Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - LeBron James (33 POINTS) Lifts the Lakers Past Timberwolves, 111-102. Rui Hachimura Injured.
Episode Date: February 28, 2025All things considered, Luka Dončić hasn't played all that well in his six games since the Lakers acquired him from the Dallas Mavericks. There were highlights, for sure, but remember, he's Luka Don�...�ić. The bar is pretty high. And yet... the Lakers won again. This time, 111-102 over the (admittedly shorthanded) Wolves. They're now 4-2 since the trade, and 36-21 overall, a game back of Denver for the 3-seed, and 1.5 behind Memphis for the 2. They've won four in a row heading into a pair of home games (Friday and Sunday) against the Clippers. The conventional wisdom (not accepted in this space, it should be noted) was that the Lakers in making the deal took a step backwards for this season in service of the future. What's happening instead is the Lakers continue rising up the standings, remaining one of the NBA's hottest teams while Luka, in his own words, is playing poorly. This has to frighten rivals around the conference, because at some point, whether tonight against the LAC, Sunday or two weeks from now, Dončić is going to morph back into himself. And then what happens? Because the Lakers have shown they can defend, logging a fifth straight game holding an opponent around 100 points. If the offense starts clicking—and in this context "clicking" kinda just means Luka starts hitting shots—it should allow the Lakers more space to breathe from game to game. Margin for error actually works for them, not against. So maybe it means the Lakers before it's all said and done can finish in the top four, and earn home court for the first round. What it does in the meantime is afford them some breathing room for games like tonight, when some combo of Rui Hachimura (knee), LeBron James (hamstring), Jaxson Hayes (hip), Jarred Vanderbilt and Luka (neither guy has been playing back-to-backs). There is no need to push guys through injuries, because they're not fighting just to stay in the play-in zone, as it was the last couple of seasons. If the Lakers, who have been pushing very hard defensively to get the results they have, need to dial it back a little to preserve legs for the playoffs, they've got the space to do it. This stuff matters. LA has shown it can defend. It's hard to believe they won't get better offensively with time. And because of that, everyone from fans, media and (most importantly) the Lakers themselves are looking at the rest of this season with a new sense of potential. HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: The Lakers win, despite struggles from Luka. SEGMENT 2: 33 from James! SEGMENT 3: Breathing room for LA while Luka gets his shot back. Your favorite podcast now has a newsletter! In One-stop for ultimate team and league coverage delivered right to your in box. Sign up for free now, at lockedondaily.com.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!RobinhoodWith Robinhood Gold, you can now enjoy the VIP treatment. The new Gold Standard is here with Robinhood Gold. To receive 3% boost on annual IRA contributions, sign up at robinhood.com/gold. Door DashThey Swoosh, You Save: when any player scores 50 or more points in a game during the 24/25 NBA regular season, DashPass members save 50% on an order, up to $10 off with promo code NBA50. 50% Off 1 Order (Up to $10 Off)Offer valid from 9:00 AM PT through 11:59 PM PT after a 50 point performance in any game during the NBA season on orders placed at participating merchant locations. Valid only in the United States. Maximum value of discount is $10.00. Discount applies to subtotal only; does not apply to fees, taxes, and gratuity. Not valid for pickup. Limit one per person. Not valid for the purchase of alcohol. Fees, taxes, and gratuity still apply. Must have an active DashPass account. Use promo code NBA50 to redeem. See further terms and conditions at https://drd.sh/8ONpZP/.FanDuelRight now, new FanDuel customers can get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins!Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Hey, everyone, welcome to Locked-on Lakers for Friday.
The Lakers stay hot.
They win their fourth straight 111-102 over Minnesota,
but it came at a bit of a cost.
We'll explain next.
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We're all hanging out talking to us, talking to each other, and celebrating yet another win for the Lakers.
This one, 11102, over the Timberwolves at the Crypt on Thursday.
