Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Can the Rockets Sustain Momentum From Game 4? Can Reaves Elevate LA's Offense?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Game five is Wednesday night. Can they close it out? Will it be a cakewalk? We'll ask Jackson Gatlin of Locked on Rockets next. You are Locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:27 Thanks to everybody for tuning in to Locked on Lakers, as we like to call it Locked on Cakewalks. We have been spending a lot of time. in this first round talking about the sheer humiliation of Jackson Gatlin, who wanted to know before the series started why this wouldn't be a cakewalk for his beloved Houston Rockets. And it turns out, here we go, rolling into game five, and the Lakers are up 3-1. Dare I say, Andy, it's been a cakewalk for the Lakers and not the Rockets. Jack Gatlin of Lockdown Rockets joining us. Now, by the way, it's not been.

Starting point is 00:01:05 a cake walk the Lakers. No, I was going to say Cupcake walk at best. Like not a full size cake, certainly not a tiered cake. The Rockets over the last six quarters have been frankly taking some of the Lakers cake. So let's let's keep everything in perspective. Neither of these teams have looked especially sharp. I come into the show and I get all this disrespect and you guys don't even say what's up to the Locked on Rockets audience. This is a crossover event. You guys, you guys are killing me here. We're on both platforms. Hello and welcome to all my wonderful Lockdown Rockets listeners. And I'm so sorry you guys have to put up with these two knuckleheads for one more crossover.

Starting point is 00:01:42 But here we are. Yeah, I mean, you're saying that because you don't think there'll be a game six or a game seven, Jackson? I'm saying it because I'm sick and tired of you too. Okay. There's two of you. It's two. It's one too many of you guys. Well, we get that a lot.

Starting point is 00:02:00 So I will say, you know, Andy is correct. Like the, the A, he's correct on a few things, which also is unusual. But the, this has not been a pleasant series to watch. It has not been filled with tremendous basketball that will all be like, man, do you remember where you were when that happened other than the end of game three? But that's kind of not because like that was good basketball. No, also hang on, some good, some flowers to the first ever father's son, Alleyoop in the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:02:33 come on we're going to give a little bit of credit to the braon brawny al-upe that was pretty cool um that also wasn't what i was talking about so um the you know so you know it's been ugly basketball the lakers to their credit um played very hard executed very well but like houston was just not hitting the bar like or the rib like it was just it was really bad performance on their part second half of game three they seem to find something put it together figured out how to stifle the lakers offensively if nothing else and then jackson turned around in game four and dominated how are you looking at this like do you see vulnerability here do you see the inevitable what do you see i think there is a little bit of vulnerability here from the lakers side and i'm i'm trying to be as measured with this as possible so that i don't have another cakewalking incident because we're not doing that again. But I do think that, right, the Lakers and Rockets both coming into the series, they were both

Starting point is 00:03:36 very flawed teams across the board, a lot of weaknesses that could be exploited. And I think that what we saw in the first few games of the series was a more veteran Lakers team, a Lakers team with a lot of guys who have a ton of playoff experience. We saw JJ Redick coaching circles around Eme Udoka, and we saw some insane shooting variants on both sides of the floor, right? Like, Lakers couldn't miss, Rockets couldn't hit. And that's what led to some of the results in those first, you know, handful of games.

Starting point is 00:04:03 And then obviously the insane catastrophic meltdown at the end of game three. The Rockets kind of won game three. Like, with 30 seconds left, right, you're up six. Across the board, that should have been a win. And it took a catastrophic failure for it to not be a win. It's like so many bad things had to happen in a row to choke that game away. It was a kind of won, but in a more important way, they kind of didn't. But the more important way they didn't win.

Starting point is 00:04:29 Yeah. But you guys get my point, right? The Rockets played well enough to win game three and then carried that momentum in or all carried what went well in game three into game four, dominated game four. And so I think that like looking ahead at game five, right, I do think there is a little bit, a little bit of momentum, a little bit of that kind of like that beginning of an idea for the young Rockets, right? Where they just don't know anybody.

Starting point is 00:04:53 They're like, well, why couldn't we win four in a row? Why couldn't we be the first team to ever come back from 3-0? And if it was going to happen against any team, right? It's almost like this young, hungry, unproven Rockets team with no Kevin Durant, who is at this point very unlikely to play any more games for the Rockets at all this season with the bone bruise in his ankle. He's going to be out for probably at least two to three weeks. So barring some miracle of the Rockets advancing the next round, Katie's probably played his last game for the Rockets this season.

