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activeverb
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 Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 7:23 am Post subject: Re: This year's Lakers team just doesn't have "it" |
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| Kblo247! wrote: | | troy wrote: | Is it me, or does it seem like this season's Lakers team has no chemistry, no hunger, no enthusiasm, different agendas, and seem very disjointed.
* Dennis Schröder makes demands as a new guy (to start), then proceeds to turn down lucrative extensions, and then he has a public spat with our head coach, and it's not like he's been blowing it up out there.
* Marc Gasol started out the season bloated and out of shape. And then he publically criticized his role when Drummond came, which couldn't have made Drummond feel welcomed, adding to locker room tensions, perhaps?
* Montrez Harrell is acting like a mental case out there, ala Kyrie Irving. He seems depressed, out of it. Often barks at his own players mid game, and tends to disappear offensively and defensively too often. His body language sucks, and it doesn't seem like he gives a damn.
* Anthony Caruso, instead of improving his game, has actually regressed. Seems like he got too into himself after winning the ring last season and forgot that improvement is a consistent endeavor for an NBA pro.
* KCP, other than the occasional good game, has been abysmal. I can understand having a slump. But a season long slump is not acceptable at his pay rate.
* Wesley Matthews has been a pure disappointment. I don't know if much was expected from him, but even what little was likely expected (hit some 3's play some D), he has been inept at executing.
* Even Anthony Davis started the season like he didn't care. Often lazy with his effort, he underachieved the majority of games before his injury, blaming it on his being "tired", or "pacing" himself.
This year's Lakers doesn't have the drive, focus, dedication, enthusiasm, nor the energy that last season's team has. Not sure if things will come together in time for the post season. Blame it on a short off season, or some bad signings, or whatever. This year's Lakers team just doesn't seem to have that bond last year's team had. Just my 2 cents. |
Point by point
1 Dennis
Dennis should demand to start. If you label yourself a bench player in this league you will get paid as a bench player. No one on the team was better at guard than him. He talked his talk because he was clear ahead of time that he didn’t want to be a Laker or Clipper the year before, so he sure as hell was not going to let you trade him somewhere and make him a bench guy. And you have nothing really to argue about his extensions. He shorts himself 2 years and tens of millions if he extends upon the trade. He shorts himself money all together if he signs the 4 year extension now. Don’t blame Dennis for not shorting himself, blame the way the league is setup. It’s not unique to him as Lavine is very similar to him in Chicago, if he extends now he shorts himself 40 damn million compared to playing his deal out and making more. They created the super max but they flawed the system for guys like Dennis, Lavine, and Klay. Guys who make the mle now make what Kobe was making in a 3 peat, yet guys more talented than them are stuck in limbo where they need to let a deal expire to even get paid the most by their team. The record with him speaks for itself as Lebrun struggled more than Dennis has without AD and him actually to get wins.
2. Marc
Marc started out this season like he’s started every season of his nba career. Know your history. He’s played his way into shape in Toronto and Memphis as well. To expect him to different means you don’t know basketball, as much as you know 2k. And why the hell would he glow about Drummond? Drummond hasn’t been better than him for their careers, Drummond isn’t the champion, drummonds defensive numbers don’t even top Marcs last year. He doesn’t have to cheer the guy coming in to take his spot and accept DNPs, especially not how Vogel did it with starting him day one and benching Marc to a 4th quarter and making him stand in front that press. If Drummond can’t handle being greeted with earn my spot, I’m not go happily give it to you, he’s a snowflake who you don’t want headed into the playoffs. Marc should feel some way, he’s human, but he didn’t act up and he also has to see that he can help the team better and feel frustrated he’s not been given a bench role even behind Drummond. Vogel handled it bad, he knows he did because he handled it bad with Markieff and Wes too at points and apologized. Marc also is not and will not ever be his brother Pau so he won’t turn the other cheek, he won’t let the press kill him and just be humble, he will respond, and he saw where being a good pro got Pau towards the end with the Lakers and how he was treated so he stepped on that from jump.
3) Montrez
Montrezl leads the team in points in the paint and second chance points. He has every right to bark and be pissed when Tucker and Caruso can’t make an entry pass and he has to give up post position to come get the ball and have to go to work. It’s bad guard play on their part that pisses him off. Every big and post player in the history of ball gets pissed when they do the work to post up, seal their guy, rim run and a guard can’t get them the ball. And he’s by far one of the best post conversion players in the league.
4) Caruso
Caruso 3 point shot has improved. That’s an actual fact. If you are harping on he’s not a point guard, well he wasn’t one last year either because he had Rondo. That’s on the team that they didn’t get another point or simply are trying to make THT into one. His defense is still there. But if you expected him to become a different position than he played last year with only a month and half off season, you’re being silly.
5) KCP
KCP has a better offensive plus minus than Tucker and Caruso. KCP is the best shooter on the team and shooting 40 plus percent a night from 3. He still defends your best player every night like last year. He gets less shots than he did last year too, a career low, so you make no sense if you don’t take that into account. KCP hasn’t taken a game off. He’s the guy who chased Harden, Dame, Lillard, and Herro and got ran into pick after pick and had no offseason yet hasn’t missed a game. Hell he had back spasms the past two games and is spending his bench time with a matchine on his back but he still dint miss a game for his team.
6) AD
AD should not have cared to start the year. He just came off a ring. He had the shortest offseason of any champ ever. He was still part of the leagues best defense. He came off a postseason with numbers only Shaw have put up as a lakers big. He’s always known to get hurt because he wasn’t a natural 7 foot guy, just had a very late birth spurt. He knows his body and he knows his team, it made no sense to kill him self. It makes no sense to rush back or go for these awards like dpoy or mvp when they mean jack. Kobe and Shaq have two mvps between them, yet Nash has 2 by himself, and we know that Nash isn’t even mentioned as top 20 player. Draymond and Gobert are dpoy but they aren’t looked at as all time greats like Rodman, and a guy like Ben Wallace can’t even go in the hall of fame. His career will be defined by rings so having the common sense to preserve himself for that shows awareness. And funny enough this is the guy who loves rondo and let rondo teach him, so he knows how Rondo paces himself for the playoffs and followed suit.
7 This Years Lakers
Where do I even start with that bs. This years Lakers don’t have a guy who quit on his team outright in Avery Bradley. This years lakers don’t have an end of the bench guy saying cut me so I can leave like Troy Daniels. This years Lakers don’t have a guy who chose to coast and not care all regular season last year and be a net negative in rondo, only for him to play well when he felt like it because certain games mattered to him. BTW Marc led a better D last year than Javale and Dwight, and even before Drummond his time on the court says his lakers team D was better than theirs last year and has been better than them on their new teams, that’s just statistical facts.
Did you even watch that game or this road trip? Wes Matthews has ruptured an Achilles before and is out there playing with Achilles soreness. Kyle Kuzma since Bron went out went from 25mins a night to 38 mins a night and is playing on a strained calf that is taped up and padded up. KCP hadn’t missed a game yet and is playing with back spasms. Marc literally fractured a finger, taped it up, and kept going. Trez comes to work every day, undersized, and is dealing with the anniversary of the death of the closest person to him who he said always believed in him growing up. Markkieff went from being benched and barely playing to producing double digits every night and played on a sprained ankle. Dennis has almost been traded, got body slammed on his hip, bruises his tailbone in the nets game, and is playing on an infected foot he openly says hurts to plant and cut. Caruso has concussed himself chasing loose balls. Drummond is playing without a toenail and has 200 plus pound guys stepping on his feet every night. And tucker is learning on the fly with no practices or shoot arounds.
He’ll Kyrie and Love did not win 3 damn games without Lebrin in Cleveland, yet these guys banged up are the number 1 defense in the league, still playing 500 ball, and everyone is hurt and playing different roles than they signed up for. Lebron has nothing to be ashamed of or not see and like with the fact those guys are all leaving it out there. He and AD have to bring it home, and if they don’t it’s not on the others not carrying weight. |
The bottom line is pretty simple:
Overall, the supporting cast is doing OK. It’s just that their inadequacies are more apparent without Lebron and AD around to cover them up.
This team has always been "Lebron and AD and everyone else." When the entire team is now the "everyone else" part it's a lottery team. |
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windycitycane
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| Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 7:48 pm Post subject: |
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Gonna wait until lebron gets back. Only thing that matters is getting into the playoffs healthy.
I agree though, our supporting cast is very disappointing and certainly don’t have ‘it’. Unless ‘it’ is underperforming.
Unless we win it again, after our last loss, anyone not named lebron or ad should be evaluated and this needs to be blown up.
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BlueNGold
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| Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 7:51 pm Post subject: |
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| windycitycane wrote: | Gonna wait until lebron gets back. Only thing that matters is getting into the playoffs healthy.
I agree though, our supporting cast is very disappointing and certainly don’t have ‘it’. Unless ‘it’ is underperforming.
