Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - LAKERS POSTCAST Lakers Prepare for PLAYOFFS

Starting point is 00:00:05 You are a Locked-on Lakers podcast. Part of Locked-on Sports Los Angeles on the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Well, the Lakers close out their season in Portland with the playoff seeds already set. The Lakers sit their stars. And, of course, we talked about the Lakers making another NBA title run. I was holding off for a little bit to see what we could get out of the Golden State Warriors Clippers game. as we do the postcast right now, that game is an overtime. I can't do play-by-play for you,

Starting point is 00:00:41 but I will tell you who wins the game and what it means for the Lakers on who they will face in the postseason, because right now, of course, we're waiting to see who the Lakers' first round opponent's going to be with the Lakers being the home team. So obviously they're going to get home corner advantage in the first round. The Lakers wrap up the season, finishing 50 and 32 on the year,

Starting point is 00:01:02 the first year for J.J. Redick as an NBA head coach, really the first year, a coach at any major level, whether that's college or pro. So did a fantastic job to see how far the Lakers have come with J.J. Reddick. We can talk about that as well. We'll take your comments, what you think about the Lakers heading into the postseason, how comfortable you are. But right now, let's get to what everyone's going to be talking about. This is what you'll be talking about. Well, everyone's going to be talking about tomorrow morning who the Lakers matchups

Starting point is 00:01:32 going to be on all the national shows on Monday. What are the Lakers' chances of winning an NBA title? For the Lakers, their chances are winning an NBA title after wrapping up the seasons, we just said 50 and 32, is they have to go through tough teams and we're in the Western Conference. The Western Conference is not a cakewalk, whereas in the East you can sit there and say there are some rounds that you're going to go. That's easy to pick. But in the West, there are going to be some upsets and there are teams that are very balanced and to figure out which way things are going to go. Now, for us as Laker fans, we want to know, are we going to face the Golden State Warriors? are we going to face the Minnesota Timberwolves?

Starting point is 00:02:08 And we will have an answer for that very soon. But that will be the talk. The talk nationally, they want to make sure at some point the Lakers face the Golden State Warriors. Look, the Minnesota Timberwolves have talent on that team. They have players we know, right? They have Anthony Edwards. They have Julius Randall, former Laker.

Starting point is 00:02:25 And, of course, the Timberwolves are a team that a lot of people thought can make a serious run for a championship this year. And so far, people have said Minnesota has not played up to what they thought they were going to be. And so even a talk coming out of Minnesota that there could be a coaching change, which would be very interesting, that talk to Mike Malone could end up in Minnesota if Minnesota does not advance throughout the postseason.

Starting point is 00:02:46 So it will be interesting to see how the West plays out. But for the Lakers, all we care about are our chances of winning a championship. So the Lakers, again, they wrap up the number three seed. And we spoke about this a lot during the Laker post game shows, saying what are we going to do here as far as can we be a top four seed? They didn't want to be a play in team we weren't. And the Lakers did become a top four seed. And at one point, they moved up to a number two.

Starting point is 00:03:12 And the Lakers finished at number three, which is absolutely fine. But I think it is important that the Lakers do have home corner advantage through the first round. And so it's going to be important. So I'm kind of curious to know what you think, who you want to see the Lakers face. Do you want to see Golden State or do you want to see Minnesota? We can get some of your comments right now. So, you know, Craig, I see you right there. I see BC right there.

Starting point is 00:03:36 You guys are always loyal. I apologize to you guys for always being loyal to me and always been loyal to, of course, Locked on Lakers Postcast. I missed the last couple shows. Sick as could be, as you guys know, the last couple weeks. You guys are with me all the time.

Starting point is 00:03:50 And then, unfortunately, for the Houston Rockets game, just personally a terrible day, had to bury my best friend and spoke at his funeral and just was not able to come to the microphone and do a show. So here again, I'll be with you. guys through the postseason, but I appreciate you guys being great and loyal to the Lockdown Lakers postcast all the way through. At the same time, when you want to follow Laker basketball, every single day get your coverage, I tell you, Brian and Andy, they do a great job. Again,

Starting point is 00:04:20 I'm here for the lockdown postcasts and happy to do it. And happy you guys are writing this with me because I can feel that you guys love the Lakers, the way I love the Lakers too. So we've got a great audience. And again, I can tell you, with the minute remaining, in the game, Clippers are up by four over Golden State. I'll tell you my preference right now is I'd rather see Minnesota in the first round. I think the Lakers are better than both Minnesota and Golden State, but I would like to see Minnesota in the first round and see Golden State a little bit down the road. I think the Lakers with Luca and the rotation they have going.