Starting point is 00:05:21 And then on the flip side, you have this Lakers roster, an older Lakers roster, a team that certainly, I think, looked their age in game four coming off the heels of a really hard fought overtime win in game three. Felt like the Lakers were a little bit kind of stuck in the mud at times in game four. Some of that has to do with some of the adjustments the rockets made, which I'm sure we'll talk about over the course of this episode. So I do think that like going into game five,

Starting point is 00:05:49 that the rockets have like a little bit of a chance here, right, to make something happen. Just because they've got still, and I think we're still on agreement right, the Rockets have a ton of talent on this roster. Can they get the talent to all click together at the right time? Can they actually knock down some shots? Can these guys play well off of each other, even though they haven't really played like this specific five-man starting lineup

Starting point is 00:06:11 that much throughout the regular season? Going into game three when they started this lineup of Reed, Amin, Al-P, Tari Easton, and Jabari Smid Jr., they'd only played 55 minutes together all season, which is kind of a damning indictment on coaching at that point, that they've only played 55 minutes together going into game three. But yeah, I think, I mean, at this point, Rockets are kind of playing with House Money, right?

Starting point is 00:06:32 It's their backs are against the wall. It's do or die. And I think they're too maybe young and don't know better to know that they're supposed to lose Game 5. I don't know. Well, there are some things, though, Jackson, have been working. Like the last six quarters of the series, the Rockets' offense, I would say, is moving in a better direction.

Starting point is 00:06:51 It's not perfect. Their best offense may still be capital. capitalizing on Laker turnovers and running, but it's been better. What adjustments have you seen on the Houston side that you think are accounting for this? I hate saying this, but one adjustment is just, hey, man, they're just knocking down shots. Like, it's, I hate it when, like, basketball analysis becomes that, like, simple where it's just like, hey, the shots went in. But, you know, I think that's the answer. Sometimes it is, right?

Starting point is 00:07:17 It's just, it feels dumb when that's the answer. But that really is the reality of the situation. You look at game four. Rockets managed to shoot 40% from. Beyond the Arc. And that was with Jabari'sma Jr., who's one of their only two volume three point shooters, going two for 10 from Beyond the Ark, right? Everybody else just really shot the lights out of the ball in that game.

Starting point is 00:07:35 But outside of that, we're seeing, I think we're just seeing quicker decision-making, better, some better actions in the half court, especially. We're seeing some better downhill action for Amin Thompson playing off of Alperin-Shingo. And there's been some kind of unique little kind of two-man game between those guys that's allowed Amin Thompson to get downhill, even with defenders going under on all these screens because he's not a shooting threat.

Starting point is 00:07:59 Like he's just using his athleticism. He's getting into the rim. In game four, he was also hitting a lot of mid-range shots. He was very aggressive in taking those little like 15 to 18-foot kind of middies just outside of the, right at the free throw line or just outside the free throw line area, which will hopefully kind of open up his game a little bit more.

Starting point is 00:08:17 Him being able to hit that jumper, certainly open some things. And then just Reed Shepard actually having like a, a good game where he was knocking down his outside shots, but just his overall gravity on the floor really opens things up for kind of everybody else out there. And I mean, it's some of the best offense we've seen all series. And it's some of the best, it's kind of sad to say this, but it's some of the best offense we've seen all season from the Rockets with those five guys just all playing well off each other, playing throughout Prynch and Goon, letting him in Thompson

Starting point is 00:08:47 get downhill, and the other guys just kind of filling their roles perfectly. I want to ask a question. Maybe we'll, I'll ask it now and we'll, we'll answer it next. Because I, you know, you mentioned Shen Gune, Andy talked about Schengen a little bit. I hate the, are the, is Team X better without its best player, like debate? Like generally speaking, the answer is no, it is not. And, you know, are the Lakers better without Luke?

Starting point is 00:09:16 No, but the ball moves. Everybody touches it. Luke, look, Luke Conard can. do. I'm like, no, the Lakers not better without Luca Dantitch. They're not better without Austin Reeves. They're certainly not better without Luka Dantzich and Austin Reeves. So I do not believe that the Rockets are better without

Starting point is 00:09:30 Kevin Durant. My question for you and you can think about it during the break. Is it harder for the Lakers to defend the Rockets, now that sort of especially now that Shen Goons found a little confidence and a little bit of rhythm? When he is the fulcrum of the

Starting point is 00:09:48 offense versus when Durant has been. Because the Lakers between the baseball series, those two games in Houston, the Lakers dominated and did a pretty good job on Duran, and the one game that he played, it seems like they have a formula for Duran. The last couple games have been less successful with Shangoon.

