NBA teams down 0-2 have 7.4% chance of winning the 7 game series

[BallsOut]

Source: https://www.oddsshark.com/nba/nba-teams-down-0-2-playoff-series-have-brutal-history

The Lakers and Celtics have both started 0-2 in their respective NBA playoff series. Historically speaking, out of 447 7-game NBA playoffs series only 7.4% of those 0-2 teams successfully comeback and win the series.

Can Lebron make history again?

[SouBeachTalents]

Iirc he's done it twice, in the '07 & '18 ECF. He's got a better shot than Boston, the road team down 0-2 is in bad shape but it's still somewhat feasible, the home team down 0-2 is almost a death sentence.

[RRR3]

Iirc he's done it twice, in the '07 & '18 ECF. He's got a better shot than Boston, the road team down 0-2 is in bad shape but it's still somewhat feasible, the home team down 0-2 is almost a death sentence.
LeBron has really had only one game all playoffs where he was dominant offensively, he's still clearly injured so it's gotta be AD doing the heavy lifting if they are to comeback which doesn't fill me with hope :lol Unless LeBron has another gear he hasn't shown yet but I wouldn't count on it in his current state

[elementally morale]

If it's history in the making, others will have to do it for him this time. AD, Hachimura and Reaves. You should not count on a 38 year old man to do it. If anything, he should take less shots. Play good enough defense on Jokic, rebound the ball, have some assists, bully his way to the basket for easy layups and dial down on jumpers, especially three pointers. That's the Lakers' best chance. If LeBron is the best player on the team the remaining games it's a 4-1 Denver win. No shame in that though, this Denver team is great.

[RRR3]

If it's history in the making, others will have to do it for him this time. AD, Hachimura and Reaves. You should not count on a 38 year old man to do it. If anything, he should take less shots. Play good enough defense on Jokic, rebound the ball, have some assists, bully his way to the basket for easy layups and dial down on jumpers, especially three pointers. That's the Lakers' best chance. If LeBron is the best player on the team the remaining games it's a 4-1 Denver win. No shame in that though, this Denver team is great.
I don't think you're winning anything with AD as your best player, he just stops trying half the time. So far this series is proving it. A shame as they likely win if LeBron is healthy IMO, but then again expecting him to be healthy at this time of year isn't a winning strategy at this point in his career is it?

[SouBeachTalents]

I don't think you're winning anything with AD as your best player, he just stops trying half the time. So far this series is proving it. A shame as they likely win if LeBron is healthy IMO, but then again expecting him to be healthy at this time of year isn't a winning strategy at this point in his career is it?
What's weird is he was putting up consistent 25-30 ppg in the bubble, and did the same thing in his brief playoff stint with the Pelicans. It's kind of inexplicable a superstar in his absolute prime can't outscore a 38 year old.

[elementally morale]

I don't think you're winning anything with AD as your best player

Probably not against Denver. AD is not good enough on his own for that. It has to be a complete team effort and the Lakers need to use their bench (and forget DLo). If LeBron is the clear cut best player on the Lakers they are not winning this series. He also is not good enough for that at this point in his career.

[BallsOut]

What's weird is he was putting up consistent 25-30 ppg in the bubble, and did the same thing in his brief playoff stint with the Pelicans. It's kind of inexplicable a superstar in his absolute prime can't outscore a 38 year old.

It's not inexplicable when the 39 year old Lebron Jame is the biggest ball hogger in NBA history. Can't score without the ball.

[elementally morale]

It's not inexplicable when the 39 year old Lebron Jame is the biggest ball hogger in NBA history. Can't score without the ball.


Technically speaking, nobody can. ;)

[RRR3]

What's weird is he was putting up consistent 25-30 ppg in the bubble, and did the same thing in his brief playoff stint with the Pelicans. It's kind of inexplicable a superstar in his absolute prime can't outscore a 38 year old.
Those Pelicans never really had any expectations and LeBron was creating most of his points in the bubble. With LeBron injured and force to handle the ball much less than usual, AD has to create his own looks way more now.

[SouBeachTalents]

It's not inexplicable when the 39 year old Lebron Jame is the biggest ball hogger in NBA history. Can't score without the ball.
LeBron's taking less than 18 FGA per game, over 4 less than the regular season and less than he did in the bubble. He's actually been far less ball dominant than he usually is. So you can't pin that on AD being legitimately incapable of scoring 20 points b2b games.

[RRR3]

LeBron's taking less than 18 FGA per game, over 4 less than the regular season and less than he did in the bubble. He's actually been far less ball dominant than he usually is. So you can't pin that on AD being legitimately incapable of scoring 20 points b2b games.
LeBron is playing off ball way more than he usually does, that idiot legitimately must not watch games. LeBron literally can't play on ball like he usually does because he's injured. Never met any group of sports fans stupider than LeBron haters.

[elementally morale]

Can you guys envision a future the next few weeks in which LeBron is clearly the best player on the team and the Lakers win another 8 games that way? I surely can see him being the best for a game or two but he needs to be better than or equal to Jokic the next 5 games to reach the Finals. It's just hard to imagine.

[ImKobe]

What's weird is he was putting up consistent 25-30 ppg in the bubble, and did the same thing in his brief playoff stint with the Pelicans. It's kind of inexplicable a superstar in his absolute prime can't outscore a 38 year old.

There's nothing weird here. The bubble team basically only had Bran & AD as the two reliable scorers on the team so they did all the heavy lifting. This team has Reaves, Dlo & Rui, who can all get hot and score 20+ points and average 15+ ppg. Maybe the strategy in this series should be to force-feed AD more and put more pressure on the Nuggets in the paint. Personally, I'd rather see more of Reaves creating his own shot and attacking the paint so Bran & AD have more juice on defense and in the 2nd half.

