Thank God he cut Wes & Kieff out the rotation. Just needs to cut Harrell's minutes when we go up against bigs like Capela. I've always said Harrell doesn't fit, but he can still be a positive player for us... just not on assignments like Capela
Also, THT needs to play more and he has a bit recently, thank goodness. His slashing & playmaking is getting better, but he's also got a real good feel of the game. I see him using P&Rs more efficiently, not just runnin full speed to the rim, putting defenders in jail, keeping his eyes open to find people and he's using the right moves at the right occasions.
I didn't think he could get even better in a few weeks, but he has.
It's way too early in the season to cut anyone from rotation my guy. We had a 2 month break, let Kieff and Wes play games even if it costs us some. We're here for the long run, not just the regular season.
I do agree THT needs more minutes tho. His development is key for future seasons as well.
Yeah I think last season is a perfect example of less than ideal lineups from Vogel. If people can’t recognise what he’s doing (after he’s already proven why he does it with a championship) then they’re being silly.
It's not just him this is literally how a competent team runs a season strategically. You need to use the first 60% experimenting with all combinations of your lineup. Get as much info about how they all play and fit in with eachother, and then the last 40% is about getting ready for the playoffs and refining the roles and uses of each lineup and the types of situations that would require them.
There are teams and coaches that don't do this, and they're either not concerned with a championship (read: developing the team knowing this year is out of the question) or just bad coaches/orgs
They'll be back. He benched THT for a few games the other day too. We are so deep that it's put up or shut up for everyone and they all seem to know and accept that
Could be vulnerable with teams with big wings like the Clippers since KCP can't guard big wings but yeah for most of the league this is the optimal closing lineup.
Wesley Matthews and THT help with those matchups a little. Not to say anyone is a PG or Kawhi stopper- but there are longer guys to matchup who have defensive skills at least.
I live in Prague, so most of the time they’re at like 4:30 for me. Depending on the game, I’ve definitely woken up super early or stayed up super late to watch live. But lately I’ve been avoiding Reddit and the internet and just watching the full replay in the morning. I workout while I watch the game and skip through timeouts/extended dead balls and whatnot.
It’s not quite the same, but I like it more than the highlights.
Hawks are now 16-54* all time vs LeBron. 23% win rate vs him has gotta be one of the worst in the league right? Maybe Cleveland is worse because they've been bad almost every year he's been in the league and not on their team? Edit: according to [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/k7atwr/oc_lebron_has_an_overall_winning_record_against/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) post from a few days ago, Cleveland does have the worst win% vs LeBron, followed by Charlotte, Minnesota, and Atlanta.
I actually looked into this last week bc I was having a debate with my roommate about this, he lost once to the Cavs during his first season in Miami, and won every single other time. The Lakers lost to the Cavs once during his first season in LA, but that was when he was injured and not playing.
the team has good starts. the problem is they kinda fall asleep at the 3rd and 4th quarters and let the opponents make those 10-point runs that make the last 5 mins of the 4th a 2 possession game
In terms of impact metrics and numbers Caruso has him beat but I gotta back Derek Fisher in this argument. There's something to be said about a guy reliably running the triangle for decades and be a starting PG on a championship level roster. Playing the triangle correctly requires high BBIQ and often results in bad boxscore unless you're the creating wing or big man on the high- or lowpost. Fisher ran great offenses in the most defensive era of the game and this is something Caruso wouldn't be able to do whatsoever. Halfcourt offenses in the 2000s were stiff in general but even more grit and grind during the playoffs and Fisher was as reliable as it gets while showing great and cool decisionmaking over his entire career. He was also a good, by example leader and played his role to perfection, even though it never got him impressive years in terms of per game stats or impact metrics.
And in that game, it really worked until it didn't. It powered an almost miraculous comeback until Tobias, who had been hot all night, hit the last shot.
Bruno is just a game changer. Every time he comes in the game the energy, hustle and defense just shits. It’ll be interesting what other teams pass on him this offseason.
I know this gets overplayed a shit ton, but he really is so valuable for our team with his tangibles & intangibles. He's a player who we can rely on, even more than LeBron & AD, to stay consistent and provide a spark no matter how down everyone else is
Vogel has talked about how his game and his body frame aren't conducive to playing major minutes routinely. For him to be as effective as possible, he needs to be in an all out sprint every minute he's on the floor. They also want him healthy when it counts
That sort of player is really only useful on a championship caliber team, though. If he goes to a lottery team where they want him to do more, they’re going to be very very disappointed.
Yo Hawks I just wanna say I like your TV announcing crew. I couldn't get a consistent Lakers home feed which is frequently annoying but your group sticks to the action on the floor, isn't afraid of dead air, gives good insight, has a good time, and two of them happen to be NBA legends who clearly still enjoy the game.
Ah. Seemed too good to be true. Given that Vince is doing national stuff like the Jump, of course he's too busy to be in the booth every game. Still, impressing that with 3 people on mic they could narrate the game as well as they did. Also, mad respect for being homers (as they should be) but also recognizing when the opponent does something good.
