Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - LAKERS POSTCAST Lakers lose to Pistons 117-113

Starting point is 00:00:05 You are a Locked-on Lakers Postcast. Part of Locked-on Sports Los Angeles on the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. The miss free throws in the Lakers three-game winning streak. Anthony Davis doesn't play up to his capability, but the Lakers still had a chance. We talked about all of it on the Lockdown Lakers Postcast. I'm Dave Palais. Hey, again, this episode is brought to you by a fan duel. Get ready to tackle the NFL action with Fan Duel, America's number one sport.

Starting point is 00:00:38 book because right now new customers can bet $5 to get $150 and bonus bets if you win. That's Fanduel. All right, Lakers, they lose that three-game winning streak. It comes to an end. Disappointing loss. It's always a disappointing loss, but it's disappointing tonight because the Lakers have played so well against teams that have a losing record. And for the Lakers facing the Pistons, a team that already knocked them out on November 4th

Starting point is 00:01:04 and an embarrassing loss, it was frustrating that they knew the Pistons were dangerous. What happened to payback? What happened to we can't let the Pistons sneak up on us? It's not like the Lakers blew the Pistons out when they faced them on November 4th. It was embarrassing. If you recall, there's a 115-103 game, and the Lakers was one of those where you say, you didn't come to play. And we know those are games like that in the NBA, but for the Lakers,

Starting point is 00:01:27 to have it happen twice against a team you're only going to face twice. One of the jokes of the league, it's embarrassing. It's embarrassing that happened at home. So, the Lakers, they fall tonight. 117, 114. How do they get to this point? Well, we'll talk about all of it. Again, my name is Dave Palais, a huge Laker fan. I follow the Lakers through the media as a credential member for more than 15 years. And as I say all the time, I have the good times. I had the time is when we had Kobe and we had Jack. And it was great covering that team and covering championships and being in the locker room and talking to the players before games and practices and afterwards. Or right now, none of that feels like what I'm saying. It does not feel like a championship team. We're, so frustrated that here we are. It's almost Christmas Day. And this team doesn't have an identity to what they are. Do they completely stink? Can they play better? What is going on with this roster and who's in it for the long haul? And at the same time, which guys need to be shown the door? Because right now,

Starting point is 00:02:22 this isn't working. It's just not working. So great win last weekend when they knocked off Memphis. It was fantastic. Memphis is one of the better teams in the league. You get that big win against Memphis. You go to Sacramento. You have to sit there for three days. You can play two. games, you knock out Sacramento, you take care of business, you come back to L.A. to face a Pistons team that should never sneak up on you. And so if you're a Laker fan like me, and I go way back, for me, I'm still frustrated about the 1989 finals when the Pistons beat the Lakers. I was frustrated that they lost four straight. If you remember, if you're my age or older, you remember that the Lakers had a fantastic team. They swept all the way through the playoffs and then injuries happen.

Starting point is 00:03:05 Nixon of Byron Scott had a torn hamstring. He couldn't play. Magic injured is hamstring. He couldn't play. You guys like David Rivers and Tony Campbell in the starting lineup and the team to have a chance. I thought that was an outstanding team. I love that team with Orlando Woolridge. I love that team.

Starting point is 00:03:19 And yet the Lakers lost. I'm still upset with the Pistons. So to ever lose to Detroit is one of those I have a hard time getting over. Even though there's no one from the Pistons with the Lakers that play tonight, it's still the franchises. And I know in Detroit in that miserable city, they're sitting there looking at the Lakers as this is one of the top teams that they love to beat because everybody loves to beat the Lakers. The Lakers are an upper echelon team. It is insane to see the way things worked out tonight.

