Lakers are starting to turn it on a bit here, absolutely crushing OKC in LA. They’ve beat some good teams now in the last week including the Clippers and Thunder, they also gave Denver a good run for their money until down the stretch.
Yup. The naysayers here were saying otherwise. They could be a 7th or 8th seed coming in looking to upset teams esp if they draw OKC or Minnesota. Never count out LeBron James and healthy AD in the postseason
lol some guys here want this to be true so bad. I do actually think they have a chance of beating OKC cause OKC was pretty dumb to not get a big body alongside Chet. AD just dominates Chet. But aside from that we are 60 games into the season teams aren’t suddenly turning things around without any roster changes. The lakers lose to the suns, have a nice win against the clippers, play terrible against wizards and squeak by in overtime. Lose to the nuggets. Play well against the thunder. This is what they have been doing all season and why they are a few games above .500 60 games in.
the Lakers have been up and down all year, but they were 19-21 in mid January and are 15-8 since. So that is a quarter of the season at a 53 to 54 win pace (they were also 24-25 and are 10-4 since, but that is a smaller sample size so i took the bigger one). They have 7 of their next 8 at home as well so they could keep it up even with playing some better teams in that stretch. They then have a 6 game road trip in the central and Eastern time zones, though have several bad teams in it.
You can manipulate certain stretches of any season to make a team look like they are playing better or worse. In reality, a lot of it is scheduling and catching a few breaks (in your favor or against you). In this stretch the lakers have piled up some wins against the blazers, spurs, hornets, pistons, wizards and Knicks down multiple starters. They also had their inexplicable win against us without AD or Lebron. As the saying goes, you are what your record says you are and they are a pretty average team out west. This is a lot different than last year where they overturned half their roster before the deadline and their pieces fit together better after improving their chances. This team has been remarkably healthy in their top 4 all year and they really don’t have any new additions playing major minutes. What exactly would they have figured out? Is Lebron suddenly unlocking a new part of his game at 40? Is AD? And also to be fair, part of what was amusing about this is that there have been like 4 points this season we have had people saying “are the lakers figuring things out” on this thread (along with other teams). I guess I’m just ready for the playoffs to start. Also I do think with the right matchup the lakers could win a series and one of those good matchups for them
Is against the Thunder.
Russell has played pretty well over their last 23 games. 21.7 ppg, 6.4 apg, nearly 44% on 8.5 3's a game. Before that he was 15.7 ppg, 6.1 apg, and under 40% on 5.5 3's a game.
Similarly, Reaves in that stretch is at 16.5 ppg, 6.3 apg, and just under 41% in 5.2 3's a game. Before thst he was 15.2 ppg, 5.1 apg, and just 34.4% on 4.5 3's a game
Perhaps the Lakers have figured out how to more effectively use Russell and Reaves. It is possible that it just took them some time to figure it out. And it probably helped that the trade deadline has passed and they weren't hearing their names in rumors anymore.
And it isn't manipulation if you use the last 23 games. That is over a quarter of the season and is the most recent sample size. Sure, they could revert back to a below .500 team they were for the first half or maybe they did actually figure some things out. Teams do grow during the year. It does happen.
Topic: 2024 NBA Season and Playoffs (Read 1021093 times)