Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Davis, Russell, Hachimura Lead Short-Handed Lakers Past Trail Blazers, 107-98.

Episode Date: December 9, 2024

It took a minute for the Lakers to get going, but once they did, Sunday's game at home against the Portland TrailBlazers looked a lot more like fans expected it would, even with LeBron James (foot) jo...ining Austin Reaves and the rest of the limpy Lakers in street clothes. In games like this, it's hard to pull lessons that apply for the long term. There are too many players missing, too many weird combinations. All three of LA's two-way players were in long before garbage time, just to provide one example. What you want, though, are some of the secondary guys to step up when called upon. The Lakers got the output you'd expect from Anthony Davis (30 points, 11 rebounds, five blocks), but without two of their top three scorers needed more. Enter D'Angelo Russell (28 points, 14 assists) and Rui Hachimura (23 points, 9-13 shooting). The win doesn't solve LA's problems by any stretch, but it does get them into this weird moment in the schedule (thanks to the NBA Cup) where the Lakers will only play two games in 10 days or so. That gives them time to heal—the hope is that LeBron and Reaves won't have to miss much more time, and Jaxson Hayes could inch closer to a return as well—and jsut as importantly, time to practice. This is a thin team. It is a flawed team. It is not a team that can afford to get too far from its best principles, applied in the most efficient way. That requires repetition, and it's probably not a coincidence that as the Lakers have gotten further away from training camp and regular practice time with enough healthy bodies to make practice meaningful, the attention to detail that was so strong early has diminished. The Lakers can't fix the results of frustrating games, whether the last second loss to Orlando last month, or Friday's frustration fest in Atlanta. They're back in that big clump of teams simultaneously working to stay out of the play-in... and make sure they don't miss the play-in entirely. There are 12 teams that look to be in play for 10 spots. It's going to be brutal going forward, but at 13-11 things could be worse, especially given how many lopsided losses they've suffered. But the Lakers aren't where they need to be, even if you're not putting them on the short list of contenders. (And you shouldn't be.) The next 10 days are critical.  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!RobinhoodRobinhood Gold provides the privileges of a high net worth for any net worth. These generous benefits are now available for only $5/month. The new Gold Standard is here with Robinhood Gold. Sign up at robinhood.com/gold.Mint MobileTo get the new customer offer and your new 3-month premium wireless plan for just $15 a month, go to mintmobile.com/lockedonnba. See Mint Mobile for details.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.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! 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.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, everyone. Welcome to Locked on Lakers for Monday, Brian Komenetsky, Andy Komenetsky, no LeBron, no Austin Reeves, but the Lakers get the job done Sunday against Portland and go into this long stretch without a lot of games on a bit of a high note. We'll break down 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 to matter how or where you get your podcast. This one's always going to be free and never behind a paywall. Locked on Lakers on YouTube, Andy, you know this.
Starting point is 00:00:44 It's where over 26,000 subscribers are all hanging out and wondering exactly what the Lakers are going to do over the next 10 days or so to get back a little bit of that early season mojo because the Lakers did take care of business. on Sunday night, I don't want to call it, to head into the break, because it's not technically that. But 107 to 98 over Portland. It's like the NBA Cup break. Like not the All-Star break.
Starting point is 00:01:16 Like this is the benefit of the Lakers not making the end, like the finals or whatever, the NBA Cup. This gets to my longstanding theory about the All-Star break. I feel like the guys who get named to the team should be the only ones who get to rest. Like I feel like they're the ones getting punished. Like these elite players who are the best in the league, they get punished while ever, like by having to play this totally meaningless game that nobody cares about. While the rest of these guys, some of them are like, you know, third stringers barely in the NBA. They get to go to Cancun.
Starting point is 00:01:48 Like everyone else should have to do this. I mean, like most of these guys are rich enough to do it. They should really should change the format. Yes. The 15 most disappointing players in the league have to go play in the game. There's a thing too. It's a vacation. Like, let's just say, you know, LeBron, AD, Steph, down the line, like all these guys,
Starting point is 00:02:08 just have them go on their break and make content out of their break. Like, do a live stream of their vacation. People would watch the hell out of that. I guarantee these guys go to amazing places. Who's left in the banana boat? Like, we still got some guys. Seriously, like make a thing out of their vacations because those are like the 30 guys. or whatever who absolutely earned it.