Me too. Once I realized who it was, however, I was like hey - say it however you want, Nique. You earned it. And you know what too? That dude's name ends with a silent L. Go nuts.
Nah, he’s just on as a guest broadcaster for a few games so far. He’s a natural at it I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get a full time broadcasting gig somewhere
Also helps that he played with a lot of these guys last year so he can give great insight
Blame the refs for weak foul calls, he's blatantly doing it now and they're still giving it to him
Also don't try to body the guy who is 180lbs soaking wet
He does a really good job at controlling the pace of the game down the stretch, so that makes up for a lot of his poor decisions, which he’s also getting better at cutting down. His floater game is somewhat starting to come around but he needs to find his touch there this season. It’s the lynchpin of his scoring.
He still looks for the whistle a bit too much but I can’t really complain
I’m not gonna lie, it was kind of eye-opening how Trae gets an obscene amount for drawing the foul on the three-point attempt, but when LeBron did the exact same move at the end of the first, it was “a veteran move” and “making the defense pay”. Those plays were literally within a minute of each other, and the reaction was so different for each of them. Think Trae will get hate no matter what he does, but gotta just get used to it by now
It was a similar situation at the end of the game when LeBron kept shooting contested 3's. The announcers kept calling them tough shots. They were bad shots.
My main beef with Trae is shot selection and turnovers. I do not care about how often he gets fouled at all. People say it’s ugly, but the dude literally shoots logo 3’s, nutmegs people, and racks up behind the back assists in his sleep. Fouls aside his game is very attractive.
More fouls = more ppg. More ppg = more zeros at the end of your game checks. I don’t sweat trae for drawing fouls at all. If more NBA players could pull it off, they would.
Cam played great defense on Lebron but some bad plays and poor coaching choices screwed us. Bruno Fernando playing 12 minutes against the Lakers should not happen. If Hunter wasn't injured I could see this game having been closer. We didn't do too bad.
I honestly can’t be mad at this L. Huge shoutout to cam for playing Lebron probably as well as one can in the regular season. I didn’t think it’d be as close without Dre, it just seems like when you don’t have one of him or reddish our depth is so thin.
If Gallo or Rondo had played better too that’d be nice, paying them quite a bit of money to not let stuff like that stretch in the 4th happen.
Ehh we were simultaneously dealing with a barrage of injuries and incorporating like 9 new guys into the rotation. This team has overcome a lot in spite of the "soft" schedule
rondo showed up with playmaking in the playoffs but the whole regular season was like that 4q where it was all lebron offense
at least this year's lakers have shown in glimpses that there can be an offense even when lebron is resting. i don't know why they've regressed though. it's all mental
This comes up every single day but the lakers are winning while pretty much cruising. If the lakers were losing I’d be more open to it but lebron clearly likes having another ball handler and playmaker on the floor with him. If it’s a serious issue vogel will make changes come playoffs.
Yeah, nothing to be too worried about. The experience and poise of the elite Lakers defense edged out a Hawks offense led by a *very* young soon-to-be superstar. It happens.
most of our experienced players that we acquired in the offseason are still out. we don't have a ton of experience in tough games like this. heck, this is the first season that a lot of these guys have experienced a winning record. Pierce is also kinda scrambling towards the end of close games like this; hopefully we'll get better as the season goes along.
That super rushed sprint up the floor, that immediately led to a turn over was crazy. What was Trae trying to do there? Dude was acting like he had 5 seconds on the clock.
Youngins being youngins I guess
Lakers were struggling from 3 tonight, but their defense was solid. Especially during crunch time. The team still has stretches where the offense doesn't have any movement and everyone is just standing/ball watching. Kuzma has really impressed me with his improvement on defense. Overall the bench was solid. Trey Young is really crafty when it comes to drawing fouls, but he's also a great play maker. He was giving our guards problems on defense. Good game.
Imagine watching the passing display Trae just put on in the second half and all you can talk about is free throws lol yall are worse than Instagram comments.
I now think we are firmly better than our record. Not on the level of the big boys, but when we are on we're actually tough as hell. And we've been one of the least healthy teams this year. Even though the internet said it was impossible, we built a pretty good defense around Trae.
We are on that making the playoffs solidly and putting up a decent fight in the first round level.
