The Los Angeles Lakers opened the season with a 10-2 record, and advanced to the Western Conference Finals on Saturday. It's a great story in so many ways. This is a team that has lost 10 of its first 12 games this season. Which for long moments seemed disjointed. That heard its biggest star, LeBron James, as usual "threaten" management with an aggressive passive-aggressive move to do whatever he wanted (even though doing what he wanted got them in trouble in the first place. Regards Russell Westbrook).
It's a story about management that didn't give in to this pressure, and in the end implemented a series of measured and smart steps that provided solutions to all the roster problems, improved the team drastically, all without wasting all their ammunition while maintaining an important future draft pick.
A story about a team that less than a month to the end of the season was still in a negative balance. who needed to win a play-in game, in overtime, only to enter the playoffs from seventh place. which beat Memphis in the first round and eliminated the reigning champions in the second round, both times without home-field advantage.
It's a great story about Anthony Davis, a player who, whenever he manages to stay healthy for a significant period of time, reminds us that he might actually be a top-5 player in this league. Yes, including everyone. A defensive monster on a historic level, an effective and destructive offensive force. A player who this season managed to be the punch line with a slew of jokes about his failing health, but since returning at the end of January, has taken over the team on both sides of the pitch and has become its main force. He played in 31 of the Lakers' last 34 games this season, winning 20 of them — including a 2-7 record in the last 9 games of the season in which LeBron didn't play.
And in the playoffs, with James still injured — guarding himself more than ever, spending entire possessions, defending opponents' secondary players and long attacks standing on the sidelines — it became a team that rises and falls with Davis. In the 7 games in which Gamskor (an advanced statistic developed by John Hollinger) of 19 or more, the Lakers are 1-6. With LeBron, it's 2:3. When Davis gave less than that? 3:1. With LeBron, it's 2:4. The barometer is clear.
Anthony Davis. Will the statements bear fruit?, Photo: USA TODAY Sports
But judging by what's happening on ESPN and social media (which, in terms of the level of discourse, is the same), all these stories together are dwarfed by a single narrative: LeBron James and his stubborn struggle to be considered GOAT, the greatest player ever. It doesn't even need to be mentioned the embarrassing Draymond Green, who a minute after being eliminated with the Warriors posted a video in which he again praised LeBron.
It's not an individual sport
James and the Clutch people, his agency and those of his friends, control the discourse. So much so that "Commander's Spirit" even leads "journalists" to post a random video of a very popular drill Golden State performed against LeBron both in 2018 and in recent days, showing how "LeBron remembers a drill from 5 years ago," because this time he and the Lakers' defense handled it properly. You really can't invent a lower level of subservience.
The Lakers' bench. Much more teamwork, Photo: USA TODAY Sports
So, if you make the mistake of spending a little too much time on social media these days or come across YouTube videos of one of ESPN's many talking heads shows, and everything you see revolves around James and goat emojis, try to remember this: This season's Lakers are a great basketball story. Group. Organizational. Despite the blatant attempt to market it as if it were an individual sport.
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