Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Lakers vs. Rockets: Will Luka Dončić's Dominance of Houston Continue With the Lakers?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, everyone, welcome to Locked-on Lakers for Monday. Brian Keminetsky, Andy Kemenetsky, massive game tonight at the crypt. Lakers versus Rockets. Who's going to win? 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 to everybody for making Locked-on Lakers your first listen of every day Monday through Friday, no matter how you get your podcast. this one's always free. It's never behind a paywall. And Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where 34,000 plus are all hanging out

Starting point is 00:00:45 and wondering what exactly is going to happen in the most significant Lakers Rockets matchup. Andy probably what, since like Derek Fisher and the headbutt, something like that. Ah, shout out to old Luis Scola. That's right. So this is a massive, massive game. Actually, now that I think about it, the Lakers took out the rockets in the bubble. And they did it in part because they employed a strategy of ignoring Russell Westbrook whenever he had the ball. Then they turned around and traded for him.

Starting point is 00:01:24 As a means of apology. Well, there goes my idea about the headbutt thing. But anyway. Well, no, the headbutt was awesome. We were at that game. It was really hoping to bring people back to that. It was just historically inaccurate, as it turns out. One thing that is accurate, though, is that today's episode is brought to you by GameTime.

Starting point is 00:01:44 Download the GameTime app, create account, use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. All right. So it's the second most, I guess, significant Rockets game since the series Andy just mentioned. And joining us to break it down and tell us why the Rockets are suddenly so good again is Jackson and Gatlin host of Locked on Rockets. Thanks so much for coming on. We really appreciate it. It's good to see you.

Starting point is 00:02:11 Absolutely, guys. It's always fun when we get to connect on one of these crossover pods and get a bit of a glimpse. You know, you guys can ask me, you help me with Rockets questions. I can ask you some Lakers questions. And hopefully all both,

Starting point is 00:02:23 both fan bases walk away a little bit more educated about what's going on on the other side of the pond. One of the things I have to say, there was a strait. Like we all, I mean, I cannot possibly be alone in here. Everybody was kind of waiting for the rockets to hit a little bit of a wall.

Starting point is 00:02:39 They were playing so well early in the year. But they're new at this. And so the expectation is that eventually they would kind of cool off. They're not really a legit second seed. They'll eventually slide a little further down. It looked like that was happening for a couple weeks at a time. The rockets hit the skids. They're moving down a little bit.

Starting point is 00:03:03 I was like, oh, here it is. What changed because they are red hot playing as well as any team in the league and have really put a nice, you know, if they win, especially winning on Monday, a very tight hold on the two seed in the West. Yeah. So, I mean, they experienced a little bit of a six game slide there, which with some really disappointing losses. They had a pair of back-to-back losses to the Brooklyn Nets in that six game slide.

Starting point is 00:03:28 They lost a couple really close ones to the Grizzlies and the Knicks. Biggest thing was they didn't have. they weren't healthy in that in that run and they lost Jabari Smith Jr. at the beginning of the calendar year right early in you know January he goes out with a broken hand and he was a really big part of their defense and kind of a great complimentary four next to Alper and shingoon defensively and had really excelled in you know kind of being that weak side rim deterrent rotations his switchability when they were on to run him as the small ball five they you know can employ him in a variety of different ways not to mention his floor spacing

Starting point is 00:04:02 offensively. So you lose him and that kind of, they were able to weather that storm a little bit because it gave them the perfect excuse to actually insert him in Thompson to the starting lineup, which is something they've wanted to do for a while now and then they finally had the perfect excuse to do it. But then they lost Fred Van Vleet as well. And this team, for as good as they are and have been this season, they are a little at times overly reliant on Fred Van Vleet, to a fault basically where like the wheels kind of come off the train without Fred Van Vleet out there, without him to calm things down, make sure they're getting into good sets offensively, his floor space that he provides. He's one of the better shooters on the roster, even though he's

Starting point is 00:04:39 having a down year as far as his raw shooting numbers are concerned. And then just kind of, he's the, he is a little bit the heartbeat of this Rockets team, right? He's the emotional leader on the floor. He's the guy that they brought in to help kind of turn things around him and Dylan Brooks alongside Eme O'Doka were kind of the catalyst for the turnaround last season that had them play a 41 and 41 year just barely missing the playing tournament. So that was kind of just a few of the different things that happened during that little six game slide. They get healthy. They bring, they get Fred back in the mix. They get Tari Easton back in the mix who missed a chunk of time over, you know, kind of overlapping that stretch as well. And one of the bigger things they've actually

