The Lebron '20 Thread (Pt. 5)

[Baski]

77 ortg in the half court against the Blazers. They will win this series, but their title run is over

I think they have a chance if they can have the best defense in the playoffs. Vogel needs to set it up so nobody slacks off at any point. Easier said than done but it's their only hope. They can do it but it's not too likely given who their 2 best defenders are.
We know they can't survive game where Lebron and AD aren't hot from the field with the defense they have now.

[Statlanta]

They'll beat Portland, but I think this game was less flukey than say the Milwaukee vs. Orlando game.

Danny Green (and Quinn Cook) is the only player to have played in the playoffs last season and now he's a brick layer. To trust this group of guys to make a deep and meaningful playoff run is a tough task to fill.

[MisterHibachi]

Just hard to believe the 4th best offense all season suddenly turned into the worst offense of all time, but that's exactly what's happened when they don't hit open shots.

They could still backdoor sweep this series, but that offense will need a massive, massive improvement to have a shot at Houston, because there's only one solution to that math problem.

[Run DLC]

The Lakers have too many unreliable shooters or one-way players. Cook, Dion, and maybe JR could help with some of the shooting, but they’re defensive liabilities and inconsistent in terms of playing within the offense(Dion and Smith).

[limbo]

No reason for LeBron to try and take over yet. This was one of those games where LeBron was testing the limits of his teammates and how up to the challenge they are.

They failed the test tonight, but hopefully this makes them realize they can't just count on LeBron to carry them for 20+ games... i rather have a wake up game like this than LeBron trying to win it solo.

[Run DLC]

We’ve seen this time and time again with a LeBron led-team. He has to approach the next game differently. He’s been an amazing playmaker given the fact that most of his teammates are unreliable outside shooters, but he’s been dreadful as a scoring option. LePassive James isn’t going to lead this team anywhere even if the shooters somehow start knocking down open shots. LeBron has to revert back to 2018 LeScorer James in order to set the tone for his teammates. Right now, all of them have zero confidence in their ability to score with the exception of Kuzma who isn’t afraid to shoot the ball. LeBron is still playing like it’s a regular season and deferring way too much. When the going gets tough, he defers to his unreliable teammates instead of being the one who sets the tone. This has always been one of his biggest flaws and always will be.

[Mos_Heat]

77 ortg in the half court against the Blazers. They will win this series, but their title run is over

I think they have a chance if they can have the best defense in the playoffs. Vogel needs to set it up so nobody slacks off at any point. Easier said than done but it's their only hope. They can do it but it's not too likely given who their 2 best defenders are.
We know they can't survive game where Lebron and AD aren't hot from the field with the defense they have now.

With this type of half court attack, you have to be all time best playoff defense and I don't see it

[Baski]

77 ortg in the half court against the Blazers. They will win this series, but their title run is over

I think they have a chance if they can have the best defense in the playoffs. Vogel needs to set it up so nobody slacks off at any point. Easier said than done but it's their only hope. They can do it but it's not too likely given who their 2 best defenders are.
We know they can't survive game where Lebron and AD aren't hot from the field with the defense they have now.

With this type of half court attack, you have to be all time best playoff defense and I don't see it

True to an extent. I do think they won't have another game as bad as this offensively though. That lowers the bar for how good defensively they have to be. They won't be 2019-2020 Raptors good, but this rag tag group of scrappers has the potential to really dig in and completely shut opponents down, especially at the rim. It'll come down to the effort of their 2 best players.

You're right in the sense that they have to leave it all on the floor especially defensively this PS if they wanna win the title. Like "lock **** up and eat the key" kinda commitment. Cos their offense won't cut it against the top teams.

[Mos_Heat]

I think they have a chance if they can have the best defense in the playoffs. Vogel needs to set it up so nobody slacks off at any point. Easier said than done but it's their only hope. They can do it but it's not too likely given who their 2 best defenders are.
We know they can't survive game where Lebron and AD aren't hot from the field with the defense they have now.

With this type of half court attack, you have to be all time best playoff defense and I don't see it

True to an extent. I do think they won't have another game as bad as this offensively though. That lowers the bar for how good defensively they have to be. They won't be 2019-2020 Raptors good, but this rag tag group of scrappers has the potential to really dig in and completely shut opponents down, especially at the rim. It'll come down to the effort of their 2 best players.

