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Aloha,

Just a few thoughts. All eyes are on the 2nd seed with the Lakers a mere one game back in the loss column. But I’m also keeping my eye on the teams behind us. The Clippers are in 6th now 5 games back of us in the loss column. The 7th, 8th and 9th seeds are all 6 games back in the loss column. Barring major injuries we have an excellent chance of at least the 5th seed and avoiding the play in game altogether.

I have been watching basketball more years than I like to admit. I can honestly say that I have never seen a team with 3 playmakers on one team like we have in Luka, Lebron and the still underrated Austin.

Now the next thing ever NBA teams long for are long, athletic forwards. We have 4 of them in Lebron, Rui, Doe and Vando. And they all can play multiple positions.

Add those groups together and you have something special. Earlier in the year our 2nd unit struggled on both sides of the ball. While our defense on Joker was the talk of the league, I thought our rotations should have gotten more notice. I no longer worry about our 2nd unit. We had at least 2 of our big 3 playmakers on the court 40 of the 48 minutes. And the one 4 minute stretch where we only had Lebron out there we doubled the lead to 18 in the 4th.

I thought JJ’s mixing of our top scores and defenders was brilliant. We generally had 3 starters on the court. Rotating Doe, Gabe and Vando in we always have a strong unit on the court.

I have to give LeBron his props on the defensive side. I had been hard of him earlier in the year but he has looked like the defender he was back when he came to the Lakers. Mix in the huge strides that Rui and Austin have taken defensively, thats why we have been the top defense in the league for over a month. By the Austin is 5th in the league in taking charges. And Luka always led the Mavs in steals. I believe our back court isn’t the liability some people think it is. What is making the defense special is the connection between the players. And I only see it getting better as the group plays more games together.

I am still somewhat concerned by our center rotation. Jaxson has really improved, still it could be our Achilles heel. I really don’t see a helpful 5 being bought before March 1st. I think we may end up promoting either Koloko or Tre to the varsity. That could give us 6 hard fouls. Currently I like Tre more than Koloko. But they have until the last day of the season to decide.

I also believe we should promote Goodwin as well. He has been so much better than Shake and Cam have been. He is definitely a keeper for next year.

I really like this group. I think we bring them all back next year. Hopefully we can keep Jax. He has earned at least a back up center role. Even if they can keep Jax we will need another center. However it doesn’t have to be a star. Someone who can play some defense, rebound and catch a lob. An interesting name out there could be Clint Capella and he could possibly be had for the MLE. We will have up to 5 open roster spots and as we saw this year with the new CBA, a lot of talent fell into the Vet minimum level. This team will be a preferred landing spot for those vets that fall.

I haven’t been this excited by a Laker team since the last Championship. I don’t know if we can win it all this year but we are so much closer than we have been for a long time. This 6 game home stand is very important because we have a tough March ahead. I don’t in that stretch that we beat, if we continue to play like we have been playing.

Go Lakers

Can Lakers go all way? L.A. is firing on all cylinders at perfect time

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https://twitter.com/LakerTom/status/1894193026089537739

There is nothing better for the NBA when the Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James are playing meaningful basketball. Over the Lakers last 18 games, they have been the best team in the NBA.

Jovan Buha, reporter covering the Lakers for The Athletic, recently tweeted the in their last 18 games, they have the best record, the best defensive rating, the eighth best offensive rating, and the third best net rating. Some of their best wins have come against the Denver Nuggets, Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers, and the Golden State Warriors twice.

The combination of James, Austin Reaves, and Luka Doncic is extremely promising, but still has a long way to go. With the way everyone is playing, the Lakers look like they can win it all.

Can the Lakers go all the way?

Los Angeles is playing their best ball at the right time, where they can go all the way. The most promising sign for the Lakers during their league dominating 18-game stretch, is that they have the best defense. A large reason for that, Anthony Davis played in just seven of those 18 games.

Davis is renowned as not just one of the best defenders in the NBA today, but one of the best to ever touch a court. With him getting hurt and trading him for an offensive juggernaut but below average defender like Doncic, the Lakers were supposed to take a hit defensively. With him gone, the Lakers are playing better than they have all season with him out of the lineup.

Most of that boils down to the great coaching from JJ Redick. Since they couldn’t acquire a good center, their only reliable center is Jaxson Hayes. He’s a great hustle player but he also can’t play an entire game, so they run a lot of small ball.

That variation of the lineup usually has LeBron James, Rui Hachimura, Dorian Finney-Smith, and/or Jarred Vanderbilt as their “big men.” It has been effective because they have the ability to switch and defend multiple positions and smartly double certain bigs.

In their most recent game against the Denver Nuggets, Nikola Jokic took just seven shots and had six turnovers because of their ability to play as one great unit on defense.

The other side of the ball has been up and down, but that was to be expected because three ball dominant players are figuring out how to play with each other. With Doncic’s offensive explosion against Denver, the Lakers are looking scary.

Doncic and James are capable of putting up 30-point triple-doubles on a nightly basis. Throw in the Austin Reaves averaging 19.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 6.1 assists, you get one of the best trios in the NBA. They should be capable of scoring a combined 70 to 80 points a night while also combining close to 20 assists a night as well.

We saw last year where the Dallas Mavericks had the best defensive team and had the best record post All-Star break make it to the Finals. With the way the Lakers are playing now, they are on that same trajectory, but having Doncic and James, they have a great chance to win it all.