Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Big Comeback Falls Short as Lakers Lose to Clippers, 112-104

Starting point is 00:00:00 A big Lakers comeback falls short, but is there some trade deadline tension beneath the surface? That's next. You are Locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Lockedon Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks to everybody for making Lockdown Lakers first listen to every day Monday through Friday, no matter how or where you get your podcast, Spotify, Apple, maybe you're at any year, one of the 37,000 subscribers who are watching

Starting point is 00:00:37 Locked on Lakers on YouTube. No matter how you do it, you're part of making the Locked on Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network in this or any other known universe. I'm Brian Kaminetsky. He's Andy Kaminetsky. We've covered the Lakers for about 20 years now with ESPN, with

Starting point is 00:00:53 the L.A. Times, with the athletic. And this game, the Lakers played against the Clippers was one. You could tell that it was, there was some intensity there. It was a game both teams were taking seriously, and it looked for a while, Andy, like it was going to be one that the clippers

Starting point is 00:01:11 were going to run away with and like keep running and run some more to up as much as 26 in the third quarter. But Lakers made it into a game ultimately fall short 112.104, but at the very least, leave everybody with a better taste in their mouths than they otherwise might have. Yeah, I'm actually going to disagree with you

Starting point is 00:01:31 on part of what you said. said, it felt like a game that both teams were really treating with intensity, but I think it really took the second half for the Lakers to match what the Clippers were doing in the first half and throughout this game. Well, I would agree with that. Well, it reached a point, and we're going to end up talking about this, where Dwayne Wade, who is one of the guys calling the game, it's a prime game for Amazon, but, and side note, Wade is awesome on these calls.

Starting point is 00:02:01 the entire Amazon crew is really good. Yeah, it's a good group. But Wade actually wondered if the ESPN report that dropped on Wednesday talking about not just the tension and the bus family drama that eventually led to the sale of the team and Jeannie Bus seemingly on the outs on varying levels with Oliver's siblings, but also tension between Jeannie Bus and LeBron, Rich Paul Clutch. Dwayne Wade was wondering at that actually was leaving the team. I believe he said heavy was the word that he used.

Starting point is 00:02:42 Lakers eventually got back into it. LeBron was asked about this report after the game. It's a very, I thought interesting and revealing comments in this that we will get into as well. but the Lakers really cranked things up in the second half. It was another 20-ish minutes of really good defense and showing what they can do when they really put their minds to it, trying to be a better sum of their parts on that end of the floor. It affects their offense, but too little, too late,

Starting point is 00:03:17 and the glass in particular, the rebounding discrepancy, was quite possibly the biggest factor for the. the Lakers in this game because even when they were making pushes, the Clippers out rebounded them 49 to 34. They had 13 offensive rebounds. Old friend Aviza Zubots absolutely owned them on the glass. Very big deal. I still say they got plenty out of Mike Muscala and that trade was worth it. I look, I mean, I think the defense was certainly very problematic to open the game. I don't my point was wasn't the Lakers played well at the beginning.

Starting point is 00:03:56 No, no, no, I get it. I think there was an intensity to the game. And eventually, I mean, I actually agree with JJ's assessment of this that he talked about after the game. Eventually, the execution caught up with the effort. And, you know, to me, the defense was obviously the headliner in the 36 points allowed in the first quarter. Again, they allow a team to get off to a good start. Again, they, you know, it's a combination of too many breakdowns, too many easy shots, which I think help teams when they have to make the harder ones.

Starting point is 00:04:34 Like you have a nice rhythm because you've gotten a couple layups, because you've gotten a couple dunks because everybody's touching the ball and it feels good and all that stuff. So when you actually do play better defense and the effort is, the execution is better, the offense that you're playing against is more likely to hit the, those tougher ones because they're already in a good rhythm. The second quarter to me is where, obviously, things really started to get away from the Lakers, and that was one that they,

Starting point is 00:05:01 that, you know, they went into one of these prolonged offensive ruts where they just could not get anything going. They couldn't make the open shots they had, and they couldn't generate a lot of good shots. They only scored 18 points in the second quarter. And, you know, I continue to believe that the quality of defense is in ways sort of both psychological and kind of functional,

Starting point is 00:05:31 it is dependent on what they're doing on the other end. And when they collapse offensively, it becomes really hard for them to be able to compete defensively. And that second quarter was a collapse. Yeah, I mean, it was a collapse defensively in the first quarter, a collapse offensively in the second quarter. They was really interesting. Kauai Leonard had 14 points on six of nine shooting in the first half.

