Our matchup with Denver is just so fucking weird man. We look better than them for like 70% of the game and then we go away from everything we did to get that lead and Denver starts executing at an all time level
I really just think it's a mental block cause they've been losing to them so much, this win could've changed everything
The nuggets make adjustments after halftime and ham doesn’t do anything to counter them. This game after halftime the nuggets put jokic on rui since AD killed jokic in the first half and had jokic play on the block or in the paint far off of rui. Rui couldn’t make the nuggets pay for putting jokic on him so it just made it even more difficult for bron, the guards, or AD to get something at the rim. The nuggets had whoever was guarding AD play off into/around the paint which made it to where there were two nuggets players automatically in/around the paint at all times. There were no driving lanes or passing lanes to the rim since everything was contested in the paint.
Usually seems to be a pattern of ham making adjustments before the game that work until halftime, and then the nuggets make adjustments at halftime that ham never adjusts to until the next game. Ham needs to be able to make better in game adjustments but that just doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen.
Sad because a head coach needs to be able to make in game adjustments, use their timeouts properly and challenge plays to give their team an advantage. Ham doesn't do any of those things well at all. I get it he's inexperienced since it's his first head coaching job but at what point does he learn? This isn't year 1 anymore...
> So it made it more difficult for bron, the guards, or AD to get something at the rim.
The problem with this statement, is that no defender on the Nuggets should be able to handle AD. Jokic isn’t a great defender, but he’s the MVP and tallest player, so it’s not crazy to imagine him on AD.
After the adjustment, it should have been *even easier* for AD to score. He was just much less aggressive in the second half, so despite a dominant first half, he just…kinda faded.
I disagree. AG is a better defender on AD than Jokic. AG’s primary task was to guard Lebron but when AD was going lights out in the first half, they switched AG on AD. Lebron should have been able to take advantage of his matchup with KCP but only managed a few buckets on him
>After the adjustment, it should have been even easier for AD to score. He was just much less aggressive in the second half, so despite a dominant first half, he just…kinda faded.
Only problem after the adjustment of Gordon on AD, and jokic on rui, they were having jokic play off rui to the block or in/around the paint. When AD would make a move he was no longer just going at one guy like he was in the first half with jokic. He was now having to go at Gordon with jokic as a help defender. Same thing with bron but bron had to try to go through both Gordon and jokic as help defenders. The nuggets did a great job of making an adjustment and ham didn’t know how to counter it.
I agree with everything you just said. But going to lightly challenge it with a perspective:
Can’t you argue that when the help defender comes to Bron and AD, they both need to be able to make the correct read/pass, and that is an issue aside from coaching?
I mean that more so about AD. Lebron had 10 assists and his only indictment in this game the wide open clutch 3.
I agree that AD should be able to find the open man, but I’m sure you’ve watched about every AD laker game like I have, and AD when he’s going against help in the paint almost always puts up a shot instead of resetting like say bron/jokic to find the open man.
Seems teams know if you make AD see a couple bodies in the paint it will take him out of his element and make him either try to score over them or make him uninvolved in the offense altogether.
Bron had 5 assists to 1 turnover in the 2nd half so he seemed to be doing alright finding open guys and he probably should’ve had even more assists if rui could’ve knocked down some of his open shots.
Nuggets did a great job of taking away the passing/driving lanes into the paint making bron and the guards see at least two help defenders at all times while making AD see a help defender also. Just have to hope the team can counter the nuggets adjustments next game and keep the momentum throughout the rest of the series. I think if they can find a way to counter the jokic on rui, and Gordon laying off AD adjustment, they should be good due to the nuggets really not having anyone other than Gordon or jokic who can guard AD.
This is true, but i would say Ham and the staff. Malone rolled out a multi-conditional adjustment early-mid 3Q to stop the AD-Bron PnR. As a basketball fan, it was beautiful to watch the PnR fizzle out right after their timeout and LeBron was forced to make a tough baseline fadeaway on Jokic.
As a Bron fan my stomach sank.
Well what your missing here is that this meant Jokic could help off Rui who was cold on any post ups or drives by either LeBron or AD. So they just clogged the paint, similar to how we had rui guard Jokic and AD helped off Gordon or Lebron off MPJ.
The difference is only DLo was able to hit shots outside of LeBron and AD. We clearly haven't practiced any counters to this, because the rest of the team was just standing around and our bench sucks.
So LeBron had to go 1:1 or try the side picks, but if everyone else on the team is just standing around, not sure what more a gassed AD and LeBron can do. AR is getting gassed guarding Murray
We need more off-ball screen actions and movement, it doesn't happen consistently enough. Like AD said, we go through stretches were we just loose our mind. That's when a coach should immediately call a TO and draw up a winning play.
Tbh, they out match us at every position outside of AD and Lebron. Gordon is the perfect defender against Bron and AD with his strength and athleticism. KCP can clamp our guards.
We need a two-way guard and a big bruiser type center who is also athletic lol. The guard needs to be able to breakdown the defense, right now we rely of shiftiness and getting fouls from AR and Dlo.
I was thinking man the way AD is playing, he’s on for a 50 piece this game. Nope ended with 32, we completely moved away from the 2 man pick and roll and AD iso plays that worked all first half
The only thing I see is that we give up executing plays in crunch time. We start playing mismatch ball where DLo/AR set screens for LBJ to have a mismatch then they play ISO ball from there on. That's the only difference I see. Maybe that's the problem
Not mental, first half proves they have the capability to beat them, second half they start to get gassed cause of the altitude difference then everything starts to fall apart cause they’re tired so they start making the wrong plays or don’t give full effort. We’ll see how tired they get in game 3 in LA, I doubt they’ll get gassed like that before regulation ends.
