Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Lakers Bounce Back, Beat Sacramento Behind 34 From Luka Dončić, 24 From LeBron James

Episode Date: December 29, 2025

The Lakers got some bad news this weekend, as the team learned Austin Reaves is going to miss weeks with a recurrence of his calf injury, but even with that in mind, a loss against the nine-win Sacramento Kings at home? For the team's fourth setback in a row? That would set off all the alarms. No worries! The Lakers took care of business, getting out to a lead in the first half that they never relinquished, en route to a comfortable 125-101 win. Luka Dončić led the way with 34 points, along with seven dimes and three steals. LeBron James was supremely efficient from the floor (11-13) to finish with 24 points, five assists and two steals. Four more Lakers finished in double figures, let by Nick Smith with 21, including 5-10 from 3-point range. It's hard to know how much the defense improved, given how banged up (and bad) the Kings currently are, but it was still good to see the Lakers drive down the opposing point totals, and hold a team under 50% from the floor. No question, things will get tougher Tuesday when the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons visit Crypto.com, but for the time being, the Lakers can feel a little better about themselves.  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: The Lakers get back on track with a 125-101 win. SEGMENT 2: Better showing on both sides, good support from the bench.  SEGMENT 3: What did the Lakers discuss?  Everydayer Club  If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclubSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA and NFL seasons are here, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now. 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 Locked on Lakers. The Lakers bounce back. They beat Sacramento 125 101. Just how many of their problems did they address on Sunday. 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 Lockdown Lakers first listen of every day, no matter how or where you get your podcast, that's Spotify, that's Apple. It could be one of the 37,000 subscribers who get the YouTube program, often broadcast live. No matter how you do it, you are part of making Locked-on Lakers and the Locked-on Podcast Network, the number one podcast, sports podcast network in this or any other known universe. We certainly appreciate all of you joining us. I'm Brian Komenetsky. That's Andy Kaminetsky, long time covering you.

the Lakers with the LA Times, the athletic, with ESPN. I think, Andy, what is the old saying? How does it go? There's no problem that can't be fixed by a game against the Sacramento Kings. Is that basically what the old basketball saw is? Yeah, I think if Dr. James Naismith had actually decided to focus on medicine as opposed to basketball, this is what he would have prescribed to ailing teams. Just go play the Sacramento Kings.

it seemed like every couple of years it doesn't work you know like a particularly strong virus that is you know vaccine resistant or something but most of the time it does and generally speaking if you get the vaccine against the kings it works forever yeah absolutely the most part it's a it's been pretty successful there there was a small stretch in the early 2000s

where the vaccine didn't seem to be working and I guess whatever was the year of the beam the vaccine wasn't quite working. But other than that, pretty effective. 1.25 to 101 is the final score Sunday night at the crypto.com. The Lakers get their 20th win of the season. They break their three game losing streak and they reset a little bit. I, you know, I said in the open that, you know, we can kind of joke a little bit about whether or not they're fixed. And we'll certainly talk about what they did better.

on Sunday. First, do you want to let people know that today's episode's brought to you by Fanduil before tip off. Check the Fandul app and see what's dropping during NBA happy hour every Friday from 6 to 7.30 p.m. Eastern time. So yeah, the Lakers, it gets better when you play Sacramento. They played overall a good game. JJ Redick was pleased. The players were pleased. I've mentioned this before. Sometimes you need to reset. against bad teams to see things go well again, that you can then apply to better teams. Detroit coming to town on Tuesday as a good, for example.

But, I mean, they looked much more like the better version of themselves on Sunday, starting with Luca and then with LeBron. It is too early to say that things are fixed just because it's too small a sample size and too weak a sample size in terms of the opponent. But that being said, A, you only can play the team that's in front of you. And B, there were things that looked different. And there were things that the Lakers were doing on the court, whether you're talking about the approach offensively on a few different facets we can get into,

some rotation tweaks that JJ made. He did not change the starting lineup other than putting Marcus Smart in there for Austin Reeves, who is going to be sidelined with that calf strain for at least a month. People need to remember. He's being reevaluated in a month. He's not expected to be back within a month. I would count on four to six weeks. And if it's in that range, I would be pretty happy.

