Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - LAKERS POSTCAST LA Stars Fall in loss to Bulls

Episode Date: March 23, 2025

Coby White, 36, Matas Buzelis added 31 points, and Josh Giddey had 15 points, 10 rebounds, 17 assists, and 8 steals as the Chicago Bulls blew out the hometown Lakers, 146-115. Luka Doncic led the full-strength Lakers with 34 points in the loss. Los Angeles will look to get back on the winning side of things Monday night when they visit the Orlando Magic. Lakers, LA Lakers, Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Rui, Hachimura Austin Reaves, Dalton Knecht, NBA, Lakers Post cast, JJ Redick, Dave Palet, Lakers vs Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers vs Chicago Bulls Support Us, By Supporting Our Sponsors!Advertiser: FanDuel March Madness is here, and FanDuel is giving you the chance to get in on the action like never before!Right now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! That’s TWO HUNDRED extra bucks to use on everything from buzzer-beaters to Cinderella stories—and even who’s cutting down the nets!Picking My Favorites: I’ve got my eye on a few underdogs this year, and FanDuel makes it easy to back them with spreads, totals, and game props.Staying in the Action: With tournament games happening almost every day, there’s always something exciting to bet on!Easy and Fast: The FanDuel app is simple to use, and when I win, I get paid instantly—no waiting around.So, visit FANDUEL DOT COM and get in on the College Hoops action all tournament long! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, disappointing night for the Los Angeles Lakers. Here we go. Lakers lose 146, 115 at the Chicago Bulls. Extremely disappointing for the fact this was a night when everybody was healthy. We thought things were going to go the right way. Rui was back. Luca was back. LeBron was back.

And for the first time in a long time, the Lakers were at full strength and completely embarrassed at home. We talk about it all on the lockdown Lakers postcast. I'm Dave Palais. Thank you so much for joining me tonight. Again, if you want to get your Laker basketball coverage every single day, don't forget about Brian and Annie. They do a great job covering the Lakers on a daily basis.

I'm with you, again, on the post game and happy to talk Laker basketball with you. Nights like tonight kind of stink as well. Again, you can catch our podcast everywhere you get your podcast. But again, thank you so much for joining me, taking time out of your evening, even though it's a disappointing loss, but also maybe it answers some questions to what the Lakers need to do moving forward. So let's get right to it. First quarter, Chicago Bulls, they outscored the Lakers 3221. Now, the big story was Luca.

Luca, again, is fun to have on this team. Not only is he one of the best stars in the league, but he also sets the tone early on. The deal is, can anyone else jump on Luca's back? And that's the problem we had tonight, obviously. 351 remaining Luca hit back-to-back threes to give the Lakers a 24-22 lead, 15 lead changes in the first quarter. So you're thinking it's going to be a close game until the Lakers figure it out. and the Lakers ended up beating the bulls the way they're supposed to.

Lakers were led in the quarter with Luca 17, including nine, excuse me, three, three-pointers hit seven of them and was absolutely outstanding. So, Luca, again, I messed up that score right there. Luca had 21, Bulls led by Kobe White 16. Lakers shot 44% from the field, 25% three-point range. And again, for the Lakers, let me get these notes correct for you, so you have the right, right stats there, especially if you put money on this game. Luca, three, three pointers. They're the only three pointers.

The Lakers made their entire quarter. There we go. Now I'm up to date of where I am. Six or seven free throws, Lakers, at least free throw wise, getting a little bit better. It was one of those things I was hoping they would fix. And you hope with the stars, especially in the playoff time, it would stink to lose a playoff game when you can't make your free throws. Bulls shot 46% from the field, 27% from three. It got a lot better for the Bulls, as we all know. And the Bulls weren't shooting outstanding.

46% is great, but 27% for three point range and they only made half their free throws. You're thinking this game could be in hand for the Lakers. Second quarter, Bulls outscore the Lakers again, 3331. And it's disappointing right there for what was happening with the Lakers because they couldn't sit there and seem to get traction to pass the Bulls and what we thought was going to happen tonight with everybody at full strength, that the Lakers were eventually going to dominate Chicago. And it didn't happen at all.

A matter of fact, the Bulls were the team that dominated. much of the quarter. And for me, that that was the big moment. That was the big moment right there. Time to reveal where the game was won or lost. It's the turning point. The turning point happened in the second quarter because the Lakers couldn't get any traction at all. There, nothing changed. Nothing changed at all except for standing around. The offense was absolutely terrible. I know the broadcasters are sitting there saying the defense was terrible. Look, defense wasn't good either. The rebounding was bad. The defense was bad. LeBron James wasn't great. But, you know, LeBron James missed seven games.

