The Lebron '20 Thread (Pt. 6)

[Greyhound]

I never want to see kawhi compared to LeBron James again.

But...but...but midrange, doesn’t need his own system, portable, midrange, mamba, Jordan warrior, cold blooded

You forgot mentally tough, Android and dog.

[Greyhound]

I hope this is a great series.

Stylistically and from a personal POV the Lakers match up far better with the Nuggets then the Clippers do.

The Lakers have three big, long, athletic bodies to throw at Jokic (in McGee, Howard and then Davis). They also have experience dealing with two high octane guards (in Lillard and Harden) already. That should prepare their perimeter defenders a bit for Murray.

I think the Lakers go back to starting the big lineup for this one:

KCP
Green
James
Davis
McGee

[loveandbeer]

I hope people appreciate how hard it is to make it to 8 straight finals a little more now. The usual people won’t, but they should. 8 straight years LeBron’s teams didn’t have any let downs leading up to the finals. They faced elimination game after elimination game. Down 3-2 in the 2018 ECF to the best defense in the NBA, he goes for 46/11/9 in game 6 and then plays all 48 minutes of game 7, going for 35/15/9. Game 7 against the pacers, he goes for 45/8/7/4.

Meanwhile, Kawhi and PG combine for 24/10/8 on 10-38 shooting and get blown out after blowing a 3-1 lead. Some players rise to the occasion, other players don’t.

So true. People think it's easy coz he's done it every year. A lot can go wrong and even one slip up can be costly. To bring it every night with such consistency is crazy.

[Heej]

This is gonna be a TOUGH series man. Lakers been living off trapping the last 2 series but the Nuggets are full of guys that can make you pay when there's a 4 on 3. Lakers are gonna have a lot of sequences where they get carved up running that lol. Almost wonder if they'll throw them a zone look or switch Jokic Murray PNR. But that means Jokic would draw an automatic double regardless. Very interested in seeing how this series goes. The stylistic matchup will be incredible

[MisterHibachi]

This is gonna be a TOUGH series man. Lakers been living off trapping the last 2 series but the Nuggets are full of guys that can make you pay when there's a 4 on 3. Lakers are gonna have a lot of sequences where they get carved up running that lol. Almost wonder if they'll throw them a zone look or switch Jokic Murray PNR. But that means Jokic would draw an automatic double regardless. Very interested in seeing how this series goes. The stylistic matchup will be incredible

One good thing about this match up is that the Lakers can use their full rotation here, and the bigs will actually be useful. Howard and AD combined are a hellish front court for any big man to face.

Idk if Vogel sticks with the small lineup or goes back to McGee in the starting line up, or maybe Dwight?

[MyUniBroDavis]

This is gonna be a TOUGH series man. Lakers been living off trapping the last 2 series but the Nuggets are full of guys that can make you pay when there's a 4 on 3. Lakers are gonna have a lot of sequences where they get carved up running that lol. Almost wonder if they'll throw them a zone look or switch Jokic Murray PNR. But that means Jokic would draw an automatic double regardless. Very interested in seeing how this series goes. The stylistic matchup will be incredible

I feel we can play them straight up, more minutes with AD at the 5 or with dwight insteD of mcgee minutes since theyre both good fuarding the post

They wont trap murray, thats not a default thing it just worked well against portland because of roster and with harden we just rotated really well and took advantage of the rockets stagnation

Im curious if/how we will attack jokic on defense, the clips didnt really

[RCM88x]

I actually think G1 of this series is more important than the last two, just to stem the tide of the Nuggets momentum. Will be interesting to see how they handle it, especially after a few days off.

Definitely think the Lakers are a better matchup than the Clippers were, but it will be interesting to see how they deal with the ball movement and energy of the Nuggets. Completely different team than Houston imo, honestly probably as different as you can get in b2b playoff series honestly.

