Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - LAKERS POSTCAST Denver Downs Short Handed Lakers 131-126

Episode Date: March 15, 2025

Nikola Jokic scored 28 points and Jamal Murray added a clutch three-pointer to go along with his 26 points as the Denver Nuggets downed the visiting Los Angeles Lakers 131-126. The Lakers, who were playing without six of their top eight players, including LeBron James and Luka Doncic, were led by Austin Reeves' 37 points, 8 rebounds, and 13 assists. Rookie Dalton Knecht added 32 points in the loss, which was the Lakers' fourth straight. The Lakers will look to get back on the winning side of things Sunday afternoon when they host the Phoenix Suns. Lakers, LA Lakers, Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Rui, Hachimura Austin Reeves, Dalton Knecht, NBA, Lakers Post cast, JJ Redick, Dave Palet, Lakers vs Nuggets Los Angeles Lakers vs Denver Nuggets  Support Us, By Supporting Our Sponsors!FAN DUEL Right now, new FanDuel customers can get TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins! Just visit FANDUEL DOT COM to join today. That’s FANDUEL DOT COM for your shot at TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets.Make every moment more with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA.MONARCH MONEY Ever check your bank account and wonder, Where did all my money go? Between dining out, online shopping, and entertainment, it’s easy to lose track. That’s where Monarch Money comes in—your personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control over your finances.Monarch Money isn’t just a budgeting app—it’s a complete financial command center. You can track all your accounts, investments, and spending in one place, so you stop just managing your money and start building wealth.Surprising Insights: When I started using Monarch, I realized just how much I was spending on food delivery—now, I budget smarter and save more.All-in-One Convenience: Instead of juggling multiple apps, you can use Monarch to check your finances, track spending, and even plan long-term goals.Easy Collaboration: Managing money with your partner is smoother than ever—you can track shared and personal accounts, set goals, and stay on the same page without the stress. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You are a Locked-on Lakers Postcast, part of Locked-on Sports Los Angeles on the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Well, Lakers fall short, no Luca, no LeBron, but the Lakers still had a chance to win. We talk about it all on the Lockdown Lakers Postcast. I'm Dave Pallai. Thank you so much for joining me on this Friday night. Lakers again lose 131, 126, and what happened to be a game that I think a lot of people thought this team didn't have much of a chance to win, especially when you look what the Lakers put out there in their starting lineup and all the guys who were missing. So it was an unusual game. And we have plenty

to talk about it. Again, if you're new to the show, you're new to me, I'm a 30-year broadcaster in Southern California and I spent a lot of time covering the Lakers in the media from the early 90s all the way to the mid-2000s. And at the same time, love Laker basketball, like many of you, want to take your comments throughout the show. Always curious to know what you think about this Laker team and can this Laker team make a run at a championship? That's where we're at right now is we don't have a lot of time left in the regular season yet we aren't getting an opportunity to see our best players on the court at the same time. And some of these guys obviously need to get used to playing with each other. It's been a long time since the Lakers have seen certain guys in that lineup,

a chance for these guys to gel. If anything, it gives us an idea of what our bench will look like in the postseason. But the Lakers have now lost four straight games and the Lakers, again, lose 131, 126. Also, if you missed last night show, the way we're doing these Lakers postcasts is we're going to shorten the shows a little bit. We're going to shorten them down to about a 15-minute, 20-minute show. So it's quick on exactly everything that's going to happen throughout the show. So if you have a comment, I recommend you get those comments in early. But we're going to start off with the talking point. And as far as the talking point goes and what I think was the storyline of this game, this is what you'll be talking about. Again, the talking point tonight has to

to be the Lakers lineup. The Lakers starting lineup, especially after losing three straight games and playing back-to-back road games and hopefully things will be a little bit different after losing to Milwaukee before you head home to take on the Phoenix Suns on Sunday. You find out the Lakers are going to go with the starting five of Alex Lynn, Jared Bannerbilt, Austin Reeves, Dalton Connect, and they're going to go without Luca, right? So basically you're going to go, what are we doing here? You know, here's a starting five that is, very unique right now for the Lakers as Jordan Goodwin gets a start. Dalton Connect gets a start.