Rui missed 12 games, and those guys are back. You know those guys have to get their legs, sort of speak, especially with, you know, LeBron, as much as they depend on him. LeBron, you could tell, didn't have his legs ready to go. I'm missing simple shots. Defensively, LeBron, when he left, was one of the best defenders in the NBA, which is strange to say at 40 years old. Tonight, LeBron wasn't active as a defensive player,

except when he'd go up and he'd block a guy shot after a guy got by him. And it wasn't LeBron James defense, what the Lakers have been counting on. The Lakers have been a very good defensive team over the last couple months. And that's saying a lot, considering you lost Max Christie, you lost Anthony Davis. The fact that Lakers are playing that good a defense

is something that you hang your hat on because we know offense should always be there. Unfortunately, they didn't have either one tonight. Again, 146, 115, completely embarrassing the way things went for the Lakers. So for me, the turning point in the game happened in the second quarter when the Lakers couldn't do what they needed to do.

And that was take control of Chicago. and said they just gave them more of a reason to believe in themselves that things were going to work out. 301 remaining Luca knocked down his fifth three-pointer of the night. He cut the lead down to 57-54, and the Lakers still couldn't pass him up. 128 remaining, Luca hits a six-three-pointer, ties the game at 59. You're thinking, okay, well, maybe this is it. It wasn't. You know, Luca ended up with 26 points at that time and ended up knocking down seven-three-pointers in the first half.

So he was doing everything he could. it was the rest of the Lakers that couldn't do anything. And because the Lakers couldn't do anything, we find ourselves in this position where the Lakers were embarrassed. I don't know about you, but coming in tonight, I was like, this is going to be a great night. This is what I've been waiting for, something we have talked about on the show a bunch,

saying we've got to get the guys back, who are going to play the most in the playoffs to make sure we have the chemistry and the ability to come together to see what we look like as a polished product. The Lakers are anything but a polished product right now, and the season's going to end very soon. So when the playoffs begin, whether you're facing the Warriors, the Nuggets, OKC, whoever you face, we need to see the best version.

Is there enough time for this team to pull it together to be ready to make a run in the postseason? And that's the question right now that we think we're all dealing with. And one of the things we're all extremely frustrated with is this Laker team, as good as they are in the trade for Luca was the talk of the NBA season. Can the Lakers pull it together and do they have enough time to make it work? We'll talk about the half. We'll talk about the box score as well. we'll give you the player of the game. Everything goes into it. And I'll get to your comments as well.

But again, very frustrating, the United States of Lakers lose 146, 115. I want to mention the people over at Fandul. March Madness is here and Fandul has given you the chance to get in on the action like never before. Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins.

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no waiting around. So visit FanDul.com and get in on all the college hoops action all tournament long. All right. So again, Lakers final score, 146, 115. I'm sure you guys know. You guys can just tune in to go, hey, what happened in the Laker game?

You guys are aware you have a lot to say. Half time, just to let you know, Luca had 29, 7 rebounds, Austin Reeve 16. LeBron only had five at the half, five rebounds. That was in 18 minutes. Kobe White was insane, 19 points.

Josh Giddy will get into his game as well. He had a great game. But the Laker shot 50% in the first half, 44% for three point range. Rebounds, Lakers are with the Bulls, but the Bulls beat them in that advantage, 1615, assist. This is a number that shows the Lakers' offense wasn't very good. Again, the Bulls had more assists. 15 to 10, bench points. The Lakers only had two, only had two bench points, and the Bulls had nine. And so that was extremely frustrating to sit there and go, wait a second, how did the Lakers only have two when this is one of the things that the Lakers have

been really good at. And so it's frustrating. It's one of the things I want to get into tonight and why I was a little bit nervous on the future of this team. This is what you'll be talking about. Points for the Lakers, again, two, two, and that was it. And the two points came from Jordan Goodwin, who had been a starter at the last couple games. But Goodwin, fine. He had those points. The thing that frustrated me was Dalton Connect. I mean, did Dalton Connect not show J.J. Redick that he's valuable, especially if this is going to be a team that's going to sit around, that Dalton Connect didn't get any minutes until garbage time.

