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Friday, December 15, 2023

Remembering George McGinnis, Two-Time ABA Champion and 1975 ABA Regular Season Co-MVP

George McGinnis, who won two ABA championships (1972, 1973) with the Indiana Pacers and shared the 1975 ABA regular season MVP with Julius Erving, passed away on Thursday at the age of 73 after suffering a heart attack at home last week. McGinnis had deep Indiana roots, as he led Washington high school (Indianapolis) to a 31-0 record and the state championship in 1969 before starring at Indiana University. In 1970-71 in his only varsity season at Indiana University, McGinnis became the first sophomore to lead the Big Ten in scoring (30.0 ppg) and rebounding (14.7 rpg). Taking advantage of the new Spencer Haywood rule that enabled underclassmen to jump from college to pro basketball, McGinnis joined the ABA's Indiana Pacers for the 1971-72 season, departing Indiana University just before the arrival of Bobby Knight; it would have been interesting if those two Hall of Famers had teamed up, and McGinnis later said that playing for Knight would have helped his development as a player.

Listed at 6-8, 235 pounds, McGinnis had a body that looked like a statue of a Greek god carved out of flawless marble. McGinnis drove to the hoop with power, but he also had a soft touch on his patented one-handed jump shot. He possessed a rare combination of size, strength, speed, scoring ability, rebounding prowess, and passing skills; in short, he was LeBron James before LeBron James (although James enjoyed a much longer career). Overshadowed by a Hall of Fame rookie class including Erving and Rookie of the Year/regular season MVP Artis Gilmore, McGinnis averaged 16.9 ppg and 9.7 rpg in 1971-72, joining Gilmore, Erving, Johnny Neumann, and John Roche on the 1972 ABA All-Rookie First Team. McGinnis averaged 15.5 ppg and 11.4 rpg in the playoffs as the Pacers won their second ABA title in three years.

McGinnis was a key figure in the fabled "Interstate 65 rivalry" pitting the Indiana Pacers versus the Kentucky Colonels. In a May 24, 2004 interview at Conseco Fieldhouse prior to game two of the Eastern Conference Finals pitting Detroit against Indiana, I spoke with McGinnis about his role on those dominant 1970s Pacers teams, and he told me, "I was probably one of the first--if not the first--big power forwards who could come out on the floor and handle the ball…In our offense I could bring the ball up." McGinnis was a friendly and enthusiastic interview subject, as were all of the former Pacers who I have been blessed to interview, including Hall of Famers Coach Bobby "Slick Leonard" and center Mel Daniels, plus Len Elmore, Billy Knight, and Darnell Hillman. Researching and writing about the great Roger Brown--who passed away in 1997 and was not inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame until 2013--will always be a life highlight for me. McGinnis had fond memories of Brown, telling me what he learned from Brown as a young player: "I think learning just to--I was very excitable. If there was a big game, I got really up and then by the time you got 10 minutes into the game I was spent, in terms of energy. So I think that one of the key things that I learned for him--especially in playoff basketball--was that you never get too high or too excited because it is a 48 minute game and you have to play the whole 48 minutes. The team that wins the first 10 minutes is not necessarily the team that is going to win the game. So I think just being calm and handling pressure situations, more than anything else, is what I learned from him."

Daniels, Leonard, and McGinnis have all passed away now, and I feel a keen sense of loss not only for the basketball greatness they represent but for a wonderful time in my writing career that exists now only in fond memories.

In his second season with the Pacers, McGinnis averaged 27.6 ppg (second in the ABA behind Erving) and 12.5 rpg (fourth in the ABA). He finished third in regular season MVP voting behind Billy Cunningham (who later coached him with the Philadelphia 76ers) and Erving (his future teammate with the 76ers). McGinnis averaged 22.3 ppg and 13.7 rpg versus Kentucky in the 1973 ABA Finals, scoring 27 points in Indiana's 88-81 game seven victory at Freedom Hall in Kentucky. He was named the 1973 ABA Playoff MVP.

McGinnis averaged 25.9 ppg (second in the ABA behind Erving) and 15.0 rpg (second in the ABA behind Gilmore) in 1973-74, earning the first of three straight All-ABA First Team selections. He averaged 24.0 ppg and 11.9 rpg in the playoffs, but the Pacers lost to the Utah Stars in seven games in the Western Division Finals. 

