Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - LAKERS POSTCAST LeBron James and the new look Lakers run the Clippers out of the building 122-97

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

The new-look Lakers, playing their first game without Anthony Davis, were led by LeBron James’s 26 points, 8 rebounds, and 9 assists as the Los Angeles Lakers, playing without Luka Doncic, crushed crosstown rivals Los Angeles Clippers 122-97. The Lakers, who are playing their best basketball of the season, will look to continue their winning ways Thursday night when they host the Golden State Warriors.Lakers, LA Lakers, Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Anthony Davis, Rui, Hachimura Austin Reeves, NBA, Lakers Post cast, JJ Redick, Dalton Knecht, Dave Palet, Lakers vs Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers vs Los Angeles Clippers Support Us, By Supporting Our Sponsors!FAN DUEL Get ready to tackle the NFL with FanDuel America’s – Number One Sportsbook! Because right now, new customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED in BONUS BETS, if you win!The FanDuel app is easy to navigate, and the variety of bets keeps every game exciting. Plus, when you win, you get paid instantly—no waiting around for your winnings. Whether you’re betting on your favorite team or just looking to add some extra excitement to the playoffs, FanDuel has you covered.Just visit FANDUEL DOT COM to join today and get started with TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS. That’s FANDUEL DOT COM.BETTER HELPIf you're not sure what they look like, therapy can help you identify them, actively practice them, and even embody that green flag energy yourself. Whether you're dating, married, building a friendship, or just working on yourself, therapy can help you form relationships that love you back.PERSONAL EXPERIENCE- Therapy helps you develop healthy boundaries and improves your communication skills.- It empowers you to set clear expectations and express your needs in relationships.- Therapy provides tools for managing conflict in ways that strengthen your connections rather than break them down.BetterHelp makes it easy by offering online therapy, with over 30,000 licensed therapists to choose from. And if you need to switch therapists, you can do so at no extra cost.CALL TO ACTIONDiscover your relationship “green flags” with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com/lockedonnba today to get 10% off your first month. That’s BetterHelp—H-E-L-P—dot com slash lockedonnba. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You are Locked-on NBA crossover, part of the Locked-on podcast network. Your team every day. What is up? Welcome to the Locked-on Clippers and Lakers crossover postcast on the Lockdown Sports L.A. YouTube channel I and Pete Fox covering sports on L.A. dating back to 2007 for ESPN, LA and NBC Sports Radio. And he is Dave L.A., covering sports from L.A. all the way down to San Diego since the 90s.

93. 93. So that's what you got tonight. We come on right after the game and we break it down for you. Tonight's episode of the Locked-on Clippers and Lakers postcast is brought you by Fandul. Super Bowl 59 is here and there's no better way to make every play more exciting with Fandual Sportsbook. New customers can now bet $5. And if you win that bet, you'll score $200 in bonus bets. Download the app and head to fandual.com to get started. Well, tonight, Dave was an absolute laffer for the Lakers. The play-by-play guys on TNT about, I don't know, halfway through the third, we're just talking about Luca. It's like they were doing a sports talk show with a basketball game going on in the background.

They didn't even care about the game on the floor because it was so over and it was so one-sided. I was like, I said in the first half, like coming up to the break when it was 25, I'm all this game's over. The Clippers are not going to come back, mainly because the Lakers are just too hot from beyond the arc. And the Clippers have absolutely no rhythm, no desire, no momentum. They are just playing this lazy style of basketball. And I haven't seen him play that poorly in a long time.

And mind you, being healthy, like Clipper fans can at least come up with an excuse every now and then, well, Kauai was out. well, Kauai was on limited minutes. Well, Norm was out. Everyone was there. Although they did roll the minutes back on Kauai, mainly because they were getting their butt handed to them. So, yeah, it was just a really ugly loss for the clippers

and a very dominant, like, Laker fans have to be thrilled after that performance. You know, you're absolutely right. I mean, the Lakers played so well. I did not expect that at all. I mean, I understand that, hey, they understand they're without Anthony Davis and Luke is not playing and, you know, what are we? And they just had a successful road trip where they had a great night on Saturday. The game against the Knicks goes right up there with one of their best games of the season. And here they are.

