LeBron James Scores 56 as L.A. Lakers Defeat Slumping Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors (2015, 2017-18) and L.A. Lakers (2020) have combined to win four of the last seven NBA championships, but both teams entered Saturday's night's matchup mired in slumps; the Warriors had lost three games in a row and seven of their last nine games, while the Lakers had lost four games in a row and eight of their last 10 games. The Lakers and Warriors combined to play an exciting--but far from flawless--game, with the Lakers winning 124-116 as LeBron James scored 56 points, becoming just the fourth player in NBA history to have a 50 point game after his 37th birthday (joining Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Jamal Crawford). The Lakers trailed 67-62 at halftime, but outscored the Warriors 35-22 in the final stanza. Russell Westbrook finished with 20 points on 9-17 field goal shooting
while grabbing four rebounds and dishing for four assists, while Stephen Curry
led the Warriors with 30 points on 13-22 field goal shooting.
James scored efficiently from all areas of the court, shooting 19-31 from the field (including 6-11 from three point range) and 12-13 from the free throw line. This performance provides yet another example of why it is ludicrous to characterize James as a pass first player. Even James, who has often spoken about how much he loves to pass the ball, seems to have grown weary of this misconception, and he recently expressed displeasure at not being acknowledged as a great scorer. James, more so than any other all-time great player, is prone to publicly beg for/demand more praise, and it is not difficult to believe that James meant to send a message about his greatness as a scorer by putting his individual talents on full display in a nationally televised game.
Both teams played small ball for the vast majority of the game. James started at center, and the Lakers did not use a traditional center during the entire game. Kevon Looney started at center for the Warriors, but he only played 13 minutes as the Warriors played small ball for the other 35 minutes. James grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds, tying the Warriors' Otto Porter for game-high honors.
As I watched this game, I had mixed feelings about James' performance. I have mentioned many times before that James is the most baffling great player who I have ever watched. His talent is undeniable, and his accomplishments are impressive. Yet, there often seems like something is missing. I have also mentioned many times how difficult it is to score 40 points or more in a game at any level of basketball, let alone in an NBA game. Scoring 56 points on efficient shooting is something that very few players can do, and it is even more remarkable to do this past one's 37th birthday; many Hall of Famers were retired by 37, or else they were playing out the string as reserves. What James did was historic, and we may not see a performance like that by a player of his age for a long time (unless he does it again).
James was very productive when he had the ball, and he was very effective as a rebounder as the biggest player on the court with both teams playing small ball, but when he did not have the ball on offense or when he was not guarding the man with the ball on defense he was very disengaged, which has been a consistent pattern throughout this season. A major reason that the Lakers often trailed during this game and that they had to fight until the end to defeat a slumping team is that James gave up points on defense at almost the same historic clip that he scored points on offense. To their credit, ABC's Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson do not just fall in line with the common media practice of praising James while ignoring his flaws; they understand that you can give James credit for his greatness while also pointing out his deficiencies. Van Gundy repeatedly pointed out times when James did not cross halfcourt on defense as the Warriors scored, and he also singled out times when "help" or the "rotating big man" did not arrive on time (or even move at all), though in those instances he could have more often explicitly called out James by name (James was the only "help" or "rotating big man" in the picture on those plays, so maybe Van Gundy thought that it was obvious who he was talking about).
Van Gundy has a very simple take on what is wrong with the Lakers: without Anthony Davis in the lineup, the Lakers are too old, too small, and too slow to consistently play championship-level defense. The team's only hope is that Davis returns soon, and plays at a high level. Mark Jackson agreed with Van Gundy to some extent, but also said that some of the Lakers' problems could be minimized--if not solved--by playing harder. Van Gundy replied that the Lakers would have better results if they played harder, but he is still not convinced that the Lakers sans Davis are or can be very good.
In my 2021-22 Western Conference Preview, I wrote, "If the Lakers are healthy, they will win the West, and it would be
fascinating to see prime Giannis Antetokounmpo versus elder statesman
LeBron James in the NBA Finals." I could just note that the Lakers have not been healthy and move on, but because there has been so much talk about "fit" and so much effort to blame everything on Westbrook I would like to clarify why I expected the healthy Lakers to be so good, and what I think has gone wrong. My expectation was that Davis would anchor a strong defense, and that Davis, James, and Westbrook would control the defensive rebounds, enabling the Lakers to score a lot of points in transition; I pictured an older, but still potent version of James' Miami Heat teams that featured James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. I expected that in the half court set the Lakers could punish teams inside with James and Davis, much like the 2020 Lakers did en route to winning the title. I knew that Westbrook's numbers would decline a bit, but I thought that his rebounding and playmaking would fit in very well. Instead, what happened was (1) Davis has been hurt for most of the year, and he has not played at peak effectiveness even when he was healthy, (2) James missed a lot of games due to injury, and when he has been healthy he has been much more focused on scoring than on defense, (3) Westbrook has not been provided with a defined role that maximizes his strengths, and he has been turned into the main scapegoat, and (4) the older players who the Lakers relied on to provide bench play have been injured, ineffective, or fallen out of the rotation for various reasons.
