Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Lakers-Rockets Game 4 Rewatch! What Can the Lakers Change for Game 5?

Starting point is 00:00:00 We took another peak at game four so you don't have to. What did we learn after another look at a big Lakers loss? That's next. You are locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks, everybody for joining Locked on Lakers, Brian Komeneski, Andy Kaminaski.

Starting point is 00:00:29 Sometimes Andy, when a game is as entertaining and exciting as game four was, you just got to go back and watch it again, maybe another time, a couple more times, relive it over and over again. The Lakers obviously need to break down the tape, take a look at what happened. 115 to 96 was the final score, and it, quite frankly, didn't seem that close after the first, you know, seven or eight minutes of the game.

Starting point is 00:00:53 And it's an interesting place to be because the Rockets certainly found some stuff that was working. They carried that over, really, from the second half of game three to kind of keep those things working. And the Lakers, at least until we know for sure, when Austin Reeves is going to play, do have a somewhat limited amount of stuff that they can do to counter whatever Houston does because we've reached the part of the series.

Starting point is 00:01:32 series where kind of everybody knows what the other guy's doing. Well, it's, so it's an interesting place to be. It's not simply just that everybody knows what everybody's doing. I mean, on both sides, really, because the Rockets don't have Kevin Durant. And I am guessing it's purely a guess, but it feels pretty educated based on the reporting coming out on both sides, that Austin Reeves is much more likely to return more quickly than Kevin Durant. Seems that way, for sure.

Starting point is 00:02:00 I keep sensing skepticism from the rocket side of things for what it's worth on my weekly ESPNLA 7-10 show Lakers talk. I had Jackson Gatlin from Locked on Rockets on as a guest Monday night. We're looking to do another crossover episode with Jackson tomorrow for Wednesday leading up to game five. But he said he suspected that Durant will not return this season. he also I mean I suppose it could change some questions whether or not he's going to return next season sure but

Starting point is 00:02:36 he was very specific when he said he does not think that Kevin Durant will wear a rocket's uniform again this season I didn't clarify anything beyond that one way or another I suppose things could change if the rockets pulled off like a historical upset and

Starting point is 00:02:52 expanded this thing or extended this thing further but I don't think Jackson's counting on that either or or KD just find himself short on laundry and that's just all he has lying around he has to put the jersey back on the he doesn't it's hard to know with them like what how much is vibes how much is you know the guy not wanted like you know it's there's so much negativity around durant with the the rockets that you it's it's easy to sort of lose track of like is the guy just not wanting to play Does he want to, you know, is he really that badly hurt?

Starting point is 00:03:31 Like, it's, as it's been described, it's like a two to three week injury where Reeves, probably if the Lakers were down, the impression I got from the way everybody was talking about it. It's like if the lay, say the Lakers were down to one, I think Austin would have played. Right. So, I mean, in terms of getting those guys back, it's it is the biggest thing that could change the dynamic of this series, because for the Lakers to be able inject that skill set, we talked about it a lot for Monday. Like the stuff that Austin theoretically can do for them,

Starting point is 00:04:08 even if he's not razor sharp or able to play 40 minutes or whatever it might be, it will be a huge boost to what the Lakers are doing. What I was originally getting at when you mentioned the idea that both teams know what the other side is going to do, it's not just that by now that's pretty standard for the playoffs. Once you start getting to game five, it's difficult to pull genuinely unexpected rabbits out of the hat. Both sides are lacking the magicians to do those sort of tricks. I mean, like, I mentioned that during the second half of game three, I was having concerns that the Lakers were just creeping up against the limits of what they can do without Luca and Austin.

Starting point is 00:04:53 You know, you can always add little tweaks, little wrinkles, and we're going to talk about certain things, we think the Lakers can even do as is. But broadly speaking, like in some ways the Rockets maybe have a little more runway in terms of new things to break out just because basically from having no other choice, Ime Adoka is forced to play Reed Shepard,

Starting point is 00:05:13 I think more than he would want to. And for all of Shepard's flaws, he opens up things the offense can do that are otherwise impossible without a capable ball handler and a floor spacer and also allowing guys like Shengoon and Amen Thompson to do less of the things that they aren't as comfortable with. They're still going to have to do some just because of who the rockets are missing.