Starting point is 00:10:11 So I'm curious your thoughts about that. We'll talk about next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you about Kalshi. The playoffs are here. The most electric time in basketball on Kalshi. you can trade every single playoff game every series, the conference finals, and the championship. Game 5, April 29th, Houston at the Lakers,

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Starting point is 00:11:31 I am essentially asking you here, Jackson, like, what changes when Shangoon is sort of acting as the fulcrum of the offense, which I think is, you know, we saw at the end of game three, in the game four, versus when Durant is. And why do you think the Lakers are struggling more to defend it? I think that there is a level of, and this is kind of the case with almost any team when their star player is down, right? There's a level of unpredictability to the rockets because you don't really know where the damage is going to come from. Obviously, you know, that they're still going to play heavily through Shingun. So they do still have a star left on the roster.

Starting point is 00:12:14 He's two-time All-Star. He's talented. You run the offense through him. He becomes their offensive fulcrum. But I think that it's funny because you were kind of joking about it, but it is the reality of the situation. like the ball does move a little bit more freely when Kevin's not out there, but it's not, it really just kind of feels like there's a level of when Kevin is out there,

Starting point is 00:12:34 especially playing alongside so many other young players. It's not like Katie is out there with other veterans, other guys who have been there, done that. Like these are all 22, 23, 24 year old kids who it's either their first playoff series or maybe their second playoff series. And likely grew up idolizing Kevin Durant, like they're fan boys of Kevin Durant.

Starting point is 00:12:53 There you go. and or fan boys of LeBron James. Like these are living legends that they are now playing alongside. And when KD is out there, I do think at times the Rockets offense gets really bogged down into just Kevin Durant basketball, right?

Starting point is 00:13:09 Where it's not a team-centric approach. It's a how can we get Kevin the ball? How can we get Kevin a bucket? And sometimes that's great offense. Sometimes just getting the ball to KD and let KD be KD is awesome because he's insanely efficient and he's one of the most gifted scores to ever touch the ball.

Starting point is 00:13:25 But when that approach starts to backfire, and then there's not adjustments made as a result of that, you get the result in game two, right? With all the turnovers and the really ugly, sloppy play in the half court. And that's been kind of the Achilles heel of the Rockets all season, especially like, you know, being led by Eme O'Doka, he struggles with in-game adjustments, it feels like. And so once that first punch gets denied,

Starting point is 00:13:50 then there's not a counter of like, oh, well, Kevin on ball wasn't working and inviting the doubles wasn't working because we weren't punishing them properly. Let's switch it up and let's take Kevin off ball and run him off some screens or use him as a decoy or use him as a screener. Like, none of that stuff happens in the confines of a given game.

Starting point is 00:14:07 Now, we've seen those adjustments be made and we've seen the Rockets play versions of basketball where, you know, suddenly Kevin Durant is playing more off ball, whatever. But I think when you don't have Katie out there, the young guys just play more freely. They're not thinking in the back. of their mind, oh, I've got to get Kevin a touch. I've got to get the ball of Kevin.

Starting point is 00:14:24 Where's Kevin? Got to find him. Like, you know, we're running the. Eme says run the offense through Kevin. That's what we got to do. And so you're seeing Reed Shepard look a little bit more aggressive in hunting a shot. You're seeing Alperin Shingoon, still being aggressive, but also looking to involve his teammates and not being shy about being the guy who, even if he's not the one recording the assist,

Starting point is 00:14:44 right, being that initial, like he collapses the defense and gets the Lakers defense in rotation, which then leads to a good shot for somebody else down the line. So I think that's kind of the result of not having KD out there is all the young guys just play significantly more freely. And that's what's leading to some of the better ball movement, better decision making, just better execution in general because they get so hung up on playing a very specific way with KD. And at times when you're playing with KD out there, it puts other guys in roles that they're maybe not as suited for, right? Because then you have if KD is on the ball and then you've got shing. and Amin Thompson, two non-shooters who are playing off ball, and then maybe it mucks up the floor spacing in certain spots.

