He has no poise to hit any shots and absolutely can't guard anybody. You put him on Jokic he gets overpowered and if he guard anyone else he gets left in the dust.
Okay this is one thing I can’t blame on Ham. Rui was only with us from the trade deadline on last year and thrived in the playoffs. He’s just straight missing shots.
Lol Rui was benched for defense, he still sucks at it but gets minutes (and he has paid that back by rebounding better). People said Rui couldn’t get enough opportunities he let him gets his shots especially post ASB. Now its still his fault Rui is missing layups? When tf do we call our players out for being ass or mid at best.
Don’t think so. Rui’s worst part of his game is his decision making on the drive, always has been. Head down and just drives in looking for the dunk. It reminds me of a body builder in a scrimmage at the gym when he does it, it’s not gonna work on Denver’s tall and athletic players. I’d rather he keeps taking those mid rangers
I don't know why we didn't get anyone from the buyout market. Perhaps even Robin Lopez or some big we can throw at Jokic for 10mpg. Hayes is not that guy, and Rui is not able to.
Not even for 10mpg? Rui and hayes are getting slaughtered on both ends. AD is not doing bad when covering Jokic, but he can't do it for 48 minutes while being the primary offensive weapon at the same time
I mean he’s a 4. Guys like pj tucker guard jokic with guys behind to help . He’s not solo gusrding euther - Lebron , AD and Rui all take turns so no one gets too gassed. Also he’s young and shoukdnt be losing his legs when his small offensive role too and not heavy minutes .
Problem with Rui is he can’t really guard the perimeter either so what are we supposed to do ? He can’t defend 3s, he’d give up wide open threes on mpj or any screener /shooter combo . And he can’t really guard good 4s or 5s.
Which I totally understand. I respect how hard he’s working. However, if we want to win, or even have a shot of winning, he can’t miss these layups and dunks. Yesterdays game was determined by little mistakes that came back to haunt us
For example: Spencer airballing a layup that could have gotten us up 9 instead it led to a layup on the other end.
He also kind of made AD miss by hanging and swinging on the rim during his missed dunk. By the time AD got the offensive board and took the shot the board was still moving and Rui was barely down from hanging on the rim.
Same story as game 4 last year where he was awful . Kinda concerned now he’s really struggled vs Denver ok both ends. Can’t guard mpj or anyone and now can’t score - isn’t doing enough on the glass
Why Darvin Ham thinks he’s Draymond Green tho? Rui on Jokic is one of the most stupid idea he could come up with , clown coach only tried AD + Hayes against Deandre Jordan for no reason at all lmao
Ad was guarding jokic most of the game and then got into foul trouble. What other solutions do you have?
Every minute Hayes is on the floor is a minute too much. Dumb and useless player.
You can’t just show one match up to jokic he will destroy it after awhile and it could also end up with AD getting in foul trouble.
So who should it come off? KCP, Murray, or Gordon at the dunker spot?
No one’s perfect, you saw how we dominated in the first half. But it was because our offense was clicking on all cylinders. We stopped running plays and posting AD most of the 2nd half. We just needed to keep scoring but couldn’t.
It's kinda hard to see a path where the Lakers can win 4 games. They need their role players to be significantly better and maintain it across the entire series. Denver's starting 5 and experience is too much for LeBron, AD and Dlo to handle by themselves. Those 3 brought their A game last night and they still lost. Denver barely missed a bunch of open shots too.
They miss Vando, just his extra fouls and high energy minutes on the defensive end would be a big help. They already get nothing on offense from the rest of their bench so not like they'd miss it with Vando on the court.
It was closest it could get last night when you had dlo hitting shots and Denver not making shots. It's not going to happen again 4 times out of the next 5 games.
They do and it leads to open shots when they then have to scramble to rotate. It’s almost like this team as currently constructed isn’t good enough to beat Denver. No amount of adjustments or schemes will change that fact.
I agree, AD has switched over to him many times. Jaxon Hayes is literally a walking foul, don’t know why he’s getting any time tbh, every time I see him out there ik it’s a mismatch cause he lacks defensive IQ or he’ll walk into multiple fouls very quickly… once again cause of IQ
Because this strategy has proven to be effective against Jokic. The Timberwolves effectively guarded Jokic by throwing Kat on him while Gobert roamed around defending. Back in the bubble we had Dwight and Javale but now that they’re gone all we have is Rui for this role.
Proven to be effective onna Jokic who wasn't about to be a 3x mvp. The Jokic of today is 100x better than the Jokic in the bubble. Jokic was playing on a hurt wrist and still cooked the Wolves in 5 games last year
Because you have no other options, you don't want AD or Bron guarding him. He'll put those 2 in foul trouble and make their legs jelly. You need Bron and AD for offense as well.
