Last night I went to the Lakers vs Raptors game at the staples center. I admit that this was the first Laker game I've attended in the Lebron era, and am sad to report that it may have been too late.
The Lebron I saw last night was not the best player on his team, let alone in the league. His offense was nothing special: a few nice hard drives to the hole, but far short of spectacular. His outside shooting was terrible and out of rhythm.
But his offense wasn't the issue, it was on the defensive end where things looked off. He made a few nice stops and had one of his signature come-from-behind blocks, but this was overshadowed by his overall lethargy and lack of activity. He didn't close out quickly on shooters, have his hands dipping into passing lanes, or seem active. Despite having a triple double, his impact seemed net negative, and this turned out to be true from his real plus minus of negative 6 for the game. Maybe the Raptors are better than I expected, even without Kawhi. Time will tell.
It's normal to see players get larger over time. Lebron looks huge, not quite like the same guy that once caught a bad lob pass nearly 13 feet off the ground. He looked slow, and unwilling to take contact on the defensive end. If there was a 50:50 ball, it's odds were more like 10:90 in the wrong direction.
Lakers needs a real point guard, or this experiment is going to fail. And Lebron needs to guard bigger, slower players if they are to be successful on the defensive end.
I am sad I never got to see Lebron play, live, in his prime. But I saw enough last night to know the Lakers need to be honest with themselves if they hope to salvage a deep playoff or championship run.
Jay from #Bigmouth, sleight of hand artist, subject of the the documentary film 'The Magic Life', businessman, philosopher, Jew.
