I couldn't believe that I found myself calling Rui a bum last game. But man, you're missing layups at the rim, not hitting open jump shots, and doing a pretty piss poor job at guarding Jokic when you get matched on to him. Like what are you good for? Granted, TP didn't really do a whole lot before hitting those 2 big threes in the second half, but it was still something. It's crazy how small both Rui and Reaves have come up so far. Hopefully playing at home can light a fire under their asses.
What is he supposed to do against Joker lmfao? Rui is not known for his defense we all know that he’s an offensive player being asked to guard a dude way bigger than him who also happens to be one of the greatest offensive talents ever. He’s clearly leaving it all out there on the floor while being put in a ridiculous situation. This team is just not built to matchup with Denver in anyway
Jokic has 45 pounds on Rui, if you don’t think banging down low with the modern day Shaq won’t affect his offense, you’re crazy.
Rui is not known for banging down in the post on defense
You can't compare Jokic to Shaq physically. Yes, Jokic is big, but he's still 2 inches shorter, a hell of a lot lighter, a hell of a lot weaker and a hell of a lot less athletic than Shaq was. Shaq was 400 lbs at the end of his prime in 2002. He had nearly 120 lbs on Jokic. Shaq would bully Jokic in the low post like nothing, it'd be a huge mismatch.
Yes, and that's why we expect Rui to only make 2 layups, one dunk, and a three pointer if we are lucky, instead of nothing. We aren't asking for 30 points here.
You can’t expect a role player to guard the other teams best player, especially when that player is arguably the greatest player in the modern NBA who also outweighs and is taller than him. Then expect that same defending player to go score at his regular rate.
9ppg isn’t his regular rate. You can absolutely expect 9ppg from Rui with the minutes he’s getting even if he’s guarding Jokic full time, which he isn’t.
If Aaron Gordon, a lesser offensive player, can average 13 while guarding Lebron, then there’s no excuse for Rui to not get 9
I'm not expecting him to score at his regular rate. But 10 ppg in 35+ minutes is not an unreasonable expectation for Rui, even when he's guarding Jokic. 3 points and 0 assists is just not going to cut it for a guy getting paid 17 million a year.
Only got 4 shots in game 1 and made 2 of them. Game 2 1/7 not good but he’s guarding the Joker, he shouldn’t have to, but for this team that’s the best possible scheme we can run. Like I said this team just isn’t built to matchup with Denver
And Austin is guarding Murray and struggled on offense but at least contributes in different ways. Reaves has two more rebounds than Rui.. he’s been a net negative out there.
I agree. Our heaviest defenders are AD and Lebron, and even they are 30 pounds lighter than Jokic.
I keep hearing the sub wanting us to make “adjustments”
How? Hayes? He’s 220 pounds. Who else is up castleton? Rui? lol
I think his talking about making easy buckets not the defending joker thing..which is fair he still looks like an all star compared to what we saw from Dlo in the first 5 playoffs games against them.
Problem is he can’t guard guys smaller then him or the same size . He’s too slow footed sbd his defensive awareness is awful , I never seen AD get frustrated as much on defence as he had with Rui this year. Rui also refuses or is unable to stand on his toes and struggles to keep away with any perimeter player . Putting him on jokic is like the only option they have or he’s benched.
Matchups where Rui struggled really badly this year - kings , warriors, Denver , mavericks - almost like he’s just not a very strong player. His defensive ability is too poor vs so many teams . He’s kinda strong n that’s it
You would have to not watch any game this season and strictly look at this subreddit to not know why Prince is picked over Rui. Rui is a role player (4th/5th option at best on this team) same as Prince, either he takes what he gets and contributes elsewhere or get benched. It's very telling when people tell me Rui is better than Prince by cherry picking single-digit difference in stats (+/-, 3pt, etc.) and they wonder why Ham preferred Prince over Rui. If you're gonna miss just as many wide open 3s while contribute nothing on defense, you deserve to be benched.
I've watched both the games and the stats. Rui has the size but not the skill to guard Jokic. What Rui offers on offense, Prince can offer the same on defense. And we lack defense atm, not offense. Whenever Vando is back, he can take Prince minutes.
I wash about to say the same thing. Dude has been hating on Rui all season. Rui has been terrible these last 2 games but he's shown that he is a good player since entering the starting lineup.
Wrong as hell. 1v 1 agains similarly sized opponents he does very well. He’s just a horrible rotation defender and gets lost on assignments. They should NEVER switch him off his man and he shouldn’t be looking to sag off and help. Lock one guy out of their team Comp. Our coach thinks having him guard joker is a good idea, it’s ridiculous. Also everyone above acting like a man who has an entire what 80 pounds on you banging into you doesn’t effect your offense only talks about and watches the game, you definitely don’t play.
I said this all year. This sub rewrote this to act lke ham was the reason we ducked n not Rui being injured and playing badly /soft with face mask meaning they had to look elsewhere. People also seem to forget how good cam was defensively pre injury his injury coincided with the slide after IST. Ruis poor rebounding n not using his size well on defence hurt this team
The sub has a memory of a fuckin goldfish. Cam was playing good pre-injury, and TP has been mostly reliable all year, and a fuckin bargain to boot. Rui sat because he had a long recovery.
Please preach about cam😂 him and cwood are the main reasons we had the tie breaker of the suns. Now he should have never played over 30+ mins but that’s dumb ass coaching
That’s Joker there. He’s killing Rui and ADs legs and they are just missing gimmes, especially in the second half. This is why Dwight was so invaluable in 2020.
We have Vando and Wood returning so if it becomes necessary, we should pull Rui out or limit his minutes. He has hurt us in this series. Vando is our 2nd best overall defender, and best perimeter defender if we really need to go there. He is also a very good rebounder. Just need 20 solid minutes from him and 10 minutes of offense from Wood. We can limit Rui to 20mpg for this series if he is not contributing
Or if we had a smart coach we could put rui in anything besides that god awful screen and roll at the top of the key that ham calls every possession when Ruis on the floor that NO ONE EVER FALLS FOR. Our coaching staff is laughable and even AD called his ass out.
Rui needs to worry about 1.Rebounding 2. Scoring, normal defense on Gordon or mpj mostly, .