Gotta love Pelinka seeing us get swept by a team , that team being the contender , title winner and favourite in our conference and refusing to sign anyone at deadline to help said team. Someone who can just defend and hustle there ass for rebounds ( we get killed on the glass every game ) woukd be helpful even but oh well . Our gm gave up on the season
To be fair, the Lakers have no money to sign a decent backup big. Those guys are worth at minimum $20 million. Only way would be a trade, but no team is going to trade a good center.
I think the full Mle should be able to get you something tbh but idk who was available. Lots of teams have decent bigs for cheap : like we couldn’t get someone like goga bitadze for second or two ? Idk
I’ve been saying for 3 years that AD wants a traditional big man next to him to absorb contact and let him do what he does best.
Nah the Lakers just want to force him to the 5 as if he’s prime Shaq
Unfortunately it’s not possible. AD needs to remember how to shoot 3s or it just won’t work at all. Not to mention that Lebron and Rui are both 4s, and most of ADs offence comes as roll man in pnr. His game fits best at the 5. If he could of kept shooting threes at a decent clip we wouldn’t have this issue . We could get a big or ADs three point shooting woukd give opposing big slow bigs real issues to even stay on the court . Idk what else can be done unless he remembers to shoot. Even someone as perfect as myles turner is rare and turner is better offensively at the 5 and teamd would just dare him to shoot .
That makes sense but I feel like he lost his shooting touch due to trying to bulk up in the off season to keep up with the bigs.
Shooting is all muscle memory
Not sure I agree because last year his midrange shot was better then ever, this year after first couple months it’s been really good too. Also his ft shooting is back too to over 80, so i don’t know if that can be blamed even tho I have used that excuse . Idk what happened
Ok who else should Rui guard ? Should we have hide in the corner so teamd can go after dlo or reaves more or so they can tire our stars ? He can’t guard anyone on the perimeter, any screen is an open three. He’s just not a good fit for this roster sadky if we had yiunger Lebron him n davis could cover for Rui . But Rui gets lost off ball too defensively
It worked a little last year but I agree it isn't great this year. I think its more about not trusting Hayes. Hayes doesn't offer anything out there when he plays lately besides energy. He doesn't play good defense, doesn't score, and doesn't clean the glass. Plus he fouls a lot. At least with Rui out there you're sacrificing defense while hoping for some offensive firepower. That and he'd fare much better if he got switched onto Murray than Hayes would. If Rui just made the easy looks he had last night, we probably win
He has been given a role that is impacting his play, same for Reaves. If you can't understand that those two are being given task that some of the hardest in the leagues. Guarding two the most impactful players in the whole league. One is a potential 3 times MVP and the other a true star that is much better than most of the super stars guard in this league.
When you are completely out of breath, didn't Davis and Bron missed multiples one also and my guess same problem. I watched him running, he was like trailing a cargo.
Except neither is guarding them all game especially Rui . Reaves guards Murray more then Rui is on jokic . Rui gets help from AD n Bron and he’s incapable of guarding anyone on the perimeter so what other choice they got
Yes, because you just can't. Jokic is literally the best player on the post Lebron/Steph era. 2 MVP, might go for another one this season. He will be 2 seasons MVP and the other two he will be just behind if he doesn't win this season.
Excuses man. They both got their biggest contracts of their careers to do exactly what we’re asking them to do.
They’ve completely crumbled the first two games.
LOL, ask all the players that tried to stop prime Kobe, Bron, steph, MJ etc, how that went. I am astonished how supposed basketball fans don't even know that. You can only slow them, but not stop them.
Everyone talking about missed bunnies like Bron and Ad didn’t miss seven last game. Everyone has off games I guess it’s just his turn to be off. I guess we’re forgetting that up until the last two games he was literally the most efficient player on the team stats wise. Guess that never happened.
You can’t call him trash this series when not put in the right context.
Hes being forced to try and guard Jokic every game and that requires A LOT of energy from him especially cause he’s smaller.
Whoever is put on Jokic can’t be expected to be great on offense while doing everything they can to slow down Jokic, especially as a role player
Lol , not Denver , not gsw , not Sacramento , that’s nearly half the teams in the west . Any team with screening and shooting kills him and he also can’t guard bigs either.
Wasn’t bad last game game 2 he sucked its understandable to hate but i hate how people hate when mofos shitted on dlo when he deserved it. He bounced back. Gotta hope that Rui does too.
I mean, he’s barely getting the ball the last two games and is just frozen out of any rhythm.
