Naz Reid killed teams last year during their playoff run. I'm surprised we didn't game plan to contain him better. Hopefully we won't make that mistake again.
When Minnesota allowed to play physical they can beat any team,they did same to Nuggets in Denver last playoff
Meh..both teams, are allowed to play physical! We chose not to. I have no idea wtf JJ and Lebron are talking about. "They surprised us with their physicality"? Do we need some kind of permission slip, to be able to respond in kind? FOH with that BS. The gameplan just sucked, and once Minnesota made an adjustment, we had zero answers, and just got our a** kicked It's lame as hell, to put up some weak a**, " physicality " excuse.
yeah, i'm here, too. the whole point of having lebron and DFS types is not to be "surprised by physicality". we just got punked. my main hope is that if we can keep the series going, minny won't play as loose as they did in the first game. they played like underdogs, and we played like a heavily favored team resting on its laurels, despite being one game apart in record and them being among the hottest teams over the last third of the season. a serious team shows up more ready than we were yesterday.
I think leaving him was more player mistakes than game plan. It really felt like some of our guys got a but spastic in "helping" which they made us pay for over and over and over and over again. Like you said, hopefully we don't make that mistake again.
I am talking about last season Minnesota series vs Denver that not a lot of people on this board were watching When Denver tried to play same way vs Ant they were called for fouls ,but yesterday vs Luka they were allowed to play more physical without calling for foul And with yesterday refferys I am sure that Lakers would be in foul trouble.
Can't judge this series by game 1 obviously, especially after an extended wait.. however, they're clearly going to struggle on defense without A.D. guarding 3/4 of the opposition.. he'd defend the 3, wings, blocks and really made up for massive holes in our defense.. come playoff time I'm afraid that will become more pronounced each game. Hoping for the best though and I know we're superior offensively, we just need every cylinder firing unfortunately. Lebron can't gas or we're cooked.
Sorry can't even get on board with any of this. Both teams are allowed to play physical? You can't honestly say you watch basketball and believe that both teams ever get to do that. But to stay on course, players who are traditionally bully style players get to do it more (randal, Ant on the attack, Bron on the attack are all examples). Physical play is one thing but blowing clear shot calls and one clear clear path (possibly flagrant) call that could of been a 5 point swing during our last push. I am not a fan of how we responded and I agree with everyone that we got punked. I just don't call watching our guys getting mugged is a weak a** excuse. Should we be able to handle it? yes. Should we have been prepared for it? yes again. Is it invalid as part of the reason we lost? no.
Looks like Lakers are the only team to lose HCA in game 1. Just didn’t play hard enough, fast enough, or with enough grit and intelligence. Vando not jumping for a ball was proof of the lack of focus and effort - that was a possession when the game was at 12 and the Lakers could have cut the lead to single digits and amped up pressure. Rui just needs to be more competitive - show some dog on D and rebounds. Bron constantly pacing himself early to conserve energy seems to rub off on others playing a little lackadaisical too.
My biggest concern with this series is the rebounding. Where’s it coming from? Luka was an our leading rebounder in game one with 8. Rui is historically a terrible rebounder. Lebron will have to do more on the boards. 5 isn’t gonna cut it.
Well, as we all know -- the Lakers have a long and storied playoff history, and losing Game 1 of a series has been a fairly common theme — even in years when they’ve gone on deep postseason runs. Years the Lakers Lost Game 1 But Still Won the Series 1985 NBA Finals vs. C Bags – Lost Game 1 in a massive blowout known as the “Memorial Day Massacre” (148–114), but rebounded to win the series in 6. 2000 Western Semis vs. Suns – Lost Game 1, then won the next 4 games. 2001 NBA Finals vs. 76ers – Lost Game 1 in OT (Allen Iverson’s iconic stepover on Tyronn Lue), then swept the next 4 games. 2002 Western Finals vs. Kings – Lost Game 1 and Game 2, but won in 7. 2004 First Round vs. Rockets – Lost Game 1, won the series in 5. 2009 lost Game 1 in the second round to Houston and still advanced. 2010 First Round vs. Thunder – Won Game 1, but it was a close series. 2020 First Round vs. Blazers – Lost Game 1 in the bubble but won 4 straight. 2020 Second Round vs. Rockets – Lost Game 1, then won 4 straight. Years the Lakers Lost Game 1 AND LOST the Series 2003 Semis vs. Spurs – Lost Game 1 and the series in 6. 2004 Finals vs. Pistons – Lost Game 1 and the series in 5. 2006 First Round vs. Suns – Lost Game 1 and the series in 7. 2007 First Round vs. Suns – Lost Game 1 and the series in 5. 2011 Second Round vs. Mavericks – Lost Game 1 and got swept. 2012 Second Round vs. Thunder – Lost Game 1 and the series in 5. 2013 First Round vs. Spurs – Lost Game 1 and got swept. 2021 First Round vs. Suns – Lost Game 1 and the series in 6. 2023 Western Conference Finals vs. Nuggets – Lost Game 1 and got swept. Pattern The Lakers have a reputation for starting series slow — especially during the Shaq/Kobe and Kobe/Pau Gasol eras. Even LeBron-led Lakers squads have dropped Game 1s and then adjusted for the win. Phil Jackson even had a running joke about not minding a Game 1 loss to get his team focused, and Bron has a somewhat similar philosophy -- "...Game 1 is usually one playoff game to get a feel for it."
Houston losing at home too. 2 and 3 seeds losing to the Wolves and Warriors. All so evenly matched. Lakers have the best 1-2 punch offensively. Thought Steph and Jimmy is good. Just not enough grit. Can they play like that game in Denver?? It takes that plus some
Tomorrow is a do-or-die game. Wolves are playing with house money. We need better efforts across the board; that goes without saying. That said, we'll still lose if LBJ is hobbled, period. We'll see.
If we can tie the series, we're still in good shape. Losing one game is nothing unusual, really, and every team in the West is good. The good thing for us is that we get a lot of rest early. The Wolves are young and apparently healthier, they would prefer to just keep playing game after game, but we'll slow them down a bit... I think we'll be OK, but it's not going to be an easy series. This could very well go 7.
Good way to humble us. We were outmatched physically, bar Conley everyone is a physical guy and we have to match that, we have the personnel. Yeah Jemison would be serviceable in this series. We can't defend like we like too. We defend in a way that the worst shooter on the other side is left open, but Minny only have shooters. Every drive we clog the paint to minimize the lack of rim protection, but I don't think it works against teams like Minny. We got to defend 1 on 1 and don't help, they are left with only Ant and Randle able to generate offense, and that's better. You take Reid, McDaniels, NAW and Conley out of the game. I'm a bit worried because JJ said mid game that it wasn't a scheme thing. I think it was and I hope too stubborn with his philosophy