McGinnis reached his peak in 1974-75, winning the ABA scoring title with a career-high 29.8 ppg, ranking fifth in rebounding (14.3 rpg), and ranking third in assists with a career-high 6.3 apg. In the 1975 ABA Finals, the Colonels avenged their 1973 loss to the Pacers by beating the Pacers 4-1 despite McGinnis averaging 27.4 ppg, 14.0 rpg and 6.4 apg, gaudy numbers that were actually a bit below his overall playoff production that year (32.3 ppg, 15.9 rpg and 8.2 apg). In 2009 when I wrote about the only players to average 30-7-7 in a playoff season that short list included Oscar Robertson (1963, 1966), George McGinnis (1975), Michael Jordan (1989), and LeBron James (2009). Since that time, James accomplished the feat three more times (2015, 2017, 2018), and Luka Doncic did it twice (2020, 2021), while Russell Westbrook (2017) and Nikola Jokic (2023) each posted one such playoff run. Jokic is the only player in that club who won a championship in his 30-7-7 postseason, although Robertson, McGinnis, Jordan, and James each won at least one championship in other seasons. 

I asked McGinnis what it felt like to play basketball as dominantly as he did, particularly during the 1975 playoffs. He said, "I mean I think that was a point in my career where I guess--I hear present day players talk about being 'in a zone' or the bucket being bigger than or looking like the ocean--that is kind of like what it was for me back in '73, '74. I was probably at the peak of my physical ability and things came easily for me. I can't tell you that I thought about it. A lot of it was just natural ability."

McGinnis jumped to the NBA prior to the 1975-76 season, joining the Philadelphia 76ers. He averaged 23.0 ppg (sixth in the NBA), 12.6 rpg (sixth in the NBA), and 4.7 apg as the 76ers improved from 34-48  to 46-36 and qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 1971.

After the ABA/NBA merger in 1976, the New York Nets sold Erving to the 76ers. Philadelphia General Manager Pat Williams had a "20-20-20" vision for the 76ers: he wanted Erving, McGinnis, and Collins to each average around 20 ppg as opposed to having one player average 30 ppg while dominating the ball. Erving averaged 21.6 ppg, McGinnis averaged 21.4 ppg, and Collins averaged 18.3 ppg as the 76ers posted the Eastern Conference's best record (50-32) in 1976-77. Former MVPs Erving and McGinnis each made the All-NBA Second Team, and sacrificing individual glory for team success seemed to be working out wonderfully as the 76ers raced out to a 2-0 lead in the 1977 NBA Finals--but then Bill Walton's Portland Trail Blazers won four straight games to take the championship. McGinnis struggled mightily in the playoffs, but the 76ers' "20-20-20" vision seemed to be on target for the 1978 title after the 76ers again posted the best record in the Eastern Conference (55-27). However, the 76ers lost 4-2 to the eventual champion Washington Bullets (now known as the Washington Wizards) in the Eastern Conference Finals, and then they traded McGinnis to the Denver Nuggets for Bobby Jones. The 76ers lost in the NBA Finals in 1980 and 1982 before acquiring Moses Malone, the 1982 regular season MVP who teamed up with 1981 regular season MVP Erving to lead the 76ers to a dominant 1983 title run. 

Although conventional wisdom is that the 76ers had to get rid of McGinnis to win the title, Erving told me that he disagrees with that assessment: "Probably, if our team had stayed together, instead of being broken up, I think we would have won the title prior to '83. I think that we had the makings of a great team and we had a lot of parts. All the teams that we beat to get to the Finals before we lost to Portland should have spoken volumes."

