Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - LAKERS POSTCAST: Wolves Come Back to take 3-1 Series Lead over Lakers

Episode Date: April 27, 2025

Anthony Edwards scored 43 points and former Laker Julius Randle added 25 as the Minnesota Timberwolves took three games to one series advantage, beating the Lakers 116-113. Luka Doncic led the Lakers with 38 points while LeBron James added 27 in the loss. Lakers, LA Lakers, Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Rui, Hachimura Austin Reaves, Dalton Knecht, Dorian Finney-Smith, NBA, Lakers Post cast, JJ Redick, Dave Palet, Lakers vs Timberwolves, Los Angeles Lakers vs Minnesota Timberwolves Anthony Edwards Support Us, By Supporting Our Sponsors!PRIZE PICKSBasketball and hockey playoffs are here, and there’s no better time to turn your sports knowledge into real cash with PrizePicks, the top destination for daily fantasy action.PrizePicks makes it simple: just pick MORE or LESS on at least two player projections, and you’re in. You can even mix and match players across basketball, hockey, baseball, and more for a shot to win up to 2,000x your cash!You can pick LeBron to score more than 25 or Luka to have 9 or more assists, the choices are endless.Turn your playoff hot takes into tickets to basketball’s championship series. Every Lineup you make on PrizePicks will enter you in the Takes 2 Tickets Sweepstakes, which could get you and a plus-one a VIP trip to The ‘Ship.Hockey: I’m eyeing Connor McDavid for MORE than 1 goal and Auston Matthews for MORE than 5 shots on goal.The app makes it so easy—you can build a lineup in under 60 seconds, and with Taco Tuesday discounts and Flex Friday promos, there’s even more value each week. And when you win, you get paid fast—sometimes in as little as 15 minutes!Download the app today and use code LOCKEDONNBA to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup! That’s code LOCKEDONNBA to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup!Prize Picks. Run Your Game!FAN DUELThe NBA Playoffs are almost here, and FanDuel is giving new customers an incredible way to get in on the action!Right now, when you join FanDuel and place your first $5 bet, you’ll get $250 in Bonus Bets—if your bet wins!I love how FanDuel makes betting so easy, whether it's picking my favorite team or diving into player props.From 3-pointers to steals to assists, FanDuel has so many ways to bet your favorite player props.Plus, after the game tips off, you can even combine live prop bets into a Same Game Parlay for a chance to win big.Don’t miss out—head to FANDUEL DOT COM and claim your $250 in Bonus Bets today! 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. Well, there's a lot to talk about today as the Lakers unfortunately lose 116, 113. Minnesota takes a three games to one series advantage. The game starts off with. LeBron is almost perfect to start the game. Luca takes over in the third quarter, but Minnesota takes advantage of a tired Lakers team in the fourth.

We talk about it all coming up on the Lakers postcast on the locked on Lakers postcast. So here we are talking Laker basketball with you. By the way, these shows can be heard anywhere you get your podcast. My name is Dave Palais. Of course, you can follow me on social media. Many have been with me for the entire season, but at the same time now that we're in the postseason, I know we have some new people joining us. My background is I'm a 30-year-plus broadcaster in Southern California and cover the

Lakers firsthand from 93 to 2005 had the good years. The years when we actually won championships, had the Kobe Shack years. So at the same time, we want to see this Laker team. This franchise rebound and chase that 18th championship. And I was hoping it would be this year. Right now, the Lakers' backs are against the wall. They're down three games to one against Minnesota. And the Lakers are looking at a situation where they get a couple days off before the series

returns to Los Angeles. And they will try and stay alive on Wednesday. day from crypto. Again, Lakers lose tonight, 116, 113, very frustrating because the Lakers did most things very, very well. And overall, when you look at why the Lakers lost, I think you can point the finger in a couple different directions. But basically, people are going to look at the stars of the game. And I'll tell you right now what people should be talking about. This is what you'll be talking about. I think most people nationally are going to sit there and look at it from a broad point of view. Or they're going to point in the finger.

and they're going to look at guys in the box score. And that's the lazy way of doing this. So looking at the box score, because if you look at the box score for the Lakers, you saw that Luke at 38. You saw that LeBronette 27. You saw Rui with 23. Even though Austin Reeves didn't score for the longest time,

he's still finished with 17. I tell you where you're going to point the finger of where you should be talking about is what is going on on JJ Reddick and his team coming off the bench. Here's a Laker team that went to Minnesota, so they traveled from L.A. to Minnesota for game three. they lose game three. And then the Lakers have less than 48 hours rest by playing an afternoon game.

