Lakers Beat Suns, CLINCH HOME COURT for 1ST ROUND, Marcus Smart RETURNS!
The Lakers had another excellent night on the floor Friday, beating the Phoenix Suns 101-73 behind 28/6/12 from LeBron James, who also added four steals. Luke Kennard added 19, but the Lakers didn’t need much offensively to get past a skeleton version of their Pacific Division rivals.
The big benefit here isn’t just more confidence, but a guarantee to open the first round on their home floor. The Lakers won’t be any worse than a four-seed since Houston lost at home to Minnesota. They could finish third with a win Sunday vs. Utah plus a Denver loss, but given where they are it probably doesn’t make much of a difference. either way they draw a very solid opponent, and would then play one of the elites of the West in Round 2 if they pulled an upset.
So JJ Redick can decide who plays and how much on Sunday. On the one hand, the reps could be valuable for a team that obviously has to play some combos right now that haven’t had a lot of floor time. Marcus Smart, who came off the bench Friday, could use a few more reps. But the flip side is that should anyone they need get dinged up, it would be enormously problematic.
Good work to bounce back from tough results vs. Dallas and OKC to win two straight.
HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky
SEGMENT 1: Lakers roll, LeBron thrives.
SEGMENT 2: Lakers clinch home court.
SEGMENT 3: JJ reflects.
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18 Comments
Again Rockets defense and a solid performance from the bigs is key. Offense is relatively equal without Austin and Doncic
When Luka was the leading contributor, your titles were starting with Luka, it was even Luka before the Lakers, like Luka had 40 and then the Lakers won. 😏 Now when LeBron is the leading contributor, you make sure you don't even mention him in the titles. 😏🤡🥱
LeBron leading the Lakers to victory on a back to back at age 41. We will never see anything like this man again 🐐
Suns scored 25 points in the 2nd half. 🤣
LeBron James is the greatest basketball player of all time, and it’s not even close. Not a single NBA player in history can play at this elite level at age 41. Argue with yourself 🤷🏻♀️🐐💜💛
Meaningless win, no teams are trying since standings are set
Without Luka and Reeves we're still in REAL trouble and will need a lot of help from everyone!
These few games just shown me that kennard is a better version of austin reaves, kennard has less turn over and a significant better shooter
Imagine if LeBron and Reaves didn't miss a significant amount of time early and in the middle of the season, the Lakers might've been the 2-seed in the West.
Yes, JJ was accountable – but this mess was totally unnecessary to begin with. Guys were shell shocked pure and simple. You don't need a psychology PhD to know that wasn't a moment for rubbing salt in the wound. But still: at least basic knowledge of psychology is an important part of the coaching. And JJ should be aware (he's inteligent enough) that by nature he doesn't have enough feeling for these things, which is why he should try harder – or seek the help of professionals to help him deal with these kinds of situations.
P. S. Sometimes good, sometimes not so good, but Jake played ALL the games!
Bron will sign a team friendly 2 yr contract with 2nd year team option____cuz he only has one goal left…."get one" playing beside his son.
JJ coach of the year.
Clinching that 3rd seed guarantees that you don't play Spurs or Thunder until the WCFs. Therefore Sunday game matters.
We're good Luka. Bronny is here. 🖐
Again LeBron James is the greatest basketball EVER TO EXISTED. He’s 1 of 1.
What Brian is suggesting has a term. And that term is "load management." That's all great if you are looking at the game from a coach's perspective. But how about looking at Sunday's game from a fan's perspective? Let's say I have a family of 5. I bought 5 tickets to watch this game and paid $500. And will spend more on concessions. Let's say I will be in the hole $600. Okay, $650, due to parking. $675, due to gas. We already won't get to see Luka or AR play. We can only afford to go to 1 game a year. Then JJ decides to sit LeBron, Marcus, and Rui? So, I just shelled out nearly $700 to watch Luke Kennard and Jake Laravia? I would burn all of my Lakers gear and become a Clippers fan at that point.
I love the way Kennard and Lebron are playing and the fact we secured home court. However I don’t see us having a good chance of beating Minnesota or Houston unless Luca and Smart are healthy. If we make it through one of those teams and Kennard is still playing this well? There may be some serious talk before we try to sign Austin as a FA.
Regardless of what happens JJ should be a serious contender for coach of the year even though he still has a lot to learn. However back to back 50 win seasons with all the weaknesses our team has says a lot.