JJ otherwise kept the starting lineup, Rui, as part of it. Nothing really changed there. But some of the ways he handled the rotation changed. And there seemed to be changes in the way the team approached this game. that I do think if they try to apply this more regularly, more consistently, it can even be effective against some of the better teams they're going to play like Detroit on Tuesday. Certainly the Grizzlies are better than the Kings.

Like they will be, I think there are some clues and roadmaps that we saw tonight for success even against more difficult opponents. All right. So let me run down the numbers, a couple, you know, some of the things. You know, the Lakers, LeBron had quite literally his most efficient game. As a Laker, I think the tweet was from Dave McManum and ESPN,

I think his second or third most efficient game over the course of his career. He was 11 of 13 from the field, 24 points, three rebounds, five assists, had a couple steals. Luca was 34 points, 11 and 23 from the floor, five of 14 from three point range. so still a little bit of a struggle there. He had seven assists and three steals. Did turn ball over five times.

But overall, a pretty solid game from Luca. As JJ said after the game, they had a few plays where the team, and I think Luca, you could put in this group, try to be the Harlem Globetrotters, and it didn't quite work. But overall, they, you know, we're better on that side, a little more efficient.

Six Lakers and double figures, including Nick Smith off the bench, 21 points for him, eight of 14 from the floor, five of 10 from three point range. We'll talk about the absence of Austin and how the Lakers are going to adjust to that over the course of the week. But certainly one of the guys who's going to get more playing time is Nick Smith, Jr. The Lakers are going to need his shot creation, and hopefully the type of three-point shooting that he showed on Sunday.

You mentioned some things the Lakers did differently. There were a few things, I think, that were a direct. response to not having Reeves available and the need to stagger their two main ball handlers now in LeBron and Luca a little bit differently over the course of the game. Normally, Luca plays the entire first quarter. He came out with about three minutes left. LeBron had a little bit of a longer, still like they shuffled around and staggered their stints so that they will be distributed differently throughout the game. It's not going to affect how much they play, but it is going to affect some of those combinations because you really do need to

have one of those two guys on the floor at all times. And as fresh as possible, which JJ intimated was part of the reason of not having Luca play the entire first quarter. It would have been not the entire third quarter either, except they couldn't get a stoppage of play. Right. And then by the time they could, there was less than a minute left. So LeBron just said, just let's just wait for me to check and might as well just ride this thing out. But JJ is looking to try to give Luca, I think, a little more rest at the top of each half in an effort to keep more fresh. I think also too. And some of this was an adjustment.

Luca made me talked about after the game. We've talked about the first quarters being The Luca Show and how the Lucas Show can be at times, joccur. dropping and in terms of what Luca produces as a one-man show. And I mean a one-man show generating offense. I'm not talking about just purely Luca's own points, although it tends to be more about Lucas. It gives me that too. Yeah. It tends to be more about Lucas points than the assist, but just him as a one-man band viewed in a vacuum, it can be an incredible watch. But I've been saying all season, I don't think it's actually been very productive for the team and the proof is in the Lakers consistently losing first quarters. Luca made a real effort in the first quarter of this

game to move the ball more to get more guys involved as he framed it after the game, trying to get everybody a little more touches, a little more shot than I used to. And he noted how everybody got some shots up today and when we're all shooting the ball and we're all touching the ball, it's great for us. And we'll talk about later in the show things that may or may not have come up in the meeting that took place before Saturday's practice. It wouldn't shock me if that was one of the things that came up, just the idea of getting guys more involved in that first quarter to start games. And if it was good on everybody involved, including Luca, because ultimately, if he doesn't do it, it won't happen.

And he did it. I think this is one of these deals. And you saw LeBron, again, from, I forget which game it was the last two they play, but very strong and very efficient from the beginning. Like, that's a good example of the type of thing that it can be where, you know, the Lakers can come out. You can get LeBron involved. You can get a few more.

shots for Rui. You know, LeBron made a point out at the end of the game, like they hadn't done a great job. You know, Andy certainly has been screaming about it from the rooftops. They haven't done a great job getting Rui involved. And they, that got him, I think it was 10 shots tonight on Sunday night. So, you know, that's better. And these are the things they're going to have to do. Like ever, there are more shots and more, more possessions to go around now. Some of this naturally is going to happen with. with Reeves out. But some of it really is a concerted effort. You did, however, mention a couple other things that you saw. So I want to get into that. And I want to ask the question, did the Lakers really play better? Or did the king, do the kings just suck? Or both? We'll get to that next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Fandul. Fridays already feel different during basketball season. Fan Duel's making them even better every Friday night before the games tip off. Fan Duel.