Starting point is 00:05:42 The other thing that Jackson said, then we'll get into some of the things we noticed on the rewatch. But Jackson had an interesting observation that without Kevin Durant, obviously the Rockets are missing their best player. Like there's no way around it. They're missing their best score. But he said they think he thinks they actually play more freely without Durant because, A, they haven't had a cohesive season with Durant anyway this season because of guys who've

Starting point is 00:06:12 been in out of lineup anyway. But also with Durant, there's always this idea of got to get the ball to Kevin, got to make sure we're setting this up for Durant. Like there's so much that they are often, in Jackson's mind at least, self-conscious about with getting the ball to Kevin Durant, they now can just play more freely, but also in a lot of ways, more of an extension of what they did last year when they didn't have Durant on the team at all. And I just thought it was an interesting observation just that he feels like while they obviously lack in talent without Durant, there's a certain freedom when he isn't on the court that they may be benefiting from. Yeah, it's one of these things like anytime a player loses their best offensive player, there is a certain freedom that comes from a more egalitarian way of doing it. You know, Schengun obviously becomes the fulcrum for the Lakers or for the Rockets.

Starting point is 00:07:10 It was interesting I was listening to as I always do, the Laker Film Room podcast with our friends Darius and Pete. And they noted like it's not better to have kids. out if you're Houston. But like the Lakers, to some degree, I've had a little bit of a harder time over the last couple games, figuring out what to do with Schengun as the fulcrum, now that he's feeling a little bit more competent than they did with KD, you know, going back to game two plus the two games of the baseball series. Like, the Lakers have pretty good formula for what to do with Durant.

Starting point is 00:07:44 But, you know, Schengun as a, Schengun as a fulcrum creates other issues. So it's like they have, I'm in Thompson, they have, you know, it's more shots for Tarii, so you can feel a little more. Everybody gets a little bit more space to breathe. When the Lakers don't have Luca,

Starting point is 00:08:05 Kinnard has to get to do more and, you know, smart can do more. These are all really talented players. You're never better in the long run without others, but it's not uncommon to have kind of a short, a short-term boost to what you're doing. And I would say,

Starting point is 00:08:22 not to get too deep into Locked on Rockets summer programming, if you add a guard and you move Durant somewhere else, like that's fine. You can do that. Well, in any of it,

Starting point is 00:08:33 it was just an interesting observation from Jackson. And there's no question that over the last six quarters of this series, while I would not say that Houston's offense has been awesome,

Starting point is 00:08:45 because that's not the case. And a lot of their best offense is the Lakers bleeping up and turning the ball over and then running, which Jackson didn't know. It counts. It counts. But also, without Duran, I guess this is another byproduct of KD not being there, they are now operating as a faster team in general, even without the help that the Lakers are giving them by turning the ball over. they are leaning into more of the youth and the athleticism and the speed that they have on this team.

Starting point is 00:09:20 If for no other reason than Plan A, Kevin Durant is out the window, so they kind of have to do that. But without overstating things, they are not better off without Kevin Durant. And you can see as the Rockets play what they are missing without KD, you know, for all of the consternation and conversation about Kevin Durant effects on teams. relationships with teammates, dark clouds, whatever, this team could use a healthy version of Kevin Durant. The presumed healthy version of Kevin Durant is why you, me, and damn near everybody thought the Rockets were going to win this series in the first place, and they were heavily favored. But there was some interesting observations that we both saw that Jackson observed as well

Starting point is 00:10:08 talking with me before we get into some of the more Laker-specific stuff. Yeah, and next, let's start into that, because whether you're talking about individual matchups that we saw on the floor, kind of a change in what the rockets were doing that on its face, if you just look at the box score, it seems like the Lakers might have been doing a better job,

Starting point is 00:10:29 but actually indicates a change of strategy. Lakers might have to then counter themselves. But two or three different things that are happening around the floor as you get ready for game five, where the Lakers finally might need to be the team that makes some adjustments. We'll get through it next. Locked-on Lakers is brought to you by five-hour energy drink.