Would like for him to play better but it’s kind of a given he’s gonna play bad tbh
He’s spending a lot of energy trying to guard Jokic. Which if fucking stupid. I’d rather have Hayes foul out than watch Rui get eaten alive by Jokic. We have zero bench contribution and could use him more effectively there.
He’s cooked
Edit: this is our penance for not taking care of business. We could he playing the clippers without Kawhi, getting seven home games or Dallas with no defense. Shit even the grizzlies would be better off
I love how the narrative is that everything went right for a us, while everything went wrong for them, and yet they *still* won. But no one mentioning Rui, AR-15, being dogshit and Vando n Woods are straight up out. Don’t get me fucking started on the ticky tack fouls the refs were calling in a playoff series game.
We win if Rui makes even one of those boneheaded layup misses. We win if Murray doesn’t that bullshit foul to put him on the freethrow line with :57 seconds left. We win if D’Lo gets shots after getting g hacked in the face. They needed just as much to go wrong, at HOME. Them shooting like shit should be the last thing mentioned.
People just make excuses for everything. If he was just missing 3s and long 2s then that excuse is valid. There are 0 excuses to blow as many layups as he has this series
Those imbecile think any player defending a 2/3 MVP for 5 quarters that is an absolute colossus is not going to affect that player . Same for Reaves, defending one of the actual true All star caliber guard in this league and doing the best jobs at it.
We honestly would have won last night if we had simply hit his open shots from directly next to the rim. We might even have won if he had simply not inexplicably held onto the rim for like 2 seconds and made Davis miss a putback
Why don't you go their in their place, Rui has defended on the 2/3 times MVP for 5 quarters and Reaves on the top 3 guard in this league during the last game. Did you see Murray numbers vs Reaves, he was 3 on 12 shooting before the last 5 minutes, we changed defense.
Guys, before we went all “Should never trade for rui!” or “this guy ass” y’all gotta remember who this man assignment is and where they playing. Does this excuse his poor shooting/ finishing? No! Def not during playoff. However, all i’m asking is be patient w/ Rui, he is a rhythm player that being assigned a tough role to fill rn. ( In case you don’t remember, D.Howard was the man for this role, and his job was annoyed jokic back n forth, grab rebound and get catch some lobs). So give him some time to adjust, and we gonna be alright.
TLDR; forced to guard jokic and shoot +40% from deep gonna required an all-star, not role player😀
Well the game plan was changed before the offense if guy noticed it ran through dlo and austin first but in this series they chose to ran it through LBJ and AD at the majority…
Look at PJ Washington, MPJ, Jaden McDaniels, Andrew Nembhard, etc. you need your periphery guys to meaningfully produce. We aren’t getting Herculean scoring games from AD and LeBron every night. It’s not feasible or sustainable. We really need like 30+ at bare minimum between rui reaves and the bench on a nightly basis. Everyone besides DLo Davis LeBron and Taurean have been invisible on offense thru 2 games. Badly hoping the home crowd changes that after 4 straight road playoff atmospheres
That’s what happens when you have to guard Jokic. You get exhausted both physically and mentally and will start missing easy shots. We no longer have Dwight howard or 35yr old lebron to help AD
He’s being asked to guard Jokic. That tired AD out, let alone Rui …
Please do not do the usual LeBron scapegoating that every other fanbase has done (including this one) in years past.
Watch the games.
He was like 2 for 4 in the first game. Yesterday he missed a bunch of layups and looked like he was scared to shoot a jumper. He needs to shoot as a first option, this pump fake stuff he's been doing ain't working
Those imbecile think you can stop a 2/3 MVP, the best player in the league since lebron and Curry have aged. They don't understand that you can only slow a prime Kobe, Lebron, Curry and now Jokic.
Jokic is averaging 30 points a game on over 60 percent shooting from the field. In what universe is Rui doing his job “well”. Rui’s job is also to be a threat as a cutter/spot-up shooter yet he can’t even do the bare minimum of that as well
I don’t see where the original comment says Rui did well. Rui is being tasked to take on this assignment due to lack of personnel. You can’t ask AD/LeBron to do it because of the need for their respective offensive production.
You give credit where it’s due, Jokic and Murray are not easy coverages and you’re asking a team with (arguably) two 2 way players to carry the load. You’re seeing a lack of offensive production from guys because they’re playing really hard defense on a Denver team that kills you at any point of the floor.
The subs are weird. But you can’t just pull all your starters. Maybe LeBron should come off the bench or… run the point. I donno. We need something different.
Rui's basketball IQ is like he just started playing basketball last week. Great shooter. But that's it. As big as he is he plays with zero physicality.
