Whiteside blocks Lebron and then Lillard hits a halfcourt 3.
Jesus
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Whiteside blocks Lebron and then Lillard hits a halfcourt 3.
Jesus
Portland can't miss. Melo, Dame, Trent Jr, all hitting from deep
I say that and then Dame airballs lol
Lakers defense being stretched to snapping point by Dame's range is understandable
But why they just completely abandon the left side of the court and let Dame walk into the paint is beyond me
That's just unacceptable.
What a great night of Basketball.
ANTHONY DAVIS: Be careful what you wish for. LeBron James can be the greatest teammate you could ever have. Great passer of the basketball ... but also of blame. Remember, the "GOAT" always needs a playoff scapegoat.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) August 19, 2020
Both 1st drop game one. I don't that's ever happened.
Kuzma airballs and Portland takes game 1 over LA.
That's the second time the 1st seed has lost to the 8th seed today alone
BIGGEST BLAZER SHOTS: MELO AND GARY TRENT JR. BIGGEST LAKER GAGS: LEBRON AND AD EACH MISSED TWO FREE THROWS.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) August 19, 2020
Those future draft picks might work out nicely after all.
Lebron with 23/17/15, first 20/15/15 game in NBA playoff history. In a loss.
Reminds me of when he had 51 in a loss in the finals a few years ago.
AD shot 8/24 tonight. 0/5 from 3. Just not good enough, frankly. He's settling so much for outside jumpers it completely removes his strengths.
Kuzma 5/14 and Caruso 1/6 as hype meets reality
Uhhhhh pic.twitter.com/804W2JSfQP
— Half Court Hoops (@HalfCourtHoops) August 19, 2020
Look at AD just parked up at 25 feet the entire possession lol
Assists for the Lakers:
— Cranjis McBasketball (@Tim_NBA) August 19, 2020
16: LeBron
3: Caruso
1: Davis, KCP, Howard
0: Everyone else
That's insane. Just no playmaking whatsoever outside of LeBron.
Since seeding began in the playoffs in 1983-84, the only other season where both 1 seeds lost their respective opening games is 2002-03 (Pistons, Spurs).
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) August 19, 2020
The Pistons and Spurs went on to win their 1st-round series, with the Spurs eventually winning the NBA Finals pic.twitter.com/52EsuaPI6p
They are losing their minds already.
https://forums.lakersground.net/view...902&start=1475
AD watching Dame drill shots from 36 feet wishing Jrue was there to save him rn
Favorite Laker fan quote... “Dame is the only one really honoring Kobe’s legacy.”
Hoping to watch AD fail is why I am still watching these playoffs.
Shamit posted on Twitter that, whatever you want to say about the Pelicans, we constantly pushed AD out of his comfort zone and he improved because of it. In LA they've done nothing but enable his worst tendencies, and that's going to bite them in the playoffs.
He hates playing centre. In New Orleans, he spent 96% of his final season here as a centre anyway, and was 50/50 the year before. In LA, he only spends 40% of his time at the 5: they literally ensured they had enough legit Cs that AD wouldn't even have to play centre with the backups regularly.
In his last 4 years in NOLA, his at-rim frequency was going up basically every year: 29%, 28%, 36%, 37%. Clear increases. This is good. Somehow, AD goes to LA with Lebron, one of the best layup passers of all time, and his at-rim frequency drops for the first time since 2016-17 to 34%. And his percentage of shots between 10 and 20 feet have gone up, despite his accuracy going down on those shots. Lakers don't mind him doing it. In fact, they like him doing it even though it's not his strength cause it lets them use him as a spacer which is Lebron's style.
Lowest REB% of his career in LA. Highest TOV% of his career despite his AST% dropping by 4% this year; mostly because those passing developments he was being asked to make in NOLA? Yeah, he doesn't really get asked to make them in LA.
Highest 3pt attempt rate of his career despite him shooting his worst since 2016 from the arc this year. Worst 2pt %age since 2016 too. His TS% is up because he's shooting his career high from the FT line, which has nothing to do with how they're using him in actual sets and actions.
He's still been really good because he's a fantastic player and his talent takes him a long way, but the growth he was making year on year has absolutely halted this season, and in some ways he's even regressed.