They come back to L.A., obviously at Intuit a couple weeks ago, you and I did the show, Pete, and the Lakers were terrible. I mean, they're absolutely terrible. Do not look good. It almost felt like, first of all, the energy for the Lakers was outstanding. And for me, it kind of felt like, are you guys? trying to show off for Luca to show how good you guys can be to keep him excited about being there. But the Lakers energy tonight was absolutely, you know, incredible. And they outscore the Clippers 4529 in the first quarter.

Lakers barely score 30 points in any quarter. So to get 45 in the first was crazy, but they shot 75% from the field and 64% from three point range, completely opposite of what the Lakers normally do. But it was an incredible start for them. and LeBron was, you know, a guy that usually kind of fuels the game out before he decides, hey, am I going to have to score a ton in this game? And he looked like, hey, I'm going to put on a show tonight. That's just kind of kind of the way it's going to be.

Zero turnovers for the Lakers in the first quarter. The Clippers had, I think, five, maybe four. I checked out about midway through the second. The Clippers on the night, this is staggering. They had only nine turnovers. Very rarely do they lose a game when they are, that good in the turnover department. And this one wasn't close

at any point in time. Lakers led by as many as 31. The clippers grabbed a one point lead for a second and that was that. Clippers had a better night stealing the ball. They had nine versus seven. But this is where it all fell apart for them, beyond the arc. Yep. 29%.

Nobody could hit a three. They hit some, but they couldn't get on a roll. I had to pick up my daughter from volleyball practice. I listened to half of the second quarter in the car. And it was like, I listened to the Lakers broadcast because I'm a John Ireland fan. And I was like this, whoever had the ball for the Lakers, whether it was LeBron or what was his name, Jackson Hayes was hitting some threes, whoever was shooting. That's good.

And then the numbers would get the ball and come down and John would go, no good. Like John's call is either good or no good, right? and so it was like LeBron from three that's good and Lauren Powell no good and it was just it went like that for about the last three to four minutes of the half and I was like they're not answering and then the the Lakers just continue to pull away and the clippers felt the need to keep up or at least try to keep up and they couldn't right so then what is what happens then James Harden who was a complete liability tonight just starts playing iso ball, doing that fancy dribble between his legs,

trying to find a halfway decent look where he can draw a foul, right? And they didn't go for it. It wasn't working. He wasn't making shots. He was just trying to do that ISO look, throw something up, hopefully it goes in. Or he would do that ISO thing, penetrate, kick. But it was always to a guy that was half covered or not a good shooter or whatever. I mean, it was just like not a good performance for the Clippers when it came to the way that they played.

It was like they were, you know, it was like Big Brother versus Little Brother again. I mean, this is what it's been forever when it comes to Lakers versus the Clippers, especially when it was at Crypto.com. The Clippers were always the stepchild, even behind the Kings. They were the third fiddle there over at Crypto. But now that they have their own place into a dome, it's felt like, hey, we're a legitimate NBA team. Not tonight they weren't. It did not feel like that at all. It was like the Lakers came in and just, you know,

slapped them across the face for 48 minutes. It was they had a little run in the third, just a little bit. And that was it. And then, of course, that was followed by a 70 run from the Lakers. So I think the closest they got was 13. And they just, they didn't move the ball.

They didn't play defense. Van Gundy on the call said, and it's hard to argue this. I'd like your take after the break. He said, Hawaii Leonard, who used to be one of the biggest and best defenders in the league, is not only not a good defender,

he is a liability. And I was like, you know, you're not wrong. He was tonight for sure. And, you know, I don't know what that's all about. Is that just Kauai being, you know, a veteran?

Or where did the claw go? Where is the defensive prowess that Kauai Leonard used to have? It's not there anymore. I don't know what's going on. Well, for me, I think it's about effort. I mean, defense to me is always about effort. And how bad do you want to basically play? And so, you know, here's the deal I like about Steve Bomber.

You know, just watching the clippers from afar. I love the fact that number one, there's no expense that he won't go to to put a winner on the court. I mean, you've seen it. You can't sit there and say he's a lazy owner. You know, Mark Cuban had this line years ago where he said there are two kinds of owners in sports, those who hate to lose money and those that hate to lose games. And if you have an owner that hates to lose money, I feel bad for you if that's your team. Steve Bomber has more money than he knows what to do with.

He wants to win. This is the only thing that he doesn't have in his life is winning. The fact that you have a brand new building to make you feel like this is your home, just like you said a second ago, the fact he goes out and he gets a Kauai, he gets a Paul George. He does everything he can. to make the clippers the best that can be. And he sits front row.

