Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Dončić Dominates Again, Scores 15,000th Career Point, Lakers Dismantle Cleveland 127-113

Starting point is 00:00:00 Multiple milestones for the Lakers as they dismantle the cavaliers. People around the league are starting to believe in these guys. We'll explain 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, Brian Komenetsky, Andy Kaminetsky. So much to cover following the Lakers.

Starting point is 00:00:36 127, 113 win over the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers, one of the most impressive victories of the season. And one including so many milestones, Andy. Luca Donchich scored his 15,000th career points. It actually just seems like they all came this month. They didn't. But he also became the all-time leading score for the month of March, like single season for the Lakers. he passed, not surprisingly, Kobe there for that award.

Starting point is 00:01:11 And only like the second guy in history. I don't know who keeps track of this, but the second guy in history behind him. Someone very busy this season keeps track of all this. Like whoever the research fellow or fellas are over at the Lakers, this season afterwards, they better demand a raise. Like I would write before like game 80,

Starting point is 00:01:34 demand a raise or walk. Because these guys. Those guys want LeBron out. It's too many milestones. Yeah, it's like, look, man, we get it. Like, Luca is prime. We won another 10 years of this. LeBron's 41 with all sincere deep respect.

Starting point is 00:01:50 You got to go, bro. One. You don't have one. It's just one guy. I'm sure it's an intern for God's sense. But, you know, so. There was milestones involving Rui. Yeah, Rory had his 5,000th career.

Starting point is 00:02:03 Yeah. Luka became the second place. player in league history. It's a weird stat, but an impressive one to score 600 points in the month of March. Only Michael Jordan did that. And, of course, the big milestone for LeBron James, he recorded his 1,229th win, regular season and playoffs passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most regular season and playoff wins in league history.

Starting point is 00:02:31 To put it in perspective, that is 14.987. seasons worth of just wins. Just wins. It's 82 and O for basically 15 years. That is a lot of success on an NBA floor. But it was just overall, it was just an outstanding night for the Lakers, another 42 for Luca on 13 of 26 shooting.

Starting point is 00:03:01 He had 12 assists. He had two steals, five other Lakers. five other Lakers finish in double figures. By the way, 12 assists for Luca against zero turnovers. Yes, I think this was actually, I think this was one of Lucas. He is obviously, we'll get into some of the particular over the course of this show, said this a lot this month, but it keeps remaining true, even by Luca standards, even by the standards of what he's done over the course of his career,

Starting point is 00:03:33 what he's been doing in March is bonkers. But I think this is one of the best games he's played during this period. Like when you talk about 42 points on 50% from the field, six of 13 from behind the arc, 100% at the line, 10 of 10. So it's like 50, I think it's 50, 43, 100 splits. and then 12 assists against zero turnovers with that type of usage. With a pair of steals.

Starting point is 00:04:09 Yeah. I really, I think this is one of the best games he has played in a string of jaw droppers. And you can just tell like he is. He's very much. He did. He punctuated the game. I want to talk about a dunk and I want to hold on to it because obviously it was a fun moment and all that kind of stuff. And he dunk and dunked and Luke and never dunks and all. all that kind of stuff. But we did a show on their chemistry and the continuity,

Starting point is 00:04:41 I mean, I'm not continuity, but the chemistry and the vibes and all that kind of stuff and why this matters. This dunk was that. And so I don't want to get, you know, get, it's not a headliner for right now, but it's also something that I think is worth a couple minutes. So we'll get to it later in the show.

Starting point is 00:05:04 But I, you go up and down the box score in this game. And there were positive contributions all over the place. LeBron was very effective. He didn't have to do a whole lot. But he played, you know, he had 14 points, five rebounds, six assists. Jake Laravia didn't miss a shot. He had seven rebounds. Was totally disruptive throughout the game.

Starting point is 00:05:24 AR, six rebounds, four assists. He had a pair of steals. I don't think Alton had a particularly good game. You know, but I mean, but he ended up with 19 points. and like you know, he's part of the contributing group. And DeAndre Aiton had 18 points on 8 of 13 shooting. DeAndre was terrific. He was fantastic.

Starting point is 00:05:41 Rui en route to his 5,000th career point, only missed two shots. He had 14 points. Like, you know, there was just, there were positive contributions all up and down the roster. And they used the second quarter where they held Cleveland. Cleveland is a good team, folks. They're going to win 50 games this year. They held the calves to 19 points in that second quarter, built up a big lead. And while it wasn't flawless, it would have been great if Luca didn't have to come back in the game in the fourth quarter.