Starting point is 00:04:55 With JJ, I'd like to see them still get polished and get an idea of how they're going to use that bench when it comes to, you know, using your seven, eight-man rotation, whatever for the JJ decides to do should be pretty interesting. So look, that game's winding up right now. Again, 54.8 seconds remaining in that game, and that will dictate who the Lakers are going to play through the postseason in the first round. So we're trying to delay this a little bit.

Starting point is 00:05:20 We'll talk about today's game as today was kind of a throwaway game because the Lakers decided to rest all their stars. If you're an NBA fan and you live in Portland and you bought tickets for this game thinking you're going to see Lucan, you're going to see LeBron, you didn't see any of those guys. And that's one of those things that kind of stinks about being an NBA fan when the Lakers come to town. You don't exactly know, especially when you have veterans or what's going to happen now. And then in the year, I think this was the right move for JJ Redick.

Starting point is 00:05:45 Why take a chance of getting guys hurt at the same time? Portland's like, we want to increase our chances in the lottery. We aren't in a hurry to move things around either and shake things up. But look, they end up went in a game because the Lakers played guys that normally don't play and normally won't play in the postseason. And only a few guys that played today, I think you'll see in the postseason. As I've said before, I want to see more Adalta Connect who led the team today with 27 points. So I'm a Delta Connect fan, want to see more of that.

Starting point is 00:06:13 We will get more of an update for you. I will fire through some of the sponsors that help us out. We'll start off with prize picks. Basketball and hockey playoffs, they're heating up. They're almost here. There's no better way to turn your sports knowledge into real rewards with prize picks, the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy. Now, with prize picks, you simply picked more or less on at least two player projections you're in.

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Starting point is 00:08:55 Clippers have a two-point lead. again, the way it plays out for the Lakers, if the Clippers win, Minnesota will play the Lakers in their playoff matchup in the first round. If Golden State wins, Golden State will face the Lakers in the first round. So just to give you an idea of how that's going to go, we're going to hang out through this postcast until this game's over and talk about it a little bit as well. But again, a lot going on right there. Let's go through today's game. Lakers, again, they lose 109,81, in a game that was meaningless for the Lakers. They already won their 50 games,

Starting point is 00:09:29 which is nice to have for JJ Reddick. That was kind of cool for him. Again, if you remember, it seems like a long, long time ago that we thought we were going to get Hurley from Yukon as our new coach. Well, he turns it down. And now there's talk that Hurley could end up with the Denver Nuggets, which is very strange.

Starting point is 00:09:45 I mean, all of a sudden, things were so great with his family and his wife and saying, Yukon feels like home, but all of a sudden Denver feels like home, or it's just a way to get into the pay raise for the Hurley, early family with Yukon. So whatever. I'm happy to what we have.

Starting point is 00:10:00 I like JJ Redick with his staff. I like what they've done. I questioned a lot of things the first couple months of the season, but it's amazing when Rob Lincoln got JJ some players that he was able to figure things out. Laker box score today. Laker box score, of course, Dalton Connect at a great game, 27 points. Jake Milton, he was active.

Starting point is 00:10:19 Took the ball to the hole a lot. Jake Milton actually shot the ball 15 times today. Only four of them are three-point shots. usually shake is a guy that's going to sit there and fire from behind the arc. But he shot four three-pointers. He was one of four from behind the arc, five of 15, just regular shooting overall. So he finishes with 16 points and 43 minutes. That's a lot of minutes.

Starting point is 00:10:42 You know, you know they're pro basketball players, but at the same time, unless you're used to playing 43 minutes, it takes a lot out of you. Kind of surprising that they were in that situation right there. Alex Lynn, he got the start in 14 minutes. he had four points. You guys know I feel about Alex Lynn. I honestly think he's the worst player in the entire league, maybe the worst Laker of all time. Marquith Morris, who I'm a fan of.

