₦airaland Forum

Bucks are laying a smackdown on the Bulls

benji93:
Common. Do you really believe this?

Man's really trying to make us believe the Lakers front office was solely responsible. They just purposely offloaded the guy they drafted and Montrezl and KCP plus a future draft pick that could be useful in the future for no reason!!

Roland17:
Ajala pretty much assembled this team, anybody saying otherwise is a bloody liar. This is what upsets me with Ajala’s followers. When it works and is good, he is LeGM and all that, when it is sour and tasteless, oh, it’s someone else’s fault.

Before the Lakers moved for Westbrook, Ajala had a private phone call first with Westbrook before meeting Westbrook and AD privately, everyone and their mama knows this. Westbrook and AD met with Ajala in Ajala’s home in LA to discuss the move..After the conversation, Ajala told the Lakers of what he had put together and boom Westbrook was a Laker with pieces going different places…it is not be the first time Ajala was tapping up a player without any consequence in the league… so what the hell are we talking about here? All of a sudden, Ajala did not conjure this move?

The great Magic Johnson suggested a Lakers move for DeRozan after DeRozan’s agent hit Magic up about DeRozan’s interest to join the Lakers but he was pretty much turned away by Ajala when the idea was sold to him and that is because Ajala already had his stuff cooking with Westbrook. Now, while the DeRozan deal was not going to be possible, I admit because of serious cap issues, the underlying fact was that Ajala already conjured the idea and did what he wanted, he was running the show and it blew up in his face.

Rob Palinka had no idea about Westbrook becoming a Laker! We have seen how controlling Klutch is and how they have Rob’s numbers!

See link

https://sports.yahoo.com/report-russell-westbrook-met-lebron-142427784.html

Bronsexuals can only deceive themselves not we that know better. Who else will drink their Zobo?

Imagine claiming that Pelinka just brought Westbrook on his own without LeNomad's approval. Traded all their younger depth players because he suddenly had a man crush on Westbrook like Morey on Harden

Say na IQ, IQ ko Q-tip ni

Had they gone on to win now Bronsexuals would drool about how their man did the impossible winning with the guy everyone said couldn't win. Nick Wright, Shannon and all the millions and millions of Bronsexuals around the world would not have let us hear the last of it

Memberclub:
Conley is such a Fruad

Big time fraud. Mitchell has also been down tooling since getting that bag

Roland17:
Those who ruined the Lakers season from the start should stand up, raise their hands and be accountable. All these Vogel tirades is not the primary reason why the Lakers flopped. The Lakers hierarchy and ownership watched Ajala and Klutch sports control recruitment of players until they grew some balls to say NO. They differed to Ajala and the decision to pursue Westbrik instead of other options that would have given them more depth and quality but somehow, Ajala has stayed quiet about his failures. Lets not act like any of these cats wanted to play defense on any given night! They all approached the season with their respective agendas and it blew up in their face.

How 3 hall of famers failed to make it to the play in despite playing more minutes together than other combinations in a weaker conference needs an open inquiry.

No mind narrative shifters. When them dey denge po dey tell us make we keep same energy we no hear word.

When they were too cool for preseason wey dem suppose use blend we no hear anything

Shey na Pelinka bring Carmelo come?

The truth is Frank Vogel was the fall guy. Someone that had the Lakers as a top 5 defense suddenly forgot his bread and butter. Yeah right

Hohenheim:
Hornets fire Borrego, they need a coach that will give Melo the keys full time.

