Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Dončić (19/15/12) Gets First Triple-Double as a Laker, LA Beats Dallas 107-99
Episode Date: February 26, 2025In the first half of Tuesday's 107-99 win over the Dallas Mavericks at the Crypt, it looked like the Luka Dončić revenge game people expected to see (punishing the team that didn't just trade him, b...ut badmouthed him on the way out of Texas) would be something that might end up on the Mt. Rushmore of revenge games. Luka was near a triple double before the halftime buzzer. The second half was a little slower. The emotional output this game generated—and clearly Luka was keyed up for this one a level or three above normal—cost him some legs down the stretch. So the final result was just a perfectly satisfying, run-of-the-mill revenge game. Dončić got his first trip-dub as a Laker, and more importantly, the Lakers got another win, their eighth in their last 10. After the game, Luka was asked if the game brought him any closure. His answer probably surprised people. No, he said, because it's going to take time. Closure for something like this doesn't happen overnight. It's a reminder not only that it's a process for Luka to figure out how to play with LeBron James and Austin Reaves, or to absorb JJ Redick's system offensively and learn the assignments on the other end. It's also an adjustment personally. He lives in a different city. Has a different routine. All the stuff that was totally normal in Dallas isn't in Los Angeles. Yes, Luka has all the resources a person could have to help him adjust. But he's still a person, and this was still a massive life upheaval. So for the Lakers to keep winning, to keep building confidence and putting some down some decent film (as they did on Tuesday in the first half and fourth quarters, especially) is extremely promising. To continue holding opponents right around 100 points, as they did for the fourth straight game Tuesday night, has to build confidence. This is the transition period, not the part where you'd expect the new-look Lakers to be reaching wherever their ceiling happens to be. The brutal stretch of games continues Thursday against Minnesota, followed by a pair of tough games against the Clippers. March's schedule is cartoonishly hard. And where it might have seemed like a threat a couple months ago, now it's likely Lakers fans are excited at what's to come. HOSTS: Andy and Brian KamenetzkySEGMENT 1: Luka trip-dubs as LA beats Dallas. SEGMENT 2: LeBron blows up in the fourth quarter. SEGMENT 3: Contributions up and down the roster. 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 Lockdown Lakers for Wednesday.
Brian Komenetsky, Andy Kemeneski, Luca Donchich, scores his first triple double as a Laker as LACOR
as LAA beats Dallas 10799.
Break it down next.
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the Lakers creep up the Western Conference standings. Another win on Tuesday, this one over Dallas
10799, highlighted by Luca Donchich and his first triple double. As a Laker, it comes against his
former team, he was very clearly keyed up for this one. There's no question about that.
And, you know, particularly in the first half, Andy, he got a full taste of all the range of things
that Luca can do when he is playing well, feeling comfortable, all that stuff. That first
half had all of it. Luca is now officially averaging a triple double against the Dallas Mavericks,
19 points, 15 rebounds, 12 assists against two turnovers.
That is not a bad way to start, I guess, your stats against the one team you had never played in your career.
He also had three steals and two blocks to go along with that.
It was funny.
There was a sequence in the first quarter where Luca had back-to-back threes.
the second one ended up getting wiped out during a timeout.
Dallas challenged it and they were correct.
Luca in attempting to step back, his foot was barely on the line, but it was.
But on the spectrum sports net feed of this game, after the second three in the Dallas
timeout, they cut over to Mark Cuban, who, for those who are unaware, he is now a minority
owner of the team.
He does not have nearly the same control as he had.
before. Some would say he has
damn near none at this point.
If he had any semblance of control
or say
over personnel decisions in Dallas,
Luca would still be there.
And that was the look on
Cuban's face.
I tweeted out at Cambrother.
His thought bubble
was probably something
along the lines of, yeah,
bro, don't blame me for this bleep.
He had this look on his face like,
I cannot believe.
this guy is on another team.
You had the range of playmaking from Luca.
You had the range of shopmaking from Luca.
You had the range of early techs from Luca.
He got teed up very quickly.
