41 years old LeBron James checks out: 27 PTS, 4 REB, 6 AST, 1 STL
41 years old LeBron James checks out: 27 PTS, 4 REB, 6 AST, 1 STL, 2 TOV, 12-17 FG, 3-6 3P
Can’t carry AR builds bricks house 3-16 FG
https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401871326
Nothing more fitting for LeBron for what looked like to be his last deep playoff run ends with his teammates getting injured and him trying to carry a team against insurmountable odds.
How many years… 2014, 2015 finals, 2018, 2021 without AD
2007 when he took a pile of trash to the finals cannot be forgotten
He took a team full of car mechanics to the finals against 3 Hall of famers
4 with Popovich. Knew exactly how to defend Lebron to where Cleveland had no chance.
Spurs roster would always win. Pop was reason that it was a sweep.
I still to this day believe LeBron taking that 2007 Cavs roster to the NBA Finals is arguably his greatest non-individual accomplishment. What they had to go through to get there and his side kicks were fucking an aging Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Anderson Varejão, Larry Hughes, and Drew Gooden…? Craziness the teams he went through with that roster to get to that Finals in only his 4th year.
Craziest part is the fact that he didn’t go 6⁄6 in the finals is used against him in the GOAT argument…as if it would be better for him not to drag that sorry as team into the finals.
Literally the only finals loss that warrants criticism is 2011 and 2016 at least cancels that out.
Dude has literally had one series in his entire life when he was not the best performing player by a country mile
that 2011 series also cemented dirk’s legacy so it’s not all bad
6 > 4 is at least an argument.
But the “6-0 vs 4-6 NBA Finals” argument is truly the dumbest thing ever.
4-6 is 4 golds and 6 silvers. Pretty damn good tbf
Let us not forget he also took JR Smith and George Hill to the finals in ‘18.
Then JR Smith blew the potential win in game 1 of the finals leading to LeBron breaking his own hand punching a white board in frustration after the game. They probably still would have lost the series but who knows what could have happened if they were up 1-0 and LeBron wasn’t hurt.
I think he at least gets a second win at some point to take it to 6. No chance they win it, but 2018 playoff LeBron was the greatest player of all time.
His 3 game stretch of games 6 and 7 against the Celtics and game 1 against the Warriors will never be topped. It somehow even exceeded his performance in the last 3 games of 2016. Such a shame his greatest individual game ever in that game 1 ended in a loss because JR is a moron and Hill couldn’t hit the free throw.
I mean Spurs also swept because LeBron’s supporting cast in 2007 was literally a G-league level team lol - without him they would actually be at the very bottom of the standings
Was it the 2007 playoffs when Lebron played the Pistons in that epic conference finals, or divisional round? I remember watching it but cant get the year
That was the 48 special year against the Pistons in the ECF
2018 was a masterclass carry.
Really hate discussing 2017 and 2018 because he warriors cheated and ruined the league for 4 years…… Disgusting to think about. The dark days of Nba
Ruined maybe but cheated? I don’t think signing KD was literal cheating.
I’m being hyperbolic but ruined is what I mean. It wasn’t fun to watch at all
Ahh gotcha
You’re right. Now Ballmer and Kawhi? That’s some cheating!
Yeah it took a whole slew of injuries for them to lose in 2019 (yes I know that Raptors squad was really fucking good but I still don’t think they beat healthy Golden State).
I hate the kd warriors more than any team in history but having said that I am positive the raptors don’t get past game 5 with healthy golden state.
his entire first cavs stint lol
I’d add 2009. He averaged 39-8-8 and it still wasn’t enough in the ecf
That one id more chalk up to the Magic just having an insane series where they shot lights out. And building the perfect team around D12. I don’t think any supporting cast could beat them in that particular series
Additionally, the Cavs were built to stop the Celtics that year. When the magic upset them, it derailed the entire Cavs strategy. LeBron did LeBron things, but they just weren’t a good matchup with Orlando that year
LeBron stuck in this loop
LeOuroboros
LeTimeLoop 😩💔. Lowkey rooting for yall too man.
Shades of him dragging a core of Snow, Hughes, Pavlovic, booby Gibson and BIG Z
Being the game-high scorer against the defending champs with the likely back-to-back MVP is crazy work. We are really going to miss this man when he eventually decides to hang it up.
He’s the most incredible athlete we’ll ever see, particularly in his endurance
This was Messi during his last years at Barcelona. Dude just carried 10 players to win.
