Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Can LeBron James and Austin Reaves Lift the Lakers in Game 6? How Good is Good Enough?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Game six Friday in Houston, are L.A. Stars ready to step up. Do they even get a vote? That's next. You are Locked-on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks for stopping by Locked on Lakers. Brian Kemenckesky, Andy Komenesky, it's game six in Houston. The Lakers, watching this.

Starting point is 00:00:34 series seemingly get away from them. They have been the lesser of the two teams over the last, I don't know, nine of the last 10 quarters and then subtract overtime from that. Houston has definitely found a formula that's working for them. Lakers got to figure out a way to win one of the next two. And it starts Andy with their stars. LeBron James and Austin Reeves. One at the very least, probably by both need to step up and have big games, whether it's in game six, preferably, or game seven. But if the Lakers are going to advance, those guys are going to have to be big. It's interesting. Michael Wilbon was on one of the ESPN shows, and he had an interesting

Starting point is 00:01:23 statement that it's very, you know, I don't know if it was get up or first take, but very, you know, big, bold brash type programming, but that he expected the, the Lakers to get their doors blown off in game six, but that they will win game seven essentially because he cannot imagine a world in which LeBron allows his team to lose a series after being up 3-0. To which I'm thinking, A, it doesn't make sense to me because if Houston manages to blow out the Lakers, and that would mean they've won by double digits twice in the last three games. Clearly at this point, they're playing better than the Lakers and have figured out a hell of a lot more things than the Lakers.

Starting point is 00:02:13 Doesn't mean the Lakers can't win game seven, but still, one team is clearly trending in the direct. I find it hard to believe that. Like, Michael Wilbon lacks the imagination to figure out how the Lakers, after losing three in a row could lose one more just because of the legend of LeBron. I mean, that's not a reason to pick the Lakers to be able to win. That's the other piece of it, is the idea that LeBron simply won't allow this to happen. Were that the case, I'd like to think he would pick game six, not to let this happen.

Starting point is 00:02:47 Or five. What was wrong with it? Exactly. I mean, all of those were available. And I don't say this to single out or like take shots at Wilbon, as much as he's not the only person I've heard say something, along these lines. And the idea that simply because LeBron is who he is, not on his watch, that feels like a reach,

Starting point is 00:03:13 it can't happen because players of LeBron's stature don't allow that to happen. Players of LeBron's stature generally don't play till 41. You know what I mean? It's very clear by now. He can't just summon it at will. I agree with you. It's kind of a silly construction.

Starting point is 00:03:30 Like the other thing, too, is this is what I met in the open when I was saying, like, do they get a vote? Do the, do, does LeBron get a vote? Does Austin Reeves? We're going to talk about get a vote. You know, who does get a vote is Fanduel, because they're sponsoring today's show. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $250 in bonus bets. If your first bet wins, head to fandwell.com. You know, because like that's, and that's part of it.

Starting point is 00:03:54 Like LeBron doesn't, you know, the way that the rockets are defending, the supporting cast that LeBron has. and all these other things play into whether or not the Lakers advance. It's not simply a matter of LeBron just deciding at one point to that, you know, that this is how it's going to be. So, I mean, I 100% agree with you. I mean, I think, you know, we talked about it at length for Thursday shows. I mean, I think LeBron was. You seem to either more concerned or a little more down on LeBron's performance in game five than I was.

Starting point is 00:04:35 But I understand like you know, you turn around, you have a fast turnaround in game six. You have a fast turnaround in game seven. They start to pile on. There's a reason not even just LeBron. There's a reason that the Rockets, I'm sorry, that ESPN on the broadcast for game five, when they were putting out the starting lineups, didn't just put their jersey numbers. They put their ages. is, you know, LeBron obviously lifts the average age of the Lakers, but you have, you know,

Starting point is 00:05:04 Reeves coming, who is, you know, coming back from injury, probably doesn't have his legs fully under him. Luke Kennard, just to pull out a role player, has been asked to do more over the last month than he probably has in any NBA season in recent memory. Marcus Smart is piling on minutes and, you know, and like everybody starting for the Rockets is, know, 22. Just to clarify a bit, I thought LeBron's performance was fine in game five. I didn't think he was great. I didn't think he was bad. I thought he was fine. The problem is they needed more than fine. And I have concerns about LeBron being able to just summon up the level that is necessary. Forget what is reasonable. Reasonable's gone out the window by now. We're talking about