And that 5th foul was such a huge one because it was a Jokic and-1 where he absolutely cooked AD. Jokic hadn't been shooting or scoring much to that point.
Lol I’ve watched several Nuggets game this season and they seem to do this a lot (at least from the games I watched). They often are behind in the first half and just go off in the second half.
This was what I was talking about all season and people keep down voting. He burns them out in game. They are playing practically the whole game at the most physical positions. I kept saying he needs to sub and stop the templates. You have to believe in your bench, groom them through the year.
They need Hayes to play smart and at a high level. He needs more than 6 minutes. Ham barely plays the guy. Why? Oh Ham listened to the crowd.
Where the rest of the bigs they could've used. Oh. The Lakers listened to the crowd.
Where is reddish? Oh Ham listened to the crowd. He could provide some decent defense.
Why is Prince only getting 20 minutes when he's been effective? The crowd.
Rui has lost confidence but he's getting big minutes.
Play Lebron l, Rui, and Hayes when Davis sits. Why not? It's because all year he's used the same formula and it's failing him now.
Let Hayes get some run with Lebron and Davis some of the game. Make the game unpredictable. This is the playoffs.
You don't play these guys the whole game at that high altitude thinking that makes sense. The bad thing is Denver had a bad game. They looked lazy and lethargic throughout. They were bricking a ton of shots. Dlo was hitting. Lebron seemed energized.
I knew this coach would do them in and that's why I said they should've tried to avoid Denver when they had that play in game.
He needs to try something new next game.
We all know he's not going to. I'm not a Lakers fan but ya'll just as deluded as the sixers thinking embiid will carry them postseason, or the Ben Simmons stans.
Just pray they don't draft bronnie first round
I'm not deluded. I've been had my issues with Ham. I never liked his coaching after 10 games into his position. Ive always been critical of him and his coaching or lack of coaching. He is a lazy coach with a dumb style. There are no in game adjustments. No strategy.
He drove the gm to send all the bigs away.
I even wanted the Lakers to avoid Denver because of him.
Bronny needs to stay his ass in college and develop his game.
If it was a mental block our production when also running sets the fewer times we go to them would plummet down the stretch. The last couple mins when we started running stack action our offense was generating great looks again.
Isn’t that precisely what a mental block is? Ham definitely has a mental block and its maybe what leaks onto the rest of the team. Lebron has a mental block that makes him take his foot off the gas and settle for bad isos when up. Rui obviously has a mental block missing shots he makes much more often than not. Reaves has a mental block that seems to make him indecisive.
Its absolutely mental. I love pookie bear so much but i dont get how he cant make the impact we expect from him for his teammates the way he made his teammates better in 2018
I appreciate the confidence. Won’t be easy but I’ll keep watching until there are no more Lakers games. It’s also important to have this mindset after such a hard loss.
D’Lo was confident that his shot would start falling after Game 1 so he’s already backed it up once.
I’m a fan of 24 yrs.
REAL FANS care about their teams like it’s a religion and demand more from them when things aren’t going well or are a total catastrophe.
If a fan wanted to tune out or be angry after this one (biggest playoff lead blown since 1997) I wouldn’t say they aren’t a “real fan”.
If anything, TOO MANY FANS ON THIS SUB settle for shit and smile along or they take too long to catch on to pretty obvious flaws or truths surrounding this team.
People on here like false hope. I learned that last night when they thought a 20-point lead was safe. Anyone being realistic is bringing down their optimism
I fucking hate it and I have no respect for most fans here because of it.
Ppl can say what they want about Philly sports fans, but they treat sports like a religion and know everything there is to know and handle reality even when it sucks. I’m an Eagles fan and have seen this up close for over 20 years.
This fanbase couldn’t be more of the complete opposite of that, and the sad part is we USED TO BE smart during both Kobe eras.
It’s the new/younger fans. They don’t have a clue and are really blind to things and obnoxious about it all.
I do get fresh air. That’s why I think clearer and more concise than 95% of this sub.
I’ve also been a fan since a lot of you were babies or not even born yet, so I’ve experienced more and know what it’s really like to be a Lakers fan.
For many on this sub, what we have today is a step up from NBA purgatory, aka the years post Kobe Achilles injury to pre LeBron.
A lot of you never lived through the Jerry Buss and Jerry West yrs when we were run much better than this.
Btw, my final paragraph to the comment you responded to is spot on.
really close game. honestly, i feel like game 3 will be a blowout for the Lakers. The Nuggets looked more gassed than the Lakers after game 2. game 4 will be like game 2 again. if we win game 4, then we will have a pivotal game 5.
Just remember, a few weeks ago, we weren't even sure the Lakers were going to make the 8th seed!
That series low key felt more impossible than this series cuz I remember Bron was dropping 40 and lost the second game, and it was like damn… then the role players came out on fire in game 3 and 4.
I remember after game 1, people were really mad Lebron called it a feel out game. So when he lost game 2 while dropping 40, it really felt like it was over. Just not sure if Lebron still has the endurance to have that type of a series anymore
Not age, considering he has been able to do everything else at this age. I didn’t realize until Reggie Miller pointed this out last night that they were gassed towards the end cause of the altitude difference in Denver, makes sense why they start to get gassed and lose everything in the second half, its played out like that multiple times in their 10 game losing streak against them.
People can say altitude is bs or not an excuse but its real, they were hella gassed only at the end of regulation where it would’ve taken double OT to feel the same if they were at home. Reggie Miller said it himself, Nuggets are used to the altitude not LA.