Starting point is 00:15:28 It can get a little gummy at times. So my follow to this is Andy and I spent a lot of time for Monday and Tuesday talking about like there is a limit until Reeves comes back, especially. There's sort of a limit as to how many different levers J.J. Reddick can pull. Like you just, you can only do so many things. by game four of a series, now game five, the other team has seen all of the stuff that you can do.

Starting point is 00:15:56 And the Lakers don't have like 12 other things in their bag they can go to. The Rockets now have played, will have played after game five, more of the series without Kevin Grant, much more than with. Once the Lakers get a look at the tape and make some adjustments and all that, are they going to run in the same problem where, you know, It's like, yeah, it's worked for a game or two or something like that, but they don't, they don't have the, sort of the personnel to adjust to the adjustments. Like, this is what they got with this group.

Starting point is 00:16:30 And stop it, yes, stop it. No, but there's not like a plan B. I think that the Rockets actually surprised. So the lever that EMA kind of pulled, you know, in game, you know, back half of game three and then, and some of game four, or a lot of game four actually, is running small ball and and playing a lot smaller, you know, more switchable defenders out there, switching everything one through five, including switching actions with Reed Shepard and Alperin Shingoon, sometimes inviting, you know, Reed to switch onto a bigger player or Alperin Shangoon to switch onto a perimeter player.

Starting point is 00:17:01 Like there were a lot of possessions where Alperin Shingun was guarding LeBron James one-on-one on the perimeter. And it, you know, he held his own at times against LeBron. The other lever that the Rockets can still pull, actually, is to go big, to go inverse of what they did in game four. The double big lineup last season with Alper and Chingun and Stephen Adams was one of the most dominant lineups in the entire NBA. And they leaned on that lineup heavily in their games in their seven game series against the Warriors.

Starting point is 00:17:29 Now, Clint Capella is not Stephen Adams. But he's still a very elite like rebounding presence. He still provides a high level offensive rebounder. He provides a different type of big to play alongside Shingun. If you were to go that route, he's a vertical spacing threat. You can play kind of above the rim, maybe not quite as. above the rim as he used to be able to get, but you can play somewhat above the rim with Clint Capella

Starting point is 00:17:50 and with a passing threat like Alper and Shungoon. You know, there's that uniqueness that you could potentially pivot to that. Now, the Rockets haven't done that a lot this season. They experimented with it a little bit earlier on in the season, but if Eme felt like he needed to go one more like ace up his sleeve and just wants to really like, I guess just kind of like thug it out for the rest of the series

Starting point is 00:18:13 and just make it like an ugly brawl it like, rebound affair, then he could go double big and like he could run out this jumbo lineup with like Capella and Shingoon and Jabari and Amin Thompson where the smallest player on the floor is six foot seven of men, Thompson. There will be no dribbling in this lineup. That's okay. Not much, but I mean, there's already not a ton of dribbling in the Rockets regular lineup. So like, I don't know, it's that's the one other lever that Eme can pull. It's all been building to this point, Jackson. and it's all been building up to the seriously no dribbling lineup whatsoever. The Monstars Rockets lineup where they just,

Starting point is 00:18:51 the ball never touches the floor. It's pure basketball at that point. My goodness. I mean, but yeah, like outside of that, I think you're right. Like it's just these teams have kind of seen each other. And now it's just more about, okay, like the, the Lakers know the Rockets' weaknesses. The Rockets know the Lakers weaknesses.

Starting point is 00:19:09 I think, you know, the only thing left is just, I would say, right, and the return of Austin Reeves, right? And how does that change the dynamic of the series? Because it's not a lever that you can pull, but it does change the entire dynamic of everything with a potential Reeves return, right? That's actually what we want to. That's actually what we plan to ask you about next, Jackson,

Starting point is 00:19:31 the expectations you have with Austin Reeves and the potential complications it could cause for the rocket. So that is coming up next. All right, Jackson, as you mentioned, Austin Reeves expected to play in game five. I am guessing he will have a bench roll. He's going to be in limited minutes. There's going to be some rust.

Starting point is 00:19:58 He is also providing some desperately needed ball handling, the ability to get into the lane, just some optionality for the offense, like a couple new wrinkles or whatever. How concerned are you about Austin Reeves, even the limited version of him, whether you're talking about coming back from injury or limited minutes hurting the Rockets for this do-or-die-game five.