Lakers, of course, will be taking on the Clippers tonight, Friday night, in the first of a
just everything I guess technically is a home, some version of a home and home when it's the Clippers.
But the Lakers play the Clippers at the crypt twice Friday and Sunday and could be a little short-handed for the Friday edition of this,
which we will explain here in a minute.
But Andy, it's another win for the Lakers and another win on a night that Luca shoots poorly.
He is by his own admission playing like doo-doo.
that was the not that was the safe
he didn't say do-do I'm just you know we're living in the language we can use
no absolutely um it's interesting when you said that the lakers stay hot
they won this game but this was not a game where they looked particularly hot as a group
we'll talk about lucas shooting and you know it's a continuation of what's been as a whole
a rough stretch for him since uh joining the team but they missed
missed 14 free throws.
I mean, thank God.
Austin Reeves apparently did not get the team wide packed,
like the memo that they were just going to miss everything at the line.
He got there 12 times, made 11 of them.
The team went 32 of 46 as a group.
And in a game where you win by 9, that's a big deal.
They shot 27% from behind the arc,
although it is, it's really bunched up in a lot of ways what Luca and Gabe Vincent did not do.
Luca one of nine from behind the arc, Gabe O of five.
You take them away, the Lakers are 10 of 27, so 37%.
A big chunk of that was LeBron, and we'll talk about LeBron, who had a really, really good game.
It's funny that you bring over Luca to make life easier for LeBron, and all of a sudden he looks like he turned back to
clocked and years.
There's a reason for it.
We'll get to it.
He really had a terrific game.
Yeah.
The energy level that he's got because of now the
the redistribution of
of responsibilities, I think,
has made a huge difference in where he can put energy into a game.
But I think it is a, you know,
this is the sixth game that the Lakers have played with Luca.
And they are four and two.
and I don't think he, you know, he's played, you know, certainly not three full good games.
So we would call it like two, two-ish, you know.
The game against Denver, he was terrific.
Yeah.
He played, I thought he played well against Dallas in every element other than shooting.
Right.
I thought his overall game against Dallas was very good.
And his first game as a Laker, he didn't go Supernova Luca, but.
I thought you saw enough where you were like, oh, okay.
Oh, for sure.
But in terms of like the full package, like you saw the full package against Denver and
then like the first half against Dallas and then, you know, moments in that debut game.
But the larger point is like the late, the conventional wisdom was that the Lakers made this
deal.
They stepped back for this season.
but it's in service of the future.
That was what a lot of the commentary was.
We didn't totally buy that on this show,
but that was sort of the common way of looking at it.
The Lakers were playing good basketball before the trade,
and in the six games, they're four and two,
and continue to stack up wins.
They've now won four straight,
and they're doing it while Luca isn't really playing well.
We haven't had, you know, a stretch of three or four games where Donch just, you know, right around are over 50%.
And he's doing, you know, 30 to 35 points a night and all that.
Those games are coming.
But they haven't happened yet.
And yet the Lakers are still winning and creeping up in the West.
I think that is a great sign for this team.
Yeah.
I mean, look, this was a game where the Timberwolves were missing Julius Randall, Rudy
Gobert, and Anthony Edwards got tossed.
Yeah.
And side note with him getting tossed, this was 16th technical.
He got numbers 15 and 16 tonight, which led to his ejection, threw a ball into the stands.
I'd be interested to see what happens just because the league sometimes will fudge the 16th technical with a star because they want to keep that guy around.
I think the second one felt to me like it could have been iffy.
The problem is, though, he might have offset that good grace by throwing the ball into the stands.
The flip side could be had he not gotten that iffy tech for 16 and getting tossed,
then he would not have tossed a ball.
So it's very chicken or egg.
All those events were certainly interrelated.
And I will, in Ant's defense, when I first watched the play, you know, in real time,
I thought he both pushed off on Gabe, which that part I think he did, but also that he kind of took a little bit of a dive.
It wasn't until I saw a couple of the replays where you saw, I don't think it was intentional, but you saw Vincent's leg pop up when he loses his balance and he basically kicked aunt behind the leg.
