Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Davis, Hachimura and Reaves Lead LeBron-less Lakers Past Sacramento, 132-122

Episode Date: December 29, 2024

The Lakers knew they'd be without LeBron James (illness) for Saturday's game at the Crypt against the Kings. But then they lost Gabe Vincent (oblique) in the first half, and also saw Cam Reddish (back spasms) leave the game, though he was able to return. That's a lot of rotation minutes that had to be replaced, and the Lakers did a great job of it, using a big second half push to build a lead and hold it, winning 132-122.There were contributions up and down the roster, but the biggest stars of the show for LA were Anthony Davis (36 points, 15 rebounds, eight assists on 12-16 shooting and 11-13 from the line), Rui Hachimura (21 points, 4-5 from downtown) and Austin Reaves, a career high 16 assists to go along with 26 points. Add in another spirited effort from Max Christie, who once again was well into double figures, shot the ball well, and worked hard defensively. Dalton Knecht had his most productive offensive game in a while, with 18 points. The balanced scoring was critical, but so were a limited amount of turnovers (11), and good free throw shooting by both percentage and volume—the team finished 26-33 after starting 3-9. The Lakers improve to 18-13, with a big New Year's Eve game coming up Tuesday against the Cavs, again at home.  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky Your favorite podcast now has a newsletter! In One-stop for ultimate team and league coverage delivered right to your in box. Sign up for free now, at lockedondaily.com.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Rocket RXRight now, our listeners can get 40% off your first order when you use code LOCKEDONNBA at RocketRX.com. Terms and Conditions apply.Rocket RX: Better sex, made simple.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelThe NFL Playoffs are almost here, but it’s not too late to get in on the regular season action with FanDuel because right now, new customers can finish the season strong with TWO HUNDRED and FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins. Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everyone, welcome to a special bonus episode of Locked on Lakers for a Sunday, Brian Komenetsky. The Lakers short-handed, no LeBron James, no problem. Anthony Davis and Austin Reeves come up huge. The Lakers win again at home. 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 to everybody for making Locked on Lakers first listen to every day, Monday through Friday, no matter how or where you get your podcast. This one's always free, never behind a paywall.

Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where over 26,000 subscribers are all excited at the prospect of what the Lakers did on Saturday night at the Crypt. They beat a Sacramento 132, 122. They run their record to 18 and 13. No LeBron James in this game, but Anthony Davis leads the way 12 of 16 shooting gets to the line 13 times, makes 11 of them, 36 points in total for AD to go along with 15 points and eight rebounds. Austin Reeves steps up in a big way, 26 points, 16 assists. That is a career high, the 16 assists. But it really wasn't just those two, obviously on a night with.

Without LeBron, you need more guys stepping up. Rui, 4 of 5 from 3 point range. He finishes with 21 points. The hot shooting from Hachamura continues. you go down the line here. Max Christie, 16 points. He continues to get more comfortable, not just defensively, but offensively. Dalton connect six of ten from the floor, two of five from three point range, his most productive offensive game in a long time, 18 points. And so the Lakers, really, this was, I thought, at least an impressive performance.

Again, no LeBron James. He was ill. In theory, should be fine for Tuesday night, New Year's Eve, against Cleveland. But they also lost Gabe Vincent, starting in place of LeBron. He went out in the first half with an oblique injury, took a, you could call it, potentially cheap shot from DeMontas Sabonis on a screen, looked like Sabonis's arm, fist, whatever, got out into Gabe's midsection rib area, and that cost him the rest of the game. Cam Radish went out for a little while. He did return in the second.

half after some back spasms, but overall, the Lakers were playing very short-handed in this game and used a huge second-half push to get out by as much as 20 and held on for the win. So look, I mean, it wasn't beautiful in the sense of the defense, which has been so good of late, wasn't as good on Saturday night, but that is to some degree what you would expect, missing LeBron, missing Vincent, and having Reddish, at least somewhat limited for part of the game here, the Lakers still very small. They are getting healthier. Jackson Hayes is getting closer. He was dressed but didn't play. And so they are getting more bodies back. But overall, I just, I look at this one as a very impressive win, not just from the distribution

of scoring, but some of the other things the Lakers did right. 11 turnovers in this game. When you are playing shorthanded, when you're playing a team that wants to run in the way that Sacramento does, don't give them extra opportunities, don't give them easy baskets. The Kings have struggled to do things well throughout most of the season. It's why Mike Brown is out of a job. It's why Doug Christie was making his debut on Saturday night. And the Lakers just, you don't want to make it easier for a team like this.

And they didn't. They didn't turn the ball over with any real frequency. Austin Reeves pointed the finger at himself, 16 assists. He did turn the ball over five times, which he qualified as way too much, said he didn't play well in the fourth quarter. Again, when you, you know, five turnovers on a normal night isn't great. Five turnovers against 16 assists, it does mitigate that a little bit. The other thing the Lakers did was after a very slow start at the line,

they made their free throws. And, yeah, I mentioned Anthony Davis getting there 13 times. I believe they missed three of their, I'm sorry, nine of a, they missed, they were three for nine. So they missed six of their first nine. I was told there would be no math. And they finished 26 of 33. So that's good both on percentage near 80%, but also on volume. And, you know, they kept Sacramento off the line.

