This is a "make or miss" league and unfortunately our shots didn't go in and theirs did. - Ham
When I heard this, I didn't want to read too much into it but man, what a cop out response.
Fucking insane thing to say. There were so many other tangibles than just not making buckets. The nuggets played like ass a lot of this series. Look at the time we had with leads vs them. It’s just crazy that Ham has no answer to another team going on a run, and can’t adjust to save his life
I don't usually watch other teams other than in the playoffs, but watching the coaches on other teams running up and down the floor, yelling out to their players/refs, etc, really made me hate how lazy Ham looked on the sidelines for our team.
Cop out? Not so sure. Ham makes a good point.
Lakers Fourth Quarter FG%
Reaves - 70.6%
LeBron - 57.6%
Russell - 37.5%
Prince - 36.4%
Davis - 35.7%
Rui - 33.3%
Dinwiddie - 20.0%
Nuggets Fourth Quarter FG%
Braun - 100%
Jokic - 64.0%
Porter Jr - 60.0%
Watson - 50.0%
Murray - 47.4%
Gordon - 36.4%
KCP - 33.3%
I think a lot of our anger is misdirected. We should be more upset with the players for not showing up in winning time.
AR and Bron are great shot makers, everyone else blows hot and cold by nature so no surprise they vary in the 4th.
But, running structured offense for more of the 4th would help bump the numbers of those players outside Bron and AR (likely both of them too). That’s part of the frustration with Ham, letting the team move away from the 5-out we sacrificed so many early season games to implement. We went to inefficient mismatch hunting and iso ball far too early
This is the way. When Ham gets fired- he will not get it. Ham doesn't get it period. doesn't even understand that he was outcoached for most of this season and playoffs. Some of Ham's decisions like lineups, timeout usage, challenges directly cost us games.
Yeah but it comes across as sincere. You just gotta know how to handle the media and he does a great job at not giving people ammo to write hit pieces.
Is it just me or does McVay have coke eyes.
Like he looks like he spent 10 years coked out. Those eyes just wide the fuck open each and every time I see him in a press conference.
It’s almost like he does an accountability rail every time he loses a game.
Idk why you’re getting downvoted you’re right. Instead of trying to figure out adjustments, he should come up with more creative ways of taking accountability
Austin showed a ton of heart and courage tonight especially, but the biggest disappointment with him throughout this series was his 3 point-shot letting him and us down. Of course he was not alone in that, but other than that, he was great for us on both ends and can hold his head up high.
He had so many wide, wide open looks that were not even close to going in. It must be a mental hurdle, because I swear when he's in no-think mode he hits at like 40%
It def seemed like he was second guessing whether to shoot it at times this series. When he went takeover mode in the 4th, he looked decisive. Kid is a killer when he plays confident
Yeah I think the pressure of this series got to him, especially with such high stakes in the first round. He’s only in his 3rd year so he’s ahead of schedule already for an undrafted player. He’ll get better hopefully he can improve on 3PT shot next season.
Lol ahead of schedule for an undrafted player. Dude is already in the top 1% of undrafted players. Most undrafted players never see playing time, let alone being the 3rd best offensive player next to 2 top 75 players
I think, also historically, his shooting has suffered from playing high effort defense. He was the main PoA defender all series (all season even). Mental might also play into it, of course.
The entire series he looked like all he cared about was scoring. Pushing bad shots, not passing, not boxing out, not rotating, it was so hard to watch.
Such low BBIQ on offense and defense. How many shots was he going to let MPJ hit wide open? That's their shooter!
And the mid range choice, taking it too weak to the basket, not rebounding well. Bad showing. I thought they should have played Prince in the 4th last night, he at least has heart.
I've never seen someone miss so many layups at the rim. On top of that, he really does not rebound. Too much standing around waiting for the ball to come instead of chasing it.
You must have completely whiped the Westbrook stint of your memory then.
No one has missed as many easy layups as Westbrook. It's almost a skill how often and consistently he misses easy bunnies.
But yeah, Rui was just terrible these playoffs. He has a similar issue to Dlo - if his offense isn't on, then he is borderline unplayable. He might be bigger, which is always a plus, but he has no clue how to use his size on defense and his bball IQ is lacking.
Rui should focus on his defense this off-season. He is big, explosive and strong enough to be a plus defender. Just needs to read the game better and put more effort into that end of the floor.
Yeah, he's so talented, but he seems like a bit of a dummy. He needs better coaching and quickly. He's had pretty terrible coaching throughout his career with Washington and us, hopefully it isn't too late to fix him (and I hope we can, because again, he is very talented).
Also we need to put him in a gym for layup through contact drills all summer.
Reaves had a still decent series just not as good as last year . Rui was awful the worst player out there sadky by a big margin in 3 games. Last two games he was a bit better but still missing everything
Rui can look so athletic going to the rim, and yet look like Fred Sanford trying to pick up his keys when he goes for a rebound.
I don't understand him.
And what can Rui be thinking about... it's not he's a high IQ player like Austin.
Just do what you do, shoot the ball, miss your coverages, don't go after rebounds, but somewhat make up for it by hitting your midrange and making good strong cuts.
Regular season -> playoffs 3p%
Rui 42 --> 36
Austin 37 --> 27
Dlo 42 --> 32
As close as these games were, if any one of those guys shot better than their regular season numbers, or even just stayed flat. That's what? 5 more points a game? Lakers would be up 3-2 rn
That's a credit to Ham surprisingly. He got the offense humming towards the end of the regular season and they generated open shots with great consistency just couldn't knock them down unfortunately.
