Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - LAKERS POSTCAST Lebron James leads the Lakers to a big win over the Warriors 120-112

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

LeBron James scored 42 points, grabbed 17 rebounds, and added 8 assists, and Austin Reeves chipped in with 23 points as the Lakers held on to beat the visiting Golden State Warriors 120-112. Future Hall of Famer Steph Curry had 37 in the loss. The Lakers will look to continue their winning ways Saturday afternoon when they host the Indiana Pacers.Lakers, LA Lakers, Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Rui, Hachimura Austin Reeves, Mark Williams, NBA, Lakers Post cast, JJ Redick, Dave Palet, Lakers vs Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers vs Golden State Warriors, Steph Curry  Support Us, By Supporting Our Sponsors!FAN DUEL 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. PRIZE PICKSNow’s the perfect time to join. Download the app today and use code LOCKEDONNBA to get $50 instantly when you play your first $5 lineup! That’s right—no need to win to get the bonus, it’s guaranteed. PrizePicks—Run Your Game! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You are a Locked-on Lakers podcast. Part of Locked-on Sports Los Angeles on the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Ron James shows why he's in the conversation for the greatest of all time. The Lakers come out red-hot, but they have to hold on for their lives to win this game. We talk about it all on the Lockdown Lakers Postcast. I'm Dave Pallet. Thanks so much for joining me. Taking your comments throughout the show talking to Laker basketball at his right now is the most exciting time

of the season for this Laker team. So many things to talk about. Very exciting night for the Lakers. Again, we will talk about it all night long. I hope you join me tonight and join me for the rest of the season. It is going to be a fantastic second half. First of all, I want to mention the people over at Fandul. Don't forget, get ready for the big game.

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Just visit Fandual.com to join today. Get started with $200 and bonus bets. That's Fandul.com. Don't forget, Super Bowl 59 coming up on Sunday. A lot going on with this Laker. team again, Lakers went tonight, 120, 112 over the Golden State Warriors, and there's a lot to talk about. Not just tonight's game and how the game played out and how the Lakers had to hold on, but we've got to talk about some new players as well. I mean, all of a sudden, you think about the team that started with the Lakers as they began the year and what is Rob Polinkin going to do.

You heard on this show a bunch of times, Rob, the ball is in your court. You claimed you were going to make trades and I was on them on this show saying you got to do something. and then all of a sudden you get guys like Shakeville, you get Dorian Finney Smith, and you're going, that's it. You're hearing the Lakers aren't going to have the money or the wiggle room to pull something major off. Well, they absolutely have. And it is a completely different Laker team than even what you're seeing right now when the Lakers are playing their best basketball of the year

of what you're going to see in about a week. And so it's an exciting time to follow Laker basketball. The fact that the Lakers can play as well as they have without when Anthony Davis was on the team in the lineup, But the big win and Madison Square Garden was awesome. Then they come back to L.A. and they completely crushed the clippers. And then tonight taking on the Golden State Warriors, again, a Warriors team that, hey, in their mind, they thought they're winning a championship.

Don't forget, all the talk was the Warriors were going to make a run at LeBron James. Maybe LeBron will waive his no trade and he'll go play with Steph Curry. We spoke about it on this show. What does it mean for Steph Curry to get LeBron? And at the same time, as Laker fans were saying, enough of that. Why should our superstar go to him? If anything, Steph should come down the coast and play for the Lakers. It's even better than that.

Even better than that as far as what has happened with this Laker team. So let's look at how things are going right now with the Lakers. We all know that Luka didn't play tonight. And Luca looks like, I was hoping he would play Saturday against the Pacers. The talk is Luca's going to play Monday. He's going to make his Laker debut on Monday. At the same time, when you look at the Warriors and what they're doing, they did make a big move.