Austin Reeves is the only guy that basically we expect to be there, Alex Lynn and Jared Vanderbilt. Those are your guys. Now, I think most people like every single guy outside of Alex Lynn. I have told you before I'm not an Alex Lynn fan. I can make an argument. I think he's the worst player in the entire NBA. And if it wasn't for his height, he wouldn't be in the league.

But I can't understand what Alex Lynn ever does on a court that's positive and he becomes very frustrating to watch. But the Lakers are forced. to play him. And we spoke about it a little bit last night. We rather see a guy like Markief Morris getting the shot at the number five position over a guy like Alex Lynn. I don't expect Alex Lynn to be on the playoff roster, by the way. The big story, though, is not the guys who played. It was the guys who did not play. And so the talking point is you were without six of your eight best players today. LeBron's out, Luca's out, Ruiz out, Jackson Hayes is out,

Dorian Finney Smith is out. Jemson, the third is out, Gabe Vincent's out. It was insane. It was sad to watch. And at the same time, being a Friday, I'm a Laker fan, but I'll tell you right now, if I didn't have to do the post-game show, I would not have watched this game. I didn't think there was an opportunity for the Lakers to do a thing tonight. And so it was very frustrating right from the beginning.

And I'm never going to want to say, you know, a guy is not hurt and everything else. But it becomes very frustrating when the team is basically drowning. losing three straight, and then you can't get guys to play the second end of back-to-back games. Also imagine this. If you're a Laker fan that lives in Denver and you bought tickets saying, well, it stinks that I'm not going to see LeBron when you find out he was injured last Saturday against the Celtics, but all of a sudden you aren't going to see Luca either, and you aren't going to see all these other guys. I mean, talk about not getting what you thought you were paying for.

But look, the Lakers gave us a show. I mean, I almost came on tonight telling you this could have arguably the best Laker game in the year if they pull that win out because they were clawing and scratching. And I thought, at what point did these guys run out of gas? And they didn't. The Lakers didn't run out of gas. Matter of fact, the Lakers in the first quarter, what do we say all the time? Let's try and score at least 30 points a quarter.

The Lakers not only scored 30, they scored 40 points in the first quarter. Jumped out to an 8-2 lead, 10-5 lead. Nuggets had a call a timeout. Nuggets looked a little surprised. I think maybe they expect the Lakers to roll over. Austin Reeves off to a great start with 12 points, five rebound, seven assist. It's all to connect. He had seven. Jake Milton, how about that?

And Brony James both had five off the bench. Also, for me, it was the first time all year long. Correct me if I'm wrong on this. But Brony James got booed in Denver. I'm always surprised that Brony ever gets an ovation anyway just because people have, you know, big time feelings of his role in the NBA. And he's been cheered the entire year, except in Denver, where he got booed. Nuggets led in the first quarter by the Joker, Aaron Gordon.

They both had eight. Russell Westbrook had seven off the bench. And for the Lakers, they're often rolling. Now, second quarter, things started to turn. And this is where I think a lot of people thought, all right, Lakers gave a good run in the first, but started to fall apart. Nuggets killed the Lakers in the second quarter to the outscore him, 39, 27. So the Lakers defense wasn't very good.

And what do you expect? It's hard to figure out exactly where those guys are going to be, rotations, this and that. We saw it. That's what really ended up hurting the Lakers at the very end of the game. But the Nuggets outscored the Lakers 3927. They take a 71-67 lead. into the half. And for the Lakers, not a bad stat-wise, you know, sheet looking at the half time.

If you're JJ Reddick, you're going, all right, we're shooting 46% from the field, 45% for three-point range, and free throws, we made six to seven. Not bad. Lakers led by Austin Reeves at half, he had 22 points, five rebounds, 10 assists, Dahl to connect again, 15 points, including he had three, made three-pointers. Things felt good. Not a shock. The Joker led them with 18 points, and Russell Westbrook 15 off the bench. Those are the big stats right there. Now, for the Lakers, third quarter, it did not start off well. If you remember the first two minutes of the third quarter,

the Nuggets jump out with an eight-nothing run. Lakers, though, end up winning this quarter. Lakers end up winning the third quarter, 32, 31. They cut the lead down to 197. Austin Reeves through three at 28 points, seven rebounds, 12 assists. Dalton Connect again, still around. 21 points.

