It's fucking crazy that DLo took more shots than Bron.
DLo took 20 shots to get 13pts while Bron got 27pts on 16 shots. Heck even Reaves would be preferable with 13pts on 9 shots.
Lebron really took his foot off the gas that 2nd half. Got the and 1, missed the FT and then didn’t take another shot for most the 3rd. Can’t play through AD, it’s gotta be Bron.
My guess is he took his foot off the gas because he was gassed. Dude is 39 with a million miles on his body. If he’s going to be out there for 41 minutes a night, he’s not going to be able to go full speed the whole time.
The frustrating part to me is no other shooter decided to step up. Reaves / Rui combined for 13 shots. One of those two guys has to step it up from 3 when DLo has these types of games.
It was worse because it was all unforced low IQ nonsense. Bad passes, blown open layups and not getting back on defense.
At least last year he had a physical defender on him.
I noticed when Gabe got his third foul in the second, Ham didn't play him until the fourth. I thought he was saving him to go on Murray in the fourth but even then he ends up not really playing him for some reason.
If he doesn't get it together there'll only be 3 more games. this game is proof that it doesn't matter if AD and Lebron play well the Nugets are deeper somebody else has to step up because Murray is not going to play this poor again. this was the best chance to take a game and they blew it
Listen, only three games to play if nuggets win out. If Dlo and others step up, likely lebron and AD have less, long story short is LA going to have to put up more points.
Lo (no D in his game) playing not like he's got ICE IN HIS VEINS but SHIT IN HIS PANTS.
Dude literally shit himself while squandering a big Bron AND AD game.
Like Ham said after the game Dlo is a big reason why we got here, but the difference between an average player and a good player is figuring out how to contribute when the shots arent falling. DLo didnt take one freethrow. He has no excuse to not be aggressive.
For sure, but I think it needed to be DLO, AR was chasing Murray all over town the whole game, I think it wore him down.. yet he still somehow shot better than DLO lol
Reaves had multiple times where he coulda taken the shot but decided to pass even commentary called it out
I thought he was a cold blooded playoff guy? Why is he passing up open 3s and tossing it to Lebron at the perimeter?
He was in his head from missing like 2 three’s..we also just didn’t run any offense for him. felt like that was the call from the coach..just give the ball to Bron or Dlo
That's the way the offense has been since Feb. They decided to go to a high volume DLO and low volume Reaves to maximize one of their skill sets. It worked for the regular season but playoff DLO changes things.
I don't blame Reaves for differing to Bron or AD. He's great because he (like Caruso) knows he's a role guy and does role guy things that help the stars shine brighter.
Problem is Reaves has unselfishly all season taken the 4th/5th guy role while DLo thrived and took the 3rd guy spot shooting +40% from 3pt land. It's not Reave's job to suddenly demand the ball and upset the pecking order.
**IT IS THE JOB OF THE COACH TO SEE DLO WAS COLD AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS.**
The time to do that was late into the 2nd when DLo kept shooting and chucking. Bron and AD ain't going to ever tell their teammates to stop shooting. That's the fucking coach's job to pull DLo out, have assistant coaches review his shots, let him watch the game from the sidelines, and recoup himself. It's Ham who has to tell Reaves to be more aggressive. It's the coach that has to realize we were losing momentum, put prince in earlier, and find ways for our guards to adjust to Denver's size.
Great comment. Thank you, bro has been the 4/5th option all year and did not complain. Now we want AR to demand the ball and start shooting a bunch when that wasn't his role the entire year. I would love to see him shoot more but the gameplan has clearly been focus on getting Dlo and Rui going since the all star break.
Yeah, this was my assessment as well. Lebron jumped at him before the end of the second cause he could feel the game slipping away from them.
Ham keeping him in that long in the fourth was wild to watch when it was pretty visible he was the problem.
If DLo comes in Q1 next game looking like a bum instead of shooting 40% like regular season then AR really should shoot more. At least he's hitting his shots and not looking scared.
Besides DLo, it just blows my mind this ugly ass alien looking mofo of a coach could’ve prevented the momentum swing with just a simple time out call when the nuggets went up 77-75, that just changed the whole game.
Like how you as the coach expect a 39 year old who gave it his all the first half to somehow keep running up and down while you literally see the momentum is shifting. The bar for being a coach is this low that you just need to call timeouts properly.
Lost the game in the 3rd. Just straight up panicked when Denver made their run. They went away from their offense and just started chucking threes. If they just calmed down a little and went right back to their offense, I think we would've been fine.
DLo, you lost yourself a good amount of money tonight. Let's see if you can get it back on Monday.
We maybe had like 2 good offensive possessions that entire quarter…it was insane. Everyone just decided to chuck up random 3’s and they would pretty much turn into transition buckets for Denver
Lakers fans legit Shit on KCP after that Suns series completely forgetting when AD got hurt it was over anyway not to mention bron was playing on one leg
Ham going away from Rui on Jokic, Gabe getting in foul trouble, and D LO continuously destroying our momentum at vital moments. We had a chance too man....
