The Lakers (mostly Bron) are playing GOOD basketball. The Nuggets are just…

[FultzNationRISE]

…too damn good. They have five high quality starters, one of whom’s a top 5 player ever, and they FIT together perfectly.

The Lakers are giving it their god damn all. I mean seriously. You can tell theyre watching film, theyre working hard, theyre doing everything they possibly can. Lebron’s 39 years old, he should be on a beach somewhere growing a potbelly, instead he’s grinding every day so he can chase down block 22 year old kids and strive for another title. They Lakers are not slacking.

The Nugs are just too strong. It’s true the Lakers have had to hit some tough, unsustainable shots in order to build the lead tonight. Russell was scorching early, Reaves hit a couple of tough middies. But they ran some nice PnR with Bron and AD, they forced the Nuggets to shoot some tough shots. The Lakers played well.

But finishing off this Denver Nuggets team, IN Mile High… it’s just a little bit beyond the reach of how good their lineup is. After Lebron and *sometimes* AD the Lakers just arent a championship roster. Thats a fact. But theyre digging deep and giving it their all. Theyre leaving nothing in the tank. We’re gettin our money’s worth watching this series.

So I just wanna say thank you to Lebron James for that.

[ImKobe]

Anthony Davis: “We have stretches where we don’t know what we’re doing on both ends of the floor.”

Yep. GOOD basketball.

[FultzNationRISE]

Anthony Davis: “We have stretches where we don’t know what we’re doing on both ends of the floor.”

Yep. GOOD basketball.

Thats why I said “mostly Bron.”

[AlternativeAcc.]

Lebron has run into super teams his entire career, with minimal help...

Celtics, Spurs, Warriors, and now Nuggets.

The fact that he's still putting up superstar stats and being the most important player on his team at age 39 is absurd in this sport.

For casual fans, they'd rather he be putting up 15 points on a stacked title team like the Celtics. Winning titles as a role player is somehow better than being a legit superstar in old age... the logic is amazing. Dudes will talk about Kobe and Duncan having 5 rings. The context of them doesn't matter.

[ImKobe]

Lebron has run into super teams his entire career, with minimal help...

Celtics, Spurs, Warriors, and now Nuggets.

The fact that he's still putting up superstar stats and being the most important player on his team at age 39 is absurd in this sport.

For casual fans, they'd rather he be putting up 15 points on a stacked title team like the Celtics. Winning titles as a role player is somehow better than being a legit superstar in old age... the logic is amazing. Dudes will talk about Kobe and Duncan having 5 rings. The context of them doesn't matter.

The issue is he wants to be the most important player on the team, even if it's not helping the team win games. You understand that his help right now is just as good as it was from 2014-18, right? He's no longer the same player. That's the problem. Adapt. You have AD on the team, make him the #1. Let him take over.

How did Duncan get to 5 rings? He took a step back, he played to his strengths. He had big games and was a leader but knew to adapt his game as he aged. Bron just seems hell-bent on maintaining his numbers, even if he doesn't win as many games.

[AlternativeAcc.]

The issue is he wants to be the most important player on the team, even if it's not helping the team win games. You understand that his help right now is just as good as it was from 2014-18, right? He's no longer the same player. That's the problem. Adapt. You have AD on the team, make him the #1. Let him take over.

I completely disagree. Lebron wants to WIN. he knows his teammates aren't good enough to win without the offense running through him. He would have no issue taking a backseat if the talent surrounding him was good enough. AD can't take over consistently. If he could lebron would have no problem letting him be that guy. If you think you can beat the ****ing Nuggets with AD "taking over" then I'm not sure what to tell you.

Lebron plays the way he does because it's literally the only way the Lakers can be competitive. He is the main reason these games are coming down to wire. At age 39 he doesn't have the juice to overcome a juggernaut like 2016. Oh ****ing well. Would you rather them be the 17 win Lakers like in 2016? Be grateful they're even in the playoffs because of lebron. Have some perspective.