Starting point is 00:06:12 This is a top four Eastern Conference team that Lakers absolutely dismantled. It was as balanced and impressive a team win as they had as they've had this season. keep in mind the last time the lakers and cavaliers played the lakers lost like 30 points and a little bit of caveats austin did not play in that game and austin's absence obviously matters but you can't put losing by 30 simply on austin not being there and you know it was one of as jj often puts it the loud losses and what that type of loss that had a lot of people people, including us, and I know a lot of our listeners and viewers, skeptical about what the record actually meant for the team and how much of it was kind of sound and fury signifying nothing,

Starting point is 00:07:10 just because, yeah, they were maintaining anywhere from, you know, at lowest six-seat, at highest three-seed, you know, on paper, it looks great. But when you started matching them up against the type of teams that they would eventually play in the playoffs. They were not stacking up in the slightest, even with the acknowledgement of guys in and out of lineup and whatever. Some of those good teams they lost to also were missing guys. This period that the Lakers have been playing has been largely against really good competition, and they have been, other than maybe OKC and San Antonio, OKC, they'll play on Thursday, the hottest team in the league.

Starting point is 00:07:56 I mean, they just, at a period where you really start evaluating just what a team can be in the playoffs because you're running out of time to be anything else, this group has played really, really well. 15 and 2 in the month of March, do want to let people know that today's episode

Starting point is 00:08:14 is brought to by Fanduel during the tournament. FanDuel is offering $300 back in bonus bets every day for 10 days. So I had to Fandual.com to get started. Yeah. So again, 15 and 2. the month of March, which has included a ton of games against really good teams. And, you know, with this win, I don't think because they have two games left against the Thunder,

Starting point is 00:08:35 I don't think you can totally say, you know, with, you know, with full-throated confidence that they will absolutely finish as the number three seed. But they have a pretty good avenue to get there. They are two games up on Denver in the standings. Of course, that equals really three games practically because they own the tiebreaker over the Nuggets. More importantly, though, they are, I am prepared to say, not going to finish any worse than fourth. Because while the gap with the Nuggets is still theoretically surmountable if you're a Denver fan, the wolves right now are in fifth Houston is in six they're tied um those teams are three and a half

Starting point is 00:09:26 games in regular standings behind the lakers uh four and a half in practical standings because of the tiebreaker and with if i'm counting right um what is it seven games left i think they got six games left you forget um it'll be six games left yeah six games left they're not going to lose a amount to a four-game lead on either one of those teams. So the Lakers are going to host a first-round playoff matchup. We're bearing, by the way, not the lead, because there are so many leads in this game, but we're bearing a lead. The Lakers are officially in the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:10:04 They actually made the – they were in the playoffs before this game even began because Phoenix lost a game earlier, and by virtue of that loss, the Lakers were in the playoff. playoffs. It required either a Laker win or a son's loss, as it turns out they got both. But they are actually not that anybody had any doubts. Yeah, right, exactly.

Starting point is 00:10:29 But just for no other reason, then to make sure people are aware, they are now in the playoffs. Yeah, they get that little why in the standings, you know, has clinched playoff. Oh, also they've clinched the division. Clinch playoff birth, clinch the division. So all of that happening

Starting point is 00:10:45 for the Lakers. We'll get some more dominance for Luca and where he is and just how fully realized he is right now, as well as just the overall confidence and good feelings that this team has. We'll do all that next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Quo. Spring is a natural reset point. And if there's one thing that can quietly cost businesses money, messy communication, miss call, scattered text, no clear threat of who said what. And that's what

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Starting point is 00:13:00 Download the Robin Hood app now to begin. Futures and cleared swaps trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robin Hood derivatives LLC, a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm. Luca is just, it's like the sort of like the scenes in like the Matrix or something where Neo is just like knows he can do whatever he wants and like has transcended, you know, the form and the space that he's in and can just move in any way he wants. There's a little bit of that right now with how Luca is controlling games because it, nothing that he's doing looks. hard. I can promise you that it is, but it doesn't look that way. Well, here's what it is. It's difficult. It may not be hard for Luca. There's a difference. Right now, it does not seem particularly hard for him, but I can't tell you how many times

Starting point is 00:14:11 Danny Green, who was filling in for Stu Lance with Billy Mac and you've said it before, but best wishes to Stu Lance get well soon, get back in the booth. But I I can't tell you how many times Danny Green said that's a difficult shot. That's a difficult shot Luca just made. We mentioned Luca 15,000 career points. He is the third youngest ever to reach 15,000 points. LeBron, number one, at 25 years old, 79 days. Then Kevin Durant, 26 years old, 78 days.