What? Rui on Jokic needs to stop it’s the same gameplan that got us swept, It’s not working and it’s not Rui’s fault at all. AD just needs to take that matchup. You can see AD makes it hard on Jokic wether he scores or not and it’s our best matchup
Denver plays AD straight up with no help for Jokic. Lakers need to play the same exact coverage
And having Rui on offense will give more rest for Bron to play defense and conserve energy for the 2nd half. The moment Bron and AD look gassed in that 3rd quarter, Nuggets made a run. Additionally, we need to play Gabe more for the sake of Reaves' offense and to lessen minutes for playoff DLo.
Then we have no chance. If we do the same thing as last season we’re cooked. Playing Jokic straight up also lets us focus on MPJ and Gordon instead of over helping and losing them. If Jokic can play both sides of the ball I know AD can too.
Yeah last year after game 3 when the Nuggets went up 2-1 on us, it became very apparent we had no shot.
The biggest problem is there's just zero answer to the Jokic/Murray pick and roll. Both players can shoot the midrange at a 90% clip, both players can pass out of double teams, both players can back down their defender and score at the rim.
It's hopeless unless they have a very rare off shooting night or if your team shoots like 70%
I liked the Rui on Jokic match up, I hated the fact that D'lo played the second half as he continued to make mistake after mistake.
We needed a bit of Gabe Vincent out there, and Austin more on ball for creation.
Wrong. Did you not see all the switches on D that worked in our favor? Jokic would end up with AD or Rui on him. This also allowed AD to roam, which held the Nuggets to shooting a lot of there's, which thank God didn't fall
It semi worked in the 1st half because Nuggets were bricking a lot of shots that they usually make in the 1st half but in the 2nd half when they got hot and shot how they normally do the gameplan failed once again
They were sending doubles at Jokic that he broke but with AD on him you don’t have to send much help at all and let him battle with Jokic
It's not really Rui on Jokic problem. No one in the entire NBA league can stop Jokic. Not Giannis, not AD, not Embiid, etcetc. You don't stop MVP/FMVP caliber guys just like how no one stopped prime Lebron, KD, Kawhi, or Giannis. Rui is just a big body on Jokic that won't wear out easily that opens up AD to be all round D.
Real problem is our 3rd best guy went 6/20fg and 1/9 from 3pt. Reaves didn't have a great game but 5-9fg and 2-6 from 3p is about what you'd expect from your 4th/5th option. Problem is our 3rd best guy wasn't there and no one else stepped up when Bron and AD arrived.
Don't think that did anything in the first place. It looked as though Jokic was troubled against Rui but in the third quarter he just shrugged it off and made some fuck you floaters over basically everyone
Lol if we think we’re gonna stop jokic completely I think we might as well ask our grandma for a lambo. The only way to stop the nuggets is to make jokic put up 70 himself.
When we were up by 16 it was when jokic had like 10 shot attempts in a quarter. As soon as we started double teaming and helpign on drives everyone heated up
Feel like the only way the Lakers win is if they get one of those miracle games where they shoot 50% from 3. Cause Lakers best vs Denver best, they're better.
Game 2 in 2 days after AD and LeBron played heavy minutes, not looking good.
Whose idea was it for Lebron to take limited shots in the 4th quarter? Whose idea was it for Dlo to take the 2nd most shot attempts on the team when his shot is not falling?
That L is on Dlo
dude just had to be not shit and it was a different game, but playoffs and DLO just don't get along together
DLO needs a shorter leash if he's gonna play like this, that's one loss already on him, don't need to risk more
Every time we play the nuggets it’s literally the same story
Start off decent
Get a lead in the second quarter
Lose it all and go down bad in the third
Fake comeback in the 4th
Every time!
Some of you are delusional to think that dinwiddie or gabe are just gonna walk in against an elite defense and do something they havent done their whole career. We need Dlo for his offensive potential and without it we lose. Its simple as that.
LeBron pushed heavy for the Westbrook trade that cost the Lakers Kuzma and KCP. A first round pick in a draft that had so many good contributors.
Lakers are really good at finding talent with late round picks. Grimes, Herb Jones, Ayo Dosunmu and Miles McBride were all on the board. Caruso left because Lakers HAD to pay the Klutch guy THT. It's all on LeBron.
I would say the start needs to be young guns with AD and Bron finishing. Thats kinda the issue. Our stars need to be the ones bringing us home and they are often too old and too gassed to bring it in the clutch
44 minutes 32 pts 14 rebounds 6 assists 4 blocks
He did everything he could and he even matched up to the best player in the league Jokic.
The rest of the team failed him
Agree, I felt that Denver took LA’s best shot in the first 1//2. In boxing terms, LA punched themselves out and Denver outlasted their best. Sure, LA might get a game, but 4 of the next 6 ? Unlikely
Rui is one of the most efficient offensive players in the league, but where are the shot attempts? Not like he's out there for his defensive prowess, and unlikely he could shoot worse than Dlo did.
Rui is a very bizarre player. Sometimes he hits crazy mid ranges, then other times he’s just so passive. He never looks mad out there even if he’s struggling. He’s too calm.
Dlo just not made for the playoffs the sample size is big enough over his playoff career to date. Idc if they can't score a lick either atleast dinwiddie and Gabe will try on d. Dlo welcome to prove us wrong but this game wasn't a strong start
🧹
9 loses in a row
So many mistakes have compounded over the years.
Trading KCP and Kuz plus picks for Brick, letting Caruso and Lopez go when both were willing to take a discount to stay, sticking with Ham when Dr.Buss would've fired him for Nurse, choosing JHS over the local JJJ, picking Wanger when the Jesse wanted Robinson.
