the Lakers with LeBron at Center…

Lost Angel · Post #1 » by **Lost Angel** » Sat Jan 8, 2022 12:05 pm

are 5-0 with a +14 differential. Averaging 127 point per game during this period.

If they beat Memphis on Sunday, then what is the view of this team going forward?

timO · Post #2 » by **timO** » Sat Jan 8, 2022 12:13 pm

5 lottery teams btw

Egg Nog · Post #3 » by **Egg Nog** » Sat Jan 8, 2022 12:23 pm

32pts/9ast/8reb/3blk/4stl AKA just another night at the office...

Last time he averaged this many points per game the Cavs were the only team he had played for.

Averaging a career high in blocks.

Truly remarkable.

I don't see the Lakers going far unless they're at full strength but LBJ at C has been a good adjustment.

Up-And-Coming · Post #4 » by **Up-And-Coming** » Sat Jan 8, 2022 12:29 pm

Lebron at center has been a great revelation & they've been starting to figure out how to play quick/pesky small-ball defense.

Warriorfan · Post #5 » by **Warriorfan** » Sat Jan 8, 2022 12:52 pm

Will Lebron wear down playing bigger players. Is one BLK a game enough rim protection with all the older players.

Lost Angel · Post #6 » by **Lost Angel** » Sat Jan 8, 2022 1:09 pm

timO wrote:5 lottery teams btw

good point. looks like out of the next 5 games, 3 are playoff teams in the West. Will be a good barometer.

Pythagoras · Post #7 » by **Pythagoras** » Sat Jan 8, 2022 1:16 pm

Moving Lebron to C has helped, but adding Stanley Johnson and moving Monk to the starting lineup have also both been positive adjustments as well. AD will be back soon and Lebron won’t have to play quite as many minutes at C, but honestly, I’d rather he play C all game than see the corpse of Jordan out there. Vogel basically flushed the first quarter of this season with that moronic experiment.

Pythagoras · Post #8 » by **Pythagoras** » Sat Jan 8, 2022 1:18 pm

Lost Angel wrote:
timO wrote:5 lottery teams btw

good point. looks like out of the next 5 games, 3 are playoff teams in the West. Will be a good barometer.

The Wolves aren’t a lottery team. The Hawks won’t be by season’s end either. I’d also bet on the Blazers not being a lotto team by season’s end.

But that said you are right that the competition is going up in the next 3 games.

BeatDaCavs420 · Post #9 » by **BeatDaCavs420** » Sat Jan 8, 2022 1:20 pm

Bulls have won 9 in a row

loveandbeer · Post #10 » by **loveandbeer** » Sat Jan 8, 2022 1:28 pm

Monk has been beasting too.

jehosafats · Post #11 » by **jehosafats** » Sat Jan 8, 2022 1:34 pm

What is a center at this point? These days centers can act like combo guards. Easy adjustment for Lebron.

JN61 · Post #12 » by **JN61** » Sat Jan 8, 2022 1:50 pm

jehosafats wrote:What is a center at this point? These days centers can act like combo guards. Easy adjustment for Lebron.

If your argument is he isn't going to defend regardless of the position you are still wrong in terms of defensive side of the ball. Lakers are -31 ORB in last 4 games and it's purely down to playing bad teams that they are on a winning streak. Lebron allows constantly offensive rebounds/putbacks and free layups because he doesn't play help defense at all nor cover the 3 point line as a center.

Post #13 » by **cupcakesnake** » Sat Jan 8, 2022 2:11 pm

Getting wins is a good thing, and the Lakers finding a mini foothold in the middle of the season with AD out is nothing but positive.

But, like a few teams that are winning right now, the wins are coming against pretty soft opponents. The defense isn't looking anywhere near okay either.

Their last 6 games, since they've started playing mostly Lebron at center (Dwight started vs. Memphis but only played 16 minutes), they've had a defensive rating of 111, which is like... Detroit Pistons level. They've also gotten away with this mostly because the other team is missing their center. T-Wolves with KAT, Blazers without Nurk and Zeller, Kings without Holmes.

Scuall · Post #14 » by **Scuall** » Sat Jan 8, 2022 2:13 pm

BeatDaCavs420 wrote:Bulls have won 9 in a row

You should start a thread.