It was a little experience.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, you got the whole deal.
It was, but there were, they were just,
we'll get into Luca because obviously his,
his performance in that storyline against this team,
It's obviously the overarching story, but this was this was a game that you could tell meant a lot to Luca on a lot of different levels.
I appreciated the candor that he had after the game talking about not just the emotion that went into it.
It was like you say, obviously an important one, one that has taken up like, you know, anybody of this big events, you kind of, you have all that initial rush of energy.
and then you got to kind of get through it.
And this was, you could see the difference in the first half and the second half.
I think he did use a lot of emotional energy just in the lead up and the afterwards.
But he said when it was over, he was asked about closure.
Like does this kind of give you some closure on it?
He's like, no.
We're not done.
It doesn't happen instantly.
And it's just a reminder, I think, for.
for basketball fans, for people observing the Lakers and all that,
like this process for Luca to become not just more comfortable playing with
LeBron, not just more comfortable playing with, you know,
Reeves getting used to Reddick's system, you know, the defensive rotation.
It's just going to get, it's still going to take time to get used to literally being a
Laker, literally having your home base be Los Angeles.
Like all of that stuff is just going to take time.
But in the meantime, the Lakers continue to win games and they're doing it without
Luca, you know, having to be at his best.
They moved to 14 games over 500 with this win on Tuesday.
And we're certainly seeing it between.
Saturday, and I think especially again, the first half of this game and then moments, you know, in the third and the fourth.
But we're seeing what it can look like. And we're seeing what Donchich brings and how he changes what the Lakers are capable of in these moments of really good play.
And when it clicks, man, we saw it on Saturday again.
We saw it tonight. Oh, my God. It is fun basketball to watch.
piggybacking on to the piece of you know the piece about this with closure
Lucas said quote the closure is going to take a while I think because he was asked if he
found closure in this game yeah closure is going to take a while I think you know it's not
ideal it being how I ended up here and I think a lot of what was being messaged along the
way then he said quote but like I said I'm glad this game is over you know there's a lot of
emotions but we go little by little and every day is better
and you can if nothing else luka is leaning into the idea of i am announcing myself as a laker i am
ingratiating myself with this franchise with this city you know began a couple weeks ago when he
donated half a million dollars to the wildfire relief i don't know if you saw but uh before the
game he he had set up a parking lot where you're parking for this game if you happen to get this
lot was prepaid courtesy of Luca Donchich.
There was also a Jumpman ad that debuted today, and this was just Chef's Kiss Petty.
It's a figure that is supposed to be Luca.
I don't think it was actually him, but he's in front of an absolutely sick-looking purple
sports car that I have no idea what type of car it is because A, I'm not a car guy,
and B, even if I was, I would never be able to afford a car like this.
so why bother learning what it is?
But he's changing out this license plate,
make it like a purple 77.
And in the background, that country song,
all my exes live in Texas is playing.
And that's just, again, he is,
there's a lot for him to wrap his head around,
I think, still now.
But the guy is very much, I think,
embracing the idea of A, being a Laker, B, being in a really good situation.
And the more time that is passing with this team, the more you see him just smiling, animated,
and I think he recognizes, man, like, this isn't how I wanted it to happen, but I'm, I got a good thing going right now.
He didn't get, he didn't get traded to, like, Charlotte or something.
I mean, like, it's not Charlotte.
Orlando.
I mean, or, you know, they didn't end up in some sort of NBA backwater location.
Like, he is with the Los Angeles Lakers and, you know, flawless team.
No, flawless management.
No, but like, it's their worst places to end up than the, than L.A.
playing for the Lakers.
You could be on a team dumb enough to trade Luca Donchich.
For example, I just, and you start to go through it.