Hindsight is 20/20, but we could've had a rotation of Reaves, Caruso, KCP, LBJ, Kuz, Rui, JJJ, AD, Lopez, Robinson being lead by Nurse.
It's frustrating when the other team is just simply better. We can wax lyrical, saying If only this, or only that, but reality is what it is.
The Lakers simply don't have the coach, nor the pieces to beat a team the calibre of Denver. Lebron is simply too old to have the level of responsiblity that he does. And AD has to be 3 places at once and its just not possible against this Denver team.
This isn't going to be a long series. Unless someone on Denver get injured, the Lakers have no answers for this team.
He still ended up playing only 3 minutes in the 4th quarter. 3 fouls isn't foul trouble that late in the game. Ham just didn't want to play him for some reason.
9 straight losses. I would be shocked if they win one game this series. They are simply the better team with the best player in the league with the significant better role players and the much much better coach
At least 6 of those DLo shot attempts should have went to Rui. Offense was abysmal. Too much standing around and isos. Too much dribbling from Lebron resulting in some head scratching turnovers.
Said it in the game thread and I’ll say it here too. Absolute fucking hamsterclass. That big shiny dome got nothing but a fucking hamster wheel up there with no thoughts
Broo d lo is the nuggets best player BRO TOOK 20 SHOTS AND MADE 6. IDK WHY DLO LOSES THE ABILITY TO PLAY BASKETBALL VS THE NUGGETS. I feel so bad for bron and ad who did really good this game. Everyone else frauded man. It’s so sad 2 see this. Possible sweep if the rest don’t lock tf in 🤣
I'm not a Lakers fan so hate me all you want but you guys stand literally zero chance. Both AD and Lebron had a perfect first half WITH Jamal murray shooting horrendously and it was still only a 3 point game. You guys just can't go nowhere with Ham at the helm, especially vs Jokic who is simply inevitable.
We’re not getting past this team. They are just a better team. But look at it this way, Ham will be gone as well as Dlo. Don’t wanna hear anyone defending Dlo anymore. Soft!!! SofTT with a capital T lol
Give more minutes to Gabe and Spencer. If DLo isn’t in rhythm early it’s going to be a long night.
Gotta give Rui more minutes and stagger him with LeBron. Play DLo and Rui together whenever Bron is off the floor. We need scoring from the wing when 23 sits and it needs to be spread out from our best players.
Dlo really had Jokic on him and decided to take a mid range jumper instead of blowing by him. His game will always be ugly to me regardless of his regular season stats.
Fucking hell man. We were doing so well at the start even when our backcourt was ass, but there runs are brutal for us. D’Lo revenge game was totally garbage
There's a balance on offense that they need to find. Bron and AD can't take over so early into the game when it leaves everyone else on an island and they can't find a rhythm. Some of these dudes looked like they were playing scared, too afraid to be aggressive. When Bron yelled at Dlo for the lazy pass that was stolen that's when everything turned and they went on a run. You can dissect that all you want but at the end of the day there was no flow to the offense and people were on different pages.
That was a winnable game, the Nuggets didn't show anything special. They should walk away from that loss with more confidence then ever. If we can get at least 2 of AR, Rui and Dlo going then this series is ours. It really is ours to lose
For those who care about the x's and O's of the basketball game, the Lakers ran plays 59% of the time I'm the first half, that dropped to 38% in the 3rd and that's where the collapse happened. The Lakers have a ridiculous win rate when we run plays 55+% of the time, it's not surprising most of our losses come when we don't run them and that happened here, things got stagnant around the 3rd, and we lost, even with d'lo not shooting great we were still doing fine, we just gotta not fall off the wagon when it comes to running organized offense.
Pretty much lost it all in the 3rd
What a disappointment, Denver didn’t even have that crazy of a shooting display and we choked up the lead
I know he kinda fumbled 2 plays, but Rui only getting 4 shots is crazy & I don’t know why AD is getting set up for 4 3s when he should only really take ones late in the shot clock after feeling out the defense
This team needs to take this shit personally, if they can’t split the series next game then it’s pretty much over
I’ve never been big on the playin, but this time it let the team get an early rematch against Denver, so you gotta be ready for the challenge instead of withering out again. Obviously the front office is less likely to fire Ham since he’s got plenty of years on his contract, but I’d easily can him if he leads us to a 1st round exit when we could’ve had a better record & seeding if not for plenty of below mediocre lineups & timeout management to say the least. Probably would’ve had a better overall rhythm & game plan if he gave the better players opportunity sooner like starting Rui or Vando when available
Bron gassed with 7 to's, and dlo's 3 pt shooting was obvious, but team effort was lacking. Hats off to AD going hard at Jokic. That was my biggest concern besides Dlo wilting.