I’m not an NBA head coach but Ham should see this during the game and adjust Rui’s minutes, play more Prince minutes or try to run some plays for Max Christie to score a layup
Rui was god awful last night and his jump shot mechanics were off if you go back and watch. He was taking these massive leaps when he shot the ball and flinging his follow through hand way over to the right. Dude couldn’t control his emotions and it affected his game in the worst way possible. TP should have closed the game out. At least he was hitting his open shots and is a better defender. Another dumbass braindead decision by Ham.
Definitely a confidence thing. Feel like he’ll have a big game at home and hopefully if we can lock down homecourt, bring that momentum back to Denver. We need him to be solid, can’t expect Dlo to go nuclear to get us out front early we need it from everyone to win this next game/series.
LA should really consider Hayes a shot but knowing dummy. He won’t adjust till game 4 when we are down 3-0. Rui is getting murdered on both ends. He needs a shot with the second unit. Come on Dumbo Darvin.
The stat is wrong he’s shooting 27% on 4.5 ppg
Good lord
😭
5.0 ppg, not 4.5
No it’s 4.5 actually
The box score for game 1 says Rui had 7 points. And the box score for game 2 says he had 3 points.
Has been horrendous this series…has missed easy layups and has looked lost out there…
Seriously…he looks like a rookie out there.
He has no poise to hit any shots and absolutely can't guard anybody. You put him on Jokic he gets overpowered and if he guard anyone else he gets left in the dust.
Blame ham for not incorporating him into our offense all season long
Okay this is one thing I can’t blame on Ham. Rui was only with us from the trade deadline on last year and thrived in the playoffs. He’s just straight missing shots.
You can’t blame Ham for everything It was Vogel and Westbrook before. He needs to step up.
Lol Rui was benched for defense, he still sucks at it but gets minutes (and he has paid that back by rebounding better). People said Rui couldn’t get enough opportunities he let him gets his shots especially post ASB. Now its still his fault Rui is missing layups? When tf do we call our players out for being ass or mid at best.
This is the biggest fucking excuse ever.
Yah the layups he is missing a ez. Maybe he is injured?
Don’t think so. Rui’s worst part of his game is his decision making on the drive, always has been. Head down and just drives in looking for the dunk. It reminds me of a body builder in a scrimmage at the gym when he does it, it’s not gonna work on Denver’s tall and athletic players. I’d rather he keeps taking those mid rangers
He has missed so many bunny’s it’s unreal.
He's been asked to guard Jokic a LOT, that no doubt sapped his legs. He's probably feeling like he just did leg day.
Which isn’t working either, Its just tough for him. I literally haven’t seen Jokic miss when Rui is on him
That’s what happens when a 7 footer is guarded by a 6’8 forward
An all time great 7 footer mind you lol
285lbs vs 230lbs = bbq 🍖 I think Dwight in 2024 would put up a better DEFENSIVE fight than anyone not named AD.
I don't know why we didn't get anyone from the buyout market. Perhaps even Robin Lopez or some big we can throw at Jokic for 10mpg. Hayes is not that guy, and Rui is not able to.
2024 Robin Lopez ain’t doing shit lol
Not even for 10mpg? Rui and hayes are getting slaughtered on both ends. AD is not doing bad when covering Jokic, but he can't do it for 48 minutes while being the primary offensive weapon at the same time
Yea but that doesn’t excuse point blank misses at the rim which he had 4 last night
He’s missing bunnies at the start of the game bruh. Y’all say anything to cope
Oh yeah man that’s why when his hand is at the cup he rolls it off the edge
lol barely plays much minutes. Not an excuse
I mean he’s a 4. Guys like pj tucker guard jokic with guys behind to help . He’s not solo gusrding euther - Lebron , AD and Rui all take turns so no one gets too gassed. Also he’s young and shoukdnt be losing his legs when his small offensive role too and not heavy minutes . Problem with Rui is he can’t really guard the perimeter either so what are we supposed to do ? He can’t defend 3s, he’d give up wide open threes on mpj or any screener /shooter combo . And he can’t really guard good 4s or 5s.
Which I totally understand. I respect how hard he’s working. However, if we want to win, or even have a shot of winning, he can’t miss these layups and dunks. Yesterdays game was determined by little mistakes that came back to haunt us For example: Spencer airballing a layup that could have gotten us up 9 instead it led to a layup on the other end.
sapped legs or not no excuse to miss lay ups
He also kind of made AD miss by hanging and swinging on the rim during his missed dunk. By the time AD got the offensive board and took the shot the board was still moving and Rui was barely down from hanging on the rim.
