something I say lightly) played very well (relatively) in the Play Offs last year. He was an enforcer/tough guy in the paint on both ends and brought a lot of energy. He certainly beat up Jokic.

I wonder what REALLY happened at the start of the season where he tweeted he was coming back to LA, then deleted it, then 2 hours later he tweeted he was off to the 76ers? I suspect LeBron vetoed that tbh.

ButtersSuki

Top Dog wrote: »

It was hilarious to see him rolling on the floor with his injured shoulder, and once he sees he getting zero attention because of the Montrez scuffle he's back on his feet :pac:

It's classic LeBron. It's like when he came out after the loss to GS a few years ago with his hand in the plastic cast. :rolleyes:

Osmosis Jones

I find it hard to buy into "if it wasn't for X Role Player" when you've supposedly got 2 top 5 players on your roster.

Top Dog

buyer95 wrote: »

Knicks blew last nights game, Randle was way below par. I still think NY will win the series, defensively they are much better than the Hawks and Randle won't be as bad again. It was a great game to watch, MSG and Spike Lee in particular out of their minds. Unlucky not to win, but I do think they will pull through. Thibs will come up with a better plan for Trae Young and limit him more than they did last night.

It was criminal the amount of easy lay ups they allowed Young. I'd be shocked if Thibs, with his fiercely defensive mindset, doesn't plug that hole sharpish.

ButtersSuki wrote: »

I wonder what REALLY happened at the start of the season where he tweeted he was coming back to LA, then deleted it, then 2 hours later he tweeted he was off to the 76ers? I suspect LeBron vetoed that tbh.

If he did, he could quite possibly live to regret that. The replacements really haven't lived up to their predecessors, and while both McGee and Howard look to be enjoying their seasons Gasol and the others appear to be struggling to get through each game.

LuckyLloyd

Osmosis Jones wrote: »

I find it hard to buy into "if it wasn't for X Role Player" when you've supposedly got 2 top 5 players on your roster.

To be clear: I'm not saying that.

I'm simply saying the 'why aren't the Lakers playing AD at 5 for 40mins' stuff is ignorant of what they've been doing for two years now. The plan has always involved using a centre rotation.

The relevance of role players is down to whether that has made their rotations better or not. They decided to shake things up significantly after the title last year, and I said at the time it was too much change. Butter's suggestion that LeBron vetoed Howard resigning is unsupported by any of the LA beat writers I've read, but Butters likes to fashion sticks (real or imagined) to beat LeBron with so fair enough. However, whomever decided that they didn't want to simply run it back got it wrong imo - whether that be LeBron or someone else. Particularly given the condensed offseason and the disruptive nature of Covid protocols. They are partially paying a price for this now.

But bottom line is that both LeBron and AD looked a million miles off themselves yesterday. They are probably still not 100% and missed too many weeks leading up to crunch time. They are tentative and out of rhythm and it will be the main reason they lose this series.

Coneygree

Trae Young is a dog, that was a great moment.

ButtersSuki

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

To be clear: I'm not saying that.

I'm simply saying the 'why aren't the Lakers playing AD at 5 for 40mins' stuff is ignorant of what they've been doing for two years now. The plan has always involved using a centre rotation.

The relevance of role players is down to whether that has made their rotations better or not. They decided to shake things up significantly after the title last year, and I said at the time it was too much change. Butter's suggestion that LeBron vetoed Howard resigning is unsupported by any of the LA beat writers I've read, but Butters likes to fashion sticks (real or imagined) to beat LeBron with so fair enough. However, whomever decided that they didn't want to simply run it back got it wrong imo - whether that be LeBron or someone else. Particularly given the condensed offseason and the disruptive nature of Covid protocols. They are partially paying a price for this now.

But bottom line is that both LeBron and AD looked a million miles off themselves yesterday. They are probably still not 100% and missed too many weeks leading up to crunch time. They are tentative and out of rhythm and it will be the main reason they lose this series.

