More than a year after the first game of the NBA’s 2019 preseason tipped off, the ’19/20 campaign may finally come to an end tonight.
The Lakers hold a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals over the Heat and haven’t dropped more than one game in any of their three playoff series so far. If that trend holds, they’ll be crowned 2020 NBA champions before the end of the day.
As we wait to see if Los Angeles can finish off Miami tonight, here’s some Lakers-related reading:
- LeBron James wasn’t immediately embraced by die-hard Lakers fans when he signed with the team in 2018, but he said on Thursday that he understands why it took them some time to warm to him. “They don’t care about your résumé at all until you become a Laker,” James said, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “Then you’ve got to do it as a Laker, and then they respect you. I’ve learned that.”
- Ahead of his upcoming free agency, Anthony Davis referred to Lakers head of basketball operations Rob Pelinka on Thursday as a “great executive,” as Mirjam Swanson of The Orange County Register writes. Davis added that Pelinka’s seventh-place finish in Executive of the Year award voting puts him in good company. “That’s kind of been a thing this year with myself with Defensive Player of the Year, LeBron with MVP (he was runner-up), now Rob with Executive of the Year,” Davis said. “But if we’re able to win one more game, then no one cares about those other awards. We’ll all be champions.”
- Revisiting Davis’ midseason trade request from 2019, Jordan Greer of Sporting News observes that the public nature of the demand earned AD a fine and created a messy situation in New Orleans for months, but ultimately got the star big man everything he wanted.
- With Frank Vogel on the verge of his first NBA title, Mark Whicker of The Orange County Register takes a look back at Vogel’s long, winding coaching career, which essentially began when he served as a student manager on Rick Pitino‘s Kentucky squad in 1994/95. Vogel’s first NBA job was a video coordinator role for the Celtics under Pitino several years later.
This just in! fans of lakers still don’t like lebron. Never been a fan and watching him play I just don’t see “the greatness” he relys heavily on teammates to make shots and disappears in the crucial moments of games. The other night he was bailed out by kcp game 1/2 ad bailed him out.
All he can do is travel to hoop for majority of his points. Not close to Jordan that’s just something to media does to draw views. The natural arguement “lebron leads in all statistical categories” in an era where teams are averaging 115 ppg Jordan’s era was like 98 ppg. Also what defense is being play now a days harden would be lucky to average 18 ppg in jordans era.
As a lakers fan this has been one of the weakest trips to the finals going through fringe teams. Trailblazers (36-39) rockets with no center, and nuggets after 2 game sevens and now the heat with just jimmy butler.
You are mindless.
“LeBrOn MaKeS tEaMaTeS BeTtEr” such a tired excuse. I just watched the game the other night and when heat shut off the lane all he did was stand at top of the key and pass to rondo or caruso and do nothing.
He relys heavily on teammates and great players don’t do that, mj hit big shots at clutch times same with Kobe. Just because you finish the game with a near triple double doesn’t make you are a good player if that were the case westbrook would have a ring by now. It’s such a flawed narrative to base a players greatness on stats alone. He is 3-6 in finals!!!!!
The last 2 years I got to watch him as a player up close and came away not impressed in the slightest. He’s an average shooter who relies heavily on screens and pick and roll to be effective. He also relies on having hall of fame caliber teammates step up and that’s why he could never get the job done in the East by himself. Not a closer and disappears in crucial moments of games. Theres no way mj or Kobe would get locked up by jimmy butler who is 4 inches smaller than lebron. This series should have been a sweep.
Kobe didn’t win anything without shaq or pau gasol.. every superstar needs a running mate.. Jordan had pippen who is top 50 all time player.. magic had basically a hall of fame starting 5.. same with bird on celtics.. d wade wins ring with shaq and then bosh and lebron.. Lebron had lakers as 4 seed in year 1 2 games out of 1 seed until he got hurt.
Shaq was great player. But Pau doesn’t equal ad, Bosh, wade, kyrie or kevin love. Nice try though. Kobe atleast made playoffs without shaq in the west.
