The Athletic: NBA execs around the league expect the gap between Clippers and Lakers to be significant

[Homer38]

LeBron would have been even better in the playoffs without the break ... It took several weeks for him to regain his level that he played before the break.He was complete garbage in the seeding game.

It's harder for an old player to regain his level when you have a big break.The lakers had also no HC advantage.

[Warriorfan]

Yeah that was a dumb take, that poster act's like the other teams didn't get the same time off. Just lazy excuses at this point.

Age of Lakers
Lebron 35, Green 33, Mg Gee 33, D12 34, Rondo34, Morris 31, JR Smith 35, Dudley 35
2nd oldest team in NBA. They were oldest till rockets added 38 yo Chandler.

Short season long break mattered especially with Lebron usage at point. Next year if its a full season I see a Laker fade

Lol at JR Smith and Dudley. They don't play. Morris at 31 is just fine. With the C position being distributed between AD, McGee and D12 they're only going to play limited minutes. The rest of the players who play a significant number of minutes are AD, KCP, Avery Bradley, Green, Kuzma and Caruso.. Save for LeBron and Green, there's no one whom the rest would've benefited that much especially when you look at other rosters. So yeah. Bull argument.

It benefitted Lebron that's all that was needed to win the argument. It was enough to alter LeBron's history of losing in the finals.

[Homer38]

Age of Lakers
Lebron 35, Green 33, Mg Gee 33, D12 34, Rondo34, Morris 31, JR Smith 35, Dudley 35
2nd oldest team in NBA. They were oldest till rockets added 38 yo Chandler.

Short season long break mattered especially with Lebron usage at point. Next year if its a full season I see a Laker fade

Lol at JR Smith and Dudley. They don't play. Morris at 31 is just fine. With the C position being distributed between AD, McGee and D12 they're only going to play limited minutes. The rest of the players who play a significant number of minutes are AD, KCP, Avery Bradley, Green, Kuzma and Caruso.. Save for LeBron and Green, there's no one whom the rest would've benefited that much especially when you look at other rosters. So yeah. Bull argument.

It benefitted Lebron that's all that was needed to win the argument.

It hurts LeBron in fact.He would have been even better in the playoffs if he would not have had a break and he would have kept his great rhythm he had before the break

[Warriorfan]

Lol at JR Smith and Dudley. They don't play. Morris at 31 is just fine. With the C position being distributed between AD, McGee and D12 they're only going to play limited minutes. The rest of the players who play a significant number of minutes are AD, KCP, Avery Bradley, Green, Kuzma and Caruso.. Save for LeBron and Green, there's no one whom the rest would've benefited that much especially when you look at other rosters. So yeah. Bull argument.

It benefitted Lebron that's all that was needed to win the argument.

It hurts LeBron in fact.He would have been even better in the playoffs if he would not have had a break and he would have kept his great rhythm he had before the break

You do know Lebron always took a break mid season this year he had 2

[Homer38]

It benefitted Lebron that's all that was needed to win the argument.

It hurts LeBron in fact.He would have been even better in the playoffs if he would not have had a break and he would have kept his great rhythm he had before the break

You do know Lebron always took a break mid season this year he had 2

Always?

Since 2016,he had played 76 games in 2016,74 in 2017 and 82 in 2018...He had only 3 games off before the break in 2020....This is 17 games off combined or 5 less that Kawhi had in 2019

[markjay]

Short season and long break helped veteran/old team. AD didnt miss his usual 12-15 games Lebron got a break to carry his team.

Short season and long break helped veteran/old team. AD didnt miss his usual 12-15 games Lebron got a break to carry his team.

So how come a short season and long break didn’t help a team with Kawhi (load management for leg problems), PG (recovering from offseason surgery on both shoulders), Lou Williams (33), and Pat Beverley (32)?

[markjay]

What about the break to help carry 'load management' and his uncle? They couldn't play for more than a few minutes straight. Get outta here with that crap.

One team balled out, proving that their naysayers were wrong (yet again) and the other team sucked Donkey balls proving highlighting that hot-takes and one year anomalies are just that..