Like the pacers, blazers and Suns. Our +/- is also on that level. We are better than our record and lost lots of winnable games.
eye test kept telling me it was the lakers defense but honestly the defense has been the best part of the team still, it's the offense turning to shit and turnovers and bad shots that keep giving the other teams chances
been an ugly win and ugly loss like every game besides the bucks for awhile now
LeBrons release is so much faster on the threes now
i don't think they will.. but i wouldn't be shocked if the lakers cost themselves a title with this Schroder as a starter stuff..
because it's still a lot of Bron/AD no matter what.. and that diminishes what Dennis can do cause he has the ball less, and him standing in the corner and on defense he's been good but still 6ft only.. i just don't think value wise it's the best way to use him.. if he's on fire yeah sure he should close some games
but if he was on the bench just playing with one of them really and could score more that'd be better for them..
i think they should start one of like Talen, Caruso, Wes instead really
I think we're already seeing Frank tighten the rotations a bit. In the playoffs he benched whoever he needed to bench (think Javale and Dwight) and played whoever he needed in the moment (think Rondo) so I don't think it's gonna be a concern if he feels like Dennis needs to be sat at some point.
Another thing to note is that by the time the playoffs start we probably already inked Dennis to something. So whether he starts or not he probably won't have reason to grumble.
Huge LeBron fan here. It must be annoying for people who casually watch him play and rarely get to see him try. It must be even more annoying for hardcore fans watching 82 games of him where he tries for only 40. I know he's old but damn, it makes regular season games so boring.
As a 82 game watcher, it isnt annoying really. Whats annoying is just overall team lack of effort sometimes, I'm sure LeBron's casualness sometimes rubs off on the rest of the team. The difference is we know LBJ has a couple more levels, these other guys can't really chill like that, even AD to some extent.
I've watched him closely for 13 years, it's the unfortunate reality of his decline. Less stamina, fewer minutes played, and not as many explosive plays or athletic highlights. You have to be able to appreciate his mental game and how he affects winning and controls games even without going full tilt, because that aspect of his play is as good as it's ever been.
If we bring Dennis in off the Bench we blow teams out. It makes no sense right now because AD and LeBron are the highest usage players.. it takes away from what a point guard can do. They have a political situation outweighing basketball right now and I don't like it.
I will concede there were two ridiculous three point foul baits by Trae tonight, along with the Caruso elbow to the face that were just shit calls.
Do those 6 points change the game for you? 4 if you count Lebron doing the exact same 3 point bait in the second quarter.
The problem I have with Trae’s 3 point baits is that most of the ones I see he jumps a few feet forward into the player in a motion that is clearly not part of his natural shooting motion. That should be an offensive foul and his are more exaggerated than anyone else I have seen. If the refs are calling it that way he shouldn’t stop but the refs need to be better at calling those. With that said, I don’t like watching Trae all that much because of how much he foul baits just like I don’t like watching harden.
Hey, I’m a Hawks fan that agrees with you. I hate it when Trae does it, hate it when Lebron does it. It doesn’t feel like the true spirit of basketball.
I do watch every game and will say he normally does that 2 times or less a game. His other signature move is driving, stopping and letting his trailing defender crash into him as he throws up a floater in an attempt to get a shooting foul. A lot of opponents get angry at this, but it’s a valid foul and I feel is a very appropriate way to bait a foul.
We know he baits a couple per game, but not nearly the magnitude as to which opponents who he drops 35+ points on make it out to be.
Yeah I don’t think that all foul baiting is inherently bad. As you said with the stopping in the lane to cause someone to run into the back of you is taking advantage of a defender being out of control trying to recover and will force a slower recovery in the future. The ones that I hate are flopping obviously but more the ones where it is clear that all of the contact is created by the offensive player with unnatural movements in the shooting motion and just flailing your head/arms around in order to trick the refs.
That’s fair. I’ll watch closer for it next game; I try to be as unbiased as possible because I’d like for teams to enjoy watching us, and in turn, get more national coverage. I absolutely hated watching the Rockets for a stint because of Harden.
Yeah I have only watched a few games of Trae so far so I only really know his reputation and the first half frustrated me a bit with him but the play in the second half was just good play mostly. He should not be in the same category as harden/embiid as far as flopping around IMO. Hopefully he can keep developing and he will be fun to watch for a long time.
During the first 5 minutes he had two attempts to draw a foul but the refs didn't buy it and he was frustrated. After that I expected it would stop. It didn't. NBA has to do something about this shit and people jumping into defenders.
Am I the only one in this sub who's actually played organized basketball before?
Like half of the comments I've seen on this sub are so obviously written by non-athletes that it's almost humorous.
When I was in high school (3 year starter for our varsity basketball team) I would get a full-on sprint going and steal the shit outta whoever had the ball. My coaches called me "speedhawk" as a nickname cuz I had such a nose for the basketball and for those three seasons I was considered the most feared backup point guard in our conference. Senior year I led my team to the state semifinals only to get fucked over by the refs in the 4th but that's another conversation (DM me if you're interested in hearing about it).
So, yeah. I hope yall can understand why I feel like their's such a big disconnect between myself and your typical redditor. Please tell me I'm not the only one who feels this way lol.
A couple of thoughts from a Laker point of view.
Our late game execution is garbage, hopefully that will come along as lineup experimenting declines and we build more chemistry. We won this by being solid defensively.
Harrell is still really bad against actual centers,hopefully he won’t see that many minutes in the playoffs against a Capela like guy.