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Starting point is 00:11:20 and on the go. It's a zero sugar indulgence. And that's super important to me. I eat and drink pretty clean. I don't like taking in excess sugar. Plus, I've had a lot of dental work over the last few years. I don't want to add to the problems and the expense. But I love, too, the taste, but how convenient this is. It's just a small, portable shot. You grab it whenever you want. You can put the thing in your pocket. And then you're on the go and you're energized whenever you need it. Get candy-flavored chaos with fruity rainbow, five-hour energy shots available online at five-hourenergy.com and Amazon. So in the playoffs, Andy, the general consensus is that the team that's winning continues

Starting point is 00:12:05 to sort of do what they're doing until it stops working. And the team that's losing the onus is on them to make changes. And I think game four, we certainly saw the results of that for Houston, in ways that went beyond we're going to finally make more than, say, three shots. They did some stuff differently. You could see it in breaking down the game. Yeah. One of the things that was interesting that both of us noticed,

Starting point is 00:12:37 and we've seen other people talk about as well, Amy Adoka made an interesting adjustment defensively, and he put Reed Shepard as the primary to start on Rui, which in some respect seems counterintuitive because you're putting Shepard in a position where he is giving up a lot of size, a lot of height, and a lot of strength. Flipside is, though, that's pretty much Reed Shepard

Starting point is 00:13:02 with any defensive assignment as far as who the Lakers are putting out there. Like even Luke Knard is bigger than Shepard. What I think is interesting about that is obviously there could be cases where if you get Rui isoed on Shepard, and particularly if Rui has the ability to back him down or whatever, he's going to have his way with that. But I think there's a live with it factor for Houston because the tradeoff is it frees up their three best defenders in Amman Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr. And particularly Tar Heeson to hound the Lakers primary ball handlers and like to be. the primary guys on them and to gum up a lot of what the Lakers offense wants to do in the first place, including, by the way, at times getting the ball to Rui, who may have that advantageous matchup. But if you're screwing up the whole offense, the tradeoffs seem to be working well

Starting point is 00:14:01 for the Rockets. They're also switching a lot, period, like switching really one through five. So they can find ways, they can find ways to get Shepard out of that if they need to. But in the meantime, though, it seems like it's particularly at the top of possessions for the Lakers, putting a lot more ball hawking pressure on LeBron and Marcus and Luke in ways that, again, on the surface might seem a little bit counterintuitive, but then when you really think about it and then also just watch how it plays out. It was actually a pretty good adjustment. Yeah, I just, I think anytime you, you, you have a team, it's one thing like, you know, remember a couple of years ago, like the,

Starting point is 00:14:48 the success and it was brief and it didn't really swing the series when, when Rui would guard Yokic. And it was like, aha, look at this thing that we found. Like, that was an example. Like, then you're taking a guy who still is the focal point of their offense and just giving a different look. And it's, It's unexpected. It takes a second to adjust to whatever. I think one of the most effective things that a coach can do is encourage the opposition to play offense through a matchup that they wouldn't normally try to exploit. And it turns into using a player in a way that is kind of on paper advantageous and probably over the long haul would be.

Starting point is 00:15:33 But in the process of doing that, you're getting away from all the other stuff that you, like to do. And I think, you know, Rui is an interesting offensive player, but is not somebody, I think you necessarily want to stop everything to kind of dump the ball down low and let him go. He's great coming off a screen. You get on the dribble. He's got the option of mid-range versus long-range, you know, three-point, whatever, put the ball on floor, try to get to the rim. But like back to the basket, Rui, like he's prime Hakeem. No, the more dribbles. Even when the ball goes in, it's still not what you want your offense to be doing.