Starting point is 00:14:45 Luca, 2731. Kobe, 27, 136. And Wilt, 27, 156. That is, by the way, some pretty damn good company to be a part of those five fellas. Some of the numbers provided by the Lakers and context with his Luca passed Kobe tonight for the most points scored in the month of March in franchise history. I don't know the exact total because when the Lakers sent this out, I know he hit crossed 600. I don't know. Over 600, right.

Starting point is 00:15:23 He's over 600. He's over 600. Second player ever since MJ has scored 600 in the month of March. This is the 13th straight 30 plus point game for Luca, the longest streak of his career. He has a league leading 44th, 30-point game of the season, now 40, but at least 30. Sixth most in a season in Lakers franchise history. This 13 straight games of 30-point game. or more. In addition to being the longest streak of his career, it's the fourth longest in

Starting point is 00:15:57 Lakers history. You can keep going on and on. I also noticed, and I do not have the numbers updated in front of me, but Luca is paced. Last I looked, and I doubt this game put a dent in it. It might have been affected a little bit by missing Monday versus the Wizards with that suspension, but he is paced to pass Kobe for most points ever in a single season in Lakers franchise history. So again, just the season he's having, and in particular this month and the last four to six weeks has just been spectacular. Yeah, it really is.

Starting point is 00:16:38 It's fun to watch. And it's, you know, one of the things that makes it great. though is that with this incredible run of play you know there are nights when Austin's been great there's nights been you know LeBron's been putting up triple doubles or whatever there two things in at least in my opinion the first one is the because they've got some sort of they've got a sense of organization they've got a sense of of a plan when they go out and what this is going to look like There's sort of a design to it now.

Starting point is 00:17:20 And how those three guys in particular are going to play, what you're going to get from DeAndre Aiton on any given night, what you're going to get from Jackson Hayes on any given night. You've got Luke Knard. You've got like everybody. There's just this understanding of what's happening in JJ Redick attributed mostly to just finally getting guys on the floor so that everybody could play the role that I guess they had envisioned about that.

Starting point is 00:17:47 It took time to iron some of these things out with the stars, at least. I don't get the feeling that, and there have been times like this, whether last year or this year, they are dependent on Luca getting them 40 on any night to win. They're getting 40 from Luca on any night. But I don't think they have to because, again, in the playoffs, that's not something you want to have to rely on. Luke is going to have to be excellent, you know, elite, elite for the Lakers to advance, certainly more than one round.

Starting point is 00:18:27 But there's a difference between that, like, hey, your star needs to be a star, versus your star needs to score 45 a night or your team's not going anywhere. Yeah, I thought this was a really good game in terms of, we had mentioned before contributions across the, the board, but what I liked about in particular is we talked about Luca was obviously the big time anchor of all this and the foundation. But I mentioned before, I don't think Austin had a particularly strong game. He had some strong moments, but overall, it was fine. It was a math kind of whatever. It was not a particularly good game. I mean, he had more turnovers than assists. It's another game

Starting point is 00:19:09 where Austin's taking a while to start getting shots to go down, which concerns me only because if other guys don't happen to have strong first halves, it could be a part of putting the Lakers in a hole, which obviously isn't all on Austin, but you look for somebody like Austin to offset slow first halves for other guys. So it's just something I'm keeping my eye on. And I thought LeBron was solid the night. He had a few amazing dunk sequences.

Starting point is 00:19:41 He was part of an AR, LeBron, DA pick and roll that led to LeBron setting up a DA off a dunker spot set for, I believe it, it was either a dunker layup, but it was a really, really nice action. But you mentioned before, it was a game where LeBron did not have to do a lot. I thought he was solid, but he, again, did not, the asks were not high. But it was really a night where after Luca,

Starting point is 00:20:08 the highest support was coming from D'Andre Aiton, who I thought on both ends of the floor was terrific in this game. Jake La Ravia finally had shots going down inside and out. He needed that. Desperately, Jake had a few breakaway dunks that I'm sure felt really good to him. Rui, 14 points off the bench plus 10. I also thought Rui was pretty active defensively as well. Jackson Hayes was really solid off the bench.