WTF?

I didn't say it was fact, I said I suspected it. For the record, Bill Plaschke said on either Around The Horn or some pod (I can't remember exactly, it was last November) that he also suspected that Lebron vetoed that. As did Bill Simmons (I know how much you love Bill Simmons :rolleyes:) on several of his pods this past year. Plaschke is one of the few LA journalists who doesn't pander to every LeBron move. If fits LeBron's MO - he's your best friend when he thinks you're of value, the second he thinks there's a better option it's goodbye. Not for the first time he got it wrong when it comes to player evaluation - there's a reason he's called the worst GM in the league.

Are you seriously however suggesting LeBron doesn't have a say on personnel on that roster, or any roster he's been a part of for the last decade? See "worst GM in the league" comment above.

But great to see you coming out with the excuses already AFTER 1 GAME of the Play Offs.
#LakerNation
:rolleyes:

ButtersSuki

Top Dog wrote: »

It was criminal the amount of easy lay ups they allowed Young. I'd be shocked if Thibs, with his fiercely defensive mindset, doesn't plug that hole sharpish.


If he did, he could quite possibly live to regret that. The replacements really haven't lived up to their predecessors, and while both McGee and Howard look to be enjoying their seasons Gasol and the others appear to be struggling to get through each game.

I myself thought Gasol would be very good, but age is taking its toll clearly. He's way off the pace, sadly, though he's not being helped by not getting reps. It's a catch 22. The are in real trouble in this series.

ButtersSuki

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

To be clear: I'm not saying that.

I'm simply saying the 'why aren't the Lakers playing AD at 5 for 40mins' stuff is ignorant of what they've been doing for two years now. The plan has always involved using a centre rotation.

The relevance of role players is down to whether that has made their rotations better or not. They decided to shake things up significantly after the title last year, and I said at the time it was too much change. Butter's suggestion that LeBron vetoed Howard resigning is unsupported by any of the LA beat writers I've read, but Butters likes to fashion sticks (real or imagined) to beat LeBron with so fair enough. However, whomever decided that they didn't want to simply run it back got it wrong imo - whether that be LeBron or someone else. Particularly given the condensed offseason and the disruptive nature of Covid protocols. They are partially paying a price for this now.

But bottom line is that both LeBron and AD looked a million miles off themselves yesterday. They are probably still not 100% and missed too many weeks leading up to crunch time. They are tentative and out of rhythm and it will be the main reason they lose this series.

LeBron does more than enough of this himself with him acting like he's been shot in each of the last few games.

Also major cringe on the "I saw 3 baskets and aimed for the middle one" crap. He just tries so hard to fashion his own narrative and it almost always backfires.

ButtersSuki

I imagined this too I suppose:

https://nypost.com/2021/05/22/lebron-james-broke-nba-covid-19-protocols-hanging-with-drake/

You think any other player doesn't get a ban for that?

LuckyLloyd

ButtersSuki wrote: »

WTF?

I didn't say it was fact, I said I suspected it. For the record, Bill Plaschke said on either Around The Horn or some pod (I can't remember exactly, it was last November) that he also suspected that Lebron vetoed that. As did Bill Simmons (I know how much you love Bill Simmons :rolleyes:) on several of his pods this past year. Plaschke is one of the few LA journalists who doesn't pander to every LeBron move. If fits LeBron's MO - he's your best friend when he thinks you're of value, the second he thinks there's a better option it's goodbye. Not for the first time he got it wrong when it comes to player evaluation - there's a reason he's called the worst GM in the league.

Are you seriously however suggesting LeBron doesn't have a say on personnel on that roster, or any roster he's been a part of for the last decade? See "worst GM in the league" comment above.