Starting point is 00:03:45 The Lakers actually shot really well. The Lakers shot well, which looking at the box court, it doesn't make sense the way things went for the Lakers. I mean, here's a team that shot 54% from the field, 47% from three point range. I mean, that is an automatic win. Not only is not an automatic win, that's a blowout win. but we'll get to why things kind of fell apart for the Lakers. Going all the way back to the first quarter,

Starting point is 00:04:08 Lakers had a big lead. Lakers, though, did not finish the first quarter with the lead. And you go, how did that happen? If you watch that game from the very beginning, you watch the entire game, let's start it off, okay, if you missed anything. Starting five, same as what you've seen in the last couple games. It's Anthony Davis, it's Rui, it's Austin Reeve,

Starting point is 00:04:24 it's LeBron, Max Christie, okay? Lakers, again, coming into the game, we're 10-1 against teams with a losing record. That one loss was against Detroit. Now they're 10 and two against teams with a losing record. Embarrassing. Last five games, the Lakers defense has been ranked number one, averaging less than 100 points given up for a game. Well, tonight, they give up 117.

Starting point is 00:04:45 So again, they did not play up their capability. Almost like they were shocked that Detroit played as hard as they did. Very frustrating. Okay. So again, the Lakers three game winning street comes to an end. First quarter, LeBron James, his energy outstanding, back-to-back games, just like he did in Sacramento the other night. LeBron, his energy was outstanding.

Starting point is 00:05:03 guys on his back. Let's follow what LeBron's going to do. The Bronz seven points, three rebounds, four assists. In the quarter, Lakers took their foot off the pedal. And right when you think you're going to cruise, anyone who thinks you're going to cruise in the first quarter and that's going to last, either you haven't played in the NBA, you haven't watched the NBA, you have no idea how this works. That is insane that the Lakers took their foot off the pedal.

Starting point is 00:05:23 I tell you what, I blame JJ Redick on this. This is where you have to make some changes. Dalton Connect, who obviously was part of the plan tonight, did not play until the second quarter. We'll get into his game in a little bit as well. but when all of a sudden you're looking at the pitchings going a 10-0 run right in front of your face, dude, make a move. It wasn't like Anthony Davis was doing anything in the first quarter,

Starting point is 00:05:43 yet you left him out there for 11 minutes, 11 minutes and nothing happened. Maybe sit there and figure out exactly the plan of when Anthony Davis is playing, getting his wrestling when he's going back in. Very disappointing to see the way JJ Reddick is running his team right now. I know he's a new coach. That's too damn bad. I mean, we're in a situation where the season started in October, and we're at the end of December, figure it out.

Starting point is 00:06:05 All your assistant coaches are former head coaches. They should know exactly what's going on. And for us watching at home or if you're at the arena, you knew that the Lakers were slipping. 10-0-0-0-run to end the first quarter is ridiculous. Also, for help for LeBron in the first quarter, Rui had six points, followed by D'Angelo Russell. I also had six points.

Starting point is 00:06:26 Again, D'Angelo Russell, fantastic, okay? Fantastic that he provides another spark. We want to see consistency from D'Angelo Russell. For the Lakers, they were outscored. In the first quarter, as I mentioned, it was a freak bank shot three-pointer that gave the Pistons 34, Lakers 32. After one, second quarter, Lakers outscored the Pistons 34-28. Anthony Davis came to life. Second quarter, he scored six points, finishing the half with 10 points, four rebounds, four assists, two blocks.

Starting point is 00:06:55 Okay, looks like Anthony Davis came to play. He's ready to go. Austin Reeves, he finished the half, though, 9.6 rebanks. downs, but he had four turnovers. The turnovers tonight kill the Lakers. It is such a mind killer to go, all right, we're scoring, we're running our offense, we're playing defense, but we get the ball and we give it right back for easy buckets. And for the Lakers to continue to do this over and over again, Austin and Reeves usually isn't that player that turns the ball over that much. He had trouble with his passes. He had trouble with his dribble. A lot of things weren't

Starting point is 00:07:26 working out for Austin and Reeves. And it was a complete momentum shift for what the Lakers are doing on what the Pistons were doing. Dalton Connect, as I mentioned, it was nice to see him return to form. Man, Dalton Connect looked like the player we saw in November. Again, Connect was perfect in the half because you only played in the second quarter, seven points, two of two from the field, including making his first three-pointer in five games. Supposed to be a three-point specialist, but you made your first one of five games, I'll say it both free throws. So that felt good. Piston started the second quarter, right where they finished again. It was a 10-point run. Maybe they made it a 14-0-0. run before the Lakers finally scored.