Yeah that was a dumb take, that poster act's like the other teams didn't get the same time off. Just lazy excuses at this point.

Age of Lakers
Lebron 35, Green 33, Mg Gee 33, D12 34, Rondo34, Morris 31, JR Smith 35, Dudley 35
2nd oldest team in NBA. They were oldest till rockets added 38 yo Chandler.

Short season long break mattered especially with Lebron usage at point. Next year if its a full season I see a Laker fade

Great point! Without Smith, Dudley, and McGee being rested for the finals, there is no way the Lakers could have beaten Miami!!!

[Warriorfan]

Short season and long break helped veteran/old team. AD didnt miss his usual 12-15 games Lebron got a break to carry his team.

Short season and long break helped veteran/old team. AD didnt miss his usual 12-15 games Lebron got a break to carry his team.

So how come a short season and long break didn’t help a team with Kawhi (load management for leg problems), PG (recovering from offseason surgery on both shoulders), Lou Williams (33), and Pat Beverley (32)?

It did but this thread doesnt get made if Lakers dont win the title. No break 16 more games maybe Heat upset Lakers

[Homer38]

Short season and long break helped veteran/old team. AD didnt miss his usual 12-15 games Lebron got a break to carry his team.

Short season and long break helped veteran/old team. AD didnt miss his usual 12-15 games Lebron got a break to carry his team.

So how come a short season and long break didn’t help a team with Kawhi (load management for leg problems), PG (recovering from offseason surgery on both shoulders), Lou Williams (33), and Pat Beverley (32)?

It did but this thread doesnt get made if Lakers dont win the title. No break 16 more games maybe Heat upset Lakers

Ridiculous

[Woodsanity]

Short season and long break helped veteran/old team. AD didnt miss his usual 12-15 games Lebron got a break to carry his team.

Short season and long break helped veteran/old team. AD didnt miss his usual 12-15 games Lebron got a break to carry his team.

So how come a short season and long break didn’t help a team with Kawhi (load management for leg problems), PG (recovering from offseason surgery on both shoulders), Lou Williams (33), and Pat Beverley (32)?

It did but this thread doesnt get made if Lakers dont win the title. No break 16 more games maybe Heat upset Lakers

[iamworthy]

Read on Twitter

?s=21

[Jabroni Lames]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, both teams have flaws and will be active in the buyout season.

Lakers have perimeter defense issues. Also finding a starting 1 that can defend and play off LeBron/AD.

The Clippers aren’t very good inside. I don’t see Zubac, Harrell and Green getting it done. Also have only one average level passer for their position on the team, PG. They are a poor passing team at this point. I have a feeling they are going to be a heavy ISO team which becomes a lot easier to stop in the playoffs. They need a more traditional point guard that can be a playmaker for others and also hit a jumper.

So I expect both these teams to have new faces by March and this question will be a lot more clear at that time.

Read on Twitter

?s=21

Dear Kawhi, this was blatantly obvious a year ago as I said. If you need a real GM rather than the jokers you currently have, I’m available buddy. Tell Ballmer to call me.

Read on Twitter

[Maxthirty]

Clippers were the better team but they weren't about that bubble life. Not really much else to say. Lets stop pretending this was some sort of normal playoffs.

Also AD managed for the first time in maybe his entire career stay healthy throughout the playoffs as did a 35 year old Lebron. The stars aligned for the Lakers even facing the heat who are a historically weak playoff team. It will be interesting to see what happens this offseason with teams.

How mad are you right now? You sound like a bitter ex-gf.

[hoosierdaddy34]

Clippers were the better team but they weren't about that bubble life. Not really much else to say. Lets stop pretending this was some sort of normal playoffs.

Also AD managed for the first time in maybe his entire career stay healthy throughout the playoffs as did a 35 year old Lebron. The stars aligned for the Lakers even facing the heat who are a historically weak playoff team. It will be interesting to see what happens this offseason with teams.