This game showed why it’s basically impossible for the Lakers without Luka
SGA played basically as bad as he possibly can and this is basically the absolute most you can expect from LeBron against the OKC defense and they still lost comfortably because Reaves does nothing
I don’t think it’s the best you could expect from Bron, if he had another playmaker not shitting the bed, Reaves, he could have played even better
Ya the thunder were actively shadowing 2 players on bron at all times since they knew he was the only one doing anything besides smart.
They would do that anyways.
Besides they didn’t have their big wing to guard Bron anyways.
He would’ve dropped 35 with more assists if Luka was playing next to him as a co-star. It fucking sucks Luka got injured right at the start of April. They’re wasting this Bron postseason run. He still got energy left in him to compete
It’s really frustrating because you could tell this game was definitely winnable if Luka was Healthy. Sure they might still have lost, but they would’ve been way closer. It sucks too cause it was genuinely a good basketball game on both sides. Well coached game plans pretty good execution. Just Reaves not able to elevate his game and while OKC is so deep they could get it done.
Bronny was ready to go at any given second.
I know you are joking, but him handling the ball against OKC’s defense would be malpractice. He could defend and score a bit, but his playmaking wouldn’t translate this series
Genuinely dont think Bronny would’ve played worse than Reaves, atleast the defense would have been a little better imo
Meh, Reaves still had his 6 assists, even on a horrible night he still gets attention from the defenders. I do think, even though he didn’t have a terrible night (by his current standards), Laravia’s minutes should be more shared with Bronny.
Time to unleash Bron II: Electric Bugaloo. He only played 2 min tonight. Get Bronny in there.
Now that Vando is out, we might need a defensive force with Smart, no playmaking expectations tho
Have yall heard an update on him? I’m guessing broken finger? Shit looked painful asf I felt bad
“full dislocation of his right pinky finger”, as per Shams
Damn I wonder what the recovery time is on that? I imagine he’ll be back before this series is over if it’s just dislocated.
if Reaves has a through and through bad playoff performance and that closes, do the lakers consider trading him? There’s still time to show he can adapt and meet the moment, but if he doesn’t, and he plays like this the rest of the series, then I don’t think it’s just because of the injury - I think he can’t handle this level of coverage. There was no one on the court he could set his game against. Jared McCain froze him.
And despite that, the lakers could get A LOT of value for his contract since its under priced for next season.
He definitely should be moved. His value is pretty high right now, I think he’s overrated currently. Luka needs more pieces around him, AR is not one of them
Needs another person that can create good scoring looks for themselves through the defense.
Lakers would definitely need Lukas step-back to be catching fire to have any shot even if he did come back.
Story of Lebron’s career. These other guys do jackshit in the playoffs most the time they just content to let LeBron carry
Do you want the other guys to tell Lebron to get off the ball and stand in the corner? TF you mean they are content to let Lebron carry?
The other guys have stepped up in these playoffs. Marcus Smart and Kennard looked like Curry and Klay for a few games and Lebron has had some duds. I wouldn’t let one game say the other guys are doing jackshit.
SGA didn’t even play bad. He just didn’t have to do anything lol
My bad guys he played absolutely horrible because he had more TOs than usual 😂
He was bad in SGA standards
fewest points and most turnovers all season.
he shot efficiently and was (mostly) passing well out of the help but this is def like a D+ SGA game
He 100 percent played bad.
Yeah 7 turnovers are not good
Cade numbers
Nah, Shai played pretty terrible tonight. This is probably his worst playoff game since 2023 Minnesota play-in.
Box score wise he wasn’t bad. Watching the game he was below average, lots of puzzling turnovers. It was like he was overthinking it
The TOs were insanely uncharacteristic
Basically
He didn’t just do nothing. He was 3-16 and lead the game in turnovers. He made sure they lost.
Basically?
Why are people saying SGA played so bad? The turnovers were bad for sure, but he literally created advantages for his team every time he was on the court. Just because he didn’t score 30 doesn’t mean he “played as bad as he possibly can”.
That’s “bad” for his standards. That’s how good he is lol. It’s not a knock on him
He’s so great that this is considered a bad game for him
Shai is one of the most stable and consistently great players in the NBA. It’s his whole selling point - he’s always going to give you 28-32 on incredible efficiency with a tough shot diet, and he’s going to take care of the ball while never looking uncomfortable no matter what coverage you try. By that standard, today he was way off. He looked rushed, frustrated, and uncomfortable basically until Mitchell and McCain put the game to bed after which he just looked bored.