Starting point is 00:05:55 necessary. And same thing for Austin. And I know we're going to talk about Austin as well. Like there's context that could explain why Austin may not be able to reach the highest level of what we've seen this year because coming off injury, still getting back in rhythm, whatever. That is reasonable. Reasonable is out the window now. I'm talking about what is necessary. And the problem with LeBron's performance in game five wasn't that it was bad. It's they needed more and he wasn't able to bring it. That's not right. I think there's a, if you're looking for single-handedly will lead a team to win,

Starting point is 00:06:35 I mean, look, I mean, Palo Bancaro had, or was it, which one of them had 45 the other night lost? The pistons or the, of the magic. Bankero scored 45. Kate Cunningham had 45. Someone lost the game. And so, I mean, I'll take my chances if LeBron gets forward. What I'm getting at is that there is an element here of like there, there's an idea that, I guess, in some circles, that if LeBron just hits a certain threshold, Lakers win. And I think part of the issue here is what happens with the rest of the team.

Starting point is 00:07:18 Like I, for example, think we can talk about this, whether it's in more detail in this show or head. heading into the game on Friday. Like, I think the rockets have kind of, and Alpi Schengen have kind of figured out the way the Lakers are doubling and how they're coming. And he's obviously started to thrive and give the Lakers a lot of trouble. I might convert to a let Schengun score, cut off some of those other passing angles.

Starting point is 00:07:47 And if Schengun has 45 points, but nobody else does anything, you probably still win the game. you know the lakers need a very good performance from lebron you know something a little closer to you know game two and three than game five although game five was i think you know still pretty good um but they also need the other stuff and the question is both whether lebron can give them 27 28 with you know six or seven assists and seven rebounds avoid some of those turnovers. But like that kind of game, you know, even 30 with, you know,

Starting point is 00:08:28 six and eight or something like that, if the other parts of the team, starting with Reeves, don't, you know, step up and don't give them what they need. That really good LeBron game is going to go to waste. And so... Sure. But I get it.

Starting point is 00:08:51 But I'm making a different point. I'm not debating your point. I'm making a different point off of that, which is the issue isn't even, it's larger than whether LeBron can summon the kind of performance that I think Wilbon in that segment is conjuring. For what it's worth, I put LeBron and Austin on the same plane. The difference is we just happen to be talking about LeBron because of the example from Wilbon. I put the exact same amount of onus, if not slightly more on Austin. I'm not leaving out Austin.

Starting point is 00:09:27 I'm not leaving out the other players. It's just you frame this stuff through your stars. Like the stars are, when you are looking for a hero to emerge or the person that will something to happen, you always look to the stars. Well, let me, but you only talk about one at a time. But like the other, your stars need to be rarely win in the playoffs with your stars without your stars being your best players. And so, you know, LeBron was pretty close to that, you know, meeting in that bar in game five, Austin wasn't.

Starting point is 00:10:01 And Reeves becomes a very intriguing storyline here, which we'll get to next because it's not just about game six or hopefully not game seven, but it also is about the next four years of Lakers basketball. So talk about that next. Locked-on Lakers is brought to you by DoorDash. Postseason is heating up right now, and DoorDash has a way to keep fans in their bag the whole way through. Whether you're watching the highlights, the tunnel fits,

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Starting point is 00:12:27 having any meaning. So for the short show on Thursday, we talked about some of the reasons for optimism about Austin Reeves. In terms of stuff that actually did go well, he was able to get in the paint. He was able to get to the line. He was able to lead to Lakers and assists and was pretty good about his turnovers. He was able to generate some shots for people. Wasn't a problem defensively. All these other things.

Starting point is 00:12:50 Where he was deficient was you can't take 16 shots and make four. Like I think that's something most people. would agree with. Austin, in his second game back, wasn't even on the injury report. So he doesn't even get a probable designation, whatever it might be. So he's back playing and presumably unrestricted in any way, almost certainly be in the starting lineup, almost certainly will play over 40 minutes in game six. So with all of that, he just has to figure out a way to make more of the shots that he was missing.