[ImKobe]

I completely disagree. Lebron wants to WIN. he knows his teammates aren't good enough to win without the offense running through him. He would have no issue taking a backseat if the talent surrounding him was good enough. AD can't take over consistently. If he could lebron would have no problem letting him be that guy. If you think you can beat the ****ing Nuggets with AD "taking over" then I'm not sure what to tell you.

Lebron plays the way he does because it's literally the only way the Lakers can be competitive. He is the main reason these games are coming down to wire. At age 39 he doesn't have the juice to overcome a juggernaut like 2016. Oh ****ing well. Would you rather them be the 17 win Lakers like in 2016? Be grateful they're even in the playoffs because of lebron. Have some perspective.

Why can't AD take over consistently? Does he get the ball and he just can't make shots when it matters? Is that really the issue here? What was the issue when he led the team in everything but assists in 2020? Why has his usage rate and FGA & FTA decreased since then despite the higher pace and more minutes per game? Why did they go from a slow half-court offense to this up-tempo bullshit where they're freelancing for most of the game?

All I see is AD shooting less, and them doing worse on offense as the years go by. Clearly there's something missing here.

The help isn't any worse. He had Finals runs with much worse players than AD with similar or most of the time worse role players. Difference is that he's no longer the same player on either end of the court and he's not taking the steps necessary to help the team the best way he could. If he decreased his scoring by allowing AD and others to take more shots he could save his legs more to help them out on defense. If he controlled the tempo and slowed the game down he would have to run less.

It doesn't help that their coach is an incompetent fool who's not in a position to question Bron's decisions. They could really use a championship coach like Spo or Lue right now who would actually call the team out and make adjustments in their offense. It seems like they're allowed to do whatever and don't have a real game plan when things get tough, they just freelance.

[Bawkish]

What the Lakers suffering right now is knowledge / wisdom of a good/great coach, especially in crucial moments like this

But since Lebron wants to be their playing coach and GM (Ham is like a placeholder), then they have to reap what they sow

[FultzNationRISE]

What the Lakers suffering right now is knowledge / wisdom of a good/great coach, especially in crucial moments like this

But since Lebron wants to be their playing coach and GM (Ham is like a placeholder), then they have to reap what they sow

I really dont think this is fair. Last year they beat a hot Grizzlies team. Then they beat the defending champs. They lost to the best team in the league last year and theyre losing to them again this year.

Last year people even kept claiming after each game they figured out the Nuggets but just didnt quite convert. Tonight was the same story. Theres nothing more LeCoach can do, nothing more they can try. The team just isnt good enough to execute long enough to top Denver. Kenny talked about this on Inside. Theyve tried every reasonable thing. Nothing stops Joker and the Nuggets. This is just one team is better than the other team.

Whenever you dont win fans will second guess your decisions with the benefit of hindsight. I dont think the Lakers have lacked plans or purpose. Theyre just losing to a better team.

Blaming LeCoach is a cope. The Nuggets are the better team. You can blame the actual coach, but thats mainly bc everyone besides Bron deserves to be blamed. Realistically tho there are no good solutions. Coaching cannot change this. Lebron’s the BITW but the rest of his team just cannot match what Denver brings.

[RRR3]

The issue is he wants to be the most important player on the team, even if it's not helping the team win games. You understand that his help right now is just as good as it was from 2014-18, right? He's no longer the same player. That's the problem. Adapt. You have AD on the team, make him the #1. Let him take over.

How did Duncan get to 5 rings? He took a step back, he played to his strengths. He had big games and was a leader but knew to adapt his game as he aged. Bron just seems hell-bent on maintaining his numbers, even if he doesn't win as many games.

Insane comment even if we pretend he didn’t have much better coaching back then. 2018 sure although I think that roster post trade line was more intelligently built than anything Pelinka has ever done.