[Heej]

This is gonna be a TOUGH series man. Lakers been living off trapping the last 2 series but the Nuggets are full of guys that can make you pay when there's a 4 on 3. Lakers are gonna have a lot of sequences where they get carved up running that lol. Almost wonder if they'll throw them a zone look or switch Jokic Murray PNR. But that means Jokic would draw an automatic double regardless. Very interested in seeing how this series goes. The stylistic matchup will be incredible

I feel we can play them straight up, more minutes with AD at the 5 or with dwight insteD of mcgee minutes since theyre both good fuarding the post

They wont trap murray, thats not a default thing it just worked well against portland because of roster and with harden we just rotated really well and took advantage of the rockets stagnation

Im curious if/how we will attack jokic on defense, the clips didnt really

Well what other coverage can you do vs their pnr that's not trap/show/hedge or switch. You're definitely not gonna play drop coverage because both Murray and Jokic can kill that with shooting. If you hard show or hedge you're still giving Jokic free reign to pop out to 3 and then attack the scrambling big man's closeout, if you trap he's just gonna kill you with the 4 on 3, if you switch he's just gonna kill that switch.

Jokic is the future of basketball. The 1-5 pnr is the one sacred PNR tandem that teams don't automatically want to kill by switching. This is the good stuff that gets teams in rotation, but you need a 5 who can both shoot and put the ball on the deck so that the other permutations of PNR schemes get countered and you essentially assure 2 on the ball every trip down the floor

[thebigbird]

I’m just glad I don’t have to watch Pat Bev bark on my screen all series.

[homecourtloss]

Kawhi wore down this post season, Warriors broke down this year. Lebron having all these deep playoff runs is really insane. Such a toll he’s taken that pretty much no other player can handle.

I hope people appreciate how hard it is to make it to 8 straight finals a little more now. The usual people won’t, but they should. 8 straight years LeBron’s teams didn’t have any let downs leading up to the finals. They faced elimination game after elimination game. Down 3-2 in the 2018 ECF to the best defense in the NBA, he goes for 46/11/9 in game 6 and then plays all 48 minutes of game 7, going for 35/15/9. Game 7 against the pacers, he goes for 45/8/7/4.

Meanwhile, Kawhi and PG combine for 24/10/8 on 10-38 shooting and get blown out after blowing a 3-1 lead. Some players rise to the occasion, other players don’t.

ThE eAsT iS AwFuL

Remember 2018? After their early dominance, the Sixers were favored to come out of the east. They faltered. Raps were a 59 win, 7+ SRS team and were big favorites to best the Cavs but lost 4-0. Bucks were big favorites this year, Clippers were big favorites against the Nuggets....IT’S damn difficult to win playoff series over and over and over again.

Everyone gives the Bulls the benefit of the doubt and say they were running on fumes at the end of 1993 and 1998, Jackson talked about it, Kerr talked about it. Kerr talked about how the Warriors were running on fumes.

NOBODY ever gives that same leniency to James who made 8 straight finals. No running on fumes excuses, etc.

I hope now people who SHOULD HAVE seen before and known before can give that same type of appreciation to what James has done an contiues to do. The game was so different in 2007 and 2011 to what it is today and yet he continues to win.

[MisterHibachi]

I'm kinda worried about going against Millsap though. Still scared from that Utah game in 2011.

[mademan]

Kawhi needs another title to validate the first 2. As of now, he has a role player title and another on a 60 win team (without him) against an injured finals opponent. It's not gonna age well if he doesnt win again

[nzahir]

I'm kinda worried about going against Millsap though. Still scared from that Utah game in 2011.

Don’t remind me please

[PaulieWal]

Kawhi needs another title to validate the first 2. As of now, he has a role player title and another on a 60 win team (without him) against an injured finals opponent. It's not gonna age well if he doesnt win again

I don't know if he will win again and as fun as these reactions have been to see LAC get knocked out in this fashion, the dude is still only 29 and with a solid team he's going to be a contender for the next few years. I don't know if he will win again but as long as he keeps on showing up in the playoffs he doesn't need to validate anything IMO.

