We don't know that, because in the same way that we could have beaten Phoenix with a healthy AD, we could have won a lot more games that season, with a healthy AD and Lebron. The roster looked terrible without them, but you don't go into the season expecting them to only play 21 games together. We had Monk,Reaves, Howard, Jordan, Wenyen, Melo, and Bradley to go with Lebron, AD and Russ. That wasn't the worst roster ever. The trio went 22-22 in 44 games, without ever playing more than 5 straight games together. The jury remains out and what those guys could have done if healthy.
totally agree, and don't want to juggler knot you, but i think the phrase is "death knell" and it's totally appropriate.
i think they already did in some ways--they had to sit through that season and half of last season because of their hubris. i think they were chastened. i'd be more worried about a panic dlo trade if not for those guys knowing that the last time they drove a move, it basically ended their dreams of another title.
The new starting 5 worked exceptionally well, although people were skeptical. Going tall is the way to go, basically starting all forwards, because realistically Cam and Prince are SFs, while Bron, Vando and AD are PFs. This can only work because we have LeBron, obviously (and partially because Cam+Vando can defend guards), but boy did he deliver. Boxing out still needs improvement, but we rebounded much better.
I love that we didn't trap Shae. Just switched and they couldn't dice us up as much off that trapping BS
Bueno: AD and LeBron both with huge games AR with excellent dimes Good defensive effort Hachi with much needed scoring Still Laughing hard at the Flippers for giving up SGA- maybe the best young PG/Franchise player in the League Malo: Still allowing too many offensive rebounds when we have very long lineups
Going big was helpful and offense despite a lot of Vando and Cam Cam was outstanding on Shai Reaves missed a bunch of open 3s in the fourth but evened out as Memphis missed a bunch. Lebron was awesome to close. AD was great overall Cam was awesome on D despite Shai just foul hunting. Cam did his lean back but use his length to really bother him
Everyone but Lebron it seems like. Randle in the NY game and Shai love the forearm shiver. b******* move but they get rewarded for it as refs don't give the offensive foul but will call ticky tack fouls. Lebron could never do that type of play. That being said refs didn't give Shai as much as cheap fouls as they normally do. Just hate when great players do blatantly obvious stuff to create space
What went right: Played with a sense of urgency/we give a rat's rhymes with class. We got the friggin' WIN! against a good WC team. The starting lineup's length: helps me get mentally prepared for the damned C-Bags on Xmas. They bothered OKC. 16 3s on 50% shooting? Yea I'll take some of that... 52% from the field overall? Sweet! Bron and AD: livin' up to every word. D-Lo off the bench shoots over 50% for the game for the first time since Hector was a pup. Wrong: We out-rebounded OKC 44-42, but OKC got 11 offensive boards to our 8. This team: 1.) has looked terrible recently, and 2.) when they really care, they look like one of the best teams in the NBA. Now: BEAT THE DAMNED BAGS! These are always big games for us Laker fans. Especially old-timer Laker fans. I'm already nervous. Damned Bags put up 145 at Crypto tonight beating the Tenants. Let's show them DEFENSE like they haven't seen this year. Beat the Bags! Beat the Bags! BEAT DEM DAMNED BAGS!
LeBron became the second-leading Christmas scorer in NBA history during the Los Angeles Lakers' 138-115 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night. Montrezl Harrell scored 17 of his 22 points in the second half, and Dennis Schröder had 18 points and six assists in a second strong game for both new additions to the champs. Los Angeles outrebounded Dallas 53-27 and closed out its first win of the season with a dominant fourth quarter. Just in 2021 ,but yes it seems forever