Starting point is 00:05:58 They did a much better job on Kauai, like they did a better job on basically everybody in the second half. But the first half, Kauai was absolutely cooking them. And you really saw how a player like James Hardin can just control a game, even when things are at times choppy for him. He had 10 points on four of 13 shooting in the first half, eight assists against four turnovers. But there were times where he just took things over in that first half. He would collapse the defense.

Starting point is 00:06:33 He'd draw attention. He would allow for Zubots, among other guys, to clean up a lot of messes, get second chance points. The Lakers allowed, I believe, 33 points in the paint to the clippers in the first half. And you are correct that the offense can often dictate the defensive intensity, not just in the sense of makes and, you know, preventing the clipper, preventing teams from just running on them, you know, off misses and things like that. And just the general, it gets to be a drag if you're not scoring. The game is less fun if you're not scoring.

Starting point is 00:07:12 It's less fun, it's less fun, but it's also much just, it's more difficult. Yes. You put so much pressure on your defense to get, to be perfect against, you know, a team that, you know, I know, I know Lakers fans were relishing the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, uh, the moments of, you know, not much more than a month ago when the clippers were six and twenty one. And it looked like the bottom had completely dropped out of this season. Um, but since then, you know, so yes, this goes down as a loss against the sub 500 team. Since then, since they were six and 21, the Clippers have been, you know, easily one of the best teams in basketball. And of course, Kawhi Leonard came back for this game after missing a few. Of course.

Starting point is 00:07:56 That is just clockwork inevitable death taxes and dudes playing against the lake. Right. And, you know, he missed a few games. But like overall, this Clippers team, which, you know, won a couple games without Kauai anyway, they, they've been really good. So this should be treated as a matchup against a, you know, one of the Western Conference, I don't want if you call it, powerhouse or whatever, but somewhere in that echelon that most people thought they were going to be last year when they were, I believe, a four-seat or a three-seat, I forget. But they won one more game last year than the Lakers did. So this was a team that was expected to be good, were awful to start the season.

Starting point is 00:08:45 just catastrophic. And since then, have turned it around. It is pretty clear now that they're going to finish somewhere in the top 10, and they're going to be a nightmare play-in team. So one more reason for the Lakers to stay in the top six. It's just like the inconsist. It's not, you know, look, Luca had a tough night. It was, you know, a very inefficient night for Luca.

Starting point is 00:09:10 Overall, he was 11 of 27 from the floor, three of 13. from three point range. LeBron, including a three down the stretch that nobody could believe he didn't take. Yeah, that was weird. I think the Lakers had pushed their comeback to all the way.

Starting point is 00:09:27 They were down 26 and they got it down in the fourth quarter all the way down to two. The Clippers go on, I believe it was a 7-0 run from there. The Lakers, it seemed like, okay, all right, the comeback's done. They got it back to within six.

Starting point is 00:09:42 And then to a chance to cut it to three. after a great steal from Jared Vanderbilt off an inbound pass. Vando was great. Vanderbilt played probably the best second half like sort of sustained contributions.

Starting point is 00:10:00 It was as good as anything he's done all year. Luca inexplicably, I think he thought James Harden was right on his back and would have, but for a guy who never seems to be shy about hoisting a three, He eventually did. He took a lot of bad threes in this game.

Starting point is 00:10:18 This was actually a good three. A good and needed. A good and needed three that ironically. It cost them both time. And then eventually, you know, six or seven seconds later, eight seconds later, the ball did get back around to him. He missed the shot. And that was, you know, functionally the game.

Starting point is 00:10:35 You know, so it was there are things that you could look at in this. The first half was pretty brutal. He was not, no. Lebron's first half was pretty brutal. No, but I'm just saying you would look at LeBron's overall line. Like his second half was much better. Much better. Much better.

