Followupquestion
Relevant scene
Edit: here’s a Piped version
Taco Bell has “bulked up” their ground beef with soy for years IIRC. Nobody noticed, because their seasoning and actual beef flavor were strong enough to cover.
My problem with Impossible/Beyond is neither is nearly as good as real beef flavor, and I’m saying this as somebody who was vegetarian for over a decade. Boca and Morningstar were my favorites back when I didn’t eat meat, and I still buy the Morningstar breakfast patties because I like them better than greasy meat patties to start my day.
MoviePass and Sinemia got me into like 50 movies. I think my favorite part of that glorious year (less, but let’s round) was when one of the services just stopped working one day and I had prepaid for a year’s service. I reached out to my credit card company and said I got shorted X months of the service. They refunded me the full amount of the prepaid year, so I essentially got months of newly released movies (I’d typically go on Friday afternoons to have fewer people in the theater and the line for concessions) for free.
I should add, the RunPee app saved me so many times I can’t even tell you. Seriously, my favorite app even tangentially related to movies. Get the Infinity Coin if that’s still offered, it’s a great deal for a lifetime of not missing the good parts, especially if you see Christopher Nolan movies regularly.
They made it to the WCF after a huge trade deadline team upgrade. Given that most of the core pieces of the team that beat the Warriors and the Grizzlies are back, why wouldn’t they be a contender? What teams got significant upgrades in the West to stand in their way that weren’t there the last time around? Plus given the injuries and new team, the Lakers spent the last 1/3 of the season figuring out their team chemistry, even to the point where the play-in game was one of the first where the Playoff lineup was even on the floor together. No meteors needed, just the Lakers to play consistently and stay healthy. LeBron and AD can manage their minutes because the new team can put up points without them, and that means good things at the end of the season. What the Lakers are missing is a good bruiser of a center who can take the physicality of Jokic and save AD from foul trouble. If they fill that gap, I don’t know if even the Nuggets have a team that can beat them.
He’s really saying the Lakers FO did a good enough job putting a team around him that he thinks they’re contenders for another title. He knows he’s getting to the end of his career so if he’s going to risk his chance of playing with Bronny, there’s got to be a really strong chance for another ring. Considering how the Lakers started and how the season ended at the WCF, bringing back Reaves and Hachimura made it clear he won’t have to carry the team the whole way to the Playoffs and hopefully a championship.