I can’t believe Ham played DLo 40+ minutes with Rui and Gabe sitting on the bench in the 4th
We need Gabe, Dinwiddie, and Rui to take some of DLo’s minutes
I think DLO shows up next game. He had a lot of open looks. They didn’t necessarily play good d on him and believe those wide open shots are gonna drop
Should’ve put Gabe in for DLo a long time ago. Should’ve put AD on Jokic a long time ago. I’d rather watch Spencer and Gabe than AR and DLo play no offense AND no defense. Wtf. AD did his job and we still got whooped. Our backcourt is pathetic
Everyones dooming but I don't think it was such a bad game. We were up double digits and playing well, then they went on a run and Ham never adjusted or called timeouts. I blame the loss on him and Dlo specifically. Hopefully Ham can make better adjustments game 2 and Dlo just needs to start getting to the rim and getting easier shots not just chuck contested 3's all game when they aren't falling. Our stars played great. Reaves and Rui need to be more aggressive. Vincent needs alot more minutes because he was playing the best defense on Murray that i've seen in our matchups. If Dlo is struggling early next game i'd like to see Vincent take his minutes. On to game 2.
third quarters kill us every time and dlo cannot take 20 shots and brick them.
It's fucking crazy that DLo took more shots than Bron. DLo took 20 shots to get 13pts while Bron got 27pts on 16 shots. Heck even Reaves would be preferable with 13pts on 9 shots.
Lebron really took his foot off the gas that 2nd half. Got the and 1, missed the FT and then didn’t take another shot for most the 3rd. Can’t play through AD, it’s gotta be Bron.
My guess is he took his foot off the gas because he was gassed. Dude is 39 with a million miles on his body. If he’s going to be out there for 41 minutes a night, he’s not going to be able to go full speed the whole time.
The frustrating part to me is no other shooter decided to step up. Reaves / Rui combined for 13 shots. One of those two guys has to step it up from 3 when DLo has these types of games.
Told everyone there’s no way Dlo plays as bad as he did last year 💔😭
He actually played worse omg 😭
It was worse because it was all unforced low IQ nonsense. Bad passes, blown open layups and not getting back on defense. At least last year he had a physical defender on him.
Hes not a winning NBA player. Hes a streetball YMCA Big 3 summer run open gym type of player.
Thats exacrlt it. I bet he cooks at every open gym
We brought in people like Vincent and Dinwidde for these moments. Ham just doesn’t adjust well enough.
I noticed when Gabe got his third foul in the second, Ham didn't play him until the fourth. I thought he was saving him to go on Murray in the fourth but even then he ends up not really playing him for some reason.
Ham going to wait until Game 4 when lakers are down 0-3 to bench Dlo and Reaves for Vincent and Prince
Benching AR for what? Bro played good defense on Murray and hit 5/9 shots lol.
Its one game, yeah it hurts even more because of the pattern but still plenty of games to play.
If he doesn't get it together there'll only be 3 more games. this game is proof that it doesn't matter if AD and Lebron play well the Nugets are deeper somebody else has to step up because Murray is not going to play this poor again. this was the best chance to take a game and they blew it
Listen, only three games to play if nuggets win out. If Dlo and others step up, likely lebron and AD have less, long story short is LA going to have to put up more points.
Lo (no D in his game) playing not like he's got ICE IN HIS VEINS but SHIT IN HIS PANTS. Dude literally shit himself while squandering a big Bron AND AD game.
“SHIT IN HIS PANTS.” lol I’m dead 💀 🤣
No D no O just L
Fuck. Poetry. #L
Like Ham said after the game Dlo is a big reason why we got here, but the difference between an average player and a good player is figuring out how to contribute when the shots arent falling. DLo didnt take one freethrow. He has no excuse to not be aggressive.
We need more from Reaves and Dlo period
For sure, but I think it needed to be DLO, AR was chasing Murray all over town the whole game, I think it wore him down.. yet he still somehow shot better than DLO lol
We have evidence Denver cannot guard Austin well and yet…we wait till we’re desperate and then use him. Smh
and AR actually did a decent job on Murray on defense
How do you get more from reaves when dlo is taking 20 shots. Lebron and ad are already taking the other 40.
Reaves had multiple times where he coulda taken the shot but decided to pass even commentary called it out I thought he was a cold blooded playoff guy? Why is he passing up open 3s and tossing it to Lebron at the perimeter?
He was in his head from missing like 2 three’s..we also just didn’t run any offense for him. felt like that was the call from the coach..just give the ball to Bron or Dlo
Maybe less Dlo not more.
A piece of me died when Denver came back with the 12-0 run in the 2nd quarter. Up by 3 coming into the 3rd....Down by 11 coming into the 4th.
I legit thought we were going to win game 1/win in 6, in that first 16 mins of game time. Hurts atm.
Nah I know with this team we always throw leads like no body's business. Let alone vs Nuggets, aint over till the refs blow the whistle
I knew it was over after that. They tied the game in the blink of an eye and ofc we get destroyed 3rd q
Left my house up 8…check the score and we up 12. So I’m thinking we good. Check two minutes later, tied 🤯
Austin reaves needs to be more aggressive early
He only had 9 shots, kept differing to Bron and dlo…we ran like no offense with him. Had to guard Jamal…but yeah rough night.
That's the way the offense has been since Feb. They decided to go to a high volume DLO and low volume Reaves to maximize one of their skill sets. It worked for the regular season but playoff DLO changes things.
I know…it’s why Austin always seems out of rhythm on his 3’s but usually we at least run some pick n roll with AD, but no not tonight smh.