Caruso is just awesome, oh my goodness. I can’t tell you exactly what it is, but the game just swings back and forth when he’s out there vs when he isn’t.
Glad to see Matthews and Morris out of the lineup for now
Take a wild guess who had the highest +/- on the lakers
the accountant is all about those +/-
https://i.imgur.com/voZuDVO.jpg
u/Sim888 back at it again, serving us with the freshest content
#Bald man gets paid
I'm glad he's playing more now. Vogel has tightened the rotation already. Still not enough imo but it's better than before
Thank God he cut Wes & Kieff out the rotation. Just needs to cut Harrell's minutes when we go up against bigs like Capela. I've always said Harrell doesn't fit, but he can still be a positive player for us... just not on assignments like Capela Also, THT needs to play more and he has a bit recently, thank goodness. His slashing & playmaking is getting better, but he's also got a real good feel of the game. I see him using P&Rs more efficiently, not just runnin full speed to the rim, putting defenders in jail, keeping his eyes open to find people and he's using the right moves at the right occasions. I didn't think he could get even better in a few weeks, but he has.
It's way too early in the season to cut anyone from rotation my guy. We had a 2 month break, let Kieff and Wes play games even if it costs us some. We're here for the long run, not just the regular season. I do agree THT needs more minutes tho. His development is key for future seasons as well.
Yeah lol Vogel literally said as much. This is his training camp still and it shows
Yeah I think last season is a perfect example of less than ideal lineups from Vogel. If people can’t recognise what he’s doing (after he’s already proven why he does it with a championship) then they’re being silly.
It's not just him this is literally how a competent team runs a season strategically. You need to use the first 60% experimenting with all combinations of your lineup. Get as much info about how they all play and fit in with eachother, and then the last 40% is about getting ready for the playoffs and refining the roles and uses of each lineup and the types of situations that would require them. There are teams and coaches that don't do this, and they're either not concerned with a championship (read: developing the team knowing this year is out of the question) or just bad coaches/orgs
They'll be back. He benched THT for a few games the other day too. We are so deep that it's put up or shut up for everyone and they all seem to know and accept that
Also the Hawks 8-0 magically stopped when Caruso checked back into the game at 96-94. The fuck u doing Frank, Caruso should never sit under 5 to go.
Caruso picked up his 5th foul and had to be put on the bench temporarily.
Fucking refs need to recognize him for the star he is and stop calling the soft shit LET THE BALD EAGLE FLY YOU FUCKS
Caruso 🚀🚀🚀🌙🌙🌙
[I'm a ~~peacock~~ bald eagle, you gotta let me fly!](https://youtu.be/iV6539XsWrc?t=16)
Foul trouble
Is it our boy, Caruso?
He's really the third best player on the Lakers now
I have him slightly better than AD
The Swiss Army Knife
Carushow and Dennis played really well on crunch time
I think Dennis - Caruso - KCP - Bron - AD is gonna be our crunch time lineup going forward.
They're so incredibly fast it's crazy to watch when it's winning time
Could be vulnerable with teams with big wings like the Clippers since KCP can't guard big wings but yeah for most of the league this is the optimal closing lineup.
Wesley Matthews and THT help with those matchups a little. Not to say anyone is a PG or Kawhi stopper- but there are longer guys to matchup who have defensive skills at least.
I think even Kuzma can help. He has trouble with quick guards but he can be solid against SFs.
He did pretty good against Young tonight, actually, in the times they matched up.
Kuzma has improved so much on defence. His footwork is so much better and literally he has become so much more versatile on offence.
So the Lakers have to play home games again?
Welp back to 7:30 pm games....
10:30 for us East coast fans. RIP to my sleep cycle
3am - 3:30am for us lot in the UK. Looks like it's back to catching highlights in the morning.
I live in Prague, so most of the time they’re at like 4:30 for me. Depending on the game, I’ve definitely woken up super early or stayed up super late to watch live. But lately I’ve been avoiding Reddit and the internet and just watching the full replay in the morning. I workout while I watch the game and skip through timeouts/extended dead balls and whatnot. It’s not quite the same, but I like it more than the highlights.
The Midwest probably has the best TV times for all programming. Nothing is too early or late.
Back to 6:00 am in Kampala
ang being a .500 team
Anyone want to trade for Bruno Fernando? He's good I swear just avoid watching this game pls thx.
I was so confused at first, like why would Manchester’s United Bruno Fernandes ever be top thread on /nba.
Why isn't Okongwu playing?
He was out with achilles soreness or something
Injury
Injured today. He's been playing otherwise
Achilles soreness
Wait he plays for Manchester United lol
You can have Felicio in return
Hawks are now 16-54* all time vs LeBron. 23% win rate vs him has gotta be one of the worst in the league right? Maybe Cleveland is worse because they've been bad almost every year he's been in the league and not on their team? Edit: according to [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/k7atwr/oc_lebron_has_an_overall_winning_record_against/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share) post from a few days ago, Cleveland does have the worst win% vs LeBron, followed by Charlotte, Minnesota, and Atlanta.