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All right. So, Andy, the Kings were without Demontas Sabonis. They were out Keegan. without Kagan Murray. They were without Zach Levine. They started Russell Westbrook, DeMarderozen, Achua, Keon Ellis. Future Laker Keon Ellis? Possibly. And although he didn't really put on much of a show on Sunday.

That's because he wants to make sure the Kings would be willing to trade him. Well, he did that. Good job with that. He went from a great start the other night. I think it was, yeah, the Kings played on Saturday. And Ellis was fantastic. He was extremely quiet in this game. only two points.

For you, Keon, Ellis Watchers out there with the trade deadline in mind. Two points, no rebounds, no assists, no steals, one block, a minus 20 on the evening. And Max Rayna, the rookie, who's actually played quite well without Sabonis in the lineup. But like that's a bad team. And it's an offensively challenged team. And it's a team that will not punish you for mistakes defensively in the same way that Houston will. We saw the other night that Phoenix can, as we've seen.

So, you know, you can legitimately ask the question. Did the Lakers really crank it up defensively or do they just play a team that isn't very good? The answer can be both. And I think they did better. They were certainly more attentive. But Sacramento isn't built to put a lot of pressure on anyone right now. No. I thought they did.

more i thought they did certainly more good things in terms of just effort and attention and the willingness to put in the work against sacramento even if you want to say the work required is less than what you would have to do against phoenix and houston that is true but again you can only play the team that is in front of you but i did think they were out there hustling i thought that they were, I thought that they were putting in more than what was necessary. And this is what jumped out at me. We've seen this team at times if they know 60% is enough to get them a win against a team with a roster like Sacramento, they will put in 60% and it damn well not, it will not be 61. Like that's what we've seen from that. I'm laughing. Yeah. A lot. And this was a game where

I'm not going to pretend that they were playing 100 miles an hour balls to the walls for 48 minutes because that's not necessary. But I thought that they were putting in a consistent at least 80-ish percent of what you would want. And that's good. They controlled the game. And other than a couple times, I believe, as you noted, what J.J. referred to as the Harlem Globetrotter section of the game, where they were getting a lot. little Lucy Goosey with some passive. A couple possessions of Luca putting up some threes that perhaps weren't necessary.

You know, for the most part, though, they were keeping it dialed in. And everybody in this game, I can think of having a few good defensive possessions, like where they did something specific, them, to make a, to make a defensive possession happen for the Lakers. And if you get more of that over the course of the next 52 games, you're going to get a better product. It's not always going to lead to a win. It's certainly not always going to lead to a blowout win,

but it's going to lead to better results and better habits. This is a team that needs to build better habits. To your point, here's something I really liked about the game. on Sunday. The Lakers, they finished the first quarter up by six. They finished the second quarter. They won the second quarter by nine. So you're looking at a 13 point lead going into the half. They built the lead up to 20 pretty quickly at the beginning of the second half. And the lead never got back. The Kings never got to within 15 for the rest of the game. It was, I think, the closest they got was actually 20 again. And so,

you know, when you talk about investment and staying consistent throughout the game, staying attentive, they didn't let Sacramento make any kind of run to kind of get themselves back into the game. They took control. They won the first quarter. They took control in the second quarter. They really blew the lead out in the third quarter, and they never let that shrink. So, you know, you go to the game flow section of the ESPN box score, for example. And it's just this steady gap between the Lakers and the Kings. There's, that's not the, that's not the norm across, I'm not talking about the, the Lakers. I just mean across the NBA to where you don't allow a team, even a bad team that you're playing.

You build up, and we see it almost every, you build up a big lead, you let your foot off the gas, they make a 10 to 3 run and a 23 point lead gets down to 14 and then you got to kind of build a bad. There was none of that. It was just steady, consistent attention through the 48. The players, I think, were pleased with that. J.J. Reddick made a point of that after the game. it's not a perfect measurement,

but that game flow chart, to me at least on Sunday, it kind of tells me something. I also like to the, I think they were using, and this is something I've hit on a lot. I've wanted to see them use games against bottom feeder opponents

as a workshop to get better at things. So you practice it. So when you are up against good teams, like Detroit, who they will see on Tuesday, you are getting more reps, and getting this to become something that maybe you can actually do against good teams.