Starting point is 00:13:34 But that has not been an easy prospect for him against the Rockets in particular, shooting, I think, under 20 shots in three games in the regular season, shot under 20% from three point range. It was right about 40% from the field. So the Rockets, not surprising, they give a lot of teams trouble, but they're kind of built to give Austin Reeves problems. He's got to figure out how to fix that because the Lakers need a 25-8 and, you know,

Starting point is 00:14:06 25-and-8 performance out of him, 30-and-8, whatever it might be. Here's what I would say. If Austin can get into the lane as effectively as he did in game five, I'm confident he'll make more shots because the three wasn't falling. and obviously they need more threes to fall, period. Like the Lakers are not putting up nor making enough threes, but it starts with increasing the volume.

Starting point is 00:14:34 And at some point, if we don't talk about it in this show, I want to talk specifically about Luke Kinnard, who his offense has the last few games just become absent. But I rewatched. It's like a conard, canard. What? It's like a deception. Like it's just like the whole thing's faded away.

Starting point is 00:14:54 Oh, good vocabulary word. Thank you. I rewatched. I have no idea. So as far as I'm concerned, good work. I don't know what the word means. But I rewatched most of Game 5 and I was specifically watching Conard in this game. And I have a lot of issues with how they used him.

Starting point is 00:15:16 The biggest one being they did not use him at all, like quite literally at all. He was so not involved, but they need to increase that three-point shooting, and Austin has to be a part of that. But I do feel like if he actually continues to keep getting in the lane, getting in the rim, I mean, getting to the rim, I think those shots will start to fall. So in that sense, I am reasonably confident that Austin, if nothing else, can be more efficient than he was in game five, even with the very reasonable. concerns about Houston's defenders. I mean, he really did do a pretty good job negotiating them in terms of his drives in this game. It might not get quite as many calls in Houston, but we'll see.

Starting point is 00:16:05 Again, my larger concern is, can he do more than that? Like, if the Lakers offense continues to struggle the way it has been, they're going to need somebody to step up beyond what they've been doing over the last few games. They may need somebody to have a really special performance. And again, people will rightly look first to Austin and LeBron. And the Austin thing becomes even more interesting when you think about what it means going like if it has a bad game six and a bad game seven. it's like okay you know

Starting point is 00:16:47 I'm a proponent of Austin and I mean I still even if he has a bad series I don't know where exactly the Lakers go if the goal is to have a competitive team around Luca next year you can find it trade great but you know we've talked about it like would it be

Starting point is 00:17:03 would I trade Austin for Scotty Barnes sure would you know who won't the Raptors so you know and you know you're signing in trades. All these things are really tricky. You can't just trade Austin.

Starting point is 00:17:19 You have to trade him somewhere he wants to go. He's got to sign a contract to play there. So, you know, it is tricky. But at the very least, if you want to feel good about Reeves going into the off season, it would sure help if he, you know, stepped up and played pretty well both in this series and then, you know, hopefully in another one. because, yes, teams like Houston give all kinds of stars trouble. Oklahoma City gives all kinds of people trouble.

Starting point is 00:17:51 That's why they're one of the best defenses, defenses that's played in the last few years. But like, the guys who make all the money are supposed to be able at least three or four times over the course of a long series break through that. And Austin needs to show that he can. So, you know, LeBron is LeBron. You know, it's all set. Like you can decide what you want to do within this offseason. But how he performs in this postseason is kind of irrelevant to that to me because he's not going to be in the position that he's in right now next year.

Starting point is 00:18:28 You're not resigning LeBron for him to be your number one guy in the postseason. Whereas Austin, you're giving him a lot of that money to be like you're, you're two. right behind Luca. It adds a layer to what Austin is doing that goes beyond even just game six and seven. Yeah, I mean, it does and it doesn't in the sense that I think the Lakers have already made up their mind. So in that sense, I don't know how much it truly affects

Starting point is 00:19:00 the perception with Austin other than maybe among fans. Right, but it will certainly affect it will, to the extent these things matter, We talk about him a lot. Like, it's going to be like Peyton Manning can't win a Super Bowl until he wins the Super Bowl. Sure. It's going to be the thing that dogs Austin and dogs the Lakers decision to probably have to bring him back until it shows that it's not going to be a thing. I mean, in terms of what's needed in game six, obviously the gap between games five and game six performance-wise from, you know, with LeBron and with Austin.

