Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Despite 37/8/13 from Austin Reaves, Shorthanded Lakers Fight but Lose 131-126 to Nuggets

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to a special bonus edition of Locked-on Lakers for a Friday night. The Lakers extremely short-handed, pushed the nuggets to the limit in Denver, nearly pull off the upset but come up short, but there's a lot more to feel good about than bad. I'll explain why coming up next. You are Locked-on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. And thanks for making Locked-on Lakers your first day.

Starting point is 00:00:36 Listen every day, Monday through Friday, always free, never behind a paywall. And Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where over 35,000 subscribers hang out for an awesome community of Laker fans. It's a really fun, smart, very interactive section. We love to include you guys in the show. And I would hope that the general consensus among Laker fans tonight is actually feeling pretty good about this ultimately 131, 126 loss to the Denver Nuggets. I'm going to get this out in the open right off the bat. There's no such thing as moral victories.

Starting point is 00:01:16 I'm not, this is big boy basketball. I'm not talking about, oh, gee, they gave it a great effort. And it's the same thing as a win. No, it's a loss. And the Lakers need as many wins as possible to try to maintain where they are in the standings at minimum, avoid the play in at maximum, them stay as close to the two seat as they can. But realistically speaking, this was a game. The Lakers were not only set up to lose, but lose badly. They entered this game. No LeBron James,

Starting point is 00:01:47 no Luca Donchich, no Rui Hachemura, no Doria, no Doria, Finney Smith, no Gabe Vincent, no Jackson Hayes. Hell, no Trey Jemison the third. So a lot of factors working against the Lakers in this game. Oh, forgot to add second end of a back. to back. So this set up for the Lakers not just to lose, but quite frankly, to get their asses kicked. And the Lakers ended up not following the script. They finished the first quarter up over Denver. They were clearly out-efforting the Nuggets for a lot of this game. Like you can account for maybe the first quarter and a half of the Lakers controlling this game to Denver clearly not investing in this knowing just how short-handed the Lakers were and trying to see just how little

Starting point is 00:02:41 effort they could put into this game and still get away with a win. And then when it became apparent, I think, to Denver that no, really, we're going to have to try. Otherwise, we could very well F around and find out with a loss. Denver cranked it up, but the Lakers stood with them pretty much step by step. And even when they fell behind, for example, they finished the first half down four. And then Denver opened the third quarter. Stop me, if you've heard this before, with a lot of opponents on a pretty big run. And before long, the Lakers ended up spending a lot of the second half fighting double digit deficits. And it could have been very easily for them to just mentally face reality that look, we are so far out of our depth right now.

Starting point is 00:03:36 In terms of our literal depth, the starting five in this game was Austin Reeves, Dalton Connect, Jordan Goodwin, Alex Len, and Jared Vanderbilt. Like, Brony James was added last minute to the roster. He flew and he had been playing with South Bay, but they needed bodies out there. every single active Laker played in this game. Cam Reddish played only seven minutes, but they were his first minutes since January 28th. He's the only Laker that didn't play at least 12 minutes. So it was truly all hands on deck, but we're talking about floor combinations that had never worked together, you know, groupings that didn't really know each other's tendencies, you know, the

Starting point is 00:04:24 the playbook that you can run with a group like this is to put it mildly limited. But the Lakers just refuse to lay down in this game. And JJ told them afterwards that he was extremely proud of the effort and just the fight and the unwillingness to give up, the resiliency to get back in. And it began with, this is some of the stuff that I want to get into in terms of why I think fans should actually feel good about this game moving forward, just beyond everybody on the squad working their asses off and just playing in a way that you could be proud of as a fan. There's a lot that you can tangibly look at and say, okay, that could be built on. And it

Starting point is 00:05:10 begins with Austin Reeves, who was spectacular in this game, like nothing short of spectacular. 37 points, 8 rebounds, 13 assists, 4 steals, just four turnovers, despite a usage rate that felt like roughly a zillion. It was at 32, Dalton Kinnak. We'll get into him in a second. His usage is actually pretty high too. The two of them put in a lot of work in this game. They combined for almost 70 points.