This is the standard “bad” game for an MVP caliber player. Its more a reflection of how great SGA is normally than anything he did tonight.
Reaves can’t hang with OKC
Can my king get some help
Reaves has to pay for his crimes he looked shellshocked out there shooting 30 ft bullshit shots
As a casual fan, is he hurt still or just streaky?
He has always been streaky, but it’s not easy coming back to playoff intensity basketball, especially against physical teams like Houston and OKC.
It doesn’t 100% excuse his awful play, but I think he did come back early. Iirc his injury is more a pain tolerance thing, rather than something like Luka’s hamstring.
Thanks. Appreciate it. He seems to go as his confidence does and if he starts missing it seems to spiral
He’s typically way less efficient in the playoffs too
OKC is like the perfect team to stop him with how many athletic defenders they have, combine that with the fact that it’s much harder to flop your way to the line in the playoffs and it’s going to be a bad time for him
Hes probably a little injured still but this has been an overwhelming theme of him not being able to handle playoff physicality and unfortunately its probably an accurate assessment given how he played tonight
He had a third of the Lakers points
LeBron is the only one strong enough to score on the team
He’s the only one that can create anything offensively for the Lakers. AR played terrible but he’s supposed to play that role as well especially since Luka is out. OKC on the other hand has Shai, Chet, Ajay and Jared
I saw he was 0-5 from 3. Bad.
box score does not encapsulate how badly he played, he was a giant hole on defense too.
They’re playing against an all-time great team. Even with Luka, this series would’ve been a long shot for them.
Lebron hopelessly carrying against an all-time great team.
I feel like I heard this story before…
If Bron was 10 years younger, this series would have been fun. Bron just too old to carry against all time teams
Hold up a minute
NO HELP
hmmm not recalling anything
The script writers gotta switch it up
While I agree with you, the Lakers held on longer this game than I thought they would, even with AR shooting like shit. This game specifically could have been pretty competitive if they had Luka.
It would have been competitive if Austin actually made shots.
I disagree, odds obviously in OKCs favor, but Luka is a pretty consistent 35 points scorer, which they didn’t get. Instead they got AR going for 2⁄50 or something.
3⁄16 and 0% 3P
Luka aint consistently getting that vs okc lol. Hes averaging 20 ppg the last 5 games vs okc on 41⁄30 splits
K sure but still significantly better than what AR produced lmao
With March Luka, they probably win this game honestly. The defense was good tonight, the offense is what was lacking, especially from Reaves
If AR plays even moderately ok this is a close enough game to not throw in the towel before the buzzer. I’m not saying he goes lights out, just like 50% TS instead of DOGSHIT and the game probably stays within that “we still have a chance” realm of 7-9 points instead of 14-18. At that point a couple made shots and stops and it’s an intense ending(or OKC can still pull away, but at least they do it with their starters in the whole way not comfortably subbing out).
Not even being competitive for basically the entire 4th quarter when SGA plays a meh game himself is just fucked, you gotta make them beat you, not w/e the fuck AR did tonight.
When has he ever been moderately ok against a legit playoff defense?? MN erased him from the face of the planet last year.
Rui Hachimura on offense is the only consistent help he’s had this postseason
He’s my fav player on the Lakers outside of Bron/Luka
Give him JR Smith, Kyle Korver, the ghost of Kevin Love, and post-Khloe Kardashian Tristan Thompson and I guarantee LeBron pushes the Thunder to 6 at least
Still the number one option at 41.
Best player in the court tonight. Which is a wild thing to say about a 41 year old.
Against the MVP
Against the defending champs
Against 2 guys that were on defensive teams last year, and 4 guys that could make the argument this year.
Against who I believe is the best player in the world. Just unreal showing from Bron and we lost by 18 lmao
I am 100% dead serious when i say I think there is at least a 50% chance that lebron is a genetically modified human being and in turn, has no father.
I am dead serious. I believe lebron was grown in a test tube and then artificially implanted into gloria james and carried to term. no human being should possess his combination of size, strength and athleticism. AND to book it all out, he’s very intelligent too. (besides the decision) remember how much poise he had just coming into the league at 18 years old? it’s un-natural. how often have TV analysts described him as a “freak of nature” …..maybe it’s truer than we know.
I am serious. we all know (and I swear I am not saying this to be insulting or mean) that lebron’s mom was a crack whore (is drug addicted prostitute better?) it’s just a fact, it happened. I am NOT saying this to be mean, in fact I am a heroin addict and know a few woman who have sold themselves for dope, it happens. they are not bad people.
and the government has a history of using prostitutes and impoverished people in “experiments.” read about MK-ULTRA. it happened. the CIA used to have prostitutes slip LSD to johns and then the agents would watch what happened thru 2-way mirrors. the government helped start and continue the crack epidemic of the 80s.