And so on the back of his, you know, on the back of his leg, and that really is what made him go down and ticked him off.
So I think maybe that too could play in Ant's favor.
But again, the league and ask people who cover, you know, you'll hear Tim McMahon from ESPN who's covered Luca for years.
I've heard him talk about how Luca's 16th tech will often be a repeated 16th tech because the league is really trying to keep the guy on the court.
and they're just like, look, bro, don't keep doing this.
Right.
You got to shake someone for that.
Don't keep doing this again a week later.
Bro, seriously, don't keep doing this again.
So maybe that keeps Anthony Edwards out there,
which I hope because the league is better when Anthony Edwards is playing.
Yeah.
The wolves are playing Friday night against Utah.
So they'll certainly want Anthony Edwards out on the floor.
We'll turn our attention to LeBron here, but it is in the next segment.
It's worth running through.
I mentioned the cost of this win.
Rui Hachamura left the game in the second half with a knee injury.
He was moving very slowly.
If you see the shots of him in the tunnel heading back to the locker room,
JJ Reddick didn't really give much of an update beyond knee injury.
Knee strain is what they call.
Yeah, knee strain, they call it.
You know, he wouldn't speculate.
I suspect he will not play.
I suspect, you know, Jackson Hayes took a hard fall and he hurt his hip, but he did stay in the game.
LeBron looked like he tweaked a hammie.
Say also stayed in the game, but, you know, how those things are, you know, a lot of times it's when you wake up the next day.
That's essentially what LeBron said is, you know, we'll see how it feels in the morning, whether or not he'll play in the back-to-back.
and then Jared Vaynerbilt and Luca haven't been playing in back-to-back.
So some combination of those five guys, starting with Rui, who I would be shocked if he played on Friday,
are not going to be in this game, which to me is the most valuable part of this cushion
that they've been able to build up separating themselves from the play-in,
group is it affords them the opportunity to sit guys for a game or two or three if you need
to to make sure that nobody plays through injuries that are going to make it worse just because
you're trying to make sure you make the tournament in some way shape or four well if if ruy misses
tonight's game against the clippers and you're not going to have dFS i excuse me you're not going
have vando and luka because of a back-to-back anyway at that point i would just
sit LeBron if you have any concerns at all because you're playing from a place of disadvantage
anyway. You might have to just chalk that up as a last minute scheduled loss and then get it
back on Sunday, hopefully, with at least more guys available. You don't want to aggravate this
thing with LeBron under any circumstances, but especially if Rui, hopefully this is not the case,
but if he misses a couple weeks,
then you really don't want to have to go
any extended period without LeBron at all.
And you have the luxury of doing that
based on how they've been playing
and where they are in the Western Conference.
LeBron, this was really a LeBron-fueled victory for the Lakers.
There's a different energy around this man,
and it is extremely positive for the Lakers,
and I think the Dantritch trade has a big role in it.
We'll explain next.
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LeBron is a different guy when you make it so he doesn't have to work nearly as hard offensively.
As a ball handler, as a distributor, as an initiator.
He's running the baseline.
He's running on the break.
He's doing all kinds of stuff.
And, man, the energy he's able to put on the defensive end, where the Lakers, again, are holding teams basically right at 100 points a night.
He is a different guy with a different energy right now on the floor.
It was another night where LeBron's defense, you saw him breaking up passes,
doing a good job cutting off drives, hitting the glass,
17 rebounds in this game, five on the offensive glass,
which means 12 on the defensive.
And he just, he continues, steal on a block,
he continues to have that activity.
and you see the value of Luca, even at a time where Luca is still getting his rhythm back,
getting his body back right from the calf injury.
One suspects at least that that's part of the issue right now.
But just having Luca to do some of this other stuff, even if Luca's only doing it to
60 to 70 percent of what you would expect from Luca, that Luca is able to.
to provide like a shell version would be a little strong of himself,
but like the starter kit version of Luca.
