Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - LAKERS POSTCAST LeBron leads Lakers past Blazers 110-102

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

Playing without Luka Doncic, the short-handed Lakers were led by LeBron James’ 40 points and Austin Reeves’ 32 as the Los Angeles Lakers held on to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 110-102. After losing their last two games to the Jazz and Hornets, the Lakers desperately needed this win before facing the always tough Denver Nuggets on Saturday night. Lakers, LA Lakers, Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Rui, Hachimura Austin Reeves, Dalton Knecht, NBA, Lakers Post cast, JJ Redick, Dave Palet, Lakers vs Blazers, Los Angeles Lakers vs Portland Trailblazers Support Us, By Supporting Our Sponsors!FAN DUEL• When the game tips off, the NBA action is just getting started—and there’s no better place to get in on it than FanDuel, America’s Number ONE Sportsbook!•• With FanDuel, you can place live bets throughout the game, so even if you miss the opening tip-off or want to bet on a fourth-quarter comeback, you can stay in the action. And if you’re looking for a bigger payout, you can even combine your live bets into a Same Game Parlay.• Example: I love using FanDuel’s live betting feature because it keeps every moment of the game exciting. Whether I’m backing my team for a late-game rally or picking a player to hit a clutch three, I never feel like I missed my chance. Plus, the app is easy to use, and when you win, you get paid instantly!• Right now, new FanDuel customers can get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins! Just visit FANDUEL DOT COM to join today. That’s FANDUEL DOT COM for your shot at ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets.• Make every moment more with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. 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. Los Angeles Lakers play without Luca. The Lakers blow another big lead. But this time, the Lakers finally closed out of a game they were supposed to win. We talk about it all in this episode of on the Lockdown Lakers Postcast. I'm Dave Pallet. Thank you so much for joining me.

Again, this episode right now to start the show, brought to you by Fandulw, win the game tips off. The NBA action is just getting started. There's no better place to get in on the Fandual action. America's number one sports book with Fandul, you can place live bets throughout the game. Soon if you missed opening tip off or you want to be part of the fourth quarter comeback, you can stay in all the action with Fandul. Right now, Fandul customers can get $150 of bonus bets with your first $5 bet if you win. Just visit Fandul.com to join today. That's fandle.com for your shot at $150 in bonus bets. every moment more with Fandle, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right. Again, Lakers win tonight. 110 102. They pull this off.

And thank you so much for joining me. We will take your comments throughout the show. I love talking to you guys as it feels a lot better to win today than what we've gone through the last couple games. Again, my name is Dave Pallet. You can follow me on social media. My name's right there in the corner of the screen. And again, I will respond to you if you want to direct message me,

Talked Laker basketball, happy to do it as well. Again, covered this team for a long time. Lucky enough to be a broadcaster in this business in Southern California for almost 35 years. But covering Laker basketball for me in the 90s was my favorite job ever. I absolutely loved it. The Kobe Shack years were amazing, but even the years before that, when they struggled, that transition between Magic Johnson to Kobe and Chack, when we had the George Lynch's out there, the Anthony Peelers,

Eddie Jones, all that stuff was living a dream as a lifelong Laker. fans. So here we are talking Laker basketball as we want to see this team win another championship. Again, Lakers win tonight. 1-1010-10. Very frustrating for us as Laker fans the last few games because the Lakers had struggled against teams they were supposed to beat. Before the All-Star break, they lose to the Utah Jazz, then they lose that home to the Charlotte Hornets and a bunch of storylines just with that Hornets game. But embarrassing when a team that you know is upset with you, a franchise you know is upset with you, you have a player on the other side that was like, wait a second, supposed to be wearing that Laker uniform and they come in with a chip on the shoulder.

Yet they came into Los Angeles and they embarrassed them. So what were the Lakers going to do playing back to backs? And so we found out early that Luka wasn't going to be part of the action. And so Luca's not playing. And so you're starting five tonight ends up being Jackson Hayes, Ruiz, Ruey, Austin Reeves, LeBron, Dorian Finney Smith, again, without Luca, without Jared Vanderbilt. It's always frustrating when you see guys that you desperately need that aren't able to play. At the same time, you want to see other people.