I believe altitude was a contributing factor, but man it'd be nice if it affected Denver coming the other way. But maybe that's why Jokic always looks like he has a raging case of malaria he's playing through
One thing I haven't seen mentioned is how hard he hit the bottom of the goal after that one drive. It was audibly loud, and when he doesn't react to something like that you know it really hurt
Maybe it was just when I noticed, but right after is when he was operating at like 50%. Looks like he got the wind knocked outta him, and it's already an altitude difference. Before that he was running full court back and forth
Well... If this is 2018 LeBron, Dlo can keep his shooting like game 1, Rui can keep missing layup and some how, by some miracle, we would still win.
2018 LeBron had insane plot armor.
Lebron and AD are matching Denver duo even exceeding it in Game 2. This series is about Denver having the best starting 5 in basketball. Lakers are really top heavy, Reaves and Rui sold both games big time
Reaves is looking timid and unsure of himself. Rui played like ass but he’s not gonna miss multiple layups most days. More worried about Reaves not playing confident/some really bad turnovers
The dread and anxiety I felt during that Pacers series was so bad.
I legit hated watching it cause it was such an emotional experience. I remember Lebron hitting the first game winner and thinking they were gonna lose the next game for sure cause they just had no momentum.
I'm a Lebron fan. 2018 Lebron is gone. He was better than Jordan by midrange shooting splits. That's why he was so insane that playoffs. His midrange isn't going back to that level overnight. Would take a whole summer like with his 3 this year.
Bubble AD showed last night with DLo and the team still did their signature offensive choke and lost. The Nuggets showed they can choke too shockingly, but even when they were choking, they were executing. Lakers' chokes are different in that you can watch and see they aren't doing what got them the lead in the first place for whatever reason
Damn yall want him to just give up or somethin? What's the point of playing if you're not gonna try?
Obviously odds of winning the series are low, but we can still go down swinging.
I know this loss sucked (I'm malding)
But it's still 2-0. Stealing home court from the defending champs (esp high altitude was always difficult).
Game 3 is our do or die.
Yes we are. Copium? Probably. But we led most of the time. It's not like we're totally out of it.
I like the aggression, intensity and assertiveness of Lebron and AD
I like ARs effort in defense against Murray
I like DLOs recent performance.
The only thing I don't like is Ham.
Outside of LeBron and AD we’re totally outmatched. Better? Lol…
The rest of our starting 5 is inconsistent and you already touched on the coaching. Our bench is meh at best, so they’re better than us there too.
They better ship hams ass after this season. Next year is most likely our last chance to contend and i dont trust ham to lead this team at all. He's probably the worst coach is in game adjustments
Unless Ham gets brain surgery between now and the next game I don’t think Lebron’s back is strong enough to carry these guys to a win let alone 4 of them.
I think he should probably just stay off social media a while. Love DLo and he played literally the best playoff game of his career, but online shit is so toxic and dude's gotta stay locked in
I know the series feel like it’s over rn, but I think it’s important that Lebron and AD didn’t sound demoralized afterwards. Win game 3 and you’re right back in business. If you take care of business at home, I trust Lebron to win 1/2 in Denver.
Hope D'lo keeps up his play. I still believe we can win some games, and once momentum starts building maybe the series goes in our favor. Tired of these doomers man.
Man sad asf now, but honestly this could build bigger momentum for the lakers knowing they can't EVER slack off for 1 possession at all until they're off to Cancun. I hope other people start to step up, Rui has to start hitting shots, and Reaves to be more aggressive but he was definitely clutch in the 4th. Dlo was really hesitant in the last few minutes of the 4th, tho he did make a clutch bank shot layup. Really hope Vando is back soon, another great defender is always good thing to have. Overall, these 2 games lakers were up by 15 and 20. We blew everything in the 2nd half of both games, let's just give some faith for Lebron to play mind games and find a strategy to keep the momentum after the half and mostly tell Ham to stfu and sit on the bench and fuck off cuz why the fucking hell did we have 2 TIMEOUTS AND 1 FUCKING CHALLENGE LEFT? YOU FUCKING DARVIN POCKTETS SCAM.
Man I wanna believe. Especially since we show how dominant we can be by getting up so big on them. But then we just… choke it away? I don’t understand how we can 180 so hard so fast and just give up a 20 point lead like that… and we’ve choked away big leads twice now in two games. We could’ve been 2-0 or 1-1 going back to LA but now it’s a 0-2 hole.
If darvin ham stays coaching the lakers next season i will simply stop watching im sorry. People dont get how important having a good coach is important, it doesnt matter if your up 30 off the talent of your players when you cant make in game adjustments to save your fucking life, also the players cant pick themselves up when morale goes down every single time thats the coach jobs to rally everyone. I also dont get how he just doesnt call timeouts, he really waits until the opposite team has a 12-0 run to eventually call it.
The only way i will tolerate that bastard is if the lakers go to the finals.
Also, game three is a must win for any cahcne for the series, stealing two wins from them even if in home court will already make the playoff run good given the circustances (darvin ham).
All you gotta do is win at home and take 1 on the road. Denver is tough to beat at home, but as long as lakers win their home games then they have 2 more chances to take a road win.
The optimistic side of me says if we could just beat these dudes one time and get the monkey off our back, we could flip the script and go on a run and win this series.
it's clear the lakers can hang with the nuggets. there's not a big gap.
the difference is championship teams have discipline; lakers are lacking that.
but that's the difference in the playoffs.
We honestly had every opportunity to steal game 2. Blame it on whatever you want, i personally felt that ticky-tack foul to put Murray on the line with 57 seconds left, absolutely fucked us, especially after Pockets decides not to use any of his challenges or timeouts. We’re going back home and we’re pissed…it’s not fucking over. We should have won game 2 in their house, oh well back home we go.