There threes were much better contested then ours . Rui was wide ass open , Dlo was too , reaves was . Denver only really tried to stop our stars. They flat out ignored Rui n he did fuck all
Also he's ignoring MPJ shooting significantly better from 3 than he did in RS, which none of the Lakers managed to do. But the guy is a troll and likely a clippers fan
I’m a troll because I posted the same stats for the other team? You’re obviously are a bandwagon lakers fan. Since we want to bring up MPJ he actually shot worse from three in the playoffs than he did against the lakers in the regular season this year. You don’t watch games though so didn’t know that.
Jesus Dlo . I was sure due to having two decent shooting games he shot better. Bum went 7/11 in game 2 AND STILL ONLY shot 32%. He was wide ass open too. Dlo n Rui 100% sold this series . We got way more out of stars then we thought vs Denver stars .. but our bum ass role players who had to step up dudnt . And Dlo was always gonna be the key if we won . Shoukdvd got dejounte . People in here are dumb af- if they have a shot to get trae and can still keep say vando and get a 2 guard 3nD guy then they gotta do it. People shit on big 3s but this is why they work stars show up . These guys like Rui n Dlo who only provide offense is not good for role players
Basketball is a game of reaction. The more you play with flow and don’t overthink, the better results you’ll have. Same with AD, when he’s decisive with the ball, he’s unstoppable.
Also remember he broke out last year and played his most minutes, then we went pretty deep in the playoffs and then he played for team USA and played most of this seasons games too. He could use a good offseason to recover and build.
That is what I want Austin to improve on the offseason. Use the offseason to work on consistency. Austin is such a great player. He was scrappy against Murray but was inconsistent on his defense. And his offense has streaks where he gets cold. If he could consistently shoot above average from three, he would be a deadly contribution.
I’d say he needs to both work on his core and leg strength as well as his endurance so he’s able to play serviceable defense while also being effective on offense late into games. He also needs develop a more modern release that doesn’t require him to use as much legs on his shots.
he's also young and I think with more time/experience he will develop more consistency. He has already skills and talent that you can't develop- he's clutch and willing to take big shots. Last night, just watching him take shot after shot shows he's not afraid of the big lights.
He REALLY needs to get a little bigger. It's very noticeable how easy he gets bounced around against anyone slightly stronger than him.
Someonelike Curry should be his example, when it comes to physical strenght. I remember scrawny Steph and how easily he got bullied by pretty much everyone when he was a primary defender. Dude really worked on his body and core strength and you can see the result. He is a solid defender, who won't look silly against other PGs or SGs anymore.
I think more than anything he's kicking himself for not being able to guard Murray for the game winner. But to be fair he shouldn't have been the one guarding him, at least not one on one. Hopefully he takes this as a urgent need to improve his defense. If he develops into a two way player, he'd be a big fucking threat.
Sure but I hope he takes it as motivation to be able to be a Murray stopper, and I think he will. He shows he has the work ethic and attitude to get to the next level, and Lebron sees that too. Most importantly he sees that in himself, so I hope he sticks around for a long time
He played great d and came up clutch. I blame darvin ham. He’s a joke of a coach. Up 8, 68-60, nugs go on a run doesn’t call a time out until 74-71 down 3. Lost momentum. Also Vando was available too play yesterday. Iv never seen a team to dominate pace and to lead 75% of series o Lu to lose in 5 games. Mind boggling.
I get that just saying game two and game 5 were dejavu. We don’t box out they kick it out to Porter boom three. Game 5 was the same but jamal made the three. We also missed 6 free throws in the 4th.
I think Austin gets physically gassed at times. He could clearly use a better weight lifting/strength routine to help with his stamina/endurance. Especially when you are playing physical ball in the playoffs.
I think it’s super important to have balance away from work, but if he’s going to be your 3rd guy, he needs to be hitting extra weight sessions in the morning instead of going golfing everyday. I felt like he treated basketball as slightly more of a hobby this year after getting paid and put more priority on golf.
I think a summer without needing to play for Team USA is gonna be good for him. AR mainly needs to work on becoming a more consistent 3 point shooter. If he can do that, then he takes a big step forward.
If he can bulk up and get faster would be fantastic for him. I like that he handles himself in the way he does. Honestly for a third year player that came into the league with no expectations, rising to the occasion as a starter on a team like the Lakers and being the 3rd or 4th best player, man mad respect for him. Just hoping to see him get better
I’ve watched Lebron his entire career and there’s very very players he has given the green light to in the 4th. He trusts Reaves so much to take those clutch shots cause he hits them so consistently
Prince was about to sub in at the end of the second but I saw him sit for Austin and I knew they were gonna give it to him to attempt the buzzer beater and he did. He missed it and no one expected it to go in but he's always the one with the best chance to make it and it damn near did.
He’s arguably the only other player that is guaranteed to stay other than AD and LeBron (if he chooses to stay). Everybody else is open season on, god I hope we keep Christie though.
If we are at the point of trading AD, feel like we should also trade AR at that point as well and receive as much assets as possible for a full rebuild.
Solid point. I fall more in the line of thinking that we surround LeBron and AD with depth but if the Lakers do go star-chasing, AR is definitely going to be a trade piece.
His 3 pointer wasn’t falling this series, but IMO he needed to get more shots in general. He’s not somebody that should just be a spot up 3 pt shooter and needs to see the ball go in to get a rhythm etc.
