Are we not getting up emotionally for games vs title contenders?
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slavavov
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 6:53 pm    Post subject: Are we not getting up emotionally for games vs title contenders?

Someone posted in the Boston game thread that we're a reflection of LeBron, in that he wants to win a regular season game, but he won't lose sleep if we don't win.

That's so true. LeBron wants to win, but he doesn't need to win to be OK with himself. Kobe, MJ, Magic, Bird and Jerry West, on the other hand, needed to win to be at peace with themselves.

Which got me thinking: maybe our team is downplaying games against the Clippers, Bucks and Celtics too much. During the Kobe era, it seemed like we did the same thing in the regular season whenever we were defending world champs.

If this is true, it might mean we have that crappy lightswitch mentality, which could be the first step towards an early playoff exit, or even a beatdown in the NBA Finals.
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 6:59 pm    Post subject:

na..
https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/1186834190869942274 Bron before game 1 against the Clippers..
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Aeneas Hunter
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 7:13 pm    Post subject:

The thought that struck me last night is that, for this particular group of Laker players, a game against Boston is not as big a deal as it is for Laker and Celtics fans. For us, a game against the Celtics is a major event even if both teams are in last place. Right now, the longest tenured Lakers are Kuzma and Casey P. We have a couple ex-Celtics playing major minutes. I don't think that the lore of the Lakers-Celtics rivalry means much to Lebron or the others. But that may change after this embarrassment.
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mad55557777
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 7:16 pm    Post subject:

Define title contenders
Boston is not a title contender in my book.
We played hard against both bucks and Lac,
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 8:12 pm    Post subject:

KeepItRealOrElse wrote:
na..
https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/1186834190869942274 Bron before game 1 against the Clippers..

He does this before every game tbh. I was at the Pels game and he came out of the tunnel roaring to the crowd.
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 8:14 pm    Post subject:

levon wrote:
KeepItRealOrElse wrote:
na..
https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/1186834190869942274 Bron before game 1 against the Clippers..

He does this before every game tbh. I was at the Pels game and he came out of the tunnel roaring to the crowd.


Wow. If he keeps screaming pre game we’re definitely getting a ring this year
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 9:30 pm    Post subject:

LeBron has mentioned on several postgame interviews he doesn’t focus on the opponent. Whether it’s the best team or worse team in the league anyone can beat you on any given night.

The focus is on getting better and improving.

From what I heard this may have been the mindset of the champion warriors too.
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 9:30 pm    Post subject:

LeBron has mentioned on several postgame interviews he doesn’t focus on the opponent. Whether it’s the best team or worse team in the league anyone can beat you on any given night.

The focus is on getting better and improving.

From what I heard this may have been the mindset of the champion warriors too.
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 9:30 pm    Post subject:

repost

Last edited by lar9149 on Tue Jan 21, 2020 9:31 pm; edited 1 time in total
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 9:30 pm    Post subject:

LeBron has mentioned on several postgame interviews he doesn’t focus on the opponent. Whether it’s the best team or worse team in the league anyone can beat you on any given night.

The focus is on getting better and improving.

From what I heard this may have been the mindset of the champion warriors too.
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 10:36 pm    Post subject:

Dont we have the best record in the nba against >.500?
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 10:38 pm    Post subject:

Boldarblood wrote:
Dont we have the best record in the nba against >.500?


5-6 vs top 4 teams in each conference
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:39 pm    Post subject:

Lebron didn't come to LA to win championships. His priority is his family and expanding his empire. If he saw yesterdays game as an important, he wouldn't have gone to his son's game a 100 miles away before the game.

AD needs to learn from Lebron what it takes to win championships and fully devote himself to the game, but unfortunately at this point in Lebron's career, Lebron isn't the best role model.

Does anyone think Kobe would have been OK with an injured AD taking his teammates to a football game across the country after a road-trip?
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:41 pm    Post subject:

LakerMindLA wrote:
Lebron didn't come to LA to win championships. His priority is his family and expanding his empire. If he saw yesterdays game as an important, he wouldn't have gone to his son's game a 100 miles away before the game.

AD needs to learn from Lebron what it takes to win championships and fully devote himself to the game, but unfortunately at this point in Lebron's career, Lebron isn't the best role model.

Does anyone think Kobe would have been OK with an injured AD taking his teammates to a football game across the country after a road-trip?


There's nobody like Kobe in today's NBA. People need to move on
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:48 pm    Post subject:

drae wrote:
LakerMindLA wrote:
Lebron didn't come to LA to win championships. His priority is his family and expanding his empire. If he saw yesterdays game as an important, he wouldn't have gone to his son's game a 100 miles away before the game.

AD needs to learn from Lebron what it takes to win championships and fully devote himself to the game, but unfortunately at this point in Lebron's career, Lebron isn't the best role model.

