ESPN Promoting our Lakers Game as "Lonzo Wednesday"

[BudweiserCeltic]

The league and its partners have always promoted the biggest stars, they were promoting Rusell like crazy when the Lakers drafted him too.

Remember when they completely redid the national television schedule once the Celtics traded for KG?

Lakers always get a ton of national TV games and NBATV/ESPN/Turner always promote them like crazy.

We do have this dude called Kyrie though... Uncle Drew.

Yup and ESPN has promoted the heck out of him in the past and will in the future.

My guess is they have an interview or feature pieces on Lonzo that they're promoting to tie into the game.

Just the same is also brings into attention the usual conspiracy of anti-Boston bias on that network, someone who's always been promoted, goes to the Celtics and suddenly gets easily overshadows by a bad team with a rookie who hasn't played well (when we have our own high profiled rookie who's playing extremely well).

[arctic 3.0]

Every time I check out ESPN's website I question whether this win streak is a figment of my imagination.
Absolutely zero mention, anywhere on the site.

If the Warriors or Cavs had rolled off 9 straight it would be headline news.

[kraidstar]

It makes sense since Lonzo is a big draw already, but it seems like Kyrie is also a pretty big draw?

Celtics / Lakers should be a big draw in itself. It's one of the best rivalries in sports, and this year it features a bunch of promising young players who could become adversaries for many years to come.

Randle, Smart, Ingram, Brown, Tatum, Ball, Rozier, Kuzma...

The Ball obsession is bordering on obscene, and it's hard not to take that commercial as a sign of disrespect to the greatest franchise in basketball history, a franchise that also fielded a conference finals team last year and looks to be improved.

I will be tuning in to NBC Sports Boston tomorrow so I can avoid the ESPN Ball Washers and listen to Mike and Tommy instead. Hopefully we will see a decisive Celtics victory.

[saltlover]

Although this seems like favoritism to the Lakers, it probably benefits us and hurts Ball.

Ball has folded every time he has been confronted on the court. It could be the game that breaks him out of his funk, but more likely this will be a 3/17, 8 points, 6 assists, 7 rebounds type game.

You think Irving, Rozier, Smart, and Brown aren't gonna go at him all game, in our house?

Plus, with Horford's mobility, Lopez's three point shooting should be less of a factor. This also seems like a good "back to earth" regression to the mean game for Kuzma.

Yeah, Kuzma has been getting a lot of his points at the rim — he gets 4 attempts a game there and has made 83% of his attempts.  Meanwhile, the Celtics allow the second-lowest FG% in the restricted area so far at 54.8%.   With the team also doing a good job at preventing fast breaks, I think we’ll see Mr. Kuzma look awfully pedestrian.

[konkmv]

Can we just destroy them....? A playoff Boston Celtics  crowd would be nice at the garden

[EJPLAYA]

The best thing about this is that he is already showing he is quite possibly going to be a bust in this league. His shot that everyone was worried about has proven to be just what they thought. His form screams at best a streak shooter where he'll be hot one out of every ten games. He likely won't be the Anthony Bennett type of bust, however at best I think he's a mediocre NBA player when it's all said and done. If the draft were held over today Tatum is clearly the #1 pick. Well done Danny! You'll see who he is tonight with all the pressure to show everyone that he is the better player.

This is a trap game however so we need to come out and pound them out of this game early.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Although this seems like favoritism to the Lakers, it probably benefits us and hurts Ball.

Ball has folded every time he has been confronted on the court. It could be the game that breaks him out of his funk, but more likely this will be a 3/17, 8 points, 6 assists, 7 rebounds type game.

You think Irving, Rozier, Smart, and Brown aren't gonna go at him all game, in our house?

Plus, with Horford's mobility, Lopez's three point shooting should be less of a factor. This also seems like a good "back to earth" regression to the mean game for Kuzma.

Yeah, Kuzma has been getting a lot of his points at the rim — he gets 4 attempts a game there and has made 83% of his attempts.  Meanwhile, the Celtics allow the second-lowest FG% in the restricted area so far at 54.8%.   With the team also doing a good job at preventing fast breaks, I think we’ll see Mr. Kuzma look awfully pedestrian.