Pau led grizzlies to playoffs as main option in west.. lakers went from 1st round exit to nba finals the first year pau was acquired.. 3 straight nba finals and 2 titles..pau is a hall of famer.. k love and kyrie, what were they before teaming with lebron.. never even finished .500.. with lebron won a title over 73 win team.. what have they done since.. look at the roster 2007 Cavs and see what lebron had on that roster that went to finals.. They beat celtics and pistons to lose to spurs in finals..kobe before pau had a season of no playoffs and 1st round exit.. mind you, playoff exit had Phil back and Lamar Odom..Kobe wanted out when the losing was happening..you are definately not a student of the game if you think lebron isn’t a great one.easily top 5 all time. kobe as great as he was individually, couldn’t do it without stars.. talent wins titles..lebron elevates players.. everybody knows that who knows the game..true laker fans will be supporting the team to a title tonight..
@ imindless, If you recall correctly, Shaq left LA, Kobe then failed to lead the Lakers to the playoffs, a further year of struggles and Kobe demanded a trade…Jerry West saved the Lakers by signing retired players and adding a 2nd round pick to trade for Pau Gasol…no corruption in any of those actions at all…and then the rest is history…
Bosh was a 3rd wheel
Wow….couldn’t disagree with you more. It’s called trusting your teammates and is truly team ball. Kobe was a fantastic scorer and a clutch shooter, but he hated to pass. Do you remember Metta hitting that big shot? Metta, “I standing there and Kobe pass me the ball, he never pass me the ball, and I hear Phil, in my head, don’t shoot….so I shot!” Greatest one line interview ever. But it’s true. There is no way you can say averaging a triple double is less productive than hitting a big shot. You get a triple double and you most likely don’t need that big shot. And one other thing about standing around with the ball. No one did it more than Kobe. And every teammate knew he wasn’t passing so they stood there and watched. That rarely happens with LBJ.
imndless does not like Lebron politically or racially from the getgo, like many LJ-haters, ant it doesn’t help that LJ is dark-skinned and intidating. So they make stuff up.
LA sports fans don’t deserve quality but they’re not the only ones and there’s nothing to do about it.
I guess we can agree he should go somewhere else in 2021.
I don’t usually comment, but this is one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen on here. Leading your team to the Finals every year but one (when you were injured) for a DECADE? And you don’t see the greatness? Smh what is wrong with you?
The logic is boggling that you think the East is comparable to the west. Half the teams are below .500 yearly then goes to lakers team and missed playoffs….then in typical lebron fashion he trades half his team for a generation big man that draws the main focus of the opponents.
Ad also completely masks lebrons inability to defend well that this stage in his career, last 3 years he has been a negative in defensive wins shares. Ironic that once ad left pels their defensive rating for players like jrue holiday completely fell off.
Lebron has lakers at 4 seed 2 games out of 1 seed and got hurt in a game where they were blowing on gsw in oakland. Lebron has been all nba defense how many times in his career..year 17, he can’t extend all his energy on both sides because he controls the ball on offense.. however, he locks down when it’s needed.. ask pg, kawhi, Jamal Murray, dame lillard, harden.. as a laker fan, I support any laker player.. I don’t have hate for the great ones that join the team.. especially the ones that lead a team to a championship after 10 years of nothing..Lebron may not be a shooter but either was kobe. Kobe was 25 ppg on 44% shooting and 33% from 3.. Lebron is 27 ppg on 50% shooting and 34% on 3.. 7 reb and 7 assists for career..there’s a reason why he’s top 10 in every stat..
When you skip college and play in an offensive era sure. Mj and Kobe would average over 35 a season as currently constructed. Has one of the weakest draws for finals and thinks he is king of la, not my goat.
Weakest draws? Typical 1 seed plays the bottom seeded teams.. that’s how it works..2nd best record in nba.. Bucks beat the crap out of inferior competition in East but heat beat them in regular season and playoffs..you think Trail Blazers were a weak team..dame lillard is a killer.. they weren’t healthy until playoffs.. that same team made wcf year before..rockets were considered a dangerous team with 2 former mvps. nuggets were 3 seed and beat clippers.. how many finals mvp Lebron has? Real lakers fans root for lakers not look to bring down what they’ve done.. go back to clipper nation bandwagon fan..
