FIRST TAKE | LeBron has Father Time in a chokehold! – Stephen A. reacts to Lakers blowout the Nets

FIRST TAKE | LeBron has Father Time in a chokehold! – Stephen A. reacts to Lakers blowout the Nets

A show as the Lakers were here in New York to take on the Nets in Brooklyn Jay will and Tim legler are here and it was the LeBron show from the very beginning yeah he comes out some nights and he just has such an aggressive mindset when

He scores early in the game you feel like you know you’re going to get aesthetic dose of it the entire night yeah you see the the the bucket then the pass the Lakers started out on a 17 nothing run it was 17 nothing Lakers and then Jay will it would continue Lebron

Nine threes in this game a career high I mean there’s only two players in Lakers history who shot 90% from the three-point line nine of 10 him and Kobe Bryant yeah spectacular the Lakers continuing to lead pretty much the entire night LeBron again just feeling it when he’s knocking down shots like

These legs even at his age he’s well and this is the highest shooting year of his of his career from the three-point line and he feels more comfortable getting into these shots off the dribble than he has at any point in his career which is pretty amazing at watch every highlight

He looks LeBron tells when he’s going to shoot a three he looks down at ground it’s his two-tail thing when he shoots well he scored 40 points last night on the nine threes uh a second 40-point game since turning 39 years old he joins Michael Jordan as the only players in

History with multiple 40-point games at age 39 or older and then afterwards he was asked how much longer he sees himself going not very long not very long um I’m on the other side obviously at a heill so I’m not going to play another 21 years that’s for damn sure

But uh not very long um I don’t know what uh when that door was closed as far as my when I retire but I don’t have much time left I don’t know that I understand the context of the question again I wasn’t in the room he he LeBron you’re 39 your

Team is sort of making a playoff run here you’re looking pretty good you just scored 40 points how soon are you retiring there has to have been a reason why the question was asked so I mean should we we’re not making a big deal of

The fact that he said that last night of course he actually you could tell he was irrit ated by getting as that in that moment I’m trying to get this team ready for some sort of a playoff run you know if we can survive the play in and get on

To a series that’s where I’m at and I just had a great game why are you asking me about that so no I agree he was irritated yeah so let’s put that one aside for a moment and just talk about LeBron James at 39 continuing to do

Things that no one his age has ever done and one of those could be leading this team that’s starting to look I know that we try and make a big deal out of every win and every little moment but as we go in into this month where the playoffs

Will begin the Lakers do look like a team that if everything went their way could catch a little fire I mean what it got to the Western Conference finals last year I mean look here’s the thing if you have LeBron James playing at a high level you have Anthony Davis who is

Facing anybody other than the Joker frankly in my opinion I I I think that’s a really good combination with their size their frame they way they defend now they don’t put themselves in the best polling position legs here obviously because of how they not having somebody to carry to load throughout the

Regular season but they could cause trouble in the playoffs because they have the size and they have the talent and they have the physicality look I said I don’t know how long ago it was the Lakers weren’t going to do something like they did last year they couldn’t

Replicate that run because of the landmines that are in the Western Conference it’s just different but at the time I said that Phoenix didn’t look like this the Clippers didn’t look like this 500 for a six we stretch Carl Anthony towns wasn’t hurt like there’s a

Lot of things that have happened in the meantime that now you look at the Lakers and say if they get a particular matchup in the first round and by that I mean really avoid Denver that’s really what it comes to if you can avoid Denver in a

In a seven game series to start off assuming they escape the playing I think a lot of people would pick the Lakers to beat either Oklahoma City or Minnesota if they get one of those two teams in a seven game series and so it may become a very interesting little run here for

LeBron and Company they had a good one last night in Brooklyn let me run the floor through some of the other better moments from the NBA yesterday because there’s a bunch of them out there legs let’s start with your guy and your team the nuggets and the Joker he had 26

Points 18 rebound 16 assists just let that sink in a moment they blow out the Cavs who’s the biggest threat to them in the west I think it’s the Dallas Mavericks and and you know I’ve been on this pretty hard since the trading deadline and they’re doing nothing to make me think otherwise

Um be particularly when you look at the one thing Dallas was not doing consistently was defending well look at what they have done defensively during this stretch they’ve won 11 out of 12 games uh and they faced the team last night that they won 11 straight Y in

Their building and LCA donic came came out with such a dialed in focus at the start of this game he completely took the game over in the first quarter and it stayed that way the rest of the night so the combination of the greatness of Luca with Kyrie as a supplemental

Scoring star the athletes that they have now and then now they’re actually defending at that level on a given night I think Dallas is the biggest threat again avoid the nuggets at all cost early if if you can but I think why wouldn’t you think Dallas is poised to

Be that team that could be the last one standing against the Nuggets I I would actually say first off Nicole yic is my MVP I know SGA other players are in that category but he is the Bonafide MVP in my opinion and I would agree with you

Legs on the Mavericks it it feels like Luca and Kyrie are having fun when they play together it’s not oh legs you go now it’s my turn to go now you go it feels like there’s fluidity and continuity in how they’re playing offensively it’s a very Dynamic back

Court yeah you said that you think this is the best team that Luca’s had since he’s been in Dallas and that includes the team that made the conference fine no question about it and that team had Jaylen Brunson I get it they had Spencer dwy those two guys were huge for them

This is the best team because he’s got he’s got Kyrie a Bonafide Superstar scorer next to him it’s the supplemental pieces and the way that they fit together by the way we just watched that highlight about five times while we were talking can we please show that shot one