Starting point is 00:08:03 They scored off, I think, LeBron James free throws, and then the Pistons nailed a three, and the Lakers had a fight back. The Daltz Connect, again, hit his first three-pointer in five games. What does that mean for the Lakers when you're having trouble with guys shooting the ball and knowing who can shoot the ball? If you notice tonight, you saw a lot of times where guys were passing, moving the ball around, and the wrong guy was shooting the threes. Guys would drive, they'd ship it out and go to Connect or it'd go to Gabe Vincent, boom,

Starting point is 00:08:30 they fire it back to Anthony Davis, and he's rifling a three. The Lakers don't want Anthony Davis shooting threes. We know that doesn't work. The Lakers have tried that in past years. Anthony Davis is not the Joker. He's not that guy that's going to make consistent three-pointers. When you got your three-point shooter, whether it's a Reeves, it's a connect, it's Gabe Vincent, those guys have to shoot it.

Starting point is 00:08:49 Stop dishing it off. And for the Lakers, again, the wrong guy had the ball. And just like Stu Lance said tonight, and I think in the same thing, nobody plays with the shot clock more than the Lakers, meaning why do they run it down to zero and then force up a shot that they don't need to force up? It's okay to shoot the ball with three seconds left and get a wide open shot instead of an off-balance shot right at zero. Or if the buzzer goes off and they don't get the shot off at all. It's not good basketball.

Starting point is 00:09:14 JJ Reddick can sit there and say anything he wants to the media. That's not good basketball. We've all watched Laker basketball for a long time. That's not good basketball. That's unacceptable basketball. Lakers at the half, they lead 64, 62. So 64, 62, and you're going, okay, the Lakers will turn this thing on. Things will get better for this team.

Starting point is 00:09:33 And at the same time, they'd come out in the third quarter and things didn't get better. So you wonder what was said at halftime, basically? What happened with this Laker team that it went this way? And so it's very frustrating to see where the Lakers are at, what they're doing, and what they need to do to move forward. But for this Laker team, it has to have to have. Has to change. Has to change.

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Starting point is 00:12:15 a little too fast and too long. I mean, it's a different NBA kind of body. We've talked about this about about a month ago about it's not your traditional NBA anymore where you have your point guard, your shooting guard, your small forward, your power forward and your center, not like the old days. It's a bunch of athletes out there. And if you look at the body types of these players, you look at the link and how basically, you know, the way they can move as far as arms and legs and cover so much ground, kind of like you see in the NFL right now.

Starting point is 00:12:43 It used to be, you saw those cornerbacks that were 5'9. Now you're seeing cornerbacks that are 6-2, 6.3. It's all about covering space. And so teams like the pistons that we've seen, athletic teams, Craig, you hit it right on the head. These young teams that are hungry and are athletes and they're fast and they might not be polished. But man, for these young guys to sit there and come to Los Angeles, they're one time a year against the Lakers and beat them, that is a big deal.

Starting point is 00:13:08 That is a big deal. That's a big win for that franchise. It's a big deal for that team. And yet at the same time, it doesn't work out really well. So for the Lakers, they've got to figure it out. I mean, you have veterans. What are you going to do? You have LeBron who's going to be 40.

Starting point is 00:13:21 You have Anthony Davis who's by 31 years old. And going, these are our guys. These are future Hall of Famers. It's not just those guys. It's the people you put around them. That's why you hear me talk about if you make a move, but Brandon Ingram is a guy to me that would fit in because he's built like those guys.

Starting point is 00:13:37 But at the same time, he could put the ball in the basket. Very frustrating night tonight for the Lakers. You can hear my frustration as I'm sitting here trying to break the game down for you. But here we go. Let's move over to the halftime and see how things went. 64, 62. Now, look, the Lakers' biggest lead in the first half was 10 points. Pistons' biggest lead was only seven.

