Showtime - Los Angeles Lakers MyLeague - NBA 2K19

[ATLBrayden]

TWIN TOWERS DOMINATE THE PAINT

6'11 DeMarcus Cousins and 6'10 Anthony Davis have made it known they are not to be taken lightly on drives to the basket. The two are combining for a monstrous 5.5 blocks per game. These two alone would be the eighth best team in blocks per game. They've helped the Lakers achieve the ranking of most blocks per game in the NBA with 8.9BPG.

Not only has Anthony Davis been dominating the paint defensively, he's unstoppable on offense.



With LeBron James feeding him the ball in what is probably the most elite pick and roll in the NBA, AD's field goal percentage has soared, he is currently sitting at the second best FG% in the league.

[ATLBrayden]

I think I'll be doing highlights via video rather than gifs from now on. The videos are just much higher quality and more organized. I have one more already made but the ones after that will be much more in-depth and include opposing team highlights as well.

[Knickerbocker91]

Having a good start to the season

[ATLBrayden]

Quote: Originally Posted by Knickerbocker91

Having a good start to the season

Definitely! The loss to the Spurs was heart breaking though. Had that wide open look with J.R. and he just couldn't sink it. My next few games are gonna be tough. OKC always has really good defense when I play them and then after I have the Raptors who are 13-5 (2nd in the league).

Let's not talk about Golden State massacring me either hahaha.

[ATLBrayden]

THUNDER AND LAKERS GO BACK AT IT

Here we go again. For the third time in one month, the Lakers and Thunder are going against each other. There have been some great games so far, the Lakers are up 2-0 in the series with 5 and 8 point victories. The Thunder are looking to change that number up and start helping themselves in the playoff race.

The Lakers were dominating this game almost wire to wire. They outscored the Thunder in the first, second, and third quarters. Entering the fourth they led 80-72. It looked like LA was gonna start running away with it, the third quarter was the greatest differential in quarter scores between the two teams all game.

Unless the Lakers choke. And choke they did. Los Angeles collapsed monumentally in the fourth quarter. They got absolutely shut DOWN by OKC in the fourth, scoring only 19 points as a team. OKC on the other hand had their highest scoring quarter thus far. They put up 28 points in the fourth. Those points? Good enough for a ONE point victory. 100-99. This is LA's second one point loss in just seven days, losses that could possibly come back to haunt them later in the season.

Davis and James dominated the thunder, combining for 58 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, and just four turnovers. The rest of the team struggled immensely. Cousins shot 3-10, KCP shot 4-12, J.R. shot 1-6, the list goes on.

BOX SCORE:

Spoiler

HIGHLIGHT VIDEO

[ATLBrayden]

LEAGUE INJURY REPORT

The league is better when everyone is playing. Unfortunately, that can't always happen. Injuries happen every season, it's the nature of the game. There's no getting around it, players and teams just have to take these injuries in stride and keep on moving.

LEAGUE INJURY REPORT
Pos	Player	Injury Note
PG	Markelle Fultz (ORL)	Torn Left ACL - OUT FOR SEASON
SF	Kevin Durant (NYK)	Ruptured Right Achilles - OUT FOR SEASON
PG	John Wall (WAS)	Ruptured Left Achilles - OUT INDEFINITELY
SG	Klay Thompson (GSW)	Torn Left ACL - OUT 2 TO 4 MONTHS
PG	Chris Paul (HOU)	Broken Right Ankle - OUT 8 TO 10 WEEKS
PG	Jeremy Lin (MIA)	Torn Left MCL - OUT 1 TO 2 MONTHS
SF	Andrew Wiggins (MIN)	Severe Left Ankle Sprain - OUT 4 TO 6 WEEKS
C	Boban Marjanovic (PHI)	Broken Right Arm - OUT 4 TO 6 WEEKS
C	DeAndre Ayton (PHX)	Severe Left Ankle Sprain - OUT 2 TO 4 WEEKS
SF	Luka Doncic (DAL)	Broken Nose - AVAILABLE TO PLAY

Klay Thompson has been said to possibly be available for the Warriors in the playoffs. Golden State is currently the first seed in the West so if they can keep up the pace Thompson will be a HUGE addition for them in a crucial time.

Kevin Durant will miss the entire season, there is no question about it. He is rehabbing one of the most brutal injuries a player can sustain.

John Wall is rehabbing the same injury as Durant. He has a few months head-start on the rehab process but the team has not provided a time table for his return yet. With Wall's injury history the Wizards want to be very careful with their franchise centerpiece.

As if it could not get any worse for Fultz, the young injury-prone guard has suffered a complete ACL tear and will miss the entire season. Valuable time for a player who is running out of time to prove himself.