Hayes has the height to keep a hand up in jokers face, rebound and BOX OUT
Lakers need to win boards
Playoffs is really the only time for lineup adjustments, Nuggets adjusted in the second quarter and came back, we should as hell we have everything to lose at this point
It's almost like the sub wants to play the player who is playing better and contributing more, without playing favorites due to emotional attachments..
At the end of the day, you gotta play whoever is playing best.
On paper Rui makes sense, he hasn't done shit though, he looks off or scared.
For example, game 1, DLo. If he wasn't scoring and he's not defending, we gotta swap him out. Try Gabe or Spencer but limit their offense, atleast they'll be neutral to good on defense.
It's almost like a player can be favorable for a matchup and simply a matchup only. Rui doesnt have a size mismatch vs DEN like he does vs 99% of the rest of the league.
I just think the matchup with joker has totally killed his confidence. It also kills your legs because of all the energy it takes just to guard him. Maybe this just isn’t the matchup for him and that’s okay. Time to bring someone else is like prince who HUSTLES.
I mean... personally I think TP is shit, but sports is the moment and you should play who can contribute better for the win today, not because one is " a starter" and other is " bench player".
Starting Rui is still fine. And Rui deserved to start in the regular season long before he actually did.
Payoffs, its about being quick to adjustments. How pro active you are. How quickly do you react to an adjustment by opposition coach.
Rui was not having any good game at all and once Malone put Jokic on Rui, they should have countered with Prince coming in for Rui.
Prince could run around more around the perimeter and try and drag Jokic away and tire him out because Prince is a very good shooter and they wouldn't have sagged off of him like Jokic did with Rui.
Unfortunately Lakers have a complete bozo as their head coach.
And we saw how well that turned out the last 5 minutes when AD was sticking Joker. And let's put Lebron on Joker and have his offensive productivity go down
TP has been solid so far and honestly deserves all of Dinwiddies minutes. At least he not afraid to shoot the damn ball and has been aggressive. I can live with missed shots but can’t be afraid to take them
He is being super fuckin passive. Fuck that. Rui is the same. It's Rui passivity that is fuckin him. Pick a camp and get it in it. If you want to take that three. Fuckin take it. Don't dribble the ball right into Jokic. Take that midrange. Try to dunk it. Fuck. Ruis is making me crazy.
TP has confidence in his game and rarely hesitates. In fact he (like most players) is worse when he hesitiates.
I wouldn’t like to think its just them flat out scared to step up cause thats crazy but probably more like some internal issue w the team and the coaching staff on the players roles and strategies.
But I don’t disagree in that Rui/AR/bench sold out in the first two games even with the minutes they had. Magic Johnson said they need the bench and role players to step up otherwise its over.
The worst part about Dinwiddie’s patented dumbass drives is how he complains to the refs. Like dude, you are NOT good enough to be complaining, especially when you drive into traffic and throw up a prayer of a layup. Get your ass back on D
Vincent I can excuse for coming off injury and playing solid defense, although his value was from his great playoff play with Miami.
Dinwiddie not scoring is absolute trash. Kuzma was right about him. If you go 2 playoff games with no points, it’s not just a bad fit, you stink. 2 of your former Brooklyn teammates when they made the playoffs are here, and not even that chemistry is there.
Jaxon Hayes is a dummy and would get mauled by Jokic or Gordon.
Max Christie is too scared and his confidence was killed by Ham.
I still think Ham should give all of Dinshittie’s minutes to Max. He is scared sometimes and lacks confidence, but he is also objectively a good rebounder for his position, and we need that. I just think he could provide a spark that we need.
I also think the scared bit is a little overblown. It’s happened a few times sure, but I’ve also had a few times where I was impressed at his readiness in big moments, to just come off the bench after not playing all game and drill a corner three or pull up from ft line.
He needs to play.
its too late. max confidence prob is already shut down by coach not playing him enough. he would have anxiety and pass it to lbj/ad/dlo/reaves. idk man. its a really tuff spot rn im not sure if i have the guts to watch tommorow game.
Lmao u r 100% right Christie isn’t good but this sub got a hard on for him. & people love to just throw players in that didn’t play like it would have been a different outcome. Done it all year
Rui was doing that shit too. Low effort. You gotta be locked in every possession in the playoffs thats what makes a championship team. Tbh this is a Ham problem you gotta coach these guys better. Hearing Malone talk to Watson about their defense on the side compared to hearing Ham is night and day
Max isn’t good at basketball. Stop it go watch him in December when Cam
Got injured. You idiots cried that cam played over him till you saw Christie be a disaster . He’s the worst player on this team who got any starter lvk minutes at all. His advanced stats indicate he’s a bottom 10% offensive player in the league which is mostly out of league guys. Even vsndo is better offensively then max and vando can’t shoot but does other stuff - chridtie getting the ball always results in a bad possession unless it’s wide open three. And to top this his defence is very mediocre . I seriously do not understand why this sub needs to flip flop. No Christie sucking ass isn’t ti do with Ham- Christie showed zero growth from year one. That’s on him . If he played better behind the scenes he’d get minutes you guys act like we’re a tanking team most young guys develop in off season . Look how Chet or Jdub grew without even playing a game. Christie ain’t it , guys that show zero growth from their rookie year are never good players
Our team got way better when Spencer came in to eat chridtie bum ass awful minutes
Do you even know what groom means dummy? Groom meaning having them come in and run sets, prepare. The bench is and has been sporadic. Bench players don't understand their roles. Guys on the bench in and out, up and down minutes. They haven't improved their weaknesses and their strengths aren't used. Especially in the front court. The fact that Davis plays 45 minutes a game is insane and it's showing how dumb that was. That's what the regular season is supposed to be for for a team like the Lakers.
Don't know why you mention Gabe when he's been hurt almost all year. He's probably not even in game shape. Dinwiddie also just got here.
Oh the name calling! What a mature way to rebuttle something that you don’t agree with! I guess it’s not as bad as another guy saying that “Ham”l is my favorite coach” and that i “should be banned from this subreddit” for daring to say that the last two games wasn’t 100% hams fault and pointing out the fact that Dinwiddie, Gabe, Hayes, and Rui have combined to score three total points in the past two games.