Starting point is 00:02:33 Well, I do want to let people know that today's episode's brought to you by Fandul. You can start the season with a big return on Fandual. New customers can place a $5 bet and you get started with $150 in bonus bets. If you win your first $5 bet, visit fendule.com to get started. It certainly did seem, Andy, like most of the players that would be working and playing in your revised All-Star game format. We're on the floor Sunday between the Blame. lasers in the Lakers.
Starting point is 00:03:02 And the game did not get off to a strong start for the Lakers. They kind of took control in the second quarter, briefly looked like they were going to give it back in the third before kind of putting the hammer back down throughout. But like I would like to point out to people, all three, all three of the Lakers two-way players played in this game pre-garbage time. Like all three of those guys, Coloco, Quincy Olivari, and Armel Traori, Oliveri, scoring his first real NBA points on Sunday, which is pretty cool. I looked a little nervous, a little sped up.
Starting point is 00:03:37 He'll do better playing a little bit more. I'm telling you right now for Laker fans, you'll probably be able to find either on YouTube or the Lakers official site or wherever, Oliveri naturally did post-game. I don't know if he was on the podium or if he was post-gram scrum, whatever. Like, you're going to like him. Like he is just a likable guy. He seems like just a wonderful young person. But he, you know, so the Lakers obviously playing short-handed.
Starting point is 00:04:09 And in night like this, Andy, I think you feel the same way. There are not a lot of, you know, big picture lessons about how you're playing and execution and this and that, like, you know, which rotation combinations you should be putting out there or whatever because you're definitionally far deeper into the rotation than you ever would be. For me, at least, I look at this as Anthony Davis needs to have a really good game because he is your best player and the best player on the floor by a mile. And he did 30 points, five block shots, really anchored the Lakers defense. And then it's like you need guys who have been supporting characters to this point this year
Starting point is 00:04:53 to step up and play like main characters when you need them. And at different times this year, when that has been a requirement, the Lakers have not quite gotten there. Sunday, DeAngelo Russell and Rui Hachamara, who were the natural, okay, you guys need to do it tonight, did it. And they were both outstanding. Yeah, Rui Hachamora had 23 points, 9 of 13 from the field, three of five from behind the arc, five rebounds,
Starting point is 00:05:22 four steals and a block. This was a game where Rui was quite active and I think effective defensively. It also reinforces something I've brought up, I know, at least a couple times over the course of the previous week, that Rui over the last, I don't know, maybe five, six games has been shooting. I'm not exaggerating. Somewhere between 70 to 80 percent from the field and is somehow only getting like six shots a game. and it's not because he's getting triple teamed and they can't get him the ball. Like, they're not involving him enough. And they, obviously this is not the greatest proof of concept because you're playing a really lousy Blazers team.
Starting point is 00:06:04 But it is a reminder of, no, seriously, you need to involve the guy more because frankly, if you're not giving him the ball a certain amount, the returns from Rui are only so high because he's not an intangible's guy. like Rui is very tangible. He's not quite Vlad Rodmanovich, who I believe, didn't you describe as the most tangible player in the NBA? You were covering Vlad with the Lakers. I described him as the most tangible player in the league. I used to say, no intangible. Yeah, I used to say all the time that with Vlad, Rad,
Starting point is 00:06:35 like, you know how there's some players, if you look at the box score, you don't know exactly how they play. Like, you got to watch the game. With Vlad, you could look at the box score and you know, did he play well or not? Save yourself some time. You know exactly what happened. And then DeAnda Russell.