You have Jimmy Butler, who's going to the Warriors, and was actually in the building tonight. For Warrior fans, they're exciting. You know, obviously you get rid of Andrew Wiggins, but at the same time, you look at Jimmy Butler, who's 35 years old, and he's with the team for at least two more years. I mean, the Warriors are going all in. And I think if you're a sports fan,

you have to be pleased when a team says we're going all in, especially when you're used to winning championships. When you get that feeling of winning, there's nothing like it, and at the same time you want to chase it over and over again to be in a rebuilding mode, let's say, like the Charlotte Hornets or the Pistons, have been forever or the Phoenix sons who are trying to do it, but can't do it because

they're stuck in bad contracts. This is a great situation for this Laker team because management has said we're held to a different standard. Everything we spoke about on this show, held to a different standard. By the way, pat myself on the back, because when I get one right, I'm going to tell you, all the talk that Jimmy Butler was going to Phoenix told you on this show, I had a feeling Jimmy Butler was getting up with the Warriors and that's exactly where he ended up. Be honest with you, very happy he didn't end up with the Lakers. So the Lakers, the Lakers. So the Lakers tonight, again, playing short-handed. You don't have Luca, AD is no longer on the team.

Dalton Connect, no longer on the team. What's the starting five going to look like? Exactly the starting five, I think that basically JJ Redick put out there is the one that I think most Laker fans would have put out there as well. You had Jackson Hayes, you had Rui, you had Dorian, Finney Smith, Austin Reeves, LeBron James. Again, Luca is expected to make his debut on Monday. So here we go.

Lakers get off to Red Hot start in the first quarter. Okay, Lakers win this quarter, 3421. Again, Lakers played great on both sides of the ball. Defense offense, and at one point in the middle of the quarter, they went on an 11-0-nought-scorn run and kind of never looked back at that point when you look at where they were going as far as their defense goes, because they're going to be criticized on this team. Defensively, can the Lakers do things?

And the Lakers played a very good defense in the first quarter to basically set the tone. Now, look for the basically third, four straight night. The Lakers are shooting lights out right now. A laker shot 58% from the field, 57 from three point range, which is insane. Five and nine for the Lakers. Warriors, on the other hand, they struggle, slow start, 33%, 36% from three point range. And they were 8 to 19, but at the same time, you could see Steve Kerr, just like he was sick. Transition defense for the Warriors, absolutely terrible, fantastic.

I guarantee if this was college or even high school and they go back and they look at the film, because they don't do that in the NBA a lot where players sit down and pay attention. It has moved on to the very next game. But for the Lakers, their situation is, hey, we're going to play as well as we can, get out to fast starts and basically make you play catch up. And when you look at the addition of Luka, it seems like that's what they're going to do as well. Hey, you have to talk about all their defense all you want, but can you keep up the Lakers scoring? And so an exciting time.

So here we go. Not that the Lakers play well, but Gabe Vincent played well. And it's a plus coming off the bench. Gabe Vincent, to me, tonight, looked as comfortable as I've seen him in a Laker uniform. I mean, when we needed a big shot from Gabe Vincent, he got it all night long, and then he had six points in the first quarter, two, three pointers.

He's exactly what the Lakers needed all the way through. So it was a great start for this team. Look, for the Warriors, it was a slow start for Steph Curry. First quarter Warriors had two guys that had six points for him. Quentin Post had six, but he healed, he had six, rebounds. Lakers that rebounded him,

they had more assists in the Warriors, and the Lakers had more bench points in the Warriors. This is big. because what would the rotation look like for JJ Redick now that he has a brand new team? So bench points for the Lakers. When so many times we do this, when we talk about the first quarter, it's like zero or two. Lakers had 14 bench points in the first. Warriors had two.

Turnovers. Lakers had four. Warriors had seven. So again, when you can win the turnover battle, the bench is doing something, especially with an older LeBron James, absolutely fantastic for this team. So they got off to a great, great start. And they kind of never looked back in the first half. We'll get into the second half of things kind of change a little bit.

But the Lakers won that quarter. Don't forget they won the first quarter, a 3421. Fantastic. They go to the second quarter. LeBron James sits back to back to back three pointers to give the Lakers a 45-23 lead with 907 remaining in the quarter. At that point, LeBron had 14 points, eight rebounds, four assists. You knew it was going to be a really big night for LeBron. Maybe it's because LeBron knows, look, a lot of this is on me.

I got to pick it up. We don't have another star in the. the lineup, meaning All-Star in the lineup. There's no AD anymore. There's no Luca right now, so it's going to fall in LeBron. My feeling is this, is that it looks like LeBron has got a little burst of energy, not having anyone on the court, but at the same time knowing that Luke is watching, because he's heard all the talk to. This isn't going to be LeBron's team anymore. The first time in his career, LeBron is going to be a guy that takes a backseat. But LeBron's never going to take a backseat. That's not the way it's going to go. And as good as Luke is,

Luca doesn't strike me as the guy that steps in and tells LeBron, you sit down. I got this from here on out. These guys are going to play great together. They're both huge fans of one another. LeBron, again, is a huge Luca fan to set it forever publicly, and Luca has always said LeBron's always been his idol. So now you have these two guys on the floor. You can't double team both of them.