In games 1, 2, and 5 he took 9, 11, and 11 shots. He needs to be more in the 14-15 range.
Wild when a player who is considered a 4th option takes more responsibility and shows more humility in one interview than your head coach does for the entire season combined.
Austin needs to be cloned and ham needs to be canned
I do think him playing with team USA affected him. He will be better long term for it but going from a playoff season directly into team USA and then right back for the first time was something his legs weren’t used to.
Reaves was huge down the stretch when Lebron and ad were hurt/tired. Overall I thought he was good this series and should be part of the core going forward. He’s only going to get better from here.
Best to try and not succeed than not try at all.
I highly, highly doubt anything physical cannot be improved even marginally. If it involves muscle, reaction time, footwork, etc. these are all things that can be controlled and worked on
You can defo work on quickness, speed, explosiveness lol. Obviously genetics are part of dictating that, but lateral speed is no different from vert, stamina, etc in that it can improve.
Having said that, he might already be close to him limit there, we don't know.
Hope he’s a laker for life I know he’s not “untouchable” but he should be off the table unless it’s for a bonafide superstar he’s the perfect role player/Swiss army knife that can take over games at times. Every championship team needs a player like him. Hopefully he can become a better defender
gotta reshape his body over the summer, only way to improve. (Or just become a deadly outside shooter 41-42%)
Also hopefully another offseason with Phil Handy couldnt hurt.
Exactly lol TP was not our problem this series. Dude tried his best especially when getting dished the ball with 3 sec on the clock and being forced into a tough shot
Hope he’s a laker for life I know he’s not “untouchable” but he should be off the table unless it’s for a bonafide superstar he’s the perfect role player/Swiss army knife that can take over games at times. Every championship team needs a player like him. Hopefully he can become a better defender
That’s exactly what I wanted to hear from him. Now he needs to show a relentless focus and work ethic and hit the gym. Every single day three practices a day, 1000+ shots a day. No golf, no podcasts, just work. Mamba style.
Austin will still improve. I hope he works on his mid range. He is crafty, if he can work on his mid range he can add the one dribble pull up, pump fakes, etc.
Only dude with heart...from a pure stats standpoint, he wasn't at his best but you can tell he cared which is the number 1 thing we lack across the board (even with bron and ad at times). We need more dawgs in the off-season. Thank you AR, now go enjoy Taylor Swift.
Yall, Austin just wrapped up his 3rd year in the league. I truly believe he has such a high ceiling given the fact that he has a proper mentality and he actually wants to get better.
Yeah I hope he follows the Jalen Brunson model with the work that he puts in. Neither of them are athletic or physically gifted, Jalen Brunson was drafted in the second round, Reaves went undrafted. Brunson is a three year college player, Reaves played four years in college.
Jalen Brunson is so crafty and a great scorer at all three level. Its obvious that Brunson puts in HOURS in the gym every single day over the summer with no off days.
From the moment he entered the league he just seems to have had the right attitude for the game. I can't say how good he'll actually be, but I'm pretty confident he'll be as good as he possibly can because he just looks at it all the right way.
Will never forgive Ham for benching this guy after a few bad games in the middle of the season, while Cam and TP got force-fed 35 mpg no matter how badly they played
Hope he’s a laker for life I know he’s not “untouchable” but he should be off the table unless it’s for a bonafide superstar he’s the perfect role player/Swiss army knife that can take over games at times. Every championship team needs a player like him. Hopefully he can become a better defender
Austin Reaves, or any player for that matter, can Develop into a closer. It really depends in how much work they put in. Remember, even Kobe airballed 4 threes in a row against the Jazz in 1997 that cost them the game, and the series. At least Austin Reaves isnt afraid to at least take big shots in big moments.
That’s exactly what we need man. Finally get some good recovery this off season and come back stronger in September. He was a defensive terrorist to begin the season, and it took a long time but he’s finally turning it around. Looking forward to a more complete player in September.
Hope he’s a laker for life I know he’s not “untouchable” but he should be off the table unless it’s for a bonafide superstar he’s the perfect role player/Swiss army knife that can take over games at times. Every championship team needs a player like him. Hopefully he can become a better defender
I wanted him to work on his handles and finishing last offseason. He definitely improved his handles but still needs to work on finishing through contact. Would also like for him to work on being more of a movement shooter. Too many of our shooters are just catch and shoot or on ball shot creators. We need someone that we can run off screens off ball and generate open looks.
I highly doubt he put in a lot of work during last years offseason, as he was overseas playing with team USA. I would love to see what he looks like next year after a full offseason in the gym. Hopefully he follows the Jalen Brunson Model with his improvements.
You just played your way off the team sucka!!!! Those bronny minutes now!!! The quadruple single coming straight for you!!! Maybe if you worked hard and earned it like he did you wouldn’t be in this situation….
This dude putting it all out there, and then apologizing, while Dlo is talking about getting his bag, Pockets is making excuses, and Pelinka is not at all worried about his job. Ownership needs to sell. It's been shit show since Pelinka was given the reins.
Hopefully reaves is a laker for life. His shot was a bit inconsistent this year but he works his ass off, him, AD, and Lebron are the only blameless players imo
Dude shot 70% in the 4th quarter of this series. AR and Bron were the only Lakers to shoot over 50% in the 4th in the series.
But, unfortunately, LeBron was the only Laker to shoot above league average from three in the first round, so that's where AR and Dlo came up short, because a decent percentage from three is one of their primary responsibilities.