Starting point is 00:06:52 You were your same. I was going to say. And DeLo off the bench, 28 points, 9 of 17 from the field, 5 of 10 from behind the arc, 14 assists against just two turnovers. There was a point with about six-ish minutes left in the game where DeAngelo Russell had 13 assists
Starting point is 00:07:14 and the Blazers had 12. And speaking of which, just so people know, too, if you didn't get a chance to see the game, the Lakers were actually up 19 points with about two and a half minutes left when they emptied the bench and the one side scored and the other side didn't like at all. But just so people are, I'm not saying this to back on the G league. They should have done better. Yeah, I'm not saying this to back on the deep reserves. It's so people understand.
Starting point is 00:07:46 game was really not as close as the score. Like if they, if the Lakers had kept 80 and DeLo and Rui and the other guys in, which would have been incredibly stupid, they would have maintained like a 20 point lead or whatever. Just would have been dumb. No, but I think Russell's game was really notable in part because a lot of it was really backloaded.
Starting point is 00:08:11 You know, D. Lowe's, I, for example, most people watch the show, listen to the show know that I drafted DeAngelo Russell onto my fantasy team. He has not worked out as a fantasy player particularly well this year. And so I checked the lineup when I... Fantasy league doesn't give you points for net rating. It does not. It's not. But I saw that he wasn't starting, even with LeBron out.
Starting point is 00:08:37 I thought maybe he would get in the starting lineup. And he didn't. And I was like, I'm just not going to start him because he's been sort of doing that 13 points. four assists. Not necessarily in playing bad in the process, which is not getting the volume. And he certainly did on Sunday. And I'll tell you what I really liked about that
Starting point is 00:08:55 and what I really liked about Rui's game. And then a few interesting things, Andy, that JJ Redick had to say both after the game and before that we want to get into before it's over. That's next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Mint Mobile with big wireless providers. What you see is never what you get.
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Starting point is 00:09:59 locked on MBA. Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com slash lockdown MBA. $45 up front payment required. It's equivalent of $15 a month. New customers on the first three-month plan only slower speeds above 40 gigabytes on the unlimited plan. additional taxes, fees, and restrictions apply, see Mint Mobile for details. So we'll get back to DeLo here in a second, Andy. But by the way, if you didn't go, you should be on the lookout for the postcast with Dave Palais. After every game, the postcast will be there as well to really give that quick breakdown of what's happening, what you just saw, quick analysis. And everybody can kind of weigh in there.
Starting point is 00:10:47 I think he does it live on YouTube. So you can have that conversation with him. then followed by our show every day as normal, including game days, and also the Lockdown Lakers, not YouTube, newsletter, which you can get to go to LockdownDaily.com, click on Lockedon Lakers, whole thing gets delivered to you, everything in the feed. So anyway, Redick after the game, they were joking like Rui, because he was one of the three players really on this roster with any kind of offensive pedigree.
Starting point is 00:11:17 They were calling ATOs for them. They just kept running the same stuff over and over again. and it was very effective. And Rui was joking, like, they have not called an ATO for me since training camp, like the preseason. And he was laughing about it. Look, like, it's a team with LeBron James and Anthony Davis and Austin Reeves. And, like, they run a lot of ATOs for Dalton Connect, especially when he was rolling,
Starting point is 00:11:43 because those are perfect opportunities to utilize Connect. You know, and there are only so many ATO moments in a game. But the point is, I think what you're getting at is, like, I feel like there are a lot of things the Lakers need to really figure out over this break. This is something that Redick alluded to both before and after the game. The first thing is they need to reorient the offense back around Anthony Davis like it was. Teams were making that a little bit harder of late. The Lakers need to come up with that adjustment and get back to it. But the second is, like, there was a certain egalitarian nature to the offense beyond.
Starting point is 00:12:21 AD. Like AD was the sun and the planets were a little bit more equally distributed in what they were doing. A lot of distribution and stuff from LeBron, but less scoring. You know, Reeves getting involved, you know, other guys like that. They need to find that balance again, too. And like you say, some of that is, hey, don't forget about Rui Hachamura. Well, I think also, too, you, it becomes a double-edged sword. When I say you, I mean, whoever qualifies here when you're talking about. people watching the show, fans, front office, JJ Redick, players internally, whatever, you can't complain about the supporting cast not stepping up past a certain point if you're not involving them up to a certain point.
