The LeBron James- 23-24 NBA Playoffs & Off-Season Thread -(NO PERSONAL ATTACKS & BAITING)

[RRR3]

I wanna say that with better coaching and slightly better supporting cast AD and Bron still good to compete against the Nuggets, but at the same time they lost 10 times in a row. IDK man...Almost every game looks so close, but LAL bleeds too much on the edges

They lose because of the coaching difference. I’m not saying they beat Denver with a different coach but they win a few of those 10 games. Tonight for sure.

Can't really argue with that, but at the same time their supplementary pieces are so so limited

Sure, they’re not an ideal roster but with better coaching they wouldn’t even be playing Denver right now to begin with. I hate Pelinka and think he’s the main reason for all their problems BUT he gave Ham a good enough roster to make the a top 6 seed pretty easily assuming he gets a healthy LeBron and healthy AD almost the entire year (and Ham DID get this).

And today was a truly stunning display of incompetence. Not challenging the Murray foul call at the end should get Ham fired (it won’t). That’s a firable offense even if Ham hadn’t been awful all year (and he has been).

[Mos_Heat]

They lose because of the coaching difference. I’m not saying they beat Denver with a different coach but they win a few of those 10 games. Tonight for sure.

Can't really argue with that, but at the same time their supplementary pieces are so so limited

Sure, they’re not an ideal roster but with better coaching they wouldn’t even be playing Denver right now to begin with. I hate Pelinka and think he’s the main reason for all their problems BUT he gave Ham a good enough roster to make the a top 6 seed pretty easily assuming he gets a healthy LeBron and healthy AD almost the entire year (and Ham DID get this).

And today was a truly stunning display of incompetence. Not challenging the Murray foul call at the end should get Ham fired (it won’t). That’s a firable offense even if Ham hadn’t been awful all year (and he has been).

The fact that neither AD nor Lebron played more than 40 minutes in a must win game is trully bizarre

[RRR3]

Can't really argue with that, but at the same time their supplementary pieces are so so limited

Sure, they’re not an ideal roster but with better coaching they wouldn’t even be playing Denver right now to begin with. I hate Pelinka and think he’s the main reason for all their problems BUT he gave Ham a good enough roster to make the a top 6 seed pretty easily assuming he gets a healthy LeBron and healthy AD almost the entire year (and Ham DID get this).

And today was a truly stunning display of incompetence. Not challenging the Murray foul call at the end should get Ham fired (it won’t). That’s a firable offense even if Ham hadn’t been awful all year (and he has been).

The fact that neither AD nor Lebron played more than 40 minutes in a must win game is trully bizarre

Eh I will actually defend Ham with those minutes. He was gassed and even asked out at one point. I thought Ham managed LeBron’s minutes fairly well (he’s 39 and playing in altitude and some of the rests he got they were up big) and obviously I’m far from a Ham apologist. AD was in foul trouble as well so Ham was forced to bench him.

[letskissbro]

LeBron score 30 ppg. Anything less than 50% from the field, anything more than 4 turnovers and you had a **** game by default
LeBron put your head down and drive. You're not getting foul calls? Tough **** stop whining and jacking threes
LeBron shot 3/6 from 3? Ok, well the 3 misses were huge momentum killers
LeBron stop being passive and take over. Stop hijacking the offense and move the ball
LeBron let DLo and Reaves play point... Why does LeBron only have 8 points in the half?
LeBron box out Gordon he's getting too many offensive rebounds. Also you left MPJ open, at least try to contest
LeBron scored 12 in the 4th? Ok but how many did he score in the 3rd?
LeBron take Jokic, AD is in foul trouble
LeBron guard Murray our guards are getting torched
LeBron coach the team. Ham doesn't know what he's doing

You did all that and we still lost? Must've been playing no defense. Stop stat padding

You're tired? Tough **** this is just what all max players do. Either retire or take a pay cut so Pelinka can realize his vision, old man.

^Average Laker fan post-loss discussion on social media the last 3 seasons. I can't believe he thought it was a good idea to go to this team to play for these fans, let alone going to them in his mid 30s while they have the single most incompetent front office in the league. Bro is getting slandered because they built a roster that needs him to play like 2016 finals games 5-7 at all times just to take a game off the first contender they face.

