Run it Back! NBA Week in Review, LA Lakers - Week #25+

[00:00:00] The final week, week 25 of the 23-24 NBA season is in the books which means it's time to run it back.

[00:00:09] This is Run It Back NBA Week in Review LA Lakers Edition. I'm Brandon Sparks, writer at ThePeachBasket.net and your host.

[00:00:17] This is the show where we recap the week that was for the Los Angeles Lakers and then highlight their marquee matchup for the week to come.

[00:00:25] Let's start by looking at where the team lands on the PeachBasket's objective power rankings this week.

[00:00:31] The Lakers overall went up another two spots on our power rankings to number 10 overall going from number 15 to number 10 in the past month.

[00:00:40] The Lakers finished the week at 2-2 after some unfortunately timed sicknesses to Davis and LeBron and injury that had a significant playing factor in the Lakers losing to Golden State and the Timberwolves.

[00:00:54] But the Lakers finished the season at the number 8 seed and we play the New Orleans Pelicans in the playing game on Tuesday.

[00:01:04] Let's start with the Timberwolves game. The Timberwolves game seemed to have just everything go wrong for the Lakers.

[00:01:10] Davis left the game in the first quarter with an eye injury once again and LeBron was sick and he didn't even show up to the game.

[00:01:18] And on top of that Dilo just had a very rough shooting night going 5 for 19 and 1 for 7 from 3.

[00:01:26] And then Nas-Reed once again absolutely ripped the Lakers apart. He scored 31 points with Kat still out of the lineup and Davis not around to provide his defense.

[00:01:38] The only shining factor from the game was seeing Rui shine once again scoring 30 points in a game that just never seemed close.

[00:01:48] The Warriors game was complete insanity as Davis was out with a sickness this time along with the Warriors just seemingly reverting back to the 2016 Warriors.

[00:01:58] Clay, Curry and Dremon all hit 5 plus 3's which they have never done altogether in a game I believe.

[00:02:05] It is also the first time Dremon has hit 5 3's since 2017. That is 7 years ago.

[00:02:15] The entire Warriors team hit 26 3's a season high and only 2 3's away from tying the record in 3's made in a game.

[00:02:25] No team has ever shot as well as they did with a minimum of 40 attempts. The Warriors shot 26 for 41 from 3 which is 63.4%.

[00:02:36] Even with LeBron back in the lineup and giving it his all, it just wasn't enough to stop the bombardment of 3's from the Warriors.

[00:02:43] And not having Anthony Davis along with just another poor shooting night from Dilo just did not help.

[00:02:49] So with 2 losses back to back, any chance that the Lakers making it out of the play-in was completely gone.

[00:02:54] But if they could win the next 2 and with some lucky losses from the Kings who are still missing Malik Monk and Kevin Herter, they can make it to the 8 seed.

[00:03:04] And the Grizzlies game happened. The Grizzly game was way too close for no reason and it was one of the most frustrating games to watch as a Lakers fan.

[00:03:13] Rui in the interview after the game explained that the Lakers just played some of the worst basketball they have played this season and that everyone was just fooling around and not taking the game seriously.

[00:03:23] Now as a fan, that sounds terrible but I slightly understand considering that the Grizzlies were running players that were from the G League.

[00:03:34] But they completely out hustled the Lakers and they were actually up in the 4th quarter.

[00:03:39] But a late surge from LeBron helped the Lakers to win and that the team just desperately required.

[00:03:46] If we lost that game, we would be either the 9 seed or the 10 seed and we would have had to win 2 play-in games and there's just no way.

[00:03:53] We could have done it but it would have been really hard and we prefer not to do that.

[00:03:59] The Pelicans game was some of the best basketball the Lakers have played all season which is a complete switch from the Grizzlies game.

[00:04:05] Darvin Ham decided to coach today, he was running great plays that allowed for some easy dunks.

[00:04:11] LeBron Davis pick and roll was amazing and LeBron ended the game with 17 assists which is just insane.

[00:04:18] He channeled Magic Johnson. Dilo also returned to form and hit some great shots so nothing could just go wrong for the Lakers this game

[00:04:26] and they completely dominated the Pelicans even with Brandon Ingram returning to the lineup, earning themselves the 8 seed

[00:04:32] and another game against Norleens on Tuesday for the play-in.

[00:04:36] So Lakers don't even have to travel, they can just stay in Norleens for the play-in.

[00:04:42] And the only problem is if the Lakers do win, they got to play Denver in the first round as Denver got the 2 seed.

[00:04:50] But we'll talk about that later. Let's talk about the top performers, the best to do it in key categories for the Lakers this week.

[00:04:56] LeBron James had another amazing week as he led the team in points with an average of 32.7.

[00:05:03] Austin Reeves led the team in 3 pointers made with 3 on average as Dilo just had a very off shooting week since he usually dominates that category.

[00:05:13] LeBron also had 12.7 fugles made on average which was the most on the team.

