Optimism Discussion: The Laker's Sky Is Not Falling

Vando was HUGE tonight man.

I also love that if someone like Beasley is off, you can bring in a guy like Reaves that can bring a different flavor.

This team is DEEP and it's showing man...big test @memphis next against the cockiest team in the league...I want us to beat them on national TV as well

 

If they can win a game like this? They're as good as anybody, even the C-Bags. Beyond thrilling. The D was stellar. As I watched the first half, I got really down. Lots of anguish. Did we start 0-11 from 3? I kept hearing Chick say, "The Lakers can't throw a pea in the ocean!"

Then: they swarmed, ran, executed, blocked shots, boxed out, played D so tight I think a few Mavs might get jock itch from the chafing from a Laker player's D.

Ho-leeee jit! If they can shoot this poorly in the first half, on the road, against a #6 team...sky's the limit. I'm rapidly falling in love with all the new guys. Just: wow.

 

Coming back from down 27 on the road? The full thrill for a Laker regular season game.

Seeing Mark Cuban look like that? Priceless.

 

Oh. We. Back.

 

The fact that there’s an actual legit chance we can nab as high as the #4 seed after all we’ve been through is straight ridonkulous.

 

Every new game becomes the most entertaining game of the season... love it!

It's been night and day since the trade deadline.

 

"Entertaining" .... with the hole that we are in of course is in the eye of the beholder.

 

LOL Luka (or anyone these days) initiates the bump before the shot and then is pissed he/they/[them?] didn't get a foul called.

 

It's a clown show. Go back and look at a Shaq highlight reel from his Laker days. It was pretty damn rare a defender hit the floor. Now people just fall over and look at the ref like a puppy asking for a treat.

 

Yeah. But by the same token I see defenders all the time that are not set, prepared enough, or big enough, to absorb big strong dudes' fully intentional, fully leveraged, hard bumps ... and go flying backwards or to the floor from the simple laws of physics .... and the announcers will question their manhood and virility and state it was a flop.




.... of course sometimes they are flops, but some are just like what the hell did you expect his body to do with that momentum and contact?

 

don't make me go on another legal guarding position rant.

and the refs were right on on that play. no foul, maybe offensive on luka if anything, but they're not calling that unless they just want luka's team to lose.

i thought the refs missed a few block/charge calls in this game, committing errors on both sides (calling a charge when it was a block, vice versa). but i will concede that the ones they missed were tough calls. a lot of times, they miss easy ones, imo.

 

I have asked this question countless times over the years and don't recall it ever being really answered satisfactorily. Since an offensive player cannot continue forward into a defender properly positioned and stationary in his/hers/they's/them's/their path, and a charge is called if he/she/they/them/anything new since last week? .... do that

.... why is it legal for a player, especially a larger player than the defender, to "back down" a properly positioned defender with hard bumps, effectively going right through them, simply because their back is turned?

 

I felt the missed/wrong calls against the Lakers were pretty brutal.
-Reaves when he got pissed - I thought he wasn't fouled and was flopping a bit so I was fine with that
-However the play before between Reaves and Green looked like a clear offensive foul and led to the Mavs 3
-That lebron block on Green was on the replays looked even better lol and the lakers didn't challenge

One reason it felt like such a great win was the Lakers overcame a bad start, injuries, refs, and Dallas to win.

 

I think this team makes the play-in and a rested LeBron returns to do a Mahomes thing in the playoffs

This group has a ton of fight in them and I don't believe they're giving up for a second.

Rui will get buckets and Gabriel will back him up. Let's keep this thing going

 

Well, you control what you can control.

Team is been playing extremely well. Our ceiling is obviously much lower but this is not the last 2 years team, we have a lot of options. We need everyone to step up a notch:
AD has to play top10 level
DLo and Schroder need to score +20 every game
Lonnie will have a chance he didn't think he would get to showcase for a contract
Rui needs to elevate his game.
Reaves and Vando will do their thing. We still have Beasley, Troy and Bamba

I think with LeBron we could sneak a top6, without him I still believe we got to the play-in, we are just there.

The role players will grow and we will be stronger next year just rolling this crew with legitimate title aspirations.

Let's do it