And the Lakers don't get any production from their bench. As a matter of fact, they didn't ask for any production from their bench. Dorian Finney Smith was the only bench player that played real minutes today. Doyle and Fannie Smith played 41 minutes. That's a lot for a bench player. Basically, Jackson Hayes is a guy that's there for the tip off, catches as one lob, and then we'll see you later, Jackson. We'll see you next game.

You can untie your shoes. So the Lakers basically went with five guys. to finish this game. That is asking a lot concerning one guys in his 40s and your other superstar was sick as a dog

less than 48 hours ago. So what's the plan? And if I'm Rob Polink, I'm like, I'm giving you a bunch of pieces here, JJ, and the whole idea was to strengthen this bench and to give you a team

that can finally shoot and have multiple guys that can shoot three pointers, but you don't use them. You don't use them. And so it becomes extremely frustrating that if I'm the general manager, I'm thinking,

I bust in my tail to turn this whole, roster upside down and did a fantastic job doing it. But at the same time, you aren't using the weapons I gave you. So Jared Vanderbilt, who's a defensive specialist, there's nothing there offensively. You aren't going to get any offense from him. So it goes back to the guys that we're already tired. When you're looking at the amount of minutes that our starters are playing, Ruiz, 41, LeBron, 46, Luca 46, Austin Reeves, 35, and Dorian Finney Smith, 41. What do you think's going to happen. We're going to run out of gas.

And even at the end of the game, if Austin and Reeves hits that three-pointer and it goes to overtime, 116, 116, you know what's going to happen? The Lakers are going to run out of gas and get blown out in overtime. They have no chance of winning and being successful for actually a serious stretch by playing this

kind of basketball. It is frustrating to watch. It seemed like that was the magic word on the last show, but the Lakers can say, hey, we went all in because we couldn't afford to go down three games to one. You went all in with all five guys, and you ran out of gas. The wolves are much younger

than what the Lakers are when you have LeBron's average age of being 40 out there. You're asking a lot from LeBron. And I don't think you can point the finger at LeBron, but there are going to be some national guys that will do it first thing tomorrow morning. LeBron was outstanding today.

Outstanding. 27 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists. LeBron was great today. At the same time, J.J. Reddick, afraid to use his bench. Afraid to use his bench when you sit there and you look at the production that the wolves get. when you get 12 from Nas Reid. The Bulls ended up with 25 bench points today compared to six.

So they outscored the Lakers by 19 bench points. How does that possibly happen? How is that acceptable basketball? So I want to get your comments as well of what you think. But right now, if you're getting on that plane and you're the Lakers and you're thinking, what do we have to do to be different? And I tell you what, it's crazy as it sounds. Tomorrow's a day where it's not an active practice day.

These guys have to rest their bodies and hope that their bodies bounce back. for game five because many of you have asked a lot from this team in less than 48 hours to sit there and run out and it is physical we talk about this all the time people want to say oh the NBA is not physical the weight used to be in the 90s we're watching we're looking at the replays we're looking at the elbows we're looking at the body weight of guys falling on lebron guys falling on austin reaves it's been this way for a while and if you're looking at the postseason as we've talked about it's only a matter of time before the NBA gets what they don't want and that's when fight start happening. The referees have to be a little bit stronger with their whistles.

By the way, the call at the very end that gave Anthony Edwards the chance to shoot those free throws, that was weak. What happened to the old hands part of the ball? I understand that's home court advantage, but that's LeBron James. That's the superstar of the face of the NBA and has been for 20 years. And it's Anthony Edwards. You can overturn that, but the Lakers can't get the ones they overturn or the kickball that all of a sudden nobody sees. It's amazing. It's weak. It's amazing. that things don't go where more of a fair standpoint, the NBA has to do a better job.

