Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Can the Lakers Win Again vs. Rockets? Big Challenges for a Big Rematch

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Lakers and Rockets have a critical rematch Wednesday night. Houston welcomes an All-Star back to the floor. We'll tell you which Laker might benefit. 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 joining Locked on Lakers.

Starting point is 00:00:29 I'm Brian Komenetsky with Andy Kemenitsky. I want to let you know that today's episode is brought to you by Fandul. Fanduel is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a college basketball parlay profit boost. Had to Fanduel.com to get started. That's fanduel.com. Fanduel play your game. Lots to get into today. Andy, obviously, the Houston Lakers rematch, plenty to break down there. We'll try to tell you why Luca Danchich might want to start next season with, I don't know, 13 or 14 technical files already on his record. We'll tell you what's going to change in Wednesday night's game compared to Monday.

Starting point is 00:01:11 And to that point, Andy, we'll start here. Houston, by all accounts and all expectations, is going to welcome back. It's All-Star Center, Alper and Schengoon, into the lineup. That is obviously the biggest change between Monday and Wednesday as the Lakers try to win this very critical rematch in Houston. We talked about this after Monday's win. Chen Goon's absence was really felt for Houston, not just because he's an all-star talent. And if you are missing all-stars, your teams generally feel it. But in particular, this game that the Rockets were struggling so badly to move the ball

Starting point is 00:01:53 at all. Kevin Durant, the Lakers, did a great job pressuring him into problems, whether turnovers, bad passes, getting stripped, or just these possessions that KD. often began because other than maybe Amin Thompson, there really, or Reed Shepherd at times, there really was nobody that Ime Adoka clearly felt comfortable with beginning these possessions. And the Lakers just did a great job junking up

Starting point is 00:02:22 what Houston was doing. And this was possible in part because Alperin Shengoon, especially without a traditional point guard on this team or a season one in the case of Shepard, Shengoon is arguably the best ball mover on this team. And if nothing else, you can run KD, Shangoon pick and rolls that start out with two above average ball movers. And just there's more optionalities, more outlets for the ball, more spaces that you can put it. And just over the course, particularly the second half of this game, Houston became so unglued by the Lakers pressuring them defensively.

Starting point is 00:03:03 just one more guy to do this, one more pitch Houston can throw, will be a big deal. Yeah. In short, it's somebody who probably won't throw the ball into the fourth row if the Lakers try to pressure Durant again. Well, I don't know about that. They do, Houston does turn the ball over. Right. But I mean, my point being that Schengun is one of their better distributors and better

Starting point is 00:03:26 passers, just, you know, even as a center, he is, he is a quality passer in that regard. And it will likely change how much the Lakers. I mean, one of the things that I think is is obviously interesting in any rematch is, is what can you try again and what can't you try again? The law of averages says that the Lakers are not going to do to Kevin Durant what they did in Monday's game. Like it's just, you know, he's not going to miss as much as he did because he's, He's Kevin Durant. You can do almost everything exactly the same, and Katie's probably going to have a better night.

Starting point is 00:04:09 So, you know, you look for those kinds of things. We'll get to this, you know, hopefully for a long playoff run. That's always the question that coaches have to ask themselves. What is sustainable about game one? What can we do differently? What should change? What shouldn't? And it's kind of the fun of this little back-to-back as it plays.

Starting point is 00:04:32 And players have talked about this. We've heard coaches talk about this. It's like a little mini playoff series. And coaches can treat it that way. Players can treat it that way. But because Shen Goon is back, it might have been difficult to blitz Katie in the same way anyway, because he might figure it out. But it will become even harder when that next person, that next pivot point or whatever is a better passer and all that kind of stuff. I mean, I'm very interested to you just literally what his presence does to how the Lakers are able to defend.

Starting point is 00:05:10 Yeah, I mean, again, I brought up from the beginning. It's one more ball mover. They missed him. Yeah, for sure. My point was just Houston has been prone to bad turnovers all season with or without Shingoon. To be clear, the offense runs much better with Shangoon. If you look at his on-off numbers, the overall field goal percentage goes up when he's playing or down when he's not. depending on how you want to look at it, assist ratio, all those different things are better with him there.

