Orlando Magics. With the tough wins in LA the last 72 hours. That was a bad shot from LeBron at the buzzer, and Rui with the airball the possession before
In fairness to Lebron, Luka had a wide open look but hesitated. He passed the ball to Lebron with almost no time left. It was so satisfying to see. I remember when Luka drilled a game winning three pointer vs the Celtics a couple of years ago. He was clutch then. Can?t help but think that somehow playing with Lebron is making him second guess his moves.
That team is going nowhere in the playoffs.
They are the typical "they have multiple star players who have been there before and will figure it out" but then they just don't figure it out partially because of their own flaws but also the roster around them. Their bench is very mediocre and they didn't do much to fix it besides Kennard but Kennard isn't great defensively either. Smart is one of the only few guys on that team who can play defense. Even in the final few minutes, LAL was making clutch buckets, but they were also getting toasted defensively and lost primarily because of that.
I don't see them as a real threat in the West. Neither do I see the Rockets really, they've needed a PG since Van Vleet got hurt and they somehow didn't add one. It's SAS, DEN, OKC, MIN as the Finals threats IMO
Has Luka?s play really regressed or is he not comfortable being ?the man? with Lebron there? That?s 2 games already where he hesitated on taking the game winning shot (the other one wa vs the clippers). I still remember when Dallas beat us with a Luka dagger three a couple of years ago. Now it looks like he?s not comfortable to take over games. LA lights too bright or is LeBron?s shadow holding him back to being Luka Magic?
I think its personnel based. It's not a great Big Three mix with Luka/Lebron/Reeves. They're just not meshing incredibly well together. Especially when the 3 of them are on the court at the same time. They're actually much better with just Luka/Reeves out there and Lebron out. Luka does even better when solo. Lakers are also not playing well against the top tier teams. That's why they shouldn't be taken seriously in the playoffs.
Shouldn't be an issue next season when Lebron is gone.
