WMC 20-21: Whine, Moan And Complain... You Know You Want To

It was one of the softest game I've ever seen from a team which is considered "big"

 

This was either arrogance/lazyness of a great team knowing it can flip the switch or the start of a very short run. Game 2 should be telling...

 

people have been REALLY underestimating the impact of our health problems this year, imo. AD and lebron still aren't themselves; i saw lineups out there yesterday i don't think i've ever seen! in a playoff game!

it's hard to beat teams that win 75% of their games with ragtag lineups and semi-injured stars.

at least the defense looked pretty good overall, imo. transition d was bad, but that's often a product of bad offense as much as bad defense.

anyway, i thought a repeat was a longshot, and this game didn't do anything to dissuade me. that said, this series isn't over. phx was favored to win game 1. they maybe should win game 2 (if they don't, they'll be in panic mode!). then we'll see if there's anything left in the tank over here.

 

That’s a great observation. We need Bron and AD to get 20-30+ points each (except when we are blowing out underdogs, then it’s meaningless). The more the ball is in their hands, the better chance we have of winning. Even if DS has a decent game, it can still be a negative if it takes away from Bron and AD. These playoff teams are all tough and battle-tested, so we need our superstars to shine in order to have any chance of winning.

 

Remember that one game some years back we were taking a last-second game winning shot on national television, and the commentator yelled, “MISS IT!!!!” Like wtf, I can’t even with them. They’ve been horrible since forever.

 

Clearly CP3 was legitimately hurt because he was very limited out there... but after watching the replay several times I still don’t know what happened. It looked like very minor contact. Am I going to suggest he was faking it? Of course not. The takeaway is that the shoulder and neck area can be weird, and an older player might be more prone to getting it tweaked.

So when CP3 went down, the sentiment among general NBA fanbase was along the lines of “Prayers up, this is terrible”.

Yet when CP3 comes down and illegally yanks Lebron’s shoulder for no good reason, the reaction is “Wow, look at LeFlop! Was that even a foul? How can someone so big be hurt by somewhat so little?”

Is it really out of the realm of possibility that a 36 year old could get their shoulder tweaked by a motion that otherwise wouldn’t look too bad? I guess for Bron it is, but not for CP3.

I know I should just ignore general NBA discourse though during the post-season. The Laker hate is in full gear. If you go on any Reddit post related to the Lakers, some of the most upvoted comments will be along the lines of “SiLvEr AnD tHe ReFs ArE rIgGiNg It FoR tHe LaKeRs, MiRiTe?”

Just saying though... if CP3 pulls another punk move... we might need to find some playing time for Duds if you catch my drift

 

Sorry that wheel chair is in the hall of shame now.

 

CP3 was hurt, he couldn't dribble with his right arm.

 

nothing can stop cp3 from being dirty

 

Jordan Clarkson just won Sixth Man of the year. Julius Randle is likely to win Most Improved Player.

It makes me wonder. How good would the baby Lakers be if we kept them all (No Lebron/AD)? Not saying I would choose a baby Lakers squad over a Lebron/AD squad, but it looks like a team with these players coming up together would be like one of those homegrown San Antonio teams that had potential to be very good for 10 years. Keep in mind we also traded the 4th overall pick (who turned out to be DeAndre Hunter). I mean look at the roster rotation:

Ball/Clarkson/Caruso
D’Angelo/THT
Ingram/Hunter
Randle/Nance
Zubac/Thomas Bryant/Wagner

Again, not saying I would pick this squad over Lebron/AD, but you gotta admit... it’s a pretty good team once the players grew into the league.

 

On top of that, it's opportunity. Can't grow into the players they are today without their roles changing on new teams.

Has a team of home grown kids even won? Most successful one I can think of in recent memory is the Thunder. That featured 3 of the top 10 players in the league for the better part of a decade. None of our kids were/are capable of those levels.

 

yea no way we could afford to keep em all, n besides that luke/Byron were garbage coaches n sort of ruined most of those young guys

 

It looks like a nice team, maybe 50 wins, but it's not winning a championship.

 

clarkson and randle's emergence this season proves two things

1. patience
2. lakers scouting team is damn good