Starting point is 00:11:03 I was like Marquif that you hardly ever see him, but when he steps on the court, he acts like he's been playing, you know, 25 minutes a game, every single game. He never seems rattled. Always seems like a guy I want to see in a Lake of a uniform because it's kind of that enforcer type, kind of people seem intimidated by him, but in 33 minutes getting to start today,

Starting point is 00:11:22 five or 10, finished with 11 points on that, Now, the big person that everybody was talking about was Brony James getting a start today. Now, Brony, I was hoping he was going to have a big game because we've seen Brony do great things in the G League. You can say whatever you want about the G League that is like defense the way it is in NBA All-Star Games. But Brony, in 38 minutes, was two of ten from the field. He shot up two, three-pointers, missed both of those. Not a great day for him. He finished the four points.

Starting point is 00:11:48 He did have six assists, three rebounds, but Brony didn't tear it up in the last regular season game of the year. And Jordan Goodwin, of course, we know Jordan can play, and we see Jordan start at times. And 30 minutes for Jordan, Jordan got 12 points in those 30 minutes, 5 of 14 from the field, 2 of 5 from 3 point range. So for the Lakers, that was it. That was their 81 points. Almost a season low for the Lakers was not a season low. I believe the season low on the year was 79 points. But for the Lakers, this was a complete throwaway game.

Starting point is 00:12:19 So nothing to get worried about. The most important thing is that everyone got on the plane healthy to go back to Los Angeles. And moving forward, that was the win for the Lakers right there. So, you know, overall, not not impressive, nothing impressive that Portland did because at the same time, that wasn't Portland's best showing as well. Give you just an update as we do this and we're waiting and see again who the Lakers are going to play. The Clippers right now with 6.1 seconds remaining, they have a three-point lead, 122, 119 over Golden State. So we'll wait in to talk about that right there. Do want to mention, of course, everything that's going on.

Starting point is 00:13:01 Let me get one last one in, so we have plenty of time to talk about, you know, moving forward who the Lakers are going to face as I'm sitting there trying to buy time for the postseason talk. Let's mention the people over at Fandall. NBA players almost here, and Fandle has given new customers an incredible way to get in the action. Right now you can join Fandul and place your first $5 bet. You get $250 in bonus bets if you win. I love Fandul. Fan Duel is awesome.

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Starting point is 00:13:57 Don't miss out, head to fandle.com and claim your $250 and bonus bets today. All right. Again, with six seconds remaining clippers have that three point lead. So we're waiting for that to go through. I tell you, we just went through the box score right there. So let's finish that segment right there and talk about who was your player of the game. This is the locked on player of the game. You're locked on player of the game.

Starting point is 00:14:27 It's Dalton Connect, my guy, a big Dalton Connect fan. I hope he doesn't disappear in the postseason. I do hope JJ Redick uses them. I think it's important to have a guy that shoots threes, especially if you're trying to either basically expand your lead or to sit there and put a rally together for a comeback. I guess basically the problem with, excuse me, I'll give me an update right now. Clippers 122, 119, 3 seconds remaining Clippers have the ball.

Starting point is 00:14:55 with Dalton Connect is that Dalton Connect is 37 minutes today with 27 points. It's Alton Connect's defense is what the criticism is. I don't see it. I know the Lakers have players on the team that aren't great defenders, but the Lakers also have players on the team who are very good defenders that I think can pick him up, whether it's a Jared Vanderbilt, Adorian Finney Smith. There are guys on this team that play solid defense, but I would like to see more Dalton Connect.

Starting point is 00:15:20 Right now I'm at the point, JJ, whatever you see in practice, whatever that rotation is, thing is let's get the Lakers an NBA title. And for for us as fans, we want to see that combination, whatever that is. And for Luca and LeBron, they're going to be big and those guys have something to prove in the postseason. LeBron basically wants to win a championship in a Laker uniform to give them that one more. Again, title-wise, he can never have enough because LeBron's always talking about legacy. And at the same time, Luca has a lot to prove after losing the NBA finals in the past. So here's the deal. The Clippers win this game. So the Lakers, that means they were going to

Starting point is 00:15:59 face Minnesota. That is a big deal for the Lakers. Remember the Lakers' first game of the year this season was against Minnesota. So basically, it's going to end the way it began. Lakers are going to face Minnesota at home to start the postseason, and that's what we're waiting for right there. That's what everybody's talking about. That's going to be the big deal. There are a lot of people with major networks that are going to be very upset that the Warriors lost this game because they wanted to guarantee you were going to see Stefan, you're going to see LeBron in the postseason. Now, there's still a chance they can face each other, but as of right now, they will not face each other in the first round.