Starting point is 00:13:08 Like, you have to involve them up to the baseline before you complain that you're not getting enough from them. And that's especially important too. I think on this team where they're like four or five guys, maybe six, that you can think of as legitimate scoring options. And then there are guys like Max Christie or Gabe Vincent or Cam Reddish, Coloco, for as long as he's going to be backing up Anthony Davis, it's like, look, whatever scoring you get from them, I mean, I guess Gabe Vincent,
Starting point is 00:13:39 I guess falls into this too. Like, you have to involve Gabe a lot. It's become clear in order to get double-digit scoring from it. Like, that's just not the player that he is. you've got to take advantage of Rui and Dilo. And, you know, Austin when he's back, although Austin typically, I think, gets enough shots. Like, I don't mean he's like detracting.
Starting point is 00:14:01 Austin gets enough shots. Yeah, and they've tried to put the ball on his hand more. Like, he's, he's naturally involved in ways. The Lake was having trouble getting involved in. Yeah, I think the Lakers, uh, internal and external desire to, showcase Austin Reeves and turn him into a big part of the team has not been subtle for better or for worse or however you feel about it. This is clearly something that's happened. You know, Dalton connects, you know, we talked about the ATOs that have been run from in certain plays,
Starting point is 00:14:35 but his shot volume has dipped a lot lately. Again, Rui has gone multiple games getting six or seven shot attempts despite being insanely efficient. And, you know, Dilo will be streaky, but you have to ride it out in order to get the best parts of it. It just has not felt like there's been nearly enough balance, whether that is teams starting to load up on AD being the sun, as you put it, and the Lakers and JJ Reddick not being able to do a good enough job adjusting. I mentioned before that it felt to me at times like LeBron was trying to work his way out of a slump, kind of on company time.
Starting point is 00:15:20 And he hopefully got through it because his last couple games before missing tonight against Portland were much better offensively. But I think that period got a lot of things out of whack. So to your point and to JJ Redick's point, they need to use these next several days with a lot of purpose.
Starting point is 00:15:40 I think losing regardless of how you feel about Reeves, Reeves versus DeLo, the DeLo Reeves back court. Like, because he wasn't shooting well. We talked about this a lot. You know, again, I'll put my flag back on DeLo Island. Like we, he wasn't shooting the ball well at all. He was point guarding very well, you know, early in the season. Problem is with, with Russell, the Lakers legitimately need both. Like, it was not unfair to split that back court up because if we Russell's not hitting his shots, his deficiencies as a defender, even though I think he has done better on that end, still not good at it. Like you don't, you don't look at him and say
Starting point is 00:16:23 DeAngelo Russell said what you could, what you can look at him as where in the way he's operating more this year is like, okay, he is a reasonable part of a team defense. You can, he can be in neutral. He can get his hands on some balls and stuff periodically and be disruptive that way. His attention needs to obviously, you know, you can't have those moments where he's looking one way and the back cut happens behind him. But regardless of what you feel about Reeves, when they took him out, especially putting Vincent in as a starter, like you definitionally are turning to LeBron to say, now you have to do. And the assist numbers pour that out. But like you have to go do these things.
Starting point is 00:17:10 Like because they're what, you know, that's not what Vincent is. They're good enough at it, you know, as a, as a player. And so I think you know how. They missed, look, they missed Reeves. As much as I've said before, as much as I've said before that I don't think Reeves is as good as they have designed the roster to be. And the way the Lakers have clearly tried to turn Reeves into in terms of like his place in the pecking order for a championship caliber team. Austin's a good player.
