Luka, LeBron and the most dangerous 60 feet passes of the NBA
The Lakers have established a formula for LeBron James and Luka Doncic to be in the stalls: 60 feet passes.
Los Angeles Lakers They had so many problems in their defeat by 117-95 in the first game of the Playoffs before the Minnesota Timberwolves that there was no obvious problem in the offensive line to solve.
The Wolves fulminated them from the perimeter, establishing a franchise record in postseason with 21 triples. They dominated Los Angeles at transition points 25-6. And the attack of the Lakers, which was located in a respectable 11. place during the regular season, faltered in the final stretch. He scored only 17 points in the last quarter, with Luka Doncic registering only one assistance in the game (more than six below its average of the season) and LeBron James Totalizing 19 points, more than five below yours. Just a few minutes after Tuesday’s second game, the Lakers began to correct the course with the help of a masterful play between their two stars.
The sequence began when the eaves of Minnesota, Jaden McDaniels, failed a triple from the corner, and Austin Reaves ran at full speed to close the passage and dispute the ball. The eaves of the Lakers, Rui Hachimura, captured the rebound and advanced the ball to Doncic on the right wing. By the time he received the pass in the defense zone, just after the three -point line, James had already broken into the attack zone, with only the base of the Wolves, Mike Conley, in a position to defend it while heading directly towards the hoop.
Doncic made a dibble and turned to the stall when he saw James. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Doncic immediately launched a 15 -meter exit pass that passed over Conley’s head and landed softly in James’s hands, preparing a mouth shot that he deposited in the hoop.
“It’s easy,” Doncic told AM850 after the game. “I know what he is going to do. He will overcome his defender and simply throw the ball. It is not difficult.”
The scoreboard put Los Angeles up 7-4 with 8:45 remaining in the first quarter and served as a sample of the adjustments that were to come from the Lakers. Doncic ended with nine assists; The Lakers reversed the battle of annotations in counterattack 13-6; and Los Angeles won the 94-85 game to tie the 1-1 series. With the series transferred to Minneapolis for the third game on Friday (9:30 pm et, AM850), and the number 6 of the Wolves is reinforced at home, the Luka-Lebron connection will not only be an advantage for the attack of the Lakers, but an example of the dangerous alliance that both have already established for what they expect is a long race towards the championship.
“One thing about Luka,” James told AM850, “is that you have to be in the right place at the right time or you have to connect, or the ball will not happen to you. So I think I trust me.”
Doncic and James They demonstrated their counterattack ability in their first game together with the Lakers, a 132-113 victory over the Utah Jazz on February 10.
With the Lakers already up for 20 points at the end of the second quarter, James ran to play a triple by Lauri Markkanen from the band and continued to surpass the eaves of the jazz to the other basket. After the ruling, Doncic captured the rebound in the paint, drilling on the court and sent a pass of about 20 meters to find James with a firm step for a tray.
After the score, James raised his left hand and pointed to his new partner with his index finger while he returned to the defense, recognizing the masterful play. “I think that the ability to complement in transition was seen instantly, especially with Luka as an exit pin, LeBron running or moving along the court, creating an early cross game and sealing the ball at the beginning,” said Lakers coach JJ Redick, when asked about the first chemistry signs between them. “We saw almost immediately.”
This type of plays, and chemistry, have been part of the Game Manual of the 22 -year -old veteran.
“If you watch Bron’s career, whenever he had good pins capable of making that pass-Kevin Love, Dwyane Wade-was always effective,” the Lakers eaves told AM850, Dorian Finney-Smith. “Bron knows how to read those passes … I think that is definitely an advantage and gives us easy points. It is difficult to get easy points in the league.”
The base of the Lakers, Gabe Vincent, agreed: “The big players also have to get easy baskets. Sometimes, that is the easiest shot that will get (throughout the game).”
In 21 games together before the playoffs, Doncic gave James five assists with passes of more than 18 meters, according to Geniusiq’s follow -up. It was the largest amount of two league players to connect long passes of that caliber in the last two months of the regular season. James has challenged all the established NBA standards for a veteran player, but no longer faces a game in 2025 as he did when he had twenty. His first step after the drible is no longer as devastating as before. He can no longer overcome his defender in the jump to finish off him as before. During the first two games of the series against Minnesota, Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert They have done an acceptable job containing it on the half court.
But the mental understanding of James of the game remains as solid as ever. In 2018, he admitted saving energy throughout the game by determining what possessions he can rest while a partner orchestra the attack, to be able to dedicate more energy to the defense.
Playing an open receiver for Doncic field marshal is only its latest software update. When asked before the start of the playoffs what has been key to his chemistry with Doncic, James referred to his 26 -year -old counterpart. “Offensively? Give the ball to Luka. If we stay prepared,” said James, “we never get ready.”
When the Wolves They prepared to play against the Lakers on February 27 for the first time after the acquisition of Doncic by Los Angeles, the mind of the coach of Minnesota, Chris Finch, wandered from one side to another, thinking about how difficult James would be without the ball.
“If you give him too much help in the holes, you open enormous chances of moving forward. That does not usually end well for the defense,” Finch said before the game. “We spend much of the coaches meeting talking about how LeBron plays without a ball and what does the defense … It is a completely different level of threat.”
The Lakers won that night, with James scoring 33 points, with 11 of 21 in field shots and six assists. Doncic added 21 points, with 6 of 20 in field shots and five assists, while Reaves added 23 points and five assists. When Minnesota assured the number 6 and ensured a first -round confrontation with Los Angeles, one of the specific objectives of the Wolves game plan, sources told AM850, it was to limit James in the transition, believing that if they force him to work in half court sets, he could get tired in the course of a long series.
In two games, it has been a successful effort. That Doncic transmission represents James’s only two transition points in the series. He averaged 6.0 transition points per game in the regular season, the sixth best average of the NBA.
The Wolves strategy is comparable to a combination of individual and zonal coverage in the American football field, according to the sources. After a Minnesota ruling, two of his players should go back, with a defender attached to James in hand in hand. Meanwhile, the Wolves players who break the offensive board are asked to press Doncic if you receive the ball and do not give a clean protection zone to display passes that can be useful.
But it is not time for Finch to relax. After all, the Lakers have not yet tried James as Quarterback or Doncic as a receiver in this series. “Passing each other, those two Cab …? It sounds crazy even to say it,” said Finney-Smith. “Two years ago, that m … would have sounded false. What do I say? Two years ago? Two months ago it would have been false.”