Dalton Connect ends up with six points in six minutes, but Dalton Connect wasn't anything part of this offensive game plan. And so if the Lakers have a team that can knock down threes, if they have players on the team that can't shoot threes, and as much as we sit there, we rely on Luca, and we rely on Austin Reeves and rely on LeBron James, it was frustrating. So Austin Reeves tonight was three of seven,

from three point range. Austin Reeves is a fine shooter, all right, better than most. But Austin Reeves also has his limit. Luca can sit there and stretch behind that three point line way back and knock him down on a regular basis. Again, he was eight to 13 from three point range. But when you look at Austin Reeves, he's one of those guys where the line is his limit. And everything basically further back from that line, you could tell it's not a balanced shot.

It's not typical Austin Reeves. At the same time, when you look at this offense, Austin Reeves was the guy with this starting five that took a long time to get involved in the offense. And it was one of those things I was afraid of going, is Austin Reeves going to disappear in this, in this Laker offense. Austin Reeves can't disappear. He's too important to this team to disappear. The Lakers have to make a concerted effort to make sure that Austin Reeves gets the ball early and often to make sure that he's involved in the game and he's a weapon. We'll open things up for LeBron down the road. LeBron, not great tonight. Again, 31 minutes for LeBron, first game back after missing seven games,

17 points, six rebounds, four assists, also had five turnovers. You know, LeBron took the ball to the hoop a lot, which is fine. He was seven and 16, but he missed three free throws. You shot five of them, you missed three of them. Very disappointing. Jackson Hayes with 10, they were basically all dunks. Jackson Hayes, everything right under the basket. Fine Jackson Hayes did he was supposed to do. Only four rebounds for Jackson Hayes in 25 minutes.

That seems crazy to me. Luca, again, did everything he possibly could. In 32 minutes, Luca had 34 points. and eight, eight rebounds, six assists. Can't complain about Luke in his game. Dorian Finney Smith, 21 minutes, two points. You know, at this point is Dorian Finney Smith. In this offense, is he basically there because of the defensive player that he is

and a guy that can knock down occasional three. Well, tonight, the occasional threes didn't happen. He was 0 for three from the field. So extremely frustrating right there that it didn't work out for him. But for the bench, Lakers bench was basically non-existent. Gabe Vincent tried, right? He started the fourth quarter knocking down two, three-pointers in a row. He had six points in 19 minutes.

And there was nothing there. Jared Vanderbilt, 0 for two, 11 minutes. Again, he's there for defense. Rui was back five points in 18 minutes. He's nowhere close to being the player. The Lakers need him to be. And the player he knows he can be. He's going to be a huge plus for this team in a couple games.

But right now he's not ready to go and you kind of kind of walk it back in. But this should have been a game looking at the schedule that Lakers shouldn't have had an issue with. Unfortunately, the Lakers definitely had an issue. So this is what extremely frustrating as far as the way everything went for the Lakers right there in that situation. We'll get to your comments one more second. Again, want to mention the people at Fandul, it's a busy time of year. So I want to mention Fandul again. Don't forget March Madness is here. Fan Duel is giving you the chance to get in the action like never before. Right now, new customers. Don't forget, you get $200 in bonus bets when the first $5 bet wins at $200 an extra

bucks to use on everything from buzzer beaters, just in the roll of stories, and even who's cutting down the nets. Don't forget, pick your favorite teams, stay in the action. It's easy, it's fast. So visit fandle.com and get in on all the college hoops action all tournament long. All right. Again, you guys are there with the comments as well.

We'll get to the player of the game and everything else that we have. The lockdown player of the game will be interesting because usually my rule is it's never going to be a guy from a visiting team. maybe tonight that changes a little bit so let's get into those comments a lot of you guys are here we'll try and knock those out for you as appreciate it all right so uh pepo says oh boy that's how i felt but it wasn't exactly those two words it wasn't it wasn't exactly that it started with though it just the second word it wasn't boy um man sometimes the stars just fall apart it that they absolutely do that's how i felt it was like this is going to be a

big night for the stars. This is what we've been waiting for. Dylan says Lakers are Duck in the Warriors. This is one of those losses the Lakers did on purpose. I don't know, Dylan. I mean, here's the deal. You get LeBron back. You get Luca back. You get Reeves. Everybody wants to prove that they belong somewhere on the court. I don't think it's a concerted effort to sit there and tank a game. If I'm JJ Reddick, I'm embarrassed because he knows that Rob Polinkin went out of his way to stack the roster for him. By the way, this roster is not done. You're hearing there are moves that are going to be made before the postseason. Alex Lynn is supposed to be shown the door.