I can't believe they now have three referees on the floor. We're back in the day. They only had two, and the calls seem like they're worse. It seemed like there are more guys with blindfolds on than ever before. So Lakers lose. I want to hear your comments as well as far as how this worked out, and we're going to get to a lot in the show on how this went. I want to start off with, first of all, with LeBron James today

because LeBron James understood the assignment. He understood that, look, it's going to fall on. me. I don't know what Luke is going to have, how he's going to feel, how his body is going to react to not doing well. Lakers jumped out to a 30-228 lead after one, and LeBron was absolutely outstanding. Almost played perfect basketball. He made the first four shots from the field. He made the first two, three-point shots. He was nine to ten from the free throw line. LeBron was great. Forget about the age, 40. If he was 24, that's outstanding. So LeBron did a outstanding job, and yet you're going to run into people that are going to trash LeBron tomorrow.

and say, you know, guys like LeBron have to step up and you need more. We didn't even get into the block shots. He was absolutely outstanding. And Austin Reeves, very disappointing in the first half. And I think you could have pointed fingers there, but he came alive. He gave his zero points in 11 minutes, only shot the ball twice, missed both of those. But Austin Reeves still finished in double digits and overall played a much better game. I'd just think the Lakers ran out of gas.

I think almost any team in the NBA would run out of gas in a situation like that in the way things were moving today. and so very, very frustrating. Again, we'll get to your comments as well. My name is Dave Palais. Lakers lose 116, 113. Let's get to a couple spots, and we'll get right back to the talk.

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Use the code locked on MBA to get $50 instantly after your play your first $5 lineup. That's the code again is locked on NBA. to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. Prize picks, don't forget, run your game. All right, so Laker basketball, unfortunately, Lakers fall short. Lakers lose 116 and 113 back in action on Wednesday. Very frustrating for the fact we did not see that this Laker team would be down three games to one, and that's exactly where the Lakers are after four.

So it is very, very, very disappointing. So Craig, nice to see you. Craig says, Reeves and Luca choked. Craig, I don't think so much they choked as far as they were exhausted. There's nothing left in your legs. I mean, we all know what it's like to sit there and play basketball. Every one of us is pick up basketball and run the court. And if you stay out there long enough, you realize your shot's not going to fall

because there's nothing left in your legs. And then Craig says the reps make questionable calls, agree. You know, and so it becomes frustrating. It becomes frustrating. and you understand where the team is at. I'm looking at some of you guys talk about the Lakers roster and where the Laker roster is. Look, here's the tradeoff.

You got rid of Anthony Davis for Luca. At the same time, I think we would make that deal nine times at a 10. I know I would. And when you see, you know, I'm flipping around on social media today and I'm watching the Lakers on one TV and I'm watching the Dodgers on another and I see Tyler Glassnow go down. And so on immediately puts out a meme of taking off Tyler Glassman. now's face and underneath the mask, it's Anthony Davis.

You couldn't rely on Anthony Davis. I hate to say it. I was Anthony Davis fan, but every time he went down, you weren't concerned that Anthony Davis wasn't getting up and how many games was he going to miss. Luca's going to be a star for the next 10 years. You don't want to be one of those Maverick fans that sat in the top. It wasn't for Luca if he was in better shape, this and that.

Look, the guy, the stomach flew just 48 hours ago. And Luca was falling apart. Luca came back and had a tremendous game. It's hard for me to say, guys. are choking when they score 38 points in 46 minutes. At the same time, I sit there and I look at Austin Reeves, and you can blame him for doing nothing in the first half, but at the same time, you've got to get them the ball.

You know, getting two shots off and having zero points, that's what we've been talking about for the longest time. Let's get these guys involved early. I'm curious to know what JJ Redick does on Wednesday, meaning this bench, because you cannot go throughout the series or throughout the rest of the playoffs by saying, we're going to win this thing with just five guys. Everybody knows you need seven to eight minimum to run a real NBA team,

especially in the postseason. And so there are guys on the bench that can shoot, guys you don't want to use. I'm going to bring up DALTA Connect almost every single show because when you need a guy with fresh legs that can still shoot threes, Dalton connects a guy that, guess what, Minnesota's not going to focus on because he's never in the game. When you look at Minnesota and people were saying,

I'm Minnesota social media. The Lakers want this game more. Well, it's not the way it worked out. You know who wanted this game? Julius Randall. For the second game in a row, Julius Randall came out on fire. Julius Randall finished with 25 points tonight. Julius Randall, former Laker, trying to prove his worth. You know how many people in Minnesota were hoping that the wolves were going to trade Julius Randall

before the trade deadline, thought it was a terrible deal they made with the Knicks. Right now they loved Julius Randall. The one thing the Lakers did well, they held Jada McDaniels in check today. Held him to 16 points. Jim McDaniels had torched the Lakers for two of these games so far. Lakers held him in check. It was Anthony Edwards, though, the 43 points in 44 minutes. Finally, it looked like LeBron was up to the challenge on that because we've been talking about it for a long time.