Starting point is 00:05:18 deployed recently is they're starting to run this double big lineups with Alper and Shingoon and Stephen Adams playing at the same time. And that's kind of taking the league by storm a little bit here. Those lineups have been absolutely phenomenal in the minutes they played together. Uh, and Nobody really knows how to handle it yet. So, I mean, it sounds at least like what you're saying is like this, the, the rockets that play well, the pile up wins. At this point, are you buying that this is the character of the team? Like, this is the quality of the team and the, the slide was the exception, not the rule. Yeah, I think very much so.

Starting point is 00:05:49 This team has built a incredible defensive profile. They're one of the best defensive teams in the association. They play hard every single night. They've adopted the personality of their head coach in email doca. They're fully bought in. And there's definitely some shortcomings with this team. There's some weaknesses up and down, especially on the offensive side of the floor. And I'm sure we'll get into some of that as we navigate this episode.

Starting point is 00:06:10 But this team is legit. And this team should be treated as being legit. And I think a large part of that is because of how they built their identity. They're not some flash in the pan success where they can get hot on any given night and bear you under a bunch of threes or just they've got like an abundance of talent or whatever. They're not one of those teams. They have a structural identity that can win games. Defense wins games, right? And they've done that.

Starting point is 00:06:35 More often than not this season, they win games exclusively based on the defense. They win games despite how bad their offense is because of how good their defense is. That's actually, Jackson, one of the things that I wanted to ask you about beyond. I had had some hopes from the Lakers perspective that maybe Houston would be tired on the second end of a back-to-back from the game they played Sunday against Friest. But that was more of a finger quotes game than an actual game. But I was looking over some of the March offensive numbers for the Rockets just because,

Starting point is 00:07:09 like Brian said, they have been one of the hottest teams in the league in March. And what's interesting to me is their field goal percentage and three point percentage, middle third of the rankings, assists coming at 28th, turnover's bottom thirdish, free throw attempts are top 10, but free throw percentage is dead last. That said, though, they are third in field goal attempts, number one, an offensive rebound percentage, and second in second chance points. How much of the way they get by offensively is in a lot of, in a lot of ways, just a volume play?

Starting point is 00:07:47 It is a little bit, actually. There's kind of this running joke with the Rockets right now where sometimes their best offense is literally just throw it up on the rim and let somebody else go get the offensive rebound and put it back because unfortunately they are a bad shooting team. They don't have great shooters. There's only one player on the roster right now, guys, who is shooting above league average from three. Can I, can I, without looking, who do you think it is?

Starting point is 00:08:09 It's, I mean, it's obviously not like Van Vleet. Yeah, I already, I already spoiled that one. Is it Dylan Brooks? It is. He's the only guy who's shooting above league average from three. He basically went from coming to, you know, Memphis and his poor shot profile and, the inconsistency, everything, he's actually really cleaned up his offensive bag. And he keeps it really simple. He knocks down threes. He'll get to his little, you know, he'll post up smaller defenders and

Starting point is 00:08:34 take advantage of the mismatcher. He'll put the ball in the deck and try to drive all the way to the rim. He's gotten rid of a lot of the, the BS stuff from his Memphis days. And he's been arguably the most consistent offensive force for this Rockets team outside of, you know, Jalen and Shingoon kind of being the star guys, the heavy hitters. But with respect to Dylan Brooks, that's a damning indictment of your offense. If he's the same. Oh, it absolutely. It absolutely is. But that, but it kind of hasn't mattered because they built so much of their identity on the defensive side. And generally on a night to night basis, you'll get one of Jalen or Shingoon to show up with a big night. And then it's just cobbling together enough offense outside of that coupled with an already elite defense. And that's how they've been able to stack up wins. Well, I will say, I got them. I'm proud of myself for getting the Brooks part of it right. But I would also like to amend that to Jalen Green when he plays the Lakers. I don't. I mean, apparently those percentages go down when he plays anyone else. But he has prayed or done something at the JJ Berea Temple of Laker killers.