Pantsman · Post #15 » by **Pantsman** » Sat Jan 8, 2022 2:21 pm

It’s basically lebron +4 shooters which has always been the ideal lineup around him. He’s always been better playing the 4 so it’s not really a surprise.

Pharmcat · Post #16 » by **Pharmcat** » Sat Jan 8, 2022 2:28 pm

Pythagoras wrote:Moving Lebron to C has helped, but adding Stanley Johnson and moving Monk to the starting lineup have also both been positive adjustments as well. AD will be back soon and Lebron won’t have to play quite as many minutes at C, but honestly, I’d rather he play C all game than see the corpse of Jordan out there. Vogel basically flushed the first quarter of this season with that moronic experiment.

Cut dj sign cousins

Marrrcuss · Post #17 » by **Marrrcuss** » Sat Jan 8, 2022 2:30 pm

Egg Nog wrote:32pts/9ast/8reb/3blk/4stl AKA just another night at the office...

Last time he averaged this many points per game the Cavs were the only team he had played for.

Averaging a career high in blocks.

Truly remarkable.

I don't see ANY TEAM IN ANY SPORT going far unless they're at full strength but LBJ at C has been a good adjustment.

FIFY

Pythagoras · Post #18 » by **Pythagoras** » Sat Jan 8, 2022 2:50 pm

jamaalstar21 wrote:Getting wins is a good thing, and the Lakers finding a mini foothold in the middle of the season with AD out is nothing but positive.

But, like a few teams that are winning right now, the wins are coming against pretty soft opponents. The defense isn't looking anywhere near okay either.

Their last 6 games, since they've started playing mostly Lebron at center (Dwight started vs. Memphis but only played 16 minutes), they've had a defensive rating of 111, which is like... Detroit Pistons level. They've also gotten away with this mostly because the other team is missing their center. T-Wolves with KAT, Blazers without Nurk and Zeller, Kings without Holmes.

They’ve also posted a 121 ORating during this stretch. They’ve been far more dominant offensively than they’ve been bad defensively. They also played Capela and Adams during this stretch.

Post #19 » by **og15** » Sat Jan 8, 2022 3:06 pm

jehosafats wrote:What is a center at this point? These days centers can act like combo guards. Easy adjustment for Lebron.

Good luck not getting killed on the glass. The Clippers bigs have been out, except limited minutes of Ibaka, the rebounding has been a mess, and they are trying

Pythagoras wrote:
Lost Angel wrote:
timO wrote:5 lottery teams btw

good point. looks like out of the next 5 games, 3 are playoff teams in the West. Will be a good barometer.

The Wolves aren’t a lottery team. The Hawks won’t be by season’s end either. I’d also bet on the Blazers not being a lotto team by season’s end.

But that said you are right that the competition is going up in the next 3 games.

The Wolves are decent. The Hawks have about as much of a chance of being a lottery team as they do of not. The Blazers were without their starting SG and C and I suppose their maybe non lottery team claim can come from a hope of getting 10th and being in the play in tournament, but as of now, they are bad.

I don't see the point of arguing that Hawks and Blazers could be better later therefore those weren't wins against poor teams, they were. Here's the thing, to be an above average team, you have to consistently win against poor teams, to be good, beat the poor and below average teams fairly consistently and to be great, you have to do it against the poor teams, below average and average teams aas well as be around or above 500 vs good teams. Winning against poor teams is not a condemnation, it simply doesn’t tell us a team is good until we see more.

lamscott · Post #20 » by **lamscott** » Sat Jan 8, 2022 3:08 pm

You can't hate on Lebron's numbers. Those are remarkable for a 37 year old.

The teams we played aren't that good. But trust us fans when we says how happy we are to winning again. It was a low bar since we were losing to these teams in the 1st quarter.

Lebron at center is great in spot mintues but I can't see him doing this for the future. We get out rebounded etc etc. We are playing a crappy version of the d'antoni small ball.

Deandre Jordan is literally stealling money.

Russell Westbrook. Gawd. I know he can put up stats but the stupid turnovers at the most important moments kill me everytime. His play is haphazard.

Lakers are winning because we are making our outside shots and play defense. Which is reason for any team to win.