people step up in the scenarios where you go, well, here's an opportunity to prove how valuable you are, because again, everyone is fighting for minutes as all of a sudden, we think this is a really deep team. This is a team that wasn't a deep talented team about two months ago to all of a sudden being a team that guys are fighting for minutes as this team has now become a contender to win an NBA championship, at least on paper they are. They have not shown it since the Luca trade. We have to see where everybody fits in. One of the guys that feels like sometimes he gets lost since the trade is Austin Reeves. And we discussed this before about Austin Reeves being part of the Lakers before Luca

and what he was doing as far as transitioning into being borderline All-Star. And then Austin Reeves all of a sudden, you know, that point guard position, hey, we talked about you being the point guard and you addition out of assist, cutting down in your turnovers. He was, you know, a guy that said, I'm going to welcome the opportunity. I love playing point. And everybody loves playing point, right? Whether you're on the basketball court outside or if you're sitting there,

playing in your local gym. It's always fun being the point guard. Austin Reeves says, absolutely I'll do it, especially on a team where I have a guy like LeBron James, how great would that be? Well, Luca obviously needs the ball in his hand. LeBron needs the ball in his hand. So what happens to Austin Reeves and where does he fit in? And we know when he was ejected yesterday against the Charlotte Hornets, that it became frustrating for us as Laker fans because the Hornets took that opportunity to win on a crazy run and Lakers lose that game. Well, tonight in the first quarter, as the Lakers go on an 8-0 run early in the game, and, you know, they aren't making their threes, but at the same time, they were led in the first quarter by Austin Reeves, who had 12?

And you're wondering, at least I am, is Austin Reeves a guy that is better without stars on his team, like Luke, obviously we're talking about, or is he a guy that will fit in? Eventually, Austin Reeves will find his way. J.J. Reddick and those guys will make sure he finds his way. There are certain spots on the court where Austin Reeves is more effective, especially when it comes to shooting three-pointers. The one thing that you have to love about Austin Reeves is he gives you 100% every single game.

And I think most of the guys on the Lakers feel that way, right? They all kind of know the role, whether it's a Jackson-Haze is supposed to be a little bit of a shot blocker, a lob pass guy. I mean, Jackson Hays has no moves. When you think about a Kim Ilijuan and his post moves, Jackson Hays doesn't have any of them. But he is a guy that on the court, you know,

is going to give you everything. Austin Reeves, I was watching tonight how many times he goes to the ground, whether it's taking a charge or it's just, even after a shot, and then you look at his body and he turns around and he's a giant scratch mark on his shoulder on the front or back. And he's, you know, obviously sweating like crazy like everybody else. But when you go to the ground and have to get yourself off the ground and you're playing all those minutes, it takes a lot out of you. So Austin Reeves, maybe he felt like he owed it to his team that he let him down getting ejected and letting his temper get in the way yesterday. But he came out

on fire. Twelve points for Austin Reeves in the first quarter, which is fantastic. Rebounds, Lakers, man, they hustle. They did their thing. Again, 17 to 10. They're ahead of the Blazers. Assists. Lakers had six. Blazers had five. Bench points. Blazers had seven. Lakers had four. Well, that's kind of what you expected when the Lakers are playing shorthanded. Turnovers, again, one of those things got to be a little bit crazy for the Lakers. And one of those things, if you want to be a championship team, the Lakers definitely have to improve on that. Lakers seven turnovers in the first quarter. But here's the deal. The Lakers won the first quarter and won it handedly. Thank goodness, because this game got really tied at the end.

outscored the Blazers in the first quarter, 2815, which is awesome. Now, here's where things went bad for the Lakers. Lakers in the second quarter, they struggled a little bit, okay? And they started off fine. They made it 40 to 22 on LeBron James Dunk. And again, then come the Blazers, eight nothing run. They make the score 40 to 30, 452 remaining in the half. Ruiz Midraden jumper stopped the run, but the Lakers at once 18 point lead was now cut in

half. And so there are good things and bad things about this. One is that the lead was cut in half as disappointing. But we spoke about this last night after the Lakers game against the Hornets when they weren't knocking their threes down. Don't be afraid to take the two. If the threes aren't going to fall, go ahead and make the adjustment and take what the defense is giving you and take the twos.

And the Lakers started doing that a lot tonight. They started doing that with the mid-range jumpers. They started driving in the paint. And it paid off. And when the threes started to come later on in the game, I think what opens those up is that the Lakers were attacking the basket. And if you saw Portland, now they changed their defense a little bit down the line where they were making the Lakers work almost every possession just to get the ball across half

court where it would shorten the shot clock. It was one of those things because I think the Lakers' offense was we're going to attack the paint. So guys that can hit the mid-range jumper and the NBA, everybody should be able to do it. But Rui was the one that stopped the run in that situation with 452 remaining. Lakers continued to struggle, though, the remainder of the half. Three-point shooting was not very good at all. And again, the Blazers, you know, once down by 18, all of a sudden they're down by six.

