Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Are the Lakers Good Vibes About More Than Just Winning?

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Lakers are building strong vibes while they pile up victories. Is there more to it than just wins? We'll explain next. You are Locked-on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks to everybody for tuning in to Locked on Lakers. I'm Brian Kaminetsky with Andy Kaminetsky.

Starting point is 00:00:28 Lost cover in our daily, I don't know, mini-episode, short episodes. These things still doesn't have a name. We're going to, we'll preview a little bit of what's coming tonight in Detroit. The Lakers, obviously benefiting from the presence of Luca Donchich, as we noted in Monday's big show, the rescinded technical foul puts him back to 15, allows him to play tonight against Detroit, Detroit without Cade Cunningham and a couple other members of their supporting cast. So depending on who suits up for the Lakers, Lakers could have actually pretty significant in advance. and keep this win streak, run it to 10 games.

Starting point is 00:01:07 And if they do, Andy, that would only strengthen what has become some really solid chemistry and positive vibes and good feelings around this team. Yeah, I thought LeBron had a really interesting quote after the win over the win over the magic. And the quote referenced how they are now. 22 and 6 in clutch time situations. And in particular, they have been winning more of these games against teams above 500. Like that was always the thing people would cite in detracting from the clutch time record.

Starting point is 00:01:49 And to some degree that detraction of the skepticism was warranted. A lot of those wins came against teams that frankly should not have required clutch time to begin with. And then when you combine that with the previous penchant for losing not just frequently to the teams above 500, but often just getting their asses handed to them double digit loss style, you could understand why people were, I think, a little quick to dismiss that record. But it's different now. And LeBron when asked about it, said, quote, just a sense of calmness. There's no pressure. We're just calm in those moments. We know we can get stops.

Starting point is 00:02:30 We know we can make plays, and we did that. And what I think is interesting about that is just the idea that especially against this level of competition when they keep winning, they're just showing more of a demonstrated belief in each other and trusting each other. And that increased belief, increased trust. It leads to guys playing better off each other, which in turn, among other things, I think raises the chemistry on the court. because nobody is ever second-guessing what the other person's going to be doing out there. I think also I know I've been a broken record on this, but I think it matters. I think JJ breaking down the roles and the usage hierarchy at the very least in defining

Starting point is 00:03:17 how all of these different roles will be run in the offense with Luca and Austin and LeBron, I think that has played a role in the increased clarity, among other things I think has led to increased chemistry as well. Yeah, I think what you're hitting on there with the, with the definition of roles and the defining of roles, to to have this, I think, really it does boil down to in so many ways LeBron. And not in a bad way, not in a LeBron has been actively

Starting point is 00:03:58 rowing in the other direction as everybody else and all this other stuff. It's just a matter of of really, like you say, making it clear. And while I, you know, we did a show last week about Austin, who, you know, right afterwards,

Starting point is 00:04:15 bounce back with a really good game on Saturday. But, you know, Austin's is going to fluctuate kind of, I think, based on what LeBron does a little bit, what Luca does, and all that, especially when it comes through just pure scoring. But at least in theory, we know what LeBron's job is going to be from a usage standpoint, how now he's going to get the ball at the end of possessions rather than the beginning more often than not when he's on the floor with those other two, and kind of what it's supposed to look like.

Starting point is 00:04:52 And because of that, I think nobody has to worry, and I think particularly Austin, has to worry about sort of stepping on LeBron's toes. And even Luca, too, as the sort of undisputed best player on this team. And LeBron, to his credit, I think has really embraced what they're doing.

Starting point is 00:05:13 I think, you know, Austin has, you know, this contributes to the vibes. Austin has been up and down a little bit to some extent, especially when it comes to scoring, but is playing monster minutes with monster effort. And you see both him and Luca really cranking up their defensive attention. Like all of these things, when your best players start doing the stuff, and you alluded to some of those things earlier, Andy,

Starting point is 00:05:43 like that does really send a message like when lebron hit the floor for that um you know for on that loose ball um i forget which in the houston game like that was a big deal like you and then you start to see it like the reaction to lucca doing a layup on saturday instead of dunking like his teammates all giving him tons of bleep for that um you know how they react when funny stuff happens or entertaining stuff happens, how excited they were for Kinnard. All this stuff, you don't have to be best friends, but it is better when the chemistry and the vibes and all that stuff is positive. It just makes going to work and doing all this stuff easier.