EPM is a pretty good indicator of impact and it says LeBron IS the most important player on the Lakers. You just don’t like him which is fine but it shouldn’t lead you to deny reality.

Regardless the Lakers problems right now are 95% coaching, although the real blame goes to the FO for putting them in this situation.

[ImKobe]

Insane comment even if we pretend he didn’t have much better coaching back then. 2018 sure although I think that roster post trade line was more intelligently built than anything Pelinka has ever done.

EPM is a pretty good indicator of impact and it says LeBron IS the most important player on the Lakers. You just don’t like him which is fine but it shouldn’t lead you to deny reality.

Regardless the Lakers problems right now are 95% coaching, although the real blame goes to the FO for putting them in this situation.

EPM also says Embiid is the best player in the league. EPM says that Jokic is the 5th best/most impactful player in the league. EPM also says Lebron is an elite defender which he clearly isn't if you watch the games.

AD is a 2-way superstar big man
he has 2 guards who can create their own shot & get to the FT line + create shots for others
he has Dinwiddie who played 28 MPG on a WCF team 2 years ago
he has Rui who's doing a heck of a job defending Jokic and who can score but isn't utilized much on this team (he did have a bad game on offense but was good on D)


How much more does he need really? There's problems with the defense, but the offense should be a lot better if Lebron was still that guy. He's just not. Or maybe they need a coach who can actually get the most out of this group by running the right plays instead of freelancing all the time where they have no idea what they're doing as AD said. Lebron's usage has lessened a little since 2019, but he's still forcing the issue at times when he's gassed instead of slowing it down and running the best play possible which is the AD P&R. I've seen it too many times these past 2 seasons.

[Walk on Water]

Lebron has run into super teams his entire career, with minimal help...

Celtics, Spurs, Warriors, and now Nuggets.

The fact that he's still putting up superstar stats and being the most important player on his team at age 39 is absurd in this sport.

For casual fans, they'd rather he be putting up 15 points on a stacked title team like the Celtics. Winning titles as a role player is somehow better than being a legit superstar in old age... the logic is amazing. Dudes will talk about Kobe and Duncan having 5 rings. The context of them doesn't matter.

You really believe that??

He could have The Avengers on his team & you all would still believe he has minimal help. Why is he the only one that gets to use that line?

How much help does he need? According to you guys, Lebron GODLIKE. How many Wades and AD's does he need? Doesn't he always have shooters and role players around him as well as ROBINS? How much help does he need?

[rmt]

Lebron has run into super teams his entire career, with minimal help...

Celtics, Spurs, Warriors, and now Nuggets.

The fact that he's still putting up superstar stats and being the most important player on his team at age 39 is absurd in this sport.

For casual fans, they'd rather he be putting up 15 points on a stacked title team like the Celtics. Winning titles as a role player is somehow better than being a legit superstar in old age... the logic is amazing. Dudes will talk about Kobe and Duncan having 5 rings. The context of them doesn't matter.

LOL - whining about minimal help - how many of Lebron's rings were won without an All-NBA teammate? 1 - he has hopped around to get help.

Duncan won 4 without an All-NBA team mate - staying on the same team for 19 years with all the ups and downs. Cry me a river - especially about context.

[Axe]

Remember the r35 nissan gtr (aka godzilla) that came out way back in 2007. It was a state-of-the-art speed machine that used to murder very expensive exotic cars going so fast bt while being much cheaper and easy to modify as well. Fast forward to today tho and supercars have evolved taking speed to the next level which made the legendary nissan look like pedestrian these days.

The very same thing is happening to a 39 y.o. lebron if you use the same analogy on players nowadays. He's simply not in his prime anymore so even if there are some moments where he can look dominant, he'd still have a hard time keeping up with the younger, current superstars. What more if he has to do it each time, he'd just be gassed too soon no matter what after exerting extra effort. But at least he still tries somehow.

[LeGoat4Life]

Another superteam hand pick by Lebron himself getting swept again

How many times does this kid want to be swept?