More time that’s the most absurd shot I have seen certainly this year one of the most absurd shots in my career step through step through scoop shot from 22 ft and then just this reaction man what what are you going to do you how irritating that is to your opponent when

Not only you do this and then you just laugh all the way down the court like this is so fun out here isn’t it guys maybe not for Jabari Smith Is this different I I I I said it before I think we’re finally seeing everybody wanted

Results in year one and it takes a while to learn how to play with two guys who are primary ball handlers and now I think with the continuity and the pieces like leg said this team is one of the most dangerous teams there is in the Western Conference I’m also not going to

Just Overlook Minnesota as well I know not having Cary towns but defensively the way they are built there’s some dogs too now I’m just thinking about the trade deadline last year Kyrie goes out to play with Luca and we all thought oh what a disaster they didn’t even want to

Make the playoffs Durant goes to play with Devon Booker and we’re thinking oh they’re a year away from being a championship Contender and boy how quickly that feels like it has switched let’s stay here in New York Jay the Knicks in the Thunder play an unbelievable game last night Thunder

Wind up winning late SGA with a big shot lose another Heartbreaker and nailbiter and then there’s bad mojo or not Mojo but just sort of bad comments about the possibility of getting back some of their injured Stars How concerned if you’re a fan of the Knicks who have had

Such a good season How concerned should you be I I am concerned for the Knicks first off I think other Bonafide superstars in the league get that call that jayen Brunson didn’t get that hip check call on Luke dir I I think he should have gotten that call I also

Think that down the stretch not having Mitchell Robinson not having Julius Randle not having some of their front Court players players is a major OG anov like last night that would have been a match up for SE guils right having OG on that floor would have made a world of a

Difference the fact when I hear tibo talk that of uncertainty not knowing when those guys are coming back considering the way their last nine games against playing caliber teams I am concerned for them down the stretch I’m very concerned about where else is it going to come from besides Brunson in a

Big spot and this is where Julius Randall comes into it because you look at the rest of their pieces and I loved all the guys they added but it’s built around the two stars and they only have one right now brunson’s Sensational and look there’s going to be Knights he will

Be able to carry you all the way through in the fourth quarter that’s asking an awful lot for one guy that’s a smaller guard playing that lead position to do that night in and night out without the secondary star next to you they’ve got some streaky offensive players that on a

Given night can do it but at not being at full strength you you can’t look at them as the same threat that they were and even last night tibo had to go to four guards in Precious Chua for a stretch of that game because you don’t have Mitchell Robinson you have don’t

Have Julius Rand you have no size available besides hartenstein yeah the other night uh Brunson had 61 points and they lost a game so it it’s it’s a lot on his shoulders we’ll see what they can do and then one more from last night legs Draymond Green we spent all last

Week talking about him he had 21 Points 11 assists six rebounds as the Warriors beat the Spurs so what do we say about them score granny you know what the score was I mean you tell me what what do you mean what the score was yeah I

Mean they were up what what’s the point that you I I with all due respect to the Spurs like it’s good number like I want to see that consistently fair enough need to see that those point spreads consistently against a team that’s not at the bottom tier of of the Western

Conference so so I mean okay I’m I’m trying to figure out the point that you’re making for me you’re just sort of dismissing that like we spent all last week saying oh my God they’re done he’s dead they should get rid of him nothing else boom he comes back he plays a

Really good game like what do we say about Draymond Green this morning I I’m saying it’s against the Spurs okay like I’m saying look those are numbers that you should be doing against the Spurs I’m just tell you my raw opinion on it legs I don’t know how you feel about it

I know Steph had a really big game they beat the Spurs barely it’s the Spurs listen Draymond Green no one is saying that Draymond Green is not capable of having games like this right the reason that you know we went in on him as hard as we did last week was because they

Need him on the floor to be that and he basically left the game after four minutes and left Steph Curry out there to dry in a game that they had to win this was a huge night last night okay not only do they get this win Houston

Loses that losing streak is snapped you get a little bit more comfort zone there so now it looks most likely that Golden State Will Survive that you that run by Houston and they’re going to get into this play in that look in a one night situation with Steph Curry and and

Certainly Draymond Green’s going to play a big part in that Golden State Warriors are dangerous in a one night situation but if they have to win two games to get out of the play in against those other two teams who that looks like that’s going to be I still think it’s very

Unlikely so it’s great that Draymond atoned okay he played well and he atoned for that ultimately is this going to be a needle mover for the Warriors what happened last night in terms of a postseason one I don’t think so I guess my bigger point greeny was I don’t walk

Away from last night saying okay all the Warriors issues are fixed no right by the way and that’s the way that came across it’s like well he had this great game okay everything’s fine everything doesn’t still feel fine to me like like like said obviously it puts you in

Polling position but still I think it’s a major uphill battle for this team so I mean as we felt are you ago the Lakers have a much better shot if we’re just looking at the two Transcendent Stars the Lakers feel like they have a much better shot to keep this thing going

Into May than the Warriors do at this point meanwhile the best team in the league has been the Celtics and we will see them on Wednesday night hosting the Thunder that’s 7:30 Eastern here on ESPN then the Cavs in Phoenix to take on KD and the Suns coverage begins with NBA

Countdown at 7 Eastern coming up it is draft foree foree spee speech for get now spee spee spee spe speee May fore fore speech foreign spee speech what hey spe foree for spe fore fore speech fore speech for forign for e h foree speee foree for for speech fore speee speech

FIRST TAKE | LeBron has Father Time in a chokehold! – Stephen A. reacts to Lakers blowout Nets, 116-104