And in this game, for example, there were two different sequences where you had pick and roll lobs involving Luca, LeBron, and D'Andre Aiton. One of them was started out, Luca and LeBron. LeBron is the screener. LeBron gets hit in the short roll

on a pass by Luca. Then LeBron sets up Aiton for a lob. Maybe five minutes later, you've got Luca and Aiton running a pick and roll. Luca hits Aiton in the short roll. He then sets up LeBron for a lob. You've got a bunch of different. LeBron actually, part of the reason that he was 11 of 13 in this game, outside of just played very well, they were getting LeBron really easy shots.

LeBron was working off ball in this game a lot. and getting set up on the move a lot. There was a sequence that brought the house down at Crypto.com where Luca hit LeBron, who had been in one of the corners, he hit LeBron with a hit ahead, that LeBron just starts making a baseline cut, and Lucas Pass is perfect, sets up LeBron for a reverse dunk that got everybody up.

It's an awesome play. They went out of their way to get LeBron, a lot of these baskets on the move. And I know it's a point you've hit a lot. Some of LeBron's easiest looks will be if he can get the ball with any type of head of steam. Like he still is a lot for a defense to handle when he's actually got a head start. Obviously in transition, it makes a huge difference. But then even in the half court, if you can move him off the screen and get him out, like, if you can start possessions where LeBron isn't the guy with the ball and, you know, where you have, you force defenses to pay attention to Luca, you know, because he's Luca.

And so that leaves LeBron to kind of roam free, so to speak. And then you can, you can't watch both of them with the same level of attention that both deserve. And while LeBron can't quite put the ball on the floor and out maneuver anybody like he, you know, anybody you put in front of him like he could 10 years ago, if you give him the ball on the move and he's not always going to be guarded by the other team's best defender, okay, yeah, he's going to be really tough to stop. And so, you know, I like that.

I thought Jake Laravia was far more aggressive in this game. Like, we're going to talk in the next segment about, you know, what, what happened on Saturday, what they, you know, the Lakers were not exactly forthcoming. I think they all tried to, everybody, coaching staff on down, sort of try to downplay the, the scorched earth come to Jesus sentiment or whatever that was going on, while still saying, like, we have stuff we need to fix. But, you know, guys came out and they were playing hard and I think playing with a little more confidence.

Jake was one of them. He'd been very passive over the last few games. And this one still missed all three of his three point attempts, which needs to change. But he was much more aggressive attacking the basket and seemed to be playing with a little bit more edge. That was good. obviously Nick Smith coming out and having kind of a Nick Smith game, which in my terminology actually has nothing to do with Nick Smith. It's just the, it came out of his big game against

Portland where it's somebody unexpected puts up big numbers. In this case, it was in fact Nick Smith. They're going to need someone to give them a Nick Smith game a lot of nights until Austin comes back. They had been so top heavy. They're less top heavy now, and somebody down the pecking order is going to have to pick up the slack. Let's talk about that meeting. Did JJ Redick really hold everybody's feet to the fire in the way that he seemed to indicate he would after the Houston game? Or was the tone a little different over the weekend? We'll get to it next.

So I think we were all expecting scorched earth, fire and brimstone. someone to be smotein, you know, coming out of Saturday's practice based on JJ Reddick's language after the Houston game. He was real angry and he was, you know, dad on the road trip. I will turn this car around and nobody is going to Disneyland. I don't care what I'm like, you know, we're not doing this for another 53 games. The tone after practice on Saturday was a little more mellow. a little less angry tone on Sunday. Same kind of thing.

It didn't at the very least appear that JJ kept the same level of anger, even if perhaps the messaging to the team was still delivered. Yeah, it's hard to know whether or not the tone, I think the tone of the meeting. You are correct, and I was actually at practice, and I heard JJ and Rui and DeAndre Ait and the two players that were put in front of us talk about this. And it did not sound like this was an incredibly tense meeting in terms of the way people talk to each other. Like it was angry tension, or at the very least, that's not what they wanted to relay that, whether that's how it actually went down, or they all. recognized it doesn't do us any good for this to become even more of a storyline. And we may be