I mean that as a compliment to Luca because he's,
this version of Luca is nowhere close to what he can do.
Oh, for sure.
You're talking about, you know, 21 points, 13 rebounds and five assists
and going we're not even near what that is for a,
a standard Luca output.
Right.
I mean, you expect Luca to shoot better overall.
You expect him to shoot better from behind the arc.
You frankly expect him not to miss four free throws.
That element of Luca's offense has not quite come around yet since joining the team,
but that he can always be counted on to bring the ball up without succumbing to ball pressure,
to be able to run the offense, even if his own shot isn't falling,
combine that with Reeves' ability to do that as.
well. And it just, you have two guys now who really ease that load off LeBron, who's still going to
carry his own share of having to do that stuff, but he doesn't have to carry it all. And LeBron now
seems very activated and engaged. Like, and he's very dialed in. I think not to just the
responsibilities of doing that, but like, this is my job now. Like this is part of what I'm doing.
into LeBron's credit, he was doing it pre-Lucah.
Like, you know, LeBron's been playing this level of defense for like about six weeks.
The difference is now since Luca, he can do it with it being easier overall as opposed to doing
it before, but you really worried about the effect on him.
33.17 rebounds, six assists, seven to ten from the line, four of nine from downtown.
You know, and I think this is his high water assist mark since Donchich joined the team, keeping in mind, too, that LeBron, they also have Austin Reeves around.
And like you mentioned, Andy Reeves was one of the only guys who didn't get the memo about you're supposed to miss free throws.
He had 23 points, got the line 12 times.
The Lakers.
It's not, by the way, it's not LeBron's high water.
but it's not.
Yeah.
I mean,
it,
um,
but,
you know,
the assist numbers are going down.
And that is not because LeBron,
uh,
has forgotten how to pass or has become unwilling to pass.
It's because he doesn't have to as much.
He's on the,
the receiving end of much more of the offense than he was before.
And I'm going to be honest with you,
Andy.
I know we talked about this.
Um,
the,
the,
the,
the,
There's, when you change the experience, I realize people think that, you know, it's, it's, it's going to be an ego problem for LeBron to accept being the, you know, the, the, the, the A2.
You know, if Luke is the A1, then LeB is the A2.
Or, you know, 1A1B, however you want to do it.
It really depends.
I mean, finish your thought, but I just want to say it depends in some ways how you look at it, but continue.
I just think it's it's it's the team went from being Luca's team a LeBron's team unquestionably to now
the Lakers are built around what is best for Luca.
And on the floor, JJ Redick said we're going to run the offense through Luca and all that.
So like at least in those ways, Luca is the one A and LeBron is the one B.
I think the fact that he gets healed now, but it opens up.
this whole kit of stuff that LeBron has not really been given the opportunity to do on the
floor, certainly not in years.
I just think this is stuff that makes the game interesting.
This is a different puzzle and a different riddle and, you know, a different challenge
for a guy who has, in a lot of ways, served.
you know, execute it on the same challenge for 22 seasons.
And so to have this different thing to do, a different thing to prove to people that you can do,
all of this stuff, I really do think there is an element here, similar to the element,
the interest that goes with the challenge of being, you know what, I'm 40 years old.
Let's see if I can play lockdown defense every night.
It's kind of fun.
Let's see if I can do that.
I think there is a part of LeBron that enjoys the challenge of being put in a different spot on the court and being asked to do different things.
Because he knows damn well he's still LeBron James.
It's not like this stuff goes away.
And he also knows, I think, Andy, that come playoff time, all of this extra energy that he's been able to store up because he hasn't been in as much of a grinder for 25 or 30 games is going to come out.
in the postseason.
I'm sure there's some part of LeBron that enjoys something different to do,
different challenge, whatever.
I think the thing he appreciates the most is just that he doesn't have to kill himself
to do whatever task is in front of him.
