Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Austin Reaves Scores 36, But Shorthanded Lakers Lose 126-105 in Boston

Episode Date: December 6, 2025

You can't fault the effort, whether from Austin Reaves (9-18, 36 points, eight assists) or the team in general. The Lakers were missing Luka Dončić, still away from the team, as well as LeBron James and Marcus Smart, and the Celtics came into Friday's game red hot. In theory, nothing had to give, and it didn't. The Lakers lose, 126-105. There aren't that many takeaways in this one, to be honest. The Lakers ran into the same challenges they've faced in other games without Luka and LeBron, namely a lack of firepower and especially a lack of ballhandling and passing. Reaves had over half of the team's 15 assists. The only other player with more than one was... Drew Timme, who entered in garbage time. Gabe Vincent got going a little offensively (18 points) which is good to see, and Nick Smith found a little offense as well. But mostly, the Lakers had to hope they caught Boston on an off night, then caught a little lightening in a bottle, given how effectively Boston defends. Didn't happen. On to Philly, where Luka might be back, and LeBron should be in the lineup. Smart, TBD.  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky  Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DoorDashFrom tipoff to overtime, stay in your bag and order on DoorDash.Get snacks, drinks, gear — whatever gets you through the season — delivered right to your door.DoorDash. In your bag all season long.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use codeLOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here:https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNBA RobinhoodYou expect more from yourself. Expect more from your money. Get started today at robinhood.com/yourmoney. Your money. Your move. All investments involve risk, including loss of principal. Options, futures, and crypto trading carry significant risk and may not suit all investors. Securities offered through Robinhood Financial LLC, member SIPC. Futures trading is offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC and not SPIC or FDIC protected. Crypto offered through Robinhood Crypto, LLC (NMLS ID 1702840), not FDIC or SIPC protected. Portfolio management offered by Robinhood Strategies, an SEC-registered advisor.GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA and NFL seasons are here, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everyone, welcome to a special bonus episode of Locked-on Lakers. Brian Komenetsky, Andy Komenetsky, short-handed Lakers, take one on the chin against the hated Celtics. Boo! Let's tell you what happened 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 making Locked on Lakers.

First listen to every day, Monday through Friday, sometimes on Saturdays and Sunday. no matter how or where you get your podcasts, we certainly appreciate you supporting the number one sports podcast network in any known universe our show, big part of that. You are the reason that happens. Whether you get the show through Apple, iTunes,

through Spotify, you're one of the 37,000 plus subscribers to the YouTube channel. We certainly appreciate all of you. The Lakers, this is one of those nights, Andy, where theoretically nothing had to give, the Celtics came in playing very well. One of the better teams in,

one of the better defensive teams, I should say, in the NBA, the Lakers coming off the second night of a back-to-back, still without Luca Donchich, LeBron James, unavailable play with maintenance going on and all his stuff and Marcus Smart still out of the lineup. It was going to be an uphill battle for the Lakers, and it was an uphill battle for the Lakers.

126-105. To some degree, this game was lost before it even started for the factors that you'd mentioned, the guys that were absent on the heels of a really hard-fought emotional game in Toronto against the Raptors. And as our friend John Ireland, who we both work with at 710 ESPN, who is also the radio play-by-play guy for the Lakers, getting out of customs in particular after Toronto. it's the only time where these guys basically aren't whist in and out flying private, like all over, you know, the United States.

Though obviously back to backs, depending on the travel, those can still be difficult. You still get in late. But you are compared to civilians whist through a lot of the process. Toronto really takes a while. It does. So they're even going to sleep and thrown off, going to sleep later, thrown off more than normal.

And then the execution throughout a lot of this game was lacking on both sides of the ball. We can get into the W's. But in particular, the first quarter just buried the Lakers. They lost 39 to 17 in that first quarter, six of 26 from the field, 23, 27 splits from inside and outside the arc. Austin Reeves went two of two at the line. Those were the only two free throws the Lakers took. Compare that to Boston shooting 63.6 inside and outside the arc.

You can see the discrepancies there. Austin Reeves finished. I thought he finished the night overall well, 36 points. He nine of eight from nine of 18 from the field. He got to the line 17 times. He kind of brought it. The Lakers made a little bit of a run in the third quarter. It was mostly Reeves.

I think 22 in the quarter. He had 16 in the third quarter. 16 in the third. But to put this in perspective, just how badly the first quarter went for everybody, including Austin. And to be clear, I'm not putting the loss on Austin. I'm just demonstrating how much he was struggling like everybody else in the beginning. His first quarter was two points, 0 of 5 from the field, 0 of 3 from behind the arc. Again, just two of two of the line.

The struggles and the hole that they buried themselves in early, they just, they did not have the horses to get out of it. And frankly, they did not have the energy. They looked exhausted. They did. And it's just, this is one of those games where, you know, aside from,

you know, what you noted before and you know, quoting the South Park movie, blame Canada. They just, when you're missing Luca and LeBron, it's not just that you're missing.

LA's been punishing the bleep out of Canada lately, sports-wise, so turn about fair play. Canada's airport. They took their revenge. They did. I just, you know,

when it's not just a question, and we talked about this in different games where the Lakers have been without Luca and LeBron, and then you add in Smart there, it just, you are so short of ball handling. And, you know, JJ talked about it before the game, like trying to find ways to make it so the Celtics couldn't just totally throw body after body after body after Reeves.