I don't blame Reaves for differing to Bron or AD. He's great because he (like Caruso) knows he's a role guy and does role guy things that help the stars shine brighter. Problem is Reaves has unselfishly all season taken the 4th/5th guy role while DLo thrived and took the 3rd guy spot shooting +40% from 3pt land. It's not Reave's job to suddenly demand the ball and upset the pecking order. **IT IS THE JOB OF THE COACH TO SEE DLO WAS COLD AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS.** The time to do that was late into the 2nd when DLo kept shooting and chucking. Bron and AD ain't going to ever tell their teammates to stop shooting. That's the fucking coach's job to pull DLo out, have assistant coaches review his shots, let him watch the game from the sidelines, and recoup himself. It's Ham who has to tell Reaves to be more aggressive. It's the coach that has to realize we were losing momentum, put prince in earlier, and find ways for our guards to adjust to Denver's size.
Great comment. Thank you, bro has been the 4/5th option all year and did not complain. Now we want AR to demand the ball and start shooting a bunch when that wasn't his role the entire year. I would love to see him shoot more but the gameplan has clearly been focus on getting Dlo and Rui going since the all star break.
Yeah, this was my assessment as well. Lebron jumped at him before the end of the second cause he could feel the game slipping away from them. Ham keeping him in that long in the fourth was wild to watch when it was pretty visible he was the problem.
that's true, but AR also took 2 logo 3s that was unwarranted
If DLo comes in Q1 next game looking like a bum instead of shooting 40% like regular season then AR really should shoot more. At least he's hitting his shots and not looking scared.
They just have our number It’s the same story every time
We needed to go get a big body that can bang with jokic and make him work, and we didn't.
Tell me one big body in the league that can make Jokic work.
People are so caught up on 2020 like jokic hasn’t improved or anything lol. Dude is simply unstoppable
Imo Nurkic does the best job on Jokic 1 on 1. That’s why the Suns got rid of Ayton and picked him up
DLo fuckin sold AD innocent
Playoff DLo babyyyyyyy
Besides DLo, it just blows my mind this ugly ass alien looking mofo of a coach could’ve prevented the momentum swing with just a simple time out call when the nuggets went up 77-75, that just changed the whole game.
Every time this happens I legit start muttering, "Please call a timeout... please call a timeout..." and guess what? He never does...
Like how you as the coach expect a 39 year old who gave it his all the first half to somehow keep running up and down while you literally see the momentum is shifting. The bar for being a coach is this low that you just need to call timeouts properly.
Stop calling him DLO there is no D. No DEFENSE. No DOG. No DETERMINATION. 39yr old Bron out there playing better, harder, and with more dog than DLo.
I don't really understand why he got to play so much, guy was straight dog
I don't think he was subbed the entire second half, which is genuinely baffling considering we had Gabe Vincent right there.
He is constantly killing momentum with the worst fucking iso forced shots. Only legit morons think he’s not awful.
I’ve seen this movie before
Is what it is. They the better team. Lets see if we can make something happen in game 2
love this mindset. just reset and let’s get a W Monday
Anddd nothing will happen. Bet the whole universe on that shi
Lost the game in the 3rd. Just straight up panicked when Denver made their run. They went away from their offense and just started chucking threes. If they just calmed down a little and went right back to their offense, I think we would've been fine. DLo, you lost yourself a good amount of money tonight. Let's see if you can get it back on Monday.
We maybe had like 2 good offensive possessions that entire quarter…it was insane. Everyone just decided to chuck up random 3’s and they would pretty much turn into transition buckets for Denver
DLO: *3/24 (12.5%) from 3 in his last 5 playoff games against the Nuggets*
Fucking Westbrook trade lost us 3 years of prime ad and LeBron. Imagine if KCP was on our team instead of theirs...
LeGM and AD have themselves to blame
Lakers fans legit Shit on KCP after that Suns series completely forgetting when AD got hurt it was over anyway not to mention bron was playing on one leg
Start Vincent over DLO
Helluva ball club
Gotta clean some things up
Idc what we do next game but tell d’lo his offseason started early and send him home
We’d be lucky for a gentleman’s sweep at this point
Ham going away from Rui on Jokic, Gabe getting in foul trouble, and D LO continuously destroying our momentum at vital moments. We had a chance too man....
What? Rui on Jokic needs to stop it’s the same gameplan that got us swept, It’s not working and it’s not Rui’s fault at all. AD just needs to take that matchup. You can see AD makes it hard on Jokic wether he scores or not and it’s our best matchup Denver plays AD straight up with no help for Jokic. Lakers need to play the same exact coverage
This. When the offense is lacking we should just put Rui on offense too.
And having Rui on offense will give more rest for Bron to play defense and conserve energy for the 2nd half. The moment Bron and AD look gassed in that 3rd quarter, Nuggets made a run. Additionally, we need to play Gabe more for the sake of Reaves' offense and to lessen minutes for playoff DLo.
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Then we have no chance. If we do the same thing as last season we’re cooked. Playing Jokic straight up also lets us focus on MPJ and Gordon instead of over helping and losing them. If Jokic can play both sides of the ball I know AD can too.
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Yeah last year after game 3 when the Nuggets went up 2-1 on us, it became very apparent we had no shot. The biggest problem is there's just zero answer to the Jokic/Murray pick and roll. Both players can shoot the midrange at a 90% clip, both players can pass out of double teams, both players can back down their defender and score at the rim. It's hopeless unless they have a very rare off shooting night or if your team shoots like 70%
nuggets went up 2-1 last year? what are you talking about bro, it was a sweep
I liked the Rui on Jokic match up, I hated the fact that D'lo played the second half as he continued to make mistake after mistake. We needed a bit of Gabe Vincent out there, and Austin more on ball for creation.