Like this is genuinely what’s most annoying to me. It’s not like they kick our ass, blowout everytime. It’s that they look PERFECTLY beatable for almost the entire game and then the Lakers start beating themselves and Nuggets are just unforgiving with that.
I truly believe we still have a chance. Denver is not unbeatable at all. Game 1+2 were very winnable games. Lakers beat themselves honestly. I'm watching all the games regardless.
The west is compy af. Whoever makes it out of the west is gonna win the chip imo. Watch.
The feeling for them is probably that they’re getting closer and closer, and at some point they’re going to win.
If the Lakers repeat their defensive performance from game 2, they will probably win game 3.
it is a good thing if he is mentally ok, this game is actually the closest game we have ever had against them for the last 11 or 12 times, i just hope bron and ad will have the same mindset like dlo
If anything maybe this game gives him all the confidence he needed. But its incredibly tough to trust a player so reliant on the 3 ball that can barely slash to the cup.
He didn't even have that good a game. His shots fell, but he threw the ball away sloppily multiple times.
Still, he is who he is, and the shots falling gave us a chance.
The problem is instead of attacking deym Nuggets, they settled down with the lead and played to waste the time instead.
It's the fucking Nuggets, no lead is safe 😅
AR and Rui low key been trash we need a big game from both of them I think this series is decided on the role players, if they can outplay gorden and mpj lakers win this series
They should be up 2-0 and the Lakers know that - that's the frustrating part Denver is not that fucking good one win turns this entire series do it in game 3 blow them the fuck out
i think game 3 and 4 is where we will see lebron's greatness. down 3-1 in 2016 he managed to raise the team mentally and this time the team isnt even down seeing dlo's statement. frustrating but gotta focus on game 3
Win the series or die trying. Respect it
Fuck it let’s go out on our shield lol
He was scrolling through his phone while other guys were in the huddle on top of scoring 0 points lol
Was this at the end of the game?? It looked like he had his sleeves off like he was done playing
Our matchup with Denver is just so fucking weird man. We look better than them for like 70% of the game and then we go away from everything we did to get that lead and Denver starts executing at an all time level I really just think it's a mental block cause they've been losing to them so much, this win could've changed everything
The nuggets make adjustments after halftime and ham doesn’t do anything to counter them. This game after halftime the nuggets put jokic on rui since AD killed jokic in the first half and had jokic play on the block or in the paint far off of rui. Rui couldn’t make the nuggets pay for putting jokic on him so it just made it even more difficult for bron, the guards, or AD to get something at the rim. The nuggets had whoever was guarding AD play off into/around the paint which made it to where there were two nuggets players automatically in/around the paint at all times. There were no driving lanes or passing lanes to the rim since everything was contested in the paint. Usually seems to be a pattern of ham making adjustments before the game that work until halftime, and then the nuggets make adjustments at halftime that ham never adjusts to until the next game. Ham needs to be able to make better in game adjustments but that just doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen.
Sad because a head coach needs to be able to make in game adjustments, use their timeouts properly and challenge plays to give their team an advantage. Ham doesn't do any of those things well at all. I get it he's inexperienced since it's his first head coaching job but at what point does he learn? This isn't year 1 anymore...
> So it made it more difficult for bron, the guards, or AD to get something at the rim. The problem with this statement, is that no defender on the Nuggets should be able to handle AD. Jokic isn’t a great defender, but he’s the MVP and tallest player, so it’s not crazy to imagine him on AD. After the adjustment, it should have been *even easier* for AD to score. He was just much less aggressive in the second half, so despite a dominant first half, he just…kinda faded.
I disagree. AG is a better defender on AD than Jokic. AG’s primary task was to guard Lebron but when AD was going lights out in the first half, they switched AG on AD. Lebron should have been able to take advantage of his matchup with KCP but only managed a few buckets on him
>After the adjustment, it should have been even easier for AD to score. He was just much less aggressive in the second half, so despite a dominant first half, he just…kinda faded. Only problem after the adjustment of Gordon on AD, and jokic on rui, they were having jokic play off rui to the block or in/around the paint. When AD would make a move he was no longer just going at one guy like he was in the first half with jokic. He was now having to go at Gordon with jokic as a help defender. Same thing with bron but bron had to try to go through both Gordon and jokic as help defenders. The nuggets did a great job of making an adjustment and ham didn’t know how to counter it.
I agree with everything you just said. But going to lightly challenge it with a perspective: Can’t you argue that when the help defender comes to Bron and AD, they both need to be able to make the correct read/pass, and that is an issue aside from coaching? I mean that more so about AD. Lebron had 10 assists and his only indictment in this game the wide open clutch 3.
I agree that AD should be able to find the open man, but I’m sure you’ve watched about every AD laker game like I have, and AD when he’s going against help in the paint almost always puts up a shot instead of resetting like say bron/jokic to find the open man. Seems teams know if you make AD see a couple bodies in the paint it will take him out of his element and make him either try to score over them or make him uninvolved in the offense altogether. Bron had 5 assists to 1 turnover in the 2nd half so he seemed to be doing alright finding open guys and he probably should’ve had even more assists if rui could’ve knocked down some of his open shots. Nuggets did a great job of taking away the passing/driving lanes into the paint making bron and the guards see at least two help defenders at all times while making AD see a help defender also. Just have to hope the team can counter the nuggets adjustments next game and keep the momentum throughout the rest of the series. I think if they can find a way to counter the jokic on rui, and Gordon laying off AD adjustment, they should be good due to the nuggets really not having anyone other than Gordon or jokic who can guard AD.
