part two of the nba 2020-21 anything but regular season

Coaches are so bad at challenges, it’s unbelievable

Lakers don’t look great!

would be cool if they ended up in the play in tourney and also lost there and failed to make the playoffs

Tomorrow night is the first time we get see Steph v Zion. And then the next night, too.

and then again at the end of the year with play-in implications for both teams, its may madness baby

The Lakers say LeBron James, who checked out with nearly seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, did not return against Toronto because of a sore right ankle.

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) May 3, 2021

folks kinda feels like the lakers arent gonna win it this year!

shits about to get wacky in the west

The title is wide open

I think the lakers can’t be worse than 7th right? Seems like just shutting AD and Lebron down until the playoffs might be a good idea. They have a game tomorrow and 3 more sets of back to backs in their last 9 games

when i think about the playoff scenarios i am def like

NOW
this
is
gonna
be
FUN

Lal pdx dal all tied at 36-28 now. Likely 7th is worst for them unless a real disaster and they lose a bunch and mem or gsw goes on a winning streak

LeBron James on the play-in tournament: "Whoever came up with that s--- needs to be fired"

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) May 3, 2021

lebron otm

Lol he would say that now

Tough knee injury for haliburton. Hope it’s like what Embiid did vs a torn ligament.

https://sports.yahoo.com/lebron-james-wants-play-tournament-203700119.html

Lmao

Wild what this is doing to the some of the healthiest guys on the planet

Fournier said he's been feeling "really weird" since returning from COVID-19. Said it feels like he has a concussion. The bright lights were bothering his eyes and his vision was blurry. Everything going too fast for him. A bit better now but in some ways, "it's still the case."

— Jay King (@ByJayKing) May 3, 2021

it's a bummer. fournier has been... spotty.

sounds like schroeder has covid so the great news keeps coming for the lakers.

this is funny to me

If the play-in ends up costing the NBA the Lakers and Celtics for the playoffs you’ve gotta figure there will be consequences. Maybe not lost jobs, but that format would change. https://t.co/FI2n730jue

— J.A. Adande (@jadande) May 3, 2021

how dare they threaten opportunities for the famous teams who cant beat sacramento

also i have brainstormed a new variation

give the top 4 teams byes then do some wild tourney for the other 4 spots, wld be sick

— br◎seph (@on3ness) May 3, 2021

obv the play in tourney idea is working if theres all these bad opinions about it

its true if you view the idea through the lens of meta fandom then provoking wild takes is a win

folks kinda feels like the lakers aren't gonna win it this year!

last year I saw that they had a chance early on because of their defensive intensity and match ups were problem for other teams. They don't have that going for them this year and without it the offense they put out there will never be enough.

theyre the top defensive team this year! cmon bron and brow just came back from long layoffs and arent up to speed everyone is over reacting, the big threat to the lakers chances is bron and or brow just not getting fully healthy

which tbf is totally on the table

I'm not sold this year but it's true they haven't had a ton of games where the whole team is healthy

i would be pretty surprised if AD gets back to top form this season and i think they need that above all.

yeah i mean they need them both to be playing good, its a very top heavy team

theyre the top defensive team this year! cmon bron and brow just came back from long layoffs and arent up to speed everyone is over reacting, the big threat to the lakers chances is bron and or brow just not getting fully healthy

― lag∞n, Monday, May 3, 2021 10:33 AM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

also they just need to sit drummond and roll with marc and trez. maybe drummond in spot minutes. also the vibes just arent the same this season for them.

AD has looked quite lazy since his return. might just be adding a bit here or there to see what his leg can handle but hes looked pretty disengaged.

yeah drummond should be strictly for bench scoring his defense is too bad

they really got great minutes from Mcgee and Howard last year on the front line and Rondo was huge for them as a floor general.

Losing Dennis right now seems not ideal

fatigue obvs a big factor for the lakers no one has ever played this many games in a year before, ad could easily just be totally cooked right now, thats why i was thinking it was good he got time off with the injury but it might not be enough, have read some stuff on exhaustion in athletes and it can lead to some surprisingly long down cycles, bron we always assume will be super human but he is in fact technically human and 36 years old so who knows

they really got great minutes from Mcgee and Howard last year on the front line and Rondo was huge for them as a floor general.

― (•̪●) (carne asada), Monday, May 3, 2021 1:48 PM (thirty-seven seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

i like this years roster better on paper but its true that last years just kinda worked out

i mean, every team in the west is at least as flawed as the lakers. i think their main issue is just going to be the demand of the playoffs on AD’s achilles especially if it gets into KDish territory. i could see him sitting out the finals or something instead of pushing himself until his heel explodes. increasingly feels like one of the top 3 teams in the east have the best shot at winning the title but you could make arguments against any other team in the west as easy as you can the lakers

xps marc is pouting about his playing time and role, too.

hmm when was the last time a team that was a bottom 10 defense in the regular season (nets) made the finals?

oh huh the last 2 lebron cavs teams were

those teams at least had the benefit of bron turning up the D in the offs, nets are just going to have to plain outscore everyone

one gets the sense the lakers figured "once we're in the playoffs, we know what to do" so something of a case of moving with the ball before the pass was delivered

yeah historically its pretty rare and the only one i can find that's won the finals is the 2001 lakers which might be a weird fluke since they were a good defensive team in 2000 and 2002

i don’t think the nets are going to win the title they have a team that has never played together, who are also all hurt, a coach that has never coached in the playoffs, they only try on one side of the floor, and there are two other teams in the conference who tate as legitimate contenders. lots of red flags that ppl are going to ignore and then be like “hmm we should’ve seen this one coming”

yup

yeah historically its pretty rare and the only one i can find that's won the finals is the 2001 lakers which might be a weird fluke since they were a good defensive team in 2000 and 2002

― ciderpress, Monday, May 3, 2021 2:04 PM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

one of the alltime great coasting seasons, ended up losing only the one playoff game where iverson went nuts

agreed

i do think philly is clearly real this year though, for the first time in the embiid era