It is only going to get better with this Laker team. We'll get into what they're going to do defensively and everything throughout the night. So many different directions to go and so exciting where the Lakers are at right now. Again, as a Laker fan, completely wondering, can you get through a one round of the playoffs, let alone two rounds of the playoffs to the point where can the Lakers beat OKC? That's kind of the direction we're going. Lakers' biggest lead in the night, though, it happened with 427 remaining in the first half. They were up 5933. Again, Lakers were fantastic.

They also had that same advantage with 117 remaining 69-43. Lakers were outstanding. Can't play much better than they did in the first half. offensively defensively great. LeBron finished the quarter with 18 points and eight rebounds. Just a tremendous night for him. And so for the Lakers moving forward, very pleased with everything we saw. And everything we saw as far as not only tonight, but what's going to happen next for this team, man, we'll talk about it all. We'll talk about it all. Again, I want your comments tonight. Appreciate you guys who have gone through what has been, even though a 500 type season is it felt like and very frustrated for many of us for this Laker team moving forward. And again, starting last week, this is a time where you're going, man, this feels like

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Look, I'm crazy excited about what's happening right now. So if I'm talking a little fast, it's because I can't believe what's happening with this Laker team. I'm all in right now and make sure you guys are all in with me. So Lakers, again, win tonight, and that's a small piece of the puzzle, 120, 112. At the half, again, things are going really well for the Lakers. Just want to update you on what happened throughout the progression of the game. Lakers shot 57% the first half, 48% for three-point range, 10 to 21.

Warrior shot 35%, 29% from three-point range, 8 of 288 for them. Lakers were led by LeBron James, who you knew he was going to have a big nine, from the very beginning, and he did. LeBron, 23 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, Austin Reeves, 11 points, Warriors led by Steph Curry's 13, despite making just one of seven shots from behind the arc, rebounds, Lakers 28, Warrior 17. I thought this team wasn't going to be able to rebound without AD. Completely wrong. Assiss Lakers at 18, Warriors had 12, bench points.

Lakers 19, 19 bench points in the first half, Warriors 13, turnover's Lakers 7, Warriors 8. Now look, fantastic night for the Lakers, again, they were 20, three and four when leading at the half coming into this game. That changes obviously over to 24 and four. Lakers playing great basketball. And you wonder how are things going to go out? And for me at this point, when the Lakers are leading by this much at the half,

I'm saying, let's just keep it going. Let's go out. Let's start the third quarter strong. Let's get LeBron James to the bench. Let's get a break for LeBron. It's been a long travel week. Emotionally, it's been a big deal when one of your best friends is traded to another team, even though a player you admire is coming in, it is a lot to comprehend.

So let's get LeBron to the bench. That was the goal. Well, that's not what happened at all. And unfortunately, it's the one thing about Laker basketball. It's been frustrating this year. I give it a pass tonight. And I give it a pass because this isn't your normal Laker team. Not having a big man in the middle, not having Luca is different than what we're going to

see. So the Warriors come out red hot. The Warriors aren't going to give up. Steve Kerr at the same time is, is not. not the kind of guy that's going to go, hey, you know what? We'll just wait until the next game. Remember, the Warriors did not play well in the game before this Laker game, actually kind of embarrassed.

So the Warriors national television, Steve Kerr had his guys ready to go, and they came out on fire. You know, they cut the lead down. The Lakers had a giant lead, and they cut the lead down to six, six points. LeBron James lay up at the end of the quarter gave the Lakers an 11-point lead, but at the same time, you're concerned because we've seen stuff do this before to the Lakers, where first half it looks like it's not Steph's night. All of a sudden, Steph can lead the Warriors to win

or at least push the Lakers to the limit. Most importantly, you're starting to realize unless the Lakers can turn it on, the Lakers aren't going to give LeBron James a chance to get his legs and rest a little bit, set out basically the majority of the fourth quarter, not at all. The three quarters, Lakers led by, they were led by LeBron James, 34 points,

fission, rebounds, and six assists. The Warriors were led by Steph Curry's 18 points, and rebounds Lakers 3831. Fourth quarter got interesting to see exactly what was going to happen with this Laker team in the fourth quarter. So 9-17 remaining, and I'm one of those guys that, look, Draymond Green's been in the league a long time. I know Draymond's going to be a future Hall of Famer. Draymond likes to compare his career to Charles Barkley in championships and what he's done.