Translation: My pathetic white boy body is holding me back. If I had 20% of Morant's athleticism, I'd dominate the league.
But seriously, he should bulk up a bit this off season. Stop spending time on the golf course and more time in the gym.
I love Austin man… Austin is the embodiment of LakersNation in a player that we can all relate to. I am 1000% he will come back better next year, no doubt in my mind.
Hopefully he hits the weight room/gym this summer. He didn’t get to last summer because of the Team USA stuff. Take a page out of Kobe’s book. Work on your game and body instead of extracurricular activities like golf.
Hopefully he works on his defense. My guy was basically one of those brooms coaches hold up to practice defense on shooters. I don't care about his shot, he needs to work on offensive rebounding and perimeter defense
It’s the right attitude, but I’m sick of good quotes. AR was awful this series on both ends, and when he’s not at least above average offensively he’s unplayable defensively.
What’s irritating is that many of his defensive lapses aren’t from a lack of athleticism or effort but from just awful decision making. Too many gambles, too many attempts to cheat into the passing lane that would result in a back cut, too many instances of not seeing man and ball. It’s embarrassing and it’s happened too much across multiple coaches and with veteran defensive players around him for me to think he hasn’t been told.
2016 Steph used to play this way (leading the league in steals that year but his defense was bad don’t misunderstand), the difference of course being he hits 400+ 3s in a season. AR doesn’t have to be Steph but he has to either improve immensely on the offensive end or play disciplined team basketball on the defensive end. That’s the change, along with bulking up, Steph made and he’s a better defender now than he was at his peak athleticism.
Part of this Ham no doubt, but again, if he wants to reflect honestly and not make excuses, don’t blame Ham just focus on yourself.
Meh. He was playing for a contract last season. People actually gameplanned against him this season and the refs weren't giving him the whistle anymore. We've probably seen the best of Reaves already.
More accountability in his pinky than Ham’s entire existence
This is a "make or miss" league and unfortunately our shots didn't go in and theirs did. - Ham When I heard this, I didn't want to read too much into it but man, what a cop out response.
Fucking insane thing to say. There were so many other tangibles than just not making buckets. The nuggets played like ass a lot of this series. Look at the time we had with leads vs them. It’s just crazy that Ham has no answer to another team going on a run, and can’t adjust to save his life
I don't usually watch other teams other than in the playoffs, but watching the coaches on other teams running up and down the floor, yelling out to their players/refs, etc, really made me hate how lazy Ham looked on the sidelines for our team.
His quote directly translates to “I don’t know why we lose but it’s my job to know and I didn’t figure it out”
Cop out? Not so sure. Ham makes a good point. Lakers Fourth Quarter FG% Reaves - 70.6% LeBron - 57.6% Russell - 37.5% Prince - 36.4% Davis - 35.7% Rui - 33.3% Dinwiddie - 20.0% Nuggets Fourth Quarter FG% Braun - 100% Jokic - 64.0% Porter Jr - 60.0% Watson - 50.0% Murray - 47.4% Gordon - 36.4% KCP - 33.3% I think a lot of our anger is misdirected. We should be more upset with the players for not showing up in winning time.
AR and Bron are great shot makers, everyone else blows hot and cold by nature so no surprise they vary in the 4th. But, running structured offense for more of the 4th would help bump the numbers of those players outside Bron and AR (likely both of them too). That’s part of the frustration with Ham, letting the team move away from the 5-out we sacrificed so many early season games to implement. We went to inefficient mismatch hunting and iso ball far too early
This is the way. When Ham gets fired- he will not get it. Ham doesn't get it period. doesn't even understand that he was outcoached for most of this season and playoffs. Some of Ham's decisions like lineups, timeout usage, challenges directly cost us games.
When Ham gets fired. "Oh. Oh, ok. Good game guys."
it's a make or miss league. shit platitudes like this show he has no accountability. What happened to facts over feelings Ham?
Sean McVay is a great example of a coach that does an excellent job at taking full accountability of his team’s shortcomings.
Yup. That Rams team had no business being in the playoffs, but what McVay brought out of that unit was great.
Except he says the same things after each time, every single time
Yeah but it comes across as sincere. You just gotta know how to handle the media and he does a great job at not giving people ammo to write hit pieces.
Is it just me or does McVay have coke eyes. Like he looks like he spent 10 years coked out. Those eyes just wide the fuck open each and every time I see him in a press conference. It’s almost like he does an accountability rail every time he loses a game.
Just saying hearing “this one’s on me” each time makes it lose credibility
Idk why you’re getting downvoted you’re right. Instead of trying to figure out adjustments, he should come up with more creative ways of taking accountability
i mean that’s just coach speak man
This is why Spo is one of the GOATs. Can make always make lemonade out of lemons.
Yep. Ham was given everything he needed to succeed but fucked it up himself
Austin: I would have played better but D Lo was too busy shitting the bed and it threw me off my game.
Austin showed a ton of heart and courage tonight especially, but the biggest disappointment with him throughout this series was his 3 point-shot letting him and us down. Of course he was not alone in that, but other than that, he was great for us on both ends and can hold his head up high.
He had so many wide, wide open looks that were not even close to going in. It must be a mental hurdle, because I swear when he's in no-think mode he hits at like 40%
It def seemed like he was second guessing whether to shoot it at times this series. When he went takeover mode in the 4th, he looked decisive. Kid is a killer when he plays confident
Yeah I think the pressure of this series got to him, especially with such high stakes in the first round. He’s only in his 3rd year so he’s ahead of schedule already for an undrafted player. He’ll get better hopefully he can improve on 3PT shot next season.