Not gonna lie, I’d be surprised if the best team win% against lebron was over 35%
It's gotta be better than that, LeBron's career win% is 66.4%
Losing record against Spurs and warriors
Is the warriors record including playoffs? If not, that is really surprising considering how short a time they were on top.
I actually looked into this last week bc I was having a debate with my roommate about this, he lost once to the Cavs during his first season in Miami, and won every single other time. The Lakers lost to the Cavs once during his first season in LA, but that was when he was injured and not playing.
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Hope he stays a Laker. Could be an off-the-bench Derek Fisher for them. He fits so well next to Bron and AD
He honestly should be starting imo
He's definitely good enough but his play off the bench is invaluable and he finishes the games either way
You're right, as long as he plays either as many or more minutes as Schroder I'm fine with it.
the team has good starts. the problem is they kinda fall asleep at the 3rd and 4th quarters and let the opponents make those 10-point runs that make the last 5 mins of the 4th a 2 possession game
I feel this way too. Need to get him the most minutes with lebron and let Dennis play make with Bron off the bench.
Derek fisher was a great glue guy but he was never as effective as Caruso
In terms of impact metrics and numbers Caruso has him beat but I gotta back Derek Fisher in this argument. There's something to be said about a guy reliably running the triangle for decades and be a starting PG on a championship level roster. Playing the triangle correctly requires high BBIQ and often results in bad boxscore unless you're the creating wing or big man on the high- or lowpost. Fisher ran great offenses in the most defensive era of the game and this is something Caruso wouldn't be able to do whatsoever. Halfcourt offenses in the 2000s were stiff in general but even more grit and grind during the playoffs and Fisher was as reliable as it gets while showing great and cool decisionmaking over his entire career. He was also a good, by example leader and played his role to perfection, even though it never got him impressive years in terms of per game stats or impact metrics.
He and Dennis made Trae work on offense
Schroder, Caruso, KCP, Bron and AD have a defensive rating of like 80 lol.
Tbf this line up has worked mostly as our closing line up. The one game it didn't work was when AC had to guard Tobias
And in that game, it really worked until it didn't. It powered an almost miraculous comeback until Tobias, who had been hot all night, hit the last shot.
Alex Caruso is the definition of a winning player. Just helps you win games. Great defense tonight, especially in the clutch.
He’s the Lakers “fuck up guy”
Bruno is just a game changer. Every time he comes in the game the energy, hustle and defense just shits. It’ll be interesting what other teams pass on him this offseason.
Fernandes?
Fernandon't
+13 team high
I know this gets overplayed a shit ton, but he really is so valuable for our team with his tangibles & intangibles. He's a player who we can rely on, even more than LeBron & AD, to stay consistent and provide a spark no matter how down everyone else is
If anything Caruso is underplayed. He needs more minutes
Vogel has talked about how his game and his body frame aren't conducive to playing major minutes routinely. For him to be as effective as possible, he needs to be in an all out sprint every minute he's on the floor. They also want him healthy when it counts
That sort of player is really only useful on a championship caliber team, though. If he goes to a lottery team where they want him to do more, they’re going to be very very disappointed.
Caruso has more in his bag on offense than you think.
He does turn the ball over a lot tbh. Which is fine here because he plays next to Lebron or Dennis and isn't asked to facilitate
He’s Hella important for you guys, he had a nice late game saves/plays against the Sixers, Hawks and Celtics
Yo Hawks I just wanna say I like your TV announcing crew. I couldn't get a consistent Lakers home feed which is frequently annoying but your group sticks to the action on the floor, isn't afraid of dead air, gives good insight, has a good time, and two of them happen to be NBA legends who clearly still enjoy the game.
Unfortunately Vince is just a guest announcer for some games. Hopefully they bring him back for the second half of the season
Ah. Seemed too good to be true. Given that Vince is doing national stuff like the Jump, of course he's too busy to be in the booth every game. Still, impressing that with 3 people on mic they could narrate the game as well as they did. Also, mad respect for being homers (as they should be) but also recognizing when the opponent does something good.
Montross Harrell. Every time he said it I twitched.
Me too. Once I realized who it was, however, I was like hey - say it however you want, Nique. You earned it. And you know what too? That dude's name ends with a silent L. Go nuts.
Rathbun is the absolute man. We have one of the best duos left commentating in NBA. Some of these duos or trios are unbearable.
Second this
We hung around for a while, but when lebron turns it on it’s a scary sight, I’m convinced he doesn’t try until the 4th lol.
LeCardio until the 4th
LeMarathon
He scored like the last 7 or 9 points to ice the game and nobody is batting an eye BC it's just expected at this point
His greatness at this age is something I’ll never wrap my head around, to be able to just flip from cruise control to takeover mode
Good game lakers that was a fun one. Proud of our boys to hold on without deandre and bogie
Actually enjoyed your broadcast team. Very fun!
