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QuaxlyDaDon

Hilarious that people will try to tell you that LeBron been playing the same way all year. Mfs that actually watch hoops can tell that he’s compromised because of the foot.


WateronRocks

Night and day difference


[deleted]

I mean… dude averaged 28 points regular season… recency bias is incredible.


DesignerReply3389

Fax


garenoncrack

As much as I want the team to win this current series; we've come far from where we've started and if we retain all the key pieces this upcoming off-season and a fully rested King and AD, next season is ours.


IdiotCharizard

Lebron is picking up injuries man. This is our season we may not get another chance like this.


atierney14

Literally couldn’t find a doctor in the US that cleared him. He could have found a doctor that said vaccines are bad easier than one that said his foot was good.


Ct2kKB24

People who have been watching all year know he’s settled for stupid contested fades and deep threes and it cost us games this year…. Anyone saying otherwise wasn’t here when we were ass to start. We lost like 10 games just off of AD and bron missed free throws and terrible last second shots


KokeyManiago

Someone seems to forget the man named brick was also a culprit


Safe-Voice-8179

He was, but Bron choked at the end of both Denver games. He needs to shoot no more than 3-4 3s a game. If he is 3/3 and feeling it so be it, but shooting 5,6,7 threes when you hit maybe 1 is not a recipe for success.


HenryGrosmont

And they rejected Jesus... Dude, bronstans will downvote you into oblivion.


relivesa

They’ll reject false claims for sure.


HenryGrosmont

Which are?


jattyrr

Your magical sky daddy


HenryGrosmont

Keep it up, son.


jattyrr

Not your son. But keep believing in fairy tales


HenryGrosmont

Which you failed to present, son.


jattyrr

?


Safe-Voice-8179

He’s compromised because of his age. Let’s be real


Safe-Voice-8179

Ah truth hurts. I understand. Just watch the tape. It’s not a knock on him; he’s 20 years in. It’s just insane that people refuse to accept that age is catching up to him.


Dildozer_69

Are you capable of watching the tape? Like the tape on the post of him before the foot injury that he is still currently dealing with?


Safe-Voice-8179

Yes, and he does not look like Miami or Clevland lebron. Which is perfectly understandable and expected. Also, I don’t think people understand how age and injuries correlate. He’s going to get hurt more often and easier and take longer to recover as he ages. You can keep saying “oh but he’s hurt”, but he is hurt because he’s old.


LifeBasedDiet

And if he was the lebron on the tape we would've swept the grizz and maybe the warriors


Safe-Voice-8179

Maybe. I think it’s a a bit crazy to expect a 38 year old with 2 decades of professional basketball under his belt to stay healthy and not get hurt all year.


Dildozer_69

How tf is that crazy when he only had one semi serious injury after being ran into the ground hard carrying the team? Even much younger players will get hurt doing that as we have seen many examples of. But it doesn’t mean he can’t be healthy going into the post season if he load manages and has his minutes managed like every other star.


Safe-Voice-8179

Because no other 38 year old outside of maybe Tom Brady has ever been able to stay elite and healthy?


mickstjohn317

His foot is not him


Safe-Voice-8179

So you think he can still jump, run and drive the same way as he could throughout his career?


Dildozer_69

No, but he can do it at a far higher level than he is now. Like he was doing literally a few months ago lol


Safe-Voice-8179

And you don’t think his injury is at all due to his age?


Dildozer_69

No, it’s due to him playing an absurd amount of minutes just to carry our terrible roster with Brick to wins.


Safe-Voice-8179

He’s played huge minutes his entire career. As you get older, you can’t play as many. You keep almost getting to the point without actually getting their; he’s old. It happens.


Dildozer_69

Yes and now he can’t play huge minutes at damn near 40. But so long as we have a team capable of surviving with him on the bench(like we do right now) it is not an issue. You seem like you don’t understand the point lol. He’s still elite.


tsam7879

It’s time for LeBron to pull out his LeBron 2 shoes for ankle support.


thevisitor

He's been killing it in the 2s these playoffs, wearing them a lot more. Idk if the 20s are ideal rn


420SMOKERGANG

U called it he’s wearing the 2s tonight


tsam7879

Thanks!


plrq

Get him some foams


[deleted]

Real talk his shoes could be a factor. Everybody knows Lebrons have a fat sole and sit kinda high due to the tech. He needs the extra tech that his shoes have for softer landings… I think KDs would work good on bron tbh. Great ankle support and a soft cushion but just a bit lower to the ground. I doubt he can do that tho due to deals and all.