Starting point is 00:17:44 And either way, he's better than a lot of other guys on this team, even if you don't think he's as good as he needs to be. Like, this is not a deep enough team that they can afford to not have him there. And that's the thing about the Lakers generally. It's like you just talked about the depth. Like, there is no replacement for a lot of these things. Like you take away Reeves' playmaking, even if you don't think it's ideal, is still better than what they've got remaining, that combination, especially of playmaking and the ability to
Starting point is 00:18:13 create your own shot. You know, D-Lo can, you know, you saw it on Sunday, a lot of those moments, and I actually find them really fun to watch. He's not a blow by you kind of guy. He's a herky, jerky, start and stop, change of speeds, all that kind of stuff. The slowest upfake, I have, you can time his up fake with a sundial, but like somehow works. But he changed, because he changes speeds really effectively. He's able to score from a variety of body positions and shoot from a variety of angles, which helps him a lot. That little scoop shot he can put up with both hands from awkward angles at awkward timing that the shot blocker who thinks it's DeAngelo Russell, I've got him tracked out. Oh, wait, he just shot. Like everybody, but you need multiple guys on a team
Starting point is 00:19:06 who can both create their own shot and create shots for others. And they don't have to do it the same way. But when you lose Reeves, the Lakers become very short on playmakers. And so now it's much more on LeBron. And that balance, Andy, is, I don't think, I'm not anticipating major changes to that.
Starting point is 00:19:25 This break, what I was going to say about DeLo is just how important it was, I think, for the second half that he played, to be so much better because his numbers at the end of the first half were nothing spectacular. I was not regretting, not starting him in my fantasy league at halftime. It was only in the third and fourth quarter that I became deeply, deeply regretful of my choices. But the Lakers have to optimize what they have available if they plan to win. And so in the next segment, let's kind of talk about what's coming.
Starting point is 00:20:06 Like these next 10 days are really important for a variety of reasons. We'll get into it next. Lockdown Lakers is brought to you by Fandul, America's number one sportsbook. Right now, new customers can bet just $5, $5, $5. And you get $150 in bonus bets if you win. So just find something that looks incredibly obvious. put down just five bucks, boom. There's your 150 in bonus bets.
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Starting point is 00:21:42 And I actually, in my infinite wisdom, recommend that he not, shows what I know. It's a really great game. They went with my plan. They did him against Atlanta, sit him against the Blazers. It's the Andy plan or the Plandy.
Starting point is 00:21:58 And so now LeBron does get the extra couple days off. And the Lakers took care of business with Adam, which is what you would expect them to be able to do without him on the floor against a bad Blazers team. They don't play again until Friday. Lakers are off, completely off, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Then they're going to go to Minnesota on Thursday. They have an off day on Saturday and they come back and they play the Grizzlies at home,
Starting point is 00:22:31 a very good Grizzlies team on Sunday, the 15th. They don't play again after that until Thursday. in Sacramento, so a short trip. So between, you know, what is it, it's Monday to Monday the 9th and Thursday the 19th, they're going to play twice, which in the NBA, and it's not the All-Star Break, is essentially unheard of. It is actually, I think, one of the best, low-key, best features of the NBA cup. up is for teams that, and I think even teams that are playing in, it still don't, so they don't
Starting point is 00:23:14 have extra games either. Like everybody gets a little bit of fewer, a little bit less to do. And look around the league. James Hardin banged up, didn't play on Sunday. Jah Morant didn't play on Sunday. Kevin Durant has been out for like a week and, you know, like needs. There are so many players that are on these sort of like in and out of lineup, short term injuries that you want to get back on the floor. Joe L. Embed in Philadelphia, you know, get his legs really get his legs under him. And so on and so on and so on. The Lakers that were, to me at least, are in a kind of a tricky position
Starting point is 00:23:48 because they need to both get healthy. They also need to practice and really work through some stuff. There's a lot to do over these next 10 days. Yeah, absolutely. Before I break that down even further, I just wanted to make sure to give a shout-out to Cam Reddish, just because there was a sequence in, oh, God.
Starting point is 00:24:06 Well, there was a sequence in the second quarter, And this was really important because the second quarter, a few things started getting the Lakers back into it. First of all, Rui went on, I think like a 120 run or something like that himself. Like he had, I want to say 12 or 14 points in the second quarter. A lot of them were in succession. And that played a big role in getting the Lakers back into this. But also there were like back to back sequences where Cam Reddish had like legit elite point guard level either hit. the head passes or passes while running the break in transition.
