Luka turns it over, throws a tantrum. Barnes and Vassell give Hayes a head start and still beat him down the floor. Smart never crossed half court, 41yo LeBron the only one back on defense…

Luka turns it over, throws a tantrum. Barnes and Vassell give Hayes a head start and still beat him down the floor. Smart never crossed half court, 41yo LeBron the only one back on defense…
byu/Front-Function7789 inlakers

45 comments

  4. Yea we saw this hate post already, it was the roleplayers fault for not spacing that led to turnover then 2 guys ran back slower than Luka, Hayes and Smart

  9. Luka has been doing that since he was drafted. In Dallas the cope was that “he’s young, he’ll mature” .. He actually got worse lmao

  11. Smart and Luka had no chance to run back faster as they were in each corner. Luka was theatrical with his complaint to teammates lost a second. Smart was late and lazy to react.

    But none of this matter for this play. It is Hayes fault here. He was almost at half court at 00:05. He’d be easily the 3rd guy coming to defense ahead of Spurs trailers. Luka actually beat Smart and Hayes to run back.

    This play also shows Lebron falling asleep too many times nowadays.

    – Lebron making 2 steps to the right would make this play a Lakers open 3. Luka got doubled, Smart relocated himself for corner 3. And Lebron is sleeping. For all of the play he did not even make on step to the right. At least when Smart comes to the corner, Lebron should’ve relocate himself for the spacing.

    – On defense, nice run by Lebron. But then Fox fooling him easily. Lebron for no reason lose all of his focus. He gets in a relaxing beach walk mode. He is not looking around either. Fox is not S.Curry to chase at 3pt line why do you even walk outside on a 2v2 defense. The other guy can easily cut for a point.

    Hayes would be the main problem here. But overall, Lakers coaching is not doing great. Team building wise, Luka, very old version of Lebron and AR not working. Its just 3 negative defenders overall.

    1. Reaves is negative on defense for sure. He doesnt bring size, height either so there is no scenario he is decent on defense. You need better defensive team with Reaves to be effective. Like Houston Rockets perhaps. If you have four of Amen-Jabari-Tari-KD-Sengun-Adams around Reaves, then they can compensate the defensive issues of the small guard, like they did with Sheppard or Van Vleet.

    2. Luka is negative on Lakers defense. He can only be a decent on defense if other parts of defense helps him. Luka can use his height-size on defense in a positive way if help defense covers the areas close to him. If Luka is on island, or help defenders are AR-Rui etc, then that doesnt work. Luka taking rebounds, box out stuff is good but effort, running back etc will not be there.

    3. Lebron for short-time effort is still a good defender. But if you take account full game of Lebron, he is losing focus, stopping effort too much and become a defensive issue.

  12. It was a pull up fake out. Credit to spurs for taking advantage. Sums up the lakers who don’t have the motor to keep up with younger teams.

  13. Fr need to stop the complaining. Maybe stop banking on foul calls to win? Just a thought.

  14. I appreciate the fact that even Laker fans are calling Luka out on his constant whining. He’s a phenomenal player of course, but dude, maybe get back on defense instead of whinging to the refs after every offensive possession?

    And I say this because, as someone who is still more of a frequent visitor than an LA resident, I think there are a ton of misconceptions about this city and its sports fans.

  15. Lebron Stans are the worst people. But I guess that’s what you get from people who support dudes that frequent Diddy parties

  17. I just never understood how the idea of complaining to the refs would matter when they didn’t call anything and the opposing team is taking advantage of you not actually running back on defense, are they supposed to rectify it and immediately call a late foul?

  22. Two guys went into the backcourt and Lebron and Reaves were there. First problem was solved. Issue is that then two more Spurs easily beat Hayes and Luka and joined the play. I can forgive Luka and Smart for getting beat since they were literally the further players from backcourt at the time of the steal, but there’s no excuse for Hayes getting beat back.

  27. Yall can shut up. LeBummer and his little buddy completely ruined the vibes of this team. It’s easy to pick and choose Luka highlights. I can also show you good defensive possessions for Luka and awful for LeBron. That’s easy to do. The hard part is how do we finally get rid of this drama queen. So tired of him.

  30. I mean it was a turnover to a fast break. Maybe prime LeBron chases that down but even in shape Luka isn’t fast enough to make a difference if he tried. The point here is the dumb turnover not the fact that he wasn’t back on defense.

  31. Luka needs to become a better leader. U already only play one side and this is unacceptable for a lakers star. In Dallas sure not here. This happens too often and it’s a habit.

  32. I mean he does complain but he was also fouled lol. And given how they officiated that game I see why he bitched

  33. I turned the TV on about 2-3 mins before that play, and turned it off after that. SMH. No one’s winning with that shit.

  36. yall got luka, you gotta take the good with the bad.

    the good outweighs it by far, but the bad is frustrating to say the least

  37. I’ve been noticing this about Luka since he came to the Lakers.

    Guy has fans who come from a team of low expectations. He was treated like a LeBron by the Mavericks fans. Guy didnt even win a championship, but Dallas fans were just happy to have him.

    He’s spoiled. He’s been spoiled. I appreciate him here, but I don’t think Lakers fans have a Dallas mentality. They’re not happy to just BE THERE. They want to WIN 🏆.

    He’s not gonna get loved the same way as in Dallas. He’s gotta mentally toughen up and play smarter. He’s talented, but plays like he’s just there to have fun. When things aren’t easy and going his way, he seems to have the mentality of “Well, I’m still awesome, so who cares. They’ll love me eitherway”.

    During moments like these I’m looking for Luka to take this stuff personal and LEAD THE TEAM TO VICTORY. He wants to be greater than LeBron? Then DO IT. LEAD.

  38. IDK dawg, Lebron doesn’t look alone out there. Did you see the clip? AR is also there, he played no defense on it but he was there.

  40. What kinda super star and picks could we get for Luka? Couple guys that would go well with AR, Lebron, Ayton. Maybe AD, Max Christie, and a few 1st round picks perhaps?

  41. I appreciate luka and I think he’s incredible and the obvious cornerstone of everything for this team. That being said, if I was a hyper competitive gm of a team, who lives in a bubble, has a big ego, and is fixated on negatives, I could see how I would trade luka now. He brings out the toxic parts of my Fandom when I lose my mind getting frustrated at some of his lazy or selfish habits

  42. Luka was mad bc the rest of the team stood still like they grew fking roots while he was getting doubled bro. Bad turnover but he was literally the furthest from that fast break so thats not on him.

    Also what was Austin doing? Bro was ball watching.

  44. Fake defense bro I’m telling you. The players in our starting lineup play that matador defense. They’re all offensively-minded. JJ relies on our offense to be hitting on all cylinders in order to win but when that happens, we’re screwed. JJ needs to balance these lineups.

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