You're right in the sense that they have to leave it all on the floor especially defensively this PS if they wanna win the title. Like "lock **** up and eat the key" kinda commitment. Cos their offense won't cut it against the top teams.

Against the Blazers, yes. That's probably their worst offensive game. But against good teams they would probably be in the range of 82-90 ortg in the half court. This team has one shot creator and hilariously bad at shooting jump shots. I mean, they aren't running sets of curls and DHOs, these guys can't make stationary shots from corners

[yoyoboy]

You HAVE to win Game 2. Going down 0-2 in this series would be a nightmare and I don’t think they’d come back from it. The media and fans would be in a frenzy and you know the Lakers’ role players would be feeling the pressure. Dame will smell blood in the water. And I don’t think this LeBron can be the same “F my teammates right now, if they’re not contributing I’ll win this game by myself” type of guy he was at various points of his career like G6 in Detroit, G6 in Boston, or multiple games against the Celtics and Pacers during the 2018 run. So it's gotta be a team wide improvement. Shoot the ball better. Get McGee out. Davis stop settling for jumpers. More aggression from LeBron.

[homecourtloss]

Wide open threes:

Blazers: 3 for 6
Lakers 3 for 16

Open threes:

Blazers: 5 for 15
Lakers: 3 for 11

In the time I’ve seen SportsVU data available, I don’t think I’ve EVER seen a team held to 6 wide open threes attempted.

If you combine these stats with the fact that Lakers took almost 20 more shots, had 7 fewer turnovers, it becomes almost impossible to lose and yet they pulled it off.

[JLei]

Just hard to believe the 4th best offense all season suddenly turned into the worst offense of all time, but that's exactly what's happened when they don't hit open shots.

They could still backdoor sweep this series, but that offense will need a massive, massive improvement to have a shot at Houston, because there's only one solution to that math problem.

What made them good.

Great in transition. 25 transition attempts yesterday (tops of the playoff teams) 0.67PPP (missed a lot of layups/ wide open 3s). Should correct itself.

Great on the offensive boards. 16 putback attempts 0.56PPP. Probably a **** load of bricks on kick out 3s (which is probably one of the highest ROI shots/ feet set, catch and shoot, uncontested).

Now a lot of this is Whiteside but to be honest but honestly a lot of it was some shooting luck. As poor as they played a lot of it was they didn't make shots/ missed a lot of easy chippies. I can't imagine they don't score better throughout the series. Getting that many transition/ second chance attempts can't possibly shoot that poorly on them going forward.

The half court is kind of stagnant but they have AD/ Lebron. They can keep it simple and score enough (ISO and Post/ Pick and Roll). But if they don't suck in transition/ put backs (a lot of it is the attention drawn by AD and Lebron drives) they should be fine.

[SideshowBob]

What do you expect exactly? For him to just drive it into Whiteside and 2 guys stunting over? This drop scheme is pretty easily defeated if you make any shots.

Dude, he clearly doesn't possess the ability anymore to put consistent pressure on the defense. This is not the first time LeBron's faced a packed paint in his career. But it's the first time he's 35, slow and can't jump.

How exactly did he get 15 assists?

He's putting tons of pressure on the defense, if he couldn't score anymore they wouldn't be double teaming him and packing the paint. They just have to make shots. I agree with you he can't just bend the defense by just attacking straight into it like he could when he was young. But tbh besides the beginning of the game (which I missed) I thought Lebron played fine to good.

The shot quality the Lakers were getting out of his creation was quite good IMO (the shooters on the other hand). They make any of those paint gets unpacked, Whiteside probably gets benched and he scores more easily.

Yeah he looked mostly fine to me. He'll adjust throughout the series as he always has, and he's made due before in 12/15/16 with a broken jumper.

What is up with Davis though??? Is it a ripple effect of Vogel's poorly spaced lineups? He's at his best offensively rolling/moving weakside or with a weird craftiness with his touch inside 10ft off a mid/low face up, but this entire bubble has seen him settle into a 10-15ft jump shooter instead and that's been a recipe for disaster so far. There's little need for secondary pressure on him when that's 75% of his shot breakdown, and that just **** up the spacing further.

In August he is 15 for 86 outside of 3 ft, and 25% eFG on jumpshots.

[JLei]

Dude, he clearly doesn't possess the ability anymore to put consistent pressure on the defense. This is not the first time LeBron's faced a packed paint in his career. But it's the first time he's 35, slow and can't jump.