I like Kuzma, but his 2p% is inflated due to easy looks. Your stats confirm this. I am a little worried that Kuzma and Ingram will expose Tatum's average athleticism a little bit.

Randle seems like he normally plays well against us. He worries me a little bit. Clarkson is also a pretty aggressive scorer.

All-in-all, if we recalibrate our defense after our awful performance last night, we should make their offense look awkward.

Offensively, if we play together we could put up 120.

[EJPLAYA]

Although this seems like favoritism to the Lakers, it probably benefits us and hurts Ball.

Ball has folded every time he has been confronted on the court. It could be the game that breaks him out of his funk, but more likely this will be a 3/17, 8 points, 6 assists, 7 rebounds type game.

You think Irving, Rozier, Smart, and Brown aren't gonna go at him all game, in our house?

Plus, with Horford's mobility, Lopez's three point shooting should be less of a factor. This also seems like a good "back to earth" regression to the mean game for Kuzma.

Yeah, Kuzma has been getting a lot of his points at the rim — he gets 4 attempts a game there and has made 83% of his attempts.  Meanwhile, the Celtics allow the second-lowest FG% in the restricted area so far at 54.8%.   With the team also doing a good job at preventing fast breaks, I think we’ll see Mr. Kuzma look awfully pedestrian.

I like Kuzma, but his 2p% is inflated due to easy looks. Your stats confirm this. I am a little worried that Kuzma and Ingram will expose Tatum's average athleticism a little bit.

Randle seems like he normally plays well against us. He worries me a little bit. Clarkson is also a pretty aggressive scorer.

All-in-all, if we recalibrate our defense after our awful performance last night, we should make their offense look awkward.

Offensively, if we play together we could put up 120.

Tatum has been on the floor the majority of the minutes and we have one of the top defenses in the league... And now another rookie and a 2nd year mediocre player are going to "expose" him?! Don't confuse his slower smooth style with average athleticism. He is a solid defender for a rookie and buys into the defensive schemes. Let's not make some perceived "potential" weakness that draft scouts tried to throw out there so they'd have something to say into a common thought fallacy. Kind of like Rondo being some superstar defensive player when he was actually a crappy gambling defender. Tatum is a solid defender and a way advanced offensive player for his experience and age.

[nickagneta]

The Balls are a medium darling and LA is the NBA's sweetheart franchise, so they are going to get a lot of play on ESPN, who's job it is to promote the game. They are best served pushing the players and teams they think will appeal to the largest audience.

Look at the Hawks a few years back when they were a 60 win team. They got no push because they didn't have the overall national appeal or had a recognizable name player that people wanted to follow. Great team during that regular season but most people just didn't care about them.

[slamtheking]

The Balls are a medium darling and LA is the NBA's sweetheart franchise, so they are going to get a lot of play on ESPN, who's job it is to promote the game. They are best served pushing the players and teams they think will appeal to the largest audience.

Look at the Hawks a few years back when they were a 60 win team. They got no push because they didn't have the overall national appeal or had a recognizable name player that people wanted to follow. Great team during that regular season but most people just didn't care about them.

sorry, I just read that and couldn't stop laughing.  my mind goes to just so many wrong places.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Although this seems like favoritism to the Lakers, it probably benefits us and hurts Ball.

Ball has folded every time he has been confronted on the court. It could be the game that breaks him out of his funk, but more likely this will be a 3/17, 8 points, 6 assists, 7 rebounds type game.

You think Irving, Rozier, Smart, and Brown aren't gonna go at him all game, in our house?

Plus, with Horford's mobility, Lopez's three point shooting should be less of a factor. This also seems like a good "back to earth" regression to the mean game for Kuzma.

Yeah, Kuzma has been getting a lot of his points at the rim — he gets 4 attempts a game there and has made 83% of his attempts.  Meanwhile, the Celtics allow the second-lowest FG% in the restricted area so far at 54.8%.   With the team also doing a good job at preventing fast breaks, I think we’ll see Mr. Kuzma look awfully pedestrian.