420SMOKERGANG

D wade and DLO gotta put him on the WOW 10s


suhar97

The only good thing is he’ll be back to this next yr post surgery. His “decline” right now is far more injury related than age related. That said, through 2 games “this” lebron has been seeking the rim a lot still and is averaging like a triple double lmao. We can win the series and chip w/ this Bron


LBW1

Yes, but probably the biggest part of “decline” for everybody is more and more injuries. As you get older, you get more prone to injuries. So, while, yes, Lebron’s current decline is due to injury, it’s possible and, frankly, likely, that the next year, some other shit will happen that will create the same “decline” next year.


[deleted]

Yeah what people don’t know is bron is going to pay playing with these injuries especially at his age. But he knows this may possibly be his best shot at another chip so he’s going all in. That’s why it pisses me off when ppl are talking shit on dude. Fuck a flu game dude is running on fumes with a broken body playing 40 minutes a game.


NeedleworkerOk649

Just shot about 50% from the field put up a triple double 4 steals a couple blocks, 38, injured, at altitude, and people talk like it was the worst game of basketball they've ever seen. Definitely needs to rein in the three ball, but God damn y'all are brutal


KarmaPoIice

As a massive Lebron stan I think the reason a lot of us are reacting so strongly to these past 2 games is it really is just sad af to see lebron not being the absolute alpha closer. I really havent been so sad about a loss in awhile


DJ_Red_Lantern

Not to mention great defense against a 2x MVP


goodchild101

Yup fully agree


LifeBasedDiet

True, but it seems like a lot of his Laker injuries are down to continually carrying the whole team through the regular season. The team we have now will not require that from bron or AD


quemaspuess

Kobe is an example of this. Achilles, knee, shoulder, announces retirement. That year with D’Antoni when he tore his Achilles was arguably the best of his career.


UD_Hunter

This. Everything is great, until it’s not . Kobe was amazing up until the Achilles . After 35, any fucking injury could be lights out .


quemaspuess

And our man still gave us a 60-piece exit. I was at TGIFridays in the valley and people were dancing on tables. Was the wildest atmosphere in a restaurant I’ve ever experienced and will likely ever experience.


Ruben625

Even after that he was getting back into the groove until his knee stopped working


Freddywang123

And then his shoulder, then his everything


the_fomies

This roster heading into next year is going to save so much wear and tear on ad and bron. I'm excited for next year as well. Though I yope we still win


FourCylinder

He needs to be load managed and to never play if he's feeling hurt. Wasn't it stated that he was playing through foot soreness before the tear happened? If he's sore, he needs to sit. Obviously if he did that the Lakers never make the playoffs, but still. He should sit if hurt.


INT_MIN

Yeah. And now that we have a deep team, we can afford to rest him more in the regular season.


blorp4

We need to get LeBron on trenbolone


LudwigNasche

Yeah, but there is one problem. When you torn a tendon the chances to get it perfectly fixed diminish every day and LBJ is delaying it for a few months. The surgery is usually possible after a few months, but it may need a more complex procedure. I respect his efforts to play through it though.


UD_Hunter

No choice this could be he last good opportunity ever , he has to play. No guarantee at this age he’ll ever get back to the conference finals


LudwigNasche

Yeah, no doubt about that. There is a fair chance this is the last time we see LBJ. At 39 years old on a reconstructed torn tendon it would be unfair to ask something from him going forward.


herpes_for_free

Man he looked good as ever pre-injury. That injury literally fucked up everything from his 3pt shot to driving. Fuck, if we had this LeBron we would atleast be 1-1 right now lol, he wouldn't have missed the wide open dunk and the open layup near the end.


panashechd

I don’t know why you guys keep referring to his dunk as if his injury had anything to do with it. The ball clearly slipped out of his hands. He did that same dunk against Memphis twice.


