[ad_1]
LOS ANGELES – "Laker fans, the wait is over."
That's what Ice Cube said by concluding the opening call that greeted the fans on the video screen as they entered the bowl of the Staples Center. Among the promises offered to participants, there was "Dawn of a New Kingdom" and the restoration of Showtime. The monarch in question is of course LeBron Raymone James, father. And with his arrival in Los Angeles, the most prominent basketball star is now the face of the first NBA franchise.
For about two hours Saturday, the electric current pulsating through the arena during James 'first season in the Lakers' uniform seemed to be the NBA at the pinnacle of his cultural power. If the league could order a custom product for the global masses, could it be a quick-shooting shootout featuring its global star in its global team, facing an opponent as present as the Rockets? , headed by the MVP title?
Chris Paul, Rajon Rondo and Brandon Ingram were sent off from Saturday's game in the fourth quarter after a multiplayer battle.
Kirk Goldsberry is interested in LeBron's attacking course and what it means for this new test with the Lakers.
1 related
Then, while there was only a little more than four minutes left at a point, the Lakers welcome car was diverted by punches. In a league where players apparently never really wanted to fight, this game was suddenly stirred by a scrum that saw three players take a tight fist – Brandon Ingram (who started the fight with a boost of James Harden) and Rajon Rondo of the Lakers, as well as Chris Paul of the Rockets. After the players were separated several times while the emotions continued to rise, the officials took several minutes to decide. The three players were ejected and face some suspensions.
If James started the evening as the winner of the game, he finished it as a peacemaker. While the spirits were spoiled, James could be found with his arms around his close friend Paul in order to defuse the madness. LeBron has always thrived in chaos, but tonight's delirium was a little too dramatic for him.
As is often the case in the NBA today, Saturday night's scheduled events have been equated with spontaneous and absurd events. No league in recent memory has generated more enthusiasm for his unexpected escapades and reality TV. The Lakers tried to orchestrate a showcase of their awakening, but the garden party was crushed by vagrants. The Rockets moved away in the moments that followed the win for a 124-115 win, bringing the Lakers to a 0-2 record.
The skirmish reaffirmed that the league would have a hard time finding a more challenging pair of irritants than Harden and Paul. Both are members of the Hall of Famers, who vote for the first time, and are perfectly in control of the psychological warfare required of teams aspiring to become champions. Saturday's home opener against a team of 65 wins was always a good measure for a newly-formed Lakers team that needed to measure its potential. But the altercation has highlighted a more important lesson for a player like Ingram, who has just started his third season of NBA: Winning in the NBA can be a bad deal.
LeBron, of course, knows it better than anyone. Whatever his presence in Los Angeles may mean for the NBA, Lakers and LeBron brand's appeal, basketball is still a field product measured in gains and losses. LeBron – who has lost 24 points, five tables and five assists – will certainly make every Lakers game visible, but he is now responsible for making each match winable.
There is usually not much to glean from basketball in October, but some things do not change even if the uniform or conference does. The gravity that James leads the opposing defense was seen on Saturday night, while several Rockets had centered on each possession of half the field. This is a condition aggravated by the lack of ground shot for the Lakers. Yet James has made the most of it. Witness the excellent pass without a rebound. Josh Hart along the baseline just before halftime.
0:59
LeBron James made his highly anticipated debut at Staples Center, scoring 24 points in the Lakers' 124-115 loss to the Rockets.
James radically changes the style and identity of the team he joins, but after two games, the Lakers stand as a slightly more advanced model than the brave but deeply flawed team that had won 35 games last season. The characters – and they do not miss to be on this list – are different, but it's still a team that excels at the race on arrival, but that remains little. He suffers from a lack of discipline on the defensive side and does not shoot the ball with a type of long-range deficit. In Saturday's defeat, the Lakers tried to compensate by looking for inconsistencies against the "Rockets Happy Switch" ploy, but JaVale McGee post-ups offer a limited call.
The Lakers this season are undeniably better than 35 wins, and any composition with a composition of this new will need time to squirt, as requested by the first team of James Heat, Miami Heat, to the regularity up to the fall of 2010. This team is also preaching After the defeat in Portland on Thursday, LeBron warned that creating a winner is a much longer process than preparing an instant dish of oats, an average league breakfast that provides basic food, but almost nothing else.
The Lakers want nothing less than full coverage, polite cutlery, on the rooftop terrace at sunrise, which overlooks their new realm.
Source link