And like, that first half, you know,
LeBron is, we're getting used to this with LeBron, where, you know, you can look up and you say like, oh, it wasn't a great game all the way through and this, that, whatever it might be. And you look up and he's got like 26 and, you know, 12 and eight. You know, and you're like, that becomes the sort of ordinary LeBron game. And like Luca, the peripheral numbers, you know, aside from the scoring were huge. And he is rebounding in the first half, his ball moving.
in the first half. The level of playmaking, the Lakers were able to put together, particularly
again, in that first half, was stunning at times. They really had a good rhythm working between
Reeves and LeBron and Luca. And you just, you know, if he, he's not going to shoot 35% for the rest
of the season. And the lines for something like tonight where he, you know, gets the triple
double, but it's, it's a 19 point triple double.
When he shoots, you know, 10 of, you know, 19 or something like that with a couple more threes,
he's not one of seven.
Like that 19 point triple double becomes a 29 point triple double or 30 point triple double.
There's a tremendous amount to look forward to, including Andy, what the arrival of Luca can mean for
LeBron James and how the Lakers score down the stretch.
Some fascinating stuff happening in the fourth quarter on Tuesday.
We'll get into that next.
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You know, somebody, you know, Jonathan Severino pointed out, I believe it was him on the chat.
Things kind of flying by. The comments are going by. You know, obviously, Luca still working himself into shape, used up a lot of energy and kind of ran out of gas in the second half.
And I agree with him.
LeBron James, on the other hand, did not. And that's part based on the amount of stuff that Luca is able to do for this team.
him like lebron had 11 points uh going into the fourth quarter finished with 27 so that by my math
is 16 and the fourth and you can tell andy how much less responsibility he has because he was third
on the team in assists on tuesday night reeves had five lebron only had three and it's not because
lebron was getting all ball hoggy it's because he didn't have to carry that um
creation burden throughout the game.
And you could see the difference between what he had left and the fourth,
and particularly what he was able to do four quarters worth of defense.
Yeah, I want to get more into the defense maybe for Thursday's show,
just because there's a lot of game to cover.
And JJ had some really interesting comments about LeBron's defense
and describing it as all defense,
all defensive team level defense over the last.
six or so weeks and just what that means for the overall defense.
But you talked about that fourth quarter, 16 points on seven and nine from the field.
He hit the only three that he attempted, got the line twice, made one of them, plus five
rebounds and two assists, no turnovers.
LeBron has always been counted on to be a closer on any team he's been a part of because
he is typically the best player on any team he's been a part of.
and even on a team like the Lakers over the last couple of years
where you and I both argued Anthony Davis was actually a better player
than LeBron on a game in, game out two-way basis.
LeBron was still better equipped to close on a regular basis
just because there's certain things he can do with the ball
orchestrating everything that AD just that's not his game.
but the idea that LeBron can actually now close with more of a reservoir of energy
while still playing hard as opposed to pacing himself over four quarters
so he can crank it up in the fourth,
but you have to account for the three quarters where he's not playing at that level.
That is a totally different calculus for what you look for from LeBron
in the fourth quarter taking over and how you get it.
It's a completely, completely different math.
And, you know, a couple of the buckets, not all of them,
but a couple of the buckets were in,
what I'm really trying to see,
and I know you are too, I know everybody is,
is like what is different about how stuff happens
when all of these guys play together?
And, you know, the way that there are at least, you know,
two buckets that stood out as doesn't have,
happen without Luca buckets. The first one, LeBron leaks out, you know, on that, you know,
on the break. And Luca is not running the floor, but, you know, a few dribbles and he sees
LeBron. LeBron seals Christy off on the other end. Luca can make that pass in the same way
we've seen LeBron do to Luca, even a few times since he arrived. Luca can make that pass
over the top. LeBron gets it and scores. That play does not happen without Luke.
here because if he's not, LeBron is the one with the ball. So very like that.
Or look, or it might be Austin making that pass. And sometimes Austin can. But Austin is,
Austin is not at that level yet where you feel 100% confident with him doing it. And it made a pass
like generally speaking. You just don't see that leak out, you know, in the same way.
And then another one was the putback that LeBron had.
You know, when he comes off from the corner, crashes the glass from the right corner and gets the putback dunk.
Like that is another play that likely doesn't happen that way because LeBron generally isn't in that spot to go crash the glass off ball, moving and all that kind of stuff.
