Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Lakers Overwhelmed in Game 3, Lose by 23 as Reaves and LeBron Both Struggle

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Lakers are overwhelmed in the second half of game three, and things are looking bleak. We'll break it 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 stopping by Locked on Lakers. Brian Komenetsky, Andy Komenetsky,

Starting point is 00:00:29 plenty to break down about the breakdown in game three for the Lakers. I want to let people know first of today's episodes. to you. By Fandul right now new customers can bet just $5 and get $250 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Head to fandul.com to get started. So,

Starting point is 00:00:46 well, Andy, at least they didn't lose by 18. You can say that they broke that streak. Lakers fall to down three up against Oklahoma City. 131-108, the final score. This one, very similar pattern

Starting point is 00:01:03 to games one and two. where the Lakers perform admirably in the first half and are overwhelmed at some point in the second. I guess the only difference in this one and the other ones is that overwhelming point came a little earlier than it had been previously, but the basic playbook was the same. The third quarter was an absolute disaster for the Lakers,

Starting point is 00:01:32 and it really snowballed and overwhelmed them quickly. The Thunder opened six of seven from the field. SGA after being held a 4-14 from the field in the first half. And I thought the Lakers did a very good job in that first half, really making SGA work. A lot of that went to Marcus Smart, doing a lot of the ball denial and constant ball pressure and just never allowing SGA any breathing room,

Starting point is 00:02:04 but I thought there were several possessions where Rui guarded him very well. There were some possessions where DeAndre Aiton on an island did a good job against SGA Aiton's second half was rough, but in this first half, there were some moments there. But then SGA started heating up after that start. The Lakers at one point in the game, as the Thunder had gone from being down

Starting point is 00:02:31 two at the half to up 10. The Lakers had more turnovers four than baskets three and it just scored six points to that point where the thunder went from being down two to up 10. They just kept making

Starting point is 00:02:47 mistakes on both sides of the ball. The irony is as SGA finally got his rhythm back in the second half, it felt like they didn't even need him to because A.J. Mitchell was carving them up in particular carving up

Starting point is 00:03:03 Austin Reeves. We'll talk about Austin. He had a disastrous game after a ninth bounce back in game too. Austin was bad in this game, man. In a disastrous third quarter. I don't want to, we don't need to argue about whether he was regular bad, disastrous bad. He wasn't good and that's what they needed.

Starting point is 00:03:23 I mean, he thought he was. I thought there were a lot of positives from what he did in the first time. didn't shoot well, but he did a lot of things very well in the first half. He had a terrible third quarter and that buried the Lakers. But, I mean, he didn't play, he didn't have a great game. And they needed to, neither he nor LeBron were good in this, you know, particularly good in this game overall when you put it all together.

Starting point is 00:03:47 And the Lakers aren't going to win if neither one of them is, if both of them aren't good. That's just. But as I was, as I was originally saying, like it felt like SGA didn't even need to get into a rhythm. because, nope, A. J. Mitchell was carving them up. Chad Holgram had another really good game. You know, Kaysan Wallace had 11 points in the first quarter in like the first, I think, five minutes to help offset what, you know, what SGA wasn't able to do. Isaiah Joe kept, you know, hitting shots. Alex Caruso would have timely runouts. They just, the team is, Isaiah Hardinstein, I want to say, had six points, like in the first three minutes or four minutes of the fourth quarter. Like, there are so many things and elements and factors that you have to take into account when you are playing this team on both sides of the ball.

Starting point is 00:04:48 And I know they're thought of as SGA, the engine, and this incredible defense. which is true, except it's so much more than that. And as we've talked about, the Lakers margin for error is non-existent. And obviously, if LeBron and Austin both struggle in a game, it's going to take a hell of a lot else going on positively for the Lakers. And Luke Kinnard and especially Rui Hachamura did a lot in the first half to get the Lakers that first half lead despite LeBron and Austin struggles. Luke Kennard hit three-threes. Rui hit four.

Starting point is 00:05:33 Rui was absolutely spectacular in the first half of this game. His first four threes, yeah. But you need all hands on deck present and accounted for if you want to give yourself a fighting chance against this team. If you give them a sliver of daylight, or in this particular case, a like, ozone layer free, massive hole for the light to come through,

Starting point is 00:06:03 they're just going to crush you, man. That's what happened. I mean, I've said it, multiple things are going into the series. They're way better. You know, the Lakers without Luca. They're better than the Lakers with Luca. I think that is fair to say.