Starting point is 00:09:39 And it has bled into how he plays against L.A. When we get back, though, I want to break down a little bit of that two, in terms of matchups for this game on Monday, going big like that potentially presents, as you were describing, presents real issues for a Lakers team that is big but lacks centers. So I want to get into some of the matchups in both directions. So we'll do that next. Locked on Lakers and Locked on Rockets brought to you by game time. There's nothing like watching basketball live, the energy of a crowd, the sound of sneakers on the hardwood, the yelling of Dylan Brooks as it gets ejected.

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Starting point is 00:11:45 happen to you digitally with the Locked on Day Lakers and the Lockdown Rockets newsletters. You go to LockdownDaily.com. Click on the podcast of your choice, preferably ours. And they're not we don't want you to subscribe to Locked on Raptors or whatever, but that doesn't help us out. So Rockets, Lakers, have the newsletter delivered to you every day. A little bit of housekeeping, guys, for this game, if the Lakers want to have really any realistic chance of catching Houston and moving all the way up to the two seed, they have to win, not just this game Monday night, but both games that the Lakers and Rockets have remaining. Houston is three games up in the lost column, four games up in the win comp.

Starting point is 00:12:26 So three to half game lead right now. And, you know, so this is a must win for the Lakers if they're going to move up. And it is a huge game for Houston to basically put themselves in the catbird seat to stay in the number two seed. So a lot at stake in this game. Matchup wise, Jackson, what are you looking for? Matchup wise for the Rockets at the end of the day, this is, and this is the dilemma, anytime you face this new look, new era Lakers team with Luca and LeBron is how do you try and,

Starting point is 00:13:01 like what's the goal here? What's the game plan? Are you going to try and divert, you know, or focus all your attention on containing Luca? What do you want to do? Do you want to let Luca cook and get his and just stay home on everybody else? Can you even afford to do that when you also have to worry about LeBron James, right?

Starting point is 00:13:16 I don't know what EMA's game plan is going to be simply because he's done a bunch of different things when it comes to containing star players using Nikola Yochich as an example in the past. There have been some games where he's focused on like trapping and blitzing and taking the ball out of Yokich's hands. There's been other games where he just lets Yokic go to work. And he doesn't care if Yokic racks up 30, 35, 40. Doesn't matter. He stays home on all the shooters.

Starting point is 00:13:37 He stays home on everybody else and basically says, you know what? You want to beat us? You're going to do it as a one-man army. So I don't know what that game plan is ultimately going to look like in this matchup. Obviously the Dylan Brooks angle is really important here. And we know that there are generally some sometimes some fireworks between Dylan Brooks and LeBron James and those two guys meet up and go, head to head. So from a sheer entertainment perspective, I hope that Dylan Brooks is ready and available for this game. But that is one of the benefits of this Houston Rocket team is that they

Starting point is 00:14:04 have so many different players that they can throw at you on the wings in particular to try and slow down both Luca and LeBron. They've got Dylan Brooks. They've got Amin Thompson. They've got Jabari Mujan. All these different guys that they can throw out there. I will say, I know I teased up the double big lineup a moment ago that the Rockets have been running. Stephen Adams did play on the first night of this back-to-back in Phoenix. And throughout this season, the Rockets have basically been strategically resting him on games featuring a back-to-back slate. And so they'll strategically deploy him in one game and then rest him the next game. They did not play Tari Easton against the Suns. So Tari will be available against Lakers. And there's a pretty strong

Starting point is 00:14:43 likelihood that Stephen Adams won't play actually against Lakers. So that may not be a dynamic that you'll have to worry about in this game. I was looking up though, Jackson, some of Lucas splits against Houston, just because this is the first Luca game in the Luca is a Laker era against the Rockets. And, you know, it's a big sample size because he's been in the same division for a while. Last year, three games, his splits were 42, 10, and 9 on 56% shooting 44% from behind the arc. And it wasn't heavily uploaded or front loaded by a 60 point game or something. All the games were between 37 and 47 points. How have they generally, especially in this new era of respectability for the Rockets, how have they generally gone about trying to slow Luca and the

Starting point is 00:15:35 numbers may answer my own question, but how successful has it been? Well, especially when it was Luca and Kyrie together, right, in Dallas, they would oftentimes just try to shut or limit Kyrie, right? Because of the two, if you're really going to try and contain one guy, Kyrie is probably the easier ask to limit, contain, whatever, on a night-to-night basis. And so they would divert a lot of attention to Kyrie. I'm not saying they would leave Luca alone, just let him do whatever he wanted, but they really focused a lot of their defensive effort on slowing down Kyrie. And the Luca killing the rocket thing has gone back for literally years.