Starting point is 00:20:34 It was Luca and some of the other guys as opposed to a big three setup or your three best. players set up and it's nice to get some of those as well as opposed to feeling like all the time you are dependent on your three best players to always be leading the way it was a night where again lebron was fine but did not have to do a heavy lift and i thought austin was off and they still dominated this game it's um i you know we talked about like if there was going to be any upside to whether guys missing time or games where a couple guys might be out or whatever it might be is when we're trying to figure out like how much are guys going to play you need guys to be healthy and all these other things the the sort of the bet the potential benefits of giving somebody like jake

Starting point is 00:21:36 a chance to like kind of get enough shots up to kind of shake off the cobwebs a little bit or try to get yourself into a position where you're feeling better about your game. And I don't, I mean, it was Tuesday, I think we'll help him with some confidence. But I don't know if it'll turn it around completely. But, like, La Ravia to me is a great example of what Redick was talking about. Like, it hasn't looked for Jake, I think, like anybody imagined, certainly not Jake this year. I think he pictured more shots going down. I think he pictured a little bit more of an offensive.

Starting point is 00:22:15 an offensive contribution over the course of the season, but he has completely found a niche as both an energy guy and a very effective defender from a statistical standpoint at least. Like his impact numbers are really quite good, and he's very much earned the trust of the coaching step, to the point that even when Marcus Smart's not playing, Jake has been in the starting lineup as opposed to Rui,

Starting point is 00:22:43 which, by the way, makes a ton of sense to me. But it's just these evolutions of how players are playing and everybody looks confident in what they're doing. Back to the dunk, Andy, which I don't think was just a dunk. And I'll explain why next. Lockdowne Lakers is brought to you by game time. There is nothing like being in an NBA arena, the crowd, the energy, the moment. Tickets, though, getting them, that's not always been so simple. And that's why game time has become the go-to app for scoring tickets fast without the hassle.

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Starting point is 00:24:58 So Luca joked. I saw a clip, you know, people looking around on social. You can certainly follow us on Cambrothers on Twitter. Of Luca being asked, you know, what did you think about that dunk on the way back in the tunnel after the game? And he said, he was rubbing. He started rubbing his head. And, you know, I hit my hurts. My head hurts.

Starting point is 00:25:18 I hit my head on the, you know, I hit my head, meaning I hit my head on the rim. If you watched the dunk, he certainly didn't do that. He might have gotten his head as high as the net. But I'd have to see the replay again. He did hit his hands on the rim. He did. It was a legitimate slam dunk. It was a legit dunk.

Starting point is 00:25:39 It was a real life. He ain't winning the dunk contest with it, but it was a dunk. He'd win it against me, but not against other NBA players. It was, I believe. I don't think this is updated on basketball reference. So I believe this is now his fourth dunk of the season, which, by the way, is prodigious compared to where he's been over the last three or four seasons.

Starting point is 00:26:05 He's skinny. That's true. It's easier to get up. Fat ass couldn't dunk before. You could see. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Relax.

Starting point is 00:26:16 When the ball got up to Luke and he was all by himself and it was, you know, off. I couldn't remember if it was a turnover or just a miss shot. So Lucas all by himself at the other end of the floor. And there have been times over the course of the season where he's had opportunities to dunk and he and he's just laid the ball in. And as soon as he got the ball, he was smiling and, you know, he's going, and you can tell it's like, you know what, I'm going to throw these guys a bone as Laker 824 says on the

Starting point is 00:26:53 on the chat in the YouTube channel as we talk live he's essentially trolling himself he's throwing his teammates a bone but he's also poking fun at himself at the same time it is important to remember he is the unqualified unchallenged I should say

Starting point is 00:27:09 star of this definitely a qualifier I mean like unqualified like nobody else is challenging right no caveat There are synonyms, Andy. So for him to have a moment where he's doing something that essentially makes fun of himself to add a moment of levity and all that kind of stuff, that is, it's not nothing.

