Larry Holmes Garden inquiring about one Lebron Raymone James

jaydawg08

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He's quite obviously washed in comparison to his younger years.

In general, I can't tell if he's totally washed or injured. We haven't really gotten a LeBron "takeover" game yet this playoffs if I remember correctly.

He's still good for 20/5/5 with good rim protection, but he has streaks of lazy defense that only be chocked up to his age. That stat line on good efficiency might be good enough to get LA a championship though since they have a quality team.
He averaged 30 a game before the injury.. it 1000% is because of that, and really Lebron has been ELITE on defense so far in the postseason. Besides Game 2 of this series, he's been one of the best defensive players in the entire playoffs
 

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He averaged 30 a game before the injury.. it 1000% is because of that, and really Lebron has been ELITE on defense so far in the postseason. Besides Game 2 of this series, he's been one of the best defensive players in the entire playoffs


On the one hand, the issue is clearly injury because he was incredible in midseason. On the other hand, at this stage in his career you might just have to accept that LeBron will always be injured.
 

murksiderock

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He's quite obviously washed in comparison to his younger years.

In general, I can't tell if he's totally washed or injured. We haven't really gotten a LeBron "takeover" game yet this playoffs if I remember correctly.

He's still good for 20/5/5 with good rim protection, but he has streaks of lazy defense that only be chocked up to his age. That stat line on good efficiency might be good enough to get LA a championship though since they have a quality team.
He's been declining for 4½ years abd it's 100% age and injury related. That '18 Christmas game where he popped his groin, remember that was the season after taking Cleveland to The Finals and he had LA in 4th place. But he's never been the same since then...

The thing is most guys with a Year 16 injury, or injury at age 34, the decline is swift and hard. It's been gradual with Bron. He can no longer shake off injuries because he's old, and the accumulating injuries have zapped some of his athleticism; he's losing more by the year...

It's a graceful decline and honestly is incredible to watch, no one at this age or stage has ever done what he's done, his last 4 seasons are the greatest ever for a player at this age/stage...

He's not totally washed though, the last 5 games of the regular season/play-in when they were trying to duck the play-in, he averaged 30.4 on 518/484/833 shooting. The play-in game he scored exactly 30...

He hasn't scored over 30 yet this postseason, but has only scored less than 21 once. You don't go from a 5-game stretch averaging 30, to not being able to score big anymore in an instant. He's picking his spots, bro. He hasn't had to break out the Takeover Mode yet. Inevitably there will be a moment he will need to, possibly in this series, certainly several going forward should the Lakers advance. And I think he still has it and will deliver...

But it's "break in case of emergency" status. Right now he's building the collective growth and confidence of the other Lakers, including AD. So far these playoffs he's 22/10/5 on 48/23/72. He's playing incredibly inspired defense every game, and there's an easy argument he's been the Lakers best player which is a distinguished point from who there most important or most valuable player is---->the Lakers can't reach Championship realization with a suboptimal Anthony Davis...

The Lakers can still win with LeBron in second gear, only occasionally having to rev it into first. They can't win with AD in second gear. You've got to inspire him to be in 1st Gear minimum 4x each series, because when he's playing in 1st, the offense is inconsistent but we're running the offense inside-out thru him, and the defense is frigging All-Time level shyt. You gotta keep him inspired...

LeBron is allowing for that, allowing there other shot creators to shine and playing more off ball, posting up more, providing secondary rim protection and perimeter value, etc. He could still wear all these hats in 1st Gear every game but the Lakers would be finished bro, because it takes away the touches and potential of his teammates...

He's maximizing their potential and picking his spots. When they need him to go into Takeover Mode he'll come thru, bro...
 

Mars

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I honestly think Lebron is trying to manage his energy output...Some of it is age, some of it is his foot, and some of it is that the Lakers have more overall talent.....Multiple times in game 3 Lebron showed you his speed by sprinting back on defense and saving multiple buckets.....But at the end of the day, who cares?.... As long as the Lakers win right?......... This version of Lebron could still help multiple teams win championships as the 2nd option.
 

Exlurkernegro

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He's quite obviously washed in comparison to his younger years.

In general, I can't tell if he's totally washed or injured. We haven't really gotten a LeBron "takeover" game yet this playoffs if I remember correctly.

He's still good for 20/5/5 with good rim protection, but he has streaks of lazy defense that only be chocked up to his age. That stat line on good efficiency might be good enough to get LA a championship though since they have a quality team.
Yeah no 30 points games or anything this year.
 

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Yeah no 30 points games or anything this year.

30-10-6 in the play-in game, 33-8-7 fighting with the Clippers for the 5/6 seed, 37-5-6 and 36-6-6 beating Utah twice to grab the 7 seed.

We're numb to how fukking ridiculous those stat lines are at 38 years old on an injured foot.

It's been tougher in the playoffs because he's had very good defenders keyed in on him and his legs look tired on the threes. But he could have scored 30 in either of the last two games if he had played in the 4th quarter.
 

Mars

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Yeah no 30 points games or anything this year.

3 of the Last 4 Lakers games have been blowouts.....In the 3 blowout games Lebron avg 22p/6.7r/5.7a on 59/41/82 shooting...Lebron played 1 total minute out of a possible 36 4th qt minutes....He more than likely scores 30 pts in all 3 games if they were competitive.
 

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I criticize lebron but he's fine

generational talents and physically gifted players dont have much to worry about


until your body completely slows down or breaks apart, you will always have a way to score and use experience to your advantage

this dude and many others have played and been on video playing basketball professionally longer than some of yall been born
 

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