For me it is a team wide culture issue. Lack of consistent intensity and playing with any type of urgency as a team.
This, and that's why I am most disappointed in JJ and LeBron. Not for having good or bad PER or making some rookie coaching mistake. But for not managing to set the tone enough.
For game 1, yes. Game 2, no. Game 3, Luka had flu-like symptons which was a big factor. By game 4, the writing was on the wall: Minny probably knew their substantial advantage against a team without a playoff caliber center in the playoff bully-ball environment was a clear advantage (and did they ever show it), as did likely the Lakers, especially Coach who readily showed his frustration.
For me it is a team wide culture issue. Lack of consistent intensity and playing with any type of urgency as a team.
This, and that's why I am most disappointed in JJ and LeBron. Not for having good or bad PER or making some rookie coaching mistake. But for not managing to set the tone enough.
For game 1, yes. Game 2, no. Game 3, Luka had flu-like symptons which was a big factor. By game 4, the writing was on the wall: Minny probably knew their substantial advantage against a team without a playoff caliber center in the playoff bully-ball environment was a clear advantage (and did they ever show it), as did likely the Lakers, especially Coach who readily showed his frustration.
Game 1 was probably the one to set the tone...
My first thought was, but game 2 corrected this and then GS beats Minny, and then I watched the following, and learned that the Lakers did not scrimmage prior to game 1 (which might say a lot about just how healthy was LeBron).
This discussion has some excellent analysis of the series and Coach and AR.
_________________ Hey Doge, ever hear of “measure twice, cut once?” It is not cut first and measure later.
Got to be the bench. We literally had no scoring or defense from them. I mean if you can't score at least lock down or try to lock down AE or McDaniels.
I always start with the highest paid players. Its very easy to blame the over achieving guy making 13 million.
I get it, and it’s a valid take, the best should be held most accountable to step up and do whatever it takes to win, especially to close games. However, Luka averaged >30ppg during the series, and Lebron averaged >25ppg, both slightly better than their regular season ppg average. If the best are able to at least manage their season average, and the roster has a major gaping hole that severely limits the team chances…like the Lakers’ roster without a legitimate starting or back up center…it could be an exception to cut the best some slack in that situation.
I also would not blame the guy making $13m, but he did manage 4ppg in the playoffs below what his average was in the regular season and was significantly worse from 3pt%.
Still, how is this even a debate? To me it goes without question that the Lakers lost because the roster was inexcusably deficient without a starting quality center or back up and the person responsible for that was Rob. Every other problem imo was at least indirectly related to that failure to met the minimum expected performance to build a roster. _________________ When reasonably possible, I expect the Lakers to go after a ship like it can’t be denied. I haven’t seen a completely committed effort by the GM for the last 2 off seasons nor the last 2 trade deadlines. What is going on?
I dont blame the players. I blame management for not getting proper bigs.
Playing Rui, Lebron and Hayes @ center isn't championship ball, so even if they beat the Wolves they would have lost to some other team.
Of course the last time we actually had proper centers(Howard/McGee) we won a ring.
Not sure how many more playoff exits Rob needs to go thru before he realizes this.
Also, Austin seems like the kind of guy who's lack of athleticism gets exposed in the postseason, just like DLO. When the opposing team ramps up the effort and intensity on the defensive end in the postseason, all of those little moves he makes that work in the regular season don't seem to work anymore.
Last edited by george w kush on Thu May 08, 2025 2:10 pm; edited 2 times in total
That's who I looked for, and didn't vote because his name was absent.
Everyone else did the best they could with what they had. Pelinka continues to waste championship contending seasons by not getting big men to serve critical support roles for this team, and the last three years alone we were eliminated in part for that very reason.
I dont blame the players. I blame management for not getting proper bigs.
Playing Rui, Lebron and Hayes @ center isn't championship ball, so even if they beat the Wolves they would have lost to some other team.
Of course the last time we actually had proper centers(Howard/McGee) we won a ring.
Not sure how many more playoff exits Rob needs to go thru before he realizes this.
Also, Austin seems like the kind of guy who's lack of athleticism gets exposed in the postseason, just like DLO. When the opposing team ramps up the effort and intensity on the defensive end in the postseason, all of those little moves he makes that work in the regular season don't seem to work anymore.
I don't think Rob, or the FO, went into the postseason thinking that Hayes/Len was the makeup for a championship center rotation. The Luka trade was a surprise, and there wasn't a lot of time to pivot towards a proper replacement for AD. The Mark Williams was "almost trade" was too expensive for an oft injured player.
The problem with Austin isn't his lack of a high level of athleticism. It was more about the role he was thrust into because of lack of team structure. Before the trade, Max was assigned the opposing team's best perimeter offensive player. You also had AD manning the inside. The Luka Lakers have none of that. That made AR the team's default "best" perimeter defender, while still sharing PG duties with Luka. That's a lot...too much...to ask of AR. Imo, the Lakers need legit perimeter defender, to take the burden off of AR. Also, AR needs to improve his strength, to better hold up against physical play. _________________ ZOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!
