NBA first round | Page 4 | The Boneyard

NBA first round

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A few years ago Gobert was unplayable in the playoffs, now he's putting up 27 and 21 in a possible series clincher
 
navery12 said:
A few years ago Gobert was unplayable in the playoffs, now he's putting up 27 and 21 in a possible series clincher
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Shaq was over the top ripping him at halftime.

That was not a good game. Ant Edwards wouldn't drive the whole game despite the Lakers being slow as s^^^ and having no rim protection. Lebron, Luka and the Lake show were listless.
 
Bummer for me. Wolves were simply better. Luka needs to lose 20+ in the offseason if the Lakers have a chance. They also need a Center that actually knows how to play basketball.
 
I get that this was a fun year for Lakers fans and probably good for business, but from LeBron's standpoint I'm not sure it could have been more of a bleep show. Not only was the team built around Davis, but so was the whole final act of his career. He was one of maybe a couple guys in the league capable of covering for LeBron's decline defensively (and on the glass) and still allowing him to be the headliner on the other end. Luka is the opposite of that. The Mark Williams trade being rescinded was just the cherry on top.

I have my doubts about whether LeBron will want to play for Pelinka and Redick again after the way they ran him into the ground in this series. They basically punted his entire blueprint for the season out the window and asked him to be 2012 LeBron.

It's a good thing they now have his son as a hostage, otherwise I'd worry he might start looking at other options.
 
Is this Luka and JJ’s fault? Different coaches and players every year, same result.
 
LeBron’s 4th quarter stats are
Awkward Jay Z GIF by Complex
 
Mike Honcho said:
I'm laughing at all the Lakers fans on Reddit who cheered our 2nd round exit from the tournament. Karma is a b*tch!

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There’s no way he could’ve fixed the mess there
 
champs99and04 said:
I get that this was a fun year for Lakers fans and probably good for business, but from LeBron's standpoint I'm not sure it could have been more of a bleep show. Not only was the team built around Davis, but so was the whole final act of his career. He was one of maybe a couple guys in the league capable of covering for LeBron's decline defensively (and on the glass) and still allowing him to be the headliner on the other end. Luka is the opposite of that. The Mark Williams trade being rescinded was just the cherry on top.

I have my doubts about whether LeBron will want to play for Pelinka and Redick again after the way they ran him into the ground in this series. They basically punted his entire blueprint for the season out the window and asked him to be 2012 LeBron.

It's a good thing they now have his son as a hostage, otherwise I'd worry he might start looking at other options.
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That's it blame everyone else.
 
What's stunning about the Lakers is just how bad the Wolves were last night. 40 missed threes, Missed layups, missed freethrows all over the place, and somehow it just didn't matter. The Lakers let a guy who refuses to jump get how many boards and baskets? The Wolves were so bad last night. If they shot a normal percentage, they win by 50 or more. No idea how they win playing that poorly.
 
This seems a tiny bit of a vindication for Nico, the fact that the Lakers had no competent bigs really exacerbated Luka's defensive flaws. I think casualty though is #1 no centers, #2 Reddick who was good most of the year got out-coached then #3 Luka porous defense on an already mid defensive team.

It'll be interesting to see how much the narrative is an I told you so on Luka. Frankly he kind of needs it as the post-trade vibe was so strongly anti-Nico (and for very good reason, worst trade ever) that the motivation for Luka to put the finishing touches on his body and improve his defensive game was diminished. Not that I'm rooting for the Lakers, but maybe this loss is necessary for Luka to rededicate himself to improving his conditioning.
 
Not that I watch the Lakers much but agree with others that Luka looks like one of the more out-of-shape elite athletes I’ve seen in a while, especially considering how he’s in his mid 20s
 
Dogdeacon said:
This seems a tiny bit of a vindication for Nico, the fact that the Lakers had no competent bigs really exacerbated Luka's defensive flaws. I think casualty though is #1 no centers, #2 Reddick who was good most of the year got out-coached then #3 Luka porous defense on an already mid defensive team.

