The odds of some team offering him $85 million were always going to be slim. He has started less than half of his career games. He's 6-1 and a woefully inconsistent shooter. Schroder has never made an All-Star Game or averaged 20 points per game. That was the most that they could legally put on the table, and he reportedly declined it. But every shot Schroder misses is just another reminder of what might turn out to be one of the worst decisions of his career.Įarlier this season, the Lakers reportedly offered Schroder a four-year, $84 million contract extension. These are small samples that we're dealing with. Hell, his poor shooting ever since he returned from a health-and-safety-protocol-induced absence shouldn't mean all that much either. The fact that Dennis Schroder was held scoreless in this game shouldn't ultimately affect his next contract too much. No player should ever be condensed to a single game. If Paul seriously aggravated his shoulder injury, Phoenix could probably still win Game 6 without him if Anthony Davis is out as well. It certainly didn't seem like he was nearly back to 100 percent at any point in this game, and with Payne playing as well as he has, the Suns can afford to be cautious. Devin Booker did most of the heavy lifting offensively, and it's not as though Paul dominated the game defensively either. Yes, he was incredible in Game 4, and yes, he made his first 3-pointer of the series on Tuesday, but he shot just 3-for-9 overall. Prior to the collision with Matthews, it was unclear how healthy Paul actually was. Phoenix won Paul's by a game-high 34 even if scored just nine points. Payne shot 7-of-11 from the field for 16 points, but won his minutes by only two points. Without having seen him play with that tweaked shoulder, we have no way of knowing how healthy he's going to be for Game 6.īut after watching Cameron Payne scorch the Lakers' slower big men in space yet again, it's worth asking how badly the Suns really need Paul at this stage of the series. He didn't return, but he didn't need to in such a blowout. The Suns intentionally fouled from there just to get Paul off of the floor. He stayed in the game only long enough to take the free throws. With the Suns leading by 33 in the third quarter, Chris Paul was fouled by Wesley Matthews and seemingly reinjured his shoulder. Now, both sides have to acknowledge what might be their new reality. When he didn't, they had no alternatives. The Lakers played like a team expecting LeBron to score 50 tonight. Maybe, for the first time in his career, James just isn't quite that unstoppable force he's used to being, and if the Lakers plan to win more championships with him, they need to adjust accordingly. Maybe he's just a normal superstar now, not a superstar capable of overcoming injuries and poor spacing and missing teammates. When his team needed him to win a game by himself, for most of the past 15 years, he was able to find a way to do it.īut Father Time is undefeated, and now, it's worth asking if James is simply beyond the point in his career in which he can be expected to overcome every single obstacle. Smith miscue away from toppling the greatest team in NBA history singlehandedly. He's still recovering from a high-ankle sprain that probably won't get back to 100 percent at any point this postseason.īut how many minor injuries has James played through in his career? How many times have his teammates failed him? He nearly won a championship without Kyrie Irving or Kevin Love. Without Anthony Davis, the Suns were keyed in him completely. The Suns could pack the paint with multiple defenders thanks to the Lakers' poor spacing. There are a number of reasons why that might be the case. Not once did he barrel towards the basket and overpower Phoenix's mortal defenders. Though he scored six points in the paint, two came on a turnaround jumper and two more came on a wide open layup. He scored 24 points… but 18 of them came from behind the arc. LeBron James, the 250-pound freight train that, only a year ago, was as unstoppable near the basket as anyone in history, did not attempt a free throw in Game 5. Are we moving into a different phase of LeBron's career? There was an error processing your subscription.ġ.
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