better off getting ourselves through this if we just kind of squash it before it gets any bigger. It may have also been JJ recognizing, okay, I went a little too scorched earth because I was really effing mad after the game. And I meant everything that I saw. said, I meant that this team doesn't play hard enough. I meant that they are not being professional enough. I meant that there are guys on this team who need to get their proverbial bleep together. And that's all true. But the way that I talk about it publicly and then the way I talk about it with everybody

needs to be productive. And if I maintain this tone for another 48 hours, it may not be productive. Also, you know, there is the part. And this was something I mentioned, you know, when we did our show after that loss and talking about JJ's comments. I'm like, the coaching staff, including JJ, also needs to be ready to hear some things that they may not want to hear either because they ain't been perfect themselves. So one of the things that was emphasized a lot was listening. and that JJ and the staff did as much listening to the players as the players hopefully did with him.

And, you know, like stuff about like role clarity and things like that. And I've seen both in people that cover the team but also some fans' reaction that they feel like it's the equivalent of Jajako. J.J. always chickens out or something like that. Just that he talked a big game, but wilted. in front of the players or wasn't willing to really go there. To me, what matters more is what were the things that needed to be said, said, from JJ to the players to players to JJ, players to each other, were those things said? As long as they were said and hopefully received, I don't particularly care what the tone is.

I just care that everybody was direct and honest and to the point. As long as that happened, I don't particularly care. I know it's juicier if it's some type of like scorched earth meeting and, you know, guys had to be held back and whatever. But that doesn't necessarily help anything. It's certainly not mandatory. I look at it. To me, the change in JJ's tone between what was that?

It was it Friday to Saturday, Thursday to Saturday. Yeah. Thursday, yeah, Christmas Day to Saturday. These, just side note. Midweek holidays, I can't get my calendar straight. I struggle anyway. You start throwing holidays on a Thursday, and I'm completely lost. His change in tone between Thursday and Saturday, to me, was an admission that he had the wrong tone after the game on Saturday, or on Thursday.

That the anger was real. The frustration was real. But anybody who's sort of been a coach, you've been a parent, you've been. You've been, you know, you're put in a position sort of of authority where you're managing other people, but you can't totally make them do what you want them to do. You have certain levers that you can pull, but some of them you really only want to pull in the most dire of circumstances. And JJ's language on Thursday was end of the rope like. It's got a chill. Like we're going to start making swivel.

And you start unpacking that, Andy. And it's like, okay, well, I don't have every lever here. I can't, there are certain guys that can't bench because the, you know, the players behind them are worse, no matter what I want these guys to do, no matter what. And a few guys are hurt. Like, I don't have, right. It's like, I'm not, I can't bench and I'm just making up a name.

Jake La Ravia or, you know, Marcus Smart, or. you know, DeAndre or whoever, you know, whatever the people are, Vando, whoever it is, I can't bench them because my, my next option is, you know, Drew Timmy or a do Thero or like, and it's like no disrespect to those guys, but they aren't the kind of person you can, it's not like you have A.J. Mitchell sitting on your bench and can pull somebody from your rotation if you're Oklahoma City. So I just, I think it was a recognition that he was a lot he was speaking from a place of incredible anger and frustration that rightly rightly but it was the wrong management way to go about it to manage the situation in a season with 50 more

games in it you needed a different tone and he backed up I it sounds like they had an honest conversation about stuff. But he backed away from language that seemed to turn everything into an ultimatum. Because I don't think he's got, I don't think he wants to be in a position to have to lay down ultimatums across the roster, but he's also not in a position to be able to do that even if he did. And so back up, lower the temperature. And you're right.

It risks everybody saying, oh, JJ backed off. I think he did because he realized he made him. mistake in the moment and needed to turn the temperature down in order to try to fix these things. Because otherwise, like you said, everything going forward is a headline. Everything is JJ is going to make this change. How are people responding? Are you on it? Like, we got to get rid of we got to stop that before it starts. Yeah. And again, what matters most is that the things that needed to be said, whether you're talking about schematically, whether you're talking about effort, whether you're talking about clarifying roles in the sense of you know what your role is.

You may not like every aspect of your role. This is it. Go do it. I remember years ago when you and I were covering the team with Mike Dantone. And Dantone said something, like phrased it in a way that I've always thought about since because I've heard other coaches say similar things. But Dantone was the first person I ever heard it phrase this way. There'd been, I don't know, like either post practice or a post game session where a lot of players were talking about a lack of clarity with their roles.