So when you come out with an effort that's lackluster, I don't even know how you look at Steve Bomber in the eyes. When I look at that box score tonight, and I look at, you know, James Hardin, as you said, James Hardin's a, you know, he's a Hall of Famer. But James Hardin tonight was two or 12, 0 of 5 from three point range, seven points. I mean, that's the best you're going to get from James Hardin.

I mean, at what point do you realize, hey, the threes aren't falling and maybe I need to keep distributing because Norman Powell got off to a great start. So did Derek Jones, Jr., But yet it wasn't going to be, James Hardin's going to do whatever it takes on that night to help the team win. Kauai is frustrating. I'm a San Diego State alum, and Kauai is one of the more frustrating athletes to watch, whether it's injuries or tonight, like you said, effort, 22 minutes, 11 points, you know, four of 11 shooting. Not a great night.

And to be known for being one of the best defenders in the league to not even have that title, I don't know what you do. And if I'm Steve Bommers, one of those, I must want to kick in the door and go, what am I going to pay you guys? for like this live up to your end of the contract this is why you guys make a ton of dough and i've done everything i can this is all in your hands now to play like a winning basketball team yeah and jackson aes didn't even take a three uh i just liked his effort early in the first quarter that's why his name stuck in my head but uh austin reeves and rio hatchie murrah had good games from beyond the arc uh rio had uh four and uh austin reeves with three so yeah they were just filling it up from downtown as it they finished at

48% and that's how they won this game. It was not even close really at any point in time, maybe a minute or so. The Clippers grabbed a one point lead, but the rest of the time, it was all Lakers all night. 122.97 the final. It's the locked on Clippers and Lakers postcast on the Lockdown Sports LA YouTube channel. We'll take the first break and come back and get into one of the other things that the Clippers just completely went away from that's been working for them on a fairly regular basis. We'll talk about that. And we'll get into the bench play for the Lakers, which was also very solid. It didn't do much wrong tonight, Dave.

It was a good night for your. It's Locked on Clippers and Lakers crossover postcast on the Lockdown Sports, L.A. YouTube channel. Tonight's episode of the Locked on Clippers and Lakers crossover postcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. What are some of your relationship green flags? We often hear about red flags, what to avoid. But if we stay focused on more of the positive things, and identifying the signs that are working in your relationship,

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That's better help. HELP.com slash locked on MBA. All right. The Lakers take care of business against the clippers comfortably. 122.97. They're now 28 and 19 while the clippers are 28 and 21. One of the other things, Dave, to me that looked really bad for the clippers was their inability or lack of desire, rather, to get the ball into Zubots, which is something that

has worked for them, especially early in the game. As you mentioned, Norm Powell got off to a good start, but the other reason the Clippers play well is because they get off to a comfortable, confident start getting easy buckets from Zubox. Now, I didn't feel like there was anybody, one of the big things going on, the big conversation points with this trade, uh, AD for, Luke Adonchich is there's no size anymore. The Lakers don't have a low post presence now. And they're still talking about the probability of getting another big man because they don't have one now. But I like to me, that was like, well, you're going to get the ball to Zubats more.

And that's what you do early in games. And that's when you're good. They were not doing that tonight at no point in time did they feel the need really. I mean, he had a couple of dunks and at a, you know, a fairly. decent line. But eight points for Zubots is, you know, this guy's a double double in the making almost every night. I don't know what that was about either. I felt like their game plan was completely just upside down and backwards. And they, they just didn't do what they do for whatever weird reason. You know, as you said, maybe it was because Luca was in the building. I don't know.

It was just, it was all upside down and out of whack for the Clippers tonight. And everything looked good for the Lukers, as we are dubbing them now, the Lukers. So, you know, it's funny to say this because remember a few weeks ago when we had the crossover and where I, I was saying, you know, Zubots, you know, former Laker who's, who's, he's a decent player. I mean, a very good player, but he's not Anthony Davis. And remember he completely had a better game than Anthony Davis. And I was like, how do you let this guy basically, he almost had a 20, 29, if I recall. And the goal would be, it would seem like just the average basketball fan, we're going to sit there and we're going to take advantage of the Lakers' lack of height in the

middle. We're going to sit there and we're going to pound the post. And then basically it's going to open things up for our shooters once the Lakers start to change their defense a little bit. But that's not what happened as you said. I mean, eight points, you know, two or seven shooting for him, and he was a non-factor. I mean, it seems like the Lakers have one weak spot that everybody's talking about. And yet the Clippers didn't try and attack it. It was, if I'm a clipper fan, I'm extremely disappointed by Tyloo's game plan tonight. And at the same time, I don't understand why you don't stay with the hot hand. Everyone who's in the chat and you and I, we've all played pickup basketball.