How exactly did he get 15 assists?

He's putting tons of pressure on the defense, if he couldn't score anymore they wouldn't be double teaming him and packing the paint. They just have to make shots. I agree with you he can't just bend the defense by just attacking straight into it like he could when he was young. But tbh besides the beginning of the game (which I missed) I thought Lebron played fine to good.

The shot quality the Lakers were getting out of his creation was quite good IMO (the shooters on the other hand). They make any of those paint gets unpacked, Whiteside probably gets benched and he scores more easily.

Yeah he looked mostly fine to me. He'll adjust throughout the series as he always has, and he's made due before in 12/15/16 with a broken jumper.

What is up with Davis though??? Is it a ripple effect of Vogel's poorly spaced lineups? He's at his best offensively rolling/moving weakside or with a weird craftiness with his touch inside 10ft off a mid/low face up, but this entire bubble has seen him settle into a 10-15ft jump shooter instead and that's been a recipe for disaster so far. There's little need for secondary pressure on him when that's 75% of his shot breakdown, and that just **** up the spacing further.

In August he is 15 for 86 outside of 3 ft, and 25% eFG on jumpshots.

They have to bench Javale (eventually).

The defense and offensive rebounding is so good with Dwight I think you can live with it for the 4-5 minutes they share together. But they need to start Kieff or Kuzma IMO.

It does mess with AD if he can't just foul hunt when Javale is on the court.

[MisterHibachi]

Dude, he clearly doesn't possess the ability anymore to put consistent pressure on the defense. This is not the first time LeBron's faced a packed paint in his career. But it's the first time he's 35, slow and can't jump.

How exactly did he get 15 assists?

He's putting tons of pressure on the defense, if he couldn't score anymore they wouldn't be double teaming him and packing the paint. They just have to make shots. I agree with you he can't just bend the defense by just attacking straight into it like he could when he was young. But tbh besides the beginning of the game (which I missed) I thought Lebron played fine to good.

The shot quality the Lakers were getting out of his creation was quite good IMO (the shooters on the other hand). They make any of those paint gets unpacked, Whiteside probably gets benched and he scores more easily.

Yeah he looked mostly fine to me. He'll adjust throughout the series as he always has, and he's made due before in 12/15/16 with a broken jumper.

What is up with Davis though??? Is it a ripple effect of Vogel's poorly spaced lineups? He's at his best offensively rolling/moving weakside or with a weird craftiness with his touch inside 10ft off a mid/low face up, but this entire bubble has seen him settle into a 10-15ft jump shooter instead and that's been a recipe for disaster so far. There's little need for secondary pressure on him when that's 75% of his shot breakdown, and that just **** up the spacing further.

In August he is 15 for 86 outside of 3 ft, and 25% eFG on jumpshots.

Elgee seems to think he's gained weight.

Read on Twitter

?s=19

[MisterHibachi]

Just hard to believe the 4th best offense all season suddenly turned into the worst offense of all time, but that's exactly what's happened when they don't hit open shots.

They could still backdoor sweep this series, but that offense will need a massive, massive improvement to have a shot at Houston, because there's only one solution to that math problem.

What made them good.

Great in transition. 25 transition attempts yesterday (tops of the playoff teams) 0.67PPP (missed a lot of layups/ wide open 3s). Should correct itself.

Great on the offensive boards. 16 putback attempts 0.56PPP. Probably a **** load of bricks on kick out 3s (which is probably one of the highest ROI shots/ feet set, catch and shoot, uncontested).

Now a lot of this is Whiteside but to be honest but honestly a lot of it was some shooting luck. As poor as they played a lot of it was they didn't make shots/ missed a lot of easy chippies. I can't imagine they don't score better throughout the series. Getting that many transition/ second chance attempts can't possibly shoot that poorly on them going forward.

The half court is kind of stagnant but they have AD/ Lebron. They can keep it simple and score enough (ISO and Post/ Pick and Roll). But if they don't suck in transition/ put backs (a lot of it is the attention drawn by AD and Lebron drives) they should be fine.

Yup it's basically about hitting shots, but they've shot terribly all bubble and both KCP and DG's confidence seems shot, and even worse, LeBron seems to have lost some confidence in DG as well when he looked him off open in the corner yesterday.

[SideshowBob]

How exactly did he get 15 assists?