Shake Milton, had 16 off the bench. good for shake. I mean, it has not exactly been easy since he was traded from the nets to the Lakers. The Nuggets, though, at the time completely balanced. Nuggets had five players who scored in double digits. And, of course, the Joker led them with 22. So it was a lot going on. And we're going to get to the fourth quarter in just a second because the fourth quarter is where everything obviously happened. And when everything went a little nuts and got crazy, we were here for it, right? We loved every minute of it. So we'll get to the fourth quarter in just a second. First, we want to mention Monarch Money, even if your check account, if you ever looked at your check account and wondered where did all the money go?

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Monarch Money. Use the code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That's monarchmoney.com code locked on MBA for half off your first year. All right. So things obviously got very exciting in the fourth quarter. And if you stood around and you watched the game, you know the fourth quarter was insane. look, let's be honest. Nobody expected the Lakers to make this a game when you saw that lineup out there. So in the fourth quarter, give you a shot sheet rundown as far as what happened and thinking,

okay, do we have a chance and when did the Lakers not have a chance? 940 remaining in the quarter. Lakers take a 103, 102 lead. DALton Connect's layup. 850, Daltin connects has another layup. Lakers doing fine. 725 remaining in the quarter. Nuggets tie the game, 105, 105 on Peyton Watson's two free throws, 636 remaining. Austin Reeves 3. Point, it gives the Lakers a 108, 105 lead. Now, right now, are you believing like, hey, the Lakers have a chance? I'll be honest with you, I wasn't all in at this point.

Six minutes remaining. Markief Morris hits a three. Lakers have a 111-105 advantage, and I feel a little bit better. 425 remaining. Porter's layup ties the game at 113. 406 remaining in the game. Jared Vanderbilt made one or two free throws. This free throws kill me when we miss.

Lakers still up one. 14, 113, and Jamal Murray always kills the Lakers. 355 remaining. Jamal Murray's layup made the score 115, 114. And I'm down to honestly, I thought it was going to be over about then. Here's the most exciting play or transition part of the game, if you were a Laker fan. Austin Reeves, look, he took control right here in this little stretch. He ties the game 116 with his two free throws. Jamal Murray makes a three.

Nuggets take a five-point lead on Christian Brown's, a dunk, 121, 116, not feel really good. Dalton Connect hits a three-pointer, makes it 121, 119, minute 49 remaining. Aaron Gordon's two free throws make the score 123-19. And then Jordan Goodwin, he nails a three to tie the score, or excuse me, to put the liquors only one behind at 123, 1 and 22. Now, this is the best part of the game. A minute 11 remaining, Austin Reeves does everything he can and he steals the ball from the Joker. And it was awesome because you look at the size difference and how it's strong. Yukovych is and then you go, here's Reeves who wants it,

who wants it more, you hear that in sports all the time. Not only does he steal the ball, he scores, Reeves gets the ball right back, right away. He dishes the ball off to Dalton Connect for a dunk, gives the Lakers a 126, 123 advantage. That was the play where Dalton Connect, of course, slammed to the floor, smashed in his back and his head into the ground,

which is always scary. But look, this was Austin Reeves. I mean, everything he had, Dalton Connect, everything he had, I'll be honestly, I thought we were going to win. Thought we're going to win right there. 48 seconds remaining in the game, and the Joker ties it up, 126 on a layup and a made free throw, and it just shows you how strong he is. Now, five seconds remaining in the game. Now, five seconds, again, it's a long way remaining

in the game, and we've gone all the way through, and the Lakers have played much better and harder than most people thought, but here is the turning point of the game. Time to reveal where the game was won or lost. It's the turning point. All right. Turning point of the game. Five seconds remaining, Jamal Murray,

he basically has a wide open three-pointer because the Lakers can't fight through screens. And it's Murray again, and he basically seals the game at 129, 126. We all know Russell Westbrook had a breakaway layup to end the game to give them the 131-126 final score. But that was the big moment. And that was the big moment right there

that, of course, you know, hurt the Lakers. to say you did so well, but when it mattered most and the most crucial points, this is where the Lakers fell apart. And so that was, that was disappointing. It was disappointing for all of us that the Lakers couldn't sit there and finalized the deal because it was such a great effort by guys that normally don't get a lot of minutes, led by Austin Reeves, who's the guy that does belong out there all the time, but everyone else jumped on his back and they kind of rode the wave and did an extremely great job out there.

