LeBron postgame when asked about Lakers offensive issues - “Where are the offensive issues coming from? We have a guy that averaged 37 a game… There’s the issues right there”
Um ACKSHUALLY, it was only 33.5 a game
LeXaggerate!
LeBadMath
LeWhite Lie
SeniLe
LeThargicJournalism
leExtrapolatedMarchPPGavgtofullseason
Le70PointGame
HyperboLe
Bron has no delusions of winning this series lol
harmLess
reporter trying to get bron to slander reaves lol
Reaves had a terrible game. But I wont slander the guy.
And I ain’t going to comment about trades and shit until I end of series. He’s deserved that much.
The overreactions are nuts imo, obv he had a bad game but there’s still time to bounce back and it’s only his 3rd game back from injury
People don’t realize that the injury he’s coming back from is incredibly hard to play with as well and this is the best defense in the league.
The overreactions are really starting to annoy me tbh
He doesn’t perform well against physical playoff defense. It’s not just 1 game, it’s been this way for a while now. He’s a regular season player.
He also just rushed back from injury
I’m gonna give him a bit of leeway since he’s coming back from injury, but generally agree with you. Reaves struggles against physical defenses, especially as the primary or secondary weapon
It’s not physical defense. For example, I think he would do OK against a good defensive team like the Spurs. But, OKC is his kryptonite. Their style of long and strong defense that focuses on the perimeter is poison to Reaves’ style of play. Luka struggles a lot against them as well, but he’s a bigger body so he gets some relief.
What the Lakers need against OKC is to capitalize on their weak interior defense. AD always dog walked OKC. So basically, the Lakers need Ayton to play like a #1 pick and be physical inside lol.
Been this way for a while? It’s only like the 3rd time hs’s been in the playoffs
It is his 4th year in the playoffs and he has underperformed against every team that isn’t the Nuggets, who don’t play physical defense.
This sub is hilarious, I love the biased posts after game 1 about how X player was fraud checked or how its a sign one player is the best ever using some stat from the game
You feel like folks are only reacting to a bad game 1 from Reaves?
Uh no Im more referring to the post that said the 6ers are going to sweep the finals or some shit after game 4 vs celtics lol
I think some of the overreactions are granted tho as reaves has been subpar in the playoffs for a few years now in a row
During the regular season too he’s had good amount of bad games against physical/good defenders but points propped up by free throws.
The games this season against OKC have been bad
He was injured in last year’s playoffs as well btw
And the year before
He hasn’t been good in the playoffs ever though. It’s not just tonight. Granted, it does seem like he’s shaking off rust and/or still playing thru injury, but he was super physically outmatched by the OKC defense tonight. Straight up clamped.
Seriously. If Laker fans think Reeves is the reason they won’t win this series, I have some bad news for them all
You can tell he’s obviously not 100%, or at least rusty.
He also had nothing to gain for coming back early. He is literally throwing out his leverage in FA by coming back, playing hurt, and “being a bum,” against the defending champs, a team who has had their number all season.
The only thing he gains is trying to help his team win.
Fuckers want it both ways which is so fucking stupid.
He could have sat out the rest of the playoffs and guaranteed a max contract without any noise. Him doing his best to get back to playing for the team in a playoffs scenario while trying to shed off rust after missing a month of games due to injury allows him to have excuses for subpar play right now
Im taking unders or any him at 16 pts from now on. He couldnt make 2 threes today KNOWING he probably cant get inside. Is he a 3 pt shooter normally? As a shooter i can tell you thats a bad sign. Shooters launch. No matter what. Unless physically cant launch that far cause hurt
How are you a betting man and not know Reaves is normally a shooter lol
I started betting in playoffs on players i know. Thats how. Now that there are less teams im studying others. I dont bet on Cade i dont know anything about many teams.
If u wanted a better line just bet Kennard FGA unders
He got to 6 two games ago i was like hmmm. Ill look into it. I think Smart assists over is a good play.
Thanks LeBron
I’d be lying if I say I wasn’t disappointed in his performance today. I hope he bounces back in the next few games though
He looks like he plays not for the Lakers but for YMCA. I cant believe he was considered an all star, granted i didnt watch reg season but from what i saw a couple of games now jesus
Chill. Reaves just came back from an injury. He was great during regular season.
Yes against regular season defense, if he’s gonna get 30-40 mil he needs to do it in the playoffs
Dude I replied to said Reaves played like he’s at the YMCA, not Lakers, and he admitted he didn’t watch regular season. I responded to tell him to chill.
Your argument is valid, debate-worthy but not the same as his.
Fair my fault
Group hug
You admitted you didn’t watch him during the season but only saw a couple of games and that’s what you’re basing your entire opinion of a player on?