Borrego is a mid coach but their bigger or biggest issue is Melo taking that next step and improving his efficiency. They also need to find something to do about Rozier and Bridges, especially Rozier. Someone that inefficient cannot be your starter taking the second most shots or most shots

birdman:
Based on the beef with Pelinka, this appears not to be how it went down. Lebron just played along as usual Mr nice guy. Lebron likely also though he could incorporate westbrook, and it would all work out, like you said. oops

Bruh. Lebron cannot escape this smoke. Pelinka is the guy who mortgaged what was essentially their future to bring AD. Even if you absolve him of blame for DeRozan no way we're going to play like he wasn't a party to Westbrook's arrival. Same Westbrook that helped the Wizards to the playoffs? What was the common complaint? Wasn't it the fact that the Lakers had no one else to handle the ball whenever Lebron sat? Whatever you feel about Westbrook if you claim you expected he would be this bad I'm sorry that's cap

Suggesting that the Lakers traded their entire depth for Westbrook's albatross contract without Lebron's cosign is laughable. Pelinka's head would be on a pike if he acted unilaterally

Remember we have seen something similar before back in 18 where the Cavs had a midseason trade, even moving his guy D.Wade. difference was the Lakers had no cards to play. They had nothing! Who will take THT and Westbrook? Not even Detroit

Wheww, Mavericks dodged a bullet with the Jalen Brunson injury

birdman:
There was no allure. It was a boneheaded move by front office, and they tried to rope Lebron and AD in by spreading rumors that they wwere in on it. Same front office tried to spread rumors again that Lebron and AD were OK with not making a trade. That time around, Lebron kukuma raise voice because it was obvious Pelinka was trying to sneakily use Lebron as cover for his moves.

To me, the fact that Lebron never sat WB down and set him straight means Lebron was just going with the flow, trying not to offend.

Come on bro. If Lebron said let's run it back they would have run it back. Suggesting the Lakers would have gotten Russ without Lebron's approval is fallacy

I think the Lakers and especially Lebron really believed Westbrook would come and lighten the load of ball handling and facillitating. It would also be a feather on his cap to be the only guy to win with Russ. As the season went on it became evident that they have gotten themselves into more than they bargained for

FO as at all star game were at the point where they had no real moves to make, they had traded their depth and it made absolutely no sense to lose a pick for John Wall. They had no moves to make

Sitting down with WB would have been a waste of time. Lebron is a smart guy, he figured at some point in the season that he couldn't win with this guy and this guy was not wired to win. Westbrook is hard headed. But Lebron thought he was a project he could handle, He was dead wrong

The Mavs cannot miss from 3. Almost like the absence of Luka is helping them play team basketball. Ball movement is top notch

This is the craziest comeback I've ever seen, Wow. The bottlejob the T.Wolves did in the 4th was epic. Despite Ja and Dillon Brooks shooting 8 of 31

Roland17:
KAT just sabi fall pesin hand. Dude is way too emotional to stay focused and locked in. This is a very easy match up for him and I am disappointed he is not eating them like barbecue chicken!

I am worried about the Grizzlies offense, it is not diverse as many of the players can’t create offense on their own. Bane has kept them in this game with timely buckets from beyond the arc.

He's not that guy. Can't stress it enough. More skilled than past bigs Menenemenene

Roland17:
You mean 2023 right?

Naah. 2003

Interesting stat. Only 5 guys played all 82 games this season

Mikal Bridges led the league in total minutes played. He would be 36th in 2003

Khanben:
Booker and Middleton our for multiple weeks.

Nwora time!!

Khanben:
Looking at what the Celtics are doing to KD and Kyrie, this would not be happening to Lebron or even Luka. This idea that they will play pick up basketball in the playoffs without ball and player movement is laughable. Yesterday KD did not set one screen even though the Celtics made sure to contest every single entry pass made to him.

This is also a coaching issue. Which is why I find it so shocking that Steve Nash a HOF PG does not run any sets. It's basically OKC with KD and Westbrook all over again.

Again this is what happens when people keep pushing narrative of 'skills' instead of fundamentals. Which is what PGs of old have over this present bunch. Which is why you put CP3 with a bunch of mid players and the offense is still clicking

When people like Kyrie sef come out and say we don't need a coach. Media and hoop fans don too gas those boys and we're seeing the results

Roland17:
The Bulls have tied the series..

The Bucks are lacking something, not sure if it is the Bulls killing the excitement by slowing the game but they look indifferent and uninterested.

They really could have been down 0-2. Something has not been right with that team all season long.

DeeMain:
Veterans-superstars-role players-coach fit matters. That's the lesson.