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lose 131, 126. That's four straight losses for the Lakers. Very disappointing. Let's get to some your comments before we get to the player of the game. Tonight, again, frustrating. Craig, great to see you as always a good effort by the Lakers tonight, but, you know, here's the deal. It's not always enough, right? It's a heartbreaker, as Daniel says, I agree, hard fought. I agree with that. You know, here's the, I can't stand the nuggets. I've told you guys for a long time. The nuggets for me are my number two right now, beyond the Boston Celtics. I cannot stand the nuggets. And Craig, you say this also, and I don't disagree. I don't. hate, you know, when people blame referees or officiating in games, but I'm with you. I mean,

Craig said that gave Denver way too many free throws. We've kind of spoken a lot about this the last two weeks where the NBA is very physical. And shake Milton, I think, was the number one guy on the Lakers who really got a raw deal tonight. I think Shank Milton, every time he went inside the three-point arc, he was getting knocked around. And when it used to be a foul, was no longer a foul. And it seems like there is a major advantage of a home court advantage. At the same time, I don't think the Lakers, and it sounds like, just because I like the Lakers, I'm saying this, I don't think the Lakers get a fair shake. I don't think LeBron James exactly gets the star treatment either. And people who aren't Laker fans will say, oh, you're crazy. I'm telling you, we all watch this together.

And when I think back to the days of Jordan and magic and the calls, they used to get completely different than what LeBron and the superstars get for the Lakers. Sometimes when Luca, when people want to call him a crybaby, I can see exactly why Luca gets upset. And I was just hoping my mind that Luke is going to stay quiet. He's not going to get the technical fouls. But it becomes nerve-wracking to see that, hey, you know what? These are fouls. Like, why aren't these calls?

And why is the other team shooting so many more free throws than our team? It does become frustrating. And at times it feels like it costs us the game. And tonight's another example of that. Look, the Lakers have to go home on Sunday and fix us against the suns. I mean, they have to desperately get a win. The Lakers have so many games coming up over the next week. that it's absolutely insane. If you haven't looked at the schedule, the schedule is,

amazing to see what's going to happen at the Lakers. They play on the 16th Sunday against the Suns. That's a 1230 start, by the way. They come back on Monday against the Spurs. They come back on Tuesday against the Bucks. They come back on Wednesday against the Nuggets at home. And then they have Thursday off before they take on the Chicago Bulls. That's a lot of basketball. You know, a lot of basketball this time of year. Hopefully we get back some of our guys healthy. But that is a kind of basketball that Lakers have to wrap this thing up with. So it's a lot. All right, let's get to, let's get to the player of the game. And I think most people will pick the same player I'm going to pick. This is the locked on player of the game. All right. Your player of the game, it has to be

Austin Reeves. What a night for Austin Reeves, 37 points, eight rebounds, 13 assists, and 39 minutes. And again, the Lakers could have gone about this game completely different. This was a chance for Austin Reeves to show the player that we all know who he is. Again, I think he's one of the more quiet guys around the NBA, unless you follow Laker basketball, you don't realize how good Austin Reeves actually is. It was great to see Dalton Connect tonight with 32 points and 37 minutes. You know, we've got to see this rookie blossom,

and this is a great chance to see what he can do. But for me, it was Dalton Connect. And don't put aside that Jake Milton, 16 points off the bench in 28 minutes, wasn't big as well. So overall, Austin Reeves is your player of the game. Lakers unfortunately, they fall short right at the very end, and it's one of those where it makes that playing right of that much more difficult.

But the final score again tonight, Denver Nuggets 131, Lakers 126. The Lakers will try and snap this four-game losing streak on Sunday when they take on the Phoenix Suns. Again, it's the 1230 tip-off, and we'll be back here talking about the Lakers and hopefully their first win, right? You can't win two in a row without winning the first one.

So hopefully that starts on Sunday. They roll into the game on Monday, and it's a great week next week. But it's been a tough road since obviously facing the Boston Celtics last Saturday. Anyway, thank you so much for joining me tonight. Appreciate it. If you want to follow again, you know, Laker basketball every day, Brian and Andy, they have it for you. I have the Laker Postcast for you. You can get these shows anywhere you get your podcast.

Again, locked on Los Angeles, so much to offer. But thank you so much for joining me tonight on a Friday. 131-126, Lakers Lus. We'll catch you on Sunday afternoon. Take care.