Be serious dude
Why would he get slander he played about as well as he always does against OKC
Is hard to slander Reaves, nut it’s easier to slender Chet
Might be the worst joke ever
once they get their 43 PPG scorer back its gonna be a different series
Bam?
Wilt, Bam, Bam against Atlanta, Kobe in that order
What😭
Bam dropped 82 against Atlanta don’t you remember?
i feel evil for letting people know lmfao
Once the 56 PPG hits the floor it’s gonna be a game changer.
Once the 83 PPG (1 game sample size) scorer hits the floor the tide will shift
tbf Bam+Luka+Bron is probably great.
“Probably”
Wilt is dead tho
Get something to lean him against in the paint and he can draw a charge or two. Wouldn’t be surprised if muscle memory exists after passing and he somehow swats a few shots away
True. If they could hook him up to some sort of electric wiring and shock him I bet he’d get a couple blocks. Dude was an athletic freak.
Mosgov?
Mozgod*
Wait till Ariza is back
Corey Brewer coming in to drop 52 and save the Lakers season.
whaa
The questions they asking him keep getting dumber
Do you think they’ll ask him how’s he still doing it at the age of 41??
“Is Bronny like a father figure to you?”
what i wouldnt give XDDD
if they asked him that i’d probably be no longer of this earth from laughing too hard.
twins frfr
You know? This would be the first time in sport history I will cheer for thr athele to throw a haymaker at the interviewer if they actually asked that shit lol.
I mean they scored 90 points. If a player wants to answer a question negatively they basically always can. Pretty much anything can become a response like this, short of an in-depth basketball analysis question. And most of those the average fan doesn’t want to hear (and the player can still dismiss as try-hard or something similar).
But I’d assume a 90 point game in the modern game means the offense didn’t do well.
that guy just wanted him to shit on reaves.
Idk if, in the fucking well over a decade that I’ve seen this guy do post game interviews, I have ever seen him really respond with “what are you asking me here?” in that way. It sounds arbitrary but that question was like insanely stupid. That was like a “what color is the sky?” question.
LeDiplomatic
LeEmpathetic
This is an awesome answer because LeBron is clearly fighting and showing the emotions of the stupidity of the question and how he feels, even though he’s been trained to say the right thing. He keeps going back and forth with “We need to be better and find ways to be better” and “We are missing Luka fucking Doncic”.
Yeah Reaves had a bad night but the over reaction are a bit extreme. I’ve said this before. But it was obvious the missing piece for the Lakers in this game was Luka. The Thunder could collapse hard on Reaves because they only had to worry about LeBron making them pay. And he do for a while, but unfortunately the Laker role players were also missing good open looks.
The Lakers and JJ had a good gameplan for SGA. The rest of the Thunder admirable stepped up. Yes I know they’re a deep team. But they didn’t collapse when their star player struggled. They stayed the course. It was still a pretty fun game for a long while. But it was obvious the Lakers needed Luka playing to win that game.
I’ve said this before. But it was obvious the missing piece for the Lakers in this game was Luka.
Riveting analysis, right here.
come on Luka… we need u back… OKC cannot catwalk to the WCFs
No okc needs to repeat so clipper fans can get shamed into oblivion
Are they not already?
Nope, only a top 4 pick in this year’s draft will make them learn their lesson!
Biblical greed 😭
Owners might revolt if OKC repeat and then get a top 2 pick from Clippers this year
Crazy that Reaves returned before him, not doubting the severity of his injury, but man it seems like it’s really bad.
It’s only been about a month since he’s been out and people that have rushed back from a similar injury have had recurring issues. And none of them demand the ball as much as Luka would.
EDIT:
And when I say “rush”, I mean “came back after six-ish weeks and played on a 20 minute limit” and still have recurring issues.
Hes going to get reinjured if he comes back. Same thing happened with Jdub earlier came back played two games and reaggravated it. Peyton Watson too. Hamstrings are a pain in the ass ma
Same with Harden a few seasons ago. Came back from a hamstring injury, reinjured it and hasn’t been the same since.
I hate this comparison because Harden was already nearly 32 years old when he suffered the injury and was already on the downswing of his prime.
Most of the pain is in the leg, actually.
I want Luka to play but he’s way too valuable to the future of that team. We’ve seen it too many times when a guy tries to just play through it.
Hamstring injuries take a while to fully recover from. Just look at last post-season where Tatum and Haliburton had season ending injuries because they attempted to play through the hamstring injury. The Lakers would be stupid to jeopardize their future over a season that’s basically still a retool.
Hamstring is the strongest muscle in the body. So when it breaks, it BREAKS
Quads?
It’s not crazy. Grade 2 hamstring is a 2 month recovery time and it’s only been a little more than 1 month.
