tendance
lebron james
yeah in the game against the raptors lebron james andy
davis combined for eight points in the first half in fact
davis had zero points in the first quarter at halftime
lebron had only taken five shots in the clippers game
braun only had six points by half and shot 32 from
the field for the game with only two free throws pain
this isn’t the lebron we know and then just last game
lebron has moments of dominance and moments of
uh confusion among thor is out there from the jump
the lakers played really good defensive teams the
clippers and raptors have some of the best personnel
in the league to start on lebron in the form of kawhi
paul george for the clippers and pass kosyakum
ojanobi with serge ibaka and marc gasol for the
raptors the jazz are also an elite defensive team
with rudy especially the way the raptors defense
was in that lakers game man was it a work of art
and they are the second best defensive team
in the league but it’s not that we haven’t seen
lebron do well against some of the best defenses
in the league just before the break we saw bronn
go crazy against the clippers and then drop 37-8
against the number one defensive team in the
league the bucks so what’s going on let’s try to
find out what is up dudes today that’s ballers
players it’s your boy mj the lakers might be tune
one in the nba bubble but they have hardly
looked like the lakers we saw towards the end
of the regular season before the break lebron
james has worst two-game stretch efficiency
wise this whole season shooting 38 from the
field and then had a solid game against the jazz
not going too deep with plus minus but braun
What’s WRONG?
has been a -4 minus 20 and then a zero in the past
three games yeah zero in the win against jazz with
lebron being uncharacteristically inconsistent it’s
time we look into this and see what’s going on in
the bubble and before we call this dramaticizing
the whole situation realize that lebron and the
lakers only have five games left to figure this out
before the playoffs
after a four month break lebron’s body is not in
playoff mode and so in these eight games he has
to ramp it up to that level but doing it too fast could
result in injuries which is exactly what lebron said
specifically that my body was wondering what was
going on because i was right there where my body
was starting to get to 5th and 6th and 7th gear going
into the playoffs and then it was just a complete
shutdown frank voglis talked about not rushing
lebron too much because it could lead to injury
this is where lebron’s age comes into play at 35
it’s insane to be able to play the way lebron has
but doing that comes with being more meticulous
in preparation it’s not as easy as just flipping a
switch as some other players in the bubble
have done and no knock against bronze
preparation because he’s been training himself
during this whole break but training and gang
game shape are two different things that could
lead to a lack of aggression that we’ve seen
from lebron lebron not shooting well is not the
concern his shot can come and go the focus
is more on what lebron is creating now let’s
not get twisted lebron averaging 19 points
and seven assists is still amazing by most
standards but we are comparing braun to
himself at times that first step just seems
patrick patterson
slow and the defense ends up staying in front
of braun or on his hip without him ever being
able to turn the corner of course these teams
have great defenders but that’s what the playoffs
are also going to be like and even when there
isn’t a great defender braun sometimes doesn’t
even try a drive like right here he has patrick
patterson on him who definitely can’t keep up
on top of that the whole left side is wide open
with shamit as the help defense which ain’t
enough to go even further reggie jackson leaves
waiters open to provide help defense on the right
losing waiters but instead of driving to his left
lebron dribbles and takes an algorithm mid-range
no paul george no kawhi just patrick harrison
making him take a mid-range comparing this to
highlights a few months ago lebron almost every
type of situation meaning from the top of the key
fast break out of the post would be his man have
a head of steam into the paint even in the game
against a jazz in which he shot 56 from the field
he still wasn’t blown by people you would expect
like here joe engles is able to cut off lebron which
leads to this really good pass but is still weird or
even here lebron doesn’t get by niang and takes
a step back jumper that he airballs lebron’s only
been to the freezer line 11 times in three games
he’s just getting stopped and in the clippers in
jazz games he only got to the line twice there’s
actually a lot more times that lebron is being
slower slithering through a pick and roll this
can work at times but is not where lebron is at
is most effective on the upside
lebron was able to blow by his initial defender
type of situation meaning from the top of the key
fast break out of the post would be his man have
a head of steam into the paint even in the game
against a jazz in which he shot 56 from the field
he still wasn’t blown by people you would expect
like here joe engles is able to cut off lebron which
leads to this really good pass but is still weird or
even here lebron doesn’t get by niang and takes
a step back jumper that he airballs lebron’s only
been to the freezer line 11 times in three games
he’s just getting stopped and in the clippers in
jazz games he only got to the line twice there’s
actually a lot more times that lebron is being
slower slithering through a pick and roll this
can work at times but is not where lebron is at
is most effective on the upside in the game
against a jazz there weremore times where
lebron was able to blow by his initial defender
like here even if he did miss but look at these
two identical situations with lebron on the
baseline in one lebron drives and beats his
man in the other braun doesn’t even try
drive of course defenders are different
but there’s a difference in mentality his first
step is getting there it’s just not there not yet
the lakers are also out of sorts on some
possessions like when lebron pretty much
holds on to the ball trying to direct traffic
for the entire possession because the team
is not on the same page or here when kuzma
just dribbles the ball for 15 seconds without
getting anywhere getting locked up by fred
vanvleet and losing the ball dengue kuzma
lebron’s also been loose with his handle
the raptors game
at times looking uninterested like right here
against paul george he loses the handle
without any pressure which sort of ruins
the flow of the pick and roll but these things
are beginning to tighten up with lebron getting
more into the flow this pick-and-roll was a really
good sign so let’s look at anthony davis a.d
was uber aggressive in the jazz game took
14 shots in the first quarter alone to make up
for that raptors game but the one thing with ad
is that even without shooting well he was still
getting to the line the lebron 80 connection was
also sort of shut down in the raptors game
but a lot of that depends on braun putting enough
pressure on the defense which he didn’t at times
against the raptors lebron seemed like he didn’t
even want to try to get past the defense and i get
that ciaco and og were hounding him and then
once you get past them high go to search ibaka
and marc gasol but that’s not gonna cut it if
anthony davis was also off but in the game
against the jazz both ad and brawn made a
priority to be more aggressive and ad was a
monster step back threes really man lebron is
still capable it’s more of whether he’s there mentally
and physically i’m going to give lebron a lot of
cred defensively though he has been active on
the end despite having a few lapses and rotations
he’s taken one-on-one defense much more seriously
he’s not overly quick on the end he’s just being
smart and using his experience to really bar
defenders like he did with kawhi and paul
george the one thing lebron was getting roasted
lebron came back from a grown injury
for was the one thing he’s done a much better
job at and it’s a very welcome sight so a lot of
this stems from lebron literally not being lebron
this is very reminiscent of lebron in february
and march of 2018 or when lebron came back
from a grown injury last year when playoff lebron
was activated and shit went downhill teams are
playing higher intensity than the start of the regular
season but bronze seems to be stuck in that easing
in mode does that mean he can’t change this
heck no lebron has other gears he just has to
find him in time for the playoffs which is less
than two weeks away lebron will get better
over time the real question is whether he’ll be
ready in time for the playoffs i think he’s going
to be playing off lebron by the second round
and that is being cautious and not trying to
get injured but what do you think will lebron be
all good by then who’s been the best team in
the bubble so far drop a like for 80 step back
threes cause geez reaction channel got the
uploads unlock uploading multiple times a
week so check it out one hot day go happening
friday night all right one hot take off basically
what’s good it’s better than giannis and if you’re
still here you really want to come and stop her
so i know the instagram shout out of the day
goes to lopez jerry and the audience of caseware
shout out goes to the nba storyteller thanks for
the all day support make sure the buffering