The King's only shot 15 free throws. And so when you play this well offensively, when you get this kind of, you know, whether it was better execution of the offense, whether it was just better shooting, whatever it was, percentages that they had on Saturday night, 60% shooting, 54% from three, 79% from the free throw line. If you don't do things that allow your opponents to stay in the game, you're going to, win more often than you lose. And, you know, I mentioned the turnovers. I mentioned the free throw discrepancy. They kept Sacramento off

the line. It's something the Lakers typically do well. I think maybe the one thing that Sacramento did was offensive rebounding. You know, the Lakers surrendered 13 offensive rebounds. So there's some second chances there. I know some fans will look at this and they'll say that Sacramento

wasn't, isn't a good team. They dropped the 13 and 19, that they just fired their coach, that they are a mess, an ill-fitting mess with Damar de Rosen added to that lineup. I mean, DeRosen at 25 points. He made 12 of 17 from the floor. He had seven assists. He was a dominant offensive player, and he was a minus nine on the night.

And, you know, Sabonis, he finishes with 14, 12, and 7, but fouls out late in the game. I mean, you know, the Lakers just did a really nice job controlling Sacramento stars. Even Deerrin Fox finishes with 29, but needed 25 shots to get there and finish one of nine from three point range. I'm sure we'll talk this week with the chatter about Deerrin Fox potentially being on the market, the rumor mill already, of course, attaching him to the Lakers. And whether or not the Lakers have enough to even offer and get Fox, whether or not Fox ultimately gets traded, It would be an interesting conversation to see whether or not Fox would be the best fit for the Lakers going forward. But he's certainly a dynamic score, and they held him to basically a point per field goal attempt, which is not bad.

I see this as a really impressive win for the Lakers. No LeBron. You need contributions from up and down the roster. You need guys to step up. Reeves did it when AD was out the other day and he did it with LeBron out. Here, they're starting to round into some degree of form here. And while a loss on Tuesday night could drop them back down to 18 and 14, they certainly have a good chance to be five or six games over 500 when mid-January

rolls around, the first week or two of January. And that's not a bad place to be. And that's still without certain guys in the lineup as much as you would want them to be. But some help seems to be on the horizon. JJ Reddick going into the weekend talked about how they expect guys to be starting to trickle back into availability, whether that's Jackson Hayes, who probably will play on Tuesday, I would suspect, but was available, again, was available on Saturday. Whether that's Christian Wood, whether that's Jared Vanderbilt,

they are expecting over the next few weeks for guys, over the course of January, a few weeks in January, four guys to start getting back into the lineup. And that is going to give Rob Polinkas some stuff to think about, you would think. And the more they win these games, the more you see guys like Christie playing consistently. I mean, the 18 points from Connect will see if he, can parlay that into something more consistent.

Vincent hopefully is not out for that long, but that he was starting to look much, much more comfortable. And over the last couple weeks, has played quite well. He's hitting shots. He's playing defense. He's basically looked like the guy the Lakers wanted him to be when they signed him.

And, you know, you still have DeAngelo Russell who came in on Saturday and did a nice job and can put the ball in the basket. But as guys like Rui, very quietly, hitting a lot of shots. The three-point shot, which when he came over from the Wizards was a major question mark, has grown much more consistent.

And last year, percentages were quite healthy. This year, he's shooting the ball very well, particularly of late. The defense, much better of late for Hachimura. It's not perfect, but he has become a much more positive. player on that side of the ball. And of course, Max Christie, changing the way the Lakers play defense, resloting guys so that players like Austin Reeves don't have to spend nearly as much time guarding the opponent's best player. It is not coincidental. I think that Reeves' performance offensively has picked up considerably since Christie was added to the starting lineup.

There are quietly a lot of things to be encouraged about with the Lakers. Still got some problems. They are still not among the elite teams in the West, but Dallas, no Luca Donchich for a month or so. You know, the nuggets are kind of all over the place. The Clippers have played remarkably well given some of their roster defections and some of the injuries that they've had, but they've got their own question marks. And so, like, the conference is very, very deep, but not necessarily filled with tons of dominant teams. There's still people waiting to see whether or not the rockets sustain what they're doing and what they might do in the playoffs.

And Memphis might be without John Morant for a little bit as he hurt his shoulder over the weekend. And the Grizzlies are waiting to see what comes of that. So, you know, the West, I'm not going to call it wide open because at the very least, you need to be at least as good as Oklahoma City or near Oklahoma City to say, that you've got a chance, and I think the Thunder are still considerably better than the Lakers. But when it comes to can you get yourself into the top six for starters, yes, it does look like the Lakers can do that. Can you get yourself home court advantage in the first round? Maybe a little bit of a tougher go for the Lakers, but again, injuries around the conference if the Lakers stay healthy and catch a break, it's not certainly not out of the question.

the Lakers can end up in the top four. And that means the decisions that Polinka has to make, and we discuss this for a Friday show, get real tricky. How aggressive do you get if you can't necessarily make that deal that Polinka wanted to, that wants to make the obviously good one that helps you now and helps you in the future? What if you can only help the team now?

You've got to sacrifice a little bit of the future. Does Rob Palinca think that this team is worth sacrificing for certainly in the next few games over this home-heavy schedule will help him make those choices, and then we'll find out whether or not he can actually execute a trade even if they want to. So plenty to unpack for Monday's show. Obviously, we'll get you ready for Tuesday and that big New Year's Eve game against the Cavs. Should have mentioned that Andy's not here tonight. He's doing radio for 710 ESPN, so he'll be back on Monday's show.

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