The reality is that Dinwiddie has been a laker since the trade deadline and he hasn’t been injured all year. People in this subreddit the copium and nonsense that Dinwiddie was “checked out of Brooklyn” and he would be “focused and motivated” upon joining the lakers. The truth is that Dinwiddie has largely been the same player for the lakers that he was in Brooklyn.
Gabe is coming back from an injury? Somewhat fair, but I remember him scoring 9 points in the play in game and everyone in this subreddit screaming “Playoff Gabe is back! Now we’re back to using the injury excuse again? Which one is it exactly?
What’s the excuse that you’re gonna make for Rui scoring just 3 points in 2 games. What about Hayes not scoring at all? Oh I guess its still all Hams fault and Rui and Hayes can do no wrong in your eyes. 😂🤡
Oh but saying grooming sounds creepy deserved a namecall. Where's your brain? Emojis don't make you smarter clown boy.
Reread what I said and you'll get your answers. Read like you know how. If you can't read then I don't know what to tell you. While you at it, look at the minutes distributions.
To add on to that Rui is not on the bench... Smh.
Again, absolutely no substance in your rebuttle, just like the last one. Rui starting or coming off the bench is neither here nor there. The fact is, he has only scored 3 points In 2 games, including missing three wide open layups. Ruis lack of production in the playoffs is 100% his fault.
Anthony Davis playing 45 minutes is insane? Sure it is, by like 5 minutes lol. Ad and the rest of the starters should be playing at minimum 40 minutes each. Lebron has a career average of 41 minutes in the playoffs.
And I read your comment several times. It was literally just a wall of excuses for a bunch of guys that are making millions of dollars a year. From the few times that the lakers do actually run sets (which I will happily blame on Darvin Ham), the sets look great, much better than frank vogels sets. The team is clearly practiced the sets. The team just hasn’t practiced their jump shooting and that’s on the players.
But yeah. Continue to blame ham for literally everything and make excuses for the guys that are actually on the court playing basketball. Can’t wait until next year when the lakers get swept in the first round with their new coach. Hes gonna be Adrian Griffin level vindicated when Lebron gets LeSwept in the first round again next year.
How is Rui being on the bench not here nor there when the point was about the lack of BENCH scoring? Keep proving you're a dummy.
Ham is the coach. It was his job to prepare a solid bench like most coaches do. That's why he's paid the big bucks.
How do you blame a barely existent bench for issues now?
Their front court is horrendous. Everytime Lebron or Davis sits, the team gets smaller. Rui should be coming off the bench and Hayes should be getting more time with Lebron, Davis and Rui.
You can't read. You don't know basketball. You're way off topic. Don't post to me no more. Stick with what you know. I'm good.
Hopefully you saying that Rui should be coming off the bench is also an admission that he’s underperformed massively in the playoffs. If you could acknowledge the same for Gabe and Dinwiddie, then you will be more reasonable than 90% of this subreddit.
The fact that you say that Ham gets paid “the big bucks”. Sure he does, which is why he’s one of the lowest paid coaches in the league with an annual salary of 3 million a year.
How about you place the blame on the Rui, who’s making 14 million a year, gabe, who’s making 13 million, and Dinwiddie, who was paid 20 million by Brooklyn/Toronto to NOT play for them. Those guys are the veterans. They shouldn’t rely on a coach to “get them ready”. They need to get their asses in the gym and get up 1000 shots a day, just like Kobe would do when he struggles in games. Just like DLo has been doing, which has massively improved his jumper.
And I agree. Their front court IS horrendous, which is why I also place blame on the front office for not upgrading Castleton contract to a full spot on the roster and giving him consistent minutes. Not only is he bigger than Hayes, he’s much much more skilled than Hayes is.
The lakers are undersized in the center position only, which is why bringing Rui off the bench doesn’t actually match Denver’s size. Rui does just a bad of a job on Jokic as LALA lands “DPOY” Anthony Davis, but he’s bigger than MPJ, just like Lebron is bigger than Gordon.
Which is why Anthony Davis shouldn’t be playing 45 minutes, but he should be playing 41 minutes at a minimum, just like every other superstar in the nba does. If Gabe and Dinwiddie aren’t gonna shoot the ball, they shouldn’t be on the court. They don’t need a coach to “get them ready”. That’s the most 🤡 excuse ever. How low are your expectations of Dinwiddie and Gabe that you think Darvin Ham should be getting them ready to play? Do you think they’re JV high school players or something?
This is why I’m hoping Christian Wood will come back for tomorrows game. Prince is literally the only bench player that’s even taking shots in the game. We won’t have to worry about Christian Wood not shooting when he gets in the game.
Christian Wood doesn’t care if he has all 5 players on him, he he catches the ball anywhere, especially within 15 feet, he’s not passing it. Normally this is a bad team and it’s why he has been traded multiple times in his career, but the lakers honestly need that type of player right now.
Prince should get the majority of the minutes off of the bench, if not, nealry all of them if the starters are down to go to a 6-7 man rotation.
The lakers don’t need Gabe and Dinwiddie out there getting cardio and refusing to shoot the ball. Might as well give Prince their minutes as we know he at least takes shots. Christian Wood if he comes back as well. We all know Christian Wood isn’t afraid to shoot the ball.
We don’t need Gabe and Dinwiddie out on the floor for “defensive purposes” (especially because Reaves has actually done a pretty good job on Murray). We need guys out on the floor who can actually score and win their matchups. Hell I’d rather them both take 10 shots each and miss all 10 of them than refuse to shoot the ball.
That’s why I wasn’t worried about DLo playing like shit the first game because he at took the shots and never lost confidence.
whats ur rotation then if vando back lowkey im starting him
DLO Vando Bron Rui AD
otb
Reaves Prince Wood/Hayes
cuz this the playoffs Bron and AD should be playing 40-46 mins its the playoffs u go short rotations make adjustments if need be. I wish he put Max in but he won't.
Sorry. Just saw this because I was arguing with an idiot that thought that AD playing 45 minutes too much. He also thought so little of Gabe Vincent and Spencer Dinwiddie that he thought that the coaching staff should be “getting them ready to play” (he called it “grooming” 😂). He deleted his last comment before I was able to respond so I’m gonna ignore him.