And in the first quarter in particular, they were incredibly successful at it. you know, Austin couldn't really find any space. And the Lakers don't have any secondary playmaking when those three guys are out. You know, Gabe Vincent started and he's on the floor. He actually, you know, shot the ball well at 18 points. It was one of his better games in a while. But Gabe Vincent isn't a guy that you go to, to start orchestrating an offense.

He has no gravity. He, you know, he doesn't break defenses down and all that kind of stuff. So they were short the wrong kind of players. to play against a Boston team that has a lot of wings. And a guy like Jordan Walsh, who is turned, you know, talking about a player who just was kind of buried on a really good roster because there were too many good players. Now with some of the roster moves that they've made and Tate them out for the season,

they're getting a chance to play some of their younger players. And Walsh in particular has been just outstanding this year. And, you know, after the game, Austin Reeves said that he, you know, looks at Walsh as a guy who could become one of the better defenders in the league for a lot. long time and it's easy to see why. I will, I will, I, I focus a little bit more on what they're trying to do. The, the stick with itness of it.

Like, you know, Lakers could have very easily packed this game in in the third quarter. They didn't. They, you know, went and run. They at least made it sort of interesting going out. That was their best quarter by far. They came out of the halftime and they played hard and they gave them at least an inkling of a hope of a sort of, maybe if they could survive the minutes at the top of the fourth quarter without Reeves,

and they didn't. I just, for me, there's not a whole lot to take away from it. They came, they tried hard. I think you continue the program forward. It wasn't a setback or anything like that. And then, you know, you hope Sunday before the game, JJ was asked if Luca might be available. He said, yes.

didn't say he would be. He said he might be. And presumably LeBron would be back in the lineup. I get a sense that LeBron will be available. This is just a scheduled back-to-back, as you said, maintenance, which I think is a good way of putting it. Although it was interesting, the foot injury that we know LeBron has been dealing with for a few years. And when he's sat out, it's often called foot injury management.

For the first time ever, they referenced an arthritic joint, which combined with the sciatica that they also cited really reinforced, like dude is pushing 41. Those are old men injuries. Yes, they certainly are. It was interesting, though, I heard you talking to Ramona today, Ramona Shelburne on air, and she noted that one of the reasons the Lakers may have called this out is to avoid the NBA getting mad at them because this was one of the nationally televised

games. It was on Amazon. It was on Prime. and there are rules about this sort of thing, who sits out and why. So they couldn't call it maintenance so much as they had to call it a real injury. I thought that was an interesting note here.

I would say that if that is the case, and I was not aware what Mo Moe had told me about teams sometimes really getting together to discuss how they're going to list this specifically because of how the league feels about certain games. If that's the case, I might advise the league, don't schedule one of your marquee Lakers Celtics on the second end of a back-to-back.

And, look, Boston also had a second end of back-to-back, but they were playing against the Wizards, like not all back-to-back created equally. And Boston, I mean, just so. They won that game by like 45 points. Right. And so this does not sound like sour grapes. Boston was clearly the better team tonight. Like the Lakers had a lot of issues rotating to shooters around the arc.

But that being said. Boston shot the bleep out of the ball. Yeah, I mean, the guys that they, it was, you know, they were going to be breakdowns in a game like this because the floor combinations, you know, Dutero played a lot. Like there's, there's a lot of floor combinations that nobody's used to. So they're going to be some breakdowns. And those guys made the shots, you know, the same houses of the world.

But then the other guys who you kind of want to let shoot were also making their shot. Like everybody was, it's interesting. Some of those are playing really well. It's interesting to some of the guys that. at the Lakers, I guess if you want to say, want them to take these shots, whether you're talking about, you know, Jordan Walsh or Baylor Shireman or whatever, like, they're low, they're low

volume three-point shooters, but they actually can make those shots. And whether because they were allowing them to get into, you know, they were either picking poisons or kind of allowing them to get into rhythm or a little bit of both, they were spent, man. They were just, they were just, bent heading into this game. It's not surprising. Yeah. Boston not played them. It's just not surprising to that Boston's got.

It's hard to play that game with Boston because as a team that is, you know, by design, shooting, you know, anywhere from 30 to 50, three-pointers a night, pretty much everybody on the roster can shoot. Like you can't try to shoot. You can't build your offense that way and then not have just a large volume of guys who can do it. So we'll see what, 24 of 45 from behind the arc. And that's not, I don't think that's their high watermark for the season. I know they've been over 50 this year.

It's, you know, we'll see what happens on Sunday. If the Lakers are in a little bit more at full strength, we're not sure who's going to play for Philadelphia on any given day. So we'll find that out as well. But, you know, I think Sunday's game becomes much more of a, a good gauge to see where they are. and finish the road trip two and one with presumably until we hear differently, Luca and LeBron, hopefully both back in the lineup.

So we love to tell you that Lockdown Lakers is where over 37,000 subscribers hang out to talk about things like this game, Andy, but we can't leave until we tell everybody about this. Well, that Locked on Lakers is brought to you by DoorDash. The season is heating up. DoorDash has a way to keep. Fans in their bag the whole way through, whether you're watching the highlights, the tunnel fits are just your favorite player. Big day for Baylor Shireman. DoorDash makes the entire season more fun.

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