Lakerholics

A Lakers Fan Community

Luka Doncic

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from Lakers’ Double Overtime Loss to Mavs

By 6 Comments

The Lakers started the second half of the season with a heart breaking double overtime 119–115 loss to the Mavericks in a game decided by a pair of game-saving threes by Luke Doncic and missed foul calls by the refs.

THE GOOD!

Lakers Almost Won Game …even though they were missing Davis, Reaves, Walker, and Beverley. The game showed the Lakers current roster can still compete and is worthy of the front office getting help via a major trade.

Free Throw, Fast Break, and Points-in-Paint …differentials were again big factors for the poor shooting Lakers, who won free throws differential by 8 points, fast break points by 10 points, and points-in-the-paint by 4 points.

Points Off Turnovers …was another positive for the Lakers, giving up only 7 points off just 10 total turnovers while scoring 18 points while causing 19 Mavericks’ turnovers, a differential of 11 points in Los Angeles’ favor.

Offensive Rebounding … also favored the Lakers, who grabbed 14 offensive rebounds to just 3 from the Mavericks. LeBron James led the way with 6 offensive boards while Wenyen Gabriel had 3 offensive rebounds.

Great Games from Gabriel and Nunn …Wenyen Gabriel had 14 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks, and was +9 for 33 minutes while Nunn had 12 points and a team-best +10 plus/minus in 18 minutes on the court.

Russell Westbrook’s Defense … on Luka was great and showed he could fill the Lakers’ need for a physical wing defender to slow down and limit bigger scorers. His physical defense on Luka was impressive.

THE BAD!

Missed Free Throws … were big reason Lakers lost last night’s game. While the Lakers did make 8 more free throws, they would not have lost this game had they just shot their normal 79.5% instead of just 63.0% from the line.

Poor 3-Point Shooting … put the Lakers in a situation where they had to play an almost perfect game to win against the Mavs. Lakers lost the 3-point shooting differential by 12 points, shooting a miserable 24.4% from deep.

Bad Game from LeBron … per his standards was another reason the Lakers lost. Though he played 47 minutes,, James had a tough shooting night, needing 28 shots for 24 points, 0–7 from deep, and 6–10 from the line.

THE UGLY!

Bad Game from Thomas Bryant … showed why the Lakers might still trade for a veteran center like Myles Turner. TB was outplayed a second straight time by a bigger and more athletic center in Mavs’ Christian Wood.

Horrible Game from the Refs … who did not blow their whistles on obvious fouls on Lakers’ shooters at end of regulation and first overtime. The worst officiated game I’ve seen this year with no consistency in calls.

Lakers-Mavs Christmas Day Recap! Luka Puts A Lump of Coal In The Lakers Stocking! With Joe Soro!

By Leave a Comment

We wish you a Merry Christmas as the Lakers head on a sleigh ride to Dallas to face off against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks. But the Lakers, after a strong first half, got DESTROYED in one of the worst 3rd quarters in Laker history and found themselves on the naughty list with an embarrassing 124-115 defeat. Tune in as Santa Gerald from Lakers Fast Break and McScrooge Joe Soro from lakersball.com/SynBlades.com share some season greetings on the game, and what happens when Joe’s cell signal runs out and Gerald has to go solo? What is our audience saying? We won’t try to put a lump of coal in your stocking on the latest Lakers Fast Break podcast!

Catch our LIVE Lakers Fast Break Watch Parties every game when you sign up to Playback.tv and head to our channel https://www.playback.tv/lakersfastbreak

Please Like, Share, and Subscribe to our channel and our social media @lakersfastbreak on Twitter. If you have questions for us give us a shout-out on Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook, or send us your thoughts to lakersfastbreak@yahoo.com.

Gear up with your favorite Lakers Fast Break shirts and gifts in our Pop Culture Cosmos TeePublic store at https://www.teepublic.com/user/pop-culture-cosmos

Presented by our friends at the Hoop Heads Podcast Network, NBA Draft Junkies, lakerholics.com, lakersball.com, Pop Culture Cosmos, Inside Sports Fantasy Football, Vampires and Vitae, SynBlades.com, YouTube’s John Mikaelian, the novel Congratulations, You Suck (available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble), The Happy Hoarder, and Retro City Games!

Lakers Fast Break – Lakers/Mavericks Scrimmage Post-Game Show with LT!

By 2 Comments

LakerTom from lakerholics.com stops by to talk with Gerald about the good and bad with the Lakers’ first scrimmage against the Dallas Mavericks. They go over what went right for the team in the first half, and what needs to be worked on in practice before the season resumes.

Plus the guys break down the performances of many of the Laker players and what can be built upon moving forward on this post-game recap here on the Lakers Fast Break podcast! Check out all our episodes at https://anchor.fm/lakers-fast-break or on the Lakers Fast Break channel wherever you get your podcasts!

Who’ll Take the Throne from LeBron? Can Luka Doncic Make the Big Leap?

By 1 Comment

This is the 5th in a series of six articles about the top NBA superstars who hope to dethrone King James as the best player on the planet over the next decade. Here are links to our four previous articles covering Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, and Anthony Davis.

Luka Doncic looks more like the NBA version of ‘White Men Can’t Jump’ than a legit candidate to defeat an elite cast of athletically gifted superstars like Giannis, Kawhi, and KD to become best player of the next decade.

But looks can be deceiving and the 6′ 7″, 230 lb 21-year old Luka’s dramatic rise to superstar status and head-to-head exploits against proven superstars like LeBron, Giannis, and Kawhi in two short seasons have turned heads. Luka could finish the decade in the heart of his prime while competitors could be winding down their careers, bolstering the idea Doncic could be the dark horse winner in the race to be king of the NBA for the 2020’s.

To reach those heights, the Luka and KP Mavericks are going to have show they have the talent and drive to compete with championship competitors in the Wild West like the LeBron and AD Lakers and Kawhi and PG Clippers. The road for Luka Doncic to earn the title of king of the next decade not only requires multiple MVP awards and multiple NBA championships for the Dallas Mavs but also goes directly through the city of Los Angeles.

Luka Doncic is already putting up near triple-double superstar numbers in only his second season and nobody really knows how high his ceiling as a player may be since he is still only just 21-years old and not near his peak. Already averaging 28.7 points, 9.3 rebounds, 8,7 assists, Luka’s best could be something we haven’t seen in today’s modern NBA and could set new standards for what qualifies as superstar performance in the future.

While he might lack the supernatural physical talent of other candidates competing for king of the 2020’s, Luka Doncic with his savvy court sense and smarts might turn out to be the best basketball player of the decade.