Starting point is 00:10:49 Was very instrumental in the second half surge that got the Lakers back into this game. Just contextually so people understand it. And you look at 23 points on 9 of 19 and you think overall pretty solid efficient game, LeBron in the first half was really struggling to make shots. Whole team. Whole team to find a bucket was just especially again in that second quarter. So we'll look at. We'll look at kind of what maybe you could take away from this.

Starting point is 00:11:20 That is positive as the Lakers now head out for six real road games for the Grammy trip. And some very interesting postgame comments from both JJ Reddick and LeBron James. Get to it next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by game time. There is nothing like being in the building during basketball season. the energy, the crowd, the first big run that gets everyone on their feet. Fans want to be there for those moments, not stuck refreshing screens, guessing what tickets are actually going to cost.

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Starting point is 00:13:55 It is encouraging to me that, you know, the Denver game similar formula got off to, you know, not a great start, fell behind, mounted a comeback. The difference is obviously in the Denver game they completed that comeback in a big way. this one they fell short. But 48 points for the clippers in the second half. And they went from 36 to 28 to 22 and then 26 in the fourth. You know, even the 28 point quarter, Andy, and the modern NBA is not a killer.

Starting point is 00:14:33 Like that's not great, you know, but it's not awful. You can work with that. And the second half was pretty strong. that that that if they can find ways to just be more consistent with their defensive execution over 48 minutes they're going to be there they'll be okay it's it's to me that's really where it is it's like it's there's just too many breakdowns that seem to come in like five or eight minute stretches where they somehow get completely out of sorts and can't get it back And then when everything lines up, it's okay.

Starting point is 00:15:18 I mean, obviously, I think there's an element of focus and just frankly, a desire and willingness to always be putting in the effort and the attention and minding the details. Like, it's not always going to be perfect. They don't have the personnel to be perfect. But at the same time, there is an element of how badly do you want this. We've talked about this with the Lakers all season. They are a good but not great team, and their weaknesses are obvious and super exploitable. So their ability to offset those weaknesses or paper over them as much as possible, a lot of it comes down to how badly do you actually want to do it?

Starting point is 00:16:01 And it's often hard. It's not particularly fun. It requires guys to at times play out of sort of character in terms of how they've gotten this far in the NBA, like whatever, but it's sort of a deal. This is what it is. But what I think is also interesting, though, and this gets into some of the comments JJ said after the game, the way that their offense can dictate their defense, JJ talked about, he mentioned a few times, a lack of passing that he thought really hurt the team, not just in terms of its offensive execution, but also defensively, and I believe what he meant beyond just if you're not

Starting point is 00:16:45 passing, you can sometimes lead to either bad shots or turnovers that put the team in transition, scramble the defense, all that stuff. The less guys touch the ball, the less engaged they feel in the game in all facets, and it can bleed into their engagement defensively. It shouldn't be this way, but this is the way the world works. This is the way human nature works. Nothing about this is unique to the Lakers. No, not at all.

Starting point is 00:17:14 But they have to make sure that individually everybody's doing the things, including the onus, to remain engaged on both sides of the ball. But they also need to make sure that, you know, in particular, Luca and LeBron, because they're the guys who have the ball the most, that they are keeping guys engaged. JJ said himself, it starts with Luca. Luca has the ball the most, but LeBron falls into this.

Starting point is 00:17:45 Austin will when he comes back. I think Mark is smart to a certain degree can fall into this as well. You need to make sure everybody feels involved because the more involved they feel on offense, whether because it bleeds into the defense, or as JJ noted, it could make them feel comfortable about their impending free agency or their place on the team as we get closer to the trade deadline, the psychology matters. Yeah, and you know, you're getting to,

Starting point is 00:18:17 JJ was asked about sort of the trade deadline. This is a line of questioning that starts to come up every year around this time. We're about two weeks away from the deadline. Lakers, of course, have 11 billion expiring contracts. And a lot of guys who theoretically could be moved to the Lakers make a move, basically anybody who's not Luca, LeBron, AR, and some guys who are just really, really hard to trade. Bando feels safe. I mean, he's been playing really well, but.

