The best way to play a LeBron James flop? Have a Joker up your sleeve.
“Listen: To have the success that they’ve had, as great as (Nikola) Jokic has been — if you go back and look at that (Western) Conference Finals, the Lakers had no answer,” former NBA guard Greg Anthony, now an analyst with Warner Bros. Discovery and NBA TV, told me this week. “If that continues to be the case, it’s going to be a struggle for them to have in the series.”
Welcome to the NBA Playoffs, when Old Man ‘Bron suddenly turns into the best actor in Hollywood. The Denzel of dives, the Pacino of plummet.
Consider this your friendly annual public service reminder that the Lakers are about to sign a 30-day lease at the free-throw line and dare the NBA to raise its rent. Over their last 22 postseason games, four of which were a sweep at the hands of the Nuggets, the LakeShow’s averaged 25.1 free-throw attempts per 100 possessions. Their opponents, if you’re curious, went to the stripe 18.5 times.
Justice is blind. So are the zebras. Best keep the loved ones and sharp objects at a safe distance.
“Listen, if you’re Denver, I wouldn’t be concerned with the (Lakers) whistle, or anything else,” Anthony said. “(The Nuggets are) the defending champs. ‘We beat this team. We swept them in a conference final, regardless of the whistle.’ You have to feel like you have a better game.
“And so that, I think, has to be the mindset. You can play games with the officials to try to (get an edge) and be somewhere else or create a different (advantage), but ultimately, you have to go out and perform.”
You want the truth? Oh, Jack Nicholson, we can handle the truth. It’s the whistles that drive us batty. King James drew 59 fourth-quarter fouls in the ’20 and ’23 postseasons combined. Twenty of those 59 came against Denver. In just nine matchups.
“I don’t know if (the Lakers whistle) is a myth,” ex-NBA guard Jamal Crawford, now an analyst with Warner Bros. Discovery, reflected. “I haven’t heard that exact (stat).
“But obviously, (with) a guy like LeBron, the playoffs are going to be a little more physical. But you have guard him with a wall and you have to be willing to concede … is it, ‘OK, we’re gonna make LeBron try to get 50 today?’ Or, ‘We’re going to take everything away and make the other guys beat us.’
“He’s one of the great minds you’ve ever seen in basketball. You could put Joker up there as well, now. Even if you try to make him do something, he can always counter it. It may not be at quite the level he wants it to be or quite the level you want it to be, because you guys are playing that chess match within the game.”
At 39, even though he’s lost a step, ‘Bron still knows when to move his bishop. Since 2019, James has drawn a foul once every 6.39 minutes during a playoff tilt vs. the Nuggs during the second half. In the fourth quarter? Once every 4.75 minutes.
Context: Over all of his playoff appearances in ’19-20 and ’22-23, the future Hall-of-Famer drew a second-half foul once every 6.87 minutes. In the fourth quarter? Once every 5.7 minutes. The man’s postseason flop rate jumps 30% whenever Jokic and Jamal Murray share the spotlight.
And you wonder why we’re paranoid? Just a little?
“It’s still a 2 versus a 7 (seed),” Anthony said. “And I do think this series is going to be an interesting one. Especially just to kind of get a sense of what Darvin Ham’s game plan will be. What adjustments will he make to try to counter some of what Denver presents in terms of challenges?”
At the same time, know this: Your rage is absolutely, completely justified. So is your satisfaction at watching the Lakers turn Stephen A. Smith into Daffy Duck.
The Nuggs are plus-25, combined, in their last seven fourth quarters against the Lakers. On this stage, the right hand and perfect chemistry always beats bad acting. Always. Even in La La Land.
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