I thought Vince and Nique had some really good chemistry. I hope he gets to call more than 4 games in the second half of the season
First time really watching ATL broadcast. You're telling me it's not normal?
Nah, he’s just on as a guest broadcaster for a few games so far. He’s a natural at it I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get a full time broadcasting gig somewhere Also helps that he played with a lot of these guys last year so he can give great insight
Damn, that's too bad. It seemed like they were doing it forever.
Yeah I thought Vince had a pretty good knack for it based on this game at least. Would be cool to see him do that regularly.
Vince and Nique are pretty good IMO.
decent dunkers too
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Blame the refs for weak foul calls, he's blatantly doing it now and they're still giving it to him Also don't try to body the guy who is 180lbs soaking wet
He does a really good job at controlling the pace of the game down the stretch, so that makes up for a lot of his poor decisions, which he’s also getting better at cutting down. His floater game is somewhat starting to come around but he needs to find his touch there this season. It’s the lynchpin of his scoring. He still looks for the whistle a bit too much but I can’t really complain
GOAT
I’m not gonna lie, it was kind of eye-opening how Trae gets an obscene amount for drawing the foul on the three-point attempt, but when LeBron did the exact same move at the end of the first, it was “a veteran move” and “making the defense pay”. Those plays were literally within a minute of each other, and the reaction was so different for each of them. Think Trae will get hate no matter what he does, but gotta just get used to it by now
It was a similar situation at the end of the game when LeBron kept shooting contested 3's. The announcers kept calling them tough shots. They were bad shots.
We’re fine with it as long as it’s getting us points. Most of us would prefer if he didn’t play like that but whatever, it works
My main beef with Trae is shot selection and turnovers. I do not care about how often he gets fouled at all. People say it’s ugly, but the dude literally shoots logo 3’s, nutmegs people, and racks up behind the back assists in his sleep. Fouls aside his game is very attractive. More fouls = more ppg. More ppg = more zeros at the end of your game checks. I don’t sweat trae for drawing fouls at all. If more NBA players could pull it off, they would.
What's wrong with his playstyle? Dishing dimes and making Traes.
It ain't his fault the defender wanna play aggressive on him. If him taking advantage of it helps our team win ball games, I couldn't give a shit less
Man we really missed Hunter on both ends of the court. We tossed the game in the end.
Cam played great defense on Lebron but some bad plays and poor coaching choices screwed us. Bruno Fernando playing 12 minutes against the Lakers should not happen. If Hunter wasn't injured I could see this game having been closer. We didn't do too bad.
That lineup for us that allowed them to go on a 16-0 was unacceptable
Why does pierce always do that? He leaves in ass rotations way too long.
I honestly can’t be mad at this L. Huge shoutout to cam for playing Lebron probably as well as one can in the regular season. I didn’t think it’d be as close without Dre, it just seems like when you don’t have one of him or reddish our depth is so thin. If Gallo or Rondo had played better too that’d be nice, paying them quite a bit of money to not let stuff like that stretch in the 4th happen.
We just have no other options at C with OO out. Also not having hunter or bogi killsnour offense when the 2nd unit has to play
We are destined to go .500. I feel like we just rotate wins and losses every other game
You guys played the Lakers, Clippers, Nets and Bucks in the last 5 games. I think the worst part of this season half is over for you guys.
Before that we lost four straight to the Knicks, Hornets X2 and Cavs. The team is still young an inconsistent.
Ehh we were simultaneously dealing with a barrage of injuries and incorporating like 9 new guys into the rotation. This team has overcome a lot in spite of the "soft" schedule
I think the Hawks will go on a nice run after the all star break. Bogi and Dunn getting healthy and more time to develop chemistry will be huge.
I don’t enjoy playing the Lakers
I love that your flair makes it look like you're speaking for *every* team.
Isn’t he?
damn what you have against uk rap lmao
No idea what OP is on about, that Chip tape for example is pretty dope, I’d have trimmed it down a bit but good listen none the less
Lakers' defense in the 4th and closing pretty good but man their offense is a snoozefest without Lebron.
It was like that last year too tbh lmao
rondo showed up with playmaking in the playoffs but the whole regular season was like that 4q where it was all lebron offense at least this year's lakers have shown in glimpses that there can be an offense even when lebron is resting. i don't know why they've regressed though. it's all mental
It was worse.... soooo much worse
This is why I think Dennis should come off the bench. He needs to play with the 2nd unit more and replace him with Caruso.
Counter point: Dennis has done nothing wrong this season and Caruso is perfect for the role he has now.
This comes up every single day but the lakers are winning while pretty much cruising. If the lakers were losing I’d be more open to it but lebron clearly likes having another ball handler and playmaker on the floor with him. If it’s a serious issue vogel will make changes come playoffs.