Starting point is 00:18:48 But right. You know, for one or another. He's got a longer term deal. One reason or another, guys are hard to trade. Everybody else is sort of fair game. And JJ was asked broadly about this time. the year and guys kind of getting worried about the deadline and you know getting needing to get shots and feeling comfortable and security and all that kind of stuff kind of made an offhand joke

Starting point is 00:19:17 and then about like you know selfishness that certainly got me to lean forward on my couch when i was watching like oh was he talking about his team and jj has a habit of when he's angry after a game saying things that he shouldn't. And, you know, the first part of that was, you know, a few weeks ago, everybody remembers, is who, I forget who they played. It was a, but, you know, that was the famous, you know, it's going to be uncomfortable. That was after the Houston loss on Christmas. Okay, yes.

Starting point is 00:19:55 It's going to get uncomfortable around here. We're not going to do this for another 50 games. And everybody was waiting for some sort of scorched earth thing. and JJ had to walk it back because it wasn't, that was him in the moment expressing frustration. And that wasn't a strategic coaching decision. Like, this is how I'm going to handle my team. This wasn't that,

Starting point is 00:20:21 but what it was was an offhanded comment that in that little moment, he kind of let the guard down and said something kind of revealing. He tried to walk it back by asking, are you speaking broadly about it, specifically about my team, whatever it might be. And the reporter said either. Dave McMahon from ESPN followed up. And it's like, just to be specific,

Starting point is 00:20:47 are you talking about your team or generally when you're talking about selfishness, perhaps having some or concern, if you want to frame it in a nicer way than self-inditioned, guys being concerned about their own situations and their own careers at a tense, tension-filled time of year. Is that hurting your team? Dave asked him that more specifically. JJ said, no, I was speaking more generally,

Starting point is 00:21:13 but even in that, the way he said it, made it pretty clear that he realized he said the wrong thing before. It's tense for anybody who, I mean, look, I was about to say anybody who's pretty confident they won't get traded, but you know who was pretty confident last January he wouldn't get traded?

Starting point is 00:21:32 Luca Donchich. And he's here. Anthony Davis, pretty confident. He wasn't getting traded. He's here. So this is a difficult time for a lot of players, and that's before you even take into account how many different impending free agents are on this team,

Starting point is 00:21:53 which can create a dynamic of its own. So the other thing that was eyebrow, raising was LeBron's response to this portion of the story written by Baxter Holmes on ESPN. It was mostly about bus family drama and what led to the sale, but also included some reporting that the Lakers management was resentful of the perception that LeBron had saved the franchise. We'll get some of that next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Fandul Fridays. They already feel different during basketball season.

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Starting point is 00:23:17 So before tip off, check the Fandual app, see what's dropping during NBA Happy Hour every Friday from 6 to 7.30 p.m. Eastern, low basketball, low action, a whole lot of Friday energy. That's NBA Happy Hour only on Fandual, the official sportsbook partner of the NBA. do want to remind people quickly that today's episode's brought to you by game time download the game time app create and use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase um you look you know every day that kind of goes by you sort of feel like you know i don't know if the if the you know we're maybe reaching a sort of natural end to um lebron's time in l a i don't think it's a guarantee that he doesn't come back year, as we talked about in the show for Thursday, there are a lot of live scenarios in which which it simply is just mutually beneficial for him to have another year here, where the Lakers can't really replace him.

Starting point is 00:24:19 LeBron doesn't really have anywhere to go that is appealing to him, and everybody can kind of agree on a number and an arrangement that makes sense. There's also a lot of scenarios where he leaves. but does hearing him discuss this thing, this portion of Baxter's report that indicates some resentfulness from management, some tension, whatever it might be, hearing him talk about that, he spent about five minutes kind of working his way around. And while he never said, oh, yeah, you know, we've got some problems or it's not good or it could be better or like, you know, whatever it might be, he didn't exactly.