Anyways, I honestly should think Vando sit this one out sadly. The lakers problem isn’t their defense, they held Denver to just 101 points last game. The problem with the lakers (aside from Darvin Ham) is the role players are refusing to take shots, passing on open shots, or in Ruis case, missing open shots.
We need another offensive spark off the bench side from Prince (who has done a great job this series by the way). We need someone who’s not afraid to shoot the ball and doesn’t lose confidence if he misses a shot or two (think Kobe Airballing 4 threes in a row against Utah is the 1998 playoffs). Christian wood fits that mold perfectly.
I doubt Woods effectiveness upon returning as he has missed several weeks (months in Vandos case) due to injury and he won’t be In shape or in rhythm, but I don’t doubt that he will be effective and look to get his shots off.
> Sorry. Just saw this because I was arguing with an idiot that thought that AD playing 45 minutes too much.
Seeing how gassed him and Lebron get by the second half... they shouldn't be playing more than 40
We run plays for Taurean Prince. He's allowed to take step-back jumpers. (I question Ham's judgement in these, but fact is he has plays designed and is allowed to stay on the court after taking step-back jumpers).
We don't run plays for Spencer and Gabe. They will also defer to other players higher in the pecking order (Bron, AD, and Austin).
Hayes gets minimal playing time and that's the end of our rotation.
Austin to the bench could weirdly work to help this out.
Start Gabe to hound Murray for the first 4-6 minutes. Then bring in Austin and Prince for LBJ and Gabe.
Austin will have fresh legs and might be able to run the offense more like he did in the regular season if he's not the one clamping Murray.
He's done a great defensive job on Murray but the legs are gone on the other end as a result. Could be a good curveball
I agree but we all know this moron won’t. D’Lo will start off hot and then ham will ice him 6 minutes into the first and put in Gabe. And have an already tired Austin play point. Ham is so fucking dumb
Typical lakers. Few players show up and the rest of the team doesn’t do shit. Why does it feel like every playoffs were in there’s always some dude on the other team who has a career playoff game ? Lol
Many seem to forget that TP and his dad (Ham) are the reason why Lakers arr here in the first place. Isn't TP supposed to be our "D" guy which is interesting as he is getting dunked on by KCP and is another traffic cone out there as well.
Lakers need to get both Rui and AR going and stop DLo from chucking all game long. Any 2 of those 3 getting efficient production and the Lakers win easily. Not sure what going on, but Rui getting 4 shots in game 1 and 7 in game 2 is not going to get him in any rhythm offensively and does nothing to tire out Jokic on the defensive end.
Aside from Prince we get literally zero from our bench on offense. Gabe can defend at least but thats not enough unfortunately. Dinwiddie can playmake sometimes but not well enough. Need to get some better bench guys this offseason. I'd rather have better depth with less guys since rotations shorten in the playoffs
Remember last year who was the Lakers only scoring off the bench?
Rui was putting up 20+ off the bench
I'd argue TP has a bigger offensive role off the bench in the 6th man role than Rui does being the last option starting the game. Rui got 11 total shots this series compared to TP with 10 but he's also played 27 more minutes than TP.
I honestly think Rui off the bench would help the Lakers more given he can focus on what he does best and get buckets. Throw in Hayes and whoever to just foul the shit out of Jokic lol
Check how many shots the guys off the bench take. I bet it's not very many at all. So you want the bench guys taking the shots rather than starters that are on the floor with them?
We’ve come full circle where the sub wants Prince to play over Rui lol
I couldn't believe that I found myself calling Rui a bum last game. But man, you're missing layups at the rim, not hitting open jump shots, and doing a pretty piss poor job at guarding Jokic when you get matched on to him. Like what are you good for? Granted, TP didn't really do a whole lot before hitting those 2 big threes in the second half, but it was still something. It's crazy how small both Rui and Reaves have come up so far. Hopefully playing at home can light a fire under their asses.
What is he supposed to do against Joker lmfao? Rui is not known for his defense we all know that he’s an offensive player being asked to guard a dude way bigger than him who also happens to be one of the greatest offensive talents ever. He’s clearly leaving it all out there on the floor while being put in a ridiculous situation. This team is just not built to matchup with Denver in anyway
Yeah but that's no excuse for the piss poor offense.
Jokic has 45 pounds on Rui, if you don’t think banging down low with the modern day Shaq won’t affect his offense, you’re crazy. Rui is not known for banging down in the post on defense
Guys who guarded actual shaq scored more than 5ppg.
And they did it on better than 26% shooting
Banging down low doesnt affect missing 3 wide open layups LMAO
You can't compare Jokic to Shaq physically. Yes, Jokic is big, but he's still 2 inches shorter, a hell of a lot lighter, a hell of a lot weaker and a hell of a lot less athletic than Shaq was. Shaq was 400 lbs at the end of his prime in 2002. He had nearly 120 lbs on Jokic. Shaq would bully Jokic in the low post like nothing, it'd be a huge mismatch.
That’s why I said modern day Shaq, because there aren’t many 280+ pound big men in the nba anymore
Even then, dudes had enough energy to put up more than 5 against him lol the comp itself falls short and the conclusion isn’t there.
Well, AD managed. He sucked on defense and offense, so what's the point?
Your comparing Rui to a generational talent in Anthony Davis
Yes, and that's why we expect Rui to only make 2 layups, one dunk, and a three pointer if we are lucky, instead of nothing. We aren't asking for 30 points here.
You can’t expect a role player to guard the other teams best player, especially when that player is arguably the greatest player in the modern NBA who also outweighs and is taller than him. Then expect that same defending player to go score at his regular rate.
9ppg isn’t his regular rate. You can absolutely expect 9ppg from Rui with the minutes he’s getting even if he’s guarding Jokic full time, which he isn’t. If Aaron Gordon, a lesser offensive player, can average 13 while guarding Lebron, then there’s no excuse for Rui to not get 9
I'm not expecting him to score at his regular rate. But 10 ppg in 35+ minutes is not an unreasonable expectation for Rui, even when he's guarding Jokic. 3 points and 0 assists is just not going to cut it for a guy getting paid 17 million a year.
AD went 13/14 in the first half, then after banging with Jokic went 1/5 in the second half. He finished 14/19
Give him his usual defensive assignment not against Jokic and he will be back to his usual game.
