LeBron James with his first 20 point game this season vs Clippers: 25 PTS, 6 ASTS, 6 REBS
Coming off the injury, his playmaking is still there and hes putting up decent points as well
Box Score: https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401809801
Easiest 25 pts of his life.
Feels like he could go for more but he falls back
Yeah he barely tried the last 8-9mins of the game. Just let Luka and AR run the show and said I’m here if you need me.
That’s great, because hopefully by time we get to the playoffs LeBron won’t be worn out
Let granpa coast
Gramps still got it
He was so close to 27-7-7
LeTease
Luka too
Could have a Luka trip dub and a lebron 27/7/7
He just needed one more layup and then another assist and rebound
No way this is true
Tried it with a crumpled ball of paper and a trash can. Couldn’t replicate it, the can burst into flames.
That’s undeniably true
If he decreases productivity 1fg 1r 1a each year, he might retire in like 7 years. Slacker bum.
Played completely in the flow of the offense
that’s the most impressive part for me, he’s not forcing anything. defense is starting to come along tol
First half was I honestly think a lot of the defensive struggles is his athleticism and endurance coming back.
He has great switches, good positioning, but once people start moving fast he misses a step.
I know many will say it’s his age, but as someone who has had sciatica, and had to come back for a collegiate track season, I feel it’s more that.
People who haven’t had it don’t know how much trust you lose in your legs after sciatica.
The shots are already starting to fall. But lebron will take some time to remember what his body can do. Sciatica is no joke, makes you wuestion every movement you make.
For a guy at lebron’s level, I have no doubt it’s affecting him even more than the average person
He looked really, really good tonight in all aspects of the game. Helps that he was playing the oldest least athletic team in the NBA
My grandpa can beat your grandpa
Basically great-grandpa beating grandpas though
It was a bit jarring to see Harden calling for LeBron’s man to want to switch on him, and it worked to be honest. Harden got what he wanted off of that switch.
Hardens been calling bron for the switch for years now. He cooks everyone lol
He let Harden get into the lane a couple times true, but he didn’t give up any clean step back 3s Harden loves to get to or any 3 point fouls Harden loves to draw either to be fair
For all we know that might also be the defensive scheme they ran because LeBron defended him really close and tight as if JJ told him to funnel him to the rim for Hayes to block rather than giving up a three.
LeBron can’t and could never guard James harden regardless of the scheme.
Yeah he’s gonna have trouble (the entire team is) with quick guards and rim pressure, seems like he can actually handle raw athleticism but quick cuts and change of direction at this age are his weakness.
LeKing of the Uncs
“lebron can’t play off ball!!”
Idiots really said this lol
Even last season, he was letting Luka and Reaves handle the ball more than he was. He just was forced to handle it at times because was just that good.
LeBron has quietly literally been begging to play off ball for years. Funny enough media criticized him for it too.
He spent years begging AD to take the reins and he never did
a decade ago we all thought Kyrie was gonna be the guy to do it
I saw a tweet that basically said
Lebron to kyrie: I’m giving you the keys
Kyrie: I’m out of here!
Lebron to AD: here are the keys
AD: hell no!
Lebron to Luka: here are the–
Luka: gimme the damn keys
And it’s so true
There’s a reason DS was picked up after the championship year. Ever since then he’s been trying to have someone carry the heavy lifting in that aspect
The first year LeBron was on the Lakers, the plan was to lessen his ball handling load. We had Lonzo Ball and signed Rondo to handle the ball. Heck, even the Lance Stephenson signing was an effort towards this plan.
Russ was supposed to lighten the load too
Everyone knows that GV, MS and MM were brought in to replace an ailing RW. It’s just too bad that the Lakers could re-sign DFS! I blame JB
Even back in that Memphis series he was already playing a lot more offball than usual
He played way more offball in Miami than people remember. In fact a lot of Synergy stats had him as one of the most dangerous players in the league in stuff like spot-ups, cuts, screen&roller by PPP
But that’s the story of his career isn’t it. Being questioned for things he proved a decade ago
You gotta realize that this sub and most of twitter never actually saw Miami LeBron lol. He’s always been one of the better cutters in the NBA, along being being arguably the best transition offensive player
People also think you need to be shooting over people to be a good scorer, and that Bron has the most points because he cherry picks and stat pads lmao
People need to realize how hard it is to stat pad consistently for 20 years
Spo & him figuring out ways to get him to work off ball one of the biggest ingredients to locking him into a whole other tier of greatness.
Lebron haters are delusional and genuinely believe “Lebron always needs to be the center of attention” so they thought he wouldn’t step aside to let the younger guys shine.
Bunch of idiots lmao
People really question if the big 3 could all eat at the same time lmao
Pfft, only 99 points. Couldn’t even make it 100.
He must be happy only 32 minutes and a very efficient 25/6/6 this is the best team he’s been on
Probably the most talented OFFENSIVE team LeBron has been on but I’d reserve judgement on calling it his best overall team or even the best team he’s had as a Laker
As of right now no way I’d take the 2025 Lakers over the 2020 Lakers in a series the 2020 Lakers more or less cruised to a championship and were elite defensively this team hasn’t proven all of that
No where close to his best overall team. His best overall team was when he was the best player because he was just that good.