And to play this level of defense, again,
LeBron committed to it well before the Luca trade,
but the Luca trade makes it considerably easier.
And I think no matter what you were putting on LeBron's plate, even if you wanted LeBron to be the ultimate offensive engine and you provided a way to make however that was going to happen easier, he would appreciate that.
Like it's a different challenge, but it's a different challenge that's being offset by certain elements being made easier for him.
I don't consider it so much a different challenge as it just is like a different set.
to do the things that we've always known LeBron is capable of doing.
It's really more a matter at this age, like, how do you have to ration off the energy
and why and what is that over the course of an entire game?
And earlier in the season, and this is when LeBron's defense was more of a thing,
we used to talk about how LeBron out of, in a lot of ways, necessity,
would have to ration some of his energy over the course of four,
quarters that would even sometimes show up in his offense.
And no matter how much you understood that being a necessity because of age and
mileage, there's still a trickle-down effect from it that the team would have to deal with.
Now there's just less of a trickle-down effect.
And it's the best of all worlds for everybody.
They, you know, there isn't a better person on the planet to finally be the guy who
really does lighten LeBron's birth.
offensively than a guy who's as close to anybody in the NBA to replicating the skill set.
And, you know, that to me is the beauty of this.
You know, I was talking about I was laughing with a friend of mine, you know, we were talking about it today.
It's like LeBron's can play for another decade.
I'm like, he might.
I mean, if he wants to, but like the lengthening of his career, you see what,
he's able to do. There's just so much more running. It's just running. He's like moving and running.
It like doesn't have to bust through as many bodies or break guys down on the perimeter. He's
going to see far less double coverage every time he touches the ball because of Lucas gravity.
And oh, by the way, you still have to honor Austin Reeves. Like, easier is exactly right.
And if it just means he's got to run a lot, Jesus, he could play. He's going to.
definitely play for another few years.
It wasn't all pretty, though, for the Lakers, Andy, obviously.
The offense certainly got stuck in the mud.
And once again, these switchy defenses were hurting the Lakers.
We'll talk a little bit about what we saw next.
So it's definitely a work in progress.
I mean, you saw the Lakers came out.
They were hitting all of their shots in that opening quarter against the Timberwolves,
got out to a huge early lead, you know, finishing the first quarter of 33 to 17.
But after that, it was, you know, the game was played pretty evenly.
Minnesota a few times threatened to take a lead.
They never really did.
But, you know, the offense isn't clicking.
And they are certainly very reliant on the D.
I'm not particularly worried yet.
but there's a lot of room for improvement on the offensive side of the ball.
One of the things I think is interesting right now with Luca and the outside shot that really is not falling.
Some of these that he's putting up, in particular the stepbacks, like I know that's Luca's weapon when things are like when Luca becomes unguardable, that's the shot that's really dropping down.
what's happening right now with some of these shots that they feel they feel borderline forced at times
it reminds me of earlier in the season when lebron was going through that brutal stretch from
behind the arc and it felt like lebron was kind of working to work his way through the slump
in like sort of on company time so to speak in real time and
ultimately what ended up being the thing that got his shot back was the time he had away from
the game, you know, the time off from the in-season tournament and the couple games that he missed,
time away from the team.
And the Lakers don't have the luxury of doing that with Luka now.
And I don't think Luka would want to do that anyway.
And you shouldn't be doing that for somebody who's today, 26, happy birthday Luca, he turns 26 on the 28th.
They'll be playing as a 26-year-old, maybe against the clippers tonight.
We'll see.
At least watching as a 26-year-old.
Yeah, I mean, I didn't love it with LeBron.
And I said it then.
I don't love it with Luca now.
I get it.
I understand it.
I wonder if he might, you know,
you hear former players and commentators talk all the time
about sometimes the best way to just get the shot going everywhere
is to just get some easier baskets,
get some shots at the hoop, see those go down,
and then just everything starts feeling more in rhythm in general.
We'll see.