When I interviewed McGinnis, I told him what Erving said, and I asked McGinnis about his memories of playing against and then playing with Erving. He replied, "Playing against him was a monster. He was absolutely incredible. He did things that make you go, 'Wow, did he really do that?' I never really appreciated how great he was until I actually got the opportunity to play with him for a couple years and I saw him do something different almost every night. He was just way ahead of his time. He was a tremendous guy, hell of a guy, class guy, but I strongly believe that our team would have won a championship, as he said, if they would have left it alone. But hey, that's sports, and they eventually won one in '83. I thoroughly enjoyed playing against him because, I can say this, I beat him more than he beat me (in the ABA)." McGinnis added that Erving "was kind of the straw that stirred the drink for our league" (borrowing the phrase that Reggie Jackson once used to describe his impact on the New York Yankees). It is true that McGinnis' Pacers went 16-14 versus Erving's teams (Virginia Squires, then New York Nets) from 1971-75, although Erving did not play in one of those losses. Per Statmuse, Erving's teams posted a 13-1 record versus McGinnis' teams in the NBA.

McGinnis averaged 22.6 ppg in his first season with Denver and he was selected as an All-Star for the final time, but his numbers declined in 1979-80 and the Nuggets traded him to Indiana, where McGinnis played until 1982 before retiring at just 31.

In 2017, McGinnis was inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Here is how I summarized his Hall of Fame credentials at that time:

McGinnis' career and prime were both shorter than McGrady's but McGinnis was the only Hall of Fame eligible NBA or ABA regular season MVP who had not been inducted. McGinnis shared 1975 ABA regular season MVP honors with Julius Erving, who two seasons later joined forces with McGinnis to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to the NBA Finals. McGinnis played a key role for two Indiana ABA championship teams (1972, 1973), winning the ABA Playoff MVP in 1973. During the 1975 ABA playoffs, McGinnis averaged 32.3 ppg, 15.9 rpg and 8.2 apg while leading the Pacers to the Finals (their third Finals trip in McGinnis' four years with the franchise). McGinnis remains one of just four players who averaged 30 ppg, 7 rpg and 7 apg for an entire playoff season; pro basketball fans are on a first name basis with the other players: Oscar (who did it twice), Michael, LeBron (who has done it twice). Interestingly, all of those players won at least one championship but none of them won a title during his 30-7-7 postseason run.

McGinnis made the All-Star team six times--three in the ABA, three in the NBA--and at his peak he was as good as any player in either league. The one blemish on his resume is that he relied too much on his natural talent, so when his physical skills began to erode he did not adjust his game; he did not make the All-Star team after the age of 28 and by age 32 he was out of the league. Nevertheless, a player who is a key contributor for two championship teams (and two other Finalists) while winning a regular season MVP, a playoff MVP and a scoring title deserves Hall of Fame induction--not to mention the fact that he was also a dominant, record setting collegiate player.

During his Hall of Fame speech, McGinnis talked about how much fellow Hoosier Oscar Robertson was an inspiration for him, and he recalled posting 53 points and 30 rebounds in an Indiana-Kentucky high school all-star game, which was the last time his father saw him play before passing away. McGinnis called fellow Hall of Famer Rick Barry a "professor" because of his on-court wisdom, and he termed Coach Leonard a "father figure."

McGinnis is one of the most decorated and beloved players in the storied history of Indiana basketball--high school, college, and pro--and he played a modern-style game in the 1970s as a triple threat who scored, rebounded, and passed at an elite level. I hope that this tribute article brings back fond memories for readers who are old enough to remember McGinnis' career, and I hope that it is a source of information--and inspiration--for younger fans.

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posted by David Friedman @ 1:51 AM

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Thursday, December 14, 2023

NBA Suspends Draymond Green Indefinitely for his "Repeated History of Unsportsmanlike Acts"

Less than a month after suspending Draymond Green for five games for "unsportsmanlike and dangerous" conduct, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has suspended Draymond Green indefinitely because of his "repeated history of unsportsmanlike acts," the latest of which was slugging Jusuf Nurkic in the face. The NBA's public statement added that Green "will be required to meet certain league and team conditions before he returns to play."