Starting point is 00:19:35 The gap is obviously higher for closing with Austin. Game 6. Again, there were some good things. You saw what was, I've seen a lot of people saying that they think Austin's return messed with the rhythm of the team and the chemistry and sort of what they were doing. A, I don't buy it in the sense that the offense has been bad the last few games with or without Austin. It's also,

Starting point is 00:20:00 six quarters pre-Austin were right. I mean, it's not like they were putting up 120 a night. Then Austin returned in it and it went in the crapper. Like, it's been bad, which is, explains why Austin's return matters. Like you can see the things that were missing and the elements that he brought getting to the line, being able to drive, collapsing a defense, like occupying Houston's defenders

Starting point is 00:20:25 more. Like those things all matter. They've all been missing. Austin provides it. He just has to do it better. And again, like I said earlier in the show, there are reasonable explanation. as to why Austin might not be able to for game six, given the circumstances.

Starting point is 00:20:46 I'm saying I'm not interested in reasonable. No, I'm not. Same with LeBron. It's at the time of the season where you either sort of perform or you don't. And, you know, like you talk about the efficiency, you know, kind of play things out there. I realize this isn't exactly how it works.

Starting point is 00:21:04 But you play out things basically the same way. If Austin is seven of 16 instead of four, of 16. Seven of 16 is not a world beating percentage, but it's certainly better. He's pushing 30 points. So, you know, it doesn't take a lot to be different other than some of these shots just got to go down. And that's something I think that you can project to the rest of the team as well, which we will get to next. Lock on Lakers is brought to you by game time. There's nothing like playoff basketball live. If you've never been, trust us.

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Starting point is 00:24:11 upgraded at least briefly to doubtful in this game and is pushing towards a game. game seven return, possibility of playing in game seven. So the longer of this thing goes on, and it can only go on a little bit longer, the more likely it is that Kevin Durant will play. Which creates a fascinating scenario where the rockets push this thing to game seven, having rolled without Kevin Durant, and then the Lakers win, and then the takerner, the takeover, explodes. Yeah, I mean, I think that one would.

Starting point is 00:24:47 be better than LeBron. LeBron loses, you know, in his, like, I think the Yeah, it's better what happened to then. Well, I know, but I'm just saying like in terms of I'm just thinking of the hot. I'm trying to do a hot take, like value tree here. Like, which would the hot take artists prefer more? And I think Durant showing up and breaking. It's always LeBron.

Starting point is 00:25:16 Yeah. It's always. Stop. Don't be an amateur. I did hear, I did hear Rome talking about it. I heard coward talking about the old, the OG are in the LeBron's story. That's, yeah, come on, man. I'm just not sure how much anybody, you know, any, any sports like radio person under 50. I don't know if everybody looks at it the same way.

Starting point is 00:25:39 But that's neither here nor there. The other thing that is interesting about this as well. From a housekeeping standpoint is if you go back and you look at some of the numbers for what has been going on in this series, Lakers three-point percentage in games one through three, this comes from Carson Braber at volume sports. Lakers shot 46.1 percent from three-point range in games one through three. Rockets, they shot 28.7 over that stretch. in games four and five. The Lakers are 24 and a half percent. The Rockets are 37, which is not a prime warriors number, but it's like the gap between those for both teams

Starting point is 00:26:30 in both sets of numbers is stark. And you mentioned in the first segment, Andy, the Lakers are not a high volume three-point team. But you can't get by with two like they had before garbage time in game four. You can't get by with 20, whatever, 2%, 23%, whatever they were in game 5. You just have to,

Starting point is 00:26:53 you have to both take and make more three-pointers. You just have to. Yeah, the last three games, LeBron's been shooting 22% from behind the arc. Luke Kinnard, over the last three games, averaging 9% from behind the arc. And obviously, one game sample size since he returned, but Austin 25%.

Starting point is 00:27:14 Like Rui, side note, Rui's been really efficient inside and outside of the arc. I would try to find a few more shots for Rui over the course of game six. The kind of shots that they want I'm taking. None of this. I'm tired of seeing them

Starting point is 00:27:30 leveraging this post-up opportunity against Reed Shepard. Stop that. I mean, I don't want any more of that. I want Rui shots. I mean, I'll be honest. I prefer the, ruiest of ruy shots possible.

Starting point is 00:27:44 But bottom line is the guy keeps making shots to some degree given this offense. I don't really give enough what the shots are. If he's making them beggars cannot. Yeah, but I want to, I should, I should have done this before we were doing a live on YouTube broadcast. But I am curious what the percentage of those is relative to his other shooting over the course of the series. I bet it's lower.