Starting point is 00:24:42 He had another really good driving dish to, I don't remember who it was, cutting down the baseline. These were just really very good and frankly, unexpected from what we've seen from Cam. So I just wanted to give him a shout-up because overall I thought he played a really nice game in general. Yeah, I'm glad you did because I joked with you. The game was not going.
Starting point is 00:25:03 I was still quite confident the Lakers were going to win, but it was not. going well. The Lakers were sort of stuck in the mud early, and I'm not totally surprised. I mean, that game on Friday was pretty brutal. You know, you're now adjusting to no Austin Reeves and no LeBron James. So that's different. And Max Christie's in the starting lineup with Gabe Vincent, and I don't think they had quite enough firepower there, quite enough ball movement there. But whatever. And so it's like it is a different deal. but I made the joke to you. It's like, you know,
Starting point is 00:25:41 Lakers fans are going to be really upset by what they're seeing in this game. But like they're playing currently on the floor, Rui Connect, Reddish, Russell, and Coloco. Like that in NBA by NBA standards, it's not a great lineup. That's not something you're like, if that was your normal team, sure.
Starting point is 00:26:00 But by response to you though, was I imagine Laker fans would agree with you if they hadn't lost. No, I understand that. But what I was going to say, right, sure. And like I said, they were stuck in the mud at the beginning. They did not get off to a good start. They weren't playing well.
Starting point is 00:26:15 And more importantly, after I texted you, which makes me worry that, you know, cybersecurity may not be as tight as we want. And I even made a tweet about that, like joking. Like, they want that group pushed them out on a big run. And they got them going. And defensively they cranked it up and all that other stuff. And so I made the joke. about who they had on the floor as kind of a comparison point to like it's not that much better than
Starting point is 00:26:43 Portland's lineup but that group is what helped them get going and so again it's like what we're talking about at the beginning like yeah you need your next guys to sort of step up and play kind of like stars for you but you also need you know the lineup of Christian Coloco and Rui and Russell and connect and like these guys who barely know each other to go out and give you some good minutes when they're when they're given the opportunity so they did And I just want to make that clear. I just think, like, I, I'm really looking forward to how Redick uses this time. And the choices he makes, I don't think they'll practice on Monday.
Starting point is 00:27:28 They'll probably have a day off. I haven't seen. Maybe they already, maybe they've announced it. Maybe they have it. Checking now. But I don't think they'll practice Monday. day. But I do think they're going to get guys on the floor for the next three days. Like, you've got to get LeBron's foot right. You know, he needs to be healthy regardless of what you
Starting point is 00:27:49 think. Good performance, bad performances, you know, LeBron's been really good this year. LeBron's been not so good this year. Father, they're not going anywhere if LeBron isn't healthy. And they, and able to be optimized. They need to get Reeves back on the floor. But they also need to, I don't think it's a coincidence that the further they've gotten away from the regular practice and timing of training camp and those early days when you get a little more practice and all that kind of stuff, the more they've gotten away from the stuff that worked for them at the beginning of the year. Injuries play a role there. You mentioned LeBron and his little changing of style, but I do think when things stop working, you always revert back to older things. And so
Starting point is 00:28:34 the Lakers need to pound back into this team what they were doing at the beginning of the year, particularly offensively. Well, I don't remember which game it was after. It was one of the recent really bad losses. And Redick said that it was difficult for him to make adjustments because what they were really doing were a lot of their basic coverages defensively. And he's like, it's hard to make adjustments when you're not. not working properly off the foundation.