Does anyone think Kobe would have been OK with an injured AD taking his teammates to a football game across the country after a road-trip?


There's nobody like Kobe in today's NBA. People need to move on


Or current “Legends” need to check themselves and do better.
It’s about having honor out there on the court. What hurts LeBron in the eyes of MANY Laker fans is we have a very recent example of an athlete that wore the Purple and Gold with pride and would never cheat his teammates or the fans.
Sadly, LeBron is not noted for this type of devotion to the game.
Go ahead and make excuses till you run out of breath.
Me and mine just sit and shake our heads.
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:51 pm    Post subject:

LaLaLakeShow wrote:
drae wrote:
LakerMindLA wrote:
Lebron didn't come to LA to win championships. His priority is his family and expanding his empire. If he saw yesterdays game as an important, he wouldn't have gone to his son's game a 100 miles away before the game.

AD needs to learn from Lebron what it takes to win championships and fully devote himself to the game, but unfortunately at this point in Lebron's career, Lebron isn't the best role model.

Does anyone think Kobe would have been OK with an injured AD taking his teammates to a football game across the country after a road-trip?


There's nobody like Kobe in today's NBA. People need to move on


Or current “Legends” need to check themselves and do better.
It’s about having honor out there on the court. What hurts LeBron in the eyes of MANY Laker fans is we have a very recent example of an athlete that wore the Purple and Gold with pride and would never cheat his teammates or the fans.
Sadly, LeBron is not noted for this type of devotion to the game.
Go ahead and make excuses till you run out of breath.
Me and mine just sit and shake our heads.


The only person with POSSIBLY that sort of devotion to the game is Giannis. Maybe. Probably not though.

I remember last year people were looking at Kyrie as the closest thing to Kobe in today's game and that's turned out to be a steaming pile of disappointment, culminating in that huge essay he just wrote about basketball being just a game.

If you're holding players to standards that just don't exist anymore you will be forever disappointed and you'll continue to live in the past
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:52 pm    Post subject:

Aeneas Hunter wrote:
The thought that struck me last night is that, for this particular group of Laker players, a game against Boston is not as big a deal as it is for Laker and Celtics fans. For us, a game against the Celtics is a major event even if both teams are in last place. Right now, the longest tenured Lakers are Kuzma and Casey P. We have a couple ex-Celtics playing major minutes. I don't think that the lore of the Lakers-Celtics rivalry means much to Lebron or the others. But that may change after this embarrassment.


That’s funny, I was literally just saying this to a friend earlier. I was like, these guys don’t understand how big of a rivalry this is for the fans. Yea I get that players may look at it differently, but these guys know the history of these teams, at least play hard for the fans. With that said, they got embarrassed, I expect the next time they meet to be very different.
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:59 pm    Post subject:

drae wrote:
LaLaLakeShow wrote:
drae wrote:
LakerMindLA wrote:
Lebron didn't come to LA to win championships. His priority is his family and expanding his empire. If he saw yesterdays game as an important, he wouldn't have gone to his son's game a 100 miles away before the game.

AD needs to learn from Lebron what it takes to win championships and fully devote himself to the game, but unfortunately at this point in Lebron's career, Lebron isn't the best role model.

Does anyone think Kobe would have been OK with an injured AD taking his teammates to a football game across the country after a road-trip?


There's nobody like Kobe in today's NBA. People need to move on


Or current “Legends” need to check themselves and do better.
It’s about having honor out there on the court. What hurts LeBron in the eyes of MANY Laker fans is we have a very recent example of an athlete that wore the Purple and Gold with pride and would never cheat his teammates or the fans.
Sadly, LeBron is not noted for this type of devotion to the game.
Go ahead and make excuses till you run out of breath.
Me and mine just sit and shake our heads.


The only person with POSSIBLY that sort of devotion to the game is Giannis. Maybe. Probably not though.

I remember last year people were looking at Kyrie as the closest thing to Kobe in today's game and that's turned out to be a steaming pile of disappointment, culminating in that huge essay he just wrote about basketball being just a game.

If you're holding players to standards that just don't exist anymore you will be forever disappointed and you'll continue to live in the past


We’re not talking about stars out there in space that have literally disappeared
All it would take for a player to be like Kobe would be the choices they make.
The standard they set for themselves. That’s why someone like Giannis is more worthy of my respect than a poser like LeBron.
He acts like the hardest worker. But he’s not.
He acts like a great teammate. But he’s not.
The media at large falls over themselves when he does even the tiniest thing properly and trip all over themselves trying to defend him when he’s obviously
in the wrong.
And he plays right along with them. Pathetic
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 22, 2020 12:01 am    Post subject:

LaLaLakeShow wrote:
drae wrote:
LaLaLakeShow wrote:
drae wrote:
LakerMindLA wrote:
Lebron didn't come to LA to win championships. His priority is his family and expanding his empire. If he saw yesterdays game as an important, he wouldn't have gone to his son's game a 100 miles away before the game.