Starting point is 00:28:04 But it might be. You know, in Kinnard, you know, is we both kind of went back and looked at what was going on there. Like they need to find, you know, they need to find a way to get him to get a couple of these shots to go down.

Starting point is 00:28:18 There were a couple that looked like they might fall in game, in game five, but he only took four shots in 30-something minutes. So it's like, it's one thing, you take four shots when you're playing eight minutes a game, nine minutes, ten minutes,

Starting point is 00:28:32 17 minutes. But in 30-something, you need to produce a little bit more than that. The volume needs to be higher and the results better. Well, they also, frankly, they need to give him the ball. You know what his touch count was in game five? It wasn't very high. He had nine touches.

Starting point is 00:28:53 I believe he had eight or nine touches. Or excuse me, at 26 touches, his usage was 8%. Like, they did not involve him at all. And one of the things I noticed in watching Luke Kinnard, and this really matters because the Lakers need more points, and they need more shooting, like they need more outside shooting, like they need more happening in the offense in general. And Luke Kinnard at the start of the series had been a really prolific part of it.

Starting point is 00:29:23 And I realized with Austin back, there's not going to be as many shots to go around for Kinnard. And to some degree, you don't want to overload him anyway. Fine, whatever. He wasn't, they were not looking in his direction. And if you watch this game, most of what he was doing was going, was going to the corner and standing there. And that's all he did.

Starting point is 00:29:46 And the best case scenario of it, I guess, is you're occupying Amman Thompson. And because you can't ignore Conard, you're keeping him out of some of the action. But you're not involving Conard at all. Like he really, truly was not a part of anything happening at all. It took until late until the third, like late in the third quarter. until they ran anything remotely involving action with him. And I know you and I had debated because I've said I wanted to see more of these like curl, dribble handoffs that he's been effective and particularly was effective earlier in the series.

Starting point is 00:30:24 And you had said that you thought that they were taking that away from. I can't say I've gone back and watched every single game, every single canard possession, but I will tell you in this game, if they took it away, it's from the first four games and they stopped trying in game five. They didn't do anything with it. I think with a couple things about that. I mean, I do think you have a lot of ball handlers that, I mean, the one place I do think, you know, the return of Reeves kind of messed a little bit with the rhythm is he kind of now have like,

Starting point is 00:30:56 we've got to kind of go back to what they were doing before in ways that were a little bit awkward, at least for Marcus Smart, who was still quite assertive in game five, I'm sorry, game five. My take on it is though, like, Amman Thompson treated Conard like a role player, you know, kind of like the Rockets kind of treated Conard like a role player for a couple games. And he lit him up.

Starting point is 00:31:32 Thompson got, in particular, got real serious about Gary Lou Carnard over the last couple of games. Carr can't move against him. Like Thompson is standing. And so like when they, they were, you know, in those times when Kinnard would try to, you know, run around a screen and this, you can't shake Thompson. I disagree. The one time they tried in the third quarter, he did.

Starting point is 00:31:54 It required some screens, but they did and sprung him to get a look. He got a floater in the lane. He missed it. He missed it. No, I know. I know exactly. And I know what it takes a village. I know what you're talking about.

Starting point is 00:32:05 I think a lot of the stuff is getting blown up. before they can do it. Now, I'm not saying you can't do it more. He's not moving. I think, well, some of it's like, it's not even a matter of like, you don't want to spend 24 seconds with Luke Kinnard

Starting point is 00:32:22 trying to run around like Benny Hill theme, shaking Amman Thompson. I know it's not what you're suggesting. And I'm not saying they can't have more ball moving in. Any ball movement. Forget Knaud. There's no movement anymore, period. Right.

Starting point is 00:32:37 They are getting gum. up considerably by the physicality of Houston. You know, anytime Kinnard tries to pop out to get somebody or come off the screen, you know, he's, you know, the guys, they're having a lot of difficulty losing it. They don't need to switch, which I think benefits Houston, but they can. And so they've been able to do that pretty effectively when they need to. And so I think some of it is going to need to come from some individual performances. they can get more creative.

Starting point is 00:33:08 I'm not trying to say that's not part of it. But I think, especially when Thompson's out there and on him, and you're going to struggle to free up Luke Kinnard. Then I would say they gave. In game five, they gave up. They did not try. They did not effort it at all. He largely just went to a corner and stood there.