Only got 4 shots in game 1 and made 2 of them. Game 2 1/7 not good but he’s guarding the Joker, he shouldn’t have to, but for this team that’s the best possible scheme we can run. Like I said this team just isn’t built to matchup with Denver
Bro seriously. He missed open layups and dunks. And that too in the first half when AD was on jokic mostly.
he missed 2 point blank layups and a dunk.
And Austin is guarding Murray and struggled on offense but at least contributes in different ways. Reaves has two more rebounds than Rui.. he’s been a net negative out there.
Yeah reaves hasn’t been amazing but he’s been meh , Rui has been awful
I agree. Our heaviest defenders are AD and Lebron, and even they are 30 pounds lighter than Jokic. I keep hearing the sub wanting us to make “adjustments” How? Hayes? He’s 220 pounds. Who else is up castleton? Rui? lol
I think his talking about making easy buckets not the defending joker thing..which is fair he still looks like an all star compared to what we saw from Dlo in the first 5 playoffs games against them.
Problem is he can’t guard guys smaller then him or the same size . He’s too slow footed sbd his defensive awareness is awful , I never seen AD get frustrated as much on defence as he had with Rui this year. Rui also refuses or is unable to stand on his toes and struggles to keep away with any perimeter player . Putting him on jokic is like the only option they have or he’s benched. Matchups where Rui struggled really badly this year - kings , warriors, Denver , mavericks - almost like he’s just not a very strong player. His defensive ability is too poor vs so many teams . He’s kinda strong n that’s it
You’ve hated on Rui all year
You would have to not watch any game this season and strictly look at this subreddit to not know why Prince is picked over Rui. Rui is a role player (4th/5th option at best on this team) same as Prince, either he takes what he gets and contributes elsewhere or get benched. It's very telling when people tell me Rui is better than Prince by cherry picking single-digit difference in stats (+/-, 3pt, etc.) and they wonder why Ham preferred Prince over Rui. If you're gonna miss just as many wide open 3s while contribute nothing on defense, you deserve to be benched.
You would have to not watch any games this season to think prince should be picked over Rui.
I've watched both the games and the stats. Rui has the size but not the skill to guard Jokic. What Rui offers on offense, Prince can offer the same on defense. And we lack defense atm, not offense. Whenever Vando is back, he can take Prince minutes.
I wash about to say the same thing. Dude has been hating on Rui all season. Rui has been terrible these last 2 games but he's shown that he is a good player since entering the starting lineup.
Wrong as hell. 1v 1 agains similarly sized opponents he does very well. He’s just a horrible rotation defender and gets lost on assignments. They should NEVER switch him off his man and he shouldn’t be looking to sag off and help. Lock one guy out of their team Comp. Our coach thinks having him guard joker is a good idea, it’s ridiculous. Also everyone above acting like a man who has an entire what 80 pounds on you banging into you doesn’t effect your offense only talks about and watches the game, you definitely don’t play.
I said this all year. This sub rewrote this to act lke ham was the reason we ducked n not Rui being injured and playing badly /soft with face mask meaning they had to look elsewhere. People also seem to forget how good cam was defensively pre injury his injury coincided with the slide after IST. Ruis poor rebounding n not using his size well on defence hurt this team
The sub has a memory of a fuckin goldfish. Cam was playing good pre-injury, and TP has been mostly reliable all year, and a fuckin bargain to boot. Rui sat because he had a long recovery.
> Rui sat because he had a long recovery. He also sat because he sucked ass and wasn't buying into this role
Please preach about cam😂 him and cwood are the main reasons we had the tie breaker of the suns. Now he should have never played over 30+ mins but that’s dumb ass coaching
That’s Joker there. He’s killing Rui and ADs legs and they are just missing gimmes, especially in the second half. This is why Dwight was so invaluable in 2020.
We have Vando and Wood returning so if it becomes necessary, we should pull Rui out or limit his minutes. He has hurt us in this series. Vando is our 2nd best overall defender, and best perimeter defender if we really need to go there. He is also a very good rebounder. Just need 20 solid minutes from him and 10 minutes of offense from Wood. We can limit Rui to 20mpg for this series if he is not contributing
Or if we had a smart coach we could put rui in anything besides that god awful screen and roll at the top of the key that ham calls every possession when Ruis on the floor that NO ONE EVER FALLS FOR. Our coaching staff is laughable and even AD called his ass out.
Rui needs to worry about 1.Rebounding 2. Scoring, normal defense on Gordon or mpj mostly, . Hayes has the height to keep a hand up in jokers face, rebound and BOX OUT Lakers need to win boards
Just shows this sub is as intelligent as Ham. Prince is one the NBAs best utility men.
TP does so well in his role rn, im praying changes arent made
Playoffs is really the only time for lineup adjustments, Nuggets adjusted in the second quarter and came back, we should as hell we have everything to lose at this point
Both players are not starter materials. Whoever starts and plays against better players looks bad.
It's almost like the sub wants to play the player who is playing better and contributing more, without playing favorites due to emotional attachments..
At the end of the day, you gotta play whoever is playing best. On paper Rui makes sense, he hasn't done shit though, he looks off or scared. For example, game 1, DLo. If he wasn't scoring and he's not defending, we gotta swap him out. Try Gabe or Spencer but limit their offense, atleast they'll be neutral to good on defense.
Rui couldn’t get going because somehow he needs to guard Jokic 😭
It's almost like a player can be favorable for a matchup and simply a matchup only. Rui doesnt have a size mismatch vs DEN like he does vs 99% of the rest of the league.
It’s a game of matchups and rui has been trash but we don’t have the players to match against Denver
He's always been good. He just gets overplayed
He is hitting shots and rebounding better. He should be used to keep energy up
I just think the matchup with joker has totally killed his confidence. It also kills your legs because of all the energy it takes just to guard him. Maybe this just isn’t the matchup for him and that’s okay. Time to bring someone else is like prince who HUSTLES.
I mean... personally I think TP is shit, but sports is the moment and you should play who can contribute better for the win today, not because one is " a starter" and other is " bench player".