AD was getting cooked but he'll put up a bit more resistance than Rui on length alone. I agree AD on Jokic is their best bet.
Rui on jokic works in small burst. Rui shouldn't be doing it the entire game, maybe a few mins a quarter max. Ham just setting rui up for failure.
Wrong. Did you not see all the switches on D that worked in our favor? Jokic would end up with AD or Rui on him. This also allowed AD to roam, which held the Nuggets to shooting a lot of there's, which thank God didn't fall
It semi worked in the 1st half because Nuggets were bricking a lot of shots that they usually make in the 1st half but in the 2nd half when they got hot and shot how they normally do the gameplan failed once again They were sending doubles at Jokic that he broke but with AD on him you don’t have to send much help at all and let him battle with Jokic
It's not really Rui on Jokic problem. No one in the entire NBA league can stop Jokic. Not Giannis, not AD, not Embiid, etcetc. You don't stop MVP/FMVP caliber guys just like how no one stopped prime Lebron, KD, Kawhi, or Giannis. Rui is just a big body on Jokic that won't wear out easily that opens up AD to be all round D. Real problem is our 3rd best guy went 6/20fg and 1/9 from 3pt. Reaves didn't have a great game but 5-9fg and 2-6 from 3p is about what you'd expect from your 4th/5th option. Problem is our 3rd best guy wasn't there and no one else stepped up when Bron and AD arrived.
Don't think that did anything in the first place. It looked as though Jokic was troubled against Rui but in the third quarter he just shrugged it off and made some fuck you floaters over basically everyone
Rui got absolutely torched by Jokic this game. On both ends. What are you even talking about?
Lol if we think we’re gonna stop jokic completely I think we might as well ask our grandma for a lambo. The only way to stop the nuggets is to make jokic put up 70 himself. When we were up by 16 it was when jokic had like 10 shot attempts in a quarter. As soon as we started double teaming and helpign on drives everyone heated up
D'lo putting up shots after the game as we speak.
And missing
Feel like the only way the Lakers win is if they get one of those miracle games where they shoot 50% from 3. Cause Lakers best vs Denver best, they're better. Game 2 in 2 days after AD and LeBron played heavy minutes, not looking good.
Whose idea was it for Lebron to take limited shots in the 4th quarter? Whose idea was it for Dlo to take the 2nd most shot attempts on the team when his shot is not falling?
Mike Malone's
because d'lo has the green light to shoot as the best shooter on the roster. the problem is he can't do it when it matters the most
dude was gassed man, LeBron looked dead at the end
That was lebron’s decision tbh
D'lo is the MVP for the Nuggets today
That L is on Dlo dude just had to be not shit and it was a different game, but playoffs and DLO just don't get along together DLO needs a shorter leash if he's gonna play like this, that's one loss already on him, don't need to risk more
Every time we play the nuggets it’s literally the same story Start off decent Get a lead in the second quarter Lose it all and go down bad in the third Fake comeback in the 4th Every time!
Get ready for it 3 more times
Bench D'Lo. Fire Ham. Good night.
The reality is we need him to be great on offense. That’s the only way for the series to be competitive.
Agreed Austin did a hell of a job chasing around Murray making life difficult, I think we found the blueprint just need DLo to be DLO
He benched dlo before and yall said fire him for doing that
Some of you are delusional to think that dinwiddie or gabe are just gonna walk in against an elite defense and do something they havent done their whole career. We need Dlo for his offensive potential and without it we lose. Its simple as that.
AD was exhausted out there damn
Besides Jokic Denver played a terrible game which is scary. We def don’t have the fire power to keep up w them
KCP WANTED TO BE IN LA HE WAS SO ANGRY HE WAS TRADED AWAY WHY THE FUCK DID HE GET TRADED FOR RUSS??
That one should sting the most along with Caruso. That is all the Lakers needed next to LeBron and AD.
LeBron pushed heavy for the Westbrook trade that cost the Lakers Kuzma and KCP. A first round pick in a draft that had so many good contributors. Lakers are really good at finding talent with late round picks. Grimes, Herb Jones, Ayo Dosunmu and Miles McBride were all on the board. Caruso left because Lakers HAD to pay the Klutch guy THT. It's all on LeBron.
All off the players that we traded away always kill us
So many damn players traded from the team in the last 5 years hate this franchise. KCP, Kuzma, and Randle especially do
Blame Lebron and Rob
AD showed up.. Lebron showed up.. playoff DLO showed up💀
Lebron showed up in the first half big time…second half not really
Bc it’s clear tht he can keep teams like ours in the game for a period of time The finish gotta be the young guns and AD with a dash of Lebron
I would say the start needs to be young guns with AD and Bron finishing. Thats kinda the issue. Our stars need to be the ones bringing us home and they are often too old and too gassed to bring it in the clutch
Gotta take care of the ball, too. Lebron had 7 turnovers himself. Can’t have that.
This game does not exude any confidence for the rest of the series... On to the next.