Starting point is 00:05:41 My point was just that especially too as the season's been going on and on, and for my weekly Lakers show for ESPNLA in Los Angeles, ESPN-10, I had Jackson Gatlin, the host of Locked on Rockets on, to talk about what happened on Monday, what may happen Wednesday for the rematch in Houston. And he noted how just over the course of this season, especially once Stephen Adams has been out and part of a big weaponizing they did of offensive rebounds and putting back their own misses,

Starting point is 00:06:19 and that really being a big piece of their offense, just cleaning up their own messes. As the seasons gone along, teams have started becoming more adept at figuring out how to attack Houston. And he said, Ime Adoka and his staff all season have not really come up with counters. It's largely been either continuing to put Kevin Durant often in positions that, you know, as Jackson said, you know, Kevin Durant is not a bad passer, but what he isn't is a good passer out of pressure.

Starting point is 00:06:56 Like pressure will bother him as. somebody getting rid of the ball. And he can be prone to turnovers that way. He can be prone for frustration. The offense can get stagnant as it is. And he said that Ime Adoka, largely his adjustment has been to yell at these guys to be tougher and to be more physical. Well, that was the criticism of Adoka when he was in Boston.

Starting point is 00:07:20 It's a criticism. Sure. But the reason I bring this up too, because I think this is something interesting for the matchup and that maybe the Lakers can leverage. and obviously there's going to be things that the Lakers need to do differently, their own adjustments. One of the things I'm actually interested about in this game and moving forward

Starting point is 00:07:37 is teams have now gotten more film on the way the Lakers are now redistributing the usage and shots and general offensive utility and responsibilities between Luca, Austin, and LeBron. And they're going to start getting more ideas of how to try to find the weak spots and then you have to see JJ

Starting point is 00:08:01 and the Lakers adjust to the adjustments. We've just now reached a place where I think there is enough for teams to start really looking at in terms of patterns and things that you can start attacking. But Jackson said with the Rockets, the vibes around this team for the past few weeks have been bad.

Starting point is 00:08:24 Like just flat out bad. He said it, while he wasn't making a direct one-to-one correlation, he did say that right around the time Katie Burnergate broke and became a thing. He said he's not sure about how it was handled internally, but the external very PR-speak handling of it. He does not think was particularly convincing. But he said to me, direct quote,

Starting point is 00:08:47 vibes are completely off. And he also said that this team has shown signs of fragmentation. And especially for a Lakers team that the last few, you games, they have won in part because of superior composure. This could be an area that the Lakers could look to poke at. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Try to go at Houston that way.

Starting point is 00:09:11 And, you know, the way I think, you know, it would be, you know, kind of makes some sense to be a little bit physical to, you know, to take it. Because look, the Lakers, even with Schengoon back, the Lakers are a better half court offense than the Rockets. And that's because the Lakers are both a good half-court offense and the rockets are a very bad one. Houston is going to be inclined as they should, as they did on Christmas, to get out and make the Lakers look slow. Use their length, use their athleticism, and all that kind of stuff.

Starting point is 00:09:45 There are two things that I want to get into in the next segment. The first one is more on what you were talking about with LeBron and Austin and obviously, and what this sort of new way of doing things the last 10 games or so with the, especially the better performance of the big three, all that kind of stuff. You know, those guys went from a net negative to a net very positive pretty quickly. And so I want to talk about that. And then I mentioned in the open, there is a player that I think benefits from the return of Alperin Shengoun.

Starting point is 00:10:19 So let's talk about all of those things next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Robin Hood. What if sports were traded like markets? Now you can put your sports IQ to work in real time with Robin Hood predictions markets. It's not you against the house. It's you participating in a live market. You can buy or sell your position live all game long, use your sports knowledge. In the moments that matter, Robin Hood prediction markets change the game.