Surprised Lebron gets so much here. He's 40 years old. What are the expectations?
people can't keep using this excuse. Ya he is 40 but he's making prime number 1 money. He really needs to go so the team can move forward. Building a team is harder when you have a 40 year old that you don't know when the wheels are going to come off.
And yet by leading both teams in PER (and fourth in the league), by being the only player to have a better playoff PER than the regular season, by ORtg and DRtg, and by Game Score, LeBron (without even mentioning his age as a mitigating factor) was the best player on the team. If his wheels are coming off, the rest of the team are already on wheel-less, axle-less and skimming on their bellies.
LOL Lebron was absolutely terrible, do you people watch or just put up stats that fits your narrative for the Kang? He was terrible, it was laughable how he was either scared to shoot in the 4th or he was straight up sabotaging.
Too many blind witnesses here, and they all have attitude while straight up lying.
Surprised Lebron gets so much here. He's 40 years old. What are the expectations?
people can't keep using this excuse. Ya he is 40 but he's making prime number 1 money. He really needs to go so the team can move forward. Building a team is harder when you have a 40 year old that you don't know when the wheels are going to come off.
And yet by leading both teams in PER (and fourth in the league), by being the only player to have a better playoff PER than the regular season, by ORtg and DRtg, and by Game Score, LeBron (without even mentioning his age as a mitigating factor) was the best player on the team. If his wheels are coming off, the rest of the team are already on wheel-less, axle-less and skimming on their bellies.
LOL Lebron was absolutely terrible, do you people watch or just put up stats that fits your narrative for the Kang? He was terrible, it was laughable how he was either scared to shoot in the 4th or he was straight up sabotaging.
Too many blind witnesses here, and they all have attitude while straight up lying.
He was not absolutely terrible. You are entitled to an opinion, but that is all it is and it is not one of any merit and certainly not an accurate assessment. Yes he had terrible moments. Yes, he fumbled a pass or missed on some of his. Yes, his shot was off a bit, he might have run out of steam late in the fourth's, and he was not driving to the rim as much. But his defense was solid and he put up the stats of a all star in his 20's. That he was 40 and injured can be discounted, if you think it is necessary to make your critical point, but to call him terrible just suggests a bias and a lack of critical thinking. 25.4/9/6.6/48.9%/35.7% are not terrible.
For perspective, I am going to get in trouble for this next comment and I apologize in advance if anyone takes this as a slight on Kobe, but Kobe never had 9 rebounds, 6.6 assists, shot 48.9% a game average in any season regular or post. He did shoot threes, better, on a yearly average in two regular and three post seasons and scored over 25.4 many times, about as many as he did not, and his regular season average (25.0) and post season (25.6) are on par with LeBron's 25.4.
Eye tests mean nothing when you can look, but you cannot see. _________________ Hey Doge, ever hear of “measure twice, cut once?” It is not cut first and measure later.
No idea how anyone's voting for LeBron. He was our only 2-way player.
I'd go with JJ. I thought the offense looked HORRIBLE. So, so, so bad. Darvin Ham ran a much better offense. I like JJ and hopefully he figures it out next season. "Get a switch and ISO" is not good offense, even if it's Luka doing it. It's one thing if Luka's made 2-3 step back 3s in a row, but in general you need to be doing other stuff besides just standing around.
This is especially true if the guy playing ISO is LeBron. How long until the coaches/ LeBron acknowledge he is unable to be "that" guy who routinely beats bigs on switches? LeBron ISOs on Gobert gave me PTSD. But he was struggling to beat Xavier Tillman in 2023. This is not even 35 y/o LeBron anymore.
No idea how anyone's voting for LeBron. He was our only 2-way player.
I'd go with JJ. I thought the offense looked HORRIBLE. So, so, so bad. Darvin Ham ran a much better offense. I like JJ and hopefully he figures it out next season. "Get a switch and ISO" is not good offense, even if it's Luka doing it. It's one thing if Luka's made 2-3 step back 3s in a row, but in general you need to be doing other stuff besides just standing around.
This is especially true if the guy playing ISO is LeBron. How long until the coaches/ LeBron acknowledge he is unable to be "that" guy who routinely beats bigs on switches? LeBron ISOs on Gobert gave me PTSD. But he was struggling to beat Xavier Tillman in 2023. This is not even 35 y/o LeBron anymore.
JJ was by far the most disappointing. Our free-for-all inbounds strategy cost us multiple games late in the season and in the playoffs. It’s the little details like that where coaching is really displayed.
Amazing how the "absolutely terrible" LeBron James is now 3rd in the rating of playoff PER. To be third in this efficiency rating would be exceptional for a healthy 25 year old, let alone, a slightly (?) injured 40 year old. _________________ Hey Doge, ever hear of “measure twice, cut once?” It is not cut first and measure later.
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