And it's frustrating for this team. At the half, Lakers lead 55-47, but the Blazers had a fantastic second quarter. And so you go, okay, what's the deal with this Laker team? And why is it that they can't dominate quarter to quarter? The good teams are able to this basically show this. is what we are. This is, you know, what we're going to do. And we're going to own you the majority of the game. It's okay to lose one quarter. But the Lakers lose, you know, sometimes two, three quarters in a game and maybe they're lucky to pull out a win. It's not solid basketball. So the Lakers get out scored in the second quarter, 3227, and they head into the half. And for Laker fans, and I'm thinking, well, it's a Portland team that's not very good. Lakers should come out in the third quarter, especially after last night's disappointing game with the chip on their shoulder and be ready to go. at the half leave 55-47. Lakers three-point shooting was terrible. Everywhere else total, the Lakers from the field was 48% from three-point range to a 15. Now, the one thing they did,

as we spoke about on the show last night, make your free throws. You missed four last night. You lost the game by three. Lakers actually did a lot better shooting free throws on the road tonight. 11 and 12 in the first half, 92%. Blazer shot 41% from the field in the first half, 17% from three point range. This is a really bad, bad team. Okay, really bad team. So the fact that the game is close against, you know, the Blazers is frustrating,

but to lose to Utah and the Hornets, kind of makes you wonder, what do the Lakers have and what's it going to take to turn things around a little bit? LeBron James at the half had 19 points, five rebounds, three assists, Austin Reeves. He had 19 as well. But here we go with the Lakers.

It's now a two-man team that's sitting there carrying you. At the half, Lakers rebounds, Lakers are doing okay, 27, 18, assist Lakers 10, Blazers 10, bench points, not even close. Blazers had 23 bench points in the first half. Lakers only had four. Turnovers, Lakers, seven, Blazers, nine. So it becomes a little bit concerning on what the Lakers are doing. Now, here we go.

The number at the half, right, the Lakers, when leading at the half, always very good. 27 and 5 when leading at the half, can now move that up to 28 and 5 for this Laker team. when leading at the half. So again, Lakers, they lead 55, 47 at the half. Those are good signs for the Lakers and stuff that we're proud about. We'll talk about how this game ended because it got very exciting on how the game ended and what the Lakers had to do to win this game. We'll go over all that with you as well as getting to your comments as well. Once again, I want to mention the people over at Fandul when the game tips off, the NBA actions just getting started. And there's no better place to get on it than FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook.

With FanDil, you can place live bets throughout the game. So even if you miss the opening tip off or you want to bet on a fourth quarter comeback, you can stay in the action. And if you're looking for a bigger payout, you can even combine your bets with live bets into the same game parlay. Example, I love using FanDual's live betting feature because it keeps every moment of the game exciting, whether I'm back in my team for a late game rally like tonight or picking a player to hit a clutch three like tonight.

I never feel like I missed my chance. Plus, the app is easy to use when you win and you get paid instantly. Right now, Fandual customers can get $150 in bonus bets with your first $5 bet if it wins to bet fendool.com to join today. That's fandle.com for your shot at $150 in bonus bets. Make every moment more with Fandul, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right. So again, we'll tell you what, let's take some of the comments.

right now. Well, look at what you guys are thinking right now about this Laker team. What are your concerns and what are you happy about moving forward? Because we know there's a tough game coming up on Saturday when the Lakers take on the Denver Nuggets. Denver team that plays the Lakers is extremely tough. Hey, Craig, good to see you again. I appreciate it. Craig says, Dorian Finney Smith, man, had a key tip. And that was a key play in the fourth quarter. That was big. Again, that was one off of Miss layup. That was great. Jackson Hayes, pretty good. Craig says as well, you know, it's, it's one of those things where he knows his role. It's easy to say, but remember, every one of these guys in the NBA, they're all good or

we're all stars at one time. I mean, you think about your community and who was the best player from your neighborhood, your school, and you go, man, everybody used to talk about that guy. Did that guy make it to the NBA? If you're an NBA player, you're something special. I mean, this is a global sport. To me, it's the toughest sport to become a professional in. To reach that level of NBA basketball, to be on a roster is extremely tough to do.