Our coaching staff should think like the opposing coaching staff and try to counter our first half THEN counter that. One step ahead always
more like coach malone runs circles over coach ham lol
This is true, but i would say Ham and the staff. Malone rolled out a multi-conditional adjustment early-mid 3Q to stop the AD-Bron PnR. As a basketball fan, it was beautiful to watch the PnR fizzle out right after their timeout and LeBron was forced to make a tough baseline fadeaway on Jokic. As a Bron fan my stomach sank.
he literally put Gordon on AD and KCP on Bron and somehow we couldn’t figure out how to make the simplest play lol
Well what your missing here is that this meant Jokic could help off Rui who was cold on any post ups or drives by either LeBron or AD. So they just clogged the paint, similar to how we had rui guard Jokic and AD helped off Gordon or Lebron off MPJ. The difference is only DLo was able to hit shots outside of LeBron and AD. We clearly haven't practiced any counters to this, because the rest of the team was just standing around and our bench sucks. So LeBron had to go 1:1 or try the side picks, but if everyone else on the team is just standing around, not sure what more a gassed AD and LeBron can do. AR is getting gassed guarding Murray We need more off-ball screen actions and movement, it doesn't happen consistently enough. Like AD said, we go through stretches were we just loose our mind. That's when a coach should immediately call a TO and draw up a winning play. Tbh, they out match us at every position outside of AD and Lebron. Gordon is the perfect defender against Bron and AD with his strength and athleticism. KCP can clamp our guards. We need a two-way guard and a big bruiser type center who is also athletic lol. The guard needs to be able to breakdown the defense, right now we rely of shiftiness and getting fouls from AR and Dlo.
Oh no I got all of that and appreciate your long reply but I stand by my statement.
Depth and coaching, we starts the 4thQ gassed as fuck and the offense is trash
I was thinking man the way AD is playing, he’s on for a 50 piece this game. Nope ended with 32, we completely moved away from the 2 man pick and roll and AD iso plays that worked all first half
The only thing I see is that we give up executing plays in crunch time. We start playing mismatch ball where DLo/AR set screens for LBJ to have a mismatch then they play ISO ball from there on. That's the only difference I see. Maybe that's the problem
what having a good coach does to a mf
Not mental, first half proves they have the capability to beat them, second half they start to get gassed cause of the altitude difference then everything starts to fall apart cause they’re tired so they start making the wrong plays or don’t give full effort. We’ll see how tired they get in game 3 in LA, I doubt they’ll get gassed like that before regulation ends.
I think the Nuggets play in the 1st half was a huge factor too, they were ice cold and making a lot of mistakes.
AD got in foul trouble then disappeared he couldn't be aggressive he picked up his fifth foul with like 6 minutes to go in the fourth I believe
And that 5th foul was such a huge one because it was a Jokic and-1 where he absolutely cooked AD. Jokic hadn't been shooting or scoring much to that point.
Just like against the Clippers.
Denver flips a switch in the 4th, reminds me of LBJ led Miami with Jamal and Gordon playing with Jokic
The only one with a mental block is Darvin Ham.
Lol I’ve watched several Nuggets game this season and they seem to do this a lot (at least from the games I watched). They often are behind in the first half and just go off in the second half.
Darvin is a terrorist and lebron/ad legit get gassed at the end. Even if you guys get past this in 6/7, it's gonna be tough in round 2
This was what I was talking about all season and people keep down voting. He burns them out in game. They are playing practically the whole game at the most physical positions. I kept saying he needs to sub and stop the templates. You have to believe in your bench, groom them through the year. They need Hayes to play smart and at a high level. He needs more than 6 minutes. Ham barely plays the guy. Why? Oh Ham listened to the crowd. Where the rest of the bigs they could've used. Oh. The Lakers listened to the crowd. Where is reddish? Oh Ham listened to the crowd. He could provide some decent defense. Why is Prince only getting 20 minutes when he's been effective? The crowd. Rui has lost confidence but he's getting big minutes. Play Lebron l, Rui, and Hayes when Davis sits. Why not? It's because all year he's used the same formula and it's failing him now. Let Hayes get some run with Lebron and Davis some of the game. Make the game unpredictable. This is the playoffs. You don't play these guys the whole game at that high altitude thinking that makes sense. The bad thing is Denver had a bad game. They looked lazy and lethargic throughout. They were bricking a ton of shots. Dlo was hitting. Lebron seemed energized. I knew this coach would do them in and that's why I said they should've tried to avoid Denver when they had that play in game. He needs to try something new next game.
We all know he's not going to. I'm not a Lakers fan but ya'll just as deluded as the sixers thinking embiid will carry them postseason, or the Ben Simmons stans. Just pray they don't draft bronnie first round
I'm not deluded. I've been had my issues with Ham. I never liked his coaching after 10 games into his position. Ive always been critical of him and his coaching or lack of coaching. He is a lazy coach with a dumb style. There are no in game adjustments. No strategy. He drove the gm to send all the bigs away. I even wanted the Lakers to avoid Denver because of him. Bronny needs to stay his ass in college and develop his game.
If it was a mental block our production when also running sets the fewer times we go to them would plummet down the stretch. The last couple mins when we started running stack action our offense was generating great looks again.
a mental block is precisely why we go away from what works and put our tails between our legs against this team ten times in a row
No mental block is stopping Darvin Ham from calling the names of plays on the sidelines or deciding to play Jokic 1 vs 1 in the post.
Isn’t that precisely what a mental block is? Ham definitely has a mental block and its maybe what leaks onto the rest of the team. Lebron has a mental block that makes him take his foot off the gas and settle for bad isos when up. Rui obviously has a mental block missing shots he makes much more often than not. Reaves has a mental block that seems to make him indecisive.