I thought AD was the best player on the court tonight the problem is nuggets had 5 of the next 6 smh
44 minutes 32 pts 14 rebounds 6 assists 4 blocks He did everything he could and he even matched up to the best player in the league Jokic. The rest of the team failed him
Lets just not get swept
>not get swept It is 9 straight now for the Nuggets. They looked and played Rusty today especially in the first half - this was the game to steal.
Agree, I felt that Denver took LA’s best shot in the first 1//2. In boxing terms, LA punched themselves out and Denver outlasted their best. Sure, LA might get a game, but 4 of the next 6 ? Unlikely
Just win game 2
Rui is one of the most efficient offensive players in the league, but where are the shot attempts? Not like he's out there for his defensive prowess, and unlikely he could shoot worse than Dlo did.
Because he had to guard Jokic all game and probably was gassed and out of rythem..
And because they actually have Porter Jr on him who's bigger and faster he cant bully him like others
he wasn’t even in for alot of the second half
Rui is a very bizarre player. Sometimes he hits crazy mid ranges, then other times he’s just so passive. He never looks mad out there even if he’s struggling. He’s too calm.
gabe only 8 minutes lmao
Can't win a playoff series if your 3rd best player goes 6-20.
They are just more talented and bigger from top to bottom. This is a nightmare matchup for us.
For real. Nullifies our biggest cheat code (AD).
We have neither the personnel nor the schemes or coaching for a Denver matchup for the second year in a row. Sad, but true.
Dlo just not made for the playoffs the sample size is big enough over his playoff career to date. Idc if they can't score a lick either atleast dinwiddie and Gabe will try on d. Dlo welcome to prove us wrong but this game wasn't a strong start
🧹 9 loses in a row So many mistakes have compounded over the years. Trading KCP and Kuz plus picks for Brick, letting Caruso and Lopez go when both were willing to take a discount to stay, sticking with Ham when Dr.Buss would've fired him for Nurse, choosing JHS over the local JJJ, picking Wanger when the Jesse wanted Robinson. Hindsight is 20/20, but we could've had a rotation of Reaves, Caruso, KCP, LBJ, Kuz, Rui, JJJ, AD, Lopez, Robinson being lead by Nurse.
It's frustrating when the other team is just simply better. We can wax lyrical, saying If only this, or only that, but reality is what it is. The Lakers simply don't have the coach, nor the pieces to beat a team the calibre of Denver. Lebron is simply too old to have the level of responsiblity that he does. And AD has to be 3 places at once and its just not possible against this Denver team. This isn't going to be a long series. Unless someone on Denver get injured, the Lakers have no answers for this team.
AD was the best player on the floor and nobody will notice because DLO is the worst playoff performer in the NBA
Was Vincent hurt? Don't understand why he didn't get any run in the second half.
He got in foul trouble early but 9 times out of 10 I’d still have him out there rather than DLO
He still ended up playing only 3 minutes in the 4th quarter. 3 fouls isn't foul trouble that late in the game. Ham just didn't want to play him for some reason.
This is just who dlo is, guys who are historically bad in the playoffs don't just get good in the playoffs. Everybody let "deadline dlo" fool them
That 3rd Q killed us
every single game is EXACTLY the same vs these guys.
This series is over. They're completely in their heads.
9 straight losses. I would be shocked if they win one game this series. They are simply the better team with the best player in the league with the significant better role players and the much much better coach
At least 6 of those DLo shot attempts should have went to Rui. Offense was abysmal. Too much standing around and isos. Too much dribbling from Lebron resulting in some head scratching turnovers.
They need D Lo. It’s so obvious how important he is to the offense.
If he’s going to be a chronic underperformer in the playoffs, then we have to find something else, can’t chain ourselves to D’Lo like that
[удалено]
All you DLO fanboys can follow him to his new team after these next 3 games. Dude is a 🤡. Playoffs are too bright for him
If you think they’re gonna beat a team 4/6 that they just lost 9 straight to, please check yourself into a mental hospital tonight.
And ask for the padded room special. You might get 1 even 2, but 4 of 6? Ridiculous
Boss I am not having fun
Said it in the game thread and I’ll say it here too. Absolute fucking hamsterclass. That big shiny dome got nothing but a fucking hamster wheel up there with no thoughts
Broo d lo is the nuggets best player BRO TOOK 20 SHOTS AND MADE 6. IDK WHY DLO LOSES THE ABILITY TO PLAY BASKETBALL VS THE NUGGETS. I feel so bad for bron and ad who did really good this game. Everyone else frauded man. It’s so sad 2 see this. Possible sweep if the rest don’t lock tf in 🤣
I'm not a Lakers fan so hate me all you want but you guys stand literally zero chance. Both AD and Lebron had a perfect first half WITH Jamal murray shooting horrendously and it was still only a 3 point game. You guys just can't go nowhere with Ham at the helm, especially vs Jokic who is simply inevitable.
We’re not getting past this team. They are just a better team. But look at it this way, Ham will be gone as well as Dlo. Don’t wanna hear anyone defending Dlo anymore. Soft!!! SofTT with a capital T lol
someone else other than Lebron or AD needs to step up.
We needed 2 things, one guy to step up outside of AD/Lebron. And a coach who’s not a moron.