[00:05:18] AD averaged 9.7 rebounds with 3.7 offensive rebounds and these numbers are down for AD mostly for missing a game and exiting early in the first quarter for the Tim Wolves game.

[00:05:31] And LeBron makes a surprise appearance as he averaged 7.3 defensive rebounds for the team. He was just doing it all. LeBron James eliminated assists on average this week, 17 against the Pelicans.

[00:05:43] Austin Reeves and Jackson Hayes led the team in blocks with just a little under 1.8. LeBron led the team in steals as well with 3 on average for the week and the best game score averaged for the Lakers this week goes to LeBron at a staggering 31.6.

[00:06:03] Alright let's move on to the week ahead. The week ahead can go so many ways. The Lakers play the Pelicans on Tuesday for the 7th seed while the Kings and the Warriors play for the chance at the 8th seed.

[00:06:15] If the Lakers lose to the Pelicans they play the winner of the Warriors Kings for the 8th seed. If the Lakers do win against the Pelicans they'll earn the 7th seed and will play the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs.

[00:06:29] If the Lakers lose and then win against either the Kings or the Warriors they would play Oklahoma City in the first round.

[00:06:37] And there are debates on if the Lakers should purpose they lose or just sit LeBron and Davis for the Pelicans game as Davis did leave the Pelicans game on Sunday with some back spasms.

[00:06:50] So there was a possibility he could sit anyways but I highly doubt that will happen.

[00:06:56] But there is debates on if they should sit LeBron and Davis for the Pelicans game on Tuesday because they do not want to play Denver in the beginning of the playoffs and would much rather play Oklahoma City.

[00:07:07] And I can see the reasoning behind that however we will have to go through them no matter what as they are clearly the best team in the west.

[00:07:15] I don't see anyone coming close to beating Denver and they are very playoff ready.

[00:07:20] Plenty of veterans obviously as they just won the championship last year and just overall well put together and just ready for a playoffs championship unlike the young teams of Minnesota and OKC.

[00:07:34] So I think it is best for the Lakers to play against the Pelicans and win which we know we can do already to earn the 7th seed as we do not want to gamble.

[00:07:44] We haven't beaten the Kings once this season so Bonas completely dominates against Davis and the Warriors can just put on another shooting clinic possibly they have the greatest shooter ever created along with Clay Thompson who is really finding his stride right now.

[00:07:58] So the Warriors can just put on another shooting clinic to beat us in the second playing game.

[00:08:04] So taking a chance against one of those teams compared to just beating the Pelicans especially when the Kings or the Warriors will have a momentum from just winning the first playing game.

[00:08:14] It's just way too risky. Playing Denver in the first round will be extremely tough obviously we have not beaten them in the past eight match ups now.

[00:08:23] I believe we played them four times this season. So it's it's unlikely obviously as they are the defending champions but I think we will give them a run for our for their money and I think.

[00:08:35] We'll make some waves. I don't see us winning the series all together but.

[00:08:44] It is what it is so the first game is on Saturday in Denver. I see the Lakers going one in one this week. The win against the Pelicans after dominating them on Sunday and then they will lose game one against Denver in Denver.

[00:08:59] Let's move on to full court press. I will end with a quick look at Lakers news we call this full court press I just type in L.A. Lakers and see if anything interesting and worth talking about comes up on page one.

[00:09:09] Today this article on Belichia report caught my eye. NBA GM projects Lakers trade Anthony Davis to Nix saying you can get a huge haul. This is by Julia Stumbow. I hope I said that right.

[00:09:27] But if the Lakers decide to move on from All-Star Center Anthony Davis one NBA general manager believes that Nix would be their best trade partner.

[00:09:37] And I can kind of see this they have a lot of money they have a lot of picks and they can trade Julius Randall. Do we really want that though definitely not.

[00:09:46] I could see the Lakers trying to reset but I don't see them trying to do that till a brawn. If the brawn is playing as good as he is right now there's no way we give him up.

[00:09:59] We don't give him up but we give up on the chance of a championship and trade his partner in crime basically for a bunch of picks and Julius Randall.

[00:10:12] There is no way we do that especially since we just signed Davis to an extension. It's a huge extension but considering he just played some of the best basketball of his career this season and played the most games in his career this season

[00:10:25] there's no way we can give up on him at this point especially for such a small haul like even if the Nix can give us like a good amount of picks it doesn't matter.

[00:10:34] There's nothing that can match up to what Davis has been doing this season. And that's it that's all I got for that one. It is an interesting trade considering all the picks we get but that it's only if we're willing to just completely blow up the team and just restart from the beginning

[00:10:52] and give up on Davis and the brawn. Maybe the brawn leaves and goes plays with wherever brawn he ends up going or something else or the brawn just ends up you know just leaving the team in general but I highly doubt that.

[00:11:07] As he just enjoys playing for the Lakers he enjoys LA he doesn't want to uproot his family to go wherever he wants to go so that's all I got for that article.

[00:11:19] And that's it the Lakers 23-24 NBA season is wrapped. Join us next week after the play in and game one when we once again run it back.