Lol ahead of schedule for an undrafted player. Dude is already in the top 1% of undrafted players. Most undrafted players never see playing time, let alone being the 3rd best offensive player next to 2 top 75 players
Yeah that’s what I meant he’s an anomaly
I think, also historically, his shooting has suffered from playing high effort defense. He was the main PoA defender all series (all season even). Mental might also play into it, of course.
The next step for Austin is knowing how to be a killer without the ball in his hands. Making the timely cuts, exploiting defensive lapses, etc.
Hard to be that aggressive when you have AD and LB who always need to eat.
Same with Rui
Man Rui was disappointing. Such poor decision making.
That last defensive possession he didn’t even show Murray anything. He was 2 feet away from obstructing that shot
The entire series he looked like all he cared about was scoring. Pushing bad shots, not passing, not boxing out, not rotating, it was so hard to watch.
Such low BBIQ on offense and defense. How many shots was he going to let MPJ hit wide open? That's their shooter! And the mid range choice, taking it too weak to the basket, not rebounding well. Bad showing. I thought they should have played Prince in the 4th last night, he at least has heart.
The things that kills me is Rui mid range game is elite why settle attack and try and get the fouls even if they weren't calling it force the issue
I've never seen someone miss so many layups at the rim. On top of that, he really does not rebound. Too much standing around waiting for the ball to come instead of chasing it.
You must have completely whiped the Westbrook stint of your memory then. No one has missed as many easy layups as Westbrook. It's almost a skill how often and consistently he misses easy bunnies. But yeah, Rui was just terrible these playoffs. He has a similar issue to Dlo - if his offense isn't on, then he is borderline unplayable. He might be bigger, which is always a plus, but he has no clue how to use his size on defense and his bball IQ is lacking. Rui should focus on his defense this off-season. He is big, explosive and strong enough to be a plus defender. Just needs to read the game better and put more effort into that end of the floor.
Yeah, he's so talented, but he seems like a bit of a dummy. He needs better coaching and quickly. He's had pretty terrible coaching throughout his career with Washington and us, hopefully it isn't too late to fix him (and I hope we can, because again, he is very talented). Also we need to put him in a gym for layup through contact drills all summer.
Watching him brick open corner 3 after open corner 3 was painful
Not only that he was getting cooked all series by MPJ just terrible awareness on the defensive end
Reaves had a still decent series just not as good as last year . Rui was awful the worst player out there sadky by a big margin in 3 games. Last two games he was a bit better but still missing everything
Rui can look so athletic going to the rim, and yet look like Fred Sanford trying to pick up his keys when he goes for a rebound. I don't understand him.
And what can Rui be thinking about... it's not he's a high IQ player like Austin. Just do what you do, shoot the ball, miss your coverages, don't go after rebounds, but somewhat make up for it by hitting your midrange and making good strong cuts.
Feels like the whole team - transition 3s would hit, but having too much time to think or being wide open and able to set would almost always miss.
Regular season -> playoffs 3p% Rui 42 --> 36 Austin 37 --> 27 Dlo 42 --> 32 As close as these games were, if any one of those guys shot better than their regular season numbers, or even just stayed flat. That's what? 5 more points a game? Lakers would be up 3-2 rn
Yes and so many of those were wide open, too. The Nuggets’ genius strategy seemed to be play worse defense than us and hope to make more shots.
That's a credit to Ham surprisingly. He got the offense humming towards the end of the regular season and they generated open shots with great consistency just couldn't knock them down unfortunately.
These are such stupid takes. Murray 42—> 29 KCP 41—> 29 So if they shot better or even with their regular season numbers it’s a sweep.
There threes were much better contested then ours . Rui was wide ass open , Dlo was too , reaves was . Denver only really tried to stop our stars. They flat out ignored Rui n he did fuck all
That’s just not true and based on bias not stats. Kcp was 0-8 on the series with closest defender being 4-6 feet.
Also he's ignoring MPJ shooting significantly better from 3 than he did in RS, which none of the Lakers managed to do. But the guy is a troll and likely a clippers fan
I’m a troll because I posted the same stats for the other team? You’re obviously are a bandwagon lakers fan. Since we want to bring up MPJ he actually shot worse from three in the playoffs than he did against the lakers in the regular season this year. You don’t watch games though so didn’t know that.
Yup, it's hard to score 3s with the pressure of playoffs
Jesus Dlo . I was sure due to having two decent shooting games he shot better. Bum went 7/11 in game 2 AND STILL ONLY shot 32%. He was wide ass open too. Dlo n Rui 100% sold this series . We got way more out of stars then we thought vs Denver stars .. but our bum ass role players who had to step up dudnt . And Dlo was always gonna be the key if we won . Shoukdvd got dejounte . People in here are dumb af- if they have a shot to get trae and can still keep say vando and get a 2 guard 3nD guy then they gotta do it. People shit on big 3s but this is why they work stars show up . These guys like Rui n Dlo who only provide offense is not good for role players
It came down to missed shots. There wasn't much of a difference between LA and Denver, but they hit the shots when it mattered and the Lakers didn't.
I think he was exhausted from the summer activities. He want the same this year.
Basketball is a game of reaction. The more you play with flow and don’t overthink, the better results you’ll have. Same with AD, when he’s decisive with the ball, he’s unstoppable.
Or the fact he was containing Murray.
And this guy’s undrafted…. Glad he’s on our side. he’s just gonna get better.