Starting point is 00:16:11 I remember him torching the rockets in a like comfort behind win in his rookie season against the James Hardin era rockets. Like, and I'm sure something of the, the I-45 rivalry between Houston and Dallas kind of fed into some of that. And Luca definitely strikes me as the type of guy that will absolutely get behind his team and his fandom for a game. Well, I was going to ask you, is there anyone on the rockets that you know Luca hates? Because he famously keeps the list.

Starting point is 00:16:37 Yeah. And, you know, he's got feuds with at least like 25 players in the league. I was just concerned, curious if the rock is. Rockets were one of them. I don't know if Dylan Brooks is like officially on the list, but you've got to imagine that Dylan Brooks with all his antics and all his trash talk and the way that he has just that that knack for getting under your skin. I'm sure that Luca relishes any opportunity to go head to head with DB and try to

Starting point is 00:17:03 embarrass him. But that's the other side of things is it's going to be interesting to see how the whether the Rockets elect to put. I would I would prefer if I was sitting in the coaches shared if I was EMA. I'd love to see Dylan Brooks checking LeBron and then have a men Thompson guarding Luca. That's probably the better thing from a matchup perspective. But the Rockets also switch a lot of their actions. They're confident in all of their defenders across the board.

Starting point is 00:17:26 But just from a sheer like you want to start on this guy kind of perspective, I think it's going to be Luca matched up with a men Thompson more often than not. I think it's, you know, I was sort of really interested to hear you talk about this, this sort of the variance with with Udoca in terms of how he approached. which is really prodigious scoring, you know, centerpieces for a team. Because I will say, this is eye test more than analytics, but watching when you have Reeves and LeBron and Luca in this area,

Starting point is 00:18:03 like, it seems to me when teams try to trap, when they try to double, when they do anything that tilts the floor to, having to then recover somewhere, they pay for it. You know, Luca and LeBron in particular are such good, have such good vision that they will always be able to find the open player, the, you know, the whatever might be to start the action that moves the ball around and get the Lakers, the kind of shot quality that when things are going well,

Starting point is 00:18:40 like they did against Memphis the other night on Saturday, like that's what it looks like. I think when teams play them straight up and encourage Luca, encourage LeBron especially, encourage Reeves to break down defenses on their own, to either make another pass, try to draw contact, whatever it might be.

Starting point is 00:19:00 That to me is when the Lakers' offense is less effective. Andy, I'm not sure, I mean, you're nodding. So I think you agree. Yeah. We've talked about that a lot of late when the offense is, you know, particularly which game, it was against Indiana with a lot of, your turn, my turn. The more I think Luca or LeBron or Reeves get caught up might not be the right

Starting point is 00:19:24 word, but the more focus they become on breaking down an individual defender as opposed to trying to manipulate an entire defense, the worst the Lakers offense typically looks. Well, one thing that happens, right, is when you have those three guys, everybody knows that on any of the event night, those three guys are capable of getting their own. They can score with the best of them, all that. But what it does is it takes everybody else out of the game, right? It takes out all the, and then when the going gets tough, maybe late in the game when you are, okay, fine, you know, final five minutes, crunch time, close game. Great.

Starting point is 00:19:56 Now you can start throwing out the blitzes. Now you can start four, you know, sending two to the ball. And then you force those role players to step up after they've been cold for the first like 44, 45 minutes of a game where they've barely gotten any shots up. Maybe they're not as motivated defensively because they're not touching the ball on offense. There's all these factors at play. And so that's why I think. If I had to wager, I would assume that EMA is going to stay, stay confident with his guys, allow a majority of the defense to just be one-on-one man coverage, guard your guy, doesn't matter

Starting point is 00:20:25 if it's Luca, doesn't matter if it's LeBron, he'll live with the one-on-one buckets and forcing those guys to work because it's not going to be a walk in the park either. Like, even though Luca and LeBron can score on anybody at will, scoring on Dylan Brooks, scoring on him in Thompson, scoring on Jabari and Tori, that's a lot of work. Those guys do not quit. They do not take no for an answer on any given. possession. And the switchiness of it allows them to, you know, to avoid, like, and the Lakers against Memphis, for example, did a great job. I mean, Memphis's got some guys who