An indefinite suspension could last for just one game--although that seem unlikely here--or it could turn into a permanent ban (which also seems unlikely, though perhaps not impossible given Green's violent and volatile behavior). The last NBA player who received an indefinite suspension is Gilbert Arenas, who now just recklessly shoots off his mouth on his podcast instead of threatening to shoot people with guns. Arenas earned his indefinite suspension in 2010--and came close to being a Darwin Award winner--by bringing four guns into the locker room and challenging then-teammate Javaris Crittenton to choose one for a gun duel. After his NBA career ended, Crittenton served 10 years in prison for manslaughter; Arenas may have thought his locker room gun play was all (foolish) fun and games, but he was messing with someone who had no compunction about pulling a trigger and taking another person's life: Crittenton shot and killed a 22 year old mother of four in a drive-by shooting--and the victim's family is understandably outraged that he only served 10 years of his 23 year sentence (but that is a topic for a different article). Commissioner David Stern succinctly explained why he suspended Arenas by stating that Arenas "is not currently fit to take the court in an NBA game." Stern also suspended Crittenton for the rest of the season, and Crittenton never played in the NBA again.

Arenas' suspension lasted 50 games. He then returned to the Washington Wizards, and resumed jacking up wild shots for a losing team before the Wizards dealt him to the Orlando Magic. Arenas averaged 8.0 ppg on .344 field goal shooting in 49 games for the Magic in 2010-11 before concluding his career by scoring 4.2 ppg on .406 field goal shooting in 17 games for the Memphis Grizzlies in 2011-12. Now, Arenas--who won a grand total of one playoff series during his entire career--dispenses his peculiar perspective on basketball on a podcast featuring hot takes that are as off the mark as his erratic .421 career field goal shooting. Arenas' post-suspension NBA career lasted 87 games.

Stern's description of Arenas' lack of fitness to appear in an NBA game is applicable to Green as well. Hopefully, Green will seek help and make sincere efforts to change his mindset and behavior as opposed to just paying lip service long enough to get back on the court. Right now, Green is an overrated and emotionally erratic player for a sub.-500 team; he is not indispensable for the Warriors, and the Warriors are far from being a marquee team, so Green is on a trajectory taking him out of the league if he does not get his act together. The bottom line is that the Warriors don't need him--they can be sub-.500 without his extra baggage--and the NBA is fed up with him.

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posted by David Friedman @ 1:16 AM

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Wednesday, December 13, 2023

When Will the NBA Take a Stand Against Draymond Green's Unacceptable Violent Behavior?

If once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, and three times is a pattern, then what is four, five or six times? Draymond Green has been suspended four times, and he is about to receive his fifth NBA suspension after delivering an open handed punch to the face of Phoenix' Jusuf Nurkic. Green was assessed a Flagrant Foul 2--which carries with it automatic ejection--at the 8:23 mark of the third quarter of the Suns' 119-116 win over the Warriors. Green's Warriors led 65-60 when Green was ejected.

In his post-game press conference, Green claimed that he did not intend to hit Nurkic and he apologized for hitting Nurkic. Green said that he was trying to "sell the foul" because Nurkic was pulling on his hip. If Green is asserting that he lacks control over his body movements to the extent that he cannot prevent himself from hitting someone in the face while playing basketball, then Green should immediately receive a neurological examination to determine what is wrong with him. I have played basketball for over 40 years. Although I never played in the NBA, I know what it means specifically to post up/play post defense, and I know in general what it means to control your body movements while sharing the court with nine other players. I don't possess Green's athletic abilities/body control, but I have never hit anyone on a basketball court the way that Green hit Nurkic, and I have never seen anyone hit someone like that on a basketball court by accident.

I don't know how good of a fighter Green is--because he very carefully avoids getting in fights (see below)--but he is a terrible actor and a worse liar. Anyone who has ever played basketball knows that (1) Green meant to hit Jurkic and (2) Green is lying when he suggests otherwise. TNT's Jamal Crawford noted that if Green had felt apologetic then he would have immediately said "My bad" and helped Nurkic up, which was also my immediate reaction when Green provided his disingenuous account of his actions.

After the game, Jurkic said that Green needs help, that he's glad Green did not choke him (a reference to what Green recently did to Rudy Gobert), and that what Green did had nothing to do with basketball.

Green has complained that the NBA singles him out for special, harsher treatment. I agree with Jeff Van Gundy's point that in fact Green receives special, beneficial treatment: Green is expected to behave poorly, so he is therefore given a benefit of the doubt that is not given to players who are more mild-mannered, and he is often not ejected despite behavior that results in ejections for other players. Last night, Denver's Nikola Jokic--a two-time regular season MVP and the 2023 NBA Finals MVP--was ejected after just one technical foul for complaining about a non-call in a manner that would be considered mild by Green's histrionic standards. 