Well it’s a hamstring injury my brother and it doesn’t even have to be that bad but the problem is if they put him out there and he tweaks it which is highly likely he’s going to be in trouble. Like right now you have to weigh the risk versus reward for his career not just this series
Even if he’s 70% and they throw him out there and something happens to tweak it he’s going to be in trouble going into next season let alone trying to get through this one. And then you add insult to injury (literally) and Lu “let me try to kill you” Dort is on the other team and you know for a fact he’s coming after Luka.
High chance of tweaking it just cause of how he plays too
It was never going to be the other way around, its a hammy
Windhorst said today “actions speak louder than words”
and that it was interesting Luka went to Europe right after the injury. said he thought Lakers wanted to do Luka a favor for returning so soon after his kid was born, and since he spends his summers there anyways, have him relax because the injury was essentially gonna keep him out anyways.
implying the Spain treatment plan was sort of bogus. bold take from Windhorst, but who knows
He went to Spain because he played for Real Madrid and has connections to doctors there, he probably did get treatment but it was never guaranteed to do anything
Our doctors are horrible we have over 100 injuries the past two years
ik they are, but this is still probably the main reason he went there
Windhorst is genuinely a Luka hater, everything he says I would take with a grain of salt
If you could pick the 10 best players on both of the teams? I think the lakers have 2, OKC has 8.
The 8th best player on the Thunder would be the 3rd bets on the Lakers?
Yep. 3rd best on Lakers is Smart.
jdub dort Cason chet Shai Ajay Caruso Joe? all have an argument to be better siruationally.
I’d put smart over Ajay Caruso though.
Hate to break it to you, but Luka or not OKC will sweep the Lakers. Ant is your only hope.
We would have won by almost 20 if you add Lukas 37.
You’d have to add a lot of points to OKC if Luka’s playing
The Luka that OKC kept losing to until Nico Harrison traded him?
No the Luka that’s 0-2 on sub 20ppg vs OKC this season
That’s not how offense or basketball work, there is a limited number of possessions every game, you can’t add 37pts from one player without taking away points from others
People just can’t read sarcasm these days
You’re reading a take from a “Top 1% commenter” with a Lakers flair, there is absolutely no sarcasm involved
This getting downvoted says a lot about this sub lol
IF Luka were to make a winning difference it would have been tonight when the Thunder were rusty and Shai was committing turnovers left and right. I expect them to improve dramatically
Shai committed more than double his regular season avg turnovers and scored under 20, yet we lost. Definitely need luka at 110% to have any kind of chance to win the series
Yeah this was our game to steal but too many players were ass offensively
Lakers played pretty well and still got stomped. Okc i just a juggernaut. Probably gonna flatten all the teams before they raise the trophy
Lakers played pretty well? LeBron played good, Rui and Ayton played solid…the rest of the team was absolute GARBAGE haha. I will say OKC didn’t play that well either and still pulled away easily. If the Lakers as a whole played decent they could’ve had a chance at stealing this one but it’s unlikely OKC is this flat in future games so it ain’t looking good (to no surprise).
Their bench was the only difference imo.Okc and lakers starters scored 75 points
Lakers starters collectively played a good amount more minutes than OKC’s.
Okc is deeper than the lakers, that’s why
You could make the statement about SGA being “just good tonight” but the 41yr old played solid tonight. Easily pulled away or lakers missing so good looks? AR was 3 of 16 tonight & the lakers missed some great looks.
Okc is a better team too to bottom & going to win another ring this year but this wasn’t the beat down you’re playing this up to be tonight lol
I’m confused on what point you’re trying to make here…
Brother, I can’t help your reading comprehension 🤷
You can’t honestly re-read your comment and think “yep this is clear and concise.” Can you lol?
Did you watch? The Lakers played about as good as the could through the first half and still were down the whole way.
Dunno, I think AR can do better than Austin Reaves at half: 4/2/4, 3 Turnovers, 25% TS at the half
If all of reaves games are 8 PTS | 3⁄16 FGS | 0/5 3PTS | 2⁄2 FTS | 4 TOS | 24% TS , lakers are going to have a short series
The Lakers were 15.5pt underdogs, the expectation nationwide is a sweep. I think you missed that part. Even if AR plays “ok” they lose by 8-10pts. They played well as a team overall and still it wasn’t THAT close.
I think you’re confused between ‘expect the lakers to win’ and that’s a perfect half for the lakers
Nah man that’s as good as he could play in a 1st half. Lakers were on fire lol
Yall said this last year and it took Haliburton snapping his Achilles to not lose on their home court in a game 7 to the pacers lmao
I mean, it was no surprise that OKC is gonna get the trophy. No team is currently good enough against them and there’s no team that is Hot enough to give them a game 7.
Luka is not coming back because the Lakers don’t want him to come back. They will see how far LeBron can take them, but they are looking at the future with Luka and don’t want to jeopardize his long term health
Not sure why you’re getting downvotes, this is exactly the playbook they’re running.