Starting point is 00:05:43 But Austin Reeves, 22, 10, and 5 in the first half. Only the second Laker in the play-by-play era to record 20 points and ten assists in a half. The other guy you might have heard of him, his name's Kobe Bryant. And I hope I'm not butchering this stat that I heard from Mike Trudell during the Spectrum Sportsnet broadcast. But since 1996, only nine players have put up those type of numbers that Austin had in a half, by the way. Luca Donchich, one of them. He's done it three times. But just an incredible game from Austin.

Starting point is 00:06:22 He did a great job controlling the tempo of the game, controlling the pace, getting the shots that he wanted. When you consider how much was put on him and frankly how much was needed from him, I think his shot selection and the way he went about looking for his opportunity, It was just incredibly under control. 13 to 26 from the field, 4 of 10 from behind the arc, got to the line seven times, made all seven of them. And we're talking about in a game where he was really the only,

Starting point is 00:06:59 it was really the only player that had eyes on him defensively as both a score and a playmaker. And other than Dalton Connect, the only guy that you really had to truly account for as a score. And it was just a great, great night for Austin. and this is now two games in a row because the Thursday night against Milwaukee, Austin had a really good game there too. And he's now, to quote John Wick, or paraphrase, I should say,

Starting point is 00:07:30 I'm thinking he's back. I mean, Austin, it's now two games in a row where he looks like Austin Reeves. And the next key is for him to rediscover that rhythm playing alongside LeBron and Luca, or I think in particular with Luca. physically and mentally, this was Austin Reeves back at a time where it was really, really needed. You know, JJ Reddick talked afterwards about just the vast amount of everything that was needed from Austin in this game. And he really stepped up. Dalton Connect, 32 points, 13 to 27 from the field, 5 of 13 from behind the arc.

Starting point is 00:08:10 And this is also beyond just Dalton's production in this game, he's. really picked it up in March after a period where he started looking kind of borderline for the rotation. In March, he has only had one game where he didn't score in double figures. He is averaging, including tonight in Denver, 13 and a half points on 55% from the field, 43% from behind the arc, also starting to play better on the road, something I've talked about a lot with Connect over this season. His splits in the first half of the season, at home versus on the road, night and day. And they are, as the season has gone along post All-Star Break,

Starting point is 00:08:53 they've started to even out more in terms of playing well, whether he's at the crypt or anywhere else. I still think he is likely a ninth-ish guy on this team when they're at full strength, all hands on deck. I could see his playoff minutes fluctuate, but he is back to looking like the guy earlier in the season that becomes really hard to take off the floor, reduces minutes,

Starting point is 00:09:19 and that is the best you can ask for from Connect this season. And there were a lot of other guys with really good contributions. Shake Milton, 16 points, five rebounds, three assists off the bench. He had one mother of a bad turnover. And there was a lot that went kind of sideways in the last minute and change of this game. Dalton Connected, the score was tied at 123 apiece, and Dalton Connect ended up getting sprung for a dunk that he threw down, but he lost his grip on the rim and basically just swung backwards, landed super hard on his head and his back. There was a timeout. Everybody was clearly very concerned that Dalton was okay, including JJ Reddick, who was on the floor checking on Dalton.

Starting point is 00:10:12 And then he said afterwards because Denver ended up immediately scoring on an AN1 to an AN1 by Nicola Yokic. And that tied the game up. The Lakers have been briefly up after that dunk, 126, 123. After Yokic converted the free throw, it was back to 126 apiece. And JJ said afterwards, Christian Koloko was who actually on the second half, Coloco in particular, played some very good defense, had an overall. a nice game. But JJ said afterwards that he felt like he didn't have the alignment out there that he wanted because he kind of ran out of time because he'd been checking on Dalton.

Starting point is 00:10:51 And he said, like, I don't want to throw Christian under the bus, but I think he wanted a different defender out there. But he just didn't really have the time to come up with the substitutions that he wanted because, again, he'd been preoccupied by Dalton's situation and making sure he was okay. Then Jamal Murray ended up hitting three. And from there, you had a situation where the Lakers were looking to inbound. Shake Milton was the inbounder, trying to get it to Austin Reeves, who everybody knew was going to be the guy getting the ball.