Starting point is 00:16:16 So if they try that again, and they probably will, don't bend your offense to take advantage of that matchup to me. No, I mean, no, I wouldn't bend the offense. At the same time, it would not hurt them to try to find more shots for Rui in general because in this series so far, he's averaging. 15 and a half points on 57-53 splits. So if you can actually get him the ball in good spots, by all means, find ways to do it because he is scoring at a super efficient clip. I mean, he's been, as far as inside and out, probably the most efficient score on the Lakers in this series.

Starting point is 00:16:58 But you're correct. You don't want to all of a sudden start inverting everything where it's going to be worked around Rui. In the meantime, too, speaking of like that trickle-down effect of being able to put the rocket's three best perimeter defenders on LeBron, Marcus, and Luke, the Lakers have got to find ways. And we'll talk about some of the ways they're using LeBron in general and what I think needs to change or they need to find different wrinkles. They've got to find ways to get Tari Eisen off LeBron. Like he has been by far the most effective assignment on LeBron unless he's posting up Eason, in which case he's just too big and too strong for Eason. But if Eason is just matched up against him faced up or driving against him, whatever, over four games per the NBA's tracking data,

Starting point is 00:17:55 LeBron is shooting 30.4% from the field with Eason as either the primary defender or involved in the defense. defensive possession. He's the guy that has been on LeBron the most. And as this series has gone along, you've really seen the effect. Like, think about in the beginning of the series, LeBron's efficiency, like where it began. Over four games now, he is shooting 44% from the field, 37% from behind the arc, but he's not taking a ton of threes. He's doing most of his stuff inside, you know, inside the arc. And he is really he's struggling with that assignment.

Starting point is 00:18:38 And then you combine that with he's having some issues finishing. Like even with the transition opportunities LeBron's had, like if he gets a full head of steam, he is at minimum going to get to the line. But he's not converting. Yeah, he's not converting. Yeah. I, this is where Reeves is most needed.

Starting point is 00:18:58 Because LeBron is least effective now when he's got to face up, when he's putting the ball on the floor. I mean, his handle isn't quite what it was two, three years ago. It's just a little looser. I mean, I don't mean this, like, to be joking. I think it is literally harder for him to get low and protect the ball and, you know, kind of body position in ways and just, you know, since, and because he's.

Starting point is 00:19:28 He doesn't have the quicks like he used to. He's just more susceptible to Tarisen and Amin Thompson, guys who can stay in front of him and have very active hands. And so this was one of the things the Lakers did great heading into the playoffs and did really well at the beginning too, was not relying on LeBron to do that. And so, you know, he gets the ball second, third on a possession. It's two passes.

Starting point is 00:19:58 couple actions or whatever. And then LeBron's got the ball at the elbow or whatever it might be off of a couple different things. That seemed, I mean, I didn't count, but it seemed like there was a lot less of that over the last six quarters and there were over the first two and a half games. And so if they're going to get the offense going again, it almost surely will have to be in a way that replicates what they were doing where you're not just. facing LeBron up against too many capable defenders.

Starting point is 00:20:34 But they're also, you know, they're not letting Conard have the same amount of space and, you know, to operate both as a dribbler and as a shooter. They just, they have to figure out ways, they're getting the ball into the paint to Aiton, but they've got to figure out other ways to do it, whether it's dribble penetration, other actions or whatever. I actually had a thought on that potentially. could be useful specifically with LeBron because LeBron still, I think, is really effective in the post. Like, if you can actually get LeBron in there, I think he's actually still able to do a lot of damage.

Starting point is 00:21:11 Oh, he's great out of there. Right. So we can talk about that and just some other things that we noticed from putting ourselves to the torture of rewatching game four. So getting that coming up next. Like, LeBron facing up, generally speaking, like the further he is from the basket facing up, the worst the returns have been for the for lebron and the lakers particularly if like the floor is spread like in rewatching game for it became really clear the further lebron is from the basket facing up they need to give him either a screen or a second like you know a slip screen like

Starting point is 00:21:56 something that's going to occupy defenders at the same time like something that will make it so you can't key as much on LeBron or put that onus on him where he has to blow past somebody. Because he just is not doing that, particularly against a defense like this. It's really difficult. Another thing that I was thinking about that maybe could be useful for getting LeBron into the post is I would like to see him as a screener more for Conard or smart. And maybe have him slip some of those screens or whatever, but where that's the way you get him into the post. and find different ways like that to have a set-up job there. I think Houston's making that hard.