I believe that lebron was a precursor experiment to create super soldiers. something where they were just like “well let’s test it out on some poor people that no one will notice and see if we can get any results before we sink more billions into this.” it’s not all that crazy. you don’t think the government has interest in creating genetically modified super human soldiers? we know for a FACT it does. it’s been documented. you don’t think russia or china has interest in such a thing? you know they do. and anything russia or china is or would be doing we are doing. to do it first and do it better.
he’s some kind of experiment that they just monitored from a distance and let keep growing. and i mean this was probably initially started with just a few people who believed it could be done and that’s why it started small and covert using regular civilians. until they could show the results to the higher ups and say “look at this, you don’t wanna fund this on a larger scale?”
and where else would such a person end up besides in a professional sports league?
I think there is probably some secret base(s) out there that are now filled with people like lebron, younger than him probably. if they couldn’t see how well the experiment worked until he was about 16-18 years old (he was pretty much a full grown man at 16 and could have came off the bench for any NBA team if not started) than maybe there are a bunch of 9-15 year old super humans like lebron (not copies of him but given the same genetic boost that he was) eating chow in some secret barracks right now…..
until someone comes forth and the DNA test shows him to be his father (and a bunch have come forward and been shown not to be) than I will believe this is AT LEAST possible..
edit: something I’d like to add in case someone says “well if this is true why wouldn’t lebron’s mom come forward and admit it, just say I participated in a government experiment and lebron was the result.” well she doesn’t know. it’s simple, she goes to a hotel with a john, he slips something in a drink and she gets knocked out-cold. they take her and do whatever they did. give her some amnesiacs or anesthesia (probably benzos too) so when she wakes up she’s in a haze and doesn’t remember anything. not even the john. she finds out she’s pregnant later and just assumes she got knocked up by any random john. has lebron. shit even if she participated willingly, got paid, and knows everything, no one would believe her crazy ass.
Dafuq did I just read
An all time classic on the sub.
Copy pasta had a good run.
This is better than the Kobe pasta
AUSTIN I’M FUCKING 41!
RDC eternal
I’M NOT THANOS
“why it always gotta be me vs everybody”
Reaves got fraud checked last year. He ain’t gonna do shit.
Austin Reaves gave LeBron depression
GIMME YOUR RING MAX CONTRACT REQUEST
He was playing 1v5 out there, staight up unguardable in the paint.
If they had Luka they would definitely have had a shot tonight. Credit to JJ he had a good game plan. They made SGA struggle and yes the rest of OKC stepped up. So equal credit to them and their coaching/gameplan. But man you could see where if they had Luka this might’ve been a real tense clutch playoff game
Yeah the “rest of OKC” stepped up because they’ve been the best and deepest team in the league all season
Best player on the floor tonight
And it wasn’t even close
LeBron carrying the team but ultimately came up short to a stronger team, same old movie.
LeBron has some bad luck
Some is short-selling it.
Its also just a very weak roster outside of their stars
Some Lakers fans actually wanted him gone asap if he will not take a huge paycut. ‘Cause apparently their new top 2, Luka and AR will lead them to a “championship”. delusional ungrateful fans
Luka is still in contention. He have proved that he can go off Playoff or not
AR im not sure. Legit disappeared every playoff
Luka no doubt, but some really legit thought AR is #2 in a contending team even better than Bron.
I got downvoted on the regular every time I said that he needed to be traded at the deadline. No way they need to pay this guy a max.
Paying Reaves the max will pretty much guarantee Luka doesn’t win a ring for the duration of Reaves’ contract
outside of his first playoff year, he’s shooting pretty poorly from 3 (albeit only 13 games)
23-24: 27%
24-25: 31%
25-36: 12%
I like AR, but he does not play well in the playoffs.
If it’s one thing we’ve seen - offense only players are just not worth much in the playoffs unless you are Luka level.
Lakers fans don’t deserve LeBron
lakers fans don’t deserve anyone north of Jake Laravia
fans really expected lebron to be a 3rd option to reaves in the playoffs like we couldnt smell him shitting himself from a mile away
I understand why Bron had to leave Cleveland again but I really wish he would have spent the last 3rd of his career ring chasing with other superstars than reviving the Lakers franchise and carrying them for a bunch of ungrateful ass fans. They got bailed out from their worst stretch in franchise history.