So, you know, when a guy's sitting there and go, that guy stinks, look, I've done it too. I've said worse, hate to say it. I've said a lot worse than probably you have too. But when you're sitting there and you're watching these Laker players who you want to see them be great, and you're thinking, this guy's not very good. Why did they play this guy or that guy? Try going to a Laker game early. You know, if you ever get a chance to go to a Laker game and watch these guys,

as soon as the arena opens up and watch these guys shoot. When there's no one in their face, no one ever misses. You know, when I used to cover the team, you know, back in the day in the early 90s, and I'd watch Kurt Rambas, who wasn't a player, who was just a guy that would go out and get a workout at him by shooting. Kurt looked like Larry Bird. Like he never, never missed. And he'd go, wait a second, why didn't Kurt shoot more?

Well, they didn't need him to shoot more. One, too, is they had better players. So, you know, Kurt obviously was a guy that did the dirty work for the Lakers, but he never missed. And then I watched a guy like A.C. Green, who's not known as, you know, that crazy good shooter. Well, E.C. Green looked like Larry Bird, too. He never misses in warm-ups and no one's around. And he just shake your head and you go, it is crazy how good these guys are that they just never miss. By the way, best I've ever seen before a game, two guys is obviously Kobe Bryant insane. You get a chance to watch Kobe back in the day before games and getting there really early

and the shots he would shoot and there's bank shots from 40 feet out and on purpose bank shots. And then to watch like Ray Allen could do the same thing. And it was impressive. And we all know both those guys, tremendous players, both, you know, Hall of Fame players. But when you say a guy is terrible, it's pretty hard to believe it. I took a shot at Alex Lynn yesterday saying he was terrible. I just think Alex Lynn as big as he is. That's why he's in an NBA uniform.

that's just not doing his job. When a guy gets one point or one rebound a game, it becomes frustrating that he's not doing more. So, Wes, I see here, say Austin Reeves, man, he's important to this team. I love this, Craig, as well, when you say Gabe Vincent with the two key free throws, absolutely.

As ridiculous as it sounds, it is fundamentals to make those free throws. Not always easy when you're on the road. We know Portland's a tough place to play. Portland, even though they aren't a team that wins NBA championships on a regular level, Usually teams don't like going to Portland. You know, the crowd's always into it.

It's all they have. It's the big pro team that they have. The enthusiasm for Portland Trailblazers basketball is always something that should be admired. But again, it's one of those things to see what happens. I love the comment here. Let's see what Alex Lynn does against the Joker. It's not going to go well, okay? I mean, the Joker is outstanding.

When we look forward to that game, to me, look, I'm going to say something right now, and I've said it a long, long time ago we first started. Don't know if you were with me when we started the show. Honestly, you can make an argument that the Joker's the best player in the history of the NBA. It might sound like the craziest thing you ever heard right now. When you look at his numbers and let's say you were to sit there and you put him against Will or you put him against Kareem or you put him against Shaq, how are you going to guard him? How are you going to guard him?

You're going to take Shaq out of the middle, which is what made him dominating. You're going to have the Joker pull him all the way out and sit there and knock threes down all day long. he can dish the ball out and obviously assist with the best of them. The funny thing is he's a guy that acts like he doesn't even really love basketball. Every time they do anything and they have to go deep in the postseason, he complains that he just wants to go home. It's pretty incredible what he does, but his numbers are insane. And again, for the Denver Nuggets and the weapon they have, from my opinion,

Joker's the best player in the league right now. And you can make argument that Luca is number two, even though he hasn't shown it in a lake. her uniform. Right now, the Joker is just an amazing player, and every time I watch him play, I just can't believe, here's a guy that doesn't get, looks like more than an inch off the ground when

he jumps, yet he never seems rattled, makes perfect passes, and is such a weapon for that Denver Nuggets team, who, by the way, I can't stand. The Denver Nuggets have become one of the teams. Celtics, one, I hate, nuggets right there are right there, maybe at number two, just because the owner and the coach

won't stop talking about beating the L.A. Lakers, which drives me out of my mind. I can't stand it. So the game on Saturday is going to be big. The game on Saturday against the Nuggets is going to be big. For me, there's always a lot of hate directed towards the Denver Nuggets. So let's catch up to where we were talking about how this game went for the Lakers in the second half. Again, third quarter, LeBron James, tried to do it by himself, man. Here's, to me, one of my favorite players. A couple of plays in this game that were incredible. Now, we know the Blazers won the quarter. They outscored the Lakers 30 to 23. Do you remember with