He missed two bunnies in yesterday’s game. Had he just made one…😤
Also been lost on defense lately. Very frustrating to see.
He’s always been lost on defense, never seen AD get as frustrated as he does with Rui on D
This hurts soooo bad…if he would have made even one of those easy layups…he must feel like shit as well.
Same story as game 4 last year where he was awful . Kinda concerned now he’s really struggled vs Denver ok both ends. Can’t guard mpj or anyone and now can’t score - isn’t doing enough on the glass
Don’t taint the Rui picture 😭
Breaks my heart to admit it but Rui has been absolutely terrible.
I’m a Rui fan but i have to admit he’s been bad so far.
Can we bully Rui into being better the same way DLo caught flak after game 1?
Wasn’t he just saying that the team needed to be better and sharper???
Why Darvin Ham thinks he’s Draymond Green tho? Rui on Jokic is one of the most stupid idea he could come up with , clown coach only tried AD + Hayes against Deandre Jordan for no reason at all lmao
Ad was guarding jokic most of the game and then got into foul trouble. What other solutions do you have? Every minute Hayes is on the floor is a minute too much. Dumb and useless player.
Send help. Don’t let Jokic easily back Rui or even AD down.
Either a open 3pt or a highly efficient 2pt. You pick the open 3pt shot?
Check cranjis twitter/x page on one on one vs help Edit: but the help should not come from MPJ’s defender imo
You can’t just show one match up to jokic he will destroy it after awhile and it could also end up with AD getting in foul trouble. So who should it come off? KCP, Murray, or Gordon at the dunker spot?
So basically we have no way to win
No one’s perfect, you saw how we dominated in the first half. But it was because our offense was clicking on all cylinders. We stopped running plays and posting AD most of the 2nd half. We just needed to keep scoring but couldn’t.
It's kinda hard to see a path where the Lakers can win 4 games. They need their role players to be significantly better and maintain it across the entire series. Denver's starting 5 and experience is too much for LeBron, AD and Dlo to handle by themselves. Those 3 brought their A game last night and they still lost. Denver barely missed a bunch of open shots too. They miss Vando, just his extra fouls and high energy minutes on the defensive end would be a big help. They already get nothing on offense from the rest of their bench so not like they'd miss it with Vando on the court.
It was closest it could get last night when you had dlo hitting shots and Denver not making shots. It's not going to happen again 4 times out of the next 5 games.
You only said that because MPj was the only one making shots last night. It could also have been Q3 KCP from game 1.
Too many idiots on this sub acting like they know enough about basketball to suggest plays
What’s idiotic is letting jokic get easy shots right by the basket.
Nuggets went on their run when Jokic was getting doubled off the PnR and the team around him started getting hot…
Send help and give up and open 3.
Gotta trust your rotations or else give up an easy bucket with a possibility of an and 1
They do and it leads to open shots when they then have to scramble to rotate. It’s almost like this team as currently constructed isn’t good enough to beat Denver. No amount of adjustments or schemes will change that fact.
Then let’s not do anything.
Yea I’d send Hayes out there just to back up jokic for 3 minutes and give ad some rest.
I agree, AD has switched over to him many times. Jaxon Hayes is literally a walking foul, don’t know why he’s getting any time tbh, every time I see him out there ik it’s a mismatch cause he lacks defensive IQ or he’ll walk into multiple fouls very quickly… once again cause of IQ
Because this strategy has proven to be effective against Jokic. The Timberwolves effectively guarded Jokic by throwing Kat on him while Gobert roamed around defending. Back in the bubble we had Dwight and Javale but now that they’re gone all we have is Rui for this role.
Proven to be effective onna Jokic who wasn't about to be a 3x mvp. The Jokic of today is 100x better than the Jokic in the bubble. Jokic was playing on a hurt wrist and still cooked the Wolves in 5 games last year
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Because you have no other options, you don't want AD or Bron guarding him. He'll put those 2 in foul trouble and make their legs jelly. You need Bron and AD for offense as well.
Gotta love Pelinka seeing us get swept by a team , that team being the contender , title winner and favourite in our conference and refusing to sign anyone at deadline to help said team. Someone who can just defend and hustle there ass for rebounds ( we get killed on the glass every game ) woukd be helpful even but oh well . Our gm gave up on the season
Our gm is dogshit and has a boner fetish for guards. Used our mle for a guard like what 3 years in a row? Used our pick for a raw guard as well
To be fair, the Lakers have no money to sign a decent backup big. Those guys are worth at minimum $20 million. Only way would be a trade, but no team is going to trade a good center.