Starting point is 00:25:00 say, you know, we've, it's, Rich Paul, for example, was like, it's been, you know, very professional, really great, very supportive since we got here, no complaints. Rich Paul squashed it as much as he could. LeBron didn't. You didn't necessarily inflame it in a big quote, but at no point did he really get around to saying,

Starting point is 00:25:24 you know, hey, this time has been great. It's been a great collaboration and we're cool. No, he never. really did that at all. It actually, he had multiple opportunities. He was asked specifically about the relationship between him and Jeannie Buss and, you know, are things okay with you guys? His immediate response was to talk about that he doesn't give a bleep about articles, which whether true, not true, could be true depending on what the article is, who wrote it, what's said in it, whatever. what that isn't is a confirmation that I don't know what the hell they're talking about the

Starting point is 00:26:02 relationship between me and Jeannie is great I don't know where people are getting this he eventually got around to saying that you know I think it's fine but you know he also said you know they've it's all these things like whatever took some winding to get there he at one point said I thought it was good but somebody else could see it the other way some of what he said included, you know, I don't care. When I came to this organization, my whole mindset was about restoring excellence. Frankly, I don't care about articles. I don't care how somebody feels about me. If you know me personally, then you know what I'm about. Like, that's some of the quotes that he said. Do I think that LeBron's comments, to use your words, inflame this? No, I don't.

Starting point is 00:26:51 LeBron was very common talking about this very, I think, casual at times. Laughing was very funny. At the end of it, he said that, quote, everyone's effing crazy, like talking about media, talking about fans, everyone discussing this. And then turnaround revealed that he was wearing a hoodie that said, everybody's crazy. And I can't wait to see what everybody's crazy is promoting, because I'm assuming it's something. And if that being, that being the case, chef's kiss. That is pretty good.

Starting point is 00:27:23 That's great stuff from a pro. Oh, that's great stuff from a marketing pro. I don't think he made this worse. I don't think he certainly didn't put to rest any idea that there could be tension between him and Jeannie. I think it's very clear no matter what he said that hearing these things in this article bothered him. Yeah, I got that impression too. Do I? That somebody that, because here's the thing.

Starting point is 00:27:55 I think, you know, the idea, you can get into a lot of stuff. And the idea that if you read that, if you're LeBron, it's easy to read that thing as like, you know, wait, you're resentful that I'm getting credit for turning this franchise around. Quite frankly, bleepie, who else did it? Like, you know, I showed up. The team was awful when I showed up. And granted, you know, they were going just fine with the, you know, LeBron and the youngsters until that, you know, was it the Christmas Day game? LeBron, heard his groin.

Starting point is 00:28:28 Brandon Ingram ended up with the deep vein thrombosis. Right. And that was sort of the end of the season. But like up to that point, it was actually going pretty well. He absolutely. LeBron absolutely kind of resurrected the franchise and brought it back to where it was, you know, had historically been and all that kind of stuff. And, you know, I could certainly see that if I'm him in reading that, you know,

Starting point is 00:28:56 sort of being unappreciative or whatever. But mostly it's like, I think people want this to be either a terrible relationship or like you're looking for something that feels familial, something that feels affectionate, where there's like genuine kind of love. And he said, like, I don't call genie. Like we have a respectful relationship. So like, it's been good.

Starting point is 00:29:25 They've been good to all, you know, blah, blah, blah. I don't call her on. It's not like I call her on the phone. I didn't call Mickey Erison on the phone. I don't call Dan Gilbert on the phone. Like we're definitely didn't call Dan Gilbert on the phone. We're not chums. Like, you know, we don't, we don't brunch.

Starting point is 00:29:39 Like it's. And so, like, I, I, I just keep going back to my feeling about it, like, this is a business relationship. And Lakers' greats, especially guys like magic,

Starting point is 00:29:56 like Kobe, you know, it's, it's always been kind of deeper than that with some of those guys. Like, they feel like they're probably, like,

Starting point is 00:30:06 there isn't, we're, I don't know, less used to or whatever it might be. this sort of business relationship that this often is. And business relationships don't have that kind of affection. So when they start to get colder, when priorities, that's the part that I feel like your-

Starting point is 00:30:32 When priorities don't line up in the same way as they once did, you don't have that thing in the background, that tie that brings you together they're like, okay, we can lean on this part of our relationship because the connection that we have or the relationship that we have or what we've built up is a little bit deeper than I'm the star player and you are the owner of the team or the GM or whatever. The Lakers and LeBron have never really had that. Well, I'm just going to cut to the chase. The relationship's not good. Like, it isn't good. That doesn't mean that it's bad. It doesn't mean that it's possible. But it's fine. But it's not good. There's been tension.