8.50 remaining in the third quarter. LeBron James, there's a three and one fast break against him. Portland had three guys going down the floor of the bronze, the only one backside. LeBron stopped it. He stopped the fast break all by himself. Pretty impressive. Now, it might have been luck. Who knows? But man, that was pretty cool. I don't care about his age or who it was. But any time you can stop a three and one fast break with one guy is impressive. 525 remaining in the quarter, Blazers cut the Laker lead down to 68, 64. 448 remaining in the quarter. Blazers cut the Lakers lead down to 2, 68, 66, starting to get a little frustrated as a fan. I want to make sure the Lakers can turn this thing around. 319 remaining in the quarter.

Blazers cut the lead down to 70 to 69. And again, LeBron stopped the bleeding, given the Lakers a chance where he was able to put a run together, 73, 69, given the Lakers a lead. But again, the Lakers did not finish basically well, getting outscored by 7 in the quarter. And at the end of the end of the quarter, the Lakers only had a 1.73, 72 lead. So kind of frustrating right there to see. We've seen this before, and we want to know one of the Lakers is going to break out of this. And it would be nice if the Lakers could figure a way to put everything in order here. But for us, as Laker fans, it feels like no game is safe.

We'll get into the fourth quarter in just a second. Let me mention the people over at Fandle one more time. Again, Fandul, don't forget about Fandle when the game tips off, The NBA action is just getting started. There's no better place to get in the action with Fandul. America's number one sports book. With Fandul, you can place live bets throughout the game. So even if you missed the opening tip,

or you want to bet on the fourth quarter comeback, you can stay in the action. And if you're looking for a bigger payout, you can even combine your live bets into the same game day parlay. Right now, new Fandul customers can get $150 in bonus bets. If your first $5 bet wins, just to visit Fandle.com to join today. Fandle.com for your shot at $150.

and bonus bets tonight would have been an interest tonight. Again, if you had two Lakers scoring more than 30 points, it would have been a great opportunity for you to get paid quickly. Again, Fandall, don't forget about the $150 in bonus bets, make every moment more with Fandle, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. So, Lakers, what are they going to do? And what do they do as far as moving forward in the fourth quarter?

For the Lakers, it was something else. Okay? So are the Lakers going to sit there and fold the tent and say, man, it's not our night? And we've seen this movie before or the Lakers are going to come out with everything they have. Dorian Finney Smith opened the fourth quarter with a corner three, making the score 81, 77. Blazers were able to tie the game at 81. It started to get scary. Lakers went on an 8-0 run, which was great.

It was 89, 81. 702 remaining in the fourth quarter. Austin Reeves' layup made the score 93-84. It's starting to feel pretty good. but the Lakers go on a 16 to 5 run, making the score 97, 96, and the Lakers needed everything, excuse me, 9786, the Lakers needed everything right there. And at the same time, even though you're looking at that big lead

and you're going, man, there's the Lakers with a big lead and can they sit there and close things out, the Blazers going to run on their own. 431 remaining in the game, the Blazers cut the Laker lead down to 99, 94, and a three-pointer. Or it's in the Lakers to call a timeout. kind of curious to know what was said during that timeout. 324 remaining in the quarter.

Austin Reeves three-pointer made the score 102-94. Still, you can't breathe easy because Portland won't go away. Lakers couldn't find defense to figure out a way to stop what Portland was doing. 222 remaining 3-1 break. Austin Reeves draws a charge. That was a big, big play. Not easy to do. Again, we talked about how many times has Austin Reeves hit the floor?

That is the hardest way you're going to hit the floor. those charges. And people say, oh, I would do it too. It's hard. You know, it's tough. I understand if you're one of those guys that has played serious basketball, it's obviously a contact sport. It's not like he takes it flush, but at the same time, you're going to the floor and you never know where that guy's body is going to land on top of you. So Austin Reeves, man, it's all about the team. Reeves followed up that play, though, with the jump ball. Do you remember that the jump ball, which was a fantastic defensive play? I agree with the announcers. Didn't think it was a jump ball situation. I thought.