I mean, I know there's been some, there was a lot of criticism of this trade, Andy, in the sense of, well, you know, Luca and LeBron can't play together because neither of those guys move off the ball.
LeBron certainly has the last couple games.
Like, I think, you know, LeBron can run at 40 years old, running is not the problem for LeBron.
He can, if all you're asking to do is run straight ahead, you know, do that kind of, he can do that for days.
That's easy. That's easy.
And so the ability to go crash the glass, to run up the floor, to beat, to get rewarded just by the easiest thing, which is beating his man down the floor and not having to physically, you know, figure out how to break him down and all that.
Like, he can do that for a thousand times in a game.
And so I just those were the kinds of little plays where I was like, okay, well, this is different.
This is because the team is arranged around Luca.
Two things.
First, great comment from Demented Sicario.
Somehow, Luca is fast and slow at the same time, which is both accurate and hilarious.
But I also wanted to highlight this comment from Willie Thomas.
Michael Jordan couldn't play with another alpha.
That's why LeBron is the true goat.
And I do not want to get into a Jordan v.
LeBron Goat conversation.
For those new to the show, you will find very few basketball topics that bore the crap
out of Brian and I more than deciding who's the goat.
I don't care who you think is the goat.
Or like Kobe ranks who is LeBron better than Kobe.
We're not arguing about that either.
Just don't care.
Like as long as you're not throwing out somebody that makes just no sense, choose your
own goat and run with it, don't care.
but that piece of LeBron's the willingness to play with other alphas, you know, whether you're talking about Dwayne Wade, whether you're talking about Kyrie, AD, now Luca.
And I mean, and to be clear, all these guys who make the NBA, they're all alphas in their own right.
Like you don't get this far, but there are relative alpha scales in the NBA.
And then there are the guys that are the alpha because they are generally hands down the best player on their team.
They're typically scores, all that stuff.
They fall into the stereotypical alpha.
LeBron's willingness to cede that ground while still performing like the alpha of any team,
that is actually a great quality.
It is.
And I'd never thought about it along those.
lines like the way Willie was framing it there like as a goat characteristic like a goat quality
it did it I think the a certainly the ability to mesh with guys because like you know
Pippin is different than Wade although when Pippin was without Jordan you're certainly a you
know a different kind of player and I and I think you know to I don't want to not to contradict
is the wrong word but like when he played with Wade that thing clicked when LeBron clearly became
you know, it was kind of still like, we're going to operate around LeBron.
The same way that Redick is said, we're going to operate around Redick.
When he was with Kyrie, he was the, you know, he was the center of that team and all that kind of stuff.
I think what makes it so special.
But he never fights over territory.
Because we didn't have to.
Well, you know what they have to.
I mean, I don't want, and we don't need to get too far down this.
But, I mean, the reality is he didn't need to argue about.
about, you know, who because he was the best player on the planet and everybody knew it.
I think what makes this different is there is a level of security that LeBron has in himself
and in his place in basketball history.
And he's 40 flipping years old.
Like there is, there are concessions that even could this be different if LeBron was 30 and
Luke was 25?
Sure.
I don't know.
Well, like, we're not going to find out.
but he
I find the idea
and found from the moment
that they traded for for Luca
I found the idea
that LeBron
wouldn't give up the space
that is required for Luca
to be Luca
and that is the only way
you get to the ceiling of this team
is if that happens.
You cannot make Luca
try to fit into what you're doing.
It doesn't mean he's
going to put up the same exact numbers. It's going to operate the same as it did in Dallas, whatever.
But ultimately, this needs to be a Luca Donchich operation offensively. The idea that LeBron
wouldn't let that happen at this point in his career, given everything he's accomplished
and how he chooses to play the game, seemed bizarre to me. It was just, you know, talking head,
talking, you know, sports radio, you know, hot takery that was just obviously not going to be the case.
Other things, Andy, there's a lot that we need to cover with.
We talked about Luca and a strong triple double despite only shooting, you know, what was it,
six of 19, I think it was, something like that.