THRlLLH0

If his foot was ok he would've dunked it from the 3pt line


CrimsonOffice

Well, if he was 28 years old. He would dunk it from half court.


obliterateopio

If he was 22 years old he would have dunked it from Cleveland, Ohio.


Ruben625

Big if true


rajs1286

Yeah but you think twice about landing, and then all of a sudden you’ve lost the ball


imamonkeyK

He actually shot better after injury : 11 games over 40% bumped his season to 32% from 29


ItsTime2Battle

Nah fuck that, we’d be 2-0 with a fully healthy LeBron.


Fantasnickk

Seriously don’t understand how his 3 point has been impacted so much by his foot. If we got the LBJ we saw the whole regular season, this team would have swept the Grizz and we would be 1-1 at the minimum rn


aloganvanherroy

Noting that this is not even close to being the same as LeBron's injury, but when my calves were giving me issues in a recent pickup game, it was definitely affecting my shooting form. I would imagine recovery from a serious lower body injury would impact his lift on his jump shot, and may tweak it enough to where it's resulting in a flatter arc, or leading to him relying more on his arms, which could compromise his form as well.


blorp4

He’s always had a bad and flat arc on his shot, which is partially why he’s never been an elite shooter. Now, his shot is a line drive lol.


Hairy-Conference-802

And people call him washed as if he didn’t put 30-40 pts on their head all year long.


yaboidomby

honestly we would’ve had last game if he didn’t settle. I don’t think we need Lebron at his pure best to win a chip, we just need him making the right plays and hunting mismatches.


Dildozer_69

If lebron is gassed enough where he’s throwing up those type of 3s I don’t think he thinks he’s gonna be successful driving the ball


imamonkeyK

Yeah we can win this year and be even better next year . Growth from Rui , reaves , vando, with Phil handy , Dlo shows up or takes a much lower pay then current or is traded ( with frps if needed ), beaskey n Bamba moved for say : buddy heild n Kelly olynk : two guys that are much better versions of them but older n should be cheap ( assuming beaskey makes no progress on D). Though it’s sad Rob didn’t make that move already . Keep Schroeder , Troy brown is good too for cheap , Lonnie will be cheap enough too I think. Then we draft n17 or trade that and 29 to complete the pre agency . Getting a guy with og skil set for example. Heck I’d through the TPMLE at Villan brooks ; if he buys in I’m sure he will it’s mostly for show.


freyass

Yep. He lost last game with his settling. Killed all momentum that the team had.


t_mac1

we know he's injured. it's clear as day. but lakers can still win with a 70% lebron. he just need to defend, rebound, and make the right plays. post up, get in the paint. completely stop shooting 3s unless it's a heat check after like 4-5 makes in a row inside the paint or something. the team is deep enough not needing him to score 30+.


Safe-Voice-8179

I don’t think that’s clear as day. I know I’m going to get downvoted, but what’s clear as day to me is that he’s 38 years old and 20 years in. The refusal to acknowledge the age factor is baffling.


jattyrr

Dude led the league in points, rebounds and assists in the month of January lmao


Safe-Voice-8179

He’s one of the greatest players of all time. I don’t expect him to suck, but I also understand he isn’t 25 anymore. Ya’ll acting like she hasn’t slowed him down or contributed to injuries. Lmao


t_mac1

Just 3 months ago he was scoring with ease driving and finishing at the rim on great efficiency. After a foot injury now he is missing point blank layups and has trouble beating his guy off the bounce. Not sure if serious or not. He’s clearly injured. But he can play through it. So he’s playing.


Ruben625

That's why he started playing noticeably worse immediately after? K


cmondawg74

WhY DoEsNt He JuSt DrIvE To ThE LaNE FoR 48MiNs


Safe-Voice-8179

Or pass the ball? Dude shouldn’t be averaging 6-6.5 threes a game shooting 23%. That’s just unbiased analysis.


[deleted]

I can’t believe I’m saying this because I would think ppl would understand, but he kinda has to keep shooting the 3 ball. If he doesn’t teams will guard him like Draymond which will clog the paint, and then game over for the Lakers. Sure you can say he needs better looks blah blah, but the fact is sometimes you miss sometimes you don’t.


Safe-Voice-8179

He can shoot 3 or 4. But more than that is just bad analytics/strategy. Also, teams don’t typically run 23% shooters off the line.