Starting point is 00:20:22 I think there's a couple different ways to look at it. I think ultimately, the first thing is obviously like, okay, well, this is scary for the rockets because, you know, they've at times struggled to defend this Lakers team as is with really only, you know, LeBron James and Marcus Smart as your primary playmakers. And then Luke Kinnard kind of serving as like this tertiary ball handler at times within the offense. Suddenly you reintroduce Austin Reeves to the mix and it's like, okay, well, suddenly the Lakers are a lot more deadly offensively, even if it's only for, you know, 15 or 20 minutes here in game five, that's 15 or 20 minutes of significantly better, you know,

Starting point is 00:21:01 creation a bit like you alluded to already, or the ability to attack, collapse the defense, create his own shot, create opportunities for teammates, all of that. Now the Rockets do have the defenders to, I think, you know, potentially stifle Reeves, but they also dealt with this issue right across the first couple games, the first few games of the series really of, I think, kind of struggling and figuring out who they need to put their best defenders on, right? Like, where do you hide Reed Shepard within the, within the defense, right? Where are you parking him? You can't really, can you get away with putting him on Rui?

Starting point is 00:21:33 Do you hide, do you try to hide him on Marcus Smart? Well, we saw how that went. So that's my number one concern is just how does the introduction of Austin Reeves then spread the rocket's wing defenders even more thinly across the board? like what lineups are the Lakers suddenly going to run where is, is Reed Shepard going to be stuck guarding Marcus Smart? Because there's a lineup out there where it's, you know, where that's the only defender that he can check. Now, maybe some of the defensive adjustments that we saw in game four, right, where the rockets were just inviting switches across the board, maybe that still sticks in game five and maybe that still kind of flattens out the Lakers offense a little bit.

Starting point is 00:22:10 And you get stuck playing, you know, isolation against some of the Rockets best defenders anyways, whether it's Amin Thompson or Tari Isson or Jabari Smith Jr. But I mean, the other side of it is just, I do wonder, you know, with a player coming back from this type of injury, is Reeves potentially going to be at maybe a little bit of a detriment to the Lakers, potentially knocking some of that rust off, like trying to get himself back into that, that, you know, getting back into his own rhythm. Maybe he defers a little bit too much because he's fresh off an injury. like there's all these considerations to think of when a player is coming right back from an injury, especially on this type of a stage. So I don't think at the, you know, as far as like the net outcome, it will be better for the Lakers. But I do wonder how some of that other stuff will also affect Reeves in his return.

Starting point is 00:22:59 I will say it'd be hard for Reeves to make the offense worse than it was in game four. Like I don't. I, you better hope Reeves doesn't go like 0 for 4 from 3 or something because, man. If he went over 4 from 3, he'd fit right in. They had two, three pointers before Garber. garbage time, two, before garbage time. They, I mean, it was like that was, it was an incredibly inept offense, you know, give the Rockets credit for, for how they play defense and the ball pressure.

Starting point is 00:23:27 There is no way Austin Reeves will make the offense worse than it was in game four. Now, broadly, I think, though. But will he make, will he make the defense worse, though? He could. And it's less because Reeves is a bad defender. Keep in mind, some of the minutes he's taking away will be Luke. Kenards, who was not exactly, you know, Houston was hunting the bleep out of Cannard and finally did it effectively in game four.

Starting point is 00:23:55 And so like, Reeves a better defender than Luke Canard. And so, you know, that kind of stuff will balance itself out. I don't think they get, I mean, it's like they're adding a lot of talent, a lot of skill. I am not worried about them getting worse on that side, particularly. on offense. They need the addition of someone like Reeves, again, with the skill set. If he can give LeBron a few extra minutes of rest, he will benefit. Even it's not a position by position comparison, but Rui, a few minutes extra of rest.

Starting point is 00:24:32 Rui's been averaging probably 40 minutes a game in this series. He could use it. Smart, canard. There are just different buttons that JJ can push now with Austin. the ability just to get to the line, if he can draw fouls for this offense that really has been, as this series is going on, the Lakers offense, I think has run up against some of its limitations and just introducing the new wrinkle of a guy that could get to the line, and he's an excellent free-throw shooter, he also might get some of the more important Rockets defenders in trouble.