A good question is if you have 2020 Bron on this team, would they be top 2 in the west this year.
I’d say yes because that Bron was still pre-solomon hill injury and looked pretty dominant still.
If 2020 Bron was on this team, people would genuinely be wondering if the Lakers or the Thunder were the favorites to win the whole thing. Thunder depth is better than Lakers depth, but 2020 LeBron would be the best player out of those two teams and it’s still arguable who is better between Shai and Luka.
When the shutdown occurred, he was coming on strong for MVP (and Giannis had just gotten hurt). If the break in games doesn’t happen, there’s a reality where Bron wins MVP in 2020 (he finished second and was the only other player to get first place votes).
Maybe the Lakers don’t win the title that year, but honestly it’s likely they still do - they were an absolute fucking force.
2020 Bron is elite, but he’s not better than SGA.
We can agree to disagree on this one. I’ll give my take but I don’t expect it’ll be a universally agreed upon one!
2025 SGA has the slight scoring edge in the playoffs (and a larger scoring edge in the regular season), but I’ll take Bron’s 28/11/9 in the playoffs over SGA’s 30/5/7. He more heavily impacted the game, got through the playoffs and their respective opponents quicker, and did it while playing fewer MPG.
SGA is one of the best guards ever, but 2020 Bron wasn’t far removed from his 2018 self and that guy was maybe the best a basketball player has ever been.
It’s very close. I agree that 2018 Bron is better. SGA is having a special year though. Zero weaknesses in his game.
I mean, 2020 Bron was an MVP-level player much like SGA is right now. It’s at least close.
They’d be better, but that doesn’t solve the Lakers greatest weakness which is their abysmal defense.
The real hot take? This team would be in a MUCH better position if they didn’t trade AD and he stayed healthy. Bron/AD/Reaves is plenty of offense, and you’d have one of the best defenders in the league anchoring us. Cherry on top is getting to keep Christie as well.
Reaves/Christie/Bron/AD/Ayton with Smart/Rui/LaRavia off the bench is nasty.
lmao i wouldn’t go that far
It’s definitely a hot take. The offense would take a hit but the defense would be significantly improved by replacing a bottom-5 defender with a top-5 defender AND getting a great POA guy back.
Tagging as Nicos account
any attempt at calling a serious starting lineup with max christie “nasty” must be a prank I’m ngl
Lakers fans and overrating the hell out of Christie because he looks like Kobe lmao.
The guy is… okay. That’s an unserious starting lineup to contend for a championship, though. You can’t have one of your starting guards be the likely worst starting player across any team you might play in the playoffs. That’s just not going to work.
Depends on if you’re evaluating the team minus LeBron
Id considering taking the 25 lakers minus LeBron over the 20 lakers minus LeBron when we’re talking about teammates
2020 lakers clear this lakers team comfortably. Way better defense and bench depth
2020 Lakers smoke this team.
That’s the team you think of? Not the Heatles? They had a 25 game winning streak at some point lol
Them too obviously. There’s also the 2016 Cavs and 2017 Cavs. Just wanted to point out that this isn’t even the best Lakers squad he’s been on.
I’m saying if you remove LeBron. That lakers team with no LeBron is like a 30 win team, definitely worse than the current Mavs. The current lakers would definitely be a playoff team without him.
Theres also the 2017 cavs.
I think that’s the most recent team that’s obviously better. 2020 team was tough and could muck games up. Lower scoring games were a comfort. This team is the opposite.
The 2017 Cavs and 2013 Heat were probably better
lol “probably”? Come on now
I’d only put the MJ Bulls and the KD warriors above the 2017 Cavs. That team was ridiculous.
I think ‘86 Celtics and ‘01 lakers were probably better than ‘17 Cavs tbh
Removing LeBron from all 3 teams they aren’t.
27 7 7 is a myth at this point dude knows it he was dancing getting subbed out 😂
Unc aint washed
23 straight years of LeBron blue balling us from getting that famous 27/7/7 line.
bro could play for another 50 years
Felt like it all came in the flow of the game as well. Not a lot of PnR or ball dominating
Crazy this dude is only a third option
Unc still got it
LeThisIsMyTrainingCamp
This guy can play another 5 years the way he looked tonight and it’s his 3rd game back after 9 months off basketball
It’s gotta suck to be a defender working against Luka and AR, hoping for a breath, and the GOAT decides to handle the ball.
I hope the critics who swore LeBron’s return would “disrupt everything” realize how wrong they were. Growing pains are natural, and we’ll deal with them just like every other team.
That was the quietest 25/6/6 ever.
Idiots question him all time, i just smh
the fact that he’s coming off injury and immediately looks this comfortable is wild. most guys that age need like 5 games to get their rhythm back, he just slots right back in. the efficiency is still there too
This guy’s gonna turn 41. I repeat. 41