Austin Reeves just took the ball away, and then he makes two free throws to give the Lakers a 104-98 lead. All within a matter of just seconds, Austin Reeves did all this. That was incredible, just incredible basketball from Austin Reeves, exactly what the Lakers needed, and they needed every single bit of it. So 54 seconds remaining, here's that tip that was brought up. 54 seconds remaining, Dorian Finney Smith tipped in a Miss Reeves layup, and the Lakers lead 10698. Blazers then score four quick points. to cut the lead down to 106, 102, with 24 seconds remaining,

16.7 seconds remaining, Gabe Vincent goes to the line, and he makes those two big free throws that were brought up as well. Lakers on top 108, 102. Lakers end up winning this thing, 110, 102 for the win, a win that this team desperately needed. So for the Lakers, yeah, they needed this win big time. Everything there that happened for the Lakers, obviously, they needed every single second.

If this game went, no joke, another two minutes. I'm not so sure the Lakers win this game. I mean, LeBron gave you everything. Last five games, LeBron's averaging 30 points a game, nine and rebound, 7.6 assists. And, you know, LeBron is the one we knew was banged up during an overall start weekend. When you saw that he didn't play, so it's going to be an injury with his feet that are going to bother him or his foot that's going to bother him for the remainder of the year. Yet he stepped up. And so hopefully we get Luca ready to go.

A lot of people, a little frustrated because Luca doesn't look like the Luca, they thought they were getting when they traded for him. I'll say what I said last night if you weren't part of the show. Remember, Luca hadn't played since Christmas Day with a caffeine injury. And so Luca with a calf injury has not basically had a chance, I think, to find not only his rhythm, but his wind as well as in the NBA, as we know you're off and running. What do they say? The average NBA player is basically running five miles a night. It's a big jump for a guy who hasn't been asking. because you can't be active with your legs with a caffeine injury for Luca to be,

you know, the player he's going to be for this team down the road. This trade will work out fine for the Lakers, okay? And, you know, as you see, as Luca needs to get fit. Daniel, I don't disagree. You know, I'm not sure with Luca. It's one of those where Lucas never had that LeBron James type body. At the same time, neither does the Joker have that kind of body, yet those guys are maybe the two best players in the league.

I'm not so sure. Basically what I want to know is are you like Luca's not going to play great defense. That's why and the reasons he was traded. But can you keep up? Can you sit there and push the offense? And at the same time, can you keep up with the offense when you don't have the ball? I think that's when we're going to sit there and get an idea of what Luke is doing. But when the shots weren't falling yesterday, to me that showed lack of wind for Luca.

It's all in the legs. And Luca didn't have his legs yesterday to sit there and knock down the shots. He needed to knock down. As you saw, he was extremely frustrated. When you're that good of a basketball player and he used to have in success, it becomes very, very frustrating as well. Appreciate the comments from you guys. Busey, good to see you, Daniel, good to see you.

And of course, Craig, good to see you as well tonight. I'm excited about this Laker win. Last night, completely was disappointing. I was extremely angry last night, very frustrated. Like, where's this team going? I'm still not sure the Lakers are ready for the Denver Nuggets on Saturday. And as we all know, the Denver Nuggets are a really good basketball team. Not only that, I think the Denver Nuggets played the Lakers better than any team in the NBA and have for the last three years.

The game on Saturday, I wish it was happening a few weeks ago when the Lakers I thought were playing their best basketball. And right now, I don't think the Lakers are playing their best basketball. To barely get by Portland and lose to Utah and Charlotte make me really nervous. The fact that it's a national televised game and everyone's going to be watching on Saturday night, if you're an NBA fan. Why wouldn't you watch you're looking at three of the best players in the world on the court at the same time? really would like to see the Lakers kind of make a turn for the best. Don't know if they have enough time to figure this thing out in a couple of days.

Don't exactly expect it. Don't exactly expect it. Even if this game was, you know, a big home game for the Lakers, not so sure the Lakers would do against the Nuggets, but the Nuggets, for sure, love to talk, love to run their mouse, which is extremely frustrating for us as Laker fans going, do you know who we are? I mean, you guys have that one banner that's sticking up there. We have, you know, 17 of these things. and you guys sit there and run your mouse all the time,

like you've dominated the Lakers for the longest time. Nuggets, as I said, are red hot right now. They've won nine straight games. Nine straight games the Nuggets have. The 37 to 19, if you recall, the Nuggets were a team that struggled at the beginning of the year. Now they have the number two seed in the Western Conference. So where does that put the Lakers who I tell you all the time to the point you guys are sick of it, that I want to see the Lakers in the fourth spot.