Unless we win it again, after our last loss, anyone not named lebron or ad should be evaluated and this needs to be blown up. |
This sums it up. The supporting cast have each been worse than they were over the last 1-2 years. Every single one of them. |
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32
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| Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 7:53 pm Post subject: |
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Probably because of the short turnaround to the season (71 days). Injuries to our star players combined with limited practice time. No stability with starting lineups which affects chemistry.
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vcdplaya3002
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| Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 7:53 pm Post subject: |
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| BlueNGold wrote: | | windycitycane wrote: | Gonna wait until lebron gets back. Only thing that matters is getting into the playoffs healthy.
I agree though, our supporting cast is very disappointing and certainly don’t have ‘it’. Unless ‘it’ is underperforming.
Unless we win it again, after our last loss, anyone not named lebron or ad should be evaluated and this needs to be blown up. |
This sums it up. The supporting cast have each been worse than they were over the last 1-2 years. Every single one of them. |
The jazz suns and nuggets are all just likely to lose in the first round as us to be fair. Nobody is looking like a true juggernaut. The only team you can pencil in the second round is the clippers if they don’t play us. Everything else is up for grabs. |
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mhan00
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| Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 8:05 pm Post subject: |
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| ocho wrote: | | “It” being health. |
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LakerSD
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| Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 8:07 pm Post subject: |
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| 32 wrote: | | Probably because of the short turnaround to the season (71 days). Injuries to our star players combined with limited practice time. No stability with starting lineups which affects chemistry. |
This is the best answer imo, but with the caveat being that some guys just need to step up and earn their keep. Too much dependence on the Lebron safety blanket/cape to come save them. |
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hype
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| Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 8:10 pm Post subject: |
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Pretty obvious even beyond health Lebron is "IT". You replace Lebron with AD tonight and it's an easy win especially after the first half.
Brutal loss tonight considering how well we played in the 1st half and who the opponent was but it doesn't really change anything about us only being true contenders with Lebron on the floor, period. Lebron is also the guy that unlocks the cheat code version of AD on offense at least.
Jazz, Suns and Nuggets can't do anything with a healthy Lebron added to our roster though that's for sure. |
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BlueNGold
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| Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 8:13 pm Post subject: |
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| hype wrote: | Pretty obvious even beyond health Lebron is "IT". You replace Lebron with AD tonight and it's an easy win especially after the first half.
Brutal loss tonight considering how well we played in the 1st half and who the opponent was but it doesn't really change anything about us only being true contenders with Lebron on the floor, period. Lebron is also the guy that unlocks the cheat code version of AD on offense at least.
Jazz, Suns and Nuggets can't do anything with a healthy Lebron added to our roster though that's for sure. |
AD not working inside is the anti-cheat, though.
Dude has to stop settling for so many jumpers if they aren't falling. |
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troy
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| Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 5:37 am Post subject: |
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Still not feeling "it" with this group. Maybe I'm spoiled. Repeats are not easy. Just hated how the season started. AD playing lazy. KCP missing wide open shots. Dwight/McGee gone. Our new additions not acting like they want to be here.
Chemistry is so important. I don't see much of that with this season's "improved" team.
And no, it's not good practice to always have to rely on "Lebron coming back" to fix things. |
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roger_federer
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| Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 7:48 am Post subject: |
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| BlueNGold wrote: | | hype wrote: | Pretty obvious even beyond health Lebron is "IT". You replace Lebron with AD tonight and it's an easy win especially after the first half.
Brutal loss tonight considering how well we played in the 1st half and who the opponent was but it doesn't really change anything about us only being true contenders with Lebron on the floor, period. Lebron is also the guy that unlocks the cheat code version of AD on offense at least.
Jazz, Suns and Nuggets can't do anything with a healthy Lebron added to our roster though that's for sure. |
AD not working inside is the anti-cheat, though.
Dude has to stop settling for so many jumpers if they aren't falling. |
how can he work inside when you have Trez/Drum on floor? DS drives to bucket, THT does the same. there is only 1 basket |
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vcdplaya3002
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| Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 7:57 am Post subject: |
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| The scouting on the lakers has gotten better. If you apply even moderate ball pressure the offense will start to crater. |
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kikanga
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| Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 8:44 am Post subject: |
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| roger_federer wrote: | | how can he work inside when you have Trez/Drum on floor? DS drives to bucket, THT does the same. there is only 1 basket |
I thought that was why we got a stretch Center in Gasol last offseason.