It'll be interesting to see how much the narrative is an I told you so on Luka. Frankly he kind of needs it as the post-trade vibe was so strongly anti-Nico (and for very good reason, worst trade ever) that the motivation for Luka to put the finishing touches on his body and improve his defensive game was diminished. Not that I'm rooting for the Lakers, but maybe this loss is necessary for Luka to rededicate himself to improving his conditioning.
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I think with AD the Lakers win this series. Luka has a higher ceiling but the roster makeup and defensive liabilities were too much to overcome. Wolves are young, athletic and quick, and the Lakers perimeter and interior D couldn’t limit much.

Luka really needs to buy into an offseason fitness plan and not just heel-toe it to Slovenia to just fish and drink beer.
 
champs99and04 said:
I get that this was a fun year for Lakers fans and probably good for business, but from LeBron's standpoint I'm not sure it could have been more of a bleep show. Not only was the team built around Davis, but so was the whole final act of his career. He was one of maybe a couple guys in the league capable of covering for LeBron's decline defensively (and on the glass) and still allowing him to be the headliner on the other end. Luka is the opposite of that. The Mark Williams trade being rescinded was just the cherry on top.

I have my doubts about whether LeBron will want to play for Pelinka and Redick again after the way they ran him into the ground in this series. They basically punted his entire blueprint for the season out the window and asked him to be 2012 LeBron.

It's a good thing they now have his son as a hostage, otherwise I'd worry he might start looking at other options.
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The Lakers also had no chance of winning it all with AD. They maybe had a chance at winning this series with him if they were somehow the third seed but I highly doubt they would've been in this position as the third seed with homecourt advantage had AD remained.

They were gifted 26 year old Luka straight up for 32 year old AD in one of the most ridiculous trades you'll ever see, of course the Lakers had to take it. If the Lakers actually cared about winning more than the "show" they would get rid of Lebron instead of paying him $50 million every year.
 
CardiacAndre7 said:
I think with AD the Lakers win this series. Luka has a higher ceiling but the roster makeup and defensive liabilities were too much to overcome. Wolves are young, athletic and quick, and the Lakers perimeter and interior D couldn’t limit much.

Luka really needs to buy into an offseason fitness plan and not just heel-toe it to Slovenia to just fish and drink beer.
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Maybe if AD was uber healthy, but that’s not AD & best case for AD Lakers was conference finals.
 
CardiacAndre7 said:
I think with AD the Lakers win this series. Luka has a higher ceiling but the roster makeup and defensive liabilities were too much to overcome. Wolves are young, athletic and quick, and the Lakers perimeter and interior D couldn’t limit much.

Luka really needs to buy into an offseason fitness plan and not just heel-toe it to Slovenia to just fish and drink beer.
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He needs to leave or stay with LeBron leaving.
 
superjohn said:
The Lakers also had no chance of winning it all with AD. They maybe had a chance at winning this series with him if they were somehow the third seed but I highly doubt they would've been in this position as the third seed with homecourt advantage had AD remained.

They were gifted 26 year old Luka straight up for 32 year old AD in one of the most ridiculous trades you'll ever see, of course the Lakers had to take it. If the Lakers actually cared about winning more than the "show" they would get rid of Lebron instead of paying him $50 million every year.
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Oh I don't blame the Lakers for taking the trade. I still think it's an awful/shady trade if for no other reason than that the Mavs never even fielded offers from 28 other teams. My point is that what was best for the Lakers in that scenario wasn't necessarily what was best for LeBron.

Personally, I think the entire Lakers chapter of LeBron's career has been awful for him and the for the league. Yes, he won a championship, but we're talking about a guy who was coming off eight straight finals trips and has since been to just one in seven seasons. He had the chance back in 2018 to join a more stable organization with a nucleus of young talent already in place that could have prolonged his title window and enhanced his overall basketball experience. Instead he chose the Lakers for what were presumably a lot of non-basketball reasons. He has no one to blame but himself for that.
 
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