The announcers have talked about it. Anthony Edwards is looking, as we hear the word legacy a lot, because it should do her this week, that Anthony Edwards is looking at his legacy. What is going to be his reputation for the remainder of his career? And he wants to take the crown from the king. And Anthony Edwards has gone after LeBron and competed against LeBron. and Anthony Edwards was up for the challenge today. When they needed him most,

Anthony Edwards in 44 minutes, had 43 points. So for the Lakers, it's not where we want to be. You know, the challenge at the end of the game, I'm looking at Jimmy here says, no challenge at the game. Lakers were out of challenges. Lakers wasted theirs early, actually,

and so the Lakers couldn't challenge anything. I agree with you guys. Lakers, basically, there are questionable calls against them, but again, that's home court advantage. I also believe home court advantage disappears when you're supposed to have a superstar, whether that's Magic Johnson, a Larry Bird, a Michael Jordan, a LeBron James, that you should have a chance to sit there and go, it's different. When a guy who has carried your league, a guy who has brought your ratings to a whole other level,

that LeBron James should get different calls, but he doesn't. It seems like LeBron James gets hit all the time. By the way, the cheap shot in Rudy Gobert was ridiculous. That right there would forget about the flagrant, too. Rueh, but Gober should have been ejected from that game. anytime you go above the neck, that there's no need for that. I mean, we've seen all instances, whether it's basketball, whether it's baseball, whether it's boxing, you get hit like that from behind.

Man, you're looking for serious damage. You're lucky LeBron in the face of the NBA is able to continue in that game. Rudy Gobert is a punk. And I don't think there's a Laker fan out there that wouldn't say it. And guess what? There are Wolse fans and jazz fans out there that would say it. Donovan Mitchell would say it. One of the most dislike guys in the history of this league,

cheap shot, elbow to the back of the head should have been an automatic ejection. I bet LeBron would tell you you rather be slapped in the back of the head or punch in the back of the head than taking an elbow from a guy that's almost 300 pounds throwing an elbow. That was not a basketball play. Absolutely ridiculous. I agree with you guys. Not trusting the bench is a problem. And I don't think it's good for team chemistry either. I think there are a lot of guys on this team right now getting dressed or getting ready to get on that plane.

They're going on what the heck's going on here? How are you sitting there not trusting everyone on this bench? Guys you have trusted the entire year that all of a sudden are out of the road. rotation. I'm not saying to use everyone to use the rotation, but you got to go, you got to go seven or eight guys that have to give you an opportunity to give your stars a little bit of a rest. There was nothing left. Those guys had jelly legs by the time that thing was over. And so, man, JJ Redick, I hate to say it, you did a fantastic job as a rookie coach. Very disappointing to see the way you let that game play out today. And for Laker fans,

that was unacceptable. Let's get to the locked on player of the game. This is the locked on player of the game. player of the game. Look, I'd love it to give it to a Laker. As I tell you all the time, I hate giving it someone on the other team. I thought this was going to be an easy mark. It was going to be LeBron the way he started out. LeBron finished for 27 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists was ridiculously good today. Played 46 minutes and 46 minutes. One thing about Luca, everything you could possibly ask, left it all out on the court. Luca battling back from being sick in less than 48 hours, 38 points, and 46 minutes for him. One thing about Luca, numbers are down rebounds. If you notice, Luca is a guy. that always gives you close to triple double numbers. Luca today only had one rebound, only had two assists. At the same time, he had four turnover. Just 38 points were big, but Luca wasn't traditional Luca, okay? Player of the game, it has to go to Minnesota's Anthony Edwards,

as much as that pains me to say. Edwards stepped up when the wolves needed the most. His 43 points in 44 minutes were outstanding, hit big shots, hit big free throws, and the player of the game has to be Anthony, Anthony, Edwards. So Anthony Edwards, a fantastic job from him. Again, Lakers down three games to one in this series. They're going to need everything they can to do it. Look, Lakers have done this before. LeBron James has done this before. I think we feel the Lakers are the better team. That's why they

at home court advantage. That's why they're the higher seed throughout. The Lakers, again, can win this series. One game at a time, right? You're going to win all three in one day. One game at a time, do the right things. Let's get some rest in. Let's get healthy. And let's get ready to go and do this again on Wednesday. 7 o'clock tip off from Crypto. I hope you guys join me after game 5. Hope we're talking about a win. But I thank you so much for joining me on a Sunday.

And let's go, Lakers. Let's win this thing. Let's extend this season all the way through game 7. Have a good afternoon, everybody.