Draymond, to me, is one of the most overrated players in the game. He's a guy that gets under your skin if you let him. He's not Dennis Rodman. He's not that quality of good, but I'm not a Dremont fan. So let's put it to the test tonight. 917 remaining in the fourth quarter, Draymond Green leaves the game after he collides with the buddy healed. He's taken to the locker room.

At that point, the game with 917 remaining, the score is 9587. Guess what? They didn't miss Draymond for too long. Dremont did come back and he played it at the end, but he also heard his team as well. 331 remaining in the fourth quarter. Warriors cut the lead down to five on Steph Curry's three-pointer.

One-o-o-weight remaining. It was LeBron James, who drilled a three-point. pointers give the Lakers a nine point lead. 102. Curry answers back with a three-pointer of his own. And again, 38 seconds remaining. Games not out of reach for the Warriors, but Dr. Raymond Green gets a technical foul. And that was it.

Once that technical foul went and the Lakers were able to extend that lead back to nine and the Lakers went up 118 and 109, we knew the Lakers had it. But Draymond Green's a guy that can hurt you a lot. And at times you see Draymond, who either doesn't play a game, he costs your team, problems with basically a costly technical foul or he just doesn't play. And so many times you look in the box corner, you'll see J. Raymond Green, six points, eight rebounds. And I'm like, this guy is not one of the best of the best.

And he's very well liked by a lot of guys, the NBA, meaning in the superstars, a lot of guys can't stand them. Tonight you saw it. You saw people who were frustrated on both ends. Warriors frustrated. The Simnel Lakers frustrated. I think you blame a lot of that has to go on the referees. they dictate the tone of the game.

And that's when you get big guys, big bodies that either take cheap shots at other players that are making a ton of money. And at the same time, can cost guys games if somebody gets injured. So when you have a situation, whether it's Jared Vanderbilt or it's Ramon Green, Kamanga, anybody, it's one of those situations where the referees, I think, have to police the game a little bit more. But overall, Lakers win this game. Most importantly, 1-20, 112, big night for the Lakers. and at the same time, if you're a Laker fan, you have to be extremely excited about what's going to happen

the remainder of the year. Also curious to know if you guys are on the same page with me, as far as saying, this Laker team is a championship contender, called a buddy of mine who's a huge Celtics fan. I said, we'll see you in the finals. Honestly believe this team matches up really well with Oklahoma City, with almost any team in the league. You know, obviously Denver has had the Lakers number for a long time,

but curious to know, how good is this Laker team? What are you going to miss from this Laker team? I feel bad for guys like Anthony Davis. I really did not want to see the Lakers get rid of Dalton Connect. That was one that kind of hurt, but at the same time, is it Dalton Connect? Is it Austin Reeves? You knew one of those guys were going to go. Right now, Austin Reeves means a lot more to this team than Delta Connect does.

So for the Lakers, they made their move. Hats off to Rob Polinka for pulling off trades and basically turning this lineup around. I don't know if you're like me and you look at the lineup that started the season in October to where they are tonight on February 6th. What Rob Polinka has done of flipping this lineup around has been absolutely incredible. That player after player continues to move out and then bring new guys in and whether it's getting healthy from a guy like Jared Vanderbilt or bringing in a future Hall of Famer like Luca.

This is a better Laker team than the one they had when the season started in October. And JJ Redick and Rob Polinka did everything they said they were going to do when it came to fixing this roster and I have nothing but compliments for what they've done. Curious to know if you see it the same way I do, but want to see what you have to say. Want to see what you have to say when we're looking at this team. So, Craig, you've been with me. You've been with me all season long, every single one of these things. So I see your comments right here.