He's putting tons of pressure on the defense, if he couldn't score anymore they wouldn't be double teaming him and packing the paint. They just have to make shots. I agree with you he can't just bend the defense by just attacking straight into it like he could when he was young. But tbh besides the beginning of the game (which I missed) I thought Lebron played fine to good.

The shot quality the Lakers were getting out of his creation was quite good IMO (the shooters on the other hand). They make any of those paint gets unpacked, Whiteside probably gets benched and he scores more easily.

Yeah he looked mostly fine to me. He'll adjust throughout the series as he always has, and he's made due before in 12/15/16 with a broken jumper.

What is up with Davis though??? Is it a ripple effect of Vogel's poorly spaced lineups? He's at his best offensively rolling/moving weakside or with a weird craftiness with his touch inside 10ft off a mid/low face up, but this entire bubble has seen him settle into a 10-15ft jump shooter instead and that's been a recipe for disaster so far. There's little need for secondary pressure on him when that's 75% of his shot breakdown, and that just **** up the spacing further.

In August he is 15 for 86 outside of 3 ft, and 25% eFG on jumpshots.

Elgee seems to think he's gained weight.

Read on Twitter

?s=19

Yeah that would explain settling vs explosive drives. This isn't the same dude that was playing for this team through March. Hope he sorts it out.

[Greyhound]

LeBron needs to utilize a midrange game if the Blazers are going to defend him with Trent.

LeBron kept getting the ball at the free throw line extended against Trent. He forced passes and kept driving into the shot blockers. This LeBron is all pass, long ball or drive. You need a reliable mid range game in the playoffs, particularly when you are not surrounded with shooting.

Miami LeBron would have inside pivoted, jab stepped and shot right over Trent. He might need to rediscover that, along with his floater.

Miami LeBron was a high scoring-playmaking wing. This LeBron is a mid-tier scoring point guard. The shots he gets and the spots he attacks from are very different. Mid range has been virtually nonexistent all year. He hasn't attack from the wings or out of the triple-threat with any real volume all season.

He's got a point guards shot chart.

I agree with your assessment for the most part, but the spots he found himself in late in that game made it absolutely possible.

That is why I made the comment.

I think he should have been more aggressive looking for his own offense. More then just where he is positioned now, I think he has ingested the analytical kool aid over the years (and purged the midrange stuff from his game entirely).

The threes and layups approach looks good numbers wise but the midrange is where you need to operate in the playoffs (particularly when operating in a traditional lineup with two bigs)

LeBron has been able to get away from that the past few postseasons because he was surrounded by good shooters and had a spread floor.

Be it operating out of the triple threat position in the high post, or picking and rolling into open spots from the midrange, I think it would benefit these Lakers if LeBron operated from there more.

[yoyoboy]

How exactly did he get 15 assists?

He's putting tons of pressure on the defense, if he couldn't score anymore they wouldn't be double teaming him and packing the paint. They just have to make shots. I agree with you he can't just bend the defense by just attacking straight into it like he could when he was young. But tbh besides the beginning of the game (which I missed) I thought Lebron played fine to good.

The shot quality the Lakers were getting out of his creation was quite good IMO (the shooters on the other hand). They make any of those paint gets unpacked, Whiteside probably gets benched and he scores more easily.

Yeah he looked mostly fine to me. He'll adjust throughout the series as he always has, and he's made due before in 12/15/16 with a broken jumper.

What is up with Davis though??? Is it a ripple effect of Vogel's poorly spaced lineups? He's at his best offensively rolling/moving weakside or with a weird craftiness with his touch inside 10ft off a mid/low face up, but this entire bubble has seen him settle into a 10-15ft jump shooter instead and that's been a recipe for disaster so far. There's little need for secondary pressure on him when that's 75% of his shot breakdown, and that just **** up the spacing further.

In August he is 15 for 86 outside of 3 ft, and 25% eFG on jumpshots.

Elgee seems to think he's gained weight.

Read on Twitter

?s=19

Dwight's definitely heavier than where he started the year at but I didn't notice Davis had gained weight. Looking back at the highlights from yesterday he's definitely carrying some extra pounds which makes sense since he hasn't looked as active on defense. I wonder if he intentionally gained weight knowing he'd have to play more center in the postseason.

[limbo]

RealGM is really insufferable every time LeBron loses... Even Reddit isn't this dramatic, and that's saying a lot.