[Barry] The Lakers have outscored the Nuggets 153-122 in this series when LeBron is on the court without D’Angelo Russell.
The Lakers have outscored the Nuggets 153-122 in this series when LeBron is on the court without D'Angelo Russell.
I'm throwing up.
— Barry (@BarryOnHere) May 22, 2023
by JetGan
37 Comments
If Russell isn’t hot or hitting his shots, he’s been really out of the game on D. Like Malik Beasley levels of unplayable.
Lebron plays 41 mpg…. Makes sense.
Ban all Russell’s from playing for the Lakers
Our playoff run hinged on the Lebron injury and it was unfortunately significantly impacting his play. If Lebron was fully healthy I think they bench dlo
Nuggets got killed Game 1 with Christian Braun on the floor. What did they do? virtually cut him out of the rotation.
What does Ham do after Russell’s terrible Game 1? Play him more lol
just go to accept that they will play him since they need him to resign
“let russ be russ” still got us in the end, damn.
This is who dlo is unfortunately. You’re always going to get mediocre defense, at best.
He can get hot and hit crazy shots but if those aren’t dropping you sit him and hope Lonnie, TBJ or Beasley (lol) has it going.
Unfortunately against the Nugs no guard other than Reaves has done much.
Beas can’t even get it going in garbage time, what the hell happened to him.
I bet Ham saw this and decided to start DLo and bench Lebron
This seems biased. Honestly, it seems like nuggets were coasting a lot in 4th quarters, and that’s where Lakers made there quasi comeback.
I’d love to see the stat of the first half. Or 3rd quarter
Someone convince Ham … he don’t believe. “Good looks, he’s just got to stay aggressive” smh.. too little too late
The big question is if Ham has the balls to bench him
Ham started Dlo next game and giving him +40 min
I always felt DLO operates better as a 6th man type. He has a decent offensive game but I think he gets out of rhythm when defering to Lebron/AD/Reaves. Let him come off the bench and provide offense when Lebron is out.
its legit spooky to think 1 weakness in the team and its an entirely different story
Unsurprising DLo numbers. He’s a feast or famine dude. Bron had JR who probably did the same shit.
Fact is, we don’t get here without DLo but Ham needs to shorten his leash. If he’s clearly off, pull him.
Honestly, this is an indictment of Darvin Ham more than DLo. The coach is responsible for riding the hot hand and playing what is working other than true superstars. LeBron and/or AD struggling? No worries the team is going to go as they go. Everyone else? It’s up for debate. I will also add, part of the reason we are outscoring them without Dlo on the floor is because it means Reaves is out there shooting instead.
send this to coaching staff
Regardless if Dlo being benched makes a big different it’s still too late. I love this team and I don’t want to sound like I have no faith or love but being realistic is the way to go. This is a great Denver team that has proven their worth through months and months of hard work. Being down 3-0 with two games left in Denver is a death sentence.
Why does bro have a closeup picture of the guy from the drug addiction commercials lmao
Guess who’s starting tonight?
This is just painful to read, so many what ifs but benching DLo alone this series might have had us in the lead instead.
This coach is responsible for the way we are playing. Playing d lo makes us vulnerable thus digging us in a hole . What happenes when were in a hole? People try to play hero and lbj takes bad 3s people start throwing 3 to try to catch up. It’s a snowball effect. The fact that ham wasnt able to exploit the fact that their bench is very bad is what is killing us aswell. If the heat make it spo is going to exploit the bench and make them pay and try to have joker and jamal play all game. What’s frustrating is that when d lo was
Out we caught up and even took a lead. When he comes back we go down by 10+ .
This has been Ham’s problem even in the Grizz series. 0 adaptability. How can you be so bad as a coach?
Difference is 10 made 3s + 1 free throw from DLo. Something we probably would have expected DLo to produce thru 3 games. Maybe he’ll hit them all tonight 🫠
It seems like a really easy fix, but at the same time if you don’t play D.Lo and he doesn’t like it then you could potentially lose out on any hope of him re-signing and that’s big because they at least have to have the potential for a sign and trade.
Too bad lebron is old or injured. If he was 90% lakers win this series with ease
Lol I can’t take seeing the different statistics that clearly say “TAKE DLO OUT” knowing ham is just going to think “maybe dlo just needs MORE minutes”
God this sucks.
This is a firable offense.
How does a coach not know this, or worse, knows but decides to ignore.
Get them both out of LA
D’lo can’t do anything defensively against Murray and is too often a black hole on offense. That can work fine if he’s making some of the questionable shots he takes but that hasn’t happened this series.
It’s just baffling how much Ham is giving him in series when it’s shown not to work.
If DLo starts tonight… man, I don’t know.
Keep them moral victories coming
This is actually kinda nuts. It’s not like it’s a 5 or 10 pt difference, 31 pts is pretty significant here. Granted, D Lo came up big in a couple games and we wouldn’t be here if he didn’t but damn, he has hurt this team in this series.
Getting rid of DLo and replacing him with a consistent third option is the goal. Doing that this off season is very tricky because sign and trades become complicated and his value is super low. I say re-sign him to a short term deal. Trade this years pick for a future first from another team. Then next season trade deadline we’ll have two first and a bunch of midlevel salary to improve the team. Plus DLo is a good regular season player, by the middle of next season his value will be higher.
The lakers and I have also scored more points without dlo on the floor.
This is pain
This will DLo playoffs saga is everything Wolves fans were saying when we made the trade for DLo. He’s someone who underperforms in the playoffs. Yes he’s a great shooter when he’s on but when he’s off he’s a literal double liability. Vando and DLo should never see the court together. Ham inability to recognize that no defense respects to defend them shows a lot of what Ham incapable coaching has brought. If the plan was to never bench DLo then they should’ve aimed to start Rui who can offensively give us something Vando can’t. DLo is an ego driven shooting guard who can’t handle relegation to the bench. Part of the only reason he agreed to the trade was because we promised him the set rating role. He has to know he’s been awful this series & most of last and realize he helps the team by sitting. Ham needs to man up and bench him. Had no issues benching Russ when he was here should not have an issues benching DLo.