Starting point is 00:20:52 can defend, but they did a great job of isolating Zach Eadie. Yeah, there is no, they took him out of the game. Yeah, there is no Zach Edy on Houston to, to exploit in the same way. Maybe you could take some shots at Shangoon and things like that. But, you know, the, the, the rockets seem far. more capable of being able to protect a guy like Shangoon than, you know, Memphis with some little bit of leaky perimeter defense has been able to do, at least was able to do on, on Saturday. Well, I'm curious what you think or what you want to know about the now Luca having Lakers, Jackson next, but also, too, what the West looks like, because the potential matchups in

Starting point is 00:21:38 the first round are starting to form and could have a massive impact. on who goes how far. So we get to all that next. Like what is your impression been of the Lakers with Luca? And what are you kind of curious about with, you know, certainly as it relates to the Rockets or just the West in general? I'll be completely honest, guys. I was a lot more, a lot more down on what I thought this iteration of the Lakers

Starting point is 00:22:10 was going to look like immediately in the aftermath of the trade, especially without them coming away with being able to make some kind of a move for an established big man inside. Because, and we've talked about this on our squad shows, all that right, sinners, we don't need centers, is, you know, what was the Lakers defense going to look like? And then obviously one of the most effective avenues for complimenting a LeBron or a Luca, in this case, both of them, is to give them a rim running big,

Starting point is 00:22:37 a guy who can play over the top of a defense, catch lobs all day when all that focus is being diverted towards one of those two guys. And then, I guess, enter Jackson Hayes, who just, suddenly became like a serviceable NBA big man overnight. That's a testament to the greatness of Luca and LeBron is that they can resuscitate the career of one Jackson Hayes and basically make him look like a certifiable starting level big man. But I will say,

Starting point is 00:23:01 what's been the story on the defense for the Lakers? Because it feels like they've gone through some stretches where they've been able to play some, you know, actually pretty solid defense in the Luka era. But then there's been some games where you look and you're like, they just, sometimes they just look a little, a little slow, a little out of sorts, their rotations and it's been kind of been a little volatile, I feel like on that end.

Starting point is 00:23:22 I think the timing of it has a lot to do with a period where the Lakers were playing legitimately a lot of games over three or four weeks between. It's 18 and I believe the number is 18 and 30 days and 11 in 17. Yeah. For Rockets fans unaware, the Lakers had to make up a few games because of the wildfires that happened in the L.A. area. And that added at least one back-to-back for them and two back-to-backs. And it took place during a period where they had some games bunched up anyway.

Starting point is 00:23:58 So there have been enough times where JJ or even occasionally players have brought up the idea of fatigue that you know fatigue is an issue. And then on top of it, they've had guys in and out of the lineup a lot. like LeBron and Rui missed a big chunk of games. Luca missed a few games. Dorian Finney Smith missed a few games. Jared Vanderbilt wasn't able to play at least on one occasion, second end of a back-to-back. So fatigue combined with guys in and out of the lineup,

Starting point is 00:24:30 and I think some of that synergy being depleted, this defense is sustainable in the sense that they've proven they can do it, despite only having one center, Jackson Hayes, that JJ has any confidence in playing at all, they're not a small team, despite that being the case, but that still makes it, in some respects, more difficult defensively. It's sustainable what they do, but it's very taxing. It is a very, very physically taxing style of play that requires a lot of rotation, a lot of movement, a lot of covering for each other.

Starting point is 00:25:10 it's like physically and mentally draining. And when that takes place during a period of a lot of games and missing guys, there's going to be slippage. That to me is the big thing, is that the defense, the personnel is better, I think, than people expected in the sense that like Dorian, the acquisition of Dorian Finney Smith, for example, sort of tilted the defense and their capabilities in a very different direction than when DeAngelo Russell is, you know,

Starting point is 00:25:40 is on the perimeter. Then you get Jared Vanderbilt back. That adds a level of defensive versatility that they didn't have badly needed, you know, over the course of certainly last year and into this year before Vanderbilt was able to play again. And so just adding those guys back. And then after they had a game in Miami where they got, how would badly lose that game. They lost by 43. Yeah. And and after that game, it was kind of a come to Jesus moment for LeBron defensively where, you know, It was kind of made clear, like, you got to do more. You have to do better. And he just started playing harder on that side of the ball and investing more on that

Starting point is 00:26:21 side of the ball. And now that they have Luca, between Luca and the way that Reeves has been playing in the last 10, 12 games, LeBron has the ability now to use way less energy offensively and transfer that to what he's doing on the defensive side of the ball. So I don't know what you're going to see on Monday. I don't know what you'll see in the second game of this. But what I do think is for teams, you know, because they've played so many games, it's hard to know exactly what you're going to get from the Lakers on a night-to-night basis.