They don’t even get Luka if LeBron dosent choose to come there. AD doesn’t force the trade to LA and Luka would not have cared about playing in LA if he wasn’t traded there and would not come in FA.
The amount of regular Lebron hate I’ve personally been witness to in Laker Country the past few years has made me want to permanently lose my hearing. Wonder if they’ll ever realize how blessed they were he chose to spend his last years here…
“Help. Me. Someone HELP ME” - LeBron/Kevin Hart
“Best I can do is oversell getting picked with some professional grimaces” -Reaves
Lakere relying on a 41 year old to carry them against the defending champs may not be such a good idea….
Why? He was the best player on the court for both teams
Not disagreeing but OKC can pretty easily lock up his teammates and let LeBron do whatever.
OKC relies on a 41 year old Daigneault to lead them so idk why this would be different
Random question but does daifneault ever run out of chewing gum?
[removed]
2018 all over again
Can’t win with these cats
it doesn’t even sound real that a 41 year old basketball player needs help, but here we are
Best player on the floor. Proud of the King. What a legend.
Imagine having to carry your team when you’re older than your opponents head coach.
That graphic was fucking hilarious
This dude genuinely might be an alien im not even kidding
Man was playing solo tonight
Respect Rui and Smart
I like how they’ve used him to take advantage of OKC’s lack of size. Kinda reminds me of how Denver used Aaron Gordon in their series - keeping him close to the rim/ getting him downhill, allowing him to overpower Chet & IHart at the rim.
OKC has gotten killed by big forwards for like 3 straight seasons
Presti just doesnt care. sure their rookie tore his ACL, but other than drafting Sorber the most he’s done to address that position is trade for washed Gordon Hayward.
Tbf they’re missing JDub here, his wingspan would’ve helped against someone like Lebron. Plus apart from Gordon idk what you mean by ‘they’ve been killed’. Siakam and Randle both weren’t great against OKC. PJ Washington was good, but they got Hartenstein to deal with some size issues after that series.
Honestly I think it’s kinda the tradeoff you have to live with if you’re gonna prioritise speed like OKC have defensively. Unless you get prime paul george/ kawhi on defense its really hard to find big wings who can move their feet like what they’d need to deal with bigger guys
Outplayed the mvp at 41 years old
Prime LeBron would’ve tore these dudes up
Which prime?
Season ‘28-‘29
Any and all primes
Dude’s defies father time just unreal
he gonna have to start passing to himself
He already has a lob to LeBron James this postseason
Dang. Balling at 41.
Hard to beat the champs when playing 1v5.
He was the best player tonight but the next 5 belongs to OKC.
Lebron, then the entire OKC starters + bench, then Daigneault, then JJ, and then Rui
If you’re gonna put coaches in there I think you gotta put JJ a bit higher. I thought the coaching was legit today JJ did all he could. AR just had to do anything other than build a massive brick house and there was a chance.
JJ was fantastic, but had to waste a lot of TOs earlier than he likes due to some of our guys messing up, plus on the vando injury
Fair points, but I’m not sure if you can blame that on JJ at all. I just thought JJ did basically all he could with what he had and I definitely don’t think Daigneault out-coached him but just had better personnel.
Didn’t lose by 20 MORAL VICTORIES
Still the best player on the court
lebron played really well
Best player on the floor tonight lol unc needs some help out there
at one point he had 22 points and it was an 8 point game. Maybe 3rd quarter or so. If the Lakers can’t capitalize with this type of Bron performance at 41 years old, whats even the point, OKC is just way too good.
Sweep.
Give bro help and it’s king 🐐 7
Hardest playing player on the court against OKC all season.
I mean, 41 years old and putting up 27 pts on 70% shooting in an away game against the best team in the league in the playoffs, you really can’t ask for more. It’s beyond impressive at this point
Absolutely wild how the #2 option played compared to the 41 year old #3 option
Just nuts he’s still doing this
Imagine he had teammates who knew how to play basketball. Best player on the floor tonight.
By far the best player on the court tonight. Get this man some help wtf
Smart and reaves combine for 7-31 , reminds me of the days when lebron was on the cavs
Take a drink every time his age is mentioned or whenever the number comes after the word year to make it sound cooler
best player on the floor at 41 and it’s still not enough. gg thunder in 4
Bron gotta drop 50 just to keep it in single digits
King cant rule the game when hes surrounded with peasants.
good try, good effort