Oklahoma City is still the one seed. It's got a big lead over the Nuggets, eight game lead. Memphis Grizzlies have fallen to number three. Memphis loses tonight to Indiana. They're eight and a half games back. Houston Rockets are 10 and a half games back, not sold on the Rockets. Rockets have won only six of the last 10. Or excuse me, rockets have only won three of their last 10.

Grizzlies have won six of the last 10. Rockets have won three of their last 10 and they're 34 and 21, 10 and a half out. Lakers are right there. I mean, with what's going on with the Houston Rockets. They can pass the rockets. They can get that Ford seed. Lakers are 11 games back. So they're half game back behind the Houston Rockets with the number five seed.

Lakers can do it. The thing is the Lakers schedule is extremely tough. With about 28 games remaining, the Lakers schedule is going to be one of the toughest in the league. That's why those losses against teams that you're supposed to beat against the Jazz against the Hornets, those are ones you wonder will they come back to haunt you when you aren't getting a home court advantage game? And that's the frustrating thing.

Are you going to look back at these games in February and say, man, that was one of those things. where if the Lakers would have taken care of business, like where it was expected, they would have been okay. Clippers are the number six seed. Minnesota, the seventh seed. Dallas, again, is 30 and 26. They're the eighth seed, Sacramento, ninth seed.

Golden State is the 10th seed. So I think it's going to almost stay this way. I keep thinking the Kings are going to be a team that falls. And I thought the Kings would fall and be replaced by either Phoenix, which is just a train wreck of a locker room. It doesn't look like Phoenix is a team that if you're a fan, that you go, man, we're going to do. do anything. Even though you have big time players with making big time money and maybe future

Hall of Famers on that team, the sons are a complete disaster as an organization right now. But San Antonio got horrible news today. I thought San Antonio would be basically a team that can make a jump up, especially by getting Fox and a trade. San Antonio finding out that Wimby is going to be out for the remainder of the year with the blood clot. That basically puts it into their season. So as we just mentioned those top 10 teams, I was thinking Sacramento would be a team that falls out. Maybe Phoenix happens to replace them, but I don't think any of those teams at the bottom do anything. So for the Lakers, again, you want to have your home court advantage when you can get it, which teams scare you, which teams don't. Out of that group, I think there are a couple of

pretenders in here. Are those teams to the 10 teams in the playoffs? I think Sacramento is a pretender. I think Dallas is a pretender. I'm scared of Minnesota. The Clippers, you know, do what the Clippers do and the Clippers never finish anything, but they would get up for a series against the Lakers for sure. I think the Houston Rockets are a pretender. Memphis is a big giant team. John Morant, for example, disappeared tonight. It's kind of interesting. But Oklahoma City and Denver, those are the two teams that scare me the most. And for the Lakers, you know, to possibly make to the Western Conference finals or hopefully to the NBA finals, they got to get by somebody and they've got to do their job. So the Western Conference is extremely, extremely tough. Everyone is

in the Boston Celtics, even though they're the number two seed in the East to make it back to the NBA finals. I kind of agree with that. Even though Cleveland has a five and a half game lead and Boston's the number two seed, I think the Boston Celtics are the best team in the East. Knicks at the three seed, not impressed with New York because we saw them. We're going to see them again real soon. Indiana Pacers not impressed with them. Milwaukee, not impressed with them. So at the Western Conference, not even close on how much better they are than the East again this year. So for the Lakers, it's important that you can pull off a win. Hopefully against the Denver Nuggets would be great on Saturday. I will be back with you on Saturday talking Laker basketball with you.

Again, I want to remind you that you can catch every one of these shows, whether you're listening to Brian and Andy or do a daily Laker podcast, or you can catch me on the Laker Postcast. You can catch us locked on Los Angeles. You can catch us on YouTube. Again, locked on Lakers. We're everywhere. But you can catch any of these shows wherever you get your podcast.

Don't forget about YouTube as well, but we're available everywhere and appreciate everyone that takes time to follow Laker basketball has a passion for Laker basketball throughout the season. So it's a lot of fun, especially on the nights when the Lakers win. We will be back on Saturday after the Lakers take on the Denver Nuggets. Hopefully we see some great things out there to get excited about, especially moving towards the end of the season. But again, Lakers went tonight 110-102.

Thank you so much for your time tonight. I will catch you on Saturday. Don't forget, follow me on social media. And thank you for your time, guys. Have a great night.