Lakerholics

The long and winding road leading to the NBA championship has never been longer or more winding than it was this in this crazy unprecedented year, which will make it that much sweeter when the Lakers win it all.

Never has winning the championship been more of a challenge than this year with the China controversy, the tragic death of Kobe Bryant, the season suspension for coronavirus, and seeding games and playoffs in the bubble. Never has the league been forced to play games in empty arenas without fans, run a special play-in tournament for the 8th playoff slot, or schedule a full slate of playoff games at a neutral site with no home court advantage.

This will be a championship that will catapult LeBron James back into the GOAT conversation, Anthony Davis into the lead as the Best Player on the Planet, and the Lakers past the Celtics as the greatest franchise in the NBA. It’ll also be the championship that celebrates the greatness of Kobe Bryant, launches the beginning of the LeBron James and Anthony Davis era, and sets the stage for the Los Angeles Lakers to build their next dynasty.

It will be the title that confirms LeBron James was the ‘real’ Most Valuable Player, Anthony Davis the ‘real’ Defensive Player of the Year, Frank Vogel the ‘real’ Coach of the Year, and Rob Pelinka the ‘real’ Executive of the Year. It will be redemption for Jeanie Buss as the Lakers’ owner and for Rajon Rondo, Kyle Kuzma, Dwight Howard, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Alex Caruso, Markieff Morris, Danny Green, and Avery Bradley as players.

It will be the championship we will never ever forget, that restores the Lakers back to the pinnacle of the NBA and positions them once again to be the premier franchise for whom every player in the league wants to play. It’ll open doors for the Lakers to become an even better team next year and the opportunity to build a sustainable championship dynasty with the NBA’s leading players competing to be signed by or traded to Los Angeles.

Winning this championship will be the greatest achievement in LeBron James’ career and the most important championship in the Lakers’ storied history. It’s the championship that will change everything for the Lakers.

The Lakers’ march to the NBA championship has seen an evolution in Frank Vogel’s coaching philosophy as he’s embraced small ball lineups not only to create better spacing on offense but also speed and quickness on defense.

For a veteran coach who started and played two bigs the entire regular season, the transformation has been remarkable and one of the big reasons why the Lakers are on the verge of winning their 17th NBA championship. The metamorphosis has turned the Lakers into a juggernaut that’s rolled through the playoffs without losing more than a single game in any series and dramatically changed the team’s offseason roster building priorities.

Vogel’s embrace of small ball in these playoffs has shown the Lakers why a traditional defensive oriented shot-blocking center is not the only way to protect the rim and keep superstar Anthony Davis from getting beaten up. The speed, quickness, mobility, and athleticism of small ball lineups allows the Lakers to fight through pick-and-rolls, rotate faster after double teams, and more aggressively challenge shots on the perimeter and at the rim.

The time the Lakers played small ball can easily be measured by the time traditional centers McGee or Howard were not on the floor. During the regular season, the Lakers played small ball for just 12.5 minutes per game. That number has jumped dramatically in the playoffs where the Lakers played small ball for 21.7 minutes per game. In the Finals, the Lakers have almost abandoned going big, played small ball for 34.4 minutes per game.

To put those numbers in perspective, the more important the games have became, the more small ball the Lakers have played, averaging 26% of the time in the regular season, 45% in the playoffs, and finally 72% in the Finals. While matchups and McGee’s poor play certainly influenced Vogel’s decision on how much small ball to play, there’s also no question the elite play of the Lakers’ small ball lineups has forced coach Vogel to rethink the issue.

Ironically, the 34.4 minutes per game and 72% of the time the Lakers have played small ball in the NBA Finals is even greater than the 32.7 minutes and 68% of the time they played small against the diminutive Houston Rockets. Playing small ball 72% of the time against a Heat team with an All-Star and All-Defensive center Bam Adebayo, who was guarded by LeBron James and Markieff Morris as Anthony Davis defended Jimmy Butler, is remarkable.

The transformation from two traditional bigs to small ball lineups with Anthony Davis at the five is likely to continue this offseason. Re-signing Markieff Morris may be more important than re-signing Dwight Howard. McGee’s tenure with the Lakers may be over. We may see renewed interest by the Lakers in modern centers like DeMarcus Cousins, Serge Ibaka and Myles Turner and who can both stretch the floor and protect the rim

As the Lakers take the court in their Black Mamba jerseys this Friday night looking to close out the Miami Heat and the NBA Finals in five games, Frank Vogel may go all-in on small ball by starting Morris instead of Howard.

No disrespect to the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo or the Toronto Raptors’ Nick Nurse for great regular season performances but the ‘Real’ MVP, DPOY, and COY are always determined in the NBA playoffs.