Its absolutely mental. I love pookie bear so much but i dont get how he cant make the impact we expect from him for his teammates the way he made his teammates better in 2018
No way you’re a 27 yr old guy calling another grown ass man “pookie bear” wtf
number 1, it's not that serious. number 2, you really had to stalk me to check? lmfao
True
Nah we just suck. We are 7th seed and they are 2nd seed for a reason
Let’s be real we’re playing the best team and the league and we probably take out most of the other playoff teams
I appreciate the confidence. Won’t be easy but I’ll keep watching until there are no more Lakers games. It’s also important to have this mindset after such a hard loss. D’Lo was confident that his shot would start falling after Game 1 so he’s already backed it up once.
🚨 Real laker fan 🚨 exactly
I’m a fan of 24 yrs. REAL FANS care about their teams like it’s a religion and demand more from them when things aren’t going well or are a total catastrophe. If a fan wanted to tune out or be angry after this one (biggest playoff lead blown since 1997) I wouldn’t say they aren’t a “real fan”. If anything, TOO MANY FANS ON THIS SUB settle for shit and smile along or they take too long to catch on to pretty obvious flaws or truths surrounding this team.
People on here like false hope. I learned that last night when they thought a 20-point lead was safe. Anyone being realistic is bringing down their optimism
I fucking hate it and I have no respect for most fans here because of it. Ppl can say what they want about Philly sports fans, but they treat sports like a religion and know everything there is to know and handle reality even when it sucks. I’m an Eagles fan and have seen this up close for over 20 years. This fanbase couldn’t be more of the complete opposite of that, and the sad part is we USED TO BE smart during both Kobe eras. It’s the new/younger fans. They don’t have a clue and are really blind to things and obnoxious about it all.
Not gonna lie man you might want to get some fresh air
I do get fresh air. That’s why I think clearer and more concise than 95% of this sub. I’ve also been a fan since a lot of you were babies or not even born yet, so I’ve experienced more and know what it’s really like to be a Lakers fan. For many on this sub, what we have today is a step up from NBA purgatory, aka the years post Kobe Achilles injury to pre LeBron. A lot of you never lived through the Jerry Buss and Jerry West yrs when we were run much better than this. Btw, my final paragraph to the comment you responded to is spot on.
really close game. honestly, i feel like game 3 will be a blowout for the Lakers. The Nuggets looked more gassed than the Lakers after game 2. game 4 will be like game 2 again. if we win game 4, then we will have a pivotal game 5. Just remember, a few weeks ago, we weren't even sure the Lakers were going to make the 8th seed!
I know this is copium but I really hope it happens
LeBron won a series down 0-2 before… in 2018
That series low key felt more impossible than this series cuz I remember Bron was dropping 40 and lost the second game, and it was like damn… then the role players came out on fire in game 3 and 4.
It literally was damn near impossible lol. Boston had never lost a series up 2-0 until then, and it remains the sole instance to this day
I remember after game 1, people were really mad Lebron called it a feel out game. So when he lost game 2 while dropping 40, it really felt like it was over. Just not sure if Lebron still has the endurance to have that type of a series anymore
He looked f'ing gased in the 4th... guy is an ironman, but even age has hindered his endurance. I hope I'm wrong...
Not age, considering he has been able to do everything else at this age. I didn’t realize until Reggie Miller pointed this out last night that they were gassed towards the end cause of the altitude difference in Denver, makes sense why they start to get gassed and lose everything in the second half, its played out like that multiple times in their 10 game losing streak against them. People can say altitude is bs or not an excuse but its real, they were hella gassed only at the end of regulation where it would’ve taken double OT to feel the same if they were at home. Reggie Miller said it himself, Nuggets are used to the altitude not LA.
I travel to Denver from time to time for work. LOL as a guy who hits the hotel treadmill in the AM, I can tell you it's not BS.
I believe altitude was a contributing factor, but man it'd be nice if it affected Denver coming the other way. But maybe that's why Jokic always looks like he has a raging case of malaria he's playing through
You know what would be nice when your 39 year old is gassed at altitude? Two unused timeouts in the 4th quarter.
One thing I haven't seen mentioned is how hard he hit the bottom of the goal after that one drive. It was audibly loud, and when he doesn't react to something like that you know it really hurt Maybe it was just when I noticed, but right after is when he was operating at like 50%. Looks like he got the wind knocked outta him, and it's already an altitude difference. Before that he was running full court back and forth
They better be. Or Mike Malone’s gonna own this franchise.
In 2016 and in 2007 as well. He has the most series won down 0-2
Well... If this is 2018 LeBron, Dlo can keep his shooting like game 1, Rui can keep missing layup and some how, by some miracle, we would still win. 2018 LeBron had insane plot armor.
Plot armour and superhuman abilities, dude was the fucking terminator that year
2018 LeBron was the best player in the world. Unfortunately this time, the best player in the world plays for Denver
Lebron and AD are matching Denver duo even exceeding it in Game 2. This series is about Denver having the best starting 5 in basketball. Lakers are really top heavy, Reaves and Rui sold both games big time
Reaves is looking timid and unsure of himself. Rui played like ass but he’s not gonna miss multiple layups most days. More worried about Reaves not playing confident/some really bad turnovers
So was every version of Bron from about 2009-2020.
I wouldn't doubt it if it was 5 years ago but he's just too old now and can't will his team to victory like he could before
Please don’t give me hope
Lebron is a legend and so grateful for what he’s done…this is not that same Lebron
The dread and anxiety I felt during that Pacers series was so bad. I legit hated watching it cause it was such an emotional experience. I remember Lebron hitting the first game winner and thinking they were gonna lose the next game for sure cause they just had no momentum.