AD needs to learn from Lebron what it takes to win championships and fully devote himself to the game, but unfortunately at this point in Lebron's career, Lebron isn't the best role model.

Does anyone think Kobe would have been OK with an injured AD taking his teammates to a football game across the country after a road-trip?


There's nobody like Kobe in today's NBA. People need to move on


Or current “Legends” need to check themselves and do better.
It’s about having honor out there on the court. What hurts LeBron in the eyes of MANY Laker fans is we have a very recent example of an athlete that wore the Purple and Gold with pride and would never cheat his teammates or the fans.
Sadly, LeBron is not noted for this type of devotion to the game.
Go ahead and make excuses till you run out of breath.
Me and mine just sit and shake our heads.


The only person with POSSIBLY that sort of devotion to the game is Giannis. Maybe. Probably not though.

I remember last year people were looking at Kyrie as the closest thing to Kobe in today's game and that's turned out to be a steaming pile of disappointment, culminating in that huge essay he just wrote about basketball being just a game.

If you're holding players to standards that just don't exist anymore you will be forever disappointed and you'll continue to live in the past


We’re not talking about stars out there in space that have literally disappeared
All it would take for a player to be like Kobe would be the choices they make.
The standard they set for themselves. That’s why someone like Giannis is more worthy of my respect than a poser like LeBron.
He acts like the hardest worker. But he’s not.
He acts like a great teammate. But he’s not.
The media at large falls over themselves when he does even the tiniest thing properly and trip all over themselves trying to defend him when he’s obviously
in the wrong.
And he plays right along with them. Pathetic


Other than Giannis, name a star that has the same sort of Kobe like dedication in today's NBA

One will do.
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 22, 2020 12:07 am    Post subject:

I can't claim to know Bron's mental construct before games and stuff. I've seen Bron get up for regular season games; 2018 Christmas, he was playing really hard, he had the pedal to the floor on his drives and in transition, he looked like a different athlete - playoff Bron was playing. So there are some regular season games he really really cares about. I would guess the first game of the year, the Clippers game was one..maybe all of the measuring stick games.. I think Kobe cared about most regular season games to a degree that Bron doesn't.. But Bron's perspective is different, as well as his makeup..Bron has been to more Finals than Kobe...Bron always knew he would be in the Finals cuz of the East, so he could pace himself.. Kobe didn't have that assurance, so he'd always go all out, build the dog in him, build the teams confidence, and then hit the tough road of the West playoffs, hardened.
At this point in his career, Bron is not going 100% because he's too old...... AD's gotta relish his moment and go 100%, but maybe he won't because every something like 5th game he's been hurt the past 5 years....
I think they cared about the Celtic game...it's human! to care more about big, hyped games.. But they still have the eye on the prize
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 22, 2020 12:10 am    Post subject:

LakerMindLA wrote:
Lebron didn't come to LA to win championships. His priority is his family and expanding his empire. If he saw yesterdays game as an important, he wouldn't have gone to his son's game a 100 miles away before the game.



I don't get the problem with this. The game wasn't until 7:30 at night. I don't see an issue with him taking off a couple of hours in the afternoon to take a short helicopter ride to see his son play. Why is that worse than going to an afternoon movie, which is probably what most players do when they have time to kill before a road game.
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 22, 2020 12:10 am    Post subject:

drae wrote:
LaLaLakeShow wrote:
drae wrote:
LaLaLakeShow wrote:
drae wrote:
LakerMindLA wrote:
Lebron didn't come to LA to win championships. His priority is his family and expanding his empire. If he saw yesterdays game as an important, he wouldn't have gone to his son's game a 100 miles away before the game.

AD needs to learn from Lebron what it takes to win championships and fully devote himself to the game, but unfortunately at this point in Lebron's career, Lebron isn't the best role model.

Does anyone think Kobe would have been OK with an injured AD taking his teammates to a football game across the country after a road-trip?


There's nobody like Kobe in today's NBA. People need to move on


Or current “Legends” need to check themselves and do better.
It’s about having honor out there on the court. What hurts LeBron in the eyes of MANY Laker fans is we have a very recent example of an athlete that wore the Purple and Gold with pride and would never cheat his teammates or the fans.
Sadly, LeBron is not noted for this type of devotion to the game.
Go ahead and make excuses till you run out of breath.
Me and mine just sit and shake our heads.


The only person with POSSIBLY that sort of devotion to the game is Giannis. Maybe. Probably not though.

