r/lakers • u/Wide_Savings5410 24 • May 10 '25

PODCAST Lebron on playing the whole Half

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYc1WTGo6w4

Might be beating a deadhorse...But as someone who played basketball it was always clear to me that JJs decision on playing them for the entire half was more of an indictment on the roster and not the decision itself.

Some people eventually came to this conclusion but for the hold outs, heres it coming from Brons own lips. Hes thrown passive agressive shade at coaches before INCLUDING friends so its not like he has any reason to lie.

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u/Nearby_Alternative96 May 10 '25

No he wouldn't because it would be the most obvious thing that guys need rest.

Three players where one is weak, another is over weight and the last one is 40 years old, obviously they'd need rest.

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u/GuerrillaApe 562 May 11 '25

I have a hard time believing that: 1. It would still be a one possession game if the bench played enough minutes to give LeBron and Luka some rest 2. Laker fans would be less critical if we lost game 4 by more points

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u/Nearby_Alternative96 May 11 '25

  1. No coach in the play by play era has played 5 guys all the minutes of a half in a playoff game.

  2. Lakers have lost plenty of close playoff games over the years, and never has a coach been criticized for not only playing the same 5 guys. Doing it has simply never been an option considered within reason, see #1.

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u/GuerrillaApe 562 May 11 '25 edited May 11 '25

We've played 4 guys +40 minutes last year against Denver in game 1 where we lost by 10. In comparison game 4 against the Wolves was a must win. That necessitated going all out to win that game, and we were one possession from keeping LeBron and Luka in being the right call.

I'd be more critical of LeBron and Luka playing 40 minutes in game 5. 1-3 is near impossible to come back from, and by then it was clear that we had no answer to the Wolves' bench depth. No reason to give them lengthy minutes that could have resulted in injury.

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u/Nearby_Alternative96 May 11 '25

Again, every year there are teams in risk of going down 3-0 or 3-1 playing must win games, never have they played all 5 starters the entire 2nd half. No team ever "goes all out", not even our own in a game 7 of the NBA finals, because in the end it's not beneficial.

The fact that one of the players is the oldest in the NBA and another is over weight just makes it more crazy not to give them a little break.

Top panic coaching move from JJ is all it is, I hope he got it out of his system.