While LeBron James or Anthony Davis will win Finals MVP, the dubious logic that enables biased media prematurely crown the best defensive player and best coach before the games that really matter happen should be changed. Were the votes for the NBA’s best defender and coach taken after their championship caliber performances in the playoffs, there’s no question Anthony Davis would have easily won as DPOY and Frank Vogel as COY.

There’s something inherently dishonest and unfair about awarding defensive player of the year and coach of the year awards that didn’t include the most important part of the year, which is the second season or playoffs. What’s even more frustrating is the voting for the awards is completely the prerogative of the media, many of whom are fundamentally biased, inherently unqualified, and often don’t even watch games.

Most objective experts who closely watched and followed the regular NBA season didn’t need to watch the Lakers’ dominant playoff performances to know LeBron James was the ‘real’ MVP and Anthony Davis the ‘real’ DPOY. They could have just listened to the players and coaches themselves, who clearly understood, while Giannis Antetokounmpo may have had a great season, LeBron James and Anthony Davis deserved to win the awards.

While the playoffs showed James and Davis deserved the MVP and DPOY awards, Vogel did need four playoff rounds of brilliant defensive coaching moves shutting down superstars to prove he deserved the COY award. There’s no question Nick Nurse is an elite NBA head coach but, like Mike Budenholzer last year, his winning ignored the savvy decision making and adjustments needed to win in the intense pressure of the playoffs.

The NBA playoffs are where regular season pretenders are separated from the legitimate contenders, where it became crystal clear LeBron James was the ‘real’ MVP, Anthony Davis the ‘real’ DPOY, and Frank Vogel the ‘real’ COY. The league either needs to postpone voting on DPOY and COY until after the playoffs or create a seperate awards for best defender and coach in the playoffs. They also need to include players and coaches in the voting.

While the bubble exposed Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kawhi Leonard as MVP and DPOY candidates and Mike Budenholzer and Nick Nurse as COY candidates, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Frank Vogel shone bright. When the chips were down and legacies on the line, it was LeBron rallying the Lakers, Anthony Davis shutting down Miami’s Jimmy Butler, and the Lakers’ Frank Vogel out coaching the Heat’s strategic genius Erik Spoelstra.

The sad and unfortunate reality in today’s NBA is LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Frank Vogel have a major disadvantage in the NBA awards competition because they’re on the same team and that team is the Lakers. The NBA’s not going to change the requirements for MVP, DPOY, or COY, allow players and coaches to vote, or reward the best defender or coach in the playoffs but that’s not going to stop me from expressing my opinion.

The Lakerholics.Com Most Valuable Player is LeBron James, Defensive Player of the Year is Anthony Davis, and Coach of the Year is Frank Vogel. The trophy for their accomplishments will be the 2020 NBA Championship.

With a cocky Jimmy Butler telling LeBron James and the Lakers “You’re in trouble” and a taunting Tyler Herro sneering after a late three to clinch the win, the Miami Heat have suddenly brought the 2020 Finals back to life.

While you couldn’t blame the Heat for a little strutting and swaggering after losing the first two games in the Finals to the favored Lakers and then being written off by everybody, it might have been smarter not to poke the bear. You could see the storyline already developing as an angry LeBron James and Lakers team walked off the court with 10 seconds still left on the clock, setting the stage to approach Tuesday night’s Game 5 as a revenge game.

Forget LeBron allegedly telling Jimmy the Heat were in trouble earlier in the game or the Lakers completely disrespecting Miami by coming out flat, James has a long history of grasping anything possible for extra motivation. LeBron, AD, and the Lakers’ starters have no one to blame for losing Game 3 than themselves. They were passive, complacent, and ineffective. The only thing that kept them in the game was the outstanding play of their bench.

In addition to being outplayed, the Lakers were also outcoached. After a failed attempt to contain James and Davis by playing zone in Game 2, Erik Spoelstra went back to man defense in Game 3 but with key adjustments. Defensively, the goal was the same as playing zone in Game 2: prevent LeBron James from hunting and forcing switches on Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro by doubling, hedging, stunting, and fighting through screens.

Offensively, the Heat wanted to turn the tables on the Lakers and unleash Butler to relentlessly hunt and force switches to take advantage of Green, Kuzma, and Caldwell-Pope just as James had done to Robinson and Herro. While Frank Vogel has always been a strong opponent of switching, it was LeBron James’ unwillingness to fight through screens and willingness to allow switches that ended up making Spoelstra’s adjustments successful.

Overall, Jimmy Butler enjoyed a career best playoff game, posting a triple double with 40 points, 11 rebounds, and 13 assists in 45 minutes without taking a single 3-point shot, which reveals how teams need to defend him. The Lakers need to go under those screens and force Jimmy, who is average at best from deep on less than two attempts per game, to make his threes rather than letting him to go 14–20 from the field and 10–12 from the line.

