2025 NBA PLAYOFFS West First Round: #3 LA Lakers vs #6 Minnesota Timberwolves (MIN leads 1-0)

[blueberrysticky]

Luka with 1 assist and 5 TO, lack of P&R partner will make him a pure scorer, not good...

Unfortunate, I thought the mavs team with grimes/naji additions would fit so well around Luka. Lively was entering his 2nd year and still have gafford. Nico *sigh

[Marvin Martian]

I thought Vanderbilt and Finney smith were the defenders they needed. Maybe play rui off the bench.

Yeah vando and Doe are probably gonna be featured a lot more.

But we have glaring holes that wont be adressed until off season.

We got Luka now we have to build around him.

Lebron needs to take a team friendly deal to help the team. He's gonna be 41 next season and his play is only gonna get worse.

One of the hardest things in life is admitting you're getting old and can't do what you used to do. I can imagine it being very hard for a competitor like LeBron to accept.

I don't think the NBA would allow Bron to take a team friendly deal. It would be unfair

[shrink]

Finch is a serious coach, with a less-than-serious star.

[Revived]

I guess the question here isn't if the Lakers have the ability to turn this around and win the series, do they have the energy/legs to grind it out with them for 7 games. It seems like every year they look more and more drained and worn out. there is not an easy 1st round opponent...not sure if there even is one for anyone thats not the Thunder.

Where are the bench points going to come from for the Lakers?

If they had a sensibly built with some depth (defensive starters), they would have Reaves and Rui off bench to give them what Naz/Donte and NAW gives us.

Who would start over Reaves and Rui?

[Sharkboy242]

This should be a cake walk for the Lakers

Hey.

[MrPainfulTruth]

Who will be the scapegoat, Luka or Reaves?

[ReggiesKnicks]

Yeah vando and Doe are probably gonna be featured a lot more.

But we have glaring holes that wont be adressed until off season.

We got Luka now we have to build around him.

Lebron needs to take a team friendly deal to help the team. He's gonna be 41 next season and his play is only gonna get worse.

What exactly does LeBron owe the Lakers?

Why does he need to take a team friendly deal?

Does every player need to take a team friendly deal then? Should Luka extend for less than the Max to help the Lakers?

Well if he wants the best chance to win a chip he'll take a team friendly deal. He's said he'll do it himself. Dude has 2 years tops left. He probably wants it to be contending years.

If he wanted the best chance to win a championship above all else he already would have taken a paycut. He hasn't done that though, because when LeBron came to LAL it became quite clear LeBron cared about winning as much as anyone but also had a life he cared about outside of basketball, notably as a businessman and a family man.

All these assumptions you make don't really make sense given what we have seen from LeBron the last 15 years, but maybe you know something we don't?

[HotRocks34]

Redick has some tough decisions to make.

You may need to bench some guys to get more energy and defense.

I'd honestly bench AR for Gabe. Nightmare matchup for AR this series.

Basically what I was also thinking.

AR may need to play less this series. Same for Hayes (which JJ already knows).

[Dennis Reynolds]

Ant has outplayed Luka, LeBron and Reaves combined, amazing game by him, and if he keeps it up, amazing growth since last year.

Huh? He's 8-19 for 22 points. Luka has 37.

Ant 22/8/9 with 1 TO. Luka empty stat tonight.

You can make a case Edwards was better but Doncic's stats definitely weren't empty. I'm not even a fan of the guy but the only time the Lakers looked like they belonged was when Doncic was dominating at the start of the game.

[life_saver]

Luka + Lebron = 4 assists...Ant with 9 assists...don't think a single person expected this pre-game

[Diop]

Yeah vando and Doe are probably gonna be featured a lot more.

But we have glaring holes that wont be adressed until off season.

We got Luka now we have to build around him.

Lebron needs to take a team friendly deal to help the team. He's gonna be 41 next season and his play is only gonna get worse.

One of the hardest things in life is admitting you're getting old and can't do what you used to do. I can imagine it being very hard for a competitor like LeBron to accept.

I don't think the NBA would allow Bron to take a team friendly deal. It would be unfair

Like Malone and Payton did back in the day?

Of course he can

[Patches Perry]

The Luka trade is kind of tragic in the sense that Dallas was built perfectly around him. I thought they mortgaged way too much of their future to do it and obviously losing Brunson was a fumble, but they made the finals last season so you can't complain too much (until he traded Luka).

Luka misses the Lively/Gafford lob threat. The lob threat pulling defenses in, and shooters pulling defenses out, is the perfect scenario for Luka to orchestrate the offense.

[Shaka_Zulu]

Twolves small lineup is better than Lakers small lineup

That's because usually when we use our small ball 5, we heavily sacrifice our defence cuz Randle and Naz are cones as inside defenders (as Mavs showed last year with elite rim running lob threats and Kyrie slashing).


But it didn't matter, because Lakers small ball 5 aka their starters are alot worse defensively then our worst defensive 5?

[ball_takes23]

Luka - 37 points, 1 assist. That's the way to beat a Luka team, eventually his legs will get tired and shooting will drop off.

[Revived]

Luka misses the Lively/Gafford lob threat. The lob threat pulling defenses in, and shooters pulling defenses out, is the perfect scenario for Luka to orchestrate the offense.

How does Hayes/Len compare to Lively/Gafford? How big of a drop off is it really?

[Tracymcgoaty]

What exactly does LeBron owe the Lakers?

Why does he need to take a team friendly deal?

Does every player need to take a team friendly deal then? Should Luka extend for less than the Max to help the Lakers?

Well if he wants the best chance to win a chip he'll take a team friendly deal. He's said he'll do it himself. Dude has 2 years tops left. He probably wants it to be contending years.

If he wanted the best chance to win a championship above all else he already would have taken a paycut. He hasn't done that though, because when LeBron came to LAL it became quite clear LeBron cared about winning as much as anyone but also had a life he cared about outside of basketball, notably as a businessman and a family man.

All these assumptions you make don't really make sense given what we have seen from LeBron the last 15 years, but maybe you know something we don't?

No i dont really know anything lol. Im hoping he will do it to help the team.

[azcatz11]

The Luka trade is kind of tragic in the sense that Dallas was built perfectly around him. I thought they mortgaged way too much of their future to do it and obviously losing Brunson was a fumble, but they made the finals last season so you can't complain too much (until he traded Luka).

Luka misses the Lively/Gafford lob threat. The lob threat pulling defenses in, and shooters pulling defenses out, is the perfect scenario for Luka to orchestrate the offense.

Hayes is just awful. And he doesn’t even have great hands nor soft hands. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s out of the league in 5 years he’s that worthless

[Revived]

One of the hardest things in life is admitting you're getting old and can't do what you used to do. I can imagine it being very hard for a competitor like LeBron to accept.

I don't think the NBA would allow Bron to take a team friendly deal. It would be unfair

Like Malone and Payton did back in the day?

Of course he can

Malone and Payton are not LeBron James. Check and see if Kobe ever took team friendly deals.

[Chuck Everett]

Luka misses the Lively/Gafford lob threat. The lob threat pulling defenses in, and shooters pulling defenses out, is the perfect scenario for Luka to orchestrate the offense.

How does Hayes/Len compare to Lively/Gafford? How big of a drop off is it really?

Massive. Len sucks and probably should get no playing time. Hayes is a homeless man's version of either Lively or Gafford.

[Patches Perry]

Luka misses the Lively/Gafford lob threat. The lob threat pulling defenses in, and shooters pulling defenses out, is the perfect scenario for Luka to orchestrate the offense.

How does Hayes/Len compare to Lively/Gafford? How big of a drop off is it really?

Huge IMO.