Brian Windhorst and Tim Legler join Mike Greenberg on Get Up to describe their issues with the Los Angeles Lakers intentionally losing to the New Orleans Pelicans in order to duck the No. 2 Denver Nuggets before speaking on the Golden State Warriors’ Play-In scenario vs. the Sacramento Kings and more.
0:00 Los Angeles Lakers’ Play-In strategy
4:45 Golden State Warriors’ ramifications in loss
8:01 Joel Embiid’s health
9:48 Are Lakers better off losing to Pelicans?
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24 Comments
I can see Draymond fkn this up for them.
I think it funny how everyone gave the cavaliers crap for tanking in their final game of the season yet if LeBron does it then it’ll be good strategy! Lol
if lakers wnat win the chip sooner than later they have to face Nuggets, earlier round is better in my opinion to play with Them.
You ain’t winning a title if you’re trying to avoid anyone, plain and sinple
For the Lakers, DLo’s performance will be key.
Remember, half of the games the Lakers lost to Denver (0-8), were within single digits.
You can argue that if DLo hit more of his shots, the Lakers definitely win a few of those games against the Nuggets.
The Lakers need DLo’s scoring, & if DLo really wants to get paid this summer, he’s gonna need to score at a consistent/ efficient pace throughout the playoffs.
If DLo shrinks again (with a healthy LeBron & AD), he’s gonna experience a ‘social s3x change’ in the NBA.
His NBA ‘stock’ will drop so fast, he’ll be reduced to a journeyman benchwarmer.
3:33 Lebron ducks opponents all year, I don't see why this wouldn't be different for the good of the playoff first round.
TBH Its Time For The Lakers To Blow It Up I Mean This Team Is Not Good To Compete For A Championship I Mean How Many More Years Are They Going To Keep Doing This With Lebron, AD, Two Or 3 Good Players Thats Good But Inconsistent, & The Rest Of The Team Mediocre. They Don't Have Money To Go Get The Pieces They Need Like Shooting & They Traded Away All Their Draft Picks Plus They Don't Have Anything To Offer In A Trade With Value Besides Lebron & AD Maybe Hachimara. Lebron Is Not Winning Anymore Rings Period Its His Fault & Definitely Rob Pelinka's Fault Why The Lakers Are Not The Team They Was Since Winning The Championship In 2020. And I Get Lebron & AD Missed Alot Of Games Since Winning The Championship But They Traded Away Crucial Pieces Like Caldwell Pope, Kuzma, Javal Mcgee. They Let Alex Caruso & Malik Monk Walk In Free Agency Rob Pelinka Needs To Be Fired He Is Trash. If The Lakers Don't Make The Playoffs Or Don't Make It Far In The Playoffs They Need To Break This Team Up & Start Rebuilding From Scratch Because Its Not Working Anymore
Lakers can beat kings and they've beaten Warriors last year. The only threat to them is Denver.
The idea of losing on purpose is dumb asf 💀💀
Last best shot? Not true at all, They been saying that about Lebron last 5 years.
Doesn't matter even makes sense what do they pay theses guys for?
You still have to go through Nuggets to achieve your goal. I love when Greeny says "you're right, I'm dumb" lol
that would be extremely stupid
Rest your best players. If the team still win, great. If not.. also great
Too many games on the same day 😢
Lakers will beat the Pelicans tonight so they can play the Nuggets and beat the Nuggets, to setup the Lebron underdog storyline that he was able to beat Denver.
Everyone talking about lakers wanting to lose, don’t the pelicans wants to lose to avoid denver too? Both might play the game to lose tonight 😂
And what’s also funny some think the Lakers should tank but who says the Pelicans won’t tank and this will be the worst game in NBA history lol
If the Lakers lose against the Pelicans, they won't make the playoffs because the Kings and Warriors are also favored to beat them. To lose to NOP would not only be cowardice but stupid as well 😂
Greenberg sticking to his loser take, even though people who know ball keep telling him he's an idiot. You play to win. Then saying that he's a genius? Lol. Stop already, man, it's pathetic.
So 'Greeny', by your own words & logic, it would be "massively wrong" to tank the opening play-in game. Why would you, in all your piety & wit, postscript it with "but"? I expect MAGA to turn a blind eye to such glaringly obvious ethical hypotheses, but I expect more from a funny, lucid, morally grounded, Jewish mench from Chicago. Finally, you need to dial it down with your gushing, fanboy exaltation of Denver & Nikola Yokic like he & the Nugs are invincible. Who cares what the Laker's record vs. Denver in the last 8 games. What about the 8 games that preceded them? It's wholly insubstantial & irrelevant to the next game. Anyone with such privilege, unfettered access to professional athletes & historical context in professional sports, should, by all accounts, be acutely aware of the elite athlete's mentality. Win today. Win now. Don't duck & dive to avoid competition. Dream about it & pursue it with zeal. Where you fly off the rails is in your smug, insidious concessions to the inevitable outcome… and if that's how it plays out, so be it. But the odds against one team's chances are by no means so staggeringly insurmountable that any NBA team would or should fear playing another team. This is, after all, Nikola Yokic & the Nuggets. Not Michael Jordan & the Chicago Bulls. You, of all people, should know the difference.
That’s the dumbest take I have heard there is no way Lakers will intentionally lose this game or not play hard 😂😂 if they lose tonight and play the next game it will be like game 7 and anything can happen
Greeny is a talking suit (non-athlete) who should be embarrassed to give this particular opinion .. Why?
* He reveals himself as a kiss-up to the Lakers, as only their strategy was discussed on air.
* Gee, the Pelicans could also take the same idea and choose to lose to avoid the Nuggets in the first round. Then the audience can watch another low-quality NBA game.
* Greeny doesn't grasp that such a tank decision would brand the Lakers players and franchise as weaklings.
* Going into a long tournament after a week off, even a formidable team can be extra vulnerable to an upset by a motivated underdog in a tournament's first game(s). That is, it can be better to face a strong team earlier in a tournament than later. This scenario happens each year in the NCAA basketball tournaments but also has happened as famous first-round upsets in past NBA tournaments. Greeny seems not to grasp these points of sports psychology and sports history.
It would be better for then to face the Nuggets in the first round than later.