On offense, the Lakers simply need LeBron James and Anthony Davis to play like superstars. James cannot turn the ball over 8 times and Davis cannot get into foul trouble and put up just 15 points and 5 rebounds with zero blocks. The Lakers’ other starters also need to show up. 5, 4, and 2 points and -26, -15, and -15 +/- from Caldwell-Pope, Green, and Howard in a Finals close out game won’t cut it. Frank Vogel clearly needs to make some adjustments.

While it may sound to some like a broken record, the time may be here for Vogel to sit Dwight Howard, move Anthony Davis to the five, and start Markieff Morris at the four to turbo charge the Lakers’ offense and defense. Whether Adebayo plays or not, that’s an offensive lineup with the 3-point shooting to offset the Heat doubling LeBron and AD and a defensive lineup to match up and defend the five-out sets that have been killing the Lakers.

In the end, the Lakers just need to come ready to play. Down 1–2, this is essentially another elimination game for the Miami Heat. Lose and they’re in a 1–3 hole from which only one team in NBA history has ever come back. While great coaching trumped talent in Game 3, LeBron, AD, and the Lakers will be looking to avenge their loss and will come out gunning for revenge. Game 4 should be a wire-to-wire blowout with the Lakers dominating.

Despite Jimmy’s heroics and Strolestra’s genius, it’s still Lakers in Five!

With the juggernaut Los Angeles Lakers thrashing the undermanned Miami Heat, the disrespectful chatter by the critics and doubters about the 2020 Bubble Championship being the Asterisk championship has already begun.

There’s no question the 2020 NBA Finals is a gross mismatch as the favored Lakers dominated the underdog Heat in Game 1. To add insult to injury or, more precisely, injury to insult, the Heat also lost their best two players. Losing starting center Bam Adebayo and starting point guard Goran Dragic was enough to bust any balloon of hope Miami fans had their team would be able to bounce back, which Game 2 unfortunately quickly confirmed.

While Adebayo may play in Game 3, Dragic is likely out for the entire series and the Heat face what is for all intents and proposes a Finals elimination game for them since no NBA team has ever come back from an 0–2 deficit. That makes Game 3 a close-out game for LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the Lakers, who are not going to take their foot off the throttle or the Heat’s throats knowing they are two games away from winning the championship.

Can the Heat come back and somehow win Game 3 and keep their dim hopes of stopping the Lakers from being extinguished? It’s the NBA where anything is possible but the odds are certainly daunting to say the least. Before Game 1, the Lakers were 5 to 1 favorites to beat the Heat and win the Finals. After winning the first two games and Heat losing players, the Lakers have now become prohibitive 200 to 1 favorites to win the Finals.

To put this in perspective, before tip off for Game 1, Miami at 5 to 1 was already facing the longest odds ever in an NBA Finals series, longer than the Mavs who were 2.8 to 1 underdogs when they upset the Heat back in 2011. Short of LeBron James and Anthony Davis getting injured, there’s frankly no way the Miami Heat are going to beat the Los Angeles Lakers and win the 2020 NBA Finals. It would take a miracle to win even one game.

That’s why Lakers critics and doubters are already declaring the Bubble Finals as the Asterisk Finals, claiming the championship if the Lakers win is not the same as other championships and should have an asterisk next to it. Their argument is the unprecedented conditions of playing in the bubble without fans and home court advantages skewed the results in favor of the lower seeds to give the Lakers an easier path to the championship.

While there’s no question the coronavirus bubble dramatically changed the competitive landscape of the playoffs and took away advantages from the higher seeds, that just makes the Lakers winning even more impressive. Rather than taint the Lakers’ accomplishment with an asterisk, the NBA record books should reward it with a gold or maybe purple and gold star because the Lakers were able to overcome what other top seeds couldn’t.

As the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Clippers, and Toronto Raptors soon discovered, winning in the bubble is no cakewalk and the Lakers should be congratulated and praised, not dissed and doubted, for what they’ve done. The Lakers beat the supposedly best 8th seed ever in the play-in champ Blazers, toughest matchup ever in the small ball Rockets, and greatest comeback team ever in the spunky Nuggets just to make it to the Finals.

So excuse me if I’m a little testy at the critics who want to put an asterisk instead of a star next to the 2020 NBA championship the Lakers are going to take home next week. Call it bubble fatigue or Lakers bias or sour grapes. The reality is the Lakers are going to win their 17th NBA championship, more than any other franchise but the Boston Celtics and now own one fourth of all of the NBA championship trophies that have been awarded.

And we have the best two players on the planet are just getting started!