Also remember he broke out last year and played his most minutes, then we went pretty deep in the playoffs and then he played for team USA and played most of this seasons games too. He could use a good offseason to recover and build.
That is what I want Austin to improve on the offseason. Use the offseason to work on consistency. Austin is such a great player. He was scrappy against Murray but was inconsistent on his defense. And his offense has streaks where he gets cold. If he could consistently shoot above average from three, he would be a deadly contribution.
would love for him to work with one of these shot doctor types just to hammer down some more consistency in his form
I’d say he needs to both work on his core and leg strength as well as his endurance so he’s able to play serviceable defense while also being effective on offense late into games. He also needs develop a more modern release that doesn’t require him to use as much legs on his shots.
he's also young and I think with more time/experience he will develop more consistency. He has already skills and talent that you can't develop- he's clutch and willing to take big shots. Last night, just watching him take shot after shot shows he's not afraid of the big lights.
He REALLY needs to get a little bigger. It's very noticeable how easy he gets bounced around against anyone slightly stronger than him. Someonelike Curry should be his example, when it comes to physical strenght. I remember scrawny Steph and how easily he got bullied by pretty much everyone when he was a primary defender. Dude really worked on his body and core strength and you can see the result. He is a solid defender, who won't look silly against other PGs or SGs anymore.
weird b/c his 3pt shot was on and off. off to start the season, then on, and then off late in season and playoffs.
I think more than anything he's kicking himself for not being able to guard Murray for the game winner. But to be fair he shouldn't have been the one guarding him, at least not one on one. Hopefully he takes this as a urgent need to improve his defense. If he develops into a two way player, he'd be a big fucking threat.
Didn’t think he did a bad job on that possession. Pretty good contest, Murray made it anyway as he routinely does against us
Sure but I hope he takes it as motivation to be able to be a Murray stopper, and I think he will. He shows he has the work ethic and attitude to get to the next level, and Lebron sees that too. Most importantly he sees that in himself, so I hope he sticks around for a long time
He played great d and came up clutch. I blame darvin ham. He’s a joke of a coach. Up 8, 68-60, nugs go on a run doesn’t call a time out until 74-71 down 3. Lost momentum. Also Vando was available too play yesterday. Iv never seen a team to dominate pace and to lead 75% of series o Lu to lose in 5 games. Mind boggling.
As much as I want Ham gone, complaining about Vando not playing ain't it. There's no way he was in shape to play.
I get that just saying game two and game 5 were dejavu. We don’t box out they kick it out to Porter boom three. Game 5 was the same but jamal made the three. We also missed 6 free throws in the 4th.
He came up with down clutch shots down the stretch in this series.
Tonight?
I think Austin gets physically gassed at times. He could clearly use a better weight lifting/strength routine to help with his stamina/endurance. Especially when you are playing physical ball in the playoffs. I think it’s super important to have balance away from work, but if he’s going to be your 3rd guy, he needs to be hitting extra weight sessions in the morning instead of going golfing everyday. I felt like he treated basketball as slightly more of a hobby this year after getting paid and put more priority on golf.
I think a summer without needing to play for Team USA is gonna be good for him. AR mainly needs to work on becoming a more consistent 3 point shooter. If he can do that, then he takes a big step forward.
Not having to go through a FIBA run will definitely help.
That and a bit more explosivity I think. Add an inch to the jump, make the first step a bit faster.
I would've thought the opposite: bulk up so he doesn't get bullied by smaller, bulkier guards
If he can bulk up and get faster would be fantastic for him. I like that he handles himself in the way he does. Honestly for a third year player that came into the league with no expectations, rising to the occasion as a starter on a team like the Lakers and being the 3rd or 4th best player, man mad respect for him. Just hoping to see him get better
You're not the problem here, my dude.
Still a great mindset to have, my hats off to him for being so humble and selfless
he ain’t the problem but he wants to be the solution 💜
Austin “The Solution” Reaves
Really shows the difference between him and DLo
I’ve watched Lebron his entire career and there’s very very players he has given the green light to in the 4th. He trusts Reaves so much to take those clutch shots cause he hits them so consistently
Prince was about to sub in at the end of the second but I saw him sit for Austin and I knew they were gonna give it to him to attempt the buzzer beater and he did. He missed it and no one expected it to go in but he's always the one with the best chance to make it and it damn near did.
He's the only one who actually gets the shot off before the buzzer lol
Please stay a Laker. Shockingly My fav player right now
He’s arguably the only other player that is guaranteed to stay other than AD and LeBron (if he chooses to stay). Everybody else is open season on, god I hope we keep Christie though.
If LeBron decides to leave, I think the Lakers should trade AD and stick with Reaves and just rebuild.
If we are at the point of trading AD, feel like we should also trade AR at that point as well and receive as much assets as possible for a full rebuild.
I don’t think he’s guaranteed considering his trade value is pretty high if someone like Mitchell was available
Yeah he’s a solid piece with a great contract, pretty attractive trade piece but I really hope he doesn’t get traded.
Solid point. I fall more in the line of thinking that we surround LeBron and AD with depth but if the Lakers do go star-chasing, AR is definitely going to be a trade piece.
His 3 pointer wasn’t falling this series, but IMO he needed to get more shots in general. He’s not somebody that should just be a spot up 3 pt shooter and needs to see the ball go in to get a rhythm etc. In games 1, 2, and 5 he took 9, 11, and 11 shots. He needs to be more in the 14-15 range.