Starting point is 00:25:10 I think there's also just going to be an excitement from the team that he's back. Like, you know, game three, he was questionable, warmed up, sat. Game four, questionable warmed up sat. Like, there's been something building. I think amongst the group, he's really popular on the team. He's very liked and respected. Like, I think there's going to be an emotional lift for the team from Austin coming back. Even if I expect Rust, he in some ways we've talked to.

Starting point is 00:25:40 about the Lakers over the course of this series speeding themselves up at times, that is something Austin is going to have to be conscious of. Austin sometimes puts himself in seventh gear when fourth will do. And it wouldn't surprise me if his first shift or so, there are a couple bad passes or just his timing is off or whatever. I think that is frankly to be expected. But at the same time, they need the variable he's providing. I think JJ has, outside of the Lakers, just executing their offense, what they can do to a T. They're kind of running out of rabbits to pull out of the hat. Austin is another rabbit. Also, being another, and your point about him just being able to spell the other guys and just buying like a few extra minutes of rest

Starting point is 00:26:32 across the board, just adding that one more. It's not even they, they, they know, like, a little LeBron plays fewer minutes. It's at the minutes that LeBron plays, he's not staring. And the Lakers did a really bad job in game four. It was one of the major contrasts earlier in the series. Lakers did a bad job. Houston did a good job of making it so LeBron started possessions that he instigated. There was no catching at the elbow off of, you know, a couple screens and some

Starting point is 00:27:05 off ball action, whatever it was. like LeBron started it was too often doing things one-on-one with a dribble or like they try to set a screen, doesn't they? There was the switch did it, whatever it was. Houston made it much harder for him to operate. And the weakest LeBron is going to be is standing on the perimeter, staring at Amman Thompson or Tari-Eason, trying to beat either one of them off the dribble. That is not an effective way for LeBron to play offense at this point in his career. you know, his handles not as tight as it used to be. You know, obviously the explosiveness isn't quite what it was.

Starting point is 00:27:43 Not exactly major criticism of a 41-year-old guy who's still doing what he's doing, but like it is the reality. And so the Lakers can not, can do less of that. With Reeves' presence makes it much harder for the rockets to defend LeBron in that way. And it gives more options to the Lakers. to both create offense for other places, but also utilize LeBron better, to help them, help LeBron, help them.

Starting point is 00:28:14 I definitely, I mean, and this is the thing where you start to think about how, when Reeves and LeBron are sharing the floor together, right, that's going to be the thing that really just helps unlock whatever this new possible ceiling is for this version of the Lakers offense, because the rockets have now, at least, you know, through the last, you know, five, six quarters, whatever it is, seem to maybe find something defensively as far as slowing this Lakers team down,

Starting point is 00:28:39 but now they have to suddenly adjust to a new version of the Lakers. And back to my earlier point, we haven't seen a lot of great in-game adjustments from Eno Doka. So if he comes out swinging with a specific game plan to stop, you know, the iteration of the Lakers that this rocket team has now become accustomed to. And then J.J. Reddy gets to introduce Austin Reeves to the mix. And then suddenly we see, you know, different, you know, some new actions being drawn up where they've got, you know, you've got some Austin Reeves and LeBron James two-man game where they're putting the rocket's weakest defenders in the middle of the action in the middle of the floor and you know we might see the rocket struggle to adjust or do anything to stop that that's just kind of the reality of

Starting point is 00:29:17 this Eme Odoca coach team right now is that he really struggles to make those in-game adjustments and that would be a that is a big concern of mine is what type of a wrinkle Austin Reeves presents now for the you know for this game five and potentially any other games the rest of this series um all right so So let's talk winners and losers. You know, since Jackson has decided there will be no more crossovers, I can only assume that he believes the Lakers will win game five because it's time to go home.

Starting point is 00:29:49 We're not doing like some sort of locked on rockets exit interviews kind of deal. So what are we looking at here, everyone? I don't want to go first. I think the Lakers are going to win. I think the Lakers are going to win game five. I think without trying to take away anything from Houston, because I think Houston played their best game in game four. And there was a lot that they did that I thought was pretty impressive.

Starting point is 00:30:18 Like defensively, Tari Isson, side note, has been so good defending LeBron, like particularly in isolation when LeBron is facing up. Like he is, the Lakers need to find ways to get Eason off LeBron. But I also think exhaustion played a big role for. for the Lakers. You know, there was a quick turnaround from game three to game four, which was an overtime game. And obviously, the Lakers benefited the most from game three because they won and took a three-0 series lead.

