Meaningful game Celtics had a game without a free D-Lo changes back to D-No LeBron went to the bench in the 2nd and the Lakers quit They could not recover from that Rocket River
Again, it’s not the calls FOR the Lakers. It’s the calls that don’t go the other way that really are inexplicable. 6 FTAs in that game last night is absurd
Yes, but my point is other teams don't bait fouls as much as the Lakers. All teams do it, but it's an unusually large part of the Lakers offense. Watching Austin Reeves do the rip move play-after-play-after-play during the season last year is when I put 2+2 together. What should happen is every team should go ridiculous with it like the Lakers, which would force the NBA to tell refs to ease up on the ticky foul calls.
I think that explains why they get to the free throw line more than every team but Orlando…but doesn’t really explain why no team sees its opponent get to the FT line less. The differential is so dramatically bigger than any other team it’s laughable. Over 2x as much. Lebron, with all his physicality, averaging 1.1 fouls per game in 35 minutes per game is just crazy. But it’s clearly bigger than just one guy.
It was bad. But it was also one game. This has been the story of the lakers for the entire season, and radically so. A team that isn’t great at doing much else than getting more calls than all but one team in the league, and somehow managing to super rarely being called for their own fouls. from the video in the tweet I posted…on the season they’ve been outrebounded and out scored by their opponents…they turn the ball over more than they turn other teams over. But they live at the FT line while simultaneously “preventing” the other teams from getting anywhere close to as many FTs as they get.
Lebron Season.....Games.....MPG 2019-20........67.........34.6 2020-21........45.........33.4 2021-22........56.........37.2 2022-23........54.........35.5 2023-24........71.........35.3 Davis Season.....Games.....MPG 2019-20........62.........34.4 2020-21........36.........32.3 2021-22........40.........35.1 2022-23........56.........34.0 2023-24........76.........35.5 Even with the Lakers getting the best possible scenarios for LeBron and Davis in regards to Games and MPG this season, they had no real edge over Sacramento and Golden State. Lakers..................47-35 Golden State.......46-36 Sacramento.........46-36 __________________________ Houston...............41-41 Memphis..............27-55 With improvement expected for Houston and Memphis coupled with the distinct possibility that LeBron and/or Davis will have less than optimal scenarios for Games and MPG, the Lakers could struggle to make the Play-In next season. Saturday night, I read the Denver - Lakers Game Thread (2nd Half) on LakersGround. Multiple posters mentioned that LeBron wasn't as sharp and lacked energy in the Second Half. It is no surprise since he didn't have many regular season games off and he still played a huge amount of MPG. As much as the NBA dislikes the idea, LeBron is fading and is unlikely to finish as a Champion with the Lakers.
Honestly. . .it's not LeBron that is fading He sat down in the second . . .and the whole team went to hell The Lakers may have just given him too much input on the team make up. Rocket River
Even with the help from the League in regards to the FTA & Fouls, the time is drawing near for them to dip even lower in the Standings.
Lakers Team Salary LeBron James PF $47,607,350 Anthony Davis C $40,600,080 D'Angelo Russell PG $17,307,693 Rui Hachimura PF $15,740,741 Austin Reaves SG $12,015,150 LeBron makes more than the combined salaries of D Russell + Rui + Reaves. They will spend some on Luxury Tax, but they aren't into spending like some teams. 2023-24 Luxury Tax Totals Denotes the Lakers current standing in terms of the luxury tax threshold. Teams that spend over the threshold pay fines (estimated below). TYPE TOTALS 2023 NBA Luxury Tax Threshold $165,294,000 Total Taxable Salaries $168,113,994 Current Luxury Tax Space $-2,819,994 Est. Luxury Tax Bill $7,049,985 I would assign multiple factors contributing to the migration of the Lakers to being just a Middle of the Pack team. LeBron not being as good as he used to be The trade for Davis cost them some Youth and draft picks which has made it difficult to restock the roster with cheap talent A Pedestrian Front Office Changes in the CBA that have made it somewhat more difficult for Large Market teams to have an Edge The Lakers aren't getting the favorable trades/transactions that they got in past decades Ownership that is reluctant to being heavy spenders Denver - Lakers Box Score LeBron Minutes........40.45 Points...............27 Rebounds...........6 Assists.................8 Turnovers...........7 Personal Fouls...1 He was able to still get his points, but having almost as many Turnovers as Assists isn't going to get the job done. The Lakers had 12 Turnovers and Denver had 4 Turnovers. LeBron had more Turnover (7) than the entire Denver team (4).