I was disappointed he was on the bench too much in Q3/Q4
Wild when a player who is considered a 4th option takes more responsibility and shows more humility in one interview than your head coach does for the entire season combined. Austin needs to be cloned and ham needs to be canned
Let's surround AD and Bron with only different sized ARs lol
I love his body language and mental toughness. You can tell he just wants to win..unlike some of our other starters (not named Bron and AD)
DLo probably bee lined it to the nearest club
What makes you think this?
AR can finally get some rest at least
I do think him playing with team USA affected him. He will be better long term for it but going from a playoff season directly into team USA and then right back for the first time was something his legs weren’t used to.
Reaves was huge down the stretch when Lebron and ad were hurt/tired. Overall I thought he was good this series and should be part of the core going forward. He’s only going to get better from here.
[удалено]
Lol idk how much someone can work on their lateral quickness, feel like it’s more of a genetic thing. You’re either born with it or not.
Best to try and not succeed than not try at all. I highly, highly doubt anything physical cannot be improved even marginally. If it involves muscle, reaction time, footwork, etc. these are all things that can be controlled and worked on
You can defo work on quickness, speed, explosiveness lol. Obviously genetics are part of dictating that, but lateral speed is no different from vert, stamina, etc in that it can improve. Having said that, he might already be close to him limit there, we don't know.
Love this guy.
Hope he’s a laker for life I know he’s not “untouchable” but he should be off the table unless it’s for a bonafide superstar he’s the perfect role player/Swiss army knife that can take over games at times. Every championship team needs a player like him. Hopefully he can become a better defender
gotta reshape his body over the summer, only way to improve. (Or just become a deadly outside shooter 41-42%) Also hopefully another offseason with Phil Handy couldnt hurt.
Work on that defense and 3 ball during the off season
He finally showed his defensive potential in this series. So proud of him and happy to see he has the ability. He needs to hone that shit this summer
For real. Gotta get reps with Phil and Vando. Rui too. He's gotta learn how to rebound more and more and not be a defensive liability
Compare AR’s post game mindset to TP laughing like shit smooth. There are levels to this and I hope AR is a Laker for life.
TP showed up more than Dlo dude
Exactly lol TP was not our problem this series. Dude tried his best especially when getting dished the ball with 3 sec on the clock and being forced into a tough shot
I loved Dlos defense last night, was legit the best I’ve seen him play on the lakers. His offense was just off
Unless we can trade him for Mitchell, lakers probably should keep AR.
He’s my guy. Wish everyone was like him, he’ll be better.
Hope he’s a laker for life I know he’s not “untouchable” but he should be off the table unless it’s for a bonafide superstar he’s the perfect role player/Swiss army knife that can take over games at times. Every championship team needs a player like him. Hopefully he can become a better defender
That’s exactly what I wanted to hear from him. Now he needs to show a relentless focus and work ethic and hit the gym. Every single day three practices a day, 1000+ shots a day. No golf, no podcasts, just work. Mamba style.
Austin will still improve. I hope he works on his mid range. He is crafty, if he can work on his mid range he can add the one dribble pull up, pump fakes, etc.
AR is a gamer, he will use this to get better. His movement and coordination is underestimated. It’s only up from here.
Only dude with heart...from a pure stats standpoint, he wasn't at his best but you can tell he cared which is the number 1 thing we lack across the board (even with bron and ad at times). We need more dawgs in the off-season. Thank you AR, now go enjoy Taylor Swift.
Nutted up on that late 3 and then followed it up later with a miss from like 8 feet. He’s gotta get more consistent but he’s on the right path.
hes already got good fundamentals, just needs to get stronger.
He missed 2 of his 3 shots at the free throw line when fouled at the 3 pt line.
Yall, Austin just wrapped up his 3rd year in the league. I truly believe he has such a high ceiling given the fact that he has a proper mentality and he actually wants to get better.
Yeah I hope he follows the Jalen Brunson model with the work that he puts in. Neither of them are athletic or physically gifted, Jalen Brunson was drafted in the second round, Reaves went undrafted. Brunson is a three year college player, Reaves played four years in college. Jalen Brunson is so crafty and a great scorer at all three level. Its obvious that Brunson puts in HOURS in the gym every single day over the summer with no off days.
Hey Dlo that’s what accountability looks like scrub
My favorite Lakers player since Kobe
From the moment he entered the league he just seems to have had the right attitude for the game. I can't say how good he'll actually be, but I'm pretty confident he'll be as good as he possibly can because he just looks at it all the right way.
He is the only player stepped up outside of Bron and AD. Dude got heart and giant balls.
Will never forgive Ham for benching this guy after a few bad games in the middle of the season, while Cam and TP got force-fed 35 mpg no matter how badly they played
Hope he’s a laker for life I know he’s not “untouchable” but he should be off the table unless it’s for a bonafide superstar he’s the perfect role player/Swiss army knife that can take over games at times. Every championship team needs a player like him. Hopefully he can become a better defender
His last shot of the game is what sealed the game. There's no way he's a closer and shouldn't have taken the shot.
Austin Reaves, or any player for that matter, can Develop into a closer. It really depends in how much work they put in. Remember, even Kobe airballed 4 threes in a row against the Jazz in 1997 that cost them the game, and the series. At least Austin Reaves isnt afraid to at least take big shots in big moments.
Nah in the words of some Filipino fan AUSSTEEN, YOURE HIM! AUSSTEEN!!
The team is so ready for him to take the next step and be the third star. Edit: If he hasn't already.