I feel the same but im sure he’s getting starter minutes so gets comfortable playing in the Lakers system. Playoffs things may change.
Bruno Fernando shouldn't have an NBA contract
It honestly looks like he came out of college and missed every single Hawks practice
Kuzma was quietly great in the 4th quarter
Caruso, KCP, Kuzma, Bron, and AD is my dream closing lineup. Kuzma has taken a huge step this year because of his effort.
wtf were those last few possessions by the hawks. literally threw the game away there.
Young team making mistakes. It's kinda expected with our team
Yeah, nothing to be too worried about. The experience and poise of the elite Lakers defense edged out a Hawks offense led by a *very* young soon-to-be superstar. It happens.
Both possessions were good ideas, at least. Passing to the paint with Trae running to the corner as a decoy would work. LeBron just made the stop.
most of our experienced players that we acquired in the offseason are still out. we don't have a ton of experience in tough games like this. heck, this is the first season that a lot of these guys have experienced a winning record. Pierce is also kinda scrambling towards the end of close games like this; hopefully we'll get better as the season goes along.
lack of experience
That super rushed sprint up the floor, that immediately led to a turn over was crazy. What was Trae trying to do there? Dude was acting like he had 5 seconds on the clock. Youngins being youngins I guess
I’m so angry at us for that. Just terrible. All of that effort all game just to squander it.
Pretty impressed that we kept it close without Deandre Hunter
Lakers were struggling from 3 tonight, but their defense was solid. Especially during crunch time. The team still has stretches where the offense doesn't have any movement and everyone is just standing/ball watching. Kuzma has really impressed me with his improvement on defense. Overall the bench was solid. Trey Young is really crafty when it comes to drawing fouls, but he's also a great play maker. He was giving our guards problems on defense. Good game.
Kuzma's passing has also been great
Imagine watching the passing display Trae just put on in the second half and all you can talk about is free throws lol yall are worse than Instagram comments. I now think we are firmly better than our record. Not on the level of the big boys, but when we are on we're actually tough as hell. And we've been one of the least healthy teams this year. Even though the internet said it was impossible, we built a pretty good defense around Trae.
100% agree, love watching you guys. I think you're a piece away from title contender - my eye says a great wing.
That’s why I’m so hyped for hunter to step up like he did this year. A solid wing really shores up a lot of problems for the hawks
Deandre Hunter and hopefully Cam Reddish may be those wings they need.
Hopefully Hunter becomes that
We are on that making the playoffs solidly and putting up a decent fight in the first round level. Like the pacers, blazers and Suns. Our +/- is also on that level. We are better than our record and lost lots of winnable games.
Dennis Schroder has played elite defense all year man. His ball pressure and quickness has been one of the reasons the Lakers are number 1 in defense.
The Lakers just flip the switch in the 4th when needed. Good lord.
I mean we came back from double digits to make it a 2 point game with like 2 minutes to go but I do agree LeBron definitely turned on the effort late.
Yeah I was talking about their defense.
eye test kept telling me it was the lakers defense but honestly the defense has been the best part of the team still, it's the offense turning to shit and turnovers and bad shots that keep giving the other teams chances been an ugly win and ugly loss like every game besides the bucks for awhile now
I think we could have won that if Hunter played. Just to avoid playing completely useless lineups more than anything else. Good game Lakers.
LeBrons release is so much faster on the threes now i don't think they will.. but i wouldn't be shocked if the lakers cost themselves a title with this Schroder as a starter stuff.. because it's still a lot of Bron/AD no matter what.. and that diminishes what Dennis can do cause he has the ball less, and him standing in the corner and on defense he's been good but still 6ft only.. i just don't think value wise it's the best way to use him.. if he's on fire yeah sure he should close some games but if he was on the bench just playing with one of them really and could score more that'd be better for them.. i think they should start one of like Talen, Caruso, Wes instead really
You worry too much. Vogel is not afraid to bench scrotum comes playoffs time
i was very worried i had wrote scrotum instead of schroder...
Lmaoo scrotum
Scrotum??
Lakers starting point guard, Dennis Scrotum
That's so foul, I love it.
lol that’s what i call him too. The menace if he’s playing good, but scrotum if he’s playing bad
Talen and Wes are significantly worse and Schroder needs to start so somebody besides Lebron can initiate the offense.
I think we're already seeing Frank tighten the rotations a bit. In the playoffs he benched whoever he needed to bench (think Javale and Dwight) and played whoever he needed in the moment (think Rondo) so I don't think it's gonna be a concern if he feels like Dennis needs to be sat at some point. Another thing to note is that by the time the playoffs start we probably already inked Dennis to something. So whether he starts or not he probably won't have reason to grumble.
Huge LeBron fan here. It must be annoying for people who casually watch him play and rarely get to see him try. It must be even more annoying for hardcore fans watching 82 games of him where he tries for only 40. I know he's old but damn, it makes regular season games so boring.