Game was slowed down by the refs. This is one of the things that hurts the NBA. These reviews take way too long, way too long. It's hard stops the rhythm. I always wonder if the players appreciate how long they take because it gives guys who on the floor more of a chance to rest. But for us sitting at home watching the game, or if you're at the arena in person, look, let's go. Let's speed this thing up.

What's going on there? Craig, LeBron was fantastic. LeBron's a freak. I mean, just an absolute freak. I don't think, as crazy as it sounds, I don't think LeBron gets the credit for his career until he retires. So many people want to talk about Jordan and Kobe and everyone else. And I love Kobe, okay?

But what LeBron James is doing, even at 40 years old, and if he took his age out of it, what he would, let's say this was a game when he's 23, 25 years old. This is an amazing night. and he's done this over and over again. Jared Vanderbilt is a huge plus for this team. And we knew it was going to be. And he's going to have to be a huge plus for this team

for a lot longer than what we've seen. Because here's the deal. When you traded Max Christie and he traded Anthony Davis, those are two of your best defenders. So when he lose two of your best offenders, we need the guys that else who can play defensive step up. Dway and Finney Smith did it tonight, underrated on some of his defense tonight.

If you were paying attention to go, where's the points in the box score? You can't worry about that exactly. Dorian Finney Smith played fantastic tonight. Absolutely great night for him. And at the same time, Vanderbilt gave the Lakers everything they needed. So you need this Laker team to go out and play good defense, but obviously the offense is going to make a huge improvement.

We'll get into more than that in just a second. I want to mention the people over at Fandall. Don't forget a Fandall Super Bowl 59 is here. One game, two teams, endless possibilities, and there's no better way to make every play more exciting than with the Fandul Sportsbook. whether it's predicting the first touchdown, calling the MVP, or even betting on the coin toss. Fandel makes it easy to get in on all the action.

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That's fanduel.com. Bet with Fandul, official partner of Super Bowl 59. All right. So here we go. The Lakers, again, outstanding tonight, $1.21. I appreciate that you guys are jumping in on the comments here. Curious to know what you say. BC, good to hear from you and see you right there.

B.C. Dennis Robin, Leather League in Rebounding. You're right. I'm not a Draymond Green fan. Don't want to say, you know, I'm a hater of Draymond Green because he's on another team. That's not it. I appreciate really good basketball. I also appreciate effort. Appreciate guys that put the team first. Jamon Green's not always a guy that puts the team first.

You can actually blame Draymond Green for the Cavs winning that championship with LeBron. The one title that the Cavs have. Jamon Green, his behavior, I thought literally cost the Warriors one of their championships. BC, laugh at loud, Celtics aren't making the finals. I would love for the Celtics not to make the finals. Right now, though, I don't have faith in a lot of teams in the Eastern Conference until the Cavs can prove to me they're the real deal. Right now, to me, the Celtics are the best team in the Eastern Conference.

It's hard to give those guys credit, but at the same time, that's why I feel. So BC says game seven will be in Cleveland, LeBron 40. That would be insane. LeBron going back to Cleveland to play for an NBA championship in the finals, I'd love to see it. I'd absolutely love to see it. And it would give not only, you know, LeBron, credit and make Cleveland look like fools, but it's that clutch gene deal, right? It's the one thing about, you know, is LeBron a killer? Can LeBron be a killer? And maybe that's

where he gets criticized somewhere down the stretch. Does he still take over games the way he used to when he was the only guy that could do it with Cleveland, with Miami? At the same time with the Lakers, we know we saw Kobe do it. We saw Magic do it. And everyone who's a Jordan fan, we saw Michael Jordan do it. Those guys were just straight assassins on the court. And LeBron sometimes takes over when he needs to take over, but for basketball fans, they want to see a guy who's not just smiling. The guy that's looking not only through your eyes, but he's looking straight to your brain, and they want to see LeBron be that guy. LeBron is outstanding, though. The numbers don't lie. The fact he's doing it at this age, the fact is physique is what it is. The guy is incredible, absolutely

amazing. So for this Laker team, again, with the big win tonight, what does it mean for them going forward? You know, we haven't had a chance to talk because the last show, that we did. We did with Pete Fox. We did a split Lakers Clippers show. But let's hear about Luca. Do you guys, are you excited as I am that Luca's coming here? So I'll tell everyone will remember where they were when they found out Luca was coming to the Lakers. If you recall, Saturday night, we just wrapped up the postcast with the NICS losing to the Lakers. And it was like, good night, everybody. We'll see you Monday when the Lakers take on the Clippers. All of a sudden, I received a phone call for my son. He goes, Lakers just pulled off a trade.