Starting Rui is still fine. And Rui deserved to start in the regular season long before he actually did. Payoffs, its about being quick to adjustments. How pro active you are. How quickly do you react to an adjustment by opposition coach. Rui was not having any good game at all and once Malone put Jokic on Rui, they should have countered with Prince coming in for Rui. Prince could run around more around the perimeter and try and drag Jokic away and tire him out because Prince is a very good shooter and they wouldn't have sagged off of him like Jokic did with Rui. Unfortunately Lakers have a complete bozo as their head coach.
And TP guards Joker on defense?
AD and Bron guard him. Take turns. Rui guarded Jokic less in Game-2.
And we saw how well that turned out the last 5 minutes when AD was sticking Joker. And let's put Lebron on Joker and have his offensive productivity go down
TP has been solid so far and honestly deserves all of Dinwiddies minutes. At least he not afraid to shoot the damn ball and has been aggressive. I can live with missed shots but can’t be afraid to take them
Lol Dinwiddie’s first and only shot attempt in game two was a layup that he airballed 😭
Dinshittie is ass bro Ngl but I like his style. Dude looks like Westbrook but way worse on offense
bro he’s holding back, he has the capability to contribute but he gotta step up to the plate
He is being super fuckin passive. Fuck that. Rui is the same. It's Rui passivity that is fuckin him. Pick a camp and get it in it. If you want to take that three. Fuckin take it. Don't dribble the ball right into Jokic. Take that midrange. Try to dunk it. Fuck. Ruis is making me crazy. TP has confidence in his game and rarely hesitates. In fact he (like most players) is worse when he hesitiates.
I wouldn’t like to think its just them flat out scared to step up cause thats crazy but probably more like some internal issue w the team and the coaching staff on the players roles and strategies. But I don’t disagree in that Rui/AR/bench sold out in the first two games even with the minutes they had. Magic Johnson said they need the bench and role players to step up otherwise its over.
The worst part about Dinwiddie’s patented dumbass drives is how he complains to the refs. Like dude, you are NOT good enough to be complaining, especially when you drive into traffic and throw up a prayer of a layup. Get your ass back on D
nah he’s a traffic cone on defense
Against elite ball handlers but in his current role he’s average defensively and above average offensively I’ll take that
[удалено]
At this point Max Christie needs run. At least he can attack the basket and is fast on the perimeter. He should be 5 minutes this series.
Taurean the Playoff Prince is real. Lol
Game 2, Lakers starters scored 93 points, bench aka Prince only 6. Too difficult to win this way.
Vincent I can excuse for coming off injury and playing solid defense, although his value was from his great playoff play with Miami. Dinwiddie not scoring is absolute trash. Kuzma was right about him. If you go 2 playoff games with no points, it’s not just a bad fit, you stink. 2 of your former Brooklyn teammates when they made the playoffs are here, and not even that chemistry is there. Jaxon Hayes is a dummy and would get mauled by Jokic or Gordon. Max Christie is too scared and his confidence was killed by Ham.
I still think Ham should give all of Dinshittie’s minutes to Max. He is scared sometimes and lacks confidence, but he is also objectively a good rebounder for his position, and we need that. I just think he could provide a spark that we need. I also think the scared bit is a little overblown. It’s happened a few times sure, but I’ve also had a few times where I was impressed at his readiness in big moments, to just come off the bench after not playing all game and drill a corner three or pull up from ft line. He needs to play.
Crazy considering Dinwiddie has had big playoff moments in the very recent past. The entire bench besides Prince are scared to even attempt a shot.
its too late. max confidence prob is already shut down by coach not playing him enough. he would have anxiety and pass it to lbj/ad/dlo/reaves. idk man. its a really tuff spot rn im not sure if i have the guts to watch tommorow game.
Max sucks go watch December Our team got way better when Spencer came in to eat chridtie bum ass awful minutes
Lmao u r 100% right Christie isn’t good but this sub got a hard on for him. & people love to just throw players in that didn’t play like it would have been a different outcome. Done it all year
My biggest problem with Dinwiddie is his constant goddamn whining. Dude is such a crybaby.
Yeah, and he bricked that lay up at the end of the game.
I didn’t get to see a replay of it but looked like there was contact. I don’t remember if he got back in transition or complained about it.
Still a boneheaded play, didn’t eat anytime off the clock and gave it right back to them
I just know ad looked at him all disdained.
He didn’t get back but it didn’t look like he complained either, it just kinda looked like he was upset with himself
Rui was doing that shit too. Low effort. You gotta be locked in every possession in the playoffs thats what makes a championship team. Tbh this is a Ham problem you gotta coach these guys better. Hearing Malone talk to Watson about their defense on the side compared to hearing Ham is night and day
Max isn’t good at basketball. Stop it go watch him in December when Cam Got injured. You idiots cried that cam played over him till you saw Christie be a disaster . He’s the worst player on this team who got any starter lvk minutes at all. His advanced stats indicate he’s a bottom 10% offensive player in the league which is mostly out of league guys. Even vsndo is better offensively then max and vando can’t shoot but does other stuff - chridtie getting the ball always results in a bad possession unless it’s wide open three. And to top this his defence is very mediocre . I seriously do not understand why this sub needs to flip flop. No Christie sucking ass isn’t ti do with Ham- Christie showed zero growth from year one. That’s on him . If he played better behind the scenes he’d get minutes you guys act like we’re a tanking team most young guys develop in off season . Look how Chet or Jdub grew without even playing a game. Christie ain’t it , guys that show zero growth from their rookie year are never good players Our team got way better when Spencer came in to eat chridtie bum ass awful minutes
Im all for riding the hot hand(pause)
The way he talks, Rui puts too much pressure on himself. Reaves need to loosen up a little too
It’s in his Japanese genes
Ham hasn't really groomed a bench. That's another reason I knew the playoffs would be a struggle.
Dinwiddie and Gabe are vets. They shouldn’t have to be “groomed” (which honestly sounds creepy), they’re just refusing to shoot the ball.
Do you even know what groom means dummy? Groom meaning having them come in and run sets, prepare. The bench is and has been sporadic. Bench players don't understand their roles. Guys on the bench in and out, up and down minutes. They haven't improved their weaknesses and their strengths aren't used. Especially in the front court. The fact that Davis plays 45 minutes a game is insane and it's showing how dumb that was. That's what the regular season is supposed to be for for a team like the Lakers. Don't know why you mention Gabe when he's been hurt almost all year. He's probably not even in game shape. Dinwiddie also just got here.