[RRR3]

Can you guys envision a future the next few weeks in which LeBron is clearly the best player on the team and the Lakers win another 8 games that way? I surely can see him being the best for a game or two but he needs to be better than or equal to Jokic the next 5 games to reach the Finals. It's just hard to imagine.
No, he's not better than Jokic even if he's healthy at this stage of his career. And he's not even healthy. But the Lakers were never going to win by having the best player in the series, there is no one better than Jokic. Has to be a team effort.

[RRR3]

There's nothing weird here. The bubble team basically only had Bran & AD as the two reliable scorers on the team so they did all the heavy lifting. This team has Reaves, Dlo & Rui, who can all get hot and score 20+ points and average 15+ ppg. Maybe the strategy in this series should be to force-feed AD more and put more pressure on the Nuggets in the paint. Personally, I'd rather see more of Reaves creating his own shot and attacking the paint so Bran & AD have more juice on defense and in the 2nd half.
Wait you always claim Kuzma was an all-star level talent and now he wasn't a reliable scorer? Can't even keep track of your agendas :yaohappy:

[SouBeachTalents]

Can you guys envision a future the next few weeks in which LeBron is clearly the best player on the team and the Lakers win another 8 games that way? I surely can see him being the best for a game or two but he needs to be better than or equal to Jokic the next 5 games to reach the Finals. It's just hard to imagine.
He shouldn't be. He's 38 and not playing at 100%. AD should be the one carrying the scoring load most of the time, but it's like he's playing on empty every other game.


There's nothing weird here. The bubble team basically only had Bran & AD as the two reliable scorers on the team so they did all the heavy lifting. This team has Reaves, Dlo & Rui, who can all get hot and score 20+ points and average 15+ ppg. Maybe the strategy in this series should be to force-feed AD more and put more pressure on the Nuggets in the paint. Personally, I'd rather see more of Reaves creating his own shot and attacking the paint so Bran & AD have more juice on defense and in the 2nd half.
That's true, this Lakers team has more capable scorers than the bubble team did. But the issue is there are games where they need AD to take over, like Game 2, and he was just seemingly incapable of doing so. I understand all he does defensively and on the glass, but this Lakers team needs a more consistent scoring output from him. Since the offensive explosion of the last 7-8 years, the title teams best scorer has always averaged 27+ ppg, and I don't think that'll be any different this year.

[RRR3]

He shouldn't be. He's 38 and not playing at 100%. AD should be the one carrying the scoring load most of the time, but it's like he's playing on empty every other game.


That's true, this Lakers team has more capable scorers than the bubble team did. But the issue is there are games where they need AD to take over, like Game 2, and he was just seemingly incapable of doing so. I understand all he does defensively and on the glass, but this Lakers team needs a more consistent scoring output from him. Since the offensive explosion of the last 7-8 years, the title teams best scorer has always averaged 27+ ppg, and I don't think it'll be any different this year.
It's hard to claim he doesn't have enough energy to score when he's making LeBron guard Jokic.

[ImKobe]

Wait you always claim Kuzma was an all-star level talent and now he wasn't a reliable scorer? Can't even keep track of your agendas :yaohappy:

He wasn't in that role in the bubble. He averaged just 8.5 FGA as the 3rd guy on the team. Dlo averages 13.1 FGA & Reaves 12.4. He wasn't asked to be a reliable scorer/starter on that team because Lebron was still relatively in his prime years and dominated the ball, unlike now.

[RRR3]

He wasn't in that role in the bubble. He averaged just 8.5 FGA as the 3rd guy on the team. Dlo averages 13.1 FGA & Reaves 12.4. He wasn't asked to be a reliable scorer/starter on that team because Lebron was still relatively in his prime years and dominated the ball, unlike now.
Per minute, he shot more frequently than Reaves by quite a bit. Stop making excuses, bub, you slipped up and admitted you really think Kuzma is a scrub :lol

[ImKobe]

Per minute, he shot more frequently than Reaves by quite a bit. Stop making excuses, bub, you slipped up and admitted you really think Kuzma is a scrub :lol

Reaves also gets to the FT line more and creates more offense.

Last time you gave me the gem that Jokic was apparently a better defender than AD, and now you're saying that the 2020 team had more scorers than the 2023 one. You just can't help but churn out one horrible take after another.

[elementally morale]

Per minute, he shot more frequently than Reaves by quite a bit. Stop making excuses, bub, you slipped up and admitted you really think Kuzma is a scrub :lol

I think Kuzma had a chance to become an all-star level player after his rookie year. Had he been with a franchise maximizing talent (i.e.: Pop and the Spurs) he could be a very good player. LeBron ball and his own immaturity rendered him a less effective player 4 years in than he was as a rookie. He was a decent talent at one point but he is not the player that wanted to improve. So he hasn't.

[RRR3]

Reaves also gets to the FT line more and creates more offense.

Last time you gave me the gem that Jokic was apparently a better defender than AD, and now you're saying that the 2020 team had more scorers than the 2023 one. You just can't help but churn out one horrible take after another.
Stop making up stuff I apparently said to deflect from your stupidity.

[AirBonner]

Unless Joe Mazzula learns how to take timeouts and sub guys correctly Celtics don’t stand a chance

[elementally morale]

Unless Joe Mazzula learns how to take timeouts and sub guys correctly Celtics don’t stand a chance

It has to be a really really steep learning curve...

[ImKobe]

:cry:

:oldlol::oldlol: