Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - LeBron Drops 30, Lakers Fight Hard but Lose in Dallas, 134-128

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Lakers put up a good fight, but lose in Dallas. Do they have any chance to hold on to home court? 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 joining Locked on Lakers. I'm Brian Kemeniski.

Starting point is 00:00:28 Those of you watching live on YouTube can tell that the person joining me today is not Andy Kaminetsky because this person is significantly young. younger than Andy. It's the only way to tell them apart. DeAndre Hawkins, you know him from Lakers Talk Daily, 11 a.m. every day on ESPNLA, the YouTube feed there. You can also hear them from 3 to 6 with Travis and DeMarco. Thanks for coming on. I appreciate it. Man, anytime, I can come on here and talk about Lakers with you guys, especially it's, I have no trouble at all for you guys. Well, and I appreciate your optimistic, sunshiny attitude, DeAndre, because the last, I don't know, three days have been catastrophic for this team.

Starting point is 00:01:10 We'll jump into it in a second, to let people know that today's episode is brought to you by Fanduel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $250 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Head to fenduel.com to get started. Needless to say, DeAndre, one of the available bets, you know, the Lakers winning a title, I tell you what, you know, $100 on that's going to win you a lot more than what of three days ago. So if you're still feeling optimistic after Sunday's 134 to 128 loss, I don't want to tell you in Dallas. I don't want to tell you how to handle your money, but I guess there's an opportunity there. Yeah, go ahead.

Starting point is 00:01:51 But before we get into the game, the game itself, I just want to get like your reaction to what we have seen since Thursday. Like, do you remember waking up Thursday morning going like, I am so excited about that? this game. It's going to be, you know, a measuring stick and, you know, Luca versus Shea for the MVP and all the, oh my God. I look, when I woke up on Thursday morning, I can't stress enough how I was like, oh, this is great. You can get another tester for the Lakers and see where they're at because we know the gap between them and Oklahoma City, especially the San Antonio Spurs that they have been playing. And then, of course, as you said, the MVP ways we've seen how the numbers have shown, especially

Starting point is 00:02:33 in the month of March, where the Lakers were 15 and 2, and Luca Donchich average in 40 points in that month of March. And we're like, okay, we can see if the MVP race can get narrowed down, just a little bit. Oh, that picture. And then, oh, no, that game happening at Oklahoma City Thunder. And then

Starting point is 00:02:52 went down in a way, we're like, oh, man. It went really, really bad, quick. And then Luca Dantz is going out with the injury. And then in the span of 24 hours, we see news. not only look at dodges having to be out for the rest of the regular season we see news that awesome reeves was going to be out with the left oblique so the news for the lakers just kept on getting worse and worse and it was like delayed did you see the news that it was you know jj was talking about this the practice on sat on saturday the the news on reeves was delayed because the

Starting point is 00:03:26 folks doing the MRI in dallas like scanned the wrong part of his body Like, I mean, it's that kind of like when it rains and pours sort of thing. Like, yeah. It's like when you go in for surgery, like they have to make sure they label like the right leg to do the operation on or whatever. They did the wrong leg. It was like, oh, my God. And you start to see more and more like Jason Redding and seeing his frustration. Now it's to the point where, okay, what are they going to do with this whole Lakers, the medical team and stuff like that?

Starting point is 00:03:54 Because if they can't narrow down and get something right like that, then, I mean, we got to get this department right. Yeah, I'll, I'll get to this. the game again in a second here. 134, 128 again as the finalist. There's stuff to talk about with this game, but there's at the same time, you know,

Starting point is 00:04:12 there's certain things that you just kind of can't really, you know, you can't fault the effort. You can't fault, you know, there are only so many things you can kind of criticize about what the Lakers did on Sunday. I mean,

Starting point is 00:04:23 the point you're making is an interesting one because the Lakers have had, I mean, it seems like every other year, they're turning over, some portion of the medical staff. They're doing, you know, the training staff is turning over, the surgical staff. Now they're aligned with UCLA and then they weren't before.

Starting point is 00:04:40 Like, I don't know exactly what happened. Like I wasn't there. I'm always really careful to be like, somebody screwed up medically. They didn't diagnose Luca properly. I think Reeves, they recognized what was going on and were like, it is what it is. It's not going to get worse. And, you know, you can play if you can get through the pain. Because tomorrow you're not going to be able to move.

Starting point is 00:05:05 But with Luca, like, I don't know. Like, he's been grabbing that hamstring for, I don't know, six weeks and grimacing and clutching and grabbing different parts of his body. But the larger point, like, does, do, especially does new ownership believe that they have like the best training staff? Did they have the best medical support system? all this stuff like this is all stuff that's going to be looked at in the off season and you i mean just seeing how the turnaround has been with the whole new ownership group of mark walter the whole gubernhine group and honestly we're seeing that the lakers don't even have a real legit scouting or you know scout team you know i mean so that's another thing hired anyone as far as i know

Starting point is 00:05:50 they haven't hired anyone so that's another thing that they got to look uh look into heading into the offices and then i mean you've seen the frustration you see seen, JJ Redd and making the comments, like you said, as far as, like, you know, they did testing on Austin Rees and the testing didn't go, you know, as expected. And so now you got to look into, okay, is this going to be the right medical staff heading into the offseason for Luca Donchers and Austin Rees and making the right decisions? Because, you know, all the stuff that came out as far as Luca Donchers was already grimacing in pain throughout the, you know, that type, you know, that first half. And then the question mark comes in as far as, should he have continued

Starting point is 00:06:29 to play knowing that he was already dealing with some hamstring so, I mean, you can have those conversations, you can have different types of opinions on it, you know, how Jay Jerez and how Lakers have been, they always have been a team that they're going to compete. No matter what the score is, they're going to

Starting point is 00:06:46 compete for a full 48 minutes. I mean, they've shown, especially due to the second half of the season. And I get both sides of it as far as take them out because you know that you're not going to win this game against Oklahoma City. They're already down by as much 20 points at the end of the first quarter.

Starting point is 00:07:02 You can make that argument as well. Just sit him down. Don't, you know, just rest them. Get ready for Dallas Maverick. Get another day off in between that game. And then as far as Austin Reeves, you can make that case as well, you know, because he had that possession where he was chasing out there lose ball. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:07:17 And he saw him immediately reach after his left side and then keeping him in the game. He actually left the floor and went back to the locker room. They checked him out and he came back. And he did okay. I mean, it's all relative for the rest of the game. The thing about Luca, too, that it's like, I mean, obviously, had they, had they known he was going to, you know, hurt it worse in the second half, they wouldn't have let him play. But like, you, you obviously don't get the benefit of that. But I, I think, you know, JJ said that the reason they left him in was, you know, he was going to play six minutes and we were going to try to eat into the lead and see what we could do.

Starting point is 00:07:57 And I actually don't believe that. That's sort of the standard, you know, NBA head coach. You never give up on a game. Very rarely does the starting lineup not come out for the second half of the game just because of the score. And so it's like I really actually don't believe JJ's explanation there. I think they were trying to find with another game coming up on Tuesday and a potential first round matchup against these guys. Or they believe an opportunity to see them in the Western Conference finals, if they maintained that three seed and kept playing.

Starting point is 00:08:33 I think they were looking for something that they could put on tape that would give them a little bit of confidence and like, okay, here's where we can attack them because they played Oklahoma City really well last year. Two out of the three games this year, they've gotten their asses kicked. And so I think they were trying to find something that they could use to attack so that,

Starting point is 00:08:59 whether it's Tuesday or down the road, they feel like there's something in the tool belt. That makes sense. It makes sense. It's obviously not worth Luca getting hurt. And we know the answer now. But like, does that at least from a theoretical standpoint make sense to you? No, it doesn't make sense to me because, I mean, if that was the goal that you're trying to accomplish and seeing what, you know, in the margins and, you know, how you can get better at as far as defensively or how can you, you know,

Starting point is 00:09:27 attack Oklahoma City, you know, as far as an offensive standpoint, then, I mean, is that really much a good sample size? Because, I mean, the Oklahoma City was, again, they were up by 20, 20 plus points at the end of the first quarter. And then the lead just kept on growing and growing. I mean, oh, they were not going to win. They were not going to win the game. They were not going to win the game. They were not going to win the game. So if you have, if you have that mindset that, okay, what, what can we grab from these moments to see what we can approve on, knowing that this could be a potential second round matchup with Oklahoma City, then okay. But it's just hard to kind of look at that perspective only because that you can just see

Starting point is 00:10:06 the gap between the Lakers and Oklahoma City. That's just the only reason why I just keep on coming back to that, is that just sit them out, just sit them out, let them rest, take, you know, just take that loss and then get ready to go, you know, for the game, you know, would have been nice to see them heading into the Dallas Mavericks game, get some more momentum. And then you got Oklahoma City coming to where to L.A. on Tuesday. And so that's another matchup to kind of get them back. You know, they got to travel to L.A.

Starting point is 00:10:33 So that could have been a different approach. That's, I feel like there's a whole me different. I think that's fair. Yeah, I mean, it's, I, we'll talk a little bit of a, next let's talk a little bit more about this. And then we'll get into the game because it is worth fine. It was worth asking, like, do these Lakers have any chance of, extending the season beyond the first round. Reddick said before the game,

Starting point is 00:11:00 like their goal is to sustain the team, sustain the season long enough for Reeves, probably first, and then potentially Luca to come back. So we'll do that. We'll talk about whether it's even a good idea to try to bring Luca back this year. All of that stuff to come.

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Starting point is 00:11:54 so you never miss a call text or opportunity. I love the, you know, the whole clean thread, easy to follow is somebody like too many like points of communication stuff gets lost so calls text voicemails all in one nice clean space easy to follow makes your business more organized more responsive so no opportunity and no customer slips away so try quo for free and get 20% off your first six months or quo.com slash locked on MBA that's q uo.com slash locked on MBA quo no missed calls no missed customers All right. So JJ said before the game, the goal is obviously to extend the season long enough for Reeves,

Starting point is 00:12:41 who I think would end up coming back first. I mean, we've seen what happens with these hamstring injuries, soft tissue. Peyton Watson's been in, you know, missed like eight weeks. And they almost immediately had to sit out some more time. Aaron Gordon has been in. Like these are really, really tricky injuries. And you certainly don't want to rush your franchise player. back too fast and turn this into something that lingers in next year.

Starting point is 00:13:07 So in the meantime, the starting lineup on Sunday was LeBron. I think that was expected. Rui, Jake Laravia, D'Andre Aiton and Luke Knard. And then other rotation minutes went to Jackson Hayes. Jared Vanderbock got 12 minutes Maxy Clay. We got 13. Brony played nine, but to say the least, JJ leaned heavily into his starters and then just switched his centers off

Starting point is 00:13:42 based on which matchup he thought was working. They lose the game 134 to 128. LeBron has a really nice game. 30 points, 12, 22 from the floor, nine rebounds, 15 assists, four turnover. So a tidy assist turnover ratio there. you get Luke Kinnard's first ever triple double, but it does come with a five for 17 shooting night. Most of that actually inside the arc,

Starting point is 00:14:10 not outside. But again, you can't complain too much, 41 minutes. He had 16 rebounds, which is kind of insane. Also 11 assists, only three turnovers. Lakers actually took pretty good care of the ball, only 12 turnovers on the night.

Starting point is 00:14:26 Basic impressions of what you saw from this group Sunday before we get into like the let's cross our fingers and like is there any shot of like this happening like doing for sure no so just for Luke Kinnard as far as him putting up a triple double and seeing what he

Starting point is 00:14:46 was able to do I like the aggressiveness of him getting to the basket and finding the open man I thought that was a really really good thing that we saw especially him taking on that point guard role and taking the you know you know, the lead, taking the ball off of LeBron's. Right. Because I should, I should have mentioned,

Starting point is 00:15:02 Marcus Smart missed his seventh straight game. He'll do a lot of that when he's back. Exactly. But, I mean, your other option is Brony there. And we, or Nick Smith, who I don't think is very good. And can we just have a little,

Starting point is 00:15:14 real honesty? Can we have some real honesty? First of all, Kobe Buffkin, he really hasn't had that much minutes on the NBA for like that. Nick Smith Jr. had that, had that good spurt. And specifically, we called a Nick Smith Jr. game. Remember that one? I guess the Portland Trailblazers. And then we really haven't

Starting point is 00:15:30 seen him get that much into as far as the rotation. Now, Brony James, we've seen him try to bring the ball up in, you know, garbage time. And it's, I hate saying that. I really do hate saying that, but. I know where you're going. It's just in that moment when he against Oklahoma City Thunder, him just trying to get

Starting point is 00:15:46 past to have court lines. Case and Wallace ate him alive. Ate him alive. So realistically, Richard was not trying to put Bernie James in another situation like that. I'm not saying of Dallas Mavericks have perimeter defenders like that, but still, you don't want to put it. It's not fair. It's not fair. So with Luke Kinnard, and you mentioned Marcus Smart being at the line of which the Lakers are desperately needing him in the line of just to set the tone

Starting point is 00:16:08 defensively and being able to take the load off of LeBron James and other primary ball handlers. I thought Luke Kinnard looked well, and I know his shooting wasn't there, but remember, he has to take all those different types of assignments, bringing the ball and getting them into the offense, things like that. Now, I really did like what LeBron James is. It's a lot of Luke Canard. Yeah, a lot of the car. A lot of lukin art. Yeah, a lot of lukinard.

Starting point is 00:16:31 Rui, I feel like Rui, like, it was good to see him get into his ones. You will pull up, you know, his bread and butter where he likes to do. But Rui, the Lakers are going to need more of Rudy, Rui, not Rudy, Rui defensively. Because is his numbers as good at one game and then the following game would be kind of low and he's only getting six points. And then J. J. Reddick has to kind of lower his minutes because he's not really that effective defensively.

Starting point is 00:16:56 Okay, but DeAndre Aden was another one tonight where, okay, he was rolling to the right spots. He has some good moments where he blocked some shots, contested them, got some good rebounds. But it's just hard to see this lineup. This lineup you can just tell there's no chemistry whatsoever with this lineup. Well, and too with Aiton, and tell me if you disagree, but like with Aiton, part of the problem with making Aiton a focal point in the offense is that the primary mechanisms for getting him, the ball like the sort of spacing that you want or you know the pick and roll you know uh actions and and and stuff like that they're they're less available when you know two of your three primary uh ball handlers and offensive weapons are gone and so you know you can still get a little bit out

Starting point is 00:17:46 you know jackson hayes hit eight to ten he had 23 points got the line eight times played really nicely and between the two of them the lakers got productive minutes from their centers but Jackson can only really score in one way. And they need a little bit of the versatility, you know, from 12 feet, the little elbow jump or whatever it might be from Aiden. The problem's going to be getting them the ball. Yeah. And so, and that's another thing is that there's moments where DeAndreighton,

Starting point is 00:18:14 he does seal there sometimes. We see him, he's sitting right there in the middle of the paint. And you got a nice little, you got a couple of hook shots tonight. But realistically, the Lakers offense is generated with a two-man game. Yondra Aid rolling hard to the basketball, which he's had done better at, this second half of the season for the Lakers, which we have seen in the duo between him and Luca Donchich, is that if you just roll hard to the basket, Luca Donch is such a good pastor that he's going to be able to get it to you.

Starting point is 00:18:43 And same thing with Austin Reeves. And that's just how they are on the basketball court. So realistically, you have Luke Knard trying to run the two-man game with. And in LeBron Jays, you can, but it makes Luca Dantzsche's, Osprey so effective in that team game is that they're able to pull the ball back and knock down a three-point ball. And if you do try to switch, it's hard to do so because the Alucca Daughters can go by someone and Osiris.

Starting point is 00:19:07 And that leads a smaller man on DeAndre Aden. So again, the offense and the Lakers started off really, really so when the matter started off hot. So I think the biggest thing that I saw out of this game is that they fought. They did. Really, they fought the whole entire game. I know, you know, it didn't show up in a winning column, but put up a hundred and 28 points. where you don't have two or your main offensive guys.

Starting point is 00:19:27 You want to look at the positive side? That's the, I think, they're a big positive. Yeah, I think that's one for sure. And like, look, first things first. I think, you know, there's obviously like, we're going to end up talking about between now and the 18th or whatever it is when they open up the playoffs. Like, do they have a chance of putting this thing together?

Starting point is 00:19:46 Can they get a little continuity? Can they get hot? Is Houston vulnerable if they end up playing the rockets? If they, you know, could they beat Minnesota? What if Anthony Edwards? isn't totally healthy or whatever might be. Like, is there any chance of pulling off a miracle? But I think the first thing they got to do is figure out how to keep home floor.

Starting point is 00:20:04 And Denver wins on Sunday. The Lakers lose. So they are now statistically tied. The Lakers are still in that three seed because of the tiebreaker. The Mavericks are playing. I'm sorry, the rockets are playing as we are recording. They're playing Gold State. in the second of the NBC doubleheader.

Starting point is 00:20:29 If they win that game, they're now a game behind the Lakers and the standings, functionally two games because of the tiebreaker. So next, let's talk a little bit about how likely it is that the Lakers can keep that at least a four seed. And then let's try to end on a little bit of optimism. Is there any shot for the Lakers, Lakers to actually make it through to the second round and what would have to happen for that to happen.

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Starting point is 00:22:54 Head to turbotax.com slash local to find a store near you and book your appointment. Okay, so assuming I'm reading all this correctly, and obviously, again, the rockets are still playing as we record, but I'm going to assume they're going to go ahead and beat the Warriors. If for no other reason, the Warriors just aren't very good. They got to send a curry back, man. That's awesome. Steph can only do so much with that group. LeBron can only do so much with this group. But, you know, if you, if this conversation does change a little bit if the warriors can figure.

Starting point is 00:23:34 out a way to hold on to this game. And it's worth noting, Chris Tapp's Porzingis is in, uh, is in the lineup and, uh, you know, Dremont's playing pods is playing. They got, they got as many guys as they're going to get. Um, but let's, if the Rockets win, the Lakers are functionally two games up on them. They have four games left to play. If they're going to hold on to that four seed, they got to find a win somewhere. They have to win a game. They have to find some game that they can win. And then the math really does tilt in their favor.

Starting point is 00:24:10 If it doesn't clinch it, Houston would have to, certainly we'd have to win out at that point. Do you think with Oklahoma City on Tuesday, seems like a tall order. Yeah, right.

Starting point is 00:24:28 They also have Golden State who are fighting to, you know, just you know, try to get step back. May, I think they still have a chance perhaps to move up to the nine as opposed to the 10. But they'll be playing games. You have Utah and then you have Phoenix. Is there a game in here that they can win with this lineup?

Starting point is 00:24:50 Yeah, I think the Utah game is one for sure. I think they can win with this lineup. Maybe the Phoenix Suns. The only thing is that the Phoenix Suns and gave the Lakers trouble this year just because the way their style of basketball is and how they like to do a lot of those rub screens and run guys off and, you know, have a lot of lockdown shooters.

Starting point is 00:25:09 They're probably, I will say this, they're probably going to be locked into a seed, though. Yeah. And so. As actually could be the warrior. So it wouldn't be totally shocking if Steph may be sat. And sat,

Starting point is 00:25:21 yeah. So, and that's another thing. You never know what the Warriors are. The line is kind of in and out. Like, Perzingus will play one game. And then he,

Starting point is 00:25:28 you know, then he'll sit out, Draymond Green. I saw a couple of games as well. Al Horford has been in and out the line of so the Warriors are a team who if they don't really see as far as themselves getting higher into the playing standings, then they're probably going to just take their chances of, you know, getting the most out of that play. And I think that's a winnable game.

Starting point is 00:25:46 The only one I really see that will really, I mean, definitely going to be a loss with R.R. out is definitely the Oklahoma City Thunder game. But I think those are winnable games. I think Lakers can go out and get. And I did see something that the Lakers, since. of Minnesota Timberl is lost today against the Charlotte Hornets. Lakers can't finish anywhere below the fifth seats. So that's some other positives as well.

Starting point is 00:26:10 Of course, you want them to stay third seed. That would be ideal. I don't. I think Denver is going to pass them for that. I do think they have a real shot at holding on to the four. And like it seems like a small consolation, but like if you're going to try to pull an upset in the first round, It seems to me that with this group with no, no Luca, no Austin for that first round, you need every little advantage you can get.

Starting point is 00:26:43 And opening at home, playing games one and two at home, seems like a much better proposition than opening in Houston, which is probably where they would go. And see, I think if they were to get that first-on matchup at Houston, and I want to have as much optimism as I can to be very optimistic about this, that I think they showed the right cards against that Houston Rockets matchup. I get it. You know, we're going back to Austin Reeves and Luca Donch's being out the lineup.

Starting point is 00:27:08 But the Houston Rockies team, they have some, they don't have a primary ball handler. And seeing what they're able to do with Kevin Durant and blitz him as soon as he cross half. They need Luke Conard. They need Luke Conard. Somebody's getting them Luke Conard. Exactly. So, and we got to take in consideration, too, that Marcus Smart's been out. And Marcus Smart will most, he'll be back when come play.

Starting point is 00:27:30 off time. So there's your primary point of attack defender. And so you had him back in the mix. So then, okay, you started to get more of a defensive edge and stuff. But I do feel like if they were to match up with Houston Rockets and you try to stay afloat with those two out, I think it's, it could be possible because the Rockets, without Kevin Durant, that is their primary guy. He does everything offensive for him as far as scoring, as far as getting them into the offense, as far as just even defensively, there's times he's taken on, you know, besides Amman Thompson. But Amman Thompson is a guy. He struggles to create his own bucket.

Starting point is 00:28:06 He does a great job in who went out the basketball. But other than that, like, the Rockets have a lot of, a lot of holes when it comes to their offense. Al-Pi Shangoon's a good player. But, like, they have, adding Durant has helped them be a better offensive. They're still not a good offensive team. Not by that standard.

Starting point is 00:28:25 They're not great. Like, no. And then, yeah, And out be shangoon, like, one thing you, if you want, we can, if you want to just point out him being a good offensive player, there's one thing that he is on the other end. He's, you know, he has a lot of holes defensively. He struggles defensively. And I just feel like the chemistry with the rockets, it's not there. You just, and like, I know it's, it's easier to look from an outside perspective, but those, the games that we've seen the Rockets,

Starting point is 00:28:53 especially after they lost those two against Lakers, they have not looked right. They have not look right at all. You see them arguing with each other. You see them not getting along, you know, as far as the rotations with Emmy Udoca and all the different types of stuff and finger pointing. Like that at this point of season, that could be an issue because Lakers, what they were able to do is that they're able to bring everybody together. Everyone bought into the roles, embrace the roles. And that's why you started to get the most out of this Lakers team with JJ Redd it compared to the Rockets where if they're going down in the wrong direction at the worst time. I will say, like, I mean, I'm not going to lie to people.

Starting point is 00:29:34 If this is, you know, a seven game series in the first round between the Lakers and the Rockets, which is what I think we're going to get, I'm not picking the Lakers to win. No, I'm not. I'm going to pick the Rockets to win that series. For sure. But with that said, if you have to pick a team, like, that's what, like if I have to pick the rockets, the, the, the clippers, the, you know, the. the timber wolves, the nuggets, like any of these teams,

Starting point is 00:30:03 if I pick one of them that I think they'd best shot against, I would say it's Houston. And it's for the reasons that you were kind of talking about there. A, the offense is vulnerable. And be, like, if the Lakers were to take game one, let's say. Because Houston's going to go into this series, like overwhelming favorites with enormous pressure on, And if they don't win, everything, you're like, what in the bleep is wrong with you, people?