And first thing I said was Chris Paul. He goes bigger. I go Kevin Durant. He says bigger. And then I say, I go Janice. He was bigger. And I'm like, oh my gosh, bigger than Janus. Just tell me who it is.

And he says it's Luca. We're getting Luca. Luca is, in my opinion, second best player in the league right now, right behind the Joker. And to get Luke at age 25, who wasn't happy if you watch the press conference, not that he's not happy being a Laker, I think he's really upset with the Dallas Mavericks. disclosed on a $15 million home, misses out on a super contract, a super max contract, which will cost him $117 million. It was the biggest form of disrespect that you could possibly get.

Then you find out, you know, in the last couple days, this wasn't just a GM move by the Mavericks. This was a move by the owner, the owner who said, I want out. And for a lot of people aren't aware, Mark Cuban's not the owner right now of the Mavericks. So people say, why would Cuban do that? It's not Mark Cuban anymore. It's the wrong guy. Cuban, I don't think ever pulls this. straight off. Cuba knew what Luca was. So very interesting to see. Look, I'm very sad AD's gone,

but when you look at the history of NBA players over seven feet tall, once they get past the age of 30, it is not very good. It's not very good. And so for the Lakers to end up with Luca, insane, absolutely crazy. And it's funny, when people talk about Luca and they talk about his body and the way he's built and is he, you know, eating too much, is he drinking too much? Nobody knows what Luke is exactly doing. We've all seen different clips on social media, but we don't know what Luca's putting his body, what he's not. All I can tell you is this, the two best players in the league don't have those

great physiques. The Joker doesn't have a perfect physique. He's not in any magazines, and at the same time, Luca, the same thing. To me, those are the top two guys in the league. There are a lot of guys in this league that have great physiques that aren't exactly guys that you would say, man, I wish I was built like that guy. Even Kevin Durant, as great as he is,

what are they saying? Benches 110 pounds. I mean, Kevin Durant's, one of the the best players of all time, but we're so caught up on the body image of what it's supposed to look like in the NBA. Look, if you're an old Laker fan like me, nobody had a better build than Orlando Woolridge. Orlando Woolridge was not one of the best players in the league, who's a bench player for this Laker team. Everybody calmed down on that. What Luca does on the court and look what he does, whether it's minutes played, whether it's a assist, whether it's a scoring average, whether it's the clutch shot, the Lakers got a gym. They got a guy for the next 10 years that you sit there and you

look at the jerseys that are behind you right now and going, this guy's jersey is going up. This guy's a future Hall of Fame. This is a guy that the young kids are going to say, I don't remember what Kobe was like or Madrick was like. I never saw them play. But tell me about guys that were like Luca. It is hard to compare people to what we're like Luca.

He plays the game like the game is in slow motion. Like he has seen it forever. Like you hear these NFL quarterbacks that say, I've played the game long enough like Tom Brady. There's nothing you can throw at me. I haven't seen. And Luca looks. like that guy. The factors in the Laker

uniform, I can't believe it. I can't believe it. He gets a chance with LeBron. Can't wait to see it. Again, it looks like he's going to make the debut on Monday night. So it is, it is a lot of fun to see what's happening in the Laker land. The fact that the Lakers able to pull this deal off is incredible

for what they gave up. Again, sad to see A.D. go. Sad to see Max Christi go, but it is not even close when you look at what this trade is, what it is. And at the same time, for The Laker fans are used to superstars because we seem to get a major one every 10 years since Will Chamberlain.

It is, it's incredible to see that the Lakers did this again. What they did it again is just amazing to me. Just cannot believe it. All right. So let's look at the box score real quick before we get on out of here. Again, LeBron James, 42.17 rebounds tonight, eight assists came through when the Lakers needed them at most. Again, 42 points and 38 minutes for LeBron. Austin Reeves. It was a little bit frustrating.

23 points for Austin, but 0 of 9 for three point range. All right. But the free throws, 15 to 16, great. Only made 4 17 shots from the field. But man, the three point shot just was not his night tonight. He's going to be the most interesting guy to watch to me in Lakerland as far as him finding his role on the court for the Lakers. Because he's not going to be that point guard that he talked about, how he was basically embracing the role. and he wanted it.