[RRR3]

LeBron score 30 ppg. Anything less than 50% from the field, anything more than 4 turnovers and you had a **** game by default
LeBron put your head down and drive. You're not getting foul calls? Tough **** stop whining and jacking threes
LeBron shot 3/6 from 3? Ok, well the 3 misses were huge momentum killers
LeBron stop being passive and take over. Stop hijacking the offense and move the ball
LeBron let DLo and Reaves play point... Why does LeBron only have 8 points in the half?
LeBron box out Gordon he's getting too many offensive rebounds. Also you left MPJ open, at least try to contest
LeBron scored 12 in the 4th? Ok but how many did he score in the 3rd?
LeBron take Jokic, AD is in foul trouble
LeBron guard Murray our guards are getting torched
LeBron coach the team. Ham doesn't know what he's doing

You did all that and we still lost? Must've been playing no defense. Stop stat padding

You're tired? Tough **** this is just what all max players do. Either retire or take a pay cut so Pelinka can realize his vision, old man.

^Average Laker fan post-loss discussion on social media the last 3 seasons. I can't believe he thought it was a good idea to go to this team to play for these fans, let alone going to them in his mid 30s while they have the single most incompetent front office in the league. Bro is getting slandered because they built a roster that needs him to play like 2016 finals games 5-7 at all times just to take a game off the first contender they face.

Are you looking at twitter or something? Most Lakers fans I see online are positive about LeBron, it’s only the Kobe stans who still whine about him.

[letskissbro]

LeBron score 30 ppg. Anything less than 50% from the field, anything more than 4 turnovers and you had a **** game by default
LeBron put your head down and drive. You're not getting foul calls? Tough **** stop whining and jacking threes
LeBron shot 3/6 from 3? Ok, well the 3 misses were huge momentum killers
LeBron stop being passive and take over. Stop hijacking the offense and move the ball
LeBron let DLo and Reaves play point... Why does LeBron only have 8 points in the half?
LeBron box out Gordon he's getting too many offensive rebounds. Also you left MPJ open, at least try to contest
LeBron scored 12 in the 4th? Ok but how many did he score in the 3rd?
LeBron take Jokic, AD is in foul trouble
LeBron guard Murray our guards are getting torched
LeBron coach the team. Ham doesn't know what he's doing

You did all that and we still lost? Must've been playing no defense. Stop stat padding

You're tired? Tough **** this is just what all max players do. Either retire or take a pay cut so Pelinka can realize his vision, old man.

^Average Laker fan post-loss discussion on social media the last 3 seasons. I can't believe he thought it was a good idea to go to this team to play for these fans, let alone going to them in his mid 30s while they have the single most incompetent front office in the league. Bro is getting slandered because they built a roster that needs him to play like 2016 finals games 5-7 at all times just to take a game off the first contender they face.

Are you looking at twitter or something? Most Lakers fans I see online are positive about LeBron, it’s only the Kobe stans who still whine about him.

Twitter and Reddit. Seeing a lot of "We can't compete with a 39 year old, he's a 3rd option, he needs to take a pay cut" comments.

[RRR3]

Lakers fans are pretty unanimous in blaming Ham for this loss. If they’re not blaming Hams they’re blaming the refs which I understand but think isn’t the real reason they lost (although I do think the Lakers got hosed a few times but I mean refs are bad it happens). A few foolishly blame LeBron for missing that shot but most are blaming Rui amongst players. I’ve seen more AD blame than LeBron from r/lakers which I also think is silly. I did think AD failed to step up defensively late (although they were only in said position due to Ham’s stupidity) but overall he had the kind of game you would want from him in this situation and Ham stupidly went away from him on offense late which isn’t his fault as he’s not a play initiator.

I would seriously assign like 95% of the blame to Ham for this game. And Rui was really bad but like that happens. At least Rui was trying. Ham refused to try and challenge a play with the game and series on the line.

[donnieme]

What are the stats on keeping leads? because everytime I see the Lakers have a double digit lead early the game almost always ends on a "Wild finish". Ham can't manage a lead to save his life. That IST win was the worst thing that could happen. Didn't even help seeding. No one should take it serious after this year.