Starting point is 00:29:08 You can't adjust if the baseline isn't working to begin with, like basically like the lowest level of simplicity. I feel like in a lot of ways, they need to use this time to get back to basics and build up from there and go through stuff that might seem like on the surface or removed from in-game action totally obvious to these guys. But the reality is while they're playing, they're not playing in a way where it feels obvious. So I feel like in a lot of ways, they need to, even if it's, even if some of it is the same drawing board, like I think there are certain things that they should reconsider all plenty of time this week to go on one of my,
Starting point is 00:29:54 stop switching every single defensive possessions. We'll talk about that this week. Redick was asked about that before the game. And I thought, I, I had a really interesting way of taking in his answer to the question. And we'll talk about it this week. Sure. But I mean, like there are certain things that I think that they need to adjust to rethink. But then there's other things that I feel like they don't need to write something new on the old drawing board. They need to go back to the old drawing board and rediscover what was working.
Starting point is 00:30:28 And then probably to go over more counters and more like, okay, what do we do when they anticipate this? Because I talked about before, like one of the things for JJ Reddick as a new coach is going to be, teams are adjusting to you. You have to learn how to in real time adjust to the adjustments. And that's a learning process for Redick as a new coach, you know, like a truly new coach.
Starting point is 00:30:53 But at the same time, it is difficult to do that without the benefit of really any practice time at all and also missing certain guys. So again, I feel like there's a level of adjustment that needs to go on and a level of just back to the original basics. Start doing the basics right. What will be interesting to see them do to? Because look, there's something else we can get into over the course of the week. Like, where are they right now?
Starting point is 00:31:19 And like it is Orlando, hugely disappointing loss, Atlanta. The loss that like Yovam Buha from the athletic front of the show has talked about a few different times, I think he's correct. Like it feels like a potential sliding doors moment for the Lakers. Like if they had not blown that game down the stretch, maybe the next several games afterwards don't play out exactly the same way or with if nothing else, the same crappy mood. Well, how about this?
Starting point is 00:31:50 Just like even if, but even if they don't, like they, they, they screwed that game up. They screwed up the Atlanta game on Friday. Like I realized that was a close game. but like they made so many small but ridiculous mistakes in the fourth quarter and in the overtime they they botched that game yes hardcore absolutely win that windows two forget the 40 point blowout to miami the 29 like leave everything else exactly the same if you win those two you're 15 and nine yeah and like 13 and 11 leaves them i think they were like seventh or something like that. Like they're they're in it and like it's not like last year the year before where
Starting point is 00:32:37 they found themselves in these positions where they've had to you know climb out of either a bad start or a pretty good start but then you know horrible stress whatever it was like but there are 12 teams this year that legitimately are going to be in competition for a playoff or a play in the line between trying to get into the top six and trying to make sure you don't fall out of the top 10 is going to be razor thin. Because Sacramento is basically a 500 team. They're 12, I believe. There are 12 teams that can legitimately say we think we're good enough to get in. At 13 and 11, I feel like they are, it's not as good as it could.
Starting point is 00:33:28 could be when like you just look at those two games. But on the flip side, when you break down some of their inefficiencies and like the quirkiness of like being the only team with a winning record with like a negative point differential and like being like 28th in defense and all these other things, like 13. 11 is so bad because I got a lot of stuff to work on and they're in it. I mean,
Starting point is 00:33:50 I'll take it. Um, just could be better. It's, it also of nothing else. It could, you could be 13 and 11. without some of these wild swings that have felt like the team giving up on itself.
Starting point is 00:34:05 Like if, you know, if there's only, this is like the strangest 24 games. Among the strangest 24 games we've covered in our near 20 years on the Lakers. Yeah, I mean, they've had multiple 20 plus point losses. Like that's something that will affect your perception of this team. I mean, frankly, even if they were 15 and 9, it might. affect your perception. It's affected mine. But at 13 and 11, it really does it.
Starting point is 00:34:34 Yeah. So plenty to cover. I'm actually really excited to have these this week without games. Leave us questions. Leave us comments. Stuff you want to talk about, stuff you want to hear. The easiest way to do it is on the YouTube channel. We read those comments every day.
Starting point is 00:34:50 You can also tweet us at Cambrothers. At Cambrothers on Blue Sky. If you are a person who is over there now, heck, you can even email us. Miniski Brothers at gmail.com. Like we have there a lot of ways to find us. Again, check out the podcast. Sign up for the newsletter at locked ondaily.com.
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