Starting point is 00:13:56 You're still feeling pretty good. The part that was frustrating was the Lakers had nine turnovers in the first half. It gave the Pistons life. The Lakers bench scored 22 points in the first half. That's not bad for a Laker bench. Cam Reddish, seven points, D'Aljana Connect, 7. DeAngelo Russell had five, gave Vincent. He had three.

Starting point is 00:14:13 So that many points are going, okay, things will turn out because they couldn't really play worse yet they were shooting fantastic in the first half. Lakers shot 63% in the first half, 47% from three point range, 92% from the free throw line. Things were looking good. The one guy in the Pistons that was letting the Lakers up in the first half is former Laker Malik Beasley, which is always frustrating, right? Malik Beasley, a bunch of different stories around Malik when he was a Laker and his history, but to have him go to Detroit and come back to L.A. and lead the team of 14 points, always frustrating. Third a quarter, Pistons outscore the Lakers There's 3128.

Starting point is 00:14:48 I don't know what I said in that half-time speech. I mean, nice adjustments by JJ Redick there because there weren't any. They couldn't have played worse. As we said, the Pissons extended their 10-0 run to a 14-0-0 run. Through three-quarters, Anthony Davis, 19 points. So he got a little bit better as far as his energy and maybe being willing to play. First quarter, it looked like he wasn't ready to play tonight, which I never understand from a professional athlete.

Starting point is 00:15:11 19 points, though. He was brutal, though, from the free-throat line. Literally, you can look back at the score. and see what Anthony Davis did at the free throw line tonight, and you understand why they lost that game. Anthony Davis, again, he made just four of eight attempts through three quarters. LeBron James had 14 points, six boards, nine assists. Max Christie had 12 points through three quarters.

Starting point is 00:15:32 Things aren't too bad with some of the guys. Max Christie get more involved and feeling more comfortable with the guys he's playing with in the starting lineup was great for the third quarter. Cade Cunningham and Lee Lee Shee had 16 apiece to lead the pistons. Now, fourth quarter, this is a lot of the first quarter. this is where things got out of hand. And this is where as a Laker fan, you get a little bit frustrated. Things get a little bit out of hand for the Lakers because, you know, all of a sudden,

Starting point is 00:15:56 they're down by eight, and then all of a sudden they're down by 10. And then you're sitting there looking at the clock and you're going, is there enough time for this team to come back? And you start getting very frustrated to say, are they going to be able to do it? Well, lo and behold, look at the Lakers. They start making a run. Two minutes left in the game, they start making a run. And you're saying, I've seen this before.

Starting point is 00:16:18 This might be one that the Lakers win at the end or they go to overtime, but the Lakers aren't losing in the Pistons. When push comes to shove, this is where the veteran show what they can do. This is where LeBron James shows what he can do, with Anthony Davis shows what he can do, even Austin Reeves. Someone's going to step up and make plays for this team, and they're going to go on a run, and they did, and they almost had it. And then at the very end, Lakers are down by three to get a last second look at the last shot.

Starting point is 00:16:45 It's a wide open shot by LeBron. He's the one that shoots it, and LeBron misses it. I think this is where the frustrating part comes out for a lot of Laker fans, because there are a lot of Laker fans out there who always love Kobe. And because they love Kobe so much, they almost feel like they can't cheer for LeBron or they have nothing good to say about LeBron. I told him before. It's okay to like all of them.

Starting point is 00:17:06 Big Magic fan, big Kobe fan, big LeBron fan. I like them all. If they're wearing my uniform, I'm a fan. I want to see them do well. Change uniforms not fan anymore. But for LeBron, taking those shots, this is where a lot of criticism happens. Kobe missed a lot of game winners. We all know that.

Starting point is 00:17:21 But we see Kobe in our mind hitting every game winner, right? It's the same thing with Michael Jordan. The Michael Jordan, you know, oh, man, the guy was clutch, hit a bunch of game winners. Michael Jordan missed more game winners than he made. The thing is LeBron never hits a game winner for the Lakers. The frustrating thing is that LeBron shoots that last shot. And I don't know about you, but in my mind, I'm like, I don't want LeBron shooting this shot. I want someone else shooting this shot.