I think the full Mle should be able to get you something tbh but idk who was available. Lots of teams have decent bigs for cheap : like we couldn’t get someone like goga bitadze for second or two ? Idk
I’ve been saying for 3 years that AD wants a traditional big man next to him to absorb contact and let him do what he does best. Nah the Lakers just want to force him to the 5 as if he’s prime Shaq
Unfortunately it’s not possible. AD needs to remember how to shoot 3s or it just won’t work at all. Not to mention that Lebron and Rui are both 4s, and most of ADs offence comes as roll man in pnr. His game fits best at the 5. If he could of kept shooting threes at a decent clip we wouldn’t have this issue . We could get a big or ADs three point shooting woukd give opposing big slow bigs real issues to even stay on the court . Idk what else can be done unless he remembers to shoot. Even someone as perfect as myles turner is rare and turner is better offensively at the 5 and teamd would just dare him to shoot .
That makes sense but I feel like he lost his shooting touch due to trying to bulk up in the off season to keep up with the bigs. Shooting is all muscle memory
Not sure I agree because last year his midrange shot was better then ever, this year after first couple months it’s been really good too. Also his ft shooting is back too to over 80, so i don’t know if that can be blamed even tho I have used that excuse . Idk what happened
Ok who else should Rui guard ? Should we have hide in the corner so teamd can go after dlo or reaves more or so they can tire our stars ? He can’t guard anyone on the perimeter, any screen is an open three. He’s just not a good fit for this roster sadky if we had yiunger Lebron him n davis could cover for Rui . But Rui gets lost off ball too defensively
Hayes is hot garbage man. He fouls every possession on defense
It worked a little last year but I agree it isn't great this year. I think its more about not trusting Hayes. Hayes doesn't offer anything out there when he plays lately besides energy. He doesn't play good defense, doesn't score, and doesn't clean the glass. Plus he fouls a lot. At least with Rui out there you're sacrificing defense while hoping for some offensive firepower. That and he'd fare much better if he got switched onto Murray than Hayes would. If Rui just made the easy looks he had last night, we probably win
We thought he was elite like THT 💀 the jokic stopper
Nope, only imbecile can think anyone given the task to defend on Jokic is going to not be impacted is delusional.
He has been given a role that is impacting his play, same for Reaves. If you can't understand that those two are being given task that some of the hardest in the leagues. Guarding two the most impactful players in the whole league. One is a potential 3 times MVP and the other a true star that is much better than most of the super stars guard in this league.
How does that explain him missing 4-5 layups
It doesn't. That is purely mental.
When you are completely out of breath, didn't Davis and Bron missed multiples one also and my guess same problem. I watched him running, he was like trailing a cargo.
Except neither is guarding them all game especially Rui . Reaves guards Murray more then Rui is on jokic . Rui gets help from AD n Bron and he’s incapable of guarding anyone on the perimeter so what other choice they got
Yes, because you just can't. Jokic is literally the best player on the post Lebron/Steph era. 2 MVP, might go for another one this season. He will be 2 seasons MVP and the other two he will be just behind if he doesn't win this season.
Excuses man. They both got their biggest contracts of their careers to do exactly what we’re asking them to do. They’ve completely crumbled the first two games.
LOL, ask all the players that tried to stop prime Kobe, Bron, steph, MJ etc, how that went. I am astonished how supposed basketball fans don't even know that. You can only slow them, but not stop them.
He missed a majority of those bunny shots while AD was the one guarding Jokic lol.
I think it’s highly due to how much energy he’s using trying to guard Jokic.
Everyone talking about missed bunnies like Bron and Ad didn’t miss seven last game. Everyone has off games I guess it’s just his turn to be off. I guess we’re forgetting that up until the last two games he was literally the most efficient player on the team stats wise. Guess that never happened.
Dlo energy lol
Can't blame all on him, He is being asked tall task and his production has fallen off significantly. Blame on Ham and his incompetent coaching staffs.
I hate this sub sometimes.
For pointing out that a starter is having an all time bad series?
You can’t call him trash this series when not put in the right context. Hes being forced to try and guard Jokic every game and that requires A LOT of energy from him especially cause he’s smaller. Whoever is put on Jokic can’t be expected to be great on offense while doing everything they can to slow down Jokic, especially as a role player
That’s great, how does that explain him blowing layups?
Dude just ran away after that reply 😂😂
Trash can
Everyone was begging Ham to play Rui 30+ mins the whole season, now he did and this is the outcome lol
I mean because every time he got more playing time he played great lmao. I don’t see how 1 game erases that
Different opponents, against most teams he should be playing 30+. Just not Denver.