Starting point is 00:06:34 Well, you can see just this increased sense of team-wide accountability, like everybody taking real accountability for their own role. for their job. DeAndre Aiton last week had those great quotes, Dan Wojke from the Athletic, talking about how he did not want to be the one that wasn't matching the rest of the team's energy. You really recognize, like, the problem here is me. I have to be better.

Starting point is 00:07:02 I have to realign my mindset to what my role is on this team and all the things that I said, I had wrapped my head around, And at times I was really embracing and had my arms around it. And other times I hadn't, I got to be the guy with my arms around all this. Like that type of accountability, you can feel it team wide. And the more accountability there is, too, just like everybody gets excited for everybody when they do their jobs.

Starting point is 00:07:35 There's an appreciation to everybody doing the things that you're supposed to do. everybody is just handling their business. And I think it creates just more synergy on the court. When again, you can also, when accountability is established as a team-wide ethos, it also becomes easier to, in a professional but direct way, call somebody out for not doing their job. And again, if there's an emphasis on accountability, it means you can have those callouts without it being a splintering effect.

Starting point is 00:08:10 And that also really matters. It's not that long ago that we're on Vibs Watch with this team, Brian, for the complete opposite reason. And I want to get into that because I think the timing here is important. So we'll talk about that next. Lockdown Lakers is brought to you by Fandall, the tournaments here, one of the best times of the year, brackets, buzzer beaders, upsets, nonstop action from tip to the final cutdown. and right now, Fan Duel is giving new customers a way to stay in the action all tournament long. Here's the best part.

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Starting point is 00:11:18 And remember, gametime.com. So you mentioned the timing and I, or the, you know, the couple, you know, six weeks ago, eight weeks ago, how bad the vibes felt around the team. And I actually think the timing of this is really important. There is a commonly when you get a situation like this, oh, is a team peaking at the right time?

Starting point is 00:11:41 Are they peaking early? Is it too late? It's always better to be playing well than not. It's such a dumb talking point. Like the idea that the Lakers are peaking too early right now, I mean, A, we're not that far from the playoffs, but B, let's just say for the sake of argument that's true, what are they supposed to do

Starting point is 00:12:04 start purposely playing worse so they save a little bit for the playoffs or see who's to say they've peaked that's the other part of the question I always hate like why are you assuming they peaked I so I mean all that's true and I think particularly for the on

Starting point is 00:12:22 court results it's true it's like you know we've won nine games in a row like you say should we just lose three just to you know balance out But I do think actually the timing can matter with stuff like this because take a team like the Rockets, for example, who are going great and then kind of stuff happens and they got kind of a major vibe shift and it took them a little while to kind of put it together. The good thing about where the Lakers are right now is like you say, there actually isn't that much time to have a significant vibe shift. And so, you know, knock on wood, everyone stays healthy and whatever. Like, this is your team going in.

Starting point is 00:13:04 They, they have this run of real success that has changed the way that I think they think about themselves as a team. And then you add in, like I think LeBron and Luca, for example, always is like there was, there's never been any reports that the two of them struggle on a personal level. Just on court stuff, it's been hard to. organize how to do it. Luca and AR are like BFFs. The team as a whole, you can tell, responds very well to the way that Reeves plays and stuff like that. Marcus Smart has developed a very important voice on this team.

Starting point is 00:13:46 So all of these things are falling into place at a time when, A, you can expect most of the success to continue because the Lakers play enough really bad teams down the stretch that they're going to be able to win more often than not if assuming they just show up to play. Like there's not a huge threat of their play falling off to the point where bad things happen in the standings. I think that, you know, the fact that they are kind of, this is what they're going to feel like going into the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:14:20 This is the confidence that they can recognize and lean into the proof of concept that they had really not had throughout the season because they'd been so inconsistent or just consistently bad against the good teams. So the one place where I think the timing of this really does matter is the fact that it's so late in the season and so close to the playoffs that as you build up to it, this is the identity that they can say this is what, even if they lost three or four in a row, they could still say, you know, but we have the proof of concept.