[trex_8063]

Are we rooting for Miami or Celtics to make the finals in case we make it?

Boston for me. My mates a Boston fan and massive lebron hater so would be a lovely f u to him.

This statement works only on the premise that the Lakers beating Boston [and Denver, for that matter] is a foregone conclusion. Maybe I'm just being superstitious, but I think people in this thread need to dial it back a notch [to something of a merely hopeful "let's see what happens" approach]. If things don't go your [royal "your"] way, there's going to be a lot of crow to eat.

[Freighttrain]

If we've learned anything from that Clips Denver matchup, it's to never underestimate your opponent and look ahead. Denver is not the same team as they were in the regular season. Jokic & Murray have gone up a level (or two). However, AD's confidence is probably also the highest it has been all year long, our role players have shown they can rise to the occasion and LeBron is LeBron. He'll never let his guard down because he's chasing history. The key will be if AD can contain Jokic in a 1v1 matchup, because sending the double is obviously playing in their hand, and we know how great Jokic is playing from the post in the double. If AD can't limit Jokic to where there needs to be a 2nd defender, the Lakers are going to have issues and I can see this going 6 or 7 as well. If not, I'd say we could wrap this up in 5. Sidenote, if you asked me before the playoffs which team I'd find the least threatening I probably would've said the Nuggets out of all the opponents we've had thus far. Right now they are looking like the toughest. Weird how things can play out.

Also, don't ever question the throne.

[nzahir]

Are we rooting for Miami or Celtics to make the finals in case we make it?

Boston for me. My mates a Boston fan and massive lebron hater so would be a lovely f u to him.

This statement works only on the premise that the Lakers beating Boston [and Denver, for that matter] is a foregone conclusion. Maybe I'm just being superstitious, but I think people in this thread need to dial it back a notch [to something of a merely hopeful "let's see what happens" approach]. If things don't go your [royal "your"] way, there's going to be a lot of crow to eat.

I agree, which is why I said in case we make it

I don't want to be humbled hardly like Clipper fans were

It isn't over yet, we need to perform to even make the finals 1st

But I did want to see people's thoughts just to see who I should somewhat root for in the East

[poopdamoop]

Kawhi needs another title to validate the first 2. As of now, he has a role player title and another on a 60 win team (without him) against an injured finals opponent. It's not gonna age well if he doesnt win again

I don't know if he will win again and as fun as these reactions have been to see LAC get knocked out in this fashion, the dude is still only 29 and with a solid team he's going to be a contender for the next few years. I don't know if he will win again but as long as he keeps on showing up in the playoffs he doesn't need to validate anything IMO.

Agreed that Kawhi isn't just going to disappear, but I wouldn't bet on his body holding up for too many more seasons. He didn't look right physicially in Game 7, and given his knee condition it wouldn't surprise me to see a significant decline in his early 30s. Clips may only have a couple more years to do something.

[trex_8063]

Boston for me. My mates a Boston fan and massive lebron hater so would be a lovely f u to him.

This statement works only on the premise that the Lakers beating Boston [and Denver, for that matter] is a foregone conclusion. Maybe I'm just being superstitious, but I think people in this thread need to dial it back a notch [to something of a merely hopeful "let's see what happens" approach]. If things don't go your [royal "your"] way, there's going to be a lot of crow to eat.

I agree, which is why I said in case we make it

I don't want to be humbled hardly like Clipper fans were

Sure, I think you were appropriately cautious/humble.
My comment wasn't directed at you, but at Dupp (and a few others who are being [imo] a little zealous in their praise of Lebron and the Lakers).

[LikeABosh]

I'm kinda worried about going against Millsap though. Still scared from that Utah game in 2011.

And don't forget that terrible Cavs vs Hawks game where they blew a 26 point lead. 5 points in the last 8 seconds