Remember harden coming back from a hamstring for the playoffs and tweaking it twice more ? With longer lasting effects
You Want to avoid that
That might be the worst take ive ever read.
Its probably true though, Luka is their plan for the future if he tears his hamstring his career is pretty much over for the next few years
Even when Lebron props up his teammate haters will hate on him for it. These people are sad
They are obviously better with Luka, however selling out on SGA becomes even riskier with him on the court. His off-ball defense is the shakiest part of his game.
Breaking News: Known locker room cancer Lebron James blames all of the Lakers offensive issues on team mate Luka Doncic for being unavailable, which is a common trait amongst fat players.
Bron looked great. Lakers played well, especially with the narrative of complete annihilation in the media and fans dooming. They put Shai off his spots, just didn’t make enough buckets.
I dont care if they rush him back. We need to see this arrogant ass fanbase sweat a bit
The most arrogant fanbase of today vs the most arrogant fanbase in history
Knicks are worse than both
Knicks fans lived in hell for like 25 years they are not arrogant. They’re assholes but they definitely are arrogant.
definitely are arrogant.
You dropped a not
[ Removed by Reddit ]
how is this removed? are we going to risk an injury upon a player?
LeTookTheHighRoad
lakers fans hoping for luka comeback, guy hasn’t even done practice scrimmages and if he does then it’s 3-4 days after that and when he comess back he’ll definitely be on minutes restriction so game 5 probably earliest playing 25 mins
This is a $3000 jacket!
hobbled luka who likely hasn’t run hard in a month ain’t saving this team
I don’t think this should be an excuse after we just watched Minnesota step up without their backcourt. Sure Ant isn’t 37 PPG but he scores quite a bit. Some teams fill out their rosters will players the coach can develop. Some teams throw Jake LaRavia and Dalton Knecht on the court.
Funny how they traded a guy who is known for being hurt and ended up with a guy who is also hurt.
Like i said i didnt watch him but i saw some whack iq and decision making out there last two games. Hes jerking but not shooting the FU threes. Maybe he cant cause hes hurt. The bad iq is there though. Wtf was that step through self pass shot
LeExcuses
Should have followed up “so when Luka returns are you going to let him shoot or still hog the ball and give your son court time instead?”
We know the real problem in the team.
Bronny minutes incoming
If you have Luka on a similar strength roster as OKC, something like Spurs roster, I have no doubt he’d put belt to the flop artists ass.
The difference is roster strength, period. Luka is better career wise in playoffs than the flopper is
I’m a lakers fan but the crying over SGA “flopping” is getting old. Okc is better from top to bottom, hands down. That team is deep & can score at will. Defense is suffocating. That said Lakers played better than expected & the 41 yr old played a good game lol. Okc just that damn good
In Luka’s last 5 against the thunder he averages 20 points and has an average +/- of -9.2.
Hes also the last star to actually beat okc in the playoffs
that was when they had Giddey instead of Caruso and iHart
the lakers lost today by 18 so -9 looks pretty good
Lakers w/o Luka looked better tonight against OKC than they did in the regular season w/ Luka
Further proof OKC fans don’t know basketball with dumb takes like this
That’s the regular season and this is the playoffs. How many times have we seen a team sweep in the regular season and then lose in the playoffs?
I’m actually curious now how many times did that happen?
Smart wasn’t playing in the regular season games. He makes a huge difference as the lakers best defender
For sure i liked what i saw defensively
yeah but the offense outside bron and rui was putrid
Ya Luka is a black hole on defense.
He’s a positive defender this year jfc are you guys ever going to learn basketball?
Lakers hate is funny but unironically he is one of the better defenders on his team. I don’t think you realize how much weaker the lakers roster is, where old marcus smart is the 3rd most important player.
He put you in a black hole when the last time your team played him in 2024 playoffs he embarrassed you publicly
Nah, that was MJ Washington.
If Luka comes back he gets Dortured. OKC would counter with JDub coming back too.
I don’t know if we’d need to
I think they will have JDub play before WCF just to get a feel back.
Fair
This is literally the worst OKC can possibly look and they lost by 20
Nothing can save you
2 seasons in a row for Luka that were cut short due to injury. When do we have to stop pretending he isn’t injury prone and on the decline?
When he doesn’t average 34/9/8
He carries the most load out of any player in the league usage minutes wise. Also takes a lot of contact when drawing fouls/driving. If he had the teammates SGA had and was able to rest 4th quarters that would help tremendously. In the regular season I can count on one hand number of times Luka didn’t have to play in the 4th. They would be blowing a team out then he’d have to play again because bench blew the lead and got it close
His season definitely wasn’t cut short due to injury last season lol.
Also “on the decline” like he wasn’t the leagues leading scorer. Do you realize how hard that is to do?