Starting point is 00:06:18 But like they are without Luca. I mean, it's so out of balance in terms of the, the talent level and the skill level available for these teams. It's like, you know, we spent the first couple of games. It's like, Oklahoma City did not play poorly. And I'm saying like they've been, you know, underperforming or this and that. But there wasn't any sense of, wow, they're like, they're really looking great.

Starting point is 00:06:42 Like they look pretty good, you know, like a normal to play, play what seemed to me, you know, based on the, you know, semi-large handful of games I've watched them play this year. like those were normal Oklahoma City games. Game three felt like, what happens if they play a little better? And, you know, what happens if the shooting is just a little better? And the defense, you know, they, I think they gave DeAndre Aitin fits on the offensive glass. You know, with how the Lakers were trying to defend, it often left opportunities for players to crash from multiple angles.

Starting point is 00:07:19 And they were much more aggressive, I thought, on the offensive glass in game three. and they were giving Aiton tons of trouble. It had a really tough night. You know, and certainly couldn't get anything going offensively either. Lakers really – Aiden was their only source of scoring in the third quarter, but broadly speaking, it was not a good game for him. They couldn't really figure out what to do with the backup center minutes

Starting point is 00:07:41 because Jackson Hayes' struggle against Oklahoma City. So it's like everywhere you turn, it's like they're trying to put a finger in the levee, and it's just holes are popping up everywhere. And it felt to me, Andy, and you can tell, I don't mean this in the sense that they quit. That's not what I mean. The third quarter kind of felt a little to me.

Starting point is 00:08:03 They knew. Where they broke. Right. They just kind of broke. And they kept trying, and they'll try again on Monday. But one of the admirable things about the thunder is that they don't, rest. They don't rely. Like, teams go up to

Starting point is 00:08:24 nothing. They're pretty confident. They're going to win a series sometimes. You know, you get kind of a lack of days ago game or a little bit of lack of focus. The bench comes in and sometimes they're just not as good. Like, you get none of that with Oklahoma City. They just, when they're focused in line,

Starting point is 00:08:43 they don't stop and it doesn't stop. Well, JJ before the game talked about how the depth of the Thunder is just overwhelming. And case in point, Aaron Wiggins was, I want to say like the seventh or eighth man on this team last year when they won a championship. He's not in the rotation. Kenrich Williams, also not in the rotation. But it's not because Mark Dagnon doesn't trust those guys. It's because he doesn't need to play them, but he's perfectly comfortable putting them on the

Starting point is 00:09:15 floor if he needs to. I mean, like, I don't think he has any fear of putting either one of them out there. It's just that's how deep the team is. And it makes it so on a night where, you know, Luke Canard scores 18 points, 17 of, I mean, excuse me, seven to 10 from the field, hits four threes, plus has two assists and a steel. You're looking at that going, all right, it's a nice starting point. What the hell else do you got? Because that's not even close to what would cut it. And, you know, if Luca was here, Rui would be coming off the bench and maybe that could help offset some of this as well. It would certainly make a difference. But then you just start going up and down the waves of this team.

Starting point is 00:10:01 Like I mentioned, Kaysan Wallace had 11 points in the first quarter, finished with 16. Isaiah's Joe had 12. Alex Caruso had six. Like, it just keeps going, which, again, we're a broken record on this, but it's really true. You just have no margin for error. You have to play at your absolute best to give yourself a chance that isn't realistic in the first place. Right. I'm not even sure margin for error is even the right word, you know, the right expression of this.

Starting point is 00:10:37 Like it doesn't, it implies you have a certain degree of control over the result. And, you know, it's to me, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll talk some more about this next. And we'll certainly if we don't get to it in deep detail, we'll get to it much more for Monday's show, really looking at Austin, particularly, because obviously he really is the player that is most under the microscope in the series for the Lakers. But I'll tell you next, like, the moment where I was just like, well, this is stupid. It's just like you're as the opposing team, the opposing coach, the opposing fans, just this is kind of unfair. And we'll get.

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Starting point is 00:14:42 But, you know, LeBron was seven and 19th from the floor. He had eight assists against three turnovers. You know, he struggled to kind of get going. You know, Austin was five of 13 from the floor. He did make the line eight times. Almost all of this stuff for basically every Laker. All this stuff is front-loaded because they didn't score in the second half. He scored 20 points in the third quarter.