Starting point is 00:27:39 Like he did it to entertain his teammates, who by the way were. and they go nuts when Luca dunks. And I just, when you talk about these things, it's little moments like this that can help galvanize a team. I heard you talking about this on 710 ESPN day. You were filling in with Travis Rogers. And it's like it's hard to quantify how much stuff like this helps, how much the good vibes make a difference and, you know,

Starting point is 00:28:14 genuine liking of each other and all that. I don't, nobody can tell exactly how much it helps. I've never seen a situation where it hurts, though. Well, we said heading into this game that we thought it was going to be a big one for Luca, in part because he had the suspension, which means he was going to be fresher than some of these other guys on the second end of a back-to-back, but that he also would likely feel like I owe it to them. to really show out tonight because I made myself unavailable by getting that 16th tech and a suspension.

Starting point is 00:28:53 And you can, and I've seen fans argue about whether or not it was merited, whether it was worth a tech, whatever. Luca put himself in a position that he knows he can't do. He has to be extra careful. He said, and JJ had said that he felt like he led his teammates down. So we both thought he was likely going to be looking to show out and really give them a lift since they had all played the night before. It wasn't necessarily the most challenging game, but they still played. Like they still put themselves out there. But also too, like, and I don't mean this necessarily literally like as a conscientious thing on Luca's part.

Starting point is 00:29:38 like I feel like I'm doing this directly for them in terms of I'm looking to entertain them because it's all part of making up for not being there the night before. But it does feel like an extension of playing for those guys, showing appreciation, showing gratitude. I am going to give you guys a laugh kind of at my own expense because that's what we do for each other. you guys were there for me the night before. Thank you. Yeah, I don't disagree.

Starting point is 00:30:16 It's, it's there's, there's sort of, I mean, like, I don't want to make one play and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, kinds of leadership, and there's, like, there are different kinds of signaling, like, you get, you need your best players to be kind of leaders. in certain ways. And you don't always need them to be your best friends. You don't need, like, Luca is not a screamer and a yeller, but he's a killer on the floor.

Starting point is 00:30:54 And when Luca is locked in and playing defense, not just scoring 40 points tonight, but also invested in what you're doing defensively. When he's doing that, it has a ripple effect on the team. LeBron, a little bit more of a vocal leader, Marcus Smart, we're going to talk about in the short show for Wednesday, you know, has a leadership style and plays a different role for this team.

Starting point is 00:31:20 Like everybody's got to do something, but like it makes a difference when your best players don't sort of separate themselves in that way. Like when they, when they don't big foot everybody around the team, when they don't ask you to do stuff that they won't do themselves. And, you know, that's why it makes such a big difference. You've made this point a bunch of times. When Luca stopped getting technicals, everybody stopped getting technicals. It makes a difference when your best players model the type of commitment and the type of camaraderie

Starting point is 00:32:00 and the type of attention to detail that Luca has embodied, you know, for the last, you know, a couple months, really. But like, it's, it's really fun to watch. It's all said and done. Yeah, I mean, we covered the second half of Kobe's career. And there was a shift by around season, really was season three, the season that he won MVP, that, you know, was on the heels of him in the offseason demanding very loudly to anybody that would listen, including Randos in a parking lot, that he's, that he was on the heels of him in the offseason demanding very loudly to, demanding very loudly to anybody that he, that he wanted out and that he wanted to be traded. And that season, even before they traded, Paul Gasol, the team played better than anybody including,

Starting point is 00:32:51 and especially Kobe had expected. And over the course of that season, among many things that went really well, I think Kobe really began to recognize the importance of letting his teammates in and letting them see more of the person that he was, seeing more of the people that they were and just making himself more accessible. And like the idea of everyone get in line or get the F out of my way because I'm going to scheme roll everything in front of me, that will work in moments, but that can't be your entire leadership style.

Starting point is 00:33:30 And I don't say this does necessarily compare Kobe to Luca in terms of leaders, but I'm just talking about the connectivity. And like that. connectivity between the best player on a team and everyone else around him, even a player like LeBron of his stature, like it matters. Like having some type of connection with your franchise face, like the guy that you know at the end of the day, everyone is counting on most. Those connections matter. They do.

Starting point is 00:34:04 Absolutely. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where you can hang out with over 38,000 subscribers. to the channel. We'll be back, of course, with more content for you on Wednesday afternoon. No game for the Lakers on Wednesday. They do, though, go to Oklahoma City for Thursday, and we will, of course, get you ready for that one as well. So we will see everyone next time.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luka Dončić Dominates Again, Scores 15,000th Career Point, Lakers Dismantle Cleveland 127-113

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