Starting point is 00:22:41 Sure. I think this is where, again, that's sort of the lack of, you know, ball handling options and things you can do to kind of keep teams honest. There's like those kinds of actions, I think Houston's doing a really good job of just denying what it is that the Lakers, seeing it kind of denying what they're trying to do. do. I don't know how much they've been trying to do it, though, is what I would say. I don't know if they've been trying it. It's hard. Right. I can't say for sure. You're right. But I think

Starting point is 00:23:13 that's the idea. But I do wonder if some of those things are being kind of taken away from. Again, this is, you know, to Reeves is one of these guys. And I realize he's not, you know, AI with the, you know, just lightning. But like he's like Luca in that sense. He finds his way into the lane and he breaks down defenses and he can do all that stuff and just that adding that capacity for a guy who can do it's the reason that we thought maybe they might need nick smith in this series just somebody who could put the ball on the floor and create without having to have a screen that springs them and so if you can you know get austin into the paint i think a lot of good things will happen. Plus, it will force the rockets to do things a little differently that will

Starting point is 00:24:05 then open up of things for other guys. That's my hope. No, I mean, look, if when Austin comes back in game five, I expect him to be on a minute's limit, I expect him to be coming off the bench, but just that dynamic of even having 18 minutes of Austin, A, it removes some of the minutes for either the guys who've been shakier or you give LeBron a few minutes of what I think has become very clear needed rest. Marcus could use a few minutes of rest. Luke Conard. I mean,

Starting point is 00:24:39 this is the most Luke Conard has been used, I don't know, maybe since like Duke. Like, I mean, they've been asking Luke Conard to do a lot. And Houston started picking on him defensively, too, which. Right. And I mean,

Starting point is 00:24:52 Rui hasn't necessarily looked to me, at least, all that tired. But he's probably averaging like 40 minutes ago. game. Like he's playing a lot in this series. It also just adds, like we've been talking about, more variables, more options. Like just green light transport 830, 20 is asking. Problem is, will Austin be rusty? I'm sure there's going to be some degree of rust, but the Lakers could use a rusty ball handler. I mean, like, they could use a rusty guy who can get into the paint. Like beggars can't be. That's fine. Totally fine. It just needs to be for one,

Starting point is 00:25:27 like hopefully. for one game. Like just one game. I want to talk about that because, you know, what, Lakers are up 3-1. And, you know, generally speaking, these series don't even get to seven. I think it's happened once or twice where like a 3-0 gets to 7.

Starting point is 00:25:46 And all that stuff. And so the Lakers are, I think, more vulnerable than the average team up 3-1 would be. And so I want to, talk about sort of game five and what you pour into game five in an effort to avoid a game six and the game seven so we'll do that next we're already past that part oh we did yes well good for us anyway well i want to talk about that let's talk about that um i think this is a different kind of game five than the lake.

Starting point is 00:26:28 I was watching the clock going like, I think we're late for a break. I, this feels more like, it's sort of like the desperation that the Lakers had in game, you know, two,

Starting point is 00:26:42 game three kind of keeping, trying to keep the gas up, because I think they recognize their own vulnerability here. I would expect, especially since game six would be Friday, game seven would be Sunday. Like it's, I would expect them to pour everything into this game on Wednesday.

Starting point is 00:27:04 Like, if Reeves can go, it's a little uncomfortable, go. If, you know, for what it's more, 40, 42, 43, you do it. Like, you pour everything into this game five. For what it's worth, and I could be wrong about this, but for what it's worth, I don't think it's so much about Reeves. in terms of uncomfortable or like discomfort. I mean, Austin has, from everything I've observed or heard, like a pretty high pain tolerance, I imagine it's much more the idea of recurrence.