Starting point is 00:11:27 Shake floated a really, really bad pass that was stolen by a Russell Westbrook, old friend alert and taken straight to the basket. and that basically ended the Lakers shot of making anything happen. JJ said afterwards, he said about the last play, and I'm assuming he's talking about that sequence. It took about three or four seconds, trying to collect his thoughts and then just said no comment. I imagine it was something along the lines in his head of, shake, bruh, what were you thinking?

Starting point is 00:12:03 I didn't love when shake lined up as the inbounder because I don't think he is a great pass. or in all honesty, I would have preferred probably Vando. Jared Vanderbilt 9.7 rebounds, seven assists plus three steals, kind of a soft triple double. Vando had a lot of really good plays facilitating, helping run the offense as a secondary playmaker. And I think Vando is, in all honesty, a better passer than Jake Milton and probably

Starting point is 00:12:32 more confident one. But to be fair to JJ, the, the, the, Options were limited. I think he chose the wrong one, but this was a game where you're not exactly flush with options. But it was a good game for Vando, Jordan Goodwin, 10 points, six rebounds, three on the offensive glass, plus two assists, a steal on a block. Like, Goodwin just continues to be terrific on the glass. He is like having a ball handling for it out there. And just across the board, there were a lot of guys who really stepped up at least.

Starting point is 00:13:08 in critical moments and made things happen. Like Alex Lenn played just 12 minutes, but he had four offensive rebounds in those 12 minutes, like a lot of activity. Just up and down, you saw guys making good plays. And what I think matters moving forward. Obviously, this sucks for the standings that the Lakers have started missing guys at this really critical period for them in the schedule. It's very difficult.

Starting point is 00:13:37 They're now down to the five seed. But they played really well in this game, all things being equal and realistic. They should feel good about their chances Sunday afternoon in L.A. Against the Phoenix Suns, even if they end up pretty close to this shorthanded. I have no idea at this point who will or will not be available. But if they play like this,

Starting point is 00:14:05 in terms of their overall, focus, the overall just intensity, just the desire to beat whatever odds, you know, largely handling their business. They only had eight turnovers in this game, which is pretty incredible when you consider how much Denver could be able to ball pressure them, you know, how unfamiliar a lot of these floor combinations were, the guys were with each other. You know, the second quarter opened with, I want to say, Alex Len, Shake, Marquith Morris, Cam Reddish, and Brony James. Like, that is as bonkers a lineup as the Lakers have run out to open a quarter all season. It didn't go well that lineup.

Starting point is 00:14:53 But again, what are you going to do? You got to put guys out there at some point. Austin needed a little bit of rest. But if they treat this game Sunday with the same resolve, the same will, the same focus, the same competitiveness, they can beat Phoenix on Sunday. I have no doubt about that. Phoenix is a team that is always just looking for every opportunity possible to shoot itself in the foot. So if they really lock in, hopefully a couple guys are back, you know, at minimum Gabe and DFS are available. But if the Lakers play like this moving forward,

Starting point is 00:15:33 they can beat a team like Phoenix and the way everybody stepped up in this game is almost like the Goldilocks version of what happened in Brooklyn than in Milwaukee. In Brooklyn, a lot of the role players stepped up but Austin and Luca struggled. Then you have the game in Milwaukee where Luca and Austin were fantastic,

Starting point is 00:15:54 but they got not nearly enough for everyone else, from everyone else. Tonight was a night where everybody on the floor for the most part found ways to contribute. So again, it's a loss. It sucks. I'm not trying to make this sound like, you know, YMCA 9-year-olds out there, like the kids JJ Reddick used to coach.

Starting point is 00:16:16 Like, it sucks. But this is a game that I think Laker fan should honestly, at minimum, feel proud of their team, if not happy with the result. Obviously, going to be back after Sunday's game. Brian will be with me. he was unavailable tonight. But again, appreciate everybody being here. As always, we will talk to you then.

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Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Despite 37/8/13 from Austin Reaves, Shorthanded Lakers Fight but Lose 131-126 to Nuggets

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