Btw, Since 1990, last 30 years.. the East has won 14 titles and west 16.. the last 10, 4 East and 6 west.. so as much as you say East is weak, it’s been pretty close..
Your an idiot. So because I don’t support a fake superstar I’m a fake fan lmao. I have been a fan since the 90’s and I have seen great players play lebrons not one of them. Just my opinion as with other fans of lakers. Sorry you look to overlook actual era based data but lebrons not top 5 for me. Only way lebron wins is when his teammates are future hall of famers. Bosh, wade, kyrie, love and now ad. If you think shaq, pau and pippen equal that we have nothing more to discuss.
1. Mj
2. Kareem
3. Magic
4. Duncan
5. Kobe
6. Shaq
7. Russell
8. Lebron (after this years title)
9.chamberlain
10.bird
2 and 3 were teammates,5 and 6 teammates. You put russell 6 but you’ve never seen him play same with 9 and 10. Not one was a lebron teammate..mj is the goat for sure. Bird was a beast
You kind of shot yourself in foot saying he only wins with future ball of famer.. jordan played with pippen and Rodman. Kareem played with Oscar Robertson in Milwaukee and magic and worthy in La..Duncan played with David Robinson, Ginobli, Tony Parker. Kobe shaq and gasol, chamberlain had Jerry west,bird had mchale and parish and even walton.. all hall of famers
So you think a guy being the 8th best player to play basketball since the beginning of time is a bad thing? If you rank him 8th you’re saying he is amazing.
Major choke artist lebron. No where to be found last 2 minutes of this game.
Man playing hero ball like Jordan & Kobe is useless & pointless, also is a win win for the players, if the hit the shot they are heroes if they miss, well they had the guts to shoot, so they are heroes…. LBJ doesn’t care about been a hero, he is a far superior player than that, he only cares about winning, & usually teams do get on top of him at the end, so always there is a teammate in a better position to shoot, so he finds him, as simple as!
Kobe was an absolute ball hog & would throw even his sneakers, not a team player at all!
Shaq won his first 3 rings & Pau won his last 2, he always was the number 2 in the winning teams!
Not sure if you’re calling yourself a Lakers fan but if you talk about any player on the team that just helped make them a great team again and is one of the main reasons they are one win away from winning it all then you are no Lakers fan. Ridiculous. Take the hate out of your heart and maybe you’ll see how good he is ana what he’s done for this organization and for us real fans. Given us a reason to celebrate again.
This Lakers fan does like Lebron and does appreciate what he has done for us. Creating an assist for a team-mate is not being “bailed out”. It is good basketball. By any measurement Lebron is an all-time great. I didn’t like it when he left Cleveland but loved it when he went back. Go Lakers!
Sorry! I guess you aren’t allowed to have an opinion since some rando on the internet named, “mindless,” automatically speaks for all Laker fans.
I cannot stand it when people act as though their opinions are superior to others and therefore must be factual. You can have an argument, but it needs to be up for interpretation
You aren’t a real lakers fan if you think lebron is king of la. None of my friends of people I know that support lakers like lebron. Your entitled to YOUR opinion but the people around me feel the same way about lebron. Keep buying into the false goat because the media tells you to.
Lebron is that player that’s damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t.. he’s averaging 28 pts, 10 rebounds and 9asts in the finals.I’ve been a Laker fan my whole life and always wanted LeBron to be a Laker because I’m a Fan of his greatness.. Lebron isn’t built like Michael Jordan or Kobe, he’s built to take over when needed but also making his teammates better.. How many finals has LeBron been in where his team was the favorite. They said he couldn’t do it in the west but guess what Lakers are in the finals in year two.. lakers were 4 seed 2 games out of 1 seed before he got hurt in year 1..just appreciate the greatness.. it won’t be around much longer.
agreed on that. 28, 10 and 9 and he is getting shade;
October 9, 2020: one of the greatest days in sports history when both the Lakers and Yankees lose in the playoffs! Fantastic!!!!!