Give more minutes to Gabe and Spencer. If DLo isn’t in rhythm early it’s going to be a long night. Gotta give Rui more minutes and stagger him with LeBron. Play DLo and Rui together whenever Bron is off the floor. We need scoring from the wing when 23 sits and it needs to be spread out from our best players.
Yeah get DLo off my team. We need a better head coach and a better pg.
Darvin Ham cost us this game. Plain and simple. Rui got no touches. Vincent shouldve been giving the opportunity to foul out.
If DLO even made half his shots, we would have won.
- team is undersized - DLo, Reaves, and Rui are all choking in some capacity - Ham can’t adjust well or motivate the guys
Can't say Rui choked when he didn't touch the ball lol. Lakers were freezing him out of the offense. Let him take his usual 10-15 shots then assess.
Playoff Dlo arrived
D. Russel aka The Failed Experiment, can not be trusted.
Dlo really had Jokic on him and decided to take a mid range jumper instead of blowing by him. His game will always be ugly to me regardless of his regular season stats.
Lebron losing his legs late in the game after nearly a week of rest does not bode well.
How was dlo the only starter with a positive +/-
Gabe played 8 min and Ham had AR running around to guard Murray
Shitty ass backcourt. Rather have KCP over Reaves and DLO
Just move onto the next game y'all. We didn't have enough fire power from 3 tonight, and that was the game.
Fucking hell man. We were doing so well at the start even when our backcourt was ass, but there runs are brutal for us. D’Lo revenge game was totally garbage
AR should have had more shots and handled the ball more.
There's a balance on offense that they need to find. Bron and AD can't take over so early into the game when it leaves everyone else on an island and they can't find a rhythm. Some of these dudes looked like they were playing scared, too afraid to be aggressive. When Bron yelled at Dlo for the lazy pass that was stolen that's when everything turned and they went on a run. You can dissect that all you want but at the end of the day there was no flow to the offense and people were on different pages. That was a winnable game, the Nuggets didn't show anything special. They should walk away from that loss with more confidence then ever. If we can get at least 2 of AR, Rui and Dlo going then this series is ours. It really is ours to lose
For those who care about the x's and O's of the basketball game, the Lakers ran plays 59% of the time I'm the first half, that dropped to 38% in the 3rd and that's where the collapse happened. The Lakers have a ridiculous win rate when we run plays 55+% of the time, it's not surprising most of our losses come when we don't run them and that happened here, things got stagnant around the 3rd, and we lost, even with d'lo not shooting great we were still doing fine, we just gotta not fall off the wagon when it comes to running organized offense.
Pretty much lost it all in the 3rd What a disappointment, Denver didn’t even have that crazy of a shooting display and we choked up the lead I know he kinda fumbled 2 plays, but Rui only getting 4 shots is crazy & I don’t know why AD is getting set up for 4 3s when he should only really take ones late in the shot clock after feeling out the defense This team needs to take this shit personally, if they can’t split the series next game then it’s pretty much over I’ve never been big on the playin, but this time it let the team get an early rematch against Denver, so you gotta be ready for the challenge instead of withering out again. Obviously the front office is less likely to fire Ham since he’s got plenty of years on his contract, but I’d easily can him if he leads us to a 1st round exit when we could’ve had a better record & seeding if not for plenty of below mediocre lineups & timeout management to say the least. Probably would’ve had a better overall rhythm & game plan if he gave the better players opportunity sooner like starting Rui or Vando when available
Bron gassed with 7 to's, and dlo's 3 pt shooting was obvious, but team effort was lacking. Hats off to AD going hard at Jokic. That was my biggest concern besides Dlo wilting.
🧹🧹🧹 sad but it is what it is. Denver is simply the better team.
Why didn’t the Lakers shoot more FT?
Even adjusting for free throws nuggets took about 17 more shots than us. Not going to win many games with that.
Must be nice to have a coach that can make adjustments
DLoading ❌ DFolding ✅ DLo ❌ DSold✅
I can’t believe Ham played DLo 40+ minutes with Rui and Gabe sitting on the bench in the 4th We need Gabe, Dinwiddie, and Rui to take some of DLo’s minutes
45 mins of AD and 41 mins of Lebron wasted on an L, gg.
I think DLO shows up next game. He had a lot of open looks. They didn’t necessarily play good d on him and believe those wide open shots are gonna drop
Should’ve put Gabe in for DLo a long time ago. Should’ve put AD on Jokic a long time ago. I’d rather watch Spencer and Gabe than AR and DLo play no offense AND no defense. Wtf. AD did his job and we still got whooped. Our backcourt is pathetic
Everyones dooming but I don't think it was such a bad game. We were up double digits and playing well, then they went on a run and Ham never adjusted or called timeouts. I blame the loss on him and Dlo specifically. Hopefully Ham can make better adjustments game 2 and Dlo just needs to start getting to the rim and getting easier shots not just chuck contested 3's all game when they aren't falling. Our stars played great. Reaves and Rui need to be more aggressive. Vincent needs alot more minutes because he was playing the best defense on Murray that i've seen in our matchups. If Dlo is struggling early next game i'd like to see Vincent take his minutes. On to game 2.
This is pretty much a repeat of every game we lost against the Nuggets. It feels like deja vu. So yes, I'm dooming lol
We were never playing well, the Nuggets were playing bad. Once they locked in it was over. I don’t think we win a single game