An off shooting night, a strong LeBron game.
But there were a bunch of other dudes who deserve some credit for what the Lakers did on Tuesday night
and are, I think, big reasons to be optimistic about what they are going forward.
So we'll get in all that next.
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Terms apply. Visit DoorDash to learn more. So, look, in the first half,
The lake and this is you know to be fair you know I'm sure they're you know we missed me
the Lakers missed a ton of what we now refer to as butt naked shots courtesy of Dorian Finney
Smith but naked wide open but naked wide open otherwise butt naked is just a streaker putting
up shots they got to be butt naked white open whether we have to use the whole expression but yes
but naked wide open you use the whole expression because it sounds better
with the whole expruths. Either way, they're going to get a ton of them. They missed a few of them,
to say the least, especially early. That is nothing compared to how poorly Dallas shot,
where it seemed like they were using a ball that was actually too large to fit into the rim.
And, you know, they made up for it a little bit in the second half. Clay got super duper hot
and all that stuff. But throw whatever caveats you want in there.
Andy, this is the fourth game now in a row where the Lakers have held a team to basically 100 points.
In this case, 99.
And like that, that is good work defensively.
There were flaws.
They gave up far too many offensive rebounds.
But in the end, you look up at the scoreboard and the Lakers continue to play really good defense.
That is, we talked about LeBron.
It's a lot of guys like Jared Vanderbilt and especially the impact of Dore and Phine Smith, I think.
Yeah, DFS.
I can fold this into some of the defense conversation I want to have for Thursday,
but JJ was very, very intentional in shouting out DFS and his play talking about down the stretch,
whether you're talking about poking away a ball from Kyrie for a big turnover in the last couple
minutes, an offensive rebound put back on a LeBron miss. It's just another game where it's one of the
few ironically, where DFS is not like the plus minus king. He's actually minus one tonight, but
eight rebounds, four on the offensive glass, two steals, two blocks, and just an energy that I think
has really been contagious for this entire team. There were elements that I think were also
picked up by Vando's return by Gabe Vindos.
Vincent rebounding from a really slow borderline unplayable start to the season.
Like it's created a collective energy.
You know, Goodwin deserves some credit there as well.
Like, you know, he's another game where he's looking like a rotation player.
He plays. He plays incredibly hard.
Yes, he does.
I mean, just play.
He plays like a guy who is trying desperately to stay in the league, which he sort of is.
but like that matters.
So you just have a guy like that in your back court who plays that flipping hard.
It makes a difference.
Yeah.
I mean, Jordan,
there's a reason Jordan Goodwin has solidified a rotation spot on this team or at the very least,
he's beaten out Jake Milton and there will be nights where he plays more than Dalton Connect,
just because defensively and with the rebounding and the physicality,
he plays bigger than his size.
Also want to shout out Rui because this is.
two games in a row where Rui's defense has been really good. Max Christie's return to L.A.
He had some nice moments. He had back-to-back threes in the second half, and he got the start
tonight, but four of 13 from the field for 10 points, and a lot of this was Rui hounding the absolute
bleep out of him. He had a monster block on Max, and I was surprised.
rise did not get teed up because he actually stopped.
It was very unruy-like, but he stopped and did like a roar over Max.
Maybe the refs recognized these guys are former teammates.
They're just, they're having fun with each other.
It's not going to turn into a fight.
But Rue-
Certainly not between those two.
Yeah, exactly.
Like that's not going to be a fight.
And, you know, on the heels of the defense that Rui played against Yokic as, you know,
the primary guy starting possessions against Yokic and for at times holding him in single coverage,
like just bothering him, bodying him, just physicality.
These are two really strong games in a row.
Like the 15 points from Rui is great,
but that's more along the lines of what you expect from him anyway.
Like that's sort of the baseline of what you're looking for from Rui is scoring.
But it's two games in a row where just his activity defensively has been,
a real boost for this team.
I just, you know, not to use a Thursday show, but I just, he is, as a group,
not to keep beating this theme down, but it's like they don't have a ton of center depth.
We get that.