I like Kuzma, but his 2p% is inflated due to easy looks. Your stats confirm this. I am a little worried that Kuzma and Ingram will expose Tatum's average athleticism a little bit.

Randle seems like he normally plays well against us. He worries me a little bit. Clarkson is also a pretty aggressive scorer.

All-in-all, if we recalibrate our defense after our awful performance last night, we should make their offense look awkward.

Offensively, if we play together we could put up 120.

Tatum has been on the floor the majority of the minutes and we have one of the top defenses in the league... And now another rookie and a 2nd year mediocre player are going to "expose" him?! Don't confuse his slower smooth style with average athleticism. He is a solid defender for a rookie and buys into the defensive schemes. Let's not make some perceived "potential" weakness that draft scouts tried to throw out there so they'd have something to say into a common thought fallacy. Kind of like Rondo being some superstar defensive player when he was actually a crappy gambling defender. Tatum is a solid defender and a way advanced offensive player for his experience and age.

Hey man, I'm with you. He has been really impressive so far. His upside is bright. He is currently good as a two-way player and has solid potential moving forward.

I'm just saying that Kuzma and Ingram will both intentionally look to attack him. Ingram because of the Duke connection and Kuzma because he wants to prove he is the best rookie in this draft.

Its normal for rookies to be inconsistent. Its a concern. I'm hedging a bit.

It'd be really sweet if Tatum went for 20 while holding Ingram and Kuzma to a combine 7 for 25 night.

[GratefulCs]

our win streak will only matter to espn if the lakers beat us


"and lonzo takes down the best team in the league"


but we're gonna poop all over their ball parade

[vjcsmoke]

Hopefully the Celtics D can bounce back.

We didn't really play like ourselves against the Hawks.  And I'm hoping it was just due to some tired legs/jet lag.  Since it was the 3rd game of a 3 game road trip.

Celtics will hopefully come back to Boston, get their rest in, get refocused, and take down the Lakers in convincing fashion.  I believe we match up well against the Lakers.  Horford and Baynes are a tough duo to score against in the paint.  That will limit Kuzma's scoring.

On the outside, I don't see a lot of shooters to fear, is Ball gonna light it up from 3?  I don't think so.  He's shooting under 30% from the field and 23% from 3.  Their best outside shooters are Clarkson and Ingram at around 39%.

Lakers do have a lot of balanced scoring though with Lopez, Ingram, Kuzma, and Clarkson all averaging over 15ppg.

In any case the Lakers seem to have a balanced team but I don't see any stars there yet.  It will be a nice preview game to see what we can expect from them for the years to come but I honestly expect us to win by 10 or more.  I doubt they have faced any stifling defenses like the Celtics bring before.

[fairweatherfan]

The Balls are a medium darling and LA is the NBA's sweetheart franchise, so they are going to get a lot of play on ESPN, who's job it is to promote the game. They are best served pushing the players and teams they think will appeal to the largest audience.

Look at the Hawks a few years back when they were a 60 win team. They got no push because they didn't have the overall national appeal or had a recognizable name player that people wanted to follow. Great team during that regular season but most people just didn't care about them.

sorry, I just read that and couldn't stop laughing.  my mind goes to just so many wrong places.

Please don't mock the line that got me my wife.

[fairweatherfan]

Every time I check out ESPN's website I question whether this win streak is a figment of my imagination.
Absolutely zero mention, anywhere on the site.

If the Warriors or Cavs had rolled off 9 straight it would be headline news.

I don't know if that's true, look at their stories and count how many have anything to do with the outcome of any recent game. Not many, and the ones that do are almost always about some stupid "controversy" more than the actual result.

ESPN's moved away from box score, standings stuff because you can get it anywhere. They need dumb narratives and feuds for their opinion people to bat around because that's the only way they can produce proprietary content. A streak really only becomes a storyline when it approaches something historical or has some controversy attached to it.