Well, tonight, you know, four turnovers for him. Again, Austin Reeves, how will he fit in? How will this game fit in with LeBronz and Lucas? I think he's the most interesting guy to see. Jackson Hayes, he got 11 points in 25. He will go to the bench when Mark Williams gets here. Rui, outstanding tonight. 11 points in 38 minutes played great team basketball, like we say always.

My biggest complaint with Rui is I'd like to see more rebounds because every night, it's like four, you know, or something's less. A lot of times you'll see Rui and he gets, one. And I can he only get one. So it becomes frustrating. Dorian Finney Smith, 33 minutes, seven points. If you just looked at the box scoring, you don't watch the game. You'd say what happened to him. Dorian Finney Smith played some solid defense tonight for them. But off the bench, the big guy was Gabe Vincent. mentioned the beginning of the show. Gabe Vincent looked more comfortable in a Laker uniform tonight than you have seen him the entire time. Gabe Vincent,

15 points in 29 minutes. And he made five of eight three point shots. Every one of them was needed. Every one of those three point shots were big for the Lakers. So exciting time, you know, exciting time to see what the Lakers are doing. It's only going to get better from here. And let's take a look at the standings because the standings obviously will change once Luca joins the lineup. We'll be able to sit there and say, okay, what's this Laker team like? Right now the Lakers 11 games over 500.

They've won four in a row, eight of their last 10, just playing great basketball. We want them to be a top four seed. If you remember at the beginning of the year, I told you, I thought the Rockets, were a false team. I didn't have any faith in the Rockets. The Rockets have now lost five in a row. They've lost five in a row and only one game better than the Lakers. So the standings changed a little bit since the last game. So I'll throw it at you right now. Oklahoma City, who's going to get Chet Holmgren back. They've won three straight. Oklahoma City has a pretty big lead. They have a six game lead over the second place, Memphis Quizleys. We've also won four

games in a row. You look at the Denver Nuggets. They've won five games in a row. Nuggets playing really good basketball. They're 33 and 19. They're a game and a half better than Lakers. Lakers can jump up there. Houston Rockets are falling in the fall in fast. The 32 and 19, nine games back in here, you have the Lakers as the fifth seed. Just 10 games back. But again, one game behind the Rockets, a game and a half behind the third seed, Denver Nuggets. So if the Lakers can get right there in the top four, which I think they will,

it's exactly where we want to be. We told to keep an eye on Minnesota. Minnesota's played and better basketball. in Minnesota right now is the six seed. Clippers have struggled and they lost again tonight to the paces, if I'm not mistaken. Clippers, 28 and 23. Seed Mavericks are the eighth seed, 2725.

And again, Anthony Davis did not play tonight, by the way, for the Mavericks. From what I saw from Max Christie, he did play and played very well. Phoenix Suns, 500 team, Phoenix Suns are floating. They've lost three games in a row. And if you're a son's fan, you were stuck in. and salary cap hell, basically.

Sacramento Kings, they've kind of thrown the towel in with the Darren Fox deal. They're the 10th seat for right now, and the Warriors are out of it. Warriors, Spurs, Trailblazers, Utah Jazz, Pelicans, they're out of it. Look for the San Antonio Spurs to possibly make a run because they got Fox that they're a team that sneaks in there. Sacramento probably falls out. Phoenix could fall out and expect Golden State to jump in and take the place of those guys. But overall, what a night for the Lakers, big win. Appreciate you guys joining me tonight.

on Laker basketball. Don't forget Saturday's game is an afternoon game. Lakers will take on the Pacers at Crypto on Saturday. I believe it's 1 o'clock tip off. So join me after the game for that one. We'll talk Laker basketball there. At the same time, don't forget, every one of these shows, locked on Los Angeles,

locked on Lakers with Brian and Andy, do a great job every single day talking Laker basketball with you. And of course, with me with the postcast. These shows are heard anywhere you get your podcast. So please tune in and follow up on Laker basketball. any show you want, any team in L.A. Lockdown sports is a great job and proud to be part of it.

So thank you so much for joining me tonight. Lakers win 120.1-12. We will see you on Saturday after the Pacers game. Thank you so much for joining me tonight. See you Saturday, everybody.