Luka might be more clutch than Caleb though, so anything is possible.

No we have lost to Bucks and Clippers in the clutch

I don’t think anyone on the lakers even thinks we’re an aspiring contender. Probably not next season either

How would you know it’s more than just noise other than simply having an opinion about it?

The most important lesson sabermetrics have taught the sports world is how easily our eyes may deceive us.

Indeed, Western society already has many sayings acknowledging this: “Beauty is only skin deep”; “Appearances can be deceiving;” “All that glitters is not gold”; “Things are seldom what they seem”; and on and on. 

After all, if simply watching the games was enough to give great insight, as if a linear curve exists where the more you watch, the more you learn, why aren’t GMs, coaches and players better at player acquisition and constructing teams? Why do GMs so often acquire players that, to outsiders, obviously do not fit or improve the team?

Furthermore, why do you do quickly assume I haven’t watched the Lakers play? I’m getting tired of silly Redditors like yourself immediately assuming someone doesn’t watch a team simply because they have a different perspective than you, or a different perspective than the status quo. Are the only clothes you wear well-known name brand? Oh, should I assume because you have Dallas Mavericks flair you’ve only seen a few Lakers games this season? How many games start to finish have you seen, anyway? How many fans have time to watch every game start to finish? “More often than not”? So you’ve seen every Lakers game, start to finish? What are you even talking about at this point?

Okay, let’s take what you’re saying at face value. You realize there are markets for virtually everything in sports nowadays via sports betting. If what you’re saying is this is signal, and not noise, then are you also saying you expect this trend to continue through the rest of the season? I assure you there’s plenty of money to be made sports betting if you think so and are right. 

Do you think the Lakers coaching staff and players aren’t aware of this? How exactly would you explain this if it’s signal, anyway, in a way that’s predictive and falsifiable, not descriptive and historical? Most of the time the same core Lakers players are playing in 1Q as in the 4Q. Luka Doncic is actually a notorious fast starter in games anyway, which mimics your voice in a whiny fashion you would know if you watched the games 🙄. Don’t you think Lakers players would prefer to get up as much as possible early on so they could get rest in the fourth quarter? Or maybe so they don’t have to hear Coach Redick yelling at them about this trend for the umpteenth time?

You clearly have not thought very deeply about anything you’re saying.