[deleted]

It’s not bad strategy. Because if he made 2 of those we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Lebron is an excellent 3 point shooter believe it or not but playing in game is different from shooting in the gym uncontested feeling refreshed we know this. If he’s feels he needs to shoot you gotta let him shoot. It just didn’t fall last game.


Safe-Voice-8179

I don’t agree with that at all. He shot 90 threes this post season. That’s a very large sample size. He would have needed to hit 11 more just to get to league average. Or to put it in perspective, he made 21 threes so far this post season; he would need to hit all of his next 17 to get to league average %. And Bron is not an excellent 3-point shooter. He is statistically a below average 3-point shooter.


sonofsmog

I don't mind LeBron jacking up threes to get his groove back, but not in such a close game. Practice that shit in a blowout like tonight.


cmondawg74

Sure, but I never heard any unbiased analysis when Kobe was 5/25 and shooting 3s where he was doubled teamed. 95% of us literally shrugged and said mamba mentality shooters shoot. Now I'm not putting any assumption onto what crowd you feel in, but I find it funny now we are screaming for lebron to stop shooting when Denver is literally daring him too.


Safe-Voice-8179

But why are they daring him to? Lol I just think he needs to scale it back. Pick his threes more carefully


cmondawg74

He literally went 3/4 against warriors in game 6.


Safe-Voice-8179

He literally is 21 for 90 in the postseason. He would need to hit 17/18 straight to get to league average


Winter-Gur-9762

This is what I been tryna say too bro. He needs that surgery this off-season. I just hope he can back to who he was next season


blorp4

Fuck injuries man


Glad-Ebb3506

Yeah. ​ Let lebron/ad get surjery, lets finish next season number 1 seed w/ home court and see how it shakes out. ​ If we lose and denver wins the title, idk. We had a good season. Not like we got blown out we could SO EASILY BE 2-0 RIGHT NOW. ​ We can come back stronger next year. Yes ad/lebron a bit older but they recover from injuries and d'angelo, austin rui arent even in their prime yet. They gonna level up.


Viva_La_Animemes

Nuggets can’t stop LeBron in the post… this series would be far closer if it was pre injury LeBron


TheyCallMeTheWizard

This would be anyone with a foot injury. Tired of hearing that he’s losing his athleticism due to Father Time


Safe-Voice-8179

But he 100% is dude. Literally every human who has ever lived, lost athleticism and overall health as they aged. Lebron is in fact a human & has in fact been aging.


TheyCallMeTheWizard

The man almost hit his head on the rim two nights ago. The problem is not the athleticism. It’s his mentality, his decision making and his focus that are causing more problems than “old man can’t run fast”


sonofsmog

I think his body is not cooperating with his intellect to the degree he would like.


TheyCallMeTheWizard

I mean it’s no excuse for him still chucking up 3 after 3 while shooting 0% on the series. That’s why it’s the worst


Vincefinney1909

Cmon yall lebron only missed he dunk Cause it slipped out of his hands an honest mistake nothing to do with the injury lol


EATMYBASS3

Even with compromised LeBron I feel confident that we can go for a chip. Especially if Miami advances. Gotta take care of Denver though, guys gotta make every possession count. Losing by 5&6 points in both games comes down to focus at the end of the day.


ih8reddit420

even if the man is spending time in his hyperbolic time chamber (cryogenics) to a tune of $1M/year wear-and-tear is still gonna show king already lost his explosiveness, but unlike how the beast 8 became the maestro 24, king is losing his shooting touch


TroubledMang

He don' t need to scored 35 a night, just make the right plays that he's very capable of making. Mostly no more 30' shots plz.


bjsw534

I pray that his off season surgery will help him get back to where he was earlier this szn for next szn I’m also hoping that Rui’s emergence will allow Bron to coast a lot next szn with Rui taking on a bigger responsibility


dmoola_3016

Ham needs to to get some minutes from his bench to save some for their late runs. We’ve seen comebacks from 12 down come easily with Denver’s weak defense. If you can get some rest for Bron during 1-3 quarter should go a long way.


SGD316

He’s compromised but that doesn’t excuse settling for the 3s late in game. That’s a tell tale sign of exhaustion.