Starting point is 00:27:40 Recurrence, sure, whatever, whatever the. Just so people understand, I don't want this to, I don't want the listeners and the viewers. Austin is soft, right. Right. I don't want them to get the impression he could go. He's choosing not to because it hurts too much. I do not get the impression that's what it is. Right.

Starting point is 00:27:57 Whatever, whatever the, you know, the, if it's one of those like, just like, if he can go, like he's going to go. And if I imagine that's true. I just, I think the Lakers, and this, look, this plays well to Houston. Like, you know, if you can get through, like, we got only got to beat this sort of limping team two more times. I think the Lakers are very aware of this. and do not want to. I think to the extent that they were like, you know what,

Starting point is 00:28:28 we're not going to push. I realize that they played guys into the fourth quarter, but the minutes actually were pretty reasonable. If you go back and you look at that, I would have had all those guys sitting in the fourth, less because of fatigue and more because the wrong guy turns an ankle and that stupid game. I'm old enough to remember a game earlier in April

Starting point is 00:28:50 where two guys covered one of those, One of those situations. I would have had them sitting, but their actual workload in that game wasn't bad. It's, I think they played that game, recognizing the legs weren't there, and we're going to hold it for game five. Well, along the lines of what you're talking about,

Starting point is 00:29:17 how they need to try to empty the clip for this game and just pour everything into it. A, I think they are recognizing. You want to make this point after a break? You know what? I'm going to blow through the breaks. I don't even care at this point. Well, I'll take the notes from David Locke.

Starting point is 00:29:35 Whatever. A, I think there's got to be some concerns about the taxing effect thus far on LeBron between the four playoff games and all the time post-Luca and also. Austin's injuries where the workload was increased on LeBron. And look, by and large, he's handled it extremely well. But I think the last six or so quarters, it is easy to wonder, A, whether it's catching up to him. And I think the answer is without question, yes.

Starting point is 00:30:10 But B, easy to wonder about any after effects for the next round or whatever. And you worry about the next round, the next round. but the point being, if you can get LeBron off his feet until whenever game one against OKC begins, the quicker the better, but also with emptying the clip, as far as I think trying to make sure they win this game, one thing I noticed in the rewatch, they've got to stop passing up open shots.

Starting point is 00:30:39 The offense is already limited by who isn't there. The deeper they get into the clock with fewer, plus graders, it becomes way less likely they're going to get a decent look, much less better. Like there was a sequence in the second quarter where after a bunch of like screen and rescreen action between LeBron and Rui, LeBron hit Rui on a slip screen with a really great bounce pass. And Rui could have put up the shot, but instead with like Shengun closing, he passed out to Marcus Smart who fumbled the pass out of bounds. And like it was on Marcus to catch the ball. Like there was nothing wrong with Rui's pass. But in reality, I think Rui should

Starting point is 00:31:21 just put up the shot. Like they were down to seven-ish on the clock as it was anyway. Like it's in the mid-post where Rui likes shots. There's enough space between him and Shengun. Like just take the shot. Like the odds of the last five seconds turning into something better than what Rui was going to get there. I think we're low. And there were a lot. And there were a lot. lot of instances where guys, you know, you've brought up and actually Jason Tenth was on Likers Talk said the same thing, the idea that maybe Brony could be utilized a little bit more just as a driver with some speed because they're really having trouble penetrating in the series. And I understand the logic behind that.

Starting point is 00:32:06 Brony, though, needs to make sure that he's not passing up shots too because there were a few, there were a few occasions in what were fairly limited minutes where Brony passed up Yeah, I kind of, because I've been watching his minutes with a lot of interest, because I do think his play in this series has been like kind of, I mean, it's it's not a, the consequential story of the series. But like, as like a as a nice note on what's happening, it's like, oh, you know, he's he's looks like he, you know, can slash should be playing, you know, in this series in that role. He looks, you know, in terms of it doesn't look overwhelmed by it or whatever. And I feel like there's a lot of that, like, I could take a shot here is like where he's right on the fence. And this is a spot where the Lakers, I think, generally are getting stuck where it's, you're, it's not that the shot you're passing up is a great one. And it's not unreasonable to think there's a better.