I remember last year people were looking at Kyrie as the closest thing to Kobe in today's game and that's turned out to be a steaming pile of disappointment, culminating in that huge essay he just wrote about basketball being just a game.

If you're holding players to standards that just don't exist anymore you will be forever disappointed and you'll continue to live in the past


We’re not talking about stars out there in space that have literally disappeared
All it would take for a player to be like Kobe would be the choices they make.
The standard they set for themselves. That’s why someone like Giannis is more worthy of my respect than a poser like LeBron.
He acts like the hardest worker. But he’s not.
He acts like a great teammate. But he’s not.
The media at large falls over themselves when he does even the tiniest thing properly and trip all over themselves trying to defend him when he’s obviously
in the wrong.
And he plays right along with them. Pathetic


Other than Giannis, name a star that has the same sort of Kobe like dedication in today's NBA

One will do.

I don't think anyone in NBA history has had Kobe's dedication to the game. That's not a fair bar to hold anyone to. Kobe wasn't the biggest, tallest, strongest, fastest, most athletic, etc - he got to where he got through pure work, dedication, and will power. With that said, LeBron's longevity and the amount of work he puts in to stay healthy is up there with the best in history. None of these guys get to where they are without putting in a ton of work and with guys like Ja and SGA coming into the league, you can see the amount of work they put in and the passion they have.

I think people have really ignorant expectations for players. Kuz dyes his hair and people think he's not in the gym, he buys some clothes and is into fashion so people think he's not dedicated. Look at someone like Russel Westbrook, I dare anyone to say he doesn't give it his all but guess what? He shows up to games with crazy fashion fits and no one says a word. People act like if an NBA player has a hobby or does anything other than basketball that must mean they're not 100% dedicated. Does no one remember the Kobe fashion shoots? Kobe's rap album? Was he not dedicated enough? It's ridiculous.
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LakerMindLA
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 22, 2020 12:19 am    Post subject:

activeverb wrote:
LakerMindLA wrote:
Lebron didn't come to LA to win championships. His priority is his family and expanding his empire. If he saw yesterdays game as an important, he wouldn't have gone to his son's game a 100 miles away before the game.



I don't get the problem with this. The game wasn't until 7:30 at night. I don't see an issue with him taking off a couple of hours in the afternoon to take a short helicopter ride to see his son play. Why is that worse than going to an afternoon movie, which is probably what most players do when they have time to kill before a road game.


What do you think is more draining - sitting in the stands and cheering for your son or sitting in a movie for 2 hours and not moving?

Do you also seriously think that driving 200 miles round trip, being on the move, dealing with crowds, cheering at a game is the same as sitting in your room watching a movie or better yet, game tape?
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 22, 2020 12:27 am    Post subject:

LakerMindLA wrote:
activeverb wrote:
LakerMindLA wrote:
Lebron didn't come to LA to win championships. His priority is his family and expanding his empire. If he saw yesterdays game as an important, he wouldn't have gone to his son's game a 100 miles away before the game.



I don't get the problem with this. The game wasn't until 7:30 at night. I don't see an issue with him taking off a couple of hours in the afternoon to take a short helicopter ride to see his son play. Why is that worse than going to an afternoon movie, which is probably what most players do when they have time to kill before a road game.


What do you think is more draining - sitting in the stands and cheering for your son or sitting in a movie for 2 hours and not moving?

Do you also seriously think that driving 200 miles round trip, being on the move, dealing with crowds, cheering at a game is the same as sitting in your room watching a movie or better yet, game tape?


First, he didn't drive 200 miles round trip. He took a short helicopter ride.

Second, I don't understand why you think Lebron going to watch his son play basketball for a couple of hours would "drain" him. Basketball players are human beings, not robots that they stick in a closet between games. They actually go out and do stuff -- just like you and me. Personally, watching my son play basketball sounds like a more pleasant afternoon than sitting in a movie theatre or being cooped up in a hotel room. Wouldn't drain me at all.


Last edited by activeverb on Wed Jan 22, 2020 12:31 am; edited 2 times in total
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 22, 2020 12:28 am    Post subject:

KeepItRealOrElse wrote:

At this point in his career, Bron is not going 100% because he's too old...... AD's gotta relish his moment and go 100%, but maybe he won't because every something like 5th game he's been hurt the past 5 years....


It is more about professionalism at this point. I understand if he is playing the long game by not draining his body by going 100% each game, but then he doing the exact opposite by putting more strain on his body by taking side trips to see his son play.

Same with AD. It is a long season. Road-trips are draining because you get in at 2 am, go to sleep at 5 am and then have a game the next day.

Instead of getting extra rest, he chose to put extra strain on the body. OKC (game ended late) to Green Bay (game ended late), arrived in LA likely in the very early morning on Monday for a game that was that evening.
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