The NBA has been way too easy on Green. Less than a month ago, the NBA suspended Green for five games for "unsportsmanlike and dangerous" conduct after Green put Minnesota's Rudy Gobert into a headlock. A five game suspension stacked on top of Green's previous suspensions, ejections, and technical fouls clearly was not sufficient to change Green's behavior, so I offer two suggestions to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver--one silly suggestion, and one serious suggestion (the reader can determine which is which):

1) Implement a special Draymond Green rule: any player--teammate or opponent--who is hit, kicked, choked, or otherwise accosted by Green has the right to immediately deliver exactly the same blow to Green without punishment, and if that player declines to do so then he may appoint a teammate to do so on his behalf. Green professes to be a tough guy who does not back down from anyone, so let's put that to the test, because so far we have only seen Green acting out in situations where he knows that the people he attacked will not strike back because (1) they are not prone to committing physical violence, and (2) they know that the NBA will punish them for striking back. So, let's remove those restrictions and put Green in a FOFO (Fool Around and Find Out) situation the next time he feels like hitting, kicking, or choking someone. Clearly, Green does not care about suspensions/fines because (1) he is self-centered and not concerned about how his behavior harms his team, and (2) he has made so much money already that the fines don't impact his lifestyle; my theory is that Green will suddenly become much better at anger management if there is 100% certainty that his next punch will be immediately met by a punch, particularly if that punch will be delivered by the toughest guy on the other team even if that is not the guy who Green hit.

2) Suspend Green for at least 10 games, and make his return to action conditional on successful completion of anger management classes. If the Players Association objects, then Commissioner Silver should point out how absurd it is for the Players Association to protect someone who is attacking fellow Players Association members. If a fan jumped out of the stands and clubbed Nurkic in the face, what punishment would the Players Association deem to be appropriate? It would be more than suspending the fan from attending the next 10 games. The Players Association would demand that the fan be banned for life and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. 

If the NBA keeps protecting Green from the natural consequences of his actions, Green is going to eventually do something so egregious that the NBA will no longer be able to protect him because the judicial system will be compelled to intervene. Draymond Green is a 6-6, 230 walking time bomb that is going to explode in the league's face if Commissioner Silver does not take strong action--and if time bomb Green explodes, the league is not going to be able to successfully argue in court that the explosion was not foreseeable given Green's track record of violent behavior.

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posted by David Friedman @ 2:51 AM

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Sunday, December 10, 2023

Davis Dominates as Lakers Beat Pacers 123-109 to Win Inaugural NBA Cup

Anthony Davis scored a game-high 41 points, grabbed a game-high 20 rebounds, had a game-high four blocked shots, and passed for five assists as the L.A. Lakers beat the Indiana Pacers 123-109 to win the NBA Cup Championship Game. The NBA Cup Championship Game statistics do not officially count as regular season statistics or as playoff statistics, but it is still worth mentioning that Davis is just the third player in Lakers history to post a 40-20-5 game: Elgin Baylor accomplished this 13 times, and Wilt Chamberlain did it twice. Davis shot 16-24 from the field, and he controlled the paint at both ends of the court. He shot 9-13 from the free throw line and he did not attempt a single three pointer. LeBron James added 24 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, and two steals. He only attempted one three pointer, and the only blemish on his boxscore numbers was that he committed a game-high six turnovers. James won the NBA Cup MVP award, which was based on play throughout the entire tournament and not just in the Championship Game. Austin Reaves scored 28 points off of the bench on 9-15 field goal shooting and 10-12 field goal shooting. The Lakers scored 86 points in the paint, more than any team has scored in the paint in any game this season, and they shot 43-65 (.662) in the paint. 

The Lakers shot 2-13 (.154) from three point range and won by double digits; one of the most amusing NBA fairy tales is the one about how a team "needs range shooting to win in the modern NBA." The funniest thing about that fairy tale is that no amount of evidence will convince the "stat gurus" that they are wrong, a point that we will revisit in April and May when the teams that jack up three pointers are eliminated one by one from the playoffs. The Pacers shot 10-41 (.244) from three point range. If you're wondering what it would look like if one of the better teams from the 1980s played a typical team from today's NBA, this game provided a glimpse of a team utilizing its size and high percentage two point shooting to overwhelm a smaller team that relies on three point shooting.