Starting point is 00:31:11 between Jeannie and that faction, LeBron and that faction, for a couple years. Like, it's not good. Not good doesn't mean necessarily about to become something terrible that blows up and becomes a big problem. But it's not good. It's frankly run its course. I talked about that during Thursday's show. And when we were reacting directly to the ports, not only do I think it's run its course, I think it's run its course for a few years. And it's like a marriage of convenience where neither side has had a particularly better option and neither one has been willing to just go at it on their own. But it's not a great relationship right now. I don't sure.

Starting point is 00:31:58 I don't know how much that I really think about it is, but that's what I'm getting it. I don't know how much that matters. I think it as long as things don't start becoming very clearly ugly between the two sides, I don't think it matters that much. much because I said it many times. I'll say it again. It's only destined to go on for so much longer anyway. LeBron's 41 years old. How much longer do you expect him to play for this organization, particularly when you've got a new star in his prime and you need to be building forward looking? I mean, the only reason I make the distinction is because when you say it's not good, and I agree with it. I mean, it's not like a close. I think there's a difference between business

Starting point is 00:32:40 like from the way this thing began. And I think it was more of a healthy transactional type thing. There's certainly a lot more enthusiasm. I think everybody was more on the same page of what they wanted from this thing. As time is going on, time has gone on. They've gotten, both sides have gotten less from it that they wanted. Right. I just, the distinction that matters to me is that, and you're saying it.

Starting point is 00:33:04 I'm not saying a bit late, but that when you say it's not good, people automatically jump to, oh, it's bad, it's problematic, it's whatever. That's why I clarified that it is. It's it's it just it is I hate the expression. It kind of is what it is. And everybody is professional enough to go do their jobs. It's just reaching. It feels like they're both sides are really sick of each other.

Starting point is 00:33:30 Like it's really obvious. They're both sick of each other. It's been obvious that way for a while. Again, that doesn't mean that it has to turn into. the end of Kobe and Shaq where it just melted down in the ugliest ways possible. I don't think I don't think that's going to happen because frankly, I don't even think the stakes are high enough at this point for that to happen. But I do think, you know, the idea of resenting LeBron being seen as the savior,

Starting point is 00:34:00 there's an element I think that's of that feeling that probably comes in part from LeBron seeming like kind of a transactional mercenary in their eyes. frankly, the eyes of a lot of fans, but also too, Jeannie and Rob, I think in their minds, and I think accurately, have never really gotten any credit for what LeBron brought anyway, because LeBron, I think, also accurately, is seen as having showed up here for reasons that did not involve Jeannie and Rob in the slightest.

Starting point is 00:34:33 Oh, nothing. The championship that they won is a very unusual one. unusual is not asterisk, but it's unusual. And nobody has, it has not been celebrated in the way that things normally do. Anthony Davis is not seen, you know, part of the LeBron era is not seen as the crown, you know, the feather in Rob Polingas cap because he's not seen as having done anything to bring him in. Even Luca. So I think all of this stuff, the way things have played out, can also lend to. to the idea of of resentment because it's like LeBron's,

Starting point is 00:35:15 LeBron is seen as having done everything on his own. To that point, LeBron was the first part of his answer about, you know, why it came here, bringing back the Lakers. It was, it showed a deep affection and appreciation for the place the Lakers have in history, but to your point, at no point was it like, and I wanted to work with, you know, that family management, like the bus family, well, it was all about the Lakers brand and the history and all these other things. Anyway,

Starting point is 00:35:42 Lakers heading out on the road for the rest of the Grammy trip. It's going to be tough. Of course, we will be here to help break all of it down. Locked on Lakers on YouTubeers where you're going to hang out with over 37,000 subscribers. We'll see everyone tomorrow.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Big Comeback Falls Short as Lakers Lose to Clippers, 112-104

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