Starting point is 00:16:33 And that is fine. As a Laker fan, that's exactly what I was hoping was going to happen. Minnesota is still dangerous, as we said before, but now we have an idea of how this thing is going to shape up. So here's the deal. If you're Golden State, you are not where you want to be. Golden State is now the seventh seat. So as you look at how this postseason shapes up, the number one seed is, of course, is Oklahoma City.

Starting point is 00:16:56 If you watch the Lakers against Oklahoma City, when it mattered, the Lakers prove they can beat Oklahoma City. They prove they can beat the Rockets. The Lakers are the number three seed. Number four seed, the Denver Nuggets. Clippers are the five seeds. So the Clippers will face the Denver Nuggets in the first round. Minnesota will face the Lakers in the first round. And then Oklahoma City and Houston, of course, they'll wait to see who's left.

Starting point is 00:17:18 So the seventh seed is going to be goal. Golden State. Eighth seed is going to be Memphis. Ninth seed is going to be Sacramento, and Anthony Davis and the Mavericks will be the 10th seed. Phoenix Suns didn't get in with Kevin Durant and those three stars, they did not get in. Phoenix didn't get in. Portland didn't get in. San Antonio didn't get in New Orleans and Utah, all out. So your top 10 teams again are set, and we know how it's going to play out. For the Lakers, I like this matchup in the first round. If you're wondering in the Eastern Conference how it's going to face out, your number one seed was Cleveland. Boston never caught them. You know, everyone thought Boston was going to catch Cleveland. They never did.

Starting point is 00:17:56 Boston's the number two seed, Knicks three, Indiana, four, Milwaukee, five, Detroit, six, Orlando seven, Atlanta, eight, Chicago nine, and the Miami Heat, 10. It's funny, when I list all those teams in the east, I don't think we're scared of a lot of them. I think we just figured you've got to get out of the West and you can be okay. the team that gave the Lakers a really hard time out of the east was Chicago. Chicago was that team that you go, what the heck? When we did not match up well with Chicago at all, but Chicago being the nine seed, they're going to be knocked out. Chicago is not a team that will make it to the NBA finals.

Starting point is 00:18:28 Again, I think everybody, even though they finished with the number two seed, they're expecting the Boston Celtics to come out of the east. And for the West, everyone's going to fight it out. And I'm not saying it because I'm a homer. I honestly believe the Lakers and Celtics are the two best teams in the NBA. looking at your comments, BC, I called it. Okay, here we go. Uncanny suit 97, right there.

Starting point is 00:18:51 It says it right there, wolves Lakers. It's official. It is official. It will be exciting. B.C. Brony will not be playing in the playoffs. If he is playing in the playoffs, that means the Lakers have a pretty good lead.

Starting point is 00:19:02 So overall, it is pretty cool to see what happened. How many times have you, as a Laker fan, rooted for the Clippers? Today was one of those days. I think a lot of Laker fans are rooting for the Clippers. Again, not a fear factor deal. Just we like our odds better playing against Minnesota. But I was doing the same thing.

Starting point is 00:19:20 I was rooting for the Clippers to win that game. So we're going to see how this thing plays out. Appreciate you guys being patient, waiting for that game in the end. Started this postcast a little bit later just for the idea that we'd get a chance to see what the Lakers are going to be playing. What's the point to start early and not know? But again, I appreciate you guys being with me. Again, you can catch any of these locked on shows anywhere you get your podcast.

Starting point is 00:19:42 Again, I will be with you throughout the post. season. Looking forward to it. I hope it's a good time. I hope we are doing this all the way through June as I think the Lakers honestly are the best team in the West. I think the Lakers can win an NBA title this year. Never thought I'd be saying that in December when I was super frustrated with Rob Polinka. But man, to pull off a deal to get Luca, who, what an amazing, amazing trade that we'll be talking about the rest of our Laker lives. So very, very cool. All right, let's finish this L.A. Day off with a good day. Let's see the Dodgers get a win. on Sunday night baseball.

Starting point is 00:20:16 My goodness, yesterday was tough. So Lakers in the afternoon, Dodgers in the evening, nothing like winning in Los Angeles. Let's continue those wins. Again, you can catch all these locked on shows to the lockdown network. Appreciate you joining me today. I will see you next time when the Lakers

Starting point is 00:20:31 play the Minnesota Timberwolves in game one of the playoffs. Have a great night, everybody.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - LAKERS POSTCAST Lakers Prepare for PLAYOFFS

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