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Starting point is 00:13:06 So, but I want to, before we get to the LeBron, big three part of this, because, you know, we're going to talk a little bit more about this new dynamic

Starting point is 00:13:15 in the short show for Wednesday ahead of the game. But the Lakers don't benefit from Alper and Schengun returning to the lineup, I don't think. I do think,

Starting point is 00:13:27 DeAndre Aiton does. Because from an offensive standpoint, Clint Capella is the type of defensive center that is harder for Aitin to deal with. Schengun is really good. And he's going to make Aiton, it's a much different challenge for Aiton defensively for him. The asks are different, the amount of stuff he's got to watch for is different.

Starting point is 00:13:53 So in that sense, it's a bigger challenge. Schengen Gens, a very good rebounder, all that stuff so holds. But Capella, I think, is the type of player that can really gum up where Ait wants to go offensively. So I do think there's a chance that just because Shangoon's not as good a defender, that Aten could find a little bit of an easier time getting involved on that side of the ball early. Yeah, I guess it just depends on my theory. I think it depends on how you look at it.

Starting point is 00:14:26 I don't think you're wrong in the way you're laying this out in terms of what Aiton can potentially do offensively. I think the problem is, though, Shengun, I think requires Aiton to be far more alert defensively. He can be spread out around the entire possession more because Shandoon, while not a three-point shooter, is somebody that can operate out of the high post as a passer and as a hub, somebody who's starting pick and rolls. and is a really talented offensive player in the post. So again, I don't think you're wrong in the way you're breaking that out. I think just a lot of it is depending on how you look at it. Sure. And it depends on exactly how the Lakers approach these things, how switching me.

Starting point is 00:15:12 Houston, part of the way there are two things I think that help Houston with get all those offensive rebounds on Monday. Well, actually three. One is the Lakers often give up a lot of offensive rebounds. So that's just them being them. The second one is the the rockets, I think, very intentionally, you moved eight and away from the basket. And DA actually did pretty well in space.

Starting point is 00:15:39 That's not the issue. But if he's 28 feet away for 15, 18, 20 feet away from the basket, when the shot goes up, he's not in a position to be able to really contest the rebound. And then the third thing that helped you, was that, and JJ alluded to this after the game, when you do that much blitzing, particularly high on the floor, when the ball starts to move, you're catching up.

Starting point is 00:16:05 And so it's harder to find your guy or a guy or the guy that you're supposed to body up when the shot finally goes up. There are more cracks in that to be able to then go crash the boards. I don't know if the Lakers are going to be able to blitz as much as they did in that double-teaming kind of high-level. the floor blitz. So if they don't do that as much, it at least mitigates that one thing that might make, you know, that left them vulnerable to offensive rebounds.

Starting point is 00:16:36 It might leave them vulnerable in other places. But, you know, I think they're doing a little bit less of that. And you have a more natural kind of matchup for Aiton to stay with in terms of Schengun. I think the defense of the Lakers play could look a little bit different on Wednesday than it did on Monday. Yeah, well, look, it'll be interesting to see. Houston is a really difficult team to keep off the glass period. Oh, for sure. Even without Stephen Adams, who was a driving force behind the, again, clean up the trash offense that Houston was running.

Starting point is 00:17:12 And for a while as the most prolific offense in the league, despite being also the ugliest offense in the league. It was a very, very rare bird that they had in flight over in Houston. But like, I think it's going to be, I think that's going to be a challenge just in general, the glass. Like one of the things Jackson did note, and again, it gets back to the composure piece of it, he said that the KD. Shangoon pick and roll can be really effective. Houston's not disciplined enough to keep running it. Like they don't do it nearly as much as you would think one of the only cohesive moves that they

Starting point is 00:17:49 have that they can employ they don't typically do. So I think if the Lakers can look to just be as disruptive as they were in general with just getting Houston out of whack at the start of possessions, as opposed to necessarily how they're guarding man to man. Because Houston, Houston does not have a lot of guy, like Thompson and Shengun and Katie are real, and I guess Shepard in his own right. But, like, Like they're, they're not a team that really breaks you down off the dribble at all. They're not really a team that has a lot of dynamic ball movers in general, guys who can put the ball on the floor in dynamic ways.