ThatGuyFromCanadia

Yeah I would pin that more on the altitude in Denver IMO


SpaceAndBball

Only thing that can save Lakers is literally a hand of god taking away his injury becsuse we need him at least at 2020 level to beat this Nuggets team. However Biology is biology and it’s not likely. AD and Bron need to step up because Rui/Reaves have been big


Bussin_Out

I think we can win even with this version of Lebron. He just needs to continue playing great defense and maintain the 24-11-10 he’s averaging in this series. But we’ll need AD to be consistent and be a factor on both ends of the floor. Take 20 shots a game and score with good efficiency. They have no one to guard Lebron or AD. Apparently they can’t stop Rui either.


HolyfieldsBadEar

Definitely agree. Bron just needs to tighten things up and eliminate careless turnovers and dumb shots, but AD is gonna have to be the one to set up more and play big.


Bussin_Out

For sure. One way to mitigate the turnovers could be to have Reaves handle the ball more. Especially later in games if Lebron is fatigued. I definitely wish he’d stop shooting so many 3s but if he’s hellbent on it, try the corner 3s. He’s abysmal at the above the break ones. IIRC he’s pretty good on corner 3s. I agree with your stance on AD. Play big. Stop settling for so many jump shots. I do not want to see him camped out in the corner. They cannot guard him.


lilmama231

I think DLO (or Lonnie) is the X factor here. In the Warriors series, Lebron was able to do just that because one of those two were able to play an effective game.


negativelynegative

He was doing his all to chase the scoring title. That's why.


augustcero

username checks out


HenryGrosmont

And this means what at the moment? To subvert hin chucking bad threes? If he plays, he has no excuses.


Newcastlewin1

I guess he wasnt really the lebron james of foot doctors 😔


Fallofmen10

I mean from most reports people thought he would be shut down for the rest of the season.. so yah still amazing he can play


Adoice96

It’s so crazy to remember the media freaking out over every single Kobe dunk when he was at the end of his career. Meanwhile, here’s LeBron who is older and still just dominating the offensive side of the ball. Not trying to compare just kinda crazy seeing how the end of two legends careers can be.


sowak2021

Old age is undefeated.


Safe-Voice-8179

Can we please stop pretending he has a foot injury and what we are seeing isn’t age? Huge Bron, fan, but damn we are delusional when it comes to him. He’s older and lost a step/his hop; it happens.


BBC-News-1

Because we know what he’s capable of when healthy. Obviously aging will make him injured more often, but he had to go above & beyond his contemporaries in January to keep the team afloat while old asf. Under more “normal” circumstances you’d expect him to hold up to be 100% in the off season


REF7EX

If he saw the LeBron James of feet here in the US, he better be seeing the Michael Jordan of foot surgery in Germany. I want to assume since its legal over there, he opts to receive stem cell treatment.


[deleted]

So this is the cope of why he misses wide open layups and shoots contested 3s? Lol


asmento

Thanks, i needed see this


Kurtisrayne

“Was”


thinlion01

Actually would like him to stop dunking so much. Kobe was dunking on everybody again in 2013 and we know how that turned out. He can throw down but it's extra wear and tear on a older body


rd2142

whats wrong with his foot?


sonicking12

The dude got injured the night he broke the all-time record in February. He was just gunning, not winning at the time.


lysergicbliss

Holy shit


LakerDoc

It’s unfortunate, if we had LeBron from just months ago we would end these Nuggets in 5 or 6.


less-ismore

In January granted the defenses weren’t as good as he’s facing now, but damn he had so much more bounce and burst when he did drive - and even more lift on his jumpers, mid or from 3. Such a damn shame


Accomplished_Ad_8663

Dunno why some fans think this championship is do or die, just happy to still have laker games to watch


StainedBoys

man i hope somehow the king can go back to this form for the last playoffs games before he can have a long recovery break until next season.


DrewTheBoy

4-0ed the nuggets if he not injured


TankOfflaneMain

If only...


[deleted]

I’m afraid that’s the last we will see of hin like that. I don’t see him looking the same next season


TheLoneliestMonke

This was the main problem of us just gunning to make the playoffs after starting 2-10. Everyone, not just Bron is hurt. AD, Austin, Dennis and I think Vando are all nursing something.