[RRR3]

What are the stats on keeping leads? because everytime I see the Lakers have a double digit lead early the game almost always ends on a "Wild finish". Ham can't manage a lead to save his life. That IST win was the worst thing that could happen. Didn't even help seeding. No one should take it serious after this year.

If a team adjusts after halftime and the game tightens up he panics and stops running any semblance of offense. He never has counters to halftime adjustments from other coaches.

[RRR3]

I’m also getting weirdly suspicious Ham intentionally tanks games for whatever reason (probably betting?). I know I sound insane but I can’t understand how a guy who has got so many coaching jobs could behave like this. I used to just think he was stupid but being this stupid and still getting hired? I mean it’s possible of course but I just don’t get it.

[GSP]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Yeah theyre done. Brons restraint is insane. I am just thinking one of these days these noncalls by these dumbass refs hes gonna go livid and get ejected.

[RRR3]

Refs were bad but not the main reason they lost. Do a few calls not being blown get the Lakers a W? Probably. But this is true in any close game because quite frankly NBA refs are egomaniacal crooks who almost certainly (still) bet on games. But the refs wouldn’t really be in a position to affect the outcome if Ham was able to counter Malone’s halftime adjustments. Instead he panicked and did nothing and just expected LeBron and AD to save him like he always does. Not challenging that late call on Murray is probably the worst coaching decision I can remember from Ham which is saying something.

If I thought the refs were the reason they’d lost I’d say so (I’m still furious about the reffing in g1 of the 2018 finals for instance).

[frica]

Lakers made 43% of the 3PA while Nuggets only managed 23%.
Pretty much the only way for the Lakers to keep it close. You could say they were lucky.

[IG2]

Still think this is the most disheartening loss of LeBron's career. Only other ones I can think of that compare are Game 3 of 2017 Finals and a couple of close losses against Orlando in the 2009 ECF. All 3 series' could've been very different with a bounce here and there.

[tsherkin]

The fact that Kobe is 3rd says just about everything. Jordan was arguably the GOAT as a player and then picked Kwame Brown number one overall. Just because you can play doesn't mean you're a good evaluator of talent.

It's a player poll. They're as vulnerable as anyone to nostalgia and other biases. Kobe has no business anywhere near the GOAT argument, but he was an immensely popular figure, and happened to also be a very good player at the same time. Closest thing to Mike since Mike, and the players loved his style. Many of the younger guys grew up watching him and held the same emotional connection to him as guys from my generation and before have to Jordan, so it's not a surprise. The fact that neither Russell nor Kareem (or Wilt) is on that list says everything which need be said about recency bias in that subject.

Average of an Nba player is 26yo so they wouldve been finishing up high school or in college during Kobes prime.........not surprising theyd pick him since the only Mj they were alive for was Wizards Mj. Theres also a narrative among alot of zoomer casuals that Kobe was Mj w/ a 3 ball lol

It happens to every era of players, in the end.

[RCM88x]

I think Reave's complete disappearance in this series is a big deal. He fantastic all things considered against the Nuggets last year. 21ppg on 55/56/100, this year in two games hes at 11ppg on 45/27/100. Lakers need him to start hitting shots and be their 3rd best player on offense.

As far as this game goes, it was pretty obvious what was going to happen, we've basically seen the same game 6 straight times now. This one was just a little closer in the end.

[Greatness]

Still think this is the most disheartening loss of LeBron's career. Only other ones I can think of that compare are Game 3 of 2017 Finals and a couple of close losses against Orlando in the 2009 ECF. All 3 series' could've been very different with a bounce here and there.

It's game 1 2018. LeBron broke his hand after the game punching a wall.

[zimpy27]

You can't lose that game and win a series.

Series is over

[zimpy27]

Ham has a losing strategy, he's a bad coach.

Effectively the strategy is to not fight for OREBs, instead get back and defend but don't foul. Then on offense try draw fouls.

Strategy is dumb because you give opponent more possessions.. Denver had 10 more possessions because of this strategy of not forcing TOs and not grabbing OREBs because of fear of fouling.

This strategy is a loser in the playoffs because refs like to keep fouls even anyway. Loser stuff

[Greatness]

I really thought they were going to win last night before the game and once it was 79-69 I knew for sure Denver had the game in the bag. That's how pathetic the 3rd quarter offense was, which didn't get better in the 4th (all they really made were some bailout 3s).