Starting point is 00:18:33 You know, Jabari Smith Jr. is a very good player, but that's not his greatest strength. You know, Tar Heeson, good player, not his greatest strength. Even someone like Amin Thompson is still really learning along those lines. And, you know, Reed Shepard, we saw in Monday's game, he had some really effective possessions offensively, but he's, if nothing else, he is not seasoned enough as a point guard that Imei Adoka trusts him to pass to a certain point. So I think really the Lakers defensive strategy, if I had to guess, is going to be as much of more of what we saw as Monday as they can pull off, just because I think it's an extension of they've become most effective,

Starting point is 00:19:12 I think, kind of counterintuitively to, I think the way JJ viewed a lot of stuff earlier in the season when they're in rotation, when they're scrambling around, when they're sort of forced to keep moving and make decisions as opposed to just guarding the man in front of them. I think that's actually often when they're at their weakest. Yeah. I mean, it's they just, there's, there's a certain sort of engagement and confidence and all that kind of stuff that they've been playing with. And I, you know, I mentioned KD at the beginning.

Starting point is 00:19:45 They're where like where the regression comes from Houston's not a particularly great shooting team, but they're not going to shoot, what was it, 19% or something from three in this game. You know, if you leave Reed Shepard and, you know, have these multiple possessions where, you know, the Rockets get two or three or four attempts to make a three-pointer. On Wednesday, they're going to make one where they didn't before. It would not, they're not going to score 92 points again. even if the Lakers play this, you know, the same level of defense. And so, you know, I think Luca, our friend, Itstock Franco, on his substack, talked about this in his post-game rack.

Starting point is 00:20:28 Like, Luca is one of the few players on the Lakers who sort of seems unbothered by the length in athleticism that the, that the rockets put out. he knows how to get his shot off against anyone. But the length and athleticism has always been an issue for Reeves. That's not why he missed all eight of his three-pointers. That's a bad shooting night. But what does he do in this game? And I actually think it's also, and we'll get into this the next segment, an issue for LeBron. Like that kind of length and athleticism at this point in LeBron's career,

Starting point is 00:21:07 if he's stationary becomes very tight. challenging for him. You know, he doesn't quite have that, that quickness and explosion anymore. So what regresses to the mean positively or negatively for both teams? It's obviously going to be a huge factor in this game. We'll get, break more of that now next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by indeed. Workplace chaos. Deadlines stacking up in blocks over flowing and the cliffhanger. one position you still have to fill is sitting open. It's the same cliffhanger. You're waiting for somebody to get hired.

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Starting point is 00:22:40 support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast extremely important. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. Quickly before we get back to this, you know, we made the allusion to the idea of Luca, you know, perhaps benefiting if the Lakers could somehow petition the league to start him with 12, 13, 14 technical files. Our friend Harrison Fagan pointed out that Luca, since getting his 15th technical foul,

Starting point is 00:23:26 and small sample size, no question. He's averaging 38.2 points a game and his defensive rating has jumped, improved, I should say, from 115 and a half on the season to 104.8. And his net rating has jumped, nearly 14 points as a result.

Starting point is 00:23:47 So when you look at it that way, Andy, it's kind of joking that you say, oh, you know, Lucas, you know, since he got that tea, he's really playing quite well. But you mentioned it in the show for Tuesday. Like there is a lot. I think this actually isn't causation correlation. I think this is causation.

Starting point is 00:24:10 Very much that improvement has come. I don't think it is a coincidence at all that even by Lucas standards, dude is bawling out during this period where he really has no choice other than just shut up, swallow your feelings, and play. Like, I just being direct about it, not honest about it, just shut up and play. Like, he's more focused because he can't get caught up in that stuff. And it's not just him playing more focused. I think it focuses everybody else.

Starting point is 00:24:45 Like if it seems like the entire team is complaining less during this six-game period, just so it's clear, it is actually a six-game sample size for Luca and the lack of the tease. If it seems like the team's complaining less, it's because they are complaining less. Over this period of six games that Luca has not gotten a tech, the Lakers have gotten one tech in six games, and the one tech, was Vando very openly and hilariously trolling Bones Highland. Like he was specifically going out of his way to bother Bones. He wasn't even complaining about anything happening on the court.