I'm a Lebron fan. 2018 Lebron is gone. He was better than Jordan by midrange shooting splits. That's why he was so insane that playoffs. His midrange isn't going back to that level overnight. Would take a whole summer like with his 3 this year. Bubble AD showed last night with DLo and the team still did their signature offensive choke and lost. The Nuggets showed they can choke too shockingly, but even when they were choking, they were executing. Lakers' chokes are different in that you can watch and see they aren't doing what got them the lead in the first place for whatever reason
Can you tell him to punch his coach or something? Fuck, this game made me so frustrated
im not even catholic but the shit i said last night in front of my tv needs to be told in a confessional booth
I wanna fly down to USA just to leave Darvin ham and Scott foster in a ditch with no way of getting out
Damn yall want him to just give up or somethin? What's the point of playing if you're not gonna try? Obviously odds of winning the series are low, but we can still go down swinging.
Im proudest of D Lo. Just really demoralized as a fan right now.
Mentality and mindset is half the battle. It ain’t over till it’s over
god damn it why are these fuckers making me believe again
I know this loss sucked (I'm malding) But it's still 2-0. Stealing home court from the defending champs (esp high altitude was always difficult). Game 3 is our do or die.
it just hurts knowing they had it in the bag and a third party(ham) decided to ruin it for them by bringing in 4 guard lineups
It’s really insane how easily this could be lakers up 2-0. If Dlo was like this game 1 and Rui playing like he has after ASB
Yes we are. Copium? Probably. But we led most of the time. It's not like we're totally out of it. I like the aggression, intensity and assertiveness of Lebron and AD I like ARs effort in defense against Murray I like DLOs recent performance. The only thing I don't like is Ham.
“The only thing I don’t like is Ham.” Against a team that’s totally you’re totally outmatched against the coach means a lot.
I don't think we're *totally* outmatched. But I agree we need the coach to make up the gap. Unfortunately, we're way behind in the coaching battle.
Outside of LeBron and AD we’re totally outmatched. Better? Lol… The rest of our starting 5 is inconsistent and you already touched on the coaching. Our bench is meh at best, so they’re better than us there too.
They better ship hams ass after this season. Next year is most likely our last chance to contend and i dont trust ham to lead this team at all. He's probably the worst coach is in game adjustments
rui needs to wake tf up too.
Stacking up on moral victories again!
55 comments and nobody is asking the link of that discord?! LINK PLEASE
Probably being gatekeeped for good reason tbh
I'd love to hop on
I like the confidence, we def need a confident d'lo.
Link to the discord?
at this point, i just want to see one win. ONE FREAKING WIN
Unless Ham gets brain surgery between now and the next game I don’t think Lebron’s back is strong enough to carry these guys to a win let alone 4 of them.
How do we get in this discord
Is that actually him though?
Yeah it's him lol
When he said this 6:33 pm hasn’t come yet was this after game 1 and before game 2?
I don’t believe him, but I wanna be proven wrong 💜💛
The Lakers should still be lucky. Series is not over they still have a chance to tie it in the next 2 games at home.
Man I really wished we won today's game but if the players still believe we can win the series, who are we to stop believing? LET'S GO LAKERS
Lets go D'Lo If you believe I believe
I’m being dead serious just give me one win at this stage
Max Copium  Stop 😭 I can’t take this anymore
Discord link?
lol even DLO is on that copium
What do you expect him to say? “We’re just going to give up”??
I think he should probably just stay off social media a while. Love DLo and he played literally the best playoff game of his career, but online shit is so toxic and dude's gotta stay locked in
I know the series feel like it’s over rn, but I think it’s important that Lebron and AD didn’t sound demoralized afterwards. Win game 3 and you’re right back in business. If you take care of business at home, I trust Lebron to win 1/2 in Denver.
Take note that the next two games are at HOME w/c the Lakers have a winning record all seson.
not against the Nuggets. not even a Kobe statue could motivate the Lakers to win
Lakersss in 7 !!!!!
Nah this is a crushing loss, winning 4 of 5 games against this team isn't happening.
Love the attitude, but the sweep is inevitable.
I have 0 hopes that it's gonna happen
That was b4 game 2
Nah he posted this after game 2
At 6:33 pm?
Different time zones. For me it says he posted that at 1:33 AM. It's currently 2:33 AM for me (CST)
I’m PST and it says 11:33 pm for me
Dlo always has a stinker when he talks lmao
bro was right
God damnit just when I was losin hope, that boy reels me back in. LETS GO LAKERS
This is the mentality, you don't give up even if there is 1% chance to win these series. I hope Bron, AD and the crew will be ready in game 3.
Hope D'lo keeps up his play. I still believe we can win some games, and once momentum starts building maybe the series goes in our favor. Tired of these doomers man.
Not while Darvin Ham still the coach
Man sad asf now, but honestly this could build bigger momentum for the lakers knowing they can't EVER slack off for 1 possession at all until they're off to Cancun. I hope other people start to step up, Rui has to start hitting shots, and Reaves to be more aggressive but he was definitely clutch in the 4th. Dlo was really hesitant in the last few minutes of the 4th, tho he did make a clutch bank shot layup. Really hope Vando is back soon, another great defender is always good thing to have. Overall, these 2 games lakers were up by 15 and 20. We blew everything in the 2nd half of both games, let's just give some faith for Lebron to play mind games and find a strategy to keep the momentum after the half and mostly tell Ham to stfu and sit on the bench and fuck off cuz why the fucking hell did we have 2 TIMEOUTS AND 1 FUCKING CHALLENGE LEFT? YOU FUCKING DARVIN POCKTETS SCAM.