Starting point is 00:17:45 And it's tough to say, I'm sure, for JJ Redick when they're sitting in drawing up plays, it's tough for, LeBron's not going to say someone else shoot it. I sure don't want Anthony Davis shooting it. But at the same time, LeBron just doesn't have a history in a Laker uniform and knocking these shots down on a regular basis. It seems like we see this ending a lot when the Lakers lose at the end and LeBron gets that last shot. It doesn't fall. And so for Laker fans, it's very frustrating that who should get that shot.

Starting point is 00:18:10 Now, look, who's a wide open shot? The Pistons weren't afraid of LeBron shooting that shot, which is funny because one of LeBron's best game winning shots in history came when he was with the calves against the pistons in the postseason. But LeBron just has not done that in a Laker uniform. So, yeah, he had a wide open look. It wasn't even a good miss. It wasn't even one that looked like it even had a chance. I mean, when the Lakers miss, man, they really miss. It's not like, man, we're almost there. Now, we hit some pretty good bricks. And so it wasn't, it wasn't the move. And then, you know, we saw how it works out. Lakers lose 117, 114, 114. LeBron walks off the court, walks by his kid.

Starting point is 00:18:43 that's kind of weird, right? Just sitting there and you walk right behind your kid after you just lost a potential game time shot and the Lakers fall short. What is the excuse? What's it like in that locker room right now? Because the Lakers get a home game. It seems like a long time since the Lakers have had a chance to get these home games. I know the schedule shows that they're going to have a bunch of them coming up. But it does not supposed to get easier than like the Detroit Pistons.

Starting point is 00:19:08 You're supposed to beat the Detroit Pistons, a team on the east that comes to the west inside of your building. very frustrating the way that worked out. So the Lakers, LeBron, they fall short. Now, who on the Lakers? Do you feel need to do a better job? I'm seeing right here, people saying D-Lo and Reeves, they played horrible tonight. Look, when you look at the turnovers, man, it hurts a lot.

Starting point is 00:19:29 So let's go back to why the Lakers lost this game. Turnovers. Lakers had 18, 18 turnovers tonight. Unbelievable. Okay, so if you want to figure out that every one of those turnovers turns into points, which did not exactly happen. but 18 turnovers. So the Pistons only had 12. Lakers have 18 pistons of 12.

Starting point is 00:19:50 So there's a difference of six right there that the Lakers, you know, maybe could have taken advantage of some points or they gave away some free points, which they did. A lot of layups, right? A lot of layups, a lot of wide open shots because of those 18 turnovers hurt you. The free throws is what always frustrates me. I just don't understand how pros can miss free throws the way they did. And so Anthony Davis, he finishes four of eight from the line.

Starting point is 00:20:13 I mean, he misses four right there. LeBron, he missed one. That's it. So that's five points right there. You lost by three. You gave away five points in free throws. You know what the piston shot tonight? They were perfect from the free throw line.

Starting point is 00:20:27 Perfect. 12 at 12. Lakers left five points right there off the scoreboard because they can't make free throws. The guys who missed them, they're the Hall of Famers that missed them. Lakers shot 80% from the line. And that's because he had one missed by LeBron. and get four misses by Anthony Davis. Unacceptable right there.

Starting point is 00:20:45 Rui, 4-4 from the free-throw line. Did what you're supposed to do from the line when you get there? It should be automatic, man. You're an NBA player. It should be automatic. Looking at Dilo is who was just called out in the chat. Delo, 16 minutes, 1 of 5 shooting tonight. 1 of 4 from 3-point range.

Starting point is 00:21:04 Made both as free throws, but that's it. 5 assists, negative 13 in the plus minus. disappointing for DeLo right there. If you look at it, Gabe Vincent, you know, not bad game for Gabe Vincent, 19 minutes, 3 or 5 from the field made three, three-three pointers. Okay, nine points, okay? Nine points for Gabe Vincent.