Starting point is 00:30:47 But that setting takes more out of the older team than the younger team. And I would say after maybe three or four minutes of game four, the Lakers just looked spent. And as the game went along, they looked more and more exhaust. Did LeBron in particular look absolutely fried? I imagine he's going to look at some of the game film and be like, I don't even remember that turnover. I don't even remember that missed. It would just be like he was half asleep in a fever dream.

Starting point is 00:31:19 They had an extra day of rest between four and five. And I think the Lakers are going to benefit from that a lot and also recognize we want to get this thing done now. Because if we do not get this done now, then all of a sudden, We start playing every other day. We start giving Houston a lot of confidence. We start maybe questioning things in the back of our heads. I think I'm not saying it's going to be a blowout. I'm not saying I'm not even, at this point of the series,

Starting point is 00:31:51 I can't predict scores at all, but I do think the Lakers are going to win. Yeah, I think Andy's point about how they're going to, I think the Lakers are going to pour everything into game five. Not to the point like that it's over if they don't win it, Like, you know, they're going to, they're going all in on game five. And I think they will win because I think they'll shoot a little better. I think they'll defend a little better.

Starting point is 00:32:17 I think Reeves will help. And, you know, home floor, home crowd. I think they'll win. It might just be, it might just be the copium in me talking. There is a, there is part of me that thinks that the Rockets building off that momentum from game four. and the fact that they did play like a really good game in game three until the catastrophic ending, right?

Starting point is 00:32:39 Like there was a lot of good that could be taken out of that game three. I think that they have a legitimate chance here in game five. It's kind of like one of those toss-ups. Like I, coming in this, my gut is terrified of like a loss. Like it's just it, it, that it's going to be, my gut is like, oh, well, it's, you know, L.A. home court and, and obviously like to your point, Andy,

Starting point is 00:32:59 about like them empty in the tank here in this game because they know they need to get it done here. Because if you're, the Lakers, I think there's, I think there is a little bit of pressure on L.A. to get it done in five because if you don't, you're playing with a lot of fire, right? It's a young, hungry Rockets team where if you give them a little bit of life, you know, a Min Thompson joke the other day.

Starting point is 00:33:16 He's like, don't let us get one. But like, they got their one. And they've got a little bit of belief in themselves, right? They've got that wind in their sales a little bit. And if they, I'll tell you this, if the Rockets somehow win game five on the road in L.A., I think it goes seven. And it's your, your guess is as good as mine.

Starting point is 00:33:33 If it, if it, you know, who's going to actually come out on top, if it does go seven. But I think if they win five, I think they're going to win five. Like, I think they would win five, win six on their home court, and then force that game seven, because that's exactly what they did against the Warriors last year. They went down three one. They went out there, took care of business in five, took care of business in six, and then forced that game seven. Ultimately lost the game seven, but, and it was, you know, inverse roles because they were the ones with home court.

Starting point is 00:33:58 So game five was on their home turf. and then, you know, game six back on the road. But I'm going to go, I'm going to go a Rockets win. I'm going to go a Rockets win. I've been, I've been kind of down on them in this series, and they've disappointed me certainly more often than not, unfortunately, in this series. But I do think that you've got guys that are clearly laying it all out there,

Starting point is 00:34:21 not leaving anything, you know, just laying it all out on the floor with Alperin Shingoon, Amin Thompson, Jabari's Maj Jr. And those guys are playing their hearts out in this series, right? They are not trying to lose. You've got Reed Shepard playing a more confident brand of basketball. He played his best game of the series in Game 4. Tari Easton is back online. And when those five guys are playing their best versions of basketball,

Starting point is 00:34:44 that's a really tough team to beat. And a key difference, and we'll talk about this when we do the flipside version of this, is the bench disparity here where the bench disparity gets even worse with the addition of Austin Reeves. But I'm going Rockets win in game five. We'll see if that's a freezing cold take when it's all said and done. But I'm going to predict a Rockets win. But not in a cakewalk. Not a cakewalk.

Starting point is 00:35:05 All right. Well, you know, also just just for. Well, obviously the better team, I feel like. Locked on Lakers on YouTube, Locked on Lakers, Locked on Rockets on YouTube where you can go check out these shows as well as the audio version. Make sure you're subscribing to both of them as well. we will see everyone for the other half of this of this crossover and then obviously after the game

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Can the Rockets Sustain Momentum From Game 4? Can Reaves Elevate LA's Offense?

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