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

[parsnips33]

Next three games are Wolves Clippers Clippers

Let's go team

[trickshot]

The interesting thing is Luka has 8 assists to Lebron in the last 2 games but they haven't even actually started to run a true 2 man game. The assists right now are coming organically from vanilla 5 man offense.

[parsnips33]

Feel like the solution to LA’s offense is quite simple. It is to muck up the early possession offense and then just live with Luka post ups and jumpers. TBH the best defense against them is when you do NOT send help at all costs. Same with LeBron. It’s actually the LeBron playbook Popovich used.

Now that requires two wings who can actually stay with them, but teams like Boston, OKC, etc have that. Luka’s scoring isn’t at the highest level right now. That’s what you need to target. Force him to take 30 shots and 15 pull up jumpers and keep everyone else out of rhythm.

That only looks like it would work in theory because Luka is currently out of shape. This is a player that averaged 34ppg on 62% true shooting last season getting constantly double teamed. Luka can and will score 40+ on good efficiency easily against no help.

Sending no help against the scoring champion isn't exactly a good strategy. He can just bum hunt until he gets the right matchup.

Honestly still probably better than sending too many doubles. Guys that tall with that passing skill can just punish defenses so bad, there's no really good option

[O_6]

The interesting thing is Luka has 8 assists to Lebron in the last 2 games but they haven't even actually started to run a true 2 man game. The assists right now are coming organically from vanilla 5 man offense.

Yep, it's been eye-opening to see Luka feed LeBron for so many easy points so far. 8 assists from Luka to LeBron in the past 2 games where they shared a combined 43 minutes and 91 possessions on the court according to PbPStats.com... That's a crazy rate so I wanted to see how it compared to how often Luka connected with Kyrie for an assist.

Luka Assists to Specific Player (since 2023)
LeBron: 12 assists in 223 possessions -- 5.38 assisted FGs per 100
Kyrie: 134 assists in 4628 possessions -- 2.90 assisted FGs per 100

I know it's early and an extremely small sample size, but Luka is finding LeBron for easy looks at a far greater rate than he did for Kyrie. And like donnieme posted in the quoted comment, the scary thing is that these assists seem to be coming organically and not because of them forcing the two-man game. A lot of it is simply LeBron outworking the other team with running the floor and creating space with positioning near the rim, with Luka having the skill to reward that effort with dimes.

I'm sure Luka won't be averaging 5+ assists per 100 possessions specifically to LeBron, but the way they are already so comfortable with Luka being the dominant ball-handler is impressive. LeBron might not be the pure off-ball shooting threat a guy like Kyrie is, but his offensive versatility gives Luka more ways to get him the ball in effective spots and the potential chemistry between them looks unreal.

Here's a look at some other QBs that LeBron has been the WR for...

Anthony Davis Assists to Specific Player (since 2023)
LeBron: 138 assists in 7324 possessions -- 1.88 assisted FGs per 100

Kyrie Irving Assists to Specific Player (2015-2017)
LeBron: 202 assists in 9680 possessions -- 2.09 assisted FGs per 100

Russell Westbrook Assists to Specific Player (2022-2023)
LeBron: 172 assists in 4430 possessions -- 3.88 assisted FGs per 100

Kyrie is a very good player but not exactly a pure PG. They still linked up a couple of times per game but you would expect a little more assists to LeBron considering their chemistry. Davis averaging a similar amount of assists to LeBron as Kyrie did is interesting. LeBron making a cut and AD finding him is something we saw a lot of during their partnership, but at the same time AD is simply limited as a passer so it's not like he could consistently feed LeBron.

Westbrook is probably the guy who has done the best job feeding him among his teammates. He had his problems as a shooter with AD/LeBron, but LeBron thrived as a scorer next to Westbrook. I think LeBron will thrive as a scorer next to Luka. Once Luka starts hitting his outside shots and they actually start developing a real two-man game, we could see some amazing offense.

[Ian Scuffling]

Great work, O_6. Some good stuff. Lebron can, and has played off ball many times in his career. However, never with a player of Doncic's caliber. This will be fun to watch.

[Mos_Heat]

Why is Knecht in the rotation still

[jalengreen]

Luka bro how is that the one shot you make

[IG2]

3rd straight game where they can't make an open 3 to save their life. Sole reason why these games are competitive.

[IG2]

LeBron definitely hurt his hammy late in the game and was moving gingerly after it. Let's see if he plays tomorrow.

[jalengreen]

24.87 PPG for LeBron and trending up

I really hope he can get to and maintain 25 to extend his streak. If so, he’d be at 21 consecutive seasons with 25+ PPG. Only 6 other players in the history of the league have played 21 seasons at all.

[zimpy27]

24.87 PPG for LeBron and trending up

I really hope he can get to and maintain 25 to extend his streak. If so, he’d be at 21 consecutive seasons with 25+ PPG. Only 6 other players in the history of the league have played 21 seasons at all.

If he scores 32 points in his next game then he's at 25ppg for the season.

Seems highly unlikely that he doesn't hit above 25ppg this season.

[ShaqAttac]

how long rui out. is d cooked

[trickshot]

Timing of Laker games suck a** so bad for international fans. It's in that one inconvenient slot that's not great for either night owls or early birds.

[Ian Scuffling]

Man, the old man is still so good. Amazing. Luka, other than shooting the ball, is playing like Luka. The shooting will come around, though, so no worries, there. Not sure how this team translates to the playoffs, but this is a very, very good regular season team.

[Ainosterhaspie]

24.87 PPG for LeBron and trending up

I really hope he can get to and maintain 25 to extend his streak. If so, he’d be at 21 consecutive seasons with 25+ PPG. Only 6 other players in the history of the league have played 21 seasons at all.

If he scores 32 points in his next game then he's at 25ppg for the season.

Seems highly unlikely that he doesn't hit above 25ppg this season.

I'm not sure that's right. He has 1285 right now. 1300 would be 25 ppg, so he's 15 points shy of that. Would need 40 to hit the mark in next game.

[thebigbird]

Timing of Laker games suck a** so bad for international fans. It's in that one inconvenient slot that's not great for either night owls or early birds.

Sucks for us Americans on the East coast too. 10:30 pm scheduled tipoff, which usually ends up closer to 11:00 pm. It’s midnight by halftime. I can swing it on weekends but it’s tough on weekdays.

[parsnips33]

Thank you LeBron for carrying LuKevin Love

Also you guys got Ant suspended another game? I could get used to rooting for the Lakers (for the next two games only)

[thebigbird]

Less than a minute in SAS blames LeBron for “ruining” the dunk contest. Dude is too stupid to realize that he 100% proved LeBron’s point in this 5 minutes of slop.

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=LoczziaTWuqlhvyvHGT92A

[trickshot]

Less than a minute in SAS blames LeBron for “ruining” the dunk contest. Dude is too stupid to realize that he 100% proved LeBron’s point in this 5 minutes of slop.

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=LoczziaTWuqlhvyvHGT92A

Not watching a sec of that. Lebron said he didn't do it because he wasn't a creative dunker. Even his dunk highlights is mostly tomahawk slams. Literally no one but motormouth king of casuals over here is pressed about him not doing it.

[parsnips33]

Obviously LeBron would have dominated the dunk contest if he was in it in his prime