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Kava
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| Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:15 am Post subject: |
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^ ya the Gasol experiment ended badly imo with the Drummond signing.
idk fam...It all just seems like empty stats to me. AD2/AD3 getting 20 & 10 but not really affecting the game on the defensive end. Trez having the occasional good game where he can pound his chest with pride but we still get the L. DS showing that he's extremely talented at the game or at hiding - take your pick. THT seems like he's only interested in 'getting his' over taking care of the ball and playing good defense.
Last season's rim protection seemed reliably consistent. Teams would have to get hot from outside because the paint was shut down. Now it seems like anybody can get whatever shot they want against us lately. It's been hard to watch for me tbh.
Don't care what our defensive ranking was in the beginning of the season - lately, it's been atrocious. Mix that with one of the most uninspired offensive schemes I've ever seen and we have a recipe for a play in game at best. |
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Kava
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| Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 1:40 pm Post subject: |
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Disregard above post - Bron is back
Now the Lakers have it. |
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Mamba Mentality
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| Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 1:40 pm Post subject: |
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| Kava wrote: | Disregard above post - Bron is back
Now the Lakers have it. |
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jonnybravo
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| Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 1:56 pm Post subject: |
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| Mamba Mentality wrote: | | Kava wrote: | Disregard above post - Bron is back
Now the Lakers have it. |
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dcastillo
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| Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:02 pm Post subject: |
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| So what’s the excuse for tonight? Cause everyone is back. Can’t use the ‘health’ excuse. |
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yinoma2001
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| Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:03 pm Post subject: |
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| dcastillo wrote: | | So what’s the excuse for tonight? Cause everyone is back. Can’t use the ‘health’ excuse. |
It was literally LBJ’s first game back in over 20+ games.
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dcastillo
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| Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:04 pm Post subject: |
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| yinoma2001 wrote: | | dcastillo wrote: | | So what’s the excuse for tonight? Cause everyone is back. Can’t use the ‘health’ excuse. |
It was literally LBJ’s first game back in over 20+ games. |
Shouldn’t have lost to this Kings team missing their best player. So give me another excuse |
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yinoma2001
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| Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:06 pm Post subject: |
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| dcastillo wrote: | | yinoma2001 wrote: | | dcastillo wrote: | | So what’s the excuse for tonight? Cause everyone is back. Can’t use the ‘health’ excuse. |
It was literally LBJ’s first game back in over 20+ games. |
Shouldn’t have lost to this Kings team missing their best player. So give me another excuse |
We are literally playing our first LBJ/AD/AD2 lineup. Takes time. We just don’t have the luxury.
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Nnamdi21
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| Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:07 pm Post subject: |
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they just dont have it and have not shown that they ever had it this year.
last years team was different and they had it.
Honestly feels like the Mike Dantoni Lakers or a somewhat weaker 2003 Lakers team. Both of those teams never had it either but had talent. |
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dcastillo
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| Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:09 pm Post subject: |
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| yinoma2001 wrote: | | dcastillo wrote: | | yinoma2001 wrote: | | dcastillo wrote: | | So what’s the excuse for tonight? Cause everyone is back. Can’t use the ‘health’ excuse. |
It was literally LBJ’s first game back in over 20+ games. |
Shouldn’t have lost to this Kings team missing their best player. So give me another excuse |
We are literally playing our first LBJ/AD/AD2 lineup. Takes time. We just don’t have the luxury. |
Again, that’s an excuse. They shouldn’t have lost this game even if it is their ‘first’ time together. That’s what some fans are not seeing. This team chemistry is bad. At least on court it is. Heck even some of the players have made excuses. |
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Ksig
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| Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Im not enamored with any of our new additions and the playoffs (play-ins) are right around the corner. Trez cant defend or doesnt want to defend, Drummond cant finish simple lobs and dunks, Schroder cant make basic passes or read a defense... Just too many awkward fits that dont compliment Lebron or AD. |
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yinoma2001
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| Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:14 pm Post subject: |
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| dcastillo wrote: | | yinoma2001 wrote: | | dcastillo wrote: | | yinoma2001 wrote: | | dcastillo wrote: | | So what’s the excuse for tonight? Cause everyone is back. Can’t use the ‘health’ excuse. |
It was literally LBJ’s first game back in over 20+ games. |
Shouldn’t have lost to this Kings team missing their best player. So give me another excuse |
We are literally playing our first LBJ/AD/AD2 lineup. Takes time. We just don’t have the luxury. |
Again, that’s an excuse. They shouldn’t have lost this game even if it is their ‘first’ time together. That’s what some fans are not seeing. This team chemistry is bad. At least on court it is. Heck even some of the players have made excuses. |
That’s what I’m saying. Chemistry is bad bc they haven’t played together. Vogel is like a mad scientist right now with these crazy lineups.
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