I remember D.Wade and Lebron discussing how they settled for Bosh in forming the Miami big 3. They said they chose him specifically because they knew he was so cool headed and drama free and would complement them well.

Exactly. What was their allure to Westbrook? Maybe they thought he would realize the window for a title was closing and he would humble himself, turns out he is dangerously delusional and the more the season wore on the more it became clear he was not about that winning life

Middleton and Holiday shittin the bed as usual

Khanben:
The worst mistake the Nets will make is to leave Tatum or Brown 1v1 against Simmons on his return, both of them will cook him.
Nobody returns after not playing for 11months in game shape, so if they are thinking of playing him, it will have to be in the same mode as what Claxton is already doing for them.

The whole Simmons business and Brooklyn as a whole just chose distractions all season long. I am trusting Boston to put them out their misery

Android22:
Everything dropping for the Celtics in this one.

BKN need to win 4 of the next 5. I don't think they can sustain this without Simmons and a KD big game.

You're really banking on Simmons who has not played any basketball in almost 11 months

Kevin Durant having an absolute disasterclass. Only FTs are saving him

Boston can end this in 5 if they put their minds to it

DeeMain:
Vogel was not faultless. The report is that Vogel's flaws showed up once this team came together. Their were reports of him saying A and some people insisting on C.

An early example was, Vogel wanted to implement a policy of whoever rebounds the ball should bring the ball up the floor, but Russ insisted it was his job and would not budge no matter what and eventually had his way.

He could not handle the egos of the multiple galacticos. Cracks developed, feelings festered and he lost the authority and the dressing room not too long after.

Of course he was not entirely faultless but this is a veteran veteran team. They should have been able to police themselves

Those players quit on themselves. Remember when Fizdale stepped in, they were still losing

There was a lack of accountability from top to bottom. People were scared to get in each other's face instead passing subliminals to each other via the media

It's tough to do anything with that collection of players

Roland17:
I thought the Pelicans found something at the end of the 1st game. So what did they find? 2 actually..

1. They realized hey can compete on both boards for rebounds.

2. They realized, they have to run a very fast offense that does not allow the Suns to set their defense and that worked.

Despite Booker's spectacular 1st half, the Pelicans really stayed with it so I can't really say Booker's absence while important was the reason for the loss. Could they have won the game with Booker? Yes, I think so but I am also not going to discount the fact that the Pels were always around the corner. The Suns will still win this series but they are going to need Booker to stand any chance of returning to the conference finals. They need to end this series very quick so they can have some clarity regarding Booker's status.

They were down when Book got hurt though.

Make no mistake about it. They need Booker or they are going to lose this series. Mccollum is a proven guy in the playoffs and in the postseason you need at least 1 guy capable of going off. The Pelicans have 2 guys capable of scoring and generating offense by themselves. The problem for the Suns is they will now be over reliant on CP3 and knowing his injury history that is recipe for disaster.

The Suns better pray and hope Booker does not miss more than a game or two otherwise we could be in for an upset

Itsrm:
I cannot stand this Bruno in my team. Very little intelligence. Just lob it forward and insha Allah

@Lana1
Are you see what I saw?

WhoDeyHause:
“Mo Salah and Mane are fasting but Man Utd have made them feast, that’s Haram in Ramadan.” -Peter Drury.

Jesus. He really said that

Roland17:
You don see wetin I Dey talk wen I reason Jokic matter last week? His team mates don’t have the same kind of dog he has in a fight. These guys were missing rotations, strolling on the court, not contesting shots m, air balling and just lashing around with no intention. Jokic has seen a lot of that over the last two games and openly frustrated with his team mates and if you listen to M. Malone, he alluded to that without calling out certain players.