Starting point is 00:15:06 Six of those were from DeAndre eight. Six of his ten. and some of it was on follows and most of it was on follows and little oops and stuff like that. You know, Austin, not an efficient night, 17 points on 13 shots. He had nine assists, but he had five

Starting point is 00:15:22 turnovers, four of which came in that third quarter when the Lakers, you know, it was kind of make a break time and they broke. You know, Conard's 18 points were almost entirely front-loaded in the first half. So just, they could not get anything going in the second

Starting point is 00:15:38 half. And we'll talk about some of the individual performances, again, if not in this show and detail, certainly for Monday. But like for me, I mentioned this. Like the part of this game where I look at and go, well, this is just kind of unfair. The Lakers got Lou Dord in foul trouble. The second half or it's either late in the first, the second half, like he picks up a third or a fourth foul. And, you know, they were talking to say, is Mark Dagnos going to leave him in? Is he going to take him out, whatever?

Starting point is 00:16:07 And look for a second like they might be keeping Doord in. a different team might need to keep Doort in. Not only did they take Dort out, the guy who replaces him is Kasten Wallace. So like there's really not even an advantage gained in Lou Dort coming out because the guy replacing him is basically just as good defensively and at least of late has been a better offensive player. It's like you can't catch a break even when you get these guys

Starting point is 00:16:40 you know, kind of in any sense of disadvantage. And like when regular, when like all-star Jalen Williams comes back, somebody's going to be sitting on this team that would be like in the regular rotation for the Lakers. Jared McCain has been lighting up the Lakers. He may not play when Jalen Williams comes back

Starting point is 00:16:58 or other Jalen Williams or, you know, someone is going to sit down who you're looking at going like, how is that guy in their garbage time lineup? And, you know, the Lakers, you know, J.J. Reddick, went heavier with Addu Thiro in this game. And Adieu had some nice moments and then some less nice ones,

Starting point is 00:17:17 which was what you would expect. I thought it was more positive than negative with Addu. I actually thought for what you would reasonably expect from a do sure, like what you would expect, sure, but like it mistakes are baked into the cake. But did he make enough things happen while he was out there? To me, the answer was yes. Exactly. It just it reinforces the problem.

Starting point is 00:17:40 that you have this time a year where the mistakes on balance it's like oh you know what for a guy who played very very little during the season even in the G league because he was hurt half the year it's not like he had a full G league

Starting point is 00:17:56 run you know 10 or 15 games to the Lakers and all that was kind of like he didn't play very much this season so he didn't get a lot of seasoning he did a lot of good things he certainly was aggressive in his activity. But you see, like, you know,

Starting point is 00:18:13 a couple of mistakes are very problematic. There are a couple times he needed to shoot and didn't. Yeah. Where just you're playing four on five. You know, one stretch, and this was actually, I think, a mistake from JJ. He had Thero and Claiba out at the same time, which was now you're playing three on five.

Starting point is 00:18:29 It was with Marcus and LeBron and, and, and, no, he was. It was Austin. the opening lineup, this with Maxi, this was LeBron, Austin, Adieu, Luke Conard, and Maxi. I'm going to go on a limit and say these season long minutes for those five together, limited. It's not even the continuity thing, though. It's the fact that you're just, you're playing three on five. That's what I was really getting at.

Starting point is 00:19:06 It wasn't to be critical of JJ. at all or, you know, the positives or negatives of the line, they're kind of self-evident. What I was going to say is you don't put a group like that on the floor that I think likely it's the first time they've ever played together as a group. I'm not sure they've practiced in that group. But you don't do that unless you've reached a point where you're saying, I have to try something I'm looking for specific things with Maxi. I think specifically it was go set some screens and then try to stay out of the way of

Starting point is 00:19:45 everything else. The screens were pretty good. The everything else, not so much. I do. I think it was create some things out of activity. Again, I think he actually on balance made that happen. Jake LaRavia was out of the rotation. Vando was active, didn't play.

Starting point is 00:20:03 I'm hoping just for Vando's sake that he's not. really there and it was just creating, I don't know, something to think about for Dagnow. Because if I'm Bando and I'm like, I got my hands sewed back and you're not playing me, F off, man. I'd be really mad if I did all of that and expected to play and didn't, considering the man's bone was sticking through a spin not that long ago. I hope JJ and I say this too because the J.J. Vando thing really has been awkward. for a while, I'd like to think Vando was at least aware.