Starting point is 00:25:27 In the meantime, though, in those six games, the Pacers got one tech and one flagrant. The Knicks got one tech. The, against the Timberwolves, like I said, that was the one tech, V. Bones. the Timberwolves got also a tech. The Bulls got a tech. Lakers, none. Denver and Lakers, neither one of them got one. Houston got a tech and a flagrant.

Starting point is 00:25:50 They have been winning the composure battle in addition to the games. When Ryan and I can't complain and doesn't complain as much, it trickles down. It's true. We've attempted to explain this because when we've brought this up before, particularly during that period where it, for about 48 hours, it became seemingly open season on Luca and basically just it turned into festivist with everybody airing their grievances against Luca. And, you know, we did a show about just sort of the general commentary. But in that show and others, we've always said, like, we're not looking to tear apart Luca or get into his, like, inherent watchability or, you know, what this does for. the entertainment product or talk about him being spoiled any of that stuff it's it affects him it

Starting point is 00:26:46 affects the team like we bring this up we talk about it needing to stop because it will bring up the best version of the lakers we're not doing this to take shots at luka no and it's a bit like because when you when you look at it like Luca has certain defensive shortcomings he's never going to be a guy who can move his feet fast enough to stay with some of the quicker guards in the league. Everybody struggles that, whatever. But part of Luca's defensive deficiencies is sometimes he's literally not there. Yes. Because he's at the other end of the floor. And so, you know, we joke about this, but like, the version of Luca that we're getting now is like this super realized example of it where,

Starting point is 00:27:34 You know, he has said, I do not, I'm not, we are playing far too many important games right now for me to have to sit out for something stupid like a technical foul. And so he's not going to get, he's not going to say he's not going to say he's not going to get that last tea. And like you say, when you're frustrated when you know like, what do you do? Okay, I got to go back. I'm going to channel it somewhere. I'm going to do 20 jumping jacks. I'm going to do 50 pushups. He can't do that.

Starting point is 00:27:58 He can't do that. He can't do that. He's going to run back on defense because he can't yell. so I better run away. Can't yell. He's going to play really, really good offensively. And when he does need to talk to a referee, he's going to bring Jared Banderbilt with him.

Starting point is 00:28:17 This is like my favorite development of the season is this idea of basically Vando has become Luca's handler, you know, kind of his rep to keep him out of trouble. So we'll see if that can continue. use. But anyway, it's something to watch. And, you know, it is, it is not, you know, Harrison was kind of joking.

Starting point is 00:28:40 But it is 100%. I completely agree with you. It is not at all coincidental. Really quick with the Vando thing that you mentioned. And if you can find these super cuts and we've retweeted them at Cam Brothers, of Vando just gluing himself alongside. Kind of popping up every time Luca talks to a referee, there's Vando. Yeah. I mean, he is popping up off the bench because Vando has not been in the rotation of late.

Starting point is 00:29:07 But like this, it's hilarious, but also, and I think this relates to the conversation we're going to have about JJ's comments with LeBron being now designated third among usage between him, Luca, and AR. A larger conversation about buy-in, this is happening when Jared Vanderbilt isn't playing. And he's been in and out of the rotation all season. he has said before, like, I haven't always understood why or there hasn't in his mind always been clear communication. That's his side of the story. J.J. may feel different. Whatever. But

Starting point is 00:29:42 this is a time where a player could pout and grow inward and detach themselves. Jared Vanderbilt is leaning into the idea of, I got to do something to be a good teammate and to be a productive part of winning and building culture. And like this really is it. And I feel like in a lot of ways, this is as much of a buy-in with anything you're going to talk about with this team when they're playing really well right now as what happens on the court. Like this is Vando buying into, I can make a difference this way.

Starting point is 00:30:20 Yeah, I mean, I am more critical of Vando's role of player. as a player sort of his shortcomings, whatever than you are. But I mean, nobody, I think, questions the professionalism. The guy is a great teammate, and he gets out and plays, he always plays hard when he plays.