But it feels to me very much right now like Luca is trying to find these shots during a game.
For better or for worse.
And eventually.
Jay J.J.
talked about that after the game.
They're happy with a shot selection.
They're happy.
He's Luca Donchich.
And, you know, he's, JJ's, you know, every player goes through.
stretches like this. And there still is a lot that he's adjusting too with, you know, coming back
from injury and playing his way into shape. And it's like, I am, especially since they're winning,
I'm certainly a couple weeks at least away from any real level of concern. Because what's really
missing here is the shot. And if the shot starts to fall, the other stuff, you know, which the
passing and the, you know, the ability to get in the lane, you know, you know, certainly.
certainly he got the line, you know, getting the line 12 times against the Timberwolves,
like that aspect of it, drawing contact, changing speed, delivering the ball, all that stuff.
That's all been fine. He's just not making any shots. And like the last couple games, you know,
going back to Denver and then the other night against Dallas where obviously he had a little extra
motivation. But he certainly in this game as well, especially early, you know, the movement
looks much better than when he first arrived.
The fluidity, the, you know, he's reaction times a little quicker.
There's a little more bounce.
So I'm not, I'm going to need a lot more time before I start getting worried about
whether or not offensively they can make this work.
We've seen enough evidence at this point of what it looks like when they're kind of
clicking that I think they can find more of those moments and create more of that stuff as they
get more used to each other and just Luca reaches back to his normal level, which is hitting
instead of, you know, six of 20, 10 of 20. And that opens up a ton of stuff.
Really what matters is just like is Rui, for example, does Rui end up missing a couple of weeks?
if this knee strain leads to him missing time.
And then how long before Jared Vanderbilt can play back-to-backs?
How long before Luca can play back-to-backs?
Like, you know, is LeBron's hamstring something that is a thing?
Like, those are the only things that get me concerned about when Lucas' shots going to come back
just because, like you said, they're winning, and that's the best thing.
But it becomes harder if that shot doesn't come around.
and say you're missing Rui and there's other guys who are still under restrictions,
and you don't want to add to LeBron's load trying to make up for the shots that aren't falling for Luca,
or the lack of consistent scoring from the bench.
Like defensively, DFS, Fando, Gabe, Jordan Goodwin, they're all making good things happening.
But it's been a few games in a row where there has not been much in the,
and Dalton Connect as well, there has not been much in the way of scoring from those guys.
So, you know, tonight, for example, they combined for 19 points between five guys.
Like that's clearly not enough.
You need more from those five guys combined.
So that's the kind of thing.
Seven of them, by the way, came from Goodwin in only 13 minutes.
Right.
Like that's the kind of thing that if Lucas,
shooting slump continues, you know, and he really becomes more of a volume score.
Like, that's really when it starts potentially putting a strain on the Lakers.
But assuming that, A, they keep winning, and B, this doesn't go on forever for Luca, I agree with you.
Ultimately, it's not going to be a problem.
And at the end of the day, the defense has been very good.
And I would say this, Luca has been much less of an issue defensively than certain.
Certainly we had had concerns about beginning the season and with the calf issue and whatever.
He has not been a problem.
No, look.
It's a good defensive scheme.
You've got, you know, they've strengthened the wing with DFS and this version of LeBron.
You've got Jared Vanderbilt out there providing those sort of pop and athleticism that they really needed in the, you know, over the, you know, that they've needed all season long.
and so they're a much different defensive team than they were earlier in the season
and they've done really they've found an identity in a style in which they want to play
and they are really I mean JJ was asked about it after the game
they're whether or not they're sort of paying the price for the amount of effort that
they have to put in on that was something George Sedano and I was
filling in for Scott Kaplan on ESPNLA 710. And that was something that we talked about.
The sample size has been big enough with the Lakers defensively that it's clear they can do
this. Like they were doing this with Anthony Davis when Anthony Davis was injured since the trade.
And they've done it very consistently same way. It's not a fluke, but it is taxing.