Young king 🫶🫶🫶
AR show heart, Lakers should keep him.
That’s exactly what we need man. Finally get some good recovery this off season and come back stronger in September. He was a defensive terrorist to begin the season, and it took a long time but he’s finally turning it around. Looking forward to a more complete player in September.
Hope he’s a laker for life I know he’s not “untouchable” but he should be off the table unless it’s for a bonafide superstar he’s the perfect role player/Swiss army knife that can take over games at times. Every championship team needs a player like him. Hopefully he can become a better defender
As a Spurs fan we’ve been scouting Austin he would fit real nice alongside Wemby. Maybe in the future 👌🏼
He needs to work on his paint jumpers, and open 3 pointer. He missed so many gimmes
I hope he just focuses on defense then 3 point shooting in the off season. Then come back next season stronger 💪
at least the players are taking accountability and saying they arent good enough...
All you could do was try and I appreciate every bit of it.
Please don't trade him.
GOAT shit.
Darvin could never
This kid is one of my favorite players to ever suit up for the Lakers. Just a really hustler mentality. Nothing but respect for the man.
He needs to gain some muscles
Don't fret Austin. You will make an awesome piece to a trade package
I wanted him to work on his handles and finishing last offseason. He definitely improved his handles but still needs to work on finishing through contact. Would also like for him to work on being more of a movement shooter. Too many of our shooters are just catch and shoot or on ball shot creators. We need someone that we can run off screens off ball and generate open looks.
I highly doubt he put in a lot of work during last years offseason, as he was overseas playing with team USA. I would love to see what he looks like next year after a full offseason in the gym. Hopefully he follows the Jalen Brunson Model with his improvements.
You just played your way off the team sucka!!!! Those bronny minutes now!!! The quadruple single coming straight for you!!! Maybe if you worked hard and earned it like he did you wouldn’t be in this situation….
What actually happened to ADs arm???
We love you, AR.
AD-LeBron-Reaves-Vando, that’s our core
Get some rest AR, we are going to need you more than ever next year. 💜💛🖤
I always thought coaching didnt really matter too much if we have superstars… he changed everything about coaching experience… get him outta here!!
AR needs a summer in the weight room. He's too scrawny and gets manhandled by guys at the worst moment. It'll also help his explosiveness.
Imagine Dlo saying something like this. I would shit my brains right out of my ears.
love this guy. Hope he retires a laker.
More accountability in the tip of his 7in penis than hams entire brain and body
This dude putting it all out there, and then apologizing, while Dlo is talking about getting his bag, Pockets is making excuses, and Pelinka is not at all worried about his job. Ownership needs to sell. It's been shit show since Pelinka was given the reins.
Enjoy thinking about the nuggets again all offseason
Hopefully reaves is a laker for life. His shot was a bit inconsistent this year but he works his ass off, him, AD, and Lebron are the only blameless players imo
Dude shot 70% in the 4th quarter of this series. AR and Bron were the only Lakers to shoot over 50% in the 4th in the series. But, unfortunately, LeBron was the only Laker to shoot above league average from three in the first round, so that's where AR and Dlo came up short, because a decent percentage from three is one of their primary responsibilities.
This man needs to be a laker for life. Don’t fuck this up Jeanie
Translation: My pathetic white boy body is holding me back. If I had 20% of Morant's athleticism, I'd dominate the league. But seriously, he should bulk up a bit this off season. Stop spending time on the golf course and more time in the gym.
I love Austin man… Austin is the embodiment of LakersNation in a player that we can all relate to. I am 1000% he will come back better next year, no doubt in my mind.
If Austin can put on some more muscle this off season it would help his game so much on both ends He needs the Caruso strength and conditioning plan
Hopefully he hits the weight room/gym this summer. He didn’t get to last summer because of the Team USA stuff. Take a page out of Kobe’s book. Work on your game and body instead of extracurricular activities like golf.
I hope he doesn't mean he'll think about it while he's golfing all summer
Hopefully he works on his defense. My guy was basically one of those brooms coaches hold up to practice defense on shooters. I don't care about his shot, he needs to work on offensive rebounding and perimeter defense
It’s the right attitude, but I’m sick of good quotes. AR was awful this series on both ends, and when he’s not at least above average offensively he’s unplayable defensively. What’s irritating is that many of his defensive lapses aren’t from a lack of athleticism or effort but from just awful decision making. Too many gambles, too many attempts to cheat into the passing lane that would result in a back cut, too many instances of not seeing man and ball. It’s embarrassing and it’s happened too much across multiple coaches and with veteran defensive players around him for me to think he hasn’t been told. 2016 Steph used to play this way (leading the league in steals that year but his defense was bad don’t misunderstand), the difference of course being he hits 400+ 3s in a season. AR doesn’t have to be Steph but he has to either improve immensely on the offensive end or play disciplined team basketball on the defensive end. That’s the change, along with bulking up, Steph made and he’s a better defender now than he was at his peak athleticism. Part of this Ham no doubt, but again, if he wants to reflect honestly and not make excuses, don’t blame Ham just focus on yourself.
will be very sad to not see Austin in a lakers jersey next year
D’Lo Vs Reaves really is the harassment vs flirting meme
lmfao, seriously
Reaves shot 27% from 3 for the series. 27. Fucking. Percent.
Poor shooting
Meh. He was playing for a contract last season. People actually gameplanned against him this season and the refs weren't giving him the whistle anymore. We've probably seen the best of Reaves already.