LukaMagic55 wrote:Reading the GB thread, just some utterly wild, inane takes. Someone said ANT outplayed Luka. Let’s be very, very clear here…Luka was EASILY the best player on the floor. He came out, punched the T-Wolves in the mouth, built up a nice first quarter lead, then the second he went to the bench, the Lakers immediately squandered that lead he built up (which has been a reoccurring them since the trade).
Luka played fantastic. On the switches, he actually played good D on ANT…ANT just hit a couple tough, contested jumpers, which he’ll do. That wasn’t the issue. The issue was Randle, McDaniels, and Reid combining to go 13-18 from three. There’s a word for that. A couple, really. Anomalous, flukey, and my preferred, bull. Reid is a good shooter, 38%. McDaniels and Randle aren’t (33 and 34%). So all three shooting way out of their minds, all on the same night, is bull. It’s that simple. And no, it’s because they were open.
A. A lot of them were contested.
B. Teams give Randle and McDaniels open threes. There’s a reason for that. This wasn’t some new thing.
Minny won’t have that fluke shooting every game. What’s more concerning is that LeBron and Reaves were flat out terrible. Just horrendous. They have to bring something to the table.
What’s wild to me is the way Luka gets treated here and in the media. The entire Denver-LA thread was saying Jokic needs help (even though Gordon, Westbrook, and Braun played really damn well), and the Lakers-Minny thread is mostly people somehow bashing Luka when I’m not really sure what more he could have done. Scored at will, set the tone (which they blew once he sat), got guys good looks (which they missed), and played solid D.
I have complete faith in Luka to keep playing great. Don’t forget, both the Clippers and OKC won game 1 last year against the Mavs. But I’m concerned about the rest of that Lakers team showing up.
Luka was fine. He just can't win it all by himself. But he did what he was supposed to. LA just didn't get any shot to go, played bad transition defense and yeah the 3s were just going in.
Luka overall is a top 3 player in the NBA, so it's not really news he played very well. At this point it's more about what the role player can and can't hit and Bron finding his shot and see how much that injury is nagging him.
I fullly expect a win in game 2 but let's see.
“These guys have been criticized the last few years for not getting to where we’re going, but I’ve always said that the most important thing in sports is to keep trying. Let this be an example of what it means to say it’s never over.” - Jerry Sloan