Starting point is 00:33:36 Or Andy, he went to the top of the key, or, you know, somewhere around 8 o'clock or 11 o'clock. No, it was mostly the corners. And he just stood there. And I did not try to move. He didn't relocate. The Lakers are you in those cases the Lakers are using. I mean, there often was effective as a player you can't sag off to create space for guys to get in the lane. Like you see DFS.

Starting point is 00:34:05 you see multiple plays where guys with a penetration is coming and the help doesn't because no one will leave Canard. So, I mean, I think that's why he continues to get heavy minutes. Sure. Even when, you know, he's not necessarily providing a lot of offense. So, like, it's a bit of a catch. It's the same thing. You know, there is some element, at least to me, of the same kind of issue you have with Rui, where like, okay, they're giving you this thing and you don't, it's like a sucker bet to

Starting point is 00:34:43 try to use it. We talked about a second ago with the Shepherd stuff. There is an element of that to me with Conard where like you obviously want to figure out how to get him more touches, find him open threes and stuff like that. But you also don't want to spend, you don't want to over overspend. and over-commit to be able to do that. Where you really need to pick. It's about more than just Conard, though.

Starting point is 00:35:12 To me, Conard is a symptom of an offense that over the course of these five games went for much more movement, much more for Houston to be occupied with, to much more stagnant, very predictable, all high screen and roll, and often leading them with not even screen and roll, if, like, Aiton isn't out there, whatever, it's often just spread floor to what I think I think it does Houston favors I think it makes Houston I think the wakers need to figure out right I agree with that the lakers need to figure out the physicality of Houston is making it much harder you know the they've changed how they're switching

Starting point is 00:35:50 they changed who's guarding what they've gone a little away from some of the the size first kind of stuff and you know the the the mobility of the players that they have is causing the Lakers a ton of trouble because they can out athlete the Lakers everywhere on the floor. And so some of its scheme, some of it, though, is, you know, like part of what makes Kinnard good isn't, you know, him coming off, getting the ball, whatever. It's there's penetration, there's a pass and a closeout. And then Kinnard can go and get people moving and stuff like that because he can put the ball on the floor there and get going.

Starting point is 00:36:27 The problem, too, if he gets the ball off of DHO, for example, unless he's clear of that player that's either switching or whatever, that you're not, he's not able to do anything. But it becomes part of a, but it becomes part of a blender. And like right now, I'm saying my, I'm saying that doesn't create the blender. What creates the blender, I think more effectively with Carnard is that kick out where he's able to either ball fake or take advantage of the hard clothes.

Starting point is 00:36:54 And now he's in the, then it gets to the other piece of it, which is you have to pass him the ball. They did not look at Conard. And like it really jumped out of me because I wanted to rewatch this going like, how did he end up such a non-factor with one point only four shots? Rewatching it, I'm surprised he got four. In all honesty.

Starting point is 00:37:14 Like it is kind of shocking that he managed four shots given the fact that nobody was paying a lick of attention to it. It's a chicken and a thing. You also too, you know, you've reached the deepest part of the, playoff series when you're when when before a podcast we're all going in and doing a rewatch I disagree though I actually disagree with that it's not deep door basketball wankery you're trying to figure out why an offense is ad joked it but no no but I'm saying I think it's actually really important but the part of the reason that they're doing is because amen Thompson is living

Starting point is 00:37:48 inside of his jersey and if the rockets are going to to put Thompson on canard unless you really start you know, scheming specifically your offense, and then now I think you're working too hard at it, then he is going to be less of a factor. Okay. Because Amman Thompson will take Luke Kinnard out of a game. That's fine. But then they need to be trying to make the offense as a whole.

Starting point is 00:38:17 Again, Kinnard is more symptom than the specific problem. I'm saying Kinnard is emblematic of how I think the offense has become much more easy for Houston. Oh, sure. That I agree. Defense to defend. If you don't want to make it all about Knaard, don't make it about Kinnard. But I'm saying he represents a very large problem they're having right now, very specifically.

Starting point is 00:38:38 100% agree with the Lakers need to figure out a way to adjust to what Houston has, you know, started to do to them defensively. Because, you know, the quality of their shots has gone down. It's something they're just missing the same ones they were making for the shot quality isn't there. So Lock on Lakers on YouTube is where you can go hanging with over 38,000 subscribers to the channel. We will see everyone later and then obviously after the game.

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