But great to see you coming out with the excuses already AFTER 1 GAME of the Play Offs.
#LakerNation
:rolleyes:

As I said, whoever decided to make a bunch of changes and not run it back was wrong and deserves the blame. Reaching to a conclusion that Howard may have agreed a deal and it was vetoed by LeBron at the last minute is...:pac: If LeBron was the key architect behind moving on from Green, Rondo, McGee and Howard then he's to blame. It hasn't worked out. This summer would have been the time to shake it up.

I've been saying for weeks that if AD and LeBron aren't healthy they aren't going anywhere in the playoffs. Hardly a controversial #LakerNation take.

ButtersSuki wrote: »

LeBron does more than enough of this himself with him acting like he's been shot in each of the last few games.

Also major cringe on the "I saw 3 baskets and aimed for the middle one" crap. He just tries so hard to fashion his own narrative and it almost always backfires.

ButtersSuki wrote: »

I imagined this too I suppose:

https://nypost.com/2021/05/22/lebron-james-broke-nba-covid-19-protocols-hanging-with-drake/

You think any other player doesn't get a ban for that?

As I said last week - make sure you're charging him rent!!

Sweet.Science

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

According to who?

Also this stuff about Drummond seems like narrative of the day. Last year across the playoffs Howard and McGee averaged 26 mins between them. Vogel has always wanted a centre rotation, and the plan has never been to play Davis at 5 for 35mins+. Drummond is playing because that's their team construction for two full seasons now.

The issue is that the Drummond / Gasol / Harrell rotation at 5 is a downgrade from McGee / Howard of last year. That's the error here, if there is one.

According to me . A playoff series with no fans in Disneyworld isn't the same for me.

He can prove it now in Phoenix or Philly/Brooklyn

killwill

Lakers were so poor last night but I can see them improving enough to bring it to maybe 6 games. I actually thought this was a good matchup for Lakers. I favoured AD over Ayton and thought he would dominate the paint.
Great to see Booker in the playoffs though, he is a joy to watch.

I love the LeBron bashing in here. It is quite comical to see people jump on the smallest of things and blow them out of proportion.
The NBA is now a supersoft league, where flopping and exaggerating is rampant throughout every single franchise.

LuckyLloyd

Sweet.Science wrote: »

According to me . A playoff series with no fans in Disneyworld isn't the same for me.

He can prove it now in Phoenix or Philly/Brooklyn

It's not the same. Probably a tougher ask. A test of emotional aswell as mental and physical stamina.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJOkrA3VB7c

ButtersSuki

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

As I said, whoever decided to make a bunch of changes and not run it back was wrong and deserves the blame. Reaching to a conclusion that Howard may have agreed a deal and it was vetoed by LeBron at the last minute is...:pac: If LeBron was the key architect behind moving on from Green, Rondo, McGee and Howard then he's to blame. It hasn't worked out. This summer would have been the time to shake it up.

I've been saying for weeks that if AD and LeBron aren't healthy they aren't going anywhere in the playoffs. Hardly a controversial #LakerNation take.





As I said last week - make sure you're charging him rent!!

Once again, avoid the question(s).

ButtersSuki

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

As I said, whoever decided to make a bunch of changes and not run it back was wrong and deserves the blame. Reaching to a conclusion that Howard may have agreed a deal and it was vetoed by LeBron at the last minute is...:pac: If LeBron was the key architect behind moving on from Green, Rondo, McGee and Howard then he's to blame. It hasn't worked out. This summer would have been the time to shake it up.

I've been saying for weeks that if AD and LeBron aren't healthy they aren't going anywhere in the playoffs. Hardly a controversial #LakerNation take.





As I said last week - make sure you're charging him rent!!

I should actually be charging you rent for how much of your thoughts I seem to occupy, as evidenced by post number 948 above.

jk23

The key is of Deandre Ayton can sustain his play against Davis, I am sure AD will respond in game 2

but it's how those two play for the rest of the series that will have the biggest impact and how CP3s shoulder is....

jk23

Bucks up 2-0...additions of Jrue Holiday and PJ Tucker looking shrewd at the moment.

Denver level the series Vs Portland, Jokic has a big game