When you feel like you're shooting the ball well, you want the ball back. And for Norman Powell to get off to a hot start, how do you not continue to get on the ball? At the same time, you know, here's a guy that was snubbed for the All-Star game that a lot of people think Norman Powell had an all-star first half. How's you not the game? You know he wants to put on a show. and he got off to a fantastic card yet you don't get them the ball all night long. We could go at this time the Lakers were embarrassed by Maxi of the 76ers. It seemed like Norman Powell was about to do the same thing,

but they never let him continue his rhythm. Very bizarre. I didn't understand Tailu at all tonight. Yeah, Jonathan says Derek Jones Jr. and Norm are the probably the only two that can say they played with effort tonight. Hard to argue. Yeah. Although in the end, I mean, they had fair.

fairly decent numbers, six of 10 for Derek Jones, three of seven from beyond the arc. It felt like they just all needed to put in a few more threes. And, you know, the idea of trying to keep up with the Lakers tonight from beyond the arc just was a little too much for them. And sometimes it feels to me like when a team is hot from beyond the arc, the clippers always try to keep up. They try to match it. And we all know that that's not going to work because the clippers are not a

fantastic three-point shooting team. They have a couple of guys that can get going, and that being Norm Powell and James Harden. It's rare that they both get going on the same night. Kauai can obviously shoot the three, but he's not a guy that's going to really fill it up, you know, for six or seven in a night. Every now and then he does.

But the way the Clippers could have won this game was effort on defense, getting stops, and then coming down the court and setting up the offense and running the offense by passing the ball. maybe it's not as exciting maybe it's not as thrilling i don't know but they didn't do any of that tonight they're just like give the ball to harden and watch him dribble between his legs and chuck up a three and hopefully it goes in that was their game plan and then when he didn't do that he would penetrate into the lane kick it over to derrick jones or norm powell or um amyer coffee who would then shoot

miss they'd get the offensive rebound every now and then give it back to Hardin, who would then chuck up a bad look? It was just like, you got an offensive rebound, which, you know, was not good tonight for you guys either. And then what does that turn into? It doesn't turn into a good opportunity. It turns into another bad look. It just, it all felt like they didn't care, you know, like, oh, the glitz and glam of the

Lakers is here. We need to power in the corner and, you know, roll up into our shell. and go home, even though we're the home team. The good news is I feel like if this game was a Clipper home game at Crypto, obviously it would have been overwhelming Laker fans and Laker Energy. It didn't feel tonight like it was that. I did hear, let's go clips, let's go clips a few times in spite of the Lakers, just thumping them.

So that was good to know. They're good to hear. You know, you started the show off by saying, you know, the little brother. And, you know, as I said, for years, it's been that way in Los Angeles, since I believe the Clippers moved to LA in 84. It's always felt that way that they're their little brother. But at the same time, when you look at the Clippers and what has gone on since Saturday, I mean, the Lakers have been the talk, not only of the NBA and the talk of Los Angeles,

they've been talked to the sports world. Even though the Super Bowl is coming up on Sunday, people are talking about this Luca trade. If anything, if I was the Clippers, there'd be a little bit of pride or a little bit of, I'm going to shut you up. But you didn't see that. Like, if you can't get up for the, for the Lakers in February when it's the team, that everybody's talking about again, I don't know what to say.

I mean, to me, that's a major issue tonight, that the effort was where it was at, and at the same time for the Clippers to play the way they played, if you look at the standing, the Clippers were just one seat behind the Lakers coming into this game. That's not what you want to see from this Laker, this Clipper franchise at all.

As a Laker fan, right now, we're playing our best basketball of the year, and I think Laker fans think it can get better, if you can find someone in the middle, because you can't double both LeBron and Luca. And that opens up, open three point shots for Austin Reeves and Dalton Connect down the line and Ruiz. And at the same time, you know, for the Lakers, they honestly feel things can get better than what you saw tonight.

