“He shows up on time, delivers his lines and everybody else in the movie is awful”- NBA analyst takes a jab at LeBron James’ teammates at LA Lakers, says it’s like ‘watching a great actor in a bad movie’
The LA Lakers fell for a second straight game on Thursday as LeBron James put up yet another double-double in vain.
The LA Clippers trumped the Lakers 103-97, putting their depth on display with six players scoring in double-digits. Kawhi Leonard made his return, putting up 14 points in 21 minutes, shooting 50% from the field.
LeBron James scored 20 points to go along with 10 rebounds and six assists, and Lonnie Walker IV added 26 in the losing effort.
Following the Lakers' loss, Bill Simmons, on "The Bill Simmons Podcast," analogized LeBron's play with that of a great actor in a bad movie:
"The thing with LeBron, watching him tonight. I was thinking it’s funny that this was happening in Hollywood because this was like watching a great actor in a bad movie. "
Simmons continued:
"The fans get to be on the side watching them film the scenes. LeBron shows up and he’s like Daniel Day-Lewis but he’s filming Taken 5 and just bad actors all the way around him.
"He shows up on time, delivers his lines and everybody else in the movie is awful. And the moment they say, ‘Cut,’ he’s out to his trailer."
However disappointing, the LeBron James-led Lakers have an entire season to recoup their lost bravado
After shooting 10 for 40 from 3-point range on opening night, the Lakers put up an even worse statline from deep on Thursday. The Lakers shot 9 for 45, or 20% from 3-point range.
LA managed to tie the score at halftime, but never led by more than three points.
The glaring reason behind the Lakers' poor outings is clear. They don't have perimeter shot creators or makers. High-volume, low-efficiency shooting just wastes offensive possessions.
Moreover, not only are the Lakers not good at shooting 3-pointers, they're shooting poorly on jumpshots as a whole.
The Lakers need shooting!
They have made just 24 of their 101 jump shots this season.
Starting 5 Jump Shots, First 2 Games:
LeBron James ........ 6 of 22
Lonnie Walker .........3 of 14
Anthony Davis ........ 2 of 12
Patrick Beverley ...... 2 of 11
Russell Westbrook ... 2 of 11 https://t.co/qPaqvezchn
There's very little that the Lakers can do to stop the bleeding, because the fact of the matter is that they're just not making shots. The Clippers contested 25 3-point shots, which means about 44.4% of the Lakers' attempted 3s were open or lightly-contested.
Even if we assume that all of the Lakers' makes were open, they still missed 11 open/lightly-contested shots. It is high time that LA starts pushing the envelope on sinking open looks or playing inside.
Despite all the hullabaloo about the Lakers' shooting, an upside from Thursday's game was the unique lineup led by LeBron James. The lineup consisted of Juan Toscano-Anderson, Matt Ryan, Austin Reaves and Kendrick Nunn.
Without another star on the floor, James was distributing from the top of the key and orchestrating the offense with commanding screens and cuts. This was reminiscent of the latter stages of LeBron's second stint with the Cavaliers.
If Ryan, Nunn and Beverley can become reliable offensively, the aforementioned lineup could do wonders for LA. If they can shoot around the 36-37% mark, the Lakers will be in good stead to have a better season than the last.