And someone, it might have even been me, asked Dan Tony about this. And Mike Dan Tony said, no, they all understand what the roles are. Some of them don't like them, but they all understand what they are. And like clarifying roles, sometimes that's actually reinforcing what it is. this is not a discussion. Like, go do it. Or like in a case of somebody like Rui, it wouldn't surprise me if there was like a,

I need to know exactly what the F I'm supposed to be doing out there, particularly in games where I'm getting three shots. Like, you know, you don't want the cardio version of Rui because he's not really going to do. I mean, he had some nice defensive plays in this game. He had a couple of deals. He was involved. He was one of the people paying attention and all that.

Exactly. Really Hachemoro's strength and the thing that he offers this team is offense. And look, Rui even was asked a question about energy level in the face of not getting that many shots, which, you know, LeBron acknowledged it had been a trend over the last couple of weeks. And Rui, in a very diplomatic way, both acknowledged, you know, I have to maintain my energy. That's part of the deal, but also said something like, you guys have seen these games. Like, not like, no, really, I'm not getting the ball. Like, I can't control, again, LeBron, in so many words noted,

Rui can't get himself the ball. Possessions are not going to start with Rui unless he's like on a breakaway steel. Like, that's not how this works. But like, I'm sure there are elements of, you know, reminding Luca and LeBron some of the proverbial little things. That's also part of your role. It's not the main party role, but, you know, Luca had a steal in this game that required him diving on the fold. Yeah, hit the fight.

Luca hit the four. And it was a great play. There was another play where Luca and Vando through multiple screens, hounded the crap out of Demar de Rosen as he was a ball handler. It eventually forced DeMar to give up the ball and it turned into a Vando steal. Like, you know, LeBron, same thing as well. Like, he did some nice defensive things. But like those guys have to sometimes, LeBron mentioned himself, like picking up his energy on the defensive backboards.

Like some of the little things are also part of the role of the stars, even if it's not as much of it as, say, Jared Vanderbilt's role. Everybody's got to hit the minimum. Some guys are going to be asked to go well above the minimum. Some guys are going to be asked to hit the minimum. And, you know, LeBron and Luca, I think are going to be asked to, you know, here's the minimum we need you to do. we need you to dial up at important parts of the game, that which they always get. Like that part those guys get,

it's the stuff that happens in between that determines whether or not you get to that crunch time moment where they need a little bit more consistency and effort from their stars on the defensive side. Jared Vanderbilt's going to be asked to go well above the and beyond. Marcus Smart, well above and beyond. Like everybody understands that part, but there's a minimum that everybody's got to hit.

And part of the problem was there was so much inconsistency between, you know, the, the, the, the top guys and the bottom guys. And even then, like, even then, like, some of the guys putting out the effort weren't always putting out the attention. Some of the guys that have decent attention to detail weren't necessarily putting out the effort. There's not enough synergy between what everybody was doing. And that gets, that's before you get to individual performances. Jake LaRavia is not hitting enough three-pointers, the shooting. You know, Luke has got to get better with the three-point shooting. You know, you can go up and down the roster and find things that have just not been as good as they were in the first month and a half of the season.

There is so much to cover over the course of... Real quick, I wanted to just mention Nick Smith kept the game ball from this game. That's really awesome. Like, well-earned, and it's a reminder of how much opportunities like this mean to someone like Nick Smith. That's all, but I just wanted to share the detail. They didn't even need Janus to give it to them. Nope. So much to unpack this.

week. We will do it. We will talk a little bit more in depth about what the Reeves injury means, how they could play through it, how it might impact them as you get closer to the trade deadline, where this injury could creep right up into that deadline area. So that's something to keep in mind. I also want to let people know about the Everydayer Club. If you are somebody who, quite frankly, wants to get rid of the ads, and we know you're out there because we get your emails. The Every Day Club is a way to do it for $5 a month or $50 a year. You can get locked on Lakers delivered to you ad free. You'll also get invitation to a members only locked on Everyday Air Club Discord server,

including a group chat just for listeners of this program. And as soon as we figure out how to do it, we'll get ourselves involved in that Discord chat. And so it's just a good way to change the listening experience if you want. If you don't, leave everything the same, show stays the same, you'll never pay for it. So that's the Everydayer Club. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is we're going to hang out with over 37,000 subscribers. See everyone tomorrow.