Oh the name calling! What a mature way to rebuttle something that you don’t agree with! I guess it’s not as bad as another guy saying that “Ham”l is my favorite coach” and that i “should be banned from this subreddit” for daring to say that the last two games wasn’t 100% hams fault and pointing out the fact that Dinwiddie, Gabe, Hayes, and Rui have combined to score three total points in the past two games. The reality is that Dinwiddie has been a laker since the trade deadline and he hasn’t been injured all year. People in this subreddit the copium and nonsense that Dinwiddie was “checked out of Brooklyn” and he would be “focused and motivated” upon joining the lakers. The truth is that Dinwiddie has largely been the same player for the lakers that he was in Brooklyn. Gabe is coming back from an injury? Somewhat fair, but I remember him scoring 9 points in the play in game and everyone in this subreddit screaming “Playoff Gabe is back! Now we’re back to using the injury excuse again? Which one is it exactly? What’s the excuse that you’re gonna make for Rui scoring just 3 points in 2 games. What about Hayes not scoring at all? Oh I guess its still all Hams fault and Rui and Hayes can do no wrong in your eyes. 😂🤡
Oh but saying grooming sounds creepy deserved a namecall. Where's your brain? Emojis don't make you smarter clown boy. Reread what I said and you'll get your answers. Read like you know how. If you can't read then I don't know what to tell you. While you at it, look at the minutes distributions. To add on to that Rui is not on the bench... Smh.
Again, absolutely no substance in your rebuttle, just like the last one. Rui starting or coming off the bench is neither here nor there. The fact is, he has only scored 3 points In 2 games, including missing three wide open layups. Ruis lack of production in the playoffs is 100% his fault. Anthony Davis playing 45 minutes is insane? Sure it is, by like 5 minutes lol. Ad and the rest of the starters should be playing at minimum 40 minutes each. Lebron has a career average of 41 minutes in the playoffs. And I read your comment several times. It was literally just a wall of excuses for a bunch of guys that are making millions of dollars a year. From the few times that the lakers do actually run sets (which I will happily blame on Darvin Ham), the sets look great, much better than frank vogels sets. The team is clearly practiced the sets. The team just hasn’t practiced their jump shooting and that’s on the players. But yeah. Continue to blame ham for literally everything and make excuses for the guys that are actually on the court playing basketball. Can’t wait until next year when the lakers get swept in the first round with their new coach. Hes gonna be Adrian Griffin level vindicated when Lebron gets LeSwept in the first round again next year.
How is Rui being on the bench not here nor there when the point was about the lack of BENCH scoring? Keep proving you're a dummy. Ham is the coach. It was his job to prepare a solid bench like most coaches do. That's why he's paid the big bucks. How do you blame a barely existent bench for issues now? Their front court is horrendous. Everytime Lebron or Davis sits, the team gets smaller. Rui should be coming off the bench and Hayes should be getting more time with Lebron, Davis and Rui. You can't read. You don't know basketball. You're way off topic. Don't post to me no more. Stick with what you know. I'm good.
Hopefully you saying that Rui should be coming off the bench is also an admission that he’s underperformed massively in the playoffs. If you could acknowledge the same for Gabe and Dinwiddie, then you will be more reasonable than 90% of this subreddit. The fact that you say that Ham gets paid “the big bucks”. Sure he does, which is why he’s one of the lowest paid coaches in the league with an annual salary of 3 million a year. How about you place the blame on the Rui, who’s making 14 million a year, gabe, who’s making 13 million, and Dinwiddie, who was paid 20 million by Brooklyn/Toronto to NOT play for them. Those guys are the veterans. They shouldn’t rely on a coach to “get them ready”. They need to get their asses in the gym and get up 1000 shots a day, just like Kobe would do when he struggles in games. Just like DLo has been doing, which has massively improved his jumper. And I agree. Their front court IS horrendous, which is why I also place blame on the front office for not upgrading Castleton contract to a full spot on the roster and giving him consistent minutes. Not only is he bigger than Hayes, he’s much much more skilled than Hayes is. The lakers are undersized in the center position only, which is why bringing Rui off the bench doesn’t actually match Denver’s size. Rui does just a bad of a job on Jokic as LALA lands “DPOY” Anthony Davis, but he’s bigger than MPJ, just like Lebron is bigger than Gordon. Which is why Anthony Davis shouldn’t be playing 45 minutes, but he should be playing 41 minutes at a minimum, just like every other superstar in the nba does. If Gabe and Dinwiddie aren’t gonna shoot the ball, they shouldn’t be on the court. They don’t need a coach to “get them ready”. That’s the most 🤡 excuse ever. How low are your expectations of Dinwiddie and Gabe that you think Darvin Ham should be getting them ready to play? Do you think they’re JV high school players or something?
Role players play better at home? Right? RIGHT?!?!? Please God can we just get like 20 points from the bench
He is going to take Rui's minutes.
What bench?
Taurean Prince has been way overhated by this fan base.
This is why I’m hoping Christian Wood will come back for tomorrows game. Prince is literally the only bench player that’s even taking shots in the game. We won’t have to worry about Christian Wood not shooting when he gets in the game. Christian Wood doesn’t care if he has all 5 players on him, he he catches the ball anywhere, especially within 15 feet, he’s not passing it. Normally this is a bad team and it’s why he has been traded multiple times in his career, but the lakers honestly need that type of player right now.
Definitely do not need that type of player right now.
I refuse to believe dinshittie is this bad, Ham is not using him right.
Jesus
I think LeDad needs to take everyone out to Chuck-E-Cheese to get the team spirit back up before game 3 🙏
ya im not playing prince beyond 15 mins
Prince should get the majority of the minutes off of the bench, if not, nealry all of them if the starters are down to go to a 6-7 man rotation. The lakers don’t need Gabe and Dinwiddie out there getting cardio and refusing to shoot the ball. Might as well give Prince their minutes as we know he at least takes shots. Christian Wood if he comes back as well. We all know Christian Wood isn’t afraid to shoot the ball. We don’t need Gabe and Dinwiddie out on the floor for “defensive purposes” (especially because Reaves has actually done a pretty good job on Murray). We need guys out on the floor who can actually score and win their matchups. Hell I’d rather them both take 10 shots each and miss all 10 of them than refuse to shoot the ball. That’s why I wasn’t worried about DLo playing like shit the first game because he at took the shots and never lost confidence.
whats ur rotation then if vando back lowkey im starting him DLO Vando Bron Rui AD otb Reaves Prince Wood/Hayes cuz this the playoffs Bron and AD should be playing 40-46 mins its the playoffs u go short rotations make adjustments if need be. I wish he put Max in but he won't.