Starting point is 00:20:41 You may not play, but I certainly appreciate the effort. Because otherwise, I'd be like, bruh, really? Really? You're just, you're correct. Your point about like, you're trying to pull any string that you can. And, you know, if Vando can't do it, the next most logical person to try to do stuff that you would want Jerry Vanderville to do, which includes not shoot, is a due thero.

Starting point is 00:21:08 And, you know, it just, I thought it was really interesting when JJ talked after the game. It's like one of the problems with Oklahoma City is you don't get, you know, the normal flow of things is we do something, they do something you kind of adjust at half time. You adjust at, you know, in between games and the off days and this and that. That's the avid flow. Oklahoma City has so many players that they can adjust, oh, this is working for the Lakers. Right now, we'll take that guy out, we'll put that guy in and we'll change the skill set.

Starting point is 00:21:45 And now we've just revamped everything that we're able to do. And they have so many different things that they can try over the course of a game. They've got plenty of experience playing together so that it's not like they don't know what those levers are to pull. And as JJ said, like, you know, they've tried everything. They've played hard.

Starting point is 00:22:08 They have, you know, they've executed aspects of the game playing quite well. They've done, it's not like, again, I have a lot of respect for what the Lakers have done in this series in terms of just the effort that they put out for it. And as, but as JJ said,

Starting point is 00:22:28 we've gotten our ass kick three times. Like there's just, there isn't anything they can do. If they go out and play a great game on Monday, when Oklahoma City has an off night, maybe they push the game, the series back to Oklahoma City. But there's not really anything the Lakers can do

Starting point is 00:22:54 to change the tide of the series to, I mean, obviously they're not going to come back from 03. It's never been done in any. NBA history. This seems like an unlikely moment for it to be the first time. Not unless the thunder spot in three games. I mean, unless Oklahoma City... Right, exactly.

Starting point is 00:23:16 If Oklahoma City wants a series to end on Monday, it's going to end on Monday. That's sort of how I feel about it. What you hope for is just that everybody goes up determined they are practicing on Sunday. I don't know if maybe they just are daring

Starting point is 00:23:32 a bunch of writers to skip out on their significant others on Mother's Day, hoping no one's going to be there. Or maybe I'd like to think they're not doing the exit interviews early because they've pulled those shenanigans on us before. But you hope just in game four that everybody shows up with the right determination and the right mindset. And whatever happens, happens, you know, there's going to be a lot of scrutiny for Austin,

Starting point is 00:23:59 given the way most of his playoffs have gone. I mean, LeBron did not have a good game, but LeBron's playoffs have been pretty strong. LeBron's played well in the playoffs. Yeah. LeBron, it hurt the team. Don't get me wrong. Like, everybody needs to play at the top of their game. So LeBron, not being at his, matters.

Starting point is 00:24:19 I'm going to give him a pass overall for how he's been in this series. I mean, and LeBron has done what you would need LeBron to do to win, you know, to get as far as it's gotten. And I expect, you know, certainly LeBron. Ron to have the right mindset in game four. I think Austin will, although he really needs to stop with the refs. He made his point. We'll get into it Monday. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:24:42 Made his point after game two. Game three, just go play. Just play. Everyone just needs to show up with the right mindset and with the right determination and just the idea of they know, I think they know they're not going to make history. what they needed, but nobody wants to get swept. Nobody wants to be swept. So you go out there with the idea of we're going to avoid a sweep

Starting point is 00:25:12 and then whatever happens from there happens from there, but we know we avoided the sweep. And that's it. I mean, that's at this case or at this point, that's the best they can do because they're not going to win this series and they know they're not going to win this series. You know, they just were on. the other end of how hard it is to come back from down 03.

Starting point is 00:25:35 Like they just saw how that works. So we'll see. And the gap was smaller than the gap between the Thunder and Lakers. Oh, significantly. All right. So we'll talk more about the Austin Reeves of it all on Monday, gets you ready for that game. I believe we may have lost Brian again, but I'm sure he was going to let you know that we'll be back Sunday to lead up to game four.

Starting point is 00:26:05 Make sure you're checking out Locked on Lakers on audio, on YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts, and we will see you next time.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Lakers Overwhelmed in Game 3, Lose by 23 as Reaves and LeBron Both Struggle

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