Starting point is 00:30:40 And so, yeah, I mean, it is, I think it's a great example of that, and it is kind of a good preview of what we're going to get into for Wednesday afternoon. But just,

Starting point is 00:30:50 you know, before we go, I, you know, the Rockets matchup. I mentioned in the second segment that, you know, LeBron struggles, if you have to put him face up against Atari-Eason, against an Amen Thompson,

Starting point is 00:31:03 you know, these good, this batch of really good wing defenders and size and length that Houston has, it benefits, you know, the rockets. It's harder for LeBron these days to do that. Obviously, the new way that they are doing things is to try to move LeBron, is to have him cutting and catching the ball and the move. When he's playing with Austin and Luca, obviously, as part of this big three, is, you know, the usage goes down, movement goes up, pushing pace in transition where LeBron is still absolutely unstoppable. And all of that stuff.

Starting point is 00:31:48 This style works really well and lends itself to a good strategy to play against a team like Houston. So, you know, like we'll see if it, you know, is as effective. LeBron, I think 13 shots in Monday's game made seven of them. Yep. And some of those were on the break. Some of those were finishing in the half court. And if Houston does try to counter that, I'm not totally sure what it would be, especially when those other guys are out, because part of the reason it works is because you have to train up. eyes, especially on Luca, if you start taking eyes away from Luca, you're going to pay for it in other places, either because Luca is going to light you up or Luca as a playmaker is going to light you up.

Starting point is 00:32:37 We talk about, you know, KD is a really good passer. I agree, but he's not a playmaker like Luca is. And so Luca can take advantage of, you know, blitzes and like that. Those do not bother Luca. And, you know, so I'm curious to see if in what Houston does as a response if they try to adjust to that particular thing that the Lakers are now doing when the big three play together. Yeah. And in the meantime, this is a game where Austin Reeves needs to get going. He got 15 points on 5 of 18 shooting.

Starting point is 00:33:13 The majority of the misses were from behind the arc. And he found other, look, he found other ways to contribute. I'm not. Actually, put a really good game overall. The only thing you couldn't do was shoot. Yeah, I'm not even trying to say Austin had a bad. game. The reason I bring this up, though, is part of the way you make the formula work and this offensive, really, it is a hierarchy that is being now spelled out by JJ. The way you make it work

Starting point is 00:33:39 is in part paying off the idea that Austin is the number two usage guy and the number two shot volume guy and the guy with more direct hands-on responsibility over the offense, more than LeBron, at the very least to start possessions. Austin, in the first, first matchup against Houston. He was technically efficient from the field. He was five of eight, but he was very quiet. He just had 12 points. He had one assist against two turnovers. In this game, again, he found ways to contribute. Like his defense was often pretty instrumental in what the Lakers were doing. Like there were several sequences where Austin was very good. But it was also a game where they scored 100 points and like they need to score more. And in that sense, there

Starting point is 00:34:26 is more of an onus for Austin in this game to pick it up. Also, too, they really need the bench to start scoring more. It has, I think, gone under the radar because everything broadly has been so good for the Lakers of late. And the vibes have been so awesome. And they're beating good teams, which is the thing everyone was understandably holding over their heads when it came to doubting this team. And that stuff is starting to go to the side, and that's great. But it's being, I think, overshadowed that Rui has not had a big game in a while.

Starting point is 00:35:06 Luke Canard, the last three games, has scored. I think it combines six points. Jake Laravia had seven points against the Rockets. They were pretty much all from the line. Like, they could use one of those guys or, you know, Jackson Hayes, 15, points on just really well-orchestrated pick and roll lobs. Like they could use one or two of those guys breaking out soon and hopefully Wednesday against Houston.

Starting point is 00:35:35 All right. So plenty to look forward to in that. Again, reminder that Wednesday is a short show ahead of the game. We'll talk, again, a little bit more depth about what Andy was referring to in terms of the usage hierarchy that seems to be developing when the big three are out of the floor together. JJ talked about that after the game on Monday. So plenty more to come today. And obviously we'll be back after the game itself ends.

Starting point is 00:35:59 Locked on Lakers on YouTube is breaking Hangout with over 37. Are we at 38 yet? I don't know. Pretty close. Thousands subscribers. We will see everybody after the game.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Can the Lakers Win Again vs. Rockets? Big Challenges for a Big Rematch

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