Yeah, there's no doubt about that. You would have liked to have seen more heart and more fight from the Clippers, even if they lose this game. But coming off an awful ugly performance on Sunday in Toronto against a Raptor's team, which is sub 500, but played with a lot of heart, a lot of energy and beat the Clippers fairly comfortably. I mean, I think the final score was, you know, an eight point differential. Maybe it was 10. But the fact was the Clippers felt like that game was out of reach too early. And it didn't feel like they had any harder any fight there.

I chalked that up to a schedule loss, end of a long four game road trip that took them from Phoenix all the way to Toronto. It was a noon 30 start here. It's a little bit later there in Toronto, 3.30. but a midday start and end of a road trip, smelling the barn, want to get home, that all makes sense, right? The Raptors came out, ready to play, had their game faces on, and took care of business. So you get home, they got home Sunday night.

So they were off all day yesterday and come out today against the Lakers team, who, as you said, are getting all of the publicity and stealing all the headlines in Los Angeles because of this big deal. Where's the fight? where's the gumption? Where's the, you're in our house tonight and we're going to punch you in the mouth. Nothing. Nowhere.

Nowhere to be found. It was embarrassing. Just an ugly, ugly loss. I would say probably one of the ugliest for the Clippers this season. I know they got roughed up really bad early on by the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Timberwolves beat him pretty badly. Tonight was worse. It was just no heart, no fight.

No, no, no defense in the lane, as Jonathan points out here, clippers got killed on triple penetration, Hardin got attacked by Braun. Absolutely correct. That's one of the things I wanted to get into. They could not defend the lane at all for the whole night. Oh, so, there was, look, this is something they do on occasion where they don't guard the lane, but they always figure it out in the third quarter. Sometimes it takes them to the fourth.

They didn't do it at all tonight. Just wide open layups. There you go. Olai to the hoop. you know, it was just bad all the way across the board. Lakers take care of business comfortably tonight, add into it, 122-1-122-97. Clippers didn't even get a one in front of their score total.

Couldn't even get to triple digits. Bad news. All right, final break. When we come back, we're going to talk about the big trade. How can we not talk about Luca to the Lukers and whether or not they're still the Lebronkers? or not. How long will LeBron be around? Hard to say. He's 40. Doesn't stop him from diving on the floor, though, does it? That was pretty impressive for an old man. I was thinking, you don't need that ball. You're up by 20. Let him get it. It's fine. Laker fans were probably like, whoa, what are you doing? Stop diving on the floor. It's the last thing we need right now is for you to get hurt. It's the locked on Lakers and Clippers postcast on the Lockdown Sports LA YouTube channel, the place to hang out when every game is. done.

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bet with fandle, official partner of Super Bowl 59. Lakers 122, Clippers 97. add in to it dome tonight lakers now 28 and 19 12 and 13 on the road clippers 28 21 17 and 8 at home uh this one was all l a front all lakers i should say from beginning to end and uh you have to wonder um when you look at this team if they can keep this up if they can keep playing even close to this way defensively the big head scratching uh element of the luka to the Lakers for Anthony Davis to the Mavericks trade might not be as big an issue. Everyone was like, why? Why would the Mavericks do that? I get why the Lakers do it because it's their future. He'll probably be around for the next 10 years. But why would the Mavs do it other

than the financial implications? Because, you know, he was due a super max contract. And now he's not eligible for that. I'm still going to get paid a crap ton of money. But, you know, not eligible for that super max 300 plus million dollar deal now. So you look at it and you say, well, something obviously went sour in Dallas. Luke has never been known for being a great defender. There are accusations of his work ethic when it comes to staying healthy, but it can definitely fill it up. And they went to the finals last year with him.

So you look at Luca on this team and you go, if they can keep playing defense like this or even close to this. They don't necessarily need a big man, I don't think, in the, in the middle, an enforcer, if you will. I don't know that they're Oklahoma City good or Boston good, but they're a much better team today than they were a couple of days ago. They are. I mean, straight out, they are.