And I think that is a legitimate question for the next couple months and how long they're in the
playoffs like right and you know and again i'll say it like this is where a little bit of cushion
makes a difference like they're not i mean if you they have a chance to finish in the top four
like they are a game and a half after uh thursday's game a game and a half out of the two
they're only a game behind denver a game and a half by memphis for the two they have a legitimate
chance to finish in the top four and that would be a great result like that you're hosting
not only get the long break for the while other teams during the play-in,
now you're hosting a first round.
This is not something for the newcomers to the show.
Hosting the first round was not something we were talking about six weeks ago.
But you don't need to be in that.
If you have to back off a little bit for games to allow guys to rest,
sit guys here and there and you compromise your defense.
The point is that they've shown that they can do it for a long stretch for long stretches
of time.
They believe that they can do it because they've seen it.
They know how to execute a game plan.
The coaching staff has found something in terms of how they draw stuff up to play to
this team's strength.
And so when you get back into the playoffs, I think that.
they're going to be a team that defends.
And that to me is the reason.
The consistency of the defense over this long stretch is the reason I am far more optimistic
and actually sort of moving beyond the Lakers have a puncher's chance to advance a round or two in the playoffs
to the Lakers have as good a chance as any team other than I guess Oklahoma City to advance
two or three rounds in the playoffs.
Oklahoma City still should be considered the favorite to come out of the West.
They're nine games dropping.
In a conference with I think 10 teams over 500, the Thunder are nine games ahead of the number two seed.
And we still have not seen this version of the Lakers against enough of the good teams to know how they actually match up.
Sure.
And some of the other teams.
Like we talked about Denver, who they're going to see again in a couple weeks.
and it's obviously just one game, the 23-point win they had last week.
And Michael Malone's going to make adjustments.
He's going to have more tape on this group, like all of that.
But I think from that one game, you can at least look at the Lakers and say,
all of a sudden, they may not be a great matchup for Denver the way they used to be.
Like just this configuration of the Lakers, this configuration of Denver,
it may not work the same way for the Nuggets as it has the last couple years.
But last year, the Lakers were a flat out bad matchup for the Thunder,
even though the Thunder were a better team in the aggregate,
and I think against more teams, were better than the Lakers.
Lakers are a bad matchup for them because they were so much bigger.
Now OKC is bigger than them.
So I don't know how, I don't know how they look against the Thunder this year.
We're going to find out.
And that's what honestly makes this period for the Lakers really damn fun because it's rare to have this many surprises this late in the season.
Like it's honestly really fun to have this little predictability, but still reasons to be optimistic.
It's awesome.
It's it's it's they traded for, you know, they obviously traded one of their stars, but they traded for a star.
It's like the, the team is so different now.
And then you combine that with the resurrection of Gabe Vincent and the acquisition of Doreen
Finney Smith.
And nothing really about the Lakers in October still applies.
It's just it's a completely different team, mostly for better, but the strengths and weakness
has changed.
No point really in previewing the Friday night game against the Clippers because quite
frankly, we don't know it was playing.
And if the Lakers are missing as many people as.
they might be again.
Rui will almost certainly not be in uniform Friday night.
But Jackson Hayes was uncomfortable during the game.
LeBron James,
tweet to Hammy during the game.
Real quick from Dan Wojke,
LA Times reading this tweet,
Lucas said it's questionable whether he plays against the clippers.
Took a knee-to-ne knee shot,
but it wasn't anything to worry about it happens every game.
But I'm just clarifying like beyond the back-to-back thing,
that there could be a little more to it.
So, you know, those guys,
like you could have a lot of guys missing for Friday night's game.
So we'll see.
We'll be back afterwards to talk about it either way.
And then we'll see who suits up for the Lakers on Sunday.
None of the injuries looked like they were particularly long-term except for perhaps Rui,
but we will get more information, I'm sure.
Tomorrow, Locked on Lakers on YouTube is wherever 33,000 subscribers were all hanging out.
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