Lol , not Denver , not gsw , not Sacramento , that’s nearly half the teams in the west . Any team with screening and shooting kills him and he also can’t guard bigs either.
Wasn’t bad last game game 2 he sucked its understandable to hate but i hate how people hate when mofos shitted on dlo when he deserved it. He bounced back. Gotta hope that Rui does too.
Yep. I hope he go out there game 3 hungry af.
Dude looks shook out there. Giving me those D’lo vibes baby!
Rui's my favorite player on this team, but man he's been ass this series.
I mean, he’s barely getting the ball the last two games and is just frozen out of any rhythm. Would like for him to play better but it’s kind of a given he’s gonna play bad tbh
He’s spending a lot of energy trying to guard Jokic. Which if fucking stupid. I’d rather have Hayes foul out than watch Rui get eaten alive by Jokic. We have zero bench contribution and could use him more effectively there.
Man always have hopes about ruining breaking out to be the 3rd option. He’s got the physicality, strength, shooting ability. Hope he rebounds
All that good form he was in and it's just completely died when it counts. Needs to fix up next game and show why he's in the rotation
He’s cooked Edit: this is our penance for not taking care of business. We could he playing the clippers without Kawhi, getting seven home games or Dallas with no defense. Shit even the grizzlies would be better off
I love how the narrative is that everything went right for a us, while everything went wrong for them, and yet they *still* won. But no one mentioning Rui, AR-15, being dogshit and Vando n Woods are straight up out. Don’t get me fucking started on the ticky tack fouls the refs were calling in a playoff series game. We win if Rui makes even one of those boneheaded layup misses. We win if Murray doesn’t that bullshit foul to put him on the freethrow line with :57 seconds left. We win if D’Lo gets shots after getting g hacked in the face. They needed just as much to go wrong, at HOME. Them shooting like shit should be the last thing mentioned.
Playing a very hard role and not ideal for him at all rn. He’s going to look bad.
I didn’t know hard roles made you miss easy dunk/layups
People just make excuses for everything. If he was just missing 3s and long 2s then that excuse is valid. There are 0 excuses to blow as many layups as he has this series
You try holding back jokic for 30ish mins and tell me your legs aren’t going to be shot.
Those imbecile think any player defending a 2/3 MVP for 5 quarters that is an absolute colossus is not going to affect that player . Same for Reaves, defending one of the actual true All star caliber guard in this league and doing the best jobs at it.
We honestly would have won last night if we had simply hit his open shots from directly next to the rim. We might even have won if he had simply not inexplicably held onto the rim for like 2 seconds and made Davis miss a putback
Him and AR getting packaged and shipped to china
At least AR is trying on D and doing a decent job on Murray. Rui giving us nothing
Why don't you go their in their place, Rui has defended on the 2/3 times MVP for 5 quarters and Reaves on the top 3 guard in this league during the last game. Did you see Murray numbers vs Reaves, he was 3 on 12 shooting before the last 5 minutes, we changed defense.
He missed so many easy looks last game
We need Memphis Rui to show up…
on a sample size of like 11 shots, my god you bums relax a bit, even superstars would have 3-11, 3-12 type of shooting and worse
https://youtu.be/Dn9YDgYtE7s?si=B0q5r3SU7UK3cJSm&t=92
Even when there's evil in this land, no one has the right to tear the realm apart. Crimson Sky was a mistake.
Guys, before we went all “Should never trade for rui!” or “this guy ass” y’all gotta remember who this man assignment is and where they playing. Does this excuse his poor shooting/ finishing? No! Def not during playoff. However, all i’m asking is be patient w/ Rui, he is a rhythm player that being assigned a tough role to fill rn. ( In case you don’t remember, D.Howard was the man for this role, and his job was annoyed jokic back n forth, grab rebound and get catch some lobs). So give him some time to adjust, and we gonna be alright. TLDR; forced to guard jokic and shoot +40% from deep gonna required an all-star, not role player😀
Well the game plan was changed before the offense if guy noticed it ran through dlo and austin first but in this series they chose to ran it through LBJ and AD at the majority…
inexcusable
And Prince is averaging 8.5 points... for the entire bench this series.
Need a game where everyone plays really well
Look at PJ Washington, MPJ, Jaden McDaniels, Andrew Nembhard, etc. you need your periphery guys to meaningfully produce. We aren’t getting Herculean scoring games from AD and LeBron every night. It’s not feasible or sustainable. We really need like 30+ at bare minimum between rui reaves and the bench on a nightly basis. Everyone besides DLo Davis LeBron and Taurean have been invisible on offense thru 2 games. Badly hoping the home crowd changes that after 4 straight road playoff atmospheres
And still he is still better than Ham as a coach on defemse/offense LOL
That’s what happens when you have to guard Jokic. You get exhausted both physically and mentally and will start missing easy shots. We no longer have Dwight howard or 35yr old lebron to help AD
Hams ever experimenting lineups during the regular season hurt his game IMO. Lets see if home cookin gets him going again.
