5 Things: More History in a Loss

LeBron James did something few thought possible. He passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the NBA All-Time Scoring list and now stands alone atop a pile of some of the best buvket-getters to ever lace them up. What this accomplishments means is something best left to the scholars. For myself, I did get a bit emotional not just because of what it must mean to a person to break a record like that but also because Kareem has always been my favorite player. I like that he’s brusque, focused on things more off the court than on and he had an unstoppable shot nobody has been able to replicate. Like many things of his era Cap was one of a kind.

1. Kareem’s legacy is one of repetitive excellence conducted amongst swirling chaos around him. But his space that he occupies is both controlled and fluid. He rarely scored quickly, always measured. His game was forged from his time spent at UCLA under Coach Wooden, his sparring sessions with the legendary Bruce Lee, and a lifetime of fighting against racial and religious stereotypes. He alienated many on his journey, something that many believe is why he’s not more celebrated. I think it’s simpler: he was too good at what he did and if you can’t copy greatness it’s not celebrated to the same degree. Take Edie Van Halen, his way of playing guitar was once unique but then was able to be replicated to a large degree by many others. Same with Michael “Air” Jordan. While he made his name dunking the ball from the free throw line he became a legend because of his fade away jump shot. Lots of players use the same move to create space to this day. LeBron broke the record using that shot. Nobody can shoot the Skyhook and few try. So it will will one day pass from all knowledge and existence save for clips some media producer chooses to show on TV or the internet.
2. LeBron’s legacy is one built on power, ferocity and a sustained level of efficiency rare for a modern NBA player. LeBron came into the league with more expectations than perhaps any player in NBA history up to that point. This will likely be surpassed this summer when Victor Wembanyana dons a cap from one team or another when he’s selected first. LeBron’s game came with holes at the beginning. He always was a willing passer but had to grow as both a defender and scorer. He made his early living punishing people in the paint by simply jumping over them. He made a career by adding to his game over time like all the greats have done. He also had the benefit of modern sport medicine and so on to aid in extending his career. The same could be said for any player in any era several years removed from the last time a record was broken and it still takes the dedication of time and energy to go through the process. At any rate, I got emotional seeing the awkward exchange being The Captain and The King, two men who have some differences of opinion but share an appreciation for each other’s skill and accomplishment.
3. Coach Ham needs to cut down on his learning process and fast. We had bad match ups far too often last night playing our older, smaller guys too much (Schroder in particular was devastatingly bad last night just giving the ball away a few times and missing all 5 of his three pointers, he looked slow most of the game except a couple of times he used a burst of speed to shake loose for layups). Coach Ham evidently doesn’t believe in extending the game in order to win because he left two time outs in the chamber when we needed to lengthen the game by a few seconds to even have a shot. Despite the make up of OKC (long, athletic, fast) we didn’t play Wenyan Gabriel or Max Christie a single minute and barely played Reaves (the latter making his first appearance after a lengthy stint on the IL). I can understand not playing Austin too much, he didn’t have much of anything going in his 7 minutes, but we needed someone to counter the length of OKC but we stayed with our small ball line up. Again.
4. Too many turnovers. 20 with Russ leading the way with 6 but every starter had at least two and both our starting guards (who are PGs by trade) had 3. LeBron wasn’t far behind Russ with 4. Still, the Lakers were the better team in capitalizing points off turnovers the costliest TO was Dennis when he basically just let Shai take the ball away from him while he dithered on the perimeter.
5. Anthony Davis has to defend and rebound if he isn’t going to score. AD was an after thought in this game and that can’t happen. 9 shots (made 6) and 8 boards along with a steal and a block all look OK. My issue was his overall lack of aggression, he just kind of floated from one end to the other, wasn’t assertive and didn’t do much to alter the outcome of the game.

Wasting history seems to be the Laker M.O. these days. The crowd was amped, we were playing a team we need to pass, and we kind of showed up. That is absolutely unacceptable. LeBron showed up, Russ showed up, PatBev showed up as much as he is able (which isn’t enough to justify $13 mil, IMO) and Rui showed up. That’s not a team that’s most of a line up. Guys made baskets but didn’t defend the three point line at all. The defense has fallen off a cliff since the calendar turned to 2023. Not winning anything with anyone that way.