Starting point is 00:30:34 You guys are never going anywhere with this core if you can't beat a Lakers team with no Luca and no AR. And so they're aware of that. And like you say, they don't seem like they're getting along all that well. So maybe there is that kind of mental vulnerability. The Lakers can go into this series with zero pressure. and everybody just kind of like hoping for the storybook LeBron has one more playoff series in them. Because like let's say they were the fourth seed. They and LeBron just lifts them through one more.

Starting point is 00:31:11 That's an incredible story. And then they're going to go get there completely. They're going to get annihilated by the Thuncter in the next round. But it won't matter because we'll have seen that one last, you know, incredibly special thing. from LeBron. And, you know, now that we know Luke Kinnard is a triple double machine, if you give him 39 minutes a game.

Starting point is 00:31:34 And all that. All he needs is time on the floor. He's getting 40 plus minutes and he'll get to a triple double. They're going to have to use Amman Thompson to just lock down. Kinnard, who guards LeBron? Yeah, exactly. So, like, if I got to pick a team, it's going to be Houston, right? Yeah, I agree.

Starting point is 00:31:54 I, I full, full on. agree with that. Like just everything we have been saying. And then I just feel like the way the Houston style is and like how Lakers were very, very effective as far as how they're able to switch up different types of defenses and be able to throw different looks at them. I think that was really, really like a glaring thing. Like as far as having Kevin Durant and forced them seven turnovers in both games. And then you look around and say, with the balls out of Kevin Durant's hands, they struggle. They genuinely struggle as far as, okay, who's going to create their and look besides Jabart and Smith Jr.

Starting point is 00:32:28 Alperin Shangoon is the guy is not going to take guys off the jubble. He likes to do everything mid-post, low-post range. I'm in Thompson again. You're going to live and die by him taking a jump shot. What do you don't want to do? Just get beat by him and cuts. And then defensively, you can pick apart, you know, certain guys in that roster. You can pick apart

Starting point is 00:32:43 Alpern Shangoon defensively. You know, you can make I'm not saying that the Lakers can go out there and win this series. You got me. You heard it from DeAndre. Lakers in four. he's calling it now i should just call it lakers in four you know what houston's so bad i'm gonna go with lakers in three but like look i mean we joke about this and we'll quit here

Starting point is 00:33:12 and d'andre is kind enough to join us for tomorrow's short show as well we can joke about this stuff but like the lakers need to figure out a way to believe it like they have to like athletes do this. I mean, I know you, you played ball. Like,

Starting point is 00:33:30 ever, like, like, this is part of the process. Like, you have to believe things that are sometimes kind of delusional, uh, to give yourself a chance to do this stuff.

Starting point is 00:33:42 And if Lakers can figure out a way to, but it's why these next, you know, four games kind of matter. They can win two of them, you know, look pretty good, feel like they've got a formula.

Starting point is 00:33:51 They can go into that first round. Hey, we're on our home floor. Nobody thinks we can do it. plucky little lakers, you know, and all that. But we've got LeBron and Luke Conard. Luke and then, you know, DeAndre is a guy that will bring, you know, that, I mean, like, if they believe it, they got a shot.

Starting point is 00:34:12 Yeah. And it's all figuring out the road, again, another thing for Jay J-Jurenik, figure out the rotation is figuring out who you can trust as far as in limited minutes and far as who you can trust offensively, defensively, because I, we don't want to get into the J-Geretic mode. he only plays five guys. You can't, we can't know what to that. In this case, in this case,

Starting point is 00:34:31 he might be justified. No, by now, like, six-man rotation actually might make sense. But, all right, so, Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where you can go hang out with over 38,000 subscribers to channel. Make sure you check out the Everyday Air Club in the show notes. See if it's for you.

Starting point is 00:34:49 Code March, let's see here. I should have checked this really honestly, before we started, not after. Yes, Code March will still get you. one month for free ad free shows access to the Discord channel with me and Andy and a bunch of

Starting point is 00:35:04 other hosts so check it out see if it's for you if not that's okay we will love you anyway we'll be back tomorrow and then obviously get you ready for Tuesday's big rematch against the Thunder so we will and they still got to play the game

Starting point is 00:35:21 you never know we will see everybody on later today.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - LeBron Drops 30, Lakers Fight Hard but Lose in Dallas, 134-128

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