The LeBron James All-NBA (2nd) and Luka Doncic - 24-25 Thread

[Ian Scuffling]

Nice double/double by Lebron. JK, didn't see the game, but the good was very good. High scoring on high efficiency. How the hell did he have 11 to's, though. Trying to make easy plays difficult (Lebron being showman Lebron) or just really having issues? Working in Luka may be more difficult than a lot of people thought. Reaves with another great game w/o Luka.

[trickshot]

It's hard to see Luka play so passive but once he's back and up to speed with his conditioning it has to be Lebron and JJ telling the roleplayers to fall in line and give him the ball even if he's shooting 1 for 40. When AD joined it was Rondo and Dudley who told the roleplayers not to get any funny ideas and to give AD the ball. From day 1 they never had Kuzma and co trying to take shots over AD.

[Mos_Heat]

Nice double/double by Lebron. JK, didn't see the game, but the good was very good. High scoring on high efficiency. How the hell did he have 11 to's, though. Trying to make easy plays difficult (Lebron being showman Lebron) or just really having issues? Working in Luka may be more difficult than a lot of people thought. Reaves with another great game w/o Luka.

Some showman stuff but also a lot of bad passes from the other guys and Blazers have good ball pressure

[trickshot]

Nice double/double by Lebron. JK, didn't see the game, but the good was very good. High scoring on high efficiency. How the hell did he have 11 to's, though. Trying to make easy plays difficult (Lebron being showman Lebron) or just really having issues? Working in Luka may be more difficult than a lot of people thought. Reaves with another great game w/o Luka.

Some showman stuff but also a lot of bad passes from the other guys and Blazers have good ball pressure

Doncic also had 6 tos in the first quarter the other night. Felt they were trying to run more on-ball, PnR-centric offense which makes sense when your best player is no longer the AD type finisher/dribble handoff guy. Lots of fumbled passes and catches till they adjust. Think Lakers are going to look really good after they fully transition to being a more Luka-centric offense.

[D.Brasco]

This is an obscene amount of points

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[TroubleS0me]

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[trickshot]

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There's nothing to see if you watch him play. Lebron can't create separation advantage at 40 and is having to rely on some really bad shot selection in the clutch, which he is competent but not natural with, not like a guy like Luka. The issue was AD was even worse at getting shots off late so clutch shooting had to fall on Lebron.

[trickshot]

Thanks to Rob Jokic will get what he wants tonight on an even worse scale but here's hoping tonight against Denver Luka and DFS will throw something different from AD, Rui and Dlo being bodied by Gordon, MPJ and co. It's really the physicality battle LA couldn't match. It's hard enough when Jokic can get whatever he wants, can't also get bullied by roleplayers. 22-24 Lakers were too slow, too lethargic and it's also why the team might soon need a lineup change to fix that.

[Ian Scuffling]

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Wish they'd give some comparisons, though. Context is always nice, too and that's the goofiest definition of clutch as well. A little luck is involved in last second shots. But, I guess facile analysis is in vogue, so what the hell.

[OhayoKD]

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Wish they'd give some comparisons, though. Context is always nice, too and that's the goofiest definition of clutch as well. A little luck is involved in last second shots. But, I guess facile analysis is in vogue, so what the hell.

Got to get creative when you're trying to tear down someone who manages this with otherwise 1-15 teammates:

1997-2013 4th quarter net-rating (source: colts 18)

]2009 Cavaliers: +39.9_
2013 Heat: +33.7
2011 Mavericks: +29.5
2007 Mavericks: +29.0
2006 Clippers: +27.1
_2010 Cavaliers: +26.4_
1998 Lakers: +26.2
1999 Magic: +25.7
_2008 Cavaliers: +24.2_
2004 Pacers: +23.4

[Kingdibs19]

Luka looks comfy. JJ finally making a concerted effort to run through him.

[Fadeaway_J]

Wonder if they can sustain all this scrambling for 48 minutes. It has Denver a bit frazzled, but we've seen good starts in this matchup before...

[Fadeaway_J]

I swear I still see all the same flaws I mentioned earlier, but this kind of shot-making has the potential to make a lot of them irrelevant. Although the big thing for me is they never came close to defending Jokic this well with the previous group.

[tone wone]

Damn. They actually blew them out. In Denver! The bane of the post 2020 Lakers. The team that, no matter what, they always found a way to lose to.

[thebigbird]

Now that’s more like it from Luka. Lebron was an absolute demon defensively. It’s just one game, but I like what I see. Ad is great but all his post ups gave Jokic the chance to rest defensively. Now he doesn’t get that.

[dcstanley]

Just one game but this was why I felt like they're more viable against Denver than they were prior to the trade and worse off against OKC.

Denver putting two on the ball whenever Luka brings Jokic on a screen is just a recipe of disaster against a team with this many playmakers and play-finishers.

[jalengreen]

DFS is a game changer man love that trade

[letskissbro]

DFS is a game changer man love that trade

He's stepped perfectly into the Danny Green role for them. He was 1-5 tonight for 3 points and I didn't even notice because he was defending so well. In the past that would've been DLo throwing up bricks while also being the worst defender on the court

[letskissbro]

It's funny to me how quickly everyone has seemingly moved on from AD lol. Is it time to address the elephant in the room yet? Lakers straight up look better without him—offensively and defensively. They were 9-2 without his replacement, and it doesn’t even feel like a fluke. They were supposed to collapse on D without him but that hasn’t happened. Their DRtg without him is actually better over this stretch and it feels sustainable. Having Vando back helps for sure, but their scrambling scheme just suits them better. Plus, transition defense improves when you’re not waiting on your rim protector to pick himself up off the floor every other play.

It’s just easier to play faster, modern basketball when you don’t have to worry about force-feeding your big man "offensive centerpiece" in the post and design your entire scheme and roster around him just for him to clog the lane so he can take a bunch of ****, contested middys from 10 feet and trip over his own feet every time he does a dribble move. "Small sample size!" Yeah but this really is just the story of AD's career. A 25/12 switchable rim protector looks good on paper but his impact doesn’t match.

The more I watch the more I'm glad they moved on from him. 2021 and 2022 were disaster seasons from him even before the injuries and I will never stop being bitter about it. Those seasons got completely tanked by his lethargic play, but somehow people were still pushing the whole "passing the torch" thing with LeBron at the next opportunity when LeBron got hurt after the trade deadline in 2023. Please.

Yeah this is never backfiring

They'd be undefeated since AD's injury if Luka didn't have literally statistically the worst 3 game stretch of his career

[LikeABosh]

Glad to see them kick the Nuggets' ass for once