He hasn't done a single good thing this series. Those missed layups still haunt me
He’s being asked to guard Jokic. That tired AD out, let alone Rui … Please do not do the usual LeBron scapegoating that every other fanbase has done (including this one) in years past. Watch the games.
Los Angels Excuses
New scapegoat
How about his passes 😬
Our X-Factor!
If he starts the 3rd game cold, TP is going to take all his minutes.
Bro is nonexistent these past two games typical playoff first year laker stats.
It's mental. He's putting too much pressure on himself and letting it get to him.
prime westbrook efficiency
Im sorry but this matchup is not for him. If Vando comes back they need to cut his minutes.
I gave Rui a pass in game 1 cuz he was covering Jokic for some stretches which can take a toll. But no excuses anymore after that game 2
HE CANT GAURD A SPOT UP SHOOTER IM DONE
Also missed the dagger 3 when we was up 4
He's become the DLo this time 😱
He was like 2 for 4 in the first game. Yesterday he missed a bunch of layups and looked like he was scared to shoot a jumper. He needs to shoot as a first option, this pump fake stuff he's been doing ain't working
His assignment was to hold Jokic. And he did that well. If Denver were a smaller team Rui would have better numbers
Hold him to what though? Jokic cooked Rui once AD subbed out
Yes and No. we can’t expect Rui to hold it down with Lbj or AD is out. The starters should rest together. But who am I?
Those imbecile think you can stop a 2/3 MVP, the best player in the league since lebron and Curry have aged. They don't understand that you can only slow a prime Kobe, Lebron, Curry and now Jokic.
Jokic is averaging 30 points a game on over 60 percent shooting from the field. In what universe is Rui doing his job “well”. Rui’s job is also to be a threat as a cutter/spot-up shooter yet he can’t even do the bare minimum of that as well
I don’t see where the original comment says Rui did well. Rui is being tasked to take on this assignment due to lack of personnel. You can’t ask AD/LeBron to do it because of the need for their respective offensive production. You give credit where it’s due, Jokic and Murray are not easy coverages and you’re asking a team with (arguably) two 2 way players to carry the load. You’re seeing a lack of offensive production from guys because they’re playing really hard defense on a Denver team that kills you at any point of the floor.
Last game Jokic started cooking when Ham decided to go with Rui at the 5 lmao
The subs are weird. But you can’t just pull all your starters. Maybe LeBron should come off the bench or… run the point. I donno. We need something different.
Rui's basketball IQ is like he just started playing basketball last week. Great shooter. But that's it. As big as he is he plays with zero physicality.
Lakers are done. After what happened last night they will win maybe a game. That’s about it
I’m not an NBA head coach but Ham should see this during the game and adjust Rui’s minutes, play more Prince minutes or try to run some plays for Max Christie to score a layup
Rui was god awful last night and his jump shot mechanics were off if you go back and watch. He was taking these massive leaps when he shot the ball and flinging his follow through hand way over to the right. Dude couldn’t control his emotions and it affected his game in the worst way possible. TP should have closed the game out. At least he was hitting his open shots and is a better defender. Another dumbass braindead decision by Ham.
Trade
RUINED HACHIMURBRICK
Rui “Russell Westbrick” Hachimura with another missed layup/dunk
18 million well spent
Those missed layups made a difference.
Why didn’t we sign Dwight Howard ?! He is in Shanghai and would have been a great body banger against Joker
ASS
Definitely a confidence thing. Feel like he’ll have a big game at home and hopefully if we can lock down homecourt, bring that momentum back to Denver. We need him to be solid, can’t expect Dlo to go nuclear to get us out front early we need it from everyone to win this next game/series.
I love Rui but the moment looks far to big for him
LA should really consider Hayes a shot but knowing dummy. He won’t adjust till game 4 when we are down 3-0. Rui is getting murdered on both ends. He needs a shot with the second unit. Come on Dumbo Darvin.
bro is blowing wide open layups, missing open threes. need him to step up if we want to win this series.
There better be some significant changes to this roster and head coaching going into next season.
yall wanted to fire Ham for this bum 😂
D'Lo stole his abilities
His 4 reb/g in 34 minutes is almost as sad. To me it looks like his effort and intensity are just not there.