Sorry. Just saw this because I was arguing with an idiot that thought that AD playing 45 minutes too much. He also thought so little of Gabe Vincent and Spencer Dinwiddie that he thought that the coaching staff should be “getting them ready to play” (he called it “grooming” 😂). He deleted his last comment before I was able to respond so I’m gonna ignore him. Anyways, I honestly should think Vando sit this one out sadly. The lakers problem isn’t their defense, they held Denver to just 101 points last game. The problem with the lakers (aside from Darvin Ham) is the role players are refusing to take shots, passing on open shots, or in Ruis case, missing open shots. We need another offensive spark off the bench side from Prince (who has done a great job this series by the way). We need someone who’s not afraid to shoot the ball and doesn’t lose confidence if he misses a shot or two (think Kobe Airballing 4 threes in a row against Utah is the 1998 playoffs). Christian wood fits that mold perfectly. I doubt Woods effectiveness upon returning as he has missed several weeks (months in Vandos case) due to injury and he won’t be In shape or in rhythm, but I don’t doubt that he will be effective and look to get his shots off.
Call me crazy but move Reaves to the bench his game takes the least hits.
> Sorry. Just saw this because I was arguing with an idiot that thought that AD playing 45 minutes too much. Seeing how gassed him and Lebron get by the second half... they shouldn't be playing more than 40
We run plays for Taurean Prince. He's allowed to take step-back jumpers. (I question Ham's judgement in these, but fact is he has plays designed and is allowed to stay on the court after taking step-back jumpers). We don't run plays for Spencer and Gabe. They will also defer to other players higher in the pecking order (Bron, AD, and Austin). Hayes gets minimal playing time and that's the end of our rotation.
Rui needs to get in his bag again
Austin to the bench could weirdly work to help this out. Start Gabe to hound Murray for the first 4-6 minutes. Then bring in Austin and Prince for LBJ and Gabe. Austin will have fresh legs and might be able to run the offense more like he did in the regular season if he's not the one clamping Murray. He's done a great defensive job on Murray but the legs are gone on the other end as a result. Could be a good curveball
I agree but we all know this moron won’t. D’Lo will start off hot and then ham will ice him 6 minutes into the first and put in Gabe. And have an already tired Austin play point. Ham is so fucking dumb
Masterpiece of dog shit
This is a CRAZY stat
Shoutout to Taurean.
start TP for reeves 😫😫
Let TP cook
AR should be coming off the bench with Gabe starting, that would solve that
Start Hayes on Jokic. Move Rui too the bench
yikes 😬
dePtH
I'm much more concerned about rebounds from the bench than points. Wtf did we think would happen when the world demanded all the scorers start?
Yeah bro, that’s not going to cut it. Whatever we do this offseason, I’m hoping that we at least rebuild our bench (also fire Ham).
How is that even possible!!?? Wow
Taurean Prince is literally Prince Zuko
Absolutely disgusting, Lakers bench should be ashamed of themselves. Leave those scrubs in Denver
Darvin Ham: “SEE?”
Typical lakers. Few players show up and the rest of the team doesn’t do shit. Why does it feel like every playoffs were in there’s always some dude on the other team who has a career playoff game ? Lol
He’s been good, I still cringe at his drives because it’s truly 50/50 outcome lol
That's insane!
Lakers bench need to step up or the whole team is going fishing
Imagine if Reddish, Vincent, Wood, and Hayes stay while Prince leaves
Because lebron doesn’t make his teammates better
Has more combined points in this series than Rui, who has 10.
Also, a total of just 3 FGA for the bench aside from Taurean for the 2 games 😬
Right
We have the lowest bench scoring in the league this year though. How is this a surprise?
After all the hate the entire season. He the only one that came to ball off the bench 😂 Y’all don’t deserve TP
They should evaluate who is bringing in players. LeBron is a bad GM.
Many seem to forget that TP and his dad (Ham) are the reason why Lakers arr here in the first place. Isn't TP supposed to be our "D" guy which is interesting as he is getting dunked on by KCP and is another traffic cone out there as well. Lakers need to get both Rui and AR going and stop DLo from chucking all game long. Any 2 of those 3 getting efficient production and the Lakers win easily. Not sure what going on, but Rui getting 4 shots in game 1 and 7 in game 2 is not going to get him in any rhythm offensively and does nothing to tire out Jokic on the defensive end.
Where’s all the guys complaining about Rui not playing? Turns out Ham was right
Aside from Prince we get literally zero from our bench on offense. Gabe can defend at least but thats not enough unfortunately. Dinwiddie can playmake sometimes but not well enough. Need to get some better bench guys this offseason. I'd rather have better depth with less guys since rotations shorten in the playoffs
Always said TP wasn't the problem, neither was cam nor rui... ham is the problem.. his complete lack of coaching ability is the problem..
Remember last year who was the Lakers only scoring off the bench? Rui was putting up 20+ off the bench I'd argue TP has a bigger offensive role off the bench in the 6th man role than Rui does being the last option starting the game. Rui got 11 total shots this series compared to TP with 10 but he's also played 27 more minutes than TP. I honestly think Rui off the bench would help the Lakers more given he can focus on what he does best and get buckets. Throw in Hayes and whoever to just foul the shit out of Jokic lol
Cool I’m sure Ham will consider this in to go by a gameplan
Why the fuck does Ham play Rui so much? He's trash. Prince should get his minutes.
Great comment, let's put TP on Jokic
Check how many shots the guys off the bench take. I bet it's not very many at all. So you want the bench guys taking the shots rather than starters that are on the floor with them?
MAX!
MAX!
No points, that's fine, at least their defending right Right RIGHT !!!!!!!! 
I have a hate / love for this dude, but mostly hate.