Starting point is 00:14:54 We saw it, and it's recent enough that we don't have to feel like we're delusional. If they had a 12-game win streak in November, that's less important and tangible for going into the playoffs than the streak that they're on right now. And in the meantime, too, like, obviously you can win championships with a team that has a ton of tension. I mean, we watched Kobe and Shaq do it three years in a row, go to the finals, four years, and five seasons. Like, it can happen. But it raises the bar of excellence that much higher.

Starting point is 00:15:34 And like, it makes it that much more difficult in all honesty, because you lose that connectivity. You have a lot of underlying agendas and those Kobe Shack teams as great as they were. They were agenda-laden as Bleep. And that's part of the reason why- The kids might say. Yeah. And it was part of the reason.

Starting point is 00:15:54 why they had so many different issues, primarily between Kobe and Shaq, but there was a lot happening with those teams. And when you have Kobe and Shaq, peak Kobe, peak Shaq playing on the same team, you can paper over a lot of issues. But it don't have to be BFFs at that point. Right. Most teams, though, don't have the luxury of arguably the two best players in the game on the same team. And getting along makes it easier and frankly more inherent to play for each other, to actually be looking to bring out the best in your teammates, to find joy in their successes.

Starting point is 00:16:37 Like Luke Kinnard, this game winner, Austin Reeves said afterwards that it's the happiest he's been in a long time. We're not that far removed. I'm old enough to remember when Austin Reeves pulled off the impossible with that intentionally missed a free throw, the offensive rebound, the shot sending it to overtime. Like, that was an insanely awesome and joyous moment. And Austin, at least in the moment, post-magic, said that shot for Conard was the happiest he's been in a while. Luca, when he put up 60, his teammates were going nuts. And Luca said afterwards,

Starting point is 00:17:15 that meant a lot to him. The guys go crazy on the bench. every time old man LeBron throws down a dunk. You've, you know, you mentioned before, the Luca and Austin show never stops. Like, Vando serving as the Luca handler to help avoid issues with refs that could turn into text. Like, that is chemistry. Marcus Smart has in a lot of ways become the DeAndre Aiton whisper. That's chemistry. And then I saw this photo going around.

Starting point is 00:17:46 I'm always a little bit fearful that something's AI, but. It's not actually real. But it seems legit. And it's a golfing outing with several players, LeBron, Luke, Austin, Bronny's there, Luke Kinnard, JJ Reddick's in there, Scott Brooks is in there. Some of the people I can't make out, but like this was apparently from Bo Levesk, one of the assistants for the Lakers, like them all going out together to play golf. Like stuff like this really does matter.

Starting point is 00:18:20 Players say all the time, like you end up spending more time with your teammates than you do with your own families, which means by definition, if you're not getting along and genuinely enjoying each other's company, that time sucks. That's a lot of time spent around people that you'd prefer not to be around. And, you know, the last time the Lakers won a championship was 2020,

Starting point is 00:18:45 Brian and I were around that team all the time, like practices, games. That team had awesome chemistry, just awesome, awesome, awesome. And that played a role in them winning a championship. It's not the only reason, obviously LeBron A.D., awesome defense. That played a pretty damn big role too. But the fact that they really vibed mattered. Yeah, for sure. So it's something to keep an eye on, something to kind of think

Starting point is 00:19:15 about as you watch the team play. Of course, going for the 10th win in a row Monday night in Detroit. No Cade Cunningham for Detroit. Luca, if you missed the news, will play after that 16th technical was rescinded. So he's back to 15. We'll find out over the course of the day whether not Rudy Hachamura and Marcus Smart both listed his question will downgrade. Max and Cleveland will play. Max CLABA upgraded to questionable may be available. So we'll see how that goes. Of course, we back after the game to break it all down. Lock on Lakers on YouTube as we're going to hang out with over 37,000, 38,000 subscribers and we'll see everyone after the game.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Are the Lakers Good Vibes About More Than Just Winning?

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