Starting point is 00:33:16 one coming. But the Lakers kind of keep going back and forth between a little bit too aggressive, where I think they're overly aware of that idea of like, hey, we can't just keep passing the ball around the perimeter until there's two seconds left in the clock and heave the ball up. I think they're aware of that and sometimes force something that, okay, you may it could have done a little better there. And then three possessions later, it's the exact opposite where it's like, oh, he probably should have taken that one. And, you know, Brani, Brony at least has the, I guess,

Starting point is 00:33:56 I don't know if it's luxury. The right word is here of not, both not even not being expected to come in and try to, you know, lift the team with his scoring, but I think also having a legitimate reason to believe, like he's not being put in there to come in and just start firing up eight or nine shots in four minutes. I know that's not.

Starting point is 00:34:15 you're suggesting. He's not Nick Smith, Jr. I'm just saying if he passes up. He did it. The shot he took in game three, where LeBron sets the screen, they both go under it, like there are two defenders there. They both go under it. That is the kind of wide open look for a guy who has really improved his three-point shooting, you know, mid-30s and stuff like that in the G-League. And, you know, I forget exactly what his percentage was with the Lakers over the last like month and a half of the season or whatever it was. But like really should be confident taking that. If

Starting point is 00:34:48 Jared Vanderbilt can take wide open corner threes and he shouldn't, but like, but they're there. You have to pick the shot when it's there. It's not you're Houston, you're happy he's the one who ends up set up in the corner based on the actions. When you're that wide open, you have to

Starting point is 00:35:05 take it. But if Jared Vanderbilt can take that shot, then when Bronny is open, he can. And it's not just a brawny thing. It's just a little bit. No, I know, but it's just a little bit of hesitation from everyone. Sure. Again, you don't want to be just jacking up bad shots for the sake of putting them up. Like, you need to be taking good shots, but given who isn't there, and like in particular,

Starting point is 00:35:28 they lack Luca's ability to bail out possessions or Austin's ability to bail them out with getting to the line, like stuff like that. They don't have right now a lot of safety valve guys. or guys, especially safety valve guys who can create their own shot within the safety valve, which means if you've got a good shot, particularly once you're getting down to like 8, 7, 6 on the clock, you've got to take that thing.

Starting point is 00:35:58 You just have to because the odds at 5 and under of something better emerging are low. And this is where what Houston is doing, the Lakers have to figure out a way to solve some of these riddles. And maybe it's, you know, some of it maybe is just getting Austin Reeves back. I think, you know, the film room guys made a really interesting suggestion of just like, because Houston's doing such a good job, I think, of taking away a lot of their actions.

Starting point is 00:36:21 Like, all right, fine, we're just going to run the most vanilla pick and rolls. We're just going to do that over and over again. That's a little harder that, again, that's something else that gets easier with Austin in the game. Like, you know, your available ball handlers for something like that, you know, go up. they need to find ways to get flow back into their offense because otherwise you are left in situations where Kinnards got the ball with a little too much pressure or smart has to force a little too much and creating clean looks against that kind of defense with the personnel that's available to them is a trick so they're going to have to earn their money in game five I think but like you said we'll see

Starting point is 00:37:06 we'll talk more about this you know for Wednesday but they're going to pour it all in and I am excited to watch what that looks like because for them to get out of this series no one's going to pick into beat Oklahoma City nor should they. But then to get out of the series would be

Starting point is 00:37:22 pretty impressive. Yes, it would be. If you're a Laker fan, something to be proud of in terms of how this season plays out. Locked on Lakers on YouTube, is ready to hang out with over 38,000 subscribers to the channel.

Starting point is 00:37:36 We will see everyone. Next.

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