I mean, it's funny, Aluka gets criticized. And obviously, the big criticism is his body and he's gained weight. I tell you what, I watch the press conference today. He didn't look like a slob to me, you know, and, I'm looking at this guy who last year took his team with the NBA finals. Not only that, he led everybody in every category, points, minutes, assists, rebounds. I mean, he was a freak and he is. I mean, he's a guy when you talk about stars that say you play the game long enough

and you feel comfortable that it moves in slow motion. He looks like he sees everything in slow motion. He makes good decisions. He's a clutch shooter. He's young, as you said. He's an outstanding basketball player. And my actually argument would say he's the number two basketball player in the entire world right behind the Joker. He's that good. And it's funny when you mention the Joker and you look

at his body and you look at Luca, they kind of are built a little bit the same, just one's taller. Neither one are chiseled. I mean, you ever see that picture of the Joker when he goes back to his home country and he's on top of that horse? That poor horse has to carry that big body around, you know? And I sit there and I look at Luca and I'm like, everybody maybe should be built like him because he's outstanding. So the talk about body shaming him and the Mavs to do what they did and you've seen all these people cancel season tickets and the protests outside of the arena, this is a decision that could possibly cost them in their job.

And because if you look at Anthony Davis and not to rip him on the way out the door, but he's about 32 years old. And if you look at seven footers after the age of 30, they break down and they stop playing. And when you look at Lucas situation, I mean, LeBron's about the same height. LeBron's still playing up 40.

And there's a big difference. I understand taking care of your body. Luca's going to love L.A. You can tell he was angry today at that press conference. I don't think so much even from being, like him leaving the Mavs for the Lakers. But as you said, the Supermax steals now off the table. He just closed on a house last week in Dallas.

There's so many things where it was a huge, you know, screw you to Luca on the way out the door that I think this motivates him. I think the Lakers are going to see the best version of Luca. And as much as Clipper fans might not want to hear this, Larry Bird always had this line, Pete, and the line was, unless you played for the Celtics or the Lakers, you never really played in the NBA. And I go, look at Luca.

the next great Laker is right here. You already know number 77's going to be, you know, up in the Raptors, retired one day. He's going on the Hall of Fame. They always figure out a way to get it done. Always. I don't know how.

Yeah. You mentioned to me off the air that you heard some rubbers floating that LeBron might be entertaining offers. I would be surprised by that. That closed down. They said LeBron wants to play this out. LeBron wants to play this out, which is exciting for Laker fans.

Yeah, that makes more sense. And you look at what they have, and you're absolutely right, when you have LeBron and Luca on the floor at the same time, you got to double one of them. And that's going to free up guys like Austin Reeves or Dalton Connect. And those guys can shoot. So, you know, just from a initial X's and O's look at this, it seems like it can't be bad.

My first reaction was, well, you get rid of the one to, defender you have. And the other guy that was on the deal is also a good defender. And you just bring in offense. But, you know, as you mentioned, we all know, defense is about effort. And now that they've got more offense, maybe they feel like they need to bring that effort. Because we've seen it in, uh, their last two games. We saw it against the Knicks. We saw it tonight. And who says they can't keep doing it. And there's going to be nights when they don't. But maybe they won't need to because they'll just have, you know, they'll have LeBron and Austin Reeves and Luca and Hachimura filling it up. They won't need that big defensive performance.

But in order to win a championship to beat a team like the Oklahoma City Thunder, you're going to need to play defense. Let's be honest. That's what they do. That's how they win. And, you know, I brought it up before. That team to me is a title contender. Everyone in the comments laughs and says there's no chance.

that Oklahoma City can win the championship. And I'm like, no chance. Disagree. Yeah. It'd be my favorite right now. They'd be my favorite. I absolutely think they have a chance. And I think they're in contention as the favorite right now,

even in spite of Boston being the best team in the East. And Boston is the defending champ. So it's going to be interesting. But the Lakers are now contenders for, you know, a deep run in the playoffs for me. when I look at this and say, you know, the bench is is stacked, you know, Vanderbilt is good and Dalton Connect can play. So, you know, Vincent, Gabe Vincent had a really nice game tonight, 22 minutes, 4 of 10 for 12 points. So, you know, they've got a well-rounded team. So knock on wood for Laker fans, nobody gets hurt. And LeBron and Luca figure out how to work it out together. I don't

think it's going to be an issue. I think it's going to be good for the rest of those guys, because they're not afraid to pass the ball. And quite honestly, they like passing the ball. So one of the questions I was asked, and I didn't really know the answer, I kind of BS my way through it, but was who's going to run the offense? Who's going to carry the ball at the court more often than not? To me, I felt like it was going to be LeBron, but, you know, based on what we saw tonight, and it could be Austin Reeves or it could be Luca.