Jokic is not entirely free of blame. He's been substantially slowed down by Draymond Green who is 6'6. Can you imagine putting a 6'6 ninja on prime Hakeem

The team is just so lifeless and their two primary role players are looking like G-League level. Let's see if they can steal a game at the least. Would be a bit embarrassing to get swept twice

birdman:
Lakers got sloppy. The days of stacking superstars to get far in the playoffs are over. The league is sufficiently skilled, even role players like Maxey and Poole will light you up. And this generation of coaches are much better, they dont lean too much on defensive or offensive identities like the JVG, Larry Brown (defense) vs Don Nelson, Adelman (offense). They are very balanced, coach stingy and technical defense and their offensive playbooks start to look like football. For that same reason, Nash will be on the hot seat soon. All the Kyrie and Harden issues have covered his faults for now.

The problem was not stacking stars. It was not doing the work to build an identity and thinking the league would just roll over and fold because Lakers, they had this arrogance and assuming energy. You listened to their press conferences from LeNomad to AD to Westbrook. They took the warning signs for granted right from preseason where they lost every single game. That should have rung alarm bells but they stayed snoozing. I said it here that teams seemed to be intentionally raising their game just to humiliate the Lakers. This was kinda what Shaq was talking about. Though in a slightly different context, nobody was scared of this team

birdman:
Lakers entered this season believing they could ignore all this, just put 4 big names on the roster hoping it would all work out. I already told you at the beginning of the season that it wouldnt work - Westbrook cannot fit anywhere in today's league. Its hard to blame Vogel given all the injuries, but the rotation never really made sense. I guess he was trying to please players. I would have loved to see Fizdale imprint a defensive identity on the team. Maybe you cant keep up with the young legs, but you can slow things down and play some ugly.

And Lebron actually put in work last offseason. His offensive skill is as good as its ever been. But I think he was too nice guyish at the beginning and refused to address issues that were obvious to everyone watching. Me I learned lesson from it o, your skill is not enough if you cant make others follow your lead.

I don't know that anyone expected them to fail this badly. It's hard to convince me that you believed a team with AD, Lebron and Westbrook would not finish top 10 in the conference. Not even the most doomday scenario could have seen this happening. Vogel has already proven himself as an elite defensive coach when he had the personnel. The problem is the ingredients Pelinka handed him did not give the man a fighting chance

Lebron was caught up in proving he was still that guy and stopped defending, the man was launching 8 3's a game. Assist numbers dropped and this whole myth of how he makes others better was further rubbished this season. His usual passive aggressive vibe instead of being the bad guy with his chest like Kobe or the GOAT would do caused further issues. You recruited a guy you couldn't tame and get to buy in to what you were trying to achieve. It remains to be seen who gets Westbrook cause I wouldn't give away a tuber of yam for Westbrook

Thanos:
If only my Luka was fit. We would have swept this jazz team.

Someone is going to have to give Jalen Brunson a big bag if he keeps performing like this. Impressed by the Mavs fighting spirit. It would have been too easy to roll over and give up but Brunson and Kleber said to hell with that

Roland17:
This is a very tough and rough matchup for the Nuggets. They can’t stay focused and are losing their concentrations during games which led to points for the Nuggets. Their offense seems too labored and I can see a lot of frustration which is an evidence of a mentally broken team.

Don’t get it twisted, the Warriors are playing on another level. They are locked in right now with the way they are executing on both ends of the court. I am really worried about Jokic because there is no help or matched intention from his team mates.

If I'm Jokic I would strongly consider either demanding a trade or moving certain guys off the team. After looking at that Nuggets team it is abundantly clear that Jokic should be MVP. Cos no other player is beating that Warriors team with a supporting cast this bad

Aaron Gordon was shooting airballs from 12ft fgs

All that clown can do is dunk. He has no staple, no go to move to get to the rim, nothing

Incredible performance thus far from Jordan Poole. Arguably the best player in the playoffs thus far

joshboo:
Jrue still dey ok, but Middleton that was touted as batman is the most annoying and inconsistent player the game has ever seen. The bucks are that team though, they'll play nonsense and still scrap it through cos they have Giannis.

That is why I feel somehow when people call this Milwaukee a big 3.

My own issue with Middleton is his floor is unacceptable for a team that consistently wants to win. You can't oscillate from 36pts one game to 6pts the next. There should be a floor that no matter how bad the game you're having you should never fall beneath a certain level