Starting point is 00:26:51 But the advantage of the Lakers, if they can stay out of the play-in and why it's so important for them to be in the top six is you get that whole week off while everybody else is in the play-in. And if the Lakers can sit for a week or so or even, you know, know, end up locked into a seed or something like that going into those last games of the season to where they really can't move much in one direction or the other, get even longer for, you know, LeBron, Luca Reeves to rest. That turns them into a team that can play the level of defense that they did for that five-week stretch or whatever it was where they were the best defensive team in the

Starting point is 00:27:29 league. You're asking a lot, Brian, for a set of standings in the West right now. They're separated by like a game and a half across the board from like three through. seven or whatever it is, three through eight. So Lakers might not ultimately get that rest for you guys. No, probably not, but it is wishful thinking. No, it's, it's, you know, and we talked about this actually the night on, on locked on NBA game night, right?

Starting point is 00:27:52 Where it just feels like LeBron, after the, the buzzer, beater, went against the Pacers, right? The tip in where LeBron, he can have an off night, right? He can have a completely awful offensive performance, but he's still able to find ways to impact the game on a very high level elsewhere. And it very much feels like a kind of a reinvestment in his energy, especially on the defensive. There were some minutes with him and Rui out there defensively where I thought, wow, okay. Like if these guys are playing like this defensively in a playoff series, that was my big question about this Lakers team is can you survive the defensive minutes with Austin Reeves and Luca and LeBron all sharing the court all at the same time?

Starting point is 00:28:30 You know what's funny? Luca has not been, I mean, I'm not going to say it's been seamless. like there were, I had mentioned, by the way, the your turn, my turn. That was, I think the Orlando game, not Indiana. But Indiana, though, the game that they won on the LeBron Tippin of the Luca Miss, there was, I've been three or four possessions in a row defensively where Luca was just getting, not just, I wouldn't even say he was getting cooked because it didn't feel like he was putting in enough effort to have been cooked.

Starting point is 00:29:00 Like, it was more just standing around watching someone score against him. But for the most part, Luca has not been a problem at all defensively. And at times, he's actually been very good. He's got some James Harden in him in that he's a strong dude. He can body a lot of guys in the league. And like Harden, too, as a point guard and somebody who sees the way plays develop, he's very good at anticipating passing lanes, getting steals. is like his defense has actually not been a problem so far.

Starting point is 00:29:36 And then with LeBron invested the way he is, it removes any permission structure for anybody else not to bust their ass defensively. Like if the old man is doing it, like everyone else has to. And Austin has, I think with Vando in there, with DFS in there, Jordan Goodwin, a two-way guy who just got converted. He has been very, very helpful defensively. Gabe Vincent's been good. Rui is not going to be the most versatile defender in the world,

Starting point is 00:30:10 but there are certain matchups that he does well. And in the meantime, he's just a big, strong, athletic guy. They are better defensively than you would look at their individual parts. There are still times where breakdowns happen. and, you know, sometimes there will be a quarter's worth of breakdowns. But the defense that they looked like at their peak, if they can find a way to get the reservoir of energy back, I'm pretty confident that unless it's in a playoff series against a team where just matchups, matchups become a real problem for them, I think probably having

Starting point is 00:30:52 to do with just overwhelming size. I think they're pretty capable of doing this. You know, I feel like a playoff series is actually going to be really beneficial to both of these two teams, the Lakers and Rockets, simply because the level of taxation that the defense requires from both of these teams, right? The Rockets' entire identity is built off of out muscling, being more physical, being the more hard-nosed, like, we're going to punch you in the mouth first kind of team, and they're going to do it defensively, right? That's their whole identity, crashing offensive glass, generating second and third-chance opportunities.

Starting point is 00:31:21 That style of play is inherently exhausting. And I was worried that there was going to be a level of like when they hit that six games slide, like a kind of a diminishing return on that style of play, right? Like, okay, it's late in the season. These guys are getting tired. They're going through a bunch of back-to-backs. Like, what's this going to look like? When you have a playoff series, you get at least one day off between games.