What's your thought on that? I think it's Luca. Luca's going to be the guy. I mean, Austin Reeves, I think it's going to be the one that's going to have to find his shots. this is actually, and real quick, defensively for the Lakers, they had four solid defenders on this team.

They just traded two of them away. As you said, Max Christie was a really important piece on their defense, and Anthony Davis is outstanding. But they still have Jared Vanderbilt, who's there basically four defense. And Jory and Finney Smith is an outstanding defender as well. Dorian Finney Smith, by the way, is Lucas' second best friend in the league. You know, the Joker's his best friend, as he says all the time.

But Dorian Finney Smith and him were teammates with the Mavs. They're super close. and he's very excited to be with him. But he's one of those guys that's kind of like Ruiz. He'll do whatever it takes up the team win. But remember, go back to the Lakers hire their head coach. You know, it was JJ Reddick. You as a clipper fan know that JJ's always been an outstanding shooter.

And he made that kind of that off-color joke of saying, hey, my goal would be to shoot 53-pointers a game. Well, they didn't have the personnel to do it. This now opens it up for, as you said, shooters. And I think Lucas is honestly the guy that, you know, feels most comfortable in that situation. when the Lakers won the championship in 2020, LeBron was the one that brought the ball up the court,

but it's asking a lot, where in terror? Defensively tonight, if you notice, LeBron played maybe his best, most active defensive game. Like, you know, I'm in this game, and no matter what it takes, he played like he was in the playoffs tonight,

meaning LeBron's effort on the defensive side of the ball. If he can bring that effort, great. I honestly don't believe Luca can turn that switch of saying, now I'm going to play defense. Luca just can't play defense. I mean, he just, he doesn't. He's just not that guy. Not that he's selfish of being a score, Pete.

He's just, he's not that guy that's ever going to be a great, a great defender. He's just not that guy. So the other guys have to pick him up. But overall, man, it gives you that guy again, the clutch hits away situation of how many seconds are left on the clock and who's going to shoot it. It's kind of hard to double team to say, well, you know, what we know what's going to LeBron. Luke has a history of knocking down some big shots. And I think overall, Luke is the one that distributes the ball and decides what happens here. but you're looking at a guy almost averages a triple double.

You know, a 30, he's a, what, 39 and nine guy? He's just, he's a freak of nature. What's funny, like just a month ago when we did the last crossover, we talked about how the Lakers didn't really have an identity. Well, how quickly that has changed. They have an identity now. So, going to be crazy to watch for sure. And I think it honestly could work out for Dallas as well,

because Anthony Davis is not done. He's still a heck of a good player. He's angry too. He's angry too. Yeah, right, exactly. The chips are on the shoulder for sure. Well, tonight it was all Lakers. 122.97.

They are off until Thursday when they face the Pacers, game two of this four-game homestown. What do the Lakers have next? Lakers have the Warriors on Thursday, Pacers on Saturday. All righty. Well, there you go. So it's going to be fun and interesting to see what comes of both of these teams. The Clippers completely,

did not show up tonight and the Lakers showed up in a big way. So they'll, the Clippers will have to look themselves in the mirror and say, that is not acceptable if we want to make a run, you know, in the playoffs and not into the playing tournament. Because if they play like that tonight, it's, they're going to be,

they're going to keep going down while the Lakers keep going up. So just not good enough. 122.97, the final for Dave Pelle. I am Pete Fox. Appreciate you guys watching, listening. Appreciate all the comments. We will be back in a couple of days after the Lakers and the Clippers, respectively.

And that's the sixth. Yeah. So they're both playing on the sixth at home, which is kind of interesting, right? Is it actually crypto? Yeah. Is that happening before where they're both playing in L.A. at the same time? It's not supposed to.

That's not what the NBA wants. That's on with L.A. once. They want that entertainment dollar to give an advantage to hit both games. That's an interesting twist. That has not happened before. So we'll see how that turns out. So back here on the Lockdown Sports, LA, YouTube channel for Laker fans and Clipper fans next Thursday, Dave. Good stuff as always, appreciate you.

And we will talk real soon. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. Have a good night. Take care. We'll talk on Thursday.