And at the same time, so is Cam Reddish. You're hearing different stories that the Lakers could add two more guys. It will be interesting to see what the Lakers do over the next couple weeks. And can those guys do anything to help this team? I see this isn't a championship team. Tonight, they definitely weren't. Fonzie 93 says Bulls hit every shot. They did.

Bulls were on fire. I mean, if you're a Bulls fan, you'd be extremely excited. Manuel Lakers stunk tonight, but I don't think that they stink. I think this is honestly one of the better teams in there. And Connor, agree with you, generally a pathetic display. This was bad.

BC Go Lakers always positive right there. And hopefully this is one of those where you get on the plane, you head to Orlando, you go to Indiana and you face the Chicago Bulls next Thursday. There's a lot going on. Craig, good to see you as always, man. Appreciate you always being here with me as well. By the way, I will be back next week.

Just so you guys know, as some of you guys have been with, with me every single show and can't thank you enough. And obviously you saw it at the very beginning of the show a little bit rattled. But bad day personally. Best friend passed away. Young guy with two kids and a lot going on. I will not be here Monday.

I need to be with his family and his boys. And there's stuff that sometimes you realize is upset as I am about the Lakers. And the Lakers are usually an escape in life. There are big things that happen. So I apologize that I will miss Monday's game. I hope to be back with you for the Indiana game on Wednesday. We'll see if we can get someone to fill and talk Laker basketball with you again. But I appreciate the comments.

There are a ton of them tonight. It was bad. I do want to get this one too. Says poor defense, too many turnovers. Absolutely right. Poor defense, too many turnovers and an offense that didn't move. It looked like the offense of Lakers used in December before any trades were made. And it was a situation where it was boring.

and it wasn't exciting and it wasn't dangerous. And so for this Laker team, it doesn't work. Guys got to move. You got to move without the ball. You got to sit there and basically go to LeBron's game and Luca's game where they're going to find you for a wide open shot if you move. And I don't know if that's JJ Redrick or that's just NBA basketball where, hey, find an open spot and figure out what works best for you.

But it didn't work for the Lakers tonight. It didn't work at all. So very frustrating night. A night that I was really looking forward to seeing what it looked like. having everybody healthy, especially when you found out that LeBron James was going to play. It was one of those where you're going. This is going to be great. All right.

Let's get to the locked on player of the game tonight. As I said before, we always go Lakers in this thing. Always hate picking a guy from another team. I'll tell you who it is in just a second. This is the locked on player of the game. Locked on player of the game as much as I thought it was going to be Luke all night long, especially the way he started that game. Luca kind of fizzled out a little bit.

I mean, Luca can't do it all by himself. At the same time, Luca has 34 points on the 9 and 32 minutes. Would have loved to have said Luca with 34 points, 8 rebound, 6 assists. He's your player of the game. And man, I can't stand him because he did something that if he was on our team, we would have said, man, that was a great play. But he did it in a Bulls uniform. And that was when Luca was a little bit out of control.

And Josh Giddy, he just walked right in his direction and created contact. Got a tactical foul against Luca, got him out of his game after Luke was talked to the rep all of a sudden he's there this contact made. Josh Giddy is your player at the game tonight. And the deal is, Bezellis was great. He had 31 points. Kobe White was ridiculous with 36 points,

made 12 of 7 a shot, six of nine from three point range. Look, Josh Giddy tonight almost had double digits and four stats. He had 15 points. He had 10 rebounds. He had 17 assists and he had eight steals in 33 minutes. He did all that in 33 minutes.

And his team won by 31. he is your player of the game tonight. I can't believe it that I'm saying it did not guess before this game that it was going to be Josh Giddy, but sure enough, he deserved it. And again, I hate giving it to a guy on another team, but he deserved it. So again, we sit there and we wipe the slate clean. The Lakers forget about it, nothing he can do about the past. As Mike Dick, I used to say, the pass is for cowards.

Lakers move forward. They get on a plane, they go to Orlando, face the magic, a pretty good magic team, face the Pacers, always tough to win in Indiana. and then hopefully we get revenge against the Chicago Bulls. So big three game road trip coming up next week for the Lakers before they have to move on. So again, is there enough time in the season for the Lakers to pull it together? I hope J.J. Reddick and the guys can figure it out. Love to see more Dalton Connect.

We would love to see more of this bench actually contribute because the Lakers are going to need it down the stretch. So I thank you everyone for joining me tonight. Sorry, the Lakers lost 146-15. I'll be back with you next week. because I said I won't be here on Monday, but otherwise, go Lakers. Let's go get some wins. Have a great night, everybody.