It's kind of absurd. And I'm not just talking about this one playoff game, it's been his whole year.
I think it's been proven time and time again that LA stunts players while New Orleans has been doing a great job developing them. Hopefully we continue to do that with the new coach (since we may keep a lot of our support staff).
I didn't watch a second of any nba playoff game except this one and i loved every second of it... Just felt so good to see Portland take it to those dudes after the way A.D left with all the bitterness.
AD to Phx to re-up with Minty, and he won’t have to play center as Ayton is there. Speak it into existence.
I think people(not here) are jumping on the " Laker will lose to Portland " a bit too prematurely. Laker was collectively horrible, but if playoff AD shows up. They win that game. Granted, Blazer didn't come out so hot either. It will still take a lot for the Blazer to beat them 3 more times. Luckily, there is no home court to suck the energy out of Portland.
im betting on portland to beat the lakers because portland has the bigs to match up with the lakers bigs.....portland can get physical with AD if he decides to play in the paint.....on a good night the lakers should get 75-80pts from lebron-AD-kuzma but have to find the help to get 35pts from others to outscore portland......i think dame will get his 30 but also believe his supporting cast will step up.......portland is the hot team but fatigue may set in by playing these hard and physical games and the lakers may pull close games out but im banking on portland to rise up and take the series without the crowd hyping up the lakers....
this a weird playoff season and something wild is going to happen so im betting on an 8th to beat a 1 seed....is it personal to want the lakers to fall in the 1st round? yes lol....
I don't imagine AD going up against Nurkic, Collins, and Whiteside for a whole series. Seems like it would be a good strategy to make this tough on AD and cause mistakes and turnovers with double teams and physical play. Always worked against us.
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Thanks for this! It adds context to what i have seen from him. I feel like he has hit a plateau. I think he will get past it (maybe not this season), but he isn't as assertive this season. Like you said above, he is so talented that he is an elite player no matter what, but he is not the man right now.
Levert mad struggling with the double team.
Allen is a bit soft in the paint, but he us having a solid game.
This whole trying to stay +5 against the Raptors reminds us of our season opener. The 4th QTR is going to be exciting.
Nets put up a valiant effort against the Raptors but Toronto’s talent proves to be too much for the Nets to overcome in the 4th quarter of this series.
I agree, I still think LA takes the series, but the reality is given the fact that Portland has the worst defense in the playoffs, all of their wings are out, and they're bound to be tired given how hard they had to gun the playing, LA should walk this.
The fact that it will probably go 6 games is a bad sign for them later in the postseason.
Raptors reminds me of those old school Spurs and Memphis teams where they just grind out a sneaky win in the 4th.
You ain’t stoping Norman Powell froming laying down the law. Lol
I have to say that I’m very impressed with what Vaughn was able to do with this squad in the series.
What I would give to get Spider Mitchell on this team. Pair him up with Zion/Ingram and it would be a wonderful thing.
Given all the desire to trade Jrue for LeVert, I feel like there's this urge to just make this team a collection of the most talented poor decision makers in the NBA.
LeVert
Mitchell
Ingram
Zion
...someone suggested Whiteside in another thread lol
Just a ton of talent who always seem to make a boneheaded move
Mitchel is an amazing young talent. It’s doubtful that Utah moves on from him, but if they did, you have to make that phone call.
Given this teams history a 2nd round exit would be like an oasis in the desert. We seriously root for a crappy franchise. We are like a step above the Bobcats.
I noticed a lot of people finally giving Jrue and Rondo to some undeserved extent credit for the Portland sweep.
Rondo's passing was spectacular in that series like he spent a year in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and just watched film lol
Heck, if we’re being honest I’ll settle for Joe Ingles.
Playoff Rondo was a real one.
I think of that group Mitchell has made the biggest stride as a playmaker actually, he's consistently made reads in the PNR/out of double teams in this series I didn't think he was capable of (seriously, did you see him just relocate out of the double and throw that cross court skip pass for the corner 3 last quarter? Dude is evolving :hihi:). And you probably didn't mean this but I don't think Zion's a poor decision maker. Honestly if his handle didn't regress from college to this season like it did and he was given the keys to the offense people would be shocked at how good of a passer he is. Probably the best decision maker of the group tbh.