Yeah I don’t think there is any possible way to say the Clippers were a better squad. Mental strength and toughness is a really big part of a teams makeup, and the Clippers didn’t have any. Also you had big roster issues with their interior defense being extremely exploitable which seems unconsciounable given they knew they had AD and Jokic they were going to have to get through. And as Kawhi is complaining about today, they had awful team passing and no point guard to help them get into their offense when defenses picked up in the playoffs...the whole reason I brought this post back was because I pointed these massive roster flaws a year ago. It was pure negligence by the Clipper FO to just try to sit me ignore them. At the end of the day, the Clippers weren’t the best team and it wasn’t close that they were. Regardless of playoff atmosphere they were going to be really mentally tested, have to figure how to stop an elite big man, and get buckets on a elite defense; and they proved beyond a doubt that they didn’t have the roster capable to overcome those things.

[snaquille oatmeal]

Did the long break benefit Lebron and the Lakers?
Yes, Was it an unfair situation? No because every team in the bubble had the same break.

Without the break would the Lakers win the chip?
All I know is that the week before the break started they were in a great rhythm, they were playing the best basketball of the year and they had just beaten the Bucks and the Clippers...and they had Avery Bradley in the starting lineup.

[Jedi32]

Clippers were the better team but they weren't about that bubble life. Not really much else to say. Lets stop pretending this was some sort of normal playoffs.

Also AD managed for the first time in maybe his entire career stay healthy throughout the playoffs as did a 35 year old Lebron. The stars aligned for the Lakers even facing the heat who are a historically weak playoff team. It will be interesting to see what happens this offseason with teams.

The best team in the league won. These excuses about the bubble are down right stupid. Every one had the same playing conditions. If these other teams weren't mentally tough enough to handle that then that's on them. This playoffs actually were better imo as there was no home court no fatigue from flights, just basketball. 35 year old LeBron is still the best player in this league.

[Jedi32]

Short season and long break helped veteran/old team. AD didnt miss his usual 12-15 games Lebron got a break to carry his team.

Short season and long break helped veteran/old team. AD didnt miss his usual 12-15 games Lebron got a break to carry his team.

So how come a short season and long break didn’t help a team with Kawhi (load management for leg problems), PG (recovering from offseason surgery on both shoulders), Lou Williams (33), and Pat Beverley (32)?

It did but this thread doesnt get made if Lakers dont win the title. No break 16 more games maybe Heat upset Lakers

Is this a real post or a weak troll attempt?

[Pelly24]

What about the break to help carry 'load management' and his uncle? They couldn't play for more than a few minutes straight. Get outta here with that crap.

One team balled out, proving that their naysayers were wrong (yet again) and the other team sucked Donkey balls proving highlighting that hot-takes and one year anomalies are just that..

Yeah that was a dumb take, that poster act's like the other teams didn't get the same time off. Just lazy excuses at this point.

Age of Lakers
Lebron 35, Green 33, Mg Gee 33, D12 34, Rondo34, Morris 31, JR Smith 35, Dudley 35
2nd oldest team in NBA. They were oldest till rockets added 38 yo Chandler.

Short season long break mattered especially with Lebron usage at point. Next year if its a full season I see a Laker fade

Man, expecting LeBron to fade at this point is pretty wild honestly. His stamina is possibly still the best in the league and they can improve the roster to better accommodate him and AD too. Them with more spacing and/or a decent third option is dangerous.

[Jazz9]

Short season long break mattered especially with Lebron usage at point. Next year if its a full season I see a Laker fade

LeBron James doesn’t want to hear any more about how a break in the schedule because of the coronavirus pandemic might be good for his 35-year-old body.

“It’s actually the opposite for me,” James said. “My body when we stopped playing was like ‘what the hell are you doing?’ ”

“My body was like, ‘Hey, man, what the hell is going on? It’s March 13. You’re getting ready for the playoffs. Why are you shutting down?’” James said. “I was right there turning the corner. I feel like I was on third base.”

https://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/story/2020-03-26/lakers-lebron-james-says-layoff-not-good-for-35-year-old-body

[mademan]

Lakers were the best team in the West from beginning to end. It's hilarious to think the break somehow helped them, especially with how good they were playing before and how bad they were playing at the break. Losing a starting guard wasnt really helpful either