COMING UP - KING vs KLAW

LeBron and Co. head way up north to take on the Toronto Raptors in the Lakers' next game. The match-up to watch will be James vs Leonard. James leads all small forwards in PPG with 28.7, meanwhile Leonard holds the second place spot with 27.2. Both players are amongst the best players in the entire league, and this duel will certainly display some excellent basketball prowess.

[ATLBrayden]

KINGS JAMES STRUGGLES IN TORONTO

When it comes to defenders, Kawhi Leonard is certainly one of the greatest of all time. His reputation precedes him. He is the only player in the entire NBA with Hall of Fame Defensive Stopper and the only player in the NBA with Hall of Fame Pick Dodger. Opponents are shooting 40% when guarded by Leonard. Often taking the toughest match-up in the game, Leonard allows only 10.7 points per game.

Enough talk about his defense though, what can he do for you offensively? Oh yeah that's right, score 27 points per game. Right now Leonard is averaging 26.6ppg/7.1rpg/3.7apg/1.8spg on 55.6/42.6/78.8 shooting splits. A well-rounded and elite players on both ends of the floor, Kawhi Leonard has a legitimate claim to best player in the NBA.

In a game that went down to the wire, Leonard put up 21 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, and 1 turnover on 9-18 shooting. He led the Raptors in points. Not only did he lead the team in points, he held LeBron James to just 15 points in 40 minutes! LeBron shot an atrocious 5-14 and committed five fouls, he was bothered by Leonard the entire night, looking ice cold throughout almost the entire game.

Luckily for James, his new #2 (or perhaps #1?) put up an insane 40 points. While leading the Lakers in points, Anthony Davis also put snagged 19 rebounds! Just one away from a 40/20 game! AD took advantage of his match-up all night long, whether it was Ibaka, Leonard, Pascal, or Gasol.
These 40 points were extremely crucial in a night where no other Laker scored 20+.

The Lakers claimed a 100-93 victory behind AD's superman effort.

BOX SCORE

Spoiler

HIGHLIGHT VIDEO

This highlight video is much more complete than the last two. Not as good as I want it to be but we're working on it.

POST-GAME PRESSER

Reporter: "LeBron, you clearly struggled all night long. Was it just Leonard's defense bothering you, or are you dealing with an injury we didn't hear about?"

LeBron James: "Uh, no. Nope. No injury. Just some great play by Kawhi and some bad play by me. I was missing some good opportunities tonight and just wasn't playing up to my standards. Kawhi is a great ball player and was playing well all night. It happens, all I can do is sit down with coach, review the game film, and see what I could have done better."

Reporter: "Anthony, you were clearly the best player on the court tonight. You are currently playing elite offensively and defensively. Is this the best you have ever been? Where do you go from here?"

Anthony Davis: "Yeah I do feel like I'm playing the best ball in my career so far. I think I just keep going up from here. I don't really place a limit on myself, I feel like if I keep training hard and giving it my all, there really is no ceiling for how good I can get. It's all about work ethic."

A tweet went out on social media from handle @Drake. The contents of the tweet were: "New King in town! It's a North thing #Klaw #5MoreYears" but the tweet has since been deleted.

[ATLBrayden]

QUICK GAME UPDATE

This post will be a little shorter than others. To get further in the season I'm playing games against playoff teams, rivals, and just match-ups I think would be interesting. Here's an update on the games I have simulated past.

Lakers @ Cavs

I SimCasted until the fourth quarter for this one then jumped in. It was actually a surprisingly close game. After finishing out the fourth we came out with a 120-117 victory over Cleveland.

Box Score:

Spoiler

Highlight Video



Lakers @ Pistons

A pretty easy win for Los Angeles. AD struggled but Cousins and LeBron put up 29 points each. 129-113 victory for LA.

Box Score:

Spoiler

Lakers @ Bulls

Just a disappointing game all around. Cousins did well (22/10) but man LeBron and AD struggled big time. Neither broke 20 points. Meanwhile Lavine put up 40 points to give Chicago a 110-102 victory.

Box Score:

Spoiler

Pacers @ Lakers

I thought we would have this one in the bag in the sim. The Pacers are currently 8-16 so I thought we would make light work of them, I certainly underestimated them. LeBron was clearly our best player putting up 23 points on a respectable 9-17 shooting. Cousins put up 21 points on a horrible 5-13 shooting. AD was non-existant with 14 points shooting 5-15. No one player stood out for Indiana, it was a great team effort resulting in a whopping 124-108 victory for the Pacers.

Box Score:

Spoiler