Starting point is 00:21:25 Maybe he deserves more playing time. Maybe they need to figure that out really quickly. Which guys have it, which guys don't on a regular basis? Dalton Connect, who again played a perfect second quarter, some reason didn't play it all in third quarter, right? And Dalton Connect, very minimal time. 16 minutes. It's hard to get in a groove when you're a shooter and you're only playing 16 minutes. Two or four from the fields, one or two, three point range. Again, seven points for Dalt to Connect,

Starting point is 00:21:50 but he kind of looked like Daltar Connect. I mean, this is what you want. You want Dalta Connect to come in and do your thing, do his thing, and then Dalta Connect, unfortunately, isn't able to get his rhythm and get the playing time that maybe he needs at that moment. So it's a little bit frustrating that they didn't see that, especially JJ Redick being a shooter, the fact that they didn't see that as far as what they could do to get them more involved in the game earlier when it shows that maybe a shot finally came back for the first time in a month. Anyway, it is extremely frustrating. Hey, want to mention the people over at Built, today's episode sponsored by Built Rewards. If you're a renter, listen up. This is a total game changer, thanks to Built.

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Starting point is 00:24:57 Well, for the Lakers, obviously, they're going to face the Warriors on Christmas Day. This is one of those deals where the Lakers travel. They face Steph Curry, and it's a big media deal. and even the people who are back east, they don't miss this game. This is a 5 o'clock tip off up in the Bay Area on Christmas Day. I'll be right here with you, post game, the whole deal.

Starting point is 00:25:15 I told my family, you guys, go ahead and without me. You guys go ahead and visit everybody else. I'm watching Lakers Warriors. I'll be doing a Laker post game right here, locked on Los Angeles, locked on Lakers post game. We'll be talking Laker basketball. I hope you're talking about a win. But it's Steph and it's LeBron,

Starting point is 00:25:32 two of the greatest players of all time, two Olympic teammates. Again, with Anthony. to New Davis, they're pretty exciting to see what's going on. But it's always fun when the Warriors play the Lakers. What does that mean for the Lakers and what do they need to do? Well, here's the good news for the Lakers. The Lakers face a Warriors team that hasn't played great basketball of late,

Starting point is 00:25:51 which is fantastic. It would stink right now if we're talking about, oh, no, we've got to go up to the Bay Area and face a Warriors team that's on fire. The Warriors have lost seven of their last 10 games. They're 15 and 13 on the season. And for the Lakers, this is a pretty big. pretty good time to face them. The deal is with that loss tonight in the standings, how did that hurt the Lakers? I hurt big time. Okay, so I'm going to run it down for you.

Starting point is 00:26:14 Again, the Lakers, last time we did a show, the Lakers were the number five seed in the West. With the loss today, the Lakers fell to number seven. So number one, it's still Oklahoma City. Man, they're on fire. They've won eight straight games, nine of their last 10. Houston Rockets have now moved up to number two. I might be wrong on the Rockets. I keep telling you they're going to collapse. They haven't. They've won three in a row, seven of their last 10. their 20 and 9. Memphis is now number three. Dallas Mavericks, 19 and 10. Denver Nuggets are the fifth seed at 1611. Clippers, hurts to say. Clippers are 17 and 13 and then the six seat, and it's the Lakers right behind the Clippers. Lakers will match up really soon, by the way. We'll get close. As we get close to that, we'll talk more about that. What that means is the Lakers first matchup with the clippers is going to be and then to it don't. Lakers, though, are the seventh seed. It kind of hurts. It's not where we want to be. Lakers need to be.

Starting point is 00:27:05 top four seed to basically make this run a little bit easier for them as they get to the playoffs and make that run starting in April. Golden State Warriors are the eighth seed. So the Lakers can't afford to lose to the Warriors. Lakers right now only a half game better than the Warriors. Even though the Warriors have struggles, it just said, if only won three of their last 10, the Warriors only half game back, the Lakers at the eight seed. Spurs are now in it. Spurs are now playoff team. They're the ninth seed. And Minnesota, who has not played their best basketball this season. Minnesota's dropped three straight games, and Minnesota's the 10th seed. The teams who are on the outside looking in in the West, surprising that's the Phoenix Suns,