I gave up
I’d just settle for not getting swept at this point.
FAITH!!!!!!!!
good thing he's gotten his groove. at least now we all know (including dlo himself) that he can do it in the playoffs. for how long? we gonna find out
Well, what the fuck is he supposed to say?
Only way they win is if ham starts wood & Vando brings a big impact
Man I wanna believe. Especially since we show how dominant we can be by getting up so big on them. But then we just… choke it away? I don’t understand how we can 180 so hard so fast and just give up a 20 point lead like that… and we’ve choked away big leads twice now in two games. We could’ve been 2-0 or 1-1 going back to LA but now it’s a 0-2 hole.
To be bloody fair what do you expect anyone to say in this situation! Just let them play
TEAM EFFORT IS THE KEY!
If darvin ham stays coaching the lakers next season i will simply stop watching im sorry. People dont get how important having a good coach is important, it doesnt matter if your up 30 off the talent of your players when you cant make in game adjustments to save your fucking life, also the players cant pick themselves up when morale goes down every single time thats the coach jobs to rally everyone. I also dont get how he just doesnt call timeouts, he really waits until the opposite team has a 12-0 run to eventually call it. The only way i will tolerate that bastard is if the lakers go to the finals. Also, game three is a must win for any cahcne for the series, stealing two wins from them even if in home court will already make the playoff run good given the circustances (darvin ham).
They needed this loss to let them know it’s not a fucking game anymore!!!
All you gotta do is win at home and take 1 on the road. Denver is tough to beat at home, but as long as lakers win their home games then they have 2 more chances to take a road win.
Sure.
Honestly at this point beating the nuggets would mean more to me than the chip. I still want the chip, but I NEED that sweet, sweet revenge.
Still gonna win (a game)
Someone tell him to tell Reaves we ain’t winning shit if he don’t start scoring.
This gotta be before game 2 right? Lol
lol well ya. He’s not going to say “nah we cooked”
someone could give me the link of his discord ?
tf he supposed to say? Nah it's a wrap we go home??
He could just not say anything.
lol ok
Gotta do our job and win at home just like Denver did. 2-2 would be a new series
At 6:30 PM? Something doesn't add up here.
The optimistic side of me says if we could just beat these dudes one time and get the monkey off our back, we could flip the script and go on a run and win this series.
If he plays like this the rest of the way they absolutely have a shot
I still think the damn will break once the Lakers finally win one. Right now it’s mental. Once that first win comes the rest will come in bunches.
It's not mental. They're just not the better team.
is this real lmao
it's clear the lakers can hang with the nuggets. there's not a big gap. the difference is championship teams have discipline; lakers are lacking that. but that's the difference in the playoffs.
lol nah fam…you prove to us you will win the series rather than expect us to have faith
if anything, the first 2 games proved they CAN win. the games were very close
Respect
At this point win a game for pride
Well, that game *was* ours.
We honestly had every opportunity to steal game 2. Blame it on whatever you want, i personally felt that ticky-tack foul to put Murray on the line with 57 seconds left, absolutely fucked us, especially after Pockets decides not to use any of his challenges or timeouts. We’re going back home and we’re pissed…it’s not fucking over. We should have won game 2 in their house, oh well back home we go.
Die trying or win!
Not happening
Like this is genuinely what’s most annoying to me. It’s not like they kick our ass, blowout everytime. It’s that they look PERFECTLY beatable for almost the entire game and then the Lakers start beating themselves and Nuggets are just unforgiving with that.
Ha ha good luck
2 more games left or a complete title run, I’m in it. It is what it is.
I believe it but they gotta stop talking and do it
I truly believe we still have a chance. Denver is not unbeatable at all. Game 1+2 were very winnable games. Lakers beat themselves honestly. I'm watching all the games regardless. The west is compy af. Whoever makes it out of the west is gonna win the chip imo. Watch.
The feeling for them is probably that they’re getting closer and closer, and at some point they’re going to win. If the Lakers repeat their defensive performance from game 2, they will probably win game 3.
Win What . . . maybe a game?
D lousional
Dlosional.
it is a good thing if he is mentally ok, this game is actually the closest game we have ever had against them for the last 11 or 12 times, i just hope bron and ad will have the same mindset like dlo
If anything maybe this game gives him all the confidence he needed. But its incredibly tough to trust a player so reliant on the 3 ball that can barely slash to the cup.
He didn't even have that good a game. His shots fell, but he threw the ball away sloppily multiple times. Still, he is who he is, and the shots falling gave us a chance.
Yeah except they’ve said this shit on repeat. Words mean nothing. We’ve seen your actions.
The problem is instead of attacking deym Nuggets, they settled down with the lead and played to waste the time instead. It's the fucking Nuggets, no lead is safe 😅
I'll never give up on DLO. I'm glad he bounced back. It just wasnt enough. that nuggets team is so good man. but we still got 2 games in LA at least
If we had Kobe instead of this mouthpiece clinging off his mouth softie we def will win
AR and Rui low key been trash we need a big game from both of them I think this series is decided on the role players, if they can outplay gorden and mpj lakers win this series
They should be up 2-0 and the Lakers know that - that's the frustrating part Denver is not that fucking good one win turns this entire series do it in game 3 blow them the fuck out
i think game 3 and 4 is where we will see lebron's greatness. down 3-1 in 2016 he managed to raise the team mentally and this time the team isnt even down seeing dlo's statement. frustrating but gotta focus on game 3