They're going to play half of every game without a traditional five.
And Jackson Hayes played well in this game, too.
Jacksays played great.
And like, you know, what I, what I, they, they mentioned this on the team.
and T broadcast and it was Greg Anthony who said it like all Jackson Hayes is going to shoot 90 in
this party didn't say but like we've said it on the show Jackson Hayes if he if he pays attention
does what he needs to do is going to shoot 90% for the rest of the year because 90% of his shots are
going to be dunks they're going to be alley ubs they're going to be he's not going to take a shot for more
than five feet away from the basket unless he's doing it wrong or it's the end of a quarter and so
But there is that sort of spacing.
Anthony called it spacing in the paint that he's got to learn
and the timing of when to come off a screen to be able to.
Because Dallas did muck up the game a little bit for the Lakers
with a lot of ball pressure and stuff like that.
But as the Lakers adjust,
we saw it with on Saturday.
We saw it in different instances again on Tuesday.
LeBron and Luca in particular can make Alleyup style passes or lob passes into the inside
from five or six feet further away than most people can in the half court.
So like, you know, they're eight, ten feet.
If you're still moving and sealing your guy and whatever, they will find you.
And so whether it's the timing off of screens, whether it's in the paint in little short rolls,
or 35 feet away making yourself available.
Hayes is learning that and he's doing really well with it.
But even when he doesn't play,
they are not small.
They are not a small team.
They've got a ton of length.
And I think just look really mobile right now with Vando on the floor
and Rui really engaged defensively.
And LeBron playing defense like he has in the regular.
season in no season I can remember with the Lakers in the last few.
With regards to that size, we've mentioned this before as well.
Like there, other than when Gabe is playing often for Austin, like the smallest guy on
the floor for long stretches is going to be Austin.
And for Austin's position, he's not small.
Six five.
Right.
He was small when some of the.
guard-centric lineups that, you know, I think Darwin, to be fair to Darwin, was often forced to play
because of the roster that he had. But like when Austin Reeves is playing the three,
he's obviously too small for those looks. And sometimes even like as a two, depending on who he's
matched up against, he can get bullied around in that. But there are very few point guards who,
as that matchup is going to have a huge size advantage or strength advantage over Austin.
I'm not saying it won't ever happen.
But if he's your smallest guy, like particularly a closing lineup of LeBron, Luca, Austin, BFS, and Rui,
which I think we're going to see a lot of, if Austin's the smallest guy, and just for the record,
Austin had a nice game tonight as well too.
Like if Austin's the smallest guy there, it's not a liability.
No.
And because the way they're playing and the style that they're using and all of that,
you're not reliant on him.
The problem with Reeves' defensive was never effort.
It's just he's got some limitations on that side.
So like he was often being asked to guard the opposition's best back court player.
That's not a good position for him to be in.
in the way the Lakers are playing defense now, that's less of a thing.
He's just slotted in different places.
And the team schemes are really good and all of that.
So plenty to get excited about.
We couldn't cover all of it in this show, Andy.
I did want to make sure, though, just because I consider us very polite members of the LA media.
There was a chant at one point in the game.
Thank you, Nico.
Thank you, Nico.
We also want to thank you, Nico.
I want to make sure that we,
because we were not in the building for it,
and just thank you, Nico.
Yeah, I mean, I'm surprised.
AD got a video.
Yeah, it was nice.
I'm surprised the Lakers didn't have one for Nico.
You know, it's funny.
Nico was watching, he's on the sideline as Luca was warming up,
and Luca was asked if he was,
was aware that if Nigo was there, if he thought about, you know, saying anything to him or whatever.
And Lucas said he didn't see Niko there.
Respectfully, I don't believe you.
I don't believe him.
I do believe, though, that Luca heard the thank you, Nico chance.
I do not believe that at all.
No.
Anyway, lots to still stay excited about.
The Lakers facing Minnesota on Thursday.
They had a great comeback against Oklahoma City earlier this week.
So that will be something to look forward to.
Lakers continuing to play good teams and at least in the last couple posting good results.
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