Starting point is 00:27:45 who people say they will get better, Sacramento Kings, probably not a playoff team. Portland Trailblazers is not a playoff team, Utah Jazz, not a playoff team, and the New Orleans Pelicans. So I'm always curious as I ask you, who do you want to see possibly be traded here? We've heard about a bunch of big men being traded here. Does Anthony Davis need help? I think they need help scoring. I think they need some more threats. Again, I'm going to stay with the Brandon Ingram move. People could say, well, when Brandon Ingram was here, he didn't play well with LeBron. That's

Starting point is 00:28:11 when Brandon Ingram was immature. Since he left, he's been an all-star. Brandon Ingram's a different player. I think maturity and also skill-wise, since he's gone to the Pelicans. I think bringing Brandon Ingram back would be a plus for this team. In the East, if you're curious, Cleveland Cavs continue

Starting point is 00:28:27 to roll. And still rolling right now with the best record in the NBA. Cavs are 26 and 4. five-game winning streak. They have the one-seed Celtics. They have the two-seed, Nick's three-seed. Not worried about the East a lot. By the way, if you're wondering about the Pistons with the win today, they're now a 10th seed, and they're in the playoffs. You know, thanks to the Lakers, they're basically in the playoffs. Always fun to see where, for me, there's certain teams I really dislike in this league. Philadelphia 76s or one of them.

Starting point is 00:28:56 I like to see that the 76ers are on the outside looking in. The whole Joel M.B. thing is a complete disaster. So good. but it couldn't happen to a better team, better franchise, and a guy that doesn't always give us best effort. So overall, Lakers, very frustrating the way this worked out. Can they turn things around on Christmas Day against Golden State? I think they can. I think it'll be exciting.

Starting point is 00:29:17 And you know the Lakers know who's watching. The Lakers know that this is a national game. The Lakers know that this is going to be the game of the day with the highest ratings that from coast to coast, this is the game that casual basketball fans will watch. A chance to see Steph Curry and LeBron on the floor at the same time, in a big Christmas Day game is always big. I always have the theory that the NBA starts the season at the wrong time.

Starting point is 00:29:38 NBA should start the season on Christmas Day every single year, my opinion. Drag it out, drag the season out into August. Don't start in October. Drag that season out from Christmas Day when everybody's excited and people are watching. You get people fired up about your sport. You run that thing through August because there's nothing going on in sports outside of baseball in July anyway. And then it wraps up in August.

Starting point is 00:30:00 NFL college football starts in September. and boom, we're ready to go, and our sports calendar is looking pretty good. Because we all know people are so consumed with football by the time the NBA starts in late October that they aren't paying attention to it. They don't pay attention until December 25th, so why not start the season on December 25th? All right, we're going to get on out of here. Again, I will join you for the post game show for the Lakers Warriors on Christmas Day. I hope you are right here with me.

Starting point is 00:30:28 Again, looking for solutions on what this team does. I also want to mention, don't forget Brian and Andy, if you like the Lockdown Lakers podcast, those guys do a great job. They do a daily podcast. You check those guys out. I'm here for the post games, but again, Brian and Andy do a great job. Make sure you check those guys out. I am with you through the entire season for Lockdown Lakers post game, and I will talk

Starting point is 00:30:50 Laker basketball with you, but looking for solutions for what this team can do. Check out all the L.A. sports, Lockdown Sports, Los Angeles. Again, whether you're a Laker fan and you're also a fan, let's say, of UCLA, USC, the Dodgers, you name it. I'm a huge fan of these teams, too. So that's your place to go. Locked on, sports, Los Angeles. That's the way to go.

Starting point is 00:31:10 So we will be back on Wednesday, Christmas night. Please join me. And if you have any comments about what this team can do to get better, because right now it is extremely, extremely frustrating. Thanks again. Again, final score tonight. Pistons 117. Lakers 114.

Starting point is 00:31:26 I'm Dave Palais. You can follow me on social media platforms. It's right there in the corner of the screen. It's right there as simple as enough to read my name. Otherwise, have a great night, everyone. Merry Christmas and enjoy your time with your family.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - LAKERS POSTCAST Lakers lose to Pistons 117-113

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