There has been constant chatter throughout the season about what is wrong with the Lakers. ABC devoted almost their entire pregame show to the topic, but when Stephen A. Smith and Mike Wilbon do so much of the talking you can be sure that a lot more heat than light is being generated. Smith and Wilbon kept baiting Magic Johnson to blame everything on Russell Westbrook and to call for Westbrook to be benched, but Johnson refused to follow their foolishness. Wilbon mentioned that during the Michael Jordan-Scottie Pippen era Scottie Pippen often played with the reserves; Wilbon has brought this up before, and he seems incapable of understanding the difference between staggering minutes so that either Jordan or Pippen is in the game for as close to 48 minutes as possible (which resulted in Pippen playing some minutes alongside several bench players) and removing Pippen from the starting lineup, which Coach Phil Jackson did not do for reasons that are obvious to anyone who is not biased and/or an idiot. Johnson did not correct Wilbon about the Pippen comparison, and Johnson just said that Westbrook needs to play better and needs to accept the high expectations that are part of playing for the Lakers. Johnson added that the blame for the Lakers' failures goes across the board. When pressed about benching Westbrook, Johnson smartly said that he goes to all of the games but he is not in the locker room, the practices, or the meetings so he has to defer to the coach's judgment. Johnson believes that if Davis returns then the Lakers are capable of making a postseason run, and he compared this team to his 1991 Lakers who he said overcame a slow start to reach the NBA Finals.
Johnson is too polite--or too business savvy--to directly tell Smith and Wilbon that they have no idea what they are talking about, or maybe Johnson realizes that this is so obvious to informed basketball fans that it need not be stated, but it was fascinating to hear Van Gundy offer his take during the game telecast. Play by play announcer Mike Breen mentioned that there have been reports about internal strife within the Lakers organization about whether or not Westbrook should be removed from the starting lineup. On the topic of removing Westbrook from the starting lineup, Van Gundy declared, "Whoever made that suggestion does not understand
coaches, coaching, or players." Van Gundy added that you do not bring a player of Westbrook's caliber to a team and then bench him, even if Westbrook has a bad stretch of games. Mark Jackson agreed with Van Gundy that Westbrook has earned the right to play himself out of a bad stretch. Westbrook said as much during a few press conferences, and he was pilloried by media members who attack everything that Westbrook says or does.
Let's be very clear: during yesterday's pregame show, Wilbon proudly noted that he has been making the bench Westbrook suggestion all season-long, apparently believing that repeating a dumb idea enough times will transform that dumb idea into a smart idea. During the game, Van Gundy emphatically stated that anyone who thinks that Westbrook should be removed from the starting lineup "does not understand coaches, coaching, or players." I agree with Van Gundy that Wilbon "does not understand coaches, coaching, or players." I hope that whoever produces NBA programming for ESPN/ABC takes heed, and acts accordingly. It should also be noted that Hubie Brown, perhaps the best NBA color commentator of all-time, has a much different take on Westbrook and the Lakers than Smith and Wilbon.
Earlier in the day on Sirius XM NBA Radio, Sam Mitchell provided a more intelligent take on Westbrook and the Lakers than Wilbon could ever dream of having. Mitchell, a former NBA player and the 2007 NBA Coach of the Year, called the Lakers' treatment of Westbrook "disgraceful." Mitchell said that the organization should be protecting Westbrook but instead Westbrook is just hung out to dry, and Mitchell stated that any intelligent free agent would think twice about signing with the Lakers, because if the Lakers are willing to throw a former MVP/perennial All-Star under the bus then no one is safe. Mitchell also declared that if Westbrook were playing for a team that understood how to use him correctly then Westbrook would average a triple double or close to a triple double. Regarding LeBron James, Mitchell and his co-host Brian Geltzeiler noted that James left Bosh and Wade behind in Miami, and he left Kevin Love behind in Cleveland; it is a pattern of behavior for James to abandon a team (and his teammates) for what he perceives to be greener pastures. Geltzeiler emphasized that James has seemed disengaged throughout this season when the ball is not in his hands.
Labels: Hubie Brown, Jeff Van Gundy, L.A. Lakers, LeBron James, Mike Wilbon, Russell Westbrook, Sam Mitchell
posted by David Friedman @ 12:41 PM
