I would say he trying to pace himself because he can’t freight train for 48 minutes but dude has no choice to if they have any chance he going to have too. We all no the refs will give him the fouls
If you can't really drive that much and play physical it ain't happening.
Even if AD played, I doubted LA was winning this series. This season was a lost cause once Bron and AD missed 6 weeks of games - and with a team of mostly new parts, you can't be so out of sorts and out of rhythm going into the playoffs. They still don't even know what lineups work
. And I know people were saying "BUT THEY LOOKED OUT OF SORTS IN THE BUBBLE BEFORE THE PLAYOFFS TOO" And..? ERRBODY was out of sorts heading into the bubble playoffs
(besides Portland and Phoenix lol). And in the Lakers' case, they had already wrapped up the number 1 seed, so those first 8 bubble games were completely meaningless and breeding grounds for experimentation. Plus, they were as fresh and healthy as they were gonna be.
Not the case this year. A team can't just get stitched back together a week before the playoffs after a long layoff from its primary lineup and just activate what isn't even there. Combined with them getting the second best team in the league in the first round, it was a wrap. But a lotta Lakers fans/Bron stans kept clinging to last year when it's apples/oranges shyt.