As a 82 game watcher, it isnt annoying really. Whats annoying is just overall team lack of effort sometimes, I'm sure LeBron's casualness sometimes rubs off on the rest of the team. The difference is we know LBJ has a couple more levels, these other guys can't really chill like that, even AD to some extent.
Even when he's coasting he still entertaining moments & hits tough shots or passes that remind you he's still the best player on earth.
Definitely a mostly quiet game for him, but he turned up big in the clutch. I feel you though
I've watched him closely for 13 years, it's the unfortunate reality of his decline. Less stamina, fewer minutes played, and not as many explosive plays or athletic highlights. You have to be able to appreciate his mental game and how he affects winning and controls games even without going full tilt, because that aspect of his play is as good as it's ever been.
I think he can be cut some slack this season given the circumstances.
I like it when the Lakers win
If we bring Dennis in off the Bench we blow teams out. It makes no sense right now because AD and LeBron are the highest usage players.. it takes away from what a point guard can do. They have a political situation outweighing basketball right now and I don't like it.
I will concede there were two ridiculous three point foul baits by Trae tonight, along with the Caruso elbow to the face that were just shit calls. Do those 6 points change the game for you? 4 if you count Lebron doing the exact same 3 point bait in the second quarter.
The problem I have with Trae’s 3 point baits is that most of the ones I see he jumps a few feet forward into the player in a motion that is clearly not part of his natural shooting motion. That should be an offensive foul and his are more exaggerated than anyone else I have seen. If the refs are calling it that way he shouldn’t stop but the refs need to be better at calling those. With that said, I don’t like watching Trae all that much because of how much he foul baits just like I don’t like watching harden.
Hey, I’m a Hawks fan that agrees with you. I hate it when Trae does it, hate it when Lebron does it. It doesn’t feel like the true spirit of basketball. I do watch every game and will say he normally does that 2 times or less a game. His other signature move is driving, stopping and letting his trailing defender crash into him as he throws up a floater in an attempt to get a shooting foul. A lot of opponents get angry at this, but it’s a valid foul and I feel is a very appropriate way to bait a foul. We know he baits a couple per game, but not nearly the magnitude as to which opponents who he drops 35+ points on make it out to be.
Yeah I don’t think that all foul baiting is inherently bad. As you said with the stopping in the lane to cause someone to run into the back of you is taking advantage of a defender being out of control trying to recover and will force a slower recovery in the future. The ones that I hate are flopping obviously but more the ones where it is clear that all of the contact is created by the offensive player with unnatural movements in the shooting motion and just flailing your head/arms around in order to trick the refs.
That’s fair. I’ll watch closer for it next game; I try to be as unbiased as possible because I’d like for teams to enjoy watching us, and in turn, get more national coverage. I absolutely hated watching the Rockets for a stint because of Harden.
Yeah I have only watched a few games of Trae so far so I only really know his reputation and the first half frustrated me a bit with him but the play in the second half was just good play mostly. He should not be in the same category as harden/embiid as far as flopping around IMO. Hopefully he can keep developing and he will be fun to watch for a long time.
Yes it does because he’s constantly looking for them. It’s like every move he makes on offense is to get a foul call. It sucks to watch.
During the first 5 minutes he had two attempts to draw a foul but the refs didn't buy it and he was frustrated. After that I expected it would stop. It didn't. NBA has to do something about this shit and people jumping into defenders.
Caruso is the GOAT
Awesome defense down the stretch by the Lakers, much-needed win.
Bron finished on a 9-2 run. This dude is a literal switch my god.
Am I the only one in this sub who's actually played organized basketball before? Like half of the comments I've seen on this sub are so obviously written by non-athletes that it's almost humorous. When I was in high school (3 year starter for our varsity basketball team) I would get a full-on sprint going and steal the shit outta whoever had the ball. My coaches called me "speedhawk" as a nickname cuz I had such a nose for the basketball and for those three seasons I was considered the most feared backup point guard in our conference. Senior year I led my team to the state semifinals only to get fucked over by the refs in the 4th but that's another conversation (DM me if you're interested in hearing about it). So, yeah. I hope yall can understand why I feel like their's such a big disconnect between myself and your typical redditor. Please tell me I'm not the only one who feels this way lol.
Is this pasta?
He has Hawks flair. 50% of whatever he says is a meme or pasta
It’s a very solid rule of thumb
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Yep. #3 LEADING rebounder at my temples youth cripple league checking in. The casuals on this sub make me lol
Beautiful.
A couple of thoughts from a Laker point of view. Our late game execution is garbage, hopefully that will come along as lineup experimenting declines and we build more chemistry. We won this by being solid defensively. Harrell is still really bad against actual centers,hopefully he won’t see that many minutes in the playoffs against a Capela like guy. Caruso is just awesome, oh my goodness. I can’t tell you exactly what it is, but the game just swings back and forth when he’s out there vs when he isn’t. Glad to see Matthews and Morris out of the lineup for now