I have emphasized for years how much size matters in the NBA, and the Lakers' performance in this game is yet another example proving that point to be true. Size matters not only on offense but also on defense. The bigger, stronger Lakers physically overwhelmed the Pacers, holding them to 35-95 (.368) field goal shooting while outrebounding them 55-32. Tyrese Haliburton had a solid game (20 points, 11 assists, three turnovers), but he did not control the action the way that he did up to this point in the Pacers' NBA Cup games; the Lakers trapped him with size, forcing him to shoot or pass over much bigger defenders. Bennedict Mathurin scored 20 points off of the bench. Myles Turner is averaging 17.1 ppg, 8.0 rpg, and 2.1 bpg while shooting .506 from the field this season, but the Lakers held him to 10 points on 3-11 field goal shooting, seven rebounds, and no blocked shots. No Pacer other than Turner had more than five rebounds. 

In the NBA Cup Semifinals, the Pacers defeated the Milwaukee Bucks and the Lakers destroyed the New Orleans Pelicans, setting up a Pacers-Lakers matchup in the first NBA Cup Championship. Both teams entered the Championship Game undefeated in NBA Cup play. In my NBA Cup preview, I predicted that the Lakers would win the Championship Game because they "will pound the paint with James and Davis" (although I expected the Lakers to face the Milwaukee Bucks, not the Indiana Pacers).

The Lakers relentlessly attacked the paint from the beginning of the game. In the first quarter, the Lakers scored 26 points in the paint on 13-20 (.650) field goal shooting, and they led 34-29 heading into the second quarter. Davis dominated the first quarter with 13 points on 6-9 field goal shooting and eight rebounds. The Lakers trapped Tyrese Haliburton and their size bothered him, limiting him to three points on 1-3 field goal shooting, three assists, and two turnovers after he did not commit a single turnover in the previous two NBA Cup games.

In the second quarter, Reaves erupted for 15 points on 5-6 field goal shooting. The Lakers led 65-60 at halftime, outscoring the Pacers in the paint 52-22 while shooting 26-37 (.703) in the paint. The Lakers shot 0-6 from three point range in the first half. Yes, it is possible to outscore the NBA's highest scoring team in a half without making a single three pointer! When the Lakers won the 2020 NBA championship, they dominated the paint: they ranked first in field goal percentage, eighth in defensive field goal percentage, and ninth in rebounding, but they ranked just 23rd in three point field goals attempted and 21st in three point field goal percentage. The notion that LeBron James needs "lasers" (great outside shooters) to win championships is demonstrably false. 

During the post-halftime interview, Lakers Coach Darvin Ham succinctly summarized the Lakers' game plan: "Dominate the paint. Play inside out."

The Pacers stayed close during the third quarter, only losing that stanza 25-22, but the Lakers won the fourth quarter 33-27 while shooting 12-20 (.600) from the field. In the fourth quarter, the Lakers shot 10-15 in the paint and 1-2 from three point range.

The Pacers are doing the best that they can with a young, undersized team. They are not a championship contender, but they are a dangerous team, and they have demonstrated that they will not back down from anyone; unlike the Pelicans, they did not quit against the Lakers despite being overpowered.

The Lakers won the NBA Cup by playing the right way eight times in November and December; in order to win the real NBA championship, they will have to play the right way 16 times spread out over four playoff series, and in at least two of those series they will face a team that is better than the Pacers. Will James, Davis, and company be physically healthy and mentally focused enough to win the NBA title? During the James-Davis era, the Lakers have a 26-17 record in the playoffs, with one 2020 "bubble" title and one season during which they missed the playoffs (2022). Take away the neutral court playoff games played in the Orlando "bubble" in 2020, and the James-Davis Lakers have a 10-12 playoff record. 

During the NBA Cup, we saw the Lakers' ceiling, but during the past three years we have seen their floor, so it will be interesting to see which Lakers squad shows up for the 2024 playoffs.

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posted by David Friedman @ 12:29 AM

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