Starting point is 00:31:40 There are no back-to-backs in the playoffs. And sometimes, depending on weird NBA scheduling quirks, you might even get two days off between a playoff game, right? If the Lakers and Rockets are playing with each other, maybe they, you know, play a couple games in Houston, and then they get two days off when they fly back out to LA for games three and four or whatever. So I do think that there's going to be some teams that are disproportionately affected in a positive way in the playoffs based on how they play stylistically, especially on the defensive side of the floor. Let me ask you this, so, Jackson, we can quit after this. But like the one of the things that I find intriguing about Houston is on the one hand, the fact that they are not an offensive team for everybody expects, oh, you've not been there before.

Starting point is 00:32:20 It always takes, you got to be there a year, you got to be there two years before you can really graduate to being a right and true contender. So being built to win defensively means you're not reliant on super hot scoring or guys like, you know, like, and so that in and of itself is good. But the flip side is when you're built on effort, effort to me and hard work is one of the qualities that becomes mitigated in the play. because in game 53 of the season, you can win just by working harder than the opponent. In the playoffs, that is not something that routinely happens. And so are you at all concerned that when other teams are on a night-to-night basis, trying as hard as Houston, that that actually could, you know, lead to problems and mitigate some of the, the strengths that they have?

Starting point is 00:33:20 I think you're, first off, I think you're hitting the nail on the head here. I think there is absolutely and should probably be a level of concern about that, about teams being able to, I guess, close the gap there. But I do think that because the Rockets had made this, their entire identity, they've practiced and preached it all season long. It's not like this, it's not the same as a team who just decides to turn on the switch and try and fight harder, play harder, be more physical overnight. The Rockets have been this team all season long.

Starting point is 00:33:49 This isn't new to them. They don't have to make it to the playoffs and suddenly think, oh, well, I have to think, oh, everything is second nature for them. Crashing the offensive glass is second nature. Fighting hard on boxouts and being the best rebounding team in the NBA is not, is second nature. They don't have to think about these things. They're getting into a playoff series and they're just executing what they've been doing all season long compared to, say, a team who maybe coasts a little bit in the regular season or doesn't

Starting point is 00:34:12 have that same mentality for all 82 games and then has to think, okay, well, now we've got to wake up and now it's the playoffs and now we've got to take it seriously, right? and maybe they're able to do it for an extended period. Sure, maybe they do it for a couple quarters or a whole game even. But I trust in this Rockets team to have that mentality and have it not waver over the entire course of a seven game series. And I think that gives them a little bit of an edge because when you outwork, when you out hustle, when you win the 50-50 balls, when you do all the little things that this team has been able to do and build as part of their identity this year, I think all of those things are going to translate to the playoffs. And it doesn't hurt that they've actually been pretty good in crunch time situations. They're the most, they've had the most clutch wins of any team in the NBA this year.

Starting point is 00:34:52 And the recipe for success for the Rockets is really simple. Alper and Chingun has been incredibly consistent in the middle. And as long as they have one of Fred Van Fleet or Jalen Green to show up and have a relatively solid game from the perimeter, talking 20 plus for Fred. Or 25 or 30 for Jalen. They're 11 and 1 when Jalen Green scores 30 or more. They're 12 and 2 when Fred Van Vleet scores 20 or more. That's all they need. They need one of those guys to have an okay-ish night or a good game.

Starting point is 00:35:17 and then they win. They're also the fourth best road team in the NBA right now, which is something to say for a young team that hasn't, quote, unquote, been there to this point. Well, it should be a fascinating game Monday night at the Cript. And then turning around, doing it on the 11th of April, if Houston still is, I got something to play for it. They might be locked in at that point. You never know.

Starting point is 00:35:41 Jackson, thanks so much for coming on. This has been a lot of fun, and I am looking forward to these games for sure. Likewise, guys, I appreciate you all having me on. Shout out to all the Lakers fans out there who are about to have to brace for disappointment as the Rockets wax the floor with L.A. Sorry, I got to get out of here. Good talk, Jackson.

Starting point is 00:35:57 Got to get out of here with one jab. I'm sorry. Locked on Lakers, blocked up. Get the F out of here, Jacks. Go hang out with all kinds of fun folks. Ask us questions, asking each other, talking to each other, talking to us. We'll see everyone after the game.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Lakers vs. Rockets: Will Luka Dončić's Dominance of Houston Continue With the Lakers?

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